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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
11
PIUS IX
LINDSAY JONES
•
EDITOR IN CHIEF
RIVERS
eorel_fm 3/2/05 8:36 AM Page iv
Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition
Lindsay Jones, Editor in Chief
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Encyclopedia of religion / Lindsay Jones, editor in chief.— 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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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.
ISBN 0-02-865997-X
Contact your Thomson Gale representative for ordering information.
Printed in the United States of America
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E D I T O R S A N D C O N S U L T A N T S
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Program in Religious Studies,
SIGMA ANKRAVA
LINDSAY JONES
University of Wisconsin—Madison
Professor, Department of Literary and
Associate Professor, Department of
C
Cultural Studies, Faculty of Modern
HARLES H. LONG
Comparative Studies, Ohio State
Professor of History of Religions,
Languages, University of Latvia
University
Baltic Religion and Slavic Religion
Emeritus, and Former Director of
Research Center for Black Studies,
DIANE APOSTOLOS-CAPPADONA
BOARD MEMBERS
University of California, Santa Barbara
Center for Muslim–Christian
DAVÍD CARRASCO
Understanding and Liberal Studies
MARY N. MACDONALD
Neil Rudenstine Professor of Study of
Program, Georgetown University
Professor, History of Religions, Le
Latin America, Divinity School and
Art and Religion
Moyne College (Syracuse, New York)
Department of Anthropology, Harvard
DIANE BELL
DALE B. MARTIN
University
Professor of Anthropology and Women’s
Professor of Religious Studies, and
Studies, George Washington University
GIOVANNI CASADIO
Chair, Department of Religious
Australian Indigenous Religions
Professor of History of Religions,
Studies, Yale University
Dipartimento di Scienze
KEES W. BOLLE
AZIM NANJI
Professor Emeritus of History,
dell’Antichità, Università degli Studi
Professor and Director, The Institute
University of California, Los Angeles,
di Salerno
of Ismaili Studies, London
and Fellow, Netherlands Institute for
WENDY DONIGER
JACOB OLUPONA
Advanced Studies in the Humanities
Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service
Professor, African American and
and Social Sciences
Professor of the History of Religions,
African Studies Program, University
History of Religions
University of Chicago
of California, Davis
MARK CSIKSZENTMIHALYI
GARY L. EBERSOLE
MICHAEL SWARTZ
Associate Professor in the Department
Professor of History and Religious
Professor of Hebrew and Religious
of East Asian Languages and
Studies, and Director, UMKC Center
Studies, Ohio State University
Literature and the Program in
for Religious Studies, University of
Religious Studies, University of
INÉS TALAMANTEZ
Missouri—Kansas City
Wisconsin—Madison
Associate Professor, Religious Studies
Chinese Religions
JANET GYATSO
Department, University of California,
RICHARD A. GARDNER
Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies,
Santa Barbara
Faculty of Comparative Culture,
The Divinity School, Harvard
Sophia University
University
CONSULTANTS
Humor and Religion
GREGORY D. ALLES
CHARLES HALLISEY
Associate Professor of Religious Studies,
JOHN A. GRIM
Associate Professor, Department of
McDaniel College
Professor of Religion, Bucknell
Languages and Cultures of Asia and
Study of Religion
University and Co-Coordinator,
v
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vi
EDITORS AND CONSULTANTS
Harvard Forum on Religion and
TED PETERS
Religion, University of Chicago
Ecology
Professor of Systematic Theology,
Law and Religion
Ecology and Religion
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
TOD SWANSON
JOSEPH HARRIS
and the Center for Theology and the
Associate Professor of Religious Studies,
Francis Lee Higginson Professor of
Natural Sciences at the Graduate
and Director, Center for Latin
English Literature and Professor of
Theological Union, Berkeley,
American Studies, Arizona State
Folklore, Harvard University
California
University
Germanic Religions
Science and Religion
South American Religions
URSULA KING
FRANK E. REYNOLDS
MARY EVELYN TUCKER
Professor Emerita, Senior Research
Professor of the History of Religions
Professor of Religion, Bucknell
Fellow and Associate Member of the
and Buddhist Studies in the Divinity
University, Founder and Coordinator,
Institute for Advanced Studies,
School and the Department of South
University of Bristol, England, and
Asian Languages and Civilizations,
Harvard Forum on Religion and
Professorial Research Associate, Centre
Emeritus, University of Chicago
Ecology, Research Fellow, Harvard
for Gender and Religions Research,
History of Religions
Yenching Institute, Research Associate,
School of Oriental and African
GONZALO RUBIO
Harvard Reischauer Institute of
Studies, University of London
Assistant Professor, Department of
Japanese Studies
Gender and Religion
Classics and Ancient Mediterranean
Ecology and Religion
DAVID MORGAN
Studies and Department of History
HUGH B. URBAN
Duesenberg Professor of Christianity
and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania
Associate Professor, Department of
and the Arts, and
State University
Comparative Studies, Ohio State
Professor of Humanities and Art
Ancient Near Eastern Religions
University
History, Valparaiso University
SUSAN SERED
Politics and Religion
Color Inserts and Essays
Director of Research, Religion, Health
CATHERINE WESSINGER
JOSEPH F. NAGY
and Healing Initiative, Center for the
Professor of the History of Religions
Professor, Department of English,
Study of World Religions, Harvard
and Women’s Studies, Loyola
University of California, Los Angeles
University, and Senior Research
University New Orleans
Celtic Religion
Associate, Center for Women’s Health
New Religious Movements
M
and Human Rights, Suffolk University
ATTHEW OJO
Healing, Medicine, and Religion
R
Obafemi Awolowo University
OBERT A. YELLE
African Religions
LAWRENCE E. SULLIVAN
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, University
of Toronto
J
Professor, Department of Theology,
UHA PENTIKÄINEN
Law and Religion
Professor of Comparative Religion, The
University of Notre Dame
History of Religions
University of Helsinki, Member of
ERIC ZIOLKOWSKI
Academia Scientiarum Fennica,
WINNIFRED FALLERS SULLIVAN
Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious
Finland
Dean of Students and Senior Lecturer
Studies, Lafayette College
Arctic Religions and Uralic Religions
in the Anthropology and Sociology of
Literature and Religion
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
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A B B R E V I A T I O N S A N D S Y M B O L S
U S E D I N T H I S W O R K
abbr. abbreviated; abbreviation
3 Bar. 3 Baruch
2 Chr. 2 Chronicles
abr. abridged; abridgment
4 Bar. 4 Baruch
Ch. Slav. Church Slavic
AD anno Domini, in the year of the
B.B. BavaD batraD
cm centimeters
(our) Lord
BBC British Broadcasting
col. column (pl., cols.)
Afrik. Afrikaans
Corporation
Col. Colossians
AH anno Hegirae, in the year of the
BC before Christ
Colo. Colorado
Hijrah
BCE before the common era
comp. compiler (pl., comps.)
Akk. Akkadian
B.D. Bachelor of Divinity
Conn. Connecticut
Ala. Alabama
Beits. Beitsah
cont. continued
Alb. Albanian
Bekh. Bekhorot
Copt. Coptic
Am. Amos
Beng. Bengali
1 Cor. 1 Corinthians
AM ante meridiem, before noon
Ber. Berakhot
2 Cor. 2 Corinthians
amend. amended; amendment
Berb. Berber
corr. corrected
annot. annotated; annotation
Bik. Bikkurim
C.S.P. Congregatio Sancti Pauli,
Ap. Apocalypse
bk. book (pl., bks.)
Congregation of Saint Paul
Apn. Apocryphon
B.M. BavaD metsiEaD
(Paulists)
app. appendix
BP before the present
d. died
Arab. Arabic
B.Q. BavaD qammaD
D Deuteronomic (source of the
EArakh. EArakhin
Bra¯h. Bra¯hman.a
Pentateuch)
Aram. Aramaic
Bret. Breton
Dan. Danish
Ariz. Arizona
B.T. Babylonian Talmud
D.B. Divinitatis Baccalaureus,
Ark. Arkansas
Bulg. Bulgarian
Bachelor of Divinity
Arm. Armenian
Burm. Burmese
D.C. District of Columbia
art. article (pl., arts.)
c. circa, about, approximately
D.D. Divinitatis Doctor, Doctor of
AS Anglo-Saxon
Calif. California
Divinity
Asm. Mos. Assumption of Moses
Can. Canaanite
Del. Delaware
Assyr. Assyrian
Catal. Catalan
Dem. DemaDi
A.S.S.R. Autonomous Soviet Socialist
CE of the common era
dim. diminutive
Republic
Celt. Celtic
diss. dissertation
Av. Avestan
cf. confer, compare
Dn. Daniel
EA.Z. EAvodah zarah
Chald. Chaldean
D.Phil. Doctor of Philosophy
b. born
chap. chapter (pl., chaps.)
Dt. Deuteronomy
Bab. Babylonian
Chin. Chinese
Du. Dutch
Ban. Bantu
C.H.M. Community of the Holy
E Elohist (source of the Pentateuch)
1 Bar. 1 Baruch
Myrrhbearers
Eccl. Ecclesiastes
2 Bar. 2 Baruch
1 Chr. 1 Chronicles
ed. editor (pl., eds.); edition; edited by
vii
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viii
ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
EEduy. EEduyyot
Hung. Hungarian
Lith. Lithuanian
e.g. exempli gratia, for example
ibid. ibidem, in the same place (as the
Lk. Luke
Egyp. Egyptian
one immediately preceding)
LL Late Latin
1 En. 1 Enoch
Icel. Icelandic
LL.D. Legum Doctor, Doctor of Laws
2 En. 2 Enoch
i.e. id est, that is
Lv. Leviticus
3 En. 3 Enoch
IE Indo-European
m meters
Eng. English
Ill. Illinois
m. masculine
enl. enlarged
Ind. Indiana
M.A. Master of Arts
Eph. Ephesians
intro. introduction
Ma Eas. MaEaserot
EEruv. EEruvin
Ir. Gael. Irish Gaelic
Ma Eas. Sh. MaE aser sheni
1 Esd. 1 Esdras
Iran. Iranian
Mak. Makkot
2 Esd. 2 Esdras
Is. Isaiah
Makh. Makhshirin
3 Esd. 3 Esdras
Ital. Italian
Mal. Malachi
4 Esd. 4 Esdras
J Yahvist (source of the Pentateuch)
Mar. Marathi
esp. especially
Jas. James
Mass. Massachusetts
Est. Estonian
Jav. Javanese
1 Mc. 1 Maccabees
Est. Esther
Jb. Job
2 Mc. 2 Maccabees
et al. et alii, and others
Jdt. Judith
3 Mc. 3 Maccabees
etc. et cetera, and so forth
Jer. Jeremiah
4 Mc. 4 Maccabees
Eth. Ethiopic
Jgs. Judges
Md. Maryland
EV English version
Jl. Joel
M.D. Medicinae Doctor, Doctor of
Ex. Exodus
Jn. John
Medicine
exp. expanded
1 Jn. 1 John
ME Middle English
Ez. Ezekiel
2 Jn. 2 John
Meg. Megillah
Ezr. Ezra
3 Jn. 3 John
Me Eil. MeEilah
2 Ezr. 2 Ezra
Jon. Jonah
Men. Menah.ot
4 Ezr. 4 Ezra
Jos. Joshua
MHG Middle High German
f. feminine; and following (pl., ff.)
Jpn. Japanese
mi. miles
fasc. fascicle (pl., fascs.)
JPS Jewish Publication Society trans-
Mi. Micah
fig. figure (pl., figs.)
lation (1985) of the Hebrew Bible
Mich. Michigan
Finn. Finnish
J.T. Jerusalem Talmud
Mid. Middot
fl. floruit, flourished
Jub. Jubilees
Minn. Minnesota
Fla. Florida
Kans. Kansas
Miq. MiqvaDot
Fr. French
Kel. Kelim
MIran. Middle Iranian
frag. fragment
Ker. Keritot
Miss. Mississippi
ft. feet
Ket. Ketubbot
Mk. Mark
Ga. Georgia
1 Kgs. 1 Kings
Mo. Missouri
Gal. Galatians
2 Kgs. 2 Kings
MoEed Q. MoEed qat.an
Gaul. Gaulish
Khois. Khoisan
Mont. Montana
Ger. German
Kil. Kil Dayim
MPers. Middle Persian
Git.. Git.t.in
km kilometers
MS. manuscriptum, manuscript (pl.,
Gn. Genesis
Kor. Korean
MSS)
Gr. Greek
Ky. Kentucky
Mt. Matthew
H
. ag. H
. agigah
l. line (pl., ll.)
MT Masoretic text
H
. al. H
. allah
La. Louisiana
n. note
Hau. Hausa
Lam. Lamentations
Na. Nahum
Hb. Habakkuk
Lat. Latin
Nah. Nahuatl
Heb. Hebrew
Latv. Latvian
Naz. Nazir
Heb. Hebrews
L. en Th. Licencié en Théologie,
N.B. nota bene, take careful note
Hg. Haggai
Licentiate in Theology
N.C. North Carolina
Hitt. Hittite
L. ès L. Licencié ès Lettres, Licentiate
n.d. no date
Hor. Horayot
in Literature
N.Dak. North Dakota
Hos. Hosea
Let. Jer. Letter of Jeremiah
NEB New English Bible
H
. ul. H
. ullin
lit. literally
Nebr. Nebraska
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ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
ix
Ned. Nedarim
pop. population
sp. species (pl., spp.)
Neg. Nega Eim
Port. Portuguese
Span. Spanish
Neh. Nehemiah
Prv. Proverbs
sq. square
Nev. Nevada
Ps. Psalms
S.S.R. Soviet Socialist Republic
N.H. New Hampshire
Ps. 151 Psalm 151
st. stanza (pl., ss.)
Nid. Niddah
Ps. Sol. Psalms of Solomon
S.T.M. Sacrae Theologiae Magister,
N.J. New Jersey
pt. part (pl., pts.)
Master of Sacred Theology
Nm. Numbers
1Pt. 1 Peter
Suk. Sukkah
N.Mex. New Mexico
2 Pt. 2 Peter
Sum. Sumerian
no. number (pl., nos.)
Pth. Parthian
supp. supplement; supplementary
Nor. Norwegian
Q hypothetical source of the synoptic
Sus. Susanna
n.p. no place
Gospels
s.v. sub verbo, under the word (pl.,
n.s. new series
Qid. Qiddushin
s.v.v.)
N.Y. New York
Qin. Qinnim
Swed. Swedish
Ob. Obadiah
r. reigned; ruled
Syr. Syriac
O.Cist. Ordo Cisterciencium, Order
Rab. Rabbah
Syr. Men. Syriac Menander
of Cîteaux (Cistercians)
rev. revised
TaE an. TaEanit
OCS Old Church Slavonic
R. ha-Sh. RoDsh ha-shanah
Tam. Tamil
OE Old English
R.I. Rhode Island
Tam. Tamid
O.F.M. Ordo Fratrum Minorum,
Rom. Romanian
Tb. Tobit
Order of Friars Minor
Rom. Romans
T.D. Taisho¯ shinshu¯ daizo¯kyo¯, edited
(Franciscans)
R.S.C.J. Societas Sacratissimi Cordis
by Takakusu Junjiro¯ et al.
OFr. Old French
Jesu, Religious of the Sacred Heart
(Tokyo,1922–1934)
Ohal. Ohalot
RSV Revised Standard Version of the
Tem. Temurah
OHG Old High German
Bible
Tenn. Tennessee
OIr. Old Irish
Ru. Ruth
Ter. Terumot
OIran. Old Iranian
Rus. Russian
T
. ev. Y. T
. evul yom
Okla. Oklahoma
Rv. Revelation
Tex. Texas
ON Old Norse
Rv. Ezr. Revelation of Ezra
Th.D. Theologicae Doctor, Doctor of
O.P. Ordo Praedicatorum, Order of
San. Sanhedrin
Theology
Preachers (Dominicans)
S.C. South Carolina
1 Thes. 1 Thessalonians
OPers. Old Persian
Scot. Gael. Scottish Gaelic
2 Thes. 2 Thessalonians
op. cit. opere citato, in the work cited
S.Dak. South Dakota
Thrac. Thracian
OPrus. Old Prussian
sec. section (pl., secs.)
Ti. Titus
Oreg. Oregon
Sem. Semitic
Tib. Tibetan
EOrl. EOrlah
ser. series
1 Tm. 1 Timothy
O.S.B. Ordo Sancti Benedicti, Order
sg. singular
2 Tm. 2 Timothy
of Saint Benedict (Benedictines)
Sg. Song of Songs
T. of 12 Testaments of the Twelve
p. page (pl., pp.)
Sg. of 3 Prayer of Azariah and the
Patriarchs
P Priestly (source of the Pentateuch)
Song of the Three Young Men
T
. oh. t.ohorot
Pa. Pennsylvania
Shab. Shabbat
Tong. Tongan
Pahl. Pahlavi
Shav. ShavuEot
trans. translator, translators; translated
Par. Parah
Sheq. Sheqalim
by; translation
para. paragraph (pl., paras.)
Sib. Or. Sibylline Oracles
Turk. Turkish
Pers. Persian
Sind. Sindhi
Ukr. Ukrainian
Pes. Pesahim
Sinh. Sinhala
Upan. Upanis.ad
Ph.D. Philosophiae Doctor, Doctor
Sir. Ben Sira
U.S. United States
of Philosophy
S.J. Societas Jesu, Society of Jesus
U.S.S.R. Union of Soviet Socialist
Phil. Philippians
(Jesuits)
Republics
Phlm. Philemon
Skt. Sanskrit
Uqts. Uqtsin
Phoen. Phoenician
1 Sm. 1 Samuel
v. verse (pl., vv.)
pl. plural; plate (pl., pls.)
2 Sm. 2 Samuel
Va. Virginia
PM post meridiem, after noon
Sogd. Sogdian
var. variant; variation
Pol. Polish
Sot.. Sot.ah
Viet. Vietnamese
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ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
viz. videlicet, namely
Yad. Yadayim
* hypothetical
vol. volume (pl., vols.)
Yev. Yevamot
? uncertain; possibly; perhaps
Vt. Vermont
Yi. Yiddish
° degrees
Wash. Washington
Yor. Yoruba
+ plus
Wel. Welsh
Zav. Zavim
– minus
Wis. Wisconsin
Zec. Zechariah
= equals; is equivalent to
Wis. Wisdom of Solomon
Zep. Zephaniah
× by; multiplied by
W.Va. West Virginia
Zev. Zevah.im
→ yields
Wyo. Wyoming
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N


v o l u m e e l e v e n
a c r e d g a
s
S z
A Ce
R E D G A Z E
Sacred images engage viewers in acts of seeing that are
themselves forms of religious experience. When human beings
“see,” they do so by means of an extensive apparatus of vision that may be designated
by the term gaze. The gaze is not simply an optical event, the physiological act of
looking at something, but the constellation of numerous events and aspects of vision:
the engagement of the body of the viewer, the regimentation of time, the application
of an epistemology of seeing that makes things intelligible, the eclipse of spaces and
orders outside the boundaries of the gaze, and the focus of memory and consciousness
on certain matters. The act of vision orchestrates all of these as a culture of thought,
feeling, and sensation shared by members of a
group. Glimpsing, glancing, glaring, gleaming,
gorging, and other discrete visual operations,
such as blinking—all are to apprehend images
in various ways and construct very different rela-
tionships between viewer and image and what-
ever is evoked or represented by the image. Even
the destruction or privation of imagery creates an
experience that can be profoundly meaningful.
Visitors to labyrinths (a) experience a form
of gaze turned inward. The body is submitted
to a simple and repetitive routine of movement
that allows regular breathing and mental focus
on bodily rhythm. This deflection from compet-
ing forms of attention delivers the mind from
distraction and aligns body, mind, and sensation.
“Performing” the material image of a labyrinth
is often reported to be very refreshing and
enabling to focused contemplation. For prac-
titioners of Tantric Buddhism, imagery plays
an explicit role in meditation. Man.d.alas (b and
(a) An outdoor labyrinth near Michigan City, Indiana.
[Photograph by David Morgan]
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SACRED GAZE
c) are highly detailed schematic images that organize levels
of imagery around a central figure, a tutelary deity or bud-
dha with whom the meditator ultimately seeks identity
in mediation. The man.d.ala is a mnemonic device and
an instructional aid in preparing for meditation, visual-
izing the many stages of meditation and helping one to
remember them.

Seeing the deity or gazing upon the image of the saint
or savior is an important aspect of many different religious
traditions. Visual piety is a term that designates acts of
veneration or adoration that engage the viewer in a pow-
erful relationship with the sacred. Hindus perform darśan
as a visual engagement in which the believer’s vision of the
deity is reciprocated as the deity’s visual contact with the
believer (d). Some Christians contemplate the suffering
(b) LEFT. Seventeenth-century painting of the meditational
deity Hevajra with Skati, the female embodiment of energy,
gouache on silk, Tibet. [The Art Archive/Musé Guimet Paris/Dagli
Orti] (c) BELOW. Novice monks from Simtokha, a Buddhist
dzong near Thimphu, Bhutan, contribute to a sand man.d.ala.
[©Jeremy Horner/Corbis]
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SACRED GAZE
of Jesus or the saints as a way of participating empatheti-
cally in their passion and thereby experiencing pain and
suffering as transfigured into a likeness or kinship with
the sacred figure. An especially theatrical performance of
empathy is enabled by Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s well known
sculpture and architectural installation, the Cornaro
Chapel (e), in which the viewer is invited to gaze on the
sensuous vision of Saint Teresa of Ávila, who receives an
ecstatic visitation of pain in the form of a golden arrow
administered by an angel. In her autobiographical account
of the mystical life, The Interior Castle, Saint Teresa
describes the experience visualized by Bernini’s sculpture:
“I know that this distress seems to penetrate to [the soul’s]
very bowels; and that, when He that has wounded [the
soul] draws out the arrow, the bowels seem to come with
(d) RIGHT. An Indian couple prays before a domestic shrine to
the goddess Laks.mī, wife of Vis.n.u, during the Dīvalī festival.
[©Arvind Garg/Corbis] (e) BELOW. An eighteenth-century paint-
ing of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s sculpture (1645–1652) of the
ecstacy of Saint Teresa of Ávila in the Cornaro Chapel of
the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
[©Eric Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.]
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SACRED GAZE
(f ) El Greco, The Burial of Count Orgaz, 1586, in the church of
it, so deeply does it feel this love” (Sixth Mansion, chap.
Santo Tomé, Toledo, Spain. [©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.]
2). Bernini has included opera boxes on either side of the
event, in which members of the Cornaro family devoutly
witness the mystic spectacle. Above, the heavens open in a
dazzling epiphany and illuminate the central event below.
The artist’s intention is not to craft a lurid spectacle, but
to create a compelling image of the saint’s embodied
spirituality, in which pain was not explicitly erotic, but the
register of divine presence.

The intermingling of heavenly and earthly domains
was treated by another important artist. Vision is carefully
parsed as a system of visual relays in El Greco’s master-
work, The Burial of Count Orgaz (f ). The viewer’s gaze is
met by the young boy in the lower left and directed by his
gesture to the body of the dead count, who is embraced
by Saint Augustine. Another level of gestures and gazes
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SACRED GAZE
directs the viewer upward to the angel ushering the soul
of the count (the body of an infant) through a luminous
conduit into the celestial domain where it is received
first by the Madonna, who receives the homage of John
the Baptist, who looks upward to the enthroned Christ.
This succession of relays forms a vertical hierarchy that
structures the ascent of the soul and maps the ontology of
iconic devotion. Venerating the images of the saints means
directing one’s worship of God in and through Christ.

Jews, Muslims, and Protestant Christians often insist
that they do not practice an iconic piety, but their tradi-
tions are not without visual forms of devotion. The Way to
Happiness (g) is a good example of a Protestant configura-
tion of the gaze. Instead of looking at an icon of Jesus, the
young woman portrayed in this print by Nathaniel Cur-
rier looks longingly, with gleaming eyes, to the memory
of her parents’ devotional reading of scripture as she medi-
tates prayerfully on the Bible. The print deftly interweaves
reading, seeing, and remembering as corresponding acts
of piety. For Chinese literati and artists such as Ma Yuan,
who practiced an erudite and aesthetically refined Dao-
(g) ABOVE. Nathaniel Currier, The Way to Happiness, c. 1860–
ism, images of sages contemplating nature (h) were wist-
1870, lithograph. [Courtesy of the Billy Graham Center Museum,
fully poetic ways of evoking a mindfulness of simplicity
Wheaton, Ill.] (h) BELOW. Ma Yuan, (active 1190–1225) Bare
and a rustic transcendence of urban complexities and life
Willows and Distant Mountains, ink on mounted silk fan, China.
at court during the Song dynasty. Modern viewers might
[©Burstein Collection/Corbis]
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SACRED GAZE
find something of an equivalent refuge in Tobi Kahn’s
paintings of marine horizons (i), in which the portentous
contact of water and sky suggests something mythical,
a moment of revelation about to occur. Like Ma Yuan’s
painting, the viewer is urged to regard the natural world
as pregnant with meaning that cannot be spoken, only
glimpsed.

Painters such as Ma Yuan and Tobi Kahn focus the
viewer’s attention on the material qualities of paint and
canvas, while other image makers direct our attention
to new media that rely on streams of electronic signals.
Nam June Paik’s TV Buddha (j) explores the relevance of
videography for Buddhist meditation. One wonders who
the real Buddha is: the statue of the seated figure or the
image on the video monitor? The two seem inextricably
and perpetually engaged in a single loop, mediating one
another. By equating meditation and mediation, this work
demonstrates strikingly how the sacred gaze constructs
religious experience: to see the other is to think it and to
provide thereby the medium for contemplating the self.
A variation of this contemplative use of new media is the
(i) TOP. Tobi Kahn, Ya-Ir XX, 1999, oil on canvas. [©1999
Tobi Kahn] (j) ABOVE. Nam June Paik, TV Buddha, 1974.
web user’s devotional exercises at goddess sites. Coursing
[Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam]
down a seamless electronic scroll, the viewer consumes the
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SACRED GAZE
site in glancing movements of the eye, beholding not a
discrete image, but an ever-shifting screen of pixels.

The destruction of imagery is actually a fundamental
part of religious visual culture. The erasure of Buddhist
and Navaho sand man.d.alas (c) is a necessary part of their
ritual significance. The histories of Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam offer countless instances of the ritual destruc-
tion of images. For example, the Taliban in Afghanistan
destroyed ancient carvings of the Buddha at Bamiyan (k)
in the face of widespread objections. They did so in order
to broadcast the militancy of their version of Islam, know-
ing that the act would elicit an unambivalent response
through the instantaneous loop of global media, but also
because the images may genuinely have offended their
religious sensibility. Prompted by the rhetoric of icono-
clastic audacity, the viewer glares at the broken image,
either to celebrate its destruction or to loathe its destroyers
in paroxysms of disgust. In yet another manner of icono-
clasm, the Russian artist Kasimir Malevich both negated
and reaffirmed the long Russian history of icon painting
and veneration in his image Black Cross (l). Whereas
icon painting necessarily focused on the face and body
of the saints, whose veneration was a fundamental aspect
of Orthodox liturgy and devotion, Malevich’s painting
cancels the presence of the face with a bold geometry
that both denies presence and reasserts it in the austere
(k) ABOVE. Colossal standing Buddha in Bamiyan, Afghanistan,
contructed no later than the sixth century ce, and destroyed
2001 by the Taliban. [©Reuters/Corbis] (l) LEFT. Kasimir
Malevich, Black Cross, 1915, oil on canvas. [CNAC/MNAM/Dist.
Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, N.Y.]
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SACRED GAZE
abstraction of the cross. If the sacramental materiality of
the human body is gone, the robust darkness of the cross
replaces it with a new and foreboding presence. The shape
of absence is the symbol of hope.
René
Magritte’s
Le Rossignol (The nightingale) (m)
may appear irreligious by causing the viewer to blink at
the absurd juxtaposition of God in heaven and a roaring
locomotive. The two images belie one another, though
God comes off the worse. Thwarting the sacred hierarchy
of El Greco’s painting (f ), Magritte’s image suggests that
the same universe is not big enough to contain the world-
view of industrial technology and the traditional deity
perched on a cloudy throne above. Yet Magritte may use
this iconoclastic device to suggest that the traditional con-
ception of God is limited. An effective way to transcend
the constraints of an idea is to violate its sanctity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Eck, Diana L. Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India, 3d ed.
New York, 1998.
Latour, Bruno, and Peter Weibel, eds. Iconoclash: Beyond the Image
Wars in Science, Religion, and Art. Karlsruhe, Germany, and
Cambridge, Mass., 2002.
Morgan, David. Visual Piety: A History and Theory of Popular
(m) René Magritte, Le Rossignol (The nightingale), 1955,
Religious Images. Berkeley, 1998.
gouache on paper. [©Herscovici/Art Resource, N.Y.]
Teresa of Ávila. Interior Castle. Translated by E. Allison Peers.
Garden City, 1961.
Wu Hung. The Double Screen: Medium and Representation in Chi-
nese Painting. Chicago, 1996.
David Morgan ()
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C O N P
T I N U E D
PIUS IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, 1792–1878), pope of the Roman Catholic
Church (1846–1878). Born on May 13 into a family belonging to the gentry of the Papal
States, the future pope had his priestly formation delayed by an epilepsy-like illness. This
left him with an excessively impulsive temperament for the rest of his life.
Mastai was ordained at Rome on April 10, 1815, and in an age when most young
priests aimed at a successful career in the church, he stood out because of his piety and
complete detachment from ecclesiastical honors. Serving as an assistant to the papal dele-
gate to Chile (1823–1825) gave him an opportunity to see not only the difficulties that
liberal governments with regalist tendencies could cause the church but also the new di-
mensions that missionary problems were acquiring. As bishop of Spoleto (1827), then
of Imola (1832), in a region largely won over to the liberal and nationalist ideals of the
Risorgimento, he won esteem not only for his pastoral zeal and sympathy for Italian patri-
otic aspirations, but also for his desire to improve the outmoded and repressive regime
of the Papal States.
At the death of Gregory XVI, Mastai, a cardinal since 1840, became the preferred
candidate of those conservatives who thought it necessary to make some concession to
aspirations for a modernization of the administration of the pontifical state. He was elect-
ed pope on the second day of the conclave, June 16, 1846.
The first months of Pius IX’s pontificate seemed to confirm the reputation of “liber-
al” that reactionary circles in Rome had pinned on this enlightened conservative. Disillu-
sionment soon set in: first, in the area of internal reforms, because the new pope had no
intention of transforming the Papal States into a modern constitutional state, and, second,
when he refused to intervene in the war of independence against Austria because he
thought such a step would be incompatible with his religious mission as common father
of all the faithful. Economic difficulties and the pope’s lack of political experience finally
precipitated a crisis. The Roman uprisings of 1848–1849, crushed with the help of a
French expeditionary force, left Pius IX more convinced than ever that there was an inher-
C LOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CORNER. Fifteenth-century woodcut depicting the burning of the Jews.
[©Bettmann/Corbis]; Sixth-century BCE Laconian cup depicting Atlas and the punishment of
Prometheus. Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican Museums. [©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.]; The
pyramids of Giza, Egypt: Menkaure (foreground), Khafre, and Khufu. [©Yann Arthus-
Bertrand/Corbis]; The Temple of Poseidon in Sounion, Greece. [©Jan Butchofsky-Houser/Corbis];
Nineteenth-century carving of the Polynesian god Rongo, from the Gambier Islands. Museo
Missionario Etnologico, Vatican Museums. [©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.] .
7179
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PIUS IX
ent connection between the principles of the French Revolu-
cated by a scientistic conception of progress of the primacy
tion (1789) and the destruction of traditional social, moral,
of what theologians call the supernatural order: the biblical
and religious values.
vision of humanity and salvation history, which is opposed
to an interpretation of history as a progressive emancipation
The reactionary restoration that followed upon the
from religious values and to such a great confidence in
pope’s return to Rome after his flight to Gaeta was to play
human potentialities that there is no room for a redeemer.
into the hands of Cavour (Camillo Benso), who exploited the
If we are to understand the inflexibility with which Pius IX
discontent of the middle classes and was able in 1860 to
fought his battle against liberalism, “the error of the centu-
annex the greatest part of the Papal States. In 1870, the Ital-
ry,” as he called it, we must see this struggle as the center of
ian army took advantage of the Franco-Prussian War to oc-
his efforts to focus Christian thinking once again on the fun-
cupy Rome and its environs. Pius IX, who saw himself less
damental data of revelation. In his own mind, the First Vati-
as a dethroned ruler than as the owner of a property for
can Council (1869–1870), which was interrupted by the
which he was responsible to the entire Catholic world, felt
entry of the Italians into Rome, was to be the crown upon
he could not accept the unification of Italy and attempted,
these efforts.
with little success, to organize Italian Catholic resistance.
Historians have for a long time judged the pontificate
Politically inexpert, Pius IX was advised mostly by men
of Pius IX negatively because of his failures in the realm of
who judged affairs with the intransigence of theoreticians
diplomacy and his fruitless efforts to resist the advance of lib-
lacking any contact with the contemporary mind. He never
eralism. More recently, however, scholars have come to see
understood that in the modern world the problem of the
that matters were more complex and that Pius IX’s activities
Holy See’s spiritual independence could no longer be re-
were a notable help in strengthening the Roman Catholic
solved by the anachronistic preservation of a papal political
Church in its religious sphere, whatever may be thought of
sovereignty. Thereafter, obsessed by what he called the “revo-
certain debatable tendencies.
lution,” he identified himself increasingly with the conserva-
tive governments whose support seemed to provide the most
Missionary expansion advanced at an increasingly rapid
effective guarantee for the maintenance and ultimate restora-
pace on five continents during the thirty-two years of Pius
tion of the Roman state. Moreover, seeing that the pope’s
IX’s pontificate, and thriving churches were developed in
temporal power had been challenged in the name of the lib-
Canada, Australia, and especially the United States as a result
eral conception of the state and of the right of peoples to self-
of Roman Catholic emigration from Europe, but his person-
determination, he issued more and more protests against lib-
al role in this expansion was secondary. On the other hand,
eralism. The most spectacular of these were the encyclical
he made an important contribution to the progress of the ul-
Quanta cura (1864) and the Syllabus of Errors that accompa-
tramontane movement, which caused guidance of the uni-
nied it.
versal church to be concentrated increasingly in the pope’s
hands. This movement, given solemn approbation by Vati-
Pius IX was never able to distinguish between, on the
can I’s definition of the pope’s personal infallibility and his
one hand, what was of positive value in the confused aspira-
primacy of jurisdiction, did not go unresisted by those who
tions of the age for a democratization of public life and was
saw the advantages of pluralism in the local churches and
preparing in the long run for a greater spiritualization of the
feared to see the episcopates come under the thumb of the
Catholic apostolate and, on the other hand, what represented
Roman Curia. But Pius IX, whose very real virtues were ide-
a compromise with principles alien to the Christian spirit.
alized and who benefited from a special sympathy because
He saw in liberalism only an ideology that denied the super-
of his repeated misfortunes, succeeded in rousing in the
natural. He confused democracy with anarchy, and he could
Roman Catholic world a real “devotion to the pope” which
not grasp the historical impossibility of claiming for the
remarkably facilitated the enthusiastic adhesion of the masses
Roman Catholic Church both protection from the state and
and the lower clergy to the new conception of the pope’s role
the independence from it he valued so highly.
in the church. While Pius IX did all he could to encourage
As a result, Pius IX was unable to adapt the Roman
this trend, he did so less from personal ambition or a liking
Catholic Church to the profound political and social devel-
for a theocracy than for essentially pastoral reasons: the
opments of his time. Nor was he able to provide the impulse
movement seemed to him to be both a condition for the res-
that Catholic thought needed if it was to respond effectively
toration of Catholic life wherever government interference
to the excesses of rationalism and materialistic positivism. By
in the local churches threatened to smother apostolic zeal
abandoning control of the church’s intellectual life to narrow
and the best means of regrouping all the vital forces of
minds that could only condemn new tendencies as incom-
Roman Catholicism for response to the mounting wave of
patible with traditional positions, he lost valuable time. The
“secularization.”
real roots of the modernist crisis may be traced back to his
No less important were the largely successful efforts of
pontificate.
Pius IX to promote the renewal of the religious orders and
Central to the pope’s zeal was a confused and clumsily
congregations, encourage the raising of the spiritual level of
expressed perception of the need to remind a society intoxi-
the clergy, and improve the quality of ordinary Catholic life.
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PLATO
7181
During his pontificate there developed an immense move-
PLANTS SEE VEGETATION
ment of eucharistic devotion, devotion to the Sacred Heart,
and Marian devotion (the latter being encouraged by the def-
inition in 1854 of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin
Mary). This movement has sometimes been faulted as super-
PLATO. Plato (c. 428–348 BCE), a Greek philosopher and
ficial, but the multiplication of charitable works and pious
founder of the Athenian Academy, was an Athenian citizen
associations and the immense development of the religious
of high birth who grew up during the Peloponnesian War
congregations give the lie to this simplistic judgment. Pius
(431–404 BCE). He was a member of the circle of young men
IX himself made a large contribution to these developments.
who surrounded the charismatic Socrates (469–399 BCE).
First, he was an example of personal piety for the devotional
After Socrates died, Plato withdrew from public life. He trav-
movement. Second, and above all, he applied himself system-
eled to southern Italy and Sicily, where he not only met the
atically to energizing, and at times even pushing, the devel-
tyrant Dionysius I and began a lifelong involvement with
opment that had begun right after the great revolutionary
Dion of Syracuse, but also came in contact with the Pythago-
crisis. It was precisely because he regarded an intransigent at-
rean school that flourished in southern Italy. Soon after his
titude as indispensable to this work of Christian restoration
return to Athens (c. 387 BCE) Plato began meeting with col-
that he forced himself, despite his personal preference for
leagues and pupils at his home near the grove of Academus
conciliation and appeasement, to repeat unceasingly certain
outside the walls of Athens. The rest of his life—apart from
principles that he believed formed the basis for a Christian
two ill-starred visits to Syracuse at the behest of Dion—was
restoration of society.
devoted to teaching and inquiry in this community, where,
Pius IX was handicapped by a superficial intellectual
in dialogue between teacher and pupils, the mathematical
formation that often kept him from grasping the complexity
disciplines were pursued for the sake of their contribution
of problems. In addition, the mystical confidence this deeply
to an understanding of the foundations of moral and politi-
devout man had in Providence and the excessive importance
cal life (see Republic 526d–532c). Plato used the dialogue
he attached to prophecies and other manifestations of the ex-
form in writing, not only to portray Socrates himself (in the
traordinary made him too ready to see in the political up-
so-called early dialogues, such as Apology, Crito, Euthyphro,
heavals in which the church was involved only a new episode
and Laches), but also to present the outlines of his own grow-
in the great conflict between God and Satan. But having said
ing and changing thought. In the great dialogues of the mid-
this we must not forget the very real qualities of the man—
dle period—Phaedo, Republic, Symposium, Phaedrus—Plato
simplicity, refinement, serenity, and courage in adversity—
develops the basic themes of his philosophical vision. In the
and of the pastor, whose ruling concern was always to be first
late dialogues, he pursues a variety of insights and difficulties
and foremost a churchman, responsible before God for the
concerning the nature of knowledge and of being (Theaete-
defense of threatened Christian values.
tus, Parmenides, Sophist), produces a treatise on the structures
of the visible cosmos (Timaeus), and offers reconsidered ac-
SEE ALSO Modernism, article on Christian Modernism; Ul-
counts of the best constitution for a city-state (Statesman,
tramontanism; Vatican Councils, article on Vatican I.
Laws).
PLATO’S DOCTRINE. The main feature that characterizes tra-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ditional Greek religion before Plato is the distinction be-
Some of Pius IX’s addresses can be found in Abbé Marcone’s La
tween gods and human beings, or immortals and mortals. In-
parole de Pie IX, 2d ed. (Paris, 1868), and Pasquale de Fran-
spired by minority religious beliefs, Plato reacted against this
ciscis’s Discorsi del sommo pontifice Pio IX, 4 vols. (Rome,
1873–1882). Some letters are in Pietro Pirri’s Pio IX e Vit-
presupposition and assigned to human beings the goal of as-
torio Emanuele II dal loro carteggio privato, 5 vols. (Rome,
similating themselves to god. This radical reversal, to which
1944–1961).
the Platonic tradition was to lay claim throughout antiquity,
The carefully written work of Carlo Falconi, Il giovane Mastai
was based on a twofold opposition: first, between intelligible
(Milan, 1981) covers only the first thirty-five years. The na-
realities and sensible things, which participate in the intelligi-
ively hagiographical work by Alberto Serafini, Pio Nono
ble; and secondly, between soul and body. Soul accounts for
(Vatican City, 1958), stops at his election to the papacy. The
the spontaneous movement of a living body, yet it can sepa-
excellent work by Giacomo Martina, Pio IX, 3 vols. (Rome,
rate itself from its original body in order to transfer itself into
1974–1990), is essential for a good understanding of the
another one.
pope’s personality. On the pontificate, see Joseph Sch-
midlin’s Papstgeschichte der neuesten Zeit, vol. 2 (Munich,
Plato maintained the existence of “Forms” (eide) in
1934) and my Le pontificat de Pie IX, 1846–1878, 2d ed.,
order to explain how this world, where everything is in cons-
“Histoire de l’Église,” vol. 21 (Paris, 1962). E. E. Y. Hales’s
tant change, presents enough permanence and stability for
Pio IX: A Study in European Politics and Religion in the Nine-
human beings to be able to know it, act upon it, and talk
teenth Century (London, 1954) is superficial and focuses
about it. In the belief that such stability and permanence
chiefly on the political aspects.
were not to be found in the sensible world, Plato therefore
ROGER AUBERT (1987)
postulated the existence of a reality of another kind that
Translated from French by Matthew J. O’Connell
would fulfill these requirements and explain why, within that
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7182
PLATO
which never stops changing, there is something that does not
(81a3, 83e1, 84a1), the Republic (VI 500e3, VII 517d5, X
change. In the Phaedo (79b), Socrates admits “that there exist
611e2), the Statesman (269d6), the Theaetetus (176e4), the
two species of beings: on the one hand, the visible species,
Parmenides (134e4), and the Philebus (22c6, 62a8). Here,
and on the other the invisible species.” In fact, these two spe-
the adjective has a hyperbolic value, which implies opposi-
cies of beings are separate. Nevertheless, the separation be-
tion with regard to “human” (anthropinon). Theion desig-
tween the “intelligible” and the “sensible” cannot be com-
nates what is perfect in its kind as a function of its relation
plete, simply because the existence of the “Forms” must
with that which bestows this perfection: the intelligible,
contribute a solution to the paradoxes that “sensible” partic-
which is therefore also theion. The intelligible brings the god
ulars never cease generating. “Sensible” realities receive their
its nourishment and its very divinity (Phaedrus 247d). Thus,
names from “intelligible” realities. Above all, “sensible” can
to imitate the god, who is wise (he is a sophos), human beings
be truly known only through the intermediary of the “intelli-
must seek to become wise themselves (philosophoi) and to
gible.”
tend toward that wisdom that is conferred by the contempla-
tion of the intelligible.
Sensible things are bodies, which, as is explained in the
Timaeus, are made up of the four elements—fire, air, water,
For Plato, a living being is one endowed with a body
and earth—and of them alone. Because the body (soma) has
and a soul. Among living beings, however, some are mortal
come into being, no body is indestructible in itself (Timaeus
and others are not. Since the soul is by definition immortal
28a3). Nevertheless, a distinction must be made between the
(Phaedrus 245a–d), a living being can therefore be declared
bodies that receive their motion from outside and those that
to be “mortal” only as a function of its body. Those living
move spontaneously because they are endowed with a soul
beings whose body can be destroyed are mortal, and as a con-
(psyche) that can be directed by a higher faculty: the intellect
sequence the soul can separate itself from the body it moves
(nous). The intellect enables the perception of the intelligible
(see Timaeus 85e). This is the case for mankind and all the
realities in which sensible things participate.
beings that inhabit the air, the earth, and the waters (see Ti-
maeus 90e–92c). However, there are living beings whose soul
The soul is defined as the self-moving principle of all
and body are united forever because their body cannot be de-
motion, physical as well as psychic (Laws X, 896e–897a).
stroyed. The body of these living bodies is not in itself inde-
The immediate consequence of this definition is as follows:
structible, for, according to an axiom of Greek thought, all
we must attribute immortality (Phaedrus 245a–d) to the soul
that is born is liable to perish (see Timaeus 28a and 38b). It
as a whole, which, by definition, can have no beginning or
is the goodness of he who has fabricated them that ensures
end. Particular souls, and namely those of mortal beings
that they will not be destroyed (Timaeus 41a–c).
(those of human beings, which can transfer into other
In addition to being endowed with an indissoluble
human bodies and even into the bodies of animals), are, as
body, the gods possess a soul, whose higher faculty—intellect
shall be seen, subject to cycles of ten thousand years, at the
(nous)—is constantly active and seizes its object (that is, in-
end of which they lose the features that characterize them.
telligible reality) immediately and without obstacles. Once
In the course of the following cycle, they acquire new charac-
his soul is incarnated, the human being can accede to the in-
teristics.
telligible only through the intermediary of his senses, at the
WHAT PLATO UNDERSTANDS BY “GOD” (THEOS). If we
end of the complex process to which Plato gives the name
wish to speak of religion in Plato, we must first ask ourselves
of reminiscence (anamnesis), which enables the soul to re-
what Plato understands by “god” (theos), that is, by “immor-
member the intelligible realities it contemplated when it was
tal.” When, in the Phaedrus (246c–d), he tries to describe
separated from all earthly bodies. Ultimately, it is the quality
what a god is, Plato shows himself to be very prudent. He
of this contemplation that makes a god a god. In brief, for
begins by situating his discourse not on the level of logos,
Plato a god is a living being endowed with a body that is in-
which is based on argued knowledge that makes a claim to
destructible, not in itself but through the will of the demi-
truth, but on that of mythos, or a story that remains likely;
urge, and with a soul that possesses a perfect intellect.
and he concludes by an appeal for benevolence on the part
As compounds of a body and a soul, the gods form part
of the divinity, which takes the form of a prayer. There is,
of an extremely vast hierarchical structure. They are situated
however, a definition that will not vary: a god is an immortal
at the summit, together with the demons (see Symposium
living being.
202d), the most famous of whom is Eros. Then come human
It follows that since the intelligible realities (including
beings, men and women; then the animals that live in the
the Good) are defined as intelligible forms, they cannot be
air, on earth, and in the water, in which human beings may
considered as gods. Since they are incorporeal, these intelligi-
come to be incarnated by virtue of the quality of their intel-
ble forms cannot have a body, and since they are immutable,
lectual activity; at the very bottom, we must range the plants
they can neither be nor have a soul, which, by definition, is
(Timaeus 76e–77a). Two criteria enable the gods to be isolat-
a motion that moves itself. In addition, Plato never qualifies
ed from all the rest of living beings: their indestructibility
an intelligible form—even the highest one, that of the
and the quality of their intellect. This being the case, let us
Good—as a god (theos), although it may happen that the in-
draw up an inventory of the beings that may be qualified as
telligible is qualified as “divine” (theion) as it is in the Phaedo
“gods.”
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7183
BEINGS THAT MAY QUALIFY AS “GODS.” First, there is the
The soul of the traditional gods is in every point similar
universe, whose constitution is described in the Timaeus.
in structure to that of human beings (see Phaedrus 246a–d);
The body of the world, which is unique, has the appearance
this is why the gods can be subject to aggressiveness and ex-
of a vast sphere, bereft of organs and of members. This
perience feelings and passions. Unlike that of human beings,
sphere includes within itself the totality of elements so that
the soul of the gods is always good because their soul is per-
nothing can come to attack it from outside, and it is there-
manently guided by their intellect, which perfectly contem-
fore exempt from illness and death. What is more, the demi-
plates the intelligible (Phaedrus 247c–e). In this magnificent
urge, because of his goodness, does not wish the universe to
passage, we find a constant mixture between tradition and
be subject to corruption. Within this body he placed a soul,
novelty, myth and philosophy, where myth is the object of
which is situated between the sensible and the intelligible
a transposition. The gods, whom the poets describe as lead-
and is endowed with a mathematical structure. In fact, its
ing a life of banquets on Olympus, where they feed on special
structure is twofold: motor, since it moves bodies as a whole,
food, nectar and ambrosia, are described in the Phaedrus as
including the celestial bodies; and cognitive, insofar as it is
nourishing their soul with the intelligible. We should also
Providence. The motion that animates the world is as simple
note their peculiar language, which is more correct than that
as possible: that of a sphere rotating around its axis, from
of men, probably because of the quality of their contempla-
west to east, on the spot. This physical motion is associated
tion.
in turn with a twofold cognitive faculty, which seems to deal
This contemplation enables assimilation to the god:
with the intelligible and the sensible; this is a necessary con-
“Such is the life of the gods. Let us move on to the other
dition if one admits that the world soul must rule over the
souls. That which is the best, because it follows the god and
universe. The world soul, associated with an indestructible
seeks to resemble it . . .” (Phaedrus 247e–249a). This is the
body that it dominates, is in addition endowed with an intel-
sense in which we must understand that the intelligible forms
lect that is perfect and whose activity is incessant. How, then,
are qualified as “divine.” However, the motion that animates
can we avoid concluding that the universe is a blessed god
the traditional gods is less uniform than that which animates
(Laws VII 821a)?
the celestial bodies. In the central myth of the Phaedrus, they
The celestial bodies (made up of fire) and the earth
rise and fall, although many of the verbs that describe these
(made up, above all, of earth) are qualified as “divine” be-
movements feature the idea of circularity.
cause they meet the criteria stated above. They are indeed
immortal living beings that consist of a body that cannot be
There remains the most controversial case: the demiour-
destroyed, and of their own soul, endowed with an intellect.
gos of the Timaeus, to whom we must assimilate the phutour-
A hierarchy is established between the celestial bodies, associ-
gos of the Republic. He who fashions the universe in the Ti-
ated with their motion, to which the passage mentioned
maeus is explicitly qualified as a “god”: “Thus, in conformity
bears witness. The fixed stars proceed from east to west in
with an explanation which is merely probable, we must say
a perfectly uniform way, for the motion of their soul does
that this world (cosmos), which is a living being provided with
not give rise to any interference. The soul governing the wan-
a soul that is endowed with an intellect, was truly engendered
dering stars introduces anomalies in the motion of their tra-
as a result of the reflective decision of a god” (Timaeus
jectories. The earth, for its part, remains at rest at the center
30b–c). This god is, however, described as a worker who
of the universe simply because in it conflicting types of mo-
thinks, has feelings, speaks, and acts. At Timaeus 29e30b it
tion cancel each other out.
becomes clear that the demiurge is a god endowed with an
intellect: he “reasons” and “reflects”; he “takes things into
The traditional gods are mentioned in an enigmatic pas-
consideration” and he “foresees,” and he is author of acts of
sage: “Thus, when all the gods, both those whose circular
“will.” His responsibility is engaged; he “speaks”; and when
motions we observe, and those who show themselves only
he contemplates his works, he “rejoices.” In addition, the de-
when they so wish, the begetter of this universe spoke to
scription of his activity is scarcely compatible with the ab-
them” (Timaeus 41a). These are also living immortal beings,
sence of a body. Besides being qualified as a “father,” the per-
endowed with a soul and a body, although it is hard to know
sonage who causes the universe to appear is qualified as
what the body of the traditional gods is made of. We can
“demiurge,” “maker,” wax-modeller, and carpenter, and he
suppose it is fire, since we find in the Timaeus a passage
is a builder whose most important function is assembling.
where the different species of living beings are associated
Moreover, if one considers the verbs that metaphorically de-
with an element: the gods with fire, the birds with air, the
scribe his action, one realizes that the demiurge carries out
living beings that walk or crawl with earth, and fish with
several activities that are typical of some arts and crafts.
water (Timaeus 39e–40a). One might think that the associa-
tion of the divinity with fire holds only for celestial bodies,
However, nowhere is it said that the demiurge has a soul
but it is, it seems, permissible to extrapolate to the traditional
and a body simply because it is he who fashioned soul and
gods for two reasons: (1) in the next paragraphs the celestial
body in their totality. This is probably the reason some com-
bodies are mentioned first (Timaeus 40a–d), then the tradi-
mentators have maintained that the demiurge cannot be sep-
tional gods (Timaeus 40d–e); and (2) the demiurge then ad-
arated from the soul, of which he must, one way or another,
dresses the totality of these gods (Timaeus 41a–c).
be like the intellect. Yet it seems very difficult to accept this
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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PLATO
position, for this would amount to pulling up the ladder one
posed by destiny, which involve a system of retribution based
has just used. In summary, Plato describes the demiurge,
on reincarnation.
even if only metaphorically, as a god endowed with a body
and a soul.
In order to account for the soul’s relations with an inde-
structible body, Plato, beginning with the Republic, distin-
At the summit of the divine Platonic hierarchy, then,
guishes three powers within the soul, the first of which is in
we find the demiurge, who fashions the other gods. He is
itself immortal, whereas the two others enjoy immortality
thus considered as the god who always is, and he is in a para-
only as long as the body over which they reign is indestructi-
doxical situation with regard to the soul and the body he is
ble. The immortal power of soul—that is, the intellect
supposed to fashion. Then we find the universe, which
(nous)—contemplates the intelligible realities, of which sen-
comes into being as a result of the demiurge’s action; this god
sible things are mere images. By its means, human beings are
takes on the appearance of the most perfect form in that he
akin to a god, or rather to a daimon. The other two powers
rotates on the spot. Then there come the fixed stars and the
are: (1) the spirit (thumos) that enables mortal living beings
planets, whose body is also spherical: but the fixed stars take
to defend themselves, and (2) the desire (epithumia) that en-
on a circular motion that is perfectly regular if we compare
ables them to remain alive and reproduce. Whereas the intel-
it to that of the planets, which feature certain irregularities.
lect can be said to be immortal, these two powers are declared
The status of the earth is also problematic; bereft of motion,
to be mortal because they are associated with functions that
it rests at the center of the universe and presents an imper-
enable the survival of the sensible body to which the soul is
fectly spherical form. The traditional gods, for their part, are
attached, albeit only for a lifetime.
subject to motions that are not only circular but also linear,
When applied to mortal living beings, and in particular
for they can rise and descend in the heavens.
to human beings, the psychic tripartition just mentioned is
In brief, whether one looks at traditional mythology, at
associated with one that is corporeal and even social. In the
Plato, at Aristotle, at the Stoics or the Epicureans, the gods
Timaeus, Plato associates each power of soul with a place in
are always considered as living immortal beings, endowed
the body. The lowest or desiring power, which ensures the
with an indestructible body and a soul that possesses an intel-
functions of survival (by provoking the desire for food) and
lect. The idea that there may be gods who do not possess ei-
of reproduction (by provoking sexual desire), is situated
ther a soul or a body is, it seems, contemporary with the ef-
under the diaphragm, in the area of the liver. Above the dia-
forts made by the Middle Platonists to ensure the
phragm, in the area of the heart, is the spirited power, which
preeminence of the first god. In this divinity, they saw both
enables human beings to remain alive by ensuring defensive
the Demiurge of the Timaeus, and the Good of the Republic,
functions, both within and without. This second power en-
which they considered as an intellect in actuality, whose in-
ables a mediation between the desiring power and reason, sit-
telligible forms were the thoughts. In addition, it bears the
uated in the head, which is responsible for all the processes
mark of the definitive assimilation carried out by Plotinus
of knowledge that can be expressed in speech. In human be-
between the Intellect and the Intelligible that all the later
ings, only reason is immortal, for the spirited power and the
Neoplatonists were to follow. Even in this context, however,
desiring power are restricted to ensuring the functions that
there remained an important place for the lower gods, en-
enable destructible bodies to maintain themselves in good
dowed with a soul and a body. The same holds true for the
working order for a specific time. When this body is de-
Neoplatonists.
stroyed, the spirited power and the desiring power associated
with it can only disappear, and this is why they are qualified
Since the gods possess a soul whose highest faculty, the
as “mortal” (Timaeus 69d).
intellect (nous), is constantly active, and this intellect grasps
its object, the Forms (eide), immediately and without obsta-
This psychic tripartition, associated with a corporeal
cles, they are necessarily good (agathoi), since evil is equiva-
one, is in addition related to a functional tripartition in a so-
lent to ignorance; hence the saying that “No one commits
cial context. At the end of Book II of the Republic, Plato pro-
evil willingly.” One can understand, then, why Plato con-
poses an organization in which individuals are distributed in
demns the poets who describe the gods indulging in unjust
functional groups in accordance with this hierarchy, based on
or indecent acts. Since every god is good, it follows that none
the predominance in the human individual of one of three
can be responsible for any evil (Republic X 617e). Thus, in
powers: intellect (nous), spirit (thumos), or desire (epithumia).
the myth of the Statesman, as in Book X of the Laws, the pos-
The most numerous group, responsible for ensuring the pro-
sibility of divinities opposing one another is rejected. This
duction of food and of wealth, is made up of farmers and
amounts to a condemnation of dualism.
craftsmen. This group is protected by guardians, or warriors,
responsible for ensuring the maintenance of order, both
MORTAL LIVING BEINGS. Beneath the gods in the hierarchy
within and outside the city. Insofar as they can possess nei-
are souls that possess an intellect like the gods but are liable
ther property nor money, the guardians are completely sepa-
to be attached to a body that, unlike that of the gods, is de-
rated from the producers, who, in exchange for the protec-
structible. These inferior souls are subject to temporality;
tion they receive from the guardians, must feed them and
their existence is marked by cycles of ten thousand years, im-
ensure their upkeep. From these functional groups, a very
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
PLATO
7185
small number of individuals are chosen, those who are in-
Within the psychic scale mentioned above, one notes
tended for higher education and the government of the city.
two discontinuities: (1) a discontinuity between the souls of
Soul, as an incorporeal whole, is immortal; yet one indi-
gods and of demons (which never fall into a body subject to
vidual soul can be attached to a particular body, which is,
destruction) and the souls of human beings and animals
for its part, subject to destruction. However, the soul is recy-
(which inhabit destructible bodies with diverse appearances);
cled every ten thousand years; in this way, Plato’s thought
and (2) a discontinuity between the souls of human beings
on soul is not so different from Asian (particularly Hindu)
and animals (which are endowed with a rational power) and
doctrines on reincarnation. We now turn to consider the
the souls of plants (which are reduced to the desiring power).
soul’s wanderings.
Let us consider one by one the consequences of these
During the first millennium (Phaedrus 245d–248c), the
two discontinuities.
soul is separated from all destructible bodies, whereas during
1. In this hierarchical system, only souls endowed with an
the following nine millennia (Phaedrus 248c–e), it passes
intellect are subject to a retributive system, which makes
from body to body as a function of the moral value of its pre-
them rise or fall on the scale of souls, incarnated accord-
vious existence, which is determined by the quality of its in-
ing to the quality of their intellectual activity. Gods and
tellectual activity. This intellectual activity is a reminiscence
demons are above this class, and plants are beneath it.
(anamnesis), or memory, of the soul’s contemplation of intel-
Gods and plants thus always remain at their level, at the
ligible realities when it was separated from all terrestrial bo-
highest or the lowest extremity.
dies. At the end of this first millennium, all souls that are
worthy of being associated with a sensible body inhabit the
2. As a result, human beings, who are situated at the up-
body of a man—that is, a male, even though the sexual or-
permost limit of the class of incarnate souls, must have
gans are still missing; and this association remains valid for
as their goal assimilation to the gods and the demons
the following millennium. A man who loves knowledge or
by seeking contemplation of the intelligible forms.
beauty and who has chosen an upright life for three consecu-
Hence the theme of the assimilation to the divinity by
tive millennia will be able to escape from the cycle of reincar-
the philosopher, who tends toward the knowledge, that
nations and rise back up to the heavens. The others will voy-
is, the contemplation of the intelligible forms, or true
age from one body to another, beginning with the third
reality.
millennium (Timaeus 90e–92c). The first category of bodies
3. The hierarchy of human beings and animals, which is
in which these imperfect souls may be incarnated is that of
a function of the exercise of intellectual activity, is
women: whoever displays cowardice enters into the body of
materialized by the body. The body, in which the soul
a woman, since virility is associated with war in ancient
is situated, illustrates the quality of that soul’s intellectu-
Greece. Only in the course of this millennium does the dis-
al activity; in short, the body is a “state of the soul.”
tinction of the sexes appear, thus allowing sexual reproduc-
tion. Then come incarnations in various kinds of what we
4. Like human beings, whether men or women, the soul
call “animals,” although there is no specific term in ancient
of animals is endowed with a rational power, and this
Greek to designate this category of living beings. They are
is true even if animals are what they are because they
classified as a function of the elements (beginning with the
make little or no use of their intellect. In any case, noth-
air, since fire is reserved for the gods), in a vertical order. At
ing prevents an animal, whatever it may be, from climb-
the top, birds fly through the air. Then come the living be-
ing back up the scale to become a human being.
ings that inhabit the surface of the earth; these are the quad-
It follows that changing the destiny of an animal may imply
rupeds, insects, and reptiles. Finally, there are the aquatic an-
eating the soul of a former human being. How, in this case,
imals: fish, shellfish, and others, which are the most stupid.
can the survival of human beings, who need to feed them-
In fact, Plato describes a psychic continuum in which
selves, be ensured without turning them into “anthropopha-
one finds a hierarchical order of gods, demons, human be-
gi”? By giving them as food a kind of living being that is not
ings, and the animals that live in the air, on the earth, and
endowed with intellect—namely, vegetables. After mention-
in the water—and even, as shall be seen, plants. Intellectual
ing the four types of living beings that populate the uni-
activity, conceived as the intuition of intelligible forms, con-
verse—the gods associated with fire; demons; human beings;
stitutes the criterion that enables a distinction to be made be-
and the birds, the animals, and the aquatic beasts—Timaeus
tween all these souls. Gods and demons contemplate the in-
rapidly mentions the origin of vegetables, which he associates
telligible forms directly, and, as it were, incessantly. Human
with the third, or desiring power of soul. However, this call
beings share this privilege only during a certain period of
for vegetarianism enters into conflict with the traditional sac-
their existence, when their souls are separated from all bo-
rifice (thusia) of the city, which implies slaughtering victims
dies. Once human souls have been incarnated, their contem-
and consuming their flesh. Scarcely mentioned in the Repub-
plation of the intelligible forms is mediate, since it must pass
lic, this kind of sacrifice seems to play an important role in
through the intermediary of the senses; above all, it is more
the city of the Laws. Does Plato accept this contradiction,
or less uncertain. By contrast, animals use their intellect less
or does he give a wider meaning to thusia? It is impossible
and less as one goes down the scale of beings.
to say.
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PLATO
TRANSMIGRATION OF THE SOUL. Scholars usually consider
fluence on Pythagoreanism and on Orphism. In this perspec-
that the transmigration of the soul was a dogma among the
tive, the question of which group—Orphics or Pythagore-
Orphics and the Pythagoreans and that Plato made it his
ans—influenced the other is meaningless. Pythagoreanism
own. The stakes here are important, insofar as the transmi-
and Orphism, like Plato, accepted and rejected some of the
gration of the soul is the basis of the doctrine of reminis-
prohibitions and doctrinal points of these religious move-
cence, which itself implies the notion of a separate intelligible
ments, which it is impossible to identify.
form that can be contemplated by the soul even when sepa-
From this perspective, all human beings and animals
rated from the body.
that inhabit air, earth, and water constitute a vast system of
However, none of the testimonies advanced to prove
symbols—symbols from the point of view of appearances,
that the Pythagoreans preached the doctrine of transmigra-
but also from the viewpoint of behavior, which justifies the
tion is decisive: whether it is that of Diogenes Laertios, who
recourse to a number of comparisons, images, and metaphors
claims to cite verses by Xenophanes that he attributes to Py-
in which animals play a role. In the Timaeus these symbols
thagoras (Diogenes Laertios VIII 36 = Diels-Kranz 21B7);
refer to different types of soul, whose moral quality is ulti-
of Aristotle (De anima I 3, 407b20 = Diels-Kranz 59 B39;
mately determined by their contemplation of the intelligible,
cf. also II 2, 414a22) on the soul’s entry into the body; of
according to a number of details that may seem ironic or ri-
Dicearchus on the dogmas that Pythagoras was the first to
diculous but that can be interpreted only in this sense: birds
introduce into Greece (Dicearchus, fr. 33 Wehrli = Porphy-
are naive astronomers, who think that sight is the ultimate
ry, Vita Pythagorica 19); or of Herodotus (IV 95–96), who
source of knowledge; quadrupeds need four feet in order to
affirms that the Greeks living in the region of the Black Sea
support their skull, which has been elongated by the defor-
attributed to Pythagoras the practices for obtaining immor-
mations of the revolutions of the circles of its rational power.
tality current among the Getae (Getai athanatizontes). There
Stupid terrestrial animals crawl; fish are even more stupid,
is every reason to believe that modern and contemporary his-
and the worst ignorance is that of shellfish.
torians of religions, following in the path of the Neopytha-
PLATO AND TRADITIONAL RELIGION. Plato thus agrees with
goreans, often project Plato’s doctrine of the soul on the
traditional mythology, particularly when he maintains that
teachings of Pythagoras, about which, objectively, we know
the gods have a body. However, even on this point he differs
nothing.
from his contemporaries. He can endure neither the idea that
In addition, no ancient testimony attributes explicitly
the gods have a corporeal aspect or a behavior that renders
the doctrine of transmigration to Orphism. All that is explic-
them akin to human beings (since the gods can only be good)
itly attributed to Orphism is the doctrine of the soul’s preex-
nor the idea that the gods may change in corporeal appear-
istence (a preexistence that is not necessarily individual), and
ance or in opinion. The violent criticisms that constitute
that of retribution in the next world. On this point as well,
Books II and III of the Republic, and the denunciation of the
the testimonies of Plato (Cratylus 400b–c; Phaedo 62b; Re-
poets in Book X, are clear proof of this. Only a mythology
public II 364e–365a; Laws IX 870d-e) and that of Aristotle
fabricated by poets under the control of those who know—
(De anima I5, 410b27) are insufficient to inspire persuasion.
that is, the philosophers—is permitted. Myths of this kind
can be used, together with a kind of rhetoric, as means of
The only way to affirm that Orphism maintains the
persuasion in the preambles to the laws for dissuading in ad-
transmigration of the soul would be to think that the priests
vance those who might be thinking of breaking a law, as is
and priestesses Plato mentions in the Meno (81a–e) are Or-
explained by the Athenian Stranger in Book IV of the Laws.
phic, or to slant in this direction the testimony of Herodotus
(II 123), who refers the doctrine of transmigration to the
A similar position can be observed in Book X of the
Egyptians. It is presumptuous to supply names that Herodo-
Laws, where the goal is to demonstrate to young atheists that:
tus will not even reveal and say that the people in question
(1) the gods exist, (2) they are interested in the fate of human
are Orphics. In addition, the passage from the Meno (81b–c)
beings, and (3) they are insensitive to all attempts to influ-
in which are cited a few verses traditionally attributed to Pin-
ence their judgment. This last point has the consequence of
dar (fr. 133 Bergk = 126 Bowra) does indeed evoke the doc-
rendering traditional religion obsolete. In this context there
trine of transmigration but refers it to priests and priestesses
can no longer be any question of making prayers or offering
intent on being able to account for the functions they fulfill;
sacrifices in an attempt to sway any particular god. The only
his goal is to make not only Pindar but also poets the spokes-
goal of the cult is to glorify the gods, with a view to assimilat-
men for this doctrine. The interpretation of this passage,
ing oneself to them by one’s contemplation.
where the names of Orpheus or of the Orphics never appear,
In summary, although he takes up many ideas concern-
remains debatable.
ing the gods in ancient Greece, Plato appears as a revolution-
In the face of so many confusions and uncertainties, the
ary when he assigns to human beings the goal of assimilating
only valid hypothesis at the present time is as follows: Pindar,
themselves to god, seeks to submit the myths that narrate the
Empedocles, Herodotus, and Plato were aware of the exis-
deeds and exploits of the gods to the control of the philoso-
tence of religious movements that maintained the doctrine
pher, and attributes to cultic acts and ceremonies the original
of transmigration. These movements seem to have had an in-
finality of the mere glorification of the gods.
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
PLATONISM
7187
SEE ALSO Dualism; Ficino, Marsilio; Gnosticism, article on
of Athens’ destruction by the Romans, accomplished by
Gnosticism from Its Origins to the Middle Ages; Herme-
Sulla in 86 BCE, the Academy had ceased to exercise any real
tism; Neoplatonism; Platonism; Soul, article on Greek and
influence on Platonic thought. Thereafter, Platonic schools
Hellenistic Concepts.
were founded in the most famous cities of the Roman Em-
pire, including Pergamum, Athens, and Alexandria. A Pla-
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depended on a First Principle (The One Which Is the
Garland, Robert. Introducing New Gods: The Politics of Athenian
Good), as taught by Plato in his “unwritten doctrines.” Both
Religion. Ithaca, N.Y., 1992.
Good and Beautiful exist as a derivation from the First Prin-
Gerson, Lloyd P. God and Greek Philosophy: Studies in the Early
ciple. Xenocrates, however, turned back to Plato, though not
History of Natural Theology. London, 1990.
without distinguishing his thought from Plato’s. He was the
Goldschmidt, Victor. La religion de Platon. Paris, 1949; reprinted
first to divide philosophy into physics (which included the
in Platonisme et pensée contemporaine. Paris, 1970 and 2000.
so-called metaphysics), ethics, and logic, as later philosophers
Laurent, Jérôme, ed. Les dieux de Platon. Caen, 2003.
also did. Xenocrates abandoned Speusippus’s mathematical
Morgan, Michael L. Platonic Piety: Philosophy and Ritual in
metaphysics and re-proposed Plato’s numerical Forms, to-
Fourth-Century Athens. New Haven, Conn., 1990.
gether with other kinds of Forms. These various kinds of
forms (numerical and other) constitute the intelligible world
Morgan, Michael L. “Plato and the Greek Religion.” In The Cam-
bridge Companion to Plato, pp. 227–247. Cambridge, 1991.
and are the production of the two basic Principles, the One
and the indefinite Dyad. Xenocrates called the One “Zeus”
Pétrement, Simone. Le dualisme chez Platon, les Gnostiques et les
(i.e., the highest male god, the father, and the ruler of uni-
Manichéens. Paris, 1947.
verse). In contrast, the indefinite Dyad was the female god-
Reale, Giovanni. Toward a New Interpretation of Plato. Translated
dess, the mother of All, the cosmic soul. Therefore Xenocra-
from the 10th edition by John R. Cactan and Richard Da-
tes interpreted in a religious way the highest ontological
vies. Washington, D.C., 1997.
principles, and his interest in a religious philosophy is mani-
Reverdin, Olivier. La religion de Platon. Paris, 1945.
fested also by his demonology. The daimon is an intermedi-
Rudhardt, Jean. Notions fondamentales de la pensée religieuse et actes
ate being between gods and humans. Active in shrines and
constitutifs du culte. Étude préliminaire pour aider à la compré-
oracles; he may be either good or bad, like humans, but he
hension de la piété athénienne au IVe siècle. Geneva, 1958.
is immortal. Xenocrates’ demonology and, as a whole, the
Solmsen, Friedrich. Plato’s Theology. Ithaca, N.Y., 1942.
ancient Academy’s doctrines were taken up by second-
Van Camp, Jean, and Paul Canart. Le sens du mot theîos chez Pla-
century CE Platonism. Aristotle might well be added to this
ton. Louvain, 1956.
list of Plato’s direct followers, even though he founded his
own school, the Lyceum, in 335, after Xenocrates had suc-
LUC BRISSON (2005)
ceeded Speusippus. Aristotle was notoriously critical of
Plato’s way of understanding Form and of his identification
of Form with being. Further, he was contemptuous of Speu-
PLATONISM. Taken in its broadest sense, Platonism
sippus’s devotion to Pythagorean number theory. Neverthe-
refers to the influence of Plato in Western philosophical, reli-
less, Aristotle’s works pursued, in their own way, the agenda
gious, and political thinking. In the Hellenistic world, the
of Plato’s Academy, and his account of the First Principle as
vehicle of this influence was the Academy, but from the time
self-thinking Intellect (nous) was early adopted in the Platon-
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PLATONISM
ic tradition, and Pythagorean doctrines continued to be dis-
EUDORUS AND PHILO, THE MIDDLE PLATONISTS. Accord-
cussed in the Platonic school.
ing to most authoritative critics, Eudorus and the Jewish phi-
THE SKEPTICAL ACADEMY. With the succession of Arcesilaus
losopher Philo, both active in Alexandria between the first
(d. 241 BCE) as its head, the Academy took a fresh turn. The
century BCE and the first century CE, should be considered
so-called New Academy—frequently labelled “sceptical”—
Middle Platonists. Eudorus influenced those who, during the
maintained that neither Socrates nor Plato had taught any
first and second century, were interested in the theology of
settled, dogmatic system but had pursued arguments on both
a First Principle, such as Plutarch of Chaeronea and Nu-
sides of every question without seeking to reach definitive
menius of Apameia. Eudorus introduced the Pythagorean
conclusions. Indeed, Arcesilaus’s approach was not com-
principle (the One), distinguishing between the absolutely
pletely unsound, since Socrates had taught students to doubt
transcendent One and the One that is correlated to the indef-
traditional certainties. So, Arcesilaus maintained that the
inite Dyad. This second One is the principle of limit (under-
epoche (suspension of judgement) in which this procedure re-
stood as form, “eidos”) and is opposed to matter, from which
sulted represented the true philosophical position of Plato,
disordered movement originates.
but Arcesilaus’s devotion to it was largely evoked by Stoic
dogmatism, with its assertion of the existence of “indubitable
On the other side, Philo, whose imposing bulk of works
perception” (kataleptike phantasia). Against this Stoic view
was dedicated to a Greek exegesis of the Old Testament, em-
the New Academy emphasized the doubtfulness and subjec-
ploys many of the doctrines that were then considered Pla-
tivity of both perception and judgment. In response to the
tonic, such as the “three principles theology” (Dreiprinzi-
charge that such a stance left people without guidance for the
pienlehre, as it is called by German scholars). The first
conduct of life, Carneades (d. 129
Principles, according to Philo, were not the first or the sec-
BCE) developed his theory
of pithanon (the “persuasive” or “probable”), holding, as Cic-
ond One, but God, the Logos, who has in himself the ideas
ero sums it up (Academica 2.10), “that there is something
as his thoughts; and matter, out of which the Logos “created”
which is probable and, so to speak, like the truth” and that
the world, just as the platonic Demiurge “created” the world
this provides a “rule both for the conduct of life and for in-
out of matter by contemplating the ideas. Philo also em-
quiry and discussion.”
ployed Stoic tenets, such as the doctrine of pathos.
It was not, however, in scepticism that Platonism was
The first and second centuries CE were the heyday of
to find its future. Even in the time of Carneades and his suc-
Middle Platonism. Once studied as preparation for Plotinus,
cessor Philo of Larissa (d. about 80 BCE), Platonists were be-
the philosophers of the Middle Platonism are now consid-
ginning, though solely in defense of their own position, to
ered worth studying in themselves, and their doctrines must
employ Stoic ideas and terminology; and at the same time,
be reconsidered as a more or less “organic building” (a coher-
in the teaching of the Stoic Posidonius of Apamea (d. about
ent philosophical system). Therefore the word “eclectisism”
51 BCE) there are traces of Plato’s influence. This incipient
must be excluded, since it means an assembly of doctrines
eclecticism became stronger in Antiochus of Ascalon
from various schools, excluding the foundation of a coherent
(d. about 68 BCE), and with it came a repudiation of scepti-
system of thought. On the contrary, the historical develop-
cism and a new, dogmatic Platonism—so-called Middle Pla-
ment of Platonism involved from its beginning confronta-
tonism—that eventually set the stage for the work of Ploti-
tion with other philosophies, such as Pythagoreanism, Aris-
nus and his successors.
totelism, and, later, Stoicism, and it must appear neither an
ANTIOCHUS OF ASCALON. The split between Antiochus and
oddity nor a mark of eclecticism if Middle Platonists em-
his teacher Philo of Larissa, a skeptic, had its basis in Antio-
ployed (and occasionally rejected) Stoic and Aristotelian doc-
chus’s belief that the authentic tradition of Plato’s teaching
trines. These philosophers did not by any means represent
must be sought in the Old Academy and that this tradition
a uniform point of view but presented various interpretations
embraced the contributions of Aristotle and the Stoics. Anti-
of Platonic thought. Since the Academy had been dissolved
ochus himself was substantially a Stoic in his assumption of
long ago, they didn’t represent a continuity, but only a loose
Stoic logos spermatikòs, which he considered quite similar to
“tradition.” Platonic doctrines, in their new reassessment,
the Platonic ideas and thus untypical of the later Middle Pla-
were articulated by Areius Didymus, another scholar of the
tonist tradition. Nevertheless his rebellion opened the way
Augustan Age (like Eudorus and Philo), who was a doxo-
for the growth of a school of thought that treated the Platon-
grapher more than a philosopher. His collection of Platonic
ic corpus as an authoritative text even while it brought other
doctrines took up many Antiochean tenets, which reap-
points of view—Pythagorean, Aristotelian, and Stoic—to
peared some decades later in the Stoic philosopher Seneca.
the interpretation of that corpus. The influence of Antiochus
For all their differences, however, these thinkers had much
was overestimated by critics of the nineteenth century and
in common. In particular, they shared the corpus of Platonic
the first decades of the twentieth century who considered
dialogues, among which special attention was reserved for
him the founder of Middle Platonism, but now it is thought
the Timaeus. Its interpretation, however, was not unani-
more probable that Antiochus simply proposed a “return” to
mous. Plutarch and Atticus took the view—which com-
the Old Academy (including Aristotle) but was not able to
mended them to Christian readers—that the story of the
give a new impulse to Platonism.
Demiurge’s “creation” of the cosmos was to be taken literal-
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7189
ly. Others, like Albinus and Calvenos Tauros, saw the story
origin (the oikeiosis, the innate ideas or physikai ennoiai, and
as a proper Platonic muthos, a tale intended not to explain
the distinction between natural and perfected virtues) are
how the cosmos came to be but to suggest how it is eternally
also present in Apuleius (For this reason Alkinoos was sup-
structured.
posed to be, like Apuleius, the pupil of the little-known Pla-
tonic philosopher Gaius). More than other Middle Plato-
In spite of such differences, however, all agreed (against
nists, Alkinoos represented the Aristotelian tradition, since
traditional Stoicism) that the First Principle was transcen-
his First principle is the nous.
dent and should be equated with the Good of Plato’s Repub-
lic, the self-thinking Intellect of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, or the
As to the “rediscovered” Albinus, he wrote an Introduc-
One of Pythagorean cosmology. The Platonic realm of
tion to Platonic Philosophy (Eisagoge), which contains a dis-
Forms appeared in Middle Platonism as the content of divine
cussion on nature, as well as characteristics of Platonic dia-
Intellect, and thus as the truth that actuated the World Soul
logues. In other works he was principally devoted to the
in its work of ordering the visible cosmos. This scheme, in
Timaeus exegesis.
which the ultimate god was sometimes distinguished from
a second “demiurgic” Intellect, foreshadowed the Neopla-
In contrast, Severus and Nicostratus fought against Aris-
tonic hierarchy of three divine hypostases. At the same time,
totle and his doctrine of the Categories. Since, it seems, they
the human ideal became the contemplative life in which the
had friends in Athens, scholars have proposed an “Athenian
soul achieves that “likeness to God” (homoiosis theoi) that
school,” which John Dillon dismisses (like the school of
Plato had commended in the Theaetetus (176b). Apart from
Gaius) as “an empty name” (1977, p. 265). More important,
the school philosophers, there are a number of individuals
Nicostratus’s polemic against Aristotle fits very well with the
(e.g. the physician Galen, the mathematician Theon of
philosophy of his contemporaries, Calvenus Taurus and At-
Smyrna, and the rhetor Maximus of Tyre) who, while not
ticus. The first had some kind of school in Athens, and his
quite philosophers themselves, give good evidence for con-
ethics are akin to those of the Stoics in his doctrine of oikeio-
temporary Platonic schools.
sis and his assumption that nothing is good unless virtuous.
Taurus was interested in the interpretation of the cosmogony
The new form of Platonism appeared in an organic
in the Timaeus, which he interpreted as an allegory and not
structure for the first time in Plutarch’s (before 50–after 120
according to the Aristotelian principle of the eternity of the
CE) works, and perhaps already in the doctrine of his teacher,
world.
Ammonius, who was an Egyptian like Eudorus and Philo.
In physics, Plutarch was influenced by Pythagoreanism,
Atticus is distinguished by a lack of toleration, and his
whence he took the doctrine of the indefinite Dyad and
interpretation of Aristotle is substantially distorted. His po-
number mysticism. In his interpretation of the Timaeus he
lemic against Aristotle concentrated on cosmogony and eth-
insists on the temporal creation of the world as the result of
ics. He rejected the Aristotelian exegesis of the Timaeus and,
God’s intervention on matter, which is moved by a preexis-
following Plutarch, asserted the temporal creation of the
tent, disorderly, bad World Soul. He asserts the existence of
world and the existence of an evil world soul. In ethics, he
the daemons, as Xenocrates had done, and he identifies them
refused any peripateticism, considering it a moral weakness.
with the human soul, bad or good. In ethics, he abandoned
Stoicism and, like Antiochus, returned to the peripatetic
But the most interesting figure of Middle Platonism was
doctrines of the “moderation of affects.” Apuleius (125–
surely the Syriac Numenius of Apameia. His doctrine shows
180), an important Sophist (i.e., orator) in the Latin-
an intermingling of Platonism and Pythagoreanism (and
speaking West, is similar in some aspects to Plutarch. Apule-
therefore he had often been considered as a Neopytha-
ius was the author of a novel (Metamorphoseon libri) and of
gorean); but from Xenocrates and Eudorus onward, Platonic
various orations (Pro se de magia liber; Florida) that show his
philosophy was often shadowed with Neopythagoreanism.
interest in other problems, such as magic and literature,
Numenius was interested in Hermetism, Gnosticism, and
though without abandoning Platonic ideas (indeed, he was
Zoroastrian and Hebrew cultures. His Pythagorizing Plato-
called philosophus platonicus). Apuleius followed the “doc-
nism, perhaps through Ammonius Saccas, the master of Plo-
trine of the three principles” and, in ethics, the Stoic apatheia
tinus, exercised a powerful influence over Neoplatonism and
and the Platonic “assimilation to god.” More interesting is
Plotinus himself. Numenius is a radical dualist, taking the
his practice of the Isiac cult, as it appears in the last book of
Pythagorean Dyad as the passive principle in opposition to
the Metamorphoses, and of many other cults to which he ad-
One-god. The Dyad is the origin of matter, which is eternal
hered in his youth. So Apuleius’s Platonism possesses a kind
and unorganized, like the evil Soul of Plutarch and Atticus,
of henotheistic flavor; besides, he professed, like Plutarch,
though put in an organized state by the Demiurge. As such,
the Xenocratean daemonology.
the Dyad was not produced by the Monad. Matter is fluid
and without quality, but possesses an intrinsic evil force. The
Previously confused with Albinus, the author of a hand-
Demiurge is the second god. Above him is the first god,
book of Platonic philosophy (Didaskalikòs), Alkinoos is not
called “Father,” and under him is the world. So the Demi-
an original thinker, for his doctrines derive in great part from
urge is double, being both the first and the second god, and
Areius Didymus’s doxography.The three principles of Stoic
there is a triad of divine entities, perhaps corresponding to
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PLATONISM
the triad of the second Platonic epistle (312e), which is now
Sophia, the aeon who originate last, was a female principle.
regarded a Pythagorean forgery.
Her sin is her desire to know her origin and the Forefather’s
nature, which leads her to try to bear a child without a syzy-
The first and second centuries CE saw the growth and
gos, or partner. She has the function of the indefinite Dyad,
diffusion of Gnosticism and Hermetism. Middle Platonic
which introduces evil at the highest level. Horos, the “limit”
doctrines are present to some degree in these philosophical-
in the Valentinian myth, perhaps is akin to the Pythagorean
religious movements, mingled with and transformed by
peras, and his function is analogous to the regulating activity
other doctrines of various origins. This is a large field, which
(for instance, in Philo) of divine Logos.
Dillon has defined as “the underworld of Platonism” (1977,
p. 384).
Before Valentinus lived Basilides (end of first century
G
CE), who held views similar to those of Plotinus. He pro-
NOSTICISM. The relationship between Gnosis and Plato-
fessed apophatism about divine Being as the natural conse-
nism should begin with an examination of the concept of du-
quence of the doctrine of divine transcendence. According
alism, specifically, Platonic dualism. If by dualism we mean
to Basilides, both original Principles, light and darkness,
a doctrine of two principles, from which the whole universe
originally were distinct, but when darkness saw the light, it
derives and on which it depends, then Plato’s Timaeus, with
longed for union with it, just as light desired to see darkness.
its doctrine of coeternal Demiurge (at a higher ontological
In the beginning there was the absolute naught, which is per-
level than ideas) and chora (interpreted as matter), is certainly
haps identified with God (Hippolytus says that God was
dualist. However, such a dualism is pre-cosmic, since the cre-
“not existing”)—such is the conclusion of “negative theolo-
ated world is characterized by harmony and eternity, and
gy,” which was quite common in Platonic and Pythagorean
chora is not a negative entity. Besides, Plato’s anthropogony
schools. Basilides discussed, as Platonists did, the problem of
in Timaeus 42d and 69c, which describes the intervention
the creation of the world, which, according to him, is created
of the inferior gods, who, obeying the Demiurge, create the
out of “seeds.” These seeds are derived from the Stoic doc-
human soul and body in order not to involve God in the re-
trine of logos spermatikos, which states that the cosmic Logos
sponsibility for evil, foreshadows some Gnostic tenets. If the
contains the logoi spermatikoi, and in this primordial seed is
chief characteristic of Gnosticism is its negative depiction of
contained all that will be developed thereafter. Basilides’ cos-
world, Gnostic dualism, though of quite different origin,
mic seeds also contain all that will happen. Like Plato (Tim.
may be paralleled with Platonic dualism as it is expressed in
73c), Basilides employs the word panspermia. God creates
Plutarch and Numenius. Among Gnostic schools, one of the
the world thanks to his free will, and cosmic seeds don’t
most representative was that of Valentinus, who was a con-
come out of preexistent matter. Middle Platonists, in con-
temporary of Albinus and Numenius; Valentinus was con-
trast, considered God to be a craftsman. So, Basilides was the
sidered platonicus by Christian writers. Some of his doctrines
first Christian philosopher to consider the same problems as
derive in part from certain forms of contemporary Plato-
contemporary Middle Platonism. Valentinian cosmogony
nism, where a relatively nondualistic position is present. For
also took up some Middle Platonic doctrines, such as: Matter
Valentinus, the creation of the world is not the result of the
in itself is not body but possesses the fitness to become every
struggle between the principle of Good and the principle of
kind of body.
Evil, as it is for Barbelognostics and Mani, but is rather the
result of the corruption of a previously perfect system, just
HERMETISM. The treatises of the Corpus hermeticum were
as for Neoplatonism the existence of evil is the corruption
composed during the second and third century CE. Herme-
of perfection. Valentinus created an elaborate myth in order
tism was influenced by Middle Platonism, which can be
to explain the existence of the material world. The basic
seen, for example, in the first and most important treatise of
framework of his system is reminiscent of Pythagorean meta-
the Corpus hermeticum, the Poemandres (this name is perhaps
physics, which had penetrated also into Middle Platonism.
a translation from Egyptian). Poemandres describes himself
It has been supposed that Valentinus had interpreted the
as the nous of the Supreme Power. It is open to interpretation
aeons of his metaphysics as a kind of Platonic idea. Tertullian
whether the Supreme Power is above the nous, as God is
was perhaps the first to interpret aeons as the thoughts and
above Mind, or whether nous possesses the Supreme Power.
motions of the divine Being, whereas Ptolemaeus, one of
The description of the creation of the world owes something
Valentinus’s followers, interpreted them as real persons.
to the concept of the Platonic Demiurge. The Hermetic
From the primordial reality new entities come out in a kind
writer distinguishes between nous and logos in a manner simi-
of “emanation” (probole). The new entities retain, in a depo-
lar to Philo of Alexandria. Like Philo, the Hermetic writer
tentiated way, the essence of the original reality, just as in
defines Logos as “son of God.” The supreme Nous generates
the Neoplatonic system. Initially there are a monadic and a
another nous demiourgos, who is the creator of fire and pneu-
dyadic figure, the latter being subordinated to the former.
ma, the seven planetary gods, and other entities, such as the
Their secondary, derived Principle has the titles of the Pla-
cosmic soul and physis, the archetypal man (borrowed per-
tonic supreme god, Father and First Principle, while the real
haps from Philo). Also in ethic, the ideal of apatheia found
supreme principle is called Forefather and Pre-first Principle.
its way into Hermetic doctrines.
The name Ennoia, in the Valentinian system, is reminiscent
CHRISTIAN MIDDLE PLATONISTS. Middle Platonism had a
of Philo’s Sophia, which is the same as the Logos of God.
strong influence on Christian thought, beginning in the sec-
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
PLATONISM
7191
ond century CE. Apologists such as Justin, Tatian, Athena-
the One. Soul, the third hypostasis, images Intellect, although
goras, and Theophilus of Antioch identified the Son of God
its being and knowing are distended in time, and although,
with the Logos, or the second god of contemporary Middle
as “nature,” it approaches division in space by giving rise to
Platonists, while the Father was considered the origin of the
the corporeal, visible cosmos. The limit of this expansion of
Logos and even superior to him, just as first nous is above
reality from the One is primal matter, which, Plotinus teach-
second nous. Christian Middle Platonism was developed by
es, is in itself mere privation. To the emanation of reality
much more representative thinkers, like Clement of Alexan-
from the One there corresponds a converse and simultaneous
dria and Origen, who went deep into the question of the na-
movement of “return” (epistrophe), by which each level of
ture of God and of the relation between the Father and the
being seeks itself in its source and original. From this point
Son, both being eternal and divine entities, but personally
of view, the structure of Plotinus’s cosmos corresponds to the
differentiated. In ethics, Clement of Alexandria and Origen
route that consciousness takes in contemplative activity as it
recognized the Middle Platonic “assimilation to god” as the
moves from dispersion to integration. The highest normal
ideal implicit in the doctrine that God created Adam “in our
level of consciousness is the unified awareness that belongs
image, after our likeness” (Gn. 1:26). The interpretation of
to Intellect, but in moments of mystical ecstasy the soul—as
Genesis 1:2 that the world was created out of shapeless matter
Plotinus records from his own experience—achieves a loss of
is the Christian accommodation of Old Testament cosmogo-
particular selfhood in union with the One.
ny to Middle Platonic philosophy. Philo of Alexandria had
already proposed this, and it clearly appears in Athenagoras,
Porphyry was a commentator on Plato and Aristotle and
Theophilus of Antioch, and Irenaeus of Lyon (second centu-
the author of a lengthy treatise titled Against the Christians.
ry
In Porphyry’s writings the scholastic tone and religious inter-
CE). As soon as Apologists considered the biblical narra-
tion of the creation of the world, the problem of a philosoph-
ests of later Neoplatonism are foreshadowed. He produced
ical interpretation became cogent, since the text of the Bible
not only commentaries but also summary interpretations of
was not compatible with Platonic philosophy. The solution
Plotinian ontology and ethics, as in his Sentences and Letter
was a creatio ex nihilo, which developed at the end of second
to His Wife Marcella. Porphyry seems to be responsible for
century
reviving the repute of a late-second-century collection of rev-
CE, but Christian authors who were educated in the
Middle Platonic philosophy, such as Justin, Athenagoras,
elations known as the Chaldaean Oracles. Although sceptical
and Clement of Alexandria, found it difficult to accept such
of the claims that this collection made for the ritual-magical
a solution, and the contemporary heretic Hermogenes re-
practice of theurgy, Porphyry apparently initiated the prac-
turned to the Middle Platonic doctrine of creation out of ex-
tice of interpreting the Oracles in the light of a Plotinian
isting matter.
metaphysic.
PLATONISM AND NEOPLATONISM. From the beginning of
Porphyry’s disciple Iamblichus (d. c. 325 CE) wrote a
the Plotinian school in Rome (244 CE onward) and the re-
commentary (now lost) on the Chaldaean Oracles and in his
search of Porphyry of Tyros (middle third century CE), we
treatise On the Mysteries defended theurgy (against Porphyry)
usually speak no more either of Middle Platonism or of Pla-
as necessary for the soul’s union with the divine. He was also
tonism, but of Neoplatonism. Of course, original Platonic
a speculative philosopher of great originality, and his system
doctrine mingled with Neoplatonic elaborations, and their
opened the way for the elaborate metaphysics that marked
influence can be traced in the writing of Christian and, later,
the thought of the later Platonic school at Athens. There,
Islamic theologians and philosophers. Plotinus (205–270) is
from about 400 until 529, a series of distinguished teachers
normally considered the founder of Neoplatonism, though
developed both the philosophical and the religious positions
the evolution of Platonism is not so linear and direct as it
that Iamblichus had defended. Most notable among these
was supposed in the nineteenth and twentieth century, such
was Proclus (c. 412–485), whose Elements of Theology and
as in Eduard Zeller’s strong Hegelian interpretation of the
Commentary on the Timaeus are monuments to the learning
history of ancient philosophy. Plotinus wasn’t the “school-
and dialectical skill of the Academy in its last days. Proclus
master of Neoplatonism,” and Platonism from the third to
saw his task as carrying Iamblichus’s principles to their logi-
sixth century had many peculiarities not derived from Ploti-
cal conclusion and filling any gaps he left in the metaphysical
nus. The essays Plotinus wrote for circulation among his pu-
hierarchy. Therefore Proclus admitted within the First Hy-
pils were collected by his disciple Porphyry (d. c. 305) in six
postasis a series of Unities (Henads) in addition to the One
sets of nine texts known collectively as the Enneads. In these
itself. He establishes complete symmetry between that Hy-
terse and often difficult papers, Plotinus sets out a system ac-
postasis and lower orders by extending to it Iamblichus’s dis-
cording to which all reality issues spontaneously, coordinate-
tinction of Unparticipated and Participated Terms. The
ly, and timelessly from a single transcendent and inexpress-
Henads thus constitute the Participated intermediaries link-
ible source called the One or the Good. This process of
ing lower realities to the One, which now becomes the First
emanation produces a hierarchical world order in which each
Hypostasis Unparticipated Monad. But the Henads are not
successive form of reality (hypostasis) images its superior at
simply aspects or attributes of the First Cause, but substan-
a lower level of unity. Thus Intellect—the unity of intuitive
tial, self-subsistent entities derived from the One and depen-
awareness with its intelligible objects (the Forms)—images
dent on it. Hence arise their functions—one metaphysical,
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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PLATONISM
the other religious. The former function was that of bridging
works as well as Porphyry’s Introduction to Aristotle’s Catego-
the gulf between Unity and Plurality. In particular, although
ries, the book that originally stimulated medieval philosophi-
the One is absolutely unknowable, the Henads, unknowable
cal debate. His Consolation of Philosophy, widely read during
in themselves, can be known by analogy from their products.
the Middle Ages, presented a simplified Neoplatonist out-
Fundamental is the basic Neoplatonic doctrine that the same
look consistent with the structures of Christian doctrine.
attribute can exist under an appropriate mode on successive
levels. Proclus emphasizes that such attributes are present
It was largely through Augustine, whose influence is
perfectly only on the level of the Henads. Each order of reali-
seen in thinkers as diverse as Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033–
ty, even the Henads, represents an appropriate combination
1109), Hugh of Saint–Victor (c. 1096–1141), the School of
of Limit and Infinity, whose cosmogonic roles can be traced
Chartres, the Franciscan Bonaventure (c. 1217–1274), and
back to early Pythagoreanism and to Plato’s Philebus.
the Dominicans Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) and Jo-
hannes Eckhart (c. 1260–1327?), that Platonist themes in-
In the Latin West, Platonism and Neoplatonism were
fluenced medieval Latin philosophy and spirituality. Of the
transmitted through Marius Victorinus (end of third centu-
works of Plato, only the Timaeus was known (in the fourth-
ry–360) and Augustine of Hippo (354–430). “Victorinus
century Latin version of Calcidius). Plotinus and his succes-
shows how lively, how original, how pulsating, how stimulat-
sors were scarcely known at all, save through Boethius’s
ing and, yea, how attractive was Platonism in the fourth cen-
translation of Porphyry’s Introduction to Aristotle’s Categories.
tury. Together with Augustine, Victorinus represents the
What the Latin Middle Ages eventually harvested from the
best example that, for an intellectual, the reception of Chris-
work of the late Platonists were the writings of Aristotle on
tian doctrines was possible only through Neoplatonism, the
natural philosophy, ethics, and metaphysics, which, during
dominating spiritual trend at the time” (Baltes, 2002,
and after the thirteenth century, became standard texts in the
p.125). Victorinus’s theology develops a rich metaphysical
liberal arts curricula of medieval universities.
system, attributing to the Father the majority of the qualifi-
cations characterizing the Neoplatonic One, which are, of
MUSLIM NEOPLATONISM. Parallel to the Platonic tradition
course, negative ones, according to apophatic trends widely
during the Middle Ages is the spread of Platonic thought
developed by Greek philosophy and Christian culture (one-
among Muslims. Indeed, medieval Western interest in, and
ness, pureness, simpleness, invisibility, unutterability, mo-
knowledge of Plato was stimulated and in part made possible
tion, passions, corruption, and lack of body). Moreover, Vic-
by the labors of Islamic philosophers who worked on ninth-
torinus’s deep philosophical background shows in the
and tenth-century Arabic versions of the works of Aristotle,
majority of his doctrines. For example, his Trinitarian specu-
Plato, and their Neoplatonic commentators. But Neoplaton-
lation is an attempt to join the triadic schemes already attest-
ic thought didn’t reach the Arabs only through translations
ed in Platonic texts, particularly in the Enneads. The relation-
from the Greek; Syriac translations of Greek texts were an-
ship between the three Persons of the Trinity is in fact
other major source. A major role was played by a remarkable
explained by means of Neoplatonic schemes, thus equating
forgery, the so-called Theology of Aristotle, which in fact con-
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to the hypostatical moments of
sists of extracts from Plotinus’s Enneads IV–VI augmented
being-life-intellect (or being-intellect-life, in a reversed
by supplementary or explanatory material perhaps derived
order), or introducing the more complex concept of predom-
from Porphyry’s lost commentary. In 832 CE in Bagdad,
inance, according to which each Person of the Trinity is best
Califf al-Mamoun founded the “House of Wisdom,” whose
characterized by the prevalence of one of these aspects
direction was committed to famous and clever translaters, in-
(being-life-intellect), in order to preserve and reassert their
cluding Honayn ibn Ishaq (809–873 CE), who was famous
mutual relationship. The Son’s generative process is de-
for translating Greek books into Syriac and Arabic. There-
scribed in philosophical terms, such as stillness and move-
fore the whole terminology of Arabic theology and philoso-
ment, form and act, dynamis and activity, to which must be
phy was prepared during the ninth century, and the “helle-
added the conversion, represented by the Spirit.
nistic philosophers” (falasifa is the Arabic word for
philosophos) could use the translation of Aristotle and his
Augustine’s conversion to Christianity accompanied his
commentators, Plato and Galen. The “peripatetic reaction”
discovery of Neoplatonic thought, as represented by writings
by Averroes opposed the Neoplatonism of these thinkers. Al-
of Plotinus and Porphyry (writings probably translated into
Kindi (796–d. after 870) was interested not only in mathe-
Latin by Marius Victorinus). His doctrine was permeated by
matics and geometry, but also in metaphysics, astronomy,
Platonic themes, however revised and recast in the light of
and music. He tried to reconcile philosophy with prophetic
his Christian beliefs. Boethius (c. 480–c. 524), a Roman aris-
revelation and distinguished between human science (which
tocrat in the service of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic, and
included logic, the arts of quadrivium and philosophy) and
an orthodox Christian, did as much as Augustine to transmit
a divine science, which was the prophetic revelation. He ac-
the heritage of Hellenic philosophy to the medieval West.
cepted the creatio ex nihilo, which he interpreted as an act
Aiming to provide Latin versions of the major works of Aris-
of God’s will, not as an emanation. God creates the first In-
totle and Plato, he succeeded, before his execution at the
telligence, from which the other are derived, as Neoplatonists
hands of Theodoric, in rendering certain of Aristotle’s logical
taught. The structure of his worldview was essentially that
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
PLATONISM
7193
of later Neoplatonism, and his thought derived from John
Dillon, John. The Golden Chain. Studies in the Development of Pla-
Philoponus’s works and the Neoplatonic school in Athens.
tonism and Christianity. Aldershot, U.K., 1990.
This Arab philosophical enterprise was continued by
Dörrie, Heinrich. Platonica Minora. Munich, 1976.
al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı (872–950), a great religious and mystical thinker.
Dörrie, Heinrich, and Matthias Baltes. Der Platonismus in der An-
He wrote a work to demonstrate the agreement of Plato and
tike. Stuttgart and Bad Cannstatt, 1987–2001.
Aristotle. In his opinion, wisdom began among the Chal-
Donini, Pier Luigi. Le scuole, l’anima, l’impero. La filosofia antica
daeans in Mesopotamia and then spread to Egypt and
da Antioco a Plotino. Turin, 1982.
Greece. According to his teaching, the cosmic Intelligences
Ferrari, Franco. Dio, idee e materia. La struttura del cosmo in Plu-
are derived from the One, but only through the first Intelli-
tarco di Cheronea. Naples, 1995.
gence, because ex Uno non fit nisi unum. The works of Ibn
Festugière André-Jean. La révélation d’Hermès Trismegiste. Paris,
S¯ına¯ (Avicenna, 980–1037), and al-Ghaza¯l¯ı (1058–1111)
1944–1953.
were also influenced by Neoplatonism.
Frede, Michael. “Numenius.” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der
PLATONISM IN THE RENAISSANCE. It was not until the fif-
römischen Welt, Volume II, 36,1, edited by Hildegard Tem-
teenth century and the work of Nicholas of Cusa (1401–
porini and Wolfgang Haase, pp. 1034–1075. New York and
1464), Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), and others that Plato
Berlin, 1987.
himself, read through the eyes of his Neoplatonic interpret-
Gersh, Stephen. Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism: The Latin
ers, was rediscovered. Nicholas, in On Learned Ignorance,
Tradition, I–II. Notre Dame, Ind., 1986.
presents a view of the world that owes much to Proclus, as
Gersh, Stephen, and Charles Kannengiesser, eds., Platonism in
well as to certain Platonic dialogues. Ficino translated Plato
Late Antiquity. Notre Dame, Ind., 1992.
and Plotinus’s Enneads into Latin and made a start on Por-
Gioè, Adriano. Filosofi medioplatonici del II secolo d.C. Naples,
phyry and Iamblichus. Even Aristotle, in this new age, began
2002.
to be read as the ancient Neoplatonists had read him. Platon-
Glucker, John. Antiochus and the Late Academy. Göttingen, 1978.
ic writings and ideas accompanied the spread of Renaissance
Ivánka, Endre von. Plato Christianus. Einsiedeln, 1964.
humanism and went on to influence modern philosophy.
Jonas, Hans. The Gnostic Religion, Boston, 1958.
SEE ALSO Dualism; Fa¯ra¯b¯ı, al-; Gnosticism, article on
Klibansky, Raymond. The Continuity of the Platonic Tradition
Gnosticism from Its Origins to the Middle Ages; Hellenistic
during the Middle Ages. London, 1950; reprint, New York,
Religions; Hermetism; Neoplatonism; Plato; Socrates.
1982.
Krämer, Hans J., Der Ursprung der Geistmetaphysik. Amsterdam,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1964.
Andresen, Carl. Logos und Nomos. Die Polemik des Kelsos wider das
Christentum. Berlin, 1955.
Lilla, Salvatore R.C., Clement of Alexandria. A Study in Christian
Platonism and Gnosticism. Oxford, 1971.
Armstrong, A. Hilary, ed. The Cambridge History of Later Greek
and Early Medieval Philosophy. Cambridge, 1967.
Moreschini, Claudio. Apuleio e il platonismo. Florence, 1978.
Armstrong, A. Hilary. “Dualism: Platonic, Gnostic and Chris-
Mansfeld, Jaap. Heresiography in Context. Hippolytus’ Elenchos as
tian.” In Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, edited by R.T. Wallis
a Source for Greek Philosophy. Leiden, New York, and Köln,
and J. Bregman, pp. 33–54. New York, 1992.
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Baltes, Matthias. Die Weltentstehung des platonischen Timaios nach
Merlan, Philip. From Platonism to Neoplatonism. The Hague,
den antiken Interpreten, Leiden, 1976.
1968.
Baltes, Matthias. Dianoemata. Kleine Schriften zum Platon und
Prächter, Karl. Kleine Schriften. Hildesheim, 1973.
zum Platonismus. Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1999.
Rist, John M. “Monism: Plotinus and Some Predecessors,” Har-
Baltes, Matthias. Marius Victorinus. Zur Philosophie in seinen
vard Studies in Classical Philology 70 (1965): 329-344.
Theologischen Schriften. Munich, 2002.
Runia, David T. Philo of Alexandria and the Timaeus of Plato. Lei-
Barnes, Jonathan. “Antiochus of Ascalon.” In Philosophia Togata
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Tarrant, Harald. Scepticism or Platonism? The Philosophy of the
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Bianchi, Ugo. Selected Essays on Gnosticism, Dualism and Misterio-
Theiler, Willy. Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur. Berlin,
sophy. Leiden, 1978.
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Bianchi, Ugo. Il dualismo religioso. Saggio storico ed etnologico.
Rome, 1983.
Wallis, R.T., Neoplatonism, 2d ed. London, 1995.
Cherniss Harald. Aristotle’s Criticism of Plato and the Academy.
Whittaker, John. Studies in Platonism and Patristic Thought. Lon-
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Corbin, Henri. Histoire de la philosophie islamique . . . avec la col-
Whittaker, John. “Platonic Philosophy in the Early Centuries of
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CLAUDIO MORESCHINI (2005)
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PLAY
PLAY. The idea of play may be embedded in the very
the acts of creation, as in Hinduism. For since the idea of
metaphysics of certain cosmologies (Handelman and Shul-
play requires the existence of forms that can be differently
man 1997), as well as in particular ritual contexts. Although
modeled, how can this idea be present prior to the creation
the idea of play has widespread currency in religions with dif-
of form? Nonetheless, if the Hindu cosmos comes into being
fering epistemologies, the profundity of its presence corre-
as the adumbrated dream of the all-encompassing universal
sponds to the level of premises at which it is lodged in a given
principle, brahman, then this attribute of play is not obviat-
religious system. The more abstract and encompassing the
ed, since original form itself is imaginary and illusory.
premises of a religion imbued with the ideation of play, the
A fourth attribute of play is that it brings into being
more pervasive and fateful are its systematic expressions in
something that had not existed before by changing the shape
religious life.
and positioning of boundaries that categorize phenomena
ATTRIBUTES OF THE IDEA OF PLAY. The idea of play is uni-
and so altering their meaning. One may state simply that cre-
versal among humankind, whether or not particular cultures
ation, destruction, and recreation occur and recur because
have terms to denote such a conception. A first attribute of
those boundaries that demarcate the coherency of phenome-
play is that its assumptions are preeminently conditional, for
na are altered. Therefore play is associated intimately with
play is a medium through which the make-believe is brought
creativity and with creation, as Johan Huizinga (1938) and
into being and acquires the status of a reality.
Arthur Koestler (1964) have maintained, as well as with its
Especially human is the capacity to imagine and, so, to
converse, destruction. In the most limited case of creation,
create alternative realities. In question, however, are the truth
that of the inversion of a phenomenally valid form, it is only
values of such realities, that is, the extent to which, and under
the reflection of such form, still constrained by the original
which conditions, they are accorded validity. In the logic of
positioning of boundaries, that is brought into being. For ex-
modern Western culture, the imaginary is not accorded any
ample, the inversion of gender is constrained by finite per-
ultimate status of validity or truth. Gregory Bateson (1972)
mutations, as is the overturning of a clearly defined hierar-
has argued that the messages that signify the existence of play
chy, as long as gender and hierarchy remain the respective
are “untrue” in a sense, and that the reality that such mes-
terms of reference of these inversions. On the other hand,
sages denote is nonexistent. This, of course, holds in a culture
cosmologies that strongly feature trickster figures also tend
whose religious cosmology is predicated in part upon a com-
to be characterized by lengthier series of transformations of
paratively immutable boundary between the divine and the
these types, so that it becomes difficult to state which form
human, with the former accorded the status of absolute
is the original and which the playful copy.
truth, while the latter is perceived in no small measure as sin-
A fifth attribute of play is that it is an amoral medium,
ful and as a profanation of the former. Given its imaginary
one that is marked by plasticity, by lability, and by flexibility
character, the idea of play in much of modern Western
in ideation—qualities closely related to those of imagination
thought often is rendered as pretense and is relegated to the
and creativity. In play, these qualities have the potential to
domain of the culturally “unserious,” like the world of fiction
meddle with and to disturb any form of stability and any
and that of leisure time activities, or to the realm of the “not
conception of order.
yet fully human,” like the play of little children. Yet to equate
the imaginary universally with the frivolous is to render the
A sixth attribute of play is a penchant for questioning
essential powers of play impotent and to obscure their roles
the phenomenal stability of any form that purports to exist
in religious thought and action, especially in cosmologies
as a valid proposition and as a representation of “truth.” The
where a state of existence is also a condition of untruth.
idea of play is amoral in its capacities to subvert the bounda-
ries of any and all phenomena and so to rock the foundations
A second attribute of play is the necessity of a form of
of a given reality.
reference that can be altered in systematic ways. Play changes
the known signs of form into something else by altering the
Whether, and to what degree, these qualities of play are
reified boundaries that define and characterize the phenome-
integral to the metaphysics of a given religious system should
non. What is changed still retains crucial similarities to its
illustrate how that system works. For example, whether the
form of foundation and so remains intimately related to it.
boundaries that divide the paranatural and human realms are
For example, the medieval European Feast of Fools, a rite of
quite absolute or are matters of continuous gradation and
inversion, required the form of a traditional Christian Mass
whether the character of a cosmology’s population (deities,
that could be altered. The play-mass would have no signifi-
spirits, demons, tricksters, and so forth) is one of positional
cance for participants were it not derived from and contrast-
stability or of ongoing transformation should be illuminated
ed with its everyday analogue, the traditional Mass.
by the relative presence of the attributes of play in a particu-
lar religious system.
A third attribute of play is that any phenomenal form
can be transformed through a sense of imagination that itself
THE IDEA OF PLAY AND PREMISES OF COSMOLOGY. The
remains constrained to a degree by the composition of the
embeddedness of the idea of play does not appear to be asso-
“original” form. This attribute may be problematic for ontol-
ciated, in particular, either with great religious traditions or
ogies that strongly implicate the active presence of play in
with local ones, either with so-called tribal societies or with
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PLAY
7195
more complex ones. Hence the examples adduced here are
ed through the use of ma¯ya¯, commonly translated as the force
of a tribal people and of Hinduism.
of illusion, that is, as another aspect of the idea of play as it
is used here. All phenomena rest and shift on the premise of
The Iatmul of the Sepik River area in New Guinea are
illusion. Their most abstract of purposes is to cease to exist
a tribal people whose culture values monistic and yet dualis-
as phenomena.
tic conceptions of the cosmos. Both coexist, each continu-
ously transforming into the other. For the monism of the Iat-
Among the products of ma¯ya¯ is the cosmos that gods
mul view of cosmic order fragments into a multitude of
and humans inhabit. This can be rendered as sam:sa¯ra, a gloss
competing principles that explain that order. In turn, these
for all phenomena that exist in the cosmos. Sam:sa¯ra, too, is
recombine into an elementary synthesis, only to multiply
understood as flux, as the processual flow that shapes all
once again and to flow together once more.
forms, and not as phenomena whose reification is absolute
in any sense. Sam:sa¯ra is also related to the idea of play and
Thus the character of the Iatmul cosmos is one of imma-
refers to the cycle of birth and rebirth of all beings. One can
nent transmutability, of plays upon phenomenal form. This
attain salvation, and so escape sam:sa¯ra, only by dissipating
reverberates throughout the institutions of Iatmul society
the forces of illusion that render deep flux as superficial form.
and parallels a conduciveness to paradox in Iatmul thought.
For gods and humans, for renouncers and antigods, aspects
This proclivity of paradox highlights ongoing disjunctions
of the ideation of play are both their confinement, through
among phenomenal forms. Therefore strong tendencies to-
illusion, in the bounded phenomenal trap and their escape
ward fragmentation lurk within numerous cultural traditions
from it through the dissolution of fixed forms. As named be-
that declare the validity of a coherent synthesis of differing
ings, deities are not ultimate forms in and of themselves.
principles in Iatmul society. Thus Iatmul men, in the heat
Rather they are signposts on the way to salvation, just as
of argument, were to display their most sacred ceremonial
other figures point in contrary directions. Without begin-
objects before the profaning gaze of women and uninitiated
ning to overcome the forces of illusion, thereby gaining in-
boys, thereby completely destroying for years to come the rit-
sight into both creation and destruction, one is caught end-
ual efficacy of these collective representations. Superficially
lessly in the paradoxes of a world that appears stable but is
this behavior could appear simply as uncontrolled and de-
in flux. Yet perceptions that are paradoxical on one level of
structive. Yet further consideration would reveal that such
abstraction become merely ironical on a higher one.
behavior was quite consistent with those premises of an Iat-
mul worldview that denied to boundaries a fixedness of form
The logic of these ideas permeates numerous aspects of
for lengthy durations.
Hindu cosmology. Ideally, the creative role of the sam:nya¯sin,
the renouncer, which is dedicated to the penetration of illu-
In such cosmologies, as of course in others, boundaries
sion, is also built into the Hindu life cycle as the final stage
of form are brought into being through change. Yet in such
of living in this reality. Therefore, in a theoretical sense, the
cosmologies both phenomenal form and the agencies of
desirability of piercing the force of illusion that makes the
change are, in a sense, illusory: though they persuade that the
world possible is integral to living in that world.
solidity of reification is their state, this masks the more pro-
found observation that impermanence is their condition.
Like humans, Hindu gods and antigods are not con-
Here play, as illusion in action, is crucial. The ideation of
structed culturally as unitary and homogeneous figures. In-
play is processual: it can bring into being forms that signify
stead they are self-transforming types whose logic of compo-
the existence of the cosmos. Yet these forms themselves must
sition depends on the alteration of hierarchical and lateral
be transcended through their own negation in order to reveal
boundaries within and around themselves. In their transfor-
those deeper truths that are masked by the very force of illu-
mations these figures bear witness to the ultimate imperma-
sion. Therefore the processuality of play, of imagination, also
nence of illusion and also to the necessity of this force upon
effaces its own creation.
which they, like humankind, depend for existence. The only
final stability in the Hindu cosmos is that of motility; the
Aspects of Hindu cosmology exemplify this abstract
only final coherence in classification is its mutation.
sense of play as cosmic process. The Hindu concept of l¯ıla
commonly is translated as the “play” of forces and energies
Such paranatural types, like other facets of Hinduism,
that are continually in motion. These spontaneously create
often seem paradoxical to Western thinking, in which stabili-
and destroy the possibility of a phenomenal world in an un-
ty is believed to be truly real and flux is both a secondary and
ending process. L¯ıla, as play, is a metaphor of flux, of move-
a deficient reality. In the South Indian S´aiva Tamil tradition,
ment, from which the cosmos emerges and into which it will
for example, S´iva is composed as a self-transforming figure.
eventually disappear. Any reification of form, implying in-
He is creator, protector, and destroyer. He is, in Wendy
herent solidity and stability, denies this basic premise. Yet the
O’Flaherty’s felicitous phrasing, the erotic ascetic. He tran-
premise itself cannot be realized without the creation of
scends and contains the cosmos, yet also appears within it
form, which is then the opposite of nonform, of flux. Mo-
through synecdoche, the relationship of part to whole. He
mentarily (in cosmic terms) the premise of l¯ıla¯ must create
is trickster and tricked. He creates the antigods, the asuras,
phenomena in order to revalidate itself by then subverting
and, by the terms of their compact, is helpless before them
and destroying them. The creation of phenomena is activat-
as they wreak havoc. But he also transcends himself in creat-
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
7196
PLAY
ing his son, Murukan, who destroys the antigods. There are
cense and the erasure of social boundaries prepare the way
hints that Murukan at once is greater than S´iva, is S´iva, and
for the ascetic restrictions of the days of Lent. In either in-
is reabsorbed into S´iva. In this example the power of imagi-
stance the ideation of play is crucial to establish a compara-
nation, intimately associated with illusion, has the capacity
tive degree of social homogeneity among participants, per-
to expand upon, to extend, and to transform phenomenal re-
mitting them to receive and to experience the power of sacra,
ality beyond those boundaries that previously had contained
individually and collectively. During carnivalesque occasions
it in an ongoing play of generative forces. This potential is
the indeterminacy of play serves as a mediating prelude to
actualized since reality and the fixedness that gives it defini-
the transcendence of a social collective, preparing it to be re-
tion are illusory.
cast as a religious community.
Like the permutations of malleability in Iatmul cosmol-
Still, the heyday of the European Carnival was during
ogy, that of Hinduism, although operating in terms of a radi-
the medieval period, when the metaphysics of Christianity
cally different epistemology, emphasizes the fragmentation
may have been quite different from their present-day coun-
of unitary principles that flow together in synthesis only to
terparts. Then, the boundaries between the divine and the
divide once again. In both of these cosmologies the idea of
human were more mutable and interpenetrable, and the
play would seem to inhere in their abstract conceptualiza-
themes of the effervescent grotesque, itself a likely product
tions of phenomenal reality that, on the one hand, perch and
of the mingling of domains, were pervasive. This more trans-
teeter precariously on the border between cosmos and chaos
formative cosmology was more similar in certain general re-
and, on the other, conceive of processuality as a condition
spects to that of Hinduism than to its modern offsprings.
of existence.
And it is this kind of cosmology that encourages the genre
of the religious festival. Here the playful celebration of the
PREMISES OF PLAY IN RITUAL OCCASIONS. As the focus of
dissolution of boundaries creates the grounds for their recon-
play shifts to the positioning of this idea in religious or quasi-
stitution with renewed vigor.
religious occasions, it becomes more constricted, since its
The idea of play within ritual occasions, the boundaries
presence threatens the validity and the stability of the occa-
of which are strongly and unequivocally reified, has a much
sion in which it is located. Nonetheless the idea of play does
narrower scope. Such occasions, unlike numerous festivals,
accomplish certain kinds of work in particular ritual con-
tend to be organized as a clear-cut sequence of phases that
texts.
follow one another in cumulative progression. Hierarchy is
Within ritual contexts the notion of play has perhaps
prominent; there are social distinctions among those who
the most embracing mandate in that category of occasion
take part and between participants and others. Order is prev-
termed festival. As the etymology of the English word de-
alent throughout, as is the measured progression to messages
notes, a festival is an occasion of celebration, of joyous atti-
of the sacred. Where play is present, it rarely questions either
tudes, and of rejoicing, marked by moods of cheer. In Euro-
the external boundaries that circumscribe the occasion or its
pean tradition it has affinities with the carnivalesque and
internal distinctions. Instead, the mutability of play is bent
with certain liturgical periods in the Christian calendar. In
to more specific purposes.
the Hindu tradition it encompasses annual occasions that
Across cultures the most characteristic of these opera-
celebrate the powers of particular deities, and such times
tions is found in inversions that are featured in the common-
often are indistinguishable from pilgrimages to the deities in
ly termed “rituals of reversal.” These are not usually rituals
this culture.
in their own right but more often occur in a particular phase
in a ritual sequence. Inversions are marked frequently by the
Of especial significance here is that festival approxi-
mockery, the mimicry, and the ridiculing of one category of
mates a total collective performance, one that celebrates a ho-
person or theme by another, or of a category in relation to
listic unity of cosmic and social order on the part of a rela-
itself. This tends to occur in a spirit of play, that is, through
tively homogenized population of participants. This implies
the subversion of one form and its substitution by another.
that many of the distinctions between social categories of
Here the validity of existing social categories or roles is not
persons—whether based on hierarchy, status, occupation, or
questioned. These remain the same; only their valences
age—may be temporarily subverted and dissolved in a play-
change, so that access to them is temporarily altered. More-
ful spirit. Thus people, ordinarily separated by moral edicts
over, the inversion of form often seems to carry connotations
and social rules, are brought together to experience the redis-
of an unnatural condition so that the morally correct version
covery of the significance of sacra that apply to all of them
of form lies in the converse of what is inverted. Therefore,
as a comparatively undifferentiated community of believers.
inversions revert to the foundation-for-form, from which the
In part this may be done through inversions of social
inverted image was derived. Furthermore, an inverted form
identity that reverse the relationships among everyday social
remains a refraction of its usual image, and this suggests that
distinctions, so that the high are made low and more periph-
inversion maintains the very domain of discourse that is de-
eral positions become more central. This is the case in the
fined initially by the original form. This effectively restricts
North Indian holiday Krsnalila, or Feast of Love. Or, as in
the transformative force of play and strictly limits the possi-
the European tradition of Carnival, the spirit of festive li-
ble permutations of its plays-upon-form.
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7197
Nonetheless such constricted mutability may perform
mons are proved to be laughable savages who are ignorant
significant work within ritual occasions. In the Booger
of the very rudiments of correct human action, etiquette, and
Dance of the Cherokee Indians of the southeastern United
morality. The assertions of demonic reality are dissolved
States, as this was practiced during the first decades of this
through play, and the demons are ejected from the human
century, an alternative reality that was experienced as threat-
realm to reassume their inferior cosmological position. These
ening by the community of believers was proposed in play
tests of the validity of demonic reality, through the medium
and destroyed through it. The Booger Dance itself was pre-
of play, prepare the grounds for the revelation of the reemer-
ceded and succeeded by dances associated with the dead and
gence of correct cosmic order and free the possessed from the
the defunct. The Cherokee who were disguised as Boogers
demonic grip.
inverted their everyday identities and took on those of
This brief survey of certain of the relationships among
strangers with obscene names, exaggerated features, and
the idea of play and aspects of the organization of religion
strange speech. They burst noisily into the dwelling where
and ritual leads to a final point that is of widespread concern
the ritual-dance series was performed. Their behavior was ag-
to religious experience. The presence of play induces and en-
gressive and boisterous, and they were perceived as malignant
courages reflection on the part of believers upon the elemen-
and menacing creatures. As each Booger danced he was
tary premises of their religious systems. Playing with bounda-
mocked, mimicked, and laughed at by the onlookers. Fur-
ries and therefore with the coherency and verity of ideation
thermore by their moral demeanor the onlookers quieted
and form emphasizes that every taken-for-granted proposi-
and tamed the Boogers and eventually ejected them from the
tion also contains its own potential negation. In turn, the ex-
ritual space. Outside, they unmasked, and then, as Cherokee,
perience of such challenges deepens and strengthens belief in
they rejoined the others in further ritual dances.
the truths of cosmology and ritual once their validity is rees-
The Boogers, familiar men inverted as fearsome strang-
tablished.
ers, represented all that was frightful and evil beyond the
SEE ALSO Carnival; Chaos; Cosmology, overview article;
boundaries of the moral community. Their intrusion under-
Games; L¯ıla¯; Ma¯ya¯; Performance and Ritual; Tricksters.
lined and reinforced these boundaries rather than threaten-
ing them. By their mockery and laughter, members of the
moral community queried the valid presence of these charac-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ters within the community, expelled these symbols of evil
The classic work on the role of play in the evolution of society re-
mains that of Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: Versuch einer
from within, and so reasserted the correctness of the moral
Bestimmung des Spielelements der Kultur (Haarlem, 1938),
and social orders. In this example the alternative order pro-
translated by R. F. C. Hull as Homo Ludens: A Study of the
posed by the Boogers does not appear to have been enter-
Play-Element in Culture (London, 1949). The most compre-
tained seriously by the other participants. The reality of the
hensive study of the role of play in modern philosophies is
Boogers was inauthentic from the outset, and therefore the
that of Mihai I. Spariosu, Dionysus Reborn: Play and the Aes-
make-believe of play was contrasted throughout with the ver-
thetic Dimension in Modern Philosophical and Scientific Dis-
ities of ritual, reaffirming them.
course (Ithaca, 1989). Don Handelman and David Shulman,
in God Inside Out: Siva’s Game of Dice (New York, 1997)
In other orchestrations of ritual occasions, play is used
offer a radical perspective on the formative role of play in the
to falsify alternative realities that are proposed as authentic
constitution of Saiva cosmology. That play is integral to cre-
and that deny sacred verities. In the following example, of
ativity is explored by, among others, Arthur Koestler in his
Sinhala Buddhist exorcisms on the southern coast of Sri
The Act of Creation (London, 1964). Susanne Langer, in
Lanka, the alternative reality is adumbrated in seriousness
“The Great Dramatic Forms: The Comic Rhythm,” includ-
and falsified through play. This permits the correct order to
ed in her Feeling and Form: A Theory of Art (New York,
1953), argues for an intimate association of the spirit of com-
reemerge with a sense of revelation and in sharp contradis-
edy with that of life-renewing forces. In a contrasting vein,
tinction to the illusory character of play. In the Sinhala cos-
Henri Bergson’s Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the
mology demons are inferior to humankind, as is humankind
Comic (New York, 1912), translated by Cloudesly Brereton
to deities and to the Buddha. A person possessed by a demon
and Fred Rothwell from three articles of Bergson’s that ap-
is understood to invert the hierarchical superiority of the
peared in Revue de Paris, persuades that the comic exposes
human in relation to the demonic: the possessed is thought
the disjunction between the presumptions of rigidity of form
to perceive reality as one dominated by demons and not by
and the vitality of human spirit. His work is best read in con-
deities. The problem of the exorcists is to destroy the super-
junction with a more semiological approach, like that of
ordinate demonic reality of the possessed and to reestablish
G. B. Milner, who, in “Homo Ridens: Towards a Semiotic
the moral superiority of deities and humans. To accomplish
Theory of Humour and Laughter,” Semiotica 5 (1972):
1–30, discusses the shift to the ideation of play as a change
this, exorcists first reify the validity of a superior demonic re-
in paradigm. Gilles Deleuze’s Logique du Sens (Paris, 1969),
ality. The demons then appear in the human realm, confi-
translated by Mark Lester with Charles Stivale, as The Logic
dent of their superiority there. However their assertion of au-
of Sense (New York, 1990), begins with an extended analysis
thentic ascendancy is subverted and destroyed through
of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and seeks the shifting
comic episodes that show this status to be illusory. The de-
locations where sense and nonsense collide. The seminal
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PLOTINUS
essay on the paradoxical character of such a cognitive shift,
Feast of Fools: A Theological Essay on Festivity and Fantasy
at least in Western thought, is Gregory Bateson’s “A Theory
(Cambridge, Mass., 1969); and Josef Pieper maintains that
of Play and Fantasy,” in his Steps to an Ecology of Mind (New
festivity without religious celebration is artifice, in his In
York, 1972). Mary Douglas, in “The Social Control of Cog-
Tune with the World (1965; Chicago, 1973). Brenda Danet
nition: Some Factors in Joke Perception,” Man: The Journal
has done pioneering work on playfulness in internet commu-
of the Royal Anthropological Institute, n. s. 3 (September
nication in Cyberpl@y: Communicating Online (Oxford,
1968): 361–376, brings to the fore the plasticity of indeter-
2001).
minacy that the ideation of play introduces into social reality.
DON HANDELMAN (1987 AND 2005)
The most comprehensive cross-cultural overview of theories
of play, among both children and adults, is Helen B. Sch-
wartzman’s Transformations: The Anthropology of Children’s
Play (New York, 1978). This volume contains an excellent
PLOTINUS (205–270), founder of Neoplatonism. The
bibliography. Game, Play, Literature, Yale French Studies,
no. 41 (New Haven, 1968), a special issue edited by Jacques
Life of Plotinus, philosopher and mystic, was written by his
Ehrmann, contains provocative studies on the assumptions
pupil, Porphyry, who edited his master’s lectures into six
of playful ideation. Brian Sutton-Smith, in his The Ambigu-
groups of nine treatises (Enneads). Completed in 309, the
ity of Play (Cambridge, Mass., 1997), uses an original and in-
work comprises ethics, physics, the human and world souls,
sightful approach in discussing theories of play in terms of
the Three Principal Hypostases (the One, the Nous, the
the different varieties of rhetoric through which these theo-
Soul), and logical categories.
ries are constituted. An explicit comparison of the idea of
play with that of ritual is my “Play and Ritual: Complemen-
Plotinus was born in Lycopolis, now Asyut, in Upper
tary Frames of Meta-Communication”; in It’s a Funny
Egypt. He studied in from 232 to 243 under Ammonius in
Thing, Humour (Oxford, 1977), edited by Anthony J. Chap-
Alexandria where a revival of interest in metaphysics and
man and Hugh C. Foot. My, Models and Mirrors: Towards
human non-bodily destiny had been influenced by Philo, the
an Anthropology of Public Events (New York, 1998, 2d ed.),
Middle Platonists, and the Neo-Pythagoreans in contrast to
discusses the constituting roles of play in a variety of rituals
stoicism, epicureanism, and skepticism. Longing to study
and proto-rituals. Galina Lindquist discusses the role of play
Persian and Indian thought, Plotinus joined an expedition
in neo-shamanic ritual in, Shamanic Performances on the
of the Emperor Gordian against Persia. When the emperor
Urban Scene: Neo-Shamanism in Contemporary Sweden
was assassinated by his soldiers, Plotinus escaped to Antioch,
(Stockholm, 1997). A diverse collection on the relationships
then to Rome, where in 244 he began to teach what he
between religion and playful ideation is Holy Laughter (New
learned from Ammonius. After ten years he was urged by stu-
York, 1969), edited by M. Conrad Hyers. His Zen and the
Comic Spirit (London, 1974) is an in-depth study of such re-
dents to write the treatises that have come down to the pres-
lationships in one Eastern religious tradition. Useful general
ent. They are responses to students’ questions and to teach-
considerations of festival are found in Roger Caillois’s Man
ings of Plato, Aristotle, their commentators, the Middle
and the Sacred (Glencoe, Ill., 1959), pp. 97–127, and in
Platonists, Stoics, Epicureans, and Gnostics. Although he
René Girard’s Violence and the Sacred (Baltimore, 1977). An
claimed to be merely an interpreter of Plato, the need to re-
insightful and varied collection on the relationships of play
spond to the objections of non-Platonic philosophers, and
to power is the special issue of Focaal: European Journal of
his openness to whatever truth he found in their philosophy
Anthropology 37 (2001): 7–156, entitled Playful Power and
resulted in Plotinianism, called Neoplatonism in the modern
Ludic Spaces: Studies in Games of Life, edited by Galina Lind-
period. Some main students were Amelius, Porphyry, the
quist and Don Handelman. The most intensive, subtle, and
Emperor Gallienus, his wife, and Eustochious, a physician
nuanced study of socialization through play in a non-
Western culture is that of Jean Briggs, Inuit Morality Play:
who was with him when he died and who reported his last
The Emotional Education of a Three-Year-Old (New Haven,
words: “I am trying to bring back the divine in myself to the
Conn., 1998). The North Indian Kr:s:n:a L¯ıla is described
divine in the All.”
most evocatively by McKim Marriott in “The Feast of Love,”
Convinced of transcendent truth in Platonic Forms,
in Krishna: Myths, Rites and Attitudes (Honolulu, 1966), ed-
Plotinus nevertheless agreed with Aristotle on the priority of
ited by Milton Singer. Medieval European worldview and
thinking to the Forms, as well as with the Middle Platonic
the tradition of Carnival is discussed with imagination and
insight, if with a modicum of exaggeration, in Mikhail Bakh-
position that Forms are Ideas within the Divine Mind, ad-
tin’s Rabelais and His World (Cambridge, Mass., 1968). Iat-
ding his own conviction that Forms are living intelligences.
mul cosmology is analyzed by Gregory Bateson in Naven, 2d
Opposing Aristotle, he insisted that complexity of thinking
ed. (Stanford, Calif., 1958). The Booger Dance of the Cher-
must be preceded by a One, totally simple. Unity is needed
okee is described by Frank G. Speck and Leonard Broom,
for anything to exist, and the degrees of unity establish a hier-
with the assistance of Will West Long, in Cherokee Dance and
archy of ontological value. Influenced by Numenius, Ploti-
Drama (Berkeley, Calif., 1951). The elements of play in Sin-
nus departed from Plato’s oral teaching on the forms arising
hala exorcism are analyzed richly by Bruce Kapferer in A Cel-
from unity imposed on the Indefinite Dyad and adopted a
ebration of Demons: Exorcism and the Aesthetics of Healing in
radical metaphysical Monism.
Sri Lanka (Bloomington, Ind., 1983). Among modern
Christian theologians, Harvey Cox argues for the value to
The Plotinian First Principle, called the One or the
Christianity of a renewed interest in the spirit of play, in The
Good, wills itself to be as it is. Thus it is from itself, and its
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7199
goodness diffuses itself. Everything is a natural overflow from
the source of negative theology and mystical theology, which
the One. The One is “all things and none of them” (V.2.1).
through the works of the fifth century theologian Dionysius
Plotinus does not assume the existence of the One but argues
the Areopagite, influenced Thomas Aquinas and the Rhine-
for it.
land mystics, Eckhart, Suso, and Tauler. Direct knowledge
of the Enneads in the modern world came through the Latin
From the One, actively self-contemplating, proceeds in-
translations of Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499). By its refusal
telligible matter; converting and contemplating the One it
to confuse myths and rituals with religious philosophy, the
becomes Nous, the Primal Intellect, and produces Essential
work of Plotinus led intellectual Christians to recognize how
Soul. According to its capacity this Hypostasis, Soul, con-
far reason could go toward establishing divinely revealed
templates the Forms, and there proceeds World Soul or Na-
truths, as well as how limited reason is with respect to a his-
ture from which proceeds the most limited and faintest trace
torically revealed and achieved salvation that requires faith
of the One, namely, matter. Unable to contemplate, matter
in addition to reason.
is given forms by World Soul, and the physical world comes
to be. Here Plotinus makes use of Aristotle’s matter-form
SEE ALSO Neoplatonism.
theory but only for sub-human things. The existence of the
Three Principal Hypostases in the Intelligible World is
BIBLIOGRAPHY
eternal.
Armstrong, A. Hilary, and Robert A. Markus. Christian Faith and
Greek Philosophy. London, 1960. The tension and interplay
Whence human souls? They come from Essential Soul.
of revealed doctrine and philosophical ideas, a dialogue that
Their individual archetypes are forms within Nous
continues.
(V.9.12).The individual soul’s descent into its body is both
Armstrong, A. Hilary, ed. The Cambridge History of Later Greek
a fall and a necessity for carrying the governance of Essential
and Early Medieval Philosophy. Cambridge, U.K., 1957,
Soul in parts of the world. But the soul does not wholly de-
1970.
scend. Its intuitive intellect, its true self, aspiring for union
Blumenthal, Henry J., and Robert A. Markus, eds. Neoplatonism
with the One, remains in the intelligible world. It may be-
and Early Christian Thought: Essays in Honor of A. H. Arm-
come satisfied with living on its two earthly levels, discursive
strong. London, 1981. Emphasis on Plotinus’s dialogue with
reason and perception, by over-occupation with the sensible
his contemporaries, the Neoplatonic background of Augus-
world. The soul is a continuum of levels, the undescended
tine, and the encounter between later Neoplatonism and the
Intellect intuiting the One the reason deliberating on earthly
Christian tradition.
affairs, the perception of sense objects, the vegetative soul
Dodds, E. R. Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety. Cam-
managing bodily appetites and emotions. The human soul
bridge, 1965. Two different responses to the breakdown of
can live on any level. Plotinus urges a return to one’s true
classical culture and imperial government.
self by philosophical reflection, discipline, and a moral life
Gersh, S. Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism: The Latin Tradi-
leading to contemplation of one’s transcendent Source, the
tion. 2 vols. Notre Dame, 1986.
One (V.3.3; VI.7.36). Living on this level means no return
Hadot, Pierre. Porphyre et Victorinus. Paris, 1970.
to an earthly body after death.
Harris, R. Baine, ed. The Significance of Neoplatonism. Albany,
Contemplation, as productive, is the linchpin of the In-
N.Y., 1976.
telligible World and of the sensible world, as well as of the
Harris, R. Baine, ed. Neoplatonism and Indian Thought. Albany,
return of the human soul to its true undescended self. This
N.Y., 1982.
is made explicit in Ennead III.8.8.
Lloyd, A. C. The Anatomy of Neoplatonism. Oxford, 1990.
Plotinus’s views on the human body were influenced by
O’Meara, Dominic J., ed. Neoplatonism and Christian Thought.
Norfold, Va., 1981.
Plato’s Phaedo and Timaeus. Against the Gnostics (possible
Sethians), he affirms the material world’s goodness and beau-
Smith, A. Porphyry’s Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition. The
ty (Enn. II.9.8); yet he calls matter Absolute Evil (I.8.10)
Hague, 1974.
only because it lacks all form (Timaeus 48e–52d). But never
Wallis, Richard T. Neoplatonism. London, 1972. Discusses the in-
existing alone, matter somehow is involved in physical evils
terrelationships of all the Neoplatonic schools of thought.
and immoral human actions.
Wallis, Richard T., and J. Bergman, eds. Neoplatonism and Gnosti-
cism. Albany, N.Y., 1982.
The Plotinian system is derived from the Classical Tra-
Whittaker, Thomas. The Neo-Platonists: A Study in the History of
dition, human reasoning, and everyday experience, not ex-
Hellenism. 4th ed. Hildesheim, 1928, 1968. Before Wallis’s
cluding religious experience. Through the Cappadocian fa-
book, this was the only survey of Neoplatonism.
thers by way of the translations and writings of John Scottus
Eriugena, Plotinus reached the medieval West. Augustine,
MARY T. CLARK (1987 AND 2005)
freed from Manichaeism by reading treatises of Plotinus and
Porphyry, also transmitted Plotinian concepts to Western
philosophical theory. As founder of Neoplatonism, devel-
PLUTARCH (L. Mestrios Ploutarchos, before 50–after
oped by Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus, Plotinus became
120 CE) was born at Chaironeia near Thebes. He spent much
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PLUTARCH
time at Athens but in later life seems to have resided mostly
the blessed vision. Plutarch is a firm believer in divine provi-
at Chaironeia and at Delphi, where he held a priesthood. He
dence and the basic goodness of the divine order, but he al-
was a good friend of many eminent Greeks and Romans and
lows punishment for the sins of ancestors to be inflicted on
accordingly had considerable political influence, advocating
their descendants (The Delay of Divine Vengeance).
a partnership between Rome (the power) and Greece (the ed-
Emphasis on Plutarch’s demonology (better “dai-
ucator). Late authorities report that he received high distinc-
monology”) has been much exaggerated. His writings reflect
tions from the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. The extant
the vast range of meaning carried by the words daimon, dai-
work of Plutarch, an extremely prolific writer, surpasses that
mones, or daimonion (i.e., spirit, demon, lesser god, a god,
of almost every classical author up to his time, while many
the divinity, God) in Greek. His interest, however, may indi-
nonauthentic works have survived under his name. The Par-
cate the growing influence of Near Eastern and perhaps even
allel Lives, written in an idealistic but critical style, represents
New Testament–type demonology. In The Obsolescence of the
a vast and masterly achievement that has had enormous in-
Oracles and the Lives of Dion and Brutus, Plutarch introduces
fluence. Modern scholarship has also concentrated on his
daimones similar to New Testament demons but without
Moralia, treating Plutarch seriously as a creative thinker and
seeming to be aware of possession and exorcism.
writer whose views deserve respect and study.
Dualism. Scholars are divided over dualism in Plutarch.
LIFE, WORKS, AND RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK. Plutarch wrote
In The Generation of the Soul in the Timaios, Plutarch posits
on religious, ethical, philosophical, rhetorical, and antiquari-
a “world soul,” which existed in a precosmic state as a source
an subjects called Moralia or Moral Essays (Ethika in Greek),
of cosmic evil before this soul obtained an intellect (Logos).
but he is most famous for his Parallel Lives of the Greeks and
Elsewhere he suggests that Zoroastrian dualism may be re-
Romans. As a youth he studied Platonism at Athens under
sponsible for the doctrine of daimones (415D), and he dis-
an Alexandrian named Ammonios, and Plutarch’s own
courses on the struggle between good and evil forces in Zoro-
works in general belong to philosophical and religious
astrianism—for example, as a tentative explanation for the
Platonism.
battle between Osiris and Seth in Egyptian myth (Isis and
Plutarch traveled to Egypt, Asia Minor, and Rome (sev-
Osiris 369D–370C). But dualism in the strict sense (a world
eral times), but his religious knowledge and interpretations
equally balanced between good and evil—that is, between
usually depend on standard works, such as those of the early
equal spiritual beings, one good, one evil) is rarely in ques-
Hellenistic authors Manethon and Hekataios of Abdera
tion and certainly inconsistent with his belief in a benevolent
(Egyptian religion) and Varro (late Roman Republic). Plu-
and providential God ruling a basically good world.
tarch’s veiled criticism of imperial cult may reflect a distaste
Eschatological myths. Some of Plutarch’s afterlife
for the Roman emperors Nero and in particular Domitian.
myths (found in The Sign of Socrates, The Face on the Moon,
As a priest at Delphi and a devout believer in the “ancestral
and The Delay of the Divine Vengeance), while modeled on
faith,” Plutarch played a notable part in the revival of the
those of Plato, are more focused on the personal experience
shrine. This interest and his own role is reflected in his Pythi-
of the visionary, and a “blessed vision” seems more clearly
an Dialogues (The E at Delphi, The Oracles at Delphi, and The
to be the ultimate destiny of the soul. Horrors are more indi-
Obsolescence of the Oracles), in the first of which he prefers
vidually described and gripping, and at least at the end of The
Apollo(n) as the name to designate God.
Divine Vengeance, where Nero appears, one finds an out-
standing contemporary figure undergoing punishment. This
Walter Burkert has noted in “Plutarco: Religiosità per-
is an exception but foreshadows Dante Alighieri’s Inferno
sonale e teologia filosofica” (1996) the personal and optimis-
(fourteenth century). Moreover in some myths the moon be-
tic dimension of Plutarch’s attitude toward religion. In two
comes a place of transition for the souls, and in general the
essays, probably early, On the Eating of Flesh I and II, Plu-
daimones (generally treated as former or potential human
tarch attacked the killing of animals for food, but elsewhere
souls) have a much more important role than in Plato. In
he treats religious festivities, which included sacrifice, as joy-
contrast to the pessimistic myth of eternal rebirth in Plato’s
ous occasions. He believed in prophecy and, following the
Republic or the more optimistic version of recycling souls in
Platonic tradition, speaks of its transmission through inter-
the Timaios, Plutarch seems to envisage release and a blessed
mediate spirits (daimones), especially in The Sign [Daimon-
vision as the normal process for truly virtuous souls, though
ion] of Socrates. However, in general Plutarch treats daimones
these are few in number.
as former or potential human souls. Though drawing inspi-
ration from Plato’s afterlife myths and the Timaios, Plutarch
Religious Platonism. Plutarch avoided more extreme
speaks in The Face on the Moon of a “second death,” the sepa-
positions, such as a first, second, or even third God (the
ration of intellect (nous) from soul (psyche), on the moon.
world) or a God above being and knowledge. He identifies
In his eschatological scenes and comments, he proposes that
God with the highest Platonic entities—Being, One, the
virtuous souls, apparently limited in number, after passing
Form of the Good, Intellect—even though this is usually
through the state of daimones and undergoing purification,
stated only indirectly. One of Plutarch’s most important
become gods—that is, pure immortal intellects without pas-
contributions is his literal interpretation of the Demiurge
sions or attachment to this world—and are rewarded with
(craftsman, creator God) in Plato’s Timaios. Another is his
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Middle Platonic allegorical interpretation of “Egyptian” reli-
with respect. He presumes there is a reasonable or edifying
gion (Isis and Osiris). His intention probably was to domesti-
rationale for something, even if strange. Plutarch had an out-
cate and neutralize the Isis religion through Platonic exegesis.
standing knowledge of Greek and a comprehensive knowl-
Against Herodotos, he champions the purity of Greek reli-
edge of Roman religion, and he used excellent sources, such
gion and its independence from the Egyptian. Plutarch thus
as Varro for the Roman Question.
affirms the superiority of Greek culture. However, the exten-
sive explanation of the rites and myths, a sympathetic treat-
Fritz Graf, however, in “Plutarco e la religione romana”
ment, the importance given Osiris, and the addition of
(1996), notes both Plutarch’s failure to see an essential differ-
Greek eschatology probably gave more meaning to the
ence between Roman and Greek religion and his tendency
“Egyptian” cult and helped popularize it.
to give theological and moralistic explanations. A case is that
of the Flamen Dialis, where modern scholars would see socio-
Dying and rising gods. In Isis and Osiris (356B–359C)
religious taboos. The answers in the Greek Questions are au-
Plutarch treats at great length the death and resurrection, or
thoritative and often short, like encyclopedia entries, nor-
resuscitation, of Osiris. Osiris is identified on occasion with
mally without theoretical explanations. But the responses in
Dionysos (e.g., 356B, 362B), who in turn is identified with
the Roman Questions, frequently more than one, are actually
Adonis (Table Talk, 671B–C). As Giovanni Casadio notes
open-ended questions. In these, often described as “Greek
in “The Failing Male God” (2003), Plutarch prefers to treat
answers for Roman questions,” though not always such, Plu-
the dying and rising Osiris as a daimon rather than a god
tarch seems unable to resist giving several theoretical answers.
(360E–361F). To fit Plutarch’s allegorical interpretation,
Apparently spun out of his own head, he sometimes intro-
however, Osiris ends up not as king of the dead as in the tra-
duces them with “Is it as Varro says, or . . .?” Moreover Re-
ditional Egyptian religion but belonging to the ethereal
becca Preston, in “Roman Questions, Greek Answers: Plu-
regions.
tarch and the Construction of Identity” (2001), observes
Plutarch’s tendency to avoid explicit reference to contempo-
Judaism and Christianity. Plutarch’s knowledge of
rary religious practice, such as imperial cult.
Jewish religion, some of it reporting Egyptian anti-Jewish
propaganda from the Hellenistic period, is limited and su-
Plutarch was surprisingly well-informed about Egyptian
perficial. His ignorance is surprising, considering that the
religion, making use of good, early Hellenistic sources, in
Jewish revolts brought Jews to the attention of the Greek and
particular the Egyptian priest Manethon. In general, as a reli-
Roman world. His knowledge is presumably derived from
gious historian he tries to let the reader into his decision-
earlier non-Jewish authors and represents an outsider’s view
making process. He interprets other religions in Greek terms,
of the religion. For example, the use of wine, tents, and palm
deeming practices or beliefs worthy if they can be reconciled
branches in the feast of the Tabernacles demonstrates that
with Greek ideas. Typical in a sense is his derivation of the
the Jewish god is Dionysos (Table Talk 4.4–4.6). Still in
Egyptian or Greek transmission of the Egyptian name Isis,
these Table Talk “questions,” the only passages exclusively
from the Greek word “to know.” One of his guiding princi-
dedicated to Judaism, he treats it with respect and some sym-
ples is interpretatio graeca, the identification of foreign gods
pathy. Thus he differs from Tacitus (e.g., Histories 5.6.4),
with Greek gods, an identification often based on external
who admired the Jews for not representing the divinity in
resemblances in rites and attributes. Plutarch mostly used old
images (something Plutarch ignores) but otherwise treats
sources, but because of the prominence given Osiris in them,
them with contempt. Plutarch’s respectful attitude, though
his work harmonizes with the growing importance of Osiris
consistent with his general procedure, is noteworthy, consid-
in the early imperial period. In Plutarch’s appropriation or
ering the hostile climate toward Jews during his lifetime.
domestication of the religion through shifting Platonic exe-
Christianity is never mentioned in Plutarch’s works. Since
gesis and the allegorical method, Osiris becomes Plato’s Eros,
the Christian persecutions had started and Plutarch was ac-
or the Form of the Good, while Isis is the Platonic “recepta-
quainted with high Roman officials, its absence may repre-
cle,” or the individual soul longing for the Form of the Good
sent a “conspiracy of silence.”
(or Beautiful).
Historian of religion. Plutarch, an extraordinary
PLUTARCH’S INFLUENCE. From his own age to modern
source for Greek religion, was probably its most outstanding
times, Plutarch has been widely read for his religious views,
historian and comparativist in his day. In the dialogues,
partly because his ideas on creation and God could be recon-
which permit him to introduce often radical and contradic-
ciled with Christian thought. His influence can be seen in
tory opinions, his personal view is often difficult to assess.
such Middle Platonists as Attikos and in the Neoplatonists,
In other works, such as Isis and Osiris (a treatise) and The
though the latter disliked his metaphysics. Christians such
Face on the Moon (more a treatise than a dialogue), he pres-
as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebios of Caesarea,
ents several interpretations, usually moving from a less-
Basil of Caesarea, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoretos, Isidore
probable opinion to a more-probable one, as, for example,
of Pelousion, and Ioannes Philoponos read and admired Plu-
when discussing dualism. As a scholar of comparative reli-
tarch, in particular for his description of the unique creation
gion (especially in Isis and Osiris, Greek Questions, Roman
of the world by God in time. The Delay of the Divine Ven-
Questions, and Table Talk), Plutarch treats religious practices
geance—greatly admired throughout the ages, even if not
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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PNEUMA
necessarily for the best reasons—was transcribed and adapted
Burkert, Walter. “Plutarco: Religiosità personale e teologia filoso-
in large part by the Neoplatonist Proklos, and it received
fica.” In Plutarco e la religione, edited by Italo Gallo,
many editions and translations, especially during the six-
pp. 11–29. Naples, 1996.
teenth to twentieth centuries.
Casadio, Giovanni. “The Failing Male God: Emasculation,
Death, and Other Accidents in the Ancient Mediterranean
Plutarch was overlooked by medieval scholars in the
World.” Numen 50 (2003): 231–268.
West, but in the early humanist period Greeks like Planudes
Dillon, John. “Plutarch and God: Theodicy and Cosmogony in
and Ioannes Mauropos admired him. In the fifteenth centu-
the Thought of Plutarch.” In Traditions of Theology: Studies
ry only Aristotle and Plato among prose writers were better
in Hellenistic Theology, Its Background and Aftermath, edited
represented in Italian libraries, but Plutarch’s ethical writings
by Dorothea Frede and André Laks, pp. 223–237. Leiden,
were favored over his religious writings. Montaigne praised
Netherlands, 2002.
Plutarch’s nondogmatic approach to religious questions.
Donini, Pierluigi. “L’eredità academica e i fondamenti del pla-
Though Erasmus translated several of the Moralia, once say-
tonismo in Plutarco.” In Unione e Amicizia: Omaggio a
ing they were inferior only to the Bible in spirituality, and
Francesco Romano, edited by Maria Barbanti, Giovanna
Plutarch was admired by Melanchthon, Martin Luther does
Giardina, and Paolo Manganaro, pp. 247–273. Catania,
not mention him. Already in the seventeenth century Isis and
Italy, 2003.
Osiris had become an important source for scholars of Egyp-
Ferrari, Franco. Dio, idee e materia: La struttura del cosmo in Plu-
tian religion; the work helped fuel the Egyptomania of the
tarco di Cheronea. Naples, 1995.
late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, and it
Froidefond, Christian. “Plutarque et le platonisme.” In Aufstieg
remains an important source for Egyptologists. Though Plu-
und Niedergang der römischen Welt (ANRW), vol. 2, no. 36.1,
tarch fell somewhat out of favor in the nineteenth century,
pp. 184–233. Berlin and New York, 1987.
his Platonism found a home among the New England tran-
García Valdés, Manuela, ed. Estudios sobre Plutarco: Ideas religio-
scendentalists (Ralph Waldo Emerson). He was a favorite of
sas. Madrid, 1994.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Mary Shelley, while
Goldhill, Simon. “Why Save Plutarch?” In Who Needs Greeks?
George Bernard Shaw oddly labeled his work “a revolution-
Contests in the Cultural History of Hellenism, pp. 246-293.
ists’ handbook.” In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries
Cambridge, U.K., 2002.
scholars have found Plutarch’s works to be an indispensable
Graf, Fritz. “Plutarco e la religione romana.” In Plutarco e la relig-
source for the mentality of his time, a time that produced
ione, edited by Italo Gallo, pp. 269–285. Naples, 1996.
such profound changes in the religious history of the West-
Griffiths, John Gwyn, trans. and ed. Plutarch’s “De Iside et Osi-
ern world.
ride.” Cardiff, U.K., 1970.
Hani, Jean. La religion égyptienne dans la pensée de Plutarque. Paris,
SEE ALSO Delphi; Demons; Dualism; Hellenistic Religions;
1976.
Isis; Orpheus; Osiris; Plato; Platonism.
Hirzel, Rudolf. Plutarch. Leipzig, Germany, 1912.
Klauck, Hans-Josef. The Religious Context of Early Christianity: A
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Guide to Graeco-Roman Religions. Translated by Brian Mc-
Babut, Daniel. Plutarque: Oeuvres morales 72: Sur les notions com-
Neil. Edinburgh, 2000; reprint, Minneapolis, 2003.
munes, contre les Stoïciens. Paris, 2002.
Preston, Rebecca. “Roman Questions, Greek Answers: Plutarch
Baltes, Matthias. “Plutarchos [2] III: Philosophisches Werk.” In
and the Construction of Identity.” In Being Greek under
Der Neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der Antike, edited by Hubert
Roman Rule: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic, and the
Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, vol. 9, pp. 1166–1173.
Development of Empire, edited by Simon Goldhill,
Stuttgart, 2000.
pp. 86–122. New York and Cambridge, U.K., 2001.
Betz, Hans-Dieter, ed. Plutarch’s Theological Writings and Early
Tsekourakis, Damianos. “Pythagoreanism or Platonism and An-
Christian Literature. Leiden, Netherlands, 1975.
cient Medicine? The Reason for Vegetarianism in Plutarch’s
Bianchi, Ugo. “Plutarch und der Dualismus.” In Aufstieg und
Moralia.” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt
Niedergang der römischen Welt (ANRW), vol. 2, no. 36.1,
(ANRW ), vol. 2, no. 36.1, pp. 366–393. Berlin and New
pp. 111–120. Berlin and New York, 1987.
York, 1987.
Boulogne, Jean. “Les ‘Questions Romaines’ de Plutarque.” In Auf-
Ziegler, Konrat. Plutarchos von Chaironeia. Stuttgart, 1964. Rev.
stieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt (ANRW), vol. 2, no.
and enl. version of Paulys Realencyclopädie, vol. 21,
33.6, pp. 4682–4708. Berlin and New York, 1992.
pp. 636–962. Stuttgart, 1951.
Brenk, Frederick E. In Mist Apparelled: Religious Themes in Plu-
FREDERICK E. BRENK (2005)
tarch’s “Moralia” and “Lives.” Leiden, Netherlands, 1977.
Brenk, Frederick E. “An Imperial Heritage: The Religious Spirit
of Plutarch of Chaironeia.” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der
PNEUMA SEE SOUL, ARTICLE ON GREEK AND
römischen Welt (ANRW), vol. 2, no. 36.1, pp. 248–349. Ber-
HELLENISTIC CONCEPTS
lin and New York, 1987; Indices, vol. 2, no. 36.2,
pp. 1300–1322. 1987.
Brenk, Frederick E. Relighting the Souls: Studies in Plutarch, in
Greek Literature, Religion, and Philosophy, and in the New
POBEDONOSTSEV, KONSTANTIN (1827–
Testament Background. Stuttgart, 1998.
1907), procurator of the Holy Governing Synod of the Rus-
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
POETRY: POETRY AND RELIGION
7203
sian Orthodox church. Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev
years, convinced that his work of twenty-five years as procu-
was the last procurator effectively to control the administra-
rator was being destroyed and that both the Russian church
tion of the church according to the stipulations of the Eccle-
and the Russian state were doomed to collapse. He had been
siastical Regulation of Peter the Great. Although this regula-
unyielding in his opposition to parliamentary forms of gov-
tion remained on the statute books until the collapse of the
ernment, believing that they were the cause of the decadence
tsarist regime in 1917, the upheavals of 1905–1906 in the
of the West and that their introduction into Russia in any
church and the government necessitated adaptation in its ap-
form would lead to corruption and disintegration.
plication during the final decade of the old order.
Pobedonostsev’s voluminous writings reflect his train-
Pobedonostsev served as procurator from 1880 to 1905,
ing as a lawyer. Among them are Lectures on Civil Judicial
during which time he oversaw a major restructuring of eccle-
Procedures (Moscow, 1863), History of the Orthodox Church
siastical education and an impressive expansion of the parish
until the Schism of the Churches (Saint Petersburg, 1896), His-
school system. His purpose was twofold: to provide basic ed-
torical Juridical Acts of the Epoch of Transition of the Seven-
ucation to the Russian masses as they emerged from the
teenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Moscow, 1887), Course of
shadow of serfdom and to ensure that that education firmly
Civil Law, 3 vols. (Saint Petersburg, 1868–1880), The Ques-
supported the tsarist political system. Within the seminaries
tions of Life (Moscow, 1904), Annual Report of the Over-
and theological academies under his control he both raised
Procurator of the Holy Synod concerning the Administration of
the general level of education and tried to maintain control
the Orthodox Church (Saint Petersburg, 1881–1909), and a
of its content. Unintentionally, he stimulated a major con-
number of articles published in journals during his public
troversy over reform in the church and spent the later years
career.
of his career attempting to contain and stifle this controversy.
Among the forceful personalities Pobedonostsev dealt
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The definitive biography of Pobedonostsev in English is Robert
with in the controversy over church reform were Antonii
F. Byrnes’s Pobedonostsev: His Life and Thought (Blooming-
Vadkovskii, metropolitan of Saint Petersburg (1898–1912),
ton, Ind., 1968). In German it is Gerhard Simon’s Konstan-
Sergei Witte, chairman of the Committee of Ministers
tin Petrovic Pobedonoscev und die Kirchenpolitik des Heiligen
(1903–1905) and prime minister (1905–1906), and Antonii
Synod, 1880–1905 (Göttingen, 1969). Other useful books
Khrapovitskii, bishop and archbishop of Volhynia (1902–
are John S. Curtiss’s Church and State in Russia: The Last
1914). The bishops were determined reformers, seeking to
Years of the Empire, 1900–1917 (1940; reprint, New York,
free the church from the bondage of the Ecclesiastical Regu-
1965), Igor Smolitsch’s Geschichte der russischen Kirche,
lation. During debates in the Committee of Ministers on
1700–1917 (Leiden, 1964), Russian Orthodoxy under the Old
proposed changes in legislation affecting non-Orthodox reli-
Regime, edited by Robert Nichols and Theofanis Stavrou
gious groups in the Russian empire, Witte was persuaded by
(Minneapolis, 1978), and my Vanquished Hope: The Church
in Russia on the Eve of the Revolution (New York, 1981).
Vadkovskii and others that termination of the Petrine regula-
tion and restoration of autonomy of administration (possibly
JAMES W. CUNNINGHAM (1987)
reviving the patriarchate of Moscow) were essential for good
government of the church.
Pobedonostsev attempted to halt the momentum for re-
POETRY
form and abolition of the Petrine system by having Tsar
This entry consists of the following articles:
Nicholas II transfer deliberation of the question from the
POETRY AND RELIGION
Committee of Ministers to the synod itself, where the procu-
INDIAN RELIGIOUS POETRY
rator’s agents would be able to control the debate. Vad-
CHINESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
JAPANESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
kovskii, Khrapovitskii, and their allies outmaneuvered the
CHRISTIAN POETRY
synodal bureaucracy, however, and the synod itself declared
ISLAMIC POETRY
for reform. As a result of the synod’s decision, the procurator
NATIVE AMERICAN POETRY AND RELIGION
ordered the polling of all the bishops of the church in the
hope that they would be opposed to a sobor (council) of the
POETRY: POETRY AND RELIGION
church and to the restoration of the patriarchate. But when
The language of religion, like the language of love, is persis-
the bishops had completed their replies, the overwhelming
tently poetic, if by no means exclusively so. The reasons why
majority were found to favor a sobor and a sweeping reform.
religious expression is so often poetic are complex, however,
During the months that the poll was being taken, Russia
and not always transparent. They can best be adduced by
was wracked by violence and revolution. From the turmoil
considering the principal ways in which poetry functions in
came the October Manifesto (1905), which granted a limited
different religious contexts and traditions. It will be useful,
constitutional government. Pobedonostsev resigned as proc-
however, to begin by examining the overall features of poet-
urator, protesting against the manifesto, against Witte’s hav-
ry, and its corresponding religious potential.
ing been appointed prime minister, and against the tsar’s
POETRY AS PERFORMANCE AND EXPRESSION: BASIC ELE-
promise to summon an all-Russian sobor. He died within two
MENTS. Poetry has been described as heightened speech. In-
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POETRY: POETRY AND RELIGION
tensified and ordered through rhythm, sound, and image,
ter upon multiple readings than in a single oral performance.
such language is designed to be expressive or beautiful, and
And though the English poet John Milton (1608–1674) was
memorable. Poetic diction varies widely from style to style,
blind when he dictated the blank verse of his Christian epic
and from culture to culture. Yet the language of poetry typi-
Paradise Lost, the extended structure and density of the
cally departs from both common sense and plain speech,
work’s often Latinate syntax favors readers more than mere
being often figurative or metaphoric in the broad sense.
listeners. Again, the interlinked sequences of poetic stanzas
in Japanese renga of the fifteenth and sixteenth century CE,
Poetry can be divided into three large genres: narrative,
which often touch lightly on Buddhist themes, allow poets
dramatic, and lyric. Narrative poetry includes epics, myths,
to respond to one another in writing. There are even devo-
sagas, fables, ballads, romances, and the like. Dramatic poet-
tional poems by the Anglican priest George Herbert (1593–
ry includes verse forms of tragedy, comedy, and plays of an
1633) that are arranged on the page in such a way as to create
explicitly liturgical or ritual sort. As for the numerous kinds
a two-dimensional visual image of the primary subject of the
of lyric poetry, some of the more familiar are odes, hymns,
poem—as in “The Altar” and “Easter Wings.”
elegies, laments, haiku, love sonnets, and meditative verse.
Such features of poetry, even when seemingly of minor
Many of the traits normally associated with poetry—
consequence in themselves, are reminders that the medium
meter, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, and consonance, for
of poetry is never merely words in the abstract. Rather, poet-
instance—become most vivid in oral expression. Religions
ry depends on imagination and a kind of embodiment. As
have traditionally made much of the very orality of poetry.
with ritual and arts in general, the meaning of poetry regis-
Thus the markedly poetic text of the Qur’a¯n (literally, “reci-
ters on the whole self, appealing to head and heart, mind and
tation”), which Muh:ammad delivered orally, lends itself to
body.
beautiful modes of chanting out loud rather than to silent
reading. Even in poetry that is unrhymed and irregularly me-
Despite that sort of immediacy, poetry distances itself
tered, various salient features may come out more fully in
from the merely mundane. In a variety of ways poetry es-
oral performance. In the poetry of the Hebrew Bible, for ex-
tranges itself from the familiar and creates a measure of cre-
ample, oral rendition calls attention to a combined rhythm
ative disorientation—something evident in modern poetry
of meaning, syntax, and stress—something clearly audible in
in particular. For instance, while Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot
the celebrated parallelisms of the Psalms, a liturgical song-
(1888–1965) is far removed from actual ritual practice or
book.
from prayer or other spiritual exercises in the usual sense, the
structure of each of the quartets bears some resemblance to
Most of the poetry associated with religion and ritual
classic stages of the mystical path or, more particularly, of the
is actually meant to be sung or chanted, taking the form of
spiritual progress of what Eliot elsewhere calls the “intellectu-
hymns, invocations, ritual incantations, and the like. Indeed,
al soul.” The highly metaphoric language, the deferral from
virtually all of the poetry in ancient Greece—not only epic
plain sense, and the attentiveness to sonic texture all contrib-
and lyric poetry but also dramatic—was accompanied by in-
ute to the spiritual evocativeness of such poetry, influenced
struments, and often by dance. The same can be said of tradi-
in part by the French symbolist tradition of the late nine-
tional poetry in Africa, India, Bali, and elsewhere.
teenth century. Again, the works of the Welsh poet Dylan
The connection between poetry and music was so inti-
Thomas (1914–1953), far more extroverted in character,
mate in Western antiquity that when Augustine of Hippo
have a virtually incantatory quality that is only heightened
(354–430), the most influential of the Christian church fa-
by the fact that the literal sense can be hard to fathom. It
thers, wrote his only treatise on music, he approached the
could be argued that creative dissonance likewise results from
topic by dwelling at length on matters of number and meter
the often shocking lyrics of the highly rhythmic and rhyming
associated with prosody. Unfortunately, no one knows for
popular music known as rap—originally an urban ghetto
sure how the musical settings of ancient poetry sounded—
genre of African American musical verse but one that, since
even the hymns that Augustine confessed moved him to
the late twentieth century, has begun to spread widely
tears. The works of much later Christian hymn-writers—
around the world and even to be employed in worship.
such as Paul Gerhardt (1606–1676), Isaac Watts (1674–
POETRY, PROPHECY, AND REVELATION. In religious life, the
1748), Charles Wesley (1707–1788), and Fanny Crosby
means of poetry serve particular ends, beyond providing
(1820–1915)—were, of course, set to music that remains
purely aesthetic delight. Two of the most important religious
easily accessible; but such verse, however widely sung in
purposes of poetry can be termed prophecy and revelation.
churches, is rarely classified now as poetry.
Two other religious purposes, which will be discussed subse-
quently, are devotion and mysticism.
In due course, religious poetry nonetheless came to ex-
ploit the possibilities of the written text. The epic narrative
Prophetic utterance is concerned with communicating
of the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321),
divine messages, whether about the future or about condi-
which traces the pilgrim Dante’s progress from hell to heav-
tions of self or society that need to be changed, possibly for
en, employs an elaborate rhyme scheme (terza rima), com-
the sake of justice and righteousness. Thus poetry in many
plex allegory, and convoluted similes that are all savored bet-
parts of the world has been a medium of spiritual ecstasy or
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POETRY: POETRY AND RELIGION
7205
“madness” in the service of prophecy. Plato (c. 428–348 or
Nevertheless, being regarded as revealed or inspired,
347 BCE) and many other ancient Greeks thought of poets
those ancient texts of Hinduism were not received as poetic
not as knowledgeable artists in full control of their craft but
art or literature (ka¯vya) in the usual sense. Although, as time
rather as seers and prophets mediating mysterious truths and
passed, one system of classification did recognize epics such
divine directives that the poets might not fully grasp them-
as the Maha¯bha¯rata and the Ra¯ma¯yan:a as ka¯vya, a second sys-
selves.
tem maintained that the truthful story-telling of such epic
poems or of the popular but nonetheless sacred Pura¯n:as
In Latin, one venerable term for poet is vates, or “proph-
should be distinguished from the mere fictions of literature.
et.” Similarly, in Arabic, the word for poetry, shi Dr, is derived
And none of the epics themselves were so self-consciously lit-
from a verb denoting a special kind of knowledge associated
erary as the classical Sanskrit poetry that began to be com-
with divination. Although the prophet Muh:ammad’s critics,
posed around 200 CE, and that culminated in the work of
in the seventh century CE, dismissed his recitations as mere
the poet Ka¯l¯ıdasa in the fifth century.
poetry, Muslims themselves soon came to regard the suprem-
acy of the QurDa¯n as audible in that very poetry, with a truth
Thus, as these examples indicate, when it comes to the
and beauty beyond compare.
revelatory quality of religious poetry, there is often a tension
between a religious community’s desire to recognize or ac-
The aura of divine possession or prophetic inspiration
claim the poetic art of sacred texts and the contrary desire
has never completely departed from the role of poet, though
to distance such elevated or supremely truthful texts from
in later times, especially in the West, it has become less visi-
merely human poiesis, or poetic making, and from what oth-
ble. The prophet’s call for righteousness and justice survives,
erwise might be seen as creative representation, or mimesis.
for example, in poetry of protest, as exemplified by the war
Indeed, the difference between divine revelation and human
poems of England’s Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) or the long
expression can be interpreted at times in terms of a divine
poem Babi Yar by the Russian Yevgeny Yevtushenko
disregard for the lesser delights of mere poetry. While it is
(1933–), who, in mourning the Nazi massacre of thousands
true that, in the West, Augustine and other church fathers
of Ukrainian Jews, also attacks Soviet anti-Semitism.
were struck by the symbolism, figurative discourse, and rhet-
oric of the Bible, they were pleased to point out how fre-
In addition to having a prophetic function, poetry serves
quently Scripture seems to disdain the lofty language and the
as a medium of revelation—which, in the sense relevant here,
polished poetry perfected by the pagans. Jerome (c. 342–
is the inspired disclosure of deep wisdom or of holy presence.
420), for instance, thought that the language of the Scrip-
In a specifically religious sense, revelation can take place as
tures was “harsh and barbaric” compared with the pagan
epiphany or theophany: that which is divine or holy appears
classics. Christians of the patristic era saw the very roughness
in an awe-inspiring form that is nonetheless accessible to
of scriptural language as serving a higher wisdom and (as Au-
human senses and awareness. Whereas prophecy employs ex-
gustine would argue) a higher, invisible beauty not to be
hortation and proclamation, revelation employs vision and
compared with human ornament and decorum.
manifestation, or sacramental embodiment. At a less lofty
level, prophecy and revelation take the form of preaching and
At other times, sacred texts are valued by their devotees
teaching, which likewise can employ poetry. Thus, in the
or believers as the very model of poetic excellence and most
sixth century CE, Romanos the Melodist, the most famous
worthy of emulation. Thus, while an elevated view of the po-
liturgical poet of the Orthodox Church, chanted his narra-
etry of the Qur’a¯n has sometimes functioned to cast all other
tive verse sermons in a form known as kontakia, with the
poetry in a comparatively negative light, the Qur’a¯n has also
congregation joining in a repeated refrain.
helped inspire the extensive repertoire of Islamic poetry, in
Persian as well as Arabic. Similarly, in medieval Europe, bib-
In India, the most ancient sacred Hindu texts, revered
lical figurative language and the corresponding typological
as the original revelations, are the Vedas, the earliest portions
and allegorical approach to reading Scripture gave impetus
of which became canonical by 1000 BCE. Those primary re-
to poetic allegory more broadly—and, eventually, to the poet
velatory utterances are classified as ´sruti: that which is heard.
Dante’s adoption of the four commonly acknowledged levels
Subsequent sacred texts (including the Dharma´sa¯stras and
of interpreting sacred texts, which he had the seeming audac-
the epics) are classified as smr:ti: that which is remembered.
ity to apply to his own extra-biblical epic narrative, the Di-
Both kinds of texts are, in many cases, composed in verse.
vine Comedy. Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century,
Indian commentators have long spoken of r:s:his (“seers” and
such as Martin Luther, engaged in tirades against medieval
“poets”) as in some sense the transmitters and composers of
allegorizing; but Protestants themselves often looked on the
the Vedas—whose sacred hymns and largely non-narrative
figurative language of Scripture not only as exemplifying the
verses use vivid imagery and memorable sound and phrasing.
Bible’s poetic excellence but also as providing divine sanction
The great epics are also attributed to poets—the
for poetic simile, metaphor, metonymy, catechresis, and so
Maha¯bha¯rata to Vyasa (a “collector”) and the Ra¯ma¯yan:a to
forth.
Valmiki. The Maha¯bha¯rata, indeed, refers to itself as a ka¯vya,
or great poem, and contains the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, which is ac-
Accordingly, in England, Philip Sidney (1554–1586)
knowledged worldwide as a masterpiece of poetry.
defended poetry not only by citing the Psalms of David 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
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POETRY: POETRY AND RELIGION
divine poems but also by claiming that the poet’s imagina-
ous shapers of culture that, if anything was going to remain
tion is analogous to the creativity of “the heavenly maker”
of religion at all, it would be its “poetry.” Now that fact and
who “made man to his owne likenes . . . which in nothing
dogma were failing religion, wrote Matthew Arnold (1822–
sheweth so much as in Poetry.” The seventeenth-century An-
1888), people would increasingly need to turn for consola-
glican poet and divine John Donne (c. 1572–1631) likewise
tion to poetry, which he thought of as the “breath and finer
found in scripture ample evidence that the Holy Spirit is the
spirit of knowledge” that could sustain humanity in the ab-
supreme poet. God is not only a “direct God,” he said, but
sence of secure creeds. At times, in the hands of theorists
also a “figurative, a metaphorical God too.” Such convictions
such as Walter Pater (1839–1894) and, later, Clive Bell
inspired much Protestant lyrical poetry of the seventeenth
(1881–1964), poetry—or art in general—became virtually
century. And though the use of figurative language had as
a surrogate for religion.
much to do with moving and delighting readers as with con-
veying higher truths, in the seventeenth century those func-
Even the so-called New Critics of the mid-twentieth
tions of poetry were closely intertwined.
century, for all their preoccupation with the formal and self-
reflexive features of poetic art, carried forward certain of
During the eighteenth century, by contrast, the increas-
these tendencies. For they viewed poetic language not simply
ing prevalence of empirical or scientific standards of truth in
as constitutive of its own world but also, paradoxically, as re-
Western culture spawned, in many settings, a relatively ratio-
velatory of a unique kind of knowledge unavailable to other
nalist approach to religion. Since the language of poetry con-
modes of discourse.
formed neither to the clear and distinct ideas of science nor
to the kind of self-evident or revealed absolutes required in
Meanwhile, in the work of philosophers and theologians
different ways by both deist and dogmatic religion, poetry
such as Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), Hans-Georg Ga-
lost some of its esteem as a serious medium of either truth
damer (1900–2002), Paul Tillich (1886–1965), and Paul
or revelation, though it was still thought suitable for edifying
Ricoeur (1913–), truth and symbolic imagination were treat-
instruction.
ed as intimately interrelated. Truth that is most important
to human life and meaning, according to such thinkers, is
During this era, particularly under the influence of the
not subject to propositional logic but appears in the simulta-
philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), poetry and the
neous veiling and unveiling inherent in symbolic or poetic
other arts were granted a large degree of autonomy, apart
thought. In a related vein, the Roman Catholic theologian
from science, morality, or religion. Ironically, however, the
Karl Rahner (1904–1984) suggested that, ideally, the priest
price was that the beauty of poetry was often conceived of
and poet should become one, though that fusion of roles is
not as participating in divine beauty but as delighting in an
likely to remain an eschatological hope more than a present
ornamental way or as providing simply an appealing guise
reality. To other theologians such as Hans Urs von Balthasar
in which to clothe social commentary or instruction in mat-
(1905–1988), that kind of hope would seem to transgress the
ters of morality.
necessary boundary between artistic inspiration and God’s
During the revolutionary age of European Romanti-
self-revelation. Yet Balthasar himself wanted to reclaim beau-
cism, which commenced near the end of the eighteenth cen-
ty as a transcendental, essential attribute of whatever is real
tury and continued well into the nineteenth, poets and critics
and true, and he acknowledged that divine beauty can, by
such as Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843), Samuel Taylor
way of analogy, graciously manifest itself in artistic beauty
Coleridge (1772–1834), and Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–
as well.
1882) reacted against both scientific rationalism and reli-
All along, however, one whole line of modernist poetics,
gious dogmatism, partly by taking a very high view of works
associated with formalism in particular, had resisted any at-
of poetic genius. Poetic imagination, according to many of
tempt to think of poetry as concerned with truth at all, or
the Romantics, transcends both scientific fact and religious
with anything other than itself and the sheer play of lan-
dogma, becoming in a real sense revelatory of the highest
guage. In the latter part of the twentieth century, postmod-
truths available to human beings. William Wordsworth
ern theorists such as the deconstructionist philosopher
(1770–1850), for instance, could be found referring to the
Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) took such skepticism about
poet or bard as the “holiest of men.” The Romantics, often
poetic truth and applied it to language as a whole, wherein
enamored with the cult of the artist as genius, made the poet-
they found all meaning to be in some degree deferred, and
ic Muse an ally of, or occasionally even substitute for, the
all representation to be artificial and unreliable to an indeter-
Holy Spirit. “A Poet, a Painter, a Musician, and Architect:
minate degree. But even then, Derrida appeared to leave
the Man or Woman who is not one of these is not a Chris-
room for something more—something still related to reli-
tian,” wrote the English poet and artist William Blake
gion—to emerge from language and symbol and to entice
(1727–1857). Imagination, he said, “is the Divine Body of
belief. Truth might be elusive, but there was still something
the Lord Jesus, blessed for ever.”
worth trusting in the darkness of unknowing, as Derrida
In the Victorian era, when the creeds and prescribed rit-
would hint from time to time. Not surprisingly, this open-
uals of religion further weakened under the assault of social
ended, postmodern approach, pushing to the limits of lan-
change and scientific revolution, it began to appear to vari-
guage and beyond, sounded to some students of theology
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POETRY: POETRY AND RELIGION
7207
and religion like a kind of negative theology—a via nega-
man Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), and the Welsh Angli-
tiva—and sometimes almost like poetry, itself.
can priest R. S. Thomas (1913–2000). Americans such as
POETRY, DEVOTION, AND MYSTICISM. Religion has to do
Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962), Anne Sexton (1928–1974),
not only with prophecy and revelation, but also with devo-
Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), and Gary Snyder (1930–)
tion and spirituality: the response and expression of personal
composed poetic exhortations and confessions, both lyric
or corporate piety. In intense forms, that can entail mysti-
and narrative, that are still further removed from conven-
cism—seeking and celebrating an experience of union (or in-
tional Western religious norms—being panentheistic, femi-
timate communion) with the divine or with ultimate reality
nist, “Beat,” and Zen in their respective spiritualities. The
transcending all imaginable qualities. Devotion that is corpo-
works of the Jewish poet Paul Celan (1920–1970) constitute
rate and public is usually termed worship. When private, de-
some of the most evocative and shattering uses of poetic lan-
votion is known more often as personal prayer, meditation,
guage to have emerged in response to the Holocaust.
or contemplation.
Outside the West, and many centuries earlier, in ShiDa
As noted earlier, the greater portion of poetry that has
Islamic circles under the Sunni Umayyad dynasty (661–
played a role in public worship has been accompanied by
750), remarkable religious odes and laments were composed
music. Some of that musical poetry is narrative in kind, recit-
in order to praise and mourn martyrs. A very different form
ing stories of the acts of deities, avatars, and exemplary
of lyric verse flourished during a golden age of poetry in the
human beings. Mostly, however, the poetry of worship is lyr-
Tang dynasty of China (618–907). Many Tang lyrics, com-
ical. Among the more complex and formal lyrics are odes
posed by civil servants and aristocrats for whom the making
praising or petitioning the divine, as occurs in cult hymns
of poetry was often a daily exercise, manifest a Daoist interest
from the Alexandrian period in Greek literature (c. 300–30
in nature, especially the harmonies and quiet surprises of sea-
BCE). In the Christian New Testament, the letters of Paul
sonal change. Other poems, like those of Wang Wei (c. 699–
make reference to the singing of “hymns, psalms, and spiritu-
761), contemplate landscapes in such a way as to suggest an
al songs”—seemingly imprecise terms that nevertheless em-
insubstantiality corresponding to the Buddhist metaphysical
phasize the lyrical mode, including canticles such as Mary’s
idea of “emptiness.” In seventeenth-century Japan, Matsuo
Magnificat, found in the book of Luke. Original lyric verse,
Basho¯ (1644–94) composed haiku that, in their extreme
once it has been set to music, has also been employed widely
brevity, likewise observed nature with care, exhibiting Zen
in public prayer, as one sees in the poems of the now-
mindfulness and suggesting the interplay between the mo-
celebrated Symphonia of Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179).
mentary and the timeless.
The extra-biblical church hymns of the twelfth and thir-
By contrast with such essentially quiet (though some-
teenth centuries, such as the Stabat Mater and the Dies Irae,
times gently humorous) forms of verse, expressions of reli-
are among the high marks of liturgical poetry. In Judaism,
gious awe, affection, and ecstasy abound in the lyrical modes
similarly, there is an extensive tradition of piyyutim, or litur-
of Indian poets and singers associated with the popular
gical poems and prayers, mostly composed between the early
movement known as bhakti. In the sixth century CE, South
centuries of the Common Era and the eighteenth century.
Indian poet-saints associated with this movement began to
While religious poetry that is not sung or chanted has
compose extensive Tamil hymns to S´iva or Vis:n:u; others ori-
not generally found a major place in liturgy or corporate
ented their poetry toward the ultimate reality brahman, re-
worship, such poetry has served as a medium of private devo-
garded either as personal divinity with qualities, or as ulti-
tion and personal religious expression. The works of one of
mately ineffable and beyond qualities. The movement spread
the greatest Hebrew poets of the medieval period, Judah ha-
to other parts of India. Later poets in the bhakti line include
Levi (c. 1075–1141), generally fall into that category. In
the female poets Akka Mahadevi (a twelfth-century devotee
Christian circles, from the late sixteenth century through
of S´iva) and M¯ıra¯ (a sixteenth-century devotee of Kr:s:n:a).
much of the seventeenth, meditative or metaphysical lyric
The tradition continues, with modifications, into modern
poetry was in many instances deeply informed by the Spiritu-
times, manifesting itself, for instance, in the poetry of Rabin-
al Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556). Other lyric
dranath Tagore (1861–1941), whose poetic art entails mysti-
poetry of the same period, especially in Protestant England,
cal self-realization and indeed joy, yet is not untouched by
was shaped—as already noted—by the poetry of the Bible
suffering.
itself, which at that time was thought to have been composed
In Islam as well, particularly in the Su¯f¯ı tradition, the
in regular meters.
more fervent forms of religious lyricism exhibit a recurrent
Modern counterparts of such poetry can be found, but
tendency to become mystical, and often, in becoming mysti-
are seldom so openly devotional in character, and rarely so
cal, to employ erotic metaphors to express intense longing
explicitly prayerful. Particularly notable examples in the
for, or union with, the divine. Such poetic mysticism reaches
West include lyrics composed by the American Emily Dick-
a peak in the famous Persian Su¯f¯ı poet Jala¯l al-D¯ın Ru¯m¯ı
inson (1830–1886), the Russian Anna Akhmatova (1889–
(1207–1273), whose narratives and lyrical couplets express
1966), the English Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–
a longing for God in both veiled and explicitly sexual imag-
1889), Ireland’s William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), the Ger-
ery. Long before Ru¯m¯ı’s time, the Iraqi poet Ra¯biEah
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
7208
POETRY: POETRY AND RELIGION
al-DAdaw¯ıyah (d. 801) explored her love of God in terms of
etic medium, if less often poetry itself, still plays a role in
divine-human reciprocity, helping inspire a whole genre of
public. Popular songwriters such as Bob Dylan (1941–), Paul
Islamic mystical poetry in which God and the human self are
Simon (1942–), Bob Marley (1944–1987), and the Indigo
imaged as beloved and lover.
Girls (first recorded in 1989) have had a communal role with
discernible moral and religious dimensions that go beyond
The poetic traditions of Christianity and Judaism are
entertainment per se. At a less popular level, but with a size-
generally less rapturous and mystical than those considered
able multinational audience, the morally engaging films of
above, and are mostly inclined to seek communion with
the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (1910–1998) and the
God, rather than union. But notable examples of the mysti-
Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski (1941–1996) are cer-
cal poetic impulse can be found. The poems of the Spaniard
tainly not without poetic qualities. Meanwhile, in their wide-
John of the Cross (1542–1591) are classics of mysticism,
ly acclaimed contemporary operas and large-scale choral
known for tracing the path to God through the dark night
works, composers such as John Adams (1947–), Philip Glass
of the soul. Many works of Jewish mystical poetry reflect the
(1937–), and Tan Dun (1957–) employ poetic texts from
influence of medieval Qabbalah. Other Jewish poetry has
Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Mayan traditions, partly in
been inspired by the Hasidic tradition of pietism and mysti-
an attempt to recover a global sense, however mysterious, of
cism originating in the eighteenth century.
purpose and hope.
The mystical, and even the devotional, strands within
In a postmodern culture, then, it appears that the larger
religious poetry receive relatively little attention in the major
social and communal dimension of moral and religious
Western theories of poetry. Although Western theories have
imagination is still being conveyed poetically, but more often
sometimes related the poetic sense of the sublime to the reli-
by the poetic qualities of media such as music and film than
gious experience of the holy, they have generally valued poet-
by poetry.
ry as instruction and delight, as creative or beautiful making
(poiesis) and artful representation (mimesis), and as self-
SEE ALSO Bhagavadg¯ıta¯; Dante Alighieri; Deconstruction;
expression. By contrast, Indian poetic theories have more fre-
Film and Religion; John of the Cross; Maha¯bha¯rata;
quently discerned a genuinely religious and potentially mys-
QurDa¯n, overview article; Ramayana; Rumi, Jalal al-Din; Ta-
tical purpose inherent within the experience of poetry itself.
gore, Rabindranath.
Thus various ancient theorists in India discuss eight or nine
B
major aesthetic rasas (core sentiments or moods), one of
IBLIOGRAPHY
Two invaluable reference sources for the study of poetry and poet-
which they commonly identify as profoundly peaceful
ics, religious and otherwise, are The New Princeton Encyclope-
(santa) and, as such, also religious. No later than the six-
dia of Poetry and Poetics, edited by Alex Preminger and
teenth century, a specifically devotional rasa is identified,
T. V. F. Brogan (Princeton, N.J., 1993), and Encyclopedia
which is called simply bhakti. Centuries before then, the
of Contemporary Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms,
great eleventh century theorist Abhinavagupta had said that
edited by Irena R. Makaryk (Toronto, 1993).
a rasa produced by a drama (normally in verse and dance)
The following studies, although centered on one particular period,
can afford a kind of metaphysical bliss integral to, though
genre, or text, provide insights into the overall relation be-
not identical with, the experience of utmost spiritual libera-
tween poetry and religion: M. H. Abrams, Natural Supernat-
tion, or moks:a.
uralism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature
(New York, 1971), Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry
THE LARGER CONTEXT: RELIGION, POETRY, AND SOCIETY.
(New York, 1985), Guy L. Beck, Sonic Theology: Hinduism
As the preceding discussion has shown, poetry serves a vari-
and Sacred Sound (Columbia, S.C., 1993), Giles B. Gunn,
ety of religious purposes, even as it heightens awareness of
The Interpretation of Otherness: Literature, Religion, and the
the power, beauty, and figurative play of language itself.
American Imagination (New York, 1979), O. B. Hardison,
Prior to the modern era, the poetry with the widest sphere
Jr., Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages
of influence was mythical, epic, or quasi-historical, in the
(Baltimore, 1965), David Lyle Jeffrey, ed., Dictionary of Bib-
manner of the Babylonian epic Gilgamesh, the Indian
lical Tradition in English Literature, (Grand Rapids, Mich.,
Ra¯ma¯yan:a, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and Milton’s Paradise
1992), Barbara Kiefer Lewalski, Protestant Poetics and the
Seventeenth-Century Religious Lyric (Princeton, N.J., 1979),
Lost. Such poetry speaks for and to the wider community,
Louis L. Martz, The Poetry of Meditation: A Study in English
in both religious and moral terms. Poetry in that public sense
Religious Literature of the Seventeenth Century, rev. edition
of establishing and exploring core communal values has
(New Haven, Conn., 1962), Vijay Mishra, Devotional Poetics
largely been eclipsed in contemporary life, especially in the
and the Indian Sublime (Albany, N.Y., 1998), Stephen Pri-
West. Some cultural critics have wondered whether theatre
ckett, Words and the Word: Language, Poetics, and Biblical In-
and prose fiction may also be fading from public significance
terpretation (Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 1986), John
in a phase of culture that seems preeminently visual and
Renard, Seven Doors to Islam: Spirituality and the Religious
musical.
Life of Muslims (Berkeley, Calif., 1996), James H. Sanford,
William R. LaFleur, and Masatoshi Nagatomi, eds., Flowing
Nevertheless, if one includes song itself in the category
Traces: Buddhism in the Literary and Visual Arts of Japan,
of poetry—something for which there is historical prece-
(Princeton, N.J., 1992), and Nathan A. Scott, Jr., Visions of
dent—then it can be said with some justification that the po-
Presence in Modern American Poetry (Baltimore, 1993).
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
POETRY: INDIAN RELIGIOUS POETRY
7209
These studies reflect more broadly on religious dimensions of po-
works. This article focuses mainly on short verse forms (lyrics
etry and poetics: Vincent Buckley, Poetry and the Sacred
and couplets) and on Hindu vernacular poetry, though there
(London, 1968), Frank Burch Brown, Transfiguration: Poetic
are brief sections on Sanskrit, Buddhist, and Jain materials
Metaphor and the Languages of Religious Belief (Chapel Hill,
as well.
N.C., 1983), Giles B. Gunn, ed., Literature and Religion
(New York, 1971), Hans Küng and Walter Jens, Literature
HINDU POETRY IN SANSKRIT. The most ancient texts of In-
and Religion (New York, 1991), Justus George Lawler, Celes-
dian civilization, the Rgvedic hymns (1200–900 BCE), can
tial Pantomime: Poetic Structures of Transcendence (New
be seen as remote first ancestors of the long tradition of devo-
Haven, Conn., 1979), Paul Mariani, God and the Imagina-
tional poetry in India. These poems include paeans to vari-
tion: On Poets, Poetry, and the Ineffable (Athens, Ga., 2002),
ous Aryan gods, many of whom assumed places in the late
William T. Noon, Poetry and Prayer (New Brunswick, N.J.,
Hindu pantheon.
1967), Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy (New York,
1982), Nathan A. Scott, Jr., The Poetics of Belief (Chapel
The body of Sanskrit verse most relevant to this survey
Hill, N.C., 1985), Gerardus van der Leeuw, Sacred and Pro-
is the vast assortment of Hindu stotras—hymns of praise, ad-
fane Beauty: The Holy in Art, translated by David E. Green
oration, and supplication—with examples ranging over two
(New York, 1963), and Robert Wuthnow, Creative Spiritual-
millennia, from before the common era to the present day.
ity: The Way of the Artist (Berkeley, Calif., 2001).
These poems are found imbedded in epics, Pura¯n:as,
While there is no truly representative reader in the poetry of the
ma¯ha¯tmyas, Tantras, other sacred texts, and occasionally sec-
world’s religions, three collections that cross traditions are
ular texts; or as independent works attributed to various dev-
Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa,
otees and teachers. The period in which stotras were most
America, Asia, and Oceania, edited by Jerome Rothenberg
abundantly produced corresponds largely to that of the bhak-
(New York, 1968), The Penguin Book of Religious Verse, ed-
ti movement. Composed in all parts of India, the hymns are
ited by R. S. Thomas (Harmondsworth, U.K., 1963), and
addressed chiefly to forms of S´iva, Vis:n:u, and Dev¯ı (the god-
Modern Religious Poems: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by
dess), but they are also dedicated to other deities, such as
Jacob Trapp (New York, 1964). A major, two-volume an-
Gan:e´sa and Su¯rya. Their subjects extend further to sacred
thology in English combining Jewish and Christian poetry,
cities, rivers, shrines, plants; to gurus and ancestors; and to
along with poetry from the margins of those traditions, is
Chapters into Verse: Poetry in English Inspired by the Bible, ed-
the impersonal Absolute. Many stotras are anonymous or of
ited by Robert Atwan and Laurance Wieder (New York,
dubious attribution. Among numerous named composers, a
1993). Similar in nature, but focusing on modern poetry and
few famous examples are the philosophers S´an˙kara and
the Hebrew Bible alone, is the anthology Modern Poems on
Ra¯ma¯nuja, the Kashmiri S´aiva devotee Utpaladeva, the Ben-
the Bible, edited by David Curzon (Jerusalem, 1994). For
gali Caitanyite Ru¯pa Gosva¯min, and the South Indian poet
what is possibly the most religiously diverse collection of po-
N¯ılakn:t:ha D¯ıks:ita.
etry about any one religious figure, see Divine Inspiration:
The Life of Jesus in World Poetry, edited by Robert Atwan,
Sanskrit stotras are used widely in both temple and do-
George Dardess, and Peggy Rosenthal (New York, 1998).
mestic worship. Their contents typically include detailed de-
scriptions of a deity’s form and accoutrements, praise of his
FRANK BURCH BROWN (2005)
or her attributes, references to mythological episodes, strings
of names and epithets, prayers for grace and assistance, and
testimonials to the devotee’s grief, helplessness, love, and
faith.
POETRY: INDIAN RELIGIOUS POETRY
The most popular and influential devotional poetry in India
A. K. Ra¯ma¯nujan (1981, p. 109) comments on the rela-
is that associated with the bhakti, or popular devotional,
tion between Sanskrit and vernacular bhakti literature. “The
movement—a wave of religious fervor that swept over India
imperial presence of Sanskrit,” he writes, “was a presence
from South to North, beginning around the sixth century in
against which bhakti in Tamil defines itself, though not al-
the Tamil area and flourishing in the Hindi region between
ways defiantly.” While vernacular bhakti poets often defy
the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was a grass roots
Sanskritic norms, there is also a continuity between the two
movement, protesting against formalism and priestly domi-
traditions. For example, in the Ra¯mcaritma¯nas of Tuls¯ıda¯s
nation; insisting on the direct accessibility of God to every-
there are many praise poems in highly Sanskritized Hindi,
one; attacking purely external practices and hypocrisy; and
set apart in diction and form, obviously meant to echo the
stressing the importance of inner experience, which generally
style of Sanskrit stotras. The Saundaryalahar¯ı, a stotra popu-
meant establishing a bond of fervent personal love with the
larly attributed to S´an˙kara, describes the experience of one-
deity. Bhakti is also associated with the rise of vernacular lit-
ness with the divine in terms that later turn up almost identi-
erature and with a group of poet-saints whose works are in
cally in the Kabir tradition. An important transitional work
many instances the classics of their respective languages.
between North Indian Sanskrit and vernacular bhakti litera-
Much of this literature was composed orally, and all of it has
ture is Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda, composed in Bengal around
been transmitted largely through singing. Written versions
1200.
have typically been recorded and collected after the poets’
SOUTH INDIAN VERNACULAR POETRY. Partly in reaction to
lifetimes, though some poets did write down their own
the strength of Buddhism and Jainism in the South, a great
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7210
POETRY: INDIAN RELIGIOUS POETRY
surge of faith in Vis:n:u and S´iva was touched off by poet-
while the conclusion of a vacana by Basavan:n:a has a note of
saints in the Tamil region between the sixth and ninth centu-
biting criticism:
ries. S´aiva and Vais:n:ava saint-poets—at one level rivals, at
Gods, gods, there are so many
a deeper level, collaborators in this awakening of faith—
there’s no place left
shared common themes and styles. They roamed the coun-
for a foot.
tryside reaching audiences of all classes and included among
There is only
their number peasants, aristocrats, Untouchables, priests,
one god. He is our Lord
women, and men. Tradition has preserved the names of
of the Meeting Rivers. (trans. Ra¯ma¯nujan, 1973, p. 84)
sixty-three S´aiva poets, known as Na¯yana¯rs, and twelve
¯
Vais:n:avas, or A¯lva¯rs. Namma¯lva¯r is often singled out as the
Vais:n:ava poetry emerges in the sixteenth century with
¯
¯
greatest A¯lva¯r poet, Ma¯n:ikka¯vacakar as the greatest Na¯yana¯r.
Purandarada¯sa Vit:t:hala, who is remembered as the founder
¯
¯
Around the tenth century Na¯thamuni compiled the Divya-
of the southern (Karnatak) style of classical music. The great-
prabhandam, containing four thousand A¯lva¯r compositions
est composer of Karnatak music, Tya¯gara¯ja (1767–1847), ac-
¯
for use in S´r¯ı Vais:n:ava worship. Similarly Nampi A¯nta¯r
knowledges his debt to Purandaradasa. A devotee of Ra¯m,
Nampi, at the request of a tenth-century king, is said to have
Tya¯gara¯ja composed many devotional songs in Telugu, often
compiled most of the Tirumurai, which includes eleven vol-
praising music as a pathway to God. Another well-known
¯
umes of Na¯yana¯r poetry (a twelfth volume, of hagiography,
Telugu saint-poet is the seventeenth-century Ra¯mda¯s of
¯
was added later). S´aivas often call the Tirumurai, as
Bhadra¯calam, also a worshiper of Ra¯m.
¯
Vais:n:avas call Namma¯lva¯r’s Tiruva¯ymol:i, “the Tamil Veda.”
¯
NORTH INDIAN VERNACULAR POETRY. Four names stand
The siddhas (Tam. cittar) are part of an ancient pan-
out among a rich array of Maharashtrian singers between the
Indian movement characterized by its use of yogic practices
thirteenth and seventeenth centuries: Jña¯ne´svar, also called
and Tantric symbols. Important siddha poets in Tamil range
Jña¯ndev (fl. late thirteenth century), Na¯mdev (c. 1270–
from the seventh to the eighteenth centuries and include
1350), Ekna¯th (1548–1600), and Tuka¯ra¯m (1598–1650).
Civava¯kkiyar, Pattirakiriyar, and Pa¯mpa¯ttic Cittar. Siddha
Jña¯ne´svar is best known for his long Marathi exposition of
poetry is both linked to and distinguishable from main-
the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, the Jña¯ne´svar¯ı. Na¯mdev composed pas-
stream bhakti poetry. Both tend to denigrate caste, mechani-
sionate devotional songs and consolidated the cult of the
cal ritual, and sterile intellectuality. But while the bhaktas
Va¯rkaris (“pilgrims”) to the important pilgrimage center at
continue to adore their images of Vis:n:u and S´iva, the siddhas
Pandharpur. Ekna¯th translated and interpreted important
favor an interior, impersonal Lord and unequivocally attack
Sanskrit works. He also poured out his own feelings in lyric
idol worship. Stylistically, too, the siddhas differ from the
poems and in a remarkable series of dramatic monologues,
generally more refined devotional poets. Their verse, which
putting the most profound teachings of bhakti into the
often utilizes folksong forms and meters, is colloquial, force-
mouths of characters generally despised by society—
ful, and simple often to the point of being crude.
Untouchables, prostitutes, ropedancers, demons, the blind,
and the deaf. Tuka¯ra¯m, perhaps the most beloved of the
“Like a lit fuse, the passion of bhakti seems to spread
four, was a ´su¯dra (member of the lowest of the four broad
from region to region, from century to century, quickening
categories of caste) pressed by misfortune to reject worldly
the religious impulse,” says Ra¯ma¯nujan (1973, p. 40). In the
values and devote himself to God. His lyrics run from harsh
tenth to twelfth centuries the flame burned brightly in
contempt of self-serving religious specialists (“the wretched
Karnataka with the Kannada verses of the V¯ıra´saiva saint-
pandit stewed in dialectics . . . a fool among fools / wagging
poets, the four greatest of whom were Basavan:n:a, De¯vara
a sage beard”) to the most tender humility (“May I be, Lord,
Da¯simayya, Maha¯de¯v¯ıyakka, and Allama Prabhu. They
a small pebble, a large stone, or dust / on the road to Pand-
composed vacanas, short free-verse utterances expressing in-
harpur / to be trampled by the feet of the saints”).
tense personal experience and sometimes trenchant criticism
of what the poets regarded as superstition and hypocrisy. A
Nasim:ha Mehta (fifteenth or sixteenth century), the
vacana by Allama Prabhu, for example, is a purely lyric out-
major bhakti poet of Gujarat, composed songs that were in-
pouring:
corporated into the rituals of the Vallabha¯ca¯rya sect. The
Kashmiri Lal Ded (fourteenth century) was a woman devotee
Looking for your light,
of S´iva whose poetic utterances are famous throughout Kash-
I went out:
mir and beyond. The earliest and still most important devo-
it was like the sudden dawn
tional poetry associated with the Punjab, that compiled in
of a million million suns,
the Sikh A¯di Granth (1604), is largely in an old form of
a ganglion of lightnings
Hindi. True Panjabi literature, beginning in the seventeenth
for my wonder.
century, is almost entirely by Muslims.
O Lord of Caves,
if you are light,
The leading figures of Hindi bhakti poetry are Tuls¯ıda¯s,
there can be no metaphor. (trans. Ra¯ma¯nujan, 1973,
S´u¯rda¯s, Kab¯ır, and M¯ıra¯ Ba¯ı, followed closely by Raida¯s,
p. 168)
Na¯nak, and Da¯du¯. Tuls¯ıda¯s (1543–1623), who wrote in the
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Avadhi dialect, is the author of the Ra¯mcaritma¯nas, a highly
strand of several traditions come together: secular erotic verse
devotional version of the ancient Ra¯maya¯n:a epic. Popularly
in Sanskrit, Tantrism, and orthodox Vais:n:avism.
known as the Tuls¯ı Ra¯ma¯yan, it is probably the most influen-
The name Can:d:¯ıda¯s was used by at least two important
tial single literary work in North India. Tuls¯ıda¯s also wrote
Bengali poets whose dates can only be guessed (guesses range
many lyrics.
from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century). The enor-
S´u¯rda¯s (sixteenth century) is the most illustrious mem-
mously influential saint, Caitanya (1486–1533), though he
ber of the as:t:aca¯p, or eight Kr:s:n:aite poets associated with
composed very little himself, encouraged the development of
Vallabha¯ca¯rya and the sect he founded in Vr:nda¯vana. He is
Bengali song literature by establishing the widespread prac-
most famous for his evocations of Kr:s:n:a’s idyllic childhood,
tice of k¯ırtan, or meeting for ardent group singing.
but recent scholarship suggests that Su¯r’s often emotionally
Ra¯mprasa¯d Sen (1718–1785) was a powerful poet of the
harrowing personal supplications to God and his poems of
S´a¯kta (Goddess-worshiping) tradition. The Bauls, unique to
grief-stricken separation may be closer to the authentic core
Bengal, are iconoclastic wanderers who hover between
of his work than the popular songs of the youthful deity. Ac-
Hindu and S:u¯f¯ı mysticism and worship exclusively through
cording to legend Su¯r was blind, and “S´u¯rda¯s” is today wide-
singing.
ly used as a title for any blind singer of religious songs. Thou-
Vidya¯pati (c. 1352–1448) was one of the earliest poets
sands of lyrics attributed to the poet are collected in the
to compose religious lyrics in Maithili—a border language
Su¯rsa¯gar (Ocean of Su¯r). He composed in Braj bha¯s:a¯, the
between Bengali and Hindi. The outstanding figure of As-
most important literary dialect of medieval Hindi.
samese devotional literature is S:an˙karadeva (c.1489–1568),
M¯ıra¯ Ba¯ı was a Rajput princess who became a wander-
who introduced a devotional dance drama form still widely
ing saint. Although she is believed to have spent the later part
used today. A unique bhakti institution in Assam is the satra,
of her life in Dwarka, Gujarat, and a considerable body of
a religious center with a leader, lay members, and facilities
poetry ascribed to her exists in Gujarati, she is more closely
for musical and dramatic performances. Another prominent
linked to her native Rajasthan and to its regional form of
poet of the same period is Ma¯dhavadeva (1489?–1596). The
Hindi.
best-known medieval bhakti poet in Oriya was a disciple of
The leading poet of the Sant (or nirgun:a, “without qual-
Caitanya named Jaganna¯thada¯sa (fifteenth century).
ities”) school in North India is Kab¯ır (c. 1398–1448). Born
BUDDHIST POETRY. Remarkable early examples of Buddhist
of a Muslim family in Banaras, Kab¯ır was influenced more
poetry are found in the Ther¯ıga¯tha¯ and Theraga¯tha¯ (Songs
by Hindu than by Muslim traditions and is popularly be-
of the venerable women and Songs of the venerable men) of
lieved to have been a disciple of Ra¯ma¯nanda. He is known
the Pali canon, recorded around 80 BCE. The women espe-
particularly for his iconoclasm and for his rough, colloquial
cially describe vivid personal experiences that led to their
style. Kab¯ır called on the name of Ra¯m as a sound that re-
choice of a renunciant’s life.
vealed ultimate reality, but he rejected the mythology of the
Two great Sanskrit poets appear in the second century
popular avata¯ra Ra¯m, insisting that God was beyond form.
of the common era. A´svaghosa is most famous for the Budd-
Guru¯ Na¯nak (1469–1539), the founder of Sikhism,
hacarita, a biography of the Buddha in the form of a
composed poems revering the formless God and criticizing
maha¯ka¯vya (lyric narrative). Ma¯tr:cet:a, perhaps an older con-
superstitious practices. The same is true of Da¯du¯ (1544–
temporary of A´svaghosa, wrote beautiful Sanskrit hymns to
1604), in whose name a sect was founded in Rajasthan.
the Buddha. The seventh-century Chinese pilgrim Yi Jing re-
Raida¯s, an Untouchable leatherworker and Sant poet of the
ported, “Throughout India everyone who becomes a monk
fifteenth century, is respected by all classes but has a particu-
is taught Ma¯tr:cet:a’s two hymns as soon as he can recite the
lar following among his own caste, the cama¯rs.
. . . precepts.”
Mention should also be made of the poetry of the North
Over the centuries Buddhist poets, such as the seventh-
Indian yogins called Na¯th Pan:t:his, who belong to the same
century monk S´a¯ntideva, produced many stotras praising the
broad tradition as the Tamil siddhas. The most significant
Buddha and bodhisattvas and expressing fervent dedication
collection is attributed to Gorakhna¯th (eleventh century?),
to the Buddhist path. Like Hindu stotras, these are found in-
semilegendary founder of the Na¯th Pan:t:h, whose teachings
corporated into larger texts (such as su¯tras and Ja¯taka tales)
pervaded North Indian religious thought in the medieval
as well as in independent form with attribution to particular
period.
authors. In one such hymn S´a¯ntideva expresses his vow to
save all beings:
The story of Bengali bhakti poetry begins with a San-
skrit poet, Jayadeva, whose late twelfth-century masterpiece
I am medicine for the sick and
G¯ıtagovinda sets the mood for the efflorescence of Kr:s:n:aite
weary may I be their physician and their nurse
verse in the following four hundred years. In a series of subtle
until disease appears no more . . .
and sensuous lyrics, the G¯ıtagovinda unfolds the drama of
may I be a protector for the unprotected
love between Kr:s:n:a and Ra¯dha¯, which became the major
a guide for wanderers
theme of devotion in medieval Bengal. In this poetry the
a bridge: a boat: a causeway
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POETRY: CHINESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
for those who desire the other shores. . . . (trans.
God: Structures and Strategies in the Poetry of S´u¯rda¯s (Berke-
Stephan Beyer)
ley, Calif., 1978) and in John Stratton Hawley’s Su¯r Da¯s:
Poet, Singer, Saint (Seattle, 1984). Tuls¯ıda¯s’s lyrics are avail-
Finally mention must be made of Tibet’s powerful and origi-
able in reliable if not sparkling translations by F. R. Allchin
nal contributions to Buddhist lyric poetry. Especially note-
in Kavita¯val¯ı (London, 1964) and his The Petition to Ra¯m
worthy are the many songs of the twelfth-century teacher
(London, 1966).
Milaraspa (Milarepa).
An exceptionally lovely book of translations from Bengali is In
JAIN POETRY. Like Hindus and Buddhists, the Jains have
Praise of Krishna (1967; Chicago, 1981), a collaborative ef-
produced a large stotra literature. Their hymns, composed
fort of the scholar Edward C. Dimock, Jr., and the poet De-
since at least the earliest centuries of the common era in San-
nise Levertov. Lively translations of Ramprasad Sen are pro-
skrit and later in Prakrit, praise chiefly the twenty-four jinas
vided in Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Selected Poems
as well as some ancient teachers of the Jain tradition. There
to the Mother Goddess (Boulder, 1982) by another poet-
also exists a body of vernacular Jain poetry, largely in Hindi
scholar team, Leonard Nathan and Clinton Seely. Jayadeva’s
and Gujarati. One of the most famous Jain hymns is the
G¯ıtagovinda is splendidly translated by Barbara Stoler Miller
in Love Song of the Dark Lord (New York, 1977).
Bhakta¯mara Stotra of Ma¯natun˙ga, whose dates have been es-
timated to be as early as the third and as late as the ninth
A good source for examples of Buddhist poetry is Stephan Beyer’s
century. Several Jain authors composed both philosophical
The Buddhist Experience: Sources and Interpretations (Encino,
Calif., 1974). On the carya¯g¯ıti, see Per Kvaerne’s An Antholo-
works and devotional poems. These include Siddhasena
gy of Buddhist Tantric Songs (Oslo, 1977; Bangkok, 1985).
Diva¯kara, Samantabhadra, Vidya¯nanda, and the great
twelfth-century sage Hemacandra.
A multivolume, English-language History of Indian Literature, ed-
ited by Jan Gonda (Wiesbaden, 1973–), is in progress. Indi-
Many Jain stotras are organized around the sequential
vidual volumes have been published on literature in Sanskrit
praise of all twenty-four jinas, the best known being the
and the vernacular languages as well as on the literatures of
highly ornate S´obhana Stuti of the tenth-century poet
particular religious traditions. Maurice Winternitz’s A Histo-
S´obhana. As the repeated glorification of the jinas made for
ry of Indian Literature, 2 vols. (Calcutta, 1927–1933) covers
monotonously similar content, poets made great efforts to
ground not covered elsewhere, particularly in volume 2, Bud-
achieve originality of form, and thus the stotras contain the
dhist Literature and Jaina Literature.
most ornate verse in Jain literature.
New Sources
Guptara, Prabhu S., ed. The Lotus: An Anthology of Contemporary
SEE ALSO A¯di Granth; A¯lva¯rs; Bhakti; Caitanya;
Indian Religious Poetry in English. Calcutta, 1988.
¯
Gora¯khna¯th; Jayadeva; Kab¯ır; Maha¯siddhas;
Ramanujan, A. K., Velcheru Narayana Rao, and David Dean
Ma¯n:ikkava¯cakar; Mi la ras pa (Milarepa); M¯ıra¯ Ba¯¯ı; Na¯nak;
Shulman, ed. and trans. When God Is a Customer: Telugu
Ra¯ma¯nuja; S´aivism, articles on Na¯ya¯n:a¯rs, V¯ıra´saivas;
Courtesan Songs by Ksetrayya and Others. Berkeley, Calif.,
S´an˙kara; S´a¯ntideva; S´u¯rda¯s; Tuls¯ıda¯s.
1994.
Rao, Velcheru Narayana, and David Dean Shulman, ed. and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
trans. Classical Telugu Poetry: An Anthology. New Delhi and
A good introduction to the bhakti movement is Eleanor Zelliot’s
New York, 2002.
“The Medieval Bhakti Movement in History: An Essay on
Shulman, David Dean. The Wisdom of Poets: Studies in Tamil, Tel-
the Literature in English,” in Hinduism: New Essays in the
ugu, and Sanskrit. New Delhi and New York, 2001.
History of Religions, edited by Bardwell L. Smith (Leiden,
1976), pp. 143–168. Zelliot provides accounts of the region-
LINDA HESS (1987)
al movements and bibliographies. Missing from her lists,
Revised Bibliography
however, are important recent translations.
Superb translations from Tamil and Kannada are given in A. K.
Ramanujan’s Hymns for the Drowning: Poems for Vis:n:u by
POETRY: CHINESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
Namma¯lva¯r (Princeton, N.J., 1981) and Speaking of S´iva
To speak of religious poetry in the Chinese context is to beg
(Harmondsworth, 1973). Kamil Zvelebil’s survey of Tamil
several questions. First, in classical Chinese there is no exact
literature, The Smile of Murugan (Leiden, 1973), includes
equivalent to the word religion: Confucianism, Daoism, and
chapters on both bhakti and siddha poetry. Zvelebil has also
Buddhism are traditionally known as the Three Teachings
written a book on the siddhas, The Poets of the Powers (Lon-
don, 1973), which includes a number of translations.
(sanjiao). Second, it is debatable whether Confucianism is a
religion and whether ancestral worship is a kind of religious
Charlotte Vaudeville’s numerous contributions in the Hindi field
ritual. (The latter question was the subject of the so-called
include her monumental Kab¯ır, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1974),
Rites Controversy among Catholic missionaries to China in
which combines a 150-page introduction with extensive
translations and painstaking scholarly apparatus. The B¯ıjak
the early eighteenth century.) Finally, although Daoist and
of Kab¯ır (San Francisco, 1983), translated by Shukdev Singh
Buddhist liturgies both contain verses, these are generally not
and me, conveys a vivid sense of Kab¯ır’s forceful style and
considered worthy of description as poetry. With these reser-
includes essays on his style and use of symbols. S´u¯rda¯s is rich-
vations in mind, we may nonetheless survey what may be
ly represented in Kenneth E. Bryant’s Poems to the Child-
called religious poetry in Chinese.
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POETRY: CHINESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
7213
The earliest anthology of Chinese poetry, the Shi jing
hymns existed in later dynasties. They usually show a stilted
(The Book of Songs), consisting of three hundred and five
style and have no great poetic merit. It was during the Han
poems dating from about 1100 to about 600 BCE, contains
period that Daoism evolved from its early philosophic ori-
some hymns to royal ancestral spirits, eulogizing their virtues
gins into an organized religion. At this time too, Buddhism
and praying for their blessing. These hymns are believed to
was first introduced into China, although it did not become
have been sung to the accompaniment of dance. In these and
popular at once. Following the Han period, Chinese poets
some other poems in the anthology, references are made to
were mostly either eclectic or syncretic, and might express
a supreme supernatural being known sometimes as Di
Confucian, Daoist, or Buddhist views in different poems or
(“emperor”) or Shangdi (“emperor above”), and at other
even all of them in the same poem. However, in the works
times as Tian (“Heaven”). The first term, which is often
of some poets, the propensity to one of the three major ideol-
translated as “God,” appears to denote an earlier and more
ogies is fairly pronounced. The following are some of the
anthropomorphic concept than does Tian. For instance, in
most famous examples.
the poem Shengmin (The Birth of Our People), which re-
counts the myth of the miraculous birth of Hou Ji (“King
Cao Zhi (192–232 CE) wrote several poems about Dao-
Millet”), the reputed ancestor of the Zhou people, Hou Ji’s
ist immortals, but it is difficult to say whether he really be-
mother, Jiang Yuan, is said to have conceived him after
lieved in them. The same may be said of Ruan Ji (210–263),
treading in the print of Di’s big toe. By contrast, Heaven is
who in some of his poems expressed a wish for immortality
generally depicted as a vague presence without specific physi-
but in others showed frank skepticism. Scholars disagree
cal attributes, sometimes wrathful but usually benevolent.
about the religious and philosophical beliefs of Tao Qian
(365?–427), whose withdrawal from officialdom was proba-
Some shamanistic songs from the kingdom of Chu,
bly motivated by both Confucian ideals of integrity and
which flourished in the central Yangtze Valley from the sev-
Daoist wishes for simplicity and spontaneity. Although his
enth to the third century BCE, are preserved in the next oldest
poetry expresses both Confucian and Daoist views, his em-
anthology of Chinese poetry, the Chuci (Songs of Chu),
phasis on following nature and his acceptance of death as a
compiled in the second century CE. These songs are dedicat-
part of the eternal flux are more Daoist than Confucian. The
ed to various deities, such as the Lord of the East (the sun
landscape poetry of Xie Lingyun (385–433) evinces both
god), the Lord of Clouds, and the Lord of the Yellow River.
Buddhist and Daoist influences. To him, natural scenery is
In these songs, the relationship between the male shaman
a manifestation of spirituality, yet the self-conscious philoso-
and the goddess or between the female shaman and the god
phizing in his poems suggests an inability to transcend
is described in terms of erotic love. The sex of the speaker
worldly concerns.
is not always clear: we cannot always be sure whether it is
a male shaman addressing a goddess or a female shaman ad-
During the Tang dynasty (618–907), the golden age of
dressing a god. The shaman may also speak in the voice of
Chinese poetry, Daoism and Buddhism flourished, except
the deity. Traditionally, these and other poems in the Chuci
during the reign of Emperor Wuzong (846–859), who perse-
are attributed to Qu Yuan (343?–278
cuted the Buddhists. Many Tang poets were influenced by
BCE), said to have been
a loyal courtier of Chu who was unjustly banished and who
Daoism or Buddhism or both, although none openly reject-
committed suicide by drowning himself in the Milo River.
ed Confucianism. By coincidence, the three greatest Tang
He is generally believed to be the author of the longest poem
poets, Wang Wei (699?–761), Li Po (701–762), and Tu Fu
in the anthology, the Li-sao, whose title is usually translated
(712–770), are considered to represent Buddhism, Daoism,
as “Encountering Sorrow,” although the term may simply
and Confucianism respectively in their poetry, albeit not ex-
mean “complaints.” In this poem the speaker sets out upon
clusively. Wang Wei, known as the Buddha of Poetry, wrote
a journey through the cosmos, in a carriage drawn by drag-
some explicitly Buddhist poems as well as others that em-
ons and heralded by phoenixes, attended by the gods of the
body a Buddhist vision of life without specific Buddhist ref-
winds and of thunder. He also courts certain goddesses with-
erences. In addition, he wrote court poems and social poems.
out success, and finally resolves to “follow Peng Xian,” an
His best poetry conveys a sense of tranquillity tinged with
ancient shaman. Chinese commentators have generally taken
sadness as he quietly contemplates nature; the poems explic-
this to mean a resolution to commit suicide but the modern
itly preaching Buddhism are less satisfactory as poetry. Li Po,
scholar David Hawkes interprets it as a desire to study the
the Immortal of Poetry, received a Daoist diploma and took
occult. Although it is difficult to be sure how far the mytho-
“elixirs of life,” which may have contributed to his death.
logical figures in the poem are intended to be taken literally
Many of his poems express a yearning for the realm of the
and how far allegorically, the poem certainly derives some of
immortals and a wish to transcend this world, although they
its imagery from a shamanistic cult; it has even been suggest-
show him also to be far from indifferent to sensual pleasures
ed that Qu Yuan was a shaman.
such as wine, women, and song. Whether he succeeded in
attaining Daoist transcendence or not, Li Po certainly found
During the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), the court’s
Daoist mythology a source of poetic inspiration and a stimu-
Bureau of Music (Yuefu) composed ritual hymns to be used
lus to his exuberant imagination. Tu Fu, the Sage of Poetry,
at the sacrifices made to imperial ancestral spirits. Similar
wrote mainly poetry with a Confucian outlook, although
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7214
POETRY: JAPANESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
some of his poems refer to Daoist elixirs of life and others
Waley, Arthur. The Poetry and Career of Li Po, 701–762 A. D.
evince admiration for Buddhism. Perhaps, however, these are
New York, 1950. Contains discussions of Li Po’s interest in
only signs of wishful thinking or polite expressions of respect
Daoism.
for the beliefs of others.
Watson, Burton, trans. Cold Mountain: 100 Poems by the Tang
Poet Han-shan (1962). Reprint, New York, 1970. Selected
Among late Tang poets, Han Yu (768–824), the self-
poems attributed to the monk Han-shan.
appointed champion of Confucianism, attacked Buddhism
Yu, Pauline. The Poetry of Wang Wei. Bloomington, Ind., 1980.
and Daoism, yet befriended some Buddhist monks. Bo Jui
Contains translations and discussions of Wang’s Buddhist
(772–846) was strongly influenced by Buddhism and also
poems.
experimented with Daoist alchemy. The calm and bland
JAMES J. Y. LIU (1987)
tone of his typical poems may result from Buddhist influ-
ence. Li Ho (791–817) wrote much about spirits, ghosts, and
shamans, but it is difficult to ascertain whether he believed
in these literally or used them figuratively. Li Shang-yin
POETRY: JAPANESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
(813?–858) studied Daoism in his youth and was converted
Poetic language has long had a special prestige in Japan. The
to Buddhism toward the end of his life. There are many allu-
earliest extant written texts, including the Kojiki (Record of
sions to Daoist mythology in his poetry, which is, however,
ancient matters; 712), Nihonshoki (Chronicle of Japan; 720),
seldom of a religious nature.
and Man’yo¯shu¯ (Collection of Ten Thousand Years; late
eighth century), all preserve examples of ancient oral poetry
The best-known corpus of Chinese Buddhist poetry is
or song, as well as later written verse. The ancient inhabitants
that attributed to Han-shan (“cold mountain”), a legendary
of the Japanese archipelago, like many traditional peoples,
figure of whose historical existence we have little knowledge.
believed that ritual song or recitation had a magico-religious
Indeed, some scholars believe, on the basis of internal lin-
power. Special ritual and poetic language possessed the abili-
guistic evidence, that the poems bearing Han-shan’s name
ty to move the deities or spirits to act in specific sorts of ways.
were by two or more hands and that they range in date from
The term kotodama (koto, “words”; and tama, “animating
the late seventh to the ninth centuries. The best among these
spirit”) refers to this magico-religious power. Man’yo¯shu¯
poems are quietly meditative with a touch of gentle melan-
1:27, for instance, is an example of incantational praise poet-
choly, and the worst are short sermons in doggerel. Apart
ry. When recited by a ritual and political leader while survey-
from Han-shan, some Chan masters wrote ga¯tha¯ (a kind of
ing the land, the incantation was believed to assure the vitali-
hymn) in verse. These were intended as triggers to enlighten-
ty and fertility of the land by praising and appealing to the
ment, to be discarded as soon as enlightenment was attained,
local deities and ancestral spirits:
not as poetry to be read and cherished.
yoki hito no
The good ones [of the past]
During the Song dynasty (960–1279), considered sec-
yoshi to yoku mite
looked well and found it good,
ond only to the Tang in poetic achievements, such major
yoshi to iishi
proclaimed it good.
poets as Wang Anshi (1021–1086), Su Shi (1037–1101),
Yoshino yoku miyo
Look well on Yoshino,
and Huang Tingjian (1045–1105) all wrote poetry chiefly
yoki hito yoku mi
O good ones, look well!
expressing Buddhist views. In subsequent periods, the literati
Man’yo¯shu¯ 1:2 is another example of declarative ritual poetry.
continued to write poetry reflecting Confucian, Daoist, and
The emperor recited this verse, praising the land and its gods
Buddhist attitudes, and Buddhist and Daoist priests contin-
(kami) as he surveyed his realm from atop Kagu-yama. In
ued to use verses in their respective rituals and sermons, even
myth, this is the hill to which the kami had originally de-
though such verses were not regarded as poetry. As for con-
scended from the high heavens. As was the case in China,
temporary Chinese poetry, in the People’s Republic of China
the prosperity of the land (the verse uses Yamato, the ancient
there is hardly any poetry that can be called religious, where-
name of the country) was attributed to the emperor’s role as
as in Taiwan a few poets show Buddhist or Christian tenden-
ritual mediator between heaven and earth:
cies, but they are only a small minority.
Sumeramikoto Kagu-yama Poem by the Sovereign when he
ni noborite
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kunimishi tamau toki no
climbed Mount Kagu to view
Chen, Kenneth. The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism. Prince-
o
¯mi-uta
the land.
ton, 1973. Contains a chapter on Buddhist influence on
Chinese poets, especially Bo Jui.
Yamato ni wa
Many are the mountains of
Yamato,
Hawkes, David, ed. and trans. Chuci, The Songs of the South
murayama aredo
but I climb heavenly Mount
(1959). Reprint, Boston, 1962. Complete translation of the
Kagu,
anthology of chiefly shamanistic songs.
toriyorou
cloaked in foliage,
Karlgren, Bernhard, ed. and trans. The Book of Odes (1950). Re-
ama no Kagu-yama
and stand on the summit
print, Stockholm, 1974. Literal translation of the Shi jing.
norboritachi
to view the land.
See the ritual hymns to ancestral spirits.
kunimi o sureba
On the plain of land,
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POETRY: JAPANESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
7215
kunihara wa
smoke from the hearths rises,
Iwashiro no
are determined by the grass
rises.
Oka no kusane o
on Iwashiro Hill.
keburi tachitatsu
On the plain of water,
Iza musubitenu
Come, let us bind them together!
umahara wa
gulls rise, rise.
(trans. Levy, 1981, p.43, adapted)
kamame tachitatsu
A splendid land
umashi kuni so
is the dragonfly island,
The Shinto¯ prayers of the imperial court (norito) include
akizushima
the land of Yamato.
similar elements, such as rites and prayers to pacify the impe-
Yamato no kuni wa
rial tama, to reinvigorate it, and to guarantee its presence in
(trans. Levy, 1981, p. 38, adapted)
the imperial body and shrine for another year (tamashizume
no matusuri and mi-tamashizumeno ihai-to no matsuri).
Poetry served numerous other ritual functions as well. Funer-
Magico-religious verse was also employed to control inter-
ary verses (banka) were recited by women to praise the de-
personal relations (e.g., to attract or keep the attention of a
ceased and to attract his or her tama back into the body.
loved one, to calm the anger of another human or divine
Man’yo¯shu¯ 2:155 is an example of a ritual lament performed
being). Similar uses of recited verse or song were central to
by women in the temporary burial palace for a deceased male
the ritual and cultural life of the Ainu, an “indigenous” peo-
member of the imperial family, in this case the Emperor
ple of northern Japan, down to the early twentieth century.
Tenji (r.662–671):
The belief in the magical efficacy of recitative verse sur-
Yamashina no mi-haka
Poem by Princess Nukata when
vived long after the introduction of writing and literacy. Ki
yori soki
the
no Tsurayuki (884–946), an aristocratic poet, wrote the
arakuru toki, Nukata
mourners withdrew from the
most famous statement on the magical power of Japanese po-
no o¯kimi no
etry in his preface to the Kokinshu¯, the first imperially spon-
tsukuru uta isshu
Yamashina tomb and dispersed
sored anthology of waka, the thirty-one syllable verse form:
yasumishishi
In awe we serve the tomb
“Waka has its origins in the human heart and flourishes in
wago o¯kimi no
of our Lord, sovereign
the myriad leaves of words. . . .Without physical exertion,
kashikoki ya
of the earth’s eight corners,
poetry moves heaven and earth, awakens the feelings of kami
mi-haka tsukauru
on Kagami Mountain
and invisible spirits, softens the relations between men and
Yamashina no
in Yamashina.
women, and calms the hearts of ferocious warriors.”
Kagami no yama ni
There through the night,
yoru wa mo
each night,
Much of classical and medieval Japanese poetry was in-
yoru mo kotogoto
through the day,
fluenced by Buddhist ideals and values. Ku¯kai, or Ko¯bo¯ Da-
hiru wa mo
each day,
ishi (774–835), the founder of the esoteric Shingon school
hi no kotogoto
we have stayed,
of Buddhism, wrote that the absolute truth of Buddhism was
ne nomi o
weeping and crying aloud.
available only through the body, language, and thought, and
nakitsutsu tsukarite ya
Now have the courtiers
this through three forms of esoteric practice—mudra¯ (hand
momoshiki no
of your great palace,
gestures), dha¯ran:¯ı (mantras), and yoga (meditation), respec-
o
¯miyabito wa
its ramparts thick with stone,
tively. Numerous medieval poetic treatises identified waka
yuki-wakarenamu
left and gone apart?
poems with mantras; others, in an instance of mystical nu-
(trans. Levy, 1981, p. 109)
merology, claimed that the thirty-one syllables of the waka
form (5-7-5-7-7), plus one for the verse as a whole, were the
Recitative poetry was also used in a ritual performed to pacify
same as the thirty-two marks of the Buddha. Thus, compos-
the spirit of the dead. In the case of grave illness or on under-
ing or reciting a waka could accrue the same religious merit
taking a dangerous journey, ritual verse was used to call back
as carving a statue of the Buddha or reciting a mantra.
the patient’s vagrant spirit and to “tie” it to the patient’s
body (tamamusubi) or, alternatively, to “tie” the traveler’s an-
Japanese religious poetry was not all composed in Japa-
imating spirit in absentia into an object that was to be care-
nese, however. Buddhist priests studied Chinese poetry and
fully guarded in order to guarantee the traveler’s safe return.
literature, as well as Buddhist su¯tras and commentaries. Aris-
Man’yo¯shu¯ 1:10, an example of this, also involves a critical
tocratic males in the Nara and Heian periods also used Chi-
moment of political intrigue. Reputedly, it was recited by the
nese in official matters, much as Latin functioned for centu-
empress as her brother (later the Emperor Tenji) set off to
ries in Europe. Thus, from the seventh century on, one finds
initiate a coup d’état against the Emperor Ko¯toku (r. 645–
Buddhist poems being composed in Chinese by Japanese
654):
monks and other members of the educated elite. As one
Nakatsu sumeramikoto,
Poem by the August
would expect, these poems were informed by Chinese aes-
Ki no ideyu
Intermediate
thetics.
ni idemashishi no mi-uta
Sovereign Nakatsu when she
Even after writing had been introduced into Japan,
went to the hot springs of Ki
however, oral forms of religious song and verse continued to
kimi ga yo mo
The span of your life
flourish. In medieval Japan, numerous different types of
waga yo mo shiru ya
and the span of my life, too,
popular religious figures sang or chanted religious verse
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7216
POETRY: JAPANESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
around the country. For example, from the Heian period
of a monk or nun. In general, however, poetry was embraced
(794–1185) through the Kamakura period (1185–1333),
as an effective form of religio-aesthetic and meditative prac-
asobi or asobime (itinerant female singers and dancers) per-
tice. Fujiwara no Shunzei (1114–1204), one of the leading
formed songs called imayo¯. Some of these carried explicit
poets of his age, was not alone in practicing a form of Tendai
Buddhist teachings; others portrayed the vicissitudes of life.
Buddhist meditation, known as shikan (concentration and
Imayo¯ served as vehicles to convey Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist
insight), as a part of his poetic discipline. The way of poetry
teachings to the masses, including the claim that all dualisms
(kado¯), like the way of tea and other arts, was first and fore-
(e.g., high/low, sacred/profane, reality/illusion) were ulti-
most a discipline, in the old-fashioned religious sense of the
mately false. Asobi were often affiliated with specific temple-
term. The Chinese character do¯ in kado¯ is also read as
shrine complexes, and through their travels and songs they
michi—a path, way, or discipline.
spread tales of the miracles associated with them. Asobi had
Not all poets pursued the religio-aesthetic discipline of
a mixed reputation, however. Not unlike gypsy women in
kado¯, to be sure, but those who did undertook it as a rigorous
Europe, they were associated in the popular imagination
form of self-discipline and ritual praxis. The works of the
with prostitution. Thus, Retired Emperor Go Shirakawa
Chinese poet Bai Juyi (772–846) were extremely influential
(1127–1192) scandalized some members of the aristocracy
in medieval Japan and provided one model of practicing
when he apprenticed himself for many years to an elderly
kado¯. Comparing his own verse to the Buddhist su¯tras, Bai
asobi in order to master the religio-aesthetic art of imayo¯. He
Juyi called his poems little more than “wild phrases and flow-
preserved many imayo¯ in a work known as Ryo¯jin hisho¯, along
ery language” (Jap., kyo¯gen kigo), yet he offered them to Bud-
with personal testimonies to their ritual power and efficacy.
dhist temples throughout his life. This practice of offering
Go Shirakawa frequently engaged in all-night rituals of su¯tra
poems to temples and shrines has continued in Japan over
recitation, meditation, and the singing of imayo¯ as a means
the centuries.
of achieving religious insight.
Blind lay priests (biwaho¯shi) also performed religious
Those who study the poems of medieval Japan as litera-
songs and tales in the medieval period. Biwaho¯shi were orga-
ture tout court risk missing the diverse religious functions that
nized into loose associations and were affiliated with temple-
many of them served, as well as the religious practices out
shrine complexes. They were found at many mountain passes
of which they were created. Although numerous medieval
and pilgrimage centers, where they played a lute (biwa) and
poetic treatises describe the poetic act as a spontaneous affec-
chanted oral tales and verses about the ephemerality of life,
tive response on the part of the poet to the world around
the vicissitudes of fame and fortune, and so on. The famous
him, such rhetorical claims do not reflect historical reality.
oral epic, Heike monogatari (The tale of the Heike), which
Rather than passively responding to the world or to events,
recounts the contestation and warfare between the Minamo-
Japanese poets often consciously sought to evoke specific
to and Taira or Heike clans, was performed and transmitted
mental and affective states that were deemed spiritually effi-
by biwaho¯shi down through the centuries. Today only a few
cacious. That is, through acts of disciplined imagination or
such reciters remain, and they preserve only parts of the
meditational techniques, they envisioned scenes and situa-
Heike monogatari performative tradition.
tions precisely in order to provoke specific stylized psychoso-
matic and affective states. Many medieval aesthetic terms,
Many of the best-known poets of medieval Japan were
such as mono no aware, yu¯gen, wabi, and sabi, must be under-
poet-monks. Of these, perhaps the most famous is Saigyo¯
stood in these religio-aesthetic terms.
(1118–1190). He spent time in ritual retreat in the hills of
Yoshino in a grass hut (so¯an), yet he also actively participated
If the poetry of poet-monks has long been the object of
in poetry contests and other aspects of the literary life of the
study, the poetry composed by Buddhist nuns and Shinto¯
capital. Saigyo¯ became a major figure in the poplar imagina-
shrine maidens has only recently begun to attract scholarly
tion down to the modern period. Modern scholars have
attention. With the recent release of archival materials long
coined the phrase “grass hut literature” (so¯an bungaku) to
held out of sight by female religious institutions, however,
refer to the literary works produced by such “reclusive” poet-
we may anticipate that new perspectives on the religious lives
monks. Yet it must be understood that they were not com-
of women will be opened. Similarly, these studies will help
pletely separated from the mundane world. Rather, they
us to fill out more fully the religio-aesthetic milieu of medi-
sought to find the Buddhist truths that were to be found in
eval Japan.
the world as such. The cry of a cicada or the tolling of a tem-
Numerous other forms of religious poetry bear men-
ple bell at dusk equally spoke to the ephemerality at the heart
tion. The unique linked verse form (renga) flourished from
of all existence (mujo¯). For those with eyes to see, ears to hear,
the fifteenth century. Renga was performance art before it
and heart-minds (kokoro) cultivated to feel the pathos of the
was a literary one—that is, the compositional or recitative act
emptiness of all things in the material world (mono no
itself was originally the ritual art form. A renga sequence was
aware), the phenomenal world itself revealed soteriological
composed by a group of poets, who “linked” verses of seven-
truths.
teen and fourteen syllables in sequences of thirty-six, one
Still, as was the case in China, some Buddhists felt that
hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, or even one hundred
the pursuit of poetry was incompatible with the religious life
thousand linked verses. (A single-poet form, dokugin renga,
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
POETRY: JAPANESE RELIGIOUS POETRY
7217
also existed, but was relatively rare). Although renga originat-
ritual lives of the Japanese today, concomitantly it plays a
ed as a Buddhist ritual performative form, it was soon adopt-
larger role in the collective remembered past as a national
ed and adapted as a parlor game in elite circles of the court
cultural heritage.
and in samurai circles. Renga sequences were often per-
formed on temple and shrine grounds, while the written re-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
cords were presented as offerings to the buddhas and kami.
Aoki, Takako. Man’yo¯ banka-ron. Tokyo, 1984.
Sequences were sometimes performed by priests and samurai
Aston, William G., trans. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the
soldiers before battles and on battlefields after an engage-
Earliest Times to 697 (1896). Rutland, Vt., and Tokyo, 1972.
ment in order to pacify the spirits of the dead. Renga se-
Ebersole, Gary L. “The Buddhist Ritual Use of Linked Poetry in
quences were also performed, like su¯tra recitations, in order
Medieval Japan.” The Eastern Buddhist 16, no. 2 (1983):
to restore the health of someone. Itinerant Buddhist priests
50–71.
sometimes performed renga under the blossoms of weeping
Ebersole, Gary L. Ritual Poetry and the Politics of Death in Early
cherry trees (known as Saigyo¯ zakura, “Saigyo¯’s cherry trees”)
Japan. Princeton, 1989.
in order to pacify the kami who caused the plague and, thus,
Ebersole, Gary L. “The Do¯ka of the Founder in Historical Per-
to ward off the disease.
spective.” In Studies on Kurozumikyo¯, edited by Willis M.
Stoesz, pp. 156–171. Chambersburg, Pa., 1991.
By the seventeenth century, haikai no renga, a more
Hoff, Frank, trans. The Genial Seed: A Japanese Song Cycle. Tokyo
popular and democratic form of linked verse, emerged. This
and New York, 1971.
form was practiced by people across the social spectrum of
Kamens, Edward. The Buddhist Poetry of the Great Kamo Priestess:
Tokugawa Japan, including samurai, merchants, and traders.
Daisaiin Senshi and Hosshin Wakashu¯. Ann Arbor, Mich.,
This was the genre practiced by Matsuo Basho¯ (1644–1694),
1990.
perhaps the most translated Japanese poet in the West. Basho¯
Kim, Yung-Hee. Songs to Make the Dust Dance: The Ryo¯jin hisho¯
is popularly known as a haiku poet, although this character-
of Twelfth-Century Japan. Berkeley, 1994.
ization is anachronistic. The opening seventeen-syllable verse
LaFleur, William R. “Saigyo¯ and the Buddhist Value of Nature.”
of a sequence (hokku) only emerged as an independent verse
History of Religions 13, no. 2 (1973): 93–128, and 13, no.
form in the late nineteenth century. Basho¯ is an important
3 (1974): 266–274.
transitional figure, however, with one foot in the medieval
LaFleur, William R. “The Death and the ‘Lives’ of Saigyo¯: The
world and the other in the emerging modern world. He
Genesis of a Buddhist Sacred Biography.” In The Biographi-
dressed in the garb of a lay Buddhist priest, styled himself
cal Process: Studies in the History and Psychology of Religion,
in part on Saigyo¯, lived at times in a grass hut, and regularly
edited by Frank E. Reynolds and Donald Capps,
went on religious pilgrimages. These pilgrimages doubled as
pp. 343–361. The Hague and Paris, 1976.
business trips, though, for Basho¯ made his living by charging
LaFleur, William R. The Karma of Words: Buddhism and the Liter-
students for training in poetry. His travels both enabled him
ary Arts in Medieval Japan. Berkeley, 1983.
to visit notable religious and poetic sites and to meet with
Levy, Ian Hideo, trans. The Ten Thousand Leaves: A Translation
and compose linked verse with his students, or to gather ad-
of the Man’yo¯shu¯, vol. 1. Princeton, 1981.
ditional ones. Like Saigyo¯ before him, Basho¯ has become a
Matisoff, Susan. The Legend of Semimaru: Blind Musician of Japan.
significant figure in the popular, as well as the scholarly,
New York, 1978.
imagination. The scholarly study of this popular imagery,
Morrell, Robert E. Sand and Pebbles (Shasekishu¯): The Tales of
even when inaccurate in terms of the historical Basho¯, can
Muju¯ Ichien, A Voice for Pluralism in Kamakura Buddhism.
provide important insight into the religious needs and nos-
Albany, N.Y., 1985.
talgias of later generations in Japan and the West.
Philippi, Donald L., trans. and ed. Kojiki. Tokyo, 1968.
Philippi, Donald L., trans. Norito: A Translation of the Ancient
Just as the central cultural role of religion has dimin-
Japanese Ritual Prayers. Princeton, 1990.
ished in the modern world, explicitly religious poetry as a
genre has also declined in importance. It has not disappeared,
Plutschow, Herbert E. Chaos and Cosmos: Ritual in Early and Me-
dieval Japanese Literature. Leiden, 1990.
however. The founders and leaders of new religions some-
times use poems as a vehicle for spreading their teachings or
Rotermund, Hartmut O. Majinai-uta: Grundlagen, Ihalte und
Formelemente japonischer Majischer Gedichte des 17.–20.
proffer poems as revelatory statements, while some Buddhist
Jahrhunderts. Tokyo and Hamburg, Germany, 1973.
temples and Shinto¯ shrines continue to maintain their poetic
Tsuchihashi, Yutaka. Kodai kayo¯ to girei no kenkyu¯. Tokyo, 1965.
traditions. In a recent “invented tradition,” the emperor an-
nually offers a New Year’s verse—a tanka (once called
Watson, Burton. Ryo¯kan: Zen Monk-Poet of Japan. New York,
waka)—that is reprinted in all the national newspapers.
1977.
Moreover, hundreds of thousands of Japanese participate in
Watson, Burton, trans. Grass Hill: Poems and Prose by the Japanese
haiku and other poetry clubs, millions of tourists visit histori-
Monk Gensei. New York, 1983.
cal sites associated with poets of the past, and offertory verses
Watson, Burton, trans. Saigyo¯: Poems of a Mountain Home. New
are still sometimes hung above the entranceway of new
York, 1991.
homes. If religious poetry plays a smaller role in the religious
GARY L. EBERSOLE (2005)
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7218
POETRY: CHRISTIAN POETRY
POETRY: CHRISTIAN POETRY
Tales (begun in 1386 and incomplete at the poet’s death in
Any consideration of the interplay between the predominant
1400). Set within the popular medieval framework of a pil-
religion of European culture and the poetry that developed
grimage, this collection of Middle English poems represents
within its influence should properly begin with the textual
a wide panorama of character types and narrative forms that
legacy of sacred scripture. For in the Bible there is a fund of
draw heavily on French and Italian models. The work as a
images, narrative reference, rhetorical formulas, and mythic
whole is an intriguing blend of sacred and profane, contain-
patterns that for centuries has served as a powerful source for
ing traditional saints’ legends, as recounted by the Prioress
Western poetry, no matter whether a specific work is explic-
and the Second Nun, as well as romances, as told by the
itly religious (or devotional) in nature or whether it is simply
Knight and the Squire, and bawdry, as employed by the Mil-
presumptive of a Christian interpretative context.
ler and the Wife of Bath. Contemporary criticism has argued
over the extent to which the Tales should be given a Chris-
ORIGINS: THE HYMN. The earliest example of Christian po-
tian reading; D. W. Robertson, Jr.’s Preface to Chaucer
etry, the hymn, is also the most immediately expressive of
(Princeton, 1962) offers the most eloquent case for doing so.
doctrine and tradition. Its biblical precursors can be traced
Suffice it to say that whatever the case in this or that particu-
to the Hebrew psalms and the Lucan canticles (e.g., Magnifi-
lar poem, Chaucer’s work, as a whole, is unthinkable outside
cat and Nunc dimittis), in addition to fragments of apostolic
a Christian context.
hymns found both in the Pauline letters (e.g., Eph. 5:19, 2
Tm. 2:15) and in the Book of Revelation (5:13–14). Like the
The same might be said for the dominant form of early
Christian liturgy itself, Christian poetry was first composed
French vernacular poetry, the chansons de geste, which date
in Greek. By the mid-fourteenth century, however, there ex-
from the eleventh and twelfth centuries and signal the begin-
isted compilations of Latin hymns by Hilary of Poitiers
ning of French literature. Following the conclusions of Jo-
(d. 367) and Ambrose of Milan (d. 397), both of whom
seph Bédier’s Les légendes epiques (1926–1929), most scholars
composed their texts for liturgical use. Prudentius (d. 410),
consider that these narrative works, set in the ninth-century
best known for the allegorical poem that was to have such
Age of Charlemagne, actually originated in churches and
influence on medieval portrayals of the struggle between vir-
monasteries whose monks linked their own shrines to events,
tue and vice—the Psychomachia—also wrote many didactic
at once historical and legendary, that were associated with
hymns in a variety of meters not intended specifically for
Charlemagne. The Chanson de Roland, set against the back-
worship. The Latin hymnic tradition continued with works
ground of war with the Saracens for control of Spain and tell-
that were to have great influence on subsequent Christian lit-
ing in particular of the battle of Roncevaux, presents charac-
erature: the Vexilla regis of Venantius Fortunatus (d. 610),
ters who have become classics in Western literature: the
the hymns of Peter Abelard (d. 1142) and Thomas Aquinas
impetuous warrior Roland (the “Orlando” of later romance-
(d. 1274), and most important of all, the Dies irae, ascribed
epic); the patriarchal monarch Charlemagne; the sage coun-
to Thomas of Celano (d. 1260). To the Franciscan Jacopone
selor Olivier; the priest-warrior Turpin; the traitor Ganelon.
da Todi (d. 1306) is attributed not only the Stabat mater dol-
The twelfth-century Oxford manuscript of the poem, which
orosa, but also over one hundred hymns, or laudes, written
is its earliest extant version (c. 1170), reflects a Christianiza-
in Italian. This tradition of vernacular poetry was nurtured
tion of materials coming from earlier, less religious sources.
in Franciscan circles and traditionally begins with Francis of
It extols Christianity, chivalry, and patriotism; for even
Assisi (d. 1226) and his still renowned Canticle of the Sun.
though it portrays the folly of Roland’s pursuit of personal
MIDDLE AGES. In England Christian poetry in the vernacu-
fame and glory at the expense of Christian empire and the
lar was inaugurated by Cædmon (d. around 680), whose
common cause, nonetheless, when Archbishop Turpin gives
Anglo-Saxon hymn to God the Creator is also the first extant
the fallen Roland his blessing and commends his soul to the
poem in the English language. Also attributed to him (if not
safekeeping of Saint Gabriel, the errant hero is sufficiently
to Cynewulf, a poet of the ninth century) is The Dream of
absolved to become a kind of epic saint in subsequent han-
the Rood, a visionary work in which the cross confronts the
dling of the legend, known as the matière de France.
poet with an account of Christ’s passion and resurrection,
The inaugural work of Spanish literature, the Cantar de
bidding him to follow the path of the rood thereafter in his
mio Cid (c. 1140), shares with the Chanson de Roland not
own life. The culmination of Anglo-Saxon poetry, however,
only certain literary models but the memory of feudal Ger-
is the epic Beowulf (dated between 675 and 750), wherein
manic custom as well as a substratum of historical event. The
pagan Germanic heroic traditions show signs of adaptation
poem, based on the life of an eleventh-century military lead-
to the newer Christian sensibility.
er, relates the misfortunes and ultimate triumph of Rodrigo
The flowering of Christian medieval poetry in England
Díaz de Vivar, who, although unjustly exiled by the sover-
occurs in the latter part of the fourteenth century. Both the
eign of Castile, remains a faithful vassal, one who continu-
Pearl and Piers Plowman, two anonymous Middle English
ously sends back booty from battle with the Moors; when
poems, combine dream vision and allegory, a sense of spiritu-
grossly misused by perfidious noblemen, he leaves the retri-
al crisis and the hope of victory in heaven. The most impor-
bution of justice to King Alfonso, the monarch who has ban-
tant work of this period, however, is Chaucer’s Canterbury
ished him. In the course of the poem (and subsequently in
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
POETRY: CHRISTIAN POETRY
7219
Spanish mystique) Díaz, or “el Cid,” becomes a paragon of
found religious depth. Set against a typology of Exodus and
justice and bravery. A pious deathbed scene, attributed by
Deliverance, which is enhanced by the story’s unfolding be-
scholars to a later (and monastic) hand, attempts to bring the
tween the evening of Good Friday and the Wednesday of
poem more resolutely within a Christian framework. And
Easter Week in the year 1300, the poem recounts Dante’s
yet, like the Chanson de Roland, Spain’s epic is more a cele-
exploration of the state of the soul after death in a journey
bration of battle against “the Infidel,” as well as of loyalty to
that takes him from hell through purgatory to paradise, and
the anointed lord, than it is a seriously Christian poem.
culminates in the beatific vision (left undescribed, of course,
at the close of the final canto). In the course of this experi-
A later development in narrative poetry, which turned
ence, which unites the journeys of Aeneas and the apostle
its attention from battlefield to court, is the romance. Critics
Paul even as it surpasses them with its own totality, he is
disagree over whether it arose as a sentimentalization of earli-
guided first by Vergil, the paragon of poetry, natural reason,
er epic materials such as the chansons de geste or whether, on
and the dream of empire, and then by Beatrice, the woman
the other hand, it represents a hearkening back to late classi-
who in life represented for Dante the transforming love of
cal models. In any event, it concerns itself with the characters
God in Christ and on whose behalf the poet promised earlier
and events of King Arthur’s court (known as the matière de
in the Vita nuova (1295) to offer such praise as no other be-
Bretagne) and has at its center an ideal of chivalry and a pre-
loved had ever received. Critics have noted Dante’s debt to
occupation with love, which it portrays as ennobling when
classical poets (whom, indeed, he draws on extensively—
sublimated in the chaste pursuit of excellence, but disastrous
especially Vergil, Ovid, Lucan, and Statius—at the same
(both personally and socially) when acted out in adultery. Al-
time that he transforms them for his own Christian pur-
though Chrétien de Troyes (d. around 1180) was certainly
poses), as well as his connection to medieval accounts of
not the originator of romance poetry, it is he who brought
earthly pilgrimage and heavenly vision. Theologically, he
the genre to flower in French with his poems Erec, Yvain,
unites Thomistic clarity with the ardor of Augustinian and
Lancelot, and the unfinished Perceval—the story of a simple
Franciscan traditions. And yet what remains astonishing is
knight whose feudal service, transcending that owed to king
the sheer originality of the work, which mixes what the four-
or lady, is given to the pursuit of the Grail, a complex symbol
teenth century knew about the ancient world with a very
of religious mystery associated with Christ’s passion and res-
contemporary appraisal of the poet’s own time—all of it fil-
urrection.
tered through the personal experience of Dante Alighieri
A fuller and far more profound working of this material
himself (who, like Augustine in the Confessions, is both the
is offered by Wolfram von Eschenbach (d. around 1220),
wise author and the developing subject of the same work).
whose Parzival, written between 1200 and 1210, introduced
The sixteenth century was to call the Commedia “divine,” an
the Grail theme into German literature and brought both
adjective that later centuries have continued to find appro-
epic and romance to a new level of spiritual profundity that
priate. Indeed, in the intricately constructed plan of the hun-
places Wolfram in the same lofty sphere as Dante. Building
dred cantos of this epic, Christian poetry attains a scope of
on Chrétien’s tale of the “guileless fool” who through inno-
reference and a depth of resonance that are rivaled (if at all)
cence and faithful commitment attains a goal that evades
only by John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
those who are wise in the ways of the world, Parzival de-
THE RENAISSANCE. With the exception of the fourteenth-
scribes a quasi-allegorical pilgrimage through error, pride,
century English works noted above, the great religious move-
despair, and repentance, undertaken in order to attain the
ments and controversies of Europe did not after Dante pro-
most distinctive of Christian virtues, humility. In its posses-
duce poetry of major significance until the mid-sixteenth
sion, Parzival is able not only to be keeper of the Grail—a
century. In the latter years of that century there is unmistak-
paradisiacal stone representing the love of God—but also to
ably evident a Christian poetic renaissance in the form of
assume the role of king among a circle of knights whose
both long narrative works and meditational, or devotional,
ideals are set infinitely higher than the loves and adventures
lyrics. Within the former category is found the Portuguese
that characterize the traditional Arthurian court. The poem
Os Lusíadas (1572), a Vergilian celebration of the voyage of
is notable for its inauguration of the Bildungsroman, which,
Vasco da Gama to India and of his return via the Cape of
along with the Grail story itself, has had such a powerful im-
Good Hope. This national epic, composed by Luis de
pact on subsequent German literature. Parzival also shares
Camo˜es (d. 1580), tells its near-contemporary tale in mythic
some of the essential qualities (though none of the superfi-
terms, mingling together history, Catholic religion, and the
cial) that distinguish the greatest medieval poem of pilgrim-
pagan Roman pantheon of the Aeneid. In this poem West
age and vision, Dante’s Commedia.
meets East and attempts to conquer a paradise otherwise lost
to Europe. Within its epic machinery, moreover, there is the
Written between the time of Dante’s exile from Flor-
working of Camo˜es’s own curious syncretism: his blending
ence in 1302 and his death in 1321, the Commedia is an un-
of Christianity with Neoplatonism and of pagan religion
paralleled synthesis of theological reflection and literary
with Portuguese national (and religious) piety.
form, in which hymn and allegory, epic and romance, spiri-
tual pilgrimage and personal Bildungsroman are all brought
Writing at almost the same time, but closer to the censo-
together in a narrative of enduring appeal, as well as of pro-
rious arm of the Counter-Reformation, Torquato Tasso
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7220
POETRY: CHRISTIAN POETRY
(d. 1595) published his Gerusalemme liberata in 1581. Al-
Traherne (d. 1674), and Henry Vaughan (d. 1695). With
though he was heir to the secular romances of Boiardo and
the exception of the Welsh doctor Vaughan, all were or-
Ariosto, with their reworking of the old Arthurian material,
dained priests in the Anglican church (but Crashaw later be-
Tasso set out instead to produce a truly Christian epic, and
came a Roman cleric). To a greater or lesser extent, all drew
for this purpose he chose the subject of Godfrey of Bouillon’s
upon the techniques of religious meditation that mingle a
retaking of Jerusalem from the Saracens during the First Cru-
vivid reimagining of biblical scenes, intense self-scrutiny, and
sade. Although replete with the requisite battle scenes and
an orientation of the self toward God. In this group Crashaw
amatory interludes of the romance-epic, he intended the
is in every way the anomaly, drawing as he does on the more
poem to be read allegorically as the struggle of the soul to
extravagantly Baroque continental sensibility typified by the
overcome every sort of temptation (and perhaps especially
convolution and artificiality of, for example, Giambattista
those of the flesh) in order to achieve salvation. Whatever his
Marino (d. 1625). But even among the more thoroughly En-
noble intentions, the text caused him difficulties with the In-
glish Anglicans, there is a wide range of feeling: the splendid
quisition; consequently he republished it in revised form
self-absorption of Donne as he worries about his own salva-
under the title Gerusalemme conquistata (1593), thereby
tion; the artful self-diminution of Herbert, with his exqui-
achieving the requisite piety, but only at the cost of poetic
sitely wrought lyrics of surrender to a loving Master; the mys-
interest and integrity.
tically esoteric Traherne; the meditations of Henry Vaughan
upon nature, a preoccupation that links him in anticipatory
The epic poem (like the Renaissance itself) came rela-
ways to William Wordsworth and the High Romantics.
tively late to Protestant England, but found its belated poet
in Edmund Spenser (d. 1599), whose Faerie Queene (pub-
John Milton (d. 1674) tried his hand at this sort of
lished in parts between 1590 and 1609), although unfinished
meditational poetry in the early ode entitled On the Morning
according to its original plan, nonetheless succeeded in real-
of Christ’s Nativity. But the religious lyric was never to engage
izing its partial goals: the incorporation of Vergilian epic into
his poetic imagination. To be sure, religious controversy and
medieval (as well as Italian) romance, a multileveled allegory,
theological reflection preoccupied him his entire life and
an expression of the Reformed religious sensibility, and a cel-
filled many volumes of prose as well. But it was not until his
ebration of Elizabethan England and its Virgin Queen (the
political hopes in Cromwell’s Commonwealth had been frus-
model for that Gloriana who, while never seen in the poem’s
trated and the monarchy subsequently restored in 1660 that
Faeryland, motivates all virtuous action). Book 1, the “Leg-
the “sacred muse” returned—and then with an astonishing
end of Holiness,” is the most explicitly theological of the six
afflatus of poetry that took its “graver subject” from mo-
books that Spenser lived to complete. Its Red Cross Knight
ments of scriptural history: the fall of Adam and Eve, the
struggles against the various avatars of wickedness in order
death of Samson, Christ’s temptation in the wilderness. Fol-
to champion Una, the true (English) church, and in so doing
lowing the example of the Huguenot Guillaume du Bartas
to realize his identity as England’s patron, Saint George. The
(d. 1590) in the composition of a biblical epic, Milton made
rest of the poem is preoccupied with the vicissitudes of the
in Paradise Lost (1667) a deliberate decision to turn away
moral life and the cultivation of the virtues of temperance,
from classical or romance themes, at the same time, of
chastity, friendship, justice, and courtesy, each of which is
course, as he incurred openly a vast debt to Vergil on the one
championed by a representative knight and exercised in a
hand and Spenser on the other. (His later works, Paradise Re-
successful combat with evil. Pervading the entire work, how-
gained and Samson Agonistes, both published in 1671, draw
ever, is the sense of incomplete victory and of an unfulfilled
upon Greek dramatic form.) At the center of all three poems
longing, the desire for a vision of peace that can never be at-
there stands an individual “sufficient to have stood, though
tained in this life, whether in the Faeryland of the poem or
free to fall,” and in each case Milton undertakes an explora-
in the sixteenth-century world to which its “dark conceit” re-
tion of exactly what this sufficiency consists of: the exercise
fers. In the end, in the fragmentary “Mutabilitie Cantos,” the
of right reason over against the appeal of lesser appetites. As
poet places his sole faith in a heavenly city built “upon the
in his prose writings against monarchy and episcopacy and
pillours of Eternitie.”
as in those advocating freedom of speech and of divorce, the
S
author of the poems assumes the role of prophet. This voice
EVENTEENTH CENTURY. In the first half of the seventeenth
century there is evident an enormous and rich outpouring
is especially audible in Paradise Lost, where again and again
of religious verse, lyric rather than epic, which is commonly
he claims the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in his articulation
characterized, after Samuel Johnson, as “metaphysical” or,
of what scripture has chosen to say little (or nothing) about.
since Louis Martz (1954), as “the poetry of meditation.” It
Dante too claimed enormous authority for his poetic under-
is distinguished by its delight in wit, learning, and paradox,
taking, but while he dared to speak prophetically to his age,
and most especially by its cultivation of farfetched metaphors
he did so as a Roman Catholic, as a loyal (if contentious) son
or “conceits.” Examples can be drawn from the poetry of
of the “universal” church; Milton, by contrast, was in the
Italy, Spain, France, and Germany, but it is in England that
composition of his great poems a denomination of one, a sol-
the metaphysical poem found its fullest Christian expression;
itary church.
its foremost exponents were John Donne (d. 1631), George
Milton’s poetic enterprise is strangely Janus-faced. Late
Herbert (d. 1633), Richard Crashaw (d. 1649), Thomas
in the seventeenth century, almost as if he were resolutely
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
POETRY: ISLAMIC POETRY
7221
looking backward, he chose unfashionable biblical subject
Newman, Barbara. God and the Goddesses: Visions, poetry, and Be-
matter and an epic genre so played out that by the end of
lief in the Middle Ages. Philadelphia, 2003.
the century it could only be mocked in satire. On the other
Troeger, Thomas H. Borrowed Light: Hymn Texts, Prayers, and
hand, his portraits of divinity (and perhaps especially of God
Poems. New York, 1994.
the Father in Paradise Lost) have an Enlightenment chill, as
PETER S. HAWKINS (1987)
if they had passed over into a pantheon of deities no longer
Revised Bibliography
believed in. But perhaps the authentically religious note in
Milton’s poetry is rather to be found in his magnificent evo-
cation of the physical beauties of heaven and earth as well
as in the poignancy of his presentation of humanity itself—
POETRY: ISLAMIC POETRY
poised between innocence and experience and between obe-
Since its emergence in the Middle East early in the seventh
dience and rebellion, engaged in the process of choosing a
century, Islam has been practiced in many different cultural
self to become. It is in such emphases as these that one can
and linguistic areas throughout the world. As a result, Islamic
anticipate the Romantic movement that was to follow upon
religious poetry has been composed in a wide variety of lan-
Milton’s death by a century, arriving at a time when poetry
guages. Among these, Arabic and Persian are distinctive for
throughout Europe seems to have cut loose from the moor-
their transnational, or cosmopolitan, nature. Alongside these
ings of Christian tradition in order to explore new unortho-
two classical languages, Islamic poets have employed a host
doxies of the spirit and imagination.
of other languages, ranging from Bengali and Chinese to
Swahili and Urdu. This article will summarize the develop-
SEE ALSO Arthur; Dante Alighieri; Drama, articles on Euro-
pean Religious Drama, Modern Western Theater; Grail,
ment of Islamic poetry in Arabic and Persian, the important
The; Literature, article on Religious Dimensions of Modern
languages for classical Islamic literature, and will also com-
Western Literature.
menti briefly on the nature and character of Islamic poetry
in the regional vernacular traditions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ARABIC. Since the QurDa¯n was revealed in a culture that
Christianity is so interwoven into the fabric of European poetry
prized the poetic arts and the beauty of oral expression, these
up through the seventeenth century that any worthwhile
values affected the role of poetry in many Muslim societies,
study of Dante, Chaucer, or Milton will of necessity explore
both Arab and non-Arab. In pre-Islamic Arabian society,
the interconnection between poetry and belief. In The Great
poets (sha Dirs) enjoyed a special status, along with soothsayers
Code: The Bible and Literature (New York, 1982) Northrop
(kahins); they were believed to be inspired in their utterances
Frye begins with the Christian ur-text and suggests the de-
by their relationship with spirits and jinns. As a result, their
gree to which scripture informs literary culture in the West.
Ernst Robert Curtius in his European Literature in the Latin
words had a particularly powerful spiritual potency. Not sur-
Middle Ages (Princeton, N. J., 1953) and Erich Auerbach in
prisingly, when Muh:ammad began to recite the particularly
his Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Litera-
beautiful verses that eventually came to comprise the QurDa¯n
ture (Princeton, 1953) have produced classic studies of the
(which means literally “the Recitation”), his opponents ac-
foundations and development of European poetry, which
cused him of being a poet. In response to such accusations,
also offer invaluable insight into the interaction of Christian-
the QurDa¯n (for example, in Chapter 26) clearly distinguishes
ity with its pagan inheritance. Helen Flanders Dunbar’s Sym-
between a poet, who is driven by egotistical desire, and a
bolism in Medieval Thought and Its Consummation in the Di-
prophet, who utters the truth that is revealed to him or her
vine Comedy (New Haven, Conn., 1929) establishes a
by the one God. Although the Islamic scripture criticizes
religious and cultural context not only for Dante but for me-
poets who compete with the Divine Word, the QurDa¯n dis-
dieval poetry in general. Sensitive study of the role of Chris-
tianity in the formation of European poetry is also offered
plays an acute sensibility to the spoken word, both for its aes-
in R. S. Loomis’s The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian
thetic qualities and for the ethical values espoused in pre-
Symbol (New York, 1963), C. S. Lewis’s The Allegory of Love
Islamic Arabic poetry (such as generosity, valor, and hospital-
(Oxford, 1936), Louis L. Martz’s The Poetry of Meditation
ity), albeit in a new religious framework. Indeed, for the
(New Haven, 1954), Helen Gardner’s Religion and Literature
believer, the inimitability of QurDanic eloquence serves as
(Oxford, 1971), and A. D. Nuttall’s Overheard by God: Fic-
proof of the scripture’s divine origin.
tion and Prayer in Herbert, Milton, Dante, and St. John (New
York, 1980).
Many poets ranked among Muh:ammad’s most danger-
ous opponents, including KaEb (d. c. 630). His father Zuhayr
New Sources
had composed one of the “Hanging Odes,” the seven most
Atwan, Robert and Laurence Wieder, eds. Chapters into Verse: Po-
celebrated poems of pre-Islamic Arabia. According to tradi-
etry in English Inspired by the Bible. Oxford and New York,
tion, these odes, because of their polished eloquence, were
1992.
embroidered in gold and hung from the walls of the KaEbah.
Bradley, Ian C. The Book of Hymns. New York, 1989.
When KaEb eventually decided to convert to Islam, he of-
Curzon, David, ed. The Gospels in Our Image. New York, 1995.
fered his allegiance to Muh:ammad by presenting him a poem
Keyte, Hugh, and Andrew Parrott, with Clifford Bartlett. The
of praise. In response, the Prophet gave KaDb his cloak
New Oxford Book of Carols. Oxford, 1998.
(burda); consequently, the poem came to be known as 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
7222
POETRY: ISLAMIC POETRY
Burda, or Mantle Ode. This poem ushered in a new genre
agery from being read literally by opponents determined to
of panegyric poetry in praise of the Prophet that was to be-
accuse him of moral corruption, Ibn EArabi wrote a commen-
come ubiquitous in all Islamic literatures.
tary highlighting the esoteric meaning of the work.
The transaction between the poet and prophet simulta-
PERSIAN. By the time of its renaissance in the thirteenth cen-
neously rejects some pre-Islamic values and transforms other
tury, however, Arabic mystical poetry had begun to be over-
values in the new religious worldview that was heralded by
shadowed by works composed in Persian, which was rapidly
the coming of Islam. As Michael Sells points out in Ap-
becoming the major language of religious poetry in many
proaching the Qur Da¯n, instead of being draped with the
Muslim lands. The spread of Persian as a literary vehicle was
Hanging Odes, the KaEbah, the most sacred site of Islam, was
facilitated by the rise of dynasties of Persianized Turks who,
adorned with a black cloth embroidered with verses from the
by the fifteenth century, controlled a vast territory, stretching
QurDa¯n. Most importantly, poetry, which had once been
from Anatolia in modern Turkey, through Iran and Central
shunned for representing the ideals of paganism, was brought
Asia to southern India.
into the service of Islam. Indeed, later Muslim poets pro-
Although Persian poets adopted the form of the Arabic
claimed that their work was the “heritage of prophecy,” refer-
qasida for the religious panegyric in Persian, their forte lay
ring to a tradition that calls the tongues of poets “the keys
in the refinement of two other genres: the masnawi and the
of the treasures beneath the Divine Throne.”
ghazal. A distinctively Persian form, the masnawi, a lengthy
poem with rhymed couplets, was initially used to compose
The tradition that had begun with pre-Islamic poetry
epics recounting the heroic deeds of Iranian rulers and cham-
continued to develop throughout the history of Arabic and
pions. In a religious context, Persian Sufis favored the mas-
other Islamic literatures. Muslim poets adapted the pre-
nawi as a vehicle for explicating ethical and mystical concepts
Islamic genre of the qasida, the monorhyme praise poem, for
through anecdotes, tales, and romances. Among the early
religious purposes. Instead of praising a ruler or a poet’s pa-
poets who employed this form was EAttar (d. c. 1221), the
tron, the qasida was now used to praise God, to eulogize the
author of the Mantiq at-Tayr (The Bird’s Conversation). Os-
Prophet, or to laud and lament the martyr-heroes of Sh¯ıEah
tensibly a narrative concerning a group of birds on a quest
Islam. In the ninth century, as the focus of Sufism or Islamic
for their mythical king, the Mantiq at-Tayr has come to be
mysticism shifted from extreme asceticism to an emphasis on
regarded as one of the classic Islamic expositions of the mys-
an intimate and loving relationship between devotees and
tical journey and spiritual development of the soul. The most
God, mystics began composing exquisite mystical love poet-
famous masnawi ever composed, however, was the Math-
ry in Arabic. Drawing upon the qasida’s amatory prelude
nawi-yi ma Dnawi (Spiritual Couplets), by the most beloved
(the nasib), with its themes of remembering and longing for
of Persian mystic poets, Jala¯l al-D¯ın Ru¯m¯ı (d. 1273). This
a lost beloved, this poetry depicted the many aspects and
monumental work, consisting of some thirty-five thousand
phases of love—the anguish of separation, blissful union,
couplets, has been called the “QurDa¯n in the Persian tongue,”
endless striving to be worthy and faithful, and longing for
since later generations have considered it to be an encapsula-
physical death and spiritual union with the Divine. Promi-
tion of the spiritual and esoteric teachings of the Arabic scrip-
nent poets included the Iraqi woman mystic RabDia
ture for Persian speakers.
al-EAdawiya (d. 801), the Egyptian Dhu al-Nun (d. 859),
and the Baghdad natives Sumnun “the Lover,” (d. c. 900),
In addition to the Mathnawi, Ru¯m¯ı also composed a
Shibli (d. 945), and the great “martyr of love” al-Hallaj, exe-
collection of ecstatic poems called the Divan-i Shams-i Ta-
cuted in 922.
briz. As its name indicates, this work was dedicated to the
memory of his spiritual mentor and soul mate, the enigmatic
After a period of decline in quality and quantity from
Shams-i Tabriz. Tradition holds that Shams’s mysterious dis-
the mid-tenth century onwards, Arabic mystical poetry expe-
appearance caused Ru¯m¯ıto become a poet, pouring out in
rienced an efflorescence in the thirteenth century with the
the poems of the Divan his heartbreak at the loss of his be-
emergence of two great writers, the Egyptian Ibn al-Farid
loved friend. For the Divan, Ru¯m¯ı chose the most important
(d. 1235) and the Andalusian Ibn al-EArabi (d. 1240). Ibn
form of lyric poetry in Persian—the ghazal—a short poem
al-Farid drew upon the heritage of the traditional qasida to
with loosely arranged couplets united by a single rhyme and
compose exquisite odes on mystical love, including the
common meter.
Khamriyya (A Wine Poem) in praise of the primordial wine
of divine love that intoxicates everything created, and the
By convention, the ghazal’s central theme is unfulfilled
Ta Diyya (a qasida rhyming with the letter “t”), which recounts
love. The rules governing the ghazal’s prosody exercise such
in high-flown imagery the soul’s journey to God. Though
tight constraints on poets that they must resort to a vast stock
more renowned in the history of Islamic mystical literature
of conventional images and motifs—wine and tavern, night-
for his dense prose works, Ibn al-EArabi, inspired by his love
ingales and roses, attractive young boys and veiled ladies, di-
for the daughter of a Persian Sufi, composed a collection of
sheveled tresses and ruby lips—to draw analogies. Skillful
mystical poems entitled Tarjuman al-Ashwaq (The Interpret-
ghazal poets effortlessly interweave these images together
er of Ardent Longings), whose imagery recalls the pre-Islamic
while engaging in intricate verbal acrobatics, making it diffi-
qasida. In order to prevent the work’s amatory and erotic im-
cult to grasp the real meaning of their poetry, as it subtly os-
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POETRY: ISLAMIC POETRY
7223
cillates between the spiritual and the sensual. Is the lover
the Persian background. The form of the Arabic qasida was
drunk with wine, wild with passion for a handsome boy, or
adopted into a wide range of languages, often with adjust-
intoxicated with God? Although the meaning intended by
ments in meter and imagery to suit local tastes. Indeed, in
the poet can be vague, audiences nevertheless delight in this
some instances, the qasida inspired the development of en-
ambiguity, thus accounting for the popularity of the ghazal
tirely new literary genres. For example, the madah is the reli-
in Persian and Persian-influenced cultures.
gious praise poem in Sindhi, the syair is used in Malay for
The supreme master of the ghazal in Persian was Hafiz
composing poems providing instruction on mystical themes,
(d. 1390). Generations of Persian speakers have regarded his
and the qasidah moderen in Indonesia is a genre of didactic
collection of ghazals, known as the Divan-i Hafiz, as a source
religious poems set to popular music.
of wisdom to consult when making important life decisions.
Islamic vernacular traditions also reflect an astounding
Like Ru¯m¯ı’s Mathnawi, the Divan-i Hafiz is believed to con-
array of poetic forms derived by various literary cultures
tain the wise voice of the mystic who has been fortunate
around the world. Although these are too numerous to be
enough to commune with the transcendent reality. And like
discussed in detail, Muslim poets co-opted many forms of
Ru¯m¯ı’s poetry, the verse of Hafiz and other Persian mys-
secular poetry, often in the form of songs, in order to com-
tics—such as SanaDi (d. 1131), EAttar, and Jami
pose different types of religious poetry. For instance, in the
(d. 1492)—has inspired and informed seekers on the spiritu-
region around Bijapur in southern India, Sufi ideas were
al quest. As a result, Sufis have commonly regarded the in-
transmitted by songs sung in Dakhini Urdu by women as
corporation of verses of poetry in rituals such as the sama D
they performed daily tasks, such as spinning cotton or grind-
(spiritual concert of music and poetry) as a means of trigger-
ing grain, while in Tamilnadu, poets adopted the kappiyam,
ing a mystical experience.
a long narrative poem that traditionally had related the sto-
POETRY IN THE REGIONAL VERNACULARS. Arabic and Per-
ries of gods and the exploits of human heroes. In Senegal,
sian were the dominant languages for Islamic poetry until the
odes retelling the history of prophets or praising Sufi masters
fourteenth century; at that time, poets in other regions began
employed forms traditional to Wolof praise-poetry. Hindi-
adopting local languages for composing religious poetry.
speaking poets in North India used romantic ballads to
Many of these poets pioneered the development of literary
create lengthy mystical allegories in verse; the most impor-
traditions in these regional languages. In her book As through
tant example is the Padmavat of Malik Muh:ammad JaDisi
a Veil, Annemarie Schimmel compares the role of these Mus-
(d. after 1570). Along with vernacular forms, poets also
lim poets, many of them Sufi, to that played by Christian
adopted local literary conventions and adapted Islamic reli-
mystics, nuns, and ascetics in the development of European
gious concepts and ideas to local cultural contexts. These ad-
vernaculars such as German, Dutch, and Italian.
aptations helped Islam spread rapidly throughout many re-
To be sure, Muslim poets hesitated at first to experi-
gions of the world.
ment with composing religious verse in the vernacular. In
some areas of South Asia, for example, anxiety about using
Since vernacular poetry mediates between the commu-
a local language ran so deep that poets thought it necessary
nity of believers and their religious tradition, much of this
to apologize to readers. Many of these pioneer poets would
poetry tends to be didactic in character, addressing topics
have agreed with the Afghan poet Bayazid Ansari (d. 1585)
such as beliefs, fundamental rituals, ethics and morality, and
when he commented: “God speaks in every language, be it
the transitory nature of the world. Poems praising God, the
Arabic, Persian, Hindi, or Afghani. He speaks in the lan-
prophets, and important religious personalities in Islamic
guage which the human heart can understand.” Love for
history are also ubiquitous. Poetry composed under the in-
their mother-tongues, as well as the growing popularity of
fluence of the Sufi tradition, particularly in Turkey and
vernacular poetry among populations who could not access
South Asia, tends to attack barren intellectualism and rote
literature in the Arabic and Persian traditions, eventually re-
ritualism as paths that cannot lead to salvation. Instead, these
sulted in a blossoming of regional vernacular poetic tradi-
poems laud the path of love, in which the believer develops
tions from the eighteenth century onwards. Significantly, in
a loving relationship with the Divine Beloved, as an interio-
the case of those languages which lacked a standard alphabet,
rized form of religious practice that leads to the spiritual de-
poets used the Arabic script or adaptations of it to write their
velopment of the soul. As expected, many Sufi poems also
compositions.
extol the virtues of the Sufi shaykh whose guidance helps the
believer to traverse the spiritual path.
Arabic and Persian poetry continued to exercise varying
degrees of influence on the development of regional poetic
POETRY IN HONOR OF THE PROPHET. One subject common
traditions, however. Thus, Ottoman Turkish and Urdu
to all Islamic poetry, whether in the classical Arabic and Per-
poems are so heavily steeped in the Persianate tradition—
sian traditions or in the regional vernaculars, is praise and
from the appropriation of genres, such as the ghazal and mas-
love for the Prophet Muh:ammad. As devotion to the Proph-
nawi, to the wholesale adoption of conventional Persian
et Muh:ammad binds together Muslims from diverse cultural
symbols and imagery—that it is impossible to truly appreci-
and national backgrounds, this subject provides an appropri-
ate poetry in these two languages without an awareness of
ate summation for this survey of Islamic religious poetry.
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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POETRY: NATIVE AMERICAN POETRY AND RELIGION
The tradition of composing poetry honoring the Proph-
POETRY: NATIVE AMERICAN POETRY AND
et began in his lifetime, when his companions, KaDb ibn
RELIGION
Zuhayr and Hassan ibn Thabit, glorified him in verse. In
More than any other genre of Native American contempo-
subsequent centuries, innumerable poets have composed
rary writing, poetry most closely reflects the Native American
na Dts, or poems in praise of Muh:ammad, in practically every
oral tradition. Traditional prayers, songs, and chants, first
language of the Islamic world. Since poets have employed a
performed orally and later “preserved” by non-Natives who
variety of styles, genres, and literary conventions, the figure
anticipated the demise of Native cultures in the nineteenth
of the Prophet is indigenized to different literary contexts.
century, serve as a bridge between the oral tradition and the
A Sindhi poet, for example, following the conventions of
work of contemporary Native poets. This early poetics was
Sindhi mystical literature, may address him as a bridegroom
an inherent part of ceremonial life for the tribes of North
and portray him in Sindhi garb, while a Tamil poet, influ-
America, and it continues to inform contemporary American
enced by the pillaitamil (baby poem), imagines him as a baby
Indian poetry. Broadly defined, Native American poetry is
within a Tamil landscape. Notwithstanding these cultural
“religious” in the sense that “[e]very factor of human experi-
differences, however, the poetry shares certain themes: extol-
ence is seen in a religious light as part of the meaning of life,”
ling the Prophet’s character, virtues, and beauty; recalling the
as the Lakota author Vine Deloria Jr. explains in God Is Red
events in his life, such as his birth and his ascension to heaven
(p. 195). Spirituality pervades the genre: poets incorporate
(the Mi Era¯j), or describing the various miracles he per-
mythic figures and stories, contemplate their relationships to
formed; expressing hope for his intercession on the Day of
sacred places, draw upon the rhythmic and performative as-
Judgment and beseeching his assistance in difficult circum-
pects of the oral tradition, describe tribal ceremonies and
stances; and exalting the esoteric aspect of association with
healing rituals, and in some cases respond to experiences with
the light of prophethood. The leitmotif of this poetry, how-
Christian missionaries and conversion, as well as social jus-
ever, is love. Poets fervently express in different languages
tice issues related to colonization.
their powerful, all-consuming love for the Prophet, the Be-
POETRY IN TRANSLATION. The first American Indian poetry
loved of God as he is frequently called, using a range of sym-
in print consisted of ceremonial chants and songs collected
bols and ideas. The twentieth-century Urdu poet
by ethnographers and linguists in the late nineteenth and
Muh:ammad Iqbal hints of the theme’s power and universali-
early twentieth centuries. These transcriptions were com-
ty when he declares, “Love for the Prophet runs like blood
piled in anthologies, including George W. Cronyn’s The
in the veins of the community.”
Path on the Rainbow (1918), Mary Austin’s The American
Rhythm: Studies and Reëxpressions of Amerindian Songs
SEE ALSO H:alla¯j, al-; Ibn al-EArab¯ı; Ibn al-Fa¯rid:; Iqbal,
(1932), and Margot Astrov’s The Winged Serpent: An Anthol-
Muh:ammad; Literature, article on Literature and Religion;
Ra¯biEah al-EAdaw¯ıyah; Ru¯m¯ı, Jala¯l al-D¯ın.
ogy of American Indian Prose and Poetry (1946). One must
approach these texts with some caution. As the Anishinaabe
poet and critic Kimberly M. Blaeser points out, “many early
BIBLIOGRAPHY
works were sifted from their cultural context, displayed in
Asani, Ali, and Kamal Abdelmalek. Celebrating Muh:ammad: Im-
a textual and secular nakedness that ignored the performed
ages of the Prophet in Popular Muslim Poetry. Columbia,
quality or distorted the sacred layers of ceremonial poetry”
S.C., 1995.
(p. 413). Beginning in the 1960s, the new field of ethnopoe-
Brown, Edward Granville. A Literary History of Persia. Cambridge,
tics revived interest in Native American songs and chants, at-
U.K., 1957.
tempting this time to present it in a more “authentic” form.
De Bruijn, J. T. P. Persian Sufi Poetry. An Introduction to the Mys-
Collections such as John Bierhorst’s In the Trail of the Wind
tical Use of Classical Poems. Richmond, U.K., 1997.
(1971), Jerome Rothenberg’s Shaking the Pumpkin (1972),
and Brian Swann’s Wearing the Morning Star (1996) pres-
Lewis, Franklin. Rumi: Past and Present; East and West: The Life,
Teaching and Poetryof Jalal ad-Din Rumi. Oxford, 2000.
ented new translations of many of the same “texts” in an at-
tempt to include Native perspectives in world poetics. Most
Renard, John. Seven Doors to Islam: Spirituality and the Religious
of those connected to ethnopoetics did not know the lan-
Life of Muslims. Berkeley, Calif., 1996.
guage of these traditions, with the exception of the linguists.
Schimmel, Annemarie. As Through a Veil: Mystical Poetry in Islam.
So again, content was often distorted.
New York, 1982.
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. The first American Indian
Sells, Michael. Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Qur Da¯n, Mi Era¯j, Poet-
poets writing in English included the Ojibwa (or Chippewa)
ic and Theological Writings. Mahwah, N.J., 1996.
writer George Copway (The Ojibway Conquest, 1850), the
Sells, Michael. Approaching the Qur Da¯n: The Early Revelations.
Cherokee poet and novelist John Rollin Ridge (Poems,
Ashland, Ore., 1999.
1868), the Mohawk poet and performer E. Pauline Johnson
(The White Wampum, 1895), and the Creek writer and activ-
Sperl, Stefan, and Christopher Shackle, eds. Qasida Poetry in Is-
ist Alexander Posey (The Poems of Alexander Lawrence Posey,
lamic Asia and Africa. 2 vols. Leiden, 1996.
1910). These poets were educated in the Western tradition,
ALI S. ASANI (2005)
and because the Catholic Church controlled a majority 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
POETRY: NATIVE AMERICAN POETRY AND RELIGION
7225
boarding schools they attended, much of their poetry is
Charlie Coyote wanted to be governor and he said that
closely aligned with Christianity. The tenets of Manifest
when he got elected he would run the other men off the
Destiny are likewise often apparent in the poetry of this era.
reservation and keep all the women for himself.
Some writers adopted Western modes of thought and
Silko demonstrates how traditional stories are remembered
verse—often for the purpose of educating a white readership
and reconfigured to reflect modern-day concerns.
about their Native cultures. E. Pauline Johnson and Alexan-
REMEMBERING THE TRADITIONS. American Indian poets
der Posey incorporate elements of Greek mythology in their
often describe tribally specific rituals and ceremonies in their
work. In “The Flower of Tulledega,” for example, Posey par-
work. In “The Gourd Dancer,” the Kiowa author N. Scott
allels two musicians, a Creek figure named Stechupco and
Momaday relates the story of how his grandfather, Mamme-
the Greek god Pan. Ridge’s poetry favors “progress” and
daty, became a traditional dancer. Even though Momaday
thereby reflects the Christian principle of dominion over na-
never met his grandfather, he highlights the importance of
ture. Johnson’s poem “A Cry from an Indian Wife” expresses
maintaining connections to the ancestors, via more immedi-
a deep, ironic devotion to Christian beliefs, even as Indians
ate elders. The Mesquakie poet Ray A. Young Bear describes
lands are lost and Native people suffer. “What white-robed
a male religious society in “Always Is He Criticized”:
priest prays for your safety here[?],” Johnson asks.
There was this dance procession I was a part of, and we
CONTEMPORARY POETRY AND THE ORAL TRADITION. The
were all males following one another, demonstrating
first major anthology of Native American poetry, Carriers of
our place in Black Eagle Child society with flexed chest
the Dream Wheel, appeared in 1975. The Native American
muscles and clenched fists.
Renaissance, said to have begun in 1969 when N. Scott Mo-
maday won the Pulitzer for House Made of Dawn (1968), saw
Young Bear, too, places tradition in the present, as he goes
a flourishing of Native poetry. The themes and stylistics of
on to reflect on the ironic position of warrior men, who
this poetry connect back to early poetic modes, to the oral
would have traditionally supported their families but are now
tradition. In particular, poets of this era employ anaphora
“perennially unemployed” and supported by their women.
(repetition) and pay special attention to cadence, as well as
Several Native poets have written “prayer poems” that
to sound and language. For example, the Muskogee (or
reflect traditional religious beliefs. An example is Joy Harjo’s
Creek) poet Joy Harjo uses repetition in a wide variety of
“Eagle Poem,” which begins,
poems. In “Woman Hanging from a Thirteenth Floor Win-
dow,” for example, some form of the title phrase begins near-
To pray you open your whole self To sky, to earth, to
sun, to moon To one whole voice that is you.
ly every stanza, creating a sense of suspense and anxiety over
the fate of the title character, whose life so precariously tee-
Harjo likens the eagle’s flight to the circle of life. One of
ters on the edge. Her poem “She Had Some Horses” enacts
Simon Ortiz’s earliest poems, “This Preparation,” describes
a rhythmic chant of words and sounds, demonstrating the
the poet’s preparation for prayer. He cuts prayer sticks in the
belief that language is creation.
traditional Acoma way and listens to the creek “speaking to
the world.” The poem ends with the affirmation that
Another way contemporary poets draw upon the oral
“prayers / make things possible.” The Abenaki poet Joseph
tradition is by incorporating tribal cosmologies and stories.
Bruchac’s “Blessing the Waters” also describes the sacredness
In “People from the Stars,” the Osage poet Carter Revard re-
of water and the ancient ritual of blessing it and being blessed
counts the creation story of the Wazhazhe or Osage people,
by it. He writes, “There is no blessing older / than the bless-
who “come from the stars” and will “go back to the stars”
ing of the waters.” Bruchac’s poem acts as both a reminder
at death. Other poets tell trickster stories in their poems. The
of the prayer and as the prayer itself.
figure of Coyote, the most common trickster in tribal stories,
appears in a great number of contemporary poems. Simon
The connection to nature in the prayer poems appears
Ortiz uses Coyote to recount the Acoma Pueblo origin story,
in other poems as well. Whereas Christianity purports do-
in which the people emerged from the earth. In “The Cre-
minion over the natural world, Native worldviews seek to
ation, According to Coyote,” Ortiz writes,
maintain a spiritual connection between humans and their
environment. Poets such as Linda Hogan (Chickasaw) have
My uncle told me all this, that time. Coyote told me
explored this connection. Her “Elk Song” begins,
too, but you know how he is, always talking to the gods,
the mountains, the stone all around. And you know, I
We give thanks to deer, otter, the great fish and birds
believe him.
that fly over and are our bones and skin.
Ortiz’s affirmation of belief in the Acoma creation story re-
Even though animals provide sustenance for humans, Hogan
flects the renewal of traditional belief systems that occurred
insists that we must never forget to give thanks for their sacri-
in late 1960s and early 70s. Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna
fice. She makes the connection between humans and other
Pueblo) catalogs a number of Coyote tales in “Toe’osh: A La-
animals even clearer in “Morning: The World in the Lake.”
guna Coyote Story,” some of which tell of contemporary
In this poem, the flight of a red-winged blackbird reminds
manifestations of the trickster, a powerful force in the Lagu-
the poet that we are “daughters, all of us.” The Alaska Native
na creation story:
poet Mary TallMountain takes this idea a step further in
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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POETRY: NATIVE AMERICAN POETRY AND RELIGION
“Coyotes’ Desert Lament.” The narrator lies on a hill listen-
I told him to stop mumbling over the sick children, that
ing to coyotes and wondering what their memories hold,
the duties of curing belonged to our doctors who have
when
centuries of service and the herbs to heal.
Suddenly I am coyote too, Nose a wet black tremble.
Both poets resist conversion to Christianity, while expressing
Hound and I bunch together Among warm grey bodies
their faith in traditional healing practices.
Calling our brother home.
CONTEMPORARY RESPONSES TO CHRISTIANITY. Numerous
In exploring the possibility of actually becoming the coyote,
Native poets have responded similarly to forced conversion
TallMountain reinforces the view that all creatures are in
and missionization. In “Captivity,” Louise Erdrich (Ojibwa,
some sense related.
or Ojibwe) writes an imagined interior monologue of Mary
Rowlandson, a Puritan woman taken captive during King
Reverence for the environment extends to the landscape
Philip’s War (1675–1676), who then wrote the first “captivi-
itself. Native poets speak of sacred places, which might in-
ty narrative.” Erdrich questions the Puritan contempt for
clude ancient homelands and reservation spaces. Leslie Mar-
Natives as “savage” and “soulless” creatures, insinuating that
mon Silko’s “Slim Man Canyon” is a contemplation of an
perhaps Rowlandson felt an attraction toward her captor and
awe-inspiring place on the territory of the Navajo Nation:
wanted to become Indian herself. Erdrich grapples with Ca-
700 years ago people were living here water was running
tholicism in a number of poems, including “Fooling God,”
gently and the sun was warm on pumpkin flowers.
“Saint Clare,” and “Rez Litany.” In the last, Erdrich parodies
She describes “cliffs with stories and songs / painted on
the availability of Christian saints to Native converts, creat-
rock.” Silko repeats the phrase “700 years” throughout the
ing such satirical figures as Saint Assimilus, “patron of resi-
poem, giving reverence to the place and the long association
dential and of government / boarding schools”; Saint Quan-
between it and the Native peoples who have lived there for
tum, “Martyr of Blood / and Holy Protector of the Tribal
so long. Simon Ortiz’s poem “A Story of How a Wall
Rolls”; and Saint Bingeous, “who fell asleep upside down on
Stands” begins with a description of a four hundred-year-old
the cross / and rose on the third day without even knowing
wall at Acoma, “which supports hundreds of tons of dirt and
he had died.”
bones.” In the poem, Ortiz’s father explains how the wall was
The Blackfoot writer James Welch contemplates hypoc-
made and why it continues to hold together, at the same time
risy in the Catholic Church in “The Last Priest Didn’t Even
demonstrating how the people who built it have endured. In
Say Goodbye.” The narrator finds the priest’s study empty,
“This Is How They Were Placed for Us,” the Navajo poet
but smelling of “incense and bourbon.” “The saints all / dis-
Luci Tapahonso reflects on four sacred mountains, now
approved,” Welch continues. Sherman Alexie (Coeur
called Blanca Peak, Mount Taylor, the San Francisco Peaks,
d’Alene/Spokane) expresses a cynical and sarcastic view of
and Hesperus Peak, which correspond to the four directions,
Catholicism in many of his poems. In “Rise,” for example,
four seasons, four colors, and four cycles of Diné (Navajo)
he muses on the church’s doctrine of transubstantiation, by
life. She writes, “These mountains and the land keep us
which bread becomes the body of Christ, drawing a contrast
strong. / From them, and because of them, we prosper.” At
to the worldview of the Spokanes, for whom “salmon is sim-
the center is Huerfano Mountain: “This is where our prayers
ply salmon.” In other words, salmon is already sacred—no
began,” writes Tapahonso.
transformation is necessary. In “Drum as Love, Fear, and
As Janice Gould (Maidu/Konkow) explains in the intro-
Prayer,” Alexie asks, “how / do we say Indian prayers in En-
duction to Speak to Me Words, “We respond to pain and suf-
glish / and which God will answer? Is God red / or white?”
fering by seeking a healing, a healing that cannot be complet-
And in “How to Remodel the Interior of a Catholic
ed in the human world but must be completed by
Church,” he suggests, among other things, that the “priest’s
understanding our ties to the spirit world” (p. 11). Many
pockets are heavy with change.” The Hopi/Miwok poet
poets focus on traditional healing practices in their work. For
Wendy Rose takes her critique even further. Her poem “Ex-
example, the Mohawk poet Peter Blue Cloud reflects on the
cavation at Santa Barbara Mission” ends: “They built the
conflict between traditional healing and Christianity in “To-
mission with dead Indians.” The line is repeated four times,
ta Ti-om (For an Aunt).” He writes,
as if the poet herself cannot fathom that such massacres oc-
curred. Natives suffered at the hands of missionaries, alleged-
my aunt was an herb doctor, one-eyed with crooked
ly men of God. Rose’s use of the number four points to
yellow teeth the Christians called her pagan witch and
Pueblo ceremonial chants based on the cycles of life; she
their children taunted her or ran in fear of their bible
places it in opposition to the Christian sacred number, three,
lives at her approach
based on the Trinity. Poets like Erdrich, Welch, Alexie, and
Blue Cloud’s aunt is unaffected by their criticism, however,
Rose weigh Christian beliefs against their respective tribal be-
and she teaches the narrator how to collect and dry onanoron
liefs, and their poems act as reminders of both the effects of
roots, “to preserve their sacred power.” Another Mohawk
colonization and the endurance of traditional religions.
poet, Maurice Kenny, recounts the story of a “Blackrobe”
who is killed for his missionary activities in “Wolf ‘Aunt.’”
SEE ALSO Cosmology, article on Indigenous North and Me-
Kenny writes,
soamerican Cosmologies; Ecology and Religion, overview ar-
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
POINT LOMA THEOSOPHICAL COMMUNITY
7227
ticle; Fiction, article on Native American Fiction and Reli-
Rose, Wendy. Bone Dance: New and Selected Poems, 1965–1993.
gion; Native American Christianities; North American
Tucson, Ariz., 1994.
Indian Religions, article on Mythic Themes; Oral Tradi-
Rothenberg, Jerome, ed. Shaking the Pumpkin: Traditional Poetry
tion; Performance and Ritual; Politics and Religion, article
of the Indian North Americas. Garden City, N.Y., 1972.
on Politics and Native American Religious Traditions;
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Laguna Woman: Poems. Greenfield Center,
Tricksters, articles on North American Tricksters.
N.Y., 1974.
Swann, Brian, ed. Wearing the Morning Star: Native American
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Song-Poems. New York, 1996.
Primary Sources
TallMountain, Mary. The Light on the Tent Wall: A Bridging. Los
Alexie, Sherman. The Summer of Black Widows. Brooklyn, N.Y.,
Angeles, 1990.
1996.
Tapahonso, Luci. Blue Horses Rush In: Poems and Stories. Tucson,
Alexie, Sherman. One Stick Song. Brooklyn, N.Y., 2000.
Ariz., 1997.
Astrov, Margot. The Winged Serpent: An Anthology of American In-
Welch, James. Riding the Earthboy 40: Poems. New York, 1971.
dian Prose and Poetry. New York, 1946.
Young Bear, Ray A. The Invisible Musician: Poems. Duluth,
Austin, Mary. The American Rhythm: Studies and Reëxpressions of
Minn., 1990.
Amerindian Songs. New York, 1932.
Bierhorst, John, ed. In the Trail of the Wind: American Indian
Secondary Sources
Poems and Ritual Orations. New York, 1971.
Blaeser, Kimberly. “The Possibilities of a Native Poetics.” In
Nothing but the Truth: An Anthology of Native American Lit-
Blue Cloud, Peter. Clans of Many Nations: Selected Poems 1969–
erature, edited by John L. Purdy and James Ruppert,
1994. Fredonia, N.Y., 1995.
pp. 412–415. Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2001.
Copway, George. The Ojibway Conquest. New York, 1850.
Bruchac, Joseph. “Many Tongues: Native American Poetry
Cronyn, George W., ed. The Path on the Rainbow: An Anthology
Today.” North Dakota Quarterly 55, no. 4 (Fall 1987):
of Songs and Chants from the Indians of North America. New
239–244.
York, 1918.
Deloria, Vine, Jr. God Is Red: A Native View of Religion. Rev. ed.
Erdrich, Louise. Jacklight. New York, 1984.
Golden, Colo., 2003.
Erdrich, Louise. Baptism of Desire. New York, 1989.
Fast, Robin Riley. The Heart as a Drum: Continuance and Resis-
Erdrich, Louise. Original Fire: Selected and New Poems. New York,
tance in American Indian Poetry. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1999.
2003.
Hogan, Linda. “The Nineteenth Century Native American
Harjo, Joy. She Had Some Horses. New York, 1983.
Poets.” Wassaja: The Indian Historian 13, no. 4 (November
1980): 24–29.
Harjo, Joy. In Mad Love and War. Middletown, Conn., 1990.
Hymes, Dell H. Now I Know Only So Far: Essays in Ethnopoetics.
Hogan, Linda. Seeing Through the Sun. Amherst, Mass., 1985.
Lincoln, Nebr., 2003.
Hogan, Linda. Savings: Poems. Minneapolis, 1988.
Lincoln, Kenneth. Sing with the Heart of a Bear: Fusions of Native
Johnson, E. Pauline. The White Wampum. London and Boston,
and American Poetry, 1890–1999. Berkeley, Calif., 2000.
1895.
Rader, Dean, and Janice Gould, eds. Speak to Me Words: Essays on
Johnson, E. Pauline. Flint and Feather. Toronto, 1917.
Contemporary American Indian Poetry. Tucson, Ariz., 2003.
Milton, John R., ed. The American Indian Speaks. Vermillion,
Swann, Brian. “Introduction: Only the Beginning.” In Harper’s
S.D., 1969. Contains poems by Simon Ortiz.
Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry, edited by
Momaday, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn. New York, 1968.
Duane Niatum, pp. vi–xxxii. San Francisco, 1988.
Momaday, N. Scott. The Gourd Dancer. New York, 1976.
Wilson, Norma C. The Nature of Native American Poetry. Albu-
Niatum, Duane, ed. Carriers of the Dream Wheel: Contemporary
querque, N.M., 2001.
Native American Poetry. New York, 1975.
Womack, Craig S. Red on Red: Native American Literary Separat-
Niatum, Duane, ed. Harper’s Anthology of Twentieth-Century Na-
ism. Minneapolis, Minn., 1999.
tive American Poetry. New York, 1988. Contains poems by
LAURA FURLAN SZANTO (2005)
Maurice Kenny.
Ortiz, Simon J. Going for the Rain. New York, 1976.
Posey, Alexander Lawrence. The Poems of Alexander Lawrence
POINT LOMA THEOSOPHICAL COMMU-
Posey. Collected and arranged by Mrs. Minnie Posey. Tope-
NITY was an organization of American Theosophists that
ka, Kans., 1910.
was based at Point Loma, California, from 1900 to 1942.
Purdy, John L., and James Ruppert, eds. Nothing but the Truth:
The site for the Point Loma Theosophical Community was
An Anthology of Native American Literature. Upper Saddle
located on the western side of San Diego Bay, on the north-
River, N.J., 2001. Contains poems by Joseph Bruchac.
ern end of a peninsula also used by the U.S. military. Much
Revard, Carter. Ponca War Dancers. Norman, Okla., 1980.
of the site for the Point Loma Theosophical Community is
Ridge, John Rollin. Poems. San Francisco, 1868.
now occupied by Point Loma Nazarene University.
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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POINT LOMA THEOSOPHICAL COMMUNITY
The Point Loma Theosophical Community’s origins
oriented their affiliations, associating with one another in
can be found in the history of the American Theosophical
local lodges that sprang up in dozens of American cities dur-
movement. Helena P. Blavatsky (1831–1891) and Henry
ing the last two decades of the nineteenth century. In these
Steel Olcott (1832–1907), along with William Q. Judge
lodges, members held regular meetings in which Theosophi-
(1851–1896) and several others interested in Spiritualism,
cal topics were discussed, distributed literature, and instruct-
comparative religions, and the occult, began the Theosophi-
ed children in Theosophical Sunday schools called Lotus
cal Society in New York City in 1875. Until 1878 Blavatsky
Circles. Judge was the president of the American Section of
and Olcott supervised regular meetings in which participants
the Theosophical Society until 1895, when he led the Ameri-
heard lectures on and discussed various matters related to the
cans in convention to declare their independence from the
occult, world religions, Spiritualism, and other topics of in-
rest of the Theosophical Society worldwide after a series of
terest to urban middle-class individuals who gravitated away
disputes involving Judge, noted British Theosophical leader
from traditional religions and toward the late-nineteenth-
Annie Besant (1847–1933), Olcott, and others.
century alternatives available from a growing body of printed
literature, as well as from leaders like Blavatsky. In 1878 Bla-
Shortly before Judge’s death, Katherine Tingley (1847–
vatsky and Olcott sailed for India to take up Theosophical
1929) assumed an increasingly important role in Judge’s
work there. The movement in the United States experienced
leadership circle in New York City. Her origins as a Theoso-
a period of decline. In 1883 Judge revived the Theosophical
phist are difficult to determine. She was a middle-class social
organization by conducting public meetings and publishing
reformer, like many women in her class at that time, who fed
a monthly magazine, the Path, that appeared regularly from
the poor and supported other charitable works. After Judge’s
1886 to 1896. Through Judge’s efforts as a lecturer and a fre-
death, many of those closest to him were convinced that
quent contributor to the Path, an increasing number of mid-
Tingley should succeed him. This succession was ratified by
dle-class Americans found Theosophy to be a viable alterna-
a pro-Tingley convention of the American Theosophical So-
tive to the religious cultures in which they were raised.
ciety in 1898, in which the organization adopted a new
name, Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society.
Numerous conversion accounts printed in Theosophi-
During this period, Tingley led Theosophists in New York
cal magazines beginning in the late 1800s recount a similar
City and other American cities to engage in activities consis-
story: the individual became dissatisfied with doctrines
tent with the priorities of women reformers and the emerg-
preached and taught in their churches, wandered among reli-
ing political and cultural ethos of Progressivism, activities de-
gious institutions and movements (often finding a temporary
signed to improve the quality of life and living conditions
home among Spiritualists), then heard a lecture about The-
of the urban poor (e.g., training and socializing children,
osophy, read a Theosophical book or magazine, or was be-
feeding the hungry, offering job instruction, providing hous-
friended by a Theosophist. Theosophy resolved their doubts
ing and support for prostitutes, and caring for orphans).
and challenged their imaginations. It provided a satisfactory
During the Spanish-American War of 1898, Tingley and
explanation for the structure of the universe, relying upon
other Theosophists worked in a hospital camp on Long Is-
many of the scientific notions of the day, but still reserved
land at one of the disembarkation points for returning Amer-
a place for the religious teachings of the world.
ican soldiers. Many of these soldiers were weak and ill from
tropical diseases contracted while in Cuba, and they required
Theosophy claims that humanity evolves through vari-
food and medical treatment. Because the U.S. Army was
ous stages across eons of time, reincarnating as waves of souls
slow to organize adequate facilities to receive the influx of
or sparks of divinity in progressively more advanced forms.
returning troops, the care provided by the Theosophists—as
The worlds on which these waves of evolution occur are
well as by other organizations like the Red Cross—was cru-
themselves evolving, with each evolutionary cycle ultimately
cial in saving many lives. In recognition of her organization’s
reaching a point of greatest material density and then slowly
work, President William McKinley provided transport for
working toward heightened spiritual glory and maturity be-
Tingley and other Theosophists to journey to Cuba to estab-
fore the waves of human souls move on to other worlds.
lish relief work there. This led to the eventual foundation,
Watching, and to some extent overseeing, these grand cos-
during the first decade of the twentieth century, of four
mic developments are a class of beings called masters who
Theosophical schools in that island nation.
have advanced intellectually and spiritually many levels be-
yond most souls. Theosophists claimed that Blavatsky fre-
Meanwhile, Tingley and other leaders among her inner
quently communicated with certain masters. The masters
circle were increasingly interested in relocating to California.
were supposedly responsible for much of the information
The reasons for this move are not entirely clear, but Califor-
contained in some of her most important published works,
nia was attractive to many Americans in the East and Mid-
especially her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine (1888). The
west at the beginning of the twentieth century. It provided
Theosophical version of the universe, then, offered to late-
a mild climate, geographical diversity for agriculture and in-
nineteenth-century Americans a stimulating vision of the
dustry, and freedom from the cultural, social, and economic
cosmos and their place in it. Those who embraced this vision
constraints characteristic of the more settled areas of the
sometimes cut off ties to family and friends. Theosophists re-
United States. During a worldwide tour of Theosophical
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POINT LOMA THEOSOPHICAL COMMUNITY
7229
lodges in 1896 called the Crusade, Tingley, with the assis-
boarding school. A few Cuban children were brought to
tance of Gottfried de Purucker (1874–1942), her eventual
Point Loma during the early years, but several of them pres-
successor, learned of the exact location of available land on
ented discipline problems and were sent back to Cuba. Criti-
the Point Loma peninsula and directed her agents to pur-
cism of Raja Yoga education, raised by some Theosophical
chase it.
parents and echoed in the press, focused on the children’s
separation from their parents and strict control of eating hab-
When she returned to the United States in 1897, Ting-
its, among other techniques used to control the children’s
ley gathered American Theosophists for a dedication cere-
living environment. Later in life, a number of these former
mony at the Point Loma site. But Theosophists did not take
Raja Yoga pupils would recall their childhood experiences
up residence in substantial numbers at Point Loma until
with dismay. But others considered their upbringing to be
1900 and after. In the early days of the Point Loma Theo-
beneficial, even inspirational. Although the quality of care-
sophical Community, several hundred adults lived in tents
giving was uneven, those children who had loving adult care-
and other temporary structures that eventually gave way,
givers generally had positive experiences and memories of
over the years, to houses and bungalows, as well as buildings
their childhoods at Point Loma.
containing facilities for various activities supported by the
community, including a printing press, medical clinic, class-
During the first three decades of the twentieth century,
rooms. From the beginning, children were central to Point
Tingley traveled across the United States and around the
Loma’s existence. Tingley and others justified the creation
world many times. On most of these trips, she took selected
of Point Loma as a home for souls then entering the world
Point Loma adults and adolescents with her. During a tour
as children who were morally and spiritually advanced.
for world peace in 1913, she was accompanied by over twen-
Given the proper environment and training, these children
ty young men and women, who provided musical and dra-
could become superior world citizens whose lives would be
matic entertainment at a Theosophical peace conference in
devoted to the service of humanity. Taking their cues from
Sweden. These young people, most of whom had grown up
comments made by Blavatsky in print, Point Loma Theoso-
at Point Loma, embodied the ideals of Raja Yoga education.
phists believed that they lived at the beginning of a new cycle
Many of them married one another, often due to Tingley’s
in human evolution. If they did not do everything possible
matchmaking choices, although some Point Loma youth
to raise an exceptional generation of souls, they believed hu-
married persons outside the Point Loma Theosophical Com-
manity might delay or even miss the opportunity to advance
munity. During the 1920s many young adults left Point
spiritually.
Loma. The reasons for their departure varied. Some wanted
to continue their education in colleges and universities else-
The educational approach at Point Loma was called
where. Others wanted to live outside the protected, insular
Raja Yoga, a term borrowed from Hinduism that described
world of Point Loma and found employment in San Diego
the holistic educational philosophy held by Tingley and oth-
or other locations.
ers. Under Raja Yoga, children were challenged to grow in
all ways that mattered: intellectually, physically, culturally,
Tingley and others from her generation brought to
spiritually, and emotionally. The curriculum of the Raja
Point Loma a Victorian decorum popular among their social
Yoga schools emphasized the fine arts and humanities, al-
classes in the late nineteenth century. This decorum was
though instruction in business skills, engineering, mathemat-
transmitted to the children of Point Loma. A moral and di-
ics, and the sciences was available, depending upon the ex-
dactic tone infused the language and relationships at Point
pertise of Theosophical adults on the teaching staff. As
Loma during Tingley’s tenure. By the 1930s the Raja Yoga
children grew to adulthood at Point Loma, many of them
school program had a higher percentage of paying students
became teachers and served in other capacities in the Point
who lived in San Diego and attended during the daytime
Loma Theosophical Community. One outstanding example
only than in earlier decades The older Victorian cultural sen-
was Judith Tyberg (1902–1980), who was born and raised
sibility among young people raised at Point Loma contrasted
at Point Loma. Tyberg taught young children when she be-
with the choices in music and other aspects of popular cul-
came a young adult, and later, when the Theosophical Uni-
ture, as well as daily customs, of the students who did not
versity was founded at Point Loma in 1919, she took ad-
live at Point Loma and were influenced by larger culture far
vanced degrees and ultimately became a teacher and
more.
administrator in that university.
Tingley died as a result of an automobile accident in
At its largest, the Point Loma Theosophical Communi-
1929. Her successor, de Purucker, was a self-taught poly-
ty numbered in the hundreds of adults and at least as many
math who specialized in ancient languages and religious
children. Many of the latter were the progeny of adult mem-
texts. Over the years his duties as a community member at
bers, but they were not permitted to live with their parents
Point Loma permitted him to devote considerable attention
on the Point Loma site. Instead, they were housed in collec-
to scholarly pursuits. By the time he assumed leadership re-
tive homes, segregated according to age and sex. Other chil-
sponsibilities, his immersion in Theosophical literature and
dren were sent to Point Loma by their Theosophical parents
related areas of study enabled him to give numerous lectures
or guardians, so that Point Loma served as a Theosophical
that were later published as collections of essays. De Puruck-
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POLEMICS: JEWISH-CHRISTIAN POLEMICS
er’s articulation of complex Theosophical ideas is known
MUSLIM-JEWISH POLEMICS
among Theosophists and students of the Theosophical
CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM POLEMICS
movement as technical Theosophy because of his sophisticated
presentation of Theosophical teaching going back to Blavat-
POLEMICS: JEWISH-CHRISTIAN POLEMICS
sky and carried forward, in the Point Loma Theosophical
[This article focuses primarily on Jewish polemics against Chris-
tradition, through Judge and Tingley. De Purucker altered
tianity.]
the organization’s name to the Theosophical Society, drop-
ping the older appellation of the Universal Brotherhood and
The intensity, persistence, and significance of Jewish-
Theosophical Society. By the time of his death in 1942, the
Christian polemics are in large measure a function of the pe-
community had moved from Point Loma to Covina, near
culiar combination of intimacy and divergence that marks
Los Angeles, to avoid the military activity occurring at Point
the relationship between the two faiths. It is not merely the
Loma after the United States entered World War II. De
fact that Christianity emerges out of Judaism; it is, further,
Purucker’s successor was not clearly identified. During the
the combination of the continuing centrality of the Hebrew
war years a group of leaders ran the organization. In 1945
Bible for Christians together with the profundity of the theo-
a retired U.S. Army officer, Colonel Arthur L. Conger
logical differences that separated Christians from Jews. In
(1872–1951), was brought in as leader. Some lifelong Theos-
these respects, a comparison with Islam is particularly in-
ophists objected to Conger, but their party failed to carry the
structive. It too arose in large measure out of Judaism, but
day. Many of these individuals left the Theosophical Society.
because it lacked the other crucial characteristics, polemic be-
Conger was succeeded by James A. Long (1898–1971) in
tween Jews and Muslims, however important it may some-
1951. He was succeeded in 1971 by Grace F. Knoche
times have been, never played the same role as did the Jew-
(b. 1909), who served as leader of the Theosophical Society,
ish-Christian debate. Muslims revered the Hebrew Bible;
Pasadena, the organizational descendant of the Point Loma
Muslims did not, however, elevate it to the position that it
Theosophical Community. Their principal activities include
held in Christianity, and they expressed the most serious res-
the publication of Sunrise, a bimonthly magazine, as well as
ervations about its textual accuracy. Moreover, Islamic mo-
Theosophical classics by Blavatsky, Judge, Tingley, de
notheism left no room for the creative rancor that produced
Purucker, and others.
the philosophical dimension of Jewish-Christian discussions,
which addressed such issues as trinitarianism and incarna-
SEE ALSO Besant, Annie; Blavatsky, H. P.; Judge, William
tion. Moses Maimonides (Mosheh ben Maimon, 1135/8–
Q.; Olcott, Henry Steel; Theosophical Society; Tingley,
1204), who has sometimes been accused of inconsistency in
Katherine.
his attitude toward the two other faiths, was accurately por-
traying a complex situation. On the one hand, he described
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Islam as a religion of “unblemished monotheism,” an acco-
Ashcraft, W. Michael. The Dawn of the New Cycle: Point Loma
lade he would not bestow upon Christianity; on the other
Theosophists and American Culture. Knoxville, Tenn., 2002.
hand, he maintained that teaching Torah to Christians can
Blavatsky, Helena P. The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science,
be a fruitful enterprise, while doing the same for Muslims
Religion, and Philosophy. 2 vols. London and New York,
is, from a Jewish point of view, an exercise in futility.
1888; reprint, Pasadena, Calif., 1988.
Greenwalt, Emmett A. California Utopia: Point Loma: 1897–
The dispute between Judaism and Christianity, then,
1942. Rev. ed., San Diego, Calif., 1978.
revolved around both doctrine and exegesis. To Christians,
Judge, William Q. The Ocean of Theosophy. London and New
Jesus was the Messiah, the ritual law was abrogated, and the
York, 1893; reprint, Pasadena, Calif., 1973.
church was the true Israel, not only because Christian scrip-
Knoche, Grace F. To Light a Thousand Lamps: A Theosophic Vi-
ture and tradition said so but because the Hebrew scriptures
sion. Pasadena, Calif., 2002.
themselves supported such claims. Beginning with the New
Purucker, Gottfried de. Fountain-Source of Occultism. Pasadena,
Testament and continuing with the earliest church fathers,
Calif., 1974.
Christian ingenuity was mobilized to uncover references to
the full range of Christian beliefs in the Hebrew scriptures.
Tingley, Katherine. The Gods Await. Point Loma, Calif., 1926;
rev. ed., Pasadena, Calif., 1992.
The Jewish polemicist was required to undertake the onerous
task of point-by-point, verse-by-verse refutation, and the
Waterstone, Penny. “Domesticating Universal Brotherhood:
sparse Talmudic references to debates with minim (a term for
Feminine Values and the Construction of Utopia, Point
Loma Homestead, 1897–1920.” Ph.D. diss., University of
heretics that surely embraces many early Christians) describe
Arizona, Tucson, 1995.
precisely such conflicts in biblical interpretation.
W. MICHAEL ASHCRAFT (2005)
The institutional separation of the two religions was fur-
thered when a curse against the minim was inserted into the
rabbinic prayer book, and doctrinal developments made it
POLEMICS
increasingly difficult even for “Jewish” as opposed to “genti-
This entry consists of the following articles:
le” Christians to remain a part of the Jewish people. The
JEWISH-CHRISTIAN POLEMICS
Jews, it was said, had been replaced by a new Israel, and their
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POLEMICS: JEWISH-CHRISTIAN POLEMICS
7231
defeats at the hands of the Romans were a just punishment
nance uncertain; MeDir of Narbonne, Milhemet mitsvah
for their rejection of the Messiah; moreover, by the middle
(The obligatory war), southern France; Mordekhai of
of the second century there were few Christians who did not
Avignon, Mahaziq emunah (Upholder of Faith), south-
believe in some form of Jesus’ divinity, and this was a doc-
ern France; Shelomoh de Rossi, EEdut ha-Shem
trine that remained beyond the pale of even the most flexible
ne Demanah (The testimony of the Lord is perfect), Italy;
definition of Judaism.
The Epistle of Rabbi Jacob of Venice, Italy; The Disputa-
tion of Rabbi Yehi Del of Paris, northern France; Yosef Of-
In the wake of these developments, early Jewish sources
ficial, Sefer Yosef ha-meqanne D (The book of Yosef the
record hostile perceptions not only of Christianity but of
zealot), northern France; The Disputation of Nahma-
Jesus as well. In the Talmud itself, clear references to Jesus
nides, Spain; Sefer nitsahon yashan (The old book of po-
are exceedingly rare, but those that exist do include the asser-
lemic), Germany.
tion that he was a sorcerer who led his followers astray (cf.
Goldstein, 1950). Outside the Talmudic corpus, there devel-
• Fourteenth century: Moses ha-Kohen of Tordesillas,
oped a more elaborate series of early Jewish folk tales that go
EEzer ha-emunah (Aid of faith), Spain; Yitshaq Polgar,
by the name Toledot Yeshu and can probably best be de-
EEzer ha-dat (Aid of religion), Spain; Hasdai Crescas,
scribed as a counter-Gospel. The various versions of Toledot
Bittul Eiqqrei ha-Notsrim (Refutation of Christian doc-
Yeshu trace Jesus’ life from his birth as a result of Mary’s liai-
trines), Spain; Shem Tov ibn Shaprut, Even bohan
son with a Roman soldier through his checkered career as a
(Touchstone), Spain; Profiat Duran, Al tehi ka-avotekha
sorcerer and on to his ignominious hanging between two
(Do not be like your fathers) and Kelimat ha-goyim (The
thieves on a massive stalk of cabbage. Although such stories
shame of the Gentiles), Spain.
did not constitute binding Jewish doctrine, they colored Jew-
ish views of Christianity and enraged Christians who became
• Fifteenth century: Yom Tov Lippman Mühlhausen,
familiar with them in subsequent periods.
Sefer ha-nitsahon (The Book of polemic), Bohemia;
ShimEon Duran, Qeshet umagen (Bow and shield),
From the Jewish perspective, these early responses to
Spain; the Tortosa Disputation, Spain; Shelomoh
Christianity remained episodic and peripheral. Before Chris-
Duran, Milhemet mitsvah (The obligatory war), Spain;
tianity became the official religion of the Roman empire,
Hayyim ibn Musa, Magen va-romah (Shield and spear),
there was little reason for Jews to confront its religious claims
Spain; Mattityahu ben Mosheh, The Book of Ahituv and
systematically; after that point, Jewish literary activity in the
Zalmon, Spain; Binyamin ben Mosheh, Teshuvot ha-
Christian world was on the wane, and before the high Mid-
Notsrim (Answers to the Christians), Italy; Eliyyahu
dle Ages, Jewish arguments against Christianity were pre-
Hayyim of Genezzano, Vikkuah (Disputation), Italy.
served primarily in Christian works. The only significant ex-
ceptions are a little book of eastern provenance called Sefer
POLEMICS ON BIBLICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES. Many
Nestor ha-komer (Book of Nestor the Priest), which was writ-
of the issues addressed by the authors of the aforementioned
ten by a convert to Judaism, and a handful of passages in Jew-
works remained relatively unchanged from late antiquity
ish philosophical works composed in the Muslim world.
through the end of the Middle Ages and beyond. To Jews,
the fundamental Christian assertion that Jesus was the Messi-
In the second half of the twelfth century, this situation
ah had been massively refuted by the evidence of history.
began to change. Partly because the inner dynamic of Chris-
Since the essential characteristic of the biblical Messiah in-
tianity required a confrontation with Judaism, the “renais-
volved the inauguration of an age of peace, virtually all Jew-
sance” of Christian literature and thought associated with the
ish polemicists pointed to the persistence of war and misery
twelfth century included a renewal of anti-Jewish polemics.
as a formidable refutation of Christianity. Moses Nahma-
At this time Jewish literature too was in the midst of a vigor-
nides (Mosheh ben Nah:man, c. 1194–1270), in fact, reports
ous revival, and Jews throughout western Europe began to
that he went so far as to tell James I of Aragon how diffi-
engage in a literary polemic that was to remain active
cult it would be for him and his knights if war were to be
through the end of the Middle Ages.
abolished.
Although this polemic extends to works of exegesis, phi-
Christians, of course, argued not only that scriptural evi-
losophy, homiletics, and even liturgy and law, a list of explic-
dence demonstrates that the Messiah had already come but
itly polemical works through the fifteenth century can serve
also that it points to a first coming that would end in appar-
as a useful introduction to the scope and intensity of this ac-
ent failure. The key citations demonstrating these proposi-
tivity.
tions were probably the most extensively debated biblical
• Twelfth century: Yosef Kimhi, Sefer ha-berit (Book of
passages in the entire literature: Genesis 49:10 on the first
the Covenant), southern France; YaEaqov ben ReuDven,
point, and Isaiah 52:13–53:12 on the second.
Milhamot ha-Shem (The Wars of the Lord), southern
“The scepter shall not pass away from Judah, nor shall
France.
a legislator pass away from among his descendants until Shi-
• Thirteenth century: Vikkuah le-ha-Radaq (The disputa-
loh comes and to him shall the nations gather.” This transla-
tion of Rabbi David Kimhi), pseudonymous, prove-
tion of Genesis 49:10, with Shiloh understood as Messiah, ap-
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POLEMICS: JEWISH-CHRISTIAN POLEMICS
peared to lend powerful support to the Christian position:
Jewish law, and here the issue of allegorical interpretation of
since there was now no scepter in Judah, the Messiah must
the Bible became crucial. Christians argued that, at least in
already have come. For this passage Jews did not have a par-
the postcrucifixion era, only a nonliteral meaning is to be as-
ticularly attractive alternative interpretation, but they did
signed to the legal sections of the Pentateuch, and they but-
have a persuasive argument against the Christian position.
tressed their position by raising questions about the rationali-
That position, they said, cannot be valid because the scepter
ty and consistency of biblical law. This challenge added a
(understood by Christians as kingship) had passed from the
polemical dimension to Jewish speculations about “the rea-
Jews well before the time of Jesus; during the Babylonian
sons for the commandments.” While some Jews argued
exile there was no Jewish rule, and even during the second
against any attempt to fathom the divine intent or even de-
commonwealth there were no kings from the tribe of Judah.
nied the very existence of rational explanations, others pro-
Although alternative explanations of this passage were beset
vided both hygienic and spiritual reasons that sometimes
by difficulties, they were nonetheless abundant: Shiloh in-
seemed so persuasive that they became the basis for questions
deed refers to the Messiah, but the verse is merely asserting
about the Christian failure to observe such evidently benefi-
that whenever there will be a Jewish king, he can legitimately
cial injunctions. Christian allegorization did not stop with
come only from Judah; scepter and legislator refer not to king-
the law; consequently, Jewish insistence on literal, contextual
ship but to exil-archs and patriarchs or even to ongoing com-
reading of biblical verses is a central theme of polemical liter-
munal autonomy; Shiloh is not the Messiah but a place-
ature, and some scholars have even suspected an underlying
name, and the verse refers to a past event, most likely the
apologetic motive for the radical insistence on straightfor-
schism after Solomon’s death.
ward exegesis advocated by several significant medieval com-
mentators such as Rashbam (Rabbi ShemuDel ben MeDir, c.
With respect to Isaiah 53, which can be read as a de-
1080–1158) who were not primarily polemicists.
scription of an innocent servant of the Lord who will suffer
and die for the sins of others, the situation of the Jewish po-
While Christian questions about the rationality of the
lemicists was reversed: they had an excellent alternative inter-
law were a minor theme in medieval polemics, Jewish ques-
pretation, but some of them expressed disappointment at the
tions about the rationality of Christian dogma were at center
absence of a crushing refutation of the christological exegesis.
stage. Many Jews were unable or unwilling to see trinitarian-
Despite a messianic understanding of this chapter in early
ism as anything but tritheism. Those who did come to grips
rabbinic sources, medieval Jews overwhelmingly saw the ser-
with the full complexity of the doctrine maintained that it
vant as the exiled people of Israel, and strong arguments
violates logic and that multiplicity in God inevitably implies
could be adduced for this identification. At the same time,
corporeality in God himself (i.e., not just in the temporary
Jews were sharply divided concerning the presence of a con-
form of the historical Jesus). Most important, sophisticated
cept of vicarious atonement in the passage; to some exegetes
Jewish polemicists maintained that any truly monotheistic
and polemicists, such a concept was too Christian to be read-
understanding of trinitarianism—in which three divine per-
ily discerned in the Bible even if applied to Israel rather than
sons are identified with attributes of God or understood in
the Messiah. Finally, specific refutations of the christological
light of the perception of God as thought, thinker, and ob-
interpretation were proffered: aside from the inappropriate-
ject of thought—fails because of the second, crucial doctrine
ness of the term servant for a divine figure, this servant, un-
of incarnation. If only one of three divine persons took on
like Jesus, “will see his seed and live a long life,” will experi-
flesh, then true unity was irretrievably compromised.
ence ongoing affliction and disease, and will suffer as a result
of the sins of many rather than for the purpose of removing
Jewish objections to incarnation were not confined to
the original sin of Adam and Eve.
the troubling light that it shed on the Christian concept of
a divine trinity. Not only did the attribution of divinity to
It has already been seen that Christians considered the
a human being raise the ugly specter of idolatry; it also
Jewish rejection of the Messiah to have resulted in the sup-
seemed vulnerable to definitive philosophical refutation.
pression of “carnal Israel” and its replacement by the church.
Jewish polemicists argued that since infinity and immutabili-
Initial Jewish bewilderment at this perception gave way to
ty are essential characteristics of God, incarnation could not
a charge of Christian arbitrariness in defining biblical refer-
take place even miraculously. Moreover, they said, it is equal-
ences to Israel, and Jews pointed to a number of citations in
ly impossible to unite a human and a divine nature in a single
which favorable eschatological references that Christians
person with each nature retaining its distinctiveness. Finally,
took as descriptions of the church seemed inextricably linked
even if all this were possible, it is hard to imagine that God
to pejorative passages that Christians referred to the Jews. By
could find no way to redeem humanity without subjecting
the thirteenth century, Jews had even begun to cite their own
himself to the filth and indignity of spending nine months
retention of the Hebrew language as evidence that they had
in a womb and then passing through all the stages of a life
not been exchanged by God for people who knew the Bible
that culminated in a humiliating death.
only in translation.
Virginal conception, although denied by Jews, was not
It was not only the Jewish people, however, who were
vulnerable to the charge of philosophical impossibility.
supposed to have been superseded. The same was said about
However, the specific doctrine that Mary remained a virgin
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POLEMICS: JEWISH-CHRISTIAN POLEMICS
7233
during childbirth did appear to violate the principle that two
observed and authenticated the “Old Testament,” the very
bodies cannot take up the same space simultaneously. More
existence of Jews in the Christian world could have been
important, the miracle of transubstantiation also seemed im-
jeopardized by Christian acceptance of such an assertion.
possible, partly because Jesus’ body would have to have been
YehiDel argued that the Talmud was, rather, an indispensable
in many places at the same time.
interpretation of the Bible. Ultimately, although various Do-
minicans and Franciscans toyed with the delegitimation of
There was, of course, also a scriptural dimension to
Jews on grounds related to the “other law” argument, it was
these philosophical issues. Christians attempted to demon-
the accusation of blasphemy that predominated, and this
strate trinitarianism by citing verses that contain plural verbs
could be satisfied by the censorship of a handful of Talmudic
in connection with God, as, for example, “Let us make man
passages.
in our image” (Gn. 1:26); or a threefold repetition of a key
word, as, for example, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of
The second approach to the Talmud is usually associat-
Hosts” (Is. 6:3); or a repetition of the names of God, as, for
ed with another convert to Christianity. In the third quarter
example, “Hear O Israel, the Lord [is] our God, the Lord is
of the thirteenth century, Pablo Christiani (Cristia) began to
one” (Dt. 6:4). For the incarnation, they cited the eschato-
emphasize a very minor theme in some earlier Christian po-
logical king in Jeremiah 23:5, whose name they translated as
lemics: that the Talmud demonstrates the truth of Christian-
“the Lord our Righteousness,” and, most effectively, the
ity. Pablo and his successors did not have a positive attitude
child in Isaiah 9:5–6, whose name they translated as “Won-
toward the Talmud, but they believed that the rabbis had
drous Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of
preserved evidence of Christian truth. One of the earliest ex-
Peace.” Jews had to respond by providing alternative expla-
amples of this sort of argument is one of the best. The Tal-
nations or, in some cases, alternative translations. Thus the
mud says that the world will last six thousand years: two
plural verb in Genesis 1:26 is either a plural of majesty or
thousand years of chaos, two thousand of Torah, and two
God’s statement to the earth, which would provide the body
thousand of the messianic age (B. T., San. 97a). This, said
into which he would place a soul. The name in Jeremiah,
Christian polemicists, proves two crucial Christian asser-
they said, should be translated “the Lord is our Righteous-
tions—that the Messiah has already come, and that with his
ness,” and the child in Isaiah, at least according to most me-
arrival the age of Torah has come to an end. When Nahma-
dieval Jews, was named only “Prince of Peace” by God, who
nides was forced to confront Pablo in the Barcelona disputa-
is himself the “Wondrous Counselor, Mighty God, [and]
tion of 1263, he insisted, of course, on the implausibility of
Eternal Father.”
finding Christian doctrines in a work produced by uncon-
The scriptural evidence for virgin birth gave Jews their
verted Jews, but he also made the striking assertion that mid-
best opportunity to use the argument from context. The evi-
rash is not dogmatically binding and that Jews are therefore
dence, Christians said, is to be found in Isaiah 7:14, in which
free to reject certain rabbinic statements. This issue became
the prophet promised King Ahaz the birth of a child from
a cause célèbre in the next two or three centuries, largely be-
an Ealmah. Jews not only argued that Ealmah does not mean
cause of the popularity of Raymund Martini’s monumental
“virgin” but also pointed to Isaiah’s promise to Ahaz that de-
Pugio Fidei, and the rabbis at the Tortosa disputation had
liverance would come before the child would know how to
to confront it under particularly trying circumstances. Gen-
distinguish good from evil as decisive refutation of any iden-
erally, Jewish polemicists attempted to refute each argument
tification of the child with Jesus.
individually, and they fell back on Nahmanides’ position re-
luctantly and only as a last resort.
POLEMICS ON THE TALMUD. In its classic form, the Jewish-
Christian debate centered on the Hebrew Bible. Beginning
JEWISH POLEMICAL USE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. At about
in the twelfth century, however, and especially in the thir-
the same time that Christians began to examine the Talmud
teenth, Christians became intrigued with the possibility of
for polemical purposes, Jews began to scrutinize the New
utilizing the Talmud for polemical purposes, and Jews found
Testament. Here too the sacred text peculiar to the other
themselves confronting two distinct but overlapping chal-
faith could simply be attacked, and here too it could be used
lenges from Christians quoting Talmud. Nicholas Donin, a
for more sophisticated polemical purposes. Jews pointed out
Jewish convert to Christianity, began a campaign in the
contradictions in the New Testament, such as the differing
1230s that led to a virtual trial in which Yeh:iDel ben Yosef
genealogies in Matthew and Luke, but they also argued that
of Paris had to defend the Talmud against charges of blas-
the Gospels themselves support the Jewish position concern-
phemy. Pointing to what would otherwise have been an
ing the nondivinity of Jesus and the eternality of the law. The
anachronism in a Talmudic account of Jesus, Yeh:iDel made
polemical usefulness of both approaches led to a sometimes
the novel assertion that there were two Jesuses and that any
ambivalent attitude toward Jesus himself. On the one hand,
pejorative Talmudic references are to the first, who had no
he was denounced for abrogating the Torah and turning
connection whatever to Christianity. Potentially even more
himself into a divinity; on the other, his words were cited as
serious was Donin’s assertion that the Talmud constituted
testimony that later Christians distorted a message that was
“another law” that was entirely different from that of the He-
in large measure authentically Jewish. This last approach,
brew Bible. Since Jews were tolerated in part because they
which was to be particularly influential in the modern peri-
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POLEMICS: JEWISH-CHRISTIAN POLEMICS
od, was developed most notably in Profiat Duran’s impres-
dieval views. The major works of this period include the
sive and sophisticated Kelimat ha-goyim.
following.
THE ISSUES OF JEWISH EXILE AND THE ROLE OF CHRIS-
• Sixteenth century: Avraham Farissol, Magen Avraham
TIANITY. The effect of increased Jewish familiarity with the
(Shield of Abraham), Italy; YaDir ben Shabbetai of Cor-
New Testament and growing Christian awareness of the Tal-
reggio, Herev pifiyyot (Double-edged sword), Italy;
mud is but one example of the way in which a largely static
Meshullam ben Uri, Zikhron sefer nitstsah:on (Com-
debate could undergo dynamic transformation under the im-
memoration of the Book of Polemic), provenance un-
pact of historical change. Debates about interest taking, the
certain; Kevod Elohim (Glory of God), author and prov-
blood libel, heresy, icons, worship of the saints, confession,
enance uncertain; Yitshaq of Troki, H:izzuq emunah
priestly celibacy, the Crusades, and more all made their way
(Faith strengthened), Poland.
into the polemical literature. Perhaps the most fundamental
• Seventeenth century: EAzriDel Petahiah Alatino, Vikkuah
effect of the historical situation lay in the Jewish need to ex-
(Disputation), Italy; Yehudah Aryeh de Modena, Magen
plain exile and suffering on grounds other than God’s rejec-
va-herev (Shield and sword), Italy; Yitsh:aq Lupis, Kur
tion of the Jews. Since Jewish polemicists insisted on the
matsref ha-emunot u-mar Deh ha-emet (The crucible of be-
moral superiority of Jews to Christians, the standard explana-
liefs and demonstrator of the truth), Syria.
tion of exile as punishment was especially uncomfortable in
this context. Consequently, there is found a whole array of
Perhaps the most striking example of a more positive attitude
efforts to turn the fact of suffering to polemical advantage:
toward Christianity is Avraham Farissol’s remark that Jesus
the Bible says that the truth would be hurled to the ground
might well be regarded as a messiah for the Gentiles. Despite
(Dn. 8:12); God is prolonging the exile so that the sin of the
Maimonides’ assessment of Christianity’s place in the divine
Christian oppressors should accumulate to a point where
scheme, this assertion, highly unusual even around 1500,
their utter destruction will be appropriate (cf. Gn. 15:16);
was virtually unimaginable in the high Middle Ages. In the
God is punishing the Jews not for crucifying Jesus but for
sixteenth century, Shelomoh de Modena denied the idola-
producing him. In a striking naturalistic argument, Yitshaq
trous character of Christianity by equating incarnation with
Polgar noted that Jewish suffering demonstrates that Chris-
anthropomorphism and noting that the latter doctrine had
tians and Jews stand in the same moral relationship as a bully
been declared nonheretical (although also not true) by the
and his victim.
twelfth-century authority Avraham ben David of Posquières.
There was also a shift in the Jewish attitude with respect to
Pressures ranging from the physical and economic to the
certain moral questions. In the Middle Ages, for example,
moral and intellectual also led to transformations in the tone
most Jews vigorously denied that there was anything unethi-
of Jewish polemics as well as to a reexamination of the role
cal about taking interest on loans; in seventeenth-century
and religious standing of Christianity itself. This last devel-
Italy, both Simone Luzzatto and Yehudah Aryeh de Modena
opment took place largely outside the context of medieval
insisted that Jewish—and not just Christian—morality
polemics, but its impact on later Jewish thought, including
frowns on this activity, but that there is no avoiding cruel
apologetic literature, was exceptionally significant. Medieval
economic necessity. Closer Jewish-Christian contacts in Italy
Jews generally regarded Christianity as an idolatrous religion.
also led to greater Christian familiarity with Jewish literature,
Nevertheless, in certain narrow legal contexts phrases such
including the increasingly popular qabbalistic texts, and Jews
as “the gentiles among us do not worship idolatry” were used
now found themselves confronted with not only Talmudic
as an ad hoc justification for Jewish business dealings with
but also qabbalistic passages that were supposed to demon-
Christians that were pursued despite injunctions against such
strate Christian doctrines.
interactions with idolaters. Menah:em ha-MeDiri of Perpi-
Initially Jewish reactions to the Reformation were posi-
gnan (1249–1316) created a new legal category that can
tive and hopeful. Aside from messianic hopes that were brief-
roughly be characterized as “civilized people” in order to dis-
ly kindled at the prospect of division in what Jews considered
tinguish Christians from ancient idolaters. Without address-
the biblical fourth kingdom (cf. Dn. 2:41), there was a feel-
ing the issue of idolatry in this context, Maimonides and
ing that many doctrinal points in the various forms of Protes-
other authorities had assigned to Christianity and Islam the
tantism seemed rather “Jewish”: the rejection of papal au-
positive role of spreading knowledge of Torah and thus pre-
thority, indulgences, transubstantiation, and clerical
paring the world for the Messiah. By the sixteenth century,
celibacy, as well as a return to the authority of the Bible.
some major Jewish figures had begun to misread a statement
Moreover, there was the early work of Luther, Dass Jesus ein
of the medieval French tosafists to mean that Noahides are
geborener Jude Sei (That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew; 1523),
not forbidden to associate another divinity with the true
which appeared to portend an amelioration of the Jewish
God; hence, although Christianity is surely idolatry for Jews,
condition under Protestant rule. When Luther later dashed
it is not so regarded for gentiles.
these hopes, Jewish attitudes changed, and Jews living in
LATER DEVELOPMENTS. Some polemical works of the six-
Roman Catholic countries now looked to Catholic doctrines
teenth and seventeenth centuries reflect the aforementioned
that could demonstrate the affinity of Judaism to Catholi-
and other changes, while others remain true to standard me-
cism: the emphasis on works, the combination of scripture
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POLEMICS: JEWISH-CHRISTIAN POLEMICS
7235
and tradition, the affirmation of free will and rejection of
into a Jewish society beset by dry, narrow legalism. This issue
strict predestinarianism, and the retention of the traditional
exploded into controversy after Adolf von Harnack pro-
language of prayer. Needless to say, both Protestants and
pounded such views in his lecture series on the essence of
Catholics continued to affirm the central Christian beliefs
Christianity in the winter of 1899–1900, but Jews were
that Judaism rejected, and when the Karaite Yitsh:aq of Troki
upset not only with Harnack but with a number of Christian
wrote his summa of the traditional anti-Christian arguments
historians whose scholarly work revealed the same sort of bias
the work became a standard reference even in the majority
against Talmudic religion. The Jewish response was swift,
Rabbinite community.
vigorous, and international. In Germany, Leo Baeck’s Das
Wesen des Judentums, Joseph Eschelbacher’s Das Judentum
The next, even more crucial turning point took place
und das Wesen des Christentums, and Moritz Güdemann’s
in the eighteenth century, when Jewish history moved into
Jüdische Apologetik denounced this Christian approach as
the modern period and Jewish-Christian relations underwent
motivated by considerations that had little to do with objec-
fundamental transformations. Even outside the orbit of the
tive scholarship. In England, the articles of Israel Abrahams,
Jewish Enlightenment, YaEaqov Emden of Germany main-
Claude Montefiore, and Solomon Schechter pursued the
tained that Jesus and even Paul were perfectly good Jews
same arguments. Somewhat later, Gerald Friedlander’s The
whose purpose was to spread the seven Noahic laws to the
Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount reflected a system-
gentiles; like Farissol’s stance, this is a highly idiosyncratic
atic apologetic effort to compare rabbinic morality with that
position that nonetheless reflected a broader phenomenon.
of Jesus, and Joseph Bloch’s Israel und die Völker was one of
The central figure, however, who both foreshadows and ex-
several efforts to counter Christian attacks on Talmudic mo-
emplifies modern Jewish attitudes to Christianity, is Moses
rality.
Mendelssohn.
A Christian theologian named Johann Kaspar Lavater
This last work really addressed arguments of a more me-
publicly challenged Mendelssohn to refute a defense of
dieval sort, and it should not be assumed that such polemic
Christianity that Lavater had translated, or to do what Socra-
simply disappeared in the modern period. Vigorous Chris-
tes would have done had he read the book and found it irre-
tian missionary efforts in late eighteenth-century England in-
futable. Mendelssohn, who for reasons of ideology, practical-
spired David Levi’s rebuttals, Letters to Dr. Priestly and Dis-
ity, and temperament was not inclined to engage in polemic,
sertations on the Prophecies of the Old Testament; nineteenth-
responded reluctantly and cautiously. He had indeed ex-
century challenges led Isaac Ber Levinsohn to write his
pressed respect for Jesus in light of a conviction that the latter
Ahiyyah ha-shiloni and other apologetic works. As recently
had made no claims to divinity. This did not mean that he
as the 1970s, the activities of the “Jews for Jesus” and similar
was inclined to abandon Judaism, which is in perfect harmo-
groups led the Jewish Community Relations Council of New
ny with natural morality and religion, for a faith that con-
York to commission Jews and “Jewish Christianity” by myself
tains irrational dogmas. Nevertheless, not all “prejudices” are
and Michael Wyschogrod. The tone and occasionally the
equally harmful, and Judaism’s teaching that righteous gen-
content of such works can reflect modern developments in
tiles have a portion in the world to come renders missionary
scholarship, argumentation, and civility; some of them, how-
activity unnecessary and undesirable. This emphasis on Juda-
ever, deal with arguments that are largely unchanged since
ism’s tolerance, rationality, morality, and respect for Chris-
the Middle Ages.
tianity became the hallmark of modern Jewish discussions of
In the wake of the Holocaust, and especially since the
Christianity, but these developments were not without ironic
Second Vatican Council of the early 1960s, a concerted ef-
potential for reviving tension and polemic along new and un-
fort has been made to replace polemics with dialogue. Even
expected lines.
in such discussions, however, there are subtle pressures that
Nineteenth-century Reform Judaism and liberal Protes-
produce the sort of advocacy that is not altogether alien to
tantism arose out of the same environment and shared the
polemics. Before Vatican II, Jules Isaac and other Jewish
fundamental conviction that the central message of religion
leaders asked Christian groups to reevaluate, on moral as well
is ethical. Reform Jews did away with much of the ritual
as on more narrowly theological grounds, the traditional as-
component in Judaism, while liberal Protestants had grave
cription of ongoing guilt to Jews for their role in the crucifix-
misgivings about much of the dogmatic component of
ion. This time Jewish arguments fell on receptive ears, and
Christianity. What remained in each case was ethical mono-
precisely such a reevaluation took place.
theism. This sort of agreement, however, can lead to discord,
With the passage of time, however, some Christian par-
since in the absence of a religious merger, each faith must
ticipants in dialogue have begun to inquire about the possi-
claim that it is the quintessential bearer of the ethical message
bilities of a Jewish reevaluation of the standing of Jesus and
whose basic content is endorsed by both sides.
the role of Christianity. These inquiries are rooted in the
And precisely such discord developed. Christians com-
awareness that twentieth-century Jewish scholars like Joseph
plained about the “tasteless gibberish” spouted by Jews who
Klausner, Claude Montefiore, David Flusser, and Pinchas
claimed that theirs was the ethical religion par excellence, and
Lapide have provided—with varying degrees of enthusi-
they insisted that Jesus had introduced an advanced ethic
asm—a positive portrait of a fundamentally Jewish Jesus.
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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POLEMICS: MUSLIM-JEWISH POLEMICS
Moreover, Franz Rosenzweig spoke of Christianity as a man-
(New York, 1977), Bernhard Blumenkranz’s Juifs et Chré-
ifestation of a divine covenant with the gentiles. Even Jewish
tiens dans le monde occidental, 430–1096 (Paris, 1960), and
ecumenists, however, are often wary of far-reaching revisions
Jacob Katz’s Exclusiveness and Tolerance (New York, 1961).
in their evaluation of Jesus, and it is unlikely that dialogue
On Toledot Yeshu, see Samuel Krauss’s Das Leben Jesu nach
will produce a perception of Jesus as a quasi messiah or miti-
jüdischen Quellen (Berlin, 1902); on Genesis 49:10, Adolf
gate the historic Jewish distaste for the central dogmas of tra-
Posnanski’s Schiloh: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Messiasle-
hre (Leipzig, 1904); on Isaiah 53, Adolf Neubauer and Sam-
ditional Christianity.
uel R. Driver’s The Fifty-Third Chapter of Isaiah According
Finally, a uniquely contemporary dimension has been
to the Jewish Interpreters, 2 vols. (1876–1877; reprint, New
injected into Jewish-Christian discussions by the establish-
York, 1969).
ment of the state of Israel. On the one hand, the establish-
Jewish reactions to the Reformation are described in H. H. Ben-
ment of Israel has undercut the old Christian argument
Sasson’s The Reformation in Contemporary Jewish Eyes (Jeru-
based on the Jewish exile; on the other hand, it fits perfectly
salem, 1970). On the modern period, see Uriel Tal’s Chris-
tians and Jews in Germany in the Second Reich: Religion, Poli-
into some scenarios of the second coming of Jesus that are
tics and Ideology, 1870–1914 (Ithaca, N.Y., 1975), Jacob
popular among Christian fundamentalists. In the context of
Fleischmann’s Be Eayat ha-Natsrut ba-mah:shavah ha-Yehudit
dialogue, Jews have often attempted to explain the theologi-
mi-Mendelssohn Ead Rosenzweig (Jerusalem, 1964), and A.
cal centrality of the Land of Israel in Judaism, and they have
Roy Eckardt’s bibliography, “Recent Literature on Christian-
sometimes argued that Christian theology itself should lead
Jewish Relations,” Journal of the American Academy of Reli-
to a recognition of the significance of the state of Israel in
gion 49 (March 1981): 99–111.
the divine plan. This delicate balance of politics and theology
New Sources
has produced both understanding and tension. It is but the
Abulafia, Anna Sapir, ed. Religious Violence between Christians and
most recent example of the effect of historical events on a re-
Jews: Medieval Roots, Modern Perspectives. Basingstoke and
lationship that reflects the unchanging disputes of two vener-
New York, 2002.
able traditions as well as the dynamic interplay of two com-
Aumann, Moshe. Conflict and Connection: The Jewish-Christian-
munities acting and reacting in an ever changing world.
Israel Triangle. Hewlett, N.Y., 2003.
Ben-Shalom, Ram. “Between Official and Private Dispute: The
SEE ALSO Christianity; Jesus; Judaism; Paul the Apostle.
Case of Christian Spain and Provence in the Late Middle
Ages.” AJS Review 27 (2003): 23–71.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Braybrooke, Marcus. Christian-Jewish Dialogue: The Next Steps.
There is no good survey of Jewish polemics from late antiquity to
[Concluding chapter by Tony Bayfield]. London, 2000.
the present. A sketchy overview is provided in Hans Joachim
Melnick, Ralph. From Polemics to Apologetics: Jewish-Christian
Schoeps’s The Jewish-Christian Argument (New York, 1963);
Rapprochement in 17th Century Amsterdam. Assen, the Neth-
and Morris Goldstein’s Jesus in the Jewish Tradition (New
erlands, 1981.
York, 1950) surveys some Jewish discussions of Christianity
Nickelsburg, George W. E. Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins:
through the Middle Ages. Frank Talmage’s Disputation and
Diversity, Continuity, and Transformation. Minneapolis,
Dialogue: Readings in the Jewish-Christian Encounter (New
Minn., 2003.
York, 1975) is a valuable collection of brief translated selec-
tions from the sources.
Porter, Stanley E., and Brook W. R. Pearson, eds. Christian-Jewish
Relations through the Centuries. Sheffield, U.K., 2000.
Judah Rosenthal provided a thorough bibliography of polemical
DAVID BERGER (1987)
works in his “Sifrut ha-vikkuah: ha-ant:i-Notsrit,” Areshet 2
Revised Bibliography
(1960): 130–179; 3 (1961): 433–439. The most compre-
hensive collection of such works remains J. D. Eisenstein’s
edited volume Otsar vikkuh:im (1928; reprint, New York,
1964), but the texts are unreliable and must always be
POLEMICS: MUSLIM-JEWISH POLEMICS
checked against superior editions. For English translations of
Down to the eighteenth century the majority of Jews lived
polemical texts, see Oliver S. Rankin’s Jewish Religious Polem-
in countries under Muslim rule, where they shared with
ic of Earlier and Later Centuries (1956; reprint, New York,
Christians the status of “protected” minorities, tolerated on
1970); Hyam Maccoby’s Judaism on Trial: Jewish-Christian
sufferance and subject at times and in certain areas to dis-
Disputations in the Middle Ages (Rutherford, N.J., 1982);
crimination, ill will, abuse, and assault.
Yosef Kimh:i’s The Book of the Covenant, translated by Frank
Talmage (Toronto, 1972); and Yitsh:aq Troki’s Faith
Arabic literature, the classical repository of theological
Strengthened, translated by M. Mocatta (New York, 1970).
lore in Islam, expresses and reflects the situation over centu-
See also my study, The Jewish-Christian Debate in the High
ries. While most of this lore is of Muslim origin, Jews and
Middle Ages: A Critical Edition of the Niz:z:ah:on Vetus with an
Christians have contributed to it upon occasion with Arabic
Introduction, Translation and Commentary (Philadelphia,
writings added to their literary output in Hebrew and Syriac,
1978); the introduction and commentary trace the major ar-
respectively.
guments through the thirteenth century. Other important
studies of the medieval period include Daniel Lasker’s Jewish
The vast Arabic literature that developed in the early
Philosophical Polemics against Christianity in the Middle Ages
centuries of Islam included works on religion, sectarianism,
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POLEMICS: MUSLIM-JEWISH POLEMICS
7237
the treatment of the minorities, and so forth. Historians and
repeatedly and is the only major figure of Arabic letters to
travelers seeking to sketch the development of faiths, the rise
treat it.
of Islam, and its victorious march through countries and
Ibn H:azm apparently felt that his road to political suc-
continents also threw light on the non-Muslims and their be-
cess in the kingdom of Granada was blocked by the preemi-
liefs. Scholarly discussion concerning non-Muslims inevita-
nence of the Jews, and in particular by their leader, Ibn Na-
bly tended to indicate the miscreants’ errors. Thus polemics
grela (known in the Jewish community as Shemu’el ha-
appeared, and, as disputations took place, polemics gave rise
Nagid, 993–1056), a successful administrator, diplomat, and
to defensive apologetics.
military commander. Both Ibn H:azm and the Nagid wrote
MUSLIM POLEMICS. Indeed, Muslims knew from their own
on theology, and both were poets, one writing in Arabic, the
scripture that Islam is a continuation of earlier dispensations,
other in Hebrew. They met when they were in their early
and they were familiar with the Prophet’s attitude toward
twenties, but the meeting was not conducive to mutual re-
their carriers—the Jews and Christians. According to the
spect and appreciation.
QurDa¯n, the Jews (identified there as Yahu¯d or Banu¯ Isra¯D¯ıl,
“Children of Israel”) were an ancient people, descended from
In Ibn H:azm’s major work, Kita¯b al-fis:al wa-al-nih:al
Abraham and later led out of Egypt by Moses. Favored by
(Book of groups and sects), a survey of theology, a section
the Lord, who sent prophets to teach and guide them, they
of nearly 130 pages is devoted to a critique of Jewish beliefs
nonetheless became enmeshed in sin and disobedience, wor-
and texts. Passages from the Hebrew scriptures, quoted to re-
shiping the golden calf, killing prophets, and rejecting Jesus,
veal their deficiencies, are followed by counterparts from the
and were finally punished by destruction, exile, and dispers-
QurDa¯n, which are cited to demonstrate their excellence by
al. Further, the QurDa¯n indicated that the Prophet had not
comparison. Ibn H:azm displays a good knowledge of Gene-
only fought the pagan Arabs but also clashed with the Jews
sis, but his knowledge of the rest of the Hebrew scriptures
living in Arabia, especially those in Medina, and that the
is weak, and he is unable to distinguish biblical data from
struggle had turned into a military clash when the Jews re-
later legends. It is possible that he used a list of suitable pas-
fused to accept the Prophet and his revelation.
sages (“testimonies”) culled for the purpose by others. He
even cites a few items of Talmudic lore. He displays an inter-
These data were extended and embellished in the vast
est in the origins of Hebrew words but here too falls prey to
collections of traditions (h:ad¯ıth) that arose in early Islam and
misinformation: quoting an informant, he explains, for ex-
were further enriched by an exegetical turn, as QurDanic allu-
ample, that the name Israel was derived from Asar Eel (“he de-
sions to biblical stories gave rise to commentaries on ancient
tained God,” Gn. 32:25–31, where Jacob wrestles with di-
Hebrew lore. Although the Jews had been instructed about
vine beings and prevails), thus confusing the Hebrew roots
the coming of Muh:ammad, the Muslim commentators ex-
Esr and srh.
plained, they ignored these allusions or sought to interpret
them away or to conceal them. They also fabricated stories
In his view, the Hebrew scriptures are replete with con-
among the Isra¯ D¯ıl¯ıya¯t (narratives set in the era of the Banu¯
tradictions, absurdities, anthropomorphisms, and objection-
Isra¯D¯ıl) that were apt to mislead true believers. Jewish con-
able and irrelevant matter. The Muslims should feel no rever-
verts to Islam also supplied information—albeit mislead-
ence toward the scriptures of the Jews and Christians, he
ing—on Hebrew lore and the Jewish past. KaEb al-Ah:ba¯r is
argues, and should reject these faulty, distorted remnants of
the prototypical figure among them: a Jew from Yemen, he
the true scripture. Reverence is due only to the inimitable
embraced Islam half a dozen years after the Prophet’s death
truth and beauty of the QurDa¯n.
and was considered an expert on earlier scriptures. And pre-
Ibn H:azm is particularly eager to point out discrepan-
sumably the anti-Jewish animus of the Near Eastern Chris-
cies in the biblical text, especially where numbers are in-
tians percolated into Islamic circles following the Christians’
volved, as with varying statements on the length of the bond-
conversion to Islam.
age in Egypt or the population of the Israelites during the
wilderness period. Other contradictions he claims to find in
The earliest polemics, which can be traced to the eighth-
the text include the report in Exodus 7:20–22 that after all
and ninth-century disputations at the Abbasid court in Bagh-
the water in Egypt turned into blood, the native magicians
dad, are usually directed against both Jews and Christians.
repeated the deed: where, he asks, did they get the water to
Only gradually does a polemical literature directed specifical-
prove their skill? Likewise, citing Exodus 12:38, he asks where
ly against Jews emerge, beginning with special chapters on
the Hebrews obtained the multitude of cattle in the desert,
Jews and Judaism and with the writings of Jewish converts
and further, if they had such cattle, why did they complain
to Islam. Although such works are mentioned early on by
of lack of meat? Among the anthropomorphisms he cites are
Arab historians, the earliest surviving examples date only
passages such as “The Lord is a man of war” (Ex. 15:3); “And
from the eleventh century.
they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet, as
Ibn H:azm. The earliest preserved substantial work of
if it were a pavement of sapphire stone” (Ex. 24:10); and the
Islamic polemics against Jews and Judaism comes from the
Lord’s various pronouncements in Exodus 33 where he
pen of Ibn H:azm (d. 1064), a leading figure of Islamic learn-
“spoke unto Moses face to face. . . . And he said, ‘You can-
ing and Arabic literature in Spain. He dealt with the subject
not see my face. . . . And I shall take away my hand and
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POLEMICS: MUSLIM-JEWISH POLEMICS
you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen’” (vv.
after they fraudulently exacted a treaty from Joshua (Jos. 9).
11, 10, 22–23).
God’s wrath was about to consume the Israelites, but Moses’
fervent appeal made the Lord repent (Ex. 32:10–14). Abra-
Unlike the QurDa¯n, Ibn H:azm argues, the Hebrew scrip-
ham offered curd and milk and meat to the angels (Gn. 18),
tures are devoid of data on reward and punishment in the
but this was not a kosher diet (as set forth in Deuteronomy
life to come. Yet the QurDa¯n itself refers to biblical revelation,
14:3–21 and elsewhere).
especially to that of Moses. How is this possible? Because,
he claims, there was a true revelation of the divine word to
Ibn H:azm is quick to notice irregularities attested in the
Moses, but it was not preserved. The numerous civil strifes,
lineage of biblical figures and points with gusto to the extent
wars, invasions, and defeats in ancient Israel destroyed not
of bastardization among them. The lineage of the patriarchs,
merely the Hebrew kingdoms but also their archives and
prophets, and kings is sullied with incest and fornication:
with them, the scriptures, which went up in flames. There
Abraham married Sarah, his sister; Lot was seduced by his
was no continuous tradition of learning. Indeed, there was
daughters; Reuben had relations with Bilhah, his father’s
merely one copy of the scriptures remaining in the hands of
concubine; from Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar
the priests, who knew only chapters, fractions of it. In Baby-
sprang the line of David, Solomon, and the expected
lon, Ezra the priest concocted the Hebrew scriptures from
Messiah.
remnants of the revelation as it was remembered by other
priests and from his own additions.
The few samples of postbiblical lore that he knew, possi-
bly through the Karaites, horrified him as “old wives’ tales”:
Here Ezra is denounced as a master of deception lacking
data for example, from the ancient treatise Shi Eur qomah on
reason and conscience (as well as a knowledge of arithmetic).
the measurement of the divine body; the Lord’s grieving
Yet, Ibn H:azm points out, it was Ezra who shaped the new
about the destruction of the Temple; reference to the angel
religion during the Babylonian captivity by substituting the
Met:at:ron as “the lesser Lord.” He also recounts that, accord-
synagogue service for the ruined Temple of Solomon. Since
ing to the Jews, Paul was sent to the disciples of Jesus in order
the days of Moses, he says, Deuteronomy 32 (Ha Dazinu, The
to mislead them into the belief in Christ’s divinity. Thus Ibn
Song of Moses) is the only chapter of the Hebrew scriptures
H:azm concludes that the Jews are liars and tricksters. This
that has been taught to the people, and even this chapter—
trait begins with Jacob filching Esau’s birthright (Gn. 25:29–
which he quotes in full—is replete with passages that cannot
34) and Isaac’s blessing (Gn. 27). Though I have seen many
be of divine origin, such as verses 20–22: “God is their fa-
of them, he reports, I found only two who were devoted to
ther.” Anyone who knows the Jews, continues our author,
truth.
knows they are a filthy and witless rabble, repulsive, vile, per-
fidious, cowardly, despicable, mendacious. Hence Muslims
Although he holds that the Hebrew scriptures are for-
should seek guidance about the children of Israel not from
geries and harps on the necessity of rejecting them complete-
the Ezra-produced scripture but from the QurDa¯n, which also
ly and relying instead on the QurDa¯n, he cannot refrain from
includes data about the prophets (such as Hu¯d and S:a¯lih:)
quoting some passages that seem to fit Muslim notions. Thus
who were unknown to the Jews.
he accepts Deuteronomy 33:2 (“The Lord came from Sinai
and rose from Seir unto them; he shined forth from Mount
Ibn H:azm maintains that the Jews reject abrogation of
Paran”) as an “annunciation” of the advent of Jesus (via Seir,
their scriptures and any suggestion of a post-Mosaic dispen-
in Edom, later identified with Christendom, while Paran was
sation, to either Jesus or Muh:ammad. For them the omni-
taken to be a reference to Mecca). Likewise he finds in Deu-
scient God’s decree is immutable, and any change or caprice
teronomy 18:18 (“I will raise them a prophet from among
in divine will is not feasible. Without such a sudden change
their brethren like unto thee”) an annunciation of
(bada¯ D) in divine pleasure, however, a new dispensation
Muh:ammad’s ministry, since the Arabs, the progeny of
would not be feasible and thus, they assert, would contradict
Isma¯E¯ıl (Ishmael), are the brethren among whom a prophet
divine omniscience. But this is wrong, Ibn H:azm counters.
was to arise.
Precepts are commands to perform certain acts over a limited
period, beyond which time they may turn into their oppo-
Ibn H:azm also wrote a treatise against a pamphlet al-
sites. Circumstances in space and time are known to God,
leged to have been composed by Ibn Nagrela (or his son)
and it is his pleasure to grant life, death, and resurrection,
against the QurDa¯n. Although he was unable to find a copy
power, decline, restoration, virtue, and evil, belief and devia-
of this text and knew of it only from a Muslim author’s refu-
tion. For the Jews, work is permissible on Friday, but prohib-
tations, he nonetheless proceeded to attack the Jewish leader
ited on Saturday, only to become permissible again on
and the rest of the infidels who had become so arrogant. In
Sunday.
this treatise he also inveighs against the Muslim rulers, who
enjoy their luxurious palaces and forget their duty to preserve
Indeed, the Jews recognize that the law of Jacob differs
strict Muslim domination over the infidels.
from the law of Moses. Jacob married Leah and Rachel, who
were sisters, yet the law of Moses (Lv. 18:18) proscribes such
The impact of Ibn H:azm’s polemical writings is unclear.
a marriage. The people of Gibeon escaped annihilation to be-
He is not quoted by later writers, and it is possible that his
come hewers of wood and drawers of water for the sanctuary
adherence to the Z:a¯hir¯ı school of theology—a distinct mi-
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
POLEMICS: MUSLIM-JEWISH POLEMICS
7239
nority within Sunn¯ı Islam—may have limited the spread of
ers; likewise, the literature of the Muslims is overwhelmingly
his views. At least one brief Hebrew tract, Shelomoh ben
superior.
Avraham Adret’s thirteenth-century Ma Damar Eal Yishma EeDl
The key issue of abrogation is demonstrated both logi-
(Treatise on Ishmael), reproduces and refutes passages of Ibn
cally and historically. Jewish legists, he says, offered discor-
H:azm’s argument on forgery, however. In any case, the full
dant views on problems; how can they all be of divine origin?
scope of the Muslim-Jewish controversy was given its first
Indeed the law itself abounds in contradictions: in Exodus,
systematic exposition in Ibn H:azm’s work: abrogation
for example, all the firstborn are consecrated to worship
(naskh), distortion or forgery in the scripture (tah:r¯ıf), an-
(13:2); in Numbers, only the Levites (8:18). As purification
thropomorphism (tajs¯ım), the preserved annunciation of
with the ashes of the red heifer (Nm. 19:11, 19:16, 19:17)
Islam and its prophet (a Dla¯m).
is no longer available, he contends that the Jews must consid-
SamauEal al-Maghrib¯ı. The pamphlet Ifh:a¯m al-Yahu¯d
er themselves impure. Prayers on exile, dispersion, and hope
(Silencing the Jews), written in 1163 in Mara¯gha (northern
of restoration are clearly of late origin, yet they should not
Iran), is the most important and influential work of Muslim
have been introduced at all in view of the injunction against
polemics against Judaism. Its author was SamauEal
adding to or diminishing from the divine word (Dt. 13:1).
al-Maghrib¯ı (c. 1125–1175), a Jew who converted to Islam
An array of arguments is cited to prove that Jesus and
and penned the pamphlet to mark his conversion. (It is not
Muh:ammad were announced in the scriptures: Deuteronomy
to be confused, however, with the Arabic pamphlet of Samu-
18:15 announces a prophet from among their brethren; in
el Marrocanus, a convert to Christianity, which was translat-
Genesis 17:20, God promises to multiply Ishmael (here the
ed into Latin and later into many Western languages.)
letters of the Hebrew words for “exceedingly,” bi-m Dod
SamauEal’s father was a minor Hebrew poet who had
me Dod, numerically equal 92, which is the numerical value
presumably fled Morocco during a wave of persecution, set-
of the name Muh:ammad); Genesis 21:21 deals with three rev-
tled in Baghdad, and married a woman of a distinguished
elations, the last in the abode of Ishmael, which is that of the
family. SamauEal, who studied under the eminent philoso-
Arabs.
pher Abu¯ al-Baraka¯t (also a Jewish convert to Islam), won
The critique of the scripture follows. According to Sam-
fame as a mathematician and physician. His Jewish training
auEal, it perished long ago owing to the vicissitudes in the his-
seems to have been limited. In an autobiography added to
tory of the Hebrews. King Saul (1 Sm. 22:16–20) massacred
his pamphlet in 1167, he claims that he was moved to con-
the line of Aaron. Centuries passed before Ezra, of the priest-
vert by rational thinking along mathematical lines. Although
ly Aaronids, reconstructed the scripture. As the priests be-
he also describes visions of the prophets Samuel and
grudged authority to royalty, he added two stories derogatory
Muh:ammad, he still insists that purely logical arguments
to the lineage of David. One, that of the daughters of Lot
prevailed in his mind. A note of self-admiration is evident
(Gn. 19), establishes the origin of Moab and thus the illegiti-
throughout:
macy of Ruth, the ancestor of the House of David, nay, of
the expected messiah. The other story (Gn. 38) indicates that
Then, after I had trained my mind on mathematical
Boaz, husband of Ruth, was born of the union of Judah with
studies, especially geometry with its demonstrations, I
Tamar.
asked myself about the differences in religious faiths
and tenets. . . . I realized that reason is the supreme
Among other criticisms, SamauEal also charges that the
arbiter and that its rule should be established generally
law is oppressive and a burden (is:r), as demonstrated by the
in . . . our world. . . . We realize that reason does not
dietary rules that separate Jews from non-Jews. Jews, he
oblige us to accept ancestral tradition without examin-
points out, call Muh:ammad a fool and a raving madman
ing it as to its soundness. . . . Mere reference to fathers
(meshugga E, cf. Hos. 9:7) and also “unfit” (Heb., pasul, rhym-
and ancestry, however, is no proof. . . . I realize that
the Jews had no proof . . . about . . . Moses other
ing with rasu¯l, Arab., “messenger,” a name for the Prophet
than the evidence of the chain of transmission, which
as Messenger of God); likewise they refer to the QurDa¯n as
is available for Jesus and Muh:ammad just as it is for
“dishonor” (qalon).
Moses . . . then all three are true prophets. . . . I have
No doubt there is a similarity between the arguments
not seen Moses . . . nor have I witnessed his miracles,
of Ibn H:azm in the eleventh century and those of SamauEal
nor those of any other prophet. . . . A sensible person
cannot believe one and disbelieve another of these
in the twelfth. Here it is probable that both were reproducing
prophets. . . . Rather, it is rationally incumbent either
older material concerning the scriptural passages and the the-
to believe all of them or to reject all of them. . . . As
ory that Ezra authored the Pentateuch (the hypothesis of
for disbelieving all, reason does not dictate that either.
Ezra’s role in the history of the scripture goes back to late
For we find that they all preached lofty morals, advocat-
Hellenistic texts; see Edmund Stein’s Alttestamentliche Bi-
ed the virtues and fought the vices, and regulated the
belkritik in der späthellenistischen Literatur, Lwów, 1935).
world in a fashion beneficial to mankind.
SamauEal’s tract in turn proved very influential as a
In SamauEal’s view, the record of the Jews in scientific ad-
quarry for Muslim authors over the centuries. His arguments
vancement cannot compare with that of the Greeks and oth-
reappear in Al-ajwibah al-fa¯khirah (The Perfect Replies),
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
7240
POLEMICS: MUSLIM-JEWISH POLEMICS
written by the Egyptian al-Qara¯f¯ı (d. 1285), and in works
teous king, nay, a Muslim believer, and presented the He-
by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawz¯ıyah (d. 1350). In copying SamauEal’s
brew phrase “The gentile is like a dog” as an authentic text.
original pamphlet, which contained Hebrew passages in He-
JEWISH APOLOGETICS. Jewish writings, in Arabic and in He-
brew characters followed by Arabic transliteration and trans-
brew, attempted to present a defense against Islamic attacks.
lation, later scribes omitted the alien Hebrew characters. The
They were apologetic replies to Muslim arguments and to
tract was printed in Egypt in 1939 and again in the 1960s.
an extent constituted an effort to reinterpret the Jewish cause
Al-Ra¯qil¯ı. From somewhat different circumstances
in the light of the new intellectual atmosphere under Islam.
came Abu¯ Zakar¯ıya¯D Yah:ya¯ al-Ra¯qil¯ı’s tract TaDy¯ıd al-millah
Maimonides. Although Moses Maimonides (Mosheh
(Support of the Faith), written in Huesca in 1360 and direct-
ben Maimon, d. 1204) warned against engaging in disputa-
ed against Jews and Christians. Living in the Spanish king-
tions with the Muslims, because they did not accept the He-
dom of Aragon after the Christian reconquest, he expressed
brew Bible as a revealed text and thus shared no common
bitterness over the degradation of Islam, as Muslims fell from
ground, his Epistle to Yemen is virtually a polemical treatise.
a position of domination to that of a tolerated minority, and
Its purpose was to prepare the synagogue public to counter
especially over the treatment of Muslim peasants by Jewish
Muslim arguments: “Some hearts have gone astray . . . faith
officials and tax agents on behalf of the crown. Reading the
weakened,” he tells his readers. “Ours is the true and authen-
biblical texts in translation, he “extracted from them passages
tic divine religion revealed to us through Moses. . . . In as-
and evidences with which to refute the Jews.” God had chas-
saults upon us some use brute force; others, controversy.
tised them, he observes, with permanent dispersion
Christianity and Islam combine the two methods.”
(al-ghalu¯th al-da¯ Dim) and humiliation. He mentions disputa-
The Muslim polemicists, he continues, claim to have
tions and arguments (al-muna¯z:ara¯t wa-al-ih:tija¯j) and hopes
found Muh:ammad’s name and country in Hebrew scriptures
that God “may take us out of the country of polytheism to
(Gn. 17:20; Dt. 33:2, 18:15). Jewish converts to Islam (pre-
the lands of the Muslims.”
sumably SamauEal) quoting these verses cannot really believe
The Hebrew scriptures, he says, show that the Jews were
in them; their true purpose is to win favor in the eyes of the
a rebellious, unfaithful, ungrateful, accursed breed. They
gentiles. Muslims, unable to indicate a single verse, accuse
transgressed against every one of the Ten Commandments.
the Jews of having altered or concealed the text. In fact, he
According to al-Ra¯qil¯ı’s historical reconstruction, Hagar, the
points out, the scriptures had been translated into Greek, Ar-
mother of Ishmael, was Abraham’s wife, not his concubine.
amaic, and Latin centuries before Muh:ammad appeared.
She was not a mere slave but the daughter of an Egyptian
On account of . . . our sins God has hurled us into the
prince, and in any case, even a slave could be a prophet, as
midst of this people, the Arabs, who have persecuted us
with Joseph, who was Potiphar’s slave. God ordered Abra-
severely and passed baneful and discriminatory legisla-
ham to sacrifice his son, then prevented the patriarch from
tion against us. . . . Never did a nation molest, de-
doing so. This, al-Ra¯qil¯ı concludes, is an evident case of ab-
grade, debase, and hate us as much as they. . . . No
rogation. But even though the Jewish scriptures are not reli-
matter how much we suffer and elect to remain at peace
able, he cites Isaiah 21:7 (“a troop of asses, a troop of cam-
with them, they stir up strife and sedition, as David pre-
els”) as an annunciation of the prophethood of Jesus and
dicted (Ps. 120:7): “I am all peace, but when I speak,
Muh:ammad, respectively.
they are for war.”
Al-Ra¯qil¯ı’s pamphlet belongs to a lower level of disputa-
He concludes with a warning about the danger involved in
tion conducted between two oppressed communities under
reading his epistle, but he hopes that “the secret of the Lord
Christian domination. Also within this category of less so-
may be entrusted to those who fear him (Ps. 23:14).”
phisticated works, appealing more to the common Muslim
Ibn Kammu¯nah. In a class by itself stands Tanq¯ıh:
reader, are two pamphlets by fourteenth-century Jewish con-
al-abh:a¯th f¯ı al-milal al-thala¯th (Critical Inquiry into the
verts to Islam. One came from the pen of SaE¯ıd ibn H:asan
Three Faiths), written in Baghdad in 1280 by SaEd ibn
of Alexandria, who, in 1320, while living in the Great
Mans:u¯r ibn Kammu¯nah. With the caliphate under Mongol
Mosque of Damascus, wrote an account of his conversion.
rule, Islam could no longer be regarded as the faith of the
Dangerously ill and expecting to die, he suddenly heard a
ruler but remained the predominant faith of the masses. A
voice urging him to read a surah of the QurDa¯n. He complied
review of Ibn Kammu¯nah’s book in a sermon before a Friday
and was miraculously saved. He became such a fervent be-
mosque audience produced an angry mob assault, and the
liever that he turned against the Jewish and Christian unbe-
author had to be carried out of town hidden in a trunk.
lievers and in his tracts, which quote biblical texts, demon-
The work begins with a brief discussion of religion in
strates no qualms about distortions and absurdities.
general, followed by chapters on the three monotheistic
Such is also the case with EAbd al-H:aqq al-Isla¯m¯ı from
faiths. Two-thirds of the book is devoted to Islam and is
Ceuta, who wrote toward the end of the century. In addition
based on Muslim texts; it is written in an unusually dispas-
to relying on gimat:riyyah, the argument from the numerical
sionate spirit. Nonetheless, while Islam and its prophet
value of names and words, he accused the Jews of fire wor-
receive a fair treatment, the cumulative impression is not
ship, considered Ahab the transgressor (1 Kgs. 16–18) a righ-
favorable.
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
POLEMICS: MUSLIM-JEWISH POLEMICS
7241
The chapter on Judaism contains a brief survey of bibli-
avoid heavy taxation, or to escape humiliation, or if
cal data and Jewish beliefs, followed by seven objections
taken prisoner, or because of infatuation with a Muslim
culled from SamauEal al-Maghrib¯ı. These are rebutted in
woman, or for some similar reason. Nor do we see a re-
turn with arguments reflecting the views of Yehudah ha-Levi
spected, wealthy, and pious non-Muslim well versed in
and Maimonides.
both his faith and that of Islam, going over to the Islam-
ic faith without some of the aforementioned or similar
Ibn Kammu¯nah points out that communities may
motives.
live side by side for centuries and yet know each other only
slightly:
Likewise, he rejects the argument that victory and power are
proof of divine support:
But the contact of Muslims with Jews does not necessi-
tate a Muslim inquiry into what the Jews assert, espe-
How, since the dominion of idol-worshipers and fire-
cially since the Jews are prevented from declaring their
worshipers continued for thousands of years in number-
creed, and their [canonical] books are in a tongue the
less countries throughout the world, can a multitude of
Muslims do not understand. The contact of a minority
followers be proof of a claim? I found they had no re-
with a majority affects the majority and the minority
buttal to these arguments beyond the claim that the Is-
differently. Thus, when a linguistic minority is in con-
lamic faith obviously excels over other faiths, and that
tact with a linguistic majority, the minority learns the
it combines a maximum quantity and quality of perfec-
language of the majority while the majority does not
tion not attained by any other known faith. But he
learn the language of the minority or, at best, learns it
who, in rancor, makes this claim will never be able to
much later. Moreover, despite numerous contacts of the
present proof of it.
bulk of the Jews with the Muslims, many Jews still do
DECLINE OF THE GENRE. After 1400, Muslim polemics were
not know the basic Islamic tenets known by the rank-
largely reiterations of earlier arguments presented in insignif-
and-file Muslims, let alone the elite. It is even more nat-
ural that a similar situation should obtain on the Mus-
icant pamphlets. One noteworthy exception is a disputation
lim side, or, at the very least, that both sides should be
conducted in 1796 by a Persian scholar, Sayyid Muh:ammad
equal [in mutual ignorance].
Mahd¯ı T:aba¯t:aba¯D¯ı; known through an account in Arabic,
Moreover, the Muslims are split into various factions ana-
this event appears to have been characterized by uncommon
themizing one another. He lists the Christians’ internal dis-
mildness and magnanimity. Within the Ottoman empire,
sensions and remarks:
probably from Christian circles, it was charged from time to
time that the Jews used (Christian) blood to bake the unleav-
I did not find most of these retorts in discussions by
ened bread for Passover. This “blood libel” emerged in Da-
Christians; I supplied these retorts on behalf of the
mascus in 1840 and resurfaced repeatedly thereafter.
Christians, and in supplementation of the investigation
into their belief.
In the nineteenth century, anti-Jewish moods and argu-
This evoked the admiration of a Christian opponent.
ments began to penetrate the Muslim world from Western
In discussing the Muslims’ factions and their respective
sources, at first especially through French anti-Semitism. In
claims, he notes:
the twentieth century, the conflict in Palestine and the rise
of Zionism were bound to rekindle the embers of the medi-
There is room for speculation in this matter. Namely,
eval controversy as a religious appendage to the conflict. But
many a person will, for worldly goals and motives, do
the literature of the religious aspect has proven extremely
things for which, as he most assuredly knows, the
founder of his respective religion has threatened severe
poor in content, confined to reiteration of arguments from
punishment in the hereafter. This belief will not pre-
the eleventh and twelfth centuries: passages from the QurDa¯n
vent a man from perpetrating that forbidden evil. Such
and the traditions, a flood of epithets characterizing the Jews
is the case of the adulterer, wine-imbiber, and slanderer.
as eternally vicious fiends against the Muslims, against Mus-
In the quest for victory over opponents, human nature
lims and Christians, and indeed, against all humanity, as ene-
will urge the fabrication of reports favoring one’s reli-
mies ever plotting against what is human and good, for the
gion. Ignoring the prohibition against lying, a man will
sake of world domination by Jewry and Israel.
sometimes fabricate such a report in the [mistaken] be-
lief that he will merit reward therefor. It may also be
All in all, Islamic polemics directed against Jews are an
fabricated by one who joined a faith opportunistical-
arid area of insubstantial writing, of minor interest to the
ly—without inner conviction but rather in the quest for
Muslims themselves. For their part, the Jews kept a low pro-
success, like many who nowadays join the faith of Islam
file and preferred not to retort. But many allusions to the
in order to prevail over rivals, although they are not be-
Muslim arguments can be found in medieval prayers, as well
lievers by conviction. If your assertion were true, no
as in exegetical and theological works.
Muslim would ever have fabricated a false tradition; the
contrary, however, is the case.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Summarizing the arguments for Muh:ammad’s prophethood,
The classic compendium on Arabic-language polemics among
he contends that they remain unproven and remarks:
Muslims, Christians, and Jews is Moritz Steinschneider’s
That is why, to this day, we never see anyone converting
Polemische und apologetische Literatur in arabischer Sprache,
to Islam unless in terror, or in quest of power, or to
zwischen Muslimen, Christen und Juden (1877; reprint, Hil-
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
7242
POLEMICS: CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM POLEMICS
desheim, 1965). Other early studies include several by Ignácz
MUSLIM POLEMIC. Christians long remained a majority
Goldziher in his Gesammelte Schriften, 3 vols. (Hildesheim,
under Muslim rule, but they began to attack Islam as soon
1967–1970), and Martin Schreiner’s “Zur Geschichte der
as they realized that it had come to stay; however, it is conve-
Polemik zwischen Juden und Muhammedanern,” Zeitschrift
nient here to consider first the Muslim attack on tah:r¯ıf. One
der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 42 (1888):
of the first Muslims to argue that Christians had misunder-
591–675.
stood rather than falsified their scriptures was a Zaydi Sh¯ıE¯ı
Salo W. Baron addresses the subject, with extensive bibliography,
from the Yemen, al-Qa¯sim ibn Ibra¯h¯ım (d. AH 246/860 CE).
in A Social and Religious History of the Jews, 2d ed., rev. &
Until the severe reaction against the colonialism of the last
enl., vol. 5 (New York, 1957), pp. 82–108. I have also writ-
century, most Muslim polemic was purely doctrinal. In his
ten a survey, “The Medieval Polemics between Islam and Ju-
daism,” in Religion in a Religious Age, edited by S. D. Goitein
Book of Religion and Empire, EAl¯ı ibn Sahl al-T:abar¯ı (ninth
(Cambridge, Mass., 1974).
century), a former Nestorian, aims, perhaps to justify his
conversion, to show that the Christian scriptures foretell
For specialized studies, see Jacob Mann’s “An Early Theologico-
Muh:ammad and enjoin Islam, and his Answer to Christians,
Polemical Work,” Hebrew Union College Annual 13/14
(1937–1938): 411–459; Emilio García Gomez’s “Polémica
concerned with Christology, is again based on his knowledge
religiosa entre Ibn H:azm e Ibn al-Nagrila,” Al-Andalus 4
of Christian sources. Supposedly earlier (c. 820) is the Apolo-
(1936): 1–28; Miguel Asín Palacios’s “Un tratado morisco
gy of al-Ha¯shim¯ı, but we know it in conjunction with its ref-
de polémica contra los Judios,” in Mélanges Hartwig Deren-
utation by the pseudonymous EAbd al-Mas¯ıh: ibn Ish:a¯q
bourg (Paris, 1909), pp. 343–366, reprinted in his Obras es-
al-Kind¯ı, attributed to Yah:ya¯ ibn EAd¯ı (d. 974), and it is like-
cogidas, vols. 2–3, De historia y filogogia arabe (Madrid,
ly to be at most a revised and Christian-edited Muslim argu-
1948); Joseph Perles’s R. Salomo ben Abraham ben Adereth:
ment. Although it abuses Christianity, attacks the doctrine
Sein Leben und seine Schriften (Breslau, 1863); and EAf¯ıf EAbd
of the Trinity, despises the Cross, and deprecates Christian
al-Fatta¯h: T:abba¯rah’s Al-Yahu¯d f¯ı al-Qur Da¯n (Beirut, 1966).
fasting, it plays into the hands of the refuter and has a con-
An Israeli view of modern developments is Yehoshafat
Harkabi’s Arab Attitudes to Israel, translated by Misha Lou-
trived air. More typical is the writing of al-Ja¯hiz: (d. 869),
vish (New York, 1972).
who is aware of arguments actually used by Christians (e.g.,
that the QurDa¯n misrepresents their beliefs), but his knowl-
A number of the original sources are also available in translation.
edge is superficial, and he is much put out by the existence
Among the Muslim writers, Ibn H:azm’s Kita¯b al-fis:al
wa-al-nih:al, 5 vols. in 2 (1903; reprint, Baghdad, 1964), has
of different Christian orthodoxies.
been translated by Miguel Asín Palacios in volume 2 of his
The Muslim critique of Christianity increased rapidly
Abenházam de Córdoba (Madrid, 1927), and I have edited
in knowledge and sophistication. The attack by Abu¯ E¯Isa¯
and translated SamauEal al-Maghrib¯ı’s Ifh:a¯m al-Yahu¯d: Si-
al-Warra¯q on the contradictions inherent in orthodox Chris-
lencing the Jews (New York, 1964). The early formulations
of the debate from the Jewish perspective are reflected in the
tology seems to have made a considerable impact and was re-
third treatise of Sa’adyah Gaon’s The Book of Beliefs and
futed at length by Yah:ya¯ ibn EAd¯ı. Ibn H:azm (d. 1064) un-
Opinions, translated by Samuel Rosenblatt (New Haven,
derstands tah:r¯ıf in the literal sense and devotes most of his
1948). Other Jewish texts include Moses Maimonides’s Epis-
Discernment of the Confessions and Sects to scriptural dispute
tle to Yemen, edited by Abraham S. Halkin and translated by
and to the defects of the Gospels and other books of the
Boaz Cohen (New York, 1952), and Ibn Kammu¯na’s Exami-
Bible. Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı (d. 1111), in his Excellent Refutation of the
nation of the Three Faiths: A Thirteenth Century Essay in the
Divinity of Jesus Christ, uses Christian scripture (known, says
Comparative Study of Religion (Berkeley, 1971), which I have
his Christian editor, from Muslim sources) to criticize in
edited and translated.
turn the christological positions of the Chalcedonian, non-
MOSHE PERLMANN (1987)
Chalcedonian, and Nestorian churches. Muslims were now
at grips with Christian apologists. Shiha¯b al-D¯ın al-Qara¯f¯ı
(d. 1285), answering the brief Letter to a Muslim by Paul
(al-Ra¯hib, i.e., the Monk) of Antioch, Melkite bishop of
POLEMICS: CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM POLEMICS
Sidon (fl. 1160), shows a sound knowledge of Christian
The QurDa¯n itself determines the polemic area between Mus-
scripture and discusses such varied doctrines as the Eucharist
lims and Christians, because it states the terms and sets the
and QurDanic abrogation (na¯sikh, mansu¯kh). Ibn Taym¯ıyah
limits of Christian error. The issues it defines have been dis-
(d. 1328) also answered Paul, as a courteous address to the
puted ever since: God is not three; Jesus is not the Son of
king of Cyprus, contrasting the QurDa¯n and the Bible in au-
God; he was not crucified (cf. surah 4:157, 171), and the
thenticity and expounding long arguments against the Trini-
Bible has been falsified and misinterpreted. This “corrup-
ty. These disputes are quite inconclusive on both sides.
tion” (tah:r¯ıf) includes suppressing forecasts of the Prophet.
Christians have similarly sought to discredit the QurDa¯n, but
Toward the end of the European Middle Ages we begin
they have been under no comparable restraint in choosing
to find Western writers converted from Christianity in the
their themes, and they have often attacked the reputation of
course of the Ottoman advance. EAbd Alla¯h al-Turjuma¯n
the Prophet in order to argue that his revelation was con-
(early fourteenth century), a former Franciscan, discussed the
trived and fictitious.
authenticity of the holy books again in his Intelligent Man’s
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
POLEMICS: CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM POLEMICS
7243
Gift in Reply to Christians. Mura¯d Bay Turjuma¯n, a Hungari-
by later Western polemicists: the Prophet is accused of ag-
an serving at the Porte, wrote a defense of Islam in Turkish
gression and libertinism; the QurDa¯n is ridiculed; much is
and Latin (1556) and praises of the Prophet in Turkish,
made of the disappointed resurrection; the Arabs of the
Latin, and Hungarian; he writes devotionally, often using the
Hejaz are described as brutish. Eulogius was the pupil of the
terminology of Western religious philosophy. The forged
abbot Speraindeo, who had written a short polemic, now
Gospel of Barnabas, in an unexplained sixteenth-century Ital-
lost, in which he attacked the QurDanic Paradise as a brothel
ian manuscript, an evangelium Muhammadanum intended to
(lupanar), but perhaps Eulogius derived from him his fairer
accord with the QurDanic Jesus, has been conjectured to have
knowledge of the QurDanic theology of Jesus. Eulogius’s
a Morisco or convert background.
friend and fellow student Alvarus attacked Islam along the
C
same general lines in almost hysterical rhetoric based on Old
HRISTIAN POLEMIC. Early polemic is at its best in the dia-
logue, notably that of the catholicos Timotheos I with the
Testament parallels.
caliph al-Mahd¯ı in about 781 and that of Timotheos’s coreli-
Except for this use of the Old Testament, all these at-
gionist Ilya¯s of Nisibis with the vizier Abu¯ al-Qa¯sim
tacks were renewed at the Spanish Reconquest. Most medi-
al-Maghrib¯ı in 1026. These Nestorians naturally exploited
eval polemic derived from Spanish sources, supplemented,
a Christology that was at least superficially more understand-
but not extensively, from the literature of the Latin states in
able to Muslims. Such dialogue may not always have taken
the East. Peter of Alfonso contributed Jewish folklore to the
place as recorded, or even at all, but their conciliatory tone
polemic pool, but the next important step was taken when
offers a Christian apologetic intended to be inoffensive to a
Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, visited Spain from
Muslim audience. Timotheos’s presentation of the Prophet
1142 to 1143 and commissioned translations from the Ara-
as “in the way of the prophets” is effective, without conced-
bic, including a version of the QurDa¯n (little better than a
ing any Christian essential.
paraphrase) and one of the pseudo-Kind¯ı. This QurDa¯n cir-
This was not the usual pattern, even in the form of dia-
culated widely in manuscript until it was printed in the six-
logue. Muslim polemic was often contemptuous, but it was
teenth century. Al-Kind¯ı reinforced the libels on the Prophet
never as virulent as Christian abuse of Islam and the Prophet,
with circumstantial detail of which the West had no other
and much matter that was largely ridiculous or irrelevant,
knowledge, and his work was circulated widely in the abbre-
and always offensive, cannot have been used to impress Mus-
viated form that appears in Vincent de Beauvais’s encyclope-
lims, unless imposed by force in regions reconquered by
dic Speculum historiale. Generally, the main polemic heads
Christians. It may be assumed that polemic develops out of
were luxuriosus (voluptuous) and bellicosus (aggressive), but
widespread previous discussion, and that much remains at
Abbot Peter’s own polemic, apparently never translated into
a low level of oral culture. Even in intellectual criticism of
Arabic, is consciously accommodating (on the information
the QurDanic text, writers forced it to mean what they chose,
available to him) and much concerned with the authentica-
including, in some Byzantine cases, the worship of Aphrodi-
tion of scripture. The invalidation of the QurDa¯n is a main
te. The Byzantine tradition includes authors writing in
theme of the mysterious Contrarietas elpholica, which Mark
Greek from within Islam or from outside, among them John
of Toledo translated early in the thirteenth century from an
of Damascus (d. 749), Theodore Abu¯ Qurrah (eighth-ninth
unknown Arabic original. He also made a much better trans-
century), George Hamartolus (“the Monk”), Nicetas of By-
lation of the QurDa¯n, but it was generally ignored.
zantium (both ninth century), and the pseudonymous au-
The Dominican Ricoldo da Monte Croce (c. 1243–
thor of the Letter to the Emir of Damascus (c. 920–940). Ni-
1320) traveled to Baghdad (he was there about 1291), but
cetas is hypercritical in his treatment of the QurDanic text;
the discussions he claims to have had with amiable Muslim
all these tend to attack the Prophet, especially his wars and
divines left no mark on his polemic, derived from the Con-
his marriage to Zaynab bint Jah:sh, the influence on him of
trarietas and other inherited material. He attacks the QurDa¯n
a suppositious Arian adviser, and the doctrine of a material
as confused and obscure in ways equally applicable to the
Paradise. The pseudo- Kind¯ı (mentioned above), writing in
prophetic books of the Old Testament. The Quadruplex re-
Arabic, is the most consistently unscrupulous in distorting
probatio, perhaps by another Dominican, Ramón Martí
every episode of the Prophet’s life as self-indulgence (mostly
(c. 1220–1285), shows a detailed knowledge of genuine
sexual) and aggression (banditry, assassination). He deliber-
sources, such as al-Bukha¯r¯ı and Muslim ibn al-Hajja¯j, which
ately ignored the sense of the Prophet’s holiness in the
he must have combed to find instances of Islamic jurispru-
sources he must have used, and he supported the gratuitous
dence objectionable to Christians as “contrary to reason” or
notion that the Prophet expected the resurrection or ascen-
“contrary to the public good,” while ignoring the rest.
sion of his dead body.
Ramón Lull (1235–1315), “proving” the Trinity by “com-
These themes had already entered the West by the mid-
pelling reasons” in a number of works, had little impact,
dle of the ninth century. The miniature polemic found in
however. Peter Paschasius, a Mercedarian (c. 1227–1300),
Pamplona by Eulogius of Cordova (d. 859), archbishop elect
used authentic knowledge from the life of the Prophet by Ibn
of Toledo, and encapsulated in his Liber apologeticus mar-
Ish:a¯q (d. 767) in a forlorn attempt to justify the more absurd
tyrum, contains nearly all the elements used by al-Kind¯ı and
of the Christian libels on the Prophet then circulating.
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
7244
POLITICAL THEOLOGY
These, many of them originating in the East, enjoyed a great
The English annotations to editions of the QurDa¯n by
vogue, not only in two Latin poems and a French paraphrase
Mawla¯na¯ Muh:ammad EAl¯ı (Ah:mad¯ı version, 1917) and by
but also in many fragments and in chronicles, annals, and
EAl¯ı Yu¯suf EAl¯ı (Sunn¯ı version, 1946) put forward arguments
various occasional works: an assortment of recurring legends
unfamiliar to Western readers; in a general way, Muslims felt
of how a fraudulent holy book was “revealed” by a pigeon
that contemporary biblical criticism supported the accusa-
or a calf, of how Muh:ammad was the dupe of a renegade
tion of tah:r¯ıf, though Sayyid Ahmad Khan had minimized
Christian monk, or was even himself a frustrated cardinal.
this. The Muslim Brotherhood saw itself as simply defending
The chansons de geste describe a pantheon of Saracen gods,
Islamic civilization. Rejected by most Muslim opinion at the
but it is doubtful if they were intended as more than a joke.
time, EAbd al-EAz¯ız Jaw¯ısh (1876–1929) attacked Coptic
Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) advised against po-
Christianity as colonialist, in his paper Al-liwa¯, but the mili-
lemic that could not be based on shared premises. Nicolas
tant Islam of the later twentieth century, preoccupied with
of Cusa (1400–1464), although his polemic method shows
the struggle against the moderates, has yet to produce major
no real advance, seems to be sincerely seeking conciliation
polemic against post-Christian neocolonialists; it may be ex-
in his De pace fidei. Gradually the refinement of scholarly
pected, when it comes, to have large social content. The
method eliminated the worst absurdities. The greatest of the
jama¯ Ea¯t (fundamentalist groups) already hark back to Ibn
seventeenth-century QurDanic specialists, Ludovico Maracci
Taym¯ıyah. On the Christian side, some fanatics remain, but
(1612–1700), was scrupulously exact, but rigidly critical on
the tendency among Western Christians (e.g., Louis Mas-
traditional lines; his English imitator, George Sale (c. 1697–
signon, 1883–1962, and Kenneth Cragg, b. 1913) is to
1736), was more sympathetic, although he is regarded by
shake free of inherited bias.
Muslims today as anti-Islamic. The old polemic lines were
SEE ALSO Modernism, article on Islamic Modernism.
merely re-oriented toward the general critique of religion by
the Enlightenment (e.g., Bayle’s Dictionnaire, 1696–1697,
B
s. v. Mahomet; Boulainvilliers’s Vie de Mahomed, 1730; Gib-
IBLIOGRAPHY
For a conspectus of much of the field, Georges C. Anawati’s
bon; Voltaire).
“Polémique, apologie et dialogue islamo-chrétiens,” Euntes
THE MODERN PERIOD. Polemic revived in the nineteenth
Docete 22 (1969): 380–392, is invaluable, but it is short and
century but was profoundly modified on both sides by the
does not cover all. For medieval Islamic polemic, see Erd-
colonial experience. Orientalists and missionaries alike con-
mann Fritsch’s Islam und Christentum im Mittelalter (Bres-
sidered themselves the intellectual and social superiors of na-
lau, 1930). A short, useful account of Byzantine polemic is
tions ruled by Europeans. Improved historical methods in-
Alain Ducellier’s Le miroir de l’Islam: Musulmans et chrétiens
troduced a new precision without necessarily changing old
d’Orient au Moyen Age, septième-onzième siècles (Paris, 1971).
For Arabic polemic, the writings of Armand Abel are crucial:
prejudice. Protestant missions, from the polemicist Carl
L’apologie d’al-Kindi et sa place dans la polémique islamo-
Pfander (1803–1865) to a culmination in the World Mis-
chrétienne “L’oriente christiano nella storia della civiltà,” no.
sionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910, never es-
62 (Rome, 1964), and many other monographs. For medi-
caped intellectually from the medieval polemic, but they
eval Christian polemic, see Richard W. Southern’s Western
added some contemporary social criticism, especially of the
Views of Islam in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, Mass., 1962)
status of women in Islam. On the Catholic side we may com-
and my own Islam and the West: The Making of an Image, 2d
pare Cardinal Lavigerie (1825–1892), archbishop of Algiers,
ed. (Edinburgh, 1980). For modern Christian polemic,
and his alliance with the mission civilisatrice of France. Politi-
Youakim Moubarac’s Recherches sur la pensée chrétienne de
cal subordination forced Muslims to take the defensive.
l’Islam: Dans les temps modernes et à l’époque contemporaine
(Beirut, 1977) spreads a fine net widely. For academic ten-
A nineteenth-century aggiornamento led by Sayyid
dencies, see Jacques Waardenburg’s L’Islam dans le miroir de
Ahmad Khan (1817–1898), Jama¯l al-D¯ın al-Afgha¯n¯ı
l’Occident, 3d ed. (Paris, 1962), which studies five major
(1838–1897), and Muh:ammad EAbduh (1849–1905) was
scholars. There is no general survey of modern Muslim po-
followed by a series of apologists rather than polemicists,
lemic against Christianity, but for India, see Aziz Ahmed’s
modernists influenced in different degrees by Western Chris-
Islamic Modernisation in India and Pakistan, 1857–1964
tian, and post-Christian attitudes; among these were Mu-
(London, 1967).
hammad Iqbal (1876–1938), T:a¯ha¯ H:usayn (1889–1973),
NORMAN DANIEL (1987)
Sala¯h al-D¯ın Khuda¯ Bakhsh (1877–1931), and Ka¯mal
H:usayn (1901–1977). The use by EAbba¯s Mah:mu¯d
al-EAqqa¯d (1889–1964) of the historical techniques of the
day to refute Western Orientalism has been very influential;
POLITICAL THEOLOGY is one in a series of at-
he respected Christ as prophet, which Taw¯ıq S:idq¯ı (1881–
tempts made by Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians
1920), in violent reaction against the missionaries, did not.
since the 1960s to come to grips with the foundations of
Widely read by an English-language public, Ameer Al¯ı
Christianity in light of the twentieth-century crisis of cul-
(1849–1928) skillfully reversed the Christian sociohistorical
ture. After World War I, theology had reached a kind of
attack on Islam, notably in his Spirit of Islam (1891) and his
equilibrium wherein the Protestants were constellated about
Short History of the Saracens (1899).
the three giants, Karl Barth (1886–1968), Rudolf Bultmann
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
POLITICAL THEOLOGY
7245
(1884–1976), and Paul Tillich (1886–1965), and the Cath-
to emerge of the spiritual impoverishment arising from what
olics were still operating under the auspices of the scholasti-
were cynically labeled state-controlled monopolies in the
cism evoked by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, when he called for
East and monopoly-controlled states in the West. In the de-
a renewal of Thomism. By the close of the Second Vatican
veloping nations, dissatisfaction spread at the popular, grass-
Council (1962–1965), however, these liberal and neoortho-
roots level in opposition to the dependence engendered by
dox solutions to the mediation between Christianity and
colonialist and imperialist policies of advanced industrial so-
modern cultures had suddenly become irretrievably passé, for
cieties. In brief, the stage was set for theology to shift from
it was widely felt that none of the dominant theologies, esti-
hermeneutical methods of mediating Christianity with con-
mable as they might be, had really come to terms with the
temporary cultures to new approaches known as political or
crisis of modern culture in ways that were sufficiently pro-
liberation theologies.
found or adequately differentiated.
By 1970 it was already manifest that there were two dis-
These deficiencies were registered within the mainly ac-
tinct originating points for political theology: from within
ademic context of European and North American theology
an academic context in advanced industrial societies, and
through the increasing influence of the nineteenth-century
from what have come to be called “basic communities” (from
“masters of suspicion,” Karl Marx (1818–1883) and Frie-
the Spanish comunidades de base) in developing nations. It
drich Nietzsche (1844–1900). Nietzsche’s critique of moder-
is clear that both styles of theology are seeking to come to
nity had probed the enervating effects upon life in the West
terms with the universal hermeneutic problem as portrayed
caused by the invasion of other cultures and the various
by Nietzsche, Heidegger, Gadamer, and Paul Ricoeur. But
forms of reflection upon culture by historical consciousness
it is no less evident that they mean to follow Marx’s impera-
in terms of nihilism and the death of God. In his unforgetta-
tive of changing, rather than merely interpreting, history.
ble image of the “last man,” Nietzsche had limned the out-
The leading exponents of political theology in Europe,
come of the liberal democratic and socialist solutions to the
the German Catholic J.-B. Metz and the German Protestant
political problem. This radical crisis of meaning and value
Jürgen Moltmann, might justly be characterized as asserting
was explored during the mid-1960s in a variety of Christian
that interpretation of God is a practical and political issue.
theologies: the God-is-dead theologies of Thomas Altizer,
There is no split between change and interpretation: Human
Gabriel Vahanian, and Paul van Buren; the universal-
and even revolutionary change is at root interpretative; and,
historical theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg; the post-
especially when it comes to the reality of God, interpretation
Bultmann hermeneutical theologies of Gerhard Ebeling,
is primarily a matter of practical reorientation (conversion)
Ernst Fuchs, and Heinrich Ott; and the post-Heidegger the-
and concrete action (transformation of individual and collec-
ology of Karl Rahner. Philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer,
tive life). Moltmann at first depended upon Ernst Bloch’s
whose Truth and Method became required reading for theo-
philosophy of hope but later moved on, using motifs from
logians in the 1960s and 1970s, resumed the meditation of
the critical theory developed by the Frankfurt School to rein-
Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) upon the crisis indicated by
terpret Luther’s theology of the cross in terms of its revolu-
Nietzsche and formulated the issue as follows: Since all nor-
tionary social implications. Metz, ever a disciple of Rahner,
mative traditions have been rendered radically questionable,
was challenged by the experience of the Holocaust and by
hermeneutics (the auxiliary science of interpretation) has be-
the writings of the enigmatic Jewish-Marxist satellite of the
come a universal issue. However, the challenge of hermeneu-
Frankfurt School, Walter Benjamin (1892–1940), to refor-
tics to theology is usually diffused in one of two ways. In aca-
mulate Rahner’s theological anthropology in terms of less
demic theology hermeneutics is trimmed down to
idealist and more concrete notions such as “dangerous mem-
conventional scholarly dimensions, whereafter theology is
ory,” “religion as interruption,” and “narrative theology.”
subjected to subdisciplines that divide up the data on Chris-
Both Metz and Moltmann have used the “dialectic of en-
tian religion for ever more minute and critical study. Alterna-
lightenment” (that is, the secularist thesis that the progress
tively, hermeneutics may be subsumed within a transcenden-
achieved by modern science and technology and by the bour-
tal-metaphysical reflection (as in Rahner) or a wholly
geois and communist revolutions has been perverted by the
ontological reflection (as in process theology). These re-
dominance of instrumental reason and the “iron cage” of bu-
sponses to the issue of a universal hermeneutic as formulated
reaucracy) as it was formulated by Max Horkheimer, Theo-
by Gadamer—fragmenting on the one hand, and totalizing
dor W. Adorno, and Georg Lukács. Metz and Moltmann
on the other—bore the earmarks of that sort of interpreta-
transpose that dialectic of progress and decline into the ten-
tion that Marx, in his famous eleventh thesis on Feuerbach,
sion now being lived out between the pole of liberal demo-
said needed to be supplanted by practice. It became a real
cratic and Marxist “ideologies of winners” and the opposite
question whether theology was anything more than either a
pole of redemption with the radical evangelical challenge to
species of intellectual history or an academically domesticat-
solidarity with history’s outcasts and victims.
ed speculation without any practical bearing or importance.
Liberation theologies emanate less from the academic
During the 1960s and 1970s this question became ines-
superstructure than from basic communities at the popular
capable. At the same time a common awareness was starting
level. They reach public discourse in the writings of teachers
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7246
POLITICAL THEOLOGY
like Gustavo Gutiérrez (Peru), Juan Segundo (Uruguay),
degger only to return to premodern authors (Xenophon,
José Miguez-Bonino (Argentina), Jon Sobrino (El Salvador),
Plato, Maimonides, al-Fa¯ra¯b¯ı) as an alternative to the media-
Leonardo and Clodovis Boff and Rubem Alves (Brazil), and
tions of the social sciences in the mold of Marx or Max
so on. But they are also published in documents emanating
Weber (1864–1920). Straussians bring out the tension be-
from bishops’ conferences as well as in the writings and polit-
tween Christianity and liberal and socialist democracies.
ical activity typified by the Nicaraguan priest-poet-
They tend to render Christianity as utterly apolitical; as a re-
revolutionary Ernesto Cardenal. In liberation theology the
sult, whereas liberation theology tends to flatten out into
experiences of political and social oppression and of massive
Marxism, Straussian political theory is perhaps too content
poverty have provoked a reading of the Bible and a celebra-
with Platonic or Aristotelian reasons for espousing liberal de-
tion of ecclesial sacraments that are immediately political in
mocracy at the cost of solidarity with the poor.
the sense of being directly linked to the issue of emancipation
The work of political scientist Eric Voegelin (1901–
from “structural” sin. Bourgeois social, political, and eco-
1985), as demonstrated by his multivolume Order and Histo-
nomic theories do not adequately explain the institutional-
ry (1956–), makes the tension of human existence—lived out
ized schemes of recurrence that define the Latin American
in “the in-between” (“metaxy”) as expressed paradigmatically
experience of oppression. Thus, liberation theology debunks
in noetic and pneumatic differentiations of consciousness—
bourgeois notions of “development” in favor of hypotheses
normative for practical and political thought and action.
like “dependency” and “national security state” in which
Voegelin’s ideas provide an antidote to the tendency of some
Lenin’s ideas about imperialism are applied anew. This is just
political theologians to collapse that tension, and his ecu-
one instance of the theology of liberation’s penchant to have
menical and transcultural comprehensiveness adds scope to
recourse to Marxism (especially the humanist strands) and
conventional political theology. Nevertheless, by its very
Leninist or Maoist strategies in order to diagnose and remedy
power and genericness, Voegelin’s enterprise has a tendency
structural sin. This approach places liberation theologians
to be too global to do justice to the particular problems of
under a double constraint since, on the one hand, genuine
political practice.
evangelical experience of God and faith in Jesus Christ Liber-
Metz’s American student Matthew Lamb has recently
ator is for them the wellspring and motive for social critique
called attention to the relevance for political theology of the
and action in a way that neither Marx nor Lenin could envis-
work of Bernard Lonergan (1904–1984). Lonergan, by de-
age, and, on the other hand, the theoretical weaknesses in
manding that the criteria of authentic performance in sci-
Marxist analysis and practice sometimes threaten liberation
ence, in scholarship, and in ordinary living be reconnected
theology with collapse back into the posture of the secularist
with the criteria for being authentically human (thematized
dialectic of enlightenment. Added to this, liberal democratic
in his notions of religious, moral, and intellectual conver-
and orthodox Christian misunderstanding and opposition
sion), has given political theologians a useful framework for
perhaps unwittingly force the practitioners of liberation the-
the mediation of saving meaning and value in history. His
ology into increasing partisanship with secularist Marxist-
stance toward the future in the light of the past, along with
Leninists.
his germinal but still little-known work in economics, Lamb
Both European political theology and Latin American
suggests, provides Christians with the first genuine alterna-
liberation theology have the Marxist orientation toward
tive to either Marxist or liberal democratic political and eco-
overcoming specifically bourgeois biases. In other advanced
nomic theory. Whatever may be the fate of political theology
industrial countries like the United States and Canada, the
as we know it, its reintegration of earlier forms of theology—
Marxist analysis of structural sin in terms of class yields to
emphasizing retrieval of past meaning and doctrinal and sys-
three other emphases: racism (black and other ethnic theolo-
tematic restatement—into foundational, practical, and polit-
gies), sexism (feminist theologies), and issues of ecology. Like
ical questions about the right way to live can only be salutary
the liberation theologies of Latin America, each of these ori-
for the practice of faith in society both now and in the future.
entations struggles with the ambivalence between its roots in
Many contemporary theologians believe that political theol-
Christian religious experience and the terms of power and
ogy is, in fact, the chief symptom and response to the para-
legitimacy as these terms were first formulated by secularist
digm change theology is undergoing.
Enlightenment thinkers. Miscomprehension and unfavor-
S
able criticism force them, too, into stances ever more indis-
EE ALSO Christianity, article on Christianity in Latin
America; Heidegger, Martin; Lonergan, Bernard; Marx,
tinguishable from their secularist counterparts. But then, re-
Karl; Nietzsche, Friedrich; Rahner, Karl.
actions to such extremes among their cohorts have also led
to recoveries and discoveries of Christian meanings and
values.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
European Political Theology
Another increasingly prominent aspect of political the-
Metz, J.-B. Faith in History and Society: Toward a Practical Funda-
ology is being explored by Ernest Fortin and James V. Schall,
mental Theology. Translated by David Smith. New York,
students of political philosopher Leo Strauss (1899–1973).
1980. A nuanced statement of Metz’s mature position, with
Strauss took up the hermeneutic challenge laid down by Hei-
an account of the genesis and aims of political theology, his
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
POLITICAL THEOLOGY
7247
differences with Karl Rahner, and a basic elaboration of
142–177. Brief, lucid, and reliable, this is the best overview
major concepts and themes.
of the development of the notion of political/civil theology
Moltmann, Jürgen. The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the
in the West from antiquity to the present.
Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology. Translated
Lamb, Matthew L. Solidarity with Victims: Toward a Theology of
by Robert Wilson and John Bowden. New York, 1974. Uses
Social Transformation. New York, 1982. A difficult yet re-
themes from critical social theory as transposed into the per-
warding look at the possibilities of a comprehensive, differ-
spective of the interaction between Father and Son in the
entiated, yet committed framework (for the tasks articulated
crucifixion.
by Metz, the Latin Americans, and the critical social theo-
rists) to be found in the thought of Bernard J. F. Lonergan.
Latin American Liberation Theology
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Translated by Myra B.
Lonergan, Bernard J. F. Insight: A Study of Human Understanding
Ramos. New York, 1970. An extended commentary on the
(1957). Reprint, San Francisco, 1978. An invitation and
intrinsic nexus between language and life-form as the key to
phenomenological maieutic toward an appropriation of
initiating a reflection upon and transformation of life-
one’s rational self-consciousness and an intellectual conver-
practice and to our becoming subjects instead of objects of
sion of the heart of concrete practice.
history.
Lonergan, Bernard J. F. Method in Theology. New York, 1972.
Gutiérrez, Gustavo. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and
The best elucidation to date of the foundations of theology
Salvation. Translated and edited by Caridad Inda and John
as practical and political in a differentiated society.
Eagleson. Maryknoll, N.Y., 1973. Probably the classic text
embodying the demarche of liberation hermeneutics, it cor-
Strauss, Leo. Natural Right and History. Chicago, 1953. The best
relates biblical texts on emancipation with the contemporary
available account of the moral and political revolution from
social situation as brought to light through Marxist social
the classic tradition of natural right and natural law to the
theory.
modern horizon of natural and human rights, along with its
profound ambiguities.
Feminist Liberation Theology
Plaskow, Judith, and Elisabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, eds. Journal of
Strauss, Leo. Political Philosophy: Six Essays by Leo Strauss. Edited
Feminist Studies in Religion. Chico, Calif., 1985; Decatur,
by Hilail Gildin. Indianapolis, 1975. An expression of the
Ga., 1985–. A semiannual journal devoted to feminist re-
core of Strauss’s orientation, of which perhaps the most
search, discussion, and dialogue in all areas of religious
beneficial statement is the essay “The Three Waves of
studies, with articles regularly by all the leading theorists as
Modernity.”
well as newcomers.
Voegelin, Eric. Order and History, vol. 4, The Ecumenic Age. Baton
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. New Woman, New Earth. New York,
Rouge, La., 1974. An extended expression of Voegelin’s
1975. Here one of the most solid theorists not only retrieves
most mature position, but especially pertinent reflections on
many feminist motifs centrally important to secular femi-
the context of political theology in what he calls “historio-
nism but goes on to use them to show how the concerns of
genesis.”
feminist social critique are of intrinsic value to other empha-
ses related to racism, ecology, and so forth.
New Sources
Cone, James H. God of the Oppressed. rev. ed. Maryknoll, N.Y.,
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theo-
1997.
logical Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York, 1983.
A superb critical historian and a tough-minded and sane
Donovan, Oliver. The Desire of Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of
thinker, Schüssler-Fiorenza is able to document clearly how
Political Theology. Cambridge, U.K., 1996.
patriarchalism is not integral to Christianity, how the Chris-
Ellis, Marc, and Otto Maduro, eds. The Future of Liberation The-
tian community got derailed from its own meanings and val-
ology; Essays in Honor of Gustavo Gutiérrez. Maryknoll, N.Y.,
ues, and how these meanings and values can be recovered in
1989.
the present to the benefit of all Christians.
Gottwald, Norman K., and Richard A. Horsely, eds. The Bible
Black Political Theology
and Liberation: Political and Social Hermeneutics. Maryknoll,
West, Cornel. Prophesy Deliverance! An Afro-American Revolution-
N.Y., 1993.
ary Christianity. Philadelphia, 1982. A brilliant work from
the second generation of black theologians that brings the
Hennelley, Alfred T., ed. Liberation Theology: A Documentary His-
emancipatory thrust of black theology into dialogue with a
tory. Maryknoll, N.Y., 1990.
large number of influential “discourses,” including those of
Peterson, Anna L. Martyrdom and the Politics of Religion: Progres-
Jacques Derrida.
sive Catholicism in El Salvador’s Civil War. Albany, N.Y.,
Wilmore, Gayraud S., and James H. Cone, eds. Black Theology:
1997.
A Documentary History, 1966–1979. Maryknoll, N. Y.,
Smith, Christiana. Disruptive Religion: The Forces of Faith in Social
1979. An excellent “backgrounder” with all the most influ-
Movement Activism. New York and London, 1996.
ential statements and figures, along with bibliography.
Tabb, William K., ed. Churches in Struggle: Liberation Theologies
Miscellaneous Works
and Social Change in North America. New York, 1986.
Fiorenza, Francis S. “Political Theology as Foundational Theolo-
gy: An Inquiry into Their Fundamental Meaning.” Proceed-
FREDERICK G. LAWRENCE (1987)
ings of the Catholic Theological Society of America 32 (1977):
Revised Bibliography
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
POLITICS AND RELIGION
rationally ordered civil society. Consequently, in the eyes of
This entry consists of the following articles:
most European scholars of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, cultures that had not yet risen to this level of ratio-
AN OVERVIEW
POLITICS AND BUDDHISM
nal society were typically regarded as either “primitive” (i.e.,
POLITICS AND CHINESE RELIGION
most non-industrial indigenous traditions) or rooted in a
POLITICS AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
despotic confusion of religion and political power (e.g.
POLITICS AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
POLITICS AND CHRISTIANITY
Islam).
POLITICS AND ISLAM
Yet such a separation often makes little sense when ex-
POLITICS AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
POLITICS AND OCEANIC RELIGIONS
amining non-Western and non-industrialized cultures in
POLITICS AND NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
which the political and religious spheres are not only closely
entwined, but typically indistinguishable. In fact, it is per-
haps more accurate to say that the very act of defining reli-
POLITICS AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
gion, by demarcating it as a separate category distinct from
In his autobiographical account, Mohandas Gandhi (1869–
social structure, art, economics and other aspects of human
1948) made the now famous observation that “those who say
activity, is itself an inherently political act. It necessarily en-
religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what
tails the questions of what counts as legitimate religion, as
religion is” (Gandhi, 1940, p. 371). The history of twenti-
opposed to heresy, blasphemy, idolatry, savagery or “primi-
eth-century India—and, indeed, the entire modern world—
tive” beliefs and practices.
would surely seem to have confirmed the mahatma’s state-
ment, as religion has clearly emerged as a powerful force in-
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the expansion
spiring nationalist identity, anti-colonial movements for
of European colonialism and the conquest of the Americas,
independence, and revolutionary violence. While many soci-
India, Africa and other parts of the world. Just as Western
ologists had predicted that religion would gradually wane as
nations were conquering new worlds, they were also catego-
a cultural force in the face of the increasing rationalization
rizing and classifying newly discovered cultures in terms of
and “disenchantment” of the modern world, it would seem
their beliefs, superstitions and their distance from a rational,
that quite the opposite has occurred. Since the mid-
modern, “civilized” state. To cite just one of many examples,
twentieth century, religion has re-emerged as a powerful,
the rites of most Native American tribes were not initially
often violent and revolutionary force, with profound impli-
recognized by U.S. government officials as legitimate reli-
cations for global politics, social structure and transnational
gious forms on a par with Christianity or Judaism. Rather,
economics. The 1979 Sh¯ıE¯ı revolution in Iran, the rise of lib-
their “primitive” and savage character was a symptom of the
eration theology in South America, the political success of
Native Americans’ need to be governed, converted or simply
Hindu fundamentalism in India, the conflicts in Bosnia and
removed. Many rites, such as the Sun Dance and Ghost
Kosovo, the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine, the at-
Dance were banned altogether. Others, such as the use of
tacks on the World Trade Center Towers in 2001, and the
peyote as a sacrament, had to be contested legally throughout
rise of various forms of religious nationalism throughout the
the twentieth century, facing state prohibitions and congres-
globe all offer ample evidence that religion has by no means
sional bills banning its use, before finally being recognized
become a minor force on the periphery of global political and
as a religious rite. Ironically, the use of peyote was only recog-
economic issues. On the contrary, it is often at the heart of
nized as a legitimate form of religious expression once it was
them.
institutionalized in 1918 as the “Native American Church,”
dedicated “to teach the Christian religion with morality, so-
One could, however, go a great deal further than Gan-
briety, industry, kindly charity and right living”—in other
dhi’s assertion of the intimate relation between the religious
words, with the appearance of something more recognizably
and political realms. For the very idea of separating the terms
“Church-like” in the eyes of the government.
politics and religion is itself a fairly recent invention, since
Similar examples can be found throughout the history
these are both in a sense “imagined” categories that are large-
of the colonization of Africa, South America, and India,
ly the product of the European Enlightenment and the rise
where the act of defining “religion” was often intimately
of modern Western nations. Just as European intellectuals
bound to political conquest, colonial knowledge and control
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries began to “imag-
over indigenous populations. Increasingly since the nine-
ine religion” as a distinct and bounded category of human
teenth century, moreover, the act of defining religion has also
activity (Smith, 1982), so too, they began to imagine the sep-
become tied to explicitly political movements, such as reli-
aration between religious and political domains as a necessary
gious nationalism (e.g. India, Sri Lanka) and revolutionary
condition for a rational, secular society. Rejecting the reli-
extremism (e.g. Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan).
gious hegemony of the medieval Catholic Church, and re-
coiling from the wars of religion that tore Europe apart after
It is therefore perhaps more helpful to use a term like
the Protestant Reformation, many Enlightenment philoso-
“religio-political power” to refer to the complex ways in which
phers like John Locke insisted upon a separation of religious
this-worldly relations of power, domination and social con-
belief and political power as a necessary precondition for a
trol are inevitably intertwined with appeals to otherworldly,
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
7249
transcendent or supra-human sources of authority (Chid-
scendent authority (Lincoln, 2003, p. 6–7). Politics, history,
ester, 1988, p. 2). Even in the contemporary United States—
economics, art, and other forms of cultural discourse, con-
ostensibly founded on a “clear wall of separation between
versely, tend to speak in a fallible human voice about this-
Church and State,” and yet still committed to the ideals of
worldly, temporal and finite affairs; to the degree that they
“in God we trust” and “one nation under God”—it is not
begin to speak with a more than human voice, we could say,
difficult to see complex intersections between the secular
they begin to move into the realm of religion.
and the spiritual in the construction of a collective national
In most cultures, the religious and political domains are
identity.
bound in an intimate, symbiotic, but also tense and conflict-
This article will first suggest some basic ways of distin-
ed relationship. Religious discourse might be said to repre-
guishing between religious and political power in a practical
sent the ultimate motivator, that is, the most persuasive force
or provisional way, and then examine seven modern theoreti-
used to mobilize individual and collective action. With its
cal approaches. Finally, it will outline eight basic modes of
appeal to supra-human and transcendent authority, religious
interaction between religion and politics, and conclude with
discourse can lend the ultimate legitimation to temporal po-
some remarks on the role of religio-political power in the
litical power. Indeed, even Niccolò Machiavelli, in his classic
context of globalization and transnationalism.
work on political pragmatism, recognized this legitimizing
power. Thus he advised that the prince should “appear a man
HUMAN AND SUPRA-HUMAN SOURCES OF AUTHORITY. De-
of compassion, a man of good faith, a man of integrity, a
spite the fact that the very idea of separating religion and pol-
kind and a religious man,” adding that the last quality is the
itics is a relatively recent product of post-Enlightenment Eu-
most important (Machiavelli, 1999, p. 58). In turn, religious
ropean discourse, it is arguably still useful to distinguish
institutions typically rely upon the patronage, financial sup-
between them as a heuristic device or practical tool in order
port and physical protection of political powers. Yet at the
to understand how power works in particular cultures. Vari-
same time, the supra-human authority of religious discourse
ous authors have suggested ways of defining and distinguish-
can also be invoked to critique, challenge, or subvert the
ing the two terms. Perhaps the most common way has been
dominant political order; and conversely, the “legitimate vio-
to identify religion and politics, respectively, with the sacred
lence” of political power can be used to silence, suppress or
and profane aspects of human experience. Thus, according
crush dissident religious voices.
to historian George Armstrong Kelly, “politics is the ultimate
control system of the profane, and religion is the ultimate
MODERN WESTERN THEORIES OF RELIGION AND POLITICS.
control system of the sacred” (Douglas and Tipton, 1983,
Sophisticated reflection on the nature of spiritual and politi-
p. 208).
cal power is not, of course, a modern phenomenon. Plato’s
Republic and Aristotle’s Politics in classical Greece,
However, perhaps a more nuanced way to understand
Kaut:ilya’s’s Artha´sa¯stra in ancient India, the works of Arab
the distinction between religious and political phenomena
theologians in early Islam, the works of medieval theologians
lies in the sorts of authority to which they appeal in order
like Augustine, Aquinas, Maimonides, etc., all represent seri-
to justify their power. In broadest terms, politics could be
ous analyses of the ideal polity and its relation to the divine.
said to refer to the “network of power relations in society”;
Yet the idea of clearly defining religion and politics as two
it consists of the “lines of authority, instruments of control,
distinct spheres of human activity—spheres that should ide-
strategies of domination, and the enforcement of order that
ally have as little to with one another as possible—is a rela-
all contribute to a certain distribution of power within a set
tively modern idea with a history that is itself not free of
of social relations” (Chidester, 1988, p. 5). And a key part
political implications. Indeed, it was not until the Enlighten-
of political power is the right to exercise violence. Indeed,
ment that religion itself emerges as a distinct category in
as Max Weber (1864–1920) observed, the State is simply a
Western discourse and politics emerges as a category against
community that “claims the monopoly on the legitimate use
which it is contrasted. The relationship between these two
of physical force” and the “‘right’ to use violence” within a
categories has, moreover, been theorized in many different
given territory (1946: 78).
ways over the last 300 years. For the sake of simplicity, six
What most distinguishes specifically religious forms of
major models will be discussed that have emerged in Western
discourse from political and other sorts of discourse, howev-
discourse since the Enlightenment.
er, is their appeal to a particular kind of authority—namely,
The European Enlightenment, from Locke to Kant.
to a transcendent, supra-human or eternal source of authori-
The European Enlightenment can be read as, among other
ty believed to lie beyond the temporal, fallible, human realm.
things, a critique of the powerful religious hegemony held
“Religion,” Bruce Lincoln observes, “. . .is that discourse
by the medieval Catholic Church, which had asserted the
whose defining characteristic is its desire to speak of things
spiritual and temporal supremacy of the Papacy over all
eternal and transcendent with an authority equally transcen-
human domains, often including that of kings and emperors.
dent and eternal” (Lincoln, 1996, p. 225). And this discur-
By the end of the Middle Ages, and particularly after the
sive appeal to a supra-human authority is in turn tied to a
Protestant Reformation and the ensuing violence of Europe’s
set of practices, to a community, and to an institution, all
wars of religion, that religio-political hegemony had been se-
of which serve to reproduce and reaffirm this claim to tran-
riously called into question and attacked on many sides.
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
Arguably the most influential modern author to argue
fruits of their own labor. This alienation is the spiritual ana-
for a clear separation of religious and political affairs was the
logue of the alienation suffered by the laborer in a capitalist
English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704). In his “Letter
economy, separated from the fruits of his own labor which
Concerning Tolerance” (1667), Locke distinguishes religion
becomes the profit of the boss or factory owner. As such, reli-
and politics as two separate and legitimate spheres of human
gion is itself the by-product of the social and political order;
endeavor; the former primarily concerns individual belief
it is the “spiritual aroma” of the state, masking the domina-
and personal conviction, and the latter civil law and public
tion of the powerful and the wealthy over the weak and the
action. As such, religious belief should not be restricted by
poor, and making oppressive social conditions appear at once
political control, and conversely, political discourse should
agreeable and divinely ordained. Thus, “the criticism of
not be affected by religious conviction. Religion is for Locke
heaven turns into the criticism of earth, the criticism of reli-
an inward and private affair—indeed, “all the life and power
gion into the criticism of law, and the criticism of theology
of true religion consist in the inward and full persuasion of
into the criticism of politics” (Raines, pp. 171–172).
the mind”—which means that it cannot be governed by ex-
ternal political power: “the whole jurisdiction of the magis-
Yet contrary to many popular interpretations, Marx is
trate reaches only to these civil concernments. . . . [I]t nei-
not entirely negative or dismissive in his evaluation of reli-
ther can nor ought in any manner to be extended to the
gion. Religion reflects a genuine need for meaning and con-
salvation of souls” (Cahn, p. 508). In the process, however,
solation in the face of oppression, offering at once “the ex-
Locke also effectively reduced religion to a kind of disem-
pression of real suffering and protest against suffering.” Yet
bodied, internal affair between the individual and God,
it is a protest that is misdirected, seeking imaginary ideals
something fundamentally removed from the political do-
rather than real material happiness. In sum, the “abolition
main and thus of no practical importance for civil society.
of religion as illusory happiness is necessary for real happi-
ness” (Raines, p. 171).
By the late eighteenth century, philosophers like Im-
manuel Kant (1724–1804) would render judgment on the
Toward the end of his life, Marx would return to the
legitimate place of religion “within the limits of reason
question of religion as not simply a source of oppression, but
alone” (Kant, 1793). For Kant, religion was acknowledged
also as a potential source of a kind of apocalyptic hope for
to have a privileged place, engaged as it is in lofty metaphysi-
radical transformation. The religious cry of protest could also
cal issues such as the existence of God or the immortality of
perhaps articulate the voice of the oppressed seeking exodus
the soul; but it was deemed inappropriate for all other more
toward a totally new world, as a kind of early, undeveloped
practical affairs, including polity and governance.
prefiguration of genuine political revolution. This revolu-
tionary potential of myth and religious ideology would later
This intellectual definition of—and clear demarcation
be taken up and developed by various later Marxists, from
between—the appropriate domains of religion and politics
revolutionary nationalists in India to Liberation theologians
set out by Locke, Kant and other Enlightenment philoso-
in South America. As more recent authors like Bruce Lincoln
phers would provide the theoretical basis for many modern
have shown, religious discourse can indeed be used to but-
Western nations, such as the early United States. Yet, as vari-
tress the existing political order and status quo. However, it
ous scholars have observed, this definition of religion and
can also be used to challenge, subvert and overthrow that
politics as two separate domains of activity in rational, civi-
same order by appealing to a transcendent source of authori-
lized society was itself part of a larger political agenda; it pro-
ty that contests the status quo and provides the inspiration
vided the basis for a hierarchical ranking of cultures from
for rebellion or revolution.
“primitive” to “modern,” as well as the legitimation for rul-
ing those who were incapable of distinguishing between
If Marx sees the criticism of religion as necessary for a
proper rational governance and oppression of religious des-
criticism of politics, he does not, however, hope for a simple
potism.
replacement of religious authority by state power. On the
contrary, the ultimate goal would be the “withering away of
Karl Marx and Neo-Marxism. If Locke and other En-
the state” altogether. In a truly egalitarian community, the
lightenment intellectuals critiqued the dangerous mixture of
specialized functions once held by political offices would be
religion and politics, many nineteenth century authors cri-
gradually turned over to the self-management of the proletar-
tiqued the very nature of religion itself as a mask or mystifica-
iat, and finally class society itself would be transformed into
tion of underlying economic and political interests. For Karl
a classless society in which hierarchical distinctions collapse
Marx, the criticism of religion is in fact the “prerequisite of
altogether. In this sense, one might say that the criticism of
all criticism”; for religion represents the most extreme form
religion and the abolition of its illusory promise are only the
of ideology and “alienation.” It involves the human being’s
first steps toward the larger criticism of politics and the aboli-
own self-deception and mystification, which is the basis of
tion of the illusory promises of the State. The great irony in
all other sorts of alienation, including the more developed
the later history of Communist thought, of course, is that
forms of modern capitalism. For Marx, God does not make
Marxism would itself be reinterpreted, transformed and used
human beings; rather, human beings make gods and then
to create some of the most powerful state apparatuses, politi-
deny that they have done so, alienating themselves from the
cal ideologies, and some would say quasi-religious systems
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7251
ever known, such as the former Soviet Union and Commu-
impeded the growth of capitalist accumulation and sup-
nist China.
ported very different political and economic systems.
Religion, society and politics: Émile Durkheim and
In contrast to Durkheim, Weber was more interested in
Max Weber. While Marx saw religion primarily as a negative
the role of individual agents, particularly extraordinary, char-
social force, imposing political conformity and resignation
ismatic agents such as prophets, reformers and founders who
to suffering, other modern theorists like Émile Durkheim
provide alternative sources of authority that shatter estab-
(1858–1917) had a more positive regard for religion’s role
lished patterns of traditional and legal authority. Indeed,
in society. Durkheim’s classic Elementary Forms of the Reli-
charismatic religious power can erupt into a force of intense
gious Life (1912) defines religion primarily as a system of be-
change, reform, even revolution against the established polit-
liefs and practices relative to sacred things which “unite into
ical order.
one single moral community . . . all those who adhere to
However, as he observed in his classic lecture on “Poli-
them” (Durkheim, p. 62). Religion is primarily a source of
tics as a Vocation,” the political realm also involves inherent
social cohesion, binding individuals into a whole that seems
ethical paradoxes that pose special problems for all religious
to them larger than the sum of its parts—indeed, sacred. The
traditions. Above all, politics demands the necessary use of
sacred is, in sum, society writ large. Using as his primary ex-
force—indeed, “the decisive means for politics is violence”—
ample the system of “totemism” among Australian aboriginal
which means that politics can never be the place for those
communities, Durkheim suggests that the totem symbol is
who seek the salvation of souls or an “acosmic ethic of love”
nothing less than the “flag” of the clan (Durkheim, p. 236).
(1918, pp. 119, 121). The moral paradox of politics and vio-
For the intense emotions generated by religious rites are at-
lence is one with which every religion must struggle, yet al-
tached to the totem, which then becomes a sacred object em-
ways with limited success.
bodying the cohesion of individuals with the larger whole of
the social group.
Mircea Eliade and the history of religions. In the
middle of the twentieth century, a number of European and
It is not difficult to see the relevance of Durkheim’s
American scholars began to react against what they saw as
analysis of religious totemism for modern politics and the
the reduction of religion to various other, non-religious sorts
“flag-totem” of the modern state. Indeed, Durkheim was
of explanations, such as materialist critiques, social function-
concerned that the social cohesion once provided by tradi-
alism and Freudian psychoanalysis. Instead, they sought to
tional religious institutions like the Church were waning in
reaffirm the independent, autonomous nature of religious
the face of an increasingly complex and scientific modern
experience prior to and beyond any other social, psychologi-
world. The result of this loss of social unity was the growing
cal or political phenomena.
sense of anomie, the isolation, fragmentation and suicidal de-
spair felt by the modern individual. The decline of tradition-
The most influential figure in this regard—and indeed
al religious institutions, did not, however, necessarily signal
arguably the most influential historian of religions in the
the dissolution of society altogether. Rather, Durkheim was
twentieth century—was the Romanian born émigré to the
hopeful that even as the “old gods are growing old or already
United States, Mircea Eliade (1907–1986). For Eliade, reli-
dead,” new kinds of rituals would emerge to affirm society’s
gious phenomena are fundamentally sui generis or “of their
basic values, “keeping alive their memory by means of cele-
own origin”; in other words, they are irreducible to anything
brations which regularly reproduce their fruits” (Durkheim,
else. A religious phenomenon must be taken seriously “on
1961, p. 475).
its plane of reference,” and not reduced to one of its “second-
ary aspects or its contexts,” such as economic, social struc-
But clearly, religion is not only and always a source of
ture, psychology or politics. Even seemingly highly politi-
social unity, cohesion and stability; rather, as Max Weber ob-
cized phenomena such as the so-called cargo cults that
served, religious ideas could act as forces of both the legitima-
emerged in Melanesia in the wake of western contact and
tion of established political structures and as forces of change
colonization cannot be explained by their sociopolitical cir-
and transformation. Religion was for Weber a separate insti-
cumstances; rather they must be treated as genuine “spiritual
tution inevitably involved in an ongoing process of interac-
creations” (Eliade, 1969, pp. 98–99). This respect for the au-
tion with other social institutions, assuming different mean-
tonomous value of religious phenomena, Eliade believed,
ings in specific social, economic and political contexts.
could provide the basis for a kind of “new humanism” on
Rejecting the historical materialism of orthodox Marxism,
a global scale. Unlike the social and political visions of Marx
Weber saw religion not simply as a mask for underlying eco-
or Durkheim, Eliade’s new humanism would demand an ap-
nomic and political forces; rather, religious ideas could also
preciation for the religious worldviews of all cultures, as legit-
transform the economic and political domains. In his best-
imate encounters with the sacred that cannot be explained
known example of Protestant Christianity, the Calvinist eth-
away as masks for political interests or mere products of so-
ics of hard work, thrift, and inner-worldly asceticism had a
cial structure.
kind of elective affinity with the rise of modern capitalism
and with the politics of modern European states. Other reli-
Although Eliade would become arguably the single most
gious systems, such as Hinduism and Confucianism, instead
influential voice in the comparative study of religion in the
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
latter twentieth century, he would also come under severe
by authors like Grace Jantzen in her work on medieval Chris-
criticism—in part for his attempt to define religion as an au-
tian mysticism. As Jantzen argues, the ways in which legiti-
tonomous sui generis phenomena distinct from history, soci-
mate religious experience is defined—and also contrasted
ety and politics. Thus he has been charged as the “leading
with heresy, delusion or demonic inspiration—is inherently
anti-historian of religion” (Dudley, 1977:148) whose univer-
tied to political interests and relations of power between the
salist approach does not so much interpret as it “manufac-
sexes. For it is inevitably bound to questions such as who has
tures” religion (McCutcheon, 1997). While many of these
the authority to speak with divine sanction? Who has the le-
criticisms may be unfair, Eliade’s attempt to avoid the pitfalls
gitimation to support or challenge existing religious and po-
of reductionism did lead him to de-emphasize the political
litical institutions? Who, and which sex, is considered more
contexts, consequences and complications of religious phe-
naturally open to mystical experience, yet also more suscepti-
nomena in favor of their a-political or trans-political themes
ble to delusion? In sum, mysticism—like the category of reli-
(see Wasserstom, 1998; Strenski, 1977).
gion itself—is a constructed category that is inevitably tied
to both gender and politics.
Feminist critiques. If Marx made the criticism of reli-
gion the foundation for the criticism of all other forms of
The micropolitics of power: post-structuralist ap-
material oppression, many feminist theorists would also
proaches. It is perhaps worth noting at least one of the alter-
make the criticism of religion the foundation for a critique
native approaches to the analysis of religion, politics and
of gender politics and asymmetries of power between the
power that emerged in the second half of the twentieth cen-
sexes. The more extreme version of the feminist critique
tury, particularly in the wake of movements like postmod-
emerged out of the second wave and radical feminist move-
ernism and post-structuralism. Arguably the most influential
ments of the 1960s, with theorists like Mary Daly. In Daly’s
figure for the theorizing of power in the latter twentieth cen-
view, the entire imagery of God the Father as divine judge
tury is the French historian, Michel Foucault (1926–1984).
and patriarch has served as the justification for a male-
Contrary to most earlier analyses of power, which begin from
dominated hierarchy of power on the religious, social and
the top down, viewing power primarily as an oppressive and
political levels alike. For the past 2000 years mainstream
dominating force wielded by the few, Foucault views power
western religious institutions have supported a fundamental-
from the bottom up. Rather than viewing power on the
ly patriarchal social and political structure, built upon the
“macro-political level” of nations and states, Foucault turns
oppression of female power. What is now needed, Daly sug-
instead to the micro-politics or “capillary circuits” of
gests, is a kind of divine rage in order to deconstruct and
power—the ways in which power operates in the lives of all
move beyond the “biblical and popular image of God as a
individual members of a given social order, in the most mun-
great patriarch in heaven;” indeed, they need to “castrate
dane details of daily life such as dress, bodily comportment,
God,” in order to free themselves from an icon that has for
physical practices, and diet (Foucault, 1978). Thus Foucault
millennia justified a patriarchal political system, and to real-
was particularly interested in a specifically embodied kind of
ize instead the inherent divinity of the female body (Daly,
power—bio-power or bio-politics—through which power is
1973, pp. 13–32).
exercised upon individual human bodies and thereby human
subjects. One of the most crucial fields for the operation of
Most later feminist theorists of religion distanced them-
bio-power, for example, is sexuality; for sexuality lies at the
selves considerably from the extreme rhetoric and essentialist
pivot of two key axes: power over individual bodies and
gender politics of radical feminists like Daly. More moderate
power over social bodies or the body politic (Gutting, 1994,
theorists have tried to find ways to apply a serious feminist
p. 144). Control of individual sexual activity and reproduc-
critique of particular religious institutions, while still salvag-
tion, in other words, is the key to the larger control of popu-
ing the meaningful dimensions of religious experience itself.
lations and governance of society as a whole.
Rita Gross, for example, suggests that it is possible to re-read
religious history from a feminist perspective, critiquing op-
Religions, too, employ a variety of bodily and sexual
pressive gender relations, and so recovering women’s reli-
techniques—such as chastity, penance, fasting, confession—
gious voices and a feminine dimensions of the sacred. This
in order to discipline the body and create certain kinds of
requires a fundamental paradigm shift away form the current
subjects. The role of confession in the medieval Catholic
androcentric model of humanity to an androgynous or bisex-
church, for example, was a particularly effective form of “pas-
ual model of humanity (Gross, p. 20). As Wendy Doniger
toral power,” which gave the church intimate knowledge and
suggests, the frank recognition that religion is intimately tied
individualized control over its subjects, while at the same
to both political power and sexual oppression does not mean
time interiorizing a sense of sin, guilt and moral conscience
that one need jettison the spiritual baby with the patriarchal
within the individual believer.
bathwater. That is, one can still recover the meaningfulness
and value of religious narratives, while seriously critiquing
However, Foucault sees an important shift in the opera-
their political and sexual implications (1998: 109–35).
tions of power in modern Western societies, particularly
since the Enlightenment. Whereas the medieval Church ex-
Finally, in the wake of post-structuralism and French
ercised a kind of pastoral power, by monitoring and disci-
feminist thought, more nuanced critiques have been made
plining individuals through techniques like confession, mod-
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7253
ern European states developed ever more effective means of
political orders that are not in accord with God’s will,” while
governing large populations through new sciences of the
in the “ontocratic” religions of Asia, “the harmonious state
body, medicine and sexuality. Ultimately, Foucault sees
is the supreme earthly embodiment of cosmic totality”
modern forms of power as a fusion of the individualizing pas-
(Stackhouse, 1986, p. 415). Others like William Scott Green
toral power once exercised by the Church and the modern
have tried to distinguish and compare six major traditions,
totalizing power of the state: “This is government with the
based on the core theological doctrines, which, he suggests,
motto ones et singulatum—of all and of each. It represents
naturally lead to distinct relations between religion and poli-
the modern, biopolitical, and daemonic fusion of pastoral
tics in each case (Neusner, p. 5).
and polis. . . . It is a power that both individualizes and to-
Yet all of these attempts to make sweeping comparisons
talizes” (Fabion, 2001, p. xxviii).
based on Abrahamic vs. Oriental or core theological doc-
Some have argued that Foucault’s work offers an ex-
trines ultimately seem superficial. One need not look far into
tremely useful new way to think about religion as a whole.
the history of any tradition to see that the relations between
Religion in this sense would be seen less as a matter of other-
religious and political authority shift dramatically in differ-
worldly faith than as a fundamentally embodied, corporal
ent historical contexts. Buddhism, for example, begins with
phenomenon concerned with physical practice and the disci-
Siddha¯rtha Gautama’s renunciation of his own royal status
plining of the self through bodily action. Finally, Foucault’s
and a general withdrawal from the political realm. Yet from
model of power also forces us to view religion as an inherent-
the time of Emperor A´soka (r. c. 270–230 BCE) onward,
ly political phenomenon, “taken out of its privileged realm
Buddhism as an institution gained the patronage of kings
and brought into the body politic and the heart of culture”
throughout Asia, from China and Japan to Tibet and mod-
(Carrette, 2000, p. xi). As Foucault put it in his comments
ern Thailand. Usually portrayed as a religion stressing peace,
on the Iranian revolution, this is a view of “religion which
non-violence and compassion, Buddhism has also become a
speaks less of a Beyond than of the transformations in this
powerful force in modern nationalist movements and even
world” (Foucault, 1994, p. 716).
religious violence in areas like Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Con-
versely, Islam begins with more or less complete fusion of re-
This brief overview of various theoretical approaches is
ligious and political power in the person of the Prophet and
surely not meant to be exhaustive. Yet it can be seen from
the early Caliphs. Yet in modern times, many Muslims have
these six models that the relationship between religion and
largely accepted a form of church-state separation in secular
politics can be construed in a variety of different, often con-
nations (e.g. Turkey, Bangladesh), while others have turned
tradictory ways, each of which is useful in understanding par-
to extremist fervor and a revolutionary return to the ideal
ticular historical cases, but none of which is by itself com-
polity of early Islam.
plete. In the end, the attempt to construct a single grand
theory that explains religion and politics on some universal
There are no easy generalizations regarding the balance
scale is not a very fruitful endeavor. Rather, it is perhaps
of religious and political power in different traditions. It may
more useful to think of religious discourse, with its appeal
be true that one can identify certain kinds of elective affini-
to a transcendent source of authority, as a unique and power-
ties, to use Weber’s phrase, between particular religious be-
ful kind of cultural resource. This is a resource that can be
liefs and particular socio-economic or political formations—
deployed strategically for a wide range of political interests,
such as the Protestant ethic and early modern capitalism, or
at once to reinforce a given political formation and to contest
certain forms of New Age spirituality and late capitalism. Yet
it, to forge powerful nationalist bonds and to tear those
even these examples show that every religious tradition has
bonds apart through revolutionary violence.
undergone radical change in different social and historical
S
contexts, in some cases wedding religious and political au-
TRATEGIC RELATIONS BETWEEN RELIGIOUS AND POLITI-
thority, in other cases, turning religious appeals for transfor-
CAL POWER: EIGHT PATTERNS. As the sub-entries that fol-
low this essay clearly demonstrate, the relations between reli-
mation into a radical challenge to the existing political order.
gious and political power are remarkably varied, not simply
In broadest terms, however, there are at least eight pri-
between different traditions but even within the same tradi-
mary strategic relations between political and religious
tion in different historical periods. These range from the
power. None of these is intended to represent a fixed or uni-
complete fusion of religio-political power, to the suppression
versal category, but simply a comparative pattern that recurs
of religion by political power, to the violent revolt of the for-
in various cultures and historical periods.
mer against the latter.
Religo-political synthesis: the religious as the politi-
Various authors have tried to make broad generaliza-
cal. One of the primary reasons modern Western scholars
tions about the relations between religion and politics in par-
have had such difficulty understanding (and tolerating)
ticular traditions or families of traditions. Some, for example,
Islam is its fusion of political and religious authority. For
have tried to contrast the “monotheistic” or Abrahamic reli-
scholars raised in a post-Enlightenment separation of
gions with the “ontocratic” or “Oriental” and “primal reli-
Church and State, the Prophet’s skillful combination of mili-
gions.” According to Max Stackhouse, the monotheistic tra-
tary prowess, political leadership and spiritual authority has
ditions “distinguish between God and the world and reject
long been dismissed as a vulgar manipulation of religion for
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
political ends. Yet this really misses the very point of Islam
curring tension between the religious and spiritual domains,
as a total worldview that does not separate the “religious”
with the constant threat that the superior strength of the king
from other spheres of life, but rather embraces the social, po-
might break its bounds and reassert itself.
litical, economic and military realms in one total attitude of
Religious and political power as separate (but inter-
submission to God. The Islamic system of holy law and juris-
dependent or rival) forces. Medieval Christian Europe pro-
prudence (shar¯ı Eah) provides rules for the conduct of all as-
vides some instructive examples of the political and religious
pects of life, including not only spiritual practice, but also
spheres in an ongoing relationship that was at once one of
family life, commerce, social activities, governance, and war.
tension, rivalry, competition and symbiosis. Like the authors
As John Esposito suggests, traditional Islam might be better
of the Vedas, medieval authors commonly imagined the so-
described not as a theocracy but rather as a kind of nomocra-
cial order as a hierarchical organism, usually a tripartite body
cy, that is, a community governed by divine law as the sover-
comprised of clerics, nobles and serfs. Yet there was some dis-
eign authority and embodiment of the Word of God.
agreement as to which of the first two classes, priests or nobil-
Such fusion of religious and political power is by no
ity, Pope or Holy Roman Emperor, was the true head of the
means unique to Islam. Another particularly clear example
social body. As Jacques Le Goff observes, “Christianity was
is the rise of the Dalai Lama in Vajraya¯na Buddhism, who
bicephalous: its two heads were the pope and the emper-
served as the combined religious and political leader of Tibet
or. . . [T]he relations between the two heads of Christianity
from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. Embodying both
displayed the competition at the top: the two dominant but
the highest Buddhist ideals of infinite compassion and the
rival orders, the clergy and the lay hierarchy—priests and
center of the socio-political man:d:ala, the Dalai Lama sur-
warriors, magical power and military might” (Le Goff,
vived as a powerful religio-political institution for 500 years
pp. 264-265).
until the Communist invasion of Tibet. Even into the twen-
Since the time of Pope Gregory I (c. 540–604), the Pa-
ty-first century, as a winner of the Noble Peace Prize and an
pacy had proclaimed itself the supreme leader of both secular
outspoken commentator on global issues, the exiled Dalai
and religious domains; yet throughout the history the medi-
Lama remains a potent religio-political symbol. He repre-
eval Church, bishops and kings, Popes and Emperors existed
sents the spread of the once esoteric system of Tibetan Bud-
in competitive and at times violent rivalry. Thus Pope Greg-
dhism to all points of the globe and the hope of freedom for
ory VII would challenge the power of Emperor Henry IV in
the Tibetan people.
German lands, finally excommunicating him; in England,
Religious authority above political power. At least in
Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas à Becket defended the
its ideal form, the classical Hindu varn:a system provides one
authority of the Church against King Henry II, leading to
of the clearest examples of a hierarchical ordering of society
his own death in 1170. Perhaps the most remarkable conflict
in which the religious or priestly (brahmana) class is at once
between religious and political authority was that between
spiritually and metaphysically superior to the royal or warrior
Pope Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France, which led to
(ks:atriya) class. While the king is recognized for his physical
the Pope’s arrest and death in prison in 1313, the “Babylo-
power and political authority, the brahmana is recognized for
nian exile” of the Church from Rome to Avignon (1378–
his purity, which marks him as spiritually superior to all
1417), and finally the schism of the Church into a puppet
other classes. Since the time of the earliest Indian scriptures,
Papacy in France and a series of rival Popes in Rome.
the Vedas, this hierarchical model has been given both a
In modern times, one of the most striking examples of
mythological and a cosmological justification. According to
the interdependence of religious and political authority is the
the creation myth found in R:gveda X.90, the universe was
rise of the Wahha¯b¯ı reformist movement in Saudi Arabia
born from the primal sacrifice of the first Person, purus:a,
since the eighteenth century. The result of an alliance be-
whose body was dismembered and divided to create both the
tween the reformist theologian Muh:ammad ibn Abd al-
hierarchy of the universe (heaven, atmosphere, earth) and the
Wahhab (1702–1792) and a tribal chief, Muh:ammad ibn
hierarchy of the four social classes. Here the priest emerges
Saud (d. 1765), the Wahha¯b¯ı movement sought to unite the
from the head of the cosmic man, while the ks:atriya emerges
tribes of Arabia under the religious banner of Islam. Com-
from his torso. Although the king may be greater in terms
bining strict religious purification with military action to en-
of power and material capital, the brahmana is always superi-
force religious precepts, the Wahha¯b¯ıs used religious ideology
or in sacredness and spiritual capital. The two are bound in
to inform and guide political activity. This powerful alliance
an intimate relationship of reciprocity. Thus the Vedic sacri-
of religion and politics remains largely intact today in the
ficial ritual was, in many ways, an elaborate exchange be-
kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while also powerfully influencing
tween religious and political power, in which the brahmana
recent regimes such as the Taliban in Afghanistan.
received gifts and fees while the ks:atriya received status and
legitimacy.
Political power over religious authority. With its ap-
peal to a transcendent supra-human and otherworldly source
Of course, this superiority of the brahmana over the
of authority, religious discourse always poses a potential
ks:atriya was probably always more an ideal than a practical
threat to political power; as such, it is often tightly con-
reality. There would remain throughout Indian history a re-
trolled, restricted, at times entirely suppressed by political re-
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
7255
gimes. Various Chinese emperors, for example, perceived
cans and whites, Jones preached a socialist brand of Chris-
Buddhism to be a subversive force within their domain; thus
tianity that fiercely attacked the United States government
during the Huichang suppression under the Tang Emperor
as the “antichrist” and American capitalism as the “antichrist
Wuzong (r. 840–846) purged monasteries, banned pilgrim-
system.” After facing intense attacks from government agen-
ages, and finally seized Buddhist property for the state.
cies, the media, and white supremacist groups, Jones and his
Perhaps the most extreme example of the exertion of
followers withdrew from the U.S. to Guyana in 1977. When
secular political power over religious institutions occurred in
the anti-cult group, Concerned Relatives, and Congressman
modern communist countries, such as China after the rise
Leo Ryan continued to pressure the movement, Jones decid-
of the Communist Party and particularly during the Cultural
ed it was time to withdraw from the world altogether. Over
Revolution (1966–1976). Targeting Buddhism, Daoism,
nine hundred of his followers drank or were forced to drink
and Confucianism as part of the “four olds” (old ideas, old
Kool-aid laced with cyanide, while Jones himself died of an
culture, old customs, old habits), the Communist Party put
apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. As Jones put it in
an end to all public displays of religion, damaging temples
his farewell audio tape, “we didn’t commit suicide, we com-
and purging churches of religious symbols. Even more ex-
mitted an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the condi-
treme state repressions of religion took place under other
tions of an inhumane world” (Wessinger, 2000, p. 51).
Marxist-inspired regimes, such as Albania under Enver
Religion in the service of political power: Religious
Hoxha (1908–1985). Between 1947 and 1990, religion was
nationalism in the modern state. Among the most striking
not only stifled but simply abolished.
features of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is the rise
It is by no means only communist regimes that have
of a new form of religious nationalism in more or less all parts
been known to suppress religious movements. Already noted
of the colonial and post-colonial world. As new national
is the U.S. government’s suppression of various Native
“imagined communities” emerged out of the demise of Euro-
American rituals such as the Sun Dance and Peyote religion.
pean colonization (Anderson, 1983), a redefined and nation-
A more recent example is the assault on the Branch Davidian
alized religious identity has often provided the foundation
compound at Waco Texas by the BATF and FBI from Feb-
for this re-imagining of political communities. Indeed, it
ruary to April of 1993. In this case government agencies not
would seem that much of the world simply does not share
only secretly infiltrated and monitored the movement, but
the western ideal of a secular modern nation based on a clear
mounted a large scale siege of the compound using heavily
separation of church and state. Instead, many national iden-
armed officers and tanks, resulting in the death of seventy-
tities have been born out of deep religious roots, shaped by
five people, including twenty-one children. If post-
ritual performance and mythic narratives. A reformed reli-
Enlightenment nations like the U.S. are founded on a separa-
gious and national identity has been an integral part of the
tion of church and state, then cases like the Waco disaster
rise of modern India, Sri Lanka, Israel, various parts of the
make it clear that religious power is still, in the end, subordi-
Muslim world, Kosovo, Bosnia, and even the United States,
nate to the political power and military strength of the state.
as the rise of the new Christian right suggests. The modern
Religious withdrawal from the political sphere. Par-
state of Israel provides perhaps the clearest example of a new
ticularly during periods of oppressive rule, many religious
political entity emerging out of the collapse of European co-
groups choose the option of general disengagement or with-
lonial power, and founded on a uniquely religious identity;
drawal from the political realm. Turning to a supra-human,
thus the Balfour Declaration of 1917 promised European Zi-
eternal source of authority, religious leaders can always claim
onists “a national home for Jewish people” (Farsoun and Za-
to transcend any merely human government, and so ignore
charia, 1997). In the process of nationalization, however,
or treat as secondary the demands of worldly politics. The
these religious traditions have often been purged of their het-
sayings of Jesus Christ and the life of the early church under
erogeneous or divisive elements, re-packaged in a more ho-
Roman rule provide some of the clearest examples of this
mogenous form to attract the broadest number of devotees,
withdrawal from politics. Christ’s assertion that his “king-
and so used to define religious practice as a kind of patriotic
dom is not of this world,” while advising his disciples to “ren-
duty.
der unto Ceasar” what is owed to the Empire at once ac-
The case of modern Hinduism is a particularly instruc-
knowledges the reality of alien political power and yet also
tive example of the complex nature of religious nationalism.
denies it any ultimate significance. As an eschatological reli-
Indeed, the modern imagining of Hinduism itself —which
gion, early Christianity on the whole focused on the divine
is not an indigenous term but a construction of nineteenth
kingdom to come, not the world as it was; thus it delegiti-
century Indian elites and European scholars—went hand in
mized the latter with the promise of a more perfect rule in
hand with the rise of the Indian nation as an imagined com-
the heavenly kingdom.
munity. For early religious nationalists like Swami Viveka-
A more recent and more disturbing example of this reli-
nanda (1863–1902), the young Aurobindo Ghose and many
gious withdrawal from the political is the case of the Peoples
others, the revival of a strong and vigorous form of Hindu-
Temple led by Jim Jones (1931–1978) in the 1970s. With
ism was a crucial part of creating an autonomous Indian na-
a utopian vision of racial harmony between African Ameri-
tion, free of the shackles of British rule. Thus Vivekananda
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called not just for the revival of his country but for the “con-
ry. Rejecting traditional religious institutions like Christiani-
quest of the whole world by the Hindu race”; indeed, “we
ty as divisive and in fact corrosive of social unity, Rousseau
must conquer the world through our spirituality . . . The
called instead for “a purely civil profession of faith whose ar-
only condition of . . . awakened and vigorous national life
ticles the sovereign is competent to determine, not precisely
is the conquest of the world by Indian thought” (Vivekanan-
as religious dogmas but as sentiments of sociability, without
da, 1984: 276, 277).
which it is impossible to be a good citizen or a faithful sub-
ject” (1762: Chidester, 1988, p. 82). The basis of Rousseau’s
This kind of Hindu nationalism is by no means a quaint
civil faith was fairly minimal, asking only belief in an all-
relic of colonial India; rather, it has continued as a powerful
powerful deity, the survival of the soul after death, the reward
force driving much of modern Indian politics. Thus, India’s
of the good and punishment of wicked, and above all a com-
first nuclear missiles have been named after Agni, the Hindu
mitment to the sanctity of the social contract.
god of fire, while Bharat Mata or “mother India” has
emerged as a powerful civil religious deity, usually portrayed
Arguably one of the most powerful examples of civil re-
as a Goddess much like Durga¯, riding a lion, circled with a
ligion in the modern era has emerged within the United
halo of flames and superimposed on a map of India. At the
States. As G. K. Chesterton observed, “America is the only
same time, religious nationalism has also fueled a number of
nation in the world that is founded on a creed” (Chidester,
extremist groups such as the Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh
1988, p. 87). Despite its ostensible separation of the religious
(RSS)—a movement dedicated to the creation of a purely
and political spheres, the U.S. has also developed its own set
Hindu nation, with an open admiration for Nazi Germany.
of creation myths (Exodus from British tyranny, the first
The RSS became the ideological backbone for the Bharatiya
Thanksgiving, etc.), its founding fathers, and a system of
Janata Party (BJP), which rose to power in the 1980s in large
symbols and rituals. From the Annuit Coeptis (“God has
part due to its ideal of Hindutva and the goal of building a
smiled on our beginnings”) and Novus Ordo Seclorum
temple to the god Ra¯ma in the holy city of Ayodhya. One
(“New Order for the Ages”) on the dollar bill, the United
of the most striking examples of religio-political nationalist
States has been imagined in mythic terms as a nation formed
fervor exploded in Ayodhya on December 16, 1992, when
under divine providence and guided toward a sacred destiny.
mobs of Hindu extremists destroyed the Babri Masjid, a
The United States also gave birth to an array of civil reli-
mosque that had allegedly been built on the site of Rama’s
gious holy days, such as the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving
birthplace. The destruction of the Babri Masjid in turn un-
(both ritual reenactments of national creation myths), Presi-
leashed tremendous bloodshed between Hindus and Mus-
dents’ Day, Veterans Day, Flag Day, Memorial Day, among
lims throughout South Asia, and has since become a symbol
others. The celebration of Memorial Day in particular con-
of both Hindu nationalism and the alienation of non-Hindu
stitutes a kind of “cult of the dead which organizes and inte-
communities in modern India. As seen in the ongoing vio-
grates the various faiths, ethnic and class groups into a sacred
lence in Kashmir and the slaughter of 2000 Muslims in Gu-
unity” (Warner, 1959, p. 249). This deeply ingrained civil
jarat in 2002, the often horrific consequences of religious na-
religious faith only became more intense during the decades
tionalism in India have by no means lessened in the years
of the cold war, when the United States sought to distinguish
since Independence, but arguably grown more intense in a
itself as clearly as possible from the “godless communism”
new age of nationalism and terror.
of the Soviet Union. Thus in the 1950s, the phrase “In God
The political as the religious: civil religion. One of
we Trust” was added to the dollar bill, while “One Nation
the more interesting and ironic consequences of the rise of
under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance, a vow
modern secular nation states is the emergence of powerful
of faith mandatory in every public school. This American-
new forms of civil symbolism, mythology and ritual practice.
style civil religion would find new, even more complicated
In a sense, the space opened up by the separation of religion
expressions after the destruction of the World Trade Towers
and politics seems to have been filled in many cases by a
in 2001, as religious rhetoric was marshaled in a variety of
modern state that now assumes a kind of quasi-religious
ways to insure that God would “continue to bless America”
power, invested with autonomy, disciplinary control and po-
against a new “axis of evil” (Lincoln, 2003, pp. 19–32).
tential violence, for which citizens are called upon to make
Religion in conflict with political power: Resistance,
the ultimate sacrifice. In contrast to a form of religious na-
rebellion, revolution and terrorism. Finally, as a form of
tionalism, however, a civil religion does not support any one
discourse that makes an appeal to an ultimate, supra-human,
particular tradition, but instead advocates a sufficiently am-
transcendent or eternal source of authority, religious dis-
biguous sort of divine authority (such as God) and a suffi-
course can also be used to mount a profound challenge to
ciently generic set of beliefs (a rational order to the universe,
political power. As the ultimate motivator, it can serve as the
the immortality of the soul and judgment for good and evil
most powerful source of resistance, rebellion, and revolution
actions) that can encompass many different faiths without
against the dominant order.
alienating too many minority groups.
This may take the form of a non-violent resistance
The idea of a civil faith was first suggested by Jean
against the dominant order, using religious authority as a
Jacques Rousseau in the second half of the eighteenth centu-
means of rejecting the legitimacy of existing political power,
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7257
yet without engaging in physical confrontation. Thus, even
powerful elements of religious rhetoric. The Declaration of
in the face of suppression by the U.S. government, Native
Independence itself could be said to express certain creedal
American communities began to revive traditional rites like
statements of “sacred and undeniable” truths and divine
the Sun Dance during the late nineteenth and early twenti-
rights, such as equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
eth century. In spite of—or perhaps in part because of—its
ness, the social contract, and even the legitimacy of revolu-
suppression by the government, the Sun Dance would be-
tion against oppression. As Jefferson famously put it, “Rebel-
come one of the most powerful symbols of Native American
lion to Tyrants is Obedience to God” (Chidester, 1988,
identity, communal solidarity and personal power in the face
p. 61). Many revolutionaries would also describe their cause
of an alienating and oppressive political system. Religious re-
in almost millennial terms, with the vision of a new heaven
sistance can have profound political consequences, such as
and new earth created in America. As Thomas Paine wrote
Gandhi’s satyagraha (cleaving to the truth) and ahim:sa¯ (non-
in 1776, “We have it in our power to begin the world over
harming) as non-violent struggle against the British Raj, or
again . . . A situation similar to the present has not hap-
Martin Luther King’s (1929–1968) use of Christian rhetoric
pened since the days of Noah until now” (Chidester, 1988,
and disobedience during the Civil Rights movement. Yet re-
p. 61).
ligious resistance may also take the form of more spectacular
self-sacrifice like that of the Vietnamese monk, Thich
Terrorism has no doubt always been a tactic used in
Quang-Duc, who burned himself to death in 1963 in order
movements of resistance, rebellion, and revolution. Yet the
to bring global attention to the suffering of the Vietnamese
twentieth and twenty-first centuries have witnessed arguably
people.
the most intense forms of religious terrorism ever known—
indeed a global rise of religious violence. This in part due to
When nonviolence and self-sacrifice appear futile, how-
the rise of religious extremism and nationalism, often setting
ever, religious movements may turn to more aggressive forms
themselves violently at odds with the forces of secularism and
of rebellion. Chinese history, for example, witnessed a num-
capitalism, and in part due to the widespread availability of
ber of religious rebellions against imperial power: the Daoist
inexpensive weapons, bombs, chemicals and other means of
Yellow Turban rebellion at the end of the Han dynasty (206
terror. More or less anyone can now concoct a fertilizer-
BCE–220 CE), which was inspired by an apocalyptic vision of
bomb, as Timothy McVeigh did in the Oklahoma City
a Daoist utopia (second century); the White Lotus Societies
bombing, or disseminate sarin gas, as the Aum Shinrikyo¯
at the end of the Yuan dynasty (1206–1368), which looked
movement did in Tokyo subways. Perhaps the most disturb-
to the messianic prophecy of the coming of the future Bud-
ing form of terrorism in the modern era has come from ex-
dha, Maitreya; and the Taiping rebellion (1851–1864),
tremist Palestinian groups such as Hamas, which have
which used Christian messianic imagery and the hope for a
emerged since the first intifada against the Israeli occupation
Heavenly Kingdom to replace the Manchu regime.
in 1987. Unable to contain their anger or find any other so-
lution to an increasingly miserable situation, young Palestin-
In modern India, one of the most extreme examples of
ian men and women have turned themselves into human
religious rebellion against the secular state is the rise of Sikh
bombs, killing thousands of ordinary people and injecting
separatism in the Punjab region. In 1984, when militants
terror into daily life. Indeed, the charter document of Hamas
under the lead of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale took refuge in
is an overtly militant ideology, calling for violent self-
the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Prime Minister In-
sacrifice: “We will be its soldiers and the firewood of its fire,
dira Gandhi ordered a massive military assault (Operation
which will burn the enemies” (Farsoun and Zacharia, 1997,
Blue Star) that destroyed a large portion of the Temple and
p. 339).
unleashed intense violence across the nation. Shortly after
the operation, Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh
Similar kinds of revolutionary terrorist movements have
body guards—clear evidence that, in some cases, the higher
emerged throughout the Middle East and now globally, in-
authority of religious conviction can indeed supercede secu-
spired by radical leaders like Sayyid Qut:b (1906–1966) and
lar political loyalty, even to the Prime Minister one has
the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. With an explicitly politi-
sworn to protect.
cal agenda, Qut:b called for a violent revolution with the goal
of overthrowing the Egyptian state. In Qut:b’s view, the
Ultimately, under the right conditions, religious rebel-
world is essentially divided into a party of God and a party
lion and the appeal to a transcendent source of power can
of Satan, or those committed to God’s rule and those op-
also lead to successful political revolution. The Iranian revo-
posed to it. As such, Qut:b was attacking both the secular
lution led by Sh¯ıE¯ı Muslims against the Shah in 1979 was
modern West and those parts of the Arab world that did not
in many ways a surprise to the international community and
support his vision of Islamic society. In Qut:b’s interpreta-
to historians of religions alike. It offered perhaps the clearest
tion, jiha¯d is a call for immediate revolutionary struggle as
evidence that religion had by no means waned in importance
the only way to implement a true Islamic order.
in the face of globalization and transnational capitalism, but
had re-emerged as a powerful ideological alternative. Yet reli-
Although he was executed by the Egyptian government
gious revolution is not limited to the Muslim world. Even
in 1966, Qut:b’s radical vision and his revolutionary interpre-
the American Revolution, for example, was not without
tation of jiha¯d had a profound impact on many later Muslim
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
7258
POLITICS AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
extremists. Among others, he helped inspire the activities of
of the networks of the global system, such as computers, tele-
Usa¯mah bin La¯din and the al-Qa¯Eidah network, who have
communications and international finance. Since the mid-
similarly turned to extreme acts of violence as the means to
twentieth century, moreover, a wide range of new interna-
restore a truly Islamic society in the face of Western imperial-
tional movements have emerged—such as So¯ka Gakai Bud-
ism. Indeed, al-Qa¯Eidah’s attacks on the World Trade Tow-
dhism, the followings of gurus like Sathya Sai Baba, and
ers—the supreme symbols and perhaps cathedrals of global
various forms of transnational Islam—that are quite at home
capitalism—might be viewed as the ultimate use of religious
amidst the rapid flows of human beings and resources in a
authority as a revolutionary force of struggle against a secular
global era. Far from waning in significance, religions contin-
economic and political power. As Lincoln suggests (2003,
ue to provide a sense of meaning, value and collective identi-
p. 18), their aim was to drop a kind of divine Hiroshima
ty that perhaps neither secular nations nor private corpora-
bomb upon what they regarded as a godless, materialist and
tions can offer. Calling as they do upon a transcendent
inherently anti-Islamic power.
source of authority, religious movements can also make de-
mands upon their believers that supercede those of the na-
CONCLUSIONS. Although early sociologists and proponents
tion or any other institution of merely human authority.
of modernization theory had predicted a gradual waning of
religious power amidst an increasingly rationalized, disen-
In sum, attempts to separate the imagined categories of
chanted modern world, it would seem that since the mid
religion and politics have not often resulted in the creation
-twentieth century quite the opposite has happened. If any-
of rationally ordered secular nations, as imagined by Locke
thing, religious power and appeals to supra-human authority
or America’s founding fathers. On the contrary, they have
have been reasserted in emotionally intense, globally influen-
given birth to even more complex kinds of religio-political
tial and spectacularly violent new ways. A striking number
power, in the form of civil religion, religious nationalism, ex-
of political conflicts of the late twentieth century have in-
tremism and terror. Gandhi himself could not have foreseen
volved religious identity as a central component: the nuclear
the role of religion in the post-colonial world, where it has
standoff between India and Pakistan, the violence between
had an even more dramatic impact on politics and national
Russia and Chechnya, Protestants and Catholics in Northern
identity than he dared imagine.
Ireland, bloody clashes between Christians and Muslims in
Indonesia and Nigeria, and civil war in Sudan, Uganda and
SEE ALSO New Religious Movements, overview article.
Sri Lanka. Indeed, some authors have expressed almost a nos-
talgia for the days of the Cold War, as we appear to be revert-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ing to seventeenth century style wars of religion, but now
For good discussions of religion as a modern category and the
fought with twenty-first century weapons.
problem of distinguishing it from politics, see Bruce Lin-
coln’s, Holy Terrors: Thinking about Religion after September
Ironically, the relationship between religion and politics
11 (Chicago, 2003), and “Theses on Method,” Method and
has not become clearer or simpler in the context of modern-
Theory in the Study of Religion 8, no.3 (1996): 225–28; Talal
ization and the emergence of a global economy. On the con-
Asad, Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power
trary, it has become infinitely more complex, as a wide array
in Christianity and Islam (Baltimore, Md., 1993); Jonathan
of religious movements adapt, transform or reject altogether
Z. Smith, Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown
the model of the modern secular nation and instead reassert
(Chicago, 1982); Russell McCutcheon, Manufacturing Reli-
gion: The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of
the power of religion in the political sphere. Some authors
Nostalgia (New York, 1997); Steven M. Wasserstrom, Reli-
have tried to analyze the post-Cold War global situation as
gion after Religion (Princeton, N.J., 1999); David Chidester,
a confrontation between major ideological forces—for exam-
Patterns of Power: Religion and Politics in American Culture
ple, Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations (1996), or
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1988); Derek R. Peterson and Dar-
Benjamin Barber’s Jihad vs. McWorld (1995), which de-
ren R. Walhof, eds. The Invention of Religion: Rethinking Be-
scribes a fundamental conflict between the forces of global
lief in Politics and History (New Brunswick, N.J., 2002);
capitalism and the reactionary “tribal” and religious forces
Richard King, Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial Theory,
who reject global monoculture and reassert local culture and
India and the Mystic East (London, 1999).
identity.
More general works on religion and politics include Gustavo
Benavides and M.W. Daly, eds. Religion and Political Power
Yet the post-Cold War situation would seem far more
(Albany, N.Y., 1989); Jacob Neusner, ed. God’s Rule: The
complex and multi-faceted than these simplistic ideological
Politics of World Religions (Washington, D.C., 2003); John
clashes or binary oppositions between secular political forces
L. Esposito and Michael Watson, eds. Religion and Global
and religious extremism. One need only look to the case of
Order (Cardiff, 2000); Steven M. Cahn, ed., Classics of Politi-
the United States—with its powerful political forces on the
cal and Moral Philosophy (New York, 2002); Jeff Haynes, Re-
religious right and its unique brand of civil religion—to see
ligion in Global Politics (London, 1998); Max Stackhouse,
that religious authority can go hand in hand with political
“Politics and Religion,” in Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea
power, economic influence and military might. Even the
Eliade, ed. (New York, 1987), v.11, pp. 408–422.
most extreme “maximalist” religious movements such as
For modern approaches to religion and politics, see Niccolò Ma-
al-Qa¯Eidah have no qualms about making sophisticated use
chiavelli, The Prince, George Bull, trans. (1513. Reprint,
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
POLITICS AND RELIGION: AN OVERVIEW
7259
New York, 1999); Maurice Cranston, ed., John Locke on Pol-
Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Totem Rituals and the Ameri-
itics, Religion and Education (New York, 1965); Mark Gol-
can Flag (New York, 1999); Mary Douglas and Steven M.
die, ed., Locke: Politics Essays (Cambridge, U.K., 1997); Im-
Tipton, eds., Religion in America: Spirituality in a Secular Age
manuel Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone (New
(Boston, 1983); Ernest Tuveson, Redeemer Nation: The Idea
York, 1960); Peter Gay, The Enlightenment: An Interpreta-
of America’s Millennial Role (Chicago, 1968); W. Lloyd War-
tion (New York, 1997); Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The
ner, The Living and the Dead: A Study of the Symbolic Life of
Communist Manifesto (1847. Reprint, New York, 1980);
Americans (New Haven, Conn., 1959).
“Die Revolution” (1852) in Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels:
On the role of religion in movements of resistance and revolution
Werke (Berlin, 1960), vol. 8; John Raines, ed., Marx on Reli-
see Bruce Lincoln, ed., Religion, Rebellion, Revolution (New
gion (Philadelphia, 2002); Émile Durkheim, The Elementary
York, 1985); Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of
Forms of the Religious Life (1912. Reprint, New York, 1961);
God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (Berkeley, Calif.,
and Moral Education (New York, 1961); Max Weber, Econo-
2003); Stanley J. Tambiah, Leveling Crowds: Ethno-National
my and Society, 3 vols. (Berkeley, Calif., 1978), The Protestant
Conflict and Collective Violence in South Asia (Berkeley,
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905. Reprint New York,
Calif., 1997); Vittorio Lanternari, The Religions of the Op-
2002); and “Politics as a Vocation” (1918) in H. H. Gerth
pressed (New York, 1963); Guenter Lewy, Religion and Revo-
and C. Wright Mills, trans., From Max Weber: Essays in Soci-
lution (New York, 1974); Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash
ology (New York, 1946), pp. 296–450.
of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order (New
On Eliade’s view of religion and his critics, see especially The
York, 1996); Benjamin Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld: How
Quest: History and Meaning in Religion (Chicago, 1969);
Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World (New York,
John David Cave, Mircea Eliade’s Vision for a New Human-
1995).
ism (New York, 1993); Bryan S. Rennie, Reconstructing
For religion and politics in specific religious traditions, refer to the
Eliade: Making Sense of Religion (Albany, N.Y., 1996); Guil-
sub-articles below. Works cited in this article include, on
ford Dudley III, Religion on Trial: Mircea Eliade and His
Hinduism: Mohandas Gandhi, Autobiography or the Story of
Critics (Philadelphia, 1977); Ivan Strenski, Four Theories of
My Experiments with Truth (1927. Reprint, Ahmedabad,
Myth in the Twentieth Century: Cassirer, Eliade, Lévi-Strauss
India, 1940); Romila Thapar, “Sacrifice, Surplus and the
and Malinowski (Iowa City, 1977).
Soul,” History of Religions 33 (1994): 305–324; Brian K.
For feminist critiques, see Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father: To-
Smith, Classifying the Universe: The Ancient Indian Varna
ward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation (Boston, 1973) and
System and the Origin of Caste (New York, 1994); Lise Mc-
Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (Boston,
Kean, Divine Enterprise: Gurus and the Hindu Nationalist
1978); Rita M. Gross, Feminism and Religion: An Introduc-
Movement (Chicago, 1996); The Complete Works of Swami
tion (Boston, 1996); Carol P. Christ and Judith Plashow,
Vivekananda (Calcutta, 1984), vol. 3.
eds.,Womanspirit Rising (New York, 1979); Grace M. Jant-
On Buddhism: Stanley J. Tambiah, Buddhism Betrayed? Religion,
zen, Power, Gender and Christian Mysticism (Cambridge,
Politics and Violence in Sri Lanka (Chicago, 1992); John S.
U.K., 1995); Wendy Doniger, The Implied Spider: Politics
Strong, The Legend of King Ashoka (Princeton, N.J., 1983);
and Theology in Myth (New York, 1998).
Ian Harris, Buddhism and Politics in Twentieth Century Asia
On Foucault’s work, see The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An In-
(London, 1999); Geoffrey Samuel, Civilized Shamans: Bud-
troduction (New York, 1978), and “Le chef mythique de la
dhism in Tibetan Society (Washington, D.C., 1993).
revolte de l’Iran,” in Dits et ecrits 1948–1988, vol. 3, edited
by Daniel Defert and François Ewald (Paris, 1994); Jeremy
On Islam: John Esposito, Islam and Politics (Syracuse, N.Y., 1991)
R. Carrette, ed., Religion and Culture (New York, 1999) and
and Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam (New York,
Foucault and Religion: Spiritual Corporality and Political Spir-
2002); Peter G. Mandaville, Transnational Muslim Politics:
ituality (New York, 2000); Gary Gutting, ed. The Cambridge
Re-imagining the Umma (New York, 2001); Samih K. Far-
Companion to Foucault (Cambridge, U.K., 1994); James. D.
soun and Christina E. Zacharia, Palestine and the Palestinians
Fabion, ed. Power: Essential Works of Foucault, 1954–1984,
(Boulder, Colo., 1997).
volume 3 (New York, 2001).
On Christianity and Judaism: Jacques le Goff, Medieval Civiliza-
Good studies of nationalism and religious nationalism include
tion, 400–1500 (New York, 2000); Ernst Kantorowicz, The
Peter van der Veer, Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Mus-
King’s Two Bodies (Princeton, N.J., 1957); Ernst Troeltsch,
lims in India (Berkeley, Calif., 1994); Mark Juergensmeyer,
The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches (Chicago,
The New Cold War (Berkeley, Calif., 1993); Partha Chatter-
1981); Alain Dieckhoff, The Invention of a Nation: Zionist
jee, The Nation and its Fragments (Princeton, N.J., 1993);
Thought and the Making of Modern Israel (New York, 2002).
Carlton Hayes, Nationalism: A Religion (New York, 1960);
On Native American, African and other indigenous traditions: Jo-
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the
seph G. Jorgensen, Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Power-
Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London, 1983).
less (Chicago, 1986); James Mooney, The Ghost Dance Reli-
For studies of civil religion, see Robert Bellah, The Broken Cove-
gion and the Outbreak at Wounded Knee (New York, 1973);
nant: American Civil Religion in Time of Trial (Chicago,
Huston Smith and Reuben Snake, One Nation under God
1992); Marcela Cristi, From Civil to Political Religion: The
(Santa Fe, 1996); Omer C. Stewart, The Peyote Religion: A
Intersection of Culture, Religion and Politics (Waterloo, Cana-
History (Lincoln, Neb., 1987); David Chidester, Savage Sys-
da,2001); Christel Lane, The Rise of Rulers: Ritual in Industri-
tems: Colonialism and Comparative Religion in Southern Africa
al Society—-The Soviet Case (Cambridge, U.K., 1981).
(Charlottesville, Va., 1996).
On the complex question of secularism and civil religion in the
On new religious movements: Catherine Wessinger, How the Mil-
United States, see Carolyn Marvin and David W. Ingle,
lennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate
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
7260
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND BUDDHISM
(New York, 2000); James Tabor and Eugene Gallagher, Why
The religion has an institutional structure—for instance, the
Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America
monastic san˙gha (Sanskrit: sam:gha) for monks and nuns, as
(Berkeley, Calif., 1997); and Hugh B. Urban, Tantra: Sex,
well as various sects or Nika¯yas)—but in essence it is a reli-
Secrecy, Politics and Power in the Study of Religion (Berkeley,
gion that teaches a state of mind, a way of being. Its doctrine
Calif., 2003).
is not primarily concerned with political systems or even so-
HUGH B. URBAN (2005)
cial reform, which are considered to be irrelevant to salvation
(Gombrich, p. 30). But history shows us that Buddhism has
nonetheless been used to further political or sectarian goals,
and some politicians have employed it as a vehicle to pro-
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND
mote exclusivist, ethnically based nationalisms.
BUDDHISM
In those parts of the Asian world where Buddhism is the reli-
The relationship between Buddhism and politics, then,
gion of the majority, it continues to play a prominent role
has been and continues to be a complex one, and it varies
in many nations, not infrequently with consequences for na-
considerably among Asia’s very diverse Buddhist communi-
tional politics and destinies. Because Buddhism is so closely
ties. Politics in majority-Buddhist countries ranges from the
associated with cultural norms and worldviews, it cannot be
relative freedom of expression enjoyed in Sri Lanka, Thai-
isolated from politics, whether viewed historically or with re-
land, and Japan to the repressions imposed on the citizens
gard to current events. Buddhism is a living organism, feed-
of Myanmar, the People’s Republic of China, and North
ing off the political circumstances of a particular culture,
Korea. Notwithstanding the apolitical nature of the teach-
time, or place. Its history reflects the strains of adolescence,
ings of Gautama S˙a¯kyamuni, the fifth-century- BCE Buddha,
maturity, and old age, and it has metamorphosed on occa-
and despite the stereotype of a passivist, non-aggressive dhar-
sion to accommodate changes in its environment. Bud-
ma, it can be argued that the seeds of a political worldview
dhism’s history of synthesis and adaptation led it to divide
exist in the Pali Canon, a scripture composed of three “bas-
into three great branches (Therava¯da, Maha¯ya¯na, and
kets” or collections, which all Buddhists acknowledge as a
Vajraya¯na) and a myriad of schools and movements. This
primary source. Later Maha¯ya¯na texts also have political sig-
entry reviews the relationship between politics and Bud-
nificance; the Saddharmapundar¯ıka Su¯tra, for example,
dhism from four perspectives. It first asks how the Buddhist
served as the key text for the modern Japanese So¯ka Gakkai
tradition understands and defines political life and faith and
(Value Creation Society), while the Suvarnabhasottama Su¯tra
examines to what extent Buddhists see the two as separate
expounded on the duties of a righteous king. Additionally,
spheres. Second, it isolates historical developments in reli-
quasi-historical “chronicles” such as Sri Lanka’s Mahavamsa
gious and political power in the Buddhist tradition, showing
or Myanmar’s Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma,
the sometimes complementary, sometimes competitive in-
which purport to give further insight into the Buddha’s mis-
teraction of the two forces. Third, the article considers how
sionary travels, express an often deep religious conviction
this interaction still resonates in the Buddhist world at the
linking the dharma to a state.
beginning of the twenty-first century. The article ends with
a brief review of the impact of modernization and socioeco-
Although Buddhism’s primary scriptures do not set
nomic change on Buddhism’s intersection with politics.
down a precise political philosophy, a polysemous reading
Adapting to changing circumstances throughout history,
of the Pali Sutta Pitaka reveals a political ideal that comple-
Buddhism has sought to both protect and develop its place
ments the soteriological teachings of the Buddha. This sote-
in the world to which it ministers—including the often po-
riology rests on the central problem of painfulness (dukkha;
larizing and spiteful realm of politics.
Sanskrit duh:ka), to which Buddhism offers a practical solu-
tion, focused on life in the here and now. No eschatological
DEFINING RELIGION AND POLITICS IN A BUDDHIST CON-
dilemma or otherworldly goals preoccupy the Buddha; rath-
TEXT. This article will define politics as the science or art of
er, his teachings rely primarily on seeing the facts of life as
government and the management of state affairs, with the
they are (yathabhuta-dassana) and eradicating superstition
state in turn defined as an organized political community.
and useless social practices through reason (takka) and analy-
In many cases nationalism has played a significant role in
sis (vibhajja). Beyond this epistemological basis, however,
politics; this slippery concept may be defined as a sometimes
there is a definite social dimension to Buddhist teachings:
chauvinistic devotion to an ethnic, religious, or political
The Buddha not only asks how and what we know, but also
community, with a concomitant impetus to advance its in-
what we should do, not only for ourselves but for the com-
terests and traditions, often at the expense of other commu-
mon good.
nities. Turning to religion, we may venture that Buddhism,
in all its various forms, includes at least two features: in Pali,
The Buddha’s message against coarse craving (tanha¯)
one of its traditional classical languages (the other being San-
and the emotional cankers (a¯sava) of greed, hatred, and delu-
skrit), these are the “church” (sa¯sana) and doctrine (dhamma;
sion applies not only to the individual, but also carries impli-
Sanskrit: dharma). A third, more contemporary characteris-
cations for the collective well-being of the community. Ag-
tic is Buddhist “culture” (e.g., Sinhala: bauddha sanskrutiya).
gression (patighanusaya), indulgence (kamasukhalikanuyoga),
The aim of Buddhism is to help people find meaning in life.
and other spiritual hazards regularly upset the equilibrium
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND BUDDHISM
7261
of peoples, states, and the world at large. Several texts (e.g.,
ship in religious affairs. A. L. Basham indicates this when he
the Sigalovada Sutta and D¯ıgha-nika¯ya 3.180) set down a
writes: “In place of the traditional policy of territorial expan-
layperson’s code of conduct (gihivinaya) with regard to the
sion [A´soka] substituted conquest by Righteousness (as we
society in which he or she lives. Two of the most significant
here inadequately translate by the very pregnant word dhar-
su¯tras dealing with what might loosely be described as politi-
ma)” (1954, p. 54). The monarch’s conversion to Buddhism
cal responsibility are the Cakkavattisihanada-sutta and the
and the subsequent widespread propagation of its values, in-
Aggañña Suttas (D¯ıgha-nika¯ya 3.58, 80). These texts treat the
cluding respectful veneration and oversight of the sam:gha,
origin and development of the state and the rights and duties
produced an important model of a Buddhist state and its re-
of both monarch and citizen. The model society and polity
lationship with Buddhist monastic orders. In due course, the
they present fosters ethical conduct and embodies a strong
sam:gha sought to assume a position to grant legitimacy to
social ideal, which then guides the principal objectives of the
the state. And much later, a new three-fold “refuge” arose in
state. D¯ıgha-nika¯ya 3.62 describes the ideal world-ruler, the
parts of the Buddhist world to complement the traditional
“Celestial Wheel–turning king,” who uses his civil authority
refuges (´sa¯ran˙a) of the Buddha, dhamma and sam:gha. This
to promote righteousness and security. In this and other ca-
new, inescapably political “refuge” consisted of country, na-
nonical passages, the recommendations go beyond the caste-
tional identity, and religion—or as expressed in the state
based worldview behind Hindu statecraft and law codes
motto adopted by Cambodia’s 1993 Constitution, “nation,
(Artha´sa¯stra). The Aggañña Sutta in particular urges equal
religion, king.”
rights and opportunities for all people simply as fellow mem-
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. Historically, Buddhism is con-
bers of humanity, irrespective of caste or race (see also Majji-
sidered to have developed more in concert than in conflict
hima Nika¯ya 2. 85, 151, D¯ıgha-nika¯ya 1.99).
with political power. In fact, Trevor Ling has coined the term
Based on these texts, one could argue that Buddhism
“royal Buddhism”to describe the increasingly symbiotic rela-
charges the state and its citizens with the responsibility to
tionship between sam:gha and monarchy in the medieval peri-
maintain economic and social equality. Whether these texts
od (though it was of course not wholly devoid of antagonism;
can be seen as constituting a fully fledged political philoso-
see p. 133). By extension, the relationship between sam:gha
phy, however, is doubtful; nonetheless they do suggest that
and laity has been described as leading to a “mass politiciza-
the state must not impede human freedom, and that both
tion” of the Buddhist population (see Bechert, 1978, p. 16).
individual citizens and the polity as a whole should be al-
The Therava¯da polities of South and Southeast Asia provide
lowed to evolve and mature. This is consistent with the Bud-
good examples of this symbiosis of Buddhism and political
dha’s teaching that nothing is permanent, nor should any-
authority. In addition to the well-developed Mon kingdoms
thing rest on the basis of authority alone (An˙guttara-nika¯ya
of southern Burma and the central plain of the Chao Phraya
1. 189); both principles certainly apply to the state. More
(e.g., Dvaravati), Sri Lanka serves as an excellent example,
controversially, some scholars have tried to extrapolate from
with its celebrated story of the early Buddhist ideal “warrior-
the Buddha’s rule (vinaya) for his monastic order
king” Dutthagamini (c. 150 BCE). According to the story, he
(sam:gha)—citing such practices as the pooling of resources—
requested five hundred monks to accompany him as a “bless-
to arrive at a proto-socialistic interpretation of Buddhist po-
ing and protection” or “merit-field” in his efforts to repel
Tamil invaders; he is also said to have carried a relic of the
litical doctrine in general, in which similarly communal prin-
Buddha on his own spear as an amulet (see Alice Greenwald
ciples would guide the state as a whole. Others emphasize the
in Bardwell Smith, 1978, p. 13). The Khmer court in ninth-
sam:gha’s democratic character and argue that its traditions
through thirteenth-century Cambodia extravagantly en-
spilled over into various forms of assembly and village ad-
dorsed a cult of Hindu-Buddhist divine kingship, which
ministration (see Joshi, p. 33). Yet although the Vinaya
reached its apogee during the reign of Jayavarman VII
Pit:aka undoubtedly gives us a picture of an early Indian com-
(1181–c. 1215), who modeled his image of the Buddha in
munity of mendicants organized along “socialist” and even
the Angkor temple of Bayon after himself. At his death in
“democratic” lines, this cannot be taken as a political model
1218 he received the title Mahaparamasaugata, or “the great
for lay society. In sum, whereas the traditional Buddhist
and supreme Buddhist” (see Coedès, p. 172). Burma’s Pagan
sam:gha was not concerned with politics, the Pali Canon ar-
period (c. 800–1200 CE) was a golden age of the Buddhist
guably contains a political philosophy of a sort, derived from
monarchical ideal, represented by the Ananda temple (zedi)
the Buddha’s advice to rulers and citizens. The ideal of har-
built by King Kyanzittha (r. 1084–1113). Writing about this
monious coexistence between the two and among the latter
kingdom, which was centered around the upper Irrawaddy,
lies at the core of this philosophy, which also emphasizes the
Michael Aung Thwin observes
individual’s right to pursue his or her fortune, but not at the
expense of others (Anguttara Nika¯ya 2.95).
[T]he protective capacity of the state in twelfth and
thirteenth-century Burma was a strong one; it was not
Politics and Buddhism are acknowledged as distinct en-
a violent or chaotic society but an ordered and hierar-
tities in the canonical scripture, but with the rise of the
chical one, concerned not with individual political free-
Mauryan empire under A´soka (c. 250 BCE), the association
dom as a measure of happiness, but with social and po-
between religion and state shifted subtly toward state leader-
litical order, ruled not by independent lords and armies,
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND BUDDHISM
but by a sovereign and his officials, and pacified by a
iconography) between Buddhism and Hinduism, something
[Buddhist] primate and his monks. (p. 96)
remarked on as far back as the seventh century CE by Hsüan
Tsang. A sense of the contribution of Buddhism to Nepal’s
In the fourteenth- through eighteenth-century Lao kingdom
cultural and spiritual identity is everywhere apparent either
(Lan Xang), the san˙gha legitimized what was perceived as a
in great historic structures (e.g., the Swayambhunath Stupa
karmically justified kingly rule; in return they expected the
outside of Kathmandu), or in some of its contemporary lead-
king to meet their standards of just rule (dhammaraja). In
ing personalities, such as the role of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpo-
Sukhothai (middle Thailand, 1230–1378 CE), the respected
che, the Nyingmapa terton, “discoverer of holy treasure” and
king Rama Kamheng was a precursor of the royal Buddhism
founder of the Shechen temple.
associated with the great Ratnakosin dynasty (1782–
present), in which the monarchs are not only the foremost
Nonetheless, despite self-evident respect for Buddhism,
sponsors of the Buddhist faith, but also symbols of national
the government of Nepal is careful not to permit politiciza-
unity.
tion of the faith. Given the dominance of Tibetan forms of
Buddhism in Nepal (other sects are present but of modest
The function of the monarch. One feature common
significance), and the always-sensitive proximity to China,
to most of these examples is the function of the monarch
no promotion of Tibetan political rights, or public venera-
(clearly a “political” figure) as purifier and unifier of the Bud-
tion of the Dalai Lama for that matter, is permitted. Any sug-
dhist monastic order, as exemplified by the amalgamation of
gestion of a pan-Himalayan Buddhist renaissance is alarming
the Sinhalese san˙gha under Parakamabahu I (1153–1186
to the dominant Hindu communities and the regional super
CE). In Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist Asia, by contrast, Japan experi-
powers. Apart from the occasional anomaly (e.g., a Tibetan
enced the rise of powerful Buddhist temples and even armies
Buddhist exile guerrilla presence in Mustang), Buddhism has
of “priest-warriors” (sohei) from the time of Prince Regent
no political role to play in contemporary Nepal.
Taishi Sho¯toku (c. 600 CE). The Buddhist monk Nichiren’s
reforms (c. 1270 CE) and his promotion of the Saddharma-
Neighboring Sikkim is the smallest of the traditional
pun:d:ar¯ıka Su¯tra (Lotus Su¯tra) as an intrinsic aspect of na-
Himalayan Buddhist polities, ruled in recent centuries by an
tional identity—and of himself as something of a messiah—
absolute Buddhist monarchy associated with the Namgyal
resulted in a unique situation where “much religio-political
family, which in turn traced its roots to the ninth-century
capital was made of his inheritance in subsequent centuries”
Minvang dynasty of eastern Tibet’s Chumbi Valley. Nying-
(see Harris, p. 15). In Tibet, the concept of the Buddhist
mapa Buddhism was the faith of the early Tibetan migrants
monk (lama) as a political ruler originated with Sa skya
to Sikkim, the Bhutia people, and became the state religion.
Pan:d:ita, who was made vice-regent to the Mongol khan
In the seventeenth century, a Minvang prince, Phuntsok
Godan (1246 CE). This concept was reinforced when the
Namgyal, became Sikkim’s king (chogyal). The last of his lin-
head of the Dge lugs pa sect, the lama Sodnams Gyamtsho,
eage was the twelfth chogyal, Palden Thondup Namgyal, who
received the honorific Dalai Lama from the Altan khan in
died in 1982. In time, other indigenous communities (e.g.,
1578.
Lepcha, Gurung, Rai) accepted both Namgyal dynastic rule
and Buddhism. After years of interfering with its affairs, and
The Himalayan region. The traditional Himalayan
alarmed by continuing border problems with China, in 1975
Buddhist kingdoms of Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan are
India annexed Sikkim. Even before Sikkim became India’s
further interesting examples of the merging of religion with
twenty-second state, the era of Buddhist cultural dominance
political order over a period of many centuries. In this regard,
was already compromised by a longstanding migration of
Nepal’s polity has been dominated by a strong connection
Hindu Nepalis, which began in the British period and has
between the royal house and Hinduism for centuries. As re-
continued unabated. But Indian sovereignty has not crushed
cently as 1962, the Constitution referred to “the Hindu
Sikkim’s Buddhist spirit or cultural identity, and New Delhi
kingdom of Nepal,” and although the 1990 Constitution no
conscientiously supports the maintenance of chortens (stupas)
longer uses this language, the king (traditionally revered as
and sites of Sikkimese historical and spiritual importance.
an incarnation of Vis:n:u) is still identified as the “symbol of
Sikkim’s monarchial collapse has left Bhutan as the last Hi-
the nation.” The majority of Nepal’s diverse population
malayan Buddhist kingdom and, in a sense, curator of a once
being Hindu notwithstanding, Buddhism has also had a
widespread religio-political world view and civilization.
prominent place in Nepal’s unique culture and sociology for
over a millennium. Rose and Fisher (1970, p. 9) reflect on
Tradition claims that Bhutan (Druk Yul) was converted
the many migrations that have affected Nepal over the centu-
to Buddhism by the storied Indian saint Padmasambhava in
ries, their combined impact “encrusted with mythological
the eighth century CE. The faith was reinforced by the arrival
lore.” For example, the great Buddhist saint Milarepa (c.
of the great Nyingmapa teacher, Guru Rinpoche, from
1050 CE) is associated with several holy sites in Nepal. Tibet-
Tibet. A specific Buddhist polity emerged only in the seven-
an Buddhism has clearly dominated entire communities, no-
teenth century when a Tibetan Kagyupa monk, Ngawang
tably the high mountain peoples, Sherpas and Tamangs, and
Namgyal, took on the title Shadrung (“at whose feet one sub-
the Newar in the Valley of Nepal. What is remarkable is the
mits”). Apart from centralizing authority, he set down a legal
close theological connection (including yogic practices and
system and promoted the building of religious structures.
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND BUDDHISM
7263
Thus began a Buddhist state that functioned for 270 years
teenth century brought British incursions into the subconti-
based on a shared rule between a religious leader thought to
nent, while the next century saw the establishment of French
be the Shandung’s reincarnation (je khenpo) and a secular au-
hegemony in Indochina. Japanese colonial expansion into
thority (the Deb Raja). A British presence from 1864 was un-
Korea, Manchuria, and Formosa (1895–1945) brought dif-
obtrusive and the country essentially escaped an interfering
ferent forms of Buddhism into these countries. A takeover
colonial experience. In 1907, in response to the perceived po-
by Buddhist Japan created much less of a culture shock,
litical needs of the time by both religious and civil leaders,
though, than did Victorian Christian imperialism, which at-
a monarchial system was introduced. Hereditary kings from
tacked the emerging sense of national uniqueness and pur-
the Wangchuck family formed the basis of an erastian Bud-
pose in British-occupied Asian countries, and thereby also
dhist polity which is still in place. The kings have been capa-
disrupted the intimate and still developing connection be-
ble rulers, and although an advisory national assembly
tween Buddhism and political identity. In many cases reli-
(tshoghu) was introduced in 1951, when the prime minister
gious identity fuelled political reactions to imperialism (see
was assassinated in 1964, his office was never replaced. The
Pye, p. 91). In general, the faith retained its hold over the
present king, the fourth Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Singye Wang-
majority of believers, contributing to a religious revival that
chuck, was consecrated monarch by the je khenpo in 1972.
nurtured struggles for independence. Siam (Thailand) alone
As his predecessors, the king wears as part of his regal gar-
escaped foreign subjugation, largely through the capable
ments a saffron scarf (kabne), the mark of a Buddhist ruler,
statecraft of three perceptive monarchs who ruled the coun-
and an item shared only with the je khenpo.
try between 1851 and 1925: Mongkut (later Rama IV),
Chulalongkorn, and Vajiravudh. These monarchs were real-
Unlike the destabilized Nepal monarchy (ruinously cut
ists who acknowledged the need to modernize their country,
down in 2001 by a deranged crown prince), the Bhutan royal
to that end accepting those foreign values and technologies
house appears educated, and realistic about the pressures of
they deemed useful. At the same time, however, they central-
modernity. Bhutan isolated itself in the mid-twentieth cen-
ized both the polity and the san˙gha, bringing the religion di-
tury from the backpackers, counter-culture visitors, and
rectly under the control of what was quickly becoming a
other effects of globalization. It kept India at arm’s length
modern nation state (see Ishii, p. 47).
through prudent foreign policy, and has independently and
forcefully attacked various Indian secessionist organizations
By contrast, the government of Burma, long isolationist
that periodically seek refuge in Bhutan’s borders. Many chal-
and introverted, was completely unprepared to meet the
lenges remain, notably widespread illegal immigration and
ideological and intellectual challenges of colonialism and
imported political notions contrary to a traditional Buddhist
modernization. Burma-centrism, supported by a mythologi-
monarchy, no matter how progressive. Bhutan has shown the
cal cosmology, had given the Burmese “a disproportionate
benefits of this kind of rule. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck
overestimation of their own power” (Sarkisyanz, p. 99). Bud-
has, as one commentator notes, “enlightened but constrained
dhism emerged as the only foundation upon which to build
attitudes towards progress and development” (Crossette,
a Burmese national consciousness, as various nationalist
1995, p. 182). This, along with a san˙gha active in welfare and
groups, including “heritage protection” (wuthanu athin), and
development activities, suggests an ultimately successful and
monks such as U Wissera and U Ottama assumed quasi-
enduring Buddhist state.
political leadership roles. Buddhist millenarian expecta-
tions—centered around the set kya min or Restorer of the
Colonial experience. Another essential feature of this
Golden Age, the future Buddha who would reestablish the
formative historical period is Buddhist nationalism in the
perfect society—accompanied Burmese nationalism, as did
context of the colonial experience. Although nationalism is
elements of magic and sorcery such as the notion of yadaya
often associated with political events in eighteenth- and nine-
chay, or “outwitting fate by prompt action.” (In fact, these
teenth-century Europe, Buddhist nationalism in Asia arose
ideas have persisted into the twenty-first century, and they
very early. “In this way,” writes Heinz Bechert, “a form of
still resound in the corridors of political power in Myanmar).
nationalism originated in ancient Ceylon which was rather
In Ceylon (later Sri Lanka), the British initially found it po-
close to modern nationalism with its conceptions of a united
litically expedient to grant state protection to Buddhism, but
nation with common linguistic, cultural and religious tradi-
Christian missionary agitation led the crown to withdraw
tions” (1978, p. 8). Steven Kemper (p. 17) shows that a “full-
this protection in 1853. This created an immediate vacuum,
fledged set of identities” was in place in Sri Lanka a thousand
with which the san˙gha was unable to cope. Only in the latter
years before the colonial era, and that some of the same con-
part of the nineteenth century did Sinhalese Buddhism as-
ditions applied as well to the “theater states” and “galactic
sume a proactive posture, under such individuals as
polities” of premodern South and Southeast Asia. In virtually
Anaga¯rika Dharmapa¯la (1864–1933) and the American con-
all of these instances, Buddhism played a prominent role in
vert Col. Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907), who inspired a
nurturing national identity and was thus implicated in the
Buddhist political renaissance.
political repercussions of the rise of nationalism.
BUDDHISM AND POLITICS IN THE POSTCOLONIAL ERA. The
With the advent of colonialism the autonomous Bud-
political position of Buddhism at the end of the colonial era
dhist world faced increasing confusion and doubt. The eigh-
created institutional arrangements and led to events that still
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resonated decades later. After Sri Lanka gained its indepen-
As Thich Nhat Hanh has noted, “in every Buddhist the
dence in 1948, its san˙gha directly entered into political life,
ideas of Buddhism and nationalism are intertwined and can-
issuing a declaration of intent via Vidya¯lankara, a leading
not be easily separated” (p. 45, 107). In Vietnam, however,
Buddhist seminary. The declaration broadly defined the ex-
Ho Chi Minh’s victorious Communist Party sought to har-
pectations for the san˙gha’s activity beyond the monastery,
ness Vietnamese nationalism to support its own ideology.
and the Ven. Walpola Rahula’s still much-cited work Bhiksu-
Their claim to a monopoly on both politics and Vietnamese
vage Urumaya (Heritage of the Bhikkhu, 1946) offered fur-
consciousness robbed Buddhism of any critical social or po-
ther guidance. Both maintained that the modern monk, alert
litical voice. Indeed, the government sought to bring Bud-
to the decline of Buddhist influence in national affairs,
dhism under its control by establishing a single, state-
should see political engagement as a responsibility. The ini-
sponsored Vietnamese national Buddhist san˙gha (Giao Hoi
tiative also promoted a doctrine of Sinhalese distinctiveness,
Phat Giao Viet Nam). Although communist governments in
leading to what Tessa Bartholomeusz has called a “marriage
Vietnam, China, and North Korea continue to tolerate Bud-
of religion and ethnicity” (p. 78). This marriage spurred the
dhism, they never invite it to play a role either in political
creation of a number of politicized Sinhala Buddhist societies
power or in defining official national ideology. Non-
and nationalist (deshapremi) groups, which at times have had
communist countries such as Thailand and Sri Lanka have
significant influence over state affairs. No Sri Lankan head
often enshrined Buddhism in their constitutions, but only
of state could afford to marginalize Buddhism without jeop-
to patronize or protect it or to secure its place in what
ardizing his or her power. Some couched their political aims
Bartholomeusz calls “Buddhist secularism” (p. 5). Here, as
in grandiose religio-political language, as did President J. R.
in the communist countries, the state does not envision an
Jayawardene in his 1978 dharmishta, or righteous policy ob-
active political role for Buddhism or its clergy.
jectives. Others, such as Ranasinghe Premadasa (1989), used
Sri Lanka’s royal past to legitimate their authority, symboli-
EFFECTS OF MODERNIZATION AND GLOBALIZATION. As
cally standing on the once-royal dais at Kandy’s Temple of
R. N. Bellah points out, modernization is not simply a mat-
the Tooth.
ter of adopting new technologies; it also involves a “modern-
ization of the soul” (1965, p. 196). In early-twentieth-
Religio-cultural issues also run deep in Myanmar, where
century Asia, Buddhists often adopted concepts imported
in 1962 a rogue military junta seized power from the pro-
from the West, such as social welfare or socialism, and adapt-
Buddhist government of Prime Minister U Nu, who had
ed them to their own countries’ circumstances, endowing
styled himself as the Mahathammada or true leader of Bud-
them with a distinctive, indigenous vigor. In Japan, the So¯ka
dhism. The new dictatorship forced the long-autonomous
Gakkai lay sect of Nichiren Buddhism exemplifies this pro-
san˙gha to conform to strict government control. As elsewhere
cess; through its influential leftist Clean Government Party
in Buddhist Asia, Burmese political rulers rewarded coopera-
(Ko¯meito¯, founded 1964), it pushes for the establishment of
tive monks, and the ruling junta frequently “makes merit”
a welfare state to secure the health and material well-being
through major public demonstrations of institutional sup-
of lower social classes. What is now referred to as “engaged
port for the faith, seeking to justify its rule to a skeptical and
Buddhism” has its roots in the late nineteenth century; in the
downtrodden society. Widespread but usually unvoiced
late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, “engaged”
sympathy among the san˙gha for the dissident leader Aung
Buddhist thinkers and activists such as Burma’s Aung San
San Suu Kyi periodically erupts into public demonstrations.
Suu Kyi, Tibet’s Dalai Lama, Thailand’s Sulak Sivaraksa,
For a month in 1990, for instance, monks “turned over the
and Sri Lanka’s A. T. Ariyaratna have used the faith to re-
begging bowl” (patta ni kauz za na kan) to military personnel
spond to a host of issues brought on by modernization and
in political protest, an extraordinary manifestation of Bud-
globalization. In a unique response to the devastation of their
dhism’s quiet influence, even under military tyranny. In
country’s environment, some Thai monks have “ordained”
Vietnam, where French colonialism led to a society divided
trees otherwise doomed to be cut down. Among the other
between Buddhists and Roman Catholics, the 1930s saw a
issues Buddhism must grapple with are rampant consumer-
Buddhist renaissance that accelerated with the struggle for
ism, the deluge of Western popular culture, and political tyr-
independence, particularly after the defeat of the French at
anny, often supported or simply ignored by the international
Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. President Ngo Dinh Diem’s
community. It is no exaggeration to claim that “Buddhism
overt partiality to Catholicism at a time of intense nationalist
in contemporary Asia means energetic engagement with so-
fervor alienated Buddhists, who were refused a public voice.
cial and political issues and crises at least as much as it means
Vietnam’s san˙gha never demanded a “Buddhist” govern-
monastic or meditative withdrawal” (Queen, p. ix).
ment, but through their actions they sought to awaken a hu-
manitarian and nationalist consciousness in their country.
Referring to Buddhism’s long association with a wide
Most famously, in June 1963 Ven. Thich Quang-Du’c
array of cultures, regimes, and governments, Thich Nhat
burned himself to death in Saigon to call attention to the suf-
Hanh is surely correct when he writes that “the forms of
ferings of the Vietnamese people. Other monks followed
Buddhism must change so that the essence of Buddhism re-
with similar ritual deaths, which devotees characterize as acts
mains unchanged” (p. 94). In principle, the religion remains
of heroism.
ready to offer political guidance and criticism, without seek-
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
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND BUDDHISM
7265
ing theocratic power or adherence to any type of dogmatic
Ling, Trevor. Buddhism, Imperialism, and War: Burma and Thai-
fundamentalism.
land in Modern History. London, 1979. A study of how Bud-
dhism in Southeast Asia has helped strengthen the political
SEE ALSO Colonialism and Postcolonialism.
aims of national rulers.
Lopez, Donald S., Jr. Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism
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ambivalence between governing bodies and religious groups
ground. Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 1976.
throughout Chinese history. Simply put, religion poses a
BRUCE MATTHEWS (2005)
counter-authority to that of the state, and as a result the state
must seek means of controlling or neutralizing the potential
threat of religious authority. The modern Communist gov-
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND
ernment has chosen to do so by claiming the right to delimit
CHINESE RELIGION
the religious sphere. Yet the PRC’s appropriation of religious
Few would deny that politics has played an important role
authority is not a new phenomenon; Chinese governments
in the development of Chinese religion, yet the terms religion
of earlier periods have consistently sought to align, if not
(zhengzhi) and politics (zongjiao) were not used in premodern
unify, political and religious concerns. Further, traditional
China. Both of these words only entered into Chinese usage
Chinese concepts of sovereign power were founded on reli-
in the last century, as Japanese neologisms for modern West-
gious grounds or elaborated through religious language and
ern concepts. Prior to the twentieth century, it is often diffi-
imagery.
cult to distinguish between politics and religion: the imperial
THE IMPERIAL CULTS. One sees this most clearly in the long
court drew upon religious symbolism in its displays of politi-
history of imperial cults and state rituals that date from the
cal authority, and religious leaders often claimed authority
earliest historical period to the fall of imperial China in 1911.
usually reserved for the state.
In general, imperial cults consisted of devotions and rituals
While the following discussion will use the terms politics
that had to be performed by the ruler, or by an official surro-
and religion in describing the complex interactions of the sec-
gate, to ensure the continued well-being and prosperity of
ular and the sacred in Chinese history, it is worth bearing in
the empire. These included the sacrifices to the Altars of Soil
mind how modern analytical categories do not always fit pre-
and Grain and at the Hall of Light, as well as ritual obser-
modern conceptual landscapes. This article will address six
vances for the cults of Laozi (fl. 6th century BCE) and Confu-
main topics: (1) the politics of religion in China, (2) the de-
cius (Kongzi, 551–479 BCE). The most important of the im-
velopment of the imperial cults, (3) religious conceptions of
perial cults were those with the most ancient provenance: (1)
sovereignty and political power, (4) the analogy of the bu-
the imperial ancestral cult, and (2) the worship of a supreme
reaucracy, (5) religious persecutions and rebellions, and (6)
god known as variously as “Heaven” (Tian), “God” (Di), or
religious advisors and state patronage.
the “High God” (Shangdi).
THE POLITICS OF RELIGION IN CHINA. Following Western
models of the secular, modernized state, both the Nationalist
The imperial ancestral cult was related to other forms
(Guomindang, or GMD) and the Communist governments
of ancestor worship in China. Yet whereas ordinary ancestral
of China legislated the institutional separation of state and
spirits concerned themselves only with their own descen-
religion. Yet governmental policies that require the registra-
dents, the imperial ancestors watched over the dynastic house
tion and monitoring of civic religious activities have compli-
and, by extension, the entire empire. Scholars have noticed
cated this claim. The constitution of the People’s Republic
that the imperial ancestral cult often held a relatively low
of China (PRC) officially protects religious freedoms, but the
rank among the great sacrifices of state. Nevertheless, the
government nevertheless monitors and controls all religious
ruler’s ancestors possessed a significance that greatly ex-
activities through the State Bureau of Religious Affairs
ceeded the actual status of the sacrifice. Victor Xiong has
(SBRA). All major religions in China (Buddhism, Daoism,
noted how the placement of the ruler’s ancestral spirit tablets
Islam, and Christianity) are required to affirm their support
within the capital city transformed mere urban space into the
of the Communist Party and leadership, to register with the
sacred center of the empire.
SBRA, and to sever ties with foreign networks or organiza-
The imperial cult of Heaven provided the other crucial
tions (including parent organizations such as the Roman
source of political authority. Early political theory had con-
Catholic Church). In return, religious organizations receive
structed the analogy between Heaven and the human ruler:
official state recognition and protection.
just as Heaven asserted sovereignty over the pantheon of spir-
Yet as Stephan Feuchtwang has noted, religious organi-
its, so the human ruler asserted sovereignty over the empire
zations that maintain foreign ties, do not publicly support
and its people. Yet at the same time, the ruler derived his
the leadership, or do not register with the SBRA are consid-
(and, in the single exception, her) authority directly from
ered purveyors of superstition (mixin) rather than religion.
Heaven. He was referred to as the “Son of Heaven” (Tianzi),
Practitioners of this so-called superstition are often seen as
the one person charged by the “Mandate of Heaven” (Tian-
deceiving the people, and they may be punished for a num-
ming) to rule over all things. The idea of a Heaven-bestowed
ber of economic crimes, such as fraud. Here, what is note-
mandate complicated the authority of the emperor, since
worthy is how the state arrogates the power to define the cat-
Heaven did not unwaveringly favor one dynastic house
egories of religion and superstition—that is, the religious
above all others. In fact, a dynasty that had become morally
forms protected by the state and those punishable by the
bankrupt would lose the mandate to rule. The Zhou dynasty
state.
(c. 1150–256 BCE) first introduced the Mandate of Heaven
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7267
as justification for overthrowing the Shang (sixteenth to elev-
al goals. In the medieval Daoist tradition, the deified Laozi
enth centuries BCE), and later dynasties continued to invoke
became the model of the perfect ruler. Rulers that drew upon
the doctrine in political rhetoric and discourse.
the image and rhetoric of Laozi could secure the support of
OTHER RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS OF SOVEREIGNTY. The
Daoist factions within the court, as well as of Daoist believers
imperial cults provided the most visible means by which rul-
throughout the empire. This was the case for Cao Pi (r. 220–
ers laid claim to sacred authority. Other religious traditions,
226 CE), also known as Wei Wendi. As Howard Goodman
however, played important roles in the imagination and con-
has shown, Cao Pi made use of a Celestial Masters prophecy
struction of political sovereignty. The following section will
to legitimate his establishment of the Wei dynasty (220–
discuss three traditions: (1) early immortality quests, (2)
265). Daoism also played a prominent role in the legitima-
Daoist models of kingship, and (3) Buddhist models of king-
tion of the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). Because the Tang
ship. Of course, not all Chinese emperors were equally inter-
imperial house shared the same surname (Li) as Laozi, the
ested in alternative sources of sacred authority to the imperial
members of the Tang royal house could make the claim that
cults. Rather, these reflected the personal inclinations or as-
they descended from the Daoist sage. Actual interest in Dao-
pirations of particular rulers, as well as larger trends in Chi-
ism varied among the twenty-one Tang emperors. The sev-
nese religious history.
enth emperor, Tang Xuanzong (Li Longji, r. 712–756), was
fascinated by Daoism and was initiated by a Highest Purity
The most famous of the early immortality quests are
(Shangqing) Daoist master as an adept of the sect. In the
those undertaken by Qin Shihuangdi (r. 221–210 BCE), the
Song dynasty (960–1279), Emperor Huizong (Zhao Ji, r.
First Emperor of the Qin dynasty (221–207 BCE). The Qin
1101–1125) was even more involved in Daoist study and
succeeded in unifying China through its superior military ef-
training, to the extent that he was deified as “The Great Em-
ficiency and rigid code of laws. The First Emperor was fasci-
peror of Long Life.” In one of the most striking examples of
nated with the possibility of becoming an immortal in the
religious sovereignty, Huizong received cult worship as a god
flesh, and so he traveled throughout the empire in search of
in his own lifetime.
spirits or gods who might give him their secrets. He also paid
vast sums of money to magicians (fangshi) to seek out the
The adoption of Buddhist models of kingship could
mythical island of Penglai, upon which magical herbs of lon-
serve similar political ends. The perfect ruler of Buddhism
gevity were rumored to grow. The First Emperor even per-
was the cakravartin or “wheel-turning king.” Buddhism
formed the Feng and Shan sacrifices on altars at Mount Tai
spoke of the inevitable decline of Buddhist law (mofa), but
(the sacred Eastern Marchmount) and Liangfu, in the hopes
it also maintained that the cakravartin could arrest or even
of achieving self-deification. For Confucian intellectuals, this
reverse the decline. Therefore, the title of cakravartin was
was a distortion of the great sacrifices, which were supposed
often used to honor rulers who had been generous in their
to announce the establishment of the age of great peace to
patronage of Buddhist monasteries and their activities. Ex-
Heaven and Earth. In the end, not only did the First Emper-
emplary Buddhist monarchs included Emperor Wu of the
or fail to achieve personal immortality, but his dynasty only
Liang dynasty (Xiao Yan, r. 501–549), who received the title
survived him by about four years.
“Imperial Bodhisattva” for his intense devotion to Buddhist
learning. Emperor Wu famously ransomed himself on sever-
The Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) succeeded the
al occasions to monasteries in order to channel funds to the
short-lived Qin. The sixth ruler, Han Wudi (r. 141/140–87/
Buddhist community. On the other hand, there is the exam-
86 BCE), presided over one of the longest reigns in Chinese
ple of the Tang Empress Wu Zetian (r. 684–704). Empress
history. Wudi oversaw the political, economic, and military
Wu had her monk-lover fabricate the spurious Scripture of
stabilization of the empire, as well as the establishment of
the Great Cloud, which prophesied the imminent appearance
“state Confucianism” (the cultural ideology that later came
of Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, in the form of a fe-
to encompass a sacred canon, state academies, and the exami-
male deity—that is, Wu Zetian herself.
nation system). At the same time, however, Wudi imitated
THE BUREAUCRATIC ANALOGY. A hallmark of Chinese reli-
Qin Shihuangdi in seeking the secrets of immortality
gion is the way in which the world of the gods parallels the
throughout the empire; he even re-performed the Feng and
human realm of officialdom: the supernatural realm, like this
Shan sacrifices at Mount Tai.
one, is ordered by bureaucracy. As Peter Nickerson has
Both the First Emperor and Han Wudi were heavily
shown, a fifth-century Daoist text of the Celestial Master tra-
criticized by the Han historian Sima Qian (c. 145–c. 85
dition describes the registers kept by each Daoist household,
BCE), who saw the rulers’ desire for immortality as a combi-
so that the gods would have accurate records when supernat-
nation of despotism and gullibility. Sima Qian’s critique did
ural intervention was required. By the seventh century, the
not prevent later rulers from seeking immortality, some of
Buddhist afterlife likewise was represented as a bureaucracy.
whom perished from ingesting large amounts of cinnabar
After death, one’s soul would travel through the ten courts
(mercury sulfide), following the instructions of their Daoist
of the underworld, each ruled by a king who sat in judgment
advisors.
over the deceased.
Generally speaking, however, the adoption of Daoist
Also, documents and papers akin to those necessary for
models of kingship often served more politically convention-
moving through government bureaucracy facilitated com-
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND CHINESE RELIGION
munication with the gods. Like the government of this
seized by the state. Buddhist statuary and ritual implements
world, the bureaucracy of the gods has roles and hierarchy;
made of metal were melted down and made into currency
in contemporary practice, those seeking help from the gods
or agricultural tools. The monastic population further de-
should first locate the god with the appropriate jurisdiction.
clined as the state laicized monks and nuns under forty and
But the bureaucratic analogy does have its limits. As Emily
set strict limits on the number of monasteries and clergy. The
Ahern notes, it is possible to appeal directly to the highest
Huichang suppression of Buddhism was part of a larger
deities in a way that is not possible within government bu-
xenophobic trend; other religions were also purged or sup-
reaucracy. Moreover, people do not relate to the gods solely
pressed. In 843, Uighur Manichaean priests in Chang’an and
on the model of supplicant and official; for believers, rank
Luoyang, as well as Nestorian and Zoroastrian priests, were
within the supernatural hierarchy may be a consideration
laicized, and their temple property was confiscated. Two
secondary to the efficaciousness of a given deity.
months later the government ordered the execution of all
Manichaean priests. The situation eased only after Wuzong’s
While throughout much of China’s history the govern-
death in 846.
ment occasionally granted deities honorary titles, this prac-
tice increased sharply during the late eleventh century. Local
Subsequent dynasties never employed such drastic mea-
elites recommended deities associated with their region and
sures, but modernizing movements in the twentieth century
with proven records of responsiveness. The granting of titles
led to efforts to weed out religion as a negative force. When
allowed the central government to extend its reach into each
the Communist Party came to power, Buddhist monastic
locality and simultaneously to share the accomplishments of
holdings were decimated by land reform, and monks were
these regional supernatural powers. However, as Robert
expected to become productive citizens. In the Cultural Rev-
Hymes argues, the titles granted to local gods were purely
olution (1966–1976), virtually all public displays of religion
honorific and based on archaic feudal titles; the government
came to a halt; Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism were
honored the gods but did not grant them functional posi-
attacked part of the “Four Olds” (old ideas, old culture, old
tions or assign them specific duties. In a related way, the gov-
customs, old habits). Temples were damaged, closed, or con-
ernment throughout history also issued ordination certifi-
verted to other uses. Muslims were made to eat pork, and
cates to monks and nuns and granted temples plaques that
Christian churches were purged of their religious symbols.
established imperial recognition. Over time, these activities
Much religious activity went underground during this time,
served to create a national, centralized religious network ad-
reemerging only after the Cultural Revolution ended and the
ministered by the state.
political mood shifted.
SUPPRESSION AND REBELLION. As discussed above, religion
The state was capable of acting against religion in the
frequently has been an alternate source of authority to that
kinds of suppressions discussed above, but religion often mo-
of the state. From time to time, this has led to religiously in-
tivated or guided rebellions against the state. Perhaps the ear-
fluenced rebellions and to the proscription and persecution
liest such example is that of the Daoist Yellow Turban revolt
of religion by the state. For example, Buddhism often has
at the end of the Han dynasty. Apocalyptic ideology and the
been perceived as a corrupting influence in times of political
desire to establish a Daoist utopia motivated this revolt,
or cultural crisis because of its foreign origins, and it thus was
which began in 184 CE. Similarly, at the end of the Yuan
a frequent target of state suppression. Anti-Buddhist atti-
dynasty (1264–1368), Red Turban armies grew out of mille-
tudes among officials were exacerbated by the perceived neg-
narian White Lotus societies, drawing inspiration from their
ative economic impact of Buddhist monasteries: monks and
belief in messianic prophecies that Maitreya, the Buddha of
nuns were not taxed, and monasteries also owned large tracts
the Future, would soon be reborn. The founder of the subse-
of untaxed land. Occasionally, these tensions resulted in at-
quent Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Zhu Yuanzhang, was af-
tempts to limit or eliminate Buddhist institutions. Emperor
filiated with this movement early in his rise to power.
Wu of the Northern Wei (Tuoba Tao, r. 423–452) ordered
one such large-scale suppression of Buddhism. Most monks
Toward the end of the Qing dynasty, rebellions that in-
survived in hiding, but many temples, scriptures, and works
corporated religious elements became more frequent. The
of art were destroyed.
Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) was one of the most de-
structive. Its founder, Hong Xiuquan, was a convert to
The Buddhist persecution of the Tang Emperor Wu-
Christianity who had a vision in which he was identified as
zong (Li Yan, r. 840–846) was perhaps the most far-
God’s son and charged with driving the devils (i.e., the for-
reaching. This suppression is usually called the “Huichang
eign Manchu regime) out of China. He was then to establish
Suppression,” after Wuzong’s reign title. First, monasteries
the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace (Taiping Tianguo).
were ordered to purge their ranks of unregistered monks,
Taiping forces managed to take a major city, Nanjing, which
along with those monks who failed to keep their vows, had
they declared the capital of their new kingdom. Around the
been convicts, practiced magic, or were otherwise question-
same time, Muslim rebellions broke out in both Yunnan
able. The government then banned pilgrimages and elimi-
province and in northwest China, lasting until the mid-
nated smaller Buddhist establishments, relocating monks to
1870s. Key background causes included Qing discriminatory
larger temples. Shortly thereafter, all Buddhist property was
laws and tension between minority and majority communi-
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND CHINESE RELIGION
7269
ties. Ethnic and cultural identities were as much an issue as
tives to sign the “Agreement on the Peaceful Liberation of
religion in these insurgencies. To varying degrees, religion
Tibet.” As a consequence, central Tibet became an autono-
also played a role in other late Qing rebellions, such as the
mous region within China, while other Tibetan territories
1813 Eight Trigram Revolt and the Boxer Rebellion of 1899
were incorporated into neighboring Chinese provinces.
to 1901.
Under this agreement, Tibetans could continue to govern ac-
R
cording to their own traditions, leaving in place the theocra-
ELIGIOUS ADVISORS AND STATE SPONSORSHIP. Religious
figures often served as official and unofficial advisors to em-
cy led by the fourteenth Dalai Lama. However, land reform
perors, in which capacity they provided rulers with another
and other modernizations introduced by the PRC in the
source of personal or political power. Buddhist or Daoist
1950s were met with resistance, and tensions escalated to the
adepts advised emperors on the protection of the state and
point of military clashes. With concern growing that Chinese
personal cultivation. For example, in the Yuan dynasty, Khu-
forces would harm the Dalai Lama, he fled to India with an
bilai Khan (r. 1279–1294) employed the Tibetan lama Phags
entourage of government leaders and religious followers. A
pa (Phagpa; 1235–1280) as his liaison to Tibet and Bud-
Tibetan government-in-exile was established at Dharamsala,
dhists; Phags pa in turn provided the emperor with religious
while in Tibet the Communists replaced traditional institu-
legitimacy. The Mongol Yuan government made wide use
tions with socialist ones.
of Muslim officials, but their employment perhaps had more
As was true throughout China, the 1980s brought a
to do with ethnicity than belief. During the late sixteenth
more relaxed governmental stance toward religious and polit-
and seventeenth centuries, Jesuit missionaries worked in the
ical expression. Seeking to capitalize on this change in official
service of the emperor, providing guidance on Western sci-
attitude, the Dalai Lama brought the issue of Tibet and its
ence and culture. While their work at court was not religious
desire for autonomy to the global stage. Limited attempts at
in nature, their collaboration eased the way for the continued
negotiations between the two sides took place in the early
presence of Western missionaries.
1990s. The Chinese government also attempted to modern-
Throughout history, imperial patronage has also includ-
ize Tibet, which had lagged behind the rest of China in terms
ed the building and restoration of temples and the commis-
of economic and social development. Part of this new ap-
sion of religious art. Scriptural compilation projects were also
proach included increased state patronage of religion, usually
examples of major collaborations between religious orders
in the form of restoring temples; the government also hoped
and the state. In both the Tang and Song dynasties, the state
these efforts would attract tourists. But religious revival also
sponsored large-scale projects to translate Buddhist su¯tras
needed to be kept in check, and the Communist government
into Chinese. The Song dynasty sponsored the first printing
stepped up its efforts to control religious leaders. The con-
of the entire Buddhist canon, and later dynasties commis-
trast between traditional notions of religious leadership and
sioned reprintings. Early Song emperors ordered the collec-
Communist expectations clearly manifested itself in the con-
tion of Daoist texts, which were then published in an early
troversy over the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, whose
form of the Daoist canon (Daozang); in the Ming, the
tenth incarnation had died in 1989. When the eleventh
Yongle emperor (r. 1402–1424) ordered the compilation of
Panchen Lama was identified and approved by the Dalai
the present version of the Daozang.
Lama in 1995, Beijing not only rejected this choice, but also
POLITICS AND RELIGION IN MODERN CHINA. Such exam-
removed the young boy from Tibet. Beijing then installed
ples demonstrate that the relationship between the state and
their own candidate for Panchen Lama through a process
religious groups was often a trade-off: the transactions,
controlled by the government. Because the Panchen Lama
whether intellectual or material, were most successful when
traditionally plays an important role in identifying and sanc-
both parties benefited, but the religious group did not overtly
tioning the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama, this decision
challenge secular authority. However, the negotiations be-
will have long-ranging effects.
tween religious and political claims to authority have been
In the government’s stance toward both the Roman
considerably more difficult in the late twentieth and early
Catholic Church and Tibetan Buddhism, the Chinese state
twenty-first century China. For example, the state-
has acted from concern over alternative sources to political
recognized Chinese Catholic Church (officially known as the
authority. This concern also manifests itself in the state’s ag-
Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association) has severed its rela-
gressive repression of the Falun Gong movement, also
tionship with the Vatican, bowing to pressure from the state
known as Falun Dafa. The group was founded by Li Hong-
which has frowned upon foreign influence inside China. The
zhi (b. 1952) in 1992. Li’s teachings incorporate elements
Roman Catholic Church does survive in China, but it has
of Buddhism, Daoism, and qigong practice, though he also
been forced underground.
claims that his teachings are superior to both Buddhism and
The government likewise has asserted the right to ad-
Daoism. There are three components to religious cultivation
ministrate Tibetan Buddhism as a corollary to its claim of
within Falun Gong: (1) members practice a simplified form
political sovereignty over Tibet. In 1950, the newly formed
of qigong; (2) they study Falun Gong teachings; (3) they seek
Communist government ordered the military invasion of
to develop the key moral qualities of truthfulness (zhen),
Tibet, and in the following year, coerced Tibetan representa-
goodness (shan), and forebearance (ren). The goal of such
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
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SEE ALSO Buddhism, article on Buddhism in China; Bud-
JACK W. CHEN (2005)
dhism, Schools of, article on Chinese Buddhism; Chinese
NATASHA HELLER (2005)
Religion, overview article; Confucianism, overview article;
Daoism; Emperor’s Cult.
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JAPANESE RELIGIONS
Ahern, Emily Martin. Chinese Ritual and Politics. Cambridge,
One of the most striking photographs of the twentieth cen-
U.K., 1981.
tury—a kamikaze plane crashing headlong into an Allied
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7271
ship during the last year of the Pacific war—illustrates dra-
some two to three centuries earlier, were supportive of this
matically an extreme version of the collusion of religion and
new religion, whereas native clans warned that its adoption
politics in Japan. The ideal of dying valiantly to defend or
would anger local kami.
preserve one’s sacred homeland is of course found in societies
Soon, with religious differences serving to focus other
all over the world. However, few societies have combined di-
conflicts over title and territory, these two opposing forces
verse religious traditions, political will, educational curricula,
met in battle in 587 CE. After the immigrant Soga clan de-
and coercive social controls to elevate and sustain an ideology
feated the native Mononobe, religious and political develop-
of personal self-sacrifice to the extent once found in Japan.
ment centered on Buddhism flourished during the seventh
Moreover all of these twentieth-century characteristics can
century. Some of the patterns established at that time have
be traced to earlier precedents within Japanese social and po-
continued throughout Japanese history: the emperor system,
litical history.
the idea of Japan as a sacred country, state support of Bud-
The practice of using religious traditions to enhance po-
dhism (and vice versa), regional temples and shrines (as well
litical power in Japan has a momentum of over eighteen hun-
as the rituals conducted there) designed to protect the state,
dred years. And yet the concepts of religion and politics have
and venerating (in order to pacify and control) the spirits of
only recently begun to acquire in Japan some of the same se-
the dead.
mantic and legalistic meanings with which they are regarded
Shortly after the temporary setback for the native clans
in Europe or North America. The Japanese Supreme Court
mentioned earlier, court nobles were commanded in 593 CE
ruled in 1997 on a case that for the first time clearly upheld
by Suiko, the first of a series of powerful empresses, to sup-
a 1947 constitutional distinction between religious and po-
port Buddhism. Two important precedents associated with
litical activities.
the religion in China and Korea were now to be established
The term for religion in Japanese, shukyo¯, consists of
in Japan. The first was the Golden Light Su¯tra (Suvarna-
two characters: shu, meaning “sect,” and kyo¯, or “teaching.”
prabhasa) and its message of protection for kings, their fami-
Originally used in Chinese Buddhism, it was first employed
lies, and countries. The other su¯tra was the Benevolent Kings’
in a treaty in 1869 to translate the German word Religionsü-
Su¯tra (Ka¯runika¯-ra¯ja-prajña¯pa¯ramita¯), which in a similar
bung (religious exercise). This conception of the word is ade-
vein assured rulers that by reading and explaining the su¯tra
quate for religions such as Buddhism or Confucianism—
they would enact the “Rite of Protecting the Country.” Thus
both with thousands of texts, teachings, and commen-
the reign of Buddhist law and that of a local king were seen
taries—but less appropriate for Japan’s premodern oral
to coincide, benefit, and legitimate each other.
traditions that venerate local deities connected with healing,
At the same time the regional deities and myths of con-
agriculture, fertility, defense, and control of the weather.
quered clans from the recent past were being consolidated
FORMATIVE PERIOD. The earliest recorded period in Japa-
into a systematic account, the Kojiki (712 CE), to legitimate
nese history shows clearly a symbiotic interaction of religion
what has since become the world’s oldest extant imperial sys-
and politics. Starting around the sixth century CE, correct
tem. King Tenmu (r. 673–686 CE) bolstered his imperial po-
governmental administration was based upon the principle
sition as emperor by co-opting the kind of authority tradi-
of saisei-itchi (a Chinese reading of the Japanese term mat-
tionally reserved for clan priests. A four-layered system of
surigoto), or “unity of ritual and government.” Any ruler
kami worship developed: imperial kami were superior to all
wanting his or her realm to prosper was obligated to formu-
others, the emperor as a “manifest kami” (akitsukami) direct-
late policies reflecting the will of the deities (kami), delivered
ly descended from the sun deity (Amaterasu) outranked clan
through oracles at certain ancient, powerful shrines (such as
chiefs, the most important rituals were conducted by the em-
Mount Miwa in the central region or at Usa Hachiman on
peror, and finally the imperial shrine at Ise stood above all
the island of Kyushu) and manifest also through omens and
other shrines. Tenmu also stationed an imperial princess at
natural phenomena. There is considerable but not conclusive
Ise to worship on his behalf and created the Council of Kami
evidence that powerful women shamans, one identified in
Affairs to supervise ritual activities of benefit to the state at
Chinese chronicles as Himiko, channeled the will of the
shrines. The concept of Japan as a “divine nation” (shinkoku)
kami as the basis of their rule in the second and third centu-
first appeared in a subsequent chronicle of 720 CE (the Ni-
ries CE.
honshoki) and then, as will be evident in a moment, emerges
again at various critical moments in Japan’s history.
When Buddhism first arrived in Japan in 538, it too be-
came a valuable resource in building a stable political and so-
Tenmu’s grandson Sho¯mu further developed Buddhism
cial order. The emperor Kinmei received a Buddha statue
as a tool of the state. In 741 CE he issued an edict requiring
and several volumes of scriptures from King Songmyong of
every province to build both a monastery and a nunnery,
Paekche (Korean Peninsula), who advised him that not only
where rituals aimed at protecting the regime (chingo kokka)
did great people of the past have full knowledge of the Bud-
could be held on a regular basis, conducted by priests and
dhist doctrine but also it had benefited those who built
nuns certified by the state. “Protect the country [through
strong states. Some of Kinmei’s vassals, who had been dis-
Buddhism] against all calamity, prevent sorrow and pesti-
placed and then immigrated from the Korean Peninsula
lence, and cause the hearts of believers to be filled with joy”
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
(Ko¯jiro, 1993, p. 255). At the center of power in what is now
climactic sea battle at Dan-no-ura, but also one of three im-
Nara in central Japan, Sho¯mu first consulted a kami oracle
perial regalia—a sword supposedly plucked from the tail of
(at Usa Hachiman in Kyushu) for approval, then constructed
a dragon and given by the kami to the imperial lineage—had
the To¯daiji temple, housing what was at that time the largest
also been lost at sea. Although the court held fast to the other
seated Buddha in the largest wooden building in the world,
two relics (a mirror and a magical jewel) and remained in
dedicated to the peace and prosperity of the state.
Kyoto with a newly installed emperor, political power moved
to Kamakura, far to the north. New and innovative align-
In many ways this early period of interactive religious
ments between religion and politics also ensued.
and political development created institutional precedents
for subsequent eras. Although the political power of emper-
The turmoil of clan warfare as well as the instability of
ors was soon usurped by regional clan chiefs, the structure
establishing military and administrative control provided an
of the imperial system, though buffeted by centuries of polit-
opening for radically different and highly popular religious
ical wrangling, would remain essentially unchanged until
movements—Pure Land, True Pure Land, Nichiren—to de-
1868. When the capital moved from Nara to nearby Kyoto
velop centers of political power during what was considered
in 793 CE (in part to escape the meddling influence of power-
a time of “degeneration of the Buddhist doctrine” (mappo¯).
ful Buddhist priests in Nara), its placement followed estab-
Though differing in religious emphasis (Amida’s Pure Land
lished “religious” designs strongly influenced by Chinese
paradise versus the magical effects of chanting the Lotus
Daoist principles that now are identified (with varying accu-
Su¯tra), all three movements were founded by charismatic
racy) as feng-shui, or geomancy. Before moving into the
monks (Ho¯nen, Shinran, and Nichiren, respectively) whose
Kyoto Plain, the court had to negotiate with powerful local
methods to reach salvation through chanting special prayers
shrines (such as Matsuo, Fushimi, and Kamo) and gain the
appealed to all social classes.
protection of their deities for the stability of the realm. It also
Nichiren in particular promoted his version of the Lotus
established temples (To¯ji, Saiji, Enryakuji) located at key di-
Su¯tra as an exclusive truth that, if adopted by the govern-
rectional quadrants of the capital (east, west, northeast, re-
ment, would save the nation from threats he predicted were
spectively) that would further enhance the court’s spiritual
immanent. Soon after this warning came the first Mongol
defenses.
invasion of 1274. Even though vastly outmanned by the
It would be safe to say that those in power during this
Mongol and Korean forces, a typhoon wrecked their fleet
time saw political and social change as well as calamities as
and forced a withdrawal in the first “divine wind” (kamikaze)
originating from the willful agency of meddlesome spirits,
intervention, attributed to the deity Hachiman. Incredibly
divine beings, and transhuman forces. For example, a belief
the second Mongol attack in 1281 also met the same fate,
in the power of departed spirits (goryo¯) gained considerable
but this was not enough to convince the state that Nichiren’s
influence during the Heian period (794–1192). These spirits
theocracy was correct.
were thought to be responsible for everything from epidem-
Although the new rulers of Japan were from the warrior
ics to earthquakes, as droughts, famines, stillbirths, pesti-
class, many of their religious affiliations followed established
lence, ominous dreams, and so on were “imbued with a
patterns. They rebuilt the clan shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachi-
strong political coloration: disasters of all kinds were a ba-
man, dedicated to the kami of military power and swift inter-
rometer of political injustices” (McMullin, 1988, p. 272).
vention. Also just as King Tenmu had done in the Nara peri-
When the Fujiwara clan rose to power through intrigue,
od, the next generation of rulers, the Ho¯jo¯, established a
assassinations, and exile, these moves left in their wake a
ranking system of regional temples as well as “temples for the
number of departed and potentially vengeful spirits. The first
peace of the nation” (ankokuji). An influential text by Kita-
rite to propitiate six of these spirits in particular, believed re-
batake (1293–1354) titled Chronicle of the Direct Descent of
sponsible for an epidemic of tuberculosis, was held in 863
Gods and Sovereigns argued that Japan is a “divine country”
CE, later developing into one of the nation’s three most fa-
(shinkoku) and helped to develop further a national con-
mous festivals, Kyoto’s midsummer Gion Festival. Likewise
sciousness among ruling elites.
a court official exiled to Kyushu around this same time, Su-
The Kamakura government promoted and patronized
gawara Michizane (845–903 CE), was later believed to have
both Zen and Pure Land Buddhism as favored institutions.
returned as a vengeful spirit to wreak havoc via lightning,
Major Zen temples, many of which had head abbots from
flooding, and fires upon the city and court. Shrines dedicated
China or who had studied in China, were organized by the
to his spirit, known as Tenjin or Tenmangu¯ shrines, are still
state into the gozan or “five mountain temple” system around
prevalent in Japan and are thought to be propitious for aca-
1298. Samurai warriors and their feudal lords found in Zen
demic success. Another vivid example of goryo¯ belief will be
Buddhism the discipline, self-negation, and nonostentatious
encountered in the contemporary period.
aesthetics amenable to their code of loyalty and service
MIDDLE PERIOD. Following a major battle between support-
(bushido¯). Should samurai die in service to their lord, the
ers of the court (Taira) and a rival faction (Minamoto) in
saints of Pure Land Buddhism (particularly one noted for
1185, political power again shifted both to a new clan and
compassion, Kannon) were ready to usher their souls into the
location. Not only had the infant emperor drowned in the
western paradise of the Amida Buddha.
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
7273
The regional nation-protecting temples established ear-
Nobunaga’s successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was still
lier had become centers of enormous wealth and territory,
quelling rebellions against his rule and so had less tolerance
some of which rivaled the central government before and
for a faith thought to shift allegiance away from the shogun
during the Kamakura period. Because of ongoing political
toward a foreign notion of transcendent divinity. What had
conflict, these religious estates (sho¯en) became even more au-
been a system of lucrative trade (as “Black Ships” traveled
tonomous and powerful. Fearful of losing territory to rival
from Europe to Asia and back again) and a permissive atti-
estates, sho¯en administrators began a practice of turning low-
tude (allowing the building of churches in local fiefs) was
ranking monks into security personnel to defend their terri-
now curtailed in 1587 as Hideyoshi accused the missionaries
torial interests and policies. Over time, these “priest soldiers”
of preaching a “devilish law in the land of the kami,” again
(so¯hei) developed into fierce fighting units dressed in the garb
evoking the sacred nation concept. Throughout the coming
of mountain monks.
decades and after the Tokugawa clan seized firm control of
In Kyoto so¯hei monks at Enryakuji temple atop Mount
the country in 1600 after Hideyoshi’s death, Christianity was
Hiei, home to the Tendai sect of Buddhism, were notorious
both tolerated and reviled, with a final persecution and ex-
for descending into the city with sacred regalia at the front
pulsion of missionaries occurring in 1639. The military gov-
of their procession and intimidating the imperial court or
ernment then closed itself off from Western trade and diplo-
battling rival factions. They fought with and burned to the
macy for over two hundred years.
ground at least six times a temple (Mii-dera) north of Mount
The rise of the Tokugawa was credited to the cunning
Hiei whose founder had split from Enryakuji in the tenth
brilliance of its founder, Ieyasu, but he (as well as subsequent
century. They clashed with the great Nara temples (in partic-
Tokugawa leaders) was ably assisted by several Buddhist
ular Ko¯fukuji), battled against new Pure Land sects (includ-
priests (such as Hayashi Raizan and the abbot of Nanzenji
ing destroying the tomb of the founder of Pure Land Bud-
temple, Su¯den) as well as by neo-Confucian scholars. After
dhism in Japan, Ho¯nen), burned the headquarters of the
his death in 1615, he was deified (as had been all previous
Higashi Honganji Pure Land sect in 1465, and destroyed
military leaders) and later enshrined in the mountains at
twenty-one Nichiren temples in Kyoto in 1536.
Nikko¯ in a temple-shrine complex (the To¯sho¯gu¯) unsur-
For nearly five hundred years neither the military gov-
passed for its ostentatious extravagance.
ernment in faraway Kamakura, nor the imperial court in
As their predecessors had done, the Tokugawa used
Kyoto, nor fragile alliances of regional warlords could control
Buddhist temples throughout the land to promote the stabil-
the Enryakuji militias. But in 1571 they finally met their
ity of their regime. Not only were rituals held, but the tem-
match. Having angered Oda Nobunaga (who was soon to
ples themselves were organized into the terauke system to
become Japan’s first leader of a centralized state after nearly
serve as extensions of state administration: all those residing
three hundred years of internal wars) by siding with his op-
within a temple’s traditional precincts had to register as
ponents, he led twenty-five thousand samurai against the
members of that temple. By doing so the populace entered
mountain monks. His forces not only killed over three thou-
into a system of religiously based surveillance and moni-
sand priests and monks of all ranks but burned to ashes one
toring.
of the most sacred religious sites in Japan. After all, the tem-
ple was established in 788 CE first as a hermitage and later
Shrines were also part of the Tokugawa government’s
was reconsecrated for protecting the city from malevolent
system of control. Fearing a resurgence of Christian senti-
spirit forces issuing from the northeast. Shortly after No-
ments in the major port city of Nagasaki, the military gov-
bunaga was assassinated in 1582, the Enryakuji complex was
ernment sponsored a revitalization of kami-based rites and
slowly rebuilt in the same location.
institutions. The city’s main Shinto¯ shrine, Suwa Jinja, dates
T
from 1614 and enshrines a deity known for its military prow-
HE MODERN PERIOD. Despite Nobunaga’s razing of the
ess and vigilance. Like many others, the shrine also hosts on
Mount Hiei temples, he was not antireligious and contribut-
its grounds a subsidiary of the main shrine to the deified
ed to many important temples and shrines during his short
Tokugawa founder.
rule. He also permitted contact with foreign Jesuit Catholic
missionaries who had first appeared in southern Japan in
Beginning around 1825, more than two centuries after
1549. They followed three Portuguese adventurers who had
the Tokugawa clan gained control of the state, serious fis-
traveled aboard a Chinese ship and landed in 1543, making
sures in their administrative competence were becoming ap-
a favorable impression with their matchlock rifles, a technol-
parent. Critics of the inward-looking and increasingly cor-
ogy that would revolutionize clan warfare in Japan. Trade
rupt feudal system feared Japan would be invaded and
ensued over the next decade, although it was closely linked
colonized by more technologically advanced European and
to the missionaries as translators and middlemen. Through
American powers. To avoid a fate shared by China and India,
these relations, Christianity established a foundation in west-
samurai scholars and administrators began a discourse on re-
ern Japan for roughly sixty years, bringing with it European-
form, often at the cost of their careers and sometimes their
born missionaries who also conveyed to Japanese scholars
lives. Klaus Antoni noted in Religion and National Identity
ideas about science, engineering, cartography, anatomy, and
in the Japanese Context (2003) that this ideology of a national
medicine.
polity, or kokutai, began to emerge among scholars of “na-
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND JAPANESE RELIGIONS
tional” (rather than foreign) learning (kokugaku) who pro-
and rituals that promoted state ideologies. Only two years
moted a reexamination and revitalization of Japan’s ancient
after the revolution ended, an 1870 attempt to create a codi-
myths and the imperial system they legitimized. National
fied national religion based on kami worship failed. None-
learning scholars developed a “postulated common ethnici-
theless schools began teaching imperial and national mythol-
ty” that promoted a strong and unified imagined community
ogy as if it were history, effectively sidestepping the
under the emperor’s rule.
contentious issue of freedom of religion. Domestic and for-
eign critics of this policy were told that Shinto¯ was not a reli-
In ways similar to the formative period of civilization
gion but a matter of social etiquette and long-established
in the early fourth and fifth centuries, Japan was once again
custom.
exalted as a “land of the kami” whose emperor provided a
direct link to the nation’s founding deities. By extension the
By the late 1880s the Japanese state had the necessary
Japanese people, like one big extended family, were also priv-
ideologies, laws, and infrastructure to establish itself as a
ileged to have something termed the “soul of Japan” (yamato-
modern nation—which meant in part exploiting political
damashi) running through their blood. Sharing so many
weakness in surrounding countries (China, Formosa, and
commonalities—language, race, culture, ethnicity, respect
Korea) in order to appropriate their natural and human re-
for kami and buddhas, veneration of ancestors—and with
sources. With a war almost every ten years, soldiers killed in
the emperor as both father figure and “deity visible as a
service to the nation were honored at a special Shinto¯ shrine
human being” (arahitogami), the national learning scholars
built by the government—Yasukuni—where their spirits
attempted to influence political policy toward the establish-
could be propitiated, calmed, and then employed as guard-
ment of a state that could defend itself against colonizing
ians of the empire. Like the goryo¯ belief established in the
predators.
tenth century, the “peaceful nation shrine” incorporated po-
Over a decade after American gunboat diplomacy
tentially vengeful spirits and transformed them via pacifying
forced open Japan’s ports beginning in 1853, troops allied
rituals. Outside Tokyo large upright stones (chukonhi) served
with samurai reformers (who wanted a modern state based
as memorials to the military dead after the Russo-Japanese
on European parliamentary models but headed by an emper-
War (1906–1907) and were likewise sanctified through both
or) clashed with those of the feudal Tokugawa government,
Shinto¯ and Buddhist rituals. Community officials, school
with the former emerging victorious in 1868. This major
administrators, and citizen leaders were constantly engaged
transition in Japanese history ushered in an age of radical
in these and other plans to promote national ideologies and
change and innovation in many areas but none more striking
agendas. Helen Hardacre has shown in her important work
than the interaction of religion and politics. One of Japan’s
Shinto¯ and the State, 1868–1988 (1989) that alternate ver-
founding fathers, Fukuzawa Yukichi, observed, “There is
sions, espoused by new religious movements such as
only a government in Japan, but still no nation.” It would
Tenrikyo¯, Kurozumikyo, Konko¯kyo¯, So¯ka Gakkai, and
take a new and oftentimes coercive alignment of religion and
O
¯ motokyo¯, were seen as subversive “pseudo-religions,” with
politics to produce the national consciousness he sought.
some headquarters destroyed and founders harassed and im-
prisoned.
First, the new government legitimated the kokutai ideol-
ogy described earlier as central to their agendas of moderniza-
Even after the Pacific war ended with Japan’s defeat in
tion, industrialization, education, and socialization. Similar
1945, Yasukuni shrine (and the regional “nation-protecting”
to King Tenmu in the seventh century, the emperor’s divini-
shrines established in 1939) were permitted to continue ven-
ty was emphasized even as the country embarked on an am-
erating over 2.466 million spirits of the military dead, in-
bitious race to catch up with other industrialized world pow-
cluding (after 1978) officers deemed “class-A” war criminals
ers. Because of its association with the feudal regime,
by the Tokyo War Crimes tribunal. Although the Japanese
Buddhism suffered through a brief but destructive persecu-
constitution’s Article 20 specifically prohibits any govern-
tion in the 1870s and 1880s but recovered state patronage
mental sponsorship of religious activity or institutions, sever-
and influence in the early twentieth century. As in the past
al postwar prime ministers (Miki, Nakasone, Hashimoto,
Buddhist leaders once again promoted the “unity of royal law
Koizumi) have made official visits to the shrine to pay their
and the Buddha-dharma” (o¯bo¯ Buppo¯ furi) and actively par-
respects and to appease political supporters. As might be ex-
ticipated in Japan’s territorial and militaristic expansion.
pected after these visits, both public and diplomatic protests
erupt in countries once occupied and ravaged by Japan’s mil-
Of far more utility to the state was the ancient religious
itary. In 2000 a prime minister used the phrase “kami no
and ritual tradition of venerating local and regional kami,
kuni,” or “land of the kami,” to describe Japan and set off
known to scholars as Shinto¯ (way of the kami). Every village
a similar furor because of prewar associations fusing religion
had at least one Shinto¯ shrine that could be linked to the
and politics as the ideology of a nation fighting a divinely
state cult of the emperor and the sun goddess. Since Shinto¯
sanctioned war.
had no sacred texts or a centralized, organizational structure,
the Meiji government used shrines in much the same way
There is less ambiguity regarding the government’s atti-
the Tokugawa had used local Buddhist temples: to register
tude toward religious organizations, especially after the Aum
and monitor residents but also to involve them with festivals
Shinrikyo¯ group’s sarin gas attack on Tokyo subways in
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
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
7275
1995. With twelve deaths and over five thousand injuries,
Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nation-
the Japanese government moved quickly to revise laws on re-
alisms. Chicago, 2002.
ligious organizations. Increased reporting requirements and
Reader, Ian. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case
monitoring, more financial transparency, and greater gov-
of Aum Shinrikyo¯. Honolulu, 2000.
ernmental powers to restrict activities were the result. Taking
Shimazono, Susumu. Posuto-modan no Shin Shu¯kyo¯ (Post-Modern
this case and state reaction as a precedent, one can surmise
New Religions). Tokyo, 2001.
that the coming years will increasingly reflect worldwide
Stone, Jacqueline. Original Enlightenment and the Transformation
standards among highly industrialized nations in treating re-
of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. Honolulu, 1999.
ligious activity as a private, civil right but that religious orga-
Stronach, Bruce. Beyond the Rising Sun: Nationalism in Contempo-
nizations must be carefully monitored for antistate activities.
rary Japan. Westport, Conn., 1995.
At the same time one should not underestimate the historic
appeal of religious movements in Japan that promote within
JOHN K. NELSON (2005)
a rhetoric of democracy and peace both state stability and a
veneration of the imperial household.
S
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND
EE ALSO Aum Shinrikyo
¯; New Religious Movements, arti-
cle on New Religious Movements in Japan; So¯ka Gakkai.
ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
A discussion of religion and politics in the ancient Mediterra-
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Ketelaar, James. Of Heretics and Martyrs in Meiji Japan. Princeton,
N.J., 1990.
ganize the universe and the divine world in a religious
system. The system so constructed concerned itself with the
Kisala, Robert, and Mark Mulllins. Religion and Social Crisis in
proper performance of ritual actions to maintain the cosmic
Japan. New York, 2001.
order rather than with issues of belief or ethics—orthopraxy
Ko¯jiro, Naoki. “The Nara State.” Translated by Felicia Bock. In
rather than orthodoxy. In this type of system, religion and
The Cambridge History of Japan: Ancient Japan, edited by De-
lmer Brown, pp. 222–267. New York, 1993.
the state were fundamentally intertwined.
McMullin, Neil. “On Placating the Gods and Pacifying the Popu-
The interrelationship of religion and politics in these so-
lace: The Case of the Gion Goryo Cult.” History of Religions
cieties led naturally to a high degree of integration between
27 (1988): 270–293.
religious authority and political authority. Indeed, even to
Nakano, T., T. Iida, and H. Yamanaka, eds. Shu¯kyo¯ to National-
use the categories of religious authority and political authori-
ism (Religion and Nationalism). Kyoto, Japan, 1997.
ty with regard to the ancient world is anachronistic, for au-
Nelson, John. A Year in the Life of a Shinto¯ Shrine. Seattle, Wash.,
thority was not divided along these lines. Often the persons
1996.
whom most people would categorize as priests acted more
Nelson, John. Enduring Identities: The Guise of Shinto¯ in Contem-
as administrators, responsible for the upkeep of the sanctuary
porary Japan. Honolulu, 2000.
and its possessions and for the performance of rites. This is
Nelson, John. “Social Memory as Ritual Practice: Commemorat-
well illustrated by the Greek term conventionally translated
ing Spirits of the Military Dead at Yasukuni Shinto Shrine.”
as priest, hiereus, which literally means “the one in charge of
Journal of Asian Studies 62 (2003): 443–468.
the sacred things” (cf. the Latin sacerdos, “giver of the sa-
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cred”). None of these traditions possessed sacred texts or rev-
“private” they may seem to moderns, still fall within the
elations that might dictate human behavior, so priests never
realm of public religion as defined in the ancient world. “Pri-
formed a branch with specialized training completely sepa-
vate” religious actions did not focus on eschatological salva-
rate from the institutions of the state. It fell to the state to
tion but involved different subsets of the larger community,
develop mechanisms designed to appease the power of the
and in this way continued to be public; indeed this behavior
transcendent beings, and the role of the priests was not to
highlights the inadequacy of the terms “public” and “private”
explicate the system, but to perform the proper rituals.
when used with regard to the ancient world. Polis-religion
Though it will become clear below that priests functioned
made room for individual behavior—and welcomed it—
differently in each of these societies, the selection of priests
because such behavior was mediated through the state, which
in each society and the manner in which they fulfilled their
had approved the deities or cults to whom these “private” of-
duties mirrored the political structure and developments
ferings were made or had incorporated cults that involved
within that structure to a remarkable degree.
personal behavior into its religious structure. “Private” reli-
gion may have provided opportunities for the individual to
Part of the explanation for the close links between reli-
perform rituals rather than to be an observer at a state festi-
gion and politics in the ancient Mediterranean lies in the fact
val, but it cannot be seen as an activity completely separable
that, unlike in most modern traditions, the very purpose of
from political life. Despite the individual differences between
these systems was to safeguard and improve the welfare of
the societies of the ancient Mediterranean, there is no clear
the state. The very notion of separating religion and state
demarcation between the spheres of religion and politics—or
would have astonished these societies; religion and politics
between religious and political authority—in any of them,
could not be considered separate spheres of human activity
down to the end of the Western Roman Empire and beyond.
because both were directed toward the prosperity of the com-
MESOPOTAMIA. Because of their similarities and their influ-
munity. Each city had its own tutelary divinity, and with the
ence upon one another, the religions of the ancient Tigris
rise of centralized states, the tutelary deities of the leading
and Euphrates River valley will be treated together here,
city often became state deities. The success of the state was
though of course Assyrian and Babylonian religions differed
felt to depend on the favor of these deities, and its failure was
in some respects. For the ancient Mesopotamian, the divini-
interpreted as a sign that the deities had abandoned the state.
ties were responsible for creating order out of the chaos that
Thus one of the primary functions of the state authorities
existed before creation. The king, considered the earthly rep-
was to maintain the favor of the divine through the proper
resentative of the gods, was entrusted with maintaining order
performance of rituals, as noted above. Given the connection
on earth, and in this way the religious beliefs of ancient Mes-
between religion and state, political relationships and diplo-
opotamia buttressed the political system that developed in
macy between states might be expressed through religious ac-
the region. The interlocking nature of the political and reli-
tions. Such actions are not evidence of the manipulation of
gious authorities can be seen most clearly in the Assyrian
religion for political purposes; they bespeak rather the deep
Akitu ceremony, where the king’s right to rule for the next
interpenetration of religion within the life of these ancient
year was granted to him by the divine beings, while the
Mediterranean societies. Functions that many modern tradi-
princes and the nobility renewed their oaths of loyalty. That
tions consider to be the province of religion, such as the en-
religion was important to Assyrian kings throughout the year
forcement of ethical standards, were the responsibility of the
and not just at this ceremony can be seen from letters of the
community, while the well-being of the community and its
Sargonid period, many of which discuss the numerous reli-
members, which most people tend to imagine as the purpose
gious obligations of the king. While temples in the Near East
of politics, was the primary purpose of religion. In these cir-
tended to have their own hierarchies of personnel and to own
cumstances, religion was inherently a part of political life:
significant amounts of property, the kings still wielded sig-
every communal action had a religious aspect and every reli-
nificant authority over the priests. The head of the temple
gious action had a communal aspect.
was responsible to the king as the representative of the gods,
and many of these temple estates also derived income from
Late-twentieth-century scholarship, perhaps driven by
royal benefits as well as from their own property holdings.
an increasing focus on individualism in the modern world,
To the extent that the temples became dependent on royal
paid significant attention to the role of the individual citizen
grants rather than on their own holdings, they came under
within these traditions. On the one hand, this research em-
more direct control of the kings, further eradicating the dis-
phasized that the presence of ritual formalism did not mean
tinction between religious and political authority.
that ancient Mediterranean religion was devoid of spirituali-
ty and that its coldness left individuals unsatisfied. By partici-
The “rise and fall” of individual Mesopotamian divini-
pating in civic rituals individuals affirmed their membership
ties also provides a very clear example of the interdependence
in the community, while the lack of an official dogma left
of politics and religion at the level of city or state relations.
individuals free to conceive of the gods and the world as they
The history of Babylonia demonstrates how the rise of indi-
saw fit. Scholars have also noted the many religious actions
vidual cities to prominence brought their tutelary deities to
performed by individuals, in addition to their participation
the level of national gods; Marduk, the primary god of Baby-
as spectators in large state rituals. These actions, however
lon, became the national deity of the Babylonian empire and
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
7277
with the decline of Babylonian power saw a concomitant loss
rulers of the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1100 BCE) joined
of worshipers. The process could also work in the opposite
Amun with Re and made the new deity the supreme god of
direction; the neo-Assyrian empire from the ninth to the sev-
Egypt. During the latter period especially, the priesthood of
enth centuries BCE destroyed temples and carried cult statues
Amun-Ra amassed great wealth due to royal generosity, and
into captivity to emphasize the weakness of those gods and
thus wielded significant political power, to the point of hav-
goddesses and of the peoples whom they were supposed to
ing influence on the selection of a new king. The celebrated
protect. In keeping with this ideology, shrines to Ashur, the
reforms of Akhenaton (c. 1350–1336 BCE), who attempted
eponymous god of the traditional first capital of the Assyrian
to install the sun-disk Aton as the sole god of Egypt and
empire, might be placed in some cities, but the Assyrians also
erected a new palace and temple complex for this purpose,
rebuilt temples or restored images as a means of conducting
may have been intended in part to break the power of the
imperial policy. Religion thus provided one means of taking
priesthood of Amun-Ra. The attempt ultimately failed, and
political action and marking political developments in both
when the centralized power of the New Kingdom gave way
Assyria and Babylonia.
at the end of the Twentieth dynasty, the priests of Amun-Ra
EGYPT. The relationship between religion and politics in
found themselves the effective rulers of southern Egypt. As
Egypt has many striking affinities with the situation in Meso-
in Mesopotamia, political and religious authority were inter-
potamia, despite some major theological differences. Because
locked and developed to the point where distinctions be-
the Nile River, the lifeblood of ancient Egypt, operated on
tween the two are difficult to make.
a much more regular cycle of flood and retreat than the Ti-
GREECE. The situation in ancient Greece presents some
gris and Euphrates, Egyptian divinities were considered guar-
marked differences to that in the Near Eastern kingdoms,
antors of a stable cosmic order rather than forces that might
though some similarities can be observed. Considering that
unleash chaos at any moment. The outstanding feature of
in Greece one does not find a unified polity ruled by a single
Egyptian society during its long history as an independent
king, but a plethora of independent polities usually governed
polity, from roughly 3000 BCE until the capture of Alexan-
by aristocracies, it should not be surprising to find differ-
dria by the Romans in 30 BCE, was that the king was consid-
ences in the relationship between religious and political au-
ered to be of divine essence, a god incarnate. Egyptians iden-
thorities. In Greece there was no separate class of priests, but
tified the king as Horus, king of the gods, and each successive
rather religious personnel were drawn from the citizen body
king took a Horus-name upon his succession. In the Egyp-
just as were civic officials, and indeed they were often select-
tian conception, the primary responsibility of the gods, and
ed and served in the same manner. For instance at Athens,
thus of the king as Horus, was to maintain the cosmic and
priests and priestesses were frequently chosen by lot and
timeless order of the Egyptian world, and in this way Egyp-
served a term of a single year; the number of hereditary and
tian religious belief supported the institution of kingship.
lifelong positions was always small and diminished over time.
In practice the existence of numerous local cults
This similarity underscores the fact that in ancient Greece
throughout Egypt complicated the situation. Each cult pos-
civic and religious authority were really two aspects of the
sessed its own temple and cult structures, as in Mesopotamia,
same power; both were charged to protect the well-being of
and was served by its own local priesthood, and each priest-
the state.
hood aimed at advancing the claims of its divinity toward
primacy. Egyptian ruling dynasties when they came to power
The fact that religion was so embedded in the life of
tended to raise their local cult to the status of supreme royal
every Greek city meant that considerations which most peo-
god, and the shifting importance of Ptah, Re, and Amun in
ple would label religious often played a major role in both
Egyptian history owes much to the changes in Egyptian
internal and external affairs. Public spaces, such as the agora
dynasties. But as in Mesopotamia, the relationship between
in Athens, were in fact consecrated religious spaces, and cities
kings and priests was not a one-way street; as Egyptian
might display their civic pride through religion. The temples
dynasties sought to raise individual cults to supremacy by
of the Acropolis in Athens, built in the second half of the
granting their priesthoods special favors, they ceded power
fifth century BCE, are the best-known example of a city’s self-
to those priesthoods as well. The supremacy of the kings may
promotion through religion, but other cities used religious
have been felt most strongly in the Old Kingdom, from
spaces in similar ways. Less significant states such as Sicyon
roughly 2700 to 2200
or Siphnos erected elaborately decorated buildings, filled
BCE, the period in which the great Pyr-
amids of Giza were constructed. By the end of this period,
with dedications, at Panhellenic sites such as Delphi in order
however, the kings had adopted the title “Son of Re,” per-
to boost their image among the other Greeks. While each
haps implying that they no longer held a status equal to the
city might promote its tutelary divinity, the fragmentation
sun-god. That fact, and the disappearance of the king’s rela-
of political authority throughout Greece meant that the tem-
tives from the higher ranks of priests, may indicate that the
porary predominance of one state, such as Athens, did not
kings had lost much of their power to the priesthoods, a
lead to the promotion of that state’s deity (in this case Athe-
trend that repeated itself throughout Egyptian history.
na) at the expense of others, as it did in the Near East.
The Theban princes of the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–
Despite their political fragmentation, the Greeks recog-
1800 BCE) raised Amun to a position of primacy, whereas the
nized that they shared a common bond. Religion, especially
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN RELIGIONS
in the form of shared practices and sanctuaries, served as one
the Roman religious system was quite open to the incorpora-
of the primary markers of Greek identity. Of the Panhellenic
tion of foreign religious traditions, including even the adop-
sanctuaries, the oracle at Delphi was one religious authority
tion of cults of defeated enemies, the imperial expansion of
in Greece that made itself felt in all of the Greek city-states.
Rome can be read in the expansion of her pantheon, as ele-
Delphi was customarily consulted prior to the foundation of
ments first from other cities on the Italian peninsula, then
a new colony, a declaration of war, and other momentous
from Sicily, Greece, Africa, and the Levant found homes
decisions; the Spartans’ decision to aid in the overthrow of
within the Roman state religion. Roman religious imperial-
the tyranny at Athens in 510 BCE, which ultimately led to
ism is scarcely separable from her territorial imperialism.
the establishment of Athenian democracy, was driven in part
In similar fashion the organization of political power
by a series of responses they had received from the oracle. But
and religious power at Rome proceeds from the same
even here the authority of the Delphic oracle was limited, for
sources. The same principles guided the selection of both
her ambiguous utterances needed interpretation, and this left
civic and religious authorities: during the Republic (c. 509–
sufficient room for politicians to pursue their chosen paths
31 BCE), the intent was to keep power in the hands of the
by interpreting the oracle in a manner favorable to their poli-
aristocracy while at the same time not allowing any one
cies. For example, during the Persian Wars, Themistocles fa-
member of the aristocracy to accumulate too much power.
mously interpreted an ambiguous, but largely negative, ora-
So while the records of membership in the religious colleges
cle to mean that the Athenians should pursue his policy of
at Rome are filled with the same prominent names of Rome’s
staking their all on a naval campaign at Salamis (480 BCE).
political history, tradition dictated that no person should
The fact that Greeks from many city-states consulted the or-
serve in more than one college. Furthermore, these colleges
acle at Delphi should therefore not be considered as evidence
in essence were advisory only: the civic magistrates them-
of religious authority external to the state; rather, the oracle
selves carried out the necessary religious rituals, with the aid
formed a part of the entire system of religion embedded with
of a priestly advisor, while the Senate needed to approve deci-
civic authority.
sions pertaining to the state religious system. As in other
The high degree of correlation between civic and reli-
Mediterranean societies, religious authority had no separate
gious authority in ancient Greece aids in understanding one
existence in Rome.
of the dominant religious trends in Greece during the Helle-
Just as Roman expansion can be seen in the expansion
nistic period (323–30 BCE): the development of ruler cult.
of the Roman pantheon, internal political change can be read
The rise of Macedon brought the inhabitants of Greece
in religious developments. For instance, as the non-
under the rule of kings, and the religious system naturally
aristocratic residents of Rome began to muscle their way into
changed to accommodate the altered political landscape. Un-
the political arena, the method of selection for the priestly
like their Near Eastern counterparts, Hellenistic kings were
colleges changed from co-option to election by secret ballot.
not worshiped as representatives of the divine on earth, but
On the other side, as individual Romans began to accrue
as divinities themselves. Scholars following the seminal work
greater power and amass a series of unprecedented offices,
of Simon Price (Rituals and Power, 1984) have moved be-
their religious behavior reflected their changed status. Indi-
yond asking whether rulers were really considered to be gods
viduals such as Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138–78 BCE) or Pom-
or whether this was simply a means of expressing their tran-
pey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, 106–48 BCE) in-
scendent political power. Rather, the two kinds of power
creasingly used religious actions or religious offices to further
were inseparable—the locus of political power was the locus
their careers or attempted to claim divine sanction for their
of religious power as well, whether that be a corporate body
activities. Though precedents existed in Rome for this type
of citizens or an individual. The absence of sharp distinctions
of behavior, it occurred more frequently and on a larger scale
between the religious and the political in earlier periods of
in the Late Republic and thus presented a challenge to the
Greek history meant that ruler cult could be grafted onto the
traditional Roman form of religion, just as these newly pow-
religious systems of the Hellenistic period without serious
erful individuals challenged the Roman political structure.
difficulty.
Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE), whose actions ultimately result-
ROME. The study of Roman religion has perhaps been most
ed in the end of the republican system of government, first
affected by the recognition that the entanglement of religion
drew attention to himself by unexpectedly winning (in 63
with politics signifies the health of the system, not its decay.
BCE) the election for pontifex maximus, the most important
Indeed it is scarcely possible to imagine a public action at
priestly office in Rome, even though it had limited authority
Rome that could be undertaken without religious approval:
even over religious affairs. Caesar also promoted himself by
declarations of war, decisions of when to offer battle, elec-
claiming a connection to the goddess Venus as his special di-
tions, judicial proceedings—all took place literally under the
vine patron. Rather than a sign of decay, as scholars looking
auspices of the divine. In these circumstances, it should be
to explain the emergence of Christianity long argued, these
expected that political developments, both external and in-
developments are a natural outgrowth of a society with a
ternal, would be reflected in religion. The Romans them-
high degree of integration between politics and religion. As
selves were quite aware of this connection; indeed Roman
the political structure underwent revolutionary changes, reli-
ideology ascribed their imperial success to their piety. Since
gious changes paralleled the political.
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
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND CHRISTIANITY
7279
The actions of Augustus (63 BCE–14 CE), as he effected
pp. 13–37. Oxford, and New York, 2000. The Oxford Read-
the transformation in Rome from a Republic to an imperial
ings collection includes several other essays of interest, in-
system, clearly reflect these changes. During the struggle for
cluding another discussion of polis religion by Sourvinou-
power, Augustus made effective use not only of claims to a
Inwood, as well as one by Robert Parker on Greek states and
special connection with Venus, but also, following the deifi-
oracles.
cation of Caesar in 42 BCE, of his status as the son of a god.
Woolf, Greg. “Polis-Religion and Its Alternatives in the Roman
In this regard he followed the pattern already laid down by
Provinces.” In Roman Religion, edited by Clifford Ando,
Caesar and others, but he also inaugurated a pattern of ruler
pp. 39–54. Edinburgh, 2004.
cult that closely approximated the Hellenistic model, even
ERIC M. ORLIN (2005)
if most Roman emperors were careful not to be openly wor-
shiped in Rome itself. The priesthoods provide perhaps the
best view of the revolution in Roman society: Augustus was
the first to serve on all the religious colleges at once, and after
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND
scrupulously waiting for the death of the previous pontifex
CHRISTIANITY
maximus he assumed that position as well. As he consolidated
Although the relation of Christians to their governing politi-
political authority under his control, it was natural for him
cal power usually follows Jesus’s teaching, “Give to Caesar
also to consolidate religious authority. Subsequent emperors
what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s,” interpretations
followed his lead, so that henceforth when the titular head
of this command vary with different historical circumstances
of Roman religion spoke, the head of the Roman Empire
and traditions. In Jesus’s time, the relation of the Jews to
spoke at the same time. Ultimately, this combination of reli-
their Roman conquerors was different from the relation a
gious and political authority in the figure of the pontifex max-
thousand years later of Christians to Christian emperors. An-
imus outlived the Roman Empire in the West, as it came to
other thousand years later the relationship has become, for
be embodied in the Pope, who continues to reside in Rome.
the most part and particularly in democracies, one of separa-
tion of church and state.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beard, Mary, and John North, eds. Pagan Priests: Religion and
THE PRE-CONSTANTINIAN CHURCH. The first followers of
Power in the Ancient World. Ithaca, N.Y., 1990. An outstand-
Jesus were Jews gathered in Jerusalem at the time of his cruci-
ing comparative collection, including essays on both My-
fixion, death, and—according to the Gospel of Luke and the
cenean and Classical Greece, Republican and Imperial
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Rome, Ptolemaic Egypt, and sixth-century Babylonia.
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mand bishops continued in the Byzantine Empire, estab-
the critical articles that revolutionized the approach to reli-
lished in 330 when Constantine moved from Rome to By-
gion and its connection to politics in Rome.
zantium, an ancient city on the Bosporus, which he rebuilt
Price, Simon. Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia
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Shafer, Byron E., ed. Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths and
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Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane. “What Is Polis Religion?” In Ox-
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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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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND CHRISTIANITY
Gaul, Clovis, the ruler of the Franks, converted to Christian-
iarists,” a group of clergy and philosophers who wanted to
ity in 496 CE. The Franks became fierce defenders of their
reform the church by decentralizing it and convening coun-
Christian faith and lands. Another Frank, Charles the Ham-
cils every five years. They argued that the church should re-
mer (Charles Martel, c. 688–741), halted the advance of
turn to the methods of the first four centuries, when the peo-
Islam into Europe by defeating the Muslim army at Poitiers
ple elected their bishops. The pope’s role, they argued,
in 732. His grandson was Charles the Great (Charlemagne),
should be that of an executive secretary carrying out the deci-
who ruled from 768 to 814 and by 800 had conquered most
sions of a representative council consisting not only of clergy
of central Europe, from the Pyrenees to the Rhine River.
but of laymen and, according to Marsilius of Padua and Wil-
liam of Ockham, of laywomen as well—a remarkable idea
Charlemagne imposed as uniform a Christianity as his
in a time of male dominance. Although Pope Eugene IV
fine organizational skills could manage. He brought the
(r. 1431–1447) succeeded in defeating conciliarism, the con-
scholar Alcuin (c. 735–804) from Britain to Gaul and in
ciliarists had brought the West another step toward democra-
other ways fostered learning, leading to what is known as the
cy.
Carolingian Renaissance. Under Charlemagne monasteries
adopted the Benedictine Rule and became repositories of
At the council, Eugene disappointed a delegation from
learning; monks copied manuscripts, sometimes in the new,
the Byzantine emperor, John VIII Palaeologus (r. 1425–
flowing “Carolingian minuscule.” When rebellion threat-
1448), who sought military aid against the Turks. From
ened Pope Leo III, he appealed to Charlemagne, who thence-
Constantine on, the Byzantine emperor or empress ruled the
forth became the papal champion. On Christmas Day, 800,
Eastern church, whose patriarchs never gained the kind of
Leo crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans. Latin
power exercised by the Roman popes. When Constantino-
Christianity now had a strong emperor whose very success
ple, the “second Rome,” fell to the Turks in 1453, the Rus-
emphasized a latent problem: the relation of the pope to the
sian Orthodox church assumed leadership of Eastern Chris-
emperor.
tianity, and its main seat in Moscow became the “third
Rome.” Similar liturgies and hierarchies, barely changed
As a Christian Charlemagne was subject to the pope,
since the days of Constantine, united the Orthodox church-
but Leo depended upon Charlemagne for military protec-
es. Relative to the Latin church of the West, state-control
tion. So who was the more powerful, the pope who crowned
Orthodox churches offered fewer opportunities for rebellion
Charlemagne or the emperor whose army stood at the gates
by nobles, clergy, or philosophers. The lands of Eastern
of Rome during the coronation? The tug-of-war between
Christianity thus had no counterparts to the Magna Carta
pope and emperor continued until the Reformation of the
or the conciliarist movement, and they experienced nothing
sixteenth century split Western Christianity and established
like the splintering the Western church underwent in the six-
a new political-religious dynamic. A few salient encounters
teenth-century.
will clarify the nature of the continuing conflict. After Pope
FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT. Mar-
Gregory VII (r. 1073–1085) stripped the secular power of
tin Luther began the Protestant Reformation in 1517, insist-
the right to invest bishops with the insignia of their pastoral
ing on the doctrine of justification by faith alone and the
office, Emperor Henry IV summoned a synod of bishops,
right of individual Christians to read the Bible in their own
who in 1075 voted to depose Gregory. Gregory retaliated by
languages and to interpret its meaning themselves. This
excommunicating Henry. Since excommunication dissolved
move toward individualism was another step toward the doc-
the feudal bond between rulers and their subjects, Henry re-
trines of human rights that developed during the subsequent
pented, kneeling in the snow outside the papal residence at
two centuries. Luther survived papal condemnation and the
Canossa. Gregory thus established a principle of papal free-
ire of Emperor Charles V (r. 1519–1556) only because he
dom from secular control. In 1208 Pope Innocent III placed
was protected by his own suzerain, Frederick the Wise, ruler
England under interdict and the next year excommunicated
of Saxony from 1486 to 1525 and one of the Holy Roman
its king. The consequent weakening of King John made
Empire’s seven electors. The empire, consisting mainly of
room for the revolt of the barons, who managed to force
German-speaking lands, comprised myriad territories whose
John to sign the Magna Carta, “The Great Charter of En-
lords, while jealous of their power in their own lands, were
glish liberty granted (under considerable duress) by King
sworn in fealty to the emperor. By 1529 three of the seven
John at Runnymede on June 15, 1215.” The rights obtained
electors had become “Lutherans,” and that year at the Diet
in Magna Carta constituted a significant legal step toward
of Speyer they protested for their right to chose preachers in
democracy.
their own districts (hence the term “Protestant”). Charles V,
In 1303 Philip IV of France captured Pope Boniface
fighting the Turks at Vienna, needed the support of all his
VIII, thereby reversing the power dynamic between sover-
lords and so yielded to their demands. Because Protestant
eign secular and ecclesiastic authority. Philip moved the pa-
preachers required the protection of their lords, the latter ex-
pacy to Avignon, a move that eventually led to schism
ercised considerable power over the churches in their terri-
(1378–1417) and scandal, as three popes claimed to be St.
tories.
Peter’s successors. The Council of Constance (1414–1418)
In Zurich, one of the cantons of the Swiss confedera-
resolved the schism, but only through the action of “concil-
tion, Huldrych Zwingli in 1518 began another phase of the
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Reformation. By 1525 the town’s council had accepted
stored Book of Common Prayer to death for attending a Cath-
Zwingli’s reforms, voting against Catholic objections. Other
olic Mass. This “Elizabethan Settlement” was reached only
republics and “free cities” within the empire that enjoyed the
after bitter debates between Henrician Anglicans and Ed-
chartered right to elect their own municipal governments fol-
wardian Protestants, many of whom had learned their theol-
lowed suit. In a sense, the Reformation’s success—through
ogy in the Reformed states of Zurich and Geneva. The lat-
the actions of locally elected magistrates and an elected em-
ter’s discontent over the retention of the office of bishop and
peror—stemmed from political systems developed in the
the sanctioning of elaborate liturgical practices led to rebel-
Middle Ages; the liberties guaranteed by medieval town char-
lion in the next century.
ters took on new relevance in the context of religious reform
and thus made possible another step toward democracy in
Among the Marian exiles who took refuge in Geneva
the West.
during the reign of Mary Tudor was the Reformed preacher
John Knox (c. 1514–1572). Upon his return to Scotland,
Luther’s principle of private interpretation of the Scrip-
Knox persuaded its great barons and other nobles to sign the
tures was carried further by the so-called Anabaptists, or “re-
First Covenant in 1557. In 1560 the Scottish Parliament
baptizers.” Originating in Zurich in 1520, the sect had
abolished the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church in
spread to the empire by 1525. An imperial edict read at the
Scotland, adopted a Reformed confession of faith, and orga-
Diet of Speyer in 1529 condemned them on the grounds
nized the Scottish church along Presbyterian lines. In 1707
that “no man, having once been baptized according to Chris-
the Treaty of Union required the English sovereign to swear
tian order (as an infant), shall let himself be baptized again
to protect the Church of Scotland, but merely as a member,
or for the second time.” With the activities of the “rebap-
not as its Supreme Governor. Church and state in Scotland
tizers” declared “forbidden on pain of death,” Protestants
continue to be thus divided; each year the General Assembly
and Catholics alike made martyrs of Anabaptists well into
of the Church of Scotland chooses its own head, the Mod-
the next century.
erator.
Politics played a major part in England’s revolt against
In the tiny republic of Geneva, which granted refuge to
the papacy, which occurred through a series of legislative acts
English Protestants fleeing Mary Tudor’s Catholic regime,
by Parliament. The new laws paved the way for King Henry
Guillaume Farel (1489–1565) began the Reformation in
VIII (r. 1509–1547) to divorce Catherine of Aragon (1485–
1532. In 1536 Geneva’s General Council swore “to live ac-
1536), who had borne him a daughter, Mary Tudor (1516–
cording to the Word of God.” Two months later Farel pre-
1558), but no sons. In 1531 Parliament declared Henry to
vailed upon a young Frenchman, John Calvin (1509–1564),
be “their only and supreme lord and, as far as the law of
to assist him. Earlier that year Calvin had published the first
Christ allows, even supreme head.” After his divorce from
edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, the definitive
Catherine and from Rome, Henry married the pregnant
Latin edition of which appeared in 1559, followed by a
Anne Boleyn (1507–1536) in 1533. That same year, Anne
French edition in 1560. The work presented a powerful,
bore a daughter, later Elizabeth I (r. 1558–1603), one of En-
consistent theology that, together with the Genevan Confes-
gland’s greatest sovereigns. After the miscarriage of a son,
sion of Faith and the articles of church organization, both
Anne fell from favor and was beheaded in 1536. In 1537
introduced in 1537, formed the pillars of the Genevan Ref-
Henry married Jane Seymour, who five years later gave him
ormation. Calvin’s Geneva was ruled by a Council of Sixty
his long-desired son and heir, Edward VI (r. 1547–1553).
and a Council of Two Hundred. These councils annually
elected twelve lay elders to serve in the Consistory along with
Edward succeeded his father under the regency of Ed-
five pastors, whose position was more or less permanent. The
ward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. Through Somerset and
Consistory therefore represented both state and church in
Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury and author
matters of church discipline. While it could neither judge
of The Book of Common Prayer (1549), England became
nor punish civil offenses, it could admonish or, in the worst
Protestant in theology and liturgy. In 1553 Edward died and
cases, excommunicate offenders. Genevan citizens had to
Mary Tudor, devoutly Roman Catholic, inherited England’s
sign the Genevan Confession of Faith, which created a mar-
throne. Through Parliament she reversed much of the Ed-
riage of church and state emulated by the settlers of the Mas-
wardian legislation. She had Cranmer executed for treason,
sachusetts Bay Colony, founded in 1630.
while other Protestant leaders fled abroad to form a powerful
group of “Marian exiles,” who returned when Mary’s half-
FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT. From
sister Elizabeth ascended to the throne in 1558. England’s
the Reformation on, the developing nations of Western Eu-
people suffered from the changing religious legislation,
rope had official state churches, a situation that led to bloody
which led to bitter divisions between Protestants and Catho-
and bitter religious wars. Rulers determined the religion of
lics. In 1559 Parliament passed a new Act of Supremacy that
their subjects, who had to convert or move to another territo-
required an oath affirming Elizabeth as the Supreme Head
ry to avoid dire consequences, including death. Territorial
of the Church of England. In the same year, the Act of Uni-
wars were ipso facto religious wars—Catholics fought Lu-
formity introduced a system of penalties ranging from fines
therans and Calvinists, Lutherans and Calvinists fought each
for not attending Sunday services as mandated by the re-
other, and all three persecuted Anabaptists. To bolster ar-
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mies, warring factions hired mercenaries, sometimes includ-
religion by preventing any federal or state agency to officially
ing Muslim Turks. The intermittent but frequent bloody
sanction any one religion to the exclusion of others. As the
chaos of the Thirty Years’ War (begun in 1618) ended only
wars of religion made clear, the Reformation itself did not
with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.
result in religious freedom. In one of the most influential
In the meantime, Christians living under Muslim rule
treatises on toleration, Sebastian Castellio (1515–1563) de-
in southern Spain, southern Italy, and along the shores of the
veloped a consistent argument for freedom of conscience, ar-
eastern Mediterranean enjoyed religious liberty; even though
guing against the execution as a heretic of Michael Servetus
their faith relegated them to second-class citizenship, they
by the Genevan magistrates, at Calvin’s urging. Castellio said
certainly fared much better than Muslims and Jews under
simply and forcefully that “to kill a man is not to defend a
Christian rule. When Ferdinand and Isabella defeated the
doctrine; it is to kill a man.” Doctrine, he argued, could be
Moors in the battle of the Alhambra in January 1492, they
defended by argument, by the pen and not by the sword. But
declared all Spain a Christian country. Muslims and Jews
his was a lonely position. Calvin’s stance derived from the
had either to convert to Christianity or to leave Spain. Some
teachings of Luther and indeed of the medieval church back
Jews signed onto the ships of Christopher Columbus, who
to St. Augustine, which saw unrepentant heretics as a threat
set sail in August 1492. Columbus welcomed Jewish crew-
to the spiritual health of the community. Castellio’s position
members, thinking that he might meet one of the lost tribes
began to gain a following only a century later, in a Europe
of Israel during his voyage and thus require Hebrew speakers.
exhausted by religious wars. The Treaty of Westphalia be-
tween the Holy Roman Empire and all adjacent nations
In the Americas, native populations learned painfully
cracked the age-old armor of intolerance, affirming “Liberty
what it was to be “discovered” by white Europeans. Spanish
of the Exercise of Religion” (paragraphs XXVIII, XLIX. A prac-
conquistadors killed and enslaved Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas,
tical necessity to assure peace, religious liberty was not, how-
contrary to orders of both the Spanish king and the Holy
ever, considered a matter of ethical principle.
Roman Emperor. But the conquistadors were a law unto
themselves; distance made royal and imperial mandates from
The uninspired scholasticism of the confessional
Europe ineffective. Missionaries either colluded with the
churches in place by the early seventeenth century bored
conquistadors or fought for the rights of the natives. Even
thinking minds and discouraged individuals looking for spir-
as Christian converts, the natives of Mexico and Central and
itual enlightenment. Two movements, both based primarily
South America had few rights, although the Spaniards al-
in France, emerged from this restlessness. The first was a re-
lowed intermarriage and did not confine natives to reserva-
markable spiritual resurgence, the “devout movement.” The
tions.
second, gathering strength from the systematic doubt of the
Natives of North America fared worse. Like those of
otherwise pious Catholic René Descartes (1596–1650), in-
Central and South America, they made friendly overtures
tellectually prepared the way for the next century’s Enlight-
and agreed to treaties, which the colonists then broke. The
enment. With Descartes’ rational dualism, reason increasing-
governments of the United States and Canada forced natives
ly asserted its independence from theology.
from their homelands onto reservations with inadequate
Among Descartes’ readers was John Locke (1632–
space and resources for tribes to support themselves. Deci-
1704), one of the strongest influences on the development
mated by starvation and disease and robbed of their dignity
of English and American democracy. Locke, a highly educat-
and rights, Native Americans on reservations were given over
ed Puritan, lived through some of England’s most tumultu-
to the influence of Protestant and Catholic missionaries.
ous years, from the beheading of Charles I in 1649, through
Missionaries took Indian children from their families and
Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan Commonwealth and the subse-
confined them in boarding schools, barring them from
quent Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1560, to the
speaking their own languages. Native American religious rit-
Glorious Revolution of 1688, which sent James II into exile
uals that expressed and supported traditional life-ways were
and brought William and Mary (r. 1689–1702) to England
forbidden. Not until 1978 did a joint resolution of Con-
from Holland. (William and Mary, both Stuarts and grand-
gress—the American Indian Religious Freedom Resolu-
children of Charles I, nonetheless countered the Catholiciz-
tion—assure that the U.S. government would “protect and
ing tendencies of Charles II or James II.) Locke therefore had
preserve for American Indians their inherent right of free-
ample material for his reflections on the relationship between
dom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions
religion and state. Initially defending the right of a ruler to
of the American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawai-
require religious obedience, he only later came around to
ians, including but not limited to access to sites, use and pos-
support religious tolerance. By 1689, returning to England
session of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship
after five years of exile in Holland, he published three major
through ceremonials and traditional rites.”
works: the classic philosophical treatise An Essay on Human
Thinkers and jurists in the United States and Europe
Understanding; Two Treatises on Government, which defend-
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries prepared the way
ed the English Revolution; and A Letter concerning Tolera-
for the unique experiment enshrined in the U. S. Constitu-
tion, written in Holland in 1685. He argued that faith went
tion and its First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of
beyond reason and so was not available to reason’s arguments
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in a conclusive fashion. Faith, therefore, could not be co-
In both the First Amendment and Jefferson’s letter, the
erced. Because love and good will were marks of a true Chris-
word “religion” included only forms of Christianity or
tian, tolerance should be the chief mark of the true church.
deism. Challenges to this narrow conception of religion
Further, argued Locke, there must be a distinction between
began to arise as the United States expanded. On April 30,
the business of religion, concerned with individual salvation,
1803, Jefferson signed the Louisiana Purchase, for the sum
and the public business of the commonwealth. He thus sepa-
of 15 million dollars in exchange for more than 800,000
rated the responsibilities and legal obligations of the church
square miles of land. Extending from the Mississippi River
and the state.
to the Rocky Mountains, this territory included the port of
New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi, and St. Louis,
Locke read not only Descartes, but also Castellio; non-
the “gateway to the west” at the confluence of the Mississippi
conformists like Hugo Grotius of Holland (1583–1645) and
and Missouri rivers. English was a foreign language along the
William Penn (1644–1718), founder of Pennsylvania; the
Mississippi, where francophone Haitians and Canadians
pantheistic Dutch-Jewish philosopher Barukh Spinoza
mingled with various Native Americans and English-
(1632–1677); and the French Huguenot and skeptic Pierre
speaking Americans from the east.
Bayle (1647–1706). Bayle, fleeing persecution in France fol-
lowing the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, settled
Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
in Rotterdam, where he published his influential Diction-
the spread of Christianity continued, both in the western
naire historique et critique (Historical and critical dictionary,
United States and elsewhere around the world, as missiona-
1697) and met Locke. Both philosophers, raised as Calvin-
ries followed conquering flags. The labors of these missiona-
ists, argued that no one should try to coerce the individual
ries, in many cases, resulted in religious beliefs and practices
conscience. The argument for religious liberty from this time
far removed from the conceptions of Christianity they at-
forward became intertwined with the concept of individual
tempted to inculcate. At the beginning of the twenty-first
rights, especially the right to follow one’s own conscience.
century, many native peoples practice Christianity in tandem
No longer did shapers of public thought and policy argue
with their indigenous religions. In some areas, the two are
that the common good required the removal of unrepentant
so mixed that it is difficult to extract particular strands. And
heretics from society. Rather, wrote Bayle, individuals must
in the United States, the influx of people belonging to all the
be left to God, who gave them a conscience that was “the
world’s religions and the very belated recognition of Native
natural and true light of reason” and a “clear and distinct
American religions has brought new pressures to bear on the
conception.”
First Amendment and the interpretation of the word
“religion.”
FROM THE ENLIGHTENMENT TO POST-MODERNITY. The
works of Locke and Bayle influenced both the American
Throughout history and around the globe, religion has
(1776) and the French (1789) revolutions. Some of the
been used and abused as politicians cited scripture to justify
American colonies had established churches; all had citizens
war, slavery, and male domination of women. Pacifists, abo-
who had fled state-established churches in Europe. It was not
litionists, and the Woman Suffrage Movement, however,
difficult for the leaders of the American Revolution and the
have likewise used Christianity to advance their causes.
framers of the U.S. Constitution (1787) to see that tolerance
Women obtained the vote in most of Europe, New Zealand,
did not go far enough, as it implied that a state could main-
Australia, and North America between the end of the nine-
tain an established church and merely tolerate, or bear with,
teenth century and the middle of the twentieth. Some Swiss
other denominations. Disestablishment was therefore their
cantons, however, enfranchised women only in the 1970s,
goal, accomplished through the First Amendment to the
and religious arguments are still used to deny women the
Constitution (1791), which protected the colonists’ most
right to vote in some parts of the world. The relation be-
cherished freedoms, beginning with freedom of religion:
tween church and state remains relevant in the social and cul-
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
tural battles of the early twenty-first century In the United
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . . .” In a
States, the controversy over same-sex marriage tests how
letter dated January 1, 1802, Thomas Jefferson allayed the
thoroughly the country remains culturally “Christian” (and
fears of a Connecticut minority, the Danbury Baptists, stat-
what Christianity means to its very diverse practitioners); it
ing that the First Amendment’s declaration of religious free-
also reflects the wide spectrum of views regarding the desir-
dom amounted to “building a wall of separation between
ability of both religious influence on state policy and state
Church & State.” According to some interpreters, the intent
involvement in religious matters. Organized conservative
of Congress and of Jefferson’s letter was to assure the free ex-
Christians from various denominations use political means
ercise of different religions, which could not be inhibited by
to oppose same-sex marriage, seeking to amend both state
any contravening law or the establishment of a particular reli-
and federal constitutions to define marriage exclusively as a
gion: the state must remain neutral. Others understand Jef-
union between a man and a woman. “Secularists,” too, con-
ferson’s letter as interpreting the establishment clause of the
tinue their own fight against the privileged position of Chris-
First Amendment as a protection of citizens from the de-
tianity in their states. Beginning with Constantine, Christian
mands of any organized religion.
governments awarded churches tax-exempt status and of-
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fered their clergy exemption from compulsory military ser-
Fortin, Ernest L. Classical Christianity and the Political Order: Re-
vice. Both exemptions have been challenged in the United
flections on the Theologico-Political Problem. Edited by J.
States as contrary to the establishment clause of the First
Brian Benestad. Lanham, Md., 1996.
Amendment. In France, the government’s strict secularism
Gutiérrez, Gustavo. We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual
(especially, critics argued, vis-à-vis religious displays by non-
Journey of a People. Translated by Matthew J. O’Connell.
Christian, and above all Muslim, immigrants) led to a 2004
Maryknoll, N.Y., 1984.
law forbidding schoolchildren from wearing religious sym-
Hamburger, Philip. Separation of Church and State. Cambridge,
bols, including Muslim headscarves, Sikh turbans, large
Mass., 2002. A clear and learned exposition of the history
crosses, or Stars of David.
and meanings of the First Amendment and Thomas Jeffer-
son’s sometimes abused phrase.
Twentieth-century pundits predicted that science and
Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity. London,
rational skepticism, the legacies of the Enlightenment, would
1999.
result in the triumph of secularism and a world in which the
Hatch, Nathan O. Democratization of American Christianity, New
pursuit of goods and power was balanced by a political con-
Haven, Conn., 1989.
cern for democratic values and human rights, without refer-
Hollenbach, David. The Common Good and Christian Ethics.
ence to any religious belief or practice. Except in Europe,
Cambridge, U.K., and New York, 2002.
however, religion appeared to be gaining in influence at the
Inter-Parliamentary Union. For a list of countries and dates of
beginning of the twenty-first century, both culturally and
women’s enfranchisement see http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/
politically. While the European Union argued over whether
suffrage.htm.
its constitution should reference Europe’s Christian past, its
Johnson, Douglas, and Cynthia Sampson, eds. Religion, The Miss-
nations have become increasingly diverse in the wake of de-
ing Dimension of Statecraft. New York, 1994.
colonization and globalization, with respect to both ethnicity
Kaufman, Peter Iver. Redeeming Politics. Princeton, N.J., 1990.
and religion. Europe’s residents are Christian and Muslim,
Kingdon, Robert M. Adultery and Divorce in Calvin’s Geneva.
Hindu and Buddhist. Governments based on a Christian Eu-
Cambridge, Mass., 1995.
ropean culture struggle to maintain their identity and at the
O’Donovan, Oliver, and Joan Lockwood O’Donovan. Bonds of
same time to understand that Christian hegemony is a thing
Imperfection: Christian Politics, Past and Present. Grand Rap-
of the past. In the United States, too, immigrants demand
ids, Mich., 2004.
an equal share in the liberties promised by the Constitution
Thiemann, Ronald F. Religion in Public Life: A Dilemma for De-
and the Bill of Rights. Muslims ask to sound the call to
mocracy. Washington, D.C., 1996.
prayer in towns that previously heard only church bells,
Witte, John, Jr. Religion and the American Constitutional Experi-
whereas Christians must recognize that, for their neighbors,
ment: Essential Rights and Liberties. Boulder, Colo., 2000.
Sunday is an ordinary day. In the face of globalization and
Witte, John, Jr., ed. Christianity and Democracy in Global Context.
its complex political realities, Christians will have to negoti-
Boulder, Colo., 1993.
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Yoder, John Howard. The Politics of Jesus: Vicit Agnus Noster.
S
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EE ALSO Anabaptism; Arianism; Liberation Theology; Ref-
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West. Princeton, N.J., 2003.
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God (Alla¯h) as the source of all authority, law, and order.
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Historically politics have often been a central vehicle by
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which Islam was implemented in state and society.
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND ISLAM
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lished has been subject to many interpretations across time
Caliphs (632–661 CE) as a special normative period in which
and space. The QurDa¯n and h:ad¯ıth do not provide any specif-
God’s favor was clearly upon the Muslims.
ic format for an “Islamic state” or even prescribe one as nec-
One of the most contentious questions faced by reli-
essary. Instead, they contain general prescriptions or norms
gious scholars throughout Muslim history has been whether
about the function of the state as well as ethical consider-
the character of the ruler was a decisive factor in determining
ations. Early Islamic empires and sultanates developed sys-
that the state was truly Islamic. That is, if the ruler is known
tems that combined elements adopted from conquered socie-
to be immoral, did this necessarily render the state un-
ties with religious prescriptions and institutions. During this
Islamic, so that its citizens were obligated to overthrow the
time period most states, non-Muslim as well as Muslim, con-
ruler? The majority of religious scholars, or EulamaD, deter-
trolled or used religion as a source of legitimacy or to mobi-
mined that maintaining social order and avoiding anarchy
lize popular support.
were more important than the character of the ruler. The de-
Historically Islam’s role in the state reinforced a sense
cisive factor rendering a state or society “Islamic,” they con-
of common identity for Muslims as well as a sense of conti-
cluded, is its governance by Islamic law.
nuity in Muslim rule. The existence of an Islamic ideology
However, a minority of EulamaD, most notably the thir-
and system, however imperfectly implemented, both validat-
teenth-century scholar Taqi al-Din Ibn Taym¯ıyah, ruled
ed and reinforced a sense of a divinely mandated and guided
that the character of the ruler was in fact decisive. If a ruler
community with a unifying purpose and mission, giving the
was unjust or immoral, Muslims were bound to overthrow
Islamic state a divine raison d’être.
him. Ibn Taym¯ıyah’s enduring influence, direct and indi-
Belief in the divine mandate of the Muslim community
rect, on contemporary political thought and politics is also
gave Muslim rulers the rationale for spreading their rule and
reflected in several other doctrines: the necessary synthesis
empire over the entire Middle East and major portions of Af-
between religion and state (that Islam is din wa-dawlah, or
rica and South, Southeast, and Central Asia as well as into
religion and state); insistence that one who claims to be a
Spain and southern Italy on the European Continent. Islam
Muslim but does not act like one cannot be considered a true
served as the religious ideology for the foundation of a variety
Muslim; a bipolar view of the world in which only two
of Muslim states, including great Islamic empires: Umayyad
choices or sides existed, Muslim and non-Muslim, belief and
(661–750 CE), Abbasid (750–1258 CE), Ottoman (1281–
unbelief. These viewpoints have been appropriated in partic-
1924 CE), Safavid (1501–1722 CE), and Mughal (1526–
ular by extremist movements, past and present.
1857 CE). In each of these empires and other sultanate states
THE SH¯IE¯I IMAMATE. In contrast to Sunn¯ı Islam, Sh¯ıE¯ı Islam
from the seventh to the eighteenth centuries, Islam was used
teaches that Muh:ammad decreed that succession or leader-
by rulers to legitimate their governance, and it informed the
ship (the ima¯m or leader) of the Muslim community be-
state’s legal, political, educational, and social institutions.
longed to the family of the Prophet, beginning with Al¯ı, his
Sunn¯ı Muslims (85 percent of the Muslim community,
cousin and son-in-law. However, EAl¯ı’s caliphate began only
in contrast to Sh¯ıE¯ı, a 15 percent minority) see the success
after three other caliphs had ruled; EAl¯ı was assassinated by
and expansion of Islam as religion and empire as evidence
opponents and the caliphate was seized by his enemy,
of God’s favor upon Muslims when they fulfill their divine
MuEa¯wiya. Sh¯ıE¯ı regard the caliphs, in particular MuEa¯wiya,
mandate to spread God’s word, guidance, and governance,
as usurpers and believe EAl¯ı’s son, H:usayn, was EAl¯ı’s rightful
whereas the increasing decline and powerlessness from the
successor. H:usayn was persuaded by some of EAl¯ı’s followers
eighteenth century through the early twenty-first century are
to lead a rebellion against Yaz¯ıd, MuEa¯wiya’s son, in 680 CE.
understood to reflect their failure to adhere to God’s will. It
H:usayn and his army were slaughtered in battle at Karbala
is this worldview that has in part given rise to the Islamic re-
(in modern-day Iraq). The tragic death of H:usayn and his
vival that began in the eighteenth century and experienced
followers, commemorated by Sh¯ıE¯ıs every year during
a major resurgence and reformulation in the twentieth
EA¯shu¯ra¯, shaped the Sh¯ıE¯ı worldview and its view of history
century.
as one of disinheritance and oppression, suffering, protest,
and struggle against injustice and discrimination under
GOVERNMENT: THE SUNN¯I CALIPHATE. Sunn¯ı Muslims be-
Sunn¯ı Muslim governments.
lieve that Muh:ammad died without designating a specific
successor (caliph) and that the most qualified person should
In contrast to the Sunn¯ı caliphate, Sh¯ıE¯ı believe that
become the head of the Muslim community. The caliph suc-
leadership of the Muslim community belongs to the leader,
ceeded Muh:ammad as political leader, not as prophet. Be-
or ima¯m, a direct descendant of Muh:ammad who serves in
cause Muh:ammad was the last of the prophets, leadership of
a religious as well as political-military capacity. Although the
the Muslim community following Muh:ammad’s death
ima¯m is not considered a prophet, since the QurDa¯n states
ceased to be a religio-political position and became strictly
that Muh:ammad was the last of the prophets, the ima¯m is
political instead. Thus Sunn¯ıs believe that the leader (caliph)
nevertheless considered divinely inspired, infallible, sinless,
of the Muslim community possesses human and worldly,
and the final and authoritative interpreter of God’s will as
rather than divine, authority. They look to the rule of
formulated in Islamic law. After decades of rebellion against
Muh:ammad (610–632 CE) and of the Four Rightly-Guided
early Sunn¯ı rulers, Sh¯ıE¯ı found a formula for coexistence, a
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND ISLAM
means to recognize de facto Sunn¯ı rule and participation in
Europe. Those who supported the continued existence of the
Sunn¯ı majority territories without acknowledging the legiti-
caliphate defined it as a combination of political and reli-
macy of the Sunn¯ı caliphate.
gious authority in its ideal form. Since then there have been
occasional calls among Islamic revivalists for a revival of the
Because Sh¯ıE¯ı existed as a disinherited and oppressed
caliphate as a means of maintaining unity of the broader
minority among the Sunn¯ı, they understood history to be
Muslim community, but such calls have not garnered signifi-
a test of the righteous community’s perseverance in the strug-
cant popular support.
gle to restore God’s rule on earth. Realization of a just social
order led by the ima¯m became the dream of Sh¯ıE¯ı throughout
POLITICAL ISLAM. Twentieth-century visions of the relation-
the centuries. Whereas Sunn¯ı history looked to the glorious
ship of religion to the modern nation-state varied. At one
and victorious history of the Four Rightly-Guided Caliphs
end of the spectrum was the “self-described” Islamic state of
and then the development of imperial Islam, Sh¯ıE¯ı history
Saudi Arabia and at the other modern Turkey’s secular state.
traced the often tragic history of the descendants of EAl¯ı and
Most Muslim countries were states whose majority popula-
Fa¯t:imah. Thus whereas Sunn¯ıs can claim a golden age when
tion was Muslim and had some Islamic provisions, such as
they were a great world power and civilization, evidence, they
the requirement that the head of state be a Muslim, but that
believe, of God’s will and favor and historic validation of
adopted Western political, legal, and educational models of
Islam, Sh¯ıE¯ı see these same developments as an illegitimate
development. However, the mid-twentieth century also
usurpation of power by Sunn¯ı rulers at the expense of a just
brought the creation of modern Islamic movements, in par-
society.
ticular the Jama¯Eat-i-Isla¯m¯ı in Pakistan and the Muslim
Brotherhood in Egypt. Both called for the foundation of a
Sh¯ıE¯ı view history more as a paradigm of the suffering,
specifically Islamic state, a God-centered one run only by
disinheritance, and oppression of a righteous minority com-
true believers with the QurDa¯n and sunnah as guides. They
munity who must constantly struggle to restore God’s rule
believed Islam should inform all spheres of the state—
on earth under his divinely appointed ima¯m. In the twenti-
political, economic, and legislative as well as moral—and
eth century this history was reinterpreted as a paradigm pro-
called for the Islamization of society and state.
viding inspiration and mobilization to actively fight against
injustice rather than passively accept it. This reinterpretation
In the late twentieth century political Islam, often re-
had a significant impact during the Islamic Revolution of
ferred to as “Islamic fundamentalism,” became a dominant
1978–1979 in Iran, where the shah was equated with Yaz¯ıd
factor in Muslim politics, the primary language of political
and Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers with H:usayn.
discourse and mobilization. New Islamic republics were cre-
Thus the victory of the Islamic Revolution was declared the
ated in Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan. Muslim rulers as well
victory of the righteous against illegitimate usurpers of
as mainstream opposition leaders and movements appealed
power.
to Islam to legitimate their rule or policies. Islamists have
VISIONS OF POLITICS AND THE STATE IN MODERN ISLAM.
been elected president, prime minister, or deputy prime min-
Classical definitions of the role of Islam and the state have
ister and to parliament, and they have served in cabinets in
undergone substantial revision in modern times. Up until
countries as diverse as Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Leba-
the nineteenth century Muslims generally thought of politics
non, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ma-
in terms of the Muslim ummah (the universal Islamic com-
laysia, and Indonesia. At the same time extremist organiza-
munity) and either a universal caliphate (in which its reli-
tions have used violence and terrorism in the name of Islam
gious character was emphasized) or diverse sultanates (in
to threaten and destabilize governments, attacking govern-
which its political character was emphasized). Politics was
ment officials, institutions, and ordinary citizens in Muslim
more a matter of dynasties and rulers (referred to as dawlah)
countries and in the West. Usa¯mah bin La¯din and al-Qa¯Eidah
than of popular participation.
have become a symbol of the threat of international terror-
ism, driven home by the September 11, 2001, attacks against
The proposition that Islam is both a religion and a state
New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
(din wa-dawlah) dates to the early twentieth century, when
Muslims were confronted with both the abolition of the Ot-
ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM OR POLITICAL ISLAM? Though
toman (Turkish) Caliphate and the territorial division of
convenient, the use of the term fundamentalism, which origi-
Muslim communities under the impact of European colo-
nated in Christianity, can be misleading when applied to a
nialism. Although the caliphate had in fact come to a forcible
diverse group of governments, individuals, and organiza-
end with the fall of the Abbasid dynasty to the Mongols in
tions. The conservative monarchy of Saudi Arabia, the radi-
1258, it remained a powerful religious symbol of political le-
cal socialist state of Libya, clerically governed Iran, the Tali-
gitimacy. The Ottoman sultans had adopted the title of ca-
ban’s Afghanistan, and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan have
liph in order to lend religious legitimacy to their rule; their
all been called “fundamentalist.” The term obscures signifi-
claim to the caliphate was abolished in 1924. Desire to re-
cant differences in the nature of the governments (monarchy,
store the caliphate provided an alternative to fragmentation,
military, and clerical rule) as well as their relations with the
reasserting the unity of the Muslim ummah. It also provided
West. For example, Libya and Iran have in the past been re-
an alternative political vision to the territorial nationalism of
garded as anti-Western and enemies of the United States,
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
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND ISLAM
7287
while Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have often been close allies
strength during the 1980s and spawned its own Islamist
of the United States. Similarly Islamic activists are not mo-
movements, among them HAMAS and Islamic Jihad.
nolithic; they represent a broad spectrum: mainstream and
The failures of the West (both its models of development
extremist, progressive and conservative. Therefore political
and its role as an Arab and Muslim ally) and fear of the threat
Islam or Islamism are more useful terms than fundamental-
of westernization and its political, economic, and cultural
ism when referring to the role of Islam in politics and society
dominance were pervasive themes of the resurgence. Many
and the diversity of Islamic political and social movements.
blamed the ills of their societies on the excessive influence
ORIGINS AND NATURE OF POLITICAL ISLAM. The reassertion
of and dependence upon the West, in particular the super-
of Islam in politics is rooted in a contemporary religious re-
powers the United States and the Soviet Union. Moderniza-
vival or resurgence affecting both personal and public life
tion, as a process of progressive westernization and secular-
that began in the late 1960s and 1970s. On the one hand,
ization and increasingly globalization, have been regarded as
many Muslims became more religiously observant (empha-
forms of neocolonialism exported by the West and imposed
sizing prayer, fasting, dress, family values, and a revitalization
by local Western-oriented elites, undermining religious and
of Islamic mysticism or Sufism). On the other, Islam reemer-
cultural identity and values.
ged as an alternative religio-political ideology to the per-
ceived failures of more secular forms of nationalism, capital-
While most Islamic movements developed in response
ism, and socialism. Islamic symbols, rhetoric, actors, and
to domestic conditions, international issues and actors in-
organizations became major sources of legitimacy and mobi-
creasingly played important roles in Muslim politics: the So-
lization, informing political and social activism. Govern-
viet-Afghan War; the Arab-Israeli conflict; sanctions against
ments and Islamic movements spanned both the religious
S:adda¯m H:usayn’s Iraq; the “liberation” of Bosnia, Kashmir,
and political spectrums from moderate to extremist, using re-
and Chechnya; and Usa¯mah bin La¯din and al-Qa¯Eidah.
ligion to enhance their legitimacy and to mobilize popular
Countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Libya as well as indi-
support for programs and policies.
viduals used their petrodollars and wealth to extend their in-
fluence internationally, promoting their religious-ideological
The causes of the Islamic resurgence have been many:
worldviews and politics and supporting government Islam-
religio-cultural, political, and socioeconomic. More often
ization programs as well as Islamist movements, mainstream
than not, faith and politics have been intertwined causes or
and extremist.
catalysts. Issues of political and social injustice (authoritari-
ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS: LEADERSHIP AND IDEOLOGY. Politi-
anism, repression, unemployment, inadequate housing and
cal Islam is in many ways the successor of failed nationalist
social services, maldistribution of wealth, and corruption)
ideologies and projects in the mid-twentieth century, from
combined with concerns about the preservation of religious
the Arab nationalism and socialism of North Africa and the
and cultural identity and values.
Middle East to the Muslim nationalism of postindependence
Among the more visible crises or failures that proved to
Pakistan. The founders of many Islamic movements were
be catalytic events in the rise of political Islam were:
formerly participants in nationalist movements: the Egyptian
Muslim Brotherhood’s founder, H:asan al-Banna; Tunisia’s
1. the 1967 Arab-Israeli War (Six-Day War) in which Isra-
Rashid Ghannoushi of the Renaissance Party; Algeria’s Ab-
el decisively defeated the combined Arab armies of
basi Madani of the Islamic Salvation Front (the FIS, or Front
Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, occupied Sinai, the West
Islamique du Salut); and Turkey’s Ecmettin Erbakan, found-
Bank and Gaza, and East Jerusalem, transforming the
er of the Welfare (Refah) Party.
liberation of Jerusalem and Palestine into a transnation-
al Islamic issue;
Islamic political and social movements proved particu-
larly strong among the younger generation, university gradu-
2. the 1969 Malay-Chinese riots in Kuala Lumpur reflect-
ates, and young professionals recruited from the mosques
ing the growing tension between the Malay Muslim ma-
and universities. Contrary to popular expectations, the mem-
jority and a significant Chinese minority;
bership of movements, especially in Sunn¯ı Islam, has not
3. the Pakistan-Bangladesh civil war of 1971–1972, her-
come from religious faculties and the humanities so much
alding the failure of Muslim nationalism;
as from the fields of science, engineering, education, law, and
4. the Lebanese civil war (1975–1990), among whose
medicine. Thus the senior leadership of many movements
causes were the inequitable distribution of political and
includes judges, lawyers, teachers, engineers, physicians,
economic power between Christians and Muslims,
journalists, and prosperous businesspeople. At the same time
which led to the emergence of major Sh¯ıEah groups:
leaders of militant movements like Egypt’s Islamic Jihad and
AMAL and the Iranian-inspired and backed Hizbollah;
Usa¯mah bin La¯din, al-Qa¯Eidah, and those specifically respon-
sible for the attacks of September 11, 2001, also included
5. the Iranian Revolution of 1978–1979, a pivotal event
many university graduates.
with long-term global impact and implications for the
IDEOLOGICAL WORLDVIEW. Islamists believe the Muslim
Muslim world and the West;
world’s state of decline is the result of corrupt authoritarian
6. the continued conflict in Palestine-Israel, which grew in
regimes and excessive political, economic, and cultural de-
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND ISLAM
pendence on the West. The cure is a return to the faith and
1990s failed economies and discredited governmental devel-
values of Islam. Islam, they assert, is a comprehensive ideolo-
opment policies led to political crises and mass demonstra-
gy or framework for Muslim society. It embraces public as
tions, resulting in limited political liberalization. Islamic can-
well as personal life. They believe the renewal and revitaliza-
didates or leaders were elected as mayors and
tion of Muslim governments and societies require the resto-
parliamentarians in countries as diverse as Morocco, Egypt,
ration or reimplementation of Islamic law, the blueprint for
Turkey, Lebanon, Kuwait, Bahrain, Pakistan, Malaysia, and
an Islamically guided and socially just state and society.
Indonesia. They served in cabinet-level positions and as
While westernization and secularization of society are con-
speakers of national assemblies, prime ministers (Turkey,
demned, modernization as such is not. Science and technolo-
Iran, and Pakistan), a deputy prime minister (Malaysia), and
gy are accepted; but the pace, direction, and extent of change
Indonesia’s first democratically elected president. The gener-
are subordinated to Islamic belief and values in order to
al response of many governments to this political power of
guard against excessive influence and dependence on the
Islam was to retreat from open elections, identifying their Is-
West.
lamic opposition as extremist or simply canceling or manipu-
lating elections, as in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, and Jordan.
The majority of Islamists have worked to bring about
change through social and political activism within their so-
USA¯MAH BIN LA¯DIN AND GLOBAL TERRORISM. September
cieties, participating in electoral politics and civil society
11, 2001, was a watershed in the history of political Islam
where permitted. However, a significant and dangerous mi-
and of the world. Its terror and carnage signaled the magni-
nority of extremists, jiha¯d groups from Egypt to Indonesia,
tude of the threat of Usa¯mah bin La¯din and al-Qa¯Eidah. The
al-Qa¯Eidah, and other terrorists, believe that they have a man-
multimillionaire, seemingly devout, well-educated, wealthy
date from God to make changes and that the rulers in the
son of a prominent Saudi family had fought against the Sovi-
Muslim world and their societies are anti-Islamic. For these
ets in Afghanistan, a struggle that allied him with a cause
extremists, those who remain apolitical or resist—individuals
supported by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and
and governments—are no longer regarded as Muslims but
many others. However, after the war he became radicalized
rather as atheists or unbelievers, enemies of God, against
when faced with the prospect of an American-led coalition
whom all true Muslims must wage holy war (jiha¯d).
in the Gulf War of 1991 to oust S:adda¯m H:usayn from his
occupation of Kuwait and the prospect of the presence and
Extremists also believe Islam and the West are locked
increased influence of the United States in Saudi Arabia and
in an ongoing battle that stretches back to the early days of
the Persian Gulf. Usa¯mah bin La¯din was regarded as the
Islam, is heavily influenced by the legacy of the Crusades and
major godfather of global terrorism, a major funder of terror-
European colonialism, and is the product in the twenty-first
ist groups suspected in the bombing of the World Trade
century of a Judeo-Christian conspiracy. This conspiracy,
Center in 1993, the slaughter of eighteen American soldiers
they charge, is the result of superpower neocolonialism and
in Somalia, bombings in Riyadh in 1995 and in Dhahran
the power of Zionism. The West (Britain, France, and espe-
in 1996, the killing of fifty-eight tourists at Luxor, Egypt,
cially the United States) is blamed for its support of un-
in 1997 as well as the bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. He
Islamic or unjust regimes and biased support for Israel in the
threatened attacks against Americans who remained on
face of Palestinian occupation and displacement. Violence
Saudi soil and promised retaliation internationally for cruise
against such governments, their representatives, and citizens
missile attacks.
(Jews, Christians, and other Muslims, noncombatants as well
as combatants) is regarded as legitimate self-defense.
In February 1998 bin La¯din and other militant leaders
THE QUIET REVOLUTION. In contrast to the 1980s, when
announced the creation of a transnational coalition of ex-
political Islam was simply equated with revolutionary Iran
tremist groups, the Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and
or clandestine groups with names like Islamic Jihad or the
Crusaders. Al-Qa¯Eidah was linked to a series of acts of terror-
Army of God, the Muslim world in the 1990s saw Islamists
ism: the truck bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tan-
participate in the electoral process. A quiet revolution had
zania on August 7, 1998, that killed 263 people and injured
taken place. While a minority of religious extremists sought
more than 5,000, followed on October 12, 2000, by a sui-
to impose change from above through terror and holy wars,
cide bombing attack against the USS Cole, which killed 17
many others pursued a bottom-up approach, seeking a grad-
American sailors.
ual transformation or Islamization of society through words
Usa¯mah bin La¯din’s message appealed to the feelings of
and example, preaching, and social and political activism.
many in the Arab and Muslim world. A sharp critic of Amer-
Islamic organizations and associations emerged as part
ican foreign policy toward the Muslim world, he denounced
and parcel of mainstream society and institutional forces in
its support for Israel, sanctions against Iraq that resulted in
civil society, active in social reform and providing education-
the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, and the sub-
al, medical, dental, legal, and social welfare services. The
stantial American (military and economic) presence and in-
number of Islamic banks, insurance companies, and publish-
volvement in Saudi Arabia that he dismissed as the “new cru-
ing houses mushroomed. Social activism was accompanied
sades.” To these were added other populist causes like
by increased political participation. In the late 1980s and the
Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, and Kashmir.
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND ISLAM
7289
Usa¯mah bin La¯din and al-Qa¯Eidah represented a new in-
of God and the party of Satan. There was no middle ground.
ternational brand of Sunn¯ı militancy associated with the Af-
He emphasized the need to develop a special group, a van-
ghan Arabs, those who had come from the Arab and Muslim
guard, of true Muslims within this corrupt and faithless soci-
world to fight alongside the Afghan Muja¯hid¯ın against the
ety. Since the creation of an Islamic government was a divine
Soviets. It was also reflected in the growth of extremism and
commandment, he argued, it was not an alternative to be
acts of terrorism in Central, South, and Southeast Asia
worked toward. Rather it was an imperative that Muslims
(where it has often been referred to as Wahabism because of
must strive to implement or impose immediately.
its reported Saudi financial backing). Islam’s norms and val-
Given the authoritarian and repressive nature of the
ues about good governance, social justice, and the require-
Egyptian government and many other governments in the
ment to defend Islam when under siege are transformed into
Muslim world, Qut:b concluded that jiha¯d as armed struggle
a call to arms in order to legitimate the use of violence, war-
was the only way to implement the new Islamic order. For
fare, and terrorism. Their theology of hate sees the modern
Qut:b, jiha¯d, as armed struggle in the defense of Islam against
world in mutually exclusive, black-and-white categories, the
the injustice and oppression of anti-Islamic governments and
world of belief and unbelief, the land of Islam and of warfare,
the neocolonialism of the West and the East (the Soviet
the forces of good against the forces of evil. Those who are
Union), was incumbent upon all Muslims. Muslims who re-
not with them, whether Muslim or non-Muslims, are the
fused to participate were to be counted among the enemies
enemy and are to be fought and destroyed in a war with no
of God, apostates who were excommunicated (takfir) and
limits, no proportionality of goal or means.
who should be fought and killed along with the other ene-
SAYYID QUT:B: GODFATHER AND MARTYR OF ISLAMIC RAD-
mies of God. Sayyid Qut:b’s radicalized worldview became
ICALISM. It would be difficult to overestimate the role played
a source for ideologues from the founders of Egypt’s Islamic
by Sayyid Qut:b (1906–1966) in the reassertion of militant
Jihad to Usa¯mah bin La¯din and al-Qa¯Eidah’s call for a global
jiha¯d. He was both a respected intellectual and religious writ-
jiha¯d.
er whose works included an influential commentary on the
GLOBALIZATION OF THE JIHA¯D. In the late twentieth century
QurDa¯n and a godfather to Muslim extremist movements
and early twenty-first century the word jiha¯d gained remark-
around the globe. In many ways his journey from educated
able currency, becoming more global in its usage. On the one
intellectual, government official, and admirer of the West to
hand, jiha¯d’s primary religious and spiritual meanings, the
militant activist who condemned both the Egyptian and the
“struggle” or effort to follow God’s path, to lead a good life,
American governments and defended the legitimacy of mili-
became more widespread. It is applied, for example, to indi-
tant jiha¯d has influenced and inspired many militants, from
vidual struggles to be religiously observant as well as improve
the assassins of Anwar al-Sadat to the followers of Usa¯mah
one’s society through educational and social welfare projects.
bin La¯din and al-Qa¯Eidah.
The Soviet-Afghan War marked a new turning point as
Qut:b had a modern education and was a great admirer
jiha¯d went global to a degree never seen in the past. The
of the West and Western literature. After graduation he be-
Muja¯hid¯ın holy war drew Muslims from many parts of the
came an official in the Ministry of Public Instruction as well
world and support from Muslim and non-Muslim countries
as a poet and literary critic. Qut:b’s visit to the United States
and sources. In its aftermath jiha¯d became the common term
in the late 1940s proved a turning point in his life, trans-
for all armed struggles, used for resistance, liberation, and
forming him from an admirer into a severe critic of the West.
terrorist movements alike in their holy and unholy wars.
His experiences in the United States produced a culture
Most major Muslim struggles were declared a jiha¯d, from
shock that made him more religious and convinced him of
Palestine to Kashmir, Chechnya, Daghestan, and the south-
the moral decadence of the West.
ern Philippines. Those who fought in Afghanistan, called Af-
Shortly after he returned to Egypt, Qut:b joined the
ghan Arabs, moved on to fight other jiha¯ds in their home
Muslim Brotherhood. Qut:b quickly emerged as a major
countries and in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Central Asia. Others
voice in the brotherhood and its most influential ideologue
stayed on or were trained and recruited in the new jiha¯di ma-
amid the growing confrontation with the Egyptian regime.
drasahs (religious schools) and training camps, joining in
Imprisoned and tortured for alleged involvement in a failed
Usa¯mah bin La¯din and al-Qa¯Eidah’s global jiha¯d against
attempt to assassinate Nasser, he became increasingly mili-
Muslim governments and the West.
tant and radicalized, convinced that the Egyptian govern-
Although the distinction is often made between
ment was un-Islamic and must be overthrown. Qut:b’s revo-
QurDanic prescriptions about just war versus unjust war,
lutionary vision is set forth in his most influential tract,
many and conflicting interpretations of the verses have been
Milestones. His ideas have reverberated in the radical rhetoric
made over time. At issue are the meaning of terms like aggres-
of revolutionaries from Ayatollah Khomeini to Usa¯mah bin
sion and defense, questions about when the command to sac-
La¯din.
rifice life and property to defend Islam is appropriate, and
Qut:b sharply divided Muslim societies into two diamet-
how to define the “enemies” of Islam. For example, the
rically opposed camps, the forces of good and of evil, those
QurDa¯n speaks repeatedly of the “enemies of God” and the
committed to the rule of God and those opposed, the party
“enemies of Islam,” often defining them as “unbelievers.” Al-
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though other QurDanic verses appear to make it clear that
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Esposito, John L. Islam and Politics. 4th ed. Syracuse, N.Y., 1998.
siege, they ignore or reject Islamic law’s regulations regarding
Esposito, John L. The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? 3d ed. New
the goals and means of a valid jiha¯d (that violence must be
York, 1999.
proportional and that only the necessary amount of force
Esposito, John L. Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam. New
should be used to repel the enemy), that innocent civilians
York, 2002.
should not be targeted, and that jiha¯d must be declared by
Esposito, John L., and J. O. Voll. Islam and Democracy. New
the ruler or head of state. As the Islamic scholars of the Islam-
York, 1996.
ic Research Council at al-Azhar University, regarded by
Fuller, Graham. The Future of Political Islam. New York, 2003.
many as the highest moral authority in Islam, forcefully stat-
ed in condemning bin La¯din’s calls for jiha¯d and terrorism:
Haddad, Y. Y., and John L. Esposito, eds. Contemporary Islamic
“Islam provides clear rules and ethical norms that forbid the
Revival since 1988: A Critical Survey and Bibliography. West-
port, Conn., 1997.
killing of non-combatants, as well as women, children, and
the elderly, and also forbids the pursuit of the enemy in de-
Huntington, S. P. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of
World Order. New York, 1997.
feat, the execution of those who surrender, the infliction of
harm on prisoners of war, and the destruction of property
Kramer, M. “Islam vs. Democracy.” Commentary, January 1993,
that is not being used in the hostilities” (Al-Hayat, Novem-
pp. 35–42.
ber 5, 2001).
Lewis, B. “Islam and Liberal Democracy.” Atlantic Monthly, Feb-
ruary 1993, p. 89. Available from http://www.theatlantic.
POLITICAL ISLAM AND THE DEMOCRACY DEBATE. In the
com/issues/93feb/lewis.htm.
late twentieth century and early twenty-first century the call
Milani, M. M. “Political Participation in Revolutionary Iran.” In
for greater liberalization and democratization has become
Political Islam: Revolution, Radicalism, or Reform? edited by
widespread in the Muslim world, as diverse sectors of society,
John L. Esposito, pp. 77–94. Boulder, Colo., 1997.
secular and religious, leftist and rightist, educated and uned-
Norton, A. R. “Hizballah: From Radicalism to Pragmatism?”
ucated, increasingly use democratization as the litmus test by
Middle East Policy 5 (January 1998). Available from http://
which to judge the legitimacy of governments and political
www.mepc.org/public_asp/journal_vol5/9801_norton.asp.
movements alike.
Piscatori, J. P., and D. F. Eickelman. Muslim Politics. Princeton,
N.J., 1997.
A diversity of voices exists in debates over political par-
Rashid, A. Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in
ticipation and democratization. Secularists argue for secular
Central Asia. New Haven, Conn., 2000.
forms of democracy, the separation of religion and the state.
Shahin, E. Political Ascent: Contemporary Islamic Movements in
Rejectionists maintain that Islam has it own forms of gover-
North Africa: State, Culture, and Society in Arab North Africa.
nance and that it is incompatible with democracy. Accom-
Boulder, Colo., 1996.
modationists, or Islamic reformers, believe that traditional
Voll, J. O., and John L. Esposito. “Islam’s Democratic Essence.”
concepts and institutions can be utilized to develop Islami-
Middle East Quarterly, September 1994, pp. 3–11, with ri-
cally acceptable forms of popular political participation and
postes, pp. 12–19. Voll and Esposito reply, Middle East
democratization. Maintaining that Islam is capable of rein-
Quarterly, December 1994, pp. 71–72.
terpretation (ittih:a¯d), traditional concepts of consultation
JOHN L. ESPOSITO (2005)
(shura), consensus (ijma¯E), and public welfare (maslaha) are
reinterpreted to provide the bases for the development of
modern Muslim notions of democracy, parliamentary gov-
ernment, and the like. While some would reinterpret tradi-
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND
tional beliefs to essentially legitimate Western-generated
AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
forms of democracy, others wish to develop forms of political
Africa is home to nearly 600 million people. Christianity and
participation and democracy appropriate to Islamic values
Islam are leading religious traditions—each has in excess of
and realities.
250 million followers in Africa. As a result, there are declin-
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
7291
ing numbers of followers of traditional indigenous religions
legislatures, executives, presidents), as well as focusing atten-
and very few atheists or agnostics. Both Islam and Christiani-
tion more generally on issues of authority, legitimacy, power,
ty were imported into Africa in the historical past. Islam
and equity.
gradually spread over the last thousand years, whereas Chris-
tianity was imported by and intimately associated with Euro-
In seeking to peel away the layers of interaction between
pean—especially British and French—colonialism begin-
religion and politics, it becomes clear that each issue has sev-
ning in the late nineteenth century.
eral dimensions in Africa. However, attempts to arrive at an
analytically precise definition of the term religion is fraught
SOCIAL DYNAMICS. The main analytical problem involving
with difficulties because no consensus exists as to the proper
an understanding of the relation between religion and poli-
understanding of what religion in Africa is. Theologians are
tics in Africa is the region’s astonishing multifariousness of
interested primarily in understanding the nature of its indi-
religious beliefs, ethnic divisions, cultural distinctions, and
vidual or collective spiritual significance. Anthropologists see
political modes. Africa is marked by a high degree of political
religion as one, albeit an important, component of the cul-
and religious heterogeneity, making a study of politics and
tural aspects of Africans’ social life. Sociologists seek to iden-
religion in the region complex but rewarding. To ascertain
tify and examine religion’s general and specific social imports
the nature of the contemporary relation between religion and
in the countries of the region. Political scientists look for
politics in Africa, it is necessary to take into account the im-
signs of political activity associated with religion, as they are
pact of European colonialism, especially from the 1880s, as
keen to assess religion’s political roles, especially in relation
it was the primary modernizing force throughout the region.
to specific groups and organizations. For example, they may
One of its key impacts was—theoretically, officially, and os-
question to what extent a certain religious group also serves
tensibly—to divide Africa’s religious world from its secular
as a vehicle of sociopolitical change. Such differing assess-
and, hence, political sphere.
ments of the nature of religion in Africa suggest that it would
be most constructive to note its combined spiritual and ma-
Within Western social sciences, theoretical dividing
terial dimensions. This involves both personal belief systems
lines between politics and other social actions are relatively
as well as group ideologies, which together help to motivate
clear cut. Such disciplinary divisions between, for example,
individuals and groups to behave in a variety of ways. Clear-
political science, sociology, and economics frequently lead to
ly, most Africans would regard themselves as religious peo-
assumptions that a complex reality can be neatly compart-
ple, believing in a God (or gods) who looks over them and
mentalized. However, the relation between politics and reli-
helps guide what they do. In addition, many believe that reli-
gion in Africa cannot be so easily compartmentalized. Not
gious worship, or involvement with religious organizations,
least of the problems is the difficulty in deciding where reli-
is an important means to try to improve their current earthly
gion ends and politics begins. For example, during the colo-
positions. In other words, it can be difficult to discern
nial period, religious movements were often simultaneously
whether an African’s individual religious motivations are pri-
anticolonial political movements and fundamentally con-
marily religious, political, or social.
cerned with both sociocultural and religio-spiritual reform.
As such, in looking at Africa’s colonial period it is difficult
Social dynamics in Africa may best be viewed as an en-
to be clear whether individual religious, political, or social
twined triple-stranded helix of state, class, and ethnicity. The
objectives—or a mixture of all three—were paramount when
metaphor of the triple strand is useful in understanding the
seeking to account for the motivations of certain groups and
political and social role of religion in Africa, with the three
organizations. Overall, it is more analytically satisfactory to
strands of the helix comprising religion, ethnicity, and poli-
perceive such movements as involving a combination of mo-
tics. Each appears to be a facet of most Africans’ individual
tivations that often defy easy or precise pigeonholing.
worldviews, and in certain situations and at certain times,
one element may, as least temporarily, dominate the others.
Generally, religion relates to politics in Africa in ways
For example, sometimes religious beliefs or solidarity will
that are themselves linked to the particular historical and de-
serve to form the main context for political action, with po-
velopmental trajectories of individual societies, whether tra-
litical concerns imbued with religious notions that help de-
ditional or modern. In traditional (i.e., precolonial) African
termine the nature of a particular group’s collective response.
societies, the relationship between religion and politics was
Examples in this regard include recent political develop-
always a close one, for religious beliefs and practices under-
ments in both Nigeria and Sudan, where interreligious con-
pinned political power, while political concerns permeated
flict—in both cases between Muslims and non-Muslims—
to the heart of the religious sphere. Rulers were not only po-
reflects an array of both spiritual and material concerns that
litical heads but also religious leaders whose well-being was
interact within very fluid boundaries.
closely linked to their people’s health and welfare. The mod-
ernization that accompanied European colonialism led to a
COLONIALIZATION. This points to how religious and politi-
secularization of public life and a practical separation of poli-
cal power have developed historically in and between African
tics and religion at the state level. As a result, the notion of
religious traditions. The nature and characteristics of the
politics not only involves general relations of power but also
contemporary African state are in large part a function of the
relates to the workings of formal political institutions (e.g.,
legacy of the colonial era, a period of time that ended in most
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
cases, in the 1960s. During the main period of European col-
jority of local populations), were nevertheless ruled by Chris-
onization in Africa (1880s–1914), the two main colonizing
tian Europeans. As a result, the various traditional religious
countries, France and Britain, were themselves evolving their
activities had to function within the Europeans’ legal juris-
own democratic political systems. However, the political in-
diction. In addition, throughout much of Africa, Muslims
stitutions both countries created in Africa during colonialism
had to coexist with and be bound by European power, as
were little, if anything, more than naked instruments of
they were ultimately under the latter’s control.
domination. With administrative networks often grafted on
It is important to note that the role of mission Chris-
to preexisting institutions, European hegemony and security
tianity as an institutional force during the colonial period
were very closely linked.
was not simply one of undifferentiated support of temporal
Colonial administrations attempted to employ religion
political power. Whether or not the colony was settler-
as a tactic in their pursuit of political domination. Yet reli-
dominated was significant for an understanding of the rela-
gious interaction between ordinary Africans and the colonial
tionship between Christian missionaries and colonial author-
authorities was by no means a straightforward relationship
ities. If large numbers of settlers were present (e.g., Kenya,
between dominance and dependence. Africans often used
Algeria, and South Africa), then there was a complex rela-
their religious beliefs as a means to adjust the relationship be-
tionship that developed between the white settler communi-
tween themselves and colonial authorities in their favor (as
ty, Christian missionaries, and colonial authorities. On the
far as possible). Whether through the founding of indepen-
other hand, where substantive numbers of white settlers were
dent churches or via Africanized modes of Islam, religious
absent (as in most of West and west-central Africa, as well
leaders sought to create and develop socially and communal-
as Uganda), then Christian missionaries and the colonial au-
ly relevant and popular religious organizations. Such reli-
thorities tended to develop clearly mutually supportive rela-
gious organizations tended to function well during the colo-
tionships.
nial period because they served as appropriate focal points
Yet because various Christian churches (Roman Catho-
for ordinary people’s attempts to come to terms with and to
lic, as well as a variety of Protestant denominations) were in
adapt to the forces of change (summarized as moderniza-
direct competition for converts, there was rivalry between
tion), that were a result of the intrusion of European rule.
them. Sometimes, however, a truce would be declared in face
In other words, such religious organizations functioned as
of the common enemy of Islam. When Islam appeared as a
statements of social, political, and economic interaction as
key threat to Christian dominance and well-being, steps were
well as important foci of community aims and strategy.
taken to try to undermine its attraction by offering Western
education to putative converts. However, where Islam was
European mission churches, on the other hand, were an
already religiously and culturally dominant, as in vast
important facet of attempted colonial cultural domination.
swathes of North, northwest, and East Africa, then the temp-
They had both repressive and liberating functions as agents
tation of Western-style education and its attendant material
of European superiority and political domination. However,
rewards was usually insufficient in the face of cultural and
they were also purveyors of modernization, especially West-
community solidarity to win many, if any, converts to Chris-
ern education, the acquisition of which was quickly noted
tianity. However, sometimes after serious opposition (e.g.,
by many Christian Africans as the key route to advancement
in the West African empire of El Hadj Oumar against the
in colonial society. Preexisting Muslim communities, howev-
French, the Hausa-Fulani empire against the British, and in
er, reacted to European-inspired modernization by attempt-
much of Muslim Somalia prior to World War I) Muslim
ing to deal with its impact without compromising Islamic
leaders were generally pragmatic enough to reach a modus vi-
ideals. Other Muslim groups adopted armed struggle against
vendi with the colonial authorities. It is noteworthy that a
the Europeans, especially during the period from the 1880s
particular form of transnational Islam, or pan-Islamism, was
to 1914, when they were soundly defeated by the superiority
of great concern for colonial rulers in the early years of the
of the Europeans’ military technology.
twentieth century. Especially around the time of World War
The consequences of the colonial period for the relation
I, many European colonial administrations were worried that
between religion and politics in Africa were profound. Con-
both Germany and the Turkish Ottoman Empire were in
sequently, it is appropriate to regard the nature and charac-
tandem politically, seeking out and cultivating African Mus-
teristics of religion’s role in politics in contemporary Africa
lim leaders to be allies in their strategic rivalries with Britain
as a result of the multiple changes occasioned by European
and France. But in fact there was virtually no realistic chance
colonialism. The few territories that did not undergo en-
of a pan-Islamic movement developing in Africa at that time
trenched and formal foreign control (Liberia, Ethiopia, and
because African Muslims were—and still are—often funda-
several others) nevertheless absorbed European-led modern-
mentally divided, whether by ethnicity, nationality, area of
izing influences almost as though they had. Colonies, where
domicile (urban or rural located), their view of the role of
a majority of the population were neither Christian nor Mus-
Islam in both private and public spheres, or a combination
lim during the period of colonial rule (e.g., Guinea-Bissau,
of these factors.
Upper Volta [now Burkina Faso], and Sierra Leone, where
MODERNIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY. As in the early twenti-
traditional African religions were followed by the great ma-
eth century period in Africa, contemporary trends relating
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
7293
to the relation between religion and politics in Africa often
Christian, especially Roman Catholic, leaders were often
reflect not only what occurs locally, but are also connected
prominent in prodemocracy campaigns opposing, denounc-
to what takes place outside the region. As is often noted, over
ing, and frustrating authoritarian regimes and, in several
the last three decades of the twentieth century and into the
cases, these campaigns were successful in removing en-
twenty-first century, religion has generally had a considerable
trenched governments from power.
impact on politics in many regions of the world, not just in
Africa. One common explanation points to a resurgence of
It is significant that such Christian leaders were not, on
religion in the face of failed or flawed modernization. That
the whole, in the forefront of demands for similar political
is, the earlier widespread affirmation that modernization
reforms during the twilight of colonial rule in the 1950s and
(i.e., the growth and spread of urbanization, industrializa-
1960s. Why was this? The simple answer is that in the 1950s
tion, mass education, economic development, scientific ra-
and 1960s senior Christian leaders in Africa were almost al-
tionality, and social mobility) would combine to diminish
ways Europeans. Such people tended overwhelmingly to sup-
significantly the social position of religion in the region has
port the concept—if not always every aspect of the prac-
not been substantiated.
tice—of colonial rule for three main reasons. First, they
shared racial bonds with colonial administrators. Second,
In Africa, what are widely perceived as unwelcome
they believed that colonial rule had provided much-needed
symptoms of modernization, such as a perceived breakdown
law, order, and European civilization to Africa. Third, both
of moral behavior (especially among the young), educational
religious leaders and secular rulers were members of the same
overliberalization, and generally worsening social habits, are
socioeconomic elite, with a class stake in the status quo. In
frequently linked to persistent governmental failures
short, class, racial, and institutional bonds bound Christian
throughout the region to push through and consolidate ap-
leaders to the colonial regimes.
propriate programs of social improvement. Reactions in
many African countries not only to failed modernization but
During the 1960s and 1970s, mainline Christian
also to ideas such as democracy spread by globalization were
churches swiftly Africanized, with control shifting from Eu-
often focused in vociferous demands for incumbent govern-
ropeans to Africans. Later, in the 1980s and 1990s, leaders
ments to resign. In such protests, religious leaders were fre-
of mainline African Christian churches were significantly in-
quently well represented. In many African countries in the
volved in demands for democracy. For example, senior
1990s, mass protests occurred in which millions of ordinary
Christian figures were involved in national democratization
people took to the streets to protest at their venal and corrupt
conferences in seven francophone African countries in the
governments.
early 1990s; these were events held to ascertain the best ways
to deliver appropriate political reforms, notably democratiza-
A consequence of such protests was that, in the 1990s,
tion. At times, Christian leaders were very prominent in the
many African countries underwent at least a degree of de-
fight to oust nondemocratic governments. Such people tend-
mocratization. This involved a series of widespread political
ed to have prodemocracy convictions for three main reasons:
upheavals, focusing on demands for qualitative political
(1) because of personal conviction, (2) because their Chris-
change as well as more and better economic and human
tian beliefs encouraged this notion, and (3) because many
rights. This development reflected a reawakening of civil so-
among their followers were palpably suffering from the ef-
ciety’s political voice, with trade union officials, higher-
fects of poor governments, especially economically and in
education students, businesspeople, civil servants, and, in
terms of human rights abuses. Given their perceptions of
many African countries, Christian leaders coordinating and
their Christian leaders as spiritual guides, and in the custom-
leading protest efforts. Such demands were later focused by
ary absence of independent and effective political parties, or-
professional politicians as integral parts of political programs.
dinary Christians quite naturally turned to their religious
The hope was that following democratization elected leaders
leaders as appropriate figures to take action on their behalf.
would tackle—with energy, resourcefulness, and imagina-
In short, Africa’s recent democratization was linked to the
tion—the pressing economic, political, and social problems
individual and collective efforts of many Christian leaders
of the continent.
and was a testimony to their tenacity, clear-sightedness, and
lack of fear of the consequences of their actions in leading
African demands for both democratization and eco-
popular protests.
nomic change were the result of a rediscovery of political
voice by long quiescent interest groups who were encouraged
Such leaders were in a privileged position to head such
by international developments, most notably the shift away
protests because of the general, although not uniform, Chris-
from Communism in the former Soviet Union. Concerns
tian institutional independence and integrity throughout
were exacerbated by years of popular frustration and disap-
much of Africa. In the postcolonial period, African political
pointment, for the promises of independence had turned
leaders have generally accorded a high level of respect to lead-
out, almost everywhere, to be hollow. Frequently, senior
ers of the main religious institutions, both Christian and
Christian figures were instrumental in the clamor for politi-
Muslim. Because most mainstream expressions of both
cal and economic changes—for example, in South Africa,
Christianity and Islam tended to be unidentified with the
Kenya, and various francophone West African countries.
main interest groups, whether ethnic or class, their leaders
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
stood on relatively neutral ground and thus could serve as
or degraded form of Islam that must be reformed or purified.
a mediating element when social or political conflict oc-
Such fundamentalist interpretations of Islam are of particular
curred. Consequently, leaders of both religious traditions
political importance in Sudan (where it is the ruling ideolo-
were often key interlocutors between state and society. Many
gy) and in parts of northern Nigeria, where conflict (with
were highly respected figures whose own personal desires and
thousands of deaths since the late 1990s) between Muslims
preferences were believed to be subsumed by their concern
and Christians has long been an important politico-religious
to mediate disinterestedly between followers and the state.
issue.
ISLAM AND THE STATE. Regarding the relation between
Third, there is ambivalence in the way that many Mus-
Islam and temporal power in contemporary Africa, it is often
lims regard the concept of liberal democracy itself. Many
suggested that Muslims are less concerned with or interested
Muslims oppose Western interpretations of democracy, in
in democracy than are many Christians. Certainly, African
which sovereignty is said to reside with the people because
Muslim leaders were not, on the whole, in the forefront of
it is seen as a secularized system negating God’s own sover-
demands for political changes in the 1990s. It should be
eignty. The Eulama¯D are typically strong supporters of the sta-
noted, however, that two of the seven francophone coun-
tus quo, not least because it allows them integral involvement
tries—Mali and Niger, which held national conferences on
in running the affairs of Muslims in their state. They exert
new political arrangements in the 1990s—are both strongly
influence by controlling national Muslim organizations. As
Muslim countries. On the other hand, Islam is often regard-
a result, a partnership with state-level politicians is of crucial
ed by Western analysis as an authoritarian, even totalitarian,
importance.
religion whose proponents sometimes seek to impose funda-
mentalist visions as a putative means of purifying society.
SEE ALSO African Religions, overview article; Christianity,
What such fundamentalists are said to want, namely Muslim
articles on Christianity in North Africa and Christianity in
(shar¯ı Eah) law, is regarded as anathema by non-Muslims.
Sub-Saharan Africa; Islam, article on Islam in North Africa.
Three issues contextualize a contemporary discussion of
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ing in circumstances markedly more secular than those
focus on Africa.
experienced by their ancestors. All the same, religion remains
Lan, David. Guns and Rain. London, 1985. This is a case study
a very strong and politically potent force in most places.
of neotraditional religion’s political involvement in Rhodesia
and Zimbabwe.
For convenience, it is useful to divide the consideration
Lapidus, Ira. A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge, U.K.,
of Oceanic religions and their relationship to politics into
1988. Outlines the development of Islam in Africa from pre-
three rough historical phases: indigenous societies as they
colonial to present times.
were before extensive European contact; the colonial period,
Mayer, Anne. “The Fundamentalist Impact on Law, Politics, and
marked by intensified missionary efforts and a loss of local
Constitutions in Iran, Pakistan, and the Sudan.” In Funda-
political autonomy; and the postcolonial period, in which re-
mentalism and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and
ligion, like much of politics in the region, is increasingly
Militance, edited by Michael Marty and R. Scott Appleby,
shaped by global forces. A caveat is in order. With the excep-
pp. 110–151. Chicago, 1993. Comparative examination of
tion of the last period, these phases do not correspond neatly
the political role of Islam in three countries.
with calendar years. Some isolated groups in the interior of
Mbembe, Achille. Afriques Indociles. Christianisme, Pouvoir et Etat
New Guinea did not look upon a white face until the 1960s,
en Societé Postcoloniale. Paris, 1988. Traces the emergence of
and a good number of islanders continue to live under colo-
popular religion in Africa and outlines its socio-political
nial regimes. Many aspects of indigenous religions and politi-
roles.
cal arrangements have survived or been revived in all areas,
Oliver, Ronald. The African Experience. London, 1991. Locates
but especially those with relatively shallow histories of inter-
the role of religion in Africans’ anticolonial struggles.
actions with the outside world. Indeed, it is still possible
Ranger, Terence. Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zim-
today to observe all three of the phases described here, some-
babwe. Berkeley, Calif., 1985. A comprehensive overview of
times in the same place.
neotraditional religion’s political involvement in Rhodesia
and Zimbabwe during the anticolonial struggle.
THE POLITICAL FUNCTIONS OF INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS.
Oceanic languages possess no words corresponding to the
Stewart, C. C. “Islam.” In The Cambridge History of Africa, vol.
7, From 1905 to 1940, edited by A. Roberts, pp. 191–222.
concepts of “politics” or “religion.” Most cultures recognized
Cambridge, U.K., 1986. Historical account of the develop-
at least a degree of religious specialization in the forms of
ment of Islam in Africa during the first four decades of the
part-time magicians, healers, sorcerers, and priests; a much
twentieth century, as the faith came into competition with
smaller subset developed distinct places of worship and sacri-
Christianity.
fice and supported full-time priests. The elaboration of reli-
Walshe, Peter. “South Africa Prophetic Christianity and the Lib-
gious functionaries and institutions reached its apogee in
eration Movement.” Journal of Modern African Studies 29,
Hawai’i, where a priestly class periodically contested the in-
no. 1 (1992): 27–60. Examines the role of various Christian
fluence of the high chiefs. But even in this case one cannot
churches in the antiapartheid and prodemocracy movement
speak of a separation of religion and politics, as the chiefs,
in South Africa.
like the priests, were regarded as direct descendents of the
J
gods and themselves possessed godlike powers of life and
EFFREY HAYNES (2005)
death over commoners. Religious assumptions infused all as-
pects of life in Oceanic societies, not least those concerned
with the exercise of political power.
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND
OCEANIC RELIGIONS
Across the region, the vast majority of people lived in
In the late eighteenth century, at the beginning of extensive
small political entities made up of several hundred to a few
European intervention in the region, Oceanic peoples spoke
thousand members bound by ties of kinship (real and ficti-
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND OCEANIC RELIGIONS
tious) and territory on the one hand, and hostility to neigh-
on by some apparently trivial breach of the rules of sharing
boring groups on the other. The daily round for most people
or respect toward others. This strongly sanctions conformity.
comprised subsistence activities, usually directed by house-
The political aspects of Oceanic religion become more
holds, and reciprocal exchanges of food, labor, and wealth
visible when one turns to patterns of leadership. Most socie-
items that cemented relationships with kin and neighbors.
ties in Melanesia lacked formal offices of leadership. While
Virtually everywhere, people assumed that the recent and
powerful leaders did emerge, they largely gained influence by
distant dead continued to take an interest in the community.
demonstrating their own abilities as warriors, managers of
People also generally assumed the existence of impersonal
exchanges, and orators. In several areas, men rose to promi-
spiritual forces possessing tremendous powers of transforma-
nence in the course of organizing initiation and mortuary rit-
tion and destruction. The specific conception of these two
uals, often involving years of careful coordination and spec-
notions of the spiritual and their elaboration varied tremen-
tacular forms of artistic expression. Melanesian leaders could
dously from place to place—from the rather simple, vague
also gain influence by gaining command over various forms
religious notions found in many Melanesian societies to the
of esoteric knowledge, such as garden and war magic or sor-
extremely complex religions of some parts of Polynesia, with
cery. Chiefs in the more hierarchical societies stretching from
their detailed mythologies, dedicated temples, and elaborate
eastern Melanesia through Polynesia and Micronesia, by way
ritual codes. All the same, Oceanic people conceptualized the
of contrast, were considered to be inherently sacred. In the
implications of divine intervention in the human world in
larger societies, chiefs were ranked according to their genea-
essentially similar ways. First, spiritual power was a necessary
logical closeness to a founding ancestral god, following a
component, often along with human skill, for success,
principle of primogeniture. Chiefs at different ranks pos-
whether as a gardener or a lover or in making the transition
sessed equivalent degrees of mana (spiritual potency), with
from child to adult or from life into death. Ancestors could
the highest chiefs approaching the level of the gods them-
intervene of their own accord, but everywhere people at-
selves. Polynesians often pictured their chiefs as the “fathers”
tempted to capture and channel spiritual forces to their own
and, less frequently, “mothers” of their communities. The
advantage through the practice of magic or by offering
chief was often also the highest priest, receiving first fruits
prayers and sacrifices. Second, spiritual entities were concep-
from commoners in various rituals meant to assure success
tualized as extremely powerful, dangerous, and ultimately
and fertility. The visible splendor and wealth of a chief corre-
autonomous. They had to be approached with great caution
sponded to level of his mana and, by extension, the success
and often elaborate ritual preparation. Even so, they had the
of the community he represented. By virtue of their mana,
potential of wreaking havoc upon the people if mishandled
chiefs demanded tribute from commoners and proclaimed
or angered—or simply because they could. Third, those who
tabu (ritual prohibitions) over economic resources. As sacred
interacted with the divine took on divine attributes them-
beings themselves, chiefs were often surrounded by a variety
selves.
of ritual restrictions and tabu. These were extremely elaborat-
ed in the most hierarchical Polynesian societies. The sanctity
In Oceania, as elsewhere, the spiritual could provide a
of the high chiefs of Tahiti was such, for instance, that they
source of revolutionary change but for the most part served
would not enter houses except those dedicated to their own
to maintain the existing order, first by making that order ap-
use or allow their feet to touch the ground outside of their
pear to members to be natural and inevitable, and, second,
own hereditary district. Violations of chiefly tabus in Tahiti,
by punishing those who deviated from the social norm. In
Tonga, and Hawai’i often resulted in execution of the of-
one particularly striking example, the deepest secret of many
fender.
of the elaborate male initiation cults that developed in parts
of Melanesia was that the power monopolized by men was
Contrary to romantic stereotypes of a South Seas para-
originally stolen from women. The cults served, in the men’s
dise, most areas of Oceania were subject to endemic warfare.
eyes at least, to assert their domination over women, who
Religious ideas both reflected and propelled the violence.
were barred from most rituals and cult houses under pain of
The ghosts of the dead in many Melanesian societies could
death. In many other places, supernaturally sanctioned food
only be satisfied by a revenge killing, and in areas of southern
taboos, fears of pollution, and purification rituals served to
New Guinea a boy’s initiation into manhood depended on
distinguish men and women and to assign them distinct roles
the acquisition of a human head. In Polynesia, success in
in society, usually with the men on top. By the same token,
warfare provided perhaps the main venue within which a
understandings of the workings of the supernatural tended
chief could demonstrate his mana in the face of challenges
from rivals. Continuing success in warfare required the prop-
to reinforce social conventions and morality. In many places,
er rituals and sacrifices to the ancestral gods. Aspiring chiefs
for instance, ancestors or sorcerers were assumed to attack
cultivated new gods with spectacular rituals, including
those who failed to live up to their social obligations by mak-
human sacrifices in some of the cults that developed in Tahiti
ing them or their loved ones sick or by destroying their gar-
and Hawai’i.
dens. To this day, parents in many parts of rural Papua New
Guinea commonly explain the death of a beloved aunt or
THE COLONIAL ERA. Although Ferdinand Magellan crossed
uncle to their children as the result of sorcery attacks brought
the Pacific Ocean in 1521, centuries passed before most is-
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7297
landers were disturbed by European intruders. Roman Cath-
very early date, prophets won followings with powerful com-
olic priests accompanied Spanish forces in the northwest
binations of Christian and indigenous themes that chal-
reaches of Micronesia, forcibly converting the Chamorros in
lenged white power. In New Zealand, for instance, the
the 1680s. The next wave of missionary activity did not get
prophet Te Ua Haumene taught that the Maori were the true
under way until 1797, when poorly equipped parties of En-
chosen people of Jehovah, whose mana would grant them
glish Protestants landed at Tahiti, Tonga, and the Marque-
immunity from European diseases and guns (a teaching that
sas. Far from outside support, pioneer missionaries to Poly-
had disastrous consequences in the Maori wars of 1864–
nesia and many parts of Micronesia were forced to rely upon
1865). The leaders of the so-called cargo cults of Melanesia
alliances with local chiefs in order to survive. Conversions,
skillfully wove together local mythology, prophetic visions,
when they came, tended to follow the baptism of chiefs, who
and borrowed elements of Christianity in ways that helped
in turn ordered their followers to enter the churches. The
explain to followers the reasons for their apparent inferiority
early missions entered the islands during a period of consid-
in the face of white power and wealth. The forms these
erable social turmoil caused in part by the increasing pres-
movements took often struck observers as bizarre, but they
ence of European whalers and traders, who introduced dev-
are best understood as attempts to gain a moral equivalence
astating diseases, alcohol, and guns. Whatever their
with whites through rituals meant variously to raise the stat-
understanding of the missionaries’ teachings, some aspiring
ure of indigenous followers or expel the whites while claim-
chiefs evidently saw many advantages in forming alliances
ing their power. Colonial regimes regarded indigenous reli-
with the powerful new god of the white man. In Tahiti,
gious movements with suspicion and often brutally
Tonga, and Fiji, chiefs allied with the missions managed to
suppressed them. Most of the movements did not last long,
conquer their enemies and to establish themselves as Chris-
brought down as much by disappointment in the lack of re-
tian kings. White missionaries, in turn, became councilors
sults as by state suppression. At their height, however, they
to the new rulers, helping them establish codes of law, courts,
temporarily brought together disparate communities in aspi-
and new customs based on a mix of traditional chiefly privi-
rations for a better life, leading some scholars to consider
lege and the Ten Commandments. The association between
them “proto-nationalist movements.”
chiefly rule and Christianity remains strong in many islands
THE PRESENT. With the exception of the Indonesian prov-
to this day, marked by the exalted social status of pastors in
ince of West Papua, which recognizes only the world reli-
Samoa, for instance, and the strict Sabbatarianism of Tonga.
gions present at the time of the country’s independence and
closely monitors the activities of churches and missions, resi-
By the time European powers took an interest in the
dents of the Pacific islands today formally enjoy the right of
South Pacific, missionary regimes were well established on
free religious association. Since all but a tiny minority are af-
the larger islands in Polynesia, and armies of Native evange-
filiated with a Christian church, religious freedom has
lists were taking the Word to smaller islands and into Mela-
meant, in effect, competition between established groups
nesia. Missionaries and indigenous clergy wielded consider-
and the mostly unfettered influx since the 1960s of a wide
able power for a time in southern Vanuatu, Mangareva,
range of primarily evangelical Protestant sects. The domains
Tuvalu, and elsewhere. By the end of the 1900s, however,
of politics and religion are more distinct than in the past, but
colonial rule had been established over the entire region, with
still overlap far more than in most Western countries. The
missionaries relegated to mostly nonpolitical roles. Still, co-
constitutions of Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, for in-
lonial administrations everywhere depended very heavily
stance, formally recognize Christianity and indigenous tradi-
upon them for the provision of educational and medical ser-
tions as the twin foundations of the nation. Many of the
vices and, in Papua New Guinea, as a bulwark against tribal
most prominent politicians, including the first prime minis-
fighting. Through such operations, as well as the networks
ter of Vanuatu, Father Walter Lini (1942–1999), have come
they established, the missions played a fundamental role in
from the ranks of the clergy. In Papua New Guinea, as in
easing the integration of small autonomous communities,
several other former colonies, the state shares administration
often no larger than a village, into emerging states. In the ex-
of the school system with the churches.
tremely diverse linguistic context of Papua New Guinea, for
instance, mission schools introduced students to the idea of
As in earlier times, many ordinary people in the islands
a multicultural country as well as providing the tools to par-
tend to perceive their world through a spiritual lens. Some
ticipate in it, through the teaching of a common language
election campaigns in Papua New Guinea resemble revival
and literacy and by familiarizing students with European
meetings, punctuated by prayers and appeals to God and
concepts of time, work, and authority. The most senior grad-
posters in which Jesus appears as a politician’s effective run-
uates of the mission school system, when they did not be-
ning mate. From Samoa to the Solomon Islands, chiefs legiti-
come missionaries themselves, entered the nascent
mate their authority to followers by merging traditional sta-
bureaucracies of the colonial states and formed the seed of
tuses and customs with strong public declarations of
the elite classes that would eventually rule the new countries.
Christian faith. Many Pacific Islanders take this conception
one step further, viewing Christianity and ancestral tradi-
Christian ideas spread remarkably quickly, even in areas
tions as one and the same, merely different faces of a single
where people resented the presence of Europeans. From a
religious identity. In one of the uglier twists on this powerful
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND OCEANIC RELIGIONS
synthesis, members of the Tukai (“land”) movement in Fiji
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A rare analysis of a traditional Polynesian chieftainship as ob-
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and French Polynesia. In Papua New Guinea and elsewhere,
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Tuzin, Donald F. The Voice of the Tambaran: Truth and Illusion
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most detailed and sophisticated treatments of a Melanesian
which they can organize to improve the economic conditions
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for their families and to urge action against alcoholism, drug
the implications of such cults in the politics of gender.
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Valeri, Valerio. Kingship and Sacrifice: Ritual and Society in Ancient
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Hawaii. Translated by Paula Wissing. Chicago, 1985. A
home for the vast and quickly expanding numbers of island-
challenging but fascinating ethnohistorical reconstruction of
ers from places like Samoa or much of Micronesia who now
a sacrificial cult that buttressed chiefly power in precontact
make their home in distant places like New Zealand or the
Hawai’i.
United States.
Studies Concerning Missionaries, Conversion, Cargo
It seems likely at the beginning of the twenty-first cen-
Cults, and Colonialism
Gunson, Niel. Messengers of Grace: Evangelical Missionaries in the
tury that increasing globalization will continue to diversify
South Seas, 1797–1860. Melbourne, Australia, and New
and fracture the religious choices and identities available to
York, 1978. The best account of early evangelical missiona-
Pacific Islanders. If so, the political potency of religion is
ries to the South Pacific, with a sophisticated treatment of
likely to decline, because it depends to a high degree on a
their political views and interactions with chiefs.
sense of shared community. Increasing numbers of Pacific
Howe, K.R. Where the Waves Fall: A New South Sea Islands History
Islanders are also likely to abandon religious affiliation en-
from First Settlement to Colonial Rule. Honolulu, Hawaii,
tirely, particularly in urban areas. Still, one cannot help but
1984. This lively history of the early contact period provides
be struck by the centrality of a spiritual outlook in the lives
detailed information on the political and cultural impact of
of most Pacific Islanders, a face they share with much of the
Christian missions in several Pacific societies.
so-called Third World peoples. As long as this is the case, re-
Jolly, Margaret, and Martha Macintyre, eds. Family and Gender
ligion and politics will form a potent mix in Oceania.
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SEE ALSO Afterlife, article on Oceanic Concepts; Cargo
studies examining the reconstruction of local political space
Cults; Colonialism and Postcolonialism; Cosmology, article
and notions of gender after conversion to Christianity in var-
on Oceanic Cosmologies; Gender and Religion, article on
ious Oceanic societies.
Gender and Oceanic Religions; Globalization and Religion;
Kaplan, Martha. Neither Cargo Nor Cult: Ritual Politics and the
Mana; Maori Religion; Melanesian Religions; Micronesian
Colonial Imagination in Fiji. Durham, N.C., 1995. An im-
Religions; Missions; Oceanic Religions; Polynesian Reli-
portant study of creative tensions between indigenous reli-
gions; Revenge and Retribution; Rites of Passage, article on
gious assumptions and the expansion of colonial institutions
Oceanic Rites; Taboo.
in Fiji.
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
7299
Latukefu, Sione. Church and State in Tonga: The Wesleyan Meth-
POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND
odist Missionaries and Political Development, 1822–1875.
NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
Canberra, Australia, 1974. Studies the mutual reinforcement
The problem of determining the relationship between
of chiefly authority and missionary progress in Tonga, which
church and state, so prevalent in Western European history,
culminated in the creation of the Tongan kingdom and the
first independent church in Oceania.
is notably absent in the traditions and practices of American
Indian tribes. Although tribal traditions lack church and
Robbins, Joel. Becoming Sinners: Christianity and Moral Torment
state concepts, we can nevertheless find in tribal cultures
in a Papua New Guinea Society. Berkeley, 2004. This richly
detailed anthropological study investigates the implications
practices suggesting separate realms. American Indian reli-
of conversion on an indigenous group’s conception of com-
gion was characterized by rituals enabling individuals to at-
munity, personal morality and leadership.
tain a measure of extraordinary power bestowed by spirits in
Siikala, Jukka. Culture and Conflict in Tropical Polynesia: A Study
visions or dreams. Political leadership, meanwhile, demand-
of Traditional Religion, Christianity, and Nativistic Move-
ed a reputation for courage and a man’s continued good for-
ments. Helsinki, Finland, 1982. An exceptionally detailed ac-
tune in warfare. But no formal vesting of religious or political
count of early syncretic religious movements in Polynesia.
power in an institutional setting occurred. If an individual
Worsley, Peter. The Trumpet Shall Sound: A Study of “Cargo” Cults
had personal charisma, projected spiritual gifts or courage in
in Melanesia. New York, 1968. A classic survey of cargo cults
fighting, he became a leader and attracted a following.
from a neo-Marxist perspective, emphasizing their political
implications.
RELIGION. For most Indian societies no mediating structure
existed between the individual and the higher powers.
Studies on Religion and Politics in Contemporary
Through vision quests, puberty rituals, sweat lodges, dances,
Oceania
Barker, John, ed. Christianity in Oceania: Ethnographic Perspec-
and ceremonies welcoming the change of seasons or respond-
tives. Lanham, N.Y., 1990. Examines contemporary Chris-
ing to personal crises, people had unusual experiences that
tianity, including its political dimensions, from the perspec-
could be called “religious” or “mystical.” Most rituals were
tive of local indigenous societies.
designed to remind people of the existence of higher spiritual
Ernst, Manfred. Winds of Change: Rapidly Growing Religious
powers from which they might seek help. People remem-
Groups in the Pacific Islands. Suva, Fiji, 1994. The most com-
bered clearly an unusual event, they listened carefully when
prehensive review of the contemporary religious scene in
they heard unusual voices, and they heeded the content of
Oceania, with a great deal of information on the interface be-
their dreams. Sometimes it was not necessary to approach the
tween politics and the churches, new and old.
higher powers. They came in dreams or startling daytime
Garrett, John. Where Nets Were Cast: Christianity in Oceania Since
events, identified themselves, and gave instructions to the
World War II. Suva, Fiji, and Geneva, 1997. A regional sur-
person on how he or she should live thereafter. Almost al-
vey that provides information on politics within as well as
ways the individual received a song from the spirit and sang
without Christian denominations across Oceania.
it whenever he needed the assistance of the spirit.
Gibbs, Philip. “The Religious Factor in Contemporary Papua
New Guinea Politics.” Catalyst 28, no. 1 (1998): 27–51. A
The spiritual message in American Indian religion was
rare treatment of the prominent role of religious rhetoric in
culturally and geographically specific. There was little of the
contemporary political campaigns.
general feeling of universal acceptance reported by mystics
Keesing, Roger M., and Robert Tonkinson, eds. “Reinventing
of both East and West. People did not feel they were merging
Traditional Culture: The Politics of Kastom in Island Mela-
with a timeless universal essence. Spiritual gifts were always
nesia.” Mankind 13, no. 4 (1982). A stimulating and contro-
practical and specific. No one felt compelled to convince
versial collection of studies on political manipulations of tra-
others of the validity of his or her experience or to defend
dition, including traditional religion, in postcolonial
the knowledge received. Usually the person was given an
Oceanic societies.
herb or plant or taught a song to be used for specific purposes
Marshall, Mac, and Leslie B. Marshall. Silent Voices Speak: Women
and situations. With the gift came the warning that the use
and Prohibition in Truk. Belmont, Calif., 1990. One of the
of this power had limits.
few studies available detailing the political role of women’s
church groups.
A vision might impart prohibitions against killing cer-
Robbins, Joel, Pamela J. Stewart, and Andrew Strathern, eds.
tain creatures who assisted humans, although American Indi-
“Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity in Oceania.” Jour-
an people generally already recognized such prohibitions. A
nal of Ritual Studies 15, no. 2 (2001). Several of the studies
man having a relationship with a particular creature would
in this collection examine the growing influence of Pentecos-
buy or trade goods so that he might obtain skins and feathers
tal churches on local political perspectives and activities.
of his particular bird or animal. Thus members of the Fox
White, Geoffrey M. Identity Through History: Living Stories in a
society could not kill foxes but could trade with those who
Solomon Islands Society. Cambridge, U.K., and New York,
were permitted to kill them. People were sometimes told to
1991. An engaging study of the melding of tradition and
avoid certain foods. The food might be a part of a particular
Christianity in the contemporary construction of Oceanic
animal, and the prohibition might have nothing to do with
chieftainship.
an assisting spirit animal. The Cheyennes, for example, were
JOHN BARKER (2005)
forbidden to eat a little piece of meat found in the chest area
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of the buffalo, because it represented the flesh of humans that
owners. A sale was thus actually a loan, because the second
the giant carnivorous buffalo had eaten in the previous
owner did not have complete control over the stone. Women
world. Roman Nose (1830–1868), the great Cheyenne war-
had the primary knowledge of medicinal plants, and they
rior, was prohibited from eating food that had been touched
passed this information down to their daughters and grand-
by metal, because the metal would remain in his body and
daughters, so that a family could become noted for its medic-
attract bullets. He violated this prohibition at the battle of
inal knowledge. Prohibitions against misuse of a sacred ob-
Beecher’s Island and was mortally wounded. In general, spe-
ject also carried over through the generations. Even if people
cial powers were meant to be used on behalf of community
might no longer use the powers of a stone or pipe, it still kept
members, and witchcraft was forbidden and punished wher-
its potency and so had to be respected long after its original
ever it was identified.
owner had died.
Young people sought the advice of several spiritual el-
Young people often served under a medicine man or
ders before they engaged in rituals, so that they would know
spiritual leader in order to gain the knowledge and experi-
how to respond to the spirits when they came. Elders super-
ence necessary to become practitioners of certain rituals.
vising a vision quest or other ritual seemed to have the power
Their learning in some cases bound them to certain restric-
to monitor their protégé’s progress and knew what the initi-
tions; for instance, initiates learning star knowledge could
ate was experiencing. Stories abound that describe how elders
not use this knowledge until their teacher had passed on.
intervened when they saw the initiate endangered by a preda-
Some scholars have described this apprenticeship as a priest-
tor or an enemy. Following the ritual the initiate would be
hood of elders, but closer examination reveals no formal in-
cleansed in a sweat lodge and asked to share what he or she
stitutional practice comparable to the priesthood of Western
could discuss about the experience. No one revealed the
religions. With the development of the Native American
whole experience, because to do so would reveal the limita-
Church in the twentieth century, however, the Roadman (or
tions of the person and thus make him or her vulnerable to
ceremonial leader) played a role comparable to that of a
the powers of hostile people. As a protection against fakery,
priest. In general, however, people simply deferred to certain
though, the Plains tribes required the person performing the
individuals known to have power to perform certain rituals.
ritual or having a dream to demonstrate the powers they had
been given in front of the community.
POLITICS. When Europeans initially encountered Indian
tribes, they looked for familiar political institutions. Thus
In each generation a tribe had a number of people able
they dubbed Indian leaders “kings”; accordingly, the daugh-
to perform amazing feats with the powers granted them by
ters of these “kings” became princesses. Throughout Ameri-
the spirits. One man might be able to foretell the future and
can history, whites attempted to force the Indians to adopt
would always be consulted when people prepared for a hunt
Western political institutions. The period of initial contact
or went to war. Another man might have the power to care
occasioned many bitter lessons; for instance, a group of chiefs
for horses and dogs with special medicines, in order to en-
asked to cede lands might encounter opposition from anoth-
hance their abilities; in the case of the Appaloosa horse, such
er group, which would deny the sale and demand return of
medicines might actually change the coloring of a colt. Some
the land. Such incidents quickly gave rise to the custom of
people could break fevers or set bones. The Ponca leader Lu-
having both the chiefs and the headmen of smaller bands
ther Standing Bear (1829?–1908) said that he had never seen
sign treaties. The U.S. government thereby hoped to reduce
anyone with amputated limbs until the wars with the whites,
the chance that a dissident group would later challenge the
indicating that healing powers had served the people well.
legality of the transaction. Soon corrupted, however, the
An unusual gift was the ability to use remote seeing to locate
treaty system turned into a means of forcing land sales from
missing people and find lost things.
weak peoples with no legitimate representation. Presidential
The Lummi Indians, who live in the far northwestern
peace medals or certificates were given at treaty negotiations
United States near the Canadian border, had a person who
as a way of identifying Indians who were subject to the trea-
could perform a rain ceremony, which they needed despite
ty; Indians then had to present these tokens or documents
living in a very rainy climate. The rainmaker used his power
at the next gathering, in order to confirm their status.
when a heavy snowfall threatened to trap people in their
The traditional ways of organizing a community politi-
longhouses. His power would change the snow to rain and
cally differed significantly from Western forms. The Six Na-
prevent large drifts from trapping people inside their houses.
tions—which after 1722 comprised the Iroquois, the Mo-
This gift was restricted to a particular family, and everyone
hawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the
knew that each generation of that family would have the
Senecas, and the Tuscaroras—had a formal council of over
power to perform the ritual.
fifty chiefs who conducted the affairs of the Confederacy.
Spiritual leaders, without fear of retribution, could pass
Chieftain positions were distributed unevenly over the six
on—or sometimes sell—the powers given to them. In the
Nations, but none complained about the manner of their al-
Plains it was common to loan or give away small stones that
location. The Clan Mothers chose the chiefs, so that anyone
performed many functions for tribal elders. A primary loyalty
holding an office in the Confederacy had to respond to the
nonetheless existed between the stones and their original
concerns of the heads of families. The Red Lake Chippewa
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(Ojibwa) had a council of seven chiefs who conducted busi-
cation was regarded as a magic wand to change the Indians
ness on behalf of everyone in their tribe. The Pueblos had
from hunters and farmers into staid English merchants. The
a formal council with specific responsibilities assigned to
British therefore established schools to educate Indian youth,
each member. When they came under Spanish domination
so that they might appreciate the benefits of “civilization.”
the Pueblos simply created additional offices to deal specifi-
Thus Dartmouth, Princeton, William and Mary, and other
cally with the Spanish. The Sioux had a general council con-
universities began as schools for Indian youth. With the in-
sisting of the important chiefs, but they also designated four
creasing prosperity of the colonists, however, these institu-
outstanding younger leaders to represent the whole nation
tions increasingly served middle- and upper-class whites
in dealing with the incursions of the white man.
rather than Indians. By the time Americans began to settle
According to custom and tradition, no formal political
the Illinois country, there was no pretense of founding col-
organizations existed, although there were some exceptions.
leges to educate the Indians; instead, treaty moneys designat-
Most Indian settlements and bands were small. Even the set-
ed for Indian education were often sent to churches to build
tlements of the Five Civilized Tribes (the Creeks, the Chick-
schools at Indian agencies. The Choctaw Academy in Ken-
asaws, the Cherokees, the Choctaws, and the Seminoles)
tucky was established in the 1820s for the leading families
were tiny in comparison with most rural communities.
of that tribe and later for children from the Five Civilized
Longhouses, used the by eastern woodland and Pacific
Tribes. The academy closed after an epidemic killed a large
Northwest peoples, often represented the basic political enti-
portion of its students.
ty. The task of governing relied heavily on cultural kinship
In mid-seventeenth-century New England, Puritan mis-
customs and the consensus of the community. Heads of fam-
sionaries—having deemed a sufficient number of Indians
ilies represented their relatives in informal meetings of the
ready to live a “civilized” and Christian life—gathered the
group. If a person showed strong leadership qualities, the
converts together and resettled them in villages known as
community might designate him as the primary spokesman
“Praying Towns.” These settlements consisted of Indians
in encounters with other groups.
from several different tribes who had in common only their
American Indian institutions became more formal as
conversion to Christianity. The towns had the same status
dangers from the outside escalated. In the 1820s the Chero-
as other political subdivisions, with landholdings equal to
kees, Creeks, and Choctaws modified their traditional coun-
those of the colonists’ townships. As land became more valu-
cils to resemble more closely the government of the United
able, however, the colonists assigned white trustees to the
States, eventually adopting written constitutions. After tribes
Praying Towns. These trustees gradually dissipated the Indi-
were confined to reservations in the 1870s, Indian agents
an estates. Over the years white settlers attempted similar ex-
tried to appoint reservation governments, including courts,
periments with different tribes, but, as with the New En-
so that the people could control their own civil and criminal
gland Praying Towns, the white man’s greed for land
jurisdiction. Generally tribal communities maintained their
undermined any initial religious or educational intentions.
allegiance to the old chief- or headman-based form of gov-
In one of the bloodier examples, a group of converted Dela-
ernment, and the traditional chiefs quite often became repre-
wares, convinced to move to western Pennsylvania before the
sentatives of the new governments.
Revolutionary War, established their own town, Gnadenhüt-
COLONIAL DAYS. From the first decades of colonization, rep-
ten. When frontier violence flared up in the Ohio country,
resentatives of various Christian denominations, with the aid
a white militia invaded this peaceful town and on March 8,
of colonial governments, worked to convert the natives.
1782 slaughtered the converts. During the Removal peri-
French colonial policy sought not only to convert Indian,
od—after the passage of the Removal Act in 1830—the mis-
but also to intermarry with them, in effect seeking to create
sionary Isaac McCoy attempted to set up an Indian state west
a new society composed of a mixture of French and Indian
of the Mississippi, and in the 1850s missionaries founded the
genes and culture. The fortunes of the various French mo-
short-lived Hazelwood Republic of the Minnesota Sioux.
nastic orders shifted back and forth, subjecting the Indians
But neither conversion to Christianity nor the adoption of
to different interpretations of the Christian religion. Thus
Western-style forms of government proved sufficient to save
the Jesuit and Recollect orders had varying success with the
American Indians from destruction.
different eastern tribes. So pervasive was the effort of the
Just prior to the passage of the Removal Act, rumors of
French that many tribes became strongly Roman Catholic
fantastic gold deposits on the Cherokee lands within its bor-
and insisted on securing funds and lands for their priests
ders led the state of Georgia to encourage its white residents
when the United States began making treaties with them.
to invade these lands. The conflict led to the two most fa-
English settlement was quite different. The British
mous Indian-related U.S. Supreme Court cases—Cherokee
sought to displace the Indians in favor of their own colonists,
Nation v. Georgia and Worcester v. Georgia. In the latter case
and they discouraged mixed marriages. Various denomina-
Baptist missionaries insisted that their adherence to federal
tions sent missionaries to the tribes of New England; the em-
treaties gave them immunity from state penalties. Although
phasis, typically Protestant, was to win individual converts
the Supreme Court decided in their favor, they were none-
from local tribes or from people living on the frontier. Edu-
theless convicted under state law and sentenced to years of
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
hard labor. Thereafter missionaries ensured that they had
tice spread to Oklahoma and eventually to the northern
federal authorization to seek converts before investing in In-
plains and Great Lakes areas. Practitioners held night-long
dian missions.
singing ceremonies in which they ingested the peyote cactus
RESERVATION PERIOD. In 1869 the newly elected president,
button, a bitter herb (and hallucinogen), in order to aid in
Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877), sought the advice and sup-
the seeing of visions. They employed some elements of the
port of Christian churches in formulating policy toward In-
Christian ritual to explain the place of peyote in their reli-
dians on the western frontier. Popularly called the Peace Pol-
gious practice, making it roughly equivalent to the bread and
icy, the result of this church-state collaboration allowed
wine of the Christian mass. The attraction of peyote lay in
Christian denominations to nominate Indian agents for res-
its origins in traditional practices and in the idea that it could
ervations, gave churches primary responsibility for Indian
serve as the center of a new religion designed for Indians by
education, and in many cases also granted them exclusive
the Creator. The famous Comanche chief Quanah Parker
rights to establish missions on reservations. Here American
(1845?–1911) was one of the more prominent adherents to
hypocrisy reached its zenith. No white American questioned
this new religion; his prestige made it acceptable to tribes
the idea that a “full blood Christian” was most fit to impart
that had not practiced the ritual before.
religion and civilization to a full-blooded Indian. With a few
Some tribes welcomed the new religion, while others
exceptions, however, church-appointed agents exploited the
bitterly opposed it, favoring either the old religion or Chris-
Indians and established dictatorial rule on the reservations.
tianity. Missionaries condemned peyote rituals as the work
The Bureau of Indian Affairs, created in 1824, ordered that
of the devil, and religious conflict in some communities esca-
Indians who did not work or who failed to send their chil-
lated so much so as to disrupt families. In 1919 the U.S.
dren to school be denied rations. The use of tribal languages
Congress held hearings on the subject and considered a bill
was permitted only if they had written forms, and the only
to ban peyote use. Prohibitions against peyote had previously
materials available for reading were Christian religious writ-
been justified with reference to alcohol laws, but it was not
ings. On all counts the Peace Policy brought only turmoil
clear that these laws in fact applied. In spite of intense pres-
and despair to the tribes.
sure from the Christian churches, the congressional commit-
Because they lacked the complex bureaucratic organiza-
tee considering the matter refused to send the bill to the
tion of the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant churches
floor. Secular social scientists sided with the Indians in the
found it difficult to bear the financial burden of operating
hearings, arguing that peyote use was an integral part of tra-
schools. The Bureau of Indian Affairs therefore allowed them
ditional Indian culture. On the reservation level the struggle
to use secular tribal annuity funds for support of their
continued, and since Indians regarded the practice as authen-
schools. The Supreme Court upheld this practice in Quick
tically theirs, the hearings only served to publicize and spread
Bear v. Leupp (1908), on the transparently spurious ground
the religion. But practitioners realized that they would not
of providing religious freedom to the Indians. Eventually,
be protected unless their religion could mimic the institu-
however, the practice was discontinued. With no govern-
tional organization of the Christian churches. They therefore
ment funds coming to the Protestants, only the Catholic
incorporated “Native American Churches” in several states.
Church could afford to operate schools, which it continued
THE REFORM ERA. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New
to establish on Indian reservations until the 1960s.
Deal (1933–1939) brought about radical changes in Indian
Federal and state governments prohibited Sun Dances
religious life. The new Indian Commissioner John Collier
and ceremonies beginning in the 1880s, and the Courts of
(1933–1945), a strong supporter of traditional Indian cus-
Indian Affairs on the reservations rigorously enforced these
toms and practices, changed the directives of the Bureau of
regulations. Some tribes skirted this oppression by pretend-
Indian Affairs to support rather than suppress dances and
ing their dances celebrated American holidays such as the
peyote use. The Wheeler-Howard Act (or Indian Reorgani-
Fourth of July or presidents’ birthdays. As late as the 1920s
zation Act) of 1934, which authorized the creation of tribal
the government deliberately worked to isolate traditional re-
governments, allowed the tribes themselves to regulate reli-
ligious practitioners and began to punish participation in In-
gious practice on their own reservations. A few prohibited
dian dances with fines. Only when the Pueblos allowed some
the Native American Church. Whereas the Pueblos generally
visitors to view some of their more secular dances did they
struggled to convince their members not to join the new
find some relief from government interference. One can also
church, the Navajos formally passed a tribal ordinance ban-
perhaps credit the Fred Harvey restaurants, which sprang up
ning the use of peyote. The federal district court upheld the
on the route of the Santa Fe Railroad beginning in the late
ban on the basis that Indian tribes were sovereign nations
nineteenth century, with helping to ease the rigor of govern-
“higher” in political status than states and therefore not sub-
ment prohibition of dances—Indian dances provided spec-
ject to the Bill of Rights in religious matters.
tacular entertainment, and thus a source of profits, at the
THE PROTEST PERIOD. By the mid-1950s traditional dances
major stations along the line.
were held openly on most reservations. Other ceremonies,
The 1880s also saw the spread of peyote use in religious
however, had been neglected and could no longer be per-
practices. Originating with the southwestern tribes, the prac-
formed, and in some cases religious practitioners continued
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POLITICS AND RELIGION: POLITICS AND NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
7303
to mistrust the government and kept their rituals hidden. As
to American Indians—that had been stolen from graves or
the Indian protest movement began to grow in the early
gathered as trophies after battles with the U.S. cavalry. Hear-
1970s, traditional spiritual leaders supported the activists
ings leading up to the bill revealed widespread wrongdoing
and often attended their rallies and gatherings. During the
by most U.S. museums, most of which had skeletal materials
occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in
and in some cases also sacred objects obtained through less
the fall of 1972 and the subsequent protest at Wounded
than ethical means. The law had three basic purposes: First,
Knee, South Dakota, during the winter of 1973, Sioux medi-
to protect against further grave desecration, second, to repa-
cine men were prominent participants, giving a sense of legit-
triate thousands of dead relatives housed in museum display
imacy to the protest. During the trials following the occupa-
cases and vaults, and finally, to restore stolen or improperly
tion of Wounded Knee, some Indian defendants insisted on
acquired religious and cultural property to their rightful
swearing oaths on the sacred pipe rather than the Bible,
owners.
thereby alarming white Christian juries.
Archaeologists and museums curators were at first ap-
The watershed event in raising the status of tribal reli-
palled by the scope of the bill and its broad and somewhat
gions, however, was the restoration of the sacred Blue Lake
confusing language. Eventually, however, they found their
to Taos Pueblo in 1970. The Pueblo had refused money for
position morally untenable and cooperated to help secure
this mountain area of forty-four thousand acres after it sued
final passage of the bill. Not surprisingly, the institution
the United States in the Indian Claims Commission, prefer-
most reluctant to engage in the process of repatriation was
ring to work toward restoration of lands through legislative
the Smithsonian, whose staff was doctrinally bound to out-
action. With the backing of a strong bipartisan coalition in
moded studies of human skulls to determine race, intelli-
Congress, the land was returned. Not only did this legislation
gence, and moral character. During the 1990s a significant
represent a major reversal of federal policy toward Indian
number of objects and skeletons were returned for reburial
lands, but it also placed the issue of sacred lands on the na-
and continued ceremonial use. Some tribes, abhorring the
tional agenda.
idea of receiving skeletal matter for fear that it might affect
MODERN ACHIEVEMENTS. In 1978 Congress passed the
their fortunes, asked the museums to preserve the materials
American Indian Religious Freedom Resolution, which or-
until a time when their people might feel differently about
dered federal agencies to make special efforts to cooperate
repatriation.
with tribes needing to use certain locations on federal lands
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES. The problem of ensuring American
for ceremonial purposes. Although the resolution contained
Indian religious freedom in modern times has been twofold.
no enforcement provisions, it did alert federal agencies, state
Because Indians had been forced onto small tracts of land to
governments, and museums that traditional Indian religions
make way for white settlers, many shrines and holy places
deserved respect. The more elevated legal status of traditional
were no longer accessible, as they now lay on federal land.
religion led to further reforms.
Traditional practitioners seeking entrance to certain loca-
The lack of enforcement provisions in the Religious
tions, such as the Bear’s Lodge (Devil’s Tower) in Wyoming,
Freedom resolution created great uncertainty in Indian
Zuni Heaven in Arizona, or Mount Shasta in California were
country. Litigation to stop various construction projects on
subject to strict regulation under multiple-use doctrines on
the basis of the resolution were usually turned aside by rhe-
federal lands. The trend at the beginning of the twenty-first
torical court decisions that failed to establish a clear interpre-
century has been to open more national lands to industry,
tation of the resolution. In 1988 the Supreme Court heard
changing forever the landscape of the American West and
Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association, a
destroying many shrines. Although the Religious Freedom
case involving the construction of a logging road in northern
Resolution directs agencies to work with American Indians
California that compromised the performance of certain rit-
to avoid conflicts, rumors emanating from Washington indi-
uals. In spite of factual findings by lower courts in favor of
cated that some federal agencies had “war rooms” to prepare
the Indians, the justices ruled that Indian religious freedom
for conflict with Indians over possible claims.
could not stand in the way of the routine bureaucratic activi-
The use of peyote off the reservations and in the cities
ties of the federal government. This decision was a major set-
became an issue in 1990, when Employment Division, De-
back, because it meant that any activity by the federal gov-
partment of Human Resources of the State of Oregon v. Smith
ernment, no matter how trivial, had priority over Indian
came before the Supreme Court. Alfred Smith and Galen
religious practices.
Black, two Indians, were fired from their jobs at a private
Indians turned to Congress to change this situation, and
drug rehabilitation program because they ingested peyote in
in 1990 President George H. W. Bush signed into law the
private religious ceremonies. When they applied for unem-
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
ployment compensation from the state of Oregon, they were
The initial demand for such a law had been triggered by the
refused on the grounds that they had been discharged for
discovery by Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawai’i that the
work-related misconduct. On appeal they cited a well-
Smithsonian Institution held nearly twenty-five thousand
grounded constitutional doctrine that the government must
human skeletons—a substantial portion of which belonged
have a “compelling” interest in the enforcement of a law 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
7304
POLLUTION
fore it can be invoked to infringe on or restrict freedoms
SEE ALSO Anthropology, Ethnology, and Religion; Conver-
guaranteed by the First Amendment. Sadly, the court over-
sion; Cosmology, article on Indigenous North and Me-
turned this test of constitutionality, leaving all religious prac-
soamerican Cosmologies; Drama, article on North American
titioners in a legal limbo regarding the application of general
Indian Dance and Drama; Ecology and Religion; Gender
statutes to religious activities.
and Religion, article on Gender and Native American Reli-
gious Tradition; Missions; Native American Christianities;
Following the Smith case, a coalition of religious bodies
Native American Church; North American Indian Reli-
sought clarification of the decision in Congress. Unfortu-
gions; North American Indians; Performance and Ritual;
nately this coalition refused to allow Indians to participate
Poetry, article on Native American Poetry and Religion;
in the reform movement, arguing out of ignorance that peyo-
Rites of Passage, article on North American Indian Rites.
te was merely a drug. Indians instead fought for the passage
of amendments to the Religious Freedom Resolution, and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
they succeeded in 1994. The amendments clarified much of
Deloria, Vine, Jr., and Clifford Lytle. The Nations Within: The
the confusion that the Smith case had engendered and of-
Past and Future of American Indian Sovereignty. New York,
fered increased protection for the practices of the Native
1984.
American Church. Since 1994 these new protections have
Fritz, Henry E. The Movement for Indian Assimilation: 1860–
been tested in a number of cases, the outcomes of which have
1890. Westport, Conn., 1981.
not diluted the rights of Indians. These cases, however, raised
Irwin, Lee. The Dream Seekers: Native American Visionary Tradi-
novel questions regarding the manner in which the Native
tions of the Great Plains. Norman, Okla., 1994.
American Church authorizes, appoints, or anoints its cere-
Keller, Robert H., Jr. American Protestantism and United States In-
monial leader, the Roadman. Some non-Indians sought to
dian Policy, 1869–82. Lincoln, Neb., 1983.
become Roadmen, forecasting a major case some time in the
Smith, Huston, and Reuben Snake, comp. and eds. One Nation
future. The main problem faced by the Native American
under God: The Triumph of the Native American Church.
Church at the beginning of the twenty-first century was one
Santa Fe, N. Mex., 1996.
of self-definition: whether it was to be a church with no mis-
Thomas, David Hurst. Skull Wars: Kennewick Man, Archaeology,
sionary responsibilities, which it certainly was on reserva-
and the Battle for Native American Identity. New York, 2000.
tions, or whether it should be a more universal church that
Walker, James R. Lakota Belief and Ritual. Edited by Raymond
can accept non-Indian members.
J. DeMallie and Elaine A. Jahner. Lincoln, Neb., 1980.
To understand the historical journey of American Indi-
VINE DELORIA, JR. (2005)
ans and their religious traditions one must place the develop-
ments of the modern era within a broader context. Christian-
ity, primarily through its involvement in Indian education,
POLLUTION SEE PURIFICATION; TABOO
made tremendous inroads into tribal cultures. As education
became a function of the secular federal government and
state educational institutions, religious instruction faded and
POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS
Indian children received the same tepid, occasional religious
This entry consists of the following articles:
instruction as non-Indians. Improved roads and modern
AN OVERVIEW
communications reduced the distance between reservation
MYTHIC THEMES
villages and outside society. With increased mobility, people
no longer felt tied to the old ways and looked for more mean-
POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
ingful religious experiences. Traditional tribal religions and
Polynesia consists of several thousand islands contained
Pentecostal neighborhood churches became more attractive.
within an immense triangle in the central Pacific with its cor-
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Indian
ners at Hawai’i, New Zealand, and Easter Island. Polynesian
membership in the mainstream Christian churches declined
peoples also inhabit a few “outliers” to the west of the trian-
precipitously, as compared to the previous generation. Many
gle, such as Tikopia and Ontong Java in the Solomon Is-
reservation churches and chapels closed or consolidated.
lands. Polynesian islands range from the huge, continental
Membership was primarily made up of the elderly, who had
North and South Islands of New Zealand through the high,
grown up with church traditions. Some denominations have
volcanic islands found in the Hawaiian, Samoan, and Society
discussed merging their missionary activities for lack of cler-
(Tahitian) chains, to the tiny, low atolls of the Tuamotu ar-
gy and active members. The vast majority of Indians simply
chipelago. Although a good deal of cultural diversity does
lived secular lives or substituted secular cultural activities for
exist within Polynesia, even more noteworthy—given the
religious commitment. Traditional religions gathered more
vast distances between island groups and the striking ecologi-
followers, but practice of the old ceremonies, for the most
cal differences between the continental, volcanic, and coral
part, lost its supernatural capability; as with contemporary
islands—are the cultural consistencies that hold throughout
Christian ceremonies, the feeling of mystery faded. Whether
the region. These include closely linked languages, related
this experience can be restored in the world in which we live
forms of social and political organization, and similar reli-
is yet to be determined.
gious beliefs and ceremonies.
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POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
7305
While numerous isolated beliefs and practices from the
some control over the visits of the gods to the physical world
pre-European period survive on many islands, the native
and what they do here; and (what is one of the most distinc-
Polynesian religion described in this essay no longer exists in
tive features of Polynesian religion) that the gods may be rit-
a pure state. Conversion to Christianity began in Tahiti at
ually induced to withdraw from the physical world in cir-
the beginning of the nineteenth century. The process was es-
cumstances where their influence is not, or is no longer,
sentially completed on most major islands by the middle of
desirable. At bottom, Polynesian religion is a story of gods
the century, although some remote islands, such as Tikopia,
who are immensely active in this world and of people who
were not fully Christian until a hundred years later.
attempt to control the activities of the gods by directing their
A CASE STUDY: KAPINGAMARANGI. Discussion begins with
influence into places where it is desired and expelling it from
a description of some religious practices on one island—as
places where it is not. The essence of Kapingamarangi’s daily
it happens, an island of little significance by most measures.
cycle—the entrance of the gods into the human world, ush-
But it will serve as an introduction to Polynesian religion
ering them into a place of human choosing, requesting their
generally, because it is possible to detect in the religious prac-
assistance in matters of human needs, and then dismissing
tices of that island patterns that are basic to religion through-
them to their own spiritual realm—was enacted in a thou-
out Polynesia.
sand ways throughout Polynesia.
Kapingamarangi is a tiny, isolated atoll located to the
COSMOS. The universe, with its spiritual and physical
south of the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific. It con-
realms, its myriads of gods, human beings, plants, and ani-
sists of an oval coral reef surrounding a lagoon six to eight
mals, was established by a series of creative acts. Myths from
miles in diameter, along the eastern edge of which are about
Samoa and the Society Islands tell of an uncreated creator
thirty islets. The total land area more than five feet above sea
god—Tangaloa or TaDaroa (elsewhere Tangaroa, Kanaloa,
level is less than one-half of a square mile; this is the living
etc.)—who was stirred to create the beginnings of a world.
space for about five hundred inhabitants. Although it is an
In other myths the first spark of creation is a series of abstract
outlier, located well outside the Polynesian triangle, the cul-
mental qualities and urges, existing and evolving in them-
ture and people of Kapingamarangi are distinctly Polynesian.
selves: thought, remembrance, consciousness, and desire. In
most Polynesian accounts of creation, existence was soon dif-
Every day, according to traditional beliefs, the gods
ferentiated into a male sky and a female earth. These were
would visit Kapingamarangi. They came from the sea,
joined together in copulation. The earth gave birth to a num-
emerging in mid afternoon off the southeastern portion of
ber of sons, the major gods of the Polynesian pantheon.
the atoll and making their way northward along the outer
Their numbers and identities differ among the various is-
reef toward an islet called Touhou. Shortly before sunset a
lands, but frequently the names Tane, Tu, and Rongo appear
priest would call out an invitation to the gods. They would
in one linguistic form or another among them. Tangaroa, the
come ashore at Touhou and proceed to a special cult house.
creator already mentioned for certain myths from Samoa and
They entered the seaward end of the house, which a pair of
Tahiti, often appears in other myths as another of the sons
priestesses had just opened for them by taking down the wall
of the earth and sky.
screens. The high priest stood outside the opposite (lagoon)
end of the cult house and delivered evening prayers, after
With the sky pressed so closely to his terrestrial mate,
which the priestesses replaced the wall screens. The following
the living space between them was dark and cramped, and
morning, just before sunrise, the high priest came again to
their sons could scarcely stand upright. They resolved to sep-
the house. This time he went to the seaward end, took down
arate their parents. After numerous fruitless efforts, one of
the wall screens, delivered morning prayers, and then re-
the sons succeeded in wrenching the lovers apart and raising
placed the screens. The gods, who had spent the night in the
the sky to the position it now occupies. Perhaps this is a
house, departed after the prayers had been addressed to
mythological source for the notion that existence is divided
them, retraced their path along the outer reef to the south-
into a spiritual and a physical realm, because on many islands
eastern part of the atoll, and, about mid-morning, returned
the gods were thought to dwell in the heavens. (The spiritual
to the sea. Several hours later they appeared again, and the
realm normally includes more than just the heavens, howev-
entire process was repeated.
er. As described already, the gods of Kapingamarangi came
from the open sea. The underworld, as the home of the dead,
These daily events on Kapingamarangi encapsulate, in
was also widely considered to be part of the spiritual realm.)
microcosm, many of the basic elements of religion through-
out Polynesia. Although numerous variations may be found
Further stages of creation are usually expressed in genea-
in different islands, Polynesians are unanimous in these be-
logical terms. In a Samoan myth, various sorts of rocks and
liefs: that the gods inhabit a realm distinct from the physical
plant and animal species are born and mate to produce still
world populated by human beings; that they are frequent vis-
other furnishings of the earth through many generations fol-
itors to the physical world; that the gods are responsible for
lowing the initial union of celestial and terrestrial rocks. In
a great deal of what happens in the physical world, including
the ninth generation, Pili, a lizard, mates with a tropical bird,
events both beneficial and detrimental to human beings; that
and their three sons and daughter are the first human beings.
humans may exercise, through properly executed ritual,
In the mythology of the Maori of New Zealand, the progeni-
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POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
tor is the god Tane. Unable to create alone, he sought an uha,
visits of the gods to Kapingamarangi) they would frequently
or female partner. He found a great many of them, and from
enter the human world. Indeed, so extensive was their influ-
his unions with them were born water and the various species
ence deemed to be that Polynesians tended to attribute any
of insects, birds, and trees and other plants. Through all this,
condition or event for which a physical cause was not imme-
however, Tane was frustrated in his abiding desire to create
diately apparent to the work of the gods. Among a great
humankind. Finally he and his brothers, the sons of the sky
many other things, this included thunder and lightning,
and the earth, shaped a woman from the earth. Tane
shifts in the wind, and the growth of plants, animals, and
breathed life into her nostrils, mouth and ears. Unsure of
people. The gods were authors of dreams and human artistic
himself, he then copulated with the various orifices and crev-
accomplishments; they underwrote the rank and power of
ices of her body. This was the origin of the bodily excretions,
chiefs and success in love or war; and they generated courage
for the places fertilized by Tane gave birth to saliva, mucus,
and cowardice, illness and accidents, and even involuntary
earwax, excrement, and perspiration. Finally Tane tried her
twitches in the muscles.
genitalia, and she bore a daughter, whom they named Hine-
An indication of the variety of events that Polynesians
titama. Later Tane incestuously took his daughter as his
would attribute to the gods is recorded by the traveler and
mate, and she gave birth to the first human beings.
artist Augustus Earle. When he sailed from New Zealand to
It fell to a number of heroes, of whom the most famous
Australia in 1828, several Maoris also made the trip. Earle
throughout Polynesia was named Maui, to put the finishing
writes in his Narrative of a Residence in New Zealand (Ox-
touches on creation. In those earliest days the sun moved
ford, 1966):
rapidly across the sky, making night much longer than day.
The second day after we were at sea, I saw a group of
People found it difficult to accomplish their work in the brief
savages lying round the binnacle, all intently occupied
span of daylight. Ma¯ui (or, on some islands, a hero of anoth-
in observing the phenomenon of the magnetic attrac-
er name) journeyed to the place where the sun emerges from
tion; they seemed at once to comprehend the purpose
the underworld at dawn, and there he laid a snare. When the
to which it was applied, and I listened with eager curios-
sun appeared Maui caught it and gave it a drubbing with his
ity to their remarks upon it. “This,” said they, “is the
club (made, in some versions of the story, from the jawbone
white man’s God, who directs them safely to different
of one of his female ancestors). Thenceforth it could move
countries, and then can guide them home again. . . .”
only slowly and painfully across the heavens, and thus was
Nothing could exceed the delight manifested by our
New Zealanders as we sailed into Port Jackson [Sydney]
the day lengthened to equal the span of the night. Mythic
harbour; but above all, the windmills most astonished
heroes are also credited with fishing up many islands from
them. After dancing and screaming with joy at behold-
the depths of the sea. The North Island of New Zealand is
ing them, they came running and asking me “if they
known as Te-Ika-a-Ma¯ui, or Ma¯ui’s fish, because he caught
were not gods.” (pp. 196–197)
it with a fishhook (also made from the same jawbone), which
he baited by smearing it with his own blood.
Polynesians took great stock in omens. Belief in godly insti-
gation of events of all sorts, and that the gods had knowledge
GODS. The spiritual realm was thought to be populated by
superior to that of humans—knowledge of what was hap-
an indefinitely large number of beings, known in most is-
pening far away, or would happen in the future, for exam-
lands by some variant of the term atua. The term may be
ple—led Polynesians to think that many events could be read
translated as “god,” although it should be borne in mind that
as messages from the gods about matters of importance to
in Polynesia this is a remarkably broad category. Some gods
humans. Dreams were a particularly rich source of informa-
have never lived as humans (for example, the sons of the
tion from the world of the gods. One’s own spirit or soul
earth and sky), while others are spirits of deceased ancestors
could leave the body in sleep, traveling great distances as the
or of quasi-human entities such as stillborn babies and men-
gods do, and gathering all sorts of intelligence while out of
strual clots. Some gods are benevolent, others are mischie-
the body. Sometimes the message of dreams was straightfor-
vous or downright malicious, and still others have no partic-
ward, as when a Maori woman’s dream that raiders were
ular moral qualities at all. The gods have a diverse range of
gathering in the hills to attack her village was confirmed
occupations and interests. Their number includes creator
when scouts found that raiders were indeed in the hills.
gods; gods responsible for various “departments” of existence
Other dreams needed expert interpretation to reveal their
(such as the sea, the forests, cultivated plants, and so on);
meanings. If a Maori man dreamed of skulls lying on the
gods that concern themselves with particular places, particu-
ground, and decorated with feathers, it was a sign that his
lar tribes, or particular families; gods of warfare, fishing, car-
wife was pregnant; moreover, the color of the feathers fore-
pentry, and various other occupations; even gods that spe-
told the sex of the baby.
cialize in bringing on certain diseases or ravishing people
whose hair was a certain color. All in all, they are an extreme-
Diviner priests in Hawai’i and Tahiti would read the
ly numerous and varied lot.
outcome of a proposed battle in the entrails of sacrificial ani-
mals. The configurations of rainbows, clouds, and other
While the gods properly belong to the spiritual realm,
heavenly phenomena were everywhere understood as omens.
it was thought throughout Polynesia that (as with the daily
Should a Maori war party see the moon situated above the
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POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
7307
evening star, for example, they would abandon plans to at-
which had proper names and unique qualities, as did the
tack a fortified village because the battle would go against
swords Excalibur and Nothung in European lore) that were
them. The moon situated below the evening star, on the
thought to be invincible in and of themselves.
other hand, was a sign that their attack would be crowned
with success.
Individuals who had distinguished themselves by out-
standing accomplishments as warriors, navigators, priests, or
An important way in which Polynesian gods were
artists were thought to have mana. At least as important,
thought to make their influence felt in the physical world was
mana characterized certain families and descent lines. Poly-
literally to enter and possess human beings. Often this was
nesian society on many islands (particularly on Tahiti and
an unwelcome situation, for the intruding god might be ma-
the other Society Islands, and on Samoa, Tonga, and
licious and proceed to bite, twist, or pinch the individual’s
Hawai’i) was highly stratified, with great gulfs of rank sepa-
internal organs—a common explanation for disease. On the
rating the chiefs and other nobles from the commoners. The
other hand, certain persons were particularly prone to spirit
rank of the nobility passed from generation to generation,
possession by which a deceased chief, ancestor, or some other
reaching its culmination in the line of firstborn children.
god would communicate with human beings. The medium
These lines traced their descent back to the high gods and
would go into a trance, during which his or her tone of voice
existed under their special protection. Their rank and posi-
might change drastically. That was thought to be the voice
tion was validated precisely by this relationship to the gods,
of the possessing god, conveying information about the cause
which was the source of their intense mana. In many respects
of some disease, the identity of a thief, the outcome of a mili-
the relationship was so close that those of exalted rank were
tary expedition, or some other matter of importance to the
considered to be very like gods themselves. In Tahiti high
human community.
chiefs were carried on the backs of servants whenever they
ventured out, because if their feet had touched the ground,
The gods also frequented animals of various species:
that spot would have been made so sacred that it could no
sharks, herons, lizards, owls, and so on. Because the indwell-
longer be used for ordinary purposes. All persons along the
ing gods were often malicious, and in any event had power
chief’s path had to bare their bodies to the waist as a sign of
enough to make them dangerous to ordinary people, such
deference. In Hawai’i the concern that nobles not marry
animals were regarded with fear, or, at least, with a great deal
spouses of standing lower than their own resulted in the ap-
of circumspection. Lizards were thought in many islands to
proval of brother-sister marriage for chiefs of the highest
be favorite earthly vehicles for particularly malevolent gods,
rank. The offspring of such unions were considered to be di-
rendering these animals objects of terror to people. In his
vine, and all persons were required to prostrate themselves
Journal of a Ten Months Residence in New Zealand (London,
in their presence.
1823), the early visitor Richard Cruise reported that when
a visiting ship’s officer in the early nineteenth century
Tapu, a form used in the Maori and Tahitian languages,
brought a lizard to a Maori women in order to ascertain the
is a term taken into English as “taboo,” and is close in mean-
local word for it, “She shrunk from him in a state of terror
ing to mana. It too is concerned primarily with the influence
that exceeded description, and conjured him not to approach
that the gods exercise over people, places, and things of the
her, as it was in the shape of the animal he held in his hand,
physical world. Tapu is often defined with reference to re-
that the Atua [god] was wont to take possession of the dying,
strictions or prohibitions, it being tapu to enter a certain
and to devour their bowels” (p. 320).
place, eat certain food, touch certain objects, or undertake
MANA AND TAPU. Persons, places, and things that were pos-
various other activities. The word, however, refers not so
sessed by or were otherwise under the influence of the gods
much to the sheer fact of restriction as to the reason for it:
were often referred to by one or the other of the two most
that the place, person, or object in question was possessed
well-known concepts in Polynesian religion: mana and tapu.
by or under the influence of the gods and therefore had to
While these terms have usually been understood by Western
be treated with extreme care.
observers to function as nouns—so that one might have a
It is tempting to translate tapu as “sacred,” but that term
certain amount of mana, infringe a tapu, or put tapu on or
has a consistently positive connotation that is by no means
remove it from something—some scholars think that they
always the case with the Polynesian concept. As has been
properly describe states of being rather than things. From
noted already, to be under the influence of a Polynesian god
this perspective, mana or tapu are similar to fame: One may
is not necessarily a desirable condition, for it may entail phys-
“have” fame, but that is not like having a concrete thing such
ical or mental illness, loss of courage, or any number of other
as a computer.
unwelcome states. All of these may be described in terms of
Mana (a form used in many Polynesian languages) refers
tapu. This points up one distinction between tapu and mana.
to the state of being that is enjoyed by those objects, places,
While both terms refer to states brought on by the influence
or persons that benefit permanently (or at least for an extend-
of gods, mana was limited to conditions characterized by
ed period) from the strengthening influence of the gods. A
outstanding effectiveness of action or elevated rank. Tapu
primary mark of mana is outstanding effectiveness in action.
might also be used in those circumstances, but it describes
Hence the term was applied to certain weapons (many of
detrimental or debilitating states as well.
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POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
Again, both mana and tapu may refer to states of long
RITUAL. Polynesian ritual covered an extensive field of activi-
duration, but these were perhaps more commonly described
ty. It could be destructive, as in witchcraft rites that directed
in terms of mana. On the other hand, only tapu was used
gods to injure or kill their victims. Maori legend, for exam-
to describe conditions in which the influence of the gods was
ple, tells how a sorcerer bewitched a New Zealand tribe
experienced for relatively brief or defined periods—such as
called Maruiwi by calling upon the god Ira-kewa to confuse
during festivals or religious ceremonies, seasons for growing
their minds so that they began to wander about in the night,
crops, expeditions for hunting, fishing, or raiding, or times
walked over a high cliff, and fell to their deaths. Other rites
of tattooing or building a canoe or house. Because Polynesian
were performed for the more constructive purposes of secur-
rituals dealt primarily with such temporary influence of the
ing fertility of crops or success in voyaging, hunting, or fish-
gods, channeling it into areas of life where it was desired at
ing. Some rites consisted of no more than conventional in-
the moment and away from areas where it was not, they were
cantations that an individual might mutter to secure the
much more concerned with tapu than mana.
gods’ approval or avoid their wrath when crossing a forest
One reason that the tapu state tended to be of relatively
or a stream; others were elaborate festivals demanding im-
short duration was because it was easily transmitted. Mana
mense preparations and lasting for days, or even, as in the
could be diminished or lost by defilement of some sort, but
case of the Hawaiian festival called Makahiki, for months.
it was not easily communicated from one person or thing to
In all cases, however, Polynesian ritual had the same purpose
another, except from parent to child by descent. To the con-
as the daily rites on Kapingamarangi, that is, to move and
trary, tapu was considered to be a highly volatile state that
focus godly influence in accordance with human wishes.
was readily transmitted. This, indeed, is the primary reason
Understood in this way, it is possible to distinguish
why the term is so often translated as “forbidden” or as hav-
three phases in Polynesian ritual. The first is an invitation
ing to do with prohibitions: because it was necessary to hedge
to the gods to come to the place where the ritual is taking
someone or something in the state of tapu with all sorts of
place. The second is an attempt to induce the gods to lend
restrictions in order to prevent its unintentional communica-
their influence or support to whatever goal (fertility of crops,
tion to other persons or things to which it might be detri-
victory in battle, success in an interisland voyage, and so on)
mental. At this point it is well to recall that tapu refers not
the rite is designed to promote. While these two phases are
to a thing but to a state of being under the influence of gods.
found in the ritual process of many religions, a third phase
Should that influence pass from one person or thing to an-
receives particular elaboration in Polynesia. In this phase,
other, as Polynesians thought it commonly did, then the per-
after the purpose of the rite has been achieved, the gods are
son or thing newly brought under godly influence would
dismissed and their influence is terminated.
enter a state of tapu. If the godly influence should completely
leave the “donor” in this situation, then that person or thing
Invitations. Polynesian gods were conceptualized as be-
would be released from the tapu state.
having very much like human beings, so ritual invitations to
Transmission of tapu was normally by direct or indirect
them were similar in kind to the way one might invite
contact. In many parts of Polynesia menstrual blood was
human guests. In Tahiti this included preparing an attactive
thought to be dangerously tapu, and great precautions were
place for them. Tahitian rituals normally took place in rec-
taken to avoid contact with it. The Marquesan belief was that
tangular enclosures called marae. Between rituals very little
such contact produced leprosy. Throughout Polynesia food
attention was paid to the marae. The gods were not present,
was considered to be an excellent conductor of tapu. Today
so there was no danger, no particular tapu associated with the
women of Rapa, in the Austral chain, avoid preparing any-
marae at such times. When a ceremony was about to take
one’s food but their own while they are menstruating. In an-
place, however, a necessary prelude was to clear weeds and
cient Tahiti and Hawai’i men and women ate separately on
sweep the courtyard, to repair and scrape moss from the
a regular basis in order to insulate the male from the danger-
stone altar, to set up perches upon which the gods might set-
ous influences connected with the female.
tle, and in general to make the marae as attractive as possible
for the gods who were to be summoned to it. Before lineage
An intriguing example of how tapu may spread involves
gods were invoked in Tonga, special mats would be spread
an unfortunate dog at Ruatoki, New Zealand. The dog con-
out as places for them to sit.
tracted the extremely dangerous tapu associated with the
dead because it rooted in a grave and began to chew on the
Rituals normally began with an invitation to the gods
corpse of a recently deceased person. The situation deterio-
to attend. In Tahiti lesser gods might be dispatched as mes-
rated when the dog, chased by numerous enraged Maoris,
sengers to invite the greater gods, and priests would intone
tried to escape by swimming across the Whakatane River. It
long chants that described how each emissary had located the
was caught and killed in midstream, but by then the entire
god it had been sent to fetch and was leading it to the marae.
river had become tapu because the dog had been swimming
Other Tahitian chants inaugurating rituals were designed to
in it. After that its water could not be used for any purpose
awaken the gods from sleep. HawaiDians would sometimes
until a priest had performed a special ceremony to release the
appeal to the gods’ sexuality, attracting them to a ritual with
river from tapu.
an erotic hula dance.
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POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
7309
New Zealand Maori invited the gods to certain places
of accomplishing either of these ends was to give the gods
by setting out material objects in which they could take up
gifts. In many places in Polynesia the gods were thanked for
residence. Rudely carved stone images, called “resting places
their assistance by offering them the first crops harvested, the
for the gods,” would be placed in fields after sweet potatoes
first birds snared, or the first fish caught. War gods might
had been planted. The intention was for gods to enter the
be given the first enemy killed; often a hook would be placed
images, whence they would establish a state of tapu over the
in his mouth and he would be announced as the first fish.
crop by lending their growth-stimulating power to it. Other
Human sacrifices were offered in many parts of Polynesia in-
special objects, either natural or human-made, were placed
cluding Hawai’i, Tahiti, Tonga, the Marquesas, Mangaia (in
in forests, near the sea, or in fortified villages. These consti-
the Cook Islands), and New Zealand. Human lives were sac-
tuted domiciles for the gods who ensured an abundance of
rificed for a variety of purposes, including the commemora-
birds and rats in the forest, fish of various species in the sea,
tion of significant events in the lives of high chiefs, the
or protection for the village. It was important to conceal
launching of important new canoes, or the opening of major
these objects carefully, lest they fall into the hands of some
houses. People in Tonga would strike off joints of their little
malefactor who would perform certain spells causing the god
fingers as sacrificial supplications to the gods to restore rela-
to depart and bringing disaster on the forest or village.
tives to health.
Priests in certain parts of New Zealand carried “god-
Another common means of influencing the gods on rit-
sticks”: small, carved wooden pegs that, when wrapped in a
ual occasions was by incantations. After a Maori priest had
certain way and stuck in the ground, would be entered by
induced a god to enter his godstick by wrapping it in the
gods. Idols or images were thought to provide housing for
proper way and sticking it in the ground, he would step back
the gods in many parts of Polynesia. In the early nineteenth
a few paces and intone his requests. Often the priest held a
century the several chiefs who were competing to become
bit of string that was tied to the stick and that he would jerk
king of a centralized Tahiti went to great lengths to secure
occasionally to prevent the god’s attention from wandering.
the image of the war god Oro. Where the image was, so the
The efficacy of an incantation, and, indeed, of a ritual
belief went, there Oro himself would come, bringing with
observance in its entirety, was thought to depend on the per-
him success in war and politics.
fection with which it was accomplished. This mispronuncia-
New Zealand Maori were particularly conscious of
tion of a word, a breath drawn in the wrong place, or any
boundaries between the human and the spiritual worlds. Fre-
disturbance of the general atmosphere surrounding the rite,
quently their rituals would be held at such places, where the
was thought to abort the whole ceremony. On many islands,
gods could readily pass from the spiritual realm into this one.
during a religious ceremony the people who were not partici-
One of the most intriguing of these boundaries had to do
pating in the rite were constrained to remain in their houses,
with the village latrine. This was commonly built on the out-
lighting no fires and making no noise. Cocks must not crow,
skirts of a village, often on the brow of a cliff or steep hill,
nor dogs bark; absolutely nothing was allowed to disrupt the
over which excreta would fall. The latrine consisted of a pair
highly tapu atmosphere of the rite. In the Society Islands,
of carved posts that supported a low horizontal beam where
should a woman or child wander near the place where a ritual
the feet would be placed while squatting. Handgrips to assist
was occurring, the intruder would be killed immediately
in preserving one’s balance were planted in the ground in
(perhaps by the husband or father) and offered to the gods
front of the beam. The beam was thought to be a boundary
as a sacrifice to amend for the disturbance. Perhaps such rules
between the realms of existence: The physical world was on
and practices, although far more severe, were not different
the village side of the beam, with all its human hustle and
in intent from a Maori priest tugging at the string tied to his
bustle, while the region behind the beam, where excrement
godstick in order to prevent the attention of the gods from
fell and where people never went, was the spiritual world. Of
being distracted by matters other than those addressed in the
the numerous rituals the Maori performed at the latrine,
ceremony.
none presents a clearer view of it as a point of emergence of
The emphasis on perfection of delivery of incantations
the gods into the physical world than the consecration of the
and performance of ceremonies indicates that Polynesians
Takitumu canoe. According to Maori lore, this was one of
believed their gods to be concerned with the outer form of
the canoes that brought their ancestors to New Zealand. The
worship. Inner feelings and convictions were not relevant is-
tradition relates how Takitumu was placed in a state of tapu,
sues in Polynesian religion. New Zealand provides the most
so as to enjoy the gods’ protection during the long and dan-
striking bit of evidence for this proposition. An imaginative
gerous voyage, by literally hauling the canoe up to the latrine
chief there arranged for the necessary incantations that ac-
and inviting the gods to embark.
companied the planting of crops to be delivered by a talking
bird!
Propitiations. Once the gods had arrived at the site of
the ritual, the next phase was to carry out the purpose for
Dismissals. The final phase of Polynesian ritual was the
which they had been invited. This might be to convince
departure of the gods and, with them, the termination of the
them to do something for the human community, or to
state of tapu. Occasionally this constituted not a phase but
thank them for services already rendered. A common means
the rite in its entirety. This would apply to rituals designed
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7310
POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
to cure illness or to counteract witchcraft, where the god in-
of Samoa, the Marquesas, New Zealand, the Society Islands,
volved was malevolently inclined and the sole purpose of the
and HawaiDi would return to the noa state after participating
rite was to exorcise it. In other cases, as in the departure of
in war, rituals, funeral observances, and other activities. The
the gods from Kapingamarangi’s cult house each day at
rationale was doubtless that the water washed away the godly
dawn, the gods were excused in the final stage of ritual, after
influence responsible for the tapu.
prayers or thanks had been addressed to them or when the
Fire was another agent for releasing persons and things
beneficial results for which they had been summoned had
from tapu, because of its capacity to consume or drive out
been realized. Many Polynesians believed, for example, that
indwelling gods. In the Society Islands sickness or insanity
crops could grow, battles be won, or houses and canoes be
might be caused by a malicious spirit that dwelt in a stone
successfully built only with the assistance of the gods. Only,
buried by a witch near the victim’s residence. Should a divin-
that is, when the field, warriors, weapons, builders, tools, and
er ascertain where the stone was concealed, he would unearth
raw materials were in a state of tapu. But that very tapu, to-
it and throw it into the fire to destroy or expel the infecting
gether with the numerous restrictions designed to control its
spirit.
unintended spread, rendered it impossible for the crops to
be eaten once they were harvested, for warriors to take up
Probably the tapu-eradicating properties of fire account
normal activities after battle, for people to live in the house
for the fact that, in New Zealand, cooked food (that is, food
or to travel in the canoe when built. Therefore it was neces-
that has been exposed to high heat or fire) was one of the
sary to excuse the gods once their contribution had been
most common agents used in rituals concerned with the ex-
achieved—to release the crop, the warriors, the house, or the
pulsion or transfer of godly influence. Some scholars claim
canoe from the state of tapu.
the Maori view to have been that cooked food repelled the
A person, place, or thing that had been released from
gods, others that it attracted them. In any event, it was very
tapu entered a state of being known on many Polynesian is-
commonly a part of whakanoa rituals, such as that in which
lands as noa. Often translated as “common” or “profane” (in
the hands of someone who had been cultivating a garden,
contrast to views of tapu as “sacred”), noa may be understood
curing an illness, or cutting the hair of a chief were released
simply as the opposite of tapu—as the state of not being
from tapu by passing a bit of cooked sweet potato or fernroot
under the influence of the gods. Rituals or segments of rituals
over them.
designed to provide a release from tapu were often designated
The Maori were extremely careful in their direct or indi-
by words such as fa’anoa (in the Society Islands) or whakanoa
rect association with cooked food when they were in a state
(in New Zealand), meaning “to make noa.”
of tapu that they wished to preserve. They were most reluc-
Normally the dismissal of the gods was, as in Kapinga-
tant to enter European hospitals, where water to wash pa-
marangi, a temporary situation. They would be invited back
tients might be heated in pots previously used for cooking.
the next time their assistance was needed. Occasionally, how-
The same reasoning explains why some Maoris who had em-
ever, the lifting of the tapu state was intended to be perma-
braced Christianity and wished to purge themselves of the
nent. This of course applied to disease-dealing or otherwise
influence of the pagan gods would purposely wash their
malicious gods. People wanted to escape their influence for-
heads in water heated in cooking pots. One European trader
ever. But it might also be the case with a god from whom
engendered the wrath of a Maori chief when he joked that
assistance had been expected, if it became clear that the god
a cooking pot that he had for sale would make a fine helmet
was not performing satisfactorily. Tahitians had a special cer-
for the chief, and made as if to put it on his head.
emony for casting off a god. If a family found that it was re-
The Maori concern with thresholds between the spiritu-
ceiving few benefits from the god it venerated, the family
al and physical realms, discussed above in connection with
priest would address a special incantation to the god. He
ritual means of bringing the gods into this world, is also im-
would berate it roundly for its feeble support, and inform it
portant in rituals designed to send them out of it. One cure
that the family would have nothing more to do with it. Then
for illness was to bite the latrine beam, presumably with the
they would select another god that promised to be more
intention of repatriating the affecting god to the spirit realm
helpful.
by sending it over the threshold between the worlds. After
A variety of means were available to terminate the state
a session of training in sacred lore, which required that stu-
of tapu. One was simply to get away from the god. Many
dents be in a state of tapu if the learning process were to take
gods were restricted in their spheres of influence, so if a per-
place successfully, the students would bite the latrine beam
son were suffering from a disorder known to be caused by
in order to return to the noa state. Finally, a warrior who was
a certain god, the healer’s prescription might be for the pa-
afraid before battle might fortify himself by biting the beam,
tient to leave the area frequented by that god.
although it is not entirely clear in this case whether the pur-
pose was to be rid of a fear-producing god, or to take on the
The more common tactic, however, was to send the
influence of a courage-producing one.
gods or their influence away. One of the most common ritual
agents used for this purpose throughout Polynesia was water.
Unquestionably one of the most intriguing agents for
By sprinkling or immersion in salt or fresh water, Polynesians
the ritual release from tapu was the female. In New Zealand
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
POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
7311
and the Marquesas Islands new houses would be made free
His plan was to kill her by entering her vagina, passing
of tapu by having a woman enter them. Women participated
through her body, and emerging at the mouth. He cautioned
in the tapu-dispelling phase of the war ritual known as
his friends not to laugh if they found the sight amusing, for
Luakini in Hawai’i. In New Zealand women would eat the
fear of waking her. Then he stripped naked and, binding the
first tubers and thereby render a newly harvested crop of
thong of his club tightly about his wrist, he proceeded to
sweet potatoes noa. Maoris would rid themselves of the mali-
enter the sleeping woman. But predictably the birds found
cious spirit that might be lurking in a lizard by killing the
the sight hilarious and they burst out in raucous laughter.
animal and then having a woman step over it. Marquesans
That awakened Hine-nui-te-po who, discovering Maui at-
would exorcise the demon afflicting a sick person by having
tempting to enter her, clenched her thighs tightly together
a naked woman leap over or sit on the affected part of the
and crushed him to death. And such, opined a Maori com-
patient’s body. Women were not permitted to assist at major
mentator, is the fate of all humans: to be drawn at death into
rites in the Society Islands, for fear that their presence would
the genitals of Hine-nui-te-po.
expel the gods. For the same reason women were not allowed
Hence the female seems to constitute a two-way passage
to go near sites of canoe or house construction in New Zea-
between the spiritual and physical realms of existence, for
land or, in the Marquesas, to have any contact with men who
humans as well as for the gods. Moreover, the very distinc-
had been made tapu prior to turtle fishing or battle.
tion between human beings and the gods now begins to col-
The usual interpretation is that the gods found women
lapse. Humans, arriving at birth from the supernatural realm,
to be repugnant, particularly because of their connection
apparently were thought to have a spiritual existence before
with menstrual blood (a substance thought, on this interpre-
birth, and they definitely were thought to return to the spiri-
tation, to be more polluting than any other). Hence the gods
tual realm as ghosts and ancestral gods after death.
would withdraw upon the appearance of a woman, taking
For a final bit of evidence of a Polynesian belief that
their tapu with them. An alternative view is that the gods
human beings exist as spirits in the godly realm prior to
were attracted to women rather than repelled by them, and
birth, this article will return to where it began—the tiny atoll
that women therefore terminated tapu by absorbing the
of Kapingamarangi. After a woman had given birth, she and
godly influence into themselves. On this interpretation the
her infant would go for a set of birth ceremonies to the islet
female is understood, as is the Maori latrine, to represent a
of Touhou. That is the place, it will be recalled, where the
passageway between the godly and human realms of exis-
gods would come ashore every day. Therefore, while it might
tence. The rites in which women acted to dispel tapu would
actually have been born on another islet, the infant was ritu-
of course be examples of the movement of godly influence
ally introduced into Kapingamarangi on the islet of Touhou,
through the female from the human to the spiritual world.
just as the gods were. After a period of ceremonies on
Certain practices in New Zealand can be interpreted as the
Touhou, mother and child participated in a ritual that took
movement of godly influence in the opposite direction, as
place on Werua islet, located just to the north of Touhou.
when students about to be instructed in sacred lore would
After that, they would return to their home islet and to nor-
enter the state of tapu by eating a piece of cooked food that
mal life.
had first been passed under the thigh of a woman.
Interpreting this, it is seen that the child, like the gods,
The view of the female as a passage between the two
has come from the spiritual realm of Touhou. But whereas
realms leads to some possible insights into the Polynesian
the gods remain gods by leaving Touhou and traveling south,
view of birth and death. In New Zealand and the Society Is-
the same direction from which they came, the child becomes
lands incantations addressed to newborn infants of rank wel-
human by leaving Touhou to the north. From that point for-
comed them into the physical world from the world of the
ward the child becomes a full member of human society. In
gods. An infant, that is, was apparently viewed as an em-
essence this is not unlike ceremonies that release one from
bodied spirit that had passed from the spiritual realm to the
tapu in other parts of Polynesia, rites in which the removal
human realm. And, of course, the infant accomplished the
of godly influence enables a person to participate without re-
transit by being born of a woman.
striction in normal human existence.
Polynesians understood death as the passage of the soul
from the physical world to the spiritual realm, where it con-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tinued to exist as a god or spirit of some sort. Most interest-
Two general books are E. S. Craighill Handy’s Polynesian Religion
ing is that, in New Zealand at least, this passage too was
(Honolulu, 1927) and Anthropology and Religion (1959; re-
thought to be made through the female. This is evident in
print, Hamden, Conn., 1970) by Peter H. Buck (Te Rangi
Hiroa). Both are written by acknowledged experts in the
the intriguing story of the death of the culture hero Ma¯ui.
field, although, as their dates imply, neither benefits from
Having fished up islands and slowed the sun, Ma¯ui resolved
contemporary methods of anthropological analysis. The
to bestow upon humankind the ultimate gift of eternal life.
same may be said for the larger but less influential compendia
He intended to accomplish this by killing Hine-nui-te-po,
by Robert W. Williamson, Religious and Cosmic Beliefs of
the female personification of death. Accompanied by his
Central Polynesia, 2 vols. (1933; reprint, New York, 1977),
friends, the birds, Ma¯ui came upon her while she was asleep.
and Religion and Social Organization in Central Polynesia
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
7312
POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
(Cambridge, 1937). Katharine Luomala’s Maui-of-a-
gods in their own image, it is a truism that in Polynesia gods
Thousand-Tricks (Honolulu, 1949) is an interesting study of
and people are aspects of the same reality and form a contin-
myths, dealing with a single culture hero, drawn from all
uum of the sacred and the profane. Even as, in relative terms,
parts of Polynesia. The most thoroughly documented of tra-
the gods are sacred and the people profane, so also are the
ditional Polynesian cultures is New Zealand’s. George Grey’s
chiefs sacred and the commoners profane. This axiom under-
Polynesian Mythology (London, 1922) is a widely read collec-
lay the sociocultural organization of the Polynesians and gave
tion of Maori myths. Despite its forbidding title, J. Prytz Jo-
hansen’s The Maori and His Religion in Its Non-Ritualistic As-
religious justification to ranked social and kinship structures.
pects (Copenhagen, 1954) is a rich and fascinating analysis,
The mythological threads of Polynesian religions developed
as is his companion book, Studies in Maori Rites and Myths
an intimate association among gods, chiefs, priests, and peo-
(Copenhagen, 1958). More recent Maori studies are Jean
ple. High gods, demigods, ancestral gods, culture heroes,
Smith’s Tapu Removal in Maori Religion (Wellington, 1974),
spirits, elves, and people were intertwined in different ways
and F. Allan Hanson and Louise Hanson’s Counterpoint in
in each island group to create separate religions that were
Maori Culture (London, 1983). For the Society Islands, the
particularized and parochial while at the same time part of
most useful works are Teuira Henry’s Ancient Tahiti (Hono-
a homogenous religious fabric that was spread over a vast ex-
lulu, 1928) and, by Douglas L. Oliver, a three-volume com-
pilation of information from the sources plus analysis of his
panse of ocean containing hundreds of large and small Poly-
own, Ancient Tahitian Society (Honolulu, 1974). A good deal
nesian islands.
on religion may be found in E. S. Craighill Handy’s The Na-
Polynesia can be conveniently divided into western Pol-
tive Culture in the Marquesas (1923; reprint, New York,
ynesia (including Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, the Tokelau Is-
1971); William Mariner’s An Account of the Natives of the
Tonga Islands, 3d ed., 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1827); Edward
lands, Niue, the Futuna Islands, and Uvéa) and eastern Poly-
Winslow Gifford’s Tongan Society (Honolulu, 1929); and
nesia (Hawaii, the Society Islands including Tahiti, the
John B. Stair’s Old Samoa (1897; reprint, Papakura, New
Marquesas, the Cooks, the Australs, Mangareva, the Tuamo-
Zealand, 1983). Books with useful information on Hawaiian
tus, Easter Island, and New Zealand). A number of small is-
religion are Martha Warren Beckwith’s Hawaiian Mythology
lands lie outside the Oceanic region commonly designated
(1940; reprint, Honolulu, 1970) and David Malo’s Hawai-
as Polynesia, but they have Polynesian religious and cultural
ian Antiquities, 2d ed. (Honolulu, 1951). Religion of the
traditions (Rennell, Bellona, Tikopia, Anuta, Ontong Java,
Polynesian outliers has been well analyzed in Torben Mon-
Kapingamarangi, Takuu, Sikiana, and others). These “outli-
berg’s The Religion of Bellona Island (Copenhagen, 1966);
ers” are closely related to western Polynesia. Fiji, Lau, and
Raymond Firth’s The Work of the Gods in Tikopia, 2d ed.,
and Tikopia Ritual and Belief (both, London, 1967); and fi-
Rotuma, on the western fringe of Polynesia, are in some ways
nally, the source from which the information on Kapingama-
closely related to western Polynesia, although religiously Fiji
rangi in this essay is taken, Kenneth P. Emory’s Kapingama-
is probably more closely related to the Melanesian islands to
rangi: Social and Religious Life of a Polynesian Atoll
the west. The religion of each of these groups and its mytho-
(Honolulu, 1965).
logical basis formed a coherent whole with the social organi-
New Sources
zation. The connections between gods, ancestors, and hu-
Charlot, John. “Towards a Dialogue between Christianity and
mans were often made visually apparent and ritually
Polynesian Religions.” Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses
maintained through religious architecture and works of art
15, no. 4 (1986): 443–450.
including songs, dances, sculptured images, and, most fun-
Howard, Alan. “Cannibal Chiefs and the Charter for Rebellion in
damental of all, oral literature. Although it is difficult to sep-
Rotuman Myth.” Pacific Studies 10 (1986): 1–27.
arate sacred and secular in Polynesia, the emphasis in this ar-
Mageo, Jeannette Marie, and Alan Howard. Spirits in Culture,
ticle will be on the mythological themes that help to explain
History, and Mind. New York, 1996.
the religious element of the society with its emphasis on
McLean, Mervyn. Weavers of Song: Polynesian Music and Dance.
mana and tapu, rather than on the mythological basis of sec-
Honolulu, 1999.
ular storytelling. From a Polynesian point of view, the terms
Ralston, Caroline, and Nicholas Thomas, eds. “Sanctity and
mythic and mythological are not entirely appropriate because
Power: Gender in Polynesian History.” Journal of Pacific His-
these sacred traditions are considered historical and unques-
tory 22 (July–October 1987): 115–227.
tionable in much the same sense as is Genesis by many Chris-
Ritchie, James E. Sacred Chiefs and Secular Gods: The Polynesian
tians.
View of the World. Hamilton, N.Z., 1998.
Wallin, Paul. The Symbolism of Polynesian Temple Rituals. Oslo,
COSMOGONY. One of the most important and widespread
Norway, 1998.
mythic themes in Polynesia deals with the origins of the uni-
F. ALLAN HANSON (1987)
verse, the gods, and various aspects of nature. From the pri-
Revised Bibliography
mary void or chaos came heaven and earth, which lay close
together. The Sky Father (variously, Langi, Rangi, or Atea)
and the Earth Mother (Papa or Fakahotu) clung together in
POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
a warm embrace and, in the cosmogonic myths of many of
Although one might argue whether the gods created the
the islands, were the progenitors of the gods, the land and
Polynesians in godlike form or the Polynesians created the
sea, the elements, and of plants, animals, and people. Rangi
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
POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
7313
and Papa were usually forcefully separated by gods or demi-
This cosmogonic story explains not only Tawhiri’s peri-
gods.
odic outbursts, but also the reasons for disagreements among
the other brothers. Tangaroa was upset that some of his prog-
In western Polynesia the most important agent in this
eny deserted him for the forests of Tane, and Tu took re-
separation was usually some form of the high god Tangaroa
venge on his brothers for deserting him in battle against
(Tangaloa) or the demigod trickster, Ma¯ui. In Tonga, for ex-
Tawhiri. Tane gives wood for canoes, spears, and fishhooks
ample, Ma¯ui-motua (the senior Ma¯ui) pushed up the sky;
to the children of Tu in order to destroy the offspring of
this let in the light and permitted humans, who had previ-
Tangaroa. The latter, however, overwhelms canoes, land,
ously crawled as crabs, to stand.
and trees with his relentless waves. Tu also traps the birds
Our land was created
of Tane’s forest, enmeshes the children of Tangaroa in fish-
Shrouded from above
nets, uproots the children of Haumia and Rongo, consumes
And we crawled as crabs.
all his brothers’ offspring as food and controls his brothers
The first and second skies
with incantations.
Tell to Ma¯ui-motua
Variations of this theme, especially the belief in a primal
To push them high
pair and their existence in a void or darkness (often called
So the breeze can come in, for it is hot
po¯), exist in other eastern Polynesian areas. In some locales,
And bring light to the land
Tangaroa was thought to be the originator of all things in
And then we stood up
the universe; in others his place was taken by Tane; while in
And walked about proudly.
others Tangaroa and Tane together serve this function. In
In Rotuma, Lagi and Otfiti (“heaven” and “earth”) were
the Society Islands, for example, a great octopus held the sky
joined together. The male and female principles of heaven
and earth together in his great arms. TaDaroa (Tangaroa) ex-
and earth, Lagatea and Papatea, were the progenitors of the
isted in the darkness of contemplation, and from this dark-
high god Tangaloa. When Tangaloa was born he rose to a
ness he called the other gods into being. When TaDaroa shook
kneeling position and pushed Heaven and Earth apart; he
himself, feathers fell and turned into trees, plantains, and
did not rise to his full height, however, because of the distress
other green plants. Ta’aroa then called the artisans to fashion
of his parents who did not want to be completely separated.
him into something beautiful—a carved wooden image in
most versions. Rua (the Abyss) killed the octopus by conjur-
In eastern Polynesia, especially among the Maori of
ing, but it did not release its hold, and, still in darkness, the
New Zealand, cosmogonic origins were more detailed. While
demigods Ru, Hina, and Ma¯ui were born. Ru raised the sky
Rangi and Papa clung together, they produced offspring; the
as high as the coral tree, but ruptured himself so that his in-
four great gods Tane, Tangaroa, Tu, and Rongo, known
testines floated away to become the clouds that usually hang
throughout Polynesia, as well as two specialized gods
over the island of Bora-Bora. Ma¯ui, the trickster, then used
Haumia and Tawhiri. These offspring felt cramped with
wedges to support the sky and went to enlist the help of
their dark close quarters and debated if and how they should
Tane, who lived in highest heaven. Tane drilled into the sky
separate from their father and mother. Except for Tawhiri,
with a shell until light came through. The arms of the octo-
who disagreed, each son attempted to separate the parents.
pus fell away and became the island of Tubuai. Tane then
Rongo, god of cultivated foods, tried; Tangaroa, god of fish
decorated the sky with stars and set the sun and moon on
and reptiles, tried; and Tu, god of destruction, tried. Tane,
their courses. The fish and sea creatures were given places
god of the forests, found that he was strong enough but that
and duties, and the god Tohu was given the job of painting
his arms were too short; so he placed his head against his
the beautiful color on the fish and shells of the deep. In Tahi-
mother and pushed his father up with his feet. Tawhiri, god
ti, Tane was symbolized by a piece of finely braided coconut-
of the winds, rose with his father. Upset by Tane’s success,
fiber sennit, while in the Cook Islands, Tane the artisan was
Tawhiri sent his own offspring—the four great winds, smal-
symbolized by beautifully made basalt adzes lashed to carved
ler but more violent winds, clouds of various kinds, and hur-
handles with braided coconut fiber.
ricanes—against him. Tawhiri’s brothers and their offspring
were terrified. Tangaroa’s fish offspring plunged deep into
In Hawaii, Ka¯ne (Tane) and Kanaloa (Tangaroa) were
the sea, but the reptiles sought safety in the forests of Tane,
not usually represented in tangible form. Ka¯ne, the ultimate
even though many of Tane’s trees were snapped and de-
ancestor of the other gods, was usually associated with the
stroyed. Rongo and Haumia hid themselves in Mother
upper atmosphere, while Kanaloa, in paired opposition, was
Earth. Only Tu withstood Tawhiri’s wrath and finally de-
associated with the sea and its creatures. Lono (Rongo) and
feated him. During the long storm Tawhiri’s progeny multi-
Ku¯ (Tu) were less distant and abstract and were concerned
plied to include rains of various kinds, mist, and dew. Final-
with agriculture, plants, rain, pigs, peace and war, forests, ca-
ly, light increased and the progeny of the other brothers
noes, houses, and crafts. Many attributes of Lono and Ku¯
increased. Rangi and Papa have never been reconciled to
were interrelated; they depended on each other both as nec-
their separation; and, to this day, Papa’s sighs rise to Rangi
essary opposites and as aspects of each other. Various attri-
as mist, and Rangi’s tears fall to Papa as dewdrops.
butes of Lono, Ku¯, Ka¯ne, and Kanaloa might be considered
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
7314
POLYNESIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES
as separate gods. There were hundreds of these gods, each
the incumbent twenty-fourth TuDi Tonga appointed his
known by a compound name that coupled the god’s name
younger brother as a subsidiary ruler, the TuDi HaDa Ta-
with a specific attribute, such as Ka¯ne-hekili (Ka¯ne of the
kalaua. The TuDi HaDa Takalaua was given only temporal
thunder) or Ku¯ka¯Dilimoku (Ku¯ the snatcher of land, that is,
power, while the TuDi Tonga retained for himself high rank
the war god).
and spiritual status. The sixth TuDi HaDa Takalaua created a
similar split in authority, reserving for himself high rank and
In addition to the four major gods of eastern Polynesia,
giving to one of his sons the title of TuDi Kanokupolu and
other gods were often associated with specific aspects of na-
ture. Sometimes separate gods, such as Haumia and Tawhiri
the tasks of ruling and collecting tribute. All three lines de-
in New Zealand, were given the care of particular natural
scended from DAhoDeitu and were further linked by marriage.
phenomena, such as uncultivated food and the winds, that
The origins of Tangaloa, the sky, the island of Tonga, or the
were elsewhere part of the domains of the four great gods.
other elements of nature, however, are often not detailed.
Special gods appeared to meet special requirements of differ-
The gods were less important than was the way that the
ent natural environments, as did Pele the goddess of volcanos
chiefs traced their genealogies to them. Tangaloa (Tangaroa)
and PoliDahu the snow goddess in Hawaii. In short, the four
and Ma¯ui were the important male gods in western Polyne-
great gods, especially in eastern Polynesia, were usually con-
sia, while the female god Hikule’o was in charge of Pulotu,
cerned with the creation of the universe, of most of the ele-
the underworld (a concept undeveloped in eastern Polyne-
ments of nature, of the rest of the gods, and, ultimately, of
sia). Tangaloa was often considered the sole creator god,
human beings. Most of these cosmogonic stories begin in the
whose universe was the sky and a vast expanse of ocean. Ac-
po¯, or primal darkness, and tell how one of the gods alone
cording to a Samoan story, Tangaloa threw a rock into the
(often Tangaroa) or the Sky Father and Earth Mother to-
ocean, and it became ManuDa, one of the Samoan group of
gether created the other gods and, eventually, all their proge-
islands. Tonga was said to have been created when the gods
ny, each of which was a personification of a selected aspect
threw down chips of wood from their workshops. In Tonga,
of nature. Each island or island group had a slightly different
the first occupants were worms, a female of which cohabited
cast of characters and emphasized different plants, animals,
with Tangaloa to start the first ruling dynasty. Samoans be-
and natural phenomena. Whereas in the Cook Islands the
lieved Samoa had been created when Tangaloa threw down
creation of the universe was involved with a coconut shell
a rock as a place for his bird-daughter to live. He also sent
that was organized in layers with Vari or chaotic mud at the
vines to the island; the vines developed maggots, which in
bottom, in Hawaii a gourd and its association with Lono was
turn generated humans. Rather than being thrown down
more important. To maintain a connection with Lono, an
from the sky, or sometimes in addition to this type of cre-
ipu o Lono (“gourd of Lono”) was kept in a sacred area of
ation, a widespread mythic theme of island origin recounts
each household to receive offerings and prayers, which were
that the islands were fished up from the sea bottom by Ma¯ui
usually concerned with fertility and protection against sor-
or, occasionally, by Tangaloa or Tiki. In some areas of east-
cery. In other areas a local deity sometimes replaced or elabo-
ern Polynesia humans originated when the god Tane, or a
rated one or more of the four great gods. Thus, in New Zea-
separate character in the creation story, Tiki (TiDi), impreg-
land the existence of two gods of food, Haumia and Rongo,
nated a female form that had been shaped by the god from
indicates the importance of uncultivated food to the Maori,
sand and that held the essence of the female principle, Moth-
which was not the case in other Polynesian areas; and in Ha-
er Earth. In other areas Tangaloa created TiDi, the first man,
waii the existence of Pele and Ku¯, both gods of destruction,
for Hina, who was thought of as a goddess in some locales
suggests a philosophical distinction between destruction by
and as the first woman in others. In Tahiti the chiefs traced
nature and destruction by humans.
their genealogies to TiDi and Hina. Along with the creation
ORIGIN OF THE ISLANDS AND PEOPLE. In western Polyne-
of human life came the creation of death. According to the
sian creation myths more emphasis was given to the creation,
Maori, Hina-titama, an offspring of Tane and Hina the
genealogies, and interrelationships of human beings than to
Earth-Formed, mated with her father and had several chil-
the creation, genealogies, and interrelationships of the gods
dren. Her realization that this union was incestuous drove
from whom human beings descended. In Tonga, for exam-
her to the underworld; from there she snared their children
ple, the god Tangaloa ’Eitumatupu’a climbed down from the
one by one. This was the origin of death. The origin of
sky on a great casuarina tree and cohabited with a woman
human life is usually associated with the Sky Father and the
of the earlier Tongan population, which had descended from
male principle, while the origin of death is usually associated
a worm. The child of this union was DAhoDeitu. When
with the female principle. In some areas there are quite dif-
DAhoDeitu was old enough he went to the sky to visit his father
ferent accounts of the origins of humankind. On Easter Is-
and returned with several celestial inhabitants who became
land the most important god was the local deity Makemake,
his ceremonial attendants. Half man and half god, DAhoDeitu
who was not only the patron of the rituals of the bird cult
became the first TuDi Tonga (“paramount chief”). The suc-
but was also the creator of humans. In Tuvalu the male par-
ceeding TuDi Tonga descended from DAhoDeitu and were born
ent was the sun, the female parent a stone, altering the more
of the daughters of the highest chiefs in the land. Several TuDi
generalized sky and earth into more specific aspects of the
Tonga were assassinated, and in about the fifteenth century
upper and lower atmospheres. Although the origin of indi-
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POLYTHEISM
7315
vidual plants or animals may not be specified, items of local
The mythic themes of Polynesian religion are complex social
importance are often given stories of their own. For example,
metaphors that helped to justify rank and social stratification
in Tahiti one of the lovers of the demigoddess Hina was an
to a people concerned with genealogy, respect and disrespect,
eel named Tuna from whom the coconut plant originated
and aspects of nature that needed to be explained and ap-
after he was buried. Hina, who embodies the essence of femi-
peased. The gods and mythical heros were blamed for, and
ninity, is also credited with the origin of the banyan tree,
became part of, human vanity. Polynesian religion was an
which grew on earth after she dropped a branch of such a
outgrowth of Polynesian social structure that focused on ge-
tree from her abode in the moon. Similarly, in Tonga kava
nealogical connections and the integration of the gods with
and sugarcane originated from the head and body of a dead
nature and the human condition.
child who was killed as food for a visiting high chief. This
S
child was not eaten but buried, and the two plants grew from
EE ALSO Ma¯ui; Oceanic Religions, overview article.
her grave. A rat that had eaten from the kava plant staggered
BIBLIOGRAPHY
but regained its balance after eating from the sugarcane
Bibliographies on Polynesian mythology are very extensive, but
plant. This was the origin of the ritual drinking of kava and
they usually focus on specific islands or island groups. The
of the ritual eating of sugarcane that accompanies kava-
best bibliography, of more than three hundred entries,
drinking. In Hawaii an extremely complicated mythology re-
can be found in Katharine Luomala’s Ma¯ui-of-a-
veals the intimate relationships among gods, humans, and el-
Thousand-Tricks: His Oceanic and European Biographers (Ho-
ements of the natural environment. The order of the islands’
nolulu, 1949). As sources of first resort, the following works
origins is given in great detail—starting in the east with the
are recommended.
island of Hawaii, moving west through the major islands of
Alpers, Anthony. Legends of the South Sea. London, 1970.
the Hawaiian chain, and ending at Niihau (an afterbirth),
Beckwith, Martha Warren. Hawaiian Mythology (1940). Reprint,
Lehua, Kaula, and finally the low reef islands. The parents
Honolulu, 1970.
of the islands were primarily Wakea (Sky Father) with Papa
Best, Elsdon. Maori Religion and Mythology. Wellington, New
(Earth Mother). Wakea’s secondary mates were Kaula and
Zealand, 1924.
Hina while Papa’s secondary mate was Lua. In addition, the
Burrows, Edwin G. Western Polynesia: A Study in Cultural Differ-
Kumulipo chant sets out the origin and order of all plants
entiation. Göteberg, 1938.
and animals in the universe as well as the origin of gods and
Craig, Robert D. Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology. New York,
men. Kane and Kanaloa were the first gods to be born,
1989.
LaDilaDi was the first woman and KiDi the first man. Some gen-
Dixon, Roland B. The Mythology of All Races, vol. 9, Oceanic
erations later the goddess Haumea bore children to Kanaloa
(1916). Reprint, New York, 1964.
and then took a husband among men and became the god-
Emory, Kenneth P. “Tuamotuan Concepts of Creation.” Journal
dess of childbirth. In many forms, nature, gods, and people
of the Polynesian Society 49 (1940): 69–136.
interacted—not only to create, but also to change and
Firth, Raymond. Rank and Religion in Tikopia: A Study of Polyne-
destroy.
sian Paganism and Conversion to Christianity. London, 1970.
Fornander, Abraham. Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiqui-
MA¯UI. The demigod Ma¯ui was the trickster who upset the
ties and Folklore. 3 vols. Bishop Museum Memoirs, vols. 4–6.
status quo. Maui has been immortalized by Katharine Luo-
Honolulu, 1916–1920.
mala in her study, Ma¯ui-of-a-Thousand-Tricks (Honolulu,
Gifford, Edward W., comp. Tongan Myths and Tales. Honolulu,
1949). Ma¯ui’s most important deeds included fishing up is-
1924.
lands on his magic fishhook (taking the place of Tangaloa
Grey, George. Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional Histo-
in other areas), snaring the sun, and stealing fire from the
ry of the New Zealanders. London, 1922.
gods. He also had specialties in the traditions of some areas,
Luomala, Katharine. “Polynesian Mythology.” In Encyclopedia of
such as pushing up the sky in Tonga and Uvéa (taking the
Literature, edited by Joseph T. Shipley. New York, 1946.
place of Tane, who often performed this feat in eastern Poly-
Luomala, Katherine. Ma¯ui-of-a-Thousand-Tricks. Honolulu,
nesia), trying to overcome death in New Zealand, and in To-
1949.
kelau taking the place of the original male parent. Ma¯ui was
Luomala, Katharine. Voices on the Wind: Polynesian Myths and
often considered a magician, but his most admired character-
Chants. Honolulu, 1955.
istic was trickery against authority. In classic tales Ma¯ui usu-
Poignant, Roslyn. Oceanic Mythology: The Myths of Polynesia, Mi-
ally does not create, for this was the domain of the gods. In-
cronesia, Melanesia, Australia. London, 1967.
stead, as half man and half god, he transformed what had
Subramani. South Pacific Literature: From Myth to Fabulation.
already been created into something useful to man. Thus, he
Suva, 1985.
slowed down the sun, which previously had raced across the
sky, so that days would be long enough to beat out and dry
ADRIENNE L. KAEPPLER (1987 AND 2005)
bark cloth, grow and prepare food, and build temples to the
gods. Ma¯ui stole conveniences of the gods (such as fire to
cook food) for the comfort of men. Ma¯ui was the archetypal
POLYTHEISM. The term polytheism, derived from the
culture hero who could deal with both gods and humans.
Greek polus (“many”) and theos (“god”) and hence denoting
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
7316
POLYTHEISM
“recognition and worship of many gods,” is used mainly in
mature philosophical reflection. There is an element of truth
contrast with monotheism, denoting “belief in one god.” The
in the latter assertion, for although there is no evidence what-
latter concept is considered by theological apologists and
soever of an evolution from polytheism to monotheism, it
nineteenth-century cultural evolutionists alike as a “higher”
seems true to say that monotheism appears either as a sud-
form of belief, to be superseded (at best) by modern, scientif-
den, revolutionary development (for example, no really poly-
ic atheism. To understand polytheism, one must look at the
theistic stage can be demonstrated in ancient Israelite reli-
base component theism, meaning the belief in “gods” as dis-
gion) or else as a monistic tendency (as in late Roman
tinct from other types of powerful or supernatural beings
antiquity or in certain forms of Indian religion), as a result
(ghosts, ancestor spirits, etc.). Unfortunately, no discussion
of which the multiplicity of gods (divine powers or manifes-
of polytheism can ignore the connotations implied by the
tations) are subsumed under one superior, all-embracing
Greek word theos, especially as it is the Greek term that has
principle (“the One,” “the All,” brahman, and so on.).
influenced most Western discourse on the subject. Clearly
THE NATURE OF POLYTHEISM. Turning from speculative
Japanese kami (whose number according to Shinto¯ tradition
historical guesswork to the phenomenology or morphology
is 800,000) and Greek theos are not quite the same; neverthe-
of polytheism, one is struck by the curious fact that polythe-
less this article shall, at the risk of oversimplification, stay
ism, while it is one of the major and most widespread phe-
with traditional Western usage.
nomena in the history of religions, has attracted less than the
attention it deserves. It seems to have fallen, as it were, be-
Historical (or rather, pseudo-historical) theories con-
tween the two stools of “primitive religions” and monothe-
cerning the origin of polytheism were closely related to the
ism. Or perhaps one should say three stools, if nontheistic
evolutionist views that characterized early Religionswissen-
religions such as Buddhism are also taken into account. Like
schaft. Primitive humanity was aware of its dependence on
all phenomenological ideal types (to borrow Max Weber’s
a variety of powers that were often conceived as individual
term), polytheism does not exist as a pure type. The histori-
nonmaterial (“spiritual”) beings—for instance, the spirits of
cal variety is not easily reducible to a common denominator.
departed humans, especially ancestors—or as supernatural
Greek polytheism is different from Japanese Shinto¯, and the
entities. One of the many modes of contact with this world
latter is different again from Maya religion. Nevertheless
of spirits was shamanism, a level of primitive beliefs and ritu-
some basic and characteristic features are discernible, even
al behavior that has also been referred to as “polydaemo-
though not all of them may be present in each and every case.
nism.” Sometimes more important figures emerge in these
systems, especially in connection with accounts of the origins
Perhaps the most striking fact about polytheism is its
and beginnings of all things (first ancestors, culture heroes,
appearance in more advanced cultures only. (This may, inci-
originator gods), but such figures are not always central in
dentally, be one of the reasons why the evolutionists saw it
the actual cultic life of the community. Even originator gods
as a post-primitive phenomenon.) In most cases, at least for
often remove themselves subsequently to the highest heavens
the purposes of this article, the phrase “advanced cultures”
and remain inactive. Although no longer generally accepted,
means literate cultures (e.g., China, India, the ancient Near
this account of things has been reproduced here because for
East, Greece, and Rome), though polytheism is occasionally
some time scholars have viewed it as a kind of initial stage
also found in nonliterate cultures (e.g., in Mesoamerican and
in religious development, the last and final stage being mo-
South American pre-Conquest religions, among the Yoruba
notheism. In this view, animism and polydaemonism be-
people of West Africa, or in Polynesia). Usually such cultures
come polytheism, and the latter evolves (how and why, no-
also practice a more sophisticated type of agriculture (for ex-
body seems to know) into monotheism.
ample, one in which the plow supersedes the hoe), although,
once again, this is not necessarily the case everywhere. In the
An opposing view known as the “Ur-monotheism
case of Polynesia it could be argued that the bountiful earth
school” (associated with Wilhelm Schmidt and the so-called
itself produced the surplus that rendered possible the social
Vienna School that defended also the Kulturkreiselehre) as-
and cultural background of polytheism (social stratification,
serted that monotheism was the original creed of humankind
division of labor, authority structures, and so forth), which
and that polydaemonism and polytheism developed as hu-
elsewhere depended on more advanced types of food produc-
mans degenerated from a more innocent state. The element
tion. “More advanced” cultures are those whose economy in
of theological apologetic in this theory is evident (though by
some way provides sufficient surplus to create a certain dis-
itself that fact constitutes no argument either for or against
tance between humankind and nature. Society no longer
its validity). In fact, it is an anthropological refurbishing of
lives with its nose to the grindstone, as it were. The result
the traditional theological doctrine that Adam and his de-
is increased division of labor (including bureaucracies and a
scendants were obviously monotheists, but that at some time
priesthood), social stratification (including warrior castes,
between Adam and Noah, and then again after Noah, a pro-
chieftains, royalty), and political structures (cities, city-states,
cess of corruption set in. The medieval Jewish version of this
temple establishments, empires). Greek polytheism flour-
process is spelled out in detail by Moses Maimonides
ished in city-states; Mesopotamia (Sumer, Assyria, Babylo-
(Mosheh ben Maimon). Polytheistic humanity was then re-
nia) and Egypt were kingdoms and at times empires, and the
introduced to monotheism by divine revelation or by more
same holds true of pre-Conquest Mesoamerica and Peru.
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POLYTHEISM
7317
The Indo-Aryan and pre-Zoroastrian Iranian religions cer-
gods that preceded the ones ruling at present (e.g., Greek
tainly were not primitive. Similarly, the Yoruba kingdoms of
Ouranos-Gaia; followed by Kronos, followed by Zeus; or, in
O:yo: and Ife: (present-day Nigeria), for example, clearly rep-
later Indian religion, the replacement of originally principal
resent a high though nonliterate culture, as does early Japan
gods like Indra, Varun:a, and Mitra by S´iva, Vis:n:u, and other
with its kami worship, practiced long before the infiltration
deities). These gods are personal (in fact, this personal char-
of Chinese culture and literacy.
acter is also one of the main features and constitutes one of
the main philosophical problems of monotheism), and here-
The above considerations are not meant to explain or
in resides their religious significance: They are accessible.
otherwise account for the appearance of polytheism. They
merely suggest the cultural and spiritual background against
Such a generalization must, of course, be somewhat
which the emergence of polytheism becomes intelligible. In
qualified in view of the phenomenon of “dying and rising”
every religion, society attempts to articulate its understand-
gods such as Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Dumuzi, also in polytheis-
ing of the cosmos and of the powers that govern it, and to
tic myths and rituals.
structure its relationship with these powers in appropriate
Most polytheistic religions possess, as has been indicated
symbolic systems. In the societies under discussion here, hu-
in the preceding paragraph, a highly developed mythology
mankind already faces the cosmos: closely linked to it but no
that is not restricted to theogony and cosmogony though it
longer inextricably interwoven in it. There is a sense of (at
is often used, or deliberately manipulated, to account for
least minimal) distance from nature and even more distance
things as they are and to legitimate the cosmic, social, politi-
from the powers above that now are “gods,” that is, beings
cal, and ritual order. But such is not always or necessarily the
that are superhuman, different, powerful (though not om-
case. Perhaps the best example of a highly developed polythe-
nipotent) and hence beneficent or dangerous—at any rate
ism with an elaborate ritual system but almost totally lacking
their goodwill should be secured—and to be worshiped by
a mythology is ancient Rome. In this respect the contrast
cultic actions such as sacrifices. These divine beings are per-
with ancient Greece is striking. Yet even when there exists
sonal but not material (although they can assume bodily
a rich body of mythology, its imagery reaches the present in
shape temporarily and for specific reasons); above all, their
comparatively late literary elaborations. Thus the mythology
behavior and motivations are similar to those of humans.
of ancient (pre-Buddhist) Japan is accessible only in literary
Their relevance to human life is due to the fact that, unlike
works composed after the absorption of Chinese (i. e., also
the primitive high gods (originator gods of the deus otiosus
Buddhist) influences.
type), they intervene in human affairs, either on their own
initiative or because called upon to do so in prayer, sacrifice,
Without implying commitment to any simplistic theory
or ritual.
about the divine order always and necessarily being a mirror
of the human and social order, one cannot deny that the two
One of the most distinctive characteristics of gods, as
are correlated. The polytheistic divine world is more differ-
compared to human beings, is their immortality. Though
entiated, more structured, and often extremely hierarchized,
not eternal in the abstract, philosophical sense, the gods, as
because the human view of the cosmos is similarly differenti-
the worshiper knows them, are the “immortals.” Herein lies
ated, structured, and hierarchized. There are many gods be-
the main distinction, not (as in monotheistic religions) in a
cause humans experience the world in its variety and mani-
fundamental difference of essence that then, on the philo-
foldness. Hence there is also specialization among the gods,
sophical level, becomes transcendence. Even when the differ-
of a nature that is either local and tribal-ethnic (gods of spe-
ence is emphasized, it is not a contrast between creator and
cific localities, cities, countries, families) or functional (gods
creature, but one of levels of power and permanence. The
of specific arts, gods of illness, cure, fertility, rains, hunting,
relation is one of bipolarity; humans and the gods, though
fishing, etc.). The highly developed Roman sense of order
different, are related. Hesiod (Works and Days 108) relates
could take things to extremes, and the early Christian fathers
“how the gods and mortal men sprang from one source.”
in their antipagan polemics made fun of the Roman indigita-
Even so, “one is the race of men, one is the race of gods, and
menta, or invocations of highly specialized gods. Each house-
[i. e., although] from one mother [i. e., Gaia] do we both
holder had his genius; women had their Junos; children were
derive our breath. Yet a power that is wholly separated par-
protected when going in, going out, or performing their nat-
teth us: In the one there is nought, while for the other the
ural functions by Educa, Abeone, Potin. In fact, there was
brazen heaven endureth as an abode unshaken forever” (Pin-
a goddess responsible for the toilet and sewage system: Cloa-
dar, Nemean Odes 6.1–5).
cina. (The Roman example illustrates another important
principle. Deities can be mythological beings of symbolic im-
Yet although the gods to whom humanity is related are
mediacy, to be subsequently “interpreted” or rationally alle-
durable and permanent, this does not mean that they do not
gorized; they can also be the personifications of abstract con-
have origins or a history. Unlike the biblical God who makes
cepts.)
history but himself has no history, let alone a family history,
their history is the subject of mythological tales, including
To cite another example of parallel hierarchy, few divine
accounts of their family relations, love affairs, offspring, and
worlds were as hierarchical as the Chinese; in fact, these
so on. Hence the mythological genealogies, stories of the
realms seem to be exact replicas of the administrative bureau-
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
7318
POLYTHEISM
cracy of imperial China. Just as the illustrious departed could
Old Testament (e.g., Exodus 15:11, “Who is like unto thee
be deified by imperial decree, so gods too could be promoted
among the gods, O Yahveh,” or Micah 4:5, “For all nations
to higher rank. (Japan subsequently adopted this Chinese
will walk each in the name of its god” while Israel walks in
model, as it did so many others.) As late as the nineteenth
the name of Yahveh, their god for evermore). The fact that
century, these imperial promotions were announced in the
the most frequent Old Testament name for God, Elohim, is
Beijing Gazette.
an originally plural form is often mentioned in this connec-
tion, but the arguments are doubtful and perhaps influenced
The possibility of elevation to divine rank of living or
by lingering evolutionist patterns of thought. Henotheist
departed humans (in the Western world such was the case
tendencies are also evident in Vedic religion and, to a lesser
with Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors) calls for a quali-
degree, in the bhakti (“devotion”) directed toward a variety
fication of an earlier statement that polytheism displays an
of later Hindu deities.
unbridgeable difference (though not quite as radical as that
of monotheism) between humans and gods. For, much as
One problem that cannot be ignored is the disappear-
humans can occasionally attain to divinity, the gods can as-
ance (with a few exceptions) of polytheism as a result of ei-
sume human shape (as in the example of the Hindu avata¯ras)
ther monotheistic “revolutions” (e.g., ancient Israel, Islam)
or exist in human manifestation (as in the Japanese concept
or unifying tendencies. Indeed, too little scholarly attention
of ikigami).
has been paid to the strange fact that polytheism has gradual-
An important corollary of polytheism is that, though the
ly disappeared except in some East Asian religions. In most
major deities can be very powerful, no god can be omnipo-
contemporary philosophical discussions the alternatives con-
tent. Only a monotheistic god, being monos, can also be all-
sidered as available to society seem to be monotheism or
powerful. With growing moral differentiation, originally am-
atheism; polytheism is treated as an important phenomenon
bivalent gods split into positive (good) and negative (bad,
or stage in the history of religions but hardly ever, philosoph-
evil, or demonic) divinities. Thus the original Indo-Aryan as-
ically or theologically, as a live option.
uras (deities) became, in Vedic and post-Vedic India, de-
The quest of an overarching unity (one universe in spite
monic antigods, in opposition to the devas. The multiplicity
of the multiplicity of forms of existence; one natural law
of gods of necessity produced a hierarchy of major and minor
under which all other laws can be subsumed) is clearly one
gods and a pantheon, or overall framework in which they
factor that led to a view of the divine as one. By using imper-
were all combined. The more important gods have names
sonal language, it is relatively easy to speak of “the divine”
and a distinct personality; others form the plebs deorum, a
in the singular. A personal god is a more difficult matter. But
body often indistinguishable from the nameless spirits of ani-
at any rate unifying tendencies are discernible everywhere,
mism. Many gods are experienced as real though unidenti-
even in antiquity. The Greek dramatist Aeschylus speaks of
fied, and hence a Roman might invoke the deity si deus si
“the one with many names,” and the R:gveda says of the evi-
dea or distinguish between dei certi and dei incerti (rather like
dently one god that “men call him Indra, Mitra, Varun:a,
addressing a prayer “to whom it may concern”). There even
Agni.” The polytheistic paganism of the late Roman empire
is a reference to aius locutus “[the god] who has spoken [on
was syncretistic in the sense of evincing a tendency to identi-
a certain occasion, whoever he may be].”
fy the individual gods of the various (Greek, Roman, Orien-
When polytheism is superseded by monotheism, the
tal, Germanic) cultures. Hence it becomes possible to speak
host of deities is either abolished (theoretically), or bedeviled
of a “pseudo-polytheism,” a religious system that preserves
(i. e., turned into demons), or downgraded to the rank of an-
the traditional polytheistic terminology but considers the
gels and ministering spirits. This means that an officially mo-
many gods mere manifestations of what is ultimately one di-
notheistic system can harbor a functional de facto polytheism.
vine principle. This tendency is especially noticeable in many
No doubt for the urban masses in fourth-century Rome, the
modern types of Neo-Hinduism. For some Hellenistic writ-
cult of the Christian martyrs was merely a kind of transfor-
ers (e.g., Marcus Aurelius) the grammatical distinction be-
mation of the earlier polytheistic cults, and the same is prob-
tween theos (singular) and theoi (plural) has become practical-
ably still true of much Roman Catholic Christianity, espe-
ly meaningless.
cially in rural areas.
All monistic—even nontheistic—views on the higher
Some scholars consider henotheism (the exclusive wor-
and more sophisticated doctrinal levels notwithstanding, a
ship of one god only without denying the existence of other
de facto functional polytheism can continue to exist among
gods) as an intermediary stage between polytheism and mo-
the masses of devout believers. This is not the place for a psy-
notheism, the latter being defined as the theoretical recogni-
chological and sociological analysis of the role of the cult of
tion of the existence of one god only, all the others being (in
saints among many Roman Catholics. In India, no matter
the language of the Old Testament) sheer “vanity and noth-
what monist or nondualist doctrines are theoretically held,
ingness.” The terminology seems somewhat artificial (both
the religious life of the mass of believers is a de facto polythe-
hen and monos signify “one” in Greek), but it attempts to ex-
istic one. The case of Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism is even more
press a real distinction. Thus it has been claimed that heno-
striking. On the doctrinal and scholastic level, as well as on
theistic vestiges can still be detected even in the monotheistic
the level of higher mystical experience, there may be no god
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
PONTIFEX
7319
or divine being, and the key terms are emptiness, nothing-
priests, even while defining him as the “judge and arbiter of
ness, and the like. Yet the ordinary Buddhist (and even the
things divine and human” (Festus, ed. Lindsay, 1913,
Buddhist monk) relates to the many Buddhas and boddhisat-
p. 198 L.). Indeed, the pontifex maximus (aided by the pon-
tvas that in fact constitute the Buddhist pantheon like a poly-
tifical college, which successively numbered three, nine, fif-
theist to his gods.
teen, and sixteen members) had become, from simple adviser
to the king, the true head of Roman religion. Under the re-
SEE ALSO Anthropomorphism; Apotheosis; Deus Otiosus;
public, it was he who sat in the Regia, which had become
Dying and Rising Gods; Gods and Goddesses; Henotheism;
the domus publica of the pontifical college. He was the one
Incarnation.
who named—more precisely, it was said that he “seizes”
(capit; Gallius, 1.12.15)—the rex sacrorum (“king of the sac-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
rifices”), the flamines, and the Vestals whenever a vacancy oc-
There is little, if any, systematic literature on the subject. Discus-
curred, and he had the right of supervision over all of them.
sions of polytheism can be found in articles on monotheism
He convoked and presided over the Comitia Calata, the as-
in the older, standard encyclopedias (the Encyclopaedia of Re-
sembly that witnessed the inauguration of the rex sacrorum
ligion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, Die Religion in
and the flamines maiores (“greater priests”). During that same
Geschichte und Gegenwart, and so on) as well as in accounts
assembly there also took place each month on the nones the
of specific polytheistic religions (for example, Germanic and
Celtic; ancient Near Eastern; Greek and Roman; Indian,
proclamation by the rex of the month’s holidays (feriae pri-
Chinese, and Japanese; Mesoamerican and South American).
mae menstruae; Varro, De lingua Latina 5.83).
Perhaps the first modern discussion of polytheism, in the
For a long time the pontiffs were the true regulators of
Western sense, is David Hume’s The Natural History of Reli-
time, in that the calendar was not published until 304 BCE,
gion (1757), though Hume’s account is obviously shaped by
when this was finally done at the instigation of the aedilis
eighteenth-century European Enlightenment attitudes. Sys-
curulis, G. Flavius (Cicero, Pro Murena 25). In their archives
tematic considerations can be found in Gerardus van der
Leeuw’s Religion in Essence and Manifestation, 2 vols. (1938;
the high priests kept all documents concerning the sacra
Gloucester, Mass., 1967); E. O. James’s The Concept of Deity
publica, the public religion: lists of divinities to invoke (in-
(New York, 1950); and Angelo Brelich’s “Der Polytheis-
digitamenta); prayer formulas (carmina) for the fulfillment
mus,” Numen 7 (December 1960): 123–136. On the rela-
of vows, dedications, and consecrations; cultic rules (leges
tionship of polytheism to more highly developed political or-
templorum); and prescriptions for expiatory sacrifices
ganization (e.g., the Greek polis), see Walter Burkert’s “Polis
(piacula).
and Polytheism,” in his Greek Religion (Cambridge, Mass.,
1985), pp. 216–275.
Fundamentally, pontifical activity was carried out on
two levels. On the liturgical level the high priests participated
R. J. ZWI WERBLOWSKY (1987)
actively in public ceremonies, as for instance the anniversa-
ries of temples. (The sacrificial utensils, the knife, secespita,
and the ax, sacena, are among the pontifical symbols; Festus,
op. cit., p. 422 L.) On the theological level the high priests
PONTIFEX. The Latin noun pontifex, designating cer-
provided decisions and responses (decreta and responsa),
tain Roman high priests, is thought of as deriving from pons
which came to constitute the ius pontificium (“pontifical
(“bridge”) and facere (“to make”). This etymology, held by
law”). The authority acquired by the pontifex maximus ex-
Varro (De lingua Latina 5.83), is accepted by the majority
plains why, following the example of Julius Caesar, Augustus
of modern scholars. Yet the discrepancy between this defini-
chose to add this dignity to his set of titles in 12 BCE. There-
tion of “bridge maker” and the broad extent of the pontifical
after it remained attached to the imperial function.
function has aroused some resistance among scholars both
ancient and modern. At the beginning of the first century
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BCE the pontifex maximus Q. Mucius Scaevola (cited by
Bleicken, Jochen. “Oberpontifex und Pontifikalkollegium.” Her-
Varro, ibid.) preferred to see in the word pontifices a corrup-
mes 85 (November 1957): 345–366.
tion of the word potifices (from posse, “to be able,” and facere,
Bouché-Leclercq, Auguste. Les pontifes de l’ancienne Rome. Paris,
“to do,” undoubtedly in the sense of “to sacrifice”). Today,
1871.
there are those who think that pons originally meant “path,”
even “obstacle path,” by reason of its likeness to the Vedic
Dumézil, Georges. La religion romaine archaïque. 2d ed. Paris,
1974. See pages 573–576. This work has been translated
pa¯ntha¯h.
from the first edition by Philip Krapp as Archaic Roman Reli-
Commentators since antiquity have been struck by the
gion, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1970).
contrast between the apparent specialization of the titlehold-
Hallett, Judith P. “Over Troubled Waters: The Meaning of the
er (Varro referred to the construction and restorations of the
Title Pontifex.” Translations and Proceedings of the American
bridge of Sublicius by the pontiffs) and the importance of
Philological Association 101 (1970): 219–227. A reconcilia-
the role. The contrast is transparent in Festus: In one and
tion of pons with the Vedic pa¯ntha¯h.
the same paragraph he points out the attribution to the ponti-
Rhode, Georg. Die Kultsatzungen der römischen Pontifices. Berlin,
fex maximus of the fifth and last rank in the hierarchy of
1936.
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
7320
POOR CLARES
Szemler, G. J. “Pontifex.” In Real-encyclopädie die Altertumwissen-
mass culture. In this sense elements of popular culture are
schaft, vol. 15. Munich, 1978.
presumed to be popular in that they are well liked by many
Wissowa, Georg. Religion und kultus der Römer. 2d ed. Munich,
people and they hold special meaning for certain groups of
1912. See pages 501–521.
consumers at certain points in history.
New Sources
Items of popular culture become important markers for
Campanile, Enrico. “Sulla preistoria di lat. pontifex.” Studi Classi-
identity construction in the context of a society increasingly
ci e Orientali 32 (1982): 291–297.
defined by differentiated lifestyle segments or taste cultures.
Champeaux, Jacqueline. “Pontifes, haruspices et decemvirs.
As such popular culture includes elements produced for con-
L’espiation des prodiges des 207.” Revue des Études Latines
sumption: (1) by the mass media industries, including prod-
74 (1996): 67–91.
ucts such as reading materials, music, visual images, photos,
Desnier, Jean-Louis. “Les débordements du Fleuve.” Latomus 57
film, television, advertising, video games, celebrity culture,
(1998): 513–522.
professional sports, talk radio, comics, and the World Wide
Draper, Richard D. The Role of the Pontifex Maximus and Its Influ-
Web; (2) by artistic and creative realms, such as live and per-
ence in Roman Religion and Politics. Ann Arbor, 1988.
formance theater, art, musical arrangements and perfor-
Dupuis, Xavier. “Pontifes et augures dans les cités d’Afrique: mod-
mances, and museum installations designed for popular con-
èle romain et specificités locales.” In Idéologies et valeurs
sumption; and (3) by manufacturers and other players within
civiques dans le monde romain. Hommages à Claude Lepelley,
global capitalism who seek to link certain taste cultures with
ed. by Hervé Ingelbert, pp. 215–219. Paris, 2002.
commercially available products. This latter category in-
Seguin, Roger. “Remarques sur les origines des pontifes romains.
cludes a seemingly endless variety of goods, including modes
Pontifex maximus et Rex sacrorum.” In Hommage a Henry
of transportation, fashion, toys, sporting goods, and even
Le Bonniec. Res sacrae, edited by Danielle Porte et Jean Pierre
food—in short, anything that can be successfully packaged
Néraudau, pp. 405–418. Brussels, 1988.
for consumers in response to their desire for a means to both
R
identify with some people, ideas, or movements and to dis-
OBERT SCHILLING (1987)
Translated from French by Paul C. Duggan
tinguish themselves from others.
Revised Bibliography
The phrase popular culture first came into use in the
English language in the early nineteenth century, when for
the first time it was possible to manufacture and widely dis-
POOR CLARES SEE FRANCISCANS; SOUL,
tribute cultural products with relative ease and speed. Prior
ARTICLE ON CHRISTIAN CONCEPTS
to the emergence of a capitalist market economy with indus-
trialization, the popular was a term with legal and political
meaning that derived from the Latin popularis, or “belonging
to the people.” The term was used as a way to draw distinc-
POPULAR CULTURE. The study of popular culture
tions between the views of “the people” and those who wield-
brings together three different yet related concerns: culture,
ed power over them. In the past therefore the term popular
the popular, and mass culture. Culture is the term used to
culture was used to reference the folk traditions created and
denote a particular way of life for a specific group of people
maintained by the people outside of the purview of cultural
during a certain period in history. It also references the arti-
authorities and away from the demands of labor. The term
facts, narratives, images, habits, and products that give style
is still used in this way among historians who examine prac-
and substance to that particular way of life. Mass culture is
tices and products that were in existence prior to a commer-
a term that highlights the profit motive that directs the pro-
cially dominated marketplace.
duction of certain products made available for commercial
sale. It refers to both these mass-produced products and the
By the late nineteenth century, however, the term popu-
consumer demand for them that justifies their widespread
lar culture had come to have a rather specific meaning in rela-
production and distribution. The popular makes reference to
tion to presumed distinctions between the elite and the peo-
“the people,” and as such there are in some discussions over-
ple that echoed presumed distinctions between superior and
laps between “folk” and “popular” culture. What usually dis-
inferior culture, between the artistic and the vulgar, or be-
tinguishes the two in the common use of these terms is that
tween the sophisticated and the banal. These distinctions
whereas “folk” culture is presumed to refer to cultural prod-
gained political importance as the industrial era progressed.
ucts and practices that emerge from the people, often having
THEORY, CRITICISM, AND THE STUDY OF POPULAR CUL-
a historical connection to a certain racial, ethnic, or geo-
TURE. As the working class that staffed the industrial land-
graphically located group, popular culture usually refers to
scape continued to grow in the late nineteenth century, con-
those commercially produced items specifically associated
cerns about both the influx of people in urban areas and the
with leisure, the mass media, and lifestyle choices. Whereas
popular culture they favored came to be closely entwined.
there is therefore a great deal of overlap between mass and
The bourgeoisie in industrialized Europe tended to view the
popular culture, the latter retains its populist impulse and
shared artifacts of working-class culture as evidence of both
thus tends to be less pejorative in tone than references to
their unity and their inferiority. Fearing an uprising similar
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POPULAR CULTURE
7321
to that of the French Revolution, early criticism of popular
ture through the workings of what they called the “culture
culture, known in the twenty-first century as the “culture
industries.” Bringing to their work a perspective informed by
and civilization” tradition, linked the growth of what critics
Hegelian philosophy, they articulated a critique of popular
viewed as inferior popular culture with concerns over the
culture known as critical theory. Although often dismissed
weakening of a social order that had been based on power
as overly pessimistic in that these scholars saw little potential
and privilege. This tradition had its beginnings in the writ-
for change in the relations between the privileged and the
ings of Matthew Arnold. In his book Culture and Anarchy
disadvantaged in society, the critical school inaugurated sev-
(1882), Arnold contrasted “culture” (now “high culture”)
eral important streams of thought regarding popular culture.
with what he viewed as the anarchic and disruptive nature
Particularly influential have been the ideas of the critical the-
of working-class or popular culture.
orist Walter Benjamin, whose attention to both the mass
production and ideological role of images in contemporary
Arnold believed that much of the problem of his genera-
society has been influential in debates of art, politics, and
tion lay in the emergent working class and its seeming refusal
postmodernism. Equally important, the critical school
to adopt a position of subordination and deference to the
spawned the scholarly tradition of cultural imperialism,
elite. Part of the problem, in Arnold’s view, was illustrated
which came to prominence in the 1970s as it explored the
in the refusal of the working class to adhere to the sugges-
flow of mass media across transnational borders.
tions of the elite in terms of which elements of “culture” to
consume. This presumed problem was echoed in the writings
Critiques of popular culture that grew out of cultural
and sermons of ministers and other religious leaders, who
imperialism tended to assume a central role for the media in
were particularly animated in their concerns about fiction,
the creation of popular culture. Similar to their predecessors
as will be discussed in a subsequent section.
in the critical school, popular culture was approached meth-
The “culture and civilization” tradition of popular cul-
odologically through an analysis of political and economic
tural critiques found renewed expression in the writings of
structures, with specific attention to the relations among
F. R. Leavis and Q. D. Leavis, who began writing about pop-
governments, policy makers, and development efforts as they
ular culture in the 1930s in England. Believing that popular
played out in relation to media. The theory was articulated
culture provided a dangerous distraction to responsible par-
among Latin American scholars of media and popular cul-
ticipation in democracy, they advocated that public schools
ture, such as Antonio Pasquali, Luis Ramiro Beltran, Fernan-
engage in education about the ill effects of popular culture
dez Reyes Matta, and Mario Kaplun. These scholars, as well
on young people. The Leavises promoted the idea of a myth-
as Herb Schiller in the United States and Dallas Smythe in
ic “golden age” of England’s rural past, in which they be-
Canada, were concerned about the ways multinational media
lieved a “common culture” (or “folk” culture) had flourished.
corporations were, through the organization of profit and
Their many treatises aimed to keep the expansion of popular
commerce, able to dominate the development of media and
culture’s influence under control so as to maintain what they
by extension popular culture in smaller and less-wealthy na-
believed were the truly valuable aspects of England’s cultural
tions.
tradition.
By the 1980s, however, a new school of thought regard-
A similar strand of thought has long been a part of U.S.
ing popular culture had taken root in the United States and
approaches to popular culture. In 1957 Bernard Rosenberg
Europe. There were several reasons for the emergence of a
and David Manning White published Mass Culture: The
critique that challenged the “high culture–low culture” and
Popular Arts in America, a collection of essays that bemoaned
cultural imperialist assumptions of the time. In the mid-
the supposed dehumanizing impact of popular culture.
1960s “pop art” had called into question the very definition
Other popular culture critics, such as Dwight Macdonald
of art and high culture, foregrounding meanings made by the
(who contributed to the Rosenberg and White volume) and
viewer of art rather than by the creator or the art critic. A
later Daniel Boorstin, Stuart Ewen, and Neil Postman,
similar revolution had begun with the emergence of reader-
voiced similar concerns about popular culture’s ill effects on
response theory in literary criticism, as theorists posited that
society. In the shadow of the cold war, the contributors to
what made for “classic” texts were assumptions often based
the Rosenberg and White volume feared that a passive audi-
in race, gender, and economic privilege and that literary criti-
ence in the sway of popular culture could be easily brought
cism would benefit from an examination of meanings readers
under the influence of a totalitarian government.
made of differing texts. With the advent of pop art and read-
er-response theory, along with the rising prominence of fem-
A fear of totalitarianism animated the writings of schol-
inism, black, and cross-cultural perspectives and the emer-
ars such as Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Leo Lowen-
gence of social analysis informed by cultural anthropology,
thal, and Herbert Marcuse of the Frankfurt school as well,
the cultural studies approach to popular culture coalesced in
although their intellectual roots were in Marxism rather than
Great Britain, Australia, the United States, and Latin
in the Romanticism that often informed the nostalgia-tinged
America.
desire for a culture untrammeled by popular culture. Expatri-
ates from Adolf Hitler’s Germany, the scholars in the Frank-
Much of the early scholarship in cultural studies ap-
furt school feared the manipulative potential of popular cul-
proaches to popular culture was motivated by a desire 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
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POPULAR CULTURE
demonstrate that audiences were not passive consumers of
tions, religious popular cultural practices endured through
the products produced for them by the culture industries.
ritual theater, music, incense, chanting, and dance, all of
Drawing upon the earlier scholarship of British cultural the-
which were designed to attract the attention of the gods and
orists, notably Raymond Williams, cultural studies scholars
to communicate to them the human needs they were asked
such as Stuart Hall, David Morley, Charlotte Brundsen,
to address. Analyses of festivals and celebrations of China as
John Fiske, Ien Ang, Meghan Morris, Jesus Martin-Barbero,
well as those related to Hindu deities point to the difficulties
Nestor Garcia Canclini, Lawrence Grossberg, and a host of
of distinguishing between popular religion and popular cul-
others set out to demonstrate that the reception of popular
ture, as it is impossible to consider these events apart from
culture was much less predictable than previously thought.
the locations in which they are held.
Pointing to such factors as the vast numbers of heavily pro-
There is increasing evidence that items related to reli-
moted popular cultural artifacts that failed to find a positive
gious practices in other parts of the world were influenced
reception in the marketplace, they argued that popular cul-
by the colonial encounters of the nineteenth century. With
tural artifacts must meet the emotional needs of their audi-
the awareness of colonial British attitudes toward feminine
ences in order to succeed in the cultural economy. Method-
bodies and modesty, for example, saris worn by women for
ologies differed, although many embraced textual criticism,
ceremonial and religious festivals (as well as for daily wear)
semiotics, audience reception research, and cultural history.
became longer in the nineteenth century, an influence found
In the increased recognition of the need for multiple voices
in styles of dress in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia,
contributing to analysis, feminists in the United States and
and Sri Lanka among other places. In Nepal a change in tra-
Europe looked at how particular popular cultural artifacts
ditional Buddhist meditation paintings also reflected this en-
speak to and in some cases offer symbolic resolution for the
counter, as the Rajesthani style gave way to European-style
real tensions in women’s lives, Latin American scholars ex-
portraiture. Scholars of nineteenth-century Islamic, Hindu,
plored the role of telenovelas in the creation of a collective
and Buddhist popular and “high” art similarly contend that
identity that may be at some distance from national identity
it is virtually impossible to understand religious art and pop-
as it has been defined within a dictatorial government, and
ular religious artifacts of the period without taking the colo-
Asian scholars explored the intersection of cultural policy
nial encounter into consideration.
and popular cultural creation and consumption.
In the early-twentieth-century Victorian society of the
Within the context of an affluent United States in the
United States and the United Kingdom, sentimentalized and
1990s and the rise of interest in postmodern theory, some
domesticized Christian art and objects became popular decor
cultural studies critiques of popular culture tended toward
items among the well-heeled and middlebrow alike, making
a populist celebration of popular culture. A reinvigoration of
piety but one reason to own such products. Tea was served
neo-Marxism through the emergence of postcolonial per-
from tea sets depicting scenes from the Bible, and angel stat-
spectives and critiques in anthropological methods, com-
uary and artwork decorated walls and furniture. By the early
bined with a renewed interest in cultural history, everyday
twentieth century people who embarked on leisurely travel
life, and issues of visual representation, have redirected cul-
purchased and sent home postcards embossed with biblical
tural studies toward its central concern with the ways in
figures and scriptural messages. Each of these signaled an
which specific narratives and representations contribute to
identification with Christianity but also with a distinctive
maintaining power relations as they are. Multiple methodol-
worldview that underscored elite and middlebrow tastes. Not
ogies are now applauded in the effort to provide analyses of
surprisingly therefore many of these products were made
the nuanced relations between power and agency, creation
available to consumers not through official religious sources
and consumption, consciousness and control, and individual
but through mail-order catalogs and department stores.
and society in understanding the relations between popular
culture and its audiences.
A significant increase in the rates of literacy among the
E
general population at this time meant that commercial pub-
ARLY POPULAR CULTURE AND RELIGION. Religious popu-
lishing expanded as well, making available new genres of
lar cultural artifacts have roots in the particular popular reli-
reading materials, notably those written specifically for enter-
gious practices of every culture in the world. By the mid-
tainment purposes. Fiction quickly became an immensely
nineteenth century the industrial market revolution of the
popular commodity, illustrated in the often-told story of
United States and northern Europe, and later in Asia, Latin
how Charles Dickens was mobbed by fans when he toured
America, and Africa, had resulted in the increased availability
the United States in 1848. Many religious leaders were skep-
of religious products in various forms. Some popular cultural
tical, believing that practices such as fiction reading could
items had distinct roles to play in relation to practices of
rouse inappropriate passions and distract from a moral, faith-
piety that were embraced at the time. In the United States
centered life.
and in Europe popular art for the home and church featured
biblical scenes as well as Christ’s visage along with mass-
Their skepticism about fiction did not prevent some re-
produced statues of saints, angels, Mary, and Jesus and of
ligious leaders from seeking to harness what they believed to
course the family Bible. In China, although the nineteenth-
be the powers of the new medium, however. Some saw in
century elite viewed Daoist practices as debased “folk” tradi-
the nascent publishing industry the opportunity to further
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
POPULAR CULTURE
7323
their cause for Christian witness and education. With the rise
Throughout the twentieth century U.S. filmmakers in-
of wood engraving, lithography, and later photography, reli-
corporated religious themes and imagery into their stories,
gious leaders employed mass-produced images both for ad-
looking to sources such as the German passion play at Ober-
vertising and for didactic purposes. These visionaries pro-
ammergau to produce religiously themed epics. Many early
duced some of the earliest best-selling printed popular
films centered on Christ’s life and death, such as Sidney Ol-
cultural items in the form of devotional materials, magazines
cock’s From the Manger to the Cross (1912) and Cecil B. De-
of missionary societies, readers for Christian schools, and fic-
Mille’s epic The King of Kings (1927). The pattern of borrow-
tional novels that purportedly advanced Christian moral
ing from religious stories continued in the 1940s and 1950s.
messages. Members of evangelical voluntary societies, who
Films such as Samson and Delilah, David and Bathsheba, Quo
in the mid-nineteenth century traveled from town to town
Vadis?, The Robe, and The Ten Commandments were success-
distributing literature such as the Family Christian Almanac
ful both at the box office and with critics. The religious epic
or other materials from the American Tract Society and the
Ben-Hur set an unsurpassed record of receiving eleven Acad-
American Sunday School Union, offered many people in the
emy Awards. The 1960s and 1970s saw the successful return
United States their first exposure to modern mass media and
of Jesus films with the 1961 remake of King of Kings, The
its popular cultural artifacts.
Gospel according to Matthew, The Greatest Story Ever Told,
Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Jesus of Nazareth. New
Fiction writers of the late nineteenth century and early
genres such as satire and the art film influenced the produc-
twentieth century often relied upon religious themes for in-
tion of religiously themed films of the 1980s and 1990s, such
spiration as well yet produced less didactically oriented mate-
as Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Jesus of Montreal, and The
rials for commercial consumption, forming an enduring in-
Last Temptation of Christ. Mel Gibson’s widely publicized
tersection of popular culture and religion in Western cultures
film The Passion (2004) reinvigorated the genre of biblical
and beyond. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (1868) em-
epic at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Various
phasized compassion and even Christian pity for the disad-
television interests have retained the broadcast rights for
vantaged, whereas the novelist L. Frank Baum wrote The
these films over the years, thus domesticating them from
Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) as a means of reinforcing the
large-screen spectacle to small-screen rituals, airing frequent-
importance of inner resources, such as courage and love, con-
ly in conjunction with the U.S. holiday calendar.
sidered of spiritual significance among the Theosophical So-
ciety of which he was a part.
Many less-celebrated films and television programs of
the twentieth century have referenced Christianity in more
TWENTIETH-CENTURY POPULAR CULTURE AND RELIGION.
popular ways through themes and characters such as angels,
“Christian kitsch,” a derogatory term used to refer to senti-
heaven and hell, and “the Big Guy upstairs.” Stateside audi-
mental material cultural products, is generally believed to
ences during World War II frequented A Guy Named Joe,
have appeared less frequently among elite households in the
The Bishop’s Wife, and Carousel, each of which featured a per-
United States and Europe after the decline of Victorian styles
son who came from the realm beyond to provide heavenly
in the 1930s. Yet popular culture of the middlebrow and of
assistance to those on earth. The guardian angel theme
other taste cultures continues to incorporate religious refer-
gained renewed interest near the close of the millennium.
ences within it. Precious Moments figurines, cross necklaces
Film audiences of the 1990s saw Always and The Preacher’s
and angel lapel pins, Bible covers (or “cozies”), posters with
Wife (both remakes of World War II films) as well as Mi-
God’s “footprints,” santos and votive candles, dashboard stat-
chael, City of Angels, and the satiric Dogma, while the CBS
ues of the Madonna, items purchased in relation to religious
television program Touched by an Angel demonstrated the
pilgrimages, as well as the more ubiquitous bumper stickers,
small-screen appeal of angelic helpers and haloed backlight.
T-shirts, hats, and key chains with a variety of messages all
In the early years of the new millennium the popular CBS
comprise some of the materials that can be purchased to sig-
drama Joan of Arcadia posited a God who appeared in vary-
nify identification with religion in its various forms. Elite
ing forms to a typically nonreligious teenage girl, while PAX
culture in the United States and Europe, rather than being
television audiences enjoyed It’s a Miracle! and even Pet Psy-
devoid of religious popular cultural items, prefers the esoteric
chic. Before that spate of films and television programs, Oh,
and Eastern, as found in such items as small indoor foun-
God! had garnered box office success in the 1970s, and the
tains, crystals, yoga mats and accoutrements, and African,
Catholic Church had been dubiously featured in relation to
Asian, and Latin American religious artwork. Research on
demon possession and devils in such horror films as Rose-
the contemporary religious popular cultures of Judaism,
mary’s Baby, The Exorcist, and The Omen.
Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and other traditions
has much to contribute to understandings of how these reli-
The link of religion’s dark side and horror remained
gions have been encoded and commodified in the realm of
throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with such entries as Stig-
items for sale in various contexts around the world. Existing
mata, Priest, Seven, The Devil’s Advocate, and many others in
work suggests that contemporary religious festivals and mate-
addition to the ironic references of the popular teen televi-
rial objects associated with them extend an association with
sion series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Charmed. The
various religious, racial-ethnic, and taste cultures.
increase in cultural and religious pluralism in the latter part
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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POPULAR RELIGION
of the twentieth century was reflected in films, as reincarna-
ligion has found a solid footing in commodified popular
tion was popularly depicted in Hollywood films in the
culture.
1970s, 1980s, and 1990s as well as in such entries as Heaven
Can Wait, All of Me, Switch, Chances Are, Made in Heaven,
SEE ALSO Art and Religion; Popular Religion; Visual Cul-
and Hearts and Souls.
ture and Religion.
While these and other films were popular at the box of-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
fice, religiously themed popular books remained on the best-
Arnold, Matthew. Culture and Anarchy. New York, 1882.
seller list throughout the twentieth century. Charles Shel-
Clark, Lynn Schofield. From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media,
don’s In His Steps; Ralph Connor’s (Charles Gordon) Black
and the Supernatural. New York, 2003.
Rock; and Harold Bell Wright’s The Shepherd of the Hills and
The Calling of Dan Matthews were widely read and indeed
Danto, Arthur C. After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the
Pale of History. Princeton, N.J., 1997.
outsold almost every other book in the period before World
War I. The 1965 publication of The Gospel according to Pea-
Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. Available at: http://
nuts sold ten million copies and served as a prototype for a
www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/.
series of popular books that emerged nearly four decades
Lippy, Charles H. Being Religious, American Style: A History of
later, including The Gospel according to Harry Potter (2002),
Popular Religiosity in the United States. Westport, Conn.,
The Gospel according to the Simpsons (2001), The Gospel ac-
1994.
cording to the Lord of the Rings, and even The Gospel according
McDannell, Colleen. Material Christianity: Religion and Popular
to the Sopranos. In the 1990s and 2000s books about angels,
Culture in America. New Haven, Conn., 1995.
the Apocalypse, and the Holy Grail topped the best-seller
Morgan, David. Protestants and Pictures: Religion, Visual Culture,
charts, with the fictional Left Behind thriller series, penned
and the Age of American Mass Production. New York, 1999.
by the fundamentalist writers Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins,
Rosenberg, Bernard, and David Manning White. Mass Culture:
and less didactically motivated books such as the thriller The
The Popular Arts in America. Glencoe, Ill., 1957.
Da Vinci Code (2003) by Dan Brown and The Five People
Schiller, Herbert. Communication and Cultural Domination.
You Meet in Heaven (2003) by Mitch Albom. Meanwhile the
White Plains, N.Y., 1976.
Bible remained a best seller, including the fashion magazine
Storey, John. An Introductory Guide to Cultural Theory and Popu-
format New Testament edition aimed at teenage girls, titled
lar Culture. Athens, Ga., 1993.
Revolve.
Williams, Raymond. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Soci-
CONCLUSION. Religious groups of all backgrounds have long
ety. London, 1976.
held what seem to be contradictory views on popular culture.
Zelizer, Barbie. “Popular Communication in the Contemporary
On the one hand, they have been wary of entertainment, be-
Age.” Communication Yearbook 24 (2000): 297–316.
lieving that it can rouse inappropriate passions and distract
LYNN SCHOFIELD CLARK (2005)
people from leading a moral, God-centered or ritually orga-
nized life. Yet on the other hand, throughout their history
religious leaders, especially those within Christianity, have
sought to harness the power of entertainment in their efforts
POPULAR RELIGION. Every society exhibits divi-
to introduce their beliefs to nonbelievers. The twentieth-
sions and segmentations based upon the classification of its
century development of the dramatic television and film in-
members and their activities, functions, and relationships
dustries in the United States provided new avenues for prose-
(e.g., sex, work, knowledge, etc.). However, it was long a uni-
lytization efforts while enlarging the reasons for concern. In
versally common assumption that the meaning of any insti-
the United States and Europe religious leaders continue to
tution within the society, or the meaning of the society as
worry about popular culture’s ill effects on morality and con-
a whole, was the privileged province of the upper, or elite,
sumption practices, whereas religious leaders elsewhere in the
levels of the society. Indeed, the idea that social meaning
world express grave concerns about the influence of U.S. cul-
could be gained from any other level, especially the lower le-
ture’s secular and materialistic representations. Despite the
vels of the social structure, is a relatively new notion. The set-
varied viewpoints on religion and popular culture, a revolu-
ting forth of the notion that a positive and necessary knowl-
tion in the relationship between popular culture and reli-
edge of society could be gained from its lower levels defined
gious leadership was begun in the earliest part of the nine-
this strata as a locus of interpretation, meaning, and value.
teenth century and continues to play out.
The idea that the positive meaning of a society is repre-
The twentieth century ushered in an era of unprece-
sented by the “common people,” “the folk,” or the peasants
dented popular culture materials, not only in written form
may be seen as an expression of “cultural primitivism,” the
but in oral and visual media as well. The sheer quantity of
dissatisfaction of the civilized with the quality and style of
materials that have entered the commercial marketplace has
civilization and the expression of a desire to return for orien-
made it virtually impossible to ignore the fact that popular
tation to the archaic roots of the culture. This “discovery of
culture and popular religiosity are now forever entwined. Re-
the people,” to use Peter Burke’s apt phrase, began in the late
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eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Europe. The
While it can be said that religion is present when a dis-
philosophical justification for this orientation can be seen in
tinction is made between the sacred and the profane, the
the writings of Giovanni Battista Vico (1668–1744) and Jo-
locus of this distinction in primitive and folk-peasant cul-
hann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803). Probably more than
tures is a commonly shared one. There is a unified sense of
any others, these two thinkers represented new theoretical
those objects, actions, and sentiments that are sacred, and
approaches to the nature of history, religion, and society.
those that are profane. The religious and the moral orders
They distinguished the notions of the “populari” and “the
tend to be synonymous; thus, the expression of religious faith
volk” as the basis for an alternate and new meaning of hu-
on the ordinary and extraordinary levels of these cultures
manism apart from the rationalizing and civilizing processes
form a continuum. The extraordinary expressions are those
set in motion by the European Enlightenment.
that commemorate important punctuations of the temporal
and social cycles (e.g., a new year, the harvest and first fruits,
The discovery of two new and different forms of societal
birth, marriage, and death). The ordinary modes are ex-
orders—one outside Europe (the so-called primitives), the
pressed in the customs, traditions, and mundane activities
other internal to European cultures (the peasants and the
that maintain and sustain the culture on a daily basis.
folk)—was prompted, in fact, by a search for origins. The
search was in some senses antithetical, and in other senses
One of the goals of the early studies of folk, peasant, and
supplementary, to the meaning of the origins of the West in
popular cultures was to come to an understanding of the
the biblical and Greek cultures. The discovery that the archa-
qualitative meaning of religion in human cultures of this
ic levels of human culture and society had an empirical locus
kind. Attention was focused on the meaning of custom and
in existing Western cultures became the philosophical, theo-
tradition, on the one hand, and upon the qualitative mean-
logical, and ideological basis for the legitimation of these new
ing and mode of transmission of the traditional values in cul-
structures of order in modern and contemporary societies.
tures that were not predominantly literate.
The notion of popular religion has to do with the dis-
The two early innovators, Herder and, especially, Vico,
covery of archaic forms, whether within or outside Western
had already emphasized the modes and genres of language
cultures. It is at this level that the meaning of popular reli-
of the nonliterate. Vico based his entire philosophical corpus
gion forms a continuum with both primitive religions and
on the origin and development of language, or, to be more
peasant and folk cultures in all parts of the world. This con-
exact, of rhetoric. By the term rhetoric Vico made reference
tinuum is based upon structural similarities defined by the
to the manner in which language is produced as a mode of
organic nature of all of these types of societies rather than
constituting bonds between human beings, the world, and
upon historical or genetic causation.
other beings outside the community. Closely related to Her-
der’s philosophy of culture and history is the work of the
Primitive and peasant-folk societies are, relatively speak-
Grimm brothers in their philological studies of the Germanic
ing, demographically small. The relationships among people
languages. Their collection of fairy tales, Märchen, and folk-
in these societies were thought to be personal in nature. Un-
tales represents the beginning of serious scholarly study of
derlying all modes of communication is an intuitive or empa-
oral traditions. In the work of the Grimms, the first articula-
thetic understanding of the ultimate nature and purpose of
tion of the relationship between genres of oral literature and
life.
modes of transmission are raised. This relationship is impor-
tant, for, given the presupposed organic form of nonliterate
This is what Herder meant by “the organic mode of
societies, the genres of transmission of ultimate meaning,
life,” an idea given methodological precision by the social
whether ordinary or extraordinary, defined a locus of the reli-
philosopher Ferdinand Tönnies, who made a typological dis-
gious. The romantic notion (present in Herder and in the
tinction between communities ordered in terms of Gemein-
theologians Friedrich Schleiermacher and Paul Tillich),
schaft and those expressing a Gesellschaft orientation to life
namely, that religion is the ultimate ground and substance
and the world. Gemeinschaft represents community as organ-
of culture, underlies the importance given to transmission,
ic form; Gesellschaft is society as a mechanical aggregate and
manifestation, and expression of this form of culture as reli-
artifact. A similar distinction is made by the anthropologist
gion. Religion is thus understood to be pervasive in society
Robert Redfield when he describes pre-urban cultures as
and culture, finding its expression not only in religious insti-
those in which the moral order predominates over the tech-
tutions, but in all the dimensions of cultural life.
nical order. The moral order, in this interpretation, is the
common understanding of the ultimate nature and purpose
The genres of the folktale, folk song, art, and myth be-
of life within the community. The notions of the organic na-
came the expressive forms of popular religion. The investiga-
ture of community (Gemeinschaft) and the primacy of the
tion of poetic meaning and wisdom, and of metaphorical,
moral order lead to different meanings of the religious life
symbolic expressions, emerged as sources of the religious sen-
in primitive and folk or peasant cultures as compared to so-
timent in the traditions of popular religion. The initial “dis-
cieties in urban Gesellschaft orientations. Furthermore, the
covery of the people” as a approach to the interpretation of
relationship or the distinction between the religious and the
culture and society and as a new form of human value was
cognitive within the two kinds of societies differ.
made under the aegis of intuitive methods within literary
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POPULAR RELIGION
studies and from the perspective of a speculative philosophy
The limitation of the modes of literacy suggest that
of history. Once serious scholarly attention was given to the
though there are authoritative sacred texts, they are situated
data of the popular, certain ambiguities were noted. The
in a context that is often dominated by illiteracy and oral tra-
original discovery of the people was based, by and large, on
ditions. The line of demarcation between the culture of liter-
a contrast between the popular and the urban, or the artifici-
acy and that of the oral traditions is seldom clear-cut. In
ality of the urban mode as a form of civilization. In this sense,
many cases, the traditions of literacy embody a great deal of
the popular represented the archaic and original forms of cul-
the content, form, and style of the oral traditions of the peas-
ture; it was its roots. However, the meaning of the popular
ants and the folk. Prior to the universalization of the modes
could not be limited to the conservative, value-retaining, re-
of literacy in many cultures, the prestige of literacy was to
sidual, self-contained unit of a society or culture. One of the
be found in the belief in, and regard for, the sacred text,
basic elements in the meaning of a popular cultural tradition
which itself was believed to have a magical, authoritative
was the mode of its transmission, and it was precisely this
meaning in addition to the content of its the particular writ-
element that allowed the meaning of such a tradition to be
ings. The written words of the god or gods (the authoritative
extended beyond that of the nonliterate strata of society—
text) resided with, and was under the control of, elites within
the rural peasants and the folk.
the culture.
V
Another characteristic of folk-peasant societies is that
ARIETIES AND DIMENSIONS. Critical investigations of the
meaning of popular culture and religion from the disciplin-
they define the lives of their members within the context of
ary orientations of the anthropology and history of religion,
a certain ecological niche (agricultural, pastoral, etc.), and
and from the sociology of knowledge, revealed a wide variety
the modes and genres of their existence are attached to this
of the forms of popular religion. From the anthropological
context by ties of tradition and sentiment. The group and
and historical perspectives, one is able to delineate and de-
the ecological structure thus define a continuity of relation-
scribe the characteristic modes of experience and expression
ships. The sentiment and the moral order of communities
of this kind are synonymous with the meaning of their reli-
of religion at the various levels of the cultural strata, and to
gion. In agricultural peasant and folk cultures, the rhythms
show the dynamics of the interrelationships of the popular
of the agricultural seasons are woven into the patterns of
forms with other cultural strata. The sociology of knowledge
human relationships and sociability. The symbols and arche-
provides an understanding of the genesis, contents, and
types of religion are expressions of the alternation and inte-
mode of thought and imagination present in popular reli-
gration of the human community, the techniques of produc-
gion, and demonstrates how various strata within a social
tion, and the reality of the natural world. In most cultures
order participate in the values, meanings, and structures of
this type of popular religion carries the connotation of reli-
popular religion.
gion as ab origine and archaic. Robert Redfield has suggested
Though scholarly, disciplinary approaches led to a more
that the folk-peasant mode of life is an enduring structure
precise definition of the popular and to a critique of the orig-
of human community found in every part of the world. As
inal meaning of the popular and popular religion, such
such it is not only an empirical datum of a type of human
studies also brought about a proliferation of different mean-
community, but may also represent an enduring source of
ings and interpretations of popular religion. Of these, the fol-
religious and moral values.
lowing seven are the most significant.
2. Popular religion as the religion of the laity in a religious
community in contrast to that of the clergy. The clergy is the
1. Popular religion is identical with the organic (usually
bearer of a learned tradition usually based upon the prestige of
rural and peasant) form of a society. The religious and moral
literacy. Another type of popular religion is notable in reli-
orders are also identical; in this sense, popular religion is closely
gious communities where literacy is by and large limited to
related to the meanings of primitive and folk religion. This is
the clergy. The clergy carries out the authority of the tradi-
the original meaning of popular religion as the religion of
tion through the use of religious texts. The laity may memo-
folk and peasant culture. Though the distinction between the
rize and repeat certain of these texts in worship and rituals,
folk and peasant religion and the religion of the urban areas
but they are not in possession of the instruments and institu-
is clear-cut in the industrial periods of all cultures, such a dis-
tional authority of sacred literacy. Both clergy and laity may
tinction does not rest simply on this basis. In the feudal peri-
participate in and honor other traditions that arise from the
ods of various cultures, this distinction is more pronounced
life of the laity. Such traditions are those related to the sacral-
in relationship to certain practices and in the hierarchical
ization of agricultural seasons and worship centered around
structures of the society. Within feudal structures, the upper
the cults of relics and saints, holy persons, pilgrimages, and
classes participated in and controlled a form of literacy that
so on.
was confined within this group. In various cultures, this
meant access to an orientation of religious meaning revolving
Another meaning of this kind of popular religion stems
around sacred texts. In China, for example, there appeared
from a society in which literacy is not confined to the clergy
Confucian classics; in India, the Sanskritic literary tradition;
or elite. The laity may have access to certain authoritative or
in Christianity, the Bible, and so on.
quasi-authoritative texts without being in possession of the
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power of normative interpretation and sanction of these
tive language of religion in general, and the secular forms of
texts. They therefore interpret these texts in their own man-
cultural life as well give expression to their origins in that reli-
ner, according to their own needs and sensibilities. A notable
gious tradition.
case of this kind of popular religion is the account given in
Of particular interest in this regard is the discussion sur-
The Cheese and the Worms (1980) by Carlo Ginzburg of the
rounding the issue of “civil religion” in the United States
Italian miller Domenico Sandella (nicknamed Menochhio),
since the end of World War II. This discussion has come to
a literate peasant who created and thought through an entire
the fore in many democratic societies due to the growing de-
cosmology radically different from that of the church author-
mocratization and secularization of the processes and institu-
ities. In other cases the clergy may create for the laity popular
tions within societies of this kind. The case of the American
religious literature of a devotional or catechismal nature that
republic is an extreme example of this problem because, as
takes on the forms of a more pervasive popular culture of the
a nation-state, it is not philosophically based upon an explicit
laity. This can be seen in the adaptation of archetypes from
or implicit meaning derived from either an archaic or aborig-
the authoritative tradition to a popular structure: for exam-
inal religion, nor upon any meaning of a named, empirical
ple, the popularization of Guanyin in Buddhist literatures,
religion. Neither did the nation’s founders find it necessary
and the local and popular traditions concerning Kr:s:n:a
to come to terms with the religion of the original inhabitants
among Hindus. In another example, Christmas (the celebra-
of the land as the Spanish did in Mesoamerica and South
tion of the birth of Jesus Christ), which developed from
America. The notion of “God” or “Nature’s God” is used as
older, popular (pagan) traditions, has been adapted to the
an analogue for an archaic principle of founding, but its con-
popular cultures and economies of modern societies.
notations remain vague; thus, specific religious groups inter-
3. Popular religion as the pervasive beliefs, rituals, and val-
pret this principle in their own manner in accord with the
ues of a society. Popular religion of this type is a kind of civil
principle of religious freedom in the United States. However,
religion or religion of the public. It forms the general and wide
this same meaning is not limited to its interpretation by spe-
context for the discussion of anything of a religious nature within
cific religious groups; it is also evoked and given extensive
the society. Two studies of Greek religion may be used to il-
interpretation in the speeches of prominent political, judi-
lustrate this point. Martin P. Nilsson, in his Greek Folk Reli-
cial, and public figures, and in documents of the nation’s his-
gion, described the religion of the countryside, the folk-
tory. Sidney E. Mead (1963) and Robert N. Bellah (1967)
peasant religion of ancient Greece. Jon D. Mikalson, in his
have shown how the symbolic interpretations of the meaning
Athenian Popular Religion, treats Greek religion not in terms
of the “God of the Republic” in the rhetoric of American
of class structures, nor through a distinction between the
presidents have attempted to define—and persuade the citi-
rural and the urban, but rather concentrates on the views and
zenry of the United States of—the public religious and moral
beliefs that were a part of the common cultural experience
meanings and implications of the American Republic.
of the majority of Athenians during the late fourth and fifth
4. Popular religion as an amalgam of esoteric beliefs and
centuries CE. Mikalson goes on to point out that one of the
practices differing from the common or civil religion, but usually
most important sources for this type of popular religion was
located in the lower strata of a society. Popular religion in this
the orations presented in law courts, where the orators ad-
form more often than not exists alongside other forms of reli-
dressed juries that numbered from five hundred to twenty-
gion in a society. Reference is made here to the religious valu-
five hundred or more Athenian male citizens.
ation of esoteric forms of healing, predictions of events not
based on logical reasoning, and therapeutic practices that
Similar forms of popular religion are found in all cul-
have an esoteric origin and may imply a different cosmology
tures where the religious substratum of the culture radiates
than the one prevalent within the society as a whole. In most
into, and finds explicit expression—or vague nuances and
cases the practitioners and clients have not eschewed the or-
derivations—in the formation and processes of public insti-
dinary modes of healing and therapy; the esoteric beliefs and
tutions other than those dedicated to specific religious cere-
practices are supplementary, representing a mild critique of
monials. As such, this form of popular religion provides a
the normative forms of this kind of knowledge and practice
generalized rhetoric and norm for the meaning and discus-
in the society at large. This form of popular religion is pres-
sion of religion within the context of the culture in which
ent in industrial societies in practices such as phrenology,
it is found. In most cases the meaning of this kind of popular
palm reading, astrology, and in the accompanying esoteric,
religion is expressed in terms of a dominant religious tradi-
“metaphysical” beliefs. The pervasive nature of this kind of
tion that has had a profound and pervasive influence upon
popular religion may be noted by the fact that in almost all
the culture. For example, in the Western world, one could
of the larger cities of industrialized countries, every major
speak of Christendom or biblical orientations; in India, of
newspaper and magazine finds it necessary to carry astrologi-
the Sanskritic language and cultural traditions; in China and
cal forecasts or some other symbolic mode that appeals to an
other parts of the Far East, of the Confucian and Buddhist
alternate interpretation of the world.
traditions; and, in Islamic countries, of the Islamic tradition.
In each case a specific religious orientation has so informed
5. Popular religion as the religion of a subclass or minority
the cultural life that it has become the “natural” and norma-
group in a culture. Particular classes defined by their ethnicity
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POPULAR RELIGION
or by an ideology or mythology associated with their work
uine and authentic folk and peasant tradition of culture and
(e.g., miners, blacksmiths, butchers, soldiers, etc.), form an-
religion, a new meaning of the popular forms is now em-
other mode of popular religion. In most cases such groups
braced and supported by the state.
do not represent foreign communities residing in another
Given this variety of forms and meanings of popular re-
culture, but pose the problem of “otherness” or strangeness
ligion, it is appropriate to ask what is the common element
for people outside their communities due to their racial type
in all of them. There are two common elements. First of all,
or occupation. These groups are, nevertheless, integrated
“the popular” in any of its varieties is concerned with a mode
into the social structure as a necessary ingredient of a com-
of transmission of culture. Whether the group be large or
mon cultural ideology and its functioning; they constitute “a
small, or whether the content of the religion be sustaining
part of the society by not being a part of it.” In most tradi-
or ephemeral, “the popular” designates the universalization
tional cultures of the world, certain occupations, such as
of its mode of transmission. In peasant and folk situations,
mining or blacksmithing, represent this meaning. They are
this mode of transmission is traditionally embodied in sym-
restricted to certain places of residence within the villages
bols and archetypes tht tend to be long-lasting and integra-
and they in turn have their own rituals and alternate under-
tive. In modern industrial societies, the modes of transmis-
standings of the nature of the cosmos. While the role and
sion are several, including literacy, electronic media,
function of such occupations is understood by the rest of so-
newspapers, chapbooks, and so on. Such modes of commu-
ciety, and is felt to have a place in its general cosmology, they
nication bring into being a popular culture that is different
nevertheless form the basis for an alternate understanding of
from, but may overlap with, other social strata within the
the nature of society. Examples of the ethnic and racial
culture. Due to the intensity of these forms of communica-
meaning of this form of popular religion may be seen in the
tion, the content of the forms of popular culture is able to
history of the Jews within Christendom or the religions of
change quickly. It is not, however, the content that is at the
African Americans in the New World.
fore here, but the type of cognition afforded by the modes
6. Popular religion as the religion of the masses in opposi-
of transmission. Given the intensification of transmission
tion to the religion of the sophisticated, discriminating, and
and the ephemerality of content, this form of popular reli-
learned within a society. This is a variation on the difference
gion and culture is semiotic—it is embedded in a system of
between the laity and the clergy in hierarchical and tradition-
signs rather than in symbols and archetypes.
al societies. Reference is made in this form of popular reli-
THE NATURE OF CULTURE. The meaning of popular religion
gion to a meaning of the masses that is the product of demo-
presupposes an understanding of the nature of culture that
cratic polities and industrialism. Whereas in the older,
is capable of making sense of differences and divisions within
traditional, hierarchical societies, the clergy and the laity
the totality of any culture. Furthermore, the notion of cul-
both possessed traditions, the modern definition of “the
ture must allow room for the meaning of religion as one of
masses” implies the loss of tradition and canons of value and
the primary modes of transmission of the cultural tradition.
taste, which are now defined in terms of a privileged class
Clifford Geertz’s description (1965) of religion as a cul-
order of the elite who have had the benefit of special educa-
tural system is one of the most adequate understandings of
tion. Alexis de Tocqueville’s comments on the meaning of
culture as a mode of transmission. His definition is as fol-
democracy in America imply that democracy and mass cul-
lows: Religion is (1) a system of symbols that acts to (2) es-
ture are synonymous. The form of popular religion will tend
tablish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and mo-
to express the existential and ephemeral concerns of the mass
tivations in people by (3) formulating conceptions of a
population at any moment of its history.
general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions
7. Popular religion as the creation of an ideology of religion
with an aura of factuality so that (5) the moods and motiva-
by the elite levels of a society. From the very beginning of the
tions seem uniquely realistic. This notion of religion as a cul-
study of popular culture and religion, the discovery, mean-
tural system enables one to understand how religion is the
ing, and valuation of “the popular” was undertaken by elites
expression and transmission of a conception of the reality of
within the society. Especially with the coming of industrial-
the world, and it is clear that such a powerful and pervasive
ization and the rise of the nation-state, the provincial tradi-
notion must of necessity imply a mode of transmission.
tions of the peasant and rural folk within a culture had to
If this notion of religion as a cultural system is seen in
fall under the political and ideological meanings of larger
relationship to Robert Redfield’s analysis of the divisions and
generalizing and centralizing orders of the state and its bu-
distinctions within a cultural system, a basis for the meaning
reaucracy. To the extent that the ideological meaning of the
of popular religion within a cultural milieu is established
rural and peasant cultures served the aims of the state, it was
(Redfield, 1955). Redfield makes a broad distinction within
promoted as the older, traditional meaning of the state deriv-
a culture between what he calls the “great tradition” and the
ing from its archaic forms. Popular culture and religion in
“little tradition.” The great tradition is that of the learned
this mode was invented and promoted by the state through
elite and often the ruling class, while the little tradition is
folklore societies, museums, and by the promotion of histori-
that of the large classes and groups of the lower classes. His
cal research into the past of the society. On the basis of a gen-
combination of these two theories provides an understanding
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of the meaning of popular religion from the point of view
A similar situation is present in societies where shamans
of culture as a whole. However, in all parts of the world, due
possess a different and superior knowledge to that of ordi-
to industrialization and modernization, it is becoming in-
nary persons. Where differences of thought and social struc-
creasingly difficult to define the meaning of culture in these
ture exist, there is always the possibility for a tension among
terms. Whereas political power may continue to reside in an
and between social divisions and/or modes of thought; these
elite ruling class that has hegemony over many forms of cul-
tensions at any moment may lead to the expression of novel-
tural expression, the modes of transmission, through literacy
ty, thus causing changes in the society as a whole.
and electronic media are so intense that the distinction be-
tween the elite and the lower class as well as between the
In addition to internally induced changes in organic so-
urban and rural milieus fail to mark a line of demarcation
cieties based on differences of thought or social divisions,
that is true to social reality. From this point of view, the
change may also arise from certain pervasive rituals. The rite
modes of communication and transmission have as much or
of initiation is especially conducive to the influx of new reli-
more to do with the integration and wholeness of the culture
gious orientations and changes in the social order. Initiation
as the content of symbolic clusters or ideological meaning.
is that ritual concerned with the creation of new human be-
ings. It introduces the initiand into the human community
Considerations of this sort raise issues regarding the
through the religious experience of the world of sacred beings
locus and meaning of religion in contemporary industrialized
in mythic times. Often in initiation rituals, the candidate is
societies. Because of the intensity of transmission, the con-
made to experience a regression to a time before creation and
tent of what is transmitted tends to be ephemeral; thus, the
then to ritually imitate the archetypal stages of the first cre-
notion of religion as establishing powerful, pervasive, and
ation. The ability to imitate, re-create, or renew the cosmos
long-lasting moods and motivations is shifted away from
is a possibility present in every initiation ritual, and this expe-
content and substance to modes of experience. Popular reli-
rience may become the basis for social change within the so-
gion is thus no longer defined in terms of sustaining tradi-
ciety. The notion that there can be a new mode of being is
tions, but in the qualitative meaning of the nature of experi-
the basis for radical change in this religious ritual.
ence. Thus, in attempting to describe popular religion in
modern societies, the investigator may undertake research in
There is hardly any knowledge available on the expres-
a wide variety of media where members of the culture express
sion of initiation leading to broad societal change in non-
their experiences, such as television, radio, and newspapers;
European societies prior to the coming of the Europeans;
and in occurrences such as sports and recreational events, po-
however, initiation cults of this kind in pre-Christian Euro-
litical activities, and so on. Seen from this point of view, the
pean cultures attest to their implications for changes in the
popular approximates some aspects of the older and original
societal order. The Greco-Oriental mystery religions posed
notion of “popular” as the peasant-folk and organic meaning
an extreme tension between the public religious cults of the
in a society. In the peasant-folk, organic society, the mode
Hellenistic period in their expression of a deeper and more
of transmission were relatively slow, and thus the content of
personal experience of sacred realities.
the transmission predominated, allowing for the comprehen-
The preponderance of the data regarding the relation-
sion of the symbolic content to consciously and unconscious-
ship between popular religion and social change has come
ly inform the life of society. In modern industrial societies,
primarily from religious traditions defined by their geo-
transmission is almost universal throughout the society, but
graphical extension in time and space, where the religious
the content is no longer the bearer of organic and integrative
tradition has become synonymous with a cultural tradition
form.
(e.g., Hinduism, Islam, Christianity). These traditions cover
SOCIAL CHANGE. The notion of an organic social order,
a wide variety of forms of social divisions and thought. As
whether defined as a primitive, peasant, or folk culture, often
such, the tensions among and between them are many, and
implies complete equilibrium, integration, and stasis in a so-
are much more intense. It is in such traditions that the dis-
ciety. This is hardly ever true: All societies exhibit divisions
tinctions between the organic structure of society and the
and segmentations of various kinds, and these are often ex-
elite ruling class is most pronounced. Exchanges of thought
pressed in religious terms. They may be seen in the religious
and experience between these two major structures of society
meanings defined by gender as well as in the gradations of
may occur in ritualized forms such as the festival, carnival,
the types of religious knowledge wherein certain types of eso-
and pilgrimage. These ritual forms allow for a lessening of
teric or secret knowledge is held by an elite, and a more pub-
the social divisions, and for the communication and integra-
lic and general religious meaning is present in the society at
tion of modes and styles of life that are not governed by the
large. A good example of this is given in Marcel Griaule’s ac-
everyday power defined by the political and social differences
count of the knowledge of Ogotemmêli, the old Dogon sage.
between the two groups. Not only do such rituals permit the
The knowledge held by Ogotemmêli has a correspondence
relaxation of social differences, they allow for the interchange
to the public meaning and symbols of Dogon religion, but
of vital knowledge between the two groups. M. Bahktin
his knowledge is more profound and possesses a metaphysi-
shows how these particular ritual forms have led to the cre-
cal dimension. This type of knowledge and these types of
ation of specific literary genres among the elite and literate
human beings are found in many traditional societies.
members of the culture, especially as this is related to the car-
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
7330
POPULAR RELIGION
nival and the festival. Literary critics have long attested to the
millennial expectations are not only goals of a movement;
effect of the ritual pilgrimage on the literary imagination. E.
they pervade all the activities of its followers, allowing for a
Le Roy Ladurie, in his work Carnival in Romans (1979), has
reordering of psychic structures as well as opening up the
shown how the carnival provided the setting for revolution-
possibility of a new social religious order on the level of pop-
ary activities of the peasants and townspeople. Daniel L.
ular religion.
Overmyer has described a similar situation in the White
GLOBAL STRUCTURES. With increasing rapidity and intensi-
Lotus sect and the school of Luo Qing (1443–1527) in
ty since the late fifteenth century, the Western world—
China in the sixteenth century (Overmyer, 1976).
through exploration, conquest, and military and economic
Movements and actions of this kind from the popular
exploitation—brought the non-European world under its
strata of the society have been called “pre-political” by Eric
modes of communication through the structures of the mod-
J. Hobsbawm (1959). By this he means that the people have
ern industrial system. The Western systems of economics
not found a specific form of political ideology in which to
and communications were the bearer of Western forms of re-
express their aspirations about the world. While this may be
ligious mythology and ideology, often characterized by mil-
true in most cases, such aspirations expressed in religious
lennial hopes. From this point of view, the West became the
terms, and it is on this level of expression that unique dimen-
center of the world; the other areas, the peripheries. In other
sions of the meaning of popular religion emerge. In a manner
words, the West took over the role and function of the ruling
reminiscent of the initiation structure of primitive societies,
elite, with other parts of the world playing the role of the
peasant and folk societies express a new self-consciousness of
older peasant or folk societies.
their solidarity through archaic symbols drawn from the
There has been a religious response to this hegemony
genres of their lives and from a reinterpretation of the tradi-
of the West in almost all parts of the world. In many cases,
tional religion. In many cases, symbols and teachings of the
a new elite comes into being in the colonized countries, imi-
traditional religion are understood in a more literal manner,
tating the structures and forms of the Western center. This,
expecially as these symbols and teachings express renewal and
in turn, creates a new form of the popular—the traditional
change, the end of one order and the beginning of a new one.
religion of the indigenous culture becomes a popular religion
Banditry, outlawry, and other actions that violate the social
and must reorder itself in relationship to the power and au-
order are permitted in the revolutionary milieu, for they are
thority of the new, indigenous elite. The situation does not
sanctioned by what Victor Turner has called the liminal
simply create a tension of opposition. The religious and ideo-
state, which forms the context of the revolutionary activity.
logical meaning of the West will inform, in varying degrees,
This state is a regression to chaos on the level of society.
the whole of the society, and the reordering of the indigenous
Two major types of religious personages appear in pop-
tradition will represent an amalgam of the older indigenous
ular religious movements of this kind: the prophetic figure
forms and a reinterpreted Western religious tradition. New
and the outlaw. The prophet as a religious personage is not
meanings of popular religion will emerge in this context.
unique to the situation of popular religion. In most cases, fig-
Making use of the communication systems of the Western
ures of this sort are a part of the traditional teaching of the
colonizers, many of these movements will move beyond the
culture. From the stratum of popular religion, the meaning
provincial confines of their local culture in one of their
and role of the prophet is enhanced as the critical and con-
modes. A notable example is the universal influence and ac-
demnatory voice of the people against the abuses and injus-
ceptance of African American music in almost all parts of the
tices of the ruling and elite class. It is the prophet who relates
world. Walter J. Hollenweger has argued in his work The
the existential situation of the people to primordial religious
Pentecostals (1972) that this form and style of religion repre-
depths forged from the life of the people and a new interpre-
sents a global phenomenon, an alternate and critical response
tation of the religious tradition.
binding together religious communities in all parts of the
world.
The outlaw is the heroic religious figure in popular revo-
lutionary religious movements. The archetypal outlaw is the
SEE ALSO Folklore; Folk Religion; Implicit Religion; Invisi-
one whose banditry establishes justice within the society; the
ble Religion; Popular Culture.
outlaw takes from the rich to give to the poor. Myths and
legends of the outlaw, such as Robin Hood in England, Jano-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
sik in Poland, Corrientes in Andalusia, or Finn in Irish and
While religious institutions exist on the popular, folk, and peasant
Scottish tales, abound.
levels of culture, the meaning of religion is not centered in
The religious meaning of renewal of the world is a
the segmented religious institution. Because of the nature of
these kinds of societies, religion is more often diffused
prominent theme of popular revolutionary movements.
throughout the forms of societal life. Given the various forms
Within Western religious traditions, this theme is derivative
and modes of popular, folk, and peasant societies and com-
of the religious symbol of the Messiah, whose coming an-
munities, it is too much to say that religion is identical with
nounces the destruction of the old world or the radical re-
the totality of the community. However, almost all aspects
newal of the world. The world will be reversed—turned up-
of the communal life are capable of expressing the religious
side down—thus there will be a redress of all wrongs. These
life. This bibliography thus covers those works dealing spe-
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
POPULAR RELIGION
7331
cifically with popular religion as well as the wider range of
cover all areas of the globe, I offer here a sampling of works
the forms of popular, folk, and peasant communities.
that are valuable for their contribution to theory as well as
History of the Study of Popular Religion
for their descriptive detail.
For interpretations of the philosophical impact of Giambattista
Africa
Vico and J. G. Herder, Isaiah Berlin’s Vico and Herder (Lon-
African Folklore, edited by Richard M. Dorson (New York, 1972),
don, 1976) is the best introduction. See also The New Science
covers most of the genres of folklore in Africa. Two sections,
of Giambattista Vico, translated by Thomas Goddard Bergin
“Traditional Narrative” and “Traditional Ritual,” are espe-
and Max Harold Fisch (Ithaca, N.Y., 1948). Commentaries
cially relevant to the notion of popular religion. Ruth Finne-
on the writings of Vico are found in Donald Phillip Verene’s
gan’s Oral Literature in Africa (London, 1970) is a highly
Vico’s Science of Imagination (Ithaca, N.Y., 1981) and in Vico:
controversial work. She makes a strong argument for the lit-
Selected Writings, translated and edited by Leon Pompa
erary nature of oral literature and finds many interpretations
(Cambridge, U.K., 1982). For Herder, see Frank E. Man-
by anthropologists and folklorists wanting because they fail
uel’s abridged edition of his Reflections on the Philosophy of
to appreciate the literary character of this form of literature.
the History of Mankind (Chicago, 1968). Interpretive studies
She devotes a chapter to religious poetry, but she confines the
of Herder are H. B. Nisbet’s Herder and the Philosophy and
meaning of religion to a very conventional usage. Jan Van-
History of Science (Cambridge, U.K., 1970), G. A. Wells’s
sina’s Oral Tradition, translated by H. M. Wright (Chicago,
Herder and After (The Hague, 1959), and Frederick M. Bar-
1965), is a thorough working out of the problems and meth-
nard’s Herder on Social and Political Culture (1969). For a
ods involved in using oral testimony as historical data. The
short and illuminating essay on the impact of the Grimm
data for his work are the traditions of the Kuba. This work
brothers on the study of modern literature, see William
has bearing on the relationship between the modes of trans-
Paton Ker’s Jacob Grimm, Publications of the Philological
mission and the nature and meaning of the knowledge that
Society, vol. 7 (Oxford, 1915). A highly critical study of the
is transmitted.
Grimm brothers’ method and scholarship is found in John
M. Ellis’s One Fairy Story Too Many (Chicago, 1983).
Japan
Cornelis Ouwehand’s Namazu-e and Their Themes (Leiden, 1964)
The best history of the study of folklore in Europe is Giuseppe
is important for the light it sheds on the reception and alter-
Cocchiara’s The History of Folklore in Europe, translated by
nate interpretations of events on the folkloric levels of Japa-
John N. McDaniel (Philadelphia, 1981). Peter Burke’s Popu-
nese society. Especially in the case of catastrophic event, on
lar Culture in Early Modern Europe (New York, 1978) is his-
the folkloric levels there is the appearance of a kind of savior
torically oriented but is more systematic than historical.
figure as a motif of the understanding of these events. Ichori
Older works such as Stith Thompson’s The Folktale (1946;
Hori’s Folk Religion in Japan, edited by Joseph M. Kitagawa
reprint, New York, 1979) and Alexander H. Krappe’s The
and Alan L. Miller (Chicago, 1968), is the best general study
Science of Folklore (1930; New York, 1962) are still valuable.
of the forms and structures of folk religion in Japan. Studies
They should be supplemented by Alan Dundes’s The Study
in Japanese Folklore, edited by Richard M. Dorson (Port
of Folklore (Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1965) and Richard Dor-
Washington, N.Y., 1963), covers the folk traditions of vari-
son’s Folklore and Folklife (Chicago, 1972).
ous classes of workers and is one of the best studies of the
Some of Max Weber’s works bear on certain problems of popular
traditions of workers. Michael Czaja’s Gods of Myth and
religion; see especially The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Stone (New York, 1974) is a thorough study of the mythic
Capitalism, translated by Talcott Parsons (London, 1930);
and religious significance of certain forms of fertility symbols
The Sociology of Religion, translated by Ephraim Fischoff
and rituals in Japan; it is informed by sophisticated method-
(Boston, 1963); The City, translated and edited by Don Mar-
ology.
tindale and Gertrud Neuwirth (Glencoe, Ill., 1958); and
Ancient Greece
From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, translated and edited
Of the many works in Greek religion, I mention only three, the
by Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (Oxford, 1946).
classic study of N. D. Fustel de Coulanges, The Ancient City,
From an earlier sociological school there are the works of Fer-
new ed. (Baltimore, 1980), Martin P. Nilsson’s Greek Folk
dinand Tönnies, Community and Association, translated and
Religion (New York, 1961), and Jon D. Mikalson’s Athenian
edited by Charles P. Loomis (London, 1955), and William
Popular Religion (Chapel Hill, N. C., 1983).
Graham Sumner’s Folkways (Boston, 1907). Much can still
be learned from Ernst Troeltsch’s The Social Teaching of the
Europe
Christian Church, 2 vols., translated by Olive Wyon (1931;
Most studies of popular religion in Europe are to be valued as
Chicago, 1981), as well as from Joachim Wach’s Sociology of
much for their detailed content as for their theoretical ap-
Religion (Chicago, 1944). Wach’s work remains the only so-
proach and methodological contributions. Marc Bloch’s Feu-
ciology of religion written by a historian of religions and is
dal Society, 2 vols., translated by L. A. Manyon (Chicago,
thus valuable for that reason. Clifford Geertz’s informative
1961), is a pioneer work in focusing on the entire range of
essay “Religion as a Cultural System” can be found in An-
the cultural reality of the feudal period. Two representative
thropological Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Mi-
works dealing with the amalgam of religious traditions in Eu-
chael Banton (New York, 1966), and in Reader in Compara-
rope are Albert B. Lord’s The Singer of Tales (Cambridge,
tive Religion, edited by William A. Lessa and Evon Z. Vogt
Mass., 1960) and Gail Kligman’s Calus: Symbolic Transfor-
(New York, 1965).
mation in Romanian Ritual (Chicago, 1981).
Regional Studies of Popular Religion
Norbert Elias’s The Civilizing Process (New York, 1978), Power
Numerous publications have been devoted to popular, folk, and
and Civility (New York, 1982), and The Court Society (New
peasant religions around the world. Without attempting to
York, 1983), all translated by Edmund Jephcott, demon-
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
7332
POPULAR RELIGION
strate the social behavior patterns and psychological attitudes
Irish village. The closest one comes to an explicit meaning
that define the processes that create the class and value orien-
of religion is in part 8, “A Place on the Holy Land.”
tation of the ideology of civilization. Similar processes, but
Modern America
directed from a centralized governmental center, are de-
There are few general and systematic studies of American popular
scribed in Eugen Weber’s Peasants into Frenchmen (Stanford,
religion. For orientation to the issues of the meaning of “the
Calif., 1976). A detailed account of popular culture in
people,” “culture,” “religion,” and the national state in the
France is found in Robert Muchembled’s Popular Culture
American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic Democ-
and Elite Culture in France, 1400–1750, translated by Lydia
racy in America, 2 vols. in 1, translated by George Lawrence
Cochrane (Baton Rouge, 1985). One of the most prolific
and edited by J. P. Mayer (Garden City, N.Y., 1969), is still
and brilliant scholars of popular religion and culture in
a very good orientation. H. Richard Niebuhr’s The Social
France is the Annales historian Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie.
Sources of Denominationalism (1929; New York, 1957) is one
His works include Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error,
of the few works that raises the issue of the relationship of
translated by Barbara Bray (New York, 1978); Carnival in
popular lower-class-strata religion to the founding of reli-
Romans, translated by Mary Feeney (New York, 1979); and
gious institutions in the United States. W. Lloyd Warner’s
The Peasants of Languedoc, translated by John Day (Urbana,
The Living and the Dead (New Haven, Conn., 1959) is an
1974). Religion and the People, 800–1700, edited by James
anthropological interpretation of the major sacred and secu-
Obelkevich (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1979) is a good survey of
lar symbols in American society. The methodological point
some important themes in the study of popular European re-
of view lends itself to the meaning of American religion from
ligion. One of the essays in this volume, Lionel Rothkrug’s
the perspective of popular religion. Sidney E. Mead’s The
“Popular Religion and Holy Shrines,” has been followed up
Lively Experiment (New York, 1963) is a group of essays that
in Rothkrug’s Religious Practices and Collective Perceptions:
touch upon the broader religious symbolic values of Ameri-
Hidden Homologies in the Renaissance and Reformation (Wa-
can cultural reality as the context for religious understanding.
terloo, Ont., 1980). The importance of this work lies not
Catherine L. Albanese’s America: Religions and Religion (Belmont,
only in the detailed description of such phenomena as the
Calif., 1981) is the first systematic attempt to deal with all
cult of Mary on the popular level but equally in the way it
the religious traditions in the United States in an integrated
raises the issue of the forms of perception and knowledge
manner. As such it eschews the normativity of the mainline
that stem from certain modes of religious apprehension.
traditions as the basis for American religion, thus allowing
Concrete historical detail is given to issues of the sociology
for the meaning of popular religion to become an empirical
of religious knowledge that are discussed more abstractly by
and methodological ingredient in the study of American reli-
Georges Gurvitch in The Social Frameworks of Knowledge,
gion. See also Albanese’s Sons of the Fathers (Philadelphia,
translated by Margaret A. Thompson and Kenneth A.
1976) for a discussion of the manner in which popular reli-
Thompson (Oxford, 1971). Carlo Ginzburg’s The Cheese
gion instituted and responded to the apotheosis of George
and the Worms, translated by John Tedeschi and Anne
Washington as the founding father of the nation.
Tedeschi (Baltimore, 1980), an account of the cosmology of
Will Herberg’s Protestant, Catholic, Jew (Garden City, N.Y.,
a sixteenth-century Italian miller, is fast becoming a classic
1955) shows how denominational designations were used to
of popular religion. Miriam Usher Chrisman’s Lay Culture,
define cultural modes of popular American religiosity. For a
Learned Culture: Books and Social Change in Strasbourg,
discussion of civil religion in the United States, see Robert
1480–1599 (New Haven, Conn., 1982), shows the impact
N. Bellah’s “Civil Religion in America,” Daedalus 96 (Win-
of printing and literacy on the various cultural layers of this
ter 1967): 1–21. Peter W. Williams’s Popular Religion in
period. William A Christian’s Local Religion in Sixteenth Cen-
America (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1980) is excellent for data
tury Spain (Princeton, N. J., 1981), examines the spirituality
but lacks methodological sophistication. The later two works
of several towns in New Castile. A. N. Galpern’s The Reli-
contain the best bibliographical sources for the many forms
gions of the People in Sixteenth-Century Champagne (Cam-
of popular religion in the United States.
bridge, Mass., 1976), undertakes a similar investigation of
this area. The Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renais-
China
sance Religion, edited by Charles Trinkaus and Heiko A. Ob-
Daniel L. Overmyer’s Folk Buddhist Religion (Cambridge, Mass.,
erman (Leiden, 1974), contains essays covering almost all as-
1976) is one of the few thoroughgoing discussions of folk
pects of late medieval and Renaissance religion. Of particular
Buddhism in China and is distinguished by its methodologi-
interest is part 2, “Lay Piety and the Cult of Youth.” James
cal astuteness. Popular Culture in Late Imperial China, edited
Obelkevich’s Religion and Rural Society: South Lindsey,
by David Johnson, Andrew J. Nathan, and Evelyn S. Rawski
1825–1875 (Oxford, 1976), deals with the churching of
(Berkeley, Calif., 1985), brings together several essays on
agrarian laborers by the Methodist Church. It goes far in
popular culture of this period. Of special note are “Religion
showing the interaction of the lower classes and the middle
and Popular Culture: The Management of Moral Capital in
and upper classes as this is related to the form and structure
the Romance of the Three Teachings” by Judith Berling,
of the religious institution. There is, finally, a beautifully
“Values in Chinese Sectarian Literature: Ming and Qing
Baozhuan” by Daniel L. Overmyer, and “Language and Ide-
written book by the folklorist Henry Glassie, Passing the
ology in the Written Popularizations of the Sacred Edict” by
Time in Ballymenone (Philadelphia, 1982). In this study of
Victor H. Mair.
a rural community in Ireland, the author demonstrates in his
research the moral meaning of this kind of community.
Theoretical Studies
While there is no one chapter or section devoted to religion,
Almost all of the works cited above discuss theoretical issues, but
the entire work reflects the religious orientation of a small
there are, in addition, a number of valuable works written
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
PORTALS
7333
from a purely theoretical orientation. Among them are three
is both inside and outside the same zone, and one that at-
books by anthropologist Robert Redfield that have had great
tracts dangerous as well as beneficent forces, it is a site of con-
influence on the study of popular culture and religion: The
siderable ambivalence.
Primitive World and Its Transformations (Ithaca, N.Y., 1953),
The Little Community (Chicago, 1955), and Peasant Society
The most rudimentary forms of a portal are the cave en-
and Culture (Chicago, 1956). Two works by Milton Singer
trance, the stone heap, the upright post, and two uprights
are also recommended; although devoted to the Hindu tradi-
supporting a lintel. More elaborate ones add not only famil-
tion, they have much broader implications for many of the
iar features such as a threshold, doors, knobs, and hinges, but
issues of popular religion and its relationship to urbanism
also figures, inscriptions, porches, domical towers, cupolas,
and the great traditions: Traditional India: Structure and
niches for statues, and crowning arcades. In some eras portals
Change (Philadelphia, 1959) and When a Great Tradition
have been so emphasized as to become freestanding monu-
Modernizes (New York, 1972).
ments separated from buildings, bridges, or city walls. No
Approaches to Popular Culture, edited by C. W. E. Bigsby
longer only markers of paths, they become places in their
(Bowling Green, Ohio, 1976), is an illuminating group of
own right. Three famous examples are the Great Gateway
essays that demonstrate the ambiguity and difficulty of clear
(1630–1653 CE) at the Taj Mahal in India, the bailou
definition of the meaning of popular culture. Of particular
(“entrance”) leading to the Temple of the Sleeping Buddha
interest are “Popular Culture: A Sociological Approach” by
Zev Barbu, “Oblique Approaches to the History of Popular
(eighteenth century) near Beijing, and the Gates of Paradise
Culture” by Peter Burke, and “The Politics of Popular Cul-
(1403–1424 CE), designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti for the Flor-
ture” by C. W. E. Bigsby. The political and ideological
ence Baptistry (c. eleventh century CE). In cases where a road
meaning of popular culture is also explored in Herbert J.
originates or terminates at a gate—for instance, the Ishtar
Gans’s Popular Culture and High Culture (New York, 1974).
Gate of Babylon (c. 575 BCE) and its grand procession way,
Finally, for a group of essays discussing the meaning of social his-
or the Lion’s Gate (rebuilt by Sultan Süleyman in 1538–
tory in various historical contexts, see Reliving the Past, edited
1539 CE) leading to the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem—it seems
by Olivier Zunz (Chapel Hill, N. C., 1985).
that the portal usually sanctifies the path rather than vice
versa. It is not uncommon for a pilgrim to have to pass
New Sources
through several preliminary gateways on a road leading to a
Berlinerblau, Jacques. “Max Weber’s Useful Ambiguities and the
Problem of Defining ‘Popular Religion.’” Journal of the
major portal.
American Academy of Religion 69 (September 2001): 605–
FUNCTIONS. The widespread, cross-cultural separation, elab-
626.
oration, and multiplication of portals suggests that their im-
Feuchtwang, Stephan. Popular Religion in China: The Imperial
portance far exceeds their two most obvious functions,
Metaphor. Richmond, U.K., 2001.
namely regulating traffic and providing military defense.
Other functions are to commemorate noteworthy events,
Marsh, Christopher. Popular Religion in 16th-Century England.
New York, 1998.
memorialize cultural heroes and royalty, instruct the faithful,
propagandize strangers and outsiders, advertise the nature or
Mikalson, Jon. Honor Thy Gods: Popular Religion in Greek Trage-
use of a building, and dramatize the status of inhabitants.
dy. Durham, 1992.
Samuel, Geoffrey, Hamish Gregor, and Elisabeth Stutchbury, eds.
The bronze doors (1015 CE) of the cathedral at Hildes-
Tantra and Popular Religion in Tibet. Columbia, Mo., 1994.
heim in Germany, for example, teach Christian believers to
consider Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection as both a parallel
Scribner, Robert, and Trevor Johnson, eds. Popular Religion in
Germany and Central Europe, 1400–1800. New York, 1996.
and a reversal of the disobedience of Adam and Eve by pre-
senting the two stories on opposing door leaves as a visual
Sharot, Stephen. A Comparative Sociology of World Religions: Vir-
concordantia of the Old and New Testaments. The best-
tuosos, Priests, and Popular Religion. New York, 2001.
known examples of Roman triumphal arches, such as the
Stahl, William A. “The Village Enlightenment in America: Popu-
arches of Titus (82 CE), Trajan (114 CE), and Constantine
lar Religion and Science in the Nineteenth Century.” Sociolo-
(312 CE), commemorate the victories and accomplishments
gy of Religion 62 (Fall 2001): 407–408.
of generals and emperors. Portals such as the Stonehenge
CHARLES H. LONG (1987)
monuments in Wiltshire, England, and the Gates of the Sun
Revised Bibliography
(c. 1000–1200 CE) at Tiahuanaco, Peru, probably had astro-
logical and initiatory uses.
In both East and West, portals have been the object of
PORTALS. A portal is any gateway or doorway, insofar
intense syncretism. Consequently, historians of art and reli-
as it elicits ritual actions or becomes a locus of concentrated
gion are able to trace a remarkable continuity of style and
architectural symbolism. It is a space framed to call attention
consistency of symbolism connecting Indian toran:a with
to spatial transition; thus it has characteristics of both a path
Chinese bailou and Japanese torii (of which there are twenty
and a place. Because a portal often separates a sacred precinct
different styles). Egyptian pylons and heb-sed tents (under
from a profane one, or a regulated from an unregulated zone,
which a pharaoh appeared as the god Horus or Re during
it is both a termination and a beginning. As a structure that
a jubilee festival) are historically linked with Greek propulaia,
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
7334
PORTALS
Roman triumphal arches, the entrances of synagogues, and
cross upon entering churches. From the tradition of carrying
the cupolas of mosques and churches.
brides across thresholds to the shrinking doors of Alice in
S
Wonderland, and from popular old idioms like “gates of hell”
YMBOLISM. In most cases portal symbolism is distinctly ce-
lestial. Besides decorative stars, rosettes, and solar discs, birds
to recent ones like “gates of the dream,” popular religion,
and wings appear over portals with considerable frequency;
folklore, and fairy tales are replete with threshold customs
the Japanese characters for torii mean “bird” and “to be.”
and with dangerous doors that miraculously open or that one
Among ancient Hittites and Egyptians a winged solar disc
must not (but surely will) enter.
formed the lintel, which was supported by two pillars often
MOTIFS. Not only do portals become freestanding structures
personified as guardian spirits. The identification of a lintel
and objects of veneration, but the portal as a motif becomes
with a deity or royalty, and of columns with protector spirits
metaphorically extended beyond its monumental form.
or intermediaries, is widespread.
Tombstones are carved in the shape of a doorway, and ossu-
aries have doorways etched on them, thus associating the
In theocratic societies royal dwellings, like the divine
dead with the divine. Altars incorporate architectural features
kings who inhabited them, were sacred. Portals, because they
of portals; by analogy, both the tabletop and the lintel are
were one of the architectural features most obvious to com-
cathedras (Gk., kathedrae, “divine seats”). Virtually any ves-
moners, stood for the entire palace, which itself stood for the
sel of transition, such as a mother’s body, becomes a door-
king, who in turn incarnated the divine. The Ottoman court
way. The church itself in the Carolingian era (eighth to tenth
in Istanbul, for example, was referred to as “the divine por-
centuries CE) was regarded as a porta coeli (“heavenly portal”).
tal.” As a result of this tendency, a single pillar or the imprint
And in modern times the threshold (limen) has provided the
of a façade on a coin could stand (especially in sixth-century
key metaphor for the widely utilized theory of ritual devel-
Thrace) for the entirety of royal/divine power. The ability
oped by Arnold van Gennep in The Rites of Passage (Chicago,
of an image of a portal to evoke such authority was probably
1960).
enhanced by the practice of administering justice at city
gates. Only the throne rivals the gateway in embodying the
Finally, there is suggestive evidence that the shaman’s
convergence of heavenly and imperial authority. Jesus’ claim
experience of a difficult passage across a bridge or through
to be the “door of the sheep” (Jn. 10:7) reaches back to a
a narrow pass may be a variation on the theme of smiting
Mesopotamian sensibility typified by a hymn to King Ur-
doors and clashing rocks (for example, the Symplegades
Nammu (2113–2096
through which Jason and his argonauts had to pass). The
BCE) addressing him as “Thy gate, thy
God.” The name “Babylon” itself means “the gate of the
image of the vagina dentata (“toothed vagina”) may be an-
gods.” The guardian-like pillars of fire and cloud (Ex. 13:21)
other variant. But the portal, unlike the bridge and symbolic
that led the Israelites in the desert could be interpreted
vagina, emphasizes royally authorized security rather than
in relation to the personified doorposts, Boaz and Jachin (1
shamanistically induced risk.
Kgs. 7:21), that flanked Solomon’s Temple. Pillars in both
SEE ALSO Caves; Pilgrimage; Procession; Tombs; Towers.
freestanding and supporting forms frequently undergo styl-
ization as trees or mountains, thus serving as symbolic links
between heaven and earth.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bernard Goldman’s The Sacred Portal: A Primary Symbol in An-
RITES. Evidence testifying to the importance and meaning
cient Judaic Art (Detroit, 1966) is a careful art-historical
of portals is not only architectural but also ritualistic. Large-
analysis of the portal symbolism of the fifth-century syna-
scale portal rites in the West have been intensely royal. Ex-
gogue at Beth Alpha. Because he sets his study so fully in its
amples include the Babylonian New Year processions, the
context, the book is probably the best single volume on the
Hellenistic epiphany (a cultic action in the mysteries at Eleu-
gateways and door symbolism of the ancient Near East. An
sis), the Roman Adventus, and the Great Entrance (of the
excellent companion to it is E. Baldwin Smith’s Architectural
Symbolism of Imperial Rome and the Middle Ages (1956; re-
Byzantine rite)—all ceremonies for greeting royalty or divin-
print, New York, 1978), a tightly argued study of the imperi-
ity. The intentions of participants seem to have been to puri-
al city-gate concept and its appropriation by Christianity and
fy and protect as well as celebrate and elevate. Also, testing
Islam. John Summerson’s chapter on “An Interpretation of
and humiliation at gateways is a ritual practice, one with evi-
Gothic” in his Heavenly Mansions (New York, 1963) traces
dence extending from Ishtar’s tests at each of the seven por-
the development of the aedicula (“little house”) from its cere-
tals of the underworld to modern border crossings.
monial function as a miniature shrine within a shrine to its
role in inspiring the shape of Gothic arches and finally to its
Small-scale ritual practices at portals are still an active
demise as mere decoration on Georgian door castings.
part of folklore. Making offerings, smearing blood on door-
J. A. MacCullough’s article, “Door,” in the Encyclopaedia of Reli-
posts, burying the dead beneath thresholds, removing shoes,
gion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 4 (Edinburgh,
touching pillars, and either jumping, crawling, or being car-
1911), is dated but remarkably useful. The classic work on
ried over thresholds are common. Lustrations and baths are
which both this article and van Gennep’s theory depend is
widespread preparatory rites for passing through portals.
H. Clay Trumbull’s The Threshold Covenant: Or the Begin-
Jews touch mezuzot on the doorposts of their houses; Catho-
ning of Religious Rites, 2d ed. (New York, 1906). Gertrude
lics dip their fingers in holy water and make the sign of the
R. Levy’s The Gate of Horn: A Study of the Religious Concep-
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
PORTENTS AND PRODIGIES
7335
tions of the Stone Age (London, 1948) is a valuable source of
parts of the universe: heaven, earth, and underworld. Por-
information on primitive gates, especially those bearing
tents and prodigies often appeared in everyday observation.
horns, at megalithic sites in Malta and Paleolithic caves in
Even today, popular belief often attributes favorable or unfa-
southwestern France. Romanesque Bronzes: Church Portals in
vorable meanings to apparitions, no matter how natural: to
Medieval Europe (London, 1958), by Hermann Leisinger,
animals of certain breeds, aspects, or colors, or to certain ec-
shows the richness of myth and art to be found on church
clesial phenomena such as a flash of lightning or a thunder-
doors.
clap in a peaceful sky.
A reliable compendium of pictures and line drawings, as well as
O
a general source of comparative materials on gates, is Banister
MENS. The most universal portent is the word or phrase
Fletcher’s A History of Architecture, 18th ed., revised by J. C.
heard by chance. Although it is not intended for the listener,
Palmes (New York, 1975). On the relation of portals to the
it is perceived to have some bearing on one’s daily life. In
shaman’s narrow pass and the vagina dentata, see Mircea
antiquity, as today, people imagined that utterances spoken
Eliade’s Myths, Rites, Symbols, 2 vols., edited by Wendell C.
or heard fortuitously could foretell a dark future or a bright
Beane and William G. Doty (New York, 1975); Stephen
and happy one. The listener, of course, might fail to recog-
Larsen’s The Shaman’s Doorway (New York, 1976); and Jill
nize the omen for what it was, and remain deaf to its
Raitt’s “The Vagina Dentata and the Immaculatus Uterus
warning.
Divini Fontis,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion
48 (1980): 415–431.
The Roman had the right to accept a portent—an
omen—by declaring it in a loud and clear voice. This was the
New Sources
meaning of the expression omen accipere (“to accept the
Glass, Dorothy F. Portals, Pilgrimage, and Crusade in Western Tus-
cany. Princeton, 1997.
omen”). But the Roman could just as easily strip the omen
of its value and efficacy by declaring in a loud and clear voice
Goldman, Bernard. The Sacred Portal: A Primary Symbol in An-
that he or she refused to take it into account: omen exsecrari,
cient Judaic Art (1966). Lanham, 1986.
abominari (“omen execrated, abominated”). The ancients
Goto, Seiko. The Japanese Garden: Gateway to the Human Spirit.
also knew how to transform the omen’s value and meaning
New York, 2003.
by adroit wording that modified or transformed its scope.
Kowalski, Jeff Karl, ed. Mesoamerican Architecture as a Cultural
Celebrated narratives from Latin writers illustrate the efficacy
Symbol. New York, 1999.
of human speech in this regard, as in Ovid’s Fasti (3.330ff.),
Langdon, E. Jean Matteson, and Gerhard Baer. Portals of Power:
in which the legendary king of Rome, the pious Numa Pom-
Shamanism in South America. Albuquerque, 1992.
pilius, avoided by clever replies Jupiter’s cruel demand for
Morant, Roland W. The Monastic Gatehouse and Other Types of
human lives to expiate the stain left on the soil by a bolt of
Portals in Medieval Religious Houses. Sussex, U.K., 1995.
lightning.
RONALD L. GRIMES (1987)
AUSPICES. As with all peoples of Indo-European origin, the
Revised Bibliography
most important and frequent portents for the Greeks and
Romans were furnished by the flights, cries, and behavior of
birds. The importance of birds as portents is clear in Aris-
tophanes’ comedy The Birds, which was performed at the fes-
PORTENTS AND PRODIGIES are signs that, if
tival of the Great Dionysia in Athens in 414 BCE. In this play,
understood or interpreted correctly, can reveal personal des-
in which distant memories are muted by the satiric medium,
tinies and the will of the gods. They may be observed and
the birds proudly bestow upon themselves leading roles as
interpreted either by the person who witnessed them or,
true guides, not mere advisers of human beings. Although
more usually, by a priest specializing in the science required.
this might simply be poetic fancy, it must reflect the memory
Portents and prodigies are one of the sources of the art
of a very ancient reality whose origins are lost in the mists
of divination (divinatio in Latin, mantik¯e techn¯e in Greek).
of protohistory.
The diviner, who is capable of predicting the future, could
In the vast domain of portents conveyed by birds, an-
have recourse either to the exegesis of observed signs or to
cient Italy deserves attention. From its origins, Rome had a
prophetic inspiration, a kind of delirium (mania) deriving
very important priestly college, the augurs, whose responsi-
from his possession by some divinity who comes into contact
bility was to preserve scrupulously and apply methodically
with diviners, sibyls, or Pythian priestesses.
the religious regulations pertaining to signs given by birds,
Some of the words designating portent or prodigy in the
that is, auspices. By their presence, advice, and collaboration,
languages of classical antiquity (Greek, Latin, and also Etrus-
the augurs could ensure the propriety of the actions of the
can, which remains largely obscure to us) have a clear origin
magistrates. They possessed the compilations of sacred pre-
and significance; others have an original meaning that eludes
cepts, the Libri augurales, which preserved in full detail the
us.
rules of auspication and the precise record of controversies
over procedure.
S¯emeion in Greek and signum in Latin correspond close-
ly to the word sign. The ancients lived in a world where signs
Numerous Greek and Latin texts describe minutely the
were ever present and were to be found in the most diverse
ritual capture of the auspices, a ceremony dating from 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
7336
PORTENTS AND PRODIGIES
beginnings of Rome. The fratricidal rivalry of the twins
gans of victims that was transmitted from one generation to
Romulus and Remus was adjudicated and the founder of the
the next.
city selected through precise augural interrogation of the di-
For the haruspex, as for the baru, each fact noted at the
vine will. Romulus’s lituus, a curved stick, which he used to
sacrifice—i.e., form, color, presence or absence of specific
take the portents, became the characteristic emblem of the
parts of the viscera—unfailingly foretold the approach of
augural sacerdotia.
specific events, favorable or foreboding, in human society.
The object of augury was to obtain signs testifying to
Rome received its haruspicinal science primarily from Etru-
the agreement of the gods with the city in any political, reli-
ria, which, long before it was conquered, had entrusted its
gious, or military actions it wanted to undertake. The juridi-
best diviners to Rome. But did Etruria develop this discipline
cal and pragmatic Roman mind knew how to organize the
independently, or did it borrow elements from the Greek
ritual needed to obtain this assent in the most efficacious way
world or even from regions of the Near East? The latter is
possible. A sacred formula, which served as a veritable pact
more likely, although the paths such influences followed are
between humans and gods, was read in a loud and clear voice
difficult to determine.
by the priest who was to perform the augury. The formula
specified both the time and place in which the signs were to
In various lands of the Near East, numerous terra-cotta
be observed. The augurs thus received certified, enabling
models have been discovered. These models represent organs
signs that had legal force and value in themselves. But the
of sacrificed sheep and bear inscriptions clearly indicating the
ceremony could be marked also by accidental, unforeseen
portents foretold by anomalies in the organs. Etruria is the
phenomena that had to be taken into account.
source of the famous bronze liver found in the Po plain in
1877 near the city of Piacenza. The convex surface of the Pia-
The Romans were not, to be sure, the only people in
cenza Liver is divided into two lobes bearing the names of
Italy who possessed such an augural law. The longest reli-
the sun (Usil) and the moon (Tiur). The concave surface, ad-
gious inscription left by classical antiquity, the Eugubine tab-
mirably sculptured and engraved, is divided into a large
lets, attest to the existence of augural law among other Italic
number of compartments, on which can be read forty-two
peoples, especially the Umbrians. According to this well-
inscriptions and twenty-seven names of divinities. This is a
known text, a sacerdotal college called the Attiedii Brother-
graphic illustration of the haruspex’s fundamental belief: that
hood practiced a system of explication very similar to that
the gods actually occupy different parts of the sacrificed ani-
used by the Roman augers. In both cases, the observation
mal, and their places there correspond to those they occupy
and interpretation of portents was carried out with the same
in the sky.
formalism and attention to minute detail in the ritual proce-
dures. The question put to the gods was the same among
OTHER PORTENTS. The sky, in antiquity, was the home of
both peoples: Were they in agreement with the proposed en-
reigning gods and the place from which they launched com-
terprise or not?
ets, falling stars, lightning, and thunder (sources of joy or,
more often, terror), considered in some places portents, in
HARUSPICES. Among the series of portents that lent them-
other places prodigies. Lightning and thunder were major
selves to observation, those furnished by a sacrificial victim
phenomena, intended to warn humans, who noted with the
consecrated on the altar of a divinity held a major impor-
keenest attention the path of meteorites and deep claps of
tance in classical antiquity and in other civilizations. The rea-
thunder, foretelling, according to Cicero, the most serious
son is clear. By virtue of its consecration, the sacrificial ani-
perils for the city and state.
mal passes from the domain of the human to that of the god.
The gods express their disposition by means of the victim it-
The Etruscans developed most fully the so-called sci-
self in the moments preceding, accompanying, and following
ence of interpretation of major celestial portents. Indeed, the
the sacrifice. It was important, then, to observe everything
master of thunder and lightning, the Etruscan Tinia, was the
in the victim’s behavior with the greatest attention: When
homologue of the Hellenic Zeus, undisputed master of mete-
it was led to the altar and when it received the mortal blow,
orological phenomena, and of the Roman Jupiter, who
the crackling of flesh on the brazier, the colors of the flame,
hurled thunderbolts during the day (Summanus was master
and the speed of the smoke’s ascent into the sky.
during the night). The Etruscans developed a complete
methodology for the interpretation of thunderbolts, includ-
But the clearest and most decisive indications were pro-
ing directions for expiation if the portents were unfavorable.
vided by the examination of the entrails of the sacrificial ani-
mal by experienced specialists: in Greece, the Iamides, divin-
The Greek historian Diodorus was not exaggerating
ers at Olympia; in Etruria and Rome, the haruspices. The
when he wrote, “Etruscan keraunoscopia [keraunos was the
haruspices, according to the ancients, enjoyed an immense
Greek word for thunder and lightning] was renowned
reputation and seemed to practice a science that was infalli-
throughout nearly the whole earth” (5.40.2). Seneca, in Nat-
ble. They can be compared only with the baru, Babylonian
ural Questions (2.32ff.), discourses knowingly on the differ-
priests who in the second millennium BCE had a veritable li-
ences between Roman and Etruscan approaches to portents,
brary of clay tablets at their disposal. These tablets detailed
and on the importance the Etruscans placed on thunder por-
a complex doctrine based on minute observation of the or-
tents. He wrote, “Since the Etruscans relate everything to 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
PORTENTS AND PRODIGIES
7337
vinity, they are persuaded not that thunderclaps foretell the
called prodigium, monstrum, miraculum, ostentum, and por-
future because they have been formed, but that they take
tentum. It is not easy to distinguish among the usages of these
form because they must foretell the future.”
different words. Prodigium is the most often used; its etymol-
ogy is unclear. Monstrum and miraculum are applied to
If portents are taken to include inanimate objects and
something unexplainable in a living creature, human or ani-
the earth itself, they are even more numerous in the Greek,
mal. Ostentum and portentum, properly speaking, designate
Roman, and Etruscan traditions. The importance of portents
what the gods present to humans. None of these terms im-
furnished by waters, especially the waters of springs, is attest-
plied, however, the idea of portent, in the sense of warning
ed by texts and archaeological data. These portents depended
about the future. Finally it should be noted that the Roman
on the way the water spurted out from the depths of the
term miraculum became specialized in modern languages to
earth, and also on the way that objects thrown into them
designate all events that ignored natural laws, particularly
were carried along or sank. They were attributed to nymphs
those associated with Christ. In the shift from paganism to
reigning over these streams and to various female divinities
Christianity, the word remained very much alive.
who were objects of popular devotions in different parts of
the ancient world.
In Etruria, as well as in Rome and the rest of the Italic
Like the surface of water, the mirror was thought to
world, prodigies appeared in various forms. In Greece, as in
present future events in its reflected images. Drawing lots by
many other countries, the prodigy could occur in any aspect
choosing among similar objects also appeared to translate ei-
of nature: earth, sea, sky, underground, in the realms of hu-
ther the will of the gods or the will of destiny. Thus, as a re-
mans, animals, vegetables, and inanimate objects. The prodi-
sponse to a question, the white bean drawn by the Greek di-
gy was attributed to one or another of the gods. The most
viner represented a positive answer, the black bean a negative
diverse chthonian phenomena—subterranean rumbles, vol-
answer. At Delphi, the center of divination in the ancient
canic displays, earthquakes, and tidal waves—terribly feared
world, Apollo spoke through the mouth of his priestess, the
in themselves, were also considered forewarnings of the most
Pythia, but she, too, in certain cases, had recourse to drawing
dire events. Sources of terror for the ancients, these phenom-
lots.
ena required expiatory ceremonies intended to pacify the
gods.
In inspired divination, the priest or prophetess, after at-
taining the necessary precondition, entered into direct con-
PRODIGIES IN ETRUSCAN LIFE. Etruria devoted a part of its
tact with the deity. The god then spoke through their voices
sacred books to ostentaria, collections of rules for observing,
and permitted them to prophesy the future, albeit in obscure
explicating, and expiating prodigies. For this function, Rome
terms that required professional exegesis.
called on the knowledge of the haruspices. For these priests,
as for the Greeks, a prodigy could have a favorable or an evil
The premonitory dream is the object of one of the most
and disastrous meaning. Presumably it was different in
widespread human beliefs, and in antiquity it was connected
Rome, at least at the beginning of its history.The world of
with rituals of incubation. The believer, after carrying out
Etruscan prodigies is rather well known because Roman writ-
certain rituals before induced sleep, sees in a dream what the
ings accord them considerable importance and familiarize re-
priests interpret upon awakening.
searchers with the haruspices’ behavior vis-à-vis the most ex-
THE WORLD OF PRODIGIES. To move from portents to the
traordinary phenomena. The exegeses were often subtle, but
world of prodigies is not really to change domains, because
usually based on a rather clear symbolism. A comet, a mete-
the prodigy, like the portent, is a sign, a warning the gods
or, or a ringing that seemed to burst out of a serene sky could
transmit to humans. Nevertheless, there is a serious differ-
mark the end of a saeculum, one of those centuries that
ence between the two, which lies in the importance and grav-
formed the history of Etruria. As in Greece, seismic activity
ity of the sign. The prodigy, wherever it appears, is a truly
on Tuscan soil foretold the most serious events. Conversely,
exceptional phenomenon that disrupts the normal course of
however, certain prodigies could foretell the high destiny of
things for a time.
humans, often divining in certain individuals the charisma
The Greeks could call the prodigy s¯emeion, but the
necessary for kingship. Before the first two Etruscan kings
proper term is teras, whose semantic field is the same as that
of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus and Servius Tullius, acceded to
of the archaic term pelo¯r. Both words lack an Indo-European
the throne, they had been marked by prodigies announcing
etymology and undoubtedly represent loanwords derived
their elevated destiny. The former, upon arriving in Rome
perhaps from one of the Near Eastern civilizations. Despite
had his hat removed by an eagle, which then replaced it, ut-
their importance in Etruscan divination, the Etruscan word
tering loud cries. Divine favor distinguished Servius Tullius
or words designating prodigies are not known. Although the
during his childhood, for flames would surround his head for
word teras is found in one of two Etruscan inscriptions, the
long periods, frightening those around him, and then flicker
exact meaning of the word in this context cannot be con-
out.
firmed.
It is clear that haruspices did not need uncommon wis-
In Latin, the numerous names for the prodigy reveal the
dom to interpret correctly miraculous phenomena by means
importance the notion possessed in the Roman mind. It is
of transparent symbolism. But the priests were also masters
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
7338
POSEIDON
of ritual as well as of the propitiatory expiations rendered
BIBLIOGRAPHY
necessary by any prodigy that they thought defiled the land
Works on Portents
or the city. The priests purified places that had been struck
Bouché-Leclercq, Auguste. L’astrologie grecque. Paris, 1899.
by lightning by interring all objects that it had touched.
Catalano, Pierangelo. Contributi allo studio del diritto augurale,
Compelled by a deep sense of cosmic order, they pitilessly
vol. 1. Turin, 1960.
eliminated abnormal creatures as products of the cruelty of
Nougayrol, Jean. “Les rapports des haruspicines étrusque et as-
nature. The appearance of monsters in the animal or human
syro-babylonienne, et le foie d’argile de Falerii veteres.” In
realm was a tangible sign of divine wrath, representing a dis-
Comptes rendus, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres,
turbance of the rhythm and laws of the universe. Thus, the
pp. 509–519. Paris, 1955.
haruspices made monsters disappear from the face of the
Thulin, Carl O. Die etruskische Disciplin (1906–1909). 3 vols. Re-
earth by fire or drowning, but without laying hands on them,
print, Darmstadt, 1968.
lest they suffer contagion from the contamination.
Works on Prodigies
Aumüller, Ernst. “Das Prodigium bei Tacitus.” Ph.D. diss., Uni-
PRODIGIES IN ROMAN LIFE. In Rome, the prodigy went
versity of Frankfurt, 1948.
through a perceptible evolution; its characteristics were mod-
Bloch, Raymond. Les prodiges dans l’Antiquité classique: Grèce, Et-
ified during the course of history. In the beginning, accord-
rurie et Rome. Paris, 1963.
ing to Greek and Roman historians, the prodigy was not a
Brassmann-Fischer, Brigitte. Die Prodigien in Vergils Aeneis. Mu-
divinatory sign, not a simple presaging of an important
nich, 1966.
event. An unforeseen event that appeared in some form of
Macbain, Bruce. Prodigy and Expiation: A Study in Religion and
nature broke the course of natural laws and indicated the
Politics in Republican Rome. Brussels, 1982.
wrath of the gods, a rupture of the peace the gods maintained
Weinstock, Stefan. “Libri Fulgurales.” Papers of the British School
with Rome. A sudden disruption of the pax deum represent-
at Rome 19 (1951): 122–153.
ed a terrible threat. Such a situation most often came about
through the failure of either citizens or the state to fulfill reli-
RAYMOND BLOCH (1987)
Translated from French by Marilyn Gaddis Rose
gious duties. To obtain the reestablishment of the crucial pax
deum, high authorities had at their disposal an arsenal of ex-
piatory measures. They addressed the keepers of whatever re-
ligious traditions were indicated—the pontiffs, the guardians
POSEIDON is the ancient Greek god who embodies
of the Sibylline Books, or even the haruspices—to act with-
primitive power—the power of the untamed, the brutal, the
out delay in restoring calm to a world momentarily threat-
wild. His name, which has not yet been convincingly ex-
ened. This was known as procuratio prodigiorum (“prodigy
plained, occurs on clay tablets from Pylos dating from the
management”), and it influenced greatly the evolution of
period preceding the destruction of Mycenaean civilization
Roman religion.
(1200 BCE). The god thus belongs to the older strata of Greek
religion. His exact place in the Mycenaean pantheon is un-
In the crises that characterized Roman religious history
known, but he seems to have been more important that
from the time of the Second Punic War, an anxious public
Zeus, who was the most prominent Greek god in the Classi-
felt new divinatory needs. Portents and prodigies became
cal period. The tablets of Pylos also mention the Posidaion
nearly indistinguishable, except for the force of the meaning
(a sanctuary most probably located within the city of Pylos)
they signified. To be sure, the expiation of contamination
and a goddess Posidaeja (possibly Poseidon’s wife, though
continued, but the search for divinatory meaning now inter-
she is not heard of in later times).
vened. At the end of the republic and the beginning of the
In the Classical period, Poseidon was mainly connected
empire, Hellenic mystery religions and religions of the Near
with the sea, earthquakes, the horse, and men’s associations.
East increased in popularity, and Christian monotheism
In Homer’s Iliad, most commonly dated from the eighth
made gradual inroads. The person of the emperor, now the
century BCE, Poseidon is pictured as the ruler of the sea.
center of religious life, was surrounded by an entire series of
When he drives over the waves, his chariot remains dry and
charismatic signs, portents, or prodigies. The belief in tradi-
the monsters of the deep play beneath him: “They know
tional prodigies, however, gave way gradually to other more
their lord” (Iliad 12.28). In the post-Homeric period, he was
complex and increasingly widespread beliefs that came from
not so much the god of the sailors as of the fisherman, whose
Greece and the East. Astrology and magic became more im-
tool, the trident, became his symbol.
portant, and it was only in great crises that the haruspices,
Besides the sea, Poseidon was also connected with the
the most ancient priests in Italy, dared to show their strength
earth. His anger was considered the cause of the earthquakes
by calling attention to the prodigies whose secrets they had
that hit Greece regularly (Homer refers to him as gai¯eochos,
jealously guarded.
“earthshaking”), but the god was also invoked to end them;
in many cities (especially on the western coast of Asia Minor)
SEE ALSO Divination; Etruscan Religion; Oracles; Sky.
Poseidon was worshiped with the epithet asphaleios (“the im-
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
POSITIVISM
7339
movable one”). When volcanic activity in 198 BCE caused the
them in his Discours sur l’ensemble du positivisme (1848) and
emergence of a new, small island, the inhabitants of neigh-
his Catéchisme positiviste (1852).Comte’s neologisms were
boring Thera, as was typical, dedicated a temple to Poseidon
accepted by the Academie Française in 1878. Equivalent En-
Asphaleios on it.
glish terms were employed by John Stuart Mill in his Auguste
Poseidon was also widely associated with horse breeding
Comte and Positivism (1865).
and racing; Greek myth even made him the father of the first
For Comte, “positive philosophy” means real, certain,
horse, and the father or grandfather of the famous horses
organic, relational philosophy, and positivism is a philosoph-
Pegasus and Areion. Whereas the goddess Athena was con-
ical system founded on positive facts and observable phe-
sidered to be responsible for the technique of horse racing,
nomena. Because positive facts are not isolated but compre-
Poseidon was connected with the wild, nervous, and power-
hended by the positive sciences, positivism is a philosophy
ful nature of the horse. Consequently, Athena was invoked
drawn from the whole of those sciences, and the scientific
during the race, but Poseidon before or after.
method determines positivist doctrine. But positivism, as de-
Finally, Poseidon was connected with men’s associa-
veloped by Comte, is both a philosophical system and a reli-
tions. His temples were the meeting places of the pan-Ionic
gious system that develops from that philosophy.
league and of the early amphictyony that comprised Athens
POSITIVISM AND THE THREE-STATE LAW. In his Cours de
and its neighbors. Various epithets of the god connect him
philosophie positive (1830–1842), Comte explains the rela-
with specific clans and tribes. Elsewhere Poseidon was wor-
tion of positive philosophy to the positive sciences: “The
shiped with the epithet phutalmios (“the fostering one”),
proper study of generalities of the several sciences conceived
which points to an association with rites of initiation. In-
as submitted to a single method and as forming the several
deed, myth relates that the god’s love turned the girl Kaineus
parts of a general research plan.” He compares positive phi-
into an adult man; her sex change is a mythical reflection of
losophy to what is called in English “natural philosophy.”
the ritual transvestism of the initiands. At a festival for Posei-
However, this latter does not include social phenomena, as
don in Ephesus, boys acting as wine pourers were called
does positive philosophy.
“bulls,” just as the god himself was sometimes called “Bull.”
All this evidence seems to point to a onetime connection of
Comte contrasted positive philosophy to theological
the god with Archaic men’s associations (Männerbünde) and
philosophy and metaphysical philosophy. These three phi-
their ecstatic bull-warriors, which also could be found among
losophies are distinguished according to a three-state law of
the early Germanic peoples.
human knowledge, first presented in Plan des travaux scienti-
fiques nécessaires pour réorganiser la société (Plan of the scien-
The Greeks experienced the power of Poseidon as both
tific tasks necessary for the reorganization of society, 1822)
numinous and untamed. His sanctuaries were usually located
and developed in the Cours de philosophie positive. The first
outside city walls. Although his power was inescapable, the
lesson of the course sketches the progressive march of the
god was given no place within the ordered society of the
human mind and the whole development of human under-
Greek city-state.
standing through three methods, or states, of philosophizing:
S
theological, or fictitious; metaphysical, or abstract; and scien-
EE ALSO Berserkers.
tific, or positive.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Before the positive method was developed, philoso-
The best collection of sources for Poseidon’s cult is still the reliable
phers, using the metaphysical method, had recourse to ab-
discussion in Lewis R. Farnell’s The Cults of the Greek States,
stract forces to explain all natural phenomena; before the
vol. 4, Poseidon, Apollo (Oxford, 1907), pp. 1–97. The epi-
graphical material presented by Farnell on a number of epi-
metaphysical method, they had recourse to theological
thets is now supplemented by Fritz Graf’s Nordionische Kulte
modes of explanation—to supernatural entities, to first and
(Rome, 1985), pp. 171–2, 175, and 207–8; see now also
final causes—in the search for absolute truth. Though the
Joannis Mylonopoulos, Heiligtümer und Kulte des Poseidon
positive way of philosophizing is, according to Comte, the
auf der Peloponnes (Liège, 2003). Marcel Detienne and Jean-
highest accomplishment of the human mind, the most fun-
Pierre Vernant subtly discuss Poseidon’s relationship with
damental of the three methods remains the theological,
the horse in Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Soci-
which is itself divided into three substates: the fetishistic, the
ety, translated by Janet Lloyd (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.,
polytheistic, and the monotheistic. Comte appreciates the
1978), pp. 187–213. For a new synthesis see my “‘Effigies
role of each of these substates in the development of
Dei’ in Ancient Greece: Poseidon,” in D. van der Plas (ed.),
the human mind and in the “intellectual history of all our
Effigies Dei: Essays on the History of Religions (Leiden, 1987),
societies”; they ground the possibility of three logics within
pp. 35–41.
positive logic: a feeling logic, a picture logic, and a sign logic.
JAN N. BREMMER (1987 AND 2005)
The “fetishistic thinker” is the founder of human language
and of the fine arts; he is nearer to reality and to scientific
truth than is the “dreamy theologist.” Theologism, identified
POSITIVISM. The terms positivisme and positiviste were
with polytheism, is thus opposed to both fetishism and posi-
coined by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), who first employed
tivism. Monotheism, the third of the theological substates,
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
7340
POSITIVISM
is “basically metaphysical theology, which reduces fiction by
nard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) emphasizes the
means of reasoning.” The metaphysical state is always pres-
history of scientific progress in his Entretiens sur la pluralité
ented by Comte as a transitional state between theology and
des mondes (Talks on the plurality of worlds).
positive science, but it also operates as a principle of transfor-
The notion of history, implied by the concept of prog-
mation in the movement from fetishism to polytheism, and
ress, was further developed by Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot
from polytheism to monotheism. Beyond this, the meta-
(1727–1781) in Les progrès successifs de l’esprit humain (The
physical continues its mediation in the “anthropological rev-
successive developments of the human spirit) and by Con-
olution” that begins with Comte’s own synthesis.
dorcet (1743–1794) in Esquisse d’un tableau historique des
TIME, PROGRESS, HISTORY. Comte did not create the idea
progrès de l’esprit humain (Sketch of a historical picture of the
of positivism; it was created by the scientific progress of his
successive developments of the human spirit). The progress
century. Emphasis on the relation between the concept of
of enlightenment becomes the motor of history, a movement
positivism and the concept of progress helps to avoid mis-
beyond the progress of virtue emphasized by the three mono-
construing positivism as a nondialectical position based on
theistic religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. A mani-
the mere assertion that scientific data exist. The three-state
fold time is therefore necessary to Comte’s conception of sci-
law introduced to the system of the sciences the notion of
ence: the time for discovering the truth, or method; the time
time as threefold, dialectical, and progressive.
of scientific progress, or the history of discoveries; the time
for the awakening of consciousness from simple sensation.
The predecessors of positivism can be identified among
the founders of positive science. Comte often invoked the
SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY. The three-state law reiterates and
names of Francis Bacon (1561–1626), Galileo Galilei
condenses observations of Turgot and Condorcet on the
(1564–1642), and René Descartes (1596–1650); nor did he
human mind in a formula that belongs to a new science of
forget Roger Bacon (1220–1292), pioneer of the experimen-
the system of sciences: sociology or anthropology. The law
tal method and among the finest medieval thinkers engaged
must be understood in correlation with the system of the sci-
in natural philosophy.
ences presented in the course on positive philosophy, in
which Comte demonstrates the three-state law in each of the
Roger Bacon’s scientia experimentalis (“experimental sci-
several sciences, from mathematics to biology to sociology.
ence”) was the first form of positive science and as such was
The aim of the course is realized with the coordination of
conceived in correlation with the idea of progress. The idea
all scientific conceptions and the birth of a new science: so-
of progress arises from the dialogue between humans and na-
cial science. Here, the social scientific discovery of social his-
ture—between the questions of humans and the answers of
tory reveals the intimate interrelation of scientific and social
nature. Along with experience, experiment is the foundation
development. Moreover, mind and history play upon one
of the human-nature dialogue, which has been expressed in
another. Thus, Comte’s philosophy of mind is also a philoso-
mathematical formulas; an example is Galileo’s De motu (On
phy of history and, hence, positivistic.
motion).
The paradigm of the three-state law organizes the classi-
From the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, a devel-
fication of the sciences, and the relation between law and
oping critical attitude effected a transition from the common
classification may be expressed in the definition of positivism
religious beliefs of the theological period. During this transi-
as scientia scientiarum, or science of sciences. Robert Flint
tion, authority was rejected in favor of evidence and observa-
(1838–1910), in Philosophy as Scientia Scientiarum and a
tion. Roger Bacon, in his Opus maius (Great work), and
History or Classifications of the Sciences (Edinburgh, 1904),
Francis Bacon, in his Novum organum (New instrument),
writes:
discuss authority as a cause of error. By circumventing such
error, progress in the sciences and the advancement of learn-
Philosophy as scientia scientiarum may have more func-
ing became possible: the concept of progress emerges with
tions than one, but it has at least one. It has to show
how science is related to science, where one science is
the birth of positive science.
in contact with another; in what way each fits into each,
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), in La cena de le ceneri
so that all may compose the symmetrical and glorious
(The Ash Wednesday supper), writes that truth is in prog-
edifice of human knowledge, which has been built up
ress: “Time is the father of truth, its mother is our mind.”
by the labours of all past generations, and which all fu-
ture generations must contribute to perfect and adorn.
A concept of time was thus introduced into the scientific
(p. 4)
method. It was further developed by subsequent philoso-
phers. Galileo’s Discorso del flusso e riflusso del mare (Dis-
For Comte, historical practice itself implies the social theory
course on flood and ebb) demonstrates that nature does not
of the three-state law, which implies the logical and historical
concern itself with the human capacity to understand natural
necessity of social science, which implies positivism, positive
laws: Humans must create a method to understand nature.
philosophy, or the system of positive knowledge. In its turn,
In Discours de la méthode (Discourse on method), Descartes
positivism implies a practice of social reorganization, advo-
introduces a method of reasoning that requires time, as op-
cated by Comte both at the beginning and at the end of his
posed to evidence (which reveals itself in the present). Ber-
own intellectual history.
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
POSTURES AND GESTURES
7341
RELIGION AND POSITIVISM. That the question raised by pos-
positivisme (Paris, 1982), and Le concept de science positive: Ses
itivism with regard to religion was the most important prob-
tenant et ses aboutissants dans structures anthropologiques du
lem for believers at the end of the nineteenth century can be
positivisme (Paris, 1983). For a study of religious positivism,
observed in such studies as Science et religion dans la philoso-
see Walter Dussauze’s Essai sur la religion d’après Auguste
phie contemporaine (Science and religion in contemporary
Comte (Paris, 1901) and Paul Arbousse-Bastide’s “Le positiv-
isme politique et religieux au Brésil” (Ph.D. diss., Sorbonne,
philosophy) by Émile Boutroux (1845–1921) and The Varie-
1953). Paul Arbousse-Bastide treats Comte’s philosophy of
ties of Religious Experience by William James (1842–1910).
education in La doctrine de l’éducation universelle dans la
Boutroux gives a positivist account of the relation of science
philosophie d’Auguste Comte, 2 vols. (Paris, 1957). Pierre Ar-
to religion and recognizes their common components of soli-
naud’s “Le Nouveau Dieu” (Paris, 1973) examines positive
darity, continuity, love, and altruism, but he does not see a
politics.
relation of these components to the positivist starting point
New Sources
in the observation of concrete things. Thus, Boutroux is un-
Cashdollar, Charles. The Transformation of Theology, 1830–1890:
able to admit the principles of religion as he conceived them:
Positivism and Protestant Thought in Britain and America.
God and immortality of the soul. The positivist philosophers
Princeton, N.J., 1989.
Richard Avenarius (1843–1896) and Ernst Mach (1838–
Friedman, Michael. Reconsidering Logical Positivism. New York,
1916), on the other hand, rejected all absolute entities. In
1999.
a letter dated July 14, 1845, Comte himself wrote to John
Groff, Ruth. Critical Realism, Post-Positivism, and the Possibility of
Stuart Mill:
Knowledge. New York, 2004.
Actually, the qualification of atheists suits me, going
Guest, Steven, ed. Positivism Today. Issues in Law and Society se-
strictly by etymology, which is almost always a wrong
ries. Aldershot, U.K., 1996.
way to explain frequently used terms, because we have
in common with those who are so called nothing but
Scharff, Robert. Comte after Positivism. New York, 2002.
disbelief in God, without sharing in any way with them
ANGÈLE KREMER-MARIETTI (1987)
their vain metaphysical dreams about the origin of the
Revised Bibliography
world or humankind, still less their narrow and danger-
ous attempts to systematize morals.
Nevertheless, in another letter to Mill, Comte did not reject
POSSESSION, SPIRIT SEE SPIRIT POSSESSION
praying. “For a real positivist, to pray is to love and to think,
first to think by praying, then to pray by thinking, in order
to develop subjective life toward those whose objective life
is accomplished” (October 28, 1850). To the claim of Emil
POSTURES AND GESTURES are primal aspects
Du Bois-Reymond (1818–1896)—“Ignorabimus” (“We
of religious belief and behavior and as such have emerged,
shall ignore [nonnatural events]”), such positivists as Alfred
with other elements of culturally symbolic expression and
Fouillée (1820–1912) replied “Sperabimus” (“We shall
communication, at the threshold of human existence. Their
hope”). Fouillée assented in some spiritualist claims; like
use is not, of course, restricted to the human species; nonhu-
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), he admitted an unknowable.
man animals display a wide variety of postures and gestures
THE IMPULSE OF POSITIVISM. Positivism is characterized by
that serve to demarcate species from each other and to signify
the will to realize a synthesis that takes into account all
territorial dominance, propagation procedures, and social hi-
human concerns. Some positivists, like Émile Littré (1801–
erarchy. However, culturally generated and transmitted pos-
1881) and Abel Rey (1873–1940), reduce philosophy to a
tures and gestures, which may retain elements of phylogenet-
mere history of scientific thought. Nevertheless, Littré con-
ically evolved ones, nevertheless transcend these in their
cluded that beyond the positivist object of thought there is
specific configurations of learned and intentional patterns,
a reality unattainable yet within the human range of clear vi-
significations, and symbolizations.
sion. Instead of God or the unknowable, Comte proposed
Every religious tradition recognizes an intimate relation-
humanity as the focus of his synthesis, and his “religion of
ship between inward dispositions and external postures and
humanity” attracted many followers in France and abroad,
gestures of the human body, which is capable of expressing
especially in Brazil.
and celebrating a great range of attitudes, moods, motiva-
tions, and intentions, whether sacred or profane. The study
SEE ALSO Comte, Auguste.
of postures and gestures has not progressed as far as the study
of other aspects of religion or as far as the study of social sci-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ence as a whole; but such study—especially the emerging dis-
For discussion of the birth and development of positivism, see
ciplines of kinesics, ethology, and semiotics—deserves close
Henri Gouhier’s La jeunesse d’Auguste Comte et la formation
attention.
du positivisme, 3 vols. (Paris, 1933–1941). Exegesis of the en-
tire philosophical and scientific enterprise of Comte and the
ISLAM: A CASE FOR PRELIMINARY OBSERVATION AND ANAL-
positivists can be found in my Entre le signe et l’histoire:
YSIS. Among the Abrahamic religions, Islam contains in its
L’anthropologie positiviste d’Auguste Comte (Paris, 1982), Le
ritual observances a rich and varied repertory of postures 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
7342
POSTURES AND GESTURES
gestures that are mastered by every adherent. Christianity
in a Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian context, where the
also has many body movements and gestures of deep signifi-
vast majority of people are Muslim, a person kneeling in an
cance, but they are neither universally performed within the
attitude of devotion, with hands folded or palms pressed to-
tradition nor permitted across all classes of believers. All
gether, with head bowed and eyes closed, one is seeing a
Muslims perform the rak Eahs (bowing cycles) of each s:ala¯t,
member of the Christian tradition or possibly a Buddhist.
or prayer service, with a combination of standing, bowing,
Muslims do not kneel at prayer, fold their hands, or bow
prostration, and sitting postures accompanied by coordinat-
their heads with closed eyes like the Christians. Moreover,
ed head, hand, arm, and foot gestures. By contrast, the pos-
within Christianity itself there are significant variations that
tures and gestures of Christian worship, for example in the
identify specific churches, denominations, and sects and, in
Roman Catholic tradition, are assigned to laity or clergy in
some cases—as evident from art and iconography—distinct
a carefully regulated manner; although certain basic forms,
historical periods. Kneeling, for example, is a biblically war-
such as kneeling and making the sign of the cross, are shared,
ranted posture of piety that has been adopted at some time
the laity nevertheless do not raise the sacramental elements,
or other by most Christian communities. But in formal wor-
nor serve them, nor bless—these are gestures reserved for or-
ship, Christians from different traditions do not necessarily
dained priests.
all kneel at the same point, or for the same reason. Some
Christians kneel in adoration, whereas others reserve that
A Muslim, or a knowledgeable outside observer, can tell
posture for penitence, which is often done in private. Some
at a glance and from a distance when a Muslim is at formal
Christians stand while receiving Communion, whereas oth-
prayer (s:ala¯t), and moreover at what point in the ritual, just
ers kneel.
from observing postures and gestures. If the worshiper is
standing, with the hands placed slightly in front and to the
Likewise, there are varying ways of making the sign of
sides of the head, with the thumbs aligned with the earlobes,
the cross, two of which distinguish Roman Catholics from
then the observer knows that the prayer has just begun with
Eastern Orthodox: the former move the hand from the left
the utterance “Alla¯hu akbar” (“God is most great!”). But the
to the right shoulder, whereas the latter move the hand from
worshiper seated with knees on the floor and buttocks resting
right to left. Both gestures are unambiguously Christian, yet
on the ankles is either at the midpoint of the cycle or near
the slight difference symbolizes also a great historical and
the end, depending on the precise placement of feet and
communal separation. Similarly, particular Islamic subcom-
hands. If the right hand is resting on the right thigh, and
munities may exhibit variations of gesture: for example, in
gathered into a fist, with the index finger waving slowly back
the standing position of formal worship some allow the
and forth, and if the left foot has been placed beneath the
hands to hang loosely at the sides, whereas others fold them
right ankle, under the buttocks, then the cycle is nearly fin-
gently in front of the body. By contrast, as already noted, the
ished. If it is the final cycle in the series—and each daily s:ala¯t
Islamic cultus of posture and gesture is remarkably uniform
has a set number of required rak Eahs—then the observer will
throughout the world and has been so since its early formal-
know that the prayer is nearly over by the worshiper’s turn-
ization. A Baptist of narrow experience who visits a high
ing of the head to the right and the left, uttering a blessing
church Episcopal service would be at sea about what to do
in each direction. This is the only point in any s:ala¯t service
next in the liturgy: stand, kneel, or sit? But every Muslim
at which the worshiper turns aside in any manner from the
with minimal religious upbringing would be at home in Is-
qiblah, or direction of Mecca. Other important parts of the
lamic worship anywhere in the world. Even a Muslim who
rak Eah, which itself means “bowing,” are actual bowing and,
does not understand a word of Arabic—though most do
most important, a full prostration with the forehead touch-
know a few religious phrases—probably knows the postures
ing the floor or ground; this gesture, called in Arabic sajda,
and gestures of worship in every detail.
is the climax of Islamic worship, when the slave of God sym-
SYMBOLIC RANGE OF RELIGIOUS POSTURES AND GESTURES.
bolizes his total submission and obedience. If the worshiper
Religious postures and gestures are cultural products and are
is seen in the sitting posture, but with hands extended in
transmitted in various ways and with different understand-
front, palms upward, he or she is not engaged in the formal
ings. Consequently, the question of whether there is an in-
s:ala¯t, probably, but is performing du Ea¯D, the voluntary prayer
trinsic relationship between inward dispositions and outward
of personal petition frequently uttered after formal worship
manifestations is difficult to resolve. It would seem that in
and at other auspicious times, such as at the close of a QurDa¯n
most cases these manifestations are intentional signs that
recitation, especially of the entire text. Or a prostration may
serve to reinforce as well as express doctrines and attitudes.
be enacted in conjunction with the recitation of a special
Nevertheless, they are similar in many cultures; there is a
QurDa¯n verse—whose hearing renders meritorious an imme-
high correlation between certain postures and gestures and
diate sajda—but omitting the other postures and gestures of
a wide range of emotions and purposes that are usually if not
the full rak Eah.
exclusively religious or magical. Among these are adoration,
SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF RELIGIOUS POSTURES AND GES-
affirmation, blessing, consecration, curse, gratitude, greeting,
TURES. Religious postures and gestures serve not only to sym-
humility, invocation, meditation, mourning, oath taking,
bolize and regulate devotion; they also demarcate religious
penitence, pleading, praise, prayer, protection, remorse, rev-
communities and subcommunities. If one sees, for example,
erence, sorrow, and submission.
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
POSTURES AND GESTURES
7343
Kneeling is often associated with adoration, blessing,
communing with God and celebrating the mysteries of salva-
confession, humility, penitence, pleading, petition, remorse,
tion. Likewise, celebration of the whole person, soul and
and submission, especially in Christianity. Prostration is a
body, was a basic dimension in the worship of the Jews of
dramatic posture expressing submission, penitence, conse-
biblical times, who danced and clapped their hands in joy
cration, and humiliation. It is especially closely associated
in the presence of God.
with Islamic worship, but known also in the Bible and other
Hands, which express the broadest range of religious
religious contexts.
and magical meanings and are major instruments of gesture
The sitting posture sometimes symbolizes religious atti-
in all traditions, are used in such motions and configurations
tudes, particularly in the Buddhist attitude of concentration
as are necessary for blessing, praying, consecrating, healing,
wherein the legs are crossed, right over left, with soles facing
anointing, protecting, welcoming, ordaining, and other pur-
upward, hands resting on the thighs, with thumbs touching.
poses.
This “Lotus Position” is basic to Buddhist meditation as well
Mudra¯, a Sanskrit word meaning “sign, gesture,” de-
as to Hindu yoga. Muslims commonly sit in a posture similar
notes a highly ramified and conceptually sophisticated sym-
to the Lotus Position when in a mosque or adopt it as a nor-
bolic hand language developed by the closely related Indian
mal posture anywhere. Egyptian Muslims like to rock back
religions Hinduism and Buddhism; it interpenetrates and
and forth in this position when listening to QurDa¯n recita-
connects various levels of their belief, behavior, aesthetic sen-
tion, which can be highly rhythmic. A similar practice is
sitivity, and communal life. Mudra¯s take many forms, each
found among Jews. Sitting is also understood as a royal and
of which symbolizes a doctrine or truth or realization or ex-
a divine posture, as evidenced by thrones and mounts, from
perience. In Buddhism, for example, a fundamental event in
whence commands and judgments descend.
the founder’s career may be symbolized by means of mudra¯.
Standing is a posture that in religious tradition signifies
Mudra¯s are used extensively in ritual, iconography, dance,
respect, as evidenced when Christians stand for the reading
drama, and teaching in Hindu and Buddhist regions. With-
aloud of the gospel lesson. Early Christians stood for congre-
out an understanding of mudra¯, one could not interpret and
gational prayer, and standing throughout the service is still
thus fully appreciate the hundreds of stone reliefs concerning
practiced in Eastern Orthodoxy. Muslims stand at the begin-
the Buddha’s cosmic evolution that adorn the magnificent
ning of the s:ala¯t when making their n¯ıyah, or “intention,”
stupa of Borobudur in Central Java.
and uttering the first takb¯ır, “God is most great!” The Islam-
Not only the hands, but also the arms have been impor-
ic funeral service may be performed only in a standing posi-
tant in religious gesture. Extending the arms out to the sides
tion, and it is recommended that Muslims stand in respect
has been practiced as a gesture of solar adoration. Coptic
when a funeral procession passes, because a soul is being
Christians spread out their arms in the form of a cross at bap-
transported to its place of repose until the Resurrection. The
tism. Ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Babylonian, and Etrus-
most profound point of the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca
can worshipers spread their arms in prayer. Ancient Egyp-
(h:ajj) is the wuqu¯f, or “standing” ceremony, when the pil-
tians, Buddhists, and Romans prayed with arms crossed on
grims stand for hours in repentance and hope for mercy from
the chest. Present-day extending of the arms by Armenian
God. So important is this ritual standing to the Muslim that
Christians is symbolic of the Trinity; in this position the neo-
its omission for any reason invalidates the individual’s pil-
phyte turns toward the west and spits at the Devil, then turns
grimage; unlike certain other elements of the pilgrimage, the
east with spread arms and faces heaven in acknowledgment
wuqu¯f must be performed beginning on a set day and at
of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
noon.
Mouth and lips, too, have been prominent in sacred ges-
Dance as practiced in religious contexts combines many
ture among very diverse peoples. Magical practices have in-
postures and gestures in complex configurations. The Ameri-
cluded spitting three times into the folds of one’s garment
can Indians, for example, developed dance for religious and
to avoid the evil eye (ancient Greece), spitting on children
magical purposes in pursuit of healing, hunting success, rain,
for the same reason (ancient Rome), spitting into the eye of
good crops, and victory over enemies, as well as for critical
a close relative to prove the absence of evil-eye intentions (an-
and calendrical rites having to do with matters such as puber-
cient and modern Greece), and other spitting gestures, such
ty, initiation, seasons, harvests, and natural calamities. Dance
as the Shinto¯ and Buddhist practice in Japan of spitting at
has been of central importance in the religious life of peoples
healing deities. The QurDa¯n instructs one to take refuge from
in all regions, and it extends far back into prehistory. The
the “evil of the women who blow on knots,” meaning the
Mevlev¯ıs, members of the S:u¯f¯ı order of “dancing” or “whirl-
witches who cast harmful spells by ritual spitting on knots
ing” dervishes founded by Jala¯l al-D¯ın Ru¯m¯ı (d. 1273), spin
tied in a cord (113:5).
around their leader like heavenly bodies rotating about the
sun. The twentieth century has seen a renewed interest in
Kissing particularly is often used in ritual gesture.
both Roman Catholic and Protestant worship in sacred
Women kissed Christ’s feet (Lk. 7:38). The thresholds of
dance, in the conviction that the body and its movements
churches have traditionally been kissed, as have been relics,
are repositories of holiness and a fundamental means for
burial sites, and other powerful repositories of the holy. Mus-
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POSTURES AND GESTURES
lim folk practices include the kissing of saint shrine enclo-
danger is not perceived to be grave. The “horns” are also
sures for barakah (“blessing”). Christians have been known
sometimes thus covered.
to kiss the Bible when taking an oath. Sh¯ıE¯ı Muslims some-
Social postures and gestures sometimes involve ritual
times kiss copies of the QurDa¯n. Jews kiss the mezuzah when
avoidances. Among Muslims, especially in the Middle East
leaving or entering the home. Mecca pilgrims try to kiss the
and Southeast Asia, a strong distinction is made between the
holy Black Stone embedded in the KaEbah, in imitation of
right and left sides of the body. Only the right hand is con-
Muhammad’s custom. Ancient Greeks kissed the sacred oak
sidered clean and fit for gesturing, giving, receiving, blessing,
of Zeus at Aegina. Catholics kiss the crucifix. Many ancient
greeting, eating, and touching. The left hand is considered
Near Eastern peoples kissed the hands, feet, and clothing of
as unclean because it is used for humble tasks only, such as
sacred images. Pope John Paul II kisses the ground of the
the toilet. It is a great breach of propriety to use the left hand
countries he visits. Muslim youth kiss the hand of their
for what is properly a right-hand function. The right foot
QurDa¯n teacher as a gesture of deep respect not only for the
leads when entering a mosque, but one leaves a holy place
teacher as a person but for the treasure that the teacher carries
left foot first. The toilet room is entered left foot first and
and imparts.
exited with the right foot leading. The soles of the feet are
considered, by Muslims and other Eastern peoples, to be un-
In addition to postures adopted by the living are those
clean, and so it is essential to avoid directing them toward
imposed upon the deceased by others acting on their behalf.
anyone (as an American may inadvertently do when resting
Burial in a fetal position, for example, has been known for
the feet on a desk top). In Java it is considered arrogant and
prehistoric archaeology and ethnography. This unusual prac-
disrespectful for a boy or man to cross his legs or ankles in
tice may have come about to prevent the spirit of the de-
the presence of a superior, especially while sitting in a chair.
ceased from wandering about after death, especially in cases
Although that is a cultural taboo, the observance of it is espe-
wherein the body has been tightly bound. An alternative in-
cially noticeable in pious Muslim contexts, where proper
terpretation is that the position imitates the state in the
physical deportment is a mark of the religious person. Social
womb, with burial representing a sort of return. Most peo-
postures and gestures in highly stratified traditional societies,
ples lay the body on the back for burial, sometimes with par-
like Java, provide valuable clues about religious worldview.
ticular orientations. Muslims sometimes bury their dead
lying on the right side, with the face pointing toward Mecca;
In religious practice certain self-destructive gestures
even if the body is supine, the face is oriented in that direc-
exist that express powerful emotion. One is the ritual flagella-
tion. Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, the great Muslim theologian (d. 1111), ad-
tion practiced by Christian ascetics, especially during Passion
vised the pious to go to bed at night lying on the right side,
Week. A structurally similar practice is the self-flagellation,
facing Mecca, because sleep in the Islamic view is a “little
often with chains, of Sh¯ıE¯ı men in processions associated
death,” from which an individual might not wake. Again,
with the Tenth of Muharram, the anniversary of the martyr-
Christian baptism by immersion imitates a posthumous po-
dom of Imam H:usayn ibn EAl¯ı at Karbala, Iraq, in 680. The
sition, in which the initiate submits passively as the officiant
ancient Israelites mourned by putting ashes on their heads
symbolically buries the old person who is presently to be
(2 Sm. 13:19) or tearing their hair and beards (Ezr. 9:3).
cleansed and resurrected in the new life in Christ.
Modern Palestinian women beat their breasts, tear their hair,
scratch their cheeks, and throw soot on their heads in
SOCIAL, MAGICAL, AVOIDANCE, AND SELF-DESTRUCTIVE
mourning, gestures that can be traced back to ancient times.
GESTURES. Perhaps the most extensively studied, if not the
most richly developed, social gestures among civilized peo-
SEE ALSO Dance; Hands; Hat:hayoga; Human Body; Knees;
ples are those found in Mediterranean societies, such as Italy,
Mudra¯; S:ala¯t; Spittle and Spitting; Touching.
France, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, and
the Maghreb. Most of the postures and gestures cannot be
BIBLIOGRAPHY
interpreted as religious; in fact, many are utterly profane,
For an excellent collection of sources and an extensive bibliogra-
even obscene, and have been so since antiquity. An example
phy, see Betty J. Bäuml and Franz H. Bäuml’s A Dictionary
is the sign of the fig, made with the thumb protruding from
of Gestures (Metuchen, N.J., 1975). Religious postures and
between the index and middle fingers. This is a sexual insult,
gestures have yet to be given much attention by students of
usually, and in the Middle Ages was declared illegal if direct-
religion, at least as a comprehensive subfield. However, a
comprehensive literature on ritual and devotional practices,
ed at religious images and symbols. The sign of the horns,
including detailed analysis and interpretation of postures and
made by extending the index and little fingers from a closed
gestures, exists within numerous religious traditions. In addi-
fist, and directing it toward the eyes of a threatening person,
tion to ritual, liturgical, and scriptural sources, a variety of
has long been an apotropaic gesture. Among Muslims, for
other sources, for example, works on law, ethnography, and
example in North Africa, a gesture called the Hand of
art history, provide information on the subject.
Fa¯t:imah is made by extending the fingers toward a supposed
The relatively new sciences of ethology, kinesics, and semiotics
enemy in order to neutralize the evil eye. If uncertain wheth-
give great promise of increasing the understanding of posture
er harm is actually intended, the gesturer may make the ges-
and gesture. Konrad Lorenz’s studies, for example, offer
ture under a cloak or other covering, particularly when the
some provocative ideas concerning the relationship between
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
POTLATCH
7345
phylogenetically transmitted and culturally transmitted ges-
invoke the aid of that being in times of distress, the ancestor
tures in animals and humans; see his Behind the Mirror: A
accepted the responsibility of performing the rituals that
Search for a Natural History of Human Knowledge (New York,
would ensure the reincarnation of that supernatural being.
1977).
This covenant expresses the mutual dependency of human
FREDERICK MATHEWSON DENNY (1987)
and supernatural, and the potlatch is the ceremony through
which the aristocrat fulfills his responsibilities to the super-
natural being.
POTLATCH is any of a disparate variety of complex cer-
The chief is the representative of his house to the spirits
emonies among the Indians of the Pacific Northwest Coast
and in his person are brought together all the historical, so-
of North America, associated with the legitimization of the
cial, and spiritual aspects of his group’s identity. He is the
transfer or inheritance of hereditary aristocratic titles and
being who links the spiritual world to the social world, and
their associated rights, privileges, and obligations. Potlatches
his costume and behavior at potlatches clearly state the duali-
are characterized by the reenactment of the sacred family his-
ty of his role as spirit in human form. Indeed, since chiefs
tories that document the legitimacy of the claimant to the
are the representatives of particular supernatural beings, the
rank, by ritual feasting, and by the formal distribution of
distribution of wealth to other chiefs at potlatches can be
gifts by the host group to its guests, each according to his
seen as a metaphorical distribution by one supernatural being
rank. Though the wealth distributed at a potlatch may be
to others, and as such it represents the flow of substance
quite substantial, the amount distributed is much less impor-
throughout the entire universe.
tant than the requirement that it be distributed according to
The potlatch, obviously a rite of passage for human be-
the correct social protocols and moral prescriptions.
ings, a death of an old identity and a rebirth into a new one,
Potlatches have traditionally occurred at points of social
is also a rite of passage for the supernaturals. The supernatu-
stress accompanying any part of the process of ascension or
ral beings sustain human beings not only by giving them
succession to rank: investiture into a new name; the building
power and knowledge, but by being their food—when super-
of a house; erecting of a totem pole or other emblem of he-
natural beings come to the human world, they put on cos-
reditary prerogative, such as a marriage or a child’s coming
tumes that transform them into animals. The objects dis-
of age; or alternatively as a mortuary feast for a previous
played, transferred, or distributed in potlatches are
rankholder, as a means of acquiring prestige; and sometimes
manifestations of the bodies of supernatural beings: the flesh
even as a means of discrediting rival claimants. The legitima-
and skins of animals (which, since they are thought to be the
cy of the rankholder’s claims is proven by his dual ability to
animals’ ceremonial costumes, imply that humans survive by
command the allegiance of his family group in putting to-
ingesting the ceremonial, spiritual essence of their prey); the
gether such a complicated ceremony and to perform correct-
coppers (large, ceremonial plaques that represent repositories
ly the formal display of his family’s origin myths and ceremo-
of captured souls awaiting reincarnation); and the feast dish-
nial objects. The acceptance of gifts by the guests signals their
es (which are the coffins for the animal substance before the
acceptance of the validity of his claim.
humans who partake of that substance begin the process of
its reincarnation). Potlatches, in a sense, are funerals for the
Anthropologists have focused on the secular, social as-
supernaturals and inherently involve the reaffirmation of the
pects and functions of the potlatch—on the way in which
eternal moral covenants between humankind and the other
potlatches maintain social equilibrium, consolidate chiefly
inhabitants of the universe. As animals sacrifice their flesh
power over commoners, provide for the orderly transfer of
that humans may eat it and live, so humans must sacrifice
wealth and power, provide a measure of group identity and
themselves or their wealth, which is a symbol of themselves,
solidarity, redistribute surplus wealth and level economic im-
that the dead may be reborn.
balances, provide outlets for competition without recourse
to violence, and provide an occasion for aesthetic expression
In Northwest Coast thought, moral order and spiritual
and dramatic entertainment. Irving Goldman has suggested
purity are achieved through acts of self-sacrifice, and the giv-
in his The Mouth of Heaven (1975) that, since in Northwest
ing away of possessions places humans in harmony with the
Coast philosophy all status, power, and wealth are consid-
moral order of the universe. The universe is imagined to have
ered to be a gift from the beneficent supernatural beings who
been originally a place of self-interest and possessiveness, that
provide the materials that humans need to survive, the pot-
is, until culture heroes started the process of distribution.
latch is inherently a religious institution, fundamentally en-
Northwest Coast peoples believe that the universe will col-
dowed with a sacramental quality. Each of the family origin
lapse back into the primordial chaos of selfishness unless hu-
myths, whose retelling is such an important part of the pot-
mans continually reaffirm their willingness to disburse their
latch, tells of how one of a particular family’s ancestors was
possessions, to pass out wealth to their fellow men, and to
able to make a covenant with a supernatural being. In return
pass on rank to their children. The potlatch provides the cer-
for the right to collect food of a specific type at a specific lo-
emonial realization of that commitment to the cosmic moral
cation, to possess an aristocratic name, to impersonate (and
order and is a reaffirmation by all its participants—hosts,
thus become) the supernatural being in ceremonies, and to
guests, ancestors, the unborn, and supernatural beings—of
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7346
POWER
the system of moral covenants and mutual dependencies that
ty and not merely the intellect. It includes the emotions as
lie at the basis of Northwest Coast society. The potlatch re-
well as less obvious aspects of human awareness such as the
enacts myth, and then, through redistribution, recreates its
kinesthetic sense and deep instinctual and symbolic struc-
processual nature, thereby becoming a graphic representa-
tures. Finally, it may be that the sense of reality and the sens-
tion of the continuing reality and salience of those myths,
ing of power are inextricably combined into what is experi-
linking the past to the present, the dead to the living, the sa-
enced as a unity that might be labeled “real presence.” As a
cred to the mundane, the human to the supernatural, the
category of modern physics, power can be described as a po-
local to the cosmic, and the momentary to the eternal.
tentiality, or a potential ability to do “work,” which in turn
implies the expenditure of energy to change the distribution
It should be noted that the potlatch underwent substan-
of energy in a given system, just as water piled up behind a
tial change during the nineteenth century. Heavy govern-
hydroelectric dam has great potential for generating electrici-
mental and missionary pressures contributed to the aban-
ty because of its advantageous location with respect to the
donment or secularization of many Northwest Coast Indian
direction of gravitational forces. Unlike water, however, the
rituals. Potlatches and all other native ceremonies were illegal
sacred always remains potential even after awesome power
in Canada between 1876 and 1951, and though some cere-
has been expended, and it is this mysterious characteristic of
monies were carried out in secret, Northwest Coast religion
being an inexhaustible source of power that in part gives to
was irreparably altered. The potlatch and other ceremonies
hierophany its paradoxical tendency both to attract and to
have played an important role in the native renaissance of the
repulse.
1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but few studies of the potlatch in
contemporary Indian life have been conducted, and very lit-
The normal reactions to sacred power within a given
tle can be said of the particulars of its role in Indian society
culture can conveniently be classified under the rubrics of
today.
mana and taboo. Mana implies a positive attitude toward
power within an object or symbol or person—power that can
BIBLIOGRAPHY
be appropriated for useful purposes. Taboo implies the oppo-
Philip Drucker and Robert F. Heizer provide a lucid review of the
site, namely, power in an object or symbol or person that
literature and a discussion of the potlatch as a social institu-
must be avoided for safety’s sake or at least hedged about
tion in To Make My Name Good (Berkeley, Calif., 1967);
with special “insulating” rites before it can be made useful.
Helen Codere’s Fighting with Property: A Study of Kwakiutl
Examples are amulets and charms, holy books, saints’ relics,
Potlatching and Warfare, 1792–1930 (New York, 1950)
and living sacred persons. Infraction of such governing rules
deals with the issue of historical changes in the potlatches of
constitutes sacrilege and usually brings down cultural or cul-
the Kwakiutl; Irving Goldman’s The Mouth of Heaven (New
tic sanctions upon the guilty, or even the direct intervention
York, 1975) reexamines many of the Kwakiutl materials col-
of sacred power itself.
lected by Franz Boas and argues for a new religio-
philosophical interpretation of Northwest Coast culture.
Perhaps the most important, because clearest, example
S
of the role played by power in religion can be seen by exami-
TANLEY WALENS (1987)
nation of the meaning of cosmogonic myths and of what ap-
pears to be the psychological reality that informs them,
namely, the universal experience of the prestige of origins.
POWER. The term kratophany literally rendered is “the
Here, above all, is demonstrated the positive side of sacred
appearance of power.” Mircea Eliade, however, who made
power in its intrinsic creativity. Here is the power to bring
this a technical term in English, used it to indicate an appear-
a world into being, to shape reality, and thereby to found
ance of the sacred in which the experience of power domi-
human cults and cultures. It is literally true that within cos-
nates. Thus, that every kratophany must be, at the same
mogonic myths everything that happens is a unique demon-
time, a hierophany (“appearance of the sacred”) is certain by
stration of creative power, since everything that happens does
definition, while the converse is less clear; indeed, assent to
so for the first time. Examples abound, but consider only the
it will hinge upon the degree to which one regards the con-
Dreaming adventures of many sacred beings in Australian
cept or experience of power to be an irreducible part of the
tribal religions, where the seemingly trivial acts performed
concept or experience of the sacred.
while traveling around the countryside actually create the
landscape and populate it with sacred places gravid with
That the idea of power is central to much religious expe-
meaning. Or consider the Shinto myths in which with nearly
rience can be seen by means of a simple mental exercise: try
every gesture of the gods—whether by sexual contact, by
to imagine hierophany without the elements of awesome-
breaking or cutting something, or by uttering special
ness, authority, or effectiveness. Most will agree that it is pos-
words—new deities came into existence, deities whose inti-
sible to imagine intellectual constructs such as truth or value
mate relationship with nature and culture made them consti-
without power, but hierophany seems to require more. Here
tutive of the world.
is one difference between philosophy and religion, between
the intellectual grasp of an idea and the experience of a sacred
More dramatic examples may be found in the Hebrew
reality: the religious experience involves the whole personali-
scriptures, in the Book of Job, for example, where frequent
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
POWER
7347
references are made to God’s creative power in ordering the
then, is but one type of religion, namely, the belief that all
world and controlling the awesome forces of the cosmic
things have souls, or, as it were, both a material and a spiritu-
ocean. As the text comes down to us, Job’s response is one
al “body” or aspect.
of terror and repentance without understanding. The Hindu
classic Bhagavadg¯ıta¯ provides another forceful revelation of
Tylor’s theory of animism, and indeed his view of reli-
the sacred as power in Arjuna’s trembling witness to Lord
gion as a phenomenon that properly encompasses both prim-
Kr:s:n:a’s true nature: nothing less than the world process is
itive and so-called higher forms in a unified theory, provided
portrayed in the deity’s simultaneous destructive function as
the locus classicus of most anthropological work, including
death and his creative function as the womb of all beings.
the formation of new theories, until well past the turn of the
century. The main thrust of theorizing in this period was to
POWER AND THEORIES OF THE ORIGINS OF RELIGION. Al-
reconstruct the origins of religious behavior itself, that is, to
though scattered speculations can be found in the classical
isolate the most elementary impulse, feeling, or experience
civilizations of China, India, and Greece, theoretical recon-
that constituted the sine qua non of religion, and to place all
structions of the possible origins of religion stem in their
forms of religious behavior on an evolutionary scale of devel-
modern forms from the European encounter with those cul-
opment from this point of origin. It should be noted here
tures that, from about the time of the Enlightenment until
that a shift in emphasis in anthropological studies occurred
a few decades ago, were known collectively as “the savages.”
in an early reaction to what was deemed by many to be
Knowledge of these so-called primitive (or archaic, or nonlit-
Tylor’s excessively intellectualist view of human nature, at
erate) peoples made a strong impression on the Western
least as it was displayed regarding primitives. Increasingly an-
imagination. Among other things, it played an important
thropologists viewed human beings primarily as active crea-
role in the foundation during the nineteenth century of such
tures whose thought processes are subordinated to action:
academic disciplines as psychology, sociology, and anthro-
thought “rationalizes” action to the degree that ideas are
pology. Perhaps because many of the more detailed accounts
formed only in reaction to deeds and to provide a more or
of such cultures came from religious professionals and per-
less emotionally satisfying intellectual justification for them.
haps also because it was an age in the West of great religious
It is here that the idea of power, in a variety of forms, began
ferment, the discovery of primitive cultures was both a dis-
to play its part in the great quest for origins.
covery of exotic social customs and of strange and disquieting
systems of belief and ritual. The most significant systematic
Animatism is the name given to a theory, formulated by
attempt of this period to reconstruct a “natural history” of
R. R. Marett, that sought to build upon the work of Tylor.
religion was E. B. Tylor’s Primitive Culture (1871). There
Although he accepted animism as a higher stage in religious
the theory of animism was first propounded.
development, Marett rejected the “intellectualist fallacy” in-
herent in the theory of animism insofar as it claimed to repre-
Tylor defined animism as belief, or a tendency toward
sent the first stage of religion. He suggested instead that
belief, that all nature was endowed with a spiritual, animat-
primitives experience the world as fundamentally divided
ing essence, or soul. Thus, by anthropomorphizing analogy,
into the familiar and the unfamiliar. The unfamiliar object
every natural power or object was directed by a personality
is so because it exhibits some sort of strangeness suggestive
possessing intellect and will. According to this theory, all
of hidden power. This he called variously “occult power” and
things were supposed by humans’ primitive ancestors to be
“the sacred.” To the compound of unusual and hidden
humanlike—if not in outward appearance, then in their
power he added the notion of life in much the same sense
inner being. Power was implied in this view in that the power
that Tylor had used animus, that is, life or soul, except that
of being of every thing, its uniqueness and its efficacy, was
he believed that, at the stage of animatism, the primitive
assumed to be potentially greater than what one would call
mind had not yet made the leap from life or life force to sepa-
its mere physical possibilities. Yet the experiences that lay be-
rable soul. This meant that animatism could also properly
hind this animistic worldview were not, in Tylor’s view, fun-
be understood as “preanimism.”
damentally of power, with its exciting, often daunting emo-
tional concomitants, but were instead of a different and more
The full articulation of this theory was published in
coolly logical kind. He reasoned that primitives must have
1909 in Marett’s The Threshold of Religion, but as early as
been perplexed by their own dreams and thoughts, in which
1900 he had made the first steps toward it in his establish-
they themselves as well as other people, both living and dead,
ment of the Oceanic word mana as a general category of reli-
and not present in the usual sense, appeared. Adding this to
gious experience. He based his usage primarily upon the
their own natural experience of themselves as thinking, will-
work of R. H. Codrington (see The Melanesians, 1891), who
ing, self-moving beings, primitives must have concluded that
reported that for many South Pacific island cultures, the reli-
a soul, or animating principle, must inhere in all things and
gious system was based upon a single concept, which they
that it could sometimes be separated from the body. In this
called mana. Among the Melanesians, mana, the power that
way, Tylor sought not only to explain primitive beliefs but
inhered in all things, had special significance for their reli-
also to define a proto-religious stage of cultural evolution.
gious and social system, because it could be concentrated in
Religion, or more strictly the prerequisite for religion, he
some objects and because it inhered in a concentrated form
went on to define as “a belief in spiritual beings.” Animism,
in some people. Indeed, the hierarchical structure of their so-
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
7348
POWER
ciety was justified upon the basis of the aristocrats’ inborn
make significant contributions to the study of religion with-
great mana. Everything possessed some mana, and, in this
out choosing a position concerning the question of origins.
respect, the term might be translated “the power of being.”
Since so much was made of its concentratability, however,
No less implicit in van Gennep’s work was the assump-
tion of the centrality of the idea of power in religion, not so
in many cases the term is better rendered as “sacred.” But for
much in its own theorizing or attempts at self-
many scholars, particularly in the nineteenth century, this
understanding, but in its actual behavior. Thus he coined the
usage permitted an unacceptable broadening of the meaning
term magico-religious to emphasize the practical side of
of sacred, since mana could be transferred from one object
human interaction with sacred power. All ritual activity he
or person to another. Many tended to classify this notion not
labeled as magical because it was in the realm of technique;
as religious but as pertaining to magic. The fluidity of mana
that is, it sought to implement a practical goal, namely, to
made it a kind of physical energy, or at least analogous to
influence or even to manipulate the sacred power for useful
such an energy: the transfer could be affected by touching
purposes. It was, therefore, the efficacy of the sacred, its po-
one mana-charged object with another with less mana; in
tentiality to effect change or to prevent change—in short, its
particular, a person of high mana could infuse an object with
power—that van Gennep emphasized in his basic insight
some of his or her mana by handling it.
that ritual, or, at any rate, many rituals, seek to effect transi-
It was not long after the publication of Codrington’s
tions from one state or situation to another.
findings that similar discoveries began to be made in other
At about the same time that Marett and van Gennep
parts of the world. American anthropologists were especially
were formulating their views of religion, other theories about
active at this time, and the Huron orenda, the Lakota wakan,
the nature and, to some extent, the origin of religion were
and the Algonquin manitou were soon added to the list of
being formulated outside the conceptual circle of the new
mana-like concepts. Later the Arabic barakah and East Asian
discipline of anthropology. Influenced by anthropological
terms such as the Chinese ling-pao and the Japanese kami
and ethnological studies, but operating in a very different in-
were suggested as counterparts to the Melanesian idea of
tellectual framework, was Rudolf Otto, a theologian who
mana. From such evidence, Marett then posited a general
took as his spiritual mentor Friedrich Schleiermacher. In Das
psychological tendency of human beings to experience the
Heilige (1917), Otto presented what might be called a phe-
world as well as themselves under the guise of a controlling
nomenological psychology of religion, in that he sought to
religious concept: sacred or occult power. This view has had
describe the structure of human reaction to what is experi-
great influence among scholars. However, contemporary an-
enced as “the holy.” Otto’s work as a religious theorist, be-
thropology does not generally accept Marett’s insistence that
cause of his attitude toward human nature and in his intro-
even the most elementary religious experience engrafts to the
spective approach to religion, may be considered a late
notion of power the assumption of personality—or, to put
flowering of the Romantic movement. He exhibits a quali-
it another way, that mana and animatism are necessarily
fied anti-intellectualist stance toward religious psychology:
combined. It may, of course, be true in certain cultures, as
religion is an ineradicable part of human nature, present
he argued, that because mana most powerfully manifested it-
from the beginning, but, while religion itself admits of his-
self in certain types of persons, it was treated as if it were the
torical development, the psychological makeup of human be-
willpower of a human being, but it is not true in all cultures.
ings, which makes religion possible, does not. Therefore, any
And the value of the term mana is just in its use as a general
religious experience, however far removed in time and space,
descriptive category denoting a sacred power that is not in
can be understood by the modern student, because it shares
itself personal. Thus, in fact, the modern usage implies a psy-
a fundamental unity with all religion. Further, Otto appeals
chological, if not necessarily chronological, priority to the
in a famous passage to the reader’s own experience, rather
idea of mana over even Marett’s animatism.
than to his rational faculties, as the guarantor of the accuracy
P
and usefulness of his descriptions:
OWER AND THE NATURE OF RELIGION. In 1909, with the
publication of Les rites de passage, Arnold van Gennep ap-
The reader is invited to direct his mind to a moment
plied the label dynamistic to the theories of the origin of reli-
of deeply-felt religious experience, as little as possible
gion put forth by Marett (1900) and by J. N. B. Hewitt
qualified by other forms of consciousness. Whoever
(1902), based upon the experience of the sacred as power.
cannot do this, whoever knows no such moments in his
But van Gennep drew a sharp line between what he called
experience, is requested to read no farther; for it is not
dynamism, or the conceptual framework that assumed im-
easy to discuss questions of religious psychology with
personal sacred power, and animism, which assumed that sa-
one who can recollect the emotions of his adolescence,
cred power was personal. Since his goal was to classify rituals,
the discomforts of indigestion, or, say, social feelings,
but cannot recall any intrinsically religious feelings.
and to a large extent to understand by means of classification,
(Otto, [1917] 1923, p. 8)
he did not enter into the theoretical debate concerning the
origins of religion. Yet, because of the obvious value of his
The fundamental religious experience Otto termed as the
way of discussing ritual activities, his work did influence the
feeling of the presence of “the numinous.” In this, his theory
theoretical debate, if only by showing that it was possible to
closely approximates that of Marett’s “occult power” (or
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mysterious power or the sacred). But Otto sought in a sys-
He further elaborates its effects by the ideogram of “creature
tematic way to show that this feeling existed psychologically
consciousness,” the elementary feeling articulated by the
prior to any conceptualization of a god or spirit or soul and,
thought of having been created, assembled, as it were, as a
at the same time, was the religious sine qua non behind these
kind of contingent and therefore somewhat arbitrary and
concepts. As he put it, the “ideogram” of the numinous must
temporary configuration with no intrinsic merit or value or
be present in the “concept” of god, since the former is the
power. To sense this is to feel that one is nothing over against
nonrational, feeling component of the rational concept. The
the infinite power and presence of the Other. Out of it come
mental process by which ideograms become concepts he
the relatively sophisticated ideas of creation and of sin. No-
called “schematization.”
tice that sin is now partly derived not only from the memory
of having contravened a law or broken a taboo; it is also in-
Implicit in his argument is a tension between experience
trinsic to the religious encounter itself, particularly from the
or feeling, on the one hand, and a priori ideas, on the other,
encounter with power in its overwhelming immensity. Of
since he wished to affirm both the priority of religious experi-
course it is here referred to the joining or schematization of
ence and the truth of certain religious concepts. Indeed, it
tremendum and the doctrine of sin, especially of original sin,
is his strong allegiance to a belief in the superiority of Chris-
which Otto argues finally makes the Christian concept of sin
tian theological formulations that has been largely responsi-
credible and intellectually satisfying.
ble for Otto’s lack of influence in anthropology and in relat-
ed disciplines concerned with the study of religion. Added
It could be argued that the element of fascinans, or at-
to this was his insistence upon the sui generis character of reli-
traction, in the numinous experience also implies a tacit rec-
gious experience, which tended to isolate religion from other
ognition of kratophany, but in Otto’s own handling of it,
psychological realms, such as the experience of beauty, sexual
fascinans is expressed in such terms as love, duty, and the mo-
pleasure, or terror.
tivation to pursue the religious life. It is an elementary recog-
nition or experience of value rather than a perception of utili-
The heart of Otto’s system is his description of the feel-
ty or status, which seem to predominate in the idea of mana.
ings that, to a greater or lesser extent and in varying mixtures,
MIRCEA ELIADE AND THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS. Mircea
all religious experiences evoke. These are mysterium tre-
Eliade linked his own work in the phenomenology of reli-
mendum and mysterium fascinans. The ambivalence in the
gion with that of Otto when in The Sacred and the Profane
human response to the object of religion that has already
(1957) he expressed admiration for Otto’s descriptions of re-
been encountered in the dichotomy of mana and taboo, the
ligious experience. Yet he sought to establish, at the same
positive and negative aspects of sacred power. In Otto’s sche-
time, a different perspective, one that took as its starting
ma, van Gennep’s work focused primarily upon the fascinans
point the categories of the sacred/profane dichotomy first
aspect, since the efficacy of sacred power is necessary for ritu-
given prominence by the French sociologist Émile
al goals to be realized, although of course van Gennep also
Durkheim. Eliade was concerned with what might be called
discussed rituals of avoidance. It is particularly in the analysis
collective psychology, rather than a psychology of individual,
of the negative side of the dichotomy that Otto’s unique con-
particular experiences. His work has sought to catalog and
tribution to the understanding of religious experience can be
explain (as in Patterns in Comparative Religion, 1958) the
seen. Choosing as his illustrative data primarily the canonical
great collective representations, that is, symbols, by which re-
literature of Christianity, but supplementing it with refer-
ligious meaning is mediated in a variety of cultural contexts.
ences to such famous Christian virtuosi as Martin Luther as
In accepting Otto’s description of the “irrational” aspect of
well as to Islamic and Hindu mystics, he documents minute-
encounters with the sacred, Eliade infuses his use of the term
ly the daunting presence of the numinous in the more com-
sacred with specific meaning that includes power as a central
plex or “higher” religions. For purposes of exposition, he di-
element. Thus the encounter with sacred power is seen in the
vides his first category into two. The first is mysterium, which
structure of the symbols of the sacred, while power is one of
he explains as having its closest analogy in the feeling of un-
the necessary attributes of the sacred.
canniness that irrationally can seize one when, for example,
one is listening to ghost stories or passing graveyards. This
Eliade is perhaps most like Otto when he discusses ar-
feeling emphasizes the radical otherness (das ganz Andere) of
chaic techniques of ecstasy, as he does at length in his Sha-
the numinous and results in a uniquely religious dread. If,
manism (1951). Here he shows that the shaman often unwill-
according to Otto, this feeling is allowed to predominate in
ingly encounters, and is possessed by, sacred power in an
the religious experience, aberrations such as demon worship
unequal test of strength that leaves the human personality
can result. To this is inextricably joined the element of tre-
transformed. The result is the ability ritually to achieve ecsta-
mendum, the overpoweringness of the numinous, whose
sis, or a projection of self out of self, in order to tap the power
ideogram in Christianity is God’s wrath. Moving from expe-
of sacred realities as a religious specialist serving the commu-
rience (der Moment) to ideogram to developed theological
nity. But the interpretation of shamanism is not restricted
concept, tremendum becomes divine omnipotence.
to psychological aspects: the symbols, for example, of drum
and “flying costume,” by which shamanic rituals are accom-
Tremendum, therefore, is the place in Otto’s schema
plished, are also presented, as well as myths that both buttress
where the experience of sacred power has its proper location.
and explain the worldview of shamanism.
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Throughout his works dealing with archaic religion,
being swallowed by a monster, for example—are especially
Eliade has emphasized the creative power of myth and of the
significant ways by which the power of the sacred can bring
sacred beings whose stories myths are (see Myth and Reality,
about the transition from childhood to adulthood, from or-
1963). Of course, this power is understood by those for
dinary living human being to powerful ancestor, from ordi-
whom myths still live as the power of the sacred itself, made
nary human to powerful shaman. In salvation religions, these
knowable and thus usable through myth. For Eliade, cosmo-
same techniques and symbols are employed in the crucial
gonic myth is perforce the most important type, since it taps
transition from a state of damnation to that of salvation and
into the ubiquitous psychological tendency that he has
beatitude.
termed the assumption of the “prestige of origins.” Here,
The amazing ability of symbols to endure through the
knowledge of the origin of a thing is equivalent to having
ages and despite profound cultural changes, as Eliade has
power over that thing. Thus knowledge of the origin of the
documented in the historical portions of his work, testifies
world as contained in the cosmogonic myth gives human be-
to the power that symbols wield in human life. These power-
ings power over their entire environment. Rituals that cele-
ful symbols appear to possess almost a life of their own, inas-
brate this knowledge by reiterating the myth, or, more dra-
much as they are constitutive of the human personality. To
matically, by reenacting it, are at least very useful to the
possess sacred power is at the same time to be possessed by
scholar in attempting to grasp the meaning of a religious
it, a view that Rudolf Otto would heartily support and one
worldview. Eliade has also noted that the prestige of origins
that the psychologist C. G. Jung emphasized with his theory
and the supposed power of origins continue to function psy-
of archetypes.
chologically, often unconsciously, in modern secular con-
texts.
Phenomenologically, it is impossible to determine the
source of symbols either within or without the self that expe-
The sacred has power, in Eliade’s view, both to make
riences them. Indeed, Jung regarded religion as a traditional
the world meaningful by providing a religious worldview and
response to especially powerful symbols that arose from the
to provide a means of escape from a desacralized and there-
hidden energy- and meaning-centers of the psyche, that is,
fore meaningless world (Cosmos and History, 1949). His
the archetypes. What a symbol in a dream of myth masked
work on yoga (Yoga: Immortality and Freedom, 1954) details
or partially revealed of an archetype could be determined
this latter function of sacred power in Hinduism and Bud-
from the human reaction to it. Archetypal symbols engender
dhism. In samadhi, the yogin achieves the final stage in the
great fear, awe, and longing: they are the mainsprings of the
personal journey by which the true self realizes its identity
deepest and strongest emotions, and are experienced as nu-
with the sacred. This state brings with it not only the bliss
minous centers of power:
of a superconsciousness but also a number of sacred powers:
knowledge and sensitivity beyond the ordinary as well as psy-
When an archetype appears in a dream, in a fantasy, or
chophysical powers (siddhis) that mark the accomplished
in life, it always brings with it a certain influence or
practitioner of yoga.
power by virtue of which it either exercises a numinous
or fascinating effect, or impels to action. . . . Owing
In his discussion of yoga, Eliade also touches upon an
to their specific energy—for they behave like highly
especially revealing concept of Hinduism, namely, tapas.
charged autonomous centres of power—they exert a
This idea, which is very old in the Indian subcontinent, can
fascinating and possessive influence upon the conscious
be rendered as “the power of asceticism,” or “the sacred
mind and can thus produce extensive alterations in the
subject. (Jung, 1953, p. 80)
power by which the world was created.” Sometimes, indeed,
in later popular folk tales and myths, tapas becomes the
The very process of maturation, both culturally and individ-
power of desire and of sexual potency, which both creates all
ually, which Jung believed to be the main focus of religious
beings and threatens all with dissolution. Yoga as an ascetic
behavior, is a process of the ever-deepening experience of ar-
discipline is thought to tap the power of tapas, for it is some-
chetypal images and of the progressive transformation of ar-
times understood that tapas is the power by which the ex-
chetypally generated symbols.
traordinary accomplishment of final liberation is won.
Thus, in Jung’s thought the ideas of power and of reli-
Among the devotional cults of modern Hinduism, the S´aivas
gious experience were strongly associated. Religion was one
honor S´iva, the phallic creator god who is also the prototype
way of dealing with these internal structures although by no
of all yogins.
means the only way. On the other hand, religious behavior
Belief in the power of sacred models to raise individuals
was derived from these structures as the driving force of both
to new states of being (see Rites and Symbols of Initiation,
thought and action.
1958), especially as this power is brought to bear in rituals,
VAN DER LEEUW AND THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION.
is documented in Eliade’s work on “initiation scenarios,”
One major work on the nature of religion requires special
which are so widespread even in secular literature and fanta-
mention, because it uses the idea of power as its central orga-
sy. These survivals of living symbol systems continue to
nizing principle. This is Gerardus van der Leeuw’s Phäno-
haunt modern people’s dreams and imaginative creations. In
menologie der Religion (1933), translated into English as Reli-
archaic societies, these symbols of death and rebirth—of
gion in Essence and Manifestation (1938). Van der Leeuw
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begins his ambitious work with a discussion of the experience
Leeuw explains as an attempt by humans to obtain for them-
of power as the founding impetus of religion:
selves the powers that animals control by virtue of their supe-
rior strength and skills, such as the ability to fly. The totem
The religious man perceives that with which his religion
animal is especially significant in this regard because it “is a
deals as primal, as originative or causal; and only to re-
flective thought does this become the Object of the ex-
sort of reservoir for the potency of the tribe or clan” (ibid.,
perience that is contemplated. . . . Theory, and even
p. 79). Angels represent a projection or emanation (they are
the slightest degree of generalization, are still far re-
“messengers”) of specific powers of gods; sacred kingship is
mote; man remains quite content with the purely prac-
a recognition that the power of the most powerful person is,
tical recognition that this Object is a departure from all
in part, sacred power, while belief in salvation implies faith
that is usual and familiar; and this again is the conse-
in an extraordinary power of transformation.
quence of the Power it generates. (van der Leeuw, 1938,
p. 23)
Part 2 of this work takes up the reaction to sacred power
as apprehended within: that is, the effect of the experience
He thus describes a pretheoretical mode of perception in
of power on human lives. Here religious functionaries, such
which the experience of power and otherness are combined,
as priest or shaman, are discussed, as well as the transformed
and in which the notion of efficacy dominates. This power
life of the saint. Finally, religious organization, the social re-
originates and causes events; it is thus fundamentally cre-
action to power, is sketched out.
ative.
Further description of van der Leeuw’s work must
Van der Leeuw quickly finds the traditional language of
founder because of his own interpretation of the phenome-
scholarship to be misleading, since it improperly distinguish-
nological task: he eschewed any conscious hermeneutic or
es religion and magic at this elemental level:
theory of religion as false to the data. Thus his work cannot
It is precisely a characteristic of the earliest thinking that
be neatly summed up by reference to a relatively simple theo-
it does not exactly distinguish the magical, and all that
retical model. But in much of his work, the basic experience
borders on the supernatural, from the powerful; to the
of power functions as much as a heuristic device as a basic
primitive mind, in fact, all marked “efficiency” is per se
insight into the nature of religion.
magical, and “sorcery” eo ipso mighty. . . . Magic is
certainly manifested by power; to employ power, how-
Another scholar who has influenced the notion of reli-
ever, is not in itself to act magically, although every ex-
gious power held by students of religion in recent years is
traordinary action of primitive man possesses a tinge of
Georges Dumézil, who sought to develop some structural
the magical. (ibid., pp. 24-25)
tools for dealing not with all religions but with that large
class of religions known to have been derived from Indo-
Although he often calls this elemental level of religiosity
European cultures. His fundamental thesis is that the gods
“primitive,” he rejects the hypothesis that it exists as a stage
of Indo-European peoples reflect, and in turn are reflected
in religious evolution. For him, the term designates a level
in, the social structure of a given culture. This structure, in
of thought and experience that is found, to a degree, in all
three main divisions, can be described in terms of the func-
religions at all times. Further, van der Leeuw considers the
tions, or typical activities, performed by the gods or social
notion of an ordering power, or sacred order, as in the San-
classes in question. Although this thesis has far-reaching im-
skrit r:ta or the Chinese dao, to be theories about power as
plications, most important for present purposes is the fact
advanced as the notion of an individual soul as a personal
that in many cultures, most clearly in ancient India in the
center of power.
Vedic literature, these functions, in turn, seem to be based
Van der Leeuw interprets taboo as perhaps the most ele-
upon different concepts of power. Thus, because the con-
mental reaction to the experience of sacred power: one is
cerns of the third-function gods are fecundity and productiv-
characteristically fearful in the face of the disparity of power,
ity in the terrestrial sphere, they possess a special power or
and taboo is an attempt to mount some defense against it.
energy that controls and thus either promotes or inhibits the
Indeed, he derives the Roman religio from an experience of
growth of herds or the abundance of harvests. This power
dread. Thus religion for the Romans was a system of taboos
was often thought of as sexual in nature.
set up in response to the awesome appearance of sacred
But it is in the second and first functions, as Dumézil
power. “Observance,” he writes, “is just benumbed awe
defined them, that differences in the basic nature of power
which, at any moment, can be revived” (ibid., p. 50).
become most apparent. Here he distinguishes sharply be-
The entire first part of Religion in Essence and Manifesta-
tween the mysterious, hidden, even magical, power of the
tion is a long essay demonstrating that the notion of power
first-function gods and the merely physical power wielded by
is the key to understanding a wide variety of religious phe-
the gods of the second function. The second function be-
nomena. For example, celestial symbols are an important
longs to the warrior, in India especially to Indra, who slew
part of many religions because they manifest cosmic power
the cosmic demon Vrtra, and who was the protector of the
in such a way that humans can model their behavior upon
Aryan tribes and the leader of the human warriors. Indeed,
the orderly motions of heavenly bodies, thus tapping their
so important did this physical power become that there is ev-
great power. Again, animal cults and totemism van der
idence in the R:gveda that Indra to some extent replaced Var-
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una, the primary first-function god. Varuna and Mitra to-
shared the pejorative connotations of such terms as supersti-
gether are the representative of the function of sovereignty,
tion and idolatry in its emic or confessional evaluation; on
whose position at the apex of the hierarchy of gods and hu-
the other hand, as evidenced by such compounds as magico-
mans was, originally at least, assured by the power they
religious, from the etic viewpoint the term has been used in
wielded. The first function Dumézil characterizes in general
a purely descriptive way, as, for example, in the work of Ar-
as celestial, priestly, and concerned with the exercise of magi-
nold van Gennep, noted above. From this latter perspective,
cal and juridical sovereignty. Varuna especially is “a great sor-
magic denotes simply sacred power experienced as imperson-
cerer, disposed more than any other on the level of sovereign-
al and, to a degree, manipulatable: it is power in its most use-
ty to maya, magic which creates forms either temporary or
ful mode, since it can be turned to one’s advantage with what
permanent, disposed also to the knots in which he binds the
might be called a minimum of harmful side effects. Provid-
guilty, a capture both immediate and irresistible” (Dumézil,
ing only that the formulae and rituals are properly followed,
1968–1973, vol. 1, p. 148).
results are predictable, even automatic. For many theologi-
cally inclined thinkers, this notion, and even more the atti-
Coupled both to the characteristic celestial symbolism
tude toward the sacred that it implies, must necessarily be
and to the idea of mysterious power is the association of Var-
a “lower” form of religion, or degenerate religion—or per-
una and Mitra with the cosmic order, r:ta. Increasingly sub-
haps not religion at all. This is because it is felt to be incom-
servient to this impersonal order, the first-function gods
patible with the proper sense of reverence and dependence
nonetheless reflect and to a degree wield the very power by
due to a personal god as in Christianity or Judaism. From
which the cosmos moves. This dynamism was especially im-
this perspective, to treat God as an object of magic is to blas-
pressive because the means of its motion was unseen: just as
pheme since this tends to reduce the majesty and freedom
the stars or the sun followed their preordained courses; just
of the deity.
as the seasons followed their patterns and other events such
as disease occurred as punishments whose agents or mecha-
The lack of consensus among scholars as to the proper
nism, so to speak, could not be discovered by means of the
definition and use of the term magic reflects not so much dif-
ordinary senses; just so did the sovereign gods control the
ferences in perception as differences in the purposes to which
very power by which the world was ordered and by which
the data are put. From the purely descriptive point of view,
its order was maintained. Physical power, the power of Indra
a distinction between magic and religion, or between magical
and of war, could be understood, if not always defended
religion and pure religion, has proved practically impossible
against. Even the enormous physical power of a god was still
to make. But from the normative, theological point of view,
physical and palpable, and therefore of a fundamentally dif-
the term magic has proved too useful a term to be easily given
ferent nature than was maya, the unseen and all the more
up, since it delineates what is felt to be a theologically unac-
frightening power of Varuna.
ceptable attitude toward the power of God. Thus, even when
a pejorative sense is not intended in descriptive works, it is
In the human realm, according to Dumézil’s thesis, the
often improperly assumed by many readers.
social structure also reflected these different types of power.
Of course it is the brahman caste, the hereditary priests, who
Examples of the difficulties that lie in wait for those who
wield Varuna’s power, to some degree, because of their
would distinguish between a manipulative approach to the
knowledge of the rites of sacrifice. In the cult, the priests
sacred and a properly humble and propitiatory approach are
function as mediators of sovereign sacred power: the words
easily produced. Subtle psychological distinctions must be
and actions of the rituals place in the priestly hands this same
made, since the existential concern of all religious people for
mysterious power, which is the power to influence cosmic
their own welfare makes a totally unselfserving approach to
forces for the benefit of humans.
sacred power improbable, if not impossible, for ordinary
Although Dumézil’s point of departure is the Vedic
human beings. Put another way, one may ask how often
texts of India, he applies this schema also to later Indian epics
Christians pray for forgiveness of sins out of nothing more
as well as to Persian, Greek, and other European religious lit-
than a pure and unselfish love of their god? Or again, rites
erature. Beyond this, other scholars have sought to extend
of passage, which are ubiquitous, seek always a more or less
the three function theory to non-Indo-European cultures as
definite personal or communal gain—but who can assess
well. Most notable of these, perhaps, is Atsuhiko Yoshida,
with complete certainty the motivation of the participants?
whose “La mythologie japonaise: Essai d’interpretation
Discounting “manipulativeness” can lead to a restriction of
structurale” (1961–1963) is the most thorough attempt to
the term religion to such an extent that it is lost as a useful
apply these categories not so much in order to show Indo-
descriptive term.
European influences upon Japanese mythology but as a use-
Another conceptual tool relating to religious power is
ful interpretive tool.
charisma, a term made popular by the sociologist of religion
POWER, MAGIC, AND CHARISMA. The use of the term magic
Max Weber (in Religionssoziologie, 1922), who defined it as
has had a checkered career, both within Christian theological
the authority by which individuals were accorded status and
circles and within the realm of comparative religion or histo-
power over others or, related to that, by which the functions
ry of religions (Religionswissenschaft). On the one hand, it has
or offices themselves—regardless of the officeholder—were
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felt to be worthy of respect. Indeed, Weber expressly linked
with charisma of office, one has an especially powerful force
charisma both to mana and to the Iranian maga (Skt., maya),
for harmony. Interestingly, however, even here, at least in the
from which the word magic is derived. Looked at closely, it
more mystical Daoist writings, a sage does not will the right,
may be seen that the notion of charisma, at least from the
does not arrive by careful thought or logical deduction at the
limited horizon of sociology, is rather mysterious. That is to
right course of action; rather, because he is a sage, such action
say, the reason or means whereby one person is accorded this
will spontaneously occur, sometimes with the sage as direct
respect, or is seen as having a special inner power of attrac-
agent, but sometimes at the hands of others mysteriously in-
tion, is not explained or well understood. Certainly such
fluenced by him.
things as character, unusual skills, great stature or strength,
or force of mien or manner all seem to contribute, but, final-
This mysteriously acting power, action at a distance and
ly, charisma remains a relational term that classifies the reac-
without conscious will, sounds in many ways like the Vedic
tion of others to the person whom scholars then label as char-
maya. It is sacred power, at work in the human world, that
ismatic.
reflects and ultimately is one with the sacred power that un-
derlies all activity in the world of nature.
The Chinese religious tradition offers a concrete exam-
ple of belief in charisma, and even of theorizing about it
Is such a belief crude magic, or perhaps mere supersti-
within two ancient systems of thought, namely, Confucian-
tion? Some would answer in the affirmative. Certainly it in-
ism and Daoism. These two religions, although often antag-
sists upon the impersonal nature of the sacred and of the
onistic, nonetheless share a common origin and a number
workings of sacred power. And the will to manipulate this
of common ideas. Two are especially relevant here: dao, or
power to benefit self, or the society as a whole, is strong, espe-
cosmic order, and de, variously translated as “virtue,” “char-
cially in Confucianism. Yet there is also awe and reverence
acter,” “power,” or “charisma.” It is possible to view these
for the power: it is difficult to gain, and it has its own ways.
two concepts not only as closely associated in Chinese
Others would claim that this example shows the impossibili-
thought but as two aspects of a single reality: sacred power.
ty of separating magic and religion, that they are inextricably
Dao is in many ways similar to the Sanskrit r:ta, in that it is
merged into the idea of sacred power and into the active re-
not only order but also the power that drives a dynamic uni-
sponses of human beings as they have perceived that power
verse. All things ultimately derive from dao (Laozu appropri-
over the millennia of religious history.
ately calls it “the mother of all things”), and all things move
In religions having a central concern for extra-worldly
and change according to its “laws.” To be sure, it is not en-
salvation, the way in which the power by which such a trans-
tirely knowable, although Confucianism is more optimistic
formation can be effected has been understood has resulted
on this point, with its emphasis on study of the way of the
in unresolved and perhaps unresolvable controversies. The
ancients and its belief that dao is perfectly embodied in li (rit-
early fifth century struggle between the Christian thinkers
ual or decorum).
Pelagius and Augustine of Hippo concerned two very differ-
When dao is perfectly embodied in a person, then he is
ent assessments of that most elusive form of power known
called a sage. Such a one is as perfect an exemplar of the uni-
as human freedom. Did human beings, as Pelagius argued,
versal dao as a human being can be. To be a sage is to be per-
have the power within themselves to live sinless lives and thus
fectly in harmony with dao. But taken from the point of view
achieve salvation through their own efforts? Or, as Augustine
of the individual, such a one has great de or personal power.
argued, did the Fall that occurred in the Garden of Eden
This power, like dao, although it may be embodied in a per-
taint all humans descended from Adam and Eve to such an
son, is not in itself personal: it is without consciousness, or
extent that they were incapable of perfection without divine
will, or emotion; it has no purpose. The intrinsic power of
aid, or grace? Roman Catholic orthodoxy eventually declared
a sage is expressed, both in Confucianism and in Daoism,
for Augustine’s position, although the issue has continued to
in the image of the sage-king Shun, who “acted without ac-
this day to exercise Christian theologians, and it played a
tion”—yet all things were accomplished, and the empire was
major role in the Protestant Reformation. Strikingly similar
at peace. Shun is also likened to the pole star, which merely
was the controversy that raged in the thirteenth century in
sits facing south, while all things revolve around it in a kind
Japan with the rise of the Pure Land movement in Bud-
of cosmic ballet.
dhism. Shinran witnessed to the all-encompassing “other-
power” (ta-riki) offered by the Buddha Amitabha that was
This de or charisma is brought down to earth, as it were,
available through faith to ordinary believers; this he juxta-
in the Confucian ideal of the junzi the “superior man” or
posed to the use of “self-power” (ji-riki) by the traditional
“true gentleman,” who also brings about by example, by ritu-
monastic forms of Buddhism, by which nirvana itself could
al, and by the power of his presence the longed-for proper
be achieved. By contrast Augustine saw the fall into sin, and
ordering of human society. It is not, of course, that he does
thus also relative powerlessness, to be positioned at the be-
nothing; rather, he is so well attuned to dao (or to “heaven,”
ginning of time with its effects pervading all human existence
tian) that whatever he chooses to do will be the correct thing
until the end of history; whereas Shinran’s “fall” occurred
in the circumstances. When such a person is a ruler, or, one
within history. Shinran believed that the degenerate age
might say after Weber, when charisma of person is combined
(mappo), characterized by humans’ decreased powers, had ar-
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
7354
PRABHUPADA, A. C. BHAKTIVEDANTA
rived, but it had come long after the founding of the path
Otto, Rudolf. Das Heilige. Breslau, 1917. Translated by John W.
to salvation by the historical Buddha. Such parallel develop-
Harvey as The Idea of the Holy (1923; 2nd ed., London,
ments so far separated in time and space strongly suggest that
1960).
there exists a universal deep structure of meaning to the con-
Tylor, E. B. Primitive Culture (1871). 2 vols. New York, 1970.
ceptualization of power as it relates to salvation.
Vries, Jan de. The Study of Religion. New York, 1967.
To be sure, many religions know of powers associated
Wach, Joachim. Sociology of Religion (1944). Chicago, 1962.
with the persons of religious elites, especially perhaps the
Weber, Max. Religionssoziologie. Tübingen, 1922. Translated by
power of healing. This power may be understood to be ulti-
Ephraim Fischoff as The Sociology of Religion (Boston, 1963).
mately from God or the gods, the practitioner merely acting
Yoshida, Atsuhiko. “La mythologie japonaise: Essai d’inter-
as a channel for it, as in western monotheism, or it may be
pretation structural.” Revue de l’histoire des religions 160
seen as the product of the practitioner’s own spiritual accom-
(1961): 47–66; 161 (1962): 25–44; and 163 (1963): 225–
plishments. In the latter category may be placed the many
248.
forms of Buddhism that know the powers (siddhi) that often
Yoshido, Atsuhiko. “Nihon shinwa to In-o shinwa.” In Nihon
accompany yogic meditative accomplishments, a tradition
shinwa no hikaku kenkyu, edited by Obayashi Taryo. Tokyo,
that is also reflected in the pan-Indian idea of tapas, depicted
1974.
in many Hindu tales of the puranic period as a power gener-
ALAN L. MILLER (1987 AND 2005)
ated by yoga that is potentially so strong as to threaten the
very sovereignty of the gods. The relationship between such
forms of power and the ultimate goal of salvation is some-
PRABHUPADA, A. C. BHAKTIVEDANTA.
times ambiguous.
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada (1896–1977) was the
SEE ALSO Animism and Animatism; Archetypes; Hiero-
founder of the International Society for Krishna Conscious-
phany; Magic; Sacred and the Profane, The.
ness (ISKCON), more commonly known as the Hare Krish-
na movement.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
On September 19, 1965, the steamship Jaladuta sailed
Codrington, R. H. The Melanesians: Studies in Their Anthropology
into New York harbor from Calcutta and docked at a Brook-
and Folklore (1891). New Haven, 1957.
lyn pier. Seventy-year-old A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Dumézil, Georges. L’ideologie tripartie des Indo-Européens. Brus-
emerged from the ship to fulfill the instructions of his spiri-
sels, 1958.
tual master to teach the spiritual message of the Caitanya cult
Dumézil, Georges. Mythe et epopée. 3 vols. Paris, 1968–1973.
in the West. Caitanya, the founder of bhakti-yoga, preached
Eliade, Mircea. Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return
that all people regardless of their station in life, could reach
(1949). New York, 1959.
spiritual realization through love and devotion to Kr:s:n:a
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (1951).
(God). Bhaktivedanta Swami was dressed in traditional garb:
Rev. & enl. ed. New York, 1964.
he wore kan:t:h¯ı-ma¯la¯ (neck beads), a plain cotton dhot¯ı
Eliade, Mircea. Yoga: Immortality and Freedom (1954). 2d ed., rev.
around his body, a ca¯dar (shawl), and he carried ja¯pa¯-ma¯la¯
& enl. Princeton, 1969.
chanting beads). His head was shaven except for the sikha¯
(tuft of hair) in the back, and his forehead was marked with
Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane (1957). New York,
tilaka (sacred clay). Carrying only forty Indian rupees (about
1959.
seven U.S. dollars), Bhaktivedanta set out to bring the mes-
Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion. New York, 1958.
sage of “Kr:s:n:a Consciousness” to the United States, and ulti-
Eliade, Mircea. Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of
mately to the world.
Birth and Rebirth (1958). New York, 1975.
Prabhupada was born Abhay Charan De into a
Gennep, Arnold van. The Rites of Passage (1909). Chicago, 1960.
Gaud:¯ıya-Vais:n:ava family in Calcutta, India, on September
Hewitt, J. N. B. “Orenda and a Definition of Religion.” American
1, 1896. His father was Gour Mohan De, a cloth merchant,
Anthropologist 4 (1902): 33–46.
and his mother was Rajani. Across the street from the Des’s
Jensen, Adolf E. Myth and Cult among Primitive Peoples (1951).
residence in north Calcutta was a Ra¯dha¯-Govinda temple
Chicago, 1963.
where the family worshipped. Prabhupada’s father raised his
Jung, C. G. “The Psychology of the Unconscious” (1943). In The
son to be Kr:s:n:a conscious. At night, Gour Mohan read from
Collected Works of C. G. Jung, vol. 7. Princeton, 1953.
the Caitanya-carita¯mr:ta and the S´r¯ımad Bha¯gavatam (the
Leeuw, Gerardus van der. Phänomenologie der Religion. Tübing-
principle scriptures of Bengali Vais:n:avas), chanted on his
en, 1933. Translated by J. E. Turner as Religion in Essence
ja¯pa¯ beads, and worshiped the deity of Kr:s:n:a. He wanted his
and Manifestation, 2 vols. (1938; reprint, Gloucester, Mass.,
son to become a preacher of the Bha¯gavatam and to grow up
1967).
singing bhajans (religious songs), and playing the mr:dan˙ga
Marett, R. R. “Pre-animistic Religion.” Folklore 11 (1900): 162–
(a drum used to accompany congregational chanting).
182.
In 1916 Prabhupada began studies at Calcutta’s Scottish
Marett, R. R. The Threshold of Religion. London, 1909.
Churches’ College, where he majored in English, philoso-
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
PRABHUPADA, A. C. BHAKTIVEDANTA
7355
phy, and economics. Yet after completing his fourth year and
hippie community in the Haight-Ashbury district of San
passing the exams for his degree, Prabhupada refused to ac-
Francisco. There, amid the drug culture, Prabhupada taught
cept his diploma. He did this to register his protest against
that the chanting of “Hare Krishna” was a “high” superior
British rule of India, for he had become sympathetic to Ma-
to LSD. In San Francisco, Prabhupada attracted 150 to 200
hatma Gandhi’s Indian independence movement. During
converts to his movement within two years. From San Fran-
his college years Prabhupada’s father arranged for his mar-
cisco, Prabhupada sent disciples to Montreal, Los Angeles,
riage to Radharani Datta. After marrying, Prabhupada
Boston, London, and other major cities to begin ISKCON
gained employment as a manager in a pharmaceutical firm
temples.
in Calcutta to support his wife and family.
Prabhupada established over one hundred temples
In 1922 Prabhupada met his spiritual master, Srila
worldwide, wrote more than sixty volumes, including
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (1874–1936). Prabhupa-
Bhagavad-G¯ıta¯ As It Is (1972), the multivolume S´r¯ımad
da was impressed by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s boldness after,
Bha¯gavatam (1972–1977) and Caitanya-carita¯mr:ta (1974–
upon meeting Prabhupada for the first time, he commented,
1975), The Nectar of Devotion (1970, and many other books
“You are educated. . . .Why don’t you preach Lord Cai-
on the Vedic scriptures. These volumes included translations
tanya’s message throughout the whole world?” (Goswami,
of the original Sanskrit and Bengali texts, along with Prabhu-
1980a, p. 39). Later he would tell Prabhupada, “If you ever
pada’s commentaries. His writings have been translated into
get money, print books” to help spread the mission of Lord
more than fifty languages by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust,
Caitanya (Goswami, 1980a, p. 91). Although Prabhupada
established in Los Angeles in 1972 to publish Prabhupada’s
had accepted Bhaktisiddhanta as his spiritual master after
works. Between 1973 and 1977 several million books and
their first meeting, he became formally initiated as his disci-
other pieces of Kr:s:n:a Consciousness literature were distribut-
ple in 1932. Thereafter, Prabhupada assisted in the work of
ed yearly by ISKCON members in shopping malls, airports,
his spiritual master’s organization, the Gaud:d¯ıya Mat:h. Fol-
and other public locations in the United States and world-
lowing Bhaktisiddhanta’s death, the Gaud:¯ıya Mat:h suffered
wide. As Prabhupada commented, “If one percent of the
years of infighting and schism, and Prabhupada decided to
readers become devotees. . .that will change the world”
create his own movement, the League of Devotees, in 1953
(Goswami, 1983b, p. 5).
in Jhansi, India. After only two years, however, the organiza-
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada died on No-
tion collapsed, having made no full-time members. In 1944
vember 14, 1977, in Vrindaban, India. In just twelve years
Prabhupada began publishing Back to Godhead magazine,
from the time he arrived in North America, Prabhupada ini-
which he distributed in India—and then worldwide after he
tiated nearly five thousand disciples worldwide, circled the
began ISKCON in 1966.
globe eight times lecturing on Kr:s:n:a Consciousness, began
and oversaw a worldwide movement, and established himself
In recognition of his philosophical learning and devo-
as a scholar of Vedic philosophy and religion.
tion, the Gaud:¯ıya Vais:n:ava Society bestowed the title of
“Bhaktivedanta” on Prabhupada in 1947. In 1950, at the age
SEE ALSO International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
of fifty-four, Prabhupada retired from family life and four
years later adopted the va¯naprastha (retired) order to devote
BIBLIOGRAPHY
himself completely to study and writing. Thereafter he took
Goswami, Satsvarupa dasa. Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta: A Biogra-
up residence in Vrindaban, India, where he lived and worked
phy of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhu-
pada. Los Angeles, 1980–1983; 2d ed, 1993. Vol. 1: A Life-
at the Ra¯dha¯-Damodara temple. On September 17, 1959,
time in Preparation: India, 1896–1965 (1980a). Vol. 2:
Prabhupada accepted the renounced order of life (sannya¯sa),
Planting the Seed: New York City, 1965–1966 (1980b). Vol.
whereupon he was given the name Abhay Caranaravinda
3: Only He Could Lead Them: San Francisco, India, 1967
Bhaktivedanta Swami. While living alone at the
(1981). Vol 4: In Every Town and Village: Around the World,
Ra¯dha¯-Damodara temple, Prabhupada began translating and
1968–1971 (1982). Vol. 5: Let There Be a Temple: India,
providing commentaries on the S´r¯ımad Bha¯gavatam (Bha¯ga-
Around the World, 1971–1975 (1983a). Vol. 6: Uniting Two
vata Pura¯na).
Worlds: Around the World, Return to Vr:nda¯vana, 1975–1977
(1983b).
After publishing three volumes of the Bha¯gavatam in
Goswami, Tamal Krishna. “His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta
India, Prabhupada decided to fulfill the instructions of his
Swami Prabhupada: Founder, Prophet, and Priest.” In A
spiritual master by traveling to the United States. Having re-
Hare Krishna at Southern Methodist University: Collected Es-
ceived free passage aboard the freighter the S.S. Jaladuta,
says 1995–1997, pp. 247–265. Dallas, Tex.
Prabhupada left his Indian homeland for the United States
International Society for Krishna Consciousness. “A. C. Bhaktive-
as a poor Indian sa¯dhu (saintly person). After six months of
danta Swami Prabhupada.” Available from http://
hardship, Prabhupada established his International Society
www.iskcon.com.
for Krishna Consciousness in July of 1966. His first temple
Selengut, Charles. “Charisma and Religious Innovation: Prabhu-
was a rented store front at 26 Second Avenue in New York’s
pada and the Founding of ISKCON.” ISKCON Communi-
Lower East Side. In that year he also initiated his first Ameri-
cations Journal 4, no. 2: 51-63.
can disciples. In 1967, Prabhupada traveled to the emerging
E. BURKE ROCHFORD JR. (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
7356
PRAJA¯PATI
PRAJA¯PATI belongs to the powerful ritual center of
nation, production of a male, safe delivery, first feeding, and
Vedic traditions and their discourses known as the
first tonsure. Praja¯pati was also included as one of certain
Bra¯hman:as, where he is the supreme being and father of the
male figures surrounded by four feminine powers in gesta-
gods. He is the link between the ancient Purus:a mythology
tion symbolism.
that instituted sacrifice, on the one hand, and the late Vedic
Praja¯pati has numerous zoomorphic expressions, some
bifurcation into a metaphysics of the impersonal Absolute
of them evidently archaic. The boar, Emu¯s:a, is identified
(brahman) and the personal god Brahma¯, on the other. In
with him in the mythology of the cosmic earth diver, the
the religious history of South Asia, cosmogony, sacrifice, the
creature that descends to procure a fragment or prototype of
soma cult, asceticism and self-mortification, the concept of
earth-world, as are two creatures prominent in the Agnicay-
salvation, the ritualization of procreation, and the advisory
ana, the bird and the tortoise (all three perpetuated in later
role of the grandfather of the gods are all dependent to a sig-
Hindu Vais:n:ava myths). The goat, bull, cow, horse, stag,
nificant degree on the various guises of Praja¯pati.
ant, and other animals are also drawn into Praja¯pati’s orbit
of symbols. Vedic deities linked with Praja¯pati include Va¯yu,
As lord (pati) of creatures (praja¯), Praja¯pati is best
Varun:a, Daks:a, Va¯c, and, in an incestuous theme, his daugh-
known in the tenth book of the R:gveda through speculations
ter Us:as. In the post-Vedic texts, Brahma¯ absorbs his charac-
about the creation of the world. Identified there with several
ter as Hiran:yagarbha, and the Praja¯patis are, variously, the
cosmogonic motifs, he is later associated in the Bra¯hman:as
ten or seven spiritual sons of Brahma¯.
more precisely with Purus:a, thereby assuring his preemi-
nence in the sacrificial drama of creative transformations
SEE ALSO Agni.
through self-sacrifice. Like Purus:a projecting himself sacrifi-
cially into world being (R:gveda 10.90), Praja¯pati is said in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the Bra¯hman:as to have sacrificed himself in the exhausting
The clearest, most concise explication of Praja¯pati in the myth-
fervor of ascetic and erotic heat (tapas), the cosmic result
ritual speculation of the Bra¯hman:as is Mircea Eliade’s A His-
being, first, brahman, the sacred verbal power, and then the
tory of Religious Ideas, vol. 1 (Chicago, 1978), pp. 223–235.
various components of creation, including gods and humans
On Praja¯pati in the Agnicayana ritual and theology, see Frits
Staal’s Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, vol. 1 (Berke-
(see, e.g., S´atapatha Bra¯hman:a 6.1.1.8ff.). Elsewhere, he
ley, Calif., 1983), chapters 4 and 5, especially pages 65ff. (on
himself is regarded as the result of tapas. A constant theme
S´a¯n:d:ilya’s teaching in the S´atapatha Bra¯hman:a), 115ff., and
in these discourses is the human necessity of repeating the
159ff. The popular (i.e., nonpriestly) traditions of Praja¯pati
exemplary primordial event by reintegrating all the space,
outside the sacrificial cult are illuminated in Jan Gonda’s
time, and being that the Purus:a-Praja¯pati sacrificial victim,
“The Popular Praja¯pati,” History of Religions 22 (1982): 129–
dispersed into manifestation, represents. The Vedic ´srauta
149. All three authors point to the archaic rather than the
ritual known aa the Agnicayana became one of the major ex-
late R:gvedic character of Praja¯pati; only Staal suggests an in-
pressions of this Brahmanic doctrine of sacrifice: By identify-
digenous Indian origin.
ing Agni as Praja¯pati, the ceremonial installation of fire
New Source
(agni) was advanced to a soteriology. A yearlong procedure
Gonda, Jan. Praja¯pati’s Relations with Brahman, Brhaspati and
systematically reconstituted the world as a five-layered altar,
Brahma¯. Amsterdam and New York, 1989.
its fire-center-heart being the recovered a¯tman (“self”) not
DAVID M. KNIPE (1987)
only of Praja¯pati but also of his human correspondent, the
Revised Bibliography
sacrificer (yajama¯na). Another great ´srauta ritual was the
Va¯japeya, the “drink of strength,” a soma ceremony in which
the mystical totality of Praja¯pati and the power of the num-
PRAJÑA¯. The Sanskrit term prajña¯ (Pali, pañña¯; Tib., shes
ber seventeen were realized. By entering such ritually pro-
rab), variously translated as “wisdom, gnosis, insight,” or “in-
duced correspondences as these, the sacrificer was able to
tuitive knowledge,” is central to all Buddhist traditions, im-
avoid repeated death (punarmr:tyu). This ideology prefigured
parting unity to them as well as serving to distinguish them
the later Upanis:adic notion of a¯tman-brahman equivalence
from other philosophical and religious systems. Prajña¯ is pri-
and of spiritual liberation obtained not by ritual but by intu-
marily understood as a complete comprehension of the na-
itive knowledge.
ture and aspects of phenomenal existence (sam:sa¯ra), the
Praja¯pati’s control over human and animal reproductive
forces that govern it, the method of becoming free from it,
energies assured him the same prominence in the domestic
and the reality that stands beyond it. Although the notion
ritual, mythology, and folklore that he gained in the texts for
has been expounded in a variety of ways by Buddhist think-
the great cosmic ceremonies. R:gveda 10.121, a hymn of cre-
ers, it serves for them all as an intellectual and spiritual facul-
ation addressed to the “golden germ” (hiran:yagarbha), iden-
ty that imparts a correct grasp of Buddhist teachings, guides
tified Praja¯pati as the “fiery seed” within the cosmic waters.
and perfects the spiritual life, imbues it with a sense of direc-
The images of seed, egg, embryo, and parturition continued
tion, and brings it to maturation.
into the Atharvaveda and the Grhyasutras that became man-
Early Buddhist scriptures record that S´a¯kyamuni Bud-
uals for such life-cycle rites (sam:ska¯ras) as marriage, impreg-
dha frequently explained to his followers how, during his
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
PRAJÑA¯
7357
striving toward enlightenment, he mastered the four consec-
striving is not fully apparent or understood, but in spite of
utive stages of mental concentration (dhya¯na) and gained
its being obscured by impurities and imperfections, prajña¯
knowledge of his previous lives, knowledge of the past and
is active as the controlling factor throughout the religious ca-
future lives of other people, and knowledge of the destruc-
reer of the practitioner. It grows and unfolds with the gradual
tion of the depravities (a¯srava). Awakening to this threefold
purification and perfection of human personality. In Budd-
knowledge was considered by early Buddhist thinkers as the
haghosa’s Visuddhimagga there is an excellent exposition of
factor fundamental to the transformation of the practitioner
the gradual stages in which prajña¯ unfolds itself: The roots
into an arhat. One becomes an arhat by mastering these three
of prajña¯ are purity of morality and purity of the mind. Puri-
kinds of knowledge, but it is the knowledge of the destruc-
ty of morality is achieved through the observance of monastic
tion and elimination of the depravities that possesses the de-
rules, through correct living, and through control of the
cisive and essential power to bring final deliverance.
senses; purity of the mind is attained through meditational
practices. The foundation of prajña¯ lies in correct compre-
The standard code of religious training for the early dis-
hension of, and acquaintance with, the aggregates (skan-
ciples (´sra¯vakas) comprised a trilogy of morality (´s¯ıla), medi-
dhas), the elements of existence (dharmas), the twenty-two
tation (sama¯dhi), and wisdom (prajña¯). Through the practice
faculties (indriyas), the causal nexus of dependent origination
of morality, it was held, one becomes purified, perceptive,
(prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da), and the four noble truths (a¯ryasatya).
and mindful, and thus prepares and develops the ground for
The inherent quality of prajña¯ consists of a perfect and thor-
meditation. Being mindful, one is able to control the senses,
ough comprehension of the various categories and aspects of
thus conducing to the practice of meditation, through which
phenomenal existence and the comprehension of the correct
the mind becomes purged of the five “hindrances”
path of liberation.
(n¯ıvaran:a). In the course of well-developed meditational
techniques one becomes able to pursue the four consecutive
In Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmako´sa the attainment of the
stages of mental concentration (dhya¯na). Skill in practicing
immaculate and perfect prajña¯ is said to be a process of grad-
these concentrations leads to gaining and perfecting the
ual purification of impure prajña¯s that are inborn and natu-
threefold knowledge. That is, one first applies one’s thought
ral to the human personality. The accumulation of prajña¯
to the knowledge of one’s own former lives; second, one di-
can be achieved in three ways: through listening to Buddhist
rects the mind to the knowledge of the demise and rebirth
teachings, through mental reflection, and through contem-
of other people; and third, one gains the knowledge of the
plation. The elements (dharmas) of existence are here divided
destruction of the depravities. The third knowledge is the
into two groups, conditioned (sam:skr:ta) and unconditioned
most important, for it contains the penetrating and compre-
(asam:skr:ta); the unconditioned elements are further divided
hensive insight into phenomenal existence and thus brings
into space (a¯ka¯´sa), emancipation through discerning knowl-
final deliverance. Once this knowledge is acquired, an intrin-
edge (pratisam:khya¯nirodha), and emancipation through non-
sic understanding of the sorrow and impermanence of
discerning knowledge (apratisam:khya¯nirodha). These three
sam:sa¯ra, its cause, the means of pacifying it, and the path that
elements are considered to be unchanging, pure, and time-
leads to its elimination is intuitively gained. Being endowed
less. Discerning knowledge (pratisam:khya¯) refers to a pure
with such knowledge, one’s mind becomes free from the four
prajña¯ of transcendental order that brings the destruction of
depravities—sensual desire, attachment to life, wrong views
all desire and imperfection and that is thus viewed as synony-
and opinions, and ignorance. One understands perfectly that
mous with nirva¯n:a. Within the division of the elements into
birth is destroyed, that religious aspirations are accom-
the twenty-two faculties (indriyas), prajña¯ is listed among the
plished, and that there remains nothing more to be strived
five moral faculties, along with faith, vigor, mindfulness, and
for or achieved. One has thus reached the state of prajña¯,
meditation. These five faculties, together with the last three
which endows arhat status on the practitioner.
faculties of the group as a whole—namely, the knowledge of
the unknown (ajña¯tam ajña¯sya¯mi), the faculty of perfect
The threefold knowledge comprised within prajña¯ is
knowledge (ajña¯), and the faculty of the “one who knows”
often grouped together with three other kinds of knowledge,
(ajña¯ta¯v¯ı)—are considered the predominant factors in the
that of magical feats, intuitive hearing, and clairvoyance.
purification from worldly entanglements. These three facul-
Within this set of six knowledges, jointly known as the six
ties are unified by the common factor of ajña¯, or perfect
“superknowings” (s:ad:abhijña¯), the first five are regarded as
knowledge, which leads to the realization of the truths
spiritual and psychic endowments and the sixth, the knowl-
that are unrealized, uncomprehended, unknown, and
edge of the destruction of the depravities, as an inherent
unattainable.
function of the mind in its purified state. Prajña¯ stands both
at the beginning of the path of spiritual purification and at
One section of the Abhidharmako´sa deals with an expo-
its final stage. The practice of morality and meditation alone,
sition of the ten kinds of correct knowledge (jña¯na). Within
although indispensable, cannot bring about the realization
this group of ten, four relate to the four noble truths (the
of the final goal. It is prajña¯ that imparts unity, perfects vir-
knowledge of suffering, the knowledge of its origin, the
tues, and provides the guidance toward the goal, thus bring-
knowledge of its cessation, and the knowledge of the Eight-
ing its realization. Its presence at the initial stages of religious
fold Path), further analyzed into sixteen characteristics 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
PRAJÑA¯
7358
enumerated here: The truth of suffering is the knowledge of
ments characteristic of nirva¯n:a as also being empty insofar
impermanence, pain, sorrow, and nonexistence of self
as they are devoid of any identification with the conditioned
(ana¯tmya). The second truth is the knowledge that under-
elements of existence and with anything that concerns one’s
stands the cause, origin, successive evolvements, and termi-
life. Having reached this stage of wisdom, the perception of
nal effects of the causal nexus that is the empirical person.
the emptiness of both the conditioned and unconditioned
The third truth is the knowledge of the abolition of the im-
elements, one advances to the next stage of perfect wisdom,
pure skandhas, of calming the three poisons (ignorance, ha-
through which one is able to identify the conditioned
tred, and desire), of the absence of pain, and of the presence
(sam:sa¯ra) and the unconditioned (nirva¯n:a) with the aim of
of freedom. The fourth truth is the knowledge characterized
transcending both their common identity, characterized by
by the correct path, the requisite resources, the potential at-
emptiness, and their inherent differences. Once one consid-
tainment of nirva¯n:a, and the departure into it. The notion
ers them as being without any real distinction one reaches
of prajña¯ comprehends all these sixteen characteristics of the
a state of transcendent nonduality in which all opposites—
four knowledges.
negation and affirmation, sam:sa¯ra and nirva¯n:a—are identi-
fied and comprised within the notion of emptiness.
Many Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist texts, in particular the
Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ Su¯tras and the important commentaries on
This speculative process, realized through meditation
them, deal in great detail with the exposition of prajña¯.
and moral purification, brings about the realization of su-
Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯, or “perfection of wisdom,” is seen as the es-
preme and perfect wisdom. The path toward that realization
sence of all wisdom and knowledge. It is explained from vari-
is demonstrated by the bodhisattva’s career. A bodhisattva’s
ous angles and approaches, often through the use of figura-
striving for supreme enlightenment follows the unique
tive descriptions, dialogues, and similes. Perfection of
course of practicing six or ten “perfections.” He also practices
wisdom, expounded and praised as the highest value and goal
the thirty-seven principles conducive to enlightenment
of human aspirations, is proclaimed as the mother of all the
(bodhipaks:a¯ dharma) practiced by an arhat, but it is the prac-
Buddhas and becomes personified as the goddess
tice of the perfections that dominates all his activities and oc-
Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯. Within the newly construed concepts of cos-
cupies the central position in his spiritual journey. By means
mic Buddhahood, the theory of the three Buddha bodies
of perfect wisdom he gains the correct understanding of the
(trika¯ya), and the philosophical exposition of “emptiness”
true nature of reality and of the very means (upa¯ya) that he
(´su¯nyata¯) as an identity or nonduality of conditioned exis-
can employ for the benefit of others; concurrently, he sur-
tence (sam:sa¯ra) and unconditioned reality (nirva¯n:a), prajña¯
passes and transcends the categories of sam:sa¯ra through his
receives a much broader and deeper interpretation than it did
wisdom. Thus, through his compassion he remains in
in the early stages of Buddhist thought. There, its role and
sam:sa¯ra and pursues the cause of living beings; through his
function, although fully recognized, were somewhat over-
perfect wisdom he abides in the sphere of nirva¯n:a.
shadowed, insofar as prajña¯ was viewed almost exclusively as
There is an inherent relationship between perfect wis-
a tool for gaining individual deliverance, as exemplified in
dom and all the other perfections. The other perfections
the idea of arhatship.
bring spiritual purification and progress and provide the
In the Maha¯ya¯na one strives for supreme wisdom and
ground for perfect wisdom to grow and to reach its fullness.
perfect enlightenment in order to share these gifts with all
Without them, perfect wisdom can neither be fully devel-
oped nor attained. On the other hand, perfect wisdom ac-
living beings by guiding them on the path toward this state.
companies, guides, and elevates the other perfections to the
Acquisition of, and abode within, perfect wisdom becomes
status of being truly perfections. On their own the other per-
the primary goal. The focus of the Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ teachings
fections can bring positive results within the world of
is on the penetration into the true sense of things by meta-
sam:sa¯ra, but they cannot lead beyond it. Thus, their eleva-
physical discernment and by appropriate moral conduct, as
tion from the sphere of sam:sa¯ra, within which they are prac-
advocated by the bodhisattva ideal. A bodhisattva, out of
ticed, is facilitated by perfect wisdom. The harmonious
compassion (karun:a¯) for all living beings, pursues the path
growth and development of all the perfections leads to spiri-
of the pa¯ramita¯s (“perfections”) in order to gain the supreme
tual maturation and to the acquisition of perfect wisdom,
enlightenment, which he wishes to impart to others. The
which coincides with enlightenment.
philosophical tenets of the Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ teachings are a
further development of the earlier teachings. First, one must
Using his dialectical method, Na¯ga¯rjuna (c. 150–250),
acquire the wisdom of understanding the nonexistence, or
the chief exponent of the Ma¯dhyamika philosophy, demon-
emptiness, of self and of the elements of existence. By mak-
strated that through conceptual constructions (vikalpa) reali-
ing the distinction between the conditioned and uncondi-
ty is perceived as phenomenal existence. By stripping away
tioned elements—and through the comprehension of the
all thought constructions one arrives at the perception of ab-
conditioned elements as empty, impermanent, and as reposi-
solute reality, which Na¯ga¯rjuna defined in a negative way as
tories of unhappiness—one acquires the wisdom of knowing
“emptiness” (´su¯nyata¯). According to him, conceptual con-
that they are not worth pursuing, adhering to, or striving for.
structions are motivated by ignorance (avidya¯), and the pro-
The next step leads to considering the unconditioned ele-
cess of unveiling the true reality is activated by prajña¯ 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
PRAJÑA¯
7359
compassion. He applied the term emptiness to both phenom-
highest truth of emptiness. In Tantric texts wisdom is fre-
enal existence and absolute reality. Phenomenal existence is
quently named Naira¯tmya¯ (“absence of selfhood”), and it is
emptiness as it does not possess a true nature of its own
with her that a Tantric practitioner, as means, attempts to
(nih:svabha¯va); absolute reality is also emptiness in that it is
become united. Wisdom is mostly characterized as having a
devoid of all conceptual distinctions, because the compre-
female aspect, but it also appears under a masculine aspect,
hension and realization of absolute reality escapes and tran-
symbolized by a vajra, an epitome of the perfect and inde-
scends all intellectual categories. Its realization can only be
structible truth. Buddha Vairocana and any other Buddha
achieved through the intellectual and spiritual intuition rep-
of the Tantras comprehend within them the whole truth and
resented by prajña¯. Prajña¯ as free of all concepts and specula-
wisdom just as much as does the goddess Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ or
tions coincides with the absolute reality as defined by empti-
Naira¯tmya¯. In such cases, the Tantric goddess is made to
ness. As an intuition of the absolute reality, where all
transmute into the male deity. In yogic practices with a fe-
knowledge and the absolute coincide, prajña¯ penetrates into
male partner, it is the yogin who is absorbed into wisdom.
the absolute and views it without making distinctions or
differentiations that conceptual thinking entails. It simply
Comparing prajña¯ with jña¯na, one can make the follow-
views the absolute just as it is. Prajña¯ is not the same as an
ing observations. Prajña¯ is a religious term that at once en-
intuition resulting from empirical perception or from discur-
compasses both knowledge and deliverance. Within the con-
sive thinking; it is an intuitive insight into total reality and
text of worldly existence permeated by ignorance, prajña¯
thus is described as infinite, inexpressible, universal, and un-
comprehends false notions and leads away from everything
fathomable.
that binds one to this world. Prajña¯ is a spiritual realization
gained through correct knowledge and moral purification.
In the Vijña¯nava¯da school, prajña¯ coincides with su-
Buddhist thinkers of all times refrained from categorizing
preme truth (parama¯rtha); as unobstructed and lucid knowl-
prajña¯ in the same way as they did jña¯na. Prajña¯ was always
edge it comprises everything that can be known (sarvajñey-
seen as being beyond the categories of knowledge and as
a¯na¯varan:ajña¯na). It implies the correct comprehension of
being born naturally within a fully perfected practitioner;
Buddhist teachings, the correct vision of the path, and the
jña¯na, on the other hand, was categorized and graded from
knowledge of all intellectual categories and appropriate con-
that of ordinary empirical knowledge to the level of the high-
duct. It is neither thought nor lack of thought; it does not
est and transcendent knowledge. From the scholarly ap-
think but springs naturally from thought. Its object is the in-
proach it is possible to make clear distinctions between the
expressible and indescribable nature of things. It is free of any
highest levels of knowledge, often described as being intu-
characteristics, as it is inherent and manifest in its object of
itive, and prajña¯; doing so is difficult, though, because these
cognition. As an unconstrued knowledge (nirvikalpajña¯na),
notions very often overlap and coincide. The correct assess-
it stands beyond all mental categories and constructions. It
ment of their relationship should be sought, perhaps, in see-
does not make up the description of reality or the destruction
ing the acquisition of knowledge as an important and neces-
of consciousness. It is nonconceptual and free of reflection.
sary factor that, along with meditation, induces the presence
It is intuitive, born spontaneously, and surpasses all kinds of
of prajña¯.
ordinary and mundane knowledge. Prajña¯ as the perfect wis-
dom in all its aspects is the knowledge of the absolute reality
In the early phases of the Maha¯ya¯na, compassion and
(tathata¯).
wisdom are given equal status. However, at some stage in the
Buddhist writings wisdom assumed a dominant role.
The Tantras, following the philosophical assumptions
Mañju´sr¯ı, as a manifestation of wisdom, became frequently
of the Ma¯dhyamika school, assert the basic unity of nirva¯n:a
invoked and praised. The glorification of wisdom reached its
and sam:sa¯ra. The purpose of different kinds of Tantric prac-
climax in the Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ and Ma¯dhyamika literature, in
tices is to eliminate the apparent duality of these two entities,
which prajña¯ is constantly praised and extolled while karun:a¯
which are wrongly conceived as dual because of defilements
is seldom mentioned. During the later phase of the
and lack of knowledge. The sphere of knowledge and under-
Maha¯ya¯na a reverse process occurred. Compassion became
standing of nonduality between these two is perceived in
more emphasized, and Avalokite´svara, as its manifestation,
nirva¯n:a, the chief force and attribute of which is constituted
assumed a predominant position, overshadowing other bo-
by wisdom (prajña¯). In Tantric meditation and ritual perfor-
dhisattvas and even the Buddhas. Despite extreme tendencies
mances wisdom is explicitly identified with nirva¯n:a and
in literary works, in iconography, and in practice, the tradi-
means (upa¯ya) with sam:sa¯ra. The highest truth as mystical
tion has always recognized that proper balance between com-
experience is described in the Tantras as the union or min-
passion and wisdom must be retained, for it is the practice
gling of wisdom and means. In ritual and meditational prac-
of both that brings enlightenment. Compassion as the basis
tices, wisdom is symbolized by a bell, a lotus, or a sun, as well
for enlightenment is not a simple feeling of pity but an appli-
as by the vowels. In yogic practices involving a female part-
cation of appropriate practical means (upa¯ya) that lead to-
ner, wisdom is identified with a yogini. In the union of wis-
ward the realization of the final goal. The employment of dif-
dom and means, it is wisdom that plays a dominant role, for
ferent means (such as the practice of the Perfections—giving,
although it is unattainable without means, it embraces the
morality, etc.) and prajña¯ always go together. Prajña¯ cannot
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
7360
PRAKR:TI
be fully realized without upa¯ya; in turn, upa¯ya cannot ascend
Kuiji, H.-c. Shih, and D. Lusthaus. A Comprehensive Commentary
beyond the worldly existence without prajña¯.
on the Heart Su¯tra (Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯-Hrdaya-Su¯tra). Berkeley,
Calif., 2001.
SEE ALSO Arhat; Bodhisattva Path; Buddhism, Schools of,
Obermiller, E., and H. S. Sobati. Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ in Tibetan Bud-
article on Early Doctrinal Schools of Buddhism; Buddhist
dhism. New Delhi, 1999.
Philosophy; Dharma, article on Buddhist Dharma and
Skorupski, T. The Six Perfections: An Abridged Version of E. Lamot-
Dharmas; Four Noble Truths; Indian Philosophies; Jña¯na;
te’s French Translation of Na¯ga¯rjuna’s Maha¯prajña¯pa¯ra-
Karun:a¯; Nirva¯n:a; Pa¯ramita¯s; S´u¯nyam and S´u¯nyata¯; Tathata¯;
mita¯´sa¯stra, Chapters 16–30. Tring, U.K., 2002.
Upa¯ya; Wisdom.
Tivari, M. S´¯ıla, Sama¯dhi, and Prajña¯: The Buddha’s Path of Purifi-
cation. Patna, 1987.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In the early Buddhist scriptures prajña¯ is dealt with in many pas-
TADEUSZ SKORUPSKI (1987)
Revised Bibliography
sages in the four Nika¯yas, but the most comprehensive and
condensed expositions are found in later writings, namely in
Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga, translated by Pe Maung Tin
under the title The Path of Purity (London, 1971), and in Va-
subandhu’s Abhidharmako´sa, translated by Louis de La Val-
PRAKR:TI is a Sanskrit word meaning “nature, origin,
lée Poussin under the title L’Abhidharmako´sa de Vasuband-
progress.” As a philosophical concept it refers to one of the
hu, 6 vols. (1923–1931; reprint, Brussels, 1971). Much
two basic principles of the Sa¯m:khya school, material stuff,
reliable information and many references to the original
or materiality. Materiality, according to the Sa¯m:khya school,
sources can be found in I. B. Horner’s The Early Buddhist
is manifest and unmanifest. There are other specific terms
Theory of Man Perfected (1936; reprint, London, 1975) and
for the designation of unmanifest materiality, such as
also in K. N. Jayatilleke’s Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge
mu¯laprakr:ti (“original materiality”) or pradha¯na (“main
(London, 1963).
principle”). Prakr:ti is a term designating materiality in both
All the necessary information relevant to the Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ liter-
its manifest and its unmanifest forms. The use of this term
ature is contained in Edward Conze’s The Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯
dates back to the middle group of Upanis:ads, composed in
Literature (The Hague, 1960; reprint, Tokyo, 1978). The
the last centuries BCE.
most succinct exposition of prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ is contained in
the shorter su¯tras, and a translation of nineteen of them, in-
The concept of materiality can be traced to the Vedic
cluding the Vajracchedika¯, can be found in Conze’s The Short
creation myths. Although these myths vary, they all take as
Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ Texts (London, 1973).
their starting point the existence of an original being, such
The Maha¯prajña¯pa¯ramita¯´sa¯stra, which contains a detailed exposi-
as the “first man” (see, e.g., R:gveda 10.90). The subsequent
tion of prajña¯, was translated into French from the Chinese
development of the concept of prakr:ti can be divided into
translation of Kuma¯raj¯ıva by Étienne Lamotte as Le traité de
two periods, a creative-formative period and a classical
la grande vertu de sagesse, 5 vols. (Louvain, 1944–1980).
period.
Asan˙ga’s Maha¯ya¯nasam:graha, which expounds the Yoga¯ca¯ra
The creative-formative period is well reflected in the
position, was also translated by Lamotte as La somme du
Upanis:ads (from c. 600
Grand Véhicule d’Asan˙ga, 2 vols. (Louvain, 1938–1939).
BCE to the first centuries CE) and the
Maha¯bha¯rata (compiled in the period between the last cen-
Other recommended works include T. R. V. Murti’s The Central
turies BCE and the first centuries CE). “The first being was
Philosophy of Buddhism, 2d ed. (London, 1955; reprint, Lon-
alone, and it desired to be many.” Such descriptions are nu-
don, 1970); Étienne Lamotte’s The Teaching of Vimalak¯ırti,
merous in the Upanis:ads. The being that wishes to multiply
translated by Sara Boin (London, 1976), a translation of the
Vimalak¯ırtinirde´sa Su¯tra; Marion L. Matics’s Entering the
itself is known by several names: purus:a, Praja¯pati, a¯tman,
Path of Enlightenment: The Bodhicarya¯vata¯ra of the Buddhist
and a term of particular note maha¯n a¯tman. This “large self”
Poet S´a¯ntideva (New York, 1970); Har Dayal’s The Bodhi-
is unborn and yet it exists, as described in, for example, the
sattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature (London,
Br:hada¯ran:yaka Upanis:ad 4.4.22. The maha¯n a¯tman next em-
1932; reprint, Delhi, 1975); and David L. Snellgrove’s The
bodies itself in creation. This creation is an expansion of the
Hevajra Tantra, 2 vols. (London, 1959).
self, and in its embodiment as creation the self is complete.
New Sources
The self is aware of itself, as expressed in the phrases “I
Asan:ga, L. M. Joshi, and Kendriya-Tibbati-Ucca-Siksa-
am!” or “I myself am this creation.” This awareness initiates
Samsthanam. Vajracchedika Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯su¯tra; Tatha,
such processes as cognizing, perceiving, and so forth. The self
Acarya¯ Asangakr:ta Trisatikakarikasaptati. Varanasi, 1997.
cognizes as if it had different sense faculties. For example, it
Cheetham, Eric. “The Pa¯ramita¯s of Dhya¯na and Prajna.” Middle
hears, although it does not have ears. The various processes
Way 70 (1995): 111–120.
that the awareness initiates gave ground to the distinction of
Conze, E. Perfect Wisdom: The Short Prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ Texts.
the different principles (tattvas) as a result of an analysis that
Devon, U.K., 1993.
required a single function for a single principle.
Ichimura, S. Buddhist Critical Spirituality: Prajña¯ and S´u¯nyata¯.
The Moks:adharma, the twelfth book of the Maha¯b-
Delhi, 2001.
ha¯rata, calls the first-born the “large one.” The “large one”
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
PRALAYA
7361
is born on account of its knowledge. But the “large one” is
reabsorption follow one another; at the time of reabsorption,
not the only one to whom this function is ascribed. Similarly,
materiality is in a dormant and unmanifest state. During this
here the buddhi (usually translated as “intellect”) is consid-
time, the three gun:as are in a state of equilibrium. Upon the
ered the creator of the universe. The “large one” and the bud-
disturbance of the equilibrium, materiality starts to emerge
dhi are two concepts that overlap from this time.
in varying combinations of the three constituents.
Such overlapping is prominent in the theory of the evo-
The manifest materiality is characterized as being the
lution of the universe as described in the Moks:adharma. Here
opposite of consciousness in the Sa¯m:khyaka¯rika¯ 11. For ex-
two cosmogonic patterns are presented. In one pattern, as
ample, materiality is caused, finite, spatial, active, composite,
typified by Moks:adharma 187, the intellect (buddhi) exists
dependent, undifferentiated, productive, has a substratum,
in three bha¯vas, later usually known as gun:as (constituents
and is formed of three constituents. Although multiple in its
of materiality). In this pattern of evolution the sequence
transformations, it is only one. Since materiality is noncon-
runs: intellect, then mind, then senses, and so on. The other
scious, it is dependent on consciousness to make the experi-
pattern adds ego and places it between the intellect and the
ence of materiality conscious.
mind, whereby the sequence of evolution becomes intellect,
Prakr:ti, in short, is one of the dual principles of the
then ego, then mind, and so forth. There is also a difference
Sa¯m:khya school that finds its origin in Vedic creation myths.
in how the three bha¯vas relate to the intellect. In the first pat-
Originally the creation began with the first being, which
tern, the three bha¯vas are not inherent in the intellect; in the
eventually gave up its procreative function, bequeathing it to
second pattern, the three bha¯vas are “psychological” qualities
prakr:ti. Thus prakr:ti is always connected with the theory of
of the individual beings.
the evolution of the universe.
The second period in the development of the concept
SEE ALSO Gun:as; Purus:a; Sa¯m:khya.
of prakr:ti is the classical period. The Sa¯m:khyaka¯rika¯ of
¯
I´svarakr:s:n:a (c. 500 CE) is a product of the classical period.
Both patterns of evolution are recorded in the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sa¯m:khyaka¯rika¯ (vv. 24–25). The first pattern involves a di-
A detailed exploration of the origins of the concept prakr:ti can be
found in J. A. B. van Buitenen’s three-part article “Studies
versification of ego into three distinct qualifications which
in Sa¯m:khya,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 76
are also ascribed to the gun:as. In the early descriptions of the
(July–September 1956); 153–157, 77 (January–March
evolution theory, they are the three bha¯vas.
1957): 15–25, and 77 (April–June 1957): 88–107. For a suc-
A version of the second pattern, on the other hand, be-
cinct study of the development of the concept prakr:ti see J.
A. B. van Buitenen’s “The Large A¯tman,” History of Religions
came the established pattern for the theory of evolution in
4 (1964): 103–114. The most up to date detailed study of
the Sa¯m:khya school (cf. Sa¯m:khyaka¯rika¯ 3 and 22). In this
the Sa¯m:khya school is Samkhya: A Dualist Tradition in Indi-
pattern, all principles (intellect, ego, etc.) emerge from the
an Philosophy by Gerald James Larson and Ram Shankar
original unmanifest materiality. Evolution starts when intel-
Bhattacharya, the third volume of the Encyclopedia of Indian
lect emerges from the original unmanifest materiality; this
Philosophies, edited by Karl H. Potter (Princeton and Delhi,
intellect produces ego. From ego several principles emerge:
1987). See also Knut A. Jacobsen, Prakr:ti in Samkhya-Yoga:
mind, the ten faculties (the five sense faculties and the five
Material Principle, Religious Experience, Ethical Implications.
action faculties), and the subtle elements. From these subtle
(Delhi, 2002).
elements, the material elements emerge. Hence there are
EDELTRAUD HARZER (1987 AND 2005)
twenty-four principles of materiality. According to the
Sa¯m:khya school, materiality together with consciousness
form the twenty-five principles that comprise the universe.
PRALAYA, or doomsday in the Hindu eschatological
In both patterns of production, the transformation of
scheme, comes at the end of the fourth and worst of the four
the original materiality into twenty-three developed princi-
ages, or yugas, at the end of each kalpa, or day of Brahma¯.
ples is explained by a relation of cause and effect. Since the
The Pura¯n:as, which describe this process in great detail, dif-
various principles, which are simply different forms of the
fer as to the precise length of time that this process requires,
original unmanifest materiality, emerge from materiality, the
but the scale is always astronomical, involving hundreds of
original unmanifest materiality is understood as the cause of
thousands of years. At the end of the kalpa, the heat of the
the produced principles that become its effects. Since the
sun becomes so intense that it dries up the whole earth and
original materiality is unmanifest, it can be known only
sets the three worlds (heaven, earth, and the underworld) on
through its effects. This theory of causality relies on an effect
fire; when they have been entirely consumed, enormous
that is already preexistent in the cause (satka¯ryava¯da), just as
clouds appear and rain falls for hundreds of years, deluging
yogurt is latent in milk.
the whole world until the waters inundate heaven and all is
Materiality is distinctly described in two ways, the origi-
reduced to the primeval ocean of chaos. In anthropomorphic
nal unmanifest and the manifest. The Sa¯m:khya school pos-
terms, this is the moment when Brahma¯, whose waking mo-
tulates a pulsating universe, which means that creation and
ments or whose dream has been the source of the “emission”
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
7362
PRA¯N:A
of the universe from his mind, falls into a deep, dreamless
sion remains Mircea Eliade’s “Time and Eternity in Indian
sleep inside the cosmic waters. And at the end of that sleep,
Thought,” in Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, vol. 3, Man
at the end of the period of quiescence, the universe, or the
and Time, edited by Joseph Campbell (New York, 1957),
consciousness of the god, is reborn once more out of the wa-
pp. 173–200. A thoughtful and complex interpretation of
ters of chaos.
the pralaya may be found in Madeleine Biardeau’s Études de
mythologie hindoue published in the Bulletin de l’École Fran-
This circular pattern contains within it an infinite num-
çaise d’Extrême Orient (Paris, 1968, 1969, 1971, and 1976).
ber of linear segments. For India, like Greece, developed a
WENDY DONIGER (1987)
theory of four ages of declining goodness. Whereas the
Greeks named these ages after metals, the Indians called
them after throws of the dice, the first and best being the
PRA¯N:A. The Sanskrit term pra¯n:a (from the conjunction
kr:tayuga, which is followed by the treta¯, the dva¯para, and fi-
of pra and ana, “breathing forth”) can signify (1) the Abso-
nally the present age, or the kaliyuga. The importance of the
lute (brahman) as the transcendental source of all life, (2) life
metaphor of dice is also manifest in the fact that the royal
in general, (3) the life force or “breath” of life in particular,
ceremony of consecration included a ritual dice game; in the
(4) respiration, (5) air (in secular contexts only), and (6) the
second book of the Maha¯bha¯rata, King Yudhis:t:hira loses his
life organs (i.e., the five cognitive senses, the five conative
entire kingdom in a game of dice against an opponent whom
senses, and the sense-related mind, or manas).
he knows to be a cheat, thus inaugurating a period of exile
that is also a part of the ritual of consecration. Moreover, as
The third connotation is of special interest to the histo-
Madeleine Biardeau has convincingly argued, the catastroph-
rian of religion, because it conveys a vibrant psychophysical
ic battle that ends the Maha¯bha¯rata, an Armageddon in
reality (visible to the yogin) similar to the Greek pneuma and
which all the heroes as well as all the villains are killed, is a
the Melanesian mana. In this sense, pra¯n:a is a creative force,
reenactment on the human level of the cosmic doomsday
defined in the Yogava¯sis:t:ha (3.13.31 et passim) as the “vibra-
that is constantly alluded to in the epic. This human dooms-
tory energy” (spanda´sakti) that is responsible for all manifes-
day, like the big dice game in the sky, begins with
tation. Most metaphysical schools of India—one of the ex-
Yudhis:t:hira’s unlucky loss and ends, inevitably, with the los-
ceptions being H¯ınaya¯na Buddhism—subscribe to this
ing throw for humankind.
notion, although the details of interpretations differ.
Yet the “end” that comes after the kaliyuga is not the
In archaic Vedic thought, pra¯n:a is considered to be the
end at all, but a new beginning; a new kr:tayuga will follow
“breath” of the macranthropos, the cosmic Purus:a (e.g.,
after the fallow interval. Moreover, there is a “seed” of hu-
R:gveda 10.90.13; Atharvaveda 11.4.15), and the breath or
manity that survives doomsday to form the stock of the new
life force of the human body is regarded as a form of that
race of humans. Sometimes this seminal group is said to be
all-pervading pra¯n:a. Later writers make a terminological dis-
the Seven Sages, whom Vis:n:u in the form of a fish saves from
tinction between the life force that interpenetrates the entire
the cosmic flood; sometimes it is Manu, the ancestor of all
universe as a sort of subtle energy—called mukhyapra¯n:a or
humankind, and his family; sometimes it is an unspecified
“principal breath”—and the life force that sustains and ani-
group of “good men” who resist the corruption that over-
mates the individual body-minds. Pra¯n:a in this latter sense
takes everyone else at the end of the kaliyuga, a group that
has from earliest times been classified into five individualized
retires to the forest to live in innocence while the cities of
breaths. These speculations, dating back to the Atharvaveda
the plain drown in their own depravity. This “seed” func-
(see esp. chap. 15), betray a culture of intense introspection
tions on the macrocosmic level as a metaphor for the trans-
and acute sensitivity to bodily processes.
migrating soul on the microcosmic level, the a¯tman that leaps
The five individualized breaths, sometimes known col-
across the barrier between individual human death and re-
lectively as va¯yu (“wind”), are the following:
birth, just as the good “seed” leaps across the barrier between
(1) pra¯n:a, the ascending breath issuing from the navel or
one pralaya and the next cosmic emission, or prasarga. In the
the heart and including both inhalation and exhalation;
Vedantic mythology of the late Pura¯n:as, and in Indian litera-
(2) apa¯na, the breath associated with the lower half of the
ture in general, recurrent images of doomsday serve to em-
trunk;
phasize the insubstantiality of the world; the things that peo-
ple think of as permanent are constantly destroyed and re-
(3) vya¯na, the diffuse breath circulating in all the limbs;
created.
(4) uda¯na, the “up-breath” held responsible for belching,
speech, and the spontaneous focusing of attention in the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
esoteric “centers” (cakras) of the brain, as realized in or
A good introduction in English is provided by Hermann Jacobi’s
associated with higher states of consciousness;
article on the “Ages of the World,” in the Encyclopaedia of
(5) sama¯na, the breath localized in the abdominal region,
Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 1 (Edin-
where it is chiefly associated with the digestive process.
burgh, 1908). Details of the Sanskrit texts are cited in Wil-
libald Kirfel’s Das Pura¯n:a Pañcalaks:an:a (Bonn, 1927),
The soteriological literature of the post-S´an˙kara period often
though without any useful interpretation. The classic discus-
adds to this classical pentad a further set of five secondary
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
PRAT¯ITYA-SAMUTPA¯DA
7363
breaths (upapra¯n:a), about whose locations and functions,
a doctrine of causality, this notion is so central to Buddhist
however, there is no unanimity. These are the following:
thought that a proper understanding of prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da
(1) na¯ga (“serpent”), generally held responsible for belching
is often declared tantamount to enlightenment itself. In it,
and vomiting;
an entire complex of notions about moral responsibility,
human freedom, the process of rebirth, and the path to liber-
(2) ku¯rma (“tortoise”), associated with the opening and
ation coalesce.
closing of the eyelids;
Prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da was promulgated against a back-
(3) kr:kara (“kr-maker”), thought to cause hunger, hiccups,
ground of four contemporary theories of causality. These
or blinking;
were (1) self-causation (svayam: kr:ta), advocated by the tradi-
(4) devadatta (“God-given”), associated with the processes
tional Brahmanic philosophers; (2) external causation
of sleep, especially yawning;
(parakr:ta), upheld by the materialist thinkers; (3) a combina-
tion of self-causation and external causation, advocated by
(5) dhanam:jaya (“conquest of wealth”), responsible for the
the Jains; and (4) a denial of both self and external causation,
decomposition of the corpse; also sometimes said to be
probably championed by certain skeptical thinkers who re-
connected with the production of phlegm.
fused to recognize any form of causation. While all four of
These ten types of breaths are generally conceived of as circu-
these theories were explicitly rejected by the Buddha, the
lating in a complex lattice of bioenergetic pathways called
brunt of his analysis was directed against the former two.
na¯d:¯ıs (“ducts”). They are widely thought to constitute an ex-
According to the Buddha, a theory of self-causation
periential field or bodily “sheath,” the pra¯n:a¯maya-ko´sa
leads to the belief in permanence (´sa¯´svata), that is, the recog-
(Taittir¯ıya Upanis:ad 2). In the Cha¯ndogya Upanis:ad
nition of a permanent and eternal “self” (a¯tman), which the
(2.13.6), the five principal breaths are styled “the gatekeepers
Buddha found to be an unverifiable entity. External causa-
to the heavenly world,” which hints at an esoteric under-
tion, on the other hand, implies the existence of an inexora-
standing of the close relationship between breathing and
ble physical law of nature (svabha¯va) that would render the
consciousness. This connection was later explored in the var-
human being a mere automaton with no power to determine
ious soteriological schools, notably in hat:hayoga.
the nature of his own existence. Ultimately, such a position
Sometimes pra¯n:a and apa¯na simply represent inhalation
divests beings of all bases for personal continuity and hence,
and exhalation, but in yogic contexts both terms are used in
moral responsibility. This he referred to as the theory of an-
the technical sense noted above. Particularly in hat:hayoga,
nihilation (uccheda). Prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da, on the other hand,
both breaths play an important role in the technique of
is presented as the “middle (madhyama) position” between
breath control (pra¯n:a¯ya¯ma) as a means of curbing, through
these two extremes. This middle position is explained in
sensory inhibition, the rise and fall of attention.
great detail in the Discourse to Ka¯tya¯yana, which serves as the
locus classicus of all subsequent interpretations of the Bud-
SEE ALSO Breath and Breathing; Cakras; Hat:hayoga; Yoga.
dha’s “middle path.” Following is the text of the discourse
in the Pali version:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Thus have I heard. The Blessed One was once living in
Brown, George William. “Pra¯n:a and Apa¯na.” Journal of the Ameri-
Savatthi. . . . At that time the venerable Kacca¯yana of
can Oriental Society 39 (1919): 104–112.
that clan came to visit him, and saluting him, sat down
Ewing, Arthur H. “The Hindu Conception of the Functions of
at one side. So seated, he questioned the Exalted One:
Breath.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 22 (1901):
“Sir, [people] speak of ‘right view, right view.’ To what
249–308.
extent is there right view?” This world, Kacca¯yana, is
generally inclined toward two [views]: existence and
Wikander, Stig. Va¯yu: Texte und Untersuchungen zur indo-ira-
nonexistence. For him who perceives, with right knowl-
nischen Religionsgeschichte. Uppsala, 1941.
edge, the uprising of the world as it has come to be,
New Sources
whatever view there is in the world about nonexistence
Connolly, Peter. Vitalistic Thought in India: A Study of the “Pra¯n:a”
will not be acceptable. Kacca¯yana, for him who per-
Concept in Vedic Literature and Its Development in the
ceives, with right knowledge, the ceasing of the world
Veda¯nta, Sa¯m:khya and Pañcara¯tra Traditions. Delhi, 1992.
as it has come to be, whatever view there is in the world
about existence will not be acceptable. “The world, for
GEORG FEUERSTEIN (1987)
the most part, Kacca¯yana, is bound by approach, grasp-
Revised Bibliography
ing and inclination. Yet, a person who does not follow
that approach and grasping, that determination of
mind, the inclination and disposition, who does not
PRAT¯ITYA-SAMUTPA¯DA.
cling to or adhere to a view: ‘This is my self,’ who thinks
The term prat¯ıtya-
[instead]: ‘suffering that is subject to arising arises; suf-
samutpa¯da (Pali, pat:icca-samuppa¯da), “dependent origina-
fering that is subject to ceasing ceases,’ such a person
tion” or “dependent arising,” was first used by the Buddha
does not doubt, is not perplexed. Herein, his knowledge
to characterize the understanding of the nature of human ex-
is not other-dependent. Thus far, Kacca¯yana, there is
istence that he had attained at his enlightenment. Essentially
‘right view.’
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
7364
PRAT¯ITYA-SAMUTPA¯DA
‘Everything exists’—this, Kacca¯yana, is one extreme.
prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da is intended to express, both the reduc-
tionist or essentialist perspective and the impossible task of
‘Everything does not exist’—this, Kacca¯yana, is the sec-
ond extreme. Kacca¯yana, without approaching either
predicting an event with absolute certainty are avoided.
extreme, the Tatha¯gata teaches you a doctrine in the
Thus, the Buddha spoke not of self-sufficient things or
middle.
substances but of “dependently arisen phenomena”
Dependent upon ignorance [avidya¯] arise dispositions
(prat¯ıtyasamutpanna-dharma). These refer to phenomena
[sam:ska¯ra]; dependent upon dispositions arises con-
that have already occurred. There is no implication here that
sciousness [vijña¯na]; dependent upon consciousness
individual and discrete phenomena (dharma) are experienced
arises the psychophysical personality [na¯ma-ru¯pa]; de-
and that their “dependence” upon one another is imagined
pendent upon the psychophysical personality arise the
(as was understood by the Humeans) or is the result of tran-
six senses [s:ad:a¯yatana]; dependent upon the six senses
scendental categories of understanding (as the Kantians be-
arises contact [spar´sa]; dependent upon contact arises
feeling [vedana¯]; dependent upon feeling arises craving
lieved). On the contrary, both phenomena and the manner
[tr:s:n:a¯]; dependent upon craving arises grasping
of their dependence are part of human experience. However,
[upa¯da¯na]; dependent upon grasping arises becoming
this “dependence” is then stretched out, by means of an in-
[bhava]; dependent upon becoming arises birth [ja¯ti];
ductive inference, to explain the events of the dim past as
dependent upon birth arises old age and death, grief,
well as of the future. This is the manner in which the Buddha
lamentation, suffering, dejection and despair. Thus
arrived at the uniformity of the principle of dependence.
arises this entire mass of suffering. However, from the
When he claimed that this “dependent arising” has remained
utter fading away and ceasing of ignorance, there is ces-
as such despite either the arising of the Tatha¯gatas or the
sation of dispositions . . . from the ceasing of birth,
nonarising of the Tatha¯gatas he was hinting at the universali-
there is ceasing of old age and death, grief, lamentation,
ty of that experience. The uniform and universal principle
suffering, dejection and despair.” (Sam:yutta Nika¯ya
2.16–17)
of dependence is expressed in a most abstract way in the oft-
recurring statement: “When that exists, this comes to be; on
Existence (atthita¯; Skt., astitva) and nonexistence
the arising of that, this arises. When that does not exist, this
(n Datthita¯; Skt., na¯stitva) referred to here are not simple no-
does not come to be; on the cessation of that, this ceases”
tions of empirical existence or nonexistence. In the Indian
(Majjhima Nika¯ya 1.262–264).
context, existence implies permanence; hence the Buddha’s
appeal to the empirical fact of cessation of phenomena to re-
In the Discourse to Ka¯tya¯yana this principle of depen-
ject the notion of existence. Nonexistence refers to complete
dence is utilized to explain the processes of human bondage
annihilation without any form of continuity, hence the Bud-
as well as of freedom. The positive statement of the twelve-
dha’s appeal to the empirical fact of arising of phenomena.
fold formula, beginning with the statement “Depending
Thus, the fundamental philosophical problem involved here
upon ignorance arise dispositions,” explains the human per-
is how to account for continuity in human experience with-
sonality in bondage, avoiding both eternalistic and nihilistic
out either having to posit permanence of some sort or accept
views. The human person is here referred to as na¯ma-ru¯pa
absolute discontinuity.
(the psychophysical personality). The nature of that person
is conditioned mostly by his or her consciousness (vijña¯na),
Linguistic conventions of his day did not provide the
which, in its turn, is determined by the person’s understand-
Buddha with a term to express his ideas, hence it was neces-
ing (and in the case of the person in bondage, by his or her
sary to coin an entirely different compound term:
lack of understanding—avidya¯) and the dispositions
prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da. Samutpa¯da literally means “arising in
(sam:ska¯ra) formed on the basis of that understanding. Con-
combination,” or “co-arising.” But when compounded with
ditioned by such understanding and dispositions, a person
the term prat¯ıtya (a gerund from the root i, “to move,”
comes to experience (spar´sa, vedana¯) the world through the
with prefix prati meaning “toward”), implying “moving” or
six sense faculties (s:ad:a¯yatana) and to respond by being at-
“leaning toward,” the term means “dependence.”
tracted to it (tr:s:n:a¯). Thus, the person’s behavior (karman)
Prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da may, therefore, be translated as “depen-
comes to be dominated not only by the world he or she expe-
dent arising.” Formulating his experience in this way, the
riences but also by the way in which the person experiences
Buddha was able to avoid several metaphysical issues that
it. If one is attracted by that world one tends to cling to it
have plagued most discussions of the principle of causation
(upa¯da¯na). One’s whole personality, what he or she wants to
in the East as well as in the West.
be or achieve, will be determined by that craving and grasp-
Attempts to understand how a cause produces an effect
ing. Such would be this person’s becoming (bhava), not only
have led philosophers to adopt a reductionist perspective and
in this life, but also in a future life (ja¯ti). Involved in such
look for an “essence,” or “substance” in the cause that gives
a process of becoming (bhava), the person will be pleased and
rise to the effect. Such a perspective is also motivated by a
satisfied when obtaining what is craved and unhappy and
desire to predict with absolute certainty the manner of the
frustrated when he or she does not. Yet even these satisfac-
emergence of the effect from the cause. By speaking of the
tions, which are temporary at best, turn out to be dissatisfac-
dependence of the effect on the cause, which is what the term
tions as the craving and grasping continue to increase. Such
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
PRAT¯ITYA-SAMUTPA¯DA
7365
is the mass of suffering the person will experience through
tions of absolute identity and absolute difference. Contra-
successive stages of life and in subsequent births.
dicting the Buddha’s notion of nonsubstantiality, the
Sarva¯stiva¯dins accepted an underlying “substance”
A proper understanding of phenomena as impermanent
(svabha¯va) in phenomena, while the Sautra¯ntikas surrepti-
(anitya) and nonsubstantial (ana¯tman) would enable a
tiously introduced a metaphysical notion of a transmigrating
person to pacify his or her dispositional tendencies
personality (pudgala).
(sam:ska¯ropasama). Pacification of dispositions leads to a bet-
ter understanding of one’s own personality as well as the
The Pali Abhidharma work Katha¯vatthu criticized and
world of experience. Perceiving phenomena as being nonsub-
rejected these views. In spite of this criticism, these views
stantial, one will neither assume the existence of an inexora-
continued to survive. The early Maha¯ya¯na su¯tras represent
ble law nor believe in complete lawlessness. When one re-
another attempt to get rid of the substantialist metaphysics
sponds to that world of experience with an understanding
of these two schools by emphasizing a negative approach to
of conditionality one’s responses will not be rigidly predeter-
the problem of reality, one based upon the notion of “empti-
mined (asamskr:ta). Abandoning passion or craving (tr:s:n:a¯),
ness” (´su¯nyata¯). For example, one of the early Maha¯ya¯na
one’s actions will be dominated by dispassion (vaira¯gya), and
su¯tras—the Ka¯´syapaparivarta—continued to describe the
more positively, by compassion (karun:a¯) for one’s self as well
“middle path” in negative terms, while at the same time re-
as others. Thirsting for nothing, with few wants, the person
taining the positive version discussed in the Discourse to
will be freed from most of the “constraints” and lead a happy
Ka¯tya¯yana.
and contented life until death. With no grasping, there will
be no more becoming (bhava) and hence the cessation of any
Na¯ga¯rjuna’s famous treatise, the Mu¯lamadhyama-
possible future births (ja¯tiks:aya). The recognition of the pos-
kaka¯rika¯, considered by many as the most sophisticated
sibility of replacing ignorance (avidya¯) with wisdom (jña¯na,
philosophical justification of Maha¯ya¯na, is a determined at-
vidya¯) and craving and grasping with dispassion and compas-
tempt to return to the original message of the Buddha by
sion leaves the individual with the capacity to attain freedom.
criticizing the substantialist views of the Sarva¯stiva¯dins and
Thus, the principle of dependent arising avoids both strict
the Sautra¯ntikas. Restatement of the principle of “dependent
determinism and absolute indeterminism; it is neither an ab-
arising” without having to posit a substantial connection
solutely inviolable law nor a chaotic lawlessness.
(svabha¯va) between a cause and an effect (as the
Sarva¯stiva¯dins did), or to emphasize their difference (as the
The explanation of the human personality, both in
Sautra¯ntikas did), seems to be the foremost concern of
bondage and in freedom, was of paramount importance for
Na¯ga¯rjuna. “Emptiness” here becomes a synonym for “non-
the Buddha. Hence the discussion of the principle of depen-
substantiality” (ana¯tman).
dence is confined to these two aspects in the Discourse to
Ka¯tya¯yana. Elsewhere, however, he applies this principle to
The Buddha’s conception of karmic continuity and
explain most other aspects of human existence. For example,
moral responsibility also had to be rescued from the substan-
without positing a first cause or any primordial substance he
tialist interpretations of the Buddhist metaphysicians.
applied the principle of dependence to explain the evolution
Na¯ga¯rjuna seems to have been aware of a statement popular
and dissolution of the world process. This principle is also
among the Buddhists relating to the doctrine of karman that
utilized in the explanation of the process by which one comes
read: “Karmas do not perish (na pran:a´syanti) even after a
to have knowledge of the world through sensory as well as
hundred myriads of aeons. Having attained the harmony of
extrasensory means. Moral behavior, social life, and religious
conditions (sa¯magr¯ı) and the proper time (ka¯la), they bear
and spiritual phenomena are given causal explanations as
fruit for the human beings” (La Vallée Poussin, 1903,
well. For this reason, the Buddha did not hesitate to declare,
p. 324). Inspired probably by this verse, Na¯ga¯rjuna
“He who sees dependent arising sees the doctrine (dharma)”
(Mu¯lamadhyamakaka¯rika¯ 17.14) upheld the notion of a
(Majjhima Nika¯ya 1.190–191).
nonperishable (avipran:a´sa) karman, comparing it with the
unacceptable interpretations offered by the substantialists.
The Abhidharma period was the most active and highly
After denying a “self” (a¯tman), he proceeded to compile
vibrant epoch of scholastic activity in Buddhist history. Dur-
chapters on the “harmony of conditions” (sa¯magr¯ı) and on
ing this period the contents of the discourses were carefully
time (ka¯la), giving a nonsubstantialist interpretation of these.
analyzed and presented in nondiscursive form. In the pro-
cess, the “dependently arisen phenomena” referred to by the
Having devoted twenty-five chapters to recasting the
Buddha came to be listed and classified, together with an
full range of Buddhist ideas in terms of the doctrine of “emp-
analysis of the various types of causal relations (pratyaya) that
tiness,” Na¯ga¯rjuna returns to the conclusion of the Discourse
obtain among them. However, a few centuries later, meta-
to Ka¯tya¯yana in chapter 26, where he analyzes the twelvefold
physical speculations began to emerge in the Buddhist tradi-
factors describing the human personality in bondage as well
tion. Two schools of Buddhism, the Sarva¯stiva¯da and
as freedom. Thus, Na¯ga¯rjuna’s treatise should more appro-
Sautra¯ntika, speculating on the concepts of time and space,
priately be considered a grand commentary on the Discourse
produced theories of momentariness and atomism, thereby
to Ka¯tya¯yana, this being the only discourse referred to by
engendering insoluble problems such as the metaphysical no-
name in the text.
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
7366
PRATT, JAMES B.
Na¯ga¯rjuna’s exposition of the twelvefold formula in
Boucher, Daniel. “The Prat¯ıyasamutpa¯daga¯tha and Its Role in the
chapter 26 (which incidentally consists of twelve verses) fo-
Medieval Cult of the Relics.”Journal of the International Asso-
cuses on the positive statement of the Buddha regarding the
ciation of Buddhist Studies 14 (1991): 1–27.
human life process, that is, how a human being conditioned
Cox, Collett. “Dependent Origination: Its Elaboration in Early
by ignorance suffers in bondage. The negative statement of
Sarvastivadin Abhidharma Texts.” In Researches in Indian
the Buddha explaining freedom is briefly outlined in the last
and Buddhist Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Professor Alex
two verses of this chapter.
Wayman, edited by Ram Karan Sharma, pp. 119–143.
Delhi, 1993.
Na¯ga¯rjuna begins the chapter explaining how the desti-
ny (gati) of a human being, as he continues with his life-
Lamotte, Étienne. Karmasiddhiprakarana: The Treatise on Action
process, is determined by ignorance and dispositions. Taking
by Vasubandhu. Translated by Leo M. Pruden. Berkeley,
a cue from the Maha¯nida¯na Suttanta, where the Buddha
1988.
speaks about consciousness (viñña¯n:a; Skt., vijña¯na) entering
Potter, Karl, Robert Buswell, Padmanabh Jaini, and Noble Reat,
the mother’s womb in order to influence the psychophysical
eds. Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Volume VII: Abhid-
personality formed therein, Na¯ga¯rjuna explains the psycho-
harma Buddhism to 150 A.D. Delhi, 1996.
physical personality (na¯ma-ru¯pa) as being infused (nis:icyate)
Wayman, Alex. “The Secret of Nagarjuna’s Position on Depen-
by consciousness that is dispositionally conditioned. The
dent Origination and Sunyata.” In Indo-Tibetan
most interesting addition to the formula appears in the ex-
Ma¯dhyamika Studies, pp. 82–109. New Delhi, 1996.
planation of the three links: the psychophysical personality
DAVID J. KALUPAHANA (1987)
(na¯ma-ru¯pa), the six spheres of sense (s:ad:a¯yatana) and con-
Revised Bibliography
tact (spar´sa). At this point Na¯ga¯rjuna introduces the contents
of a passage explaining the process of sense experience occur-
ring in the Maha¯hatthipadopama Sutta that, though implied,
is not specifically stated in the twelvefold formula. This pas-
PRATT, JAMES B. (1875–1944) was an American phi-
sage refers to the various conditions needed for sense experi-
losopher and psychologist of religion. Born James Bissett
ence, namely, the existence of the unimpaired sense organ,
Pratt in Elmira, New York, and raised in the Presbyterian
the object that has come into focus, and the availability of
tradition, Pratt graduated from Williams College in 1898.
attention arising in such a context. The rest of the formula
He returned to the school in 1905 to teach, a post he held
is then briefly presented without explanations. Verse 10 in-
until 1943. From 1899 to 1905 Pratt studied philosophy at
troduces the idea of the perception of truth (tattva-dar´sana)
Harvard, primarily with William James (1842–1910) and
in place of the cessation of ignorance (avidya¯-nirodha).
Josiah Royce (1855–1916). From 1902 to 1903 Pratt stud-
Na¯ga¯rjuna did not have to specify what this conception of
ied in Berlin, valuing especially his work with the philoso-
truth is, for he has already compiled twenty-five chapters in
pher of religion Otto Pfleiderer. Pratt also visited eastern Eu-
its explanation. It is the perception that all (experienced)
rope and the Middle East, establishing a habit of travel that
phenomena are empty (sarvam idam sunyam) of substance
informed his comparative religion work. In 1911 Pratt mar-
(svabhavato).
ried the Italian-born Catherine Mariotti. That devoted rela-
tionship was fundamental in expanding Pratt’s Protestant
BIBLIOGRAPHY
sensibility to a sympathetic approach to Catholicism. Pratt’s
For a detailed study of prat¯ıtya-samutpa¯da, see my Causality: The
significance lies in three areas: the psychology of religion,
Central Philosophy of Buddhism (Honolulu, 1975). My trans-
comparative religion, and the philosophy of religion.
lation and annotation of the Mu¯lamadhyamakaka¯rika¯ of
Na¯ga¯rjuna, Na¯ga¯rjuna, the Philosophy of the Middle Way (Al-
Philosophically Pratt was a firm critic of James’s prag-
bany, N.Y., 1986) gives further elaboration to the view that
matism as in What Is Pragmatism? (1909). Nevertheless he
Na¯ga¯rjuna’s Mu¯lamadhyamakaka¯rika¯ is in essence a com-
was a follower of James’s psychology of religion, as can be
mentary on the Discourse to Ka¯tya¯yana. See also Alex Way-
seen by his doctoral thesis, The Psychology of Religious
man’s detailed treatment, “Buddhist Dependent Origina-
Belief (1907). This is an important reminder that the psy-
tion,” History of Religions 10 (1971): 185–203. The passage
chology of religion was not dependent on pragmatism for its
on the imperishability of karmas quoted above can be found
in Louis de La Vallée Poussin’s Mu¯lamadhyamakaka¯rika¯s de
foundation. Pratt’s most significant work, The Religious Con-
Na¯ga¯rjuna avec la Prasannapada¯ commentaire de Candrakirti
sciousness (1920), is second only to James’s Varieties of Reli-
(Saint Petersburg, 1903), p. 324.
gious Experience as the hallmark of that movement. Both at-
tempt to take religious experiences seriously and
New Sources
Basso, Pierre. “Language for a Causal Conditional Logic Founda-
sympathetically. There are also interesting differences in
tions and Objectives: Is It Possible to Formalize Dependent
their approaches. Pratt draws on a much wider range of reli-
Origination?” Journal of Indian Philosophy 16, no. 2 (1988):
gious phenomena and represents generally what James would
123–166.
have called the position of the “healthy minded.” He speaks
Bielefeldt, Carl. “The Four Levels of Pratitya-samutpada Accord-
from a rich and deep but not anguished religious faith. This
ing to the Fa-hua hsuan i.” Journal of the International Associ-
leads him to put less emphasis on the drama of involuntary
ation of Buddhist Studies 11, no. 1 (1988): 7–29.
conversion experiences than James did and to critique 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
PRAYER
7367
evangelical theology that privileges this type. The more fre-
sessment of Pratt’s psychology of religion is in David W.
quent type of conversion for Pratt was the product of the de-
Wulff, Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary (New
liberate acts taken by individuals who knew their goals, were
York, 1997), pp. 507–523. Eric J. Sharpe, Comparative Reli-
not satisfied with “any sort of merely emotional state,” and
gion: A History, 2d ed. (La Salle, Ill., 1986), pp. 114–117,
were rewarded with “a new sense of calm and satisfaction”
gives brief attention to the comparative-religion aspects of
(Pratt, 1920, p. 140).
Pratt’s work.
As Pratt moved from privileging extreme forms of con-
WILLIAM R. DARROW (2005)
version, he also distinguished mild and extreme forms of
mysticism, insisting that the more mild type had been over-
looked and that the extreme forms of mysticism, many of
PRAYER, understood as the human communication with
which had pathological features, had received too much at-
divine and spiritual entities, has been present in most of the
tention. Pratt’s work also showed a much greater sensitivity
religions in human history. Viewed from most religious per-
to the role of cult and worship in religious life than James
spectives, prayer is a necessity of the human condition.
and a developing sense of the religious developments
When the human material world is accounted for in an act
through the life cycle. The Religious Consciousness remains the
of creation resulting in a cleavage or separation from the di-
most balanced synthetic statement of the issues and ap-
vine or spiritual world, prayer is one means by which this gap
proaches of the American-born movement of psychology of
of createdness is overcome, if but momentarily.
religion. In its attempt to hold together the social and the
psychological and to take religious consciousness as an irre-
Abundant texts of such communications exist as well as
ducible phenomenon, it did not survive the onslaught of the
extensive literatures about them. Still, the general study of
European trends of Durkheimian sociology and Freudian
prayer is undeveloped and naive. The question of the univer-
psychology. Pratt was familiar with both of these currents
sality of prayer has yet to be seriously addressed to the rele-
but could not fully embrace either.
vant materials. A careful comparative and etymological study
Pratt’s wide acquaintance with comparative religion was
of just the terminology that designates acts of human-
evident in his psychology works but also in two landmark
spiritual communication has yet to be done among even the
titles, India and Its Faiths: A Traveler’s Record (1915) and The
widespread and best-known religious traditions. Studies of
Pilgrimage of Buddhism and a Buddhist Pilgrimage (1928).
prayer in terms of modern communications theories and
Both works are sensitive mixtures of textual study, done in
semiotics are limited and rare. The theories, as well as the
translation, and rich impressions from travel. They seek to
intuitive understandings, of prayer have been heavily influ-
give the reader a sense for how it feels to be a Hindu or a
enced by Western religious traditions.
Buddhist. Although informed by the questions of the psy-
A general schema will be used in the following consider-
chologist of religion, they focus more on the worldviews and
ation of the typologies, theories, and interpretive issues of
histories of the traditions under examination and therefore
prayer phenomena. First, prayer will be considered as text,
stand independent of Pratt’s psychology of religion work.
that is, as a collection of words that cohere as a human com-
The remainder of Pratt’s writing falls into two types.
munication directed toward a spiritual entity. Second, prayer
First, he articulated his realist philosophical stance, which af-
will be considered as act, that is, as the human act of commu-
firmed the reality of both material world and mind in such
nicating with deities including not only or exclusively lan-
works as Matter and Spirit (1922), Personal Realism (1937),
guage but especially the elements of performance that consti-
and Naturalism (1939). Second, his work in the philosophy
tute the act. Finally, prayer will be considered as subject, that
of religion, Adventures in Philosophy and Religion (1931), Can
is, as a dimension or aspect of religion, the articulation of
We Keep the Faith? (1941), Eternal Values in Religion (1950),
whose nature constitutes a statement of belief, doctrine, in-
and his unpublished God and the War, articulated a defense
struction, philosophy, or theology.
of liberal religion against any overemphasis on supernatural-
PRAYER AS TEXT. Prayer is thought of most commonly as the
ism. In these writings Pratt called for a return to the centrali-
specific words of the human-spiritual communication, that
ty of symbol and ritual for the nourishment of the religious
is, as the text of this communication, such as the Lord’s
imagination and for the restored vitality of religion in the
Prayer (Christian), the Qaddish (Jewish), and the prayers of
modern world.
s:ala¯t (Muslim). Scores of prayers appear in books of prayer,
books of worship, descriptions of rituals and liturgies, eth-
SEE ALSO Comparative Religion; James, William; Philoso-
nographies of exclusively oral peoples, and biographies of re-
phy, article on Philosophy of Religion; Psychology, article
ligious persons.
on Psychology of Religion.
A common basic typology of prayer has been formulat-
B
ed by discerning what distinguishes the character and intent
IBLIOGRAPHY
The memorial volume Gerald E. Meyers, ed., Self, Religion, and
expressed by the words of prayer texts. This kind of typology
Metaphysics: Essays in Memory of James Bissett Pratt (New
includes a number of classes, all easily distinguished by their
York, 1961), deals mainly with philosophy. The fullest as-
descriptive designations. It includes petition, invocation,
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
7368
PRAYER
thanksgiving (praise or adoration), dedication, supplication,
rather artificially composed for the purpose of edifying, in-
intercession, confession, penitence, and benediction. Such
structing, and influencing people in the matters of dogma,
types may constitute whole prayers or they may be strung to-
belief, and tradition. Heiler’s study of prayer, therefore, was
gether to form a structurally more complex prayer.
a failed effort from the outset in the respect that he denigrat-
This kind of typology serves to demonstrate the extent
ed his primary source of data for his study of prayer, leaving
of prayer phenomena. It may be used as a device for the com-
him wistfully awaiting the rare occasion to eavesdrop on one
parative study of religion. It suggests that prayer is wide-
pouring out his or her heart to God. Heiler’s predisposition
spread and has a commonality as well as diversity. The most
for the psychological nature of prayer, conjoined with his
extensive use of this kind of typology was made in studies,
failure to make any clear or useful distinction between prayer
done mostly in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
as text and prayer as act, placed his consideration of prayer
of the development of religion over time. Petitionary prayers
in a nonproductive position, one that has generally discour-
were thought to be most widespread and thus the oldest form
aged the academic study of prayer, especially beyond particu-
of prayer. The presence of ethical, moral, and spiritual con-
lar prayer traditions.
cerns in petitionary prayers was believed to have come later
Due to the nature of the materials available, prayers
as a development beyond purely personal and material needs.
must often be considered primarily, if not solely, as texts,
While these developmental aspects are no longer considered
whose study is limited to the semantic, informational, and
valid nor are they of much interest in the study of religion,
literary aspects of the language that constitutes them. Despite
this content typology has continued to provide the basic de-
such limitations, the texts of prayers reflect theological, doc-
scriptive language of prayer.
trinal, cultural, historical, aesthetic, and creedal dimensions
In his classic early anthropological study Primitive Cul-
of a religious culture.
ture (1873), E. B. Tylor attributed a psychological and spiri-
tual character to prayer. He called prayer “the soul’s sincere
PRAYER AS ACT. Intuitively prayer is an act of communica-
desire, uttered or unexpressed” and “the address of personal
tion. In its most common performance, prayer is an act of
spirit to personal spirit.” In perhaps the most extensive com-
speech. Prayer has been considered as act, including not only
parative study of prayer, Prayer: A Study in the History and
the words uttered but some of the performance elements of
Psychology of Religion (1932), Friedrich Heiler understood
the speech act, in order to classify and describe prayers in
prayer in much the same terms, describing it, using Hebrew
terms of the identities of those praying, the occasions of
scriptural imagery, as a pouring out of the heart before God.
prayer, the motivations for praying, and such physically de-
Thus, in both of these classic descriptions, prayer is charac-
scriptive matters as body and hand attitudes. These classifica-
terized as free and spontaneous, that is, heartfelt. Such char-
tions have been primarily descriptive with institutional and
acterization is still broadly held and is, for most, so obvious
psychological aspects in the foreground.
that critical discussion is unnecessary. However, when the
The distinction between personal and ritual prayer has
understanding of prayer as a free and spontaneous “living
often been made when viewing prayer as act. Personal prayer,
communion of man with God” (Heiler) is conjoined with
regarded as the act of persons pouring forth their hearts to
the general restriction of prayer to the text form, incongruen-
God, has been considered by many as the truest form, even
cy, confusion, and dilemma arise. Prayer texts, almost with-
the only true form, of prayer. Yet, the data available for the
out exception and to a degree as part of their nature, are for-
study of personal prayer are scant. Still, the record of person-
mulaic, repetitive, and static in character, much in contrast
al prayers found in letters, biographies, and diaries suggests
with the expected free and spontaneous character of prayer.
a strong correlation and interdependence of personal prayer
In the case of Tylor, whose study of culture and religion was
with ritual and liturgical prayer in language, form, style, and
directed to the documentation of the evolution of culture,
physical attitude. A person praying privately is invariably a
this was particularly confounding. His theory called for reli-
person who is part of a religious and cultural tradition in
gion to follow magic and thus for prayer to follow magical
which ritual or public prayer is practiced.
spells and formulas. Yet the abundance of liturgical and
meditational prayer forms in the cultures he considered the
Ritual prayer, by not conforming to the naive notions
most fully developed confounded his thesis. Tylor could re-
of the spontaneity and free form of prayer, has often been
solve this dilemma only by holding that prayer “from being
set aside. It was not incorrect of Heiler to understand ritual
at first utterances as free and flexible as requests to a living
prayer as being composed for the purpose of edifying, in-
patriarch or chief, stiffened into traditional formulas whose
structing, and influencing people in the matters of dogma,
repetition required verbal accuracy, and whose nature practi-
belief, and tradition, although this is but a partial under-
cally assimilated more or less to that of charms” (Tylor, vol.
standing. But Heiler radically truncated his, and consequent-
2, p. 371). Thus, the structural characteristics of prayer that
ly many others’, understanding of prayer by denigrating
contradicted the expectations of prayer were held to be a
these important functions. Such aspects of prayer must be
product of civilization and evolution.
recognized as important and often essential to the continuity
Heiler was also confounded by this incongruity. He
and communication of tradition and culture. In its capacity
held that prayer texts were, in fact, not true prayers, but were
of performing these important functions, the formulaic, 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
PRAYER
7369
petitive, and standardized characteristics of prayer are effec-
quence of bodily actions that includes standing, prostration,
tive pedagogically and to enculturate.
proper attitudes—all of these, as well as the proper recitation
of a sequence of words.
Furthermore, and importantly, it can be shown that
prayer when formulaic, repetitive, and redundant in message
When prayer is considered as act, the unresponsive and
can be a true act of communication, even heartfelt. In recent
noncreative dimensions that seem inseparable from the rigid-
years a range of studies has developed showing the performa-
ity of words tend to dissolve, for a prayer act always involves
tive power of language and speech acts. Simply put, these
one praying in a historical, cultural, social, and psychological
studies show that language and other forms of human action
setting. These ever-changing contextual elements are neces-
not only say things, that is, impart information, they also do
sarily a part of the act. In some prayer traditions, the Navajo
things. Ordinary language acts may persuade, name, com-
of North America for example, it has been shown that highly
mit, promise, declare, affirm, and so on; and these functions
formulaic constituents of prayer are ordered in patterns and
are often more primary than that of transmitting infor-
conjoined with familiar ritual elements in combinations that
mation.
express very specifically the heartfelt needs and motivations
of a single person for whom the prayer is uttered. Analogous
The study of prayer has yet to be extensively influenced
to ordinary language where familiar words can be ordered ac-
by this understanding of the performative power of language,
cording to a single set of grammatical principles in infinite
but it is clearly relevant. From this perspective, the many di-
ways to be creative and expressive, prayer passages may be
mensions of the act of prayer apart from the heartfelt com-
ordered in conjunction with ritual elements to achieve the
munication with God can be appreciated more fully. For ex-
same communicative capabilities.
ample, a prayer of invocation, through its form as well as its
content, when uttered in the appropriate ritual context,
The importance of the performative power of prayer
serves to transform the mood of the worshipers. It sets the
acts is attested within many religious traditions by the ex-
tone and attitude of worship. It effects the presence of the
pressed view that the most important prayers are those spo-
spiritual in the minds of worshipers. Likewise, a prayer of
ken in a special language, those mumbled, or those uttered
benediction releases worshipers from a ritual domain. It
silently, even those that are accomplished without words.
serves to extend the reorientation achieved in ritual to the
Other nonspeech forms are also commonly recognized as es-
world beyond while releasing people from the restrictions
sentially prayer, such as song, dance, sacrifice, and food offer-
imposed by ritual. Prayers of praise direct the attention of
ings. These nonspeech forms may be understood as heartfelt
those praying to positive divine attributes, they effect and re-
and spontaneous human acts directed toward the spiritual
flect a doctrine of God, while prayers of confession and peni-
world, but they may also be understood as religious forms
tence direct the attention of those praying to negative human
whose enactment strengthens emotion, sustains courage, and
elements, they effect and reflect a doctrine of sin and human-
excites hope.
kind. Even when formulaic and without a motivation arising
When prayer is considered as act, a whole range of pow-
directly from individual felt needs, the emotive experience
erful characteristics and religious functions may be dis-
and affective qualities of these prayers differs markedly ac-
cerned. Here the issue is not primarily to show that prayer
cording to their type. Prayers of praise or thanksgiving are
is communication with the spiritual or divine, or even neces-
joyous, uplifting, and outgoing, while prayers of confession
sarily to discern what is communicated, but rather to direct
and penitence are introspective and somber. The formulaic
attention to the comprehension and appreciation of the
character of liturgical prayers invites participation by estab-
power and effectiveness of communication acts that are
lishing a frame of expectation, a pattern that becomes famil-
human-divine communications. Likewise, when seen as act,
iar.
the distinction between prayer and other religious speech
acts—chant, spell, and formula—is less significant than it
Studies of the performative power of language suggest
often is when distinguished and evaluated within particular
that such enactment capabilities of speech are conventional-
religious traditions or theories of religion.
ized, formalized, and ordinarily involve physical action as
well as the utterance of words in order to be felicitious. In
Various traditions of Buddhism present a test case in the
other words, a prayer act, to have effect, to be true and em-
consideration of prayer as they do many categories and di-
powered includes not only the utterance of words, but the
mensions of religion. For those traditions that are not theis-
active engagement of elements of the historical, cultural, and
tic, like Therava¯da Buddhism, prayer understood as human-
personal setting in which it is offered. It may include certain
divine communication is not possible. However, a number
body postures and orientations, ritual actions and objects,
of kinds of Buddhist speech acts, such as meditational recita-
designated architectural structures or physical environments,
tions, scriptural recitations, mantras, and bodhisattva vows,
particular times of the day or calendar dates, specified
have certain resemblances to prayer, especially in terms of
moods, attitudes, or intentions. For example, a Muslim does
many of its functions. Commonly the distinction between
not enact s:ala¯t (daily ritual prayer) by simply uttering the
prayer and these Buddhist speech forms has simply been ig-
words “Allahu akbar.” Rather, s:ala¯t is a performance that re-
nored and they are considered as forms of Buddhist prayer.
quires proper timing, dress, directional orientation, a se-
It would be more valuable to comprehend specifically 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
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PRAYER
similarities and differences of the various forms and func-
the world which He has created according to His will. Our hope
tions of these Buddhist speech acts compared with prayer
is to enact, to make real the sanctification of this name here
acts of theistic traditions. In their similarities lies the nature
and now” (Conservative Judaism, Fall 1970, pp. 3–4). And
of religion, in their differences lies the distinctiveness of Bud-
finally, in The Insecurity of Freedom (New York, 1966) Hes-
dhism among religious traditions.
chel wrote, “Different are the languages of prayer, but the
PRAYER AS SUBJECT. In religious traditions, prayer is not
tears are the same. We have a vision in common of Him in
only words recited, prayer is not only an action enacted,
whose compassion all men’s prayers meet” (p. 180).
prayer is also a subject that is much written and talked about.
In Western religious traditions, prayer has raised classic
It is the subject of theory, of theology, of sermons, of doc-
issues, the resolution of which corresponds to interpretive
trine, of devotional guides, of prescribed ways of worship and
traditions. One notable issue is whether or not prayer, partic-
ways of life, and of descriptions of methods of prayer. In the
ularly petitionary prayer, is necessary or useful, since God is
style and interest of a number of academic fields that consid-
understood as all-knowing and all-caring. The explanation
er human communication processes and the language forms
of this issue is an articulation of a theology and an anthropol-
that take these communications as their subject, we propose
ogy, and it constitutes a statement of faith. Another classic
to term this dimension of prayer “metaprayer,” signifying
issue has been whether prayer is monologue, dialogue, or nei-
thereby the communications in religious traditions about
ther. If one holds that prayer is monologue, one must explain
prayer. The extent of literature in religious traditions about
how prayer is prayer at all rather than meditation or personal
prayer is massive and ranges from personal meditations on
reflection. If one holds that prayer is dialogue, one must de-
the “way of prayer” to formal theologies and philosophies of
scribe how God participates in the communication act. The-
prayer. In these writings, prayer becomes the subject by
ologies and philosophies of Western traditions no longer give
which to articulate the principles and character of a religious
much attention to prayer, but it has nonetheless been a sig-
tradition or a strain within a tradition.
nificant topic in many of the classic theological and philo-
There are countless memorable and distinctive meta-
sophical systems.
prayers. The following examples illustrate the range and
In Varieties of Religious Experience (New York, 1902),
character of these statements. In Plato’s Timaeus (27b-c),
William James, upon considering a number of statements
Socrates and Timaeus discuss the necessity of prayer:
about prayer, concluded that “the fundamental religious
Socrates: And now, Timaeus, you, I suppose, should
point is that in prayer, spiritual energy, which otherwise
speak next, after duly calling upon the gods. Timaeus:
would slumber, does become active, and spiritual work of
All men, Socrates, who have any degree of right feeling,
some kind is effected really.”
at the beginning of every enterprise, whether small or
great, always call upon God. And we, too, who are
In Young India, on 24 September 1925, Mohandas K.
going to discourse of the nature of the universe, how
Gandhi wrote: Prayers are a confession of our unwor-
created or how existing without creation, if we be not
thiness, or our weakness. God has a thousand, which
altogether out of our wits, must invoke the aid of gods
means countless, names, or say rather that He has no
and goddesses and pray that our words may be above
name. We may sing hymns to Him or pray to Him,
all acceptable to them and in consequence to ourselves.
using any name we prefer. Some know Him by the
name Rama, some know Him as Krishna, others call
On the Lord’s Prayer, Immanuel Kant in 1793 wrote in Reli-
Him Rahim, and yet others call Him God. All these
gion within the Limits of Reason Alone that “one finds in it
worship the same spiritual being. However, just as ev-
nothing but the resolution to good life—conduct which,
eryone does not like the same food so all these names
taken with the consciousness of our frailty, carries with it the
do not find acceptance with everyone. . . . This is to
persistent desire to be a worthy member in the kingdom of
say that one can pray, sing devotional songs not with
God. Hence it contains no actual request for something
the lips but with the heart. That is why even the dumb,
the stammerer and the brainless can pray.
which God in His wisdom might well refuse us” (trans.
Greene and Hudson, New York, 1960, p. 183).
And on June 10, 1926, he wrote in Young India: “It seems
to me that it [prayer] is a yearning of the heart to be one with
Friederich Schleiermacher, in a sermon entitled “The
the Maker, an invocation for his blessing. It is in this case
Power of Prayer” (Selected Sermons, London, 1890, p. 38),
the attitude that matters, not words uttered or muttered.”
describes prayer in familiar, sweeping terms: “To be a reli-
gious man and to pray are really one and the same thing.”
A final example taken from American fiction not only
Powerful and provocative are the many statements on
illustrates that metaprayer appears in a variety of forms of lit-
prayer of Abraham Joshua Heschel. In Man’s Quest for God
erature, but that metaprayer may even be used to disavow
(New York, 1954) he wrote, “The issue of prayer is not
the use and efficacy of prayer. In the following passage from
prayer; the issue of prayer is God” (p. 87). In an essay entitled
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck distin-
“On Prayer” he wrote, “We pray in order to pray. . . . I
guishes his own religiousness from that of old Miss Watson:
pray because I am unable to pray. . . . We utter the words
Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, but
of the Kaddish: Magnified and sanctified by His great name in
nothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, and
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7371
whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warn’t so. I
and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 10 (Edinburgh,
tried it. Once I got a fishline, but no hooks. It warn’t
1918), which includes a number of articles, some now out-
any good to me without hooks. I tried for the hooks
dated, on various religious traditions. See also The Oxford
three or four times, but some how I couldn’t make it
Book of Prayer, edited by George Appleton and others (New
work. By and by, one day, I asked Miss Watson to try
York, 1985).
for me, but she said I was a fool. She never told me why,
There are numerous studies that demonstrate the importance of
and I couldn’t make it out no way.
considering prayer as act. Harold A. Carter’s The Prayer Tra-
CONCLUSION. In the general study of prayer, the term prayer
dition of Black People (Valley Forge, Pa., 1976) is a fine study
has been used loosely to designate a variety of human acts,
of the American black prayer tradition; it traces the African
principally speech acts associated with the practice of reli-
heritage, describes the theological influences, discerns the
gion, especially those that are communications with a divine
major functions, and demonstrates the remarkable power of
or spiritual entity. There can be no precise definition given
this prayer tradition in the context of black movements in
the word when used in this way, for it serves as but a general
American history. Gary Goosen’s “Language as a Ritual Sub-
stance,” in Language in Religious Practice, edited by William
focusing device for more precise comparative and historical
J. Samarin (Rowley, Mass., 1976), pp. 40–62, considers
study. The term gains definitional precision when seen as any
Chamul prayers as encoding messages interpreted in terms
of dozens of terms used in specific religious traditions as ar-
of Victor Turner’s method of considering symbols.
ticulated in practice or in doctrine.
On the performative power of Navajo prayer, see my “Prayer as
What can be articulated to facilitate the general study
Person: The Performative Force in Navajo Prayer Acts,” His-
of prayer is the significance of the tripartite distinctions of
tory of Religions 17 (November 1979): 143–157. On the cen-
prayer as text, as act, and as subject.
trality of prayer to the whole system of Navajo religion, see
my Sacred Words: A Study of Navajo Religion and Prayer
SEE ALSO Language; Lords Prayer; Mantra; Meditation;
(Westport, Conn., 1981). A notable study of prayer as a tra-
S:ala¯t; Siddur and Mahzor.
dition of creative acts of oratory, focusing on the inhabitants
of sea islands along the Atlantic Coast of the southern United
B
States, is Patricia Jones-Jackson’s “Oral Traditions in Gul-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Prayer as a general religious phenomenon has received scant atten-
lah,” Journal of Religious Thought 39 (Spring-Summer 1982):
tion by students of religion. There are no recent global or ex-
21–33.
tensive studies. The discussions of prayer that continue to be
An examplary study of nonspeech acts considered as communica-
the standard, while obviously inadequate, are E. B. Tylor’s
tion acts similar to prayer is Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi’s
Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mytholo-
“Ritual as Language: The Case of South Indian Food Offer-
gy, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art, and Custom, 2 vols.,
ings,” Current Anthropology 18 (September 1977): 507–514.
4th ed. (London, 1903), and Friedrich Heiler’s Prayer: A
The performative power of speech acts, relevant to the study of
Study in the History and Psychology of Religion, edited and
prayer as act, has been shown in many essays. See, for exam-
translated by Samuel McComb (Oxford, 1932). Most of the
ple, Benjamin C. Ray’s “ ‘Performative Utterances’ in Afri-
general studies of prayer are strongly psychological in charac-
can Rituals,” History of Religions 13 (August 1973): 16–35;
ter. Prayer was a topic of extensive consideration by William
Stanley J. Tambiah’s “The Magical Power of Words,” Man,
James in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in
n. s. 3 (June 1968): 175–208; and Tambiah’s Buddhism and
Human Nature (1902; New York, 1961), pp. 359–371.
the Spirit Cults in North-East Thailand (Cambridge, 1970).
Prayer and related religious speech acts are of interest in phe-
nomenologies of religion; see, for example, Gerardus van der
While folklore studies have become interested in the performance
Leeuw’s Religion in Essence and Manifestation, 2 vols., trans-
of many speech forms, especially among exclusively oral peo-
lated by J. E. Turner (London, 1938), pp. 403–446.
ples, prayer is a form that has received little attention despite
its abundant resources and importance within the traditions
Statements of a comparative nature are found scattered through-
studied.
out the literature, especially comparing specific prayers
among Western religious traditions. However, broader and
On the consideration of second-order language acts (metalangu-
detailed comparative studies of prayer do not exist. Extensive
ages), see Alan Dundes’s “Metafolklore and Oral Literary
studies of prayer that have attempted to see prayer in more
Criticism,” The Monist 50 (October 1966): 505–516, and
general and universal terms may still be of interest, even
Barbara A. Babcock’s “The Story in the Story: Metanarration
though they have a dominantly Christian perspective. Such
in Folk Narrative,” in her and Richard Bauman’s Verbal Art
studies include Alexander J. Hodge’s Prayer and Its Psychology
as Performance (Rowley, Mass., 1977). Sources for prayer as
(New York, 1931) and R. H. Coats’s The Realm of Prayer
subject are coincident with the second-order interpretative
(London, 1920).
and critical literary traditions of all religions. In the contem-
porary religions and popular literature of the Western tradi-
An exemplary study of prayer that makes a clear distinction be-
tions, prayer is a constant topic. It has also been a consider-
tween prayer as a text, act, and subject is Tzvee Zahavy’s “A
ation of major theologies and philosophies, as shown for
New Approach to Early Jewish Prayer,” in History of Judaism:
modern Western thought in a summary treatment by Perry
The Next Ten Years, edited by Baruch M. Bokser (Chico,
Le Fevre, Understandings of Prayer (Philadelphia, 1981). In
Calif., 1980), pp. 45–60.
Prayer: An Analysis of Theological Terminology (Helsinki,
Sources for prayer within specific religious traditions can be found
1973), Antti Alhonsaari considers the theological issue of
under the heading “Prayer” in the Encyclopaedia of Religion
whether prayer is monologue or dialogue, discerning system-
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
7372
PREANIMISM
atically the forms of prayer that correspond to the combina-
is a more amorphous sense of the world as being filled with
tions of the variable on which this metaprayer discussion
the manifestations of supernatural power. This notion was
turns. While the rubric “Prayer” is not so dominant among
unlikely to have been reasoned out in the first instance; rath-
non-Western religious traditions, there are nonetheless abun-
er it involved a “basic feeling of awe, which drives a man, ere
dant comparable statements about prayer and prayerlike phe-
he can think or theorize upon it, into personal relations with
nomena found among the writings of the interpreters and be-
the supernatural” (Marett, 1914, p. 15). In search of a word
lievers in these many traditions.
to characterize this power, Marett settled finally upon the
SAM D. GILL (1987)
Melanesian word mana, as described by the missionary R. H.
Codrington in his book The Melanesians (Oxford, 1891).
Mentioned only in passing in his 1899 paper, alongside
PREANIMISM. In the years around 1900, the scholarly
other “power-words,” over the next few years mana came to
debate about the origins and evolution of religion was still
eclipse the others as a terminus technicus to describe what lay
in large measure dominated by the theories put forward by
at the root of preanimism.
E. B. Tylor thirty years previously, notably in his Primitive
Mana, however, was by no means an exclusively Mela-
Culture (London, 1871). The key concept was animism,
nesian concept. It was common to the whole of the Pacific,
which denoted both a primitive belief in spiritual beings and
to Polynesia as well as Melanesia. It had been first noted by
a belief in the “animation” of nonhuman beings—from the
Captain James Cook in 1777 and long before Codrington’s
higher mammals down to trees, plants, and stones—by spir-
time had been fairly fully discussed in relation to the Maori
its or spirit forces. By 1900, however, Tylor’s theory had
of New Zealand. F. E. Maning in his book Old New Zealand
been challenged by two of his Oxford disciples, both of
(Auckland, 1863) had stressed, for instance, that mana had
whom were and remained his personal friends. In his Cock
no single meaning but was associated with such diverse ideas
Lane and Common Sense (London, 1894) and definitively in
as “virtue, prestige, authority, good fortune, influence, sanc-
his celebrated The Making of Religion (London, 1898), An-
tity, luck” (Maning, [1863] 1927, pp. 239–240). However,
drew Lang had questioned the animistic hypothesis from one
the early preanimists remained generally unaware of the New
direction, suggesting that “perhaps there is no savage race so
Zealand material and were content to rely for the most part
lowly endowed, that it does not possess, in addition to a
on Codrington’s evidence as transmitted first by Marett and
world of ‘spirits,’ something that answers to the conception
subsequently by the German and French sociologists.
of God” (Cock Lane and Common Sense, p. 334). At a meet-
ing of the British Association in 1899, the animistic theory
Marett himself was most unwilling to “dogmatize”
was questioned from another direction, this time by the phi-
about religious origins and always expressed himself with
losopher-anthropologist R. R. Marett. Whereas Lang was
great caution. Thus although in his 1899 paper he went so
saying that adherents of the animistic theory had been pre-
far as to suggest that what he there called “supernaturalism”
vented by their presuppositions from even noticing the evi-
might be “not only logically but also in some sense
dence in favor of what he called “high gods” among peoples
chronologically prior to animism” (Marett, 1914, p. 11), he
on a low level of material development, Marett claimed that
did not say in what sense. Again—and this is important in
the term animism was ambiguous and that the mental pro-
view of the direction subsequently taken by the debate—he
cesses it assumed were too sophisticated to have been present
did not categorize mana as unambiguously impersonal. In a
at the lowest level of human evolution.
later paper, in fact, he stated explicitly that mana “leaves in
solution the distinction between personal and impersonal”
Marett’s paper “Pre-Animistic Religion” was first pub-
(1915, p. 119) and noted that although it may in some cir-
lished in the journal Folk-Lore (June 1900, pp. 162–182); it
cumstances be used in a somewhat impersonal way, it is al-
subsequently formed the first chapter of his book The
ways necessary to take account of “the ambiguity that lies
Threshold of Religion (London, 1909; 2d exp. ed., London,
sleeping in mana” (p. 121). Other writers on the subject
1914). Although brief, its argument was revolutionary. On
found this degree of ambiguity unmanageable and unwel-
the one hand, it suggested that in view of the double mean-
come.
ing of the word animism in Tylor’s Primitive Culture, a dis-
tinction might be drawn between animism proper, as a belief
In the wake of Marett’s work, the first decade of the
in spiritual beings, and the belief in the “animation” of ani-
twentieth century saw the appearance of a great deal of writ-
mals, plants, and natural objects, which he proposed to call
ing on the subject of preanimism and on mana and its vari-
“animatism.” This of course had nothing to do with any the-
ous equivalents. In Germany, Wilhelm Wundt of Leipzig
ory of the origin of religion as such, but was merely a plea
wrote extensively in his Völkerpsychologie (1900) about “die
for greater terminological precision. On the other hand—
präanimistische Hypothese,” followed by K. T. Preuss in a
and this appeared to be an outright challenge to the Tylorian
series of articles in the journal Globus (1904–1905). Both,
hypothesis—Marett also ventured the opinion that animism
however, seem to have assumed Marett’s theory to have been
was simply not “primitive” enough to represent the earliest
conceived in direct and complete opposition to Tylor—a
form of religion. Beneath (though not necessarily
charge that Marett, who admired Tylor greatly, strenuously
chronologically prior to) the belief in spirits, he argued, there
denied. In France, the Année sociologique school (which in-
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
PREANIMISM
7373
cluded Durkheim, Hubert, and Mauss) produced a theory
To Durkheim, writing in The Elementary Forms of the
very similar to Marett’s, perhaps independently, though Hu-
Religious Life, first published in French in 1912 and in En-
bert and Mauss’s article “Esquisse d’une théorie générale de
glish in 1915, there were no ambiguities. Caution was re-
la Magie” appeared in Année sociologique only in 1904, and
placed by assertion. According to Durkheim, Marett had
Durkheim’s magnum opus did not appear until 1912.
shown “the existence of a religious phase which he called pre-
animistic, in which the rites are addressed to impersonal
By this time, however, mana had been coupled with a
forces like the Melanesian mana and the wakan of the
bewildering variety of terms drawn from primal cultures in
Omaha and Dakota” (1968 edition, p. 201). Durkheim cate-
various parts of the world, all of which, it was claimed, con-
gorically stated that mana was “an impersonal religious
veyed the same basic sense of that supernatural power that
force” (pp. 192, 198), “an anonymous and diffused force”
had inspired an initial human response of awe. A proportion
(p. 194); because it was not, according to Codrington, a su-
of these words had been culled from the vocabularies of vari-
preme being, Durkheim concludes that it must possess “im-
ous Amerindian peoples: From the Iroquois came orenda (as
personality” (p. 194). One need look no further for the later
in Hewitt’s “Orenda and a Definition of Religion,” American
impression that preanimism must of necessity involve belief
Anthropologist, n.s. 4, 1902), from the Algonquin manitou,
in impersonal forces; it comes not from Marett but from
and from the Lakota wakan and wakanda. The Australian
Durkheim.
Aranda (Arunta) term arungquiltha/arúnkulta, the Malagasy
andriamanitra, the Fijian kalou, and even the Old Norse
The preanimistic theory of the origin of religion (as it
hamingja and the Hindu brahman were added to the list,
had developed between 1900 and 1914) first began to be
which by 1914 had assumed considerable proportions.
called in question in the years following World War I. In
Mana, however, continued to serve as the flagship of the pre-
1914 Nathan Söderblom (who had been a professor in Leip-
animistic fleet.
zig from 1912 to 1914) published in the Archiv für Religion-
swissenschaft an article, “Über den Zusammenhang höherer
It is important to remember that Marett had stated (not
Gottesideen mit primitiven Vorstellungen,” in which the
in his original article but at the Oxford Congress of the Sci-
customary preanimistic points were discussed (see also Sö-
ence of Religion in 1908) that it was by now his express in-
derblom,
Gudstrons uppkomst, Stockholm, 1914,
tention to endow mana with “classificatory authority to some
pp. 30–108). One of his students, F. R. Lehmann, was in-
extent at the expense of the older notion [i.e., animism]”
spired by this article to take up the question of mana and in
(Marett, 1915, p. 102). Every new science had to create its
1915 presented his dissertation on the subject, in which he
own specialist terminology; this being so, Marett was propos-
penetrated beyond Durkheim and Marett to Codrington,
ing the use of mana whenever and wherever circumstances
and beyond Codrington to the etymology and implications
appeared to warrant it as a technical term expressive of pre-
of the common Polynesian/Melanesian word mana itself.
animistic religions and virtually independent of the etymo-
logical meaning of the word in its original Pacific context.
Lehmann’s researches had the effect of discrediting alto-
In the light of Marett’s express intention, it is slightly embar-
gether the notion that the term mana had ever been used in
rassing to note the solemnity with which some scholars have
the Pacific region to denote an impersonal force. Even when
subsequently believed themselves to be demolishing Marett’s
trees, stones, or other inanimate objects were declared to pos-
argument by pointing out that the etymology of mana is not
sess mana, this was because spirits had associated themselves
altogether what he supposed it to be.
with those objects, and not by virtue of their having an im-
personal force of their own. Paul Radin had made substan-
Another critical point concerns the supposed imperson-
tially the same point in 1914, when he asked, “What warrant
ality of the power of mana. As has been seen, Marett was ini-
have we for thinking of the god as a deity plus power, and
tially insistent that mana is an ambiguous concept, even as
not merely as a powerful deity? Are we not committing the
he knew perfectly well that his chief informant Codrington
old error of confusing an adjective with a noun?” (Journal
had stated that it was always associated with and derived
of American Folklore 27, 1914, p. 347). Following Lehmann,
from persons, spirits, or ghosts. On at least one later occa-
and in the increasingly antievolutionary atmosphere of the
sion, however, in his article “Mana” in Hastings’s Encyclo-
interwar years and beyond, more and more frequent criti-
paedia of Religion and Ethics (vol. 8, Edinburgh, 1915), he
cisms were leveled against the preanimistic hypothesis, the
was prepared to state that mana was “in itself impersonal”
interpretation of mana that had supported it, and against
while always associated with personal beings. (Often in such
those who had written in these terms. A powerful broadside
contexts he used the analogy of electricity, which remains la-
against the theory was produced by the Germanist Walter
tent until tapped and channeled.) The ambiguity between
Baetke, in his book Das Heilige im Germanischen (Tübingen,
personal and impersonal remained in force nonetheless. But
1942), and another by Geo Widengren, in a polemical arti-
just as Marett read mana through the prism of Codrington,
cle, “Evolutionism and the Problem of the Origin of Reli-
one feels that almost all later debaters have read Marett
gion” (Ethnos 10, 1945, pp. 57–96). Widengren, incidental-
through the prism of the greater international celebrity Émile
ly, admired Baetke’s work; and it was in the Baetke festschrift
Durkheim.
that Lehmann described the course of his research in the area
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
7374
PRE-COLUMBIAN RELIGIONS
of mana, in an article called “Versuche, die Bedeutung des
Marett wrote that “the last word about mana has not been
Wortes ‘Mana’. . . festzustellen” (pp. 215–240). Widen-
said” (p. 219). By 1965, mana had almost been dismissed
gren summed up: “The best experts in the field of Melane-
from the technical vocabulary of the study of religion. It may
sian religion have explicitly stated that mana is actually never
be high time for its reexamination.
an impersonal power”; it is “in reality a quality. It goes with-
SEE ALSO Animism and Animatism; Evolution, article on
out saying that not mana in itself but persons and things pos-
Evolutionism; Marett, R. R.; Power.
sessing mana are the objects of worship” (p. 84). One last
critic may be quoted. In his 1958 Patterns in Comparative
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Religion and in virtually identical terms in his 1968 Myths,
References to the “preanimistic hypothesis” will be found scat-
Dreams and Mysteries, Mircea Eliade denies the existence of
tered throughout the anthropological literature of the first
any such “impersonal and universal force” as mana was once
half of the twentieth century. The seminal articles are gath-
thought to represent, not least because “impersonality” is
ered in R. R. Marett’s The Threshold of Religion, 3d ed. (Lon-
“without meaning within the archaic spiritual horizon”
don, 1915), and Émile Durkheim’s application of the theory
(Eliade, 1968, p. 129). All these critics, however, have tend-
is found in The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, trans-
ed to attribute to Marett extreme opinions that were actually
lated by Joseph Ward Swain (1915; reprint, New York,
1965), in which see especially pages 191–204. For the subse-
those of Durkheim.
quent attempted demolition of the theory, reference must be
It remains to be noted that Rudolf Otto, in his celebrat-
made to the German works of F. R. Lehmann, beginning
ed book Das Heilige, produced a theory of the origin of reli-
with Mana: Der begriff des “ausserordentlich wirkungsvollen”
bei Südseevölkern (Leipzig, 1922) and ending with his essay
gion in an ineffable sensus numinis, in the course of which
“Versuche, die Bedeutung des Wortes ‘Mana’ . . . festzustel-
he praised Marett for coming “within a hair’s breadth” of his
len,” in Festschrift Walter Baetke, edited by Kurt Rudolph et
own views. Otto, too, was criticized by Baetke and Widen-
al. (Weimar, 1966), pp. 215–240; and Walter Baetke’s Das
gren, who used arguments very similar to those they had used
Heilige im Germanischen (Tübingen, 1942). See also Geo
against Marett and the preanimists. Otto’s numen could
Widengren’s “Evolutionism and the Problem of the Origin
hardly be called “impersonal,” however.
of Religion,” Ethnos 10 (1945): 57–96, which follows sub-
stantially the same line.
Preanimism and the debate about preanimistic religion
belong less to the world of religion as such (and hardly, it
ERIC J. SHARPE (1987)
would seem, to the area of primal religion at all) than to the
intellectual history of the early twentieth century in the
PRE-COLUMBIAN RELIGIONS
West. Possibly the popularity of the concept was not unrelat-
SEE
ed to the West’s growing estrangement from fixed forms of
CARIBBEAN RELIGIONS; MESOAMERICAN
RELIGIONS
religious belief and doctrine and its simultaneous mainte-
nance of a sense that there might be “something” (rather
than “someone”) in charge of the world’s destiny. It involved
PREDESTINATION SEE FREE WILL AND
the evolutionists’ conviction that religion had emerged out
PREDESTINATION
of something other than, and simpler than, religion. It also
made assumptions about personality and (at least after
Durkheim) impersonality that later critics found it all too
PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS
easy to demolish. The critics, however, may have gone too
This entry consists of the following articles:
far in the opposite direction. In their desire to disassociate
AN OVERVIEW
themselves from the evolutionists, they have frequently mis-
OLD EUROPE
represented and misinterpreted them, without realizing that
THE EURASIAN STEPPES AND INNER ASIA
the evolutionists themselves were quite capable of raising ob-
jections—often the same objections—to their own work.
PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
Preanimism as such can be neither proved nor disproved as
The term prehistory refers to the vast period of time between
a rudimentary stage in the evolution of religion. There may,
the appearance of humanity’s early hominid ancestors and
however, remain an area of religion within which supernatu-
the beginning of the historical period. Since the invention
ral (or at least uncontrollable) power is sensed, while remain-
of writing is used to mark the transition between prehistory
ing inchoate and unconnected with any firm notion of deity.
and history, the date of this boundary varies greatly from re-
This need not be a stage out of which more precise notions
gion to region. The study of prehistoric religion, therefore,
emerge. It is just as likely to be found at the end of a long
can refer to religious beliefs and practices from as early as
process of decline, and thus to be as much posttheist as pre-
60,000 BCE to almost the present day. Generally, however,
animist. There is no word that can be used as a technical
the term prehistory is defined by its European application and
term to describe this. Preanimism clearly will not do, because
hence refers to the period from the Paleolithic period, which
of the implicit sequence involved. Some use might however
occurred during the Pleistocene epoch, to the protohistoric
still be found for the term mana in this connection. In 1907
Neolithic period and the Bronze and Iron ages.
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
PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW
7375
The biases of a literate culture are apparent in the term.
back to the Upper Paleolithic. There is no evidence of
Clearly, a people’s literacy bespeaks their accessibility by a
human sacrifice prior to the Neolithic period, and hence this
literate culture, but it is not, as has often been assumed, an
practice is associated with the transition from a hunter-
adequate criterion for determining intellectual or cultural
gatherer culture to an agrarian culture and, consequently,
depth and complexity. To divide human cultures by the sin-
with the domestication of plants and animals.
gle invention of writing suggests that literacy somehow
Prehistoric works of art dating back to the Paleolithic
marks a specific stage of mental development or a radical
period—paintings, drawings, engravings, and sculpture—are
turning point within the development of human culture con-
the richest form of access to prehistoric religion. The primary
ceived of according to an evolutionary scheme. Neither such
subjects of these earliest examples of graphic art were ani-
a radical break nor such an inevitable evolutionary develop-
mals; humans, rarely depicted, were often drawn with animal
ment can, however, be demonstrated.
attributes. The intimate and unique role of animals in the
This division notwithstanding, it should be noted that
physical and mental lives of these early hunter-gatherers is
prehistory is understood to be singularly human. In his
clearly demonstrated. (This role is also evidenced in the sacri-
Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein quips, “If a lion
ficial traditions.) Though some form of animalism is suggest-
could talk, we could not understand him.” Wittgenstein is
ed, the religious significance of these animal figures is diffi-
suggesting that language would not enable us to understand
cult to interpret.
a “world,” or perspective, that was so radically distinct in
Shamanistic practices are also reflected in this art, espe-
kind from our own. In contrast to Wittgenstein’s lion, pre-
cially in the paintings of birds and of animals that have pro-
historic humanity is regarded as understandable: a psychic
jectiles drawn through their bodies. Common in prehistoric
unity between prehistorical and historical humanity is as-
sculpture is the female statuette. Although frequently related
sumed. We believe that with sufficient evidence the prehis-
to fertility, these figurines are open to numerous interpreta-
toric “world” can be grasped. The problem is accessibility,
tions of equal plausibility (e.g., spirit abodes, ancestor repre-
not difference in kind.
sentations, house gods, as well as spirit rulers over animals,
Access to a prehistoric culture, however, is highly prob-
lands and other physical or spiritual regions, hunting prac-
lematic. And when one attempts to understand a phenome-
tices, and natural forces).
non such as religion, the problem becomes acute. We under-
It is unlikely that we shall ever be able adequately to in-
stand religion primarily in terms of “language,” that is, its
terpret the “language” of prehistoric religion. The material
principal characteristics are its interpretive meanings and val-
evidence is too scarce and the nature of religious phenomena
uations. The wordless archaeological remains of prehistoric
too complex. There is, however, a meaning in these wordless
religion—cultic or ceremonial artifacts and sites, pictures
fragments that is itself significant for any study of religion.
and symbols, sacrifices—have provided limited access to the
The power and depth of these silent archaeological remains
religious “language” of prehistoric cultures. For example,
cause one to recognize the limitation of written language as
knowledge of how corpses were disposed during the Neolith-
a purveyor of religious meaning. The connections one is able,
ic period does not reveal why they were so disposed. Conse-
however tenuously, to draw between the evidences of reli-
quently, even when there is clear evidence of a prehistoric re-
gious life among prehistoric peoples and the beliefs and prac-
ligious practice, interpretation of the nature of prehistoric
tices of their descendants address the conditions that have in-
religions remains highly speculative and disproportionately
spired human beings, from our beginnings, to express our
dependent upon analogies to contemporary “primitive” cul-
deepest selves in art and ritual.
tures.
SEE ALSO Animals; Funeral Rites; Lord of the Animals;
Our knowledge of prehistoric religion is therefore the
Neolithic Religion; Paleolithic Religion; Sacrifice.
product of reconstructing a “language” from its silent materi-
al accessories. Among the oldest material forms of cultic
BIBLIOGRAPHY
practice are burial sites, dating from the Middle Paleolithic.
Breuil, Henri, and Raymond Lantier. The Men of the Old Stone
One can trace, from the Upper Paleolithic on, a growing
Age: Palaeolithic and Mesolithic (1965). Translated by B. B.
richness and diversity of grave goods that reach extravagant
Rafter. Reprint, Westport, Conn., 1980.
proportions during the Iron Age. The practices of second
James, E. O. The Beginnings of Religions: An Introductory and Sci-
burials, the burning of bodies, and the ritual disposition of
entific Study (1948). Reprint, Westport, Conn., 1973.
skulls are also common. Megalithic graves date back to the
Jensen, Adolf E. Myth and Cult among Primitive Peoples. Translat-
Neolithic period. Despite the cultic implications of these
ed by Marianna T. Choldin and Wolfgang Weissleder. Chi-
massive stone constructions (e.g., ancestor cults), a uniform
cago, 1963.
religious meaning remains undemonstrated.
Levy, Gertrude R. The Gate of Horn: A Study of the Religious Con-
Evidences of sacrifices from the Middle Paleolithic peri-
ceptions of the Old Stone Age (1948). Reprint, New York,
od in the form of varied quantities of animal bones near buri-
1963.
al sites suggest offerings to the dead. Sacrificial traditions that
Maringer, Johannes. The Gods of Prehistoric Man. Translated and
were associated with game (e.g., bear ceremonialism) date
edited by Mary Ilford. New York, 1960.
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
7376
PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: OLD EUROPE
Ucko, Peter J. Anthropomorphic Figurines of Predynastic Egypt and
bols and images of deities, stone stelae, and figurines associat-
Neolithic Crete. London, 1968.
ed with burials.
MARY EDWARDSEN (1987)
Despite the multitude of culture groups in Old Europe
JAMES WALLER (1987)
and the diverse styles of their artworks, the pantheon of dei-
ties was the same throughout the vast landmass. Old Europe-
an religious beliefs stemmed from the gynecocentric Paleo-
PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: OLD EUROPE
lithic and early agricultural world, created by a birth giver,
The term Old Europe is used here to describe Europe during
mother, root gatherer, and seed planter and concerned with
the Neolithic and Copper ages, before it was infiltrated by
feminine cycles, lunar phases, and seasonal changes. Skylight
Indo-European speakers from the Eurasian steppes (c. 4500–
and stars, prominent in Indo-European mythology, hardly
2500
figure in Old European symbolism.
BCE). The Indo-Europeans superimposed their patriar-
chal social structure, pastoral economy, and male-dominated
The images of Old Europe are those of the earth’s vitali-
pantheon of gods upon the gynecocentric Old Europeans,
ty and richness. The transformative processes of nature are
whose millennial traditions were officially disintegrated.
symbolically manifested in sprouting seeds, eggs, caterpillars
Nonetheless, these traditions formed a powerful substratum
and butterflies, and in such “life columns” (symbols of rising
that profoundly affected the religious life of European cul-
and spontaneous life) as trees, springs, and serpents, which
tures that arose during the Bronze Age. Western Europe re-
seem to emerge from the earth’s womb. Sacred images repre-
mained untouched by the Indo-Europeans for one millenni-
sent both the miracle of birth—human, animal, and plant—
um longer; Crete, Thera, and other Aegean and
and the awe and mystery surrounding the cyclic destruction
Mediterranean islands maintained Old European patterns of
and regeneration of life.
life until about 1500 BCE.
Most Old European sacred images symbolize the ever-
The agricultural revolution spread gradually to south-
changing nature of life on earth: the constant and rhythmic
eastern Europe about 7000 to 6500 BCE. A full-fledged Neo-
interplay between creation and destruction, birth and death.
lithic culture was flourishing in the Aegean and Adriatic re-
For example, the moon’s three phases—new, waxing, and
gions by 6500 BCE. The Danubian basin and central Europe
old—are repeated in trinities of deities: maiden, nymph, and
were converted to a food-producing economy circa 6000 to
crone; life-giving, death-giving, and transformational deities;
5500 BCE. Around 5500, copper artifacts first appeared, lead-
rising, dying, and self-renewing deities. Similarly, life-giving
ing to the creation of a fully developed copper culture in the
deities are also death wielders. Male vegetation spirits also ex-
fifth millennium BCE. The rise of agrarian cultures in western
press life’s transitional nature: they are born, come to maturi-
and northern Europe occurred about two millennia later.
ty, and die, as do plants.
The Old European religion of southeastern Europe and
GODDESSES AND GODS. The Old European evidence reveals
the Danubian basin persisted through three millennia,
clear-cut stereotypes of divinities that appear repeatedly
6500–3500 BCE; the Neolithic period extended from 6500
throughout time and geography in sculptural art. The stereo-
to 5500 BCE, the Copper Age from 5500 to 3500 BCE. In
types include anthropomorphic deities and innumerable
northern Europe, the Neolithic period continued to about
epiphanies in the form of birds, animals, insects, amphibians,
2000 BCE. (Dates given here are calibrated radiocarbon
stones, and hills.
dates.)
Goddesses. The principal goddesses are composite im-
Old European beliefs and practices have been recon-
ages, encompassing an accumulation of traits from the prea-
structed primarily through analysis of the archaeological re-
gricultural era.
cord. The evidence examined includes temples, temple mod-
The water-bird goddess appears with a beak or a pinched
els, altars, frescoes, rock carvings and paintings, caves and
nose, a long neck, a beautiful head of hair or crown, breasts,
tombs, figurines, masks, and cult vessels, as well as the sym-
wings or winglike projections, and protruding female but-
bols and signs engraved or painted on all of these.
tocks outlined in the shape of a duck, goose, or swan. Her
Cult objects, particularly figurines, provide some clues
epiphany is a water bird, most frequently a duck. There is
to the types of rituals performed by Old Europeans and the
an association between this divinity and divine moisture
deities they worshiped. The richest finds have been un-
from the oceans, rivers, lakes, bogs, and the skies. Meanders,
earthed in southeastern and Danubian Europe, as far north
streams, V’s, and chevrons are her principal symbols. (The
as the Carpathian Mountains. This region encompasses pres-
V sign, duplicated or triplicated in the chevron, probably de-
ent-day Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, the
rives from the shape of the pubic triangle.) They can be
western Ukraine, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, as well as
found on objects that are associated with her and also as dec-
the Aegean and Mediterranean islands. The second region
orations on her images. She is associated with the number
yielding cult relics is western Europe (present-day Spain,
three (triple source, totality) and with the ram, her sacred an-
Portugal, France, and the British Isles). The best-preserved
imal. The symbols give a clue to her function as a giver of
monuments are megalithic tomb walls engraved with sym-
life, wealth, and nourishment. She is of Paleolithic origin.
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Since the early Neolithic she also was a weaver and spinner
sacrifices to this goddess are known from the Paleolithic
of human fate and giver of crafts and was worshiped in house
(Ksar Akil, Lebanon, mid-Paleolithic; Malta, c. 15,000 BCE),
shrines and temples.
earliest Neolithic (Zawi Chemi Shanidar, northern Iraq,
more than 10,000 years before our time), the Neolithic, and
A related image of the life-giving goddess appears in the
the Bronze Age (Isbister, Scotland). It is clear that large wings
shape of a water container (large pithos), decorated with M’s,
had enormous symbolic importance for millennia.
nets, brushes, meanders, and running spirals. She also ap-
pears in figurines marked with net-patterned pubic triangles
The White Lady, or Death, is portrayed with folded arms
and squares, symbolic of life-giving water.
tightly pressed to her bosom and with closed or tapering legs.
The snake goddess has snakelike hands and feet and a
She is masked and sometimes has a polos on her head. Her
long mouth and wears a crown. The snake spirals and snake
abnormally large pubic triangle is the center of attention. A
coil are her emblems. She is life energy incarnate. As a sym-
reduced image of her is a bone. Her images are made of bone
bol of fertility and well-being of the family she is worshiped
or of such bone-colored materials as marble, alabaster, and
in house shrines. Her crown very likely was a symbol of wis-
light-colored stone. She dates back to the Upper Paleolithic,
dom as it still is in European folklore. The horns of a snake,
has been found throughout Old Europe, and appears in the
resembling a crescent moon, link this deity with lunar cycles.
Aegean Bronze Age as the Cycladic marble figurines. Most
In megalithic tomb-shrines of western Europe, the winding
of the White Ladies were recovered from graves and found
snake figures as a symbol of regeneration. In symbolism, the
singly, in threes, or in groups of six or nine.
snake coil is a source of energy comparable to the sun; and
The goddess of regeneration appears in myriad forms, the
both are metaphors of the regenerating eyes of the goddess.
most prominent of which are fish, toad, frog, hedgehog, tri-
The birth-giving goddess is portrayed in a naturalistic
angle, hourglass, bee, and butterfly. All these appear in art
pose of giving birth. She is well evidenced in Paleolithic art
as amphibians, animals, insects, and hybrids: fishwoman,
in France (Tursac, c. 21,000
frog-woman, hedgehog-woman, hourglass with bird’s feet or
BCE) and in all periods of Old
Europe (from the seventh millennium onward). The vulva,
claws, bee and butterfly with a human head.
depicted alone (known from the Aurignacian period, circa
The peculiar relationship, even equation, of the fish,
30,000 BCE, and throughout the Upper Paleolithic and Old
frog, and toad with the uterus of the regenerating goddess
Europe), may have served as pars pro toto of this goddess. Her
accounts for their prominent role in European symbolism.
epiphanies were the doe (both deer and elk) and the bear,
The importance of the hedgehog probably derives from its
stemming from an early belief in a zoomorphic birth-giver,
equation with a wart-covered animal uterus. As life and fu-
the primeval mother.
nerary symbols, hedgehogs continued to appear throughout
The nurse or mother holding or carrying a child is por-
later prehistory and history. When manifested as a bee, but-
trayed in hunchbacked figurines or, in more articulate exam-
terfly, or moth, the goddess is thought to symbolize reborn
ples, as a bear-masked madonna carrying a pouch for a baby
life. Frequently, these images emerge from a bucranium, also
and as a bird, snake, and bear-masked mother holding a
the symbol of the female uterus as evidenced from the earliest
child. Images of her date from the early Neolithic and ap-
Neolithic. The key to understanding the equation of the fe-
peared throughout the Copper Age and into historical times.
male uterus with the bucranium lies in the extraordinary
likeness of the female uterus and fallopian tubes to the head
The vulture or owl goddess, a maleficent twin of the birth-
and horns of a bull (Cameron, 1981, pp. 4ff.).
giving goddess, appears as Death in the guise of a vulture,
owl, or other predatory bird or carrion eater, yet has qualities
The Pregnant Goddess (Mother Earth) is portrayed natu-
of regeneration. A vulva, umbilical cord, or labyrinth is
ralistically as a nude with hands placed on her enlarged belly.
painted or engraved on her images. Hooks and axes—
The abdominal part of her body is always emphasized. She
symbols of energy and life stimulation—are engraved on
is also depicted as a bulging mound and oven. In the infancy
western European stone stelae and on passage-grave slabs
of agriculture, her pregnant belly was apparently likened to
representing the owl goddess. In one of the Çatal Hüyük
the fertility of the fields. Her image was associated with loz-
shrines of central Anatolia (seventh millennium BCE), the
enges, triangles, snakes, and two or four lines. Her sacred ani-
beaks of griffins emerge from the open nipples of female
mal is the sow. She is the Mother of the Dead: her uterus
breasts. The owl goddess’s breasts, depicted in relief on slabs
or entire body is the grave (hypogea of Malta and Sardinia,
of megalithic gallery graves in Brittany, also suggest that re-
passage graves of western Europe, and court tombs of Ire-
generation is in her power.
land) or temple (Malta).
The snowy owl appears in a number of engravings on
Although evidence of her exists from the Upper Paleo-
the Upper Paleolithic (Magdalenian) cave walls of France,
lithic, it was probably not until the Neolithic that she be-
probably already as an epiphany of Death. There is rich evi-
came the earth mother and bread giver, appearing enthroned
dence of the owl goddess throughout the Neolithic, Copper,
and crowned. She is the dominant figure in the early phases
and Early Bronze ages. During the last period, the owl form
of the Neolithic. Her figurines are found on oven platforms
became the usual shape of urns. Burials of birds of prey as
(as at Achilleion, Thessaly, c. 6000 BCE; author’s excavation,
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PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: OLD EUROPE
1973), never on altars in house shrines, which were used ex-
functions included the gift of life and increase of material
clusively for bird and snake goddesses.
goods, death-wielding and decrease, and regeneration. She
was the absolute ruler of human, animal, and plant life and
Pairs of larger and smaller figurines known from all peri-
the controller of lunar cycles and seasons. As giver of all,
ods of Old Europe represent both the major and minor as-
death wielder, and regeneratrix, she is one and the same god-
pects of the goddess, sometimes as a mother-daughter pair
dess in spite of the multiplicity of forms in which she mani-
(an analogy to Demeter and Persephone). Furthermore, the
fests herself.
major temples of Malta consist of two constructions, one
larger and the other slightly smaller, both in the anthropo-
The prehistoric Great Goddess survives still in folklore.
morphic shape. This suggests again the dual or cyclical na-
She appears as Fate (or sometimes as the three Fates), who
ture of the goddess as both summer and winter, old and
attends the birth of a child and foretells the length of its life.
young.
She appears as White Lady (Death) with her white dog.
Gods. There are only two certain stereotypes of male
Sometimes she is recognized in the toad or frog that brings
gods: (1) the Sorrowful Ancient and (2) the mature male
death and regeneration, in the water birds and snakes that
holding a crosier.
bring well-being and fertility, or in the crowned snake, whose
crown grants the power of seeing all things and understand-
The Sorrowful Ancient is portrayed as a peaceful man sit-
ing the language of animals.
ting on a stool, hands resting on knees or supporting his face.
Since the Sorrowful Ancient appears together with seated
Although degraded to the status of a witch, the Old Eu-
pregnant figurines that probably represent harvest goddesses,
ropean Vulture (or Owl) Goddess lives on in fairy tales as
it can be assumed that he represents a dying vegetation god.
an old hag with a hooked nose who flies through the air on
a broom. She can slice the moon in half, cause cows to go
The bull with a human mask and the goat-masked male
dry, tie blossoms into knots, destroy human happiness, and
sculptures of the Vinca culture (fifth millennium BCE) may
inflict illness.
portray an early form of Dionysos in the guise of a bull or
a he-goat—the god of annual renewal in full strength. How-
In European folklore as well as in prehistory, witches
ever, lack of documentation from other culture groups war-
and fairies most often appear in groups with one the most
rants his preclusion as a stereotype.
important, the queen or “lady.” This pattern reflects an an-
cient gynecocentric and matrilinear social structure.
The mature male holding a crosier and seated on a throne,
from Szegvár-Tüzköves (Tisza culture, Hungary), may be a
As a consequence of the new agrarian economy, the
relation to Silvanus, Faunus, and Pan, historical era forest
Pregnant Goddess of the Paleolithic was transformed into an
spirits and protectors of forest animals and hunters who also
earth fertility deity in the Neolithic. The fecundity of hu-
are depicted with a crosier. This image, as well as representa-
mans and animals, the fertility of crops and thriving of
tions of bearded men, is probably of Upper Paleolithic origin
plants, and the processes of growing and fattening became
(cf. bison men and other half-man, half-animal figures from
of enormous concern during this period. The drama of sea-
the French caves of Les Trois Frères, Le Gabillou, and oth-
sonal changes intensified, which is manifested in the emer-
ers). The type is poorly documented; only single examples
gence of a mother-daughter image and of a male god as spirit
of sculptures are known. The majestic posture of the Szegvár-
of rising and dying vegetation.
Tüzköves god, however, suggests its importance in the pan-
Let us note here that fertility is only one of the goddess’s
theon.
many functions. It is inaccurate to call Paleolithic and Neo-
Other images of the masculine principle, such as nude
lithic goddesses fertility goddesses, as the fertility of the earth
men with bird masks in leaping or dancing posture, were
became a prominent concern only during the food-
probably portrayals of participants in rituals, worshipers of
producing era. Hence, fertility is not a primary function of
the goddess. Male images are rare among the Old European
the goddess and has nothing to do with sexuality. The god-
figurines; usually they constitute only 2 to 3 percent of the
desses were primarily creatresses of life; they were not Venus
total number recovered in settlements.
figures or beauties and most definitely not wives of male
gods. It is also inaccurate to call these prehistoric goddesses
Summary. The concept of a divine feminine principle
mother goddesses, a misconception found often in the ar-
is manifested in human, animal, and abstract symbolic form:
chaeological literature. It is true that there are mother images
woman, water bird, bird of prey, doe, bear, snake, bee, but-
and protectresses of young life, as well as a Mother Earth and
terfly, fish, toad, hedgehog, triangle, and hourglass form.
Mother of the Dead, but the other female images cannot be
Her manifestations are everywhere; her worship is attuned
categorized as mother goddesses. The bird goddess and the
to the infinite round of life, death, and renewal.
snake goddess, for example, are not mothers, nor are many
Judging by the stereotypes that recur in figurines over
other images of regeneration and transformation, such as the
the millennia, the religion of Old Europe was polytheistic
frog, fish, and hedgehog. They personify life, death, and re-
and dominated by female deities. The primary goddess in-
generation; they represent more than fertility and mother-
herited from the Paleolithic was the Great Goddess, whose
hood.
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SHRINES AND SANCTUARIES. Much of the corpus of informa-
facade is pierced by ten round apertures and is decorated
tion about the Old European religion comes from shrines,
with irregular, horizontally incised lines. This detailing sug-
which have been found as models, within homes, or standing
gests wood construction. The top surface of the substructure
free. They demonstrate the close connections between secu-
probably constituted a terrace that could hold a large congre-
lar and sacred life, especially in relation to functions per-
gation. Presumably—if this was, as it seems to be, a model
formed by women.
of an actual structure—the whole temple complex was at
least ten meters tall, with the individual roof temples measur-
Temples. The fifty or more clay models of temples dis-
ing about three meters in height. The structure is clearly of
covered so far allow us to see the workings of Old Europe’s
European tradition, and no close parallels to this configura-
shrines in striking detail. Usually found in front of or near
tion exist.
the site of a former altar, these miniature shrines, generally
small enough to be held in a person’s hand, were probably
Other models of two-story temples have been found at
gifts to the goddess of the temple. They are doubly revealing:
Old European settlements at Ruse on the lower Danube
in addition to reproducing the temple’s configuration, the
River in Bulgaria, Izvoarele in Romania, and Azmak in cen-
models are often elaborately decorated with symbolic designs
tral Bulgaria. Still another model, this time from the Ros
and inscribed with religious symbols. Frequently a divine
River Valley at Rozsokhuvatka in the western Ukraine, de-
image in relief adorns the gables, rooftops, or roof corners
picts a two-story sanctuary standing on four legs, with the
of the temple.
second floor constituting a two-room temple. This model is
from the Cucuteni culture, dating from about 4300 to 4000,
Among the earliest models discovered are several from
the farthest outpost of Old European civilization in the
the Neolithic Sesklo culture of Thessaly in Greece. Dating
northeast. This culture has been made famous through sys-
from about 6000 BCE, they portray rectangular buildings that
tematic excavations of entire villages, whose spacious, two-
have pitched or saddle roofs, painted checkerboards or striat-
to four-room houses include altars and platforms, as well as
ed rectangles on their walls, and decorated gables. Notewor-
by its magnificent ceramic art. The model has wide entrances
thy openings in their roofs and sometimes in their sides make
on both floors and a platform, adorned with bull horns and
them look, perhaps not coincidentally, like tiny birdhouses.
perhaps used for worship, in front of the large portal on the
A group of clay models from a slightly later date was found
second floor. A round window appears in the rear, and hori-
in a mound of the Porodin settlement near Bitola in Mace-
zontal beams that support the roof are indicated in relief.
donia, southwestern Yugoslavia. Produced by the Starcevo
culture of the central Balkans, dating from about 5800 to
The walls of many models of temples were painted and
5600 BCE, these models are capped with unusual features.
decorated with incisions, excisions, and encrustations in
Cylindrical “chimneys,” located in the center of their roofs,
symbolic motifs. Often these were arranged into panels in
bear the mask of a goddess; a necklace spreads down over the
the same manner as on cult vases. The parallels between these
roof. The temple building below seems to have been con-
forms are often particularly revealing. One dominant Old
structed as the literal “body” of the deity; the structure, with
European motif, for example, found repeatedly on the mod-
the cylinder head on top, seems to be essentially a deified
els, cult vases, and other votive objects, is the meander, or
portrait bust. Perhaps for a mythologically related reason, a
the figurative representation of a snake; sometimes an ab-
number of these shrine models have mysteriously shaped en-
stract derivative of this image, in the form of single or pairs
trances, either inverted T’s or triangulars.
of spiraling lines, will appear.
Other temple models from the Vinca culture of the cen-
A model of a Vinca temple unearthed in Gradesnica in
tral Balkans (late sixth millennium BCE) and from the Tisza
northwestern Bulgaria, dating from about 5000 BCE, is a
culture (around 5000 BCE) in present-day eastern Hungary
good example of the use of these symbolic decorations. Each
are often distinctly bird shaped and have numerous incisions
wall and roof of this model constitutes a separate panel, each
on their sides to indicate plumage. Their entrances have a
marked with a different design of meanders or sinuous lines,
round hole on their top half—again, like those found in
chevrons, and dotted bands. The vertical panels on either
birdhouses. Motifs of a bird goddess are found throughout
side of the entrance are inscribed with signs in a configura-
the Vinca culture and Old Europe in general, and it seems
tion that may comprise some sort of formula associated with
likely that these openings were fashioned as symbolic en-
the temple’s goddess. Above the entrance to the temple are
trances for the visiting goddess in the epiphany of a bird.
bands of dots and zigzags—snakeskin designs—further sug-
gesting that the shrine belongs to a deity, perhaps the Snake
An exquisite, unusually large model of a temple with
Goddess. Above the facade, a schematic head in the center
numerous large, round openings was discovered in the settle-
probably represents the actual goddess, and the masked
ment on the island of Cascioarele on the Danube River in
heads on the corners may symbolize her divine associates.
southern Romania. Dating from about 4500, this model has
dramatically enhanced knowledge of Copper Age architec-
Still other models, although otherwise complete, are
tural and cult practices. The shrine model itself consists of
roofless, so it is possible to peer into the scene of the cult ac-
a large substructure supporting four individual temples, each
tivities. Such open models have a dais along the back wall
of which has a wide, arched portal crowned with horns. The
and a bread oven on the side wall. A model of a roofless tem-
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PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: OLD EUROPE
ple from Popudnia, a late Cucuteni settlement north of
in the Sesklo temples of Thessaly around 6000 BCE. In repre-
Uman in the western Ukraine, sits on four cylindrical legs
sentations on Old European vases, life columns are usually
and consists of a main room and vestibule; between them is
shown flanked with horns, whirls, spirals, male animals, and
a rectangular entrance with a threshold. On the right side of
uterus symbols.
the large central chamber are benches and a large rectangular
The remains of an early Cucuteni shrine in Sabatinivka
oven on a raised platform. To the right of the oven sits a fe-
in the southern Bug River Valley of the Ukraine present an
male figurine with her hands on her breasts; near the outer
even more dramatic picture. A rectangular building of about
wall another female figurine is grinding grain, and close by
seventy square meters, this temple has a clay-plastered floor
is a depression for storing flour. Almost in the center of the
and an entrance area paved with flat stones. The center of
shrine stands a raised platform in the shape of a cross.
the room contains a large oven with a female figurine at its
Among the actual temples is a two-story temple uncov-
base. Nearby stood an incense burner and a group of vessels;
ered in Radingrad, near Razgrad in northeastern Bulgaria, by
these included a dish containing the burned bones of an ox
Totju Ivanov of the Archaeological Museum, Razgrad, from
and a channel-decorated pot with a small cup inside, once
1974 to 1978. Probably similar to the four-legged Rozsokhu-
used for libations. Also nearby was a group of five concave
vatka model from the Ukraine, this Karanovo culture temple
grinding stones and five seated terracotta figurines with their
dates from about 5000
bodies leaning backward. Along the rear wall, sixteen other
BCE. Its first floor had a ceramic
workshop with a large oven to one side; on the other side was
female figurines were seated in low, horned-back chairs on
a clay platform with tools for making, polishing, and deco-
a six-meter-long altar. In the corner adjacent to the altar
rating pots. Flat stone containers for crushing ocher stood
stood a clay throne with a horned back and a meter-wide seat
nearby. Exquisite finished vases and unbaked ones were also
that had originally been covered with split planks. Altogeth-
found in the room. The second floor, like that of the Roz-
er, thirty-two of these nearly identical, armless figurines with
massive thighs and snake-shaped heads were found in this
sokhuvatka model, comprised the temple proper. Inside was
sanctuary. Oddly, several of them had been perforated
a large rectangular clay altar seventy-five centimeters high,
through the shoulders, and one held a baby snake.
and to its left stood a vertical loom and many figurines and
temple models. A number of the vases near the altar were
The Sabatinivka sanctuary demonstrates that bread
filled with clay beads.
ovens, grinding stones, and storage vessels played a funda-
mental role in the cult rites performed at Old European
One important discovery was that of a pillar temple, un-
shrines. The seated figurines strongly suggest that temple
earthed in the village of Cascioarele. Excavated by Hortensia
worshipers participated in a ritual grinding of grain and bak-
and Vladimir Dumitrescu of the Institute of Archaeology,
ing of sacred bread and that these ceremonies were super-
Bucharest, from 1962 to 1969, this Karanovo culture sanctu-
vised from a throne, at least at Sabatinivka, by an overseer,
ary, found just below the model of the edifice, dates from
probably a priestess. It seems likely that sacred cakes were
the early part of the fifth millennium BCE. Rectangular in
dedicated to the goddess at the conclusion of the rites. Also
plan, the sixteen- by ten-meter temple was divided into two
the clay figurines on the altar may have been presented as vo-
rooms by six rows of posts. The interior walls of one room
tive offerings to the goddess or used as effigies to celebrate
are painted red with bands of cream-colored curvilinear de-
her presence.
signs; above the entrance is a striking terracotta medallion
with a red snake-coil outlined by a thin line of cream. This
These images of cult practices are further illuminated by
room contains also two hollow pillars, both measuring about
a site near Trgoviste in northeastern Bulgaria, excavated by
two meters in height, that were originally modeled around
Henrieta Todorova of the Institute of Archaeology, Sofia, in
two tree trunks. The thicker one was encircled by posts and,
1971. This house shrine site at Ovcarovo, a product of the
like the walls, had been painted three times with different de-
Karanovo culture, dates from about 4500–4200 BCE. The
signs. Near it lay an adult skeleton in a crouched position.
site yielded remains of twenty-six miniature cult objects, in-
The thinner pillar, measuring about ten centimeters in diam-
cluding four figurines with upraised arms, three temple fa-
eter, stood close to the interior wall and was painted with
cades or possible altar screens, decorated with chevrons, tri-
cream ribbons on a reddish brown background. Next to it
ple lines, and spirals around a central motif of concentric
was a terracotta bench or dais about forty centimeters high
circles—nine chairs, three miniature tables, three vessels with
with painted curvilinear ribbons of cream color. Nearby lay
lids, several large dishes, and three drums. It seems possible
numerous fragments of painted vases and of large vessels dec-
that this large collection of objects may have been used in
orated with excised motifs. Rituals or mysteries performed
different groupings at various times according to the required
here were probably connected with the idea of regeneration
tableau of each particular ceremony.
and the invocation of the vital source of life. The pillars, dec-
The four figurines were painted with meanders and par-
orated with the running angularized spiral or snake motif,
allel lines. But most interesting was the presence of drums,
can be interpreted as life columns. The tradition of the life
which suggests the ritual use of music and dance in Old Eu-
column motif can be traced as far back as the seventh millen-
rope. Other cult objects include miniature vessels with lids,
nium BCE, when it appeared in Çatal Hüyük frescoes, and
found on small tables where they may have been used as sac-
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PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: OLD EUROPE
7381
rificial containers. Slightly larger than the figurines, these
Iron Gate region, northern Yugoslavia, during the excavation
dishes or basins may have been used in some form of lustra-
of 1965–1968 (Srejovic, 1972). The trapeze-shaped (i.e., tri-
tion or spiritual cleansing during the ceremony. The nine
angular with the narrow end cut off) structures with red lime
chairs, finally, may have been used to seat three of the figu-
plaster floors of Lepenski Vir, dating from the late seventh
rines—the fourth is larger than the others—alternatively at
to the early sixth millennium BCE, are dug into an amphithe-
the three altars, three tables, or the three drums. These min-
ater-like recess in the bank of the Danube. The essential fea-
iature replicas are particularly important because lifesize Old
ture of the shrine is the rectangular altar built of stones,
European altars and tables holding sacrificial equipment have
which has an entrance in the shape of the open legs of a god-
rarely been preserved.
dess, similar to that found in Irish court tombs. At the end
of the altar stood one or two sculptures representing the fish
A very interesting cache of twenty-one figurines, proba-
goddess and a round, or egg-shaped, stone engraved with a
bly used for the reenactment of earth fertility rites, came to
labyrinthine design.
light in an early Cucuteni shrine at Poduri-Dealul Ghindaru,
Moldavia, northeastern Romania. The figurines were stored
Fifty-four red sandstone sculptures were found. The
in a large vase. In addition, there were fifteen chairs or
dead were buried in similar triangular structures; they were
thrones on which larger figurines could sit. The figurines are
placed on the red floor with their heads in the narrow end
from six to twelve centimeters in height. The different pro-
and positioned so that their navels were in the very center
portions, workmanship, and symbols painted on the figu-
of the structure.
rines suggest a clear hierarchy in this tableau. The three larg-
The main activities at Lepenski Vir were ritual sacrifice
est ones are painted in red ocher with symbols that are typical
and the carving and engraving of sacred sculptures and cult
of Mother Earth: antithetic snakes coiling over the abdomen,
objects. Paleozoologists were astonished to find a very high
lozenges on the back, and dotted triangles and lozenges over
proportion of dog bones in the early phases of the site, when
the ample thighs and legs. The medium-sized figurines have
there were yet no herds to be watched by dogs. The bones
a striated band across the abdomen and stripes across their
were not broken up, indicating that dogs were not used for
thighs and legs. The small figurines were rather carelessly
meat, and the often intact skeletons lay in anatomical order.
produced and are not painted with symbols. Such differences
Large fish bones (carp, catfish, sturgeon, pike) were identi-
may reflect different cult roles ranging from dominant per-
fied in almost all structures; one exceptionally large catfish
sonages (goddesses or priestesses) to assistants and atten-
may have weighed from 140 to 180 kilograms! Twenty
dants.
shrines contained a red deer skull or shoulder blade, which
Although merely a selection in themselves, these Old
often was associated with the bones of dogs and boars. In
European temple sites demonstrate that a long and varied list
three cases human bones were found in hearths. It can be
of cult paraphernalia—sacrificial containers, lamps, altar ta-
seen from the above that the sacrificial animals at Lepenski
bles and plaques, libation vases, ladles, incense burners, and
Vir were fish, deer, dogs, and boars—the animals known
figurines—could have been employed in worship rituals.
from prehistory and early history to be associated with the
While the sacred rite of breadmaking appears to have been
life-giving aspect of the goddess (deer, fish) and with her
among the most consecrated and pervasive practices, there
death aspect (dog and boar).
may well have been many additional distinct categories of re-
Summary. That the preponderance of figurines found
ligious ceremonies.
in Old European shrines are female suggests that religious ac-
Caves. In the tradition of their Upper Paleolithic ances-
tivities during this period were largely, if not exclusively, in
tors, the people of Old Europe used caves as sanctuaries. An
the hands of women. Although men participated in religious
excellent example of an Old European sanctuary is the cave
ceremonies—for instance, as bird- or animal-masked danc-
of Scaloria in southeastern Italy, which dates from the mid-
ers—it is women who are portrayed in the overwhelming
sixth millennium BCE. It consists of a large cave that is con-
majority of figurines as engaged in cult activities or as super-
nected by a narrow tunnel to a lower-level cave containing
vising these events from thrones. Furthermore, the rituals
a pool of water. The upper cave, which shows signs of season-
mirror daily secular tasks associated with women, most im-
al occupation, contains a mass grave of 137 skeletons. The
portantly, preparation of bread from grains, manufacture of
cave yielded stalagmites, stalactites, and pottery decorated
ceramics, and weaving.
with crescents, snakes, plant motifs, and egg or uterus shapes.
In the process of sacralizing their creative lives, women
These decorative symbols indicate that the cave was a sanctu-
in Old Europe developed many religious practices whose oc-
ary where funerary and/or initiation rites of mysteries took
curence in later periods is taken for granted. For instance,
place, associated with the idea of regeneration and renewal.
the four elements so central to ritual historically—air (in-
Many as yet unexplored cave sanctuaries have been discov-
cense), earth (bread and clay objects), fire (lamps and ovens),
ered along the Adriatic coast and Greece’s Peloponnese Pen-
and water (liquid contents of vessels)—were represented in
insula.
Old Europe. Also integrated into rites were music and dance,
Tomb-shrines. In central Europe, a sacred place of
the use of masks, sacrificial offerings, lustration, and rites in-
tombs and shrines has been discovered at Lepenski Vir in the
volving bread and drink.
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PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: THE EURASIAN STEPPES AND INNER ASIA
SEE ALSO Birds; Caves; Goddess Worship; Megalithic Reli-
The Aeneolithic cultures were closely connected with
gion, article on Prehistoric Evidence.
the oldest centers of agricultural civilization in the Near
East—the Anau culture directly so, and the Tripolye-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cucuteni through the medium of the archaeological cultures
d’Anna, A. Les statues-menhirs et stèles anthropomorphes du midi
of the Balkans. Adjoining the Aeneolithic cultures were those
méditerranéen. Paris, 1977.
of livestock-breeding steppe tribes. In the steppe areas
Atzeni, Enrico. La Dea Madre: Nelle culture prenuragiche. Sassari,
around the Caspian and Black seas, from the Urals to the
1978.
Crimea, was the Pit-Grave cultural community; in the south
Cameron, D. O. Symbols of Birth and of Death in the Neolithic Era.
of Siberia, in the Minusinsk Basin, was the Afanas’evo cul-
London, 1981.
ture. The tribes of these two groups of cultures were closely
Delporte, Henri. L’image de femme dans l’art préhistorique. Paris,
related.
1979.
Dumitrescu, Vladimir. Arta preistorica in România. Bucharest,
TRIPOLYE-CUCUTENI RELIGION. The religious concepts of
1974.
the Tripolye-Cucuteni tribes are revealed by analysis of amu-
Gimbutas, Marija. “The Temples of Old Europe.” Archaeology 33
lets, paintings on pottery, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic
(November-December 1980): 41–50.
statuettes, models of dwellings and utensils, altars, and so on.
Gimbutas, Marija. “The ‘Monstrous Venus’ of Prehistory or God-
The clay models of dwellings are in the form of two-storied
dess Creatrix.” Comparative Civilizations Review 7 (Fall
houses with an accentuated rounded or quadrangular upper
1981): 1–26.
story. Inside is a representation of a bread-baking oven, with
Gimbutas, Marija. The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500–
an anthropomorphic idol next to it. Excavations of the settle-
3500 B.C.: Myths and Cult Images. Berkeley, 1982.
ments have revealed that some houses contained clay altars
Kalicz, Nándor. Clay Gods: The Neolithic Period and Copper Age
in the form of a female figure, sometimes with a bird’s head
in Hungary. Translated by Barna Balogh. Budapest, 1970.
or a head in the shape of a chalice or cylinder. There were
Marshack, Alexander. The Roots of Civilization: The Cognitive Be-
also ritual clay dippers. Sanctuaries adjoined the dwellings
ginnings of Man’s First Art, Symbol, and Notation. New York,
and were entirely separate from them, and the cult they
1972.
housed was evidently a fertility cult. In the sanctuaries were
Mellaart, James. “Earliest of Neolithic Cities: Delving Deep into
distinctive clay “horned thrones” whose backs imitated bulls’
the Neolithic Religion of Anatolian Chatal Huyuk,” pt. 2,
horns.
“Shrines of the Vultures and the Veiled Goddess.” Illustrated
London News 244 (1964): 194–197.
The most abundant source for understanding the Tri-
Mellaart, James. Çatal Huyuk: A Neolithic Town in Anatolia. New
polye ideology are the pottery with its paintings and mold-
York, 1967.
ings, and the statuettes. The paintings on Tripolye vessels are
Srejovic, Dragoslav. Europe’s First Monumental Sculpture: New
divided into three vertical zones that evidently represent a tri-
Discoveries at Lepenski Vir. London, 1972.
partite concept of the universe. In mythological depictions
Thimme, Jürgen, ed. Art and Culture of the Cyclades. Translated
the sun is associated with the bull, and also, at times, with
and edited by Pat Getz-Preziosi. Chicago, 1977.
the female principle (the female breast). This apparently
Twohig, Elizabeth Shee. The Megalithic Art of Western Europe.
symbolizes a cosmogonic configuration of the world that
Oxford, 1981.
combined the male and female principles. The snake as well
occupied a high position in the mythological hierarchy. The
MARIJA GIMBUTAS (1987)
world was thought to have the form of a square or a circle,
and a female deity may have taken part in the process of cre-
ation, as suggested by a vessel with a female figure in relief
PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: THE EURASIAN
embracing it, as it were, with both arms. A parallel is the Su-
STEPPES AND INNER ASIA
merian goddess Ninhursaga, who gives form as “mistress cre-
During the Aeneolithic epoch of the fifth to the third millen-
ator” or “mistress potter.” Religious customs included ritual
nium BCE two types of cultures developed in the steppe zone
dances; dancing female figures are depicted on several vessels.
of Eurasia. One was a sedentary culture of primitive agricul-
The dances may be Dadolaic ceremonies for bringing rain,
turists and livestock breeders. They lived in clay-walled
or magic fertility rites.
dwellings that were grouped in fortified settlements. To this
type belong the Anau (Jeytun) culture of southern Turk-
Anthropomorphic plastic art, especially statuettes, is
menia, whose scientific study was inaugurated with the exca-
combined with ornamental designs and portrayals. There are
vations made by Raphael Pumpelly’s American expedition to
several types of female statuettes, some with signs of pregnan-
the Anau mounds near Ashkhabad, and the Tripolye-
cy. One group of statuettes has designs with a diamond
Cucuteni culture between the Dnieper River and the eastern
shape—a sexual symbol. In this way, the female principle
Carpathian Mountains. (The Tripolye-type remains were
and the idea of fertility were emphasized, as also seen in de-
identified by the prerevolutionary Russian scholar V. V. Kh-
pictions of a snake on the stomachs of clay female statuettes
voiko.) These cultures are known in detail today primarily
that were clearly pregnant. The snake is a frequent motif in
through the work of Soviet scholars.
the oldest European art, and this motif often has a cosmo-
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
PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: THE EURASIAN STEPPES AND INNER ASIA
7383
gonic meaning. But on these statuettes the snake, as in Crete,
CULT CENTERS. In the Late Bronze Age (end of the third
appears as an attribute of a female deity; everywhere in the
through the second millennium BCE), large cult centers with
ancient East the snake symbolized fertility. Direct evidence
monumental edifices appeared in the agricultural and live-
of this is given by a group of statuettes in which the clay is
stock-breeding communities of southern Central Asia. One
mixed with flour or grains, and by another group with depic-
such center, at Altyn-tepe in southern Turkmenia, consisted
tions of plants or animals. Thus, the cult of fertility and the
of a stepped towerlike edifice, a burial complex, dwellings
deity (deities?) of fertility were prominent in the religion of
(“the house of the priest”?), and household buildings. Most
the Tripolye-Cucuteni tribes.
grandiose was a four-stepped towerlike edifice with a facade
26 meters in length and an estimated height of 12 meters.
ANAU RELIGION. A complex system of religious beliefs exist-
In configuration it resembled a Mesopotamian ziggurat. In
ed among the Anau tribes. Both dwellings and cultic struc-
one of the buildings of the burial complex was an altar, to-
tures expressed spatial concepts, with squarish and rectangu-
gether with a gold bull’s head, a wolf’s head, and a plaque
lar buildings predominating. Structures at the center of a
with astral symbols. The bull’s head is akin to analogous but
group of buildings had a special type of hearth, in which a
earlier Mesopotamian depictions, although it is more sche-
fire was lit for cultic ceremonies. At Karadepe two sanctu-
matic. Characteristically, the Altyn-tepe bull has on its fore-
aries, side by side, have squarish hearths. Adjoining are auxil-
head a moon-shaped lapis lazuli laid-plate. The cult and
iary structures. This cult center may be regarded as a proto-
image of the bull were widespread among early agricultural
temple, although it also served as a granary. Together with
cultures (such as Çatal Hüyük), especially in Mesopotamia.
large sanctuaries there were domestic ones, with traces of
A “heavenly bull” or a moon deity may have been worshiped
large fires inside, raising the hypothesis that they were delib-
at Altyn-tepe. Much later, in Zoroastrianism, the moon was
erately burned down.
called gao ˇcithra (“having bull semen”). It was from this
semen that all animals had been born, whereas from the
Vessel paintings show clear-cut spatial and geometric
semen falling on the ground domesticated plants had arisen.
concepts and relationships. Goat and tree (vegetation) motifs
The mythic First Man had stood on one side of the Mythic
testify to a fertility cult; sometimes the goat is next to the
River, and on the other side was the First Bull (Greater Bun-
tree. Unquestionably, there was a cycle of beliefs associated
dahishn 1a.12–13, 6e.1–3; Yashts 7.3–6).
with the reproductive power of the goat, which in general
serves as a symbol of the fructifying powers of nature and
Another, later, cult center, Dashly 3 (second half of the
which may function as an attribute or embodiment of a cor-
second millennium BCE), has an entirely different structure.
responding deity. The goat motif is one of the most wide-
In the center of a square enclosure (roughly 150 meters on
spread in ancient Eastern glyptics; association of the goat
each side) is a round edifice in the form of a circumambula-
with vegetation (the tree) also signifies a connection with the
tory gallery, its interior divided into compartments and its
earth. Another mythologem reflected in the designs is a bird
exterior having nine salient towers. Three passageways lead
with the sun disk.
into this gallery, whose interior includes chambers with fire-
bearing altars. Parallel to the central edifice and outside it are
Equally important for revealing religious concepts are
two concentric walls that divide the space into three circles.
the earthenware statuettes. Most are of sitting women with
All the enclosing walls are very thin and were clearly not used
arms schematically raised at the sides, with well-defined facial
as fortifications.
features, and with markedly emphasized breasts, pelvis, and
buttocks. The sitting pose itself was evidently evoked by fer-
This cultic ceremonial center mirrors in its structure a
tility concepts and an association with the chthonic princi-
cosmogram of a ritual universe (Indic man:d:ala), as well as
ple. It symbolized birth and, more generally, the birth and
a sociocosmic model of society with its tripartite division.
organization of the cosmos. The marks and depictions on the
The central part is the spiritual center of the universe, and
statuettes confirm and develop this symbolism. Some of the
the three outer rings must correlate with a tripartite universe.
The tripartite division of Indo-European (in this case, proto-
statuettes are holding a child and perhaps a goat. The back
Indo-Iranian) communities was clearly reflected in this plan.
and bosom of one statuette are covered with numerous fe-
In the center—the focus of the entire composition—are re-
male breasts; other statuettes are covered with schematic de-
flected again the sacred triads (three gates, nine small towers).
pictions of trees, and sometimes of snakes. It is not possible
During rituals the sacred altars were lit and animals were sac-
to formulate concretely the religio-mythological cycles re-
rificed. This group of tribes evidently combined the idea of
flected by these statuettes, but one may surmise that they
a tripartite world with a concept of the four sides of the world
were connected with communal cults. The feminine protec-
joined in a square. There is a certain correspondence with
tors of earthly births and the ancestors of communal groups
the ancient Iranian concept of vara and the divine fortress
were worshiped. These female deities had created an orderly
of the Kafirs.
world out of chaos and had established cosmic and terrestrial
law and order. On them, then, depended the continuation
BURIAL GROUNDS AND RITES. A significant migration of
of humankind, the reproduction of wild and domestic ani-
tribes took place in the Eurasian steppes during the second
mals, and the fertility of fields.
millennium BCE. Indo-Iranian tribes left the area of the Tim-
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PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: THE EURASIAN STEPPES AND INNER ASIA
ber-Grave culture (the steppes between the Urals, the Volga,
mentioned in Old Persian and Greek sources. They spoke
and the northern Black Sea region) and the western area of
an East Iranian language. The tribes of Central Asia and of
settlement of the Andronovo tribes (western Kazakhstan).
southern, western, and central Kazakhstan are termed Saka;
They migrated south to Central Asia, spreading through that
those farther to the east are called Saka-Siberian.
region in several waves and bringing in Indo-Iranian lan-
guage, social institutions, and beliefs.
In the Greco-Roman sources, references to the Saka be-
liefs are very scant. They may be supplemented by material
The rites performed at the Sintashta burial ground (in
from the ancient sacred works of the Indo-Iranians, especial-
the southern Ural region, northeast of Magnitogorsk) had a
ly the Avesta and the Vedas; from Middle Persian Zoroastri-
pronounced Indo-Iranian character. The tribes that used this
an works; and from the religious concepts of contemporary
and related burial grounds from the eighteenth to the six-
East Iranian and Indo-Aryan peoples. On the other hand, the
teenth century BCE carried out both individual and group in-
archaeological materials of the Saka tribes, dating from the
terments. The wooden burial cover was held up by wooden
seventh century BCE to the beginning of the common era, are
posts; the most ancient of Indian scriptures, the R:gveda,
unusually abundant, especially the burial grounds and works
makes reference to a similar practice. In the graves are mas-
of art. They are the main source for an assessment of the Saka
sive finds of the bones of sacrificial animals. For example, in
religion, which had an overall similarity to that of the Scythi-
Pit I five horse skulls were in a row along a wall; along the
ans, although the two were by no means identical.
opposite wall were four skulls of hornless oxen and a horse
skull. In another grave were seventeen skulls of cows, rams,
Divine gifts. An important mythological isogloss unit-
and horses. There were also dog bones. In a number of graves
ing the religious beliefs of the European Scythians and the
horse skulls and leg bones were laid at one end of the burial
Asian Saka is the motif of divine gifts. According to the ac-
chamber, and a chariot, complete with wheels and spokes,
count of Quintus Cortius Rufus, a Latin biographer of Alex-
stood at the other end. Horse skeletons were generally laid
ander the Great, the Saka received from the gods the yoke,
either behind each other or with skulls and legs facing each
plow, spear, arrow, and chalice (7.8.17–18). The first two
other. Many of the buried were warriors. On the earth-
are associated with obtaining the fruits of the earth; the spear
covered tombs, long-burning fires had been built. The chari-
and arrow, with the defeat of enemies; and the chalice, with
ots and steeds reflect the beliefs that the soul departs for the
libations to the gods. The three-layered social condition
world beyond on a chariot and that the steed is the fire deity’s
emerges here with absolute clarity.
companion. The same may be said of the dog. The sacrifice
Sun cult. In the Histories of Herodotos, Queen Tomyris
of animals is reminiscent of another ancient Indian sacrificial
of the Massagetae pronounces the formula “I swear by the
custom, the Agnicayana.
sun, the lord of the Massagetae” (1.212). Oaths by the sun
The Sintashta burial ground reflects a stage of ancient
and by fire were widespread among Iranians in antiquity and
Indian beliefs earlier than that found in the R:gveda. More-
in medieval times. But even until recently the inhabitants of
over, elements of the funeral rites have parallels to those in
the Pamir, who formerly called the sun “great,” swore by the
a wider area. For example, many steppe tribes of western Eu-
“sun’s head” as their strongest oath. They perceived the sun
rope used burial covers on posts and cremated the deceased.
as an anthropomorphic being. The ancient Iranians had the
In the Bronze Age, cremation and the corresponding cycle
same anthropomorphic concept of the great luminary. To
of beliefs existed in a vast area of the Eurasian steppes, partic-
them the sun was the visible form of the supreme deity,
ularly among the Fedorovo tribes of Kazakhstan and the
Ahura Mazda¯—his child or his eye. The fact that these con-
Timber-Grave tribes of the Volga and northern Black Sea
cepts were those of the Saka as well is made evident by the
areas.
word for “sun” in the medieval language of Khotan, which
is, as in the Pamir dialects, urmaysde (cf. Old Iranian Ahura
These Bronze Age beliefs were also widespread in Cen-
Mazda¯h).
tral Asia. In the Tigrovaia Balka burial ground, one central
kurgan (burial mound) was surrounded by a ring of twenty,
Concerning the beliefs of the Massagetae, Herodotos
and another by forty-one, small mounds under which
wrote: “The only god they worship is the sun, to whom they
hearths were found. During the burial ritual, a ring of fire
sacrifice horses. The idea behind this is to offer the swiftest
was lit around the entombed persons. This fiery barrier bore
animal to the swiftest of the gods” (1.216). According to the
witness simultaneously to a belief in a circular universe (iso-
Avesta, the ancient Iranians repeated: “We worship the shin-
morphic with the ancient Indian belief) and to its fiery es-
ing sun, the immortal, the rich, [who owns] swift steeds
sence. This group of beliefs was further developed in the reli-
(aurvat:-aspem).” They conceived of the sun’s movement
gion of the Saka peoples of the Eurasian steppes.
across the sky as that of a gleaming carriage to which heaven-
SAKA RELIGION. The vast area of the steppe and mountain-
ly steeds were harnessed. In the R:gveda as well, that is, among
steppe zones, from the Aral Sea in the west to the Minusinsk
the ancient Hindus, the theme of white heavenly steeds in
Basin in the east and including Mongolia, Sinkiang, and
connection with the sun god (Su¯rya) is elaborated in great
Central Asia, was inhabited by tribes related culturally, and
detail. Thus, in the R:gveda the sun repeatedly appears in the
probably ethnically, to the East Iranians—the Saka group,
form of a horse, Dadhikra¯ (Dadhikra¯van).
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PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: THE EURASIAN STEPPES AND INNER ASIA
7385
After the beginning of the common era, the solar cult
individual and collective, and either with or without human
in India greatly increased in importance because of the arrival
burials. In Central Asia and Kazakhstan there were until re-
there of the Central Asian Saka and the related Yüeh-chih.
cent times a number of variants of the custom of dedicating
By the first millennium CE there were temples honoring the
a horse to the deceased. The Kafir of Nuristan retained the
sun in various places in Central Asia, particularly Merv and
practice of setting up on the grave a wooden statue of a horse-
Ferghana. Nothing is known about their structure. Some ed-
man, and in Central Asia, dolls on a wooden horse were set
ifices in the south of Siberia give us an idea of the cult places
up. All this reflects a perception of the chthonic nature of
associated with the sun and with steeds, the sun’s attribute.
the horse and, on the other hand, of its functions as an inter-
mediary between worlds—an animal hastening to the upper
The Arzhan kurgan (in Tuva), a very ancient monument
worlds and conveying the soul of the deceased there.
of Scytho-Siberian culture (eighth and seventh centuries
BCE), had a round stone platform mound about 110 meters
The cult of the horse was associated with its otherwordly
in diameter and 3 to 4 meters high. Under the mound was
nature, and this cult was reflected in numerous depictions
an enormous wood edifice, in whose center was a square (8
of horses. Very frequently these were made on cliffs and
by 8 meters) wooden frame. In the middle of this structure
mountains, as the Oglakhta pictograph in the Yenisei region,
was a smaller one with a king and a queen interred in coffins,
and the pictograph on the Aravan cliff in Ferghana. In Chi-
surrounded by six wooden coffins and two small enclosures
nese sources, Central Asian, and especially Ferghana, horses
in which the king’s courtiers were interred. Here too were
are termed “heavenly,” evidently reflecting local concepts. A
the king’s personal horses. Lines of logs, like spokes of a gi-
“heavenly steed” was said to live in a mountain cave in Tok-
gantic wheel, came radially out of the central structure. The
haristan. Wherever there were many horse depictions in
entire surface was divided into seventy trapezoidal compart-
mountainous areas, as at Oglakhta, there were sanctuaries
ments by cross-pieces forming concentric lines. Some of
dedicated to the heavenly steed.
these compartments had additional divisions. In nine of the
compartments there were mass burials of horses; burials of
In ancient Central Asian legends, sacred horses dwell in
humans and horses were found in a number of other com-
a lake, a motif that may be traced back to ancient Iranian
partments. The king was dressed in a rich garment of wool
beliefs. In the Avesta, the deity of water and river streams,
and one of sable; both he and his female companion had nu-
Aredvi, was drawn by four horses, whereas the rain deity,
merous gold ornaments. The ground in the royal compart-
Tistrya, appeared in the form of a white horse with golden
ment was covered with horse tails and manes. The courtiers
ears and muscles who received rainwater from the celestial
too were clothed in costly garments and had gold ornaments.
lake, Vourukasa. It is possible, however, that the concept of
The mass horse-burials included groups of fifteen or thirty
the horse as a water steed has an even older, Indo-Iranian,
old stallions, evidently gifts to the king from tribal units sub-
foundation.
ordinate to him.
Thus, the Saka tribes had a cult of a supreme deity with
The Arzhan kurgan clearly testifies to a developed cult
pronounced solar coloration. Originating in the ancient Ira-
of the sun. The king is at the center of a gigantic wheel,
nian pantheon, which is known from Zoroastrian works, this
which symbolized the solar chariot or, rather, the sun itself.
deity may have been Ahura Mazda, Mithra, or perhaps
The concept of the “solar wheel” is widespread in Indo-
Mithra Ahura; moreover, different hypostases of this deity
European thought. Not only is the king equated with the
may have had primary significance among different Saka
sun, at the center, but the steeds accompanying the sun are
tribes. The cult of the horse and the cult of fire in its various
placed, both individually and as a body, in strictly defined
manifestations (see below) were associated with the worship
groups within the construction. This clearly indicates that
of this deity.
they are immediate participants of the myth depicted by the
Cult of fire. The cult of fire played a large role in funer-
Arzhan kurgan. The horses of the kurgan enter, as it were,
ary ritual. In the Uigarak and Tagisken burial grounds (Aral
the inner essence of the sun on the one hand, and on the
Sea region); in those of Besshatyr (the SemirechDe region of
other they indicate the way by which souls may reach this
Kazakhstan), Kokuibel (the Pamirs), and Tashkurgan (Sin-
luminary.
kiang); and in the Sauromatian burial grounds of the North
Such sepulchral “temples of the sun” were not isolated
Caucasus the funerary structure was sometimes burned, ei-
instances. Another, simpler, variant is the Ulug-Khorum
ther with total or partial cremation of the deceased, or with-
kurgan (also in Tuva), in whose center is a semi-spherical
out such cremation. Funerary pyres were sometimes burned
stone mound 22 meters in diameter. Thirty-three meters
over the deceased or around the funerary platform, and
from the mound’s center is a stone wall. The ring between
sometimes the deceased was covered with coals from a pyre
the foundation of the mound and the wall is divided into sec-
that had been lit to one side of him.
tions by thirty-two radial spokes made of stone. On the stone
In the Pamirs, the Aral Sea area, and among the Sauro-
are incised depictions of horses.
matians the deceased was colored red or red paint was placed
Cult of the horse. Throughout the entire Scythian,
in the grave. The color red functions as a symbol and substi-
Saka, and Saka-Siberian areas there are burials of horses, both
tute for fire. Perhaps this was based on a deeper stratum of
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PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: THE EURASIAN STEPPES AND INNER ASIA
beliefs with a universal cosmological dichotomy, in which
almost solidly covered with gold plaques. More than four
red denoted the world of the beyond, and painting the de-
thousand gold objects, as well as two silver vessels, were
ceased red led him from the world of the living and joined
found at this burial. In northern Afghanistan, at the Tillya-
him to the world of the dead. All these customs are echoes
tepe mound, princely graves of the first century BCE to the
of Indo-European beliefs in the necessity of cremation. A
first century CE were found. The deceased wore gold-
number of Saka tribes believed that burning the deceased and
embroidered clothing decorated with small gold plaques.
his property was a sacrifice to the gods. For the deceased him-
Each grave contained from twenty-five hundred to four
self it was a “blessing,” since the tongues of the flames, like
thousand of these plaques. The deceased were indeed clad in
horses, would perforce carry him off to heaven.
gold; they also wore gold crowns, and under their heads gold
or silver chalices had been placed.
The Saka world had other manifestations of the cult of
fire, differing among the groupings of the Saka tribes. The
In ancient Iran, in Parthia, only the king could sleep on
tribes of the SemirechDe and adjoining regions of Sinkiang
a golden couch. The Achaemenid kings, including Cyrus II,
had censers and sacrificial altars with depictions of animals,
were buried in gold sarcophagi. Gold symbolized royal
processions of beasts, and scenes of battle between beasts.
power in ancient India (S´atapatha Bra¯hmana 13.2.2.17). In
The censers reflected the mytheme of the “tree of the world”
Kazakhstan and Afghan “golden” burials the idea that gold
and the tripartite division of the universe. They constituted
is the symbol of the king—of his power, his fate, and his
a sacred cosmogram whose functions, realized in the ritual
good fortune (farn)—was the dominant one in decorating
of the fire cult, were denoted by animals and their groupings.
royal corpses with an enormous quantity of gold, a literal
Myths. The available data confirm that the Saka had a
“wrapping” in gold.
well-developed (although less complex than among the an-
These concepts are underlain by deeper ones, according
cient Hindus) system of myths. It united deities and their an-
to which gold is the inner content and the outer environment
imal incarnations with the cosmological concept of the triad-
of divinities, for example, Agni and other gods of ancient In-
ic nature of the universe (and of all that existed) and that of
dian mythology. In the Hindu epics there are “golden-eyed”
the “tree of the world.” These deities and concepts were unit-
and “golden-skinned” gods. The newly born Buddha
ed with the sacred act isomorphic to the Hindu yajña (lit.,
S´a¯kyamuni’s body was radiant like the sun and shone with
“worship of the god”; later, any sacred act). In these beliefs,
gold (A´svaghos:a, Buddhacarita 1.1.14, 1.1.45). The ancient
in complex oblique ways, the earthly and the divine, the pro-
Iranian god Vainu wore red clothing decorated in gold, and
fane and the sacred, were interwoven. Through sacrifices as-
in medieval Iran a person whose skin had a golden hue was
sociated with fire and animals, a socially defined human
thought to be divine. The wrapping of a corpse in clothing
being became a participant in a series of transformations.
covered with gold distinguished it from ordinary corpses,
When the small sacred area of the sacrificial altar extended
making it a divine being from another world, for the de-
to the limits of the entire universe, the person making the
ceased ruler was like the setting sun. The same beliefs gave
sacrifice was embodied in the altar itself (an emanation of the
rise to the custom of setting up gold statues on the graves
deity), in the sacred fire, and in the animals associated with
of the Saka kings or covering their corpses with gold.
the deity or deities. In this way he merged with the infinite.
On a felt rug from Pazyryk kurgan V (Altai), there is a
The Issyk royal headdress. Knowledge of the religious
frequently repeated scene: a goddess with the appearance of
beliefs of the Saka tribes facilitates analysis of the complex
a man sits on a throne, wearing a long-sleeved garment cover-
spiked headdress of the Issyk prince. Above the diadem are
ing her to the feet. On her head is a spiked crown. Her left
two horse’s heads turned in different directions but with a
hand is raised to her mouth, and in her extended right hand
single body. In back are two more horse heads, as well as ver-
is a flowering sacred tree. Before her is a mounted archer with
tical arrow shafts and bent plates that imitate birds’ wings.
a quiver. This is one of the feminine deities of the Saka pan-
The decorations on the sides have a distinct zonal character,
theon. If she originates in the Scythian pantheon, she is most
with mountains, trees with small birds on them, mountains
likely Tabiti or, perhaps, Api. The scene is a divine wedding,
with snow leopards, and medallions with depictions of goats
with the king acquiring divine status.
and snow leopards. On top of the headdress is a figurine of
a snow leopard. This cosmogram is the Saka variant of the
Cult of gold. According to Ctesias (see Diodorus
sacred macrocosm and also a depiction of the “tree of the
2.34.1), the Saka built a sepulcher above the grave of their
world.” It is undoubtedly associated with the texts of rituals,
queen, Zarina, in the form of a huge pyramid. On top of it
invocations, and myths, and was an iconographic embodi-
“they set up a colossal gold statue, to which they rendered
ment of some of these.
heroic homage.” Archaeological excavations have not un-
earthed the gold statue, but “golden burials” have been
The Saka king undoubtedly functioned also as a priest.
found. At the Issyk kurgan, not far from Alma-Ata, a princely
He was believed to know and to personify the cosmological
burial dating from the fourth or third century BCE has been
structure of the world; it was he who correlated it with the
discovered. The deceased wore a headdress richly decorated
social structure of the tribe or tribes. The axis mundi went
with gold clasps and plaques; his clothing and footgear were
through the king, as embodied in his head and crown. This
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
PREHISTORIC RELIGIONS: THE EURASIAN STEPPES AND INNER ASIA
7387
was the most sacred point in space, corresponding with the
the largest kurgans, human burials were in log coffins with
sacred space and axis of the sacrificial altar.
covers. One such sarcophagus was decorated with roosters
cut out of leather, another with reindeer cutouts. The cham-
Still more concrete conclusions may be made. Double
ber walls were draped with felt rugs. The burial chambers
horse heads with a single body may reflect beliefs in divine
and rites of the Bashadyr and Tuekta kurgans, also in the
twins that are akin to beliefs widespread among different
Altai, were similar. Although the kurgans were robbed in an-
Indo-European traditions. Their contrast with depictions of
tiquity, the objects were so diverse and their remains so
ordinary earthly horses laid out side by side sets off and em-
amazingly well preserved, owing to permafrost, that they give
phasizes the former’s unearthly power. The facial part of the
a clear impression of the ancient inhabitants’ appearance,
headdress is associated with symbols of royal power in the
their material culture, and, in part, their beliefs.
form of birds’ wings with feathers. This may stand for the
ancient Iranian god of victory, Verethragna, who was sym-
In Scythian times in the Altai region, deceased persons
bolized by the bird of prey va¯regna. An amulet made of feath-
of outstanding importance were embalmed, by rather com-
ers from this bird gave khvarenah, in this case “royal good
plex methods. Evidently, these deceased were believed to
fortune.” For the ancient Hindus, the eagle was the personi-
play a special role in the world beyond. The Scythians, for
fication of Indra, and Agni the “eagle of the heavens.” The
example, embalmed the corpses of their kings (Herodotus
symbolism of royal power is reinforced by the vertical arrows
4.71).
and by the figurine, atop the headdress, of a ram—the sym-
Some of the Altai princely burials have preserved traces
bol of Farn, the Iranian deity of royal destiny and good
of the removal of muscle tissue. Hecataeus of Miletus (fl. 500
fortune.
BCE) wrote of the Massagetae: “They consider it the best kind
The depictions on the sides of the headdress are in three
of death, when they are old, to be chopped up with the flesh
tiers, which reflect the concept of a tripartite model of the
of cattle and eaten mixed up with that flesh” (Strabo, Geog-
world. The bottom layer, in turn, is in three parts, recalling
raphy 11.8.6). Similar evidence is found in Herodotus
the ancient Indian belief that there are three worlds, this one
(1.216). Classical sources and the Avesta hint at the ritual
and two beyond. The idea of triplicity permeated the Saka
killing, among a number of Iranian-speaking peoples, of
cosmogony and was its essence; however, each of the compo-
aged men. In the Altai, small pieces of the deceased’s flesh
nent elements was not homogeneous. The concept of a tri-
were apparently eaten; in this way his spiritual and physical
partite universe corresponded to the tripartite structure of
qualities and his social rank were acquired. If a woman con-
Saka society.
sumed one of these pieces of flesh, her subsequent children
would inherit the outstanding qualities of the deceased. A
Thus, the depictions on the Issyk royal headdress linked
deeper stratum of these animistic beliefs is the totemic one.
together the king’s earthly and sacred power (as portrayed on
Also associated with animistic beliefs was the custom of plac-
the frontal part) and his cosmic essence (as portrayed on the
ing in the grave nail parings from the deceased and small
sides). All this is united with the diadem below and the figu-
sacks containing his hair. The burial was accompanied by
rine of the ram above—the pole toward which everything
purifying and ecstatic rites, particularly the smoking of
strives and which embodies the divine attribution of the
hemp.
king.
The religious worldview of the Saka was reflected in the
Burial customs. Mircea Eliade has established that after
artworks of the animal style. Analysis of these works and of
a mythic, cosmic catastrophe only devout people, shamans,
the materials associated with funerary rituals confirms the ex-
and so on may ascend to the heavens, with the help of a “sa-
istence of shamanistic beliefs and practices, especially in Sibe-
cred cord” (tree, cliff, etc.). To facilitate their ascent, at the
ria. The origins of the heroic epos of the Inner Asian and Si-
interment of these persons wooden stakes are set up in the
berian peoples date to Saka times. The greatest Iranian epic
burial pits, or stone columns are placed on the burial mounds
hero, Rotastahm (Rustam), had the epithet Sagˇc¯ık, “from
(as in the Pamir).
among the Saka.” His name is a symbol of the hero.
Burial rituals and customs varied considerably among
SEE ALSO Ahura Mazda¯ and Angra Mainyu; Fire; Horses;
the different Saka tribes. Among the large kurgans of the Pa-
Indo-European Religions, overview article; Indus Valley Re-
zyryk group, a chamber made of logs was sometimes set on
ligion; Iranian Religions; Sarmatian Religion; Scythian Reli-
top of the stone foundation of the burial pit, which was
gion; Sheep and Goats; Snakes; Sun; Vedism and Brahman-
about 4 meters deep. On top of the chamber, the pit was
ism.
packed with logs and stones. Its surface was covered with
rounded earth, topped with a stone mound that had a diame-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ter of 36 to 46 meters. The burial pit was quadrangular, ori-
Books covering the overall subject of this article do not exist. A
ented to the cardinal directions. The largest kurgans had a
general review of the Aeneolithic sites of the Eurasian steppes
double log chamber, protected from pressure by a wooden
is Arkheologiia SSSR: Eneolit SSSR, edited by V. M. Masson
covering resting on posts. In the northern third of the burial
and N. Ia. Merpert (Moscow, 1982). The first work on the
pit, horses (up to ten) were buried and carts were placed. In
Aeneolithic and Bronze ages of Central Asia to contain infor-
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
7388
PRESBYTERIANISM, REFORMED
mation on religious beliefs was Explorations in Turkestan: Ex-
mira” (Moscow, 1972). Considerable attention is devoted to
pedition of 1904; Prehistoric Civilizations of Anau, 2 vols., ed-
the Saka religion in two outstanding works by D. S. Raevskii:
ited by Raphael Pumpelly (Washington, D.C., 1908). The
Ocherki ideologii skifo-sakskikh plemen: Opyt rekonstruktsii
most recent review and analysis is Philip L. Kohl’s Central
skifskoi mifologii (Moscow, 1977) and Model D mira skifskoi
Asia: Palaeolithic Beginnings to the Iron Age (Paris, 1984),
kul Dtury (Moscow, 1985).
which has an outstanding bibliography and only a few seri-
New Sources
ous omissions.
Dandamaev, Muhammad A. and Vladimir G. Lukonin. The Cul-
Two excellent monographs by Elena V. Antonova are devoted to
ture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran. Translated by
the religion of the Aeneolithic and Bronze Age tribes: An-
Philip L. Kohl with the assistance of D.J. Dadson. New
tropomorfnaia skul Dptura drevnikh zemledelDtsev Perednei i
York, 1989.
Srednei Azii (Moscow, 1977) and Ocherki kul Dtury drevnikh
Dexter, Miriam Robbins. and Edgar C. Polomé, eds. Varia on the
zemledel’tsev Perednei i Srednei Azii: Opyt rekonstruktsii i
Indo-European Past: Papers in Memory of Marija Gimbutas.
mirovospriiatiia (Moscow, 1984). The latter is a fundamental
Washington, D.C., 1997.
work that investigates in depth the religions of the ancient
agriculturist tribes of the entire East, from Anatolia to Cen-
Hiebert, Fredrik T. Origins of the Bronze Age Oasis Civilization in
tral Asia.
Central Asia. Cambridge, 1994.
For extensive material on the beliefs of the Tripolye tribes, see S.
Ionesov, Vladimir I. The Struggle Between Life and Death in Proto-
M. Bibikov’s Rannetripol Dskoe poselenie Luka-Vrublevetskaia
Bactrian Culture: Ritual and Conflict. Lewiston, N.Y., 2002.
na Dnestre (Moscow, 1953). See also Aina P. Pogozheva’s
Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civili-
Antropomorfnaia plastika Tripol Dia (Novosibirsk, 1983). The
zation. New York, 1998.
beliefs of the Tripolye-Cucuteni tribes are examined in the
Mair, Victor H. The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of East-
context of other European beliefs in Marija Gimbutas’s The
ern Central Asia. Washington, D.C., 1998.
Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500–3500 B.C. (Berke-
ley, Calif., 1982); her interpretations, however, are some-
Mallory, J. P. In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeol-
times unjustifiably bold.
ogy and Myth. London, 1989.
Zbenovich, V. G. “Tripolye Culture: Centenary of Research.”
For the religion of the proto-Iranians, Iranians, and, in particular,
Journal of World Prehistory 10, no. 2 (1996): 199–241.
the Saka, see Mary Boyce’s A History of Zoroastrianism, 2
vols. (Leiden, 1975–1982). It is an excellent investigation of
B. A. LITVINSKII (1987)
the origins and early history of Iranian religions. An out-
Translated from Russian by Demitri B. Shimkin
standing overall review of these religions, especially that of
Revised Bibliography
the Saka, is Geo Widengren’s Die Religionen Irans (Stuttgart,
1965), based on nonarchaeological materials. On the Saka,
see also Julius Junge’s Saka-studien: Der Ferne Nordosten in
Weltbild der Antike (Leipzig, 1939) and my own archaeologi-
PRESBYTERIANISM, REFORMED. The word
cally based study Kangiuisko-sarmatskii farn (Dushanbe,
presbyterian refers both to a particular form of church gov-
1968), translated as “Das KEang-chü-sarmatische Farnah,”
ernment and, more generally, to churches that are governed
Central Asiatic Journal 16 (1972): 241–289 and 20 (1976):
by presbyters (elders or priests) but have many other charac-
47–74.
teristics. The word reformed defines a theological perspective.
Comprehensive descriptions and valuable analyses of the materials
The two words usually but not always belong together. Most
from the Saka archaeological complexes can be found in M.
Reformed churches are presbyterian, but they may also be
I. Artamonov’s Sokrovishcha sakov (Moscow, 1973) and in
congregational and occasionally episcopal in governance.
Karl Jettmar’s Die frühen Steppenvolker (Baden-Baden,
HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF PRESBYTERIANISM. Presbyterians
1964), translated as The Art of the Steppes (New York, 1967).
are catholic in their affirmation of the triune God and of the
For a general survey of all the Saka materials in Central Asia,
see my book Eisenzeitliche Kurgane zwischen Pamir und Aral-
creeds of the ancient catholic church: the Apostles’ Creed,
See (Munich, 1984).
the Nicene Creed, and the Chalcedonian definition. They
are Protestant in the sense of Martin Luther’s treatises of
Monographs devoted to recent discoveries at individual complexes
1520. Their Reformed roots are in the Reformation at Zu-
usually include a chapter on religious beliefs. Among them
are K. A. Akishev’s Kurgan Issyk: Iskusstvo sakov Kazakhstana
rich, under the leadership of Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531)
(Moscow, 1978), K. A. Akishev and G. A. Kushaev’s Drev-
and Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575); at Strasbourg, under
niaia kul Dtura sakov i usunei reki Ili (Alma-Ata, 1963), O. A.
Martin Bucer (1491–1551); and at Geneva, with the work
Vishnevskaia’s Kul Dtura sakskikh plemen nizovDev SyrdarDa v
of John Calvin (1509–1564).
VII–V vv. do n. e.: Po materialam Uigaraka (Moscow, 1973),
Reformed theology at the time of the Reformation.
M. P. Griaznov’s Arzhan: Tsarskii kurgan ranneskifskogo vre-
Reformed theology was a type of Protestantism—as distinct
meni (Leningrad, 1980), S. I. Rudenko’s Kul Dtura naseleniia
Gornogo Altaia v skifskoe vremia (Moscow, 1953) and
from Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and the theology of the rad-
Kul Dtura nasaleniia TsentralDnogo Altaia v skifskoe vremia
ical Reformation—that originated in Switzerland, the upper
(Moscow, 1960), V. I. Sarianidi’s Bactrian Gold: From the
Rhineland, and France. Most of the early Reformed theolo-
Excavations of the Tillya-Tepe Necropolis in Northern Afghani-
gians had a background in Christian humanism. They were
stan (Leningrad, 1984), and my Drevnie kochevniki “Kryshi
more energetic and radical in their reform of medieval Ca-
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
PRESBYTERIANISM, REFORMED
7389
tholicism than were the Lutherans. The Lutherans’ practice
Calvin’s The Form of Church Prayers, John Knox’s The Form
was guided by the principle that everything in church life
of Prayers, The Westminster Directory of Worship, the Book of
contrary to the word of God should be eliminated. The Re-
Common Order (Church of Scotland), and the Book of Com-
formed church insisted upon positive scriptural warrant for
mon Worship (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.).
all church practice.
Presbyterian polity. The word presbyterian—a graded
Reformed theology was characterized by its emphasis
system of representative ecclesiastical bodies—has its prima-
upon the doctrine of God, who was conceived not so much
ry reference not to theology or liturgy but to church govern-
as beauty or truth but as energy, activity, power, intentionali-
ment. The prominence of the word in the names of churches
ty, and moral purpose. Reformed theologians believed that
has two sources. First, the Reformed churches all believed
all of life and history is rooted in the decrees or purposes of
that the way a church is ordered is important. This was espe-
God. They emphasized the lordship of God in history and
cially the case with Calvin, who devoted long sections of the
in the salvation of the Christian as emphasized in the doc-
Institutes as well as a major part of his active life to questions
trine of predestination. They shared the Lutheran doctrine
of church governance and order. He believed that order is
that no one ever merits salvation and that salvation is always
determined by theology and, in its turn, shapes life. Second,
grace, always forgiveness. Yet they understood the Christian
English-speaking Presbyterians were involved in lengthy and
life as obedience to the law of God and as the embodiment
at times bitter struggles over the order of the church, some-
of the purposes of God. As far as the relation of Christian
times with those who shared their theology. This was true
faith to society was concerned, they neither withdrew from
in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Church of En-
society nor identified Christian faith with culture. They were
gland, which included in its membership Congregationalists
converters of culture and transformers of history, at least in
and Presbyterians as well as Episcopalians and in which many
intention.
Episcopalians were also Reformed in theology. The Congre-
gationalists and Presbyterians formed dissenting churches in
A central theme of Reformed theology was the glory of
England. Presbyterians in Britain and Northern Ireland
God. The salvation of souls and concern for one’s own con-
never forgot these controversies, especially the attempts to
dition was subordinate to giving God the praise, acknowl-
impose episcopacy by governmental authority in Scotland
edging his grace, and fulfilling his purpose in personal life
and Ulster. The word presbyterian first began to be used in
and history. The Reformed churches were also characterized
Scotland in the first half of the seventeenth century. Since
by an emphasis on the life of the mind as proper service of
then it has been the designation of English-speaking, Re-
God. John Calvin, the most influential of Reformed theolo-
formed Christians who maintain a presbyterian polity. Re-
gians, was not a speculative thinker. While rejecting curiosity
formed churches on the European continent with presbyteri-
as destructive of faith, Calvin insisted that Christians should
an polities are called Reformed after their theology.
know what they believed; the way a person thinks determines
action. Calvin also placed high value upon verbal expressions
Presbyterianism is not a fixed pattern of church life but
of faith. The sermon became the focus of Reformed worship.
a developing pattern that has both continuity and diversity.
Through its example of disciplined, logical thinking, the ser-
Many features of the system vary from time to time and from
mon became a factor in influencing culture in Reformed
place to place. In the United States, for example, Presbyteri-
communities.
anism developed from the congregation to the presbytery, to
the synod, to the General Assembly. In Scotland, Presbyteri-
The major theological works that shaped Reformed the-
anism grew out of a gradually evolving notion of how the
ology in Presbyterian churches were Calvin’s The Institutes
church should be governed, out of conflict with episcopacy,
of the Christian Religion (1536), Institutio Theologiae Elencti-
and from the General Assembly down to the congregation.
cae (1688) of Francis Turretin, and Systematic Theology
(1871–1873) of Charles Hodge. The most influential creeds
Presbyterians find the roots of their polity in the reform-
have been the Scots Confession of 1560 and the Westminster
ing activity of Calvin. With the reform of doctrine, the city
Confession and Catechisms.
council in Geneva had also driven out the bishop and the
whole clerical establishment. This gave the reformers greater
Reformed liturgy. In liturgy the Reformed churches
freedom in shaping the order of the church than in places
placed a premium upon intelligibility and edification. As
where so much of the traditional structure remained intact.
with life generally, Calvin insisted that worship should be
Calvin gave special attention to the organized life of the
simple, free from theatrical trifles. The sacraments were lim-
church partly because of his personal inclinations as a trained
ited to the Lord’s Supper and baptism, which were believed
lawyer and also out of the theological conviction that proper
to have been instituted by Jesus Christ. Within the Reformed
order was necessary for both the piety and the purity of the
tradition some emphasized a preaching service, intending
church.
only an occasional celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Others
believed that the normative service united preaching and the
In his doctrine of the church, Calvin’s primary emphasis
Lord’s Supper. Among the more prominent documents of
was on the action of the Holy Spirit, who created the church
the liturgical tradition are Huldrych Zwingli’s Liturgy of the
through word and sacrament. Jesus Christ is the only head
Word, Guillaume Farel’s The Order Observed in Preaching,
of the church, and under him all are equal. In addition, Cal-
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
7390
PRESBYTERIANISM, REFORMED
vin struggled all his life for a church that was independent
that presbyterianism was the biblical form of church govern-
of state control. He held to the notion of a Christian society
ment. Most Presbyterians have argued that presbyterianism
with a magistrate whose work in the civil order is a vocation
is agreeable to scripture. Traditionally, Presbyterians have
from God, but ideally Calvin wanted church and state to
wanted to test government as well as doctrine by scripture.
work together under God yet in independence of each other
They have always subordinated church government to the
organizationally. Calvin placed great emphasis on the minis-
gospel and have never made the form of government a test
ter, who interprets and applies the word of God. On occa-
of the reality of the church.
sion Calvin refers to the preacher as the mouth of God. The
The other three principles of presbyterian polity relate
importance of the minister in leading worship, in preaching,
to form of governance and relations among clergy and be-
in teaching, and in pastoral care is one of function not of sta-
tween clergy and laity. Presbyterians have emphasized the
tus. Calvin insisted that the government of the church
unity of the church governed by a graded series of church
should be in the hands of a consistory (council) composed
courts. These assemblies are composed of ministers and el-
of ministers and elders chosen from the congregation. (In
ders elected by the people. The word church applies both to
Geneva the choice was limited to members of the city coun-
the local congregation and to the whole body of believers.
cil.) He was opposed on theological grounds to government
There is no local congregation without its participation in
by individuals who were neither good nor wise enough for
the whole body of believers, and no church without local
such responsibility, and he was likewise opposed to rule by
congregations. It is in the governance of the church through
the masses, who were not sufficiently qualified to govern. In
assemblies that presbyterianism most clearly differs from
both church and state, Calvin advocated government by an
episcopacy and congregationalism. A third principle is the
aristocracy, in the Aristotelian sense of the qualified, tem-
parity of ministers, who have the same and equal authority
pered by democracy. In representative government the will
under the one head of the church, Jesus Christ. Finally, the
of God was more likely to be done. With few exceptions
fourth principle is the right of the people to call their pastors
(Hungary, for example), Reformed churches that looked to
and to elect those who govern them. Sometimes this right
Geneva for leadership were governed by a council.
has been limited by circumstance to approval or consent, but
Calvin also worked for a disciplined church. Discipline
the demand to exercise the right of the people has continually
was the primary responsibility of the consistory. Calvin locat-
reasserted itself.
ed the exercise of discipline at admission to the Lord’s Table.
The consistory examined communicants on knowledge
Among the primary documents of Presbyterian polity
based on catechetical instruction and on manner of life. An-
are book four of the Institutes; Ecclesiastical Ordinances of Ge-
other of Calvin’s achievements was the restoration of the of-
neva; the First Book of Discipline and the Second Book of Disci-
fice of deacon as exercising the church’s ministry of compas-
pline of the Church of Scotland; the Book of Discipline of the
sion to the sick and needy.
Elizabethan Presbyterians. Also primary are the Westminster
Assembly’s Form of Presbyterian Government and The Form
Calvin developed a polity only for Geneva and the sur-
of Government of American Presbyterian churches.
rounding countryside; hence, in his own work he left the full
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. The Church of Scotland
development of church structure open-ended. Some have ar-
continues the tradition in which English-speaking Presbyte-
gued that Calvin’s polity is compatible with episcopacy, but
rianism was first established. The Congregational church in
the most that can be established is that Calvin did not oppose
England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England
existing administrative and judicial episcopal structures.
became the United Reformed Church in 1972. By the begin-
Although some Calvinists became Congregationalists,
ning of the twenty-first century, the United Reformed
Calvin’s successor in Geneva, Theodore Beza, was an ardent
Church, the Church of Scotland, and the Presbyterian
Presbyterian. Beza guided the Reformed church in France as
churches of Ireland and Wales had approximately 1.5 mil-
it worked out the first presbyterian church government on
lion members.
a national scale, with local, district, provincial, and national
The Presbyterian churches in the United States have
assemblies composed of ministers and elders. Presbyterian-
their origin in emigration from Scotland and Northern Ire-
ism also became the form of church government in the Neth-
land. Puritan influences were also strong. The Presbyterian
erlands and other Reformed churches on the continent. It
Church at Hempstead and later Jamaica, Long Island, was
received its great emphasis, however, in Scotland, where the
composed largely of Puritans and is probably the oldest con-
controversy about the structure of the church, whether it
tinuing Presbyterian Church in the United States, dating
should be congregational, presbyterian, or episcopal, was vig-
from 1644. The first presbytery was organized under the
orously contested and received an importance not given to
leadership of Francis Makemie, who had come from Ulster,
questions of polity elsewhere.
at Philadelphia in 1706. The organization of a synod fol-
There are four basic principles of presbyterian polity.
lowed in 1717, and the adoption of the Westminster Confes-
The first is the authority of scripture. Some Presbyterians,
sion and Catechisms as theological standards occurred in
such as Thomas Cartwright in Puritan England and James
1729. The General Assembly held its first meeting in 1789.
Henley Thornwell in American Presbyterianism, contended
American Presbyterians have divided on three occasions. 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
PREUSS, KONRAD T.
7391
Old Side–New Side division (1741–1768) had to do with
grants are the basis of the Presbyterian Church of New Zea-
the accommodation of the church to the American frontier;
land (54,000 members in 1999).
the New School–Old School division (1837–1864 and
Presbyterian churches have been established throughout
1869) was concerned with doctrinal and ecclesiastical issues;
the world by the missionary movement of the nineteenth and
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Presbyterian
twentieth centuries. Strong Presbyterian churches exist espe-
Church in the Confederate States (later the Presbyterian
cially in Korea and also in Brazil, Mexico, and Africa. The
Church in the U.S.A.) split in 1861 and reunited in 1983.
World Alliance of Reformed Churches, which is now orga-
The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. had a uniting mem-
nized on the basis of theology rather than polity, reported
bership of approximately 2.5 million in 2004.
a worldwide membership of 75 million in 2003. This in-
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church originated in a
cludes younger churches in Africa, South America, and Asia
split from the main body of Presbyterians during the revivals
with Reformed theologies but not necessarily presbyterian
in the first decades of the nineteenth century. A major por-
polities.
tion of the Cumberland Church reunited with the Presbyte-
rian Church in the U.S.A. in 1903. The Second Cumberland
SEE ALSO Beza, Theodore; Calvin, John; Church, article on
Church, with a predominantly black membership and num-
Church Polity; Farel, Guillaume; Humanism; Knox, John;
bers of 15,500 in 1993, exists independently but in close co-
Zwingli, Huldrych.
operation with the main body of Cumberland Presbyterians.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Associate and the Reformed Presbyterians, who
Bolam, C. Gordon, et al. The English Presbyterians: From Elizabe-
originated in secessions from the Church of Scotland, con-
than Puritanism to Modern Unitarianism. London, 1968.
tinued their existence in the immigration to the United
Henderson, George D. Presbyterianism. Aberdeen, Scotland,
States. The major body of Associate and Reformed Presbyte-
1955. A comprehensive introduction to the origin and devel-
rians, having become the United Presbyterian Church
opment of presbyterian polity.
(1858), merged with the mainstream of Presbyterians in
Leith, John H. Introduction to the Reformed Tradition: A Way of
1958, becoming the United Presbyterian Church in the
Being the Christian Community. Rev. ed. Atlanta, 1981.
U.S.A. The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, locat-
Chapters on the ethos, theology, polity, worship, and the
ed largely in the South, and the Reformed Presbyterian
cultural expression of the Reformed community.
Church of North America continue the traditions of the
Loetscher, Lefferts A. A Brief History of the Presbyterians. 4th ed.
Scottish secession Presbyterians.
Philadelphia, 1984. Brief but reliable.
Other Presbyterian churches originated out of the con-
McNeil, John Thomas. The History and Character of Calvinism.
troversies generated by the conservative and liberal theologies
New York, 1954. Comprehensive, reliable, judicious. The
of the twentieth century. The Orthodox Presbyterian
work of a distinguished historian who cherished the
Church, a withdrawal from the Presbyterian Church in the
tradition.
U.S.A. in 1936, the Bible Presbyterian Church, a split from
New Sources
the Orthodox in 1938, and the Presbyterian Church of
Hart, D. G., and Mark A. Noll, eds. Dictionary of the Presbyterian
America, organized in 1973 in a pullout from the Presbyteri-
and Reformed Tradition in America. Downers Grove, Ill.,
an Church in the U.S.A., have their origins in these contro-
1999.
versies.
JOHN H. LEITH (1987)
Presbyterianism came to Canada chiefly through emi-
Revised Bibliography
gration from Scotland and represented all the divisions of
Presbyterianism there. In 1875 they united in one church.
The majority combined in 1925 with Congregationalists and
PREUSS, KONRAD T. (1869–1938), was a German
Methodists to form the United Church of Canada. The Pres-
ethnologist and historian of religions. Konrad Theodor Pre-
byterian Church in Canada had a membership of 129,684
uss was born on June 2, 1869, in the Prussian city of Eylau
in 2004.
(present-day Bagrationovsk, Russia). Shortly after complet-
Presbyterian churches in Australia and New Zealand
ing school in Königsberg in 1887, he began studying history
were also established by Scottish immigrants. In the 1961
and geography at the university there and in 1894 received
census, 9.3 percent of Australians declared themselves to be
his doctorate from these departments. In 1895 he took a po-
Presbyterian, and in the 1996 census, this percentage
sition at the Berlin Ethnological Museum; during his career
dropped to 3.8. In 1977 the Presbyterians, Methodists, and
there he first became head of the North and Middle America
Congregational churches formed the Uniting Church in
department and, eventually (in 1920), director of the muse-
Australia (300,000 members in 2001, with 1.3 million
um. He received a professorship from the University of Ber-
claiming an association). The (continuing) Presbyterian
lin in 1912, and from that time on he conducted lectures and
Church of Australia in 1996 had 675,534 members. Scottish
seminars in North and South American ethnology and ar-
immigration and the Church of Scotland’s support of immi-
chaeology. He also conducted an interdisciplinary colloqui-
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
7392
PRIAPUS
um in religious history. In accordance with regulations,
obedience to a supreme deity” (see “Fortschritt und Rück-
Preuss retired from his positions in 1934; his retirement did
schritt in der Religion,” Zeitschrift für Missionskunde und Re-
not, however, hinder his scientific work. Preuss’s publica-
ligionswissenschaft 47, 1932, p. 241). Like that of other gods,
tions, which appeared on a regular basis throughout his ca-
the supreme deity’s origin can ultimately be traced. Preuss
reer, concentrated on American ethnology and linguistics.
thought, to perceptual impressions of nature. Beside the the-
oretical problems surrounding the question of the origin of
Within the anthropological study of primal religious
the idea of God, Preuss devoted the remainder of his career
traditions, Preuss became known as the foremost German ex-
to the study of ancient Mexican religion and history.
ponent of the “preanimist” theory of magic. Preuss, along
with those who followed his theoretical course, held that
there had been a stage in human religious development prior
BIBLIOGRAPHY
to the stage named “animism” by evolutionist anthropolo-
For further information, see F. R. Lehmann’s article, “K. Th. Pre-
gists. During this “preanimist” stage, human beings had con-
usz,” in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 71 (1939): 145–150.
strued causality in nature in accordance with belief in the ef-
New Sources
ficacy of magical practices in influencing the environment.
Preuss, Konrad Theodor, Jesús Jáuregui, and Johannes Neurath.
In this connection, Preuss spoke of the “primal ignorance”
Fiesta, literatura y magia en el Nayarit: ensayos sobre Coras,
of humankind.
Huicholes y mexicaneros. México, D.F., 1998.
The preanimist hypothesis was quickly disputed and has
OTTO ZERRIES (1987)
since been thoroughly rejected (see, e.g., Adolf E. Jensen’s
Translated from German by John Maressa
Revised Bibliography
Myth and Cult among Primitive People, 2d ed., 1969). Deities
of later religious eras, even after the existence of an imperson-
al power came to be accepted, were attended with the same
magical methods that Preuss had indicated had been em-
PRIAPUS was an ithyphallic deity of ancient Greece and
ployed by people of an earlier age. But Preuss had already
Rome. He is known mainly as the god of Roman gardens,
recorded his theoretical construct in a series of articles titled
where images of him, usually holding up his fruit-laden gar-
“Der Ursprung der Religion und Kunst” (Globus 86 and 87,
ment to exhibit his outsize sexual organ, were often placed.
1904–1905), and he retained these principles throughout his
However, from the time of his appearance at the dawn of the
life.
Hellenistic age well into the Christian Middle Ages, Priapus
The experience Preuss gained on two field-research ex-
(Gr., Priapos) may have a basis in some very different reali-
peditions furnished additional information. The first of these
ties. From Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Athenaeus, 5.201c), for
expeditions (1905–1907) brought him into contact with the
whom Priapus occupies a mythico-political position, to the
Cora, Huichol, and Mexicanos tribes of the Sierra Madre of
epigrams in the Greek Anthology or to the kitchen gardens of
Mexico’s Pacific coast. The second journey (1913–1915) was
Priapea in the Corpus Priapeorum, this god—whom Horace
devoted to the study of the Witóto in the lowlands and the
makes into an obscene scarecrow (Satires 1.8)—finds no
Cágaba in the highlands of Colombia. In the religion and
place among the theological definitions proposed by the an-
mythology of the Witóto, especially, Preuss was able not only
cients. Neither do they seem to have assigned him his own
to recognize correspondences between various myths and the
place in their pantheon, even though he was traditionally
particular cults that enact them but also to see the roots of
considered to be the son of Dionysos and Aphrodite and
these correspondences in an ancient period (see Religion und
could have been part of the Dionysian thiaseii (“revels”).
Mythologie der Uitoto, 2 vols., 1921–1923; cf. Der religiöse
There is, however, one notorious exception: in the system of
Gehalt der Mythen, 1933). The cultic religions that followed
Justin the Gnostic, the ithyphallic Priapus becomes central
the preanimistic stage were the direct result of these deep-
to cosmogony; indeed, he is the supreme being, “the one
rooted sentiments; they were later superseded by religions in
who made creation, even though nothing existed before”
which prayers, not magical practices, were employed.
(Elenchos 5.26.33).
The fate that history has dealt this divus minor (“minor
These later religions were built around a central su-
god”; Corpus Priapeorum 53) is therefore surprising, for both
preme deity. The form taken by this deity became a major
ancient and modern authors have ceaselessly confused him
concern for Preuss in his work Glauben und Mystik im Schat-
with other figures of sexuality: Pan, the satyrs, and Her-
ten des Höchten Wesens (1926). In contrast with Wilhelm
maphroditus, as well as his own father, Dionysos. This con-
Schmidt’s view that there has been a universal Urmonotheis-
fusion is perhaps due to the fact that Priapus’s congenital fea-
mus (“primitive monotheism”) at the earliest stage of human
ture is his oversize and perpetually erect penis, so that authors
religious evolution, Preuss did not believe that the supreme
have often tended to identify everything hypersexual with
being was a predominant element during the initial stage of
him. It is as if his excessive sexuality has confused the erudite
religious development.
mythographers. Also, when Diodorus Siculus (4.64) and
According to Preuss’s view, religion is more than the
Strabo (13.1.12) try to describe Priapus, they can do so only
“expressive repetition of prayers of thanksgiving and humble
by mentioning his “resemblance” to the Attic gods Ithyphal-
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
PRIAPUS
7393
los, Orthnes, Konisalos, and Tychon, all ithyphallic powers
tibus animalium 689a). This, however, is precisely the case
about whom almost nothing is known except the priapic re-
of Priapus, who, always ithyphallic, never knows the slightest
semblance that defines them.
sexual relief. The ancients considered such phallic excess to
be a kind of deformity. The same kind of ugliness character-
However, in spite of these frequent confusions, the an-
izes the functional aspects of apotropaic objects that, like Pri-
cient sources give this divinity a specific character. Unlike his
apus, evoke laughter (Aristotle, Poetics 5.1449a) in order to
phallic colleagues, Pan and the satyrs, who are hybrids, Pria-
distance evil. This also holds for those amulets that, as Plu-
pus is fully anthropomorphic. He has neither horns nor
tarch noted, “draw the bewitcher’s gaze” with their strange
hoofs nor a tail. His sole anomaly and unique pathology is
aspect (atopia).
the immense sexual organ that defines him from birth. Frag-
ments of myths tell how the newborn Priapus was rejected
Given his laughable ugliness, which turns people away,
by his mother, the beautiful Aphrodite, for no other reason
and the Dionysian milieu he belonged to, Priapus remained
than his deformed ugliness (amorphos) and his dispropor-
for a long time a vulgarized figure of ancient fertility. Yet,
tionate virile member. It is this oversize organ, described by
the appeal of this little god of gardens has endured across the
the Latin texts as “terribilis” (Columella, De re rustica 10.33),
centuries. In the late Middle Ages he was known even to the
that allows Priapus to be recognized in images and that iden-
Cistercians (Chronique de Lanercost, 1268); he was rediscov-
tifies him in writings by giving him the form necessary to one
ered by the artists and craftsmen of the European Renais-
of his major functions, that of protecting small-scale cultiva-
sance; and his image has continued in use as guardian of gar-
tions against the evil eye or against thieves by threatening sex-
dens down to the present day.
ual violence to all who pass near the domain he guards
(Planudean Anthology 241; Corpus Priapeorum 11, 28, 44,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
59, 71).
Herter, Hans. De Priapo. Giessen, 1932.
Morel Philippe. “Priape à la Renaissance: Les guirlandes de Gio-
In both Greek and Latin epigrams, it is the ithyphallic
vanni da Udine à la Farnésine.” Revue de l’art 69 (1985):
effigy of the god, often carved from the ordinary wood of a
13–28.
fig tree and daubed with red, who is the speaker pronouncing
Olender, Maurice. “Éléments pour une analyze de Priape chez Jus-
obscene threats. But Priapus is all talk and no action. In
tin le Gnostique.” In Hommages à Maarten J. Vermaseren, ed-
guarding his little gardens, as well as in his amorous adven-
ited by Margreet B. de Boer and T. A. Eldridge, vol. 2. Lei-
tures, he is often ineffectual. Ovid (Fasti 1.391-440, 6.319–
den, 1978.
348) relates how Priapus failed in his courtship of the beauti-
Olender, Maurice. “L’enfant Priape et son phallus.” In Souf-
ful Lotis (or Vesta in another version) and found himself
france, plaisir et pensé, edited by Alain de Mijolla. Paris, 1983.
empty-handed every time, his sex up in the air, derided by
Richlin, Amy. The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in
an assembly laughing at the obscene spectacle of the god frus-
Roman Humor. New Haven, 1983.
trated and obliged to flee, his heart and his member heavy.
New Sources
But it is perhaps the ancient physicians who, in their no-
Bérard, Claude. “Le satyr casseur.” Metis 5 (1990): 75–92.
sology, best illustrate certain aspects of this impotent phal-
Boardman, John. “The phallos-bird in archaic and classic Greek
locrat. Priapism is the term they use to name an incurable
art.” Revue archéologique 2 (1992): 227–242.
disease in which the male organ persistently remains painful-
Carabelli, Giancarlo. In the Image of Priapus. London, 1996.
ly erect. The medical texts of Galen (8.439, 19.426) and
Csapo, Eric. “Riding the Phallus for Dionysus: Iconology, Ritual
Caelius Aurelianus (3.18.175) also insist on an important
and Gender-Role Deconstruction.” Phoenix 51 (1997):
point: Priapism must not be confused with satyriasis, a com-
253–295.
parable disease in which the pathological erection does not
Gassner, Jutta. Phallos: Fruchtbarkeitssymbol oder Abwehrzauber?
exclude either seminal emission or erotic pleasure, which is
Ein ethnologischer Beitrag zu humanethologischen Überlegun-
not the case in priapism.
gen der apotropäischen Bedeutung phallischer und ithyphallis-
cher Darstellungen. Wien, 1993.
This difference between the ithyphallism of Priapus and
Goldberg, Christiane. Carmina Priapea. Einleitung, Übersetzung,
that of the satyrs may indicate still another division: Priapus,
Interpretation und Kommentar. Heidelberg, 1992.
the citizen of Lampsacus, whose representations are always
Habash, Martha. “Priapus.” Classical Journal 4.3 (1998–1999):
anthropomorphic, can be classified close to humans, whereas
285–297
the satyrs, who are hybrids between men and beasts, belong
Ian, Marcia. Remembering the Phallic Mother: Psychoanalysis, Mod-
with demons and the wild. It is as if immeasurable sexuality,
ernism and the Fetish. Ithaca, 1993.
which is impossible for a human, is viable for beasts and half-
Keuls, Eva. The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Ath-
humans.
ens. New York, 1985.
Aristotle specifies in his biological writings that nature
O’Connor, Eugene M. Symbolum Salacitatis: A Study of the God
has endowed the virile member with the capacity to be or
Priapus as a Literary Character. Frankfurt am Main, 1989.
not to be erect, and he wryly notes that “if this organ were
Olender, Maurice. “Priape à tort et de travers.” Nouvelle revue de
always in the same state, it would be an annoyance” (De par-
psychanalyse 43 (1992): 59–82.
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
7394
PRIESTHOOD: AN OVERVIEW
Olender, Maurice. “Priape le mal taillé.” Le temps de la réflexion
longer active priests, even if there were hereditary priestly
7 (1986): 373–388.
families. Religious leadership in the synagogue, which re-
Olender, Maurice. Priape et Baubô. Paris, 1995.
placed the temple, passed to the rabbis in their role as teach-
Parker, W.H. Priapea: Poems for a Phallic God. London, 1988.
ers. The only continuation of ancient Israel’s animal sacrifice
is among the small community of the Samaritans, whose offi-
Turcan, Robert. “Priapea.” Mélanges École Française de Rome 72
ciants to this day are referred to as priests. As far as the He-
(1960): 167–189.
braic context is concerned, the terms we translate by priest
Vanggaard, Thorkil. Phallós: A Symbol and Its History in the Male
regularly imply the performance of sacrifice, and in the ab-
World. London 1972.
sence of the sacrifice the concept has been considered inap-
MAURICE OLENDER (1987)
plicable.
Translated from French by Claude Conyers
Revised Bibliography
Protestants do not generally refer to their clergy as
“priests” either. (In this context, the Anglican communion’s
usage is closer to a Roman Catholic than to a Protestant un-
derstanding of things.) But Protestants do have a conception
PRIESTHOOD
of priesthood, referred to as “the priesthood of all believers.”
This entry consists of the following articles:
Each member of the community, in this view, is his or her
AN OVERVIEW
own priest, with direct access to God. The salient feature of
JEWISH PRIESTHOOD
CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD
priesthood which this Protestant understanding illustrates,
HINDU PRIESTHOOD
then, has not so much to do with sacrifice as such but with
BUDDHIST PRIESTHOOD
the priest’s role as an officiating intermediary. In avoiding
SHINTO
¯ PRIESTHOOD
the term priest as a designation of their own clergy, most
DAOIST PRIESTHOOD
Protestants have implied a repudiation of the notion that
priestly ordination should elevate any man above his fellow
PRIESTHOOD: AN OVERVIEW
human beings or confer on him any access to the divine that
Cross-cultural use of the terms priest and priesthood is an ex-
is denied others. Protestants did differ from Rome on the
ample of a familiar pattern in modern description of religion.
senses in which the Lord’s Supper, the eucharistic meal of
Frequently, terms with European meanings and linguistic
the Mass, might be considered in itself a sacrifice, for they
derivations are pressed into service for the description of a
held that Jesus’ self-sacrifice was commemorated rather than
range of phenomena worldwide. If we pay attention to this
repeated. But the truly sore point was the privileged, control-
fact, we can often enhance our appreciation not only of the
ling status enjoyed by the officiating Roman clergy. In the
terminology itself but of the material to which it is applied.
Reformation context, then, an essential characteristic of
U
priesthood was its privileged role of mediating benefits and
SAGE IN THE WEST. In the case of priest, we can discern a
“core” meaning in the Western use of the term. At this core,
requests between the divine and the human community.
one may argue, are two identifying factors. The priest, first,
Before we leave the historical meanings of priesthood we
performs a sacrificial ritual, usually at a fixed location such
may take note of the derivation of the term priest itself. Ety-
as an altar. Second, the priest does so as a specialist on behalf
mologically, the word in English comes from the French prê-
of a community or congregation. When both of these factors
tre and ultimately from the Greek presbut¯es. In Greek, how-
are present, we have priesthood in a strict or narrow sense.
ever, that term means “elder”; hence in the course of
In fact, the strict sense of the meaning of priest prevailed
Christian usage the semantics of the term shifted from the
prior to modern times, while looser and more inclusive appli-
ordained person’s place in ecclesiastical polity to his role as
cations of the term have come into use more recently. This
a cultic celebrant. Semantically, on the other hand, the chief
development has to do with religious and conceptual hori-
words whose meaning corresponds to “priest” are hiereus in
zons of the Christian West, in which the vocabulary of Latin
Greek, sacerdos in Latin, and kohen in Hebrew.
and its derivatives has been dominant. In the traditions of
DESCRIPTION OF PRIESTHOOD IN NON-WESTERN RELI-
the Judeo-Christian West, our point will become clear when
GION. A great many other activities and attributes of priests
we consider circumstances in which the term priest has not
in the European Christian tradition have built up a range of
been used. The two principal cases are the Jewish and the
connotations of the term and role extending far beyond the
Protestant.
two critical factors we have reviewed so far. Priests in the
For Judaism, priesthood is a well-defined and central
West generally wear ceremonial robes while officiating and
role in the biblical tradition. The performance of sacrifices
have distinctive details of street clothing; hence, Western vis-
was one of its essential characteristics. The priests carried out
itors to Japan, for instance, termed the robed personnel of
the sacrificial ritual at altars, and from the seventh century
temples “priests,” whether Shinto¯ or Buddhist. Priests in the
BCE onward such ceremony was centralized at the temple in
Latin Christian tradition are unmarried; hence the disposi-
Jerusalem. When, however, the Jerusalem temple was de-
tion of visitors to Sri Lanka, Burma, or Thailand sometimes
stroyed, the sacrificial practices lapsed, and there were no
to refer to Buddhist monks as “priests,” even if the status of
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
PRIESTHOOD: AN OVERVIEW
7395
their ritual as a sacrifice is debatable. Priests are inducted into
It is generally expected that the clergy in hereditary
their office through ordination; hence the tendency to view
priesthoods will marry, so that the line may be perpetuated.
tribal societies’ ritually initiated specialists in divination, ex-
Indeed, the genealogical awareness of hereditary priesthoods
orcism, healing, and the like as priests. Priests deliver ser-
is often as carefully documented as is that of royalty, and for
mons and moral injuctions; hence, presumably, occasional
similar reasons. Families claiming the right to officiate in a
references to the Eulama¯D, or religious scholars of traditional
particular location are known to record their descent back
Islamic lands, as priests, despite the fact that they are neither
a number of centuries in order to substantiate their legitima-
ordained nor do they perform ritual sacrifice.
cy. Hereditary control of certain temples, whether in Japan
or India or elsewhere, can imply some financial advantage,
In the extended, cross-cultural uses of the term priest,
such as access to housing on the premises or to the temple’s
then, a priest is any religious specialist acting ritually for or
revenues as income.
on behalf of a community. With a term used in so broad and
flexible a general sense, one excludes little from the category.
Many professions and lines of work are reflected in peo-
Ritual activities as such, however, do not make the laypeople
ple’s surnames, and a family association with priesthood is
who perform them priests; a priest, in any useful sense of the
no exception. The Jewish surname Cohen is an example, as
term, is characteristically an intermediary set apart by a rec-
is also Katz (an acronym for “righteous priest”), even though
ognized induction into office and functioning on behalf of
the temple sacrifice has not been performed for nineteen cen-
others. Nor does religious specialization or professionalism
turies. Among Lebanese and other Arabic-speaking Chris-
on behalf of a lay clientele necessarily constitute someone as
tians a common surname is Khoury, an Arabic word for
a priest; there are healers, teachers, and the like who function
“priest,” and another is Kissis. Common among the Parsis,
as professionals but whose activity is not tied to the ritual of
the Zoroastrian community of India, is the family name Das-
a sanctuary.
tur, meaning “high priest.”
What one may call a vocational priesthood, on the other
ELIGIBILITY FOR PRIESTHOOD. The world’s priests in vari-
hand, recruits its members from the pool of promising young
ous traditions can be divided into what one might term he-
people in the community. It has the potential advantage of
reditary priesthoods and vocational priesthoods. In the first
selectivity for devotional, intellectual, or moral qualities. All
case, the priestly prerogatives and duties are the special heri-
branches of Christianity recruit their personnel on a voca-
tage of particular family or tribal lineages. The ancient He-
tional basis, often promising challenge rather than comfort
brew priesthood, for example, was reserved to the Levites, or
as the reward of the priestly life. Celibacy is something that
descendants of Levi. Levi does not figure in the list of Israel-
a tradition of vocational priesthood can require, as does the
ite tribes in Numbers 1 (where Ephraim and Manasseh as
Roman Catholic Church, but many vocational priesthoods
sons of Joseph each have a place on the list of twelve), but
still permit marriage, such as those of the Greek Orthodox,
the Levites appear to have gained tribal status in the tradition
Russian Orthodox, and other Eastern Christian churches.
of Genesis 49 (also a list of twelve, including Levi and Joseph
but not Ephraim or Manasseh).
Even in the case of vocational priesthoods, the notion
of lineage is not absent, but it is expressed in terms of the
Similarly, hereditary is the priesthood in Zoroastrian-
transmission of legitimacy from teacher to pupil or from or-
ism, the national religion of pre-Islamic Iran, which today
daining authority to ordained, as, for example, in Tibetan
still claims a hundred thousand Iranian and Indian adher-
Buddhist lineages or the Christian notion of apostolic suc-
ents. Traditionally, fathers who were practicing priests
cession.
trained their sons in the proper recitation of the prayers.
More recently, madrasahs (schools) for the training of priests
In the vast majority of the world’s religious traditions,
have been established. A priest’s son may exercise the option
eligibility for priesthood has been restricted to males. The
to become a priest, and even if he does not do so, the grand-
Hindu, Buddhist, Daoist, Zoroastrian, and Christian tradi-
son may; but after two or three generations of inactivity the
tions have had exclusively male clergy until modern times.
eligibility of the line lapses.
Judaism likewise restricted the rabbinate (its equivalent to
the more inclusive current sense of the term priest) to males.
The brahman class of India constitutes another impor-
In today’s world various branches of both Christianity and
tant example of priests whose eligibility is hereditary. The
Judaism have begun to ordain women to serve as the ritual
traditional Indian social scale known as the caste system
and spiritual leaders of congregations. To the extent that
places the priests in the highest rank in terms of prestige and
Islam has leadership analogous to priests, it too has been ex-
respect, ahead of the warrior-rulers. Not surprisingly, the
clusively male. Only in some “primitive” tribal traditions
warrior class had already gained greater practical power by
such as in Africa and some “archaic” traditions such as
the time documented by extant historical records. The other
Shinto¯ and the religions of ancient Greece, Rome, and pagan
strata continued nonetheless to behave in the apparent confi-
northern Europe do we find much evidence of priestesses.
dence that their own positions might be legitimated, con-
In most of the world religions there are analogous but sup-
firmed, or blessed by the brahmans, however impoverished
porting roles for women as nuns, deacons, or other assistants.
the brahmans might become.
Contemporary initiatives calling for equality for women have
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PRIESTHOOD: AN OVERVIEW
raised serious questions concerning the subordination that
What can be termed theoretical training stands at the
these roles imply.
other end of the spectrum. The world’s major religious tradi-
Another feature of eligibility for priesthood is a sound
tions have all at one time or another undergone challenges
physical and mental condition. Apart from practical consid-
of critical inquiry, often philosophical in character. Their
erations of community leadership, this requirement is fre-
scholars have wrestled with the epistemological and meta-
quently supported by a notion of perfection as appropriate
physical implications of religious cosmologies, and the ethi-
to the sacrificial ritual. Just as a sacrificial animal is expected
cal and psychological assumptions entailed by religious views
to be whole and without blemish, so should the sacrificer
of human nature and personality. Some of these traditions
himself be. Traditional Roman Catholic custom has required
have come to expect of their officiating clergy that they not
in particular that the hands of a priest, which perform the
only perform rituals but also minister to the intellectual life
sacrament, be without deformity.
of their congregations. Training for priesthood thus may
contain a substantial component of historical and philosoph-
TRAINING AND ORDINATION. A wide variety of instruction,
ical study, in which the prospective congregational leader is
training, and initiation for work as a priest exists among the
given at least a rudimentary exposure to the results of scrip-
world’s religious traditions. The content of the training is
tural and doctrinal scholarship.
generally a blend of three components that one could term
the practical, the theoretical, and the disciplinary.
The perceived need for competence in theoretical mat-
ters has generally led religious communities to develop
The practical side of a priest’s training includes most sa-
courses of formal academic instruction for their priests (or
liently the skills the community expects for correct perfor-
comparable personnel) in theological studies. Throughout
mance of ritual. In a great many traditional settings the effi-
the Islamic world, religious scholarship flourished in a type
cacy of a prayer or incantation has been held to depend on
of school known as a madrasah, meaning etymologically
the acoustic correctness of its utterance. To tap divine power,
“place of study.” In small towns these institutions might be
the formula may need to be invoked in the right language,
modest, but many of the madrasahs in the chief cities of me-
in the right words, with the right pronunciation, and even
dieval Islam were substantially endowed, and to this day cer-
with a precise musical intonation. The Hindu concept of
tain of their buildings are numbered among the finest monu-
mantra as a verbal formula entails such training on the part
ments of traditional Islamic architecture. In medieval
of those who will pronounce mantras, and in the view of
Europe, the origin of universities as institutions was fre-
many Zoroastrians the exactness of the priests’ pronuncia-
quently closely tied to the need to educate the Christian cler-
tion of the liturgical prayers in the Avestan language is what
gy, and in a number of northern European countries since
makes the prayers effective.
the Protestant Reformation both Protestant and Roman
Consequently the appropriate priestly training amounts
Catholic theological faculties have continued to be integral
to rote memorization of the text of the Vedas in the Hindu
parts of the older universities.
case and of the Avesta in the Zoroastrian. This may be begun
In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America, the
at a quite early age, and the course is sometimes completed
founding of many of the older colleges and universities was
before the candidate reaches puberty. It is knowledge of the
based on a similar desire to insure that there would be an ed-
text, rather than understanding, that is cultivated. Achieve-
ucated clergy. The American principle of separation of
ments of memorization in premodern societies can be quite
church and state, however, contributed to the emergence, in
impressive; the Hindu surname Trivedi, for example, etymo-
the state universities, of curricula in which Christian theolo-
logically means “one who has committed to memory three
gy played no part. Religious denominations trained their
of the Vedas.”
clergy in separate seminaries, but mainline Protestant bodies
Besides the formulas of the ritual text itself there is
by the late nineteenth century were presuming a university
much else for a priest to learn: where the ceremonial objects
bachelor’s degree as a prerequisite for entry into them. The
and the officiant should be placed; how the right time for
normal ordination course emerged as three years following
an observance is to be determined; and so on. Where the cel-
the B.A., roughly from the age of twenty-one to twenty-four.
ebration of a ritual has depended for its timing on direct ob-
The development of comparable three-year post-B.A. rab-
servation of the sun, moon, or stars, the training of a priest
binical curricula from the late nineteenth century onward is
has necessitated mastering a certain amount of practical as-
one of the marks of Jewish acculturation to the American en-
tronomy. Where the means of divination have included the
vironment. And the entry of Roman Catholic institutions
bones or entrails of animals, the priest has of necessity had
into close ecumenical cooperation from the 1960s onward
to be a practical veterinary surgeon. Indeed, it is instructive
made the three-year post-B.A. theology degree standard for
to observe in the history of cultures that many professions
Catholic priests as well. The creation of cluster arrangements
that became independent specializations have had their ori-
among Protestant and Catholic theological seminaries has re-
gin as branches of priestly learning. But this should not dis-
sulted in a significant sharing of resources and experiences
tract us from the fact that priestly training that is merely rote
in the educational preparation of Christian clergy.
in nature, and oriented only toward ritual performance, may
Under the heading of “discipline” can be considered a
not be sufficient for the demands of the modern world.
third kind of preparation for priesthood. In various cultures,
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PRIESTHOOD: AN OVERVIEW
7397
from tribal to modern, the priest-to-be is expected to under-
Upon completion of his training, the priest is ceremoni-
take regimes of physical or spiritual self-cultivation—the bet-
ally inducted into the exercise of his role, a process to which
ter to be worthy of, or effective in, the practice of his role.
Westerners often apply the Christian term ordination. Essen-
The concept of purity seems to be associated with a
tial here is an ordaining authority such as a senior priest or
great number of these disciplinary practices and is expressed
a religious council. What results over time is a succession of
in a variety of forms. Bodily cleanliness is a frequent require-
priests, transmitting the role from generation to generation
ment, so that the candidate before ordination, or the cele-
and basing its authority on the legitimacy of the founder of
brant before a ritual, may need to undergo a bath in water,
the line. Thus, among Christians, the notion of “apostolic
or the ablution of some parts of the body, to remove any pol-
succession” implies that each priest has a pedigree of ordina-
luting substances of a physical nature. Or the washing of the
tion going back to the apostles, the first generation of Jesus’
body may be a symbolic act, in which magical, mental, or
followers. Buddhist lineages are similar in that monks or pu-
spiritual pollutants are contained or eliminated. Among
pils trace their ordination back for centuries to earlier
some peoples, semen, as a product of sexual desire or activity,
teachers.
is held to be polluting. For instance, a certain preparation of
The process of ordination generally involves some sort
a Zoroastrian priest for the conduct of cermonies involves a
of examination or ritual test to ascertain that the candidate
ritual extending over several days, which is invalidated and
is properly prepared. Where formal schools and curricula
must be started over if the candidate shows signs of sexual
exist, it is seldom the diploma of the school as such that certi-
excitement.
fies the candidate, for the school may be distant or its curric-
Celibacy for priests is a discipline for which a number
ulum or methods the subject of dispute. Rather, the local re-
of rationales have been offered. There is, of course, the just-
ligious jurisdiction conducts its own examination, satisfying
mentioned notion of sexual activity as a physical pollution.
itself as to the candidate’s dedication and competency.
Beyond this may lie a cosmological or metaphysical view
The actual ceremony of ordination may involve the first
most characteristic of Gnostic and Manichaean thinking,
wearing of clothing or an ornament or emblem which sets
that the very perpetuation of physical existence in this world
priests apart from others in the society. It generally includes
hinders the eventual release of pure spirit from its imprison-
some symbolization of the transfer of power; notable in
ment in inherently evil matter. The early Christian rejection
Christian ordination is “the laying on of hands,” in which
of Gnostic teachings made procreation a positive good and
clergy place their hands on the head of the new ordinand.
an obligation—but for the laity. Other rationales for priestly
Another common feature of the ordination process is the or-
celibacy have had to do with eliminating contenders for one’s
dinand’s first performance of a ritual act reserved to priests,
allegiance: the celibate priest, it is held, can give all his time
such as celebrating a sacrifice or invoking divine pardon or
to his ecclesiastical duties, can move whenever and wherever
blessing on the worshipers.
the need arises, and can take personal risks in the cause of
his community which a husband or parent might feel con-
PRIESTHOOD AND THE STATE. Any consideration of the rela-
strained to avoid. Finally there is the justification of disci-
tionship of priesthood to the political governance of society
pline for discipline’s sake: the very confronting of a chal-
must encompass a diversity of cultures. In this context, varia-
lenge, even if that challenge itself be arbitrary, makes one a
tion from one time and place to another is so great that the
stronger or more worthy individual who can hope to be
distinctiveness of individual cases probably outweighs in im-
found worthy and acceptable by God.
portance the generalizations that can be ventured. Nonethe-
less, certain types of patterns can be observed that are reflect-
The most nearly universal discipline among the world’s
ed in more than one historical and social context. For
priesthoods is probably the discipline of meditation. To
schematic purposes, we shall designate them as follows: the
speak of this, we must deal with the question of whether a
priest as chaplain, the king as priest, the priest as king, and
common “core” or set of identifiable characteristics of medi-
the priest as critic.
tation exists such that we can speak of it cross-culturally.
Leading candidates for such characteristics are three: some
By “the priest as chaplain” we mean the many cases in
formal physical posture (such as sitting or kneeling), a sus-
which the priest is a functionary attached to the ruling cir-
pension of conversation with other individuals (though one
cles. In tribal societies this may take the form of the frequent
may be expected to chant or pray aloud), and a concentration
presence or attendance of the sacrificer, dancer, diviner, or
of the awareness on divine or transcendent power (some-
healer at the hut of the tribal chieftain. In such situations,
times aided by facing an image or symbol). The priest in his
the priest is on call in supporting roles in the conduct of the
exercise of his role may be expected to lead others in medita-
affairs of the tribe, and he receives contributions in return
tion; in his training, he is prepared by its practice. A general
from the chieftain or from the tribe as a whole. Essentially
feeling of well-being or decisiveness can be a personal benefit
the same professionalization is manifested in many of the
of meditation to those who practice it; but as a spiritual disci-
great ancient empires. Priests were kept as part of the palace
pline, meditation needs to serve an unselfish goal, the control
retinue, serving both to maintain the ritual worship attended
of the self and dedication of the priest’s personal identity to
by the court personnel and to deliver omens or otherwise to
a power or cause beyond himself.
pronounce auspicious the acts of the royal house. Royal pa-
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PRIESTHOOD: AN OVERVIEW
tronage could establish one religious tradition in preference
and economic status rather than gaining it, as in the case of
to another, as in the case of Iran in the third century CE,
the brahmans of India. Perhaps the notion that priests might
when an ambitious Zoroastrian high priest, Karter, eliminat-
gain power to become kings is an elusive dream of priestly
ed rivals such as the Manichaeans. Established religion im-
writers in much the way that the ideal of the philosopher-
plies a subsidized priesthood, as is evident in the chapels of
king is the philosopher’s wishful thinking.
European palaces and castles dating from medieval to mod-
To speak of “the priest as critic” is to locate situations
ern times. It suggests a divine sanctioning of a nation’s insti-
in which the priest’s voice is one calling for penance or re-
tutions, even in relatively secularized contexts. Although the
form. To consider reform part of the vocation of a priest is
Christian tradition maintains a theoretical distinction be-
in keeping with much current Christian discussion. It does,
tween what one is to render to God and what to Caesar,
however, raise a semantic issue that calls for a historical an-
Christian priests have frequently asked God to bless the Cae-
swer. For were not the ancient Hebrew reformist critics char-
sar of the day. An instructive contemporary example is found
acteristically referred to as prophets, while the priests were
in the prayers of invocation offered by clergy on behalf of
more the cultic chaplains of the establishment? This is indeed
religiously diverse public constituencies—state functions
true for the period of Israel’s religion before the sixth-century
such as the opening of a legislative session or the graduation
BCE Babylonian exile. Thereafter, however, prophecy tended
ceremonies of a tax-supported university.
to lapse as an institution, and it consequently became the
Under the heading “the king as priest” may be grouped
mandate of others, particularly the clergy, to be “prophetic”
those situations in which the chief ruler himself performs cer-
in the moral sense. However much prophets and priests may
emonial acts of a religious nature. Some of these may be di-
have had clearly differentiated functions in antiquity, the role
rected toward his own benefit as an individual, but in far
of the prophet as the voice of conscience in the community
more cases the purpose of the ritual is the welfare of the com-
has become part of the portfolio of the priest in the centuries
munity as a whole. When this is so, the king’s priestly role
since. Struggles for justice and protests for peace throughout
is demonstrably that of a cultic intermediary between the di-
the Christian world today bring us constant reports of priests
vine and the community. The New Year observances in an-
who summon up the courage to defy the current regime, as
cient Babylonia are an example. In them, the king participat-
part of their calling as priests. Activist priests in other com-
ed in an annual reenactment of the divine creation of the
munities, such as the Buddhist, have sometimes made a simi-
world, recalling the narrative in which the chief god slays the
lar contribution.
primordial watery chaos-monster and, by splitting its carcass,
THE FUTURE OF PRIESTHOOD. The challenge of maintain-
structures the world into water-surrounded heavens above
ing an ancient ritual tradition in a modern secular and tech-
and water-surrounded earth below. The drama served as a
nological age is a major one. In most of the modern world’s
charter of rights and responsibilities for the king as the god’s
religious communities, recruitment of priests is a pressing
representative or intermediary, maintaining an order in soci-
problem. The celibate life, for instance, surely deters many
ety consonant with the divinely established order of the phys-
Roman Catholic males from opting for a priestly vocation,
ical universe. Not very different in its function was the ritual
and the desire to marry is clearly a major impetus in the case
practiced in ancient China, at the sanctuary in Beijing
of many who leave the priesthood. Economic considerations
known as the Temple of Heaven. In this, the king performed
are also a factor: the offerings of the faithful sometimes no
the annual sacrifices on an open-air altar, symbolically medi-
longer support a priest in the comfort, compared with other
ating the unity of the cosmic order with that of society.
lines of work, that they once afforded. Priests have been re-
duced to mendicant roles even in those communities which
There are few instances of “the priest as king” that are
have not characteristically expected priests to be poor.
not in some way debatable. In some cases, leaders have come
Among the Zoroastrian Parsis of India, most priests are paid
to political power through having gained a spiritual follow-
on a piecework basis for prayers said, as opposed to being sal-
ing first. Muh:ammad’s career as a prophet is one example;
aried; this fact has contributed to a certain distaste for priests
but his leadership as an intertribal negotiator or as a military
as peddlers of their ritual services, though the community has
commander can hardly be called priestly. The American
left them little alternative.
black civil rights movement of the 1960s and the Iranian rev-
olution of 1979 offer two cases in which the professional reli-
Even more serious than this is a widespread decline in
gious leaders were the principal leadership possessed by peo-
intellectual respect for priests throughout the contemporary
ple who were excluded from the ruling establishment; but
world. The factors operative here are probably both philo-
once having gained power, each of these movements relied
sophical and sociological. Philosophically, modern secularist
on other bases than the cultus for its maintenance and exten-
criticism of traditional religous affirmations has to a certain
sion. Among the Jews in the Hellenistic era, the Hasmoneans
extent called the content of the priest’s affirmations into
were kings from a priestly lineage; but as a dynasty, they be-
question, and the response from the pulpit has unfortunately
haved as kings rather than as priests. On the whole, indeed,
sometimes been pietistic obscurantism. But at least as impor-
priests in the exercise of their cultic role seem to have become
tant has been the sociological fact of the growth of other
chaplains more often than kings, losing real political power
skills and professions around the world. Formerly, priests
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PRIESTHOOD: JEWISH PRIESTHOOD
7399
often enjoyed status as the only educated, or the most edu-
tions and the like. Only one family of priests—the Zadokites
cated, persons in small communities. Formerly, as we have
according to Ezekiel 44, and the Aaronites according to Le-
suggested, skills and institutions associated with priesthood
viticus 8–10 and other priestly texts—were retained as proper
were the basis from which other professions and institutions
priests, fit to officiate in the cult. Another set of biblical tradi-
were launched. Today, however, it is not unusual for the
tions, less systematically presented but apparently authentic,
spiritual leader of a congregation to count among his flock
portrays priestly groups as professional associations in their
scientists, engineers, or other professionals whose training is
initial stages, which became consolidated along family and
much more highly focused than his own. Some commenta-
clan lines through the usual tendency of families to inhabit
tors suggest that priesthood as a vocation is in a vicious circle
the same towns and locales and to transmit esoteric skills
of decline in status, in that the caliber of personnel now
within the family or clan. Clans, however, were not exclu-
being attracted is hardly such as to serve as models for re-
sively ancestral; they admitted outsiders to the study of their
cruiting the best minds of the next generation to a priestly
skills and eventually to full membership. These processes
vocation. The challenge of life’s ultimate questions, however,
eventually led to the emergence of identifiable priestly, or Le-
persists. Priesthood will probably attract able personnel in
vitical, families, inhabiting towns throughout the land. Bibli-
significant and perhaps sufficient numbers for many genera-
cal writers could thus speak of “Levites” as a tribe, albeit a
tions to come.
tribe different from other tribes.
S
Throughout the period of the northern Israelite and
EE ALSO Ministry; Ordination; Spiritual Discipline;
Vocation.
southern Judahite monarchies and even prior to that time,
priests were appointed by heads of families, military com-
manders, kings, and other leaders, and served in their em-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ploy. During the period of the Second Temple, when Judaea
General studies of priesthood are relatively few. Two that can be
and Jerusalem were under the domination of foreign em-
recommended are E. O. James’s The Nature and Function of
Priesthood (London, 1955) and Leopold Sabourin’s Priest-
pires, the priesthood of Jerusalem played an important politi-
hood: A Comparative Study (Leiden, 1973).
cal role, the priests serving also as leaders of the Jewish com-
munities.
WILLARD G. OXTOBY (1987)
This is one dimension of priestly status. In religious
terms, priests were consecrated persons, subject to laws of
purity and restricted in all matters, including marriage and
PRIESTHOOD: JEWISH PRIESTHOOD
the performance of funerary functions. Priests also wore dis-
[This article discusses the nature of ancient Israelite priesthood.]
tinctive vestments.
The most common biblical term for “priest” is the He-
Common to both dimensions is the factor of skilled
brew word kohen (pl., kohanim). It is a West Semitic term
training. Priests were taught from torot (sg., torah), “instruc-
known in other ancient societies, and although it is a primi-
tion” manuals for cultic officiation, instruction of the people,
tive noun, not derived from any verbal root, its meaning can
adjudication, and oracular and therapeutic functions. Priests
be established from context. The term levi (pl., leviyyim), on
also administered temple business and maintained temple fa-
the other hand, often used to designate certain types of
cilities. In the postexilic period of the Second Temple of Je-
priests, has eluded precise definition, but is translated as “Le-
rusalem, after the status of the city had changed from a na-
vite.” It seems to be a North Israelite term for “priest” in its
tional capital ruled by native kings to a temple city under
earliest biblical occurrences.
foreign imperial domination, the priests of Jerusalem as-
sumed quasi-political functions as well. They managed com-
The problem that has faced historians in reconstructing
munity affairs, while leading priests represented the Judean
the history of Israelite priesthood is the character of the bibli-
community to the imperial authorities, first Persian, then
cal literary evidence, itself, which confronts us with two alter-
Ptolemaic and Seleucid.
native traditions of Israelite history. In the first, that of the
Torah in general, and the Priestly tradition in particular,
Preexilic biblical sources refer to chief priests (sg., kohen
priests are the tribe of Levi, one of the twelve tribes of Israel,
ha-ro Dsh, Jer. 52:24) and their deputies (sg., kohen ha-
descended from and named after one of Jacob’s twelve sons,
mishneh, 2 Kgs. 23:4), whereas the Priestly tradition provides
though usually represented as being different from the other
the title “the high priest” (ha-kohen ha-gadol, Lv. 21:10)
tribes in certain respects. The Levites had no territory of their
which was more widely used in the postexilic period. The in-
own, were counted separately in the census, and relied on
ternal organization of the priesthood is gleaned from later
cultic emoluments, most notably the tithe, for their support.
biblical literature and from the writings of Josephus Flavius
According to some biblical traditions, the Levites became
(fl. first century CE), as well as from the Mishnah (second-
collectively consecrated, or were collectively chosen for sa-
third centuries CE). Priests were assigned to tours of duty
cred tasks because of their loyalty to the God of Israel when
called mishmarot, “watches,” usually of one week’s duration,
others were wayward. In this set of traditions, the Levites
during which they lived in the Temple complex. The Mish-
were at one point demoted, relegated to maintenance func-
nah mentions priestly officials, such as ha-segan (“the direc-
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PRIESTHOOD: CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD
tor”) and ha-memunneh (“the priest designate”), who were
the value of donations in various forms, maintaining the
in charge of specific temple functions in offices of the day.
Temple plant, and carrying out periodic inspections and pu-
Priests were supported by levies and donations to the
rifications. At times, especially in the postexilic period, but
Temple (or temples, in the earlier period) and were required
perhaps earlier as well, priests did double duty as tax collec-
to partake of sacred meals within the Temple precincts.
tors in royal outposts and later as traveling collectors.
There are indications that, especially in the postexilic period,
In the postexilic period Levites, as distinct from priests,
but perhaps earlier as well, priestly families amassed indepen-
performed nonsacral tasks in maintaining the Temple, and
dent wealth and owned large estates.
the later biblical books speak of them as gatekeepers and tem-
Priestly functions may be summarized in the following
ple singers or musicians (e.g., Neh. 7:1). This latter role is
five categories: (1) cultic functions, (2) oracular functions,
also suggested by the captions attached to many psalms, attri-
(3) therapeutic functions, (4) instructional and juridical
buting them to Levitical clans.
functions, and (5) administrative and political functions.
The various biblical traditions, including the Priestly
1. Cultic functions. The indispensable role of the priest was
traditions themselves, agree on the view that not ritual but
to officiate in the public sacrificial cult, a role for which only
rather obedience to God’s command in all things, especially
priests were fit. In addition to officiating, priests were in-
in relations “between man and man,” is the ultimate goal of
volved in the preparation of sacrificial materials and the ex-
religious life. And yet it was the priesthood that made it pos-
amination of sacrificial animals and their assignment to spe-
sible for the individual Israelite and the community as a
cific rites.
whole to experience the nearness and presence of God.
2. Oracular functions. Both early sources on priestly activity
SEE ALSO Levites; Rabbinate.
and the subsequent Priestly codification of priestly functions
lend prominence to oracular inquiry. The only permitted
type of divination was by means of casting lots to secure a
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cody, Aelred. A History of Old Testament Priesthood. Rome, 1969.
binary, or yes or no, response. Often mentioned in this con-
nection is the efod, a finely embroidered vestment with a
Gray, G. B. Sacrifice in the Old Testament. Reissued with an intro-
pouch in which the two stones called Urim and Tummim
duction by Baruch A. Levine. New York, 1971. See pages
were most likely kept (Ex. 28:6, Lv. 8:7). Although it is the
179–270.
general view that such oracular inquiry was more characteris-
Kaufman, Yehezkel. The Religion of Israel. Translated and
tic of the earlier periods, their inclusion in the Priestly codes
abridged by Moshe Greenberg. Chicago, 1956.
of law, and in certain postexilic references to priestly activity
McCross, Frank, Jr. “A Reconstruction of the Judean Restora-
suggests that their utilization persisted (Ezr. 2:63). The Urim
tion.” Journal of Biblical Literature 94 (1975): 4–18.
and Tummim could determine innocence or guilt, and lots
Milgrom, Jacob. Studies in Levitical Terminology I. Los Angeles,
are recorded in the Priestly tradition as the means for assign-
1970.
ing territories to the tribes.
Milgrom, Jacob. Studies in Levitical Terminology II. Berkeley,
3. Therapeutic functions. Leviticus 13–15 prescribes a quasi-
Calif., 1974.
medical role for the Israelite priest relevant to the treatment
New Sources
of certain skin diseases, which also appeared as blight on
Bamberger, Henry. “Aaron: Changing Perceptions.” Judaism 42
leather and cloth and on plaster-covered building stones. The
(1993): 199–213.
purificatory priest combined medical procedures such as
Fleming, Daniel E. “The Biblical Tradition of Anointing Priests.”
symptomatic diagnosis, quarantine, and observation, with
JBL 117 (1998): 401–414.
magical and sacrificial rites dealing with the threat of these
Leithart, Peter J. “Attendants of Yahweh’s House: Priesthood in
afflictions. Although nothing is said of this role elsewhere in
the Old Testament.” JSOT 85 (1999): 3–24.
the Bible, comparative evidence of similar functions in Mes-
Nurmela, Risto. The Levites: Their Emergence as a Second-class
opotamia and Egypt suggests that this was a realistic function
Priesthood. South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism,
of priests.
no. 193. Atlanta, 1998.
4. Instructional and juridical functions. The priest was
Rooke, Deborah W. Zadok’s Heirs: The Role and Development of
brought into contact with the people through his role as one
the High Priesthood in Ancient Israel. Oxford and New York,
who taught the people the torah (“instruction”), the correct
2000.
procedures in religious and legal matters. Priests usually
served as judges, and the high courts were traditionally locat-
BARUCH A. LEVINE (1987)
Revised Bibliography
ed in the Temple complex of Jerusalem at certain periods.
This was true of the Sanhedrin of Hellenistic and Roman
times. The key verb often used in characterizing this priestly
activity is the Hebrew horah (“to teach”).
PRIESTHOOD: CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD
5. Administrative and political functions. Priests managed the
The Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican Churches
business of the Temple, which involved accounting, assessing
apply the term priesthood both to the ministry of bishops and
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PRIESTHOOD: CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD
7401
presbyters and, more fundamentally, to the baptized mem-
in service of mission and community life. Nowhere in the
bers of those communions. Despite historical and theological
New Testament is there any indication of who presided at
differences among these churches, there are strong common-
the Lord’s Supper (the Eucharist, as it was later called), but
alities in the meaning and function of priesthood. To under-
in accord with general social practice of the period, it is likely
stand these commonalities and differences, it is necessary to
that the head of the household (male or female) in which the
consider the origins of Christian priesthood in its historical
community met was the host or presider at the meal.
and religious contexts, major divergences, and continuing
Over the course of the second and third centuries,
developments and controversies. Because it is the early centu-
Christian practice and writings increasingly associated the
ries that these churches have in common, they require partic-
terms priest and priesthood with ministerial office—at first
ular attention here.
that of bishop, later that of presbyter as well. Two develop-
The idea and practice of Christian priesthood in early
ments fostered this association: articulation of more formal
Christianity formed around two poles: the nascent commu-
structures of ministry within the churches, and interpreta-
nities’ understanding of themselves and of Jesus Christ in
tion of the Lord’s Supper not simply as a memorial meal but
light of the Jewish traditions of priesthood with which he
as a representation of the death of Jesus understood as a sacri-
and they were familiar. Civic and religious priesthoods in the
ficial offering to God.
Greco-Roman world were also significant features of the
Ordered ministerial offices were beginning to evolve by
contexts within which the Christian movement grew, hence
the late first or early second century, as the Pastoral Epistles
a further source of influence as Christian priesthood evolved
(1 and 2 Tm.; Ti.) witness. The qualifications and to some
in the early centuries.
extent the functions of bishops (episkopoi) and deacons
NEW TESTAMENT PERIOD. In the first century, the followers
(diakonoi) were set forth in these letters; the office of elders
of Jesus used the terminology and imagery of the Hebrew
or presbyters (presbyteroi) received briefer mention. The dis-
Bible to interpret his ministry, death, and resurrection, see-
tinction between bishops and presbyters-elders was not well
ing in him the high priest (archiereus) who offers sacrifice for
defined, but the bishop may have been a senior member or
the sins of the people. But in Jesus they also saw the perfect-
leader among the elders; the deacon served the bishop and
ing or completion of priesthood and sacrifice, one who inter-
was his representative in the church community. Over the
cedes eternally for them at God’s right hand (Heb. 5:1–10;
course of the second century, these offices became more
6:23–28; 10:10–12). Early Christians understood them-
firmly established and the distinctive functions of bishops
selves in terms of the Israelites chosen and covenanted as a
and presbyters more clearly defined.
priestly people (Ex. 19:5-6), now constituted as a holy priest-
hood and God’s own people (1Pt. 2:5, 9-10; Rv. 1:6; 5:10;
The bishop served as leader of a local church, which was
20:6). The two concepts are so closely intertwined that it is
more like a parish in these early centuries than a diocese, and
difficult to assign temporal or logical priority to either one.
by the end of the second century he was the regular presider
Over time the focus would come to be fixed on the priest-
at the Eucharist. In large cities where there were multiple
hood of Jesus Christ and his ministers. Starting in the latter
churches, and for outlying churches and rural areas, the bish-
part of the twentieth century, largely as the result of growing
op would delegate the role of presider to presbyters. By the
consensus in biblical studies and ecumenical dialogue, the
early third century, the threefold structure of ministry was
priesthood of all the Christian people has garnered renewed
widespread among the churches. The offices were restricted
attention and importance in churches that regard their bish-
to men, thus narrowing the ministerial roles of women to
ops and presbyters as priests.
widows, who engaged in a ministry of prayer, and deaconess-
es, who exercised a liturgical ministry chiefly in regard to the
Differences over priesthood, temple sacrifice, and com-
baptism of woman, and increasingly marginalizing their
munal identity moved from an intra-Jewish question to a site
leadership.
of conflict between Christians (including now Gentile Chris-
Second and third centuries. The so-called First Letter
tians) and Jews by the end of the first century CE. Christian
of Clement (written from the Roman church, c. 96) compares
literature of the early second century reflects the growing es-
in a general way the ministers of the church to the high
trangement between these two groups; the so-called Letter of
priest, priests, and Levites of Israel. Around 200 in Carthage,
Barnabas is notable for its appropriation of identity as the
Tertullian applied the term sacerdos (priest) to bishops, only
spiritual temple and God’s new Israel at the same time as it
once using the term high priest (summus sacerdos) for them.
excoriates the priesthood and cult of Judaism (13–16).
Third-century texts known as church orders—the Apostolic
The New Testament does not apply the term priest to
Tradition (c. 212) ascribed to Hippolytus of Rome and the
any Christian ministry or function other than the role it as-
Didascalia (or Teachings of the Apostles) from Syria or Pales-
cribes to Jesus Christ as eternal high priest. Paul, however,
tine (c. 230)—are more specific about the analogy. The Apos-
does use the metaphor of “priestly service” (Rom. 15:16) to
tolic Tradition designates the bishop as presider at the Eucha-
describe his preaching of the gospel but does not expound
rist. The ordination prayer names him as high priest,
on its meaning. Leadership roles, offices or ministries, and
propitiating God by his ministry and his offering of the
an array of charismatic gifts were exercised by many believers
church’s gifts to God (I.iii); presbyters are compared to the
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7402
PRIESTHOOD: CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD
elders chosen by Moses (I.viii). The Didascalia requires that
tom, the “golden-mouthed” preacher and later bishop of
the bishop, like the levitical priests, be unblemished in body
Constantinople (r. 398–404), gives fullest expression to these
and conduct (IV). He is due the first offerings of the commu-
developments in his treatise On Priesthood (c. 386), written
nity because he is priest, prophet, king, and mediator for the
as an apologia for declining priestly ordination. Chrysostom
people, imitating Christ in bearing their sins (VIII). The use
describes the burdens of pastoral care (II), preaching (IV.12),
of priestly language remains largely metaphorical, however,
and teaching (V.13) and highlights the immense honor that
and Christian priesthood never became a hereditary office re-
attends the priest (bishop) who calls down the Holy Spirit,
stricted to specific families, as it did in ancient Israel.
making present the body and blood of Jesus Christ at the eu-
charistic sacrifice (III.7). He repeatedly takes issue with those
Supported by these developments, a theology of priest-
who seek episcopal office as a means of self-promotion (III.7,
hood, Eucharist, and sacrifice began to take form in the third
9), a concern that reflects the changed status of the church
century, particularly in the West. Cyprian, bishop of Car-
and suggests that Christian priesthood had assumed the po-
thage (c. 248–258), articulated this emerging nexus for the
litical prestige of the old Roman priesthoods.
Latin churches. He considers Melchizedek a figure of Jesus
Christ and the eucharistic bread and wine a sacrifice (Eph.
By recognizing bishops and priests as a legal and social
63.4–5) offered by the priest (bishop). By association, pres-
class, Constantine had incorporated them into the political
byters share in the priestly role of the bishop (Ep.61.3; 72.2).
structures of the empire in which those holding public offices
Augustine, bishop of Hippo (396–430), used the term sacer-
constituted distinct ranks or orders (ordines). The process of
dos for bishops and presbyters, but was sparing in its applica-
assimilation increased when Constantine granted bishops ju-
tion in order to emphasize the unique priesthood of Jesus
dicial powers to hear civil cases. Use of the political term ordo
Christ, which the ministry of bishops and priests serves. His
for priestly office reached back to Tertullian and Cyprian in
caution was intended to counter Donatist schismatics who
the West, but its significance increased as the Christian
held that sacramental efficacy depended on the worthiness
church took its place solidly within the social and political
of the minister. Augustine regarded Jesus’ death and the Eu-
life of the Roman Empire. The distinction between clergy
charist as sacrificial, contrasting Christian spiritual sacrifice
(those in the priestly ordo) and laity (laici, plebs) arose clearly
with the ineffective material sacrifices of pagan cult (City of
in the third century; distance between the two widened con-
God X.5, 6). But he also had a strong conception of the
siderably in the fourth and continued to increase in subse-
priesthood of the Christian people, the church (City of God
quent centuries.
XVII.5). In the East, the language of sacrifice was applied to
L
the Eucharist and priesthood but was modulated somewhat
ATER DEVELOPMENTS AND DIFFERENCES. The decline of
the Roman Empire in the West in the fifth century and its
by an emphasis on overcoming sin and death rather than a
gradual retraction in the East served to solidify the ecclesiasti-
preoccupation with propitiating God (as in Origen, Athana-
cal and political status of Christian priesthood. Institutional
sius, Cyril of Alexandria).
structures once derived from their Roman historical context
Constantinian era. With the growing interest of Em-
acquired a kind of ontological status when incorporated into
peror Constantine (r. 306–337) in Christianity after his sur-
the platonic thought-world of late antiquity. Pseudo-
prise victory at the Milvian Bridge in 312, the church entered
Dionysius the Areopagite (sixth century, Syria) crystallized
a new era of toleration that allowed for expansion of mem-
this process in his treatises, the Celestial Hierarchy and the
bership and a rapid rise in its social and political status that
Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, which saw church structures as re-
culminated in its establishment as the religion of the Roman
flecting and participating in the eternal structures of the an-
Empire during the reign of Theodosius I (r. 379–395). Prior
gelic hierarchies in heaven. Within the hierarchy of the
to the fourth century, the practice and conception of Chris-
church there were two orders: the clerical hierarchy and the
tian priesthood had evolved largely in relation to the levitical
lay hierarchy. The picture of intricately ordered and inter-
priesthood of the Hebrew Bible. Given the shifts set in mo-
locking hierarchies was influential in later medieval social
tion by Constantine, subsequent developments in Christian
and political thought.
priesthood inevitably referred to and drew on Roman civic
and religious priesthoods as well as the ceremony of the im-
Medieval period. The economic and political struc-
perial court.
tures of feudalism that developed in the West from 500 to
800 were likewise hierarchical and congenial to the kind of
As imperial largesse transformed the church’s major
church order envisioned by Pseudo-Dionysius. Theological
public spaces in Rome, Constantinople, and Jerusalem, the
developments in this period furthered a conception of priest-
scale and style of Christian liturgy changed to meet the gran-
hood as hierarchical and sacral, rooted in the priesthood of
deur of these new environments. The use of incense, candles,
Christ (e.g., Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III.q.22),
processions, and vestments reflected imperial ceremony, cre-
and removed from the masses of laity. Scholastic theologians
ating an atmosphere of awe from the subtle overlay of divine
articulated a sacramental theology that defined clerical ordi-
and imperial presence. As presider at the eucharistic liturgy
nation as the sacrament of orders. For bishops and priests,
in its newly enlarged form, the bishop (and, by extension,
the sacrament of orders was understood to confer an indel-
his presbyters) began to acquire a sacral aura. John Chrysos-
ible character on the recipient, conveying to him the spiritual
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PRIESTHOOD: CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD
7403
capacity for ministry, especially for administering the sacra-
Luther’s conception of church, sacraments, and ministry was
ments (e.g., ST III. q. 63, on sacramental character and par-
formulated as a critique of medieval Catholicism, he never-
ticipation in Christ’s priesthood; III. q. 83, a. 4, on the
theless maintained the importance of an ordained (ordered)
priest’s consecratory role in the Eucharist). Episcopal ordina-
ministry and the evangelical practice of the two sacraments
tion also conferred the authority of jurisdiction (e.g., ST,
of Christian faith, baptism and Eucharist. Equally impor-
Suppl., q. I, aa. 5,7). Focus on the Eucharist as the central
tant, however, was his rediscovery of the New Testament un-
cultic work of the priest, who acted in the person of Christ
derstanding of the priesthood of the whole Christian body,
(in persona Christi), further sacralized the understanding and
taken now as the priesthood of all believers. All baptized
practice of priesthood. Concentration on the real presence
Christians, not simply the ordained, participate in the priest-
of Christ in the Eucharist and formulation of a philosophi-
hood and kingship of Christ (On the Freedom of a Christian,
cal-theological explanation of the nature and causality of that
1520).
presence (transubstantiation, as defined at the Fourth Later-
an Council, 1215) reinforced the sense of cultic awe attach-
John Calvin, too, held that the preaching of the gospel
ing to priesthood and sacrament. Devotions to the Blessed
was the heart of ordained ministry and that priesthood be-
Sacrament, adored but not received, increased the distance
longed to Christ alone (Institutes of the Christian Religion
and deference granted to priesthood.
IV.19). He further developed an understanding of the three-
fold offices of Christ as prophet, priest, and king, and the
Serious efforts to require and enforce celibacy of the
participation of all believers in his priesthood (Institutes
clergy in the West date to the wide-ranging reform program
II.15). Calvin rejected as well the theology of eucharistic sac-
of Pope Gregory VII (r. 1073–1085). The local Spanish
rifice and any sort of material presence of Christ in the Eu-
synod of Elvira (c. 306) had directed bishops, priests, and
charist, but held a strong doctrine of real spiritual presence
deacons to observe marital continence, and the first ecumeni-
(Institutes IV.17-18). Ulrich Zwingli agreed with Luther and
cal Council of Nicaea (306) had forbidden marriage after or-
Calvin in recognizing that Jesus Christ was the only Chris-
dination to the diaconate, but neither had lasting effect. In
tian priest. He also rejected a sacramental or sacrificial inter-
both the Greek and Latin churches, the promotion of clerical
pretation of the Eucharist, but in sharp contrast with Luther
celibacy owed much to the influence of the ascetic-monastic
or Calvin he rejected any notion of eucharistic presence of
movement that predated Constantine and spread rapidly
Christ and taught that the Eucharist was simply a memorial
during the fourth century as the church became increasingly
observance (On the Lord’s Supper).
acculturated. The metaphor of eucharistic sacrifice was taken
more literally as arguments for clerical celibacy appealed to
The so-called middle way (via media) taken by the En-
levitical laws of ritual purity.
glish reformation and brought to a settlement by Elizabeth
I (1558-1603) charted a broad course between continental
Marriage and concubinage of the clergy were common
Protestantism as represented particularly by Calvin on the
in the West through the Middle Ages, even after the Gregori-
one hand, and Roman Catholicism on the other. Successive
an reforms and the imposition of celibacy as a requirement
editions of the Book of Common Prayer reflected these and
for ordination at the First Lateran Council in 1123. In the
other influences as it became the norm for the “one use”
East the practice of requiring celibacy of bishops but not of
throughout the English church (“Of Ceremonies,” 1559
priests had become the norm, with the result that most bish-
BCP). The sixteenth-century English reformers largely re-
ops were drawn from the ranks of monks. Weekly eucharistic
jected the idea of eucharistic sacrifice and a clerical priest-
services (rather than the Western practice of daily masses)
hood that served the altar. They affirmed the common
made it possible for priests to observe ritual purity without
priesthood of all Christians. Unlike their continental coun-
having to be celibate. Differences over clerical celibacy were
terparts, they retained the offices of bishop, priest (presby-
one factor in the increasing estrangement of the Latin and
ter), and deacon, but did not define these offices with any
Greek churches in this period. Both the requirement of celi-
specificity. The ordination services were included in Arch-
bacy and the failures in its observance added fuel to the grow-
bishop Thomas Cranmer’s 1552 prayer book and retained
ing calls for reform of the Western church’s life and teaching
in later editions; more radically Puritan or presbyterian un-
from the thirteenth century onward.
derstandings were excluded in the 1662 book published after
Reformation period. Integral to Martin Luther’s cri-
the restoration of the monarchy and the episcopacy. Eliza-
tique of the Catholic sacramental system and its abuses was
beth’s religious policy of “comprehension” (to include within
a rejection of the theology of transubstantiation and eucha-
the English church a broad middle range of perspectives) had
ristic sacrifice, as well as of the notion of priesthood that ac-
set a course that allowed for considerable diversity of inter-
companied it (The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, 1520).
pretation and practice in the Anglican communion during
Luther held that the only Christian priest was Jesus Christ.
subsequent centuries. In regard to priesthood and related
The minister does not represent Christ in a way different
matters, the resulting spectrum of positions encompassed the
from other believers; every Christian is to be an alter Christus
language of both priesthood and ministry, sacrifice and me-
(another Christ) to his or her neighbor. The central task of
morial, transubstantiation and spiritual presence, as well as
Christian ministry is the preaching of the Word. Although
a wide variety of liturgical sensibilities and styles.
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
7404
PRIESTHOOD: CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD
In response to the Protestant reformers and by way of
thodox Churches, both of which restrict priestly ordination
its own internal process of reform, the Council of Trent
to men and consider women’s ordination a serious impedi-
(1545–1563) pursued a dual agenda of doctrinal decrees and
ment to ecumenical progress. The Roman Catholic Church
pastoral reforms. Doctrinally the council did nothing new,
explicitly condemns homosexuality as intrinsically disor-
reasserting traditional Catholic positions regarding priest-
dered, while the Orthodox churches have objected vigorous-
hood, Eucharist, and sacrifice (Decree on the Sacrifice of the
ly to the new Episcopal bishop’s election and consecration.
Mass; Decree on the Sacrament of Order; Decree on the Eucha-
The chief arguments advanced against ordaining women to
rist). In particular it affirmed transubstantiation, the Eucha-
the priesthood are that tradition does not permit it and that
rist as sacrifice, the priest acting in persona Christi, and the
the essence of priesthood makes it impossible: Jesus was male
indelible sacramental character of ordination that distin-
and chose only males to be his apostles (understood as the
guished the ordained from the laity. In the area of pastoral
first ordained priests or bishops); the priest acts in persona
reforms, the council required that bishops be resident in their
Christi (Roman Catholics) and is an icon of Christ (Ortho-
dioceses and priests in their parishes, reaffirmed the necessity
dox), but women cannot represent Christ in their bodies.
of clerical celibacy, and returned preaching to the center of
Within the Roman Catholic Church, a movement for
the bishop’s pastoral responsibilities.
women’s ordination to the priesthood has been growing
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES. Matters related to the theology and
since the late 1970s, particularly in the United States and Eu-
practice of priesthood in the early twenty-first century can
rope. Several Vatican documents since 1977 have reiterated
be noted briefly in three categories: ecumenical and liturgical
the prohibition of women’s ordination, including a 1995
developments; matters of gender and sexuality; and the
statement that declared the question closed. Nevertheless,
growing importance of lay ministry.
the discussion continues. Within the Orthodox churches,
too, there is a movement to permit ordination to the diaco-
The liturgical movement of the twentieth century drew
nate for women, with proponents pointing to the history of
attention back to sources from the early church, finding in
deaconesses in these churches. Addressing these questions of
these texts common principles for liturgical renewal in the
gender and sexuality increases pressure in the Roman Catho-
Western churches, especially the Anglican, Roman Catholic,
lic Church to reexamine the requirement of clerical celibacy,
and Lutheran. The entrance of the Roman Catholic Church
a matter explicitly debated since Vatican II and made more
into the ecumenical arena after the Second Vatican Council
urgent by the shortage of priests in western Europe and
(1963–1965) and the rapid growth of bilateral ecumenical
North America.
dialogues furthered common study of divisive issues sur-
rounding ministry and sacraments. Agreed statements from
Finally, in each of these churches there is ongoing
these dialogues and the World Council of Churches’ 1982
growth of involvement in many kinds of lay ministry, both
document, Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, are pointing the
professional and volunteer, formal and informal. This move-
way toward mutual recognition of ministry, members, and
ment is related to a renewed appreciation of the common
sacraments. At the same time, contemporary biblical scholar-
ministry of all Christians that is rooted in the priesthood of
ship has contributed to a growing consensus on the origins
Christ and the sacrament of baptism. As it continues to grow
of church and ministry.
and mature, lay ministry will gradually reshape the theology
and practice of ordained ministry and priesthood.
Issues related to gender and sexuality in connection with
ordained ministry and priesthood have become a critical
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allowed each to employ three assistants for a total of sixteen,
Church: Its History and Theology. New York, 1993.
occasionally seventeen if an additional priest was required.
Power, David N. The Sacrifice We Offer: The Tridentine Dogma
Just as the R:gveda was the manual from which the hotr: recit-
and Its Reinterpretation. New York, 1986.
ed, so the three subsidiary Samhitas eventually came to be
Sabourin, Leopold. Priesthood: A Comparative Study. Leiden,
specific texts for the other principal r:tvij and their assistants,
1973.
the adhvaryu instructing and proclaiming from the Yajurve-
The Sacrament of Holy Orders: Some Papers and Discussions concern-
da, the udga¯tr: and his acolytes singing as a quartet from the
ing Holy Orders at a Session of the Centre de Pastoral Litur-
Sa¯maveda, and the brahmán serving as proctor or monitor
gique, 1955. Collegeville, Minn., 1962.
for the rituals, silently observing and listening for errors in
FRANCINE CARDMAN (2005)
need of expiation, his relationship to the Atharvaveda being
only nominal because his training necessarily included cover-
age of all three primary Vedas. R:gveda 10.71.11 alludes to
PRIESTHOOD: HINDU PRIESTHOOD
the tasks of the four major priests, that of the brahmán being
Hindu priesthood has its origins primarily in the Vedic reli-
the relating of knowledge (vidya¯), a significant clue to the na-
gion, in which the primary focus was the ritual tradition. The
ture of this important figure who, as transcendent fourth,
Indo-Aryan-speaking invaders of northwestern India in the
represents the totality of priesthood. As brahmán (masculine)
middle and late second millennium BCE were apparently di-
he is one who knows bráhman (neuter), the cosmic word in
vided into a threefold hierarchy of social classes with religious
poetic formula. He “knows” and applies to the human world
as well as economic functions, the priestly class being upper-
this vidya¯ of cosmic correspondences, his efforts being simul-
most and distinct from the warrior, and both of these rela-
taneously ritual, speculative, intuitive, even magical. The
tively small echelons ranking above the masses, the pastoral,
bráhman as cosmic revelation is thus the sacred responsibility
artisan, and agricultural producers. Kings and chieftains were
of the brahmán priest, and by extension, of the entire social
evidently drawn from the warrior tradition, but the function
class (varn:a) of bra¯hman:as.
of sovereignty itself involved divine-human relationships
perceived as sacrificial exchanges and therefore the sacred
In the early centuries of the first millennium BCE, Vedic
work (karman) of an elite priesthood, whose members came
civilization expanded across North India, and sacerdotal lit-
from the priestly social class (bra¯hman:a). That this sacerdotal
erature explored new genres beyond the four Vedic Samhitas,
elite was diversified according to long tradition, being re-
including Bra¯hman:as, or theological and ritual discourses,
sponsible not only for a wide range of cultic functions but
and su¯tras, treatises for both levels of rituals, the great public
also for the composition and preservation of the sacred tradi-
(´srauta) ceremonies requiring three fires and a staff of priests,
tions of oral poetry, is documented from comparative study
and the domestic (gr:hya) ceremonies dependent upon a sin-
of the R:gveda, the oldest of the Vedic texts, composed c.
gle fire and priest. There developed an interactive system of
1200 BCE, and the Avesta of ancient Iran. Similarities in the
schools (´sa¯kha¯s) to safeguard and transmit oral traditions,
functions not only of Vedic brahmans and Iranian magi but
each linked to one of the Vedas just as priests claimed descent
also of Celtic druids and Roman flamens have led some
from one of the traditional seven r:s:is. Partly competitive but
scholars to discuss a proto-Indo-European priestly tradition.
largely cooperative, these schools produced a specialized,
In the absence of interpretable literary records from the
highly skilled priesthood that was eventually to be found
Indus Valley, it remains undetermined what contribution a
throughout the Indian subcontinent, and fragments of
hypothetical Harappan priesthood may have made to subse-
which exist in marginal areas, particularly in South India,
quent South Asian religions.
still today. Prayogas and paddhatis developed as combinative
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
7406
PRIESTHOOD: HINDU PRIESTHOOD
handbooks for specific rituals, as, for example, in detailing
shrines and cult phenomena, and more likely than their
the procedures for the morning and evening milk-offering
brahman counterparts to be concerned with village bounda-
known as the Agnihotra, or for funerary and ancestral rites.
ry, hero and goddess cults, spirit possession, exorcism, divi-
nation, healing, sorcery, astrology, and shamanic calls to of-
In ancient and classical India the sacrificer (yajama¯na),
fice. Villages afforded priestly roles within virtually every
belonging to any one of the three high varn:as, engaged one
caste or even subcaste. Temples in urban areas displayed wide
or more priests for the performance of his rites. His family
latitude in the range of priests, including (to cite one elev-
priest was the purohita, an office known already in the
enth-century example) some fifty priests among a staff of
R:gveda. The purohita’s spiritual guidance as guru or a¯ca¯rya
hundreds, all ranked in office and salary from the brahman
came to be regarded as highly as his textual skill as ´srotriya
pandita down through lesser priests appointed to serve aco-
or his ritual expertise for life-cycle rites (sam:ska¯ras). The
lyte deities in the temple or perform animal sacrifices, and
purohita linked to a king could become a powerful state fig-
even listing as part-time priests specialists in the R:gveda,
ure, as illustrated by Kaut:ilya, court chaplain to the emperor
Sa¯maveda, and Yajurveda.
Candragupta Maurya (late fourth century BCE) and author
of the influential political treatise known as the Artha´sa¯stra.
Hindu priesthood in the twentieth century retains many
features of the past, including the hereditary jajma¯ni rela-
HINDU PRIESTHOOD FROM THE CLASSICAL TO THE MOD-
tionship, the location of brahman priestly subcastes near the
ERN PERIOD. From the middle of the first millennium BCE,
top of the ja¯ti hierarchy (although, interestingly, not as high
the Vedic sacrificial structure and its priestly custodians had
as most nonpriestly brahman subcastes), a strong emphasis
faced competition from renunciant movements (including
on purity and consecrated ritual status, a hierarchical organi-
the Jains and Buddhists), Upanis:adic speculation, and yogic
zation as well as a sectarian one, and a bewildering range of
techniques, all dispensing with or “interiorizing” the sacri-
specialization from every caste group, from the incongruous-
fice. Then emergent Hindu theistic movements promoted
ly high-caste but low-ranking brahman funeral priest of
devotion (bhakti) and worship (pu¯ja¯) above yajña, the Vedic
North India (the maha¯pa¯tra) to the low-caste barber who
sacrifice. The great ´srauta system enjoyed a revival in the
performs the same function in parts of South India, to the
classical Gupta period, but began to disappear as an institu-
priests from a wide range of brahman and nonbrahman
tion after the fifth century CE, while the Vedic domestic ritu-
castes who frequent the great holy centers and engage as pa-
al system was absorbed into Hindu faith and practice, as in-
trons the incoming pilgrims. The village or urban brahman
deed was its priesthood; the brahmans were now divided into
purohita and his nonbrahman counterpart may find them-
temple officiants in villages, towns, and cities, or linked as
selves jacks-of-all-trades, called upon to recite mantras, per-
purohitas in traditional hereditary exchanges of services with
form or advise on life-cycle rites, inaugurate a new house,
twice-born classes, known as the jajma¯ni relationship (in the
provide horoscopes, sanction marital arrangements, advise
vernacular, from Vedic yajama¯na, “sacrificer-patron”). In-
on illnesses, counteract the evil eye, arbitrate disputes, per-
creasingly, brahman priests found themselves to be one cate-
form accounting, or administer the age-old ritual attentions
gory among specialists of the sacred as “Hinduism” slowly
to the images in the household shrine. The urban brahman
broadened its base to accommodate virtually every religious
priest of a famous Vais:n:ava or S´aiva temple, like the non-
expression of the multicultural subcontinent. Still the most
brahman pu¯ja¯ri of the crudest roadside rock shrine, will find
versatile of priests by virtue of their paramount social posi-
his role more circumscribed than that of the domestic priest,
tion and range of linkages across classes and caste groups
yet still fixed in the same office of mediation between the
(ja¯tis), brahmans nevertheless gave significantly more space
human and divine worlds.
to nonbrahman religious specialists, who doubtless had long
been part and parcel of religious life but had been accorded
SEE ALSO Brahman; Druids; Flamen; Magi; Vedism and
neither prominence nor legitimation in Vedic and Sanskrit
Brahmanism.
Brahmanic literatures.
By the early medieval period the “priesthood” of Hin-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
duism could be said to have included at least three distinct
There is no detailed study of the Vedic priesthood and its history.
groups, each with its own interior hierarchy: a remnant of
Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, 2 vols., edited by Frits
Vedic brahmans (Vaidikas) whose textual and ritual locus re-
Staal (Berkeley, Calif., 1983), presents the ´srauta staff of
mained one or another Vedic school; a larger segment of
priests in the context of the Agnicayana ritual (vol. 1,
brahmans whose textual and ritual base was not the Vedas
pp. 40–54); numerous color plates from the 1975 Kerala
but largely the Sanskrit epics, Pura¯n:as, and A¯gamas, and
Agnicayana and an excellent bibliography make this an indis-
pensable work. Volume 2 contains a catalog of living and re-
whose recourse was increasingly toward regional vernacular
cently deceased Vedic sacrificers with brief regional histories,
renditions of these in Tamil, Konkani, Bengali, Hindi, and
“S´rauta Traditions of Recent Times,” compiled by C. G.
so forth; and a far larger representation of nontextual priests,
Kashikar and Asko Parpola (pp. 199–251). The Indo-Iranian
unlettered but not unlearned, drawn largely but not exclu-
background to Vedic priesthood is summarized by Bruce
sively from the lower castes and marginally Hindu tribal peo-
Lincoln in his Priests, Warriors and Cattle (Berkeley, Calif.,
ples, connected with an inexhaustible variety of localized
1981); see especially pages 60–63, with references. Henk W.
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
PRIESTHOOD: BUDDHIST PRIESTHOOD
7407
Bodewitz’s “The Fourth Priest (the Brahmán) in Vedic Ritu-
vocabularies of most Buddhist peoples. In Tibet, Buddhist
al,” in Selected Studies on Ritual in Indian Religions: Essays to
holy men are known as blamas, while local priests involved
D. J. Hoens, edited by Ria Kloppenborg (Leiden, 1983), has
in the manipulation of occult powers are known as Bonpos,
summarized and contributed to interpretations of the fourth
or adherents of the indigenous Bon religion. In Sri Lanka,
´srauta priest. An innovative and influential discussion of the
kapuralas (priests) officiate at devalayas (shrines to gods)
relationship among Vedic priests, their sacrificer patrons,
where they chant their yatika (entreaties) to the devas (gods)
and renunciation is Jan C. Heesterman’s “Brahmin, Ritual
on behalf of lay petitioners. This practice is in contrast to
and Renouncer,” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Süd- und
Ostasiens 8 (1964): 1–31. Still useful for both Vedic and later
that of Buddhist bhikkhus (monks), who formally do not be-
Hindu priesthood is the overview by Arthur Berriedale
come involved with the supernatural powers attributed to
Keith, “Priest, Priesthood (Hindu),” in the Encyclopaedia of
deities.
Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 10 (Edin-
Thus, in virtually every Buddhist culture, Buddhist holy
burgh, 1918).
men have been more clearly associated with the cultivation
The best single book on Hindu temple priests is the field study
of spiritual qualities within than with the orchestration of di-
by C. J. Fuller, Servants of the Goddess: The Priests of a South
vine powers operative at various levels of the external cosmos.
Indian Temple (New York, 1984), with details on the hierar-
chy of priests in the M¯ına¯ks:¯ı temple of Madurai, Tamil
Indeed, the Sanskrit and Pali terms used for Buddhist clerics
Nadu. L. P. Vidya¯rthi, B. N. Saraswati, and Makhan Jha’s
are, respectively, bhiks:u and bhikkhu, which literally mean
The Sacred Complex of Kashi (Delhi, 1979) includes a dozen
“beggar” or “mendicant,” and do not connote a priestly role
types of sacred specialists active in Banaras. Among the best
as such.
anthropological field studies to include sustained and in-
ORIGIN OF MINISTERIAL ASPECTS OF BUDDHIST PRIEST-
formed discussion of priestly activities in villages are Law-
rence A. Babb’s The Divine Hierarchy: Popular Hinduism in
HOOD. In early Buddhist literature, however, the Buddha is
Central India (New York, 1975), especially chapter 6, a com-
depicted as a compassionate teacher who foresaw the need
parative study of brahman priests and the baiga (nonbrah-
for a priestly or ministerial dimension of Buddhist mendi-
man priest-exorcist) of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh; and
cancy. While this priestly dimension was not expressed
David F. Pocock’s Mind, Body and Wealth (Totowa, N.J.,
through the clerical performance of rites, it is nevertheless ev-
1973), especially chapter 3 on goddess cults in central Guja-
ident in the Buddha’s injunctions to “wander for the benefit
rat, in which the bhuvo (nonbrahman priest) is possessed by
of the many,” to become a “field of merit” (pun:yaksetra) for
a particular ma¯ta¯, or goddess.
the laity, and to preach dharma (law, order, truth) to those
DAVID M. KNIPE (1987)
seeking understanding. When these injunctions are under-
stood in relation to the altruistic ethic of da¯na (the perfection
of giving) and the metaphysical centrality of ana¯tman (non-
PRIESTHOOD: BUDDHIST PRIESTHOOD
self, selflessness), the basis for a mediating priestly role of ser-
The English word priest is frequently used by both Buddhists
vice within the context of the Buddhist religious vocation be-
and non-Buddhists alike to refer to the Buddhist holy men
comes evident.
of various Asian cultures. The use of the term is due more
The priestly dimension of the Buddhist religious voca-
to the concomitant presence of Roman Catholic priests in
tion assumed greater degrees of importance and specificity
Asia during the early periods of colonial history than to Bud-
as the tradition spread beyond India to East and Southeast
dhistic understandings of the religious vocation per se.
Asia. In the process of acculturation, Buddhist holy men ac-
Normatively, Buddhist holy men are fundamentally
tually assumed many of the responsibilities and functions of
more concerned with cultivating wisdom (prajña¯), mental
ritual specialists indigenous to those areas. Today, it is not
concentration (sama¯dhi), and ethical virtue (´s¯ıla) in pursuit
uncommon to find Buddhist holy men in Tibet who are ex-
of personal spiritual attainment than with the performance
perts in exorcism, or monks in Sri Lanka who are highly pro-
of mediating ritual acts for the religious or material bene-
ficient in astrology, or Buddhists in China who played roles
fit of the laity. Moreover, it is clear from studies of the early
similar to Daoist priests in performing funeral rites for the
Buddhist scriptures that early Buddhism was originally an-
dead. In both Therava¯da (Way of the Elders) and Maha¯ya¯na
tagonistic to the performance of rites as a means for spiritual
(Great Vehicle) traditions, Buddhist holy men have become
advancement. In one su¯tra (Sam:yuttanika¯ya, 4.218–220), for
ritual specialists who serve the laity through popular ritual
example, the Buddha ridicules ritualistic practices of Brah-
practices whenever specific needs arise. They also minister to
man priests who, by the recitation of mantras (magical incan-
the needs of the laity in nonritualized ways.
tations), believe that they are assisting the dead by empower-
THE BUDDHIST PRIEST IN CHINA, JAPAN, AND THE
ing their progress through a heavenly afterlife sojourn. In
THERAVA¯DA COUNTRIES. Chinese religion has been charac-
contrast to this practice, the Buddha specifically identifies
terized from ancient times to the present by an exceedingly
the power of performing moral actions in this lifetime to de-
deep reverence for ancestors. It is the duty of the living to
termine the quality of life in the next.
remember and venerate their deceased kin. In light of the fact
Furthermore, clear distinctions between Buddhist holy
that renunciation of social and family ties is incumbent upon
men and priestly ritual specialists are found in the religious
Buddhist holy men, Buddhism came under severe criticism,
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
7408
PRIESTHOOD: BUDDHIST PRIESTHOOD
especially from Confucian quarters, during its early history
The basic religious reason for the continued care of the
in China. To mollify critical Chinese, Buddhists quite con-
departed is rooted in the fundamental concept of karmic ret-
sciously popularized the legend of Mulien (Maudgalya¯yana),
ribution and rebirth. In traditional Buddhist cultures, the ul-
one of the Buddha’s closest disciples, who, according to tra-
timate path to nirva¯n:a is one that spans many lifetimes, and
dition, dramatically and heroically attempted to save his de-
it is incumbent upon family members to assist their departed
ceased mother, who had been reborn in hell due to her inad-
kin in progressing to this ultimate goal. The specific role of
vertent consumption of meat. Buddhist apologists stressed
the Buddhist monk in these rites is pivotal. On the one hand,
that Mulien endured many forms of torture and in the pro-
his presence constitutes a worthy object for the performance
cess suffered vicariously for his mother in a variety of misera-
of meritorious actions, inasmuch as he symbolizes the virtues
ble hells. At the moment of his greatest need, however, he
of the Buddha, the dharma, and the sam:gha (or sangha; the
was succored by the Buddha, who announced the happy
Buddhist order). On the other hand, his sermons invariably
news that his mother could be saved if a body of monks
focus on the central reality for Buddhists that all conditioned
would come together and perform a mass for her soul. This
life in sam:sa¯ra (repeated cycles of birth, suffering, and death)
legend became the basis for the widespread practice of Bud-
is temporary, subject to change, and compounded; that
dhist monks offering masses for the dead of their lay sup-
whatever is subject to uprising is also subject to decay and
porters.
whatever is subject to birth is also subject to death. It is the
monk’s calling to make known this message.
These masses were also popularized by disseminating
the mythologies of two bodhisattvas (enlightened ones):
Aside from rites pertaining to the dead, the most evident
Ks:itigarbha (Chin., Dizang; Jpn., Jizo¯), who vowed to delay
priestly role in the lives of Therava¯da Buddhist monks in-
his own entry into nirva¯n:a until he saved all suffering souls
volves the performance of paritta, the chanting of specially
dwelling in the many hells; and Avalokite´svara (Chin.,
selected Buddhist suttas in Pali, which when recited are be-
Guanyin; Jpn., Kannon), who wandered through the hells
lieved to be infused with protective sacral power. The chant-
of the damned preaching dharma for their eternal benefit.
ing of these suttas usually lasts for the duration of a night but
Masses for the dead were held to transfer to Ks:itigarbha the
in some cases may last for as long as a week or a month, de-
positive karmic power derived from sacrificial and moral ac-
pending upon the specific purpose. The chanting is per-
tions in order to assist him in his salvific endeavors, and/or
formed by a number of monks seated under a mandapa, a
to call upon Avalokite´svara to bring the suffering of the
specially constructed canopy. During the chants each monk
damned to an end.
holds a sacred thread that has been placed in a water vessel.
The specific texts are believed to be buddhavacana (words of
In modern Japan, the chanting of scriptures on behalf
the Buddha), and chanting them therefore charges the sacred
of the dead remains one of the preeminent responsibilities
thread with power that protects and sanctifies one and that
of the Buddhist holy man. In this manner, Buddhist clerics
cultivates prosperity and peace. At the conclusion of the
share priestly duties regarding primary rites of passage with
chanting the thread is tied around the wrists of all who are
Shinto¯ priests, who are generally called upon to officiate at
present, monks and laity alike, an action symbolizing the dis-
birth or naming ceremonies and weddings. When priestly
tribution of sacral power.
duties are seen in this fashion, it is apparent that Buddhist
clerics share a complementary role with priests of other reli-
Paritta ceremonies may be held on any occasion that
gious traditions. In Japan, the ritual responsibility of caring
signifies a new beginning or that needs to be considered aus-
for the dead has fallen to Buddhist clerics, while their Shinto¯
picious. In Sri Lanka, the chanting of pirit precedes the open-
counterparts ritually assist the living during occasions of so-
ing of parliament, the building of personal residences, cam-
cial transition.
paigns for an end to political strife, or the Kat:hina ceremony,
in which new robes are given to members of the sam:gha (a
The ritual care of the dead also forms an important part
monastic Buddhist community) at the end of the vassa, the
of the priestly role of Buddhist monks in the Therava¯da
rain-retreat season. Studies of paritta indicate that its chief
countries of Burma, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. Following the
purpose is to establish conditions under which the individu-
death of kin, families assemble for commemoration rites on
al, family, village, or state can carry out required duties favor-
the seventh day, after three months, and after one year. At
ably. Of all the priestly roles performed by Buddhist monks,
these times monks are invited by the family to receive alms
the chanting of paritta best epitomizes sacerdotal responsibil-
(dan:a), to preach (ban:a), or to chant sacred scriptures (Pali,
ities, for it is within this ritual context that the monk most
paritta; Sinh., pirit). Karmic merit derived from these reli-
dramatically performs the task of mediating sacred power. By
gious acts is then transferred to the departed. The subsequent
articulating the words of the Buddha through chant, he mag-
anniversary dates of family deaths are annually commemo-
ically diffuses sacred power for the benefit of the faithful.
rated in this manner, and it is not unusual for a given family
to undertake a dan:a (almsgiving) on the behalf of various de-
BUDDHIST PRIESTS AND THE LAITY. Buddhist monks have
parted family members several times a year. Accordingly, all
also traditionally filled the roles of spiritual advisers and
departed family members of the preceding generation are
teachers of the laity. In ancient times eminent monks in tra-
continuously “assisted.”
ditional Asian cultures were selected by the royalty to educate
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
PRIESTHOOD: BUDDHIST PRIESTHOOD
7409
the elite youth. In medieval Southeast Asia, virtually all ado-
In Sinhala regions of Buddhist Sri Lanka, for example,
lescent males donned the yellow robes of the bhikkhu for at
Buddhist laymen known as kapuralas, ritual specialists tend-
least one rain-retreat season to be taught the essentials of
ing to the shrines of various of gods (many of whom are of
Buddhist life. This practice still continues in Thailand and
Hindu origins, such as Vis:n:u, Skanda, the goddess Pattini),
Burma. In modern Sri Lanka, monks spend most of their
assert that the efficacious nature of their ritual observances
poya (full moon) days educating the laity about Buddhist
performed on behalf of lay petitioners is fully consonant with
precepts and meditation. It is also not uncommon for monks
the teachings of the Buddha. When kapuralas ritually facili-
and “nuns” (strictly speaking, the bhikkhun¯ı sam:gha has been
tate entreaties of devotees for this-worldly help in order to
defunct since the tenth century CE) to counsel laity regarding
help assuage existential conditions of suffering (dukkha),
personal or family problems.
they are quite aware that the first of the Buddha’s four noble
truths is that human existence is characterized by the experi-
The sam:gha is a refuge not only for the laity but for its
ence of dukkha. Therefore, from their perspectives, any di-
own members as well. An especially poignant petition made
vine help that can be enlisted from supernatural sources to
by aspiring monks during the process of their ordination rite
alleviate the fundamental condition of suffering in the world
(upasampada¯) illustrates how Buddhist monks serve as priests
is, perforce, a contribution to the basic aims of the Buddhist
for one another: “I ask the san˙gha, reverend sirs, for the
religion.
upasampada¯ ordination: Might the san˙gha, reverend sirs,
The gods ritually served by kapuralas are also deemed
draw me out of compassion for me” (Vinaya Pit:aka, 4.122).
to be aspiring bodhisattvas, relatively advanced on their own
The life of the Buddhist holy man has normatively been
paths to buddhahood. According to popular conceptions
characterized by compassion, and it is out of compassion that
rooted in medieval Sinhala Buddhist poetry and folk ballads,
he offers his own services to the wider community of faithful
the gods are said to have received their warrants to exercise
adherents.
their divine powers in the world as a result of the Buddha’s
It is precisely this ethic of compassion that serves as the
own sanction. Gods have gained their powerful positions, it
motivating force for new forms of priestly expression now
is believed, because throughout their own long careers of re-
emerging in Buddhist societies. In more traditional societies,
birth in sam:sa¯ra they have cultivated a morally wholesome
the Buddhist holy man performed a variety of ritual tasks for
consciousness that has been expressed through altruistic and
the benefit of the laity in addition to cultivating the spiritual-
compassionate actions, actions that are karmicly fortuitous.
ity necessary for advancing along the path to eventual
They are not understood as saviors who can assist devotees
nirva¯n:a. However, modernization and the influence of other
with the ultimate attainment of nirva¯n:a, but rather as power-
religious traditions, especially Christianity, have affected the
ful sources of potential this-worldly assistance who may in-
tercede on behalf of devotees when called upon in times of
Buddhist clergy in significant ways. It is now not uncommon
suffering or trouble.
to find sam:gha social services in Thera¯vada countries like
Thailand and Sri Lanka. In Japan, weekend meditation re-
It is not uncommon for devotees to petition a deity’s
treats take place in the center of bustling commercial me-
help through priestly intermediaries in matters of family
tropolises and are advertised in local papers as therapeutically
planning, health, marriage prospects, business and political
worthwhile within the high-intensity pace of the Japanese
matters, and, in some cases, exorcism. A growing number of
lifestyle. In virtually all Buddhist countries, temples and
priestesses in Sri Lanka, who attribute their powers to their
monasteries organize pilgrimages to famous historical shrines
ecstatic encounters with various gods, function as mediums
and sacred places. While these new forms of Buddhist priest-
for their clients to communicate with the recently deceased.
hood have yet to endure the test of tradition, they bear wit-
Other priests and priestesses, who claim special affinities
ness to the vitality of Buddhist clerics endeavoring to work
with lesser deities deemed not as fully advanced on the path
for the welfare of the many.
to becoming bodhisattvas, may engage in sorcery.
The ability of these lay Buddhist priestly intermediaries
While it is clear that Buddhist monks have performed
to function successfully on behalf of devotees is dependent
important priestly duties within the context of most Bud-
upon the perfomance and observance of their own regimens
dhist communities throughout those regions of Asia where
of purity, including dietary prohibitions and ritual ablutions,
Buddhism has become culturally and socially dominant, it
designed to resist the contagion of pollution (kili). Priests
is also the case that many Buddhist laymen and laywomen
and priestesses are also forbidden from performing rituals if
have assumed professional priestly vocations as well. More-
a death has occurred within their immediate families or if a
over, these lay priests and priestesses understand the purpose
priestess is experiencing menstruation. Many priests and
of their ritual perfomances within the context of a prevailing
priestesses also assert that their continuing powers to func-
Buddhist worldview, so they do not see themselves in compe-
tion as effective intermediaries are dependent upon the living
tition with the sacerdotal work of Buddhist monks. Rather,
of a moral life that is deemed pleasing to the gods.
as in the case with Japanese Shinto¯ or Chinese Daoist priests,
their ritual transactions are regarded as complementary to the
SEE ALSO Buddhist Books and Texts, article on Ritual Uses
work of monks, a kind of division of spiritual labor.
of Books.
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
7410
PRIESTHOOD: SHINTO
¯ PRIESTHOOD
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tiyavanich, Kamala. The Buddha in the Jungle. Seattle, 2003.
Bailey, Greg, and Ian Mabbett. The Sociology of Early Buddhism.
Tucci, Giuseppe. Tibet: Land of Snows. Translated by J. E. Staple-
Cambridge, U.K., 2004.
ton Driver. New York, 1967.
Bareau, André. Les sectes bouddhiques du petit véhicule. Saigon,
Visser, Marinus W. de. Ancient Buddhism in Japan. 2 vols. Leiden,
1955.
1935.
Batholomeusz, Tessa J. Women Under the Bo Tree. New York,
Waddell, Laurence Austine. The Buddhism of Tibet (1895). Re-
1994.
print, New York, 1972.
Bunnag, Jane. Buddhist Monk, Buddhist Layman. Cambridge,
Welch, Holmes. “Dharma Scrolls and the Succession of Abbots
U.K., 1973.
in Chinese Monasteries.” T’oung pao 50 (1963): 93–149.
Buswell, Robert. The Zen Monastic Experience. Princeton, N.J.,
Welch, Holmes. The Practice of Chinese Buddhism. Cambridge,
1992.
Mass., 1967.
Dreyfus, Georges. The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Educa-
JOHN CLIFFORD HOLT (1987 AND 2005)
tion of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk. Berkeley, Calif., 2003.
Dutt, Sukumar. Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India. Lon-
don, 1962.
PRIESTHOOD: SHINTO
¯ PRIESTHOOD
Gitschow, Kim. Being a Buddhist Nun. Cambridge, Mass., 2004.
The term shinshoku (“Shinto¯ priesthood”) is used in modern
Holt, John C. Discipline: The Canonical Buddhism of the
Japan to refer to those persons serving at shrines in the per-
Vinayapitaka. Delhi, India, 1981.
formance of various religious duties. Prior to the Meiji peri-
Holt, John C. The Buddhist Visnu: Religious Assimilation, Politics,
od (1868–1912) no uniform organization existed within the
and Culture. New York, 2004.
Shinto¯ priesthood, with the result that clerical titles and
Joseph, Marietta B. “The Viharas of the Kathmandu Valley.” Ori-
functions varied widely depending on the period and shrine
ental Art 18 (1971): 121–144.
involved.
Kariyawasam, A. G. S. “Bhikkhu.” In Encyclopaedia of Buddhism,
CLERICAL TITLES. Religious titles in use since premodern
edited by G. P. Malalasekera, vol. 3, pp. 36–43. Colombo,
times include the following:
Sri Lanka, 1961.
1. Saishu (supreme priest/priestess). The saishu is high-
Kieschnick, John. The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval
est-ranking priest at the Grand Shrine of Ise, in charge of all
Chinese Hagiography. Honolulu, 1997.
ceremonials and administration relating to the shrine. In the
Kitagawa, Joseph M. Religion in Japanese History. New York,
early historical period, the post was filled by a member of the
1966.
Nakatomi family from the central government’s Bureau of
Leclère, Adhémard. Le buddhisme au Cambodge. Paris, 1899.
Kami (jingikan), but after the mid-sixteenth century, the
Mendelson, E. Michael. Sangha and State in Burma: A Study of
post became a hereditary office of the Fujinami branch of
Monastic Sectarianism and Leadership. Edited by John P. Fer-
the Nakatomi family. From the Meiji Restoration (1868) to
guson. Ithaca, N.Y., 1975.
the end of World War II, the post was held by a male mem-
ber of the imperial family, and by a female member thereaf-
Miller, Robert J. Monasteries and Culture Change in Inner Mongo-
lia. Wiesbaden, Germany, 1959.
ter.
Pathoumxad, Krough. “Organization of the Sangha.” In Kingdom
2. Kuni no miyatsuko (provincial governor). Originally
of Laos: The Land of the Million Elephants and of the White
holding joing political and relgious office, these persons were
Parasol, edited by René de Berval. Saigon, Vietnam, 1959.
restricted primarily to ritual functions following the Taika
Prip-Mo
Reforms (645).
⁄ ller, Johannes. Chinese Buddhist Monasteries. London,
1937.
3. Gu¯ji (chief priest). Originally, gu¯ji was an admistra-
Rahula, Walpola. The Heritage of the Bhikkhu. New York, 1974.
tive official with a status superior to other clerical ranks who
Ray, Reginald. The Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist
held responsibility for construction and finance at the largest
Values and Orientations. New York, 1994.
of shrines. Depending on the status of the shrine, a supreme
Saha, Kshanika. Buddhism and Buddhist Literature in Central Asia.
chief priest (daigu¯ji) might have placed under him a junior
Calcutta, 1970.
chief priest (sho¯gu¯ji) or associate chief priest (gongu¯ji). At
present, the gu¯ji holds joint responsibility for all administra-
Seneviratne, H. L. The Work of Kings: The New Buddhism in Sri
tive and ceremonial functions within a shrine.
Lanka. Chicago, 1999.
Sok, Do-ryun. “Son Buddhism in Korea.” Korea Journal 4, no.
4. Kannushi (master of divinities). This title refers to the
1(1964): 34–40; no. 3: 41–47; no. 4: 32–37; no. 5: 31–36;
priest holding chief responsibility for a shrine and the role
and no. 6: 28–31.
of central officiant in divine ritual. In later times, the term
Suzuki, D. T. The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk (1934).
came to be used as an overall synonym for members of the
New York, 1965.
Shinto¯ priesthood.
Tambiah, Stanley J. Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in North-East
5. Negi (senior priest). Deriving from the old Japanese
Thailand. Cambridge, U.K., 1970.
word for “entreat” (negai), the title negi referred to priests
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
PRIESTHOOD: SHINTO
¯ PRIESTHOOD
7411
primarily engaged in addressing prayers and general worship
4. Monoimi (abstainer). Monoimi were young girls se-
to the deities. The term later came to indicate a post directly
lected from among daughters of the shrine clergy to lead lives
subordinate in rank to the kannushi of a shrine, and was also
of exceptional ritual purity. Incumbents could be found at
used as a general synonym for members of the priesthood.
many of the great shrines under various titles.
At present, it refers to a clerical rank subordinate to gu¯ji.
5. Miko. The term miko is a general title designating fe-
6. Hafuri or hafuribe (liturgist). One of the oldest titles
male attendants serving at shrines. Formerly ranking below
within the Shinto¯ priesthood, this term was used variously
kannushi, negi, and hafuri as regular members of the priest-
to refer to a specific priestly office next in rank to kannushi
hood, miko at present serve exclusively in supplementary
and negi, or as a general application for members of the
roles, often as sacred dancers.
priesthood, a usage it retains today among the common
people.
In addition to the foregoing, numerous other terms
have been used as general referents for the Shinto¯ clergy, in-
7. Tayu¯. Formerly an honorific title given to middle-
cluding shake, shanin, shashi, and shikan. Individual shrines
grade government officials, this term later came to be used
might also make use of a variety of special titles to refer to
as a general title for Shinto¯ priests, in particular those religiosi
specific clerical ranks, such as uchibito, tone, tanamori, gyo¯ji,
serving the Grand Shrine of Ise. It is still used among the
azukari, and oshi. In the ancient period, political administra-
common people as a general name for Shinto¯ clerics.
tors simultaneously served as ceremonial officiants; there was
8. Jinin (divine attendant). Formerly, jinin were low-
no independent, professional clergy. For example, the leader
ranking functionaries of shrines, entrusted with miscella-
of a clan (uji no kami) would lead his kinship group in ritual
neous duties.
worship of the clan deity. With time, these two roles became
9. To¯ya. A lay member of a local parish organization
specialized, and as professional clerics became more numer-
(miyaza), selected from qualified parish members to serve for
ous the tendency was strong for such individuals to pass their
a specific period as ritualist for the parish shrine. Still widely
religious profession on to their descendants.
seen in villages around the Kyoto-Osaka area, the custom of
THE SHINTO¯ PRIESTHOOD FROM 1868 TO 1945. Following
selecting a shrine to¯ya from the lay community on a rotating
the collapse of the Tokugawa regime in 1868, the authorities
yearly basis was apparently a general practice for shrine orga-
of the new Meiji government revived the ancient concept of
nizations in premodern periods. With the development of a
saisei-itchi (unity of worship and rule), thus placing all
specialized priesthood, the post has changed in many areas
shrines and members of the Shinto¯ priesthood under direct
into that of a lower-ranking, part-time priest, or a lay role
government control. Because shrines and priests were thus
requiring its incumbent to serve only on certain ceremonial
considered to belong within the public domain, a compre-
occasions.
hensive national ordering of shrines and priests was institut-
10. Shaso¯. The shaso¯ were Buddhist clerics serving at
ed to replace the non-unified ranks, duties, numbers of staff,
shrines as part of the historical phenomenon known as the
statuses, and remuneration that had previously existed inde-
harmonization of Shinto¯ and Buddhism (shinbutsu shu¯go¯).
pendently from shrine to shrine.
Depending on the shrine, such priests were given a wide vari-
ety of titles, but the practice ceased after 1868 with the gov-
Under this system, priests of the Grand Shrine of Ise
ernmental policy enforcing the separation of Shinto¯ and
were given the outright status of national officials, with the
Buddhism.
special title shinkan (divine official); the titles and comple-
ment of clergy at Ise included one saishu, one daigu¯ji, one
Women held high ceremonial positions within early
sho¯gu¯ji, eleven negi, twenty gonnegi (associate negi), forty kujo¯
Shinto¯, but they were gradually relegated to roles assisting
(lower-ranking priests), and others. Because the saishu was
the male members of the priesthood. The following are rep-
to offer worship in place of the emperor, a member of the
resentative of roles for females serving at shrines in the pre-
imperial family was appointed to the post. The daigu¯ji was
modern period:
under the direction and supervision of the Minister of Home
1. Saigu¯ or saio¯ (supreme priestess). A saigu¯ was an un-
Affairs, assisting the saishu in matters of ceremonial, and ex-
married imperial princess sent as the emperor’s representative
ercising overall control and management of other priests.
to the Grand Shrine of Ise. The practice continued until the
The sho¯gu¯ji allotted administrative duties and acted as a cere-
early fourteenth century.
monial assistant to the daigu¯ji. Together, these three priests
2. Saiin (high priestess). A saiin was an unmarried impe-
directed the activities of negi and other lower-ranking priests
rial princess sent to serve at the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto, fol-
in the various ceremonies and administrative responsibilities
lowing the custom practiced at Ise. The practice continued
of the shrine.
until the twelfth century.
Imperial shrines (kanpeisha), and national shrines
3. Mikannagi (priestess). This was a general term for
(kokuheisha) were divided respectively into three classifica-
young girls aged seven to eight, selected from the daughters
tions based on size, and the priests of these shrines were treat-
of kuni no miyatsuko to attend the deities served by priests
ed as quasi-government employees (junkanri) appointed
from the government Bureau of Kami.
under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Home Affairs 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
7412
PRIESTHOOD: SHINTO
¯ PRIESTHOOD
local magistrates. (The only exception was the Yasukuni
ing from an accredited Shinto¯ institution with training for
Shrine in Tokyo; the ministers of the army and navy had the
the priesthood. Once appointed, priests are ranked in six
power of appointment for the priests of this shrine.)
grades, based on their qualifications, performance, and years
of service, and these grades are reflected in the formal cos-
These shrines were allotted one gu¯ji, one gongu¯ji (limit-
tume worn on ceremonial occasions. With a uniquely re-
ed to six major shrines including the Atsuta Jingu¯), in addi-
vered position among Shinto¯ shrines, the Grand Shrine of
tion to one negi, one or two shuten (lower-ranking priests),
Ise maintains an independent system of clergy, based on the
and (at Atsuta only) up to thirteen kujo¯; these priests were
tradition followed previous to World War II.
responsible for all ceremonial and administrative functions
at their respective shrines.
Members of the Shinto¯ priesthood not only serve in the
Smaller shrines at the level of fu (urban prefecture), ken
performance of formal shrine rituals but also bear responsi-
(prefecture) and go¯ (district) were allotted one shashi and sev-
bility for such administrative tasks as the upkeep and man-
eral shasho, while village shrines (sonsha) and unranked
agement of shrine facilities and finances. While Shinto¯ cere-
shrines (mukakusha) were staffed by several shasho¯, who were
monial places heavy emphasis on ritual purification (saikai),
responsible for all ceremonial and administrative functions.
priests are also expected to display a personal culture and
Shashi and shasho¯ were priests of low rank, selected by local
character in their everyday lives consonant with their tradi-
magistrates from among candidates recommended by lay
tional role as protectors of the faith and leaders in communi-
leaders of the parish. These priests were also treated as quasi
ty worship. Since the end of World War II, a strong need
officials of the national government.
has been felt for the active involvement of priests in prosely-
tizing activities among the parish and community of believ-
Individuals selected for these various priestly ranks were
ers, and great expectations are placed on them as well for ac-
required to be males over the age of twenty who had either
tivities in the areas of social welfare and education.
passed a qualifying examination or had received an education
preparing them for the priesthood at an approved education-
SEE ALSO Shinto¯.
al institution. No provisions were made for female members
of the clergy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE PRIESTHOOD SINCE 1945. Following Japan’s defeat in
World War II, the Occupation authorities abolished the sys-
Few references specifically relating to the Shinto¯ priesthood are
tem of national shrine control and disestablished priests from
available in English, although some information may be
gleaned from the articles included within Basic Terms of
their previous status as public officials. Shrines were given
Shinto¯ (Tokyo, 1958), compiled by the Shinto¯ Committee
the same treatment as other religious bodies; their chief
for the Ninth International Congress for the History of Reli-
priests were allowed to exist as religious judicial persons. In
gions. Among works in the Japanese language, the Shinto¯
February 1946 the Jinja Honcho¯ (Association of Shinto¯
daijiten, 3 vols. (Tokyo, 1937–1940), represents the most
Shrines) was established in Tokyo as an administrative organ
comprehensive dictionary of Shinto¯ yet printed and includes
to oversee the activities of shrines; with the exception of a
several articles relating to the Shinto¯ priesthood. Quotations
few choosing independent status, the majority of Shinto¯
from historical sources regarding the titles, functions, and
shrines in Japan became members of the association. As a re-
qualifications of Shinto¯ priests can be found listed topically
sult, the majority of priests at present are appointed in accor-
in the section “Shinshoku” (“Jingi-bu”: 45–46) of the Koji
dance with the regulations of the Jinja Honcho¯. As of De-
ruien (1898; reprint, Tokyo, 1967). Basic issues relating to
cember 31,1983, the number of priests included within the
the Shinto¯ priesthood are treated by Ono Motonori (Sokyo¯)
in his Shinto¯ no kiso chishiki to kiso mondai (Tokyo, 1964),
association was 19,810, including 1,306 (6.6 percent)
pp. 472–553, while the historical development of the priest-
women.
hood is particularly emphasized by Umeda Yoshihiko and
Depending on the size and status of the shrine, the com-
Okada Yoneo in their article “Shinshoku,” in Shinto¯ yo¯goshu¯,
plement of priests may include a gu¯ji, gongu¯ji (generally one
saishi-hen, vol. 2 (Tokyo, 1976), compiled by the Institute
for Japanese Culture and Classics at Kokugakuin University.
only), a negi (usually one), and several gonnegi. With a status
equivalent to chief director for a religious judicial person, the
New Sources
gu¯ji must be above twenty years of age and is appointed by
Breen, John, and Mark Teeuwen, eds. Shinto in History: Ways of
the president of the Jinja Honcho¯ on the basis of recommen-
the Kami. Honolulu, 2000.
dations from lay representatives of the organization. While
the gu¯ji has authority to set the number of negi at his shrine,
Hardacre, Helen. Shinto and the State, 1868–1988. Princeton,
the approval of the president of the association is required
N.J., 1989.
for the appointment of a shrine’s gongu¯ji.
Kurozumi, Tadaaki. The Opening Way: Kurozumi Munetada,
Requirements for individuals appointed as priests in-
Founder of Kurozumikyo. Lanham, Md., 1994.
clude a specialized education, general learning, and training
Kurozumi, Tadaaki. Kyososama no Goitsuwa: The Living Way, Sto-
at shrines. Qualifications are divided into five levels and are
ries of Kurozumi Munetada, a Shinto Follower. Walnut Creek,
acquired by passing a qualifying examination or by graduat-
Calif, 2000.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
PRIESTHOOD: DAOIST PRIESTHOOD
7413
Littleton, S. Scott. Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred
ly inspired by early Buddhist community rules known as the
Places. New York, 2002.
pra¯timoks:a. Directed at the higher priests of the religion, it
T
provides many detailed rules on practical living and empha-
OKI MASANORI (1987)
Translated from Japanese by Norman Havens
sizes personal honesty and community life. The text strongly
Revised Bibliography
prohibits theft, adultery, killing, abortion, intoxication, de-
struction of natural resources, and waste of food, and regu-
lates the proper behavior toward community members and
PRIESTHOOD: DAOIST PRIESTHOOD
outsiders. It prohibits fraternization with brigands and sol-
The Daoist priesthood began with the establishment of the
diers, punishes cruelty to slaves and animals, and insists upon
first organized Daoist community among the Celestial Mas-
polite distance when encountering outsiders and officials.
ters in the second century CE. The sources suggest that all
Many details of daily life are regulated, and pettiness and
followers were hierarchically ranked on the basis of ritual at-
rudeness are discouraged as much as the accumulation of
tainments, with the so-called libationers (jijiu) at the top of
personal wealth.
the priesthood. They served as leaders of the twenty-four dis-
While ordinary life was governed by discipline and sim-
tricts and reported directly to the Celestial Master himself.
plicity, the Three Primes and other major community events
Beneath them were the demon soldiers (guizu), meritorious
were celebrated in style with banquets known as kitchen-
leaders of households who represented smaller units in the
feasts (chu). Wine would flow, animals were slaughtered, and
organization.
everyone had a good time, leading certain critics of the move-
All leadership positions could be filled by either men or
ment to condemn their practices as “orgiastic.” The same
women, Han Chinese or ethnic minorities. At the bottom
criticism was made of an initiatory practice known as the
were the common followers, again organized and counted ac-
“harmonization of qi” (heqi), which involved formally cho-
cording to households. Each of these had to pay the rice tax
reographed intercourse between selected nonmarried couples
or its equivalent in silk, paper, brushes, ceramics, or handi-
in an elaborate ritual. Practitioners underwent this rite when
crafts. In addition, each member, from children on up, un-
they were promoted from one level of ritual standing to an-
derwent formal initiations at regular intervals and was
other (and gained more generals in their registers), enacting
equipped with a list of spirit generals for protection against
the matching of yin and yang in their bodies and thus con-
demons—75 for an unmarried person and 150 for a married
tributing to greater cosmic harmony.
couple. The list of spirit generals was called a register (lu) and
was carried, together with protective talismans, in a piece of
A reform movement in the fifth century, led by the so-
silk around the waist.
called New Celestial Master Kou Qianzhi (365–448),
brought the Daoist priesthood into the imperial government.
The world of the Celestial Masters was created by the
Having received several revelations from Lord Lao in 415
Dao in its personification as the Highest Lord Lao (Taishang
and 423, Kou set up a system of religious activity based on
Laojun) and governed by the Three Bureaus (san guan) of
longevity techniques and bolstered by a set of thirty-six com-
Heaven, Earth, and Water. Led by the senior priests, these
munity rules as handed down by the deity. In due course he
three were celebrated at the major festivals of the year,
became the head of a state-sponsored Daoism, geared to
known as the Three Primes (sanyuan), held on the fifteenth
bring peace and harmony to the northern Toba Wei empire.
day of the first, seventh, and tenth months. They were also
This involved setting himself up in a palace cum monastery
the occasion of general assemblies and tax management: in
in the capital together with key followers and administrators
the first month, the tax was set according to the number of
said to have numbered 120, and establishing Daoist institu-
people in the household; in the seventh and tenth months,
tions—temples, priests, moral rules, and rituals—through-
it was collected as the harvest was brought in.
out the country.
Beyond that, the priests throughout the year practiced
As described in the Laojun yinsong xinke jiejing (Scrip-
the recitation of Laozi’s Dao de jing and were encouraged to
ture of Lord Lao’s new code of precepts chanted to the
follow a set of three-times-nine precepts based on it, which
Clouds Melody), the surviving remnant of Kou’s instructions,
survives in a later text associated with the Xiang’er commen-
all people had to be loyal to the ruler, obedient to their par-
tary. The precepts emphasize austerity and moral discipline
ents and elders, and subservient to the Dao. To express their
and instill a sense of being special and separate from ordinary
proper attitude, they had to observe daily, monthly, and spe-
folk in the community leaders. Some scholars suspect that
cial festival rites throughout the year. Such festivals were led
both the mantric, magic recitation of the Dao de jing and the
by lay priests working throughout the empire and could last
impulse to develop a formal priesthood were inspired by
three, five, or seven days. As among the Celestial Masters of
Buddhist monks. The monks first appeared in China around
old, they involved community assemblies and formal kitch-
this time and may well have had contact with the new reli-
en-feasts. Daily and monthly rites were performed by the
gious groups, but the issue remains unresolved.
priests through a series of bows and prostrations, as well as
This changed with the fourth-century code Laojun yibai
by the burning of incense and offering of a prayer or petition.
bashi jie (The 180 precepts of Lord Lao), which was definite-
Strictly forbidden were popular practices such as shamanic
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
7414
PRIESTHOOD: DAOIST PRIESTHOOD
séances and blood sacrifices, as well as traditional Celestial
receiving registers of protective generals. After that, each level
Masters rites of sexual initiation.
required extended periods of training, the guidance of an or-
In the sixth century, under the political urge to unify
dination master, and several sponsors from the community.
the country, the Daoist religion too strove for integration
Ordination into any rank of the priesthood involved the
and unity. As a result, a comprehensive system was created,
transmission of precepts (jie), scriptures (jing), and ritual
the so-called Three Caverns (sandong). Originally a biblio-
methods (fa), as well as the endowment of the candidate with
graphic classification by the fifth-century master Lu Xiujing
various cosmic writs and talismans. In return ordinands had
(406–477), this was influenced by the Buddhist notion of
to surrender completely to the Dao and make a pledge to the
the three vehicles (triya¯na) and included the three major
organization. This pledge involved the presentation of lavish
schools at the time, Highest Clarity (Shangqing), Numinous
gifts of gold, silk, and precious objects to the master and the
Treasure (Lingbao), and Three Sovereigns (Sanhuang), with
institution, as well as the formal oath to follow the rules and
the Celestial Masters placed at the foundation of the entire
work toward the goals of the religion. Higher ranks had as
pyramid—not counted as one of the Three Caverns, yet es-
many as three hundred precepts, focusing on social behavior,
sential to them all.
interaction with community members, and forms of cosmic
consciousness, but most ranks involved the observation of
Based on this scheme, Daoist texts were arranged into
ten precepts first formulated by the Lingbao school. These
three main categories, each school associated with a special
ten consist of five prohibitions, imitating the five precepts
“Cavern” and a “Supplement.” The latter contained techni-
of Buddhism, and five resolutions that reflect Daoist priori-
cal and hagiographic materials and served as a home for texts
ties. They are:
of nonmainstream schools. The overall system, still used in
the Daoist canon today, is as follows:
1. Do not kill, but be always considerate to all living
Cavern School Supplement
beings.
Perfection (Dongzhen) Shangqing Great Mystery (Taixuan)
2. Do not commit immoral deeds or think depraved
thoughts.
Mystery (Dongxuan)
Lingbao
Great Peace (Taiping)
3. Do not steal or receive unrighteous goods.
Spirit (Dongshen)
Sanhuang
Great Clarity (Taiqing)
4. Do not lie or misrepresent good and evil.
Orthodox Unity
(Zhengyin)
5. Do not intoxicate yourself, but be always mindful of
In ritual practice, the system of the Three Caverns led
pure conduct.
to the establishment of a formal integrated priesthood and
6. I will maintain harmony with my ancestors and kin and
ordination hierarchy, first described in the Fengdao kejie
never do anything that harms my family.
(Rules and precepts for worshiping the Dao) of about the
7. When I see someone do good, I will support him with
year 620. It consisted of a total of seven ranks:
joy and happiness in my heart.
School Rank
8. When I see someone unfortunate, I will help him with
Zhengyin
my strength to recover good fortune.
(Celestial Masters)
Register Disciple
Taixuan
9. When someone comes to do me harm, I will not harbor
(Great Mystery)
Disciple of Good Faith
thoughts of revenge.
Dongyuan
10. As long as all beings have not attained Dao, I will not
(Cavern Abyss)
Disciple of Cavern Abyss
expect to do so myself.
Laozi
(Fengdao kejie, chap. 6)
(Dao de jing)
Disciple of Eminent Mystery
Ordinands were then equipped with the insignia of their new
Sanhuang
status: religious names, as well as the titles, robes, and head-
(Three Sovereigns)
Disciple of Cavern Spirit
dresses appropriate for their new rank. To show their new
Lingbao
affiliation, they would tie their hair into a topknot, unlike
(Numinous Treasure)
Preceptor of Highest Mystery
Buddhists who shaved theirs. Also unlike Buddhism, where
Shangqing
nuns had to observe many more rules than monks and were
(Highest Clarity)
Preceptor of Highest Perfection
given a lower status, women in Daoism were treated equally.
The first three ranks were those of lay masters, while the
They underwent the same ceremonies and wore the same
last three were monastic, and the middle rank (Disciple of
garb as men, distinguished only by their elaborate headdress,
Eminent Mystery) signified a transitional stage that could be
the so-called female hat (nüguan), a term also used for “Dao-
held either by a householder or a recluse.
ist priestess.”
Ordinations into these ranks began very early, with chil-
The complex structure of the Daoist priesthood as it de-
dren being initiated first into the Celestial Masters level and
veloped in the middle ages and flourished during the Tang
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
PRIESTHOOD: DAOIST PRIESTHOOD
7415
dynasty (618–907 CE) collapsed during the Tang-Song tran-
Master of Wondrous Practice (Miao xingshi)—Precepts
sition. Institutions ceased to function, lineages were inter-
of Initial Perfection (Chu zhenjie)
rupted, and ordinations were no longer held. Instead, indi-
Master of Wondrous Virtue (Miao deshi)—Precepts of
vidual seekers emerged, wandering from one sacred
Medium Ultimate (Zhongjie jie)
mountain to the next, connecting with isolated hermits, per-
chance finding a stash of old texts, or discovering certain effi-
Master of Wondrous Dao (Miao daoshi)—Great Pre-
cacious techniques by trial and error. Occasionally they even
cepts for Celestial Immortals (Tianxian dajie)
secured the support of a local ruler—who was usually more
Ordination into these ranks involved, as in the earlier, medi-
interested in alchemical ways of making gold than in spiritual
eval model, the presence of several masters as well as witness-
pursuits—and proceeded to reconstruct one or another tem-
es. Like their Tang predecessors, ordinands of Complete Per-
ple center of old.
fection would take refuge in the Dao, the scriptures, and the
These practitioners had no financial cushion to fall back
masters, provide pledges to the institution, and take formal
on, and thus had to find ways of serving communities for a
vows. Unlike their earlier counterparts, they would then live
fee so they could continue their quest. As a result—and coin-
a strictly controlled monastic life with a strong emphasis on
ciding fortuitously with the needs of the growing merchant
discipline and ascetic practices. They would, however, also
class—Daoists, in competition with wandering Buddhists,
function as priests, tending to local temples and performing
Tantric ritualists, and local shamans, began to offer practical
rituals for the public. There is also an order of nuns in Com-
rites of healing, exorcism, and protection. They issued spells
plete Perfection with similar ranks as for monks, but the ten-
and talismans for concrete goals, and undertook funerals and
dency is that they function mainly in a monastic setting and
communication with ancestors to set people’s minds at rest.
less as priests for the general public. However, nuns can also
Daoists of this type became very common in the Song and
be quite influential in the organization and reach high rank
were known as ritual masters (fashi). They were at the roots
as abbots and teachers.
of the new schools that soon developed. However, the ritual
The monastic-based priests of Complete Perfection are
ranks remained haphazard.
the dominant form the Daoist priesthood takes in mainland
A new orthodoxy only arose with the school of Com-
China today. They are more common than the lay-based
plete Perfection (Quanzhen), which dates back to the twelfth
priesthood of the Celestial Masters, which has survived from
century, and its founder Wang Chongyang (1112–1170), an
the very beginning of the religion and is today the main form
official in the military administration of the Jurchen-Jin
of Daoist organization in Taiwan, with a growing impact in
dynasty who became an eccentric hermit and had several re-
southeast China. These lay priests—who are all male—are
velatory encounters with Daoist immortals. Organizing his
specialists in the service of the communal religion. Called
teaching, he left his ascetic life in 1167 and moved to Shan-
Daoists (daoshi), they share responsibilities also with medi-
dong in eastern China, where he preached his visions and
ums or “divining lads” (jitong) and exorcists or “ritual mas-
began to win followers. He founded five religious communi-
ters” (fashi). All three serve to bring the power of the gods
ties, all located in northern Shandong, and continued to
to bear on local problems. What distinguishes them is basi-
spread his teaching until his death in 1170.
cally the number of gods whose power they can bring to
bear—the medium is the mouthpiece of a single local god;
His work was continued by seven disciples, six men and
the exorcist is familiar with all the local gods; and the Daoist
one woman, known collectively as the Seven Perfected (qiz-
knows how to invite the gods of the entire universe.
hen), who founded various communities that later developed
into separate branches or lineages (bai). The most important
The medium is someone who simply “lends his body
among these disciples is Qiu Chuji (1148–1227), better
to the gods.” The exorcist is the medium’s master, because
known as Master Changchun, the founder of the leading
his technical knowledge of the system of forces that ordinary
Longmen lineage, which is still the main Daoist organization
people refer to as “gods” and “ghosts” enables him to direct
in mainland China today.
the medium’s trance to a useful end. The Daoist is complete-
ly self-possessed: the forces he uses in the war against evil are
The ordination system of the Complete Perfection
not those of a medium but his own. His chief function is that
priesthood was formalized in the seventeenth century under
of a civil official in the celestial administration, in the court
its leader Wang Kunyang (1622–1680), abbot of the Long-
of the Dao. By means of formal rituals, accompanied by visu-
men branch’s headquarters in Beijing, the Baiyun Guan
alizations, he transforms his own body into the body of the
(White Cloud Temple). In this role, he reorganized the reli-
Dao and conducts things back to their original purity and
gious precepts and ordination system of the school in accor-
primordial state. His rituals are accordingly complex scenar-
dance with neo-Confucian ethics as supported by the Qing
ios for the symbolization of the process and combine all the
court at the time. He outlined three major ranks, each associ-
various arts: painting, music, song, dance, gesture, recitation,
ated with specific sets of precepts, considered an indispens-
and visualization.
able means to enlightenment and an important element in
the education of the Daoist clergy. The three ranks and
Lay Daoist priests are trained carefully and often come
major precepts texts were:
from generations of Daoist families. A typical priest usually
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
7416
PRIMITIVE MONOTHEISM
grows up surrounded by all the arts of Daoist ritual and in-
source for ordination ranks and priestly behavior in medieval
herits a veritable family treasure of texts and traditions. In
China.
addition, he often completes what he has learned from his
Kohn, Livia. Cosmos and Community: The Ethical Dimension of
father by studying with one of his father’s colleagues. The
Daoism. Cambridge, Mass., 2004. A study of Daoist precepts
rituals he performs divide into two major categories, offer-
and ordination patterns through the ages, with translations
ings (jiao) for the renewal and enhancement of the living,
of multiple documents.
and rituals of merit or requiem services (gongde) for saving
Lagerwey, John. Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History. New
the dead from the punishments of hell, but he also engages
York, 1987. A detailed analysis of the activities and ritual
in internal cultivation practices, refinement of his qi or vital
practices of Celestial Masters priests in contemporary Tai-
energy, and the concentrated visualization of otherworldly
wan.
forces.
Schipper, Kristofer M. “Taoist Ordination Ranks in the Tun-
The Daoist priesthood has been limited to China until
huang Manuscripts.” In Religion und Philosophie in Ostasien:
Festschrift für Hans Steininger, edited by Gert Naundorf,
very recently. Besides several Daoist scholars who trained in
Karl-Heinz Pohl, and Hans-Hermann Schmidt,
Taiwan and became fully ordained, there is now also an
pp. 127–148. Würzburg, Germany, 1985. A study of Tang-
American branch of the Celestial Masters, called Orthodox
dynasty manuscripts that describe ordination ranks and
Daoism of America. Its leader, Liu Ming, was originally
practices.
Charles Belyea from Boston. Training in Taiwan, he attained
J
high Daoist rank and was formally adopted into the Liu fam-
OHN LAGERWEY (1987)
LIVIA KOHN (2005)
ily, which claims a 2,000-year history of Daoist practice and
works with scriptures that have only partially made it into
official collections—undertaken by the Complete Perfection
school in the Ming dynasty. Liu Ming is passing the teaching
PRIMITIVE MONOTHEISM SEE SCHMIDT,
on to Western students along with Chinese, and he helps
WILHELM; SUPREME BEINGS
create a new dimension of the age-old priestly organization
of Daoism.
SEE ALSO Daoism, overview article; Worship and Devotion-
PROCESSION is the linearly ordered, solemn move-
al Life, article on Daoist Devotional Life; Zhenren.
ment of a group through chartered space to a known destina-
tion to give witness, bear an esteemed object, perform a rite,
B
fulfill a vow, gain merit, or visit a shrine.
IBLIOGRAPHY
Benn, Charles D. “Daoist Ordination and Zhai Rituals.” In Dao-
Some processions, such as the Via Dolorosa procession
ism Handbook, edited by Livia Kohn, pp. 309–338. Leiden,
in modern Jerusalem, constitute major rituals in their own
2000. A brilliant, well-researched survey of the medieval or-
right. Others, such as the “Little Entrance” of Christian Or-
dination system.
thodox tradition (in which the Gospels are carried to the
Davis, Edward L. Society and the Supernatural in Song China. Ho-
front of the sanctuary) or the procession of a bridal party
nolulu, 2001. An exemplary study of the role of Daoist
down a church aisle, are only facilitating gestures—
priests and their interaction with mediums and exorcists in
formalized comings and goings. The most familiar settings
the Song dynasty.
for processions are civil ceremonies (such as coronations,
Despeux, Catherine, and Livia Kohn. Women in Daoism. Cam-
military fanfares, and enthronements), weddings, funerals,
bridge, Mass., 2003. A detailed survey of the different roles,
initiations, and fertility rites. Major processions seem most
functions, and practices of women in the Daoist tradition,
widespread in agricultural or urban cultures or those in tran-
including chapters on ancient immortals, medieval priestess-
sition from the one to the other. In hunting, nomadic, and
es, and abbots of Complete Perfection.
industrial cultures, processions are likely to decline in fre-
Hendrischke, Barbara, and Benjamin Penny. “The 180 Precepts
quency or significance and thereafter function only as minor
Spoken by Lord Lao: A Translation and Textual Study.” Tao-
gestural tributaries to other rituals.
ist Resources 6, no. 2 (1996): 17–29. A good analysis of the
priestly rules of the early Celestial Masters.
The ritual space of a procession is linear. When it is
Kleeman, Terry. Great Perfection: Religion and Ethnicity in a Chi-
completed by a subsequent recession, one might speak of it
nese Millenarian Kingdom. Honolulu, 1998. An outline and
as “bilinear.” By virtue of its linearity, procession differs from
historical description of the organization of the early Celes-
circumambulation. Processual action is not movement
tial Masters.
around a sacred object but to a special place. Even when a
Kohn, Livia. “Monastic Rules in Quanzhen Daoism: As Collected
procession returns to its beginning point, its circuit is not
by Heinrich Hackmann.” Monumenta Serica 51 (2003):
generally continuous. The movement is oriented toward a
367–397. A discussion of the monastic organization of Com-
destination rather than a center. Processants do not occupy
plete Perfection.
centralized sacred space. Instead, they carry their “center”
Kohn, Livia. The Daoist Monastic Manual: A Translation of the
with them. The usual places of honor in hierarchically or-
Fengdao kejie. New York, 2004. A translation of the main
dered processions are at the head or end of the line. Whereas
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
PROCESSION
7417
circumambulation usually sanctifies or protects the place
one person in competition with another. The object of a race
bounded by its circumference, a procession normally links
is to arrive ordinally (first place, second, third, and so on),
different spatial orders, for instance, civic and sacred or
not corporately or simultaneously. Perhaps the best term to
urban and rural space. The rhythms of processing and recess-
appropriate for applying to an “individual procession” is
ing establish a corridor between a nucleus of sacred space and
quest. “Quest,” however, is probably better treated as individ-
adjacent, nonsacred zones, or satellite shrines beyond these
ualized pilgrimage.
zones. Distances traversed in processions are usually moder-
Because a procession’s destination is known, it is dis-
ate. One of the longer ones, held during the Greek Eleusini-
tinct from ritualized hunting, divination-directed migration,
an festival, was fourteen miles. Others, such as the chorus’s
religious wandering (of the Hebrews in the desert, for exam-
entrance (parados) and exit (exodos) to ancient Greek theater,
ple), and wayfaring (a common practice in medieval China
were only a few yards long. Robigalia, the ancient Roman
and Japan). Whereas essential elements of these perambula-
procession intended to avert blight and later adapted by early
tory rituals include becoming disoriented, abiding in unpro-
Christianity into its Rogation processions, was five miles, a
tected places, and having to invent or discover one’s destina-
more typical distance.
tion, in processions there is no doubt where to begin and
Walking meditation in Zen Buddhism is called kinhin.
end, and little need for concern about personal safety.
This practice falls between procession and circumambula-
Dancing has no destination; processing does. Proces-
tion. Kinhin is not directed to any place, so it is not strictly
sional dances such as the medieval European Dance of Death
a procession. And although its course is usually around a
or the Hasidic dance with the Torah, are borderline in-
meditation hall, there is no centralized object of attention.
stances. Dance presupposes not only rhythm but, typically,
Instead, practitioners’ eyes are on the floor, and their atten-
music. When dancing arises in a procession, as it does in
tion is directed to the way of walking itself.
Rio’s Carnival, perhaps the event should be spoken of as a
The solemn or meditative tone of a procession differen-
parade. And when dancing shifts from circularity and sym-
tiates it from the expansive, celebrative ethos of a parade or
metry to linearity and asymmetry, the religious climate is
the martial, aggressive one of military marches, picketing, or
likely to shift from prophetic criticism to priestly conser-
conquests (such as Don Diego de Vargas’s entrada into Santa
vatism.
Fe, New Mexico, in 1692). When Joshua brings down Jeri-
The space through which a pilgrim passes may be
cho’s walls, he is not processing so much as circumambulat-
mapped, but, unlike a procession path, it is not chartered.
ing in the service of conquest. Unlike mere invasion, con-
Pilgrims pass through what Victor Turner calls liminal
quest, now an obsolete military tactic, is akin to ritual
(“threshold”) zones as they go from near to far. Whereas pil-
because of its obvious stylization and emphasis on symbolic,
grims tread ways they may not recognize or cross borders that
rather than strategic, ordering. Examples of ritual elements
make them subject to foreign authority, processants pass
that might distinguish conquest from invasion include carry-
down ways specially cleared, decorated, and authorized for
ing flags, playing drums, wearing uniforms, singing, chant-
their arrival. Toward the end of certain pilgrimages—for in-
ing, and marching in columns. These activities sometimes re-
stance, to the shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico City—one may
tain their symbolic value long after their practical military
sometimes join a procession. The chartered quality of proces-
values are lost.
sion paths is usually emphasized by the use of stations along
The usual distinction between processions and parades
the via sacra; at these, processants stop, rest, and oftentimes
identifies the former as sacred, the latter as profane. The dis-
perform ancillary rites.
tinction is minimally useful because processions often try to
Even priestly processants may have little to say about the
link these or other classificatory domains. Perhaps parades
intentions of their actions. Processions, unlike initiation rites
and processions should be considered as celebrative and sol-
or sacrifices, evoke little codified commentary, so scholars
emn versions, respectively, of the same basic type of action.
usually have to infer intentions. The most obvious one is to
Consequently, speaking of a “religious parade” or an “aca-
display what Erving Goffman might have called a “with”:
demic procession” is no contradiction in terms. The pace of
These people “go with” that god. By walking with a god,
a procession is typically slower than that of a parade, and its
processants gain merit by association and give witness that
rhythms are more deliberate than that of ordinary walking
sacredness is not geographically restricted to one spot but ca-
(or driving if, say, chariots, pageants, floats, or automobiles
pable of annexing, even if temporarily, other places. Both a
are employed to transport participants).
territorial imperative and a hierarchy of gods or sacred places
Participation in processions is more restricted than in
is implied in most processions. Being seen, particularly in
parades. There seems to be a persistent tendency for every
postures of homage before elevated, but proximate, sacred
procession gradually to relax its exclusivity and become a
objects, legitimizes bonds and often establishes these sacra as
popular parade in which bystanders can join. Because pro-
a group’s own. Far from having an inversion effect, as a
cessing is group movement, it contrasts with running races,
Mardi Gras parade might, public processions confirm estab-
which is ritualized, for example, in the Olympic Games and
lished hierarchies and sacralize ownership and order. For ex-
among some modern-day Pueblos. A race is agonistic, setting
ample, one of the oldest known processions was part 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
7418
PRODIGIES
Great Akitu festival held in Babylon in honor of Marduk.
Because processing and dancing are so often linked, Eugène Louis
The first day of the new year was set aside for a solemn pro-
Backman’s Religious Dances in the Christian Church and in
cession in which Nabu and other gods (carried in boats),
Popular Medicine, translated by E. Classen (London, 1952),
kings, and subjects were seen visiting and paying homage to
is still helpful, as is Lillian B. Lawler’s The Dance in Ancient
Marduk in his “chamber of fates.” Royalty was allowed to
Greece (London, 1964).
take the hand of the god, as if inviting him down an elabor-
New Sources
ately paved procession way, in order to confirm and renew
Ashley, Kathleen, and Wim Hüsken, eds. Moving Subjects: Proces-
the divine kingship. At an earlier time Marduk may have
sional Performance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
been obligated to go in procession to Nabu. Whichever deity
Amsterdam and Atlanta, 2001.
was made the goal of a procession was by implication at the
Billows, Richard. “The Religious Procession of the Ara Pacis
pinnacle of the pantheon.
Augustae: Augustus’ Supplicatio in 13 B.C.” Journal of
Roman Archaeology 6 (1993): 80–92.
The display of venerated objects, such as the Host dur-
ing Christian Corpus Christi processions, or symbols of
Higgins, Sidney, and Fiorella Paino, eds. European Medieval
Drama, 1999. Papers from the Fourth International Confer-
power, such as weapons in Roman triumphal entries, is a
ence on Aspects of European Medieval Drama, Camerino,
common motive for processing. Lustrations, or gestures of
August 5–8, 1999. Camerino, Italy, 2000.
purification, are sometimes enacted to ensure that such ob-
jects do not come to be contaminated or regarded as com-
Hockings, Paul. Mortuary Ritual of the Badagas of Southern India.
Chicago, 2001.
mon because of overexposure.
Reis, Joa˜o José. Death Is a Festival: Funeral Rites and Rebellion in
The ritual form most akin to procession is pilgrimage.
Nineteenth-Century Brazil. Chapel Hill, N.C., 2003.
Though both are styles of symbolic journeying, they differ
in essential respects. While pilgrimage is more goal-oriented
RONALD L. GRIMES (1987)
Revised Bibliography
(the return is usually anticlimactic), processions may be more
focused on a carried object than a goal, and recessing may
be as significant as processing. In contrast to pilgrims,
processants do not usually eat, sleep, or suffer together, nor
PRODIGIES SEE PORTENTS AND PRODIGIES
do they endure long periods of solitude. Furthermore,
processants are usually the objects of spectating, while such
is not the case with pilgrims. For these reasons processions
tend more strongly toward social conservatism. Ironically,
PROKOPOVICH, FEOFAN (1681–1736) was a
however, the more popularly successful a procession be-
Russian Orthodox archbishop who collaborated with Peter
comes, the more likely it is to become a ritual of inversion.
the Great to subordinate the administration of the Russian
Orthodox church to the imperial government. The instru-
SEE ALSO Circumambulation; Pilgrimage, overview article.
ment of subordination was the Dukhovnyi Reglament (Ec-
clesiastical Regulation), Prokopovich’s most famous writing,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
which Peter had proclaimed on January 25, 1721.
In the 1910s A. E. Crawley wrote—in his article “Processions and
Dances” in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by
The Ecclesiastical Regulation achieved the subordina-
James Hastings, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1918)—that no com-
tion of the church’s administration to the tsarist state until
prehensive or scientific work on processions had yet been
the tsardom collapsed in 1917. It abolished the patriarchate
written. His observation is still largely true. His article, like
of Moscow, replacing it with an Ecclesiastical College mod-
B. I. Mullahy’s in the New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York,
eled on the collegial system that had just been introduced
1967) and Lawrence J. Madden’s in the Encyclopaedia Bri-
into the civilian administration of the Russian empire. The
tannica (Chicago, 1973), draws from scant comparative data
Ecclesiastical College immediately and successfully sought to
and depends largely on Christian, specifically Roman Catho-
rename itself the Most Holy Governing Synod. The change
lic, categories (functional, ordinary, and extraordinary pro-
cessions) for its analyses and definitions. Rare is the book
in name symbolized the beginning of a nearly two-hundred-
that includes a chapter, section, or even an index entry on
year struggle by churchmen and supporters of the church to
processions.
regain administrative autonomy for the church.
Presently, data on processions are still largely to be found in works
One of the more burdensome features of the Ecclesiasti-
on the religion and ritual of a particular area or tradition or,
cal Regulation was the subjugation of the clergy to police su-
more specifically, their festivals and pilgrimages. Such works
pervision. Priests were obliged to witness against their peni-
are Herbert William Parke’s Festivals of the Athenians (Ithaca,
tents or face severe legal sanctions. The regulation had the
N.Y., 1977) and J. M. C. Toynbee’s Death and Burial in the
immediate effect of strengthening the Old Believer schism
Roman World (Ithaca, N.Y., 1971).
and the long-term effect of alienating the clergy from their
In Symbol and Conquest: Public Ritual and Drama in Santa Fe,
flocks.
New Mexico (Ithaca, N.Y., 1976), pp. 62–74, I have written
more fully on the distinctions among processions, pilgrim-
Prokopovich’s career signified a secularizing and prote-
ages, and parades.
stantizing development within the Russian church. Like
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
PROMETHEUS
7419
Peter, Prokopovich believed that the concept of symphonia,
the Olympian Zeus shows his ambivalence as benefactor and
which defined church and state as two autonomous but in-
bringer of evil to the human race, evils in the form of limita-
terrelated phenomena, served to weaken political authority,
tions to human existence when compared to the eternal lives
to encourage Old Believer intransigence, and to foster politi-
of the gods. He challenges Zeus to a duel of wits, as Zeus
cal disloyalty.
had similarly challenged Kronos, his father, and Kronos still
Raised by his uncle, Prokopovich studied in Jesuit col-
earlier had challenged his own father, Ouranos, for sover-
leges in the Polish Ukraine and in Rome, where, of necessity,
eignty. As Jean-Pierre Vernant (1980) shows in a meticulous
he converted to (Uniate) Catholicism. In Kiev, he recon-
structural analysis of the existing mythical texts of Hesiod,
verted to Orthodoxy; he was appointed rector of the Kiev
the contest with Zeus also contains the paradigmatic mythi-
Theological Academy (1711), bishop of Pskov (1718), and
cal prototype of sacrificial rites for the Greek city-states. Pro-
archbishop of Novgorod (1720).
metheus divides an ox into two parts, one of which Zeus is
to choose; one part hides the bones under an appetizing layer
When the tsar died in 1725, Prokopovich came under
of fat, whereas the other part hides the meat under the unap-
attack from traditionalist churchmen determined to restore
petizing layer of the animal’s stomach. Zeus, despite his all-
canonical equilibrium between church and state.
encompassing foreknowledge (obtained by swallowing the
Prokopovich counterattacked. He was a key supporter of the
goddess Metis, or Wisdom), fulfils Prometheus’s expecta-
candidacy to the Russian throne of Anna Ivanovna of Kur-
tions by choosing for himself the heap of bones, implying
land (r. 1730–1740), thereby becoming instrumental in
that humankind is to live on meat from then onwards (hav-
bringing upon the Russian church the so-called German
ing partaken previously in divine nectar or “ambrosia,” i.e.
yoke.
that which belongs to the “immortals,” ambrotoi).
Prokopovich’s final years found him in the anomalous
situation of defending the traditional hierarchical organiza-
The outcome of the contest thus establishes paradigma-
tion and the apostolic succession of the Orthodox church
tically the division between divinity and humanity while
against further reforms of the Kurlander administration. A
leaving a ritual channel of communication open through sac-
collection of Prokopovich’s religious and political works ti-
rifices. Here the ambiguities of the mythical structure are
tled Words and Speeches (Saint Petersburg, 1765) appeared
most pronounced. Both Prometheus and Zeus play a dupli-
posthumously.
citous game, as Zeus pretends in his choice that he does not
see through the wiliness of Prometheus. Since he possesses
B
ultimate foresight, however, his pretense at being angry at the
IBLIOGRAPHY
Cracraft, James. The Church Reform of Peter the Great. Stanford,
deception through Prometheus becomes an arbitrary legitim-
Calif., 1971.
ization for punishing humankind with the withdrawal of fire,
Curtiss, John S., ed. Essays in Russian and Soviet History in Honor
throwing humanity back to the stage of animality. Prome-
of Geroid Tanquary Robinson. New York, 1963.
theus must then steal the fire to enable humankind to lead
a civilized life, for which cooked food as well as sacrifices are
Muller, Alexander V., ed. The Spiritual Regulation of Peter the
Great. Seattle, 1972.
basic preconditions. For this second “trickery” by Prome-
theus, the Olympians punish humankind with the gift of the
Smolitsch, Igor. Geschichte der russischen Kirche, 1700–1917. Lei-
first woman, Pandora, as fashioned by Hephaistos and en-
den, 1964.
dowed with sexual desirability by Aphrodite. Pandora, in
Wittram, Reinhard. Peter I, Czar und Kaiser: Zur Geschichte Peters
spite of her inviting allure, brings humankind a box filled
des Grossen in seiner Zeit. 2 vols. Göttingen, 1964.
with all evils but also containing hope. Ultimately, she is the
JAMES W. CUNNINGHAM (1987)
indicator of the lost immortality of humankind in the origi-
nal state of living with the gods, though it is a state without
mind or care, and linked to the acceptance of biological im-
PROMETHEUS
mortality through sexual procreation.
was one of the Titans of the genera-
tion of gods prior to the Olympian Zeus. According to the
The structural opposition between surface appearance
eighth-century BCE Greek poet Hesiod, he became the major
and true meaning or essence, between good that is hidden
benefactor of the human race by introducing them to crafts,
under evil, and evil that comes from well-intentioned deeds,
fire, and sacrifice. The ambiguous position that he occupied
is paradigmatically depicted in this myth of Prometheus
during the rule of the Olympians around Zeus is hinted at
who, like all the Titans, seems to straddle divine and human
in his name of “forethinking one” and the presence of a twin
nature through his mediatory position: his thinking is called
brother, Epimetheus, the “one who thinks too late.” Togeth-
ankulomeitas (“crooked of counsel,” “wily”); he is the one
er they seem to form one personality, as Károly Kerényi
who “snares himself in his own trickery” (Kerényi, 1963).
(1956) has pointed out.
While trying to challenge Zeus for sovereignty through sacri-
ORIGINS OF MYTH. Prometheus is the major mediator be-
ficial partition, he establishes one of the main features of civi-
tween the world of the gods and that of humankind. If one
lized life—namely, those sacrifices that while opening a
takes Hesiod as starting point, his original encounter with
channel of communication to the divine world fix forever 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
7420
PROMETHEUS
separation of the human and the divine spheres: humans
(as important ingredient of major crafts) connect him in
have to eat cooked meat, whereas the gods sustain themselves
most literary sources, from Plato to Publius Ovidius Naso
on the mere vapors of burned bones and fat. While Prome-
and Apollodor, to the fashioning of the first human figures
theus wants to benefit humankind by introducing fire, an el-
from earth and water. Yet, from Hesiod to Apollodor the em-
ement indispensable for sacrifices and civilization, he also
phasis of the creation of the first couple shows the gods as
brings about mortality for humankind, for Pandora is the
stringent, withholding knowledge or wisdom (“craftiness”)
gods’ poisoned countergift to humans for a gift to the gods—
from humanity, allowing them just to exist like other created
sacrifice—that hid its true nature—bones—under an appeal-
animals. This pure “animality” of life leaves humankind as
ing exterior. Since receiving this countergift from the gods,
deficient, except if they would gain knowledge for develop-
humankind has had to labor in the fields for sustenance,
ing those crafts which make civilized life possible and to at-
plant seeds in the earth and in womankind, and tend the fire
tain the basis of that, foreknowledge or cognitive faculties for
to perform such tasks as smithery, pottery, cooking, and sac-
strategic planning in the first instance. It is here that the role
rifice (Detienne and Vernant, 1989, pp. 21–86).
of Prometheus as bringer of fire becomes as pronounced as
PROMETHEUS AS TRICKSTER. When combining the philo-
the structuralist analysis tries to show. Most ancient philo-
logical analysis of Kerényi, which stresses the craftiness of the
sophical and literary sources refer to the stealing of fire as al-
Titanic culture hero, with the structural reading of Detienne
legorically connected to the gaining of “a fire within,” either
and Vernant—who rely on the logic of sacrificial practices
as cognitive faculty or as life-inducing force (the soul as ani-
as seen through the theoretical combination with the logic
mating force). In this respect, the stressing of Prometheus as
of gift-exchanges as proposed by Marcel Mauss (1872–
the bringer of civilizational skills accords well with that gen-
1950)—Prometheus becomes the archetype of the ambiva-
eralized structuralist position elaborated by Claude Lévi-
lent and ambiguous trickster-god, who through the themes
Strauss in all major publications that myths—in particular
of theft and deception is structurally equivalent to such fig-
creation myths—problematize everywhere: the opposition
ures as Loki in Germanic mythology. In this respect Prome-
between nature and culture, pure life and civilizational
theus is also akin to figures such as Athena, Hermes, and
achievements.
Hephaistos, deities of crafts and craftiness. He removes hu-
Thus the variations on the story as told by Hesiod seem
mankind from the state of innocence as well as from barba-
all to point in the direction of a Greek (and later also Roman)
rism (the eating of raw meat) by introducing knowledge and
perception of the ambiguities arising from the discrepancies
crafts, but he brings mortality as well.
between humankind’s animality and reliance on means to
While this structuralist reading of the myth follows
surpass its deficiencies. These means are the crafty applica-
closely the text of Hesiod and generally seems to fit the sacri-
tion of culture as extensions of a faculty of the mind, con-
ficial practices of Greek city-states, it does not solve entirely
nected with the fire which Prometheus has to steal from the
all interpretative problems of the sacrificial logic in Greek rit-
gods. Humans are then seen in the same hybrid condition,
ual practices. A concentration on Homer instead of the reli-
sharing traces of both categorizing domains of reality and
ance on Hesiod brings about a quite different theoretical
imagination, the divine and the animal kingdom, much as
conclusion about the message of the story, as Walter Burkert
their benefactor, the Titanic culture hero Prometheus is nei-
shows in his stressing of those aspects which have to do with
ther completely divine nor completely human.
the act of killing (1987, p. 3). Besides, the apportioning of
bones and meat seems to have been a variable ritual practice
LEGACY. At least since the Aeschylean tragedy, the image of
in different Greek regions and furthermore dependent upon
the rebellious nature of the culture hero as allegory to self-
the purpose of the specific sacrifice (Henrichs, 1997,
created humanity through their invention of civilizational
pp. 42–44, on specific local practices, and Bremmer, 1997,
skills or crafts has permeated European literary conscious-
pp. 29–31, on the scarcity of Greek sources regarding the no-
ness. The figure of Prometheus is punished through being
tion and practices of ritual performances).
bound to the Kaukasos mountains and tormented by an
eagle that eats daily at his liver, yet he is unable to die—after
THE BRINGER OF FIRE. In Athenian perception at least the
all, he is immortal. His character becomes a challenger of ar-
ritual activities connected with the figure of Prometheus are
bitrary and authoritarian divine rule as well as mediating
elusive and scarce. Prometheus seems predominantly to have
benefactor of humanity, combined into the image of a cul-
been honored as the bringer of fire. Thus, a torch procession
ture hero who even in suffering does not renounce his deeds,
or run took place at a still-unknown date during the so-called
but riles at the ruling gods and predicts their demise. Besides
Promethia which proceeded from an altar in the Academy
the use of the difference between planning foresight and rash
via the Kerameikos to an unknown destination. Literary frag-
unthinking action as human traits (Prometheus versus Epi-
ments refer to Prometheus in the main as the protector of
metheus) which pervades the writings from Plato to the neo-
pottery and smithing crafts, thus putting him close to
Platonists like Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), the notions of
Hephaistos and Athena.
the rebelliousness combined with the power of self-
In contrast to the scarcity of references to ritual prac-
fashioning (the pottery image of the creation of humankind
tices, the allegorical allusions to Prometheus as bringer of fire
from clay through Prometheus) appeal in particular to the
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
PROOFS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
7421
age of the classics and of Romanticism, from Goethe to
Köpping, Klaus-Peter. “Absurdity and Hidden Truth: Cunning
Hölderlin and Nietzsche.
Intelligence and Grotesque Body Images as Manifestations
of the Trickster.” History of Religions 24 (February 1985):
Greek vase paintings as well as sculptures are not clear
191–214. A treatment of Prometheus from a comparative
about the position of the Promethean figure: he is often ei-
perspective, emphasizing the theme of the trickster as de-
ther juxtaposed with Atlas (the Titan holding up the earth
ceived deceiver. Prometheus is shown to be one instance of
at the Western end of the ancient mythical geography) or
the ambiguity and ambivalence of the mediator as culture
shown with Herakles, who finally releases him from his suf-
hero, a theme that continues in the European literary tradi-
ferings by killing the eagle; Herakles is himself a distant de-
tion, as seen in the dialectic between the wisdom and folly
scendant of Io, whose punishment by Hera for her illicit
of the picaro, or rogue.
union with Zeus is likened by Aeschylus to the fate of Pro-
Pisi, Paola. Prometeo nel culto attico. Rome, 1990.
metheus, as Io is eternally tormented by a hornet and driven
Séchan, Louis. Le mythe de Prométhée. Paris, 1951.
to madness. The notion of Prometheus as indirect bringer
Turcan, Robert. “Note sur les sarcophages au Prométhée.” Lato-
of the evil of mortality may make sense of interpretations
mus 27 (1968): 630–634.
which identify his figure in the circle of deities of the under-
Vernant, Jean-Pierre. Myth and Society in Ancient Greece. Atlantic
world in the combination of Dionysos and the earth goddess
Highlands, N. J., 1980. See the chapter titled “The Myth of
Demeter, as Aeschylus hints at the descent of Prometheus
Prometheus in Hesiod.” An exemplary and controversial
from Gaia-Themis.
analysis of Hesiod’s account through philological and seman-
tic investigation, leading to a demonstration of the structural
SEE ALSO Culture Heroes; Fire; Gods and Goddesses; Hesi-
logic of the myth, with no hint of the trickster qualities.
od; Tricksters, overview article; Zeus.
KLAUS-PETER KÖPPING (1987 AND 2005)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bianchi, Ugo. “Prometheus, der titanische Trickster.” Paideuma
7–8 (1961): 414–437. Reprinted in Selected Essays on Gnosti-
cism, Dualism and Mysteriosophy. Leiden, 1978.
PROOFS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
Early generations of Christian thinkers accepted God’s exis-
Brelich, Angelo. “La corona di Prometheus.” In Hommages à
tence as a given that needed no proof and was surmised on
Marie Delcourt, pp. 234–242. Brussels, 1970.
the basis of immediate evidence in an act that did not clearly
Bremmer, Jan N. “Religion, Ritual, and the Opposition of Sacred
distinguish faith from reason. The dominant exponent of
vs. Profane.” In Ansichten Griechischer Rituale, edited by Fritz
this approach was Augustine (d. 430), who posited, for in-
Graf, pp. 9–32. Stuttgart, 1998.
stance, an awareness of God as “first truth” in the intuition
Burkert, Walter. Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek
of truth as such that occurs in the depths of human con-
Sacrificial Ritual and Myth. Berkeley, 1983.
sciousness. Bonaventure (d. 1274) was a legitimate heir of
Detienne, Marcel, and Jean-Pierre Vernant, eds. The Cuisine of
Augustine in the medieval period, as was Blaise Pascal
Sacrifice among the Greeks. Chicago, 1989. A collection of su-
(d. 1662) in the modern era. Nicolas Malebranche
perb contributions, all from a strongly structuralist perspec-
(d. 1715), by contrast, promoted an ontologism, in which
tive, to Greek sacrificial notions through analysis of myths
“God” is made the first innate idea implanted in the human
and pictorial representations, with emphasis on the equiva-
lence of sacrificial and culinary practices.
mind, of which all other ideas are modifications.
Duchemin, Jacqueline. Prométhée: Histoire du mythe, de ses origins
THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. Those who have sought
orientales à ses incarnations modernes. Paris, 1974.
God’s existence by deploying the processes of reasoning have
done so in one of two ways: either a priori or a posteriori. The
Dumézil, Georges. Loki. Paris, 1948. An extension of the Indo-
first approach derives God’s existence from an idea of him
European parallels with concentration on one divinity of the
Germanic pantheon. Dumézil stresses the impulsive intelli-
in the consciousness of the knower. The original formulation
gence of the trickster figure through comparison with Syrdon
of this argument is that of Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109);
of the Ossetes and thus indirectly with Prometheus.
it describes God as “that than which a greater cannot be con-
Henrichs, Albert. “Dromena and Legomena.” In Ansichten gr-
ceived.” Such a notion demands, for Anselm, God’s real exis-
iechischer Rituale, edited by Fritz Graf, pp. 33–71. Stuttgart,
tence (Proslogion 2), and indeed entails it as something neces-
1998.
sary (Proslogion 3). Various versions of this argument appear
in the works of René Descartes (d. 1650), who argues that
Kerényi, Károly. “The Trickster in Relation to Greek Mytholo-
gy.” In The Trickster, by Paul Radin, with commentaries by
God cannot be conceived as nonexisting (Third Meditation),
Károly Kerényi and C. G. Jung, pp. 173–191. New York,
and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (d. 1716), who, echoing
1956. Kerényi’s most incisive treatment of Prometheus, sup-
John Duns Scotus (d. 1308), declares that if God is possible,
ported by a comparison to tribal myths from North America.
he exists (New Essays concerning Human Understanding
It stresses the trickster-like qualities of the mediator and the
4.10). Among the contemporary defenders of the ontological
crooked thinking of the Titans.
argument are Norman Malcolm, Alvin Plantinga, and
Kerényi, Károly. Prometheus: Archtypal Image of Human Existence.
Charles Hartshorne. Its two most trenchant critics are
New York, 1963.
Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), who views it as making an un-
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
7422
PROOFS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
founded move from the ideal to the real order (Summa
that concept outside consciousness lies beyond the compe-
theologiae 1.2.1–2), taking Anselm’s idea of God to include
tency of human reason.
the concept of real existence but not the actual exercise there-
JUDAISM AND ISLAM. Jewish thought eschews all efforts to
of; and Immanuel Kant (d. 1804), who insists that existence
prove God’s existence, seeing this as established beyond dis-
is not a predicate included in any concept and so can only
pute in the prophets, whose concern is God’s moral gover-
be encountered empirically (“Of the Impossibility of a Cos-
nance. Philo Judaeus (d. circa 50 CE), however, under the
mological Proof of the Existence of God,” Critique of Pure
stimulus of Greek and Arabic thought during the Hellenistic
Reason A592/B620 ff.).
period, integrated rational reflection on the world with what
T
the scriptures teach. Maimonides (d. 1204), in the medieval
HE COSMOLOGICAL AND TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS. An
alternative position repudiates any a priori approach on the
period, advanced two forms of the cosmological argument:
ground that nothing antecedes or explains God’s beingness.
one from motion and one from the contingency of existence.
Finite entities of the world, however, are not the explanation
Among moderns, Moses Mendelssohn (d. 1786) stresses the
of their own reality but rather are the effects of a transcen-
role of reason in those areas in which revelation appears un-
dent creative cause. This explains a posteriori the mere exis-
necessary, while Franz Rosenzweig (d. 1929) argues that the
tence at least of a primal cause, which Christians have identi-
existential encounter dispenses with rational inquiry and it-
fied materially with God. In the language of Thomas
self constitutes revelation. This position accords with Martin
Aquinas, arguments of this kind are not designated “proofs,”
Buber’s (d. 1965) way to God as the eternal Thou in human-
ity’s dialogue with every finite thou.
but five “approaches” or “ways” (viae) to God that function
as “prerequisites to faith” (praeambula fidei) in the God of
Islamic thought did not employ reason on things divine
revelation. The starting points of all such arguments are facts
that were taught in the QurDa¯n until medieval times, when
readily observable in the world of ordinary experience: mo-
Ibn S¯ına¯ (d. 1037), distinguishing essence from existence, ar-
tion, causality, contingency of existence, grades of ontologi-
gued for God as the necessary existent. Ibn Rushd (d. 1198),
cal perfection, and intrinsic finality. The nerve of the
integrating Islamic tradition with his understanding of Aris-
thought process is causality: efficient, exemplary, and final.
totle, maintained that the metaphysician can demonstrate
An infinite regress in any series of such causes is deemed un-
the revealed truth about God available to believers in meta-
intelligible as long as the ordering is an essential and not
phorical language. Ibn Rushd’s influence, in the form of
merely an accidental one. The rational intelligence is thus led
Latin Averroism, extended to the University of Paris in the
to postulate the existence of God as primal or ultimate
thirteenth century and to the universities of Bologna and
cause—not as the first member of the series but as the ana-
Padua until the mid-seventeenth century.
logical cause of the series as such. The lineaments of such a
MODERN ATHEISM. G. W. F. Hegel (d. 1831) returned to
procedure were not original with Christian thinkers but were
the ontological argument; he maintained that finite con-
already to be found in Plato, Aristotle, Ibn S¯ına¯ (Avicenna),
sciousness was a “moment” in the self-enactment of Absolute
Ibn Rushd (Averroës), and Moses Maimonides. Significant-
Spirit, which thus assumed prerogatives formerly ascribed to
ly, Thomas himself never refers to these movements of
divinity. Ludwig Feuerbach (d. 1872) explicitly launched
thought as establishing God’s existence, only as justifying the
atheism against Christian thought by inverting Hegel’s
judgment that “God is”; all that is claimed, then, is the legiti-
thinking and reducing all references to the infinite to mere
macy of using the copula “is” of God in a transsubjective
projections of finite spirit confronted with its own seemingly
sense.
inexhaustible resources and aspirations. This tendency soon
T
manifested itself as psychological atheism with Sigmund
HE MORAL ARGUMENT. This conviction within Christian
thought, of an intrinsic intelligibility at the heart of reality
Freud (d. 1939), as socioeconomic atheism with Karl Marx
bespeaking a transcendent ground to the real order, reached
(d. 1883), as ethical atheism with Jean-Paul Sartre (d. 1980)
its clearest expression in the thirteenth century but began to
and Albert Camus (d. 1960), and as anthropological atheism
erode into skepticism with the rise of nominalist theology in
with Maurice Merleau-Ponty (d. 1961), thereby pervading
the fourteenth century, especially with William of Ockham
much of modern Western thought.
(d. 1349). Immanuel Kant, in the late eighteenth century,
THE POST-ATHEISTIC AGE. Reactions against this denial of
insisted in his Critique of Pure Reason that human under-
any accessible signs of God’s existence began with Friedrich
standing has no access whatsoever to any possible realm of
Schleiermacher (d. 1834), who postulated, below the level
meaning beyond the phenomenal, which is given immediate-
of either reason or will, a feeling (Gefühl) or immediate
ly to consciousness and structured further by categories in-
awareness of the utter dependence of consciousness upon the
nate to the subjectivity of the knower. God is thus, for Kant,
sustaining reality of the transcendent whole, amounting to
a regulative idea formed by the mind to legitimate the ethical
a God-consciousness within humankind. Roman Catholic
order. Thus, ethics becomes the grounding principle for pos-
thought, for its part, in the constitution Dei filius approved
tulating God’s existence, rather than vice versa, as had been
by the First Vatican Council in 1870, repudiated a “tradi-
the case in the past. Moral imperatives mean, simply, postu-
tionalism” on the one hand and a “semirationalism” (in
lating one who imperates; any question of a real referent to
which, after a revelation from God, reason is able on its 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
PROPHECY: AN OVERVIEW
7423
to understand the pure mysteries of God that form the con-
Dupré, Louis. A Dubious Heritage. New York, 1977. Incisive
tent of such revelation) on the other, opting instead for the
studies of the ontological, cosmological, and teleological ar-
possibility of a natural knowledge of at least God’s existence.
guments in the light of post-Kantian thought.
Paul Tillich (d. 1965) set a new tone in analyzing existential
Gardet, Louis, and M. M. Anawati. Introduction à la théologie mu-
encounter, as opposed to metaphysical reflection; what he
sulmane. Paris, 1948. A basic survey from a Christian per-
called disclosure experiences enable humankind to posit
spective.
questions of ultimacy that are then answered in correlation
Goichon, Amélie-Marie. La philosophie d’Avicenne et son influence
to the revelatory act of a self-manifesting God. Wolfhart
en Europe mediévale. Paris, 1944.
Pannenberg has recently argued, in reaction to Karl Barth’s
Guttmann, Julius. Philosophies of Judaism: The History of Jewish
neoorthodoxy, which makes all acknowledgment of the true
Philosophy from Biblical Times to Franz Rosenzweig. New
God a matter of religious faith, that history in its universality,
York, 1964.
open to human reason, offers hypothetical grounds for the
Hick, John, ed. The Existence of God. New York, 1964. Critical
reality of God. The available “proofs,” then, are simply an-
appraisals including the moral and religious arguments in
thropological ways of formulating the question with preci-
light of present discussions.
sion and urgency—the question that humanity itself is. Be-
Kenny, Anthony. The Five Ways. New York, 1969. A rejection,
cause history has not yet run its course, all answers are
scholarly and moderate in tone, of each of the “five ways” as
provisional in kind, based upon anticipating the consumma-
based ultimately on an outmoded cosmology.
tion of history in the resurrection of Christ.
Küng, Hans. Does God Exist? Garden City, N.Y., 1980. Contem-
porary argument against atheism and nihilism based on expe-
Karl Rahner (d. 1984) and Bernard Lonergan (d. 1984)
riencing the trustworthiness of human existence.
have attempted a rehabilitation of Thomas Aquinas’s five
“ways,” viewing them as reflective and logical formulations
Mackie, J. L. The Miracle of Theism: Arguments for and against the
Existence of God. Oxford, 1982. Largely rejections of the tra-
of a prereflective, unthematic dynamism of finite spirit. This
ditional and contemporary arguments, with emphasis on the
transcendental structure of human consciousness, which ac-
negating power of evil in the world.
tualizes itself in the historical and categorical order, is de-
Maritain, Jacques. Approaches to God. New York, 1954. Detailed
scribed by Rahner as a pregrasp (Vorgriff) of God himself
defense of the “five ways” of Thomas Aquinas, plus a pre-
under the formality of holy mystery. In a radically different
philosophic approach and one based on the dynamism of the
vein, Alfred North Whitehead (d. 1947), originating a move-
intellect.
ment loosely called process thought, views God as a coprinci-
Mascall, E. L. The Openness of Being: Natural Theology Today.
ple with the world in a universe ultimately not of being but
London, 1971. A survey of arguments including those of
of creative becoming. This argument for the existence of
transcendental Thomism, of process thought, and of empiri-
God arises from the need to explain novelty in a self-creative
cism; basically a defense of a metaphysical approach to the
universe without making God an exception to, rather than
question of God against Anglo-Saxon positivism.
the prime instantiation of, the metaphysical schema. Here
Plantinga, Alvin, ed. The Ontological Argument, from St. Anselm
God “lures” the world forward, even as it in turn supplies
in Contemporary Philosophers (1940). New York, 1965. An
data for God’s own creative advance into novelty (Process and
expository and critical exploration of the argument in its var-
Reality, 1929, 5.2).
ied forms; does not include Plantinga’s own ingenious for-
mulation of the argument he presents later in chapter 10 of
PRESENT STATUS OF THE PROOFS. Much of modern
The Nature of Necessity (Oxford, 1974).
thought, especially that indebted to analytic philosophy,
Smith, John E. Experience and God. New York, 1968. Critical as-
tends to dismiss all talk about proofs for God’s existence as
sessments of the ontological, cosmological, and teleological
meaningless, because no verifiable content can be given to
arguments from a pragmatist’s point of view. See especially
the very idea of God. De facto, neither theism nor atheism
chapter 5.
is considered to be either demonstrable or refutable by rea-
son. The affirmation of God is taken to be a matter of faith
WILLIAM J. HILL (1987)
(religious or otherwise) rather than of reason—but one
which, once made, may manifest itself as entirely reasonable.
PROPHECY
SEE ALSO Atheism; Attributes of God; Doubt and Belief;
This entry consists of the following articles:
Enlightenment, The; God; Nominalism; Philosophy, article
AN OVERVIEW
on Philosophy of Religion; Scholasticism.
BIBLICAL PROPHECY
PROPHECY IN POST-BIBLICAL JUDAISM
AFRICAN PROPHETISM
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cobb, John B., Jr. A Christian Natural Theology. Philadelphia,
1965. Chapters 4 and 5 contain an exposition of the argu-
PROPHECY: AN OVERVIEW
ment from Alfred North Whitehead by one committed to its
The term prophecy refers to a wide range of religious phe-
validity.
nomena that have been manifested from ancient to modern
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7424
PROPHECY: AN OVERVIEW
times. The Greek term proph¯et¯es is the etymological ancestor
by the deity (and the absence of personal ego) at the time
of the English word prophet, and it has cognates in most Eu-
of transmission. Some groups used divination to test the ac-
ropean languages. The indigenous Greek proph¯et¯es was a cul-
curacy of oral prophecies (e.g., prophecies at Mari), while
tic functionary who “spoke for” a god; that is, the proph¯et¯es
others gave priority to oral prophecy, with only marginal ap-
delivered divine messages in association with a sanctuary
peal to divination (e.g., in Israelite religion).
where the god had made its presence known. However, the
Within general categories the nature and function of di-
word proph¯et¯es influenced European languages primarily be-
vine intermediation was diverse. Oracles and signs could ap-
cause early Jewish and Christian writers used the term in
pear without request; but more commonly, especially in the
translations of the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament
Greco-Roman world, cultic officials provided answers to spe-
to refer to religious specialists in Israelite, Jewish, and Chris-
cific questions asked to the sanctuary’s god. Ecstatic oracular
tian traditions. Today comparativists use prophecy to describe
behavior seems to have been the most common form of in-
religious phenomena in various contexts on analogy with the
termediation among figures not connected with recognized
activity of ancient Hebrew prophets and other figures who
sanctuaries (e.g., the Akkadian muhhu), but it was also ac-
had a similarly pivotal role in founding world religions in
ceptable among those who did have such official legitimacy
Southwest Asia.
(e.g., the Akkadian apilu and various Greek mantic figures).
ANCIENT PROPHECY. In antiquity it was commonly believed
The terminology applied to intermediaries is often ambigu-
that gods controlled events in the world and made their in-
ous or vague, as with the Greek term proph¯et¯es, which at
tentions known to human beings in various ways. The earli-
times denotes the oracular mouthpiece for divine speech and
est written records tell of religious functionaries whose re-
at others refers to the official interpreter of divinatory signs
sponsibility it was to interpret signs or deliver messages from
within a sanctuary. The diversity is immense. But it is clear
the gods in order to supply information useful in the conduct
from the complexity that the need for knowledge about di-
of human affairs. In early tribal societies the clan leader often
vine activity was perceived at various social levels; ancient so-
carried out these duties, or perhaps some other individual
cieties often maintained a large and varied staff of religious
who used a variety of divinatory and visionary techniques to
functionaries to keep such knowledge alive.
gain access to special knowledge about divine intentions.
PROPHETIC FOUNDERS OF RELIGIOUS TRADITION.
These activities usually included intercessory functions,
Throughout ancient Israel’s history as an independent state
whereby the leader or “prophet” petitioned spirits or a god
(c. 1000–586 BCE), the religious orientation of a large seg-
or gods for special favors for their group.
ment of its population was polytheistic, and as such, it shared
in the general worldview of its neighbors. But even in the
However, this picture of such figures (such as the ka¯hin
monotheistic elements of Israelite culture, there were differ-
of pre-Muslim Arabia or the kohen of patriarchal, presettle-
ent functionaries who transmitted the will of the same god,
ment Israel) is only inferential. They were active in nonliter-
Yahveh, to the people. During the earliest part of this history,
ate societies that left no linguistic records of themselves ex-
it appears that the Yahvists relied on at least three different
cept by the transmission of oral traditions that eventually
figures for divine communication: (1) cultic officers who
were written down by later, literate generations. The groups
performed certain techniques (like casting lots), maintained
that did leave written records had more complex forms of re-
cultic implements (like the Ark), and occupied sacred space;
ligious and political organization, suggesting that adepts in
(2) seers (Heb., ro Deh and h:ozeh), whose function is rather
religious knowledge had correspondingly more specialized
unclear, but may be designations from different periods of
functions.
visionaries and diviners (cf. 1 Samuel 9:9); and (3) ecstatics
From the records of ancient cultures in Mesopotamia
(Heb., navi D, commonly translated as “prophet”), whose un-
and the Mediterranean region there is knowledge of a large
usual behavior was stimulated when Yahveh’s spirit came
number of religious specialists who sought out and interpret-
upon them. As Yahvism evolved, the navi D came to be its pre-
ed messages from the gods. Their access to the world of the
dominant intermediary, though as this occurred the activity
gods came through two different means. In the first place,
of the navi D came to include functions that were previously
there were diviners who practiced a variety of studied tech-
within the province of the other two specialists. Accordingly,
niques to interpret symbolic messages in the natural world.
the nevi Dim depended less exclusively on ecstatic oracles for
Some techniques were manipulative (such as the casting of
their identity, and many came to be (in some cases) cultic
lots, the incubation of dreams, and the examination of the
functionaries and inspired interpreters of ancient tradition.
entrails of sacrificial animals); others were more purely obser-
The evidence indicates, however, that prophetic legitimacy
vational (such as the interpretation of animal movement and
depended primarily on their acceptance within a given group
the cataloguing of auspicious, often horrible, events). Sec-
as oracular vehicles for the communication of Yahveh’s
ond, the gods were also believed to communicate their will
word, regardless of whether the navi D was an ecstatic, a cultic
through oracles, that is, in human language through the
official, an independent critic, or some combination of these
mouth of an inspired person. The behavior of these divine
roles.
spokesmen is often thought to have been ecstatic, frenzied,
By at least the eighth century BCE the Hebrew prophets
or abnormal in some way, which reflected their possession
or their scribes commonly wrote down their oracles, and the
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PROPHECY: AN OVERVIEW
7425
prophetic writings of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)
oracular speech and writing. Even Jesus, who frequently did
contain, in part, a modest literary residue of this extensive
not use traditional forms of prophetic speech, seems to have
oracular activity. Historians have reached no consensus
regarded his words and actions as communicating the mes-
about why this development took place, nor about how these
sage he was commissioned to bear.
writings in particular came to be accepted among later gener-
2. Religious traditions arose that regarded some oracles of
ations as eternally authoritative. Yet, that oracular revelation
these prophets as uniquely heaven-sent, sacred, and binding
came to be regarded as having an enduring value, and that
upon people in perpetuity. In such cases, the prophets’ words
followers of prophets could disseminate their written oracles
became part (or the substance) of a scriptural canon that was
among various groups with whom the prophets originally
regarded as the repository of revealed knowledge; each sacred
had no connection, was a major change in the history of reli-
canon became, in turn, the standard by which the tradition
gions. Within the religious worldview that permeated the
judged all later religious pronouncements and activity. For
time of the first Hebrew prophets, messages from the gods
prophets whose speech or writing was formally oracular (e.g.
were seen as portentous for only the particular audience,
the Hebrew prophets and Muh:ammad), the scripture be-
time, and place attendant to the moment when they had
came, at least in part, a collection of those oracles. Stories
been revealed on earth. Thus, it was necessary to maintain
about the symbolic activities and miraculous deeds per-
a retinue of religious specialists to prophesy anew and inter-
formed by these prophets also found their way into the can-
pret messages that regularly came from the gods. As certain
ons (note particularly the Gospels and the prophetic narra-
specified written oracles came to be accepted in Israel as the
tives in the Hebrew Bible), and the members of each
repository of normative divine instruction, the nature of
tradition regarded this material as having paradigmatic im-
prophecy itself began to change, as did the character of reli-
portance.
gious tradition.
Whether these prophets were themselves the founders
What happened among the Hebrew prophets occurred
of traditions is not a question to be answered easily. Both
more generally within several religious traditions in South-
Muh:ammad and Mani organized the early Muslim and
west Asia. The following figures can be classed with the He-
Manichaean communities, respectively, and they promoted
brew prophets as intermediaries whose oracles became, at
their own writings as perpetually relevant revelation. But in
least in part, the revelational basis of a major world religion.
the other three cases (Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Chris-
Zarathushtra (Zoroaster), a Persian prophet of the late sec-
tianity), the historical prophets had little or no influence on
ond millennium BCE, was the founder of Zoroastrianism
the organization of the later religious tradition, and others
(Boyce, 1975). Jesus appears in many respects as a prophet,
determined the content and organization of the sacred scrip-
even though Christianity has traditionally portrayed him as
ture. In fact, the authors and compilers of the Hebrew Bible
a unique messiah. Mani, a Babylonian born in 216 CE,
shaped the words and actions of Moses to such a degree that
founded Manichaeism, which gained a large following in
his biblical portrait probably has little in common with the
countries from India to the western Mediterranean. Finally,
historical person. Nonetheless, because these prophets all had
Muh:ammad, like no other, established a believing commu-
an important role in founding religious tradition, and espe-
nity around himself as divine messenger, and succeeding
cially because later generations revered them as the fountain-
generations of Muslims have accepted the oracles written
heads of divine revelation, this group shall be called the
down in the QurDa¯n as the unparalleled expression of divine
“founding prophets.”
communication.
3. Though the content of their messages differs signifi-
Defining precisely what these individual prophets share
cantly from one prophet to the next, depending on historical
in common is not a simple matter. The social location of
circumstance and inherited tradition, all of the founding
their activity differs in each case, and the success of each
prophets proclaimed what their later tradition regarded as uni-
prophet in gaining a following during his lifetime varied
versal truths. The theological development of these prophet-
widely, from Muhammad, who led armies and established
ic, revealed religions tended toward conceptions of a deity
a moderate-sized empire by the time of his death, to Jesus,
or deities (Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism) that transcend-
who died an ignominious death on a cross. Moreover the
ed tribal, geographical, national, and cultic boundaries.
message of each prophet, if examined in detail, depends more
While it would be too ambitious to attribute to these pro-
on the particular traditions to which it was heir and the his-
phetic figures alone the creation of universal religious claims,
torical-cultural setting of the prophet’s activity than upon a
the writings of such prophets as Amos, so-called Second Isa-
transcendent ideal that applies to every member of the group.
iah, and Muhammad are among the most radical innova-
Nonetheless, five features are common to all.
tions in the history of religious thought.
1. They all conceived of their activity as the result of a per-
4. The founding prophets were, in their own individual
sonal divine commission. They thought that their supreme
ways, social critics, even though their ideas about society were
deity had appointed them individually to bear a specific re-
quite different from one another. Muhammad, for example,
vealed message to the human (or some more narrowly de-
seems to have been a great deal more concerned with the
fined) community, and this message usually consisted of
structures of society on this earth than Mani, who addressed
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7426
PROPHECY: AN OVERVIEW
social issues primarily in order to help promote gnosis (the
communities. Just as the Hebrew prophets and Zarathushtra
salvific knowledge of ultimate things). Still, all of them con-
were influenced by the traditions that preceded them, so too
sidered moral behavior to be central in complying with the
were the prophets who came later. But for Jesus, Mani, and
wishes of their supreme deity. Particularly in the Judeo-
Muhammad the traditional inheritance included the message
Christian and Muslim traditions, prophetic teachings have
of the Hebrew prophets (and Zarathushtra), as well as the
been seen as attempts to denounce injustices practiced
model they had established as prophets whose messages were
against the weak and powerless. In the prophetic writings of
canonized within scripture.
these traditions questions of social morality have such promi-
nence that scholars have often characterized the religion of
It was rarely easy for a person bearing revelation to effect
the prophets as “ethical monotheism.”
basic reforms in the structure of religious life. Among the
biblical prophets themselves, the active mediation of fresh
5. Finally, the founding prophets helped both to maintain
revelation had been an accepted part of religious life. Howev-
and to reform religious tradition. They regarded their de-
er, once prophecy became written and canonical, the revela-
mands for change as having a basis in ancient tradition, but
tion of these same prophets attained a special status that inev-
they insisted that their contemporary religious situation be
itably lessened the importance and limited the scope of active
reshaped in accordance with that tradition. Naturally, these
mediation generally. The guardianship and transmission of
demands met stiff resistance from those contemporaries of
prophecy—now newly conceived as the substance of pro-
the prophets who wanted to maintain other traditions or the
phetic oracles within the canon—moved from the ecstatics
status quo. As a result each of the founding prophets suffered
and visionaries who originally created it to the inspired sages,
indignities, sometimes even torture and death. Typically,
priests, and scribes who maintained and passed along the
prophets who met with resistance saw popular rejection as
scriptures.
proof of their legitimacy, since earlier prophets had been sim-
ilarly despised.
The evolution of Hebrew prophecy into received writ-
Just as these prophets constitute a group because of their
ten tradition became the cornerstone upon which all subse-
mutual similarites, they are also distinct from other figures
quent prophetic constructions were built. By 350 BCE the last
in the history of religions. They are different from the various
of the canonical prophetic writings to find acceptance in the
intermediaries who preceded them in that the revelation they
Hebrew Bible had been written. And by the time of Jesus’
communicated has an enduring relevance in religious tradi-
ministry (c. 25–30 CE) the preeminence of these canonical
tion and remained intimately connected with their individu-
prophets was generally accepted within Judaism, even among
al personalities. Revelation had previously been relevant only
prophets such as Jesus. Within the context of this religious
for a limited time, and, with a few minor exceptions, the per-
tradition it became necessary for contemporary prophets
sonality of the prophet had been of relatively little signifi-
who did not consider their calling subordinate to any earlier
cance in the mediation of divine messages. The roles of these
prophet to claim a special status for themselves. Therefore,
prophets often stood in sharp contrast with priestly func-
Jesus on occasion appears as an eschatological prophet who
tions. The innovative and reforming messages of the proph-
proclaimed the imminent arrival of the “kingdom of God.”
ets were accepted within the religious community and tradi-
In this way his message and character could fit the traditional
tion on the basis of their personal charisma. Priests, however,
conception of prophets in early Judaism, where it was be-
are typically those who maintained the dominant, received
lieved—in certain quarters, at least—that God would send
tradition by virtue of their position within an established reli-
prophets (who would be of equal stature with their canonical
gious institution.
predecesors) to announce the end of the world.
Finally, the founding prophets are distinct from others
By the time of Mani (216–276) and Muh:ammad (580–
who founded major religious traditions (such as Buddhism,
632), several canonical religions had come to prominence.
Jainism, Confucianism, and Taoism). The founders of these
Both these prophets understood themselves explicitly as suc-
traditions originating in India and China were not divinely
cessors to a line of prophets that included (though variously)
chosen messengers bearing a revealed message to human-
Abraham, Moses, Elijah, other Hebrew prophets,
kind, but rather teachers and sages who had developed new
Zarathushtra, Jesus, and even the Buddha. Moreover, they
philosophic insight and practical discipline as a way of ad-
each wrote down their oracles as a self-conscious attempt to
dressing religious problems. These teachers, like the proph-
form a canon that would be authoritative for their own com-
ets, were often missionaries and social critics, but the basis
munities. Indeed, early Muslims distinguished between two
of their words was the perfection of their own intellectual,
terms for prophet: nabi, a generic Arabic term denoting any-
spiritual, and moral talents, rather than their election by a
one who has a vision or audition of God, and rasu¯, the Arabic
deity to bear a specific message.
word referring only to those special “messengers” (such as
PROPHECY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF CANON. One of the
Moses, Jesus, and Muh:ammad) who founded a religious
most outstanding features of the founding prophets was the
community and transmitted their messages with a sacred
special importance that their personal communication of
book. In Islam “religions of the Book” are the highest form
revelation had for succeeding generations of their religious
of religious expression.
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
PROPHECY: AN OVERVIEW
7427
As the words of these historical prophets attained rever-
vision could coexist peaceably with those nearer the center
ential status within scriptural canons, the book replaced the
of religious power, others met violent repression when they
living religious specialist as the primary agent of revelational
threatened the structure and cohesion of the Muslim com-
mediation. The history of surviving religious traditions with
munity. So, while Abu¯ Yaz¯ıd al-Bist:a¯m¯ı, a Persian S:u¯f¯ı
a prophetic scripture (now Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)
(d. 875), encountered some opposition for his claims of
has depended in no small measure upon this development.
achieving unity with God, it amounted to his being labeled
Exegetes of various sorts replaced prophets as the maintainers
an eccentric. He died peaceably, and afterward his tomb be-
of the revelational tradition, and often those who safeguard-
came the object of some veneration. However, al-Halla¯j was
ed the sanctity and purity of the written scriptures were
executed (in 922) when he translated his visions and miracles
suspicious of, even hostile to, those who claimed to have vi-
into a political following that threatened the dominant
sions not mediated through the scripture. Since textual inter-
order.
pretation has gained the dominant socio-political position
Within European Christianity (from the time of Con-
within all three traditions (probably because this mode of re-
stantine, at least, until well into the modern period) the or-
ligious inquiry responded better to the increasingly complex
thodox were closely connected with the ruling political
social organization within which the traditions flourished),
groups. Christian mystics, like their Muslim counterparts,
the ecstatic elements common to the earliest prophetic activi-
were accepted by the orthodox as long as their revelational
ty played a diminished role in later tradition. Since
claims were subordinated to the authority of the church and
Muh:ammad there has been no prophet to form a religious
Bible (e.g., Francis of Assisi and Teresa of Ávila). Yet, wher-
tradition with a stature equaling that of Judaism, Christiani-
ever claims of fresh revelation threatened the ecclesiastical
ty, or Islam.
and political power structure, the authorities responded—
Even so, while contemporary prophetic inspiration lost
and violently, as with Joan of Arc, whom the English burned
influence at the center of religious authority, it was never
for heresy when she transformed her revelational claims into
eliminated entirely. Throughout history, in pre-Christian Ju-
a potent military force. It is easy to understand why few
daism, in early Christianity, and in pre-Muslim and early-
Christians claimed to be prophets, and why, at the same
Muslim Arabia, prophetic figures were active alongside
time, accusations of false prophecy were leveled at those
(though often in competition with) the rationalized institu-
whose voices one wanted to silence.
tions of canonical religion. Within the exegetical tradition
Since fairly early in the common era, Jews have been
itself inspirational interpretation has been a perennial source
outside the dominant power structure in cultures where they
of innovation in theological thinking. In early Judaism, some
lived. Only if the prophetic claims of a messianic hopeful
of those who collected and arranged sacred writings within
threatened the dominant social order of the host society was
the Hebrew Bible conceived themselves to be prophets, for
there any likelihood of political repression. Such was the case
example, the levitical priests Korah and Asaph, who claimed
with Shabbetai Tsevi (1626–1676), whose messianic move-
prophetic inspiration for their hymnology and arranged the
ment was perceived as a threat by his Turkish (Muslim) over-
psalter in a structure that gives special prominence to a pro-
lords. Tsevi recanted under threat of death. Otherwise, ten-
phetic interpretation of psalms. And later, during the medi-
sions between the more rationalist orthodoxy and mystical
eval period, qabbalist interpretation of the Bible elevated not
visionaries was something to be settled among Jews. Since
only the revelational experiences of the biblical authors, but
Jewish orthodoxy had no power greater than rational persua-
also the necessity for inspiration among exegetes. Similar at-
sion, its ability to control mystical elements was minimal.
titudes are present among Christian (e.g., Jerome and Bona-
Hence the Besht (YisraDel ben EliEezer, 1700–1760) was able
ventura) and Muslim (e.g., al-Halla¯j) interpreters.
to generate a massive following despite the detraction of his
More generally one can speak of mysticism within Juda-
orthodox opponents.
ism, Christianity, and Islam as being analogous with prophe-
In no case, however, could visionaries or mystics claim
cy in earlier tradition. Insofar as mystics define religious
for themselves a mediational status equal with the founding
knowledge as the immediate (i.e., unmediated) perception
prophets without subverting revealed canons and the tradi-
of the divine, the nature of their experience and epistemology
tions that rested upon them. Those who made such claims
is similar to earlier prophets. However, their activity is to be
founded new traditions (i.e., Jesus, Mani, and Muh:ammad)
distinguished sharply from earlier prophecy, since the canon-
or failed in the attempt. Otherwise prophetic and mystical
ical traditions had no recognized need for specialists in medi-
vision was subordinated to the revelation that had already
ating divine revelation. Each tradition accommodated spon-
been canonized. In all three traditions the canonical revela-
taneous outbreaks of inspirational, ecstatic, visionary
tion, once defined, resisted internal challenges and remained
behavior, but each also maintained strict controls, lest the ul-
the touchstone of religious truth for well over a thousand
timate authority of canonical revelation be undercut.
years.
Sufism (Muslim mysticism) first appeared within one
PROPHECY IN MODERN TIMES. During the modern period
hundred years of Muhammad’s death. While some S:u¯f¯ıs
in Europe public recognition of biblical prophecy has dwin-
who quietly made claim to personal revelation or mystical
dled along with certain other aspects of European religion
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7428
PROPHECY: AN OVERVIEW
that had supported its primacy. The importance of prophets
croached on territory inhabited by tribal peoples, they often
as the mediators of revealed truth declined sharply as the En-
found among the native religious specialists figures who
lightenment demolished confidence in the truth of revelation
showed a marked similarity to the traditional image of
generally and enshrined a new standard of knowledge arrived
prophets within the major Western canonical religions. An-
at on the basis of observation and critical reasoning. At first
thropologists and comparative religionists have studied such
these changes affected only the intellectual elite who had
modern prophets and their religious environment, where
considered the impact of philosophical developments upon
truths revealed through the mouths of inspired speakers re-
conceptions of God, religious truth, and divine mediation.
main a dominant influence in all aspects of social and per-
Some philosophers (such as Hume) denied altogether the
sonal life. Through direct observation of such religious sys-
importance of revelation (and, therefore, prophetic media-
tems scholars now understand the dynamics of prophecy
tion) as a source of knowledge. Others tried to accommodate
with some specificity, and detailed research has dispelled var-
revelational truths within a philosophical framework (e.g.,
ious myths about its nature. It is known, for example, that
Descartes and Kierkegaard). But others, such as Blake and
ecstatic behavior among religious specialists can help main-
Nietzsche, considered themselves to be prophets, though in
tain the structure of society, whereas scholars had long
their writings it is clear that they had redefined concepts re-
thought that ecstasy destabilized social order through its irra-
lated to inspiration, revelation, and truth to suit the needs
tional influence. Likewise, the widespread opinion that an-
of people living in post-Enlightenment civilization.
cient prophets were individualists crying to deaf ears from
the loneliness of the desert now seems to be a romantic ideal.
The discussion of such ideas among philosophers, scien-
Rather, groups tend to support prophets who express their
tists, and literati was contained within a minuscule portion
interests, while prophets acting entirely on their own rarely
of European culture, and the effects of their writings upon
find a significant audience.
the general population materialized only very slowly. Of
CONCLUSION. Though comparative theorists working with
greater significance for popular religious culture was the di-
modern evidence have not yet established a single dominant
minished authority of the church. In some cases the reduc-
interpretation of prophecy, a variety of complementary ap-
tion in ecclesiastical power was a direct outgrowth of En-
proaches now challenges the exclusivistic confessional inter-
lightenment thinking, as in the United States, where religion
pretations that characterized the earlier period. Some schol-
was consciously and explicitly separated from the centers of
ars (e.g., I. M. Lewis—see bibliography) consider ecstatic
political power. But for the most part it seems that reduc-
religious behavior a means of expression used by disenfran-
tions in the power of the church to enforce its dogmas al-
chised groups who find standard channels of communication
lowed for greater religious diversity (as during the Reforma-
closed to them. Those studying religious behavior among
tion), so that Enlightenment thinkers, and others, could
shamans, Pentecostals, and other modern prophetic figures
express their religious views openly. Within this religious en-
have found “deprivation theory” useful in showing how ec-
vironment a new set of prophets arose to proclaim them-
static persons support the position and structure of groups
selves as messengers bearing the divine word, and some have
whose position in society is outside the normal channels of
found success in founding new sects that revere their writings
power and influence. Others (e.g., Victor Turner—see bibli-
as sacred canon. Joseph Smith (1805–1844), for example, es-
ography) interpret prochecy within a framework of social
tablished the Church of Latter-Day Saints upon the claim
evolution. These scholars see prophets as appearing in peri-
that he had received revelations from Jesus Christ and from
ods of transition between societies organized along lines of
an angel who entrusted him with the Book of Mormon. Those
kinship and clan affiliation and those structured according
who profess Christian Science regard the writings of Mary
to more highly complex groupings that accompany the rise
Baker Eddy (1821–1910) as sacred and inviolable. Others,
of states, class stratification and institutional religion. Either
notably the members of the international Pentecostal or the
interpretive model applies consistent evaluative criteria to
later charismatic movements, are modern ecstatics who con-
both the ancient evidence and the modern anthropological
sider themselves capable of receiving the spirit and speaking
data without elevating the status of any one religious tradi-
as divine agents.
tion over another. In this they are distinctively modern inter-
pretations of prophecy, in contrast with canonical views,
As Europe exported culture during its colonialist expan-
which persist in granting special recognition to the pro-
sions, it came to affect and discover religious traditions else-
phet(s) of a single confessional tradition.
where. Among Muslims, for example, critical thinking about
the status of Muh:ammad has had some impact under the in-
SEE ALSO Canon; Divination; Oracles.
fluence of and on analogy with Western reflections about re-
ligious origins. However, more important for the study of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
prophecy has been the impact of imperialism and modern
For the background of mediation between gods and human beings
Western culture on the indigenous tribal societies of the
within world religions, Mircea Eliade’s Shamanism: Archaic
Americas, Africa, and maritime colonies (see bibliography,
Techniques of Ecstasy, rev. & enl. ed. (New York, 1964), re-
especially the entries on the ghost dance among Native
mains unsurpassed for its breadth. Works about the found-
Americans and cargo cults in Melanesia). As colonists en-
ing prophets normally contain a general discussion and bibli-
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
PROPHECY: BIBLICAL PROPHECY
7429
ography concerning their specific precursors. Such are
the dialogue between Muslim and Christian conceptions of
Robert R. Wilson’s Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel
prophetic revelation.
(Philadelphia, 1980); David L. Petersen’s The Roles of Israel’s
GERALD T. SHEPPARD (1987)
Prophets (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, supp. 17;
WILLIAM E. HERBRECHTSMEIER (1987)
Sheffield, 1981, which surveys the evidence for Israelite in-
termediation in the ancient Near East, and David E. Aune’s
Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean
World (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1983), which gives a thorough
PROPHECY: BIBLICAL PROPHECY
discussion of Greco-Roman prophecy as well as its forms
Throughout much of the history of Western thought, the
among the first Christians. Many critical works on Hebrew
prophecy approach the subject from within the confessional
biblical prophets have been understood as unique figures
community of Jews (e.g., Martin Buber’s The Prophetic
whose sudden appearance in ancient Israel had a profound
Faith, New York, 1949, and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The
impact on the development of Judaism and Christianity.
Prophets, New York, 1962 or Christians (e.g., Gerhard von
They have been considered ethical and moral innovators
Rad’s The Message of the Prophets, London, 1968. Most treat-
whose views decisively shaped later Jewish and Christian the-
ments of prophecy ignore the significance of Zarathushtra
ology. Particularly in Christian tradition, they have been
and Mani, since they both have few, if any, modern followers
seen as revealers of the future whose oracles predicted the
to proclaim their value. Mary Boyce’s A History of Zoroastri-
coming of Jesus and whose words may still contain unrecog-
anism, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1975–1982), and Kurt Rudolph’s
nized clues to the course of world history.
Gnosis (San Francisco, 1983) provide useful bibliographies
and discussions of the life and time of these prophets, respec-
This understanding of the biblical prophets continues
tively. The books on Muh:ammad are many; the most read-
to exist today. However, during the past century the tradi-
able and intelligent is Maxime Rodinson’s Mohammed (New
tional view has come under increasing attack from biblical
York, 1971), which contains a critical evaluation of the
scholars, who have reexamined the biblical evidence and then
works that preceded it. Toufic Fahd’s “Ka¯hin,” in The Ency-
proposed a number of alternative and often conflicting theo-
clopaedia of Islam, new ed., vol. 4 (Leiden, 1978),
ries about the nature and functions of Israelite prophecy. Re-
pp. 420–422, is a short peculiarly lucid account of the diffi-
jecting the common notion that prophecy is concerned only
culties inherent in reconstructing Arab divination during the
with the future, scholars have portrayed the prophets vari-
pre-Islamic period.
ously as creators of a highly intellectual form of ethical mo-
Regrettably, no book discusses prophecy within a framework as
notheism, as ecstatics scarcely in control of their own actions,
broad as that suggested in this article. Hence, we suggest that
as religious officials with regular duties in the Israelite cult,
the reader consult other articles within this encyclopedia for
as shrewd political advisers, as isolated mystics, and as guard-
detailed bibliographies on such topics as mysticism, ecstasy,
ians of Israel’s religious traditions. The Hebrew Bible con-
canon, scripture, and the Enlightenment, as well as on indi-
tains evidence to support all of these interpretations, and for
viduals that we have mentioned in the text.
this reason the scholarly debate on the nature of prophecy
continues with no sign of an emerging consensus.
Among works that may not be listed in other articles is the anthro-
pological literature on prophecy. Max Weber’s work has had
However, scholars have increasingly recognized that an
a seminal influence on the field; see both Ancient Judaism
adequate understanding of Israelite prophecy can be
(1922; Glencoe, Ill., 1952) and The Sociology of Religion
achieved only by using extrabiblical evidence to supplement
(1922; Boston, 1963). I. M. Lewis’s Ecstatic Religion (Har-
the narratives about prophetic activity and the words of the
mondsworth, 1971) is a sociology of ecstatic behavior based
prophets that have been preserved in the Bible. The most im-
on a broad range of comparative evidence, and though it
portant extrabiblical evidence comes from two different
does not address prophecy per se, it has influenced others
sources. The first source provides additional documentary
(viz. Wilson, cited above) that do. Victor Turner’s “Religious
evidence on the nature of prophecy in antiquity. During the
Specialists: Anthropological Study,” in the International En-
cyclopedia of the Social Sciences, edited by David L. Sills (New
past century archaeologists have uncovered a number of an-
York, 1968), vol. 13, pp. 437–444, offers analytical catego-
cient Near Eastern texts that challenge the traditional notion
ries useful in distinguishing prophets from other religious
that the Israelite prophets were unique religious figures in an-
personnel. A number of books describe the activity of proph-
tiquity. In the Mesopotamian city of Mari on the Euphrates,
ets in modern cultures: Peter Worsley’s The Trumpet Shall
excavators have found letters from the eighteenth century
Sound: A Study of “Cargo” Cults in Melanesia (1957; New
BCE describing the activities and messages of several differ-
York, 1968); E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s Nuer Religion (Oxford,
ent types of oracle givers who bear some resemblance to the
1956) and The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (Oxford, 1949); James
later Israelite prophets. The Mari oracles come from various
Mooney’s The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak
gods and do not seem to have been solicited by the person
of 1890 (1896; abr. ed., Chicago, 1965); and Vittorio Lan-
to whom they are addressed. Some of the oracle givers de-
ternari’s The Religions of the Oppressed: A Study of Modern
scribed in the letters are ordinary individuals, but others have
Messianic Cults (New York, 1963).
special titles, which indicates that these figures exhibited
Finally, Kenneth Cragg’s Muhammad and the Christian: A Ques-
characteristic behavior and filled a recognized religious role
tion of Response (New York, 1984) is a valuable beginning for
in the society of Mari. Among the specialists mentioned are
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PROPHECY: BIBLICAL PROPHECY
the “answerer” (apilu), the “ecstatic” (muhhu), the “speaker”
prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, and the narratives de-
(qabbatum), and a member of the cultic personnel of the
scribing prophetic activity, found mainly in the books of the
goddess Ishtar, the meaning of whose title (assinnu) is uncer-
Deuteronomic history (Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and
tain. Later texts from the time of the Assyrian kings Esarhad-
2 Kings). Both of these sources are difficult to interpret be-
don (r. 680–669 BCE) and Ashurbanipal (r. 668–627 BCE)
cause of their unusual character. At least until the exile
record the oracles of Assyrian contemporaries of some of the
(587/6 BCE), the prophets seem to have composed and deliv-
Israelite prophets. In addition to the ecstatic, the texts men-
ered their oracles orally. Only later were their words collect-
tion the “shouter” (raggimu), the “revealer” (shabru), and the
ed, written down, and finally arranged in small collections,
“votary” (shelutu).
or books. This work was done either by the prophets them-
Religious specialists resembling the biblical prophets
selves or by their disciples. Some of the written collections
also existed outside of Israelite territory in other areas of Pal-
were then further edited by later generations of writers and
estine. Inscriptions from the eighth and ninth centuries BCE
editors, who were interested in preserving and above all inter-
refer to a “message giver” ( Edd) and a “visionary” (h:zh), a title
preting the prophets’ original pronouncements. As a result
also given to some of the biblical prophets. This evidence
of this long process of transmission and composition, it is
suggests that prophetic activity was going on elsewhere in the
often difficult to separate genuine prophetic material from
ancient Near East before and during the time when prophets
the interpretive work of later editors. A similar sort of prob-
were active in Israel. Furthermore, the apparent diversity of
lem exists in the case of the prophetic narratives of the Deu-
these non-Israelite specialists suggests that prophecy in Israel
teronomic history. Some of the stories, such as those con-
may have been a more complex phenomenon than scholars
cerning Elijah and Elisha (1 Kgs. 17–2 Kgs. 9), probably
have previously thought.
circulated individually or as collections in oral tradition be-
fore being incorporated in the written work of the historian.
This suggestion is reinforced by extrabiblical evidence
As part of the incorporation process, the stories were edited
from the second source, the studies that sociologists and an-
at least once, and perhaps several times, in order to express
thropologists have made of contemporary oracle givers.
the political, social, and religious views of the writers. For
These specialists form a highly diverse group that includes
various types of mediums, diviners, priests, and shamans, but
this reason, it is sometimes difficult to use the narratives for
like the biblical prophets they all see themselves as intermedi-
historiographic purposes.
aries between the human and divine worlds. In spite of obvi-
Because of the nature of the sources from which a de-
ous differences, these figures often exhibit similar behavioral
scription of prophecy must be derived, any attempt to recon-
characteristics and interact with their societies in much the
struct a picture of prophetic activity must necessarily involve
same way. This interaction has been analyzed extensively by
a great deal of interpretation, and the results will often be in-
anthropologists and shown to be highly complex. By deliver-
complete and tentative. This is particularly true of attempts
ing messages from the divine realm, oracle givers are capable
to describe the prophets’ supernatural experiences, which by
of bringing about changes in their societies, but at the same
their very nature were private and not open to public scruti-
time societies play a direct role in accrediting oracle givers
ny. The prophets say very little about their experiences and
and shaping their behavior.
even in recounting their “calls” to prophesy rarely describe
The modern anthropological evidence indicates that the
more than the initial vision that they saw (Is. 6, Ez. 1–3) or
phenomenon of prophecy can be adequately understood
the words that they heard (Jer. 1:4–10; Am. 7:15). Instead,
only when the dynamic relationship between prophet and
the texts concentrate on the messages that the prophets re-
society is fully explored. This means that any account of
ceived during their encounters with God. However, enough
prophecy in ancient Israel (c. 1200–200 BCE) must see the
clues exist to suggest that Israel conceived of the prophetic
prophets in particular social contexts rather than treating
experience as one that occurred when individuals were pos-
them as ideal figures abstracted from their historical settings.
sessed by the spirit of God. “The hand of the Lord” fell upon
For this reason it is necessary to avoid making too many
them (1 Kgs. 18:46; 2 Kgs. 3:15; Jer. 15:17; Ez. 1:3), or the
statements about biblical prophecy in general. Each prophet
spirit of God “rested on them” (Nm. 11:25–26) or “clothed
occupied a unique place in the history of Israel and was part
itself” with them (Jgs. 6:34) so that they were no longer in
of a complex interaction between prophecy and society in a
control of their own speech and actions. As is typical in cases
particular time and place. The history of Israelite prophecy
of spirit possession in a number of cultures, Israel interpreted
is the history of a series of such interactions. However, once
the words that the prophets spoke during possession not as
the uniqueness of each prophet is recognized, it is possible
human words but as the words of God. The prophets were
to outline some general features that characterized Israelite
simply the channels through which the divine word came to
prophecy as a whole and to isolate some characteristics that
the world. Once the prophets were possessed by God, they
were peculiar to particular groups of prophets.
felt compelled to deliver the message that God wanted to
THE PROPHETIC EXPERIENCE. Direct information about Is-
communicate (Am. 3:8). The divine word was perceived as
raelite prophecy comes from two sources: the oracles of the
a “burning fire” that gnawed at them until it was delivered
prophets themselves, now preserved primarily in the fifteen
(Jer. 20:9).
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7431
Because of the loss of personal autonomy associated
not, it refers to figures located there. Judahite historical tradi-
with divine possession, the prophets did not usually view the
tions suggest that visionaries were particularly active during
experience positively. In the accounts of their initial call, they
the period of the early monarchy (during the reigns of David,
sometimes speak of trying to avoid becoming prophets (Jer.
Solomon, and Rehoboam), when some of them were part of
1:6), and some of them report that they repeatedly sought
the royal court in Jerusalem, but references to them in the
release from their prophetic roles (Jer. 11:18–12:6, 15:15–
writing prophets indicate that they persisted at least until the
21; cf. Ez. 2:1–3:15). However, such attempts at resistance
exile (1 Chr. 21:9, 25:5, 29:29; 2 Chr. 9:29, 12:15, 19:2,
were always futile, and in the end the compulsion to prophe-
29:25, 30; cf. 2 Sm. 24:11). The title “visionary” clearly re-
sy could not be thwarted.
fers to the distinctive means by which these figures received
their revelations, and indeed three of the Judahite prophetic
Although the prophets themselves were apparently re-
books explicitly speak of the visionary origin of their oracles
luctant to describe the process through which they received
(Am. 1:1; Mi. 1:1; Is. 1:1), while a fourth (Ez.) contains nu-
their oracles, additional information on the nature of the
merous descriptions of revelatory visions. This particular
prophetic experience can be deduced from the various titles
mode of divine-human communication was apparently not
given to these individuals and from the descriptions of their
well regarded in the north, where prophets preferred to speak
characteristic behavior. This evidence suggests that the pro-
of their oracles as the words that they heard rather than the
phetic experience was not the same for all prophets and that
visions that they saw (Hos. 1:1, Jer. 1:1–4). In some circles
the prophets’ characteristic behavior and social functions var-
outside of Judah, visions may have been considered an inferi-
ied enough to require more than one title or role label.
or form of revelation (Nm. 12:6–9; cf. Dt. 13:1–6), a fact
Prophetic titles. The English word prophet is ultimately
that may help to explain the northern priest Amaziah’s deri-
derived from the Greek proph¯et¯es, a noun that means both
sive characterization of the Judahite prophet Amos as a pro-
“one who speaks forth” or “one who proclaims” and “one
fessional visionary (Am. 7:12–15).
who speaks before” or “one who speaks of the future.” The
Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible used this word to ren-
In addition to the navi D and the h:ozeh, the biblical writ-
der several Hebrew titles and apparently understood it to be
ers mention three other prophetic titles, which were appar-
a general term capable of being applied to various types of
ently not widely used. In 1 Samuel 9:9 Samuel is called a
religious specialists. However, in ancient Israel the different
“seer” (ro Deh; lit., “one who sees”), a title that the writer af-
types of prophetic figures bore distinctive titles, although the
firms was already archaic. If the old story in this chapter is
understanding and usage of these titles varied with the group
historically accurate, then the seer was a specialist in commu-
that used them and the time in which they were used.
nicating with the divine world, presumably through visions,
dreams, or divination. People who wanted to request infor-
The most common prophetic title used in the Hebrew
mation from a deity could go to the seer, who in exchange
Bible is navi D. Extrabiblical occurrences of the word are ex-
for a fee would transmit the petitioner’s request and return
tremely rare, and its etymology is uncertain, although schol-
an answer. In the north this particular function was later as-
ars normally relate it to the Akkadian verb nabu, “to call, to
igned to the navi D, while elsewhere various diviners and
announce, to name.” The title may thus mean either “one
priests were the agents of intercession (1 Sm. 9:9, Dt. 18:9–
who calls” or “one who is called,” but this etymology sheds
22). Late references to the seer may be archaisms (2 Ch. 16:7,
little light on the precise characteristics of the figure so desig-
16:10), and it is probable that the title ceased to be used in
nated. In preexilic times the label navi D was particularly com-
the early monarchical period.
mon in northern Israel (Ephraim), where it was a general
term for any prophetic figure and was the only title given to
Better attested is the title “man of God” (ish ha-Elohim),
legitimate prophets. In Israelite literature produced in the
which appears in northern sources, particularly in the old
north or influenced by traditions originating there (the Deu-
prophetic legends of the Elijah-Elisha cycle in the Deutero-
teronomic history, Hosea, Jeremiah), the navi D played a cen-
nomic history (1 Kgs. 17–2 Kgs. 10). This label may have
tral role in religious life and was associated with the preserva-
originally been applied to people who were thought able to
tion of ancient theological traditions. To the south, in Judah
control divine power and use it in various miraculous ways,
and particularly in Jerusalem, the title was also in use as a
but its usage was eventually broadened to include anyone
general role label, but it appears much less frequently in Ju-
who had a special relationship to God. When the designation
dahite literature and is often used in negative contexts. After
“man of God” became an honorific title, any specifically pro-
the exile navi’ was used by all biblical writers as a general pro-
phetic connotations that it may have had were presumably
phetic title and seems to have no longer been recognized as
muted or lost.
a distinctive role label.
In addition to titles normally applied to a single individ-
While navi D was the most common prophetic title in the
ual, the biblical writers also apply the label “sons of the
north, in Judah and particularly in Jerusalem the term “vi-
prophets” (benei ha-nevi Dim) to members of prophetic
sionary” (h:ozeh) was the preferred designation. This role
groups. The title is attested only in the Elijah-Elisha stories
label appears primarily in texts originating in the south
and seems to have been used for a relatively brief period in
(Amos, Micah, Isaiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles), and when it does
northern Israel (c. 869–842 BCE). The sons of the prophets
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PROPHECY: BIBLICAL PROPHECY
were clearly members of a prophetic guild that had a hierar-
syllables to perfectly coherent discourse. Sometimes ecstatic
chical structure headed by a leader with the title “father.” On
behavior in Israel was incapacitating or dangerous (1 Sm.
the death of the leader, the title was transferred to another
19:18–24, 1 Kgs. 18:26–29), but at least in the case of those
prophet (2 Kgs. 2:12, 6:21, 13:14). Members of the group
prophets who wrote, ecstasy appears to have involved con-
sometimes lived together and shared common meals (2 Kgs.
trolled actions and intelligible speech (Jer. 4:19, 23:9; Ez.
4:1, 4:38–41, 6:1). It has been suggested that the sons of the
1:1–3:15, 8:1–11:25).
prophets were ecstatics, but there is no evidence of such be-
havior in the narratives about them.
As part of their characteristic behavior, some of Israel’s
prophets accompanied their oracles with symbolic acts, al-
Prophetic behavior. In ancient Israel, as in every soci-
though this practice was by no means common even among
ety, the behavior of divinely possessed individuals followed
the prophets who employed it. In most cases these acts seem
certain stereotypical patterns, although these patterns varied
to have been designed to provide the background for an ora-
somewhat depending on the historical, geographical, and so-
cle or to dramatize the prophet’s words. Thus Hosea and Isa-
cial setting of the prophets’ activities. There are two reasons
iah gave their children symbolic names that foretold the fate
for the existence of this behavior. First, Israelite society set
of the nation (Hos. 1:4–9; Is. 7:3, 8:1–4). Isaiah reportedly
definite limits on the kinds of behavior that its prophets
walked naked through the streets of Jerusalem for three years
could exhibit. In most social situations violent or uncon-
to drive home the point that the Assyrians would lead the
trolled actions were not tolerated, and when they occurred,
Egyptians into captivity (Is. 20). Jeremiah smashed a pot be-
they were considered a sign of mental illness or possession
fore his listeners to dramatize the destruction what would
by evil powers. Prophets who wished to be considered genu-
soon occur in Jerusalem, and he later wore a wooden yoke
ine therefore had to keep their behavior within recognized
before the king to reinforce an oracle counseling surrender
boundaries or risk being considered insane. Second, mem-
to the Babylonians (Jer. 19:1–15, 27:1–28:17). A few of
bers of social groups in which prophets operated had to face
these acts seem to move beyond symbolism into the realm
the problem of determining when divine possession was ac-
of magic. When Elisha commanded the Israelite king Joash
tually present. They needed to have some grounds for assign-
to strike the ground with his arrows, the number of times
ing a prophetic title to a particular individual. One of the
that the king struck the ground determined the number of
ways in which they solved this problem was to examine the
victories that Israel would have over Syria (2 Kgs. 13:14–19).
behavior of people in the past who were known to have been
Similarly, Ezekiel’s elaborate drawing of the besieged Jerusa-
genuine prophets of God. Individuals who wished to be ac-
lem actually seems to bring the siege into existence (Ez.
credited as prophets were thus subtly pressed to conform to
4:1–8). However, in spite of these examples of sympathetic
the group’s picture of genuine prophetic behavior.
magic, the working of miracles was not normally a compo-
nent of prophetic behavior in Israel.
Prophetic actions. Biblical writers rarely describe behav-
ior indicative of possession, but the existence of stereotypical
In addition to performing certain characteristic actions,
prophetic actions can be inferred from the Bible’s occasional
some of Israel’s prophets wore distinctive clothing and bore
use of the verb hitnabbe D, which seems to mean “to act like
a special mark that identified them as prophets or as mem-
a prophet, to exhibit the behavior characteristic of a navi D.”
bers of a prophetic guild (1 Kgs. 20:35–41, 2 Kgs. 1:8, Zec.
This verb refers to both prophetic words and deeds, but the
13:4). However, this practice does not seem to have been
texts give it no specific definition. It is clear, however, that
widespread.
the prophet’s characteristic behavior was evaluated positively
by some groups but negatively by others. In some cases it was
Prophetic speech. As part of their characteristic behavior,
seen a a sign of divine legitimation and favor (Nm. 11:11–29,
some prophets may have used stereotypical speech patterns
1 Sm. 10:1–13), while on other occasions it was considered
and shaped their oracles in certain traditional ways. The exis-
an indication of madness or possession by an evil spirit (1
tence of a distinctive northern oracle pattern is suggested by
Sm. 18:10–11, 19:18–24; 1 Kgs. 18:26–29; Jer. 29:24–28).
the fact that the Deuteronomic history and the prophetic lit-
erature dependent on it (Jeremiah) often quote prophetic or-
It is likely that some of Israel’s prophets were ecstatics.
acles that have a tripartite structure. The oracle begins with
The word ecstasy is usually understood to refer to a type of
the commissioning of the prophetic messenger and then
trance behavior marked by psychological and physiological
moves to an accusation against an individual who has violat-
symptoms such as a reduction of sensitivity to outside stimu-
ed Israel’s covenantal law. Following the accusation, an an-
li, hallucinations or visions, a garbled perception of sur-
nouncement of judgment is addressed directly to the ac-
rounding events, and an apparent loss of conscious control
cused. The announcement is usually introduced by a
over speech and actions. The intensity of ecstasy and its spe-
stereotypical “messenger formula,” such as the following:
cific characteristics vary depending on the individual being
“Thus says the Lord”; “Therefore, thus says the Lord”; or
possessed and the group in which possession occurs. The ac-
“For thus says the Lord” (1 Sm. 2:27–36, 13:11–14, 15:10–
tions of an ecstatic prophet may range from apparently un-
31; 2 Sam. 12; 1 Kgs. 11:29–40, 13:1–3, 14:7–14, 17:1,
controlled physical activity to completely normal physical ac-
20:35–43, 21:17–22, 22:13–23; 2 Kgs. 1:3–4, 1:6, 20:14–
tivity, and his speech may range from unintelligible nonsense
19, 21:10–15; Jer. 20:1–6, 22:10–12, 22:13–19, 22:24–27,
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7433
28:12–16, 29:24–32, 36:29–30, 37:17). If this pattern is not
constant experience for any given person, many of the
simply a literary convention of the Deuteronomic authors,
prophets participated fully in other areas of communal life.
then what is often called the “announcement of disaster to
Thus, for example, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were both priests
individuals” may have been a characteristic feature of the
who were possessed and transformed into prophets (Jer. 1:1,
speech of Ephraimite prophets. Other Israelite prophets also
Ez. 1:3). Some priests may have delivered prophetic oracles
announced disaster to individuals and to the nation as a
as part of their regular cultic activities, while in the postexilic
whole, but their oracles did not conform to rigid patterns.
period Levitical singers in the Temple also had prophetic
functions (1 Chr. 25:1–8; 2 Chr. 20:1–23, 34:30). Some
Judahite prophets may have once used stereotypical
prophets, like Gad, seem to have earned their living through
forms of speech, but if so, the patterns had broken down by
prophecy and were members of the royal court (1 Sm.
the time the oracles were recorded in writing. Early Judahite
22:1–5, 2 Sm. 24:1–25), while others, like Amos, engaged
writing prophets such as Amos, Micah, and Isaiah seem to
in other occupations and prophesied only occasionally (Am.
have favored distinctive judgment oracles beginning with the
1:1, 7:14–15).
cry “alas” (Heb., hoy) and followed by one or more partici-
ples describing the addressee and specifying his crime. This
Prophetic authority. Discussions of prophetic authori-
introduction was followed by an announcement of disaster
ty normally focus on the prophetic-call narratives (Is. 6, Jer.
in various forms (Am. 5:18–20, 6:1–7; Is. 5:8–10, 5:11–14,
1, Ez. 1–3) and on the “charisma” that these extraordinary
5:18–19, 5:20, 5:21, 5:22–24, 10:1–3, 28:1–4, 29:1–4,
individuals are thought to have possessed. It is assumed that
29:15, 30:1–3, 31:1–4; Mi. 2:1–4). However, even if the
because the prophets were endowed with supernatural
“alas oracles” were once characteristic of southern prophetic
power, they were automatically accorded authority and
speech, they were later used by prophets outside of that
viewed as divinely chosen leaders. To be sure, the prophets
tradition.
did sometimes cite their initial experiences of possession in
order to gain support for their message, and they may be ac-
The Hebrew word massaD, traditionally translated “bur-
curately described as charismatics, although they were cer-
den,” may have once designated a specialized type of Juda-
tainly not the only ones in Israelite society. However, these
hite oracle against foreign nations (Is. 13:1, 14:28, 15:1,
two factors must not be stressed at the expense of recognizing
17:1, 19:1, 21:1, 21:11, 21:13, 22:1, 23:1, 30:6; Na. 1:1;
the role that Israelite society played in creating and sustain-
Hb. 1:1; Zec. 9:1, 12:1; Mal. 1:1). However, if so, the origi-
ing prophets.
nal characteristic form of the oracle has not been preserved,
and its distinctive function has been lost.
The process by which ancient Israel recognized and ac-
In addition to using speech patterns that seem to be pri-
cepted the authority of genuine prophets was subtle and
marily prophetic, Israel’s prophets employed specialized lan-
complex, but at least some of its elements can be identified.
guage drawn from various spheres of Israelite life. For exam-
One element concerned a prophet’s conformity to certain
ple, from the courts they took legal language and formed trial
standards of behavior. At least those Israelites who created
speeches that mirrored judicial proceedings (Is. 1; Mi. 6; Jer.
and carried the biblical traditions recognized as authoritative
2; Is. 41:1–5, 41:21–29, 42:18–25, 43:8–15, 43:22–28,
only those prophets who stood in a recognizably Israelite
44:6–8, 50:1–3). From the Temple they took priestly in-
prophetic tradition. This meant above all that the only legiti-
struction and liturgical fragments and incorporated them
mate prophets were those who were possessed by Yahveh, the
into prophetic oracles. However, scholars have not usually
God of Israel. Prophets possessed by other deities were not
succeeded in uncovering widespread structural patterns in
to be taken seriously, and the Deuteronomic writers went so
oracles of this sort, and it is probably best not to understand
far as to decree the death penalty for prophets who spoke in
them as characteristic of the behavior of prophetic possession
the name of other gods (Dt. 18:20). However, outside of
in general.
these circles, possession by other gods was accepted, and for
a brief time prophets of Baal and Asherah were part of the
PROPHECY AND SOCIETY. In the past there has been a ten-
religious establishment in the northern kingdom of Israel
dency to portray the Israelite prophets as isolated individuals
(Ephraim) (1 Kgs. 18:19–40).
who appeared suddenly before a particular group, delivered
an uncompromising divine message, and then disappeared
Prophets who wished to be considered legitimate also
as quickly as they had come. It was assumed that this individ-
were pressed to make their behavior conform to what various
ualism set them at odds with their society and inevitably
Israelite groups recognized as traditional prophetic behavior.
brought them into conflict with rival religious professionals,
Canons of acceptable behavior varied from group to group
particularly the priests. However, more recently scholars
within Israel, and for this reason prophets who were consid-
have recognized that the prophets were integrally related to
ered legitimate by one group might not be considered legiti-
the societies in which they lived. These individuals played
mate by other groups. Thus, for example, shortly before the
many social roles, not all of which were related to their pro-
fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, Jeremiah and the group
phetic activities. Because in ancient Israel there were appar-
that supported him condemned those prophets who predict-
ently no restrictions on the type of person who could be pos-
ed the salvation of the city, even though they were accepted
sessed by God’s spirit, and because possession was not a
as legitimate prophets by powerful groups within the royal
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7434
PROPHECY: BIBLICAL PROPHECY
court. In the eyes of Jeremiah and his supporters, these
in Deuteronomic theology. These prophets had more direct
prophets were illegitimate because the form and content of
communication with God than did ordinary prophets and
their oracles and the means by which they received them did
for this reason were more effective intercessors and gave more
not conform to the patterns that Jeremiah’s community ac-
reliable oracles. The words of a Mosaic prophet would inevi-
cepted (Jer. 23:9–40). Isaiah and his disciples, too, had re-
tably come true, according to the Deuteronomists, and when
jected the authority of some of the prophets in Jerusalem be-
these figures appear in the Deuteronomic history, the fulfill-
cause of their aberrant behavior (Is. 28:7–10), and in
ment of their oracles is always noted (Nm. 12:1–8; Dt.
Babylonia the exilic community of Ezekiel denied legitimacy
18:15–22; 1 Kgs. 11:30–39, 12:15, 14:7–11, 15:27–30,
to those prophets who were still active in the Temple in Jeru-
16:1–4, 16:9–13; 2 Kgs. 1:15–17). This criterion for recog-
salem (Ez. 13:1–23).
nizing authentic prophets was not always useful, for oracles
might only later be fulfilled, in the distant future, and the
A second element involved in the process of prophetic
reliability of a particular prophet’s predictions could not al-
authentication was the degree to which the prophet fitted
ways be determined.
into a recognized Israelite theological tradition. This did not
mean that the prophet was not free to innovate or criticize
Once a prophet was considered authentic by a particular
the tradition, but he had to remain rooted in it. Thus, for
group in Israel, he seems to have been at least tolerated by
example, in Deuteronomic tradition any prophet who advo-
the rest of the society. Some of the prophets had free access
cated the worship of other gods was considered to have
to the king, the royal court, and the Temple and could carry
placed himself outside of the tradition by violating its overar-
out their activities without being harassed. Prophets were
ching monotheistic principle, and the prophet not only was
generally not held responsible for their words or actions be-
considered unauthentic but, like the prophet who spoke
cause they spoke a divine word and not their own (Jer.
in the name of another god, was to be put to death
26:12–16). However, there were some limits to this freedom,
(Dt. 13:1–5).
particularly when the prophet criticized the king and the
priesthood, and some of the prophets were killed because of
Because Israel’s theological traditions were not always
their oracles (Jer. 26).
in agreement with each other at every point, what was ac-
ceptable prophetic behavior in one tradition might not be
Because of the way in which prophetic authority was as-
acceptable in another. When such theological disagreements
signed, prophetic conflicts were common. When a prophet
occurred, a particular prophet might be an authoritative fig-
supported by one group gave oracles that conflicted with
ure in his own tradition but would not be taken seriously
those of a prophet supported by another group, the conflict
elsewhere. Clear cases of this phenomenon can be seen in
was often resolved only when one group simply refused to
some of the writing prophets. The prophet Amos, a native
recognize the authority of one of the other group’s prophets.
of Judah and presumably standing in the tradition of the the-
Thus, for example, Jeremiah fought his prophetic opponents
ology developed by the royal theologians in Jerusalem (which
not by attacking their theological position but by accusing
saw the establishment of the northern kingdom of Israel as
them of being false prophets (Jer. 23:9–32, 28:1–17, 29:15–
a revolt against the Davidic dynasty), prophesied against the
32; cf. Ez. 13:1–23). When false prophecy led to the imposi-
north and predicted the destruction of the Ephraimite royal
tion of the death penalty, as was the case in Deuteronomic
sanctuary at Bethel. Such behavior was not acceptable in the
law, such accusations were effective tools for social control,
north, and Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, accused Amos of
whether they were used by the prophets themselves or by a
treason and refused to recognize his prophetic authority (Am.
government seeking to suppress troublesome critics.
7:10–13). A later case is that of the prophet Jeremiah, who
was influenced by Deuteronomic tradition that saw as condi-
Social locations and functions. In ancient Israel
tional the election of Jerusalem as the dwelling place of God.
prophets carried out their activities in all parts of the society.
He delivered oracles in the Jerusalem Temple that predicted
However, because the prophets’ functions to a certain extent
the destruction of the city and the Temple unless the people
depended on their social location, it is useful to identify
reformed their conduct and obeyed God’s covenantal law.
prophets according to their relationship to the society’s cen-
To the officials of the royal court and the Temple, who be-
ters of social, political, and religious power. At the center of
lieved that God had chosen Jerusalem as an eternal dwelling
the social structure were prophets who may be identified as
place, such words were treasonous and deserved the death
“central prophets.” They carried out their activities in the
penalty (Jer. 26). Although Jeremiah was not killed, many
context of the royal court or the central sanctuary, and indi-
of the officials of Jerusalem refused to recognize his prophetic
vidually or as part of a prophetic group they performed the
authority and considered him to be insane (Jer. 29:24–28).
functions considered necessary by the establishment. Because
of their central social location, they enjoyed a certain amount
A final element involved in the process of accrediting
of prestige and were considered authoritative by Israelite
prophets can be seen most clearly in the Deuteronomic liter-
leaders. At the other end of the social spectrum were proph-
ature, which held that authentic prophets were those whose
ets who were located away from the centers of power and car-
words always came to pass. This was particularly true of
ried out their activities on the fringes of society. They were
prophets said to be “like Moses,” a special class of prophets
considered authoritative only by the small groups of support-
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
PROPHECY: BIBLICAL PROPHECY
7435
ers who shared their social location and theological views. Pe-
through accusations of false prophecy or legal sanctions that
ripheral prophets were usually dispossessed individuals who
would physically remove them.
were tolerated by the religious establishment but enjoyed lit-
P
tle social status or political power. In Israel prophets were lo-
ROPHECY IN ISRAELITE HISTORY. Because most of Israel’s
prophets were active during the monarchical period (c.
cated at various points on the continuum that stretched be-
1020–587/6
tween the society’s center and its periphery, and some
BCE), it is sometimes argued that prophecy and
monarchy were coeval and interdependent. However, bibli-
prophets changed their position on the continuum when
cal traditions coming from northern Israel speak of the exis-
there were alterations in the social structure.
tence of prophets well before the rise of the monarchy, and
Locating a particular prophet in the social spectrum was
there is no reason to doubt their accuracy. Similarly, proph-
sometimes a subjective process, particularly in the case of pe-
ets played a role in Israel’s restoration after the exile (c. 538–
ripheral prophets. Because prophets with small support
400), so it is probably safe to suppose that prophecy played
groups and little status had minimal power, they could easily
a role in Israelite society from its origins to about 400 when,
be classified as peripheral by the establishment, and their
according to orthodox Jewish tradition, prophecy ceased.
messages could be ignored. However, to the members of the
Prophets certainly existed in Israelite society in later times
prophets’ support groups they played the crucial role of artic-
and played a minor role in early Christian communities, but
ulating group values and concerns. For this reason the
they do not seem to have had major social functions and have
prophets could be considered central by the groups that sup-
left few traces in the biblical record.
ported them. Biblical views on the social location of prophets
Although prophecy existed in Israel for a fairly long pe-
thus often depended on the social location of the people ar-
riod of time, it is impossible to trace a comprehensive history
ticulating those views.
of the phenomenon. Earlier attempts to trace an evolutionary
All Israelite prophets shared a single basic task. They
development from “primitive” ecstatic prophecy to the high
were to deliver to individuals and groups the divine messages
ethical principles of the writing prophets are now generally
that had been transmitted during their possession experi-
discredited. However, it is possible to describe the complex
ences. In addition, Deuteronomic prophets served as inter-
roles that prophets played at various points in Israel’s politi-
cessors who were responsible for communicating the people’s
cal and religious development.
questions and requests to God. Beyond these primary tasks,
Premonarchical period. The Elohist traditions of the
however, the prophets’ social functions varied somewhat de-
Pentateuch and the Deuteronomic history suggest that
pending on their social location. Central prophets were nor-
prophets were at work in Israel before the rise of the monar-
mally concerned with the orderly functioning of the society.
chy (c. 1020). Although the narratives describing the activi-
If they were active in the cult, they were responsible for pro-
ties of these early figures have certainly been colored by later
viding oracles whenever the religious, political, or social oc-
prophetic ideology, there is no reason to deny the existence
casion required them. They also represented God in state af-
of prophecy in early Israel. Prophetic phenomena are attested
fairs and in general helped to preserve public morality. Such
elsewhere in the ancient Near East in the second millennium
prophets were interested in maintaining and preserving the
in roughly the same areas as those thought to have been occu-
existing social order. They felt free to criticize existing condi-
pied by Israel’s ancestors. There is no evidence to suggest that
tions and structures, but they were generally opposed to radi-
early Israelites borrowed prophecy from elsewhere, but it
cal changes that might make the society unstable.
may well have appeared spontaneously in some of the tribes
In contrast, peripheral prophets by definition represent-
that later joined together to form Israel.
ed positions that were at odds with the majority views and
The nature and functions of these early prophets are un-
practices of the society. Being possessed by God and becom-
clear. Biblical references to the prophetic activities of Abra-
ing prophets gave marginal individuals an authority that they
ham and Moses are probably retrojections from later times,
did not previously have and allowed them to bring their mes-
and certainly the Moses stories were used by Deuteronomists
sages to the attention of the political and religious establish-
to support their distinctive views of prophecy (Gn. 20:7, Nm.
ment. Peripheral prophets normally advocated basic reforms
12, Dt. 18:9–22). In addition to these traditional figures,
in the social structure and thus served as agents of rapid social
Miriam and Deborah are both said to have been prophetesses
change. Their reform programs often aimed at restoring
(Ex. 15:20–21, Jg. 4:4–10), and an unnamed prophet is said
older religious and social values and practices that the society
to have been sent during the period of the judges to explain
as a whole had rejected. At the same time, the prophets were
why the people were oppressed (Jg. 6:1–10). If these refer-
concerned with improving their marginal social position and
ences are in any way indicative of the role that prophets actu-
moving their support groups closer to the centers of power.
ally played in early Israel, then it would appear that prophets
However, there were limits on the degree to which they
had a position in the central social structure and had impor-
could advocate major social changes. Up to a point, their
tant functions in the conduct of warfare.
views were tolerated, but if they became too vocal in their
demands, then they ran the risk of being considered enemies
It is more certain that prophecy was well established in
of the society and having their activities brought to a halt
northern Israel in the period shortly before the rise 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
7436
PROPHECY: BIBLICAL PROPHECY
monarchy. A band of prophets was part of the cultic person-
groups of peripheral prophets appeared to denounce the
nel at the sanctuary at Gibeah (1 Sm. 10:9–13), and there
Ephraimite kings and the heterodox worship that they per-
are numerous traditions about the prophetic activities of
mitted in the land. This inevitably brought the peripheral
Samuel. He had prophetic, priestly, and governmental roles
prophets into conflict with the prophets of Yahveh, Baal, and
at several northern sanctuaries and was clearly a central
Asherah, who were part of the religious establishment in the
prophet of major importance (1 Sm. 3:1–21, 7:1–12:25).
north (1 Kgs. 18, 22). The peripheral prophets finally pre-
People came to him in order to obtain information from
vailed and succeeded in overthrowing the northern dynasty
God (1 Sm. 9:6–10), and he represented God among the
and bringing about cultic reforms (1 Kgs. 17–2 Kgs. 10).
people. Although traditions differ about Samuel’s role in the
However, by the time of the prophets Amos and Hosea
rise of the monarchy, the Deuteronomists saw him as the re-
(c. 760–746), Baal worship had been firmly reestablished in
ligious official responsible for anointing and legitimating
Ephraim. Both of these prophets, from Judah and Ephraim
Saul as Israel’s first king (1 Sm. 9:15–10:8).
respectively, continued the activities of their predecessors
Monarchical period. Throughout the history of the Is-
and predicted the destruction of the evil kingdom. The
raelite monarchy, prophets played important religious roles
prophecies were finally fulfilled with the destruction of the
both inside the royal court and on its periphery. The tradi-
northern capital, Samaria, in 721, an event that the Deutero-
tion of prophetic participation in government began with
nomic historians traced to the failure of the kings and the
Samuel, who continued to advise Saul on cultic matters dur-
people to listen to the warnings that God had sent through
ing his reign. However, Saul’s disagreements with Samuel
the prophets (2 Kgs. 17:7–18).
and Samuel’s northern support groups over the extent of
royal authority eventually broke into open warfare, and Sam-
Little is known of prophecy in Judah during the period
uel stripped the kingship from Saul and anointed David as
of the divided monarchy until the very end of that period,
the new king (1 Sm. 13:1–16:13). The presence of prophets
when the prophets Isaiah and Micah began their activities.
in the royal court continued during David’s reign. The court
Both reflect an acceptance of elements of the royal theology
prophet Nathan delivered to David an oracle promising the
of Jerusalem and both may be examples of prophets who
king an eternal dynasty in Jerusalem and designating Jerusa-
were more central than periphral. Isaiah in particular seems
lem as the divine dwelling place forever (2 Sm. 7). This oracle
to have had access to the court (Is. 7:3, 8:2, 22:15–16), and
became the cornerstone of the Jerusalem royal theology, and
he may have played an official role in resolving the crisis
it was cited as authoritative by later royal sources (Ps. 89,
caused by the Assyrian invasion of 701 (Is. 36–39). However,
132). Later in David’s reign his royal visionary, Gad, legiti-
he was certainly capable of criticizing the abuses of the royal
mated the building of a temple in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 24).
theology and advocated judicious social change to preserve
David is also said to have installed prophets as religious offi-
traditional religious values.
cials in the central sanctuary (1 Chr. 24). Although this re-
port undoubtedly reflects the Temple administration of the
Most of the remaining preexilic prophets in Jerusalem
Chronicler’s own time, it may well be that prophets had cen-
were much more supportive of the government than were
tral cultic functions in Jerusalem during the monarchical
Isaiah and Micah. Nahum and Habakkuk have both been
period.
linked with the Jerusalem cult, and both may have had an
official part in it. Both deliver oracles against Israel’s enemies
Prophecy does not seem to have been prominent during
and in general behave like typical central prophets.
Solomon’s reign, but it emerged in a new form in the time
of his successor, Rehoboam. In response to general Ephraim-
Toward the end of the monarchical period, peripheral
ite dissatisfaction with the growing power of the Jerusalem
prophecy reappeared in a mild way with the writings of
monarchy, the prophet Ahijah, from the old northern sanc-
Zephaniah, but it did not become a major force until the
tuary at Shiloh, established the dissident northern tribes as
work of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (c. 627–571). Jeremiah, a
an independent kingdom by delivering an oracle legitimating
priest who seems to have been heavily influenced by the Deu-
Jeroboam as king of Ephraim (1 Kgs. 11:29–40). Ahijah was
teronomic movement, launched a series of increasingly harsh
clearly a peripheral prophet representing interests that were
attacks on the king and the people, urging them to repent
not connected with the royal court in Jerusalem, and his
in order to avoid the punishment that God had decreed
newly created state may have been intended to restore his
against Jerusalem. In the final days before the destruction of
supporters to positions of power. If so, his intentions were
the city in 587/6, he advocated surrender to the Babylonians,
thwarted when Jeroboam created in Ephraim a syncretist re-
a policy that brought him into conflict with the royal court
ligious establishment that horrified the Deuteronomic histo-
and the central prophets, who still advocated the old theolo-
rians. According to the Deuteronomists, Ahijah was the
gy of the eternal election of Jerusalem. Jeremiah narrowly es-
first of a series of peripheral prophets who attempted to re-
caped with his life, but when the city fell, his prophecies were
form the northern political and religious establishments (1
vindicated. At about the same time, Ezekiel, a priest who had
Kgs. 13–16).
been exiled to Babylon in 597, advocated major modifica-
Prophetic opposition in the north reached its height
tions of the Jerusalem royal theology held by most of his fel-
during the time of Elijah and Elisha (c. 869–815), when
low exiles, but his words had little effect.
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
PROPHECY: BIBLICAL PROPHECY
7437
Exile and its aftermath. The fall of Jerusalem and the
son’s Prophecy and the Prophets in Ancient Israel (London,
destruction of the Temple in 587/6 created serious authority
1923) and A. B. Davidson’s Old Testament Prophecy (Edin-
problems for Israel’s prophets. The political and religious in-
burgh, 1903).
stitutions that sheltered the central prophets disappeared
A specialized study of the difficult area of postexilic prophecy may
with the conquest, and those prophets who supported the
be found in David L. Petersen’s Late Israelite Prophecy (Mis-
traditional Jerusalem theology were tragically wrong in their
soula, Mont., 1977). Aubrey R. Johnson has mounted a
predictions. Peripheral prophets, such as Jeremiah and Eze-
strong case for the cultic involvement of most of Israel’s
kiel, gained new credibility because of the fall; but in their
prophets. Although few scholars would accept all of John-
latter days they also gave oracles of promise, and as the exile
son’s conclusions, he has produced a valuable survey of the
available evidence. See in particular his The Cultic Prophet in
continued, these oracles too seemed to be false.
Ancient Israel (Cadiff, 1962) and The Cultic Prophet and Isra-
The prophets of the exilic and postexilic periods faced
el’s Psalmody (Cardiff, 1979). The fundamental study of the
this problem of authority in several ways. First, they turned
literary patterns in the prophets’ oracles is Claus Wester-
away from oral prophecy and adopted writing as the means
mann’s Basic Forms of Prophetic Speech, translated by Hugh
of circulating their words. Written prophecies were appar-
Clayton White (Philadelphia, 1967), although Wester-
ently thought to have more authority because of their con-
mann’s work needs to be set in a broader perspective, such
as the one provided by W. Eugene March’s article “Prophe-
creteness. Second, they often attached their prophecies to
cy,” in Old Testament Form Criticism, edited by John H.
those of preexilic prophets in an attempt to borrow the au-
Hayes (San Antonio, 1974), pp. 141–177.
thority of their predecessors. Finally, these last representa-
The sociological dimensions of biblical prophecy have been treat-
tives of Israelite prophecy turned increasingly toward the di-
ed comprehensively in my Prophecy and Society in Ancient Is-
vine world for solutions to Israel’s overwhelming problems,
rael (Philadelphia, 1980). Note also the more specialized
a move that brought prophecy closer to apocalyptic. Instead
study of David L. Petersen, The Roles of Israel’s Prophets
of advocating the reform of human behavior in order to cure
(Sheffield, 1981). A useful synthesis of anthropological evi-
Israel’s religious and social ills, as earlier prophets had done,
dence on spirit possession is provided by I. M. Lewis’s Ecstatic
the postexilic prophets often looked instead to God’s direct
Religion (Harmondsworth, 1971). Several illuminating case
intervention in history on behalf of those who waited faith-
studies have been collected in Spirit Mediumship and Society
fully for God’s plan for Israel’s salvation to be realized. Some
in Africa, edited by John Beattie and John Middleton (New
of these postexilic solutions to the problem of prophetic au-
York, 1969).
thority can be seen in the postexilic books of Zechariah, Hag-
A detailed study of the theology of the prophetic traditions has
gai, Joel, and Malachi, and all of them are visible in the writ-
been made by Gerhard von Rad in the second volume of his
ings of the anonymous prophets (“Second Isaiah” and
Old Testament Theology, translated by D. M. G. Stalker
“Third Isaiah”) responsible for the last part of the Book of
(New York, 1965). A popular treatment of the same subject
Isaiah.
may be found in Walter Brueggemann’s The Prophetic Imagi-
nation (Philadelphia, 1978). For two classic studies of pro-
After the exile, central prophecy was briefly restored in
phetic thought, see also Martin Buber’s The Prophetic Faith,
the reconstructed Judahite state, and Zechariah and Haggai
translated by Carlyle Witton-Davies (New York, 1949), and
in particular had roles in shaping the restored community.
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The Prophets (New York, 1962).
However, after Ezra’s mission to Jerusalem toward the end
New Sources
of the fifth century, officially recognized prophecy was re-
Aberbach, David. Imperialism and Biblical Prophecy, 750–500
stricted to Levites with specific duties in the cult of the Sec-
BCE. London; New York, 1993.
ond Temple (1 Chr. 25). After this point, other types of
Arthur, David. A Smooth Stone: Biblical Prophecy in Historical Per-
prophecy disappear from the biblical record.
spective. Lanham, Md., 2001.
Blenkinsopp, Joseph. A History of Prophecy in Israel. Rev. and enl.
SEE ALSO Amos; Ecstasy; Ezekiel; Hosea; Isaiah; Israelite
ed. Louisville, Ky., 1996.
Religion; Jeremiah; Levites; Micah.
Bronner, Leila Leah. “Biblical Prophetesses through Rabbinic
Lenses.” Judaism 40 (1991): 171–183.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The most thorough general treatment of ancient Israelite prophe-
Glazov, Gregory Yuri. The Bridling of the Tongue and the Opening
cy is still Johannes Lindblom’s Prophecy in Ancient Israel
of the Mouth in Biblical Prophecy. Sheffield, U.K., 2001.
(Philadelphia, 1962), although the comparative evidence and
Kaiser, Walter C. Back toward the Future: Hints for Interpreting
the scholarly bibliography on which the book is based are
Biblical Prophecy. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1989.
now out of date. A good, nontechnical introduction is pro-
Lieb, Michael. The Visionary Mode: Biblical Prophecy, Hermeneu-
vided by Klaus Koch’s The Prophets, 2 vols., translated by
tics, and Cultural Change. Ithaca, 1991.
Margaret Kohl (Philadelphia, 1982–1984). Koch gives an
overview of biblical prophecy and then treats the major
Orton, David E., ed. Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible: Selected Studies
prophets individually. Some of the older literature still con-
from Vetus Testamentum. Leiden; Boston, Mass., 2000.
tains valuable observations, although many of the points of
Sandy, D. Brent. Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the
view expressed in these works have been rejected or modified
Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic. Downers
by modern scholars. See in particular Theodore H. Robin-
Grove, Ill., 2002.
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
7438
PROPHECY: PROPHECY IN POST-BIBLICAL JUDAISM
Sawyer, John F. A. Prophecy and the Biblical Prophets. Rev. ed. Ox-
able to everyone. Other sages regard prophecy as depended
ford Bible Series. Oxford; New York, 1993.
solely on the divine will. One view goes so far as to accord
R
the wicked Balaam a status that is at least equal to that of
OBERT R. WILSON (1987)
Revised Bibliography
Moses. In the Middle Ages Jewish thinkers were to draw
from these diverse views in developing and defending their
approaches to prophecy.
SAEADYAH GAON’S APPROACH TO PROPHECY. The first com-
PROPHECY: PROPHECY IN POST-BIBLICAL
prehensive attempt to understand prophecy in medieval Jew-
JUDAISM
ish thought is presented by SaEadyah Gaon (882–942) in his
Rabbinic literature presents no detailed account of prophecy.
theological treatise Book of Beliefs and Opinions (933 CE). Of
Approaches to this phenomenon must be gleaned from scat-
particular concern to him is the problem of how to interpret
tered statements and tales. Moreover, rabbinic literature con-
the texts of divine revelation in a manner that negates divine
tains the views of numerous sages, living in different times
corporeality. Agreeing with the rational proofs for the incor-
and places, who were subject to diverse cultural influences
poreality of God presented in Islamic theology (kala¯m),
and who formulated their views in response to different chal-
SaEadyah interprets figuratively all corporeal descriptions of
lenges. As is to be expected, they do not speak with a single
God in the Bible. He rejects their literal meaning entirely.
voice on this issue. Nevertheless, a number of dominant
SaEadyah is not oblivious to the problems this approach poses
trends of thought relating to this topic can be discerned.
to the authority of Scripture once one dismisses its literal
The prevailing view of the rabbinic sages is that the peri-
truth. He insists that the literal meaning should be main-
od of classical prophecy ended with the destruction of the
tained in all instances in which it is not blatantly contradict-
First Temple (586 BCE), and certainly no later than the be-
ed by knowledge attained by a different reliable source, such
ginning of the Second Temple (538 BCE). The establishment
as rational demonstration or sense perception. Even in the
of the canon of the Hebrew Bible, although an informal pro-
cases in which the literal meaning is rejected, the figurative
cess, reflects the feeling that the period of prophecy has come
interpretation should be in harmony with Hebrew usage.
to a close. This view may be attributed in part to the intro-
SaEadyah’s approach to biblical exegesis paved the way for
duction of Hellenism in the Near East in the wake of the
reconciling the truths of revelation with the fruits of rational
conquests of Alexander the Great (356–523 BCE). The major
enquiry. It also enabled him to continue to uphold the au-
social and cultural-intellectual changes brought about by this
thority of Scripture as a source of truth in theoretical matters.
event led to a general feeling that a new era has begun. The
This approach has a sharp impact on subsequent Jewish
view that the period of prophecy has ended gained further
thought.
dominance in rabbinic thought in response to competing
An incorporeal deity possesses no organs of speech nor
sects within Judaism (including the followers of Jesus) who
has any physical form that can be seen. This poses a severe
claimed revelation as the basis for their teachings. Yet the
challenge to the veracity of the biblical accounts of God ad-
general agreement among the sages that classical forms of
dressing the prophet. SaEadyah solves this difficulty by main-
prophecy belong to the past and to the messianic future did
taining that the divine speech heard by the prophets was au-
not eradicate a contrary trend that was also very popular.
dible speech created by God in the air and conveyed to their
Many continued to view revelation as an ongoing phenome-
hearing. The visions of God seen by the prophets were not
non that existed in their era in different forms, such as that
actually of God but of a special luminous being, termed
of a heavenly voice. One can also find in the Talmud a tradi-
God’s Glory (kavod) or Indwelling (shekhina), which as-
tion that views the proper understanding of Ezekiel’s account
sumed different forms in accordance with the divine will.
of the celestial domain (“Account of the Chariot”) as leading
Moses’s request to behold God (Ex. 33: 18–20) is interpreted
to a revelatory experience. Other sages, although acknowl-
by SaEadyah as a request to see the front part of the Glory.
edging these types of phenomenon, are adamant in negating
This request is denied him because the intensity of the light
revelation’s role in determining law after the revelation of the
would inevitably destroy him; instead he is allowed to attain
Torah to Moses. Authority in this matter belongs to the sages
a close-up view of the back of the Glory. One can detect in
and their institutions. The sages see themselves as the true
some of SaEadyah’s descriptions of the Glory a hint of the
heirs of the prophets and in some way even superior to them.
idea of the divine Logos, an idea known to him by way of
Furthermore, the prophets themselves are viewed as having
Jewish sources and Moslem theological ones. By accepting
been sages. In keeping with Moses’s role in the transmission
the existence of such a being and treating it as composed of
of the divine law, his prophecy alone is accorded a unique
a special form of light, SaEadyah is able to interpret the pro-
status.
phetic visions of God in as literal manner as possible without
Other issues related to prophecy also find expression in
treating God as corporeal. His approach also enables him to
rabbinic literature. Some sages posit necessary conditions for
treat the visions seen by the prophets, as well as the words
attaining prophecy, such as wisdom, valor, and wealth. This
they heard, as empirically verifiable by them—the senses
view may also have served to combat popular approaches to
being a source of reliable knowledge in his view. Given his
revelation that viewed it as an ongoing phenomenon avail-
perception of the danger that the idea of a divine intermedi-
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PROPHECY: PROPHECY IN POST-BIBLICAL JUDAISM
7439
ary poses to strict monotheism, he at the same time stresses
As a result of the prophetic emanation, the individual attains
that the Glory is created and not coeternal with God, and
knowledge of profound theoretical matters, rules for the gov-
he sharply curtails its providential role in the world. Its pri-
ernance of others, and knowledge of the future. Maimonides
mary function is to verify to the prophet the truth of the mes-
leaves little doubt that he regards prophecy as a natural phe-
sage attained.
nomenon. He equates it with the highest level of human per-
fection, which lies primarily in the perfection of the intellect.
SaEadyah continues the dominant rabbinic trend in not
The prophetic visions, consisting of sights or words, are the
viewing prophecy as a living phenomenon. It existed in the
product of the prophet’s own imaginative faculty and they
biblical period and will be reintroduced only in messianic
have no physical reality.
times. It served primarily as a mission for conveying divine
commands as well as theoretical truths and knowledge of the
Maimonides implies that the emanation resulting in
future. The truth of the prophetic message was verified to
prophecy is a force from the Active Intellect that strengthens
the people by means of miracles. God was directly involved
the individual’s perfect faculties and enables the individual
in the choice of each prophet, the particular mission be-
to reach new heights of knowledge. God plays no immediate
stowed and the miracles performed. In SaEadyah’s view,
role in what the prophet learns as a result of this experience.
God’s incorporeality and unity do not preclude God’s imme-
A superior imagination enables the prophet to translate con-
diate relation with the material world and its inhabitants.
ceptual knowledge into figurative form, in addition to attain-
PROPHECY IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF MAIMONIDES. Already
ing knowledge of the future. This is important for the proph-
in the period of SaEadyah a number of Jewish philosophers
et’s role in educating the masses, who are incapable of
begin to view prophecy more in terms of a naturally attained
grasping profound theoretical truths in a purely conceptual
perfection than a supernaturally bestowed mission. This fol-
manner. It may also aid the prophet to grasp better these
lowed developments taking place in Islamic philosophy. Two
highly abstract matters.
distinct, but not mutually exclusive, models of prophecy
Maimonides’ discussions alternate between stressing the
emerge based on earlier Greek philosophic approaches. In
imaginative aspect of prophecy and the intellectual one. In
the first model, prophecy is consequent on the perfection of
some passages he also alludes to the nature of the experience
the intellect resulting in a form of ontological conjunction
with the supernal Intellect and the attainment of intellectual
itself. At the end of Guide (3.51) he describes the death of
illumination or revelation. In addition to the higher level
the perfect individual, in which the human intellect, having
knowledge of theoretical truths attained in this state the indi-
conjoined with the Active Intellect, permanently leaves the
vidual experiences an immense spiritual pleasure. In the sec-
body and remains eternally in a state of ultimate spiritual
ond model, prophecy is consequent on a perfect imagination,
pleasure. This description is reminiscent of accounts of ec-
enabling the individual to attain knowledge of the future in
static death found in mystical literature and can be traced to
accordance with the matters that preoccupy the individual’s
the common Neoplatonic roots of medieval philosophy and
thought. This form of prophecy occurs most frequently in
mysticism.
individuals lacking a well-developed intellect, and it general-
Prophecy in itself does not entail a mission in Maimoni-
ly assumes the form of veridical dreams. Both models can be
des’ view and may remain an entirely private attainment.
found in the writings of the tenth century Islamic philoso-
Moreover, no one who has attained this illumination is eager
pher Alfarabi, who combines them in the case of one possess-
to undertake a public role rather than continue to enjoy this
ing both a perfect intellect and perfect imagination. He re-
most pleasurable of states. The prophetic mission results
gards the one attaining revelation as the ideal ruler, thereby
from the emanating perfection characterizing superior
transforming Plato’s (c. 428–347/8 BCE) philosopher-king to
prophets, which drives them to perfect those around them
the prophet-lawgiver. God’s role is confined to being the first
and not rest satisfied with their own perfection. Maimonides
cause of all that happens in the world. God does not person-
compares this to the emanating perfection of the greatest
ally choose each prophet or bestow on the individual a specif-
philosophers that lead them to write books and teach others
ic message. Alfarabi’s approach strongly influenced that of
the truths they have attained. As is the case of the individual
Moses Maimonides (1135/8–1204), writing in the twelfth
who has seen the light of the sun but nevertheless is made
century.
to return to the cave in Plato’s famous myth, the public
No approach to prophecy in Jewish thought is as multi-
prophet must return to society and assume a leadership role.
faceted as the one presented by Maimonides. In the Guide
Yet for Maimonides it is not any external pressure that com-
of the Perplexed (2.36) Maimonides defines prophecy as an
pels the prophet to do so. The vision in which God com-
emanation from God through the intermediation of the Ac-
mands the prophet to go to the people is a figurative repre-
tive Intellect to the rational faculty and then to the imagina-
sentation in the soul of the prophet of the feeling of
tion. To attain this emanation the individual must possess
compulsion to act in this manner after experiencing illumi-
a perfect intellect that has mastered all the sciences, a perfect
nation. The mission itself in this case is part of the prophetic
imagination, and a strong moral character. Anyone who fails
experience and reflects the workings of divine providence
to meet any of these conditions cannot become a prophet.
within the natural order.
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PROPHECY: PROPHECY IN POST-BIBLICAL JUDAISM
Although Maimonides follows Alfarabi in regarding the
Generations of Jewish philosophers after Maimonides
prophets as philosopher-kings, he stops short of ascribing to
differ on the extent the Bible taught theoretical truths not
them any legislative role. The laying down of the divine law
attained in philosophy. The early fourteenth century philos-
is confined to Moses alone. He treats Mosaic prophecy and
opher Gersonides (1288–1344; Wars of the Lord), for exam-
the revelation at Sinai as supernatural events, both involving
ple, essentially negates the view that the prophets grasped
audible speech whose author was God. In this manner he
truths not available to the philosophers. Later philosophers
preserves the traditional foundations of Judaism. Yet one can
such as Hasdai Crescas (1340–1410; Light of the Lord), Jo-
read Maimonides’s discussions as subtly indicating that he
seph Albo (1380–1444; Book of Principles) and Isaac Abraba-
has a naturalistic understanding of these phenomena as well.
nel (1437–1508; Commentary on the Guide of the Perplexed),
Moses attained the highest level of perfection possible result-
on the other hand, argue the contrary position. They accord
ing in a purely intellectual illumination that did not involve
the prophets the attainment of truths beyond the realm of
the imagination at all in the apprehension of the most pro-
the discursive reasoning of the philosophers. They also chal-
found theoretical truths. This illumination enabled him to
lenge the completely naturalistic foundation underlying
lay down a perfect law that directed society to its utmost per-
Maimonides’ approach and seek to ascribe to God a more
fection, one in which its citizens reach the highest perfection
immediate involvement in the choice of prophets and the
of which each is capable. Only this law deserves the label “di-
content of their revelation. Yet for all the differences between
vine.” This notion is to be hidden from the masses, whose
the medieval philosophic approaches, they share the view
faith in Judaism is contingent on belief that God personally
that underlying the figurative language and the parables of
revealed the Law.
the Bible are to be found the most profound conceptual
When dealing with prophecy in his legal works, Mai-
truths.
monides sharply curtails any role the prophet has in deciding
SPINOZA ON PROPHECY. Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677),
legal matters notwithstanding the ideal leadership qualities
writing in the seventeenth century, sets out to negate this
they possess in his view. He is very concerned about the
view in his Tractaus Thologico-Politicus. He thereby attempts
threat to Judaism posed by those whom he regards as false
to undermine the authority of the Bible (i.e., the Hebrew
prophets, particularly charismatic individuals who seek to in-
Scriptures, or Old Testament) as a source of truth, let alone
troduce major modifications in Mosaic Law on the basis of
the ultimate source. Ironically he utilizes the authority of the
revelation. Maimonides seeks to insulate the Law from any
Bible to accomplish this task. A literal understanding of the
changes that are not brought about by the formal institutions
Bible, he argues, leads to the conclusion that it in no way
in Judaism entrusted with the power to determine legal mat-
touches on conceptual matters belonging to the domain of
ters. The leadership role of the prophets is be exercised pri-
philosophy, not even in figurative form.
marily as members of those institutions and not by virtue of
their claim to revelation. For the same reason he also posits
Spinoza rejects any supernatural conception of divine
near impossible tests for any latter-day claimant to public
activity. Everything must be understood in accordance with
prophecy.
the eternal laws of nature. In his approach to revelation he
Although Maimonides at times expresses the traditional
builds on the two naturalistic models of prophecy found in
sentiment that prophecy has ceased to exist and will only re-
the medieval sources. Yet, instead of combining them, he
emerge at the advent of the messianic period, his naturalistic
treats them as completely distinct. Against Maimonides and
approach to prophecy allows for the possibility at least that
his followers, Spinoza argues that the biblical prophets pos-
individuals in any generation may satisfy the requisite condi-
sessed solely a perfect imagination and lacked intellectual
tions for its attainment. It could hardly be otherwise given
perfection (i.e., the mastery of science and philosophy).
the integral connection he draws between prophecy and
As one can discern from the Bible itself, they were simple
human perfection. There are a number of allusions in his
individuals who addressed other simple people. Hence the
writings to the fact that he regards prophecy as a living phe-
revelation they attained involved only the workings of the
nomenon, one that was attained by some of the great sages
imagination.
of the past after the biblical period, such as R. Judah the
Spinoza accords the prophets a strong moral sense but
Prince and R. Akiva, although they made no claim to public
no true speculative knowledge, including a philosophic un-
prophecy. There are even hints that Maimonides himself felt
derstanding of morality. This was no less true of Moses who
he had experienced revelation.
lacked a proper understanding of the nature of his own pro-
Maimonides’s approach to prophecy bridges what ap-
phetic experience. Hence, the divine law Moses legislated as
pears to be an unfathomable chasm between Aristotelian phi-
a result of his imaginative prophecy does not lead to perfec-
losophy and Jewish tradition. The texts of the Bible are com-
tion and ultimate felicity, only to a society well ordered for
pletely true. The prophets were great philosophers who
its time. The second type of prophecy, purely intellectual il-
presented the truths they had attained in figurative form. Yet
lumination, is ascribed by Spinoza to Jesus. The nature of
the reader who wishes to understand these truths must turn
this illumination is treated in greater detail towards the end
to Greek philosophy to unlock the meaning of the prophetic
of his Ethics, in which he labels it “the third kind of knowl-
texts.
edge.” It is the final stage in the quest for intellectual perfec-
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PROPHECY: PROPHECY IN POST-BIBLICAL JUDAISM
7441
tion. The conclusion to which the reader is drawn is that
APPROACHES TO PROPHECY IN MODERN JEWISH PHILOSO-
only the truths attained in a natural manner by the human
PHY. The idea of revelation occupies a central position in the
intellect should be labeled divine and the prophetic texts
thought of many of the most prominent modern Jewish phi-
contain no divine truths at all. Hence the medieval Jewish
losophers. As in the case with the medieval Jewish philoso-
philosophic enterprise that treats philosophy and the Bible
phers, their approaches to revelation are integrally related to
as teaching essentially the same truths is without foundation.
their overall philosophy and tend to combine ideas found in
Spinoza’s approach to biblical revelation and human reason
Jewish sources with contemporary philosophical develop-
plays a critical role in the development of modern Jewish
ments. Immanuel Kant’s (1724–1804) philosophy, in its
thought, even among those philosophers who stopped far
stress on the inherent limitations of reason in attaining spec-
short of his radical conclusions or who challenged them.
ulative theological truths yet its ability to attain moral truths
that are to serve as the basis for theology, sets the stage for
PROPHECY IN QABBALISTIC THOUGHT. Alongside medieval
many modern Jewish philosophical approaches to revelation.
Jewish philosophic treatments of prophecy, there also devel-
Far different thinkers in the nineteenth century, such as
oped mystical approaches. It may be argued that inherent in
Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888; Horeb) and Salomon
the turn to mystical study is the attempt to attain conjunc-
Steinheim (1789–1866; Revelation according to the Doctrine
tion (termed devequt) with the higher realms (if not with
of the Synagogue), utilize Kant’s strictures on reason to defend
God) and the illumination of the intellect. This in essence
the idea of supernatural revelation. Hirsch sees the transmit-
is identical with what the mystics perceive as the prophetic
ted text of the Torah in its entirety as a product of divine
experience. Some of the early mystical texts written after the
revelation and hence the basis for understanding God’s
Talmud, termed heikhalot literature, present the road to illu-
thoughts. Revelation for Steinheim, on the other hand, is in
mination as a journey of the soul through the celestial pal-
essence synonymous with faith. He identifies the content of
aces. The texts convey knowledge of the secret names of the
revelation with the doctrines of the freely willed creation of
angels (and of God) that allows the mystic to continue the
the world ex nihilo (out of nothing) on the part of the one
ascent until he or she reaches the final palace in which he or
God, the human being’s moral freedom and the immortality
she beholds God in all the divine glory, together with myri-
of the soul. These doctrines in his view are closed to reason.
ads of angels. Most of the subsequent qabbalistic texts do not
It is revelation, and not autonomous ethical reason, that
present the road to mystical illumination or the nature of the
makes ethical activity possible.
experience so explicitly. They tend to be theosophical in
character, describing the world of the Godhead, at times by
Abraham Geiger (1810–1874), a leading theologian in
way of mystical homilies on biblical verses. This is true par-
the early Reform movement and a pioneering scholar of the
ticularly of the most important texts in the Jewish mystical
academic study of Judaism, is also influenced by Kant as well
tradition, those that constitute the Zohar. Yet it appears that
as by G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831), in developing his ap-
some of the stories found there dealing with the experience
proach to prophecy. Geiger sees Judaism as a living organism
of enlightenment that the authors ascribe to the rabbinic
developing in history as it assumes different forms. At its
sages hint to their own experience of revelation. The proper
heart lies the prophetic idea of God and morality. By means
study of the Bible, particularly the Torah, from the perspec-
of a careful study of Jewish history Geiger sought to reform
tive of the system of the ten divine sefirot (emanations) the
Judaism to best express this idea in his own day without
text embodies, is the path to this experience.
breaking completely with its past.
An important exception to the reticence on the part of
In the early twentieth century, Hermann Cohen (1842–
Qabbalists to talk explicitly about mystical illumination and
1918) developed his philosophy of Judaism (Religion of Rea-
the path to its attainment is the school of prophetic Qab-
son out of the Sources of Judaism) on a Kantian foundation
balah belonging to Abraham Abulafia (thirteenth century).
while breaking with Kant on fundamental points of his phi-
Abulafia laid claim to revelation and wrote a number of
losophy. Revelation for Cohen is the bridge between God’s
works, including prophetic manuals, describing the state of
Being and the human being in the state of becoming. Revela-
mystical ecstasy as well as indicating how to attain this state.
tion addresses itself to reason, indeed it is the creator of rea-
His mystical approach combines older forms of Jewish mysti-
son, which culminates in the idea of ethical monotheism.
cism focusing on the divine sefirot and the divine names with
Cohen does not think of revelation as an event but as an at-
techniques involving Hebrew letter combinations. It also
tribute of relation that expresses itself primarily in ethical ac-
shares some striking similarities with Sufi and Eastern mysti-
tivity. This relation is expressed in the message of the biblical
cisms.
prophets.
Qabbalistic approaches to conjunction with the divine
Cohen’s philosophy of religion on one hand and the ap-
realm and the attainment of mystical illumination, particu-
proaches of different existential philosophers—particularly
larly those approaches focusing on the study of the Zohar,
So⁄ren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) and Martin Heidegger
gave rise to a good number of mystical movements within
(1889–1976)—on the other exert a profound influence on
Judaism, such as Hasidism, that continue to attract fol-
the approach to revelation in the religious existential-
lowers.
dialogical philosophy developed by the twentieth-century
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PROPHECY: AFRICAN PROPHETISM
philosophers Martin Buber (1878–1965; I and Thou) and
ets (New York, 1962). Mention deserves to be made also of
Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929; Star of Redemption). True
the studies of Leo Strauss focusing on medieval political ap-
human existence for them does not begin with one’s aware-
proaches to prophecy. See for example his Philosophy and
ness of individuality, but with the next step—the encounter
Law, translated by Eve Adler (Albany, N.Y., 1995).
with the other not as an object but as a subject. God is the
HOWARD KREISEL (2005)
Absolute Other. Revelation is neither the result of union
with God (the individual always remains an independent
subject in their view), nor is it concerned with attaining con-
ceptual truths about the Godhead. It is the name given to
PROPHECY: AFRICAN PROPHETISM
the encounter in which the individual experiences God’s
Studies of African religious leaders provide many descrip-
love, listens to God’s “speech,” and is drawn into a dialogue
tions of priests, diviners, healers, and witch finders, although
with God by returning love. By means of this relation one
relatively few have focused on the role of prophets within Af-
is redeemed from one’s isolation. Moreover, divine love or
rican religions. Although historians of religion debate about
speech always makes demands on the listener in the form of
what constitutes a prophet, it is possible to distinguish two
ethical activity. Love must be extended to others also draw-
distinct visions: (1) the Greeks envisioned a prophet as a cul-
ing them into the dialogue. The Law heard by Moses and
tic figure who spoke on behalf of a god, and (2) ancient Isra-
the divine speech heard by the prophets are to be read as his-
elite religion translated the term prophet from the Hebrew
torical reflections of this existential dialogue.
word navi, thereby defining prophets as spokespersons only
Buber’s and Rosenzweig’s philosophy heavily influ-
for a supreme being. The role of these prophets was eventual-
enced Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972), most of
ly narrowed to those leaders who played an oppositional role
whose philosophy and scholarship focuses on prophecy. In
within the society in which they taught. It was this image of
developing his own philosophy, he is particularly concerned
the prophet that captured the imaginations of scholars of re-
with understanding the existential confrontation between
ligion.
the prophet and God on one hand, and between the prophet
Given Western commentators’ assumptions that the su-
and society on the other. In his book The Prophets, Heschel
preme being played a relatively unimportant role in African
defines prophecy as “exegesis of existence from a divine per-
religions, this category of prophets was rarely applied to Afri-
spective. Understanding prophecy is an understanding of un-
can religions. Those who have used the term remain divided
derstanding rather than an understanding of knowledge. It
about its breadth. Some apply it to more institutionalized
is exegesis of exegesis. It involves sharing the perspective from
and hereditary forms of religious leadership, such as the of-
which the original understanding is done” (Heschel, 1962,
fice of the Mugwe among the Meru of Kenya. They served
p. xviii). The writings of other modern Jewish philosophers,
as religiously sanctioned chiefs, healers, and judges but did
such as Joseph B. Soloveitchik (19903–1993) and Emmanu-
not necessarily receive privileged communication either from
el Lévinas (1906–1995), also reflect the influence of the reli-
the supreme being or lesser spirits. Most commentators,
gious existential-dialogic philosophy of Buber and Rosenz-
however, insist on a more dramatic prophetic calling involv-
weig, whose thought continues to attract new generations of
ing a direct experience of an extraordinary communication.
students.
Some apply it only to those who claim revelation from a su-
preme being (i.e., the Abrahamic model); others apply it to
BIBLIOGRAPHY
such communication from lesser deities or ancestors (i.e., the
For rabbinic views on prophecy see Ephraim Urbach, The Sages:
Greek model). Herein the usage of the term refers to the
Their Concepts and Beliefs, translated by Israel Abrahams (Je-
broader category and, as has been the practice in most studies
rusalem, 1975). The most comprehensive treatment of this
of African prophets, includes people claiming revelation
phenomenon in medieval Jewish philosophy is to be found
from lesser deities.
in Howard Kreisel, Prophecy: The History of an Idea in Medi-
eval Jewish Philosophy (Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2001). For
MEDIUMS, DIVINERS, AND PROPHETS. There are distinc-
qabbalistic thought, see Elliot Wolfson, Through a Speculum
tions among mediums, diviners, and prophets. Spirit medi-
that Shines (Princeton, N.J., 1994), as well as the works of
ums are extremely common in African religious experience.
Moshe Idel, particularly Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah (Albany,
These are individuals who receive messages from the su-
N.Y., 1988). No comprehensive treatment of prophecy in
preme being or a lesser spirit, which are then interpreted by
modern Jewish thought has yet been written in the English
a priest to the community of adherents. It is the priest, rather
language (Eliezer Scweid has written in Hebrew a book on
than the medium, who controls community understanding
this subject), and one must turn to studies of the individual
of the revelation. Shona and Igbo religions, for example, have
thinkers. Noteworthy is the fact that some of the most im-
important mediums of the supreme being. In each case, a
portant modern Jewish thinkers also produced studies ex-
ploring the biblical phenomenon of prophecy, which allow
woman becomes possessed by and speaks in the voice of the
readers at the same time to attain a further glimpse of their
supreme being, usually in a language other than her own. A
own thought on the subject. See for example Martin Buber,
male ritual specialist then interprets the message for those in
The Prophetic Faith, translated by Carlyle Witton-Davies
attendance. Spirit mediums for lesser spirits are common to
(New York, 1949) and Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Proph-
most African religions. In sharp contrast, however, proph-
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PROPHECY: AFRICAN PROPHETISM
7443
ets—whether they enter into an ecstatic state to receive com-
in the bush, either in ecstatic states or in the quiet repose of
munications—control the interpretation of their message
meditation. Ngundeng created a massive mound of brush,
and present it directly to the community. Both prophets and
earth, and ivory tusks, where he conducted sacrifices and dis-
mediums, however, are considered to be speaking with the
seminated his teachings. He ritually removed evil substances
authority of the spiritual being who revealed the message to
and powers from the community and buried them within the
them. Prophets are more closely associated with specific peri-
mound. He also led his Nuer followers to a military victory
ods of social stress and collective instability. Mediums are
over a neighboring Dinka community of southern Sudan be-
more closely associated with individual problems and distur-
fore eventually being challenged by the British. He died in
bances. Both must be distinguished from diviners, who ei-
1906. In the 1920s his son Gwek claimed to be a prophet
ther examine signs or omens in nature or have developed me-
of Deng, but his career was short-lived. He was killed by the
chanical techniques for ascertaining the will of deities or
British, who also destroyed the ritual center established by
other spiritual forces. These religious specialists are extremely
his father. Since the 1950s other Nuer prophets have become
common in African religion but are understood as interpret-
involved in the Sudanese civil war. The most famous of
ers of signs rather than recipients of messages from spiritual
these, Wutnyang Gatakek, who claimed his authority from
beings.
Kwoth Nhial and Deng, became well known in the 1990s
Finally, distinctions must also be made between proph-
while working for an independent southern Sudan and peace
ets within indigenous African religions and prophets within
between Nuer and their Dinka neighbors.
African independent churches, who situate themselves ex-
Similar to the Nuer, the neighboring Dinka had reli-
plicitly within a Judeo-Christian tradition of prophetic au-
gious leaders inspired by clan and free divinities. They were
thority. Figures such as Simon Kimbangu (1889–1951) of
known as ran nhialic (men of divinity). Like Nuer prophets,
Congo, John Maranke and Alice Lenshina (c. 1924–1978)
Dinka prophets served as peacemakers in disputes between
of Zambia, and Isaiah Shembe (c. 1870–1935) of South Af-
clans but were also capable of cursing malcontents and lead-
rica all claimed prophetic revelations, which led them to
ing war parties. Other Nilotic groups, like the Meban of
create independent African churches. Ecstatic visionaries as-
Ethiopia, had prophets who claimed they had direct contact
sociated with African S:u¯f¯ı orders, such as Cheikh Ahmadou
with a divinity and allegedly could control life and death
Bamba (1853–1927) of Senegal and Usuman dan Fodio
through both word and thought. The Kalenjin of Kenya and
(1754–1817) of Nigeria, are not considered prophets by Af-
the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania also had prophets.
rican Muslims, but they share many characteristics with Afri-
Among the Maasai these prophets, known as laibon, were as-
can Christian prophetic figures.
sociated with rainmaking and were thought to be either of
EAST AFRICAN TRADITIONS. Most of the religious leaders in
foreign or celestial origin. During the period of resistance to
East Africa identified as prophets tend to be individuals
British and German occupations, the laibon played an im-
claiming privileged communication from lesser spirits rather
portant role in the preparation of war medicines to ensure
than the supreme being. In some Nilotic religious traditions,
the safety of Maasai warriors and to enhance the possibility
however, lesser spirits are often seen as emanations of the su-
of victory. These later roles earned them the enmity of colo-
preme being. Through his field research on the Nuer people
nial authorities and often led to their arrest and detention.
of southern Sudan, the British anthropologist Edward E.
In central Kenya in the early twentieth century missionaries
Evans-Pritchard was the first to describe an African prophet-
described Embu and Kikuyu men who had dreams or visions
ic tradition. The term guk, which earlier commentators had
of God and who taught what was revealed to them.
translated as witch doctors, Evans-Pritchard understood as
By far the most famous of the East African prophets was
prophet. He defined guk as a “man possessed by a spirit of
Kinjikitile of the Matumbi hills area of southeastern Tangan-
some kind. . . . They are mouthpieces of the Gods” (cited
yika. Claiming that he was possessed by a divinatory spirit
in Anderson and Johnson, 1995, p. 2). He also emphasized
known as Lilungu and by a more widely worshipped spirit
their role in the development of oppositional politics in the
known as Hongo, he organized a movement that led to the
wake of Mahdist and British intervention in the southern
unsuccessful Maji-Maji revolt of 1905–1907. His initial con-
Sudan. These Nuer prophets claimed direct revelation from
tact with Hongo came as a result of a shamanic journey in
spirits of the above or sky deities, which Evans-Pritchard de-
which he was said to have entered a river and to have
scribed as emanations of the supreme being Kwoth Nhial.
emerged a considerable time later, wearing dry clothes and
These prophets, who also served as healers in the Nuer soci-
teaching about the imminent return of the ancestors and the
ety, became prominent during the period of political insta-
departure of the Europeans. Word spread that he was plan-
bility and warfare as Egyptian forces penetrated the southern
ning to organize resistance and that people needed to wash
Sudan and began slaving in the area during the mid–
with a sacred maji, Swahili and Arabic for water, which
nineteenth century.
would protect them against European weapons. The actual
Many of the most prominent prophets, such as Ngun-
revolt, however, began prematurely and was brutally sup-
deng and his son Gwek, claimed to speak with the authority
pressed. Warfare and famine brought on by German destruc-
of a spirit known as Deng. Both would spend long periods
tion of local farms and granaries led to the death of over sev-
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PROPHECY: AFRICAN PROPHETISM
enty-five thousand people, including Kinjikitile himself. His
tion of thousands of cattle and granaries. Yet the prophecy
multiethnic movement, however, was later hailed as a first
did not come true. Some attributed this to the refusal of
war for independence and the beginning of a Tanganyikan
some Xhosa to make the sacrifice; others questioned the pro-
national movement.
phetic teaching itself. In either case, however, the severe fam-
ine that resulted from the sacrifice forced many Xhosa to ac-
XHOSA TRADITION. In southern Africa a prophetic tradition
cept British authority, and it effectively ended Xhosa
developed among the Xhosa in the wake of a series of military
resistance in South Africa.
defeats and land losses in the late eighteenth century and
early nineteenth century that led to the European occupation
DIOLA TRADITION. The Diola of Senegal, Gambia, and
of the Western Cape Province. By 1816 Nxele began to teach
Guinea-Bissau have a continuous tradition of prophetic reve-
of an African god he called Mdalidephu and of Thixo, the
lation from their supreme being, Emitai, dating back to the
god of Europeans. Having lived on a settler farm for a num-
founding of major Diola communities, described by their
ber of years, Nxele became familiar with basic Christian
oldest oral traditions. The epithet Emitai dabognol (God had
teachings, which he placed within a Xhosa context. He
sent him or her) was applied to those individuals who
claimed that Europeans murdered Thixo’s son Tayi and were
claimed a prophetic calling. Most of these prophets focused
punished by being thrown in the sea. They emerged from
their attention on the procurement of rain from Emitai.
the ocean on Xhosa lands, where they threatened Xhosa in-
Emitai ehlahl is the word for rain and indicates that rain is
dependence and control of their land. Nxele, who claimed
something that falls from the supreme being. Oral traditions
to teach in the name of the “Chief of heaven and earth,” pro-
concerning the precolonial era describe eleven men who
claimed that they must abandon witchcraft to purify them-
claimed that Emitai communicated with them. Many of the
selves and to rid the land of the whites. Then the ancestors
traditions concerning the earliest prophets resemble accounts
would return from the dead. British officials arrested Nxele
of cultural heroes, who establish communities and introduce
and imprisoned him at Robben Island; he died trying to
a variety of spirit shrines (ukine) for prayers to Emitai to ob-
swim to freedom.
tain rain. Since the effective establishment of colonial rule
in the late nineteenth century, more than forty people have
In 1850 another Xhosa prophet, Mlanjeni, gathered a
claimed prophetic revelation, two-thirds of whom are
substantial following. He was a young man, about eighteen
women. Sixteen of these prophets were active in the closing
years old, when he began to teach. He fasted frequently, re-
years of the twentieth century. Thus colonization seemed to
mained for long periods of purification in the wilderness, and
play a causal role in the intensification and transformation
kept celibate to preserve his powers from what he regarded
of this prophetic tradition into one in which women played
as dangerous contact with women. Initially his teachings
a central role.
were not taken seriously, because he began to teach before
he had been initiated in a circumcision school. He prayed
Alinesitoué Diatta was the most famous of these proph-
to the supreme being whom he identified with the sun.
ets. In 1942 she introduced a major new spirit shrine
Mlanjeni linked the drought of 1850 and the loss of cattle
(boekine) that she claimed Emitai gave her in an auditory rev-
and land to a pervasive evil substance (ubuthi), which was as-
elation. Her rituals stressed the importance of neighborhood-
sociated with witchcraft. He became a witch finder and
wide celebrations that focused on the sacrifice of a black bull
purged the witchcraft from those he found had practiced it.
and six days and nights of feasting and celebrations in the
He also ordered people to destroy all charms, amulets, and
public square. She insisted that women and children as well
medicines. Furthermore Mlanjeni provided his followers
as men could be priests of her shrine and that the ritual
with a root that he said would protect them against European
knowledge should be shared publicly. She also taught that
guns. In 1850 his followers went to war but met a decisive
Emitai looked with disapproval on those who violated a
defeat after several years. In 1855 five prophets claimed to
Diola Sabbath for the land by working in the rice paddies,
be in touch with the Russians, a black nation across the sea
on those who neglected to plant African varieties of rice in
that was also battling the British in the Crimean War, and
favor of Asiatic forms introduced by Europeans, and on
taught the Xhosa that they should expect Russian assistance.
those men who abandoned rice farming for the cultivation
of peanuts as a cash crop.
In April 1856 a teenage girl named Nongqawuse heard
her name called by a couple of strangers standing in the
As a result of these actions and the neglect of ritual obli-
scrubland near the gardens she was watching over. They told
gations by converts to Christianity and Islam, Emitai with-
her to tell her uncle Mhlakaza that all the ancestors would
held life-giving rain. Her ritual of Kasila reaffirmed the com-
rise from the dead and that the Europeans would be expelled
munity of indigenous Diola religion and stressed the
if the Xhosa slaughtered all their cattle and destroyed their
importance of local crops as well as the role of Emitai in pro-
grain, both of which had been contaminated by witchcraft.
tecting Diola communities. In 1943 Vichy French officials
Her uncle, a major chief, decided that the strangers included
arrested her, tried her under a native law code for obstructing
his brother, Nongqawuse’s father, who had died many years
colonial initiatives, and exiled her to Tombouctou in French
before. With Mhlakaza’s support, what became known as the
Soudan. She died a year later, but news of her death was kept
Xhosa Cattle Killing spread rapidly, leading to the destruc-
as a state secret until 1987. Since her death, others have come
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
PROPHET, MARK AND ELIZABETH CLARE
7445
forward, claiming that Emitai had sent them in the tradition
tive spiritual teachings of the Rosicrucians and the Self-
of Alinesitoué Diatta.
Realization Fellowship. By the 1950s, the now-married
Prophet was publishing “dictations” from El Morya anony-
SEE ALSO African Religions, overview article; Alinesitoué;
mously for an I AM-offshoot organization, the Lighthouse
East African Religions, overview article; God, article on Af-
of Freedom.
rican Supreme Beings; Politics and Religion, article on Poli-
tics and African Religious Traditions.
In 1958, Prophet moved to Washington, D.C., and
founded his own organization, the Summit Lighthouse,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
whose mission was to publish the periodical teachings he re-
Anderson, David M., and Douglas H. Johnson, ed. Revealing
ceived from the ascended masters. An inner core of followers,
Prophets: Prophecy in East African History. London, 1995.
the Keepers of the Flame Fraternity, received advanced
Baum, Robert M. Shrines of the Slave Trade: Diola Religion and
teachings from Prophet on such topics as decreeing, ascen-
Society in Precolonial Senegambia. New York, 1999.
sion, the ascended masters, reincarnation, and the coming
Golden Age of spiritual illumination. Central to Prophet’s
Baum, Robert M. “Alinesitoué: A West African Woman Proph-
et.” In Unspoken Worlds: Women’s Religious Lives, edited by
eclectic version of Theosophical and I AM Activity teachings
Nancy A. Falk and Rita M. Gross. Belmont, Calif., 2001.
was his own role as the sole messenger for the ascended mas-
ters in the dawning Aquarian Age. Also central to his teach-
Bernardi, Bernardo. The Mugwe: A Failing Prophet. London,
1959.
ings was his conviction that the coming Golden Age was des-
tined to appear first in the United States, where a race of
Evans-Pritchard, Edward E. Nuer Religion. New York, 1956; re-
“lightbearers” would be born. This appearance was endan-
print, 1974.
gered, however, by supernatural forces of evil that worked
Johnson, Douglas H. Nuer Prophets: A History of Prophecy from the
through world communism and the elite leaders of interna-
Upper Nile in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Ox-
tional finance and “one-world” political movements.
ford, 1994.
Lienhardt, Godfrey. Divinity and Experience: The Religion of the
The purpose of humanity, according to Prophet, was to
Dinka. Oxford, 1961; reprint, 1978.
attain “ascension,” a state of divinelike existence in which the
human soul was united to its divine self. Before this could
Peires, Jeffrey B. The Dead Will Arise: Nongqawuse and the Great
Xhosa Cattle-Killing Movement of 1856–7. Johannesburg,
occur, a soul must “balance its karma,” the accumulated neg-
1989.
ative energies of its past lives, and dedicate itself to the path
of the ascended masters. The basic spiritual practice taught
Ray, Benjamin. African Religions: Symbol, Ritual, and Community.
by Prophet was “decreeing,” in which disciples vocalized dy-
Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2000.
namic affirmations that included the biblical name of God,
ROBERT M. BAUM (2005)
“I Am.” Prophet claimed that this practice gave students the
power to overcome negative conditions in their lives and to
create a proper relationship with their God-self. Prophet’s fu-
PROPHET, MARK AND ELIZABETH
sion of esoteric spirituality, conspiracy theories, and right-
CLARE.
wing political ideology would provide the catalyst for a dan-
Mark (1918–1973) and Elizabeth Clare (b.
gerous period of apocalyptic urgency in the group during the
1939) Prophet (and the movements they founded, the Sum-
late 1980s and early 1990s.
mit Lighthouse and Church Universal and Triumphant) are
key figures in the emergence of American New Age apocalyp-
Prophet met Elizabeth Clare Wulf (b. 1939 in Red
ticism during the second half of the twentieth century. The
Bank, New Jersey) at a public lecture in 1961. Wulf, a stu-
Prophets combined charismatic authority, Gnostic spirituali-
dent of Russian politics at Boston University, was the daugh-
ty, patriotism, and esotericism to construct an influential sys-
ter of a Swiss governess and a German naval officer. By 1963,
tem of alternative spirituality in America’s New Age sub-
Mark Prophet and Elizabeth Wulf had divorced their respec-
culture.
tive spouses, married, and moved to Fairfax, Virginia. In
1964, Elizabeth Clare Prophet was “anointed” as co-
Mark L. Prophet was born in Chippewa Falls, Wiscon-
messenger for the ascended masters by Saint Germain, the
sin, on December 24, 1918. His devout mother reared him
ascended master responsible for the destiny of the United
in the Methodist tradition, but also exposed him to the
States.
teachings of the Unity School of Christianity. Later publica-
tions of Church Universal and Triumphant claim that
Between 1964 and 1972, the Prophets had four children
Prophet met the Ascended Master El Morya when he was
and moved Summit Lighthouse to Colorado Springs. It was
seventeen years old and working as a railroad employee. “As-
during this period that the group began attracting the youth
cended master” is a concept borrowed from the I AM Reli-
counterculture and expanding in significant numbers in the
gious Activity, and refers to a spiritual hierarchy of advanced
United States. The Prophets bought a mansion that became
entities (“masters”) who are responsible for the evolution of
the movement’s international headquarters, publishing cen-
humankind. During World War II, Prophet served in the
ter, and residence for themselves and their most dedicated
Army Air Corps and began to immerse himself in the alterna-
students. They also established Montessori International, a
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
7446
PROPHETHOOD, ISLAMIC
children’s school based on the teachings of Maria Montessori
In 1999, Prophet disclosed that she was suffering from
and the ascended masters, and Ascended Master (now Sum-
Alzheimer’s disease and turned over both temporal and spiri-
mit) University to provide advanced students with an inten-
tual authority to a leadership team that includes a president,
sive immersion in the group’s system of esoteric spirituality.
a board of directors, and a twenty-four-member council of
elders. She remains a revered figure to church loyalists but
Mark Prophet died suddenly on February 26, 1973.
is no longer involved in the church’s daily affairs.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet proclaimed that her late husband’s
soul was now the Ascended Master Lanello. The group was
SEE ALSO Church Universal and Triumphant.
able to maintain continuity of leadership during this crisis
through periodic dictations from Lanello to Keepers of the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Flame gatherings. In 1974, Elizabeth Clare Prophet renamed
Prophet, Elizabeth Clare. The Great White Brotherhood in the Cul-
the group Church Universal and Triumphant and founded
ture, History and Religion of America. Colorado Springs,
teaching centers in major cities throughout the United
Colo., 1976.
States. Summit Lighthouse continued as the movement’s
Prophet, Elizabeth Clare. The Lost Years of Jesus: Documentary Evi-
publishing arm. Prophet moved the church’s headquarters to
dence of Jesus’ 17-Year Journey to the East. Livingston, Mont.,
the Los Angeles area in 1976, where it remained for ten years
1984.
before relocating to the Royal Teton Ranch in Corwin
Prophet, Elizabeth Clare. The Astrology of the Four Horsemen: How
Springs, Montana. Prophet appeared regularly in both print
You Can Heal Yourself and Planet Earth. Livingston, Mont.,
and electronic media during the late 1970s and toured the
1991.
United States, “stumping for higher consciousness” and
Prophet, Mark L., and Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Climb the Highest
preaching against the evils of abortion and communism.
Mountain: The Everlasting Gospel. Colorado Springs, Colo.,
1972.
The move to Montana occurred as a result of growing
opposition to Church Universal and Triumphant in Califor-
Prophet, Mark L., and Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Science of the Spo-
nia and the church’s increasingly apocalyptic ideology.
ken Word. Colorado Springs, Colo., 1974.
Prophet organized seminars during the mid-1980s for her
Whitsel, Bradley C. The Church Universal and Triumphant: Eliza-
followers that featured nationally known conspiracy theorists
beth Clare Prophet’s Apocalyptic Movement. Syracuse, N.Y.,
who issued dark warnings concerning alien civilizations,
2003.
AIDS, and nuclear holocaust. Beginning in 1986, in re-
PHILLIP CHARLES LUCAS (2005)
sponse to apocalyptic warnings from Saint Germain, the
church built a series of fallout shelters on its ranch property
that were designed to protect staff members from the fallout
PROPHETHOOD, ISLAMIC SEE NUBU¯WAH
of a global thermonuclear war. By late 1989, apocalyptic
fears had reached a fever pitch, and members from around
the world began moving en masse to Paradise Valley, Mon-
PROSELYTISM SEE CONVERSION; MISSIONS,
tana. After two predicted nuclear exchanges between the So-
ARTICLE ON MISSIONARY ACTIVITY
viet Union and the United States failed to occur in 1990, dis-
illusioned members began leaving the valley and the church
became the brunt of sensational negative media stories.
PROSTITUTION SEE HIERODOULEIA
In response to the organizational upheavals caused by
this cycle of apocalyptic urgency, the church began a public
relations offensive in 1991 to combat its media image as a
PROTESTANTISM. [This article provides an overview
doomsday cult. Prophet published a new book, The Astrology
of the Protestant branch of Christian religion. The historical ori-
of the Four Horsemen (1991), which envisioned a more hope-
gins of Protestantism are examined in Reformation. Particular
ful future in which it was possible to mitigate the earth’s “re-
manifestations of Protestantism are discussed in Denomina-
turning karma” through dynamic decreeing. During the
tionalism and in numerous articles on Protestant churches and
early 1990s, she also distanced her church from the Branch
biographies of Protestant leaders.]
Davidians and the Montana Freemen, claiming on national
television programs such as Larry King Live and Nightline
Protestantism is a worldwide movement that derives
that her followers were law-abiding Americans who were
from sixteenth-century reforms of Western Christianity. As
working peacefully for a better world. In 1995, Prophet hired
a movement it is both a set of church bodies and a less well
a Belgian corporate consultant, Gilbert Cleirbault, to begin
defined ethos, spirit, and cultural achievement. Thus, one
a radical reorganization of the church. Under Cleirbault’s
speaks of Reformed or Methodist churches as being Protes-
leadership, Church Universal and Triumphant refocused its
tant, just as one may speak of a “Protestant ethic” or a “Prot-
efforts on the publication and dissemination of the Prophets’
estant nation.”
teachings and on the creation of spiritual communities
Through the years different needs have occasioned a va-
throughout the world.
riety of attempts to determine the definitional boundaries of
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
PROTESTANTISM
7447
Protestantism. Sometimes there may be theological or litur-
missionary efforts to convert people in all nations and to es-
gical motives for restricting these boundaries. Some Angli-
tablish churches everywhere. It was in the mid-twentieth
cans, or members of the Church of England, for example,
century that the inventive and often autochthonous charac-
who stress how closely they are identified with the ancient
ter of the nonwhite indigenous groups became evident, par-
catholic tradition, often resent being classified as Protestant
ticularly in sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Latin America, and
at all. So do Lutherans of similar outlook, even though the
the Pacific island world.
term Protestant was first applied in 1529 on Lutheran soil.
The power shift from northwestern Europe, where es-
At another extreme, many Protestants refuse to include
tablished Protestantism consistently lost power in the face of
movements like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons in
secularizing forces, to the vibrant world of the Southern
their ranks, even though these new nineteenth-century reli-
Hemisphere portended great changes in the Protestant ethos
gious traditions flourished on Protestant soil and kept some-
as well. For centuries Protestant religion had been seen as an
thing of the Protestant impulse in their church life.
impetus toward capitalist economies, yet the new growth
FOUR PROTESTANT CLUSTERS. For demographic purposes,
came in portions of the world where capitalism had little
David B. Barrett in his World Christian Encyclopedia (1982)
chance and few promoters. This religious emphasis in Eu-
tries to bring some order to definitional chaos by classifying
rope had characteristically been established in coordination
the non-Roman Catholic and non-Orthodox part of the
with the state. However, in the new nations of Africa or in
Christian world into five families, or blocs, which he calls
Latin America, where Catholicism was first established but
“Protestant,” “nonwhite indigenous,” “Anglican,” “marginal
where anticlerical revolutions later barred privilege to any
Protestant,” and “Catholic (non-Roman).” All but the last
Christian bodies, nonwhite indigenous Protestantism had to
of these have some sort of Protestant ties. The mainstream
make its way as a movement independent of state establish-
Protestant category includes long-established Northern
ment or privilege.
Hemisphere churches such as the Congregationalist and
Other changes came with the shift. Historically the
Baptist. The Anglican family includes plural, low church,
Protestantism of Europe relied on thought patterns that de-
high church, evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, and central (or
pended upon and connected with older Catholic philoso-
Broad church) traditions. The category of marginal Protes-
phies. The Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century pro-
tants includes Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Religious Sci-
tested against some uses Catholics made of, for example,
ence, and Unitarian, Spiritualist, and British-Israelite
Platonic or Aristotelian philosophies through the centuries.
churches.
Yet soon they were themselves developing theologies that re-
The existence of the fourth category, nonwhite indige-
lied on the mainline Western philosophical synthesis. In the
nous Christianity, “a whole new bloc of global Christen-
new area of growth, however, leaders of nonwhite indigenous
dom,” Barrett speaks of as “one of the more startling find-
flowerings of Protestantism did not have the luxury of ex-
ings” documented in his survey. Its existence has been long
ploring these philosophical schools. They saw no need to re-
known, but few, says Barrett, realized that by 1980 it num-
late to them and often explicitly rebelled against them.
bered eighty-two million. For all their independent rise and
All these changes make generalizing about Protestant-
growth, however, nonwhite indigenous forms of Christianity
ism far more difficult at the beginning of the twenty-first
still derive from missionary efforts by classic Protestants.
century than at the end of the nineteenth. Often one must
They share many of the doctrines and practices of the West-
fall back on definitions from the classic period, the first three
ern parentages. In almost all cases they also share the familiar
or four centuries, keeping in mind the exceptional new devel-
names Baptist, Lutheran, Anglican, and the like. Therefore,
opments as a subtheme. In any case, much of the plot of
while attention to them may be secondary, these younger
Protestantism after its period of expansion has revealed the
churches do belong in any encyclopedic coverage of the lon-
dialectic of adaptation and resistance on the part of both mis-
ger Protestant tradition.
sionary agents and the missionized. The agents of the West
LOCATION OF OLD AND NEW PROTESTANTISM. After more
often arrived along with merchants or military forces, and
than 450 years, worldwide Protestantism is entering a new
they had to choose between being openly identified with
phase, because of this shift of power to nonwhite indigenous
their purposes or establishing an, at least, subtle detachment
versions. Classically the movement was strongly identified
from them. Inevitably they were bearers of Western national
with northwestern Europe and Anglo-America. Philosopher
values, but they could choose to keep their distance from un-
Alfred North Whitehead once spoke of the Reformation it-
critical embrace of these values. On the other hand, those
self as a family quarrel of northwestern European peoples.
who accepted Christianity at the hands of the missioners also
From the early sixteenth century until well into the nine-
had the choice of adopting as much of Western culture as
teenth, the vast majority of the heirs of this Reformation did
possible or picking and choosing those elements of Protes-
remain in Europe and its North American colonies. The
tantism that they could most easily or advantageously graft
Latin American nations were almost entirely Roman Catho-
onto their old culture and ways.
lic in makeup. Around the turn of the nineteenth century,
PROTESTANT DIVERSITY AND COHERENCE. The first percep-
this older Protestantism underwent vast expansion through
tion of both old and new Protestantism has always been its
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
7448
PROTESTANTISM
diversity. Barrett claims that the one billion and more prac-
be tempted to do, does not take into account the fact that
ticing Christians of the world belong to 20,780 distinct de-
the word Protestant arose to cover a distinct set of phenome-
nominations. While more than half the Christians are Cath-
na. In the minds of those who use the term, it may denote
olic, the vast majority of these 20,780 denominations would
something fairly specific. The easiest way to put a boundary
be classed as part of the Protestant movement. Thus, in clas-
around Protestantism is to deal with it negatively and say
sic Protestantism, in 1980 there were almost 345 million
that it is the form of Western Christianity that rejects obedi-
people in 7,889 of these distinct bodies in 212 nations. The
ence to the Roman papacy. Such an approach is an immense
nonwhite indigenous versions, almost all of them Protestant,
clarifier, since Protestants do reject the papacy. The only re-
were located in 10,065 distinct bodies. There were also 225
maining element of confusion in this negative definition
Anglican denominations and 1,345 “marginal Protestant”
comes from the fact that Western (non-Roman) Catholic
groups. Indeed, this diversity and this fertility at creating
Christians also reject the papacy. In 1980 this group, includ-
new, unrelated bodies were long used as a criticism of Protes-
ing the Catholic Apostolic, Reformed Catholic, Old Catho-
tantism by Roman Catholicism, which united under the
lic, and Conservative Catholic churches, numbered
Roman pope, and by Orthodoxy, which was divided more
3,439,375, as against 344,336,319 old- and new-style Prot-
into national jurisdictions but saw itself as united in holy tra-
estants.
dition.
While the resistance to papal claims is a uniting factor,
It is possible to move behind this first perception of the
it is not likely that many people ever choose to remain loyal
chaos of unrelated bodies to see some forms of coherence.
to Protestantism on such marginal and confining grounds
Great numbers of Protestant bodies, along with many Or-
alone. One is Protestant for many reasons; one then differen-
thodox ones, are members of the World Council of Church-
tiates one’s faith and practice from Roman Catholicism in
es, established in 1948, which has a uniting confessional
nonpapal-versus-papal terms. That issue was strong in the
theme around the lordship of Jesus Christ. In many nations
sixteenth century at the time of the Protestant break with
there are national councils or federations of cooperating
Rome, and it became a subject of intense controversy late in
churches, which allow for positive interaction even where
the nineteenth century, when papal infallibility was declared.
there is not organic unity. World confessional families of Lu-
The controversy remains to plague Catholic-Protestant ecu-
therans, Reformed, Baptists, and others throughout the
menical relations. But in the daily life of believers, the rejec-
twentieth century brought into some concord these churches
tion of the papacy has little to do with churchly commit-
that have family resemblances. Finally, there have been sig-
ments. One must seek elsewhere for the positive elements
nificant mergers of Protestant churches both within families,
and accents of Protestantism, even if it shares many of these
such as Lutheran with Lutheran, Presbyterian with Presbyte-
with Catholicism.
rian, and across family lines, as in America’s United Church
The first common mark of Protestantism is historically
of Christ, which blended a New England Congregationalist
clear and clean; virtually all Protestant groups derive from
tradition with a German Reformed heritage.
movements that began in the sixteenth century. When later
Whoever chronicles Protestant diversities and coher-
groups were formed, as were the Disciples of Christ in nine-
ences also has to recognize that significant differences appear
teenth-century America, they may not have seen themselves
within each group and that important elements of concord
as working out the logic of earlier Protestantism; yet histori-
transect the groups. Liberal Episcopalians and Methodists
ans at once traced the roots of this typical new group to vari-
may have more in common with each other on many issues
ous older Presbyterian and Baptist forms, among others.
and in numbers of practices than either of them has with
A very few Protestant groups can also trace their lineage
conservative members of their own communion. It is proba-
back to pre-Reformation times. Modern Waldensians, for
bly the better part of discretion not to seek rigid categories
example, are heirs of a movement begun under Pierre Valdès
in classifying Protestant bodies; the concept of something
(Peter Waldo) in the twelfth century, and some modern
like “zones” is more fruitful. Thus across the Protestant spec-
Czech churches are heirs of traditions that go back to the
trum one may begin with “high church” Anglican zones,
Hussite Jednota Bratrská (Society of Brethren, known in
where many formal practices of Catholicism prevail, the lit-
Latin as Unitas Fratrum) of the fifteenth century. Yet the
urgy is extremely complex, and worship is highly adorned
Waldensians, the Czech groups, and others began to be rec-
(with icons, incense, and artifacts or gestures). At the oppo-
ognized as something other than illicit sects on Roman Cath-
site end of the spectrum and at least as securely in the orbit
olic soil as a result of the Protestant breakthrough. At another
of sociological Protestantism is a “low church” zone, where
point on the spectrum is the Church of England, or Angli-
groups may have rejected as much as possible from the Cath-
canism. Most of its articulators stress that they remain the
olic past; for example, the Quakers seek utter simplicity and
church Catholic as it has been on English soil since the
silence in worship and make no use of the sacraments of
Christianization of England. Although it has kept faith in
Catholic Christianity at all.
the apostolic succession of bishops and has retained many
SOME PROTESTANT ELEMENTS HELD IN COMMON. To ac-
pre-Reformation practices, the Anglican communion as it
cent only Protestant diversity, as demographers or critics may
has existed since the break with Rome under Henry VIII in
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
PROTESTANTISM
7449
the sixteenth century is vastly different from the Catholic
mainstream Protestantisms. Here, as so often, it is their
church under Roman papal obedience in England before and
departure from theism that is at issue in the principles of
since the Reformation. In short, the Waldensians, the Czech
exclusion.
groups, and the Anglicans alike were, and were seen to be,
Protestantism on occasion has had deistic proponents,
part of the Protestant revolt from both the viewpoints of
agents of a natural religion that made no room for a personal
Roman Catholic leadership and historical scholarship ever
God, special revelation, or reasons to pray to an unrespon-
since.
sive, divine, originating, but now absentee force. In eigh-
To have undergone formal separation from the papally
teenth-century England there were Anglican Deists, and in
controlled church or to have been transformed by the fact
the continental Enlightenment one heard of equivalents. In
that one’s tradition changes through such separation are the
practice, many Protestant believers may act as though they
major historical marks of Protestantism. Individual groups
are deistic in their prayer life, which means that they some-
may have parentage in the Middle Ages or may have sprung
how believe in a divine force but see no reason for prayerful
up late in the twentieth century, yet the sixteenth-century
intercourse with it. Yet deism has consistently in due course
breach in Christendom is the event by which Protestant exis-
been seen as a deviation from, not a part of, the Protestant
tence is somehow measured. Beyond the normativeness of
impulse.
that breach, Protestants begin to share elements of Catholi-
THE GOD OF THE BIBLE AND TRINITARIANISM. The free-
cism. That certain elements are shared in no way diminishes
dom that belongs to the Protestant ethos has made room for
their importance in Protestant definition. They tend to ac-
the enterprising and innovating philosopher of religion, but
quire a special color when viewed through the prism of Prot-
the determining element in Protestant concepts of God has
estant experiences.
been some form of adherence to the biblical witness. The
GOD IN PROTESTANTISM. All Christian movements, unlike
God of Protestants is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
some other religions, focus finally on their witness to God.
Along with Catholics, Protestants believe in the God re-
Protestantism is theistic. There have been momentary ex-
vealed in the Hebrew scriptures, which Protestantism has
pressions by theological elites of a “Christian atheism,” but
taken over intact from Judaism and made its own. This God,
these have been dismissed by the Protestant public as idio-
Yahveh, is the God of Israel and the God of the prophets.
syncratic, personal forms of witness or philosophical expres-
Protestantism thus relies on God as creator and sustainer of
sion. Then, too, some prophets and observers have pointed
the universe, existent though hidden, being and not nonbe-
to a “practical atheism” among Protestants who in their ways
ing, somehow an agent in history. Although not all Protes-
of life seem to ignore the claims of God upon them. Yet such
tants speak of a “personal” God, most conceive of God as
practical atheism is unself-conscious, reflexive. When called
personal and thus addressable.
to their attention, it is usually vigorously dismissed by the
Protestant theologians spoke of the Protestant intention
people to whom it is applied, a sign that they regard theistic
as one directed to what H. Richard Niebuhr called “radical
belief to be focal.
monotheism.” This intention has meant that Protestants
At the left wing of marginal Protestantism, as Barrett
share the concern of Hebrew prophecy to distance believers
clarifies it, stand some former Protestant groups that have re-
from “many gods” and false gods alike. The Protestant im-
tained certain elements of the Protestant tradition. Among
pulse, sometimes directed even against itself by its own
these are Unitarianisms of humanistic sorts and Ethical Cul-
prophets, has been iconoclastic. Pioneers of the movement
ture movements, which grew up on Jewish soil in America
such as John Calvin saw the natural human mind as an in-
but acquired some Protestant traits. It is significant that such
stinctive idol maker, always busy serving either the true God
groups are dismissed by the vast cohort of Protestants pre-
or gods of its own making, who must be smashed. It would
cisely because they are humanistic, or because they exclude
be impossible to say that Protestant believers have been more
themselves from Protestantism, usually on grounds of
successful at being radical monotheists than have others; yet
theism.
reflective Protestantism has been so nervous about icons or
images that might be construed as having identity with the
If Protestants are not humanistic or atheistic, they also
divine or divinized figure they represent that the iconoclast
are not pantheistic. Individual pantheists may exist as mys-
always has a privileged place in Protestant arguments.
tics, and there have been pantheistic Protestant heresies, so
regarded both by those who have innovated with them and
The battle against icon and idol in Protestantism may
by those who have excluded their advocates. In some formal
sometimes continue on the abstract planes of philosophical
theological circles, one sometimes hears advocated teachings
discourse or theological definition, but the iconoclastic posi-
that seem to verge on pantheism, the proposition that the
tion is usually stated most forcefully when Protestants ex-
world and God are coextensive, identical. Yet articulators of
plain the biblical account of Israel’s witness to Yahveh, the
such teachings usually take pains to distance themselves from
one God. The God to whom Protestants point is one who,
pure pantheism, for example, through panentheisms, which
although hidden, exists, acts, and speaks through a divine
speak both of identity and distance. Marginal Protestants
word. This God is in every case a God of judgment and
such as the Mormons teach doctrines that look pantheist to
mercy, wrath and love, holiness and forgiveness.
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While some Protestants have been unsure about the
refused to identify the Holy Spirit with the tradition, the
meaning of the covenant with Israel in the Old Testament,
magisterium or official teaching, or the papal authority of the
few have doubted the witness to God in the New Testament.
Roman Catholic Church. Most have been more at home see-
The God of Israel is present in a special way in Jesus of Naza-
ing the Holy Spirit connected with revelation and authority
reth. Some forms of liberal Protestantism were reluctant to
as the inspirer of the text of the Bible. Some left-wing re-
speak of Jesus as partaking uniquely in the divine nature asso-
formers of the sixteenth century and their heirs down to
ciated with the one he called Father. When they showed this
twenty-first-century Pentecostal Protestants have been ready
reluctance, this was in the interest of radical monotheism.
to speak of revelation from the Holy Spirit direct to the indi-
When most other forms of Protestantism remained content
vidual, apart from scripture. Yet it is significant that in their
with or became emphatic about classic creeds that associated
minds, this revelation occurs alongside and not in antago-
Jesus Christ with God, they did so in conscious reference to
nism toward or independent of what is heard in the inspired
the fact that this in no way detracted from monotheistic
Bible.
faith. Protestant interpretation of philosophies of history
have always seen this God of Israel as somehow active in
This witness to God in three persons, historically as Fa-
history.
ther, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit, has added up to
a Protestant trinitarianism. Once the term Trinity is intro-
At the same time, Protestantism is a Christ-focused
duced, it is difficult to see what distinctions remain. True,
faith. Here again one may speak in the language of H. Rich-
a few Protestants, especially among the Pentecostals and oth-
ard Niebuhr about a tendency that he saw as less compatible
ers who resist Catholic creeds and dogma, reject the trinitari-
with true Protestantism and that, indeed, was a heresy on any
an approach because the word does not appear in the Bible
terms. Some forms of evangelical, Christ-centered Protes-
and because it points to human formulations. Yet without
tantism, he charged, were guilty of a “Unitarianism of the
using the term, they tend to reproduce the substance of trini-
Second Person” of the Trinity. This meant that just as earlier
tarian faith even while rejecting its formulations.
theistic Unitarians believed only in the divinity of the one
God whom Jesus called Father, at the expense of the Son and
In sum, the distinctive characteristics of Protestantism
the Holy Spirit, these gospel-minded people, without usually
emerge from the variety of models that Protestants endorse
meaning to, identified Jesus almost exclusively with God and
in forming their churches. Because of their diversity, Protes-
had little to say or do about God apart from witness to Jesus.
tant churches have been less likely or less able to converge
on the basis of each other’s witness than have churches in the
Not all Protestants have been ready to use the inherited
more homogeneous Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic
language of the preexistent Logos, or Word, that became in-
traditions. As a result, Protestants are thrown back more on
carnate in the historical Jesus. They have, however, found
story than on dogma, more on biblical narrative than on
ways to witness to the bond between Jesus and God. In his
creedal formulation, yet for the most part without rejecting
best-known hymn, “A Mighty Fortress,” Protestant pioneer
dogma or creed. And they have been pressed to develop spe-
Martin Luther spoke of Jesus Christ as “the Lord of hosts”
cial ways of understanding how God is mediated and present
and then burst forth with the assertion “And there’s no other
in human affairs and, specifically, in the circle of believers
God.” There is no other God than the one revealed in Jesus
and the church. Urgent on its agenda for centuries, then,
Christ. Such witness led to radical expressions that verge on
has been the concept of mediation in formal authority and
the ancient heresy of patripassionism, the claim that God the
structure.
Father suffered with the Son on the cross. In this spirit Mar-
A
tin Rinkhart offered a line in a Good Friday hymn to the ef-
UTHORITY AND STRUCTURE: THE SCRIPTURES. If the be-
fect that in the death of Jesus “our God is dead.” Nineteenth-
liever on Protestant soil is to be responsive to God as creator
century critics, especially left-wing Hegelians, seized on in-
(or, sometimes, Father), Son, and Holy Spirit, questions
cautious lines like these to claim that the death of Jesus
arise. Who says so? How is this God to be known? What are
meant the death of God, even on orthodox soil. Rinkhart
the boundaries of witness to such a God? Eastern Orthodoxy
and the Protestants were not ready for such consequences or
and Roman Catholicism stress the authority of tradition,
corollaries, but they left themselves open to this claim, so
magisterium, apostolic succession of bishops (as do Angli-
eager were they to proclaim the divinity of Jesus Christ. Prot-
cans and some Lutherans), and, uniquely to Catholicism, the
estants in the main have been so Jesus- or Christ-centered
Roman papal office. They also testify to God’s revelation in
that they are more willing to take such risks than to side with
scripture, but Protestantism is thrown almost wholly on
humanistic or minority liberal Protestants who broke up no-
scripture. Since the end of the nineteenth century, however,
tions of the Trinity and saw Jesus as a distinctive but not
more and more Protestants have been willing to see a rela-
unique human.
tionship between the Bible and tradition. They have become
contextual thinkers who see that the Bible reiterates the tra-
As for what the creeds describe as the Third Person of
dition it grows out of. Yet for their ancestors in faith the
the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, one despairs of pointing to a dis-
Bible held a special status, and tradition or papal authority
tinctive witness held by almost all Protestants. Negatively,
could never match it. So emphatic was this Protestant em-
again as a corollary to the nonpapal witness, Protestants have
phasis that critics from within, such as the Enlightenment-
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7451
era Protestant Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, complained that
closes,” or potentially discloses, what God would reveal. This
Luther substituted the Bible as a “paper pope” for Protestants
disclosure or revelation, it is contended, can occur even if the
to match the authority of Catholicism’s human pope.
Bible includes grammatical inaccuracies, historical misstate-
ments, and scientific concepts long proven wrong and ren-
The Bible of Protestantism is the canon of the Old and
dered obsolete. The polemic of these contenders is against
New Testaments, and almost never the Apocrypha, which
the inerrantists, who, they claim, do make the Bible into a
has special status in the Orthodox and Catholic traditions.
quasi-papal authority or turn it into an icon at the expense
The canon is theoretically open; it is conceivable that a book
of radical monotheism.
could still be added to it. So teach most Protestants. It is dif-
ficult to imagine the circumstance in which the many Protes-
The spectrum is visible in another way when one con-
tant church bodies could agree on a later-discovered and ap-
siders how different Protestants regard the reader of the
parently canonical-level writing, yet, for thoughtful
Bible. At one end, there are those who contend that “the
Protestants, the openness of the canon is a partial safeguard
right of private judgment” is the Christian mark of distinc-
against making an icon or idol of the Bible.
tiveness. Thus Martin Luther was said to have challenged the
While the Bible has become the only document used
emperor in 1521 to convince him that he, Luther, was wrong
and useful for uniting Protestant witness or helping deter-
on the basis of the Bible and reason. One cannot go against
mine Protestant theological argument—it provides at least
conscience for the sake of authority. In a sense, the con-
something of the genetic programming of Protestantism, or
science and intelligence of the individual in such a case take
the ground rules for their games—there is here as so often
priority over claims of the community. At the other end of
a very broad spectrum of approaches to its authority. Most
the spectrum, there is as much concern as in any other part
Protestants have accepted the Luthern mark sola scriptura,
of Christianity for Christian community and the nurturing
that the Bible alone is the authority; but this formula tells
of the word in the context of congregation or church. In
all too little about how to regard the book.
these cases, the church is credited with preserving the Bible,
seeing that it is embodied in people who effectively display
At one extreme, conservative Protestants who have re-
its power in their lives, and calling people to belief on the
sisted modern historical criticism of biblical texts stress that
basis of biblical texts that are turned into calls of faith by liv-
the Bible is somehow not only inspired but infallible and in-
ing people. In all cases, it is fair to speak of Protestants as
errant. The inerrancy applies not only to revelation in mat-
being especially “people of the Book.”
ters of faith but also in all details of history, geography, and
THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH. Lacking paper authority
science, at least as would apply to the original autographs.
as they do, and unwilling as they are for the most part to yield
Some of the originators of Protestantism often used language
to bishops as having a determinative role in dispensing tradi-
of biblical authority that was so confident of biblical truth
tion, how do Protestants see the authority of the church? The
that it gave reasons for later theologians to build elaborate
vast majority of Protestants in all ages, though they be
theories of this inerrancy. In later centuries, some dogmatic
churched and faithful, have rendered secondary to the Bible
teachers went so far as to propound mechanical or dictation
all other church authority, creeds, confessions, and forms of
theories, in which the author of a biblical writing was a kind
polity. When they are serious and are seriously confronted,
of conduit or secretary for God, at the expense of personal
most Protestants characteristically will say that they get au-
inspiration and independent style. Most proponents of iner-
thority for teaching and practice from the Bible alone.
rancy, however, have been less extreme. They have tended
to build on the basis of various Aristotelian or Baconian phi-
Despite this claim, reflective Protestants will also admit
losophies, stressing syllogisms in which a perfect, hence iner-
that over the centuries they have spilled much ink in treatises
rant, God chooses to engage lovingly in revelation, hence
on churchly authority. As much as Catholics, they may have
taking care to assure that readers receive no error or ambigu-
exacted sweat and blood from people who ran afoul of
ity. These inerrantists have engaged in heated polemics
church authorities, who tested the bounds of orthodoxy, or
against all, no matter how high their view of biblical authori-
who came under ecclesiastical discipline. Protestantism, in
ty, who have not found inerrancy to be a biblical or theologi-
other words, may seem chaotic to the outsider who sees its
cally defensible concept.
many groupings and varieties, but to most confessors and
members the chaos is minimized, because they are ordinarily
At the other end of the spectrum are a minority of Prot-
touched only by the authority system of which they are a
estants, chiefly in academic centers, who have completely
part, that of their own church.
adopted post-Enlightenment views of biblical criticism.
They have thus treated the biblical text as they would any
Once one insists on making churchly authority second-
other ancient literary text. They grant no special status to the
ary, other values come to be dominant in association with
inspiration of biblical authors. For them the Bible still has
the church. The church on Protestant soil is a fellowship, a
authority as a document that both reflects and promotes the
congregation of people who have like minds or similar pur-
norms of the Christian community. Many schools of inter-
poses. The church may be seen as “the body of Christ” or
pretation, even among those who have immersed themselves
“the communion of saints” before it is an authority to com-
in historical and literary criticism, find that the Bible “dis-
pel conformity in teaching or practice. Yet once one assigns
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PROTESTANTISM
values to the group, even in forms of Protestantism that ac-
to be some common expressions that give clarity to faith and
cent the right of private judgment or go to extremes of indi-
that establish boundaries between one set of beliefs and
vidualism, there must be and in practice have been many
others.
subtle ways to assert authority and to effect discipline. A
Most Protestant bodies display their distinctiveness by
small congregation’s authority on Baptist or Congregational
resorting to documents from the times of their origins. In
soil can be felt more immediately, for instance, than might
their first or second generation, leaders of groups were called
Catholic authority asserted from the distance between Rome
upon or felt impelled to define themselves and to witness to
and India by a not always efficient and always pluralistic
their truths. For Lutherans the instrument was chiefly the
church. Democracies can turn authoritarian. Ambiguity
Augsburg Confession; for the Reformed, the Heidelberg
about authority can often lead to expressions of arbitrary dis-
Catechism; for Presbyterians, the Westminster Confession;
cipline. So polity and authority have been nagging questions
and for Anglicans the Thirty-nine Articles. Even loose bodies
in Protestantism.
such as seventeenth- and eighteenth-century New England
First, there has been ambiguity about the lay-clerical
Congregationalism in America produced enough creeds and
distinction. Theologian Hendrik Kraemer, in A Theology of
confessions to make up large anthologies. These documents
the Laity (1958), accurately pointed out that Protestantism
have attracted various levels of respect and authority. Some
was a revolt against authoritarian and overly hierarchical cler-
came to be neglected or even rejected by huge parties. Yet
icalism. Yet almost all Protestantism retained a professional
the ecumenical movement, in which these churches had to
and ordained clergy, somehow setting it aside with sacred
find out who they and their counterparts were, exposed to
sanctions and for special functions. The “somehow,” howev-
view these ancient documents and showed their enduring
er, became problematic. Protestantism wanted to engage in
power.
a leveling of ranks by insisting that all believers were priests,
By some Protestants their originating confessions were
that they could all intercede for one another at the altar, sym-
believed quia (“because”), that is, because they were held to
bolically before the throne of God. Then what were these or-
be simply and perfectly congruent with biblical witness. Oth-
dained “priests,” or whatever Protestants called their ministry
ers held to them quatenus (“insofar”), that is, insofar as they
or clergy, and how did they hold power?
witnessed to biblical truth in later times and special circum-
Kraemer, historian Wilhelm Pauck, and others have
stances. At times the claim was much more informal than ei-
shown that authority (in all but Anglicanism, the Lutheran
ther of these, and in some cases it is not possible to point to
Church of Sweden, and other “high” episcopal bodies) re-
a church confession at all. For many Protestants a confession
sides chiefly in the word of God and in the responsive con-
says “This we believe” as a hearty declaration to the world;
gregation. The minister has tended to become the person
for others it comes across as “This you must believe” and is
called and set aside to be the more expert preacher and ex-
used to rule out heresy or to provide a basis for polemics.
pounder of the word. Yet Protestantism was unwilling to say
PROTESTANT CHURCH POLITIES. As with confession, so
that the laity could not be expert at speaking the word, which
with structure, or polity: Protestantism presents a broad
was accessible to all. It was also easy to demonstrate that the
spectrum of often mutually incompatible polities. Again,
succession of faith in congregations that were responsive to
they can be inclusively categorized according to what they
the word was vulnerable to faithlessness and error or heresy.
negate. They all resist the notion that the Roman papacy is
To claim that ministry consisted in the clergy’s unique right
the best, or only, conduit of divine revelation and that the
to administer the sacraments or holy ordinances was some-
guardianship of the Christian church must rest in the hands
thing that not all Protestants were eager to do. They did not
of the pope as the vicar or representative of Christ on earth.
want the sacramental life to seem in any way magical. As a
Beyond that, most Protestant churches have preserved ele-
result, in almost all cases they retained a specially sanctioned
ments of the polity that came with their birth, transformed
clergy, ascribed great authority also to the laity, and left the
by exigencies of local, contemporary demands and, in the
status of both ambiguous and thus problematic.
modern world, adjustments to the managerial and bureau-
cratic impulse. Yet even in the last and most practical case,
CONFESSIONS AND CREEDS. Church authority is not only an
the Protestant impulse is to see some legitimation for polity
issue of clergy and laity. It must also concentrate on the sub-
in the Bible and in the experience of the early Christian
stance or content of the faith that holds people together and
church.
finds them members of one Protestant confession and not
another. Of course, heredity, accident of birth, and many ca-
On one end of this spectrum are churches like the An-
sual factors based on aesthetics, personal choice, or marriage
glican church or the Lutheran church in Sweden, which in-
across denominational lines have played their parts. But
sist on apostolic succession in an episcopacy that is of the es-
thoughtful Protestantism has also insisted that its members
sence (displays the esse) of the church. Elsewhere, as in
are not only “believers” but “believers in” and in some ways,
Methodism and much of Lutheranism, bishops belong to the
necessarily, “believers that” something or other is true.
bene esse of the church; they are beneficial for its order but
Whether or not they call these creeds or confessions, and
theoretically could be replaced in a different polity. Many
whether these statements are formal or informal, there tend
Reformed churches rely on synodical or connectional and as-
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PROTESTANTISM
7453
sociational patterns under the rule of presbyters or elders.
lishment to form Protestant versions. Martin Luther sup-
From the days of the radical reformation in the sixteenth
ported a “territorial church” with princes as bishops.
century through various later Baptist and Congregational
Elsewhere, monarchy and legislative bodies gave establish-
witnesses into modern times, and especially in burgeoning
ment power or privilege to the favored church and forced
nonwhite indigenous Protestantism, the authority and even
disabilities on others.
the autonomy of the local congregation is asserted.
Only the left-wing, or Anabaptist, churches of the first
Those Protestants at the “catholic” end of the spectrum,
generations were independent of the state, and they tended
who regard bishops as of the esse of the church, have been
to be harassed as much by Protestant establishments as by
least ready to see their polity as negotiable in an ecumenical
Catholic establishments. Where they became powerful, as
age. Presbyterian, synodical, and congregational bodies,
did the Puritans from England who founded New England,
while emphatically cherishing and defending their polities,
they reversed themselves and became the new established
have shown more signs of flexibility. A safe generalization
monopoly church. Even in much later republics, where no
suggests that even Baptist and Congregationalist groups, who
form of Protestantism ever came to dominance, Protestants
find biblical rootage for congregationalism, have adopted
were tempted to reassert power by looking for legal privilege.
enough bureaucratic instruments that they have functional
Despite all these establishmentarian dimensions, it is
polities that transcend mere congregationalism. Yet they
also fair to say that Protestantism did contain the seed that
would find it a part of their Protestantism to be suspicious
helped disestablishment and separation of church and state
of bishops.
develop. A religion of the word, Protestantism called for that
CIVIL GOVERNMENT. Alongside church confession and in-
word to separate people from attachment to the culture as
ternal polity has been the issue of the authority of the church
it evoked decision. So the boundaries of the church and the
or religious realm in or alongside the state or governmental
state could not be coextensive, as they aspired then to be in
and civil realms. Here one can speak of a long trend, based
Catholicism. Whatever “the priesthood of all believers,” “the
on Protestant latencies, to move from church establishment
right of private judgment,” and the call to conscience in bib-
toward disestablishment and a celebration of voluntarism.
lical interpretation meant theologically, they had as their
practical consequence an honoring of individualism and per-
It is historically inaccurate to say, based on the record
sonal profession of faith. Both of these would become con-
of American celebration of “separation of church and state”
fined were there an official and authoritative church.
with Protestant concurrence, that Protestantism has always
been voluntaristic. It would be more fair to say that the six-
Another way to describe this individualism is in terms
teenth-century Reformation carried with it some potential
of modern theologian Paul Tillich’s famed “protestant prin-
for voluntarism—seeds that broke open, sprouted, and grew
ciple” of prophetic protest. This principle calls believers to
from two to four centuries later.
question all structures and institutions, also and especially
those of their own state and church. Naturally, Protestants
In the late twentieth century, most of the new nations
have not found it any easier to do this than have others, since
in which nonwhite indigenous Protestantism prospered had
seldom does one wish to give up ease and privilege and to
undergone experiences of modernization that, whatever else
share power voluntarily. Yet, in contrast to much Orthodox
these meant, provided no room for fusion of church and state
and Roman Catholic theology, Protestant theology at least
or an interwoven pattern of religious and civil authority.
had a legitimating principle for criticizing church structure
Similarly, it was on the soil of largely Protestant nations such
and its bond with human governmental authority. Protes-
as the United States that the greatest degree of constitutional
tantism, then, has lived with a heightened dialectic. On the
separation between the two authorities first occurred. Yet po-
one hand, it called for support of government, in the terms
litical philosopher Hannah Arendt is correct to chide Protes-
of Paul’s biblical letter to the Romans, chapter 13, as God’s
tants for claiming that modern democracy with its religious
instrument. On the other hand, it was critical, along the lines
freedom is simply a Christian invention. Some Christians
of Revelation 13, of civil and ecclesiastical government as
have found it easy to reach into their repository of options
being especially subtle and potent concentrations of power,
to find impetus for supporting republicanism based on En-
symbols, and capacities for self-idolization and the oppres-
lightenment principles and practical support of equity and
sion of others.
civil peace whenever pluralism has been strong.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AS AUTHORITY. A word should be
Historical Protestantism in almost all its mainstream
said about personal experience as authority in Protestantism.
and dominant forms first simply carried over authority pat-
From the first its “spiritualists,” “mystics,” and “enthusiasts,”
terns from medieval Catholicism. In the Church of England,
who claimed that God spoke directly to and through them,
the Presbyterian church in Scotland, the Lutheran churches
have been both recognized and under suspicion. Those who
of Scandinavia, the Lutheran and Reformed churches of Ger-
carry these claims to extremes, as did many of the Quakers,
many, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, and wherever else
or Friends, the seventeenth-century Puritan sect, and some
leaders had the power to do so, they naturally clung to estab-
modern Pentecostals, know that they are “on the margin,”
lishment. They simply broke from Roman Catholic estab-
out of step with mainstream Protestantism. Their own pro-
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PROTESTANTISM
tests and the way the rest of Protestantism unites against
tion by grace through faith,” while at home in all of Protes-
them reveal this.
tantism, was not necessarily the chosen formula for all Prot-
estants. Yet all did accent divine initiative, human limits, the
At the same time, few Protestants have been willing to
gifts of God in Jesus Christ, and the new condition of hu-
resist going further than Orthodox and Catholic teachers in
manity as a result of divine forgiveness. The variations from
granting much authority to individual assent in the grasp of
the first included some new Protestant ways of propping up
faith. Calvin spoke of the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit
the moral quest. Not all were as sure as Luther was that the
in the heart and mind of the believer who hears the word of
law of God, as revealed in the Ten Commandments or the
God or reads the Bible. Luther’s possibly apocryphal cry at
sermon on the mount, played no positive guiding role in sal-
the Diet of Worms in 1521, a cry against emperor and pope,
vation. They often feared “antinomianism” or lawlessness.
state and church, “Here I stand!” has acquired mythical di-
The grace-proclaimers protected themselves against this by
mensions as an act of Protestant heroism. There is always at
insisting that faith must be active in love, that works must
least the theoretical possibility that the individual may be
follow grace, that “sanctification” is an inevitable conse-
right and the church wrong, a possibility that both nagged
quence and correlate of “justification.”
and inspired Luther and other reformers.
Where such resorts to human claims and achievements
In the end, most Protestantism asks the Christian who
were not part of original Protestantism, they did develop
claims to have had an experience of God or a direct revelation
later. An example of this was a revision on Dutch and then
and a call to individual conscience to subject these claims to
English soil in a movement named after one Jacobus Armini-
the responsibilities of the congregation or church at large.
us and called Arminianism. This system proclaimed the be-
There may be great suspicion by fellow believers of such
nevolence of a God who gave humans more capacity for be-
claims, and the individuals who make them may suffer liabil-
nevolence on their own. In some Unitarianism this teaching
ities and persecution. Yet on the other hand, Protestantism
became a kind of philosophical or moral system that moved
honors “heart religion,” insists on heartfelt response to the
to the edges of Protestantism. In Wesleyan Methodism it re-
word and the claims of God upon the mind, and thus it sees
mained “evangelical,” gospel-centered, but picked up on the
experience as an authority alongside the Bible and the
themes of sanctification and the quest for perfection. In the
church.
latter case, it did not make the sacrifice of Christ or the im-
P
parting of grace as a gift unnecessary or even secondary.
ROTESTANT SUBSTANCE. Original or classic Protestantism
was more ready to see itself as distinctive in the content of
Somehow, then, Protestants have concentrated on faith and
faith than is modern pluralist Protestantism. In the sixteenth
grace in distinctive ways. Modern Catholicism, however, has
century, late medieval Catholicism presented what to Protes-
undergone such a revitalizing of faith in similar approaches
tant eyes was an egregious violation of God’s system of ap-
to grace that the distinctively Protestant note has become
proach to human beings. Catholicism had generated, or de-
compromised—a trend that most Protestants profess to wel-
generated into, a system that progressively depended more
come enthusiastically. Protestantism has considered the
and more upon human achievement. Key words were human
church always to be reforming, never reformed; Catholicism
merit or humanly gained righteousness. Elaborate schemes, for
and Protestantism alike, many would say, stand in need of
example, the sale of indulgences to help make up the re-
being reformed, and from time to time they move past rigid,
quired number of merits to assure salvation, had been de-
older identities and formulas. Such moves are not incongru-
vised. These led to abuses, which contemporary Catholic re-
ent with the Protestant ethos and spirit.
formers and later historians have agreed made Protestant
THE PROTESTANT RESPONSE TO GOD. To speak of Protes-
revolt plausible.
tant creeds and a Protestant substance or content does justice
to the cognitive dimensions of its faith. At the same time,
Protestantism across the board held to generally extreme
one can easily exaggerate these elements. In the lives of most
views of human finitude, limits, “fallenness,” and need.
people called Protestant, behavioral factors are at least as
Mainstream and marginal reformers alike were not con-
vivid and more easily grasped, if defined with more difficul-
vinced by claims that human beings retained enough of the
ty. One can readily consult a dogmatics text to see what Prot-
image of God upon which to build so that their own works
estants believe or are supposed to believe. It takes more subtle
or merits would suffice to appease a wrathful God. They ex-
observation, more willingness to risk generalization, to ob-
aggerated the way Catholicism had diminished the role of
serve their response in practice.
Jesus Christ as giver of a gift or imparter of grace upon the
Protestantism has honored the rites of passage through
wholly undeserving. Once again Paul Tillich from the twen-
life. Few Protestants would call their ordinances “rites of pas-
tieth century can be called in as witness to what Protestant-
sage,” yet most can easily be led to see that their sacraments
ism affirmed: that God “accepts the unacceptable.” Because
and ceremonies do relate the individual to cosmos and com-
of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God does not wait for sinners
munity in patterns that match those observed on other soil
to become acceptable through their efforts.
by historians of religion. They may not see themselves classi-
In the sixteenth century, there were many variations on
fied with “the primitives” with respect to initiation, fertility,
this theme, and Martin Luther’s proclamation of “justifica-
or funerary rites, but there are parallels.
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7455
Thus, almost all Protestants—Quakers chiefly except-
rate churchly rites at times of nuptials. Yet it is distinctively
ed—see the need for a rite of initiation. With so few excep-
Protestant to prevent notions of grace-giving or sacramental
tions that they do not merit pointing to, this rite is “water
character from developing in most places.
baptism,” something shared with the rest of Christianity.
Protestantism has not encouraged distinctive funeral
Most Protestants retained infant baptism, as either an instru-
traditions, but almost everywhere its churches have been par-
ment of grace (as in Lutheranism) or an expression of cove-
ticipants in memorial or mourning rites. Again there oc-
nantal life (as in most of Reformed Protestantism). Yet Prot-
curred the negation of the Catholic notion that a sacrament
estants, when called to reflect, also resisted what they saw to
was involved at the point of passage to a life to come. Some
be Catholic notions of ex opere operato, which Protestants re-
Protestants use oils for symbolic purposes associated with
garded as a “magical” application of human elements in sac-
prayer for healing but assign them no sacramental or instru-
ramental life. This left those who baptized infants with the
mental significance. When death comes, there is much re-
burden of showing how faith can be active among children
flection upon the event and its meaning. Almost always a
who can have no rational conception of what is going on.
cleric holds rites of the word that accent the gospel of what
How to explain the decision that was still called for in re-
God has done in and for the deceased person and assure that
sponse to gifts of grace in faith, or the expectation that some
God’s love is stronger than death. These rites may occur in
disciplined life must follow?
the sanctuary of a church or in a mortuary, and burial
Many mainstream Protestants compensated by accent-
(whether of a body or ashes) can occur on church cemetery
ing reaffirmation of baptism in some version of a rite of con-
grounds or in public burial places. Here Protestantism offers
firmation. Others saw each act of repentance and each day’s
few consistent words except that one sees the life of the
conscious Christian affirmation as a new death of “the old
believer wrapped up in divine beneficence despite human
Adam” and a “being born again” as a new being in Christ.
frailty.
These ideas have held the imagination of millions and made
Alongside baptism, then, the only act seen as sacramen-
it possible for the rite of initiation to occur very early in
tal in the vast majority of Protestantism is the sacred meal.
human life.
Such meals are common in religions, and Protestants often
At the same time, the logic of Protestantism and the im-
have failed to see theirs in a larger context. Yet they have al-
pulse to connect rites of initiation with conscious response
most unanimously—the Salvation Army and the Quakers
to the word of God led many Protestant branches to grow
being the nearly sole exceptions—taken over the Catholic
restless about infant baptism and to move closer to locating
sacrament of this meal and put their stamp on it. For centu-
initiation in or after adolescence, as so many other religions
ries the Mass, in which the laity received bread and the clergy
have it. This meant a further move from seeing water bap-
partook of bread and wine, was the repeated event in which
tism as an instrument of grace to seeing it as a human re-
Jesus Christ was made really present through priestly act, the
sponse based on decision. The new evangelizers or convert-
word of God, and faith.
ers, then, called for a decision that issued in repentance and
Lutheranism, as an expression of a conservative Refor-
faith and then initiation. “Adult baptism” as a sign of re-
mation, came closest to keeping the sacramental worldview
sponse, usually dramatized in baptism by immersion, better
with its implications for the bread and wine as body and
exemplified the sense of ordeal and the passage across a “limi-
blood of Christ. But even Lutheranism rebelled against ex
nal” or threshold stage to new community. As a result, whole
opere operato concepts and did not want to see a change in
church bodies became “Baptist,” and the baptist forms of
the visible elements, a transubstantiation, of any sort. This
Protestantism came to prevail progressively in the modern
could lead to what Lutherans saw to be superstitious or magi-
world, where the demand for choice and identity grew more
cal reverence. Most other Protestants sided with the Re-
intense. Most of fast-growing nonwhite indigenous Protes-
formed tradition. They did not see the Lord’s Supper or
tantism stressed this form of passage.
Holy Communion as an occasion for seeing God in Christ
as present or for regarding Christ as sacramentally experi-
Marriage, regarded on Orthodox and Roman Catholic
enced in assemblies. Instead they located the Lord’s Supper
soil as a sacrament with an imparting of grace, distinctively
in a system of grace as a human response, to which people
stopped being that on most Protestant soil. The reformers
brought their faith and their intentions in response to a com-
tended to regard it as essentially a civil act, with the church
mand of God.
serving merely as an agent to bless the couple and to hear
their vows. The church was the custodian and recordkeeper
Whatever their doctrinal attitude toward the rite, these
of the state’s work until the modern secular state took over
Protestants took the meal seriously. For example, the nine-
the recording functions. One could, at least in theory, be val-
teenth-century Protestant movements associated with the
idly married without the blessing of the church and clergy.
Disciples of Christ, which were attempts to restore primitive
In practice, however, the impulse of people to see their acts
Christianity, rejected Catholic and Lutheran sacramental
of bonding and fertility sacralized has won out. On most
views. Yet, more than most Protestants, they kept the fre-
Protestant soil, whatever the theology of the marriage cere-
quent, indeed weekly, practice of sharing the sacred meal,
mony and act, people have seen to the development of elabo-
which usually takes place during the formal Sunday obser-
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PROTESTANTISM
vance of congregations, although usually with less frequency
these should be added that Protestants characteristically have
than in the sacramental and Catholic churches. Communi-
gathered for worship in buildings set aside for that purpose.
cants receive both bread and wine (or, in some temperance-
While they believe that the gathered community may effec-
minded bodies, unfermented grape juice) from a central
tively baptize, eat and drink, hear and pray under the sky or
table, either at that table or in the pew. The event occurs in
in secular buildings, they have had an impulse to set aside
a spirit of great solemnity, after there have been preaching
and consecrate a sacred space, which symbolically, not actu-
and examination of hearts.
ally, becomes a house of God.
THE ROLE OF THE WORD. While baptism and the Lord’s
The building may be of almost any architectural style.
Supper as sacraments, and marriage, confirmation, and fu-
Original Protestant churches tended to be slightly stripped-
neral rites as practices, receive much attention, Protestantism
down Catholic churches that had been taken over by Protes-
is supremely a religion of the word. By this most believers
tants. In general, the concept of being “stripped down” is ap-
mean not simply the word of the Bible but the Logos of God,
propriate; when Protestants build churches, they tend to be
the expression of God. God creates the universe by a word,
somewhat simpler than Orthodox or Catholic churches. Re-
pronounces sinners forgiven by a word, speaks the word to
jecting icons and minimizing the sacral role of statues and
heal them, builds community through the word.
painting, Protestants have tended to use pictorial art for pur-
poses of teaching, reminder, or inspiration. This approach
This has necessarily meant dissemination of the word.
has led to direct and simple expressions, with the exception
Protestantism was born early in the age of Johann Gutenberg
of a very few periods in which Protestants did revert to ornate
during a revolution in printing that made literacy necessary
Gothic expressions.
and the spread of words possible. Some modern critics have
seen Protestantism as so identified with Gutenberg’s inven-
The sacred space usually accents a place for preaching,
tion of movable type and a great impulse to use it that they
a baptismal font or pool, and a table or altar for the Lord’s
predict its demise as print gives way to the competition from
Supper. Around these the people gather, in pews or on
electronic and visual disseminations. However, Protestant-
chairs. The gathering occurs to recognize the presence of
ism also makes much of the oral word and sees voice as a
God, to follow divine commands to congregate for purposes
summons for belief. Its leaders have long quoted the Pauline
of praise, to build the morale of the group for purposes out-
notion that “faith comes by hearing” and hearing by the
side the sanctuary, and to celebrate the seasons of the church
word of God. This has meant that most Protestant revitaliza-
year, the events of the week, and the passages of life.
tions have occurred as theologies of the word or, for the peo-
With few exceptions, Protestantism is also a singing reli-
ple, as enhanced preaching.
gion. It took the act of praising in song, which had become
Protestantism came on the scene after the great tradition
largely a preserve of clergy and choir, and enlarged it to in-
of Catholic preaching was over, and there was little new at-
clude the congregation. There may be chorally apathetic
tention being given to homiletics. For Protestants, the
Protestantism, but in practice Protestants honor the word of
preached word or sermon, expounding the word and apply-
God in song. Most of their revivals—Luther’s and Charles
ing it to the needs of people in a new day, became a challenge
Wesley’s are but two examples—have been promoted
to the Mass as the focal act of worship. This vast majority
through distinctive song.
of Protestants measure the effectiveness of worship by refer-
Except in Seventh-day Adventism, Protestant worship
ence to the preaching. It is the scriptural word that gives
almost always occurs on Sunday, the Lord’s Day, the Day
power to baptism and the Lord’s Supper, whether as instru-
of Resurrection, although believers are urged to worship at
ments of grace or as human response. The word shapes
any time or place. Most Protestants observe the inherited
prayer; people use the word in teaching and conversation. In
Catholic church year but have purged it of many of its occa-
times of crisis, it is the word that inspires intercessory prayer.
sions. That is, they annually follow the life of Christ from
Most Protestant healing involves no herbs, potions, or exer-
Advent and Christmas, with its birth rites, through another
cises—only spiritual direction under the word. There are as
season of repentance and preparation, Lent, on the way to
many theories about why faith comes from hearing and be-
a climax at Good Friday and Easter weekend, and then a fes-
lieving the word as there have been theologies, Protestant bo-
tival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The more Puritan forms
dies, or movements and ages in Protestantism. Given the
of Protestantism, however, saw something “papist” in these
complexity of human psychology, the variety of social con-
seasonal observances and did away with almost all of them,
texts, and the pluralism of philosophical options, it is diffi-
sometimes including Christmas itself. The rest of Protestant-
cult to picture a final definition. Despite the lack of a unitary
ism, which kept the church year of observances, also honored
position on the power of the word, Protestants are united in
biblical saints like Paul and John on special days but rejected
believing that somehow theirs is a religion of the word.
most postbiblical saints. It was believed that honor directed
PROTESTANT WORSHIP. In describing baptism (whether
to them distracted from worship of God in Christ. In many
sprinkling of infants or immersion of adults), the Lord’s Sup-
places a new church year tied to national and cultural events
per, and the act of preaching and the uses of the word, the
has emerged. Thus in the United States many observe a
outlines of Protestant worship become generally clear. To
Thanksgiving Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, Stew-
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PROTESTANTISM
7457
ardship Sunday, Lay Sunday, and the like. The impulse to
preaching and teaching that see the family as a basic unit of
ritualize life is strong even on the purging, purifying, and
revelation, nurture, and discipline.
simplifying soil of Protestantism.
It is not easy to strain all the Protestant impulses for per-
T
sonal ethics and morals into a single mold. In general, Protes-
HE WAY OF LIFE. How, it may be asked, can one speak of
a Protestant way of life when the ways are so varied? What
tantism has called not just for applying the faith within the
do a wealthy American high church Anglican executive, a
Christian community but for taking it into the world as well.
Latin American Pentecostal, and a black under oppression
The line between the sacred and the secular calling and
in South Africa have in common as a “way of life”? It would
sphere was supposed to be a fine one, whether it turned out
be foolish to impose a single ideal, force a straitjacket, or
to be so in practice or not. Some Protestant ethics have been
overgeneralize a vision, but something can and must be said
legalistic, a somber response to the commands of God in the
about Protestant styles of behavior. Sometimes activities are
divine law. Yet more frequently reformers have insisted that
so obvious that no one bothers to note them, and this is the
Protestantism is an issuing of faith in forms of love that seek
case with some Protestant commonalities.
to serve as conduits of God’s agap¯e, which is a spontaneous,
unmotivated love. This understanding, it has been claimed,
First, most overlooked and yet obvious on a second
is more liberating than those Catholic forms that stress alms-
glance, is the widespread assumption that the life of grace to
giving or doing good to obtain merit and thus would be part-
which Protestants witness by faith must issue in some form
ly self-serving. Similarly, Protestant ethicists have often criti-
of personal ethic. This seems unremarkable, but by no means
cized Catholics for using models of human desire and
have all religions of the world made much of this moral no-
friendship or natural love, not the agap¯e that exemplifies the
tion. Many have centered themselves more on matters of
initiative of divine love.
rites and mores than on matters of conscience and morals.
Protestant response often generates an ethic of attention
Protestantism has almost always been stereotyped as moralis-
to the life of the church. Lacking the appeal of the sacramen-
tic in intention and outlook. Catholic Christians have dis-
tal presence of Christ in the reserved communion Host, or
missed some of their own heresies, such as Jansenism, as
bread, or the understanding that something happens unique-
being like “grim Calvinism” or dour Protestantism. Others
ly in the sanctuary, Protestants have often had to work stren-
have rebelled against the Protestant impulse to reform the
uously to provide reasons for attending worship regularly.
world, to rearrange by law or example or injunction the lives
“Go to church” becomes a large part of the ethic, and the
of others, or to convert the experience of grace into severe
quality of Christian life is often measured by faithfulness in
new legalisms. While these rejections of Protestantism may
participation on church premises.
be based on exaggerations or partial misperceptions, there is
enough consistency in Protestantism to warrant elaboration
PUBLIC LIFE. As for social ethics, Protestantism includes sev-
of the theme.
eral strains. There has been a denial of the world of a sort
that, in H. Richard Niebuhr’s terms, pits Christ against cul-
Catholic Christianity has stressed personal ethics and
ture or sees Christ to be too pure and lofty to be stained in
produced people of impressive moral conviction and achieve-
society and thus sees Christ above culture. There have been
ment. Yet often it has implied that participation in the Mass
constant temptations for Protestantism, where it prevails,
and the act of having a soul saved are paramount, and that
simply to baptize the surrounding culture in forms of a
the faithful as a group are the moral agents. Protestantism,
Christ of culture. Then all lines between the Christian and
through its tendency toward individualism, expects more of
the world on some terms or other are obscured.
an internalization and personal application of the message of
Two other types have tended to dominate wherever
the church.
Protestants have been reflective and self-critical. One of these
Protestantism has often been impelled to be critical of
would be called by observers and critics a form that keeps
the sexual mores of its day and to ask its people for restraint
transforming culture with a millennial or utopian tinge. In
in expressions of sexuality. Partly under the impetus of six-
this version, Protestants pick up biblical witness to the al-
teenth-century reformers who, as clerics, had been celibate
ways-coming kingdom of God. Proclaiming this coming
but who later married, established families, and lived in “par-
kingdom involves a prophetic denouncing of the world as it
sonages,” Protestants chose to affirm sexuality in familial
is, the vision of a better world, and some sort of program for
contexts. Scorning monasticism most of the time, and speak-
reaching it. This transforming strain of Protestantism tends
ing of the vocation to propagate where that was possible,
to prevail in times when progressivism is plausible in the cul-
Protestants became champions of the family. Their critics see
ture and calls forth a buoyant, activistic kind of response. On
Protestantism as being so familial that it tends to adopt the
its soil there have been genuine efforts to change the struc-
norms of bourgeois families wherever these appear, without
tures of society, to promote more justice. Many Reformed
sorting out what is temporary cultural expression from what
and especially Puritan and later moderate evangelicalisms
is integral to the faith or biblically based. Sometimes, despite
have been dedicated to such models.
Protestant individualism, the individual who is not vividly
This form of approach tends to call forth common ac-
involved in family life has felt left out by the norms of
tion by the church. Either through movements, demonstra-
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7458
PROTESTANTISM
tions, or the issuance of teaching and prophetic proclama-
word it must connect with other patterns of word use, other
tions, church bodies ask for corporate wrestling with issues.
systems of thought. While it could inherit much of Catholic
The church as church takes some stand in society and tries
theology and convert it to embody the new or renewed Prot-
to work for change that will make the empirical world look
estant concepts, Protestantism also placed on individuals
like or realize some dimension of life in the kingdom of God.
more burden for formulation than did Catholicism, where
Then the accent on personal morality is not secondary, but
more was inherited through the tradition. Since Protestant-
it becomes specialized. It works in some aspects of life but
ism also induced variety and pluralism, it became important
not in others.
for each group or profound thinker to formulate what was
special about his or her locale, context, public, and program.
The other main Protestant stream also asks for engage-
The freedom that Protestantism professed to bring was a
ment with culture, but it is more individualistic and relies
mandate and a license to be enterprising in theological form-
less on progressivist models. Although the kingdom of God
building.
may be wholly eschatological, coming or to come only after
human history as now known is exhausted, the individual
By contrast, in reaction to the Reformation, Roman Ca-
Christian is not relieved of responsibilities of citizenship. But
tholicism through the Council of Trent tended to freeze
he or she is now a more isolated representative who does not
theological development. Experiment was downgraded, and
wait for and may not agree with joint Christian efforts. In
innovation was a subject that induced suspicion. The theolo-
this school there is more accent on the perduring element of
gian became the reformulator, the custodian of assured
the demonic in human history. People are seen as more in-
truths. Developmental or modernist thought was formally
transigent, as less malleable to change. The task of the church
condemned, and the papacy came to elevate Thomistic scho-
is more otherworldly, and salvation is seen in individualistic
lasticism to privileged—indeed, virtually monopolistic—
and spiritualizing terms. There are instincts to be more con-
status. Protestantism also engendered scholasticisms and or-
servative, to support the status quo at its best, to honor the
thodoxies but was unable to suppress the experimental ten-
government and the authorities or powers that be as or-
dencies it had opened up.
dained of God.
Protestant theology saw the Bible as its basic set of texts
and, often, the only norm and source for theology. Many
In either case, Protestantism has been culturally produc-
thinkers, with their churches, were ready also to accept the
tive. Whether on corporate or individual terms, this move-
main themes and modes of early Christian orthodoxy from
ment, in the eyes of many social thinkers, including Max
the creed-making period. To these they added the statements
Weber, took advantage of new economic opportunities that
of faith from the first or second generation of each Protestant
arose during and after the Reformation era in western Eu-
expression. Finally, there was room for individual witness
rope and Anglo-America. By turning its ascetic and self-
and ingenuity dependent upon available philosophy and ur-
denying powers from the search for salvation, as in the mon-
gent cultural necessity. Protestantism was born not in episco-
astery, to the search for productive life in the secular setting,
pal residences or monasteries but, for the most part, in uni-
Protestants produced new motives and energies. They were
versities and academies. This meant that the new formulators
ready to work hard and long. They wanted to be stewards
were uncommonly exposed to rival and alien—but also
of the earth and its resources. They would not waste and
sometimes alluring—patterns of thought.
wished to save. Consequently, as they took risks with capital
and invested, they developed a “Protestant ethic,” which
Protestant thought has moved through a number of ep-
spread wherever Protestantism did.
ochs. The first generation tended to be open, explosive, rich
in dialectic, ready for ambiguity, indulgent with paradox. A
More recent sociologists have questioned Weber’s the-
second period led to reaction and scholastic impulses to nail
sis. There seems to have been capitalism, as in fifteenth-
everything down, to be secure and neat, to defend proposi-
century Venice, before there were Protestants. There is an
tions of faith. Later, in most of the older Protestantism, new
equivalent to the Protestant ethic in nations such as Japan,
movements of the heart, new Pietisms, forced changes in
where there have never been many Protestants. Motivations
thought patterns. These were quickly supplanted by the ra-
for capitalist venture were too broad to be clustered under
tionalisms of the Enlightenment, which colored Protestant-
a “this-worldly ascetic” motif. Yet the Protestants, for the
ism almost everywhere. Then came a crisis of historical con-
most part, in Europe and now in nonwhite indigenous cir-
sciousness, a readiness to see everything in the Christian
cles, have been great promoters of individual work and re-
scheme colored by accident and contingency in history. In
sponsibility. The use of leisure, the concept of siesta and fies-
the twentieth century, among the explosion of options, there
ta, is not dealt with so consistently where Protestants
was some embrace of existentialist and personalist outlooks.
dominate. They would live out a divine-human drama in the
To the non-Protestant Christian, this meant individualist ir-
workaday world, one that calls for them to be productive and
responsibility. To the churched forms of Protestantism it be-
busy.
came both a challenge and a threat, as theologians applied
THEOLOGY. Only with broadest brush strokes need one
Protestant witness in varied thought patterns in changing
show how Protestantism issues in a variety of thought pat-
cultures. In nonwhite indigenous Protestantisms new pat-
terns. It goes almost without saying that as a religion of the
terns are still emerging.
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PROTESTANTISM
7459
PROTESTANT EXPRESSION. That Protestants chose preach-
Initiation; Jesus; Literature, article on Religious Dimensions
ing, hymnody, architecture, and the like for cultural expres-
of Modern Western Literature; Lutheranism; Marriage;
sion and economics or reform for social expression can be
Mennonites; Methodist Churches; Ministry; Modernism, ar-
inferred from preceding passages. In general, Protestantism
ticle on Christian Modernism; Moravians; Mormonism;
has been less fertile than Catholic Christianity in affirming
Music, article on Religious Music in the West; Neoortho-
the literary and artistic worlds. Sometimes this has resulted
doxy; Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity; Pietism; Po-
from a certain suspicion about the validity of the earthly ven-
etry, article on Christian Poetry; Presbyterianism, Reformed;
ture for the sake of salvation. Tillich balanced his “protestant
Priesthood, article on Christian Priesthood; Puritanism;
principle” with “Catholic substance,” the ability to relish and
Quakers; Rites of Passage; Sacrament, article on Christian
invest in the sights and sounds of human endeavor, which
Sacraments; Salvation Army; Seventh-day Adventism; Shak-
ers; Theology, article on Christian Theology; Trinity; Uni-
was often lacking in Protestantism. Sometimes moralism has
tarian Universalist Association; Waldensians; Worship and
prevented Protestants from literary expression, since litera-
Devotional Life, article on Christian Worship.
ture often pushes at the edges of moral convention. The tinge
of iconoclasm in much of Protestantism has kept it from
BIBLIOGRAPHY
being free for artistic expression.
One of the more ambitious histories of Protestantism is Émile G.
Léonard’s Historie générale du protestantisme, 3 vols. (Paris,
All this has meant that Protestantism seemed most pro-
1961–1964), translated as A History of Protestantism (Lon-
ductive in the field of music, perhaps because the kinetic
don, 1965–1968). Most Protestant history is simply incor-
character of music seemed to be congruent with a word-
porated as half of the latter third of general church histories,
centered, iconoclastic tradition. One thinks here of the musi-
such as Kenneth Scott Latourette’s A History of Christianity
cal poets of Protestantism, most notably the composer Jo-
(New York, 1953). The most extensive easily accessible bibli-
hann Sebastian Bach. In literature there have been John Mil-
ography is in my own Protestantism (New York, 1972). One
ton and John Bunyan, but in the contemporary world
way to approach Protestantism is through its root experience
Protestantism has seldom helped produce anything ap-
in the Reformation era; on the thought of the period, see
proaching modern classics. In the visual arts geniuses like
Wilhelm Pauck’s The Heritage of the Reformation, rev. ed.
(Oxford, 1968); Harold J. Grimm’s The Reformation Era,
Lucas Cranach or, supremely, Rembrandt, have given ex-
1500–1650, 2d ed. (New York, 1973), is especially useful for
pression to their evangelical sympathies and Protestant out-
its bibliographies.
look. But this artistic tradition is no match for Catholic ver-
Louis Bouyer’s The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism (London,
sions. The Protestant movement, then, has concentrated on
1956) is an informed view by a Calvinist turned Catholic.
other fields and still awaits substantial aesthetic articulation.
Einar Molland’s Christendom: The Christian Churches, Their
T
Doctrines, Constitutional Forms, and Ways of Worship (New
HE FUTURE. Protestantism has been in decline in its heart-
land, western Europe and the British Isles. The old establish-
York, 1959) is especially interesting for its comparison be-
tween Protestant and other forms of Christianity. Few schol-
ments there survive, but languidly, and churches are nearly
ars have attempted to discern the genius of Protestantism as
empty in much of secular western Europe. In North America
a whole, but there are good reasons to consult an imaginative
the picture is more complex, varied, and promising. While
attempt by Robert McAfee Brown, The Spirit of Protestant-
mainstream Protestantism as an heir of establishment has
ism (Oxford, 1961), or George W. Forell’s The Protestant
been languishing, revitalized conservative movements, more
Faith (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1960); for a European view,
worldly than their antecedents, prosper. The greatest growth
see Karl Heim’s The Nature of Protestantism (Philadelphia,
is in nonwhite indigenous Protestantism, especially in sub-
1963). John B. Cobb, Jr., in Varieties of Protestantism (Phila-
Saharan Africa. Following present trends in the Southern
delphia, 1960), treats modern theology.
Hemisphere, Christianity, and Protestantism with it, is on
New Sources
the way toward becoming numerically dominant. What it
Asselt, William J. van, and Eef Dekker, eds. Reformation and Scho-
will choose to retain from the missionary forms of Protes-
lasticism: An Ecumenical Enterprise. Grand Rapids, Mich.,
tantism and where it will choose to innovate are not yet de-
2001.
termined. As the two clusters come together, the result will
Berg, Johannes van Den. Religious Currents and Cross-Currents: Es-
help determine the future of Protestantism wherever that
says on Early Modern Protestantism and the Protestant Enlight-
form of Christianity propagates itself.
enment. Leiden and Boston, 1999.
Dillenberger, John, and Claude Welch. Protestant Christianity: In-
S
terpreted through Its Development. 2d ed. New York, 1988.
EE ALSO Anabaptism; Anglicanism; Baptism; Baptist
Churches; Basilica, Cathedral, and Church; Biblical Exege-
Marty, Martin E. Protestantism in the United States: Righteous Em-
sis, article on Christian Views; Christianity; Christian Litur-
pire. 2d ed. New York, 1986.
gical Year; Christian Science; Christian Social Movements;
Marty, Martin E., ed. Theological Themes in the American Protes-
Church; Creeds, article on Christian Creeds; Deism; Ecu-
tant World. Munich and New York, 1992.
menical Movement; Ethical Culture; Eucharist; Evangelical
Marty, Martin E., ed. Varieties of Religious Expression. New York,
and Fundamental Christianity; Funeral Rites; God, article
1993.
on God in Postbiblical Christianity; Hus, Jan; Hutterian
MARTIN E. MARTY (1987)
Brethren; Iconography, article on Christian Iconography;
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
7460
PROVIDENCE
PROVIDENCE SEE CHANCE; FATE; FREE WILL
the war—Participation (1940), L’évolution humaine (1943),
AND PREDESTINATION; HISTORY
and Créer (1943)—as well as his posthumously published La
grande déesse: Introduction à l’étude comparative des religions
(Paris, 1950). In the latter, Przyluski presents his own grand
evolutionary scheme tracing humanity’s development
PRZYLUSKI, JEAN. Of Polish ancestry and French
through economic, social, and spiritual stages, which he asso-
nationality, Jean Przyluski (1885–1944) was a linguist, Bud-
ciates with belief in mana, magical ritualism, and the emer-
dhologist, and historian of religions His wide-ranging inter-
gence of dogma, three phases that he claims also parallel a
ests led him to publish prolifically on topics as varied as the
general evolution from the worship of a mother goddess
structure of the Vietnamese language, the development of
(“mistress of animals”) to the cult of a father god. Such a
Buddhist myths and legends, and Indo-European folk tradi-
scheme, reminiscent of an earlier generation of scholars, was
tions (e.g., werewolf cults), and to theorize about the general
dismissed by reviewers almost as soon as it appeared.
evolution of human religiosity.
Przyluski began his career as a colonial civil servant in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Indochina, where he perfected his competency in Vietnam-
On Przyluski’s life and work, see Charles Picard, “Jean Przyluski
(1885–1944),” Revue archéologique 35 (1950): 101–102; and
ese, as well as Chinese and Sanskrit, and became a correspon-
A. W. Macdonald and Marcelle Lalou, L’oeuvre de Jean Pr-
dent for the École Française d’Extrême-Orient. In 1913 he
zyluski (Paris, 1970). Among his nearly fifty substantive pub-
returned to France where he soon took a post as professor
lications, special mention should be made of the following:
of Annamese at the École des Hautes Études. He was eventu-
“Le Nord-ouest de l’Inde dans le Vinaya des Mu¯lasarva¯-
ally elected as an officer of the first Congress of Linguists and
stiva¯din et les textes apparentés,” Journal asiatique 4 (1914):
was chosen to write the entries on virtually all the languages
493–568; Le parinirva¯n:a et les funérailles du Buddha (Paris,
of Southeast Asia in the first edition of Antoine Meillet’s en-
1920); La légende de l’empereur Açoka (Açoka¯vada¯na) dans les
cyclopedic Les Langues du Monde (1934).
textes indiens et chinois (Paris, 1923); “La princesse à l’odeur
de poisson et la na¯g¯ı dans les traditions de l’Asie orientale,”
But Przyluski’s most important and lasting contribution
Études asiatiques 2 (1925): 265–284; Le concile de Ra¯jagr:ha
was to the field of Buddhist studies. His book-length presen-
(Paris, 1926); and “La ville du cakravartin: Influences ba-
tations of traditions associated with the parinirva¯n:a and fu-
byloniennes sur la civilisation de l’Inde,” Rocznik Orjentalis-
neral of the Buddha, with the first Buddhist Council, with
tyczny 5 (1927): 165–185.
the legend of King A´soka, and with the expansion of Bud-
JOHN S. STRONG (2005)
dhism to Northwest India, remain landmark contributions
to our understanding of the development of Buddhism in
India. Przyluski was also influential as editor of the series
Buddhica (begun in 1925) and of the periodically published
PSALMS are ancient Hebrew songs addressed to or invok-
Bibliographie bouddhique (1928–1958).
ing the deity; the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament in
Przyluski has sometimes been criticized for his tendency
the Christian scriptures, includes a book of 150 of these reli-
to view changes in the Buddhist tradition as the result of in-
gious songs. In ancient and later Jewish tradition, the book
fluences coming from other religious traditions, often out-
is known in Hebrew as Tehillim (“Praises”), although only
side India. For example, he looked to Iranian and even Baby-
one of the songs (Psalm 145) is so designated within the bib-
lonian sources to explain the development of the cults of the
lical text. The English title Psalms derives from the Greek
cakravartin king, of the bodhisattva Maitreya, and of the bud-
rendering of the Hebrew mizmor (a song accompanied by
dha Amita¯bha. But he was also likely to trace certain tradi-
string plucking), a label that introduces fifty-seven of the He-
tions (e.g., the cult of the arhat Gava¯m:pati and certain fea-
brew psalms. In Christian circles, the Book of Psalms is often
tures of the Buddha’s funeral) to indigenous Indian or
referred to as the Psalter, a name taken from the psaltery, a
“austro-asiatic” traditions, often invoking etymological con-
stringed instrument that accompanied the singing of many
nections to make his points. At the same time, he sought to
of the psalms. Use of the word psalter also implies that the
identify different stages in the evolution of traditions (e.g.,
Book of Psalms has been used as a hymnal, an official collec-
in the legend of King A´soka) by identifying cycles of stories
tion of religious songs, since ancient times.
that he associated with different geographic locales and hy-
In the Jewish canon, Psalms is the first book in the third
pothetical stages in the development of Buddhism. Pr-
section of the Hebrew Bible, the Writings. In the Christian
zyluski’s often speculative and always forcefully made inter-
canon, Psalms appears among the so-called wisdom books,
pretations are not generally followed by Buddhologists
between Job and Proverbs.
today, but his insights remain interesting and stimulating,
Apart from the canonical psalms, which seem to have
and the many translations he made—especially of Chinese
been accorded official status in the second century BCE, there
Buddhist sources—are still valued and used.
are many other ancient Hebrew songs of the psalm type.
More short-lived was the influence of the trilogy of
Within the Hebrew Bible are the song of triumph in Exodus
works of a general philosophical nature that he wrote during
(15:1-18), the prayer of Hannah in 1 Samuel (2:1–10), the
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PSALMS
7461
song of thanksgiving in 2 Samuel 22 (which is nearly identi-
similar psalms appear in more than one collection (Ps. 14 and
cal with Psalm 18), the prayer of Hezekiah in Isaiah (38:10–
53; parts of 40 and 70; 57 and 60 and 108), and because the
20), the thanksgiving psalm in Jonah (2:3–10), and the
attributions seem to refer to liturgical compilations (Korah:
prayer of Habakkuk. The Psalms of Solomon in the pseudepig-
and Asaph were eponymous names of priestly guilds) or
rapha, dated to the first century BCE, comprises eighteen
functions (“ascents” and “hallelujah” psalms), it is likely that
hymns, personal pleas for salvation in particular, which re-
the canonical books were formed from earlier groups of
semble certain biblical psalms. Although only versions in
psalms, with psalms from one group interpolated into sets
Greek and Syriac are extant, the pseudepigraphical psalms
of psalms from other groups.
clearly reflect Hebrew originals.
Evidence from the Dead Sea psalters suggests that books
In addition, seven noncanonical psalms have been re-
1 and 2 were standardized by the second century BCE but that
covered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. They appear inter-
the order of psalms in the last three books remained flexible
spersed with a number of canonical psalms in the large
as late as the first century CE. At that time, the canonical Psal-
manuscript of psalms from Qumran cave 11. Of these seven,
ter was fixed within the Jewish community of ancient Judaea.
one is included as Psalm 151 in the Septuagint (the ancient
ATTRIBUTION OF THE PSALMS. Most psalms bear headings
Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), one is contained in
that serve either to attribute them to certain authors or col-
the apocryphal Book of Ben Sira, and two have been preserved
lections (David, Korah:, Asaph, Moses, Solomon), to describe
in ancient translations. A fifth appears in another Dead Sea
their type (accompanied song, chant, prayer), to prescribe
Scroll, so that only two of the seven compositions are “new.”
their liturgical use (Psalm 92 is assigned for Sabbath wor-
As many as four Dead Sea psalters, dating from no later than
ship), or to direct their musical performance.
the first century CE, include noncanonical psalms; this sug-
gests that ancient hymnals were not restricted to the biblical
Nearly half the canonical psalms are attributed to
Book of Psalms. A lengthy Dead Sea composition, the Hoda-
David, king of the Israelite empire in the tenth century BCE.
yot (Songs of praise and thanksgiving), contained over forty
Few of the psalms, however, are dated by scholars to so early
hymns patterned after and drawing phrases from the Book
a period. The attributions to David are generally held to stem
of Psalms. The canonical psalms, then, served as models for
from a later attempt to enhance the authority of the psalms
ancient Jewish hymnody. At least two psalms within the
by ascribing their origin to Israel’s most famed singer and
New Testament, the Magnificat of Mary (Lk. 1:46–55) and
psalmist, David. David is represented as a musician in 1 Sam-
the Benedictus of Zechariah (Lk. 1:68–79), similarly drew
uel 16, and within the narrative of 2 Samuel he is credited
upon and emulated canonical prototypes.
with three songs: an elegy for Saul and Jonathan (2 Sm.
1:17–27), a psalm of thanksgiving for his having been deliv-
FORMATION OF THE PSALTER. In its canonical form, Psalms
ered from enemies (2 Sm. 22), and a reflection on the cove-
comprises five sections or “books”: Psalms 1–41, 42–72, 73–
nant between YHVH and David (2 Sm. 23:1–7). Some of
89, 90–106, and 107–150. The fivefold structure may have
the psalm headings place the following psalm in a specific
been patterned after the Pentateuch. The first four books end
situation in the life of David. For example, Psalm 34 begins:
with a doxology, or call to praise the Lord, and the fifth ends
“Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, and
with an entire psalm (Psalm 150) that constitutes a doxology.
he chased him out, and he went.” (This ascription is clearly
It has been noted that books 1, 4, and 5 tend to employ the
inauthentic, however, for it was Achish of Gath, not Abime-
unvocalized personal name of God in the Hebrew Bible,
lech, who chased out David; see 1 Sm. 21:10–16.) The attri-
YHVH (traditionally and in this article rendered as “the
bution of psalms to David manifests a later interest; in fact,
Lord”), while books 2 and 3 refer to God as Elohim, suggest-
the ancient Greek translation inserts references to the life of
ing that divergent theological traditions, or schools, may
David where the Hebrew has none.
have compiled the different books.
Large groups of psalms are attributed to Korah: and
There are a number of indications that the psalms had
Asaph. According to Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, they
formerly been organized differently. Psalm 135 concludes
were the ancestral heads of the priestly functionaries in the
with a doxology, and Psalm 72 ends with an attribution to
Second Temple in Jerusalem (c. 515 BCE–70 CE), the Levites.
a special collection of “David.” These two, then, may have
Chronicles further credits David with establishing the Leviti-
once designated the close of earlier collections. A number of
cal functions in the Temple (see 1 Chr. 15–16). It would
psalms are attributed in their titles or openings to various
seem, then, that the attributions to David, Korah:, and Asaph
types or collections: the psalms of David (Ps. 3–9, 11–32,
refer historically to collections of psalms among Second
34–41, 51–65, 68–70, 86, 101, 103, 108–110, 124, 133,
Temple personnel. The fact that 1 Chronicles 16 incorporates
138–145—a total of seventy-two); the psalms of the sons of
a psalm virtually identical with Psalm 105 supports this con-
Korah: (Ps. 42, 44–49, 84, 85, 87, 88); the psalms of Asaph
clusion.
(Ps. 50, 73–83); the psalms of ma Ealot, usually rendered “as-
cents” (Ps. 120–134); and the “hallelujah” psalms (Ps. 104–
Beginning in the second century BCE with the apocry-
106, 111–113, 115–117, 135, 146–150). Because psalms of
phal 2 Maccabees (2:13), Christian and Jewish sources (e.g.,
similar attribution generally occur in blocks, because very
Heb. 4:7; B.T., B.B. 14b) attribute the entire Book of Psalms
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PSALMS
to David. A noncanonical composition toward the end of the
nance, as will be suggested below, certain psalms manifest
large Psalms Scroll from Qumran cave 11 credits David not
clear origins in the ritual cult, some appear to have been com-
only with the 150 canonical psalms, but with a total of 4,050
missioned by the monarchy, and others probably derive from
(150 x 33) psalms and songs. Jewish and early Christian tra-
scribal or unofficial circles.
dition ascribe all the laws to the classic biblical lawgiver,
TYPES OF PSALMS. Before discussing the ancient and later
Moses; the wisdom books, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of
uses of the psalms, it will be helpful to describe their types.
Songs, to Solomon, a king celebrated for his sagacity; and, ac-
The prosodic form of the psalms, their language, and their
cordingly, the sacred songs to David. Although certain
motifs are for the most part highly conventional, suggesting
Christian and Jewish savants in the Middle Ages questioned
they were composed according to typical patterns.
the Davidic authorship of all the psalms, it was not until the
writing of Barukh Spinoza in the seventeenth century and
Their predominant form is comprised of parallelism—
that of critical scholars in the nineteenth century that David
the formation of couplets and, occasionally, triplets of lines,
was no longer held to have composed even those psalms as-
through the repetition of syntactic structure and/or semantic
cribed to him in the Bible. Fundamentalists continue to be-
content. For example, Psalms 92:2–3:
lieve in the Davidic authorship.
Good it is to give thanks to the Lord,
DATE AND PROVENANCE OF THE PSALMS. Although modern
and to make song to your name, O one on high:
scholarship has abandoned the belief that David authored all
To tell in the morning of your devotion,
the psalms, their date and provenance has been variously de-
and of your faithfulness in the nights.
termined. Nineteenth-century scholars tended to date the
composition of the psalms to the period in which their use
Several phrases and lines, such as “Give thanks to the Lord,
was first explicitly attested, following the return of Judahites
for his devotion is eternal,” “Chant to the Lord a new chant,”
from the Babylonian exile in the fifth century BCE and later.
“Do not in your wrath reprove me,” “He has saved me from
Similarities between the psalms and the prophetic literature
the enemy,” and the like, abound in Psalms, such that most
were explained as the influence of the prophets on the psalm-
psalms appear contrived of common vocabulary and images.
ists. A number of factors led twentieth-century scholars to
A number of psalms are arranged by artificial devices such
conceive earlier datings. One was the discovery of hymns and
as the alphabetic acrostic (Psalms 25, 34, 119, 145, and,
prayers from ancient Egypt, Hatti (in Asia Minor), and Mes-
more or less, others).
opotamia, which often display themes, motifs, and formulas
Many of the most common themes in the psalms also
similar to those of the biblical psalms. Likewise, the recovery
appear in the hymns and prayers of other ancient Near East-
of Ugaritic (northern Canaanite) texts shows that they exhib-
ern cultures. Psalm 104, for example, in which the deity’s all-
it a language and prosodic style similar to that of the psalms.
encompassing wisdom is compared to the sun and mani-
Since psalmody is attested in the ancient Near East as early
fested in creation, bears sriking similarities to the fourteenth-
as the third millennium BCE, there is no reason to think Israel
century
did not develop it until a late stage in its history. A second
BCE Egyptian hymn to Aton (the sun disk) as well
as to a Babylonian hymn to Shamash, the sun god. The Isra-
factor is thematic. If most psalms are postexilic or from the
elite victory hymn in Exodus 15 shares a number of motifs
period of the Second Temple, it is surprising that they are
with the thirteenth-century Egyptian song of the pharaoh
not preoccupied with the return from the exile and the resto-
Merneptah. Both exalt the deity among the other gods; both
ration of a Davidic king. A third factor is cultic or liturgical.
describe the submission of other peoples witnessing the tri-
If, as most scholars believe, many psalms functioned in the
umph. Prayers of Egypt, Hatti, and Mesopotamia praise the
Temple cult, it is likely that a large number had already
gods, as the Hebrew psalms praise YHVH, for protecting
served such a function in the First, preexilic, Temple (see fur-
and upholding the poor, the feeble, the widow, and the or-
ther below).
phan. All fear the god turning away his (or her) compassion-
Because the psalms contain within them few historical
ate face; all ask undeserved forgiveness for the suppliant’s
references, the most scientific method for establishing the
sins; all assert that the righteous will prevail, that evildoers
date and provenance of the individual psalms is linguistic.
will stumble; all ask vengeance on enemies. As in Psalms
Psalms, like liturgical literature generally, tend to archaize.
27:4, an Egyptian prayer seeks acceptance by the deity, the
Even taking this into account, texts such as Psalms 18, 29,
opportunity to gaze upon the image, or presence, of the god.
68, 132, and others appear, by dint of their somewhat primi-
The Hebrew psalms even share the typical outcry, “How
tive content, affinities to Canaanite literature, and outmoded
long, O Lord,” with Babylonian supplications. Although
linguistic features, not merely to archaize but to be old. On
very few ancient Canaanite hymns or prayers have yet been
the other hand, Psalms 103, 117, 119, 124, 125, 133, 144,
discovered, the biblical psalms attest divine titles, such as
145, and, perhaps, others betray distinctively postexilic lin-
“rider of the clouds” (Ps. 68:5), and entire verses, such as
guistic characteristics, making their Second Temple dating
Psalms 92:10 and 145:13, which vary little from mid-second-
reasonably certain. Psalm 137 relates directly to the experi-
millennium BCE Canaanite (Ugaritic) lines of epic. Consider-
ence of exile, but most others cannot with certainty be dated
ing these and many other parallels, and the Phoenician locale
before or after the sixth-century BCE exile. As regards prove-
and archaic Canaanite style of Psalm 29, it would seem that
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7463
Israelite psalmists drew upon, perhaps even borrowed, com-
THE SETTINGS OF THE PSALMS. Some of the psalms cannot
mon Canaanite material and patterns for their own hymns
readily be associated with any specific historical or cultic set-
and prayers.
ting. This is especially so for didactic and meditative compo-
The conventional nature of so many biblical psalms and
sitions. In many other cases, the content of the psalm sug-
their relations to ancient Near Eastern hymnody in general
gests a likely usage. Psalm 24, for example, does seem like
have led scholars to delineate specific types of psalms and to
an appropriate text for a ceremony in which the ark was con-
associate those types with specific social or cultic circum-
veyed to Jerusalem. Psalm 45 sounds like an ode to be
stances in which they were presumably used in ancient Israel.
chanted at the wedding of a king. Psalms 114 and 136 per-
In the early twentieth century, Hermann Gunkel isolated
tain to the Exodus from Egypt and would have served well
five major, as well as some minor, psalm types:
as texts for the spring festival of Pesah: (Passover), which cele-
brates Israelite freedom from Egyptian bondage.
1. Hymns, liturgical songs of praise to the deity, sometimes
beatifying God’s power in nature (e.g., Ps. 29, 33, 34,
There are a number of reasons for thinking that many,
92, 100, 104, 105, 111, 114, 134–136, 145, 146)
if not most, of the biblical psalms functioned within the daily
2. Personal songs of praise or thanksgiving, similar to hymns
and special occasional rituals of the Israelite Temple cult. It
but ostensibly offered by individuals (e.g., Ps. 18, 30,
is likely that the later use of psalms in Jewish and Christian
32, 34, 41, 56, 116, 118, 138)
worship continued ancient practice. Ritual literature from
ancient Near Eastern societies outside Israel, such as Baby-
3. Communal laments (e.g., Ps. 28, 86, 106, 115)
lon, prescribe the recitation of prayers and hymns similar to
4. Individual laments or supplications (e.g., Ps. 6, 25, 26,
those of the Bible within various cultic ceremonies. One may
38, 41, 91)
infer that the biblical psalms served a similar function.
5. Songs for the king (e.g., Ps. 2, 20, 21, 45, 72, 101, 110,
132)
Indeed, references and statements within Psalms and
elsewhere in the Bible suggest a liturgical usage. This is clear
Several psalms mix different types; Psalm 18, for example,
in Second Temple times, as Ezra (3:10–11) and Chronicles
is both a royal song and an individual thanksgiving. Some
(1 Chr. 16:8–36) cite the singing of Psalms 117, 96, 105,
psalms recount God’s redemptive acts in Israelite history in
and 106. Some psalms speak of chanting psalms in the sanc-
the context of a hymn or other psalm type (e.g., Ps. 78, 105,
tuary (Ps. 11:4, 134:2, 150:1), and several allude to worship
106, 136). Among the minor psalm types are didactic songs
in the sanctuary (e.g., Ps. 17:15, 18:7, 23:6, 26:8, 27:4).
which teach piety and divinely favored conduct (e.g., Ps. 1,
Psalms 66 and 135 display a liturgical nature, and the nu-
19, 37, 49, 73, 112, 119, 127, 128, 133); meditations (e.g.,
merous references to singing and musical accompaniment in
Ps. 23, 27, 90); and communal thanksgivings (e.g., Ps. 67,
Psalms bespeak a liturgical usage.
124).
Each of the psalm types exhibits certain characteristic
Preexilic biblical texts such as Isaiah 30:29 and Amos
traits. Within the most common type of psalm, the individu-
5:23 link music to worship. Not only do many psalms de-
al supplication, for example, in both the biblical and the ex-
scribe instrumental accompaniment (e.g., Ps. 43:4, 71:22,
trabiblical specimens we find most of the following features:
81:2–4, 92:3, 150:3–5), but several psalm headings also ap-
a description of the suppliant’s ailment; a characterization of
pear to direct the method of chanting or playing the psalm.
the suppliant as somehow disadvantaged in society; a plea for
Several psalms are introduced by the ascription la-menatseah:,
divine succor, often accompanied by a vow to the deity; and
which, on the basis of 1 Chronicles 15:21, refers to the con-
praise for the deity and/or an expression of trust that the
ductor of stringed instruments in the liturgy. Psalms 57, 58,
deity will heed the plea. It is also widespread in this type for
59, and 75 were to be chanted to the tune of a popular song,
the suppliant to refer both to a physical distress and to mortal
“Destroy Not”; Psalms 45 and 80, to the tune of “Roses”;
foes, on whom the suppliant seeks retribution. Note, for ex-
Psalm 22, to “Gazelle of Dawn”; and Psalm 56, to “Dove
ample, these excerpts from Psalm 6 (vv. 3, 6, 8, and 9):
of the Distant Terebinths.” A number of the headings appear
to prescribe the manner of, or instruments for, playing a
Show grace, O Lord, for languishing am I,
psalm, although the precise meaning of the terms cannot be
Heal me, O Lord, for my limbs have been trembling. . . .
defined: neginot (stringed instruments?); sheminit (on the oc-
For in death there is no mind of you.
tave?, eight-stringed instrument?); Ealamot (soprano?);
In SheDol [the netherworld] who will praise you? . . .
neh:ilot (reed pipe?); and gittit (vintner song?).
My eye from vexation has grown sore,
Psalms 42–43 (which comprise a single piece) and 107
It has pined from all my adversaries.
feature refrains that may well have served as responses for a
Turn away from me, all evildoers!
chorus, and Psalm 136 presents the same phrase after each
For the Lord hears my crying voice.
new line, suggesting a choral or congregational response. The
The stereotyped nature of so many psalms suggests they may
fact that the refrain “Blessed is the Lord and blessed is his
have been composed to fit into a particular, probably liturgi-
name forever and ever” follows each verse of Psalm 145 in
cal, function.
the Dead Sea Scroll from cave 11 supports the view that at
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PSALMS
least some, if not most, of the psalms played a role in the
USE OF PSALMS IN JEWISH LITURGY. In addition to the few,
Temple liturgy.
above-mentioned references in the later books of the Hebrew
Bible, the use of psalms in Second Temple worship is attested
What role they played in First Temple times can only
in the Dead Sea and early rabbinic literature. At least thirty
be surmised. It is often assumed that, as in the postexilic peri-
psalters have been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls—
od, psalms were chanted in conjunction with the daily cult
more than any other text, which suggests that a collection
of animal offerings and on Sabbaths and festivals. Individuals
of psalms served the Jewish sectarians as a hymnal. The late
may have recited psalms privately, as 1 Samuel 2 represents
second-century CE rabbinic code, the Mishnah, states that a
of Hannah and Jonah 2 of Jonah. Many psalms are indeed
specific psalm was chanted in the Temple each day (Tam.
spoken by a first-person singular “I.” Such psalms, however,
7.4). According to Jewish tradition, the psalms corresponded
frequently refer to the speaker’s enemies as “the nations”
to the order of creation as delineated in Genesis 1. On Sun-
(e.g., Ps. 44, 60, 66, 74, 89, 94, 102, 118), which suggests
day, the first weekday, the psalm commonly known as Psalm
that the “I” of these psalms is not an individual but the entire
24 was chosen, as it praises God’s command of all creation;
people of Israel. How many psalms served as texts for private
on the second day, Psalm 48, which exalts God for dividing
prayer is, therefore, unclear.
the waters; on the third, Psalm 82, which refers to God’s sit-
In general, the psalms deal with broad themes of human
ting as judge over the land; on the fourth, on which the sun,
anguish and need, the deity’s grandeur and pathos, and the
moon, and stars were created, Psalm 94, for it seeks ven-
virtues and pleasures of piety. Many psalms touch on an
geance on Israel’s star-worshiping persecutors; on the fifth,
array of themes. The nonspecific nature of so many psalms
Psalm 81, in which the marvels of creation evoke praise; on
makes them, theoretically, applicable to a variety of occasions
the sixth, Psalm 93, in which the wondrous creation of hu-
without limit to a particular time and place. For this reason,
mankind elicits awe at God’s majesty; and on the Sabbath,
it is difficult, and perhaps inconsistent, to define the histori-
Psalm 92, which is assigned to that day by its title. Tradition-
cal setting or function of any psalm in narrow fashion. Nev-
al Jewish liturgy to this day includes the recitation of these
ertheless, the presence of striking motifs in various series or
daily psalms.
groups of psalms has led some scholars to try to find for them
On the basis of their content, Psalm 135 was prescribed
a common ancient setting.
for Pesah:; Psalm 81, for RoDsh H:odesh (the New Moon);
and Psalms 120–134, songs of “ascent,” or pilgrim songs, for
A number of psalms (e.g., Ps. 47, 93, 95–100) speak of
Sukkot, the joyous pilgrimage of the fall harvest. Psalm 136,
the kingship of the biblical god, YHVH. On the basis of fes-
the so-called Hallel ha-Gadol (“the great praise”), was recited
tivals in Egypt (Min) and Babylonia (Akitu) in which the
on festive days, and Psalms 113–118 comprised a varied se-
chief god is celebrated for vanquishing the god(s) of chaos
ries of hallelujah-songs for all festivals. The juxtaposition of
and establishing order and is then enthroned and acclaimed
these psalms in the Psalter may reflect their joint liturgical
as king, Sigmund Mowinckel and other twentieth-century
function. A number of other psalms form part of the daily
scholars have hypothesized that ancient Israel acclaimed
morning service, Psalm 145 opens the afternoon service, and
YHVH as king at the fall New Year, on Sukkot (Tabernacles,
certain psalms are recited for penitence and in mourning. Al-
Feast of Booths). As many as forty psalms have been pre-
together, some eighty-four of the biblical psalms form a regu-
sumed to have been recited as part of this “enthronement”
lar part of the Jewish liturgy. Owing to their blending of
festival. During this festival, the primeval triumph of YHVH
praise and petition, the psalms are also traditionally recited
over the forces of chaos and his creation of the world would
on behalf of the seriously ill and dying.
be recounted, YHVH would be declared king, his defeat of
USE OF PSALMS IN CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. Since ancient
Israel’s historical enemies would be anticipated, and he
times, the psalms have held a prominent place in Christian
would be ensconced in his temple and adulated. Psalm 103,
hymnals. Early churches inherited the regular recitation and
for example, ends with an exaltation of YHVH as king over
chanting of psalms from the Jewish synagogue. The ancient
all (v. 19), and it is followed by Psalm 104, which beatifies
church fathers, however, pointed to Jesus’ quotation of
YHVH’s majestic dominion over the entire world of nature.
Psalms 22:2 when he was crucified (e.g., Mt. 27:46) and as-
It has been held that such juxtapositions of theme are appro-
sumed as a matter of course that Jesus recited psalms. Chris-
priate to an enthronement festival.
tian practice would accordingly emulate Jesus by making
The hypothesis that ancient Israel had a fall New Year
Psalms central to its liturgy. Jerome, for example, in the late
celebration of YHVH’s kingship may be supported by the
fourth century attests to the chanting of psalms in Latin,
fact that early Judaism made the acknowledgment of the
Greek, and Syriac at funeral processions.
Lord as king an integral part of its New Year (RoDsh ha-
In the Middle Ages, Psalms formed the larger part of all
Shanah) liturgy. Without an explicit textual reference to such
regular worship. Psalm 119, the longest in the canon, was
an enthronement festival, the use of psalms on such an occa-
recited daily by clerics, who were required to memorize the
sion will remain conjectural. The wide use of psalms in later
entire Psalter; over the course of a week all the psalms were
Jewish and Christian worship, however, does make their ear-
systematically recited. The psalms functioned both as devo-
lier liturgical use fairly assured.
tion and as guides to piety and inspiration.
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PSALMS
7465
Various Christian churches and denominations utilize
stract God of Psalms 1 and 119, the source of wisdom and
different texts of the Psalter, most of them adapted for public
moral guidance.
worship from the Latin of Jerome. Many English versions
In the Psalter as a whole, one encounters a deity who
today stem from revisions of the Great Bible produced in
is here transcendent and awesome, there immanent and car-
1539–1541. In addition to public worship, modern Chris-
ing. Ultimately, the conception of God one will find in any
tians have recited psalms in school and at home for medita-
given psalm depends upon the type and function of that
tion and for insight into God’s ways.
psalm. In psalms of praise and thanksgiving, for example,
THE PSALMS AS REVELATION. Although the psalms have
one is apt to find a powerful creator god whose marvelous
been understood in Jewish and Christian tradition to em-
dominion even the phenomena of nature adore (e.g., Ps.
body the reflection and devotion of David, that is, as the ex-
19:2). In psalms of supplication, however, the petitioner
pression of human spirit, they have also been taken to con-
must express his confidence in a compassionate deity who lis-
tain divine revelation of the future of the pious, on the one
tens to the prayers of his devotees. The worshiper may ad-
hand, and of the wicked, on the other.
duce a traditional doctrine of God’s pathos (Exodus 34:6 is
quoted in Psalms 86:15, 103:8, and 145:8), and he may al-
An early rabbinic midrash on Psalms says: “Rabbi Yudan
lude to his God’s saving acts for his people in the past. He
states in the name of Rabbi Yehudah: All that David said in
may, as in Psalm 77, invoke the deity’s prehistoric show of
his book [i.e., Psalms], he said with respect to himself, with
power by vanquishing the primordial forces of chaos and set-
respect to all Israel, and with respect to all times” (Midrash
ting the world as we know it in order.
Tehillim 18.1). The fact that Psalms speaks in very general
terms of the righteous and pious, who are favored by God,
It is everywhere posited that God is just and, according-
and of their enemies, the wicked, whom God will ultimately
ly, shows special concern for the just and righteous. The oc-
destroy, facilitates the traditional interpretation of Psalms as
casional successes of the wicked, therefore, dismay the pious,
predictive of the respective fates of the good and the bad.
but psalms such as Psalm 37 repeatedly affirm that God will
Thus the Dead Sea sectarians, in their commentaries on
confound the wicked:
Psalms, see themselves as the righteous and their personal op-
The wicked plots against the righteous,
ponents as the wicked; the Gentile nations that God will
and he gnashes his teeth against him;
overturn, they, like the early rabbis, identify as the Romans.
But my Lord smiles at him,
Christians see themselves as the true Israel, as the devotees
for he sees his day [of doom] is coming. (37:12–13)
of the Lord in the psalms. Acts 4:23–28, for example, inter-
prets Psalms 2:1–2 to refer to the Romans and Jews as ene-
The pious trusts that God will “repay a man according
mies of Jesus. Jesus is said, according to Luke 24:44, to have
to what he does” (Ps. 62:13). Nevertheless, out of an appar-
told his disciples: “Everything written about me in the Law
ent impatience with the prosperity of the wicked and the foes
of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
of Israel, psalms often appeal to the deity to take vengeance
on the enemies of Israel and its pious (e.g., Ps. 5:11, 31:18,
Jews and Christians have found in a number of psalms
35:4, 40:15, 58:7, 104:35, 139:19). Such imprecations,
(e.g., Ps. 2, 18, 67, 72, 75, 100) predictions of an eschatolog-
which have disturbed many Christian theologians in particu-
ical age at which the legitimate, anointed king (the Messiah)
lar, evince a frustration with God’s temporary inaction:
would be reinstated or vindicated. Church fathers and rabbis
O God of vengeance, Lord,
adduced verses from Psalms in support of various doctrines,
O God of vengeance, appear!
and in the Middle Ages Jewish and Christian clerics disputed
doctrines, such as the authenticity of Jesus as the Messiah
Raise yourself up, O judge of the earth,
and the trinitarian character of the deity, on the basis of the
Turn retribution on the arrogant!
psalms and other canonical texts. While Christians would
How long will the wicked, O Lord,
seek in the psalms clues to the coming of the eschaton, Jews
How long will the wicked celebrate? (Ps. 94:1–3)
would more often find consolation in the assurances that the
The psalmists hope that the deity’s care for the world
righteous would be saved and the Jewish Diaspora ended.
and its creatures, and the indigent and weak especially, will
THEOLOGY OF THE PSALMS. Historically, various psalms
redound to them, that God will want them to live so as to
date from diverse periods and provenance, so that one finds
acknowledge and praise their creator. The psalms present not
in them a variety of perceptions of God and religious con-
a systematic theological picture but a confluence of themes
cerns. In Psalm 18, for example, the Israelite God responds
and interests, of which Psalm 146 is an example:
to the outcry of his worshiper by flying down from the sky
Let me praise the Lord as I live,
amid wind and cloud, casting out lightning bolts, and bel-
let me make song to my God while I am.
lowing thunder. In Psalm 104, God as controller of all nature
spreads the sky out as his tent, wraps himself in celestial light,
Trust not in princes,
and makes a chariot of the clouds. He dispatches the winds
in a human who has not saving.
to push the waters back from covering the entire land. These
When his spirit leaves, he returns to the land,
bold naturalistic images contrast sharply with the more ab-
on that day his deliberations vanish.
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7466
PSELLUS, MICHAEL
Happy is he whose aid is the God of Jacob,
of enemies, the fear of danger mitigated by the support of
whose succor is the Lord his God,
the divine shepherd—these and the psalm’s various tropes
Maker of heaven and earth,
have made this poem a classic statement of confidence.
of the sea and of all that is in it,
S
faithful guardian forever;
EE ALSO Biblical Literature, article on Hebrew Scriptures;
Music, article on Music and Religion in the Middle East.
Doing justice for the oppressed,
giving bread to the hungry . . .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Lord loves the righteous . . .
For a detailed summary of modern scholarship on the psalms,
but the path of the wicked he will pervert.
with attention to the individual psalms as well, see Leopold
Sabourin’s The Psalms: Their Origin and Meaning, rev. ed.
Let the Lord reign forever,
(New York, 1974). Recent approaches are surveyed in detail
your God, O Zion, in every generation.
by David M. Howard, Jr., in “Recent Trends in Psalms
Halleluyah! (146:2–10)
Study,” in The Face of Old Testament Studies: A Survey of
The interplay of the individual and the people Israel, on
Contemporary Approaches, edited by David W. Baker and Bill
T. Arnold (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1999), pp. 329–368. The
the one hand, and of the transcendent and immanent deity,
literary history of the canonical Psalter has been thoroughly
on the other, is fairly typical of many psalms, and of the Psal-
analyzed in Gerald H. Wilson’s The Editing of the Hebrew
ter in general.
Psalter (Chico, Calif., 1985). The canonical shape of the
PSALMS AS LITERATURE. Owing to their liturgical origins
Psalter is discussed in Brevard S. Childs’s Introduction to
and functions, many psalms display the sorts of stereotyped
the Old Testament as Scripture (Philadelphia, 1979),
forms and wording, as well as the frequent refrains and repe-
pp. 504–525. The classic study of types of Psalms is Her-
titions, that characterize formal hymn singing and prayer.
mann Gunkel, Introduction to the Psalms: The Genres of the
Their conventionality makes them easy to join; their repeti-
Religious Lyric of Israel, completed by Joachim Begrich and
translated by J. D. Nogalski, Jr. (Macon, Ga., 1998; first
tive rhythms and phrases can, when chanted, produce a man-
published in German in 1933). The ancient cultic functions
tra-like drive and intensity. When read as poems rather than
of the Psalms are pressed by Sigmund Mowinckel’s The
prayers, many psalms do not feature the sophisticated config-
Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 2 vols., translated by D. R. Thom-
urations of words and deployment of tropes that are usually
as (Oxford, 1962). For psalm by psalm commentary and bib-
associated with poetry. The liturgical power of Psalms has,
liography see, for example, Erhard S. Gerstenberger’s Psalms,
however, often been praised by readers, and certain of the
Part 1, with an Introduction to Cultic Poetry (Grand Rapids,
psalms do exhibit artful arrangements of language and mem-
Mich., 1988); Psalms, Part 2, and Lamentations (Grand Rap-
orable images. A celebrated example is Psalm 23:
ids, Mich., 2001). The development of prayers and hymns
in postbiblical and especially Qumran literature is treated in
The Lord is my shepherd;
detail by Bilhah Nitzan in Qumran Prayer and Religious Poet-
I shall not lack.
ry, translated by Jonathan Chipman (Leiden, 1994). The li-
In pastures of grass he has me lie down
turgical uses of Psalms are discussed in W. O. E. Oesterley’s
along waters of stillness he leads me.
A Fresh Approach to the Psalms (New York, 1937). On the
literary incorporation of poetic songs and prayers within the
My spirit he revives.
narrative prose of the Bible, see Steven Weitzman, Song and
He guides me on just courses
Story in Biblical Narrative: The History of a Literary Conven-
for his name’s sake.
tion in Ancient Israel (Bloomington, 1997). For a fairly com-
prehensive analysis of the religion and spirituality of the
Even when I walk in a vale of darkness
Psalms, with attention to their Near Eastern setting as well,
I fear no evil,
see Patrick D. Miller, Jr.’s They Cried to the Lord: The Form
for you are with me.
and Theology of Biblical Prayer (Minneapolis, 1994). Near
Your rod and your staff—
Eastern parallels to the Psalms, as well as specimens of liturgi-
cal texts, are found in Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to
they comfort me.
the Old Testament, 3d ed., edited by James B. Pritchard
You set before me a table
(Princeton, 1969).
opposite my adversaries.
EDWARD L. GREENSTEIN (1987 AND 2005)
You anoint with oil my head;
my cup overruns.
Aye, good and love will pursue me
PSELLUS, MICHAEL
all the days of my life;
(1018–1078?) was a Byzantine
statesman, philosopher, theologian, and historian. Born in
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
Constantinople, Psellus’s talents, broad learning, and elo-
for a length of days.
quence soon made him the favorite in the emperor’s court,
The recurrent rhythm of short, asymmetrically balanced cou-
in which he served simultaneously as head of the chair of
plets, the contrast of the idyllic pasture and the confrontation
rhetoric and philosophy (at the University of Constantino-
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PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS
7467
ple) and as grand chamberlain. He subsequently served as
PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS SEE DIONYSIUS THE
secretary of state, prime minister, and diplomat. As a patriot
AREOPAGITE
and philosopher in an often corrupt political setting, he may
justly be compared to Francis and Roger Bacon, who had
similar political roles and literary careers. His extensive
knowledge in philosophy and rhetoric earned him the covet-
PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS. Psychedelic substances,
ed title “consul of the philosophers.” After thirty years, how-
derived from plants—and more recently, from chemical syn-
ever, Psellus abruptly abandoned the court, frustrated by the
theses—have been used by human beings for thousands of
incompetence of his favorite student, the emperor Michael
years, mainly as facilitators for religious ecstasy and firsthand
VII Ducas. He died a poor and forgotten man. Psellus’s most
contact with spirit or divinity. In this essay, the term mysti-
important works are commentaries on the Greek philoso-
cism is used interchangeably with spiritual experience to refer
phers and theologians. He also wrote poetry, funeral ora-
to any person’s direct, subjective communion with a deity,
tions, historical treatises, and works on ancient Greek topog-
spirit, or ultimate reality. Anthropologists often make a dis-
raphy, alchemy, and astrology. In addition, five hundred of
tinction between mysticism, which they see as an individual’s
Psellus’s letters are known.
firsthand, direct encounter with deities or spirits, and reli-
gious experiences that are mediated through a church, tem-
Psellus’s task was to interpret the Greek spirit in a con-
ple or some type of formal ecclesiastic structure. In discussing
spicuously Christian setting. He soon became controversial
psychedelics and religion, Houston Smith reports that while
and was almost excommunicated from the church. Never-
psychedelics have been said to provoke religious experiences,
theless, he insisted in his teaching and writings that philoso-
they are not necessarily able to promote religious lives.
phy and theology ought not be seen as two different disci-
plines but as one. The former lays the intellectual
Overall, religious behavior universally makes efforts to
foundations upon which the latter builds its spiritual man-
induce an ecstatic spiritual state by crudely and directly ma-
sions—philosophy is not a handmaiden of Christian theolo-
nipulating physiological processes. These include drugs as
gy, but a collaborator. Psellus was convinced that philosophy
well as sensory deprivation, mortification of the flesh by
and theology, or science and faith, in unison could give hu-
pain, sleeplessness and fatigue, and deprivation of food and
manity the answer to its perennial questions.
water. Wallace (1966) argued that the physiological manipu-
lation of the human body by any means available to produce
By reviving the pursuit of philosophy and learning in
euphoria, dissociation or hallucination is one of the nearly
Constantinople, Psellus single-handedly renewed the spirit
universal characteristics of religion. The ecstatic experience
of excellence patterned on that of ancient Athens. This reviv-
is a goal of religious effort, and whatever means are found
al of classical study had longstanding effects, for Psellus is
to help the communicant achieve it will be employed.
considered the forerunner of the Italian Renaissance. Two
Mystical-religious experience, enhanced by psychedelic
examples suffice to show the influence he had, not only
drug or plant ingestion, has as one of its most arresting as-
among his own, but abroad: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
pects, a sense of unity or awe. This has been termed “absolute
and Marsilio Ficino were two of Psellus’s spiritual heirs.
unitary of being” by D’Aquili and Newberg (2001, p. 79).
In this state, individuals directly apprehend absolute unity
BIBLIOGRAPHY
with themselves, others and the universe. Subject and object
The works of Psellus are available in Patrologia Graeca, edited by
merge and boundaries to the self are weakened. Reality itself
J.-P. Migne, vol. 122 (Paris, 1864). Two works on Psellus
is perceived as oneness. Attached to this experience is a pro-
are Christos Zervos’s Un philosophe néoplatonicien de
found and intrinsic sense of underlying beauty and goodness.
l’onzième siècle: Michael Psellos (Paris, 1920) and my doctoral
The universe is perceived as whole, good and purposeful.
dissertation “The Philosophical Trilogy of Michael Psellos,
When people leave this state, they do not perceive it as hav-
God-Cosmos-Man” (University of Heidelberg, 1970), writ-
ing been an illusion, hallucination, or delusion. Rather, they
ten in English. I also recommend Joan M. Hussey’s Church
see it as the fundamental reality that underlies all reality. In
and Learning in the Byzantine Empire, 867–1185 (Oxford,
this model, rational consciousness is merely one type of con-
1937) and The Byzantine World, 3d ed. (London, 1967); and
sciousness, equally valid with that induced spiritually or by
Petros Perikles Ioannou’s Christliche Metaphysik in Byzanz:
LSD-like substances. Science arises from our rational base-
Die Illuminationslehre des Michael Psellos und Johannes Italos
line state of consciousness, which perceives reality as an amal-
(Ettal, Germany, 1956).
gam of multiple discrete beings in emotionally neutral sub-
GEORGE KARAHALIOS (1987)
ject-object relationships. The absolute unitary state, on the
other hand, arises from discrete altered states of conscious-
ness. The trance stage progressively becomes intense with a
blurring of the boundaries of individuals until they perceive
PSEUDEPIGRAPHA SEE BIBLICAL
no spatial or temporal boundaries at all and experience abso-
LITERATURE, ARTICLE ON APOCRYPHA AND
lute unity, devoid of content. The individual ultimately ex-
PSEUDEPIGRAPHA
periences a movement from a baseline orientation in external
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
7468
PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS
reality to a more intense sense of unity with the rest of the
hunting and fishing magic and where different segments of
world and an increasing loss of a sense of self and other. The
nature are named and sacralized; in Olympian religions
person can now lose his or her individuality and experience
where a hierarchy of spiritual forces is known and respected;
a sense of absorption into the object of focus or the universe
and in monotheistic institutions where there is a supremacy
in general.
of one spiritual entity or god. A class of social science special-
ists, called neuroanthropologists, would argue that human
The unitary state is experienced and interpreted as the
beings are wired for ecstasy and the ability to have non-
presence of the Absolute, or union with God. In Buddhism
ordinary experiences in order to apprehend the divine. It is
it is seen as a void. Often there is an experience of freedom
the facile ease with which human beings enter into what psy-
from fear of death. While these experiences may be rare and
chiatrists called “dissociative states,” frequently within a cul-
individualized, those who have them universally interpret
tural context. Psychedelic ingestion for purposes of religious
them as being absolutely transcendent or beyond ordinary
ecstasy has been reported in all segments of human societies
experience. They are remarkable and worth investigating.
as presented in Table 1.
For most of human prehistory, psychedelics were associ-
As societies became more complex, access to drug-
ated with nomadic hunter-gatherer societies, where male
induced altered states of consciousness became part of sump-
hunters used psychedelics in shamanistic religious rituals to
tuary laws, as fewer individuals were permitted entry to these
divine the future and the location of the animals they hunt-
states. This contrasts with societies of hunter-gatherers, for
ed. In shamanic cultures, there are no salvational goals to
example, where a study found that in a community of eighty
achieve by using psychedelics, and the chief focus is on power
Peruvian hunters and gatherers, as many as twenty-five adult
and its exercise by religious practitioners who seek out and
men might use the plant hallucinogen ayahusca (various Ban-
often achieve ecstatic states of consciousness. One finds a
isteriopsis species) twice a week or more in ritual ceremonies
multiplicity of spirit forces, often named and mythic, rather
for spiritual purposes. With the rise of ancient civilizations
than any concept of a high or solitary god.
where psychedelics were employed, abrogation of such drug
We note that psychedelics have always been viewed in
access was no doubt related to the supposed power of the
human cultures as a two-edged sword. On the one hand they
psychedelic state and the power believed to be conferred
have been utilized because of their perceived ability to access
upon the user to control or harm others through magical
spiritual realms. If we change our body chemistry, we may
means or witchcraft. A movement occurred from exoteric rit-
be able to ascertain realms of being that are not ordinarily
uals, open and accessible to all adults, to esoteric rituals,
available to most human beings. The obverse of this is simply
much like the Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greece. Unau-
a faulty-wiring hypothesis, which argues that the plant chem-
thorized drug use under these circumstances may have be-
icals deceive and trick. In a Euro-American rational world,
come a crime against the commonwealth.
there is no spirit realm to access, so we are merely left with
Illustration of some of these different societies’ use of
tricks of the mind. On the other hand, such substances have
plant psychedelics in religious practice exemplifies general
always had a potential for abuse, even when well-controlled
principles.
in traditional settings. Plant psychedelics as a psycho-
technology allow tribal elders to manage the altered states of
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. Contemporary examples of hunt-
consciousness of their adolescents through hypersuggestibili-
er/gatherers include the Australian Aborigines, who utilized
ty. They utilize the properties of the plant psychedelics to de-
the plant hallucinogen pituri, taken within a ritualized, sac-
condition youth and heighten religious experiences deemed
rosanct, socially sanctioned context with the intent to con-
important for social survival.
tribute to group cohesiveness and survival. The unique abili-
ty of the biochemical properties of the pituri plant (various
Anthropologists and archaeologists, who work within a
Duboisia spp.) to evoke suggestibility in those who ingested
paradigm of cultural evolution, look at the vast array of
them made these plants ideal catalysts. The elders provided
human societies in terms of the historic changes from simple
their adolescents with a fast-paced educational experience
to complex structures and they view culture as adaptation to
and inculcated values, beliefs, and religious tenets. Using the
distinctive ecological niches. Over time, societies tend to
suggestible states created by such substances, particularly in
move in the direction of more complexity.
pubertal initiatory rituals that marked the transition to man-
Table 1 is a model of hunter-gatherers, incipient agri-
hood, this contributed to cultural cohesiveness and survival.
culturists, intensive agriculturist and pristine state societies.
The hallucinogen was used by shamans—technicians of ec-
The division is made according to economic, social, and
stasy—to obtain power and perquisites and to act as seers.
ideological or spiritual practices. Anthropologists often view
The use of the plant was shrouded in secrecy and there are
four basic types of religious behavior across time and space:
no first-hand descriptions of the plant use in male initiation
namely shamanism, the religion of hunters and gatherers,
rituals at puberty, only various early commentaries. The
with a focus on personal ecstasy and awe, and direct knowl-
plant was most probably used to provide revelations, which
edge of the preternatural; communal cults where lay people
allowed the youth to view the world and themselves as sa-
participate in rituals to enhance economic gains such as
cred.
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
PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS
7469
Characteristics of Culture
Egalitarian
Ranked Incipient
Stratified Intensive
State
Hunters & Gatherers
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture
Economic
Small, Face-to
Horticulture,
Eco. Redistribution;
Differential
Features
Face; Food Sharing;
Dense Population;
Surpluses; Complex
Access to Basic

Nomadic
Villages; No
Division of Labor;
Means of
Work Specialization;
Work Specialization;
Livelihood;
Social Organiz.
Band Is Basic Social
Descent Principles;
Social Classes;
Use of Military to
Features
Unit; No Leadership;
Leadership W/O
Status Differences;
Maintain Control;
Kinship As Govt
Authority;
Federations;
Diverse Populations
Functions;
Militarism;
Within State;
Role of Chief;
Formal Government;
Religion &
Shamanism;
Community Cults;
Olympian Religions;
Monotheistic
Ideology
No Religious SpecIalists;
Lay Participation;
Named Deities;
Institutions;
Shaman/Client.
Congregation;
Hierarchy of Dieties;
Ecclesiastic Institutions;
T ABLE 1 . Table courtesy of the author.
The initiation rituals for adolescents included separa-
farmers of peanuts, corn, manioc, and plantains. They use
tion, liminality, and reintegration. The boys went into spe-
the psychedelic plant tabernanthe iboga as part of their adap-
cial isolated camps, were educated about sacred matters from
tation to cultural upheaval caused by European domination
the elders, and had circumcision and subincision sexual oper-
of their society. The plant has been incorporated into a reli-
ations performed on their body. The meanings of ritual ob-
gious revitalization movement known as the Bwiti, dated to
jects presented to them were disclosed in secret ceremonies
the end of the nineteenth century. Large doses bring on fan-
and there was a ritual cleaning of all traces of the sacred
tastic visions, and smaller doses of iboga produce marginal
world, followed by a ceremonial return to ordinary life.
hallucinatory effects, possibly a dreamy or floating sensation.
The theme of death and rebirth is often found among
The plant is used as an adjunct to initiation into the Bwiti
psychedelic plant drug users in traditional society. The youth
cult and the superior Bwiti divinity is revealed to the initiate.
returned to social life as a new person, with a new name, re-
The term Bwiti also refers to the ancestors and the supernat-
sponsibilities and knowledge of the supernatural world. The
ural realm of the dead.
psychedelic states heightened the learning of sacred knowl-
edge and created a bonding among members of the cohort
Men who drink the iboga participate in a cult which
group such that individual psychic needs were subsumed to
blends elements of traditional Fang beliefs with Christian
the needs of the group.
symbols. The Bwiti cult operates to honor particular ances-
tors, to conduct rites linked to fertility and to help cement
A key feature of these rituals was the cultural utilization
of the hypersuggestibility, induced by the use of the plant
feelings of cohesion and solidarity. The cult presents its
hallucinogen. In the altered state of consciousness managed
members with a cosmogony of religious thoughts centered
by adult tutors, adolescent behavior patterns were framed,
on the idea of fecundity and death as well as a defense against
and religious and secular values were internalized. The plants
the dangers of sorcery. In this society with a strong linkage
were one way that their society had available to them to in-
to ancestor worship, the plant hallucinogen is believed to en-
culcate conformity in young people to patterns, mostly sa-
able the individual to accompany a phantasm to a special
cred, which would contribute to group survival and harmo-
place—a city of the dead, full of cadavers and skeletons. Such
ny. Like many other tribal societies, the Australian aborigines
visionary experience is valued by the Fang, whose traditional
incorporated plant psychedelics into group initiation rites.
cultural focus has been to worship ancestors who are believed
The drugs were accepted to be of sacred origin and were
to play an important role in directing the lives of those still
treated with awe and reverence. The plants were in limited
on earth. The Fang take iboga because of a need to see, know,
supply and protected from abuse and profanation by devi-
and communicate with greater powers hidden in and known
ants by remaining under adult control and administration.
through the plant. Aside from heavy ingestion in the initial
THE FANG OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA. With the domestication
session, the religious use of the substance achieves a state of
of plants and animals about ten to twelve thousand years ago,
one-heartedness after night-long rituals during which the
changes occurred in the spiritual use of psychedelics. In
Fang consume moderate amounts of iboga to achieve ecstatic
northwestern equatorial Africa, the Fang peoples are village
states. Ancestors are called upon for advice.
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
7470
PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS
The initiated candidate is told of the great honor he re-
Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis in religious rituals
ceives by knowing about the things of the earth. Most festivi-
blended with elements of Christianity. The ayahuasca drink
ties are linked to initiation rites. The religion has reference
is made by boiling the stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine
not only to a person’s immediate clan ancestors, but to all
together with the leaves of Psychotria viridis. Widely used in
the ancestors of the community. The Bwiti cult gives differ-
the Amazon, ayahuasca was taken up by mestizos living near
ent kinship groups—alienated by fragmentation and atom-
tribal peoples who adapted it for their own needs. There are
ization as the result of culture contact and domination by
a number of different movements that have incorporated
European society—sanctified character by using the iboga
ayahuasca into their doctrines and activities with several
plant since it permits direct communication with the valued
ayahuasca churches such as the UDVand Santo Daime that
ghosts of the past.
combine traditional African and Christian elements in their
pattern of use. There are sixty nuclos, or centers of church
In Western culture iboga has a medical use, although it
activity, among the UDV. Since 1987 the Brazilian govern-
is still experimental. In Western clinics with drug-addicted
ment has allowed the use of ayahuasca within the context of
participants, huge doses give rise to lucid visions. Clinical re-
a religious ritual.
ports on essential loss of opiate craving and the absence of
withdrawal suggests a mechanism for the substitution, which
The ayahuasca drink is imbibed in a ritual setting, with
is a placebo effect enhanced by suggestibility. From a reli-
church elders and advisors present. Members ingest about
gious/metaphysical perspective, the psychedelic experience
l00 milliliters of a tea made from the two plants twice a
causes a sense of death and subsequent rebirth, allowing the
month. New members and participants are carefully
user to return to a new beginning. The physical effects of
screened. There is congregational and community involve-
vomiting also provide a sense of cleanliness and renewal to
ment in social activities and prayer. Hoasca, as ayahuasca is
the individual.
termed in Portuguese, is a consecrated sacrament of the
T
church, a material expression of divinity, much as for Roman
HE ANCIENT MAYA. Analysis of the art of the ancient Maya
led to a discovery of the presence of a psychedelic plant,
Catholics the consecrated wafer is the Holy Eucharist em-
Nymphaea ampla, the water lily. Historically it appears that
bodying the Holy Spirit.
high-ranking segments of society usurped the use of psyche-
The UDV is a Christian religion with syncretic elements
delics. With culture change in the form of conquest and co-
that arose from the interaction between Christianity and in-
lonialism, esoteric knowledge did not diffuse to the folk level
digenous beliefs and practices regarding ayahuasca in South
again from where it surely originated. Many of the beliefs
America. The UDV was founded and is headquartered in
connected to such drug use were coded in the religious art
Brazil and is recognized officially by the government of Bra-
of these societies. With social change, these belief systems,
zil. The tea is considered sacred and indispensable, and the
as among the ancient Maya, disappeared and could only be
UDV carefully controls the cultivation and harvesting of the
retrieved in contemporary times through an analysis of their
plants contained in it. The quantity ingested at any particu-
art.
lar ceremony is effectively limited by the ceremonial compo-
The common water lily, Nymphaea ampla and N.
nents. Studies have shown redemptive features of the psyche-
caerulea, were depicted in Maya art, suggesting that esoteric
delic experience among the UDV. This consists of
drug rituals were practiced. The presence of aporphine, an
elimination of neurotic and antisocial behavior by members
opiate similar in structure to apomorphine, was found in the
of the religious community as well as their abstinence from
water lily plant. The psychoactive properties of the water lily
alcohol and drugs of abuse.
seemed to merge well with the high value placed by the Maya
PEYOTISM: THE NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH AND THE
on ecstatic states as a vehicle to communicate with supernat-
HUICHOL INDIANS. The modern use of peyote (Lophophora
ural forces. Among the ancient Maya, there are various myth-
williamsii), a psychedelic cactus, originated in central Mexico
ic associations connected with the water lily, which include
and spread to southern Texas by the l870s. Archaeological
death symbols and mythic beings as the source of the plant,
finds from Texas show remnants of peyote that date back
including a long-nosed serpent or rain god. Other associa-
7,000 years. The Spanish, when first invading Mexico, la-
tions include the jaguar, and anatomical sources associated
beled peyote the “diabolic root” and tried to stamp out its
with the water lily are the top of the head, ears, eyes, mouth,
use.
hands, and neck regions, suggestive of the psychoactive ef-
More than a century ago the use of peyote eventually
fects on sensory modalities. Shape shifting or morphing—
led to the foundation of the Native American Church
the transformation of human beings (in this case, religious
(NAC), which is the largest pan-Native America religion in
practitioners) into animals is also found associated with this
North America. Peyote has been used ritually since its incep-
plant drug. This may symbolize the power source of the indi-
tion. It is estimated that a quarter of a million Native Ameri-
vidual who calls upon animal familiars to do his bidding.
cans have been involved with this church, with the strongest
UNIAO DO VEGETAL. Adherents of the contemporary Brazil-
representation in the southwest and midwestern United
ian ayahuasca church Uniao do Vegetal (UDV), who number
States. The peyote religion combines elements of the vision
more than 8,000, utilize the plant hallucinogen containing
quest, a belief in general supernatural power and the Chris-
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
PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS
7471
tian Trinity. Its doctrine teaches that God is a great spirit and
serves as an enculturating force which echoes religious
Jesus is a guardian spirit. Morality and ethics are also derived
tenets and re-occurring themes that are transcended to
from the Judeo-Christian tradition. Some scholars see the
visions, the spoken word, through myths and songs, ac-
church as a response to cultural/community dislocation and
tions and rituals and ceremonies and beliefs that perme-
its attendant problems. The plant was legalized in 1994 in
ate all levels of individual and collective consciousness.
In their sacred peyote rituals, the ordinary boundaries
the United States for members of certain American Indian
between the past and present vanish and the gods, an-
religions after a long legal battle.
cestors and events of Huichol mythic history become a
Generally the Native American Church focuses on ho-
physical and emotional reality (p. 274).
listic health and harmony with nature. There is a redemptive
The use of peyote appears to be pivotal in the continu-
feature in response to severity of alcoholism among Native
ing profound pride that the Huichol maintain in their cul-
Americans whereby the church prohibits alcohol use and
ture despite Mexican governmental attempts at cultural an-
promotes the sacrament of peyote ingestion as a powerful
nihilation. A Huichol artform, known as yarn painting,
treatment for that disorder.
depicts complex arrays of dancing deer, snakes and other fig-
Within the NAC, peyotism provides a spiritual ap-
ures as native artists try to evoke the peyote visions. Each
proach to facilitating a sense of identity, groundedness, con-
year, small bands of Huichol travel 300 miles to a desolate
nection and belonging. The plant is a spineless cactus with
spot deep in the Chihuahuan desert to hunt for the squat,
a rounded top surface that appears above the soil. It is cut
round peyote cactus.
off and dried and becomes a peyote button which is ingested
PSYCHEDELICS, SPIRITUALITY, AND THE 1960S. No discus-
during church rituals. Church members believe that their
sion of psychedelics and religion would be complete without
medicine functions sacramentally by allowing them to see
reference to widespread runaway use of such substances in
the truth about their lives and connects them to the peyote
European and American society, generally focused on the de-
spirit, who will give them guidance and direction. Peyote
cade of the 1960s and thereafter. Flower children, cultic
meetings are organized for those in need of healing from al-
groups in the 1960s, utilized synthetic drugs. The founders
cohol and drug addiction and who are personally motivated
of the cult were white Americans—including physicians and
to change. During the peyote rituals, individual introspec-
psychologists, and many had scientific as well as religious in-
tion, group interaction and healing are promoted. There is
terest in the phenomena.
a powerful leader or guide, and benefit is derived from the
actual group marathon session in the form of strengthening
Drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and marijua-
social networks. Healing benefits are derived from the psy-
na were widely used, and Timothy Leary was generally ac-
chotropic substance that is used as a nonspecific facilitator.
knowledged to be the spokesperson for “tuning in, turning
on and dropping out,” a more aggressive segment of the psy-
During peyote rituals, one commonly hears testimonial
chedelic cult. He had an extraordinary capacity to stir up
accounts of various psychological, physical, and emotional
paranoid tendencies of the then titled “establishment.” Leary
maladies being lifted by the healing powers of the ceremony.
and colleagues gave LSD and related substances to prison in-
Members report altered states of consciousness that provide
mates, neurotics, psychotics and alcoholics as well as to those
a fast-paced educational and redemptive experience. Youth
who were dying of cancer. The focus was as much a search
learn community values, beliefs, and their religious tradi-
for meaning as for religious activity, although it was fre-
tions. Often paraphrased is a peyotist comment about how
quently reported that Leary would read segments from the
the white man goes into his church and prays to God, where-
Tibetan Book of the Dead to those tripping on psychedelics,
as the Indian goes into his church and talks directly to God.
in order to create a mystical setting for drug ingestion.
The shamanic value of direct and personal communication
with deity is enhanced by the psychedelic properties of the
Leary and others were certain that psychedelics pro-
peyote plant. A complex hierarchy of church positions in the
duced true religious experience, and the Marsh Chapel ex-
NAC allows Native Americans to have a parallel status struc-
periment, conducted by Walter Pahnke, is often referenced.
ture for sincere and hard-working church members in the
In this experiment, twenty theology students virgin to the
community.
use of psychedelic drugs were given 30 milligrams of psiloci-
bin on Good Friday in a religious setting in Marsh Chapel,
Huichol Indians who live in western Mexico have been
Boston. The effects were compared to a matched group who
using peyote to communicate with their gods for thousands
were given a placebo containing nicotinic acid, which pro-
of years. As practitioners of shamanic religion, they utilize
duced a tingling, but not a psychedelic effect. Nine of the
psychedelics or other mind-altering techniques to communi-
subjects who received psilocybin had what they called “a reli-
cate with their gods, their underworld and in order to under-
gious experience,” whereas only one in the control group did.
stand the meaning of life. These agricultural peoples utilize
peyote as the focus of their religious and emotional life.
Leary, a professor at Harvard, was forced to resign after
There is an annual cycle of communal and extended family
giving psychedelics to his students. His studies indicated that
ceremonial and religious activity. Schaefer (1998) wrote that
when the setting for the drug ingestion was supportive but
peyote for the Huichol
not spiritual, between 40 and 75 percent of his psychedelic
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
7472
PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS
subjects reported intense, life-changing religious experiences.
other Western-type infrastructures found everywhere. The
The percentages were much higher when the set and setting
westerner is not involved in a native ritual of spiritual dimen-
were supportive and spiritual, with revelatory and mystico-
sions as he has been led to expect, but rather in a staged
religious experiences.
drama to turn him on and extract his cash.
PSYCHEDELICS, DRUG TOURISM, AND THE GLOBAL VIL-
There is an evil, exploitive aspect of this drug tourism
LAGE. Since the 1980s there has been an upsurge in the post-
that is impossible to ignore. These so-called native healers are
modern phenomenon of drug tourism. Individuals who are
common drug dealers, dressed for deception. They provide
on a never-ending search for self-actualization and growth
the exotic setting and prep the tourist to have an authentic
demand to find drug experiences abroad. Post-World War
personal experience. Theater is based on illusion and facade.
II has been described as the empty self period, where individ-
The Amazon drug tourism does not dismantle the illusion
uals are soothed and filled up by consuming food, consumer
nor destroy the sense of the exotic. But it can on occasion
products and experiences. Resultant psychological states such
leave psychotic depression and confusion in its wake.
as low self-esteem, values confusion, and drug abuse (the
LSD AND SPIRITUALITY IN THE 1950S: JANIGER’S EXPERI-
compulsion to fill the emptiness with chemically induced
MENT. In the tribal and industrialized societies that are exam-
emotional experiences) is expressed. Today, knowledgeable
ined in this essay where psychedelics are used, we see that ac-
men and women travel to distant exotic places such as the
cess to supernatural power and the unitive experience were
Peruvian or Brazilian Amazon where they participate in drug
highly valued. Psychedelic plants were used to enhance per-
rituals among so-called native shamans or witchdoctors.
ception and intuition. Recent published research on an early
psychiatric study with more than 950 American subjects who
Charlatan psychiatry is a term applied to a long tradi-
were given LSD from 1954 to 1962 show some interesting
tion in Latin America of non-authentic folk healers with ma-
insights occurring regarding psychedelics and religious expe-
licious and fraudulent intention who provide psychedelic
rience. This was at a time when there was little prior knowl-
plant drugs in ritual settings for personal gain. Unscrupulous
edge about LSD. Oscar Janiger, a psychiatrist, made a real
practitioners exploit their victims and are conscious of the
effort to avoid any religious prompts over the eight years of
farce in which they are involved. In California and elsewhere
the study, but nonetheless, 24 percent, or some 228 men and
today, there are zealots who devote their life to a new age of
women in Janiger’s sample reported spontaneous spiritual/
drug use, and they urgently proselytize others to immerse
religious experiences. In the tribal societies under scrutiny
themselves in drugs, “to make more, to use more, to sell
and throughout studies of traditional societies of the world
more.” Many are irresponsible and unconscionable individu-
that utilize psychedelics, plant psychedelics provided little if
als. In Peruvian and Brazilian Amazonian cities and large
any abuse potential. Most of the plants were of limited avail-
towns, there are mestizo men who become instant traditional
ability, were given in religious ritual settings in natural envi-
healers without undergoing any apprenticeship period, with-
ronments with all the senses engaged, had elders and reli-
out having any teachers and without control. They provide
gious leaders present to ensure a smooth interior voyage, and
American and European tourists mixtures of ten or more dif-
were laden with educational and didactic contact to reassure
ferent psychedelic plants to help them become embedded in
the individual.
the universe and to provide them with mystical experiences.
The psychedelic plants in question have never been used tra-
Not discussed in this essay are the general findings on
ditionally in the way that the self-styled healers use them and
cultural patterning of the hallucinatory experience in tribal
there are numerous psychological casualties.
society, which gives us a fascinating glimpse into the extent
to which the human psyche is subject to cultural condition-
Drug tourism is found on a smaller scale than interna-
ing. In such traditional societies of the world, drug-induced
tional mass tourism. This phenomenon is shrouded in a spe-
stereotypic visions are eagerly sought after to indicate that
cial rhetoric, and travel literature includes terms such as “ad-
contact with the realm of the sacred has occurred. Psychedel-
vanced shamanic training,” which is coupled with
ics have been used in a magical-religious context, with cere-
descriptions of a specific healer who has explored inner space,
mony, to celebrate or contact the realm of the supernatural
or other terminology to cue the tourist as to the real mean-
and to divine the future. Psychedelic plants have been used
ing. The drug tourist perceives the natives as timeless and
as sacraments and have had redemptive effects on partici-
ahistoric. They do not recognize the vast worlds of change
pants. In human history, the power of mind-altering plants
between the tribal native, the civilized Indian, and the lower-
was acknowledged to belong to special realms constrained
class laborer, the striving middle-class individual or manage-
with taboos and rituals. Anyone who entered those portals
rial elites of the Amazon region’s major industries. Nor do
had to be properly prepared for the journey.
the tourist guides have any interest in filling in all the shades
of gray for them. The drug tourist is desperate to find the
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mous photograph of, among others, Sigmund Freud (1856–
Use in Cross-Cultural Perspective.” Journal of Drug Issues 22,
1939), G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924), William James (1842–
no. 1 (1992): 121–138.
1910), and Carl Jung (1875–1961) at the legendary confer-
Luciano, D. “Observations on Treatment with Ibogaine.” Ameri-
ence at Clark University (Worcester, Massachusetts) in
can Journal on Addictions 7, no. 1 (1998): 89–90.
1909. Several journals were inaugurated by these scholars, in-
cluding Archiv für Religionspsychologie, Zeitschrift für Reli-
Mash, Deborah. “Ibogaine: Development as an Anti-Addictive
Drug.” MAPS 6, no. 1 (1995): 29.
gionspsychologie, and the American Journal of Religious Psy-
chology and Education. Topics investigated varied from
Mash, Deborah. “Phase I Clinical Trial of Ibogaine in Human Pa-
tient Volunteers.” MAPS 6, no. 3 (1996): 3.
prayer, conversion, mysticism, religious emotion, the para-
normal, revival movements, and religious growth to the wide
Schaeffer, Stacey, and Peter Furst, eds. People of the Peyote: Huichol
assortment of issues linked to the comparative study of reli-
Indian History, Religion, and Survival. Albuquerque, N.M.,
1998.
gion and the psychosocial dynamic between religion, culture,
and society.
Seguin, Carlos Alberto. Psiquiatria folklórica. Lima, Peru, 1979.
E
Siskind, Janet. To Hunt in the Morning. New York, 1977.
UROPEAN CONTRIBUTIONS. In Europe, seminal contribu-
tions came from several countries. In Germany, one cannot
Tart, Charles. Transpersonal Psychologies. New York, 1975.
ignore the figure of Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), known
Wallace, Anthony F. C. Religion: An Anthropological View. New
as the founder of experimental psychology, who established
York, 1966.
the first laboratory for the study of psychological phenome-
Wasson, R. Gordon, et al. The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret
na. Wundt bequeathed to later generations a psychophysical
of the Mysteries. Los Angeles, 1998.
approach to human experience and consciousness that
MARLENE DOBKIN DE RIOS (2005)
stressed the importance of analysis and the classification of
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data. Wundt eschewed collecting individual instances of reli-
relations between the id, ego, and superego. Freud applied
gious faith in favor of a historical, ethnographical, and folk
his theory to cultural products, particularly religion, in works
psychological approach to religion that highlighted its evolv-
such as Totem and Taboo (1913) and Future of an Illusion
ing cultural structure and expression. The analysis of individ-
(1927). Freud was convinced of the superiority of science
ual religious experience was left to Wundt’s successors. His
and the fact of secularization, and he endeavored to create
student Oswald Külpe (1862–1915), the head of the Würz-
a social space for psychoanalysis as a secular cure of souls. To
burg School of psychology, modified Wundt’s advances to
that end, Freud proclaimed religion to be a historical vestige,
create an approach in experimental introspection that could
a collective universal obsessional neurosis whose various ac-
be applied to religion. Külpe’s student Karl Girgensohn
coutrements were composed of projected, regressive, and de-
(1875–1925), famous for his Dorpat School of religious psy-
fensive Oedipal and related unconscious elements. His analy-
chology, introduced questionnaires and religious stimuli of
sis deeply influenced subsequent ego-psychological and
various kinds into the laboratory setting, concluding that re-
object-relational approaches (about which more shall be said
ligious experience was a complex phenomenon composed of
below). As an architect of modernity, he is still the foremost
cognitive, emotional, and existential elements. As David
figure of a depth-psychological approach to religion that
Wulff notes in his Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contem-
champions, as the philosopher Paul Ricoeur once said, the
porary (1997), members of the Dorpat School, in relying on
hermeneutics of suspicion.
the laboratory setting yet attending to descriptive detail,
championed elements of the phenomenological approach to
Other proponents of a subconscious, subliminal, or un-
the psychology of religion (which was carried on most deci-
conscious dimension of the personality were not wholly anti-
sively in this era by William James and evident in the works
thetical towards religious phenomena. In France the Catho-
of later humanistic and existential theorists), as well as the
lic thinkers Henri Delacroix (1873–1937) and Joseph
empirical approach (which was also apparent in the North
Maréchal (1878–1944) utilized theories of subliminal, sub-
American researchers and multiple theorists in subsequent
conscious states to enrich theological understandings of mys-
periods of history in the field).
tical states, whereas F. W. H. Myers (1843–1901), operating
out of Great Britain, exercised an enormous influence on
In France, a distinctly psychopathological approach to
North American researchers, especially William James, by
religion emerged, centering on the creative theoretical ad-
writing about how conceptions of such states could help to
vances of Jean Martin Charcot (1825–1893) and his student
explain paranormal phenomena. In particular, Switzerland
Pierre Janet (1859–1947). Through their work, which even-
proved to be a most hospitable home to a methodological
tuated in the articulation of pyschopathological processes
approach sympathetic to religion. Theodore Flournoy
based on the theory of the subconscious, the development
(1854–1820), who held a position in experimental psycholo-
of hypnosis, and the analysis of a number of case histories
gy at the University of Geneva, wrote several essays and
involving unusual religious states, this school laid claim to
books composed of analyses of case histories and autobio-
demonstrating the complicity of diseased mental states (no-
graphical material. Flournoy advocated a nonpathological
tably hysteria), in individual religious faith and its expres-
approach that bracketed the ontological reality of the divine
sion. The most famous product of this school was the Vien-
and, in cautioning that religious experience is complex, pro-
nese-based (and later, London-based) based founder of
moted the integration of physiological, developmental, and
psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud.
comparative perspectives in coming to an understanding of
exceptional religious states. A good friend of William James,
Freud was one of the three most influential psycholo-
Flournoy also influenced Georges Berguer (1873–1945), a
gists of religion of this era (the other two being William
professor of the psychology of religion who argued that the
James and Carl Jung). In abandoning hypnosis in favor of
methodological framework of psychology was necessarily
the free associative technique to gain insight into the psycho-
limited, thus creating a dialogical intellectual space for theo-
logical dynamics of his patients, Freud went well beyond
logical perspectives. Flournoy was also a force in the develop-
Charcot and Janet in developing a radically new theory of
ment of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute, where Jean Pia-
the mind. This theory was essentially a conflict model which
get (1896–1980), a subsequent director of the institute
divided the psyche into three parts: the unconscious, or id
known primarily for his theories of cognitive development,
(seen as the repository of repressed wishes and ruled by pri-
also wrote about religion. Piaget distinguished between an
mary instinctual processes); the ego (seen as cognizant of the
immature, socially determined form of faith that engendered
exigencies of external reality and ruled by the light of reason);
negative emotions and a more humanistic faith championing
and the superego (the internalized voice of conscience). In
autonomy and equality. However, without question, the
addition, Freud posited a psychosexual developmental line,
most important figure associated with the Swiss tradition is
the central dynamic of which was ruled by the existence of
Carl Jung.
childhood sexual impulses and the Oedipus complex, and a
theory of the instincts (the biologically based instinctual
Jung, who studied with Janet, was deeply influenced by
forces of Eros [life and sexual drives] and Thanatos [aggres-
Flournoy and James, and was heir apparent to Freud before
sive and death drives]) that impacted development and the
their complete break, is known as the founder of analytical
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psychology. In contrast to Freud’s tripartite structural theory
James Bisset Pratt (1875–1944), whose work on Buddhism
of the psyche, reliance on the developmental determinism of
and Hinduism, like that of Jung’s, was instrumental in
childhood, and negative evaluation of religion, Jung’s valori-
heightening awareness of the value of Eastern religious tradi-
zation of the transformative potential of religion was based
tions. W. E. Hocking (1873–1966), James’s successor at
on the related concepts of the collective unconscious and in-
Harvard University, argued for a psychologically pragmatic,
dividuation. Beneath Freud’s personal unconscious, thought
democratic, and socially activist form of mysticism. James
Jung, lay a collective unconscious housing universal arche-
also had a long correspondence with R. C. Bucke (1837–
types, conceived of as forms (without specific content)
1902), the Canadian psychologist and author of the classic
known only by their cultural and religious expressions and
book Cosmic Consciousness (1901), who became an important
effects on the individual psyche. The task of psychological
figure for later humanistic and transpersonal psychologists.
growth, which Jung termed individuation, was to acknowl-
Bucke’s major contribution proceeded as a result of an
edge and therapeutically work through the contents of the
epiphany he later conceptualized as an instance of “cosmic
personal and collective unconscious, gradually heightening
consciousness.” He was an early advocate of perennialism, ar-
the feeling of wholeness, harmony, and the totality of the
guing that cosmic consciousness lay at the heart of all reli-
self. Although Jung posited many archetypes, he thought
gion, that mankind was evolving towards a utopian socialist
those of the persona, shadow, anima/animus, the wise man,
and mystical society, and that all outward religious forms
the child, the great mother, and the self were particularly evi-
would disappear as mankind actualized its inherent ability
dent in religious ideation. Jung’s psychology of religion,
to achieve cosmic consciousness.
while establishing a theoretical framework for analyzing the
therapeutic and healing nature of religion (including Eastern
Despite the fact that during this era it was Hall and his
religions, which Jung promoted with greater success than any
students who were perceived as the main instigators of the
other psychologist of his era), also tended to blur the line be-
psychology of religion, it is James, author of the classic work
tween a psychology “of” religion and a religious psychology.
The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), who continues
In positing a generic, religious dimension to the uncon-
to exert influence on the field. Although James never devel-
scious, Jung is in part responsible for establishing the un-
oped a therapeutic system like Freud and Jung, he was the
churched, mystical form of self-actualization prevalent in the
most prolific and philosophically astute of the American con-
modern era.
tributors. A product of the modern worldview, James pro-
claimed experience as more primary than religious dogma,
NORTH AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS. The originative contri-
theology, or church accoutrements. Adopting the descrip-
butions to the psychology of religion from North America
tive, phenomenological method, he compiled the most di-
stemmed primarily from two major figures, G. Stanley Hall
verse, substantial, and compelling anthology of personal reli-
and William James, and their students. These contributors
gious experience of his day, offering typologies such as the
as a group were sympathetic towards religion, many having
sick soul, the healthy-minded, and the divided self, as well
been drawn initially to theological education, the ministry,
as parameters for understanding religious phenomena such
and the value of a progressive social worldview. Hall, who
as mysticism and conversion. James was a thoroughgoing
founded the Clark School of the Psychology of Religion (at
pragmatist who posited a radical form of empiricism (which
Clark University), was initially influenced by Wundt and set
allowed for personal religious experience as a source for ascer-
up a laboratory for the empirical investigation of religion.
taining the nature of reality), and he offered the possibility
Particularly interested in conversion, religious growth, mysti-
of a pluralistic universe (which threw into doubt the ascer-
cism, and education, Hall and two of his best-known stu-
tainable existence of one, underlying absolute truth). In
dents, E. D. Starbuck (1866–1917) and James Leuba (1868–
bracketing the divine, or “More,” on the further side of the
1946), were instrumental in developing questionnaires, in-
individual psyche, his interpretative evaluation of religious
terviews, and a statistical approach to the psychology of
experiences aimed at providing existential judgements (classi-
religion. Hall developed the view that religion was socially
fication schemes and an examination of the subconscious dy-
adaptive and, in books such as Jesus, the Christ, in the Light
namic involved) and spiritual judgements (an assessment of
of Psychology (1917), that religious figures embodied higher
their “fruits,” or pragmatic value for one’s life).
forms of morality. Psychology, argued Hall, could help man-
kind to actualize those ethical ideals. Starbuck followed suit,
By 1930 there was a general decline of interest in col-
publishing a landmark study, aptly titled The Psychology of
leges and culture at large in the psychology of religion. Benja-
Religion (1899), which centered on the relation between ado-
min Beit-Hallahmi (1974) has adduced several factors for
lescence and conversion. However, Leuba, in works such as
this, including the rise of National Socialism, the threat of
The Psychology of Religious Mysticism (1925), evinced a
war, the Great Depression, the rise of behaviorism (which
marked sympathy towards the methods of psychophysiology,
eschewed introspection and subjectivity) and theological
remaining unconvinced of the ontological reality of the di-
neo-orthodoxy (a conservative theological movement which
vine. Yet even Leuba, the most reductionistic of the group,
challenged the ability of psychology to apprehend religious
also argued for the potential of religion to morally transform
truth), and the perception that the methods of psychology
individuals and society. Leuba also studied with James, as did
were less than competent, objective, and value-neutral. Nev-
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ertheless, one can discern the beginnings of theoretical mod-
advances to reverse Freud’s negative evaluation of religion.
els (depth-psychological, humanistic, phenomenological-
Utilizing the genre of psychobiography, Erikson analyzed re-
existential, empirical) and dialogical enterprises (with hu-
ligious figures such as Martin Luther (Young Man Luther,
manistic, theological, and social-scientific methods) that
1958) and Gandhi (Gandhi’s Truth, 1969) to show how ego
would become the foundation upon which advances could
psychology could illuminate the healing, transformative
be built.
power of religion. In the 1960s Erich Fromm (1900–1980),
THE POSTWAR PERIOD THROUGH THE 1960S. The after-
in his Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis (1960), and Herbert
math of the Second World War brought new resources into
Fingarette (b. 1921), in his The Self in Transformation
the psychology of religion. Immigration brought European,
(1965), similarly used the insights of ego psychology to
Asian, and North American intellectuals representing a vari-
frame Buddhism as a healing enterprise commensurate with
ety of religious traditions into greater dialogue. With respect
the best aims of psychoanalysis.
to theory, there were substantial developments in psycho-
Analytic psychology. Jung’s psychology was increas-
analysis, analytical psychology, empirical studies, and hu-
ingly influential during the 1950s and 1960s, not simply due
manistic-existential forms of therapy. Perhaps as important,
the effect of psychology on many sectors of society was im-
to the efforts of Jung, who wrote many of his most influential
pressive enough that many culture theorists began to take
books on religion during this time (e.g., Answer to Job
note. The sociologist Philip Rieff (b. 1922), in his classic
[1952]), but also due to subsequent interpreters such as Erich
work The Triumph of the Therapeutic (1966), wrote that pre-
Neumann (1905–1960) and, later, James Hillman (b. 1926).
viously, all societies were “positive” in nature, by which he
During this period Jung’s psychology was also made accessi-
meant guided by a religious symbol system that facilitated
ble to empirical, correlational testing through the creation of
repression, insured the allegiance of individuals to the com-
the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a personality test
munal whole, and offered religious forms of healing to ward
based on Jung’s description of personality types. It is still a
off anomie. However, with the impact of psychology, partic-
popular tool utilized to measure religious orientation. Jung’s
ularly the depth-psychology of Freud and Jung, a new con-
psychology also had considerable impact on the comparative
trolling symbolism displaced the reigning religious one. The
study of religion. Mircea Eliade (1907–1986), one of the
key to the rise of the therapeutic culture (or “negative” com-
leading comparativists of his generation, used Jung’s notion
munities) was the valorization of the individual over the
that the collective unconscious housed a generic religious di-
communal whole and the creation of a cultural space for the
mension to facilitate his project of trying to recover the sa-
working through of previously repressed unconscious con-
cred (see Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, 1960). Additionally,
tents. Given the enormous impact of this new science, phi-
Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) in works such as The Hero
losophers, theologians, and comparativists were eager to dia-
with a Thousand Faces (1949), established a considerable
logue with proponents of the psychology of religion, not
oeuvre on myths which drew heavily on Jungian archetypal
simply on the grounds of the field’s intellectual merits, but
thought to demonstrate their universal significance and
also due to their (correct) perception that psychology was be-
meaning.
coming the preferred, even dominant cultural mode of intro-
Humanistic, phenomenological, and existential psy-
spection. This period saw both an extension and a creative
chology. The extension of previous attempts at developing
rebirthing of the efforts of the prewar era. The major devel-
phenomenological, existential, and humanistic elements in
opments of the 1950s and 1960s were ego psychology; ana-
the psychology of religion received impetus from a variety
lytic psychology; humanistic, phenomenological, and exis-
of figures, of which three should be singled out. Gordon All-
tential psychology; empirical and behavioral studies; and
port’s (1897–1967) central contribution, found in his The
pastoral psychology.
Individual and His Religion (1950), was the distinction be-
Ego psychology. Classic psychoanalysis as developed by
tween mature, intrinsic forms of religious orientation and
Freud rendered the ego weak, beset by the more powerful
more immature forms of extrinsic religious orientation. In
forces of the id and superego. The next generation of psycho-
the former case, individuals treated religion as an end in it-
analysts, headed by his daughter Anna Freud (1895–1982)
self. Allport listed the guiding characteristics of such an ori-
and including Heinz Hartmann (1894–1970), Ernst Kris,
entation as being differentiated, dynamic, directive, integral,
David Rapaport (1911–1960), and Erik Erikson (1902–
heuristic, and comprehensive. In extrinsic forms of religious
1994), formulated a much more positive understanding of
orientation, Allport thought that individuals treated religion
the ego. They granted it independent energy, more sophisti-
as a means, often exhibiting egoistic, wish-fulfilling forms of
cated defenses, increased ability for adaptation and play, and
behavior. Allport’s typology led to an immensely influential
a central role in an epigenetic, developmental process whose
empirical, correlational scale, the Religious Orientation
multiple stages of growth spanned the life cycle. These theo-
Scale, which measured extrinsic and intrinsic forms of reli-
retical advances allowed for the resolution of infantile fixa-
gious behavior. Victor Frankl (b. 1905), influenced by phe-
tions and conflicts, eventuating in virtues such as trust, integ-
nomenological philosophy, existentialism, and his own expe-
rity, identity, generational care, and generativity. Erikson,
riences in Nazi concentration camps, was the founder of the
the best known of this group, was instrumental in using such
therapeutic system known as logotherapy (see Man’s Search
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for Meaning, 1962). Deeply religious, eschewing the total de-
ister (1873–1956), the Swiss pastor, lay analyst, and confi-
terminism of childhood development, and stressing the
dant of Freud, and Anton Boisen (1876–1965), a minister
uniqueness of every individual and the intimate relation of
who parlayed his own bout with schizophrenia into establish-
the self to a personal God, Frankl highlighted issues pertain-
ing a form of clinical pastoral psychology. However, it was
ing to individual freedom, responsibility, self-transcendence,
not until the postwar period that pastoral psychology became
conscience, and will to meaning. Abraham Maslow (1908–
a powerful social institution. As ably detailed by Peter Ho-
1970) spent his life articulating a psychology which, over and
mans in his The Dialogue between Theology and Psychology
against classical psychoanalysis and behaviorism, detailed the
(1968), its aim was to formulate a mature, psychologically
development of higher forms of consciousness. Maslow dis-
sophisticated form of faith by investigating the relation be-
tinguished between basic needs for physiological sustenance,
tween developmental determinants, existential issues (such
safety, belonging, and self-esteem, and the higher need for
as freedom, choice, and responsibility) and theological issues
self-actualization. The latter, a general designation for experi-
(such as faith, sin, morality, and redemption). Many of its
ences of joy, completeness, and unity, reached their culmina-
proponents (e.g., Albert Outler, Seward Hiltner, David Rob-
tion in peak-experiences, Maslow’s most famous term and one
erts) engaged in dialogue with proponents of existential, hu-
crucial to his understanding of religion. In his Religions, Val-
manistic, psychoanalytic, and analytical psychology. Several
ues, and Peak-Experiences (1964) Maslow espoused a perenni-
noted philosophers and theologians entered this debate, in-
alism based on peak-experiences, distinguishing between “le-
cluding Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971), who utilized psy-
galists” (nonpeakers and curators of a bureaucratic
chological insights to nuance the Christian distinction be-
understanding of religion) and “mystics” (peakers who expe-
tween nature and spirit, and Paul Ricouer (b. 1913), who,
rientially grasped the essence of religion). Mystical states and
in respecting the depth-psychological “hermeneutics of sus-
peak-experiences, now understood as the psychological core
picion,” argued for a more mature form of faith he called a
uniting all religions, could be accessed through scientific,
second naiveté. Of the theologians, however, none was more
technical means. Maslow thus advocated a naturalistic, un-
important than Paul Tillich (1886–1965). As his “correla-
churched religion that was commensurate with the scientific,
tional method” made abundantly clear, psychology was
psychological enterprise.
American culture’s mode of formulating the central existen-
Empirical and behavioral studies. B. F. Skinner, the
tial questions about the nature of the human condition. Any
central theorist of behaviorism, viewed religion in generally
theological system, then, could not dispense with active dia-
negative terms. Skinner thought religion was a determined
logue with psychology. In over two dozen essays, later pub-
form of social behavior whose continued existence can be at-
lished in The Meaning of Health (1984) and in major works
tributed to “operant conditioning” (that is, because religious
such as The Courage to Be (1952), Tillich proceeded to inte-
behavior is reinforced) and the need of religious authorities
grate the insights of numerous therapeutic frameworks to
to maintain power and control. Although behaviorism, at
show how pastoral psychology could help overcome the “het-
least at the outset, was the most powerful new form of psy-
eronomous” God; reveal the universal, structural anxieties of
chological theory during this period, it met with multiple
guilt, death, and meaninglessness; and mediate the only God
competitors. As mentioned above, the theories of Allport and
(who he called the God “above” the God of “theological the-
Jung impacted empirical studies through the development of
ism”) who could truly heal the plight of the modern person.
the Religious Orientation Scale (Allport) and the MBTI
In many ways Tillich was the central architect of pastoral
(Jung). In addition, the meteoric rise of interest in Eastern
psychology and, as is so evident in his essays, the religious
religions gave creative impetus to laboratory science. Experi-
intellectual most responsible for fermenting a bona fide dia-
mental studies of meditation measured the physiological ef-
logue between theologians and psychologists of all stripes.
fects of practices such as Zen and yoga on respiration, heart
1970 TO 2005. As may be evident from the foregoing, the
rate, skin resistance, and cerebral activity. Similarly, the in-
developments of the 1950s and 1960s began a process of
terest in altered states of consciousness accessed through psy-
blurring the understanding of psychology as a value-neutral
chedelics (or entheogens, a word which means “containing
methodological tool independent of and objective with re-
God”) such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), peyote, and
spect to its subject (in this case the contents, practices, and
mescaline resulted in numerous studies measuring their ef-
ideation of religious traditions). Although the value-neutral,
fect on faith and religiousness. Insofar as these studies oc-
objective stance of psychology vis-à-vis religion remains a de-
curred during a volatile cultural atmosphere in the 1960s, it
sired end, ongoing developments in culture studies and the
should be noted that many of these empirical studies were
postmodern deconstruction of any perspective claiming to
conducted and advanced by figures and psychologists associ-
possess objective, absolute truth has further necessitated an
ated with the human potential movement. As a group, the
analysis of the relativity, selectivity, and implicit scale of val-
movement championed the values of receptivity, spontane-
ues harbored within psychological theories of all kinds. The
ity, nowness, and the cultivation of an essentially un-
net effect has been the opening of the tent of the psychology
churched, mystical-experiential form of religiousness.
“of” religion to include “religious psychology” and studies
Pastoral psychology. In the prewar period, pastoral
whose orientation consists of a dialogical enterprise between
psychology had been practiced by figures such as Oskar Pf-
psychology and various humanistic and social scientific per-
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spectives (e.g., philosophy, theology, comparative/cultural
long-awaited bridge linking the often contentious battle be-
studies). The introduction of new terms that reflect this in-
tween Jungians and Freudians.
clusion (e.g., religion and the human sciences; religion, person,
Transpersonal psychology. Late in his life, Abraham
and culture; psychology “and” religion) have become, for many,
Maslow took his formulations on humanistic psychology and
accepted parts of the nomenclature when designating the
peak-experience one step further by initiating the formation
field. Although it is fair to say that debates over designation
of a full-blown religious psychology. Called transpersonal
and inclusion still rage (some would like to narrowly circum-
psychology, its proponents frame it as part of a tradition in
scribe what constitutes the psychology “of” religion, omit-
the psychology of religion which includes the researches of
ting religious psychology and dialogical enterprises), it is also
James, Jung, and R. M. Bucke. Influenced by Eastern reli-
fair, in detailing the contours of this period, to mention not
gions, its essence is devoted to the study of all higher forms
only developments in the psychology “of” religion but also
of psychological and religious consciousness, including peak
those developments signaling the move towards a wider,
experiences, unitive forms of mystical consciousness, and
more inclusive understanding of the field. Although the
feelings of bliss, awe, and wonder. Starting in the late 1960s,
framework and typology utilized to conceptualize the latter
advocates of transpersonal psychology created professional,
can be debated, the use of alternate categorization schemes
academic outlets for their work, including programs for
cannot safely neglect object-relations theory, transpersonal
transpersonal psychotherapy and a journal, the Journal of
psychology, empirical and behavioral studies, practical theol-
Transpersonal Psychology. A number of scholars during this
ogy, the psychology–comparativist dialogue, and psychology
period, including Charles Tart, Ken Wilber, Stanislav Grof,
of religion and culture studies.
and Michael Washburn, have utilized a variety of psychologi-
Object-relations theory. Although Freud’s own em-
cal approaches to advocate the scientific study of mystical
phasis was on the Oedipus complex, he also offered a prelim-
and paranormal phenomena. Tart has written extensively on
inary framework for considering the pre-Oedipal, narcissistic
paranormal phenomena, and Grof is known for his work on
(used as a descriptive, not pejorative term) phase of develop-
entheogens and their ability to illumine structural elements
ment. Several subsequent theorists, including Melanie Klein,
of religious consciousness, including Jungian archetypes.
D. W. Winnicott, Ronald Fairbairn, and Heinz Kohut
Wilber has articulated a version of the perennial philosophy,
(founder of “Self psychology”), added clinical and theoretical
drawing from maps of consciousness found in Western psy-
contributions that have increased our knowledge of the de-
chotherapies and the world’s mystical traditions. He argues
velopmental line of narcissism. In contrast to Freud’s empha-
for a “spectrum of consciousness” ranging from the lower
sis on instinct and conflict, these theorists emphasized rela-
egoistic forms to the dissolution of self characteristic of vari-
tional issues of separation and merger, the processes of
ous forms of Buddhism and the Hindu Vedanta tradition.
idealization and identification/internalization, and the devel-
Each level can be addressed, both metapsychologically and
opment of a cohesive self, self-esteem, and creativity. Al-
therapeutically, by various kinds of Western psychologies.
though studies of this genre proliferate, particularly success-
Washburn, also drawing on a variety of psychotherapeutic
ful is Ana-Maria Rizzuto’s The Birth of the Living God
frameworks, argues that spiritual development has a spiral
(1979), which, in utilizing Winnicott’s notion of a “transi-
path, and his work has concentrated on elucidating charac-
teristic forms of experience which unfold during the course
tional object,” elaborated a clinically based understanding of
of this spiraling upwards.
belief in a “God Representation.” This is created by individu-
als from a variety of representational objects (the pre-Oedipal
Empirical and behavioral studies. Arrays of studies in
mother, the Oedipal father, siblings, relatives, and significant
the empirical and behavioral category have appeared since
others), is capable of evolving with changes in the life cycle,
1970. Utilizing Allport’s distinction between intrinsic and
and functions to insure adaptation to life’s exigencies. With
extrinsic religious orientations, several theorists have added
respect to Eastern religions, Sudhir Kakar, in books such as
developments to empirical analysis, including the following:
The Inner World (1981) and The Analyst and the Mystic
the Quest Scale (a more nuanced view of intrinsic forms of
(1991), illuminates how Hindu forms of religious ideation
religious orientation); the Religious Viewpoints Scale (which
and practice are especially conducive to a pre-oedipal theo-
distinguishes between committed [personal religious style]
retical analysis. On the whole, object-relations theory allows
and consensual [socially generated forms] of religiousness);
for a marked sympathy towards religion that is absent in
general attribution theory (which links religion with matters
Freud. Several originative theorists in this tradition come
of self-esteem, meaning, and control); attachment theory
close to Jung in their metapsychological conceptualization of
(which examines the strong relational bonds religion fosters);
a religious dimension to the personality (e.g., Kohut’s “cos-
and coping theory (which seeks to analyze religion as a means
mic narcissism,” Wilfred Bion’s “O,” Jacques Lacan’s “The
of coping with the existential and social exigencies of life).
Real”). In this respect it is noteworthy, as is evident in Peter
Social role theory has proved useful in analyzing how motiva-
Homans’s Jung in Context (1979), which sees Jung as antici-
tion, behavior, and learning proceed through identification
pating Kohut’s Self psychology, that theories concerning the
with religious role models. Sociobiology, relying on the re-
developmental line of narcissism have become for many the
searches of physiology, ethology, and evolutionary biology,
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PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION
7479
looks at the biological basis for all social behaviors, concen-
too often inclined to level differences, succumbing to a naive
trating in particular on the relationship between religion, so-
perennialism. After 1970 there was more accurate exegesis of
ciety, and altruistic forms of relating. The continued interest
alternate understandings of self, world, and other found in
in Eastern religious practices has spawned a vast assortment
Eastern religions. Although there is some overlap with hu-
of laboratory analysis. Particularly significant are those re-
manistic, empirical, and transpersonal approaches, the psy-
searchers who have used the findings of work in bi-
chology-comparativist dialogue is marked by a synthesis of
hemispheric studies to show how the myths, symbols, and
interdisciplinary methods (i.e., psychological, cultural, philo-
practices of religious traditions signify the working of the
sophical, comparative) in arriving at an appreciation of real
right (devoted to spatial orientation, art, and holistic menta-
differences and attempts at respectful dialogue. Examples can
tion) and left (involved with analytic reasoning, language,
be found in Luis Gomez’s careful evaluation of a Jungian ap-
and math) hemispheres of the brain. Additionally, with the
proach to the texts of Indian Buddhism in Curators of the
advent of brain imaging, and drawing on the researches of
Buddha (1995) and Jeffrey Kripal’s Kali’s Child (1995),
evolutionary psychology and biology, many in cognitive
which performs a classic Freudian interpretation by seeing
neuroscience have endeavored to locate with greater preci-
symptoms of repressed homoeroticism in the visions and acts
sion which areas of the brain are responsible for specific
of Ramakrishna (1836–1886), but then, in exemplifying the
forms of religious experience and behavior.
interdisciplinary approach of this dialogue, legitimates Ra-
makrishna’s religious visions by situating psychoanalytic dis-
Practical theology. The dialogue between psychology
course in a wider Tantric worldview. Jack Engler, another
and theology and the development of pastoral psychology
theorist in this category, draws on his expertise as a psycholo-
has continued in practical theology. Indeed, programs in pas-
gist and meditation teacher in arguing that Western psycho-
toral education and counseling have thrived since the 1970s
therapy and Buddhist abhidharma each have different, legiti-
in many seminaries and universities. Building on the efforts
mate aims if viewed in their proper cultural contexts (see
of theologians and religious intellectuals of the previous peri-
Transformations of Consciousness [1986]). According to En-
od, practical theology continues to involve proponents of
gler, psychotherapy aims at helping to grow a cohesive,
Christianity and Judaism, evincing a marked theoretical so-
healthy sense of self; Buddhist meditation, presupposing a
phistication over previous attempts at dialogue. A noted ex-
healthy self, aims at “losing” it. Jeffrey Rubin, in his Psycho-
ample is James Fowler, who, in his Stages of Faith (1981),
therapy and Buddhism (1996), includes a careful consider-
offers a stage approach to the maturation of faith based on
ation of culture in his attempt to steer a middle path between
the ego psychology of Erikson, the cognitive developmental
“Orientocentrism” (the privileging of Asian thought and
framework of Piaget, and the developmental theory of mo-
practice) and Eurocentrism. In the period under consider-
rality found in the works of Lawrence Kohlberg. Don Brow-
ation, this dialogue is also marked by an increasing number
ning, whose substantial oeuvre in this area includes Religious
of interdisciplinary studies critiquing Western psychological
Thought and the Modern Psychologies (1987), has utilized a
attempts at creating dialogue with Eastern religions, notably
revised version of Tillich’s method of correlation to tease out
J. J. Clarke’s analysis of Jung and comparative studies (Jung
the religious and ethical horizons of various psychological
and Eastern Thought, 1994) and William B. Parsons’s evalua-
theories. Having established that psychology is not simply a
tion of psychoanalytic interpretations of comparative mysti-
neutral science but, with respect to its effects on culture and
cism (The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling, 1999).
individuals, has implications for religion and ethical theory,
Browning brings the results of such an analysis into dialogue
Psychology of religion and culture studies. Although
with Protestant cultural values and attendant notions of vir-
many of the above-cited studies deal in some way with cul-
tue and selfhood.
ture studies, there are several types of studies that can be di-
rectly subsumed under the category psychology of religion
The psychology-comparativist dialogue. The contin-
and culture studies. Among the most important is psycholo-
ued influx and popularity of Eastern religions, scholarly ad-
gy, religion, and gender studies. As Diane Jonte-Pace (in
vances in the exegesis of non-Western religions, and the rise
Jonte-Pace and Parsons, 2001) has carefully pointed out, the
of academics familiar with both psychological and indige-
feminist critique of psychological studies of religion is an on-
nous religious psychophysiological techniques has given rise
going enterprise that has incorporated three kinds of scholar-
to a “psychology-comparativist dialogue” (see Jonte-Pace
ship: (1) feminist critics have sought to uncover the andro-
and Parsons, 2001). Germinal elements of this dialogue can
centric biases of theory; (2) feminist analysts have exposed
be found in previous eras, although to speak of a true dia-
the gender imbalance and prejudice constructed by culture;
logue is problematic. The well-intended researches of Jung,
and (3) feminist inclusivists have proposed creative new ways
James, and Pratt did much to elevate the status of Eastern
of reframing women’s experiences.
religions in the eyes of psychologists in the early 1900s.
However, they were marked by orientalism and marred by
Another important subcategory is psychology, religion,
faulty translations, reductionism, and the lack of engagement
and the social sciences. There is a growing trend to include
with scholars within Eastern traditions. Studies of the 1950s
the psychology of religion as part of a more inclusive social
and 1960s, intent on creating dialogue and tolerance, were
scientific approach to religion. From this perspective psy-
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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PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION
chology is a cultural science that cannot afford to dispense
Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin. “Psychology and Religion: 1880–1930:
with the findings of sociology and anthropology in analyzing
The Rise and Fall of a Psychological Movement.” Journal of
religious phenomena. In addition, such collaboration helps
the History of the Behavioral Sciences 10 (1974): 84–90.
to actualize a self-reflective movement through which those
Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin. Psychoanalytic Studies of Religion: A
that utilize psychological theory may become more aware of
Critical Assessment and Annotated Bibliography. Westport,
the ethnocentric assumptions and values embodied in psy-
Conn., 1996.
chological metapsychology. Cases in point are the work of
Capps, Donald, Lewis Rambo, and Paul Ransohoff. Psychology of
sociologist Michael Carroll, whose The Cult of the Virgin
Religion: A Guide to Information Sources. Detroit, Mich.,
Mary (1986) weds social theory with psychoanalysis; the
1976.
work of anthropologist Gananath Obeysekere, who, in
Crapps, Robert W. An Introduction to the Psychology of Religion.
works such as Medusa’s Hair (1981) and The Work of Culture
Macon, Ga., 1986.
(1990), uses culturally sensitive psychological, anthropologi-
Dyer, Donald R. Cross-Currents of Jungian Thought: An Annotated
cal, and philosophical theory to interpret Hindu ideation
Bibliography. Boston, 1991.
and practice; and the work of social scientist Peter Homans,
Fuller, Andrew R. Psychology and Religion: Eight Points of View.
who, in The Ability to Mourn (1989), has fashioned an inte-
Lanham, Md., 1994.
gration of social-scientific disciplines, focusing on the psy-
Hood, Ralph W., Jr.; Bernard Spilka; Bruce Hunsberger; and
chodynamics of individual biography in the context of social
Richard L. Gorsuch, eds., The Psychology of Religion: An Em-
change in an attempt to understand the emergence of cre-
pirical Approach. New York, 1996.
ative theorizing about religion in figures such as Jung, Freud,
Jonte-Pace, Diane, and William B. Parsons, eds. Religion and Psy-
and Max Weber.
chology: Mapping the Terrain. New York, 2001. A selection
Another group of studies that can be categorized as psy-
of essays summarizing recent dialogical trends, including the
chology of religion and culture studies deals with psychology
intersection of psychology, religion, and gender studies; the
psychology-comparativist dialogue; the dialogue between
“as” religion. The term psychology as religion is understand-
theology and psychology; and psychology “as” religion.
ably anathema to many scholars in the psychology of reli-
gion, given that it undermines the seemingly objective char-
Murphy, Michael, and Steven Donovan. The Physical and Psycho-
logical Effects of Meditation: A Review of Contemporary Re-
acter of psychology as a method for the analysis “of” religion.
search with a Comprehensive Bibliography, 1931–1996. 2d ed.
Nevertheless, since the time of Philip Rieff’s The Triumph
Sausalito, Calif., 1997.
of the Therapeutic (1966), culture theorists have increasingly
Spilka, Bernard, and Daniel M. McIntosh, eds. The Psychology of
written about the ways in which psychology not only ana-
Religion: Theoretical Approaches. Boulder, Colo., 1997.
lyzes religion but also, culturally speaking, has acted “like a
religion.” As is evident in the case of Jung and the transper-
Wulff, David. The Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contempo-
sonal psychologists, psychological theory is often utilized for
rary. 2d ed. New York, 1997. The most complete and defini-
tive survey of the field.
purposes of organizing and expressing the existential search
for wholeness, numinous experiences, and individuation.
Specific
Ostensibly a method for the analysis of religion, psychology
Allport, Gordon. The Individual and His Religion. New York,
has its own scale of values, and it not only seeks to interpret
1950.
religious phenomena but also offers itself, at times quite in-
Barnard, G. William. Exploring Unseen Worlds. Albany, N.Y.,
tentionally, as a modern, nontraditional way to map one’s
1997. A constructive analysis of the views of William James.
religiosity. With respect to popular culture, this is illustrated
Barnard, G. William. “Diving into the Depths: Reflections on
by the success of books that rely on Jungian theory and its
Psychology as a Religion.” In Religion and Psychology: Map-
derivatives in promoting a version of unchurched, psycho-
ping the Terrain, edited by Diane Jonte-Pace and William B.
logical spirituality (e.g., M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Trav-
Parsons, pp. 297–318. New York, 2001.
eled [1978]).
Browning, Don. Religious Thought and the Modern Psychologies.
Philadelphia, 1987.
SEE ALSO Freud, Sigmund; Hall, G. Stanley; James, Wil-
Bucke, R.C. Cosmic Consciousness. Philadelphia, 1901.
liam; Jung, C. G.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton,
N.J., 1949.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carroll, Michael. The Cult of the Virgin Mary. Princeton, N.J.,
The below bibliography is divided into two sections: (1) general,
1986.
which lists textbooks, annotated bibliographies, and other
Clarke, J. J. Jung and Eastern Thought. London, 1994.
general surveys of the field; and (2) specific, which catalogs
studies treating individual authors and central debates in the
Eliade, Mircea. Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries. New York, 1960.
field.
Engler, Jack. Transformations of Consciousness. Boston, 1986.
General
Erikson, Erik. Young Man Luther. New York, 1958.
Argyle, Michael. Psychology and Religion: An Introduction. New
Erikson, Erik. Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonvio-
York, 2000.
lence. New York, 1969.
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
PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOTHERAPY AND RELIGION
7481
Ferrer, Jorge. Revisioning Transpersonal Theory. Albany, N.Y.,
Parsons, William B. The Enigma of the Oceanic Feeling: Revisioning
2002.
the Psychoanalytic Theory of Mysticism. New York, 1999.
Fingarrette, Herbert. The Self in Transformation. New York, 1965.
Peck, M. Scott. The Road Less Traveled. New York, 1978.
Fowler, James. Stages of Faith. New York, 1981.
Rieff, Philip. The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith After
Frankl, Victor. Man’s Search for Meaning. New York, 1962.
Freud. New York, 1966.
Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo. New York, 1913.
Rieff, Philip. Freud: The Mind of the Moralist. Chicago, 1979. A
substantial and still useful study of Freud’s psychology of re-
Freud, Sigmund. Future of an Illusion. New York, 1927.
ligion.
Fromm, Erich. Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis. New York,
Rizzuto, Ana-Maria. The Birth of the Living God. Chicago, 1979.
1960.
Rubin, Jeffrey. Psychotherapy and Buddhism. New York, 1996.
Gomez, Luis. Curators of the Buddha. Chicago, 1995.
Starbuck, E. D. The Psychology of Religion. London, 1899.
Hall, G. Stanley. Jesus, the Christ, in the Light of Psychology. Gar-
Stein, Murray. Jung’s Treatment of Christianity. Wilmette, Ill.,
den City, N.Y., 1917.
1986.
Heisig, James W. Imago Dei: A Study of C. G. Jung’s Psychology of
Tillich, Paul. The Courage to Be. New Haven, Conn., 1952.
Religion. Lewisburg, Pa., 1979.
Tillich, Paul. The Meaning of Health. Chicago, 1984.
Homans, Peter. The Dialogue between Theology and Psychology.
Chicago, 1968.
Vitz, Paul C. Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship. 2d
ed. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1991.
Homans, Peter. Jung in Context. Chicago, 1979.
Zock, Heddy. A Psychology of Ultimate Concern: Erik H. Erikson’s
Homans, Peter. The Ability to Mourn. Chicago, 1989.
Contribution to the Psychology of Religion. Amsterdam, 1990.
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York,
1902.
WILLIAM B. PARSONS (2005)
Jones, James. Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Religion. New
Haven, Conn., 1991.
Jonte-Pace, Diane. “Analysts, Critics, and Inclusivists: Feminist
PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOTHERAPY AND
Voices in the Psychology of Religion.” In Religion and Psy-
RELIGION
chology: Mapping the Terrain, edited by Diane Jonte-Pace
Historically, the relationship between psychotherapy and re-
and William B. Parsons, pp. 129–146. New York, 2001.
ligion has been strained, because until recently it has been
Jonte-Pace, Diane. Speaking the Unspeakable: Religion, Misogyny,
dominated by psychoanalytic theory and has turned on that
and the Uncanny Mother in Freud’s Cultural Texts. Berkeley,
field’s conceptualization of illusion. Influenced as it is by the
Calif., 2002.
psychobiological origins of psychoanalytic theory, psycho-
Jung, Carl. Answer to Job. London, 1952.
therapy traditionally has considered religion an illusion in a
Kakar, Sudhir. The Inner World. Delhi and New York, 1981.
strictly pejorative sense. Only relatively recently have many
psychotherapists come to understand that illusion is a psy-
Kakar, Sudhir. The Analyst and the Mystic. Chicago, 1991.
chological need and that, as such, it can be healthily enjoyed
Kripal, Jeffrey J. Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life
in a socially beneficial way or distorted into pathology, just
and Teachings of Ramakrishna. Chicago, 1995.
as any need can be. Religion has defensively reacted to psy-
Kripal, Jeffrey J., and T. G. Vaidyanathan. Vishnu on Freud’s Desk:
choanalysis’s largely negative consideration of it by cam-
A Reader in Psychoanalysis and Hinduism. Delhi, 1999.
paigning against psychoanalysis, ignoring it altogether, or
Leuba, James. The Psychology of Religious Mysticism. London and
prematurely incorporating its theory. Understandably, reli-
New York, 1925.
gion has bridled at being considered merely illusory, for this
Maslow, Abraham. Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences. New
consideration inherently denies the reality of religious experi-
York, 1964.
ence. Often the psychoanalytic consideration of religious
McDargh, John. Psychoanalytic Object-Relations Theory and the
material has used a methodology based in nineteenth-
Study of Religion: On Faith and the Imaging of God. Lanham,
century physical science that, because of its own assump-
Md., 1983.
tions, makes study of religious experience impossible. The
Molino, Anthony, ed. The Couch and the Tree: Dialogues in Psy-
scientific origins (some would say aspirations) of psychoanal-
choanalysis and Buddhism. New York, 1998.
ysis have enabled the field to lay claim to a position of objec-
Newberg, Andrew, Eugene D’Aquili, and Vince Rause. Why God
tivity, which must then see religion experience as illusory.
Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief. New
Fortunately there have been positive developments in the re-
York, 2001.
lationship between psychotherapy and religion: Psychothera-
Obeysekere, Gananath. Medusa’s Hair. Chicago, 1981.
py has begun to appreciate the psychological and cultural
Obeysekere, Gananath. The Work of Culture: Symbolic Transfor-
role of religion, and religion has begun to utilize psychother-
mation in Psychoanalysis and Anthropology. Chicago, 1990.
apy more appropriately and less defensively. This article ex-
amines the main features of this developing relationship.
Ornstein, Robert. The Psychology of Consciousness. New York,
1986. A classic work utilizing bihemispheric studies to ana-
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY. Any consideration of the rela-
lyze religious phenomena.
tionship between psychotherapy and religion must start, of
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PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOTHERAPY AND RELIGION
course, with the work of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). And
nouncements on religion receded from controversy and be-
there the difficulties also begin.
came the status quo in psychoanalysis until theoretical devel-
Freud and illusion. It is a testament to Freud’s great-
opments necessitated their being questioned. Psychoanalytic
ness that readers are frustrated with him for his shortcom-
theory developed into two broad, interrelated categories, one
ings, which are clearly evident in his consideration of reli-
continuing Freud’s psychobiological interests and focusing
gion. (His shortcomings in his attempts to understand
on mechanistic descriptions of psychodynamics and the
women and female experience, another glaring area of diffi-
other pursuing the more holistic study of the experiential
culty, are beyond the purview of this article.) Regardless of
psychic life of the person. In the first group, Anna Freud
his greatness, the limitations of his era’s scientific methodol-
(1885–1982) and others contributed to the shift in psycho-
ogy—especially its psychobiology—and his own personal
analysis (a shift that had actually already been begun by
prejudice against and ambivalence toward religion combined
Freud himself) toward the study of the ego and its defense
to make it impossible for him to study religion objectively
mechanisms. In this way, the older view of the adaptation
(i.e., in a way which would grant credence to others’ subjec-
to reality at all costs began to be modified by this school,
tivity). Freud was able to see clearly the religious pathology
which came to be known as ego psychology. In the second
in individual cases of neurosis and the social hypocrisy that
group, Melanie Klein (1882–1960) and others began to
probably has always been a feature of organized religion, but
study the earliest development of the person in terms of what
it is a deep irony that the man who cleared the way for the
have come to be called object relations theory. In psychoana-
recognition of the developmental interrelation of pathology
lytic theory, an object is the psychological representation of
and health was not able to apply his own discovery to reli-
a person in the most elementary terms—as a good object,
gious experience.
one which is nurturing, or as a bad object, one which is per-
In numerous works, but nowhere as clearly as in The Fu-
secutory. (Klein thus laid the groundwork for D. W. Winni-
ture of an Illusion (1927), Freud considers religion as illusion.
cott’s study of transitional phenomena, as well as for self psy-
He contends that religion originated in early humanity’s
chology and the study of narcissism.) Both theoretical groups
(and continues to originate in the child’s) primordial fears
unwittingly undermined Freud’s attitude toward religion:
and need for help. The idea of God is the psyche’s projection
The first came to appreciate less stringent adaptation to reali-
onto the cosmos of infantile, unconscious wishes for omnip-
ty than had been advocated by earlier analysis, and the sec-
otence and protection, an effort to control the cosmos’s im-
ond prepared the way for examining the methods—
personal harshness by personalizing it as a father-god. God
including illusion itself—that the psyche necessarily uses to
is therefore only a psychic phenomenon, the product of
come to grips with reality.
wishful thinking—in short, an illusion. For Freud, then, illu-
Three other psychoanalytic theorists who should be
sion is a pejorative concept, an adaptation that, if possible,
mentioned in a discussion of psychotherapy and religion are
should be overcome in favor of facing reality without illu-
Eric Fromm (1900–1980), Victor Frankl (1905–1997), and
sion. Although Freud does distinguish between delusion and
Erik H. Erikson (1903–1987). The first two are included not
illusion (the former definitely a false belief and the latter a
so much because they contributed in a fundamental way to
belief that, whether true or false, is arrived at independently
the development of psychoanalytic theory, nor even because
of rational means), it is nonetheless the case that by the stric-
they advanced the psychoanalytic understanding of illusion,
tures of the nineteenth-century scientific paradigm that
but because they took religion seriously on its own terms and
Freud employed, religion is false because it is not real.
thus began to break away from Freud’s reductionistic meth-
Psychoanalysts and other psychotherapists whose prac-
odology in studying religion. Fromm, as a representative of
tice has been influenced by Freud, then, have little use for
the first group of psychoanalytic theorists previously men-
religion, seeing it as a defense the maladapted ego has formu-
tioned, saw religion’s value from a broad cultural perspective,
lated against the harsh realities of the world. In all likelihood,
whereas Frankl, as a representative of the second group, ap-
given a patient with a strong enough ego, such a therapist
preciated religion’s psychological function in assisting the in-
would work to encourage the patient to see that this defense
dividual’s search for meaning. The work of Erikson must also
is not needed. There would be some latitude here, because
be considered in the psychoanalytic examination of religion.
psychoanalytic theory has adherents at all stages of its devel-
Erikson, popularly known for his study of the “identity cri-
opment. There are Freudian psychoanalysts and also psycho-
sis,” pioneered the discipline of psychohistory. With Young
analytic institutes that represent the full range of Freudian
Man Luther (1958) and Gandhi’s Truth (1969), Erikson
thought from psychobiology to pre-ego psychology. Typical-
studied what he called homo religiosus, that is, the person
ly, however, the faculties of these institutes come from back-
whose nature and historical circumstance demand a religious
grounds in psychiatry or clinical psychology (and, more re-
existence—a kind of life that, Erikson insisted, can be psy-
cently, social work) and therefore are little influenced by
chologically healthy. Erikson treats the religious quests of
religious perspectives.
both Luther and Gandhi with dignity, humaneness, and
Transitional figures. Few psychoanalysts after Freud
compassion. Even two decades before, it would have been
were as concerned as he was with religion. Freud’s pro-
unheard of for an analyst of Erikson’s stature to psychoana-
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PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOTHERAPY AND RELIGION
7483
lytically examine a religious figure without reducing him to
As excellent example of the application of object rela-
a case study in psychopathology.
tions theory to religion can be found in Ana-Maria Rizzuto’s
The Birth of the Living God: A Psychoanalytic Study (1979).
Winnicott and transitional phenomena. As the first
Rizzuto develops Winnicott’s idea of transitional objects and
pediatrician to be trained as a psychoanalyst, the Englishman
applies it to religion in a systematic way by focusing on the
D. W. Winnicott (1896–1971) was in a unique position to
development within the individual psyche of what she calls
study the psychological development of infants and children,
the God-image. (In this way, she avoids the argument about
as well as the relationship between parents (particularly
the reality of religious experience.) Rizzuto argues that the
mothers) and their children. Winnicott’s primary theoretical
God-image is a necessary and inevitable part of the human
interest was the psychological emergence of the infant into
psyche (whether it is used for belief or not), and she traces
the social world. In Winnicott’s view, the bridging of these
two worlds is accomplished through the presence of good
its origins from the infant’s earliest object-relations. The
enough mothering and the child’s use of transitional objects.
God-image is a specific object, she states, because it is formed
For Winnicott, a good-enough mother is concerned about
not through experience or reality-testing, but instead is creat-
her child and sensitive to his or her needs, but she does not
ed out of imaginary materials. Further, she argues that even
err either by psychologically impinging on the child or by
though the God-image may be subject to repression, it can
traumatizing him or her with inconsistent care. She sees her
never be fully repressed. Instead, it is evoked at crucial times
child as progressively separate from herself; psychologically
of life, such as the transitions between major stages of devel-
as well as physically, she weans her child carefully. In wean-
opment. Rizzuto’s contribution is especially important in
ing, she often allows the child transitional objects: physical
two ways. First, departing from Freud and aligning herself
objects such as teddy bears and blankets that, through their
with Winnicott’s positive appreciation of illusion, she comes
association with the mother, help to ensure the infant’s own
to the conclusion that religious belief is not a sign of imma-
psychological continuity. As such, they ward off insanity,
turity, let alone pathology. Rather, she asserts it is simply a
which Winnicott saw as psychological discontinuity.
part of the psyche’s development. Second, by tracing the per-
sonal development of the God-image, she points up the dif-
Winnicott’s central theoretical breakthrough is his study
ferences between the official God of religious doctrine and
of how transitional objects are used by the child as a bridge
the living God of personal experience. She implies that for
from the child’s inner reality to the outer reality of the adult
religion to continue to be a living force the personal, living
world. By studying these phenomena, he became the first
God must be recognized and incorporated into organized re-
psychoanalyst to study illusion systematically and, thus also,
ligion.
to study the psychoanalytic correlate of religion. In his 1951
paper “Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena,”
The profound influence of Winnicott’s work has also
Winnicott placed the antecedent of religious development in
led psychoanalysts from outside objects relations theory to
the period of transitional phenomena and, in this way, illus-
employ his theory in the integration of psychotherapy and
trated the object-related nature of religious experience. (He
religion. Ann Belford Ulanov, a Jungian psychoanalyst and
did not, however, trace the development of the representa-
a theologian, applies Winnicott’s idea of potential space to
tion of God.) For Winnicott, transitional phenomena are lo-
what she sees as the space between the human and the divine.
cated in the psychological space he calls intermediate space or
In Finding Space: Winnicott, God, and Psychic Reality (2001),
potential space. In successful psychological cultural develop-
she suggests that Winnicott’s focus on the experience of
ment, this space becomes the location of all cultural experi-
being real can help counter the sense many have of contem-
ence, including religion, which he also ties to good enough
porary religion as passionless.
mothering: “Here where there is trust and reliability is a po-
In general, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists influ-
tential space, one that can become an infinite area of separa-
enced by the work of Winnicott—and their number is likely
tion, which the baby, child, adolescent, adult may creatively
to increase as the profound importance of his work continues
fill with playing, which in time becomes the enjoyment of
to be recognized—appreciate the importance of transitional
the cultural heritage” (Winnicott, 1971, p. 108).
objects of all kinds, including religion and religious beliefs.
What was pejorative illusion for Freud becomes for
The aim of such a therapist would be to provide a good
Winnicott positive potential space or the location of cultural
enough therapeutic environment (through the therapeutic re-
experience. Winnicott redeems the idea of illusion in psycho-
lationship) and not simply to interpret unconscious conflicts,
analytic theory and thereby redeems the psychoanalytic
so that clients’ natural ability to develop transitional objects
study of religion. Whereas Winnicott fully recognizes patho-
emerges and they can become their own resource for bridg-
logical illusion, he contends that illusion per se is by no
ing the psychological and social worlds. In part, this bridging
means pathological. For Winnicott, although illusion is not
can result from playing, an activity Winnicott devoted con-
real, it is not untrue. The psychologically healthy person is
siderable theoretical effort to understanding and an activity
one who can use the transitional phenomenon of illusion in
(such as the arts and religious ritual and experience) that is
a healthy way. He writes, “We are poor indeed if we are only
in the intermediate area between inner and outer realities.
sane” (1958, p. 150).
The correlation of play and religious practice may well be an
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area explored in future applications to religion of psychoana-
Although psychoanalysts of both self psychology and re-
lytic thought as influenced by Winnicott.
lational psychoanalysis have occasionally written on religion
and pastoral counselors have occasionally utilized both psy-
Self psychology and relational psychoanalysis. As
choanalytic schools, no single voice has yet emerged from ei-
they have in the past, those who seek to integrate psychother-
ther discipline uniquely employing the insights these theories
apy and religion look to new developments in psychoanalytic
might provide in the understanding of psychotherapy and re-
theory, not only to justify religion against the historical on-
ligion. Even mainstream psychoanalysis, then, has moved
slaught fueled in part by psychoanalysis itself but also to
from considering illusion in a pejorative to a positive light.
deepen understanding of these facets of human experience.
Many other disciplines, including those considered in this ar-
Self psychology, a school of psychoanalysis developed in the
ticle, start from the experiential basis of illusion.
1970s by Heinz Kohut (1913–1981), and relational psycho-
ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY (JUNG). In a consideration of the
analysis, a second school developed in the 1980s primarily
relationship between psychotherapy and religion from the
by Stephen Mitchell (1946–2001), are late twentieth-
perspective of the concept of illusion, a unique position is
century developments in psychoanalytic theory used in this
held by analytical psychology (popularly called Jungian psy-
way.
chology or theory, after its founder, Carl Jung, 1875–1961).
Like Winnicott, Kohut was not directly concerned with
Jung and the Jungians have been outside the mainstream of
religion. He worked with patients suffering from narcissistic
psychoanalytic theory since the early decades of the twentieth
personality or behavior disorders, conditions classical psy-
century—a divorce that has impoverished both mainstream
choanalytic theory considered unable to be analyzed because
psychoanalysis and the Jungians themselves. The isolation of
such patients were so self-preoccupied that they could not
the Jungians has slowed the humanization of classical psy-
choanalytic theory, narrowing its field of study by excluding
sustain meaningful relationships with others, including ana-
the consideration of many common human phenomena, and
lysts. Kohut was able to analyze the narcissistically arrested
it has isolated the Jungians to the extent that, with a few ex-
because he saw that parental misattunement (and not only
ceptions, their vocabulary and model of the psyche has little
overindulgence) created narcissistic disturbances in children.
relation to the rest of psychoanalytic theory. Moreover, the
He reasoned that if these patients were responded to em-
separation of the Jungians from classical psychoanalysis has
pathically (i.e., from within the perspective of their own de-
had the effect of further divorcing the disciplines that make
velopmental needs), their development would proceed. In
use of these two schools of psychoanalytic theory. Freud has
contrast to traditional psychoanalytic theory, Kohut held
been used primarily by the social sciences, whereas Jung has
that narcissism has an independent line of development, so
been employed by the arts and humanities, especially theolo-
that the extreme self-love of primitive narcissism is not trans-
gy and religious studies.
formed by maturation into object-love but develops instead
into mature forms of narcissism (e.g., personally or profes-
Theology’s kinship with Jungian theory can be ex-
sionally advocating for one’s self). In the course of his writ-
plained by Jung’s refutation of the classical psychoanalytic
ing, Kohut shifted his focus away from narcissism itself and
correlation of religion and illusion. The Jungian position on
came to recognize that these patients suffered from what
illusion is represented by Jung’s concept of the psychological
fact: Jung states that all psychic products, including visions,
amounted to disorders of the self (thus, self psychology in
dreams, and hallucinations, are facts that should be consid-
contrast to ego psychology).
ered as having the same basis in reality as other facts, includ-
In contrast to Kohut’s developmental arrest model, rela-
ing physical facts. There is, therefore, almost no such thing
tional psychoanalysis argues that “the pursuit and mainte-
as illusion in Jungian psychological theory. It is almost an
nance of human relatedness is the basic maturational thrust
illusionless psychology. Jung could be reductionistic, but his
in human experience,” as Mitchell writes in Relational Con-
reductionism was unlike Freud’s reduction of religion. Jung
cepts in Psychoanalysis, An Integration (1988, p. 289). Rela-
was able to see religion more clearly on its own terms as a
tional psychoanalysis, then, emphasizes the social over the in-
human activity that, although it could often be contaminat-
dividual. Although it is a very influential perspective in
ed by social hypocrisy or personal pathology, could nonethe-
psychoanalysis, it is not a unified school of thought that rep-
less be based on a reality of experience irreducible by psycho-
resents a single point of view. Rather, it is inclusive of the
logical method to other unconscious motives. Here Jung
many psychoanalysts who have become disenchanted partic-
makes an important methodological point: It is not the busi-
ularly with classical psychoanalysis. Still, there are some
ness of psychology to prove or disprove the existence of God.
points on which these analysts agree. For example, Mitchell
He held that psychology can discuss the psychic effects of the
portrays the analytic process as the analyst’s struggle to disen-
God-image and its mythic antecedents, but it cannot discuss
tangle from the patient’s preset relational configurations.
the existence of God apart from the human psyche. The in-
Further, in one tie to the classical psychoanalysis of Freud
sistence on the reality and importance of religious experience
as well as Klein’s object relations theory, relational psycho-
was a position Jung held to the end of his life.
analysis sees aggression as inborn and thus part of every rela-
The religious was deeply important to Jung. In part, this
tionship (including the analyst–patient relationship).
was the result of his own personal history. His father was a
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clergyman, as were a number of his uncles. But it was also
ly healthy from psychologically unhealthy religion. Yet an
a consequence of his experience as a psychoanalyst. In fact,
often-heard criticism of Jungian psychology applies here:
in “Psychotherapy or the Clergy” he went so far as to state,
Usually a client is not encouraged to reintegrate their reli-
“Among all my patients in the second half of life—that is to
gious experience back into already established religious
say, over thirty-five—there has not been one whose problem
groups. Individuality is prized in the Jungian system in a way
in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook
that can impoverish the individual, as it unwittingly demeans
on life.” He went on to add, “This of course has nothing
group experiences.
whatever to do with a particular creed or membership of a
SPIRITUALITY IN PSYCHOTHERAPY. A consideration of psy-
church” (Jung, 1967, vol. 11, p. 334). Jung’s experience as
chotherapy and religion must include the remarkable growth
a psychoanalyst informed and was informed by his work as
of a number of new movements that can be gathered under
an analytic theorist. It was his theory that the psyche is com-
the rubric of spirituality. A number of social movements and
prised of archetypes in a collective unconscious. That is, Jung
developments in science have combined to influence the de-
held there was an unconscious aside from the personal un-
velopment of spirituality. In the United States, the counter-
conscious of the individual’s unremembered or repressed
culture movement in the 1960s, which arose in part in pro-
past, and this was the collective unconscious whose contents
test of the Vietnam War, exposed great numbers to Eastern
are archetypes (i.e., typical images and patterns of human be-
cultural practices for the first time, especially to Indian gurus
havior, but not predestined behavior itself, that endlessly
who promoted a variety of spiritual practices. Transcenden-
recur and are found in the psyche precisely because it is
tal meditation was adopted from these sources and became
human). The most important and central archetype is the
increasingly legitimate as scientific studies showed its effec-
self (similar to, but not the same as, the self in Kohut’s self
tiveness in promoting psychological and physical health. In
psychology). Jung thought the psychological purpose of the
academic psychology, humanistic psychology as the founda-
second half of life was for the personal ego to come to terms
tion for treatment gained influence. Especially important
with the self, the apersonal center of the collective uncon-
were Carl Rogers’s (1902–1987) client-centered therapy,
scious. Jung has often been criticized by less religiously in-
which featured the therapist’s “unconditional positive re-
clined psychoanalysts for projecting religious meaning onto
gard” of the client, and Abraham Maslow’s (1908–1970)
the self and thus, his critics claim, for advocating a religious
theory of hierarchy of needs, which begins with the physical
psychology. He believed he was simply an empirical scientist.
needs of the body and culminates in self-actualization. Hu-
Developments within Jungian theory have expanded the
manistic psychology arose to counter psychoanalysis, partic-
dialogue between psychotherapy and religion outside tradi-
ularly the classical (Freudian) psychoanalytic theory of the
tional boundaries. One somewhat formally organized schism
previous decades, and laid the groundwork for incorporating
of Jungian theory is called archetypal psychology. Led by
other, seemingly nonrational needs into psychotherapy.
James Hillman, it has an almost exclusive concentration on
Even modern physics, especially relativity theory and quan-
tum mechanics, can be thought to contribute to the develop-
the archetypes of the collective unconscious. Polytheism is
ment of spirituality, as they describe physical reality in pro-
studied by this group. A second movement is marked by the
foundly counterintuitive ways.
rise of interest in the goddess among some Jungians. They
argue that modern consciousness, including more specifically
Several common themes underlie these disparate devel-
modern religion, has a patriarchal bias. A number of Jungian
opments. Both the new physics and the mystical thought of
analysts and writers have focused on studies on the historical
centuries hold that everything is interconnected and that
goddess religions and sometimes have urged a return to reli-
order follows from chaos. Older ways of thought are seen as
gious focus on the goddess in the lives of modern individuals.
linear, and these newer ways are held to be nonlinear. Critics
Two phenomena of popular culture reflect these ideas, al-
of older, established religions see them as dualistic in that
though neither is strictly about the goddess. In 1992, Jun-
typically the self is separate from a deity. Traditional Chris-
gian analyst Clarrisa Pinkola Estes published Women Who
tian concepts such as original sin, a concept that emphasizes
Run with the Wolves in which she argued that women’s
the separation of the individual from the holy, are sharply
wholeness depends on reengaging their repressed instinctual
criticized. Those who embrace these newer ways of thinking
nature, and in 2003 Dan Brown wrote The Da Vinci Code,
hold that any religion that produces separatism is antispiritu-
which suggested that the sacred feminine is on the rise.
al; the concepts of joining and union are considered spiritual
to them. In religion, for these people, there has been a shift
The psychoanalyst or psychotherapist who has been in-
away from monotheism toward polytheism and especially to-
fluenced by Jung and by developments in Jungian theory is
ward nontheism.
necessarily respectful of a client’s religious issues. From the
beginning, in contrast to other psychoanalytic institutes,
Many have observed there is a basic conflict in orga-
Jungian institutes have accepted candidates with theological
nized religion. To maintain itself, an organized religion
degrees. The reality of religious experience is therefore appre-
needs to continue to promote its own doctrines, and this is
ciated in a way that is unusual among psychoanalytic insti-
often in conflict with individual religious experiences. Thus
tutes. Jungians are also trained to differentiate psychological-
it follows that the mystic tradition in many religions is mar-
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ginalized. Yet individual experience is also at the heart of reli-
proaches of the area. In the Midwest, scholars have been
gion (as contrasted to religious organization). This discrep-
working toward a methodology of pastoral care. In the West,
ancy has reached the point that many have come to feel that
the influence of humanistic psychology and the psychologies
organized religions are stifling and rigid. However, this per-
arising from the counterculture of the late 1960s and early
ception is not without paradox. Interestingly, at least in the
1970s influenced the writing of those at the consortium of
United States, established religions such as Roman Catholi-
seminaries near San Francisco.
cism and mainline Protestantism, which judge individual re-
Clinical pastoral education (CPE). Although first or-
ligious experience with external standards, are losing mem-
ganized in 1925, CPE—a formalized system to clinically
bers, yet newer religious organizations, especially
train seminarians and clergy to work with persons in hospi-
fundamentalism, which also emphasize external judgment,
tals, mental institutions, and prisons—had a number of ante-
are thriving.
cedents. These movements had in common the urge to study
Some of those who are disenchanted with organized re-
spirituality scientifically, as well as a discontent with the
ligion have begun to practice or develop spiritual practices
theological education of the time, which was perceived as too
on their own; others have turned to nontraditional sources,
concerned with theological doctrine and not concerned
including psychotherapists who include spirituality in their
enough with the reality of the emotional life of the person.
practices. These practitioners span a wide spectrum of theo-
(This was the time of the first impact of psychoanalysis in
retical backgrounds and include a wide variety of techniques
the United States.)
in their psychotherapeutic practices, including meditation,
The development of CPE is usually attributed to Anton
yoga, and chanting—none of which would have been con-
T. Boisen (1876–1965), a Congregational minister. Boisen
sidered appropriate in psychotherapy (not to say psychoanal-
had suffered a breakdown with psychotic features in the early
ysis) even fifteen years ago. Although spirituality in psycho-
1920s and was consequently institutionalized. He graphical-
therapy is not widespread, there is reason to believe that it
ly depicted his efforts to find meaning in his experience in
will continue to expand its foothold and perhaps even trans-
Out of the Depths (1960), a book that still makes interesting
form the discipline.
reading. Slowly he and others were able to establish an ongo-
RELIGIOUS COUNSELING. In the relationship between psy-
ing, organized ministry with its own training program. A
chotherapy and religion, religious counseling, in contrast to
powerful speaker who used his own experiences, Boisen was
psychoanalytic theory, takes as its foundation the legitimacy
able as a chaplain to engage in therapeutic relationships with
of religious experience. Organized religious counseling has
the most disturbed patients at the Worcester (Massachusetts)
been influenced by three factors that have interacted with
State Hospital, the same hospital in which he had been insti-
each other over time: seminary education, clinical pastoral
tutionalized. The amusing and chaotic experiences of the
education, and pastoral counseling itself as a discipline.
seminarians who comprised the first group of CPE trainees
Seminary education. Two interrelated factors have in-
are recorded by Doris Webster Havice in Roadmap for Rebel
fluenced the development of religious counseling in semi-
(1980). The growing influence of CPE, as well as closer co-
nary education: the need for seminarians to be taught coun-
operation between CPE and various denominations, led to
seling and the development of the discipline of pastoral
the formation in 1967 of the Association for Clinical Pastoral
counseling. The first factor is important because, according
Education from several smaller organizations.
to polls, more people in the United States will consult clergy
A psychotherapeutic practitioner influenced by CPE es-
before other professionals for help with personal problems.
sentially functions as a pastoral counselor, balancing a clini-
Yet an already-crowded seminary curriculum does not typi-
cal perspective on psychodynamics with his or her own reli-
cally allow for in-depth training in counseling (let alone psy-
gious belief and, typically, with the client’s religious belief
chotherapy), and when it does, the counseling tends to be
as well. It is possible that CPE will need to change its focus,
based not on psychological insight but on biblical precepts,
as there are now fewer mental institutions and hospital stays
which are culturally bound and can be punitive. As religious
have been reduced by insurance policies and advances in
conservatism continues to grow and to become institutional-
medical technology.
ized, psychology and psychoanalysis are likely to become
Pastoral counseling. As a response the development of
even less influential in pastoral counseling. Despite these
CPE in the mid-1920s, in the 1930s seminaries began to lay
possible developments, two classics in the field remain valu-
the groundwork for the continuing integration of religion
able: Paul W. Pruyser’s The Minister as Diagnostician (1976)
and psychology. Following World War II, due to what
and Wayne E. Oates’s When Religion Gets Sick (1970).
would now be recognized as the trauma of the war, atten-
Very broadly, the character of a seminary education is
dance at religious services reached record levels. Psychothera-
formed by the denominational affiliation of the seminary, by
py also burgeoned during World War II as it had in World
the intellectual climate of its geographic locale, and in part
War I (in fact, almost every major figure in American and
by whether it is associated with a university. In the northeast-
English psychoanalysis was directly involved in the war ef-
ern United States, psychology programs in seminaries tradi-
fort), largely in an effort to treat traumatized soldiers so that
tionally reflect the psychoanalytic and history of religions ap-
they could be returned to battle in the best condition. One
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PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOTHERAPY AND RELIGION
7487
response by seminaries to the cultural needs of the time was
onstrated that spiritual belief has a markedly positive effect
to create chairs and departments of pastoral care (although
on physical health and psychological well-being. For exam-
the titles varied considerably). Four theologians emerged as
ple, in Spirituality and Patient Care (2002), Harold Koenig,
leaders of the theory and practice of pastoral care: Seward
an associate professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke
Hiltner, author of one of the first books in the field, Pastoral
University in North Carolina, demonstrates that people who
Counseling, who was originally at the University of Chicago
go to church are better off by almost every measure.
and later at Princeton; Paul Johnson at Boston University;
S
Carroll Wise at Garret Seminary at Northwestern Universi-
OCIAL WORK. In considering the relationship between psy-
chology and religion, social work is especially important. In
ty; and Wayne Oates, a Southern Baptist physician affiliated
the United States, social workers provided more psychother-
with the Louisville, Kentucky, School of Medicine.
apy than members of any other profession. The historical de-
Graduate programs integrating theology and psycholo-
velopment of social work is intimately tied both to psychoan-
gy began to be developed at this time, also (again, the titles
alytic theory and to religion and thus might be expected to
of these programs varied considerably). These programs
be caught in the middle of the conflict between the two. This
began in Protestant seminaries; only later did Catholic and
is not at all the case, however. With few exceptions, insofar
Jewish seminaries develop them. Professional organizations
as they still emphasize clinical training (albeit a declining
began to develop, as well, the most prominent being the
focus) social work schools have opted to align themselves
American Association of Pastoral Counseling (AAPC),
with psychoanalytic theory as academically and professional-
which was founded in 1963. Aside from the cultural forces
ly the more powerful of the two approaches and to eschew
outlined, AAPC was established in part by Protestant minis-
any religious connections.
ters who in their ministries had become burned out and who
Social work developed in urban areas in the United
had gone into their own therapy to deal with their profes-
States from the recognition on the part of many clergy that,
sional exhaustion and sometimes estrangement from the
following the Judeo-Christian obligation to be charitable,
church. Consequently, there was a theoretical focus on the
there was a dire need for social services and that these services
individual, reflected in the influence of leading contempo-
required organization to be effective. The religious innova-
rary psychological humanistic theory, such as Rogers’ client-
tors of social work projects included individual clergymen
centered therapy or Fritz Perls’s gestalt therapy.
such as Joseph Tucker, a Unitarian minister who organized
As so often happens in therapeutic movements and psy-
charity for the poor in early nineteenth-century Boston; Ste-
choanalysis, the theory goes faddishly in one direction; in
phen Humphreys Gurteen whose Charity Organization So-
this case, pastoral psychology started to disregard its own
ciety in Rochester, New York, gave rise to community wel-
theological resources, forgetting nineteen hundred years of
fare councils and to agencies serving families; and Charles
rich history. The focus was so much on individual psycholo-
Loring Brace whose “orphan trains” relocated large numbers
gy that those outside the field started to make legitimate cri-
of poor urban children—not always orphans—to the mid-
tiques of the loss of a theological perspective, and in response
western and western United States. Religious organizations
psychiatrist Karl Menninger wrote Whatever Became of Sin?
also emerged, including the Young Men’s Christian Associa-
(1973). These critics encouraged pastors to recognize the
tion and the Salvation Army. Despite these historical associa-
universe of concepts from their own field at their disposal
tions, however, the three major religious traditions involved
that could be helpful to those in their care. A contemporary
in social work in the United States have not directly tied reli-
theoretician who has made a similar convincing argument is
gion into their social services. They have varied in how they
Deborah Van Duesen Hunsinger in Theology and Pastoral
relate religion to the services they deliver. Historically, Prot-
Counseling, a New Interdisciplinary Approach (1995), in
estantism’s decentralized structure has led to the seculariza-
which she argues that theology and depth psychology are two
tion of the social services it delivers. Roman Catholicism, on
different frames of reference and demonstrates how these two
the other hand, with its hierarchical structure, has tended to
ways of thinking relate to each other in an inter-disciplinary
develop social agencies that are under church auspices. Jew-
approach that maintains the integrity of both disciplines.
ish social services fall between these two extremes, offering
services with a religious affiliation but without direct reli-
More recently, AAPC has made attempts to be more
gious supervision. In part, this lack of a direct link between
truly interfaith and to move away from focusing solely on the
religion and the delivery of services has been mandated:
individual, trying to overcome its basically liberal, anti-
These agencies have been prohibited from proselytizing be-
evangelical Protestantism. In AAPC, an appreciation has de-
cause their programs often receive federal government fund-
veloped of the social dimension of faith, from the familial,
ing. However, political changes in the United States may
community, and societal problems (such as domestic abuse,
eventually alter this historic tradition.
power problems in congregations, and clergy sexually acting-
out). Another aspect of including a social dimension is an
The training that social workers receive also increases
evaluation of what social systems and faith communities have
the separation between religion and the delivery of services,
to offer in terms of individual health. In this regard, it is im-
especially psychotherapy. This is true even though a growing
portant to note that considerable empirical research has dem-
number of graduate schools of social work award joint de-
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PSYCHOLOGY: SCHIZOANALYSIS AND RELIGION
grees with seminaries. (In part, this movement toward joint
1971) has several chapters that pertain specifically to reli-
degree programs is motivated by economic and not just intel-
gion. For primary source information, see Carl Jung, The
lectual concerns: Both seminaries and schools of social work
Collected Works, edited by Sir Herbert Read, Michael Ford-
have seen a steady decline in enrollments for the past three
ham, and Gerhard Adler (Princeton, N.J., 1969); for his un-
decades.)
derstanding of psychological fact, see volume 11, pp. 3–105.
For a feminist approach to Jung, see Clarrisa Pinkola Estes,
CONCLUSION. This article has traced the history of the rela-
Women Who Run With the Wolves (New York, 1992). Three
tionship between psychotherapy and religion from its devel-
books are recommended as an introduction to spirituality
opment in psychoanalysis as pejorative illusion in Freud, to
and psychotherapy: Henry Grayson’s Mindful Loving (New
the positive potential space in Winnicott, through Jung’s de-
York, 2003) redefines the concept of the self from the psy-
fense of religious experience as a psychic fact, to the emer-
choanalytic to the spiritual perspective, its relation to the new
gence of spirituality in psychotherapy, to the religiously
physics and includes an introduction to spiritual practices;
based disciplines of pastoral counseling and CPE, and ending
Tara Brach’s Radical Acceptance: Embracing Life with the
with the studiously nonreligious discipline of social work. It
Heart of a Buddha (New York, 2003) emphasizes practicality
is only to be hoped that the modern disciplines springing
and personal openness, using Buddha for personal growth;
and Mark Epstein’s Thoughts without a Thinker (New York,
from psychoanalytic theory will mature to the point of ac-
1995), which relates Buddhism to psychotherapy through
commodating themselves to the powerful and lasting influ-
focusing on meditation.
ence of religion on human life. This accommodation is well
under way, as almost all writers in the integration of psycho-
The best initial introduction to pastoral counseling is John Pat-
therapy and religion recognize that religion is inherent in
ton’s Pastoral Counseling: A Ministry of the Church (Nashville,
human life.
Tenn., 1983). Margaret Kornfeld’s Cultivating Wholeness: A
Guide for Care and Counseling in Faith Communities (New
York, 1998) emphasizes basic skills for clergy and has an ex-
SEE ALSO Freud, Sigmund; Jung, C. G.
cellent annotated bibliography. Brooks Holifield’s A History
of Pastoral Care: From Salvation to Self-Realization (Nash-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ville, Tenn., 1983) is an excellent history of the field. Paul
An excellent short conceptual introduction to the development of
W. Pruyser’s The Minister as Diagnostician (Philadelphia,
psychoanalytic theory from Freud to Winnicott is Harry
1976) and Wayne E. Oates’s When Religion Gets Sick (Phila-
J. S. Guntrip’s Psychoanalytic Theory, Therapy, and the Self
delphia, 1970) are considered classic studies in the role of the
(New York, 1971). Jay R. Greenberg and Stephen A. Mitch-
seminary-trained pastoral counselor. Also see Seward Hilt-
ell’s Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory (Cambridge,
ner, Pastoral Counseling (Nashville, Tenn., 1949), one of the
Mass., 1983) provides a good introduction, although the
first books in the field. For an early accounting of CPE, see
reader is cautioned that their readings of the development of
Anton T. Boisen’s Out of the Depths (New York, 1960) and
psychoanalytic is biased toward object relations theory, as is
Doris Webster Havice, Roadmap for Rebel (New York,
to be expected (and as is indicated by the title.) The interrela-
1980). For a critique of pastoral counseling, see Karl Men-
tion between religion and the work of numerous psychoana-
ninger, Whatever Became of Sin? (New York, 1973) and Deb-
lysts is discussed in Ann Belford Ulanov and Barry Ulanov,
orah Van Duesen Hunsinger, Theology and Pastoral Counsel-
Religion and the Unconscious (Philadelphia, 1975). The best
ing: A New Interdisciplinary Approach (Grand Rapids, Mich.,
study of Erikson’s work is Lawrence Freidman’s Identity’s Ar-
1995). For religion’s effect on personal well-being, see Har-
chitect: A Biography of Erik H. Erikson (New York, 1999). F.
old Koenig, Spirituality and Patient Care (Radnor, Pa.,
Robert Rodman’s Winnicott: His Life and Work (Cambridge,
2002).
Mass., 2003) is an excellent biographical introduction to the
life and work of this seminal psychoanalyst. For original
MICHAEL D. CLIFFORD (1987 AND 2005)
source information, see D. W. Winnicott, Collected Papers
(London, 1958) and Playing and Reality (London, 1971),
which includes a reprint of his paper “Transitional Objects
and Transitional Phenomena.” For a treatment of object re-
PSYCHOLOGY: SCHIZOANALYSIS AND
lations theory, see Ana-Maria Rizzuto’s The Birth of the Liv-
RELIGION
ing God: A Psychoanalytic Study (Chicago, 1979). For an ap-
Although Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari explicitly define
plication of Winnicott’s theory of potential space, see Ann
the approach they develop in Anti-Oedipus (1972) as a “ma-
Belford Ulanov, Finding Space: Winnicott, God, and Psychic
terialist psychiatry” and insist repeatedly that the uncon-
Reality (Louisville, Ky., 2001). Stephen Mitchell’s Relational
Concepts in Psychoanalysis, An Integration (Cambridge, Mass.,
scious be thought of as an “orphan and an atheist,” schi-
1988) outlines his understanding of relational psychoanaly-
zoanalysis turns out to have important ramifications for the
sis.
study of religion. That religion plays such an important role
in a book of materialist psychiatry may be less surprising
Michael Palmer, Freud and Jung on Religion (London, 1997) is the
best introduction to this topic. Two noteworthy books on
given the centrality of Baruch Spinoza to Deleuze’s thought;
Jung and religion are Murray Stein’s Jung’s Map of the Soul
but then again, Deleuze reads Spinoza through the lenses of
(Chicago, 1998) and Jung’s Treatment of Christianity (Wil-
Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche. An evaluation of religion
mette, Ill., 1985). Ann Belford Ulanov’s The Feminine in
is thus both crucial to the development of schizoanalysis and
Jungian Psychology and in Christian Theology (Evanston, Ill.,
quite complex, even ambivalent.
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PSYCHOLOGY: SCHIZOANALYSIS AND RELIGION
7489
Schizoanalysis is, first and foremost, a world-historical,
There would be two key turning points in a schizoanaly-
Marxian critique of Freudian psychoanalysis. While it is true
tic world history of religion, the second of which has already
that schizoanalysis combines insights from all three of the
been broached in the allusion to Martin Luther. The first in-
great high-modern materialists (Marx, Nietzsche, and Sig-
volves the transition from “savagery” to “barbarism”—or,
mund Freud), each of whom is used to critique the others,
roughly translated, from polytheism to monotheism. Under
Freud—and particularly his theory of the Oedipus com-
savagery, social relations comprise a patchwork of reciprocal
plex—receives the brunt of the critique, as the book’s title
and temporary debts and obligations, sponsored by a pletho-
itself proclaims. Just as Marx understands capitalism and the
ra of spirits or gods, that link everyone in society more or
bourgeois political economy of writers such as Adam Smith
less indirectly with everyone else. Such a “horizontal” pattern
and David Ricardo in relation to a theory of modes of pro-
of social relations contrasts sharply with the “vertical” rela-
duction spanning all of known history and anthropology,
tion characteristic of barbarism, which links everyone direct-
Deleuze and Guattari situate the nuclear family and the
ly with a despot and his god; equally important, the patch-
“bourgeois psychiatry” of Freud in relation to an equally
work of temporary and reciprocal debts gets replaced by one
broad theory of modes of libidinal production, based largely
unidirectional debt that everyone owes to the despot and his
on Marx, but also in part on the anthropological typology
god, an infinite debt that can never be discharged. Whereas
of Lewis Morgan. Through comparisons with “savagery” and
the earth had been the focal point (or what Deleuze and
“barbarism” (terms drawn from Morgan’s typology), De-
Guattari call the “natural presupposition” or “quasi-cause”)
leuze and Guattari conclude that the nuclear family itself, as
of social life under savagery, it is God that appears as the di-
well as the Freudian version of psychoanalysis that does so
vine presupposition or quasi-cause of social life under barba-
much to illegitimately universalize, and hence reinforce, the
rism, and it is ultimately on God that barbaric social relations
nuclear family and its Oedipus complex, are strictly capitalist
converge and to God that the infinite debt is owed.
institutions, with little validity outside capitalist society (and
only a detrimental or symptomatic role to play within it).
In this context, the emergence of (mercantile and then
industrial) capitalism and the Protestant Reformation repre-
Modernity represents a key turning point in this view
sent a second key turning point, occurring within monothe-
of world history, for a crucial discovery is made in a number
ism, because Protestantism and capitalism subordinate the
of different fields: first by Martin Luther, then by Adam
secular institutions of the despot (The Church) to a more ab-
Smith and David Ricardo, and somewhat later by Freud.
stract God (a deus absconditus)—the divine but absent Voice
The key discovery, according to Deleuze and Guattari, is that
of Scripture and capital, respectively. This is Deleuze and
value does not inhere in objects but rather gets invested in
Guattari’s adaptation of Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and
them by human activity, whether that activity be religious
the Spirit of Capitalism (1904–1905) thesis, as it were: liberal-
devotion, physical labor, or libidinal desire. In this funda-
democratic capitalism and psychoanalysis pick up where
mental reversal of perspective, objects turn out to be merely
Protestantism left off, as they replace waning external social
the support for subjective value-giving activity. Yet in each
authority with forms of internalized, subjective authority or
of the three fields—religion, economics, psychology—the
self-discipline. The infinite debt once owed to the despot
discovery of the internal, subjective nature of value-giving ac-
now transfers to the equally infinite debt owed to capital, the
tivity is accompanied by a re-subordination of that activity
new god or divine presupposition of modern social life; soci-
to another external determination: In the case of Luther, sub-
ety is henceforth governed by economic forces rather than
jective faith freed from subordination to the Catholic
moral principles. And as the cash nexus of capitalism sub-
Church is nevertheless re-subordinated to the authority of
verts all religious and social authority in society at large, all
Scripture; in Smith and Ricardo, labor-power freed from feu-
that remains is the internalized authority of private con-
dal obligations is re-subordinated to private capital accumu-
science—first in the form of an individualized Protestant
lation; in Freud, polymorphous libido is re-subordinated to
conscience nonetheless still supported by the external au-
heterosexual reproduction in the privatized nuclear family.
thority of Scripture and the congregation, then as a liberal-
To free human activity from these last external determina-
civic conscience with no support except the fainter and faint-
tions is the task of world-historical critique: Marx provides
er echoes of the Father’s Voice in the superego. But in a soci-
the critique of political economy to free wage-labor from pri-
ety governed only by the imperative to accumulate capital,
vate capital, just as Deleuze and Guattari provide the critique
the Father ultimately has no social imperative to impose on
of psychoanalysis to free libido from the private nuclear fami-
privatized conscience other than to work in order to pay the
ly and the Oedipus complex. Can schizoanalysis provide a
infinite debt. Capital invents secular institutions to invest
point of departure for a similar, world-historical critique of
with authority—most notably the nation-state, along with
religion? Probably not, for reasons that will be considered
the nuclear family—but ultimately these too succumb to the
below. But one thing is clear: if schizoanalysis insists that the
primacy of private accumulation (through the combined
unconscious be considered an orphan, this is in order to free
forces of globalization and mediatization).
it from the repressive confines of the nuclear family and the
psychoanalytic Oedipus complex. Why must the uncon-
The unconscious, then, is an orphan at home and an
scious also be considered an atheist?
atheist in society at large. But this atheism is not only or pri-
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PSYCHOLOGY: SCHIZOANALYSIS AND RELIGION
marily a specifically religious disbelief, but a general disbelief
schizoanalysis considers the phenomenon of religion to be
in despotism of any kind—monotheistic god, absolute mon-
ambivalent, and therefore in need of careful evaluation.
archy, private capital—that attributes the productive activity
This explanation of the appeal of religion (in this funda-
of society to itself as its “quasi-cause.” This rather bleak as-
mental etymological sense) to human will-to-power raises a
sessment of the anachronism of belief and of the role of mo-
number questions for schizoanalysis, however. For one thing,
notheism and despotism in world history is tempered, how-
can one be sure that religious groups are still viable under
ever, by another current of schizoanalysis derived from
current market conditions, if the cash nexus and capital accu-
Nietzsche (though here again, the figure of Spinoza is impor-
mulation rule society and effectively preclude any belief?
tant, too). Nietzsche’s virulent critique in The Genealogy of
(Among others, Giorgio Agamben argues in The Coming
Morals (1887) and elsewhere of Christian “slave morality” in
Community (1990) specifically for the formation of human
the name of personal self-transformation (the “overman”) is
communities that are not held together by shared beliefs.)
well known; less well-known and more important to schi-
More important, can desire want power and at the same time
zoanalysis is his insistence in the same work (Essay 2, espe-
want to exercise power freely? To what extent are power and
cially section 11) on the increase in power obtained by as-
freedom compatible? And most important, how can the
sembling human beings into larger groups. Inasmuch as
power attained specifically through group formation be exer-
Nietzsche posits will-to-power as the basic human motiva-
cised free from external determination? Can group coherence
tion, the formation of human groups should be of major in-
remain immanent to group activity, or does it require some-
terest to him; but for the most part he disdains groups for
thing transcending the group itself (such as a “God above”)
their all-too-human “herd instinct” and focuses instead on
to act as its center or ground, to which productive group ac-
superhuman individuals and their heroic “transvaluation of
tivity may then become subordinate? These are some of the
values.”
questions that schizoanalysis would want to ask about reli-
Here, the schizoanalytic amalgamation of Nietzsche and
gion in general, as a species of group formation among
Marx proves salutary and illuminating. For unlike Nietzsche,
others.
Marx is indeed focused on the formation of human groups,
But a schizoanalysis of religion would be even better
and he pays particular attention to the increase in human
suited to the examination of specific instances of religious
power obtained through the socialization of production, es-
group-formation, since the answers to general questions like
pecially under capitalism. The centralization of capital; the
those above will never be black and white, but a matter of
extension of the market to now global proportions; the devel-
degrees. In Deleuze and Guattari’s view, the unity of a
opment of factories, assembly-line production, and, more re-
human group is never simply given or naturally ordained; it
cently, out-sourcing and computer-coordinated produc-
is always produced and maintained by the group itself. That
tion—all lead to increases in human capacities through what
is why it is crucial for them to identify, in connection with
Marx called the productive force of cooperation. Yet Marx,
the large-scale typology of social formations they derive from
unlike Nietzsche (and Freud), pays insufficient attention to
Morgan, the “natural” or “divine” presupposition or quasi-
the unconscious, which is the very hero of schizoanalysis and
cause around which each type of social formation organizes
the primary agent of its version of world history. This neglect
itself: the earth, God, capital. Much the same would apply
has engaged Marx and Marxism in a mostly unproductive at-
to human groups on smaller scales: here, too, schizoanalysis
tempt to persuade people to act in accord with their own in-
would want to discover the quasi-cause around which a
terests. Following Nietzsche and Freud, Deleuze and Guat-
group organizes itself, whether that be a totem animal (as in
tari’s response to this predicament is categorical: people are
Durkheim), or a team mascot, a book of scripture and a
not motivated to act by interest, but by desire—much of
prophet, a flag and a constitution, or whatever. Then the task
which is unconscious; and what desire wants is power and
would be to assess whether the power associated with a given
the increase of power. Moreover, socialized production is not
quasi-cause takes on a life of its own and turns against the
the only source of such power. Any binding together of
group—or, on the contrary, remains in consonance with
human beings in larger groups will have the same effect: an
group activity and enables the group to flourish—and to
increase of power. And as Émile Durkheim perhaps most fa-
evaluate in each particular case the degree to which a specific
mously observed, religion (from the Latin ligare, to bind to-
mode of group-formation enhances or curtails the power of
gether) has been and continues to be one of the most perva-
the group and of members of the group.
sive and effective forms of human grouping for that very
SEE ALSO Marxism.
reason: it increases the power of the group in and of itself
(regardless of whether material productivity in the narrow
BIBLIOGRAPHY
sense is thereby increased or not). Far from being an “opi-
Agamben, Giorgio. The Coming Community. Translated by Mi-
ate,” as Marx notoriously said, religion (according to the
chael Hardt. Minneapolis, 1993. Proposes that the coming
principles of schizoanalysis) is something human beings de-
community be organized around “whatever,” rather than a
sire precisely because it represents an increase in their power.
specific set of shared beliefs or a common project.
This is why schizoanalysis does not offer a world-historical
Bataille, Georges. The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Econo-
critique of religion: as with capitalism and psychoanalysis,
my. Translated by Robert Hurley. New York, 1988. Demon-
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
PTOLEMY
7491
strates with several examples that all societies except capital-
PSYCHOPOMP SEE SPIRITUAL GUIDE
ism are centered on expenditure rather than accumulation.
Bryden, Mary, ed. Deleuze and Religion. London and New York,
2001. Examines the intersection of Deleuze’s thought with
PTAH
religious matters, from a variety of angles.
was the creator god of Memphis who conceived a
thought in his mind (heart) and brought it forth by speaking
Deleuze, Gilles. Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza. Translated
it with his tongue. Because the founding of Memphis and
by Martin Joughin. New York, 1990. The more important
the erection of a temple to Ptah at that site were accomplish-
of Deleuze’s two studies of Spinoza, whose insistence on im-
manence becomes a central features of Deleuze’s own
ments of the first king of a united Egypt, Menes, the cult of
thought.
Ptah must date at least to the beginning of Egyptian history.
The text that best describes the Memphite theology, howev-
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and
er, is preserved in a very late copy dating from the twenty-
Schizophrenia. Translated by Robert Hurley, Mark Seem,
and Helen R. Lane. New York, 1977. Originally published
fifth dynasty (c. 700 BCE). The original text may not have
in French as L’anti-Œdipe in 1972. Presents the theory of
been much older, but it is a very interesting document, not
schizoanalysis based on a critique of the psychoanalytic oedi-
only for its description of the creation, but also for its han-
pus complex.
dling of the other two major creation myths. In this text Ptah
Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus: Capital-
is identified with the last pair of the Hermopolitan ogdoad—
ism and Schizophrenia. Translated by Brian Massumi. Min-
that is, Nun and Naunet, who represent the watery abyss
neapolis, 1987. Extends the approach developed in Anti-
from which the creator god comes forth. The creator god
Oedipus to a wide range of phenomena, from geology to bird
who is thus created by Ptah is Atum, who proceeds to create
songs to postmodern capitalism.
the other gods of the Heliopolitan ennead and all else. In this
Durkheim, Émile. Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Translated
way the theologies are all connected, and Ptah as an anthro-
by Karen E. Fields. New York, 1995. Proposes that the basis
pomorphic creator god is given precedence by being placed
of religion is the augmentation of power inherent in assem-
between the chthonic, precreation cosmic aspects known as
bling people in larger groups.
the ogdoad and the old creator god, Atum.
Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the
Almost nothing remains of the temple of Ptah at Mem-
Human Sciences. New York, 1970. Analyzes the emergence
phis, even though it was one of the three largest and best en-
of modernity and confirms Deleuze and Guattari’s conclu-
dowed of ancient Egypt. Smaller temples (such as those at
sion that “Freud is the Luther and the Adam Smith of psy-
Gerf Hussein and Karnak) were dedicated to Ptah in many
chiatry.”
locations, and statues of him are plentiful. His image is that
Holland, Eugene W. Deleuze and Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus: Intro-
of a tightly cloaked man holding a composite scepter before
duction to Schizoanalysis. London and New York, 1999. Ex-
him. Ptah became identified, at least to some extent, with the
plains the theory of schizoanalysis in light of its derivation
local mortuary god of Memphis, Sokar, and also with Osiris.
from Freud, Kant, Marx, and Nietzsche.
His consort was Sekhmet, the powerful lioness, who was the
Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. 3 vols. New
mother of his son, Nefertem, the lotus god.
York, 1967. The classic analysis and critique of capitalist ex-
ploitation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Morgan, Lewis H. Ancient Society: or, Researches in the Line of
The most extensive study available is The God Ptah (Lund, 1946)
Human Progress from Savagery through Barbarism to Civiliza-
by Maj Sandman-Holmberg.
tion. Chicago, 1877. Early anthropological typology of social
forms from which Deleuze and Guattari borrow the names
LEONARD H. LESKO (1987)
for their typology of libidinal modes of production.
Negri, Antonio. The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza’s
Metaphysics and Politics. Translated by Michael Hardt. Min-
PTOLEMY (c. 100–170), Alexandrian astronomer, geog-
neapolis, Minn., 1991. Innovative reading of Spinoza’s eth-
rapher, and mathematician. The last of the great astronomers
ics (contemporary with Deleuze’s own) that stresses its rele-
of antiquity, Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy) compiled
vance for present-day political and philosophical concerns.
works that remained the standard astronomical textbooks
Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morality. Translated by
until the Copernican revolution in astronomy in the six-
Carol Diethe. New York, 1994. The classic analysis of moral
teenth century. Almost nothing is known of the details of
theories in terms of will-to-power.
Ptolemy’s life. His H¯e math¯ematik¯e syntaxis (Mathematical
Spinoza, Baruch. Ethics. Translated by G. H. R. Parkinson. New
Compilation) was written about 150 CE; the title by which
York, 2000. Arguably the first work of immanent material-
this work is better known, the Almagest, is a medieval Latin
ism, and the inspiration for Deleuze’s re-reading of Marx.
derivation from an Arabic corruption of the Greek title
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
under which the work came to be known in later antiquity,
New York, 1958. The classic analysis of the relation between
Ho megale syntaxis (The Great Compilation). The Almagest
Protestant asceticism and capital accumulation.
sums up the mathematical astronomy of the ancient world;
EUGENE W. HOLLAND (2005)
it became the basis of Latin and Arabic astronomy.
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PTOLEMY
Ptolemy’s work follows in the Greek philosophical tra-
tions based on astronomy. This in turn specifies the astrolog-
dition, in which the sacred nature of the heavens is expressed
ical character of the inhabitants of various parts of the earth.
by the incorruptibility of the celestial realm, the divinity of
His cartography employs the mathematics of his optics and
the heavenly bodies, and the perfection of their motions
of the Planisphaerium. Ptolemy’s authority in applied mathe-
(uniformly circular, because the circle was considered the
matics was undisputed for more than a millennium.
most perfect of figures and motion around a circle was eter-
nal). The fact that the motions of the sun, moon, and planets
Ptolemy went to great lengths in his texts to provide
are evidently not circular provided a formidable challenge to
procedures whereby his technical achievements could be re-
thinkers within this tradition; especially challenging were the
produced. He thus laid the foundation for other civilizations
planets’ periodic reverses, or retrograde motions. Drawing
to assimilate his work, become expert at it, and progress be-
upon the work of his Greek predecessors, Ptolemy was able
yond it. Such cultural innovation is invariably associated
to “save the appearances” of celestial motion by using circles
with religious creativity, though not in a predictable fashion.
in his geometry of the heavens. By employing Greek and
For example, though Ptolemy’s astronomy was used to cor-
Babylonian observational data, he was able to adjust his theo-
roborate the religious view that the earth was at the center
retical solutions to observed celestial positions and to predict
of the universe, no one was ever convinced of this view be-
them with a precision unmatched until the work of Johannes
cause of the astronomy of eccentrics, epicycles, and equants.
Kepler in the seventeenth century. The geometrical devices
However, becoming technically expert in these devices did
that Ptolemy used—the eccentric, the epicycle, and the
allow the accurate prediction of religious feasts. Although the
equant—were never thought to possess a physical reality, as
Jewish philosopher Maimonides (Mosheh ben Maimon,
he makes clear in the preface to the Almagest. But it was just
1135/8–1204) criticized Ptolemy, he did incorporate some
for this reason that astronomy had a religious value. Astrono-
of the astronomer’s techniques for determining the date of
my developed the correspondence between the order of di-
Passover.
vine celestial things and the order of mathematical proposi-
The translation of Ptolemy’s work into Arabic in the
tions.
ninth century was a catalyst for the flowering of Islamic cul-
Its science Aristotelian and its format Euclidean, the Al-
ture. Refined astronomical tables were created, such as the
magest describes a stationary, spherical earth surrounded by
Toledan Tables of al-Zark:a¯lla (c. 1080). This served as the
concentric spheres carrying the sun, moon, planets, and stars.
basis for the Alfonsine Tables, which was compiled circa 1252
Motion is described geometrically by arrangements of several
by some fifty astronomers assembled for that purpose by Al-
kinds of circles: (1) eccentrics, which are not centered on the
fonso X of Castile, and which predicted the dates of the Eas-
earth; (2) epicycles, which orbit other circles that are centered
ter moon. New theories of optics were proposed by the Arab
on the earth; and (3) equants, in which the motion of the
heritors of Ptolemy; new geographical values were estab-
body on the circle is variable in relation to the center of the
lished. The Islamic appropriation of Hellenistic natural phi-
circle but uniform in relation to some noncentral point with-
losophy inspired the Christian Middle Ages. A desire for the
in the circle. The Almagest includes a star catalog and a table
Almagest brought the greatest of medieval translators of Ara-
of observations later revised and expanded in Ptolemy’s
bic, Gerard of Cremona (1114–1187), to Toledo. The mer-
Prokheiroi kanones (Handy Tables).
its of a true physical astronomy and of “saving the appear-
ances” by geometry were argued in medieval universities,
Ptolemy’s work on geometry, the Planisphaerium, of
where Ptolemaic astronomy became part of the curriculum.
which only a distorted Greek title survives, Exaplo¯sis epi-
Although the celestial bodies were no longer thought of as
phaneias sphairas (Unfolding of a Spherical Surface), details
gods by medieval Europeans, their movement was believed
the theory of the astrolabe, the chief astronomical instrument
to exhibit God’s will (and their order his wisdom), and hence
of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Ptolemy’s Hypotheseis to¯n
Ptolemy’s astronomy continued to provide for the intellectu-
plano¯menon (Planetary Hypotheses) suggests that the spheres
al contemplation of the divine celestial order. Dante drew
of the planets nestle within one another. The astrological
upon Ptolemy for the cosmology of his Commedia (1321).
complement to Ptolemy’s astronomy is his Tetrabiblios. Ptol-
emy also wrote works on optics and music, as well as a Geog-
When the Geography, with its techniques of projection,
raphy (Gr., Geographik¯e hyph¯eg¯esis), which gives directions
was first translated into Latin in fifteenth-century Florence,
on how to map the spherical earth on a flat surface and pro-
it contributed to the rediscovery of linear perspective and to
vides tables of longitude and latitude for generating maps.
the development of cartography during the voyages of explo-
Because of a lack of precise longitude, Ptolemy’s map of the
ration. Because the distortions of Ptolemy’s map of the globe
known world was severely distorted, even where descriptive
bore the prestige of his mathematics, Columbus and others
information abounded.
were convinced that it would be quite easy to reach Asia by
sailing west. When Renaissance astronomers finally became
Ptolemy’s works present an interrelated whole dominat-
truly competent in Ptolemy’s astronomy, their dissatisfaction
ed by the successful application of mathematics to complex
with his accuracy and methods culminated in the Coperni-
technical problems. For example, the determination of ter-
can revolution that established modern cosmology. The Jesu-
restrial latitude in the Geography is achieved through calcula-
it mission to China in the seventeenth century used the pre-
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PU
¯ JA¯: HINDU PU¯JA¯
7493
dictive precision of Ptolemaic astronomy to enhance the
mentioned in texts supplementary to the Veda that are
value of their religious teaching at the emperor’s court. Thus
known as su¯tras (composed around 600–400 BCE). It first be-
it was ironic that Ptolemy’s science and technology were
came prominent in India as a result of the god-centered de-
helping to introduce Christianity to the Far East at the same
votional movements that spread throughout India during the
time that Copernican astronomy was making Ptolemaic as-
early centuries of the common era. The method of pu¯ja¯ now
tronomy obsolete in the West. And well after Ptolemy’s cos-
predominates in Hindu practice, although the yajña remains
mos was superseded by the physical universe as defined by
important to priestly and domestic ritual.
Copernicus, Newton, and others, the Tetrabiblios remained
ORIGINS AND ETYMOLOGY. Scholarly opinion is divided re-
an astrological standard. It was translated into English and
garding the origins and etymology of pu¯ja¯. Many scholars
published in 1701, the second edition in 1786.
have argued that pu¯ja¯ was initially a Dravidian practice na-
tive to India and point to the sharp distinction traditionally
BIBLIOGRAPHY
drawn between pu¯ja¯ and yajña, the refusal of the strictest
A translation of Ptolemy’s Almagest was done by R. Catesby
Vedic priests to participate in puja, the long-standing preva-
Taliaferro in Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, vol. 16 of the
lence of pu¯ja¯ in village cults, and the long role of low-caste
“Great Books of the Western World,” edited by Robert May-
nard Hutchins (Chicago, 1952). The inclusion of the De re-
(and hence non-Aryan) hereditary priests in village pu¯ja¯s.
volutionibus by Copernicus in the same text facilitates the
But no clear-cut Dravidian derivation has been established
comparison of these two all-important works in the history
for the term pu¯ja¯; the best-known attempt at a Dravidian et-
of astronomy. A scrupulous new translation of the Almagest
ymology is that of Jarl Charpentier (1927), who proposed
is provided in G. J. Toomer’s Ptolemy’s Almagest (London,
to derive pu¯ja¯ from Tamil pu¯cu or Kannada pu¯su, “to smear,”
1984). Frank E. Robbins translated the Tetrabiblios for the
a reference to the applications of sandalwood, turmeric, or
“Loeb Classical Library” (Cambridge, Mass., 1940). An En-
vermilion pastes that are common in pu¯ja¯ offerings.
glish translation of the Latin Geographia is found in Edward
Luther Stevenson’s Geography of Claudius Ptolemy (New
Alternatively, the Sanskritist Paul Thieme proposed in
York, 1933). An exhaustive technical account of the Almagest
1939 that the term pu¯ja¯ is derived from the Sanskrit (and
and its historical antecedents is provided in Otto Neugeb-
hence Aryan) pr:c, “to mix,” a reference to the madhuparka,
auer’s A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy, vol. 1
or mixture of honey and water that was commonly offered
(New York, 1975). G. J. Toomer, in his article “Ptolemy,
to guests in ancient Indian times. Analyzing the uses of the
Claudius,” in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New
term pu¯ja¯ in su¯tra and epic literature, Thieme concluded that
York, 1970–1980), gives a concise description of Ptolemy’s
it had once referred primarily to a ritual of guest worship.
science with an up-to-date bibliography. A very readable dis-
The offerings and gestures characteristic of pu¯ja¯ are in fact
cussion of the problems posed by observational astronomy
and the Greek solutions to them, as well as of their cultural
still utilized in India to honor distinguished guests, as well
context, is provided in Thomas Kuhn’s The Copernican Revo-
as other meritorious persons, sacred plants and animals, and
lution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western
occasionally also weapons or tools. Furthermore, elements
Thought, rev. ed. (New York, 1959).
from ancient guest ritual such as offering a seat and washing
the feet still play a significant role in conventional pu¯ja¯s.
MICHAEL A. KERZE (1987)
However, traces of guest ritual are rarer in village practice
and in pu¯ja¯s of heterodox (i.e., Buddhist and Jain) traditions;
hence the question of the term’s origin remains open.
PUER AETERNUS SEE CHILD
TYPES. Deva- pu¯ja¯s (i.e., pu¯ja¯s for the gods) are offered in
four sorts of settings: (1) at shrines maintained for family
(kula) and/or “chosen” (is:t:ta) divinities within the Hindu
PU
¯ JA¯
home; (2) at temples devoted to pan-Indian deities such as
This entry consists of the following articles:
S´iva and Vis:n:u; (3) during the course of festivals, which may
HINDU PU
¯ JA¯
be sponsored either by temples or by local communities;
BUDDHIST PU
¯ JA¯
(4) at shrines or temples of localized village divinities. Pu¯ja¯s
in any of these contexts may be quite freely structured, con-
PU
¯ JA¯: HINDU PU¯JA¯
sisting of little more than gestures of reverence (namas) and
minimal offerings. Or they may follow conventional pat-
From ancient times, Hinduism has known two preeminent
terns, which vary only slightly according to the devotional
methods of approaching divinity in ritual: (1) the method
sect of the performer and the deity who is honored.
of yajña, which conveys offerings to a distant god by consign-
ing them to an intermediary fire, and (2) the method of pu¯ja¯,
Pu¯ja¯ at the home shrine. Most Hindus maintain a
which extends offerings to a present divinity by placing them
home shrine for one or more divinities honored within the
before, or applying them to, the god’s symbol or image. The
household. Ideally, the home shrine is located in a small
yajña appears in the earlier records; it was the principal ritual
room of the house that is set aside solely for worship
method of the ancient Aryan peoples whose priests produced
(pu¯ja¯˙sa¯la¯). The shrine itself may consist of pictures of gods
the collection of texts known as the Veda. The pu¯ja¯ is first
set up on a table or low platform, or images may be housed
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PU
¯ JA¯: HINDU PU¯JA¯
7494
in a wooden shrine-cabinet, whose doors are opened only
ally brahmans; however, brahmans who are temple priests
during the service. Images housed in such shrines may be
enjoy lesser status than those who perform Vedic rituals. In
S´iva-lin˙gas, small cast-metal statues of various gods, or the
non-S´aiva temples pu¯ja¯s are usually addressed to anthropo-
stones sacred to Vis:n:u that are known as ˙sa¯lagra¯ma. A single
morphic images, but in temples of S´iva the central “image”
family representative generally offers the pu¯ja¯; other house-
is always the nonanthropomorphic linga. A sequence of tem-
hold members enter at the close of the rite to offer prostra-
ple pu¯ja¯s may actually involve two images, for a moveable
tions and/or sip the water in which the image has been
image stands in for the permanently fixed central symbol
bathed. Worshipers of Vis:n:u will also eat the food (prasa¯da)
when it becomes necessary to manipulate or transport the di-
that the god has sanctified by his taste, and may append to
vinity.
their pu¯ja¯ special offerings of homage for the family’s a¯ca¯rya,
The god of a major temple is more of a resident than
or religious teacher. An ambitious household pu¯ja¯may incor-
a guest. Segments of the daily pu¯ja¯ will vary accordingly;
porate all or several of sixteen traditional upaca¯ras, “atten-
hence the god is “awakened” rather than “invoked” in the
dances,” which also form the core of traditional temple ser-
morning, and may quite literally be aroused from a bed
vices. (The following list varies slightly in different textual
where his or her moveable image was laid the night before.
sources.)
Furthermore, the temple god is royal; the temple is his or her
1. A¯vaha¯na (“invocation”). The god is invited to be pres-
palace, and its priests are palace servants. Hence the god’s
ent at the ceremony.
“seat” is a throne, and ornaments affixed to the image may
2. A¯sana. The god is offered a seat.
include a crown; furthermore, the “ruler,” in the form of the
moveable image, is carried each day in procession around the
3. Sva¯gata (“greeting”). The worshiper asks the god if the
temple grounds, much as local rulers in India formerly pro-
journey has gone well.
cessed through their territories. Temple pu¯ja¯s differ slightly
4. Pa¯dya. The worshiper symbolically washes the god’s
according to sect and region. Thus temples of S´iva in South
feet.
India once featured performances by dancing girls
(devada¯s¯ıs) maintained as part of the temple staff. S´aiva pu¯ja¯
5. Arghya. Water is extended so that the god may cleanse
s also incorporate many Tantric elements; for example, an
his or her face and teeth.
officiating priest begins his pu¯ja¯ by summoning Lord S´iva
6. A¯caman¯ıya. Water is offered for sipping.
into his own body. Devotional hymns are often sung during
7. Madhuparka. The god is offered the water-and-honey
pu¯ja¯s at Vais:n:ava temples; while images of Vais:n:ava saints
drink.
are honored as well as images of Vis:n:u.
8. Sna¯na or abhis:ekha. Water is offered for symbolic bath-
Daily temple pu¯ja¯s are not communal performances; as
ing; if submersible, the image may literally be bathed
in the home, one person (here, the temple priest) acts for the
and then toweled dry.
benefit of all. Individuals may, however, make special re-
quests of the gods by means of special offerings. This practice
9. Vastra (“clothing”). Here a cloth may be wrapped
is known as ka¯mya pu¯ja¯, “the pu¯ja¯ undertaken by choice.”
around the image and ornaments affixed to it.
Such optional pu¯ja¯s are most often performed at the small
10. Anulepana or gandha. Perfumes and/or ointments are
shrines that dot a major temple’s grounds. The intended
applied to the image.
worshiper commissions a priest to place his or her offerings
before or onto the image.
11. Pus:pa. Flowers are laid before the image, or garlands are
draped around it.
Festivals. All major temples sponsor festivals. A fre-
quent type is the ratha ya¯tra¯, or “car festival,” in which the
12. Dhu¯pa. Incense is burned before the image.
moveable image is mounted on a large (sometimes multisto-
13. D¯ıpa or a¯rati. A burning lamp is waved in front of the
ried) cart and pulled through the town on a set processional
god.
path. The devotee thus receives an opportunity for dar´sana,
14. Naivedya or prasa¯da. Foods such as cooked rice, fruit,
or “sight,” of the god; he or she may toss flowers, break coco-
clarified butter, sugar, and betel leaf are offered.
nuts, or sprinkle the image with water as the cart progresses.
Communities may also sponsor festivals in which public dis-
15. Namaska¯ra or prana¯ma. The worshiper and family bow
play and celebration of images is a central feature. Commu-
or prostrate themselves before the image to offer
nity associations or families may commission elaborate and
homage.
expensive clay images for such festal pu¯ja¯s. The images are
16. Visarjana or udva¯sana. The god is dismissed.
feted with music and entertainments, then paraded to a river
and left to dissolve in its waters. Pu¯ja¯ festivals of this type
Temple pu¯ja¯s. A full pu¯ja¯ of sixteen upaca¯ras is in effect
are especially popular in the state of Bengal, in northeastern
a miniaturized temple ritual; the daily worship, or nitya pu¯ja¯,
India.
in a major temple differs from it principally in scale and in
the number of times that the pu¯ja¯ is repeated (three to six
Village pu¯ja¯s. Animal sacrifice has fallen out of favor
times daily for the temple ritual). Temple officiants are usu-
among Hindus in the early twenty-first century. It was once,
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
PU
¯ JA¯: BUDDHIST PU¯JA¯
7495
and sometimes remains, a standard feature of the worship of
PU
¯ JA¯: BUDDHIST PU¯JA¯
fierce goddesses such as Ka¯l¯ı. Animal sacrifice was also com-
According to Buddhist texts, the gods worshipped
mon in pu¯ja¯s of village divinities (grama¯devata¯), which differ
S´a¯kyamuni Buddha during his lifetime, as did humans. Gods
in several respects from pu¯ja¯s of the urban-based pan-Indian
and humans began the heartfelt ritual veneration of the Bud-
deities. Such divinities associated with specific locales have
dha’s material remains as soon as he abandoned his mortal
been reported from ancient times, not only in Hindu, but
body. The term pu¯ja¯ refers to such acts of ritualized worship.
also Buddhist and Jain writings. The cult of village gods is
Relics, trees, mortuary monuments, and eventually images
now most prominent in South India, where the village divin-
and texts associated with the three jewels (the Buddha, the
ity is often a goddess whose name is a compound of amma,
teachings, and the community of Buddhists) as well as a wide
“mother.” Although temples for ammas have become in-
range of pacific or ferocious buddhas and bodhisattvas were
creasingly popular, an amma’s shrine may be quite minimal.
made the objects of worship. Yet conflicting interpretations
Sometimes it is just a bare enclosure outside the bounds of
of S´a¯kyamuni’s instructions, together with the philosophical-
the village proper amma’s shrine may be minimal; sometimes
ly subtle condition of possibility that the Buddha was both
it is just a bare enclosure outside the boundaries of the village
absent and immanent for such veneration, yielded a creative
proper. The “image,” if any permanent image exists, may be
tension in the intellectual understanding of pu¯ja¯ within the
a rock or an earthen pot or lamp. The hereditary shrine
developing Buddhist traditions. Moreover, as the tradition
priest, or pu¯ja¯ri, is of low caste, often a potter. Village pu¯ja¯s
developed local forms, which in turn took over the cults of
are not necessarily maintained on a regular basis, nor do they
local deities, the worship of deities who were neither buddhas
commonly follow the upaca¯ra model; coconuts, bananas,
nor bodhisattvas became part of the ritual calendar. Elite de-
margosa or betel leaves, turmeric, and cooked rice are the
bates do not seem to have restrained the popular perception
most common nonbloody offerings. Village gods may pos-
of ferocious dharma-protecting deities as very real agents, dif-
sess their pu¯ja¯ri s or other mediums during the course of
ferent only in efficacy from the great bodhisattvas and bud-
pu¯ja¯s; festivals feature such possession experiences, as well as
dhas. Thus the form and interpretation of Buddhist pu¯ja¯ var-
processions, sometimes fire walking, and sometimes sacri-
ies widely, depending on the cultural context and social
fices of sheep, goats, fowls, or buffalo.
register of the worshipper, although the fundamental devo-
tional impulse has never been denied.
SEE ALSO Domestic Observances, article on Hindu Prac-
ORIGINS AND EARLY EVIDENCE. The verbal root pu¯j in early
tices; Rites of Passage, article on Hindu Rites; Worship and
Buddhist sources, as with other early Indic material, refers
Devotional Life, article on Hindu Devotional Life.
to ritual worship generally. The Maha¯parinirva¯n:a-su¯tra
(MPNS), an early text that exists in Sanskrit, Pali, and Chi-
B
nese versions, is particularly rich in descriptions of various
IBLIOGRAPHY
kinds of worship: the gods worship S´a¯kyamuni with showers
Sources cited for proposed etymologies of the word pu¯ja¯ are Jarl
of celestial blossoms, music and sandalwood powder;
Charpentier’s “Über den Begriff und die Etymologie von
pu¯ja¯,” Beiträge zur Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte
Maha¯ka¯´syapa, who races across India to be present for the
Indiens: Festgabe Hermann Jacobi, edited by Willibald Kirfel
cremation of his teacher’s body, seizes the feet of his dead
(Bonn, 1926), pp. 276–297; also Paul Thieme’s “Pu¯ja¯,”
teacher and presses them onto his head; and S´a¯kyamuni him-
Journal of Oriental Research 27 (1957–1958): 1–16. For a
self gives instructions for the construction of mortuary mon-
summary of precepts governing pu¯ja¯ s in classical Sanskrit lit-
uments (stu¯pas or caityas) and their proper worship. The ear-
erature, see Pandura Vaman Kane’s History of Dharma˙sa¯stra:
liest known Buddhist sites, the stu¯pas at Vai´sa¯l¯ı and
Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India, vol.
Pipra¯wha¯, give evidence for pre-Mauryan relic veneration.
2, pt.1 (Poona, 1941), pp. 705–740. Temple pu¯ja¯s vary
A´soka is said to have redistributed the relics contained in the
somewhat in different locales and sectarian traditions. Good
original eight stèpas into 84,000 stu¯pas across the Mauryan
resources for scholars exploring these variations are: Gudrun
empire; and indeed, several sites that exist to this day, such
Bèuhnemann’s Pu¯ja¯: A Study in Sma¯rta Ritual (Vienna,
as the four stu¯pas that surround the Newar city of Lalitpur
1988), examining Vedic pu¯ja¯s of Maharashtra; Carl Gustav
in the Kathmandu Valley, are said to have been established
Diehl’s old but still useful Instrument and Purpose: Studies in
Rites and Rituals in South India (Lund, 1956), reflecting
by A´soka. At the A´sokan stu¯pa complexes of Bharhut and
southern a¯gama-based traditions; and Hillary Peter Rodri-
Sañchi in central India, there are carvings of trees and stu¯pas
gues, The Liturgy of the Durga¯ Pu¯ja¯ with Interpretations, com-
being worshipped, as well as numerous inscriptions docu-
paring Banaras and Bengal-based versions of pu¯ja¯s for the
menting relic worship by renunciant and lay Buddhists.
great goddess festival. For non-specialists, fine you-are-there
PRACTICING PU¯JA¯. In the fifth chapter of the MPNS,
portrayals of pu¯ja¯ in practice are found in Stephen P.
S´a¯kyamuni makes several overlapping statements about
Huyler’s Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion (New
what, and how, to worship. It is taken for granted that the
Haven, Conn., 1999) and Elizabeth U. Harding’s Kali: The
appropriate object of worship is a tatha¯gata, either directly
Black Goddess of Dakshineswar (Delhi, 1998). Huyler in-
cludes many superb photographs.
or through mediating symbols. In other su¯tras, the worship
of deities is criticized; deities rather should worship the
NANCY AUER FALK (1987 AND 2005)
Tatha¯gata. When the gods do arrange a spontaneous rain of
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
PU
¯ JA¯: BUDDHIST PU¯JA¯
7496
heavenly flowers and sandalwood, S´a¯kyamuni takes the op-
fined to S´a¯kyamuni. At the passing of great teachers, whether
portunity to distinguish between offering material things
in Thailand or Tibet, the cremated remains often yield tiny
such as flowers and the offering of abiding in the dharma.
relic fragments. Among Tibetans, the most powerful of these
Good practice, according to S´a¯kyamuni, is the highest form
relics can, when held in the hand of another great lama,
of worship of a tatha¯gata by the four sections of the Buddhist
spontaneously multiply. For all Buddhists, relics are trea-
community (nuns, monks, and female and male lay Bud-
sured possessions; and when a new monastery is founded,
dhists), all of whom are clearly expected to be interested in
such relics are often gathered or donated in order to be incor-
performing pu¯ja¯s.
porated into its new statues and stu¯pas. The finding of such
relics in the remains of a great teacher is a confirmation of
Pu¯ja¯ offerings can be as simple as a handful of flowers
her or his holiness, and the incorporation of such relics into
offered by an unexpected visitor or a vast array of incense,
an image or monastic site is one way of asserting membership
lamps, garlands, sandalwood paste, delicious foods, water for
in the lineage of such a teacher. In Therava¯da countries, pu¯ja¯
washing and drinking, musical sounds ranging from the sin-
has come to be considered a popular affair; everyone partici-
gle peal of a bell up to a whole orchestra, dance, scatterings
pates, and the most precious objects of worship are relics.
of unbroken rice, parasols, prayer flags and banners, circu-
The S´r¯ı Lan˙kan Tooth Relic is still the center of an elaborate
mambulations, and sculptures made from butter or flour.
priestly ritual cycle that reminds us of the Indic heritage that
Later in the same chapter of the MPNS, S´a¯kyamuni rec-
Therava¯da shares with Newar and Tibetan Buddhism.
ommends pilgrimage to the four sacred sites (that is, Lum-
In the highest Vajraya¯na tantras, it is sometimes said
bini, Bodhgaya¯, Sarnath, and Kapilvastu) and the creation
that the material requisites for pu¯ja¯ can be dispensed with
and veneration of stu¯pas as appropriate forms of religious de-
and the entire ritual performed as a visualization. Regardless
votion. Morevoer, he instructs that his remains be enshrined
of whether the offerings are actually present, the practitioner
in a stu¯pa. When, however, A¯nanda asks the dying
identifies herself with the main deity of the man:d:ala and per-
S´a¯kyamuni, “What should we do about the Tatha¯gata’s
forms subsequent ritual actions as the deity. Within the Zen
body?” he is told that the sam:gha ought not trouble them-
school, the question of just what is present within an external
selves, as it will be dealt with by three sorts of pan:d:it, and
image is informed by the doctrine of buddha-nature, which
he then receives instructions on funerary practices. Although
is thought to be present in all beings. Therefore, when a Zen
this passage was taken by many Western scholars and some
practitioner bows to an image of S´a¯kyamuni, she is not bow-
conservative reformists to mean that relic worship is only ap-
ing to something outside herself, but as a buddha aware of
propriate for lay Buddhists, it has become clear that the dis-
her own buddha-nature.
cussion in the MPNS is more to do with who should perform
cremation rituals.
Indic patterns. Buddhism in South Asia and, later,
The ritual management of stu¯pas, as well as images and
Southeast Asia developed along with other Indic religions.
other material bases for the performance of pu¯ja¯, makes it
From the perspective of the present, Indic Buddhist worship
clear that they are understood to be infused with a presence
looks a great deal like Hindu worship, but in fact the mutual
that makes their worship efficacious. The empowering of
historical influence is so complex as to make such statements
stu¯pas and images by the insertion of relics is a specially po-
vacuous. From an elite perspective, Buddhist pu¯ja¯ depends
tent form of a general precondition for any Buddhist worship
on a sophisticated understanding of emptiness and imperma-
that takes a material item, such as a sculpture, painting, or
nence that is pointedly opposed to the sense of divine pres-
manuscript, as its immediate object. The object must be ritu-
ence that drives devotional Hinduism bhakti. However,
ally quickened before it can be worshipped. In Therava¯da
much of the language and theory is held in common, includ-
countries, the ritual of empowering a Buddha image is often
ing the terms for many tools and elements of the offering and
referred to as “opening the eyes” of the image while
the distinction between daily (nitya¯), required (naimittika¯),
Vajraya¯nists visualize, invoke, and install the appropriate
and optional (ka¯mya¯) pu¯ja¯; and at a popular level, the efficacy
deity. For certain deities, such as the ancient Newar
of the pu¯ja¯ is far more interesting to the participants than
Avalokite´svara known as Bu˜gadyah:, there is an annual cycle
its ontology. Vajraya¯na Buddhists developed their own ver-
of deconsecrating the image by removing its essence into a
sion of the Vedic fire sacrifice (homa) and this remains a
separate container, renovating the image, and then re-
common element among all surviving strands of Vajraya¯na
consecrating and re-empowering it.
in Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia, Japan, and Indonesia.
DEVELOPMENTS. The fundamental declaration for Bud-
The Seven-Part Worship. With the rise of the
dhists is taking refuge in the Three Jewels: the Buddhas, the
Maha¯ya¯na came a new understanding of pu¯ja¯. Behind almost
truth that they understand and teach, and the community
all Maha¯ya¯na and Vajraya¯na pu¯ja¯s is the Seven-Part Worship
that preserves that teaching. Nonetheless, the original object
(sapta¯n˙gapu¯ja¯), a framework for worship that is presaged in
of worship for the earliest Buddhists was the Tatha¯gatha
the second century Aja¯ta´satru-kaukr:tya-vinodana¯ and crys-
himself, continuing to be present in the physical relics of his
tallized in the Bhadracarya¯-pran:idha¯na, the vows of
body, the implements he had carried, and the tree under
Sama¯ntabhadra. This is an undated poem, still recited by
which he attained enlightenment. The relic cult was not con-
Newar priests today, and it became the final chapter 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
PURA¯N:AS
7497
much larger fourth century text Gandhavyu¯ha. Here, the
Suzuki, D. T., and Hokei Idzumi. Gan:d:avyu¯ha. Kyoto, Japan,
structure of the Seven-Part Worship is as follows:
1934.
1. Praise (vandana¯).
Trainor, Kevin. Relics, Ritual and Representation in Buddhism: Re-
materializing the Sri Lankan Theravada Tradition. Cam-
2. Worship (pu¯ja¯).
bridge, U.K., 1997.
3. Confession of misdeeds (pa¯pade´sana¯).
Tuladhar-Douglas, William. Remaking Buddhism for Medieval
Nepal. London, 2005.
4. Taking delight in the good deeds of others
(anumodana¯).
Walshe, Maurice. The Long Discourses of the Buddha. Boston,
1995.
5. Requesting the buddhas (and their successors) to teach
(adhyes:an:a¯).
WILLIAM TULADHAR-DOUGLAS (2005)
6. Begging the buddhas (and their successors) to remain
in the world (ya¯cana).
PUNISHMENT SEE HEAVEN AND HELL;
7. Dedicating the merit arising from this pu¯ja¯
JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD; REVENGE AND
(parin:a¯man:a¯).
RETRIBUTION
The elements of the Seven-Part Worship can vary in number
as well as order. Arousing the mind of awakening
(bodhicitotpa¯da) is part of the ritual in both the earlier
Aja¯ta´satru-kaukr:tya-vinodana¯ and in the later Bodhicar-
PURA¯N:AS are extensive compendiums of the mytho-
ya¯vata¯ra of S´a¯ntideva, who also inserts going for refuge to
history of Bha¯ratvars:a (the earlier name of the Indian sub-
the Three Jewels (´saran:aga¯mana¯). However flexible, the
continent). They participate in the same mythological milieu
Seven-Part Worship forms a basic liturgy for the subsequent
as epic (itiha¯sa) and poetic (ka¯vya) works, but they are struc-
tradition.
tured as exhaustive amalgams of epic lore seen through par-
ticular (some would say sectarian) perspectives. The Pura¯n:as
Further rituals in Indic Buddhism. In high Indic
may be thought of as core texts of Hindu religiosity; some
Maha¯ya¯na/Vajraya¯na, such as is found among the Newar
have become cornerstones of particular devotional traditions,
and Tibetan schools, Buddhist pu¯ja¯s have developed a modu-
and others have served as templates for institutions, social
larity reminiscent of Vedic ritual. For Newar Vajraya¯na
observances, and traditions of secular knowledge.
priests, the most basic pu¯ja¯ is the Guru Man:d:ala Pu¯ja¯, and
indeed the successful performance of this pu¯ja¯ is part of the
The word pura¯n:a itself means “ancient,” and a good
initiation of a Vajrca¯rya priest. Larger rituals, such as mar-
deal of Pura¯n:ic lore may have coexisted with the Vedas them-
riages, initiations, or guiding clients through the worship of
selves. Pura¯n:a appears in the R:gveda (where it means “an-
the Bodhisattva Amoghapa¯´sa all begin with the Guru
cient”) and is used in a sacrificial context in the Atharvaveda
Man:d:ala Pu¯ja¯ but add more complex visualizations and the
and the S´atapatha Bra¯hman:a, leading scholars such as R. C.
worship of other man:d:alas. Medieval Indic visualization
Hazra (1940) to suggest that the Pura¯n:as originated as narra-
compendia such as the Sa¯dhanama¯la¯ and the indigenous Ti-
tive portions of the Vedic sacrifice. In early Upanis:ads,
betan or Newar works that follow them often begin with an
Pura¯n:as are spoken of along with the Vedas as texts of divine
abbreviated reference to the Seven-Part Worship and perhaps
origin and are also referred to (with the epic narratives) as
a suggestion of prior rituals to be completed before the main
a type of fifth Veda. Along with the epics, they gradually
work of the visualization. Finally, mention should be made
came to form a vast textual base of sacred cultural memory.
of the gcod offering, a development of the pu¯ja¯ ritual influ-
On a textual-critical level, the enormity and diversity of
enced by Tibetan funerary practices. Here the practitioner,
these narratives, the extensive oral tradition from which they
through a terrifying meditation in which she offers up her
derive, the layering of variant materials through time, and
own body, senses, and life, uses pu¯ja¯ as a means to sacrifice
the sectarian claims made on specific works have made the
attachment to the self.
Pura¯n:ic materials difficult to fully catalog or comprehend.
S
The effort by the All-India Kashiraj Trust to publish critical
EE ALSO Relics; Stupa Worship; Worship and Devotional
Life, articles on Buddhist Devotional Life in East Asia, Bud-
editions of the eighteen principal Pura¯n:as has proven daunt-
dhist Devotional Life in Southeast Asia, and Buddhist De-
ing. Issues of textual criticism are further complicated by the
votional Life in Tibet.
lack of agreement as to what a Pura¯n:a actually is, because nu-
merous works bear the said name, and none of the conven-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tional classifications of these texts can be called definitive. An
Gellner, David N. “Ritualized Altruism, Devotion and Medita-
early datable definition is found in the sixth-century lexicon
tion: The Offering of the Guru Man:d:ala in Newar Bud-
Amarako´sa, which identifies pura¯n:a as that which has five
dhism.” Indo-Iranian Journal 34 (1991): 161–197.
characteristics (pañcalaks:an:a): sarga (creation); pratisarga (re-
S´a¯ntideva. The Bodhicarya¯vata¯ra. Translated by Kate Crosby and
creation of the universe after its dissolution); vam:´sa (genealo-
Andrew Skilton. Oxford, 1996.
gies of gods, sages, kings, and patriarchs); manvantara (cyclic
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
7498
PURA¯N:AS
ages of humanity presided over by Manu, the father of hu-
variant versions of their authorship (divine and human) and
manity); and vam:´sa¯nucaritam (royal dynastic histories). Al-
seem to accommodate multiperspectives of origin and mean-
though the Pura¯n:as all contain variations on these themes,
ing. This would be consistent with their derivation from a
none of them literally follows this definition, because the
vast oral tradition and would suggest that the very idea of
pañcalaks:an:a materials only make up a small percentage of
their being “books,” as Ludo Rocher (1986) has argued, may
their volume. Other topics covered include the purus:a¯rthas
be more a product of manuscript codification between the
or “aims of humanity” (dharma, “sacred duty”; artha “mate-
fourth and tenth centuries and later textual critical traditions
rial power”; ka¯ma, “pleasure”; and moks:a, “ultimate free-
than Pura¯n:ic ones.
dom”), religious observances, pilgrimage, charitable offer-
Various traditions have classified and continue to classi-
ings, rites for the dead, the glorification of various divinities,
fy Pura¯n:as in a number of ways: devotionally, according to
descriptions of cycles of time, cosmographies of space (in-
the main deity they glorify; qualitatively, according to the
cluding graphic images of heavens and hells), philosophy and
said quality (gun:a) of nature they participate in (sattva, “puri-
doctrinal expositions, sacraments, and social duties as well as
ty-being”; rajas, “passion”; tamas, “dark inertia”); chrono-
treatises on yoga, sacrifice, and other spiritual practices.
logically; by subject; and by the number of major revisions,
A list of eighteen Maha¯pura¯n:as (Great Pura¯n:as) existed
particularly from different doctrinal standpoints.
in the time of the Arabian traveler al-B¯ıru¯n¯ı (973–1048),
who cites two somewhat different versions of it. The tradi-
Along with various lists of Maha¯pura¯n:as, there are
tionally accepted list, often named after the principal narra-
Upapura¯n:as, or shorter Pura¯n:as of supposedly later composi-
tor of the work, is as follows:
tion and more particular focus. Another Pura¯n:ic literature
is called a Ma¯ha¯tmya, which is a text (usually attached to a
1. Brahma (or A¯di, first)
Pura¯n:a) that glorifies a divinity, a place of pilgrimage, or a
2. Padma (Lotus)
ritual offering. There are also works known as Sthalapura¯n:as,
which are connected with specific localities, giving rise to the
3. Vis:n:u (“all-pervading” deity)
idea that every place may have had a Pura¯n:a of its own, rich
4. Va¯yu (deity of the wind)
with legendary history, and which may or may not be written
5. Bha¯gavata (Kr:s:n:a)
down. Vam:´sapura¯n:as (sometimes called Caste Pura¯n:as) de-
vote themselves to the history of a lineage or particular social
6. Na¯rada (sage son of Brahma¯)
group. And finally, an enormous number of Pura¯n:ic transla-
7. Ma¯rkan:d:eya (great sage)
tions and derivative works exist in regional languages. These
too are Pura¯n:as, especially when one considers how the re-
8. Agni (Vedic fire deity)
gional traditions, local legends, and sensibilities of one area
9. Bhavis:ya (future)
can become absorbed, “brahamanized,” and reconstituted as
part of a Maha¯pura¯n:a.
10. Brahmavaivarta (transformation of Brahma¯)
11. Lin˙ga (symbol of S´iva)
PURA¯N:IC NARRATIVE. The Sanskrit of the Pura¯n:as is similar
to epic Sanskrit, but it shows a Prakrit influence and frequent
12. Vara¯ha (Vis:n:u as a boar)
grammatical irregularities, leading some scholars to speculate
13. Skanda (god of war and son of S´iva)
on their local origins and subsequent brahmanical appropria-
tion. The Bha¯gavata, as the most Sanskritized and literary-
14. Va¯mana (Vis:n:u as a brahman dwarf)
conscious Pura¯n:a, may be an exception here, or it may be
15. Ku¯rma (Vis:n:u as a tortoise)
the most obvious example of the above process.
16. Matsya (Vis:n:u as a fish)
Within the major Pura¯n:ic literatures there is a signifi-
17. Garud:a (Vis:n:u’s bird carrier)
cant diversity of style: Agni, Garud:a, and Na¯rada are primari-
ly encyclopedic compendiums; Padma, Skanda, and Bhavis:ya
18. Brahma¯n:d:a (the egg of Brahma¯)
deal largely with places of pilgrimage; Va¯mana and
These eighteen Maha¯pura¯n:as, said to contain a total of
Ma¯rkan:d:eya pay a good deal of attention to doctrinal con-
400,000 verses, are attributed to the divine sage Vya¯sa, who
cerns; and Va¯yu and Brahma¯n:d:a are concerned with history.
is said have arranged the revealed material (along with the
Within this great variety, however, certain common narrative
Vedas and epics) and transmitted them to disciples who fur-
styles and sensibilities can be observed.
ther elaborated upon them.
What kinds of stories do the Pura¯n:as tell? Not original
This narrative of authorship, the occurrence of the word
ones, or ones set down by a single author; they are collections
pura¯n:a in the singular in a number of early works, and the
that have been passed down through the ages. These narra-
scholarly tradition of a search for origins led a number of
tives often begin with a scene at the celebrated snake sacrifice
scholars to promote the notion of there being an original
of King Janamejaya, where sages have gathered in the
pura¯n:a that gradually was expanded and elaborated upon.
Naimis:a forest. The sages ask a su¯ta or bard, who is spoken
The Pura¯n:as themselves, however, contain numerous and
of as a “holder of knowledge of the ancient lore,” to narrate
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PURA¯N:AS
7499
what he has heard, and so begins a series of dialogues within
creasing complexity, seeing their various layers of discourse
dialogues, in which narrators refer to other narrations that
like the rings of a tree, but the reverse hypothesis has also
took place in other times and places. This technique of mul-
been offered. The Pra¯krit aspect of their language has caused
tinarrative frames is significant in its free-associative mytho-
some scholars to see them as originally non-brahman works,
poetic sensibility. Information is always contextualized with-
reappropriated in reaction to the heterodox schools of the
in a particular situation. Hence whereas a Pura¯n:a is an
Buddhists and Jains. Others have suggested that the Pura¯n:as
admittedly collaborative retelling of the epic past, it may be
appeared as a result of an effort to provide each Vedic school
filled with variants, with different versions of a particular tale
with a text of its own, whereas another view sees them as de-
appearing in the same text. Looked at historically, one sees
veloping from many local works within specific parts of
a developing tradition quite unlike that of the fixed Vedic
India.
mantras. Looked at through its own narrative logic, one may
see this style as a most authentic mode of mythmaking, not
The Pura¯n:ic vision of narrating events that occurred in
“myth” in the sense of something false but as a sacred narra-
“the distant past” often takes the form of dynastic histories
tive that imaginatively transmits that which is most dear to
(Va¯yu, Matsya, Vis:n:u, Brahma), and although their history
a culture.
has been disparaged by many, some European scholars (Her-
mann Jacobi, for example) found a “genuine and valuable
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PURA¯N:AS. Whether or not the
historical tradition” in the Pura¯n:as. F. E. Pargiter (1922)
Pura¯n:as can ultimately claim the same revelatory power or
championed their historicity and attempted to reconstruct
priestly status as the Vedas or whether they were arranged
what he considered the “ancient Indian historical tradition”
by Vya¯sa or edited by priests in order to absorb local cults
from Pura¯n:ic sources. The issue as to whether or not such
and practices under a normative brahmanical fold, their
sources can be used to reconstruct ancient history is almost
widespread influence and importance is undeniable. The
impossible to answer. What one can do, however, is work to
Dev¯ıbha¯gavata puts it thus: “S´ruti and smr:ti are the two eyes
understand the intrinsic sensibility of the Pura¯n:ic “past” as
of dharma but the Pura¯n:a is its heart” (XI.1.21).
a paradigm for the present that can provide cultural visions
This heart, however, was often ignored or debunked by
and ideals. Long-standing narratives, such as the churning
nineteenth-century ideologues who saw them as a corruption
of the milky ocean, the childhood pranks of Kr:s:n:a, the great
of Vedic religion and by Western scholarship that devalued
Bha¯rata War, the exploits of the avata¯ras of Vis:n:u, the awe-
them as “pseudo-histories” displaying masses of superstitious
some influence of great places of pilgrimage, and the divini-
contradictions. With the emergence of scholarship acknowl-
ties, saintly kings, and sages whose lives shine through eons
edging the important psychological and cultural value of
of time, are very much alive and well in the Hindu religious
myth, however, the Pura¯n:ic world is seen not only as a store-
imagination.
house of information about the emergence of Hindu India
TIME AND SPACE. In contrast to Western teleological sensi-
but as the imagistic and narrative revelation of a profoundly
bilities, Indian thinking as exemplified in the Pura¯n:as envi-
imaginative and sophisticated worldview.
sions time as cyclical. The four ages or yugas (kr:ta or satya,
The importance of this body of discourse is thus mani-
treta, dva¯para, and kali), whose names are the same as those
fold. In devotional religious terms, Pura¯n:as often champion
of the throws of dice, are said to repeat themselves in declin-
the superiority of a particular divinity (although their devo-
ing order. The Bha¯gavata Pura¯n:a speaks of the sacred law
tion to one god does not necessarily exclude others). More-
(dharma) as a cow possessed of four feet (austerity, cleanli-
over their eclectic and all-encompassing characters have al-
ness, mercy, and truthfulness), losing one after another in
lowed them to serve as a major medium for the transmission
each declining age. The duration of the yugas is said to be
of customs and traditions, for long-held ideas around geogra-
4,800, 3,600, 2,400, and 1,200 years of the devas (gods),
phy, politics, and social organization, and for the subjects of
with a dawn and twilight preceding and following each age.
astronomy, medicine, grammar, metrics, architecture, poet-
These 12,000 divine years are converted into human years
ics, divination, and a host of others. They are indispensable
when multiplied by 360, so the kaliyuga, for example, would
for understanding popular Hindu traditions and their forma-
last for 432,000 earth years. While some texts speak of world
tion and for the grand narratives that have shaped Indian re-
dissolutions at the end of a cycle of four ages, the majority
ligious sensibilities.
of Pura¯n:as depict a thousand successive yuga cycles compos-
ing a day of Brahma¯, or a kalpa, followed by the dissolution
PURA¯N:IC HISTORY. Dating Pura¯n:as and seeking their origins
of the world, and a night of Brahma¯, which is as long as his
have been preoccupations of Western orientalist scholarship,
day. This entire system of days and nights is repeated for the
although their composite nature resists chronological speci-
lifetime of Brahma¯, which endures for a hundred years, fol-
ficity. Moreover the fluid Pura¯n:ic notion of “textuality” pres-
lowed by another dissolution and the beginning of a new
ents problems, because texts were transmitted orally, fre-
cycle.
quently elaborated upon, and often changed. There have
been numerous speculations about the existence of an origi-
Alongside of this cyclic system is one of fourteen man-
nal Pura¯n:a, which expanded into the others. One hypothesis
vantaras, each presided over by a different Manu, who is the
attempted to chronologically date the Pura¯n:as in terms of in-
progenitor of humanity. Most Pura¯n:as set the length of a
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PURA¯N:AS
manvantara as seventy-one yugas, which leaves unaccounted
the births and activities of the divine children of S´iva and
for time and hence the speculation that two separate tradi-
Pa¯rvart¯ı, Skanda, the god of war, and the elephant-headed
tions were grafted together. The present age is said to be that
Gan:e´sa, the lord of obstacles. S´iva’s great sign is the lin˙ga,
of the seventh Manu and is described in all the Pura¯n:as as
a primordial phallic-looking form that signifies potency and
one of chaos and confusion.
divine power. The Lin˙ga Pura¯n:a, a most important text for
the workshop of S´iva, discusses the lin˙ga as a supreme symbol
Pura¯n:as offer vast spatial as well as temporal cosmolo-
of absolute reality.
gies, such as the one of infinite universes expanding and con-
tracting from the pores of the great breathing Vis:n:u, who
Dev¯ı. S´akti, the divine feminine force, invoked under
rests upon Ananta´ses:a, the endless world serpent. In some
1,008 names in the Ku¯rma Pura¯n:a (1.11) is often associated
texts a world egg is said to be at the center of a greater uni-
with S´iva. In other texts (Dev¯ıbha¯gavata, Dev¯ıma¯ha¯tmya,
verse, surrounded by the five elements (earth, water, fire, air,
Ma¯rkan:d:eya Pura¯n:a), however, the Great Goddess is wor-
and space), containing seven continents and oceans (includ-
shipped as the Supreme Being.
ing oceans of milk, sugarcane juice, and wine), seven higher
planetary systems, and seven lower ones arranged around a
The supremacy of the Goddess, who is created from the
central axis, Mount Meru, along with a series of heavens and
combined potency of all the gods, is portrayed in the cele-
hells. This Pura¯n:ic universe is populated by a vast array of
brated story of the defeat of the Buffalo Demon, Mahis:a.
beings, including animals, humans, demons of the nether-
The Dev¯ıma¯ha¯tmya, the first full-scale Sanskrit account of
worlds, and a variety of divine and semidivine beings, includ-
this narrative, which extends through various modalities
ing tree spirits (yaks:as), celestial musicians (gandharvas),
throughout India, is part of the Ma¯rkan:d:eya Pura¯n:a. Al-
nymphs (a¯psaras), and subterranean serpents (na¯gas) with lu-
though the Goddess is one, she is known by many names
minous jewels on their heads.
that indicate her different aspects and qualities, including
Can:d:ika¯ (“Angry”), Ambika¯ (“Mother”), Na¯ra¯yan:¯ı
THE RELIGION OF THE PURA¯N:AS. There is no single religion
(“Resting Place of Men”), Ka¯l¯ı (“Dark”), Bhagavat¯ı
of the Pura¯n:as, just as there is no one religious tradition of
(“Beneficent”), Durga¯ (“Protectress”), Vais:n:av¯ı (“Related to
India, but religiosity is a primary characteristic of Pura¯n:ic
Vis:n:u”), Gaur¯ı (“Golden”), Laks:m¯ı (“Fortune”), and S´akti
tradition. The complex religious narratives and discussions
(“Potency”).
in the Pura¯n:as serve as the basis for a large variety of rituals,
devotional liturgies, sacred dramas and poems, and sa¯dhanas
The Dev¯ıbha¯gavata propounds the S´a¯kta polemic that
or spiritual practices. Again there is no one philosophical po-
unlike other ma¯rgas, or spiritual paths that demand renuncia-
sition that the texts take, but they combine theistic and non-
tion as a prerequisite for spiritual attainment, the goddess of-
theistic perspectives, sam
˙ khya cosmologies in which the
fers worldly enjoyment (bhukti) along with liberation
world is seen as a challenging combination of matter and
(mukti). As the mother of all beings, the Goddess sees no rea-
consciousness, yogic and meditative practices, and bhakti or
son to deprive her devotees of anything. Hence, through her
loving devotion toward a personal divinity.
grace, she offers both to devotees, who simply need to ac-
knowledge her as the source of all.
While one finds devotion to a number of deities, includ-
ing Brahma¯, whose cults have disappeared, Vis:n:u, S´iva, and
Vis:n:u. Glorified as the Supreme Being and as Creator
Dev¯ı dominate the tradition. Yoga and ascetic traditions are
but usually as the preserver and sustainer of the universe,
generally associated with S´aivism, whereas bhakti or devo-
Vis:n:u is envisioned as the all-pervading spirit and is wor-
tional ones are associated with Vais:n:avism. S´a¯kta traditions
shipped with devotion. One of the most striking features of
that worship the Goddess in a number of forms, as well as
the Pura¯n:as devoted to Vis:n:u is the notion of avata¯ras, incar-
Tantric traditions of immanent awareness and working with
nations of Vis:n:u who descended into the world to accom-
the elements of the phenomenal world, are also found in the
plish particular missions. The lists of the avata¯ras are many,
Pura¯n:as.
as are the variant concepts about them. There is a generally
accepted list of ten principal avatars. Matsya (fish) appeared
S´iva. S´iva, known as Maha¯deva, the “Great God,” is de-
to rescue Manu, the seven sages, and the seeds of all existing
scribed as the one with a thousand forms, whose breath
beings from the rising waters and in the Bha¯gavata Pura¯n:a
causes creation, preservation, and destruction. In other texts
is said to have saved the Vedas after they had sunk into the
S´iva is identified as the cause of all causes and as the one ap-
ocean of dissolution. This particular story has attracted a
pearing in many forms, including one that is half male and
good deal of scholarly attention due to similarities with flood
half female (ardhanar¯ı´svara), and as manifest in twenty-eight
narratives from other cultures.
specific forms. As the Lord of Yoga, S´iva sits forever rapt in
meditation. He also maintains a household relationship with
The appearance of Ku¯rma, the tortoise incarnation, re-
his consort, the goddess Pa¯rvart¯ı. This tension between his
volves around the major Pura¯n:ic legend of the churning of
ascetic and erotic natures, as noted by Wendy Doniger
the milky ocean in which devas and auras, gods and demons,
(1993), is the subject of numerous narratives, as is the rela-
use the serpent Va¯suki as a rope for a tug-of-war in which
tively antisocial nature of S´iva, who is covered in ash and
the great Mount Mandara is churned on the tortoise’s back.
draped with serpents. Many Pura¯n:as recount narratives of
As the ocean is churned, deadly poison emerges and is drunk
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PURA¯N:AS
7501
by the god S´iva (who is hence called N¯ılakan:t:a or “the blue
festation is an illusion, an appearance that is ultimately unre-
throated one”). A series of treasures then emerges from the
al, for the one reality, the brahman alone, is real. This su-
ocean, culminating in an elixir of immortality, which is spir-
preme brahman is identified with different gods (usually
ited away from the auras by Mohin¯ı (“the beguiling one”),
S´iva, Vis:n:u, or Dev¯ı) as well as with the self (a¯tman) in all
a female incarnation of Vis:n:u.
beings in different Pura¯n:ic texts. In some Pura¯n:as brahman
is envisioned in a more dualistic sense as substantively alike
Vara¯ha, the boar incarnation, appears to save the earth,
but qualitatively different from the individual self. Hence to
which had been thrown down to the muddy bottom of the
say that the Pura¯n:as are monistic or dualistic are partial vi-
universe by the demon Hiran:ya¯ks:a. The notion of Vis:n:u ap-
sions, leading a number of theologians to put forth the idea
pearing in animal forms is believed by some scholars to indi-
of “inconceivably one and many.” Nevertheless the Pura¯n:as
cate the incorporation of earlier cults, while others see this
are not always tolerant of the “many,” with Vais:n:ava- and
phenomenon as an evolutive progression, mirroring the de-
S´aivaite-based Pura¯n:as frequently criticizing one another in
velopment of an embryo in the womb.
the most severe terms.
Narasim
˙ ha (“man-lion”) delivers the world from the
Along with discussions of yoga and meditative sa¯dhanas,
powerful demon Hiran:yaka´sipu, who sought immortality by
Pura¯n:ic devotional tracts contain chapters discussing images
receiving boons from the gods to be neither killed indoors
of worship or mu¯rtis. The word mu¯rti means “embodiment,”
nor outdoors, by human nor beast, by day nor night, nor by
and the worship, consecration, and installation of divine im-
any weapon. Vis:n:u, appearing in a man-lion form, kills the
ages involve specific rules and procedures. The worship of
demon at twilight, on a porch and with his long nails, and
images, hymns of praise to various gods, and the practices
rescues his devotee, Prahla¯da, as Hiran:yaka´sipu’s son. As in
of hearing and remembering the l¯ıla¯s, or plays of gods on
many Pura¯n:ic narratives, the demonic mentality is portrayed
earth, are all aspects of the bhakti tradition that comes to the
as being desirous of immortality through egotism and power,
fore in the Pura¯n:as. Bhakti, or “loving devotion,” develops
a project that ultimately fails.
strongly in the Pura¯n:as and may well reflect cultural and so-
The above incarnations are said to appear in the kr:ta
cial changes in Hindu traditions that were reconfigurating
yuga. In the next age (treta), Vis:n:u appears as the brahman
their relationship with brahmanical ceremony and ritual.
dwarf, Va¯mana, before the demon king Bali, who had ac-
FUTURE OF THE PURA¯N:AS. Pura¯n:as continue to emerge
quired dominion over the three worlds, and asks Bali for a
through contemporary translations in regional languages, in-
boon of three steps. Assuming a huge form, Va¯mana covers
cluding English, through ritual recitations and public perfor-
the entire universe and deprives Bali of his sovereignty while
mances, and through new innovative forms that continue to
restoring order to the world.
shape Hindu traditions. Cultures evolve and change by re-
Para´sura¯ma (Ra¯ma with an ax), a brutal avatar, rids the
considering their pasts. And indeed this is what a Pura¯n:a is,
world of the errant ks:atriya race twenty-one times over.
in its largest sense. Rather than seeing Pura¯n:as only as relics
Ra¯ma, the epitome of righteousness, appears in Pura¯n:ic nar-
of medieval culture, one can understand them as the matrix
ratives not as a human king but as a divine incarnation of
of myth that people return to again and again to find new
Vis:n:u. The avata¯ra of Kr:s:n:a is celebrated in the Vis:n:u
meaning through stories that draw contemporary attention
Pura¯n:a and Bha¯gavata Pura¯n:a as the supreme cause of all
even as they speak of what happened long ago.
causes. His eternal consort, Ra¯dha, perhaps hinted at in the
Bha¯gavata, is present in the Brahmaivrta Pura¯n:a. The cele-
SEE ALSO Avata¯ra; Indian Religions, article on Mythic
brated tenth book of the Bha¯gavata Pura¯n:a recounts the
Themes.
childhood and youth of Kr:s:n:a in stories that have been can-
onized by bhakti traditions, serving as the bases for poems,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
plays, and stories in regional languages throughout the sub-
Critically edited texts of the Maha¯pura¯n:as are available through
continent.
the All-India Kashiraj Trust, including the Garud:a, Kurma,
Va¯mana, and Vara¯ha. Many texts and translations are also
The kali age is said to begin with Kr:s:n:a’s disappearance.
available through Motilal Banarsidass Indological Publishers
Buddha appears later in this period as an avata¯ra of Vis:n:u
in Delhi, including the Agni, Bha¯gavata, Brahma¯n:d:a, Brah-
preaching “heresy” to delude atheists and end the slaughter
mavaivarta, Lin˙ga, and Na¯rada. The Bhavis:ya, Brahma¯,
of animals. The addition of Buddha, whose doctrines pitted
Ma¯rkan:d:eya, Matsya, Padma, Skanda, Va¯yu, and Vis:n:u are
him against the brahman class, to this list marks a process
all translated and available in older versions.
known as Sanskritization, through which various deities and
There are a number of valuable secondary sources and studies of
regional traditions are absorbed into the normative one. The
Pura¯n:as available. These include Cheever Mackenzie Brown,
final avatar of Vis:n:u, Kalki, will appear on a horse, bearing
The Triumph of the Goddess: The Canonical Models and Theo-
a sword, and will destroy all the demonic elements that have
logical Visions of the Dev¯ı Bha¯gavata Pura¯n:a (Albany, N.Y.,
taken over the earth at the end of the kali age.
1990); Thomas Coburn, The Dev¯ı Ma¯ha¯tmya: The Crystalli-
zation of the Goddess Tradition (Delhi, 1988); V. R. Rama-
Within the variety of Pura¯n:ic narratives of the various
chandra Dikshitar, The Purana Index (Delhi, 1995); Corne-
forms of the divine is the idea that the entire physical mani-
lia Dimmitt and J. A. B. Van Buitenen, eds. and trans.,
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
7502
PURE AND IMPURE LANDS
Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Pura¯n:as
Sukha¯vat¯ı (to the west), Aks:obhya’s Abhirati (to the east),
(Philadelphia, 1978; reprint, Delhi, 1988); Wendy Doniger,
and Bhais:ajyaguruvaid:u¯ryaprabha’s Vaid:u¯ryanirbha¯sa¯ (also
ed., Pura¯n:a Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in
to the east).
Hindu and Jain texts (Albany, N.Y., 1993); R. C. Hazra,
Studies in the Pura¯n:ic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs
The best-known of these Pure Lands is Sukha¯vat¯ı. This
(Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1940; reprint, Delhi, 1987); E. H. Rick
Pure Land is described in detail in three su¯tras, the Larger
Jarow, Tales for the Dying: The Death Narrative of the
Sukha¯vat¯ıvyuha Su¯tra, the Smaller Sukha¯vat¯ıvyuha Su¯tra,
Bha¯gavata-Pura¯n:a (Albany, N.Y., 2003); Willibald Kirfel,
and the Guan Wuliangshou jing. Of these, the first two Su¯tras
Das Pura¯n:a Pañcalaks:an:a: Versuch einer Textgeschichte
are believed to have been compiled in northwest India
(Bonn, Germany, 1927); F. E. Pargiter, Ancient Indian His-
around 100 CE. Modern scholarship is in general agreement,
torical Tradition (London, 1922; reprint, Delhi, 1969); Ludo
however, that the main body of the Kuan ching was compiled
Rocher, The Pura¯n:as: A History of Indian Literature, vol. 2.,
in Central Asia, and that accretions were made during the
fasc. 3 (Weisbaden, Germany, 1986); and P. Flam et al., eds.,
and Heinrich von Stietencrom et al., comps., Epic and
course of its translation into Chinese. But while the condi-
Pura¯n:ic Bibliography (up to 1985): Annotated and with Index-
tions surrounding the compilation of these su¯tras differ, all
es (Weisbaden, Germany, 1992).
three texts share in depicting the splendor of the Pure Land
and the majestic appearances of Amita¯bha (Amita¯yus) and
E. H. RICK JAROW (2005)
his disciples and attending bodhisattvas. These depictions un-
doubtedly reflect ideal perceptions of the buddha land, bud-
dhas, and bodhisattvas of the period when each of the su¯tras
PURE AND IMPURE LANDS. In Maha¯ya¯na Bud-
was compiled. The ideal depiction of Sukha¯vat¯ı can be
dhism, a “Pure Land” is a purified land where buddhas and
viewed as a symbolic and hypostatized representation of
bodhisattvas, the future buddhas, dwell. In contrast, the
Maha¯ya¯na Buddhist enlightenment. A Pure Land is a “puri-
realms inhabited by ordinary sentient beings are called “Im-
fied land,” that is, a realm that came into existence by “puri-
pure Lands,” for they are tainted by blind passion.
fying the land.” To “purify the land” means that the
Maha¯ya¯na bodhisattvas purify everything in the land in
In Chinese Buddhism, two technical terms, jingtu and
which they will appear upon becoming buddhas; this “purifi-
huitu, are used to refer to Pure and Impure Lands, respective-
cation” includes leading all sentient beings to buddhahood.
ly. The concept behind these terms, however, is attested to
Of course, such acts entail nothing less than the fulfillment
in Indian Buddhist texts by such terms as
both of the bodhisattvas’ cultivation of the pa¯ramita¯s
buddhaks:etra-pari´suddhi (“the purification of the buddha
(“perfections”) and of his vow to benefit all beings. As such,
land”) or pari´suddham: buddhaks:etram (“purified buddha
the Pure Land can be regarded as hypostatized representation
land”), as in the As:t:asa¯hasrika¯-prajña¯pa¯ramita¯ Su¯tra (edited
of the Buddha’s enlightenment. For example, even though
by Rajendralala Mitra, Calcutta, 1888, pp. 362–363), and
Sukha¯vat¯ı is described as a realm that exists to the west, it
apari´suddham: buddhaks:etram (“unpurified buddha land”) or
is in reality a realm that transcends space. While it is said to
klis:t:am: buddhaks:etram (“tainted buddha land”), as in the
exist beyond billions of buddha lands, this is actually nothing
Karun:a¯pun:d:ar¯ıka Su¯tra (edited by Yamada Isshi, London,
but a symbolic expression for infinite distance; what is origi-
1968; vol. 2, pp. 52, 81). It was in accordance with such
nally beyond space was expressed in the context of space.
usage that jingtu and huitu were established in Chinese as
technical terms.
By means of such descriptions, the Pure Land su¯tras
succeeded in capturing the imagination of ordinary people.
The notion of a “buddha land” (Skt., buddhaks:etra; Pali,
Consequently, the practice of contemplating the Buddha
buddhakkhetta) derives from the period of early Buddhism.
(buddha¯nusmr:ti; Chin., nianfo), a relatively easy form of reli-
According to the Therava¯da interpretation, the buddhaks:etra
gious practice leading to birth in the Pure Land and eventual
is the realm in which the teachings of S´a¯kyamuni Buddha
enlightenment (buddhahood) there, gained wide popularity
prevail. However, in Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism numerous bud-
among Buddhists. In the same vein, the name Sukha¯vat¯ı
dha lands are said to exist in order to accommodate the nu-
(“realm of bliss”), which originally denoted a realm of abso-
merous bodhisattvas who become buddhas; or rather, the
lute religious bliss, also acquired connotations of relative,
merit accumulated by these bodhisattvas through their long
this-worldly happiness. Given its popular appeal, Sukha¯vat¯ı
spiritual careers goes toward creating a purified realm respon-
quickly became the object of the most dominant form of
sive to their influence. In other words, because of the basic
Buddhist devotion in East Asia. Hence, “Pure Land” in Chi-
Buddhist premise that no two buddhas can preside over the
nese Buddhism came to be regarded as synonymous with
same Buddha land, the “new” buddhas are forced to emerge,
Amita¯bha’s Pure Land. In following this practice, the Japa-
as it were, in lands far distant from that of S´a¯kyamuni, which
nese Buddhist sects that are based on the worship of
is called the Saha¯ Land. These are located variously in the
Amita¯bha (Jpn., Amida) Buddha are called Jo¯doshu¯ (the
ten directions (the eight points of the compass, the zenith,
Pure Land sect) and Jo¯do Shinshu¯ (the True Pure Land sect).
and the nadir) of the cosmos. It is among these “distant”
Pure Lands, described as “numberless as the sands of the
In Maha¯ya¯na Buddhism there are also other kinds of
River Ganges,” that we find Amita¯bha (Amita¯yus) Buddha’s
Pure Lands different in nature from the “distant” Pure Lands
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
PURIFICATION: AN OVERVIEW
7503
discussed earlier. The Vimalak¯ırtinirde´sa Su¯tra espouses the
New Sources
idea that when bodhisattvas purify their mind this Saha¯ world
Blum, M. L., and Gyonen. The Origins and Development of Pure
itself becomes a Pure Land. This view of Pure Land was ad-
Land Buddhism: A Study and Translation of Gyonen’s Jodo
Homon Genrusho. New York, 2002.
vocated in China and Japan by the Chan and Zen sects re-
spectively and led to the development of the concept of the
Hirota, D. Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land
“mind-only Pure Land.” The Lotus Su¯tra contains elements
Buddhism: Creating a Shin Buddhist Theology in a Religiously
Plural World. Albany, N.Y., 2000.
that lead some to regard Gr:dhraku¯t:a—the Vulture’s Peak
where S´a¯kyamuni Buddha preached the Lotus Su¯tra—as a
Nattier, Jan. “The Realm of Aksobhya: A Missing Piece in the
History of Pure Land Buddhism.” Journal of the International
Pure Land. The Japanese Nichiren sect later came to view
Association of Buddhist Studies 23, no. 1 (2000): 71–102.
this mountain as an ideal realm and espoused the notion of
“Vulture’s Peak Pure Land.” The Avatam:saka Su¯tra speaks
Payne, R. K., and K. K. Tanaka. Approaching the Land of Bliss: Re-
ligious Praxis in the Cult of Amitabha. Honolulu, 2004.
of Vairocana’s Padmagarbha, a Pure Land in which the entire
world is enveloped in a lotus flower, a notion that the Chi-
Wong, D. C. Four Sichuan Buddhist Steles and the Beginnings of
Pure Land Imagery in China. New York, 1999.
nese Huayan and Japanese Kegon sects have made an integral
part of their doctrine. Finally, the Ghandhavyu¯ha Su¯tra
Won, U.-b., and B. H. Lim. A History of Korean Buddhist Culture
speaks of a Ghandhavyu¯ha realm. Later, the Japanese Shin-
and Some Essays: The Buddhist Pure Land & the Christian
Kingdom of Heaven. Seoul, 1992.
gon sect came to regard this realm as the Pure Land of
Maha¯vairocana Buddha and to identify it with our present
FUJITA KO¯TATSU (1987)
Saha¯ world. In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism the Tus:ita
Translated from Japanese by Kenneth K. Tanaka
Revised Bibliography
Heaven, where the bodhisattva Maitreya now dwells, and the
Potalaka Mountain, where the bodhisattva Avalokite´svara
dwells, are both sometimes referred to as Pure Lands and
have been the objects of large devotional followings.
PURIFICATION
This entry consists of the following articles:
In response to such views, the Karun:a¯pun:d:ar¯ıka Su¯tra
AN OVERVIEW
emphasized the great compassion of S´a¯kyamuni Buddha,
PURIFICATION IN JUDAISM
who appeared in this Impure Land, rather than the buddhas
of the “distant” Pure Lands such as Amita¯bha and Aks:obhya.
PURIFICATION: AN OVERVIEW
This text developed in opposition to the notion of “extra-
Concepts of pollution and purity are found in virtually all
worldly” Pure Lands but never wielded much influence. The
the religions of the world. While some religions recognize
same su¯tra explains that our Impure Land is characterized by
subtle distinctions of relative pollution, others place less em-
the “five corruptions” (pañca kas:a¯ya¯h:: the corruptions of the
phasis upon the social and religious categories that determine
times, of views, of blind passion, of sentient beings, and of
pollution. The range extends from cultures like that of the
life). However in later periods, especially in Japan, it became
Pygmies, who place almost no emphasis on concepts of pol-
customary to explain the Impure Land as coextensive with
lution and purity, to hierarchical systems like Hinduism,
the “six destinies” (s:ad: gatayah:: the destinies of hell, of hun-
with its highly developed mechanisms for transforming im-
gry spirits, of beasts, of asuras, of humans, and of heavenly
purity from a dangerous category to a meaningful structuring
beings) as seen, for example, in Genshin’s O
¯ jo¯yo¯shu¯. In this
principle of the Indian cultural system.
case also, the Impure Land was posited in contradistinction
It is impossible to understand religious pollution and
to Amida’s Pure Land. Here the Impure Land was character-
purification as separate phenomena; these two inseparable
ized as something that one grows weary of and wishes to
categories of religious experience are locked into a dynamic
leave behind in favor of birth in Sukha¯vat¯ı.
complementarity. Rules governing religious pollution imply
a corollary code for ameliorating the condition. The purifica-
SEE ALSO Amita¯bha; Jingtu; Jo¯do Shinshu¯; Jo¯doshu¯.
tion of religious pollution is a major religious theme because
it forges a path of expiation, healing, renewal, transcendence,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and reintegration, establishing harmonious triangular links
Fujita Ko¯tatsu. Genshi jo¯do shiso¯ no kenkyu¯. Tokyo, 1970. A com-
among the individual, the cosmos, and the social structure.
prehensive examination of the formation of Pure Land texts
The range of activities or events considered to be pollut-
and doctrines. Contains a brief summary in English.
ing is vast, and there is an equally impressive range of purifi-
Suzuki, D. T. “The Development of the Pure Land Doctrine in
cation rituals. In Tibetan Buddhism, for instance, pollution
Buddhism.” Eastern Buddhist 3 (1925): 285–326. Reprinted
may be associated with trivial situations, such as crowds
in Collected Writings on Shin Buddhism, edited by the Eastern
where polluted persons may lurk (this deters no one from
Buddhist Society (Kyoto, 1973), pages 3–31. Although lim-
being in a crowd); or it may lead to very serious conditions
ited in focus to Japanese Buddhism, this work provides an
of impurity, as in the case of big game hunting, when pollu-
excellent introduction to the Pure Land tradition.
tion can cause famine or drought (Keyes and Daniel, 1983).
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
7504
PURIFICATION: AN OVERVIEW
While some pollution may be due to deliberate acts that vio-
an elegant analytical framework. For Mary Douglas, religious
late social or religious norms, pollution may be accidental or
pollution is a property of the “betwixt and between” in
unintended by the agent, as in the case of menstrual or death
human cultures; whatever falls between the social categories
pollution. This distinction is important because the specific
developed by human religious systems to comprehend and
corrective rite of purification may differ depending on
impute a sense of order and reality is considered to be impure
whether the state of pollution was attained deliberately or ac-
(Parker, 1983). The concepts of pollution and purity in a
cidentally. Shinto¯, for instance, is permeated with purifica-
particular religion make no sense without reference to a total
tion rites that can be traced back to origin myths according
structure of thought. Thus, along with other scholars, Doug-
to which the god Susano-o committed offenses against the
las emphasizes the analysis of rituals and sacred texts in order
divine order through ignorance and error. Consequently, in
to reveal semantic categories that determine mechanisms by
the Shinto¯ religion general rites of purification must be per-
which different peoples divide the world into domains of rel-
formed periodically to resacralize the world. This contrasts
ative pollution or purity. Fortunately, this more systematic
with more specific occasions for purification rites, which
approach to purification has restored the concept as a major
are associated with the deliberate breaking of taboos by indi-
theme in the study of world religions.
viduals.
FORMS OF RELIGIOUS POLLUTION. The range of human ac-
Virtually all aspects of life may be surrounded by no-
tivities related to religious pollution is immense. However,
tions of pollution and purity. Not only must sins and devils
it is possible to isolate three general categories of pollution
be purged in annual purification ceremonies celebrated as
associated with (1) bodily functions, (2) social bonding, and
rites of renewal; pollution rules are also applied to the ordi-
(3) the maintenance of boundaries of the “holy” or “sacred.”
nary products of human physiology, regulating human be-
The categories of pollution presented here are artificial de-
havior in relation to contact with blood, vomit, excreta,
vices developed to facilitate analysis; they are not meant as
cooked foods, hair clippings, and so on. The critical rites of
descriptive categories to characterize the phenomenon. It
passage associated with major transitions in life (birth, ado-
should be remembered that these categories overlap and form
lescence, marriage, and death) are usually governed by rules
a continuum, and that emphasis on different sorts of pollu-
of pollution and purity, since these are times when humans
tion varies greatly from one religio-cultural context to an-
are most vulnerable to attacks by evil spirits. There is no clear
other.
pattern of cross-cultural uniformity in these concepts of pol-
lution and purity; in some societies menstruation or death
Pollution associated with bodily functions. Ideas
may be considered especially dangerous and surrounded with
about dirt are linked into complex symbolic systems in virtu-
elaborate rites of purification, while other cultures particular-
ally every society. One of the most widespread concepts of
ly fear pollution from eating certain foods or from contact
pollution is associated with emissions from the human body.
with members of lower classes. Yet, despite this cultural
Urine and feces are particularly impure, partly because of
diversity, there remain a number of consistent patterns that
their odor, but also due to their more general association
yield important insights about the nature of religious
with putrefaction and death. In India, the left hand, used for
experience.
cleansing after defecation, is forbidden to be used when
The literature on religion is replete with concern about
touching other people or sacred objects. Other bodily secre-
the symbolism of purification. Nineteenth-century figures
tions, such as saliva, vomit, menstrual blood, and afterbirth,
like James G. Frazer, Robertson Smith, Émile Durkheim,
are also considered to have polluting qualities. In some tradi-
and Lucien Lévy-Bruhl attempted in various ways to explain
tions, even sperm is polluting outside the sanctified context
principles of defilement and purification in primitive reli-
of marriage. All of these bodily excretions have social signifi-
gions. Anthropologists of religion in the early twentieth cen-
cance; they are usually surrounded with heavy ritualization
tury paid little attention to the subject. However, field work
to ensure that they will be contained within a specific reli-
among African cultures and in South Asia during the 1960s
gious, cultural, temporal, or spatial context. Since they are
challenged anthropologists to develop theoretical explana-
natural physiological functions, the resulting pollution is fo-
tions for the increasingly complex data associated with con-
cused not on preventing their occurrence but rather on pro-
cepts of pollution and purity in the cognitive structures of
viding boundaries for control and purification.
different religions. In 1966 Mary Douglas presented her ex-
Anything that enters the human body may be a source
tensive analysis of the topic in the classic volume Purity and
of pollution. Thus, air, liquid, and food are potentially pol-
Danger. That same year Louis Dumont published his contro-
luting agents that must be carefully controlled. Contamina-
versial treatment of pollution and purity norms in Hinduism
tion by polluted food is a widespread danger, involving elab-
under the title Homo Hierarchicus. Since that time, symbolic
orate rules of avoidance. In some religions, dietary laws are
anthropologists, structuralists, and religion specialists have
very strict. Orthodox Judaism, with its emphasis on kosher
elaborated on this theme in many different religions and cul-
foods, carefully articulated in the Hebrew scriptures, sets the
tures.
Jews apart as a holy people who are considered to be clean
Purity and Danger is a landmark in the study of religious
and consequently prepared to receive the blessings of God,
symbolism because it systematizes divergent information in
along with the heavy responsibilities that accompany this
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
PURIFICATION: AN OVERVIEW
7505
covenant. Hindus are also known for their strict dietary laws.
The danger of childbirth is often accompanied by rigor-
The ascendent principle operative in Hinduism is the con-
ous rituals designed to bring about a healthy outcome for
cept of ahim:sa¯ (“nonviolence”). Hindu dietary laws stress
both mother and child. Consequently, the whole process of
pure vegetarianism as an ideal. Pollution from food intake,
birth, in some cases including pregnancy, requires special
particularly meat, has serious consequences. Thus, the high-
rites of purification. The pregnant woman may be expected
est castes strive to be strict vegetarians, while meat is allow-
to observe food taboos, take daily baths, and perform only
able only to lower castes and untouchables.
a few restricted household chores. Impurities connected with
In many parts of the world, food is carefully preserved
childbirth are usually associated with the afterbirth; these im-
to avoid putrefaction. Food must be protected from contact
purities extend to the fragile bond between mother and child
with impure persons who can transmit their contamination
and to other family members. Pollution is attributed to the
to it. Thus, in many societies menstruating women, sick peo-
invasion of evil spirits that thrive on vulnerable individuals
ple, and the lower classes are prohibited from involvement
during crisis events. Often mother and child are placed in
in the preparation of foods. Nobles, priests, and other per-
seclusion for a period of time, then ritually welcomed into
sons of high status are particularly vulnerable to food pollu-
the larger community after rituals of cleansing have taken
tion. Due to their magnified social visibility and influence,
place.
they must be especially vigilant to avoid pollution through
The transition to adulthood is considered the proper
careful control of food intake. While most food in rural
time for prophylactic rites of purification. These rites protect
Greece is prepared by women, men cook meals to be con-
the initiate from pollution during his state of liminality. In
sumed on ceremonial occasions because they are not tainted
some societies uncircumcised males are considered intrinsi-
by women’s general pollution. India has an extensive system
cally polluted. Among the Ndembu people of northwestern
of strict rules of avoidance about interdining between differ-
Zambia, an uncircumcised boy lacks “whiteness” or “purity”
ent castes; the leftovers of higher castes may be consumed by
and is permanently polluting; his presence can threaten the
lower castes, but the reverse results in contamination.
luck of hunters. An uncircumcised Ndembu man is polluted
Bodily pollution, in its most extreme form, results in ill-
because of the dirt beneath his foreskin. He is considered
ness or even death. Before the emergence of the germ theory
“white” or “pure” only when the glans of his penis is exposed
to account for biotic disorders, illnesses were universally ex-
through circumcision (Turner, 1967).
plained as the invasion of evil spirits, the curse of the evil eye,
or the result of broken taboos. Even in modern societies, ill-
Menstruation is one of the functions most widely seen
nesses may be attributed to spiritual causes. Elaborate rituals
as polluting, second only to death. Menstrual impurity may
to ward off pollution from evil spirits that cause human sick-
apply only during menses, or it may be more generalized as
ness are found throughout the world. Among the Inuit (Eski-
a kind of gender pollution, rendering women permanently
mo), illness was attributed to pollution associated with
impure due to their sexuality. Menstrual pollution is usually
breaking taboos. The shaman entered a trance, then took a
controlled by dietary restrictions, isolation in separate huts
spiritual journey to the abode of the goddess Sedna under
or parts of the household, and avoidance of either cooking
the sea; there he would ask her to forgive the sins of his peo-
or the performance of ordinary household tasks. Also,
ple. This ritual act involved confessions by community mem-
women are debarred from participation in religious ceremo-
bers, resulting in the possibility of a cure. The Indian goddess
nies during menstruation. Gender pollution appears to be re-
of smallpox, Sitala, could be angered easily and subsequently
lated, at least partially, to male dominance and the demarca-
needed to be “cooled” through various rituals of purification.
tion of clear male spheres of influence; thus, the very
The innocent, the vulnerable, the aged, and those individuals
presence of women causes dangerous pollution (Douglas,
who have transgressed religious and social norms are all po-
1975). In many tribal societies, women, under the threat of
tential victims of illness. It is widely believed that the human
death, are kept away from men’s houses where sacred masks
body can best be equipped to fight illnesses by avoiding pol-
are carved and the secrets of the ancestors are kept. Some
lution, such as the ingestion of unclean foods, contact with
Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures elaborate gender
menstrual blood, the performance of prohibited sexual rela-
pollution to the point of associating women with all kinds
tions, neglect of proper rituals to placate deities, and lack of
of dark forces (such as the evil eye, the world of ghosts, and
bodily cleanliness.
magical occult powers). Unattached women in these societies
must be watched carefully because they are a great source of
Pollution and social bonding. The intense socializa-
pollution: Women are believed to be shameful creatures who
tion of natural bodily functions is another aspect of purifica-
can upset the entire social order by threatening the lines of
tion. Birth, adolescence, marriage, and death are linked to
distinction between separate gender domains.
physiological stages that are highly controlled and ritualized
to ensure protection from the dangers of pollution. These life
Marriage and human sexuality are surrounded by elabo-
crisis events demarcate major points of transition, critical
rate pollution/purity norms in many parts of the world. Sex-
both for individuals and the community. Failure to attain
ual relations outside culturally prescribed rules are generally
these transitions would threaten the survival of human
treated as potential sources of pollution. These rules vary
culture.
greatly from one society to another. Premarital sexual rela-
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
7506
PURIFICATION: AN OVERVIEW
tions, for instance, are not considered to be polluting in some
p. 64). In the Parsi religion, contact with dead bodies pol-
societies. In other parts of the world, women, in particular,
lutes family, community, and even the natural elements of
who engage in premarital sex are considered to be polluted
air, fire, water, and earth. Consequently, earth burial and cre-
by their loss of virginity. While pollution norms surrounding
mation are forbidden among the Parsis. They resolve the
sex and marriage vary, many societies consider adultery a
problem of contaminating the natural elements by exposing
source of defilement. Incest is a more serious offense and is
the deceased on a dakhma (“tower of silence”) to be devoured
universally taboo. Incestuous activities are so thoroughly pol-
by vultures. In this extreme case, death pollution is so highly
luting as to pose serious threats to the community as a whole.
contagious that unless contained it extends to all nature.
Consequently, persons who have committed incest are either
killed or permanently banished.
Violent death is the most polluting of all, for both the
victim and the perpetrator of the crime. The pollution gener-
The most widespread source of pollution is death and
ated by violent death is exceedingly dangerous because it may
the putrefaction of bodily decay. Death breaks fragile social
activate a revenge cycle. Among headhunters in New Guinea
bonds, and the bonds that remain must be rearranged so that
and other parts of the world, the ghost of an individual who
death pollution can be prevented from becoming a general-
has been murdered is considered extremely dangerous unless
ized condition of social disorder or chaos. The corpse and
it is appeased by taking another head. In some societies both
the possessions of the deceased are highly dangerous. Even
the murderer and the victim of violent death are refused ordi-
though death is the most polluting social event, not all reli-
nary funeral rites; in some cases these corpses are denied buri-
gions treat it uniformly. In some religions, as in Christianity,
al in community cemeteries.
dead human bodies are allowed into sacred shrines or even
buried there. This contrasts dramatically with Hinduism,
Pollution and purity norms are related to social rank,
where corpses are never allowed near a sacred shrine; even
particularly in complex societies with strong social bounda-
an accidental death that occurs inside a Hindu temple re-
ries established by ascription. People who break conventional
quires the performance of elaborate purification rites.
rules of behavior in hierarchically oriented societies by cross-
ing lines of class or caste are considered polluted by their
Funeral rituals have three general purposes: (1) the
transgression. In Polynesia the person of the chief was highly
transformation of dead spirits into ancestors; (2) the place-
charged with mana, a kind of sacred energy that could be lost
ment of the ancestors in the proper realm of the afterlife
through touching people of lower rank. The Hindu social
(heaven, hell, or a new life via reincarnation); and (3) a resto-
system, with its strict endogamous tradition for establishing
ration of both social and cosmic order from the disorder
social status, is even more rigid about the link between rank
caused by death pollution (Nielsen et al., 1983). Thus, fu-
and pollution; Hindu castes involve strict rules requiring
nerals are designed to accomplish a number of important
marriage within subcastes, prohibiting caste interdining, and
tasks necessitated by the wound of death. Not only do they
restricting physical contact between members of lower and
provide a ritual context for disposing of the pollution linked
upper castes. While these rules are less rigid than in the past,
with the dead body, they also activate, contain, and assist in
they continue to thrive in contemporary India. The degree
the resolution of grief.
of intrinsic pollution of each caste depends on its rank in the
overall system. The lowest castes are more polluted than
Since death represents a rending of the social fabric, its
higher ones because of their traditional occupations; the
pollution has far-reaching effects. In India, death pollutes the
highest brahman castes are least polluted, due to their priestly
whole family, requiring strict rites of purification during pre-
duties, and the lowest castes are most contaminated because
scribed periods of mourning, the length of which is deter-
of their contact with polluting items in the environment.
mined according to the degree of kinship to the deceased.
Untouchables, who are outside the caste system, are most
In Japan, death is believed to result in harmful and conta-
polluted because they come in contact with such highly pol-
gious pollution that can be transmitted through social con-
luting substances as leather and dead bodies. Physical contact
tact. The idea that death pollution is communicable can be
with untouchables by caste Hindus requires strong purifica-
found throughout the world. The Polynesians abandoned
tion rites. In the past untouchables, due to their intrinsic pol-
any house where death had occurred. After the death of a Sa-
lution, were prevented from entering temples; this custom
moan chief, his house could not be entered and fishing in
was banned legally by the Indian constitution (November
the lagoon was prohibited (Steiner, 1956). However, not all
26, 1949).
ceremonies surrounding death are designed to prevent the
contagion of pollution; some of these rites help mourners to
Pollution and the maintenance of sacred boundaries.
participate in the condition of death itself. According to
The definition of religious pollution cannot be limited to so-
Robert Parker, in ancient Greek religion death pollution was
cial, psychological, or physiological domains alone. The defi-
a kind of temporary participation in the condition of the
nition of the “sacred” also involves issues of spiritual pollu-
dead man, who was, through the decay of the corpse, “foul”
tion. This is clear to individuals who have dedicated
(miaros). “Pollution is a transposition of this sympathetic be-
themselves to the religious life. Rules governing pollution are
foulment to the metaphysical plane. ‘Being polluted’ is a
more stringent for the religious because they come in contact
kind of metaphysical suit of mourning” (Parker, 1983,
with the supernatural more directly than the laity. Anyone
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PURIFICATION: AN OVERVIEW
7507
who approaches the divinity, either as an intermediary or in
night in Parsi fire temples is a source of purity for worshipers,
a state of deep reverence, is required to perform extensive
who offer bread and milk while portions of the sacred text,
rites of purification.
the Avesta, are read before it.
As the religious are more vulnerable to pollution, they
Incense and fumigation are employed widely in the
also may be singled out to suffer its consequences more than
world’s religions for purificatory purposes. Typically, both
others. The idea of being set apart for a holy purpose is exem-
sacred objects and the assembled worshipers are purified with
plified by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Particularly in
incense during the recitation of prayers. According to Parker,
Judaism, the idea of a sanctified, priestly people becomes
the ancient Greeks saw fire as an important source of purity:
highly elaborated, to the point that Yahveh’s chosen may be-
“Torches were an indispensable part of many ceremonies,
come impure by worshiping other gods, consulting fortune-
and swung vigorously, they could purify a room or a person.
tellers, or coming in contact with foreigners. The same no-
Normally, however, sharp-smelling substances were added to
tion is expressed throughout the world in varying degrees,
the fire when purification was needed” (Parker, 1983,
as people attempt to define a relationship to divinity.
p. 227). The Greeks exposed polluted objects to the pungent
odor of sulphur; by contrast, sweet-smelling burnt offerings
The polar tension between pollution and purity is acti-
were selected to please the gods.
vated in pilgrimage: pilgrims enter a dialectic where pollu-
tion is dissolved by the journey to a sacred place. Thus, in
Water. Water, the universal cleanser, is the most widely
the great pilgrimage traditions of Islam, Hinduism, Shinto¯,
employed means of ritual purification. Often water is used
or Christianity, one not only attains merit, community sta-
with other elements, such as fire, salt, or herbs. It is a particu-
tus, and indulgences for the afterlife; one also undergoes a
larly potent source of purification when obtained from holy
“spiritual bathing” that opens the eyes, transforms conscious-
springs, wells, or other sacred bodies of water. The many
ness, and centers human focus on the sacred. Pilgrimage is
holy wells of Ireland are special places of purification. A bath
often prescribed to resolve conditions of spiritual pollution.
in the sacred Ganges river is accompanied by such a high
In the classical pilgrimages, the devotee’s journey returned
level of purification that it is an object of pilgrimage for mil-
him to a place of great sacrality and prepared him to cross
lions of devotees from all over India.
boundaries and to enter more deeply into the realm of the
A widespread requirement before worship is the custom
sacred.
of ritual bathing, either of the whole body or parts of the
The definition of any sacred place is contingent on its
body most exposed to pollution, especially the feet. In most
opposite, namely, the removal of polluting elements that
religions the deity must not be approached unless the devotee
contaminate the “holy.” In Hinduism, whenever a particular
is ritually clean. The Hindu is expected to bathe early in the
place is selected for worshiping a deity, it is sanctified
morning, recite special prayers, and consecrate his day to the
through elaborate purification rites so that demons, evil spir-
service of God. Water has purificatory qualities in Hindu-
its, and the dark forces of ignorance are excluded and condi-
ism, not because of its intrinsic purity, but because it absorbs
tions for invoking the presence of divinity are most favorable.
pollution and carries it away (Babb, 1975). Thus, the flow
Thus, the locus of the holy of holies in any religion embodies
of water determines its purificatory efficacy.
that religion’s ideal of purity. This is not to imply that pollu-
Water also makes the sacred more accessible to devotees.
tion has no place in sacred centers; on the contrary, it is
Muslims clean their mouths and ears with water to sanctify
through the very process of purifying the impure that human
their prayers and open their hearing to the will of God. Most
life is transformed and integrated into the religious sphere.
life crisis events, such as childbirth, marriage, or death, in-
RITES OF PURIFICATION. Religious pollution always calls for
volve the use of water to create a state of purification in
specific rites of purification, which can range from the inges-
which the transaction between humans and divinity is en-
tion of sacraments to painful acts of purgation. There are five
couraged and the danger of pollution is minimized. The
types of rites, involving the use of (1) fire, (2) water, (3) de-
best-known instance of ritual purification with water is
tergents, (4) purgation, and (5) scapegoats. Usually several
Christian baptism, which washes away sin and prepares the
purificatory mechanisms are employed together, as parts of
devotee to lead a religious life. In this case, water both washes
a sacred technology, to eliminate pollution and restore
away the pollution of sin and acts as a sign that the individual
wholeness to both individual and community.
belongs to an initiated group who share a common state of
purified grace. The statues of deities are ritually cleansed with
Fire. Both fire and smoke are considered sources of pu-
water in preparation for religious ceremonies. The water that
rification. In some parts of the world, stepping over a fire is
supports life is a sacred source of renewal. It is the “mother
a rite demarcating a transition from defilement. The Hindu
of being” in opposition to the accumulation of filth, evil, de-
god Agni is the personification of fire, and purified butter
filement, and decay associated with death.
is poured into fire as an offering to the god. At certain times
of the year, sacrifices to Agni are performed to purify the
Detergents. Aside from fire and water, a variety of
whole world. Hindus attain sacramental benefit by passing
agents are utilized in ritual purification. These various deter-
their hands over fire. The eternal fire that burns day and
gents include salt water, liquid concoctions made from pro-
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
7508
PURIFICATION: AN OVERVIEW
pitious herbs and spices, and various other sacramental sub-
or making offerings to the deity. This usually means
stances applied to the polluted individual or space. In Africa
that the worshippers will be freshly bathed and will be
and the Middle East, sand or dry dirt is used as a detergent
wearing garments appropriate to a condition of purity:
when water is not available. Charcoal, mud, and clay from
a minimum of cotton, which is quite vulnerable to pol-
special sacred places are also employed to remove religious
lution; silk, if possible, which is more resistant to acci-
pollution. These clinging substances are daubed on a per-
dental pollution. (Babb, 1975, p. 47)
son’s body to absorb defilement, then washed away. In India,
Throughout the world, fasting is an act of purgation, a sacri-
ash from cow dung is widely employed as a cleansing agent.
fice to honor the divinity, and a mechanism for cleansing the
Among the Nuba of Sudan, the ash from burnt branches of
body. In Islam, the whole month of Ramadan is a time for
the acacia tree has purificatory qualities. In this society, sa-
fasting. Until recently, Roman Catholics fasted on Fridays
cred ash is linked to success in wrestling contests, fertility of
to recall the passion of Christ. The season of Lent is a more
the earth, rites of initiation, death, and the afterlife. Young
protracted period of fasting commemorating the passion. In-
Nuba men, at various critical points in their lives, cover their
tense fasting as a form of purgation is widely associated with
bodies with sacred ash as a symbol of purification.
states of visionary ecstasy. Typically, the religious specialist
Throughout the world, cow dung is used as fuel and as
prepares himself to receive visions by abstaining from food
mortar to build shelters. Thus, it represents an important re-
and drink for long periods of time; he may become emaciat-
source for human communities. It is not surprising, there-
ed, undergo symbolic death, then experience intense spiritual
fore, that in some cultures cow dung is used as a detergent
illumination.
with purificatory qualities. Since cows are sacred in India,
Both Judaism and Islam forbid the eating of pork. No
cow dung and other bovine products are considered to be ex-
religion has a more strict set of dietary laws than Orthodox
tremely pure. In the case of Indian death pollution, for exam-
Judaism, where eating is a sacramental act. The Jewish di-
ple, when an individual has died in a house or temple, or
etary laws were a sign of the holiness of God’s people; they
whenever there is a need for special acts of purification, five
served to preserve monotheism and to set the Jews apart from
products of the cow (dung, milk, ghee, curds, and urine) are
surrounding pagan societies. Dietary laws are found in the
mixed together and applied as a detergent to clean walls or
books of Deuteronomy, Genesis, and Exodus, but they are
apply to human beings. In Hinduism the sacredness of the
most widely articulated in Leviticus. Animals that have true
cow, mother of life, makes this mixture almost sacramental
hoofs and chew their cud, including oxen, sheep, harts, and
in its efficacy.
gazelles, may be eaten. Only a few birds are considered clean:
Purgation. This category subsumes a large variety of
chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys. Fish must have fins and
purificatory rites. The common thread is either a physical or
scales to be considered clean; thus, all shellfish are excluded.
psychological purging to eliminate pollution, often involving
Also classified as unclean are those animals that creep, crawl,
self-sacrifice, pain, and suffering by the devotee. Purificatory
or swarm upon the earth. Animals permitted in the Mosaic
purgation, found in one form or another throughout the
dietary laws may be eaten only under certain conditions: they
world, always involves a metaphysics of cleansing transfor-
must be slaughtered by a man trained in Jewish law, using
mation, as natural bodily or psychic pollution is purified
a sharp knife and severing the animal’s throat with one con-
through rituals that alter the human condition.
tinuous stroke. Even then, the meat is not kosher unless it
has been properly drained of blood, prepared with salt, then
One means of cleansing the human body from defile-
washed clean (Trepp, 1982, pp. 281–284). According to
ment is to shave the head, eyebrows, and other body hair.
Mary Douglas, Jewish dietary laws act as signs to inspire
In Hinduism, the hair and beard must not be cut until the
meditation on the “oneness, purity and completeness of
end of the mourning period. At that time the head is shaved
God” (Douglas, 1966, p. 57). Observance of these laws helps
to demarcate the end of death pollution. Novices in some
the Jewish people to express their holiness at every meal and
monastic traditions are shaved to signify the termination of
to prepare for the sacrifice in the temple.
their worldly life and their dedication to holy orders. Even
the rite of circumcision, with its removal of the foreskin, is
The body may be purged of pollution by various emetics
an act of purification as well as a rite of passage designed to
that induce vomiting or diarrhea. The peyote ritual found
integrate the individual into a new level of community.
among Indians of Mexico and the American Southwest in-
Throughout the world special clothing is used in the
volves a phase of vomiting, considered to have both physical
context of sacred ceremonies; the hair may be covered, shoes
and spiritual purifying effects (Malefijt, 1968). Purgatives
removed, or new clothes required. In the case of death pollu-
such as castor oil are used as purifying agents in African reli-
tion, old clothes of the deceased may be burned. This change
gions. Emetics of various kinds are prescribed by shamans to
of clothing signifies a termination of uncleanliness. Deities
flush out evil spirits and purify the human body. Among
in Hinduism must be approached by devotees wearing the
North American Indians, the sweat bath is widely employed
purest possible garments. According to Lawrence A. Babb,
to cure illnesses and remove impurities.
as a general rule . . . the principal actor or actors in rit-
Psychological forms of purgation are connected to the
ual must be in a purified condition before approaching
condition of the human body. Various forms of physical tor-
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PURIFICATION: AN OVERVIEW
7509
ture have been employed in the world’s religions to bring
spiritual life. Here purgation is followed by the contempla-
about a psychological state of penance and humility in the
tion of sublime spiritual visions.
presence of the supernatural. Mortification of the flesh in-
cludes various forms of flagellation, walking on nails, lacera-
Substitution and catharsis. The use of substitutions to
tions, suspension on hooks driven through the skin, the
remove pollution is a widespread purificatory custom. The
wearing of hair shirts, and sleeping on rough surfaces. These
sick human body may be rubbed with sticks, stones, or other
painful acts of self-sacrifice are not reserved only for religious
objects to which the pollution is transferred. A means of cur-
specialists; in many religions with strong pilgrimage tradi-
ing mental disorders in Nigeria is to remove the person’s
tions, self-denial is an act of purification for laypeople. At the
clothes and rub his body with a sacrificed dove, which ab-
great pilgrimage shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico
sorbs the evil spirits. In the American Indian peyote cult, in-
City and at numerous Marian devotions in Europe, pilgrims
dividuals are purified by being rubbed with sagebrush. The
may be seen crawling on their bleeding knees toward the
institution of kingship is widely accompanied by the purifi-
sanctuaries. Pilgrimages to Mecca, the medieval shrines of
catory anointing of the king’s body. The annual Qingming
Europe, and the great pilgrim centers of Hinduism are asso-
ceremony in China involves a tradition of sweeping clean the
ciated with danger, hardship, and self-denial, which are be-
graves of the ancestors. This rite of purification renews the
lieved to be purificatory. The ultimate form of purgation oc-
whole community. Shinto¯ priests transfer their pollution to
curs when the pilgrim dies along the journey; in Hinduism
a special wand, which is then thrown away so that they may
it is considered highly auspicious to die on pilgrimage, an act
perform sacred ceremonies in a state of ritual purity.
equivalent to dying near the sacred Ganges River.
There are numerous instances of transferring pollution
Another form of physical and psychological purification
to either human or animal scapegoats. Specially selected indi-
is sexual abstinence or celibacy. In some religions, the highest
viduals may be whipped, beaten, and then expelled from a
spiritual experiences can occur only for individuals who have
community to rid it of pollution. In Fiji, the polluted person
given up all worldly pleasures. Sexual abstinence is believed
is washed in a stream; he or she then wipes their hand on
to place the individual in a state of grace where he can con-
a pig or turtle to remove pollution. At one time among the
centrate on the supernatural. In some respects, strong mar-
Maori of New Zealand, when an epidemic disease raged in
riage vows prohibiting extramarital sexual activity are de-
the community, a man was selected as a temporary scape-
signed to ensure the purity of sex within the marriage
goat; a fern stalk was attached to his body, he was submerged
contract. The transgression of sexual boundaries is an act of
in a river, and the fern stalk was allowed to float downstream.
pollution that may require intense rites of purification.
The epidemic was transferred to the scapegoat (the fern
stalk), then washed away by the river. Sometimes scapegoats
Confession of misdeeds appears in one form or another
are institutionalized corporately, so that a whole social class
in most religions. The public or private recitation of trans-
takes on the burden of pollution. Thus, Indian untouchables
gressions purges the individual of guilt and acts as an anti-
have been singled out to bear the suffering associated with
dote to both the personal and the collective pollution result-
pollution; consequently the other social castes may be at least
ing from the breaking of taboos. The Inuit custom of group
relatively free of pollution.
confession, particularly practiced during times when seal
hunting is unsuccessful, is an example of corporate purgation
Community catharsis, through substitution and the use
through confession. It is believed that when the hair of the
of scapegoats, is most widely practiced in the form of ritual
great goddess Sedna, who lives under the sea, has become
sacrifice, where the animal’s head is exchanged for that of a
dirty because of human sins (like secret miscarriages and vari-
human who is spiritually polluted (Preston, 1980). Sacrifice
ous breaches of taboos) she angrily holds back the sea ani-
is a widespread custom in the world’s religions; although it
mals. During a trance, the shaman appeases Sedna, then calls
is performed for many different purposes, one major reason
for a group confession so that hunting may be plentiful
is to purify both the individual and community of defile-
(Eliade, 1964). Confession often results in a flood of tears,
ment. Consequently, the dramatic shedding of blood is typi-
self-mortification, or other acts intended to express sorrow
cally surrounded with a milieu of powerful ritual catharsis.
for transgressions. Thus, confession removes the stain of sin
Among the cattle-keeping Nuer tribe of the Sudan, sacrifices
through a psychological act of expiation and purification.
are performed as atonements for breaking taboos. The an-
cient Greeks employed blood sacrifices as rites of absorptive
Contact with holy items, such as relics of saints, sacra-
purification, transferring defilement to despised animals
ments, and statues of deities, is an important source of purifi-
(Parker, 1983). Cattle, sheep, goats, chickens, and pigs are
cation. The utterance of prayers also has cleansing value. In
the animals most widely employed as scapegoats in ritual sac-
Hinduism, mantras may be used either as agents to combat
rifices. While human sacrifice occurred widely in the past,
evil or as foci for concentration leading to spiritual awaken-
this form of expiation has mostly disappeared. However, in
ing. Rituals of purification in Buddhism are metaphors for
its symbolic form cathartic human sacrifice has been retained
inner transformations and mystical enlightenment. Prayer
in the passion of Christ, where Jesus of Nazareth takes on
and meditation, particularly by ascetics, purify the soul, ren-
the “sins of the world,” becoming the “perfect offering” to
dering it a fitting receptacle for God-consciousness and the
cleanse the world of its collective pollution.
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PURIFICATION: AN OVERVIEW
Secular forms. The symbolism of purification is not
is the relationship of the social categories of pollution and
confined to the religious sphere. Modern secular societies
purity to the religious impulse itself?
continue to utilize powerful symbols of pollution and purity.
Pollution/purity norms serve clear sociological and psy-
Even though the religious content has been removed from
chological purposes, reinforcing the boundaries of the com-
much of this symbolism in technological societies, some of
munity, ensuring the survival of the group, reinforcing prin-
it lingers. The wide array of soaps and other chemicals used
ciples of health, and assisting individuals to cope ritually with
for cleansing the bodies and living habitats of modern peo-
life crises. Still, the relationship of people to the supernatural
ples cannot be understood merely as extensions of scientific
remains the focal point of purification rites throughout the
insights about health stemming from germ theory. Much of
world. In Confucianism, a state of purity is necessary to es-
the preoccupation of American hospitals with white walls,
tablish a channel of communication between living persons
antiseptics, and unstained clothing is suspiciously reminis-
and the spiritual world. The Hindu performs yoga only after
cent of Puritan notions of religious cleanliness.
purification; higher levels of consciousness may be blocked
Fire, water, detergents, purgation, and substitutions re-
by painful impurities unless the devotee manages to over-
main important sources of both religious and secular purifi-
come them. The loving God of Christianity helps his people
cation rites in the modern world. However, the most note-
to transcend impurities by sending his son and offering salva-
worthy addition would be an array of chemicals added to this
tion through the Eucharist. In all these cases, channels of
set of purificatory devices for removing pollution. Also sig-
communication with the divinity are made possible through
nificant is the tendency to perceive both pollution and purity
the establishment of boundaries between domains of pollu-
in materialistic terms. Even though religious pollution is not
tion and purity, the identification of a situation of defile-
an extinct concept in modern societies, it has often been iso-
ment, the performance of appropriate purificatory rites, and
lated and compartmentalized away from the material world.
the experience of a new encounter with the ultimate supreme
Thus, today diseases such as smallpox are not usually thought
being.
to be related to sin or the breaking of taboos; nor are the
Mary Douglas and other structuralists have noted cor-
cures of these diseases sought by performing religious purifi-
rectly that pollution/purity norms impose order on the unti-
cation rites. Still, some illnesses and critical life crisis events
diness of life experiences: “Reflection on dirt involves reflec-
that have escaped the control of the rational scientific meth-
tion on the relation of order to disorder, being to non-being,
od remain, in many quarters, mysterious enough to require
form to formlessness, life to death” (Douglas, 1966, p. 5).
both religious and secular rites of purification. This is partic-
Yet categories of pollution and purity represent more than
ularly true for some types of cancer, which remain mysteri-
ideological or social systems. Defilement represents human
ous and defy ingenious medical technologies born of the
failure to attain perfection, to realize a godlike nature, while
modernist world view.
purification is the human expression of divine aspirations.
Religious Meaning. Rites of purification are rarely iso-
SEE ALSO Ablutions; Celibacy; Confession of Sins; Fasting;
lated or discrete events. Usually they are linked together as
Fire; Hair; Incense; Kashrut; Mortification; Rites of Passage;
sequences of rites within the larger semantic network of puri-
Scapegoat; Water.
ty symbolism in a particular religious or cultural context.
Among the Ndembu of northwestern Zambia the unifying
BIBLIOGRAPHY
symbol is the color white. This compound image of purity
Babb, Lawrence A. The Divine Hierarchy: Popular Hinduism in
permeates every aspect of Ndembu religion. Water is regard-
Central India. New York, 1975.
ed as white because it cleanses the body of dirt. After a funer-
Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger. New York, 1966. This land-
al the widower is anointed with oil, shaved, washed, given
mark volume has had a profound effect on the understanding
new white cloth, and adorned with white beads. According
of religion. Pollution and purity are analyzed in different reli-
to Victor Turner, “Behind the symbolism of whiteness, then,
gious systems to reveal underlying structural similarities. The
lie the notions of harmony, continuity, purity, the manifest,
author stresses the need to understand concepts of pollution
the public, the appropriate, and the legitimate” (1967,
and purity in the context of a total structure of thought.
p. 77). Rites and symbols of purification have no meaning
Douglas, Mary. “Deciphering a Meal.” Daedalus 101 (Winter
unless they are interpreted as part of a larger religious lan-
1972): 61–81. An elegant structural analysis of the meaning
guage.
of the sacred meal with particular reference to Jewish laws re-
garding purification and diet.
This article has not exhausted the range of purificatory
Douglas, Mary. Implicit Meanings: Essays in Anthropology. Boston,
rites available in the world religions; other mechanisms of
1975. A collection of excellent essays, some of which expand
purification that could be added to this list include the appli-
on the author’s earlier structural analysis of purity norms.
cation of sandalwood paste to the skin, bleeding the little fin-
Dumont, Louis. Homo Hierarchicus. Translated by Mark Sains-
ger, chewing hot chiles, touching sacred relics, eating or
bury. Rev. ed. Chicago, 1980. A classic study of Hinduism,
drinking sacraments, and making loud noises (as in the Chi-
with particular emphasis on structural oppositions, including
nese custom of setting off firecrackers). The important ques-
notions of pollution and purity as manifested in the caste
tion is what all this means in terms of human religion. What
system.
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
PURIFICATION: PURIFICATION IN JUDAISM
7511
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Rev. &
logical conditions will render a person impure, namely child-
enl. ed. New York, 1964.
birth (Lv. 12:1–8); scale disease, traditionally translated as
Lichter, David, and Lawrence Epstein. “Irony in Tibetan Notions
leprosy, even though this is most likely not the condition de-
of the Good Life.” In Karma: An Anthropological Inquiry, ed-
scribed in the text (Lv. 13:1 – 14:32); and genital discharges
ited by Charles F. Keyes and E. Valentine Daniel. Berkeley,
(Lv. 15:1–33). These conditions affect first and foremost the
Calif., 1983.
people suffering from them. However, the priestly thinking
Malefijt, Annemarie De Waal. Religion and Culture. New York,
about impurity further understands the state of impurity to
1968.
be transferable from one person to another, or from a person
Nielsen, Niels C., et al. Religions of the World. New York, 1982.
to an object, and vice versa. Such transference can occur in
numerous ways, such as by direct and indirect touch, by spit-
Parker, Robert. Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek
Religion. Oxford, 1983. An excellent, thorough analysis of
tle, through sexual means, or in the case of corpse impurity,
pervasive purity norms in ancient Greek religion.
even by simply being under the same roof as the corpse.
Preston, James J. Cult of the Goddess: Social and Religious Change
Corresponding to these primary and secondary states of
in a Hindu Temple. New Delhi, 1980.
impurity, the priestly source defines different degrees of se-
Steiner, Franz. Taboo. New York, 1956.
verity of impurity by legislating different durations of states
Trepp, Leo. Judaism: Development and Life. Belmont, Calif.,
of impurity, as well as different procedures of purification.
1982.
For example, a woman who menstruates is in a status of im-
Turner, Victor. The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual.
purity for seven days, but the one who touches her for the
Ithaca, N. Y., 1967.
remainder of the day only (Lv. 15:19). A man or a woman
who have irregular discharges (zav/zavah) are in a status of
JAMES J. PRESTON (1987)
impurity as long as their discharge lasts and then have to
count out seven days without a discharge before they can un-
dergo purification (Lv. 15:13 and Lv. 15:28), while again the
person who touches them remains in a status of impurity for
PURIFICATION: PURIFICATION IN JUDAISM
the remainder of the day (Lv. 15:7 and Lv. 15:27). A person
The concept of purity represents one of the cornerstones of
who has been affected by corpse impurity remains in a status
Jewish religiosity from its earliest articulation in biblical liter-
of impurity for seven days (Nm. 19:11).
ature. Indeed, the ideal of attaining purity by purification
from the various kinds of impurities enumerated in the Book
Purification is effected by various aspects: (1) by time,
of Leviticus forms an integral part of the notion of holiness
or by simply waiting a set amount of time free of the physio-
in that book, as well as in later Jewish sources. At the same
logical condition that caused the status of impurity to begin
time, purity is not a uniform concept. On the contrary, the
with; (2) by water, that is, by washing one’s clothes if one
idea of purity is mobilized in numerous thematic, literary,
has touched an impure person or object, or washing the ob-
and chronological contexts, ranging from ritual to purely
ject such a person touched (e.g., Lv. 15:12); and by bathing
metaphysical or spiritual. It plays a fundamental role in con-
(Lv. 15:13, 15:5–11, Lv. 15:21–22); (3) finally, the process
structions of gender identity in Jewish culture, just as gender
of purification is completed by variously prescribed sacrificial
is a structural element of the various manifestations of the
offerings (e.g., Lv. 12:6–7, Lv. 15:14, Lv. 15:29). Surprising-
conceptualization of purity. Not so much a linear develop-
ly, the biblical text noticeably omits the practice of washing
ment of a uniform idea, from ritual to spiritual, purity is
or immersion in all cases of women’s impurity, after birthing
rather a concept which acquires different layers of meanings
as well as after menstruating and after suffering from an ab-
and can be variously drawn on.
normal genital discharge. Finally, a further and less obvious
RITUAL IMPURITY AND PURIFICATION IN BIBLICAL AND
means of purification is constituted by the ritual of the red
JEWISH LAW. The primary context in which the idea of puri-
heifer which is burned and whose ashes are mixed with fresh
ty plays a fundamental role is in the so-called priestly source
(“living”) water to be sprinkled on the objects and people af-
of the Book of Leviticus and its concern for the ritual life of
fected by corpse impurity (Nm. 19).
the sanctuary. Purity (taharah) and impurity (tum’ah) are
These priestly regulations concerning ritual impurity
primarily functional concepts and connote the status of a
and the process of purification avoid any suggestion that they
person or an object with respect to the Temple. A person
should be understood as punitive measures. Contracting a
needs to be in a status of ritual purity in order to enter the
ritual status of impurity does not constitute a transgression
Temple area. If the person or an object has been affected by
in any way, neither of a legal nor a moral kind. On the con-
a source of impurity they need to undergo a process of ritual
trary, in most cases impurity is the result of a natural occur-
purification before they can again enter the Temple or be put
rence in a person’s life, such as birth, ejaculation, menstrua-
to use for work related to the Temple.
tion, and death. Also, ritual impurity is a temporary status,
Primary sources of impurity are the carcasses of various
which can easily be ameliorated. In this context, the legal
animals deemed to be impure (Lv. 11:1–47) and human
rhetoric merely suggests that if ritual impurity is contracted,
corpses (Nm. 19:10–22). Further, certain physical or physio-
a process of purification specified in the text should be un-
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PURIFICATION: PURIFICATION IN JUDAISM
dergone. Surprisingly, this applies even to the man who has
its hallowed things and to heave-offering and second tithe,
sexual relations with a menstruating woman (Lv. 15:24). The
for it warns those impure against entering the Temple or eat-
actual prohibition of menstrual sex (Lv. 18:19 and 20:18)
ing anything hallowed, or heave-offering, or tithe. However,
stems from a different source of biblical law, the Holiness
no such prohibition applies to common food, and it is per-
Code, which removes it from the ritual context and places it
mitted to eat common food that is impure and to drink im-
in the lists of prohibited sexual relations. Here, contrary to
pure liquids.” (Mishnah Torah, Mishnah Okhelim 16:8).
Leviticus 15:24, the man and the woman are threatened with
However, already at the time of the Mishnah, the Temple
karet (commonly translated as “cutting off from their peo-
in Jerusalem no longer existed. With the destruction of the
ple”, Lv. 20:18) in case of transgression. This tension be-
Temple (70 CE) the laws of ritual purity lost their point of
tween sources of biblical law makes the case of menstrual im-
reference and, therefore, their context of applicability. This
purity unique, since here two different discourses overlap,
is often cited as the reason for the lack of a talmudic discus-
the discourse of ritual impurity and the discourse of regula-
sion of the mishnaic “Order of Purities,” with the notable
tions of sex. The priestly source, however, generally lacks
exception of the tractate dealing with menstrual impurity.
warnings of transgression in the context of defining the pro-
Regulations of menstruation remain applicable due to the
cess of contracting a status of impurity. It merely warns peo-
prohibition of menstrual sex in the Holiness Code, which, ac-
ple to avoid bringing impurity in touch with the sanctuary:
cording to the rabbis, applies independent of any historical
“Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their
context, whether pertaining to the existence of the Temple
impurity, so that they do not die in their impurity by im-
or conditions of exile.
purifying my tabernacle that is in their midst” (Lv. 15:31;
Generally, the entire system of purification has been
cf. 7:20–21 and 22:3–9). Finally, especially in the context
rendered inoperable in the post-Temple era, since sacrifices
of corpse impurity, the priestly law enjoins people to purify
form an integral part of the purification process. Further-
themselves, or else (Nm. 19:13 and 19:20). Hence, the Israel-
more, since medieval times all Jews are considered to be in
ites are enjoined to be aware of their ritual status, rather than
a status of corpse impurity, due to the cessation of the ritual
being told to avoid impurity altogether, notes Jonathan Kla-
of the red heifer and its function of purification from corpse
wans in Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism. This applies es-
impurity. Consequently, the codification of the purity laws
pecially to the priests (Lv. 7:20–21; cf. 22:3–9), with the ex-
in Jewish law by and large remains a theoretical issue.
ception of their prohibition to contract corpse impurity (Lv.
21:1–3).
Various scholars have attempted to explain the rationale
of the priestly system of ritual purity in biblical and, by im-
It is the priestly notion of ritual purity that is subse-
plication, later Jewish law. The priestly writers themselves
quently encoded in Jewish law since rabbinic law draws pre-
do, of course, not provide any explanations for either the ori-
dominantly on this concept of purity. The earliest rabbinic
gins or the reasons for any of their purity regulations. In de-
legal code of the end of the second century CE, the Mishnah,
scribing the “priestly theology” of impurity, the biblical
devotes one of its six orders to “Purities” (a euphemism for
scholar Jacob Milgrom, in his work Leviticus 1–16: A New
what should be “Impurities”), subdivided into twelve trac-
Translation with Introduction and Commentary, takes a histo-
tates, in order to further develop the laws of ritual purity. In-
ry-of-religion approach which posits “Israel’s victory over
dividual tractates are devoted to the impurity of a corpse, of
pagan beliefs” in almost each one of its rituals of purification
vessels, of the menstruating woman, of the man with an ab-
(Milgrom, 1991, pp. 42–51). He thinks of this process in
normal genital discharge, and others. Early rabbinic law aims
terms of a monotheistic reworking of pagan conceptions of
to systematize the degrees of impurity into originary and de-
demonic impurity. Accordingly, Milgrom traces the ostensi-
rivative sources. Further, the rabbis also specify in the great-
ble background of pagan (Mesopotamian) religion to the
est detail what a normative pool of immersion (mikveh) for
priestly writers, in which the deities are dependent on a
purification as an actual built structure should look like.
metadivine realm that spawns a multitude of malevolent and
While biblical law merely speaks of “living water” as a means
benevolent entities. The malevolent metadivine entities were
of immersion (Lv. 15:13), rabbinic law thus institutionalizes
perceived to be the source of human pollution, a threat both
the practice of immersion. Significantly, rabbinic law accepts
to humans and gods, and purification entailed a process of
it as a given that women immerse in the mikveh at the end
exorcism.
of their period of impurity (e.g., Mishnah, Mikva Dot 8:1
and 5).
According to Milgrom, in his Leviticus 1–16, the bibli-
cal writers partially adopt, with significant changes, this
Theoretically, therefore, rabbinic law remains wedded
mythical imagination, but they thoroughly eviscerate the
to the functional aspect of ritual purity with the Temple as
pagan demonic force, which finds its expression in their con-
the implied point of reference. The great medieval scholar
cept of impurity. God can still be driven out of the sanctuary,
of Jewish law Moses Maimonides (Mosheh ben Maimon,
but it is now humans who do so by polluting it with their
1135/8–1204) thus writes: “Whatever is written in the
moral and ritual transgressions. And now it is exclusively the
Torah and in traditional teaching about the laws relating to
sanctuary. Hence, in the priestly writings “impurity” has be-
things impure and pure is relevant only to the Temple and
come harmless, since it retained potency only with regard to
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PURIFICATION: PURIFICATION IN JUDAISM
7513
the sancta, not to other people (Milgrom, 1991, p. 43). This
process; genital discharges, which represent the life force and
process of reducing the power of impurity takes places in var-
their loss the opposite; and corpse impurity. Since impurity
ious stages within the priestly materials of the Bible and
and holiness are antonyms in the priestly system, impurity
reaches its completion in the rabbinic stage which limits its
is to be equated with death and holiness with life. The sym-
“malefic effects to actual contact with sancta,” while it is no
bolic system enjoins the Israelites to separate impurity from
longer sinful to remain otherwise impure (Milgrom, 1991,
God and his sanctuary as the quintessential source of holi-
p. 317). The biblical and rabbinic ages are to be considered
ness. Thus, according to Milgrom, it serves as a reminder of
a single historical continuum as far as the religious concept
the divine imperative to reject death and choose life.
of impurity is concerned. Other biblical scholars, however,
IMPURITY OF TRANSGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR. However, aside
argue that monotheism could not have effected such a radical
from the concept of ritual purity, biblical law elsewhere and
break with ancient Near Eastern culture. In contrast to Mil-
prophetic literature—most prominently Ezekiel—draw on
grom, Baruch Levine argues that biblical writers perceived
the concept of purity in ways that extend beyond the func-
impurity as the “actualized form of evil forces operative in
tional, ritual context. In a number of prophetic and poetic
the human environment” (Levine, 1974, p. 78).
passages, it has a clearly metaphoric function (e.g., Ps. 51,
As an anthropologist, Mary Douglas takes a different
Lam. 1:8, Is. 1:15–17). But elsewhere certain human trans-
approach altogether to make sense of the biblical notion of
gressive behavior is labeled as “impurity” (tum Dah). Such be-
ritual purity. In her now famous early work on Leviticus, Pu-
havior includes the sexual transgressions listed in the Holiness
rity and Danger (1966), she eschews the question of concep-
Code (Lv. 18:24–30), idolatry (Lv. 19:31, 20:1–3), and mur-
tual origins of the biblical notion and instead focuses on the
der (Nm. 35:33–34). The reference point for these “impuri-
ritual legislation as it presents itself. Accordingly, she argued
ties” is not merely the Temple. Rather, such acts impose im-
first of all for the systemic nature of any given culture’s con-
purity upon the perpetrator (Lv. 18:24), the land of Israel
ceptions of impurity, and especially in the biblical case. Sec-
(Lv. 18:25, Ez. 36:17), and the sanctuary (Lv. 20:3, Ez.
ondly, she demands that such systems of impurity have to
5:11). However, neither the land nor the sanctuary is ren-
be understood symbolically. It is prominently body symbol-
dered impure by direct or indirect contact. Rather, their im-
ism she regards as central to any understanding of systems
purity is the cumulative, spiritual consequence of the behav-
of impurity, since the body symbolizes society and attitudes
ior deemed to be reprehensible. In these legal contexts and
to bodily boundaries correspond to attitudes to societal
in the prophetic reproach, the rhetoric is clearly punitive: the
boundaries. Hence, closed societies such as that which sup-
individual perpetrator(s) will be “cut off” from their people
posedly produces the biblical priestly writings will, for in-
(Lv. 18:29), while the cumulative, collective consequence of
stance, articulate more anxiety about bodily fluids. Finally,
such acts is the expulsion of the people from the land of Isra-
beliefs of impurity have to be interrogated as to their func-
el: “Do not render yourselves impure with any of these things
tion as tools of social control. They therefore have a primarily
(sexual transgressions), for with all these the nations were
rendered impure which I cast out before you, and the land
oppressive function and serve to marginalize certain groups
was rendered impure. Therefore I do punish its iniquity
of people, prominently women. In her more recent work,
upon it, and the land vomits out her inhabitants” (Lv.
however, Douglas revises her earlier approach somewhat,
18:24–25). Finally, none of these texts provide any overt
even though she still adheres to the fundamental tenets of
process of purification. Only Ezekiel envisions the future in-
her approach of structural symbolism. However, rather than
gathering of the exiles in the terms of a divine purification
regarding the system of impurities as static, she now focuses
of the people (Ezek. 36:24) that will allow them to re-inhabit
more on the opportunity of purification provided by the
the land.
priestly writers to everybody, not just the priests: “In so far
as the Levitical rules for purity apply universally they are use-
The tension between the conception of impurity in the
less for internal disciplining. They maintain absolutely not
priestly source and the Holiness Code and Ezekiel has caused
social demarcation . . . the book insists over and over again
considerable debate, particularly in biblical scholarship on
that the poor and the stranger are to be included in the re-
the ritual purity system, since any analysis of the nature of
quirements of the laws; no one is excluded from the benefits
the ritual purity system depends on the way the relationship
of purification” (Douglas, 1993–94, pp. 112–113). This em-
between the ritual purity system and those other uses of puri-
phasis undermines her earlier assessment of the oppressive
ty terminology are defined. At the same time, it has provided
social function of the system, even though she still recognizes
a fertile ground for the adaptation of the language and con-
the exclusive powers of the priests within the system.
ceptualization of purity and purification in post-biblical Jew-
ish literature and later Jewish religiosity. For the sake of con-
In his Leviticus 1–16, Milgrom equally determines the
ceptual clarity we will briefly review the former, before
rationale of the ritual complexes of Leviticus 1–16 by treating
describing the latter.
them as aspects of a symbolic system that is governed by a
comprehensive theory. He argues that death is the common
Jacob Neusner’s approach in The Idea of Purity in An-
denominator in the three major sources of impurity: scale
cient Judaism can be found on one end of the scale in that
disease, where the wasting of the body symbolizes the death
he considers the two to have a metaphorical relationship. Pu-
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PURIFICATION: PURIFICATION IN JUDAISM
rity and impurity are primarily “cultic matters,” but can serve
cf. Lv. 21:15). In this genealogical context, the term “pure”
as metaphors for moral religious behavior, even though in
comes to mean unalloyed or free of admixture, notes Hayes,
some post-biblical Jewish formations (Qumran, rabbis)
and Nehemiah accomplishes purification by separating the
transgressive behavior may serve as a source for actual pollu-
Israelites from the foreign wives. She notes that while moral
tion. Milgrom, however, recognizes the defiling force of sin-
impurity defiles the land, the sanctuary, and the sinner, it is
ful behavior and develops a specific description of the process
not said to impair ones seed in any way, as in the case of ex-
by which various types of transgressions render the sanctuary
ogamy. Hayes argues therefore that these differences should
impure. To Milgrom, in Leviticus 1–16, the defiling force on
caution against adopting the view that Ezra’s concern for the
transgression is concentrated on the sanctuary, and the refer-
holy seed of Israel as simply an extension of the concept of
ence point for purification remains to be the sanctuary
moral impurity. Both Klawans and Hayes argue that differ-
(“Israel’s Sanctuary”). His lasting contribution is to have rec-
ent views of their respective categories of impurity are at the
ognized that what has commonly been translated as a “sin-
root of Jewish sectarianism during the period of the Second
offering” (hatta Dt) should actually be translated and under-
Temple.
stood as a “purification-offering,” whose main function is to
POST-BIBLICAL JUDAISM. Various Jewish groups during the
purify the Temple from the cumulative effects of people’s
last two centuries BCE and first century CE draw on the con-
transgressive behavior (Milgrom, 1991, pp. 253–261).
ceptualization of purity for boundary making purposes,
While individuals have to bring purification-offerings during
among them prominently the sectarians who produced the
the course of the year for inadvertent transgressions (Lv. 4),
Dead Sea Scrolls. On the one hand, these sectarians make
the climax of this process of purification is the ritual of the
use of ritual purity laws to differentiate themselves from
Day of Atonement (also known as Purgation Day), when the
other Jews, by adding more laws and interpreting some laws
entire sacred area or all that is most sacred is purged with
differently as for instance in the scroll Miqsat Ma’ase Ha-
the blood of the purification offering.
torah (4 QMMT). But furthermore, they also conflate the
differences between what were different types of discourse in
Early in the twenty-first century, Klawans has taken
biblical law. In the sectarian literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls
issue with these prevailing theories in biblical and rabbinic
moral transgressions are considered to have a polluting force
scholarship. He insists on a categorical distinction between
and the technical ritual language in the priestly source of bib-
“ritual” and “moral” impurity which each have their distinct
lical law is applied to moral transgressions. Even more signif-
defiling forces. These two categories can be correlated to the
icantly, repentance and atonement require actual ritual puri-
different approaches the priestly source and the Holiness Code
fication, as reflected for instance in the Rule of the
(and related texts) take in biblical law. Contra Neusner,
Community. One can also speak of a literalization of what in
moral impurity is not merely a metaphorical concept, and
biblical literature appeared to operate as a metaphor, when
contra Milgrom, he focuses on those transgressive behaviors
prophetic and poetic passages draw on the terminology of
deemed to cause impurity to the land and not merely the
purity and purification to illustrate their notion of atone-
sanctuary. Klawans emphatically rejects the idea that the
ment.
concept of the defilement of the land (Lv. 18:24–30) is only
metaphorical. Rather, the performance of sexual transgres-
Early Rabbinic Judaism, on the other hand, by and large
sions defiles the sinner and the land upon which the sins are
adheres to the conceptualization of purity reflected in the
committed. This defilement is understood to be moral, and
priestly source of the Bible. To be sure, it does champion the
what is conveyed is a permanent degradation of status. In Im-
concept of the cumulative polluting effect of moral transgres-
purity and Sin in Ancient Judaism, Klawans views moral and
sions on the land and the punitive theological consequences.
ritual impurity as two analogous, but distinct, perceptions of
But this appears as a trope mostly in homiletic contexts and
contagion, each of which brings about effects of legal and so-
in the context of biblical interpretation, while it does play
cial consequence.
no role in the context of legal discussions. However, the legal
development and talmudic discussions of purity laws atro-
It should be added that Christine E. Hayes builds on
phy, and the codification of the laws of ritual impurity as re-
Klawans and introduces one additional category of impurity
flected in later legal codes (e.g., Mishneh Torah) remains a
in the biblical and post-biblical literature in her work Gentile
theoretical issue in post-Temple times, with the one notable
Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion
exception of the discussion of menstrual impurity (niddah).
from the Bible to the Talmud. Taking a similar history-of-idea
As mentioned above, this is the only subject of the mishnaic
approach, she traces the notion of genealogical purity in bib-
“Order of Purities” to receive a talmudic discussion. The on-
lical and post-biblical literature. The innovative moment
going interest of the rabbinic scholars in the subject is war-
with regard to this category lies with Ezra and Nehemiah who
ranted by the continuous applicability of at least some of its
extend the requirement of genealogical purity to all Israelites,
aspects, prominently the unconditional prohibition of men-
beyond the priestly groups as in the Pentateuch and Ezekiel.
strual sex in the Holiness Code. It is this prohibition that per-
A terminological shift occurs in these books according to
petuates the interest in the legal discussions of menstrual im-
which priestly exogamy is no longer described as profanation
purity. At the same time, even in this context most of the
but as defilement (Neh. 13:28–30; Ezr. 2:61–62/Neh. 7:62;
impurity rules have become irrelevant and therefore inappli-
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PURIFICATION: PURIFICATION IN JUDAISM
7515
cable in the absence of the Temple, according to Charlotte
have influenced legal discussions in some parts of the Jewish
Elisheva Fonrobert in Menstrual Purity: Rabbinic and Chris-
world. This discourse of demonizing menstrual impurity
tian Reconstructions of Biblical Gender. The focus of the prac-
continues throughout the medieval period, especially in the
tice is no longer the possible transference of a status of ritual
literature of Jewish mysticism where the concept of impurity
impurity to other people by the menstruating woman. Nor
takes on a metaphysical force of mythic proportion. In the
does the synagogue legally function as a Temple substitute
Zohar, the canonical text of Jewish mysticism from the thir-
to prevent women from going there or from touching sancta,
teenth century CE, it is menstruation that is the most promi-
a practice that has nonetheless been customary in various
nent type of impurity. At the same time, the mystery of the
Jewish communities over the centuries. Still, observant mar-
laws of menstrual impurity are so deep that it cannot be dis-
ried women to this day still immerse monthly in the mikveh,
closed to the unworthy (Zohar 3:79a). These texts, even
while men no longer do, other than for spiritual purposes in
though they represent extra-normative voices in Judaism, are
some pious circles, such as spiritual purification before the
enormously influential and add layers of meaning to the
Sabbath or a holiday. In fact, in the contemporary popular
prevalent legal definitions. Thus, they still inform the Jewish
didactic literature instructing young couples on the absten-
imagination at least to a certain degree.
tion from menstrual sex, the set of practices is often called
If one treats the ongoing discourse of menstrual impuri-
“the laws of family purity” (taharat ha-mishpahah). This term
ty as a left-over of the priestly purity system, one can speak
is technically a misnomer in that the actual practice is no lon-
also of a progressive feminization of ritual impurity in recent
ger concerned with ritual purification (taharah), nor is it
history of Jewish culture. Ultimately, these discussions and
concerned with the family as a whole, rather than the mar-
their concomitant ritualization of women’s bodies inform
ried couple itself. It entered Jewish legal discourse in the late
women’s self-understanding in Judaism considerably. It is
nineteenth and early twentieth century before it was popular-
because of this that contemporary Jewish feminist literatures
ized in the market of handbooks for married couples. One
focuses prominently on critiquing, readapting, and reshaping
of its main functions is rooted in its polemical force, vis a
the discussions of menstrual impurity.
vis liberal, non-observant Jews, which is captured by Kalman
Kahana, the author of one of the most popular of these hand-
SEE ALSO Israelite Religion; Miqveh; Rabbinic Judaism in
books, Daughter of Israel: “Daughter of Israel! The time has
Late Antiquity.
arrived to throw off alien garments, to cast away the product
of strange cultures. With head erect, and with pride, remem-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cohen, Shaye. “Menstruants and the Sacred in Judaism and
ber! You are a daughter of Israel, the sacred people. Remem-
Christianity.” In Women’s History and Ancient History, edited
ber your forefathers, who sacrificed their lives for the sanctity
by Sarah B. Pomeroy, pp. 273–299. Chapel Hill, N.C.,
of the Jewish nation. You too, bear faithful fruit, and carry
1991.
forth the illustrious tradition of Jewish purity,” (Kahana,
Cohen, Shaye. “Purity and Piety: The Separation of Menstruants
1977, p. 35).
from the Sancta.” In Daughters of the King: Women and the
As far as the context of the legal and ritual discourse in
Synagogue, edited by Susan Grossman and Rivka Haut,
Judaism is concerned, one could speak of a channeling of the
pp. 103–117. Philadelphia and Jerusalem, 1992.
concerns about impurity into the discussions of the menstru-
Cohen, Shaye. “Purity, Piety, and Polemic: Medieval Rabbinic
ating women. Time and again, Jewish legal literature reflects
Denunciations of ‘Incorrect’ Purification Practices.” In
disputes over incorrect immersion practices by women. This
Women and Water: Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law, ed-
process has been accompanied over the centuries by extra-
ited by Rahel R. Wasserfall, pp. 82–101. Hanover, N.H.,
normative literature in which the so-called Baraita de-
and London, 1999.
Niddah assumes an early and prominent role. Presumably a
Douglas, Mary. “Atonement in Leviticus.” Jewish Studies Quarter-
post-talmudic text from approximately the seventh century
ly 1:3 (1993–94): 109–130.
CE, but posing as an early talmudic text, it lists a number of
Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concept of Pollu-
extremist strictures concerning the menstruating woman, in-
tion and Taboo. London and New York, 1996; reprint, 2002.
cluding her exclusion from the synagogue or any house filled
Douglas, Mary. Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology. 2d ed.
with books (1:2, p. 3; cf.2:2, p.10; Koren, 1999, p. 18), as
London and New York, 2003.
well as prohibiting her to light the Sabbath candles (2:5,
Fonrobert, Charlotte Elisheva. Menstrual Purity: Rabbinic and
p. 17) and threatening her offspring with leprosy into the
Christian Reconstructions of Biblical Gender. Stanford, Calif.,
hundredth generation should she have sex with her husband.
2000.
Here, the menstruating woman is all but demonized, and the
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. “Pollution, Purification, and Purgation in
fact that she can undergo purification is almost irrelevant in
Biblical Israel.” In The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays
light of her threatening impurity. In spite of its extremism,
in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Sixti-
this text has a vital afterlife, in that it is quoted in biblical
eth Birthday, edited by Carol L. Meyers and M. O’Connor,
commentaries by prominent medieval scholars (Moses Nah-
pp. 399–410. Winona Lake, Ind., 1983.
manides on Gn. 31:35, Lv. 12:4, and 18:19, cf. Cohen,
Harrington, Hannah K. The Impurity Systems of Qumran and the
“Menstruants and the Sacred,” p. 295 n. 30) and may even
Rabbis: Biblical Foundations. Atlanta, Ga., 1993.
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7516
PURIM
Hayes, Christine E. Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Inter-
Esther 9:22 speaks of sending portions to friends and
marriage and Conversion from the Bible to the Talmud. Ox-
giving alms to the poor. Hence the rabbinic rule is that each
ford and New York, 2002.
person must send a gift of at least two items of food to a
Kahana, Kalman. Daughter of Israel. New York, 1977.
friend and give at least one donation to two poor men. From
Klawans, Jonathan. Impurity and Sin in Ancient Judaism. New
the reference in Esther 9:17 to “days of feasting and joy,” the
York, 2000.
rabbis further established the Purim festive meal, at which
Koren, Sharon. “‘The Woman from Whom God Wanders’;: The
there is much imbibing of wine. A Talmudic statement has
Menstruant in Medieval Jewish Mysticism.” Ph.D. diss.,
it that a man must drink until he is incapable of telling
Yale University, New Haven, Conn., 1999.
whether he is blessing Mordechai or cursing Haman.
Levine, Baruch. In the Presence of the Lord. Leiden, the Nether-
As part of the Purim jollity, undoubtedly influenced by
lands, 1974.
the Italian Carnival, people dress up, and children, especially,
Levine, Baruch. The JPS Torah Commentary: Leviticus. Philadel-
produce Purim plays in which they assume the characters
phia, 1989.
mentioned in the Megillah. Rabbis objected to men dressing
Milgrom, Jacob. “Israel’s Sanctuary: The Priestly ‘Picture of Dori-
up as women and vice versa since this offends against the law
an Gray’.” Revue Biblique 83, no. 3 (1976): 390–399.
in Deuteronomy 22:5, but Meir of Padua in the sixteenth cen-
Milgrom, Jacob. Leviticus 1–16: A New Translation with Introduc-
tury defended the practice as a harmless masquerade. In some
tion and Commentary. New York and London, 1991.
communities it is the practice to appoint a “Purim rabbi”
Neusner, Jacob. The Idea of Purity in Ancient Judaism. Leiden, the
whose duty it is frivolously to manipulate even the most sa-
Netherlands, 1973.
cred texts.
Neusner, Jacob. A History of the Mishnaic Law of Purities, 22 vols.
The Jews of Shushan (Est. 9:18) celebrated Purim on
Leiden, the Netherlands, 1974–1977.
the fifteenth day of Adar. To pay honor to Jerusalem, it was
Neusner, Jacob. Purity in Rabbinic Judaism, A Systemic Account:
ordained that cities that, like Jerusalem, had walls around
The Sources, Media, Effects, and Removal of Uncleanness. At-
them in the days of Joshua should celebrate Purim on the
lanta, Ga., 1989.
fifteenth. Consequently, the citizens of Jerusalem today keep
Swartz, Michael D. “‘Like Ministering Angels’: Ritual and Purity
the festival and read the Megillah on Shushan Purim, the fif-
in Early Jewish Mysticism and Magic.” AJS Review 19
teenth of Adar, while for other Jews Purim is on the four-
(1994): 135–167.
teenth of the month.
CHARLOTTE ELISHEVA FONROBERT (2005)
SEE ALSO Purim Plays.
PURIM
B
(“lots”) is a minor Jewish festival (one in which
IBLIOGRAPHY
N. S. Doniach’s Purim (Philadelphia, 1933) is a competent survey
work is not prohibited) that falls on the fourteenth day of
in English of the origins, rites, and ceremonies of Purim in
Adar. It celebrates the deliverance, as told in the Book of Es-
which both the critical and the traditional views are fairly
ther, of the Jews from the designs of Haman, who cast lots
stated.
to determine the date of their destruction. According to
some historians, the events recorded in Esther are fictitious,
New Sources
Polish, Daniel F. “Aspects of Esther: A Phenomenological Explo-
the festival probably having its origin in a Babylonian festi-
ration of the ‘Megillah’ of Esther and the Origins of Purim.”
val. But there is evidence that Purim was celebrated as a Jew-
JSOT 85 (1999): 85–106.
ish festival from the first century BCE. Purim was observed
also as a reminder to Jews that God often works “behind the
LOUIS JACOBS (1987)
Revised Bibliography
scenes” in order to protect his people. Medieval thinkers
found a basis for this idea in the absence of God’s name in
Esther, the only book in the Hebrew Bible in which the di-
vine name does not appear.
PURIM PLAYS. Known in standard Yiddish as purimsh-
The central feature of Purim is the reading of the Megil-
piln (sg., purimshpil), the Purim plays, presented during the
lah (scroll), as the Book of Esther is called, in the form of a
holiday of Purim, were the most common form of folk
parchment scroll, written by hand and occasionally profusely
drama among eastern and western Jews up until the Holo-
illustrated. This public reading takes place on the night of
caust. The earliest written accounts of such plays are from
Purim and again during the morning service in the syna-
the middle of the sixteenth century. They describe single-
gogue. During this service the passage in the Torah concern-
actor performances in Yiddish of purimshpiln based on non-
ing the blotting out of the name of Amalek (Ex. 17:8–16)
biblical themes that took place in Venice, Italy, and Brest (in
is read because Haman was a descendant of Amalek. Based
Belarus). In the eighteenth century, more full-fledged plays
on this is the practice, frowned upon by some Jews, of mak-
with troupe performances were produced in various commu-
ing loud noises with rattles and the like whenever the name
nities by yeshivah students, musicians, artisans, and appren-
of Haman is mentioned during the reading of the Megillah.
tices; they were enacted in synagogues and in the homes of
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
PURIM PLAYS
7517
the well-to-do, where the actors received small sums of
the background for the Play of Nebuchadnezzar. Similarly, a
money. Examples of especially popular biblical stories that
Hasidic legend retelling the wonder of a pious Hasid has
were performed were those of Esther and Ahasuerus (main
been dramatized as the Three Revenges. Consistent with the
characters in the Book of Esther), Joseph and his brothers, the
Purim-Kippurim notion, the plays are always serious and di-
binding of Isaac, and David and Goliath—all these plots em-
dactic despite the comic overlay, depicting central themes in
phasized redemption from impending destruction.
Jewish experience—survival, martyrdom, and redemption.
Today, most well-known traditions of purimshpiln
The production of the purimshpil by the community re-
occur in several Hasidic communities, of which the best
places the sermon the rebe would otherwise deliver. The
known are the Reb Arele H:asidim (known also as Toledot
purimshpil is incorporated into the rebe’s tish (table) on the
Aharon), who came to Jerusalem from Hungary during
midnight of Purim. The tish is a central ritual in the life of
World War I; the Vizhnitzer H:asidim, who came to Bene
Hasidic men, who assemble around their rebe’s table in their
Beraq (in Israel) from Romania during World War II, and
prayer hall on festivals to share a communal meal, dance, and
the surviving members of the Bobover H:asidim of Poland,
sing together. The purimshpil may last all night, and women
who established themselves in Brooklyn, New York, after
may be part of the audience. The production of the play is
World War II.
considered sacred work rather than “entertainment,” and the
manner in which it is performed is as carefully monitored by
In addition to the religious events of the common Jew-
those involved in the production as the content since the per-
ish calendar, the H:asidim have established their own tradi-
formance itself and the texts used may appear to be in contra-
tions; to a great extent these were inspired by the sixteenth-
diction to Jewish law. Making fun of God and misquoting
and seventeenth-century qabbalists of Safad. The qabbalists
biblical phrases, for example, are forbidden and could result
elevated the status of Purim to that of a major festival. Play-
in God punishing the actors. Therefore, it is important that
ing on the Hebrew word kippurim (“atonements,” an alter-
the themes of Jewish belief are accurately followed.
nate name of Yom Kippur), reading it to mean “like Purim”
(ki-Purim), the Purim holiday thus placed in importance
Usually the spiritual elite of the community, the mar-
alongside Yom Kippur, the most solemn of all Jewish
ried male students and teachers, take part in the production,
holidays.
writing, selection of music and costume, and painting of
backdrops. The comic elements are incorporated into the
Like their forefathers, contemporary H:asidim draw on
play during both rehearsals and the performance itself. The
the message of Purim, particularly as it is dramatically pres-
actors suggest jokes, which may be accepted or rejected for
ented through the purimshpil, as a means of strengthening
particular scenes. The time allocated for the preparation of
their ideology and tradition. On both Yom Kippur and
the production is limited because it is viewed as taking the
Purim, a central theme is that repentance is requested and
men away from their primary function, studying Torah.
granted; the H:asidim believe that God is more attentive to
The purimshpil more than any other event in the Ha-
supplication on these days.
sidic festival calendar engages the members of the communi-
The purimshpil has assumed the role of sacred work; the
ty in ludicrous, playful behavior antithetical to everyday con-
rebe (spiritual leader of the community) uses it to bring
ditions. During the performance, men become actors, wear
members of the community closer to God. The first evidence
costumes and makeup, and assume both male and female
of the purimshpil as an element in Hasidic ritual is attributed
roles. In the audience, the division between male and female
to Aryeh Leib (1725–1813) of Shpola, a city in Russia. He
is also relaxed; women speak with men across the mehitsah
believed that the performance of a play on Purim could influ-
(the separation between the women’s and the men’s sections
ence the course of events, a phenomenon known to anthro-
in the synagogue, a division mandated by religious law),
pologists as “sympathetic magic.” Folk belief has it that when
which has been drawn aside. Thus, the prayer hall is convert-
a decree was issued against Jews, Aryeh Leib suggested to his
ed from a house of study and prayer into a theater. In fact,
followers that they act in a play, the plot of which described
the Purim play is one of the rare occasions during the year
a reversal of such a feared situation. Other stories are told of
for the community to view theater: The Hasidic way of life
how these purimshpiln were instrumental in offsetting specif-
prohibits the participation in, and viewing of, movies or
ic disasters. The quality of inversion is inherent in the origi-
plays.
nal Purim text, the Book of Esther. A central idea underlying
Inspired by the male production of purimshpiln, Hasidic
the Book of Esther is ve-nahafokh hu D (Heb., “and it was re-
women have started to perform their own versions of the
versed,” Est. 9:11). Accordingly, Haman, the king’s vizier
Purim plays for mainly female audiences during the week of
who wanted to hang Mordecai, is hanged himself, and Mor-
Purim. Referred to by the women as “Purim musicals,” the
decai becomes a minister of the court. The Jewish communi-
texts have sources similar to those of the male purimshpiln
ty is avenged of its enemies rather than harmed by them.
but are more influenced by musicals and modern stage
Themes nowadays are also drawn from biblical sources,
effects.
East European folklore, and issues of day-to-day life. In the
World War II for the most part brought an end to the
Bobover repertoire, for example, the Book of Daniel serves as
folkways of Ashkenazic Jewry. Traditions of Yiddish song,
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
7518
PURITANISM
music, literature, and drama, which were integral parts of
ism in both the British Isles and colonial America. Some his-
Jewish life in Europe, were brutally destroyed. The revitaliza-
torians, identifying the essence of Puritanism as a reaction
tion of the purimshpil in the latter half of the twentieth cen-
to the tardy pace of the English Reformation, date it from
tury exemplifies how traditional art forms may survive physi-
the activities of William Tyndale (1495–1536) and John
cal and spiritual catastrophes. The annual performance of the
Hooper (d. 1555) in the formative years of the Church of
purimshpil, once an all-encompassing Ashkenazic Jewish tra-
England. But its major impact was felt during the century
dition, has evolved among Hasidim into a continuation ritu-
between the coming of Elizabeth I to the throne in 1558 and
al, dramatizing their need to remember the past, thereby
the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658. For most of that peri-
connecting that past to the present.
od Puritanism had no institutional identity of its own. Puri-
tans sought to purge the existing English church of its Catho-
SEE ALSO Hasidism, overview article.
lic remnants rather than to set up a rival church. Because
their goal was reform, the line that separated them from their
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Almost all the literature on the Purim plays is in Hebrew. Among
non-Puritan brethren was often unclear, a situation to the
works in English are Philip Goodman’s The Purim Anthology
advantage of those clergy and laity who wished to use the in-
(1949; reprint, Philadelphia, 1960), which has a musical sup-
stitutions of the church to effect an ultimate change in the
plement, and my doctoral dissertation, “The Celebration of
ecclesiastical structure and beliefs of the nation.
a Contemporary Purim in the Bobover Hassidic Communi-
ty” (University of Texas, 1979). A videotape of the play de-
The first stirrings of Puritan reform came in the reign
scribed in my work is available at the YIVO Institute in New
of Elizabeth from a group of former Marian exiles, clergy and
York (Purimshpil, R-70-54-11 and R-80-54-29). The Purim
laity who had fled to Protestant centers on the continent to
play is also discussed in the context of Hebrew drama in Isra-
escape the persecutions of the Catholic queen Mary I (1553–
el Abraham’s Jewish Life in the Middle Ages (1896; reprint,
1558). These believers had been radicalized by their experi-
New York, 1969), pp. 260–272. Following is a list of a few
ence at Geneva and elsewhere and were dissatisfied with the
of the works available in Hebrew.
conservative nature of the Elizabethan settlement. That set-
Moskowitz, Zvi. Kol ha-kattuv le- H:ayyim. Jerusalem, 1961/2.
tlement was a via media between the demands of Catholi-
This volume discusses “everything attributed to H:ayyim,”
cism and those of extreme reform. A compromise that many
who is H:ayyim Halberstam (1793–1876), of the city of
returning exiles could and did accept, it was unpalatable to
Nowy Zanz (southeastern Poland), the originator of the Bo-
many who saw no grace in an accommodation with sin. Ini-
bover H:asidim. See especially pages 84–87.
tial protests focused on outward signs and ceremonies of the
Rosenberg, Yehudah. Tiferet MaHaR Del: Mi-shpiDlei ha-niqraD “der
church such as the wearing of vestments, the physical posi-
shpaler zayde.” Peyetrekow, 1912; reprint, 1975. A selection
tion of church furnishings, and matters of nomenclature.
of the miraculous deeds of Rebe Aryeh Leib of Shpola. See
especially pages 38–53.
The usage of the establishment, in the view of its critics, sym-
bolized belief in a sacrificial priesthood, a real presence of
Shmeruk, Chone. Mahazot miqra Diyyim be-Yiddish, 1697–1750.
Jerusalem, 1979. This is one of the best reference books in
Christ in the Eucharist, and other elements of Roman Cath-
Hebrew available on the history and origin of the purimshpil.
olic faith and practice.
Also included are early texts of plays as well as a bibliography
Clerical opposition to the dictates of the queen and her
of manuscripts and printed books.
archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker (1559–1575),
New Sources
caught the public’s attention. But while the position of the
Baumgarten, Jean. “Un EPurim-shpilD à Kyriat Vizhnitz de Bnei
clergy forced them to make public displays of their conformi-
Braq (1996).” Perspectives 10 (2003): 127–142.
ty or nonconformity, the movement they represented was
Belkin, Ahuva. “Joyous Disputation around the Gallows: A Redis-
not simply a clerical protest. Puritanism drew the support of
covered Purim Play from Amsterdam.” JTD 1 (1995):
laity as distinguished as members of the queen’s Privy Coun-
31–59.
cil and tapped deep wells of popular support in town and vil-
Belkin, Ahuva. “Clowns et mendiants: les costumes de
E
lage, so much so that in some cases of the nonuse of vest-
Purim-shpilD.” Cahiers du Judaïsme 6 (1999–2000):
105–112.
ments it was lay pressure that strengthened the will of a
Puritan clergyman rather than pressure from a clergyman
Epstein, Shifra. “Daniyel-shpil” be-hasidut Bobov: mi-mahazeh
Eamami le-tekes Purimi. Jerusalem, 1998.
stirring up popular discontent.
Rozik, Eli. “The Adoption of Theater by Judaism despite Ritual:
Puritan hopes for early reform were bolstered when Ed-
A Study in the Purimshpil.” European Legacy 1 (1996):
mund Grindal (1519–1583) succeeded Parker as archbishop
1231–1235.
of Canterbury in 1575. A progressive bishop, although not
SHIFRA EPSTEIN (1987)
a Puritan, Grindal was less concerned than Parker with en-
Revised Bibliography
forcing practices that had caused friction in the church. He
promoted efforts to upgrade the education of the clergy and
to reform ecclesiastical abuses, positions strongly supported
PURITANISM. In its most common historical usage
by Puritans but advocated by progressive members of the es-
Puritanism refers to a movement within English Protestant-
tablishment as well. When Grindal refused to carry out 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
PURITANISM
7519
queen’s desire to suppress prophesyings (clerical conferences
gift of salvation included in the covenant of grace. In empha-
designed to promote the continuing education of the partici-
sizing humankind’s sin-diminished faculties and inability to
pants), Elizabeth suspended him, and the division within the
bridge the gap separating humans from the creator, the Puri-
church widened.
tan stood in increasing contrast to the orthodox Anglican
point of view.
Frustrated throughout Elizabeth’s reign by the resis-
tance of the episcopal hierarchy, Puritans sought other meth-
In their speculation about the means whereby God
ods of reforming English religion. An Admonition to Parlia-
reached out to elect certain souls for the gift of salvation, the
ment (1572) urged the Parliament of 1572 to take
Puritans developed elements of traditional Calvinism. Puri-
responsibility for the church. While some members of that
tan theologians, William Perkins in particular, made con-
body showed sympathy, the queen was able to block their
cepts of the covenant central to their evangelism and moral-
efforts. Other clergy and laity began to discuss and advocate
ism. Believing in predestination, they explained that all
an alternative system of church government. Presbyterian-
human beings were pledged by the covenant of works to ad-
ism, first advocated by Thomas Cartwright (1535–1603),
here to the divine law and were justly condemned for failure
was not universally popular among Puritan reformers, most
to adhere to it. They also wrote and preached an evangelical
of whom were able to work with the church hierarchy on a
message of hope centering on the free gift of saving grace to
wide range of issues. Some Puritans, however, began to de-
the elect. For those saved from the consequences of their ac-
spair of reforming the church. Under the leadership of men
tions by this gift, the law still remained the standard of be-
such as Robert Browne (c. 1550–1633), Henry Barrow
havior according to which they tried to live lives expressive
(1550–1593), and John Greenwood (d. 1593), they broke
of gratitude to their savior.
apart from the church and organized Separatist con-
The covenant of works depended on human action,
gregations.
while the covenant of grace required a faith that God himself
In the last years of Elizabeth’s reign and during the rule
enabled the elect to grasp. This emphasis on contractual rela-
of James I (1603–1625), a new generation of religious think-
tionships became a controlling metaphor for Puritans in
ers began to articulate their theologies. One group, which
their social as well as their religious thought.
would eventually rise within and then dominate the episco-
If the idea of the covenant was to be found in the Re-
pal hierarchy, was represented by Richard Hooker (1554–
formed roots of Puritanism, so was the language of condi-
1600), Richard Neile (1562–1640), and William Laud
tionality that the Puritans employed in their discussion of the
(1573–1645). This strain in Anglican thought reflected an
doctrine. While, in the words of a foremost student of cove-
accommodation to the views of the Dutch theologian Jaco-
nant theology, the ministers “from the standpoint of high
bus Arminius (1559–1609), who had sought to temper the
Calvinism . . . were solid on election but soft on persever-
rigidity of Calvinistic predestinarianism. The Arminians in
ance,” they were still within the main current of that tradi-
the church also stressed the authority of king and bishops,
tion. This nuance in their thought was revealed most clearly
the efficacy of the sacraments in the process of salvation, and
in their tracing of the normal path of the elect to salvation.
the return to a more elaborate use of liturgical ceremony. In
contrast to this evolving “new orthodoxy,” John Preston
Most Puritan preachers developed a complex morpholo-
(1587–1628), William Perkins (1558–1602), and William
gy of conversion, identifying stages in that process such as
Ames (1576–1633) spelled out the essentials of Puritan belief
election, vocation, justification, sanctification, and glorifica-
that would characterize the seventeenth-century history of
tion. Election signified God’s choosing of those to whom the
the movement in England and in the New England in Amer-
grace of salvation was to be offered. Vocation was the Holy
ica. The lines of demarcation between “orthodox” and Puri-
Spirit’s offer to humankind of the grace enabling it to seek
tan members of the church became more sharply defined,
contrition, faith, and cooperation with that grace. Puritans
and compromise became less likely.
developed an extensive literature on humanity’s preparation
with God’s help for the next and pivotal stage, justification.
The starting point for Puritan theology was an emphasis
God provided natural means such as the scripture, the sacra-
on the majesty, righteousness, and sovereignty of God. God
ments, and the sermons of godly preachers to facilitate the
created and maintained the universe by exercise of his will
process of salvation. By grasping hold of these means sinners
and directed all things to an intelligent end. The awe-
could not save themselves, but the elect could cooperate with
inspiring Puritan image of the Father drew heavily on the
the Spirit’s transforming work on their souls.
Old Testament. In contrast was the Puritan concept of man.
Scripture, their social surroundings, and an intense personal
For the blessed, justification—the soul-wrenching,
introspection all persuaded the Puritans that human beings
born-again experience of conversion—represented a passage
were depraved sinners incapable of earning merit in the eyes
from sinner to saint, from a vile and loathsome creature to
of God. But although Adam’s sin had led to this fallen state
a being embraced by God. Justification placed the stamp of
and thus precluded humankind from using the Adamic cove-
election on the saint and rehabilitated, though it did not per-
nant of works to earn its way to heaven, a benevolent and
fect, human faculties. Sanctification was the life of grace lived
loving God predestined some of his fallen creatures for the
by the saint, a life of endeavoring to show gratitude to the
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7520
PURITANISM
divine author of one’s salvation by living as God’s law pre-
brotherhood of reformed preachers had spread the Puritan
scribed. Because of human frailty, assurance of one’s state
message throughout the realm. The patronage of sympathet-
was sometimes in doubt. Glorification was the unification
ic gentry and of some borough officials secured pulpits for
of the soul with God after death, the final resolution of
the Puritans. A group of lay and clerical leaders called the
doubt, and the gathering of the elect into the communion
Feofees for Impropriation solicited donations to fund the
of saints.
purchase of numerous church livings that would be con-
trolled by the movement. But the rise of William Laud sym-
In his pilgrim’s progress to the celestial kingdom the Pu-
bolized the growing determination of the king and his chief
ritan constantly encountered the moral law. Perhaps the sim-
counselors to root out dissent. Puritan clergymen were haled
plest explanation of the rule by which the Puritan sought to
before ecclesiastical courts, deprived of their livings, and har-
live is the statement by Richard Baxter (1615–1691) that
ried out of the land.
“Overdoing is the most ordinary way of undoing.” The Puri-
tan life was a life of vigorous involvement in the world with-
Having failed to reform England by their written or spo-
out excessive or abusive use of the natural order. Some later
ken word, some Puritan leaders conceived the idea of per-
commentators and contemporary critics have sought to
suading their countrymen by the example of a model Puritan
blame Puritans for all that they themselves perceive as repres-
community. This was the goal of many who joined in the
sive in Protestant culture. But contrary to the image painted
Great Migration to New England in the 1630s. As John
by their detractors, Puritans were not killjoys or prudes.
Winthrop (1588–1649), the first governor of Massachusetts,
They dressed as befitted their social class, participated in lot-
expressed it: “We shall be as a City upon a Hill.” Massachu-
teries, drank alcoholic beverages, and approached sex as more
setts and her sister commonwealths of Connecticut (founded
than a mere obligation.
in 1636) and New Haven (1637) and the moderate Separat-
Puritans did, however, scorn what they viewed as the
ist colony of Plymouth represented an orthodoxy that was
libertine excesses of many of their peers, condemning not the
designated the New England Way. Their social and political
drink but the drunkard, not the expression of sexual love be-
fabric was knit from ideas of Christian organicism owing
tween husband and wife but extramarital sex. They felt called
much to English rural traditions as well as to the corporate
to vocations that were social, economic, and civic as well as
strain in Puritan thought. In matters of religion the orthodox
religious. They rejected the monastic ideal of separation from
developed a congregational church structure with all resi-
the world and embraced a vision of total Christian involve-
dents required to attend service but with full membership
ment in the creation. As one of the elect the Puritan was
and its privileges reserved for those who could persuade their
called to use fully all the talents God provided without overs-
peers that they had experienced saving grace.
tressing any one call; in early Massachusetts the civil magis-
The achievement of this orthodoxy was not without
trates had occasion to gently remind the clergy that even ser-
struggle. Puritans who migrated from England left the status
monizing could be overdone when the number of lecture
of dissenting minority within the structure of the state
days began to interfere with the task of community building.
church to cope with the challenge of translating their general
While some Puritans such as Michael Wigglesworth (1631–
principles into institutional practice and statements of faith.
1705) allowed their fears of sin to become obsessions that
Various individuals offered their perspectives, and through
made them walking parodies of Puritanism, the ideal of the
the efforts of clergymen such as John Cotton (1584–1652),
Puritan moral life was one of sober moderation.
Richard Mather (1596–1669), Thomas Hooker (1586–
The Puritans’ moral stance and belief that their role in
1647), John Davenport (1597–1670), and Thomas Shepard
history was that of a chosen people called to create a New
(1605–1649) a consensus emerged that would be articulated
Jerusalem and usher in the millennium made Puritans, on
in the Cambridge Platform (1648). Some Puritans found
both sides of the Atlantic, culturally distinct from their peers.
themselves outside these emerging boundaries of acceptable
The elect envisioned themselves as a group apart, a saved and
belief. Many responded by conforming, but Roger Williams
saving remnant. Their lifestyle was different enough to sym-
(1603–1683), Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643), and others
bolize their uniqueness. Their effort to give God his due by
who would not bend were excluded; some, including Wil-
spending the Sabbath reading the scriptures rather than in-
liams and Hutchinson, took up residence in Rhode Island,
dulging in sport or dance, their rejection of set prayers for
forming a society that rapidly achieved notoriety as a haven
spontaneous expressions, their disdain for the ritualization of
of radicalism.
the liturgy, their coming together in New England on desig-
In England Puritans who had stayed at home were at
nated fast days and days of thanksgiving—all of these rein-
the forefront of the coalition that formed in opposition to
forced the Puritans’ sense of being apart from yet responsible
the king’s foreign policy, religious innovations, forced loans,
for saving their native land.
and use of prerogative courts. The civil wars that erupted
The task of redeeming England seemed more difficult
(1642–1648) pitted Parliament against the king, and so
than ever as the reign of James I gave way to that of Charles
heavily was the House of Commons dominated by the re-
I (1625–1649). Puritans had wielded considerable influence
formers that the struggle also earned the name of the Puritan
at Oxford and Cambridge and from those universities a
Revolution. During the course of the conflict Puritan 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
PURUS:A
7521
formers sought to construct a new Church of England. The
rick Collinson, especially The Elizabethan Puritan Movement
same tensions that had threatened Puritan uniformity in
(Berkeley, 1967), are indispensable. Barrington R. White’s
New England appeared and the circumstances of the war
The English Separatist Tradition: From the Marian Martyrs to
made controlling them impossible.
the Pilgrim Fathers (Oxford, 1971) is an excellent analysis of
that important offshoot from mainstream Puritanism. The
Although most Puritans could agree on the doctrines
seventeenth-century evolution of Puritanism in England is
contained in the Westminster Assembly’s Confession of
well surveyed in Michael R. Watts’s The Dissenters: From the
Faith (1647), many rejected the Presbyterian ecclesiastical
Reformation to the French Revolution (Oxford, 1978). The
structure that that reform convocation recommended to Par-
starting point for an understanding of the faith of New En-
liament. Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists be-
gland Puritans remains the classic studies by Perry Miller, es-
came distinct groups within the movement, while hosts of
pecially The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century
radical sects found sustenance in the excitement of the times.
(New York, 1939). Puritan polity is skillfully examined by
Edmund S. Morgan in Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan
While political stability was provided by the rise of Oliver
Idea (New York, 1963). Many key facets of Puritan theology
Cromwell (1599–1658) as lord protector in 1649, religious
are unraveled in E. Brooks Holifield’s The Covenant Sealed:
diversity did not come to an end. Cromwell did, however,
The Development of Puritan Sacramental Theology in Old and
make progress toward the establishment of a Puritan state
New England, 1570–1720 (New Haven, Conn., 1974). The
church uniting moderate Congregationalists such as Thomas
devotional aspects of Puritan life are the subject of Charles
Goodwin (1600–1680) and John Owen (1616–1683), mod-
E. Hambrick-Stowe’s The Practice of Piety (Chapel Hill,
erate Presbyterians such as Stephen Marshall (1594–1655),
N.C., 1982).
and moderate Baptists such as Henry Jessey (1601–1663).
New Sources
The return of the Stuart monarchy with the Restoration
Brockway, Robert W. Wonderful Work of God: Puritans and the
of Charles II (1660–1685) in 1660 saw the casting out of
Great Awakening. Bethlehem, Pa., 2003.
Puritanism from the Church of England. What had been a
Como, David R. Blown by the Spirit: Puritanism and the Emergence
reform movement within Anglicanism became nonconfor-
of An Antinomian Underground in Pre-Civil War England.
mity in the shape of Presbyterian, Congregational, and Bap-
Stanford, Calif., 2004.
tist denominations. Across the Atlantic, Puritan values still
Danner, Dan G. Pilgrimage to Puritanism: History and Theology of
dominated, but the institutional separation from the Church
the Marian Exiles at Geneva. New York, 1999.
of England that had always been a fact of colonial life was
Davies, Horton. The Worship of the American Puritans, 1629–
accepted in theory as well, and New Englanders adopted the
1730. New York, 1990.
denominational badges of their brethren in England.
Durston, Christopher, and Jacqueline Eales. The Culture of En-
glish Puritanism, 1560–1700. New York, 1996.
The story of Puritanism merges into the story of the de-
nominations it spawned, but as a cultural movement it con-
Knight, Janice. Orthodoxies in Massachusetts. Cambridge, Mass.,
tinued to have relevance. In England the poems of John Mil-
1994.
ton (1608–1674), the devotional writings of Richard Baxter,
Sasek, Lawrence A., ed. Images of English Puritanism. Baton
and the Pilgrim’s Progress of John Bunyan (1628–1688) were
Rouge, La., 1989.
fruits of the Puritan outlook. In America the literary offer-
Wood, Ellen Meiksins, and Noal Wood. A Trumpet of Sedition:
ings of Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672), Michael Wiggles-
Political Theory and the Rise of Capitalism 1509–1688. New
worth, and Edward Taylor (1662–1729) and the range of
York, 1997.
writings of Cotton Mather (1663–1728) betokened the vi-
FRANCIS J. BREMER (1987)
tality of Puritanism. When Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758)
Revised Bibliography
spoke to the people of the Connecticut valley in the 1730s,
there was sparked a great awakening not only of religious en-
thusiasm in general but of a distinctively Puritan outlook on
the universe, its creator, and the sinners who inhabit it.
PURUS:A is a Sanskrit word meaning “person” or “a
man.” Throughout Indian intellectual history the term has
SEE ALSO Browne, Robert; Bunyan, John; Edwards, Jona-
acquired the independent meanings of “the first man, self,”
than; Hooker, Richard; Hooker, Thomas; Hutchinson,
and “consciousness.” The development of the concept of
Anne; Mather Family; Williams, Roger.
purus:a therefore overlaps with the development of the con-
cepts of a¯tman (“self”), brahman (“universal self”), and
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ks:etrajña (“knower”). The interrelationships among these
My book The Puritan Experiment: New England Society from Brad-
concepts can be traced through the literature of the
ford to Edwards (New York, 1976) is an introductory survey
Upanis:ads and the epics, in the work of the Buddhist writer
to the English origins and American development of Puritan
A´svaghos:a, in the medical work of Caraka, and in the texts
ideas and practice. The Puritan Tradition in America, 1620–
of the Sa¯m:khya school.
1730, edited by Alden T. Vaughan (New York, 1972), is the
best single-volume anthology of Puritan writings. For those
Purus:a first occurs in the oldest extant book of Vedic
interested in the origins of the movement, the works of Pat-
hymns, the R:gveda (c. 1200 BCE). Hymn 10.90 refers to the
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7522
PURUS:A
first man from whose bodily parts sprang the different groups
work, purus:a is a contentless consciousness distinct in every
of society (varn:as) based on the division of labor. In the old-
respect from materiality. Consciousness (purus:a) is, in fact,
est Upanis:ads (600–300 BCE), the term still refers to the first
said to be the exact opposite of materiality or prakr:ti
man, whose essence is entirely self (a¯tman): “In the begin-
(Sa¯m:khyaka¯rika¯ 19). For example, consciousness is uncaused
ning this world was just a single self (a¯tman) in the form of
and is not itself a cause; it is eternal, without space, without
a man (purus:a)” (Br:hada¯ran:yaka Upanis:ad 1.4.1). When
motion, without complexity, without substratum, without
purus:a first came into existence he became aware of himself
parts, independent, differentiated, and unproductive. The
and exclaimed, “Here I am” (1.4.1).
purpose of consciousness is to lend, so to speak, conscious-
ness to materiality at the time of knowledge and thus to justi-
Both a¯tman and brahman inherited the function of cre-
fy the existence of materiality.
ation from the original purus:a, the first man. Such examples
in the case of a¯tman are found in Br:hada¯ran:yaka Upanis:ad
By its mere presence, consciousness is the “passive wit-
1.4.1–10, and in the case of brahman in Br:hada¯ran:yaka
ness” (sa¯ks:in) of materiality. Consciousness is also the benefi-
Upanis:ad 1.4.11–16. Various creation myths described how
ciary of the activities of materiality, and finally, because it is
the “one,” desiring to be many, multiplied itself, forming a
different from all ordinary experience, purus:a makes this or-
new creation.
dinary experience meaningful by being different from it, by
being conscious, and by making the experience a conscious
The concepts of a¯tman and purus:a as the original enti-
experience.
ties are first replaced by brahman in a verse of the
Br:hada¯ran:yaka Upanis:ad: “In the beginning this world was
Originally, purus:a was spoken of as one, just as brahman
brahman, one only” (1.4.11). The fully articulated concept
and ks:etrajña are one. Yet in classical Sa¯m:hkya purus:a came,
of brahman, according to the Upanis:ads, refers to the cosmic
like a¯tman, to be considered plural or many. This plurality
entity, an omnipresent self that holds the whole universe
of consciousnesses served to explain differences in existence,
within itself. It is this universal self (brahman) that is a coun-
such as different births and different deaths. If, according to
terpart to the individual self (a¯tman). The aim of many of
classical Sa¯m:khya, there were only one consciousness, it
the Upanis:adic teachings was to realize the identity of these
would follow that when any one person attained liberation
two principles through mystical experience.
all individuals would attain liberation at the same time.
The concept of purus:a cannot be uniformly understood
Under the influence of the dominant philosophical
as self or consciousness. In its development it underwent
school of Advaita Veda¯nta, the Sa¯m:khya-Yoga teacher
such functional transformations that at times it took on op-
Vijña¯nabhiks:u (sixteenth century) attempted to reconcile the
posing functions. This development can be seen, for exam-
plurality of consciousnesses with the one universal self of Ve-
ple, in the description of brahman as having two aspects:
dantic thought. Vijña¯nabhiks:u claimed that it is possible for
“There are, indeed, two forms of brahman: the tangible
consciousness to be many under certain conditions. This was
(mu¯rta) and the formless, the mortal and the immortal, the
not to be considered a contradiction to the claim that there
moving and the motionless” (Br:hada¯ran:yaka Upanis:ad
is only one consciousness, since, he maintained, the plurality
2.3.1).
of purus:a is ultimately only a matter of convenience for the
purposes of discourse. He thereby effected a conflation of the
Change and creation were not the primary functions of
Sa¯m:khya with Advaita Veda¯nta.
the concept of purus:a; eventually purus:a took on other func-
tions, while that of creation came to be associated with
Sa¯m:khya shares in pursuing the highest aim, liberation,
prakr:ti (materiality). Thus, although purus:a served at one
with most other philosophical and religious traditions. Un-
time as the foundation of the whole universe it was also in-
like these, liberation in Sa¯m:khya comes from that knowledge
strumental in establishing materiality, an opposing concept
whereby one distinguishes between two entities, contentless
set forth by the Sa¯m:khya school. Together, purus:a and
consciousness (purus:a) and materiality (prakr:ti), as essentially
prakr:ti constituted the essential entities of Sa¯m:khya. This
different things. Isolating (kaivalya) the two entities from
separation of prakr:ti from purus:a is reflected in the term
each other is the recognition of this distinction. This is the
ks:etrajña.
truth that grants liberation.
Ks:etrajña (“knower of the field,” i.e., knower of materi-
SEE ALSO Brahman; Prakr:ti; Sa¯m:khya.
ality) is a term used to describe purus:a as consciousness (cf.
Maitri Upanis:ad 2.5). A section of the twelfth book of the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Maha¯bha¯rata called the Moksadharma employs ks:etrajña as
A minute analysis of the formative stages of the concept of purus:a
a synonym for purus:a, while the Buddhacarita of A´svaghos:a
is found in Erhardt Hanefeld’s Philosophische Haupttexte der
uses ks:etrajña for consciousness in its descriptions of
älteren Upanis:aden (Wiesbaden, 1976). For the beginnings
Sa¯m:khya teachings (e.g., Buddhacarita 12.20).
of the development of the concept, see E. H. Johnston’s
Early Sa¯m:khya: An Essay on Its Historical Development accord-
The Sa¯m:khyaka¯rika¯ (c. 500 CE) of ¯I´svarakr:s:n:a, the first
ing to the Texts (1937; reprint, Delhi, 1974). A detailed study
extant complete work of the Sa¯m:khya school, is regarded as
of the Sa¯m:khya school is provided in Sa¯m:khya: A Dualist
the classic statement on Sa¯m:khya thought. According to this
Tradition in Indian Philosophy by Gerald James Larson 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
PYGMY RELIGIONS
7523
Ram Shankar Bhattacharya, the third volume of the Encyclo-
Chadwick (Stanford, Calif., 1960). Useful biographical mat-
pedia of Indian Philosophies, edited by Karl H. Potter (Prince-
ter can be found in Life of Pusey, 4 vols., edited by Henry P.
ton and Delhi, 1987). See also Patrick Olivelle, Upanis:ads.
Liddon (London, 1884–1887), which includes an extensive
(World’s Classics. Oxford, 1996).
bibliography of Pusey’s published works in volume 4.
EDELTRAUD HARZER (1987 AND 2005)
C. FITZSIMONS ALLISON (1987)
PUSEY, EDWARD BOUVERIE (1800–1882),
PYGMY RELIGIONS. African Pygmies comprise a
along with John Keble and John Henry (later Cardinal)
variety of ethnic groups who dwell as hunter-gatherers in the
Newman, a leader of the Oxford Movement (sometimes
rain forest of central Africa. Because they live as nomads in
called Tractarianism), a high church development in the
a demanding and inaccessible environment, few serious
Church of England that flourished between 1833 and 1845.
studies have been done on them. Most studies of Pygmy life
Pusey was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford,
have been concerned with how they relate to the history of
and was a fellow at Oriel before becoming regius professor
religions. According to Wilhelm Schmidt (1868–1954), an
of Hebrew and canon of Christ Church. Newman said of
ordained priest and ethnologist interested in the origin of re-
Pusey, “He at once gave us a position and a name.” With
ligion, the Pygmy peoples represented humanity in its child-
Newman’s defection to Roman Catholicism, Pusey became
hood; they were a living equivalent of one of the earliest
the primary leader of the movement until his death.
stages of human culture. Since early evidence seemed to indi-
cate the existence of monotheistic belief in primitive socie-
Pusey was among the first English scholars to become
ties, Schmidt engaged his colleagues to explore Pygmy reli-
acquainted with the modern critical approach to scripture
gious life. Hence, for years the Pygmies were studied by
emerging in Germany, but throughout this exposure he
Catholic missionaries seeking to support the idea that mono-
maintained a quite conservative posture. His influence on
theism (rather than animism or fetishism) was the earliest
the religious life of England can be seen in several areas: his
form of religion.
tracts and sermons gave popular impetus to a revival of medi-
eval piety in England, he was a friend and mentor of the
This article discusses three Pygmy groups that are better
nineteenth-century monastic revival, and the practice of pri-
known through fieldwork: the Aka, located in the southern
vate confession to a priest in modern Anglicanism can be
region of the Central African Republic; the Baka of eastern
traced to his sermon on the subject in 1846.
Cameroon; and the Mbuti of the Ituri rain forest of Zaire.
Other more sedentary and less documented groups such as
Extreme rigor characterized his personal piety, and his
the Gyeli of western Cameroon and the Twa of central Zaire
theology left little room for the forgiveness of sins after bap-
and Rwanda are not included.
tism. His long and diligent work on the subject of baptismal
regeneration suffered from his failure to define the meaning
AKA PYGMIES. According to Aka cosmology, a creator god
of the term. As a whole, his scholarship lacked the subtle,
named Bembe made the world, including the sky, earth, for-
seminal, and lasting quality of Newman’s, or the poetic
est, and animals. He then fashioned the first male and female
warmth of Keble’s.
couple, Tole and Ngolobanzo. He later added a younger
brother, Tonzanga. Bembe gave all worldly knowledge and
Pusey’s life seemed characterized by defeats or disap-
goods to Tonzanga, but Tole subsequently stole them from
pointments: the appointment as regius professor of divinity
his brother to ensure the survival of the family as a totality.
of the liberal theologian Renn Hampden over Tractarian
Because of this theft, Bembe withdrew into the sky where he
protests; the promulgation of the doctrine of papal infallibili-
now lives without paying further attention to the world he
ty; his censure by the university for his sermon on the real
created.
presence in the Eucharist; the departure from Anglicanism
of Newman and others; and the Privy Council’s overruling
The primary twin couple, Tole and Ngolobanzo, gave
of the Ecclesiastical Courts on the Gorham case, and others
birth to two children whose union later engendered the rest
like it, which seemed to Pusey to be an unwarranted intru-
of humanity. Since that time, the three original beings creat-
sion of the state into the affairs of the church. However, his
ed by Bembe have continued to live in a parallel world that
prestige, loyalty, and steadying influence within the Oxford
represents the ideal to which human society should conform.
Movement and subsequent Anglo-Catholicism marked a
The ghosts of human beings (edio) live in the forest where
permanent change in direction within Anglicanism.
they lead an endless existence under the rule of humanity’s
two ancestral spirits, Ezengi and Ziakpokpo. Ghosts are neu-
SEE ALSO Newman, John Henry.
tral toward human beings and act either benevolently or ma-
levolently depending on how well humans treat one another
B
and whether they show respect for the ghosts themselves.
IBLIOGRAPHY
Good collections of Pusey’s writings are Spiritual Letters, edited
However, it is believed that those areas outside the forest
by J. O. Johnston and W. C. E. Newbolt (New York, 1901),
(forest edge, villages, and rivers) are inhabited by foreign ma-
and The Mind of the Oxford Movement, edited by Owen
lign spirits. In Aka thought, the village is a nonhuman (bad)
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
7524
PYGMY RELIGIONS
world, the forest a realm of ghosts, and the campsite the only
flagellation; by gently beating their bodies with leafy boughs,
fully human realm.
the Aka hope to expel malign forces (kose) from the commu-
nity. Moreover, as honey stands as a sexual symbol for the
The forest is impregnated with vital principles; from
Aka, the Mobandi ritual corresponds to the periodic regener-
these, either by initiation or by inheritance, an individual
ation of the world.
may appropriate the spiritual power (kulu) that will assist
him by blessing his various endeavors. However, malign spir-
BAKA PYGMIES. Certain religious conceptions held by the
its (kose) are attracted by malevolence and slander among
Baka are similar to those of the Aka. Several terms are also
human beings. The evil that individuals may wish upon each
employed by both groups but are used to designate different
other is the cause of human misfortune because it provokes
aspects of their religious life. According to Baka cosmology,
the wrath of the spirits.
the god Komba created the world and all its creatures. He
is part of a divine family that includes his sisters, a culture
Aka religious rituals fall into two types: large festivals
hero named Waito, and various offspring. In this complicat-
that concern the entire community and small rites un-
ed mythology, all of these creatures function as a many-
dertaken for more private purposes. All Aka rituals relate to
faceted hermaphroditic entity that is self-engendering and
three fundamental functions: propitiation of supernatural
productive of all humanity, including Pygmies as well as tall
powers (ghosts or the forest god Ezengi) so as to bring about
Africans.
abundance and fertility; divination of the cause of disorder
or the likely result of a prospective action; and the propitia-
Waito, who stole from Komba such goods as game and
tion of irritated spirits, whether they are ancestor ghosts dur-
fire for the benefit of humanity, is the figure who introduced
ing a period of social conflict or shortage or animal spirits
women and sexuality into human culture. Komba, on the
after a murder (the death of an animal during a hunt).
other hand, brought death into the world. While Komba re-
mains distant in the sky, it is his spirit, Ezengi, who gives
Rituals are performed before undertaking a journey. In
Baka youths knowledge of the world and of social existence
Aka thought (which relies upon the juxtaposition of camp,
during initiation ceremonies. Ezengi protects humans and
village, and forest with all their other associated values), any
rules over their death and rebirth as ghosts in the forest.
passage from one world to the next is potentially dangerous
Communication with either the forest god Ezengi or the
and requires ritual action. While every adult male may be in
ghosts is the concern of a specialist (the diviner-healer), or
contact with certain familiar spirits, it is the function of vari-
of initiated adult males during the collective dances, and is
ous specialists (an elder, chief hunter, or diviner-healer) to
achieved by means of songs, charms, offerings, or at times,
meet major spirits such as Ezengi or the elephant spirit.
with a fire.
The Aka obtain most of their food by hunting, and in-
The function of ritual among the Baka is akin to that
sofar as it is a highly dangerous activity with unpredictable
of the Aka: prediction of the future, propitiation of the spirits
results, it is surrounded by rites of various natures: rites of
so as to ensure a successful hunt, restoration of normal life
individual and collective propitiation, rites of divination,
after times of trouble, and procurement of Ezengi’s contin-
rites thanking the ghosts with offerings, and a rite of collec-
ued benevolence toward the community. Before beginning
tive expiation vis-à-vis the game spirit. A period of successive
on a spear hunt for large game, a divination session will be
hunting failures calls for a divination and propitiation cere-
performed, followed by a women’s ritual that includes yodel-
mony that includes the appearance of ghosts in the form of
ing and dances to entice the animals. A death requires two
leaf masks. When men are absent on extended hunting for-
ceremonies. The night the death occurs, a masked spirit
ays, women perform particular songs and dances asking not
(symbol of life against death) performs a dance, insulting the
only that the men come back with large amounts of game
audience and making obscene jokes. Following the burial,
but also explicitly asking for the resumption of sexual
the deceased soul dances in the camp but is then chased off
relations.
with firebrands and driven into the forest. Once the campsite
The value the Aka place on human fertility and human
is deserted, a large festival begins in order to restore the nor-
life in general is even more apparent in the Mokondi ceremo-
mal existence of the community. At this point, Ezengi ap-
ny, a large festival devoted to Ezengi. During Mokondi, a fig-
pears in the form of a raffia mask. Because women are not
ure wearing a raffia-cloth mask dances inside a throng of peo-
allowed to participate, each family is represented in the ritual
ple who are segregated by sex into concentric circles. The
by an adult male. The ceremony, involving a large number
ceremony is performed every night for an entire month to
of people, is also the culmination of the initiation of pubes-
mark the settlement of a new camp after the death of a com-
cent boys that generally lasts for several weeks. Through such
munity member. It is intended to restore the welfare of the
pervasive participation, this ritual, which is marked by the
community by obtaining the benevolence and protection of
collective singing of polyphonic songs, provides an occasion
the supreme being.
to reaffirm group unity after a serious crisis.
The last salient Aka ritual is connected with honey gath-
MBUTI PYGMIES. The Mbuti Pygmies of the Ituri rain forest
ering. Mobandi, an annual rite linked to the flowering of a
are the most well known of the various Pygmy ethnic groups.
particular tree, is a collective purification ritual that involves
According to Paul Schebesta, the Mbuti believe that God
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
PYGMY RELIGIONS
7525
created the universe (that is, the forest) and all its creatures
hearth of each family, emphasizing the collective nature of
and forces. God then retired into the sky, ending his partici-
the celebration. As a reaction to crisis and a means of seeking
pation in earthly affairs. The first human, a culture hero
the regeneration of the world through polyphonic song,
named Tore, became god of the forest; he gave the Mbuti
Molimo represents a perfect form of communication with
both fire and death and is seen as the source of game, honey,
the spiritual world.
and protection. Essentially a benevolent god, Tore is thought
to be particularly offended by evil. According to this version
SEE ALSO Schmidt, Wilhelm.
of the story, both humans and animals are endowed with
B
vital forces (megbe). Furthermore, it is believed that the shad-
IBLIOGRAPHY
On the Aka, the basic reference is the Encyclopédie des Pygmées
ow of a deceased human becomes a forest spirit, part of an
Aka: Techniques, langage et société des chasseurs-cueilleurs de la
invisible people who mediate between humans and the forest
forêt centrafricaine, edited by Serge Bahuchet and Jacqueline
god Tore.
M. C. Thomas (Paris, 1981–). Volume 1, Les Pygmées Aka
(1983), and volume 2, Dictionnaire Aka-Français (1981), of
Colin Turnbull (1965) disagrees with this account of
the projected fifteen volumes have already appeared. See also
Mbuti cosmology. According to him, there is no creator god;
Bahuchet’s Les Pygmées Aka et la forêt centrafricaine (Paris,
instead, the Mbuti worship God as a living benevolent being
1985), which presents detailed chapters on the Aka world-
personified by the forest. To them, God is the forest. Turn-
view and Aka rituals. On the Baka, see Robert Brisson and
bull also diverges from Schebesta’s account of the mediating
Daniel Boursier’s Petit dictionnaire Baka-français (Douala,
forest spirits, for he views the Mbuti as a practical people who
Cameroon, 1979) and Brisson’s Contes des Pygmées Baka du
have a direct relationship with the forest as sacred being.
Sud-Cameroun, 4 vols. (Douala, Cameroon, 1981–1984).
On the Mbuti, see Paul Schebesta’s Die Bambuti-Pygmäen
The Mbuti Pygmies lack both ritual specialists and divi-
vom Ituri, vol. 3, Die Religion (Brussels, Belgium, 1938), and
nation practices. Communication with the forest is achieved
his Les Pygmées du Congo Belge (Brussels, Belgium, 1957); the
through fire and smoke, offerings, whistles, wooden trum-
documentation in these two works is rich but is notably diffi-
pets, and polyphonic songs. As with the Aka and the Baka,
cult to use because data from various sources are mixed.
rituals surround hunting, honey gathering, food shortages,
Colin Turnbull’s The Forest People: A Study of the Pygmies of
puberty, and death.
the Congo (New York, 1961) is an intimate account of daily
life and ritual among the Mbuti. Two other works by Turn-
The onset of puberty in women is celebrated by an initi-
bull deserve attention: The Mbuti Pygmies: An Ethnographic
ation festival known as Elima. At the time of the first men-
Survey (New York, 1965) and Wayward Servants: The Two
struation, a girl goes into seclusion together with all her
Worlds of the African Pygmies (New York, 1965). The first is
young friends. Staying in the Elima hut for several weeks, the
a valuable synthesis of previous work, including that of Sche-
girls receive instruction concerning motherhood and various
besta, and the second, despite its materialistic emphasis, is a
classic study of the Ituri peoples.
ritual responsibilities from a respected older female relative.
They are also taught how to sing the songs of adult women.
In the study of the history of religions, Wilhelm Schmidt’s Die
Stellung der Pygmäenvölker in der Entwicklungsgeschichte des
Elima also functions as a means for choosing a mate.
Menschen (Stuttgart, Germany, 1910) remains useful. Al-
Although Elima functions as an initiation into adult life
though dated, Schmidt’s work provides interesting insights
for both girls and boys, there is a separate initiation rite,
into the evolutionary school of religious analysis.
known as Nkumbi, exclusively for males. During Nkumbi,
For ritual music, the following recordings can be recommended:
the Mbuti boys are circumcised together with the young
Simha Arom’s Anthologie de la musique des Pygmées Aka
males of the neighboring peoples who live in fixed agricultur-
(Paris, 1978), Simha Arom and Patrick Renaud’s Baka
Pygmy Music (Cameroon) (Paris, 1977), and Colin Turnbull
al settlements outside the forest. Nkumbi is primarily a way
and Francis S. Chapman’s The Pygmies of the Ituri Forest
for the Mbuti boys to gain status in village society, but it also
(New York, 1958).
works to cement ties between the Mbuti and their village
neighbors.
New Sources
Abega, Severin Cecile. Pygmess Baka: Le droit à la difference.
The first killing of game marks a further initiation rite
Yaounde, Cameroon, 1998.
for young Mbuti men. Until he has accomplished this, a
Bailey, Robert Converse. The Behavioral Ecology of Efe Pygmy Men
young man is not allowed to participate in the most impor-
in the Ituri Forest, Zaire. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1991.
tant Mbuti ritual, Molimo, which takes place after a crisis
Ballif, Noël. Les Pygmées de la grande forêt. Paris, 1992.
in the community (usually a death) and lasts for an entire
Biesbrouck, Karen, Stefan Elders, and Gerda Rossel. Central Afri-
month. The Mbuti believe that because God is benevolent,
can Hunter-Gatherers in a Multidisciplinary Perspective: Chal-
death or similiar misfortunes cannot occur unless the forest
lenging Elusiveness. Leiden, Netherlands, 1999.
has fallen asleep. Hence, the purpose of the Molimo is to
Brisson, Robert. Mythologie des Pygmées Baka (Sud Cameroun):
wake up the forest with songs and to thereby restore the nor-
Mythologie et contes. Paris, 1999.
mal life of the community. During this rite God sings
Duffy, Kevin. Children of the Forest. New York, 1984.
through a wooden trumpet with the whole community. The
Hewlett, Barry S. Intimate Fathers: The Nature and Context of Aka
Molimo fire is kindled each day by taking embers from the
Pygmy Paternal Infant Care. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1991.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7526
PYRAMIDS: AN OVERVIEW
Kent, Susan, ed. Cultural Diversity among Twentieth-Century For-
or parallel to the foundation, ascend in broken patterns, ei-
agers: An African Perspective. New York, 1996.
ther directly or in spans. Archaeologists believe that a sanctu-
Mark, Joan T. The King of the World in the Land of the Pygmies.
ary usually crowned the last platform, but total destruction
Lincoln, Neb., 1995.
of the upper parts of the monuments makes confirmation of
Meurant, Georges, and Robert Farris Thompson. Mbuti Design:
this thesis difficult. In profile such monuments present a ter-
Paintings by Pygmy Women of the Ituri Forest. New York,
raced succession of vertical or near-vertical shapes. Their cu-
1996.
bical appearance is often counterbalanced by great flutings
that alternate rhythmically with the buttresses to animate the
Turnbull, Colin M. The Mbuti Pygmies: Change and Adaptation.
exterior facings and cast elongated shadows accentuating the
New York, 1983.
vertical over the horizontal.
SERGE BAHUCHET (1987)
JACQUELINE M. C. THOMAS (1987)
Even more versatile than the Mesopotamian pyramid is
Revised Bibliography
that of Mesoamerica, which originated between 1200 and
900 BCE among the Olmec of San Lorenzo and La Venta on
the Gulf Coast of Mexico and continued to develop until the
PYRAMIDS
sixteenth century CE. The Mesopotamian pyramid often has
This entry consists of the following articles:
a quadrangular foundation, but occasionally it is circular, as
in the main pyramid at La Venta or that of Cuicuilco; it can
AN OVERVIEW
EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS
also be semicircular, as in some of the yácatas (“mounds,”
“pyramids”) in Michoacán or the temples dedicated to the
wind god Quetzalcoatl-Ehécatl that were part of the Aztec
PYRAMIDS: AN OVERVIEW
political expansion just before the Spanish conquest.
The structure of the pyramid may unite the two religious
monuments of the burial mound and the elevated altar. Be-
Conceived as a single truncated block—or, more com-
cause these functions are not mutually exclusive but rather
monly, formed by a series of terraced blocks—and generally
are in many cases complementary and combined with yet
having one staircase, the Mesoamerican pyramid almost in-
other functions, modern archaeologists often face serious dif-
variably presents ornamentation in talus form, an intuitive
ficulties of interpretation. This problem becomes especially
adaptation of the natural sloping angle of its solid earth fill.
evident when they attempt to situate the monuments in their
A formal element that works to define the principal volumes
original contexts.
and to differentiate regional, local, and other styles is the
talus panel (tablero-talud or talud-tablero) with its salient
On the one hand, the pyramid can be a logical deriva-
moldings that produce well-marked shadows. The pyramid,
tion of the burial mound, with the primary function of con-
usually crowned by a temple (single or, in certain cases,
cealing the tomb of a prominent ruler while exalting his
twin), tends to be complemented by plazas, esplanades, and
often-deified memory. The Egyptian pyramid, with its won-
other open spaces. These, together with stairways and altar-
derfully refined form, is the perfect embodiment of this ini-
platforms, make up a nearly inseparable whole. This type of
tial phase. It is, in addition, the only monument that can be
pyramid was conceived to satisfy the needs of a form of wor-
considered a true pyramid in the geometric sense of the word
ship that, in its community aspects, took place outdoors.
(excluding, of course, the oldest example, in Saqqara, built
with trunk-pyramidal elements).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
On the other hand, the pyramid can constitute the
For a general approach to the pyramids of Egypt and Mesopota-
monumental culmination of the elevated altar, an extreme
mia see World Architecture, edited by Trewin Copplestone
manifestation of the “cult of height.” Overwhelmed by the
(New York, 1963) and Le grand atlas de l’architecture mondi-
sacred, the simple mortal tends to place everything that re-
ale (Paris, 1982). For information on the pyramid in pre-
Columbian America, George Kubler’s The Art and Architec-
lates to that sphere at a higher level, whether they be effigies,
ture of Ancient America (New York, 1982) can also be
images, or altars, whether visible or invisible. The most out-
consulted.
standing forms of this genre are the ziggurats in Mesopota-
mia and the temple-pyramids of pre-Columbian America
PAUL GENDROP (1987)
(particularly those of Mesoamerica and, on a lesser scale,
Translated from Spanish by Gabriela Mahn
those of the Andean region).
Chronologically, the Mesopotamian buildings are older;
they date from the fourth millennium BCE. The temples,
PYRAMIDS: EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS
such as those of Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq), are placed on
Egyptian pyramids are essentially royal tombs. Throughout
high, artificial platforms accessible by staircases or ramps.
the centuries their great size and architectural excellence have
From the third millennium BCE these develop into massive
led to several alternative explanations for their existence, such
ziggurats, which were usually composed of terraced blocks
as the medieval notion that they were granaries built by Jo-
on a square foundation. The terraced blocks, perpendicular
seph during the seven good years mentioned in the Bible
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
PYRAMIDS: EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS
7527
(Gn. 41), but such theories are quite fanciful. There is a con-
event of the night, ideally taking place at the end of a season
nection, however, between the origin of pyramid building
in the year, and his rebirth to new life is epitomized in the
and the idea of a staircase; one such stairway, which must be
sunrise. The orientation of pyramids reflects these astronom-
symbolic, was found incorporated in a mud-brick bench-
ical ideas: they were built to face the points of the compass,
shaped tomb dating from the end of the first dynasty
usually with remarkable accuracy, and the entrance was in-
(c. 2900 BCE) at Saqqara, south of modern Cairo, but it is
variably placed in the middle of the northern face, at least
far from certain that this was a royal monument. The first
before the Middle Kingdom; the descending passage of the
pyramid, however, is the Step Pyramid, also at Saqqara, con-
Great Pyramid was oriented toward the celestial north pole.
sisting of six such bench tombs arranged on top of one an-
In the southern sky, the constellation of Orion was explicitly
other in the form of a stairway. This is the earliest known
identified with the resurrected king.
monumental stone building (2700 BCE), and it has earned
its architect, Imhotep, a place in history which was recog-
A very interesting analysis sees in the position of the
nized by the ancient Egyptians themselves. Subsequent step
texts within the pyramid a clue to the organization of the fu-
pyramids, although unfinished, show increasing confidence
neral ceremonies and in the use of walls and ceilings a sym-
in the use of stone, and they developed rapidly, replacing the
bolic “map” of the netherworld. While this is not unlikely,
step structure with something closer to a true pyramid.
it is important to remember that the texts themselves were
published in an arbitrary order, and that only one pyramid
THE AGE OF THE GREAT PYRAMIDS. The apogee of pyramid
has in fact been treated as a coherent whole.
building was reached at the beginning of the fourth dynasty,
with the two massive pyramids at Dahshur built by Snefru
PYRAMID COMPLEXES. It is a mistake to imagine pyramids
and the Great Pyramid at Giza, the work of his son Cheops
in isolation. Even the Step Pyramid was designed as the cen-
(2600 BCE). Each successive king seems to have at least
ter of a stone palace, intended for the spirit of the dead king.
planned a pyramid for himself (over eighty are known),
This idea was soon abandoned, but a classic later pyramid
down to the end of the Middle Kingdom (1600 BCE), when
would have a mortuary temple at its eastern side for the daily
the concept was abandoned in favor of a less conspicuous
cult of the dead king and a valley temple at the edge of the
burial place. Later royal pyramids are known from the
floodplain where rites of embalming were carried out and
Sudan, and smaller imitations are common in private tombs
cult regalia stored. Both temples would be richly decorated.
of the New Kingdom (c. 1569–1085 BCE) at Thebes. One
The two were connected by a covered causeway, also decorat-
such example was discovered at Memphis in 1980. Here the
ed, which could be up to seven hundred meters long. Subsid-
idea seems to have been borrowed directly from the royal
iary pyramids and a series of solar or funerary boats also
prototype. The earliest pyramids show frequent changes of
adorned the complex. The three pyramids at Abusir, south
plan in their interior corridors, either for religious or archi-
of Giza, dating from the fifth dynasty (c. 2400 BCE), show
tectural reasons or a combination of both. Pyramids of the
these features well. As much work could have gone into this
fifth and sixth dynasties show a regular plan and are effective-
part of the architecture as into the pyramid itself; the mere
ly standardized. Middle Kingdom pyramids have labyrin-
size of a pyramid tells us little about the power or ambition
thine passages within them to provide for greater security
of its owner. The existence of a population relatively idle dur-
from tomb robbers.
ing the months of the Nile flood made such building projects
easier; it may even have made them necessary, as a means of
THE PYRAMID TEXTS. Beginning with the reign of Unas, the
gratifying popular expectations.
last king of the fifth dynasty (2350 BCE), the sarcophagus,
burial chamber, antechamber, and parts of the descending
OTHER PYRAMIDAL STRUCTURES. Pyramid-like structures
corridor were inscribed with hieroglyphic texts in vertical
also exist in Mesopotamia; these are better known as ziggu-
columns. These so-called Pyramid Texts are undoubtedly the
rats. They were not funerary at all but seem to have been ex-
major source on the religious ideas underlying the architec-
clusively religious, and they were the objects of a cult. In two
ture. The Pyramid Texts make it clear that the dead king,
cases temples have been found on their summits, and it is
himself a god, was thought to ascend to heaven, either by a
tempting to believe that the ziggurats represented either
staircase or via the sun’s rays; the form of the pyramid itself
heavenly mountains or celestial stairways between gods and
clearly embodies both concepts. Some texts also hint at a pri-
humans, but their function is surprisingly obscure. It is possi-
meval mound, the site of the original creation, and it is possi-
ble that Egyptian pyramids were influenced vaguely by zig-
ble that a pyramid also symbolizes this idea. Other notions
gurats, or vice versa, but their purposes were markedly differ-
of the next world are explored in the Pyramid Texts as well.
ent. The same is even more true of the pyramid structures
The most common is that of a fusion with the sun god—
of Central America, which were quite different in design and
joining in his voyage through the night, repelling his ene-
function, being more like gigantic sacrificial altars. There is
mies, assuming his identity; this idea is so pervasive that pyr-
no reason to assume any link with Egypt, especially as the
amids were in effect solar symbols to the ancient Egyptians.
Central American “pyramids” were built two or three thou-
An alternative concept is a stellar one: the king’s soul or bai
sand years later. An underlying feeling that the world of the
joins the “imperishable ones,” the circumpolar stars which
gods is elevated from that of humans and that this gap needs
never set in the northern sky. The king’s death is seen as an
bridging is probably enough to explain the similarities.
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
7528
PYTHAGORAS
SEE ALSO Egyptian Religion, article on The Literature.
he migrated, perhaps to escape the tyranny of Policrates, to
the Achaean city of Croton in Magna Graecia (southern
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Italy), soon after the defeat of the city by its neighbors, the
Most of the essential information on Egyptian pyramids is con-
Locrians. By his teaching, which Pythagoras gave to citizens
tained in the series of articles written by Dieter Arnold and
through public speeches, he is said to have converted the city
Hartwig Altenmüller in Lexikon der Ägyptologie, vols. 4 and
from luxury to temperance. In Croton he founded an associ-
5 (Wiesbaden, 1982–1983). Walter B. Emery’s Archaic Egypt
ation, some of whose members came to exercise a leading role
(Baltimore, 1967) is essential for the origins of royal tombs.
in the government of the city. During this period Croton ex-
Ahmed Fakhry’s The Pyramids, 2d ed. (Chicago, 1969), is
tended its power over many cities of southern Italy, defeating
clear and well illustrated; Eiddon Edwards’s The Pyramids of
Egypt (1961; reprint, Harmondsworth, 1980) is informative,
the rival Sibaris in 510. There followed a period of internal
and Kurt Mendelssohn’s The Riddle of the Pyramids (Lon-
struggle; anti-Pythagorean movements culminated in a burn-
don, 1974) challenges some accepted notions. The best edi-
ing of the houses of some Pythagoreans, where Pythagoras
tion of the Pyramid Texts is by Raymond O. Faulkner, The
himself perished. Other sources have him dying, probably at
Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Oxford, 1969), but the re-
about the age of eighty, in Metapontum, where he had re-
constructed order is best seen in the light of Jean Leclant’s
tired having predicted the events.
“Les textes des pyramides,” in Textes et langages de l’Égypte
Pythagoras’s image as wonderworker is variously attest-
pharaonique, vol. 2 (Cairo, 1972), pp. 37–52. Texts from a
ed. His followers, who avoided pronouncing his name, con-
single pyramid are collected in The Pyramid of Unas, edited
by Alexandre Piankoff (Princeton, 1968). Essential studies
sidered him a god, or at least a semidivine person (“among
on the interpretation of these texts are those of Winfried
rational beings one is god, another one man, the third like
Barta, Die Bedeutung der Pyramidentexte für den verstorbenen
Pythagoras”), while some of his detractors depicted him as
König (Munich, 1981), and Herbert W. Fairman in Myth,
“chief of swindlers” and a charlatan. The ancient sources
Ritual, and Kingship, edited by S. H. Hooke (Oxford, 1958).
connect him with the Orient and its wisdom. He journeyed
Babylonian ziggurats are dealt with by André Parrot in his
in Egypt, where he was told the secret lore of the priests; he
Ziggurats et Tour de Babel (Paris, 1949).
also had contacts with the Phoenicians, the Chaldeans, and
J. D. RAY (1987)
the Magi in Babylonia, and was initiated into their mysteries.
Among his teachers were Pherecydes of Syros and Zaratas
(Zoroaster), by whom he is said to have been purified and
instructed in cosmology. The connections of Pythagoras
PYTHAGORAS. The ancient tradition presents differ-
with Apollo are basic; he was called the Hyperborean Apollo
ent images of Pythagoras (c. 570 BCE–c. 500 BCE) that hardly
by the Crotoniates, and he revealed his golden thigh to the
square with one another: philosopher and initiator of ratio-
Hyperborean Abaris, a priest of Apollo, who identified him
nal inquiry, scientist and mathematician, politician and law-
as the god. According to other reports Pythagoras was born
giver, and religious wonderworker and leader of a sect of ini-
from Apollo and Pythais and was the god’s prophet among
tiates. Surely he was an extraordinary personality and a
humans.
charismatic chief, venerated by his followers and desecrated
Pythagoras was credited with supernatural faculties and
by his opponents. Soon he became a legend, whose historical
extraordinary mental powers, as is shown by miraculous tales
nucleus is difficult to ascertain. The very nature of the associ-
that attribute to him the capacity of predicting future events,
ation he founded is consequently controversial: it is mainly
healing diseases, being simultaneously in different places,
described as a philosophical school where scientific inquiries
and taming animals. Still more impressive than his magical
were practiced, as a political party, or as a religious confra-
relationship with the natural world are his connections to the
ternity.
underworld and the afterlife—he could remember his past
The main sources on Pythagoras, while plentiful, are
lives and journeyed to Hades. Hence the much discussed in-
late and rarely impartial; for the most part they are cast in
terpretation that sees him mainly as a sort of shaman.
the distorting light of hostile polemic or religious veneration.
The sources unanimously ascribe to Pythagoras the be-
Whether Pythagoras left any writing was in ancient times al-
lief in transmigration and reincarnation of the soul (metem-
ready controversial and is still debatable. Original works by
psychosis), whose origin can be traced back to Indo-Iranian
him, if there were any, were soon lost. In addition, there are
cultures. Though most details remain unknown, it is safe to
no extant writings from ancient Pythagoreans. Pythagorean
assume that for Pythagoras the soul (psyche) was immortal,
material is mainly constituted by reports whose reliability is
being not merely the life or spirit of the body, but indepen-
uncertain and by apocryphal writings, which were composed
dent, and in many ways an opposing force to the physical
beginning in the Hellenistic age and gradually increased until
self; it enters other human bodies and certain species of ani-
a remarkable amount existed.
mals, thereby experiencing the cycle of punishments and re-
Few details of Pythagoras’s life are definitively known.
wards that stems from one’s conduct in life. The metempsy-
He was born to Pythais and Mnemarchos (or Mnesarchos),
chosis was in fact connected with an eschatology, whose
a gem-engraver or merchant, on the Ionian island of Samos
traces survive in the so-called akousmata (things heard) or in
in 571 or 570 BCE. He lived there until 532 or 531, when
symbols.
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
PYTHAGORAS
7529
It seems certain that Pythagoras developed a practical
on an irreprehensible conduct of life. It is highly probable
way of life (bios) based upon such oral maxims and instruc-
that Pythagoras and Pythagoreans composed or commented
tions. Perhaps Aristotle originated a threefold distinction of
on Orphic literature, where theogonies and cosmogonies
them: what is (“what is the oracle of Delphi? the tetractys,
were interpreted and further developed.
that is, the harmony in which the Sirens sing”); what most
Ancient reports describe the internal organization of the
(“what is the wisest thing? number”); and what should or
association in terms of a monastic brotherhood, whose ad-
should not be done (e.g., one should not travel by the main
herents shared their goods and followed strict rules of com-
roads). Some symbols seem bizarre and difficult to explain:
munity life. New disciples underwent a rigid process of ad-
do not stir the fire with a knife; do not wear the image of
mission with a probationary period of five years of silence
a god on a ring; do not urinate towards the sun. For this rea-
before final initiation. Close fraternal ties bound the mem-
son, in the fourth century BCE some authors provided an alle-
bers to each other (“common are the things of friends”).
gorical interpretation, which purported to explain their hid-
Much discussed is the distinction made by later sources be-
den meaning (e.g., do not stir the fire would mean “do not
tween acusmatics (members who received only basic, unde-
excite an angry man”; abstinence from beans would mean
monstrated tenets) and mathematics (truly philosophizing
“the prohibition of sexual intercourse”). The original con-
members). The distinction points not to different degrees of
nection is, however, with sacrificial ritual and related purity:
membership but to a deepened interest in scientific inquiry
do not eat the heart, do not sacrifice the white cock, do not
by later groups compared to the former, prescientific wisdom
dip the hand into holy water. Some of the symbols are un-
based upon the akousmata. Many of these tracts, as with the
doubtedly related to mystery cults, including those that com-
community of gods, are possibly later projections of a mo-
mand silence and fasting; prescribe the practices of sacrifice,
nastic ideal of life.
entering the temple barefoot, and wearing a linen garment;
or forbid picking up food that has fallen to the earth. Other
Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the Pythagorean soci-
symbols exhibit connections to an eschatology whose details
ety was something more than an ordinary political club
are little known: what, for example, are the isles of the blest?
(hetairia) or a philosophical group; it was rather an associa-
sun and moon. Bread is not to be broken, because it contrib-
tion whose adherents were tied to the way of life expressed
utes to the judgment of Hades. Symbols are also passwords
by the symbols. Being a Pythagorean meant not so much
for recognition of the initiates by their fellows and by the
professing a definite philosophical doctrine or practicing sci-
gods.
entific inquiry as following a certain sort of life. This will also
explain Pythagoras’s image as a lawgiver and reformer, a
Reports about dietetic instructions are also variegated
founder of a politically oriented educational program, and
and sometimes self-contradictory. A logical corollary of me-
a promoter of social concord and moral authority, which had
tempsychosis was total abstinence from meat (including
a strong influence on the political life of many cities in south-
some fishes). Such a radical prohibition clearly contrasted
ern Italy. Pythagoras’s actions in Croton, in fact, seem to
with official cults of Greek religion, where animal sacrifice
have consisted in political advice rather than in direct in-
was central, and was thus incompatible with political offices.
volvement in the government; his supposed activity as a law-
The original prohibition may have come to be restricted to
giver has left no concrete traces, though his influence on poli-
animals into which the souls of human beings were supposed
tics is undeniable.
to enter, and members of the society may have been allowed
to eat animals that could be sacrificed. Other reports limit
According to Diogenes Laertios (third century CE) Py-
the prohibition against eating meat to particular parts of the
thagoras was the originator of Italian philosophy, the first to
animal, such as the heart or womb. Some sources have Py-
use the term philosophy, and the first to call himself a philoso-
thagoras making only inanimate offerings and worshiping at
pher, although these are probably later projections of the
Delos at the altar of Apollo genetor, where sacrificing animals
ideal of contemplative life. More questionable is whether Py-
was forbidden. Most notorious is the beans taboo (vicia
thagoras can be considered a philosopher at all. Plato’s Acad-
faba), which has been variously explained, though the main
emy played a fundamental role in the transmission of Py-
connection is, once again, with metempsychosis: beans rep-
thagorean philosophy, though in a profoundly transfigured
resent the gates of Hades, and through beans souls return to
form. Academics attributed to ancient Pythagoreanism doc-
earth for reincarnation. Some explanations point to supposed
trines they themselves had worked out, as that of two princi-
similarities between humans and beans.
ples (one and indefinite dyad). The most reliable source for
Pythagorean philosophy remains therefore, despite possible
The connections with Orphism are important with re-
distortions, Aristotle, who strives to avoid confusion between
gard to eschatology. Some traditions made Pythagoras a di-
Platonism and Pythagoreanism. Based on a written source,
rect disciple of Orpheus, attributing to him similar powers,
Aristotle sketches the philosophy of the “so-called Pythagore-
such as mastery over animals. Both movements were con-
ans” (he dealt with Pythagoras’s mirabilia in the lost works),
cerned with salvation of the soul and the afterlife; yet, while
which is a later development, maybe due to Philolaos. In any
Orphism seemingly assured salvation by simple offerings and
case, it cannot be ruled out that Pythagoras himself had
vows, Pythagoreanism, as a sort of puritanism, was centered
worked out some general philosophical ideas about number
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
7530
PYTHAGORAS
as principle and cosmic harmony. Plato alludes to him, re-
such dietetic rules as meat abstinence or intensive fasting.
calling a novel Prometheus that gave to humankind a divine
However, the existence of Pythagorean groups in Greece
doctrine: all things consist of oneness and multiplicity, limit-
cannot be clearly documented.
edness and unlimitedness, in close analogy with the system
Much debated is whether Pythagorean communities
described by Aristotle.
survived elsewhere during the Hellenistic age. An interest in
Both Plato and the Pythagoreans regard number as the
Pythagoreanism of a literary or antiquarian nature is well at-
principle of reality; for the latter, however, numbers are not
tested, which explains the production in the third to second
separate entities, but the things themselves. Having applied
centuries BCE of apocryphal writings attributed to Pythagoras
mathematics, they discovered affinities between numbers
(the Golden Verses being the best known) or ancient Pythago-
and existing things and assumed that the elements of num-
reans, whose place of origin remains controversial (candi-
bers were the elements of the things; heaven itself is harmony
dates are Rome, Alexandria, and southern Italy). A revival of
and number. Elements of the number are the even (unlimit-
Pythagoreanism is attested in the first century BCE in Rome,
ed) and the odd (limited). Limited and unlimited are then
where Nigidius Figulus attempted to revive the antica disci-
the ultimate principles; from them rises the odd-even “one,”
plina. There is also somewhat questionable evidence in Rome
which is a principle of number. Here cosmogony and arith-
of the existence of circles and religious sects that referred to
mogony are intermingled: once the “one” came into being,
Pythagoreanism. In addition, a renewed philosophical inter-
the unlimited, which was outside, was breathed in as void
est became visible in Alexandria of Egypt, where the circle
by the limited, thereby separating things from one another.
of the Pythagorean Platonic Eudoros possibly contributed to
The Pythagorean cosmos includes, along with fire at the cen-
the production of apocrypha. Between the first century BCE
ter, the invisible “counter-earth,” the earth, the moon, the
and the second century CE, a number of authors arose who
sun, the five planets, and the fixed stars. Cosmic harmony
explicitly defined themselves or came to be defined as Py-
is explained by numerical relations that determine the con-
thagoreans. They include Moderatus, Nicomachus, and Nu-
cordant intervals of the scale (2:1, the octave; 3:2, the fifth;
menius, all of whom profess doctrines that are substantially
4:3, the fourth). Of paramount importance is, among other
Platonic, and some of whom are supposed to have adopted
“sacred” numbers, the tetraktys, or decad, containing the
a Pythagorean bios. At this point, boundaries between Plato-
basic ratios (1+2+3+4=10). Other Pythagoreans listed ten
nism and Pythagoreanism become very unclear. More clear
basic principles in a table of oppositions (limited/unlimited,
is the case of Apollonios of Tiana, a wonderworker who ex-
oneness/multiplicity, odd/even, square/oblong, good/bad,
plicitly purported to revive the Pythagorean life and pres-
male/female, right/left, at rest/moving, straight/crooked,
ented himself as Pythagoras redivivus. Such Neoplatonic writ-
light/darkness). The representation of numbers by arrange-
ers as Iamblichus and Porphyry accomplished in their
ments of pebbles was based on the correspondence of odd
biographies the apotheosis of Pythagoras, until Pythagorean-
and limited.
ism completely merged into Neoplatonism.
Pythagoras emerges from many reports as a mathemati-
SEE ALSO Neoplatonism; Orpheus; Plato; Platonism.
cian and a scientist. He is credited with the discovery of the
celebrated theorem of musical harmony and its basic inter-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
vals, together with the construction of musical instruments.
The best sourcebook in English containing texts and fragments re-
Testimonies that attribute to him the theoretical study of ge-
lated to Pythagoras is Cornelia J. de Vogel’s Greek Philosophy:
ometry or the discovery of irrational magnitudes are not reli-
A Collection of Texts, vol. 1, Thales to Plato (Leiden, 1950).
able and are deeply influenced by the tradition of Platonism.
The most complete collection of testimonies is M. Timpa-
Yet it is reasonable that, having come of age in the Ionia of
naro Cardini, I Pitagorici: Testimonianze e frammenti, 3 vols.
the sixth century BCE, Pythagoras could not ignore the major
(Florence, Italy, 1958–1964). Two excellent background
scientific achievements of his time, which possibly are mir-
works, which place Pythagoras within the context of Greek
rored in his doctrines.
religious thought, are E. R. Dodds’s The Greeks and the Irra-
tional (Berkeley, Calif., 1951) and Walter Burkert’s Greek
Pythagoreanism soon spread outside Croton. Iam-
Religion (Cambridge, Mass., 1985). Edwin L. Minar’s Early
blichus’s catalogue, which may date back to Aristoxenos in
Pythagorean Politics in Practice and Theory (Baltimore, 1942)
the fourth century BCE, lists 235 Pythagoreans from different
offers a summary of the Pythagorean hetaireia. Francis M.
cities, with Croton, Metaponto, Locri, and Tarent playing
Cornford’s “Mysticism and Science in the Pythagorean Tra-
prominent roles. After the anti-Pythagorean strife the only
dition,” Classical Quarterly 16 (1922): 137–150, is very good
center in Magna Graecia where Pythagoreanism survived was
on defining the religious vision of Pythagoras, less so on Py-
thagorean atomism. J. E. Raven gives a controversial account
Tarent, where Archytas held the office of strategos. After its
of the development of Pythagorean thought in the fifth cen-
extinction in the fourth century BCE, Pythagoreanism sur-
tury in Pythagoreans and Eleatics (Cambridge, U.K., 1948).
vived as a philosophy, inspiring individual personalities who
W. K. C. Guthrie’s account of Pythagoras in A History of
continued to lead a Pythagorean way of life. Beggars-
Greek Philosophy, vol. 1, The Earlier Presocratics and Pythago-
Pythagorists appear in the Middle Comedy (fourth century
reans (Cambridge, U.K., 1962), can be considered the stan-
BCE); they live ascetically, practicing silence and following
dard general assessment on the subject.
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PYTHAGORAS
7531
Other important works on Pythagoras are James A. Philip’s Py-
Introduzione ai Pitagorici (Rome, 1996) and Christoph Ried-
thagoras and Early Pythagoreanism (Toronto, 1966) and
weg, Pythagoras: Leben, Lehre, Nachwirkung (Munich,
above all Walter Burkert’s Lore and Science in Ancient Pythag-
2002). A complete collection of pseudopythagorica is Holger
oreanism (Cambridge, Mass., 1972). Philip sees little evi-
Thesleff, ed., The Pythagorean Texts of the Hellenistic Period
dence for a religious organization in early Pythagoreanism.
(A˚bo, Finland, 1965). See also Thesleff’s An Introduction to
Burkert, conversely, offers the most detailed analysis of the
the Pythagorean Writings of the Hellenistic Period (A˚bo, Fin-
Pythagorean religious understanding and practices. Charles
land, 1961). Constantinos Macris’s “Pythagore, un maître de
H. Kahn’s “Pythagorean Philosophy before Plato,” in The
sagesse charismatique de la fin de la période archaïque,” in
Pre-Socratics, edited by Alexander P. D. Mourelatos (Garden
Carisma profetico: Fattore di innovazione religiosa, edited by
City, N.Y., 1974), pp. 161–185, provides a balanced over-
Giovanni Filoramo (Brescia, Italy, 2003), pp. 243–289, uses
view of Pythagoras’s religious and scientific holdings. Leonid
the tools of the sociology of religion with historical and
Zhmud, Wissenschaft, Philosophie, und Religion im frühen
philological accuracy to interpret Pythagoras as a charismatic
Pythagoreismus (Berlin, 1997), while reappraising the image
“master of wisdom” (a rich and well-chosen bibliography is
of Pythagoras as scientist and philosopher, is a strong critic
included).
of the “shamanistic” interpretation. Critical surveys of the
whole phenomenon of Pythagoreanism are Bruno Centrone,
BRUNO CENTRONE (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


Q–R
QABBALAH. The term Qabbalah is derived from the Hebrew root qbl, which means
“to receive”; in early medieval texts, qabbalah commonly signified “reception,” namely
a received tradition, mainly concerning halakhic matters. Since the early thirteenth centu-
ry it has become the main term for Jewish mystical traditions, which deal almost exclusive-
ly with (1) a theosophical understanding of God combined with a symbolic view of reality
and the theurgical conception of religious life, and (2) the way to attain a mystical experi-
ence of God through the invocation of divine names. These two traditions had much ear-
lier roots, but the term Qabbalah refers in general to Jewish mysticism from the twelfth
century onward. The following presentation will discuss the history of Qabbalah and its
phenomenological aspects.
HISTORICAL SURVEY. The first written evidence of the existence of theosophical and the-
urgical thought in Judaism comes from Provence, in southern France, in the second half
of the twelfth century. A series of well-known halakhic authorities, beginning with
Avraham ben David of Posquières and YaEaqov the Nazirite and later including Moses
Nahmanides and his principal student, Shelomoh ben Avraham Adret, were full-fledged
qabbalists, though their literary output in Qabbalah was minimal compared to their volu-
minous halakhic writings. Doubtless this situation is the result of a deliberate policy to
keep Qabbalah an esoteric lore limited to a very small elite. However, at the beginning
of the thirteenth century, the veil of esotericism began to disappear. Yitsh:aq Sagi Nahor
(Yitsh:aq the Blind), Avraham ben David of Posquières’s son, is known as the teacher of
several qabbalists, of whom the best known are Yitsh:aq’s nephew Asher ben David and
EEzraD of Gerona. They committed to writing the first qabbalistic documents, which con-
sist of commentaries on the cosmogonical treatise Sefer yetsirah and on ma Easeh bereDshit
(the biblical account of creation), and explanations of the rationale for the command-
ments. During the same period, an important treatise called Sefer ha-bahir (The book of
brightness), falsely ascribed to Ne unyaD ben ha-Qanah, a second-century mystic, began
to circulate among Yitsh:aq’s students. Although the qabbalistic doctrines incorporated
C LOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT CORNER. QurDa¯n written in Nashki script. [The Art Archive/Private
Collection/Eileen Tweedy]; Pre-Toltec Quetzalcoatl in the form of the morning star.
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. [©Werner Forman/Art Resource, N.Y.];
Etruscan bronze capitoline she-wolf, c. fifth century BCE, with twins added later by Antonio
Pollaiuolo. Musei Capitolini, Rome. [©Timothy McCarthy/Art Resource, N.Y.]; Cathedral of
Saint Basil in Moscow. [©Corbis]; Fifteenth-century illustration by Marco dell’Avogadro of
Ruth at work during the harvest, from the Bible of Borso d’Este. Biblioteca Estense, Modena.
[©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.] .
7533
7534
QABBALAH
into these works are presented in a fragmentary and obscure
being was described. This work was undertaken by some
manner, it seems highly reasonable that they reflect more
Spanish qabbalists who systematically arranged older esoteric
complex systems whose sources predated them by decades
traditions, and by Italians such as Yoh:anan Alemanno, who
and even centuries.
combined philosophy, magic, and Qabbalah.
In the middle of the thirteenth century, more extensive
After the expulsion, a growing stream of qabbalists
works were produced by Spanish qabbalists, who continued
began arriving in Palestine. At the very beginning of the six-
the major trends of their predecessors; the most important
teenth century, Jerusalem became an important center of
among them were EAzriDel of Gerona and YaEaqov ben She-
qabbalistic studies; its most famous members were Yehudah
shet. After flourishing briefly in Catalonia, the center of qab-
Albotini, Yosef ibn Saiah:, and Avraham ben EliEezer ha-Levi.
balistic creativity passed to Castile, where it underwent a re-
Beginning in the 1540s, the small Galilean village of Safad
naissance. In Castile a circle of anonymous qabbalists
rapidly acquired a dominant place in qabbalistic activity. For
produced a series of short treatises, known as the EIyyun
half a century, Safad was the arena of crucial developments
(speculation) literature, that combined ancient Merkavah lit-
in the history of Qabbalah. The arrival of two central figures
erature (commentaries on the chariot vision in Ezekiel) with
from Turkey, Yosef Karo and Shelomoh ha-Levi Alkabets,
a Neoplatonic mysticism of light. Another group became in-
prompted the establishment of mystical groups that formed
terested in the theosophy of evil and described in detail the
the nuclei of intensive qabbalistic activities. Karo, the major
structure of the “other side,” the demonic world. This circle
halakhist of his time, produced a mystical diary dictated by
included the brothers YaEaqov and Yitsh:aq, the sons of
a maggid, an angelic messenger who spoke from Karo’s
YaEaqov ha-Kohen; Mosheh of Burgos; and T:odros Abulafia.
throat. Karo represents a Spanish qabbalistic trend that was
The quintessential ideas of these qabbalistic schools appear
primarily interested in incubational techniques to induce
in the most important work of Qabbalah, the Zohar, a collec-
revelations in dreams. Alkabets, who had been close to Karo
tion of mystical writings that was circulated among the Cas-
before their arrival, was aware of the philosophical percep-
tilian qabbalists beginning in 1280. Subsequently, between
tions of Qabbalah presented in David Messer Leon’s work
1285 and 1335, the qabbalists produced many translations,
Magen David and seems to have been one of the major chan-
commentaries, and imitations of the Zohar, mainly extant in
nels of the infiltration into Safad of Qabbalah developed by
manuscript, that contributed to the eventual acceptance of
the Jews of the Italian Renaissance. However, the first tower-
the Zohar as a canonic book.
ing qabbalist in Palestine was Mosheh Cordovero (1522–
Because of fierce controversy between the representative
1570), the author of the Pardes rimmonim (1548), the most
of the more conservative form of Qabbalah that preserved
comprehensive exposition of all previous types of Qabbalah.
and transmitted older traditions, Shelomoh ben Avraham
He combined Spanish Qabbalah with ecstatic Qabbalah that
Adret, and Avraham Abulafia, the most important exponent
was already flowering in Jerusalem. His clear and systematic
of ecstatic Qabbalah, the creative and anarchic elements pe-
presentation of all the major qabbalistic doctrines contribut-
culiar to the latter were rejected by adherents of Spanish
ed to the immediate dissemination of his views, which re-
Qabbalah, a fact that contributed to its overt stagnation in
mained influential for centuries, both in the Qabbalah of
the latter part of the fourteenth century and most of the fif-
Isaac Luria and in Hasidism. Cordovero’s main disciples, fa-
teenth century.
mous qabbalists themselves, were H:ayyim Vital, Eliyyahu de
Vidas, and ElEazar Azikri. Through their literary activities—
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in
especially their moralistic works, which were intended for the
1492 and 1497 respectively caused an exodus of important
public at large—they contributed to the further propagation
qabbalists from the Iberian peninsula to North Africa, Italy,
of their master’s doctrines.
and the Levant, thereby contributing to the dissemination
of Qabbalah in those regions. Fifteenth-century Spanish
A crucial development in qabbalistic theosophy oc-
Qabbalah, with the Zohar as its nucleus, became more and
curred after Cordovero’s death when one of his former stu-
more influential in the new communities that were estab-
dents, Isaac Luria, rapidly moved to the center of the qabbal-
lished by the expelled Jews and gradually developed into an
ist community in Safad, where he became a profound
important spiritual factor in Jewish life by the middle of the
influence through his saintly behavior, occult powers, and
sixteenth century. The literary output of the first generation
exposition of a novel type of theosophy. Luria’s doctrines,
after the expulsion is remarkable, and several outstanding
commonly delivered orally to his disciples, elaborated upon
qabbalistic works were composed before the middle of the
some elements that had previously played a rather marginal
sixteenth century, including Yehudah Hayyat’s Minh:at Ye-
role in the qabbalistic system. According to Luria, the initial
hudah in Italy and MeDir ibn Gabbai’s EAvodat ha-qodesh in
movement in the process of creation consisted of the with-
the Ottoman empire. This generation of qabbalists was inter-
drawal of the all-pervading godhead into itself, leaving a
ested in preserving the esoteric traditions they had inherited
point in which the world would come to exist. This with-
in Spain; hence the eclectic nature of their writings. Howev-
drawal, or contraction (tsimtsum), made possible the elimina-
er, there were efforts to build up comprehensive speculative
tion of “evil” elements inherent in the godhead. (The evil ele-
schemes in which the whole theosophic and cosmic chain of
ments that left the godhead during tsimtsum formed 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
QABBALAH
7535
“material domain.”) This cathartic event was followed by a
The dominant brand of Qabbalah in the modern qab-
series of emanations from the godhead that were intended
balistic yeshivot (traditional Jewish academies) is the Lurianic
to constitute the created world. As the emanations proceeded
system. It is studied according to the interpretations offered
from their divine source, a catastrophic event occurred—the
by Mosheh H:ayyim Luzzatto, by Eliyyahu ben Shelomoh
breaking of the vessels that carried them. Sparks of the divine
Zalman, by Habad, the Lubavitch Hasidic movement, and
light fell into the material domain where they were impris-
by the Sefardic qabbalists of the Beit El Academy in Jerusa-
oned in shells of matter. The task of the qabbalist was to lib-
lem. Avraham Yitsh:aq Kook (1865–1935) offered a panthe-
erate the sparks in order to reconstitute the divine configura-
istic and mystical version of Qabbalah that tried to explain
tion, the primordial man (adam qadmon), a goal with
the secularism of many modern Jews as part of a larger
eschatological overtones.
scheme of religious evolution; his views had great influence.
The success of Luria’s thought was instantaneous; his
After the establishment of the state of Israel, and especially
theosophy was accepted unanimously by the former disciples
after 1967, the messianic overtones in Kook’s thought were
of Cordovero, and his Qabbalah was regarded as superior to
stressed by his son Yehudah Kook. David ha-Kohen the As-
the Cordoverian system. With the premature death of Luria
cetic (ha-Nazir), the most important figure in Kook’s entou-
in 1572 his disciple, H:ayyim Vital, committed Luria’s views
rage, developed a peculiar type of mysticism in his Qol ha-
to writing, but Vital limited their dissemination to the small
nevu Dah that leaned heavily on the oral aspects of Jewish tra-
circle of qabbalists who recognized his leadership. In com-
dition. Some interest in Avraham Abulafia’s ecstatic
parison to other authentic disciples of Luria, notably Yosef
Qabbalah has been recently discerned in Hasidic circles.
ibn Tabu¯l and Mosheh Yonah, Vital was highly prolific; his
CHRISTIAN QABBALAH. Although Qabbalah was considered
best-known work was EEts ayyim (Tree of life). A rather dif-
to be an esoteric lore that dealt with the secrets of the law
ferent version of Luria’s Qabbalah was brought to Italy dur-
(Sitre Torah) and was therefore peculiar to the Jewish people,
ing the 1590s by YisraDel Sarug, a qabbalist who considered
it found its way into Christian thought. The first steps in the
himself a disciple of Luria. He disseminated it through inten-
infiltration of Qabbalah were accomplished by converts to
sive oral and written activity, recruiting disciples from
Christianity, of whom the most important were Abner of
among former Cordoverian qabbalists. The most important
Burgos (Alfonso de Valladolid), who lived at the beginning
exponent of the Sarugian version of Lurianism was
of the fourteenth century; Paulus de Heredia, who lived in
Menah:em EAzaryah of Fano. Sarug’s success was partly due
the second half of the fifteenth century; and Flavius Mithri-
to the speculative interpretations given by Sarug himself and
dates, who had by far the greatest impact. A teacher of the
by his disciple Avraham Herrera, who used Neoplatonic phi-
fifteenth-century Italian Christian humanist Giovanni Pico
losophy in his Sha Ear ha-Shamayim and Beit Elohim. Both
della Mirandola, Flavius translated a voluminous body of
Neoplatonic and atomistic views of Lurianic Qabbalah ap-
qabbalistic literature into Latin. His translations, which he
peared in the work of Yosef Shelomoh Delmedigo of Kandia,
intentionally distorted, represented the most important
another of Sarug’s disciples.
source for Pico’s Theses, the first qabbalistic composition
During the seventeenth century, there was a clash be-
written by a Christian. Although he was the initiator of this
tween adherents of Vital’s version of Lurianic Qabbalah and
new current of Christian thought, Pico did not write lengthy
adherents of Sarug’s version. Among the qabbalists, Vital’s
treatises on Qabbalah, but presented it as an ancient Jewish
views prevailed in the compilations of ShemuDel Vital, MeDir
theology that foreshadowed, in a veiled manner, Christian
Poppers, and YaEaqov Tsemah:.
tenets. He divided Qabbalah into a high form of legal magi-
cal lore and a low form of demonic magic. Besides these
The following centuries saw the development of various
Christian and magical interpretations of Qabbalah, which
mixtures of Cordoverian and Lurianic doctrines. The theoso-
owe much to the distorted translations of Mithridates, Pico
phy of the followers of the seventeenth-century mystic and
interpreted Qabbalah philosophically, mainly using Neopla-
false messiah Shabbetai Tsevi was influenced mainly by
tonic sources previously translated into Latin by his friend
Sarug’s trend of thought; the theologies of eighteenth-
Marsilio Ficino, as well as hermetic Zoroastrian or Chaldean
century Polish Hasidism represented a revival of some of
sources. These three perceptions of Qabbalah had a pro-
Cordovero’s views, such as his view of prayer, at a period
found impact on the views that were developed by Pico’s fol-
when Lurianic Qabbalah failed to supply appropriate an-
lowers. Johannes Reuchlin, who studied Qabbalah under
swers.
Pico’s influence, produced in his De arte cabalistica the first
Some central figures of the eighteenth century, were
systematic descriptions of Christian Qabbalah to be pres-
known as qabbalists; the most important among them were
ented to the European public. In the early sixteenth century,
Eliyyahu ben Shelomoh Zalman, known as the gaon of Vilna
theologians such as Egidio da Viterbo and Francesco Giorgio
(Vilnius) (1720–1797) and YaEaqov Emden (1697–1776),
expanded the philosophical and Christological views of Qab-
who continued the Lurianic tradition, though not without
balah in influential treatises. The magical interpretation of
some reservations. In the nineteenth century, major system-
Qabbalah reached its peak in Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa of
atic presentations of Lurianism were composed by Yitsh:aq
Nettesheim’s De occulta philosophia. Through the writings
Eiziq Haver and Shelomoh Elyashar.
of these Italian and German authors, as well as artwork of
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7536
QABBALAH
Dürer, Qabbalah entered French and English literature and
There were two main ideas of the nature of the sefirot
art in the second half of the sixteenth century. In the seven-
among the qabbalists. The view expressed in the main body
teenth century, Christian Knorr von Rosenroth’s Cabbala
of the Zohar and by important qabbalists was that the sefirot
denudata, a compendium of translations of important qab-
constitute the essence of God and therefore are purely divine
balistic texts, was widely read by the European intelligentsia
manifestations. Since the beginning of the fourteenth centu-
and it remained for a long time, together with John Pistori-
ry, some qabbalists viewed the sefirot as vessels created by
us’s earlier Artis cabalisticae, the main source of the influence
God to contain the divine efflux; according to a proximate
of Jewish esotericism on European thought. Philosophers
view they are the instruments by which God created and gov-
like G. W. Leibniz and the Cambridge Neoplatonists in the
erns the world. Mosheh Cordovero combined these two
seventeenth century, and writers like G. E. Lessing, Emanuel
views, speaking of divine sefirot that are inherent in the exter-
Swedenborg, and William Blake in the following century,
nal sefirot, with the latter functioning as vessels for the for-
absorbed qabbalistic ideas. The occult groups that flourished
mer. This approach became prevalent in later Qabbalah.
in eighteenth century central Europe were influenced by
Lurianic Qabbalah also developed a representation of the di-
qabbalistic and Shabbatean thought. The impact of Zoharic
vine realm according to five anthropomorphic configura-
Qabbalah is especially evident in the works of the nine-
tions (partsufim), each composed of ten sefirot. Attempts
teenth-century Theosophist H. P. Blavatsky. In the twenti-
were made in the Middle Ages to interpret the sefirot as sym-
eth century, traces of Qabbalah can be found in the fiction
bols of human spiritual powers, and this tendency was adopt-
and poetry of Franz Kafka, Yvan Goll, and Jorge Luis Borges,
ed and strengthened by eighteenth-century Hasidic masters.
and in the cultural criticism of Walter Benjamin and the lit-
erary criticism of Harold Bloom and Jacques Derrida.
Qabbalistic cosmogony recognized the existence of four
worlds or realms of existence: the sefirot, called the world of
PHENOMENOLOGICAL SURVEY. During the long history of
emanation ( Eolam ha-atsilut); the world of creation ( Eolam
Qabbalah, its adherents developed a variety of theosophical
ha-beri Dah), consisting of the divine chariot and higher an-
doctrine, symbolic systems, and methods of textual interpre-
gels; the world of formation ( Eolam ha-yetsirah), in which the
tation, some of them contradictory and paradoxical.
angels are found; and the world of action ( Eolam ha- Easiyyah),
the celestial and terrestrial material world. Under the impact
Qabbalistic theosophy. The Talmud and Midrash
of Sufism, some qabbalists mentioned a fivefold division that
speak of two crucial attributes, the attribute of mercy (middat
includes the world of images ( Eolam ha-demut).
ha-rah:amim) and the attribute of stern judgment (middat ha-
din). These divine qualities are believed to exist in a dynamic
Qabbalistic theurgy. One of the most important tenets
balance and to have been instrumental in the creation of the
of mainstream Qabbalah is the view that humanity can influ-
world and in its governance. In other texts, ten creative logoi
ence the inner structure of the godhead. By performing the
or creative words (Heb., ma Damarot) are mentioned in this
commandments with the proper qabbalistic intention, hu-
context; in Sefer yetsirah, the ten sefirot have a similar func-
mankind is capable of restoring the lost harmony between
tion. Pleromatic entities are also evident in the Merkavah lit-
the lesser sefirot, Tif Deret and Malkhut, making possible the
erature. However, no detailed and systematic Jewish theoso-
transmission of the divine efflux from the higher sefirot to the
phy is extant before the composition of qabbalistic works at
human world. Moreover, humans can draw this efflux from
the beginning of the thirteenth century. Most qabbalists
Ein Sof, the hidden divinity, downward to the sefirot. Ac-
viewed the divinity as consisting of two layers: (1) the inner-
cording to some early qabbalists, the very existence of the re-
most, supreme godhead, Ein Sof (literally “the endless”),
vealed divinity in the sefirot is the result of human observance
which is sometimes described in terms borrowed from Neo-
of the commandments, which, by drawing the efflux down-
platonic negative theology and sometimes described in ex-
ward, counteracts the “natural” movement of the sefirot up-
plicitly anthropomorphic terminology; and (2) the sefirotic
ward in their desire to return to their primordial status with-
realm emanating from within the godhead as a pleromatic
in the godhead. Qabbalistic observance of the
structure, that was said to be comprised of ten aspects,
commandments constitutes a theurgic activity, since its aim
known variously as attributes (middot), potencies (koh:ot), de-
is the restructuring of God.
grees (ma Ealot), or, most frequently, sefirot (literally “num-
bers”). These divine powers were conceived of as forming a
This view of the commandments represents a sophisti-
supernatural man, or tree, that represents the revealed as well
cated presentation of an ancient trend in Jewish thought that
as the creative God. Figure 1 shows the commonly accepted
found its earliest expression in Talmudic and Midrashic liter-
set of names for the sefirot, although slight differences are
ature, in which God is sometimes presented as requesting
known among qabbalists.
Moses’ blessing, desiring the prayer of the righteous, and
even increasing or decreasing his power in accordance with
In some post-Lurianic texts, an additional sefirah was
the fulfillment or nonfulfillment of the commandments by
discussed, DaEat (“knowledge”), which is situated between
Israel. With the emergence of Lurianic Qabbalah, the em-
the second and the third sefirot, and which plays a role similar
phasis was transferred to the extraction of the divine sparks
to that of Tif Deret or Yesod, namely, a balance between two
(nitsotsot) from the material, demonic world as a progressive
higher poles.
eschatological activity whose ultimate aim is to restore 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
QABBALAH
7537
primeval anthropomorphic configuration of the divinity.
This theurgy has obvious affinities to Manichaean theology
and is phenomenologically different from Neoplatonic the-
urgy, which was focused mainly upon the performance of rit-
uals intended to attract the gods to descend into statues from
which they could deliver divinatory messages. In the same
manner, qabbalistic theurgy differed from magical ceremony
in both its means and its aims. The Qabbalah used biblical
commandments to effect its goals rather than magical de-
vices; and whereas magic is chiefly directed toward attaining
material results needed by certain persons, qabbalistic activi-
ty was primarily intended to restore the divine harmony, and
only secondarily to ensure the abundance of the supernatural
efflux in this world.
These phenomenological differences notwithstanding,
Neoplatonic types of theurgy, as well as various types of
magic, infiltrated into qabbalistic systems at different stages
of their development, although their influence never became
dominant. An interesting blend of qabbalistic and Neopla-
tonic theurgies with magical practices was evident in late-
fifteenth-century Spain where Yosef della Reina, a Faustian
figure, attempted to facilitate the arrival of the messianic eon
by means of theurgico-magical activities.
Mystical techniques in Qabbalah. After the middle of
the thirteenth century, qabbalists produced a series of trea-
tises that discussed techniques for reaching ecstatic experi-
ences and described such experiences. The most important
F IGURE 1 . The ten divine aspects, or sefirot, in their symbolic
representative of this trend was Avraham Abulafia (1240–c.
configuration.
1291). In his numerous works, almost all of them still in
manuscript form, he focused on complex devices for uniting
with the Agent Intellect, or God, through the recitation of
evident in the works of Yitsh:aq ben ShemuDel of Acre and
divine names, together with breathing techniques and ca-
Yehudah Albotini. In Palestine, Abulafia’s ideas were com-
thartic practices. Some of Abulafia’s mystic ways were adapt-
bined with S:u¯f¯ı elements, apparently stemming from the
ed from the Ashkenazic Hasidic masters; Abulafia may also
school of Ibn Arabi; thus S:u¯f¯ı views were introduced into
have been influenced by Yoga and Sufism. Taking as his
European Qabbalah. After the expulsion of the Jews from
framework the metaphysical and psychological system of
Spain, Spanish theurgical Qabbalah, which had developed
Moses Maimonides (Mosheh ben Maimon, 1135/8–1204),
without any significant impact from ecstatic Qabbalah, was
Abulafia strove for spiritual experience, which he viewed as
integrated with the latter; this combination became, through
a prophetic state similar to or even identical with that of the
the book Pardes rimmonim by Mosheh Cordovero, part of
ancient Jewish prophets. Furthermore, he perceived his at-
mainstream Qabbalah. H:ayyim Vital brought Abulafian
tainment of such a state as an eschatological event, because
views into his Sha Earei qedushah, and the eighteenth-century
he thought of himself as the messiah. This spiritual and high-
qabbalists of the Beit El Academy in Jerusalem perused
ly individualistic conception of salvation adumbrated the
Abulafia’s mystical manuals. Later on, mystical and psycho-
later Hasidic view of spiritual messianism. Abulafia’s messi-
logical conceptions of Qabbalah found their way directly and
anic pretensions led him to undertake such exploits as his un-
indirectly to the Polish Hasidic masters. The influence of ec-
successful attempt to discuss the true nature of Judaism with
static Qabbalah is to be seen in isolated groups today, and
the pope.
traces of it can be found in modern literature (e.g., the poetry
of Yvan Goll), mainly since the publication of Gershom
Abulafia’s prophetic and messianic pretensions prompt-
Scholem’s researches.
ed a sharp reaction on the part of Shelomoh ben Avraham
Adret, a famous legal authority who succeeded in annihilat-
Unio mystica. Theurgical Qabbalah assumes an inde-
ing the influence of Abulafia’s ecstatic Qabbalah in Spain.
pendent and forceful human existence whose ritual activity
In Italy, however, his works were translated into Latin and
can influence the sphere of divinity, though humans and
contributed substantially to the formation of Christian Qab-
God remain, in principle, distinct and apart. However, even
balah. In the Middle East, ecstatic Qabbalah was accepted
among the theurgical qabbalists the idea of a mystical union
without reservation. Clear traces of Abulafian doctrine are
between humankind and God was known—as, for example,
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
7538
QABBALAH
in the writings of EEzraD of Gerona—although it never came
referring to the erotic union of Tif Deret and Malkhut, and
to the forefront. In the writings of Nahmanides and his fol-
those pointing to the demonic world (the sit:raD ah:raD), be-
lowers, a distinction was made between the preliminary
came more central. Since the late thirteenth century, a four-
cleaving of reason to God (devequt ha-da Eat) and the final
fold division of interpretation has been accepted by qab-
cleaving of the soul to God. In contrast, nontheurgical Qab-
balists.
balah of Avraham Abulafia focused upon the fusion of the
Under the influence of Ashkenazic Hasidism of the thir-
human and the divine intellects as the supreme goal of the
teenth century, the ecstatic Qabbalah used such hermeneuti-
mystic; extreme literary expressions of this ideal used Hebrew
cal devices as gimat:riyyah, the calculation of the numerical
forms of the S:u¯f¯ı formula Huwa Huwa (he is he) or even
value of letters; notariqon, the use of letters as abbreviations
anokhi anokhi (“I I”), which symbolized the complete union
for whole words; and temurah, the interchanging of letters.
of God and humanity. Sometimes the qabbalists referred to
Abulafia developed a sevenfold system of hermeneutics that
mystical union with the Active Intellect, thereby giving a
culminated in an ecstatic experience.
mystical interpretation to the psychology developed by the
LITERARY GENRES. Qabbalah, like other bodies of Jewish lit-
Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd. They also borrowed Aristo-
erature, produced exegetical genres. Qabbalists tended to
telian concepts of intellect, intellection, and intelligibles
comment upon the traditional canonic texts, although they
(which form a unity during the act of thinking) to describe
chose to discuss issues peculiar to the Qabbalah.
mystical union. Explicit unitive phenomena were reported
in the writings of Yitsh:aq of Acre, and under the latter’s in-
The qabbalists produced more than 150 commentaries
fluence and that of Abulafia expressions of unio mystica were
on the sefirot containing lists of symbols that referred to each
included in Safadian texts, which turned out to be one of the
of the ten divine potencies. These commentaries were hand-
most important sources for the eighteenth-century Hasidic
books intended to instruct novices in the relations between
masters in their search for union with God.
all the elements of reality—canonic texts, human life, and
the supernatural forces. This genre flourished from the thir-
Eschatology. Qabbalah developed eschatological
teenth to the sixteenth centuries. Qabbalistic commentaries
themes considerably. Traditional messianic views contribut-
on the Pentateuch had a great impact on the propagation of
ed only marginally to qabbalistic eschatology. Under the in-
Qabbalah. Tens of these commentaries are extant. The most
fluence of Neoplatonic or Aristotelian psychologies, the qab-
important are those of Nahmanides, Bah:ye ben Asher,
balists regarded individual salvation as the ultimate spiritual
Menah:em Recanati, Avraham Saba, and H:ayyim ben Attar.
achievement. Under the influence of Islamic sources, they
Almost every important qabbalistic school produced its own
developed the idea that cosmic processes operate in cycles of
commentary on the daily liturgy, thereby introducing novel
seven thousand (shemit:t:ah) and forty-nine thousand (yovel)
theoretical elements into the common religious activity. This
years, with each cycle culminating in a thousand years of
vast body of literature, which is partly extant in manuscripts,
total rest; each millennium—or, according to other sources,
still requires an extensive critical analysis.
seven millennia—is governed by a separate sefirah that influ-
Since its beginning, Qabbalah expressed itself through
ences the processes taking place during this span of time.
numerous commentaries on the rationale for the command-
These qabbalistic views were integrated into the well-known
ments, the most important of which are still unpublished.
work Dialoghi d’amore by Judah Abravanel (Leone Ebreo),
The qabbalists also produced commentaries on Sefer yetsirah,
through which they entered general European culture.
commentaries on the Zohar, and works of moralistic litera-
Lengthy discussions on various types of metempsychosis (gil-
ture that were deeply influenced by Cordovero’s views and
gul), or the transmigration of souls, are found in Qabbalah
that contributed to the infiltration of the qabbalistic via mys-
from the very beginning. Metempsychosis was regarded
tica among the Jewish masses. The greater part of the extant
mainly as an opportunity given to a sinner to amend his for-
qabbalistic literature, including thousands of folios, has not
mer sins and rarely as a purgative period.
been examined in detail and has not been the subject of criti-
Qabbalistic hermeneutics. Two major methods of in-
cal analysis.
terpretation used in Qabbalah are the symbolic and the
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES. Some modern scholars, such as
mathematical. The former is paramount in theurgical and
Nah:man Krochmal in the early nineteenth century and Ger-
theosophical Qabbalah, which considered the scriptures, the
shom Scholem in the twentieth, viewed Qabbalah as having
phenomena of nature, and the events of history to be sym-
been influenced by Gnostic concepts, although no hard evi-
bols for the dynamic and continuous changes taking place
dence has been adduced to substantiate this assumption. The
within God. The symbolization of the whole of reality en-
influence of Islamic and Christian Neoplatonism on early
abled the qabbalists to give theosophical significance to virtu-
Qabbalah is indeed evident and was recognized by such op-
ally every event and, through the “intentional” performance
ponents of Qabbalah as Eliyyahu Delmedigo and Yehudah
of the commandments, to participate mystically in the divine
Aryeh Modena (Leone da Modena) as early as the Renais-
life. The various possibilities of symbolic interpretation
sance period. The thesis proposed by Shulamit Shahar about
changed the scriptures into an “open text” pregnant with in-
the influence of Catharism on Sefer ha-bahir and Avraham
finite meanings. With the appearance of the Zohar, symbols
Abulafia has not been confirmed by further studies. The qab-
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
QABBALAH
7539
balistic view of evil seems to stem from older texts whose ulti-
SEE ALSO Ashkenazic Hasidism; Hasidism; Messianism, arti-
mate source was probably Iranian, perhaps Zurvanian. Re-
cle on Jewish Messianism; Scholem, Gershom; Sefer Yet-
naissance Neoplatonism influenced the philosophical
sirah; Shabbetai Tsevi; Zohar.
interpretation of Qabbalah in the early seventeenth century,
but that trend remained without major influence on Jewish
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Qabbalah.
Altmann, Alexander. Studies in Religious Philosophy and Mysticism.
Ithaca, N.Y., 1969. Pioneering studies in qabbalistic history
Although Qabbalah was flexible enough to enrich itself
of ideas.
through the acceptance of external ideas, the latter never be-
Altmann, Alexander. Panim shel Yahadut. Tel Aviv, 1983. Con-
came dominant factors in its spiritual physiognomy.
tains a major contribution to the phenomenology of Qab-
Through the process of absorption, the alien elements were
balah.
adapted to the peculiar need of the comprehensive ideologi-
Ben-Shlomo, Joseph. Torat ha-elohut shel R. Mosheh Cordovero. Je-
cal system.
rusalem, 1965. The most extensive analysis of the thought
of an important qabbalist.
PHILOSOPHICAL INTERPRETATION OF QABBALAH. An im-
Dan, Joseph, and Frank Talmage, eds. Studies in Jewish Mysticism.
portant tendency in some qabbalistic writings is the philo-
Cambridge, Mass., 1982.
sophical interpretation of its theosophical and theurgical
Gottlieb, Efraim. Meh:qarim be-sifrut ha-Qabbalah. Edited by Jo-
concepts. This tendency is evident from the middle of the
seph Hacker. Tel Aviv, 1976. On the history and phenome-
thirteenth century in the works of EAzriDel of Gerona and
nology of early Qabbalah.
Yitsh:aq ibn Latif. It came to the forefront in the middle of
Idel, Moshe. “Kitvei R. Avraham Abulafia u-mishnato.” 2 vols.
the fourteenth century, when an array of Spanish authors
Ph. D. diss., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1976. A study
formed a rather homogenous intellectual current into which
of ecstatic Qabbalah.
Qabbalah was blended by means of concepts derived from
Scholem, Gershom. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. 3d ed. New
the Islamic philosophers Ibn Rushd and Ibn S¯ına¯. The most
York, 1961. Includes chapters on the various phases of Jew-
important figures of this trend were Yosef ibn Vaqar and
ish mysticism and Qabbalah, with an extensive bibliography.
ShemuDel ibn Motot. However, from the beginning of the
Scholem, Gershom. On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism. New
fifteenth century this philosophical Qabbalah was rejected by
York, 1965. Indispensable for understanding qabbalistic
the Spanish qabbalists, who now focused their interest on the
phenomenology.
“pure” theurgical views of the Zohar. In the last decades of
Scholem, Gershom. Les origines de la Kabbale. Paris, 1966. Dis-
that century, the philosophical interpretation of Qabbalah
cusses the first manifestations of Qabbalah in Europe.
became prominent in northern Italy, mostly in the writings
Scholem, Gershom. The Messianic Idea in Judaism. New York,
of Yo anan Alemanno, David Messer Leon, Yitsh:aq of Pisa,
1971. Important for the history of messianism.
and Isaac Abravanel and his son Judah. The influence of this
Scholem, Gershom. Kabbalah. New York, 1974. Summary of
philosophical interpretation can be discerned in the Otto-
Scholem’s numerous studies, with a full bibliography.
man empire, Safad, central Europe, and eastern Europe. At
Tishby, Isaiah. Torat ha-ra E ve-ha-qelippah be-qabbalat ha-Ari
the end of the sixteenth century and early in the seventeenth,
(1942). Jerusalem, 1984. Most important for understanding
important authors such as Avraham Herrera, Avraham Yagel,
Lurianism.
Yosef Delmedigo, and Menasseh ben Israel made extensive
Tishby, Isaiah. Netivei emunah u-minut. Tel Aviv, 1964. Studies
use of ancient texts translated during the Renaissance in
in later Qabbalah and its phenomenology.
order to interpret Cordoverian and Lurianic Qabbalah.
Tishby, Isaiah. H:iqrei Qabbalah ve-shiluh:oteyah: meh:qarim ume-
Through the works of Menasseh ben Israel and the Latin
qorot, vol. 1. Jerusalem, 1982. Studies in central events of
translation of Avraham Herrera’s Sha Ear ha-shamayim, this
early and later Qabbalah.
qabbalistic trend found its way into Christian Qabbalah and
Vajda, Georges. Recherches sur la philosophie et la Kabbale dans la
thus influenced European philosophy. The latest important
pensée juive du Moyen Age. Paris, 1962. Major contribution
repercussions of this trend are to be found in the period of
to the analysis of neglected material.
the Enlightenment, in the writings of Salomon Maimon and
Vajda, Georges, ed. and trans. Le commentarie de Ezra de Gérone
Isaac Satanov, and later on in the works of modern Jewish
sur le Cantique des Cantiques. Paris, 1969. Important for un-
theologians such as Franz Rosenzweig.
derstanding of early Qabbalah.
Werblowsky, R. J. Zwi. Joseph Karo: Lawyer and Mystic. London,
This type of Qabbalah commonly mitigated or even to-
1962. Analysis of the mystical component of a central figure
tally nullified the mythical elements that are paramount in
of Jewish culture.
mainstream Qabbalah, including the theurgical nature of the
Wirszubski, Chaim. Sheloshah peraqim be-toledot ha-Qabbalah ha-
commandments, processes by which God’s internal life un-
notsrit and Mequbbal notsri qore D be-Torah. Jerusalem, 1975
folds, and messianic eschatology. For this reason, representa-
and 1977. Two booklets that include pioneering researches
tives of philosophical Qabbalah never became influential in
into Pico della Mirandola’s Qabbalah.
Jewish theology.
MOSHE IDEL (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
7540
QA¯D:¯I
QA¯D:¯I. A qa¯d:¯ı is a judge responsible for the application
views of others. Those consulted did not, however, have a
of Islamic positive law (fiqh). The office originated under the
voice in the final decision making. The Islamic court was a
rule of the first Umayyad caliphs (AH 40–85/661–705 CE),
strictly one-judge court and the final decision rested upon
when the provincial governers of the newly created Islamic
the shoulders of a single qa¯d:¯ı.
empire, unable to adjudicate the many disputes that arose
The jurisdiction of a qa¯d:¯ı was theoretically coextensive
among Muslims living within their territories, began to dele-
with the scope of the law that he applied. That law was fun-
gate this function to others. In this early period of Islamic
damentally a law for Muslims, and the internal affairs of the
history, no body of Islamic positive law had yet come into
non-Muslim, or dhimm¯ı, communities living within the Is-
existence, and the first qa¯d:¯ıs therefore decided cases on the
lamic state were left under the jurisdictions of those commu-
basis of the only guidelines available to them: Arab custom-
nities. Islamic law governed dhimm¯ıs only with respect to
ary law, the laws of the conquered territories, the general pre-
their relations to Muslims and to the Islamic state. In actual
cepts of the QurDa¯n, and their own sense of equity. During
practice, however, the jurisdiction of a qa¯d:¯ı was hemmed in
the later Umayyad period (705–750 CE), a growing class of
by what must be regarded as rival jurisdictions, particularly
Muslim legal scholars, distinct from the qa¯d:¯ıs, busied them-
that of the maz:a¯lim court and that of the shurt:ah. The former
selves with the task of supplying the needed body of law, and
was a court (presided over by the supreme ruler himself or
by the time of the accession to power of the Abbasid dynasty
his governor) that heard complaints addressed to it by virtu-
in 750 their work could be said to have been essentially com-
ally any offended party. Since Islamic law did not provide
pleted. In constructing their legal doctrine, these legal schol-
for any appellate jurisdiction but regarded the decision of a
ars took as their point of departure the precedents already es-
qa¯d:¯ı as final and irrevocable, the maz:a¯lim court could func-
tablished by the qa¯d:¯ıs, some of which they rejected as
tion as a kind of court of appeals in cases where parties com-
inconsistent with Islamic principles as these were coming to
plained of unfair decisions from qa¯d:¯ıs. The maz:a¯lim judge
be understood, but most of which they adopted, with or
was not bound to the rules of Islamic law (fiqh), nor for that
without modification. Thus the first qa¯d:¯ıs in effect laid the
matter was he bound to any body of positive law, but was
foundations of Islamic positive law. Once this law had been
free to make decisions entirely on the basis of considerations
formed, however, the role of the qa¯d:¯ı underwent a profound
of equity. The maz:a¯lim court thus provided a remedy for the
change. No longer free to follow the guidelines mentioned
inability of a qa¯d:¯ı to take equity freely into account. It also
above, a qa¯d:¯ı was now expected to adhere solely to the new
made up for certain shortcomings of Islamic law, for exam-
Islamic law, and this adherence has characterized the office
ple, the lack of a highly developed law of torts, which was
ever since.
largely due to the preoccupation of the law with breaches of
A qa¯d:¯ı continued, however, to be a delegate of a higher
contracts. In addition, it heard complaints against state offi-
authority, ultimately the caliph or, after the demise of the ca-
cials. The shurt:ah, on the other hand, was the state apparatus
liphate, the supreme ruler in a given territory. This delegate
responsible for criminal justice. It too provided a remedy for
status implies the absence of a separation of powers; both ju-
a deficiency in the law, namely the incompleteness and pro-
dicial and executive powers were concentrated in the person
cedural rigidity of its criminal code. Although in theory a
of the supreme ruler (caliph or otherwise). On the other
qa¯d:¯ı exercised a criminal jurisdiction, in practice this juris-
hand, a certain degree of autonomy was enjoyed by a qa¯d:¯ı
diction was removed from his sphere of competence and
in that the law that he applied was not the creation of the
turned over entirely to the shurt:ah, which developed its own
supreme ruler or the expression of his will. What a qa¯d:¯ı owed
penalties and procedures. What was left to the qa¯d:¯ı was a
to the supreme ruler was solely the power to apply the law,
jurisdiction concerned mainly with cases having to do with
for which sanctions were necessary that only the supreme
inheritance, personal status, property, and commercial trans-
ruler as head of the state could guarantee.
actions. Even within this jurisdiction, a particular qa¯d:¯ı’s ju-
risdiction could be further restricted to particular cases or
The qualifications that a qa¯d:¯ı must possess are stated in
types of cases at the behest of the appointing superior.
the law, although the law is not uniform on this subject. The
minimal requirement upon which all the jurists agree is that
The principle of delegation of judicial powers not only
a qa¯d:¯ı possess the same qualifications as a witness in court,
allowed the supreme ruler to delegate these powers to a qa¯d:¯ı;
that is, that he be free, sane, adult, trustworthy, and a Mus-
it also allowed qa¯d:¯ıs to further delegate them to others, and
lim. Some require that he also possess the qualifications of
there was in principle no limit to this chain of delegation.
a jurist, that is, that he be well versed in the law, while others
All persons in the chain, except for the supreme ruler or his
regard those qualifications as simply preferable, implying
governor, bore the title qa¯d:¯ı. Although in theory the ap-
that a person may effectively discharge the duties of the office
pointment of a qa¯d:¯ı could be effected by a simple verbal dec-
without being well versed in the law. This latter position pre-
laration on the part of the appointing superior, normally it
supposed that a qa¯d:¯ı who is not learned in matters of law
was accomplished by means of a written certificate of investi-
would consult those who are before reaching a decision. In-
ture, which obviated the need for the appointee to appear in
deed, consultation was urged upon the learned qa¯d:¯ı as well,
the presence of the superior. The appointment was essential-
since even the learned are fallible and can profit from the
ly unilateral rather than contractual and did not require ac-
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
QA¯D:¯I AL-NUEMA¯N
7541
ceptance on the part of the appointee in order to be effective.
Sh¯ıE¯ı families, who were not a recognized community in
It could be revoked at any time.
Ifr¯ıqiyah, as well as H:anaf¯ı scholars deprived of patronage.
The Abbasids created the office of chief qa¯d:¯ı (qa¯d:¯ı
Among the few Ma¯lik¯ı scholars of al-Qayrawa¯n (Kairouan)
al-qud:a¯h), whose holder acted primarily as adviser to the ca-
to embrace the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı faith was al-NuEma¯n’s father, and it
liph in the appointment and dismissal of qa¯d:¯ıs. Later Islamic
is most likely that al-NuEma¯n was brought up as an Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı.
states generally retained this office, while granting to its hold-
Already in his youth he was assiduous in collecting and tran-
er the authority to issue appointments and dismissals in his
scribing books. At al-Mahd¯ı’s suggestion, al-NuEma¯n under-
own name. The Mamluk state, which ruled Egypt and Syria
took the collection and classification of a vast number of legal
from 1250 to 1516
traditions (h:ad¯ıths) narrated on the authority of the family
CE, introduced the practice of appointing
four chief qa¯d:¯ıs, one for each of the Sunni legal schools
of the Prophet (ahl al-bayt). This endeavor resulted in his vo-
(madhhabs).
luminous first work, entitled Kita¯b al-¯Id:a¯h: (The book of elu-
cidation), of which only a small fragment has survived. For-
Although the primary responsibility of a qa¯d:¯ı was a ju-
tunately, some of his several abridgments of the work,
dicial one, he was generally charged with certain nonjudicial
including an easy-to-memorize versified version composed
responsibilities as well, such as the administration of religious
during the reign of the second Fa¯t:imid caliph, al-Qa¯Dim (r.
endowments (waqfs), the legitimization of the accession or
934–946), have survived. These, as well as his subsequent
deposition of a ruler, the execution of wills, the accreditation
works on jurisprudence, represent a development of his
of witnesses, guardianship over orphans and others in need
thought towards consolidating the legal practices with a view
of protection, and supervision of the enforcement of public
to the codification of Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı jurisprudence.
morals (h:isbah).
In his several polemical works refuting the principles
SEE ALSO Islamic Law.
and methods adopted by the Sunn¯ı schools of jurisprudence
and their founders, al-NuEma¯n established as authorities of
B
jurisprudence, apart from the QurDa¯n and the sunnah, the
IBLIOGRAPHY
Schacht, Joseph. An Introduction to Islamic Law. Oxford, 1964.
rulings of the ima¯ms from the family of the Prophet, includ-
ing the reigning ima¯m. In one of the earliest Fa¯t:imid treatises
Tyan, Emile. “Judicial Organization.” In Law in the Middle East,
on the imamate, entitled al-Urju¯zah al-mukhta¯rah (The ex-
vol. 1, edited by Majid Khadduri and Herbert J. Liebesny,
pp. 236–278. Washington, D. C., 1955.
quisite poem), composed during the reign al-Qa¯Dim, he de-
fended the rights of the Fa¯t:imids to the imamate, supreme
Tyan, Emile. Histoire de l’organization judiciaire en pays d’Islam.
leadership of the Muslim community. This legitimist doc-
2d ed. Leiden, 1960.
trine was seriously challenged by the Kha¯rij¯ıs, who com-
BERNARD G. WEISS (1987)
prised the indigenous Berbers. Their rebellion challenged the
Fa¯t:imid state during the last two years of al-Qa¯Dim’s reign
and the early part of the reign of his successor, al-Mans:u¯r (r.
946–953). After crushing the rebellion, al-Mans:u¯r founded,
QA¯D:¯I AL-NUEMA¯N. Abu¯ H:an¯ıfah al-NuEma¯n ibn
near al-Qayrawa¯n, his new residential town al-Mans:u¯r¯ıyah
Muh:ammad ibn Mans:u¯r ibn Ah:mad ibn H:ayyu¯n
to mark his victory. The caliph summoned al-NuEma¯n from
al-Tam¯ım¯ı (d. AH 363/974 CE), generally called al-Qa¯d:¯ı
Tripoli, where he had appointed him as a judge shortly after
al-NuEma¯n, was the most eminent exponent of Fa¯t:imid juris-
his accession to the caliphate, and invested him with the
prudence and an official historian of the Fa¯t:imids. His
judgeship of al-Mans:u¯r¯ıyah, al-Mahd¯ıyah, al-Qayrawa¯n, as
works, all written in Arabic, cover various other subjects, in-
well as all the other towns and provinces of Ifr¯ıqiyah.
cluding QurDanic exegesis (taDw¯ıl) and religious etiquette. He
entered the service of the first Fa¯t:imid caliph, al-Mahd¯ı
Al-NuEma¯n reached the height of his career during the
(r. 909–934), in about 924 in Ifr¯ıqiyah (present-day Tunisia
reign of al-MuEizz (r. 953–975), when he was invested with
and eastern Algeria) and served the first four caliphs of the
absolute judicial authority to investigate complaints brought
Fa¯t:imid dynasty in various capacities for almost fifty years
before him from the subjects. He was also authorized to hold
until his death.
sessions of wisdom (maja¯lis al-h:ikma) in the royal palace to
instruct the congregation in the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı religious doctrines.
On the eve of the advent of the Fa¯t:imids, Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı juris-
Under the close supervision of the caliph he composed his
prudence had not yet developed, while the Muslim popula-
Da Ea¯Dim al-Isla¯m (The Pillars of Islam), which represents a
tion of Ifr¯ıqiyah mostly belonged to two recognized Sunn¯ı
culmination of more than thirty years of effort to codify
schools of jurisprudence: the school of Ma¯lik ibn Anas
Fa¯t:imid jurisprudence. It was proclaimed as the official code
(d. 796), followed by the popular majority, and the school
of the Fa¯t:imid state, and continues to be the greatest source
of Abu¯ H:an¯ıfah (d. 767), which was usually favored by the
of authority on medieval Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı law up to the present day.
deposed Aghlabid dynasty. The new rulers introduced the
application of Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı ritual and law in some specific mat-
Al-NuEma¯n is also rightly regarded as the founder of
ters, and sought to win adherents. Among those who readily
Fa¯t:imid historiography. His major historical work, Iftita¯h: al-
joined the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı cause were members of old established
da Ewah (The commencement of the mission), completed
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
7542
QARA¯MIT:AH
during the reign of al-MuEizz, relates in detail the exploits of
was murdered by his subordinate da¯ E¯ı Zikrawayh, who at
the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı mission (da Ewah), first in Yemen and then in
first showed loyalty to the central leadership. When
Ifr¯ıqiyah among the Kuta¯ma Berbers, which eventually suc-
Zikrawayh was threatened with revenge by EAbda¯n’s follow-
ceeded in establishing a long-awaited Sh¯ıE¯ı state under the
ers he went into hiding. In 902 Zikrawayh’s son succeeded
supreme authority of a hereditary ima¯m from the ahl al-bayt.
in winning the support of tribes in the Syrian desert and at-
It remains the most important primary source for the history
tacked and pillaged several cities in Syria. Two years later he
of that period and was used by subsequent chroniclers as a
was captured and executed. After several unsuccessful at-
reference.
tempts at organizing revolts, Zikrawayh himself came out of
When al-MuEizz moved to Egypt in 973 after the
hiding in 906 and defeated the Abbasid army, but the follow-
Fa¯t:imid conquest of that country, al-NuEma¯n, together with
ing year he was routed and killed, and the Qarmat:¯ı revolts
members of his family, accompanied the caliph. Fa¯t:imid law,
in Syria came to an end.
as codified by al-NuEma¯n, began to be applied and taught
The split of the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah into two factions profound-
in Egypt. He continued to serve al-MuEizz and died in Cairo
ly affected the loyalty of the various da Ewah (mission) groups
on March 27 of the following year. His sons and grandsons
to the central leadership. The da Ewah in Syria-Mesopotamia
continued to teach his works and serve the Fa¯t:imids in the
and western Persia refused to recognize the Fatimid claims
judiciary for nearly half a century.
to the imamate and instead supported the Qara¯mit:ah. The
da Ewah in Yemen at first remained loyal to the central leader-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ship, but in 913 EAl¯ı ibn al-Fad:l renounced his allegiance to
Madelung, Wilferd. “The Sources of Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı Law.” Journal of
the Fatimids and began waging war against his companion
Near Eastern Studies 35 (1976): 29–40. Reprinted in his Reli-
Mans:u¯r al-Yaman, who had remained loyal to them. Because
gious Schools and Sects in Medieval Islam. London, 1985. Arti-
of internal strife the political power of the Qara¯mit:ah disin-
cle XVIII.
tegrated rapidly. The da¯ E¯ıs in Rayy, who were successful in
Nanji, Azim. “An Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı Theory of Wala¯yah in the Da Ea¯ Dim al-
gaining the support of the Daylamis and some rulers of the
Islam of Qa¯d:¯ı al-NuEma¯n.” In Essays on Islamic Civilization
Musafirid dynasty, maintained their contacts with the
Presented to Niyazi Berkes, edited by Donald P. Little,
Qara¯mit:ah.
pp. 260–273. Leiden, 1976.
QARA¯MIT:AH OF BAHREIN. Abu¯ SaEid al-Janna¯b¯ı, the founder
al-NuEma¯n ibn Muh:ammad, al-Qa¯d:¯ı Abu¯ H:an¯ıfah. Da Ea¯ Dim
of the Qarmat:¯ı state in Bahrein (the coastal area of eastern
al-Isla¯m. Translated by Asaf A. A. Fyzee. Completely revised
Arabia between Basra and Oman, embracing the oases of
and annotated by Ismail Kurban Husein Poonawala as The
al-Qat:¯ıf and Hajar/al-H:asa¯), who was sent by H:amda¯n
Pillars of Islam. New Delhi, 2002.
al-Qarmat: and EAbda¯n, began his missionary activity in
Poonawala, Ismail K. Biobibliography of Isma¯ E¯ıl¯ı Literature. Mali-
886/7. Following the murder of EAbda¯n, he sided with the
bu, Calif., 1977. On pages 51–68, Poonawala gives a com-
rebels against the central leadership and plotted the murder
plete list of al-NuEma¯n’s works, including those attributed to
of the da¯ E¯ı Z:ama¯m¯ı, who had been sent to Bahrein before
him, numbering sixty-two works.
him by Mans:u¯r al-Yaman from Yemen and who had re-
Poonawala, Ismail K. “Al-Qa¯d:¯ı al-NuEma¯n and IsmaEili Jurispru-
mained loyal to the central leadership. He himself was mur-
dence.” In Mediaeval Isma Eili History and Thought, edited by
dered in 913. In 923, under the leadership of Abu¯ T:a¯hir, the
Farhad Daftary, pp. 117–143. Cambridge, U.K., 1996.
son of Abu¯ SaE¯ıd, the Qara¯mit:ah launched devastating at-
HAMID HAJI (2005)
tacks on southern Iraq and raided pilgrim caravans. Then,
interpreting the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 928 as
a sign indicating the end of the Islamic era and the beginning
of the final era, Abu¯ T:a¯hir predicted the appearance of the
QARA¯MIT:AH (sg., Qarmat:¯ı) is the name applied to a
Mahdi (messiah) in the near future. In 927–929 he led new
dissident Muslim group that broke away from the parent
attacks on southern Iraq and threatened the Abbasid capital
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı movement. At first, this name referred to the follow-
of Baghdad itself. In 930 he attacked the holy city of Mecca
ers of H:amda¯n al-Qarmat:, an Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı da¯ E¯ı (missionary) in
during the pilgrimage season, committed slaughter, and car-
the rural district of Kufa, who was given the surname
ried away the Black Stone of the KaEbah, thus demonstrating
Qarmat: (meaning either that he was short-legged or red-
the end of the Islamic era. The following year he handed over
eyed). Later the term was used in a wider and derogatory
his reign to a Persian youth from Isfahan in whom he recog-
sense to include all the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah.
nized the expected Mahdi, but events took an entirely unex-
BACKGROUND. The missionary activities of H:amda¯n, who
pected turn when the Persian ordered the cursing of all the
was converted to the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı cause by the da¯ E¯ı Ahwazi,
prophets and instituted the worship of fire. When the Per-
began around 873. He was assisted by his deputy and broth-
sian encouraged certain extravagant abominations and exe-
er-in-law, EAbda¯n. In 899, because of change in the central
cuted prominent Qarmat:¯ı leaders, Abu¯ T:a¯hir plotted his
leadership of the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı movement and the doctrinal issue
murder and admitted that he had been duped by the youth.
involved in this change, H:amda¯n severed his relations with
This episode demoralized his followers. Consequently, the
the leadership. Shortly thereafter he disappeared, and EAbda¯n
Iraqi Qara¯mit:ah, who had escaped from the Abbasid army
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
QARA¯MIT:AH
7543
and had joined Abu¯ T:a¯hir, left Bahrein. Many apostatized,
cyclopedic work entitled Ras a¯ Dil Ikhwa¯n al-Safa¯D (Epistles of
disclosing their secrets, and some tribal leaders joined the
the Brethren of Purity). The Qara¯mit:ah viewed history as a
army of the Sunn¯ı rulers. Abu¯ T:a¯hir nevertheless continued
developmental process that progresses through seven major
to raid southern Iraq until his death in 944.
cycles, each containing seven minor cycles. The length of
these cycles varies. In conjunction with the cyclical view of
After the death of Abu¯ T:a¯hir his brothers ruled jointly,
the Qara¯mit:ah history also had a notion of different epochs,
and in 951 they returned the Black Stone for a high sum paid
according to which the seven major cycles progress through
by the Abbasids. The Fatimid caliph al-MuEizz li-D¯ın Alla¯h
three different epochs: dawr al-kashf (“epoch of unveiling”),
(953–975) failed in an effort to bring the Qara¯mit:ah of Bah-
dawr al-fatrah (“epoch of langor”), and dawr al-satr (“epoch
rein back to the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı/Fatimid fold. Open hostilities broke
of occultation”). During the first epoch good prevails, hence
out after the Fatimid conquest of Egypt, when their army ad-
there is no need for external law, and the ba¯t:in is promulgat-
vanced to northern Syria, provoking the Qara¯mit:ah, who
ed openly. This is followed by the second epoch, during
had their own interests in Syria. Temporary alliances were
which goodness loses its hold over the people and religion
formed when the Qara¯mit:ah were aided by the Buyids of
becomes corrupted. At the end of this period begins the third
Baghdad and the H:amda¯nids of Syria against the common
epoch, when the prophet receives the revelation and lays
enemy, the Fatimids. Subsequently, the Qara¯mit:ah threat-
down the law. The prophet then appoints his successor,
ened the Fatimid capital of Cairo, but they were defeated
known as was:¯ı (“plenipotentiary”), who promulgates the
both times. As their relations with Baghdad became strained
ba¯t:in. The imams during this epoch remain hidden. At the
they renewed their attacks on southern Iraq. In 988 the Ab-
end, when the people are ready, al-Qa¯D¯ım appears and abro-
basid army inflicted a crushing defeat on the Qara¯mit:ah;
gates the law; he thus becomes the first imam of the follow-
their capital, al-H:asa¯, was besieged; and al-Qat:¯ıf was pil-
ing epoch of unveiling. These cycles are repeated until all
laged. When they were defeated and reduced to local power
souls are emancipated from matter and return to the Univer-
they renewed their nominal allegiance to the Fatimids in re-
sal Soul.
turn for a tribute, but these relations did not last long. Grad-
ually, the Qarmat:¯ı communities outside of Bahrein were ei-
HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE. The Qara¯mit:ah
ther absorbed by the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah or disintegrated. In 1067
were a powerful movement that shook Sunn¯ı Islam, threat-
they lost the island of Uwa¯l, and soon thereafter al-Qat:¯ıf was
ened the Abbasid caliphate, and terrorized southern Iraq.
lost. Finally, in 1077–1078, after a long siege al-H:asa¯ was
They had such an enormous influence in the region that dur-
lost to an emerging local tribe that was aided by the Seljuks
ing the Buyid supremacy in Baghdad the Qara¯mit:ah had
of Baghdad, thus ending the Qarmat:¯ı rule of almost two cen-
their own customhouse in the port of Basra alongside that
turies.
of the Abbasid government. Their representatives resided in
Baghdad, Kufa, and JaEfar¯ıyah and wielded considerable in-
TEACHINGS. The basic tenet of Qarmat:¯ı doctrine was the ap-
fluence. Sunn¯ı Muslim authors considered them a heretic
pearance of Muh:ammad ibn Isma¯E¯ıl as the seventh na¯t:iq
group led by people of the faiths superseded by Islam in
(“apostle” of God), the Mahdi, al-Qa¯Dim (the Redeemer),
order to undermine the latter from within. The general accu-
who would abrogate the shar¯ı Eah (Muslim canon law) and
sation against them that they practiced communism of goods
promulgate the ba¯t:in (inner truth of religion). The doctrine
and women is false; however, the shift in their opponents’
carries an antinomian tendency. The reports of historians
arguments from theological issues to economic ones does in-
that the Qara¯mit:ah dispensed with Islamic ritual and law are
dicate that they were perceived as a social threat.
therefore correct, but other accusations, of licentiousness and
libertinism, are not true. Abu¯ Ha¯tim al-Ra¯z¯ı (d. 934/5), Abu¯
The Qara¯mit:ah constituted a messianic movement
al-H:asan al-Nasaf¯ı (d. 943), and Abu¯ YaEqu¯b al-Sijista¯n¯ı
promising a better future with the rule of justice and equity;
(d. after 971) are some of the illustrious da¯ E¯ıs who have elab-
hence the social character of their preaching is undeniable.
orated Qarmat:¯ı doctrine.
The famous historian al-T:abar¯ı (d. 923) observes that the
Qara¯mit:ah consisted mainly of peasants and tillers. Their
The Qara¯mit:ah drew a fundamental distinction be-
support came from rural areas and from the bedouin. Al-
tween the z:a¯hir (“exoteric”) and the ba¯t:in (“esoteric”), the
though the backbone of the army consisted of able-bodied
two aspects of religion. The former consists of external as-
Qara¯mit:ah who were trained militarily, bedouin tribesmen
pects of religion as laid down in the religious law and explains
joined them regularly for military campaigns. Some tribes,
the apparent meaning of the QurDa¯n. The z:a¯hir changes,
such as Banu¯ Kila¯b and Banu¯ EUqayl, were integrated into
therefore, with each prophet in accordance with time and
the Qarmat:¯ı community. They did experiment with com-
circumstance. The ba¯t:in is comprised of the inner, true
munal ownership of property, but those experiments re-
meaning of the law and the QurDa¯n. It remains unchanged.
mained peripheral. Their concern for the welfare of their
The Qara¯mit:ah formulated a new synthesis of reason
community produced a unique experiment in the state of
and revelation based on Neoplatonic cosmology and Sh¯ıE¯ı
Bahrein. Its order and justice even evoked the admiration of
doctrine. Thus, they offered a new world order under the
non-Qarmat:¯ı travelers. Ibn H:awqal, who visited Bahrein in
imam, who resembles Plato’s philosopher-king. The classic
the latter half of the tenth century, makes interesting obser-
formulation of this synthesis is found in the well-known en-
vations on its political structure. According to his account,
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
7544
QI
the Qarmat:¯ı state was very much like an oligarchic republic.
emanation.” Steam, clouds, and mist are qi, and the word
The ruler was not absolute and ruled with the aid of a ruling
appears frequently in compounds that refer to meteorologi-
council comprised of important government officials and his
cal phenomena. Another basic meaning is “breath.” Later,
own close associates. Following Abu¯ T:a¯hir’s death, the lead-
these meanings were sometimes amalgamated; the Daoist
ership was held collectively by his brothers.
philosopher Zhuangzi (fourth century BCE) wrote, “When
Ibn H:awqal also describes the various taxes and tolls by
the Great Clod [the Earth] exhales breath, it is called wind.”
which the state raised its revenue, and the distribution of
During the Warring States period (481–221 BCE), the
these revenues among the ruling council. Income from grain
classical age of Chinese philosophy, the word qi began to be
and fruit estates was assigned to the Qarmat:¯ı community,
employed in an expanded variety of meanings. The concept
while the revenues from customs on the island of Uwa¯l were
of breath gave rise to the meaning “vital spirit,” that is, the
allocated to Abu¯ SaE¯ıd and his descendants. All other reve-
life force of all creatures. “Nourishing the vital spirit” (yang
nues from taxes, tribute, protection fees paid by the pilgrim
qi) by means of diet, yogic exercises, breath control, or sexual
caravans, and booty from military campaigns were disposed
yoga became an important part of the Daoist quest for im-
of in agreement with the ruling council after setting aside
mortality from the late Warring States period onward. A true
one-fifth for the Mahdi.
adept could dispense with food and even with the physical
Na¯sir-i Khusraw, a Persian Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı who visited Bahrein
body itself; immortal spirits nourished themselves on qi. Qi
in the eleventh century, makes the following observations.
could also be thought of as a flow of energy within the body.
There were in al-H:asa¯ more than twenty thousand inhabi-
To control this flow of qi, traditional Chinese medicine em-
tants capable of bearing arms. Though the inhabitants ac-
ployed acupuncture, therapeutic massage, and other tech-
knowledged the prophethood of Muh:ammad, they observed
niques. The East Asian martial arts, which have a strong spir-
neither fasts nor prayers. The ruling council ruled with equi-
itual component, emphasize the need to regulate one’s qi in
ty and justice; it owned thirty thousand black slaves who did
order to achieve absolute physical mastery of the body.
agricultural labor. No taxes were paid by the inhabitants, and
Drawing on such earlier concepts as yinyang and the
any impoverished person could obtain a loan without inter-
Five Phases (wuxing, sometimes misleadingly called “five ele-
est. New artisans arriving there were given loans to establish
ments”), Zou Yan (fourth century BCE) and his followers em-
themselves. Repairs for poor homeowners were done by the
ployed the idea of qi as the key to a systematic organic natural
state. Grain was ground free of charge in the mills owned by
philosophy. For them, qi had two sets of meanings. First, it
the state. There were no mosques, but a foreign merchant
was an extension of the idea of “vital spirit,” whereby all
was allowed to build a mosque for the use of Muslim visitors.
things, animate or not, are what they are. Things with similar
People did not drink wine.
qi, as determined by such classificatory criteria as yinyang and
The fourth century of Islamic history, known for the
the Five Phases, were similar in nature and could interact or-
flowering of Islamic civilization, witnessed a dramatic Sh¯ıE¯ı
ganically without a demonstrable mechanical cause-and-
ascendancy to power, with the Fatimids in North Africa and
effect relationship. A typical summation is that found in the
Egypt and the Buyids in Baghdad. It was during this period
second-century BCE Huainanzi: “All things are the same as
that the Qara¯mit:ah, representing a powerful, radical revolu-
their qi; all things respond within their own class.” Second,
tionary movement, also succeeded in establishing their state
qi was a sort of ethereal resonating medium through which
in Bahrein. This state exemplifies their rule of justice and
such interactions took place. Both concepts entered the
equity.
mainstream of Chinese philosophy during the early Han pe-
riod (206 BCE–7 CE), especially in the work of the Confucian
SEE ALSO Shiism, article on Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıyah.
syncretist Dong Zhongshu (179?–104? BCE). During this pe-
riod qi also came to mean something like “power”; thus,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
character traits and psychological states such as vigor, rage,
The surviving fragments of Qarmat:¯ı writings from early historical
or fortitude could be described with reference to a person’s
works are collected, along with extracts from later works, in
qi. This sense survives in the modern vernacular Chinese
Ta Drikh akhba¯r al-Qara¯mit:ah, edited by Souhayl Zakkar
term meaning “to become angry”: shengqi, literally, “to en-
(Beirut, 1971). The best modern studies are by Wilferd Ma-
gender qi.”
delung, S. M. Stern, and Vladimir A. Ivanov. Madelung’s ar-
ticle “K:armat:¯ı” in the new edition of The Encyclopaedia of
In the Neo-Confucian revival of the Northern Song pe-
Islam (Leiden, 1960–) contains an excellent bibliography.
riod (960–1127) the term qi acquired a radically new mean-
ISMAIL K. POONAWALA (1987)
ing. Cheng Yi (1033–1108) and especially Zhu Xi (1130–
1200) developed a Neo-Confucian metaphysics according to
which all phenomena are manifestations of preexisting ideal
principles. Qi was what gave physical substance to metaphys-
QI is one of the most complex and multifaceted terms in
ical ideals (li). From the time of Zhu Xi, this sense of qi tend-
all of Chinese philosophy, religion, and science. No single
ed to be dominant in Chinese philosophy and religion, al-
word can translate it adequately. Its root meaning is “moist
though the earlier senses persisted as well.
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
QIYA¯S
7545
Neo-Confucian metaphysics provided indigenous (non-
then only after a fierce controversy that has left its mark on
Buddhist) Chinese philosophy and religion with a compre-
the history of Islam. The expansion of the territorial domains
hensive explanation of the phenomenon of evil. Confucian-
of Islam after the great conquests raised an increasing variety
ism had always held that the world and everything in it is
of issues not covered by the QurDa¯n or the sunnah (tradition
by nature good; yet evil undeniably exists. For the Neo-
of the prophet Muh:ammad). Islamic jurists, therefore, felt
Confucians, the resolution of this enigma involved the con-
the need to have recourse to reason, logic, and opinion. Their
cept of qi. All metaphysical principles (li) are inherently
freedom was, however, limited. In a society committed to the
good, but their physical manifestations may be good or not,
authority of the revelation, the use of personal opinion (ra Dy)
according to the quality of qi. The qi that gives physical sub-
in religious and legal matters evoked opposition. In theory,
stance to li may be pure, clear, and good, or it may be turbid
the QurDa¯n contained a complete revelation and, supple-
and flawed. A person whose qi is “muddy” will exhibit a
mented by the sunnah, was considered to respond to all even-
flawed moral nature and will be capable of acting in evil
tualities. To admit any source of law other than the QurDa¯n
ways, despite the fundamental goodness of man.
and the sunnah meant the renunciation of the ideal of found-
Fortunately, such flaws could be overcome; and the
ing the individual and collective life of Muslims exclusively
quest to do so was what gave Neo-Confucianism some of the
on divine revelation. To overcome this difficulty, the theory
qualities of a personal religion as well as a moral and ethical
of qiya¯s was elaborated with a view to restricting and setting
social philosophy. Sagehood—human perfection—was to be
formal limits on the use of ra Dy.
sought through the “investigation of things”; one should,
The argument in favor of qiya¯s is based on the juristic
through study and self-cultivation, inquire exhaustively into
premise that divine prescriptions follow certain objectives
the perfect and enduring principles of things, and, by imitat-
and have effective causes that can be ascertained and applied
ing them, purge oneself of all that is impure and inhar-
to similar cases. The opponents of qiya¯s, however, challenged
monious.
this view by emphasizing that divine prescriptions have no
However, for later generations of Neo-Confucians, the
causes except when these are specifically indicated. Besides,
“investigation of things” too often became the investigation
distinguishing the effective cause of a ruling involves doubt,
of books. Received authority rather than active inquiry guid-
and legal rules must not be based on doubt. In the view of
ed attempts at self-cultivation. Partly in response to this ten-
the challengers, the proper conduct in response to the divine
dency, the Ming dynasty philosopher Wang Yangming
prescriptions is to accept them with devotion and without
(1472–1529) emphasized instead introspection and medita-
attempting to determine causes. It was on the strength of
tion. Yet in both cases the goal was the same: the purification
these arguments that the Z:a¯hir¯ıyah and the Akhba¯r¯ı branch
of qi, leading to enlightenment and the perfect unity of con-
of the Twelver Sh¯ı Eah rejected qiya¯s altogether, and the
sciousness and action.
H:ana¯bilah permitted its use only in cases of dire necessity.
Used continuously and pervasively in a variety of tech-
Neither the QurDa¯n nor the sunnah refers directly to
nical and vernacular senses, the term qi over the centuries has
qiya¯s. The jurists have resorted to both, however, in support-
repeatedly acquired new meanings and connotations while
ing their arguments for or against qiya¯s. Its opponents argued
retaining older ones. Any occurrence of the term, therefore,
that qiya¯s is alien to the QurDa¯n, which says “We have sent
will be correctly understood only through careful attention
to you the Book as an explanation for everything” (16:89)
to its context.
and “In whatever you differ, the verdict therein belongs to
God” (42:10). They also contended that analogy is a conjec-
SEE ALSO Confucianism.
ture and that “surely conjecture avails not aught against
truth” (53:28). They concluded that qiya¯s is not legal evi-
B
dence and that action upon it is null and void.
IBLIOGRAPHY
A good explanation of the concept of qi and its role in Chinese
The defenders of qiya¯s argued that the QurDa¯n stipulates
natural philosophy can be found in Joseph Needham’s Sci-
“As for these similitudes, we cite them for mankind, but
ence and Civilisation in China, vol. 2, History of Scientific
none will grasp their meaning save the wise” (29:43) and
Thought (Cambridge, 1956). Fung Yu-lan’s standard A His-
“Learn a lesson, O you who have vision to see” (59:2). They
tory of Chinese Philosophy, 2d ed., 2 vols., translated by Derk
Bodde (Princeton, 1952–1953), deals extensively with the
held the view that qiya¯s is essential to appreciate and evaluate
term in its various religious and philosophical contexts.
the similitudes. Furthermore, on two occasions, when
Muh:ammad sent Mu Ea¯dh ibn Jabal and Abu¯ Mu¯sa¯
JOHN S. MAJOR (1987)
al-AshEa¯r¯ı as judges to the Yemen, the Prophet is reported
to have sanctioned the exercise of ra Dy in the absence of guid-
ance in the QurDa¯n and the sunnah.
QIYA¯S (“analogy”) is a method of reasoning that entails
Although qiya¯s as a technical formula was elaborated in
the extension of a precedent to an essentially similar situa-
the second century AH (eighth century CE), evidence suggests
tion. One of the four principal sources of law among Sunn¯ı
that the companions of the Prophet approved of it in princi-
Muslims, qiya¯s was the last to gain explicit recognition, and
ple. For example, the caliph EUmar’s directive to Abu¯ Mu¯sa¯
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7546
QUAKERS
al-Ash Ea¯r¯ı reads “Know the similitudes and weigh the cases
in the QurDa¯n, sunnah, or consensus but not in another
against them.” Again, when EUmar consulted the compan-
qiya¯s.
ions on the penalty for the wine drinker (sha¯rib), EAl¯ı drew
(2) Qiya¯s should not result in the altering of a prescription
an analogy between the sha¯rib and the slanderer (qa¯dhif) and
(nas:s:). For instance, the QurDa¯n (24:4) renders false ac-
suggested the same penalty (of eighty lashes) for both. EAl¯ı
cusation (qadhf) a permanent bar to the acceptance of
reasoned thus: “When a person drinks he becomes intoxicat-
one’s testimony. Al-Sha¯fiE¯ı, however, compares the false
ed; when he is intoxicated he raves; and when he raves he
accuser to the perpetrator of other grave sins (kaba¯ Dir)
accuses falsely.”
and argues that since punishment and repentance ab-
During the second and third centuries AH, ra Dy and qiya¯s
solve the latter and entitle him to be a witness, this ex-
became the focus of a controversy between the party of tradi-
emption should also apply to the false accuser. The
tion (ahl al-h:ad¯ıth) and the party of opinion (ahl al-raDy).
H:anaf¯ıyah have replied that this conclusion would
Ma¯lik and Ibn H:anbal, the leading jurists of Medina and
amount to altering the divine prescription on the basis
Mecca, the original seat of Islam, laid particular emphasis on
of personal judgment.
tradition, which they adopted as their standard in deciding
(3) The value in question should not be expressly limited
legal issues. The situation was different in the conquered ter-
to the original case. Thus, while the Prophet exception-
ritories. Iraqi jurists, for example, who were farther removed
ally accepted the testimony of Khuzaymah as legal proof
from the birthplace of tradition, had used ra Dy and qiya¯s ex-
(the standard being two witnesses), qiya¯s may not be
tensively. The leading figure in this controversy was Abu¯
used to justify accepting the testimony of another single
H:an¯ıfah, who openly declared qiya¯s to be a valid source of
individual as legal proof.
law. But the person credited with ending the controversy is
al-Sha¯fiE¯ı, who came out squarely in favor of qiya¯s by includ-
SEE ALSO Us:u¯l al-Fiqh.
ing it among the four roots of law, though he was very careful
to state that qiya¯s must be based strictly on the revealed
BIBLIOGRAPHY
sources and on consensus (ijma E).
Textbooks on Islamic jurisprudence (us:u¯l al-fiqh), which are
In its technical sense, qiya¯s is the extension of the value
mainly in Arabic, normally devote a section to qiya¯s. There
of an original case (as:l) to a subsidiary case (far E) by reason
is a wide selection of both classical and modern works in Ara-
of an effective cause ( Eillah) that is common to both. For ex-
bic. Among the best are Sayf al-D¯ın al-A¯mid¯ı’s Al-ih:ka¯m f¯ı
ample, when a legatee slays a testator, the former is precluded
us:u¯l al-ah:ka¯m (Cairo, 1914) and Muh:ammad al-Khuda¯r¯ı’s
Kitab us:u¯l al-fiqh, 3d ed. (Cairo, 1938). Comprehensive in-
from the latter’s will. This prohibition is based on the tradi-
formation on Sh¯ıE¯ı law can be found in Sayyid Muh:ammad
tion that “the killer does not inherit” (la¯ yarith al-qa¯til). Al-
Asghari’s Qiya¯s va sayr-i takv¯ın-i a¯n dar h:oqu¯q-i Isla¯m (Teh-
though this ruling refers to intestate succession only, through
ran, 1982). The best single book in English that devotes a
analogy it is extended to bequests by reason of a common
section to qiya¯s remains Nicolas P. Aghnides’s Muhammadan
effective cause, namely the prohibition on hastening the real-
Theories of Finance (New York, 1916). A more condensed
ization of a right before it is due.
but accurate summary of qiya¯s can be found in S. R. Mah-
massani’s The Philosophy of Jurisprudence in Islam, translated
The cause in analogy must be intelligible to the human
by Farhat Ziadeh (Leiden, 1961), which also contains a very
mind and it must be clearly identifiable. Qiya¯s is thus not ap-
useful bibliography. Interesting information on qiya¯s can also
plicable in matters of worship ( Eiba¯da¯t), such as the number
be found in Joseph Schacht’s The Origins of Muhammadan
of daily prayers, where the mind cannot understand the value
Jurisprudence (London, 1950) and Noel J. Coulson’s A Histo-
in question (the command to pray five times a day rather
ry of Islamic Law (1964; reprint, Edinburgh, 1971).
than twenty times has no identifiable cause). A further re-
M. HASHIM KAMALI (1987)
striction in the use of qiya¯s concerns the exercise of caution
in the application of penalties. Thus, under H:anaf¯ı law, pre-
scribed penalties (h:udu¯d) may not be analogically extended
to similar offences. The Sha¯fiE¯ıs and some jurists from other
QUAKERS. The Quakers, or the Religious Society of
schools are in disagreement on this point, for they consider
Friends, arose in seventeenth-century England and America
that the basic rationale of the h:udu¯d is ascertainable with a
out of a shared experience of the Light and Spirit of God
reasonable degree of certainty in the QurDa¯n and the sunnah.
within each person. This source of worship, insight, and
A total ban on the use of analogy concerning the h:udu¯d is,
power they identify as the Spirit of Christ that also guided
therefore, not warranted. But the H:anaf¯ı ruling, which fa-
the biblical prophets and apostles. Quakers also affirm each
vors caution in the enforcement of penalties, has wider sup-
person’s ability to recognize and respond to truth and to
port among jurists.
obey the Light perfectly through the leading of an inner wit-
ness, or “Seed,” called by some Quakers “Christ reborn in
There are three other conditions governing the validity
us” and by others “that of God in every [hu]man,” out of
of qiya¯s:
which transformed personalities can grow. They therefore
(1) The value extended to a new case should be established
ask of each other, and of human society, uncompromising
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
QUAKERS
7547
honesty, simplicity of life, nonviolence, and justice. Quakers
to individuals, the making of true statements without oaths,
have often been sensitive to new forms of social evil and cre-
the refusal of titles such as sir, doctor, and my lady, and the
ative in their programs to overcome them. Their worship has
refusal of hat honor and of tithe taxes to state churches.
been based on silent waiting upon God without outward
To persecution for these offenses under the Puritans was
ritual.
added, after the restoration of Charles II, mass arrests—due
The early Friends, as Quakers were named (from John
to the Anglicans’ Conventicle Acts of 1664 and 1670. Out
15:5) by their first leader George Fox, arose in England dur-
of fifty thousand Friends, five hundred died in jail. Quaker
ing the Puritan Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell,
courage won over to Quakerism such leaders as William
manifesting an inward intensification of radical and spiritual
Penn, the mystic Isaac Penington, and the theologian Robert
forms of Puritanism; they were influenced by uncompromis-
Barclay. Quaker ethical testimonies of speech and dress and
ing Baptists, quietist Seekers, antinomian Ranters, and theo-
the continuing of silent Meetings for worship were increas-
cratic militants; and these were in turn influenced by English
ingly stressed as badges of loyalty and as the fruits of the Spir-
Lollards, by European Anabaptist Mennonites who rejected
it guiding “the sense of the Meeting.”
both the state and class inequality, and by mystics like Jakob
The formal network of Quaker Meetings for Business,
Boehme and the Familists. Unlike their predecessors, Quak-
held monthly for a town, quarterly for a county, or yearly
ers held distinctive ideas on the purely inward nature of true
for a state or nation, was set up to replace reliance on individ-
baptism and Communion, on the ministry of all laymen and
ual leaders. The duties of these Meetings were to register
women, on God’s power judging and working within hearts
births, marriages, and burials and to aid prisoners, widows,
and history, and on the need for biblical events to be fulfilled
and poor Friends. Fox insisted after 1670 on independent
within each person’s life-story; but many of these ideas sim-
Women’s Meetings for Business throughout Quakerism.
ply carried further those trends, already active in the main-
The monthly Meeting for Sufferings in London and local
stream of Protestant doctrine, that had turned English Chris-
Meetings recorded imprisonments, oversaw publication of
tians from Catholics into Anglicans, and then into
Quaker books, and disowned actions untrue to Quaker
Presbyterians or radical Puritans. Indeed, many Quakers had
norms, disavowing those who so acted until they renounced
fought in the Puritan armies of the English Civil War and
their acts. Later, Yearly Meeting Epistles and Queries became
had turned back from the futility of merely military mil-
regular parts of Quaker books of discipline.
lennia.
Quaker theological writings began with 461 wordy de-
A regional mass awakening in the English Northwest,
bate tracts poured out by Fox and all other major Quaker
which had not been strongly reached by Puritanism or any
leaders to answer the charges made by anti-Quaker writings;
other vital religious movement, sprang up in 1652 around
Penn wrote more systematically on the universality of the
George Fox and the Quaker preachers inspired by him. From
saving Light; Robert Barclay’s 1678 Apology became the
open-air meetings on the Yorkshire, Westmorland, and
most-read statement of Quaker beliefs and worship, present-
Cumberland moors, groups were gathered who were con-
ing the Bible as testimony to authentically inspired experi-
vinced to sit under the Light, largely in silence, for months
ence, parallel to that of the Friends. In Barclay’s words, the
of anguished self-searching of their motives and habits. The
death of Jesus atones for past sins, but the power of the Spirit
name Quaker reflected the physical impact of their inner
can purify from sinning in the present. The cross stands for
struggles to yield all self-will to the judgments and guidance
self-renunciation. The essence of the sacraments is inner
of the Light until they could live purely and speak entirely
washing, nurture, and Christ’s real presence in worship; out-
by its “leadings.” Only then would joy and love come.
ward water, bread, and wine are needless. Ministry and even
The early Quaker mission throughout England, in
prayer must wait for and result from direct divine leading.
1654–1656, was presented as the “Day of Visitation” by the
Toleration was always a concern for Friends: their argu-
Lord to each town or region; newly transformed Friends
ments early turned from protests against persecution of
spoke in markets and parish churches despite mobbing and
God’s messengers to moral, rational, and pragmatic appeals.
arrests. In New England, Quakers challenging the “biblical
Penn spoke for increasing groups of Englishmen convinced
commonwealth” were banished on pain of death, and Mary
of the need to allow dissenting or nonconformist worship
Dyer and three men were hanged in Boston. The pope and
outside the national Anglican church, which led both to the
the sultan of Turkey had been visited but not converted. To
Toleration Act of 1689 and the tradition of liberal Protestant
Quakers, Puritan apocalyptic hopes for God’s cosmic victory
reformers; he made moral appeals to all consciences, advising
over evil seemed fulfilled as through their work the spirit of
nonviolence and loyal opposition to government policies and
Christ conquered the world nonviolently in “the Lamb’s
people in power.
war” (Rev. 19:11–15). Outward violence they saw as only the
devil’s distraction, injuring God’s good physical creation. All
Quaker governments were set up in 1675 and 1682 by
early Quaker ethical standards were part of the crucial inward
Edward Billing and Penn in their new colonies of West New
war of truth against human pride and, thus, were sure to
Jersey and Pennsylvania; the charters of these governments
arouse anger; among them were the use of “thee” and “thou”
mandated toleration and political and legal rights for all in-
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
7548
QUAKERS
cluding the Delaware Indians. Yet even after Quakers had
The 1827–1828 separation was initiated by the preach-
become a minority in these colonies, all citizens’ consciences
ing of quietism and the urging of a boycott of slave-made
were expected to concur with the Quakers’ in rejecting forts
products by Elias Hicks, the patriarchal farmer from New
and arms, oaths, most capital punishment, and the slave
York State. The breach was widened by the influence of
trade. England’s wars with France forced increasingly unac-
evangelical English Quakers traveling in America and disci-
ceptable compromises on Pennsylvania Quaker legislators,
plinary acts of evangelical urban elders. Friends from older
most of whom resigned in 1755–1758. By tender persuasion,
close-knit rural Meetings who withdrew in protest from the
John Woolman and others led Quakers also to make collec-
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting did not foresee that the split
tively the harder decision to liberate their slaves and disown
would extend to Yearly Meetings and most Monthly Meet-
Quaker slave owners. Friends were jailed and fined through-
ings, as well as to schools and committees in New York, Bal-
out America in the wars of 1755–1763 and 1812 and during
timore, Ohio, and Indiana, and that it would continue per-
the Revolution; the few Friends who joined or paid for the
manently.
militias were disowned by their Meetings.
New methods of revivalism begun after 1830 by Charles
Friendship with the American Indians was a Quaker
G. Finney in midwestern America seemed to the Rhode Is-
policy: a Quaker committee shared in peace negotiations in
land Quaker John Wilbur to be reflected in Gurney’s Bible
1756–1758 and 1763–1768, and others set up schools and
study methods. Rural Wilburite Friends, evangelical in doc-
mediation for the New York Senecas and for the Shawnees
trine but rejecting evangelism, were driven in 1846 into a
and other tribes evicted from Ohio and sent to Oklahoma
second split, followed by like-minded Friends in Ohio and
after 1830. In the 1870s, President Grant asked Friends to
Canada and later in Iowa and Carolina.
administer the Indian Agencies of Kansas-Nebraska.
The word holiness, in midwestern revivals and Bible
conferences after 1858, came to mean a sudden second work
The antislavery work of British and American Quakers
of grace totally purifying the hearts of already-converted
and their allies helped to end legal slave trade in both coun-
Christians. This experience predominated in Quaker Holi-
tries in 1807, but tension piled up against Quakers such as
ness revivals in Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa after 1867 led by
the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, Lucretia Mott, and the
John Henry Douglas and David Updegraff and others close
Grimke sisters (pioneers also in the women’s rights move-
to non-Quaker revivalists. Simultaneously, evangelical
ment) who advocated immediate national abolition of slave-
Friends were aroused to foreign mission projects in India,
owning. Many Quakers felt driven for the first time to break
Japan, China, Jamaica, Cuba, Mexico, Kenya, Guatemala,
laws secretly in order to protect fugitive slaves through the
Bolivia, and among both Indians and Inuit in Alaska.
Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War,
southern Quakers suffered much; northern Friends were in-
Quaker organization and worship, not greatly changed
wardly torn; some enlisted to fight. In England, John Bright
since 1690, were now centered in the American Midwest on
sacrificed his parliamentary career to oppose both England’s
revivals and hymns and hence on pastors and superinten-
entry into the Crimean War and cotton mill owners’ support
dents, led by Douglas in Iowa and Oregon. By 1898 half the
for the American Confederacy.
Meetings, even in Indiana, supported pastors and pro-
grammed worship with sermons and hymns and biblical
Change and growth characterized Quaker activities dur-
Sunday schools. The Richmond Conference of 1887 gath-
ing the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Eighteenth-
ered all orthodox Friends to look at these new patterns and
century English industry, banking, and science were increas-
to restrain Updegraff’s advocacy of water baptism. The Rich-
ingly led by the interbred Quaker families of Darbys, Bar-
mond Declaration of Faith reaffirmed evangelical orthodoxy.
clays, Lloyds, and Gurneys, who (notably Elizabeth Fry) also
Concern for unity led in 1902 to a formally gathered Five
pioneered in reforming prisons, mental hospitals, and educa-
Years Meeting, which since 1960 has been called Friends
tion for Quaker youth and the poor. Philadelphia Friends
United Meeting, and is still centered in Richmond, Indiana;
emulated them. Quaker worship, watchful against self-will,
it currently includes seven Orthodox (evangelical) American
rationalism, and emotionalism had turned quietist. Among
Yearly Meetings (mostly midwestern); the reunited Balti-
non-Quaker partners in trade or philanthropy, an evangelical
more, Canadian, New England, New York, and Southeast-
orthodoxy that returned to the Bible and Christ’s atonement
ern Yearly Meetings; three Yearly Meetings in Kenya; and
was resurgent and began after 1800 to shape the experience
one each in Cuba, Jamaica, and Palestine arising from mis-
of urban Quakers such as banker Joseph John Gurney, who
sions. Their total 2002 membership was 34,863 in North
wrote theology and traveled in America. Community revivals
America and about 100,000 overseas. The year 1902 also saw
and regional awakenings further stimulated evangelicalism in
the gathering of Hicksite Yearly Meetings into the Friends
both the creed and the experience of fifty thousand Friends
General Conference, centered in Philadelphia, with a 2002
who between 1795 and 1828 had been drawn to the Ameri-
membership of 34,557, including Yearly Meetings of “silent
can frontier in Ohio and Indiana from Virginia, the Caroli-
Meeting Friends” in western and midwestern cities and col-
nas, New England, and Pennsylvania by the promise of open
leges. The three Wilburite or Conservative Yearly Meetings
land and freedom from slave-owning neighbors.
had shrunk by 1981 to a membership of 1,832. Intensifying
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
QUAKERS
7549
of the biblical and Holiness concentration, however, drove
BIBLIOGRAPHY
evangelical Yearly Meetings of Ohio, Kansas, and Oregon
The Journal of George Fox, edited by Thomas Ellwood (1694; re-
out of the Richmond network and led in 1961 to their form-
print, Richmond, Ind., 1983); John Woolman’s Journal
(1774; reprint, New York, 1971); Robert Barclay’s Apology
ing the Evangelical Friends Alliance, to which were added
(1676; reprint, Newport, R.I., 1729); and William Penn’s
other Friends Churches, some begun by Quaker missions in
No Cross, No Crown (London, 1669) remain the central clas-
Asia and Latin America. In 1998, there remained 20,000
sics of the Friends. The Papers of William Penn (Philadelphia,
Friends in England and Scotland, 1,750 in Ireland as of
1987) photocopies of The Works of George Fox, 3 vols. (1831;
1985, approximately 3,000 in Australia, New Zealand, and
New York, 1975), and A Collection of the Works of William
South Africa as of 1996, and 20 to 400 each in eight post-
Penn, 2 vols. (1727; New York, 1974), are in print. Other
1918 Yearly Meetings in nations of continental Europe.
primary sources are in Early Quaker Writings, 1650–1700,
edited by Hugh Barbour and Arthur O. Roberts (Grand
Quaker universalism and mysticism were replacing qui-
Rapids, Mich., 1973).
etism as the central religious experience of many Hicksite
Joseph Smith’s Descriptive Catalogue of Friends Books, 2 vols. (Lon-
and British Friends even before Rufus Jones, student and
don, 1867), remains the most complete bibliography, but see
teacher at Haverford College, Pennsylvania, drew on Emer-
also Donald Wing’s Short-Title Catalogue of Books . . .
son and European mystics to make normative for their lan-
1641–1700, 3 vols. (New York, 1945–1951). Leonard
Hodgson’s Christian Faith and Practice (Grand Rapids,
guage “positive” or “ethical mysticism” and the experience
Mich., 1950), with topical selections from all periods, and
of the soul’s unity with “the divine in every [hu]man.” Quak-
Church Government, rev. ed. (London, 1951), together make
er education and service programs became linked to these
up the London Yearly Meeting’s Book of Discipline; those of
humanitarian or humanist ideas. Rufus Jones channeled the
other Yearly Meetings are less complete.
service of Quaker conscientious objectors in World War I by
William C. Braithwaite’s The Beginnings of Quakerism (1912; 2d
helping to found the American Friends Service Committee,
ed., Cambridge, U.K., 1955) and The Second Period of Quak-
which then joined with the older British War Victims Relief
erism (1919; reprint, Cambridge, U.K., 1961), together with
and Friends Service Council in feeding two million German
Rufus M. Jones’s studies titled The Later Periods of Quaker-
children and many victims of the 1922 Russian famine. The
ism, 2 vols. (1921; reprint, Westport, Conn., 1970), and The
1929–1939 Depression and World War II prompted Quak-
Quakers in the American Colonies (1911; reprint, New York,
1962) were designed to form the normative “Rowntree Se-
er interest in their own nations’ unemployed and then in is-
ries,” based on documentary work by Norman Penney. A.
sues of world peace. In 1943 the Friends Committee on Na-
Neave Brayshaw’s The Quakers (London, 1921) combines
tional Legislation was formed to coordinate and lobby for
history and ideas, as do Howard Brinton’s study of Quaker
Quaker ideals in American policy. Quaker schools of all le-
mysticism titled Friends for Three Hundred Years (New York,
vels moved away from the guarded education of a purist sect
1952) and John Punshon’s Portrait in Grey (London, 1984).
toward a humanism aimed at developing the whole person.
Each is an outstanding interpretation. Elbert Russell’s The
American colleges of Quaker origin (Haverford, Guilford,
History of Quakerism (1945; reprint, Richmond, Ind., 1980),
Earlham, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and others) and the fa-
centered on America, with Efrida Vipont Foulds’s The Story
mous Quaker secondary boarding schools on both conti-
of Quakerism (London, 1954). Both are good one-volume
histories.
nents increasingly draw brilliant students of all faiths and
none. Graduate study centers have been set up at Wood-
Each Yearly Meeting has a printed history, and biographies have
been written of most key Quakers. On early Quaker history,
brooke by the Cadbury family and at Pendle Hill near Phila-
see various works by Edwin Bronner and Frederick Tolles;
delphia. The Earlham School of Religion trains all branches
on the eighteenth century, by Sydney James and Arthur Ra-
of Friends for ministry of all kinds.
istrick; and on the nineteenth, by J. Ormerod Greenwood,
Elizabeth Isichei, and Philip Benjamin. On Quaker ethical
New patterns of unity and division have emerged since
outlooks and doctrines, especially for the early periods, Rich-
the 1960s. Conferences, international visits, and sharing of
ard Bauman’s Let Your Words Be Few: Symbolism of Speaking
theological concerns are sponsored by the Friends World
and Silence among Seventeenth Century Quakers (Cambridge,
Committee for Consultation. Increasingly periodicals such
U.K., 1983), Melvin B. Endy, Jr.’s William Penn and Early
as Friends Quarterly and The Friend in England and Quaker
Quakerism (Princeton, N.J., 1973), J. William Frost’s The
Life, Friends Journal, and The Evangelical Friend in America
Quaker Family in Colonial America (New York, 1973), and
transcend Quaker divisions. Reunion of Yearly Meetings and
works by Hugh Barbour, Lewis Benson, Maurice Creasey,
Christopher Hill, and Geoffrey Nuttall give solid data and
local Meetings from the Hicksite separations have occurred
a variety of insights. Thomas R. Kelly’s A Testament of Devo-
in Philadelphia, Canada, New York, and Baltimore. Young
tion, 6th ed. (New York, 1941), remains beloved as inspira-
Friends, who have often led Quakers into new ways, are con-
tion.
cerned now with nuclear arms, communes, and new founda-
New Sources
tions in theology.
Benefiel, M., and R. D. Phipps. “Practical Mysticism: Quakers
and Social Transformation.” In Mysticism and Social Trans-
SEE ALSO Fox, George; Penn, William; Puritanism;
formation, edited by Janet Ruffing, pp. 129–142. Syracuse,
Quietism.
N.Y., 2001.
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
7550
QUATERNITY
Steinkraus, W. E. “Quaker Mysticism.” In Mysticism and the Mys-
continue the lesson.” Here, a whole truth is symbolically
tical Experience: East and West, edited by Donald H. Bishop,
fourfold; further, there lies inside the fourfold structure of
pp. 110–132. Selinsgrove, Pa., 1995.
truth a distinction between three of its parts and a fourth.
HUGH BARBOUR (1987)
Navajo sand paintings are often bordered on three sides only;
Revised Bibliography
the eastern fourth side is left open, because evil cannot enter
there.
Ezekiel’s vision of God’s chariot in the Hebrew scrip-
QUATERNITY, or a fourfold structure (together with
tures contains a fourfold image that inspired Judeo-Christian
its multiples—eightfold, twelvefold, etc.), expresses symboli-
symbolism. The prophet saw Yahveh—the four consonants
cally the nature of the divine and, by extension, describes the
of whose name, incidentally, comprise the mystical tetra-
structure of the world that mirrors that divinity. Like the
grammaton of Judaism—supported by “four living crea-
other great numerical symbols in its class, quaternity is im-
tures.” They had four wings and also four faces, three of
personal; it may stand alone, or it may be associated with the
which were those of animals (the ox, lion, and eagle) and the
attributes of a personal god. God is one, says Plotinus, and
fourth the face of a man. Their “spirits” were in the chariot’s
so is the truth of this world. The divine is dual, say the Zoro-
four wheels, which seem to have been intersected by four
astrians, and thus one must choose between truth and false-
other wheels permitting them to move in four directions (Ez.
ness. Christians say that God is a trinity, a perception that
1). In the apocalyptic vision of the New Testament, God’s
explains for Augustine the threefold nature of human love.
throne is encircled at a distance by twenty-four other
Yet others have experienced the divine mystery as a quaterni-
thrones; “round the throne, on each side of the throne, are
ty, and its reality can be dimly perceived in the world’s four
four living creatures”—like an ox, a lion, an eagle, but also
cardinal directions, the four seasons, the four elements, and
like a man (Rv. 4). Irenaeus stated in defense of Christianity
the four temperaments of classical thought.
(Against Heresies 3.11.7–9): “The Gospels could not possibly
Something of this symbol’s power can be seen in the
be either more or less in number than they are,” namely,
boyhood vision of Black Elk, the Oglala visionary. He heard
four. He argued that the Gospel of Matthew is like a “man”
voices: “Behold him, the being with four legs!” The divine
while the other three are like an “ox,” a “lion,” and an
quadruped was a horse that turned in the four directions to
“eagle.” Perhaps it should be noted that, symbolism aside,
reveal four sets of twelve horses of four different colors.
these four fundamental documents of the Christian religion
These forty-eight beings went into formation, four abreast,
naturally divide themselves into a set of three—the so-called
and introduced the boy to the four Grandfathers, who were
Synoptic Gospels—and the very different Gospel of John,
the powers of the four quarters of the world. Two other
which became the favorite of Gnostic heretics. Structurally,
Grandfathers, the dual powers of sky and earth, were also
something similar can be said for the fundamental teaching
present. This experience lasted twelve days, and for twelve
of Buddhism called the four noble truths, the fourth of
days thereafter Black Elk felt homesick for his extraordinary
which is the Eightfold Path. Three of these truths describe
“other world” (described in John G. Neihardt’s Black Elk
conditions in the phenomenal realm of sam:sa¯ra, but the
Speaks, Lincoln, Neb., 1979). In this vision, the fourfold
“truth of cessation” alone describes the goal of nirva¯n:a.
structure orders the religious experience and provides an
When Vedic seers of ancient India perceived the divine
image for the order of divine things.
as an enormous person (Purus:a), he was a quaternity: “All
It is, therefore, something of a surprise to learn that this
creatures are but one-fourth of him, three-fourths have eter-
North American medicine man disparages the square, a four-
nal life in heaven” (R:gveda 10.90). Their vision lay behind
fold geometrical figure—especially in light of the fact that
the later and more impersonal view of the ultimate expressed
the Navajo Indians use squares, and quaternities generally,
by Upanis:adic sages as a¯tman or brahman. According to the
in the healing pictures called sand paintings. But Black Elk
Cha¯ndogya Upanis:ad (3.18.2), the divine has “four feet” or
contrasts the square with the circle, which he finds more nat-
quarters—speech, breath, eye, and ear. But the Ma¯n:d:u¯kya
ural and thus more compatible with deity. The Navajos inte-
Upanis:ad develops the point psychologically and describes
grate the image of the circle with its geometrical “opposite,”
the a¯tman or self as comprised of four states of mind, three
the square. The same is true for Tantric Buddhists, who
of which are waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep; the
make meditative use of an image called a man:d:ala. Tantric
mysterious “fourth” (tur¯ıya) state is the unity of the other
devotees imagine that the gods—often numbering a multiple
three. When these matters are expressed in later Hinduism
of four, such as the thirty-two deities of the Guhyasamaja
by anthropomorphic deities such as Brahma¯ and S´iva, the
Tantra—reside in a square “palace” with four gates in the
gods often have four heads as an optimum number. It is said
four directions; their residence, however, is surrounded by
that Brahma¯ once had a single stag’s head when he lusted for
a “circle” (i. e., a man:d:ala). Confucius, in his Analects (7.8),
his daughter; he was properly punished and lost his head, but
describes the proper way to teach a religious truth through
then he was given the four heads one often sees in art. Or,
an image that appears to be a square: “If I hold up one corner
he once had five heads but was too proud, so the number
and a man cannot come back with the other three, I do not
was reduced to four (Skanda Pura¯n:a 3.40.1–59; S´iva Pura¯n:a
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7551
3.8.36–66). S´iva, on the other hand, was not punished when
young man announces that he comes from the Great Spirit
he lusted after a celestial nymph who danced seductively; he
to answer Wunzh’s prayer. “I will teach you to help your
had one head but, in order to see more, he increased the
people,” he says, “but first you must wrestle with me.” Weak
number to four (Maha¯bha¯rata 1.203.15–26). Perhaps the
from fasting, the boy nevertheless does as he is told and holds
nymph’s dance was the “dance of ma¯ya¯,” or phenomenal life,
his own in the match. “Enough!” cries the spirit. “I will re-
which the Indian Buddhists say must be seen fully if one is
turn tomorrow.” On the next day the spirit returns. The boy
to become emancipated. For that to happen, say the
is of course weaker than before but feels that he has gained
Maha¯ya¯nists, one has to experience the “twelve acts” of a
an inner strength, and he fights well. Again the spirit cries,
Buddha, which include the critical “four visions” (of a sick
“Enough! I will return tomorrow.” On the third day the boy
man, an old man, and a dead man; but also of a monk).
is weaker still, but his inner strength has grown proportion-
Then, on the night of one’s enlightenment, one must have
ately. He fights so well that the spirit concedes defeat and
a dream that four birds of four different colors fly from the
begins to instruct him. “Tomorrow, because it will be the
four directions, fall at one’s feet, and turn completely white
seventh day of your fast, your father will come and offer you
(Maha¯vastu 2.136).
food. You must not eat until you have wrestled with me one
more time. Then, if you defeat me, strip me and bury me
SEE ALSO Architecture; Calendars, article on South Ameri-
in the ground after clearing a spot and loosening the earth.
can Calendars; Cosmology; Geometry; Man:d:alas.
In the weeks that follow, you must remove the weeds from
my grave and keep the earth soft. If you do exactly as I say,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
you will learn something of great value to your people.”
The quaternity image is so important to Carl Jung’s Collected
Wunzh’s father does bring food and begs the boy to eat. The
Works, 2d ed., edited by Herbert Read, Michael Fordham,
boy asks his father to leave him and promises to return home
and Gerhard Adler (Princeton, N.J., 1968–), that one should
by sundown. The spirit appears at the usual hour, and the
consult them for materials and also for a psychological inter-
boy, now full of supernatural power, easily defeats his adver-
pretation. On the problem of “three and four,” however, Ed-
sary, kills, strips, and buries him as instructed, and returns
ward F. Edinger’s essay on the Trinity in Ego and Archetype
to his father’s lodge to eat. During the spring Wunzh visits
(New York, 1972) is exceptional. Wendy Doniger
O’Flaherty’s S´iva: The Erotic Ascetic (Oxford, 1981) relates
the grave of the spirit regularly and tends it with care. Soon
the head symbolism in Hinduism to phallic symbolism. Alex
the green plumes of the sky visitor’s headgear begin to push
Wayman’s neat essay “Buddhism,” in Historia Religionum,
through the ground. In late summer, the boy asks his father
edited by C. Jouco Bleeker and Geo Widengren, vol. 2, Reli-
to accompany him to the spot of his fasting, and there he
gions of the Present (Leiden, 1971), gives ample evidence of
reveals the grave from which has sprung a fine plant with
quaternities in the Buddhist religion.
great yellow tassels. “This is my sky friend Mondawmin, the
spirit of maize. If we do as the spirit has taught, we can have
New Sources
Berner, Robert. The Rule of Four: Four Essays on the Principle of
food from the ground. The Great Spirit has answered my
Quaternity. Studies on Themes and Motifs in Literature se-
prayer; my fast has been rewarded.”
ries. New York, 1996.
The story of Wunzh and Mondawmin is but one mask
Oxford-Carpenter, Rebecca. “Gender and the Trinity.” Theology
of a basic pattern to be found in the stories of any number
Today 41 (April 1984): 7–25.
of culture heroes and in the rituals of various cults. The story
von Franz, Marie-Louise. Archetypal Dimensions of the Psyche. Bos-
would not be foreign to the young San or Australian Aborigi-
ton, 1999.
ne initiate. The newly confirmed Christian, the Jew who has
von Franz, Marie-Louise. The Golden Ass of Apuleius: The Libera-
just become bar mitzvah, or the newly circumcised Muslim
tion of the Feminine in Man. Boston, 2001.
might feel inklings of familiarity with it. The process by
which inner strength grows at the expense of physical
GEORGE R. ELDER (1987)
strength during a period of self-denial and searching is as fa-
Revised Bibliography
miliar to the reader of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic,
or Jewish Scripture as it is to the American Indian on his vi-
sion quest.
QUESTS. The Ojibwa Indians tell the story of the boy
STRUCTURE OF THE QUEST. At its most basic level the quest
Wunzh and his vision quest. Having reached the appropriate
is a phenomenon inherent in existence itself. In a universe
age for the ritual search for totem spirits, Wunzh is left alone
in which all things must ultimately be defined in terms of
in the great forest. After several days of fasting, he retires ex-
their relation to the dominant pull toward energy dispersal
hausted to the lonely hut provided for him and waits for the
or entropy, simply to exist is to be part of the great quest for
dreams he hopes his guardian spirits will send. There he
survival. For the human being another dimension is added
prays for advice on how his family and tribe might more effi-
by virtue of the existence in humans of consciousness, specif-
ciently obtain food. Wunzh takes to his mat and soon has
ically, consciousness of linear time. To see a beginning, a
a vision of a strange young man dressed in yellow and green
middle, and an end is to see a “road of life,” and to see such
with feathers on his head. As he descends from the sky, the
a road is to see a potential quest. One cannot in fact be
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7552
QUESTS
human without being to some degree questers, and this fact
the bodhi tree seeks enlightenment as actively in his own way
is the source of the power of the quest story to speak to hu-
as Gawain seeks the Holy Grail. Whether the hero gallops
mans wherever and whoever they are.
off to faraway lands or sits under a tree, the quest involves
a journey to and often beyond the boundaries of human ex-
Not surprisingly then the quest myth is inexorably asso-
perience and knowledge. In this sense the story of the quest
ciated with the figure of the hero, the human metaphor for
is always what the Hindu might call a search for the Self or
the all-encompassing chaos-to-cosmos creation process by
what the psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875–1961) called the pro-
which entropy is held at bay. The quest of course takes many
cess of individuation. In short, the quest is a metaphor for
forms. The hero’s nature, motives, and goals derive from the
the spiritual journey, one’s own potential spiritual journey
particular legend of which he or she is a part and the society
represented by that of the hero.
he or she represents. The hero might be a knight, a sage, or
a prince and the goal a golden fleece, a princess, or a pot of
The ur-hero and the ur-myth that emerge from a com-
gold. The earliest quest stories, like the earliest religious sys-
parison of the world’s many quest stories then reveal what
tems, must have reflected a society concerned primarily with
can be called a universal ritual of re-creation. The ritual re-
fertility and physical survival in the face of a hostile environ-
quires certain steps. First, like the priest in any ritual, the
ment. One senses the vestiges of this in the many tales in
hero must be properly vested, made clearly recognizable and
which a prince seeks and finds a princess and through union
ordained for the task, a task—the realization of one’s human-
with her brings prosperity to a kingdom.
ity—that is a matter of life and death for all. So it is that the
One of the best known of the European quests is that
quester’s heroism has been preliminarily established by a mi-
of the Holy Grail. It was Jessie Weston in her classic From
raculous conception or birth, a divine sign of some sort, or
Ritual to Romance: An Account of the Holy Grail from Ancient
by an extraordinary childhood deed. Before his ordeal, Oedi-
Ritual to Christian Symbol (1957) who pointed out that, al-
pus is recognized as a savior-hero by virtue of his defeat of
though the grail legend was an outgrowth of medieval Chris-
the Sphinx that had plagued Thebes. His abandonment in
tianity and chivalry, it had deeper roots in ancient fertility
the wilderness as a child marks him as well, placing him in
cults. The ostensible quest of the grail knights is for the cup
a sacred order as it were—one that includes Moses, Siegfried,
used by Christ at the last supper. A less conscious but more
and the Indian Karna as well as the Phrygian Cybele (the
profound objective is the renewal of a society represented not
Great Mother) and Attis. Herakles and the avata¯ra Kr:s:n:a are
only by the infertile kingdom of the Fisher King but by the
marked by their defeat of evil monsters while still in infancy.
somewhat complaisant order of the Round Table. The quest
Jesus’ nature is indicated by the circumstances of his concep-
of the knights for the Holy Grail is analogous to—and a met-
tion and birth and by his extraordinary intelligence, as dem-
aphor for—the Christian’s quest for the kingdom of God in
onstrated in the Temple when he is twelve. He also receives
life and in the ritual of the holy elements. Life renewal is al-
a sign from God at his baptism. The Buddha, as a white ele-
ways the ultimate goal of the quest, and life renewal is both
phant, is the agent of his own conception and, like the Tol-
a spiritual and a physical process.
tec-Aztec Quetzalcoatl, further proves his nature by possess-
ing adult qualities at birth. Sir Gawain and the other
For example, one of the world’s greatest quest stories,
Arthurian questers are eligible for the Grail search by virtue
one that influenced nearly all narratives that followed it, is
of past “adventures” and because of their association with Ar-
Homer’s Odyssey. Whereas Odysseus’s goal seems to be a
thur as knights in the sacred society of the Round Table.
purely secular one—he wishes to return to his wife and his
child—it is also true that his adventures depict a process by
The hero, having been proclaimed, is ritually called to
which a “lost soul” is reconciled with the cosmos, which is
the quest. The call might come through a natural object:
represented by the gods. The trials he undergoes, culminat-
Moses is called by Yahveh in the burning bush; the magi are
ing in a visit to the land of the dead, are the means by which,
called by the star; and the Grail knights by the Holy Grail
with Athena’s help, he is able to regain his proper place in
itself, appearing in their midst at Pentecost. Angels or other
the gods’ order of things. Odysseus’s quest is not altogether
supernatural heralds are common, and often the herald re-
unlike that of another famous Greek, Oedipus, who can re-
mains as a guide. The Buddha is called when, driven about
lease Thebes from the bondage of infertility only by discover-
by his charioteer, he is made to witness several forms of suf-
ing himself, by finding an answer to the ultimate spiritual
fering humanity “fashioned” magically by the gods. Another
question: who am I?
important charioteer-herald or guide is found in the
Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, part of one of the great Indian epics, the
The spiritual aspect of the quest is perhaps most obvious
Maha¯bha¯rata. In this work the god Kr:s:n:a in the guise of a
in those traditions that stress mystical values. The image of
charioteer urges Prince Arjuna on to battle and to higher
the Buddha under the bodhi tree or that of the Hindu ascetic
values.
in deep contemplation are as much true masks of the quest
as is the story of the Holy Grail, the myth of Jason and the
However the call is made, it signals the necessity of an
Golden Fleece, or the account of the magi seeking the Christ
awakening to destiny in the face of an individual or societal
child. Literal movement from one place to the other is not
malaise. A renewal is called for, and the hero either responds
necessary to the quest; the point is that the Buddha under
to the call immediately or at first refuses it. A natural enough
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7553
reaction of any individual faced with a serious psychological,
hope to arise. Odysseus, Theseus, Herakles, Jesus, the Egyp-
spiritual, or physical task is to withdraw from the field.
tian Osiris, Dionysos, and the goddess-heroine Hainuwele
Prince Arjuna at first refuses the call to battle; Kr:s:n:a must
in Ceram all journey to the land of the dead. And the more
convince him to fight. Even the most “religious” of heroes
mystical questers such as John of the Cross (the Spanish
express their common humanity by their reluctance. “No,
poet-monk of the sixteenth century) and Julian of Norwich
Lord, send whom thou wilt,” is Moses’ answer to God’s call.
(an English mystic of the fourteenth century) or “psychologi-
And Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane on the eve of his
cal” ones such as Carl Jung take equivalent journeys, “night
Crucifixion, prays to God, saying, “My Father, if it is possi-
journeys” or “dark nights of the soul,” which are character-
ble, let this cup pass me by.” A particularly dramatic example
ized by agonies and fears that necessarily mark a journey into
of this category is the story of Jonah, whose refusal results
the spiritual or psychic underworld. In such journeys as
in an unwanted voyage in the belly of a whale. The Buddha’s
these, one senses the real purpose of the descent in general
father might be said to have attempted to refuse the call for
as one having to do with the retrieval of a lost self. Odysseus
his son when he so desperately tried to isolate him from the
and Aeneas seek their destinies among the dead. Jesus, the
real world. Occasionally the call itself is a test and the refusal
“second Adam,” descends to retrieve the “lost” Adam. The
one of omission rather than commission. For instance, Parzi-
sun king Gilgamesh descends to find eternal life but also
val fails to ask certain ritual questions while being entertained
hopes to retrieve his friend and double Enkidu. In one of the
at the castle of the Fisher King and misses his chance to free
oldest quest stories—if not the oldest—known, the Sumeri-
the king and his land of the ancient curse.
an goddess Inanna takes the hero’s role by descending into
the underworld to find her lost lover Dumuzi; the lost lover
In ultimately accepting the call, however, the hero un-
of course is the other half without which significant whole-
dertakes a series of trials; these adventures reflect the agonies
ness—what the Chinese would call the oneness of yin and
involved in confronting the inner realities that one glimpses
yang—is not possible.
in dreams or periods of disorientation. In the context of the
spiritual journey, the monsters, demons, and impossible
PERSONAL ENACTMENTS. It should be pointed out that what
tasks that confront the hero are all those factors that would
heroes do in the old quest stories, flesh and blood human be-
imprison one in the barren world of egocentricity. They
ings act out or in some sense imitate through the medium
would prevent one from attaining renewal—the spiritual vi-
of religious ritual and related disciplines. The Muslim who
tality represented by the attainment of the Golden Fleece,
journeys to Mecca is given the special title of h:a¯jj for having
the elixirs of life, the Holy Grail, and the rescued princesses
followed in the steps of the Prophet. The shaman, whether
toward which the heroic adventures lead.
American Indian or Siberian, journeys ritually and psychical-
ly to the “other world” to confront the spirits who would de-
So it is that in the Hindu epic the Ra¯ma¯yan:a, the demon
prive an individual or tribe of health or life. And tribal initia-
king Ra¯van:a kidnaps Ra¯ma’s wife S¯ıta¯, setting up a quest
tion at puberty often involves a quest, as the story of Wunzh
that is a struggle between the forces of love and union and
and Mondawmin indicates. Even the ordinary worshiper be-
those of violence and disintegration. And the figures that
comes a real quester in the physical realm. A Hindu, Bud-
stand between Odysseus and his reunion with the faithful
dhist, or Christian who enters a place of worship undertakes
Penelope are such nightmarish beings as the one-eyed Cy-
a re-creative journey in microcosm from the chaos of the
clops; the witch Circe, who turns men into beasts; and the
world to the cosmos of ultimate reality or primal cause. Re-
bewitching Sirens. The Babylonian-Sumerian epic hero Gil-
minders of the hero journey are frequently in evidence in
gamesh must overcome Huwawa, the monster of death, and
these temples of worship. Gargoyle monsters guard the door-
Inanna-Ishtar in her form as seductress. Jesus is tempted in
ways—the thresholds—as if to say, “Enter here at risk.” In-
the wilderness by the devil, who offers tangible worldly
deed the true religious quest, like the shaman’s descent, can
achievements as a substitute for the intangible ones inherent
be a dangerous affair.
in the quest for the kingdom of heaven. The Buddha is
tempted similarly by Ma¯ra the fiend, who attempts to dis-
The symbolism of the quest sometimes literally deter-
lodge the Great One from his position under the tree by re-
mines the place of worship. Such is the case with the tradi-
minding him of the more ordinary values of human life.
tional church building. Having passed by the monsters over
Ma¯ra assumes the form of a messenger who informs
the doorway, the Christian voyager in the great medieval ca-
Siddha¯rtha that his father’s kingdom has been usurped and
thedral confronts the font that represents baptism, the spiri-
his wife taken and that he must return home. When this ap-
tual rebirth that is now reaffirmed by the making of the sign
proach fails, he resorts to violence, to theological argument,
of the cross with holy water. The initiate enters the church
and finally to sexual temptation, all to prevent the renewal
proper to participate in the Mass, itself a complex representa-
of life that is the hero’s goal.
tion of the journey of Christ through death, descent, and res-
urrection—a journey that the worshiper shares and literally
The penultimate test of the hero is the descent into the
acts out by moving eventually to the altar at the far end of
underworld and confrontation with death itself. Only by, in
the church in order to experience the Eucharistic sacrifice be-
some sense, dying to the world can the hero be resurrected
fore reentering the world as a renewed being. A secular mod-
as “eternal man” renewed. Only by going down can the sun
ern version of this spiritual journey takes place on the psychi-
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7554
QUESTS
atrist’s couch, where renewal involves a quest of self-
In the garden an old man appears to the sons to tell
discovery by means of a process of recalling—literally
them that their father might be cured by the water of life:
remembering.
“One drink of it and he will be well, but the water is difficult
to find.” As shown above, the guide is a familiar figure in
The most obvious expression of the quest is in literature.
quest tales. His function is to point to the solution of the in-
As has been suggested, anything that has a beginning, a mid-
soluble problem, to establish the means of salvation by inter-
dle, and an end, in the manner that plot does, is likely to be
jecting the “other” into the limited world of time and space.
in some sense a quest. Gilgamesh seeks eternal life, Ra¯ma
His way invariably involves a difficult quest.
goes in search of the abducted S¯ıta¯, Odysseus seeks reunion
with Penelope, Aeneas looks for a new Troy, Dante Alig-
The oldest son goes to his father to request permission
hieri’s and John Bunyan’s pilgrims journey toward the king-
to attempt the search for the water of life. Refused at first,
dom of God, Tom Jones hopes to become worthy of his So-
he perseveres so that the king finally agrees, the prince think-
phia, and Anton Chekhov’s three sisters long for Moscow.
ing all the while, “If I find the water, my father will give me
his kingdom.” Soon after setting off, the prince meets a
Geoffrey Chaucer’s great work The Canterbury Tales
dwarf, who inquires as to his destination. When he answers
(fourteenth century) is among the finest examples of quest
back in an insulting manner, the dwarf imprisons him on
literature in the West. In their pilgrimage to Canterbury the
horseback between two mountains that magically converge
pilgrims seek something spiritual that will carry them beyond
upon him. When the first son fails to return, the second son
their mundane and often corrupt lives. In the East the most
makes the same request of his father, is answered in the same
famous of pilgrimage tales is probably the sixteenth-century
way, and like his brother, dreams of inheriting the kingdom.
Xiyouji (The journey to the west), the ancient Chinese story
Upon meeting the same dwarf, he is asked where he is going,
of the journey of a monkey, a pig, a white dragon horse, and
and he gives the same insulting answer. Needless to say his
a monk who travel from China to India in search of Buddhist
punishment is the same as his brother’s. The identical formu-
su¯tras. This fantasy tale has a strong historical basis in the
la used in connection with the first two sons suggests a ritual
actual Silk Road journeys to India of monks, such as the sev-
purpose: the two older sons act out the negative aspect of a
enth-century BCE monk Xuanzang (Hsüan-Tsang), who
pattern in which the son who is an honest and unsullied
brought back sacred manuscripts to China.
quester for Self contrasts with the sons who embody a cor-
A type of literature in which the quest motif is particu-
rupt unreceptiveness to the call.
larly unveiled and therefore particularly open to observation
When his brothers fail to return, the youngest son begs
is the fairy tale. A good example is one that appears in many
for and obtains his father’s reluctant permission to set out
parts of the world and takes its most familiar form as The
on the same quest. But unlike his brothers, he thinks only
Water of Life in the Grimm brothers’ collection. As the title
of the welfare of his father. Where the others are motivated
indicates, it is a story in which the spiritual goal of life renew-
by hope for material gain—by egotism—and are appropri-
al is only barely masked. “Once upon a time, there lived a
ately punished by their imprisonment in a narrow ravine, the
king who was desperately ill”; the beginning of this tale—
young son is motivated by love, which is the proper attitude
and of most fairy tales—involves the ritual placing of a situa-
on the path to salvation. His meeting with the dwarf is there-
tion in time. It is one-half of a framework that will be com-
fore different from that of his brothers.
pleted in the “happily ever after” ending, releasing the hero
of the tale from his or her temporal trials by placing him or
“Where are you going?” asks the dwarf, following the
her in a state of wholeness that is eternal. In the first image
ritual pattern. “I am seeking the water of life to cure my ail-
of The Water of Life, the king, like nearly all kings, represents
ing father” is the humble reply. The dwarf, pleased, instructs
the kingdom of humans on earth brought into conflict by
the boy on how to achieve his goal: “The water runs from
the universal nemesis, mortality. That which was once
a fountain in an enchanted castle. Take this iron wand, and
whole—in harmony with the absolute—is now unwhole.
knock three times to open the castle door. And take these
The king’s mythical and literary relatives are such figures as
two loaves of bread to quiet the lions who guard the door.
the Fisher King of the Grail romance and Shakespeare’s Lear.
Only be sure that you obtain the water and leave the castle
The sick old king constellates the theme of salvation or re-
before the clock strikes twelve, or you will be imprisoned
newal, which is the religious essence of the quest.
there for life.”
The king has three sons, who weep in the palace garden
The dwarf, like the old man in the garden, is a personifi-
at their father’s plight. As potential saviors, the children must
cation of the spiritual guide. Here he takes the form of the
remind us of the knights of the Round Table. The symbolic
shaman-teacher, who trains the good prince in magic and
nature of numbers in fairy tales, as in religious ritual and the-
provides the paraphernalia necessary to release the healing
ology, is such that the presence here of three children is sig-
forces—the water of life. The instructions he gives make no
nificant. The number four represents the quaternity, which
rational sense but, as in the case of all rituals, must be per-
symbolizes balance and wholeness, and four brothers would
formed on faith, just as the ugly little dwarf himself must be
mean a common effort. Three, on the other hand, tends to
accepted on faith. Only the young son has such faith; only
suggest the discord of two against one.
he passes the test. The old dwarf is to him what the fairy god-
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QUESTS
7555
mother is to Cinderella or Athena to Odysseus. As an agent
He quickly draws water from the fountain and escapes
of the other world, the dwarf is not subject to mere physical
through the closing doors, losing only a piece of his heel,
law; for this reason, he possesses the magic that can lead to
which signifies his having almost ignored the interdictions
wholeness.
of the dwarf and the princess. In this incident one is remind-
ed not only of Cinderella and her glass slipper but of the fact
Arriving at the castle, the young prince follows the ritual
that the journey is fraught with many temptations and dan-
instructions. The iron doors are overcome by the iron rod;
gers, any of which could prevent success. Perhaps the loss of
the lions are quieted with the bread. Inside the castle, the
a part of the body also ties the prince to the many dismem-
prince finds a sword and a loaf of bread and several enchant-
bered man-gods of the Middle Eastern fertility cults. It seems
ed princes. A beautiful princess greets him as her liberator
evident, as the prince’s mishap is never mentioned again in
and promises to give herself to him in marriage if he will re-
the story, that this is a ritual event with symbolic rather than
turn in a year. The princess now leads the prince to the water
narrative significance.
of life and reminds him to be sure to leave the castle before
the clock strikes twelve.
The prince is now ready for the trials that, if accom-
Many of the elements of the hero’s descent into the un-
plished, will lead him back to a final reunion with the prin-
derworld and of the psychological and spiritual process it
cess. Journeying homeward, he again meets the dwarf, who
represents are operative in these events. The prince em-
informs him of the magical powers contained in the sword
bodies, as do all heroes of the quest, the potential journey
and the loaf of bread found in the castle. The sword can be
into the unknown, which is the locked and enchanted castle.
used to defeat whole armies; the bread can feed the hungry
The hero always descends to redeem those imprisoned by the
indefinitely. The religious significance of the sword as God’s
darkness. Jesus brings back Adam and Eve; Orpheus almost
righteous justice and of the bread as the bread of life is clear.
liberates Eurydice. In this case the retrieved one is the prin-
Much of this symbolism is traceable to the Christian tradi-
cess, who, like the enchanted Sleeping Beauty, is the deeper,
tion, in which much is made of the Christ’s coming with
lost half of the unredeemed Self longing to be released, an
both bread and the sword. But the ultimate source of the
embodiment of the divine wisdom, or Sophia, apart from
symbolism very likely lies in much older traditions.
whom the Logos cannot be made flesh. The lions, overcome
The young prince now emerges more clearly as a savior
by the magic of supernatural power, are the bestial deterrents
figure when he begs the dwarf to release his sinful brothers.
to the journey within.
The dwarf, in his ancient wisdom, warns the boy of the dan-
In the princess’s promise of marriage there is no ques-
ger in this course but to no avail. The attempt to redeem
tion of realistic love. The relationship is ritualistic; the hero
them must be made; the road to reunion with the Self must
and heroine act in a way that is archetypal and symbolic rath-
involve direct dealings with the dark forces represented by
er than sentimental. The marriage of the future is established
the brothers. And when the brothers are released, the
as the prince’s ultimate goal after the curing of his father. The
prince—foolishly from a practical point of view—tells them
sword and the bread, symbols of power and nourishment and
of his quest and of his prospects for the future. The three
potential good deeds, are to be magical aids to that goal. It
brothers travel on together, and three kingdoms are saved by
is the princess who leads the prince to the magical water, be-
the sword and the bread. It is not surprising that the older
cause, as Divine Wisdom, she is the proper guardian of the
sons betray their brother at the earliest possible opportunity.
symbol of eternal life to be gained from the eventual emer-
One night as he sleeps, they steal the magic fluid and substi-
gence of the Self. Her repetition of the dwarf’s interdiction
tute saltwater for it. The betrayal by siblings is an ancient and
concerning the hour of the prince’s departure from the castle
recurring motif found, for example, in the biblical story of
is an indication that she and the dwarf are of one and the
Cain and Abel, the Egyptian story of Seth and Osiris, and
same power, the universal creative impulse by which the con-
any number of familiar fairy tales. Goodness in its mercy is
tinuing evolution symbolized by the quest itself is made feasi-
by nature vulnerable to evil, which is itself by nature aggres-
ble. In terms of the Christian culture in which the Grimms
sive. It is as if the hero must, as a part of his trials, allow him-
discovered this tale, the princess takes on meaning in the
self to be placed in the position of the ritual sacrificial victim.
context of the Virgin cult. The Virgin is the earthly form of
The king is given the false water by the young prince,
the mother of God, but as the church—the castle freed from
and his health worsens. The older sons accuse their brother
enchantment—she is also God’s bride. In this role as both
of attempting to murder the king and produce the real water,
mother-guide and wife, she reaches back to the most ancient
claiming that it is they who have found it. The father is im-
traditions of the Great Goddess herself.
mediately cured. The young son, remaining silent—again as
When the princess leaves him, the prince comes upon
if this were necessary for the inevitable ritual process—is ex-
a fine bed that he finds irresistible, and he lies down to sleep.
iled, and an old hunter is given instructions to slay him in
In so doing he conveys ritually his brotherhood with all the
the forest. The hunter, like the one in the story of Snow
offspring of the primordial fallen parents. Like Christ in the
White, cannot bear to carry out his orders: the simple man
garden of Gethsemane, he demonstrates his human nature.
can recognize innocence where the king cannot. He releases
Only the sound of the clock striking midnight awakens him.
the prince to wander in the woods. Mythically this period
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
7556
QUETZALCOATL
points to the hero’s withdrawal into the wilderness, a sym-
story is King Arthur and His Knights: Selected Tales by Sir
bolic death during which he must undergo the ultimate sepa-
Thomas Malory, edited by Eugene Vinaver (Oxford, U.K.,
ration that will render him transcendent. It is the period of
1975). On the Grail myth, see Henry Kahane and Renée Ka-
preparation for the final step in the discovery of Self—an ini-
hane’s The Krater and the Grail: Hermetic Sources of Parzival
tiation rite that will transfer him from a state of mortality
(Urbana, Ill., 1965; reprint, 1984). The Grail myth is one
to one of immortality, from immaturity to wisdom.
important source for what is perhaps the most famous twen-
tieth-century quest poem, T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land
During this period several things happen. Three cart-
(1922). Eliot’s Four Quartets (New York, 1943) is also a po-
loads of treasure arrive at the king’s palace from the three
etic quest, one that owes much to both Occidental and Ori-
kings saved by the sword and bread of the good prince. The
ental quest mythology.
king begins to suspect that his son might be innocent: “How
For a psychological approach to the quest as a search for self in
I wish he were not dead,” he laments. Then comes the ritual
the modern world, see C. G. Jung’s Modern Man in Search
cry from the huntsman: “He lives! He lives!” Meanwhile the
of a Soul (New York and London, 1933). For the best study
princess of the castle has prepared one final test. A path of
of the shamanic quest, see Mircea Eliade’s Shamanism: Ar-
gold is laid before her door, and her servants are told to admit
chaic Techniques of Ecstasy (New York, 1964). Versions of the
only the knight who rides to the castle upon this path. The
Buddhist and Hindu quest stories are in Ananda K. Coo-
maraswamy and Sister Nive-dita (Margaret E. Noble), Myths
two evil brothers, remembering what their brother has told
of the Hindus and Buddhists (London, 1913; reprint, New
them, approach the castle but will not allow their horses to
York, 1967), and in Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Buddha and
ride over the gold path, for they value the precious metal
the Gospel of Buddhism (New York and London, 1916). Any
more than the object of the quest. Hence they are turned
work by Coomaraswamy on the religions of the East is likely
away: evil is unable to attain to divine wisdom. Only those
to contain useful information on the quest as a mystical spiri-
whose priorities extend beyond material gain can enter into
tual journey. Thomas Merton’s writings offer a moving re-
the absolute. The young prince, his mind only on the prin-
cord of a Christian’s mystical quest. See, for example, A
cess, rides on the path without even noticing it and is greeted
Thomas Merton Reader, rev. ed., edited by Thomas P. Mc-
again by the sacred maiden. The ritual separation is ended;
Donnell (Garden City, N.Y., 1974).
the goddess receives the reborn son.
The pilgrimage of Xuanzang is treated in Sally Hovey Wriggens’s
Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road (Boulder,
Like the ascent to paradise in myth, the ritual marriage
Colo., 1996). Several works devoted to secular versions of the
that ends this and many quest tales expresses the achieved
quest myth are Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild (New York,
goal of wholeness. The masculine principle is joined to the
1996); Rowland A. Sherrill’s Road-Book America: Contempo-
feminine, and in that union of yin and yang the Self is dis-
rary Culture and the New Picaresque (Champaign, Ill., 2000);
covered, at which time the present becomes eternity; life can
and David Adams Leeming’s Myth: A Biography of Belief
be lived “happily ever after.” The joy one feels at the end of
(Oxford, U.K., and New York, 2002).
the fairy tale and other quest stories is more than a sentimen-
DAVID ADAMS LEEMING (1987 AND 2005)
tal one. It results from one having gained a vision of the
achieved goal of individual growth and human evolution.
One glimpses oneself literally awakening into the permanent
consciousness that is self-knowledge. In this sense, the quest
QUETZALCOATL was one of the most powerful and
tale is always a creation story in which the hero emerges from
multifaceted gods in Mesoamerican religions. The cult of
chaos as re-created God in man.
Quetzalcoatl, the “quetzal-feathered serpent,” was promi-
nent in central Mexico from at least the time of Teotihuacán
SEE ALSO Heroes; Otherworld; Pilgrimage, overview article.
(100–750 CE) to the collapse of the Aztec capital of Tenoch-
titlán in 1521. He was called Kukulcan in the postclassic
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Maya culture that developed from 1000 to 1521, and he
The most lively analysis of the hero’s quest is still Joseph Camp-
played a prominent role in the organizing of the capitals of
bell’s classic study The Hero with a Thousand Faces (New
Chichén Itzá and Mayapan. In the more than seventy paint-
York, 1949; reprint, Princeton, N.J., 1968). C. M. Bowra’s
ed, written, and archaeological sources that carry the ele-
“The Hero,” in The Hero in Literature, edited by Victor
ments of the Quetzalcoatl tradition, he appears both as a
Brombert (New York, 1969), is an important essay on the
major celestial creator god and as intimately identified with
subject. A collection of mythic stories illustrating and repre-
the paradigmatic priest-king Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzal-
senting the heroic mono-myth is in David Adams Leeming’s
Mythology: The Voyage of the Hero, 3d ed. (New York, 1998).
coatl, whose great kingdom of Tula, or Tollan, flourished be-
tween 900 and 1100, and who is remembered as a primary
The best treatments of the quest motif in literature, particularly
source of culture, political order, and religious authority in
in romance, and of the motif’s overall importance for literary
criticism are Northrop Frye’s The Anatomy of Criticism
Mesoamerica. The archaeological and ethnographic records
(Princeton, N.J., 1957) and Frye’s “The Archetypes of Liter-
show that Quetzalcoatl was the symbol of effective organiza-
ature” and “Quest and Cycle in Finnegans Wake,” in Fables
tion and sacred authority in a series of capital cities that dom-
of Identity: Studies in Poetic Mythology (New York, 1963).
inated the history of Mesoamerican religions for almost fif-
One of the best and most accessible versions of the Arthurian
teen hundred years.
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
QUIETISM
7557
In the cosmogonic episodes of the early sources known
that relates the seven stages of the priest-king Topiltzin
as Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, the Anales de
Quetzalcoatl’s exemplary human career, including his mirac-
Cuauhtitlán, and the Leyenda de los soles, Quetzalcoatl, one
ulous birth after his mother swallowed a precious green
of the four sons of the androgynous creator god Ometeotl,
stone, his teenage revenge of his father’s murder, his training
plays a number of creative roles: He generates the universe
for the priesthood, his years as a warrior, his ascension to the
(together with his brother, Tezcatlipoca), rules over various
throne, the fall of his capital, his flight from Tollan, and his
cosmogonic eras, assists in the discovery of maize and pul-
promise to return one day in the future to restore the king-
que, creates fire, participates in the great sacrifice of the gods
dom. The Tollan of the primary sources is a kingdom secure
that leads to the creation of the fifth cosmic age, or Fifth Sun,
in agricultural resources, rich in artwork, ritual innovation,
and becomes transformed into the morning-and-evening
and technological excellence, and the birthplace of astrono-
star, Venus.
my and of cardinally oriented ceremonial structures. This
world of stability and creativity collapsed through the magi-
In a number of instances, this creative activity reflects
cal attacks of the magician, Tezcatlipoca, whose cult in some
the symbolic design of the Mesoamerican universe as a world
sources was said to depend on human sacrifice. The long-
divided into five major parts (four cardinal sections around
range significance of Quetzalcoatl’s Tollan in Mesoamerican
a central space). For instance, in the elaborate cosmology of
history is attested to by the identification of five other capi-
the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas, Quetzalcoatl
tals—Teotihuacán, Xochicalco, Chichén Itzá, Chollolan,
and Tezcatlipoca, Lord of the Smoking Mirror, revive the
and Tenochtitlán—as places replicating Tollan and the cult
broken universe and set the stage for the fifth age by dispers-
of Quetzalcoatl.
ing the water of chaos and restoring dry land by carving four
roads to the center of the earth, from which they raise the
In Aztec Mexico, Quetzalcoatl was the patron god of the
sky to create a living space for human beings. Coincidentally,
schools of higher learning, the calmecacs, and the model for
in a number of primary sources that depict the capital city
the office of the high priesthood at the Templo Mayor in Te-
of Tollan, the ceremonial centers are shown divided into five
nochtitlán, in front of which his round temple was apparent-
sections with four temples and mountains surrounding the
ly located.
central mountain or temple where the priest-king Quetzal-
When Cortés arrived and began his assault on Tenochti-
coatl ruled.
tlán, a number of sources state unequivocally that Moctezu-
In another series of sources Quetzalcoatl is depicted as
ma Xocoytzin (Moctezuma II) identified him as Quetzal-
the inventor of agriculture, the arts, and the calendar and the
coatl returning to reestablish his kingdom in Mexico.
restorer of human life through a cosmic dive into the under-
world, Mictlan, where he outwits the lord of the dead, Mic-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Carrasco, Davíd. Quetzalcoatl and the Irony of Empire: Myths and
tlantecuhtli, to recover the bones of the ancestors. In this
Prophecies in the Aztec Tradition. Chicago, 1982. This study
story, Mictlantecuhtli prepares a death trap for Quetzalcoatl.
places the evidence of Quetzalcoatl’s multivalence within the
Quetzalcoatl falls to his death, but then he revives himself
context of urban structure and history in central Mesoameri-
to escape Mictlan, meanwhile revitalizing the bones of the
ca. It utilizes the history-of-religions approach to interpret
dead.
the paradigmatic sacred authority of Quetzalcoatl and Tollan
as the sources for empire and destruction in the Aztec capital.
Quetzalcoatl also took the form of Ehécatl, the wind
god. As depicted in Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s Historia
López Austin, Alfredo. Hombre Dios: Religion y política en el
mundo nahuatl. Mexico City, 1973. The best Spanish-
general de las cosas de la Nueva España (compiled 1569–1582;
language interpretation of the historical development in pre-
also known as the Florentine Codex), Ehécatl announces the
Hispanic times of the mythic structure of Quetzalcoatl and
coming of the fertilizing rains and, in one episode, blows the
its impact on paradigmatic leadership and political ideology
sun into its cosmic orbit, thereby starting the fifth age. Fur-
in pre-Aztec and Aztec Mexico.
thermore, a number of sources reveal Quetzalcoatl’s close as-
New Sources
sociation with the cycles and hierophany of Venus (Tlahuiz-
Anaya, Rudolf A. Lords of the Dawn: The Legend of Quetzacoatl.
calpantecuhtli), one of the major astronomical bodies
Albuquerque, 1987.
influencing ritual, architecture, and the calendar in Me-
Elzey, Wayne. “A Hill on a Land Surrounded by Water: An Aztec
soamerica. The cycles of Venus were a central part of Quet-
Story of Origin and Destiny.” History of Religions 31 (1991):
zalcoatl’s cult in the city of Chollolan (100–1521 CE), and
105–149.
the Leyenda de los soles depicts the self-sacrifice of Ce Acatl
Ritchlin, Sheri. “The Myth of Quetzacoatl.” Parabola 26, no. 4
Quetzalcoatl following the fall of the kingdom of Tollan,
(2001): 65–69.
which ends with his heart rising into the sky to become the
DAVÍD CARRASCO (1987)
Morning Star.
Revised Bibliography
Historically, the god Quetzalcoatl was the patron deity
of the Toltec empire centered in Tula-Xicocotitlán, also
called Tollan. Some scholars, such as H. B. Nicholson, have
QUIETISM. Although some of the important insights of
identified in the primary sources a sacred history of Tollan
Quietism—a movement distinguished from the generic
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
7558
QUIETISM
sense of the word quietistic, which implies withdrawal or pas-
destructive effort, and it does not depend on education, sex,
sivity with regard to politics or ethics—can be found in me-
or status. Once acquired, it is effectively permanent. Since
dieval devotion, in sixteenth-century Spanish spirituality,
it involves a total separation of the soul from the body, the
and in various mystical sources, both Christian and Bud-
acts of the latter do not disturb it; in fact the devil often in-
dhist, the usual meaning of the word is restricted to the late
flicts violence on the body of a contemplative and compels
seventeenth-century devotional movement in the Catholic
it to perform externally sinful acts, in particular, of a sexual
Church in Italy and France. The main figure in the history
character, but those acts cannot break the union with God,
of Quietism was Miguel de Molinos (1628–1696), a Spanish
as they do not affect the soul. Sexual permissiveness is thus
priest who settled in Rome at the end of 1663. He became
justified. The contemplative, being absolutely devoid of his
an enormously popular spiritual adviser, especially among
will and transformed into God, cannot do good works on
nuns and women of high society. His new contemplative way
his own initiative or have any intention to help his neighbors;
of Christian perfection was summed up (without some of its
he can perform such works only on a direct order from God.
esoteric aspects) in a book he published simultaneously in
Molinos’s doctrine was obviously unacceptable to the
Spanish and Italian: Guida Spirituale, che disinvolge l’anima
church not only because of its suspect moral consequences,
e la conduce per il interior camino all’acquisito della perfetta
but because it practically abrogated the entire external cult,
contemplatione e del ricco tesoro della pace interiore (1685),
along with discipline, intellectual effort, and the variety of
often referred to as his Spiritual Guide.
virtues, merits, and religious acts. It reduced the religious life
Though supported by a number of theologians and, for
to one habitual act for which the mystic no longer needs the
a time, probably by Innocent XI, the Guide was soon at-
church and which is proclaimed to be the only genuine way
tacked by the Jesuits for its total disregard of meditation,
of union with God. Further, although Molinos did not con-
spiritual asceticism, vocal prayers, and, implicitly, the cults
sider himself a rebel, but rather a reformer within the church,
of Jesus and of the Virgin. The criticism ended with the ar-
his devotional program, especially since it was not confined
rest of Molinos on the order of the Holy Office, a long trial,
to monasteries but was also propagated among the laity, un-
and his condemnation in May 1687. He spent the rest of his
dermined the role of the church as a mediator between God
life in prison. On November 20, 1687, the papal bull Coeles-
and humans.
tis pastor anathematized sixty-eight of his statements. The
Molinos had a few less well-known predecessors, such
material of the condemnation was taken not only, and not
as the Spanish mystic Jean Falconi (1596–1638), the blind
mainly, from his published works, but also from about
theologian from Marseilles, François Malaval (1627–1719),
twelve thousand of his letters and from his oral teaching; in
and the bishop of Jesi, Pier Matto Petrucci (1636–1701), all
addition to the enumerated theological errors, it included the
of whom preached the superiority of passive and unreflective
charge of sexual licentiousness—something Molinos inferred
contemplation over meditations and vocal prayers, none of
from his own doctrines and apparently frequently practiced
whom, however, extended the theory of mystical kenosis
with his penitent women.
(kenosis meaning the relinquishment of the form of God by
The new devotion (the word Quietists had been used
Jesus in becoming a man and suffering death) to the accep-
since the early 1680s by the enemies of Molinos) was based
tance of “diabolic violence” or to the point of advising that
on the belief that any Christian can achieve an entirely disin-
we should not fight against temptations.
terested insight into God; this insight is permanent, internal-
The more philosophically elaborated variety of Quiet-
ly undifferentiated, and free from images and affects, and it
ism arose on French soil, thanks to the works of Jeanne-
involves a previous destruction of one’s own will and con-
Marie de la Motte Guyon (1648–1717) and François
sciousness; it is the work of divine grace, which, after the self
Salignac de Fénelon. Guyon had already been trained in
has emptied itself, totally fills the void and becomes the sov-
mystical devotion when she met, in 1680, the Barnabite fa-
ereign owner of the higher part of the soul; as a result, the
ther François La Combe, who had been converted in Rome
animal part of the soul as well as the body are no longer the
to Molinos’s way of perfection. She lived in Paris after 1686,
responsibility of the person. This state of perfectly passive
having previously organized small conventicles of mystics in
contemplation is not only the highest form of religious life,
various places. Among her many works, amounting to over
but makes other, more specific forms of worship—the cults
forty volumes in the collected writings, the most popular
of Jesus and of the saints, the acts of repentance and hope,
were Moyen court et très facile de faire oraison and Les torrens
confession, mortifications, prayers, and even concern about
spirituels. With highly developed prophetic claims, Guyon
one’s own salvation—either useless or even harmful insofar
believed that God had entrusted her with the mission of a
as they divert the soul from union with God. And although
total renewal of Christianity. The contemplative devotion in
contemplation is at the beginning inspired by the love of
her description involves all the previous Quietist tenets ex-
God, it eventually abolishes love, desires, will, and all sepa-
cept for the theory of diabolic violence, but adds some meta-
rate affects. What remains is not an affect, but God himself
physical ideas. A totally passive contemplation, implying the
present in the soul. While it is God’s gift, this contemplation
absolute annihilation of the self, is said to be the only proper
is in fact given to everybody who makes a sufficient self-
way of Christian life. At the highest stage the soul loses every-
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
QUIRINUS
7559
thing that is personal or human (laisser agir Dieu) and is
Petrocchi, Massimo. Il quietismo italiano del seicento. Rome, 1948.
transformed into God, like a river after reaching the ocean.
Schmittlein, Raymond. L’aspect politique du différend Bossuet-
The self, indeed the very fact of separate existence, is the
Fénelon. Baden-Baden, Germany, 1954.
source of evil, or rather is evil itself, and, after the annihila-
LESZEK KOLAKOWSKI (1987)
tion, the soul attains the status of God before the act of cre-
ation. The soul returns to the original source of being where
no place is left for differentiation: “At the very beginning one
has to die to everything by which we are something.” And
QUIRINUS. The god Quirinus was originally one of the
this form of being cannot be lost; the deification is inalien-
main Roman divinities. The priest responsible for his cult
able. Indifference to everything other than God, to sin, to
was one of the three major flamines, along with the flamines
the past and to the future, to life and death, to one’s own
of Jupiter and Mars, who outranked him in the ordo sacerdo-
and others’ salvation, indeed to divine grace, all this naturally
tum, the order of precedence of the most important priests
accompanies the blessed state of theo¯sis. The entire variety of
(Festus 299 L). These three gods (Jupiter, Mars, and
religious worship, both external and internal, is done away
Quirinus) made up the early triad that Georg Wissowa
with once the soul reaches perfection. Priests and the visible
(1912, p. 23) has reconstructed from various features of an-
church are nothing but obstacles.
cient Roman life, such as the invocation of these three deities
Accused of spreading heretical doctrines, Guyon was
in the practice of devotio, in which a leading Roman offered
imprisoned at the beginning of 1688, but she was released
his life to ensure victory against the enemy (Livy, 8.9.6); the
after a few months. She then experienced a period of celebri-
law, attributed to the king Numa Pompilius, which differen-
ty, during which she enjoyed the friendship of Fénelon and
tiated between three kinds of booty according to the rank of
Mme. de Maintenon. The attacks did not stop, however, and
the person who seized the booty from the enemy leader and
a special committee headed by the influential prelate Jacques
who allocated it in different amounts to each of the three
Bossuet organized a campaign against the Quietist doctrine.
gods (Festus 204 L); and the fact that the ancilia, shields
Although both Fénelon and Guyon signed the articles con-
which the Salian priests wielded in their armed dances, were
firming the church’s traditional doctrine in points where it
under the joint protection of these three gods (Festus, com-
seemed to be incompatible with the Quietists’ devotion, the
mentary on Virgil, Aeneid, 8.663).
debates, accusations, pamphlets, and intrigues continued.
Romans of the later Classical period, however, won-
They ended with the formal condemnation, in a breve
dered about Quirinus, who was certainly not, from their
(1699) of Innocent XI, on twenty-three erroneous state-
point of view, as important a god as the other two gods who
ments on contemplation and caritas pura (disinterested love
were formerly part of the triad, Jupiter and Mars. Naturally
of God, with no regard to one’s salvation) taken from Féne-
he had his own temple on the Quirinal, the hill of Rome
lon’s book Explication des maximes des saints sur la vie intéri-
which owed its name to him, and his feast day, the Quiri-
eure. Fénelon immediately bowed to the verdict. Guyon was
nalia (February 17th), fell on the last day of the festival of
imprisoned from 1695 to 1702.
Fornacalia, a festival dedicated to the goddess of the furnace,
The Quietist mysticism was certainly incompatible with
Fornax, who presided over the roasting of the corn.
the teaching and educational system of the Roman church;
Quirinus’s flamen intervened rarely, however; besides the
implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, it questioned the very
cult which the three flamines jointly controlled, once a year,
need of the visible church. The condemnation of Molinos
in honor of the personification of good faith, Fides (Livy,
and Fénelon, however, had a negative impact for many dec-
1.21.4), the Quirinal flamen officiated at the cult of Robigo,
ades on the development of mystical spirituality in the Cath-
the goddess of corn blight (Ovid, Fastes, 4.910-942), and of
olic world.
Consus, the god of cereal storage (Tertullian, De spectaculis,
5). As a result, ancient writers offered various interpretations
SEE ALSO Fénelon, François.
of Quirinus. Given the link between Quirinus and Mars,
which meant that Quirinus was patron of the twelve Quiri-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
nal Salian priests and Mars of the twelve Palatine ones (Dio-
Brémond, Henri. Apologie pour Fénelon. Paris, 1910.
nysius of Halicarnassus, 2.70.7, 3.32.4), and that he ap-
Cognet, Louis. Crépuscule des mystiques: Bossuet, Fénelon. Tournai,
peared as Mars tranquillus (Mars in his peaceful aspect), qui
Belgium, 1958.
praest paci (who presides over peace) according to Servius
Dudon, Paul. Le quiétiste espagnol, Michel Molinos, 1628–1696.
(commentary on Virgil, Aeneid, 1.292 and 6.859 respective-
Paris, 1921.
ly), Quirinus was portrayed as a war god, hence his identifi-
Guerrier, Louis. Madame Guyon: Sa vie, sa doctrine, et son influ-
cation with the Greek Enyalios, an epithet of Ares. Since
ence. Orléans, France, 1881.
there was a convenient link between Quirinus’s name and
Knox, Ronald A. Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion,
the Sabine town of Cures, considered the home of the Sa-
with Special Reference to the XVII and XVIII Centuries. New
bines who, by joining with the Romans of Romulus, had al-
York, 1950.
lowed Rome to be founded, Quirinus was regarded as a Sa-
Kolakowski, Leszek. Chrétiens sans église. Paris, 1969.
bine god, introduced by their king, Titus Tatius. An
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7560
QUIRINUS
alternative explanation, incompatible with the Sabine expla-
desert his Quirites when they are soldiers (second function),
nation, has Quirinus as the founder of Rome—as Romulus
even taking on an official or religious role (first function).
himself—deified under the name Quirinus after his mysteri-
This sociopolitical factor is in evidence even in those of his
ous disappearance. This absorption must predate our first
functions that are most clearly related to agriculture: the
source, Cicero (De re publica, 1.64).
Quirinalia falls on the last day of Fornacalia, called stultorum
dies, “the day of fools,” since it allowed those Romans who
Such confusion over the identity and origins of
no longer knew to which curia they belonged to sacrifice to
Quirinus explains why modern scholars have had very differ-
the goddess Fornax on that particular day. Her cult had been
ent ideas concerning this god. Because of his position in rela-
performed on the preceding days, curia by curia, presided
tion to Mars (and beneath Jupiter) in the triad, Quirinus has
over by the curio, the priest of the curia. Quirinus’s being the
been viewed with Mars as representing only a part of the city.
patron of citizens explains his relation with the god Mars.
He has often been seen as the god of the Sabine part of the
Despite the contemptuous use Caesar makes of the term
original population of Rome, linked to the Capitol, the Sa-
Quirites (Suetonius, Life of Caesar, 70) to berate soldiers who
bine Hill. More recently, André Magdelain has taken him
had revolted, Roman citizens who were called to serve in the
to be the god of the city, as opposed to Mars, who would
army, cives who had become milites, remained Quirites (the
thus be the god of land outside the city itself, the ager Ro-
ancient formula used to mobilize the army quoted by Varro
manus. Georges Dumézil has applied to the Jupiter/Mars/
[De lingua Latina 6.88] refers to Quirites pedites armatos, or
Quirinus triad the trifunctional system which he sees as a
Quirites footsoldiers) and thus remained linked to Quirinus.
conceptual framework shared by various Indo-European
It is also possible to understand how Quirinus can be identi-
peoples. He regards Quirinus as patron of third-function val-
fied with Romulus, who founded the city with its political
ues (fertility and related values), with Mars governing the
and social structure, the curiae who constituted the Quirites.
second (war) and Jupiter the first (sovereignty). This may be
admitted, as long as Quirinus is not considered an agricultur-
SEE ALSO Flamen; Roman Religion, article on The Early
al god (something that Angelo Brelich takes furthest). In
Period.
Brelich’s view, Quirinus is a god of the kind known ethno-
graphically as dema, or the first leader of a community who,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alföldi, Andreas. Die Struktur des voretruskischen Römerstaates.
after his death, became a chthonic deity ensuring the nour-
Heidelberg, 1974.
ishment of his people. In this regard, the etymology of
Brelich, Angelo. “Quirinus, una divinità romana alla luce della
Quirinus’s name, the most certain aspect of this ancient god,
comparazione storica.” Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Reli-
is especially significant. Despite an attempt by Gerhard
gioni, 31 (1960): 63-119.
Radke to explain Quirinus’s name as deriving from a San-
Briquel, Dominique. “Remarques sur Quirinus,” Revue belge de
skrit verb meaning “to plough” and of linking it with the sul-
philologie et d’histoire, 74 (1996): 99–120.
cus primigenius, the furrow dug by Romulus to mark out the
Briquel, Dominique. “Canonical Representative of the Third
city perimeter when Rome was founded, the name must in
Function in Rome.” Theoretical Frameworks for the Study of
fact be made up of the prefix co(m), “with,” and of the Latin
Graeco-Roman Religions, Adjunct Proceedings of the XVIIIth
word for man, vir. Quirinus, *co-wir-inos, is thus the god of
Congress of the International Association for the History of Reli-
men assembled together. However, as Danielle Porte (1981)
gions, Durban, South Africa. Edited by Luther H. Martin and
and Dario Sabbatucci (1988, pp. 63–70) have emphasized,
Panayotis Pachis, pp. 43–52. Thessaloniki, 2003.
this gathering of people brings together individuals who
Coarelli, Filippo. s.v. Quirini aedes, s.v. Quirini sacellum. Lexicon
are citizens within their particular social and political
Topographicum Urbis Romae, 4. Rome, 1999, pp. 185–187.
framework.
Dumézil, Georges. La religion romaine archaïque. Paris, 1966; 2d
edition, 1974.
Ancient writers (Varro, De lingua Latina 5.73; Ovid,
Magdelain, André. De la royauté et du droit, de Romulus à Sabinus.
Fastes 2.479; Plutarch, Life of Romulus 29.1) had identified
Rome, 1995.
the name Quirinus as being associated with the old term
Porte, Danielle. “Romulus-Quirinus, prince et dieu, dieu des
Quirites, indicating Roman citizens, and the name is also
princes.” Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 16, no.
linked with that of the curiae (*co-wir-ia), which represented,
1 (1981): 300–342.
in terms of the earliest organization of the city, the thirty
Radke, Gerhard. “Eine kritische Überprüfung der Überlieferung
units, grouped in three tribes, into which these Quirites were
und ein Versuch.” Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen
divided. Quirinus is thus the god of citizens. If, in Dumézil’s
Welt, 16, no. 1 (1981): 276–299.
terms, he is also patron of third-function values, this is as a
Rosivach, Vincent J. “Mars, the Lustral God.” Latomus, 42
result of his link with the masses, with the populace, but in
(1983): 509–522.
Rome such a connection was considered within a social and
Sabbatucci, Dario. La religione di Roma antica, dal calendario fes-
political perspective (Briquel). In other words, if Quirinus
tivo all’ordine cosmico. Milan, 1988.
is involved in matters concerning the food supply of the citi-
Varro, Marcus. De lingua Latina (On the Latin language). With
zenry (the link with the Fornacalia, the cult of Robigo, things
an English translation by Roland G. Kent. 2 vol. London
which are a normal part of the third function), he does not
and Cambridge, Mass., 1938–1958.
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
QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
7561
Wissowa, Georg. Religion und Kultus des Römer. 2nd edition. Mu-
taDw¯ıl is derived from the root a.w.l, which means to go back
nich, 1912.
to the origin of something. Edward Lane lists taDw¯ıl as “the
Ziolkowski, Adam. The Temples of Mid-Republican Rome and their
discovering, detecting, revealing, developing or disclosing, or
Historical and Topographical Context. Rome, 1992.
the explaining, expounding or interpreting, that to which a
D
thing is, or may be, reduced. . . .” (1955–1956, p. 126).
OMINIQUE BRIQUEL (2005)
In the QurDa¯n, taDw¯ıl is used to mean explanation, discovery,
and clarification (Zurqa¯n¯ı, 1988, vol. 2, p. 6) and therefore
is virtually synonymous with tafs¯ır. It seems to have been
QUMRAN SEE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
used in this way by the early generations of Muslims, as is
shown in the Prophet’s reported invocation to God to be-
stow upon Ibn EAbba¯s (d. 652), his cousin, the understand-
QURDA¯N
ing of religion and to teach him the taDw¯ıl (interpretation of
This entry consists of the following articles:
the QurDa¯n) (Ibn SaEd, 1957, vol. 2, p. 365). A number of
TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
early exegetes, such as Muja¯hid (d. 722), and even some rela-
ITS ROLE IN MUSLIM PRACTICE AND LIFE
tively later ones, such as T:abar¯ı (d. 923), used taDw¯ıl in this
sense (Zurqa¯n¯ı, 1988, vol. 2, p. 7).
QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND
INTERPRETATION
There are, however, some scholars who argue that tafs¯ır
The QurDa¯n is, for Muslims, the revealed word of God.
is different from taDw¯ıl. For some, tafs¯ır deals with the “liter-
Hence, the interpretation of the QurDa¯n (tafs¯ır) has emerged
al” meaning of the text, whereas taDw¯ıl deals with the “deep-
as one of the most revered disciplines in Islam. Given that
er” meaning. For others, tafs¯ır is associated with narration,
the life of the early Muslims revolved around the QurDa¯n
tradition, and text (riwa¯yah), while taDw¯ıl is associated with
from the beginning, one of their earliest concerns was to un-
understanding and interpretation (dira¯yah) (Suyu¯t:¯ı, 1974–
derstand the message of the sacred text. The Prophet
1975, vol. 4, p. 193). Tafs¯ır is thus closely related to the
Muh:ammad (d. 632) and his immediate followers (known
knowledge handed down from the early generations (tradi-
as the companions) used the QurDa¯n for day-to-day guidance,
tion), whereas taDw¯ıl may involve giving preference to one
prayer, and spiritual enrichment, and for liturgical and con-
meaning over another, supported or unsupported by evi-
gregational use. Although interpretation of the QurDa¯n as a
dence, or attributing allegorical meanings to the text. In its
discipline developed over time, Muslims engaged with it
more controversial sense, taDw¯ıl may be used for purely per-
from the beginning in less formal ways: reflecting on it, recit-
sonal interpretation of the text, without linguistic or textual
ing it, discussing it, and attempting to explain it to each
evidence and driven by one’s theological or religio-political
other. It was such activities that gradually led to the develop-
beliefs and doctrines, as well as for interpretation based on
ment of the exegetical tradition in Islam.
“esoteric” meanings, or to avoid anthropomorphism. In
Sh¯ıE¯ı, S:u¯f¯ı, and Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı exegesis, the term taDw¯ıl acquired
The standard traditional Muslim view, both Sunn¯ı and
a more technical meaning.
Sh¯ıE¯ı, of the revelation attributes the composition of the
QurDa¯n to God alone, and denies any human role in its pro-
Early development of tafs¯ır. Contradictory opinions
duction. According to this view, the Prophet faithfully com-
are held by Muslims (and Western scholars) on early atti-
municated what had been “dictated” to him by God in the
tudes toward interpreting the QurDa¯n (Gilliot, 2002,
Arabic language through the angel of revelation, usually
p. 101). There are reports that senior companions, such as
identified as Gabriel, without addition or alteration. Mus-
EUmar I (d. 644), discouraged Muslims from engaging in in-
lims also view the language of the QurDa¯n, Arabic, as an es-
terpretation and in fact punished some for doing so. Equally,
sential aspect of the revelation. Similarly, when the QurDa¯n
there are traditions from EUmar himself encouraging Mus-
says that God “says,” “speaks” or “commands,” these words
lims to explore the meanings of the QurDa¯n. If there was gen-
were understood by most Muslims literally, not metaphori-
eral opposition to interpretation in the very early period, it
cally. Thus, the revelations the Prophet “received” were
is difficult to explain why a companion like Ibn EAbba¯s
transmitted verbatim to his followers, who passed them on
(d. 687) managed to engage in exegetical activity apparently
to succeeding generations. On the whole, this understanding
on a large scale, and why other companions appear to have
of the revelation has been maintained throughout Islamic
had no difficulty in doing the same, examples being EAbd
history and is still the basis of most Islamic exegetical work.
Alla¯h ibn MasEu¯d (d. 653) and Ubayy ibn KaEb (d. c. 656).
By and large, Muslim scholars, even of the modern period,
This suggests that it may have been only a particular form
adhere to this doctrine of revelation (Saeed, 1999).
of exegetical activity that was discouraged, perhaps exegesis
TAFS¯IR AND TA DW¯IL. There are two key terms for QurDanic
that relied solely on personal opinion or that attempted to
exegesis: tafs¯ır and taDw¯ıl. The term tafs¯ır occurs in the
elaborate on verses that were considered ambiguous
QurDa¯n once in the sense of “explanation” (25:33), not in a
(mutasha¯biha¯t); however it must be acknowledged that Mus-
technical sense, and its meaning may be related to the uncov-
lim scholars did not agree on which verses of the QurDa¯n were
ering or revealing of something that is hidden. Linguistically,
ambiguous (Rippin, 1988).
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7562
QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
A rudimentary tafs¯ır tradition began during the Prophet
With the Prophet’s death and the conquests that fol-
Muh:ammad’s time. On numerous occasions, the QurDa¯n re-
lowed from 634 onwards, many companions decided to set-
fers to itself as being in “clear Arabic” and as a book that is
tle in the newly emerging “Muslim” towns outside Arabia,
“clear” (26:195). At other times, it says that one of the func-
such as Kufa and Basra in Iraq, while others remained in Me-
tions of the Prophet is to explain the QurDa¯n (16:44). There
dina and Mecca. Thus Ibn MasEu¯d became the teacher of the
is debate among Muslims as to whether the Prophet ever pro-
QurDa¯n in Iraq, Ibn EAbba¯s in Mecca, and Ubayy ibn KaEb
vided explanations for the whole QurDa¯n. Those who say he
in Medina. The tafs¯ır tradition that developed during the
did rely on the QurDanic verse, “And We have sent down
course of the first AH (seventh CE) and second AH (eighth CE)
unto thee [also] the Message; that thou mayest explain clearly
centuries often traces its material to these teachers.
to people what is sent for them” (16:44). Others believe that
the Prophet only explained very small portions of the
The companions who engaged in exegesis had several
QurDa¯n, arguing that his followers were already familiar with
sources for understanding and interpreting the QurDa¯n: parts
it because it was in their own language, Arabic. Despite this
of the text itself that explained other parts; information re-
general familiarity with the language of the QurDa¯n among
ceived from the Prophet, both oral and praxis; and their own
the first generation of Muslims, the need for explanation and
understanding of what the QurDanic text meant. They were
interpretation must have existed from the very beginning,
also familiar with the language of the QurDa¯n, the context of
most importantly because the QurDa¯n introduced new con-
the revelation, the Prophet’s ways of thinking, and the
cepts and used many pre-Islamic terms in new ways. Exam-
norms, values, and customs of the Arabs, all of which provid-
ples include s:ala¯t (prayer), zaka¯t (alms tax), h:a¯jj (pilgrimage),
ed them with a unique basis for making sense of the QurDanic
s:awm (fasting), alla¯h (God), malak (angel), yawm al-Da¯khirah
text within the overall framework of the emerging “estab-
(the Last Day). In particular, converts to Islam from other
lished practice” of the community (living sunnah). The final
religious traditions might have had very different under-
source was the traditions of the People of the Book (the Jews
standings of many or some of these terms.
and Christians, or ahl al-kita¯b), particularly in relation to the
narratives in the QurDa¯n about past prophets, peoples, and
Little of the Prophet’s own interpretation of the QurDa¯n
events. Since the QurDa¯n in many cases alluded only briefly
is recorded, and much of it exists only in the form of what
to these narratives, many companions referred to accounts
we may call practical exegesis, but this should not be consid-
by converts to Islam, particularly EAbd Alla¯h ibn Salla¯m
ered insignificant. Practical exegesis exists where the QurDa¯n
(d. 663) and KaEb al-Ah:ba¯r (d. 653)), both formerly Jews
used a particular term or concept that the Prophet then illus-
(Dhahabi, 1976, vol. 1, pp. 42–67).
trated by his actions, notnecessarily explained in the form of
a h:ad¯ıth.. From the substantial body of information encom-
The need for interpretation increased with the second
passed in the h:ad¯ıth, one may argue that the time of the
generation of Muslims, known as “successors” (ta¯biEu¯n), who
Prophet should be considered the richest period of exegetical
were a more heterogeneous group. They included children
activity through practice. The emerging “established prac-
of the Arab companions brought up within the new religious
tice” (for example, descriptions of how the Prophet per-
(Islamic) environment, Arabic-speaking converts to Islam
formed the s:ala¯t) thus became the foundation of later exege-
from other religions, mainly Christianity, and non-Arabic-
sis. With the death of the Prophet, the QurDa¯n was ipso facto
speaking converts, mainly from Christianity and Zoroastri-
in its final and complete form. Muslim tradition holds that
anism. Their different backgrounds meant that they had to
it was compiled (“collected”) during the caliphate of the
approach the QurDa¯n in different ways. Also, the wider the
third caliph, EUthma¯n (r. 644–656).
gap between their era and the time of the Prophet, the
stronger the need was to address questions of exegesis. With
Even though the Prophet had hundreds of followers
the successors based in key locations such as Medina, Mecca,
(companions) at the time of his death, only a few reportedly
and the area now known as Iraq, these locations began to de-
contributed directly to QurDanic exegesis. They included the
velop proto-traditions of local exegesis around the teachings
first four caliphs, Abu¯ Bakr (d. 634), EUmar (d. 644),
E
of their respective companions.
Uthma¯n (d. 656) and EAl¯ı (d. 661), as well as EA¯Dishah
(d. 678), the Prophet’s wife. Others included EAbd Alla¯h ibn
It was during the seventh century CE that the domain
MasEu¯d, who settled in Iraq, Ubayy ibn KaEb (in Medina),
of Islam expanded dramatically to include all of Arabia and
EAbd Alla¯h ibn EAbba¯s (in Mecca), and Zayd ibn Tha¯bit (in
a large part of the Middle East and North Africa, lands previ-
Medina). Of these, the most celebrated are EAbd Alla¯h ibn
ously under the Sassanid and Byzantine empires. Muslims
EAbba¯s, who reportedly had a large number of students in
thus came into contact with other civilizations, peoples, and
Mecca and who is known as the “Interpreter of the QurDa¯n,”
traditions. In due course, many of the peoples of the “con-
EAl¯ı ibn Ab¯ı T:a¯lib, and EAbd Alla¯h ibn MasEu¯d, to whom
quered” regions professed Islam as their religion. In this new
many exegetical traditions are attributed. However, the small
environment, answers to new problems that were primarily
number of sound exegetical h:ad¯ıth coming from most of the
legal in nature caused by the expansion had to be found. It
companions, even those listed here, suggests that there was
was the companions who provided a basis for solving these
no pressing need to embark on a large scale “explanatory
emerging problems, based on the established practice of the
drive” during their time.
community. The companions had been flexible in relating
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
QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
7563
the text (QurDa¯n) and their experiences with the Prophet to
sociated vocabulary and grammar. Formal study of the lan-
the new conditions. In this, they appear to have relied on key
guage of the QurDa¯n encouraged a more formal approach to
objectives of the QurDanic message, such as “establishing jus-
understanding its meaning.
tice.” An instance of this was the Caliph EUmar’s rationale
EARLY EXEGESIS. There is debate in the literature on the exis-
for not distributing the lands (in present-day Iraq) that were
tence of written exegesis in the seventh century CE (first cen-
conquered during his caliphate (634–644). Unlike the
tury AH). While Muslim tradition holds that some written
Prophet, EUmar refused to distribute the land as booty to
works indeed existed from the mid-seventh century, the evi-
warriors, arguing that the relevant QurDanic verses on the dis-
dence of recent research indicates that they had begun to
tribution of booty in general did not favor such a division
emerge at least by the early part of the eighth century (Gilli-
of land. In his view, the land should be retained as public
ot, 2002, p. 104). The earliest exegesis (going back to the
property from which the whole community would benefit,
time of the Prophet and the companions) was primarily oral
not just the warriors (Mah:mas:s:a¯ni, 1984, pp. 576–577). In
and depended on oral transmission; written exegesis devel-
his interpretation of the relevant QurDanic texts, he was rely-
oped later. Ibn Khaldu¯n (d. 1406) suggests that the explana-
ing on the general QurDanic principle of justice and of shar-
tions of the QurDa¯n “continued to be transmitted among the
ing wealth with the wider community.
early Muslims until knowledge became organized in scholar-
ly disciplines and systematic scholarly works began to be
Also during the seventh century CE, material from both
written. At that time, most of these explanations were com-
the Jewish and Christian traditions (later to be known as
mitted to writing” (Peters, 1990, vol. 2, p. 142). The exegeti-
isra¯ D¯ıliyya¯t) began to enter the discourse of exegesis via con-
cal writings from this early period, where they exist, are not
verts to Islam. These converts found an eager audience in ex-
necessarily complete commentaries; rather, they should be
egetes, storytellers, and popular preachers who wanted to fill
seen as the beginning of the documentation of teachings re-
out details that were often only alluded to in the QurDanic
lated to exegesis from the seventh century that continued
narratives such as those related to Joseph, Moses, and Jesus.
into the eighth century.
Significant divisions along religio-political and theological
lines among Muslims began to emerge in this period too, for
It was perhaps natural for the tafs¯ır to begin with brief
example on the definition of concepts such as “believer,”
explanatory comments on specific words or phrases of the
“free will” and “predestination.” This resulted in substantial
QurDa¯n that appeared unclear, difficult, or ambiguous. Much
differences in opinion among the successors on a range of is-
of the very early exegesis falls into this category. No attempt
sues to interpretation of several QurDanic texts (Dhahab¯ı,
is made to justify the explanatory comments, nor is gram-
1976, vol. 1, pp. 140–141). Differences of opinion arose
matical or linguistic analysis systematically provided. An ex-
concerning who was right and who was wrong, and who was
ample of such a tafs¯ır work is that of Muja¯hid ibn Jabr
a true Muslim and who was not. Questions such as these
(d. 722), who belongs to the Meccan tradition of tafs¯ır going
contributed to the formation of theological discourse during
back to Ibn EAbba¯s. There is also tafs¯ır attributed to H:asan
the seventh century.
al-Bas:r¯ı (d. 728), probably compiled later; Sufya¯n al-Thawr¯ı
(d. 778), a Kufan jurist and traditionalist; and Sufya¯n ibn
Several factors and events thus led to the further devel-
EUyaynah (d. 811) (Gilliot, 2002). The Sh¯ıEah also attribute
opment of exegesis apart from the obvious religious reasons:
the development of this exegetical tradition to EAl¯ı and his
(1) the political conflicts and their associated theological de-
immediate circle of followers.
bates that raged after the death of the Prophet and in the
wake of the assassination of EUthma¯n, the third caliph, in
Another form of early tafs¯ır was related to the commu-
656; (2) the conversion of a large number of non-Arabs to
nity’s interest in legal and ritual matters. Given that a num-
Islam; (3) the interest of popular preachers and storytellers
ber of QurDanic verses deal with law and ritual, this must
in the QurDanic narratives; and (4) the development of
have been an important part of the Prophet’s explanatory
h:ad¯ıth and Arabic linguistics and literature as new disci-
task. For example, the QurDa¯n commands the payment of
plines. A number of other disciplines also began to develop
zaka¯t and the performance of s:ala¯t but does not give detailed
during the late Umayyad and early Abbasid periods (eighth
instruction on how this is to be done. It was the Prophet who
century
provided the explanation and demonstration. Attempts to
CE) and provided further support to the emerging
collate, identify, and classify verses related to legal and ritual
tradition of tafs¯ır. These included qira¯Da¯t (readings/
matters were probably among the earliest tafs¯ır works. An ex-
recitations of the QurDa¯n), which explored the variety of ways
ample of this early tafs¯ır is by Muqa¯til ibn Sulayma¯n
in which the QurDa¯n could be recited, the legitimate recita-
(d. 767). In his Tafs¯ır khams miDat a¯yah, Muqa¯til dealt with
tions, their sources, and their chains of transmission. Much
several legal topics: prayer, zaka¯t, fasting and pilgrimage;
of this academic activity took place in Iraq (in Kufa and
marriage and contracts; and punishments related to theft,
Basra). Another discipline was Arabic grammar in particular
adultery, and consumption of wine (Rippin, 1988).
and linguistics in general, which began with figures such as
al-Khal¯ıl ibn Ah:mad (d. c. 786) and S¯ıbawayh (d. c. 796).
The third most common form of tafs¯ır in this early peri-
Early linguists contributed to the tradition of exegesis direct-
od was where the exegete focused on certain QurDanic narra-
ly or indirectly by documenting Arabic dialects and their as-
tives, particularly about past prophets and their communi-
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
7564
QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
ties. One of the characteristics of QurDanic narratives is that
raDy on the authority of the h:ad¯ıth: “Whoever explains the
they are brief, lacking in detail and often without references
QurDa¯n without knowledge [Eilm] let him take his place in
to time or place. These QurDanic narratives were elaborated
hell” (Qurt:ub¯ı, 1993, vol. 1, p. 25). There are also several
upon and were used by the storytellers (qus:s:a¯s:s) and popular
reports of the companions expressing their fear of interpret-
preachers for entertainment or propagation of religion.
ing the QurDa¯n based on raDy.
Much of this extra-QurDanic material came from Jewish and
Christian sources and from the folklore of the region (Rip-
However, proponents of tafs¯ır bi-al-raDy argue that there
pin, 1988). Using such material, an elaborate narrative was
is nothing wrong with this form of interpretation and that
constructed, and even if h:ad¯ıth were used in elaborating the
the QurDa¯n urges Muslims to reflect upon the text in that way
narrative there was no emphasis on the precautions taken in
(Calder, 1993, pp. 132–133). They maintain that if tafs¯ır
h:ad¯ıth transmission by the scholars of h:ad¯ıth such as scruti-
based on raDy is not allowed, then even arriving at Islamic
nizing the chain of transmission. It was perhaps for this rea-
laws from the QurDanic text is impossible. They also rebut
son that a number of h:ad¯ıth scholars were highly skeptical
the claim that the companions and successors did not engage
about the value of the material used in this form of exegesis,
in interpretation based on raDy. Some of the proponents of
and were openly critical of the material, which they consid-
tafs¯ır bi-al-raDy differentiate between tafs¯ır based on raDy that
ered as lacking in authenticity. In the later development of
is acceptable and tafs¯ır based on raDy that is not acceptable.
the tafs¯ır tradition, such material came to be known as
Acceptable tafs¯ır bi-al-raDy is that supported by linguistic
isra¯ D¯ıliyya¯t (Judeo-Christian materials), and highly suspect.
and/or textual evidence while unacceptable tafs¯ır bi-al-raDy
But this attitude does not seem to have existed in the early
is that which has no such support.
development of the tafs¯ır tradition. In fact, Muslim tradition
Despite the claims and counter claims, it is clear that
holds that even companions such as Ibn EAbba¯s approached
tafs¯ır based on raDy occurred in QurDanic exegesis from its in-
a number of Jewish and Christian converts to Islam seeking
ception. While it may be difficult for some Muslims to sug-
information about the QurDanic narratives. Those who later
gest that the Prophet Muh:ammad based his interpretation
contributed to this genre included al-Dah:h:ha¯k ibn Muza¯h:im
of the QurDa¯n simply on his own “personal opinion,” it could
(d. 723) and al-Suddiyy (d. 746).
be argued that the origins of the tafs¯ır tradition are strongly
The early period of tafs¯ır continued into the eighth cen-
grounded in raDy. Comments by companions and successors
tury. By the end of the eighth century, the stage was set for
on the QurDa¯n, as recorded in sources like T:abar¯ı, indicate
exegetical works that covered the entire QurDa¯n, from begin-
that the tafs¯ır of the very early period consisted of three
ning to end. Perhaps the most important figure that emerges
things, all of which were largely related to personal opinion
in the late eighth and early ninth century is T:abar¯ı (d. 923),
or reason and were not necessarily based on the Prophet’s in-
whose tafs¯ır is extensive and systematic and covered the en-
structions and advice. They include: (1) ad hoc exploration
tire QurDa¯n. By this time, tafs¯ır had become a fully estab-
of the meaning of a word or phrase, often through its usage
lished discipline and several scholars were writing complete
in pre-Islamic times; (2) exploration of QurDanic narratives
tafs¯ır works. After this period, the body of work becomes
on the basis of Judeo-Christian material (isra¯D¯ıliyya¯t); and (3)
large and varied and includes theological, legal, religio-
ad hoc comments or remarks on QurDanic verses by the earli-
political, and mystical exegetical works. Authors of tafs¯ır
est Muslims simply on the basis of their personal opinion.
works often responded to and emphasized issues important
On the whole, early understandings of the QurDa¯n were char-
to their communities, either historically or in a contempo-
acterized by a high degree of subjectivity, fluidity, flexibility,
rary sense.
and absence of absolute dogmatism in interpretation.
T
TRENDS IN TAFS¯IR: FROM THE NINTH CENTURY. The ninth
AFS¯IR: BETWEEN TRADITION AND REASON. Tafs¯ır is often
divided into two broad categories: tafs¯ır bi-al-ma Dthu¯r, exege-
century saw the maturing of distinct groups, schools, or
sis that relies on tradition; and tafs¯ır bi-al-raDy, exegesis that
trends within Islam, following heated debates among Mus-
is based on reason. In Sunn¯ı Islam, tafs¯ır bi-al-maDthu¯r is
lims on religio-political, legal, and theological issues. While
considered the most authoritative form of tafs¯ır because it
the germ of many of these trends lay in the early to mid-
is based on one of the most important sources of religious
seventh century, it took approximately one to two centuries
authority: the Prophet and his companions who were able
for the trends to form and distinguish themselves from one
to elaborate on the meaning of the QurDa¯n based on the
another. While one may not speak about Sunn¯ı tafs¯ır or
Prophet’s instructions (h:ad¯ıth). Even tafs¯ır whose sources are
Sh¯ıE¯ı or Kha¯rij¯ı tafs¯ır in the seventh century, one can cer-
the successors (the second generation of Muslims) is consid-
tainly use those terms in the ninth century, by which time
ered as deriving its authority from the Prophet himself either
the trends were established, with each one supported, inter
directly or indirectly.
alia, by a body of tafs¯ır tradition. The vast majority of Mus-
lims (mainstream in terms of numbers) came to be known
Some Muslims see tafs¯ır bi-al-raDy as unacceptable in
as Sunn¯ıs. Others were Kha¯rij¯ıs and Sh¯ıEah who were further
Islam, based, in their view, on a prohibition of such tafs¯ır
subdivided into Zayd¯ıs, Twelvers (or Ima¯m¯ıs), and
in the QurDa¯n (Calder, 1993, pp. 131–134) It is also said that
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs. Apart from these groups, there were also the S:u¯f¯ıs
the Prophet Muh:ammad prohibited interpretation based on
(mystics), the theologians (mutakallimu¯n), and the legists,
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QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
7565
who usually belonged to one of the three key groups: Sunn¯ıs,
insisting on the rejection of isra¯ D¯ıliyya¯t, emphasizing “tradi-
Sh¯ıEah, and Kha¯rij¯ıs.
tion” to explain the meaning of the text, and indirectly re-
jecting the intellectual tradition of tafs¯ır (Calder, 1993) It
Sunn¯ı exegesis. Sunnism developed in the seventh and
could be argued that the vibrancy, creativity, and innovation
eighth centuries in the religio-political, theological, and in-
that existed in tafs¯ır (as in other disciplines) began to wane
tellectual context that emerged during this period. Early de-
from around the thirteenth century. The work of Ibn Kath¯ır
bates on religio-political and theological issues ranging from
may be seen as representing this phase.
the imamate, freewill and predestination, God’s attributes or
the definition of a “believer” or “unbeliever,” or the status
Key characteristics of Sunn¯ı tafs¯ır are emphasis on liter-
of grave sinners, that existed among Muslims gave way to the
al interpretation of the QurDa¯n wherever possible, strongly
adoption of certain positions by the majority of Muslims in
justified by linguistic evidence; reliance on tradition
relation to these and other similar matters, which in turn
(h:ad¯ıth/athar) in explaining the text; use of reason (raDy)
came to be known as Sunnism. In the ninth and tenth centu-
within limits; rejection of the idea of esoteric meanings as
ries, Sunnism accepted a set of creeds and legal schools
unjustifiable speculation; respect for the companions of the
(madha¯hib). With this came the consolidation of Islamic dis-
Prophet collectively as the most important source of religious
ciplines that provided the intellectual basis for Sunnism:
authority after the Prophet; acceptance of a set of theological
tafs¯ır, h:ad¯ıth, fiqh, and early Islamic biographical history
positions on God’s attributes, eschatology, prophecy and
(s¯ırah). Given that Sunnism reflected the position of the ma-
revelation, the definition of a believer (muDmin), and sources
jority of Muslims, it also came to be considered the “ortho-
of authority in law; and rejection of positions held by ratio-
doxy.” Other groups that did not adhere to the Sunn¯ı posi-
nalist theologians known as MuEtazilah.
tions on theological, religio-political, or legal matters
Sh¯ıE¯ı exegesis. The Sh¯ıEah, the second most important
continued to exist and develop in their own ways, however.
religio-political group of Muslims, is subdivided into a num-
T:abar¯ı’s (d. 923) exegetical work represents the most
ber of groups, most importantly, the Zayd¯ıs, the Ima¯m¯ıs,
important early “Sunn¯ı” tafs¯ır. He was born in Tabaristan
and the Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs. Among the most important differences be-
and studied QurDa¯n, h:ad¯ıth, fiqh, history, grammar, lexicog-
tween the Sh¯ıEah in general and the Sunn¯ı Muslims are the
raphy, and poetry. While T:abar¯ı’s writings are enormous
Sh¯ıEah doctrine of the ima¯m and their view of the compan-
and varied, our interest is primarily in his thirty-volume
ions.
tafs¯ır called Ja¯mi E al-baya¯n Ean taDw¯ıl a¯y al-QurDa¯n. T:abar¯ı
The Zayd¯ıs are the closest to the Sunn¯ı Muslims on
brought together in this massive work much of the
these key issues. Several tafs¯ır works by Zayd¯ı scholars have
tafs¯ır-related material of his time. He commented on each
been lost, while many extant works remain in manuscript
verse of the QurDa¯n from beginning to end, brought together
form. Zayd¯ı tafs¯ır is heavily influenced by MuEtazil¯ı
h:ad¯ıth and other reports attributed to early authorities in re-
theology: many Zayd¯ıs rely on the MuEtazil¯ı exegete
lation to each verse, provided grammatical and linguistic
Zamakhshar¯ı’s (d. 1144) al-Kashsha¯f as a primary source
analyses, noted systemically the various meanings of each text
given the similarity between their theological positions and
attributed to early authorities, and finally offered his own in-
those of the MuEtazilah (Dhahabi, 1976, vol. 2, p. 308). In
terpretation and the reasons for choosing that interpretation.
many other respects, the exegetical works of Zayd¯ıs come
T:abar¯ı’s Tafs¯ır is usually identified with the tradition of
very close to those of the Sunn¯ıs. A Zayd¯ı scholar of the
tafs¯ır bi-al-ma Dthu¯r even though in some respects it can be
modern period is al-Shawka¯n¯ı (d. 1834) from Yemen, who
associated with tafs¯ır bi-al-raDy too. His mastery of the variety
wrote Fath: al-qad¯ır, a 5-volume tafs¯ır that is largely tradi-
of Islamic disciplines and his encyclopedic knowledge make
tion-based (al-maDthu¯r) and is widely available. The per-
his tafs¯ır unrivalled in Sunn¯ı tradition. Given that he com-
ceived closeness of the Zayd¯ıs to Sunnism perhaps explains
piled very early material, and that many of those early works
why Shawka¯n¯ı’s Fath: is widely used in Sunn¯ı circles.
are lost, T:abar¯ı’s tafs¯ır remains to this day the most impor-
tant single primary source of information about the early pe-
The Ima¯m¯ıs (also known as Twelvers) are the largest
riod of the tafs¯ır tradition.
subgroup among Sh¯ıEah. The early Ima¯m¯ıs strongly criti-
cized the mode of compilation of the QurDanic text during
From the time of T:abar¯ı, a large number of multivol-
the caliphate of EUthma¯n. They accused the compilers of the
ume tafs¯ır works emerged that fall into the broad category
text of omitting and adding verses. However, many later
of Sunn¯ı tafs¯ır; for example, Ibn Ab¯ı Ha¯tim al-Ra¯z¯ı’s
Ima¯m¯ı scholars toned down the criticism and argued that the
(d. 938), Tafs¯ır al-Qur Da¯n al-Eaz¯ım; al-ThaEa¯lab¯ı’s (d. 1035)
existing QurDanic text did not contain falsifications (Bar-
Kashf al-baya¯n Ean tafs¯ır al-QurDa¯n; Ibn EAtiyyah’s (d. 1147)
Asher, 1999, p. 16). For Ima¯m¯ıs, the ima¯ms are divinely in-
al-Muh:arrar al-waj¯ız; al-Nasaf¯ı’s (d. 1310) Mada¯rik
spired, endowed with a special Eilm (knowledge). The ima¯m
al-tanz¯ıl wa h:aqa¯Diq al-taDw¯ıl; and al-Suyu¯t:¯ı’s (d. 1505) al-
should also be nominated as heir by his predecessor through
Durr al-manthu¯r. Another example is that of Ibn Kath¯ır
an explicit designation (Bar-Asher, 1999, p. 12). Thus, EAli
(d. 1373), who was a student of the H:anbal¯ı theologian Ibn
was the first ima¯m designated as such by the Prophet himself,
Taymiyah (d. 1328). Ibn Kath¯ır took Sunn¯ı tafs¯ır to its ex-
and any who befriended him are considered friends of the
treme by rejecting reason-based interpretation of the QurDa¯n,
Sh¯ıEah, but any who opposed him are seen as enemies, an
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7566
QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
example of an enemy being the Prophet’s wife EA¯Dishah be-
works, who belonged to various groupings in Islam such as
cause of her political opposition to EAli. Ima¯m¯ıs were also
Sunn¯ıs, Sh¯ıEah, or Kha¯rij¯ıs, had to deal with these debates
heavily influenced theologically by the MuEtazilah. More-
in their works. Among theologians, the MuEtazil¯ıs and
over, they believe in differences between the “inner” and
AshEar¯ıs have been the most prominent in their contribution
“outer” meanings of the QurDa¯n. This allows them to read
to tafs¯ır.
into the QurDanic text their own theological and religio-
Many theologians who wrote exegetical works were
political views, a characteristic that is not confined to
from a MuEtazil¯ı background. Many of these works have not
Ima¯m¯ıs, however, but cuts across almost all groups within
survived, and those that have, while they may not be strictly
Islam. Among the key tafs¯ır works of the Ima¯m¯ıs are:
speaking tafs¯ırs, give a sense of kala¯m-based exegetical work.
al-Qumm¯ı (early tenth century), Tafs¯ır al-Qumm¯ı; al-T:u¯s¯ı
Qa¯di EAbd al-Jabba¯r (d. 1025) made great contributions to
(d. 1067), al-Tibya¯n fi tafs¯ır al-QurDa¯n; and al-T:abars¯ı
this field in his al-Mughn¯ı (a juridical and theological ency-
(d. 1153), Majma E al-baya¯n f¯ı tafs¯ır al-QurDa¯n.
clopedia) (Gilliot, 2002, p. 114). The Sh¯ıE¯ı scholar
On extant evidence, Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs have not produced any
al-T:abars¯ı’s Majma E al-baya¯n f¯ı tafs¯ır al-QurDa¯n is heavily in-
tafs¯ır of the whole of the QurDa¯n. Their exegetical works are
fluenced by MuEtazil¯ı doctrines. The most famous of
interpretations of selected verses or groups of verses. Accord-
MuEtazil¯ı tafs¯ırs is al-Zamakhshar¯ı’s al-Kashsha¯f Ean h:aqa¯ Eiq
ing to Gilliot (2002, p. 118), “the science of tafs¯ır (exoteric
al-tanz¯ıl. However, Zamakhshar¯ı’s “reputation for exegesis
exegesis) is absent from their literature.” Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs distinguish
rests not so much on his MuEtazilism as on his qualities as
between the exterior (z:a¯hir) and interior (ba¯tin), related to
a grammarian, philologist, and master of rhetorical and liter-
exoteric and esoteric meanings respectively. For the
ary criticism” (Gilliot, 2002, p. 115).
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ıs, the true meaning of the QurDa¯n can be arrived at
Kala¯m-based tafs¯ır of the MuEtazil¯ıs emphasize interpre-
only through taDw¯ıl (esoteric interpretation), which had its
tation of the QurDa¯n in line with what reason demands, espe-
origin in the legitimate ima¯m (Gilliot, 2002, p. 118). How-
cially in relation to theological matters, rejection of “tradi-
ever, more recent studies suggest that there was a well-
tions” that conflicted with their theological positions, the use
developed tradition of QurDanic interpretation among
of linguistic evidence to support interpretation (particularly
Isma¯E¯ıl¯ı thinkers of the Fatimid period.
when literal meanings contradicted their theological posi-
Kha¯rij¯ı exegesis. Within Muslim tradition, Kha¯rij¯ıs
tions), and an emphasis on the metaphorical meanings of the
have not contributed to tafs¯ır and other Islamic disciplines
QurDa¯n.
as extensively as have other groups. This is most likely be-
S:u¯f¯ı exegesis. S:u¯f¯ı exegesis was associated with the de-
cause of the relatively small number of Kha¯rij¯ıs who were
velopment of the S:u¯f¯ı movement, tas:awwuf, which in part
widely dispersed in North Africa, the Arabian Gulf, and East
grew out of the early religious and political tensions within
Africa. Most Kha¯rij¯ı tafs¯ır works were written by Iba¯d:¯ıs, a
the Muslim community. It also arose from intense interest
“moderate” Kha¯rij¯ı group, from a Sunn¯ı point of view.
in the spiritual dimension of Islam, distaste for the material-
Some of the Kha¯rij¯ı works have been lost, such as the tafs¯ır
ism that developed as a result of the great wealth generated
of EAbd al-Rah:ma¯n ibn Rustum al-Fa¯risi (ninth century).
by the conquests (futu¯h:a¯t) of the seventh century, and the
Among the best known Kha¯rij¯ı tafs¯ır works are the Tafs¯ır
legalism that came to dominate Islam from the ninth centu-
of Hu¯d ibn Muh:akkam al-Hawwa¯ri (d. c. 893) from North
ry. For many S:u¯f¯ıs, the theological, legal, and religio-
Africa and Himya¯n al-za¯d ila¯ da¯r al-maEa¯d (13 vols.) of
political debates of the seventh and eighth centuries drew be-
Muh:ammad ibn Yu¯suf al-Itfish (d. 1913), also from North
lievers away from the purpose of the QurDa¯n towards legalism
Africa.
and other irrelevancies. For S:u¯f¯ıs it was the language of the
Kha¯rij¯ı tafs¯ır relies heavily on the literal meaning of the
QurDa¯n that held the answers to deeper questions, such as the
text and often does not delve into deeper meanings. More
nature of human existence and its relation to the divine. The
recent research suggests a revision of the notion of a “wooden
inner dimension of the QurDa¯n was paramount, and one
literalism” as associated with Kha¯rij¯ı exegetical thinking.
could not arrive at those inner meanings by superficial read-
Like other groups in Islam, Kha¯rij¯ıs interpret the text in line
ing and argument over points of law or theology. For S:u¯f¯ıs,
with their theological positions, an example being that the
it was the allusions in the QurDanic text that were most close-
grave sinner (murtakib al-kab¯ırah) is an unbeliever (ka¯fir)
ly related to the human spiritual condition.
and will remain in Hell forever (Dhahab¯ı, 1976, vol. 2,
S:u¯f¯ı tafs¯ır is often traced back to figures like H:asan
pp. 329–344).
al-Bas:r¯ı (d. 728), some of whose teachings are scattered in
Kala¯m-based exegesis. Kala¯m is the discipline of dia-
various tafs¯ır works, including that of T:abar¯ı. Among the
lectical theology in Islam. Debates on the definition of “be-
most influential S:u¯f¯ı tafs¯ır works (or related works) are those
liever” (muDmin), God’s predetermination of events, human
of Ibn EArab¯ı (d. 1240), as well as of other great S:u¯f¯ıs, such
freedom versus God’s power, the unity of God, God’s attri-
as al-Qa¯sha¯n¯ı (d. 1329), al-Sulam¯ı (d. 1021) in his Haqa¯Diq
butes, God’s justice, and the status of categories of human
al-tafs¯ır, and EAbd al-Kar¯ım al-Qushayr¯ı (d. 1072) in his
beings in the hereafter continued in intellectual circles in the
Lata¯Dif al-isha¯ra¯t. S:u¯f¯ı tafs¯ır also continued right up to the
seventh and eighth centuries. Theologians who wrote tafs¯ır
modern period and includes al-Maybu¯d¯ı’s Kashf al-asra¯r wa
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QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
7567
Euddat al-abra¯r (written in Persian), al-Brusa¯w¯ı’s (d. 1725)
Muh:ammad EAbduh’s treatment of the issue of polyga-
Ru¯h al-baya¯n, and al-Alu¯s¯ı’s (d. 1854?) Ru¯h al-maEa¯n¯ı.
my is an example of modernist tafs¯ır. The problem is wheth-
er men should continue to be allowed four wives in an era
Some S:u¯f¯ı tafs¯ırs are primarily “theoretical,” while oth-
of greater gender equality and in the light of changed eco-
ers are chiefly “intuitive” (Chaudhary, 2002, p. 1484). Ibn
E
nomic, social, political, and economic conditions. EAbduh’s
Arab¯ı’s (d. 1240) works are considered to belong to the the-
solution to this problem was to interpret some of the phrases
oretical tradition. He did not compose a tafs¯ır himself; the
in the relevant QurDanic text. EAbduh argued that, by
work usually attributed to him, Tafs¯ır ibn al-EArab¯ı, was
QurDanic logic, a man should be married to only one woman
written by al-Qa¯sha¯n¯ı, but it does reflect the thought of Ibn
E
because permission to marry more than one is conditional
Arab¯ı. From a Sunn¯ı perspective, the intuitive S:u¯f¯ı tafs¯ırs
upon “justice,” which, according to the QurDa¯n itself, must
were more moderate in their claims and interpretations. Ex-
be strived for but is impossible to achieve. According to
amples of such tafs¯ırs include al-Sulam¯ı’s Haqa¯Diq al-tafs¯ır,
EAbduh, QurDanic logic states that the only form of marriage
one of the most important works in S:u¯f¯ı tafs¯ır.
ideally should be monogamy (Rid:a¯, n.d., vol. 4,
T
pp. 369–370). This example highlights the problems associ-
AFS¯IR IN THE MODERN PERIOD: FROM THE MID-
N
ated with the interpretative efforts of many modernist Mus-
INETEENTH CENTURY. Tafs¯ır of the modern period begins
with the mid-nineteenth century and follows several trends.
lims. At times the interpretation is forced upon the text when
Many writers, however, adopted traditionalist patterns and
changed norms and values are taken as the basis for a fresh
approaches; in fact, many traditionalist Muslims of the mod-
understanding.
ern period have written QurDanic commentaries that differ
“Scientific” exegesis. Another distinctly modern ap-
little from premodern works. This applies to the Sunn¯ıs,
proach involves examining the QurDa¯n in the light of modern
as well as to other groups within Islam. Examples in-
science. There are two ways in which “scientific” exegesis
clude al-Shawka¯n¯ı’s (d. 1839) Fath: al-qad¯ır; al-Alu¯s¯ı’s
could be understood. First, the approach taken by the Egyp-
(d. 1853) Ru¯h: al-maEa¯n¯ı, and al-Mara¯gh¯ı’s (d. 1945) Tafs¯ır
tian T:ant:a¯w¯ı Jawhar¯ı (d. 1940), who wrote al-Jawa¯hir f¯ı
al-Mara¯gh¯ı.
tafs¯ır al-Qur Da¯n al-kar¯ım. Although referred to as a tafs¯ır, it
is not a tafs¯ır in the strict classical sense. Rather, it is an ency-
Modernist exegesis. Despite this, a significantly richer
clopedia that enables Muslims to link the text of the QurDa¯n
environment has emerged for exegetical work in which writ-
to a modern scientific worldview (Gilliot, 2002, p. 130). Al-
ers make a conscious effort to relate the QurDa¯n to issues in
though his treatment of the QurDa¯n is also called “al-tafs¯ır
the modern world. For many Muslims, particularly of a non-
al-Eilm¯ı” (scientific exegesis), T:ant:a¯w¯ı Jawhar¯ı was not inter-
traditionalist orientation, this is the key problem for exegesis
ested in what in the mid to late twentieth century came to
today, and it was in this light that Sayyid Ahmad Khan
be known as the “scientific miraculous nature of the QurDa¯n”
(d. 1898) of India and Muh:ammad EAbduh (d. 1905) of
(al-iEja¯z al-Eilm¯ı). His main interest was to encourage Mus-
Egypt, two modernist Muslims, embarked on their exegetical
lims to learn and understand the sciences, which he saw as
work.
the main factor driving modern societies.
Although from different parts of the Muslim world,
The second use of “scientific exegesis” is, in contrast, the
both knew life for Muslims under British colonial rule. Fur-
use of science to highlight the so-called “scientific miraculous
thermore, although they approached the QurDa¯n differently
nature of the QurDa¯n,” which is essentially apologetic and at-
in many respects, their works had much in common (Gilliot,
tempts to demonstrate that modern scientific achievements
2002, pp. 126–129). Both stressed the importance of mov-
were somehow foreseen in the QurDa¯n fourteen centuries
ing away from imitation of the past towards a responsive ap-
ago. It is also used as evidence that the QurDa¯n had to have
proach compatible with modern life. Both believed that the
been composed by God, as the unlettered Prophet could not
QurDa¯n could guide Muslims towards becoming part of the
have possessed such knowledge. Its practitioners read what
modern world. Both had an affinity with rationalist thinkers
they consider scientific interpretations into the QurDa¯n. The
in early Islam, such as the MuEtazilah, and saw the need for
popular nature of this discourse is demonstrated by the large
interpretation of the QurDa¯n with a scientific worldview in
number of conferences, seminars, and publications devoted
mind. In line with this, both, each in his own way, wanted
to it. Many Muslim thinkers, however, criticize it as ignoring
to reinterpret what appeared to be “miracles” in the QurDanic
the open-ended nature of scientific discovery and as misread-
text in line with modern science and reason. Both believed
ing the QurDa¯n, ignoring how the texts were understood by
that the contemporary exegete should make the QurDa¯n fa-
the earliest Muslims and also by the succeeding generations.
miliar to the modern mind, and realized that the exegetical
Notwithstanding these criticisms, this latter form of scientif-
procedures and jargon of previous generations had made the
ic exegesis has become one of the most popular forms of exe-
text obscure. In their works and teaching they argued for the
gesis in the modern period.
rethinking of approaches to the QurDa¯n in the modern period
and attempted to demonstrate how this could be un-
Sociopolitical exegesis. Sayyid Qut:b (d. 1966) wrote
dertaken. Both these scholars were highly influential, partic-
his F¯ı Zila¯l al-QurDa¯n essentially to provide a new perspective
ularly until the middle of the twentieth century.
on the relevance of the QurDa¯n to modern Muslims. Qut:b’s
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
7568
QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
particular style of writing, his uncompromising commitment
QurDa¯n in different su¯rahs. Such an approach, besides en-
to his view of Islam, and his portrayal of many of the institu-
abling an in-depth look at relevant issues, facilitates a more
tions of modern society as ja¯hiliyyah (akin to pre-Islamic in-
“objective” treatment of the issues at hand. While these ob-
stitutions, that is, un-Islamic), ensure him an important
servations may be true about the thematic exegesis to a large
place among those whose primary aim is to establish Islam
extent, practitioners of thematic exegesis often advocate
as the dominant sociopolitical force in Muslim societies.
quite different views about how it should be undertaken, the
Qut:b’s work, a good example of a tafs¯ır of a personal reflec-
benefits of such an exercise, and the reasons for engaging in
tive nature, is somewhat divorced from standard exegetical
it. Practitioners argue that this approach can be useful today
tradition in its more free-floating ideas: it draws in the mod-
in dealing with questions such as women’s rights, human
ern world and its challenges, and refuses to follow dogmati-
rights, and ethical problems, to give a few examples. Themat-
cally early approaches to tafs¯ır. It is, as the title suggests, “in
ic exegesis has become very popular and influential in many
the shade” of the QurDa¯n, and attempts to find relevance and
parts of the Muslim world, including Egypt and Indonesia.
meaning at a personal and collective level for Muslims of the
modern period. This perhaps explains its wide acceptability
Feminist exegesis. Muslim feminism brings cultural
among Muslim youth. It lies at the heart of an understanding
politics into exegetical scholarship. Several Muslim feminist
of Islam as an ideology and a system. In many ways it is the
exegetes have recently argued that it is important today to
most inspiring and powerful tafs¯ır in the contemporary
re-read the QurDa¯n because the “male-oriented” readings of
world for many young Muslims influenced by the thought
early and modern exegetes and theologians are biased against
of Muslim Brotherhood.
women. Historical injustices against women are thus seen to
have been perpetuated in these readings. Feminist interpret-
Literary-historical exegesis. Studying the QurDa¯n from
ers argue that if one half of the Muslim population is to enjoy
a literary perspective is not new but the approaches adopted
equality with men, the QurDanic rules and values concerning
and the modern emphasis on the QurDanic narratives and
women must be understood in the light of the sociohistorical
whether these stories represent any historical reality are new.
context of the revelation. The argument continues that if the
Ta¯ha¯ H:usayn (d. 1973) caused a stir in Egypt when he ar-
context in which the event occurs changes, so can the inter-
gued for analyzing the QurDa¯n as a literary text and suggested
pretations and rulings derived therefrom. Although it is ac-
that the biblical stories mentioned in the QurDa¯n may not
cepted that the QurDa¯n improved the position of women, the
necessarily be historical. Am¯ıin al-Khu¯l¯ı of Egypt (d. 1967)
argument of these feminists is that the cultural and historical
also argued for a study of the QurDa¯n from a literary perspec-
context of the revelation has remained a barrier to realizing
tive, keeping in mind how this text was received by the first
the QurDanic ideals regarding women (Wadud-Muhsin,
recipients (the Prophet and the companions) because this
1988; Barlas, 2002).
first reception and understanding are crucial to such a
project.
Unlike some so-called “radical feminists,” mainstream
Muslim feminists are not interested in casting religion and
This emphasis on the study of the QurDa¯n from a literary
scripture aside in order to gain the rights they are seeking.
perspective was taken up by a number of scholars who bene-
Muslim feminists use the QurDa¯n to assert their rights as
fited from al-Khu¯l¯ı’s methodological insights. Muh:ammad
women. Their weapon is the QurDa¯n itself and how it should
Khalafallah, also from Egypt, applied these ideas into his
be read. Fatima Mernissi (1991) developed a critical ap-
doctoral dissertation (in 1947), al-Fann al-qasas¯ı f¯ı
proach to Islamic tradition and ventured into hitherto “sa-
al-Qur Da¯n al-kar¯ım, which again caused a stir among the reli-
cred” areas. In a number of her works, she has examined the
gious establishment of Egypt, leading to significant personal
QurDanic text in the light of the h:ad¯ıth, focusing on the bi-
hardship for Khalafallah. Given the sensitivities associated
ases of some of the companions who narrated these h:ad¯ıth,
with such studies, particularly if they question the “truth”
particularly those concerning women. Amina Wadud-
(historical truth) of any aspect of the QurDa¯n, not many Mus-
Muhsin and Asma Barlas have argued for a return to the mes-
lims attempt such studies.
sage of the original text but with an emphasis on relating the
QurDa¯n to its historical and contemporary contexts as argued
Thematic exegesis. In the mid-twentieth century, an-
by Fazlur Rahman, in the light of the “spirit of the QurDa¯n”
other popular approach emerged called thematic exegesis.
(Wadud-Muhsin, 1988, p. 129).
This approach emphasizes the unity of the QurDanic text over
the interpretation of verses in isolation. Verse by verse treat-
TAFS¯IR AND THE QUESTION OF THE RELEVANCE OF THE
ment in exegesis is seen as distorting the QurDanic message,
QURDA¯N TODAY. The literature on QurDa¯n interpretation in
and as not giving sufficient emphasis to related verses on a
the modern period shows that there is a strong desire on the
particular theme across the QurDa¯n. This form of exegesis
part of Muslims, scholars and laity alike, to find the relevance
also goes back to the ideas developed by Am¯ın al-Khul¯ı, who
of the QurDanic text to contemporary issues without compro-
emphasized that it is more beneficial to interpret the QurDa¯n
mising the QurDanic value system and its essential and core
by focusing on specific themes. In this way, one can explore
beliefs and practices. It is seen as particularly urgent in rela-
in depth such concepts as “justice” and “unity of God” by
tion to the ethico-legal content of the QurDa¯n (Saeed, 2004).
looking at all aspects of the concept as dealt with in the
There are, broadly speaking, three trends among those who
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
QURDA¯N: TRADITION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND INTERPRETATION
7569
believe that the ethico-legal content of the QurDa¯n is relevant
thematic and spiritual unity of the QurDa¯n, and that the reve-
to Muslims in the modern period: textualists, semi-
lation was not a “book” given at one time but a process over
textualists, and contextualists.
a twenty-two-year period, reflecting, throughout the mis-
sion’s vicissitudes and the needs of the first community. The
Textualists seek to maintain the interpretation of the
QurDa¯n’s guidance, in their view, was directly connected
ethico-legal content of the QurDa¯n as handed down in the
with, and organically related to, the linguistic, cultural, polit-
tradition and argue for a strict following of the text (as well
ical, economic, and religious life of the people of Hijaz and,
as the “authorized” interpretations within the tradition, be
more broadly, of Arabia.
they Sunn¯ı or Sh¯ıE¯ı). Where possible, they prefer to be faith-
ful to the literal reading of the ethico-legal texts. For many
More radical approaches to the interpretation of the
textualists, there is no need at all for the scripture or its un-
QurDa¯n are also entertained by a number of Muslim thinkers
derstanding to change. For them, it is the QurDa¯n that should
today, including Muh:ammad Arkoun and Nasr H:a¯mid Abu¯
guide Muslims, not any so-called modern “needs.” The
Zayd. While these approaches are not yet widely accepted,
QurDa¯n (both in its text and meaning) is permanent and uni-
it seems likely that we will be seeing a more intense debate
versal. For instance, if the QurDa¯n says that a man may marry
on the rethinking of approaches to the QurDa¯n, and perhaps
four wives, then that should remain so forever. Textualists
a more creative period in the area of tafs¯ır.
may be found today among those referred to as Salaf¯ıs,
SEE ALSO Tafs¯ır.
neo-Salaf¯ıs, and traditionalists.
Semitextualists essentially follow the textualists, but at-
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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
QURDA¯N: ITS ROLE IN MUSLIM PRACTICE AND LIFE
7571
ally “Mother of the Book” or “Sourcebook,” su¯rah 13:39).
vealed to the prophet Muh:ammad in the Arabic language
It is made up of “signs” (ayah, pl. ayat) whose semantic mes-
(12:2), its text is believed to consist of divine rather than
sages replicate all of the “languages” that are to be found in
human speech (9:6). Thus, its significance for Muslims is
the world of human experience. As a form of divine expres-
similar to that of the Logos (divine speech) in Christianity.
sion, the QurDa¯n acts as a spiritual touchstone and code of
However, unlike the Christian view of scripture as a divinely
conduct, detailing the main themes of the message of Islam
inspired discourse, the words of the QurDa¯n are regarded by
as revealed to the Prophet Muh:ammad. As a theological
Muslims as divine in and of themselves. In Islam, the divine
statement, it is a criterion of discernment (furqan), which
word does not become flesh, but the words and letters of the
demonstrates the existence and nature of Alla¯h, the One
QurDa¯n retain a profound sense of power and mystery. Mus-
God. As a form of literature, it is regarded by both Muslims
lims show their reverence for the QurDa¯n by approaching it
and Arab Christians as the source of the Classical Arabic lan-
in a state of ritual purity or ablution (t:aha¯rah). At times, it
guage. As a work of meta-history, it imparts meaning to
may also be treated as a prized artifact, as demonstrated by
human affairs by detailing God’s plan for the world in the
the production of hand-decorated, calligraphic copies and
rise and fall of civilizations and in the creation and end of
the popularity of medieval QurDa¯n manuscripts in collections
the universe.
of Islamic art. S:u¯f¯ıs, Muslim mystics, have long regarded the
As the written text declares, the original form of the
QurDa¯n as a paradigm for divine knowledge and inspiration.
QurDa¯n is with God, “a Glorious QurDa¯n preserved in a well-
In the thirteenth century, the great Andalusian S:u¯f¯ı Ibn
guarded tablet” (85:21–22). Although it takes on the charac-
EArabi organized the entirety of al-Futuhat al-Makkiyah (The
ter and logic of human language, the QurDa¯n remains in es-
Meccan inspirations), his magnum opus, to conform to the
sence a transcendent medium of communication, free from
order and meaning of the discourses and signs of the divine
the limitations of purely human expression. This essential
text.
QurDa¯n was communicated to the Prophet Muh:ammad
POWER AND PROTECTION. Because the word of God reso-
through the mediation of Gabriel, the angel of revelation, in
nates continually in sacred scripture, the divine text and even
words that were written down and memorized by the pious
the calligraphic text of the QurDa¯n are believed to possess
and later codified into an official document (mushaf). How-
awesome powers. In a well known verse the QurDa¯n states:
ever, the Prophet claimed that he also received the QurDa¯n
“Were we to cause this QurDa¯n to descend on a mountain
in humanly unintelligible sounds like the ringing of bells: ap-
you would see it humbled and torn asunder in awe of God”
parently, at least part of the revelation came to him as an in-
(59:21). A tradition reports that when the fifth su¯rah was
spiration directly from God. This bestowal of divine knowl-
sent down to the prophet Muh:ammad while he was traveling
edge, which according to the QurDa¯n was sent down directly
on a she-camel, the animal fell to the ground, unable to sup-
onto Muh:ammad’s heart (26:94) on the Night of Power
port the divine words. However, this divine QurDa¯n, which
(laylat al-qadr, 96:1), enabled the Prophet to become not
even the mountains cannot sustain, is also a source of tran-
only the mouthpiece, but also the prime interpreter of the
quility and peace for the hearts of those with faith. Muslims
divine word.
consider this quality a divine gift of mercy; as the commenta-
For more than fourteen centuries, Muslims of all sects
tor al-Qurtubi asserts, “Had God not fortified the hearts of
and schools of thought have internalized the QurDa¯n as the
his servants with the ability to bear [the QurDa¯n], . . . they
transcendent word of God, which is relevant for all times and
would have been too feeble and distraught before its great
places. Because its divine origin makes the QurDa¯n a sacred,
weight” (al-Qurtubi, vol. 1, p. 4).
and therefore unique, form of communication, its signifi-
The powers of the QurDa¯n are reputed in Muslim folk-
cance depends on a worldview that accepts its authenticity.
lore to heal the sick, to cause strange natural occurrences, and
Consequently, its significance for the pious Muslim is entire-
even to charm snakes and find lost objects. When placed in
ly different from that of the non-Muslim or agnostic. Be-
a locket, a verse of the QurDa¯n may protect a child from the
cause each and every written word or recited sound of the
evil eye, and strengthen, or break the bond of love between
QurDa¯n is revered as divine in origin, any attempt to create
two people. QurDanic verses are often inscribed on vehicles,
a critical or historicist interpretation of its text can only do
shops, and entrances to homes or public buildings to provide
violence to the revelation in terms of its meaning to its audi-
protection against evil and to express gratitude for God’s
ence. One who wishes to understand the resonance of the
bounties. In medieval Islam, QurDanic words, phrases, or
QurDa¯n in the heart of the Muslim believer must not over-
even entire verses were often written or uttered in combina-
look the surplus of meaning in a text that is considered so
tion with ancient Aramaic words or symbols as formulas
sacred that it is often recited in a baby’s ears as soon as it
against magic. Today, Muslims of all beliefs, from literalistic
emerges from the womb. As the sixth Sh¯ıE¯ı ima¯m, JaDfar al-
Wahha¯b¯ıs in Saudi Arabia to mystical S:u¯f¯ıs and rationalist
Sadiq, declared, “Whoever recites the QurDa¯n while yet a
Pakistani engineers, often recite selected short su¯rahs of the
youth and has faith, the QurDa¯n becomes intermingled with
QurDa¯n as a protection against evil or ill fortune. Su¯rahs that
his flesh and blood” (Ayoub, vol. 1, p. 12).
are especially popular for such purposes include al-Kahf
SACRED CHARACTER. As a revelation directly from God, the
(The cave, 18), Ya-Sin (36) and al-Waqi Dah (The event, 56).
QurDa¯n is the main theophany of Islam. Although it was re-
In modern Egypt, these and other protective su¯rahs are com-
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
7572
QURDA¯N: ITS ROLE IN MUSLIM PRACTICE AND LIFE
piled in small booklets that police officers carry in their shirt-
The good bestowed by the text of the QurDa¯n is a mercy for
pockets as a protection against the dangers of their job.
believers both in life and after death. In his discussion of s:ala¯t
al-Hajah (The prayer of need), al-Ghaza¯l¯ı states that peti-
In times of sickness and adversity, believers turn to the
tioners to God should perform twelve prostrations, each of
QurDa¯n as a source of “healing and mercy for the people of
which is to be preceded by recitations of the Fatihah, the
faith” (17:82). The first su¯rah of the QurDa¯n, al-Fatihah (The
Verse of the Throne (2:255), and the Su¯rah of Sincerity
opening) is sometimes called Al-Shafiyah (The healer). It is
(al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, pp. 206–207). Often, before a Muslim dies, he
often recommended that a sick person drink the water in
or she stipulates that the QurDa¯n be recited at the grave for
which a parchment inscribed with QurDanic verses has been
three days to ensure the repose of the soul. Sometimes, at the
soaked; this custom has persisted to the present day in many
tombs of rulers or great S:u¯f¯ı saints, teams of readers would
areas of the Muslim world. In some countries, QurDanic
be employed to recite the sacred text around the clock.
verses are written on incantation bowls with a special type
Whenever a deceased person is remembered by friends or
of ink. When the bowl is rinsed with water and the water
family, the Fatihah is recited; it is considered a gift to the
is drunk, the power of the QurDanic verses in the ink mixes
dead, a fragrant breeze from Paradise to lighten the hardship
with the water and enters the body of the believer as a charm.
of the grave. However, the verses of the QurDa¯n that are
The commentator al-Qurtubi cautions that when using the
learned in this world will bring believers the greatest merit
QurDa¯n for such purposes, a person seeking a cure must in-
in the Hereafter. The Prophet Muh:ammad said, “It shall be
voke the name of God in every breath he or she takes while
said to the bearer of the QurDa¯n [after death], ‘Recite and rise
drinking the potion, and must be sincere in prayerful atten-
[to a higher station]. Chant now as you did in the world, for
tion, because his or her reward depends upon that sincerity.
your final station shall be the last verse you recite’” (al-
In the text of the QurDa¯n itself, the medicinal power of the
Qurtubi, vol. 1, p. 9).
QurDa¯n to heal is often linked to its rhetorical power to per-
R
suade, as in the following passage: “Oh humankind! An ex-
ECITATION AND MEMORIZATION. Because the QurDa¯n con-
tains the word of God, its text stipulates that no one should
hortation has come to you from your Lord, a healing for
touch it but the purified (56:79), nor should anyone recite
what is in your breasts, and a guidance and mercy for those
it that is not in a state of ritual purity. Before beginning to
who believe” (10:57).
recite the QurDa¯n, the Muslim is encouraged to clean her
COMFORT AND NEED. The QurDa¯n also serves as a source of
teeth and purify her mouth, because the body will become
strength and reassurance in the face of the unknown. For
the “path” of the QurDa¯n. The QurDa¯n reciter must also put
pious Muslims, the QurDa¯n provides a means of controlling
on her best attire, as she would when standing before a king,
future events or mitigating their outcome through istikharah,
for she is in fact speaking with God, in God’s own language.
seeking guidance or a good omen in the text. Istikharah rep-
Likewise, because the QurDa¯n is the essence of Islamic prayer,
resents the choice of what God has chosen. It is carried out
the reciter should face the qiblah, the direction of prayer to-
by averting the face, opening the book, pointing to a ran-
ward Mecca. Muslims believe that anyone who yawns while
domly chosen verse, and letting the verse speak directly to
reciting the QurDa¯n is obliged to stop, because yawning is
one’s need or condition. This action is often accompanied
caused by Satan. Normally, the recitation of the QurDa¯n be-
by specific prayers or rituals. According to the famous S:u¯f¯ı
gins with the formula of refuge (al-ta Dwiz): “I take refuge in
and theologian Abu¯ H:a¯mid al-Ghaza¯l¯ı (1058–1111) com-
God from Satan the accursed.” It is therefore necessary that
panions said that the Prophet emphasized the practice of is-
the reciter seclude herself whenever possible so that she not
tikharah as much as he emphasized memorizing the QurDa¯n
be interrupted. If the word of God were to become mixed
itself. Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı recommends reciting the Fatihah, the
with profane speech, the reciter would lose the power of the
Su¯rah of the Unbelievers (109), and the Su¯rah of Sincerity
formula of refuge with which she began her recitation.
(111) when practicing istikharah. Then the following suppli-
According to a well-known tradition, those who have
cation is to be made:
memorized the QurDa¯n (the “Bearers of the QurDa¯n”) were
Oh God! I seek goodness from you through your
described by the Prophet Muh:ammad as being specially fa-
knowledge, I seek power from you through your power,
vored with the mercy of God because they are the teachers
and I beseech you through your great favor. For you are
of his word. The tradition goes on to assert that God protects
powerful and I am powerless, you are knowledgeable
those who listen to the QurDa¯n from the afflictions of this
and I am ignorant, and you are the Knower of the Un-
world and protects its reciters from the trials of the world to
seen. If you know that this matter will be good for me
come. The Prophet is said to have further asserted that God
in my spiritual and material life and at the end of my
would not torment a heart in which he had caused the
life whether it tarries or hastens, then make it possible
QurDa¯n to dwell. All obligations of worship are believed to
for me, and bless me and ease my life through it. But
cease with death except the recitation of the QurDa¯n; it will
if you know that it will harm me in my spiritual and
continue to be performed forever as a delight for the people
material life and at the end of my life whether it tarries
of Paradise.
or hastens, then avert me from it and avert it from me
and empower me with good wherever I may be, for you
TEACHING AND INTERPRETATION. According to Muslim
are powerful over all things. (al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, vol. 1, p. 206)
convention, the QurDa¯n is not a book with a beginning, mid-
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
QURDA¯N: ITS ROLE IN MUSLIM PRACTICE AND LIFE
7573
dle, and end. Every portion, even every verse, is a “QurDa¯n,”
sists of ten levels of understanding that must be cultivated
a divine lecture, just as the entire book is the QurDa¯n, proper-
by the informed reader:
ly speaking. In the history of QurDanic exegesis, this belief
1. The reader of the QurDa¯n must have a basic understand-
has led to an unfortunate tendency to take QurDanic verses
ing of theology, so that he or she can appreciate the di-
out of context. However, this decontextualization of the
vine origin of its words.
QurDa¯n has a spiritual benefit, in that the study of the QurDa¯n
2. The reader must fully understand the exalted nature of
is a journey through an infinite world of meaning, a journey
the divine speaker and the difference between QurDanic
to God through God’s own words. The outward purpose of
discourse and human speech.
this journey is to shape one’s character and life according to
the word of God, and thus to attain God-consciousness
3. The reader must cultivate the faculties of the heart and
(taqwa). The inner purpose of the journey, the path often
suppress mind-chatter so that the spiritual nature of the
followed in the Sh¯ıE¯ı and S:u¯f¯ı traditions, is to travel toward
divine discourse may be revealed.
God through the practice of deep hermeneutics (ta Dw¯ıl), and
4. The reader must practice disciplined concentration
thus to attain a direct knowledge of God (ma Drifah) by re-
when reading or reciting the sacred text.
peatedly going back (ta Dawwala) to the divine speech that is
5. The reader must concentrate on the attributes, actions,
the basis of all creativity. A man is reported to have asked
and states of God revealed in the text in order to under-
the Prophet Muh:ammad, “What is the most excellent deed?”
stand how God works in the world.
He was told, “Be a sojourning traveler.” The man then asked,
“Who is the sojourning traveler?” The Prophet replied, “It
6. The reader must eliminate all intellectual impediments
is the man of the QurDa¯n, he who journeys from its beginning
that may block his or her understanding the spiritual
to its end, and then returns again to its beginning. Thus, he
message of the QurDa¯n.
stops for a brief sojourn and then departs” (al-Qurtubi, vol.
7. The reader must understand the contextual nature of
1, p. 36).
the divine commands and prohibitions in the QurDa¯n
and be aware of the limitations to be applied when fol-
Muslims believe that the QurDa¯n guides its bearers to the
lowing its rules.
eternal bliss of Paradise. It will pray on their behalf, and God
will bestow upon them the crown of glory and will be pleased
8. The reader must allow the discourse of the QurDa¯n to
with them. Those who have internalized the sacred text
influence the attitudes of the heart in its emotional
through memorizing its verses and who recite it and teach
states.
others the art of recitation are described in a famous prophet-
9. The reader’s understanding of the text must “ascend”
ic tradition as the people of God and his elect. According to
such that one hears the word of God speaking in the
another tradition, the best person is the one who studies the
QurDa¯n and not one’s own ego.
QurDa¯n and teaches it to others. This is why people who
10. The reader must attain “freedom” through understand-
teach the QurDa¯n to children are highly respected throughout
ing the QurDa¯n from the limitations of personal effort
the Islamic world. The prophet Muh:ammad declared that
and initiative in seeking the blessings and favor of God.
the highest merit for which a person can hope in the world
(al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, vol. 1, pp. 280–288)
to come is that of engaging with others in the study of the
True reverence of the QurDa¯n and awareness of God’s will
QurDa¯n: “There is no people assembled in one of the houses
for humankind demands an approach that favors intellectual
of God to recite the book of God and study it together but
and spiritual inquiry over the mere memorization of the text
that divine tranquility descends upon them. Mercy covers
and its explanatory traditions. Refuting a tradition in which
them, angels draw near to them, and God remembers them
the Prophet Muh:ammad supposedly stated, “Whoever inter-
in the company of those who are with him” (Ayoub, vol. 1,
prets the QurDa¯n with his own opinion will find his seat in
pp. 8–9). The QurDa¯n states that divine light descends upon
Hell,” al-Ghaza¯l¯ı asks, “How can one possibly understand
houses in which God’s name is remembered (24:36). All of
the QurDa¯n without studying its interpretation?” Anyone
God’s ninety-nine “beautiful names” (7:180) are to be found
who believes that the only way to understand the QurDa¯n is
in the QurDa¯n. For this reason, the text of the QurDa¯n is con-
through its superficial meaning has in fact limited the mean-
sidered the truest approach to knowledge of God.
ing of the word of God to the limitations of one’s own un-
However, blindly reciting verses that are not under-
derstanding. Such a person is trapped in what modern schol-
stood, whether linguistically, intellectually, or spiritually, is
ars would call the “hermeneutical circle” of traditional
not the best way to approach the QurDa¯n, according to the
knowledge ( Eilm al-naql), which literally “transports” text
majority of Islamic scholars. A person has not truly read the
but not meaning. On the contrary, says al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, a com-
QurDa¯n if both the heart and the mind are not fully engaged
plete and balanced knowledge of tradition would reveal that
in understanding it. Approaching the QurDa¯n has an outer,
the ways to interpret the QurDa¯n are wide for those who un-
ritual dimension, and an inner, conceptual dimension, of
derstand (al-Ghaza¯l¯ı, p. 289).
which both are necessary for a full appreciation of the text.
INFLUENCE. Every verse of the QurDa¯n contains seventy
For al-, the “inner practice” of approaching the QurDa¯n con-
thousand potential ways of understanding its text, because
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
7574
QURRAT AL-EAYN T:A¯HIRAH
each Arabic word of the QurDa¯n bears multiple, legitimate
prolific Sh¯ıE¯ı traditionists. Abu¯ H:a¯mid al-Ghaza¯l¯ı was one
levels of meaning. Understanding this truism of Arabic her-
of the most important theologians of Sunn¯ı Islam. He was
meneutics is key to understanding the importance of the
uniquely influential in setting the standards for Sunn¯ı
QurDa¯n to Muslims. Even beyond the creedal confines of
thought and practice in late medieval Islam.
Islam, the QurDa¯n has set the standard for Arabic language
Ayoub, Mahmoud M. The Qur Dan and its Interpreters, 2 vols. Al-
and literature as the highest expression and model for literary
bany, N.Y., 1984.
Arabic. Its style of storytelling, its similes, and its metaphors
Chodkiewicz, Michel. An Ocean Without Shore: Ibn EArabi, the
have shaped classical Arabic literature and have even influ-
Book, and the Law. Albany, N.Y., 1993. This work discusses
enced modern writers. It was the demand for absolute cor-
the meaning of the QurDa¯n to the Spanish S:u¯f¯ı and mystic
rectness in studying, writing, and reciting the QurDa¯n that
MuhyiD al-Din Muh:ammad ibn EArabi (d. 1240).
provided the basis for Arabic grammar and other linguistic
Eaton, Charles Le Gai. Islam and the Destiny of Man. Cambridge,
sciences. QurDanic maxims and phrases have permeated all
U.K., 1994. See especially Chapter 4, “The World of the
the languages of the Muslim world, and beautifully rendered
Book.”
QurDanic calligraphy graces the walls of mosques, schools,
Esack, Farid. Qur Dan, Liberation, and Pluralism: An Islamic Per-
and the homes of the pious.
spective of Interreligious Solidarity Against Oppression. Oxford,
2002.
The QurDa¯n is one of the most important bases of unity
in a highly diverse Islamic civilization. Its impact on the life
Ghaza¯l¯ı, Abu¯ H:a¯mid al-. Ihya D Eulum al-din, 5 vols. Beirut, n.d.
of Muslims may be summed up in a prayer attributed to EAli
The material used in this article comes from Kitab adab
tilawat al- QurDan, which is found in volume 1. Al-Ghaza¯l¯ı’s
and intended to be offered at the completion of a QurDa¯n rec-
approach to the QurDa¯n is strongly influenced by S:u¯f¯ı no-
itation: “Oh God, relieve with the QurDa¯n my breast; occupy
tions of piety.
with the QurDa¯n my entire body; illumine with the QurDa¯n
Isutzu, Toshihiko. God and Man in the Koran: Semantics of the Ko-
my sight, and loosen the QurDa¯n with my tongue. Grant me
ranic Weltanschauung. New York, 1980. This is a uniquely
strength for this, so long as you allow me to remain alive,
valuable study of the meaning of the QurDa¯n to Muslims. It
for there is neither strength nor power except in you” (Majli-
was written by a Buddhist scholar who was a pioneer of the
si, vol. 89, p. 209).
academic tradition of Islamic Studies in Japan.
Majlisi, Mulla Muh:ammad Baqir al-. Bihar al-anwar. 110 vol-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
umes. Beirut, 1983. See especially, volume 89, which dis-
The role of the QurDa¯n in Muslim piety, although crucial to Islam-
cusses the QurDa¯n and its virtues.
ic spirituality, has until recently been neglected in Western
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Ideals and Realities of Islam. Chicago, 2000.
scholarship. More surprisingly, it has also been neglected in
contemporary Muslim scholarship, where moral and politi-
Qurtubi, Abu EAbd Allah Muh:ammad al-. Al-JamiD li ahkam al-
cal approaches to Islam have been considered more impor-
QurDan. Cairo, 1966. See especially al-Qurtubi’s introduc-
tant. Since the late 1980s, however, the subject has begun to
tion to this work.
appear in the writings of Muslims, many of them converts
Schuon, Frithjof. Understanding Islam. Bloomington, Ind., 1994.
to Islam, who live in Europe and the United States. Several
See especially the chapters entitled “Islam” and “The
recent introductions to Islam contain important discussions
QurDa¯n.”
of the spiritual importance of the QurDa¯n. Exegetical works
Tabarsi, Abu EAli al-Fadl ibn al-Hasan al-. MajmaD al-bayan fi taf-
that combine scholarly and personal approaches also have ap-
sir al- QurDan. Cairo, 1958.
peared, which include readings of the QurDa¯n from the newly
relevant perspectives of gender and social justice.
Wadud, Amina. Qur Dan and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text
from a Woman’s Perspective. Oxford and New York, 1999.
Premodern discussions of the importance of the QurDa¯n in Mus-
lim spiritual life are typically found in “Virtues of the
MAHMOUD M. AYOUB (1987)
QurDa¯n” (fadaDil al-QurDan) literature. Such discussions are
VINCENT J. CORNELL (2005)
included in many works of QurDanic exegesis; see, for exam-
ple the work by Ibn Kathir (d. 1373) titled Fada Dil al-QurDan
and appended to volume 7 of his QurDa¯n commentary Tafsir
al-Qur Dan al- Eazim, Beirut, 1966. This literature also forms
QURRAT AL-EAYN T:A¯HIRAH (c. 1818–1852),
a part of major collections of tradition. See, for example, the
was a Ba¯b¯ı preacher and poet, and their first woman martyr.
chapter on fada Dil al-Dan in Sahih Bukhari, translated by
Both Qurrat al- EAyn (“solace of the eyes”) and T:a¯hirah (“the
Muh:ammad Muhsin Khan, Translation of the Meanings of
pure”) were given as honorifics, and her original name has
Sahih al-Bukhari, Beirut, 1979, volume 6.
fallen into oblivion.
The sources used for the present article are representative of these
The daughter of a prominent Sh¯ıE¯ı mullah in Qazvin,
literary traditions. Muh:ammad al-Qurtubi (d. 1273) was a
noted QurDa¯n commentator and jurist who lived and wrote
she was married to her first cousin, the son of another impor-
in Egypt. Abu¯ EAli ibn al-Hasan al-Tabarsi (d. 1153) was an
tant mullah. She was a highly intelligent woman and early
important jurist of the Ima¯m¯ı Sh¯ıE¯ı tradition, whose com-
studied the works of Shaykh Ah:mad Ah:sa¯D¯ı, who spoke of
mentary is considered foundational to Sh¯ıE¯ı thought. Mulla
the imminent coming of the Ba¯b. After corresponding with
Muh:ammad Baqir al-Majlisi (d. 1699) was one of the most
Ah:sa¯D¯ı’s disciple, Sayyid Ka¯z:im-i Rasht¯ı, she took the deci-
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
QUTB, SAYYID
7575
sive step of leaving her husband and children in order to join
1921 he left Musha for Cairo to stay with his uncle, a jour-
his circle in Karbala; but he died shortly before she per-
nalist; migration offered an escape from the limited socioeco-
formed the pilgrimage there in 1843. During her three years’
nomic opportunities of rural village life. Having decided to
stay in Karbala, T:a¯hirah preached the new doctrine with fer-
become a schoolteacher, Qutb attended preparatory schools
vor and success and was accepted by the Ba¯b (whom she
in Cairo, then formally enrolled in Dar al-EUlum (established
never met) as one of his eighteen disciples known as H:uru¯f-i
to train instructors for government schools) in 1929 to 1930,
H:ayy (“the letters of the living,” i. e., the letters that make
completing his modern-style, largely Western-shaped educa-
up the word h:ayy). It was from the Ba¯b’s description of her
tion in the shadow of British control of Egypt. After graduat-
as Janab-i T:a¯hirah (“her excellency, the pure”) that she be-
ing in 1933, he taught in provincial towns and was later em-
came known as T:a¯hirah or, among Baha¯D¯ıs, T:a¯hirih.
ployed by the Ministry of Education as inspector of primary
Her preaching made the authorities suspicious, and in
schools, and he continued thus until his resignation in 1951
1847 she was put under surveillance in Baghdad. After the
or 1952 due to disagreement with government policies. In
shah’s Jewish physician became a convert to Babism during
1948 the ministry sent him to the United States to investi-
a visit there, T:a¯hirah and her followers were expelled from
gate educational methods. He enrolled at colleges of educa-
Iraq. Upon her return to Qazin, she was divorced from her
tion in New York and Colorado and traveled widely, return-
husband, who opposed the new teachings of the Ba¯b. The
ing to Cairo through Europe. In 1951 or 1952 he joined the
assassination of her uncle (her former father-in-law), also an
Society of the Muslim Brothers (Ikhwa¯n al Muslimu¯n) and
adversary of the Ba¯b¯ıs, resulted in the first persecution of the
was appointed director of its Section for Propagation of the
adherents of the new faith, and she went to Tehran and
Call and Publication. There is a perception that Qutb en-
stayed as a guest of Baha¯D Alla¯h, whom she hailed as the
joyed a close relationship with the Free Officers who over-
awaited leader of the community. During a Ba¯b¯ı conference
threw the monarchy in 1952 (including EAbd al-Nasir), serv-
in Badasht in 1848, the beautiful young woman is said to
ing as liaison between them and the Brothers. Thus, he is
have preached without a veil, an action that is taken as the
believed to have been the only civilian to attend the Revolu-
first attempt to win freedom for Persian women. When Na¯s:ir
tionary Command Council’s meetings. Although the Broth-
al-D¯ın Sha¯h ascended the throne later that year, T:a¯hirah was
erhood was at first optimistic about Egypt’s future after the
placed under arrest. After a Ba¯b¯ı attempt to assasinate the
coup, tensions with the new regime mounted as its aim to
shah, she was executed, probably by strangulation, in August
steer the country towards secular republicanism became
1852.
clear. In 1954 EAbd al-Nasir banned the Brotherhood follow-
ing a failed assassination attempt on his life, in which Broth-
T:a¯hirah is considered the first Iranian woman to preach
ers were implicated. Qutb was arrested along with other
equality of the sexes and religious freedom; E. G. Browne
Brotherhood leaders, some of whom were later executed) and
called her appearance in Iran “a prodigy—nay, almost a mir-
sentenced in 1955 to fifteen years hard labor for subversive
acle.” Her Persian poems are of great beauty; one of them
activity against the state. His poor health led to his transfer
is included in Muhammad Iqbal’s Jav¯ıd-na¯mah (1932),
to the prison hospital, from where he was able to write and
where the Ba¯b¯ı heroine appears as one of the “martyrs of
publish. His release in 1964, ostensibly on grounds of ill
love.”
health (possibly thanks to intervention by Iraqi president
EAbd al-Salam EArif), proved to be short-lived. In 1965, hav-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ing become closely associated with reconstituted Brother-
The only biography of Qurrat al-EAyn is Martha L. Root’s brief
hood circles, he was re-arrested with other Brotherhood
Tahirih the Pure, Iran’s Greatest Woman (1938; reprint, Los
members and sympathizers. His trial by special military tri-
Angeles, 1980). See also Edward G. Browne’s sympathetic
bunal focused on the implications of his work Milestones (the
accounts in his Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion
thesis of which was later refuted by the mainstream Brother-
(Cambridge, 1918) and his A Traveller’s Narrative Written
hood) as the basis of the state’s case against him. It ended
to Illustrate the Episode of the Ba¯b, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1891),
with the charge of attempting forcible overthrow of the gov-
which is the translation of a memoir by Abbas Effendi, Baha¯D
Alla¯h’s son.
ernment. Sentenced to death, Qutb was executed on August
29, 1966.
ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL (1987)
Qutb’s career as a writer spanned an earlier, secular-
oriented phase and a later Islamist one, itself encompassing
two phases. From his student days, he was involved in liter-
QUTB, SAYYID. Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966), among
ary circles in Cairo as a second-rank poet, literary critic, and
the most influential Islamist thinkers of the twentieth centu-
essayist. He also engaged in the cultural politics of the day,
ry, was born on October 9, 1906, in the village of Musha
contributing articles to the Egyptian press. Welcoming the
(Upper Egypt). His father was a supporter of Mustafa
modernizing impulse and receptive to the postwar nationalist
Kamil’s al-Hizb al-Watani (Nationalist Party). Studying at
current, Qutb nevertheless seems from the outset to have re-
the village kuttab (religious school) and government school,
sisted the Western values upheld by the liberal-oriented es-
he reportedly memorized the QurDa¯n by the age of 10. In
tablishment and its intellectual voices. This position possibly
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
7576
QUTB, SAYYID
reflected his traditional background; as the 1930s progressed,
rial prosperity, moral rectitude, and salvation. God’s sover-
it found common ground with the growing trend of dissi-
eignty was thus put forward to indicate the exclusion of all
dent voices disenchanted with the liberals’ view of Egypt,
systems of thought and government not derived from divine
emphasizing instead the indigenous Muslim dimensions of
injunctions embodied in the QurDa¯n. Moreover, the affirma-
Egyptian cultural and national identity. The 1940s saw Qutb
tion of God’s sovereignty requires the creation of a “van-
gravitate from a position of cultural nationalism to one deep-
guard” of dedicated revolutionaries able to conduct a tightly
ly engaged with the QurDa¯n as a potential blueprint for
coordinated program of ideological inculcation and political
change, in the context of a postwar opposition seeking a via-
activity. Hence, Islam is both a doctrine and a method. The
ble ideological alternative to the liberal parliamentary mo-
doctrine takes priority and thus constitutes the essence of
narchical system. From around 1948, Qutb indeed appears
Islam (particularly God’s attributes of unicity, lordship, di-
to have turned from a cultural understanding of the role of
vinity, and absolute authority) that must first be firmly em-
Islam in society to one that saw in it a system that could re-
braced by members of the vanguard prior to its implementa-
spond to the political and economic needs of his context. His
tion. The method is the most efficient means of initiating
early works in the first phase of this explicitly Islamist vein
the second stage, of building a new Islamic order. Qutb
had a modernist outlook compatible with the Brotherhood’s
warned that the struggle to restore Islam is long and arduous
reformist discourse, with its characteristically apologetic ar-
and involves adherence to a strict code by a cohort of profes-
gumentation. The first such substantial work, al- EAdala al-
sional revolutionaries. This code entails total dissociation
Ijtima Eiyya fi al-Islam (Social justice in Islam), appeared in
from non-Islamic societies and the creation of alternative
1949; this was followed by Ma Erakat al-Islam
forms of organization, leadership, and loyalty. Separation in-
wa Dl-Ra Esmaliyya (The struggle between Islam and capital-
evitably leads to the division of society into two irreconcil-
ism, 1951) and al-Salam al- EAlami waDl-Islam (Islam and
able warring camps: this confrontation, spanning ideological,
world peace, 1951). However, Qutb’s most significant work
cultural, financial, and political fields, finds its culmination
is a multivolume QurDanic exegesis entitled Fi Zilal
in armed struggle, or the highest stage of jihad. Jihad may
al-Qur Da¯n (In the shade of the QurDa¯n), written and repeat-
thus be conducted through various forms, peaceful and vio-
edly revised during his incarceration. Extracts from this were
lent, but its ultimate aim is to disarm the enemy so that Islam
published in 1964 as Ma Ealim fi al-Tariq (Milestones, 1978),
will be allowed to develop freely, by removing the obstacle
summarizing his theory concerning God’s sovereignty and
of idolatrous tyrannies.
the role of jihad in a non-Islamic society. This marked a
Translated into several languages, Qutb’s writings are
change in his Islamist writing. Also published in the early
read by Muslims and Islamists of many hues, Sunn¯ı and
1960s and belonging to this second Islamist phase were al-
Sh¯ıE¯ı, across the Muslim world: Fi Zilal al-QurDa¯n is consid-
Islam wa Mushkilat al-Hadara (Islam and the problem of civ-
ered to be among the most widely read modern Islamic
ilization) and Khasa Dis al-Tasawwur al-Islami (The character-
works of the twentieth century. The apparent justification
istics of Islamic theory). Muqawwimat al-Tasawwur al-Islami
for direct (including violent) action aimed at overthrowing
(Fundamentals of Islamic theory) appeared posthumously.
un-Islamic regimes and fighting Islam’s enemies that is elab-
His second Islamist phase is responsible for Qutb’s main
orated in Qutb’s later works inspired radical Egyptian Isla-
intellectual and political legacy, consisting in the inaugura-
mist groups such as JamaEat al-Muslimin (1970s), al-Jihad
tion of a new Islamic discourse and radical activism. This dis-
al-Islami (responsible for Egyptian president Anwar al-
course introduced interrelated concepts and propositions in-
Sadat’s assassination in 1981), and al-JamaEat al-Islamiyya.
tended to reestablish Islam on firm foundations. They have
Since 2001, attention has been drawn to Qutb as the intellec-
since become an integral part of the vocabulary of most radi-
tual inspiration behind currents that coalesced to form the
cal Islamist groups and, as such, represent more than a mere-
terrorist network al-Qa¯Eidah: described as the major influ-
ly theoretical innovation. Qutb’s scheme stressed the twin
ence on Usa¯mah bin La¯din, Qutb has been dubbed the “phi-
concepts of jahiliyya (paganism) and hakimiyya (sovereignty)
losopher of Islamic terror.” Any proper assessment of his leg-
on the one hand, and on the other called for the adoption
acy must consider the possibility, suggested by some close to
of jihad as the ultimate means for delivering political power
him, that his purpose has been misconstrued by such trends.
to a new generation of Islamist revolutionaries. The term
It must pay due attention to other dimensions of his oeuvre,
jahiliyya (developed from writings of the Indian Abu al-AEla
including his underlying near-mystical approach to Islam
al-Mawdudi) functioned as a shorthand descriptive for the
and his appreciation of QurDanic aesthetics.
present condition of all societies, Muslim and non-Muslim.
Qutb declared that all human societies had entered a new
SEE ALSO Modernism, article on Islamic Modernism; Wah-
cycle of paganism by excluding “true religion” from their
habiyah.
daily life and transactions. This state of affairs demanded the
restitution of Islam as the only legitimate system capable of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
guiding humanity in all its endeavors. To enable such a resti-
Calvert, John “The Individual and the Nation: Sayyid Qutb’s Tifl
tution it was imperative to reassert God’s sovereignty as the
min al-Qarya (Child from the Village).” Muslim World 90,
linchpin of a solid structure erected to lead mankind to mate-
nos. 1–2 (2000): 107–132. Analysis of Qutb’s partial autobi-
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
RABBAH BAR NAHMANI
7577
ography, published 1946, exploring his views on the ques-
Yosef bar H:iyyaD and H:isdaD. Rabbah studied with HunaD
tion of Egyptian national identity during the final years of
and several other Babylonians, including Yehudah bar
the monarchy.
Yeh:ezqeDl and, some modern scholars argue, with Yoh:anan
Calvert, John. “‘The World Is an Undutiful Boy!’: Sayyid Qutb’s
bar Nappah:aD in Palestine. After Yehudah’s death, Rabbah
American Experience.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
began a twenty-two-year career as the head of a circle of stu-
11, no. 1 (2000): 87–103. Study of this little-examined epi-
dents and a court in the city of Pumbedita. Serving as a
sode in Qutb’s career.
judge, he had authority to impose rabbinic law in the mar-
Choueiri, Youssef M. “Islam and Islamic Fundamentalism.” In
ketplace and in various civil, property, and communal mat-
Contemporary Political Ideologies, edited by Roger Eatwell
and Anthony Wright, pp. 255–278. London, 1999. Nu-
ters (B.T., H:ul. 43b; Neusner, 1969).
anced discussion of Qutb’s contribution to modern Islamic
thought, and his association with other radical Islamists.
Rabbah taught his disciples Torah, including everyday
Choueiri, Youssef M. Islamic Fundamentalism. Revised ed. Wash-
practical advice, lectured to them in the kallah gatherings
ington, D.C., and London, 2002. Comprehensive overview
(B.T., B.M. 86a), and, in his court, trained them as appren-
of Qutb’s philosophical and political approach, based on a
tice judges. His support for rabbinical privileges such as a tax
close reading of his QurDa¯nic commentary.
exemption apparently brought him into conflict with the ex-
Kepel, Gilles. The Prophet and Pharaoh: Muslim Extremism in
ilarch (lay leader considered to be of Davidic descent) (Neus-
Egypt. Berkeley, Calif., 1985. Informative discussion of the
ner, 1969). His devotion to Torah study (see, e.g., B.T.,
influence of Qutb’s ideas on the Brotherhood members in
EEruv. 22a) and his sinless character reportedly gave him spe-
prison (among them the founder of JamaEat al-Muslimin).
cial access to the divine—the ability to call upon God to re-
Khalidi, Salah EAbd al-Fattah. Sayyid Qutb: al-Shahid al-Hayy
vive the dead (B.T., Meg. 7b), to receive teachings from Eli-
(Sayyid Qutb: Living Martyr). Amman, Jordan, 1981. Gener-
jah, and to be protected from demons (B.T., H:ul. 105b).
ally reliable biographical source (in Arabic).
Perceived as a strict follower of the law who reproved the
Moussali, Ahmad S. Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Ideolog-
community, he was reportedly disliked in certain circles
ical and Political Discourse of Sayyid Qutb. Beirut, Lebanon,
1992. Theoretical interpretation of Qutb’s political project
(B.T., Shab. 153a).
as an ideology that seeks to link knowledge and action.
Some stories regarding Rabbah’s life apparently served
Nettler, Ronald L. “A Modern Islamic Confession of Faith and
to counter less flattering accounts. For example, one text de-
Conception of Religion: Sayyid Qutb’s Introduction to the
Tafsir, Fi Zilal al-Qur Da¯n.” British Journal of Middle East
scribing Rabbah’s death after government agents had pur-
Studies 21, no. 1 (1994): 102–114. Discussion of the intro-
sued him for inciting mass tax evasion justifies his early
duction to Qutb’s QurDa¯nic exegesis, indicating the broader
death: Miraculously protected from malicious humans, Rab-
contours of his thought in this important work and his direct
bah died early in life only because he was needed in the heav-
experience of the revelation.
enly study session to resolve a dispute (B.T., B.M. 86a).
Qutb, John. “QurDa¯nic Aesthetics in the Thought of Sayyid
Qutb.” Religious Studies and Theology. 15, nos. 2–3 (1996):
Rabbah was noted for the dialectical sharpness with
61–76. Comprehensive analysis of Qutb’s understanding of
which he analyzed and supplemented received teachings
QurDa¯nic aesthetics and its role in the evolution of his career,
(B.T., Ber. 64a). To render the Mishnah smoothly, he
adopting a helpful contextual approach.
emended it or read in elliptical language (Epstein, 1964).
Qutb, Sayyid. Milestones. Beirut, 1978. Clear summary of Qutb’s
Similarly, on the basis of his own views, he revised baraitot
principal ideas in the radical phase of his career as an Islamist
(texts purporting to represent extra-Mishnaic tannaitic
writer (in translation).
teachings) and other earlier traditions that students cited be-
Shepard, William E. “Sayyid Qutb’s Doctrine of Jahiliyya.” Inter-
fore him. Although he treated numerous halakhic (legal) top-
national Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 35 (2003): 521–
545. Analysis of this pivotal concept in Qutb’s later thought.
ics from ritual, civil, and even purity laws no longer in effect,
few of his preserved dicta deal with aggadic (non-halakhic)
Tripp, Charles. “Sayyid Qutb: The Political Vision.” In Pioneers
of Islamic Revival, edited by Ali Rahnema, pp. 154–183.
matters.
London, 1994. Overview of Qutb’s career and thinking, dis-
cussing the evolution of his political vision and his influence.
SEE ALSO Amoraim.
SUHA TAJI-FAROUKI (2005)
YOUSSEF M. CHOUEIRI (2005)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A comprehensive treatment and bibliography of Rabbah and his
RA
teachings can be found in Jacob Neusner’s A House of the
SEE RE
Jews in Babylinia, 5 vols. (Leiden, 1966–1970), esp. vol. 4.
Noteworthy, too, are Jacob N. Epstein’s Mavo D le-nusah: ha-
Mishnah, 2 vols. (1948; reprint, Jerusalem, 1964),
RABBAH BAR NAHMANI (d. around 330 CE), a
pp. 363–368, and David M. Goodblatt’s Rabbinic Instruc-
third-generation Babylonian amora, rabbinical colleague of
tion in Sasanian Babylonia (Leiden, 1975).
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
7578
RABBINATE: THE RABBINATE IN PRE-MODERN JUDAISM
New Sources
vance. They conducted themselves modestly and concerned
Faur, José. “Of Cultural Intimidation and Other ‘miscellanea’:
themselves with communal mores and needs such as the
Bar-Sheshakh vs. Raba.” Review of Rabbinic Judaism 5
proper burial of the dead, the support of widows and or-
(2002): 34–50.
phans, and the ability of the people to pursue livelihoods that
BARUCH M. BOKSER (1987)
were consonant with Jewish law. Some rabbis were appoint-
Revised Bibliography
ed as parnasim, an office that charged them with various
charity functions or more general communal leadership.
Rabbis were approached with all kinds of religious, econom-
RABBINATE
ic, and personal questions and requests, ranging from the
This entry consists of the following articles:
nullification of oaths to the laws of inheritance, and from
Sabbath observance to permitted contact with Gentiles, to
THE RABBINATE IN PRE-MODERN JUDAISM
THE RABBINATE IN MODERN JUDAISM
note but a few.
There was a degree of tension between the rabbis and
RABBINATE: THE RABBINATE IN PRE-
the less learned (Dammei ha-aretz), and religious laxity led to
MODERN JUDAISM
rebuke. Certain rabbis were well known and quite adept as
The rabbinate as an institution of intellectual, spiritual, and
preachers, although the extent of public sermons varied
religious leadership developed relatively late in the history of
widely. At the same time, the tax exemptions and other privi-
the Jewish people. It is found neither in the Bible nor in
leges to which Torah scholars and rabbinic figures were enti-
other Jewish literature from the biblical period. In Mishnaic
tled during this period could sometimes arouse the ire of the
parlance, the term rav (which means “great” or “distin-
communities. Rabbinic arrogance, borne for the most part
guished” in biblical Hebrew) connotes a teacher of students,
of a rabbi’s superior knowledge of Torah scholarship, also
and this is its primary usage during the Talmudic period in
manifested itself on occasion. Nonetheless, the strong and
Babylonia. The derivative term rabbi (rebbe, my master) is
sustained influence of the rabbinate during the Talmudic pe-
an honorific used originally to address sages in the Land of
riod was directly linked to the fact that the majority of the
Israel following the destruction of the Second Temple. The
larger Jewish community accepted its authority.
title “Rabban” was used at this time to designate singularly
Established rabbis served their teachers in both the edu-
important scholar-leaders of the generation, such as the pa-
cational and personal spheres, and expected their students to
triarch (Nasi). The term rabbinate is perhaps derived from
do likewise. Rabbinic teachers encouraged the practice of
this title, if not from a form of the titles rav or rabbi. Prior
praising their able disciples and attempted to moderate aca-
to the destruction, even the greatest sages (such as Hillel and
demic and personal disagreements. Debates in the academies
Shammai) were referred to without any honorific title.
of the Tannaim and Amoraim were often conducted in a
The references in the Gospels to Jesus as rabbi (which
spirited manner. Although deep intellectual clashes and
occur for the most part in John, and not at all in Luke) have
sharp words sometimes ensued, students and teachers alike
been explained in different ways. Some have suggested that
were bidden to conduct themselves with mutual friendship
this is an anachronism that was applied after the destruction
and respect.
of the Second Temple. Others have argued that it was an un-
Until medieval times, rabbis received no salaries for
official title for a personal teacher or spiritual leader, a usage
their religious and judicial services and leadership, in accor-
that was to be found in the pre-destruction period. Within
dance with a Mishnaic dictum which prohibited the deriving
Talmudic literature, the title “rabbi” sometimes referred to
of any income or benefit from the Torah. Rabbis typically
those with high standing in the community who were not
had other occupations. Talmudic literature does endorse the
religious authorities, such as individuals of great wealth or
concept of sekhar batalah, whereby a rabbi or judge was per-
lay leaders.
mitted to receive monetary compensation for his rabbinic
Rabbinic ordination (semikhah or minnui) had its ori-
services in lieu of the money that he could have earned had
gins in the biblical account of Moses placing his hands on
he been able to devote that time to his regular occupation.
Joshua. Ordination was conferred by sages in the Land of Is-
At some point in the post-Talmudic period, the original
rael (according to tradition, in an unbroken chain) through
chain of rabbinic ordination was broken. Moses Maimonides
the period of the Second Temple, as a means of allowing or
(Mosheh ben Maimon, 1135/8–1204) writes that this form
authorizing a worthy student to issue judicial rulings or to
of semikhah may possibly be restored just prior to the coming
otherwise decide matters of Jewish law. After the destruction
of the Messiah. Nonetheless, other means of licensing judges,
of the Temple, ordination was still conferred (despite at-
masters, and religious heads of the communities were devel-
tempts by the Roman Emperor Hadrian to prohibit it) at
oped in both Palestine and Babylonia during the Geonic pe-
least until the suppression of the patriarchate in 425 CE.
riod. The scope of these forms of (quasi-) ordination was
The rabbis of the Talmudic period in both Israel and
considered to be more limited than the original semikhah,
Babylonia were best known and venerated for their mastery
and there were differing views about who had the right to
of the Torah and for their devotion to its study and obser-
grant them.
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
RABBINATE: THE RABBINATE IN PRE-MODERN JUDAISM
7579
In the medieval Muslim world, the synagogue, study
cerning direct payment for any rabbinic services (in accor-
hall, and rabbinic court (beit din) shared the same space and
dance with his understanding of what had been practiced
were interconnected. As such, the rabbis who served as the
during the Talmudic period). Communal appointments of
judges at the court and as the heads of the study halls also
salaried academy heads, judges, and masters, based on the
regulated synagogue life and ritual. Rabbis were involved
recommendation of established authorities, were regarded
with maintaining and disbursing the assets of the communi-
ipso facto as a form of rabbinic authorization.
ties for charitable and other purposes, and even with quality
of life issues. Throughout the Geonic period, the relationship
In Ashkenazic communities, on the other hand, the for-
between the local rabbinic authorities and the academies of
mation of a professionalized rabbinate did not occur until at
the Geonim was governed by a series of understandings or
least the end of the thirteenth century (in the face of a spate
regulations. In some instances rabbinic judges were appoint-
of persecutions), due to the relative weakness of communal
ed by the head of the Geonic academy, while in others they
organization in these matters. This state of affairs was predi-
were appointed by the local community in which they
cated on the ready availability of capable rabbinic scholars
served. Local rabbinic judges often reviewed their cases with
in Ashkenaz who could respond to a broad range of queries
the students who studied in their beit midrash and sought the
and halakic problems, and who could voluntarily undertake
counsel of the Geonim when they were unsure of the ruling
various regular rabbinic functions, such as supervision of rit-
at hand. Ordination in the Orient during the period of the
ual slaughter and the ritual bath (miqveh) and the establish-
Cairo geniza was viewed as a license to issue authoritative
ment of communal Eeruvin. In any case, the delay in estab-
legal rulings and to act as a judge. The title haver was used
lishing a professionalized rabbinate in Ashkenaz meant that
to signify that a rabbinic scholar was ordained.
there was still a need for individual masters to give their stu-
dents semikhah, as a means of testifying to the student’s wor-
Rabbinic judges and courts did not only hear cases that
thiness to serve as master and rabbi, a need that was not felt
involved litigation of economic matters and transactions.
as keenly in Spain.
They also drafted legal documents for various kinds of trans-
actions as well as bills of divorce, and they regulated and su-
A protracted controversy erupted in the late fourteenth
pervised ritual slaughter (shehitah). Judges typically received
century (1386–1387), between Rabbi Yoh:anan Treves and
a yearly fee from all the members of the community, al-
Rabbi Meir ben Barukh of Vienna about the nature and ex-
though some of the services that they provided required addi-
tent of Ashkenazic semikhah (occasioning the formulation of
tional payments. There was extensive discussion among me-
Ribash just mentioned). A certain Rabbi Isaiah (who had
dieval rabbinic authorities about whether litigants had to
been ordained by Rabbi Matatyah, father of Yoh:anan Treves
appear before the rabbinic court in their own area or whether
and the de facto chief rabbi of northern France), arrogated
one litigant could compel the other to have their case heard
for himself the right to appoint all rabbis in France, invali-
before a rabbinic court of greater repute in another locale.
dating the bills of divorce (and halizah) ceremonies executed
by anyone who did not accept this condition. Rabbi Isaiah
In medieval Spain, ordination was regarded as a sign of
was supported in his action by Rabbi Meir ben Barukh of
rabbinic authority, based on the Talmudic tradition. Rabbi
Vienna, an important rabbinic leader of the day. Yoh:anan
Judah ben Barzillai of Barcelona (c. 1100) describes the pro-
of Treves, as the successor to his father’s office, appealed to
cedure of ordination in his day. The direct result of ordina-
the rabbis of Catalonia (and especially to Ribash) for help.
tion (which is characterized by Judah as a mere vestige,
zekher, of the earlier institution) was that its incumbent
Rabbi Meir of Vienna’s apparent desire to oust Rabbi
would henceforth bear the title Rabbi and that he would be
Yoh:anan, and to replace him from afar with a less-qualified
initiated into the ranks of the scholars. In addition, individu-
scholar (Rabbi Isaiah), has been understood by some as a re-
al rabbinic masters in Spain at this time ordained their out-
action to the intervention of the king of France, who had
standing disciples. The duties of the communal rabbi, how-
confirmed Rabbi Yoh:anan’s appointment as his father’s suc-
ever, were not always clearly defined, and there were regional
cessor. In fact, however, royal confirmation (and interfer-
differences. In Aragon, for example, rabbis served as preach-
ence) in rabbinic appointments was already common in
ers, teachers, cantors, ritual slaughterers, scribes, and judges,
Spain. It is more likely that this controversy centered on
in addition to providing general religious guidance to the
Rabbi Meir’s plan to introduce a rabbinic diploma that
community.
would regulate the rabbinic office and its functions (in light
of the deteriorating conditions following the Black Death),
A formulation of Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet (1326–
an innovation that Rabbi Yoh:anan resisted. As opposed to
1408; Ribash [the leading Spanish rabbinic authority of his
the prevalent practice in which a community appointed an
day]) suggests that the traditional semikhah was unknown in
able rabbinic figure to serve as its rabbi, Rabbi Meir held that
Spain by his day, though it was still in vogue (since at least
the certification of ability granted by a teacher to his student
the early twelfth century) in Franco-Germany. The commu-
should also regulate all commercial appointments. Refer-
nal rabbinate in medieval Spain had begun to become profes-
ences to appointments of rabbis in Germany and Austria by
sionalized and salaried as early as the eleventh century, and
leading rabbinic figures (without any discussion of the role
it remained so, despite Maimonides’ strong objections con-
of the community in the appointment) are found in the 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
7580
RABBINATE: THE RABBINATE IN PRE-MODERN JUDAISM
sponsa of two fifteenth-century authorities, Jacob Weil and
scholars and rabbis themselves elect a chief,” but this was
Israel Bruna.
never achieved.
The formalizing of semikhah in Ashkenaz from the late
There were more than a few instances in which a candi-
fourteenth century onward is marked by the exclusive use of
date for rabbi or dayyan supported by the king was deemed
the title Morenu ha-Rav (our teacher and rabbi) for one who
unacceptable by the community. As in earlier periods, how-
had been ordained. This title gave the candidate the right to
ever, the rabbinate existed and functioned in many Jewish
teach and to decide matters of Jewish law (heter hora Dah).
communities irrespective of any formal communal or exter-
Writs of this ordination were issued in the middle of the fif-
nal appointments. Questions in matters such as prayer cus-
teenth century by Israel Bruna and Israel Isserlein. These
toms, laws of kashrut, economic interactions, and marriage
documents conveyed the formal title and status indicated,
law received authoritative answers from rabbinic decisors,
and also included the rights to open a yeshivah, to teach and
formally appointed or not. In eastern Europe, on the other
to judge, and to deal with all matters of marriage, divorce,
hand, communities paid specially appointed yeshivah heads
and halizah. As this form of semikhah spread, it became com-
handsome salaries so that they could faithfully discharge
mon for a candidate to receive such writs from more than
their instructional duties and spend their remaining time
one authority. Eventually, communal acceptance of a rabbi
completely immersed in Torah study.
depended on his presenting a formal writ of semikhah. At the
Recorded decisions taken by Italian Jewish communities
same time, both younger and more mature students and
to appoint a communal rabbi are extant for Verona in 1539,
scholars in Germany and Austria who did not earn or receive
and subsequently for Cremona and Padua. Nonetheless, a
documents of ordination were often called haverim (or even
communal ordinance in Ferrara dated 1554 distinguishes
simply lomdim) to signify that they were learned and accom-
(with respect to promulgating edicts) between “a rabbi of the
plished to some degree, even though they did not hold the
city” (i.e., a rabbi who simply lived in that city) and “a rabbi
title of Morenu.
appointed by the community.” The earliest extant rabbinic
In the aftermath of the controversy between Rabbi
contract (ketav rabbanut), dated 1575, was established be-
Yoh:anan Treves and Rabbi Meir of Vienna, Rabbi Moses
tween Rabbi Todros (Theodorus) and the Jewish communi-
Mintz was moved to characterize the ordination of his day
ty of Friedberg (Hessen, Germany). One copy of the contract
as a direct continuation of the original (Palestinian) institu-
was given to the rabbi, the other was incorporated into the
tion of old. The controversy replayed itself in several respects
communal ledger (pinkas). The contract specified the length
in Valona, Italy, in the period following the expulsion of the
of the appointment, the salary, and other financial benefits
Jews from Spain. Rabbi David Messer Leon’s overarching
that were to be extended (including a fee for performing
authority, which was based on his Ashkenazic semikhah, was
weddings and for executing marriage contracts and bills of
called into question by Spanish exiles. Messer Leon was sup-
divorce), as well as support for the students who studied with
ported in his position by Rabbi David ha-Kohen of Corfu.
the rabbi, and other responsibilities and prerogatives. In ad-
In Safed during the 1530s, Rabbi Jacob Berab ordained four
dition to overseeing the procedures for marriage and divorce,
of his most outstanding students (including Rabbi Joseph
and for appointing and supervising the ritual slaughterers,
Caro, author of the Shulhan Arukh) with the aim of reestab-
the rabbi directed the rabbinic court in the city that adjudi-
lishing the original semikhah as it had been granted by lead-
cated all kinds of disputes. Although the rabbi was granted
ing Torah scholars in the land of Israel. This development
the power to issue various kinds of warnings (and bans) to
might have allowed for the reconstitution of the Sanhedrin
members of the community, these had to be authorized by
as well, but Berab could not convince the rabbis of Jerusalem
the communal board.
to support his initiative, and it ultimately failed.
The salary specified in Rabbi Todros’ contract appears
rather inadequate, although it was supplemented by the fees
First in Spain—and later in France, Germany, Italy, and
indicated for other rabbinic services. The same held true for
eastern Europe—rabbinic elections or appointments had to
Italy in the late sixteenth century. Certain yeshivah heads
be confirmed by kings or other rulers, who often designated
were well paid, but many communal rabbis had other sources
certain rabbinic figures as chief rabbis. These rabbis typically
of income. Some Italian rabbis engaged in private tutoring
collected taxes on behalf of the crown and, at the same time,
in the homes of wealthy benefactors or in the writing of rab-
were granted by the crown to rule in both civil and criminal
binic works in honor of their patrons.
matters. In instances where lawsuits and other disputes re-
mained unsettled by the local dayyanim, the crown itself
The rabbinic contract of Rabbi Asher Loeb (known as
sometimes reached out to leading scholars with whom it had
Sha’agat Aryeh, the title of his best-known work), who was
a relationship. Thus, King Pedro III of Aragon (1276–1285),
appointed rabbi of Metz in 1765, provides a window into
consulted several of the most outstanding Catalan halakhists
the nature of the rabbinate in Europe at the end of the early
including Rabbi Solomon ibn Adret (1235–1310; Rashba),
modern period. Rabbis were typically appointed (and reap-
and Rabbi Yom Tov Ashivili (Ritba). The well-known Polish
pointed) for fixed periods of time (between three and six
rabbinic scholar and commentator Samuel Edels (1555–
years) and were not granted tenure. The community provid-
1631; Maharsha) wrote that “It would be fitting that the
ed suitable housing for the rabbi and his family, exempted
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RABBINATE: THE RABBINATE IN MODERN JUDAISM
7581
the rabbi from taxes, indemnified him from suits that might
Urbach, Ephraim. The Sages, Cambridge, Mass., 1979.
result from the performance of his duties, and provided for
Yuval, Israel. Scholars in Their Time: The Religious Leadership of
housing and support of his widow in the event that the rabbi
German Jewry in the Late Middle Ages (in Hebrew). Jerusa-
passed away. The rabbi was the only one who could preach
lem, 1998.
publicly, although he served primarily as the chief judge (av
EPHRAIM KANARFOGEL (2005)
beit din) of the community, and as the “judge of the widows
and the keeper of the orphans,” monitoring their needs and
protecting their interests. The rabbi would also teach local
yeshivah students (whom the community supported), as well
RABBINATE: THE RABBINATE IN MODERN
as members of the community. The rabbi was to be honored
JUDAISM
by being called to the Torah on special Sabbaths throughout
The modern rabbinate is a product of the Enlightenment
the year. In the case of Rabbi Asher Loeb, at least, the salary
and of the political emancipation of the Jews in western and
level appears to be rather satisfactory.
central Europe. Under the influence of such Enlightenment
The rabbinate in the pre-modern period was character-
ideas as natural human rights and the concept of the nation-
ized by an ill-defined hierarchy that culminated (at least in
state, Jews in those areas were gradually emancipated from
theory), with the leading scholars of the generation (gedolei
their medieval status in the late eighteenth century and the
ha-dor). This lack of formal structure contributed to tensions
nineteenth century and became the political equals of their
between different groups of rabbinic figures (e.g., heads of
Christian neighbors.
academies and communal rabbis) and between rabbis and
The emancipation process was slow, however; it varied
the lay leadership of the communities. At the same time, it
from place to place in some particulars but was regarded as
enabled the rabbinate to overcome numerous challenges and
a two-way effort everywhere in western Europe. For their
obstacles in providing ritual, judicial, and educational ser-
parts, the governments of these countries recognized Jews as
vices, as well as spiritual and intellectual leadership, for an
the political equals of their fellow citizens. On the other
ever-changing array of communities throughout the Jewish
hand, Jewish communities no longer constituted a “state
world.
within a state” as they had in medieval times, and rabbis no
longer possessed legal authority and judicial power. In addi-
SEE ALSO Conservative Judaism; Hasidism; Orthodox Juda-
tion European rulers expected the Jews to transform them-
ism; Reconstructionist Judaism; Reform Judaism; Syna-
gogue; Yeshivah.
selves into modern citizens by giving up traditional garb,
learning to speak the vernacular, abandoning the Yiddish
B
language, and familiarizing themselves with modern Europe-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Alon, Gedaliah. The Jews in Their Land in the Talmudic Age. Jeru-
an culture. Under the leadership of such individuals as Moses
salem, 1980.
Mendelssohn (1729–1786), Naphtali Herz Wessely (1725–
Assis, Yom Tov. The Golden Age of Aragonese Jewry. London,
1805), and Israel Jacobson (1768–1828), Jews began to ac-
1997.
cept the educational and social standards of Western moder-
Bonfil, Robert. Rabbis and Jewish Communities in Renaissance
nity; as a result, the need for a progressive rabbinate educated
Italy. Oxford, 1990.
in secular universities soon became apparent to all.
Breuer, Mordechai. Assif (in Hebrew). Jerusalem, 1999. A collec-
To fill this need, rabbinical seminaries were created
tion of articles on the history and nature of the rabbinate.
throughout Europe, first in Padua in 1829 and later in Metz
Gafni, Isaiah. The Jews of Babylonia in the Talmudic Period (in He-
(subsequently transferred to Paris), Amsterdam, London,
brew). Jerusalem, 1990.
and other large cities. In Germany, where the movement for
Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society, vol. 2. Berkeley, Calif.,
religious reform was strongest and was led by such rabbis as
1999.
Abraham Geiger (1810–1874), there were ultimately three
Kanarfogel, Ephraim. Jewish Education and Society in the High
such seminaries: the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau,
Middle Ages. Detroit, Mich., 1992.
espousing what would now be called a Conservative theolo-
Katz, Jacob. “Rabbinical Authority and Authorization in the Mid-
gy; the Berlin Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums,
dle Ages.” In Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Litera-
which served primarily a Reform or liberal constituency; and
ture, edited by I. Twersky, pp. 41–56. Cambridge, Mass.,
1979.
the Orthodox Hildesheimer Seminary, also in Berlin. The
curricula of these institutions were quite different from those
Levine, Lee. The Rabbinic Class of Roman Palestine in Late Antiqui-
ty. Jerusalem, 1989.
of traditional yeshivot, in which the Talmud and the Jewish
legal codes constituted almost the entire object of study. The
Schwartzfuchs, Simon. A Concise History of the Rabbinate. Oxford
and Cambridge, U.K., 1993.
new seminaries naturally saw the Talmud as paramount but
Shatzmiller, Joseph. “Rabbi Isaac ha-Kohen of Manosque and his
also taught the Hebrew Bible, midrash, history, homiletics,
Son Rabbi Peretz: The Rabbinate and its Professionalization
pedagogy, and other subjects relevant to the modern rabbin-
in the Fourteenth Century.” In Jewish History: Essays in Hon-
ate. In addition the seminaries usually required their students
our of Chimen Abramsky, edited by Ada Rapoport-Albert and
to enroll in secular universities at the same time that they
Steven J. Zipperstein, pp. 61–83. London, 1988.
were in rabbinical school. Most of these seminaries were dis-
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RABBINATE: THE RABBINATE IN MODERN JUDAISM
banded or destroyed during the Holocaust (1933–1945).
to call for the ordination of women as rabbis. The idea was
Contemporary European rabbis are generally are trained in
not a new one, going back at least to the 1880s; indeed Regi-
England, France, or Hungary, where seminaries still exist, as
na Jonas (1902–1944), who had graduated from the Berlin
well as in the United States and Israel.
Hochschule, was privately ordained in Germany in 1935. The
first American woman to be ordained was Sally Priesand,
THE UNITED STATES. Although the American Jewish com-
who graduated from the Hebrew Union College in 1972.
munity traces its origins to the year 1654, there were no or-
Two years later Sandy Eisenberg Sasso was ordained by the
dained rabbis in the United States until the 1840s. In colo-
Reconstructionist Rabbinate College. After a prolonged and
nial America, where all the synagogues followed the
often bitter debate, the Conservative Jewish Theological
Sephardic (Spanish and Portuguese) ritual, religious services
Seminary opened its doors to women rabbinical students in
were led by a hazzan (cantor), who had generally been
1984. Amy Eilberg became the first woman ordained at the
trained in London, Amsterdam, or the West Indies—the ex-
seminary in 1985.
ception being the well-known Gershom Mendes Seixas
(1745–1816), who was born and educated in New York
Prior to the emancipation era, rabbis generally served
City. With the large-scale immigration of Jews from central
entire communities rather than individual synagogues. In the
Europe in the three decades before the Civil War, however,
modern world, however, rabbis are hired by individual con-
there was a growing need for ordained rabbinic leadership.
gregations. Although such European nations as England and
The first ordained rabbi to come to America was Abraham
France have chief rabbis, attempts to introduce a rabbinical
Rice (1802–1862), who arrived in Baltimore, Maryland,
hierarchy in the United States proved unsuccessful. In the
from Bavaria in 1840. Throughout the nineteenth century
nineteenth century rabbis were generally poorly paid and
the American Jewish community was served by spiritual lead-
subject to the whims of congregational officers, who often
ers who often lacked formal rabbinical ordination. The out-
had little respect for the rabbinical office.
standing leaders in this period were Isaac Leeser (1806–
1868), a traditionalist who served at Congregation Mikveh
Throughout the twentieth century, however, the rab-
Israel in Philadelphia from 1829 to 1850, and Isaac Mayer
binate came to be regarded as a learned profession: rabbinical
Wise (1819–1900), a reformer who came from Europe in
salaries were increased, benefits and vacations became the
1846 and served congregations in Albany and Cincinnati
norm, and national rabbinical organizations were created,
down to 1900. These men worked tirelessly to promote the
which helped to raise the prestige and status of their mem-
practice of Judaism in the United States through their trans-
bers. The modern American rabbi is called upon to fulfill
lations of Jewish texts, composition of educational materials
many roles that premodern rabbis never envisioned: he or she
for children, and establishment of newspapers with nation-
is often a marriage and family counselor, a provider of adult
wide circulation.
religious education, an administrator, a school principal, and
a participant in ecumenical or interfaith activities. In small
In 1875 Wise and his supporters founded the Hebrew
communities the rabbi is sometimes the only Jewish religious
Union College in Cincinnati, which continues to train Re-
professional, and rabbis in small synagogues are often called
form rabbis in the early 2000s. In response the traditionalists,
upon to serve as the cantor, Torah reader, and bar and bat
led by Sabato Morais of Philadelphia, Isaac Leeser’s succes-
mitzvah instructor as well. Many rabbis do not serve in pul-
sor, established the Jewish Theological Seminary in New
pits but rather work as educators, chaplains, directors of Hil-
York City in 1886. The seminary still serves the Conservative
lel Foundations on college campuses, or in other positions
movement of the twenty-first century. The more traditional
of service in the Jewish community. In general American
Orthodox, whose numbers were soaring as a result of the im-
Jews regard their rabbis as role models of faithfulness to the
migration of Jews from eastern Europe, established the Rabbi
Torah in the congregation or other constituency.
Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, also in New York, in
1897. The seminary is the rabbinical school of Yeshiva Uni-
ISRAEL. In Israel the situation of the rabbi is generally differ-
versity as of the early 2000s. To complete the picture the Re-
ent from that of the rabbi in the United States; in many ways
constructionist movement established the Reconstructionist
it resembles that of the premodern era. In Israel religious af-
Rabbinical College outside of Philadelphia in Wyncote,
fairs are controlled by the office of the chief rabbinate. There
Pennsylvania, in 1968. Together with a number of smaller
are two chief rabbis, one Ashkenazic (for people of central
rabbinical seminaries, some of which are nondenomination-
eastern European origin) and one Sephardic. Rabbis in Israel,
al, these schools train the great majority of pulpit rabbis in
with the exception of the traditional Orthodox and the rath-
the United States. In addition there are many traditional Or-
er small number of Reform and Conservative rabbis, are all
thodox yeshivot, such as the Beth Medrash Govoha in Lake-
employees of the state. Most Israeli rabbis are products of the
wood, New Jersey, that also provide rabbinical training;
traditional yeshivot; few have attended rabbinical seminaries.
however, the graduates of these institutions generally do not
Some serve as judges in the rabbinical courts, which have
serve congregations.
legal jurisdiction over such matters of personal status as mar-
riage and divorce, whereas others serve as supervisors of
With the push for gender equality that began in the
kashrut (maintaining the dietary laws), ritual baths, and other
1960s, the more liberal branches of American Judaism began
public institutions. Israeli synagogues are financed by the
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RABBINIC JUDAISM IN LATE ANTIQUITY
7583
government; members do not join by paying dues as they do
Hasidic Culture and Oral Tradition in the New World (Chica-
in North America. Consequently Israeli rabbis tend to have
go, 1974).
fewer pastoral duties than do rabbis in Europe and North
ROBERT E. FIERSTIEN (2005)
America, and their relationship with the people who worship
in their synagogues is often far less personal. On the other
hand, non-Orthodox synagogues in Israel are generally pat-
terned after those in North America, with members paying
RABBINIC JUDAISM IN LATE ANTIQUI-
dues and usually having close relationships with the rabbi.
TY. In its formative period, 70–640 CE, rabbinic Judaism
forged a synthesis between two antithetical phenomena in
THE HASIDIM. In the Hasidic world the spiritual leader of
the religion of Israel: first, the messianic movement, with its
the community is known as the rebbe. Hasidism traces its ori-
stress on history’s meaning and end, and second, the priestly
gins back to Rabbi Israel, the BaEal Shem Tov (Master of the
component, with its interest in enduring and ahistorical nat-
Good Name), who lived in Podolia in the southwestern
ural life, celebrated in the cult. Starting with the Mishnah,
Ukraine in the eighteenth century. He was a charismatic
the systematic expression of the priestly viewpoint, com-
leader credited with performing a number of miracles. The
posed in the aftermath of the two great messianic wars
modern Hasidic rebbe, always male, also is a charismatic indi-
against Rome (66–73 and 132–135), the rabbis of late antiq-
vidual, whose influence over his followers comes from the
uity so reconstructed the Mishnah’s system of law and theol-
sheer force of his personality and aura of holiness. Although
ogy as to join to that system the long-standing messianic and
the rebbe is generally a learned rabbi, his position, which is
historical emphases. Rabbinic Judaism thus presents a way
often inherited from his father, does not depend upon his
of life of order and regularity, lived out beyond the distur-
interpretations of Jewish law, for there are traditional rabbis
bances of one-time events of history, but in which Jews
in the Hasidic community who deal with such matters. Rath-
looked forward to the end of time and the coming of the
er, the rebbe is often thought to be a person of keen human
Messiah. That is, as a result of their adhering to that same,
understanding whose closeness to God enables him to pro-
permanent, holy way of life, the Messiah would come. The
vide leadership, guidance, and advice to his followers. In
thesis of historical and teleological messianism generated its
some cases, his powers of intuition are thought to verge on
antithesis, the Mishnaic system of the everyday celebration
the supernatural. The most influential Hasidic leader of the
of eternal things, which then fused into the rabbinic synthe-
twentieth century was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
sis, legal-messianic Judaism as it has been known from late
(1902–1994), known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who initiat-
antiquity to the present time.
ed a global Jewish outreach program that was especially suc-
cessful on college campuses.
DEFINITIONS. By Judaism is meant a worldview and way of
life held by a group of Jews, defining the holiness of their
SEE ALSO BaEal Shem Tov; Hasidism, overview article;
people. Any kind of Judaism will draw upon the Hebrew
Leeser, Isaac; Mendelssohn, Moses; Schneerson, Menachem
scriptures (the “Old Testament”), usually called Tanakh, an
M.; Wise, Isaac M.
acronym standing for Torah (Law), Nevi Dim (Prophets), and
Ketuvim (Writings). Every kind selects and interprets a par-
ticular part of the Hebrew scriptures.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
For a general view of the rabbinate, the reader is referred to Simon
Late antiquity refers to the first six centuries of the com-
Schwarzfuchs, A Concise History of the Rabbinate (Cam-
mon era, from the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in
bridge, Mass., 1993). The emancipation era is thoroughly
70 CE to the Muslim conquest of the Near and Middle East
described by Jacob Katz in Out of the Ghetto: The Social Back-
about 640 CE. The countries in which rabbinic Judaism took
ground of Jewish Emancipation, 1770–1870 (New York,
shape and flourished were the Land of Israel (Erets YisraDel,
1978). On the American rabbinate, see the entire issue of
i.e., “Palestine”) under Roman, then Byzantine, rule (from
American Jewish Archives 35, no. 2 (November, 1983):
before the first century CE to the Muslim conquest nearly
100-341, specifically Jeffrey S. Gurock, pp. 100–187; Abra-
seven centuries later) and Babylonia, part of the western
ham J. Karp, pp. 187–262; David Polish, pp. 263–341,for
satrapies of the Iranian empire (to about 225 under the Par-
lengthy articles dealing with Orthodox, Conservative, and
Reform rabbis in the United States. Also see Jonathan D.
thians, an Iranian people of the northeast; from about 225
Sarna, American Judaism: A History (New Haven, Conn.,
to the Muslim conquest, under the Sasanids, an Iranian
2004). The issue of women’s ordination is the subject of
dynasty from the province of Fars).
Pamela S. Nadell’s Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History
As to sources, rabbinic Judaism is known from docu-
of Women’s Ordination, 1889–1985 (Boston, 1998). The
ments created in the period under discussion: the Mishnah
modern Israeli rabbinate is described in Schwarzfuchs, Con-
cise History, and in M. Hacohen and Y. Alfassi, “Rabbinate
(c. 200 CE) and the two Talmuds (one produced in Babylo-
of Israel,” in New Encyclopedia of Zionism and Israel, edited
nia about 500 CE, the other in the Land of Israel a century
by Geoffrey Wigoder (Madison, N.J., and Cranbury, N.J.,
earlier), which in form constitute commentaries to the Mish-
1994), vol. 2, pp. 1081–1084. On the Hasidic rebbe, see Je-
nah. Other important rabbinic documents of the time in-
rome R. Mintz, Legends of the Hasidim: An Introduction to
clude commentaries on parts of the Hebrew scriptures—in
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RABBINIC JUDAISM IN LATE ANTIQUITY
particular Mekhilta D, for Exodus; SifraD, for Leviticus; and Si-
THE MYTH. This article will now consider in detail the de-
frei, for Numbers and Deuteronomy—and Bere Dshit Rabbah
finitive symbolic structure of rabbinic Judaism, as it emerges
and Vayiqra D Rabbah, compilations of exegeses on Genesis
from late antiquity. The central myth of classical Judaism is
and Leviticus. The Jewish prayer book (siddur) and certain
the belief that the ancient scriptures constituted divine reve-
mystical writings come down from this same period. They
lation, but only a part of it. At Sinai God had handed down
clearly relate to the larger rabbinic form of Judaism. But the
a dual revelation: the written part known to one and all, but
precise definition of that relationship has not been fully
also the oral part preserved by the great scriptural heroes,
clarified.
passed on by prophets to various ancestors in the obscure
past and finally, and most openly and publicly, handed down
The adjective rabbinic before the noun Judaism signifies
to the rabbis who created the Talmuds. The “whole Torah”
a kind of Judaism named after its principal kind of leader,
thus consisted of both written and oral parts. The rabbis
a rabbi, a supernatural sage. The definition of rabbi shifts in
taught that the “whole Torah” was studied by sages of every
ancient times. The title itself was originally quite neutral, and
period in Israelite history from Moses to the present. It is a
not unique to Jews. It means simply “My lord,” and hence
singular, linear conception of a revelation preserved only by
no more than Monsieur or Mein Herr. When Jesus was called
the few but pertaining to the many, and in time capable of
“rabbi,” the term was equivalent to teacher or master, Sir.
bringing salvation to all.
Rabbis in the Mishnah, figures of the first and second centu-
ries, generally give opinions about trivial legal matters; they
The Torah myth further regards Moses as “our rabbi.”
were considered sages but were never represented as wonder-
It holds that whoever embodies the teachings of “Moses, our
workers. Representations of rabbis in documents from the
rabbi,” thereby conforms to the will of God, and not to
third century onward, including discussion of first- and sec-
God’s will alone but also to his way. In heaven God and the
ond-century figures in those later documents, by contrast
angels study Torah just as rabbis do on earth. God dons phy-
present the rabbi as a supernatural figure. The rabbi then
lacteries like a Jew. He prays in the rabbinic mode. He carries
emerges as a lawyer-magician, or supernatural judge-sage-
out the acts of compassion called for by Judaic ethics. He
mystic. Accordingly, through the centuries the title rabbi has
guides the affairs of the world according to the rules of
come to refer solely to a distinctive amalgam, within the Jew-
Torah, just as he does the rabbi in his court. One exegesis
ish nation, of learning, piety, and holiness or supernatural
of the creation legend taught that God had looked into the
power, associated with the sages of the Talmud and related
Torah and therefrom had created the world.
writings.
The myth of Torah is multidimensional. It includes the
“Rabbinic Judaism,” then, is the worldview and way of
striking detail that whatever the most recent rabbi is destined
life applied to the Jewish nation by rabbis. The Judaism
to discover through proper exegesis of the tradition is as
under discussion also is called “Talmudic,” after its principal
much a part of the way revealed to Moses as is a sentence
literary documents. It may be called “classical” or “norma-
of scripture itself. It therefore is possible to participate even
tive” in reference to its definitive character from its own day
in the giving of the law by appropriate, logical inquiry into
to today. In Talmudic times, however, the conception of a
the law. God himself, studying and living by Torah, is be-
systematic -ism, a Judaism, is not attested in the rabbinical
lieved to subject himself to these same rules of logical inqui-
literature. Outsiders, coming after the fact, identify and
ry. If an earthly court overrules the testimony, delivered
name a religion. That an abstract system was perceived and
through miracles, of the heavenly one, God would rejoice,
named is not likely. One cannot isolate a word, or a concept
crying out, “My sons have conquered me! My sons have con-
to be presented by a single word, for “Judaism.” The closest
quered me.”
verbal symbol for this kind of Judaism is Torah. A sage be-
This is a mythical-religious system in which earth and
came a rabbi because he knew Torah in the right way, having
heaven correspond to one another, with Torah as the nexus
learned under proper auspices and having given ample evi-
and model of both. The heavenly paradigm is embodied
dence of accurate mastery and correct interpretation of the
upon earth. Moses “our rabbi” is the pattern for the ordinary
Torah.
sage. And God himself participates in the system, for it is his
image that, in the end, forms that cosmic paradigm. The
It follows that the definitive trait of rabbinic Judaism
faithful Jew constitutes the projection of the divine on earth.
is stress upon Torah. In fact, one may define the character
Honor is due to the learned rabbi more than to the scroll of
of this kind of Judaism within three elements: holy faith,
the Torah, for through his learning and logic he may alter
holy man, holy way of life. Thus, first is emphasis upon the
the very content of Mosaic revelation. He is Torah, not
doctrine of the dual revelation to Moses at Sinai, a written
merely because he lives by it but because at his best he forms
Torah (the Pentateuch) and an oral Torah. Second comes be-
as compelling an embodiment of the heavenly model as does
lief in the leadership of the sage, or rabbi (in context, “My
a Torah scroll itself.
lord”). Third is stress upon doing the will of God through
study of Torah under the guidance of sages and upon living
The final and generative element in the rabbinic Torah
the holy way of life laid down in the Torah as interpreted
myth concerns salvation. It takes many forms. One salvific
by rabbis.
teaching holds that had Israel not sinned—that is, disobeyed
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7585
the Torah—the scriptures would have closed with the story
found explicit statements that the sage takes precedence. But
of the conquest of Palestine. From that eschatological time,
the issue is this-worldly, not a matter of supernatural conse-
the sacred community would have lived in eternal peace
quence, as is the case in equivalent allegations in Talmudic
under the divine law. Keeping the Torah was therefore the
and later writings. An instance of the Mishnah’s phrasing of
veritable guarantee of salvation. The opposite is said in many
the matter is in Horayot 3.5, followed by the Tosefta’s gloss
forms as well. Israel had sinned; therefore, God had called
of the passage:
the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans to destroy the Tem-
ple of Jerusalem; but in his mercy he would be equally faith-
A priest takes precedence over a Levite, a Levite over an
ful to restore the fortunes of the people when they, through
Israelite, an Israelite over a mamzer, a mamzer over a
natin, a natin over a proselyte, a proselyte over a freed
their suffering and repentance, had expiated the result and
slave. Under what circumstances? When all of them are
the cause of their sin.
equivalent [in other regards]. But if the mamzer was a
So, in both negative and positive forms, the Torah myth
disciple of a sage, and a high priest was an ignoramus,
tells of a necessary connection between the salvation of the
the mamzer who is a disciple of a sage takes precedence
people and of the world and the state of Torah among them.
over a high priest who is an ignoramus. The Tosefta
adds: A sage takes precedence over a king. [For if] a sage
For example, if all Israel would properly keep two Sabbaths,
dies, we have none who is like him. [If] a king dies any
the Messiah would come. Of special interest here is the rab-
Israelite is suitable to mount the throne. (Tosefta, Hora-
binic saying that the rule of the pagans depends upon the sin
yot 2.8)
of Israel. If Israel would constitute a full and complete repli-
cation of “Torah”—that is, of heaven—then pagan rule
Here is the first stage in the process by which the sage is
would come to an end. When Israel makes itself worthy
moved from a merely earthly status as a principal authority
through its embodiment of Torah—that is, through its per-
to the supernatural position described above. Accordingly,
fect replication of the heavenly way of living—then the end
the notion that Torah-learning enjoys priority is not alien to
will come.
the Mishnah, and indeed begins there. But the Mishnah con-
T
tains no hint of the view of the sage as a supernatural figure.
HE MISHNAH’S LAYER OF RABBINIC JUDAISM. The history
of the Judaism expressed in this Torah myth is obscured by
Furthermore, the Mishnah distinguishes wonder-workers,
the superficially uniform character of the rabbinic compila-
such as Honi the Circle Maker (Ta Ean. 3.8), from the sages,
tions of late antiquity. All of them, early and late, appear to
expressing disapproval of the former.
wish to say pretty much the same thing. It goes without say-
A still more striking trait of the Mishnah’s kind of Juda-
ing that each rabbinic document finds in scripture ample
ism is the stress, within the Mishnah’s system, upon endur-
precedent for its own viewpoint. That is why they all look
ing things and the omission of reference to one-time, histori-
alike. The documents, moreover, are collective, bearing the
cal events. The Mishnah presents a world in stasis, in which
names of many authorities in common. Accordingly, when
regularities and orderly patterns govern. It scarcely alludes to
turning to the sources for the viewpoint just now outlined,
the coming of a messiah, the end of days, the meaning of Is-
one finds it everywhere. So it is difficult to trace the history
rael’s suffering. The Mishnah offers no explanation or inter-
of the ideas shared in common by them. Yet that is not en-
pretation of Israel’s history. If, therefore, one may character-
tirely the case, for there is one rabbinic document of late an-
ize the first literary evidence of rabbinic Judaism in late
tiquity, the Mishnah, that stands apart from the rest. It ig-
antiquity, as of about 200 CE, this Judaism is described as
nores scripture and the need for proof-texts, on the one side,
focused upon the ongoing life of nature, the priesthood, and
and it omits reference to the Torah myth as the critical sym-
the Temple, with the sage telling the priests what to do. The
bolic element, on the other.
Mishnah’s simple, descriptive laws indicate how Israelite so-
The Mishnah is the first document of rabbinic Judaism,
ciety, revolving about the cult, is maintained in stasis.
and it constitutes the foundation for the two Talmuds and
THE TALMUDIC RABBIS’ RETURN TO SCRIPTURE AND HIS-
the law of Judaism thereafter. The Mishnah rarely cites a
TORY. Now at the other end of the period at hand, about 600
scriptural proof-text for any of its propositions, even when
CE, that is not the Judaism that emerges. On the contrary,
the laws simply rephrase in the Mishnah’s own language the
as has been seen, rabbinic Judaism fully revealed focused
facts supplied by scripture. Except for the tractate Avot, dis-
upon the meaning of Israel’s history, its end in the coming
tinct in language and character, the Mishnah finds no room
of the Messiah. It was deeply engaged by one-time events and
in its definitive construction—that is, in the formation of its
their meaning. Torah was defined by the sage as a supernatu-
principal divisions, let alone in its subdivisions (tractates)
ral figure who was qualified by constant reference to scrip-
and their chapters—for extended discussion on the matter
ture. The contrast between the Mishnah’s statements, di-
of the study of Torah, the place of the sage in the heavenly-
vorced from scripture even where repeating scripture’s own
earthly continuum, and those other propositions definitive
facts, and the later reception of the Mishnah, is seen in one
of the Judaism that rests upon the Mishnah.
fact. Both Talmuds systematically supply to Mishnah’s laws
That is not to say the Mishnah knows nothing of the
precisely those proof-texts omitted by the Mishnah’s framers.
priority of learning. On the contrary, here and there are
Accordingly, the Talmudic authorities will cite Mishnah’s
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RABBINIC JUDAISM IN LATE ANTIQUITY
passage and immediately ask, “How do we know these
Hasten the advent of the messianic redemption;
things?” What follows will be scriptural proof-texts.
Each and every day we hope for Your deliverance.
There is further indication that, in the two centuries
Praised are You, O Lord, who assures our deliverance.
after the closure of the Mishnah, about 200 CE, a massive re-
The link between the messianic hope for salvation and the
action against the Mishnah’s formulation of an ahistorical
religion of Torah and of rabbinic authority is expressed time
Judaism of eternal return took place. The character of other
and again in rabbinic writings. One example is as follows:
writings produced by the rabbis of those centuries provides
Rabbah [a fourth-century rabbi] said, “When a man is
important evidence of a renewed interest in history and its
brought in for judgment in the world to come, he is
meaning. Beyond the two Talmuds and Tosefta, centered
asked, ‘Did you deal in good faith? Did you set aside
upon the Mishnah, is the formation of compilations of exe-
time for study of Torah? Did you engage in procre-
getical remarks, systematically laid forth for the Pentateuchal
ation? Did you look forward to salvation? Did you en-
books of Genesis and Leviticus. These are generally supposed
gage in the dialectics of wisdom? Did you look deeply
to have come into existence in the fifth century, that is, just
into matters?’” (B.T., Shab. 31a)
as the Talmud of the Land of Israel had come to conclusion
Rabbah’s interpretation of the scripture “And there shall be
and the Talmud of Babylonia was coming to closure. Even
faith in thy times, strength, salvation, wisdom and knowl-
more striking is the character of Sifra D, a systematic essay on
edge” (Is. 33:6) provides one glimpse into the cogent life of
the Book of Leviticus. One basic literary form of that exegeti-
rabbinic Judaism. The first consideration was ethical: Did
cal document is the citation of a passage of the Mishnah, or
the man conduct himself faithfully? The second was study
of Tosefta, verbatim or nearly so. The anonymous voice of
of Torah, not at random but every day, systematically, as a
the document then asks, “Is this not a matter of [mere]
discipline of life. Third came the raising of a family. Celibacy
logic?” The argument then will unfold to prove that logic
and abstinence from sexual life were regarded as sinful. The
alone cannot prove with certainty the proposition of the
full use of human creative powers for the procreation of life
Mishnah that has been cited. To the contrary, the only foun-
was a commandment. But, fourth, merely living day by day
dation of certainty is in a cited scripture, sometimes then
according to an upright ethic was not sufficient. It is true that
subjected to exegetical work to prove the proposition of the
people must live by a holy discipline, but the discipline itself
Mishnah that stands at the head of the passage. The polemic
was only a means. The end was salvation, daily expected in
is unmistakable. The Mishnah’s laws, standing by them-
consequence of everyday deeds.
selves, cannot endure. Only provision of exegetical bases for
them will suffice.
When one reflects upon the Talmudic teaching, already
cited, that if all Israel only twice will properly keep the Sab-
MESSIANISM. Beyond the emphasis upon the sage as a super-
bath (as the rabbis instruct), the Messiah will come, one sees
natural figure and upon scripture as the sole sound basis of
the true state of affairs. The heirs of the Mishnah took over
truth, the third pillar of rabbinic Judaism as it emerged from
the messianic hope, so deep in the consciousness of the Jew-
late antiquity was its emphasis upon Torah as the means of
ish nation from biblical times onward, and harnessed its
reaching the messianic fulfillment and resolution of Israel’s
power to the system now known as rabbinic Judaism, a holy
history. The authoritative expression of the messianic expec-
way of life taught by masters of Torah. Accordingly, as stated
tation is in the siddur (prayer book), emerging from late an-
at the outset, in late antiquity is witnessed the formation on
tiquity and enduring to the present day:
the disparate foundations of, first, the Mishnah, a law code
Sound the great shofar to herald man’s freedom;
lacking reference to history, on the one side, and, second,
Raise high the banner to gather all exiles;
hope for the end of history and the coming of the Messiah,
Restore our judges as in days of old;
on the other, the kind of Judaism called rabbinic.
Restore our counselors as in former times;
INSTITUTIONS. The institutional forms of rabbinic Judaism
Remove from us sorrow and anguish.
as known in particular from the Talmuds, are two. The first,
Reign over us alone with loving kindness;
not surprisingly, is the figure of the rabbi. The second is the
With justice and mercy sustain our cause.
court-school, that is, the place in which the rabbi ruled on
Praised are You, O Lord, King who loves justice.
certain matters affecting the Jewish community and also
The restoration of the exiles to Zion and the gathering of the
taught his apprentices, that is, disciples. First considered will
dispersed followed naturally by the prayer for good govern-
be the figure of the rabbi as known in the third through the
ment, government under God’s law. Then comes the con-
seventh century in the Babylonian Talmud.
crete reference to the Messiah:
The rabbi. The rabbis of that period conceived that on
Have mercy, O Lord, and return to Jerusalem, Your city;
earth they studied Torah just as God, the angels, and “Moses,
May Your presence dwell there as You promised.
our rabbi,” did in heaven. The heavenly schoolmen were
Rebuild it now, in our days and for all time;
even aware of Babylonian scholastic discussions. This con-
Reestablish there the majesty of David, Your servant.
ception must be interpreted by reference to the belief that
Praised are You, O Lord, who rebuilds Jerusalem.
the man truly made in the divine image was the rabbi; he
Bring to flower the shoot of Your servant David.
embodied revelation, both oral and written, and all his ac-
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RABBINIC JUDAISM IN LATE ANTIQUITY
7587
tions constituted paradigms that were not merely correct but
redemption depended upon the “rabbinization” of all Israel,
actually heavenly. Rabbis could create and destroy people be-
that is, upon the attainment by all Jewry of a full and com-
cause they were righteous, free of sin, or otherwise holy, and
plete embodiment of revelation or Torah, thus achieving a
so enjoyed exceptional grace from heaven. It follows that
perfect replica of heaven. When Israel on earth became such
Torah was held to be a source of supernatural power. The
a replica, it would be able, as a righteous, holy, saintly com-
rabbis controlled the power of Torah because of their mas-
munity, to exercise the supernatural power of Torah, just as
tery of its contents. They furthermore used their own mas-
some rabbis were already doing. With access to the conse-
tery of Torah quite independently of heavenly action. They
quent theurgical capacities, redemption would naturally
were masters of witchcraft, incantations, and amulets. They
follow.
could issue blessings and curses, create men and animals, and
The school. Study of Torah was just that: primarily an
communicate with heaven. Their Torah was sufficiently ef-
intellectual enterprise whose supernatural effects were decid-
fective to thwart the action of demons. However much they
edly secondary. The resources of the schools were knowledge
disapproved of other people’s magic, they themselves were
of the laws and traditions that for the rabbis constituted the
expected to do the things magicians did.
Torah of Moses. The actual method of learning used by
The rabbi was the authority on theology, including the
the academies had nothing whatever to do with magic. The
structure and order of the supernatural world. He knew the
“Torah” of the rabbis was essentially no more than a legal
secret names of God and the secrets of the divine “chariot”—
tradition that had to be studied by the classical legal meth-
the heavens—and of creation. If extraordinarily pious, he
ods. The rabbis were expected to act as did other holy men,
might even see the face of the Shekhinah, the presence of
but they themselves respected legal learning and the capacity
God; in any event, the Shekhinah was present in the rabbini-
to reason about cases. Not everyone would achieve such skills
cal schools. The rabbi overcame the evil impulse that domi-
of reasoning any more than everyone could make rain, and
nated ordinary men and was consequently less liable to suf-
the academies doubtless attracted many who could only
fering, misfortune, and sickness. He was able to pray
memorize and repeat what they knew. The whole process of
effectively because he knew the proper times and forms of
learning, not merely its creative and innovative aspects, was,
prayer. Moreover, the efficacy of his prayers was heightened
however, regarded as sacred, for the words themselves were
by his purity, holiness, and other merits, which in turn de-
holy.
rived from his knowledge of the secrets of Torah and his con-
The following exposition from the school of Rabbi
sequent particular observances. He could bring rain or cause
EAnan exemplifies this process:
drought. His blessings brought fertility, and his curse, death.
He was apt to be visited by angels and to receive messages
What is the meaning of the Scripture You that ride on
from them. He could see and talk with demons and could
white asses, that sit on rich cloths, and that walk by the
also communicate with the dead. He was an authority on in-
way, tell of it (Judges 5:10)? Those that ride on asses are
terpretation of omens and dreams, on means of averting
the sages who go from city to city and from province
witchcraft, on incantations for cures, on knot tying (for phy-
to province to study Torah. White means that they
lacteries), and on the manufacture and use of amulets.
make it clear as the noon hour. Sitting on cloths means
that they judge a case truly. And that walk refers to mas-
A central conception set rabbinic Judaism apart from
ters of Scripture. On the way, these are masters of Mish-
Manichaeism, Mazdaism, Christianity, and other contempo-
nah. Tell of it refers to masters of Talmud, all of whose
rary cults. It was not expected that the masses would assume
conversation concerns matters of Torah. (B.T., Eruv.
54b)
the obligations of or attain to the supernatural skills of the
Manichaean elect, Mazdean magi, Christian nuns and
Found in the Song of Deborah, this verse about the victory
monks, or the religious virtuosi and cultic specialists of other
of Israel over the Canaanites was explained by the rabbis as
groups. All male Jews, however, were expected to become
a description of the triumph of the Lord in the “wars of the
rabbis. The rabbis wanted to transform the entire Jewish
Torah,” a frequent image of rabbinic Judaism, and the conse-
community into an academy where the whole Torah was
quent celebration by the people of the Lord. That people in-
studied and kept.
cluded many whose talents were limited but who, added all
together, constituted, and celebrated, the Lord’s triumph.
These beliefs aid in understanding the rabbis’ view that
Some, like itinerant philosophers, would wander in search
Israel would be redeemed, the Messiah brought, through
of teachings. Others had great skill at clarification. Others
Torah. Because Israel had sinned, it was punished by being
were able and selfless judges. Still others merely knew scrip-
given over into the hands of earthly empires; when it atoned,
ture, or Mishnah, or Talmud, but spoke of nothing else.
it would be removed from their power. The means of this
Here is the integrated, mature vision of the academies: a
atonement or reconciliation were study of Torah, practice of
whole people devoted to revelation, each in his own way and
commandments, and doing good deeds. These would trans-
according to his talent.
form each male Jew into a rabbi, hence into a saint. When
all Jews had become rabbis, they then would no longer lie
RABBIS AND ORDINARY FOLK. What average Jews ordinarily
within the power of history. The Messiah would come. So
did not know and the rabbis always did know was the one
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RABBINIC JUDAISM IN LATE ANTIQUITY
thing that made a common man into a rabbi: “Torah” learned
Jew in Babylonia because the biblical taboos about food were
through discipleship. It begs the question to speak of the ordi-
widely observed. Differences between the rabbis’ interpreta-
nary people as “ignorant of Judaism.” One does not have to
tion of taboos about food and those advanced by others grad-
exaggerate the educational attainments of the community as
ually diminished, as in time the rabbis’ growing domination
a whole to recognize that learning in the rabbinic traditions
made their learned exegeses seem more commonplace. For
did not by itself separate the rabbi from other people. It
example, although the rabbis said grace at meals and offered
would, accordingly, be a gross error to overestimate the dif-
intelligible blessings for food, they were willing to teach oth-
ferences separating the way of life of the ordinary Jews from
ers just what those blessings and prayers meant. Nothing in
that of the rabbinical estate.
the rabbinical ritual of eating was to be kept secret. A person
showed himself “ignorant” if he violated the rituals. His rem-
In general the rabbis’ merely conventional social man-
edy was to go to a sage to study and learn, and this was ex-
ners or customs were deepened into spiritual conceptions
plicitly recommended by the rabbis.
and magnified by their deeply mythic ways of thinking. In
the villages ordinary people regarded the rabbi as another
THE RABBI AS JUDGE. What did a rabbi actually do as a com-
holy man, but still as a man, heart and soul at one in commu-
munity administrator? The following account gives a helpful
nity with other Jews. The rabbinical ideal was antidualistic;
portrait of the workday function of Rabbi HunaD, head of
the rabbis believed that all Israel, not just saints, prophets,
the Sura academy about 300 CE:
and sages, stood at Sinai. All bore common responsibilities.
Every cloudy day they would carry him out in a golden
No one conceived of two ways of living a holy life—two vir-
palanquin, and he would survey the whole town. Every
tues or two salvations—but of only one Torah to be studied
wall which looked unsafe he would order torn down.
and observed by all, and thus the cutting edge of rabbinical
If the owner could rebuild it, he did so, but if not, he
separateness was blunted. The inevitable gap between the
[Rabbi Huna] would rebuild it of his own funds. On
holy man and the layperson was further reduced by the deep
the eve of every Sabbath, he would send a messenger to
concern felt by rabbis for the conduct of the masses. This
the market, and all the vegetables that remained to the
market-gardeners, he would buy and throw into the
concern led them to involve themselves in the everyday af-
river. Whenever he discovered a medicine, he would fill
fairs of ordinary people, and it produced considerable impact
a jug with it, and suspend it above the doorstep and an-
upon daily life.
nounce, “Whoever wants to, let him come and take.”
A review of the primary distinctive characteristics of the
Some say, he knew from tradition a medicine for [a cer-
tain disease caused by eating with unwashed hands],
rabbinical school will show that the rabbis could not have
and he would suspend a jug of water and proclaim,
created unscalable walls of social or religious difference. The
“Whoever needs it, let him come so that he may save
sages spent a good part of their years in these schools; ordi-
his life from danger.” When he ate bread, he would
nary Jews, obviously, did not. Yet the schools were not
open his door wide, and declare, “Whoever is in need,
monasteries. Disciples who left but who remained loyal to
let him come and eat.” (B.T., Ta Ean. 20b–21a)
the school’s way of life did not engage in ascetic disciplines
of an outlandish sort, calculated to utterly divide the sages’
The variety of public responsibilities carried out by the rabbi
way of living from that of normal men. They married. They
is striking. He had to prevent the collapse of mud buildings
ate regularly and chose edible food, not wormwood or lo-
during a rainstorm. He had to ensure a constant market by
custs or refuse. They lived in villages, not in the wilderness.
encouraging truck gardeners to provide a steady supply of
They did not make their livelihood through holy vagrancy.
fresh vegetables. He had to give out medical information, to
Their clothes were not supposed to be tattered or in rags.
preserve public health, and to make certain that poor people
These differences between rabbis and other types of holy
could benefit from the available remedies. And he had to
men, such as the Christian monks and the Manichaean elect,
provide for the poor, so that no one would starve in his town.
are obvious and therefore all the more important. The sages
These responsibilities reflected the different roles played
sought the society of ordinary Jews, so they lived in the vil-
by the rabbi. Only the first and second duties listed depend-
lages rather than in the countryside (“wilderness”). Not en-
ed upon his political function. As judge he could order the
gaged in begging (“holy vagrancy”), they owned property
destruction of dangerous property; as administrator he had
and were glad of it. They occupied important and permanent
to supervise the marketplace and use his funds to control
positions in the administration of communal life, and so
supply and prices. But these roles had nothing to do with
came into constant and intimate contact with the common
medical and eleemosynary activities. The former was contin-
people. Access to rabbinical schools remained open to all,
gent upon his reputation as a man of learning who had mas-
and the rabbis actively proselytized within the community
tered the occult sciences, which then included medicine; the
to gain new candidates for their schools. Advantages of birth
latter was based upon his possession of great wealth, accruing
were minimal. In no way did the rabbis form a caste or a clan;
from his positions in politics, administration, and academic
the right marriage counted for little.
life.
What, therefore, did the peculiarities of the rabbinical
Litigations coming before the Jewish courts were not
way of living amount to? A rabbi could eat with any other
particularly important in the evidence covering 200–500 CE.
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RABBINIC JUDAISM IN LATE ANTIQUITY
7589
On the whole they corresponded to those likely to come be-
the least and humblest affairs, as much as the largest and
fore a small-claims court in modern society. Thefts involved
most weighty ones, testified to heaven about the moral state
a book or a few rams. Betrothal cases concerned the exchange
of society. If the prophet Amos had condemned Israel of old
of property, such as a few zuz, a willow branch, some onions,
because a poor man was cheated of his shoes, then one can
or a piece of silk. Settlements of marriage contracts required
hardly be surprised that a later rabbi insisted upon the return
division of a robe of fine wool, a silver cup. A few cases of
of a cooking utensil given in pledge. What was important to
alleged adultery were recorded, all of sufficient innocence for
the rabbis was that justice should prevail. They knew that if
the court to rule that no adultery had taken place. The prepa-
justice did not characterize the street, the trading market, the
ration and delivery of proper divorce documents hardly
small farms and shops, then great affairs of commerce and
amounted to weighty matters of state. Divorce litigations in
the state would not likely be morally superior. They knew
any event were provoked by peculiar and exceptional circum-
that the ethics of daily life, the life concerned with exchanges
stances; normally a man could divorce his wife without court
of onions and the use of water in a small canal, determined
intervention, merely with the help of a scribe who wrote out
the destiny of Israel.
the writ of divorce in accordance with the law.
SUMMARY. The history of Judaism in late antiquity can be
The settlement of estates entailed somewhat larger sums
summarized very simply. First came the Mishnah, shaped
of money. A woman’s marriage contract stipulated that if she
over the first and second centuries CE. Then, second, fol-
were divorced, she would be given an alimony of four hun-
lowed four hundred years in which the legal and theological
dred zuz, a round number that probably represented approx-
system of the Mishnah was drastically reshaped into some-
imately enough capital for two years’ maintenance. Provi-
thing new. Since the Mishnah’s system constituted a reaction
sions by the court for widows (food, wine, clothing) were
against the messianic wars of the time in which it came into
humble and more typical matters. Even most estate cases per-
being, one sees a process by which the messianic “thesis” gen-
tained to rather small claims, such as a few trees, a slave, or
erated the Mishnah as its antimessianic antithesis, so produc-
a choice plot of ground. Settlement of debts, collections of
ing the rabbinic synthesis in the Talmuds. That is to say, the
mortgages and bonds, and the like did require rulings on
messianic “thesis” rested on prophetic, historical, and apoca-
somewhat more substantial sums, but the real issues were still
lyptic passages of scripture. The Mishnah’s “antithesis” con-
relatively inconsequential—a hundred zuz, or whether a
structed a system based on priestly and ahistorical legal pas-
pledged spoon or knife had to be returned.
sages. The Mishnah’s system stood aloof both from biblical
proof-texts and from the messianic interest in the meaning
Some commercial litigations were brought before the
and end of history characteristic of its own day. Over the
courts. Questions of contract involved a few ferrymen and
next four hundred years the rabbinic heirs of both the Mish-
sharecroppers, or devolved upon a hired ass, a purchase of
nah and the scripture brought the two back into relationship.
wine or poppy seed, a flooded field. Some commercial dis-
They forged them into a messianic and legal synthesis, the
putes demanded that the courts decide about a few zuz worth
one “whole Torah” of “Moses, our rabbi,” just as their Torah
of silk beads, some sour wine, the sale of a wine press or a
myth alleged.
field. Others concerned a damaged jar or utensil, a dead goat,
a stolen purse, a broken ax or wine barrel. Property cases sim-
SEE ALSO Amoraim; Judaism, overview article; Midrash and
ilarly involved alleged fraud in a relatively small plot, the
Aggadah; Mishnah and Tosefta; Pharisees; Talmud;
claim of an option to purchase a field, the use of canal water,
Tannaim.
and, very frequently, squatter’s rights over a house or field
and the eviction of tenant farmers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cases such as these clearly reveal the real substance of
The best systematic account of the theology of rabbinic Judaism
issues left in the rabbis’ hands. With a few exceptions, strik-
is George Foot Moore’s Judaism in the First Centuries of the
ingly petty sums of money or barely consequential pieces of
Christian Era: The Age of the Tannaim, 3 vols. (Cambridge,
property were all that the lower classes of society brought to
U.K., 1954). The same categories of historical theology are
litigation. And it was those classes that were primarily subject
addressed by E. E. Urbach in The Sages: Their Concepts and
Beliefs, 2 vols. (Jerusalem, 1975), translated from the Hebrew
to rulings by the rabbinical courts. Large commercial transac-
by Israel Abrahams; by Solomon Schechter in Some Aspects
tions for many thousands of zuz worth of silk or pearls, wine
of Rabbinic Theology (1909; reprint, New York, 1936); and
or beer; enormous property transactions involving a whole
by E. P. Sanders in Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Compari-
village or town; claims of a considerable number of workers
son of Patterns of Religion (Philadelphia, 1977). These three
against a single employer, or vice versa; the affairs of large
works present a categorically similar picture of rabbinic Juda-
estates, rich landowners, big businessmen, important offi-
ism’s theology. An important anthology of sources is C. G.
cials—none of these appears with any frequency, if at all, in
Montefiore and Herbert Loewe’s A Rabbinic Anthology (New
extant reports.
York, 1974). Two collections of essays on special topics pro-
vide guidance into the principal scholarly approaches of the
The rabbis surely could not have agreed, however, that
last generation: Jacob Z. Lauterbach’s Rabbinic Essays (Cin-
the humble and petty issues before them were of no conse-
cinnati, 1951) and Louis Ginzberg’s On Jewish Law and Lore
quence. It was their view—a very old one in Judaism—that
(Philadelphia, 1955). A different approach to the description
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
7590
RABBITS
of rabbinic Judaism is provided in my book Judaism: The Ev-
In North America, a rabbit is at the center of the cre-
idence of the Mishnah (Chicago, 1981). On the mysticism of
ation myth of the ancient Algonquin. At the mythical time
rabbinic Judaism the most important book is Gershom
of beginning, the Great Hare appeared on earth and laid the
Scholem’s Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York,
foundation of the world. He instructed people in the medi-
1954); on messianism, Scholem’s The Messianic Idea in Juda-
cine dance and other forms of life; he fought the oceanic
ism (New York, 1971). On the liturgy of Judaism in this pe-
monsters; he reconstructed the earth after the deluge, and on
riod, the two definitive books are Joseph Heinemann’s Prayer
his departure he left it as it is today. The rabbit, as well as
in the Talmud (Berlin and New York, 1977) and Lawrence
A. Hoffman’s The Canonization of the Synagogue Service
the hare, appears as a trickster in the Indian tales of the
(Notre Dame, Ind., 1979). On the archaeology of Judaism
southeastern United States.
in this period one should consult, as a start, Eric M. Meyers
In ancient Mesopotamia and Syria, about the beginning
and James F. Strange’s Archaeology, the Rabbis, and Early
of the second millennium BCE, the hare was imbued with the
Christianity (Nashville, 1981) and Lee I. Levine’s edition of
symbolism of death and rebirth. In Egypt it was probably as-
Ancient Synagogues Revealed (Jerusalem, 1981). On rabbinic
sociated with Osiris, the god of rebirth and immortality. The
Judaism viewed historically, there is my own History of the
hare appears in Islam, for example, in Ru¯m¯ı’s poetry, as one
Jews in Babylonia, 5 vols. (Leiden, 1965–1969).
of the animals symbolizing the base human soul.
New Sources
Avery-Peck, Alan J., ed. The Mishnah in Contemporary Perspective.
In the Greco-Roman world, the hare was multivalent:
Leiden and Boston, 2002.
It was widely recognized for its lubricity, it was thought to
Baskin, Judith Reesa. Midrashic Women: Formations of the Femi-
be androgynous, and its flesh was used as an aphrodisiac. It
nine in Rabbinic Literature. Hanover, N.H., 2002.
was most pleasing to Aphrodite and sacred also to Eros, who
Boccaccini, Gabriele. Roots of Rabbinic Judaism: An Intellectual
hunted the animal. However, it was especially associated
History, from Ezekiel to Daniel. Grand Rapids, Mich., 2002.
with Dionysos, the god not only of love, fertility, and life but
Cohen, Shaye J. D., ed. The Synoptic Problem in Rabbinic Litera-
also of death and immortality. The hare was hunted, torn to
ture. Providence, R.I., 2000.
pieces and eaten, and used as a love gift. It was considered
Freeman, Gordon M. The Heavenly Kingdom: Aspects of Political
a most appropriate symbol for a grave stele, because in hu-
Thought in the Talmud and Midrash. Lanham, Md., Jerusa-
manity’s basic dreams it represents the love that will conquer
lem and Philadelphia, 1986.
death. As belief in immortality became more popular, the
Harrington, Hannah K. Holiness: Rabbinic Judaism and the Grae-
hare was increasingly used in funerary art. Early Christians
co-Roman World. London and New York, 2001.
accepted this rabbit symbolism and depicted rabbits on
Hoffman, Lawrence A. Covenant of Blood: Circumcision and Gen-
gravestones. In modern times, the Easter Bunny, whose eggs
der in Rabbinic Judaism. Chicago, 1996.
represent the source of life, seems to be a continuation of ar-
Jacobs, Irving. The Midrashic Process: Tradition and Interpretation
chaic religious values associated with both the rabbit and the
in Rabbinic Judaism. Cambridge and New York, 1995.
egg.
Neusner, Jacob. The Four Stages of Rabbinic Judaism. New York,
1999.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Zlotnick, Helena. Dinah’s Daughters: Gender and Judaism from the
On the symbolism of the rabbit in the Mediterranean world, see
Hebrew Bible to Late Antiquity. Philadelphia, 2002.
Erwin R. Goodenough’s excellent study in Pagan Symbols in
JACOB NEUSNER (1987)
Judaism, volume 8 of his Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman
Revised Bibliography
Period (New York, 1958), pp. 85–95. See also Johannes
Maringer’s “Der Hase in Kunst und Mythe der vor- und
frühge- schichtlichen Menschen,” Zeitschrift für Religions-
RABBITS.
und Geistesgeschichte 30 (1978): 219–228, and Ananda K.
The belief that a rabbit dwells in the moon is
Coomaraswamy’s review of John Layard’s The Lady of the
widely attested not only in Inner Asia, South Asia, and East
Hare: A Study in the Healing Power of Dreams (London,
Asia but also in North America, Mesoamerica, and southern
1945) in Psychiatry 8 (1945): 507–513. Coomaraswamy’s re-
Africa. Among the Turco-Mongol peoples of Inner Asia, the
view was also published under the title “On Hares and
shaman hunts a rabbit in the moon during his ecstatic jour-
Dreams” in the Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society (Ban-
ney to the heavenly world. In China, as early as the Han peri-
galore) 37 (1946): 1–14.
od, the rabbit is represented on bronze mirrors as inhabiting
New Sources
the moon, pounding the drug of immortality with a pestle
Birchfield, D. L. Rabbit: American Indian Legends. New York,
and mortar. The Japanese depict him as pounding rice cakes
1996.
in the moon spots.
Davis, Susan, and Margo Demello. Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural
The Khoi and the San of the Kalahari in southern Africa
and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature. New York,
also tell of a rabbit in the moon. In Khoi myths of the origin
2003.
of death, the hare is presented as the careless messenger.
Ross, Gayle. How Rabbit Tricked Otter and Other Cherokee Trick-
Charged by the moon with bringing a message of immortali-
ster Stories. New York, 1994.
ty to humankind, he mistransmitted the good tidings as a
MANABU WAIDA (1987)
message of death. The San have similar stories.
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
RACHEL AND LEAH
7591
RA¯BIEAH AL-EADAW¯IYAH (d. AH 185/801 CE), was
the Saints), where he states that a woman who walks in the
an Arab mystic, poet, and Muslim saint. Even though she
path of God cannot be called merely (i. e., deprecatively)
attained great age and fame, little is known of Ra¯biEah’s per-
“woman.” Some centuries later, however, Ja¯m¯ı (d. 1492) re-
sonal life. Her name indicates that she was a fourth (ra¯bi Eah)
minded his readers that the fact that the sun is feminine in
daughter, probably of a poor family. For some time she was
Arabic does not distract from its grandeur. Certainly, her
a house servant in Basra, but, thanks to her amazing piety,
gender never clouded Ra¯biEah’s renown. The legend that she
her master released her from bondage. Her life thereafter,
refused to go out to admire nature on a radiant spring day,
marked by austerity and otherworldliness, was spent largely
preferring to contemplate the beauty of the Creator in the
in retirement, although her sanctity attracted many who
darkness of her house, has been retold for centuries, often
sought her prayers and teachings. Ra¯biEah of Basra is regard-
without mentioning her name, and her life has even served
ed as the person who introduced the concept of pure love
as scenario for at least one Arab movie. Her name is still used
of God into the ascetic way of life prevalent among God-
to praise exceptionally pious women.
seeking Muslims during the second century AH.
SEE ALSO Sufism.
It seems probable that Ra¯biEah met some of the well-
known ascetics of her time, among them Ibrahim ibn Adham
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of Balkh (d. 770?). However, the stories that connect her
Modern Arabic scholars, among them EAbd al-Rah:ma¯n Badaw¯ı,
with the ascetic preacher H:asan al-Bas:r¯ı, and even claim that
have devoted studies to Ra¯biEah, but the only comprehensive
he proposed marriage to her, are pure invention, for H:asan
study in a Western language is Margaret Smith’s Ra¯bi Eah the
(whose constant call to renunciation and fear of God certain-
Mystic, and Her Fellow Saints in Islam (1928; reprint, Cam-
ly colored the spiritual atmosphere in Basra) died in 728,
bridge, 1984).
when Ra¯biEah was only about ten years old.
ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL (1987)
Many legends have been woven around her. When she
performed the pilgrimage, the KaEbah is said to have moved
forward to greet her, and her donkey, which had died on the
RABINDRA¯NATHA THAKU
¯ R SEE TAGORE,
road, was miraculously revived. But Ra¯biEah, faithful to the
RABINDRANATH
ascetic tradition, and extremely afraid of hellfire, rejected the
common belief that she was capable of performing miracles.
Rather, she considered such miracles as satanic temptations.
RACHEL AND LEAH, or in Hebrew, Rah:el and
Ra¯biEah’s greatest contribution to the development of
LeDah, were wives of Jacob and daughters of Laban. Accord-
Sufism lay in her insistence upon pure love of God, empha-
ing to Genesis, Rachel, who was the great-granddaughter of
sizing the QurDanic verse “He loves them and they love him”
Abraham’s brother Nahor, met Jacob at a well after he had
(surah 5:59). She expressed her feelings sometimes in short,
fled Canaan to escape his brother Esau. Jacob worked for
artless poems, sometimes in beautiful prayers, for she spent
Laban for seven years so that he might marry Rachel, but he
long nights in intimate conversation with her beloved Lord.
was deceived into marrying her older sister Leah and had to
In daily life, she experienced remorse when her thoughts
work another seven years to earn Rachel’s hand.
strayed from him. Her heart was filled with love of God, with
no room left even for a special love of the Prophet. Asked
Both women have animal names: Rah:el means “ewe”
whether she hoped for Paradise, she answered with the Ara-
and Le Dah means “cow.” Although Rachel was beautiful,
bic proverb “Al-ja¯r thumma al-da¯r” (“First the neighbor,
Leah was more fertile. They thus embody the two aspects of
then the house”), meaning that she thought only of him who
femininity that are emphasized in the Bible, and their con-
had created Paradise and Hell.
flict demonstrates the importance attached to male attention
and appreciation. At one point Leah gave Rachel mandrakes
Thus arose the best-known legend about her: having
to improve her fertility in exchange for Rachel’s turn to
been seen carrying a flaming torch in one hand and a pitcher
spend the night with Jacob. In so doing the sisters exerted
of water in the other, she explained that this symbolic act
some control over where their shared husband spent his time.
meant that she would set Paradise on fire and pour water into
Hell, “so that these two veils may disappear and nobody may
Ultimately Leah produced seven children (Reuben,
worship God out of fear of Hell or hope for Paradise, but
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah); two
solely for his own beauty.” This tale, which reached Europe
more (Gad and Asher) were born to her slave girl Zilpah. Ra-
in the early fourteenth century, is the basis of several short
chel’s slave girl Bilhah bore Dan and Naphtali; later Rachel
stories, mystical and otherwise, in Western literature. Other
produced two sons of her own, Joseph and Benjamin.
accounts, too, eventually became known in the West, at least
When Jacob fled from Laban, Rachel took the family
in nineteenth-century England, as Richard Monckton
idols, sitting on them when her father came and claiming she
Milnes’s poems The Sayings of Rabiah prove.
could not rise “because the way of women has come upon
In the Islamic world, Ra¯biEah was highly praised by
me” (Gn. 31:35). She died after giving birth to Benjamin and
EAt:t:a¯r (d. 1221) in his Tadhkirat al-awliya¯D (Biographies of
was buried at the spot, between Bethel and Ephrath. Her
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
7592
RADCLIFFE-BROWN, A. R.
purported tomb is venerated to this day and may have been
the 1920s he was probably this movement’s most influential
similarly regarded in biblical times (Gn. 35:20, 1 Sm. 10:2,
figure. Until well into the twentieth century this field was
Jer. 31:15). Leah apparently died in Canaan and was buried
dominated by the ethnological approach, the practitioners of
in the cave of Machpelah (Gn. 39:31).
which were particularly interested in the detailed history of
Most scholars agree that these stories include personifi-
particular societies and the patterns of diffusion and trans-
cations of Israelite tribal history. The Leah tribes may have
mission of their cultures. That style of analysis was itself still
formed an early confederation. The monarchy and the priest-
influenced by the evolutionist approach that had been
hood are ascribed to tribes descended from her sons Judah
strongly in evidence in the later part of the nineteenth centu-
and Levi. Rachel is the mother of the Joseph tribes, which
ry and had largely regarded religion as a primitive form of
were dominant in northern Israel, and of the adjoining Ben-
science. While the ethnologists of the early part of the twen-
jamin tribe, from which came the first king, Saul.
tieth century did not cling strongly to the latter view, they
stood in contrast to the emphasis that Radcliffe-Brown,
SEE ALSO Jacob; Joseph; Saul.
under Durkheim’s influence, increasingly placed on the idea
that primitive societies should be analyzed synchronically
BIBLIOGRAPHY
rather than diachronically. In other words, Radcliffe-
A thorough survey of the patriarchal narratives is in Nahum M.
Brown’s work increasingly involved the claim that in order
Sarna’s Understanding Genesis (New York, 1966). The his-
to comprehend scientifically the main features of a society
torical material is discussed in great detail in Roland de
one should regard it as a functioning whole; its different parts
Vaux’s The Early History of Israel, translated by David Smith
were explainable in terms of their interrelatedness and their
(Philadelphia, 1978). Postbiblical traditions pertaining to
contribution to its maintenance.
biblical events are collected in Louis Ginzberg’s The Legends
of the Jews, 2d ed., 2 vols., translated by Henrietta Szold and
Radcliffe-Brown’s impact, which grew intermittently
Paul Radin (Philadelphia, 2003).
but strongly in the 1920s and 1930s through his teaching
FREDERICK E. GREENSPAHN (1987 AND 2005)
and writing in various countries, was based primarily on his
advocacy and practice of what he came to call a natural sci-
ence of society, with particular reference to social structure.
RADCLIFFE-BROWN, A. R.
His attention to religion was largely confined to the study
(1881–1955) was an
of ritual and ceremony—which was particularly evident in
English social anthropologist. Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-
the book that he published on the Andaman Islanders in
Brown, as he was known formally after changing his name
1922—and the related phenomenon of totemism. In his
in 1926 (Radcliffe having been his mother’s original sur-
name), was born in Sparkbrook, Birmingham. He was edu-
work on ritual, Radcliffe-Brown was greatly influenced by
cated at King Edward’s School in Birmingham, at Birming-
Durkheim’s argument that the primary significance of ritual
ham University (where he spent a year as a premedical
is its expression and promotion of collective sentiments and
student), and at Trinity College, Cambridge University,
social solidarity.
from which he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mental
In his first major essay on totemism, “The Sociological
and moral science. Among those who taught him as an un-
Theory of Totemism,” published in the Proceedings of the
dergraduate were C. H. Myers and W. H. R. Rivers (both
Fourth Pacific Science Congress in 1929, Radcliffe-Brown
medical psychologists who had participated in Cambridge’s
maintained that Durkheim, by arguing that a totemic object
pioneering anthropological expedition to the Torres Strait
acquires its significance via its sacredness, had begged the
off the northeastern tip of Australia). After graduation in
crucial question as to why totemism in primal societies typi-
1904 Radcliffe-Brown went on to study anthropology under
cally involves plants or animals, even though Durkheim had
Rivers and A. C. Haddon (who had also been on the expedi-
pointed cogently to the ways in which ritualized collective
tion of 1898–1899) and was sent by them in 1906 to study
conduct in connection with totems was intimately related to
the people of the Andaman Islands, southwest of Burma, for
social structure and social integration. Radcliffe-Brown ar-
two years.
gued that plants and animals should not be regarded simply
Radcliffe-Brown’s initial report on this expedition,
as emblems of social groups, but rather that they are selected
“The Religion of the Andaman Islanders,” published in Folk-
as representatives of groups because objects and events that
Lore in 1909 (his book The Andaman Islanders was not pub-
deeply affect the material and spiritual well-being of a society
lished until 1922), led Trinity College to offer him a fellow-
(or any phenomenon that represents such an object or event)
ship, the tenure of which (from 1908 to 1914) was for a brief
are likely to become what he called objects of the ritual atti-
period combined with a teaching position at the London
tude. Although there has been disagreement as to the extent
School of Economics. It was in those years that he first en-
to which Radcliffe-Brown’s second essay on this subject
countered and became permanently influenced by the socio-
(“The Comparative Method in Social Anthropology,” Jour-
logical orientation of Émile Durkheim. Radcliffe-Brown
nal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1952) involved a
quickly became part of the rapidly developing, distinctively
substantial change of position, there can be no doubt that
sociological approach to the study of primal societies, and by
it exhibits a very explicit interest in a theme that was not 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
RA¯DHA¯
7593
spicuous in the essay of 1929—namely, the various relation-
Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Apabhram:s:a from roughly the third
ships between totemic objects and between these objects and
century CE that celebrate the love of Ra¯dha¯ and Kr:s:n:a—it
the structures of the groups that maintain ritual attitudes to-
is clear that her association with him was established
ward them.
throughout much of the subcontinent by the close of the first
millennium.
Some have regarded Radcliffe-Brown’s work at this
point as embracing a form of cognitive structuralism, which
The transfiguration of Ra¯dha¯ from literary heroine to
is committed to the view that while animals and plants are
object of religious devotion was a complex and gradual pro-
good to eat they are even better to “think” (that is, they con-
cess. The G¯ıtagovinda of Jayadeva gives evidence that already
stitute a highly suitable and accessible symbolic means for
in the twelfth century she was viewed as Kr:s:n:a’s eternal con-
“talking about” central features of a society’s social structure
sort. In the succeeding centuries, especially in eastern India,
and its relationship with its environment). Others have in-
she continued to appropriate designations earlier applied to
sisted that Radcliffe-Brown did not move so far beyond his
such goddess figures as Dev¯ı or Durga¯, notably, ´sakti
original position of maintaining that the selection of totems
(strength, power), prakr:ti (nature), and ma¯ya¯ (the creative
is based primarily upon the tangible effects that particular
energy of illusion). Recent studies have revealed her kinship
plants or animals are perceived to have in a society. For dis-
with Eka¯nam:´sa¯-Durga¯, whose complexion is also fair, and
cussion of the debate see Milton Singer’s book, Man’s Glassy
suggested that she may be in part a transformation of Durga¯.
Essence: Explorations in Semiotic Anthropology (1984).
Her counterpart and possible precursor in the South, Pinnai,
who is portrayed as Kr:s:n:a’s consort and wife among the cow-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
herds, likewise appears to have had connections with
Radcliffe-Brown’s major writings on religion are to be found in
Eka¯nam:´sa¯-Durga¯. Both Ra¯dha¯ and Pinnai have also assimi-
The Andaman Islanders, 3d ed. (Glencoe, Ill., 1948), Struc-
¯ ¯
lated aspects of Vis:n:u’s consort S´r¯ı-Laks:m:¯ı, especially her
ture and Function in Primitive Society (London, 1952), and
role as mediator between God and human souls.
The Social Anthropology of Radcliffe-Brown, edited by Adam
Kuyper (London, 1977). Illuminating discussion of his work
Although there are references to Ra¯dha¯ in the Pura¯n:as,
can be found in Adam Kuyper’s Anthropology and Anthropol-
the most characteristic and important arena of her develop-
ogists, rev. ed. (Boston, 1983).
ment is not narrative myth but poetry, or, more strictly,
New Sources
song, for Hindu poetry is composed to be sung. Building on
Câmara, J. L. Bettencourt da. Radcliffe-Brown and Lévi-Strauss: A
the literary tradition of the courts, the poets of eastern India
Reappraisal. Lisbon, 1995.
(and, to a lesser extent, of the North) sensitively and feelingly
portrayed every phase and mood of her love with Kr:s:n:a: her
Maddock, Kenneth. “Affinities and Missed Opportunities: John
Anderson and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown in Sydney.” Australian
shyness and ambivalence at its first dawning, her fulfillment
Journal of Anthropology 3 issue 1/2 (1992): 3–19.
in union with him and her subsequent hurt and jealous anger
(ma¯na) when he betrays her, and her final agony of separa-
Singer, Milton. “On the Semiotics of Ritual: Radcliffe-Brown’s
tion when he leaves the cowherd village to fulfill his destiny
Legacy.” In Theory and Method: Evaluation of the Work of
M.N. Srinivas. New Delhi, 1996.
by slaying the demon-king Kam:sa. Most of the poets and
dramatists who developed this theme appear to have presup-
ROLAND ROBERTSON (1987)
posed that Ra¯dha¯ was already married, leaving to the theolo-
Revised Bibliography
gians the awkward task of reconciling her status as a parak¯ıya¯
heroine—one who belongs to another—with her role as con-
sort of Kr:s:n:a, who as lord of the universe is the upholder of
RA¯DHA¯. The cowherd woman (gop¯ı) whose passionate
the moral order (dharma). In one such resolution, the Ben-
love for the god Kr:s:n:a has been celebrated in song and story
gali Vais:n:ava Ru¯pa Gosva¯m¯ı (sixteenth century) explains
throughout the Indian subcontinent since medieval times,
that Ra¯dha¯ and the other gop¯ıs belong eternally to Kr:s:n:a;
Ra¯dha¯ has been revered by Vais:n:ava devotees not only as
their marriage to earthly cowherds is thus an expedient de-
Kr:s:n:a’s earthly beloved but also as his eternal consort, as one
signed to enhance the intrigue of Kr:s:n:a’s l¯ıla¯.
half of the divine duality. Her name may be a feminine form
THEOLOGY AND WORSHIP. Although the gop¯ıs have been
of the Vedic ra¯dha¯s (“desired object”). Epitomizing the ideal
depicted with Kr:s:n:a in images dating from the seventh cen-
of prema bhakti (“loving devotion”), she has herself been an
tury or even earlier, it is not known whether they were at that
object of Vais:n:ava worship, sometimes as a mediator but
time themselves objects of worship. It is only much later,
often as the highest reality, surpassing even Kr:s:n:a.
from approximately the time of Caitanya (1486–1533), that
ORIGINS AND HISTORY. Despite the considerable scholarly
one finds clear evidence for the worship specifically of Ra¯dha¯
attention that has been devoted to Ra¯dha¯’s origins, the mat-
with Kr:s:n:a, often in the characteristic yugala-mu¯rti (“paired
ter remains veiled in obscurity. Available evidence points to
image,” the two side by side) that can still be seen in temples
possible literary beginnings, perhaps in the songs of the
in Bengal and Vr:nda¯vana. Ra¯dha¯’s worship, however, is not
A¯bh¯ırs, a cattle-herding community of North India. From
confined to those communities that place her image next to
the earliest source material—a succession of stray verses in
his; in the main Ra¯dha¯vallabha temple in Vr:nda¯vana, for ex-
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
RA¯DHA¯
7594
ample, she is represented simply by a throne cushion over
become an independent deity. Yet her importance for
which hangs a golden leaf that bears the inscription of her
Vais:n:ava devotion since the sixteenth century can scarcely be
name. Nor need her presence be marked even to that degree:
overestimated. In the intensity and steadfastness of her love
Members of the Nimba¯rka and Vallabha communities re-
for Kr:s:n:a, especially in her separation from him, she serves
gard Ra¯dha¯ and Kr:s:n:a as indistinguishable from one anoth-
as the highest inspiration to the devotee. The strength of
er, and hence a devotee worshiping Kr:s:n:a is considered to
Ra¯dha¯ and her friends and the superiority of their devotion
be worshiping Ra¯dha¯ as well. The Nimba¯rk¯ıs in fact inter-
provide a valorization of the religious capacities of women
pret the honorific element “S´r¯ı” in “S´r¯ıkr:s:n:a,” a title of
that has had social implications as well. Finally, as the em-
Kr:s:n:a used throughout India, as explicitly designating
bodiment of supreme love, Ra¯dha¯ in her eternal relation to
Ra¯dha¯; thus, “S´r¯ı-Kr:s:n:a.” Her paramount importance for
Kr:s:n:a represents ultimate reality, for love (prema) itself, in
residents of Vr:nda¯vana is also reflected in their use of the
the Vais:n:ava vision, is the highest principle in the universe.
vocative form of her name, “Ra¯dhe,” as a standard mode of
greeting. Members of the Ra¯dha¯vallabha community further
SEE ALSO Kr:s:n:a; L¯ıla¯; Nimba¯rka; Vallabha; Vr:nda¯vana.
honor her name by writing it on vines, stones, and pieces of
wood placed in certain sacred spots. Like Kr:s:n:a’s name, then,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ra¯dha¯’s functions as a mantra, a group of syllables embody-
Two books serve as major sources for the study of Ra¯dha¯. The
ing sacred power.
most comprehensive treatment of her, a work in Bengali by
In addition to worshiping Ra¯dha¯ through her images
S. B. Dasgupta, S´r¯ıra¯dha¯r kramabika¯s dar´sane o sa¯hitye (Cal-
and her name, devotees attend performances in which epi-
cutta, 1952), is a judicious, well-documented account of her
origins and development that traces her relations to other
sodes from the love story of Ra¯dha¯ and Kr:s:n:a are sung and
goddesses and to Indian conceptions of ´sakti. A more recent
enacted by professional and amateur performers. In Bengal,
volume, The Divine Consort: Ra¯dha¯ and the Goddesses of
for example, where she has always been especially popular,
India, edited by John Stratton Hawley and me (Berkeley,
the medieval verses celebrating her love for Kr:s:n:a are sung
Calif., 1982), contains articles on the religious significance
in a semidramatic musical form known as pada¯val¯ı-k¯ırtan.
of Ra¯dha¯ in various texts and traditions, together with an ex-
In a typical performance, the lead singer, assisted by several
tensive annotated bibliography.
other singers and two or three drummers, spins out a single
Two other articles, as well as portions of two books, treat particu-
episode in the divine love story over the course of three or
lar aspects of Ra¯dha¯. In “A Note on the Development of the
four hours, interspersing narrative and dialogue with the lyri-
Ra¯dha¯ Cult,” Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research In-
cal verses describing and reflecting on Ra¯dha¯’s feelings.
stitute 36 (1955): 231–257, A. K. Majumdar surveys evi-
These songs play on the central juxtaposition of the physical
dence for the worship of Ra¯dha¯. Bimanbehari Majumdar’s
and the metaphysical as well as the paradox of the human-
Kr:s:n:a in History and Legend (Calcutta, 1969) includes two
divine encounter. Devotees respond with expressions of
chapters documenting her importance in religious literature.
wonder at the intensity, depth, and steadfastness of Ra¯dha¯’s
In a more recent article, “Ra¯dha¯: Consort of Kr:s:n:a’s Vernal
love, which, while representing the heights of human pas-
Passion,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 95 (Octo-
sion, also symbolizes the religious ideal of selfless, unswerv-
ber-December 1975): 655–671, Barbara Stoler Miller sur-
veys early verses in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Apabhram:´sa on the
ing devotion to God. Her unexpected triumph over the lord
Ra¯dha¯-Kr:s:n:a theme. Finally, Friedhelm Hardy’s Viraha-
of the universe, which is indicated, for example, by his abject
bhakti: The Early History of Kr:s:n:a Devotion in South India
submission as he begs for her forgiveness, invariably evokes
(Delhi, 1983) distinguishes the primarily secular early poetic
exclamations of astonishment and delight.
traditions of the love of Kr:s:n:a and Ra¯dha¯ from the epic and
Puranic traditions of Kr:s:n:a and the gop¯ıs.
The chief basis for the worship of Ra¯dha¯ is thus the
transcendent quality of her love for Kr:s:n:a; even when the
Four studies contain portraits of Ra¯dha¯ as she is presented in par-
theological designation ´sakti is applied to her, its meaning
ticular literary works and performance traditions. In her Love
shifts from its usual Tantric sense of strength and activity to
Song of the Dark Lord: Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda (New York,
one of love. That she is the personification of love is indicat-
1977), Barbara Miller includes a chapter on the figure of
ed by a common designation for her: maha¯bha¯va (“great
Ra¯dha¯. My own Drama as a Mode of Religious Realization:
The Vidagdhama¯dhava of Ru¯pa Gosva¯m¯ı (Chico, Calif.,
emotion”). So exalted has this love rendered her that many
1984) discusses and illustrates through summary and transla-
Vais:n:avas since the time of Caitanya have felt that one
tion the treatment of Ra¯dha¯ by the Bengali Vais:n:ava theolo-
should not imitate her directly; they have chosen rather to
gian and playwright Rupa Gosvami. Finally, two works of
assume in their devotion the role of a humble maidservant
John Hawley throw new light on the interpretation of Ra¯dha¯
of hers, a mañjar¯ı, who is privileged to assist her and thereby
in the Braj region of North India. The introductions and
enjoy vicariously the bliss of her union with Kr:s:n:a.
translations in his At Play with Krishna: Pilgrimage Dramas
from Brindavan (Princeton, N.J., 1981) present Ra¯dha¯ as she
Ra¯dha¯’s nature contrasts with that of all other major
is portrayed in the ra¯s l¯ıla¯s, and a chapter of his Sur Das: Poet,
Hindu goddesses. She is neither mother goddess nor fertility
Singer, Saint (Seattle, 1984) traces the conception of Ra¯dha¯
deity, neither angry and destructive goddess nor social para-
through the successive layers of the Su¯r Sa¯gar, the collection
digm. Worshiped solely in relation to Kr:s:n:a, she has never
of poetry attributed to the sixteenth-century poet Su¯r Da¯s.
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RADHAKRISHNAN, SARVEPALLI
7595
New Sources
In various ways, all of Radhakrishnan’s mature writings
Banerjee, Sumanta. Appropriation of a Folk-Heroine: Radha in Me-
focus on three closely related concerns: his presentation and
dieval Bengali Vaishnavite Culture. Shimla, 1993.
positive interpretation of classical Indian religious thought,
Hawley, John S., and Donna M. Wulff, eds. Deva: Goddesses of
or Vedanta, especially as found in its three fundamental
India. Berkeley, 1996.
scriptures, the Upanis:ads, the Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, and the Brahma
D
Su¯tra; his defense of philosophical idealism, both in its Indi-
ONNA MARIE WULFF (1987)
Revised Bibliography
an expression and as found in Western philosophers from
Plato to Hegel and F. H. Bradley; and his critique of contem-
porary (and especially Western) materialist and scientific
thinking insofar as it excludes religious and spiritual values.
RADHAKRISHNAN, SARVEPALLI (1888–
On behalf of each of these three concerns, Radhakrishnan
1975), Indian philosopher, statesman, and president of India
sought to show that although brahman (the Absolute) is the
(1962–1967). Born in Tirutani, a small town south of Ma-
ultimate self-sufficient reality, the world is nevertheless valu-
dras noted as a pilgrimage center, Radhakrishnan attended
able and worthy of humanity’s deepest commitment and
Christian missionary schools for twelve years, until his grad-
dedication.
uation from Madras Christian College in 1908. The tension
Radhakrishnan’s own dedication to the affairs of the
between the Hindu piety he learned at home and the Chris-
world could not have been more convincing: in addition to
tian doctrine he was taught at school generated an interest
his positions as professor of philosophy (University of My-
in comparative philosophy, religion, and ethics that occupied
sore, 1918-1921; University of Calcutta, 1921–1931 and
him for the remainder of his life. Both of his major works,
1937–1941) and university administrator (vice-chancellor of
An Idealist View of Life (published in 1932 on the basis of
Andhra University, 1931–1936; vice-chancellor of Banaras
his 1929 Hibbert Lectures) and Eastern Religions and Western
Hindu University, 1938–1948; chancellor, University of
Thought (lectures delivered at Oxford University, 1939),
Delhi, 1953–1962), he served in many demanding diplo-
show the interplay of Indian and Western religious thought
matic positions, including head of the Indian delegation to
characteristic of his entire life’s work.
UNESCO (1946–1952) and Indian ambassador to the Sovi-
The scant information that Radhakrishnan disclosed
et Union (1949–1952). He was vice-president of India from
concerning his personal life is contained in a brief essay, “My
1952 to 1962, and president from 1962 to 1967.
Search for Truth” (1937). A seventy-five-page essay, “The
Religion of the Spirit and the World’s Need: Fragments of
BIBLIOGRAPHY
a Confession” (1952), intended as an autobiographical writ-
In addition to An Idealist View of Life (1932; 2d ed., London,
ing, offers one of the clearest summaries of his thought but
1957) and Eastern Religions and Western Thought (Oxford,
1959), which represent Radhakrishnan’s major works in phi-
treats his personal life in a few unrevealing pages. In refusing
losophy and in comparative religion and ethics, respectively,
an editor’s request for a brief autobiography, Radhakrishnan
three other of his works are especially to be recommended.
insisted, in “Fragments of a Confession,” that discretion pre-
For the Indian expression of Radhakrishnan’s religious and
vented him from doing so, and further, that his writings were
philosophic position, the fullest account is his 240-page in-
worth more than his personal life.
troduction to the Brahma Su¯tra, The Philosophy of Spiritual
In 1908, at the age of twenty, Radhakrishnan published
Life (New York, 1960). The best introduction to his under-
standing of contemporary religious life and thought is Recov-
his master’s thesis, “The Ethics of the Veda¯nta and Its Meta-
ery of Faith (New York, 1955). The Philosophy of Sarvepalli
physical Presuppositions,” and continued publishing one or
Radhakrishnan, edited by Paul Arthur Schilpp (New York,
more works almost every year for the next five decades. His
1952), contains twenty-three essays covering all aspects of
first full-length work, The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore
Radhakrishnan’s thought, as well as his “Replies to Critics,”
(1918), reveals most of the themes that would occupy him
his semiautobiographical essay “Fragments of a Confession,”
throughout his career: the Indian sources, varieties, and ethi-
and a complete bibliography of his writings through the year
cal implications of religious and philosophical intuition.
1952.
With the exception of his first original work, The Reign of
New Sources
Religion in Contemporary Philosophy, wherein he criticizes the
Banerji, Anjan Kumar, ed. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, A Centenary
influence of religion on philosophy, Radhakrishnan’s writ-
Tribute. Varanasi, 1991–1992.
ings are characterized by the intimate relationship between
Brookman, David M. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, in the Commen-
religious experience (particularly the Hindu mystical tradi-
tarial Tradition of India. Bhubaneswar, 1990.
tion) and philosophy (particularly modern Western ideal-
Gopal, Sarvepalli. Radhakrishnan, A Biography. Delhi and New
ism). With the publication of his next major works, Indian
York, 1989.
Philosophy (vol. 1, 1923; vol. 2, 1927), The Hindu View of
Kulangara, Thomas. Absolutism and Theism: A Philosophical Study
Life (1926), and An Idealist View of Life (1932), Radhakrish-
of S. Radhakrishnan’s Attempt to Reconcile Sankara’s Absolut-
nan established his case for the positive relationship between
ism and Ramanuja’s Theism. Trivandrum, 1996.
idealist philosophy and a universalist religious attitude that
Murty, K. Satchidananda Radhakrishnan: His Life and Ideas.
he later termed “religion of the spirit.”
Delhi, 1989.
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
7596
RADIN, PAUL
Nandakumar, Prema S. Radhakrishnan. Makers of Indian Litera-
reign in primitive societies but is repressed in more advance
ture. New Delhi, 1992.
civilization. More than any other aspect of his work, this
Parthasarathi, G., and D. P. Chattopadhyaya, eds. Radhakrishnan:
concern—presented in The Trickster: A Study in American
Centenary Volume. Delhi; New York, 1989.
Indian Mythology (1956)—commended him to philosophers
and psychologists alike. For Radin, the trickster reflected the
ROBERT A. MCDERMOTT (1987)
double image of God: an androgynous figure, bursting with
Revised Bibliography
energy, without values, both creator and destroyer, the cos-
mic villain, and, at the same time, a bumbling fool. This defi-
nition of the trickster, which has become a classic, probably
RADIN, PAUL (1883–1959) was an American anthro-
represents Radin’s most striking contribution to the develop-
pologist. Born in Lódz´, Poland, Radin was brought to the
ment of anthropological thinking.
United States by his parents while he was still an infant, in
Radin’s interest in primitive religion covered a wide
1884. Upon completing his studies in anthropology at Co-
range of subjects. The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian
lumbia University, he spent his life as a vagabond scholar,
by Sam Blowsnake (1920), which Radin edited and translat-
teaching at numerous colleges and universities in the United
ed, is a pioneer work that represents, presumably in the pro-
States and lecturing at most of the major universities of west-
tagonist’s own words, the cultistic efforts to compensate for
ern Europe. Among them were the University of California
a lost culture, and the conflicts that ensue. Radin had a par-
at Berkeley, Cambridge University, Fisk University, the Uni-
ticular concern for people caught between faiths.
versity of Chicago, Kenyon College, Black Mountain Col-
However, it is not Radin’s focus on religious matters
lege, and Brandeis University. He was never offered, nor did
that commands attention, but rather the great sweep of his
he seek, tenure anywhere; devoted to his studies of the cul-
thinking and his powerful, indirect critique of modern secu-
tures of primitive societies, he was content to be institution-
larism (see The World of Primitive Man, 1953) and the
ally rootless.
depths of his humanity that bound him to the primitive peo-
Radin was perhaps the most cultivated anthropologist
ples and sacred societies he studied. If Paul Radin was the
in the history of the discipline. He was a man of paradox:
most cultivated anthropologist in the history of the disci-
a skeptic with a strong sense of the sacred, an agnostic who
pline, he was also the most faithful, in every sense of the
was fascinated by all religious phenomena, a Jew who dis-
word.
claimed the uniqueness of the revelation contained in the
Hebrew scriptures. In deconstructing the specificity of Old
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Testament claims, Radin’s work follows that of Andrew Lang
Besides the works cited above, most of which are available in re-
and others on the ubiquity of high gods among primitive—
print editions, the following books represent important con-
that is, pre-class, or stateless—peoples.
tributions made by Radin to anthropological studies: The
Genetic Relationship of the North American Indian Languages
Radin was always equivocal about primitive religions. In
(Berkeley, Calif., 1919) and The Method and Theory of Eth-
Primitive Religion (1937) he argues for a Freudian explana-
nology: An Essay in Criticism (New York, 1933).
tion of religious concepts, and a “Marxist” awareness of the
STANLEY DIAMOND (1987)
potential for domination in religious establishments, but he
does not thereby deny the authenticity of a given faith
stripped down to its core. In his arguments, Radin clearly in-
dicates a belief in the irreducible universality of religious
RAËLIANS. The International Raëlian Movement is the
faith, which universality is an essentially phenomenological
world’s largest and best-known UFO religion. Head-
matter. On the other hand, he was fully aware of the exploit-
quartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the organization claims a
ative potential of all significant religious figures and move-
membership of approximately sixty-thousand in ninety
ments. These include the primitive shaman who could con-
countries. As of 2004, Japan was home to the most Raëlians,
ceivably dominate others through his peculiar capacity to
followed by France and Canada. The Raëlians achieved fame
evoke religious states. Nonetheless, as he makes clear in
(or notoriety) following the 2002 announcement of the birth
Primitive Man as Philosopher (1927), Radin did not imagine
of the world’s first human clone—a claim that was never
that structures of domination, as normally understood, could
proven.
be found in primitive societies. In fact, Radin’s sense of the
The International Raëlian Movement is an atheistic or-
comparative deficiencies of civilization is evident throughout
ganization that demands recognition as a religion. Raëlians
his work.
are atheists in that they deny the existence of God and of the
Radin brought to the study of religion a powerful sense
human soul, but they are religious in that they worship god-
of human fatality and historical contingency. It is probable
like extraterrestrials, and they participate in rituals designed
that his own personality, continuously shaped by a very
to link humans to their creators and to infinity. Raëlians call
broad understanding of human experience, led him to focus
these extraterrestrials Elohim, viewing them as loving creators
on the ambivalent figure of the trickster, which is given free
who will return to earth on or before the year 2035 to endow
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7597
the human race with advanced technology. The movement’s
During his trip to the Elohim’s planet, Raël was in-
two aims are to spread the message of humanity’s extraterres-
structed in a meditation awareness technique intended to ac-
trial origins and to build an embassy, landing field, and hotel
tivate one’s brain potential and develop one’s sensuality in
that will be used to welcome the Elohim upon their return
order to gain the capacity to feel connected to the infinite,
to earth.
and to feel infinite oneself. This technique is outlined in
Raël’s Sensual Meditation (1980), and it became a group
Raël, the founder and charismatic leader of this move-
meditation practice during the Raëlians’ monthly meetings.
ment, is French journalist and racecar driver Claude Voril-
On returning to earth, Raël established a political party in
hon, who was born in September 1946, near Vichy. Voril-
France called La Geniocratie, whose aim was to create a one-
hon has reported that he experienced a close encounter of the
world government in which leadership was based on intelli-
third kind on December 13, 1973, in the crater of an extinct
gence tests. This, coupled with the Raëlian symbol (a swasti-
volcano called Puy de Lassolas near Clermont-Ferrand in
ka inside a Star of David), led to fears that the Raëlians were
France. He claims a UFO descended through the mist, and
preaching a form of fascism, and many of the Raëlian leaders
that a childlike being emerged and invited him to come
were arrested, held for questioning, and had their documents
aboard. Over the next three days he was taught the true
seized. Raël responded by abandoning the group’s political
meaning of the Bible, a “scientific” interpretation that he
project.
outlines in his 1974 book, Le livre qui dit la vérité (The book
that tells the truth).
In 1976, dissatisfied with the direction of Madech’s ex-
ecutive, Raël orchestrated a schism, from whence emerged
According to the Raëlians, all life on Earth, including
the new Raëlian Movement, to which Raël added all the
human beings, was created scientifically through the manip-
building blocks of a viable religious movement: baptism,
ulation of DNA. This was accomplished by extraterrestrial
clergy, a system of values, annual festivals, and a meditation
beings, called the Elohim (singular, Eloha) in the original
ritual that induces altered states of consciousness.
Hebrew Bible, who were masters in genetic engineering. The
Raëlians believe the term Elohim was erroneously translated
In August 1998 the movement’s name was changed to
as God, and that it actually means “those who came from the
the “Raëlian Religion” in the United States, where they
sky.” Throughout the ages, the Elohim have sent thirty-nine
achieved legal recognition as a religion. A subsequent appli-
prophets to the earth, among them Moses, Muh:ammad,
cation to Canada’s Supreme Court for recognition as the
Buddha, and Joseph Smith. These prophets are born through
“Raëlian Church” was denied. According to the legal defini-
unions between an Eloha and a mortal woman chosen for
tion of a religion in Canada, Raëlianism did not qualify be-
her “virgin DNA.” One of the prophets, Jesus, foretold an
cause its “gods” were material beings with no transcendental
status.
epoch when truth would be revealed—the Age of Apoca-
lypse, from the Greek apocalypsis, meaning revelation. The
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE. Raëlian membership is di-
Raëlians believe that this epoch started on August 6, 1945,
vided into two levels. The committed core group, made up
with the explosion of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima,
of a hierarchy of guides, is called the Structure. More loosely
Japan. The Elohim decided that it was time to contact a final
affiliated members are called simply Raëlians; they must pay
messenger, Vorilhon, whom they renamed Raël (from Is-
an annual membership fee ($100 in Canada) and receive the
raël). The Elohim gave Raël the mission of spreading their
Raëlian newsletter, Apocalypse. New members must sign an
message worldwide. He was also responsible for building an
“act of apostasy,” which stipulates a renunciation of one’s
embassy, preferably in Israel, where the Elohim will descend
former religious beliefs, before they are eligible for initiation
in a mass landing with the thirty-nine prophets and will offi-
or baptism. Raëlian baptism, also called “the transmission of
cially meet with representatives of the world’s nations.
the cellular plan,” is a formal act whereby initiates recognize
the Elohim as their scientific, loving creators. Only adults
Raël founded Madech (Mouvement pour l’Accueil des
can become Raëlians; the movement strongly discourages in-
Elohim, Créateurs de l’Humanité; Movement for Welcom-
ducting children into any religion until they are old enough
ing the Elohim, Creators of Humanity) in 1974, which was
to understand it. New initiates are encouraged to sign a con-
actually more of a UFO club than a religious organization.
tract giving a local mortuary permission, upon their death,
Raël claims to have encountered the extraterrestrials again on
to remove one square centimeter of their frontal bone. This
October 7, 1975. This meeting is described in his second
is done in hope of eventual re-creation through the cloning
book, Les extra-terrestres m’ont ammené sur leur planête (Ex-
process. Thus, all Raëlians aspire to achieve physical immor-
traterrestrials took me to their planet; 1975), in which Raël
tality. These pieces of bone are stored in a bank vault in Ge-
reports that he was given the keys needed to enable humans
neva, Switzerland.
to fully blossom. He was also introduced to the mysteries of
cloning and watched his own double being formed in a vat.
The International Raëlian Movement, as well as affiliat-
The Elohim further taught him about their system of gov-
ed national organizations, are nonprofit and voluntary.
ernment, called geniocracy, an oligarchic meritocracy in
Members are encouraged, but not required, to pay a 10 per-
which geniuses rule.
cent tithe. The national membership tithe is 3 percent after
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7598
RAËLIANS
tax per annum, and the international membership tithe is 7
explained that the earth is just one particle of a gigantic being
percent of net income.
that itself is watching another sky. The particles that com-
pose atoms are themselves universes in which there are
The six levels in the Structure represent different stages
galaxies, stars, and planets with others living beings, ad
of responsibility: assistant animator, animator, assistant
infinitum.
guide, priest guide, bishop guide, and guide of guides (Raël
himself). The bishop guides have the power to reelect the
Raëlians believe that during this age of scientific revela-
guide of guides every seven years. A “council of the wise,”
tion, humanity will come to understand its true origin. Raël’s
composed of bishops, controls heresy and sanctions rule
theology holds that, with the Elohim’s guidance and human-
breakers. A “council of discipline” sanctions rule breakers
ity’s right choice, this age holds marvelous potentials: libera-
and promotes loyalty to the guides and allegiance to the
tion, power and immortality once the Elohim arrive (before
chain of command. The ethics committee handles the move-
2035) and bequeath to their creation scientific knowledge
ment’s business affairs. All members of the Structure are re-
that will enable humans to travel through space and colonize
quired to abstain from recreational drugs, alcohol, nicotine,
virgin planets in their image. Raël also argues that:
coffee, and tea out of concern for protecting the purity of the
Ethics is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conserva-
genetic code. Every summer Raël reviews the performance
tives and orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ig-
of the members of the Structure and promotes or demotes
norance and obscurantism, through the well tried fer-
them based on their level of harmony in three areas of life:
mentation of fear, the fear of science and new
philosophical, professional, and sensual.
technologies. On the contrary, let us embrace Science
and the new technologies, for it is these which will liber-
PRACTICES AND BELIEFS. The Raëlians are often portrayed
ate mankind from the myth of god, and free us from
as libertines due to an apparent antinomian streak in their
our age old fears, from disease, death and the sweat of
ritual nudity and sexual practices. However, Raël has forged
labor. (Rael 1987, p. 81)
a distinct ethical system that is strictly enforced, at least
among the members of the Structure. Raëlian values include
According to Raël, gender is an artificial construct because
absolute respect for life, self-respect and self-love, respecting
the Elohim designed men and women as biological robots
and tolerating differences (whether racial, ethnic, or philo-
programmed to give each other pleasure, and only inciden-
sophical), nonviolence, pacifism, equal distribution and shar-
tally to procreate. Raël emphasizes the essential androgyny
ing of resources, strict birth control, democracy, and respon-
of the human being and the fluidity of gender as a result of
sibility. The Raëlian Revolution (an alternative name for the
different combinations of X and Y chromosomes. Men and
group) aims to contribute to the conscience of humanity,
women are considered equal and indistinguishable in their
mobilizing individuals and groups to action for positive
intelligence, abilities, and emotional makeup. Raël con-
changes—anything that improves human freedom, rights,
demns the marriage contract as a proclamation of ownership
and justice among individuals, minorities, or majorities.
of a person, and he argues that “when one has signed a con-
tract one feels like a prisoner, forced to love and sooner or
Raëlians celebrate four festivals during the year, occa-
later each one begins to hate the other” (Rael 1978, p.285).
sions where baptisms are performed. The Raëlian calendar
begins on August 6, 1945, in commemoration of the Hiro-
Raëlians favor short-term, spontaneous sexual relation-
shima bombing. Raël’s two close encounters are celebrated
ships, although free choice is strongly emphasized. Homo-
annually on October 7 and December 13. In addition, the
sexual relationships are respected, and homosexual experi-
Elohim’s scientific creation of the first humans (Adam and
mentation is encouraged. Raël advises members to postpone
Eve) in a lab on earth is commemorated on the first Sunday
parenthood, and for those who aspire to be cloned, to forgo
in April.
reproduction altogether. It is rare to find new parents among
the members of the Structure. Women can attain the high
Members also participate in Awakening seminars held
ranks of priests and bishops, although women are generally
every year on every continent. These seminars present the
outnumbered by men at the higher echelons of the Structure.
teaching of the instruction manual given by the Elohim on
Still, Raël announced in January 2003 that his successor will
how to awaken one’s potential, open one’s mind, and lead
be a woman—Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, a Raëlian bishop.
a happy and fulfilled life. Seminars feature daily lectures, sen-
The status of women within the organization changed
sual meditation, one-day fasting, nonmandatory nudity, sen-
profoundly in July 1998 when Raël announced his latest rev-
sory awareness exercises, and an evening cabaret featuring
elation at the Raëlian summer camp, held that year at Val-
artists from all over the world. A second seminar follows for
court in Quebec. Raël reported that the Elohim had asked
those who wish to become part of the Structure and earn a
him to create an “Order of Raël’s Angels,” a cadre of beauti-
level of responsibility within the organization.
ful women, trained by Raël to act as hostesses to the Elohim
Raëlians believe that there are infinite levels of life. The
and the thirty-nine prophets, in preparation for their land-
infinitely “large matter” of which humans are a part (the
ing. Two ranks of Angels were created, Pink Angels and
planets, stars, and galaxies) is similar to the infinitely “small
White Angels, distinguishable by pink or white feathers on
matter” (atoms, quarks) that people are made of. The Elohim
their necklaces. Pink Angels reserved their sexuality for the
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RAËLIANS
7599
Elohim, although they could have sex with Raël and with
midst. Raël asked Boisselier to build a “babytron,” in which
each other. White Angels were permitted to have other lov-
cloned babies can be placed to undergo accelerated growth,
ers, and their role was to act as missionaries to bring more
a technology he claimed was developed by the Elohim thou-
women into the movement.
sands of years ago.
Unlike many new religious movements, the Raëlian
THE EMBASSY. Raël receives ongoing revelations from the El-
Movement has always courted the attention of the media.
ohim, which he experiences as voices or as dictated messages
The Raëlians even established a “Planetary Week,” to be held
that he receives through his hand. In October 1991 the
every April, to publicize what Raëlianism stands for. Raëlians
Raëlian Movement sent out letters to every Israeli embassy
have demonstrated against nuclear testing and in support of
in the world demanding that a plot of land in Jerusalem be
such issues as gay rights and genetically modified foods.
provided for the construction of the “embassy,” otherwise
Raëlians have also long supported genetic engineering. But
the Elohim would withdraw their protection of the Jewish
by far the Raëlians’ best-known platform has been their sup-
people. In a stern warning to the State of Israel, Raël claimed
port of efforts to clone human beings.
that “the Age of Apocalypse has arrived. The long-awaited
messiah has come. The fate of Israel is in your hands.” Ac-
CLONING EFFORTS. On March 9, 1997, shortly after the
cording to Raëlianism, the sole purpose of Israel is to recog-
successful cloning of a sheep by Ian Wilmut in Scotland,
nize the messiah (Raël) and build an embassy (the third tem-
Raël announced the creation of Valiant Venture, through
ple) to welcome the Elohim and all the prophets of old. The
which the Raëlians hoped to mobilize potential investors,
letter claimed that if the people of Israel do not abide by the
customers, and scientists interested in cloning projects. Later
Elohim’s request, Israel will disappear.
that year, Raël announced his creation of a company called
In 1990 Raël received permission from the Elohim to
Clonaid at the Las Vegas Hilton. Pope John Paul II had is-
change the swastika in the movement’s symbol to a more am-
sued a statement condemning cloning as against the will of
biguous, swirling, daisylike form. This was an expression of
God, and in defiance of the pope, Raël set up a company to
respect for the victims of the Holocaust and an attempt to
promote cloning and facilitate access to this technology
improve the prospect of obtaining land in Israel. Since 1991,
when it became available. Clonaid hired a team of geneti-
the Raëlian Movement has repeatedly asked the Israeli gov-
cists, biologists and in vitro fertilization specialists, whose
ernment and the chief rabbis in Jerusalem to grant them in-
main goal was to offer reproductive human cloning on a
ternational neutral territory upon which to build the embas-
worldwide basis to infertile couples, homosexual couples,
sy, but as of 2004 there had been no positive response. In
people infected with the HIV virus, and families who had
December 1997 the Elohim told Raël that he could address
lost a beloved family member. Clonaid also offered a range
his request of extraterritoriality to other countries.
of cloning-related services with such names as Insureaclone,
Ovulaid, and Clonapet, and proposed to cultivate personal
SEE ALSO UFO Religions.
stem cells for customers. Raël handed directorship of the
Clonaid project to Boisselier, who holds doctoral degrees in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
both physical chemistry and analytical chemistry.
Vorilhon, Claude. Le livre qui dit la vérité. Vaduz, Liechtenstein,
1974.
In March 2001, Raël and Boisselier testified at a hearing
Vorilhon, Claude. Les extra-terrestres m’ont amené sur leur planête.
on human cloning held by the United States House Energy
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, 1975.
and Commerce Committee. In December 2002 Boisselier
Vorilhon, Claude. La géniocratie. Brantome, France, 1977.
announced at a televised press conference in Hollywood,
Florida, that the first cloned human baby girl was born; her
Vorilhon, Claude. Accueiller les ectar-terrestres. Vaduz, Liechten-
name was Eve. Boisselier later announced the births of four
stein, 1979.
other cloned babies and claimed that twenty more were on
Vorilhon, Claude. La méditation sensuelle. Montreal, Quebec,
the way. The journalist Michael Guillen was prepared to
1980.
oversee an international team of scientists who would test the
Vorilhon, Claude. Oui au clonage humain: La vie eternelle grâce à
newborn Eve, but ultimately Boisselier claimed that the par-
la science. Montreal, Quebec, 2001.
ents had moved to Israel and wished to maintain the baby’s
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anonymity. Bernard Siegel, a Miami attorney, filed a suit to
Palmer, Susan J. “Woman as Playmate in the Raelian Movement:
place the child under the protection of the state so that her
Power and Pantagamy in a New Religion.” Syzygy: Journal
health could be safeguarded. At a subsequent hearing,
of Alternative Religion and Culture 1, no. 3 (1992): 227–245.
Clonaid vice president Thomas Kaenzig admitted that
Palmer, Susan J. “Women in the Raelian Movement: New Reli-
Clonaid was not registered as a company and that he knew
gious Experiments in Gender and Authority.” In The Gods
only what Boisselier told him about the baby. Boisselier then
Have Landed, edited by James Lewis, pp. 105–136. New
admitted that she had only seen a videotape of the baby. Al-
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though the media and scientific establishment have dis-
Palmer, Susan J. “The Raelian Movement International.” In New
missed Clonaid’s claim to have cloned a human as a hoax,
Religions in the New Europe, edited by Robert Towler,
Raëlians continue to believe that there are clones in our
pp. 194–210. Aarhus, Denmark, 1995.
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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RAHNER, KARL
Palmer, Susan J. “The Raelians Are Coming: The Future of a
When the Nazis closed the Innsbruck faculty in 1938,
UFO Religion.” In Religion in a Changing World, edited by
Rahner moved to Vienna and served at the Pastoral Institute
Madeleine Cousineau, pp.139–146. Westport, Conn., 1998.
until 1944. From 1945 to 1948 he taught theology under
Palmer, Susan J. “I Raeliani.” In Collana religioni e movimenti, ed-
straitened circumstances at Pullach bei München. Returning
ited by Massimo Introvigne. Torino, Italy, 2000.
to Innsbruck in 1949, he was responsible for courses on grace
SUSAN J. PALMER (2005)
and the sacrament of penance, topics that shaped his thought
for the rest of his life. Rooted in the experience of grace as
God’s mysterious self-communication, Rahner’s thought
RAHNER, KARL (1904–1984) was the most prolific
broke new ground in a whole range of areas: for example, the
and influential Catholic theologian of the twentieth century.
biblical understanding of God; current problems in Christol-
Rahner’s bibliography comprises more than four thousand
ogy, nature, and grace; the human condition after original
entries. Writing primarily as a dogmatic theologian, he also
sin; human dignity and freedom; the meaning of church
addressed philosophical, historical, pastoral, and spiritual
membership; existential ethics; and the pastoral situation of
questions. His work as a whole may be summarized as theo-
the church. His major essays were collected from this time
logical anthropology, correlating human experience and
on in a multivolume collection, Schriften zur Theologie
God’s self-communication. His method is most often de-
(1954–1984).
scribed as transcendental, inasmuch as it seeks to discover the
conditions of possibility for divine salvific action, but it also
Already in Hörer des Wortes it was clear that Rahner was
has an inseparable historical dimension, inasmuch as the hu-
developing a philosophy of religion on the assumption that
manity addressed by God’s word and presence is understood
Christian revelation had occurred, and in order to make
as always situated in a temporal world. Indeed, it may be
plausible how that was possible. A theologian of grace and
even more accurate to see Rahner as a Catholic dialectical
reconciliation, he engaged in extensive positive research, as
theologian whose career was marked not only by personal re-
is made abundantly clear in Schriften, vol. 11 (1973), with
sponse to the religious issues of his day but also by an endur-
his historical essays on penance in the early church. But the
ing effort to conceive human history as destined for eternal
special creativity of his writing showed itself in his efforts to
communion with God, achieved through the course of time.
correlate the circumstances of particular experience with the
permanent “existentials” of the human condition. This inter-
Born and raised in Freiburg im Breisgau, Rahner en-
relation of historical and transcendental moments was evi-
tered the Society of Jesus in 1922. During his education in
dent as well in the prodigious editorial labors that began in
the Jesuit order he developed an Ignatian spirituality of
his early Innsbruck years and continued with the publication
“seeking God in all things.” His formal philosophical (1924–
of four editions of Denzinger’s Enchiridion Symbolorum
1927) and theological (1929–1933) studies were shaped
(1952–1957) and seven editions of Der Glaube der Kirche in
largely by the neoscholastic revival; but through the writings
den Urkunden der Lehrverkündigung (1948–1965).
of the Belgian Jesuit Joseph Maréchal he entered into philo-
sophical conversation with Immanuel Kant and later with
Building on the early Innsbruck period came a second
G. W. F. Hegel and German Idealism. To these general in-
phase of Rahner’s thought, during which he was coeditor of
fluences on his thought must be added his intensive reading
the second edition of the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche
in patristic sources and in medieval mysticism. Ordained a
(1957–1965) and a leading figure in the preparation and
priest in 1932, Rahner concluded his basic theological pro-
course of the Second Vatican Council (despite efforts to dis-
gram the following year and then pursued a further year of
qualify his participation). His retrieval and renewal of tradi-
pastoral and ascetic studies (the Jesuit tertianship).
tion in light of contemporary perspectives had previously
In 1934 Rahner began a doctoral program in philoso-
been achieved largely through pressing particular questions
phy at the University of Freiburg, where he attended Martin
against the background of School Theology. Now he drew
Heidegger’s seminars. His doctoral dissertation, a modern re-
out the consequences of these studies and began to speak
trieval of Thomas Aquinas’s theory of knowledge, centered
more programmatically of a theological anthropology en-
on the theme of conversio ad phantasma (conversion to the
compassing the history of a world whose call to union with
phantasm) as the ground of all human knowledge, and it
God (the “supernatural existential”) evokes transcendental
conceived human existence fundamentally as “spirit in
reflection on the structural possibilities for such salvation. In
world.” When his director rejected the thesis as insufficiently
powerful essays on mystery, incarnation, theology of symbol,
traditional (it was published in 1939 as Geist in Welt), Rah-
and hermeneutics of eschatological assertions, collected in
ner left for Innsbruck. After quickly completing a theological
Schriften, vol. 4 (1960), Rahner developed his analogy of
doctorate and habilitation, he began in 1937 to teach dog-
transcendence. Facing questions posed by evolutionary sci-
matic theology. From those first years came an eloquent
ence, the great world religions, and utopian views of the fu-
book of meditations, Worte ins Schweigen (1938), and also
ture, other major essays in Schriften, vol. 5 (1962), present
the publication of his Salzburg summer lectures on human
the scope of the divine salvific will in more comprehensive
history as the place where God’s self-revelation must be
terms and argue for the coextension of salvation history and
sought, Hörer des Wortes (1941).
the history of the world. Corresponding to the council’s ec-
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RAHNER, KARL
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clesiological focus, Schriften, vol. 6 (1966), collects papers
of a historical Christology, in the proposal of a “universal
that present a dialogue with secularized, pluralistic society
pneumatology” that might precede Christology, in pleas for
and seek to express the Christian church’s new self-
ecumenical seriousness, and in arguments for a truly world
understanding in it. Earlier, Rahner had published a large
church.
collection of essays in pastoral theology (Sendung und Gnade,
In these last years of his life Rahner was newly con-
1959). He gathered a new collection of essays in spirituality
cerned with addressing the mounting relativism and skepti-
(Schriften, vol. 7, 1967), and in 1962 he cooperated in draft-
cism he saw about him. In addition, the writings of this last
ing a plan for the Handbuch der Pastoraltheologie, which sub-
phase show how thoroughly dialectical his thought was, as
sequently appeared in five volumes between 1964 and 1972,
it sought to mediate between opposed positions in either
with Rahner as one of its editors.
doctrine or morals, to speak of the fruitful tension between
In 1964 Rahner succeeded Romano Guardini in the
permanent polarities of historical existence, and, above all,
chair of Christian Weltanschauung at the University of Mu-
to understand the relation between continuity and disconti-
nich. As it became apparent that he would not be allowed
nuity through the passage of time.
to direct doctoral students in theology, he accepted in 1967
Rahner’s future influence will depend largely on how ef-
a call to the University of Münster, where he taught until his
fectively his students and readers will be able to draw on his
retirement in 1971. In these first years of Vatican II’s recep-
thinking for a continuing dialogue with scientific and tech-
tion within Catholicism, criticism of Rahner’s thought grew
nological culture, the social sciences, and narrative and sym-
in various quarters. Concerned with fidelity to the tradition
bolic modes of discourse. It remains to be seen how a more
and to Christian symbolism, some writers, for example,
biblically imagined, historically diverse, and socially respon-
Hans Urs von Balthasar, accused him of anthropological re-
sible theology will appropriate his legacy. Many who knew
ductionism. Others, especially his former student J.-B. Metz,
him would insist that the personal witness of his life will
drew back from what they considered an individualistic, ide-
surely endure alongside the remarkably elastic architecture of
alistic existentialism. Rahner took the second critique more
his thought.
seriously and gave new emphasis to the historical concrete-
ness of Christianity and its social responsibility. Renewing
BIBLIOGRAPHY
the dialectic of unity in difference with which he had from
For a complete, chronological listing of Rahner’s publications, see
the beginning sought to understand time in its openness to
Bibliographie Karl Rahner: 1924–1969, edited by Roman
eternity, he addressed basic conciliar themes with a deepened
Bleistein and Elmar Klinger (Freiburg, 1969); Bibliographie
sense of faith’s constructive participation in its secular con-
Karl Rahner: 1969–1974, edited by Roman Bleistein (Frei-
text. Schriften, vols. 8, 9, and 10 (1967, 1970, 1972), calls
burg, 1974); “Bibliographie Karl Rahner: 1974–1979,” com-
for a new understanding of Jesus of Nazareth as the human
piled by P. Imhof and H. Treziak, in Wagnis Theologie, ed-
way to God (“Christology from below”) and reform of the
ited by Herbert Vorgrimler (Freiburg, 1979), pp. 579–97;
church in the direction of a declericalized, more democratic,
and “Bibliographie Karl Rahner: 1979–1984,” compiled by
and socially critical community of service. Meanwhile Rah-
P. Imhof and E. Meuser, in Glaube im Prozess, 2d ed., edited
by Elmar Klinger and Klaus Wittelstadt (Freiburg, 1984),
ner had undertaken additional editorial responsibilities for
pp. 854–871.
the four volumes of Sacramentum Mundi (1967–1969) and
for Concilium (1965–).
The core of Rahner’s work is in his Schriften zur Theologie, 16 vols.
(Einsiedeln and Zurich, 1954–1984), of which fourteen vol-
During the first years of Rahner’s retirement in Munich,
umes have been published in English as Theological Investiga-
his major project was the preparation of his Grundkurs des
tions, 20 vols. to date (New York, 1961–). Outstanding ex-
Glaubens (1976), an introduction to the idea of Christianity.
amples of his spiritual writing can be found in Worte ins
While not intended as a complete systematic theology, the
Schweigen (Leipzig, 1938), translated as Encounters with Si-
book does present many of his basic positions on the central
lence (Westminster, Md., 1960), and in Von der Not und dem
Segen des Gebetes, 4th ed. (Innsbruck, 1949), translated as On
topics of Christian doctrine and has commonly been seen as
Prayer (New York, 1958). Key essays on charismatic gifts and
a summation of his thought.
existential decision are in Das Dynamische in der Kirche (Frei-
In the last years of his life Rahner continued to lecture
burg, 1958), translated as The Dynamic Element in the
and write vigorously. Four further volumes of the Schriften
Church (New York, 1964). The major late work is Grundkurs
des Glaubens: Einführung in den Begriff des Christentums
were published (vols. 13–16: 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984), two
(Freiburg, 1976), translated as Foundations of Christian
while he was still living in Munich, two more after his final
Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity (New York,
retirement to Innsbruck in 1981. They were accompanied
1978). Karl Lehmann and Albert Raffelt have edited a fine
by numerous smaller works and several anthologies, one of
anthology of Rahner’s spiritual writings in Praxis des Glau-
which, Praxis des Glaubens (1982), may also serve as a general
bens (Freiburg, 1982), translated as The Practice of Faith
introduction to its author’s thought. These later years are
(New York, 1983).
again of a piece with the whole career and include familiar
For further biographical information and commentary, see Her-
themes as well as considerable repetition. Nevertheless, some
bert Vorgrimler’s Karl Rahner: His Life, Thought and Works
significant developments occur here too: in the consolidation
(London, 1966) and my collection of studies entitled A
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
7602
RAIN
World of Grace: An Introduction to the Themes and Founda-
water. In the R:gveda, the god Varun:a proclaims, “I made to
tions of Karl Rahner’s Theology (New York, 1980).
flow the moisture-shedding waters”; in the Vendidad, Ahura
Mazda¯ pledges to “rain down upon the earth to bring food
LEO J. O’DONOVAN (1987)
to the faithful and fodder to the beneficent cow”; in the
QurDa¯n, Alla¯h is described as “he who created the heavens
and earth and sent down for you out of heaven water.” The
RAIN. The symbolism of rain derives from its correlation
Persians conceived the tree of life as rising from a lake of rain,
with the sacred substance water, a universal metaphor for the
its seeds mingling with the water to maintain the earth’s fer-
origin and renewal of life. The primacy and awesome mys-
tility. A common saying among the ancient Greeks when
tery of natural phenomena for early humans, and his vital de-
rain fell was “The Father [heaven] is pressing grapes.” Both
pendence on their manifestations, are reflected in the human
tribal rain gods and a national rain spirit were propitiated by
exaltation of rain as a supreme creative power and intermedi-
the Burmese.
ary between heaven and earth. In the seasonal revival of na-
ture and the infusion of new life, rain was seen as the dispens-
A dominant theme in universal mythology is the celes-
er of divine grace and plenty, the promise of survival; in the
tial marriage between Heaven and Earth, or between the
periodic destruction wrought by storms and floods, as the
fructifying sky god and fecund earth goddess. Rites and festi-
agent of divine retribution and disaster, the threat of annihi-
vals of the seasonal fertilization of the earth by the penetrat-
lation. Rain signified the descent of heavenly influences upon
ing rains have been celebrated since Neolithic times, when
the earth; at times the gods themselves descended in rain or
the correlations of rain and serpent, woman and vegetation,
spoke in the thunder. Like the sun’s rays, “the rain from
and death and rebirth were integrated into the complex of
heaven” (Gn. 8:2) was cognate to light, illumination.
lunar symbolism. The union of the divine couple was the ar-
chetypal image of fruitfulness. Speaking in the storm, the Su-
The sacrality of sky and the supremacy of rain deities
merian high god called himself the “fecund seed.” Homer de-
are fundamental elements in the structure of the myths and
scribed the conjugal couch where Zeus lay with his spouse
religions of archaic peoples. As the “most high,” sky gods
on Mount Ida as covered with a cloud from which rain fell,
were assimilated to transcendence, their very names often
and Aeschylus wrote, “Rain impregnates the earth so that she
connoting elevation. The Mesopotamian hieroglyph for
gives birth to plants and grains.” Birth and its attendant dan-
“height” or “transcendence of space” also meant “rainy sky,”
gers are symbolized by a great storm in Vergil’s Aeneid. In
and thus linguistically linked rain to divinity. Baal, the chief
many of the prayers and tribal myths of North American In-
god of the Syro-Palestinian nomads, was called “rider of the
dians, the gentle rain is called “female” and the pelting rain
clouds” and was worshiped as the dispenser of fertility. When
“male.”
the Israelites reached Canaan and their prophets condemned
the widespread cult of fertility gods, a conflict arose be-
Rites to ensure rain and fertility had their origin in re-
tween the worshipers of Baal and those faithful to Yahveh.
mote antiquity and have been observed throughout the
The ancient Hebrews conceived of rain as a reservoir of trea-
world. At the lower stages of civilization, sorcery and magical
sure in heaven, a benison bestowed in return for loving God
charms related to imitative or sympathetic magic were em-
and obeying his law, and withheld as retribution for sin. In
ployed by shamans to evoke rain; later, prayer and sacrifice
times of abundance, the Israelites were drawn to the fertility
were combined with magico-religious rituals. A rain sacrifice
gods, and the Lord’s promise to Moses, “Behold, I will rain
rock painting from the Rusape district of Zimbabwe, now
bread from heaven for you” (Ex. 16:4), was forgotten. In the
in the Frobenius Institut in Frankfurt, depicts a man stand-
New Testament, rain is the symbol of joy and fruition, the
ing with hands uplifted as if conjuring heaven, a female fig-
answer to prayer from a loving Father in heaven who sends
ure lying under a tree, and another bending forward above
rain on the just and the unjust alike.
falling rain. Rainmakers were the most important members
of the community and exerted enormous authority over the
The life-renewing, life-sustaining powers of rain have
group. There is reason to believe that both chieftainship and
been personified in the pantheons of both primitive and
kingship stemmed from the powerful position of the sha-
higher religions. Worship of rain gods as symbols of fertility
man. Ramses II of Egypt was credited with the faculty of
prevailed in the East, among the main branches of Aryan
rainmaking. The Zand Avesta, the Pahlavi translation of the
stock in early Europe, and in parts of Africa, Oceania, and
Avesta with added commentaries, states that Ahura Mazda¯
the Americas; and many, like the Maya god Chac, were be-
(Pahl., O
¯ hrmazd) would raise the dead on the first day of the
lieved to be the creator of all things. The Mesoamerican
New Year with libations and purifications by water to ensure
moon god whose name meant “I am the dew of the heavens,
rain. Saints, especially in desert lands, were often reputed to
I am the dew of the clouds” was the father of gods as well
be rainmakers, and the lives of Muslim saints abound with
as of humans, and represented death and resurrection.
such miracles. The offices of the rainmaker are recorded
The perennial, universal aspiration for rain is reflected
among the Vedic rites of remote antiquity, where the sacred
in all traditions in the divine promises recorded in their sa-
drink soma is called “son of the rain god.” Water libations
cred texts. Every Egyptian god was in some way related to
were celebrated by ancient Jewry as a so-called rain charm.
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
RAIN
7603
At the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, the priest per-
tribes depicted aquatic animals and symbolic rain clouds on
formed the ritual mixture of wine with water from the Pool
their sand altars, half circles from which vertical lines de-
of Siloam to induce rain. At a later period, Orthodox Jews
pended as rain. An important feature of these rites was the
practiced a rain charm that may have had its origin in fertility
bull-roarer, a sacred instrument that simulated the sound of
rites: As they recited the names of the Ten Plagues of Egypt
thunder and was originally used in primitive initiations and
at the Seder on Passover eve, a few drops of water were
Greek mystery ceremonies to represent the voice of God.
poured into a jar of wine and the mixture was cast upon the
Many of the peoples of Africa and Oceania believed that
ground in front of the house. In Greece, after the participants
their gods spoke in the thunder. In the rites of the Oglala
in the Eleusinian mysteries had been purified by water, they
Lakota Indians, the water in the sweat lodge represented the
cried out, “Let there be rain! Be fruitful!”
thunder beings, fearsome powers that tested the warriors’
strength and endurance and brought them the blessings of
According to the Chinese doctrine of “like to like,” sim-
purification.
ilar things summon one another, which implies that the
dragon, traditionally associated with rain, generates rain. Ev-
Rain accompanied by a thunderbolt symbolizes power
idence of rainmaking magic on oracle bones attests to the an-
or energy. In the form of a double trident, the thunderbolt
tiquity of such beliefs. The Li ji (Record of rites) from the
is prominent in representations of the gods of ancient Sumer,
first century BCE chronicles the practice of ritual nakedness,
Babylonia, Assyria, and Akkad. The Etruscan doctrine of
a magic formula continued into late Chinese history in
thunderbolts related eleven different kinds of thunder to the
which even Confucian officials participated in time of
powers of eleven gods. The synthesis of a sun god and a
drought. Buddhist priests poured water into little holes in
storm god connotes the energy of the pairs of opposites. An
the temple floor to symbolize rain going into the earth. Rain-
Assyrian sun god with a thunderbolt, believed to be the na-
making spells are mentioned in su¯tras of 230 BCE.
tional deity Assur, is depicted on an alabaster wall panel from
In many parts of the East, the custom of immersing the
the palace of Ashurnasirpal II (c. 850 BCE), now in the British
fertility goddess, and in Europe the rite of drenching the
Museum. The Hebrew god Yahveh unites traits of both
Corn Mother, reflect earlier practices of sacrificing human
storm and solar god, as does Zeus, who destroyed the Titans
victims to induce rain. In Mesoamerica, small children and
with his thunderbolt. His Roman counterpart was believed
birds were sacrificed to propitiate rain gods, and on the occa-
to descend in the form of a thunderbolt and is represented
sion of the Itzamna festival in March the hearts of certain
on the Antonine column as the rain god Jupiter Pluvius hov-
species of wild animals were immolated. A custom among
ering over the Roman legions with outspread wings and rain-
the Arabs of North Africa was to throw a holy man into a
ing down his power upon them. This same synthesis pertains
spring to end a drought, and in Russia to drench a priest or
to the prehistoric Peruvian deity Viracocha, universal father
the figure of a saint for the same purpose. In societies where
and creator of all things, who as a rain god is depicted with
blood was assimilated to water, as in Abyssinia (ancient Ethi-
a thunderbolt in each hand, his head surrounded by a rayed
opia), human blood was the oblation offered to rain spirits.
solar disk and his eyes shedding tears of life-renewing rain.
In Java, men whipped one another to draw blood, the sym-
The names of the Teutonic and Scandinavian war gods
bolic equivalent of rain.
(Óðinn, Þórr, Donar, etc.) all mean “thunder.”
A milder form of rain magic was the sprinkling or scat-
Lightning symbolizes the action of the higher realm
tering of water. In Lithuania, when rain was needed, people
upon the lower, and in every culture has been assimilated ei-
sprinkled themselves with water as they stood facing the sun
ther to a god, his weapon, or the manifestation of his sover-
at their morning prayers. The Celtic priests, the druids, bear-
eignty. At times, lightning has been construed as the salutary
ing the image of a saint, led a procession to a sacred spring
arrow of a god bringing deliverance or illumination to hu-
or well where water was sprinkled over special stones, which
mankind, as when Mithra, the Persian god of light, pierced
were then tossed into the air to fall to earth like rain. Pausani-
a rock with his arrow to end a drought by freeing the waters;
us left a description of the priests of Lycaean Zeus sacrificing
at others, as the portent of his wrath or retribution. The
an oak branch to a spring in time of drought, and the wizards
lightning of the Vedic god Indra split the head of the dragon
of New Guinea and Siberia dipped branches into water and
Vr:tra, demon of drought, to release the waters obstructed by
scattered the drops. Northern Dravidian tribes held an “um-
him and regenerate the world, which had been made a waste-
brella feast” at the critical period of transplanting the rice
land. The storm god Rudra and his sons the Maruts, who
crop, and Australian tribes performed ceremonial dances and
shared the dual powers of their benign and destructive father,
songs around a pool to call down rain.
wielded their lightning bolts both to slay and to heal. The
lightning god of the Indonesians was venerated as a supreme
Rain dances figured prominently among American In-
deity.
dian tribes. The Omaha, members of a sacred buffalo society,
filled vessels with water before they danced. Buffalo-head rit-
In the Hindu-Buddhist notion of the forms of divine
uals were performed by the Plains and Woodland tribes
manifestation, the vajra, lightning or thunderbolt, symbol-
when rain was lacking, and the Shawnee dipped a buffalo tail
izes the mystic, divine energy and the adamantine weapon
in water and shook it to bring rain. The Hopi and Zuni
of truth. As the invincible force in the sphere of transcenden-
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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RAIN
tal reality, the vajra is the illusion-shattering light of spiritual
Egyptian sky mother Nut is depicted on coffins and papyri
illumination, which links the grace flowing into the world
arced over the earth like a rainbow to signify the creation of
from the sun with the energy of the lightning bolt. In Bud-
the world. A representation of this figure is in the Egyptian
dhist iconography, the vajra is an emblem of the spiritual
Museum in Turin. A rainbow goddess in the identical pos-
power of Buddhahood, an image of which is the solar Bud-
ture appears in Navajo Indian sand paintings made to effect
dha, Vairocana, encircled by the halo of his emanations. The
cures.
double trident wand carried by Buddhist monks is a form
Like all sky phenomena, rainbows possess an ominous
of the vajra. In early Tantrism, in which magic and science
aspect, but for the most part have been regarded as an auspi-
were inseparable, the Vajraya¯na, doctrine of the “way of the
cious omen. An arc of light between earth and sky, the rain-
thunderbolt,” related to a form of electric energy.
bow is a perennial symbol of the bridge linking the material
Rain clouds and thunderstorms symbolized celestial ac-
world to Paradise and making possible communication be-
tivity in ancient China, and lightning was regarded with the
tween them. The rainbow was the path to the gods for the
same awe as were the thunderbolts of rain gods in other cul-
Mesopotamian, Indian, Japanese, and Hebrew peoples; for
tures. Shen, the pictogram for lightning, signifies divinity
the Nordic peoples, it was the Bifrost, the “tremulous way”
and the operation of the expansive forces. When the thunder
to Ásgarðr; in the Greco-Roman world, it was a sign from
ceases and rain ends, it is the work of demons and the con-
Zeus. To the Pygmies of equatorial Africa, the rainbow was
tractive forces. These opposing forces symbolize two facets
a sign of the god’s desire to communicate with them, and
of the human spirit, the one ascending in life, the other de-
to the American Indian, it was the ladder affording access to
scending in death. In the Book of Changes, the trigram zhen,
the other world. The heroes of Polynesian and Hawaiian
the Arousing, is the image of thunder and signifies tension
myths ascend the rainbow in order to deliver the souls of the
resolved after the cloudburst, nature refreshed, deliverance.
dead to Paradise. Often construed as a prophetic sign or por-
According to the Li ji, only when the two opposing forces
tent of blessings when appearing in the sky after a storm or
of yin and yang are in proper harmony will the beneficent
flood, rainbows denote God’s appeasement and reconcilia-
rains fall, and when they fail to come, yin must be activated.
tion to humankind. Sealing his bond with Noah, God de-
clared, “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a
As a symbol of purification and redemption, rain is asso-
token of a covenant between me and the earth” (Gn. 9:13).
ciated with the dissolving and washing away of sin, followed
As a symbol of transfiguration and heavenly glory, rainbows
by rebirth and renewal. Every torrential rainfall bears the im-
are associated with the nimbus, aureole, halo, and mandorla
plication of the archetypal flood, the creation destroyed by
surrounding the body of a god or saint. In Buddhism, the
its creator, and humankind submerged in an initiatory ordeal
rainbow symbolizes the highest state attainable in the realm
or cosmic baptism preliminary to redemption and regenera-
of sam:sa¯ra before attaining to the clear light of nirva¯n:a, and
tion. The concept of a cataclysmic inundation of the world
in Hinduism, the “rainbow body” is the highest yoga state.
is found in myths of every part of the world except Egypt
The rainbow is depicted in Christian art as the Lord’s throne,
and Japan, and only rarely in Africa. The two major interpre-
and in scenes of the Last Judgment, Christ is frequently por-
tations of the Deluge reflect two ways of relating to the uni-
trayed seated on a rainbow. In the Revelation to John in the
verse. The first, for which the early Mesopotamian Epic of
New Testament, when the door opened in Heaven, “there
Gilgamesh is the model, characterizes humanity’s identity
was a rainbow round about the throne” (Rv. 4:3).
with a wholly impersonal universe controlled by the cosmic
rhythm or recurrent cycle of the manifestation and disap-
SEE ALSO Meteorological Beings; Water.
pearance of the world at the turn of every aeon. Engulfing
rains alternate with a world drought in the Hindu myth in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
which Vis:n:u rescues humanity by becoming first the sun,
Allen, Don Cameron. Mysteriously Meant: The Rediscovery of
Pagan Symbolism and Allegorical Interpretation in the Renais-
then wind, then fire, and finally a great cloud from which
sance. Baltimore, 1970. An exhaustive conspectus of inter-
fall the restorative rains. The second concept, exemplified in
pretations by Renaissance authors of symbol, myth, and alle-
the biblical story of Noah, represents the flood sent by God
gory in ancient Egypt and in pagan writers of classical
as a punishment for humanity’s sins and expresses the Semit-
antiquity. Includes an extensive bibliography.
ic dissociation from, and guilt toward, God, with the impli-
Morley, Sylvanus Griswold. The Ancient Maya. 3d ed. Revised by
cation of free will.
George W. Brainerd. Stanford, Calif., 1956. A comprehen-
sive account of the benevolent and malevolent rain gods and
No other natural phenomenon has been so universally
their personification of the struggle between good and evil
associated with the Holy Spirit as the rainbow, which on
in the dualistic Maya religion.
every continent has been the emblem of some aspect of
Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 2, History
human spiritual life, or some stage in the development of
of Scientific Thought. Cambridge, 1956. A fully documented
human consciousness. From the myths of Paleolithic and
account of the correlations in Chinese thought of the sym-
Neolithic peoples to the aborigines of Oceania and the
bolic forms in Daoism and Tantrism as they relate to the pos-
Americas, the rainbow has been equated with the celestial
itive and negative aspects of rain and the balance of energy
serpent, the Great Father, the creator, or fertility god. The
in the yin-yang system.
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
RAINBOW SNAKE
7605
Pettazzoni, Rafaele. Dio: L’essere celeste nelle credenze dei popoli
Actual pearl shells from the northwest coast of Western
primitivi. Rome, 1922. A history of the symbolism of rain,
Australia, some engraved with water and rain designs, were
and of the sky and storm gods, in the belief systems of early
also associated with Rainbow Snakes. Used in initiation and
peoples of Africa and Australia.
in rainmaking rites, they were (and are) passed on along rec-
Reichard, Gladys A. Navajo Religion: A Study of Symbolism. 2 vols.
ognized trade routes, eastward well beyond the Victoria
New York, 1950. Both volumes are relevant: vol. 1, An Inves-
River district and south to the Great Australian Bight.
tigation of Symbolism in Navajo Rain Ceremonies; vol. 2, Sym-
bols in the Sandpaintings of the Rainbow Guardians.
During the wet season (the cyclone season), the north-
west coast is subject to monsoon storms that deluge the
Sébillot, Paul. Le folklore de France, vol. 2. Paris, 1905. A valuable
whole north coast across to northern and eastern Queens-
survey of rainmaking rites in southern France from pagan to
land. Rainbow Snake and other Snake stories are especially
modern times.
common throughout these potential flood areas. The Rain-
ANN DUNNIGAN (1987)
bow Snake of arid zones, known as Wonambi, Wanambi,
and other names, is dangerous and powerful, but less dramat-
ically so than his northern counterparts. Even inland, howev-
er, dry sandy creek beds can suddenly become raging torrents
RAINBOW SNAKE (Rainbow Serpent) is an almost
that flood the surrounding country (for example, the Tod
ubiquitous but elusive mythological figure throughout the
River in Alice Springs and other rivers in northern South
Australian continent. To A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (1930), the
Australia or the usually dry Lake Eyre, which floods less
Rainbow Snake was “perhaps the most important nature-
often).
deity, . . . the most important representation of the creative
and destructive power of nature, principally in connection
Along the northwestern Australian coast, for instance,
with rain and water.” Writing about southeastern Australia,
summer cyclones threaten coastal towns—sometimes ex-
he notes the Rainbow Snake’s association with waterfalls, as
tending even into the southwest. For the non-Aboriginal
well as with smallpox, and he mentions the belief that ordi-
population, the urgent questions have to do with whether a
nary people who approached the Snake’s home site were in
given cyclone will cross the coast, where and when it will do
danger of being eaten. He adds that paraphernalia prepared
so, how destructive it will be, and, if it moves inland, whether
for young men’s initiation sequences in the Bora rites includ-
it will become a rain-bearing low-pressure system, bringing
ed a snakelike earth mound up to forty feet long. Although
water to areas that depend on the monsoon. Weather offi-
Radcliffe-Brown concludes that the bunyip in Victoria was
cials still regard cyclone movements as unpredictable. For
not a Rainbow Snake, Charles P. Mountford (1978) includes
traditional Aborigines, however, the matter is plain: mythic
bunyips, as well as other Snake-like characters, in this catego-
characters control the seasonal weather and tidal patterns, in-
ry of beings. Even among traditionally oriented Aborigines,
cluding cyclones, and the decisions are theirs.
the name Rainbow Snake can apply to snakes with no obvi-
Among the most important mythic characters are the
ous rainbow connections. They may have quasi-crocodile
wandjina (wondjina), well known to the outside world
shapes or just “something” about them that is dangerous or
through cave and bark paintings. In Ungarinyin territory,
not normally visible.
these spirits, which can be manifestations of Rainbow Snake,
H
are also sometimes called Ungud. Ungud “brings down spirit
UMAN CONTACT WITH RAINBOW SNAKE POWER. Because
babies in the rain to the waterholes” (Elkin, 1930, p. 351).
of the aura of danger surrounding the idea of Rainbow
Elkin adds, “The rainbow-serpent is associated with the
Snakes and other similar beings, certain places are taboo to
coming of rain, the increase of natural species and the con-
ordinary people but not to Aboriginal “doctors,” the men or,
tinuance of mankind.” According to Phyllis M. Kaberry, in
less often, women whose experience goes beyond cases of ill-
northeastern Kimberley, the Rainbow Snake known as
ness or injury to include the supernatural dimension, usually
Galeru (Kaleru) is also a life saver and sustainer, the embodi-
through special initiation rites involving the Rainbow Snake
ment of fertility, “the most sacred of the totemic ancestors
and perhaps spirits of the dead. According to some Kimber-
and . . . revered as such.” He is a lawgiver, responsible for
ley and Western Desert beliefs recorded by A. P. Elkin
such features of social organization as marriage rules and sub-
(1945), the novice was taken up into the sky, where he un-
sections, and he is “the source of magical power not only in
derwent a ritual death and had inserted into his body quartz
the past but also in the present” (Kaberry, 1937, pp. 194,
crystals and perhaps maban (sometimes called “pearl shell”),
200–201; see also pp. 193, 196n). Pearl shells come from
both associated with the Rainbow Snake. The crystals or
him, and in some circumstances it is dangerous to dream of
shells are invisible and confer particular powers on the recipi-
them (p. 206); in the creative era of the Dreaming (the
ent; or he might be given “little rainbow-snakes . . . from
ngarunggani), he carried inside him certain foods now subject
a water-hole at the foot of the rainbow” (Elkin, 1945,
to life-crisis or age-linked taboos; white stones used for rain-
pp. 32–33). A person with such powers can see Rainbow
making also belong to him (p. 207).
Snakes and other beings and perhaps have a personal Rain-
bow Snake as a spirit familiar. He can use the rainbow as a
Here, as in many cases, the main emphasis is on the
vehicle in which to travel great distances through the sky.
Rainbow Snake as a male being: for example, as husband 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
7606
RAINBOW SNAKE
Kunapipi. In north-central Arnhem Land, Yulunggul is
or a person’s failure to take precautions at times when he or
more often thought to be male. His Rainbow Snake identifi-
she is especially vulnerable (by going near water during preg-
cation there, less positive than it is in northeastern Arnhem
nancy or menstruation or too soon after childbirth or by al-
Land, may have been influenced by the strong Rainbow
lowing a young baby to do so). Gunwinggu women at Oen-
Snake presence in western Arnhem Land. The Rainbow
pelli summed up the expected consequences:
Snake in the west has several names—Ambidj, for instance,
Far away, she lifts up her head and listens, and she
among the Maung of Goulburn Islands and the adjacent
makes straight for that place. A cold wind blows, there
mainland, and Ngalyod among Gunwinggu speakers farther
is a red glow like a bush fire, a great roaring sound, the
inland. Numereji, noted by Baldwin Spencer in 1912 as the
ground cracks and moves and becomes soft and wet,
Kakadu (Gagadju) name, has not been in use for at least forty
water flows rushing, a flood covers the rocks, stones are
years.
falling, she comes up like a dream and swallows all those
people. She carries them about for a while. Then she
Gunwinggu speakers, especially, prefer to speak of the
vomits their bones, and they turn into stone. They are
Rainbow Snake only obliquely, not directly by name. One
still there today, as djang, eternally present: their spirits
everyday word for “creature(s),” edible or otherwise, is mai—
remain at [that place]. Let nobody go near [that place],
provided it is included in the noun class that takes the prefix
where they came into Dreaming!
na- (which can be a masculine prefix). When mai is used
with the indicator ngal-, which can be a feminine prefix, it
There are many variations of this account just as there are
usually refers to the Rainbow Snake. If Gunwinggu speakers
many distinctive rock formations in the Arnhem Land es-
had traditionally used written language, they would surely
carpment. Most of the named sites throughout the region
have written Mai. As it is, the context and the ngal- indica-
have their specific djang spirits, and in almost all cases the
tors differentiate it quite plainly. Among other such oblique
Rainbow Snake was an agent in their transformation (see
names, one that depends partly on intonation and context
Berndt and Berndt, 1970).
for its maximum effect is Ngaldargid: here the prefix ngal-
On the coastal islands and nearby mainland, the Rain-
is attached to a word in ordinary use, dargid, meaning “liv-
bow Snake is more often specifically categorized as male; the
ing,” or “alive.” It could be taken in more than its ordinary
inland classification, however, is sometimes acknowledged to
sense, as in “the living one” or even, perhaps, as “the life-
be partly a matter of grammatical gender, and the Rainbow
charged one.” In other instances, such as in Ngaldargidni,
Snake is occasionally described as either male or ambisexual.
it means that the Rainbow Snake is still there, still living, at
Moreover, in coastal and island contexts, myths often tell of
a particular site. Hundreds of myths recount the events of
parties of men who track down and kill the Rainbow Snake,
the creative era in which the landscape was formed, and the
cut her (him) open, and try to save the people inside. In one
Rainbow Snake plays an active role in the majority of them.
version they cook and eat the Snake to give them strength
In one traditional western Arnhem Land view the Rain-
in the long task of pulling out the living and burying the
bow Snake is a creator, the first mother. She travels under
great numbers of dead. But the Rainbow Snake is timeless,
the sea from the northwest, and on the mainland she eventu-
indestructible, and not limited to any one locality. Rainbow
ally gives birth to the people she is carrying inside her. She
Snake manifestations can be almost everywhere or anywhere.
vomits them out, licking them with her tongue to make
For all the people of western Arnhem Land, the Rainbow
them grow and scraping them with mussel shells to make
Snake is traditionally a symbol of monsoon storms, rain,
their skin smooth and lighter in color. Some Gunwinggu
floods, and of danger; her (his) formal links with the sphere
women have told this author,
of the sacred are epitomized in the secret-sacred rites of the
Ubar.
No matter what our [social affiliations], we all call her
gagag, “mother’s mother.” We live on the ground, she
THE RAINBOW SNAKE AS CATALYST AND SYMBOL. Not only
lives underneath, inside the ground and in the water[s].
healers and law keepers can draw on the Rainbow Snake’s
She urinated fresh water for us to drink, otherwise we
power. In one western Arnhem Land myth, a man with a
would all have died of thirst. She showed us what foods
grievance deliberately smashes a taboo rock, knowing that
to collect. She vomited the first people, the Dreaming
when the Snake comes rushing to swallow (drown) everyone
people, who prepared the country for us, and she made
at that site he himself will die along with the people he wants
us, so that we have minds and sense to understand. She
to kill. Some sorcerers were believed to send their own Rain-
gave us our [social categories and] language, she made
our tongues and teeth and throats and breath: she
bow Snake familiars on vengeance missions.
shared her breath with us, she gave us breath, from
In other areas a sorcerer could also supposedly draw on
when we first sat inside our mothers’ wombs. . . . She
that power, for personal reasons or on someone else’s behalf,
looks a bit like a woman, a bit like a snake.
to avenge a perceived wrong. When sorcery is identified as
In myth, and in recent and even present belief, the Rainbow
the cause of death, it is likely to be condemned as a misuse
Snake, Ngalyod, can be aroused by too much noise, such as
of the powers obtained from the Rainbow Snake and from
that of a crying child, or by too much shouting, too much
spirits of the dead (e.g., Kaberry, 1937, p. 211). The argu-
interference with the ground, the breaking of a taboo-rock,
ment is that such powers are directed toward selfish ends that
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
RAINBOW SNAKE
7607
are not socially approved, whereas directing them outside the
Snake material from various parts of the continent, with crit-
community to avenge the death of one of its own members
ical comments and comparisons, see the sections on “The
is assumed to have the community’s approval.
Wondjina and The Rainbow Serpent” (pp. 76–80) and “The
Rainbow Serpent,” pp. 113–116. Footnotes to the text cover
Nevertheless, in many respects the Rainbow Snake is a
a large range of published items on this topic.
guardian of the status quo as well as a source of power. The
Elkin, A. P. Aboriginal Men of High Degree (1945). 2d ed. New
terror and dismay of victims in myth are sometimes a conse-
York, 1977. The John Murtagh Macrossan Memorial Lec-
quence of their own carelessness, sometimes a matter of fate
tures for 1944. Summarizes material available to that date,
or destiny (particularly in western Arnhem Land) or of seem-
including his own earlier field notes and published material,
ingly harsh treatment for their own ultimate good. The Rain-
on the initiation of Aboriginal “native doctors” or “clever
bow Snake is not necessarily a destroyer, to go back to Rad-
men” in various parts of Australia.
cliffe-Brown’s comment, but rather a symbol and a reminder
Kaberry, Phyllis M. Aboriginal Woman, Sacred and Profane. Lon-
of the potentially destructive and overpowering, as well as re-
don, 1939. Includes useful references to the Rainbow Snake
vitalizing, forces of nature, which can be fearsome as well as
in its (his) sociocultural context, in the Kimberley region of
splendid. This constellation of cosmic imagery attracts with-
Western Australia, where her field research covered several
in its orbit a host of other figures not necessarily categorized
different “tribal” groups. The book would have a stronger
as Rainbow Snakes. Thus, according to Ursula H. McCon-
impact on present-day readers if she could have revised and
nel, in North Queensland the deadly taipan snake is identi-
updated it, compacting and reframing her data and her argu-
fied with the Rainbow Snake by virtue of its assumed “power
ments. Unfortunately, she did not live to do that.
. . . as arbiter of life and death” (McConnel, 1957, p. 111).
Mountford, Charles P. “The Rainbow Serpent Myth of Austra-
lia.” In The Rainbow Serpent, edited by Ira R. Buchler and
The Rainbow Snake is Our Mother, but there are other
Kenneth Maddock, pp. 23–97. The Hague, 1978. Includes
mythic mothers. In some accounts he is Our Father, but
some interesting items, but needs to be read with caution.
there are other mythic fathers (although fewer, perhaps, than
It is most useful for the quite lavish illustrations.
mothers). There are other phallic symbols, as well as other
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. “The Rainbow Serpent Myth in South-
storm, flood, cyclone, lightning, thunder, wind, rain, and
East Australia.” Oceania 7 (October–December 1930): 342–
fertility symbols. Other Snakes and other beings are associat-
347. In addition to Radcliffe-Brown’s essay, this issue of Oce-
ed with deep pools, waterfalls, whirlwinds, and rivers. But
ania includes articles by Ursula H. McConnel on the Rain-
the rainbow in the sky and the Rainbow Snake on the
bow Serpent in North Queensland, by A. P. Elkin on the
ground and in the waters are somehow—directly or indirect-
Rainbow Serpent in northwestern Australia, and by Ralph
ly, explicitly or potentially—linked to any or all of these from
Piddington on the Water Serpent in Karadjeri mythology.
the very beginning of time. Very few elaborate ritual se-
They are short, tentative statements based on some field re-
quences are devoted to the Rainbow Snake alone as a central
search, and mostly expanded in later publications. Radcliffe-
personage, and he or she has not one localized site but rather
Brown had an earlier article on the Rainbow Serpent in the
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 56 (1926): 19–
many actual or potential sites in all parts of the continent.
25. McConnel later included the story of “Taipan, the ‘Rain-
These are pointers to a frame of beliefs that, though partly
bow Serpent’” in Myths of the Mungkan (Melbourne, 1957),
open, has as its central core image a wide-ranging, powerful
pp. 111–116. She added that “the most dangerous snakes,
deity of cosmic proportions, never wholly visible at any one
and the water-snakes, are associated with the rainbow, and
time or place.
of these Taipan, the deadly brown snake of North Queens-
land, is the most destructive. It is therefore Taipan who goes
SEE ALSO Gadjeri; Ungarinyin Religion; Wandjina; Yulung-
up in the rainbow, with his sisters, and causes all these trou-
gul Snake.
bles”—storms and cyclonic disturbances that bring “terrors
and discomforts,” floods and high tides “in the low-lying
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gulf Country.”
Berndt, Ronald M. Kunapipi: A Study of an Australian Aboriginal
Stanner, W. E. H. “On Aboriginal Religion: IV, The Design-Plan
Religious Cult. Melbourne, 1951. Discusses the Rainbow
of a Riteless Myth.” Oceania 31 (June 1961): 233–258. One
Snake in the context of rituals and associated myths.
part of Stanner’s larger study of Australian Aboriginal reli-
Berndt, Ronald M., and Catherine H. Berndt. Man, Land and
gion, this concentrates on a particular myth in the sociocul-
Myth in North Australia: The Gunwinggu People. Sydney,
tural setting of the Murinbata and neighboring groups in the
1970. Includes discussion of myths and ritual relating to the
Port Keats region, in the northwest of the Northern Territo-
Rainbow Snake in western Arnhem Land, including the
ry. He analyzes various versions in some detail, exploring is-
Snake as an agent of destiny or fate in the transformation of
sues of interpretation and explanation in his usual carefully
the “First People.”
thought-out prose style and includes Aboriginal comments
Berndt, Ronald M. and Catherine H. Berndt. The World of the
and differences of opinion in his assessment.
First Australians (1964). Rev. ed., Adelaide, 1985. Includes
New Sources
a number of references to Rainbow Snakes in the contexts
Chippindale, Christopher, Meredith Wilson, and Paul S. C.
of myth and ritual and of seasonal fertility.
Tacon. “Birth of the Rainbow Serpent in the Arnhem Land
Eliade, Mircea. Australian Religions: An Introduction. Ithaca, N.Y.,
Rock Art and Oral History.” Archaeology in Oceania 60, no.
1973. Includes an overview and discussion of Rainbow
3 (1996): 103–124.
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
7608
RAJNEESH
Gardner, Robert L. The Rainbow Serpent: Bridge to Consciousness.
other venues. Osho’s philosophical approach blends Western
Toronto, 1990.
and Eastern traditions, with special emphasis on Zen Bud-
Hulley, Charles E. The Rainbow Serpent. Sydney, 2000.
dhism. Important themes include dropping the ego and its
McKnight, David. People, Countries, and the Rainbow Serpent: Sys-
conditioned beliefs and integrating the material and the spir-
tems of Classification among the Lardil of Mornington Island.
itual. The ideal human is Zorba the Buddha, a consummate
New York, 1999.
being combining Buddha’s spiritual focus with Zorba’s life-
Noonuccal, Oodgeroo, and Kabul Oodgeroo Noonuccal. The
embracing traits.
Rainbow Serpent. Canberra, 1988.
A major reason that Osho was controversial in India was
Taylor, Luke. “The Rainbow Serpent as Visual Metaphor in
his advocacy of sexual freedom and exploration. However,
Western Arnhem Land.” Oceania 60 (June 1990): 329–344.
the greatest international controversy developed in the Unit-
CATHERINE H. BERNDT (1987)
ed States when he settled at the Big Muddy Ranch in central
Revised Bibliography
Oregon. From the summer of 1981 until the late fall of
1985, several thousand sannyasins labored to create the com-
munal city of Rajneeshpuram and a model agricultural col-
RAJNEESH, Bhagwan Shree (1931–1990), later known
lective. Their dream disintegrated because of financial, legal,
as Osho, was a controversial spiritual teacher from India
and political conflicts, and Rajneesh embarked on a world
whose disciples at the start of the twenty-first century include
tour before returning to Pune in 1987. Two years later he
thousands of Americans, Europeans, and Asians, who are
took the name Osho, which means dissolving into the totali-
called sannyasins. The spiritual movement is centered at the
ty of existence, or merging with all life. Osho died on January
Osho Commune International in Pune, India, at 17 Kore-
19, 1990.
gaon Park, where it was first established in the early 1970s.
Osho Meditation Resort is an international center
There are Osho centers in more than fifty nations. In
where a core staff hosts thousands of visitors annually. Both
the United States, the largest are Osho Academy in Sedona,
sannyasins and other seekers visit the resort center in Pune,
Arizona; Viha Meditation Center in Mill Valley, California;
read some of the more than six hundred books that have been
and Osho Padma Meditation Center in New York City.
transcribed from Osho’s lectures or have been written about
Centers are independent, with some tensions developing be-
him, communicate on the internet, gather to meditate
cause of different emphases, but they share common bonds
throughout the world, or enroll in Osho-based counseling
through Osho’s meditations and teachings.
and personal growth training.
Osho Meditation Resort in Pune began as the Shree
Rajneesh Ashram and continues as the movement’s heart,
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there is dis-
housing a multiversity offering myriad courses on spiritual
cord within the movement between those who regard Osho’s
growth, healing, creative arts, and intimate relationships.
general teachings and methods as of primary importance and
There are also meditation workshops and programs empha-
those who put primary emphasis on Osho himself as an em-
sizing meditative aspects of sport.
biodied charismatic individual. This is a major dispute that
could lead to a segmentation in which new centers, without
From 1958 to 1966, Osho, then known as Rajneesh and
connection to the Pune headquarters, incorporate and spread
holding a master of arts degree in philosophy, taught that
Osho’s teachings. Such schism may result in either continued
subject primarily at the University of Jabalpur in the city of
growth and spread of the belief system or attenuation of the
Jabalpur. He resigned his post in 1966 to travel throughout
movement and its teachings.
India as an independent religious teacher, also offering medi-
tation camps during summer months. In the early 1970s he
shifted headquarters from his Bombay apartment to the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Shree Rajneesh Ashram in Pune.
Carter, Lewis. Charisma and Control in Rajneeshpuram. New York,
1990. A thorough, balanced look at the Rajneesh organiza-
Osho’s synthesis of spirituality with personal-growth
tional structure, history, and the politics of the communal
psychology attracted significant numbers of Westerners,
city, Rajneeshpuram.
many in midlife transition. Sannyasins often received new
names signifying their spiritual rebirth. These sannyasins
Friends of Osho. http://www.sannyas.net.
were known as new or neo-sannyasins; they renounced living
Goldman, Marion S. Passionate Journeys: Why Successful Women
in either the past or the future, but emphatically did not re-
Joined a Cult. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1999. A book about the
nounce material or sexual indulgence. He developed unique
high-achieving women who gave up families and careers to
meditations, many involving intense, emotionally cleansing
follow Rajneesh to central Oregon.
activity preceding stillness. Before his death, he shifted his
Osho. Osho: Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic. New
emphasis to meditative therapies encouraging individuals’ re-
York, 2000. Osho’s own words about his philosophies and
sponsibility for their own personal and spiritual growth.
personal experiences.
Meditation remains central to the movement, and Osho
Palmer, Susan J., and Arvind Sharma, eds. The Rajneesh Papers:
meditations have been taught in schools, corporations, and
Studies in a New Religious Movement. Delhi, 1993. A collec-
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
RA¯MA
7609
tion of chapters written about Osho by both his devotees and
with S¯ıta¯ for sixteen thousand years. Other Ja¯taka stories also
also by academics.
incorporate the Ra¯ma theme, with some variations.
MARION S. GOLDMAN (2005)
If Buddhists made Ra¯ma a bodhisattva, Jains trans-
formed him into one of their sixty-three ´sala¯ka¯purus:as. In
Jain retellings, prominent among which is Vimalasu¯ri’s Pau-
macariya (written in Prakrit in the early centuries of the com-
RALBAG (ACRONYM FOR RABBI LEVI
mon era), Ra¯ma eats no meat, performs no sacrifices involv-
BEN GERSHOM) SEE GERSONIDES
ing animals, and wins his battle by wit rather than by
violence. Jain Ra¯ma¯yan:as include the story of Ra¯ma up to
the birth of his twin sons. Other Ra¯ma¯yan:a texts of the Jain
RA¯MA, the hero of the Ra¯ma¯yan:a, an epic of ancient
community include Hemacandra’s Jaina Ra¯ma¯yan:a and
India, is the figure most celebrated in literature, music, and
Na¯gacandra’s Ra¯macandracarita Pura¯n:a, both of the twelfth
art throughout India and Southeast Asia. Va¯lm¯ıki’s
century. In these versions Ra¯ma eventually enters the Jain
Ra¯ma¯yan:a is the earliest known source of Ra¯ma’s heroic bi-
order as a monk and finally achieves liberation through hero-
ography. Many modern scholars agree that in the central part
ic mortifications.
of Va¯lm¯ıki’s epic Ra¯ma is depicted as a secular hero. The first
Ra¯ma’s story is mentioned in a number of Pura¯n:as. The
and the sixth books of the Va¯lm¯ıki text, however, depict
S´aiva Pura¯n:as, such as the Lin˙ga Pura¯n:a and S´iva Pura¯n:a,
Ra¯ma as an incarnation of Vis:n:u, who comes down to the
make Ra¯ma a devotee of S´iva, while the Bha¯gavata Pura¯n:a
earth as a human warrior to kill the menacing demon
and other Vais:n:ava Pura¯n:as describe him as an incarnation
Ra¯van:a. Medieval devotional Ra¯ma¯yan:as developed this
of Vis:n:u.
theme, making Ra¯ma the god himself. In this view, Ra¯ma’s
In about the twelfth century, the Vais:n:ava theology,
wife, S¯ıta¯, is the goddess S´r¯ı, and his brother Laks:man:a is
particularly that of Ra¯ma¯nuja, gave rise to a cult of Ra¯ma.
perceived as the human incarnation of the snake A¯di´ses:a, on
Numerous Vais:n:ava commentators on the Ra¯ma¯yan:a inter-
top of whom Vis:n:u sleeps. Ra¯ma and Laks:man:a are per-
pret Ra¯ma as the manifestation of the divine among human
ceived as inseparable brothers, identical even in physical ap-
beings. In keeping with Vais:n:ava influences, the bhakti
pearance except for their skin color: Ra¯ma is blue, Laks:man:a
Ra¯ma¯yan:as make Ra¯ma the god (Vis:n:u) incarnate exercising
is golden yellow.
his l¯ıla¯ (“divine play”) with his consort, S¯ıta¯.
Ra¯ma is described as perfect: He is self-controlled, elo-
A late fourteenth-century text, Adhya¯tma Ra¯ma¯yan:a,
quent, majestic, and capable of annihilating all his enemies.
uses the narrative form to provide an advaita (nondualist)
Above all, he is truthful and totally devoted to only one wife.
philosophical orientation to the teachings of the Ra¯ma cult.
Similarly, S¯ıta¯ is described as the ideal in chastity, devoted
In this book, presented as a conversation between S´iva and
to Ra¯ma in thought, word, and deed.
Pa¯rvat¯ı, Ra¯ma is brahman, the Absolute itself, which takes
The idealizations of Ra¯ma and S¯ıta¯ are not totally free
a human shape as a pretext to accomplish his divine pur-
of problems, particularly for the authors of bhakti texts. Sev-
poses. S¯ıta¯, in this text, is the eternal consort of the Lord.
eral events described in Va¯lm¯ıki’s text tarnish Ra¯ma’s charac-
In keeping with this logic, the events leading to the abduc-
ter. For instance, after his wife is abducted by Ra¯van:a, Ra¯ma
tion of S¯ıta¯, her later abandonment, the birth of her two sons
makes a pact with the monkey king Sugr¯ıva to kill the latter’s
Lava and Ku´sa, and the final separation of S¯ıta¯ and Ra¯ma
brother Valin in return for Sugr¯ıva’s help in finding S¯ıta¯. To
are significantly altered to represent the reuniting of the cou-
keep his part of the contract, Ra¯ma, hiding behind a tree,
ple in Vaikun:t:ha, Vis:n:u’s heavenly abode.
kills Va¯lin. This act violates all norms of justice and valor.
Tulsidas’s Ramcaritmanas (composed around 1574)
A second such incident occurs later, when Ra¯ma wages a bat-
adopts ingenious themes to free Ra¯ma’s biography of its
tle against Ra¯van:a. Ra¯ma succeeds in killing the demon king,
problems. In this text all the characters of the Ra¯ma¯yan:a, in-
but refuses to take S¯ıta¯ back because she has lived in another
cluding Ra¯van:a and all the demons whom Ra¯ma kills, are de-
man’s house. To prove her innocence, S¯ıta¯ has to go through
scribed as Ra¯ma’s devotees. According to the devotional the-
the fire ordeal. Later, Ra¯ma again abandons S¯ıta¯ (who is now
ory presented here, even an enmity to God is one of the
pregnant) when the people of Ayodhya¯ spread vicious talk
means of reaching God. For human beings, however, the
about her stay in Ra¯van:a’s house.
model of devotion is said to be set by Hanuma¯n, the monkey
Buddhist texts transform Ra¯ma from a martial hero into
servant of Ra¯ma, who attends upon his master with intense
a spiritually elevated person. In the Da¯´saratha Ja¯taka, Ra¯ma
devotion. Bhakti Ra¯mayanists also borrow elements of stories
is depicted as a bodhisattva figure. In this version there is no
about Kr:s:n:a, especially relating to the god’s childhood, to de-
mention of Ra¯van:a, and S¯ıta¯ is not abducted. Indeed, S¯ıta¯
scribe the child Ra¯ma.
is depicted as Ra¯ma’s sister. The intrigues of their stepmother
The figure of Ra¯ma remains prominent in many bhakti
make their father, Da´saratha, send Ra¯ma, S¯ıta¯, and
cults. There, devotees believe that chanting Ra¯ma’s name
Laks:man:a into the forest for twelve years. At the end of
and reflecting upon the main incidents of his biography ulti-
twelve years Ra¯ma returns and is crowned king. He rules
mately lead them to reach God.
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
7610
RAMABAI, PANDITA
SEE ALSO L¯ıla¯; Ra¯ma¯yan:a; Tulsidas.
brother, husband, and finally her daughter shortly before her
own death. Her travels around India with her brother after
BIBLIOGRAPHY
her parents’ demise not only offered her the opportunity to
Bulcke, Camille. Ra¯ma-katha (1950). 2d ed. Allahabad, 1962.
visit several important Hindu holy places, but it also enabled
Goldman, Robert P., trans. The Ra¯ma¯yan:a of Valmiki, vol. 1,
her to witness the plight of women, which led her to champi-
Balakanda. Princeton, N. J., 1984.
on their cause.
Hill, W. Douglas P., trans. The Holy Lake of the Acts of Ra¯ma
(1952). Reprint, Oxford, 1971.
It was Ramabai’s visit to Calcutta in 1878 that brought
Smith, H. Daniel. Reading the Ra¯ma¯yan:a: A Bibliographic Guide
a dramatic turn of events. Her knowledge of the Sanskrit lan-
for Students and College Teachers. Syracuse, N.Y., 1983.
guage and literary and religious texts came to be widely
known and appreciated, and in recognition of her Sanskrit
New Sources
learning the honorific title pan:d:ita (learned) was conferred
Blank, Jonah. Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Retracing the Ramay-
ana through India. Boston, 1992.
on her. She defied traditional caste norms by accepting an
offer of marriage from a non-Brahman Brahmo Bengali law-
Buck, Harry Merwyn. The Figure of Rama in Buddhist Cultures.
Bhubaneswar, 1995.
yer, Bipin Behari Das, but he died within two years of their
marriage, leaving her with an infant daughter, Manorama.
VELCHERU NARAYANA RAO (1987)
Revised Bibliography
While her early widowhood deepened her concern for
women in a similar predicament, her faith in the kind of
Pura¯n:ic and ritualistic Hinduism in which she was raised was
RAMABAI, PANDITA. Ramabai (1858–1922) was
beginning to wear off. When she later became acquainted
an extraordinary woman of her time—an educator, scholar,
with other Hindu texts, such as the Dharma´sa¯stras, with a
feminist, and social reformer, whose life was an example of
pronounced patriarchal bias, she was not convinced that
how womanhood and religious identity were negotiated
Hinduism as such had any hope for women. She found,
against the backdrop of Brahmanical culture, Christianity,
however, that her early forays into reform movements, such
and colonialism. For Hindus and Christians, her life and
as the Bra¯hmo Sama¯j and Prarthana Sama¯j, were fruitless as
work, including her intellectual probings and hermeneutical
alternatives to Hinduism because in her view these move-
clashes with Hindu social reformers and Christian missiona-
ments focused more on philosophical aspects than on the
ries, seemed to signal contradictory and confusing messages.
plight of women. She came into contact with Christian mis-
As a learned scholar of her own tradition, she vigorously
sionaries but had no intention of becoming a Christian until
questioned the status of women within Hinduism. Later,
much later in 1883 while she was in England, much to the
when she became a Christian, she challenged institutional-
dismay of Hindus back home. She was not wholly accepting
ized Christianity with its creeds, which she felt stifled the
of Christianity at this stage. She was not willing to substitute
power of the gospel, and she subsequently quarreled with
one form of patriarchy with another. She proved to be a
Bible translators for their unwitting use of Veda¯ntic terms
thorn in the flesh of Anglicans when she questioned such
in the Marathi version of the Bible. She seems to have lived
basic tenets as the Trinity, miracles, the divinity of Christ,
and worked out her life on the margins of traditions, con-
and the resurrection.
structing her own independent agency.
What is extraordinary is that Ramabai was able to make
Ramabai was born into a Chitpavan Brahman family in
an impression in the strongly male-dominated public dis-
Karnataka. She was the youngest child of Anant Shastri Don-
course of her time. Her highly persuasive books, both in the
gre, a devout Hindu and erudite Sanskrit pundit, and his
vernacular and in English, established her as one of the im-
much younger wife, Lakshmibai. Contrary to the prevailing
portant voices of the era. The fact that she wrote Stri Dharma
mood of the time, Anant Shastri believed in women’s educa-
Niti (Morals for women, 1882) in order to finance her trip
tion and he opposed outdated customs like child marriage,
to England (where her hope of studying medicine never
having witnessed the sad fate of his daughter Krishnabai’s
materialized) testifies that her reforming zeal preceded her at-
child marriage. Ramabai had an unconventional upbringing
traction to Christianity. In this book she urges women to ed-
in that she was taught at home, receiving Sanskrit education
ucate themselves and transform their lives, citing mythologi-
mainly from her mother, who herself was taught by her hus-
cal examples of Hindu womanhood. The High Caste Hindu
band despite fierce opposition from their community. From
Woman (1887) is a trenchant feminist critique of a Brah-
an early age, Ramabai was exposed to a life of never-ending
manical patriarchy that accords its women a low position.
pilgrimage and the reciting of the Pura¯n:as in various loca-
United Stateschi Lokasthiti ani Pravasavritta (The Peoples of
tions, a traditional religious vocation, which her family un-
the United States, 1889) is an account of her visit to the
dertook in order to earn a modest living. While this kind of
United States, and it reflects her feminist concerns whilst
precarious living brought untold hardship later, it freed Ra-
contrasting freedoms in the United States and colonial India.
mabai from domesticity and any form of patriarchal control.
A Testimony of Our Inexhaustible Treasure (1907), her last
Ramabai’s life was marked by a series of unfortunate
public discourse, was a pamphlet narrating a spiritual odyssey
deaths in her family. She lost her parents, elder sister, elder
that culminated in her final acceptance of the Christian faith.
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
RAMAKRISHNA
7611
The last decade of her life was spent translating the Bible into
RAMADA¯N SEE ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS YEAR;
Marathi and producing Greek-Marathi and Greek-Hebrew
S:AWM
lexicons.
Ramabai put teaching into practice. It was her early dis-
appointment with her own community that made her turn
RAMAKRISHNA (1834/6–1886) was a Hindu ecstatic
to England and the United States to solicit help for her work
and mystic, and to many Hindus a “supremely realized self”
among women. Realizing the importance of education for
(paramaham:sa) and an avata¯ra, or incarnation of the divine.
empowering women, she ran a number of vocational pro-
Through his disciple, Swami Vivekananda, his gospel of the
grams. Sharada Sadan (Home of Learning), initially a home
truth of all religions became a source of inspiration for mod-
for high-caste child widows but later for destitute women
ern Hindu universalism.
and children of all castes, provided training and education.
LIFE. Born Gada¯dhar Chatterjee in an isolated village in
Although the school was initially secular in orientation, it
Bengal, Ramakrishna belonged to a Vais:n:ava brahman fami-
gradually became explicitly Christian. There were allegations
ly whose primary deity was the avata¯ra of Vis:n:u, Ra¯ma, al-
of conversions at Sharada Sadan, which caused a major rift
though the family also worshiped other deities, such as S´iva
between Ramabai and Hindu social reformers; although Ra-
and Durga¯. As a boy, Gada¯dhar was gifted with immense
mabai was exonerated, the rift remained.
emotional and aesthetic sensitivity, which was nurtured by
norms of ecstatic devotion (bhakti) common within the Ben-
The fact that Ramabai’s commitment to Christianity
gali Vais:n:ava tradition. Often, when overwhelmed by beauty
coexisted with her conscious attempt to declare herself a
and emotion, the boy would lose consciousness in an ecstatic
Hindu and Indian in public discourses, continues to puzzle
trance.
Hindus and Christians who would like to categorize her
neatly.
His father’s death in 1843 increased Ramakrishna’s de-
pendence upon his mother, while the role of father figure was
assumed by his eldest brother, Ra¯mkuma¯r, whom he fol-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
lowed to Calcutta in 1852. Ra¯mkuma¯r became adviser to a
For Ramabai’s own writings in English, see The High Caste Hindu
wealthy widow, herself a S´a¯kta, or devotee of ´sakti (the di-
Woman (New York, 1887) and A Testimony of Our Inex-
vine power symbolized as the Goddess), who was building
haustible Treasure (Pune, India, 1907). For United Stateschi
a temple to the Divine Mother Ka¯l¯ı at Dakshineshwar, just
Lokasthiti ani Pravasavritta (1889), see two acclaimed trans-
north of the city. Though dedicated to Ka¯l¯ı, the temple also
lations: Pandita Ramabai’s American Encounter: The Peoples
included shrines to S´iva and to Ra¯dha¯-Kr:s:n:a, thus combin-
of the United States by Meera Kosambi (New York, 2003)
ing the major strands of Hindu devotional religion.
and Pandita Ramabai’s America, edited by R. E. Frykenberg
Ra¯mkuma¯r was appointed the temple’s chief priest and Ra-
(Grand Rapids, Mich., 2003). For a comprehensive contex-
makrishna became priest to Ra¯dha¯-Kr:s:n:a.
tualized introduction to a selection of Ramabai’s writings,
both in original English and translations from Marathi, see
When Ra¯mkuma¯r died in 1856, Ramakrishna became
Pandita Ramabai Through Her Own Words: Selected Works
priest to the Divine Mother. Bereft and overwhelmed by the
(Oxford, 2000). For a helpful biography, see Pandita Rama-
pain of separation, Ramakrishna developed a frenzied long-
bai by Nicol MacNicol (Calcutta, 1926), later published
ing for Ka¯l¯ı. Eating and sleeping little, his anguish over being
under the title What Liberates a Woman? The Story of Pandita
separated from the Mother drove him to seize a sword in her
Ramabai, a Builder of Modern India by Nicol MacNicol and
temple, determined to end his life. Instead, he lost conscious-
Vishal Mangalwadi (Delhi, 1996). See also S. M. Adhav’s
ness in a bliss-filled vision of Ka¯l¯ı. After this he desperately
Pandita Ramabai (Madras, India, 1979). For the historical
sought continual awareness of the Mother, seeking to be-
and cultural background to Ramabai’s life and work, see
come her instrument. As he later attested, he was nearly driv-
Uma Chakravarti’s Rewriting History: The Life and Times of
en insane, spending several years in a state of divine madness
Pandita Ramabai (Delhi, 1998). For hermeneutical issues re-
in which visions of various deities came to him repeatedly,
lated to Ramabai’s conversion, see Gauri Viswanathan, Out-
side the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and Belief (Princeton,
while he was unable even to close his eyes.
N.J., 1998). For a detailed chapter on the numerous Rama-
By 1858 concerns about Ramakrishna’s mental health
bai Associations that functioned in her support in the United
were mounting. His family arranged for him to return to
States, see Kumaria Jayawardena, “Going for the Jugular of
their village, where he was married to a local girl, Sa¯rada¯man:i
Hindu Patriarchy: American Fund-Raisers for Ramabai” in
Dev¯ı, then age six. Sa¯rada¯ remained in her parents’ home for
The White Woman’s Other Burden: Western Women and
several more years, only visiting Ramakrishna at Dakshinesh-
South-Asia During British Rule (New York and London,
war for the first time in 1872. By this time Ramakrishna was
1995); this article also addresses Ramabai’s complex and dif-
ficult relationship to Vivekananda, Annie Besant, and Sister
practicing strict celibacy, his ascetic inclinations routinely
Nivedita.
summed up in his professed aversion to ka¯min¯ı-kañcan,
“women and gold.” His marriage to Sa¯rada¯ was never con-
SHARADA SUGIRTHARAJAH (2005)
summated, but she served him as helpmate until his death.
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
7612
RAMAKRISHNA
In 1861 a middle-aged female Tantric practitioner
would emerge as his favorite. These were men who were edu-
(bhairav¯ı) named Yoge´svar¯ı arrived at Dakshineshwar. She
cated in a colonial curriculum that stressed the norms of rea-
became Ramakrishna’s first guru, guiding him through a re-
son, learning, and social progress, but Ramakrishna’s disdain
markable transformation, teaching him a panoply of Tantric
for book learning and his scorn for the workaday world of
rituals. Tantric practice seeks to overcome all socially based
the clerk, challenged them to question their commitments.
distinctions, enabling one to realize in a direct, experiential
And while many of the youth had internalized the colonizer’s
manner that all aspects of existence are manifestations of the
disdain for so-called Hindu superstition, the authenticity of
Divine Mother, the ´sakti, the divine productive power. This
Ramakrishna’s spiritual experiences forced his visitors to re-
discipline, which Ramakrishna underwent over a three- or
evaluate the dignity of their spiritual heritage. Ramakrishna’s
four-year period, had a decisive impact upon his develop-
final years were spent teaching such visitors and a gathering
ment, helping him to overcome his sense of separation and
circle of disciples.
transforming his self-destructive frenzies into the joyful play
(l¯ıla¯) of a child in his Mother’s “mansion of mirth,” as he
After his death in 1886, a small band of Ramakrishna’s
came to call the physical universe. This Tantric transforma-
young disciples took formal vows of renunciation
tion also provided a theological framework into which he in-
(sam:nya¯sa), inspired by the example of Narendranath Datta,
tegrated all of his religious experiences, helping him to realize
who later took the monastic name, Swami Vivekananda.
all divinities as forms of the Mother and inspiring him to
These disciples became the swamis or “masters” who would
participate fully in all aspects of her divine play. Thus he was
form the core of a monastic order known as the Ramakrishna
able to re-experience his Vais:n:ava heritage, playing with and
Math (Skt., mat:ha, “monastery”). Out of this order grew the
realizing the divine child Ra¯ma and, in the guise of Ra¯dha¯,
Ramakrishna Mission, a movement to spread Ramakrishna’s
longing for the divine lover Kr:s:n:a. It was such training that
teachings throughout India and the world. Leadership again
also led Ramakrishna to worship Sa¯rada¯ as the Divine Moth-
came from Swami Vivekananda, who made a dramatic ap-
er in 1872, an event that would in later years serve to support
pearance at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago
her deification.
in 1893, where he spoke on the dignity of Hinduism. Before
his premature death in 1902, Vivekananda traveled widely
In 1864 or 1865, Ramakrishna took instruction from
in India and the West, promoting what he called “Practical
another renunciant, this time a naked ascetic named Ishwara
Veda¯nta,” a religious vision that supported not just spiritual
Tota¯pur¯ı, a master of the absolute nondualism of Advaita
progress, but interreligious understanding, social uplift, and
Veda¯nta taught by the eighth-century philosopher S´an˙kara.
Indian national pride. As for Sa¯rada¯ Dev¯ı, after Ramakrish-
Advaita teaches the sole reality of the impersonal absolute
na’s death she was elevated to the status of Sa¯rada¯ Ma¯, the
(nirgun:a brahman), which is realized in a state of conscious-
Holy Mother, a complex status that reflects not simply her
ness devoid of all conceptual forms (nirvikalpa sama¯dhi).
devoted service of Ramakrishna, but more importantly the
Under Tota¯pur¯ı’s forceful tutelage, Ramakrishna wrenched
power of the Divine Mother. Sa¯rada¯ died in 1920. In official
his mind from the beloved form of Ka¯l¯ı in order to plunge
iconography she is depicted alongside Ramakrishna and
into this trancelike state; for more than a year he was so pre-
Vivekananda, while popular images often show Ramakrishna
occupied with it and so neglectful of his body that he came
accompanied by Sa¯rada¯ and Ka¯l¯ı; as Gwilym Beckerlegge
near to death. According to his canonical biographers, Rama-
points out, in such images the Bengali word Ma¯ “could refer
krishna returned from this state only at the Mother’s com-
equally to Kali or Sarada Devi” as mother (2000, p. 137).
mand and for the welfare of the world.
TEACHINGS. Ramakrishna left no written work, but his con-
After this experiment, Ramakrishna returned to enjoy
versations from 1882 to 1886 were recorded in Bengali by
life as a child at play within his Mother’s world. During this
Mahendranath Gupta, writing under the pseudonym “M,”
period he expanded his religious experience beyond Hindu
and published as S´r¯ı S´r¯ı Ra¯makr:s:n:a Katha¯mr:ta (Holy nectar
religion, first devoting three days to the worship of Allah and
of Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings). The five-volume Bengali
then, some years later, four days to Christ. In both cases, he
text is widely read in Bengal. Elsewhere, readers discover the
had visionary realizations that he held to be the same as those
Katha¯mr:ta through Swami Nikhilananda’s translation, The
he had had of the various Hindu divinities. These brief but
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.
intense visions became the experiential basis for his claim
that all religions can lead to the same realization of the
Ramakrishna’s followers maintain that his realization of
divine.
the nondual absolute under Tota¯pur¯ı was the culmination
of his spiritual quest and provides the basis for his teaching
In the mid-1870s he began to attract wider notice, espe-
of the truth of all religions as paths leading to this ultimate
cially among a generation of educated, middle-class urban-
goal. In his teachings, however, he stressed that withdrawal
ites. Surprisingly, the rustic and untutored mystic was soon
from the world as advocated by Advaita produces a “know-
entertaining some of the brightest young minds of Calcutta,
er,” or jña¯n¯ı, who is negative and self-centered. Ramakrishna
including the likes of Keshab Chandra Sen (1838–1884), the
contrasted the jña¯n¯ı with the vijña¯n¯ı, the “complete know-
fiery apostle of the Bra¯hmo Sama¯j, and Narendranath Datta
er” who does not reject the world as an illusory distraction
(1863-1902), who first met Ramakrishna in 1881 and who
from the absolute but who sees it as the play (l¯ıla¯) of the 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
RAMAKRISHNA
7613
vine Mother. Ramakrishna saw merit in both positions. The
The problem remains vexing, however, precisely be-
formless absolute is real, but so is the Divine Mother, or
cause Ramakrishna’s commitment to asceticism sits some-
´sakti, who is ever at play in the world of form. Viewing brah-
what uncomfortably with the later ethic of social engagement
man and ´sakti as two sides of the same reality, Ramakrishna
promulgated by the Ramakrishna Mission. The Katha¯mr:ta
affirmed the reality of the goal sought by the followers of
provides numerous examples of Ramakrishna’s outspoken
S´an˙kara, while also making clear that his own ideal was a
impatience with those who spend their time trying to im-
complete knowledge that realizes the reality of the One who
prove the world. Consequently, a second area of debate cen-
is both beyond change and playfully active.
ters on tracing the exact inspiration for the movement’s guid-
ing ethic. Is it in direct continuity with Ramakrishna’s
The global appeal of Ramakrishna’s teachings stems
teaching or does it reflect a departure? Official sources pres-
from his articulation of an inclusive worldview that promises
ent the service-based monastic movement as grounded in Ra-
to integrate the diverse and often conflicting aspects of Hin-
makrishna’s embodiment of Veda¯ntic truth. While they rec-
duism and that seems to provide the basis for a more harmo-
ognize the creative contribution of Vivekananda, they do not
nious relationship among the world’s religions. As he was
raise the question of innovation. Scholars outside the move-
fond of saying, yato mat, tato path, “there are as many paths
ment have explored a variety of theories that might explain
as there are points of view.”
alternate inspirations for Vivekananda’s Practical Veda¯nta,
However, Ramakrishna’s gospel of the truth within all
be it his early exposure to Western morality, his travels in the
religions is not based simply on the belief that they all lead
West, or his appropriation of Western reconstructions of
to the realization of the same formless absolute, in which all
Veda¯nta as found in the writings of Arnold Schopenhauer
difference is transcended and negated. Rather, it is based
and Paul Deussen. Finally, if Ramakrishna’s worldview was
upon his own experience of the truth and reality of the divine
fundamentally Tantric, the question remains as to why this
power at work in all manifest forms. While aware that
aspect of his thought has been played down in the official
human ignorance, lust, and greed can obscure this divine
literature.
presence, he had confidence that a sincere and ardent devotee
This suggests one final area of debate, which centers on
of any religion would discover the Divine Mother at work,
the question of how best to account for the particulars of Ra-
or rather at play, ever leading her child back to herself.
makrishna’s experience of Tantra. Postcolonial scholarship
INTERPRETATIONS OF RAMAKRISHNA. Ramakrishna was, in
has made us aware of the stigma attached to Tantra in late
Walter Neevel’s words, both “multifaceted and mystifying”
Victorian discourse about India. The very mention of Tantra
(1976, p. 53). The challenge of understanding his life and
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries would
teachings is compounded by the need to disentangle Rama-
have conjured up visions of antinomian religious practices—
krishna’s spiritual experience from the hagiography and ca-
most threateningly, ritualized sexual intercourse. Seen in this
nonical accounts promulgated by the Ramakrishna Mission.
light, it is understandable that Vivekananda and the early
We may consider three areas of debate within the literature
disciples would have been sensitive about foregrounding the
on Ramakrishna, each reflecting tensions between insider
importance of Tantra for Ramakrishna. But beyond this,
and outsider views.
there were the sometimes scandalous particulars of Rama-
krishna’s own psychosexual development, be it his fondness
The first area of debate centers on the question of what
for wearing women’s clothing, his aversion to heterosexual
philosophical framework best represents Ramakrishna’s
relations, or the possible homoerotic dimensions of his spiri-
thought. As we have seen, the official position is that Rama-
tual life. Bourgeois prudery regarding Tantra and sexuality,
krishna’s spiritual experience is epitomized by the teachings
on the part of both devotees and Western interpreters, has
of Advaita Veda¯nta. While official sources record details of
meant that these aspects of Ramakrishna’s life were often de-
Ramakrishna’s transformation under the tutelage of
nied or interpreted away.
Yoge´svar¯ı, this experience is relativized by the putative su-
premacy of Tota¯pur¯ı’s teachings. However, in the 1950s
Open discussion of such matters remained scandalous
Heinrich Zimmer called attention to the specifically Tantric
for most of the twentieth century, as is evident from the up-
aspects of Ramakrishna’s devotion to, and awareness of, the
roar surrounding the publication of Jeffrey J. Kripal’s book
Divine Mother. In 1976, Neevel built upon Zimmer’s inter-
Ka¯l¯ı’s Child in 1995. Although scholars like Zimmer and
pretation to argue that Ramakrishna’s view of the ultimate
Neevel had previously brought the Tantric side of Rama-
was best understood as a form of Tantric nondualism, not
krishna to light, Kripal attempted to put the ritual and theol-
a Veda¯ntic one. Among other things, this allowed Neevel to
ogy of Tantra in conversation with Ramakrishna’s psycho-
interpret Ramakrishna’s concern with worldly activity as
sexual development. Kripal’s search for a cross-cultural
arising from his understanding of the Mother’s playful ´sakti.
hermeneutic of Ramakrishna’s experience that could do jus-
This, in turn, seemed to accord better with the ideals of ser-
tice to the mystical and the erotic earned the indignation of
vice that are so characteristic of the Ramakrishna Mission,
devotees and of Hindus more generally, some of whom
since the renunciatory ethic of Advaita Veda¯nta less readily
sought to have the book banned in India. To understand
supports the value of worldly activity.
why, one need not only appreciate the fears of devotees who
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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RA¯MA¯NUJA
mistook Kripal’s book for an attack on Ramakrishna, but
Review 23, no. 4 (1997): 355–361, and Brian A. Hatcher,
also the sensibilities of postcolonial Hindus for whom such
“Kali’s Problem Child: Another Look at Jeffrey Kripal’s
scholarship appeared to be yet another attempt to assert
Study of Sri Ramakrishna,” in International Journal of Hindu
Western superiority. In the furor over the book two things
Studies 3, no. 2 (1999): 165–182. Part 1 of Gwilym Becker-
were overlooked. First, far from trying to stigmatize Rama-
legge, The Ramakrishna Mission: The Making of a Modern
krishna’s sexuality, Kripal sought to recognize it as one di-
Hindu Movement (New York, 2000) provides a useful over-
view of interpretive debates. For Marxian and subalternist in-
mension of a profoundly spiritual life; second, Kripal explic-
terpretations, see Sumit Sarkar, “Kaliyuga, Chakri, and
itly rejected any simplistic psychologism that reduced
Bhakti: Ramakrishna and His Times,” in his Writing Social
Ramakrishna’s spirituality to a matter of pathology. Unflat-
History (Delhi, 1997), pp. 282–357, and Partha Chatterjee,
tering psycho-biographies of Ramakrishna exist, but they
The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial His-
seem to have attracted far less attention than Ka¯l¯ı’s Child,
tories (Princeton, 1993). Hans Torwesten explores the theme
which suggests the degree to which the task of interpreting
of incarnation in Ramakrishna and Christ, or, The Paradox
Ramakrishna must include reflection upon the place of Hin-
of the Incarnation (Calcutta, 1999), while Sudhir Kakar’s
duism, Tantra, and the erotic in modern discourse about
novel Ecstasy (New York, 2002), is loosely based on the lives
India. Without a doubt, the “multifaceted and mystifying”
of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.
Ramakrishna will continue to generate fascinating discus-
WALTER G. NEEVEL, JR. (1987)
sions of mysticism and ethics, Tantra and Veda¯nta, and the
BRIAN A. HATCHER (2005)
dynamic relationship between modern Hindu apologetics
and postcolonial identity.
SEE ALSO L¯ıla¯; Vivekananda.
RA¯MA¯NUJA (1017–1137), Hindu philosopher-
theologian and the most influential exponent of a theistic in-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
terpretation of Vedantic philosophy that opposed the earlier
The official translation of the S´r¯ı S´r¯ı Ra¯makr:s:n:a Katha¯mr:ta is
monistic teaching of S´an˙kara. Within the S´r¯ı Vais:n:ava com-
Swami Nikhilananda’s The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (New
munity Ra¯ma¯nuja’s importance comes from his authoritative
York, 1952). The Katha¯mr:ta is discussed in Sumit Sarkar,
exposition of the Veda¯nta, his leadership of the community
“The Kathamrita as Text,” in Occasional Papers on History
in a period of formative growth that brought Tamil devotion
and Society, vol. 12 (New Delhi, 1985), and Jeffrey J. Kripal,
together with Sanskrit philosophy and ritual, and, above all,
Ka¯l¯ı’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and
his decisive mediation of divine grace to S´r¯ı Vais:n:avas of all
Teachings of Ramakrishna, 2d ed. (Chicago, 1998). Swami
subsequent generations.
Saradanada’s Sri Ramakrishna: The Great Master, 3d ed.,
translated by Swami Jagadananda (Madras, India, 1963),
Accounts of Ra¯ma¯nuja’s life figure prominently in many
provides a canonical biography, as does the Life of Sri Rama-
Tamil and Sanskrit hagiographies. Two purport to be by
krishna Compiled from Various Authentic Sources, 2d ed. (Cal-
contemporaries of Ra¯ma¯nuja, but the earliest that can be
cutta, 1964). F. Max Müller’s Ramakrishna (1899; reprint,
dated with certainty was written more than a century after
New York, 1975), is an early account by a westerner, while
his death. Ra¯ma¯nuja is presented as the last of the three great
Romain Rolland’s biography, The Life of Ramakrishna (re-
a¯ca¯ryas, the first of whom was Na¯thamuni, and second, his
print, Calcutta, 1970), helped promote Ramakrishna’s mys-
tical experiences in the West. For a Western devotee’s per-
grandson Ya¯muna. Ra¯ma¯nuja just failed to meet Ya¯muna be-
spective, read Christopher Isherwood’s Ramakrishna and His
fore the latter’s death, but during his own lifetime he was
Disciples (New York, 1965). Sa¯rada¯ Dev¯ı is the subject of
able to carry out Yamuna’s unfulfilled wishes for establishing
Narasingha P. Sil’s Divine Dowager: The Life and Teachings
the community on a firm footing. Ya¯muna’s extant writings
of Saradamani, the Holy Mother (Selinsgrove, Pa., 2003).
do in fact anticipate major tenets of Ra¯ma¯nuja’s philosophy;
Swami Gambhirana’s History of the Ramakrishna Math and
they also provide a spirited defense of the Pa¯ñcara¯tra system
Mission (Calcutta, 1957) provides a standard history of the
of ritual, and express in Sanskrit verse some of the sentiments
movement. For the movement in the West, see Carl. T. Jack-
of the earlier Tamil hymns of the A¯lva¯rs.
son, Vedanta for the West (Bloomington, Ind., 1994). Hein-
rich Zimmer discusses Ramakrishna and Tantra in his Philos-
Ra¯ma¯nuja had to be instructed in five aspects of
ophies of India, edited by Joseph Campbell (1951; reprint,
Ya¯muna’s teachings by five of the latter’s disciples. The one
Princeton, 1969), pp. 560–602, a theme explored by Walter
who was to teach Ra¯ma¯nuja the secret meaning of the funda-
Neevel in his essay, “The Transformation of Sri Ramakrish-
mental ritual formula (mantra) of the community made
na,” in Hinduism: New Essays in the History of Religions, ed-
Ra¯ma¯nuja come to see him eighteen times before he swore
ited by Bardwell L. Smith (Leiden, 1976), pp. 53–97. On
the bright young convert to silence and disclosed the secret.
Ramakrishna and Ka¯l¯ı, see Carl Olson, Mysterious Play of
The very next day, however, Ra¯ma¯nuja went up onto the
Ka¯l¯ı: An Interpretive Study of Ramakrishna (Atlanta, 1989).
On the mystical and the erotic, see Kripal mentioned above,
temple balcony and shouted down the secret to the S´r¯ı
which may be contrasted with Narasingha P. Sil’s psycholog-
Vais:n:avas below. Cheerfully acknowledging that for disobey-
ical interpretation in Ramakrisna Paramahamsa (Leiden,
ing his teacher he would go to hell, he added, “But because
1991). On this, see William Parsons, “Psychoanalysis and
of their connection with you these souls will be saved!” The
Mysticism: The Case of Ramakrishna,” in Religious Studies
teacher was so impressed with Ra¯ma¯nuja’s concern for the
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RA¯MA¯NUJA
7615
welfare of others that he recognized him as Ya¯muna’s succes-
first of these has been interpreted as Ra¯ma¯nuja’s own conver-
sor and the new leader of the community. This well-known
sation with the Lord during the solemn ceremony of “taking
story, along with many other stories in the hagiographies,
refuge” (´saran:a¯gati), and is taken by the tradition to provide
suggests a gradual shift in emphasis from a secret yoga passed
a clear warrant for replacing the path of disciplined medita-
on to a small number of disciples to a more open teaching
tion with the path of “humble approach” or “surrender”
shared with a community jointly worshiping Lord Vis:n:u and
(prapatti). (The text itself seems not to diverge so radically
his consorts, incarnate in temple images.
from the philosophical works as either the renowned teacher
Veda¯nta De´sika or modern critics maintain. In this author’s
Ra¯ma¯nuja is responsible for many innovations in the S´r¯ı
opinion all these minor works are genuine.)
Vais:n:ava community. He reorganized the central S´r¯ı
Vais:n:ava temple at S´r¯ırangam to accommodate his growing
Ra¯ma¯nuja’s epistemology is hyperrealistic. The first two
band of disciples, traveled widely to other temples to try to
sources of knowledge are perception and inference, and they
persuade them to adopt a more strictly Vais:n:ava liturgy, and
are trustworthy notwithstanding general human subjection
went all the way to Kashmir to consult ancient commen-
to “beginningless ignorance.” Knowledge is always of the
taries. He then composed new commentaries intended to
real, even in dreams, and error is a disordered perception or
convince brahman scholars all over India of the theistic
faulty inference concerning what is really there. The third
Vais:n:ava interpretation of the Sanskrit scriptures.
source of knowledge is the testimony of scripture, or more
Much of the latter part of Ra¯ma¯nuja’s life was spent in
strictly, ´sabda (“eternal sound”), which helps to establish
the Hoysala kingdom to the north where he fled to escape
much that is uncertain on the basis of sense perception and
the persecution of the S´aiva-oriented Co¯la king. Indeed, the
inference, notably the existence and nature of the ultimate
¯
earliest “hard evidence” for Ra¯ma¯nuja’s historical reality is
reality (brahman), who is also the Supreme Person and per-
a stone carving and inscription showing him with the Hoys-
sonal Lord. In explicit contrast to S´an˙kara’s doctrine of two
ala king he is said to have converted from Jainism.
levels of truth in scripture, Ra¯ma¯nuja maintains that scrip-
tural texts are all at the same level; apparent discrepancies or
In general, the hagiographers put less emphasis on
contradictions must therefore be resolved without placing
Ra¯ma¯nuja’s intellectual prowess than on his fervent devotion
one side or the other on a lower level. The emphasis on unity
to Lord Vis:n:u, his lifelong efforts to establish Ya¯muna’s
in some texts and duality or plurality in others is resolved by
teaching, and his skill in awakening the loyalty and utilizing
noting the synthetic principle in a third group of texts: radi-
the distinctive talents of his disciples and scholarly converts.
cal distinction and inseparable connection coexist in the rela-
The success of his efforts to persuade many of his own rela-
tion between the self (whether finite or infinite) and the body
tives and other brahmans to join the multicaste community
that it ensouls, and likewise in the relation between a sub-
of Vis:n:u worshipers had a double effect: The leadership of
stance and its mode.
the community passed still more completely into brahman
hands, while Brahmanic Hinduism itself was transformed so
Scripture testifies to a supreme self who is the inner self
that forever after caste ranking, in principle if not always in
of finite selves. Thus the finite self is to the supreme self as
practice, has been subordinated to the quality of devotion.
the material body is to the finite self. This is Ra¯ma¯nuja’s cele-
The story about Ra¯ma¯nuja’s renouncing his wife and becom-
brated doctrine of ´sar¯ıra-´sar¯ıri-bha¯va: the relation of the self
ing an ascetic does not imply that it is necessary in general
to the body, which corresponds to the relation between
for devotees to leave their life in society, but in this particular
grammatical subject and predicate adjective, or substance
case Ra¯ma¯nuja’s wife stood in the way of his spiritual prog-
and mode. It is the special characteristic of finite selves to be
ress. She was unwilling to subordinate caste ranking to spiri-
a mode in relation to God and substance in relation to mate-
tual preeminence and therefore thwarted Ra¯ma¯nuja’s desire
rial things, which are their bodies or instruments. The entire
to honor his lower-caste teacher.
finite universe of souls and material bodies is also the body
of God. Thus God is the only ultimately substantial reality,
Nine writings have consistently been attributed to
and reality may be viewed as vi´sis:t:a¯dvaita (the later philo-
Ra¯ma¯nuja since the earliest hagiographies and biographical
sophical label for this school of Veda¯nta, not used by
compendia. Three are commentaries on the Veda¯nta Su¯tra:
Ra¯ma¯nuja): the nondual reality of that which is (internally)
the famous S´r¯ıbha¯s:ya and the briefer Veda¯ntad¯ıpa and
distinguished.
Veda¯ntasa¯ra. One, perhaps his earliest work, is an indepen-
dent summary of his philosophical position, called the
Ra¯ma¯nuja defines the self-body relation in terms of
Veda¯rthasam:graha. A fifth is his commentary on the
three subordinate relations, those between the support and
Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, in which his mood is at least as devotional as
the supported, the controller and the controlled, and the
polemical. The remaining four works are very much in the
owner (s:es:¯ı) and the owned (s:es:a). It is the third relation that
devotional mood and are sufficiently different from the
is most distinctive, for ownership is understood to include
major works that their authenticity has recently been chal-
the obligation of the slave to serve the master and the confi-
lenged. One is a manual of daily worship called the Nitya-
dent expectation that the master will look after the slave. In
grantha. The other three are hymns in prose, the
each case it is the Supreme Self who provides the defining
S´aran:a¯gatigadya, S´r¯ırangagadya, and Vaikun:t:hagadya. The
instance; the finite self’s relation to its body is only a limited
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RA¯MA¯YAN:A
approximation of complete supporting, controlling, and
A century after his death, Ra¯ma¯nuja was understood by
owning its body.
his followers to have taught surrender (prapatti) as a prefera-
ble alternative to the path of devotion, and they were begin-
Ra¯ma¯nuja assumes that there are three kinds of reality:
ning to differ as to whether some human response to grace
nonsentient matter (acit), sentient but finite selves (cit), and
was part of this surrender. That difference would gradually
the Lord (¯I´svara), who is the Supreme Self. The world con-
split the community in two, but for both groups it was
sists of material bodies controlled by finite selves. While the
Ra¯ma¯nuja’s own act of surrender that gave the assurance of
particular bodies are temporary, the basic matter of which
divine grace for all his followers, a grace then mediated
they consist and the finite selves that they embody have no
through the generations by a succession of teachers. It is as
beginning in time. The bondage of many finite selves to
if they continue to say to Ra¯ma¯nuja what he is purported to
“beginningless karman” causes their repeated return to the
have said to the teacher whose secret he made public: “Be-
world in new bodies, but the entire world of material bodies
cause of their [our] connection with you their [our] souls will
and embodied souls is intended to glorify God, that is, to ex-
be saved.”
press in the finite realm his power and goodness. Those who
escape the ignorance induced by karman can see that the fi-
SEE ALSO S´r¯ı Vais:n:avas; Vais:n:avism, article on Pa¯ñcara¯tras;
nite world is now, along with God’s infinite world, a realm
Veda¯nta; Ya¯muna.
of glory (vibhu¯ti). Despite his horror of linking God with
anything defiling in the material world, Ra¯ma¯nuja insists
BIBLIOGRAPHY
that the entire finite universe is the body of God.
Buitenen, J. A. B. van., trans. Ra¯ma¯nuja’s Vedarthasamgraha.
Poona, 1956.
Finite selves and the Supreme Self are similar but not
identical in their essential natures: both have consciousness
Buitenen, J. A. B. van. Ra¯ma¯nuja on the Bhagavadgita (1953). Re-
print, Delhi, 1968.
and bliss as their essential characteristics, but the finite self
is limited in its power and extent whereas the Supreme Self
Carman, John B. The Theology of Ra¯ma¯nuja. New Haven, Conn.,
is all-powerful and all-pervasive. Moreover, finite selves still
1974.
“bound” to the material world have their secondary con-
Lester, Robert C. Ra¯ma¯nuja on the Yoga. Madras, 1976.
sciousness (that which they possess rather than are) obscured
Lott, Eric J. God and the Universe in the Vedantic Theology of
by the ignorance produced by “beginningless karman.”
Ra¯ma¯nuja. Madras, 1976.
The Veda¯nta is concerned with the proper knowledge
Raghavachar, S. S. Introduction to the Vedarthasangraha of Sree
of reality in order to find liberation from this bondage. In
Ra¯ma¯nujacharya. Mangalore, 1957.
Ra¯ma¯nuja’s interpretation of Veda¯nta both performance of
Raghavachar, S. S. S´r¯ı Ra¯ma¯nuja on the Gita. Mangalore, 1969.
social and ritual duties and knowledge of reality are auxiliary
Yamunacharya, M. Ra¯ma¯nuja’s Teachings in His Own Words.
means in seeking liberation, but the chief means is bhakti
Bombay, 1963.
(devotion), a calling to mind of God’s attributes with an atti-
New Sources
tude that should become as constant as the flow of oil, as
Veliath, Cyril. The Mysticism of Ramanuja. New Delhi, 1993.
vivid and immediate as sense perception, and so emotionally
gripping that the devotee feels unable to live without the per-
JOHN B. CARMAN (1987)
Revised Bibliography
vading presence of God.
The ultimate reality thus “remembered” in devotion is
not an abstract principle but that most concrete and substan-
RA¯MA¯YAN:A. Along with the Maha¯bha¯rata, the
tial reality who is the personal Lord, the Lord who escapes
Ra¯ma¯yan:a is the most influential epic of India. Attributed
all self-confident seeking by finite selves but who chooses to
to the sage Va¯lm¯ıki, it is a poem of about fifty thousand lines
become available to those who acknowledge their depen-
narrating in Sanskrit the tale of Ra¯ma and his wife, S¯ıta¯. The
dence. The Lord descends and condescends out of his great
core of the epic is the story surrounding Rama’s birth, his
compassion to save, but those who most deeply feel their
marriage to S¯ıta¯, his exile, S¯ıta¯’s abduction by the demon
need for God’s presence learn the deepest secret: the Lord
king Ra¯van:a, the battle leading to the killing of the demon,
also needs them. This emphasis on God’s initiative along
and the recovery of S¯ıta¯.
with the surprising secret that the Lord who owns everything
needs his devotees’ love leads to a second way of talking
The origins of the epic are obscure and beyond defini-
about the salvific process that is quite different from the first.
tive recovery. The epic is available in three recensions—the
Instead of loving devotion being the means to attaining the
Northeastern, the Northwestern, and the Southern. The re-
Lord’s presence, the Lord is the means to enabling devotion
censions vary considerably; approximately a third of the text
that is a mutual participation of infinite and finite selves. The
of each is not common to the other two. However, the varia-
end has become the means, and the means has become the
tions, substantial as they are, do not alter the main theme of
end. Ra¯ma¯nuja seems to be able to move back and forth be-
the epic.
tween the older concept of devotion as means and the impli-
The Ra¯ma¯yan:a consists of seven books called ka¯n:d:as.
cations of a radical doctrine of grace.
The story contained in these seven books is divided into two
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
RA¯MA¯YAN:A
7617
unequal parts, the first part consisting of the first six books
of Ayodhya¯ doubt the purity of S¯ıta¯’s character because she
and the second part covered by the seventh book. The con-
has lived in another man’s house. S¯ıta¯, now pregnant, is
tent of these books is too complicated to capture in a summa-
given shelter by the sage Va¯lm¯ıki. In the sage’s hermitage,
ry, but the main storyline is recounted here.
S¯ıta¯ gives birth to two sons, Lava and Ku´sa. Va¯lm¯ıki com-
poses the story of Ra¯ma and teaches the boys to sing the
Da´saratha, the king of Ayodhya¯, is childless. He per-
story.
forms a sacrifice to obtain sons. At that time the gods, who
are disturbed by the atrocities of the ten-headed demon
In Ayodhya¯, Ra¯ma begins a sacrifice that Va¯lm¯ıki at-
Ra¯van:a, pray to the god Vis:n:u for protection. Vis:n:u re-
tends with the twin boys. The boys sing the epic for Ra¯ma,
sponds to their prayers and decides to incarnate himself as
who then discovers that the boys are his own sons and that
a human being. He will be born as Ra¯ma, son of Da´saratha.
S¯ıta¯ is alive. Va¯lm¯ıki announces before the assembled crowd
At the end of the sacrifice Da´saratha’s three wives give birth
that S¯ıta¯ is pure and without fault. Ra¯ma accepts Lava and
to four sons, Queen Kausalya¯ to Ra¯ma, Queen Kaikey¯ı to
Ku´sa as his sons. S¯ıta¯ appears before the guests and prays that
Bharata, Queen Sumitra¯ to Laks:man:a and S´atrughna. Ra¯ma
her mother, the earth, receive her as a proof of her purity.
is the favorite son of the king, and Laks:man:a is devoted to
The earth breaks open, and S¯ıta¯ is received on a golden
his elder brother Ra¯ma. While the boys are still young, the
throne. Ra¯ma, saddened by the loss of his queen, gives the
sage Vi´sva¯mitra takes Ra¯ma and Laks:man:a to the forest and
kingdom to his sons and returns to the world of the gods.
instructs them in the use of magic weapons.
According to tradition, the Ra¯ma¯yan:a is believed to be-
King Janaka of Videha, who has the mighty bow of S´iva
long to the legendary tretayuga, the second of the four mythic
in his possession, declares that the prince who can wield the
ages. Historically, the date of the epic is a matter of consider-
weapon will be eligible to marry his beautiful daughter S¯ıta¯.
able controversy and nearly impossible to fix with certainty.
Ra¯ma wields the weapon and with his superior strength
Extensive scholarly work on the linguistic, stylistic, sociologi-
breaks it, then marries S¯ıta¯.
cal, geographical, and political data narrows down the possi-
In Ayodhya¯ King Da´saratha decides to have Ra¯ma in-
ble dates of the epic in is current form to the period between
stalled as prince regent. The decision, which was made while
750 and 500 BCE.
Kaikey¯ı’s son Bharata was away, causes Kaikey¯ı, on the ad-
Western scholarly opinion is fairly unanimous in agree-
vice of her maidservant, to rebel against the king. Kaikey¯ı
ment with Hermann Jacobi’s finding that substantial parts
insists that Bharata should be declared prince regent and that
of the first and seventh books of Va¯lm¯ıki’s version are later
Ra¯ma should be exiled to the forest for fourteen years. The
additions to the core of the five books. In the Hindu scholar-
king, who owes Kaikey¯ı two wishes, is compelled to obey her
ly tradition, however, it is believed that the epic is the first
desire. Obeying his father’s command, Ra¯ma leaves the capi-
poem (a¯dika¯vya) and is composed by a single poet, Va¯lm¯ıki,
tal city accompanied by his wife, S¯ıta¯, and his brother
who is called the first poet (a¯dikavi). Thus it is believed to
Laks:man:a. Da´saratha dies from the pain of separation from
predate the other Indian epic, the Maha¯bha¯rata. Compara-
his most beloved son.
tive dating of these two epics is a tangled issue because both
In the forest a demoness, S´urpan:akha¯, the sister of
the epics evolved together, borrowing extensively from each
Ra¯van:a, attempts to seduce Ra¯ma. Frustrated in her efforts,
other. Although no evidence is available to establish Va¯lm¯ıki
she attempts to kill S¯ıta¯. Ra¯ma punishes S´urpan:akha¯ by hav-
as a historical personage, the stylistic evidence suggests that
ing her ears and nose mutilated. S´urpan:akha¯ complains to
the central core of the five books of the Ra¯ma¯yan:a are most
her mighty brother. Enraged by Ra¯ma’s action and attracted
likely to be the work of a single author.
by S¯ıta¯’s beauty, Ra¯van:a decides to abduct S¯ıta¯. Ra¯van:a
The origins of the Va¯lm¯ıki text are most likely to be folk
sends his subject Ma¯r¯ıca to lure Ra¯ma away. Ma¯r¯ıca assumes
oral narratives of the hero Ra¯ma, a prince of the eastern Indi-
the form of a golden deer and attracts the attention of S¯ıta¯.
an state of Kosala. Va¯lm¯ıki’s version itself has been sung oral-
Consenting to her request, Ra¯ma chases the deer, leaving
ly for centuries by bards, known as kusilavas, before being
Laks:man:a to guard S¯ıta¯. S¯ıta¯ persuades Laks:man:a to go in
set down in writing. Secular and heroic in quality, the
protection of his brother. Once S¯ıta¯ is alone, the demon
Va¯lm¯ıki version depicts the story of a perfect hero, steadfast
Ra¯van:a appears at her doorstep dressed as an ascetic and car-
in virtues and devoted to the control of his passions. The sec-
ries her off by force.
ular, heroic, and tragic messages of the Ra¯ma¯yan:a have con-
When Ra¯ma learns that Ra¯van:a has abducted S¯ıta¯, he
tinued to influence generations of poets like Bhasa, Kalidasa,
secures the friendship of the monkey king Sugr¯ıva. Sugr¯ıva’s
and Bhavabhuti, as well as a number of poets from the re-
minister Hanuma¯n flies across the ocean to the island of
gional languages of India.
Lan˙ka¯ and locates S¯ıta¯ in a forest grove. Ra¯ma, aided by the
A major shift in the interpretation of the Ra¯ma¯yan:a took
monkey army, besieges Lan˙ka¯, defeats Ra¯van:a’s armies, kills
place during the Middle Ages. Ra¯ma was then identified as
Ra¯van:a, and brings S¯ıta¯ back.
an avatara (incarnation) of Vis:n:u. The story of Ra¯ma was
The seventh book of the Ra¯ma¯yan:a describes how Ra¯ma
read as an allegory of the conflict between good and evil in
abandons S¯ıta¯, this time by his own choice. The inhabitants
which the good always succeeds under the leadership of God.
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
7618
RAMBAM
Prominent among such devotional (bhakti) Ra¯ma¯yan:as is
truly innovative “systems” ethnography, in what became the
Kamban’s Iramavataram (twelfth century), in Tamil. A fur-
classic Pigs for the Ancestors: Ritual in the Ecology of a New
ther development in the devotionalization of the Ra¯ma¯yan:a
Guinea People (1968), which explores the ritual regulation
becomes popular with Tulsidas’s Ramcaritmanas, in the six-
of environmental relations in their local ecosystems. Rappa-
teenth century. In Tulsidas all the characters of the
port followed up on his analysis of what religion does by
Ra¯ma¯yan:a, including the demon Ra¯van:a, are Ra¯ma’s devo-
probing—through cybernetic studies of the sacred and in es-
tees. All the conflicts of the story and its tragedy are eliminat-
says that link adaptation, the structure of human communi-
ed to produce a harmonious, balanced, lyrical world of God
cation, and ritual life—why ritual should order ecosystems
and his devotees.
and human life. While conducting his religion research, he
In addition to literary Ra¯ma¯yan:as, there are a number
also consulted with government agencies on the notion of
of folk/oral versions all over India with significant variations
human impacts, arguing for a more public- and policy-
in emphasis and messages. Folk versions of the Ra¯ma¯yan:a
engaged anthropology. From beginning to end, he saw an-
sung by women emphasize the role of S¯ıta¯ and portray her
thropology as a holistic discipline that could provide value-
as more independent than she is in the literary versions.
based moral and intellectual foundations for both the sci-
ences and the humanities and that could help bridge their
SEE ALSO Maha¯bha¯rata; Ra¯ma; Tulsidas; Va¯lm¯ıki.
divide.
Rappaport, a New Yorker and credentialed innkeeper,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
was already close to forty when he began his graduate anthro-
Bulcke, Camille. Ra¯ma-katha¯ (1950). 2d ed. Allahabad, 1962.
pology studies at Columbia University in the politically tur-
Goldman, Robert P., trans. The Ra¯ma¯yan:a of Va¯lm¯ıki, vol. 1,
bulent 1960s, a time of heightened public debate on ecology,
Ba¯laka¯n:d:a. Princeton, N.J., 1984.
civil rights, the Vietnam War, and the threat of nuclear war.
Jacobi, Hermann. Das Ra¯ma¯yan:a: Geschichte und Inhalt nebst
At Columbia he contended with Marvin Harris’s cultural
Concordanz der gedruckten Recensionen. Bonn, 1893.
materialism; Harold Conklin’s ethnoscience; Conrad Arens-
Raghavan, V., ed. The Ra¯ma¯yan:a Tradition in Asia. New Delhi,
berg’s political anthropology; Andrew Vayda’s, Fredrik
1980.
Barth’s, and Harold Conklin’s interpretations of anthropo-
Shastri, Hari Prasad, trans. The Ra¯ma¯yan:a of Va¯lm¯ıki. 3 vols. Lon-
logical ecology, and Leslie White’s theory of general evolu-
don, 1962.
tion as presented by Morton Fried. Building on Arensberg
Smith, H. Daniel. Reading the Ra¯ma¯yan:a: A Bibliographic Guide
and White, he developed his own ideas of ordered general
for Students and College Teachers. Syracuse, N.Y., 1983.
systems; and he transformed the ethnoscience and ecologies
of Conklin, Vayda, and Barth into his own notions of “cog-
New Sources
nized” and “operational” environments that introduced ideas
Richman, Paula, ed. Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative
Tradition in South Asia. Berkeley, 1991.
of structure in adaptive systems. He also departed from Con-
klin and Barth by intentionally introducing clearly specified
Richman, Paula, ed. Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradi-
units of analysis, such as “human population,” not only “cul-
tion. Berkeley, 2001.
ture,” and by tracing energy and nutrient flows, not only
VELCHERU NARAYANA RAO (1987)
ideas. He also bypassed the vague social structural-functional
Revised Bibliography
formulations and simple functionalist or materialist argu-
ments of Harris to explore not ritual’s function but its adap-
tive value in maintaining empirical (“reference”) values, as
RAMBAM SEE MAIMONIDES, MOSES
in the numbers of humans, plants, and animals living in
peace or in conflict within a given territory over a specified
unit of time.
RAMBAN SEE NAHMANIDES, MOSES
The identification of ritual as an important mechanism
regulating peace and warfare, distribution of regional popu-
lation, and humans’ sustainable use of environmental re-
RAM MOHAN ROY SEE ROY, RAM MOHAN
sources was innovative, as was the ritual analysis that did not
try to specify whether local models of the natural world
(which included the superhuman) were true but only wheth-
er they were appropriate to maintain the ecosystem.
RAPPAPORT, ROY A. (1926–1997). The American
anthropologist Roy A. Rappaport’s writings, which span
Despite Rappaport’s personal ambivalence toward reli-
ecology, systems theory, and religion, address the large issues
gion, his research then turned to understanding ritual’s inter-
of ritual and religious logos in human survival and evolution.
nal structure, the principles of sanctity that govern it, and
After helping to conceptualize the field of anthropological
how these principles connect individuals, societies, and eco-
human ecology in the 1960s, Rappaport did fieldwork
systems. Influenced by the ideas of Gregory Bateson (1904–
among the Maring of highland New Guinea and crafted a
1980) in cybernetics and adaptation, Charles Peirce (1839–
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
RASHI
7619
1914) in semiotics, and J. L. Austin (1911–1960) in perfor-
Rappaport, Roy A. “Humanity’s Evolution and Anthropology’s
matives, he sought the etiology, structure, and attributes of
Future.” In Assessing Cultural Anthropology, edited by Robert
logos (transcendent or higher truths) that bind human beings
Borofsky, pp. 153–167. New York, 1994.
into meaningful and enduring social orders and enable the
Rappaport, Roy A. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity.
trustworthy communication necessary for a shared social and
Cambridge, U.K., 1999.
cultural life. A key to his arguments centers on the ambiva-
ELLEN MESSER (2005)
lent role of language in human evolution, which introduces
new content and flexibility into human ideas of desirable,
creative, moral, and imaginary orders, but also permits lies.
Ritual, he concluded, is the universal basis for establishing
RASHI, acronym (RaSHI) of Rabbi Shelomoh ben
trust, given the possibility of linguistic dissembling and falsi-
Yitsh:aq of Troyes (1040–1105) was the most influential Jew-
fication. His concept of “the holy” weds discursive liturgical
ish commentator on the Bible and the Babylonian Talmud.
order both to nondiscursive religious experience, which al-
Nine hundred years after his death, Rashi’s writings remain
lows human beings to commit themselves to orderly rules
the standard commentaries for any serious student of the He-
that organize their collective lives, and to cultural conven-
brew Bible or the Babylonian Talmud, and new scholarly
tions that help maintain ecological balance. To reach these
studies of his achievement continue to be published.
conclusions, Rappaport continued to ground his abstract
Rashi was born in Troyes, the political center of the
theory in Maring ethnography and his ideas of ultimate sa-
county of Champagne, in northeastern France, but outside
cred postulates, logos, and resilience in his understandings
the close-knit rabbinical circles of the founding families of
of Judaism, his ancestral religion.
German Jewry. After pursuing his preliminary studies in
Rappaport’s main interest in ritual was in adaptive, not
Troyes, including studies with his father, he married and
maladaptive, structure. Regarding the clash between science
around 1060 traveled to the yeshivot of the Rhineland, then
and religion, he critiqued the role of science in the modern
the most advanced in northwestern Europe. He studied there
world—where science seeks to usurp the place of religion
with the two heads of the Mainz academy, YaEaqov ben
(“the holy”)—as a dangerous systemic “inversion,” because
Yaqar, whom he considered his most important teacher of
while science questions the value of ritual acts, it offers noth-
Talmud and Bible, and after the master’s death in 1064, his
ing to replace them. Although science offers up new realms
successor, Yitsh:aq ben Yehudah, for a short time. Almost im-
of thought, with calculations based on facts organized under
mediately, he went to Worms to study with Yitsh:aq ha-Levi,
theories, all scientific knowledge can be questioned, and so
whose academy was superseding the Mainz school in ad-
it fragments and precludes certainty. But humanity needs
vanced Talmud instruction. By the end of the decade he was
certainty and wholeness to survive. This certainty is provided
back home, but he continued to correspond with Yitsh:aq
by the sacred, which adds cultural structures of meaning to
ben Yehudah and Yitsh:aq ha-Levi.
observations and analysis based on accordance with natural
(scientific) law.
Rashi attracted his own students in Troyes, and he
served as the local rabbinical authority there. Though he
Rappaport joined the department of anthropology at
wrote answers (responsa) to hundreds of questions sent to
the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1965, then
him, he was not a professional rabbi. He made a living some
served as chair of the department (1975–1980), was elected
other way; however, the often repeated assertion that he was
a senior fellow of the Michigan Society of Fellows (1975),
a vintner has been disputed.
and in 1991 became director of the university’s program on
studies in religion. He served as president of the American
Rashi had no sons. His well-educated daughters married
Anthropological Association from 1987 to 1989.
learned men; their sons became eminent rabbinical authori-
ties. Yokheved married MeDir ben ShemuDel, and among their
SEE ALSO Anthropology, Ethnology, and Religion; Ritual
four sons were ShemuDel ben MeDir (known by the acronym
Studies.
Rashbam), one of the most important commentators on the
Hebrew Bible and developer of the literal method of inter-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
pretation, and YaEaqov ben MeDir (known as Rabbenu Tam),
Messer, Ellen, and Michael Lambek, eds. Ecology and the Sacred:
who dominated the new scholastic method of Talmud study
Engaging the Anthropology of Roy A. Rappaport. Ann Arbor,
in the form of additions (tosafot) of questions and answers
Mich., 2001.
to his grandfather’s running gloss. Rashi’s daughter Miryam
Rappaport, Roy A. Pigs for the Ancestors: Ritual in the Ecology of
married Yehudah ben Natan, whose commentary to the end
a New Guinea People. New Haven, Conn., 1968. A second
of Makkot is printed in the standard editions of the Babylo-
edition, with new preface, appendix, and epilogue, was pub-
lished in 1984.
nian Talmud. In this way, Rashi created his own French rab-
binical family elite.
Rappaport, Roy A. Ecology, Meaning, and Religion. Richmond,
Calif., 1979.
Rashi lived through the devastation of Jewish rabbinical
Rappaport, Roy A. “The Anthropology of Trouble.” American
leadership in the Rhenish academies of Mainz and Worms
Anthropologist 95, no. 2 (1993): 295–303.
caused by the First Crusade riots of 1096, and some traces
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
7620
RASHI
of early anti-Crusade polemic have been detected in his writ-
scholars have detected explicit or implied anti-Christian po-
ings. Thus he says that the Bible begins with the creation of
lemics. While there is no evidence that Rashi read Latin, he
the world and not with the first law given to the Jewish peo-
could have heard many Christological arguments and argu-
ple (Ex. 12:1), in order to teach that the Land of Israel be-
ments derived from scriptural proof texts from Christian
longs to the Jewish people, and not to the Christians or Mus-
neighbors and introduced counterinterpretations for the
lims who were fighting over it in the First Crusade. Why?
benefit of his students.
Since God created the world, the entire earth belongs to him,
From Rashi’s commentaries and responsa, it is obvious
including the Land of Israel, which he first gave to the na-
that Jews and Christians lived in the same towns, walked the
tions of Canaan and then gave to Israel (Rashi on Gn. 1:1).
same streets, bought their household goods in the same mar-
Rashi’s major achievement was his composition of com-
kets, and paid for them with the same coinage. Although the
prehensive running commentaries to most of the Hebrew
medieval fairs at Troyes began only in the twelfth century,
Bible and Babylonian Talmud. Of the biblical commentaries
the town was already a manufacturing center and commer-
attributed to him, those to Job from 40:25, Ezra, Nehemiah,
cial depot in Rashi’s day, and many travelers passed through.
and Chronicles are not his but may be based on his approach.
His commentaries include remarks about the city of Venice
Of the Talmudic commentaries, those to Ta Eanit, Mo Eed
and about German currency. He observed firsthand in
Qat:an, Nedarim, Nazir, and Horayot are not his. The gloss
Troyes embroidery of silk with gold, soldering and engraving
he began to Bava D BatraD was finished by his grandson She-
techniques, and the manufacture of parchment. He also
muDel ben MeDir, and the one to Makkot was completed by
comments about popular customs and street life: some
his student and son-in-law Yehudah ben Natan.
women pierced their ears; butchers sometimes used their
hands for scales, putting the meat in one hand and a weight
In his Talmud commentary, Rashi focused on each dif-
in the other; the well-to-do slept in four-poster beds or else
ficult term or passage in sequence and supplied punctuation
had rods constructed to support a tentlike curtain to keep
or logical transitions that were not clear from the text itself.
flies away when they slept.
He used his profound knowledge of the Talmud and Jewish
In addition to noting hundreds of such concrete refer-
law to help the student by briefly introducing the general
ences to everyday life, Rashi uses approximately a thousand
topic that the text is about to discuss in detail, and he provid-
medieval French terms or phrases to explain or illustrate He-
ed reasons for particular laws and mentioned historical con-
brew or Aramaic terms; these lexical items, written in pho-
ditions in ancient times. At times, he indicated that he pre-
netic Hebrew characters, have preserved important evidence
ferred a particular version of a passage, and later copyists
about linguistic characteristics of eleventh-century French.
corrected the text so that there is no difference between the
Talmud and Rashi’s correction. His commentary became
Apart from its value as a source for Jewish intellectual
widely used from the beginning of the thirteenth century and
history and early French, Rashi’s biblical commentary also
has been printed with the Talmud from the first editions to
influenced Christian biblical exegesis. Already in the twelfth
this day.
century, Hugh of Saint-Victor and other Victorine scholars
in Paris were interested in the Hebrew text and reflect famil-
Although Rashi based about three fourths of his com-
iarity with Rashi. But it was especially the Franciscan Nicho-
mentary to the Pentateuch on earlier Midrashic works, he in-
las of Lyra (c. 1270–1349), writing in Paris at the very time
tegrated into his work a newer method of Jewish biblical exe-
that a chair in Hebrew had been established in accordance
gesis that focused on the plain meaning of the text. When
with the Council of Vienne (1312), who made systematic use
an ambiguity in the text created the possibility of different
of Rashi’s biblical commentary in his own running gloss on
interpretations, Rashi explicitly contrasted a straightforward
the whole Bible, the Postilla litteralis.
textual interpretation (pe-shuto shel miqra D)—which could be
arrived at through (1) a literal reading of the text, (2) a con-
The immense influence of Rashi’s commentaries in
textual approach, or (3) the use of a midrash that explains
shaping the religious culture of European Judaism still awaits
the plain meaning of the words as written—to an interpreta-
proper historical treatment. As a bridge between the Rhenish
tion which he paraphrased from a Midrashic source. This
center of Jewish learning in Mainz and Worms and the
dual method of interpretation is Rashi’s most characteristic
newer dialectical methods of Bible and Talmud study that
innovation, but it has sometimes been misunderstood.
were developed in the twelfth century based on Rashi’s own
Whereas later twelfth-century French commentators like
commentaries, his place in Jewish cultural history is secure.
ShemuDel ben MeDir and Yosef ben Yitsh:aq (Bekhor Shor)
Through Nicholas of Lyra, Rashi also influenced subsequent
developed a method of interpretation based on the systemat-
Christian Hebraists down to Martin Luther and beyond.
ic inquiry into the literal meaning of the text (peshat:) in pref-
SEE ALSO Biblical Exegesis, article on Jewish Views;
erence to one based on earlier rabbinical homilies (derash),
Tosafot.
Rashi himself did not explicitly distinguish between the two
methods of reading; he did not use the terms peshat: and de-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
rash and so certainly did not prefer the former. In his glosses
Rashi’s commentary to the Pentateuch has been translated into
to the other books of the Bible, such as Isaiah and Psalms,
English by Morris Rosenbaum and Abraham M. Silbermann
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
RASH¯ID RID:A¯, MUH:AMMAD
7621
as Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos, Haphtaroth and Prayers
the practice of the prophet Muh:ammad and the first genera-
for the Sabbath, and Rashi’s Commentary, 5 vols. (London,
tion of his followers (the salaf, hence the name salaf¯ıyah,
1929–1934).
often used for this type of thought). He opposed what he re-
An important interpretive sketch about him is Alexander Marx’s
garded as innovations, in particular the beliefs and practice
“Rashi,” in his Essays in Jewish Biography (Philadelphia,
of later S:u¯f¯ıs, and in his later years drew close to the
1947) and the most comprehensive, if dated, biography is
Wahha¯b¯ı point of view.
still Maurice Liber’s Rashi, translated by Adele Szold (Phila-
delphia, 1906).
Rid:a¯ believed that, apart from some specific injunctions,
Rashi’s influence on Christian Bible commentaries in the early
the QurDa¯n and the practice of the Prophet gave only general
Middle Ages is discussed in Beryl Smalley’s The Study of the
principles of social morality and law; their implications had
Bible in the Middle Ages, 2d ed. (1951; Notre Dame, 1964)
to be drawn out by competent Muslims in the light of cir-
and for the later period in Herman Hailperin’s Rashi and the
cumstances. Blind imitation of past teaching led to stagna-
Christian Scholars (Pittsburgh, 1963). An illustration of
tion and weakness; the changed circumstances of the present
Rashi as anti-Christian polemicist is Michael A. Signer’s
“King/Messiah: Rashi’s Exegesis of Psalm 2,” Prooftexts 3
age made a new interpretation necessary, and its guiding
(September 1983): 273–278.
principle should be mas:lah:ah (interest), a concept accepted
in traditional legal theory but broadened by Rid:a¯ so as to
Esra Shereshevsky’s Rashi: The Man and His World (New York,
1982) is of particular interest for his compilation of data
mean social utility. By using this principle, his aim was to
from Rashi’s oeuvre about everyday life.
create a body of modern Islamic law on which the different
legal schools could agree; to this end he published a large
Rashi’s methodology as Bible exegete is discussed in Benjamin J.
Gelles’s Peshat and Derash in the Exegesis of Rashi (Leiden,
number of rulings on hypothetical cases raising important
1981) and assessed in a review essay by Sarah Kamin in the
questions of law.
Journal of Jewish Studies 36 (Spring 1985): 126–130, based
on her own sophisticated study of this tricky problem which
Rid:a¯ was much concerned with the question of political
she has summarized in “Rashi’s Exegetical Categorization
authority. He believed it should be delegated by the commu-
with Respect to the Distinction between Peshat and Derash,”
nity to a combination of just rulers and men of religious
Immanuel 11 (1980): 16–32.
learning, trained to deal with the problems of the modern
New Sources
world; there was a need for a caliph, not as universal tempo-
Banitt, Menahem. Rashi, Interpreter of the Biblical Letter. [Tel
ral ruler but as the final and generally accepted authority on
Aviv], Israel, 1985.
law. He emphasized the central position of the Arabs in the
Berman, Scot A. Learning Talmud: A Guide to Talmud Terminolo-
Muslim world; Arabic was the language of the QurDa¯n and
gy and Rashi Commentary. Northvale, N.J., 1997.
the religious sciences, and without the Arabs Islam could not
Bonchek, Avigdor. What’s Bothering Rashi? A Guide to In-depth
be healthy. He played some part in the Arab nationalist
Analysis of His Torah Commentary. Jerusalem and New York,
movement, but the influence of Al-mana¯r spread far beyond
1997–2002.
the Arab world, and some of its ideas were adopted by later
Doron, Pinhas. Rashi’s Torah Commentary: Religious, Philosophi-
movements aiming to restore Islam as the moral norm of
cal, Ethical, and Educational Insights. Northvale, N.J., 2000.
modern society.
IVAN G. MARCUS (1987)
Revised Bibliography
BIBLIOGRAPHY
General summaries of Rid:a¯’s ideas can be found in my work, Ara-
bic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798–1939, 2d ed. (Cam-
bridge, 1983), chaps. 9 and 11, and in Hamid Enayat’s Mod-
RASH¯ID RID:A¯, MUH:AMMAD. (1865–1935),
ern Islamic Political Thought (London, 1982). A fuller
Arab Muslim theologian and journalist. Born in a village
treatment is that of Malcolm H. Kerr in his Islamic Reform:
near Tripoli, Lebanon, Rid:a¯ had a traditional religious edu-
The Political and Legal Theories of Muh:ammad EAbduh and
cation. The writings of the pan-Islamic thinker Jama¯l al-D¯ın
Rash¯ıd Rid:a¯ (Berkeley, 1966). Jacques Jomier’s Le com-
al-Afgha¯n¯ı and the Egyptian theologian Muh:ammand
mentaire coranique du Manâr: Tendances modernes de l’exégèse
EAbduh opened his mind to the need to reform Islam. In
coranique en Egypte (Paris, 1954) studies the commentary on
1897 he settled in Cairo and from then until his death pub-
the QurDa¯n which EAbduh and Rid:a¯ published jointly in
lished a periodical, Al-mana¯r (The Lighthouse), devoted to
Al-mana¯r. Rid:a¯’s treatise on the caliphate has been translated
explaining the problems of Islam in the modern world.
into French and annotated by Henri Laoust in Le califat dans
la doctrine de Ra0¯ıd Rid:a¯ (Beirut, 1938). Of his other works,
His starting point was that of EAbduh, whom he regard-
the biography of EAbduh, TaDr¯ıkh al-usta¯dh al-ima¯m al-
ed as his master: the need for Muslims to live virtuously in
shaykh Muh:ammad EAbduh, vol. 1 (Cairo, 1931), is full of
the light of a reformed understanding of Islam. That under-
information about the Islamic reformers. His legal rulings
standing involved drawing a distinction between the doc-
have been collected by S:ala¯h: al-D¯ın al-Munajjid and Yu¯suf
trines of Islam and its social morality. Doctrines and forms
Q. Khu¯r¯ı in Fata¯wa¯ al-ima¯m Muh:ammad Rash¯ıd Rid:a¯, 5
of worship were unchanging, laid down by the QurDa¯n and
vols. (Beirut, 1970–1971).
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
7622
RASTAFARIANISM
New Sources
Thompson, 1994), which is crucial because the movement
Dallal, Ahmad. “Appropriating the Past: Twentieth-Century Re-
seeks to break with its Western colonial past and retrieve and
construction of Pre-modern Islamic Thought.” Islamic Law
revive its African heritage.
and Society 7 (October 2000): 325–359.
Haddad, Mahmoud. “Arab Religious Nationalism in the Colonial
It is nevertheless important to note that Rastafari re-
Era: Rereading Rashid Rida’s Ideas on the Caliphate.” Jour-
mains intertwined with biblical, Judeo-Euro-Christian val-
nal of the American Oriental Society 117 (April-June 1997):
ues and doctrines and has always included select notions bor-
253–278.
rowed historically from the Hinduism of the East Indian
Sirriyeh, Elizabeth. “Rashid Rida’s Autobiography of the Syrian
indentured workers in Jamaica (see Mansingh and Mans-
Years, 1865–1897.” Arabic and Middle Eastern Literatures 3
ingh, 1985). All of these influences were part of the multicul-
(July 2000): 179–195.
tural Caribbean world of early Rastafari patriarchs and matri-
archs, and they continue to shape successive generations. As
ALBERT HOURANI (1987)
Revised Bibliography
it expands Rastafari continues to borrow from a variety of
other cultural expressions.
Rastafari can be considered a “movement” in three
RASTAFARIANISM.
senses. First, in its early years and continuing in some circles
Rastafari (the preferred name for
in the early twenty-first century, movement-relocation to Af-
Rastafarianism) was once categorized simply as a syncretic
rica has been a major articulated aim of Rastas. (Relocation
Afro-Caribbean religio-political cult. The reality is much
to Africa is generally called repatriation, a theme explored in
more complex. It might be meaningfully described as a Ja-
its fuller theological sense of redemption later in this article.)
maica-spawned global spiritual movement that is rooted in
returning to, retrieving, or reinventing African heritage and
Second, even when physical relocation is not a goal of
identity (and occasionally other historically disparaged or
Rastas, Rastafari represents a conscious cognitive move away
submerged identities). Rastafari includes a variety of specific
from a Western colonial consciousness and toward a recov-
manifestations, traversing a broad spectrum of religious, po-
ered, reconceived, or reinvented consciousness. Most typical-
litical, and cultural forms. The name Rastafari derives from
ly this consciousness is intentionally oriented toward Africa,
the title and given name (Ras, translated as “prince,” and Ta-
though in select cases it has also involved similar orientations
fari, “he who must be feared,” from the Amharic language
to other ancestral consciousnesses (e.g., among Rastafari
of Ethiopia) of Haile Selassie (Amharic for “power of the
Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand). This new consciousness
Trinity”; 1892–1975), the former Ethiopian emperor,
can also be characterized as a cognitive turn inward to a more
whom most Rastafari worship as a god-king or messiah. Yet
powerful and authentic sense of self. Rastafari emphasizes the
Rastafari as a whole cannot be defined simply by reference
interior location of deity, often referred to as the I—an over-
to beliefs about the messiah, common practices, or common
determined symbol that includes both a sense of the self as
organizational forms. Instead, one should approach Rastafari
divinity residing internally and the notion that the spirit and
holistically.
power of Haile Selassie I dwell within individual Rastafari.
RASTAFARI AS A SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT. Rastafari can be
In terms of the collective, Rastas tend to speak of “InI” (I&I),
considered foremost an expression of retrieved African spiri-
as opposed to “you” and “me.” This urges Rastafari to identi-
tuality. If all concerns about the sacred can be seen as ranging
fy human value universally, communally, and from a view-
along a continuum between the ideal-typical poles of “reli-
point independent of the value projected on people by a cor-
gion” and “spirituality,” then Rastafari tends toward the lat-
rupted society.
ter. Indeed it is important to note that most Rastas (individu-
Third, Rastas themselves and Rastafari ideas and sym-
al participants in the movement) typically eschew the
bols have increasingly expanded geographically, moving be-
category religion because of what they consider to be the
yond their original Jamaican context into different parts of
term’s colonial, imperialistic, and organizational connota-
the world. In less than a century Rastafari has taken on global
tions. In this negative sense religion signifies an essentially
proportions, adapting its contours in creative ways to fit so-
dogmatic relationship to the sacred, grounded in the notion
ciocultural contexts ranging from Aotearoa to Poland, from
that a particular tradition is the only gateway to the Truth.
South Africa to Japan, and throughout the world.
Spirituality, on the other hand, represents a relationship to
the sacred that allows for many different gateways and ac-
The spread of Rastafari has been due in part to the
knowledges that one path may be stronger in certain areas
movement’s association with popular culture, especially reg-
while weaker in others. Whereas religion tends to draw firm
gae music, from the late 1960s onward. Consequently Rasta-
lines to distinguish the sacred and the secular, spirituality
fari manifests itself not only as an expression of spirituality
provides scope for fluidity between sacred and secular, pro-
but also as a secular style. It is not clear among either scholars
moting mutual exchange and borrowing among people with
or the Rastafari themselves where the division of style, poli-
different senses of the sacred. Spirituality is also a useful de-
tics, and spirituality-religion should reside. Thus different
scriptor because, for Rastafari, it evokes an African relation-
branches of the Rastafari movement reflect the differing de-
ship to the sacred (cf. Mbiti, 1969; Blakely, van Beek, and
grees to which religious, spiritual, or secular features are as-
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7623
cendant. The historical root of the movement in Jamaica—
ing ganja, are virtually ubiquitous among the Rastafari and
the Order of Nyahbinghi—is arguably the most traditionally
other practices, such as wearing the long matted hair known
“religious” (including its populous offshoot, the Bobo
as dreadlocks, are now universal in the movement, historically
Dreads of the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress).
they have not always been so and are increasingly adopted
These are the most churchical groups, the houses (or denomi-
as a style by people not associated with Rastafari. Reasoning
nations) of Rastafari that are the most biblically based (espe-
might be considered a universal practice in the movement,
cially attending to the Hebrew Scriptures), the most fervent-
but it is similar to types of dialogue and conversation outside
ly black nationalist in orientation, as well as the most tightly
of Rastafari, and it is too informal and unstructured (outside
structured around ceremonial worship. Although there is no
of the formal Nyahbinghi ceremony of worship—a more
universally recognized Rastafari orthodoxy at this point,
structured drumming, chanting, dancing, and prophesying
Carol D. Yawney and John P. Homiak (2001) have pointed
ritual) to be an identifying marker of Rastafari.
to an important trend within the House of Nyahbinghi to
With such a fluid range of characteristics, it is impracti-
assume responsibility for upholding traditional Rastafari
cable as an outsider to the movement to define conclusively
doctrine, especially in its overseas missions. At the other ex-
who is part of the movement and who is not. In any case,
treme, those who enter the movement via its broad cultural
most Rastas themselves will say that one does not become a
appeal and who may not belong to any particular house tend
Rasta, “believe in Rastafarianism,” or join Rastafari as a
to be more open to other dimensions of spirituality and may
choice or identity. Rastafari, in their view, is an “inborn con-
not relate significantly to the Bible, worship with any special
ception”—one is a Rasta from birth. The only question is
congregation, or even have any commitment to relocate to
whether or not one knows it and lives it. Indeed the brethren
the continent of Africa. There are also clusters of Rastas who
and sistren often refer to their movement as a “way of life,”
link with more directly political organizations, like the Rasta-
or “livity,” thereby emphasizing its holistic qualities.
fari Centralization Organization in Jamaica, which attempts
HISTORY OF RASTAFARI. The roots from which Rastafari
to coordinate the different houses and focus them on politi-
sprang were present in Jamaica long before Rastafari emerged
cal issues (for example, challenging the ganja [marijuana]
as a movement. In his early treatment of Rastafari, Leonard
laws or setting up a practical program for relocation to
Barrett (1988/1977) laid great emphasis on Rastafari as a
Africa).
continuation of Jamaica’s traditional Ethiopianism. Ethiopia
Doctrines, organizational patterns, and ritual practices
held a prominent place in the imagination of black Jamai-
vary widely within the Rastafari movement. It is difficult to
cans; it was a meronym of Africa as a whole, and because of
define Rastafari according to doctrine, for Rastafari groups
Ethiopia’s importance in the Bible, it stood not only as a rep-
do not require allegiance to a single creed from those wishing
resentation of homeland but also as a symbol of eschatologi-
to join or participate, and doctrine continues to progress
cal redemption. Barrett and other scholars have also linked
semiautonomously in the spirit of a dynamic ethos of theo-
Rastafari’s roots to other indigenous Jamaican religions and
logical inquiry and dialogue (a practice called reasoning). At
traditions. Perhaps most comprehensively, Barry Chevannes
the same time in the more churchical houses of Rastafari one
(1994) explores Rastafari’s continuity with the Jamaican Re-
is likely to find fairly widespread theological cohesion. Simi-
vival tradition, which itself has roots both in colonial and in-
larly Rastafari groups vary in how they are organized: with
digenous Christianity and in a Pan-African religion, myalism
some notable exceptions (such as the Bobo Dreads, who
(a communal healing and anti-witchcraft tradition). Thus
maintain a distinction of prophet, priest, and king), authori-
Rastafari reflects a continuation of indigenous religious resis-
ty in the movement is not vested in particular religious of-
tance in Jamaica (Besson, 1995).
fices. Among the Nyahbinghi a collective authority flows
Most scholars agree that the Rastafari movement per se
from the de facto leadership and seniority (in terms of years
began in Jamaica at the time of the emperor’s grand corona-
in the movement) of various elders in the group. The author-
tion in 1930, when several early leaders arrived independent-
ity structure among Twelve Tribes and Ethiopian World
ly at similar ideas regarding Haile Selassie I as a black messi-
Federation groupings involves more conventional positions,
ah. Included among these early Rastafari were Leonard
such as an executive, president, secretary, treasurer, and oth-
Howell (1898–1981), Joseph Hibbert, Robert Hinds, Archi-
ers. Rastafari organization has been characterized as ace-
bald Dunkley, and Altamont Reed. Howell is typically re-
phalic, but in reality the organization of the movement varies
garded as the earliest, a “catalyst” for the movement (Hill,
tremendously.
1981), especially insofar as he sought to establish a commu-
nity of believers (Chevannes, 1994, p. 122).
Finally, there is no formal ritual, practice, or symbol
sine qua non that conclusively denotes Rastafari. But the
But the international context was also critical to the
more churchical the group, the more likely one is to find
emergence of Rastafari, playing an important part in the lives
common practices (ranging from common ways of passing
of the early leaders themselves. Howell, for example, had
the communion chalice [water pipe] to common clothing,
worked as a laborer and resided in the United States, Pana-
such as the Bobo Dreads’ distinctive turbans, and common
ma, and according to some accounts, Africa. And virtually
psalms and prayers). Though some practices, such as smok-
all of the founding fathers were influenced by Marcus Gar-
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RASTAFARIANISM
vey’s (1887–1940) internationalist vision of Pan-African
In 1947 a number of Rastafari brethren, including most
unity. Garvey (though not a Rasta himself) directed black
notably Ras Boanerges (1925–2000), formed the Youth
people’s attention toward Africa (best seen in his prophecy—
Black Faith (YBF) in Trench Town, West Kingston. Other
now lost to the written record but preserved in Rastafari oral
Rastafari groups also existed, but the YBF is of decisive im-
tradition—“Look to Africa for the crowning of a black
portance for its seminal influence on the movement.
king”) and raised black awareness concerning Africa and
Chevannes characterizes it as a militant reformist group
things African both on the continent and in its diaspora. To
“born out of [younger leaders’] contempt for the wayward-
a significant extent Garvey was responsible for revalorizing
ness of the older leaders” (Chevannes, 1994, p. 154). What
Africa in the diaspora, a process the Rastafari continued.
was distinctive about the YBF was its zeal to purge Rastafari
of the elements of the Revival tradition that could still be
Perhaps the most important galvanizing events for these
found in it such as ritual activity that invoked the spirit world
early Bible-reading leaders were the crowning on November
or appeared to Rastafari as magical. This is a seminal point
2, 1930, of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Emperor Haile Selassie
of formative influence, with deep implications for the crisis
I, King of Kings, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah
of “religion” verses “spirituality” currently resonating in the
(fulfilling the prophecies of Rv. 5:5 and Rv. 19:11–16 in the
movement. When viewed through the lens of Biblical literal-
Rastas’ biblical exegesis) and the Italian invasion of Ethiopia
ism the Revival use of magical ritual, incantations, potions
in 1935–1936. The latter event ignited angry protests in Af-
and other activities appeared to the Rastafari of the YBF as
rica and evoked an unprecedented wave of solidarity and ra-
bordering on necromancy. The YBF ultimately was also im-
cial consciousness at the grassroots across the African diaspo-
portant for institutionalizing dreadlocks, the heartbeat
ra. Leaders such as Garvey, George Padmore, Kwame
rhythm of drumming and chanting, ritual use of ganja, vege-
Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, and C. L. R. James all came to-
tarian diet, the importance of words and sounds in Rastafari
gether at this time in England, where Haile Selassie had been
(including a distinctive Rasta idiom), and the predominance
forced into exile, in effect giving birth to the modern Pan-
of men in the movement. The YBF developed these elements
African movement.
into a composite whole, the Order of Nyahbinghi, at once
This early stage in the formation of Rastafari also coin-
a guideline for living and a ceremony of worship centered
around a ritual of music, dancing, prayer, and prophesying
cided with widespread political upheaval throughout the
that remains an important basis of churchical gathering for
West Indies. A number of scholars (e.g., Hill, 1981; Post,
many Rastas. The Nyahbinghi is based on a radical reinter-
1978; Waters, 1985) have argued that Rastafari ideology
pretation (through the prism of the Bible) of the rituals of
played an active part in sparking the labor uprisings of 1938
a traditional, anticolonial, late-nineteenth-century religious
in Jamaica. Not surprisingly government authorities imme-
cult by the same name in Uganda. It should be noted that
diately branded the movement as seditious. By 1940 Howell
although the Nyahbinghi had an explicit political message
and his group had established Pinnacle, a community of be-
calling for “death to black and white oppressors,” most
lievers in the rural parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica. In what
Rastafari did not overtly participate in conventional politics
would become a persistent pattern for the next fifty years, po-
at this time.
lice persecuted the group, and it was under this intense ha-
rassment that several contemporary features of Rastafari de-
Two general developments were especially important
veloped on a mass scale, including dreadlocks (uncombed
for Rastafari in the 1950s and 1960s. First, relations between
hair), collective worship, the centrality of the “shepherd fig-
Rastafari and the police further polarized, owing largely to
ure” as leader in the more churchical houses, along with the
the inherently radical political message of Rastafari, the mili-
practice of living in a self-enclosed agriculturally based com-
tancy of the YBF and other reform groups, and the associa-
munity and planting marijuana as a cash crop.
tion of these groups with certain illegal activities (e.g., ganja
production). Police finally destroyed Howell’s Pinnacle com-
Throughout this period the Rastafari movement also
mune in 1954, and there were several infamous conflicts be-
grew under the leadership of other founding figures and in-
tween Rases (males in the movement; females are often called
dependent followers. Moreover as migration from the Carib-
Empresses) and police as the decade progressed (i.e., the Cor-
bean region to the United Kingdom increased in the 1950s,
onation Market riot [1959], the Claudius Henry affair
subcultural styles linked to Rastafari became important
[1960], and most importantly the Coral Gardens massacre
markers of identity for Caribbean immigrants and started to
[1963]). Ironically two of these incidents were not in fact
diffuse through British popular culture (see Hebdige, 1991/
triggered by Rastas.
1979). Rastafari thus developed not only in Jamaica but also
as a subcultural style responding to the double alienation of
Second, as a consequence of this polarization and at the
black West Indians excluded from full participation in Brit-
invitation of Rastafari, the University of the West Indies
ish life yet separated from the changes occurring back home.
(UWI) produced a report (Smith, Augier, and Nettleford,
Some three decades later the development of Rastafari motifs
1960) that detailed the history, social conditions, and doc-
in popular culture grew to exert a semiautonomous influence
trines of Rastafari. The report also made a series of concrete
on the global spread of the movement.
recommendations as to how to broker relations between
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7625
Rastafari and the larger community. The UWI report had
The 1970s also witnessed the growth of the Twelve
several consequences that were pivotal for the movement.
Tribes of Israel, a Rastafari organization founded in 1968 by
Crucially the academic credentials of the scholars who pro-
the Prophet Gad. The Twelve Tribes were less stringent in
duced it and their calls for tolerance of the movement sewed
the renunciation of contemporary society and embraced
the seeds of the Rastafari’s subsequent public legitimacy.
more openly Rastafari’s links to Christianity. Because of their
Though persecution of Rastafari did not by any means end
less-severe critique of the status quo, the Twelve Tribes start-
with the UWI report, the report initiated a positive trend in
ed to draw more middle-class Jamaicans into the movement,
social perceptions of Rastafari that continues in the twenty-
further contributing to Rastafari’s increasing level of accep-
first century. The report further recommended that the Ja-
tance. The emergence of Twelve Tribes was also linked to
maican government send a mission, including Rases, to select
the charismatic black Marxist historian at the UWI, Walter
African countries to explore possibilities for relocation of
Rodney (1941–1980), whose political activism among the
Rastafari to Africa. Such international missions were not
grassroots in Jamaica before he was deported in October
common in the movement for over a decade, but with the
1968 radicalized a number of students and ghetto youths,
historic 1961 delegation that visited five African states, in-
most of whom gravitated to the organization. With the con-
cluding Ethiopia, a vital precedent was set.
tinued rise of black power in the Caribbean and increasing
scholarship on the movement during this period, Rastafari
Changes in the scope and nature of the Rastafari move-
found a new cadre among UWI students from the eastern
ment since the 1960s are too numerous to catalog compre-
Caribbean islands. They carried Rastafari and reggae with
hensively, but nonetheless a few key trends are noteworthy.
them when they returned home, where the movement con-
Most important of all was the tremendous impact of Haile
tinued to develop. Some of the most radical cultural manifes-
Selassie’s watershed visit to Jamaica in April 1966, ushering
tations and political conflicts involving Rastafari in the
in a new cycle in the movement that was characterized by
1970s were in the eastern Caribbean, such as Dominica’s no-
greater levels of formal organization among the brethren and
torious Dread Act (an act that made Rastafari illegal by pro-
sistren, particularly through the channels of the Ethiopian
hibiting dreadlocks, suspending standard arrest and trial pro-
World Federation (EWF) and organization founded in 1937
cedures, increasing without limit police capacity to use
(first Jamaican branch founded in 1938) to garner support
deadly force in apprehending those with dreadlocks, and giv-
worldwide for Ethiopia’s struggle against Italian imperialism.
ing de facto power to citizens to shoot someone with
(The EWF became an important vehicle for pan-African
dreadlocks on sight if he or she was caught entering their
consciousness and brought important elements of formal
property; see Salter, 2000), the attempted Rasta takeover in
structure to the Rastafari movement, especially from the late
1979 of St. Vincent’s Union Island, and early Rasta partici-
1930s into the 1970s. It also became the major early instru-
pation in and critique of the Grenadian revolution that same
ment for the repatriation to Ethiopia of hundreds of Rasta-
year (see Campbell, 1987; Salter, 2000; Tafari, 2001).
fari who have settled on Haile Selassie’s land grant at Shasha-
mane). Other important trends were the entry of a sizable
In terms of Rastafari’s global spread, the most important
number of persons, especially the youth, from the educated
development of the late 1960s and the 1970s was the associa-
class into the movement and increasing social acceptance of
tion of Rastafari with reggae and the popular Jamaican
the Rastafari.
music’s worldwide growth as a result of new, affordable tran-
sistor radios and cassette players as well as the popularity of
The 1970s saw the incorporation of Rastafari symbols
international reggae superstars, such as Bob Marley, Peter
into wider Jamaican culture, for example, in the 1972 elec-
Tosh, and Burning Spear. Reggae at that time emphasized
tion campaign of Michael Manley and in the hugely popular
themes of justice, liberation, racial equity, and love, which
film The Harder They Come (1973). Among other things,
resonated with alienated youth globally. Regardless of
this public recognition marked the beginning of Rastas’ tran-
whether the specific artist considered himself or herself
sition “from outcasts to culture bearers” (Edmonds, 2003).
Rastafari, popular culture linked reggae music and Rastafari
But the transition has been ambivalent, making Rastafari
ideals.
more acceptable to a broader segment of society while also
co-opting Rastafari’s prophetic voice (e.g., by appropriating
Finally, in 1975 a formal mission set out to spread word
uncritical portions of the reggae icon Bob Marley’s [1945–
of Rastafari outside of Jamaica. In April 1975 Ras Boanerges,
1981] song “One Love” as the anthem for the Jamaican
Jah Prof, Ras Nedley Seymour, and Ras Ikael Tafari visited
Tourist Board). However, the trend to co-opt Rastafari has
Barbados to spread the faith and culture of Rastafari and
not been lost on the Rastas, and several prominent Rastas
Nyahbinghi. From Barbados this group launched a series of
have denounced the dilution of Rastafari by popular culture.
divine missions through the region that marked the first self-
Moreover in the 1990s a more radical stream of young musi-
conscious attempt by Rastafari to spread the movement. If
cians such as Sizzla (Miguel Collins), Luciano (Jepther McC-
any particular trend characterizes Rastafari since the start of
lymont), and Capelton (Clifton George Baily III) reignited
the 1980s, it is the increasing efforts by Rastafari to spread
Rastafari’s musical critique of status quo culture by increas-
knowledge of the movement and to organize. These efforts
ingly calling down fire on Babylon in their lyrics.
include an explosion of Rasta-authored books, newspapers,
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RASTAFARIANISM
and pamphlets, including excellent monographs by Rastafari
regard: “The uncritical admiration of the Rastafarians of-
scholars, and an incredible array of Web pages devoted to
fended people of sophisticated views, but they none the less did
Rastafari in all of its various manifestations. There has also
greater justice to Haile Selassie for what he was and what he
been an exponential growth in missions outside of Jamaica
stood for than did most of his contemporaries” (Lockot, 1989,
to teach and inform about the movement. The House of
40, emphasis added).
Nyahbinghi has been especially active in missions, but other
organizations, such as the EWF and the Twelve Tribes, have
Central to their movement is the Rastafari use of the
also established themselves in different locations around the
psychotropic herb variously called ganja or marijuana, partic-
globe. At the same time Rastafari has continued to spread in-
ularly as a sacrament in their communion ritual. Because
dependently of these organizations (e.g., through popular
controversy continues to accompany the marijuana question,
culture).
given its illegal status in most countries, the Rastafari advoca-
cy of this substance has been the major basis of persecution
RASTAFARI SYMBOLS. Rastafari is an iconographically rich
of the movement as well as the source of much of the dismis-
movement. It also manifests itself as a subcultural style,
sive attitude often directed at the brethren and sistren. For
hence the various symbols associated with it accumulate both
the Rastafari traditions, as with so many other spiritual tradi-
spiritual and secular meanings over time. Four elements con-
tions, the herb acts as a mediator between a person’s surface
tinue to reflect central components of Rastafari spirituality:
consciousness and the deeper layers of awareness—the divin-
Haile Selassie I, marijuana, dreadlocks, and repatriation.
ity that lies within. It is also a crucial medium for the energy
Rastafari views on Haile Selassie I range widely. The
connecting the divine consciousness in one human vessel to
most crucial variable concerning the status of Haile Selassie
that of another via the smoking ritual that involves passing
is arguably the divide between Rastafari in Jamaica and the
the pipe (chalice of communion) among the circle of wor-
rest of the movement. But of course generation, political
shippers (usually brethren). Various authors (Yawney, 1978;
consciousness, the particular Rasta organization one is affili-
Forsythe, 1996) have argued that the use of marijuana is inte-
ated to, and even gender all account significantly for different
gral to the movement’s visionary ethos. The multipurpose
viewpoints. In the absence of empirical data, the overall im-
herb also has tremendous healing potency, the range and
pression is that a clear majority of Rastafari view Haile Selas-
depth of which has only just begun to be appreciated by
sie in some degree of messianic or divine light, whether as
modern medical science but which the Rastafari make full
the creator, god-king, Christ, or some more vague concept
use of. Of course, like any other substance, it can be abused,
of divinity. This majority status becomes more overwhelm-
and most Rastas stress the distinction between “use” and
ing when one turns to Jamaica. In examining the way the fig-
“abuse” of the herb. On the whole the herb has been the cata-
ure of Haile Selassie is constructed among Rastafari, once
lyst for an incredible creativity and imaginative renaissance
again the contradictions are as great as they are seminal to
in the arts among the Rastafari, especially in Jamaica.
the contours of the movement. Perhaps the overriding factor
With regard to the dreadlocks, if from the vantage point
is the limited knowledge among many Rastafari of Haile Se-
of another hundred years down the corridor of history one
lassie’s actual life, his policies, and even his statements. Con-
were to look back at the indescribable force and contribution
sequently many of the classic doctrinal positions of, for in-
of the Rastafari and to ask what set the movement apart from
stance, the Nyahbinghi—the roots from which most of the
its own time and circumstance, it would not be first and fore-
other branches of the movement willy-nilly sprang—are in
most the emphasis on love and natural living (other move-
diametric opposition to the stand taken by the emperor.
ments have championed these before), nor the unrepentant
Thus wide divergence separates the emperor from many
focus on African culture (there are other Afrocentric expres-
Rasta brothers and sisters on key topics, such as education,
sions of cultural resistance), nor the idea of a return to an
democracy, race, gender, politics, modernization, and even
Edenic Africa (the Garveyites raised that cry earlier), nor
the significance of Jesus Christ.
even the smoking of the herb (the hippie and jazz movements
While the above polarity may well be dialectical and ad-
also celebrated this). The force and power of Rastafari would,
mittedly has to do with the radically different contexts within
in the final analysis, be seen to lie in the magnetic iconoclas-
which the Rastafari and Haile Selassie found themselves, it
tic power of their flashing dreadlocks, making so many subli-
still reflects a fundamental lack of synchronicity in certain
minal statements that sum up the points listed above all at
vital areas between a movement and the leader they proclaim
once (natural roots, cosmic antenna, lion’s mane, judge’s
themselves to be following. Similar contradictions exist be-
wool, priestly garment, ancient crown, or just simply black
tween the Rastafari and their other main cultural icon, Gar-
man’s or woman’s hair, once despised as “hard” and ugly,
vey. Nevertheless in their overlapping, essentially Pan-
now affirmed as rich and beautiful). It is perhaps inconceiv-
African vision, their uncompromising commitment to the
able that the Rastafari could have broken the mental-
mother continent, and their shared exaltation of spirituality,
spiritual-psychological chains of four hundred years of slav-
the Rastafari, their god-king, and their prophet-avatar are
ery, colonialism, neocolonialism, and racism without the
one. The comment of Hans Wilhelm Lockot, possibly the
shattering symbolism of the dreadlocks, projected globally
emperor’s most insightful biographer, is worth noting in this
through their charismatic music icons.
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7627
Justified by scriptural reference to the Nazarite Vow
other parts of the continent. Despite severe financial con-
(Nm. 6) and confirmed by the fact that members of the mili-
straints, the Rastafari are upgrading the level of organization
tant anticolonial Land and Freedom Party in Kenya in the
involved in their repatriation program, shifting the focus
early 1950s expressed their nationalist zeal in the wearing of
more toward a developmental Pan-Africanist enterprise rath-
dreadlocks, the image of the dreadlocks has invested the
er than mere land settlement and emigration initiatives. This
Rastafari with an aura of black dignity and self-love at the
is in keeping with the ongoing transition in the Rasta move-
same time that it has been the visible source of their social
ment in general from an originally millenarian emphasis, in
marginalization. Moreover because anyone can wear hair in
which the brethren and sistren tended to look to the emperor
this style, the locks have been the main means whereby the
to bring in the covenanted kingdom, to an emancipatory
movement has been on occasion infiltrated and tarnished by
mode, in which the Rastafari are intensifying their organiza-
criminals and other negative elements.
tional efforts to transform their vision of African redemption
into a praxis of liberation (Tafari, 2001). This internal devel-
The Rastafari (from Howell and Hibbert through Clau-
opment in turn has led the Rastafari to a greater awareness
dius Henry to Ras Boanerges and the Nyahbinghi) always
of and participation in the political and economic dimen-
conceived of repatriation in biblical, Black Zionist, Garveyite
sions of the wider Pan-African struggle, of which their quest
terms. Their prophetic concept is apocalyptic (liberally
for repatriation remains a crucial spearhead.
strewn with verses from Rv.) and on a grand scale. The classic
scriptural reference on repatriation is from Isaiah: “Bring my
CONTROVERSIES WITHIN RASTAFARI. Unity is a supremely
sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth”
important political and ethical concern for many Rasta
(Is. 43:3–7). As Ras Boanerges once spelled out its contours,
brethren and sistren. Thus raising controversial questions
the repatriation vision is not about migration. “I&I are not
about the differences among Rastafari may be perceived as
dealing upon migration. I&I are dealing upon the ransom
sewing disunity. Nevertheless, setting aside theological dif-
of Israel by the moral laws of Almighty God—Jah Rastafari”
ferences over the status of Haile Selassie and disputes over
(Barrett, 1968, 139). Ras Boanerges and the elders accord-
issues like vegetarianism, whether Rastas should be involved
ingly viewed the Twelve Tribes and EWF programs as mere-
in politics, or how completely to separate oneself from soci-
ly land settlement and emigration initiatives. For the former,
ety, there remains one area that causes more controversy
then, repatriation involved a long-term moral process of
among Rastafari than anything else: the question of how
black redemption as well as the ensuing large-scale removal
closely to adhere to the Bible. At stake is the fundamental
of African people (predominantly Rastafari) en masse from
issue of how committed the Rastafari are to elements of the
the West and their return to their “own vine and fig-tree,”
Euro-Christian worldview they inherited. Literal readings of
Ethiopia (a Biblical reference meaning all of Africa), their an-
the Bible provide a foundation for some of Rastafari’s most
cestral homeland.
intransigent positions (e.g., the condemnation of homosexu-
ality as an abomination) and continue to define traditional
In the elders’ conception, repatriation was either to be
gender roles in the movement.
immediately preceded or followed by what the Rastafari fore-
see as the pending destruction of the Western world via the
Though Rastafari is in many senses a liberation move-
long-prophesied military conflagration of world war III and
ment, it can also subordinate women (Lake, 1998). Some
its biblical climax—Armageddon—spreading out from its
groups prohibit the sistren from speaking or drumming at
epicenter in Palestine. Such a historical retribution for the
Nyahbinghi rituals or reduce their role to support for men.
horrors of four hundred years of chattel slavery, colonialism,
Strict interpretations of the Bible can impose harsh restric-
and neocolonialism would inevitably be accompanied by
tions on women. For example, the Bobo Dreads maintain
massive reparations along the lines spelled out in Exodus 12.
a long period of separation for menstruating women (twenty-
Thus the Rastafari are the harbingers of the virtually global
one days). On the other hand, there is a growing spectrum
movement for black reparations, though not perhaps in the
of opinions in Rastafari concerning women, and increasingly
way they anticipated.
(especially as Rastafari leaves its Jamaican context) women
have been playing important roles in the movement. Among
Not all Rastas are committed to repatriation, however,
other things, women have started to play essential roles in
and those so committed hold different conceptions of the
spreading and organizing Rastafari, in producing Rastafari
process. The Twelve Tribes’ ultimate destiny does not lie in
literature and art, and in challenging the patriarchal assump-
Ethiopia but in Jerusalem. Nevertheless the Tribes have a
tions of the earlier leaders.
major resettlement program at Shashamane just outside
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. So too do the Bobo Dreads, the
One explanation for Rastafari’s ambivalent treatment of
Nyahbinghi, and the EWF. About six hundred to seven hun-
women is the historical legacy of chattel slavery in the New
dred persons live there in the early twenty-first century, and
World. Some scholars argue that the nature of the ancestral
the community includes a school, a bakery, a tabernacle, and
black culture predisposed the black woman in the New
some other communal facilities. Much smaller groups of
World to play a central, dominant role in the family struc-
Rastafari from the West have migrated individually or collec-
ture. At the same time the economic reality of the lower stra-
tively to South Africa, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, and
ta black male tended to marginalize him. Given the heavy
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
7628
RASTAFARIANISM
matrifocal pull within Jamaican grassroots family life, the pa-
Ethnography is limited in scope and duration, and one can
triarchal concepts the early Rases evolved would have been
never be entirely sure of the degree to which the researcher
a vital buffer to their manhood, which was always under
is projecting himself or herself into the research (for a sum-
heavy siege from the time of slavery. The early Rastafari pa-
mary of this critique in early studies of Rastafari, see John-
triarchs (and to a lesser extent most of the subsequent leaders
son-Hill, 1995). For example, an ethnographic study like
in the movement) were raised on the Bible and internalized
Dread (1976) by Joseph Owens, for all its sympathetic views
the pervasive patriarchal teachings (and interpretations) of
of the Rastafari, distorted the overall picture of the move-
that book, which they understood as part of the natural di-
ment by dwelling only on the religious brethren mainly from
vine order of things. In fact the Rastafari movement is nota-
the Nyahbinghi, thus reproducing a kind of inverse reflec-
bly distinct from most, if not all, of the other African revival-
tion of Catholic doctrinal orthodoxy among the Rastas that
ist religions in the Caribbean (Vodou, Santeria, Revival,
is inaccurate.
Pocomania, Kumina, even the Spiritual Baptists), which
Typically the scholars who work with the arts focus on
tend to celebrate leading matriarchal figures, such as the
music lyrics or poetry, though they may also base some of
priestess, shepherdess, or mother-queen.
what they say on interviews with the musicians or poets. The
Over time this early model of masculinity and feminini-
problem with this approach is that most Rases are not musi-
ty in Rastafari has been eroded. Much of Rastafari has shifted
cians or poets, and the search for Rastafari exclusively
away from its early Euro-Christian influences (some groups
through music or poetry misses less-studied aspects of the
more than others), and in the process space has opened for
movement, such as Rasta political organizations. Moreover
women to play central roles and to refigure their place in the
this approach runs the risk of misunderstanding the dynamic
movement in ways that make sense to them. The Twelve
nature of the movement (which has resisted routinization to
Tribes allow the sisters to speak at their meetings and even
a large extent and thus is not fixed in the written form of lyr-
have a night when twelve of them collectively preside over
ics or poetry). At the same time it has been argued that the
the gathering. Among other things working to change gender
resistance of Rastafari to routinization owes a great deal pre-
relations in Rastafari, the theological emphasis on the I as di-
cisely to the influence of artists in the movement rather than
vinity within is genderless, providing groundwork for equali-
to the religious brethren and sistren, who can be rigid and
ty among men and women.
dogmatic.
CONTROVERSIES IN THE STUDY OF RASTAFARI. Controver-
Finally, there is the practical controversy concerning
sies surrounding research on Rastafari fall into three catego-
where studies of Rastafari are located. As Rastafari spreads
ries: ethical considerations, methodological concerns, and
globally it is important that scholars of Rastafari recognize
practical considerations of where to do research on Rastafari.
that the movement differs from place to place and can no
Most important is the ethical consideration that there are
longer be represented as a whole based solely on studies in
growing numbers of Rasta researchers who are able to repre-
any one location.
sent the movement to the academic community. In the past
RASTAFARI PAST AND FUTURE. African culture. Biblical nar-
there were few Rastafari trained in the academy, so informa-
ratives of redemption. Grassroots practices of healing, talk-
tion about the movement came from outside researchers. In
ing, and connecting to the divine. Prophecies of divine jus-
theory the fact of both “inside” and “outside” viewpoints fo-
tice and divine wrath poured out on a corrupted world. The
cusing on the movement represents the possibility of arriving
intrepid sign of liberation reflected in untamed locks. Draw-
at a more complete understanding. But whereas the “insider”
ing on treasures buried deep within the soil of slavery, colo-
is generally assumed to be subjective, as Tafari (2001) has
nialism, and poverty, Rastafari make meaning in a barren
pointed out, there is an entrenched “myth of objectivity” in
world. That they have done so for so many, in so many
the literature on Rastafari that allows ideological and even
places, and in such a short time is living testament to the
epistemological biases on the part of the “outsider” to lurk
movement’s irrepressible vitality.
beneath the cloak of “objectivity.” In the view of Richard
Salter (2000), the academy should recognize the legitimacy
For two-thirds of the twentieth century the Rastafari re-
of Rasta scholars of Rastafari and create a voice for them in
vitalized awareness of the pristine glory of black civilization
the academy in the same way that it has, for example, recog-
and threw up mythical heroes and heroines of the likes of
nized the legitimacy of Christian theologians. Only then will
Brother Bob Marley, his queen Rita, and the wailing Wailers,
research on Rastafari continue to reflect the dynamism of the
who through the intense rhythmic language of reggae music
movement.
provided a new canopy of Africanity under which a whole
generation of black youth as well as youth from other nations
There is also an ongoing methodological debate be-
sheltered from the ravages of a Western world devoid of
tween scholars who seek to research Rastafari through ethno-
dreams, mystery, and dread.
graphic fieldwork and hands-on experience and those who
seek to research Rastafari primarily through representations
It is the fulfillment of a vision the children of Jah (God)
of the movement in the arts. The former type of research is
have shared with the rest of humanity for most of the twenti-
limited by all of the constraints that any ethnography faces.
eth century and into the twenty-first, and it leaves a positive
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
RAUSCHENBUSCH, WALTER
7629
omen that suggests that the Rastafari, with their fiery black
Tafari, Ikael L. Rastafari in Transition: The Politics of Cultural
love, pulsating rhythms, and bright rainbow hues of ites,
Confrontation in Africa and the Caribbean (1966–1988).
gold and green, will be around for countless generations to
Chicago, 2001.
come.
Waters, Anita M. Race, Class, and Political Symbols: Rastafari and
Reggae in Jamaican Politics. New Brunswick, N.J., 1985.
SEE ALSO African American Religions; African Religions;
Yawney, Carole D. “Lions in Babylon: The Rastafarians of Jamai-
Caribbean Religions; Christianity; New Religious
ca as a Visionary Movement.” Ph.D. diss., McGill Universi-
Movements.
ty, 1978.
Yawney, Carol D., and John P. Homiak. “Rastafari.” In Encyclope-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
dia of African and African American Religions, edited by Ste-
Barrett, Leonard E. The Rastafarians: A Study in Messianic Cultism
ven D. Glazier, pp. 256–266. New York, 2001.
in Jamaica. Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, 1968.
RICHARD C. SALTER (2005)
Barrett, Leonard E., Sr. The Rastafarians: Sounds of Cultural Disso-
IKAEL TAFARI (2005)
nance (1977). Rev. and updated ed. Boston, Mass., 1988.
Besson, Jean. “Religion as Resistance in Jamaican Peasant Life:
The Baptist Church, Revival Worldview, and Rastafari
RASTAFARIANS SEE CARIBBEAN RELIGIONS,
Movement.” In Rastafari and Other African-Caribbean Wor-
ARTICLE ON AFRO-CARIBBEAN RELIGIONS
ldviews, edited by Barry Chevannes. Bassingstoke, U.K., and
the Hague, 1995.
Blakely, Thomas D., Walter E. A. van Beek, and Dennis L.
RAUSCHENBUSCH, WALTER
Thompson. Religion in Africa: Experience and Expression.
(1861–1918),
Portsmouth, N.H., 1994.
Baptist clergyman and intellectual leader of the Social Gospel
movement in American Protestantism. Rauschenbusch was
Campbell, Horace. Rasta and Resistance: From Marcus Garvey to
born in Rochester, New York, received most of his schooling
Walter Rodney. Trenton, N.J., 1987.
there, and taught at the Rochester Theological Seminary
Chevannes, Barry. Rastafari: Roots and Ideology. Syracuse, N.Y.,
from 1897 to 1918. His father, August, a highly educated
1994.
Westphalian Lutheran pastor, had gone to Missouri in 1846
Edmonds, Ennis Barrington. Rastafari: From Outcasts to Culture
as a missionary to German immigrants. After becoming a
Bearers. Oxford, 2003.
Baptist, August Rauschenbusch headed the Rochester semi-
Forsythe, Dennis. Rastafari: For the Healing of the Nations. New
nary’s program for German-speaking clergy. He bequeathed
York, 1996.
to his son an enduring appreciation of both evangelical piety
Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979). New
and the Western cultural tradition.
York, 1991.
Following his graduation from the Rochester Theologi-
Hill, Robert. “Dread History: Leonard P. Howell and Millenarian
cal Seminary in 1886, young Rauschenbusch became pastor
Visions in Early Rastafari Religions in Jamaica.” Epoché 9
of the Second German Baptist Church in a tenement section
(1981): 31–70.
of New York City. Here he was stirred by the hardships of
Johnson-Hill, Jack A. I-Sight, the World of Rastafari: An Interpre-
the people: “I saw how men toiled all their life . . . and at
tive Sociological Account of Rastafarian Ethics. ATLA Mono-
the end had almost nothing to show for it; how strong men
graph Series no. 35. Metuchen, N.J., 1995.
begged for work and could not get it in the hard times; how
Lake, Obiagele. Rastafari Women: Subordination in the Midst of
little children died” (The Social Gospel in America, 1870–
Liberation Theology. Durham, N.C., 1998.
1920, p. 265). He realized that his training had not equipped
Lockot, Hans Wilhelm. The Mission: The Life, Reign, and Charac-
him to understand the powerful social, economic, and intel-
ter of Haile Sellassie I. New York, 1989.
lectual currents sweeping through American life; nor had his
Mansingh, Ajai, and Laxmi Mansingh. “Hindu Influences on
conservative seminary professors offered him a religious per-
Rastafarianism.” Caribbean Quarterly Monograph. Mona, Ja-
spective adequate to cope with those currents. During his
maica, 1985.
eleven-year pastorate in New York City he undertook an in-
Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. New York, 1969.
tense schedule of reading, discussion, and writing, much of
Owens, Joseph. Dread: The Rastafarians of Jamaica. Kingston, Ja-
it in collaboration with colleagues in two new organizations
maica, 1976.
he helped to direct, the Baptist Congress and the Brother-
Post, Ken. Arise Ye Starvelings: The Jamaica Labour Rebellion of
hood of the Kingdom. Rauschenbusch received intellectual
1938 and Its Aftermath. The Hague, 1978.
stimulation from a variety of authors, notably the American
economist Henry George, the English theologians Frederick
Salter, Richard. “Shooting Dreads on Sight: Violence, Persecu-
tion, and Dominica’s Dread Act.” In Millennialism, Persecu-
D. Maurice and Frederick W. Robertson, the Russian novel-
tion, and Violence: Historical Cases, edited by Catherine
ist Leo Tolstoi, the Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini, and the
Wessinger. Syracuse, N.Y., 2000.
German sociologist Albert Schäffle.
Smith, M.G., Roy Augier, and Rex Nettleford. The Ras Tafari
Rauschenbusch returned to the Rochester Theological
Movement in Kingston, Jamaica. Mona, Jamaica, 1960.
Seminary in 1897 as professor of New Testament; from
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
7630
RAV
1902 until his death he was professor of church history.
Later Talmudic circles considered his resettlement in
More than any other person in the United States, he provid-
Babylonia, conventionally dated to 217, a turning point in
ed a theological undergirding for the growing numbers of
Jewish history, one presaged by natural omens (B. T., Shab.
laity and clergy who sought to mold social and economic in-
108a). First dwelling in Nehardea, a city on the Euphrates
stitutions according to Christian principles. His chief books
River, he assisted other rabbis and served as a market admin-
were Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Prayers of the
istrator (J.T., B.B. 5.11[5]; 15a–b). He later moved to Sura,
Social Awakening (1910), Christianizing the Social Order
a town hitherto said to lack a rabbinical presence. There he
(1912), The Social Principles of Jesus (1916), and A Theology
gathered a circle of students but probably did not head an
for the Social Gospel (1917).
academy, as was anachronistically claimed by some post-
Central in Rauschenbusch’s message were the affirma-
Talmudic chronicles (Goodblatt, 1975).
tions that the churches must recognize afresh that the king-
Rav’s prestige was enhanced by a claim of Davidic de-
dom of God had been Jesus’ key teaching, that God intends
scent and by his daughter’s marriage into the exilarchic fami-
this kingdom to reach into every realm of life, and that the
ly. He was perceived as a master of wisdom and practical
competitiveness and selfishness fostered by capitalism must
advice (B.T., Pes. 113a), able to read natural signs and en-
be opposed by persons committed to fulfilling God’s benefi-
dowed with the power to hurl curses to maintain respect
cent will for humanity.
(B.T., Meg. 5b).
In the decades following Rauschenbusch’s death many
In explaining the Mishnah, he drew on Palestinian
churches continued to address the tasks of social criticism
sources and patterned his teachings after the Mishnah’s style
and reconstruction, albeit not with the single-mindedness
and phraseology even where he disputed it (Epstein, 1964).
and effect for which he and other Social Gospel leaders had
Though later Talmudic circles considered Rav especially au-
wished. Some influential religious thinkers in the middle
thoritative in ritual matters, his dicta affected the way
third of the twentieth century judged Rauschenbusch’s theo-
amoraim approached issues in general. Indeed, his com-
logical perspective to have been colored excessively by the op-
ments, with those of ShemuDel the amora, were subsequently
timism of his era. Recently, his thought has been viewed
reworked to form a structure around which later teachings
more appreciatively by persons who find richly provocative
were organized; thereby they eventually became the literary
such Rauschenbuschian themes as the centering of Christian-
rubric for the gemara D (Bokser, 1980).
ity in Jesus’ proclamation of God’s reign, the historical and
social character of sin and salvation, and the complementari-
Rav stands out for his wide-ranging theological inter-
ty of personal piety and social activism.
ests. He emphasized that God rules with supremacy and that
he benevolently and with knowledge created the world
B
(B.T., H:ag. 12a). The latter belief was expressed in a RoDsh
IBLIOGRAPHY
The information contained in Dores R. Sharpe’s Walter Rauschen-
ha-Shanah prayer, teqi EataD devei Rav, selected or edited by
busch (New York, 1942) makes this an indispensable volume.
Rav, which stresses creation (J.T., EA.Z. 1.2; Neusner, 1966).
However, it offers little historical and theological perspective,
Describing the future, Rav distinctively suggested that the
and significant gaps exist in Sharpe’s presentation of Rausc-
righteous will experience as a reward a spiritual nourishing
henbusch’s life. A more recent biography is Paul M. Minus,
analogous to what the mystic visionaries of God experience
Walter Rauschenbusch: American Reformer (New York, 1988).
in their lifetime (Chernus, 1982). He often emphasized the
Perceptive analyses and important portions of Rauschen-
importance of Torah study and the respect due to Torah stu-
busch’s writings can be found in The Social Gospel in Ameri-
dents (B.T., Ta Ean. 24a, San. 93b). Rav made the fulfillment
ca, 1870–1920, edited by Robert T. Handy (New York,
of messianic hopes dependent on human repentance and
1966); “Sources of American Spirituality,” in Walter Rausc-
henbusch: Selected Writings, edited by Winthrop S. Hudson
good deeds (B.T., San. 97b). He reportedly asserted that the
(Mahwah, N. J., 1984); and Walter Rauschenbusch, A The-
commandments were designed to purify (tsaref) people, in
ology for the Social Gospel (New York, 1917), “Library of
the sense of refining or improving (Gn. Rab. 44.1). His ideas,
Theological Ethics” (Louisville, 1997), with introduction by
teachings, and activities thus started the process of trans-
Donald W. Shriver, Jr.
forming tannaitic Judaism in Babylonia into a wider social
P
movement.
AUL M. MINUS (1987 AND 2005)
SEE ALSO Amoraim.
RAV (lit., “rabbi”), epithet of AbbaD bar Ayyvu (c. 155–c.
247), a first-generation Babylonian amora. Rav helped lay
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A comprehensive treatment and bibliography of Rav and his
the foundations for rabbinic Judaism in Babylonia. He stud-
teachings can be found in Jacob Neusner’s A History of the
ied in Palestine with his uncle H:iyyaD and with Yehuda ha-
Jews in Babylonia, 5 vols. (Leiden, 1966–1970), esp. vol. 2,
NasiD, from whom he reportedly received authorization to
passim. Valuable works in Hebrew are Jacob Samuel Zuri’s
render decisions in many areas. These contacts gave him a
Rav (Jerusalem, 1925); Jacob N. Epstein’s Mavo D le-nusah:
rich reservoir of teachings, self-reliance, and the freedom to
ha-Mishnah, 2 vols. (1948; reprint, Jerusalem, 1964),
go beyond tannaitic traditions.
pp. 166–211, on Rav’s attitude to tannaitic traditions 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
RA¯WZAH-KHVA¯N¯I
7631
¨
the Mishnah; and E. S. Rosenthal’s “Rav,” in Sefer Hanokh
that Torah study, even more than good deeds, can counter
Yalon (Jerusalem, 1963), pp. 281–337, on Rav’s lineage and
demons (B.T., Sot. 21a). In emphasizing the respect and
background. Works in English that include discussion of Rav
privileges due to Torah students, he asserted that rabbis, like
are David M. Goodblatt’s Rabbinic Instruction in Sasanian
the priests and Levites of Ezra’s day (Ezr. 7:24), should be
Babylonia (Leiden, 1975), my own Post Mishnaic Judaism in
exempt from poll taxes (B.T., Ned.)
Transition (Chico, Calif., 1980), and Ira Chernus’s Mysticism
in Rabbinic Judaism (Berlin, 1982), esp. pp. 74–87.
RavaD stands out in his generation not only for a judicial
role with extensive jurisdiction, his reportedly large number
New Sources
Kalmin, Richard Lee. “Changing Amoraic Attitudes toward the
of students, and his unusual methods of teaching but also,
Authority and Statements of Rav and Shmuel: A Study of the
with Abbaye, for the large number of supernatural stories
Talmud as a Historical Source.” HUCA 63 (1992): 83–106.
told about him (B.T., Ta Ean. 21b–22a). People believed that
Torah study and good deeds brought RavaD divine blessings,
BARUCH M. BOKSER (1987)
protection against evil and demons, and divine communica-
Revised Bibliography
tions in omens and dreams (B.T., Ber. 56a–b). His great
prestige is reflected in the Talmudic stories describing the
gifts he received from the mother of King Shapur II and in
RAVAD (d. circa 352 CE) was a leading fourth-generation
the subsequent principle that his legal opinions should be
Babylonian amora, based in the city of Mahoza. The son of
followed in all but six cases (B.T., B.M. 22b).
Yosef bar H:amaD and a student of H:isdaD, Nahman, and
S
Yosef bar H:iyyaD, RavaD gathered students in Mahoza after
EE ALSO Abbaye; Amoraim.
the deaths of Yosef bar H:iyyaD (c. 323) and Abbaye (c. 338).
In his work he attempts to analyze and further disseminate
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A comprehensive treatment and biblography of RavaD and his
earlier rabbinic teachings.
teachings can be found in Jacob Neusner’s A History of the
Through his function as a dayyan (judge) and market
Jews in Babylonia, 5 vols. (Leiden, 1966–1970), esp. vol. 4,
supervisor, RavaD imposed rabbinic norms on Babylonian
passim. Noteworthy, too, is Jacob N. Epstein’s Mavo D
Jewry (B.T., Ket. 67a, San. 99b–100a). He lectured in the
le-nusah: ha-Mishnah, 2 vols. (1948; reprint, Jerusalem,
pirqa’ gatherings, where aggadic and halakhic topics were
1964), pp. 381–391, on the attitude of RavaD to tannaitic tra-
discussed. These were convened on sabbaths and special oc-
ditions and the Mishnah. Other informative works are Zwi
Moshe Dor’s Torat Erets-Yisra Del be-Bavel (Tel Aviv, 1971);
casions especially for the general public, although students
David M. Goodblatt’s Rabbinic Instruction in Sasanian Baby-
were also expected to attend (B.T., Pes. 50a). He instructed
lonia (Leiden, 1975) and his “The Babylonian Talmud,” in
many students who attended the kallot (sg., kallah), academ-
Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, vol. 2.19.2 (Ber-
ic conventions that lasted several days. He trained disciples
lin and New York, 1979), reprinted in The Study of the An-
as well in his court and had them observe and emulate his
cient Judaisim, edited by Jacob Neusner, vol. 2, The Palestin-
personal practices (B.T., Ber. 6a; Goodblatt, 1975). Stories
ian and Babylonian Talmuds (New York, 1981); and David
depict the students’ deep involvement in learning and the in-
Weiss Halivni’s Midrash, Mishnan, and Gemara (Cambridge,
sistence of RavaD that they maintain family and community
Mass., 1986).
ties (B.T., Ket. 62b).
New Sources
RavaD also played an important part in transmitting ear-
Hayman, Pinchas. “Disputation Terminology and Editorial Ac-
lier Babylonian teachings and possibly the third-century Pal-
tivity in the Academy of Rava Bar Yosef Bar Hama.” HUCA
72 (2001): 61–83.
estinian traditions of Yoh:anan bar NappahaD (Dor, 1971).
With Abbaye, his fellow student and older colleague, he led
Margolies, Morris B. Twenty/Twenty: Jewish Visionaries through
in critically analyzing the logic of both sides of issues. Con-
Two Thousand Years. Northvale, N.J., 2000.
ventionally these discussions have been considered key build-
BARUCH M. BOKSER (1987)
ing blocks of the Talmud, though recent research (by David
Revised Bibliography
Weiss Halivni and others) suggests they may have been
shaped and especially preserved by postamoraic circles. RavaD
in particular recognized that to construe the Mishnah, one
RA¯WZAH-KHVA¯N¯I is the Persian ritual of public
might have to emend the text or posit an ellipsis (Epstein,
¨
lamentation over the suffering of Imam H:usayn and other
1964). He particularly sought the biblical basis for various
Sh¯ıE¯ı martyrs. Together with the ta Eziyah (passion play) and
Mishnaic laws and practices (B.T., Sot. 17a, B.Q. 92a–b)
the Muh:arrm mourning procession, known in Iran as dastah,
RavaD taught the full range of halakhic, aggadic, and exe-
it forms a part of the trilogy of the mourning observances
getical topics as well as practical advice. In comments such
that determines the basic popular ritual orientation in Sh¯ıE¯ı
as “a person when distraught cannot be held accountable”
Islam. Similar rituals are known by different names in other
(B.T., B.B. 16b), he recognized the significance of a person’s
countries with Sh¯ıE¯ı populations.
mental or psychological state. He spoke of God’s place in the
The recitation and chanting of eulogies for the Sh¯ıE¯ı
world and, in stressing public and private study, he claimed
martyrs, which has flourished in the Muslim world during
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7632
RA¯Z¯I, FAKHR AL-D¯IN AL-
the last thirteen centuries, produced a literary genre known
Outside of Iran, it is only in Bahrein that public lamen-
as maqtal (pl., maqa¯til). It was precisely at the beginning of
tations for H:usayn and other Sh¯ıE¯ı martyrs follow the Per-
the Safavid period (1501), when Sh¯ıE¯ı Islam became the state
sian model of ra¯wzah-khva¯n¯ı. The Sh¯ıEah of India, Pakistan,
religion of Persia, that the major Persian maqtal masterpiece
¨
Iraq, and Lebanon, along with smaller Sh¯ıE¯ı communities in
was composed. This was the work of H:usayn Va¯Eiz: Ka¯shif¯ı,
Turkey and the Caucasus, observe the mourning months of
titled in Arabic Rawd:at al-shuhada¯D (The Garden of the Mar-
Muh:arrm and S:afar according to various local traditions, al-
tyrs), from which ra¯wzah-khva¯n¯ı takes its name: The second
though the intensity of the feelings is the same.
¨
word of the Arabic title was replaced with the Persian khva¯ni
(“chanting” or “recitation”) to yield ra¯wzah-khva¯n¯ı, or “gar-
SEE ALSO EA¯shu¯ra¯D; TaEziyah.
¨
den recitation.”
The public lamentation of ra¯wzah-khva¯n¯ı is performed
BIBLIOGRAPHY
¨
Mahmoud Ayoub’s Redemptive Suffering in Islam (The Hague,
most often during the first two months of the Muslim calen-
1978) is an important discussion of the philosophical con-
dar, Muh:arrm and S:afar, in commemoration of the murder
cept of redemption. For discussions of rituals, see my
of Imam H:usayn on the tenth of Muh:arrm in AH 61/680
Ta Dziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran (New York, 1979);
CE. As the son of EAli and the grandson of the prophet
B. K. Roy Burman’s Moharram in Two Cities: Lucknow and
Muh:ammad, H:usayn was the third imam of the Sh¯ıEah, who
Delhi (New Delhi, 1966); G. E. von Grunebaum’s Muham-
consider his death at the hands of the caliph’s troops the
madan Festivals (New York and London, 1958); and Gustav
treacherous murder of the just and rightful ruler at the hands
Thaiss’s “Religious Symbolism and Social Change: The
of an evil usurper. Mourning for H:usayn thus combines grief
Drama of Husain,” in Scholars, Saints and Sufis, edited by
over his death with a strong condemnation of tyranny and
Nikki R. Keddie (Berkeley, Calif., 1972).
injustice.
PETER CHELKOWSKI (1987)
All classes of society participate in the ra¯wzah-khva¯n¯ıs
¨
(popularly called rawzahs), which can be held in black tents
¨
set up for the occasion in the public square of a town or vil-
RA¯Z¯I, FAKHR AL-D¯IN AL-, Muh:ammad ibn
lage, in mosques, or in the courtyards of private houses. Dur-
EUmar (AH 543–606/1149–1209 CE), was a celebrated
ing the late eighteenth and the nineteenth century, special
twelfth-century Muslim theologian and a prolific scholar.
edifices known as H:usayn¯ıyahs or tak¯ıyahs were also built for
The period in which Ra¯z¯ı flourished is marked by a cautious
the performance, often by official patrons. Richly decorated
reassessment of some of the basic principles of Neoplatonic
and carpeted, they displayed black standards and flags, as
philosophy, after a period in which this tradition had suf-
well as a variety of weapons intended to recall the Battle of
fered strong criticism, primarily in the writings of the famous
Karbala.
Muslim theologian al-Ghaza¯l¯ı (d. 1111). Ra¯z¯ı was the prin-
The rawzah usually begins with the performance of a
cipal protagonist of this reassessment of the philosophical
¨
ma¯ddah: (“panegyrist”) reciting and singing in praise of the
tradition, particularly as it had been expounded and estab-
Prophet and the saints. He is followed by the rawzah khva¯n
lished by Ibn S¯ına¯ (d. 1037). Although he was not a philoso-
¨
(also known as a va¯ Eiz:, “preacher”), who offers storytelling
pher in the strict sense, Ra¯z¯ı’s mature theological works
and songs about H:usayn and the other martyrs. His rapid
manifest an unquestionable Avicennian influence. But what
chanting in a high-pitched voice alternates with sobbing and
he perceived as being the excesses of the Neoplatonic tradi-
crying to arouse the audience to intense emotion. The
tion he sought to moderate, in order to accommodate its fun-
ra¯wzah-khva¯n¯ı ends with congregational singing of dirges
damental theories within the traditional framework of Mus-
¨
called nawh:ahs. The performances last anywhere from sever-
lim rational discourse. Thus his works arguably represent the
al hours to an entire day and well into the night, and the
most successful synthesis of the conflicting traditions of
emotional atmosphere that is generated can result in weep-
Muslim philosophy (falsafa) and Muslim speculative theolo-
ing, breast-beating, and body flagellation, as in the Muh:arrm
gy (kala¯m).
parades. Through the choice of episodes and the modulation
LIFE. Ra¯z¯ı was born in Rayy, near modern-day Tehran, in
of their voices, a succession of chanters are able to excite and
1149. Not much is known of his early years, but most Mus-
manipulate the emotions of their audiences so that they iden-
lim biographers agree that it was Ra¯z¯ı’s father, D:iya¯D al-D¯ın,
tify with the suffering of the martyrs, who will serve in turn
the city’s main preacher (khat:¯ıb), who was responsible for the
as their intercessors on the Day of Judgment. At the same
education of his son in the two principal Muslim sciences of
time, the rawzah khva¯ns frequently make digressions into
jurisprudence (fiqh) and theology (kala¯m). In accordance
¨
contemporary political, moral, and social issues, creating the
with the scholastic tradition to which his father belonged,
kind of social and religious climate that is ripe for political
Ra¯z¯ı received his training in the Sha¯fiE¯ı branch of jurispru-
action. There is no doubt that the religious symbolism of the
dence and in the AshEar¯ı school of theology, both of which
just Imam H:usayn, martyred at the hands of a tyrannical
were classical Sunn¯ı affiliations. His formation in philosophy
ruler, played a major role in the Iranian Revolution of 1978–
took place in Mara¯gha (Azerbaijan) at the hands of Majd
1979.
al-D¯ın al-J¯ıl¯ı, who also happened to be the teacher 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
RA¯Z¯I, FAKHR AL-D¯IN AL-
7633
famous illuminationist philosopher, Shiha¯b al-D¯ın
(al-Muh:as:s:al, Lawa¯m¯ıE al-Bayyina¯t, al-ArbaE¯ın). Ra¯z¯ı, how-
al-Suhraward¯ı. It should also be noted that al-J¯ıl¯ı’s teacher
ever, would devote the large part of his theological writings
had been a student of al-Ghaza¯l¯ı himself.
to the development of what may be termed a Muslim “philo-
sophical” theology (almost a third school of kala¯m, after
Having completed his formative studies in Rayy, Ra¯z¯ı
MuEtazilism and AshEarism). One of his earliest efforts in this
set off for Khwa¯razm. There he engaged in serious disputa-
respect is a work entitled al-Maba¯h:ith al-Mashriqiyya (Orien-
tions with the MuEtazila (upholders of the kind of rational-
tal investigations). Here, as elsewhere, Ra¯z¯ı’s debt to two
ism to which Sunn¯ı Islam, as championed by Ra¯z¯ı, was vehe-
philosophers is obvious: Abu¯Dl-Baraka¯t al-Baghda¯d¯ı (d. after
mently opposed). Khwa¯razm was at that time the only
1164/5) in physics, and Ibn S¯ına¯ in metaphysics (especially
remaining MuEtazil¯ı stronghold, after the decline of the
Ibn S¯ına¯’s al-Shifa¯D and al-Naja¯t).
movement in Baghdad, and the opposition stirred up by
Ra¯z¯ı was such that he was soon forced to leave the town and
Ra¯z¯ı took exception, however, to certain Avicennian
return to Rayy. From there he traveled on to the major towns
fundamentals, most notably the emanationist principle that
of Transoxiana, and reportedly even as far as the Indian fron-
from the “one” can only issue one, the notion of God’s
tier, before finally returning to settle in Hera¯t. He died there
knowledge being limited to universals, and the eternity of the
in 1209.
universe. Ra¯z¯ı refuted these concepts at length, and further
refined Ibn S¯ına¯’s proof for God as the “necessary being” by
During his early years Ra¯z¯ı was of very modest means.
drawing a subtle distinction between essence and being. Ra¯z¯ı’s
But his fortunes quickly changed after he entered into a series
al-Mat:a¯lib al-Ea¯liya min al-Eilm al-ila¯h¯ı (The noble pursuits
of high-profile relationships, most notably with the Ghu¯rid
of the science of divinity) possibly represents the best exam-
rulers of Ghazna, Ghiya¯th al-D¯ın and his brother Shiha¯b
ple of his synthetic approach to theology, since in this work
al-D¯ın. Later on, Ra¯z¯ı’s travels took him to Khurasan, where
Ra¯z¯ı makes use, somewhat eclectically, of the methods of
he was welcomed by the Khwa¯razm-Sha¯h EAla¯D al-D¯ın
Muslim kala¯m and those of Avicennian philosophy. Ra¯z¯ı’s
Tekesh, whose generous patronage he enjoyed. Ibn al-Ath¯ır,
magnum opus, however, on account of its sheer breadth and
a medieval Muslim historian, informs us that these relation-
sophistication, remains his commentary on the QurDa¯n.
ships brought Ra¯z¯ı enormous wealth. The legal schools (ma-
Here, dogmatic principles are affirmed through a combina-
drasah) set up in his name in various towns added considera-
tion of philosophical and theological arguments interwoven
bly to his fame. Throughout these various sojourns, however,
in such a way that one cannot discern the traditional separa-
he was never quite free of controversy. Ra¯z¯ı was undoubtedly
tion between the two. Finally, Ra¯z¯ı’s contribution to the
an impressive speaker and his proselytizing sermons—as well
field of Islamic ethics has been neglected, although it has re-
his ruthless public criticisms of doctrines associated with var-
cently been shown to be quite significant.
ious Muslim groups, among them H:anbal¯ıs, the
Karra¯miyya, and IsmaE¯ıl¯ıs—won him many dangerous ene-
A deeply religious individual, Ra¯z¯ı believed that he
mies. On one notorious occasion his scurrilous attack against
could reassert the fundamental principles of the Muslim faith
the head of the Karra¯miyya (an extreme anthropomorphist
through a synthesis of arguments drawing on traditional
sect active in Ghu¯r) led to serious public disturbances, and
kala¯m and Neoplatonic philosophy. Notwithstanding his fa-
to Ra¯z¯ı’s subsequent expulsion from the town.
mous deathbed renunciation of the methods of rational dis-
W
course, Ra¯z¯ı’s contribution to Muslim intellectual thought
ORKS. By any standard, Ra¯z¯ı was a prolific scholar. Close
to a hundred works can be attributed to him with near cer-
remains considerable.
tainty, although some biographers have suggested twice this
number. The range of subjects covered by Ra¯z¯ı is indeed en-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
cyclopedic: he wrote works on history, exegesis, theology, ju-
Anawati, Georges C. “Fakhr al-D¯ın al-Ra¯z¯ı.” In Encyclopaedia of
risprudence, philosophy, rhetoric, medicine, ethics, geome-
Islam. 2d ed. Edited by H. A. R. Gibb et al., vol. 2,
try, astrology, and physiognomy. He composed a well-
pp. 751–755. Leiden and London, 1960. A necessary follow-
up article, in which the main aspects of Ra¯z¯ı’s life are put
known treatise on the theory and practice of magic, but it
into perspective, together with a summary of the contents of
seems that he abandoned the field after his research did not
each of Ra¯z¯ı’s main works.
meet with any real success. Of the range of subjects that Ra¯z¯ı
covered, his principal contributions to Muslim intellectual
Ceylan, Yasin. Theology and Tafs¯ır in the Major Works of Fakhr
al-D¯ın al-Ra¯z¯ı. Kuala Lumpur, 1996. Surveys key philo-
thought are to be found in his theological writings; his two
sophical and theological issues examined by Ra¯z¯ı in his
commentaries (sharh:s) on Ibn S¯ına¯’s work (one on the lat-
QurDanic commentary and major kala¯m works.
ter’s Kita¯b al-Isha¯ra¯t waDl-Tanb¯ıha¯t, another on his EUyu¯n
al-H:ikma); and his voluminous commentary on the QurDa¯n,
Cooper, John. “Al-Razi, Fakhr al-Din.” In The Routledge Encyclo-
the Mafa¯t¯ıh: al-Ghayb (The keys to the unseen).
paedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward Craig, vol. 8,
pp. 112–115. London and New York, 1998. A brief but use-
Though Ra¯z¯ı wavered on certain AshEar¯ı doctrines (viz.,
ful synopsis of Ra¯z¯ı’s main objections to AshEarism and Ibn
atomism, God’s attributes, and the theory of human “acqui-
S¯ına¯’s theories.
sition” of acts), he was generally a staunch defender of this
Fakhry, Majid. A History of Islamic Philosophy. 2d ed. New York,
school of kala¯m, as can be seen in his major theological works
1983. Chapter 11, “Theological Reaction and Reconstruc-
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
7634
RE
tion,” pp. 312–332, deals with Ra¯z¯ı’s place within the overall
the king beginning in the fourth dynasty. The great temple
framework and development of Muslim philosophy.
of Re at Heliopolis has not survived, but there are separate
Iskenderog˘lu, Muammer. Fakhr al-D¯ın al-Ra¯z¯ı and Thomas Aqui-
chapels to the sun god in New Kingdom mortuary temples.
nas on the Question of the Eternity of the World. Leiden, 2002.
The great rock-cut temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel was
Kholeif, Fathalla. A Study of Fakhr al-D¯ın al-Ra¯z¯ı and his Contro-
dedicated to the sun god in his two aspects, Re-Harakhty and
versies in Transoxiana. Beirut, 1966. A critical edition and
Amun-Re. Re’s central position in the early mortuary litera-
translation of Ra¯z¯ı’s autobiographical account of his famous
ture continued in the New Kingdom, when papyri of the
disputations in Transoxiana, with a good biographical intro-
Book of Going Forth by Day were available to anyone who
duction and follow-up analysis of the topics of these disputa-
could afford them and kings used new books that described
tions.
the underworld of Sokar of Memphis, through which the de-
Shihadeh, Ayman. “Fakhr al-D¯ın al-Ra¯z¯ı on Ethics and Virtue.”
ceased ruler was to guide the solar bark. The solar hymns ac-
Ph.D. diss., Oxford University, 2002. The only in-depth
knowledge Re’s involvement with creation and with sustain-
study of Ra¯z¯ı’s ethics; constitutes an original contribution to
ing and overseeing what he created. Other gods are described
studies on Ra¯z¯ı and provides a comprehensive bibliography
as coming from his sweat, and humankind from the weeping
of Ra¯z¯ı’s published and unpublished works.
of his eye.
Street, Tony. “Concerning the Life and Works of Fakhr al-Din
al-Razi.” In Islam: Essays on Scripture, Thought, and Society,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
a Festschrift in Honour of Anthony H. Johns, edited by Peter
The best single source of further information is Hans Bonnet’s ar-
G. Riddell and Tony Street, pp. 135–146. Leiden, 1997.
ticle “Re” in the Reallexikon der ägyptischen Religionsge-
schichte (Berlin, 1952), pp. 626–630.
FERAS Q. HAMZA (2005)
LEONARD H. LESKO (1987)
RE, the ancient Egyptian sun god, was, for most of the
REBBE
pharaonic period, the chief god or at least among the chief
SEE TSADDIQ
gods. His cult center was at Heliopolis, where he seems to
have displaced Atum as universal god during the fifth dynas-
ty, and at the same time he also achieved some supremacy
REBECCA, or in Hebrew, Rivqah, was the wife of Isaac
over Horus. In the Pyramid Texts the deceased king, who
and the second of the biblical matriarchs. The name Rivqah
becomes identified with Osiris, joins Re in the solar bark and
is usually taken to be an animal name, like those of Rachel
serves as a guide on the voyage through the day and night
and Leah; it is derived from a hypothetical form (*biqrah)
skies. By the First Intermediate Period (c. 2181 BCE), local
meaning “cow.” According to Genesis, Rebecca was the
monarchs and other nobles were having these same texts cop-
granddaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor.
ied on the interior of their coffins, and thus the right to be-
Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac in Mes-
come Osiris (or join him) and the right to join Re was ex-
opotamia, where he encountered Rebecca drawing water
tended. The theology of the Re religion is known not only
from a well, a meeting place often indicative of divine provi-
from mortuary literature but also from the tenth-dynasty In-
dence in the Bible. God’s involvement is further evidenced
struction for King Merikare and the later solar hymns.
by Rebecca’s offer of hospitality, fulfilling the servant’s stipu-
Re is combined with the old Heliopolitan creator god,
lated sign. Rebecca subsequently consented to make the jour-
Atum, as Re-Atum, the supreme god of the later Old King-
ney back to Canaan, where she met and married Isaac. Like
dom, and he is assimilated to the Theban god Amun as
his father Abraham, Isaac once claimed that his wife was his
Amun-Re, “king of the gods,” in the Middle and New king-
sister so that Abimelech, king of Gerar, would not have him
doms. Representations of Re in his combined forms are very
killed in order to possess her. The ruse was discovered, how-
common, but Re does occur individually on Memphite ste-
ever, when the king observed an amorous encounter between
lae as a human with hawk head surmounted by a sun disk.
them.
This is also his regular appearance in the late New Kingdom,
After twenty years of infertility, Rebecca bore twins. Ac-
when as Pre-Ha-rakhty (the Re-Horus of the Horizon) he is
cording to a divine oracle, they were to become two nations,
universal lord. The sun disk itself is known as Aton, and in
with the descendants of the older serving those of the youn-
the eighteenth dynasty this became the object of Akhenaton’s
ger. Rebecca ensured the fulfillment of this prophecy by
devotion at the expense of Amun-Re’s cult temple at Karnak.
helping Jacob, her younger son, deceive his blind father
The old Heliopolitan priesthood may have persuaded Akhe-
while the elder son, Esau, was away. As a result Isaac gave
naton to transfer his allegiance, but his movement failed and
Jacob the blessing intended for Esau. According to rabbinic
he was later regarded as a heretic.
tradition, Rebecca instigated this deception because she rec-
Hathor is the consort of Re and personification of the
ognized from her sons’ behavior that Jacob would make the
entire ennead of gods, and in this way she is also mother of
better leader. She later helped Jacob flee Canaan to escape
Horus, the king. “Son of Re” was one of the major titles of
Esau’s anger. Her earlier reassurance to Jacob that the “curse
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
RECONSTRUCTIONIST JUDAISM
7635
[for this deception] will be on me” (Gn. 27:13) came to be
nection to Jewish traditional practice because it focused on
fulfilled when she never again saw her favorite son.
theology rather than customs. He also rejected the idea of
The Bible presents Rebecca as a strong and incisive fig-
more traditionally oriented Jews that Judaism needed to be
ure, complementing the relatively weak Isaac. She is the only
conserved without change.
woman whose birth is noted in the Bible (Gn. 22:20–23).
THE CIVILIZATIONAL APPROACH. Kaplan’s most influential
Her judgment as to the better son corresponds with God’s,
idea, which was central to his platform of reconstruction, was
and her actions not only control the transmission of authori-
that the Jews were neither solely a religious group nor a na-
ty within the family but also ensure the fulfillment of God’s
tion, as they were constituted in prior eras, but a people. He
will.
suggested that belonging to the Jewish people was what
bound Jews together, even if they disagreed about belief and
SEE ALSO Isaac; Jacob.
practice.
Kaplan’s blueprint entailed a redefinition of the terms
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nahum M. Sarna’s Understanding Genesis (New York, 1966) con-
of Jewish life. Judaism was the evolving religious civilization
tains a thorough treatment of all the patriarchal narratives
of the Jewish people. Influenced by the ideas of modern soci-
from a modern scholarly perspective. Rabbinic traditions
ology, Kaplan retold the story of Jewish history through the
pertaining to these figures are collected in Louis Ginzberg’s
conceptual framework of evolution, arguing that change was
Legends of the Jews, 2d ed., 2 vols., translated by Henrietta
central to Jewish development over time. Just as Judaism in
Szold and Paul Radin (Philadelphia, 2003). An evaluation of
the past had changed from the times of the Bible through
the biblical depiction of Rebecca is in Christine Garside
the rabbinic period and into modernity, the Jews in each era
Allen’s essay “Who Was Rebekah? ‘On Me Be the Curse, My
in the future would have a responsibility to reconstruct Juda-
Son!’” in Beyond Androcentrism: New Essays on Women and
ism to meet the needs of the times. The key to this process
Religion, edited by Rita M. Gross (Missoula, Mont., 1977).
in early-twentieth-century America was for Jews to under-
FREDERICK E. GREENSPAHN (1987 AND 2005)
stand Judaism as a civilization parallel to other ancient civili-
zations, like Greece or Rome, or modern ones, like France
or England. While religion was central to Judaism, Kaplan
REBIRTH
viewed Judaism as more than a religion. Jewish civilization
SEE REINCARNATION;
should be understood to have the same characteristics of
TRANSMIGRATION
those of other groups, including language, law, literature,
customs, art, food, and music. Judaism was not simply a reli-
gion or a nation, as others claimed, but a fully developed way
RECITATION SEE CHANTING; TILA¯WAH
of life. This perspective supported those who were alienated
from Jewish religious practice but were interested in remain-
ing Jewish through their connections to literature or the culi-
RECLUSES S
nary arts, for example.
EE EREMITISM
Kaplan dealt with the problem of being both Jewish and
American by claiming that Jews could live in two civiliza-
RECONSTRUCTIONIST JUDAISM.
tions, the American and the Jewish, taking the best from
Recon-
each. He saw these two civilizations as perfectly compatible.
structionist Judaism originated in the philosophy of Morde-
The idea of living in two civilizations was an antidote to the
cai Kaplan (1881–1983) and is widely considered the fourth
melting-pot ideal that suggested that immigrants shed their
religious denomination of American Jewry, along with Re-
ethnic backgrounds. Kaplan’s idea that one could be both
form, Conservative, and Orthodox. Kaplan coined the term
Jewish and American without experiencing conflict between
Reconstructionism in his major work, Judaism as a Civilization
those identities prefigured the ethnic and racial identity poli-
(1934), to define his intentions for making Judaism in the
tics that became popular in the 1960s.
United States meet the needs of the generation of the chil-
dren of eastern European immigrants who arrived in the
What Kaplan wanted Jews to take from the American
United States in the early twentieth century and those who
framework was a connection to what he called the sancta of
were born in the country subsequently. He believed Judaism
American civilization: the holidays, myths, and customs of
as practiced in Europe would not be viable in the American
America. To this end Kaplan created liturgies for holidays
environment, and he sought to create a blueprint for a new
like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. He also was a pas-
way of being Jewish that would combine the best features of
sionate believer in democracy and sought to transform Jew-
traditional Judaism with the American way of life. He chose
ish institutions into the democratic patterns of American life.
the term reconstruct because it indicated both a respect for
An intellectual disciple of Émile Durkheim and John Dewey,
Jewish tradition and an awareness that Judaism needed to be
Kaplan wanted to reorganize American Jewish institutions to
remodeled to fit the conditions of life in the United States.
function in a democratic way. Instead of organizing Jewish
He saw his plan in contrast to reform, which lacked a con-
life into synagogues and denominations, Kaplan envisioned
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
7636
RECONSTRUCTIONIST JUDAISM
the creation of organic Jewish communities where democra-
One of Kaplan’s great contributions was to publish
tically elected leaders would reconstruct Jewish political, so-
prayer books that illustrated his intention to reconstruct Ju-
cial, and religious life in concert. Kaplan was also an avid cul-
daism. He published a Haggadah in 1941 that told the Pass-
tural Zionist and believed that a Jewish state in what was
over story as a tale of the triumphs of Moses and the people
then Palestine would be the center that would hold these or-
of Israel rather than God. Sabbath Prayer Book, published in
ganic communities together in a worldwide, democratic Jew-
1945, changed the wording of key prayers to eliminate the
ish structure of governance. Although this dimension of Ka-
concept of chosenness, reward, and punishment, as well as
plan’s social vision was utopian and never was achieved, his
references to Temple sacrifice. The prayer book also removed
ideas were influential in the movement to create synagogue
special status for the ancestors of the priests and Levites, as
centers and communal structures, like the Federation of Jew-
Kaplan saw that practice as not in keeping with democratic
ish Philanthropies, and in Zionist and other organizations
principles and therefore in need of reconstruction. Sabbath
that sought worldwide connections among Jews.
Prayer Book was publicly burned by Orthodox rabbis in
1945, and Kaplan was excommunicated. Unlike his other
KAPLAN’S THEOLOGY. To Kaplan, religion was the most im-
works, The New Haggadah achieved great popularity and
portant contribution of Jewish civilization to the world. Ka-
brought Kaplan great attention in American Jewish life in the
plan’s own religious vision was controversial and achieved
mid-1940s.
much attention but little support. In 1937 Kaplan published
a theological treatise, The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish
THE SPREAD OF RECONSTRUCTIONISM. Kaplan’s ideas were
Religion. Espousing a theology of religious naturalism, Ka-
most influential with the leadership of Reform and Conser-
vative Judaism from the 1920s, when Judaism as a Civiliza-
plan defined God as “the Power that makes for salvation”
tion was published, through the late 1940s. His magazine,
and rejected anthropomorphic and supernatural views of
the Reconstructionist, was a leading forum for discussion and
God, instead defining God as an impersonal force that acts
debate about critical Jewish issues, from Zionism to econom-
through and not beyond the natural world and inspires
ic justice. Kaplan was interested in influencing the leadership
human beings to aspire to do good in the world. Influenced
of the American Jewish community to follow his ideas. He
also by pragmatism, Kaplan’s main concern was on how this
was not interested in starting a movement based on those
Power functioned in people’s lives to encourage them to seek
ideas. He was a rabbi of a synagogue he founded in 1922,
out a meaningful and moral life. Although many have con-
the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ). The SAJ
sidered Kaplan’s position atheistic, he was a passionate be-
was a place to carry out his experiments in liturgy. The ser-
liever in the existence of this impersonal force.
vices conducted at SAJ were based largely on the traditional
Another controversial dimension of Kaplan’s religious
Hebrew liturgy but also included English readings in keeping
philosophy was his elimination of the notion that the Jews
with the themes of the service and provided ample opportu-
were the chosen people. A God that did not act in history
nity for discussion of the Torah portion and its relationship
could not single out one people for any special role. Kaplan
to issues of the day. The SAJ is also famous as the location
taught that all peoples had a unique function to fulfill in the
of the first modern bat mitzvah, held rather unceremoniously
world and that each group could, through what he called
for Kaplan’s eldest daughter, Judith, in 1922.
“ethical nationhood,” serve a divine purpose.
Kaplan’s primary vocation was as professor of homiletics
at the Jewish Theological Seminary, a position he held from
THE PAST HAS A VOTE, NOT A VETO. Kaplan defined the
1909 to 1963. During Kaplan’s years at the seminary, Re-
traditional practices of the Jews as folkways rather than law.
constructionism was seen primarily as the left wing of the
The idea that “the past has a vote but not a veto” became
Conservative movement. Kaplan’s greatest influence was on
an important slogan for Reconstructionism. While the past
the several generations of rabbis he taught, many of whom
needed to be respected, it could not be the final factor deter-
became his ardent followers. His followers were among those
mining Jewish practice. Kaplan did encourage people to ob-
most dissatisfied with the way Conservative Judaism was de-
serve the Sabbath and other holy days and keep kosher, not
veloping, and they urged Kaplan to separate from the institu-
because they were commanded to do so by God but because
tional structure of Conservative Judaism and embark on the
these observances were still meaningful to bind them togeth-
creation of a Reconstructionist movement. He gave tacit per-
er as a people and connect them to Jews in the past and the
mission and support to these rabbis but never embraced the
future. He encouraged Jewish groups to take Jewish folkways
idea of creating a separate movement based on his ideology.
seriously and think about ways to reconstruct them. If cus-
He refused opportunities to start his own seminary or to
toms in their ancient forms still had meaning, Jews should
teach at other Jewish institutions.
continue to observe them as they had been practiced. Other
practices that no longer conformed to the ethical vision of
But Kaplan’s ardent followers were intent on creating
modernity, such as the inequality of the sexes in ancient Jew-
a movement based on his philosophy. The task of movement
ish teaching, should be abandoned, however. Many customs
building fell to Kaplan’s son-in-law, Ira Eisenstein (1906–
that no longer were meaningful, Kaplan argued, should be
2001). Eisenstein was one of the many young men who be-
reconstructed, given new meanings, and observed.
came followers of Kaplan while training for the rabbinate at
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
RECONSTRUCTIONIST JUDAISM
7637
the Jewish Theological Seminary. Eisenstein slowly built an
ing to serve these new congregations. For Reconstructionism
organizational structure that began with the Reconstruction-
to grow as a movement, it was necessary to start a school to
ist Foundation in 1940. The foundation was a membership
train its own rabbis. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Col-
organization that coordinated the publications produced by
lege (RRC) was founded in 1968 in Philadelphia by Ira
the nascent movement, including the magazine, the works
Eisenstein who became the first president. While Kaplan
of liturgy, and pamphlets explaining the Reconstructionist
generally opposed to the institutionalization of the Recon-
program.
structionist philosophy and was not involved directly in the
school’s creation, he did travel from New York to Philadel-
Assuming that the future of a movement depended on
phia to teach a class once a week, and continued to do so
attracting synagogues in addition to building an individual
until 1972 when he moved to Israel. The establishment of
membership base, Eisenstein in the early 1950s took a posi-
this school put Reconstructionism on the map as an indepen-
tion as rabbi of Anshe Emet, a large Conservative synagogue
dent denomination in the American Jewish community.
in Chicago thought to be sympathetic to the Reconstruction-
ist program. Unsuccessful in the effort to make Anshe Emet
The timing for the creation of such an institution was
a Reconstructionist synagogue, Eisenstein returned to New
excellent. Young men fleeing the draft considered this new
York in 1959. He and his colleagues organized their own
kind of theological training. Young women influenced by
synagogues and small study groups, which they called havu-
women’s liberation were another source of students for the
rot, to further the work of the movement. With the coopera-
new school. (Although the Reform seminary, the Hebrew
tion of several rabbis who revered Kaplan as their teacher and
Union College, ordained its first woman candidate a year be-
who encouraged their congregations to affiliate with both the
fore Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, the first woman RRC graduate,
Reconstructionist and Conservative movements, the Recon-
completed her training; when RRC admitted Sasso, no
structionist movement began to grow. In 1954 they orga-
woman had yet been ordained.)
nized the Reconstructionist Federation of Congregations,
Eisenstein sought to provide a training program and
which consisted of the SAJ and two other groups. As more
curriculum that reflected the Reconstructionist ideology.
affiliates joined the movement, the federation was reorga-
The ordination of women followed Kaplan’s principled be-
nized as the Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations
lief in women’s equality. Living in two civilizations meant
and Havurot (FRCH) in 1960, and it later was renamed the
that graduates of the RRC would also obtain doctoral degrees
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (JRF). Through the
in religious studies from a secular institution. To that end
next few decades the organization grew gradually, adding a
the RRC was located in Philadelphia based on an arrange-
few dozen or more Reconstructionist groups around the
ment for rabbinical candidates to take doctoral studies at the
United States and Canada. Some of Kaplan’s followers were
Department of Religion at Temple University. The curricu-
also instrumental in creating a Reconstructionist presence in
lum at RRC was constructed around seminars that focused
Israel, founding a synagogue, Mevaqshe Derekh, in 1962.
on the evolving history and culture of the Jewish people. The
first year was devoted to the Bible, the second to the Talmud,
The slow growth of the movement can be attributed to
the third to medieval studies, the fourth to modern studies,
several other factors in addition to Kaplan’s own reticence.
and the fifth to the contemporary world. Text study was con-
Many rabbis who were his followers were also institutionally
sidered ancillary to the history seminar. This distinguished
loyal to the Reform and Conservative movements and did
studies at RRC from those at the Jewish Theological Semi-
not want to build new institutions. And Kaplan’s ideology
nary, where learning Talmud text was central. It also distin-
was intellectually challenging and rigorous, and consequent-
guished the program from Hebrew Union College, which fo-
ly attractive to only a small number of Jews who were dissat-
cused more on practical rabbinical training. At RRC
isfied with traditional synagogue life. As the sociologist
practical rabbinical training was limited. The ideal was that
Charles Liebman pointed out in an influential study in the
RRC graduates would be teacher-scholars who worked with
1970s, Reconstructionism functioned as the folk religion of
small congregations on weekends while they pursued their
American Jewry. Kaplan’s work described what American
academic studies as their primary occupation.
Jews actually believed and practiced but not the way Jews
Whereas some of the early students were interested in
wanted their religious institutions to represent Judaism in
pursuing academic careers, others were more interested in
America. While Reconstructionist ideology may have de-
traditional careers as synagogue rabbis. The Reconstruction-
scribed the actual theology and behavior of American Jewry,
ist congregations were also seeking leadership. During the
most Jews preferred that their synagogues hold up an ideal
first decade, the Ph.D. requirement was reduced to a master’s
that was not necessarily reflected in their own belief or
degree, and students began pursuing master’s degrees in edu-
practice.
cation and social work to support their vocational interests.
FOUNDING A RABBINICAL COLLEGE. Although the Recon-
Some of the graduates began to assume leadership in Recon-
structionist movement did not attract large numbers, congre-
structionist congregations, whereas others served Reform and
gations did form, and they sought leadership. Many Conser-
Conservative congregations or took positions as Jewish com-
vative rabbis were taught by Kaplan, but they were, like
munal service directors, institutional chaplains, principals of
Kaplan, loyal to their institutional homes and were not will-
day schools, or chaplains on college campuses.
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7638
RECONSTRUCTIONIST JUDAISM
Slow growth continued through the 1970s. The first
style. However, Kaplan’s theology and his unbridled enthusi-
graduates organized the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Associ-
asm for America were not of importance to the H:avurah ori-
ation (RRA) in 1974. The RRA welcomed not only gradu-
entation and would no longer be emphasized. This rejection
ates of the RRC but rabbis who were supportive of the Re-
of Kaplan’s ideas was a source of tension between those who
constructionist philosophy and movement. The addition of
came to be defined as classical Reconstructionists and the
an organization of Reconstructionist rabbis enabled the Re-
next generation.
constructionist movement to mirror the tripartite organiza-
tional structure of the Reform and Conservative movements
Silverman made many changes at RRC. He moved the
and gain legitimacy on the national level.
campus from its small, urban home near Temple University
to a much larger building in a northern suburb, and he added
THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERSHIP. For many years
the nationally recognized scholars Hershel Matt, Arthur
Eisenstein served as editor of the Reconstructionist magazine,
Green, Arthur Waskow, and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi to
the head of the Reconstructionist Foundation, and the presi-
the faculty. The presence of Waskow and Schachter-Shalomi
dent of the RRC. In the early 1980s he began the process
in particular created problems for the small movement.
of retiring from these posts, having accomplished his goal of
These men were the key leaders in what later became known
establishing the institutions of the Reconstructionist move-
as the movement for Jewish Renewal.
ment. Eisenstein’s retirement in 1981 was soon followed by
the death of Mordecai Kaplan, and a new era of leadership
Like Reconstructionism and H:avurah Judaism, the Re-
and change ensued.
newal movement emphasizes community, equality for
In 1981 Ira Silverman succeeded Eisenstein as president
women, and ritual innovation. But Renewal Judaism, partic-
of the RRC, and David Teutsch became the head of the Fed-
ularly as defined by Schachter-Shalomi, is also neo-Hasidic
eration of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot.
with an emphasis on charismatic leadership and mystical
Neither man had a prior association with the Reconstruc-
union with God. Schachter-Shalomi taught that Jewish life
tionist movement. Silverman had been the executive director
is enriched by borrowing practices from other religious tradi-
of the American Jewish Committee, and Teutsch was a re-
tions, like Sufism, Yoga, and Native American spirituality.
cently ordained Reform rabbi. Both had been strongly influ-
This emphasis created enormous tension and debate among
enced by the newly developing H:avurah movement in Juda-
Reconstructionists, who did not appreciate his mystical ori-
ism. Although Reconstructionists had formed havurot (small
entation. Waskow was controversial within the organized
fellowships for study and celebration) as early as the 1950s,
Jewish community for his outspoken political views, includ-
the H:avurah movement envisioned these small groups quite
ing his criticisms of the government of Israel. The Recon-
differently.
structionist movement endured much censure for keeping
him on the faculty during Silverman’s presidency.
H:avurah Jews formed their groups as an alternative to
synagogue membership. The groups usually consisted of
When Silverman resigned in 1986, Arthur Green be-
young people in their twenties and thirties who came of age
came the president of RRC. Green was a scholar of Hasidism
in the 1960s, singles and couples, some with small children.
and a critic of Kaplanian theology. He shifted the curricular
Many were educated in the Conservative movement’s youth
focus of the rabbinical program, ending the requirement for
and summer programs and as a result were quite knowledge-
outside study. He replaced the requirement with an emphasis
able about Jewish texts and practice. While they were gener-
on traditional textual study, shifting the curricular focus
ally comfortable with traditional theology, they were critical
away from historical critical study. He added a mandatory
of Jewish institutional life and uninterested in synagogues
year of study in Israel and increased Hebrew language re-
and rabbis, preferring intimate, participatory gatherings
quirements in the curriculum. Green left in 1993 to resume
where the participants could alternate leadership roles. With
his career as a university professor.
the exception of an annual conference and newsletter, they
Teutsch resigned as the director of the Federation of Re-
opposed the creation of new institutions. They preferred cel-
constructionist Congregations and Havurot to serve RRC as
ebrating and studying together in these small groups, and
dean of admissions and then as executive vice president. He
most such groups had no need for Jewish communal institu-
was chosen to follow Green as RRC president in 1993.
tions. Teutsch and Silverman, on the other hand, saw the po-
Teutsch embarked on a program to fulfill the institutional
tential of the institutions of the Reconstructionist movement
mandate of the original Reconstructionist leaders, to make
as a structure within which to harness the energy of H:avurah
Reconstructionism a legitimate fourth denomination on the
Judaism.
American Jewish scene. In his years as president, Teutsch ini-
Important elements of the ideological orientation of Re-
tiated capital improvements, began master’s degree and can-
constructionism are compatible with H:avurah Judaism. Re-
torial training programs, and solidified the financial base of
constructionism and H:avurah Judaism share an emphasis on
the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. But his most im-
peoplehood, community, and democracy; a passionate em-
portant contribution was as the editor of the five-volume
brace of women’s equality; an interest in developing new rit-
prayer book series Kol Ha-neshamah, published over a ten-
uals and practices; and an informal and emotive worship
year period, 1989–1999.
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RECONSTRUCTIONIST JUDAISM
7639
This prayer book series replaced the old Reconstruction-
Silverman was the first seminary to admit openly gay and les-
ist prayer books that had been so controversial and popular
bian students, in 1984. The emphasis on inclusive commu-
in their time. Kol Ha-neshamah includes the classical Recon-
nity reinforced the classical Reconstructionist orientation to-
structionist formulation of the prayers alongside traditional
ward acceptance of those who were alienated from Jewish life
prayers and more contemporary innovations. By making
but took the idea in a new direction.
these options available, the prayer books provided room for
In 2002 Teutsch stepped down as president to direct the
Reconstructionists of different theological orientations to
Center for Jewish Ethics at RRC. He was succeeded in the
feel welcome within the Reconstructionist community. The
presidency by Dan Ehrenkrantz, the first RRC graduate to
prayer books made a definitive statement that the Recon-
hold the position. With an alumnus of the rabbinical college
structionist movement had a distinctive worship style and a
in the highest leadership position for the first time and with
contribution to make to Jewish religious life. For Recon-
the stabilization of its institutions, Reconstructionist Juda-
structionist congregations, Kol Ha-neshamah created a per-
ism claimed a place in the mainstream of Jewish life.
ception that even if congregations make different choices
about which prayers to use, they are all part of one Recon-
SEE ALSO Kaplan, Mordecai.
structionist community, reflecting Teutsch’s emphasis on
consensus building. The number of Reconstructionist con-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
gregations also expanded during this era, growing in number
Alpert, Rebecca T., and Jacob J. Staub. Exploring Judaism: A Re-
from several dozen to over one hundred as the movement
constructionist Approach. New York, 1985. 2d ed. Wyncote,
Pa., 1997. A basic introduction to the ideas of Reconstruc-
placed greater emphasis on supporting congregational life.
tionism.
BEYOND CLASSICAL RECONSTRUCTIONISM. The emphasis
Eisenstein, Ira, and Eugene Kohn. Mordecai M. Kaplan: An Evalu-
on creating liturgy linked the new era to the Reconstruction-
ation. New York, 1952. Essays by the early leaders of the
ist past but also highlighted how spirituality became a domi-
movement, including a brief autobiographical essay by
nant feature of contemporary Reconstructionism. Recon-
Kaplan.
structionist congregations welcome Jews who embrace
Goldsmith, Emanuel S., Mel Scult, and Robert M. Seltzer. The
Kaplan’s theology of religious naturalism, or a cultural rather
American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan. New York, 1990.
than religious orientation to Jewish life. But Reconstruction-
Essays chronicling Kaplan’s contributions to Jewish life and
ist Judaism has followed the contemporary Jewish trend to-
the development of the Reconstructionist movement.
ward a focus on the human-divine encounter that is predicat-
Kaplan, Mordecai M. Judaism as a Civilization. Rev. ed. Philadel-
ed on a more traditional view of God as a partner in
phia, 1994. Kaplan’s most influential work, this book
conversation. Reconstructionist Jews are not likely to believe
describes his program for the reconstruction of American
that God responds directly to prayer or acts to reward or
Judaism.
punish them in their lives. But they are likely to seek a rela-
Kaplan, Mordecai M. The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Reli-
tionship with God through prayer and meditation. Rabbini-
gion. Rev. ed. Detroit, Mich., 1994. Kaplan’s most accessible
work, this book illustrates his theology through the cycle of
cal students at RRC have mentors for their spiritual direc-
the Jewish year.
tion, and Reconstructionist synagogues sponsor healing
Kaplan, Mordecai M., and Eugene Kohn, eds. Sabbath Prayer
groups, prayer circles, and Jewish meditation.
Book. Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation. New York,
The emphasis on community, and in particular on in-
1945. The prayer book that was burned by Orthodox rabbis
clusive community, became the other hallmark of Recon-
for its iconoclastic prayers.
structionist Judaism under Teutsch. Kaplan was a maverick,
Kaplan, Mordecai M., Eugene Kohn, and Ira Eisenstein, eds. The
often at odds with the faculty at the Jewish Theological Sem-
New Haggadah for the Pesah Seder. Jewish Reconstructionist
inary, espousing a theology that many perceived as heretical.
Foundation. New York, 1941. The original Reconstruction-
ist Haggadah that focuses on the story of the people of Israel
Eisenstein also propounded an antiestablishment orienta-
and not on God’s liberatory intervention.
tion, founding an upstart movement and school in an era
Levitt, Joy, and Michael Strassfeld, eds. A Night of Questions: A
when few new institutions were being developed in Ameri-
Passover Haggadah. Elkins Park, Pa., 2000. The new Recon-
can Judaism. Following that pattern, contemporary Recon-
structionist Haggadah.
structionist philosophy emphasizes welcoming Jews who see
Liebman, Charles S. Aspects of the Religious Behavior of American
themselves as unwelcome in the rest of the Jewish communi-
Jews. New York, 1974. The first critical academic study of
ty, particularly gay men, lesbians, and the intermarried. The
the Reconstructionist movement.
Reform movement has also reached out to these groups, but
Scult, Mel. Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century: A Biography of
the Reconstructionist movement has taken bold steps to wel-
Mordecai M. Kaplan. American Jewish Civilization Series.
come them without the institutional strength of the Reform
Detroit, Mich., 1993. A definitive Kaplan biography.
movement. The RRA adopted patrilineal descent (accepting
Teutsch, David A., ed. Kol Ha-neshamah: Shabat Ve-hagim.
the child of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother as a
Translated by Joel Rosenberg. Wyncote, Pa., 1995. The Re-
Jew) and developed guidelines for welcoming intermarried
constructionist prayer book for the Sabbath and holy days.
couples in 1978, supporting a position taken by the Jewish
Teutsch, David A., ed. Kol Ha-neshamah: Mahzor Leyamim
Reconstructionist Foundation in 1968. The RRC under
Nora EIm. Translated by Joel Rosenberg. Wyncote, Pa.,
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
7640
REDEMPTION
2000. The Reconstructionist prayer book for the high holy
earth, the final restoration and reintegration in peace and
days.
harmony of the people of Israel into a remote, utopian fu-
R
ture, an ultimate event that, however, was to be preceded by
EBECCA T. ALPERT (2005)
apocalyptic, catastrophical changes; in this respect, the liber-
ation of Israel from slavery in Egypt and the Sinai covenant
are complementary to each other. Yet there are in the Old
REDEMPTION (from Lat. redemptio, derived from red-
Testament elements of realized eschatology, of “redemption
emere, “to buy back”) literally means liberation by payment
here and now,” beliefs that were carried over by various sects
of a price or ransom. The term is used metaphorically and
(the Ebionites, Essenes, Nazarenes) into Christianity. While
by extension in a number of religions to signify the salvation
having an indubitable eschatological dimension, redemption
from doom or perdition that is wrought by a savior or by the
cannot be reduced to it. And, the extent that it is involved
individual himself. Like the concepts of salvation, sacrifice,
with sacrifice, redemption shares with sacrifice either an ac-
and justification, the concept of redemption belongs to a
tive or a passive character. Redemption points to both libera-
cluster of religious notions that converge upon the meanings
tion and repurchase.
of making good, new, or free, or delivering from sickness,
This mystery of redemption is best illustrated in Chris-
famine, death, mortality, life itself, rebirth, war, one’s own
tianity: Christ suffered on the cross in order to satisfy retribu-
self, sin and guilt, anguish, even boredom and nausea. Re-
tive justice. The meaning of redemption in the New Testa-
demption bears the closest conceptual kinship to salvation,
ment is chiefly that of the deliverance of humanity from sin,
sharing with it the intentionality of the need or desire to sup-
death, and God’s anger, through the death and resurrection
press an essential lack in human existence and to be delivered
of Christ. A certain Greek influence makes itself felt through
from all its disabling circumstances. This deliverance requires
Paul, who took in the notion of ransom (lutron, from luo¯,
various forms of divine help, succor, or intervention to be
“to loose”) and thus pointed to the Greek custom of emanci-
achieved, which often secures for the believer an access to the
pating slaves through payment. “Jesus Christ gave himself for
dunamis of the spirit and to its outpourings, thereby leading
us, to ransom us from all our guilt, a people set apart for him-
to charismatic gifts. Redemption may be of God’s or of hu-
self.” (Ti. 2:14); and “that flock he won for himself at the
manity’s doing. In a certain sense, redemption makes possi-
price of his own blood” (Acts 20:28). Also in 1 Corinthians:
ble a recovery of paradise lost, of a primordial blissful state.
“A great price was paid to ransom you; glorify God by mak-
In another sense, it points to new creation or ontological
ing your bodies shrines of his presence” (6:20); and “A price
newness in the future. Creation is in many religions a highly
was paid to redeem you” (7:23).
sacrificial act that requires prior destruction, as in the dis-
Yet lutron must not be taken literally, as denoting a par-
memberment of Praja¯pati’s body in Hinduism or the thor-
ticular commercial price, a barter; it may mean any instru-
ough destruction of the shaman’s body in northern Asian re-
ment of deliverance without there being a question of paying
ligions. These acts signify reconstruction-participation in
a ransom. (One must exercise prudence, as Thomas Aquinas
divine fecundity or, respectively, multi-fecundation by the
did, and use the word price as that which is payable to God,
god Praja¯pati, equivalent to partnership in the world. To be
not to the devil.) Going beyond the juridical notion of pun-
redeemed may mean to be divinized, either by the reenact-
ishment and ransom, Paul emphasized the gratuitous aspect
ment of the primordial creative act (preceded by a descent)
of redemption as an act of love: Christ’s passion and death
or through the theandric, sacrificial action of a savior (so¯t¯er).
take on their supreme redemptive value due to the voluntary
In both cases, grace plays an important role; forgiveness also
nature of the sacrifice, the free acceptance of suffering. Obe-
may be redemptive to the extent that it is provoked by, or
dience to the divine Father’s decree is the proof of love; price
calls for, repentance.
here equals liberating satisfaction, deliverance from the dou-
In Judaism, the psalmist’s “God of my salvation” (Heb.
ble slavery of sin and punishment. The exaltation of Christ
Go Del, “redeemer,” from the verb gaDal, used to refer to the
and the sending of the Holy Spirit signify the decisive act of
redeeming of relatives from slavery, of property from foreign
salvation history (Heilsgeschichte), which ushers in the new
possessions, etc.) is a savior from distress and disaster, yet
age proclaimed by the prophets (Is. 65:17). Works of satis-
sometimes is himself in need of salvation (salvator salvandus).
faction for sin—fasting, almsgiving, prayer, and works of
Says Job: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he will
mercy—all have redemptive value, not only for Christianity,
at last stand forth upon the dust” (Jb. 19:25). And the Psalm:
but for other religions as well. Functional equivalents of the
“Truly no man can redeem himself!” (Ps. 49:7). “Israel, hope
Judeo-Christian notion of redemption can be found in many
in the Lord. He will redeem you from all your sins” (Ps.
other religions, especially in ethically oriented ones that stress
130:7–8). In Judaism the concept of redemption is closely
the virtues of action. Salvation is of course the primary and
associated with repentance.
essential goal. But to gain it many primitive cults devised se-
Liberation from exile (Dt. 15:15), restoration of free-
vere and sometimes complicated rituals and ceremonies of
dom (Is. 62:12, 63:4), and the vision of a just society have
redemption.
always been signs of divine redemption for the people of Isra-
The Egyptian Pyramid Texts of 2400 BCE looked upon
el. Messianic Judaism projected the new heaven and the new
salvation as both a mystery and a technique. Osiris, slain by
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REDEMPTION
7641
his brother Seth, is rescued by Isis and brought back to life
to occur at the end of time at the hand of Saoshyant, the
by means of a secret and complicated ritual; he becomes the
savior.
one savior from death and from its consequences. The re-
Buddism is a religion fully bent on salvation. In
deeming efficacy of the mortuary ritual of embalming, in
Maha¯ya¯na Buddism the doctrine of the Buddha and the bo-
which the devotee is identified with the god, was believed to
dhisattva shows the great vows required by the spiritual disci-
stem from Osiris’ primordial experience, which, by being re-
pline of enlightenment to be a devotion to the principle that
enacted, made salvation possible.
the merit and knowledge acquired by the individual on this
The primitive vegetation-gods were redeemer gods who
path be wholly transferred upon all beings, high and low, and
required the sacrifice of a symbolic part of the crop to save
not jealously accumulated for one’s self. This “activity with-
the whole and allow its use by humans. The agrarian sacri-
out attachment” involves a free restraint from entering upon
fices of the Romans were meant to appease the wrath of the
nirva¯n:a, exercised for the sake of one’s fellow beings. In Japa-
gods and bring about plentiful crops. The sacrifice of an ani-
nese Buddhism the principle of salvation by self-power
mal instead of a human was believed to cure illness. Accord-
(jiriki) is contrasted by salvation through “another” (tariki),
ing to Ovid, the Romans sacrificed to the manes, or spirits
that is, through the power of the Buddha Amida. In Zen,
of the ancestors. In Babylon, as in ancient Israel, the sacrifice
devotion, fervor, and depth are all equally redeeming inner
of the firstborn or vicarious forms of it played an important
attitudes. Some types of mysticism have been categorized as
role in the process of redemption by transmitting the tension
redemptive: for instance, true gnosticisms rely on the dispel-
and effecting the link between primordial time (Urzeit) and
ling of ignorance, as, for example, the gnosticism of al-
the eschaton (Endzeit). The idea that the sins of the fathers
insanal-kamil (“the perfect human being”) and the dispensers
are visited upon the sons appears in the R:gveda, even before
of the individual’s proper spirituality in Hinduism. Some
the notion of karman was unfolded. To be cleansed of pater-
others cannot be so categorized; Hasidic mysticism, for ex-
nal sin, the son has to break violently away from his past; this
ample, is self-redemptive, noneschatological, and nonmes-
is viewed as a split between the ascetic and erotic parts of
sianic.
man, located respectively in a mental seed (above the navel),
There are three main ways of redemption in mystical re-
and a lower seed (below the navel). The alchemic function
ligions: through illumination, as in Zen Buddhism, or
of yoga tends to transform animal instinct into soma, the
through a dispelling of ignorance of the gnostic type, as in
mental type of seed. Blood functions here as mediator be-
Islam; through membership and participation in the com-
tween semen and soma. The sacrifice of wild beasts as well
munity (the Buddhist sam:gha, the Christian ekkl¯esia, the
as the taming of the cows are symbolic of this sought-for in-
Muslim ummah); or, in secular types of religiosity by a redi-
dividual regeneration.
rection of the libido, a reordering of the soul’s powers in a
harmonious use of the personality, which may mean either
The Vedic sacrifice is more beneficial to the gods than
a widening or a narrowing of consciousness.
to the individual; indeed, it strengthens the gods, but their
prosperity in turn reverberates on humans; thus it is said that
Ancient Mexican religions knew a variety of redemptive
the gods nourish you if you nourish them. Agni, the god of
types, among which was a form of plain self-redemption
fire and sacrifice, behaves like a demon and tries to burn ev-
from diseases such as leprosy, cancer, buboes, or bubonic
erything down, but placated by sacrifice, he resurrects hu-
plague, and from spiritual sins such as falsehood, adultery,
mankind from ashes. Hence sacrificial food is a bribe to the
or drunkenness. The Aztec religion favors redemption from
gods. In the post-Vedic, ascetic mythology, sacrifice becomes
existence itself during one’s very lifetime, the highest aim
a two-edged sword, for Hindu mythology, even demons can
being identification with divinity. One example of such a
be redeemed. The bhakti spirit generates entire cycles of its
“perfect redemption” (Joachim Wach) is the return of the
own, in which even apparently malevolent acts of God are
high priest Quetzalcoatl after his beatification achieved by
regarded as being of ultimate benefit to humanity; hence the
encounter with the divinity.
practice of a magic of friendship or of friendliness as means
In African traditional religions, the need for redemption
of redemption.
is expressed in myths of the Baganda peoples: terms such as
kununula (“to buy back, to ransom, to redeem”) and kulokola
In Zoroastrianism, the redemption of humankind,
(“to save, to rescue”) point to deadly misfortunes from which
viewed as both individual and universal eschatology, is linked
the spirits of the departed (lubaale, “deity of the below”) may
with the hope of seeing that Ohrmazd, having been released
rescue one. Redemption is far more directed toward the rein-
from his entanglement with darkness and evil, emerges victo-
tegration of the cosmic, social, and political order in the pres-
rious from the war over Ahriman. The haoma ritual, a central
ent moment of the community than toward the afterlife, in
act of worship, actualizes such a god-centered redemption.
spite of the general belief in immortality.
The theological trend in Sasanid Zoroastrianism exhibits a
belief in the redemption of the world through the individu-
SEE ALSO Soteriology.
al’s efforts to make the gods dwell in his body while chasing
the demons out of it. Mazdaism admits of a cosmical re-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
demption besides individual deliverance, which is supposed
Brandon, S. G. F., ed. The Savior God. Manchester, 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
7642
REFERENCE WORKS
Florovskii, Georgii Vasilevitch. Creation and Redemption. Bel-
primary bibliography series: the ATLA Bibliography Series
mont, Mass., 1976.
(Metuchen, N.J.) and Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious
Knudson, Albert C. The Doctrine of Redemption. New York, 1933.
Studies (Westport, Conn.). The books listed here offer
O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythol-
broader coverage of multiple religions.
ogy. Berkeley, Calif., 1976.
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias are two genres for
Przyluski, Jean. “Erlösung im Buddhismus.” Eranos-Jahrbuch
which the distinctive lines are very often blurred. Typically,
(Zurich) (1937): 93–136.
a dictionary is one volume long, contains short definitions
Schär, Hans. Erlösungsvorstellungen und ihre psychologischen Aspek-
of terms or proper names, and includes no, or only brief, bib-
te. Zurich, 1950.
liographies. Encyclopedias are thought of as comprehensive,
Toutain, Jules. “L’idée religieuse de la rédemption.” In Annuaires
multivolume sets including lengthy articles with bibliogra-
de l’École des Hautes Études (Sciences Religieuses), Section 5.
phies and cross-references. There are, however, many works
Paris, 1916–1917.
which fit the description of one genre but carry the title of
Trinité, Philippe de la. What Is Redemption? New York, 1961.
the other; examples are the one-volume Encyclopedia of Cults,
Werblowsky, R. J. Zwi. Types of Redemption. Leiden, 1970.
Sects, and New Religions (Amherst, N.Y., 2002) and the six-
volume encyclopedic work The Anchor Bible Dictionary
New Sources
(New York, 1992). For the purposes of this section of the
Arnault, Lynne. “Cruelty, Horror, and the Will to Redemption.”
article, irrespective of their titles, one-volume works are
Hypatia 18 (spring 2003): 155–189.
found under the heading of Dictionaries and multivolume
Ferdinando, Keith. The Triumph of Christ in African Perspective:
works under Encyclopedias. Websites represent a fairly new
A Study of Demonology and Redemption in the African Context.
but growing genre. Religious websites may function as bibli-
Carlisle, U.K., 1999.
ographies or guides pointing to other resources on the inter-
Gorringe, Timothy. A Theology of the Built Environment: Justice,
net, or they may contain substantive content.
Empowerment, Redemption. New York, 2002.
Koenig, John. The Feast of World’s Redemption: Eucharistic Origins
Websites represent a fairly new but growing genre. Reli-
and Christian Mission. Harrisburg, Pa., 2000.
gious websites may function as bibliographies or guides
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Women and Redemption: A Theologi-
pointing to other resources on the internet, or they may con-
cal Study. Minneapolis, Minn., 1998.
tain substantive content. The websites listed are considered
to be among the most stable and provide the best starting
ILEANA MARCOULESCO (1987)
points for religious studies.
Revised Bibliography
The Specific Religions section lists resources under the
headings of five religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hindu-
REFERENCE WORKS
ism, Islam, and Judaism. The titles included are primary
in the field of religion are ex-
works in the genres of the earlier section. The inclusion of
tensive and of many types. A specific work may cover religion
these five particular religious traditions over others reflects
broadly or be limited to a particular religion or area in the
the number of major reference works available rather than
study of religion. The titles listed in this article are primary
number of adherents to a particular group. There are many
reference works chosen to provide the reader with resources
important religious groups and movements for which unique
for definitions, background information, and bibliographies
reference works are scant (e.g., Sikhism, Asian new religions),
of basic works. Technical works such as concordances and
and information on them may be found more readily in the
lexicons utilized for translation and exegesis of specific reli-
general resources.
gious texts are not included. The titles, with annotations, are
arranged under two main sections: “General Religion” and
Readers interested in additional resources listing refer-
“Specific Religions.”
ence works in religion will find numerous guides available.
The General Religion section includes works that pro-
The following titles are basic starting points: Critical Guide
vide a broad view of religion or a concentration on at least
to Catholic Reference Books by James Patrick McCabe, 3rd ed.
two specific religions. The listed titles are arranged under five
(Englewood, Colo., 1989); the religion section of Guide to
genres: “Atlases,” “Bibliographies,” “Dictionaries,” “Ency-
Reference Books, edited by Robert Balay, 11th ed. (Chicago,
clopedias,” and “Websites.”
1996); Judaica Reference Sources: A Selective, Annotated Bibli-
ographic Guide by Charles Cutter, 3rd rev. and expanded ed.
Atlases present history and geography via a collection of
(Westport, Conn., 2004); Recent Reference Books in Religion:
maps and text. The titles found under this heading cover the
A Guide for Students, Scholars, Researchers, Buyers, and Read-
biblical world as well as history and growth of the world’s
ers by William M. Johnston, 2d ed. (Chicago, 1998); and
religions.
Theological and Religious Reference Materials by G. E. and
Bibliographies are works that provide the basic titles in
Lyn Gorman, 3 vols. (Westport, Conn., 1984–1986).
a field. Hundreds of bibliographies have been published on
specific areas of religion. Many are published as part of two
SEE ALSO Festschriften; Periodical Literature.
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
REFERENCE WORKS
7643
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of religion and religions. Eight sections list resources on reli-
General Religion
gion from general and theoretical considerations; religions of
Atlases
the world; issues in comparative religion; Christianity; and
Aharoni, Yohanan, et al., eds. The Carta Bible Atlas. 4th ed. Jeru-
esoteric, New Age, and occult religion.
salem, 2002. Updates The Macmillan Bible Atlas (New York,
Turner, Harold W. Bibliography of New Religious Movements in
1993). Includes indexes to persons (new in this edition) and
Primal Societies. 6 vols. Boston, 1977–1992. Covers religious
place names; key to maps arranged by books of the Bible; and
movements in primal societies, defined by the author as
chronological table (2800 BCE to 140 CE).
“those which arise in the interaction of a primal society with
Baly, Denis, and A. D. Tushingham. Atlas of the Biblical World.
another society where there is great disparity of power or so-
New York, 1971. The best atlas for the geology and geogra-
phistication” (p. vii). Each volume covers a different geo-
phy of Palestine in the context of the Middle East. Includes
graphic area: volume 1, Black Africa; volume 2, North Amer-
both Judaic and Christian perspectives on the biblical world,
ica; volume 3, Oceania; volume 4, Europe and Asia; volume
with some references to the beginnings of Islam. Chronolo-
5, Latin America; volume 6, the Caribbean.
gies span 3000 BCE to 700 CE. Excellent maps and color
Dictionaries
plates.
Brandon, S.G.F., ed. A Dictionary of Comparative Religion. New
Fa¯ru¯q¯ı, IsmaE¯ıl Ra¯g¯ı al, ed. Historical Atlas of the Religions of the
York, 1970. Short, initialed articles by British scholars in-
World. Maps edited by David E. Sopher. New York, 1974.
clude brief bibliographic references. Designed to discuss reli-
Text divided into religions of the past, ethnic religions, and
gions in proportion to their significance in human cultural
the world religions of Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.
history. Contains synoptic index of fifteen major religions as
Each religion is presented in written text accompanied by
well as a general index. Important first reference tool.
photographs, maps showing its history and present distribu-
Douglas, J.D., ed. New Twentieth-Century Encyclopedia of Reli-
tion, diagrams, and chronologies.
gious Knowledge. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1991. An updated
Pritchard, James B., ed. The Harper Atlas of the Bible. New York,
edition of the Twentieth-Century Encyclopedia of Religious
1987. Extensive text and illustrations accompany the de-
Knowledge (1955). The 2,100 historical, biographical, geo-
tailed color relief maps; covers time period of prehistory
graphical, and topical entries attempt to “present a retrospec-
(150,000 BCE) to 135 CE. Editorial board comprised of out-
tive view of one period in church and world history” (p. v).
standing biblical scholars.
Related to the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious
Smart, Ninian, ed. Atlas of the World’s Religions. New York, 1999.
Knowledge (see under Encyclopedias).
Provides geographical as well as historical understanding of
Ferguson, John. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mysticism and the Mys-
the birth, growth, expansion, and interconnections of the
tery Religions. London, 1976. Brief articles on names, move-
world’s religious groups. Generous array of color relief maps,
ments, and terminology of mysticism in its various forms.
photographs, and charts.
Extensive bibliography.
Survey of Israel (Tel Aviv), ed. Atlas of Israel: Cartography, Physical
Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid, et al. The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philos-
and Human Geography. 3d ed. New York, 1985. 40 sheets
ophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Edited
(maps). The land of Israel considered historically, sociologi-
by Stephan Schuhmacher and Gert Woerner. Boston, 1988.
cally, religiously, ethnographically, and economically. For
Introduction for the general reader to the terminology and
more current information, compare the maps and numbers
doctrinal systems of Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, and
of this atlas with Atlas Yisra Eel he-hadash (New York, 1995).
Zen. Some illustrations.
Although nearly all of the text of this latter work is in He-
brew, it is similar in its arrangement to the 1985 work, so
Grim, Keith, ed. Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions. Nash-
maps and numbers can easily be compared. The 1995 work
ville, Tenn., 1981. Guide to the historical development, be-
also includes satellite photos.
liefs, and peculiarities of the variety of religions in the world
today. Comprehensive, signed articles on the major religions;
Bibliographies
some include brief bibliographies. Well illustrated.
Barrow, John Graves. A Bibliography of Bibliographies in Religion.
Ann Arbor, Mich., 1955. Comprehensive listing of separate-
Hinnells, John R., ed. A New Dictionary of Religions. Oxford, and
ly published bibliographies from approximately 1500 to
Cambridge, Mass., 1995. Brief entries on terms related to
1955. Arranged chronologically by date published; includes
living religions; also includes information on ancient reli-
extensive index. Although dated, contains information not
gions, astrology, magic, the occult, new religious move-
found elsewhere.
ments, and secular alternatives to religion. Includes extensive
bibliography.
International Association for the History of Religions. Internation-
al Bibliography of the History of Religions. 23 vols. Leiden,
Lewis, James R. The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Reli-
1952–1973. Published annually. Index of scholarly studies
gions. 2d ed. Amherst, N.Y., 2002. Brief entries on approxi-
of religion in general and the history of specific religions, ex-
mately 1,000 non-mainstream religious groups. Bibliogra-
clusive of biblical studies and folklore. Articles listed were
phies included in some articles, as well as extensive general
published in English, several European languages, and, to a
bibliography. Includes photographs of leaders of many of the
small degree, other languages, and arranged by religious
groups.
group. Continued by the Science of Religion Bulletin, quarter-
MacGregor, Geddes. Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy. New
ly (1976–1979), and Science of Religion, semiannual (1980–).
York, 1989. Brief entries of basic terms, movements, and
Melton, J. Gordon. Religious Information Sources: A Worldwide
persons related primarily to the Judeo-Christian traditions.
Guide. New York, 1992. Provides an overview of the field
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
7644
REFERENCE WORKS
Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America.
lopädie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche (Leipzig,
Rev. ed. New York, 1992. Begins with essay exploring the
Germany, 1896–1913); major revision and expansion to in-
term cult. Entries on individual groups include basic infor-
troduce later and non-Germanic materials. Most useful for
mation on the history, beliefs, practices, organization, con-
entries on persons, ancient religions, and extensive bibliogra-
troversies, membership, and primary and secondary biblio-
phies. Comprehensive index. Available on the internet at
graphic sources.
http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/. Supplemented by the
Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia of American Religions. 7th ed.
Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
Farmington Hills, Mich., 2003. Introductory and historical
(Grand Rapids, Mich., 1955; 2 vols.) and New Twentieth-
essays trace the growth and development of religion in the
Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (Grand Rapids,
United States and Canada, followed by 2,630 descriptive en-
Mich., 1991).
tries on religious bodies located primarily in North America.
Hillerbrand, Hans J., ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reforma-
Includes bibliographies.
tion. 4 vols. New York, 1996. Covers the religious life and
Parrinder, Edward Geoffrey. Dictionary of Non-Christian Reli-
“related societal phenomena” of sixteenth-century Europe.
gions. Philadelphia, 1973. Short entries, many with black and
Four hundred and fifty scholars contributed 1,200 signed ar-
white photos and line drawings. Strongest on Hinduism,
ticles, many with bibliographies. Numerous biographical en-
Buddhism, and Islam; Christianity and the Bible not treated.
tries. Includes maps and synoptic outline.
Basic general bibliography.
Melton, J. Gordon, and Martin Baumann, eds. Religions of the
Rice, Edward. Eastern Definitions: A Short Encyclopedia of Religions
World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices.
of the Orient. Garden City, N.Y., 1978. Dictionary of termi-
4 vols. Santa Barbara, Calif., 2002. Includes approximately
nology of major and minor Eastern religions. Some illustra-
200 essays on the major religious traditions and the religious
tions; no bibliographies.
history and environment in each country of the world, plus
Smith, Jonathan Z., ed. The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion.
2,000 shorter articles on religious groups and communities
San Francisco, 1995. Published in conjunction with the
throughout the world. Arranged alphabetically by topic and
American Academy of Religion. Longer articles on major re-
includes a comprehensive index.
ligious groups by area editors. Numerous illustrations.
Van Huyssteen, J. Wentzel Vrede, ed. Encyclopedia of Science and
Encyclopedias
Religion. 2 vols. New York, 2003. Contains more than 400
Betz, Hans Dieter, ed. Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart:
signed entries with bibliographies on topics that highlight
Handwörterbuch für Theologie und Religionswissenschaft. 4th
the intersections and interrelationships between science and
ed. Tübingen, Germany, 1998–. Six volumes (A–Q) as of
religion. Includes synoptic outline and annotated bibliogra-
2004 (eight volumes projected). A major authoritative re-
phy of significant resources.
source for the history of the study of religions in the West.
Vigouroux, Fulcran. Dictionnaire de la Bible. 5 vols. Paris, 1899–
Lengthy signed articles written from a liberal Protestant
1928. Supplement, 1928–. Thirteen volumes as of 2004.
viewpoint. Includes maps, some in color. The earlier three
Lengthy signed articles by French biblical scholars writing
editions remain useful as they reflect the changes in theologi-
from a Roman Catholic perspective. The supplement has ex-
cal climate over time.
tensive, signed articles on the religion of the Bible and the
Cancik, Hubert, and Helmut Schneider, eds. Brill’s New Pauly:
ancient world. Includes bibliographies.
Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. Leiden, 2002–. Three vol-
Young, Serinity, ed. Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion.
umes (A–Cyp) as of 2004 (twenty volumes, with index, pro-
2 vols. New York, 1999. A helpful reference work for first
jected). Translation of Der neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der An-
orientation and rich bibliographic sources on the fast-
tike (Stuttgart, Germany, 1996–2003; 15 vols. plus index),
growing field of women’s and feminist studies in religion. At
an updated and expanded version of Paulys Real-
present no comparable reference work on gender studies or
Encyclopaedie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft (1894–
men’s studies in religion has been produced.
1980; 24 vols. plus supplements). Basic resource for Greco-
Roman religion.
Websites
Cowan, Douglas E., ed. “Religious Movements Home Page.”
Doniger, Wendy, ed. Mythologies. 2 vols. Chicago, 1991. Trans-
Available from http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/.
lated and restructured edition of Dictionnaire des Mythologies
Begun in 1996 as a project by a religious studies professor
et des Religions des Sociétés Traditionnelles et du Monde An-
at the University of Virginia, now developed by an editor-in-
tique (Paris, 1981). Organized by geographic or cultural area.
chief and monitored by an advisory board. Contains profiles
Signed articles, many with bibliographies. Numerous black
of religious movement groups, cult group controversies,
and white photographs.
course materials, and links to religious freedom and religious
Freedman, David Noel, ed. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. 6 vols.
broadcasting sites. “Each profile offers basic demographic
New York, 1992. Nearly 1,000 contributors prepared the
and background information, a summary of beliefs, discus-
6,200 signed entries, many with bibliographies. Attempts to
sion of controversial issues (when appropriate), links to im-
treat all biblical subjects and topics. Scriptural references
portant websites about each group, and select print bibliogra-
based on the Revised Standard Version. Also available on
phies” (homepage).
CD-ROM.
Gresham, John L. “Finding God in Cyberspace: A Guide to Reli-
Hauck, Albert, ed. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Reli-
gious Studies Resources on the Internet.” Available from
gious Knowledge. 13 vols. New York, 1908–1912. Signed ar-
http://sim74.kenrickparish.com/contents.htm. Begun in
ticles, usually brief. Based on Herzog and Hauck’s Realencyk-
1994 and continually updated, this was one of the first
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
REFERENCE WORKS
7645
guides to religious resources on the internet. Categorizes reli-
Prebish, Charles S. Historical Dictionary of Buddhism. Metuchen,
gion sites on the internet by type (print, people, digital, and
N.J., 1993. Introductory materials include an essay on histo-
teaching resources) and content (academic disciplines, reli-
ry and doctrine, introduction to Buddhist scriptures, and a
gious traditions, and religion and cyberspace).
chronology of Buddhist history. Entries provide short defini-
“Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.” Available from
tions of biographical, geographical, and topical subjects. Of-
http://www.religioustolerance.org/. Organized in 1995. In-
fers a 98-page bibliography. Also published as The A to Z of
cludes essays, historical information, belief statements, defi-
Buddhism (2001), which does not include the bibliography.
nitions, statistics, news feeds, and reading lists on various be-
Christianity
lief groups, particularly those that have been targeted for
Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church.
discrimination.
3d ed. New York, 1997. The 6,000 entries (most with bibli-
ographies) cover history, doctrines, persons, and ecclesiastical
Thursby, Gene L. “Religion Religions Religious Studies: Informa-
terms. The latest edition reflects the many changes in the
tion and Links for Study and Interpretation of Religions.”
Christian church due to Vatican Council II, feminist theolo-
Available from http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/rel/.
gy, liberation theology, and the globalization of Christianity.
Resources arranged under major headings: Religious Tradi-
tions (historical as well as alternative/new religions); Reli-
Di Berardino, Angelo, ed. Encyclopedia of the Early Church. 2 vols.
gion—Modernity—Beyond (Freedom of Religion, Freedom
New York, 1992. Translated from the Italian Dizionario
from Religion, etc.); Religious Experience (Cultural Diversi-
Patristico e di Antichità Cristiane (Rome, 1990). Covers ar-
ty, Mysticism, Psychology, Transpersonal); Religious Studies
chaeological, philosophical, linguistic, theological, historical
Programs; Research and Teaching Resources. Includes news
and geographical topics related to Christianity of the first to
sources and additional reference sources.
the eighth centuries. Nearly half of volume 2 is composed of
a synoptic table, maps, photographs, and line drawings. A
“Virtual Religion Index.” Available from http://religion.
French translation, Dictionnaire Encyclopédique du Christian-
rutgers.edu/vri/index.html. Developed and maintained by
isme Ancien (Paris, 1990), is also available.
the Religion Department of Rutgers University. Organized
by general topics, including the major religious traditions
“Ecole Initiative.” Available from http://www2.evansville.edu/
and general topics such as “Academic Sites,” “Anthropology
ecoleweb/. Rich content related to church history: transla-
and Sociology,” “Ethics and Moral Values,” and “Philosophy
tions of Judeo-Christian and Islamic primary sources to
and Theology.”
1500; short essays on significant persons and topics, from
Peter Abelard to Zosimus; longer essays on major topics and
Specific Religions
figures; images of iconography and religious art; and a time-
Buddhism
line with geographic cross-index (limited entries). Sections
Buddha Dharma Education Association. “BuddhaNet: Buddhist
are hyperlinked to each other. Also contains a bibliography
Information and Education Network.” Available from http:/
of sources used in the articles on the page, a list of contribu-
/www.buddhanet.net/. Created and maintained by the Bud-
tors with short listings of credentials and links to their contri-
dha Dharma Education Association of Sydney, Australia.
butions to the site, and a list of web pages related to church
Contains listings of study guides, e-books, image files, medi-
history.
tations, and activities for children; historical and biographi-
Ente Per L’Enciclopedia Cattolica. Enciclopedia Cattolica. 12 vols.
cal information; a worldwide directory of Buddhist sites and
Città del Vaticano, 1948–1954. Major pre-Vatican Council
masters; and links to other web resources.
II encyclopedia treating the life, thought, history, and gener-
Buswell, Robert E., Jr., ed. Encyclopedia of Buddhism. 2 vols. New
al relationship of the Catholic Church to other religions and
York, 2004. Aims to serve as the definitive reference work on
systems of thought. Numerous biographical entries and illus-
Buddhism and Buddhist perspectives on religious issues.
trations.
More than 250 international scholars contributed signed ar-
Fahlbusch, Erwin, et al., eds. The Encyclopedia of Christianity.
ticles, which include short bibliographies. Numerous illustra-
Grand Rapids, Mich., 1999–. Three volumes (A–O) as of
tions, some in color.
2004 (five volumes projected). Updated and augmented
Chitkara, M.G., ed. Encyclopaedia of Buddhism. New Delhi, India,
translation of the third edition of Evangelisches Kirchenlex-
1961–. Six volumes (A–Minayett) as of 2004 (ten volumes
ikon (Göttingen, Germany, 1986–1997), a standard German
projected). Massive work on all aspects of Buddhism: names,
Protestant work on the teaching of the Christian churches.
literature, history, and religious and moral aspects and con-
Endeavors to reflect global, ecumenical, sociocultural, and
cepts. Most articles signed; some include bibliographies.
historical contexts of Christianity at the opening of the twen-
Ciolek, T. Matthew, et al. “Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Li-
ty-first century. Includes demographic and religious statistics
brary: The Internet Guide to Buddhism and Buddhist
for the six major geographic areas as well as individual coun-
Studies.” Available from http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-
tries. Signed articles include bibliographies. No illustrations.
Buddhism.html. Edited by Dr. T. Matthew Ciolek, Austra-
Ferguson, Everett, ed. Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. 2d ed. 2
lian National University, Canberra, and others. Clear table
vols. New York, 1997. Over 1,200 signed articles include
of contents directs users to numerous internet resources, in-
bibliographies and cover persons, places, doctrines, and
cluding websites, electronic texts, maps, and bibliographies.
movements of the early church—from the life of Christ to
Keown, Damien. A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford, 2003. Suc-
the seventh century. Includes photographs, line drawings,
cinct entries on concepts, practices, persons, places, schools,
maps, and chronologies.
and texts. Appendices include maps, a pronunciation guide,
Ganzer, Klaus, and Bruno Steimer, eds. Lexikon für Theologie und
a guide to Buddhist scriptures, and a chronology.
Kirche. 3d ed. 11 vols. Freiburg, Germany, 1993–2001. The
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from http://www.hindunet.org/home.shtml. Developed by
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Global Hindu Electronic Networks(GHEN), a project of the
Hindu Students Council, Boston, Massachusetts. Includes
Hillerbrand, Hans J., ed. Encyclopedia of Protestantism. 4 vols.
lists of Hindu resources, electronic texts, tourism informa-
New York, 2004. Provides latest scholarship on the historical
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and theological dimensions of Protestantism. Articles on per-
products related to Hinduism.
sons, movements and events, creeds, denominations, theo-
logical and social issues are signed and include brief bibliog-
Himalayan Academy, Hawaii “Hindu Resources Online.” Avail-
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“Internet Christian Library.” Available from http://
Klostermaier, Klaus K. A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Ox-
www.iclnet.org/. Provides links to Christian mission organi-
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the “people and places, scriptures and philosophical systems,
Christian internet tools, mail-based services, Christian col-
art and architecture, mythology and history” (p. vii). Appen-
lege sites, alphabetical and subject listings of Christian web-
dices on the philosophical schools, Hindu scriptures, princi-
sites, electronic newsletters and journals, electronic bulletin
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Sullivan, Bruce M. Historical Dictionary of Hinduism. Lanham,
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Md., 1997. Short entries that cover the significant terms,
Jedin, Hubert, ed. Atlas zur Kirchengeschichte. 3d ed. Freiburg [im
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maps and charts; seventy pages of textual commentary in-
its history, doctrines, and community life. Includes an exten-
cludes bibliographies. A French edition, Atlas d’histoire de
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l’eglise: les eglises chrétiennes hier et aujourd’hui (Paris, 1990),
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Islam
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lar emphasis on the Twelver Sh¯ıEah Islamic school of
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thought. Arabic and Kiswahili interfaces are available to link
extensive international bibliographies. Includes maps (some
to resources on the site specific to those languages.
fold-out) and illustrations.
Al Fa¯ru¯q¯ı, IsmaEil R., and Lois Lamya¯E al Fa¯ru¯q¯ı. The Cultural
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al Catholic topics, but also movements, institutions,
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articles, written by over 450 authors, arranged by category:
Catholic thought and life. Numerous biographical entries
Islamic thought and practice, Islam and politics, Muslim
(excludes living persons, except for Pope John Paul II). Elec-
communities and societies, Islam and society, Islamic
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Extensive articles on the history, polity, and thought of the
11 vols. plus supplement. Leiden, Netherlands, 1960–2003.
major Christian bodies. Massive documentation; lengthy
Signed articles by authorities on every aspect of Islam: histo-
bibliographies. Covers Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and
ry, religion, science, geography, and so on. Excellent bibliog-
Eastern Orthodox (vol. 1); Protestant Denominations (vol.
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2); Holiness and Pentecostal (vol. 3); and Evangelical, Fun-
for glossary, proper names, subjects, and indexes. Also avail-
damentalist, and Other Christian Bodies (vol. 4).
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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
REFLEXIVITY
7647
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jewish.html. Provides links to databases (e.g., Rambi), li-
of Islam, religion, QurDa¯n, hadith, the Sunnah, ShiEism, Su-
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sources, and listservs.
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and Sources”) as of 2004 (five volumes projected). Described
Entries are initialed and include bibliographies. Includes
by the publisher as “an essential reference work for students
8,000 photographs, plus maps, charts, diagrams. CD-ROM
and researchers in the fields of gender studies and Middle
version (Shaker Heights, Ohio, 1997) includes updated arti-
Eastern and Islamic Studies, as well as scholars of religion,
cles, text of the yearbooks, audio and video recordings, and
history, politics, anthropology, geography, and related disci-
special collections of images and photographs.
plines.” Each volume covers specific topics: “Methodolo-
gies,” “Paradigms and Sources,” “Family, Law, and Politics,”
Werblowsky, R. J. Zwi, and Geoffrey Wigoder, eds. The Oxford
“Family, Body, Sexuality, and Health,” “Economics, Educa-
Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. New York, 1997. An updat-
tion, Mobility, and Space,” and “Practices, Interpretations,
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Wigoder. The short, scholarly entries cover the history, per-
Kennedy, Hugh. Historical Atlas of Islam. Leiden, Netherlands,
sons, practices, and beliefs related to the Jewish religion;
2002. Parallel text in English and French, map legends in
most are signed and include brief bibliographies. Serves as a
English. Includes eighty-five color relief maps which docu-
companion to The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
ment pre-Islamic Arabia through the mid-twentieth-century
(Oxford, 1997).
presence of Islam throughout the world. CD-ROM version
contains pdf files of maps from the printed edition.
Wigoder, Geoffrey, ed. The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. New
Martin, Richard C., ed. Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim
York, 2002. Revised and expanded edition of Wigoder’s The
World. 2 vols. New York, 2004. Articles of varying length
Encyclopedia of Judaism (New York, 1989). Concise, scholar-
written by 500 scholars, arranged alphabetically by topic;
ly articles (unsigned) on aspects of Jewish religious life and
thematic outline included in front matter. Includes approxi-
development, with special attention given in this edition to
mately 170 photographs, drawings, maps, and charts, with
liturgical aspects of Judaism and the place of women. In-
glossary of commonly used terms. Written for the general
cludes an annotated bibliography of basic works on Judaism;
reader.
numerous illustrations, some in color; and index. Aimed at
McAuliffe, Jane Dammen, ed. Encyclopaedia of the Qur Dan. Lei-
the general reader.
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MARTHA S. ALT (2005)
signed articles with bibliographies. Attempts to treat impor-
ROBERTA A. SCHAAFSMA (2005)
tant figures, concepts, places, values, actions, and events
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lustrations.
Judaism
REFLEXIVITY is a potent and popular concept; it is
Barnavi, Eli, ed. A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People. New York,
also a problematic and paradoxical one. The term is prob-
1992. Historical essays, arranged chronologically beginning
lematic because it is so popular today; it is used in several dif-
with the twentieth to sixteenth centuries BCE, which put the
ferent disciplines to refer to a wide variety of mental, verbal,
history of the Jewish people in “spatial context” (preface).
and performative phenomena that nonetheless share a family
Contents page is at the back of the book, preceded by index
resemblance. Reflexivity is a paradoxical concept because the
and glossary. Color maps and photographs.
type of self-referential activity—consciousness of self-
Hebrew College Online. “Shamash, The Jewish Network.” Avail-
consciousness—that it denotes involves the epistemological
able from http://www.shamash.org/. Project of Hebrew Col-
paradox so well discussed by Gregory Bateson (1972,
lege (Newton Centre, Mass.) Online. Highly rated network
of Jewish information and services; hosts the portal “Judaism
pp. 177–193) and Rosalie L. Colie (1966, pp. 6–8), in which
and Jewish Resources,” created and maintained by Andrew
the mind by its own operation attempts to say something
Tannenbaum.
about its operation—an activity difficult both to contem-
Neusner, Jacob, Alan J. Avery-Peck, and William Scott Green,
plate and to describe without conceptual vertigo and verbal
eds. The Encyclopedia of Judaism. 3 vols. Supplement, 2002–.
entanglements.
New York, 1999. Published in collaboration with the Muse-
In the most general sense, the terms reflexive, reflexivity,
um of Jewish Heritage, New York. Comparative approach to
and reflexiveness “describe the capacity of language and of
Judaism. Most articles are signed and include bibliographies
and notes. Includes maps, numerous sections of photo-
thought—of any system of signification—to turn or bend
graphs, and other illustrations. Volume 3 includes a general
back upon itself, to become an object to itself, and to refer
index and an index of textual references. Also issued as Ency-
to itself” (Babcock, 1980, p. 4). This is anything but the rar-
clopaedia of Judaism (Leiden, 2000). Supplements includes
efied activity it might at first seem, for reflexivity has come
additional articles on related topics on Judaism.
to be regarded as a sine qua non of human communication.
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7648
REFLEXIVITY
When, for example, Kenneth Burke defines humanity in the
In Western philosophy, reflexivity has been recognized
first chapter of Language as Symbolic Action (1966), he de-
at least since Socrates as an inevitable if not always welcome
scribes as “characteristically human” this “‘second-level’ as-
companion of thought. A human being is not only an animal
pect of symbolicity or ‘reflexive’ capacity to develop highly
who thinks, but who also—certainly if a philosopher—
complex symbol systems about symbol systems, the pattern
thinks about thinking, and thinks of him or her self as a
of which is indicated in Aristotle’s definition of God as
thinker: “to be a questioner in reality is to locate oneself as
‘thought of thought,’ or in Hegel’s dialectics of ‘self-
part of the questionable and also as the source of questions”
consciousness’” (p. 24).
(Natanson, 1974a, p. 233). Philosophers have tended to ex-
plain this paradoxical state of affairs in two related ways. The
The adjective reflexive first appeared in English in 1588;
first and most familiar is “the two-in-one that Socrates dis-
it was used as early as 1640 to refer to the capacity of mental
covered as the essence of thought and Plato translated into
operations to be “turned or directed back upon the mind it-
conceptual language as the soundless dialogue eme emauto—
self.” Regarding things grammatical, reflexive has been used
between me and myself” (Arendt, 1977, p. 185). While the
since 1837 to describe pronouns, verbs, and their significa-
participants in this dialogue have been variously named—me
tions that are, as the Oxford English Dictionary says, “charac-
and myself, I and me, self and other, self and soul, “naked
terized by, or denote, a reflex action on the subject of the
self” and “selfsame,” I and Thou—philosophers from Socra-
clause or sentence.” With reference to mental operations, the
tes to Arendt have similarly described the dynamics of think-
adjective is frequently confused and used interchangeably
ing as an exchange between an experiential or perceiving self
with its near synonym, reflective. To be reflexive is to be re-
and a reflexive or conceptual self. In all cases, the viewpoint
flective; but one is not necessarily reflexive when one is re-
of the latter is regarded as a higher form of consciousness,
flective, for to reflect is simply to think about something, but
and it is frequently regarded as transcendent, if not explicitly
to be reflexive is to think about the process of thinking itself.
divine. Hence, the second mode of explaining reflexivity and
In its present usage, reflection does not possess the self-
its seeming transcendence of human symbol systems—its
referential and second-level characteristics of reflexivity.
thought-trains by which one could take one’s way out of the
Such was not always the case, and the terminological confu-
world—is to equate it with the divine. To give but a few ex-
sion arises because Locke, Spinoza, and Leibniz, as well as
amples: In Platonic dialectic, a movement toward the ab-
subsequent philosophers, used the term reflection to denote
stract was equated with a movement toward the divine; Aris-
the knowledge that the mind has of itself and its operations,
totle similarly defined God as “thought of thought”;
in contrast to mere “thinking” about matters external to the
Augustine’s reflexive or “selfsame” self is the mind illuminat-
mind itself.
ed by God; and, for Kant and Hegel, ultimate meaning, if
A related confusion occurs with the term self-
not divine, is nonetheless described respectively as “transcen-
consciousness, which denotes primary awareness of self rather
dental reflection” and “absolute knowledge.” While ac-
than the consciousness of self-consciousness characteristic of
knowledging this affinity between reflexivity and the higher
reflexivity—what Fichte described as the “ability to raise
forms of consciousness in religion, philosophers since Hegel
oneself above oneself,” in contrast to “vain self-reflection.”
have argued that reflexivity is beyond any particular system
The latter phrase raises yet another terminological tangle
of belief, that “thinking is equally dangerous to all creeds”
and, in this instance, a negative connotation that must needs
(Arendt, 1977, p. 176).
be dispensed with: the association of reflexivity with narcis-
More recently, phenomenological philosophers such as
sism and solipsism. By definition, both involve self-reference
Schutz and Merleau-Ponty have “grounded” reflexivity by
and self-consciousness, but both are forms of “vain self-
conceiving of it as embodied institution tied to temporality
reflection” without any second-level awareness of that self-
and situation, rather than as transcendental constitution. Far
absorption. Unlike reflexivity, neither narcissism nor solip-
from being a philosopher’s prerogative, reflexivity so con-
sism partakes of epistemological paradox, ironic detachment,
ceived is nothing more nor less than the process of rendering
or, hence, the ability to laugh at oneself. Reflexivity involves
experience meaningful— the inevitable and necessary “fram-
what Maurice Natanson defines as “methodological solip-
ing” that everyone engages in. Phenomenological discussions
sism,” that is, the examination of all experience from the per-
of reflexivity as a series of exchanges between subject and ob-
spective of the self-aware ego, in contrast to “metaphysical
ject, or between individual consciousness and social reality,
solipsism,” which claims that the individual is the sole reality
recall not only the Socratic conception of thought as internal
(1974b, pp. 241–243). As Merleau-Ponty pointed out in a
dialogue but also the conception of the self as reciprocal, dia-
discussion of modern painting in Signs (Evanston, 1964), re-
logical, and reflexive as formulated by American pragmatic
flexivity “presents a problem completely different from that
philosophers and psychologists, notably Peirce, James,
of the return to the individual.” Rather, like Husserl’s con-
Mead, and Cooley.
cept of the transcendental ego, it involves the problem of
knowing how one thinks and communicates, of “knowing
In Mind, Self, and Society (1962), social psychologist
how we are grafted to the universal by that which is most our
George Herbert Mead defines reflexiveness as “the turning
own” (p. 52).
back of experience of the individual upon himself,” asserting
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REFLEXIVITY
7649
that “it is by means of reflexiveness that the whole social pro-
flects on the order of things through symbolic disordering,
cess is brought into the experience of the individuals involved
through the “analysis and recombination of the factors of
in it” and that “reflexiveness, then, is the essential condition,
culture into any and every possible pattern” (p. 255). In later
within the social process, for the development of mind”
works (1979, 1982, 1984), Turner argued that all genres of
(p. 134). Mead’s concept of “reflexiveness” as a dialogue be-
cultural performance (ritual, myth, theater, narrative, games,
tween a personal “I” and a social “me” is closely related to
etc.) are instances of plural reflexivity because they are self-
Cooley’s formulation of the “looking-glass self” and to
critiques and reflections upon, rather than simply reflections
Jacques Lacan’s more recent description of “le stade du
of, the structures and strictures of the everyday world. Clif-
miroir,” for Mead indicates that the achievement of identity
ford Geertz (1973) has similarly asserted not only that reli-
involves mirroring, or the assumption of a specular image;
gion is a reflexive cultural system that provides “models of”
the individual “becomes a self in so far as he can take the atti-
and “models for” self and society but that illicit, secular cul-
tude of others and act toward himself as others act” (p. 171).
tural performances such as Balinese cockfights are stories that
The self, therefore, “as that which can be an object to itself,
a group “tells itself about itself” (pp. 93, 448). While not all
is essentially a social structure” (p. 140); or, in Charles Sand-
collective representations—verbal, visual, and performa-
ers Peirce’s terms, it is a semiotic construct: “When we think,
tive—are religious, it is no surprise that many of them are,
then, we ourselves, as we are at that moment, appear as a
for as Robert Bellah states in Beyond Belief (New York,
sign” (Philosophical Writings of Peirce, New York, 1955,
1970), religion has been “the traditional mode by which men
p. 233). Thus described, the self, like the world, is a text em-
interpreted their world to themselves” (p. 246)—the “pat-
bedded in and constituted by (as well as constitutive of) in-
tern of patterns” or epitome of plural reflexivity.
terconnected systems of signs, of which the most important
If, as has already been implied, it is difficult to discuss
and most representative is language.
reflexivity without discussing religion, the reverse is equally
While Peirce asserts that reflexivity is perforce semiotic,
true. Regardless of whether one considers religion as a system
subsequent semioticians, linguists, and philosophers have ar-
of belief and body of texts or as praxis and experience, one
gued that all systems of signification are inherently and nec-
is concerned with the interpretation of the moral complexi-
essarily reflexive. As Fredric Jameson summarizes in The Pris-
ties and paradoxes of human social and individual life—thus,
on House of Language (Princeton, 1972), “Every enunciation
with signs about signs, with reflexive self-reference. In myths,
involves a kind of lateral statement about language, about it-
humans not only render an account of themselves and their
self, and includes a kind of self-designation within its very
world, they testify to the power of language to make a world
structure” (p. 202). Because of its descriptive usefulness, the
and to create gods. In rituals and sacred symbols, humans
metalinguistic or metacommunicative model has become
embody and reenact these comprehensive ideas of order, and
pervasive in discussions of all forms of reflexivity. It would
every time sacred words and deeds are retold and represent-
be wrong, however, to regard linguistic self-reference as ei-
ed, these primal interpretations are interpreted and criticized
ther the cause or the explanation of reflexivity. As Robert
yet again.
Nozick has recently pointed out, reflexive self-knowledge is
Quite apart from the metadiscourse about religion—
a basic phenomenon without which neither cognition nor
explicit reflexivity—that has developed in the great religious
communication is possible, and it is pointless to argue which
traditions in the form of systematic theology, religious histo-
comes first (1981, p. 82).
ry, and textual hermeneutics, every religious system is implic-
itly reflexive. The communication of the highest truths and
Both the idea that reflexivity consists of the self repre-
the most sacred order of things is invariably accompanied by
senting itself to itself and the notion that all forms of repre-
the subversive self-commentary of aporiae (liminal disorder
sentation involve self-reference or reflexivity are present in
in such diverse forms as Ndembu monsters, Sinhala demons,
the plural in the concepts of collective representations and
Zen koans, Pueblo clowns, Midrash tales, and Christ’s para-
cultural performances, as defined and discussed by sociolo-
bles). Such ambiguous and paradoxical elements generate re-
gists and anthropologists since Durkheim. In The Elementary
flexive processes that redirect thoughtful attention to the
Forms of the Religious Life (1915), Durkheim defined collec-
faulty or limited structures not only of thought, language,
tive representations, such as a clan’s mythic ancestor, as
and society but of religion itself (cf. Colie, 1966, p. 7).
forms in which the group “represents itself to itself,” imply-
ing that the collective symbolization process as expressed in
In addition to this ineluctable reflexivity of religion’s
myths and rituals includes within its operations conscious-
collective representations and plural expressions, many sin-
ness of itself. In recent decades, Claude Lévi-Strauss has ar-
gular religious practices are explicitly reflexive. Contempla-
gued not only that myths are sociocultural metacommenta-
tion, meditation, prayer, and confession all have in common
ries but that all myth is “meta-” insofar as its implicit if not
a withdrawal from the world and a bending back toward the
explicit subject is the emergence of language or communica-
self. Frequently, the reflexive character of such practices is
tion. In his earlier work on ritual and ritual symbols, Victor
marked by their literal or figurative association with mirrors,
Turner (1974) suggested that liminal periods are reflexive
with specula, reminding us not only that mirrors reflect the
moments when society “takes cognizance of itself” and re-
essence of things and are crucial to the achievement of identi-
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7650
REFLEXIVITY
ty (Fernandez, 1980, pp. 34–35) but that “as in mirror im-
Mead, George Herbert. Mind, Self, and Society (1934). Edited by
ages, self-reference begins an endless oscillation between the
Charles W. Morris. Reprint, Chicago, 1963. This edition of
thing itself and the thing reflected, begins an infinite regress
Mead’s lectures presents the outlines of his system of social
[or progress]” (Colie, 1966, p. 355). Such mirroring fre-
psychology and his classic formulation of the self as reflexive,
quently occurs as well in language itself, for careful analysis
as a social construct.
of sacred discourse reveals a markedly higher proportion of
Natanson, Maurice. Phenomenology, Role, and Reason: Essays on the
metalinguistic verbs in contrast to everyday speech.
Coherence and Deformation of Social Reality. Springfield, Ill.,
1974. (Cited in text as Natanson, 1974a.) This book and
In sum, reflexivity is not a consequence of social com-
Natanson’s article cited below are summaries of the major is-
plexity or the degree of religious articulateness; it is an essen-
sues in social phenomenology, including the central concep-
tial and inevitable dimension of all religious experience. The
tion of reflexivity.
power of religious consciousness that humans keep trying to
Natanson, Maurice. “Solipsism and Sociality.” New Literary His-
explain is probably not its prescriptive, descriptive, or ex-
tory 5 (1974): 237–244. (Cited in text as Natanson, 1974b.)
planatory force but its reflexiveness—religion offers a system
Nozick, Robert. Philosophical Explanations. Cambridge, Mass.,
of interpretation of existence that is itself subject to interpre-
1981. This speculation on philosophical issues contains a su-
tation, and that is infinitely compelling.
perb chapter, “The Identity of the Self,” and the best single,
summary discussion available of reflexivity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Singer, Milton. “Signs of the Self: An Exploration in Semiotic An-
Arendt, Hannah. The Life of the Mind, vol. 1, Thinking. New
thropology.” American Anthropologist 82 (September 1980):
York, 1978. Arendt’s final work is a rich, challenging analysis
485–507. The single most important discussion of Peirce’s
of humanity’s mental activity; it brings together and reflects
conception of the self as semiotic and reflexive.
upon the major insights of the Western philosophical tradi-
tion into the nature of thought and its reflexive and dialogic
Turner, Victor. Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in
structure.
Human Society. Ithaca, N.Y., 1974. This collection contains
several essays that summarize Turner’s view of liminality and
Babcock, Barbara A., ed. Signs about Signs: The Semiotics of Self-
liminal symbols and their implicit reflexivity.
Reference. Special issue of Semiotica 30 (1980). An interdisci-
plinary collection of essays that examine reflexive forms and
Turner, Victor. Process, Performance, and Pilgrimage: A Study in
processes in a variety of genres and cultural traditions, with
Comparative Symbology. New Delhi, 1979. Contains several
an introduction that summarizes the meanings and uses of
essays that extend the notion of liminality beyond tribal ritu-
reflexivity.
al and examine the public and plural reflexivity of cultural
performances.
Bateson, Gregory. “A Theory of Play and Fantasy.” In Steps to an
Ecology of Mind. New York, 1972. This seminal formulation
Turner, Victor. “Dramatic Ritual/Ritual Drama: Performative
of the paradoxical metacommunicative or reflexive frame es-
and Reflexive Anthropology.” In A Crack in the Mirror: Re-
sential to all forms of play has inspired much subsequent
flexive Perspectives in Anthropology, edited by Jay Ruby,
work on metacommunication and framing, notably Erving
pp. 83–98. Philadelphia, 1982.
Goffman’s Frame Analysis (New York, 1974).
Turner, Victor. “Liminality and the Performative Genres.” In
Colie, Rosalie Littell. Paradoxia Epidemica: The Renaissance Tradi-
Rite, Drama, Festival, Spectacle: Rehearsals toward a Theory of
tion of Paradox. Princeton, 1966. This stunning and compre-
Cultural Performance, edited by John J. MacAloon,
hensive study of paradox is especially important for illumi-
pp. 19–41. Philadelphia, 1984. Like Turner’s “Dramatic
nating both the reflexive self-reference of paradoxes and the
Ritual/Ritual Drama,” this essay expands upon the concepts
paradoxical nature of self-referential operations.
of liminality and reflexivity and examines a variety of genres
Fernandez, James W. “Reflections on Looking into Mirrors.”
of cultural performance as instances of and occasions for
Signs about Signs, special issue of Semiotica 30 (1980): 27–40.
metasocial commentary, for public and plural reflexivity.
An especially important discussion of the African use of mir-
Turner, Victor, ed. Celebration: Studies in Festivity and Ritual.
rors and a speculation on the ritual and symbolic significance
Washington, D.C., 1982. An interdisciplinary collection of
of this magical object cross-culturally.
essays that explore the reflexivity of human celebrations
Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York, 1973.
through the medium of ceremonial objects.
A selection of this interpretive anthropologist’s most impor-
New Sources
tant essays on the concept of culture, which are notable for
Adams, Matthew. “The Reflexive Self and Culture: A Critique.”
their analysis of cultural systems, institutions, symbols, and
British Journal of Sociology 54 (June 2003): 221–239.
performances as reflexive forms and processes.
Gumperz, John, and Stephen Levinson. Rethinking Linguistic Rel-
Hofstadter, Douglas R. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden
ativity. New York, 1996.
Braid. New York, 1979.
Kripal, Jeffrey John. Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom: Eroticism
Hofstadter, Douglas R., and Daniel C. Dennett. The Mind’s I:
and Reflexivity in the Study of Mysticism. Chicago, 2001.
Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul. New York, 1981.
Like Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach, this is an important
Lockie, Robert. “Relativism and Reflexivity.” International Journal
and unconventional meditation on the paradoxical and re-
of Philosophical Studies 11 (Sept. 2003): 319–340.
flexive nature of thought processes and on the problem of self
Schirato, Tony. “Bourdieu’s Concept of Reflexivity as Metalitera-
and self-consciousness.
cy.” Cultural Studies 17 (May 2003): 539–554.
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
REFORM
7651
Smart, Barry. Facing Modernity: Ambivalence, Reflexivity, and Mo-
would become as universal as the ideal itself. Just as tribal
rality. Thousand Oaks, Calif., 1999.
cults had maintained their own tribal moralities as sacro-
B
sanct, so the universal religions all proclaimed the sacred, and
ARBARA A. BABCOCK (1987)
Revised Bibliography
often the revealed, character of their own versions of univer-
sal morality. The Ten Commandments of Judaism and
Christianity enshrine one version of such a religiously sanc-
tioned universal moral code. Other forms, some even older,
REFORM. In everyday usage, the term reform generally
are to be found in China, in India, in Iran, in Mesopotamia,
connotes advance, progress, modernization. In discussions
and in Egypt. These codes differ in detail but are alike in
within religious groups, the use of this word is not so limited.
their claim to universality.
It occurs in the most varied contexts, with reference to a wide
range of individual and social questions, as well as with re-
The most important issue is not which of these codes
gard to specifically religious matters. Proposals for reform
came first, nor even whether the codes had their origin in re-
may be directed at the actions, or even the attitudes, of a rela-
ligious belief or were merely adopted by the various religious
tively few persons within a particular faith-community. In
groups. The point is that, once they were accepted as partial
this case, unless the change that is advocated would entail ei-
statements of the religiously sanctioned rules of behavior,
ther a conflict with the law of the entire community or a vio-
one aspect of the proper function of religion was to try to
lation of public decency—as might, for example, a restora-
assure that these rules of moral behavior were observed, and
tion of animal sacrifices—the change at issue should be of
to call attention to any failure to observe them. In this way
no concern to those persons outside the particular group in-
universal morality added an important accent to the univer-
volved. On the other hand, the reform that is urged may per-
sality of religious ideas, while the emphasis on morality tend-
tain to the entire society. In many modern situations, howev-
ed to become, increasingly, the raison d’être of religious life.
er, the larger society encompasses members of other religious
This transformation of tribal religion into universal moral re-
groups and persons of no religious attachment for whom the
ligion had what might be termed its apotheosis in the Zoro-
proposed reform may seem totally undesirable and unwar-
astrian tradition of Iran. There, the divine forces of good in
ranted. If this is the case, and if the reform would affect the
the universe, led by the god Ahura Mazda¯ (Pahl., O
¯ hrmazd),
lives of persons other than those who propose it, as would,
are in eternal conflict with the comparably divine forces of
for example, the recriminalization of abortion in the United
evil in the universe, under the rule of Angra Mainyu (Pahl.,
States, then the proposed reform should become a matter of
Ahriman). The moral life of each person, if good, helps the
public concern, properly to be decided by public procedures.
cause of Ahura Mazda¯; if evil, it aids Angra Mainyu and his
cohorts. Thus individual reform has not only a moral but
The examples just touched on may seem to suggest that,
also a metaphysical or transcendental part to play in the age-
as applied to religion, the term reform is always used to refer
old struggle between good and evil. In the end, during the
to a return to older, more traditional ways of acting. In some
final era of the universe, Zoroastrians believe that Ahura
cases, this is so, but far more often the reform that is advocat-
Mazda¯ will triumph. Thus, although Zoroastrianism has du-
ed is seen as a step forward. Its acceptance would further
alistic strains, it is not formally a theological dualism.
progress toward the realization of an ideal future; rather than
Through its offshoot, the religion of the solar deity Mithra,
signal a return to the past, it would usher in ways that never
Zoroastrianism’s theology of moral strife reached the
were, in actual time and place. Every world religion has
Occident and, through the adherents of Mithraism in the
called often for the moral reform of individuals, both among
Roman legions, had some influence on both Judaism and
its own followers and among those others too unregenerate
Christianity.
to heed its saving message. The content of the morality thus
imagined has deepened with the complications of human
In some religions, as in the tradition of Confucianism
culture and will, no doubt, change even further as the social
in China, the moral emphasis has been so dominant as to vir-
order changes. Often, too, the political and economic condi-
tually eliminate concern for the theistic aspects of religious
tions of a particular time and place affect the customary mo-
life. This is true also of the classical (Therava¯da, or
rality and evoke a religiously grounded demand for reform.
H¯ınaya¯na) schools of Buddhism, which, although they arose
Less often, perhaps, but with reasonable frequency, a call
in India, have remained especially vital in Southeast Asia (Sri
from within has demanded that the religion set its own house
Lanka and Myanmar). A like emphasis on the moral and so-
in order.
cial aspects of Christianity appears from time to time; it has
RELIGIOUS CONCERN FOR MORAL REFORM. Religious sanc-
given rise to such predominantly sectarian groups as the So-
tions designed to enforce the morality of a particular tribe
ciety of Friends (Quakers) and to “religious humanist” off-
or other small group almost certainly preceded the religious
shoots such as Unitarian Universalism. In some aspects of
proclamation of a universal morality. But once the idea of
liberal Judaism (Reform Judaism) a similar moral emphasis
universal morality had been broached, some time during the
has been manifest. In their major developments, however,
first millennium before the common era (the “axial age”), it
both Christianity and Judaism have remained too theocen-
was inevitable that the sovereignty claimed for a moral ideal
tric to permit moral concern to become the autonomous core
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
7652
REFORM
of religious belief and practice. Relations among people, the
gious understanding of morality would recognize that the
central theme of the moral life, have in Western religious
causes of immorality are rooted in the home and family, in
thought been considered for the most part as relations medi-
the educational experiences of the streets as well as the
ated through the presence of divinity.
schools, in the popular entertainments, in the world of work
and of play, indeed in all the social world that is the matrix
Consequently, the reform of the moral lives of individu-
within which a child grows to an adult. As these roots differ
als has been treated in Western religions as a means toward
from child to child, so the development of child into adult
entering into a right relation with God, rather than as an end
will differ. If healthy shoots are to develop, if society is to
in itself or as a matter of right relations with one’s fellow hu-
harvest healthy fruits, then society must care for the roots.
mans. This indirectness of moral consciousness does not
This recognition is the reason for religious reform’s more re-
imply greater or lesser morality in the Western world than
cent tendency to place greatest emphasis on social change,
in the Eastern. It indicates only that moral reform has been
so that the soil may be prepared for the growth of a better
preached in Western religions on ulterior grounds. As the
humanity in the future.
prophet Micah insisted, God demands of his human cre-
ations that they act justly, love mercy, and walk in ways of
RELIGIOUS CONCERN FOR SOCIAL REFORM. When the uni-
humility, not before priests, kings, or presidents, but only
versal religions are in complete accord with the social orders
with their God (Mi. 6:8). Micah, like his predecessor Amos,
in which they are embedded, they are clearly not serving their
his contemporary Isaiah, and many of his successors among
proper function within society. They are then functioning
the prophets, including Jesus, affirmed the centrality of
as tribal, not as universal, religions. An important part of the
moral reform among religious values over against the priestly
obligation and of the value of any religion to society is its
emphasis on cultic ritual. Prophetic reform called for the
ability to make critical judgments of the social order from
moral regeneration of relations among people as the sover-
a larger and more transcendent perspective than the society
eign road to a revivified relation with God.
can adopt in judging itself. The religious view of society and
In more recent times, as a consequence especially of de-
its institutions should properly be sub specie aeternitatis (from
velopment in the social sciences of psychology, sociology,
the point of view of eternity). In immediate, local, and tem-
and anthropology, religious leaders in many faiths have come
poral terms, any social order may seem to be doing very well;
to realize that an absolute, universal moral code is by itself
viewed, however, from the perspective of the larger religious
not enough to ensure higher levels of morality. Principles like
demand, the demand for righteousness, it may be in very bad
the Golden Rule, whether in its negative (“Do not do unto
condition. It has been noted many times that some of the
others . . .”) or affirmative (“Do unto others . . .”) version;
kings of ancient Israel who had the longest and, from the sec-
codified sets of rules, like the Ten Commandments; even the
ular point of view, the most successful reigns are dismissed
Kantian categorical imperative (“Act as if the maxim from
in the biblical books of Kings with the terse judgment that
which you act were to become through your will a universal
they “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Religion does not
law”) all are far too general to give guidance for the majority
exist to glorify the current social order but as a spur to its
of specific moral problems. In addition, their very form of
reform.
expression as rules or laws is foreign to the moral context in
In many periods of history, in many parts of the world,
which they are proposed as guides.
those who spoke for the religion of the place and time have
The reform of individual morality that is sought in cur-
been keenly aware of their obligation to criticize the social
rent advanced religious thought is one grounded not in a for-
status quo and to promote its reform. The modes in which
mal rule but in a concern for one’s fellows that takes into ac-
they have carried out this obligation have varied greatly.
count all the individual and cultural factors that arise in each
Some, especially in the Buddhist and the medieval Christian
moral situation. General rules and laws are the business not
world, have done so by setting up communities of monastics
of morality but of legislatures and courts of law. In ethical
whose “discipline” exemplified an approximation to the en-
discourse, “right” and “wrong” must yield place to “good”
visaged ideal form of social life. It is a measure of the human-
and “bad.” As Henry Thoreau wrote, in the mid-nineteenth
ness of human beings that these ideal communities them-
century: “Absolutely speaking, Do unto others as you would
selves frequently needed to be reformed.
that they should do unto you is by no means a golden rule,
Even within these monastic communities there were dif-
but the best of current silver. An honest man would have but
ferences in the degree of separation from the evils of the sur-
little occasion for it. It is golden not to have any rule at all
rounding social world. Some monasteries were a base from
in such a case” (“Sunday,” in A Week on the Concord and
which the monks made sorties into the secular world to
Merrimack Rivers). To be good is to be “good for” somebody
teach, to preach, and, most importantly, to exemplify, as
or something other than oneself.
nearly as possible, the ideal they represented. Other monastic
Thus the reform of morality is not to be achieved by the
communities were content with complete withdrawal; this
passage of more laws, by the criminalization of more acts.
type of community served as a retreat from the evils of the
Making more laws only makes more lawbreakers. Crimi-
social world, a passive exemplar rather than an active witness.
nalizing more acts only makes more criminals. A truly reli-
A beautiful example of this type is described by Philo Judaeus
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
REFORM
7653
of Alexandria in his treatise On the Contemplative Life. In the
have visited. They will not at first be considering larger theo-
Buddhist tradition, in its early form, the ideal of the arhat,
retical questions of politics or economics. They will look at
or saint, although available to anyone was thought most
the actual day-to-day lives of people. Their consciousness in
readily achievable by those who pursued the monastic life,
such matters will rapidly become a world consciousness. Re-
that is, by those who exemplified a reformed society rather
ligious reformists must be prepared to adapt their visions of
than those who preached it. On the other hand, among Prot-
directions and goals to the concerns of this new kind of “in-
estant Christians, the impulse to social reform has tended to
ternational” public mind. Even as individual churches have
be expressed in many different forms of worldly intervention;
had to expand the horizons of their awareness to include the
the most usual, other than charitable relief, has been the for-
concerns of a denomination, so denominations must broad-
mation of special bodies established for the promotion of
en their thought to the interlocked concerns of the human
specific reforms of great urgency, as, for example, antislavery
world.
groups in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, temper-
R
ance groups in the nineteenth and twentieth, and “honest
ELIGIOUS CONCERN FOR RELIGIOUS REFORM. Religions
are not only faiths; they are also churches. That is, they not
government” groups in every time and place.
only express a deep feeling for the mutual interrelation of hu-
The methods pursued by dedicated religious adherents
mankind and the universe but are also organized groups of
of social-reform causes have ranged from prayer services ded-
people who come together on specified occasions for specific
icated to enlisting divine aid to the most militant forms of
purposes, groups of people who relate to the transcendent,
civil disobedience. Men and women of all religious groups
to each other, to outsiders, to animals, and to nature in tradi-
have not hesitated to risk imprisonment, even execution, in
tional, ritualized ways. In addition to those members who
their struggle to achieve social reforms that they conceived
come together periodically for celebratory or ceremonial pur-
as sanctioned by their religious commitments. It must be
poses, most of these organized groups have a professional
noted, of course, that such social reforms are not always “lib-
corps of leaders with specialized educational (sometimes
eral.” Highly conservative and even reactionary positions are
merely vocational) preparation and qualifications. These
frequently defended ardently on religious grounds. Examples
leadership corps go under various names (priests, ministers,
of such retrograde “reforms” are commonplace: the retention
rabbis, etc.). In some cases, they constitute a separate class
of the caste system in India; the persistent maintenance of
within the larger society, such as the brahman caste in Hin-
an all-male priesthood in Roman Catholicism; the agitation,
duism, and they may have still, though in a reduced form
in many parts of the United States, for so-called voluntary
in modern times, certain privileges or prerogatives, some-
prayer in public schools. Because it is of the essence of a reli-
times called “benefit of clergy.”
gious position that it be a strong commitment, religiously
While some internal reforms in religious life have been
motivated advocates of a social reform tend to become, for
inaugurated by members of the nonprofessional group, the
better or for worse, dominated by a single issue.
“laity,” in most cases both the need for reform and the pro-
If religiously motivated social reform is to have a signifi-
gram for putting the reform into practice have been first rec-
cant impact upon society in the late twentieth century, it
ognized and then expressed by members of the professional
cannot concentrate on a limited range of such matters. In the
class, the “clergy.” It is scarcely to be wondered at that this
process of bearing witness to the changes that are necessary
should be so—that those whose lives and careers are centered
in the complexly woven fabric of modern life, many of the
in the institution, the “church,” and who are, as a general
older simplicities must be abandoned, however reluctantly.
rule, more fully trained for the understanding of matters of
For example, just one twentieth-century development, that
religion, should be those who see that old words, old ways,
of air travel, has wrought great change, bringing all the parts
or old rules no longer serve the faith as they presumably did
of the earth into relatively close proximity. Long-distance
at an earlier time. What does surprise is that so many of the
travel and its resultant interactions have become common-
clergy, seeing this, have called loudly for reform of their insti-
place, not only between residents of one country or one con-
tution, placing its future and its purposes above their own
tinent, but between people of very different backgrounds and
convenience and comfort. On the one hand, the clergy as a
customs from all over the globe. The number of cross-
body is composed of those who have most to gain from not
cultural contacts has increased phenomenally within less
troubling the waters, from not disturbing institutional stabil-
than half a century. The more mobile of American men and
ity; on the other hand, most of the prophetic calls have come
women, as well as a great many American youths, have the
from members of the clergy and have pointed emphatically
opportunity to experience life and to meet people in coun-
to the need for reform, for change, and, by implication, for
tries where prevailing customs are different from those in the
instability.
United States. Similar groups from other countries can now
visit the United States and get to know some of its people.
Because there are these two internal strains in each
major religious tradition, and perhaps also in the thinking
It is inevitable that these multitudes of travelers will
of many individual members of the clergy, religions do
soon begin to make critical comparisons of their countries’
change—although, as a rule, slowly and very cautiously. The
social orders and institutions with those of countries they
heretic of one age is gradually transformed into the saint of
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
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REFORM
a later time; the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas was forbid-
Buddhism, or as earlier Arab pagan practices were preserved
den reading to Franciscans for many years after his death,
in Islam. Even today, despite its explicit prohibition by the
and some of his ideas were officially regarded as dubious even
hierarchy of the Orthodox Greek church, a pre-Christian fer-
at the end of his life. But within a century he was proclaimed
tility rite (now called Pyrovasia), in which young men jump
a saint, and his philosophy became the dominant intellectual
through a fire as a magical way to ensure good crops, is still
system within the Roman Catholic church. Similarly, the
performed in Thrace, usually with the connivance of local
roundness of the earth was acknowledged in practice long be-
priests. A very similar practice is associated with the Holi, a
fore it was accepted in religious cosmology. Step by cautious
spring festival in popular Hinduism. This festival, too, is
and hesitant step, reluctant at every move, religious bodies
thought to antedate the Hindu religion, which would ex-
ultimately accept new moral and social ideas and are even
plain why it is found only in popular Hinduism and not in
led, in the end, to novellae (new theological formulations)
the formal religion. Thus rituals and other religious practices
and to revised religious practices derived from the new ideas.
precede, in many cases, the religions in which they are pre-
Characteristically, however, these novelties, on first proposal,
served; theology comes to people later in their lives and is
are greeted with dismay, even with horror. The earliest for-
accepted with little questioning because it comes wrapped in
mulators of the novelties may be silenced, denounced, un-
the haze of familiar, traditional rites and practices.
frocked and expelled from their orders, even excommunicat-
ed, as were the founders of many of the more extreme
Because these rituals are so deeply embedded in people’s
Christian sects of the Middle Ages and as was so well-known
consciousness at the most impressionable period of their
a figure as Martin Luther in the early modern period. During
lives, it would be most desirable if the advocates of religious
the Protestant Reformation itself John Calvin’s Geneva
reform could consistently retain the ancient ritual traditions.
burned Michael Servetus at the stake for his antitrinitarian
In some instances it is possible to do so without being false
views.
to the reforms advocated. There is no great virtue in with-
holding the experience of Christmas celebration from a
Both Christianity and Judaism, in earlier times, tended
Christian child on the grounds of the historical falsity of the
to be more akin to tribal religions than to universal religions,
date, or because snow in the vicinity of Bethlehem is impossi-
and therefore harsher in their treatment of dissenters. In the
ble, or because there is no astronomical report of so bright
modern Western world, most religious leaders are more
a star as that in the Christmas story. Christmas is itself often
ready to recognize that silencing the thinker does not silence
reinterpreted today as the Christmas version of a far more
the thought. Toleration of religious reform and religious re-
ancient festival of the winter solstice, developed by Roman
formers has come to be the norm in the Western world in
Christians as an alternative to the Mithraic Birthday of the
the past two centuries. Intolerance, however, has again begun
Invincible Sun (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti), celebrated on the
to flourish in the Middle East, in the form of religio-political
day in the Roman calendar equivalent to December 25. To
strife. The resurgence of such conflicts raises doubts whether
the Roman Christian rites of celebration there were added,
the message of religious toleration has roots as deep as they
as Christianity spread into northern Europe, a variety of ele-
seem to be, whether in fact mutual toleration has become as
ments more suitable to the climate of that region. Easter, too,
widespread as was once believed. It is surely evident that
must be recognized as a christianized and spiritualized ver-
there is a need for the reform of interreligious relations, as
sion of the widespread festivals celebrating the arrival of
well as for maintaining within each religion a climate hospi-
spring. To acknowledge the earlier ancestry of these Chris-
table to the idea of reform.
tian festivals adds a universal dimension to their significance;
RELIGIOUS REFORM AND TRADITIONAL PRACTICE. There is
it does not diminish their Christian poetic and symbolic
no aspect of religion that is more important to the members
value. Similarly, it is possible to take many of the festivals
of any religious group than the traditional practices to which
of other religions and, while retaining all or most of their at-
they adhere. Truly, religious practice is the context in which
tractive ceremonial, to refine their traditional basis. Reform-
the child that is latent in every adult comes closest to self-
ing religion does not necessarily imply destroying its poetry
revelation. Psychologists maintain that what people learn in
or its myth; it requires only recognizing the difference be-
early life persists longest in their memories, and the tradition-
tween myth and actuality, between poetry and history.
al practices associated with every religion are a large part of
what holds the attention of young children. Some traditional
There are other instances, however, in which ancient
practices are peculiar to a particular family and remain in use
traditions have already had to yield to later and higher ideals,
within that family for many generations. Others are tradi-
and still others in which the advocates of reform must con-
tions of a national group and are carried with the members
tinue the struggle to change traditional practice. The age-old
of that group wherever they may migrate. The most persis-
Hindu practice of sat¯ı, immolating widows on the funeral
tent practices are those handed down from the founders of
pyres of their husbands, was forbidden by British rulers as
a religious movement or from its great leaders. Some may
early as 1829 in those parts of India that they controlled. In
even be held over from the religious tradition that preceded
the “native states,” enclaves ruled by native princes, the tradi-
the one by whose members it is now practiced, as some pre-
tional sat¯ı was maintained for a time but was gradually elimi-
Buddhist traditions have persisted in the Tibetan form of
nated. The theological rationale (perhaps originally an eco-
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
REFORM
7655
nomic rationale) could not be maintained against the higher
practices that fail to conform to the present-day moral ideas
sense of women’s personhood that has developed in modern
of their environing cultures or beliefs that contradict the best
Indian society. Hindu scholar-priests found no difficulty in
knowledge available. If religions fail in either of these re-
reinterpreting the Vedic texts by which the old practice had
spects, they require reform.
been justified. Similarly, the Bible, the basic text of Judaism
S
and Christianity, still presents animal sacrifice as a ritual
EE ALSO Morality and Religion; Revival and Renewal; Tra-
dition.
practice divinely commanded and to be routinely carried out
by the priests. Both religions have long since given up the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
practice literally commanded and have replaced actual sacri-
Most general discussions of religion concentrate on antiquity rath-
fice with the symbolic sacrifice of almsgiving. Other biblical
er than modernity, on tradition rather than reform. An ex-
injunctions, too, such as the “levirate” obligation, in which
ception worthy of mention is a collection of essays, Religious
the brother of a man who died childless married the widow
Movements in Contemporary America, edited by Irving I. Za-
of his deceased brother in order to sire a son to perpetuate
retsky and Mark P. Leone (Princeton, 1974). Although lim-
the dead brother’s name (Dt. 25:5-10), have been either to-
ited in geographic scope, these articles present interesting
tally abandoned or replaced by a merely symbolic substitute.
theoretical material on marginal sectarian groups, chiefly
among minorities. For our purposes, it is more useful to look
Reform is a process that is never finished. Those who
at works that view particular major religious traditions in
carried forward the reforms that have been mentioned, and
their modern development.
others like them, may have thought that they had made all
Hinduism
the changes that were necessary. But because human knowl-
In addition to the useful collection of essays by Hindu scholars,
edge is always increasing, there is no point at which people
The Religion of the Hindus, edited by Kenneth W. Morgan
(New York, 1953), Philip H. Ashby’s perceptive discussion
can say that there is nothing left for them to learn and that
in Modern Trends in Hinduism (New York, 1974) looks at
all their beliefs are final. It is a continuing part of the reli-
recent trends with a discriminating eye. More recent, and
gious reformers’ obligation to carry on in their own time the
more of a textbook, is Hinduism: A Cultural Perspective (En-
unending struggle to renew tradition by bringing features of
glewood Cliffs, N.J., 1982) by David R. Kinsley, an excellent
the religious systems into line with the most advanced
resource for the reader with little previous knowledge of
knowledge and the most modern sensibilities of their time.
Hindu religion.
There is no reason, for example, why the struggle to achieve
Buddhism
parity for women should not, in the present age, be pursued
Buddhism, in its many forms, has received a great deal of atten-
in every religion, even though the achievement of this goal
tion; perhaps the most useful starting point is a collection of
would require the overthrow of certain traditional practices
essays, Buddhism in the Modern World, edited by Heinrich
and beliefs. In any area of life in which traditional religious
Dumoulin and John C. Marald (New York, 1976). The Bud-
practice comes into conflict with modern sensibility there is
dhist Religion, 3d ed. (Belmont, Calif., 1982), by Richard H.
Robinson and Willard L. Johnson, is an extremely informa-
a frontier for religious reform. It might well be extremely dif-
tive work, valuable for its broad perspective. Buddhism: The
ficult to eliminate the exclusively masculine language that
Light of Asia (Woodbury, N.Y., 1968) by Kenneth Chen is
has become traditional in speaking of God in the monotheis-
especially valuable for its material on Buddhism in China.
tic faiths. But as the role of women in the formal services of
Similarly valuable for Southeast Asia is Kenneth Perry Lan-
these religions is increased, and as certain ritual formulas,
don’s Southeast Asia: Crossroads of Religion (Chicago, 1969).
such as “. . . who hast not made me a woman,” are forced
Buddhism and other religions in China are the subject mat-
out of the prayer books by insistent and repetitive agitation,
ter of Wingtsit Chan’s Religious Trends in Modern China
the development of a gender-neutral language for religious
(New York, 1969). Comparable concerns in relation to the
practice should be possible.
religions of Japan are presented by Joseph M. Kitagawa in
Religion in Japanese History (New York, 1966).
These examples suggest that there are two directions to
Islam
follow in achieving reform of traditional religious practice.
Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s Islam in Modern History (1957; Prince-
The easier of the two, for all concerned, is to reinterpret, in
ton, N. J., 1966) presents a sensitive and sympathetic study
the light of modern understanding, the theoretical doctrine
by a Western scholar. Unfortunately, it was published too
or historical principle upon which a practice is based, and
early to take into account contemporary Islamic fundamen-
thus to modify the meaning that the practice has for people
talism, which must still find its historian. Smith’s Modern
Islam in India (London, 1946) is a useful supplement to the
today without forcing them to give up the practice itself.
work mentioned above. For those who know little of Islam,
Wherever it is possible to do so, the goal of religious reform
an older work by Henri Lammens, Islam: Beliefs and Institu-
should be to change meaning without eliminating well-loved
tions (London, 1968), provides good background material;
practice. Where this is impossible, however, where the prac-
so, too, does Islam: A Concise Introduction (San Francisco,
tice itself involves a kind of behavior unacceptable in the
1982) by Dennis S. Roberts.
modern world, reform must be total; the practice and the
Judaism
principle on which it rests must be uprooted, not merely re-
My own work, Modern Varieties of Judaism (New York, 1966),
interpreted. To be modern, religions must not require either
deals briefly with both the Reform and the Reconstructionist
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
7656
REFORMATION
movements in Judaism, as does American Judaism: Adventure
that the Protestant reformers in fact believed the Roman
in Modernity (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1972) by Jacob Neus-
Catholic Church to be in theological error rather than merely
ner. The best studies of the Reform movement, however, are
to have mistaken emphases, a major step in the direction of
The Rise of Reform Judaism (New York, 1963) and The
separation had been taken. The Catholic Church, in turn,
Growth of Reform Judaism (New York, 1965), both edited by
viewed the Reformation movement as rebellion and revolu-
W. Gunther Plaut. For Reconstructionism, consult two
tion. The term Protestant, applied to the adherents of the
works by the founder of the movement, Mordecai M. Ka-
Reformation, stemmed from the “protest” voiced at the Diet
plan: The Purpose and Meaning of Jewish Existence (Philadel-
phia, 1964) and Judaism without Supernaturalism (New
of Speyer (1529) by the Lutheran estates against the revoca-
York, 1958).
tion of the policy of toleration decreed at the Diet of Speyer
three years earlier.
Christianity
The literature of reform movements in Christianity is far too ex-
Reformation scholarship has tended to be dominated by
tensive to be listed here. For the period of the Reformation,
confessional perspectives. Catholic scholars have viewed the
a convenient summary with a good bibliography is provided
Reformation as a religious and theological aberration and (as
by Roland H. Bainton in The Reformation of the Sixteenth
regards its historical significance) the cause of modern secu-
Century (Boston, 1952). For the modern period in America,
larism. Protestant historiography, in turn, has depicted the
as good a brief exposition as one can hope for is found in the
Reformation as the restoration of authentic Christianity,
last three sections of Sydney E. Ahlstrom’s magisterial A Reli-
gious History of the American People (New Haven,
with different emphases placed, according to the orientation
Conn.,1972).
of particular scholars, on the particular branch (Lutheran,
Calvinist-Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican) of the Reforma-
New Sources
tion. Protestant Reformation historiography has generally fo-
Akbarzadeh, Shahram, and Abdullah Saeed. Islam and Political Le-
gitimacy. London and New York, 2003.
cused on theological foci, stressing the distinctive emphases
of the respective Protestant churches.
Browers, Michaelle. An Islamic Reformation? Lanham, Md., 2004.
BACKGROUND. The traditional view, from the Protestant
Copley, A. R. H. Gurus and Their Followers: New Religious Reform
perspective, has been that in the early sixteenth century,
Movements in Colonial India. Delhi, 2000.
church and society were in a state of crisis. The church was
Esposito, John L. Political Islam: Revolution, Radicalism, or Re-
seen as suffering from various moral and theological abuses
form? Boulder, Colo., 1997.
and the Reformation as a necessary reaction against that state
Mor, Menahem. Jewish Assimilation, Acculturation, and Accommo-
of affairs. Recent research has drawn a different picture,
dation: Past Traditions, Current Issues, and Future Prospects.
holding that in the early sixteenth century, church and soci-
Lanham, Md., 1992.
ety were essentially stable, although not without problems.
Phongphit, Seri. Religion in a Changing Society: Buddhism, Reform
Therefore, the explanation for the outbreak of the Reforma-
and the Role of Monks in Community Development in Thai-
tion is sought elsewhere, namely in a complex interplay of
land. Hong Kong, 1988.
an essentially stable society and powerful new forces.
Robinson, Catherine A. Tradition and Liberation: The Hindu Tra-
dition in the Indian Women’s Movement. New York, 1999.
The foremost political reality of the time, the “Holy
Sen, Amiya. Social and Religious Reform: The Hindus of British
Roman Empire of the German Nation,” was characterized
India. Delhi, 2003.
by uncertainties about its boundaries and the respective roles
of the emperor and the territorial rulers. A demand for great-
JOSEPH L. BLAU (1987)
er effectiveness in governance had begun to surface in the late
Revised Bibliography
fifteenth century, particularly among the territorial rulers. A
call for imperial reform was variously voiced and diets (par-
liamentary assemblies) in 1495 and 1500 went far in reorga-
REFORMATION. [This entry discusses the sixteenth-
nizing the formal institutional structures of the empire.
century movement within Western Christendom that led to the
emergence of the several Protestant churches.]
The territories of the empire were in a state of transition
in the late fifteenth century. The territorial rulers sought to
The term reformatio (from the Latin reformare, “to
enhance their own power at the expense of the emperor,
renew”) was employed in the Middle Ages to denote at-
while striving for a balance with the nobility in their territo-
tempts to reform church and society; the use of the term Ref-
ries. Because of his need for increased financial resources to
ormation in the sixteenth century indicates a sense of conti-
support more extensive governmental activities and the
nuity with earlier efforts. While the term expressed the
flourishing bureaucracies, the emperor had to rely for sup-
notion of turning the church from alleged worldliness and
port on the territorial rulers, who in turn depended on the
lack of proper theological emphasis, it did not, either concep-
nobility. The towns, many of which, as free imperial cities,
tually or pragmatically, entail the notion of separation from
were politically autonomous, presented a similar picture of
the one church.
superficial power relationships. Important centers of com-
When it became evident in the sixteenth-century con-
merce and finance were emerging, the political power of
troversy over the proper interpretation of the Christian faith
which remained restricted. Tensions between the towns 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
REFORMATION
7657
the territories in which they were located were real, since the
toms of a profound crisis. Tensions existed but were hardly
territories depended on the fiscal resources of the towns but
fundamental, and sundry efforts were being made to alleviate
sought to curb their political aspirations.
them. Despite criticism and anticlericalism, the call was for
The Catholic Church stood in the center of society. It
change and reform, not for disruption and revolution.
had extensive land holdings. It controlled education. It pos-
CONTROVERSY OVER INDULGENCES. The Reformation origi-
sessed its own legal system. It provided the ethical principles
nated in a controversy over indulgences precipitated by Mar-
on which society was based and which were meant to guide
tin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses of October 31, 1517. Indul-
it. Above all, the church, as the guardian of eternal truth, me-
gences, originally remissions of certain ecclesiastical
diated salvation. There is no doubt that, on the eve of the
penalties, had by the early sixteenth century come to be un-
Reformation, the church possessed a great vitality, especially
derstood as offering forgiveness of sins in exchange for cer-
in Germany, and that it commanded considerable loyalty
tain payments. Luther’s misgivings about a singularly vulgar
and devotion. Heresy had virtually disappeared. Ecclesiasti-
sale of indulgences by the Dominican monk Johann Tetzel
cal benefactions increased in the late fifteenth and early six-
found expression in a probing of the theology of indulgences.
teenth centuries. Pilgrimages were popular. Preaching posi-
In a letter to Archbishop Albert of Hohenzollern, Luther
tions in churches were established, and the newly invented
pleaded for the discontinuance of the sale. What was meant
printing press provided a host of devotional materials for a
as an academic and pastoral matter quickly became a public
growing reading public.
one, however, primarily because Luther sent out several cop-
Along with these manifestations of vitality, there were
ies of the theses, and the positive response of the recipients
also problems. The hierarchy seemed distant and too cum-
helped to propagate them. Moreover, Luther had inadver-
bersome to deal with the spiritual needs of the people. The
tently touched upon a politically sensitive matter. By attack-
higher clergy, notably the bishops, were mainly recruited
ing the sale of indulgences, he had infringed upon the fiscal
from the nobility and viewed their office as a source of pres-
interests of both the papacy and Archbishop Albert.
tige and power. This was particularly true in Germany,
The subsequent course of events that turned Luther’s
where many bishops were political rulers as well as spiritual
expression of concern into a public controversy finds its ex-
rulers. The condition of the lower clergy, the parish priests,
planation primarily in the astonishing intensity and swiftness
was often deplorable. Their theological learning was frag-
of the official reaction: By early 1518 Luther had been cited
mentary and their economic circumstances marginal. Many
as a suspected heretic. Undoubtedly, the church still had a
parishes had absentee priests; as a result, clerical responsibili-
vivid memory of the Hussite troubles of the previous centu-
ties were assumed by the less qualified curates.
ry, and its strategy was to squelch the controversy as quickly
In this setting many voices pleaded for church reform.
as possible. The next three years were characterized by
The argument was that the church was too worldly, the pa-
dogged pursuit of the official ecclesiastical proceedings
pacy too far removed, the clergy too greedy, the religion of
against Luther, culminating, in January 1521, in his formal
the people too vulgar. The humanists, notably Erasmus of
excommunication. After much deliberation and amid unre-
Rotterdam, were outspoken in their opposition to scholastic
solved legal uncertainties, a rump diet issued the Edict of
theology. They argued that the simple religion of Christ
Worms in May 1521, whereby Luther was declared a politi-
should be restored. They objected to the scholastic concern
cal outlaw.
over trivia, to the vulgar popular preoccupation with such
Events between 1517 and 1521 were dominated not
matters as pilgrimages and relics, and to the pomp and
only by the official ecclesiastical proceedings against Luther
worldliness of the hierarchy. The dominant theological influ-
but also by the concurrent unfolding of his public presence
ence emanated from Gabriel Biel, whose Ockhamism
and the increasing echo thereof. Luther’s public message was
seemed a balanced treatment of the themes of human effort
a combination of cautious anticlericalism and a call to a
and divine action. An overall assessment of the theological
deepened spirituality. This message explains at once the pop-
situation on the eve of the Reformation must stress the pres-
ular response: people responded precisely because they were
ence of harmonious consistency.
not called upon to break with the church or to embrace a
The decades before the Reformation brought the
new theology.
growth of “territorial church government.” Political authori-
BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION. At Luther’s formal con-
ty became increasingly involved in ecclesiastical affairs,
demnation in 1521 the nature of events changed. With Lu-
while, quite consistently, the role of the church in society—
ther removed from the scene (many thought him dead), the
politically, fiscally, and legally—was challenged. In the towns
message of reform was spread by an increasing number of
the municipal councils became concerned with responsibility
comrades-in-arms and supporters. By that time conse-
for education, the supervision of morality, and the care of
quences of the new message and its call for reform were be-
the poor, all of which previously had been the prerogative
ginning to emerge. What would be the practical conse-
and function of the church.
quences of Luther’s call for a deepened spirituality? If, as
When all is said, however, a survey of church and state
Luther had argued, monasticism was unbiblical, what was to
on the eve of the Reformation fails to reveal extensive symp-
be done about the monks and the monasteries? If clerical cel-
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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REFORMATION
ibacy was wrong, should priests marry? As these questions
perspective and his eminence. The controversy with Zwingli,
were asked and practical answers were offered and imple-
about the Lord’s Supper, dominated the remainder of the de-
mented, the Reformation in the real sense of the word can
cade of the 1520s.
be said to have begun.
By the end of the 1520s the reform movement had firm-
The Edict of Worms proved but a scrap of paper. Most
ly established itself, especially in southern and central Ger-
territorial states plainly ignored it in view of the widespread
many, so much so that the Diet of Speyer in 1526 concluded
support for Luther, the dubious legality of the edict, and the
the impossibility of enforcing the Edict of Worms. Accord-
rulers’ concerns for their legal prerogatives. In the Imperial
ingly, the diet allowed the territorial rulers for the time being
Council, which exercised the emperor’s function during his
the freedom to proceed with the edict according to the dic-
absence from Germany for the remainder of the decade, the
tates of their consciences and their sense of responsibility to
debates about the execution of the edict were lengthy and in-
the emperor.
conclusive. Nor did diets meeting in Nuremberg in 1523
Two themes were dominant in the years between the
and 1524 have any greater success, other than issuing plain-
Diet of Speyer (1526) and the Peace of Augsburg (1555): the
tive pleas for the convening of a general or at least a German
expansion of the Reformation and the pursuit of reconcilia-
council.
tion (or coexistence) between the two sides. The theme of
The message that evoked such widespread support is ev-
Protestant expansion found striking expression in the spread
ident in the multitude of pamphlets published between 1517
throughout Europe and, in Germany, of the acceptance of
and 1525. Their themes were simple. They were concerned
the Reformation by a majority of the imperial cities. The
more with personal piety than with theological propositions.
convergence of societal concerns and religious goals, charac-
Their message was that of a religion of substance rather than
teristic of the Reformation as a whole, is clearly discernible
form, of inner integrity rather than outward conformity, of
in the cities. The cities were centers of economic power and
freedom rather than rules. It was also a message of utter de-
literacy, and in many were manifest a pronounced anticleri-
pendence on God’s grace. At the same time, certain key slo-
calism and a conflict between the church and those who held
gans made their appearance: “human traditions,” “works
political power.
righteousness,” “the pure word of God,” and, once the battle
Three patterns of ecclesiastical change in the cities
lines were drawn, the fateful declaration that the papacy was
emerged. In some, the agitation for change came from the
the seat of the antichrist.
councils, which sought to bring their quest for full control
The impact of the reformers was so strong because they
of all areas of municipal life to a consistent conclusion. In
deliberately took their arguments to the people whom they
others, the Reformation became part of the political conflict
knew to be interested in the issues discussed. Abandoning
between the council, the ruling oligarchy, and the guilds.
Latin as the language of religious discourse, the reformers
The attempt to introduce the Reformation paralleled the ef-
used the vernacular in their writings and preferred the brief
fort to democratize. In the third pattern, the quest for ecclesi-
tract, the pamphlet, to the weighty tome. The genres used
astical change came from a group of intellectuals who forced
for disseminating the message of the Reformation were ex-
the city council to embrace the Reformation.
tensive and varied—straightforward expositions, satires, dia-
The second Reformation theme between 1526 and
logues, plays, even cartoons. The quantitative output was
1555, the pursuit of reconciliation between Catholics and
enormous. Within the first decade of the controversy, over
Protestants, had both its political and constitutional aspects.
a million copies of Reformation tracts were disseminated in
At the Diet of Speyer (1529) the Catholic estates mustered
Germany, with its population of roughly ten million. Many
a majority, which insisted on enforcement of the Edict of
tracts were reprinted more than fifteen times.
Worms. But this move had no discernible consequences, and
At this point in its development, the movement was di-
Charles V convened a diet at Augsburg in 1530 to resolve
verse and imprecise in its theological focus. The common de-
the controversy. The Lutheran estates were invited to submit
nominator was the vague notion of the need for change and
a confessional statement; the Zurich reformer Zwingli was
reform. Everything else was up in the air, so to speak; the
deemed politically insignificant; the theologically extreme
only certainty was that Luther clearly occupied a position of
were ignored.
central eminence. The issues propounded were not merely
The Lutheran declaration of faith, known as the Augs-
religious ones; they encompassed a wide variety of social and
burg Confession, argued that there was agreement in major
political concerns that made for an intertwining of religious
matters and that the disagreements pertained only to minor
and nonreligious motifs.
issues, notably the married clergy and episcopal jurisdiction.
The further course of events brought a variety of issues
The issues that had dominated the controversy—the sacra-
to the fore that defined and divided the Reformation move-
ments, authority, and justification—were treated in a broad
ment. Luther became engaged in controversy with several fel-
and most general fashion. This approach of stressing concili-
low reformers—among them Ulrich Zwingli, Andreas Karl-
ation may have been an astute propaganda move, since there
stadt, and Thomas Müntzer—who challenged both his
was reason to believe that the Catholics would be rigid. In
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
REFORMATION
7659
fact, however, the papacy had also decided on a conciliatory
from the emperor to the territorial rulers, so was the religious
policy, and the eventual failure of the discussions was in part
countenance of Germany formed by the territories rather
attributable to the failure of each side to understand the
than the empire.
other.
DIFFERENTIATION OF REFORMATION VIEWS. As the Refor-
At the adjournment of the diet, the Protestants were
mation movement spread, it became evident that the reform-
given six months to rescind their ecclesiastical changes.
ers’ common opposition to the Catholic church did not en-
When the deadline came, however, nothing happened. The
tail a common theological position. Differences of views
emperor, preoccupied militarily with the Turks, was depen-
emerged, pertaining both to the timing and to the scope of
dent on the support of all the estates, including the Protes-
reform.
tants. Moreover, the important Protestant territories had
formed the Smalcaldic League to resist any attempt to resolve
The first incidence of differentiation came in 1522,
the religious controversy by force. Accordingly, Charles V
when Andreas Karlstadt, a colleague of Luther’s at the Uni-
had to agree to the Peace of Nuremberg (1532), which af-
versity of Wittenberg, publicly disagreed with Luther. Two
forded the Protestants legal recognition until the convening
years later Thomas Müntzer, minister at Allstedt, not far
of a general council.
from Wittenberg, published two pamphlets in which he dra-
matically indicted Luther’s notion of reform. He accused Lu-
The 1530s brought continued Protestant expansion in
ther of selling out to the political authorities by preaching
Germany. At the end of the decade new attempts were made
a “honey-sweet Christ.” In the spring of 1525, Müntzer
to explore the possibility of theological agreement. At the
joined the rebellious peasants in central Germany and be-
Colloquy of Worms (1539), agreement was reached con-
came their spiritual leader. The pamphlets that issued from
cerning justification, which had been the main point of con-
his pen were vitriolic and categorical: the true church would
troversy between the two sides. In the end, however, dis-
be realized only through suffering and by a resolute opposi-
agreement prevailed, and the attempt to resolve the
tion to the godless rulers.
controversy by theological conciliation failed.
While the most famous of the peasant programs, the
Charles V was now determined to use force. Upon con-
Twelve Articles, astutely linked peasant aspirations with the
cluding peace with France in 1544, he was ready to face the
Lutheran proclamation, the connection between the reform
Protestants. War broke out in 1546 and despite a good deal
movement and the peasants was tenuous at best. It must re-
of blundering, Charles emerged successful, winning the deci-
main doubtful whether, given their illiteracy, the peasants
sive Battle of Muhlberg in 1547. The victorious emperor
were extensively touched by the Reformation. But Luther felt
convened a diet at Augsburg in 1548 to impose his religious
sufficiently implicated to publish two pamphlets against the
settlement on the Protestants. The result was the Augsburg
peasants in which he expressed sympathy for their plight yet
Interim, which afforded the Protestants two temporary con-
categorically declared that the gospel did not provide the jus-
cessions—use of the communion cup and the married cler-
tification for its amelioration and that rebellion was against
gy—but left little doubt about the emperor’s determination
the gospel. These tracts heralded a fundamental divorce of
to restore Catholicism fully in the end. At the same time,
the Reformation from a major social issue of the time.
Charles V sought also, through an ambitious constitutional
reform project, to enhance imperial power in Germany. The
Huldrych Zwingli. The major division within the
pairing of these two objectives proved his undoing, for once
ranks of the reformers is associated with the Swiss reformer
his political objectives had become clear, his military coali-
Huldrych (Ulrich) Zwingli, of Zurich. Unlike Luther, whose
tion promptly disintegrated. A conspiracy of territorial rul-
theological development occurred in the setting of monas-
ers, headed by Maurice of Saxony, almost succeeded in im-
tery and university, Zwingli matured as a parish priest and
prisoning the emperor.
as a theologian greatly influenced by Erasmus. In 1522, he
publicly defended eating meat during the Lenten fast and in
Charles faced increasingly formidable opposition from
so doing precipitated a lively controversy about the propriety
the territorial rulers, Protestant and Catholic alike, and he
of the prescribed ecclesiastical practices. The Zurich city
had to acknowledge that Protestantism was firmly en-
council ordered a disputation to resolve the contested issues.
trenched in Germany. The formal recognition of Protestant-
It took place in January 1523 and resulted in the public dec-
ism could no longer be avoided. Lengthy negotiations con-
laration of support for Zwingli by the council, a declaration
ducted by his brother, Ferdinand, culminated in the Peace
that had the noteworthy underlying assumption that a com-
of Augsburg in 1555. While both sides affirmed the ideal of
munity could itself determine the faith, regardless of estab-
eventual reconciliation, the realities intimated a permanent
lished ecclesiastical authority. A new norm of religious au-
division. The foremost provision of the peace was “Cuius
thority was evident here.
regio, eius religio,” by which territorial rulers were given the
freedom to choose Lutheranism or Catholicism as the official
A second disputation, in October 1523, dealt with the
religion in their territory. The emerging distribution of polit-
issues of the use of images in churches and the interpretation
ical power in Germany provided the framework for the set-
of the Mass. Agreement was quickly reached that both were
tlement of the controversy. Even as political power shifted
unbiblical, but opinion differed as to the most propitious
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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REFORMATION
time for their abolition. From the ranks of some of Zwingli’s
progress of reform. Their attempt to impose their own vision
followers came the same kind of impatience with the course
of speedier and more comprehensive reform on the course
of ecclesiastical change that Luther had witnessed in Witten-
of events proved unsuccessful. They broke with Zwingli, ad-
berg in 1522. Eventually some of these followers broke
ministered believer’s baptism early in 1525, and found them-
openly with Zwingli; thus was launched the Anabaptist
selves promptly persecuted, since the authorities were unwill-
movement.
ing to tolerate diverse forms of religion in their midst.
Impatience and dissatisfaction with the course of ecclesiasti-
The specific issue that was to divide the Reformation
cal change were widespread in the mid-1520s, so that it is
was the interpretation of the Lord’s Supper. Luther, while
not possible to speak of a single point of origin for Anabap-
rejecting the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, af-
tism. Events were moving too slowly for many, and the theo-
firmed the real presence of Christ in the elements of bread
logical atmosphere at the time was so diverse as to suggest
and wine, while Zwingli affirmed a spiritual presence. The
a multiplicity of mentors and sources.
controversy between the two men erupted in 1525 and con-
tinued, with increasing vehemence, for years to come. By
The Anabaptist movement expanded throughout Aus-
1529 political overtones to the theological disagreement had
tria and Germany, chiefly through itinerant lay preachers.
surfaced. Since military action against the Protestants was a
Small congregations developed as a result of their preaching.
possibility, the internal disagreement weakened the Protes-
Both ecclesiastical and secular authorities declared the Ana-
tant position. It became clear that the future of the Reforma-
baptists to be revolutionaries and pursued a harsh policy of
tion lay in political strength. Landgrave Philipp of Hesse, the
persecution. This caused Anabaptism to become an under-
driving force behind such notions, arranged for a colloquy
ground movement. Its literature was sparse, since it had to
between Luther and Zwingli at Marburg in October 1529.
be clandestinely printed and disseminated. It had no trained
Luther was a reluctant participant, not only because he had
clergy. Despite such handicaps Anabaptism enjoyed a wide-
little empathy for Zwingli’s theology but also because he re-
spread, if modest, expansion.
flected a different political perspective. Any rapprochement
The catastrophe of Anabaptism at the northwestern
with Zwingli, who was seen as both anti-Habsburg and a
German town of Münster, in the early 1530s, proved to be
theological radical, would make conciliation with the Habs-
a turning point in the history of the movement. The coming
burg emperor Charles V more difficult.
of the Reformation to Münster had prompted the town’s
The Marburg colloquy, therefore, manifested both po-
leading minister, Bernd Rothmann, to embrace Lutheran
litical and theological issues. No agreement was reached in
notions and successfully secure the appointment of other re-
the lengthy discussions, even though the document signed
form-minded Lutheran clergy. Elections to the city council
by those present skillfully buried the disagreement concern-
in 1533 resulted in a Lutheran majority. Subsequently,
ing communion in an inconspicuous sentence. The Refor-
Rothmann came under Anabaptist influence, and Münster
mation movement remained divided. Zwingli’s influence
underwent a second Reformation in embracing Anabaptism.
was strong in Zurich, Switzerland, and even southwestern
Early in 1534 representatives of the Dutch Anabaptist leader
Germany even though the second of two military engage-
Melchior Hofmann arrived to administer adult baptism. Eu-
ments between Swiss Catholics and Protestants in 1529 and
phoria set in, since Hofmann had earlier prophesied that the
1531 ended with Protestant defeat and the curtailment of
imminent end would be preceded by the victory of the elect
further Protestant expansion. Zwingli himself died on the
over the godless. The events at Münster seemed to vindicate
battlefield of Kappel in 1531.
his prophecy of the glorious things to come.
The Anabaptists. A second major division within the
Extensive changes occurred in the city. In 1534 Jan van
ranks of the Reformation pertained to a heterogeneous group
Leyden, who had assumed leadership, declared himself king
whom contemporaries called “Anabaptists.” This term, de-
of the New Jerusalem. Communism and polygamy were in-
rived from a Greek word meaning “rebaptizer,” indicated the
troduced, both measures forced upon the Münster Anabap-
Anabaptists’ most prominent assertion: that baptism should
tists as much by external pressures as by biblical reflection;
be performed in adulthood as the outgrowth of an individu-
these changes prompted Catholic and Protestant authorities
al’s decision. More important was the Anabaptist conviction,
to lay siege to the city. Food and other supplies were at a pre-
which echoed Thomas Müntzer, that the major reformers
mium, and women vastly outnumbered men.
had been neither serious nor comprehensive in their effort
After Münster was captured in the spring of 1535, and
to restore biblical Christianity. The Anabaptists thus placed
this New Jerusalem came to its end, the consequences for
great emphasis on the personal commitment to follow Christ
Anabaptists proved catastrophic. The authorities concluded
(exemplified by the desire to be baptized), viewed the church
that their fears had been vindicated: religious dissent had in-
as a voluntary group of believers, and held for complete
deed, as they had predicted, escalated into political revolu-
aloofness from the political structures.
tion. The persecution of Anabaptists intensified, and their
Anabaptism originated formally in Zurich among
very credibility suffered disastrously.
young humanist associates of Zwingli who, influenced by
In northern Germany and Holland, Anabaptism was
Müntzer and Karlstadt, were disenchanted with the slow
significantly aided by the leadership of a former Dutch
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
REFORMATION
7661
priest, Menno Simons. With sensitive theological reflection
seat of action, was to become the most famous of the towns
and organizational skill, he succeeded in directing the per-
of the Reformation.
plexed Anabaptists to the ideal of a quiet, otherworldly
Calvin’s instrument of reform was the Ecclesiastical Or-
Christianity that removed itself from any involvement in the
dinances of 1541, a comprehensive summary of the structure
political structures of society and acknowledged that existing
of the church and its place in society. The most important
authorities could not be replaced. While the themes of non-
administrative institution in Geneva (and wherever Calvin’s
violence and withdrawal from society had been voiced by
version of the Reformation gained a foothold) was the con-
earlier Anabaptist leaders, Simons emphasized them as hall-
sistory, a body composed of both clergy and laity whose task
marks of Anabaptism. The Netherlands became, with Swit-
was to supervise the maintenance of true faith and pure mor-
zerland, the center of the movement.
als. Thus, it was not an ecclesiastical (or clerical) body, turn-
The Antitrinitarians. Although some of the intellectual
ing Geneva into an ecclesiastical tyranny. The political au-
roots of Antitrinitarianism can be traced to the late Middle
thorities participated fully in it in pursuit of an orderly and
Ages, the catalytic influence of the Reformation was para-
moral community.
mount in the movement. The atmosphere of challenge of es-
Calvin’s determination to implement his vision of
tablished opinion and the stress on the Bible as sole authority
God’s law brought him into conflict with influential Gene-
seemed to call for the repudiation of the doctrine of the Trin-
vans. There were several serious confrontations, and matters
ity. A most dramatic event, in the early 1530s, was the publi-
remained at an uneasy stalemate until 1553, when the trial
cation of two staunchly antitrinitarian tracts by a Spanish lay
of Michael Servetus forced the issue. Calvin, who despised
theologian and physician, Michael Servetus. Servetus’s later
Servetus for his heretical views, regarded his appearance in
Restitution of 1553 offered a detailed critique of traditional
Geneva as part of a larger plot to undo Calvinist reforms in
dogma. However, it was not until the second half of the six-
the city. Servetus’s condemnation and execution consolidat-
teenth century that a new ecclesiastical tradition embracing
ed Calvin’s role. Elsewhere in Europe, notably in Poland, the
such notions emerged, notably in Poland. In an atmosphere
Low Countries, Scotland, and especially France, Calvinism
of toleration, a part of the Calvinist church in Poland became
emerged as the major form of the Reformation. Lutheranism
antitrinitarian, greatly influenced by the Italian reformers
at the time was rife with internal theological controversy,
Laelius and Fausto Sozzini.
leaving to Calvin and his followers the role of the dynamic
John Calvin. An urbane French lawyer and humanist
force of the Reformation in the second half of the sixteenth
by background, John Calvin was the embodiment of both
century.
the differentiation of Reformation views and of its European
EUROPEAN DIMENSION OF THE REFORMATION. In light of
dimension. Calvin had left his native country for Switzerland
the European dimension of the Reformation the question
to arrange for the publication of his brief summary statement
has been asked whether to view this dimension as the result
of Reformation theology, Institutes of the Christian Religion.
of the transmission of ideas from Germany or as the emer-
Passing by chance through Geneva in 1536, the twenty-
gence of simultaneous reform movements in a number of
seven-year-old scholar was pressured into staying to take part
European countries. There has been support for both views,
in the reform there. His first attempt to implement reform
although there seems little doubt that the Lutheran contro-
led to conflict with the city authorities and to his expulsion
versy in Germany affected theologians and laity throughout
in 1538. Three years later, however, he was invited to return
Europe. Travelers and the printed word carried forth the
and he remained there until his death in 1564.
message from Germany. To this German influence the na-
Institutes of the Christian Religion, an originally slender
tive reformers added their own emphases.
volume that was many times revised and enlarged, stands as
The European theological themes were also uniform;
the monumental systematic delineation of reformed religion.
they were determined by a common opposition to Roman
Its basic motif, echoed in many variations, is the majesty of
Catholicism and a common stance concerning the authority
God, from which humanity’s eternal destiny—
of scripture. Moreover, the essential course of development
predestination to salvation or to damnation—is reasoned.
of the Reformation in Europe hardly differed from one
While Calvin always wished to emphasize God’s majesty as
country to another, in that theological discussion was always
the overarching theme of biblical religion, the concept of
accompanied by a quest for legal recognition. In each coun-
predestination emerged as the characteristic feature of Cal-
try the period of the Reformation ended with a legal pro-
vin’s thought.
nouncement: in France with the Edict of Nantes (1598); in
Poland with the Confederation of Warsaw (1573); and in
Calvin’s notion of election to salvation made the elect
Scotland with an act of Parliament (1560).
the warriors for God. At the same time, Calvin consciously
sought to implement the societal implications of the Chris-
The spread of the Reformation movement was uniform-
tian religion. Following notions of Zwingli and the Stras-
ly related to local political issues and to the concomitant abil-
bourg reformer Martin Bucer, he undertook to reform not
ity of the Protestants to demonstrate that their religion could
merely the church but all of society. Thus Geneva, Calvin’s
have relevance for these issues. The success of the Reforma-
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
7662
REFORMATION
tion hinged on its ability to convert king or nobility, which-
Faith.” The king’s conservative temperament was thus on
ever was crucial in the struggle. As events turned out, in En-
record.
gland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Scotland,
the Protestants were on the winning side.
This atmosphere of religious agitation was complicated
by Henry’s sudden desire for an annulment of his marriage
At the time the Reformation movement broke out in
to Catherine of Aragon (his deceased brother’s widow) on
Germany, reform notions were already strong in France. Al-
the grounds that the marriage violated canon law. Extensive
though Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples had anticipated some of
efforts to obtain a favorable papal decision proved unsuccess-
Luther’s notions and had translated the New Testament into
ful, and Henry eventually chose, on the advice of Thomas
French, one may see the first phase of the Reformation in
Cromwell, the parliamentary route to provide legal justifica-
France as the dissemination of Lutheran ideas and pam-
tion for his intention. In 1533 Parliament passed the Act in
phlets. The official reaction was that of suppression. While
Restraint of Appeals to Rome, which declared England an
Francis I was himself a humanist by disposition, political
“empire” whose sovereign could adjudge all spiritual and
prudence led him to take a Catholic and papal course. The
temporal matters in his realm. This act kept the judicial reso-
placard affair of 1534, in which a Protestant poster was af-
lution over Henry’s “divorce” in England. The king had bro-
fixed to the door of the king’s bedroom, symbolized Protes-
ken with the papal church.
tant strength in the country. Francis responded with persecu-
tion and a stern censorship of books. His successor, Henry
The doctrinal statement of the religion imposed by
II, continued this policy, which found embodiment in the
Henry came with the Six Articles of 1539. These articles were
Edict of Chateaubriand (1551).
Catholic in orientation—as, for example, in espousing tran-
substantiation and clerical celibacy. Thomas Cranmer, arch-
Henry’s unexpected death in 1559 precipitated a consti-
bishop of Canterbury, who was married, had to send his wife
tutional crisis over the exercise of regency during the minori-
abroad. Although the legal situation was restrictive, the actu-
ty of the new king, Francis II. Cardinal Guise summarily as-
al situation was relatively free. The penalties imposed by the
sumed the regency, but his move was opposed by the
articles were rarely applied, and antipapal propaganda flowed
prestigious Bourbon family, which argued for a council of
openly. Protestant sentiment, except of the ardent kind,
regency. The constitutional issue had religious overtones,
could be easily disseminated. Adamant Catholics were perse-
since the Guises were staunch Catholics, while the Bourbons
cuted no less than adamant Protestants. The influence of
had Protestant leanings. To side with the Bourbons seemed
Erasmian religion made itself felt in England, a religion rela-
to promise toleration for the Protestants. The constitutional
tively open, yet essentially Catholic in orientation.
uncertainty prompted the question whether royal authority
was being properly exercised. This crisis saw the emergence
When Henry died in 1547 religious affairs were thus in
of the issue of political resistance among French Protestants.
a precarious balance, neither strongly Protestant nor strongly
Calvin’s doctrine of the right of resistance to rulers who did
Catholic. He had intended this state of affairs for his minor
not fulfill their duty served as sanction for the contention
son, Edward VI, but the Council of Regency was dominated
that the higher nobility had the right to oppose the king
by men of Protestant sympathies. The official religion of the
when he violated the law.
land veered in the direction of Protestantism. Under the
The Wars of Religion, which began in 1562, sought to
aegis of Archbishop Cranmer, a new order for worship (The
resolve the issue of political power in France and saw the
Book of Common Prayer) was promulgated in 1549. Drawing
French Protestants (Huguenots) combine political concerns
on the rich liturgical heritage of the medieval church, this
with their religious cause. The Edict of Nantes (1598) ended
order for worship, with the beauty of its language and its
the struggle and brought the French Reformation to an end.
structure of the divine office, proved to be an immensely en-
It resembled the Peace of Augsburg in that the Protestants
riching contribution to English Christendom. The theologi-
failed in their effort to win acceptance of their religion by
cal tone of the prayer book was conservative in that it es-
France. They were recognized legally, however, and were
poused a Lutheran view of Communion. A revision of the
given freedom of worship. In Germany only the territorial
book, three years later, embraced a Zwinglian view.
rulers possessed freedom of religious choice; in France this
Mary, Henry’s daughter by Catherine of Aragon, who
freedom was extended to all.
succeeded her half brother in 1553, attempted to restore Ca-
The Reformation in England. In the 1520s England
tholicism, with an increasingly heavy hand and, in the end,
underwent a period of lively agitation against the Roman
with a ruthless persecution of all avowed Protestants. In so
Catholic Church. Although this agitation was influenced by
doing, she overlooked the fact that England’s ties with the
events on the continent, there were indigenous forces at work
Catholic Church had been severed for almost a quarter of a
as well: anticlericalism, the tradition of the Lollard heresy,
century; what is more important, she failed to understand
and Erasmian humanism. Henry VIII had himself participat-
the danger of creating martyrs. After her reign (1553–1558),
ed in the initial Reformation controversy with a defense of
John Foxe wrote his Book of Martyrs, a gripping, often melo-
the traditional Catholic teaching on the sacraments, for
dramatic description of Protestant suffering, torture, and
which Pope Leo X granted him the title “Defender of the
martyrdom. Put into the context of the martyrs of the faith
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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7663
of all times, the book helped make Catholicism impossible
THE CATHOLIC REACTION. The initial reaction of the Cath-
in England.
olic church to Luther was astoundingly swift and categorical.
Undoubtedly, it was influenced by the apprehension that, if
The Elizabethan settlement. With the succession of
not properly handled, the conflagration would lead to anoth-
Mary’s half sister, Elizabeth I, in 1558, the English situation
er Hussite debacle. By 1520 the position of the church had
changed dramatically. Elizabeth was predisposed to Protes-
been delineated: Luther’s understanding of the Christian
tantism and promptly set out to effect a religious settlement
faith was declared heretical and his notion of reform rejected.
in that direction. She wished only for a limited restoration
It was to be of profound import for subsequent events that
of Protestantism, aiming for the initial reestablishment of
despite this condemnation, the Catholic Church possessed
royal supremacy and the possibility of further religious
neither a comprehensive policy for reform nor a clear percep-
change later. But Parliament, convening in 1559, was deter-
tion of how to execute the judgment against Luther or halt
mined to move in a more Protestant direction. Elizabeth
the increasing defections. Moreover, the papacy had its own
yielded to a settlement that restored religion as it had existed
priorities, which were slow to focus on the Lutheran affair
at the end of Edward’s reign. An important change, however,
and the Protestant Reformation, even though there was no
made the section on Communion in The Book of Common
dearth of voices predicting disaster unless a solution was
Prayer less precise. By juxtaposing language of the 1549 and
found.
1552 editions of The Book of Common Prayer with respect
to Communion, it was left uncertain if Christ was bodily
The disadvantages facing the defenders of the Catholic
present in the Communion bread and wine.
Church were obvious. They had to defend the status quo
with all its shortcomings, while the reformers were able to
In 1563 the Convocation adopted a theological state-
delineate a splendid vision of an ideal church. Many of those
ment for the Church of England. With Thomas Cranmer’s
who attacked the church did so for other than religious rea-
Forty-two Articles of 1551 serving as the point of departure,
sons, thus introducing an element of power politics into
various revisions resulted in the Thirty-nine Articles, a theo-
what purported to be a religious matter. Pope and emperor,
logically moderate statement.
whose concerted efforts would have been able to stem the
Puritanism. Before long the settlement of 1559 began
Protestant tide, frequently were at odds with each other,
to evoke opposition from those for whom it was not suffi-
working at cross-purposes, and thereby aiding the Reforma-
ciently Protestant. Its critics argued that too many vestiges
tion.
of Catholicism remained in the English church. They want-
The question of whether a general council should be
ed a “pure” church, and before long they came to be called
convened was undoubtedly the overriding issue during the
“Puritans.” The Puritans were to be a major element in En-
first two decades of the Reformation. With striking unanimi-
glish history until the second half of the seventeenth century.
ty Christians throughout Europe saw a council as the pana-
Puritanism underwent significant changes in the course of
cea not only for the ills of the church but also for those of
its lengthy history. Toward the end of the sixteenth century
society. To be sure, notions differed as to what the function
it became increasingly diverse and sectarian, some strands de-
of a council should be, and perhaps not much would have
termined to break with the established church. It also became
been accomplished had a council actually convened. But the
increasingly political.
negative stance of Pope Clement VII, who feared a resur-
Until the end of the sixteenth century, England wit-
gence of conciliarism, precluded a council in the early years
nessed successive waves of Puritan dissent. Clerical vestments
of the Reformation.
and the episcopal form of church government soon became
When a council eventually convened at Trent in 1545,
the subject of controversy. By the 1580s some Puritans had
it was clear that it could have no other function than to
concluded the impossibility of effecting change from within.
sharpen the true Catholic position on a wide variety of issues.
Robert Browne’s A Treatise of Reformation without Tarrying
Thus the council, which met intermittently until 1563, pos-
for Any argued for the establishment of separate congrega-
sessed significance only for the Catholic Church. Its canons
tions because the Church of England was unable to reform.
and decrees were consciously anti-Protestant and offered
In response, Richard Hooker’s monumental Laws of Ecclesi-
conciliatory views only with respect to issues contested with-
astical Polity stated the case for Anglicanism as the perfect
in Catholicism. Thus the council served to revitalize the
middle way, arguing with an impressive command of the
Catholic Church, formulating the principles and policies
principles of natural law and the early church.
that characterized an invigorated Catholicism for the century
to come.
On the continent the Reformation controversies had
virtually subsided by the end of the sixteenth century. In En-
The Council of Trent gathered together the sundry
gland, however, the separatist sentiment came to fruition
strands of renewal within the Catholic Church, some of
during that time with the emergence of different groupings,
which had been discernible even before 1517. The revival of
of which several—Congregationalists, Baptists, and Quak-
monasticism, for example, antedated the Reformation. Re-
ers—were to become ecclesiastical traditions in Anglo-Saxon
newal continued in the 1520s and 1530s, in many instances
Christendom.
not influenced by the Reformation. The foremost expression
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
7664
REFORMATION
of this renewal was the work of Ignatius Loyola and the Soci-
ever, entail a sense of toleration or religious liberty. All par-
ety of Jesus, which he founded. The manifestation of Catho-
ties clung to the notion of objective truth and the impossibil-
lic renewal became an instrument of reaction against the Ref-
ity of allowing the public expression of religious error.
ormation, and in one of its central forms, namely, monastic
spirituality, it reiterated the traditional vehicle of Catholic
The masses, illiterate and living in isolation in rural
reform.
areas, remained untouched by the controversies of the Refor-
mation. In other words, the sixteenth century is not to be
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE REFORMATION. Perceptions of the
viewed as a time of intense popular preoccupation with reli-
significance of the Reformation have differed markedly since
gion. Evidence abounds of outright disinterest in religion,
the sixteenth century. Generally it is the ecclesiastical persua-
despite countless governmental mandates stipulating church
sion of the observer that has provided the cue for the inter-
attendance or religious instruction. Popular religion was a
pretation.
simple folk religion, little influenced by the sophisticated
Protestants saw the Reformation as the restoration of
theological arguments that characterized Reformation con-
biblical Christianity against a worldly and perverted church.
troversies.
In turn, Catholics saw the Reformation as rebellion against
truth and, concomitantly, as a triumph of subjectivism.
The role of the political authorities in these religious
Nineteenth- and twentieth-century Catholics have argued
controversies has already been noted. Throughout Europe
that, because the Reformation repudiated authority, it was
the rulers had the last word about the success or failure of
a direct forerunner of the French Revolution. Such stereo-
the Reformation. They rarely hesitated to exercise that
types as these have largely disappeared. Catholic scholars
power, at times for religious reasons and at other times for
have been willing to acknowledge the religious depth and sig-
political reasons. In exercising their power, they enhanced
nificance of Luther, while Protestants have revised their neg-
their political stature and enlarged the scope of their au-
ative assessment of the pre-Reformation church and are pre-
thority.
pared to see greater continuity between the late Middle Ages
Clearly, the role of political authority in religion was
and the Reformation. Recent scholarship has also made clear
more firmly established at the end of the sixteenth century
that there was great misunderstanding among the protago-
than it had been at the beginning. If the Reformation thus
nists on both sides of the sixteenth-century controversy. The
conformed harmoniously with the new self-understanding of
theological differences are nowadays seen to have consisted
the political rulers, it also proved exceptionally congenial to
in divergent notions of authority and salvation: authority of
the mentality of a new type of person, very much in evidence
the Bible and the church or of the Bible alone; salvation by
in the late fifteenth century—literate, self-confident, and en-
works and grace or by grace alone.
ergetic. The Reformation, after all, affirmed the priesthood
Although the divergence between Catholic and Protes-
of all believers, the freedom of the Christian individual, and
tant historiography of the Reformation has largely disap-
the sanctity of the common life. The autonomy of the indi-
peared, the resurgence of the interpretation first delineated
vidual was asserted not with respect to transcendental con-
by Friedrich Engels has perpetuated the tradition of diver-
cerns but with respect to the role and place of the church in
gent assessments of the Reformation. Marxist historians view
society.
the Reformation and the German Peasants’ War collectively
In such a setting, the Reformation provided a host of
as “early bourgeois revolution.” In their view the rising class
stimuli for all areas of life. The notion of vocation declared
of townspeople engaged in commerce and trade and holding
all jobs to be spiritually meaningful. This sanctity of the
increasing economic power, found itself in conflict with the
common life must not be defined merely by an individual
holders of political power. In opposing this political power,
sense of liberation, enabling men and women to go about
the new class had to reject the ideological undergirding of
their daily rounds with confidence, but also by a societal
medieval society, the Catholic Church. Luther was the reli-
sense, embodied by statute no less than by ethos, that society
gious spokesman for economic power and a new, bourgeois
did not need to be dominated by the church. All facets of
mentality.
life, both individual and societal, became subject to new for-
The foremost consequence of the Reformation was the
mulations. Conceptual and practical problems of education,
division of Western Christendom into several churches. The
law, commerce, and behavior were approached with eager-
centrality of the Catholic Church was irretrievably destroyed,
ness and enthusiasm. The common denominator was the no-
and the universal church gave way to national churches.
tion of a lay culture, where the laity rather than the clergy
While the political authorities precluded the formal recogni-
played the incisive role. This did not entail the secularization
tion of more than one church, the existence of several reli-
of society: religion continued to be very much in the center
gious perspectives (bitterly opposing one another) surely di-
of things, if for no other reason than that a divine order was
minished the public as well as private significance of religion
generally agreed to govern all of life. If the genius of the me-
in Europe. This disintegrated the notion that had character-
dieval world had been its notion of the oneness of society
ized medieval society—the oneness of this world and the
under the aegis of the church, the Reformation stipulated a
next. The existence of diverse religious options did not, how-
oneness that entailed the equality of church and society.
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REFORM JUDAISM
7665
SEE ALSO Anabaptism; Anglicanism; Browne, Robert;
New Sources
Bucer, Martin; Calvin, John; Christianity, article on Chris-
Aston, Margaret. England’s Iconoclasts. Oxford and New York,
tianity in Western Europe; Church; Denominationalism;
1988.
Eucharist; Free Will and Predestination, article on Christian
Greengrass, M. The French Reformation. Oxford and New York,
Concepts; Grace; Hooker, Richard; Humanism; Ignatius
1987.
Loyola; Justification; Luther, Martin; Monasticism, article
Oberman, Heiko. The Dawn of the Reformation. Edinburgh,
on Christian Monasticism; Müntzer, Thomas; Papacy; Prot-
1992.
estantism; Puritanism; Reform; Revival and Renewal; Sacra-
Oberman, Heiko. The Two Reformations: The Journey from the
ment, article on Christian Sacraments; Servetus, Michael;
Last Days to the New World. New Haven, Conn., 2003.
Simons, Menno; Sozzini, Fausto Pavolo; Theology, article
on Christian Theology; Trent, Council of; Zwingli, Ulrich.
Olin, John C. Catholic Reform from Cardinal Ximenes to the Coun-
cil of Trent 1495–1563. New York, 1990.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Olin, John C. The Catholic Reformation from Savanarola to Igna-
General Surveys
tius Loyola. New York, 2001.
The best general introductions to the history of the Reformation
Williams, George H. The Radical Reformation. 3d ed. Kirksville,
are G. R. Elton’s Reformation Europe, 1517–1559 (New
Mo., 1992.
York, 1963); The Reformation, 1520–1559, edited by G. R.
HANS J. HILLERBRAND (1987)
Elton, “The New Cambridge Modern History,” vol. 2
Revised Bibliography
(Cambridge, 1958); Lewis W. Spitz’s The Renaissance and
Reformation Movements, 2d ed., 2 vols. (Saint Louis, 1980);
and my The World of the Reformation (New York, 1973). The
Literature Survey of the Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte
REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
(Leipzig and Berlin, 1903–) provides an annual annotated
SEE PRESBYTERIANISM, REFORMED
survey of all literature pertaining to the Reformation. Useful
also is Bibliography of the Continental Reformation: Materials
Available in English, 2d ed., rev. & enl., edited by Roland H.
Bainton and Eric W. Gritsch (Hamden, Conn., 1972). A
REFORM JUDAISM is the branch of the Jewish faith
survey of current research emphases is Reformation Europe:
that has been most adaptive, in belief and practice, to the
A Guide to Research, edited by Steven E. Ozment (St. Louis,
norms of modern thought and society. It is also sometimes
1982).
called Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism. By Reform is
Specialized Studies
meant not a single reformation but an ongoing process of de-
Blickle, Peter. The Revolution of 1525. Baltimore, 1982.
velopment. Well over one million Reform Jews live in the
Brady, Thomas A. Ruling Class, Regime and Reformation at Stras-
United States and Canada, with about another 100,000 in
bourg, 1520–1555. Leiden, 1978.
Europe, Latin America, South Africa, Australia, and Israel.
Internationally, all Reform congregations are united in the
Clasen, Claus-Peter. Anabaptism: A Social History, 1525–1618.
Ithaca, N.Y., 1972.
World Union for Progressive Judaism, which holds biennial
conferences, usually in Europe or Israel. In the United States
Edwards, Mark U., Jr. Luther’s Last Battles. Ithaca, N.Y., 1983.
some nine hundred independent congregations constitute
Elton, G. R. Policy and Police. Cambridge, U.K., 1972.
the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC),
Goertz, Hans, ed. Profiles of Radical Reformers. Scottdale, Pa.,
and more than seventeen hundred rabbis—some of them
1982.
serving abroad—make up the Central Conference of Ameri-
Hendrix, Scott H. Luther and the Papacy. Philadelphia, 1981.
can Rabbis (CCAR). Rabbis, as well as scholars, educators,
Lienhard, Marc, ed. The Origins and Characteristics of Anabaptism.
community workers, and cantors, are trained at the Hebrew
The Hague, 1977.
Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC–JIR),
which has branches in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles,
Lortz, Joseph. The Reformation in Germany. New York, 1968.
and Jerusalem. The most influential role of organizational
Moeller, Bernd. “Piety in Germany around 1500.” In The Refor-
leadership in Reform Judaism is the presidency of the
mation in Medieval Perspective, edited by Steven E. Ozment,
UAHC, since the late twentieth century a professional posi-
pp. 50–75. Chicago, 1971.
tion held by a rabbi.
Moeller, Bernd. Imperial Cities and the Reformation. Philadelphia,
B
1972.
ELIEFS AND PRACTICES. Unlike more traditional forms of
the Jewish faith, Reform Judaism does not hold that either
Ozment, Steven E. The Reformation in the Cities. New Haven,
the written law (Torah) or the oral law (Talmud) was re-
Conn., 1975.
vealed literally by God to Moses at Sinai. It accepts biblical
Stayer, James M. Anabaptism and the Sword. Lawrence, Kans.,
and other historical criticism as legitimate, understanding
1972.
Scripture and tradition as a human reflection of revelation
Walton, Robert C. Zwingli’s Theocracy. Toronto, 1967.
rather than its literal embodiment. Whereas theologies
Williams, George H. The Radical Reformation. Philadelphia,
among Reform Jews vary greatly, from the traditional to the
1962.
humanistic, concepts of God strike a balance between uni-
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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REFORM JUDAISM
versal and particular elements, with somewhat more stress
the Reform temple, but a growing number of congregations
upon the former than among other religious Jews. Like other
have sought to regain some of the informality and emotion
branches of Judaism, Reform recognizes the close connection
of the traditional synagogue through greater congregational
between religion and ethics. It especially emphasizes the pro-
involvement in the service and experimentation with alterna-
phetic message of social justice and seeks to act upon it both
tive musical instruments, such as the guitar. The influence
congregationally and as a united movement. Judaism is seen
of worship services conducted in the summer camps of the
to exist for a higher universal purpose, which aims messiani-
National Federation of Temple Youth has been an apprecia-
cally at the biblical vision of world peace. Traditionally, in
ble factor in this regard.
Reform Judaism, this sense of purpose has been known as
the “mission of Israel.”
Outside the synagogue, Reform Jews practice their faith
by attempting to guide their lives according to the moral pre-
The doctrine that most significantly sets Reform Juda-
cepts of Judaism. A large percentage practices some Jewish
ism apart from more traditional currents is the conception
rituals in the home, especially the lighting of the Sabbath
of progressive revelation. Reform Jews hold that revelation
candles on Friday evening; the sharing of the Passover eve
is ongoing with the progress of human knowledge and moral
ceremony, or seder; and the celebration of H:anukkah. Once
sensitivity. This represents a reversal of the Orthodox belief
especially aware of their religious differences from traditional
whereby the theophany at Sinai, as interpreted by the rabbis,
Jews, Reform Jews emphasize to a greater extent their com-
constitutes the authoritative, permanent expression of God’s
mon ethnic identity and the faith shared by all religious Jews,
will, which must therefore remain normative for all time.
limiting the significance of denominational differences.
The Reform conception of progress in understanding of the
divine does not necessarily imply an unbroken moral ad-
Reform Jews remain more favorably inclined to prosely-
vance of the Jews or of Western civilization, although Re-
tism than other branches of religious Judaism. The largest
form Judaism before the Holocaust was prone to draw that
portion of converts to Judaism become Reform Jews, often
conclusion.
as the result of marriage with a Jewish partner. Such “Jews
by choice” comprise a small but growing percentage of the
The freedom of the individual Jew to be selective, to
membership of most Reform congregations. Reform Judaism
draw from Jewish tradition those elements of belief and prac-
has given much attention to issues concerning procedures for
tice that he or she finds the most personally meaningful, is
conversion as well as the Jewish legal status of children born
far greater among Reform Jews than among either Orthodox
from mixed marriages in which the father is Jewish but not
or Conservative. Religious anarchy, while always a danger,
the mother. According to the halakhah (traditional Jewish
is restrained by a common though theologically diverse litur-
law), such children are not Jewish unless formally converted;
gy, general agreement on basic commitments, and a well-
however, Reform Judaism recognizes them as Jewish if they
structured organizational framework. Reform Jews do not
are being brought up as Jews. About one-half of Reform rab-
accept the Jewish legal tradition as binding but have al-
bis will conduct weddings for mixed couples in which the
ways—and especially since the late twentieth century—
non-Jewish partner does not intend to convert to Judaism.
turned to it for guidance in ritual matters. The CCAR has
In such instances, however, the couple usually promises to
issued guides for Sabbath and holiday observance and for the
raise its children as Jews.
Jewish life cycle.
THE MOVEMENT IN EUROPE. Reform Jews have often point-
At most Reform congregations in America the main reli-
ed out that religious reform was inherent in Judaism from
gious service of the week is held after dinner on Friday eve-
its beginnings. They have noted that the prophets were crit-
nings, though a service before the meal has gained increasing
ics of contemporary religious practices, that the Talmud in-
popularity; men and women sit together, participating equal-
cludes reforms of earlier biblical legislation, and that even
ly in the service. In the last two decades of the twentieth cen-
later legal scholars were willing to alter received beliefs and
tury, many rabbis, some male congregants, and a much smal-
practices. Such willingness to adjust to historical change
ler number of women began to wear the ritual head covering
waned only under the pressure of persecution and the isola-
(kippah, or yarmulke) during worship. In nearly all Reform
tion of the ghetto. Latter-day Jews seeking religious reform
synagogues (or temples, as they are often called) the liturgy
thus sought, and to a degree found, precedent for their pro-
is accompanied by an organ, while musical responses are led
grams in earlier layers of Jewish tradition. However, they
or performed by a choir or a cantor. Most of the prayers are
soon became aware that most of their fellow Jews, and espe-
spoken in English, except for those of central significance,
cially the established rabbinical leadership, did not share such
which are rendered in Hebrew; the ratio varies from congre-
views. The result was a movement for reform originally in-
gation to congregation. Especially under the impact of the
tended to harmonize all aspects of Jewish life with the mod-
state of Israel, the relative amount of Hebrew in the service
ern world into which European Jews increasingly entered be-
has generally increased, and its pronunciation has been al-
ginning in the eighteenth century. Only gradually did the
tered from the Ashkenazic (central and eastern European) to
movement come to focus specifically on the religious realm,
the Sefardic (Spanish and Near Eastern) accent used in the
and only after a generation did it separate itself as a differen-
Jewish state. Formality and decorum have been hallmarks of
tiable religious current with a more or less fixed religious phi-
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REFORM JUDAISM
7667
losophy. In discussing origins, it is therefore more accurate
reconcile Jewish religious tradition with cultural and social
to speak of the “Reform movement in Judaism” than of Re-
integration, to stem the rising tide of religious apathy—and
form Judaism. Even this terminology, however, requires the
even conversion—in certain circles, and to reshape Judaism
qualification that self-conscious awareness of being a move-
in such a way as would make it viable under radically novel
ment with definite goals came only gradually with the coales-
circumstances.
cence of various elements of belief and practice.
The first religious issue to arouse major controversy was
Beginnings. The background for the emergence of the
burial on the very day of assumed death, as required by Jew-
Reform movement is the changing political and cultural situ-
ish law. The famed Jewish philosopher of the Enlighten-
ation of central and western European Jewry in the last dec-
ment, Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786), who remained an
ades of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nine-
Orthodox Jew, broke with established practice in 1772 when
teenth. For numerous generations Jews had been physically
he advocated temporary “burial” above the ground and a
and intellectually excluded from the surrounding, largely
graveyard vigil until actual death could be determined with
Christian civilization. With occasional exceptions, they lived
certainty. Mendelssohn based his view both on the precedent
of an ancient custom and on current medical experience. For
within their own spiritual world. Their communities pos-
decades thereafter, this question served as a touchstone sepa-
sessed corporate status; they were allowed to conduct their
rating traditionalists from modernists, those who held that
internal affairs according to Jewish law. The curriculum of
all customary practice was sacred and inviolable from those
their schools was confined almost exclusively to study of tra-
who believed that, at least in some instances, criteria external
ditional Jewish texts. Secular knowledge was gained only in-
to the Jewish tradition should be invoked to determine reli-
formally and only to the extent necessary for the conduct of
gious obligation.
daily affairs. This medieval situation of the Jews was under-
mined by two novel elements: political centralization and the
A new theoretical religious position, which thereafter
universalism of the Enlightenment. As European states
was largely if not directly absorbed by the Reform move-
sought greater concentration of power, they found it neces-
ment, first appears in a work titled Leviathan (1792) by Saul
sary to remove the divisive elements of medieval corporatism.
Ascher (1767–1822), a Jewish book dealer living in Berlin.
Jews were brought more directly under state control; their
Ascher rejected the Mendelssohnian dichotomy between nat-
autonomous jurisdiction and the coercive power of their rab-
ural religion (that shared by all rational human beings) and
bis were curtailed. Hopes were raised among Jews that politi-
revealed law (that given exclusively to the Jews and the basis
cal integration would lead to the abolition of political, eco-
for their separation as a religious community). For Ascher
nomic, and social disabilities. At the same time a more
the distinguishing feature of Judaism was not its legal corpus
friendly attitude toward Jews, which regarded them foremost
but its unique religious faith. Thus, Judaism was not depen-
as creatures of the same God rather than as Christ killers,
dent on political or judicial autonomy; it could take its place
began to pervade enlightened circles, drawing Jews to re-
alongside Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, differenti-
spond with their own broader, more universal identifica-
ated from them as one faith from another. In contrast to
tions. In increasing numbers they now began to learn mod-
Mendelssohn, Ascher held that Judaism does indeed possess
ern European languages, to read contemporary literature, to
specific dogmas that set it apart from natural religion. These
absorb the prevalent aesthetic sensibilities, and to regard
include belief in the God of love, who revealed himself to
themselves culturally as Europeans no less than religiously as
the patriarchs, who rewards and punishes, and who guides
Jews.
the world through divine providence. Likewise essential to
Judaism are certain practices—including circumcision, ob-
Gradually, a gap was created between Jewish traditions,
servance of Sabbaths and holidays, and atonement—as a way
harmonious with medieval realities, and the new economic,
of seeking God’s favor. Ascher’s arbitrary selectivity marks
social, and cultural status of a portion of Western Jewry. To
a sharp departure from traditional Jewish thought. In the
be sure, this modernizing process did not affect all Jews at
fashion of non-Jewish thinkers of the eighteenth century, it
once or to the same degree. Well into the nineteenth century
makes religion largely a means to the end of personal spiritual
most Jews in eastern Europe remained virtually untouched
happiness (Glückseligkeit) rather than, as in Judaism, the ful-
by the norms of modern civilization, whereas even in western
fillment of God’s will as expressed in divinely ordained com-
Europe modernization among Jews was a slow process, more
mandments. Though Ascher’s specific program remained id-
so in the religious than in the cultural sphere. However, as
iosyncratic, his subjectivization of the Jewish faith and its
early as the beginning of the nineteenth century there began,
confessionalization soon became characteristic of the Reform
especially in Germany, a pronounced falling away from Jew-
movement. In later literature the differentiation is repeatedly
ish belief and observance on the part of those Jews most ex-
made between what is essential to Judaism and what has been
posed to the currents of modernity. Fears arose that, unless
added by historical accident—“the kernel and the husk.” In
Jewish traditions could be brought into harmony with the
Jewish education the concomitant to this endeavor to isolate
intellectual canons and the social norms of the surrounding
the basic tenets and distinctive practices of the faith was the
society, Judaism might find itself relegated to the dustbin of
catechism, increasingly introduced in place of, or supple-
medievalism. The Reform movement arose as an attempt to
mentary to, traditional texts.
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REFORM JUDAISM
The reform of synagogue ritual under modern cultural
if not in form. As long as the prayer gatherings remained a
influence was undertaken for the first time by the Adath
private venture, the Orthodox faction of the community was
Jeshurun congregation of Amsterdam in 1797. This syna-
willing to tolerate them. However, once it seemed that some
gogue was established in separation from the general com-
of these reforms would be introduced into the community
munity following the grant of emancipation to Dutch Jewry
synagogue, traditionalist opposition, combined with Prus-
by the French-controlled Batavian Republic the previous
sian government hostility to religious innovations, led to a
year. The congregation buried its dead only on the third day,
royal edict in 1823 prohibiting any and all Jewish religious
shortened its liturgy, made aesthetic “improvements” in the
reform. This was the first of many disputes and polemical
worship service, introduced a regular sermon on a moral
exchanges between reformers and traditionalists that thereaf-
theme, and eliminated a prayer that asked for vengeance
ter punctuated the history of the Reform movement.
against those who had martyred Jews at the time of the Cru-
sades. The congregation had existed for only about a decade
In 1817 the New Temple Association was formed in the
when the new king of Holland, Louis Bonaparte, required
independent city of Hamburg. Its members, who represent-
it to rejoin the general Jewish community.
ed a broad economic and social cross section of the city’s
Jewry, succeeded in establishing and maintaining their own
Although France preceded other European states in giv-
synagogue, despite Orthodox opposition, on account of the
ing its Jews complete political equality (at the time of the
more indulgent attitude of the city’s senate. The Hamburg
French Revolution), its Jewish community did not lead the
temple, which lasted until the Holocaust, remained for a
movement for religious reform. The Assembly of Jewish No-
generation the model for the movement. In 1819 it issued
tables (1806) and the Sanhedrin (1807), called by Napoleon,
a prayer book that, for the first time, made substantial
committed French Jewry to the fulfillment of all civic obliga-
changes in the liturgy. Intensely particularist passages were
tions and to the official acceptance of the superiority of the
removed or altered. While references to Zion were not whol-
law of the state over Jewish law. However, the delegates were
ly excised, the prayer book reflected the members’ abandon-
not required to undertake liturgical reforms, give up any reli-
ment of the desire to return to the Land of Israel and reestab-
gious practices, or alter their theological conceptions. The
lish the ancient sacrificial service. Two lay preachers gave
centralized Jewish consistory system, which emerged in
regular German sermons on the Christian model and pre-
France shortly thereafter, militated against individual initia-
pared both boys and girls for the confirmation ceremony.
tive in religious matters, favoring a superficially modernized
official orthodoxy.
Ideologists. The next two decades may be described as
a period of latency in the history of the Reform movement.
A program of religious reforms for an entire Jewish com-
The climate of political reaction in Europe was not condu-
munity was first undertaken by an officially constituted body
cive to religious innovation. Orthodox opposition, more-
enjoying government support in the kingdom of Westphalia.
over, had proven to be pervasive and united. No new Reform
Under the leadership of the wealthy and influential financier
prayer books were published between 1819 and 1840, and
Israel Jacobson (1768–1828), a Jewish consistory composed
no new congregations were established. Aside from the
of three rabbis and two laymen was created there in 1808.
Hamburg temple, Reform of any more than a minimal vari-
The consistory introduced the confirmation ceremony
ety flourished only in those modern Jewish schools that, as
(which it borrowed from Christianity) removed secular ele-
in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, offered a modified wor-
ments from the sacred space of the synagogue, and generally
ship service for the children and their parents.
sought to impose a more dignified and decorous mode of
worship. One of the rabbinical members of the consistory,
However, during this same period a new generation of
Menachem Mendel Steinhardt (1768–1825), attempted to
rabbis came to maturity, some of them eager to institute reli-
justify some of its reforms by reference to Jewish law and tra-
gious reforms. Schooled not only in traditional Jewish texts
dition as well as to the variant customs of Sefardic Jewry.
but also at German universities, this younger rabbinical gen-
eration was able to provide spiritual leadership for what here-
Jacobson moved to Berlin following the demise of the
tofore had been basically a lay movement. Gradually these
Westphalian kingdom and its Jewish consistory in 1813, and
men received rabbinical positions, first in the smaller Jewish
some months later he established regular weekly worship in
communities and then in the larger ones. A number of them
his home for those members of the community who desired
possessed considerable scholarly abilities and applied them-
a service modeled on that of Westphalia. Like the services
selves to the task of creating a historical theology for the Re-
that Jacobson had instituted at the chapel of a school that
form movement. The most prominent was Abraham Geiger
he sponsored in the small Westphalian town of Seesen, the
(1810–1874), who rapidly became the leading ideologist of
worship here was enhanced by the use of an organ and by
the movement in Europe. Employing the new critical ap-
a boys’ choir. Later moved to larger quarters, these services
proach to Jewish texts, an approach known as Wissenschaft
attracted as many as four hundred worshipers. There were
des Judentums, Geiger wrote scholarly studies and delivered
hymns and regular edifying sermons in the German lan-
lectures that presented Judaism as an evolving entity subject
guage. However, the liturgy—for which a special prayer
to the forces of history. The essence of Judaism, Geiger ar-
book was published—remained mostly traditional in content
gued, was not its legal system but its religious spirit, reflected
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REFORM JUDAISM
7669
and symbolized in its rituals. This Jewish spirit was the prod-
The rabbis inclined to religious reform now undertook
uct of revelation and created, in turn, the great literary mon-
a collective initiative for the first time. A total of forty-two
uments of Judaism. Geiger stressed the universal message of
rabbis, most still in their thirties and holding doctorates, par-
Judaism, setting its rational ethical monotheism into sharp
ticipated in three conferences in the years 1844 to 1846. Al-
contrast with Christian trinitarian dogma and pagan materi-
though the rabbis represented a spectrum of opinion, the
alism. Under the influence of the early Romantic thinker Jo-
tenor of these conferences reflected a middle position among
hann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), who conceived spiritu-
German reformers, dissatisfying both conservatives like
al epochs succeeding one another in nondialectical fashion,
Frankel, who favored only the slightest revisions in existing
Geiger saw Judaism as a spiritual historical entity that in the
law and custom, and radicals like Holdheim, who urged
modern world was entering a new epoch in its history. It bore
strict conformity to the demands of the zeitgeist. Among the
within it the combined heritage of previous stages of its de-
conclusions reached were that the use of Hebrew in the ser-
velopment and was moving toward yet undetermined forms
vice was a subjective but not an objective necessity, that
of historical existence. For Geiger it was the task of the Re-
prayers for the return to Zion and the reinstitution of the sac-
form rabbi to press the wheel of history forward with a pro-
rificial service should be eliminated from the prayer book,
gram of modernizing and rationalizing reforms.
and that it was permissible to accompany the service with an
organ even on the Sabbath. Plans for a new common liturgy
Geiger’s colleague Zacharias Frankel (1801–1875), the
and a committee report favoring the lay religious equality of
rabbi of Dresden, took a more conservative position. Frankel
women were not acted upon when the annual conferences
recognized the historical development of Jewish law, but also
ceased after the third year, in part because of the agitated po-
its centrality, and he believed that the rabbinical leadership
litical situation preceding the revolution of 1848.
should be responsive to the present collective will and spiri-
tual situation of the community, rather than attempt to di-
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Reform
rect and hasten its course of development. In 1845 Frankel
movement in Germany continued to make inroads in the
broke with fellow reformers on the issue of Hebrew in the
Jewish communities, though generally with less éclat and po-
worship service, and in 1854 he became the head of the new
lemic than heretofore. Increasingly, the larger Jewish com-
conservatively oriented rabbinical seminary in Breslau. The
munities provided for modified services (with organ accom-
most prominent radical reformer in this period was Samuel
paniment and a modified liturgy) as well as traditional ones.
Holdheim (1806–1860), who believed the revolutionary
Religious reform became institutionalized in Germany as
new situation of Western Jewry demanded a thoroughgoing
Liberal Judaism, one of two religious currents or trends
transformation of Judaism. Holdheim favored transfer of the
(Richtungen) within the general community, and it soon won
Jewish Sabbath to Sunday and the abolition of all legal ele-
over the majority of German Jews. Synods, including laity
ments in Judaism. He regarded his own age as representing
as well as rabbis, were held to discuss further reforms in 1869
a clearly higher level of religious evolution, and he then ar-
and 1871. At the end of the century a permanent union of
gued that contemporary Jews had the right to reshape Juda-
Liberal rabbis was established, and a similar national organi-
ism in messianic, universal terms without overmuch regard
zation for all Liberal Jews came into existence in 1908. How-
for preserving continuity with the past. Holdheim eventually
ever, a common prayer book for the German Liberal congre-
became the rabbi of a separatist Reform congregation in Ber-
gations—quite traditional in character—was not issued until
lin that radically abbreviated and altered the traditional litur-
1929.
gy, retained only a minimum of Hebrew, and conducted its
While the Reform movement in Europe remained cen-
principal weekly service on Sunday.
tered in Germany, which had the largest Jewish population
west of the czarist empire, it spread to other countries as well.
Collective activity and diffusion. In the 1840s the Re-
As early as 1826 the Vienna community adopted a number
form movement in Germany underwent a major revival.
of aesthetic reforms, as did some congregations in Hungary,
After considerable opposition, Geiger was able in 1840 to as-
Galicia, Holland, and Denmark. Even in Russia certain cir-
sume his tasks as one of the rabbis in the influential Breslau
cles of maskilim (“enlightened” Jews) or immigrants from the
community. A year later the Hamburg temple issued a new
West introduced decorum, choirs, and vernacular sermons.
version of its prayer book on the occasion of its move to more
In the 1860s some Russian Jewish intellectuals argued, as did
spacious quarters. Lay societies seeking more radical reforms
reformers in the West, that religious reform was indigenous
sprang up in Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, and Breslau. Led
to Jewish tradition from ancient times and that Orthodoxy
for the most part by university-educated, highly acculturated
in fact reflected stagnation.
German Jews, these societies proposed elimination of nation-
al symbols and ritual prescriptions from Judaism in favor of
In England a Reform congregation, called the West
a highly spiritualized and universalized faith, anchored in a
London Synagogue of British Jews, was founded in 1840.
humanistic understanding of the Hebrew Bible and virtually
Generally conservative in character, its most pronounced re-
excluding later rabbinic tradition. In their religious radical-
form was the abolition of the second days of certain holidays
ism they paralleled similar contemporary movements in Ger-
that were celebrated only according to rabbinic, not biblical,
man Protestantism and Catholicism.
precept. Similar congregations were established elsewhere in
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7670
REFORM JUDAISM
England. After the beginning of the nineteenth century, a
considerably more radical character than its counterpart in
more radical religious movement emerged that soon adopted
Europe.
the term Liberal to differentiate itself from the earlier Re-
Classical American Reform. With the exception of an
form. British Liberal Judaism, which was patterned closely
isolated and short-lived attempt in 1824 to create a Reform
upon the American Reform Judaism of the time, sought to
congregation in Charleston, South Carolina, somewhat on
win back to the synagogue the large mass of English Jews
the model of the Hamburg temple, Reform Judaism took
who had become alienated from all religious Judaism. Its
hold in the United States only toward the middle of the nine-
liturgy was largely in English, and men and women sat to-
teenth century. Beginning in 1842 with Har Sinai in Balti-
gether.
more, liturgical reforms were gradually introduced into exist-
In France the centralized consistory long militated
ing synagogues or new Reform congregations founded in
against religious division. Some reforms, mostly cosmetic,
New York City, Albany, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Chi-
were undertaken by the chief rabbis, and proposals for more
cago during the next twenty years. Jewish periodicals favor-
radical change were aired with some regularity in the Jewish
ing religious reform appeared, as did new prayer books em-
press. However, a viable, independent Reform congregation,
bodying various degrees of liturgical revision. When a
the Union Libérale Israélite, was established only after the
rabbinical conference held in Cleveland in 1855 reaffirmed
separation of church and state in France in 1905.
the authority of the Talmud, it aroused protests from the
more thoroughgoing reformers, whose influence increased in
European Liberal Judaism—together with its counter-
the following decades.
part in America—finally achieved international organiza-
tional unity with the establishment of the World Union for
During the second half of the nineteenth century,
Progressive Judaism in London in 1926. Until World War
American Reform was dominated by two immigrant rabbis
II, the work of the Union, and of Reform Judaism in Europe
representing, respectively, a consistent, separatist ideological
generally, was particularly influenced by Leo Baeck (1873–
position and a pragmatic, relatively more conservative stance,
1956), a Liberal rabbi in Berlin and a teacher at the seminary
which sought to make Reform Judaism broadly acceptable.
of the movement, the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des
David Einhorn (1809–1879), a rabbi in Baltimore and later
Judentums, which had been established there in 1872. As a
in New York, stressed the priestly mission of the Jewish peo-
religious thinker, Baeck elaborated an antiromantic theolo-
ple and vigorously opposed mixed marriages, but he saw little
gy, greatly indebted to Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), which
value in most Jewish ceremonials and was a firm believer in
stressed the revealed moral commandment that emerges out
the progress of Judaism beyond its ancient sacred texts. His
of the mystery of revelation. Under the influence of Rudolf
influence was dominant at a meeting of Reform rabbis held
Otto (1869–1937), Baeck’s theology later became less ratio-
in Philadelphia in 1869. Following debate in the German
nalistic, whereas his perspective grew more particularistic as
language, this conference declared that the dispersion of Isra-
he came to focus his attention on the unique religious history
el providentially served its universal messianic aim. It also re-
of the people of Israel.
jected the traditional dogma of bodily resurrection in favor
of belief only in the immortality of the soul.
AMERICANIZATION. Reform Judaism has enjoyed its greatest
Isaac Mayer Wise (1819–1900) was the founding father
success in the United States. In Europe it was repeatedly
of organized Reform Judaism in the United States. Unlike
forced to assert itself against an entrenched Orthodoxy,
Einhorn, whose intellectual stature he did not rival, but
sometimes supported by the government; in the New World
whom he far excelled in practical energy, Wise sought to
it faced no such established institutions. The United States
create an Americanized Judaism that could appeal to the wid-
lacked officially recognized Jewish communities, like the
est spectrum of Jewry in the United States. Eschewing con-
German Gemeinde with its powers of taxation and central-
sistency, Wise sometimes took one position on religious is-
ized control over Jewish affairs. The complete separation of
sues, sometimes another, being concerned more with
church and state, the numerous Christian denominations ex-
momentary effect than with crystallized ideology. However,
isting side by side, and the prevalent notion that religious ac-
unlike the radicals, he consistently rejected pentateuchal crit-
tivity was strictly a matter of free choice created an atmo-
icism as undermining the foundations of Judaism. As a rabbi
sphere most conducive to Jewish religious fragmentation.
in Cincinnati, Wise came to represent the more moderate
Moreover, it was difficult for an immigrant Jew in nine-
midwestern wing of Reform Judaism, which differentiated
teenth-century America to make a living while still observing
itself from the more thoroughgoing Reform of the East
all the inherited traditions. Given the large influx of Jews
Coast. It was largely due to Wise’s efforts that the national
from Germany in the second third of the nineteenth centu-
organizations of Reform Judaism were created: the UAHC
ry—among them some who had had experience with reli-
in 1873, Hebrew Union College (HUC) in 1875, and the
gious reform, as well as a number of Reform rabbis—it is un-
CCAR in 1889.
derstandable that, until the massive Jewish immigration from
eastern Europe in the last decades of the century, Reform Ju-
In 1885 Wise served as president of a rabbinical confer-
daism should play the dominant role in American Jewry. In
ence that formulated the Pittsburgh Platform, a document
the freer atmosphere of America, Reform soon took on a
that represented the ideological position of American 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
REFORM JUDAISM
7671
form Judaism for the next half-century. The key figure at the
The first major indication of this shift in position was
conference, however, was not Wise but Kaufmann Kohler
the Columbus Platform, adopted by the CCAR in 1937.
(1843–1926), a son-in-law and spiritual heir of David Ein-
This document was largely the work of Samuel Cohon
horn, who became the movement’s leading theologian and,
(1888–1959), an eastern European Jew who served for many
after a short interval, succeeded Wise as president of Hebrew
years as professor of Jewish theology at Hebrew Union Col-
Union College. Under Kohler’s influence the Pittsburgh
lege. The Columbus Platform spoke of a “living God” rather
conference declared that “Judaism presents the highest con-
than a “God idea”; described Torah, in its broad sense as
ception of the God-idea as taught in our holy Scriptures and
both written and oral law, as enshrining Israel’s “ever-
developed and spiritualized by the Jewish teachers in accor-
growing consciousness of God”; and declared that it was the
dance with the moral and philosophical progress of their re-
task of all Jews to rebuild Palestine as a Jewish homeland,
spective ages.” It recognized in the Bible “the record of the
both as a “refuge for the oppressed and a center of Jewish
consecration of the Jewish people to its mission as priest of
culture and spiritual life” (Meyer and Plaut, 2001,
the One God,” but found only the moral laws of the Penta-
pp. 199–203). In contrast to the Pittsburgh Platform, it
teuch to be binding, while ritual precepts were to be subject-
stressed the use of Hebrew in worship and the importance
ed to the criterion of their continuing capacity to sanctify life
of customs, symbols, and ceremonies. Like its predecessor,
and to be harmonizable with modern civilization. Jews were
the platform declared the movement’s commitment to social
defined as a religious community, not a nation, their religion
justice, a dominant concern of Reform Judaism during those
as progressive, “ever striving to be in accord with the postu-
years of economic distress in the United States.
lates of reason.” A final paragraph expressed a commitment
DEVELOPMENTS AFTER WORLD WAR II. In the immediate
to seek social justice in American society by reducing the
postwar years, Reform Judaism in the United States enjoyed
“contrasts and evils” in its present organization (Meyer and
remarkable growth. New congregations were established in
Plaut, 2001, pp. 197–199). For the next fifty years, Reform
the suburbs of major cities as increased Jewish affluence
Judaism adhered to the Pittsburgh Platform. During this pe-
made possible higher levels of support for religious institu-
riod the movement increased in numbers, reaching a high
tions both locally and nationally. The Christian religious re-
point of about 60,000 families in 285 congregations before
vival of the 1950s produced renewed interest in Jewish theol-
the Great Depression temporarily halted its growth. In 1892
ogy. In 1951 the UAHC moved its offices from Cincinnati
the CCAR published the first edition of the Union Prayer
to New York, the center of Jewish life in the United States.
Book, which, with only relatively minor revisions, remained
From 1943 to 1973 the congregational union was headed by
standard in Reform Judaism until 1975. However, during
Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath (1902–1973), a talented organiz-
this same half-century the movement was forced to give up
er and impressive public speaker. The well-known biblical
its hopes of becoming the norm for American Jewry. It was
archaeologist Nelson Glueck (1900–1972), as president of
increasingly associated specifically with the German Jewish
Hebrew Union College from 1947 to his death in 1971, was
immigrants and their descendants. Eastern Europeans, con-
able to achieve a merger with the Jewish Institute of Religion,
centrated in New York, either remained Orthodox, dissociat-
founded by the Zionist Reform rabbi Stephen S. Wise
ed themselves from religion entirely, or in the second genera-
(1874–1949) in 1922, and to bring about considerable ex-
tion were attracted by the more ethnic and nostalgic appeal
pansion of the combined institution.
of Conservative Judaism. Until the late 1930s most Reform
Jews were opposed to Jewish nationalism, seeing in Zionism
Reform Judaism now engaged vigorously with the
a retreat from the universal mission of Judaism. Nonetheless,
moral issues troubling American society. Rabbis and laity
a small percentage, especially among the rabbis, played active
participated actively in the civil rights movement and later
roles in Zionist affairs from the beginning of the century.
in the organized opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1961
the UAHC established the Religious Action Center in Wash-
Reorientation. Only in the late 1930s did Reform Ju-
ington, D.C., with the intent of making a direct impact on
daism in the United States began to lose its identification
legislation of Jewish and general religious or moral concern
with the German immigrants. Reform rabbis, and then in-
as well as educating the Reform constituency with regard to
creasingly the laity as well, were now coming from eastern
questions under current legislative consideration. In the spir-
European backgrounds. During this same decade, awareness
it of ecumenism the UAHC developed a department dealing
of the lot of Jews in Nazi Germany created stronger national
with interfaith activities, supplementing the long-standing
ties among all Jews. Gradually, Reform Judaism began a pro-
work of individual congregations and of the National Feder-
cess of transformation from which it emerged with a much
ation of Temple Brotherhoods in this area.
more significant ethnic and ceremonial component than
heretofore. Eventually the earlier period came to be designat-
Reform theology in this period grew increasingly di-
ed Classical Reform Judaism, and whereas its particular em-
verse. A group of Reform rabbis, who became known as
phases continued to be represented in a small number of con-
“covenant theologians,” favored a more personalist and exis-
gregations, even down to the early twenty-first century, a
tential grounding of their faith. Influenced by the twentieth-
reoriented Reform Judaism began to displace or modify it at
century European Jewish thinkers Franz Rosenzweig (1886–
an increasing pace.
1929) and Martin Buber (1878–1965), they eschewed 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
7672
REFORM JUDAISM
earlier idealist theology based on progressive revelation in
synagogues, religious schools, and summer camps. The
favor of the notion of divine-human encounter as represent-
CCAR declared Israeli Independence Day a religious holi-
ed both by the testimony of the Torah and by contemporary
day, and beginning in 1970 HUC–JIR required all entering
religious experience. At the same time, however, there arose
rabbinical students to spend the first year of their study at
a significant rationalist and even humanist faction within the
its campus in Jerusalem. Reform Jews organized the Associa-
movement. Its members stressed the impact of biblical criti-
tion of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) to give Reform
cism and psychoanalysis upon religion, as well as the difficult
Judaism an individual voice in the world Zionist movement.
theological questions that the Holocaust had raised for Jew-
ish theism.
In the state of Israel, the first successful Progressive con-
gregation was established, mostly by German Jewish immi-
Whereas theological positions in Reform Judaism gen-
grants, in Jerusalem in 1958. Congregations in the other
erally moved apart, religious practice, for the most part, be-
major cities followed, and attendance reached about five
came more traditional. The postwar period witnessed a re-
thousand for the High Holy Days. The congregations and
newal of interest in Jewish law not as authoritative in the
their rabbis united as the Movement for Progressive Judaism
Orthodox sense but as a guide for the religious life. Over
in Israel, a regular constituent of the World Union for Pro-
three decades Solomon Freehof (1892–1990) of Pittsburgh,
gressive Judaism. The latter moved its headquarters to Jeru-
one of the most influential Reform rabbis, published half a
salem in 1974. In the 1970s, Israeli Reform also established
dozen collections of Reform responsa on issues ranging from
its first kibbuts (collective agricultural settlement) in the
aspects of synagogue ritual to matters of individual obser-
southern desert and a youth movement with groups in vari-
vance. The publication of these responsa, as well as guides
ous cities. In 1980 HUC–JIR for the first time ordained an
for religious observance, was due in part to the feelings of
Israeli Reform rabbi in Jerusalem. However, Reform Judaism
most of the religious leadership that Reform Judaism needed
(and also Conservative Judaism) remained unrecognized by
to reengage with traditional symbols and practices if it was
the Israeli rabbinate and was forced to wage a continuous,
not to dissipate in the absorptive social climate of postwar
and by the early twenty-first century incompletely successful,
America. It was also prompted by a heightened ethnicism
struggle for equal rights with Orthodoxy. In general, Israeli
and personalism in Reform Judaism. The individual bar
Reform emerged as considerably more traditional than its
mitsvah ceremony for boys reaching the age of thirteen, and
counterpart in the United States, finding the positions taken
later the equivalent bat mitsvah ceremony for girls, were in-
by the American radical wing on such matters as rabbinical
creasingly adopted by Reform congregations, preceding the
officiation at mixed marriages and conversion procedures
group ceremony of confirmation. The rabbinical role, which
embarrassing in the Israeli milieu.
in Reform Judaism had principally been that of prophetic
preacher, now became more priestly, as congregants especial-
The centrality of Jewish peoplehood, symbolized by the
ly sought rabbis whose personal warmth would enhance life-
state of Israel, found clear expression in a new platform of
cycle ceremonies. Reform synagogues introduced more He-
Reform Judaism. Called “A Centenary Perspective” because
brew into the liturgy and encouraged greater congregational
it was composed about one hundred years after the creation
participation.
of the first national institutions of American Reform Juda-
ism, it was adopted by the CCAR in 1976. The statement
Jewish education among Reform Jews became more
was the work of a committee chaired by Rabbi Eugene Bo-
comprehensive in the 1970s. In place of the customary two
rowitz, a professor at the New York school of HUC–JIR and
hours per week of Sunday school instruction, most temples
one of the most influential contemporary theologians of the
now offered twice-weekly classes supplemented by weekends
movement. Unlike previous platforms, it did not seek to de-
or summer sessions at a camp. A handful of Reform day
fine Judaism as a whole dogmatically, but only to give a brief
schools came into existence for those children whose parents
historical account of Reform Judaism—what it has taught
desired them to obtain more extensive Jewish knowledge and
and what it has learned—and to describe its present spiritual
depth of Jewish commitment. The National Federation of
convictions. Recognizing and affirming the diversity of the-
Temple Youth introduced study programs for Reform teen-
ology and practice in contemporary Reform, it pointed to
agers beyond religious-school age, and rabbinical education
those broad conceptions and values shared by most Reform
was extended to women. The first woman, Sally Priesand,
Jews. In the wake of the Holocaust, and recognizing the
was ordained by HUC–JIR in 1972. In 1981 the UAHC
physically precarious situation of Israeli Jewry and the assim-
published its own Torah commentary, encouraging lay study
ilatory forces operative on American Judaism, the statement
of the Pentateuch according to the liberal approach of Re-
gave prominence to the value of ethnic survival, an element
form.
not highlighted in earlier platforms. It affirmed the reality
The commitment of Reform Judaism to Zionism deep-
of God without setting forth any specific theology and de-
ened in the postwar period. Reform Jews welcomed the es-
fined the people of Israel as inseparable from its religion.
tablishment of the state of Israel in 1948, shared feelings of
Torah was seen as the product of “meetings between God
crisis and relief during its Six-Day War, and increasingly ap-
and the Jewish people” (Meyer and Plaut, 2001,
propriated its cultural impact. Israeli melodies entered the
pp. 203–207), especially, but not only, in ancient times. 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
REGULY, ANTAL
7673
jecting the optimism of nineteenth-century Reform Judaism,
Jick’s study, The Americanization of the Synagogue, 1820–
the statement nonetheless reaffirmed the religious signifi-
1870 (Hanover, N.H., 1976), and the story of the move-
cance of human history and the moral obligations of Jews,
ment’s seminary from Samuel E. Karff, ed., Hebrew Union
both particularly in Jewish matters and in the pursuit of uni-
College–Jewish Institute of Religion at One Hundred Years
versal messianic goals.
(Cincinnati, 1976).
LATE-TWENTIETH-CENTURY TRENDS. During the last two
The more significant speeches delivered at meetings of the Central
decades of the twentieth century, Reform Judaism continued
Conference of American Rabbis have been collected in Jo-
to assume a more traditional character. Religious services in-
seph L. Blau, Reform Judaism: A Historical Perspective (New
York, 1973), and some of the more thoughtful members of
corporated a higher proportion of Hebrew; ritual practice be-
the CCAR reflect on various aspects of the history of their
came as important as social action. In other respects, howev-
organization in Bertram Wallace Korn, ed., Retrospect and
er, Reform Judaism took radical positions that separated it
Prospect: Essays in Commemoration of the Seventy-Fifth Anni-
from both Conservative Judaism and Orthodoxy. Unlike the
versary of the Founding of the Central Conference of American
latter, and in contradiction to Jewish law, Reform Judaism
Rabbis, 1889–1964 (New York, 1965). The variety in Re-
accepted children of mixed marriages whose fathers but not
form Jewish theology after World War II is well reflected in
mothers are Jewish and gave full equality in religious leader-
Bernard Martin, ed., Contemporary Reform Jewish Thought
ship to gays and lesbians. It sought to make non-Jews mar-
(Chicago, 1968). Two sociological analyses based on surveys
ried to Jews feel welcome in the synagogue.
taken in the early 1970s present the state of belief and prac-
tice among Reform rabbis and laity at that time: Theodore
Whereas a generation earlier the Reform movement,
I. Lenn, Rabbi and Synagogue in Reform Judaism (New
like American Judaism in general, was largely focused upon
York,1972), and Leonard J. Fein et al., Reform Is a Verb:
Jewish peoplehood, the Holocaust, and the state of Israel, it
Notes on Reform and Reforming Jews (New York, 1972).
increasingly emphasized the religious life of the individual,
Principal sources and the texts of the platforms of American Re-
introducing prayers for healing into its services and stressing
form Judaism are in Michael A. Meyer and W. Gunther
spirituality. Its rabbinate, perhaps under the influence of an
Plaut, eds., The Reform Judaism Reader: North American Doc-
increasing number of women within its ranks, came to place
uments (New York, 2001). Dana Evan Kaplan has edited two
less emphasis upon the sermon and more upon pastoral
volumes of reflections on the American Reform movement,
counseling. Finally, the leadership of the movement stressed
Contemporary Debates in American Reform Judaism (New
Jewish literacy, resulting in enhanced Jewish education for
York, 2001) and Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and
both children and adults. Most of these new trends were re-
Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism (Lanham, Md.,
flected in the platform of the movement adopted in Pitts-
2002). Contemporary American Reform Judaism is best fol-
burgh in 1999.
lowed through its major periodicals: Reform Judaism is a pop-
ular UAHC magazine circulated to all members four times
S
a year; the CCAR Journal, a quarterly, is the official organ of
EE ALSO Baeck, Leo; Buber, Martin; Frankel, Zacharias;
Geiger, Abraham; Herder, Johann Gottfried; Holdheim,
the Reform rabbis. Current information on Reform Judaism
Samuel; Judaism, article on Judaism in Northern and East-
is available on the websites of its major institutions.
ern Europe since 1500; Kohler, Kaufmann; Mendelssohn,
MICHAEL A. MEYER (1987 AND 2005)
Moses; Otto, Rudolf; Rosenzweig, Franz; Wise, Isaac M.;
Wise, Stephen S.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
REGULY, ANTAL (1819–1858) was a Hungarian trav-
The most comprehensive historical work on Reform Judaism is
eler, linguist, and ethnographer and one of the founding fa-
Michael A. Meyer, Response to Modernity: A History of the Re-
thers of Finno-Ugric studies. A typical romantic hero of his
form Movement in Judaism (New York, 1988), which re-
time, he was an extremely talented, persuasive, melancholic,
placed David Philipson, The Reform Movement in Judaism,
and uneven person. As a talented nobleman he started to
2d ed. (New York, 1931), reissued with a new introduction
study law in Hungary, then he left for a “grand tour” to the
by Solomon Freehof (New York, 1967). Earlier, W. Gunther
North, and in Stockholm he met the Finnish-Swedish poet
Plaut brought together a copious selection of primary
and politician A. I. Arwidsson (then in exile from his home-
sources, abbreviating the lengthier ones and translating into
land), who called Reguly’s attention to the national awaken-
English those in other languages. The material in two vol-
umes edited by Plaut, The Rise of Reform Judaism (New York,
ing in Finland (then a grand duchy in the Russian Empire).
1963) and The Growth of Reform Judaism (New York 1965),
Reguly, who knew about the affinities of Hungarian, Finn-
extends to 1948. Still of value is Max Wiener’s Jüdische Reli-
ish, and other Finno-Ugric languages, went to Finland,
gion im Zeitalter der Emanzipation (Berlin, 1933), translated
where between 1839 and 1841 he learned the Finnish lan-
into Hebrew (Jerusalem, 1974) but not, regrettably, into En-
guage and made his first ethnographic and linguistic field-
glish. The specific matter of liturgical change is comprehen-
work trips (also among the Lapps, then in Estonia and Inger-
sively treated, with extensive quotation from primary
manland, and among the Votes).
sources, in Jakob J. Petuchowski’s Prayerbook Reform in Eu-
rope (New York, 1968). The initial phases of Reform Juda-
In Finland, Reguly was one of the first to follow Elias
ism in the United States are well understood from Leon A.
Lönnrot’s footsteps as a folklore collector in Finland, and he
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
7674
REIMARUS, HERMANN SAMUEL
even started to translate the “old” Kalevala into Hungarian.
Reguly was not specialized in collecting mythology or
He met all the important intellectuals (including the mythol-
in grammar. In this respect his contemporary, the Finnish
ogist and initiator of the “awakening movement” of the
scholar Castrén surpassed him. But Reguly’s folklore texts are
Lapps, L. L. Laestadius), and from 1841 on he met the intel-
of unparalleled importance. He registered perhaps at the last
lectuals in Saint Petersburg (including K. E. von Baer and
moment the traditional texts, and he had the anthropolo-
Peter von Köppen) and Swedish Lapland. Beginning in
gist’s view on the life of the people. Moreover the later Hun-
1843, to some extent supported by the Czarist Academy and
garian expeditions collected good comparative material,
by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Reguly traveled to
often from the same village, but from informants two or
West Siberia to describe the peoples, akin to the Hungarians.
three generations later. The poetic genres and religious cere-
Reguly traveled alone and visited several groups of the
monies among the Ob-Ugrians Reguly detected are in some
Voguls and Ostiaks. In 1844 in Tobolsk he met the famous
cases alive even in the early twenty-first century. But their
Finnish linguist Matthias Alexander Castrén (1813–1852),
continuous variability Reguly’s data inevitable as a starting
who was in Siberia collecting material for his comparative
point to any further investigation. It is a pity that Reguly did
studies of Uralic languages and mythologies. Reguly, on his
not leave a “complete” description of an Ob-Ugrian sha-
way from Siberia (during the winter of 1845–1846) in the
man’s séance. His material still serves as the basis for the later
central area by the River Volga, collected some material of
summaries of Ob-Ugrian religion, such as those by Bernát
language and lore of the Finno-Ugric Cheremis and Mord-
Munkácsi, Géza Róheim, Béla Kálmán, Vilmos Diószegi,
vins and also the Turkic people, the Chuvash. Exhausted by
Edit Vértes, and Éva Schmidt. Reguly’s collections from
the hardship of the climate and having serious financial trou-
other Finno-Ugric peoples have a lesser importance for the
bles, he nevertheless was able to collect important linguistic,
study of mythology, but they are often the first scholarly col-
anthropological, and folklore material, including epic songs
lected folklore items of special regions or genres.
and other genres. After his return to Saint Petersburg in
1846, he engaged in drawing the first detailed map of the
SEE ALSO Castrén, Matthias Alexander; Finno-Ugric Reli-
Ural Mountains.
gions; Khanty and Mansi Religion; Laestadius, Lars Levi.
Due to his failing health and hidden intrigues among
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Finnish and Russian scholarly circles in Saint Petersburg, Re-
Lázár, Katalin and Eniko˝ Szíj. Reguly Antal “hangjegyre szedett” fin-
guly had to return to Hungary, where in 1848 he was ap-
nugor dallamai. Budapest, 2000. Finno-Ugric folk melodies,
pointed first librarian of the university. In that time of re-
collected by Reguly, with musical notes.
forms and a war of liberation in Hungary, the whole society
Pápay, József. Reguly Antal emlékezete. Budapest, 1905. Papers in
wanted to find “noble relatives” for the Hungarians with
memoriam of Reguly.
elaborate mythology and majestic heroic songs, like the
Reguly, Antal. Sciences Research Diary. In the Archives of the
Finnish Kalevala. Reguly’s trips did not fulfill such expecta-
Hungarian Academy of Budapest. Unpublished.
tions. He could not find the ancient homeland (Urheimat)
of the Hungarians, and the “mythology” in his Vogul and
Reguly, Antal. Ethnographisch-geographische Karte des nördlichen
Ural Gebietes: Entworfen auf einer Reise in den Jahren 1844
Ostiak texts seemed to be little and uninteresting. Moreover
und 1845. Saint Petersburg, 1846.
Reguly was unable to decipher and translate most of his field-
work notes. Despite his nonsystematic training in linguistics,
Reguly, Antal, Bernát Munkácsi, and Béla Kálmán. Vogul nép-
költési gyu˝jtemény (Volgul folk poetry). 4 vols. with subvols.
he could master foreign languages with ease. But he collected
Budapest, 1892–1963. Texts, translations, and scholarly
too much material in a hasty way. After suffering a nervous
notes.
breakdown, he recovered slowly. In 1857 he conducted an-
thropological research among the palóc group in Hungary,
Reguly, Antal, József Pápay, Miklós Zsirai, and Dávid Fokos. Osz-
tják népköltési gyu˝jtemény (Ostiak folk poetry). 3 vols. with
but he died suddenly, without publishing the texts he
subvols. Budapest, 1905–1965. Texts, translations, and
collected.
scholarly notes.
Generations of Finno-Ugric linguists in Hungary (such
Róheim, Géza. Hungarian and Vogul Mythology. Locust Valley,
as Pál Hunfalvy, Bernát Munkácsi, József Pápai, Miklós
N.Y., 1954.
Zsirai, Dávid Fokos Fuchs, and Béla Kálmán) undertook the
Stipa, Günter. Finnisch-ugrische Sprachforschung. Helsinki, 1990.
painstaking task of editing Reguly’s manuscripts. From the
Vértes, Edit. Szibériai nyelvrokonaink hitvilága. Budapest, 1990.
end of the nineteenth century they organized several field-
work trips to western Siberia, and with the help of native in-
Vértes, Edit. Die Mythologie der Uralier Sibiriens. Bonn, 2001.
formants, they have tried to translate Reguly’s texts. Of
VILMOS VOIGT (2005)
course they have collected new material as well. In the early
twenty-first century practically a complete, bilingual edition
of Reguly’s Vogul and Ostiak texts exists, with scholarly
notes. The notes describe several genres of folk literature of
REIMARUS, HERMANN SAMUEL (1694–
the Ob-Ugrians and give detailed summaries on bear cere-
1768), German theologian and philosopher. Son of a schol-
monialism and personal and epic songs.
ar, grandson of a clergyman, student and son-in-law of J. A.
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
REINACH, SALOMON
7675
Fabricius (one of the staunchest defenders of orthodoxy of
The fragments played a role in Strauss’s struggle to es-
the time), Reimarus was for much of his life a professor of
tablish a mythical view of miracles. Strauss used Reimarus
Oriental languages at the Hamburg academic Gymnasium.
to show that Christianity was not supernatural. As a result,
He lived during the period of the German Enlightenment,
Reimarus confronts the modern reader with the question of
amidst the evolving discussion of the relation between reason
the historicity of the miracles.
and revelation.
The fragments also influenced Schweitzer in his work
Reimarus’s public religious views belong to that stage
in the area of eschatology. Schweitzer turned to Reimarus to
characterized by the philosophical synthesis of Christian
support his view that Jesus’ orientation was eschatological,
Wolff: (1) revelation may be above reason but not contrary
that Jesus expected an imminent end of the world, and that
to it, and (2) reason establishes the criteria by which revela-
the delay of the Parousia was the main problem of early
tion may be judged, namely, necessity and consistency. Pub-
Christian theology, beginning with Jesus himself.
licly, Reimarus argued that the demands of a natural religion
of reason only and those of Christianity agree with or com-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
plement one another. Natural religion, he contended, lays
Grappin, Pierre. “La théologie naturelle de Reimarus.” Études ger-
the ground for Christianity. These public views were set
maniques 6 (1951): 169–181.
forth most succinctly in his Abhandlungen von den vornehms-
Lundsteen, A. C. Hermann Samuel Reimarus und die Anfänge der
ten Wahrheiten der natürlichen Religion (Essays on the Princi-
Leben-Jesu Forschung. Copenhagen, 1939.
pal Truths of Natural Religion; 1754). At his death, a col-
league would eulogize him as a defender of Christianity.
Sieveking, Heinrich. “Hermann Samuel Reimarus, 1694–1768.”
Zeitschrift des Vereins für hamburgische Geschichte 38 (1939):
Reimarus’s private views of religion were not known
145–182.
even to his wife. They were part of the rationalism that con-
Strauss, David F. Hermann Samuel Reimarus und seine Schutz-
tended that the criteria of reason judge revelation to be false.
schrift für die vernunftigen Verehrer Gottes. 2d ed. Bonn,
Revelation is at odds with reason and must be displaced.
1877.
Natural religion, he believed, replaces Christianity. Reimarus
Talbert, Charles H., ed., Reimarus: Fragments. Translated by
recorded his private views in a secret manuscript he entitled
Ralph S. Fraser. Philadelphia, 1970. Includes my critical in-
Apologie oder Schutzschrift für die vernünftigen Verehrer Gottes
troduction (pp. 1–43).
(Apology for or Defense of the Rational Worshiper of God),
three copies of which remain. Of the thirty-seven works that
CHARLES H. TALBERT (1987)
he wrote, this one alone has brought him renown. In it he
accepts Wolff’s contention that the two criteria of necessity
and consistency must be satisfied by any alleged revelation
REINACH, SALOMON (1858–1932) was a French
before its genuineness can be accepted. He then sets out to
archaeologist and author of more than seventy books. Rei-
show (1) that it is possible to describe the origins of Chris-
nach is most widely known for his controversial writings in
tianity as entirely natural (not miraculous and therefore not
the area of the anthropological-ethnological comparative
necessary) and (2) that any supposed revelation is filled with
study of religions. He became conservator of the Musées Na-
contradictions (not logically consistent). Reason thereby un-
tionales in 1893, director of the Musée des Antiquités Na-
dermines the claims of the alleged Christian revelation.
tionales in Saint-Germain in 1901, and also served from the
Seven fragments of this manuscript were published by G. E.
following year onward as professor at the École du Louvre
Lessing between 1774 and 1778. Of these the two most in-
in Paris. He was coeditor of the Revue archéologique, and
fluential were the sixth, “On the Resurrection Narratives”
from 1896 a member of the Académie des Inscriptions.
(1777), which declares the revelation of the resurrection false
on the basis of contradictions, and the seventh, “On the In-
Although he branded eighteenth-century rationalism as
tentions of Jesus and His Disciples” (1778), which draws a
a “paltry doctrine” seeking “to suppress religion without
distinction between the message and intention of Jesus and
knowing its essence and without any clear idea of its origin
that of the early church.
and development” (Cultes, vol. 2, p. xviii, my translation),
Reimarus has influenced contemporary thought indi-
Reinach expressed his admiration for Voltaire, whose ideas
rectly through Lessing, David F. Strauss, and Albert Schweit-
about religion he did not share, but whose “incomparable
zer. The fragments of the Apologie caused Lessing to break
gifts as a narrator” greatly inspired him (Orpheus, Eng. ed.
with the eighteenth-century assumption that religious truth
of 1930, pp. vi-vii) and in whose spirit he wished to wage
depended on the historicity of certain alleged events in scrip-
a more effective campaign against the church. “The history
ture. Lessing’s position, in turn, influenced Kierkegaard,
of humanity is that of a progressive secularisation [laïcisation]
who maintained that Christian truth is established indepen-
which is by no means complete as yet” (Orpheus, p. 23).
dently of one’s estimate of the historical origins of Christiani-
Reinach saw his own role as that of a popularizer of what
ty by God’s act in the moment, though history occasions that
others—among them Robertson Smith, Frazer, Tylor, Lang,
moment. The fragments also caused Lessing to come to grips
and Jevons—had discovered: “Mine has been a lowlier
with the need for source criticism of the Gospels.
part—to grasp the ideas of my betters, and to diffuse them
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
7676
REINCARNATION
as widely as I might” (Cults, p. xi). His summary definitions
in French as Cultes, mythes et religions (Paris, 1996). This vol-
of magic and religion and of totem and taboo are in many
ume is provided with a foreword by Pierre Brunel, a preface,
ways illustrative of his approach. Reinach described magic as
five sectional introductions and complementary notes by
“the strategy of animism,” and he based his definition of reli-
Hervé Duchêne. The detailed and well-organized bibliogra-
gion on the Latin word religio, calling it “a sum of scruples
phy makes this book an indespensable tool for every research.
which impede the free exercise of our faculties” (Orpheus, p.
Metzger, H. “La Bibliothèque Salomon Reinach.” Bulletin de Li-
23). On totem and taboo Reinach remarked: “The totem is
aison de la Société des Amis de la Bibliothèque Salomon Reinach
inconceivable without a taboo, and the logical outcome of
2 (1984): 25–27.
a generalised taboo can hardly be anything else than a totem”
Duchêne, Hervé. “Un Athénien: Salomon Reinach.” Bull. Cor-
(Cults, p. ix). His admission, made during the Third Interna-
respondance Hellenique 120 (1996): 273–284.
tional Congress for the History of Religions held at Oxford
Lavagne, Henri. “Lettres inédites de Franz Cumont à Salomon
in 1908, that totemism was “an overridden hobby” of which
Reinach.” Compre rendus de l’Academie des Inscriptions 2
he himself had been “one of the roughriders” was followed
(2000): 763–774.
by the statement that he “did not yet feel disposed to apolo-
gize nor to recant,” and this unwillingness seems to hold true
WILLEM A. BIJLEFELD (1987)
Revised Bibliography
for subsequent writings as well. Discussing, for example, the
ceremonial killing and eating of a totem, he leaves the possi-
bility open that this idea of “fortifying and sanctifying one-
self by assimilation of a divine being” survived in the medi-
REINCARNATION. The doctrine of reincarnation
eval Christian rite of the Eucharist: “If primitive
concerns the rebirth of the soul or self in a series of physical
Christianity, with its theophagistic practices, conquered Eu-
or preternatural embodiments, which are customarily human
rope so rapidly, it was because this idea of the manducation
or animal in nature but are in some instances divine, angelic,
of the god was not new, but simply the presentation of one
demonic, vegetative, or astrological (i.e., are associated with
of the most profound religious instincts of humanity in a
the sun, moon, stars, or planets). The concept of rebirth may
more spiritual form” (Orpheus, p. 19).
also be expressed in such terms as metempsucho¯sis (or more
accurately, metenso¯mato¯sis, “passage from one body to anoth-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
er”) and palingenesis (Gr., lit., “to begin again”).
Reinach wrote extensively in the areas of classical philology, ar-
chaeology, and art history. Among his publications in these
The belief in rebirth in one form or another is found
fields are Manuel de philologie classique, 2 vols. (Paris, 1883–
in tribal or nonliterate cultures all over the world. The notion
1884); Minerva, 4th ed. (Paris, 1900); and Apollo: Histoire
is most dramatically evident in the native societies of central
générale des arts plastiques (Paris, 1904), which has been
Australia and West Africa, where it is intimately associated
translated by Florence Simmonds as Apollo: An Illustrated
with the cult of ancestor worship.
Manual of the History of Art throughout the Ages, 2d ed. (Lon-
don, 1907).
It is in ancient India and Greece, however, that the doc-
trine of rebirth has been most elaborately developed. In
Almost one hundred of Reinach’s articles, most dealing with the
India, the precept is linked inextricably with the teachings
comparative study of religion, were republished in Cultes,
and practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism (a
mythes et religions, 2d ed., 4 vols. (Paris, 1908–1913). Eliza-
beth Frost selected fourteen of these essays for her transla-
hybrid synthesis of Hinduism and Islam founded in the fif-
tion, Cults, Myths and Religions (London, 1912).
teenth century by Guru¯ Na¯nak), and Sufism (the mystical
branch of Islam); it even figures in the writings of such mod-
Bibliographical sources include E. Pottier’s “Salomon Reinach,”
Revue archéologique, 5th series, 36 (1932): 137–154; Biblio-
ern thinkers as Ramakrishna and Aurobindo. In ancient
graphie de Salomon Reinach, 1874–1922, with supplement
Greece, the idea is identified primarily with the philosophical
(Saint-Germain, 1922–1927); and Bibliographie de Salomon
lineages of Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, and Plotinus.
Reinach, with notes by Seymour de Ricci (Paris, 1936). This
The doctrine of rebirth can also be found in certain an-
last volume also includes a biographical sketch of Reinach.
cient Near Eastern religions, for example, the royal cultus of
New Sources
the pharoahs in ancient Egypt and the mystery cult of Or-
Reinach’s ideas on the origins and development of religions are
pheus in second-century Greece. It is found in the teachings
summarized in Orpheus: Histoire générale des religions (Paris,
of Manichaeism, a third-century CE Persian religion founded
1909). This book became extremely popular. It went
by the prophet Mani. The concept of reincarnation also fig-
through thirty editions (30th, Paris, 1921) and was translated
ures in such modern schools of thought as the Theosophy
into five languages, including Russian during the Soviet era.
The English edition, translated by Florence Simmonds as
of H. P. Blavatsky and Annie Besant and the humanistic psy-
Orpheus: A General History of Religions (New York, 1909),
chology of thinkers like C. G. Jung and Fritz Perls; it appears
went through thirty-eight editions before Reinach’s death
also in the “perennial philosophy” of Aldous Huxley.
(the edition quoted in the text is that of 1930).
ARCHAIC CULTURES. That the belief in reincarnation is of
Every existing publication of Cults, Myths and Religions is super-
great antiquity in the history of the human species is suggest-
seded by a new edition of a broad selection of these articles
ed by the existence of the idea at the core of the belief systems
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
REINCARNATION
7677
of numerous nonliterate ethnic groups scattered throughout
According to Australian Aboriginal religious beliefs, a
various parts of the world. It is also suggested by the fact that
deceased ancestor, after a sojourn of an unspecified length
some archaic peoples whose physical culture (domestic archi-
of time in the land of the dead, returns to the world of the
tecture, implements of livelihood, etc.) is of an extremely
living by entering the body of a mother at the moment of
primitive nature (e.g., the Arunta, or Aranda, people who
conception. The father is believed to play no direct role in
originally inhabited the wastelands of central Australia and
impregnating the mother. Instead, the mother-to-be con-
who may be classified as a Stone Age society) espouse the
ceives new life by coming into the proximity of an oknanikil-
ideas of preexistence and reincarnation, which may indicate
la, or local totem center, in which a spirit being (alcheringa)
that this belief arose contemporaneously with the origins of
or soul of a deceased ancestor is lying in wait to be reborn.
human culture per se.
Women who desire children travel to a sacred totem
It is particularly significant that a belief in reincarnation
center with the intention of conceiving. The Aborigines also
in some form or another is to be found in non-literate cul-
believe that if a woman happens to walk in the revered spots
tures all over the world. Other primary cultural areas (besides
where the alcheringa ancestors are located, she will become
central Australia) in which this precept is noticeably present
impregnated without their intending it, even against their
are West Africa (among the Ewe, Edo, Igbo, and Yoruba),
will. It is also commonly believed that when a woman con-
southern Africa (among the Bantu-speakers and the Zulu),
ceives a child at a site sacred to a particular clan or totemic
Indonesia, Oceania, New Guinea, and both North and
group (say, for example, the lizard totem), then that child
South America (among selected ethnic groups).
will belong to the clan identified with the place of concep-
In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, reincarnation is not
tion rather than with the clan of its parents. Thus, clan con-
only viewed positively, but failure to be reborn and thereby
nections outweigh blood-relationships in cultural signifi-
gain yet another opportunity to improve the world of the liv-
cance.
ing is regarded as an evil (as is the state of childlessness).
HINDUISM. The whole of the Hindu ethical code laid down
Weighty emphasis is placed upon fertility rites and the effica-
in the ancient law books (e.g., Laws of Manu) presupposes
cious powers of the shaman to promote the production of
the survival of the soul after death and assumes that the pres-
offspring (i.e., the rebirth of the ancestral spirits).
ent life is fundamentally a preparation for the life to come.
According to the Hindu conception of transmigration or re-
Among the Yoruba and Edo peoples, the belief in the
birth (sam:sa¯ra, “a course or succession of states of existence”),
rebirth of the departed ancestors remains a strong and vi-
the circumstances of any given lifetime are automatically de-
brant cultural force to the present day. It is their custom to
termined by the net results of good and evil actions in previ-
name each boy child “Father Has Returned” and each girl
ous existences. This, in short, is the law of karman (action),
child “Mother Has Returned.” The Zulu hold that the spirit
a universal law of nature that works according to its own in-
of each person undergoes numerous rebirths in the bodies
herent necessity. Reward and punishment are thus not de-
of various beasts, which range in size from tiny insects to
creed by a god or gods nor by any other supernatural person-
huge elephants, until at long last the spirit enters a human
age. It is a person’s own actions, in conformity to the moral
body where it is fated to undergo yet another birth. Finally,
and cosmic law (dharma), that is determinative. The law of
after reaching the pinnacle of human existence, the soul is
karman finds synoptic expression in the Upanis:adic asser-
united with the supreme spirit from which it originated in
tion: “By good deeds one becomes good, by evil, evil.”
the beginning. Here, as in other archaic cultures, the belief
in reincarnation is linked directly with the veneration of an-
As early as the Upanis:ads human destinies are assigned
cestors, for it is the spirits of deceased ancestors that return
to two divergent pathways: the pathway of the ancestors
in one or another life-form in association with the various
(pitr:s), which is traversed by those persons who follow world-
totemic groups that form the organizational structure of the
ly pursuits, and the pathway of the gods (devas), which is
society.
taken by those who meditate with faith and austerity in the
forest (Cha¯ndogya Upanis:ad 4.15.5, 5.10.1–10). The former
For the Australian Aborigines, it is axiomatic that the
path leads to rebirth; the latter, toward brahman and libera-
spirits of human beings are periodically incarnated in animal
tion. After the “worldling” has resided in the postmortem
or plant forms or even in such inanimate entities as water,
realm until the effects of his previous deeds has been con-
fire, and wind, or the sun, moon, and stars. This belief is
sumed, he returns along the same route by which he departed
based upon the presupposition that the soul is separable from
the world to be reborn. By contrast, those who depart by the
the body and from any other physical object it may inhabit.
pathway of the gods reach brahman, the Ultimate, and are
By virtue of its capacity to survive independently of a physi-
released from the rule of sam:sa¯ra forever. For them, say the
cal abode for at least a brief time, the soul possesses the capac-
scriptures, there is no returning.
ity to travel from body to body and to inhabit a variety of
forms ranging from stones and insects to animals and human
The Bhagavadg¯ıta¯, one of the most highly revered texts
beings. Because of the centrality of the totemic clan in Ab-
of Hinduism, asserts that the eternal self (a¯tman) is unaffect-
original religion, it was of utmost importance to establish the
ed even to the slightest degree by the vicissitudes of finite ex-
precise identity of the ancestor being reborn in each instance.
istence. According to this text, the universal soul, or self, in
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
7678
REINCARNATION
its essential nature neither comes to be nor passes away, for
to the principle of Dependent Co-origination (prat¯ıtya-
“of the nonexistent there is no coming to be; of the existent,
samutpa¯da; Pali, pat:iccasamuppa¯da). The technical formula-
there is no coming not to be” (2.11–25). It is rather the body
tion of this Law of Causation is as follows: “If this exists [e.g.,
(´sar¯ıra) or the embodied form (j¯ıva) of the self that is subject
an acorn], then that comes to be [an oak tree].” The entire
to the changing conditions of life: creation and destruction,
universe perishes and is created afresh in every instant; noth-
good and evil, victory and defeat. As the eternal, unchanging,
ing remains the same from one moment to the next, from
and imperishable spiritual essence of humanity, the self is in-
a single microbe to an entire galaxy.
vincible to alteration of any sort, whether on this side of eter-
The human being or personality, therefore, is not to be
nity or beyond.
understood essentially as an integral and enduring mind-
The succession of finite births has traditionally been re-
body organism but rather as the manifestation of a highly
garded by Hindus pessimistically, as an existential misfor-
complex succession of psychosomatic moments propelled
tune and not as a series of “second chances” to improve one’s
along the temporal continuum by the force of karman. In
lot, as it is often viewed in the West. Life is regarded not only
the Buddhist view, the human person can be broken down
as “rough, brutish, and short” but as filled with misery
into five constitutive elements, or strands (skandhas); it is
(duh:kha). Thus, the multiplication of births within this “vale
continually changing but is always determined by its previ-
of tears” merely augments and intensifies the suffering that
ous actions. As such, humans are never the same from mo-
is the lot of all creatures. Furthermore, this painful existence
ment to moment and therefore are in no sense the projection
continues unabated until such time as a person experiences
of a permanent self. Hence, a cardinal teaching of the Bud-
spiritual liberation (moks:a, or mukti).
dha is “there is nothing that transmigrates and yet there is
rebirth.”
The root cause of this existential bondage to time, igno-
rance, and suffering is desire (tan:ha¯), or avaricious attach-
If there is no absolute self that survives the death of one
ment to objects that at best bring only limited, and often de-
body and is reborn in a new one, then how is the doctrine
based, pleasure. Even the life of a deity (deva) is governed by
of rebirth to be reconciled with that of “no-self”? The Bud-
the law of death and rebirth. Hence, a person’s only hope
dha declares that this question, like other questions pertain-
of escaping the clutches of rebirth is through extinguishing
ing to the fundamental nature of reality, arises out of a mis-
all desires except the desire for perfect unification with the
construing of the nature of karman. Karman is not a unified
universal self (brahman). The empirical self of the liberated
and independently existing entity that moves from life to life,
person “goes to the brahman and becomes the brahman.” As
as a traveler might go from place to place. Rightly under-
a result, he is free from the effects of all actions, both good
stood, karman is the life process itself, the blending of energy
and evil, and from any subsequent participation in existences
and form that coordinates an unending flow of life moments.
determined by karman. This state of complete union with
That is, the myriad clusters of factors that constitute the uni-
the universal self is known as moks:a (“release” or “salvation”).
verse at any given moment are nothing more than the prod-
uct of all its pasts. In other words, the sprout is not the tem-
Opinions differ among Indian sages as to whether final
porary projection of some universal “soul-stuff” but rather
liberation is attainable while still in an embodied state or
a permutation of the parent seed. As one Buddhist text de-
only after death. At least from the time of the Veda¯nta Su¯tra
clares, “One hundred thousand universes conspire in the cre-
(second century), the sages believed that salvation could be
ation of the iridescent eye that graces the feather in the pea-
achieved while still alive. Thus, according to the
cock’s tail.” Birth and death, then, are to be construed as
Maha¯bha¯rata, the a¯tman is affected by the bonds of finite ex-
nothing more than dramatic interruptions or exceptional in-
istence only under the conditions of metaphysical ignorance
novations in the ongoing life process.
(avidya¯), but once a soul is enlightened (praka¯s:ita), the self
is freed from the consequences of its good and evil deeds and
Therefore, neither a single entity (however subtle and
thereupon becomes indistinguishably identified with the
rarified) nor a conglomeration of entities passes across from
brahman (12.267.32–38).
the old life-form to the new, yet the continuity among the
B
phenomena is maintained. That is, all of the constitutive ele-
UDDHISM. S
´a¯kyamuni Buddha, like his philosophical and
ments of a person’s life are present from the moment of con-
spiritual predecessors, believed that birth and death recur in
ception, just as the sprout preexists in the seed and contains
successive cycles for the person who lives in the grip of igno-
the sum total of all the effects of its antecedent causal ele-
rance about the true nature of the world. However, he under-
ments, at least in a state of potentiality.
cut the Veda¯ntic position by denying that the world of eva-
nescent entities is undergirded and suffused by an eternal and
According to the doctrine of karman, a person may be
unalterable Self or “soul-stuff” (a¯tman). In place of the doc-
reborn successively into any one of five classes of living be-
trine of absolute self, he propagated the precept of “no-self”
ings: gods, human beings, animals, hungry ghosts, or deni-
(ana¯tman), namely, that the human person, along with ev-
zens of hell. Since birth as a human being occurs at the apex
erything else that constitutes the empirical universe, is the
of the ladder of existence and is the penultimate stage to full
offspring (phala) of an unbroken, everfluctuating process of
enlightenment, it follows that all humans have undergone a
creation and destruction and birth and extinction according
birth in each of the four other orders of existence prior 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
REINCARNATION
7679
the current cycle and occupy a privileged position from
Empedocles (490–430 BCE), under the influence of the
which to reach the ultimate goal.
writings of the mystic-mathematician Pythagoras, asserted
that nothing in the cosmos is either created or destroyed. All
While theoretically all human beings possess the capaci-
living things undergo transmutation in accordance with the
ty to achieve enlightenment and, thence, liberation from re-
relationships among the four basic elements (air, fire, water,
birth (Zen Buddhists, for example, contend that a person can
and earth). The souls of the impure are condemned to trans-
experience satori at any moment simply by dropping off the
migrate for thirty thousand years through numerous types
thinking mind), in practice only those select few who forsake
of incarnations. In the course of this transition, various life-
the life of social responsibility in the world and follow the
times are affected in diverse ways by each of the four ele-
Buddha dharma exclusively as monks and nuns have a realis-
ments. Escape from this dark destiny is achieved through a
tic hope of achieving salvation in this life.
lengthy purification process, the primary requirement of
JAINISM. According to the teachings of Maha¯v¯ıra (c. 599–
which is the avoidance of eating the flesh of animals whose
527 BCE), the founder of Jainism, the unenlightened soul is
souls once may have inhabited human bodies.
bound to follow a course of transmigration that is beginning-
Like many other religious and philosophical traditions
less and one that will persist for an unimaginable length of
that hold to a belief in reincarnation, Orphism, an ancient
time. The soul becomes defiled by involvement in desire-
Greek mystery cult that celebrated the life, death, and resur-
laden actions and thereby attracts increasingly burdensome
rection of the god Orpheus, is based upon a dualistic concep-
quantities of karmic matter upon itself. This polluting mate-
tion of humanity. Orphic sages declared that humans are
rial, in turn, promotes the further corruption of the soul
composed of an invisible soul that was originally good and
and causes its inevitable movement through countless incar-
pure but that has become polluted by some kind of primor-
nations.
dial sin or error. As a consequence of this ancient transgres-
The Jains conceive of karman as composed of innumer-
sion, the originally pure soul has become imprisoned within
able invisible particles of material substance that pervade all
a physical body that is believed to be impure or evil by
occupied space. Actions of body, mind, and speech project
nature.
waves of energy that, when combined with the antithetical
The ultimate aim of this mystery was to raise the soul
passions of desire (ra¯ga) and hatred (dves:a), attract karmic
of each devotee to increasingly loftier and purer levels of spir-
“dust” to the soul and weigh it down deeper and deeper in
itual existence. The elevation of the soul was promoted by
the slough of ignorance and rebirth.
participation in the sacramental practices of the Orphic
Jains also distinguish between the initial awakening to
brotherhoods (thiasoi). By performing these sacraments—
an awareness of one’s bondage to ignorance, suffering, death,
always in secret places and often in the dead of night—the
and rebirth (the most that the layperson can hope to
devotee received the power of the divine life. By continually
achieve), on the one hand, and the ultimate state of libera-
cultivating this gift through meditation, prayer, and vegetari-
tion, on the other. This ultimate state of bliss to which aspire
anism, he eventually gained immortality and thereby
all Jains (or at least the adherents of the monastic path) dis-
achieved release from any future reincarnations.
perses and dissolves the load of karmic matter that encum-
Orphic eschatology emphasized postmortem rewards
bers the mind-body ego and transforms the practitioner into
and punishments. Because of its essentially spiritual nature,
an omniscient and totally dispassionate soul.
the soul could not achieve its true state of existence until after
ANCIENT GREECE. Whether the idea of metempsychosis was
the last of a lengthy series of lives. Complete and lasting free-
imported by the ancient Greeks from the East (more specifi-
dom from bondage to the material order could be realized
cally, India) is subject to speculation in face of the absence
only after undergoing a series of rebirths in a variety of physi-
of conclusive evidence to support one or another view. Be
cal forms that were determined by the merits of the previous
that as it may, the concept of rebirth occupied a central place
life or lives. Supposedly it was this mystical teaching that was
in Greek thought from the time of Pherecydes of Syros (sixth
the heart of the revelation that was given to each novice initi-
century BCE), the mentor of Pythagoras (c. 582–507 BCE),
ated into the Orphic religion.
and came into full flowering in the writings of Plato (427–
Plato drew together and synthesized numerous strands
347 BCE) and Plotinus (205–270 CE).
of thought concerning the fate of the individual soul. Under
Herodotos, the greatest of ancient Greek historians, re-
the influence of Empedocles, Pythagoras, the Orphic proph-
cords that the Egyptians were the first people to embrace the
ets, and others, he fashioned a theory of the nature and desti-
doctrine of reincarnation. According to his sources, the
ny of humanity that is as complex in its philosophical make-
Egyptians believed that the soul is immortal (i.e., subject to
up as it is inspiring in its poetical contents. Like the
rebirth after each death) and that it passes through various
Veda¯ntins, he believed that the soul (psuch¯e) is immortal.
species of terrestrial, marine, and aerial creatures before once
The soul is the governor and indweller of all conscious be-
again becoming embodied in human form, the entire cycle
ings; it descends periodically into the physical realm of exis-
being completed at the end of a period of three thousand
tence as a result of metaphysical nescience and bondage to
years.
the passions. Like the Veda¯ntins and the Buddhists, Plato de-
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
7680
REINCARNATION
clared that the soul of each human being (except for that of
is the number of Asian (primarily Indian) religious traditions
the “true philosopher,” who is the one truly enlightened
that have appeared in Europe and America, along with theos-
being) is entrapped by the body (and by material reality, gen-
ophy, transpersonal psychology, and the academic study of
erally) because of its attachment to the objects of transitory
the history of religions and comparative philosophy.
desire (i.e., objects of pleasure and pain). In a statement in
One of the most curious manifestations of the belief in
the Laws (book 10) that could easily have been lifted directly
reincarnation in modern times is a new approach to psycho-
from the Upanis:ads, he asserts, “Recognize that if you be-
therapy that operates in the United States under the rubric
come baser you will go to baser souls, and if higher, to the
of “rebirthing analysis,” which purports to help the client
higher, and in every course of life and death you will do and
deal with current psychological and spiritual problems by re-
suffer what like may appropriately suffer at the hands of
calling personal experiences during numerous past lifetimes
like.”
with the aid of meditation, hypnosis, and in some cases, con-
Even the selection of a new incarnation by each soul at
sciousness-altering drugs.
the beginning of a new life cycle is determined by the experi-
Time alone will tell whether this new imprint on the
ences of the former lifetime. During its journey through a
fabric of Western thought and life will endure to become an
series of births, the soul finds temporary abode not only in
integral part of the overall design or will, in time, fade into
a variety of land, air, and water creatures, but, once it has
insignificance and remain only as a vague memory of a short-
achieved the status of humanity, it may pass through a num-
lived image in Western consciousness.
ber of professions of varying degrees of moral quality, rang-
ing from that of a demagogue and tyrant at the nadir of the
SEE ALSO Enlightenment; Karman; Moks:a; Orpheus.
scale, to a lover, a follower of the Muses, and a seeker after
wisdom at the apex (Phaedrus 248d–e).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
de Bary, Wm. Theodore, et al., eds. Sources of Indian Tradition.
According to Plato’s famous myth of Er (Republic 10),
New York, 1958.
those souls whose minds are governed by the baser pleasures
Ducasse, Curt John. A Critical Examination of the Belief in the Life
first travel to the plain of Forgetfulness and take up residence
after Death. Springfield, Ill., 1961.
on the banks of the river of Indifference, “where each as he
Head, Joseph, and S. L. Cranston, eds. Reincarnation: The Phoenix
drinks, forgets everything”; they then go to their respective
Fire Mystery. New York, 1977.
births “like so many shooting stars.”
MacGregor, Geddes. Reincarnation as a Christian Hope. London,
The painful and disorienting wanderings of the soul
1982.
throughout the various orders of creatures are brought to a
Parrinder, Geoffrey. “Varieties of Belief in Reincarnation.” Hib-
halt, and the soul is ushered into a state of eternal and per-
bert Journal 55 (April 1957): 260–267.
fectly fulfilling bliss, but only after it has divorced itself com-
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, and Charles A. Moore, eds. A Source
pletely from the pleasures of the body and the material
Book in Indian Philosophy. Princeton, 1957.
world, placed all of its appetites and yearnings under the gov-
Stevenson, Ian. Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. 2d ed.
ernance of Reason, and attained a pure and undeviating con-
Charlottesville, Va., 1974.
templation of the Absolute (“the Good”), thereby obtaining
“the veritable knowledge of being that veritably is.”
Thomas, N. W., et al. “Transmigration.” In Encyclopaedia of Reli-
gion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings, vol. 12. Edin-
In the end, the liberated soul finds unending sojourn in
burgh, 1921.
the “place beyond the heavens” (cf. the brahman in
Tylor, E. B. Primitive Culture, vol. 2, Religion in Primitive Culture
Veda¯nta), where “true being dwells, without color or shape,
(1871). New York, 1970.
that cannot be touched; reason alone, man’s pilot, can be-
New Sources
hold it and all true knowledge is knowledge thereof” (Phae-
Edwards, Paul R. Reincarnation: A Critical Examination. Amherst,
drus 247d–e).
N.Y., 1996.
CONCLUSION. There is no question but that the twin doc-
Kaplan, Steve. Concepts of Transmigration: Perspectives on Reincar-
trines of karman and reincarnation have done more to shape
nation. Lewiston, N.Y., 1996.
the whole of Asian thought than any other concept or con-
Lewis, James R. Encyclopedia of Afterlife Beliefs and Phenomena.
cepts. It might be difficult to identify an idea or set of ideas
Detroit, Mich., 1994.
that has exercised a comparable influence through the entire
Mills, Antonia, and Richard Slobodin. Amerindian Rebirth: Rein-
scope of Western thought, including the cardinal concepts
carnation Beliefs among North American Indians and Inuit.
in the writings of Plato and Aristotle.
Toronto, 1994.
Ironically, the notion of reincarnation is beginning to
Nawang Gehlek, Rimpoche. Good Life, Good Death: Tibetan Wis-
make inroads into contemporary Western thought (particu-
dom on Reincarnation. New York, 2001.
larly in theology, the philosophy of religion, and psychology)
Obeyesekere, Gananath. Imagining Karma: Ethical Transforma-
by way of a number of circuitous routes. One of the most
tion in Amerindian, Buddhist, and Greek Rebirth. Berkeley,
notable avenues along which the idea is traveling to the West
2002.
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
REIYU
¯ KAI KYO¯DAN
7681
Sanford, John A. Soul Journey: A Jungian Analyst Looks at Reincar-
and work can be found in Sefer ha-Mizrah:i, edited by Y. L.
nation. New York, 1991.
Maimon (Jerusalem, 1946), pp. 83–101, and in David
Sharma, Arvind. “On the Distinction between Karma and Rebirth
Vital’s Zionism: The Formative Years (Oxford, 1982),
in Hinduism.” Asian Philosophy 6 (March 1996): 29–36.
pp. 215–224.
J. BRUCE LONG (1987)
New Sources
Revised Bibliography
Holzer, Elie. “The Use of Military Force in the Religious Zionist
Ideology of Rabbi Yitzhak YaEakov Reines and His Succes-
sors.” Studies in Contemporary Jewry 18 (2002): 74–94.
REINES, YITSH:AQ YAEAQOV (1839–1915) was
DAVID BIALE (1987)
one of the founders and first leaders of Mizrah:i, a religious
Revised Bibliography
Zionist movement established at the beginning of the twenti-
eth century. Reines was born in Belorussia, studied at the
leading yeshivot (rabbinic academies), and served as a rabbi
REIYU
¯ KAI KYO¯DAN. A Japanese Buddhist lay orga-
in a variety of towns in Lithuania throughout his life. He
nization, Reiyu¯kai Kyo¯dan was founded between 1919 and
made a major contribution to rabbinic scholarship, with em-
1925 in Tokyo by Kubo Kakutaro¯ (1890–1944) and his sis-
phasis on a strictly logical approach to problems in Jewish
ter-in-law Kotani Kimi (1901–1971). As of 1982 it had
law. He published a number of important legal works, in-
roughly three million members in Japan, with branches in
cluding H:otam tokhnit (1880–1881), and a homiletical
seventeen foreign countries. Deriving from the tradition of
work, Nod shel dema Eot (1891). While serving as rabbi of
Nichiren, the thirteenth-century religious reformer,
Sventsyany from 1869 to 1885, Reines established a yeshivah
Reiyu¯kai created lay rites of ancestor worship based on daily
that combined traditional studies with secular subjects, but
recitation of an abridgement of the Lotus Sutra. Personal sal-
he was forced to close the school after several months as a
vation is believed to follow upon salvation of one’s ancestors,
result of extreme Orthodox opposition. Only in 1905 did he
which in turn is brought about through lay rites in the home
succeed in establishing such a yeshivah, in Lida. This new
without priestly mediation. Reiyukai represents a rare exam-
school became the model for religious Zionist education in
ple in the history of religions of ancestor worship as the cen-
the Mizrah:i movement and, following World War I, was
ter of a voluntary association that transcends kinship bound-
copied throughout eastern Europe.
aries. In daily life, Reiyu¯kai emphasizes traditionalist ethics
In addition to his legal and educational contributions,
in marriage and the family, linking these ideals to salvation
Reines was active politically. He joined the proto-Zionist
of oneself and one’s ancestors.
movement H:ibbat Tsiyyon at its inception in the 1880s and
An employee of the Imperial Household Ministry,
proposed religious agricultural settlements in the Land of Is-
Kubo regarded himself as the Nichiren of the Taisho¯ era
rael. Following the creation of the World Zionist Organiza-
(1912–1926), and like the medieval saint he set out to alert
tion in 1897, he became one of Theodor Herzl’s most fervent
the world to the catastrophe he believed imminent. In
rabbinical supporters in the face of rejection by most other
Kubo’s day, Japan was undergoing a radical social transfor-
Orthodox authorities. In 1902, Reines published a book de-
mation, even as it had begun to gain place in international
fending Zionism entitled Or h:adash Eal Tsiyyon (A new light
politics. Kubo saw in the massive changes about him a threat
on Zion).
to traditional values and a need for religious response. He re-
Despite his support for Herzl, Reines was concerned
ceived religious instruction from exponents of Nichiren-
that the secular leadership of the World Zionist Organiza-
shugi, a nationalistic political interpretation of Nichiren’s
tion would ignore or even denigrate Jewish religious values
thought, but Kubo sought an understanding of contempo-
in the struggle for a Jewish state. In 1902, he convened a con-
rary events that would suggest an appropriate course of reli-
ference of Orthodox Zionists in Vilna that resulted in the es-
gious action for the laity. Since he regarded the Buddhist
tablishment of Mizrah:i in 1902. Reines also founded the
clergy as utterly incapable of providing suitable moral leader-
movement’s first journal, Ha-Mizrah:i. The movement
ship, he set out to found a lay religious society in order to
sought to defend and inculcate traditional Jewish values
implement his understanding of Nichiren Buddhism.
while supporting the Zionist settlement in the Land of Israel.
Mizrah:i established a network of schools in eastern Europe
Kubo believed that the world was beset with war and
and, later, in Palestine. It became the foundation for the Na-
disaster because modern society had entrusted the rites of an-
tional Religious Party (Mafdal), which plays a critical role in
cestor worship to the Buddhist clergy. He believed that social
Israeli politics today.
and political upheavals are actually signs of ancestral distress,
reflected to the human world to inform the living that their
SEE ALSO Zionism.
ancestors are in need of ritual care. When descendants fail
to worship them directly, ancestors in the spirit world are un-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
able to achieve Buddhahood. Priests claim to be able to trans-
In addition to Getzel Kressel’s biographical article on Reines in
fer merit to them through esoteric ritual, but actually, in
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1971), appraisals of his life
Kubo’s view, clerics have no karmic bonds with parishioners’
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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REJUVENATION
ancestors. These are the ties of blood, filiation, and morality,
women have worse karman than men and therefore have a
which exist only among persons actually descended from
greater need for religion. A corollary of this notion holds that
common ancestors, or between spouses. A priest cannot me-
if women can overcome their karman they can achieve spiri-
diate this relationship. Therefore, Kubo concluded, the an-
tual feats impossible for men, an ideal expressed ritually in
cestors’ plight will continue to manifest itself as disasters in
shamanistic practices resembling spirit possession, from
the human world until lay people perform the rites that will
which men are barred.
transfer merit effectively and until they implement in their
Reiyu¯kai continues to engage in political activity in sup-
daily lives an ethic that will “satisfy” the ancestors. The terri-
port of various conservative causes, such as advocating state
ble earthquake of 1923 increased tremendously Kubo’s sense
support for the Yasukuni Shrine, formerly the official shrine
of urgency in propagating this message.
of the war dead. It also supports revision of the Constitution,
Kubo’s ideas might never have gone beyond a small cir-
particularly Article 9, which renounces the use of war. It is
cle of followers had he not been aided by Kotani Kimi. While
allied with other right-wing religious groups in this and other
Kubo elaborated doctrine and refined ritual, it was Kotani
causes and supports conservative candidates for election. The
who gathered a core of followers. She proselytized in the poor
extent to which this activity accurately mirrors the senti-
sections of Tokyo, and by sharing the poverty of her con-
ments of the general membership is unclear, but it seems cer-
verts, nursing them, and performing faith healing, she estab-
tain that this large, well-organized group may, along with
lished herself as a pillar of the organization. Even after her
other religious groups, wield an important political influence
death, Kotani continues to be widely regarded as a “living
in Japan’s future.
Buddha.” In activities held at the group’s mountain training
center, Mirokusan, Kotani has been identified with the Bud-
SEE ALSO New Religious Movements, article on New Reli-
dha of the future, Maitreya.
gious Movements in Japan.
Among the present membership, 70 percent reside in
urban areas and 30 percent in rural areas. Reiyukai is orga-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
nized into a number of branches formed by the links of
For a comprehensive introduction to the organization, see my Lay
Buddhism in Contemporary Japan: Reiyu¯kai Kyo¯dan (Prince-
proselytization. A person rises in rank by converting others,
ton, 1984).
and conversion forms a pyramid in which all those prosely-
tized by the same person are considered his or her “spiritual
HELEN HARDACRE (1987)
children,” and the original proselytizer the “spiritual parent.”
Those at the foot of this pyramid look to an original “parent”
as their leader, and that person is placed in charge of a branch
headquartered in a certain area. The Eighth Branch, for ex-
REJUVENATION myths are found all over the world
ample, has its headquarters in Osaka, claims roughly six hun-
and in varied forms. A concern with being made young and
dred thousand members, and on a daily basis operates inde-
healthy again is found not only in ancient cultures but also
pendently of the Tokyo headquarters of Reiyu¯kai.
in contemporary society. The rejuvenation slogans of the ad-
vertising industry have an ancient heritage, as, for example,
Reiyu¯kai ritual consists chiefly of daily recitation morn-
in the account of beer brewing in the Finnish epic, the Kal-
ing and evening of the Blue Su¯tra, an abridgement of the
evala, which says, “The beer of Kalevala strengthens the
Lotus Su¯tra. The ritual is structured so as to mobilize the
weak, cheers the sick, and makes the old young again.”
power of the Lotus Su¯tra for the salvation of the ancestors
Myths of rejuvenation are a part of the way humankind has
by simultaneously transferring merit and eliminating nega-
responded to the fear of death and the love of life. To undo
tive karman through repentence. It is assumed that men and
the ravages of time, to turn the clock back, has been an age-
women share equally the responsibilities of ritual, and it is
old longing.
considered most desirable that families unite in these obser-
IMITATION OF NATURE. The earliest human cultures were
vances. It is also assumed that men and women share equally
close to nature, experiencing both hardship and joy in the
in the fruits of correct ritual: a happy home, filial descen-
annual change of seasons, lamenting the death of vegetation
dants, and personal salvation. Adherence to a prescribed
as it grew old and withered, and rejoicing at the return of
ethic in marriage is the counterpart to ritual and is regarded
spring. The waning of the sun in the west at the close of each
as no less essential to salvation.
day and its rising again to new strength the next day also sug-
In the traditionalist family ethic advocated by Reiyu¯kai,
gested a rejuvenating power in nature. The Greeks and Celts
the ideal of the family follows the prewar form (the ie). That
had stories of a “western paradise” where the aged could ob-
is, members idealize a situation in which three generations
tain youth. Changing Woman, in the Navajo pantheon,
live together, worship together, and if possible engage in a
transforms herself into a young girl when she becomes old;
common economic enterprise. The idea of filial piety is cen-
as wife of the Sun Carrier, her home is in the west. From the
tral, as is respect for elders. A hierarchical principle exists be-
idea that the land of the world is surrounded by water, water
tween men and women, with men in the dominant position.
became associated with the renewal of the sun, as well as with
This idea receives religious formulation in the notion that
that from which life itself 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
REJUVENATION
7683
Myths of rejuvenation that focus on the role of sleep re-
make them drinkers of soma, the divine ambrosia, if they
flect an imitation of nature. A myth of the SelkDnam of Tierra
would rejuvenate him. They took him to the “youth place,”
del Fuego tells of a culture hero, Kénos, and three of the an-
and when he emerged from its water, he had indeed been re-
cestors who, in old age, tried to fall into a long sleep so as
stored to youthful vigor and appearance. In the European
to be rejuvenated. Finally, after several efforts, they went
stories the mysterious and miraculous fount is located, usual-
north and there were wrapped in mantles and put in the
ly rather vaguely, in Asia. Hopkins suggested that the Span-
ground. After a few days they began to stir and whisper, and
ish explorer Ponce de León would have been aware of those
then, upon rising, they saw that they were young again. They
stories when in the early sixteenth century he set out for
had succeeded in a transformation sleep.
India by way of the West Indies, and thus, when he heard
stories in Florida of a medicinal and healing spring, he natu-
The snake’s shedding of its skin has led it to be associat-
rally interpreted it as being the famed fountain of youth. Fur-
ed with the power of rejuvenation as well as with healing and
thermore, Hopkins disagreed with Brinton (Myths of the New
transformation. An Icelandic saga describes a man who shed
World, New York, 1896), who contended that the fountain
his skin every few centuries and always emerged thirty years
of youth was a universal myth that had emerged from the
old. The R:gveda, an ancient scripture of India, describes a
veneration of water as the female element.
priest who in old age had been exposed to die but who was
rejuvenated by two physician gods who took off his skin as
THE REVERSAL OF TIME. Mircea Eliade described in Myth
one would a mantle, prolonging his life and making him the
and Reality (New York, 1963) and elsewhere how health and
“husband of maidens.” Depth psychologists report that the
youthfulness are obtained by a “return to the origins,” by
association of snakes with the development of a new perspec-
abolishing the work of time—time “the destroyer,” as the
tive, one that is presenting itself to consciousness for the first
Roman poet Ovid called it. The therapies for reversing time
time, is a frequent motif in contemporary dreams.
usually included a ritual reiteration of the creation of the
world, thereby permitting a sick person to be born anew and
THE SPECIAL ELIXIR. There are many accounts of special
to recommence existence with the health of earlier years. The
fruits, herbs, or waters that rejuvenate or provide everlasting
ancient Daoist and other Chinese alchemists took up these
life. Usually these stories are about foods of the gods, or foods
traditional healing methods and applied them to the cure of
in distant lands that, if humans could only obtain them,
the illness that results from the ravages of time, that is, from
would assure the desired result. An old Norse story tells of
old age and death. Eliade has pointed out that there is a con-
a king grown old who heard of a distant land where there
tinuity between the early concern with health and rejuvena-
was a special water and a priceless apple that would make one
tion and the alchemical traditions of both the East and the
young again. He sent his eldest son in quest of them, but the
West. All the symbols, rituals, and techniques of these tradi-
son was distracted by the pleasures of a strange city. So also
tions emphasized a basic idea: in order to obtain rejuvenation
with the king’s second son. Finally, the third and youngest
or long life, it is necessary to return to the origin of life and
son, after numerous difficulties, succeeded. However, on his
recommence with the vitality that was then present.
return journey the older brothers took from him his treasures
and rejuvenated the king themselves. In a German version
Initiatory rituals often enact a “return to the womb” in
it is the “water of life” for which the king sent. In Japanese
which the initiate is placed in isolation for a period and then
mythology is the story of Ningyo, the Fisherwoman, a mer-
greeted as a newborn upon his delivery. In ancient China the
maidlike creature who lives in the sea; it is said that women
Daoists had a technique of “embryonic respiration” in which
who were fortunate enough to eat of her flesh gained perpet-
the adept tried to imitate respiration within a closed circuit,
ual youth and beauty. In Eddic mythology, the goddess
in the manner of a fetus. This was believed to drive away old
Iðunn guarded the apples that the gods tasted when they
age. Myths concerning a “return to the origin” are on differ-
began to grow old lest the giants steal them. In Celtic my-
ent levels, some more physical, some more spiritual. Eliade
thology Fraoch went in search of a tree that grew on an island
has pointed out a similar motif in the psychoanalytic system
in a lake. Every month it produced sweet fruit that prolonged
of Sigmund Freud that involves a “return to the beginning”
life for a year and healed sickness. In ancient China it was
in its method of healing.
believed that gold, the metal that never “grows old” (that is,
never tarnishes), not only would preserve a dead body from
A caution about tampering with time is expressed in the
decay but would also, when ingested in the proper way, pro-
Japanese story of an old woodcutter who, becoming thirsty
mote longevity.
one day, drank from a stream he had not drunk from before.
The water was unusually delicious, flowing clear and swiftly.
E. Washburn Hopkins sought to demonstrate in “The
He went to the pool from which the stream flowed, and as
Fountain of Youth” (Journal of the American Oriental Society
he knelt to drink some more, he saw his reflection in the
26, 1905) that all the many European stories of magic
pool, but his face was that of his youth. Realizing that he had
springs or fountains of youth were descended originally from
drunk from a fountain of youth, he ran (which he had been
a story in the Maha¯bha¯rata, an Indian epic. In this story an
unable to do for years) to tell his wife. With difficulty he per-
old man who had married a young woman made an agree-
suaded her of his identity. She insisted that she must drink
ment with the A´svins (twin physician gods) that he would
of the same water, for he would not want an old wife, 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
7684
REJUVENATION
she hurried away. When she did not return, he went in search
sixth century BCE, the mystery religions of the Mediterranean
of her. At the pool he found a baby girl lying on the bank.
world responded to a longing for cleansing and renovating
In her eagerness the old woman had drunk too much from
the human spirit and found in nature a model for that renew-
the fountain of youth.
al; thus their professed aim was to assure eternal life. Chris-
T
tianity then turned the emphasis to an inner, spiritual renew-
HE REALM OF THE DIVINE. Many stories of rejuvenation
take place in the realm of the divine or involve gifts or re-
al: “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of
wards from the gods. In a Scandinavian legend the age of
God” (Jn. 3:3). The water in the baptismal font assured the
Olger the Dane is changed from one hundred years to thirty
possibility of life eternal. In one eucharistic liturgy the words
by means of a ring provided by the fairy Morgana. In Greek
of the priest at the moment of delivering the bread and wine
mythology, when Zeus heard that Prometheus had stolen fire
indicate their life-giving power: “Preserve thy body and soul
from him and had given it to humanity, he became indig-
to everlasting life.”
nant and so gave to those who informed him about the theft
IMPLICATIONS. The desire for rejuvenation in this life, how-
a drug that was an antidote to old age. And on the return
ever, is still present. In the secular culture of the modern
of the Argonauts, the enchantress Medea made Aeson,
world, with its loss to a large extent of any sense of the sacred,
Jason’s father, young again with herbs and incantations.
there has been a new interest in rejuvenation, not as a gift
from the realm of the divine, but as a goal for human endeav-
In a Navajo myth, the two sons of Changing Woman
or. According to early records, priests and elders in ancient
are warned by Old Age not to walk on her path, but, rather,
India and China consumed the sexual organs of wild animals
to keep to the left of it. They forgot this counsel, however,
in order to resist the effects of old age and restore their youth-
and walked on the path. Then they began to feel heavy; they
ful vigor; similar attempts at rejuvenation have continued
stooped, and their steps became shorter; and finally they
throughout history. In the late nineteenth and early twenti-
could not move, even with the help of canes. Old Age re-
eth centuries, a few surgeons in Europe and North America
buked them and, in a Navajo pattern of creating, sang a song
claimed to have achieved rejuvenation by transplanting re-
so that in future, she said, everything should reach old age.
productive glands from animals. The medical community in
Then, however, she made them young again and sent them
general rejected the technique and attributed to other factors
on their way. In some stories continual rejuvenation is the
the apparent results, which were, at best, temporary. Vita-
reward for living in an especially holy place or on a blessed
mins are now advocated as a means of postponing the conse-
island. In Aztec mythology there is a holy mountain, the resi-
quences of old age.
dence of the great mother of the gods, that one can never
entirely climb, for the upper half consists of fine, slippery
When the present lacks meaning, discontent expresses
sand. However, whoever climbs part way, no matter how
itself in a longing for the past. The thirst for rejuvenation
old, grows young again in proportion to the distance
may occur precisely at the point in human development
climbed.
when either the culture as a whole or an individual is ready
to move on to a new level of understanding but is reluctant
Some myths explain why old age and death are inevita-
to undertake the journey and seeks instead to find meaning
ble. In Mesopotamian mythology, Gilgamesh is told at the
in the way life was before. The contemporary developmental
end of a long journey in search of a means of avoiding death
understanding of human life as moving from stage to stage,
that the gods have reserved immortality for themselves. Dis-
with each stage having its own maturation task to be accom-
appointed, he is told, as a parting gift, of a plant that makes
plished or wisdom to be achieved, suggests that the thirst for
one young again. He dives to the bottom of the sea to get
rejuvenation may stem from a failure to move on to the next
the plant; but on his return journey, when he stops to bathe
level of development. The investigations of the history of re-
in a pool, a snake steals the plant, sloughing its skin as it
ligions as well as contemporary psychotherapy demonstrate
goes—thus obtaining immortality for snakes. In the Hebrew
that humans cannot stand a meaningless life. How this di-
scriptures, eating of the fruit of the Tree of Life, which stood
lemma is to be faced, expressed, and lived out by individuals
in the midst of the Garden of Eden, enabled one to live for-
is the challenge that faces contemporary civilization, with its
ever. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating of the
expanding population of old people.
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they were driven
from the garden, and a guard was placed there to protect the
SEE ALSO Death; Elixir; Fountain; Initiation; Quests;
path to the tree of life.
Snakes.
SPIRITUALIZATION OF THE QUEST. Mesopotamian and
Egyptian mythologies tended to focus on the quest for im-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Among the numerous anthologies of myths, one that includes nu-
mortality or life after death, while in ancient China and
merous myths of rejuvenation is The Mythology of All Races,
Vedic India the quest was much more for rejuvenation and
13 vols., edited by Louis Herbert Gray et al. (Boston, 1916–
the recovery of youthfulness in this life. In later Indian
1932). A short essay by Mircea Eliade, “Rejuvenation and
thought, beginning in the sixth century BCE, for both Hindu-
Immortality,” in Patterns in Comparative Religion (New
ism and Buddhism the aim of life was not rejuvenation but
York, 1958), contrasts and discusses the implications of my-
liberation from earthly existence. Similarly, beginning in the
thologies that focus on rejuvenation. In the Forge and 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
RELATIVISM
7685
Crucible: The Origins and Structures of Alchemy, 2d ed. (Chi-
human beliefs and implying that the fact of difference indi-
cago, 1978), Eliade illuminates the attempts of the Chinese
cated that each set of beliefs and practices was culturally con-
and Indian alchemists to accelerate the work of nature and
ditioned. He contended that most people hold their religious
thereby conquer time. A comprehensive collection of legends
views as a result of custom rather than conviction. He also
about the fountain of youth and related stories of rejuvena-
suggested that the religious and moral practices of the “noble
tion is to be found in E. Washburn Hopkins’s article titled
savages” were at least as good as those of European Chris-
“The Fountain of Youth,” Journal of the American Oriental
tians.
Society 26 (1905): 1–67.
Montaigne’s skepticism and cultural relativism were
WALLACE B. CLIFT (1987)
carried further by the French skeptic Pierre Bayle, who insist-
ed that a society of atheists could be more moral than a soci-
ety of Christians, since moral behavior results from natural
RELATIVISM. The term relativism is applied to ethical,
causes such as custom and education and not from religious
cultural, and religious views. Relativism contends that such
doctrines. Bayle sought to show that such biblical heroes as
views are to be evaluated relative to the societies or cultures
David, such leading Christians as Calvin and Luther, and
in which they appear and are not to be judged true or false,
saints and popes throughout the history of Christianity have
or good or bad, based on some overall criterion but are to
all acted in the moral sphere because of their own human na-
be assessed within the context in which they occur. Thus,
tures and not because of their religious beliefs.
what is right or good or true to one person or group may not
Bayle’s analysis was incorporated into the Enlighten-
be considered so by others.
ment’s quest for a science of humanity that would explain
This theory was first presented by certain Greek authors
why people acted, behaved, and believed in different ways.
who noted the varieties of religions and moral behavior in
This science would deem religious beliefs the effects of differ-
the Mediterranean world and suggested that differing mores
ent physical and psychological conditions, which might be
indicated that there were no absolute standards. Protagoras
studied neutrally. Climate, history, customs, education, in-
said, “Man is the measure of all things,” and this was inter-
stitutions, and so on would account for the fact that societies
preted to convey that each person could be his or her own
differ in their social, cultural, and religious practices. One’s
measure. The variations of human, social, political, and ethi-
personal psychological conditions would account for an indi-
cal behavior were worked into a basic theme of the Greek
vidual’s strong or weak religious convictions. Hume’s Natu-
skeptics. The fact of differences in human behavior is taken
ral History of Religion (1757) initiated the study of religion
to imply that no general standard can possibly apply to all
as a manifestation of human behavior in which religious ac-
peoples and cultures. Sextus Empiricus even suggested that
tivity is relative to individual and cultural conditions.
cannibalism, incest, and other practices considered taboo are
This relativistic aspect of religion was identified as a cru-
just variant kinds of behavior, to be appreciated as acceptable
cial feature of the human condition by the German philoso-
in some cultures and not in others. This reasoning was ap-
pher J. G. Herder, who contended that every society or cul-
plied by the Greek skeptics to various religions and their
ture develops from its own unique idea or character. Ethical
practices. They urged suspension of judgment about right or
and religious norms are part of the expression of these ideas,
wrong and undogmatic acceptance of one’s own culture.
and no culture is inferior or superior to any other; it is simply
This relativistic attitude was in sharp contrast to the
different. Thus religion is seen to be relative to the culture
dogmatic views of the Jews and Christians in the Roman em-
in which it appears.
pire, who insisted their revealed information assured them
Herder’s relativism and the growing interest in compar-
that their religious beliefs and practices were the only correct
ative studies of language and religion led to the full-blown
and acceptable ones. The christianization of the Roman em-
relativism of Alexander von Humboldt in the nineteenth
pire and of pagan Europe pushed the relativistic approach
century, and of many twentieth-century anthropologists.
aside. There could be some variations in ritual or practice,
Von Humboldt stated, “There are nations more susceptible
but in essential beliefs and practices anything different was
of cultivation, more highly civilized, more ennobled by men-
heretical.
tal cultivation than others—but none in themselves nobler
The skeptical-relativist view reappeared in new and
than others. All are in like degree designed for freedom” (Cos-
forceful ways in the Renaissance, with a rediscovery of the
mos, London, 1888, vol. 1, p. 368).
wide variety of beliefs and practices of ancient times, and
The relativist position was further reinforced by various
with the discoveries of radically different cultures all over the
theories of the natural causes of beliefs. The theories of Marx
world. The rapid development of new kinds of Christian
and Freud offered ways whereby one could account for the
practices resulting from the Reformation also contributed to
fact that individuals and groups adhere to beliefs without
an emerging view of differences as based on cultural factors.
considering whether or not these beliefs are true. Scholars
Contrasts with the Ottoman empire made people even more
now began to consider instead whether various religious be-
cognizant of the wide range of human beliefs and practices.
liefs were beneficial or deleterious, or why a particular belief
Montaigne was foremost in presenting the panorama of
arose at a certain moment in human history.
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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RELICS
The relativist position was forcefully stated by the an-
Jaki, Stanley. The Only Chaos and Other Essays. Lanham, Md.,
thropologist Edward A. Westermarck in his major work The
1990.
Origin and Development of Moral Ideas (1906). Westermarck
Lewis, Charles, ed. Relativism and Religion. Blasingstoke, U.K.,
contended on the basis of historical, sociological, and anthro-
1995.
pological evidence that no ethical principles are objectively
Moody-Adams, Michele. Fieldwork in Familiar Places: Morality,
valid. In Ethical Relativity (1932) he further argued his posi-
Culture, and Philosophy. Cambridge, Mass., 2002.
tion on philosophic grounds.
RICHARD H. POPKIN (1987)
Critics of cultural relativism have suggested, first, that
Revised Bibliography
evidence of cultural differences does not rule out the possibil-
ity that there exist common beliefs and attitudes held by
most or all cultures and, second, that factual information
about such differences does not eliminate the possibility that
RELICS may loosely be defined as the venerated remains
one belief system may in fact be better, or more true, than
of venerable persons. This should be taken to include not
another. Further, philosophers are still arguing about wheth-
only the bodies, bones, or ashes of saints, heroes, martyrs,
er causal explanations about people’s beliefs evidence the
founders of religious traditions, and other holy men and
value, truth, or falsity of these beliefs. Yet by the late twenti-
women but also objects that they once owned and, by exten-
eth century, cultural relativism was a rather common view
sion, things that were once in physical contact with them.
among many students of ethics and religion.
According to the principles of contagious magic, any
S
personal possession or part of a person’s body can be thought
EE ALSO Anthropology, Ethnology, and Religion; Apolo-
getics; Freud, Sigmund; Herder, Johann Gottfried; Hume,
of as equivalent to his whole self, no matter how minute it
David; Marx, Karl; Skeptics and Skepticism; Study of Reli-
may be, or how detached in time and space. Thus a bone,
gion, article on Methodological Issues.
a hair, a tooth, a garment, a footprint can carry the power
or saintliness of the person with whom they were once associ-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ated and make him or her “present” once again.
Brandt, Richard B. “Ethical Relativism.” In The Encyclopedia of
Scholars eager to discuss the “origins” of relics have
Philosophy, edited by Paul Edwards, vol. 3. New York, 1967.
often pointed to the magical use of such objects by “primi-
A careful presentation and examination of the relativistic
theory.
tive” peoples in rituals of war, healing, rainmaking, or hunt-
ing. They have gathered examples from all sorts of ethnogra-
Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement be-
phies to show that fetishes and talismans, amulets and
tween the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics. Authorized
translation by James Strachey. New York, 1950. A psychoan-
medicine bundles were sometimes made of human bones,
alytic interpretation of some features of primitive religion
hair, or organs. They have thereby concluded that the im-
and their present form in ordinary neurotic behavior.
pulse to preserve and use “relics” must be very ancient in-
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in
deed. They may well be correct, but it is important to try
Human Nature. New York, 1902. A classical psychological
to view such examples within their individual cultural con-
description of the role of religion in human experience.
texts, and not to generalize too quickly from them about the
Jarvie, Ian C. Rationality and Relativism: In Search of a Philosophy
development of relic worship as a whole.
and History of Anthropology. London, 1984. A critical evalua-
In fact, the veneration of relics is not equally emphasized
tion of relativism as a proper interpretation of anthropologi-
in the various religions of the world. Highly featured in some
cal findings.
traditions (such as Buddhism and Catholicism), it is virtually
Needham, Joseph, ed. Science, Religion and Reality. New York,
absent in others (Protestantism, Hinduism, Judaism), and
1925. Contains, among other essays, Bronislaw Malinow-
found only incidentally elsewhere (Islam, ancient Greece).
ski’s “Magic, Science and Religion,” Charles Singer’s “His-
torical Relations of Religion and Science,” and Needham’s
This entry, therefore, shall deal primarily with the Roman
“Mechanistic Biology and the Religious Consciousness,” all
Catholic and Buddhist traditions. But before doing so, it
pressing a relativistic interpretation of religion.
may be helpful to examine briefly some of the reasons for the
Westermarck, Edward A. Ethical Relativity. New York, 1932. The
other traditions’ diversity.
basic philosophical statement of relativism in the twentieth
PROTESTANTISM, HINDUISM, AND ISRAELITE RELIGION.
century.
The Protestant reformers condemned the veneration of relics
Yinger, J. Milton. The Scientific Study of Religion. New York,
partly for theological reasons and partly because it was closely
1970. A study of religion in relation to human needs, behav-
associated in their minds with the sale of indulgences and
ior, and problems. A multidisciplinary approach.
with other ecclesiastical practices of which they disapproved.
New Sources
From the start, their criticism was thus polemical, and, ap-
Ariel, Yoav, Shlomo Biderman, and Ornan Rotem, eds. Relativism
pealing to reason, it lambasted in particular the fantastic pro-
and Beyond. New York, 1998.
liferation of relics that had developed in medieval Catholi-
Devine, Philip. Relativism, Nihilism, and God. Notre Dame, Ind.,
cism. For instance, John Calvin (1509–1564), who wrote a
1989.
treatise on relics, mockingly commented that in his day 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
RELICS
7687
quantity of wood contained in relics of the True Cross was
the minds of the faithful, the saint himself is thought to be
so great that even three hundred men could not have car-
present in the tomb and able to respond effectively.
ried it.
In some instances, owing to their great popularity, cer-
In Hinduism, opposition to relic worship occurred for
tain famous saints are reputed to be buried in more than one
quite different reasons. Though Hindus commonly honor
place. Thus, for example, the body of the great Sh¯ıE¯ı martyr,
the memories of great saints and teachers and visit sites of
H:usayn ibn EAli (d. 680 CE), while usually thought to be en-
pilgrimage associated with them, they do not generally ven-
shrined in Karbala, is also reputed to rest in Medina, Damas-
erate their bodily remains. On the one hand, the doctrine of
cus, Aleppo, and a number of other places, and his head is
reincarnation and the belief in the ultimately illusory nature
said to be in Cairo, where it remains a popular center of
of things of this world simply do not promote relic worship.
piety.
On the other hand, and probably more importantly, death
Nonetheless, because of orthodox objections, the cult of
and things associated with it are, in Hinduism, thought to
relics in Islam seems never to have mushroomed in quite the
be highly polluting. For this reason, in fact, Hindu funeral
way it did in Christianity or Buddhism, and it has retained
customs stress the total destruction of the body, which is
a somewhat ambiguous status. This ambiguity is perhaps
most commonly cremated. The ashes from the pyre and any
best summed up in the recurring legends of mausoleums that
unburned fragments of bone, though they are treated with
were destroyed by the very saints they entombed—the saints
respect for a while, are all eventually disposed of, often in a
themselves thereby posthumously objecting to their own cult
nearby river, ideally in the Ganges.
(and at the same time showing their even greater glory).
In ancient Israel, there also existed a concern for purity
ANCIENT GREECE. In ancient Greece, the veneration of relics
and for separating the dead from the living. Bodies were not
was closely connected to the cult of heroes, whose reputed
cremated, but they were quickly and carefully buried in the
remains—often bones larger than lifesize—were enshrined
hollowed sides of caves or burial chambers. There it was ex-
and honored in towns as a guarantee of their protection and
pected that they would decay, dry up, and disintegrate; thus
an enhancement of their prestige. Thus Lesbos had the head
tombs were commonly reused by family members. Pro-
of Orpheus, Elis the shoulder bone of Pelops (which had
nounced rites of mourning and lamentation did take place,
been found by a fisherman and identified by an oracle). Tan-
but, generally speaking, the tomb and the corpse were
talos’s bones were at Argos, while the remains of Europa were
thought to be unclean, and contact with them was defiling
the focus of the great Hellotia festival in Crete. All of these
(Lv. 21:1–4, Nm. 19:11–16). Hence, there was little room
were thought to ward off disease and famine, to encourage
for any enthusiasm for relics.
fertility and welfare, and sometimes to bring about miracu-
It may also be, however, that too great a veneration of
lous cures.
the remains of the dead—as in the occasionally mentioned
Occasionally the relics of great heroes were the object
practice of making food offerings in the tombs—was
of searches and, when found, had to be translated to their
thought of in certain ancient Israelite circles as bordering on
place of enshrinement. Plutarch, for example, describes in
idolatry or paganism, and hence to be condemned.
some detail the quest for the bones of Theseus, a hero whose
I
armed ghost many Athenians believed to have helped them
SLAM. Much the same concern can be found in Islam; cer-
tain QurDanic scholars periodically denounced the veneration
achieve their victory at Marathon. Finally, when his remains
of relics, especially of the bodies of saints, as shirk (polythe-
were discovered on the island of Siphnos, they were trans-
ism), that is, as treating the grave as an idol rather than wor-
ported to Athens with considerable pomp and celebration
shiping God alone. Nevertheless, the cult of relics did man-
and enshrined in the center of the city.
age to grow within the Muslim fold, and it continues to be
In addition to the bones of the heroes, weapons and
popular today.
other objects associated with them were honored. Thus, in
In addition to the various “traces” (athar) left by
a variety of temples, visitors could marvel at Orpheus’s lyre,
Muh:ammad, such as hairs, teeth, autographs, and especially
Achilles’ spear, Helen’s sandal, Agamemnon’s scepter, the
footprints, Muslims have long venerated the remains of
Argonauts’ anchor, the stone swallowed by Kronos, even the
saints. This, it should be pointed out, is a cult of bodies rath-
tusks of the Erymanthian boar captured by Herakles. Such
er than of bones, and focuses on the tombs of holy persons
items were, perhaps, more objects of curiosity than of cults,
that dot the countrysides of those Muslim lands where their
but they served the important function of drawing pilgrims
worship plays an important role. Though ritual patterns at
and of concretizing the myths and glories of a former age.
these tombs may vary, often believers will circumambulate
EARLY CHRISTIANITY. In Christianity one finds an example
the saint’s enshrined coffin, leave votive offerings there, and
of the fully developed veneration of relics. Its origins within
pray for cures, for help with family problems, or more gener-
the Christian tradition are usually traced to the cults that
ally for “blessing” (barakah). While some Muslim theolo-
arose around the tombs of the early saints and martyrs. These
gians may claim that such petitions are not technically made
cults are often compared to the similar hero cults of the Hel-
to the saint but through the saint to God, it is clear that, in
lenistic world. They stem, however, not only from a desire
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to venerate the memory of the departed saint, but also from
sibilities about keeping the dead in their proper place. For
a hope to partake of some of the power and blessing he or
example, Julian the Apostate (r. 361–363) denounced the
she derived from a close and ongoing relationship with God.
Christians for filling the world with sepulchers and defiling
the cities with the bones and skulls of “criminals.” On the
It was thought to be beneficial in the early church to be
other hand, even within the Christian community, there
physically close to the saints. Hence, from the start, Chris-
were those such as Vigilantius (early fifth century) who were
tians paid visits to their tombs; there they celebrated the Eu-
very critical of the worship of relics, claiming that it was
charist on the stone slabs covering their graves. Sometimes,
grossly superstitious and bordered on idolatry. However, Je-
they even decided to settle permanently in the vicinity of
these graves. In this way, tombs became altars, and whole cit-
rome, in an angry reply to Vigilantius, argued that Christians
ies arose where once had been cemeteries.
did not “worship” relics but “honored” them. Doctrinally,
then, if not always in practice, a distinction was made that
Alternatively, the bodies of the saints were sometimes
still stands today between the veneratio paid to the saints and
brought to the faithful; they were translated from their graves
their relics and the adoratio espoused for God and Christ.
to existing cities and enshrined in churches there. Thus exist-
ing altars also became tombs, and the custom of celebrating
Other church leaders, however, were concerned about
mass over the bones of the martyrs was reinforced. In fact,
the veritable traffic in relics that was developing in the fourth
by the fourth century, in the Eastern church, the Eucharist
and fifth centuries, especially in the East. In 386, therefore,
could only be celebrated on an altar covered with an anti-
the emperor Theodosius passed legislation restricting the
mension—a cloth into which were sewn fragments of relics.
translation of dead bodies and the selling, buying, or dividing
And in the West, the common custom was to enclose relics
of the remains of martyrs. This, however, seems to have had
in a cavity in the altar top itself—a practice that became for-
little effect; at the end of the century, Augustine was still
malized in 787 when the Second Council of Nicaea declared
complaining of unscrupulous monks who wandered and
the presence of such relics to be obligatory for the consecra-
traded in “members of martyrs if martyrs they be,” and over
tion of a church.
a century later, the emperor Justinian had to issue another
decree regulating the exhumation and transfer of saints’
With the toleration of Christianity throughout the
bodies.
Roman empire beginning in the reign of Constantine (272–
327), the demand for and veneration of relics grew. Especial-
It is important to realize the many dimensions of these
ly in the fourth and fifth centuries, not only were the known
practices and their larger religious and social significance. As
remains of martyrs venerated but lost relics of ancient saints
Peter Brown has pointed out, the translations of relics that
started making their appearance. Thus the body of Saint Ste-
started in the fourth century helped to spread Christianity
phen—the first Christian martyr—was discovered as though
by making it more mobile and decentralizing it (Brown
it had been waiting for this time and was enshrined in a num-
1981, p. 88). Because of this, not only local holy men but
ber of important centers.
centrally important saints could be worshiped in places far
At the same time, relics connected with Christ’s passion
away from the ancient foci of the faith. It was not necessary
came to be highly esteemed: the crown of thorns, the nails
to journey to Palestine or Rome to honor the memory of
that pierced his hands and feet, and especially the wood of
Jesus or of the early martyrs; they could be found—present
the True Cross on which Christ had died and which, accord-
in various physical objects—more close to home, indeed in
ing to legend, had been discovered by Constantine’s mother,
any consecrated church. In this, the translation of relics was
Helena. The cross was said to have been made of the wood
a perfect complement to the popular practice of pilgrimage;
of the Tree of Life, taken belatedly from the Garden of Eden
it brought the saints to the people instead of taking the peo-
by Adam’s son Seth. It was, thus, a powerful symbol of both
ple to the saints. At a somewhat different level, the transla-
the death of Christ and the rewards of eternal life. Along with
tion of relics also served to establish an intricate network of
other relics, it was credited with miraculous cures, even resur-
“patronage, alliance, and gift giving that linked the lay and
rections. It was also used as a talisman for magical protection;
clerical elites of East and West,” which was crucial in the de-
Gregory of Nyssa’s sister Macrina (c. 327–379) always wore
velopment of the church (Brown 1981, p. 89). In this, the
around her neck an amulet consisting of a splinter of the
remains of saints acted as a sort of symbolic exchange com-
True Cross encased in a ring, and she was clearly not the only
modity.
noblewoman to do so. It comes as no surprise, then, that by
At the same time, as Brown has also pointed out, the
the middle of the fourth century, according to one account,
exhumation, dismemberment, and translation of relics has
wood from the True Cross filled the world (though miracu-
played an important role in divorcing them from too direct
lously the original cross itself still remained whole and undi-
an association with death. Precisely because relics are frag-
minished in Jerusalem).
ments of bones and not whole corpses, precisely because they
The growth of the cult of relics in the early church, how-
are in altars or reliquaries and not in coffins, the connota-
ever, was not without controversy and opposition. On the
tions of death are suppressed, and in the relics the saints can
one hand, it was clearly an offense to traditional Roman sen-
be thought to be “alive.”
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7689
THE MIDDLE AGES. By the time of the Middle Ages, the
body at Arles, Cluny, Constantinople, and Saint-Cloud.
veneration of relics had become so widespread, popular, and
While his thumb was to be seen in Toulon, three teeth were
intense that more than one scholar has called it the true reli-
in Marseilles, his beard was in Poitiers, and his brain was in
gion of the medieval period. Especially in Europe, churches,
Geneva (although John Calvin later claimed it was but a
monasteries, cathedrals, and other places of pilgrimage
piece of pumice stone).
seemed to develop an almost insatiable thirst for relics that
Relics of more minor saints—six hands of Saint Adrian,
might add to their sanctity, prestige, and attractiveness to pil-
various breasts of Saint Agatha—abounded as well. The list
grims. This increasing demand led, in fact, to a renewed
is almost endless, and Collin de Plancy easily filled three vol-
search for the bodies of ancient saints in places such as the
umes of a dictionary of relics with references to them.
catacombs in Rome. Quickly, a transalpine trade in bones
developed, manned by relic merchants and professional relic
As for relics of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, they, too,
thieves, who were eager to supply the needs of Carolingian
were extremely popular during the Middle Ages, though the
bishops and abbots and later of Anglo-Saxon kings. Then,
doctrine of their bodily ascension to heaven presented some
with the Crusades, still new sources of relics became accessi-
difficulties. In their cases, bones were, for the most part, not
ble—Jerusalem and Constantinople being the most impor-
legitimately acceptable. Great emphasis, however, could be
tant of these.
laid on any object that had once been in contact with their
Throughout the Middle Ages, relics, in fact, were signif-
persons.
icant sources of revenue. Offerings made to the shrine of
In the case of the Virgin, these relics tended to empha-
Thomas Becket, for example, accounted for almost half of
size her maternal, nurturing, and domestic characteristics.
Canterbury’s annual income in the late twelfth century, and
Thus vials of her breast milk (spilled on various occasions)
this proportion increased when special indulgences were
could be found in countless churches throughout Christen-
granted to pilgrims there. It is not surprising, then, that per-
dom, later causing Calvin to comment that, had she been a
sons in power were willing to invest considerably in the ac-
cow all her life, she could not have produced such a quantity.
quisition of relics. Louis IX of France (r. 1226–1270), for
Almost as popular was her tunic (especially that worn at the
example, reportedly offered the count of Fondi fifteen thou-
time of the Annunciation). Threads from it were occasionally
sand florins for the bones of Saint Thomas Aquinas, but,
worn in protective amulets. Roland, in Spain, for example,
alas, in vain.
fought with a sword in whose hilt was a piece of the Virgin’s
When relics were obtained, they were often magnifi-
robe (along with a hair of Saint Denis, a tooth of Saint Peter,
cently enshrined. The reliquaries in which they were encased
and some of Saint Basil’s blood). Finally, in Loreto, in central
were some of the most richly adorned products of medieval
Italy, the whole of the house in which the Virgin had raised
art; sometimes entire buildings were conceived of as reli-
the young Jesus in Nazareth could be visited. It was believed
quaries, such as the splendid Sainte Chapelle in Paris, which
to have been miraculously transported there through the air
was built to house Christ’s crown of thorns.
from Palestine in 1296.
Given such enthusiasm and piety, it is perhaps not sur-
In the case of Jesus, the relics were of a more varied char-
prising that fraudulent and false relics should also appear.
acter. Some, such as his swaddling clothes and the boards of
Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, tells of a relic monger who
the manger in which he lay in Bethlehem, brought to mind
in his trunk had a pillowcase that he asserted was Our Lady’s
the figure of the Christ child. Others called up more complex
veil. Other sources mention exhibitions of vials that were
associations, perhaps; no fewer than seven churches claimed
said to contain a sneeze of the Holy Spirit, or the sounds of
to possess his circumcised foreskin, and the one at Coulombs
the bells of Solomon’s temple, or rays from the star that guid-
in the diocese of Chartres was venerated by pregnant women
ed the wise men from the East. One church in Italy even
hoping for an easy childbirth. Still others simply recalled var-
claimed to possess the cross that Constantine saw in his
ious episodes recorded in the Gospels: bread crumbs left over
vision.
from the loaves he had used in feeding the five thousand, one
of the pots in which he had turned water into wine, the cloth
More generally, however, piety and rival claims led to
that had covered the table at the Last Supper, the towel he
a bewildering multiplication of the remains of saints. During
had used on that occasion to wipe the apostles’ feet, the body
the Middle Ages, it was rare, in fact, for a saint’s body or
of the ass on which he had entered Jerusalem.
bones to exist in one place only. At least nineteen churches,
for example, claimed to enshrine the jaw of John the Baptist.
The greatest veneration and enthusiasm, however, were
The body of Saint James was found most famously at Santia-
reserved for relics associated with Christ’s passion. Some of
go de Compostela in Spain, where, like a magnet, it drew pil-
these, such as the crown of thorns, the spear that had pierced
grims from all over Europe along well-established routes; it
his side, the nails and wood of the True Cross, had long been
was also venerated, however, in at least six other places, with
popular. But now no detail of Christ’s agony escaped atten-
additional heads and arms elsewhere. Saint Peter, of course,
tion, and in various churches, pilgrims could also venerate
was honored in Rome, but despite (or because of) his fame
the pillar to which he had been tied, the reeds with which
there, pilgrims could also venerate significant portions of his
he had been whipped, Veronica’s veil on which he had left
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RELICS
an image of his face on the way to Calvary, the seamless robe
for his own kingdom. According to the Maha¯parinibba¯na
that the soldiers divided, the sponge with which he was of-
Sutta, this squabble was resolved not by the monks but by
fered vinegar, the blood and water that flowed from his side,
a brahman named Drona who divided the Buddha’s relics
and, finally, the burial shroud in which he lay in the tomb
into eight equal shares and distributed them to eight kings,
and on which he left the full imprint of his body. This
instructing each to build a stupa (a domed funerary mound)
shroud, now in Turin, was perhaps the last major relic of
over his portion.
Christ’s passion to come to light. It was first exhibited in the
The fate of these eight “Drona stupas” (as they were
fourteenth century and has, in recent years, become the sub-
called) is uncertain. According to one legend, however, soon
ject of intensive debate and scientific analysis.
after his conversion to Buddhism, the great Indian emperor
It is sometimes difficult to realize the fervor with which
Asoka (third century BCE) collected from them the relics,
medieval people approached many of these relics. Part of
which he then redistributed throughout his empire, this time
their attraction, of course, lay in their reputed miraculous
dividing them into eighty-four thousand shares and building
powers, especially in the form of cures, but there was more
eighty-four thousand stupas to enshrine them. Thus, the
to it than this. Relics enabled the pious to relive—to recall
Buddha’s physical body (his relics), along with his teaching
experientially—events that were central to their faith. They
(his Dharma), was spread throughout the Indian subconti-
were visible manifestations of the presence of Christ and of
nent in a systematic and ordered way. It is clear, however,
his saints that could, in the words of one bishop, “open the
that Asoka was also using Buddhism and the relics symboli-
eyes of the heart.” They thus provided effective focal points
cally in order to impose his own authority over the kingdom.
for religious devotion and emotion. Suger, the abbot of
Saint-Denis in Paris, has described the scene there in the
In addition to this legend of the eighty-four thousand
early twelfth century. The old church, he states, was often
stupas, there are a number of other quite different traditions
filled to overflowing by the faithful, who pressed in closely
concerning the fate of the Buddha’s relics. These focus not
to implore the help of the saints and strove hard to kiss the
so much on his ashes as on the fortune of certain of his bones
nail and crown relics of the Lord. Women found themselves
and teeth. One tooth, for instance, ended up enshrined in
trampled underfoot or squeezed to the point of suffocation,
Sri Lanka, where today it is an object of veneration by pil-
while the brethren themselves, pressed hard by the crowd,
grims who come to the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy to
periodically had to make their escape with the relics through
make offerings of flowers and incense. Once a year, in the
the windows.
summer month of Äsa-la, it is paraded in pomp around the
city in what remains one of the chief Sri Lankan festivals.
BUDDHISM. Christianity is but one of two major traditions
in which relics have played a prominent and popular role.
Throughout the precolonial history of Sri Lanka, pos-
The other—Buddhism—became one of the great propaga-
session of the Buddha’s tooth was seen as an indispensable
tors of relic worship throughout Asia. Unlike Hinduism,
attribute of kingship. Its cult was the privilege and duty of
which, as has been seen, had little room for relics, Buddhism
the legitimate ruler and was thought to ensure social harmo-
was from the start fascinated by, and preoccupied with,
ny, regular rainfall, bountiful crops, and righteous rule. Its
death. This does not mean that Buddhists did not share some
possession meant power. Thus, when the British finally took
of the Indian repugnance for dead bodies. They tried, how-
Kandy in 1815 and captured the tooth, they found to their
ever, to overcome that repugnance, meditating on the impu-
surprise that resistance to them soon stopped.
rity and impermanence of the body, dead or alive. The re-
The official cult of the tooth relic was and is today car-
mains of the Buddha and of other enlightened saints,
ried out by an entire hierarchy of priests. Several times a day,
however, were thought not to be impure but worthy of the
in a series of ceremonies that closely resemble the Hindu pat-
highest veneration.
tern of worship of the gods, they ritually entertain the tooth,
The focus in Buddhism has been by and large on the
bathe it, clothe it, and feed it. In this, it is quite clear that
relics of the Buddha himself, even though Buddhists in an-
the Buddha is thought to be somehow present, despite the
cient India did also honor the relics of his disciples, and
doctrine that he has completely transcended the realm of re-
though still today, in some places, believers will search the
birth.
ashes of great monks for their ´sar¯ıradha¯tu (either bits of bone
As with the saints in Christianity, this presence of the
or tiny pieces of what is thought to be metamorphosed bodi-
Buddha in his relics is sometimes emphasized by the occur-
ly substance).
rence of miracles. For instance, according to the Maha¯vam:sa
According to tradition, when the Buddha passed away
(Great Chronicle) of Sri Lanka, when King Dutthagamani
into final nirva¯n:a, he told his disciples who were monks not
(first century BCE) was about to enshrine some Buddha relics
to preoccupy themselves with his physical remains but to fol-
in the great stupa he had built, the casket in which they were
low his teaching. After his cremation, therefore, his relics
kept rose up into the air; it opened of itself, and the relics
were left to the laity. Almost immediately they became the
came out, took on the physical form of the Buddha, and per-
object of a dispute among various North Indian monarchs,
formed all sorts of miracles that had been performed by the
each of whom wanted all the physical remains of the Buddha
Buddha himself during his lifetime. According to some tradi-
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tions, it might be added, much the same miracle is expected
in his shadow. Nearby was a rock on which one could discern
to take place at the end of this present world cycle, when,
the pattern of the cloth in the Buddha’s robe where he had
just prior to the advent of the next Buddha, Maitreya, all of
set it out to dry. Also in the same region was the Buddha’s
the dispersed relics of the present Buddha will miraculously
begging bowl, which the Chinese pilgrim Faxian saw during
come together again to form his body one more time, before
his trip to India (399–414). Faxian recounts a legend con-
disappearing forever into the depths of the earth.
cerning the bowl’s miraculous migration over the centuries
throughout the Buddhist world. According to this, at the end
Sri Lanka, however, was by no means the only Buddhist
of the present age, it is destined to ascend to the Tusita Heav-
nation to enjoy the possession of prestigious Buddha relics.
en, where it will be a sign for the future Buddha Maitreya
A number of hairs of the Buddha were enshrined in splendor
that the time for him to come down to earth is at hand.
in the great Shwe Dagon pagoda in Rangoon, Burma; and
in Lamphun in northern Thailand, several relics of the Bud-
CONCLUSION. In both the Christian and Buddhist tradi-
dha became the object of great veneration and elaborate leg-
tions, as well as to a lesser extent in Islam and ancient Greece,
ends. In both of these places, as in many others throughout
the examples of relics here considered present a great variety
the Buddhist world, the presence of Buddha relics is closely
of aspects and have been caught up in a whole gamut of sym-
linked to the first introduction of Buddhism into the coun-
bolisms. In relics, believers have found the ongoing presence
try. In other words, the relics were not just objects of venera-
and power of Jesus, of the Buddha, of the saints of different
tion for a few but were symbolic of the establishment of the
traditions. Everywhere relics have performed miracles of vari-
faith in a whole region.
ous kinds; they have been used to ward off evil, to effectuate
cures, and to ensure the prosperity of individuals, cities, and
The situation was somewhat different in China, where
even nations; they have legitimized the rule of kings and em-
Buddhism was always in competition with a number of other
perors; they have helped spread and popularize religion; they
faiths and ideologies. Nevertheless, in Changan (present-day
have been bought, stolen, traded, and fought over, and have
Sian), the ancient capital of the Tang dynasty, the emperor’s
held social, economic, and political importance.
periodic reception for the Buddha’s finger bone relic (gener-
ally kept at a monastery outside the city) was perhaps the
But for all these many functions, it must be noted that
greatest religious festival during the ninth century.
relics remain marked with a certain ambiguity. They are
often objects that are normally considered to be impure—
As Kenneth Chen put it in his Buddhism in China,
dead flesh, bones, and body parts—and yet they are venerat-
“Whenever this relic was put on public display, the people
ed as holy. In this very paradox, however, can be seen some
. . . would work themselves into such a state of religious
of the ways in which relics work to heighten the holiness and
frenzy as to belie the statement that the Chinese are rational
purity of the saints; if even their impurities are venerated,
and practical in their conduct” (Chen 1964, p. 280). Devo-
how much purer and more venerable they must be them-
tees threw themselves on the ground, gave away all their pos-
selves!
sessions, cut off their hair, burned their scalps, and made
fiery offerings of their fingers. It was, in fact, this sort of dis-
Somewhat the same reasoning can be applied to a sec-
play that in 819 led the Confucian scholar Han Yü to peti-
ond and more basic ambiguity found in relics. They are
tion the throne to put an end to such celebrations, pointing
clearly symbols of death and impermanence; they are what
out that it was demeaning for the emperor to have anything
is left after the saints and founders of the tradition are no
to do with the bone of a barbarian.
more. Yet, as has been seen repeatedly, they also make mani-
fest the continuing presence and life of these absent beings.
Another famous relic of the Buddha in China was a
In asserting that the saints are “alive in death,” or, in the case
tooth that was originally brought to Nanking in the fifth cen-
of Buddhism, that they are paradoxically present despite
tury and then taken to Chang’an. Lost for over eight hun-
their final nirvana, relics in both traditions manage to bridge
dred years, it was rediscovered in 1900 and is presently en-
a gap that is one of the great divides of human existence.
shrined in a pagoda outside Peking. In the late 1950s and
early 1960s, the Chinese government, eager to improve its
SEE ALSO Architecture; Bones; Persecution, article on Chris-
relations with Buddhist nations of South and Southeast Asia,
tian Experience; Stupa Worship; Tombs.
allowed it to go on a tour to Burma and then Sri Lanka,
where it was worshiped by hundreds of thousands of people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Not all of the Buddha’s relics, however, have been bodi-
For a short introduction to the comparative study of relics, see
ly remains. In several places in South and Southeast Asia,
Gregory Schopen, “Relic,” in Critical Terms for Religious
Studies, edited by Mark C. Taylor (Chicago, 1998),
great stone footprints, reputed to be his, are still venerated
pp. 256–268. For a survey of the field, see James Bentley,
today. In northwest India, he is said to have left his shadow
Restless Bones: the Story of Relics (London, 1985). For the
or reflected image on the wall of a cave that was a popular
study of relics in early Christianity, Peter Brown’s The Cult
pilgrimage site from the fourth to the eighth century. There,
of the Saints (Chicago, 1981) is a good place to begin, while
given the right amount of devotion and meditation, pilgrims
André Grabar’s Martyrium: recherches sur le culte des reliques
were thought actually to be able to see the Buddha himself
et l’art chrétien antique (Paris, 1946) remains a readable clas-
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RELIGION [FIRST EDITION]
sic. More general works on Christian relics extending into
and all else, between the creator and his creation, between
Medieval and Modern times are Thomas Head’s succinct
God and man.
“Relics” in Dictionary of the Middle Ages (New York, 1988),
10: 296–299; Nicole Hermann-Mascard, Les reliques des
Even Western thinkers who recognize their cultural bias
saints: formation coutumière d’un droit (Paris, 1975); and
find it hard to escape, because the assumptions of theism per-
David Sox’s more popularly written Relics and Shrines (Lon-
meate the linguistic structures that shape their thought. For
don, 1985). For more specialized studies, see on the True
example, the term holy comes from linguistic roots signifying
Cross, Anatole Frolow’s La relique de la Vraie Croix: Recher-
wholeness, perfection, well-being; the unholy, then, is the
ches sur le développement d’un culte (Paris, 1961); on the me-
fragmentary, the imperfect, the ailing. Sacredness is the qual-
dieval traffic in relics in western Europe, Patrick Geary’s
ity of being set apart from the usual or ordinary; its antonym,
Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages
profane, literally means “outside the fane” (ME, “sacred
(Princeton, N.J., 1978); and on Roman Catholic rules about
place”). Thus every sanctuary—synagogue, church,
relics, Eugene A. Dooley, Church Law on Sacred Relics
mosque—is a concrete physical embodiment of this separa-
(Washington, D.C., 1931). Among the many works to ap-
pear on the shroud of Turin, mention might be made of Ian
tion of the religious from all else. So too, in a more general
Wilson’s The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloth of Jesus
sense the sacred is what is specifically set apart for holy or
Christ? (Garden City, N.Y., 1978).
religious use; the secular is what is left over, the world out-
side, the current age and its fashions and concerns. This thor-
For the study of relics in Buddhism, see Kevin Trainor, Relics, Rit-
oughgoing separation has been institutionalized in a multi-
ual, and Representation in Buddhism: Rematerializing the Sri
Lankan Theravada Tradition (Cambridge, 1997); Dan Mar-
tude of forms: sacred rites including sacraments; sacred
tin, “Pearls from Bones: Relics, Chortens, Tertons and the
books and worship paraphernalia; holy days; sacred precincts
Signs of Saintly Death in Tibet,” Numen 41 (1994): 273–
and buildings; special modes of life and dress; religious fel-
324; Bernard Faure, “Relics and Flesh Bodies: The Creation
lowships and orders; and so on ad infinitum.
of Ch’an Sites,” in Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China, ed.
Many practical and conceptual difficulties arise when
Susan Naquin and Chün-fang Yü (Berkeley, Calif., 1992),
one attempts to apply such a dichotomous pattern across the
pp. 150–189; Brian Ruppert, Jewel in the Ashes: Buddha Rel-
ics and Power in Early Medieval Japan (Cambridge, 1997);
board to all cultures. In primitive societies, for instance, what
and John S. Strong, Relics of the Buddha (Princeton, N.J.,
the West calls religious is such an integral part of the total
2004). A detailed study of the rituals associated with the
ongoing way of life that it is never experienced or thought
Buddha’s tooth relic in Sri Lanka can be found in H.L.
of as something separable or narrowly distinguishable from
Seneviratne, Rituals of the Kandyan State (Cambridge, 1978).
the rest of the pattern. Or if the dichotomy is applied to that
A helpful introduction to the temple of the Buddha’s relic
multifaceted entity called Hinduism, it seems that almost ev-
in Lamphun, Thailand is Donald K. Swearer’s Wat Haripuñ-
erything can be and is given a religious significance by some
jaya (Missoula, Mont., 1976). For Buddhist relics in China,
sect. Indeed, in a real sense everything that is is divine; exis-
see Kenneth Ch’en’s Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey
tence per se appears to be sacred. It is only that the ultimately
(Princeton, N.J., 1964).
real manifests itself in a multitude of ways—in the set-apart
Finally, two useful works for the study of relics in Islam deserve
and the ordinary, in god and so-called devil, in saint and sin-
mention: Ignácz Goldziher’s “On the Veneration of the
ner. The real is apprehended at many levels in accordance
Dead in Paganism and Islam,” in volume 1 of Muslim Studies
with the individual’s capacity.
(Chicago, 1966), and, on the cult of the saints in Egypt, Jane
I. Smith and Yvonne Haddad’s The Islamic Understanding of
The same difficulty arises in another form when consid-
Death and Resurrection (Albany, N.Y., 1981), appendix C.
ering Daoist, Confucian, and Shinto¯ cultures. These cultures
are characterized by what J. J. M. de Groot termed “univers-
JOHN S. STRONG (1987 AND 2005)
ism”: a holiness, goodness, and perfection of the natural
order that has been misunderstood, distorted, and falsified
by shallow minds and errant cultural customs. The religious
RELIGION [FIRST EDITION].
life here is one of harmony with both the natural and human
The very attempt
orders, a submersion of individuality in an organic relation-
to define religion, to find some distinctive or possibly unique
ship and in an inwardly experienced oneness with them. And
essence or set of qualities that distinguish the “religious”
Buddhism in all its forms denies the existence of a transcen-
from the remainder of human life, is primarily a Western
dent creator-deity in favor of an indefinable, nonpersonal,
concern. The attempt is a natural consequence of the West-
absolute source or dimension that can be experienced as the
ern speculative, intellectualistic, and scientific disposition. It
depth of human inwardness. This, of course, is not to forget
is also the product of the dominant Western religious mode,
the multitudinous godlings, bodhisattvas, and spirits who are
what is called the Judeo-Christian climate or, more accurate-
given ritual reverence in popular adaptations of the high reli-
ly, the theistic inheritance from Judaism, Christianity, and
gion to human need.
Islam. The theistic form of belief in this tradition, even when
downgraded culturally, is formative of the dichotomous
There is one other important result of the Western con-
Western view of religion. That is, the basic structure of the-
cept and practice of religion, here alluded to in passing: the
ism is essentially a distinction between a transcendent deity
religious community, distinct and more or less set apart from
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the environing society. This is not absolutely unique to
Such definitional usage has had its critics in the West.
Western religiosity, for in almost every culture there are
As early as the late eighteenth century an attempt was made
those individuals believed to have unusual capacities and
to shift the emphasis from the conceptual to the intuitive and
powers—the soothsayers, shamans, witch doctors, medicine
visceral in defining religion. In a very influential statement,
men, and other specialists who are set apart from all others
Friedrich Schleiermacher defined religion as “feeling of abso-
by their powers and who use them in a professional manner.
lute dependence”—absolute as contrasted to other, relative
Likewise in most cultures there are those temporary and vol-
feelings of dependence. Since that time there have been oth-
untary groups of initiates into secret or occult fellowships
ers who have sought to escape formalistic, doctrinal defini-
who take upon themselves prescribed special obligations,
tions and to include the experiential, emotive, and intuitive
diets, psychosomatic disciplines, and the like.
factors, as well as valuational and ethical factors. These fac-
tors seemed to be truer to the religious person’s sense of what
But none of these achieves the form or distinctive quali-
religion is like from the inside, to include what William
ties of the congregations of synagogue, church, or mosque.
James called “the enthusiastic temper of espousal.” Such defi-
There is more and other here than the geographical together-
nitions appear to be more universally applicable to primitive
ness of worshipers at a Hindu or Buddhist temple or the cul-
and Asian religions than belief-oriented ones.
tic togetherness of a tribal society. In one sense, a Western-
style congregation is a “gathered people,” a group of persons
This is surely the case with primitive religion where, as
who have been divinely called to and have consciously cho-
noted, the religious is scarcely distinguishable from the so-
sen to follow this particular faith rather than other possible
ciocultural, where custom and ritual are abundant while be-
faiths or nonfaith. (That geographical, historical, and social
lief structures are scarce, where emotional realities carry more
factors greatly modify the actuality of the factor of choice is
weight than statable ideas. The Asian religious traditions,
to be understood, but being chosen and choosing remain the
too, characteristically place their prime emphasis upon the
ideal model.) Such groups have their chosen leaders, carry
inner states of realization rather than upon the merely instru-
on joint worship periodically as well as other corporate activi-
mental rite or doctrine. Indeed, this is so much the case that
ties, and evangelize for their faith among others. Thus, being
in some of the more radical expressions, such as Zen Bud-
a member of a body of believers—a term that betrays the
dhism and Hindu bhakti (devotional faith), creed and tradi-
Western theistic emphasis upon doctrine—separates individ-
tion are purely secondary or even valueless hindrances. Of
uals to some extent from others in the environing society.
course, it should be added that this is not quite the case in
And the professional teachers and ritualists—rabbis, minis-
actuality. For feeling-based experience never subsists on its
ters, priests, and to some extent mullahs and imams—are by
own exclusive resources: feeling (and love as in bhakti) is al-
their dress and mode of life even more separated from “the
ways feeling about or toward some object or other. Experi-
world” than the devout laity are.
ence never happens in a complete ideational vacuum. In all
these cases, be they primitive, Buddhist, or Hindu, there is
Again, this special type of grouping, though produced
an underlying conceptual context of some sort, and its im-
in part by many other factors as well, is a distinctive product
plicitness or verbal denial does not indicate its total function-
of the Western theistic dichotomous conception of religion
al absence.
as a set of beliefs and practices that are different from sur-
rounding beliefs and practices and that embody a special re-
With the rise of the sociological and anthropological
lation to deity, that transcendent other. The very term reli-
disciplines, another factor has been projected into definition
gion originally indicated a bond of scruple uniting those who
making—the social, economic, historical, and cultural con-
shared it closely to each other. Hence religion suggests both
texts in which religion comes to expression. Sociologists and
separation and a separative fellowship. How, then, is religion
anthropologists rightly argue that religion is never an abstract
to be conceptually handled for the purposes of thought and
set of ideas, values, or experiences developed apart from the
discussion, since the very term itself is so deeply ingrained
total cultural matrix and that many religious beliefs, customs,
with specifically Western cultural presuppositions?
and rituals can only be understood in reference to this ma-
trix. Indeed, some proponents of these disciplines imply or
DEFINITIONS. So many definitions of religion have been
suggest that analysis of religious structures will totally ac-
framed in the West over the years that even a partial listing
count for religion. Émile Durkheim, a pioneer in this societal
would be impractical. With varying success they have all
interpretation, asserted in The Elementary Forms of the Reli-
struggled to avoid, on the one hand, the Scylla of hard, sharp,
gious Life (New York, 1926) that “a society has all that is nec-
particularistic definition and, on the other hand, the Charyb-
essary to arouse the sensation of the divine in minds, merely
dis of meaningless generalities. Predictably, Western-derived
by the power that it has over them” (p. 207). Thus the gods
definitions have tended to emphasize the sharp distinction
are nothing more than society in disguise. Since Durkheim’s
between the religious and nonreligious dimensions of culture
time, sociologists have refined their methods of analysis, but
and sometimes have equated religion with beliefs, particular-
some still maintain the essential Durkheimian view.
ly belief in a supreme being. Obviously such definitions ex-
clude many primitive and Asian religions, if we still wish to
The various forms of psychology come out of the same
use the term.
scientific-humanistic context as the social science disciplines.
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The central concerns of psychology are the psychic mechan-
be sure, at the popular level much religion consists of placa-
ics and motivational forces that result from human self-
tion and use of spirits and superhuman powers and various
consciousness. In some sense, psychological interpretations
rituals reminiscent of theism. But in their own self-
of religion are more akin to those that stress experiential in-
definitions Buddhism and Hinduism, for example, seem to
wardness than to those that accent intellectual and societal
have little or no sense of a radically other and ultimate being.
aspects. In the final analysis, however, psychology is more
In fact, the basic thought and action model here is that of
akin to the social sciences in its treatment of religion than
man’s oneness with his environing universe. He seeks to live
to any intrareligious effort at interpretation. It tends, like so-
religiously in organic harmony with the ultimate, and the
cial studies, to dissolve religion into sets of psychological
highest level of religious experience tends toward a mystical
factors.
monism, though with Eastern qualifications. Immanence of
It should be observed in passing that the religious per-
the sacred rather than its transcendence is emphasized. Thus
son would not be satisfied with such analyses. That person’s
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism characteristically find
sense of what is happening in religion seems always to con-
the truly transcendent within the human self itself. The divi-
tain some extrasocietal, extrapsychological depth-factor or
nized, exteriorized forms given to the holy in theistic reli-
transcendent dimension, which must be further examined.
gions—and in the popular forms of their own faiths—are
viewed as temporary and practically expedient but essentially
Among Western religion scholars there have been at-
false means for the final enlightenment of the ignorant.
tempts to define religion in a manner that avoids the “reduc-
tionism” of the various sociological and psychological disci-
The most recent and influential formulation of sacred-
plines that reduce religion to its component factors. A
ness as the unique and irreducible essence of all religious ex-
prominent one has been the analysis of religions of varied na-
perience has been that of Mircea Eliade. He has refined and
ture in terms of the presence of an awareness of the sacred
expanded Otto’s use of the term extensively. No longer is the
or the holy. First proposed by Schleiermacher, this approach
sacred to be sought almost exclusively in the God-encounter
found its most notable expression in Rudolf Otto’s The Idea
type of experience; it is abundantly exemplified in the sym-
of the Holy (1917). Analyzing the biblical accounts of the ex-
bolisms and rituals of almost every culture, especially the
perience of the prophets and saints in their encounters with
primitive and Asian cultures. It is embodied as sacred space,
God, Otto defines the essence of religious awareness as awe,
for example, in shrines and temples, in taboo areas, even lim-
a unique blend of fear and fascination before the divine.
itedly in the erection of dwellings in accordance with a sense
Thus Isaiah, upon becoming aware of the presence of the liv-
of the axis mundi, an orientation to the center of the true (sa-
ing God (Yahveh) in the temple sanctuary, cried out, “Woe
cred) universe. Indeed, structures often symbolically repre-
is me, for I am undone!” Isaiah’s response expresses both
sent that physically invisible but most real of all universes—
creaturely fear of his creator and his own sense of sinfulness
the eternally perfect universe to which they seek to relate
before God’s absolute righteousness. Yet he does not flee but
fruitfully. This sense of sacredness often attaches to trees,
remains to worship and to become the bearer of a prophetic
stones, mountains, and other like objects in which mysteri-
message to his people. In Otto’s terms, Isaiah and others like
ous power seems to be resident. Many primitive rituals seek
him sensed the mysterium tremendum, the “wholly otherness”
to sacramentally repeat the first moment of creation often
of the divine being. And for Otto this was the prototype of
described in myth when primordial chaos became recogniz-
all truly religious experience.
able order. Sacred time—that is, eternal and unfragmented
Otto’s conception of the essential nature of religious ex-
time—is made vitally present by the reenactment of such
periences may be acceptable in the context of Western the-
myths. In The Sacred and the Profane (New York, 1951)
ism, though this type of religious experience seems relatively
Eliade writes, “Every religious festival, every liturgical time,
rare or else is smothered by the religious apparatus that envel-
represents the reactualization of a sacred event that took
ops it. But even in Otto’s own writings the application of this
place in a mythical past, in the beginning” (pp. 68–69).
concept to primitive and Asian religions seems difficult. In
It is a matter of opinion whether Eliade’s portraiture of
primitive religions any sense of the divine in the mode of Isa-
the experience of the sacred, much more elaborate and ex-
iah seems missing despite the early attempt of Andrew Lang
tended than here stated, escapes the limitations of Otto’s
to find a “high god” tradition in primitive antiquity. Here
view and represents a viable way of defining and describing
religion is scarcely distinguishable from magic; rites seem pri-
the religious mode. Sociologists and anthropologists ques-
marily used for the fulfillment of physicial needs; and fear
tion its verifiability in actual cases as well as Eliade’s interpre-
rather than awe predominates. Sacred and profane are inap-
tation of his data. To them sacredness is an ideal construct,
propriate terms to apply to this cultural continuum. Of
not a genuine cultural or experiential entity. Linguists, psy-
course, it must be said that the powers that are feared, placat-
chologists, and philosophers also question the identifiability
ed, and used, in turn, do have their invisible and esoteric di-
of such a distinctive entity in patterns of language, experi-
mensions with which some rites attempt to make contact.
ence, and thought patterns. For all of these critics the reli-
Nor does this definition of religion as the experience of
gious experience is a compound of cultural entities and expe-
the awe-inspiring wholly other seem to fit Asian religions. To
riences, not a separable thing in and of itself.
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Is there no alternative to such reductions of religious ex-
is “other” to the lower states, and in some Buddhist and
periences and structures into congeries of easily identifiable
Hindu traditions (i.e., Zen and meditative Advaita) there is
and nonmysterious psychological, social, political, and eco-
a breakthrough experience (satori and realization of brah-
nomic factors? Conversely, is there no alternative to the defi-
man) that experientially is wholly other than or wholly trans-
nition of the religious as a mystical essence that can be locat-
formative of ordinary awareness.
ed in every culture by the proper methodology, like the
In summary, it may be said that almost every known
detection of uranium by a geiger counter? The truth in the
culture involves the religious in the above sense of a depth
former views is that a religious awareness, wherever found,
dimension in cultural experiences at all levels—a push,
occurs in the context of and is given tangible form by cultur-
whether ill-defined or conscious, toward some sort of ultima-
al, economic, and social factors. Traditionally, these factors
cy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for
condition members of a society to perceive and experience
the rest of life. When more or less distinct patterns of behav-
the world in ways given as religious.
ior are built around this depth dimension in a culture, this
On the other hand, it is also true that there is something
structure constitutes religion in its historically recognizable
of a sacred otherness about religious experiences that cannot
form. Religion is the organization of life around the depth
be easily dissolved or given no weight. Even though an unan-
dimensions of experience—varied in form, completeness,
alyzable, unqualifiable factor called “the holy” or “the sacred”
and clarity in accordance with the environing culture.
cannot be isolated from its varied components and contexts,
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERI-
almost every known culture displays elements that, if not
ENCE. If religiousness is a depth-awareness coming to distinc-
wholly other from their context, do show a certain disconti-
tive expression in the forms we call religion, how is religious-
nuity with it. When these discontinuous elements are spoken
ness distinguished from various other types of awareness such
about or related to, there occurs at least a slight shift to an-
as the aesthetic and ecstatic—what Abraham Maslow (1964)
other perspective, another realm of discourse, which con-
calls “peak experiences” and Marghanita Laski (1961) terms
cerns the more mysterious and indefinable areas of experi-
“non-religious ecstasy”—and the states of “altered conscious-
ence and expectation. Or these elements might be discussed
ness” produced by various psychosomatic techniques or
in terms of a depth dimension in cultural experiences and
drugs?
customs that hints at the more central, serious, or ultimate
Indeed, there are those who would equate all such states
concerns and values. Perhaps religions could be seen, then,
with the so-called religious variety. For example, Maslow
as the attempt to order individual and societal life in terms
urges that all peak, that is, highly emotional and ecstatic, ex-
of culturally perceived ultimate priorities.
periences should be recognized as equally valid and valuable,
It should be noted, of course, that the form, clarity, and
whatever the conditions of their occurrence or production.
degree of such an ordering of life vary immensely from cul-
He criticizes religions for preempting the quality of genuine-
ture to culture. Thus primitive man adds enhancing rituals
ness as proof of the truth of their respective doctrines. Laski
and magic incantations to his tool-making and hunting
likewise fully equates the structured religious experiences of
skills, without clearly conceptualizing why he does so. He
mystics with the “natural” experiences of ecstasy, transcen-
does not confuse the two means to his end, never substitut-
dence, and aesthetic intensity that occur in the presence of
ing religio-magic for good weaponry, or chants for physical
some natural wonder, in sexual experience, in childbirth, or
skill. Rather, he adds the magic and ritual elements to the
by other means. In the case of mystical experiences, she ar-
humanly possible means in order to ensure their success; the
gues, religious “overbeliefs” have gratuitously attached to
magic and ritual elements are efforts to deal with the power-
them and are erroneously considered to be causal.
ful and mysterious dimensions of existence that cannot be
There have also been many experiments, with and with-
controlled or affected by ordinary means. This quality of
out drugs, in the achievement of a nonindividualized or
other-than-ordinary also resides in the ritual paraphernalia,
transpersonalized consciousness. In these experiments the
in the ritual specialists, and often in the secret content of the
subject is lifted out of the usual narrow, self-oriented aware-
rites themselves and certain special localities. Thus even in
ness into an awareness of the overpowering beauty of ordi-
primitive society there is a vaguely felt and inarticulate
nary objects, colors, and sounds and of unity with the
awareness of transcendence as strange, more, and different.
boundless infinitude of space, time, and being. Some sub-
In Asian traditions that emphasize immanence rather
jects have reported the fusing of all the senses so that color
than transcendence, characterized by continuums rather
has sound as well as the converse. Others report a sense of
than discontinuities both of theory and of experience, grada-
oneness with all other beings. Aldous Huxley equated these
tions of both understanding and of experience exist nonethe-
experiences with those of Christian, Muslim, Daoist, and
less. Recognized levels of practice and attainment are but-
Hindu mystics. Some practitioners have deliberately fused
tressed by texts and incorporated into systems of praxis.
the use of psychosomatic techniques and drugs with religious
“Lower” levels of attainment are not considered totally false
practice—Zen, Hindu, American Indian.
or wrong but as less than fully true or ultimate. There is,
However, the true significance of these experiences, mis-
then, a kind of transcendence by degree or stage; the highest
interpreted in such views, is not found in the likeness of psy-
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7696
RELIGION [FIRST EDITION]
chosomatic character in all such experiences, whether reli-
these traditions of ancient thought and practice become
gious or not. That they can occur in nearly identical forms
more elaborate and stylized.
in a variety of contexts and with varied stimuli (or are they
Whatever the degree of elaboration, two things seem to
really identical?) indicates at most the similar psychosomatic
be taken for granted. First, the beginnings—the original cre-
nature of all human beings. The truly significant element is
ative action, the life and words of an individual founder, even
precisely that ideational and emotional context discarded by
the authorless antiquity of a tradition’s scriptures, as in the
Maslow, Laski, and others as dispensable “overbeliefs.” Such
case of Hinduism—are taken as models of pristine purity and
experiences in and by themselves are anonymous, miscella-
power, fully authoritative for all members of the group or ad-
neous, and trifling emotional flashes, unless they are con-
herents of the faith. Second, no matter how great the actual
nected with some system of ideation that interprets them in
changes in a particular historical religious tradition—and
terms of meaningful concepts or other like experiences. In
sometimes this means the entire cultural tradition, more or
short, the ideational system gives the experiences an identity.
less—the basic thrust of traditionalism is to maintain itself.
And by thus having a traditional religious identity, these ex-
Typically, religious reformers speak about a reforming of the
periences also have power to affect the whole life—a power
religion in terms of its more holy past. Thus Zen seeks to
denied them as anonymous feeling. Thus the mystical ecsta-
go back directly to the mind of the Buddha, bypassing all his-
sies of Teresa of Ávila remolded her spirituality and propelled
torical forms and scripturalism. Revivalist Islam speaks of re-
her into a life of strenuous activity in the cause of Roman
turning to pure QurDanic faith and practice. Protestantism
Catholic Christianity. The same could be said of a Zen satori
sought a return to New Testament Christianity, eliminating
experience, even though it is not expressed in doctrinaire
all the Roman Catholic “accretions”; and the Roman Catho-
terms. Satori dynamically activates the total man because it
lic church responded that its doctrine and ritual and authori-
validates the Zen context of tradition, thought, and values
ty were demonstrably older than anything in Protestantism,
in which it occurs. It is oneness with the absolute Buddha
going back to Christ himself.
essence; it is an experience of the Buddha mind, of organic
harmony with the entire universe, of the felt unity of outer
Myth and symbol. Religious traditions are full of myth
and inner worlds. These experiences are of revolutionary sig-
and replete with symbol. Myth in most contemporary use
nificance to the experiencer because of their contextual reli-
simply means “false”; myths are the fanciful tales of primi-
gious meaning.
tives spun out as explanations of beginnings. Hence creation
myths are rationalizations of what prescientific cultures can-
In summary, it may be said that while ecstatic, transic,
not understand through other means. Though this explana-
and intense aesthetic experiences are found both within reli-
tory function of myth has been important, an even more
gious and nonreligious frameworks and have many features
basic function has been that of symbolic source. Apparently,
in common psychologically, the religious experience is reli-
even the writers of myths recognized the impossibility of ex-
gious precisely because it occurs in a religious context of
pressing the fundamentally indescribable nature of absolute
thought, discipline, and value.
beginnings and ultimate realities. Hence poetry and symbol
CHARACTERISTICS AND STRUCTURES OF RELIGIOUS LIFE. As
were their metier. In this way, religious myths have become
previously suggested, religions adopt their tangible historical
modes of action, mankind’s way of relating to physical and
forms as matrices of cultural and social elements about the
environmental realities. Thus does religious man seek to
depth-centers of culture. Hence the beliefs, patterns of obser-
grasp the actionable significance of the world and relate to
vance, organizational structures, and types of religious expe-
it emotionally. In passing, it should be noted that all disci-
rience are as varied as the matrices that give them birth, and
plines of thought and life have their mythology of guiding
that they in turn help form and reform. Even in the midst
images and unproven assumptions.
of this variety, however, we may distinguish certain charac-
Symbol is the language of myth. When the crucially im-
teristic elements and categories of structures distinctively reli-
portant but mysterious nature of ultimate reality—the basic
gious.
concern of religious man—can only be seen through a glass
darkly, how else can one speak of it except in symbolic forms?
Traditionalism. All attempts to find a primitive reli-
Ordinary language will not serve for the fullness of either the
gion embodying the primordial form of all subsequent reli-
question or the answer here. Therefore religious language is
gions have encountered two insurmountable problems. The
rich in analogies, metaphors, poetry, stylized actions (ritual),
first is the sheer arbitrariness of seeking the origin of all types
and even silence (“Be still and know that I am God”). For
of religion in a single form. The second is that wherever reli-
the symbol stands for something other and more than itself;
gion is recognized—if one uses the above definition of reli-
it is only a finger pointing at the moon of reality.
gion as a depth-dimensional structure—one also encounters
an existent tradition comprising stylized actions related to
In seeking to deal with man’s ultimate concerns, reli-
the pursuit of cultural goals, however meager or closely
gions are prolific in the production, use, and elaboration of
geared to survival needs. Present modes of religious activity
symbolic forms and objects; thus it is not surprising that reli-
always seem to look backward for origins, precedents, and
gions have been the inspiration of an overwhelmingly large
standards. As cultures become more complex and literate,
and diverse body of art. Indeed, in most cultures of the past,
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7697
religions have been the central cultural fountainhead. To re-
The “great” religious traditions of Judaism, Buddhism, Hin-
alize the importance of symbols in religion one need think
duism, Christianity, and Islam are all oriented toward the
only of the immense variety of rituals; of the stylized dress,
inner life. Their doctrines, texts, religious disciplines, and
manner, and speech of ritual officiants; of artifacts used in
even organizations aim to cultivate the inner life of prayer,
rituals; of paintings and sculptures, of shrines and sanctuaries
faith, enlightenment, and purity of character.
of all levels and types.
Yet the development of the inner life in religion does
Finally, the tremendous tenacity of symbolic forms and
not completely exclude the lower level of physical-material
their ritualized vehicles must be emphasized. Many a symbol
goods. They remain as the object of perfectly acceptable reli-
outlives its parent religion and culture, as the lotus, for exam-
gious hopes so that prayers are still made for health, safety,
ple, has lived through centuries of symbolic existence, first
rain in times of drought, and sufficiency of food. And in
in Hinduism and then in Buddhism. Symbols are more last-
some instances the final higher goods represent only the ab-
ing than their explanatory doctrinal forms because they speak
solutizing or infinitizing of the physical-material ones. Thus
to the human imagination and to human feelings, not merely
eternal life maximizes the desire for deliverance from
to the rational sense. Religious symbols often embody what
death—that primary human desire for survival toward which
is felt to be the central religious reality involved; they are its
so much of primitive religion is directed. Indeed, the Greek
sacramental form, which must be preserved at all costs.
religion of ancient times seems almost alone in portraying life
after death as an unsatisfactory shadow existence. Most pure
Concepts of salvation. Salvation is but another name
lands, heavens, and paradises are described as the perpetual
for religion. That is, all religions are basically conceived as
enjoyment of life without pain, sorrow, or unhappiness of
means of saving men at one level or another. And there are
any sort. Similarly, the indescribable nibba¯na of Therava¯da
always two aspects to salvation: what men are to be saved
Buddhism is conceived as the final, absolute end of the emp-
from and what they are to be saved to. It goes without saying
tiness, impermanence, and pain of all embodied existence.
that what men are saved from and to varies immensely from
culture to culture and from religion to religion.
But even given the continuing presence of the lower-
level goods sought by religious means in the higher-level reli-
At the primitive level of religion, salvation both “from”
gions, it is still true that the inner goals of peace, self-
and “to” is achieved mainly in the realm of physical dangers
sacrificing love, purity of heart, and awareness of absolute
and goods. The primitive seeks by his rituals to save himself
goodness increasingly become central to the religious quest.
from starvation, from death by storm, from disease, from
When they are sought for themselves with no ulterior mo-
wild animals, and from enemies and to sufficiency of food
tives, the possibility of saintliness comes into being.
and shelter, to freedom from danger and disease, and to
human fertility. Implicit in this context, and in the realm of
It is, of course, obvious that religious salvation is as re-
mental and emotional malaise, is salvation from mysterious
sponsive to and expressive of human needs and desires as any
and even malign powers and forces of evil. The achievement
secular scheme of salvation. For salvation in religion is a
of salvation in all these areas is striven for by all possible phys-
means of fulfilling needs and desires, even when the needs
ical means with the superadded power of ritual, charm, and
and desires are revealed from “above.” Yet the forms fulfill-
magic.
ment takes express specially religious values, supplementing
and sometimes opposing other, nonreligious values. And it
Of course, the development of environing cultures im-
is also evident that the varied cultural contexts of religions
plies a change and expansion in the nature of religious salva-
each represent a variant perspective on the human situa-
tion. Group values come to play a larger and more conscious
tion—its goods and goals, its dangers and evils. These varied
role. The group—whether tribal kinship-clan or nation-
perspectives greatly influence the form of religious salvation.
state—comes to be a sacred entity in its own right, perhaps
Thus the Hindu Advaitin, the African San, the Sunn¯ı Mus-
the preeminent one in some cases. Roman religion, for exam-
lim, the Orthodox Jew, the Zen Buddhist, the Protestant,
ple, was essentially a state religion whose major purpose was
and the Greek Orthodox Christian would define religious
the preservation (salvation) of the state in prosperity and
needs and goods quite differently.
power; a triumphal conquest was a triumph of the Roman
Is there then any appreciable difference between the
deities. In time the emperors themselves were considered in-
ways in which religious and nonreligious modes of need ful-
carnate deities, as were the Egyptian pharaohs of an earlier
fillment proceed? In other words, are there distinguishing
era. Later, inner values, relatively unimportant to primitive
characteristics of religious salvation? The first is that religious
and early nationalistic cultures, became matters of prime reli-
salvation tends to concentrate on the needs a culture defines
gious importance. Inner states of mind, the cultivation of ec-
as most fundamental, neglecting needs that a culture defines
stasy, and concern about the personal survival of physical
as less important. Religious means of salvation, often indirect
death became important, sometimes almost paramount in
and extrahuman, seek to use supersensible forces and powers
times of social and political turmoil.
either in addition to or in place of ordinary tangible means.
In time, this area of inner development, experiences,
The second distinguishing characteristic is that religious sal-
and values became the impetus for religious development.
vations tend to aim at total, absolute, and sometimes tran-
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RELIGION [FIRST EDITION]
scendent fulfillment of human needs. As defined by the cul-
is sacramental. Sacred places are cherished and revered be-
tural context, this fulfillment ranges all the way from the
cause they offer the possibility of directly encountering and
fullness of physical satisfactions to the eternal ecstasy of
partaking of the real in the given tradition. An unusual
union with the Absolute.
power has manifested itself in a natural object or taboo place
either for good or ill. Or tradition tells that some primordial-
Sacred places and objects. One of the striking features
ly creative act once took place here and that power still lin-
of historically observable religions is the presence of special
gers. So in both more and less developed religious traditions,
religious areas and structures set apart from ordinary space
past sanctity and present hope characterize sacred places, The
by physical, ritual, and psychological barriers. Precincts,
shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe appears to have been first
churches, mosques, synagogues, and shrines are the highly
a center of pagan deity worship before its adoption by the
visible manifestations of religious discontinuity with the sur-
Christian faith; its religious power is centuries old, transfix-
rounding world. Various physical actions are often required
ing past and present devotees. This same quality is found at
of those who enter sacred areas to indicate this separation:
the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, from which
ablutions, removal of footwear, prayers and incantations,
Muh:ammad reputedly made his ascent into heaven; at the
bowing and kneeling, silence, preparatory fasting, special
places of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, first sermon,
garb, and preliminary inward acts of contrition.
and death in India; and at the legendary birth and death
Further, particularly within the more spacious precincts,
places of Jesus in Palestine.
there are grades of sacredness that enshrine specially sacred
objects or relics in their supremely holy areas. A classic exam-
Other sacred places and objects (images) particularly
ple is the last of the Jewish temples in Jerusalem, in which
emphasize the hope of present and future blessing. The
there was a spatial progression from the outermost court of
shrine at Lourdes is venerated not simply because a French
the Gentiles to the women’s court to the men’s court to the
peasant girl reputedly once saw a vision of the Virgin there
court of the burnt offering to the priests’ enclosure to the
but because of the hope of present healing. Similarly, many
Holy of Holies wherein was the Ark of the Covenant and,
Buddhists expect to gain merit by praying and making offer-
in some sense, the special presence of Yahveh. In synagogues
ings before Buddha images or to reap tangible benefits in the
today the ark containing a copy of the Torah is the most sa-
here and now by touching bodhisattva images. The Shinto¯
cred part. In Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church-
practitioner rings the bell to summon his chosen deity and
es, the altar supporting the sacramental bread and wine is the
petition him or her for a specific boon. A Roman Catholic
focal point of sacredness. Protestant churches display a
church is made sacred because of its consecrated altar at
weaker form of the same principle, centered around the Bible
which the life-giving miracle of bread and wine transformed
or pulpit. Buddhist shrines in Southeast Asia commonly are
into the spiritual body of Christ occurs at every mass. The
pagodas containing sacred relics and/or consecrated Buddha
Protestant pulpit is the space where the word of the living
images, which are honored by removing footwear, circu-
God is expounded; at the very least the devout parishioner
mambulating with the central spire to one’s right, and pre-
hopes for some sense of empowerment and renewal for daily
senting floral offerings and obeisances. Japanese Buddhist
living. Every functioning shrine embodies such living and sa-
temples usually contain large Buddha images at the rear of
cred hopes.
ornately decorated altars. Hindu temples vary somewhat in
Sacred actions (rituals). Just as it is impossible to think
this respect; some have a holy inner sanctum into which only
of living religions without their sacred places, so is it impossi-
the ritually pure devotee may enter, while others provide rel-
ble to conceive of a religion without its rituals, whether sim-
atively open access to the revered god images. Perhaps the
ple or elaborate. The forms of ritual are familiar, involving
Islamic mosque is the least set apart of religious places. Yet
the stylized saying or chanting of certain words, bowing or
even here ablutions are required before entry, nonbelievers
kneeling, offerings of various kinds including animal sacri-
are scarcely welcome, and the semicircular alcove set in the
fices, dancing and music making.
rear wall (qiblah) must project toward the Muslim holy of
holies, the KaEbah in Mecca, so that praying believers always
Several features are prominent in most rituals. One is
face in that direction.
the element of order. Indeed, an established ritual pattern is
the ordered performance of sacred actions under the direc-
Quite logically, many of the furnishings and objects
tion of a leader. This order usually develops early in the his-
used in temples and shrines, particularly in their most sacred
tory of a given tradition. Initially the sacred actions are more
rituals, partake of the sacredness of the shrine itself. One
or less informal and spontaneous, then, step by step, become
thinks here of altar furnishings and utensils, sacrificial para-
ordered and standardized procedures, and in the end may be-
phernalia, baptismal water, the special garb of temple offici-
come elaborate ritual patterns requiring a considerable quan-
ants, special words and gestures, incense, candles and the
tity of equipment and personnel (ritualists, priests). In Chris-
like. These furnishings and objects are less holy than the
tianity we see the beginnings of this in Paul’s exhortation to
shrine and revered relic, which are intrinsically sacred.
the church in Corinth to conduct their worship “decently
But in the final analysis sacred places are sacred because
and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40). He had heard reports of chaotic
of what has occurred there or may occur there. Their essence
gatherings at which all participants were under the “inspira-
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RELIGION [FIRST EDITION]
7699
tion of the Spirit.” From this order developed the classical
Sacred writings. In literate societies writings are often
Christian liturgies. However, perhaps the maximal degree of
of considerable religious importance. (Christianity calls sa-
ritualization was achieved in another tradition, for the Brah-
cred writings scriptures.) Typically sacred writings comprise
manic Hindu sacrificial rituals involve an almost unbeliev-
the reported words of the holy men of the past—prophets,
able complexity and rigidity of pattern.
saints, founders of faiths such as Zarathushtra, Moses, the
Buddha, Muh:ammad, Christ, or Nanak. As such they are of
Rigidity of pattern, requiring the utmost care and preci-
prime importance as statements of the truth and expositions
sion in use of word, action, and material, points to another
of the right way for believers to live. (Of course, nonliterate
feature of ritual, maximized in the Hindu sacrifice but more
societies have their oral traditions that serve the same pur-
or less present in all fixed rituals: meticulous performance.
pose.) The Hindu Vedas are considered to be without
Analogies may be drawn to magic formulas and scientific ex-
human author or known human channel of transmission.
periments, and the resemblance is indeed meaningful. Just
as in magic and science, where success depends upon meticu-
When scriptures exist, interpreters must also exist. Suc-
lously faithful following of the given formula, so too in reli-
cessive interpretations vary greatly, for interpreters are caught
gious ritual the desired healing, fertility, safety, prosperity,
between their desires to be faithful to the original sacred
or inward state will not result if the ritual is improperly per-
word and to make its exposition relevant and meaningful to
formed. Ritual words are words of power. The Hindu sacrifi-
their own age. A multitude of sectarian divisions based on
cial ritual mentioned above involved priests specifically ap-
variant scriptural interpretation is found in all the major reli-
pointed to cover any lapses (wrong words or incorrect
gious traditions. Perhaps the number of writings in the Bud-
actions) by ritually speaking charms. Of course, cases such
dhist and Hindu traditions give interpreters an advantage in
this regard, but Christian and Islamic sectarians have been
as this and some primitive rituals are the extreme manifesta-
nearly as successful with a smaller scriptural base.
tion of this quality. In other ritual patterns aesthetic concerns
and inner-personal aspirations are important; ritual unifor-
Confucianism, Daoism, and Shinto¯ can scarcely be said
mity also has the practical advantage of giving the worshiper
to have scriptures in the above sense of a corpus of inspired
or user a sense of familiarity and ease as well as identity with
utterances. Their revered writings—the sayings of Confucius
a given tradition and group.
and Mengzi, of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and the Records of An-
cient Matters—are studied more as the wise counsels of sages
Yet deep within ritualism there is inherent the concern
than as inerrant statements of truth. (In the latter the apo-
for accuracy and faithfulness. This is the essentially sacra-
thegms are considered precedent setting.) In general, Bud-
mental nature of ritual that arises from its nature as an or-
dhist and Hindu scriptures can be interpreted much more
dered symbol system. Thus both symbol and ritual are per-
flexibly than Western ones because of their greater variety
ceived as intrinsic embodiments of the sacred essence, the
and their emphasis on truth as dependent on the level of the
supersensible and indescribable ultimacy of a religion. Thus
hearer’s understanding.
ritual and symbol bring the real presence of the religious
depth-dimension into the lives of its experients and in so
The sacred community. Every religion has some com-
doing become incredibly precious. This seems to apply across
munal sense and structure. Ritual is essentially a group exer-
the religious spectrum to magic prayer rituals of the primi-
cise, except for magico-religious rituals geared to personal de-
tive, the Voodoo dance, sacrificial rituals, repetition of the
sires. Hence ritual nearly always involves professional
Pure Land Nembutsu, Tibetan mantric man:d:ala rituals, and
ritualists and a group bound together by its experience. But
the Roman Catholic Eucharist. The preciousness of myth
the communal bonds vary greatly in nature and extent.
and symbol explains why religious groups tend to cherish
Some ritual groupings are quite temporary: one thinks
and preserve their rituals more jealously and zealously than
of the occasional, selective, and experience-based spirit
any of their doctrinal statements and why ritual patterns
groups found among some Native Americans. In other prim-
often survive longer than their parent traditions.
itive cultures, the religious-ritual grouping is hardly separable
from the general clan or tribal social structure and indeed
One final observation is required: ritualism in religion
might better be called a social subculture with religious ele-
often produces an antiritualistic expression. Many examples
ments centered on certain particular occasions and activities.
could be given. Zen Buddhism was in one sense antiritualis-
In many Buddhist and Hindu contexts the religious commu-
tic, as were Ho¯nen’s and Shinran’s Pure Land Buddhism.
nity is little more than those in the vicinity who attend vari-
These latter substituted the easy, simple repetition of the
ous religious ceremonies in the local temple and often come
name Amida for elaborate and often esoteric rituals. Devo-
on purely personal quests. In such situations the only sacred
tional Hinduism, in which one is saved by love (bhakti)
community seems to be the priests and ritualists at a religious
wholeheartedly given to a deity, protested against excessive
shrine, persons qualified for such functions by character and
Brahmanic ritualism. And Protestantism, in particular its
training.
radical forms, sought freedom from Roman Catholic ritual-
ism. In all cases the motifs were simplicity and ease of access
To be sure, in most of these societies there are special
to the sacred.
groupings of a secret or semisecret nature open only to initi-
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RELIGION [FIRST EDITION]
ates. Such are the Native American spirit groups. Late Greek
gious and as of special clarity and intensity even within that
religion developed its “mystery” rites that sought goals and
context.
experiences beyond those offered by the ordinary temple and
These special experiences represent a continuum from
priesthood. Hinduism abounds in such special-interest, spe-
the comparatively mild and frequent experiences to those
cial-ritual groups bound together by a particular god, com-
commonly termed mystical. At the less intense end of the
mon pilgrimage points, and distinctive rituals; sometimes
continuum are those instances of a sense of awe in the sacred
members live in separate communities built around a leader.
precincts, a sense of humility before a felt presence, an un-
Buddhism and Christianity institutionalized such spe-
usual degree of joy or peace suddenly coming upon one, or
cial-interest groups in their monastic orders. Men and
the deep conviction of a prayer answered. Then there are
women for a variety of reasons retire from the world to seek
those of a much more intense nature such as physical sensa-
a more intensely religious way of life than that possible in
tions of fire, electric shock, or a strong and sudden convic-
ordinary secular pursuits or even as priests having everyday
tion of the forgiveness of one’s sins such as John Wesley’s
dealings with the laity and major liturgical duties. Some S:u¯f¯ı
“warming of the heart” at Aldersgate. Indeed, in some Chris-
communities in medieval Islam approximated the monastic
tian groups special conversion or purification-of-heart expe-
life of a community apart from the wider community of be-
riences are made a matter of explicit emphasis and a condi-
lievers.
tion of church membership. In Pentecostal groups a sudden
Perhaps it is only in Islam and Christianity, and some-
and unexpected experience of speaking in unknown tongues
what limitedly in Judaism, that the concept of a holy fellow-
is considered a sign of the “baptism of the Spirit.” There are
ship of believers, called a church in Christianity, has been
classical instances of the same phenomenon: Muh:ammad
created to express religious faith and practice. The prevailing
hearing the voice of the angel Gabriel commanding him to
ethnic qualification in Judaism prevents its description as a
recite (resulting in the QurDa¯n) and Isaiah seeing the Lord
purely faith-gathered group. Islam represents a near equiva-
high and lifted up with his train filling the temple (resulting
lent to the Christian church, especially as Islamic groups
in Isaiah’s call to prophesy).
have spread out into other areas than those totally Muslim
At the further end of this experiential continuum are the
in nature. Muslims, like Christians, consider themselves
mystical experiences found in Judaism, Islam, Christianity,
members of one sacred group, called out from among others
Daoism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Those who have had
by the faith and practice of their religion, ideally a unity
such experiences (especially in Christian, Hindu, and Mus-
stronger than any other bond. In the early days of Christiani-
lim contexts) insist that they differ in kind from all other reli-
ty, the apostle Paul could speak glowingly of the Christian
gious experiences, including the less intense ones just dis-
community as a universal one in which there was neither Jew
cussed. Their distinctive qualities seem to be these: (1) their
nor Greek, neither slave nor freeman, for all were equal in
suddenness and spontaneity (without warning or overt prep-
a new Christ-like humanity. Of course, in actuality both
aration), (2) their irresistibility, (3) their absolute quality of
Christians and Muslims have divided along lines of race and
conviction and realistic authority, (4) their quality of clear
nation. Both faiths, however, continue to cherish the ideal
knowledge, not strong emotion, which is asserted even when
of the universal fellowship of faith.
the mystically received knowledge is conceptually indescrib-
It may be observed in passing that such a definition of
able. Perhaps the true and basic content of such moments
community comes more naturally and more easily to Islam
is an assurance of the absolute reality of God, Kr:s:n:a,
and Christianity than to most Asian religions. To a large ex-
Brahma¯, Dharma, or Buddha nature, that is, the ultimate re-
tent this is because of the strong emphasis on doctrinal belief
ality as envisioned by the given faith. Also rather uniformly
in Islam and Christianity: believers and nonbelievers can be
experienced is the overpowering conviction of knowing di-
clearly distinguished because religion is seen as a deliberate
rectly, climaxing in a felt encounter with the ultimate one
choice by the individual. In Asian religions, inclusive and
or with the basic oneness of the universe.
naturalistic values predominate: experience rather than doc-
In any case, these special experiences of prophets, saints,
trine receives emphasis, rendering exclusivist religious for-
and enlightened persons have played an important role in
mulations almost unknown. It may also be that the underly-
many religious traditions. Though beyond the reach of ordi-
ing Asian patterns of social organization have emphasized the
nary religiosity, they have given a kind of reflected authentic-
group to such an extent that individual religious decision is
ity to faith at all levels, have encouraged the creation of vari-
nearly impossible.
ous spiritual methodologies of devotion and meditation, and
The sacred experience. The question of whether all
have vitalized traditions in difficult times. Mystical experi-
depth experiences, experiences of transcendence, or unusual
ences have kept alive a sense of the reality and availability of
mind-body states should be considered on a par with reli-
religious power and have constantly renewed the whole cor-
gious experiences, or are intrinsically religious themselves,
pus of ritual, doctrine, and organization.
has already been discussed. Here are considered only those
RELIGION AND MODERNITY. The question whether religion,
experiences that occur within a declared religious context
at least in its traditional forms, will survive the ongoing cul-
and are therefore doubly set apart, both as designatedly reli-
tural changes of modern times is often discussed. Certainly
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RELIGION [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
7701
many traditional and current formulations, and perhaps en-
Long, Charles H. Alpha: The Myths of Creation. New York, 1963.
tire traditions, will radically change or even disappear. Yet
An anthology of creation myths from the folk tales and reli-
it also seems that as soon as one form of religion disappears,
gions of the world, organized according to type.
another rises to take its place. Without asserting a religious
Maslow, Abraham. Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences. Co-
instinct in mankind, it may perhaps be said that man is in-
lumbus, Ohio, 1964. Maslow calls for religion to make com-
curably religious in one way or another and that the human
mon cause with other areas and disciplines in the construc-
situation and human nature make it inevitably so. The im-
tive use of all peak experiences, whether religious or
mense mysteries and uncertainties of the world and man’s
otherwise.
own inquiring and evaluating self-consciousness make inevi-
Masters, R. E. L., and Jean Houston. The Varieties of Psychedelic
table a reaching out for some sort of ultimate values and real-
Experience. New York, 1966. An evaluative, critical analysis
ities—which is but another name for the religious quest.
of psychedelic experiences claiming to be religious.
Noss, John B. Man’s Religions. 6th ed. New York, 1980. A stan-
SEE ALSO Architecture; Community; Iconography; Mysti-
dard, college-level text describing the major religious tradi-
cism; Myth; Orthopraxy; Philosophy; Religious Experience;
tions of the world.
Ritual; Sacred Space; Scripture; Soteriology; Study of Reli-
Otto, Rudolf. Das Heilige. Marburg, 1917. Translated by John W.
gion; Symbol and Symbolism; Truth.
Harvey as The Idea of the Holy (1950; Oxford, 1970). The
author’s own subtitle expresses the thrust of this seminal vol-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ume: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of
Beane, Wendell C., and William G. Doty, eds. Myths, Rites, Sym-
the Divine and Its Relation to the Rational.
bols: A Mircea Eliade Reader. 2 vols. New York, 1975. A well-
Pratt, James B. The Religious Consciousness: A Psychological Study.
chosen, substantial anthology of Eliade’s writings on various
New York, 1921. Expressed in psychological terms no longer
aspects of religion.
current but perceptive and suggestive, particularly with re-
Campbell, Joseph. Masks of God, vol. 1, Primitive Mythology; vol.
spect to mysticism.
2, Oriental Mythology; vol. 3, Occidental Mythology. New
Stace, W. T. Mysticism and Philosophy. New York, 1960. An acute
York, 1959–1965. These three volumes present a richly var-
philosophical analysis of the mystical experience, concluding
ied portrait, penetrating analysis, and many concrete illustra-
that “something” objective is there but not quite what the
tions of the forms and functions of myth in these three differ-
mystic thinks it is.
ent contexts.
Tart, Charles T., ed. Transpersonal Psychologies. New York, 1975.
Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion. New York, 1958.
Analytic discussions from a psychological viewpoint of the
The subtitle indicates the nature of this work: A Study of the
qualities, nature, and meaning of a variety of mystical experi-
Element of the Sacred in the History of Religious Phenomena.
ences and psychotherapeutic techniques.
Huxley, Aldous. The Doors of Perception. New York, 1954.
Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism. 12th ed. New York, 1961. A long-
Huxley, Aldous. Heaven and Hell. New York, 1956. These two
time classic, Underhill’s book is a sympathetic presentation
volumes present accounts of Huxley’s experiments with psy-
of the mystical life, mainly within the Christian context but
chedelic drugs and his positive interpretations of them.
including Muslim S:u¯f¯ı materials.
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York,
WINSTON L. KING (1987)
1902. James’s Gifford Lectures (1901–1902) are among the
early, classic studies of religious experience, offering numer-
ous specific examples and his own interpretations.
King, Winston L. Introduction to Religion: A Phenomenological Ap-
RELIGION [FURTHER CONSIDERA-
proach. New York, 1968. A descriptive and analytic study of
TIONS] Winston King’s entry in the first edition of the
the various forms and structures of the religious life as ex-
Encyclopedia of Religion states well one classic position in reli-
pressed in various traditions.
gious studies: religion results from a particular kind of expe-
Laski, Marghanita. Ecstasy: A Study of Some Secular and Religious
rience, which King calls “depth-awareness.” Even at the time
Experiences. Westport, Conn., 1961. A thesis of this volume
the encyclopedia first appeared, that position was fiercely
is that transcendent experiences are universally human and
contested. Indeed, certain characteristic fault lines run
not necessarily religious.
through King’s account: the difficulty of denoting religious
Leeuw, Gerardus van der. Religion in Essence and Manifestation:
experience in a way that is not obscure (“depth-awareness”)
A Study in Phenomenology (1938). 2 vols. Gloucester, Mass.,
or circular (“religious experience is religious precisely because
1967. The first major attempt to apply the phenomenologi-
it occurs in a religious context”), for example, and the pres-
cal methodology to the field of religion, bracketing norma-
ence of two different treatments of experience—one in “Def-
tive evaluations of truth and ethical considerations in the in-
initions” and “Distinguishing Characteristics of Religious
terests of describing the religious essence in its essential and
Experience,” the other in “The Sacred Experience”—
characterstic manifestations.
separated from one another as far as possible, perhaps in
Lessa, William A., and Evon Z. Vogt, eds. Reader in Comparative
order to hide the repetition.
Religion: An Anthropological Approach. 4th ed. New York,
1979. A wide selection of significant readings on the inter-
Alternatives to this position were certainly available at
pretation of religion by various leading anthropologists.
the time. They included Melford Spiro’s treatment of reli-
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RELIGION [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
gion as “an institution consisting of culturally patterned in-
intuition of the universe as a whole and of oneself as a part
teraction with culturally postulated superhuman beings”
of it. In line with this conception, Schleiermacher reformu-
(Spiro 1966, p. 96); Clifford Geertz’s account of religion as
lated central concepts within Christianity, such as miracle,
a system of symbols that integrate worldview and ethos; and
revelation, God, immortality, prophecy, and grace. He also
Peter Berger’s claim that religion is the highest order of legiti-
maintained that, although religious intuition was universal,
mation available to human beings in protecting cultural con-
it found its supreme manifestation in Christianity.
structs against the perennial threat of anomie. In the past sev-
Schleiermacher’s conception of religion was certainly
eral decades, however, scholarly attention has increasingly
not the only option available during the next two hundred
turned away from trying to conceptualize religion to reflect-
years. Another important trend arose from Edward Burnett
ing on the act of conceptualization itself. One might say that
Tylor’s notion of religion as a belief in souls and spirits, refor-
it has turned away from treating religion as a thing to treating
mulated by James George Frazer as “a belief in powers higher
it as a word, concept, or category. At least three topics de-
than man and an attempt to propitiate or please them” (Fra-
serve consideration in this regard: the history of religion,
zer, 1935, p. 222). But by the second half of the twentieth
strategies of definition, and the different discursive purposes
century, according to Feil, religion in the sense of a distinc-
that lead humans to conceptualize religion.
tive interior experience had become untenable. Feil himself
recognized the possibility that a third sense of religion might
arise, one suited to the various traditions of meditation that
HISTORY OF RELIGION. The English word religion clearly de-
were being imported into Europe and North America from
rives from the Latin word religio, as do its cognates in other
Asia after World War II. But reminiscent of Dietrich Bon-
European languages, but the derivation of the Latin noun is
hoeffer’s “religionless Christianity,” he preferred, as a theolo-
uncertain. It is most commonly linked to one of two Latin
gian, to follow Wilfred Cantwell Smith and abandon the
verbs, religare (to bind or fasten) or relegere (to collect again,
term religion for faith.
to go over again [as in reading]). Although the uncertain ety-
Other scholars, such as Talal Asad, have explored not
mology creates difficulty in writing about the history of the
the changing meanings of religion but the discursive and po-
term, it is of little practical consequence, for there is no good
litical forces that operated upon them, an exploration that
reason for etymology to dictate current usage.
Michel Foucault has called genealogy. It is no more possible
In tracing the history of religion from classical antiquity
to explore those forces in detail here than it is to explore reli-
to the present, the German Catholic theologian Ernst Feil
gion’s changing meanings, but one particularly significant
discusses three successive meanings of the term. So small a
force leading to the formulation of the modern notion of reli-
number hardly does justice either to the history of religion
gion, besides the desire to rescue belief and practice from the
or to Feil’s (and others’) detailed studies of it, but they do
clutches of rational critique, was dismay at the warfare that
serve as a rough initial guide.
beset Europe in the aftermath of the Reformation. Faced
with battles that pitted one confession against another,
According to Feil, the core meaning of religio in antiqui-
thinkers began to conceive of religion as distinct from the po-
ty was “careful, scrupulous observation, full of awe” (Feil,
litical, and at times as ideally separate from it in practice as
2000, p. 18). In other words, religion denoted a set of moral
well.
actions or a species of justice—specifically, proper behavior
in the matter of actions directed to the gods or God. During
They also stressed that the varying claims to particular
the European Middle Ages a more specific version of this def-
revelations were of little importance compared with the com-
inition became important. Religio designated not something
mon core or essence that all confessions shared. One such
that everyone had or did but a particular mode of life ori-
early thinker, Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, identified
ented to the service of God; namely, the life of Christian
what he called “the common notions concerning religion”:
monks and nuns. This sense is still preserved today when En-
that God exists, that God should be worshiped, that virtuous
glish-speakers use the noun to refer to Catholic priests,
deeds are the best way to worship God, that people should
monks, and nuns as “religious.”
repent of their faults, and that virtue will receive its reward
and vice its punishment in an afterlife.
With the appearance in 1799 of Friedrich Schleierma-
cher’s famous Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers and
During the course of the Enlightenment, the allegedly
the attempt after the Enlightenment to rescue religion for ed-
universal core of religion, innate and so requiring no special
ucated people—or perhaps better, to rescue educated people
revelation, came to be called “natural religion,” to distinguish
for the church—religion acquired a very different sense,
it from the various empirical, or “positive,” religions (as they
which Feil identifies as its second meaning.
were called then), such as the various forms of Christianity.
Genuine religion, Schleiermacher insisted, was neither
Schleiermacher and other Romantic thinkers rejected
belief in what educated people usually rejected (the church’s
the idea that natural religion could exist apart from positive
claims about miracles and revelation) nor adherence to a re-
religions. In addition, some nineteenth-century thinkers
strictive morality. The essence of religion was a feeling, an
considered religion to have been the primal source from
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RELIGION [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
7703
which all cultural, social, and political forms derived. Never-
Some scholars have favored conceptions of religion that
theless, the idea of religion as a distinct sphere of life having
are functional; that is, whose definientes (“definers,” plural of
a universal essence remained. In significant respects, then,
definiens) describe what religions do. (Functional definientes
the modern notion of religion is a European and North
should not be confused with functionalist explanations.) An
American, and particularly a Protestant, attempt to negotiate
example would be describing religion as a set of symbols that,
diversity.
by embodying a society’s most important values, evoke col-
lective emotions that create social solidarity. A typical objec-
It may, however, be too simple to see religion as merely
tion to such conceptions concerns the issue of extension:
a European and North American construct. Based on the evi-
they often encompass phenomena that many scholars have
dence of interreligious polemics, religious syncretism, and
not been prepared to identify as religion. For example, the
royal edicts regulating religions in places like ancient China
functional definition just given would include patriotism as
and India, Martin Riesebrodt has argued that people in many
a religion.
parts of the globe, not just in Europe and North America,
have long recognized different religious traditions as belong-
Scholars like Spiro have responded by demanding that
ing to the same broader class, even if they did not explicitly
conceptions of religion be substantive, that is, that they con-
conceptualize that class as religion. This argument does not
tain only definientes that refer to properties that make up reli-
address several questions, such as the extent to which the dif-
gion. An example would be Spiro’s definition of religion as
ferent local classifications are assimilable and whether an
an institution consisting of culturally postulated interactions
overarching assimilation, if desirable, is best conceived of as
with culturally postulated superhuman beings. Once again,
religion or as, for example, dharma. But it does point to sig-
a typical objection concerns extension: such conceptions
nificant cognitive issues involved in the history of conceptu-
often exclude what are generally seen as instances of religion,
alizing religion.
such as certain forms of Theravada Buddhism and Confu-
cianism in Spiro’s case. Proper extension is certainly an ap-
Religion is a local category that scholars, along with oth-
propriate criterion by which to assess definitions, but isolated
ers, have applied beyond the bounds of its origins. Just as in
from the actual purposes for which a definition is being for-
the centuries following Columbus natural historians in Eu-
mulated, limiting conceptions of religion to substantive defi-
rope adapted local terms to categorize the new flora and
nientes is probably too austere.
fauna that they encountered, Europeans simultaneously
Another much discussed issue originates in Wittgen-
adapted the term religion to make sense of unfamiliar
stein’s reflections on family resemblances (Philosophical In-
thought and behavior that they were encountering in un-
vestigations, 1953, pp. 66–67): the possibility of conceiving
precedented richness. Scott Atran has argued that the effort
of religion polythetically rather than monothetically. Al-
to universally extend classifications in biology was successful
though scholars occasionally define religion in terms of a sin-
because the human mind everywhere employs certain hierar-
gle property (e.g., Stewart Guthrie’s “anthropomorphism”;
chical strategies in classifying organic life. It is not, however,
Frederick Streng’s “means of ultimate transformation,”),
evident that the mind uses the same conceptual apparatus for
they more often conceive of it in terms of an explicit or im-
human constructs. For example, religion is not one taxon in
plicit conjunction of properties. (They have generally over-
an exhaustive, hierarchical system with mutually exclusive
looked the possibilities of definition presented by disjunc-
categories. (A bat is either a bird or a mammal, but if we de-
tion, as in George Orwell’s “Whatever goes on four legs, or
cide Confucianism is not a religion, what is its taxonomical
has wings, is a friend,” from Animal Farm.) The traditional
alternative?) Indeed, religions and other cultural products do
approach has been to treat these properties monothetically;
not “breed true,” and so do not have the stability and dis-
that is, to consider all of them as necessary and, when taken
tinctness that populations of organisms do. If the above ob-
together, sufficient to define religion. Polythetic definitions
servations are correct—and it is not yet certain that they
relax these requirements. They see no particular property as
are—it may not be reasonable to expect the kind of univer-
necessary to religion and consider the presence of a collection
sally acceptable classifications in the study of religions that
of properties selected from a master set as sufficient to make
one finds in a natural science like biology.
a specific item a member of the class called religion. For ex-
In any case, a consideration of history can only raise
ample, William Alston suggested that the presence of an un-
questions about the adequacy of a category like religion. It
specified number of any of the following characteristics
cannot answer them. The adequacy of a concept depends
would make a set of cultural practices a religion:
upon whether it can be properly formulated and whether it
(1) Belief in supernatural beings (gods). (2) A distinc-
serves the purposes at hand.
tion between sacred and profane objects. (3) Ritual acts
focused on sacred objects. (4) A moral code believed to
STRATEGIES OF DEFINITION. During the second half of the
be sanctioned by the gods. (5) Characteristically reli-
twentieth century, scholars repeatedly discussed several issues
gious feelings. (6) Prayer and other forms of communi-
pertaining to an adequate conceptualization of religion. One
cation with gods. (7) A world view, or a general picture
of them, introduced by Melford Spiro, was the distinction
of the world as a whole and the place of the individual
between functional and substantive definitions.
therein. . . . (8) A more or less total organization of
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RELIGION [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
one’s life based on the world view. (9) A social group
tion” (J. Z. Smith, 1982, p. xi). Insofar as Smith draws atten-
bound together by the above. (Alston 1967,
tion to the relationship between conceptualizations of
pp. 141–142)
religion and the purposes for which they are formulated, he
In principle it is possible to formulate guidelines about what
makes an important point. But his position both assigns too
collections of properties are sufficient to make something an
much independent agency to scholars—scholars did not
instance of religion, but this has not been done. As a result,
alone create religion—and overlooks significant, nonaca-
no polythetic conceptualization of religion proposed to date
demic purposes for which people have used it. Indeed, differ-
has been particularly useful, because none yields consistent,
ent discourses make different demands upon religion.
intersubjective results.
Scholars of religion have frequently argued as if academ-
Benson Saler has tried another approach, one that calls
ic purposes required religion to have precise boundaries. For
upon the presumed role of prototypes in the formation of
example, during the last half of the twentieth century, some
categories. People learn what a word means by generalizing
scholars analyzed a long series of unusual institutions as reli-
from specific instances. For example, upon learning that rob-
gious, including Marxism (an analysis with political utility),
ins, blue jays, eagles, and other similar species are birds, the
patriotism, psychotherapy, and even sporting events (highly
human mind formulates an implicit category bird that it ap-
ritualized), shopping malls (sacred spaces in a consumer soci-
plies consistently and accurately. The mind also recognizes
ety), and the stock market (a matter of ultimate concern).
some members of the class as better representatives than oth-
Others found the conception of religion in such analyses
ers: robins, blue jays, and eagles are prototypical birds, os-
much too broad and called for demarcating the category pre-
triches and penguins unusual ones. Saler suggests that schol-
cisely. Despite this call, Benson Saler has argued that scholar-
ars should approach the category of religion in just this way.
ship requires of its concepts not precision but clarity. (On
For North American and European scholars, religion is a cat-
the difference, consider Samuel Johnson’s quip, “The fact
egory whose prototypes are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,
that there is such a thing as twilight does not mean that we
perhaps not in that order. Other religions are religions to the
cannot distinguish between day and night.”) A clear concept
extent that they are more or less analogous to these proto-
of religion, even if it has fuzzy edges, allows scholars to ex-
types. This approach can certainly provide an initial expedi-
plore with insight what institutions like Marxism, patrio-
ent, but its utility is limited to a specific geographic or lin-
tism, and even the stock market share with prototypical reli-
guistic area. In a globalizing world one can hardly presume
gions, while still recognizing crucial differences. Such a
that the community of scholars interested in what the Euro-
concept would meet the basic requirements of academic dis-
pean tradition has called religion includes only people whose
course: that one’s conceptions be coherent and allow the
dominant categories have been shaped by the prototypes of
scholar to say something insightful, whether interpretive or
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
explanatory, about the data.
It is also possible to define religion stipulatively or lexi-
Religion also plays important roles in discourses outside
cally. That is, scholars may stipulate what a term means (like
the academy—in contemporary discourse on law, human
Isaac Newton defining “derivative” in calculus for the first
rights, and public policy, for example. Many nations guaran-
time) or they may describe how a linguistic community uses
tee religious freedom—disestablishment is less widely accept-
a word (like the Oxford English Dictionary defining what
ed—and so does Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of
mathematicians mean by “derivative”). Furthermore, defini-
Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on Decem-
tions must ordinarily meet several formal criteria. They must
ber 10, 1948: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought,
have an appropriate extension. They must be clear—for ex-
conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to
ample, they must not use words that are more obscure than
change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in
the term being defined. They must avoid circularity; that is,
community with others and in public or private, to manifest
they must not include the term to be defined among the defi-
his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and obser-
nientes, either directly or indirectly (like defining sacred as
vance.” Some, however, see this conception of religious free-
holy, and when pressed for the meaning of holy, defining it
dom as North American and European rather than universal.
as sacred). They must also be appropriate to the purposes for
For example, the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human
which they are formulated. This last criterion has an impact
Rights, adopted September 19, 1981, retains the language
on the others. For example, a definition does not need to sin-
of religion (in Articles 10, 12 to 14, and 19) but restates the
gle out every instance of religion; it only needs to single out
rights in accordance with Islamic teachings.
every instance of religion pertinent to the project at hand.
Much more than in academic discourse, the adjudica-
The criterion of suitability deserves more recognition in the
tion of claims arising within legal discourse about religion
study of religions than it has received.
presents challenges of precision. Majority communities—
DISCURSIVE PURPOSES. In a widely noted passage, Jonathan
Christians in North America and Europe, Hindus in India,
Z. Smith has written, “Religion is solely the creation of the
Muslims in Muslim-majority states—have at times found it
scholar’s study. It is created for the scholar’s analytic pur-
in their own interest to claim that certain practices and con-
poses by his imaginative acts of comparison and generaliza-
victions were not religious but cultural. Some courts have
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agreed; for example, in 1966 the Constitution Bench of the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Indian Supreme Court found that Hinduism “may broadly
Alston, William P. “Religion.” In Encyclopedia of Philosophy, vol.
be described as a way of life and nothing more,” and that the
7. New York, 1967. An early attempt to conceive of religion
word Hindu denoted residence in a certain territory more
polythetically.
than religious affiliation. Minority communities such as the
Asad, Talal. Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power
Unification Church and the Church of Scientology have ar-
in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore, 1993. Its first chapter
gued, at times unsuccessfully, that they were in fact religions,
is a now classic contribution to the genealogy of
religion.
common opinion notwithstanding, and so deserved the pro-
tections and privileges that came from that status. In the
Atran, Scott. Cognitive Foundations of Natural History: Towards an
Anthropology of Science. Cambridge, U.K., 1990. An attempt
early 2000s, Europeans who opposed the wearing of head
to examine the cognitive basis of the sciences, focusing on bi-
scarves by Muslim women claimed that the very same prac-
ological classification.
tice was either religious (in France) or nonreligious (in Ger-
Berger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy; Elements of a Sociological The-
many), because of the different legal status of religion in the
ory of Religion. Garden City, N.Y., 1967. A classic exposition
two countries.
on religion as legitimation.
The extent to which locally variant views of religion are
Binachi, Ugo, ed. The Notion of “Religion” in Comparative Re-
compatible with a universal right remains to be determined,
search: Selected Proceedings of the sixteenth Congress of the In-
ternational Association for the History of Religions (Rome, 3rd-
as do the precise boundaries of religion in most systems of
8th September, 1990.) Rome, 1994. Essays from an interna-
law. In practice, such questions also highlight a tension be-
tional range of scholars.
tween academic and legal discourse. Those charged with ad-
Despland, Michel, and Vallée, Gérard, eds. La religion dans
judication look to academics for expert advice on religion
l’histoire: le mot, l’idée, la réalité (Religion in history: The
and cite academic writings to justify their findings. Academ-
word, the idea, the reality). Waterloo, Ontario, 1992.
ics criticize the adequacy of legal and political conceptions,
Dubuisson, Daniel. The Western Construction of Religion: Myths,
such as the tendency to conceive of new religious movements
Knowledge, and Ideology. Baltimore, 2003.
as cults. Nevertheless, the purposes of academic discourse,
Feil, Ernst, ed. Religio. 4 vols. Göttingen, Germany, 1986–
which often calls customary boundaries into question in the
c. 2004. A detailed examination of the history of religion.
pursuit of insight, stand in some tension with the needs of
Feil, Ernst, ed. On the Concept of Religion. Binghamton, N.Y.,
legal discourse for precise definitions that enable consistent
2000. A concise statement of Feil’s positions and findings,
decisions.
followed by responses from a variety of German academics
and theologians.
THE FUTURE OF RELIGION. Like Feil, many historians and
students of religion—and others, too—have been suspicious
Fitzgerald, Timothy. The Ideology of Religious Studies. New York,
of the category. Some have suggested replacing religion with
2000. A critique of religion informed by the author’s field-
work and teaching in India and Japan.
terms like faith (W. C. Smith), worldview (Ninian Smart),
social formation, or culture. The anthropologist Talal Asad
Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough, vol. 1, The Magic Art
and the Evolution of Kings. New York, 1935. Chapter 4 con-
has been more circumspect. He has argued that “there can-
tains Frazer’s formulation of the distinction between science
not be a universal definition of religion, not only because its
and magic.
constituent elements and relationships are historically specif-
Geertz, Clifford. “Religion as a Cultural System.” In The Interpre-
ic, but because that definition is itself the historical product
tation of Culture: Selected Essays. New York, 1973. Influential
of discursive processes” (Asad, p. 29). What is required, he
theoretical observations presented as an exposition of a defi-
has claimed, is for scholars to determine what they mean by
nition of religion.
religion on a case-by-case basis.
McCutcheon, Russell T. Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on
Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia. New York,
Asad’s argument leaves him vulnerable to the charge of
1997. A political critique of the approach to religion repre-
committing the genetic fallacy (the assumption that an ac-
sented by Winston King’s entry.
count of the origin and development of a claim can deter-
Penner, Hans, and Yonan, Edward. “Is a Science of Religion Pos-
mine its adequacy for present purposes). Still, it is widely
sible?” Journal of Religion 52 (October 1972): 107–133. Im-
thought today that definitions are specific to contexts and
portant here for observations on definition, especially criteria
purposes, and there is no reason religion should be any differ-
of definition.
ent. Specific conceptualizations of religion need to meet cer-
Platvoet, Jan G., and Molendijk, Arie L., eds. The Pragmatics of
tain formal criteria, including the criterion of suitability.
Defining Religion: Contexts, Concepts, and Contests. Leiden,
Furthermore, the projects for which definitions are formulat-
1999. A wide range of useful essays, revealing the state of dis-
ed are always subject to critique, including moral and politi-
cussions among European scholars.
cal critique. While such critiques will inevitably call specific
Riesebrodt., Martin. “Überlegungen zur Legitimität eines univers-
conceptualizations of religion into question, they do not nec-
alen Religionsbegriffs.” In Religion im kulturellen Diskurs:
essarily require that religion as a concept be abandoned.
Festschrift für Hans G. Kippenberg zu seinem 65. Geburtstag
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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RELIGIONSGESCHICHTLICHE SCHULE
(Religion in cultural discourse: essays in honor of Hans G.
velopments in historical science, Orientalism, the history of
Kippenberg on the occasion of his 65th birthday), edited by
religions, and ethnology. Many kinds of scholarly endeavors
Brigitte Luchesi und Kocku von Stuckrad. Berlin and New
served as godparents for the school: Johann Jakob Wett-
York, 2004.
stein’s efforts to produce a complete, annotated edition of
Saler, Benson. Conceptualizing Religion: Immanent Anthropologists,
the Greek New Testament, including variants (H¯e Kain¯e
Transcendent Natives, and Unbounded Categories. New York,
Diath¯ek¯e: Novum Testamentum Graecum, 2 vols., 1751–
2000. Surveys much previous discussion in developing a pro-
1752) and J. G. Herder’s undogmatic and literary approach
totypical approach to religion.
to the Bible; the discoveries made and the languages deci-
Smart, Ninian. Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human
phered in the Near East; the rise of historical thinking in the
Beliefs. New York, 1983; reprint, Upper Saddle River, N.J.,
works of such scholars as Barthold G. Niebuhr, Leopold von
2000.
Ranke, and Johann G. Droysen; the discovery and decipher-
Smith, Jonathan Z. Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jones-
ment of new sources from the ancient Near East; the devel-
town. Chicago, 1982. Set of insightful essays; chapter one is
opment of literary criticism; the new science of religions as
on polythetic definition.
developed by F. Max Müller, C. P. Tiele, P. D. Chantepie
Smith, Jonathan Z. “Religion, Religions, Religious.” In Critical
de la Saussaye, James G. Frazer, and Nathan Söderblom; the
Terms for Religious Studies, edited by Mark C. Taylor. Chica-
new field of ethnology associated with Adolf Bastian, Frie-
go, 1998. Contains much interesting material on the history
drich Ratzel, and E. B. Tylor; and the antimetaphysical spirit
of religion.
promoted by Neo-Kantianism in Germany during the sec-
Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. The Meaning and End of Religion: A
ond half of the nineteenth century. Even the “Babel and
New Approach to the Religious Traditions of Mankind. New
Bible” discussion started by Friedrich Delitzsch, Alfred
York, 1963. A classic proposal to replace religion with faith
and cumulative tradition.
Jeremias, and Peter Jensen, which to some extent ran parallel
to the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule, contributed to the rise
Southwold, Martin. “Buddhism and the Definition of Religion.”
of the latter.
Man 13 (1978): 362–379. Develops a polythetic approach
to religion in a discussion of the peculiar characteristics of
Historical criticism in the form of source analysis of bib-
Sinhalese Buddhism.
lical documents had already been generally accepted and was
Spiro, Melford. “Religion: Problems of Definition and Explana-
causing difficulties for dogmatic theology. The rise of the Re-
tion.” In Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion,
ligionsgeschichtliche Schule meant the definitive victory of
edited by Michael Banton. London, 1966. A major contribu-
the historical-critical method, but the school supplemented
tion from an anthropologist with a special focus on Bud-
this method with a deeper understanding of the historical
dhism.
process that lay behind the literary sources and with the ap-
Wasserstrom, Steven M. Religion After Religion: Gershom Scholem,
plication of the comparative history of religions to the Bible
Mircea Eliade, and Henry Corbin at Eranos. Princeton, N.J.,
and Christianity. For this reason the representatives of the
1999. A critique of the tradition represented by Winston
approach comprised primarily biblical scholars. Apart from
King’s entry, combining political, cultural, and religious cri-
Clemen, only Hackmann opted for the general history of re-
tiques.
ligions. Strictly speaking, this method was a movement with-
GREGORY D. ALLES (2005)
in Protestant biblical exegesis, and theologically it was of
course in the liberal camp.
Though it was initially a purely academic phenomenon,
RELIGIONSGESCHICHTLICHE SCHULE
its representatives attempted, as those of hardly any other
is the name that was given, beginning in 1903, to a group
theological movement of the past had done, to broadcast
of German Protestant theologians who consistently applied
their view on a large scale through popular works on the his-
the history of religions method to the interpretation of the
tory of religions and through periodicals such as Theologische
Bible. This school of thought originated at the University of
Rundschau (1917–), Religionsgeschichtliche Volksbücher
Göttingen, where a number of young theologians became
(1903–), and Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten
known as the “little Göttingen faculty” because of their com-
und Neuen Testaments (1913–), and collections such as Die
mon concerns and their critical dissociation from Albrecht
Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (1st ed., Tübingen,
Ritschl, who had earlier been their teacher. The group was
1909–1913), Die Schriften des Alten Testaments in Auswahl:
made up of Hermann Gunkel, Wilhelm Bousset, Johannes
Übersetzt und für die Gegenwart erklärt, by Hermann Gunkel
Weiss, Ernst Troeltsch, Wilhelm Wrede, Heinrich Hack-
(Göttingen, 1910–1915), and Die Schriften des Neuen Testa-
mann, and Alfred Rahlfs. After 1900, Carl Clemen, Hugo
ments neu übersetzt und für die Gegenwart erklärt, by Johan-
Gressmann, and W. Heitmüller joined the school, while Ru-
nes Weiss (Göttingen, 1906). As a result, they were soon in
dolf Bultmann and Otto Eissfeldt may be reckoned as form-
conflict with ecclesiastical authorities, who accused them of
ing a third generation. All looked upon Albert Eichhorn as
destructive, secularizing intentions, an accusation that the
the decisive influence on their work.
school firmly denied.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCHOOL. The Religionsgeschichtli-
Historians see the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule as be-
che Schule drew theological conclusions from preceding de-
ginning its public activity in 1895, which was the publica-
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RELIGIONSGESCHICHTLICHE SCHULE
7707
tion year of Gunkel’s Schöpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und
ichtliche Schule and its program cannot gainsay the fact that
Endzeit (Creation and Chaos in Primordial Time and End
it brought major progress in the understanding of biblical
Time). But the basic ideas of the school had been clearly at
writings and their history. Questions first raised by the
work even earlier in Gunkel’s Die Wirkungen des heiligen
school, such as the role of Canaanite religion, apocalyptic
Geistes: Nach den populären Anschauungen der apostolisch Zeit
thought, eschatology, pneumatology, gnosis, and Hellenistic
(The Effects of the Holy Spirit according to the Popular
Judaism, cultus, and piety in the formation of Christianity,
Mind of the Apostolic Age; Göttingen, 1888). In this earlier
are still vital and have acquired increased relevance due to
publication Gunkel examined exotic and even irrational fea-
new discoveries such as those at Ugarit, Khirbat Qumran,
tures of early Christianity, such as belief in the preternatural,
and Nag Hammadi. Biblical exegesis, theology, and religious
and explained these features as due to the ideas that were
studies cannot retreat to the scholarly situation as it was be-
popular in the period of “late Judaism.” The same approach
fore the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule was formed. The
was soon adopted by Johannes Weiss in his Die Predigt Jesu
facts brought to light by the school cannot be dismissed, even
vom Reiche Gottes (Jesus’ Preaching of the Kingdom of God;
if scholars now prefer explanations other than those pro-
Göttingen, 1892) and by Wilhelm Bousset, who in his Die
posed by the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule.
Religion des Judentums im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter (Tü-
Plurality of Christianity’s origins. The school’s mem-
bingen, 1903) developed the idea that Judaism in the New
bers rejected interpreting the New Testament solely in light
Testament era was the real soil from which Jesus and the
of the Old Testament. Primitive Christianity, they believed,
primitive Christian community sprang. In Hauptprobleme
was not a mere continuation of Old Testament history but
der Gnosis (Göttingen, 1907) and Kyrios Christos (Göttingen,
had other roots as well.
1913) Bousset also drew upon the religious history of Helle-
nism and late antiquity in describing the Christianity of the
One of these other roots was Hellenistic Judaism, repre-
first and second centuries. By and large, the further work of
sented by the thought of Philo Judaeus (d. 45–50 CE), as op-
the school followed the same general lines, though at times
posed to rabbinic Judaism, which belongs to a later period.
the emphasis differed, as in the case of the brilliant but short-
The Hellenistic religious outlook, as expressed in the mystery
lived Wilhelm Wrede, who, in his Paulus (Tübingen, 1904),
religions and other Oriental religions of redemption, in
Das Messiasgeheimnis in den Evangilien (Göttingen, 1901),
gnostic groups, Hermetism, emperor worship, and magic,
and Vorträge und Studien (Tübingen, 1907) maintained
played an important part in the development of early Chris-
what were probably the school’s most radical views.
tianity. Gunkel, in his Zum religionsgeschichtlichen Verständ-
nis des Neuen Testaments (Göttingen, 1903) had already spo-
In the field of Old Testament studies Gunkel pioneered
ken of the “syncretic” character of early Christianity, arguing
not only the religio-historical explanation of the Old Testa-
that, from the historical viewpoint, Christianity had many
ment, especially in his Genesis (1901) and Psalmen (1926),
links with contemporaneous religions. Bousset, though
but also the literary-historical method and, in particular, a
somewhat more cautious on this point, constantly rejected
reformulated “tradition-historical” approach that ushered in
the artificial division between primitive Christianity and its
a new age of Old Testament exegesis. Hugo Gressmann fol-
historical environment. He explained the disjunction that
lowed Gunkel’s lead in his Der Ursprung der israelitisch-
appeared between the teachings of Jesus and those of the later
jüdischen Eschatologie (Göttingen, 1905) and Der Messias
church by citing the influence of this early environment. Be-
(Göttingen, 1929).
hind the replacement of “Jesus the itinerant prophet” with
The end of the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule after
“Christ the Lord” was the transition, beginning even before
World War I was due not only to the social changes that the
Paul, of primitive Christianity into the Hellenistic-Roman
war brought to Germany but also to correlative radical shifts
world in the form of a Hellenistic community of Christians
in theology, such as those produced by Karl Barth and dialec-
at Antioch. The Religionsgeschichtliche Schule was con-
tical theology, and, surely, to the early deaths of many of the
cerned primarily with intellectual links, not with individual
school’s leading representatives. Richard Reitzenstein
derivations or parallels. The same principle held for the Old
(1861–1931), who wrote Die Vorgeschichte der christlichen
Testament, whose historical development, the school be-
Taufe (Prehistory of Christian Baptism; Leipzig, 1929) was
lieved, was to be understood in light of its changing milieu,
one of the last champions of the school’s ideas, unless one
to which belonged Canaan, Babylon, Egypt, and Iran.
includes Rudolf Bultmann and his school as the third, most
Historical framework. The division between the New
recent generation. This third generation reshaped the heri-
Testament and the history of the early church and its dogma,
tage of the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule and sought to safe-
the school believed, is an artificial one. The New Testament
guard it, especially in the area of the study of gnosticism, by
canon is a historical product and should be studied only in
new methods such as form criticism, redaction history,
the framework of a history of early Christian literature.
tradition history, existential interpretation, and demytholog-
Prominent examples of this approach are found in the works
ization.
of Eichhorn and Wrede.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE APPROACH. The mounting criti-
Concept of religion. According to the Religionsgesch-
cism, especially after World War II, of the Religionsgesch-
ichtliche Schule, the traditional focus on doctrinal concepts
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
7708
RELIGIONSGESCHICHTLICHE SCHULE
should be replaced by a focus on religion, the religious spirit,
the same tools as other religious texts soon led to the view
and piety. Theology is only one side of religion—the ratio-
that the traditional theological faculties should be replaced
nal, conceptual, and systematic side. The essence of religion,
by departments of the history of religions. The historical dis-
as understood by the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule, is non-
ciplines associated with theology are really no longer theolog-
rational experience. This concept of religion originated in the
ical, Wrede clearly saw; rather, they belong to the history of
works of Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) and became
religions, since they employ the same tools as philology and
normative for the theology and philosophy of religion of the
all other historical sciences.
subsequent period. The school aimed at writing a history of
The school’s “leveling down” of Christianity so that it
Christianity as a religion and not simply a history of ideas,
becomes just one more subject of a general or comparative
dogmas, and doctrines.
history of religions led to a certain relativism that had an im-
Role of religious practice. The Religionsgeschichtliche
portant impact, especially on dogmatic and theological sys-
Schule was part of a current of thought that, in contrast to
tems. In this situation Troeltsch, who remained faithful to
the overemphasis by some scholars on mythology or ideolo-
a romantic and ultimately Hegelian concept of development,
gy, regarded the realm of cult and religious practice as central
drew historico-philosophical conclusions that looked to the
and as an important expression of piety. The interest in the
future development of Christianity in the framework of a
“theology of the community,” that is, the popular religion
universal history of religions. Bousset, too, sought to rescue
of the masses (including folk tales and fairy tales, or, in other
Christianity from the maelstrom of historical relativization
words, the “seamier side” of religion as contrasted with the
by reverting to the liberal theological emphasis on ethics and
“heights” of elitist theology), was already paving the way for
morality and to the idea of the irreducible personality of
a sociological and psychological interpretation of religion.
Jesus as a revelation of God. But Christianity cannot be res-
On the other hand, the school also stressed the innovative
cued by the tools of historical science; at this point the asser-
role of religious individuals and authorities (for example the
tions of faith stand alone against the power of history and
Old Testament prophets and Jesus), who, according to the
critical reflection. To rescue Christianity is the task of theolo-
school, have a formative influence on the history of religions.
gy, not of the history of religions.
Tradition history. One of the most important but
The Religionsgeschichtliche Schule began as a move-
often overlooked discoveries of the school is what is known
ment within theology, but it ended outside theology because
as “tradition history,” which was first proposed by Gunkel.
its methods and approach were so radical. The attempt to
Tradition history is the attempt to get behind the written tra-
restore the ties connecting the school and Christian theology
dition (i.e., texts) to its prehistory. This approach was con-
expresses only the personal piety, or Christian faith, of the
sidered to be the only way to make texts historically intelligi-
school’s representatives. Here again the Religionsgeschichtli-
ble. The abandonment of classical literary history and
che Schule created a dilemma, in this case one of the most
criticism for a history of preliterary “form,” “genres,” or “ma-
difficult that the history of religions as such must face: the
terials” is a result of the historical approach taken by the Reli-
relation between personal conviction or faith and scientific
gionsgeschichtliche Schule: a text yields its meaning through
honesty or objectivity.
its history, its development, and the materials (its “prehisto-
ry”) used to compose it. This turning of written tradition
SEE ALSO Bultmann, Rudolf; Delitzsch, Friedrich; Well-
into something problematic soon became a tool of tradition
hausen, Julius.
criticism and made nonsense of many problems regarded as
central by literary criticism. The old representatives of liter-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ary criticism, such as Wellhausen, rejected Gunkel’s works,
To date there is no successful overall portrait or bibliography of
although they themselves could not avoid raising questions
the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule. A number of mono-
that involved the history of traditions.
graphs are available on individual representatives of the
This aspect of the school’s work is another indication
school (Gunkel, Bousset, Wrede) or on special topics (gnosis,
of its concern with “the religion of the community” as a so-
salvation history, tradition history). More recently, addition-
al materials concerning the beginnings of the school have
ciopsychological category. The designation “history of tradi-
been published (in particular by Hans Rollman and Frie-
tions” was at times used by members of the school as a syn-
drich W. Graf). For general orientation, see articles in the
onym for “history of religions.” Unfortunately, the
first edition of the encyclopedia Die Religion in Geschichte
Religionsgeschichtliche Schule failed to make a clear distinc-
and Gegenwart, 5 vols., edited by Friedrich Michael Schiele
tion here and, more importantly, to introduce a necessary re-
(Tübingen, 1909–1913), which work as a whole is represen-
flection on method, a step that would have spared it a great
tative of the school’s aims and methods. See also Werner
deal of trouble. Methodological clarification began only with
Georg Kümmel’s Das Neue Testament: Geschichte der Erfor-
the rise of “form criticism” in the works of Bultmann and
schung seiner Probleme (Freiburg, 1958), esp. pp. 259–414;
Martin Dibelius (1883–1947).
Hans-Joachim Kraus’s Geschichte der historisch-kritischen Er-
forschung des Alten Testaments von der Reformation bis zur Ge-
Definition of the field. Consideration of the Bible as
genwart (Neukirchen, 1956); and Horst Stephan and Martin
a historical religious document that is to be investigated with
Schmidt’s Geschichte der evangelischen Theologie in Deutsch-
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
RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING
7709
land seit dem Idealismus, 3d ed. (Berlin, 1973). The works
Lüdeman, Gerd, ed. Die “Religionsgeschichtliche Schule”: Facetten
listed below may also be fruitfully consulted.
eines theologischen Umrichs. New York, 1996.
Bousset, D. Wilhelm. Religionsgeschichtliche Studien. Leiden,
KURT RUDOLPH (1987)
1979.
Translated from German by Matthew J. O’Connell
Clemen, Carl. Die religionsgeschichtliche Methode in der Theologie.
Revised Bibliography
Giessen, 1904.
Colpe, Carsten. Die religionsgeschichtliche Schule, vol. 1. Götting-
en, 1961.
RELIGIONSWISSENSCHAFT SEE
Gressmann, Hugo. Albert Eichhorn und die religionsgeschichtliche
COMPARATIVE RELIGION; HISTORY OF
Schule. Göttingen, 1914.
RELIGIONS
Ittel, Gerhard Wolfgang. Urchristentum und Fremdreligionen im
Urteil der religionsgeschichtlichen Schule. Erlangen, 1956.
Ittel, Gerhard Wolfgang. “Die Hauptgedanken der ‘religions-
geschichtlichen Schule.’” Zeitschrift fur Religions- und Geistes-
RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING. The sophistica-
geschichte 10 (1958): 61–78.
tion, diversification, and influence of religious broadcasting
Klatt, Werner. Hermann Gunkel. Göttingen, 1969.
are greatly underappreciated dimensions of the global reli-
Morgan, Robert, ed. and trans. The Nature of New Testament The-
gious scene at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
ology: The Contribution of Wilhelm Wrede and Adolf Schlatter.
From India to Europe and from Latin America to the United
Naperville, Ill., 1973. Includes (pp. 68–116) a translation of
States, religious broadcasting has become a dominant pur-
Wrede’s Über Afgabe und Methode der sogenannten neutesta-
veyor of religious teaching and entertainment for vast num-
mentlichen Theologie.
bers of the world’s population. According to a 2002 report
Paulsen, H. “Traditionsgeschichtliche und religionsgeschichtliche
by the respected Barna Research Group, more adults—141
Schule.” Zeitschift für Theologie und Kirche 75 (1958):
million—experience the Christian faith in a given month in
22–55.
the United States through Christian radio, television, or
Reischle, Max. Theologie und Religionsgeschichte. Tübingen, 1904.
books than attend Christian churches (132 million). Break-
Renz, Horst, and Friedrich W. Graf, eds. Troeltsch-Studien, vol.
ing this finding down, the report discovered that 52 percent
1. Gütersloh, 1982. See especially pages 235–290 and
of American adults had tuned into a Christian radio program
296–305.
in the previous month, that 38 percent of these listeners
Rollman, Hans. “Zwei Briefe Hermann Gunkel an Adolf Jüli-
tuned in to a teaching, preaching, or talk show program; and
cher.” Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 78 (1981):
that 43 percent of this population had listened to a Christian
276–288.
music station. The survey observed that women and African
Rollman, Hans. “Duhm, Lagarde, Ritschl und der irrationale Re-
Americans were overrepresented among these listeners to
ligionsbegriff der Religionsgeschichtlichen Schule.”
Christian radio. Forty-three percent of all adults—some 90
Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 34 (1982):
million people—were watching Christian television or pro-
276–279.
gramming in a given month, about the same number of peo-
Rollmann, Hans. “Theologie und Religiongeschichte.” Zeitschrift
ple who attend Christian churches in any given week. Some-
für Theologie und Kirche 80 (1983): 69–84.
what surprisingly, more than fifteen million atheists,
Sänger, Dieter. “Phänomenologie oder Geschichte? Methodische
agnostics, and adult members of non-Christian faiths had
Anmerkungen zur religionsgeschichtlichen Schule.”
some degree of exposure to the Christian faith through vari-
Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 32 (1980):
ous forms of religious broadcasting.
13–27.
Troeltsch, Ernst. “Die ‘kleine Göttinger Fakultät’ von 1890.”
Though precise figures are not available for other re-
Christliche Welt 18 (1920): 281–283.
gions of the world, the ubiquity of religious programming
Troeltsch, Ernst. “Die Dogmatik der ‘religionsgeschichtlichen
on satellite broadcasts reaching every continent in the world
Schule.’” In his Gesammelte Schriften, 2d ed., vol. 2,
attests to the fact that religious broadcasting is a phenome-
pp. 500–524. Aalen, 1962.
non to be reckoned with by any student of contemporary re-
Troeltsch, Ernst. “Christentum und Religionsgeschichte.” In Ge-
ligion. This influence has been greatly augmented since the
sammelte Schriften, 2d ed., vol. 2, pp. 328–363. Aalen, 1962.
1990s by the growth of religious internet sites and program-
Verheule, Anthonie F. Wilhelm Bousset: Leben und Werk. Amster-
ming. The dominance of religious broadcasting is a tale of
dam, 1973.
entrepreneurism, audacity, competition, zeal, scandal, and
triumph. Although this medium has its critics and detractors,
New Sources
both religious and secular, its explosive growth and influence
Berry, Wendell C. “Methodological, Pedagogical, and Philosophi-
cal Reflections on Mircea Eliade as Historian of Religions.”
show no signs of diminishing for the foreseeable future.
In Changing Religious Worlds, edited by Bryan S. Rennie,
ORIGINS. The origins of religious broadcasting reach back
pp. 165–189. Albany, N.Y., 2001.
into the early days of radio in the United States. The first
Lehmkühler, Karsten. Kultus und Theologie: Dogmatic und Exegese
station to receive a radio license from the U.S. Department
in die Religionsgeschichtliche Schule. Göttingen, 1996.
of Commerce, KDKA Pittsburgh, broadcast the Sunday eve-
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ning vespers service of the Calvary Episcopal Church choir
ty, a New Thought–influenced religious organization in
on January 2, 1921. Although the audience for the program
Kansas City, Missouri, inaugurated radio broadcasts on sta-
was only in the thousands, the broadcast became a fixture of
tion WOQ in 1922 and purchased the station in 1924. In
the station’s Sunday evening programming schedule. Soon,
1927 the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis
the entrepreneurial spirit of America combined with the
(AMORC), a popular purveyor of Western occultism, pur-
growing appeal of radio and the missionary zeal of evangeli-
chased radio station WJBB in Tampa and began broadcast-
cal Christianity to launch dozens of radio ministries.
ing a mixture of drama, choral music, metaphysical dis-
courses, and news. AMORC’s imperator, Harvey Spencer
The evangelist Paul Rader (1879–1938), pastor of the
Lewis (1883–1939), became a pioneer in short-wave reli-
Chicago Gospel Tabernacle, was among the first to recognize
gious broadcasting and aired WJBB’s programs throughout
the potential of radio to preach the gospel. In the summer
North and South America as well as the Caribbean, Africa,
of 1922, Rader brought a brass quartet to the roof of city hall
and Europe. His station was also the first to sponsor listener
and preached a sermon in a makeshift studio on local station
call-in programs and morning birthday announcements.
WHT. The success of this cameo appearance encouraged
Rader to reach an agreement with radio station WBBM to
The 1920s and 1930s were a time of acrimony between
broadcast fourteen hours of religious programming every
fundamentalist and modernist Christians in the United
Sunday. Rader called his once-a-week station WJBT (Where
States. Both factions sought to control the radio airwaves,
Jesus Blesses Thousands). WJBT’s broadcasts included the
and the early winners were the modernists. The U.S. Con-
Sunday evening worship service at Gospel Tabernacle, choral
gress established the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) in
performances, organ concerts, and popular shows such as the
1927, and new regulations issued by the commission for li-
Healing Hour, the Back Home Hour, and the Bible Drama
censed stations effectively closed down over half of the na-
Hour. Rader discovered that many of his radio listeners want-
tion’s radio ministries, many of them fundamentalist in ori-
ed to hear him preach live and that the radio ministry in-
entation. Between 1927 and 1934, a movement emerged to
creased attendance at Gospel Tabernacle. Rader’s pioneering
reserve certain sections of the radio broadcast spectrum for
efforts in creating a diverse programming format and in part-
educational, noncommercial, and religious programming.
nering radio ministries with local churches would have an
The Wagner-Hatfield Amendment to the Communications
immense influence on subsequent generations of broadcast
Act of 1934 would have implemented this spectrum alloca-
evangelists. Rader was aware of the medium’s limitations,
tion. The amendment failed, however, and a compromise
however, and he warned that radio did not substitute for a
plan allowed secular networks such as CBS and NBC to allo-
community that gathered to worship, sing, pray, and bear
cate a given amount of free airtime each week to public-
mutual joys and sorrows.
interest programming in place of losing entire segments of
the radio broadcast spectrum. These allocations were called
Aimee Semple McPherson (1890–1944) was another
“sustaining time.”
popular Christian evangelist of the 1920s who saw the poten-
tial of radio to spread her message. In 1922 she became the
Following passage of the Communications Act of 1934,
first woman to broadcast a sermon over the radio waves. A
religious groups across the fundamentalist-modernist spec-
year later her Santa Monica–based church, the Angelus Tem-
trum sought a share of the free time allotted by the major
ple, inaugurated the five-hundred-watt station KFSG (Kal-
networks. When it became apparent that there were more
ling Foursquare Gospel). The station was the first in the na-
applicants than airtime, the networks and representatives of
tion to be owned and operated by a church. During the
major national religious bodies such as the Southern Baptist
1920s, KFSG broadcast the Angelus Temple’s worship ser-
Convention, the Federal Council of Churches, the Jewish
vices to listeners who crowded into tents set up in nearby
Theological Seminary of America, and the National Council
suburbs of Los Angeles, such as Venice and Pasadena. In the
of Catholic Men agreed to sort out the competing claims in
unregulated early days of radio broadcasting, McPherson and
an equitable manner. The effect of this agreement was to
others arbitrarily changed their broadcast frequencies. This
shut out independent evangelicals and fundamentalists who
practice drew the ire of Secretary of Commerce Herbert
were not represented by national groups. Mainline denomi-
Hoover in 1927. In response, the colorful McPherson sent
nations defended their monopoly of the networks’ sustain-
Hoover a telegram stating, “Please order your minions of
ing-time slots by claiming a national constituency for their
Satan to leave my station alone. You cannot expect the Al-
programs, in contrast to the regional constituency—the
mighty to abide by your wavelength nonsense” (Erickson,
Bible Belt—of fundamentalist programming. Both individu-
1992, p. 127). This salvo was the first in what would become
al denominations and parachurch groups produced a variety
a long-standing battle between federal broadcast communi-
of programming in the sustaining-time slots. This program-
cations regulators and the entrepreneurs of religious broad-
ming ranged from the broadcast of local worship services to
casting.
instructional documentaries, sermons, and discussions of is-
sues by prominent religious figures.
Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists were not the
only religious ministries to recognize the potential of radio
The sustaining-time monopoly forced independent
outreach during the 1920s. The Unity School of Christiani-
evangelicals and fundamentalists to purchase commercial
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time from such networks as the Mutual Broadcasting Net-
FM stations. This left older, less affluent listeners with AM
work and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The
radio evangelists like those documented by Howard Dorgan
most successful of the independent evangelical programs was
in his book, The Airwaves of Zion: Radio and Religion in Ap-
Charles E. Fuller’s (1887–1968) Old Fashioned Revival
palachia. These ministries are run largely by independent
Hour. Fuller began his broadcasting career in the 1920s,
Holiness-Pentecostals who have little formal theological
teaching Bible classes over the Bible Institute of Los Angeles’s
training. Their style of preaching is highly emotional, un-
privately owned radio station. By 1930, Fuller’s Calvary
structured, and reliant on the inspiration of the moment.
Church Sunday worship service was being broadcast locally,
They attack everything from lottery sales to roadhouses and
along with a popular phone-in show during which Fuller an-
from homosexuality to alcohol sales. Some ministries include
swered listener questions. In 1933 Fuller decided to concen-
in their programs recitations of long lists of people in need
trate his entire efforts on his radio ministry and its flagship
of prayer. These AM radio preachers can be heard on Sun-
program, Radio Revival Hour. Through judicious agreements
days and weekdays throughout the United States, but espe-
with regional networks, Fuller’s program was soon being
cially in the Southeast. Although these ministries have diffi-
heard throughout the western United States. In 1937 the
culties attracting advertisers because of their elderly audience
Mutual Broadcasting System purchased the renamed Old
profile, they have survived into the twenty-first century on
Fashioned Revival Hour for national broadcast. By 1939 the
freewill offerings and constitute one of the most durable for-
show had ten million weekly listeners, who were organized
mats in the history of religious broadcasting in America.
into a loose-knit group of financial supporters. The program
THE RISE OF TELEVISION. With the coming of television in
featured popular gospel songs performed by a professional
the 1940s, the competition between fundamentalists and
choir, Fuller’s homespun homilies, and a reading of letters
modernists became even more intense. Each faction recog-
from listeners who had been led to God through the broad-
nized the tremendous cultural influence the medium would
cast. The ministry’s global listenership peaked at twenty mil-
have and the promise it held for religious outreach. The Na-
lion during the 1940s and aired over powerful AM stations
tional Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) su-
in Europe, South America, and Asia in subsequent years.
perseded the old Federal Council of Churches in 1950 and
Fuller set the pattern for future independent broadcast min-
immediately sought to limit television access to those minis-
istries that were wholly listener supported and that were fo-
tries approved of by its member churches. The NCC also re-
cused on personal conversion.
quested that the major broadcast networks refuse to sell com-
mercial airtime to religious ministries and that they accept
Another consequence of the sustaining-time monopoly
the guidance of the NCC’s Broadcast and Film Commission
was the formation of the National Association of Evangeli-
in creating and allotting any sustaining-time programming.
cals (NAE) in 1942. The association’s mission was to protect
These actions succeeded in limiting religious programming
evangelical radio ministries like that of Fuller and to promote
on the major networks during the 1950s to the Sunday
the interests of independent fundamentalists and evangelicals
morning sustaining-time slots and a few other nationally syn-
at the national level. The immediate catalyst for NAE’s for-
dicated broadcast ministries.
mation was a set of recommendations published by the Insti-
tute of Education by Radio, an independent group of aca-
The three most significant independent television min-
demics whose charge was to monitor radio ministries. The
istries of the 1950s were those of Rex Humbard (b. 1919),
large radio networks paid close attention to the Institute’s
Oral Roberts (b. 1918), and Billy Graham (b. 1918). Hum-
criticism of Charles Fuller’s broadcasts and to its recommen-
bard was an itinerant Pentecostal minister who settled in
dation to limit commercial religious programming on their
Akron, Ohio, after a successful revival there in 1952. He
networks. In response to this threat, over 150 conservative
began to televise the Sunday worship service of his Calvary
radio ministries formed NAE and two years later organized
Temple on a local Akron station in 1953 with the intention
National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) as the official broad-
of providing outreach to the sick and elderly. This concern
casting arm of NAE. Since then NRB has been instrumental
for those unable to attend regular church services would be-
in lobbying Congress and the Federal Communications
come a common justification for subsequent television min-
Commission (which replaced the Federal Radio Commission
istries nationwide. Humbard also pioneered the religious
in 1934) on behalf of its member organizations. Members
spectacle genre of programming. He built a five-thousand-
of NRB adopt a code of ethics that obligates them to main-
seat church in 1958 that featured state-of-the-art camera,
tain the highest technical standards for their programming,
lighting, and sound equipment as well as a huge stage that
to obey governmental regulations, and to adopt high stan-
accommodated an orchestra, a choir, and broadcasting per-
dards of financial accountability. The body’s efforts have
sonnel. Humbard’s Cathedral of Tomorrow Sunday broad-
helped establish numerous independent broadcasting minis-
casts featured his musical family and his own folksy sermons.
tries on a solid financial footing and encouraged them to im-
The broadcast was essentially a praise and preaching program
prove their programming quality.
that highlighted God’s love and forgiveness and avoided con-
troversial political or doctrinal debates. By 1971 Humbard’s
A major change in radio evangelism occurred in the
ministry aired on 650 television and 700 radio stations in
1970s, when 75 percent of the listening audience shifted to
North America. The ministry would expand to Japan, Aus-
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tralia, Africa, and South America over the next decade. Popu-
of financial accountability. His own association is a model
lar televangelist Robert Schuller (b. 1926) followed in Hum-
of financial transparency and makes its yearly audit available
bard’s footsteps in the late twentieth century with his upbeat
to the public. The association’s efforts have helped lift the
and carefully choreographed Crystal Cathedral broadcasts.
stain of financial scandal that has plagued religious broad-
casting ministries since the late 1970s.
Oral Roberts began his career as a Holiness-Pentecostal
minister whose healing revivals took him throughout the
While independent televangelists like Humbard, Rob-
South and Southwest. With encouragement from Rex Hum-
erts, and Graham were creating their media empires, main-
bard, Roberts gained the financial backing to televise one of
stream ministries affiliated with the National Council of
his healing crusades in 1955. Within three years, the crusades
Churches created more conventional programming for use
were being aired on network affiliates to a steadily growing
on Sunday morning sustaining-time slots. The most popular
national audience. Roberts was the creator of the live heal-
of these mainstream ministries was that of Bishop Fulton J.
ing-revival format that later became the vehicle by which
Sheen (1895–1979). Sheen was already an accomplished
faith healers Kathryn Kuhlman (1907–1976) and Benny
Roman Catholic author and speaker when he began The
Hinn (b. 1953) rose to prominence. Using high-speed film
Catholic Hour radio program in 1930. This sustaining-time
to compensate for the low lighting inside his tent, Roberts’s
broadcast was aired on NBC radio and attracted millions of
programs captured the drama and excitement of seemingly
listeners. Sheen’s first television appearance was on a historic
miraculous healings by the laying on of hands. Here was reli-
Easter Sunday broadcast in 1940. It was not until the early
gious television that was inspiring, entertaining, and emo-
1950s, however, that he became a household fixture with his
tionally gripping. Roberts went on to become a successful au-
program Life Is Worth Living. The broadcast showcased
thor, university president, and founder of a broadcast
Sheen’s personal charisma, flair for the dramatic, and magis-
dynasty that is now largely in the hands of his son, Richard
terial presence. Unlike the more conversion-focused broad-
Roberts (b. 1948). Oral Roberts also pioneered religious
casts of Graham and Humbard, Sheen made Catholic moral
broadcasting’s foray into the variety show format. His pro-
teachings accessible to people from varied religious and secu-
gram, Oral Roberts and You, featured upbeat contemporary
lar backgrounds. His show was a success not only with Cath-
music, bright-faced young people, the highest technical stan-
olics but also with Protestants. The themes of his talks—sin,
dards, and a Bible-based sermon. Roberts also broadcast
guilt, redemption, motherhood, and personal responsibili-
hour-long television specials that featured popular singers
ty—were universal in scope and directed to everyman and
such as Minnie Pearl and Mahalia Jackson and was one of
everywoman. Sheen rejected the trappings of entertainment
the first televangelists to preach the “prosperity gospel,”
television and kept to a simple, dignified format. He began
which claimed that God’s plan for humanity included both
his program with a courtly bow and sat in a chair with only
spiritual and material riches.
a blackboard, a table, and a Bible as props. For dramatic ef-
fect, he would sometimes pace the floor, allowing his clerical
The popular evangelist Billy Graham came from a more
clothing to fall gracefully from his arms. He would also speak
conservative theological background (Presbyterian and
directly into the camera, giving viewers the sense that he was
Southern Baptist) than either Humbard or Roberts, and his
talking personally to them. Sheen’s success as a television
use of television would also be more measured. He gained
preacher demonstrated the significance of sheer personal cha-
national fame in 1949 when a planned two-week revival in
risma for building and maintaining a religious broadcasting
Los Angeles went on for two months and attracted the atten-
ministry.
tion of the Hearst publishing empire. Beginning in 1950,
T
Graham had his own nationally broadcast radio program,
HE EMERGENCE OF INDEPENDENT RELIGIOUS NETWORKS.
The most significant development in the United States be-
Hour of Decision, with an estimated listening audience of
tween 1960 and 1990 was the creation of religious broadcast-
twenty million. Following an influential telecast of his cru-
ing networks such as Christian Broadcasting Network
sade in England in 1955, Graham had the clout to arrange
(CBN), Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Praise the
the broadcast of his Madison Square Garden Crusade on
Lord Network (PTL), the Roman Catholic Eternal Word
ABC in 1957. The spectacle of thousands responding to
Television Network, LeSea Broadcasting, and Pax TV. These
Graham’s call for repentance and conversion made these
enterprises allowed for the development of diverse program-
broadcasts riveting television. For the rest of the twentieth
ming formats, nonstop religious television and radio cover-
century, Graham’s crusades became a staple of religious tele-
age, and an expansion around the globe using satellite tech-
vision. They incorporated footage of crowds pouring into
nology.
athletic stadiums, music and testimonials by popular artists,
Graham’s powerful sermons, and finally his call for members
The forerunner for these ministries was Pat Robertson’s
of the audience to “come forward to Christ.” Although Gra-
(b. 1930) CBN. The network began with Robertson’s pur-
ham never inaugurated a weekly television broadcast, his
chase in 1959 of a UHF station in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was influential in the
During the 1960s, CBN’s programming was limited to a
formation of the Evangelical Council for Financial Account-
daily schedule airing between 7 and 10 P.M. The core pro-
ability, whose members pledge to abide by strict standards
gram was The 700 Club, a talk show during which Robertson
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RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING
7713
invited a host of evangelical authors and musical performers
gramming. The network’s signature program is the Praise the
to discuss contemporary social, political, and religious issues.
Lord show, which features both variety show and talk show
A live call-in segment invited those in need of healing to ask
formats. The Crouches cast a wide net and include a cross-
for prayer, exorcism, and words of encouragement from the
section of America’s most prominent Christian preachers
show’s hosts. Robertson began to operate television and FM
and musicians on their program. The network has also per-
radio stations throughout the United States in the late 1960s,
fected the biannual telethon, which raises funds for the
and by the late 1970s he was sending CBN’s programming
maintenance and expansion of the ministry. TBN’s interna-
via the Westar and RCA Satcom satellites to over sixty sta-
tional outreach has been augmented by its inauguration of
tions nationwide. The ministry employed a team of volun-
TBN Enlace in 2002, which targets the growing Hispanic
teer prayer counselors who worked twenty-four hours a day.
population of the United States.
These workers created a referral system that funneled new
RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING GLOBALLY. One of the most sig-
converts into local churches. Robertson retooled The 700
nificant developments in religious broadcasting that has oc-
Club during the 1980s to resemble secular talk show and
curred since the mid-1980s is the rapid expansion of net-
news magazine formats such as The Today Show and Good
works and programming around the world. Many of the
Morning America.
longest-running broadcast ministries in Europe and Asia
CBN has been a pioneer in the “media blitz,” which sat-
were radio-based. The earliest of these, HCJB, or the Voice
urates a given region over a concentrated time period with
of the Andes, began its short-wave broadcasts blanketing
television programming, radio shows, videotapes, and litera-
South America in 1931. At the start of the twenty-first cen-
ture. CBN’s Worldreach partners with Christian ministries
tury, it was operating three powerful short-wave transmitting
around the world to spread the gospel using media, disciple-
stations that send out radio and television programming
ship, small-scale church planting, and humanitarian relief ef-
around the world in a variety of vernacular languages. Vati-
forts. By the late 1990s, CBN International was broadcasting
can Radio also transmitted its inaugural broadcast in 1931.
programming in ninety countries and in more than fifty lan-
Over the years, this Jesuit-run operation has expanded its
guages. Robertson pioneered religious broadcasting in the
programming to include a professional news service, sophis-
Middle East with the launch, in 1982, of CBN’s Channel
ticated musical programs, daily mass, live coverage of papal
12/Middle East Television Network. In 1997 the network
audiences, and live video streaming of the pope reciting his
began broadcasting throughout the Middle East via satellite.
Sunday Angelus prayers. The broadcasts are offered in thirty-
Increasingly, other American broadcast ministries, many
four languages and are sent out on short and medium waves,
with millennial hopes, have targeted this biblical region.
satellites, and FM. The Far East Broadcasting Company
These include SAT-7, which transmits programming pro-
(FEBC) started its radio broadcasts in 1948 on a humble
duced in Middle Eastern studios by Middle Eastern Chris-
one-thousand-watt transmitter in the Philippines. By the
tians in the Arabic language. This network is careful not to
1950s, FEBC was broadcasting programs in thirty-six lan-
attack Islam directly and features culturally sensitive dramas,
guages and dialects to the People’s Republic of China and
talk shows, children’s programs, and musical programs.
other Asian countries using megawatt transmitters. FEBC
airs its Christian programming over thirty stations to Asia,
Robertson’s enterprises have set the standard for the reli-
eastern Europe, Australia, and Latin America. Trans World
gious broadcasting empires that have followed in CBN’s
Radio (TWR) managed to break through the prohibitions
wake. Robertson himself has been influential in the rise of
against evangelical programming that European govern-
the religious right as a political force in the United States.
ments placed on their stations during the 1950s. The station
He and other broadcasters such as Jerry Falwell (b. 1933)
purchased broadcasting rights in the principality of Morocco
have become respected spokespersons for the evangelical
and began airing its programming throughout Europe on its
wing of the Republican Party.
new 100,000-watt short-wave transmitter in 1960. As the
ministry expanded, the station built AM, long-wave, and
Perhaps the most successful of the new broadcasting
short-wave transmitters and hired local religious leaders and
empires is the Trinity Broadcasting Network. From its hum-
musicians to produce programming in forty languages. Like
ble beginnings in 1973, TBN has grown into a half-billion-
FEBC, this station was successful in circumventing the jam-
dollar television empire that owns and operates over 22 full-
ming efforts of authorities in Communist countries. Today
power TV stations and over 500 low-power stations nation-
its broadcasts are global and reach almost 80 percent of the
wide. By the beginning of the new millennium, the net-
world’s population with evangelical Christian programming.
work’s 3,500 cable affiliates allowed it to reach an audience
estimated at thirty million daily. The ministry used twenty-
The fall of Communism in eastern Europe (1989–
six satellites to broadcast in twenty-four languages on every
1991) opened a new field for religious broadcasting minis-
major continent. Trinity’s programming is broadcast twen-
tries. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, a number
ty-four hours a day and includes the biggest names in
of broadcasters were blanketing the former Soviet Union and
televangelism in its lineup. Founders Paul (b. 1934) and Jan
its satellites. Among these is Agape Europe, an interdenomi-
Crouch come from Pentecostal backgrounds, and the Pente-
national Christian mission organization that distributes
costal worship style and theology pervades the network’s pro-
Christian television programming throughout eastern and
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western Europe, and United Christian Broadcasters Europe,
stream Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, and Protestant
which uses digital satellite and cable technology to broadcast
churches, has attempted to address these concerns by eschew-
preaching, Bible study, music, and world-affairs television
ing the on-air solicitation of funds.
programming across the United Kingdom, Ireland, and con-
tinental Europe. A major development for Europe occurred
A second line of criticism concerns the dominance of
in 1990, when the British Parliament passed a law that
Pentecostal Christianity in religious programming—and this
opened the radio airwaves in Great Britain to independent
form of Christianity’s dualistic, apocalyptic worldview. This
religious broadcasters. In 1994, Premier Radio was one of the
critique indicts religious broadcasting for its tendency to
first evangelical ministries to receive an AM license. It now
view individual and societal moral conflicts within the con-
reaches a core audience of committed Christians in Great
text of a cosmic war between Satan and God. In this dualistic
Britain with programming that expresses Christian values
conception of ultimate good and ultimate evil at war with
without alienating nonbelievers simply looking for a quality
each other, the ambiguities and subtleties of human moral
radio option.
behavior are left unexplored and absolute moral principles
are definitively proclaimed. The tendency of programs such
Religious broadcasting is booming throughout the
as Jack Van Impe Presents and Hal Lindsey to read current
world at the dawn of the new millennium. Australia is served
events through this dualistic lens, critics charge, often results
by more than 40 Christian radio stations, Latin America by
in a jingoistic nationalism that demonizes Russians, Mus-
more than 150 Christian TV stations and 1,000 radio sta-
lims, Palestinians, or Arabs, while blinding viewers to im-
tions, and Africa by a growing number of active media out-
moral actions by the U.S. government and its allies. The
lets. Islamic broadcasters, such as America’s Nation of Islam,
focus of many televangelists on eschatology and prophecy
Egypt’s Voice of the Holy QurDa¯n, and Libya’s Voice of
often leads to categorical condemnations of other nations
Islam are becoming increasingly sophisticated both in their
and belief systems and a singular inability to reflect on the
programming formats and technical expertise. In India all re-
collective social injustices that plague American society. The
ligious groups, including the Jains, Muslims, Sikhs, Chris-
news segments of many televangelistic programs unabashedly
tians, and Hindus, have cable television channels that offer
blur the distinctions between professional reporting and
nonstop religious programming to their audiences. The
theologically biased commentary.
range of shows includes everything from the sermons of Is-
A third line of criticism concerns the format and medi-
lamic clerics to the devotional songs of Hindu musicians and
um of television itself. These criticisms allege that televangel-
the healing crusades of Benny Hinn. Christian broadcasting
ism turns congregations into passive, unreflective audiences
still faces enormous challenges in countries such as Sri Lanka,
and the gospel into another form of popular entertainment.
China, Vietnam, and North Korea, where radio frequencies
The concern is that the link between the gospel message and
are jammed and broadcast licenses and air time are severely
people’s individual behavior may be lost in the glitz, glam-
regulated by governmental agencies.
our, and spectacle of many forms of religious programming.
CRITIQUES OF RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING. A series of sexual
This criticism is linked to another line of concern, the possi-
and financial scandals rocked the religious broadcasting in-
bility that “virtual” communities of believers following
dustry during the 1980s, and criticisms of television evange-
televangelist superstars may supersede the vital links of mu-
lists and their shows have come from across the conservative
tual support found in neighborhood church communities.
and liberal spectrum. These criticisms fall out along six prin-
The rise of the internet and of internet religious ministries
cipal axes.
has added to these fears of individual withdrawal from the
close interpersonal interaction that is crucial for emotional
First, commentators such as Quentin Schultze offer in-
health. This criticism acknowledges the demonstrably posi-
dictments of televangelism that are theological in focus.
tive effect of religious broadcasting for shut-ins and handi-
These critics allege that televangelism exploits well-
capped persons unable to participate in local church commu-
intentioned but biblically illiterate believers by delivering a
nities. At the same time, however, it observes that
shallow “health and wealth” gospel in return for financial
televangelists do not counsel people with marital problems,
support. This indictment essentially charges that televangel-
bury their viewers’ dead, visit the sick, or perform baptisms,
ists such as Kenneth Copeland (b. 1937), Robert Tilton
all staples of a week in the life of a local pastor.
(b. 1946), and Robert Schuller are distorters of the tradition-
al gospel values of obedience to God, self-sacrifice, love for
A fourth line of criticism has to do with the increasing
the poor, and a rejection of worldly fame and riches. In their
influence that radio and television evangelists exercise over
growth to affluence, many televangelists have come to the
America’s political process. This criticism voices concerns
view that material wealth is acceptable and desirable, and
that the many religious broadcasters who support the Chris-
that listeners need only ask God for abundance, make a do-
tian right’s political and social program are turning the na-
nation to their ministry, and wait for the money to begin
tional airwaves into a platform for the Republican Party’s po-
rolling in. Gone, these critics charge, is the Protestant ethic
litical agenda. CBN’s Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Focus
that saw wealth as the fruit of diligent labor. Faith and Values
on the Family’s James Dobson (b. 1936) are just a few exam-
Media, which is owned and operated by a coalition of main-
ples of religious broadcasters who are using their ministries
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
RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING
7715
to create bases of electoral and financial support for conserva-
plode the myth that religious television is converting millions
tive political candidates. Constitutional purists see this grow-
of people to evangelical Christianity.
ing trend as an erosion of the Constitution’s separation of
Dorgan, Howard. The Airwaves of Zion: Radio and Religion in Ap-
church and state and as an unwarranted and illegal intrusion
palachia. Knoxville, Tenn., 1993. This book is a well docu-
of traditionally nonpartisan (and tax-exempt) religious com-
mented description and analysis of AM radio evangelism in
munities into the nation’s political life.
Appalachia by a professor of communications at Appalachian
State University.
A fifth line of criticism takes aim at the avowed goal of
Erickson, Hal. Religious Radio and Television in the United States,
most broadcast ministries—bringing the gospel message to
1921–1991: The Programs and Personalities. Jefferson, N.C.,
the unconverted. A preponderance of evidence indicates that
1992. Erickson’s volume is a somewhat uneven encyclopedic
most regular viewers and listeners already hold evangelical,
treatment of various religious broadcasting personalities and
fundamentalist, or very conservative religious beliefs. What
ministries; valuable mainly for its information on less well
this means is that while religious broadcasting likely rein-
known ministries.
forces the existing beliefs and behaviors of its viewers, it is
Fishwick, Marshall, and Ray B. Brown, eds. The God Pumpers: Re-
not very successful at reaching the unconverted. In the end,
ligion in the Electronic Age. Bowling Green, Ohio, 1987. Two
religious broadcasting may be mostly an alternative media
critical observers of American popular culture examine the
source for people of religious faith who cannot find other
broadcast ministries of Billy Graham, Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry
programs that conform to their values and tastes. Put another
Falwell, Jim and Tammy Bakker, Terry Cole-Whittaker,
way, religious broadcasting may answer to a pressing need
Marilyn Hickey, Danuto Soderman, and Beverly LaHaye.
in society for programming that reflects the conservative,
Hadden, Jeffrey, and Anson Shupe. Televangelism: Power and Poli-
fundamentalist, and evangelical worldviews of a sizeable seg-
tics on God’s Frontier. New York, 1988. Two prominent soci-
ment of the American population.
ologists use social movement theory to examine televangelists
and their followers and the cultural revolution in America
A sixth and final line of criticism pinpoints the anti-
that they are creating.
intellectualist biases of many religious programs. Broadcast
Hadden, Jeffrey, and Charles E. Swann. Prime Time Preachers:
preachers regularly ridicule liberal ministers who tolerate
The Rising Power of Televangelism. Reading, Mass., 1981.
moral ambiguity or who fail to speak plainly and directly.
This book was one of the first in-depth sociological studies
They rarely address the traditional historical concerns of
of the influence and future of televangelists such as Pat Rob-
mainstream theologians and instead focus narrowly on per-
ertson, Robert Schuller, and Oral Roberts.
sonal salvation and the spiritual condition of the world. Reli-
Hangen, Tona J. Redeeming the Dial: Radio, Religion, and Popular
gious broadcasters tend to be biblical inerrantists who con-
Culture in America. Chapel Hill, N.C., 2002. This excellent
demn historical-critical methods of scriptural exegesis and
historical volume traces how American evangelicals used
read scripture literally. Critics claim that this anti-intellectual
radio during the mid-twentieth century to build a powerful
national coalition and define the parameters of their the-
bias dissipates the strength of respected traditions of scholar-
ology.
ship as well as the historical experience of Christian commu-
nities. It also leaves the religious broadcasting audience bereft
Hoover, Stewart M. Mass Media Religion: The Social Sources of the
Electronic Church. Newbury Park, Calif., 1988. This impor-
of the critical faculties that are necessary to identify the vari-
tant sociological and historical study explores how the elec-
ous forms of political, social, and religious propaganda and
tronic church affects the way American culture addresses
hucksterism that saturate religious programming.
pressing issues such as drug addiction, racism, and mili-
Religious broadcasting shows no signs of slowing down
tarism.
in the twenty-first century. Radio and television ministries
Matelski, Marilyn J. Vatican Radio: Propagation by the Airwaves.
continue to proliferate around the world, and cable television
Westport, Conn., 1995. The best historical study of HVJ,
has greatly expanded their outreach to developed and devel-
Vatican Radio, and its role in propagating the religious, so-
cial, and political agendas of the Roman Catholic Church.
oping countries alike. Religious broadcasting via the World
Wide Web also continues to expand, allowing space for even
Melton, J. Gordon, Phillip Charles Lucas, and Jon R. Stone, eds.
more religious entrepreneurs to attract audiences and build
Prime-Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcast-
ing. Phoenix, Ariz., 1997. The most comprehensive volume
their ministries. As geopolitical developments increasingly
available for understanding the personalities and ministries
take on religious overtones, radio and television channels will
of religious broadcasting both in the United States and
become hotly contested sites. The future will likely see parti-
throughout the world.
sans of various religious ideologies vying for airtime and po-
Peck, Janice. The Gods of Televangelism: The Crisis of Meaning and
litical sponsorship. Thus it will be interesting to watch the
the Appeal of Religious Television. Cresskill, N.J., 1993. An in-
role of federal and national regulators of the airwaves in the
sightful examination of Christian Right leadership, separat-
religious battles of the future.
ism, and televangelism in America.
Schultze, Quentin J. Televangelism and American Culture: The
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Business of Popular Religion. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1991. A
Bruce, Steve. Pray TV: Televangelism in America. New York, 1990.
critical sociological and theological examination of televan-
This useful volume employs surveys and other data to ex-
gelism from the perspective of an insightful Calvinist scholar.
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7716
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: RELIGION, COMMUNITY, AND SOCIETY
Ward, Mark. Air of Salvation: The Story of Christian Broadcasting.
communities, in which religious and natural bonds coalesce.
Grand Rapids, Mich., 1994. This useful volume by the di-
They also acknowledge that a more stratified society usually
rector of media ministries at Bob Jones University is a trium-
develops from community, even though smaller religious or
phalist history of the personalities and ministries that helped
ethnic communities may continue to exist within the frame-
establish fundamentalist and evangelical dominance of the
work of a larger society. Beyond this general level, however,
American airwaves during the twentieth century.
students of religion encounter a bewildering variety of reli-
GREGOR T. GOETHALS (1987)
gious phenomena that defy simple categorization in terms of
PHILLIP CHARLES LUCAS (2005)
community and society. For example, some of the ancient
states, from the Hebrew to the Japanese, considered them-
selves “sacred communities” embracing a number of “reli-
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES
This entry consists of the following articles:
gious societies.” In the course of time, some of these religious
societies themselves developed into religious communities.
RELIGION, COMMUNITY, AND SOCIETY
CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS ORDERS
Other troublesome examples stem from the classical world
religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. These
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: RELIGION,
three considered their fellowships to be “religious communi-
COMMUNITY, AND SOCIETY
ties” or “faith communities” that united different segments
Religion is both a personal matter and a social reality. In
with a society or even crossed ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and
dealing with the latter, one is confronted by a confusion of
national lines. Here again, these larger religious communities
categories and by terminological difficulties. For example,
gave birth to a variety of religious societies that often became
popular references to “religious community” reflect ambigui-
de facto religious communities, even if they retained the no-
ties in the current use of the term community. From Webster
menclature of “society,” as in the case of the Society of Jesus
one learns that community, derived from the Latin com-
(the Jesuits).
munitas, has many meanings, including (1) a body of people
Thus, for students of religion, the category religious com-
having a common organization or interests, or living in the
munity must include at least (1) tribal communities, both
same place under the same laws and regulations, (2) society
natural and religious, archaic and contemporary, (2) sacred
at large, a commonwealth, a state, (3) joint relationship or
national communities, (3) founded religious communities
ownership, and (4) a common character or commonness.
such as the Buddhist, the Christian, and the Islamic, and (4)
Students of society have tried to overcome such am-
various religious societies-turned-communities, as for in-
biguities. Under the influence of the later German Enlight-
stance orders of monks and nuns. Different though these
enment’s notion that society is a product of human will, Fer-
groups may be, they share what the Dutch scholar Gerardus
dinand Julius Tönnies (1855–1936) proposed the famous
van der Leeuw (1938) calls the sense of community. This
dichotomy between community (Gemeinschaft) and society
sense “is something not manufactured, but given; it depends
(Gesellschaft). Community embodies natural will (Wesenwil-
not upon sentiment or feeling, but on the Unconscious. It
le) and is maintained by face-to-face interhuman relation-
need be founded upon no conviction, because it is self-
ships and a sense of solidarity governed by traditional rules.
evident; we do not become members of it, but ‘belong to it’”
Society, however, is a more complex entity reflecting rational
(p. 243).
will (Kürwille) and characterized by indirect and impersonal
interhuman relationships motivated by rational self-interest.
TRIBAL RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES. To avoid the misleading
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) also attempted to distinguish
adjective primitive, many scholars now use expressions—not
between primitive and archaic social groups (roughly analo-
wholly satisfactory—such as tribal, nonliterate, and folk to
gous to Tönnies’s community type) and more complex
refer to the religious forms of a wide variety of peoples who
groups (Tönnies’s society type). In Durkheim’s model, the
live in small social groups and who possess a simple material
former are based on the mechanical solidarity of undifferen-
culture and an unwritten language. It is often assumed that
tiated individuals who live according to the authority of the
there are many similarities between tribal communities in ar-
social group, while the latter are based on the organic solidar-
chaic or prehistoric periods and tribal communites of the
ity of more differentiated individuals who relate to one an-
present. It is indeed possible that archaic and contemporary
other by means of the division of labor. Prior to Tönnies and
tribal communities are in some way typologically similar,
Durkheim, of course, Karl Marx (1818–1883) had classified
presumably owing to their simple living conditions. Still, one
various social organizations according to modes of produc-
should not overlook the long span of time that separates
tion and the class system, ranging all the way from primitive
them.
communism to modern capitalist society. An implicit evolu-
Archaeological excavations have unearthed a variety of
tionary assumption—that the movement from what Tönnies
material remains from the prehistoric period, but very little
called community to what he called society was irrevers-
can be reconstructed of the social system of the peoples or
ible—underlay all these typologies and classifications.
the movements of the so-called tribal migrations, including
Students of religion generally apply Tönnies’s notion of
the prehistoric migration of Native Americans from Eurasia
the community type to both archaic and contemporary tribal
to North and South America. Excavated sites of Neolithic
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RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: RELIGION, COMMUNITY, AND SOCIETY
7717
settlements, such as Banpo in Shensi, China, may give
ternities. In addition, because of the impact of surrounding
glimpses of the physical layouts of archaic tribal communi-
societies, some tribal groups now live in permanent settle-
ties, but it is difficult to know how prehistoric food-
ments and so have lost their sense of the traditional tribal-
gatherers, hunters, and agriculturalists conducted their per-
religious community.
sonal, communal, or religious affairs. Even so, by piecing to-
SACRED NATIONAL COMMUNITIES. The first great civiliza-
gether evidence from archaeology, physical anthropology,
tion in the history of the world emerged around 3500 BCE
philology, and other sources, it is conjectured that all activi-
on the Mesopotamian plain. It was followed by the rise of
ties directed toward subsistence and all cultic and religious
other civilizations in Egypt, Crete, India, China, Mexico
activities merged to form a single, unified community. Some
(Mesoamerica), Peru (Andean), and Palestine. According to
scholars even speculate that the archaic tribal community
the cosmography of these civilizations, the state was more
was, so to speak, a “religious universe” in which living itself
than a political entity: It constituted the sacred national com-
was a religious act.
munity.
The contemporary tribal or folk communities scattered
Understandably, different civilizations have understood
throughout Africa, Asia, Oceania, Australia, and the Ameri-
the meaning of the sacred national community differently.
cas display a great divergence in complexity of community
For example, in Mesopotamia the universe as a whole was
structure, division of labor, cultic and religious beliefs and
considered a sovereign state governed by the assembly of the
practices, and relations with neighboring societies and cul-
gods. In turn, the national state—made up of many city-
tures. Moreover, as E. E. Evans-Pritchard (1951) notes, these
states, each owned by its own god and ruled by his human
communities “have just as long a history as our own, and
steward—was governed by a king, who was himself guided
while they are less developed than our society in some re-
by the executive officer of the assembly of the gods. Thus,
spects they are often more developed in others” (p. 7). Dif-
as part of the cosmic commonwealth directed by the united
ferent though they are in many other respects, contemporary
wills of the divine powers, the earthly national community
tribal communities share one characteristic: They are held to-
was sacred.
gether, to quote Robert Redfield (1953), “by common un-
derstanding as to the ultimate nature and purpose of life.”
In contrast to the Mesopotamian tradition, the Egyp-
Each community “exists not so much in the exchange of use-
tian national state was considered sacred because the king
ful functions as in the common understandings as to the ends
himself was one of the gods. At the same time, he was the
given” (p. 12). To these communities, life’s ultimate purpose
intermediary between the people and the gods, the earthly
is the creation of a meaningful order through imitation of
community’s divine representative. He was also the one rec-
the celestial model, transmitted by myths and celebrated in
ognized priest of all the gods, and as such he ruled the nation
rituals.
with the help of deputies, the officials and priests.
Unlike their archaic counterparts, contemporary tribal
A third type of sacred national community, one rarer
communities have more complex social organizations based
than the first two, is the Hebrew concept of a community
on locality, age, sex, and sometimes totemic affiliations.
based on a covenant between a god and his people. Despite
Their nucleus is the kinship system, usually with exogamous
the fiction of their common ancestry from Abraham, the Is-
clans and local territories. Many tribal communities have se-
raelites were a composite people. As the prophets Hosea and
cret men’s societies, which usually meet in the “men’s
Jeremiah stressed, they understood the sacral character of
house,” an institution known by different designations in
their commonwealth to depend both on faithful adherence
different localities but serving similar purposes—a club
to the covenant and on ethical conduct.
house for bachelors, a place for community worship, a resi-
Throughout history, many nations have defined their
dence for young boys during their initiatory seclusion. Such
sacrality in terms of one of these three types—king as deputy,
societies are found in Australia, New Guinea, Melanesia, Mi-
king as god, or covenantal/contractual community—or a
cronesia, Polynesia, the Philippines, India, Africa, and
combination of them. But with increasing stratification of
North, Central, and South America. (For examples, see Hut-
society and political organization, and the solidification of
ton Webster’s Primitive Secret Societies, 1932.)
religious traditions, national communities have eroded. They
Today it is becoming increasingly inappropriate to
have been replaced by a variety of relationships between reli-
apply the designation community to some tribal groups. The
gion and state ranging from theocracy—reminiscent of the
term is still applicable to such groups as the hunting and
sacred national community—to the secular state. But the
gathering tribes of South America and Australia and to the
idea of the sacred national community has persisted in vari-
San of southern Africa, but larger groups like the Navajo In-
ous forms into the present century, as in, for example, Japan
dians, who occupy eighteen million acres in Arizona and
and Tibet.
New Mexico, and the Inuit (Eskimo), whose habitations
FOUNDED RELIGOUS COMMUNITIES. In contrast to the sa-
stretch from Greenland to the Bering Strait, resemble instead
cred national community, whose raison d’être and destiny de-
huge conglomerate societies containing a series of smaller
pend on the corporate life of the sociopolitical entity, the
communities and subgroups and various kinds of cultic fra-
founded religious community, as this author is using the
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7718
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: RELIGION, COMMUNITY, AND SOCIETY
term, refers to a community that derives its initial impetus
divisions of Christianity accept the Christian community
from the religious experience of the founder of a religion.
(church) as the one unbroken “body of Christ” that exists be-
The better-known classical examples of such founded groups
neath its empirical disunity: “Credo in . . . unam sanctam
are the Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic communities; lesser
catholicam ecclesiam.”
known but equally significant are the Jain, Zoroastrian, and
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES-TURNED-COMMUNITIES. As men-
Manichaean communities. The founded religious communi-
tioned earlier, a variety of small religious societies and cultic
ties of recent origin, such as the Sikh, BahaDi, Mormon, and
fraternities tend to emerge within the framework of “sacred
a number of contemporary new religious communities in
national communities” and “founded religious communi-
Asia, Africa, and the Americas, generally follow a similar
ties.” Many such groups, if not formed for limited, tempo-
pattern.
rary, and specific purposes, have the potential to become reli-
For convenience of exposition, one can identify three
gious communities. How a religious society, viewed from a
stages in this pattern: (1) the significance of the founder, (2)
sociological perspective, becomes a religious community,
the process of formation, and (3) the usual, but by no means
may be seen in the initial development of the founded reli-
universal, manner in which such a religious community de-
gious community. For example, as E. J. Thomas astutely ob-
velops.
serves in The History of Buddhist Thought (1933), the Bud-
dhist community started “not with a body of doctrine, but
For the most part, the actual or legendary accounts of
with the formation of a society bound by certain rules”
a religious founder (accepted as authentic, of course, by the
(p. 14). But the initiation of a variety of individuals into this
given religious community) follow—with some notable ex-
society reoriented it toward the corporate soteriological ob-
ceptions—what is often called a law or scenario of sacred bi-
jective and led to a shared experience, so that the society be-
ography: the founder’s miraculous birth, unusual childhood,
came a religious community.
ordeal or personal crisis prior to having a decisive religious
experience, successful or unsuccessful ministry, and memora-
To take another familiar example, Christianity started
ble demise, implying death or a new life beyond.
as a charismatic society within the fold of the Jewish commu-
nity. After the Pentecost, it affirmed that those who were ini-
Then, either during or after the founder’s lifetime, a cir-
tiated into that society, Jews and gentiles alike, became the
cle of disciples becomes the nucleus of an informal brother-
true Israel by virtue of being grafted onto the stock of Abra-
hood or fraternity. In the course of time, this brotherhood
ham. This in turn transformed them into children of God
grows into an egalitarian or hierarchical religious communi-
in the Christian community by being born “not of the will
ty, with official scriptures, liturgies, and rules of conduct as
of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:13). Similarly, gnostic groups
well as specialists in sacred matters: clergy, scholars, jurists,
started out as mystery societies or circles at the periphery of
monastics, bureaucrats, and service personnel. The religious
the Christian fold but quickly developed into full-fledged re-
community also develops a channel of authority to coordi-
ligious communities.
nate the activities of its scattered branches and faithful.
The intricate relationship between religious societies
Finally, the religious community must cope with the
and religious communities just illustrated tempts one to
surrounding culture, society, and secular political authori-
count numerous groups of ambiguous character among reli-
ties, which view it with varying degrees of positive, negative,
gious communities. However, this article shall here consider
or neutral attitudes. Internally, this community often suffers
only those societies that were established for specific religious
from routinization, clericalization, inertia, spiritual decay,
and cultic purposes within larger tribal, sacred national, and
and fossilization. In this process, various kinds of reform and
founded religious communities, and that were later trans-
protest movements arise. Whether forward- or backward-
formed into more permanent and coherent religious com-
looking, they cause change, schism, or secession, or establish
munities possessing such characteristics as rites of initiation,
small societies of like-minded members within the frame-
private or corporate religious ceremonies and duties, and in-
work of the larger religious community (ecclesiola in ecclesia).
dependent organizational structures. This article shall give
The reformers and leaders of schismatic and sectarian groups
brief typological discussions of (1) secret societies, (2) mys-
often become de facto founders, and the groups—both inside
tery societies/communities, (3) cult-based communities,
and outside the larger religious communities—take on the
(4) religous orders/monastic communities/service societies,
characteristics of religious communities.
and (5) utopian communities.
Significantly, the idea of the unity of the religious com-
Secret societies. Secret societies include a wide range of
munity tends to persist, in spite of schismatic division or the
groups that initiate in secret, possess secret symbols or rituals,
breakup of the community’s empirical structure into sects or
or transmit esoteric knowledge. In size they range from small
denominations or possibly both. Thus, all divided Buddhist
societies in tribal religious communities to Freemasonry,
groups recite the same threefold affirmation of the essential
whose membership on both sides of the Atlantic numbers
unity of the Buddha, the Dharma (Buddhist doctrine), and
5.9 million. (Freemasonry’s satellite groups, among them the
the Samgha (the Buddhist community); all traditions of
Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine—
Islam affirm the unity of its community (ummah); and all
popularly known as the Shriners—and the Order of the East-
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RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: RELIGION, COMMUNITY, AND SOCIETY
7719
ern Star, are not secret societies. The Ku Klux Klan, on the
Dionysos in search of personal immortality, but the religion
other hand, is a secret terrorist organization but not a
of Mithra was probably the most influential mystery cult.
religious society, despite its stress on white Protestant su-
In China, Daoism greatly amplified the belief in immor-
premacy.)
tals (xian), which was already very strong. The so-called
In part, secret societies overlap with the next two types
Huanglao cult (the cult of the legendary Yellow Emperor and
of society-turned-community—the mystery societies and the
Laozi) attracted many immortality-seekers before the begin-
cult-based communities. For example, the secret societies of
ning of the common era. Vigorously promoted by priest-
ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome were in fact mystery socie-
magicians, this tradition was further developed in the second
ties, with the possible exception of the Pythagorean commu-
century CE by Zhang Ling, who inaugurated a magico-
nity, and they will be discussed under that heading. The past
religious movement called the Way of the Five Bushels of
ten centuries of Chinese history have been sprinkled with se-
Rice with Zhang Ling himself as the Heavenly Teacher.
cret societies, some of which—notably the Maitreya Society,
Meanwhile, other Daoists combined Daoist philosophy with
the White Lotus Society, the White Cloud Society, and the
the Yin-yang school and with alchemy. In the fifith century,
Triad Society—were inspired by Buddhist-Daoist eclecti-
Kou Qianji systematized the Daoist community, regulating
cism. The last major Chinese secret society was the Society
its theories and cults. Since then Daoism, also called the Reli-
of Shangdi, whose patriarch, Hong Xiuquan, who was influ-
gion of Mystery (Xuan Jiao), has exerted great influence not
enced in part by Christianity, started the Taiping Rebellion
only in China but also in neighboring countries.
in 1848. Contrary to popular impression, the esoteric
Many mystical or semimystical cults, societies, and
schools of Buddhism, which transmit esoteric truth, are not
communities in the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, and
secret societies: Though the transmission of the teaching is
Christian folds exhibit external resemblances to Greco-
secret, membership is open to anyone. In Europe, despite the
Roman and Chinese mystery societies and communities.
predominance of Christianity and the threat of the Inquisi-
Opinions vary, however, as to how central the “mysteries”
tion, pre-Christian pagan legacies of witchcraft and sorcery
are to their communal life.
were kept alive by secret societies such as the Calsari, while
the neo-Manichaean Cathari and other persecuted heretical
Cult-based communities. Like the Orgeones, a free
groups went underground and tried to survive as secret
cultic association that persisted in Greece at least until the
societies.
sixth century, certain groups are united primarily by cultic
devotion to one or more deities and not by clan, tribal, na-
Among contemporary tribal communities, secret socie-
tional, or occupational ties. In other words, their specifically
ties are virtually universal phenomena. According to Paul
religious interests cut across sectarian and denominational
Radin in The Winnebago (1923), the Winnebago Indian
boundaries. Or sometimes different communities participate
community has the following four groups: (1) clans or natu-
in common, albeit temporary, cult associations, as do Kwaki-
ral groups, which exclude outsiders from their ceremonies,
utl Indian communities in North America in wartime and
(2) religious societies limited to those who receive the bless-
during winter dances. The prototype of this category is the
ings of a special spirit, (3) the medicine group, a mystery so-
samprada¯ya of Hinduism, which may be characterized as a
ciety, and (4) associations of warriors and other such groups.
phenomenon halfway between mystery communities and
As for African secret societies, Wilfrid D. Hambly’s Source-
sects or denominations. The members of the samprada¯ya, di-
Book for African Anthropology (1937) depicts the following
vided though they are in terms of caste and other affiliations,
types: (1) those based on age and sex affinities, (2) those con-
experience a ritual unity in a communal adherence to partic-
nected with initiation, (3) those concerned with political and
ular traditions of teachers, as illustrated by the samprada¯yas
legal matters, and (4) those based on economic differentia-
of the deity Vis:n:u, which trace their origin to eminent teach-
tion. Similar admixtures of religio-cultic, economic, and so-
ers such as Ra¯ma¯nuja and Madhva. Similarly, the different
cial factors are found in many other secret societies of con-
groups united in devotion to S´iva trace their origin back to
temporary tribal communities in various parts of the world.
various ascetics. One of the subdivisions of the cult groups
Mystery societies/communities. Classical types of
of S´iva, the Lin˙ga¯yat, numbers four million members of dif-
mystery societies or communities emerged in the Greco-
ferent backgrounds, who wear the emblem of the phallus as
Roman world and in China, where the mysteries were be-
the symbol of their cultic unity.
lieved to confer immortality and eternal life. Many mystery
Similar cult-based communities, by no means as elabo-
cults, such as that of Eleusis, originated with certain families.
rate as the samprada¯ya of Hinduism, are found in many other
In the course of time, various Greek mystery cults developed
parts of the world, from ancient Greece to modern Japan.
private mystery societies. Under Roman rule, some of these
At times, cult seems to be a stronger bond of unity than other
societies became more open cultic communities. Meanwhile,
features of religious life.
other mystery cults of foreign origin—for instance, the cults
of the Great Mother from Asia Minor, of Mithra from Iran,
Religious orders/monastic communities/service so-
and of Serapis from Egypt—penetrated Greece and Rome.
cieties. Important among voluntary groups within larger re-
In the Roman world, many joined the cultic groups of
ligious communities are religious orders, which are often, but
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RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: RELIGION, COMMUNITY, AND SOCIETY
not always, identified with monastic communities, and
spired as they are by the compassionate bodhisattva ideal,
sometimes with service societies sponsored by or affiliated
stress active service to all beings.
with religious bodies. In common English usage, the term
Monastic communities in the Christian tradition are
religious not only connotes “scrupulously faithful” or “de-
many and varied. Unlike communities in Western Christen-
vout” but as a noun also refers to those who are bound by
dom, Eastern Orthodox communities are not divided into
monastic vows or devoted to a life of piety and religion, such
different orders. Having originally developed out of informal
as monks, friars, and nuns. Similarly, the term order signifies
fellowships of hermits who lived a life of prayer, they were
a society of persons bound by some common rule, especially
transformed in the fourth century into monastic communi-
an aggregate of separate communities like a monastic broth-
ties with three components: those who lead a monastic life
erhood or community. The term religious order could, of
without taking vows and two grades of monastics who take
course, designate a variety of holy orders that may not prac-
permanent vows (monks of “lesser” and “greater” habits). In
tice a monastic form of life. This article, however, shall dis-
Western Christendom, the Rule of Saint Benedict (c. 540)
cuss only those religious orders that come under the category
transformed earlier, loosely organized communities of her-
of monastic communities. Similarly, of all the service socie-
mits into disciplined monastic communities. The Rule pro-
ties under religious jurisdiction—societies for missionary
vided the norm of communal life based on the daily offices,
work, teaching, and philanthropy, and others as well—only
as followed by the Cluniacs and the Cistercians. Meanwhile,
those that are organized as communities will be discussed.
more activist orders of friars, such as the Franciscans and the
Students of religions recognize various kinds of religious
Dominicans, appeared on the European scene. They were
brotherhoods, guilds of priests, and monastic communities
followed by the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), which not only
in different traditions, as for example the Pythagorean broth-
championed the cause of the Counter-Reformation at home
erhood in ancient Greece, the Bektash¯ı order in Islam, and
but also initiated extensive missionary activities abroad. Both
the Vedanta Society of modern India. Two religious tradi-
Eastern and Western traditions of Christianity comprise
tions that have developed elaborate systems of monastic
many orders of nuns. Like their male counterparts, some
communities, Buddhism and Christianity, deserve special at-
nuns are contemplative while others pursue educational and
tention.
philanthropic vocations.
Although the early Buddhist community consisted of
Utopian communities. Most religious communities
four components—monks (bhikkhu or bhuks:u), nuns (bhik-
have what might be characterized as utopian features or
khuni or bhuks:un:¯ı), laymen (upa¯saka), and laywomen
ideals. Many myths of tribal religious communities reflect
(upa¯sika¯)—the most central group was the order of monks.
their notion of the idealized celestial realm or the paradig-
Initially, the monastic order started as an informal assembly
matic activities of gods and heroes at the beginning of time.
of wandering mendicants, but soon it developed into monas-
Many historic religious communities affirm the existence of
tic communities in which monks shared a normative disci-
an ideal state either in their golden past or at the end of histo-
pline (Vinaya). Under the patronage of King A´soka in the
ry. Philosophers like Confucius and Plato have also attempt-
third century
ed to depict the ideal society on earth.
BCE, monastic communities played an impor-
tant role as missionaries propagating Buddhism. In the
But in a more specific sense, the term utopia is derived
course of time, great monastic communities became centers
from Thomas More’s On the Highest State of a Republic and
of religious and secular education and of cultural activities.
on the New Island of Utopia (1516). More’s idea of an ideal-
Although the Buddhist community divided into Southern
ized society, realizable on earth, and his critique of the la-
(H¯ınaya¯na or Therava¯da) and Northern (Maha¯ya¯na) tradi-
mentable state of the world, continued to stir literary and re-
tions, each with further subdivisions along doctrinal and cul-
ligious imagination after his time. From the seventeenth
tic lines, it was possible for monks of different schools to live
century onward, a number of utopian communities have
in the same monastic communities.
been established on either side of the Atlantic, including
New Harmony in Indiana, Brook Farm in Massachusetts,
In the main, the Southern tradition follows an elitist
and Oneida in New York. There have also been such reli-
model: Monks leave the secular world and enter monasteries
gious utopian communities as the Dutch Mennonite colo-
for a life of full-time spiritual striving toward their own en-
nies in Delaware, the German Pietist settlements in Indiana
lightenment, while the laity receives merit by supporting mo-
and Pennsylvania, and the Bruderhof communities in Ger-
nastic communities. The most elaborate monastic hierarchy
many, England, and North America.
developed in Thailand, where the sanghara¯ja, or ruler of the
monastic community, was under no other authority except
For the most part, utopian elements in the Islamic, Bud-
that of the king. In the modern period, the traditionally oth-
dhist, and Chinese traditions were absorbed into millenarian
erworldly monastic communities in the Southern tradition
and eschatological ideologies, but they did not inspire the es-
have become more involved in the affairs of the world. In
tablishment of separate communal settlements. In modern
the Northern tradition, on the other hand, the paths of mo-
Japan, however, a number of utopian communities inspired
nastics and laity were always regarded as different but equally
by Lev Tolstoi and several indigenous messianic cults have
important vocations. Maha¯ya¯na monastic communities, in-
emerged. Modern Jewish settlements in Palestine, many of
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS ORDERS
7721
which took the form of kibbutsim, exhibit an intricate ho-
Wach, Joachim. Sociology of Religion (1944). Chicago, 1962.
mology of religious, political, and social utopian features.
Wasziuk, J. H., Carsten Colpe, and Bernhard Kötting.
Most of the “hippie” communes that emerged in America in
“Genossenschaft.” In Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum,
the 1960s and 1970s can hardly be classified as religious uto-
vol. 10, edited by Theodor Klauser. Stuttgart, 1976–1978.
pian communities, but an increasing number of utopian
Weber, Max. The Sociology of Religion (1922). Boston, 1963.
communities are being generated in North America today by
Wilson, Bryan R. Religion in Sociological Perspective. Oxford,
Christians, Theosophists, and new religious groups of diverse
1982.
origins.
Yinger, J. Milton. Religion, Society and the Individual: An Introduc-
CONCLUSION. Religion, then, is both a personal matter and
tion to the Sociology of Religion. New York, 1957.
a social reality. Throughout the history of humankind, from
JOSEPH M. KITAGAWA (1987)
the prehistoric period down to the present day, religion has
sought fellowship either by intensifying the existing social
fabric—family, clan, tribe, caste, local or national communi-
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: CHRISTIAN
ty—or by creating specifically religious communities within,
RELIGIOUS ORDERS
above, or apart from other social and political groupings and
Christians have used the term religious order in both a nar-
institutions. Despite their diversity, these groups all share
row, technical sense and a broader, more common one. Pop-
that unconscious sense that makes them communities to
ularly, religious orders are thought to include any and all
which religious persons belong.
men or women who profess public vows of poverty, chastity,
S
and obedience; follow a common rule of life; engage in a spe-
EE ALSO Community; Monasticism; Mystery Religions; Se-
cret Societies; Utopia.
cific kind of work (e.g., teaching, nursing, missionary en-
deavor); and submit to the directions of superiors who may
BIBLIOGRAPHY
be either appointed by higher ecclesiastical authority or elect-
Durkheim, Émile. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
ed in some manner by the order’s members. In this broad
(1912). New York, 1965.
sense, virtually all religious communities of Christian men
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. Social Anthropology. Glencoe, Ill., 1951.
and women may be referred to as orders, but more technical-
ly, a religious order is qualified by certain conditions that do
Frankfort, Henri, Henriette A. Frankfort, John A. Wilson,
not necessarily affect all Christians who choose a life of
Thorkild Jacobsen, and William Irwin. The Intellectual Ad-
venture of Ancient Man. Chicago, 1946.
prayer and service in community with others.
Kitagawa, Joseph M. Religions of the East. Enl. ed. Philadelphia,
Three qualifications have commonly been attached to
1968.
this narrower meaning of a religious order: the public profes-
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sion of “solemn” (as opposed to “simple”) vows; an obliga-
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1963.
(a pattern of psalms, hymns, scripture readings, and prayers
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Realenzyklopädie, vol. 12, pts. 1–4, edited by Gerhard Krause
to a cloister or “enclosure” (a defined space, often identified
and Gerhard Müller. Berlin and New York, 1983.
with the physical limits of the monastery or convent, within
which members live and from which all outsiders are exclud-
Niebuhr, H. Richard. The Social Sources of Denominationalism
(1929). New York, 1972.
ed). In history and practice, however, these qualifications
have been neither rigid nor absolute. The Society of Jesus (Je-
Popkes, Wiard. “Gemeinschaft.” In Reallexikon für Antike und
suits) has been regarded in Western church law as a religious
Christentum, vol. 9, edited by Theodor Klauser. Stuttgart,
order in the strict sense, even though its members have never
1973–1976.
been cloistered. Similarly, the exact distinction between sol-
Redfield, Robert. The Primitive World and Its Transformations.
emn and simple vows, unknown before the thirteenth centu-
Ithaca, N.Y., 1953.
ry, has never been entirely clear either to theologians or to
Ringeling, Herman. “Gemeinschaft.” In Theologische Realenzy-
experts in church law. In common theory, a solemn vow has
klopädie, vol. 12, pts. 1–4, edited by Gerhard Krause and
been defined as a free, irrevocable promise made to God that
Gerhard Müller. Berlin and New York, 1983.
binds the individual forever and renders certain actions op-
Thraede, Klaus. “Gesellschaft.” In Reallexikon für Antike und
posed to the vows (e.g., marriage as opposed to celibacy; the
Christentum, vol. 10, edited by Theodor Klauser. Stuttgart,
ownership of property as opposed to poverty) not only illicit
1976–1978.
but null and invalid as well. A simple vow, in contrast, is re-
Tönnies, Ferdinand. Community and Society (1887). East Lansing,
garded as having a less absolute character and may thus be
Mich., 1957.
made for a limited period of time (e.g., for one year or three
Troeltsch, Ernst. The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches
years). In practice, however, the distinction blurs, since peo-
(1931). Chicago, 1981.
ple may make simple vows in perpetuity, while those who
Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure
have made irrevocable solemn vows may be released from
(1969). Ithaca, N. Y., 1977.
them through a legal process known as dispensation.
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
7722
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS ORDERS
The term religious order is more commonly used by
ancient writers, only Philo describes them. If his report is re-
Western Christians (e.g., Roman Catholics or members of
liable, the Therapeutae were distinguished from more active
Protestant communions) than by Eastern Christians (e.g.,
groups like the Essenes by their strict seclusion. Each mem-
Greek or Russian Orthodox). Even within the Roman Cath-
ber of the sect seems to have had a separate dwelling, within
olic church, where attention to the precise legal status of reli-
which a special room was set aside for the daily study of scrip-
gious vows and communities has been examined and evaluat-
ture. Weekly, on the Sabbath, members met for common
ed for centuries, ambiguities still exist. Catholic members of
worship, while once every seven weeks a solemn feast,
religious orders are subject to the definitions and provisions
marked by a ritual meal eaten in silence and by the wearing
of the Code of Canon Law (1983).
of white clothing, was celebrated. The Therapeutae appear
ORIGINS. For centuries, Christian apologists have attempted
to have been celibate, though persons previously married
to find a basis for religious orders in the historical ministry
were permitted to join them. Members were also expected
and teaching of Jesus. An early example may be seen in the
to abjure the use of money, share goods in common, and
Life of Antony by Athanasius (c. 298–373), which reports An-
keep bodily needs to a minimum.
tony of Egypt’s (c. 250–355) conversion to a solitary life of
prayer and asceticism after hearing Jesus’ words in church:
Though the Therapeutae were Jewish, they can hardly
“If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give
have escaped influence from Greek philosophical traditions,
to the poor . . . and come, follow me” (Mt. 19:21). This
especially in the region around Alexandria, the intellectual
biography helped spread monastic ideals throughout the
center of the Hellenistic world in the first century CE. In both
Roman empire and encouraged the notion that to live alone
the first century BCE and the first century CE, there were non-
with God, apart from all human company, is the supreme
Jewish ascetic movements inspired by philosophers like Py-
Christian response to Jesus’ message.
thagoras (c. 580–500 BCE) and the Neo-Pythagoreans. Py-
thagoras himself is thought to have established a quasi-
There is no clear evidence that Jesus himself observed
religious “club” or school in Croton, Italy, which fostered se-
or promoted the ascetic life, or directly invited or com-
cret initiation ceremonies, communal sharing of goods,
manded his followers to choose a life of poverty, celibacy,
vows, and a vegetarian diet. Neo-Pythagoreans were particu-
and obedience to human superiors. Central to Jesus’ under-
larly interested in religious life and theology, and they proba-
standing of the relation between God and humankind was
bly exerted influence upon both Judaism, through Philo of
the conviction that God’s reign (or kingdom) could break
Alexandria, and early Christianity, through Clement of Alex-
in upon the world at any time in any place—and that this
andria (150?–215?).
reign would guarantee blessing and happiness for those open
to receive it. Significant among the traditions associated with
While the extent of Jewish and Greco-Roman influence
Jesus’ life and collected in the Gospels are stories that show
on the origins of Christian asceticism is difficult to assess, at
Jesus enjoying certain events (parties, dinners) and associat-
least some early Christian congregations are known to have
ing with people not ordinarily linked with an ascetic way of
prized celibacy, if freely chosen for religious motives. In the
living (sinners, prostitutes).
First Letter to the Corinthians (c. 57), Paul encourages celiba-
While the remote origins of religious orders cannot be
cy as a means of giving undivided attention to the Lord (1
directly assigned to Jesus, possible antecedents to Christian
Cor. 7:25–35). Because in Christ the final age of salvation
asceticism may be discerned in both Judaism and the Greco-
has dawned for the world, Paul argues, even married Chris-
Roman world. Some members of the circle that gathered
tians should behave in a manner that leaves them unencum-
around John the Baptist probably adhered to a life of strict
bered by the business and burdens of the world (1 Cor. 7:29–
self-denial and repentance as preparation for God’s impend-
31). Similarly, an earlier letter of Paul’s to the congregation
ing judgment of the world. Most notable among Jewish ante-
at Thessalonica (c. 51) had encouraged all Christians to pur-
cedents were the sectarians of Qumran near the Dead Sea,
sue constant prayer and watchfulness (1 Thes. 5:1–17), prac-
whose collection of writings, the Dead Sea Scrolls, was dis-
tices later linked to monasticism and the ascetic life.
covered in 1947. Many scholars have identified the Qumran
Before the end of the New Testament period, a distinct
sectarians with a Jewish ascetic group known as the Essenes,
body of persons dedicated to prayer, celibacy, and charitable
who are mentioned by Philo of Alexandria (c. 13 BCE–45 to
service within the congregation was recognized and regulated
50 CE), Josephus the Jewish historian (c. 37–100 CE), and
by church leaders. The widows described in the First Letter
Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE). Their descriptions show that the
to Timothy appear to have been such a body. Widows were
Essenes not only existed during Jesus’ time but had devel-
expected to be at least sixty years old, to be married only
oped a highly organized manner of life, which included an
once, to be devoted to hospitality and the care of others, and
arduous three-year novitiate for newcomers, sharing of
to attend faithfully regular meetings for prayer and worship.
goods, celibacy, and strict obedience to authorities.
In return, they could expect to receive material support from
Similar to the Essenes was an Egyptian Jewish group of
the congregation. Once admitted to the group, widows were
ascetics called the Therapeutae, whose principal center was
to remain celibate; thus younger women who lost their hus-
a hill just outside Alexandria above Lake Mareotis. Among
bands were advised to remarry (1 Tm. 5:11–15).
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RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS ORDERS
7723
These examples reveal that the earliest Christians did
This notion of protest leads directly to the question of
not think an ascetic way of life should involve separation
monastic origins. For a long time scholars assumed that
from the rest of the community. The celibate widows of the
Christian monasticism began as an exclusively eremitical
First Letter to Timothy are organized for the edification and
phenomenon in Egypt, with people like Antony, and that it
service of the local community; they do not take vows, nor
spread from there to other parts of the world. Cenobitic mo-
are they set apart through a public ceremony. Neither the
nasticism (monks living in community with other monks)
widows nor the virgins mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians
was thought to have developed in a similar way, beginning
are seen as having “superiors” distinct from the ordinary local
with Pachomius (c. 293?–346) and his cenobitic foundation
leaders of the congregation. And nowhere in the New Testa-
in the Thebaid near the Nile River (c. 320), but recent schol-
ment are Christians advised to withdraw into solitary
arship has shown that this hypothesis about monastic origins
isolation.
is untenable. A more likely theory is that monastic life, in
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. Despite early Christian de-
both its eremitical and cenobitic forms, developed simulta-
emphasis on an ascetic way of life separate from the commu-
neously in many different parts of the ancient world—Egypt,
nity, the notion that some Christians might be called to a
Syria, Palestine, Cappadocia, Mesopotamia.
life of extraordinary dedication to God gained ground—and
The work of Pachomius was extremely influential be-
with it the related idea that such a life was more perfect than
cause it provided an organized pattern of community life for
that of other believers. Both Clement of Alexandria, head of
men and women who wished to devote themselves both to
an important Christian school in Alexandria in the late sec-
asceticism and to service of others. Pachomian monks met
ond century, and his pupil Origen (c. 185–c. 254) were en-
twice daily for prayer and scripture-reading, but they also
thusiastic for ascetic ideals. Strongly influenced by the phi-
worked hard, raised their own food, engaged in handicrafts,
losophy of Middle Platonism, both Clement and Origen
shipped grain and products down the Nile to Alexandria,
spoke rapturously of the “true Christian gnostic” whose
cared for orphans and the elderly, and nursed the sick. When
knowledge (Gr., gno¯sis) is perfectly illuminated by faith in
Pachomius died in 346, there were eleven cenobitic monaste-
Christ, God’s Logos (the Greek logos meaning both “word”
ries, nine for men and two for women.
and “reason”). In his commentary on the Song of Songs, Ori-
Elsewhere the development of organized monastic life
gen traced the stages of growth in the Christian’s interior life
encountered greater difficulty. In Cappadocia, Basil of Cae-
and seemed to suggest that certain degrees of contemplative
sarea (c. 329–379) struggled to keep Christian ascetics from
intimacy with Christ were possible only for the “perfect”—
both sectarian eccentricity and heretical separation from the
and that such perfect believers were a breed apart from the
church. In that region, the legitimacy of ascetic life had been
rest of the community.
compromised by the unbalanced views of Eustathius of Se-
Neither Clement nor Origen intended to create sectari-
baste (c. 300–377), who repudiated marriage for Christians,
an divisions within the church, nor did they want to pit
rejected the ministry of married clergy, and encouraged as-
groups of perfect Christians against less perfect ones in a bat-
cetics to hold their own worship services apart from those of
tle for perfection. Still, their discussions of spiritual growth
the larger church. These views were denounced by the Coun-
could be interpreted by less subtle thinkers as meaning that
cil of Gangra (c. 345). Through his Moral Rules (c. 360) and
the truest Christians are celibate ascetics, while all others are
his Longer Rules and Shorter Rules (c. 370), Basil tried to root
innately inferior. It is not insignificant that Latin Christian
Christian asceticism in texts drawn from the Bible. Rejecting
writers of this period like Tertullian (c. 160?–225?) and Cyp-
sectarianism of the Eustathian sort, Basil affirmed the neces-
rian of Carthage (third century) also began producing
sity of ascetic principles for all Christians and insisted that
works devoted to the praise of virginity as an ideal state for
ascetics should remain close to the life and worship of the
Christians.
local congregation. Eastern Christian monks and nuns still
By the fourth century, ascetic ideals were securely en-
regard Basil’s rules as the fundamental charter for their way
trenched, as was the notion that Christians might legitimate-
of life.
ly withdraw from society and church in a solitary pursuit of
In the fourth century in the West, interest in asceticism
perfection. The example of Antony has already been men-
and monastic life flourished. Jerome (c. 347–420) relates
tioned. Changes in the relation between church and culture
that a disciplined ascetic life, especially for virgins and wid-
after the emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan (313), which
ows, was well known in Rome and elsewhere in Italy. Bishop
recognized Christianity as a licit religion in the empire, creat-
Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397) is known to have consecrat-
ed a new situation. Some Christians felt that acceptance of
ed virgins and also to have acted as patron for a monastery
their religion by the empire posed a serious threat to devout
of men just outside Milan. Martin of Tours (c. 316–397),
living and perfect union with God. Martyrdom, the oldest
traditionally if inaccurately known as “the first monk in the
form of Christian heroism and a symbol of utmost dedica-
West,” promoted monasticism in western France, while in
tion to God, was displaced by celibate asceticism, a spiritual
the south, Lérins (actually two islands just off the coast from
sacrifice of ultimate value. Numerous ascetic movements
Cannes) became an influential monastic center after Hon-
began in the fourth century; virgins and monks became the
oratus, bishop of Arles (d. 429), established a monastery
“new martyrs” in an imperialized Christianity.
there around the year 410.
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RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES: CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS ORDERS
In Roman North Africa, too, monasticism was expand-
eighth century, resulted in adoption of Augustine’s rule by
ing. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) provided advice and
groups such as the Augustinian Canons (papal approval in
structural organization for communities of men and women.
1059 and 1063) and the Canons of Prémontré (Norbertines,
His rule (reconstructed from three separate documents) em-
after Norbert, who founded them in 1120). Unlike monks,
phasizes such ideals as common ownership of property, com-
who were originally laity, canons were from the beginning
munal prayer several times each day, simplicity in food and
a body of clergy who lived in common and ministered with
clothing, manual labor, celibacy, and obedience. At a later
the bishop at a diocesan cathedral. As a result of the eleventh-
period, the Augustinian rule was adopted by groups known
century reforms, canons assumed many features of monastic
as “canons regular” (see below).
life (including an abbatial structure of government), much
as monks had taken on many characteristics of clerical life.
The most significant figure in Western monasticism was
Benedict of Nursia (c. 480–547). Though almost nothing
It was a Spanish canon regular, Dominic (c. 1170–
certain is known of his life, the rule (c. 530) that bears his
1221), who was largely responsible, along with Francis of As-
name became so widely respected that it eventually supplant-
sisi (1181/2–1226), for the emergence of a new type of reli-
ed most other Western monastic legislation and remains the
gious order in the West—the “mendicant friars.” Unlike ei-
foundation for the Benedictine order to this day. While it
ther canons (clergy) or monks (originally lay, but bound to
does not reject the eremitical life, the Rule of Saint Benedict
one place by a vow of stability), the mendicants could move
clearly prefers cenobitic living and proposes a pattern that
about freely to carry on tasks of teaching, preaching, study-
balances prayer, scripture-reading, rest, and manual labor in
ing, and serving the poor. Dominic’s Order of Preachers
almost equal proportion under the government of an abbot
quickly gained a reputation for scholarship, especially in the
responsible to God for the welfare of each individual in the
thirteenth-century universities. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–
monastery.
1274), the great theologian, was an early and brilliant expo-
Benedictine monasticism, like the other ascetic move-
nent of Dominican ideals, while his contemporary at the
ments described so far, was primarily “lay” rather than cleri-
University of Paris was Bonaventure (c. 1217–1274), a Fran-
cal in character. Many early ascetics like Pachomius and Je-
ciscan. Like the Augustinian and Norbertine canons, the Do-
rome were in fact politely hostile toward the clergy, and
minican and Franciscan friars still exist, with members work-
while sixth-century documents like Benedict’s rule permit
ing in many parts of the world.
ordained people to seek admission to the monastery, they in-
In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council forbade the cre-
clude stern warnings against clerical pride and privilege.
ation of more religious orders, though in fact new communi-
After the ninth century especially, it became common to or-
ties have continued to emerge up to the present time. Per-
dain most Benedictine monks to the priesthood, but this
haps the most significant of these newer groups were the
practice was a departure from the rule and from earlier
“congregations” of religious men and women that appeared
tradition.
after the Council of Trent (1545–1563). Some leaders at
Like many movements, Christian monasticism periodi-
Trent appeared to agree with the Protestant reformers and
cally needed reform, sometimes to correct abuse, at other
sought to abolish religious orders altogether. But the work
times to reinvigorate or redefine ideals. In the West, especial-
of people like Antonio Maria Zaccaria (1502–1539, founder
ly from the time of Charlemagne (r. 768–814) onward, peri-
of the Barnabites in 1530), and later of François de Sales
odic reforms resulted in changes within monasticism and oc-
(1567–1622) and Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal (1572–
casionally in the creation of new religious orders. Benedict
1641), founders of the Visitation sisters, helped convince
of Aniane (c. 750–821) helped reorganize monasticism in the
doubters that viable new religious communities were possi-
Carolingian empire by promoting exclusive allegiance to the
ble. Most of these newer groups stressed active participation
Benedictine rule. Toward the end of the eleventh century,
in church and society through works like teaching, nursing,
the reforming efforts of Gregory VII (r. 1073–1085) had two
care of orphans, and assistance to the needy.
important effects: the reform of groups known as “canons
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, religious or-
regular” and the emergence of a new monastic order, the Cis-
ders also appeared in some Protestant communions, such as
tercians. These latter stem from the Monastery of Cïteaux,
the Church of England. A monastic community of men, the
founded in 1098 by Robert of Molesmes and made most fa-
Society of Saint John the Evangelist (Cowley Fathers), was
mous by Bernard of Clairvaux, who joined it in 1112. React-
founded in 1865 by Richard M. Benson while in 1907, the
ing against the wealth and prestige of Benedictine houses like
Sisters of the Love of God were established as a cloistered,
Cluny (founded in 909), the Cistercians hoped to recall
contemplative community for women at Fairacres, Oxford.
monks to a stricter, more primitive observance of monastic
Among Roman Catholics, the Second Vatican Council
life. The Cistercian order still exists, though it was later re-
(1962–1965) caused sweeping changes in religious orders.
formed by Armand-Jean de Rancé (1626–1700) at the
Old styles of clothing (the religious habit), government
Abbey of La Trappe (hence the name Trappists).
(methods of choosing superiors, their terms of office, the
The reform of canons regular, whose way of life had al-
practice of obedience), and local customs (rules of fasting,
ready been organized by Chrodegang of Metz (d. 766) in the
silence, prayer) were modernized or abandoned. For some
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
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
7725
orders these changes have brought dwindling memberships,
New Sources
while others have continued to grow.
Brown, Peter. The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Re-
nunciation In Early Christianity. New York, 1988.
SEE ALSO Asceticism; Benedictines; Cistercians; Domini-
Constable, Giles. Monks, Hermits, and Crusaders in Medieval Eu-
cans; Eremitism; Essenes; Franciscans; Jesuits; Monastery;
rope. London, 1988.
Monasticism.
Hunyadi, Zsolt, and Jözsef, eds. The Crusades and the Military Or-
ders: Expanding Frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity. Bu-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
dapest, 2001.
Annuario Pontificio. Vatican City, 1716–. An annual publication
Kollar, Rene. A Universal Appeal: Aspects of the Revival of Monasti-
available in most large libraries; includes statistics on Roman
cism in the West in the late 19th and Early 20th Centuries. San
Catholic religious orders, together with further information
Francisco, 1996.
about their founders and origins.
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. The Monastic Constitutions
Brown, Peter. “The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late
of Lanfranc. Rev. ed. Edited and translated by David
Antiquity.” Journal of Roman Studies 61 (1971): 80–101. A
Knowles and Christopher N. L. Brooke. New York, 2002.
seminal article that studies the complex and changing rela-
tions between structures of civil authority in the ancient
Palmer, Bernard. Men of Habit: The Franciscan Ideal in Action.
world and the emerging ascetic heroes and heroines of Chris-
Norwich, U.K., 1994.
tianity.
Saxby, Trevor Johns. Pilgrims of a Common Life: Christian Com-
Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity, AD 150–750. New
munities of Goods through the Centuries. Scottsdale, Ariz.,
York, 1971. An excellent survey of the people and places that
1987.
constituted the world within which Christian religious or-
Sutera, Judith, and Deborah Vess, et al. The Monastery and the
ders first developed, written for the nonspecialist.
City. Petersham, Mass., 1988.
Campenhausen, Hans von. “Early Christian Asceticism.” In his
Wynne, Edward. Traditional Catholic Religious Orders: Living in
Tradition and Life in the Church, pp. 9–122. Philadelphia,
Community. New Brunswick, N.J., 1988.
1968. A penetrating study of the origins of asceticism among
NATHAN D. MITCHELL (1987)
Christians by a respected Protestant biblical scholar and
Revised Bibliography
church historian.
Chitty, Derwas J. The Desert a City. Oxford, 1966. Examines the
origins of asceticism and monastic life with special attention
to developments in the Christian East.
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY. [This entry examines the
Gribomont, Jean. “Le monachisme au quatrième siècle en Asie
origins and differing patterns of development of the world’s
Mineure: De Gangres au Messalianisme.” In Studia Patristi-
major religious traditions, as well as the varying patterns of in-
ca, vol. 2, pp. 400–415. Berlin, 1957. An important essay
teraction between these religions and the social, political, and
that reexamines and repudiates earlier hypotheses about the
economic frameworks with which they coexist.]
origins and early evolution of Christian monasticism.
Religion and religious conceptions, beyond being sys-
Knowles, David. The Religious Orders in England. 3 vols. Cam-
tems of belief and patterns of worship, constitute a central
bridge, 1948–1959. An exhaustive study of the history of re-
component, as Max Weber pointed out, in the construction
ligious orders in the West, with special attention to their de-
of the basic symbolic and institutional premises of societies
velopment in the British Isles.
and civilizations. This article shall explore systematically the
Knowles, David. Christian Monasticism. New York, 1969. A brief
relationship between several crucial aspects of religions and
and lucid exposition of the entire history of Christian monas-
the construction of institutional features of societies and civi-
tic life.
lizations.
The Rule of St. Benedict, RB 1980. Collegeville, Minn., 1980.
Latin text of the Benedictine rule with English translation by
“PAGAN” AND “GREAT” RELIGIONS. This article shall con-
Timothy Fry and extensive commentaries, notes, and essays
centrate on the analysis of a basic distinction between two
on the history of Christian religious life by Imogene Baker,
broad types of religions: the so-called pagan religions (with-
published by American Benedictine monks and nuns on the
out, for reasons of space, going into the many differences be-
occasion of Benedict’s sesquimillennium.
tween them) and the “great” religions (with some distinc-
Southern, Richard W. Western Society and the Church in the Mid-
tions drawn from within the latter). It will explore some of
dle Ages. Harmondsworth, 1970. See pages 214–299 for a
the major ways in which some of the basic characteristics of
succinct but comprehensive account of the rise of newer reli-
these religions, especially of the religious belief systems, have
gious orders in the medieval West.
shaped the contours of the respective civilizations in which
Veilleux, Armand. “The Abbatial Office in Cenobitic Life.” Mo-
they were institutionalized.
nastic Studies 6 (1968): 3–45. An important study of govern-
ment, authority, and obedience in Christian monastic life.
The societies in which different types of pagan religions
Veilleux, Armand. “Évolution de la vie religieuse dans son contex-
were predominant have, of course, been many, and they in-
te historico-spirituel.” Collectanea Cisterciensia 32 (1970):
clude all tribal or preliterate societies, as well as many so-
129–154. A brilliant and comprehensive survey of all Chris-
called archaic ones such as those of the ancient Near and
tian religious orders, with special attention to the social and
Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Japan, Mesoamerica,
cultural conditions within which they arose.
and many others.
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
7726
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
The civilizations shaped by the great religions were de-
bridged; as Gananath Obeyesekere has put it, rebirth escha-
noted by Karl Jaspers in his work Vom Ursprung und Ziel der
tology becomes ethicized.
Geschichte (1949), as the “Axial Age” civilizations, including
STRUCTURE OF AXIAL AGE ELITES. The conceptions out-
ancient Israel, ancient Greece, the early Christian world, Zo-
lined above were developed and articulated by a relatively
roastrian Iran, early imperial China, the Hindu and Buddhist
new social element, a new type of intellectual elite, which be-
civilizations, and, though postdating the Axial Age proper,
came aware of the necessity of actively ordering the world ac-
the Islamic world.
cording to some transcendental vision. The best illustrations
The central distinction between these two broad types
of such elites are the Jewish prophets and priests, the Greek
of religions is focused on the nature of the perception and
philosophers and Sophists, the Chinese literati, the Hindu
definition of the relationship between what is mundane, or
brahmans, the Buddhist sam:gha, and the Islamic Eulama¯D.
“given,” and what is “transmundane” (otherworldly).
These new elites, which developed in conjunction with the
process of institutionalization of these visions, generally dif-
In all human societies, the transmundane order has been
fered from the ritual, magical, and sacral specialists of the
perceived as somewhat different, usually higher and stronger,
pre-Axial Age civilizations. Intellectuals and clerics alike were
than the mundane one. In pre-Axial Age, pagan civilizations,
recruited and legitimized according to distinct criteria, and
this higher world was symbolically structured according to
were organized in autonomous settings, apart from those of
principles very similar to those of the mundane or lower one;
their basic ascriptive units. They acquired a society-wide sta-
in other words, there existed a high degree of homology be-
tus of their own. They also tended to become independent
tween them. Relatively similar symbolic terms or connota-
of other categories of elites and social groups and competed
tions were used for the definitions of both gods and humans
strongly with these others, especially over the articulation
and for both the mundane and transmundane orders, even
and control of symbols and media of communication. Such
if there always was a stress on the differences between them.
competition became intensive because a parallel transforma-
In such societies the transmundane world was usually equat-
tion had taken place in the structure of other elites, who also
ed with a concrete setting, “the otherworld,” which was the
developed claims for an autonomous place in the construc-
abode of the dead, the world of spirits, not entirely unlike
tion of the cultural and social order. They saw themselves not
the mundane world in detail.
only as performing specific technical, functional activities,
but also as the potential carriers of a distinct cultural and so-
By contrast, in the Axial Age civilizations, the percep-
cial order related to the transcendental vision prevalent in
tion of a sharp disjunction between the mundane and trans-
their respective societies. The nonpolitical cultural elites and
mundane worlds developed. There was a concomitant stress
the political elites each saw themselves as the autonomous ar-
on the existence of a higher, transcendental moral or meta-
ticulators of the new order, with the other type potentially
physical order that is beyond any given this-worldly or other-
inferior to and accountable to themselves.
worldly reality.
Moreover neither of these groups of elites was homoge-
On the symbolic or ideological level the development
nous. There developed a multiplicity of secondary cultural,
of these conceptions gives rise to the problem of salvation,
political, and educational elites, each of which often carried
to use Weber’s terminology. The roots of the quest for salva-
a different conception of the cultural and social order. These
tion are manifest in the consciousness of death and the arbi-
elites were the most active in the restructuring of the world
trariness of human actions and social arrangements. The
and the institutional creativity that developed in these
search for some type of immortality and a way to overcome
societies.
such arbitrariness are universal to all societies. In societies
where the mundane and transmundane worlds are defined
CONSTRUCTION OF AXIAL AGE SOCIETIES. Common to all
in relatively homologous terms, the search for immortality
these elites were several tendencies with respect to the re-
has generally been envisaged in terms of some physical conti-
structuring of the world and the construction of personality,
nuity; it is usually seen as conditional to the fulfillment of
civilization, and social order according to a transcendental
one’s concrete obligation to one’s group.
vision and the principles of a higher metaphysical, ethical,
or sacred order.
This no longer holds true for civilizations where there
The given, mundane order was perceived in these civili-
is an emphasis on the chasm between the transcendental and
zations as incomplete, inferior, and even in need of being re-
the mundane order and a conception of a higher moral or
constructed according to the conception of salvation, or the
metaphysical order. While the concept of immortality in
bridging of the chasm between the transcendental and the
such civilizations may or may not still be tied to bodily im-
mundane orders.
ages and to ideas of physical resurrection, the very possibility
of some continuity beyond this world is usually seen in terms
Personal identity was usually taken beyond the defini-
of the reconstruction of human behavior and personality.
tion of humankind in terms of the primordial givens of
This reconstruction tends to be based on the precepts of the
human existence, beyond the various technical needs of daily
higher moral or metaphysical order through which the
activities, to be constructed around the central mode or
chasm between the transcendental and mundane orders is
modes of human action through which the tensions between
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
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
7727
the transcendental and the mundane order are resolved.
themselves from the great traditions, to profane them, and
Purely personal virtues, such as courage, or interpersonal
also, paradoxically enough, to generate their own distinct
ones, such as solidarity, mutual help, and the like, have been
ideology.
taken out of their primordial (i.e., given) framework and
In all these civilizations (as distinct from pre-Axial Age
combined in different, often dialectical, modes with the attri-
civilizations) there also took place a far-reaching reordering
butes needed to enact such a resolution. This combination
of the relationship between the political and the higher, tran-
resulted in a new level of tensions in the structure of the per-
scendental order. The political order, as the central locus of
sonality.
the mundane order, was usually conceived as lower than the
These conceptions also had far-reaching implications
transcendental one; accordingly it had to be restructured ac-
for institutions. The most common has been the high degree
cording to the precepts of the latter. Above all, the political
of symbolic and ideological orientation of the major aspects
order had to reflect the perception of the proper mode of
of institutional structure, manifest in the construction of dis-
overcoming the tension between the transcendental and the
tinct civilizational frameworks, collectivities, and autono-
mundane order (i.e., “salvation”).
mous centers, as well as the growth of conceptions of the ac-
At the same time the nature of the rulers became greatly
countability of rulers and new patterns of political struggle.
transformed. The king-god, who embodied the cosmic and
Civilizational collectivities. Some collectivities and in-
earthly orders alike, disappeared, and a secular ruler, in prin-
stitutional spheres (for instance, political, military, or eco-
ciple accountable to some higher order, appeared. Thus there
nomic) were singled out as the most appropriate carriers of
reemerged the conception of the accountability of the rulers
these attributes that were required for resolution. As a result,
and of the community to a higher authority—God, divine
new types of collectivities were created, or seemingly natural
law, and the like. Accordingly, the possibility of calling a
and “primordial” groups were endowed with special status
ruler to judgment emerged.
couched in terms of the perception of the tension between
Autonomous spheres of law and conceptions of human
the transcendental and mundane order and its resolution. In
rights also began to develop. These tended to be somewhat
this context, the most important innovation was the develop-
distinct from ascriptively bound custom and from purely
ment of cultural or religious collectivities—as distinct from
customary law, and while their scope varied greatly from so-
ethnic or political ones—even if some embryonic elements
ciety to society, all were established according to some dis-
of this development existed in some of those societies where
tinct and autonomous criteria.
this tension had not been institutionalized. The membership
of these collectivities tended to become imbued with a strong
Parallel developments have also taken place in the struc-
ideological orientation and to become involved in ideological
turing of social hierarchies and the economy, which became
struggle. An aspect of this struggle was the insistence on the
imbued in varying degrees and modes with broader ideologi-
exclusiveness and closure of the group, and on the distinction
cal dimensions.
between inner and outer social and cultural space as defined
Dynamics of Axial Age civilizations. All these modes
by it. This led to attempts to structure the different cultural,
of reconstruction of the social and civilizational orders were
political, and ethnic collectivities in some hierarchical order,
not, however, static; indeed they were the focus of continu-
which usually became a focus of ideological and political
ous struggle and change, and cannot be understood except
conflict.
in connection with the tensions inherent in the institutional-
Centers and center-periphery relations. Related to the
ization of the tension between the transcendental and the
construction of such major collectivities was the tendency to-
mundane order as well as of the quest to overcome it. Such
ward the development of autonomous organization of the so-
institutionalization generated an awareness of a great range
cial centers and toward a relatively strong emphasis on the
of possibilities or visions of the very definition of such ten-
symbolic distinctiveness of the centers in relation to the pe-
sions; of the proper mode of their resolution as well as an
riphery. Such centers have been conceived as the major loci
awareness of the partiality or incompleteness of any given in-
of the charismatic attributes of the transcendental vision, and
stitutionalization of such vision. Historically, institutional-
hence also of the construction of cultural and societal orders.
ization was never a simple or peaceful process. It has usually
These attributes of centrality became naturally related to the
been connected with a continuous struggle among many
institutional spheres that show the closest affinity to the
groups and their respective visions.
focus of the transcendental tension, and the centers most
Once the conception of a basic tension between the
closely related to these spheres became autonomous and dis-
transcendental and the mundane order was fully recognized
tinct from the periphery.
and institutionalized in a society, or at least within its center,
At the same time, the symbolic differentiation of the
any definition and resolution of this tension became in itself
center gave rise to its tendency to permeate the periphery and
very problematic. It usually contained strong heterogeneous
to reorganize it according to its own, autonomous criteria.
and even contradictory elements, and its elaboration in fully
Carriers of the great traditions attempted to pull the little tra-
articulated terms generated the possibility of different em-
ditions into their orbit, and the latter tried to dissociate
phases, directions, and interpretations, all of which have
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
7728
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
been reinforced by the historical existence of multiple visions
shaped by each society’s concept of salvation, made the
carried by different groups. Because of this, no single vision
whole world at least potentially subject to cultural-political
could be taken as given or complete.
reconstruction. In all these new developments the different
sectarian movements and heterodoxies played a central role.
This multiplicity of alternative visions gave rise to an
awareness of the uncertainty of different roads to salvation,
Differences between Axial Age civilizations. Beyond
of alternative conceptions of social and cultural order, and
the characteristics common to all the Axial Age civilizations,
of the seeming arbitrariness of any single solution. Such
far-reaching differences developed among them. These were
awareness has become a constituent element of the self-
shaped by many conditions, two of which have been of spe-
consciousness of these civilizations, especially among the car-
cial importance from the point of view of my analysis. One
riers of the great traditions. This was closely related to the
refers to variations in the basic cultural orientations, in the
development of a high degree of “second order” thinking, of
basic ideas or visions concerning civilizations, and their im-
a reflexivity turning on the basic premises of the social and
plications for institutions. The other set of conditions refers
cultural orders.
to different social arenas in which these institutional tenden-
cies can be played out.
Another element common to all these civilizations
emerged from the combination of the conception of possible
First of all, among the various cultural orientations there
ways of salvation, alternative cultural and social orders, and
are crucial differences in the very definition of the tension
the structuring of time. This element is the utopian vision:
between the transcendental and mundane orders and the
an alternative cultural and social order beyond any given
modes of resolving this tension. There is the distinction be-
place or time. Such visions contain many of the millenarian
tween those cases in which the tension was couched in rela-
and revivalist elements that can also be found in pagan reli-
tively secular terms (as in Confucianism and other classical
gions, but they go beyond them by realizing the necessity of
Chinese belief systems and, in a somewhat different way, in
constructing the mundane order according to the precepts
the Greek and Roman worlds), and those cases in which the
of the higher one, and of searching for an alternative, “better”
tension was conceived in terms of a distance between basic
order beyond any given time and place.
religious terms (as in the great monotheistic religions, Hin-
duism, and Buddhism).
The full impact of these dynamics can be understood
only in connection with the nature of the social groups that
A second distinction within the latter cases is that be-
were most active in the structuring of these civilizations, the
tween the monotheistic religions, in which there was a con-
major societal elites that developed within them, and the var-
cept of God standing outside the universe and potentially
ious autonomous intellectual and political elites mentioned
guiding it, and those systems, like Hinduism and Buddhism,
above.
in which the transcendental, cosmic system was conceived in
impersonal, almost metaphysical terms, in a state of continu-
Of crucial importance for my analysis are the following
ous existential tension with the mundane system.
facts: these elites were, as has been indicated above, heteroge-
neous; they were in constant competition with one another;
Another closely related distinction lies in the focus of
and they were members not only of the ruling coalition, but
the resolution of the transcendental tensions, or, again in
also were the most active element in the movements of pro-
Weberian terms, salvation. Here the distinction is among
test and processes of change that developed in these societies.
purely this-worldly, purely otherworldly, and mixed this-
They were above all involved in the construction of new sects
worldly and otherworldly conceptions. It is probably no acci-
and heterodoxies that upheld various alternative visions and
dent that the secular conception of salvation was connected
conceptions of the social and cultural order and that became
(as in China and to some degree in the ancient world) with
closely connected with the struggle among different elites,
an almost wholly this-worldly approach, while the metaphys-
indeed often becoming the foci of such struggle. Because of
ical, nondeistic conception of this tension (as in Hinduism
this connection there emerged in these civilizations the possi-
and Buddhism), tended toward an otherworldly conception
bility of structural and ideological linkages among different
of salvation, and the great monotheistic religions tended to
movements of protest and foci of political conflict (particu-
stress combinations of this-worldly and otherworldly con-
larly rebellions, central political struggle, and religious or in-
ceptions.
tellectual heterodoxies), and the possibility that all such
These cultural orientations, as articulated by different
movements, as well as sects and heterodoxies, would influ-
elites, shaped to a very high degree the symbolic autonomy
ence the center or centers of the society.
and characteristics of the new types of elites and ruling coali-
It is thus that there developed a new type of civilization-
tions that characterized the post-Axial-Age civilizations. That
al dynamics that transformed group conflicts into potential
is, they shaped the relations between them, their place in the
class and ideological conflicts and cult conflicts into struggles
ruling coalitions, the modes of control of the major institu-
between the orthodox and the heterodox. Conflicts between
tional spheres effected by them, and the degree to which dif-
tribes and societies became missionary crusades for the trans-
ferent ruling elites, secondary elites, and heterodoxies be-
formation of civilizations. The zeal for reorganization, as
came involved with processes of societal change 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
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
7729
transformation. The differences in the cultural orientations
Opposed to this development, in Axial Age civilizations
and structure of elites in various Axial Age civilizations had
in which a this-worldly orientation (as in China), or a mixed
far-reaching impact on their institutions, structure, and dy-
this-worldly and otherworldly orientation (as in the Byzan-
namics—above all on the structure of centers, of center-
tine and Russian empires and, to a smaller degree, the Abbas-
periphery relations, and of collectivities—as well as on pat-
id and Ottoman empires) was prevalent, imperial systems,
terns of societal and civilizational change.
or mixed imperial and feudal ones, tended to develop. West-
ern and central Europe are two important examples of such
Otherworldly Axial Age civilizations. In most other-
systems, which were characterized by highly coalescent
worldly civilizations there developed patrimonial regimes, to
boundaries of the major collectivities, political centralization,
some degree similar to those that can be found in pre-Axial
relatively developed economic systems, a preponderance of
Age civilizations, yet with some crucial differences.
internal markets, and highly autonomous elites.
Such systems were characterized by a relatively low level
of economic development, weak internal markets, a stronger
Most of the elites in the imperial and imperial-feudal so-
orientation toward external markets, and strong extractive
cieties tended to define themselves in autonomous terms,
policies as well as, on the whole, a low degree of coalescence
having their own resource bases and potential access to the
between the boundaries of the collectivities and the civiliza-
center of society, and to each other. This was above all true
tional frameworks. The predominant coalitions within these
with respect to the articulators of the cultural and social
systems were composed of relatively nonautonomous politi-
order (i.e., the cultural and religious elites), the political elite,
cal and religious elites. The latter were also nonautonomous
and, to a lesser degree, the representatives of different collec-
in most pagan societies, and in the post-Axial Age civiliza-
tivities and the economic elite.
tions they were autonomous in the religious but not the po-
Within these societies, moreover, a multiplicity of sec-
litical field.
ondary elites developed, such as various sectarian groups in
In a parallel manner, the patrimonial societies were
the religious sphere, or various social and political groups or
characterized by a relative lack of structural (as compared
movements. These elites impinged on those of the center and
with ecological and symbolic) distinctiveness of the center
the periphery, and shaped protest movements and political
from the periphery and usually by an adaptive attitude of the
activities within them. Each of the primary and secondary
center toward the periphery. Within these patrimonial socie-
elites could constitute the starting point of movements of
ties there generally developed a lower degree of society-wide
protest or of political struggle possessing a high level of orga-
class consciousness and symbolic articulation of the major
nizational and symbolic articulation.
types of collectivities.
These elites also generated specific types of center-
The major distinction between those patrimonial re-
periphery relations, the major characteristics of which were
gimes of the great post-Axial Age civilizations (Hindu, Bud-
a high level of symbolic and ecological distinctiveness from
dhist, Islamic, and Latin American Catholic) and those that
their respective centers and the continuous attempts of the
belonged to pagan civilizations lay first of all in the fact that
centers not only to extract resources from the periphery but
the major types of elites (cultural and political alike) in the
also to permeate and reconstruct the periphery according to
latter case were embedded in basic ascriptive frameworks,
their own premises. Thus, the political, religious, and cultur-
whereas in the former, the religious elites (and the political
al centers constituted the foci and loci of the various great
ones to a smaller degree, as in the Latin American Spanish
traditions that developed in these societies as distinct from
empire) were autonomous mainly in the religious sphere.
the local traditions. The permeation of the periphery by the
The carriers of the cultural and social order were those cul-
centers was manifest in the latter’s promotion of widespread
tural elites that developed the great traditions and special,
channels of communication and in the attempts to break
broader civilizational frameworks based on a strong percep-
through the ascriptive ties of the periphery.
tion of the tension between the transcendental and the mun-
Closely connected to this type of center-periphery rela-
dane orders, the likes of which could not be found among
tionship in these societies was the development of a high level
the other pagan patrimonial regimes. Concomitantly, those
of articulation of symbols of society-wide social hierarchies,
elites created centers that were distinct from their own pe-
of some political consciousness of the upper strata, and of
riphery in the religious sphere, as well as special interlinking
high ideological symbolization and mutual orientation
networks between these centers and the periphery.
among the major religious, political, and even ethnic and na-
Hence these societies tended to develop more compact
tional collectivities. Although each collectivity tended to de-
and dynamic political regimes (of which one type was the
velop a relatively high degree of autonomy, they also consti-
Therava¯da Buddhistic gallactic polity as analyzed by Stanley
tuted mutual referents for each other. For example, being a
J. Tambiah) while at the same time the national communi-
good “Hellene” was identified, in the Byzantine empire, with
ties became imbued with stronger universal religious sym-
citizenship, and vice versa. This high degree of symbolic ar-
bols. In times of crisis the religious elites also developed some
ticulation and distinctiveness of the major institutional as-
autonomous activities.
pects of these imperial and imperial-feudal societies, was
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7730
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
closely related to certain types of cultural orientations which,
oped strong tendencies toward the structuring of relatively
as has been seen, were articulated by these elites.
clear cognitive doctrinal and ritual boundaries.
The most important difference between imperial and
In comparison, in Hinduism and Buddhism—despite
other types of regimes (such as those that were patrimonial
a very strong transcendental and otherworldly orientation—
or decentralized) was found in the structure of their ruling
the structuring of cognitive doctrines (as distinct from ritual)
elites, the cultural orientations they articulated, the modes
did not constitute a central aspect or premise. Hence, though
of control they exercised, and the relative autonomy of the
it is not impossible to talk about something akin to church
major social strata. Differences existed between the mono-
in Buddhism—albeit a much more loosely organized one
lithic elites, usually evincing strong this-worldly orientation,
than in the monotheistic traditions—it is very difficult to
and the more heterogeneous ones, usually carrying some
talk about heterodoxy. At the same time sectarianism
combination of this-worldly and otherworldly orientations.
abounds, Buddhism itself being, in a sense, a sect developing
The latter patterns could also be distinguished according to
out of Hinduism.
the degree to which heterogeneous elites were segregated or
interwoven. Both the monolithic and segregated elites tend-
The various Hindu sects, and Buddhism itself, did in-
ed to exercise relatively restricted modes of control. While
deed have far-reaching impact on the structuring of the mun-
the segregated elites were inclined to exert more intensive
dane spheres of their respective civilizations. They extended
control than the monolithic ones, the control exercised by
the scope of the different national and political communities
the more heterogeneous and closely interwoven elites was
and imbued them with new symbolic dimensions. They also
more flexible, though often also very intensive. But these
changed some of the bases and criteria of participation in the
possibilities became more fully developed in a political-
civilizational communities, as was the case in Judaism, in the
ecological constellation in certain types of decentralization.
bhakti movement and, above all, in Buddhism when an en-
This article shall now turn to the analysis of decentralized po-
tirely new civilizational framework was constructed.
litical-ecological systems.
Buddhism also introduced new elements into the politi-
Religious and social dynamics in Axial Age civiliza-
cal scene, above all the special way in which the sam:gha, usu-
tions. The different Axial Age civilizations were character-
ally a very compliant group politically, could in some cases
ized also by patterns of religious and societal dynamics in
become a sort of moral conscience of the community, calling
general and by the impact of religious changes on societal
the rulers to some accountability.
ones in particular. From the point of view of my discussion
But this impact was of a different nature from that of
the most crucial difference is between those civilizations that
the struggles between the ruling orthodoxies and the numer-
can legitimately be called heterodoxies and those that are
ous heterodoxies that developed within the monotheistic civ-
more appropriately labeled sects.
ilizations. Of crucial importance has been the fact that, in
The term heterodoxy is, of course, applicable only in
these latter cases, a central aspect of the struggles was the at-
cases where one can talk about orthodoxy, and this term in
tempt to reconstruct the political and cultural centers of their
its turn implies certain types of organizational and cognitive
respective societies and that, because of this, these struggles
doctrinal structures. Organizationally the crucial aspect is, of
became a central part of the histories of these civilizations,
course, the existence of some type of organized church that
shaping the major contours of their development.
attempts to monopolize at least the religious sphere and usu-
The impact of religion on society in China and in the
ally also the relations of this sphere to the political powers.
Islamic world was greatly shaped by their prevalent orienta-
But of no lesser importance is the organization of doctrine,
tions and the structure of their respective elites and hetero-
in other words, the very stress on structuring clear cognitive
doxies, that is, by their respective political-ecological settings;
and symbolic boundaries of doctrine.
by whether they were small or great societies; by whether
With respect to both organizational and doctrinal as-
they were societies with continuous, compact boundaries, or
pects, the major difference among the Axial Age civilizations
with cross-cutting, flexible boundaries; by their economic
is that between the monotheistic civilizations (Christianity
structure; and last by their specific historical experience, es-
in particular) and Hinduism and Buddhism. (Confucian
pecially in terms of encounters with other societies (such as
China constitutes a sort of in-between type.)
mutual penetration, conquest, or colonization).
Within Christianity, these organizational and doctrinal
The interplay between the different constellations of the
aspects of orthodoxy, as well as full-fledged churches that
cultural orientations analyzed above, their carriers, and their
constituted potentially active and autonomous partners of
respective visions of restructuring the world (and the con-
the ruling coalitions, developed in the fullest way. In Judaism
crete arenas and historical conditions in which such visions
and Islam these developments were weaker; there developed
could be concretized), have shaped the institutional contours
rather powerful but not always as fully organized and auton-
and dynamics of different Axial Age civilizations, both in the
omous organizations of clerics.
“historical” periods as well as in the transition to modernity,
Similarly, in Christianity, and to a smaller, but yet not
and in the different modes of modernity, that have developed
insignificant, degree also in Judaism and Islam, there devel-
within them.
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
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
7731
SEE ALSO Intellectuals; Modernity.
derstanding. Second, in terms of actual provision, religious
education may mean one of three things: an item on the cur-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
riculum of the school; the teaching with which religious
Eisenstadt, Shmuel N. Revolution and the Transformation of Socie-
groups supplement the public schooling their children re-
ties. New York, 1978.
ceive; or a religious approach to the whole educational pro-
Eisenstadt, Shmuel N. “The Axial Age: The Emergence of Tran-
cess (often found in “faith schools”) that rejects contempo-
scendental Visions and the Rise of Clerics.” European Journal
rary secular values. Third, different religions and
of Sociology 23 (1982): 294–314.
denominations have different understandings of religious ed-
Jaspers, Karl. Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte. Zurich, 1949.
ucation, often based on a rich history of provision, and this
Obeyesekere, Gananath. “The Rebirth Eschatology and Its Trans-
adds another layer of complexity to the already wide diversity
formation: A Contribution to the Sociology of Early Bud-
of national policy and established practice in religious educa-
dhism.” In Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions,
tion that exists in different countries. The result is that differ-
edited by Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, pp. 137–164. Berke-
ent issues dominate national debates, and international com-
ley, Calif., 1980.
parisons are difficult. These three issues provide the
Schluchter, Wolfgang. “The Paradox of Rationalisation.” In
framework for this entry.
Guenther Roth and Wolfgang Schluchter’s Max Weber’s Vi-
TWO CONCEPTS OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. There is an im-
sion of History: Ethics and Methods, pp. 11–64. Berkeley,
portant distinction to be made between education in religion
Calif., 1979.
and education about religion. The former, sometimes called
Voegelin, Eric. Order and History. 4 vols. Baton Rouge, 1956–
religious instruction, is a religious activity designed to nurture
1974.
young people in a particular faith, and thus to preserve that
Weber, Max. The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism.
faith across the generations. The latter is educational in the
Glencoe, Ill., 1951.
sense of aiming to develop children’s knowledge and under-
Weber, Max. Ancient Judaism. Glencoe, Ill., 1952.
standing of religion while leaving them free to choose their
own path in life. Although it is tempting to insist that the
Weber, Max. The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hindu and
Buddhism. Glencoe, Ill., 1958.
former should be called religious instruction and only the lat-
ter religious education, this does not accord with contempo-
Wisdom, Doubt and Revelation: Perspectives on the First Millennium
rary usage. Both practices are commonly called religious edu-
B. C. Special issue of Daedalus 104 (Spring 1975).
cation, and one unfortunate outcome is that many people
New Sources
assume that in the United States all religious education in
Arjomand, Said Amir, ed. The Political Dimension of Religion. Al-
public schools is unconstitutional, not just the former kind.
bany, 1993.
For convenience, the former will be called type A religious
Bloom, Irene, J. Paul Martin, and Wayne Proudfoot, eds. Reli-
education, the latter type B.
gious Diversity and Human Rights. New York, 1996.
Type A religious education may be formal or informal
Casanova, José. Public Religions and the Modern World. Chicago,
and typically occurs in the home, the family, a place of wor-
1994.
ship, a religious institution, or with a local community of be-
Chittick, William. Imaginal Worlds: Ibn Al- EArabi and the Prob-
lievers. It also takes place in public schools in countries where
lem of Religious Diversity. Albany, N.Y., 1994.
the majority of citizens share a single religious faith (includ-
Griffiths, Paul. Problems of Religious Diversity. Malden, Mass.,
ing many Muslim and some Roman Catholic countries) and
2001.
in denominational schools, whether private or state-funded.
McKim, Robert. Religious Ambiguity and Religious Diversity, New
Sometimes called catechesis, or the confessional approach, type
York, 2001.
A religious education involves faith development through the
Quinn, Philip, and Kevin Meeker, eds. The Philosophical Chal-
transmission of the teachings of a particular religion or de-
lenge of Religious Diversity. New York, 1999.
nomination. It is justified in terms of both the interests of
S
the faith group (preserving and perhaps increasing the num-
HMUEL N. EISENSTADT (1987)
Revised Bibliography
bers of adherents and maintaining and developing the faith)
and the interests of the child (providing emotional stability
and continuity with the beliefs of the child’s significant oth-
ers, and, more importantly, encouraging the child to engage
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION is an issue of consider-
with and be transformed by the truths of the faith). Both
able controversy and debate in Western societies, for three
globally and historically, the vast majority of religious educa-
main reasons. First, there is a conceptual problem, depend-
tion is of this kind. However, type A religious education is
ing on whether it is perceived as a religious activity or an edu-
criticized for paying inadequate attention to such liberal val-
cational activity. In the former case, it may be defined as nur-
ues as critical openness and personal autonomy; for teaching
ture or faith development; in the latter, it is an activity
as truth beliefs that are significantly controversial; for defin-
designed to increase understanding of an important dimen-
ing knowledge in terms of dogma, revelation, and religious
sion of human existence and to encourage cross-cultural un-
authority rather than in terms of rationally justifiable beliefs;
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
7732
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
and for failing to prepare children adequately for life in a
In practical terms, a threefold pattern of provision is
multicultural, multifaith society.
likely to emerge in liberal democracies in view of the issues
that have been discussed so far: (1) in the public school, stu-
Type B religious education, on the other hand, involves
dents may be introduced to religious beliefs, practices, and
teaching children about religion—and about a number of
issues in a nondogmatic, phenomenological way as part of
different religions—without any expectation that they will
the school curriculum; (2) in the Sunday school, madrasah,
necessarily develop their own personal religious commit-
synagogue, gurdwara, temple, or other place of worship, chil-
ments. The aim is to produce people who are “religiously ed-
dren will be taught the traditions and practices of their own
ucated” or “religiously literate,” in the sense of understand-
faith from a believer’s perspective; and (3) those parents who
ing different systems of religious belief and being able to
are unhappy with the split between secular and religious
reflect knowledgeably on a range of religious issues. Type B
learning have the option of sending their child to a religious
religious education is justified on the grounds that religion
or denominational school, for which they may have to pay
is so fundamental to human existence and has had such a
fees. Each of these forms of provision is commonly called re-
profound influence on history, philosophy, art, music, litera-
ligious education.
ture, morality, and other domains of knowledge that people
can hardly be considered educated if they know nothing of
PATTERNS OF PROVISION IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. In
religion. This approach is fully compatible with liberal edu-
many countries, although not the United States, the term re-
cation in its aims and methods. Teachers are required to
ligious education commonly refers to an item on the school
adopt a position of neutrality and impartiality in their pre-
curriculum; indeed, in England and Wales until 1988, reli-
sentation of a variety of religious and nonreligious world-
gious education was the only compulsory school subject. In
views. Teaching children about different religions makes
denominational schools, religious education is typically
them aware of alternatives and enables them to make in-
taught from the perspective of a single faith (type A) and in
formed autonomous choices about their own commitments
nondenominational schools from the perspective of a diversi-
and ways of life. Learning about the diversity of religions in
ty of faiths (type B).
the world can help to break down religious prejudice and can
In the school curriculum. In England and Wales, the
contribute to the development of a tolerant, harmonious,
religious education syllabus in nondenominational schools
and respectful multicultural society. This approach to reli-
has to be determined by a committee made up of representa-
gious education has been promoted strongly in the United
tives of teachers’ unions, local councilors, and representatives
States in recent years by scholars such as James W. Fraser,
from the Church of England and other religious denomina-
Charles Haynes, Robert Nash, Nel Noddings, and Warren
tions. The justification for teaching religious education as a
Nord, who make up what is sometimes called the “New
separate subject is that religion is a distinguishable form of
Consensus.” However, Type B religious education is criti-
knowledge known at the university level by the titles of the-
cized for reducing what believers call revealed truth to cultur-
ology, religious studies, or divinity, having its own distinctive
al practice, for encouraging relativism, for prioritizing the in-
concepts and truth criteria. Opposition to the separate teach-
dividual over the community, and for undermining
ing of religious education comes from two sides: those who
commitment to any particular faith by teaching that all faiths
believe religion to be a human construct may prefer it to be
are equally worthy of respect.
taught through history, sociology, psychology, anthropolo-
gy, or its various cultural manifestations (art, literature,
At first glance, these two types of religious education are
music, and so on); while those who believe that all knowl-
quite incompatible: one cannot both reinforce a religious up-
edge is religious may prefer religion to be integrated through-
bringing and encourage children to adopt a critical stance to-
out the curriculum.
wards it at the same time. The result would be confusion and
uncertainty. However, some scholars have argued that the
In nondenominational schools, the subject matter of re-
two approaches can exist in a kind of creative tension. First,
ligious education usually falls into two categories: learning
though one type involves looking at religion from the inside
about religion and learning from religion. “Learning about
and the other from the outside, both are examining the same
religion” entails learning about the religious beliefs, practices,
phenomenon. Second, children who feel good about their
and values of specific religions, including their festivals,
own identity (which is developed by type A religious educa-
places of worship, ethical codes, sacred texts, prophets and
tion) are in a strong position to be tolerant and respectful
leaders, denominational differences, stories, pilgrimages,
towards other faiths and to make a positive contribution to
rites of passage, symbolism, artifacts, forms of artistic expres-
a pluralist society (which are precisely the goals of type B reli-
sion, lifestyles, religious experience, language and expression,
gious education). Third, anxieties about different types of re-
and forms of prayer, meditation, and worship. There is room
ligious education often presuppose an old-fashioned, rigid
for debate about which specific religions should be taught
transmission form of pedagogy; a constructivist approach, on
(clearly not all can be taught, since the United States alone
the other hand, suggests that what children take from reli-
is home to more than five hundred different religions, de-
gious education depends to a large extent on what they bring
nominations, and sects), but the most common pattern is for
to it and thus anticipates more open outcomes.
up to six major world religions to be taught (typically Hindu-
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
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
7733
ism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism),
adult education. Similarly, many Jews in Western countries
plus any other religions of particular local significance.
send their children for supplementary schooling at the local
Learning about religion should also include learning about
synagogue, where they learn about Jewish identity, beliefs,
religious diversity, natural religion, implicit religion, emo-
values, and practices; study the Torah and perhaps Hebrew;
tional responses to religion, dialogue between religions, argu-
and prepare for the ceremony of bar or bat mitzvah. Though
ments against religious beliefs, and nonreligious worldviews.
such schools tend to cooperate in large cities, making use of
“Learning from religion” gives space for students to reflect
the same teaching materials and organizing joint summer
on some of the big questions raised by religion, such as the
camps and other activities, they are not centrally controlled.
existence of God, the meaning of death and the possibility
Comparatively few children continue with such schooling
of life after death, debates between science and religion or
beyond the age of thirteen. Hindu temples and Sikh gurd-
postmodernism and religion, and the problems of evil, suf-
waras in the West are beginning to set up evening or Sunday
fering, and war. Learning from religion also encourages stu-
schools to teach children the language of their scriptures and
dents to explore such concepts as spirituality, love, right and
their faith communities and also to supplement the religious
wrong, and identity and commitment, and to develop sensi-
education that goes on in the home.
tivity, tolerance, respect, and understanding towards those
Islamic supplementary education is also well established
whose beliefs differ from their own.
in most Western countries. Muslim children from the ages
There remain many unresolved questions about reli-
of about four to thirteen attend the local maktab or madrasah
gious education as a school subject, particularly relating to
(mosque school) for up to two hours daily after regular
the role of the teacher, teaching approaches and strategies,
school to learn Arabic, QurDanic recitation, the basic require-
and the sequencing of the subject matter. Do teachers need
ments of the shar¯ı Eah, and the principal Islamic beliefs. Chil-
to have some experience of, or commitment to, religion in
dren who wish to memorize the whole QurDa¯n and become
order to teach it effectively? Should they share their own be-
a h:a¯fiz: may attend in the mornings as well. The language of
liefs and values with students or keep quiet about them?
instruction is commonly Arabic in North America and Aus-
Should different religions be taught together (for example,
tralia, Urdu or Punjabi in the United Kingdom, and Turkish
through studying a topic such as festivals or sacred books)
in Germany, though the language of the country of residence
or is such an approach liable to confuse children? Do young
is increasingly being used. For a variety of reasons, however,
children have a natural spirituality that schools should nur-
many Muslims consider this provision to be educationally
ture, or is it the task of religious education, like other school
unsatisfactory: it makes extra demands on children’s time,
subjects, to develop rational understanding? Most of these
the premises are often inadequate, the teachers unqualified,
are value judgments rather than empirical questions that can
and the methods (including rote learning and strict disci-
be resolved by research, and in any case the amount of re-
pline) compare unfavorably with schools in the state system.
search into religious education seems to have declined since
To solve this problem, while at the same time fostering inte-
Kenneth Hyde’s comprehensive review of the topic pub-
gration, several European countries (including Belgium,
lished in 1990.
some German provinces, and some British local authorities)
have introduced specific Islamic instruction for Muslim stu-
In supplementary schooling. In pluralist societies
dents in state schools. This solution also has its problems; in
where there is a system of common schools, most faith
particular, it does nothing to resolve the conflicting values
groups provide some form of supplementary schooling
to which Muslim children are exposed. For a growing num-
through which their children are nurtured in the faith and
ber of Muslims, the answer is separate Muslim schools.
taught its basic beliefs and practices. Though few groups
would call this religious education, preferring a title that iden-
In faith schools. The third meaning of religious educa-
tified the specific faith concerned, it is an important part of
tion is full-time schooling that is permeated by religion in
any overview of the provision of religious teaching. Such
a conscious attempt to exclude secular influence. The term
teaching may take place in a private house or a place of wor-
faith school, which has only recently come into widespread
ship, is usually privately funded by parents or the faith com-
usage, covers all full-time schools with a religious foundation
munity, and is exclusively type A religious education. There
and a religious vision, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish,
is a close similarity of approach to supplementary schooling
or other. Some countries (including Great Britain, Den-
among different faiths and countries.
mark, the Netherlands, and Israel) and some provinces (in-
cluding Newfoundland in Canada) fund denominational as
Sunday schools have a long, well-documented history,
well as secular state schools, and many other countries (in-
and they are a major method used by (mainly Protestant)
cluding the United States, France, Belgium, India, Indone-
churches to pass on Bible stories and Christian moral teach-
sia, and Japan) allow private faith schools. Faith schools typi-
ing to children. Confirmation classes provide a more formal
cally seek to preserve a religious ethos but vary significantly
introduction to Christian beliefs and practices, leading to full
in terms of the amount of time spent on religious education,
church membership, while Christian youth clubs, holiday
their willingness to admit students and employ teachers of
camps, and other activities may be used as a general introduc-
other faiths, and their compatibility with liberal democratic
tion to Christian values. Bible classes provide continuing
values.
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
7734
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
In the United States, more than 10 percent of all chil-
in daily rituals, such as ablutions and meals, as well as wor-
dren attend private religious schools. About half of these at-
ship at family shrines; through the celebration of festivals,
tend Catholic schools, while the other half attend fundamen-
rites of passage, and pilgrimages; and through listening to
talist Christian schools or schools belonging to a wide range
traditional stories narrated by grandparents, professional sto-
of denominations, sects, and world religions, including Lu-
rytellers, and temple priests, or (more recently) at the cine-
theran, Calvinist, Episcopalian, Quaker, Seventh-day Ad-
ma. In classical Hindu teaching, the student stage
ventist, Orthodox, Mormon, Christian Science, Jewish,
(brahmaca¯rin), centered on the development of spiritual un-
Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu. Proportions are significantly
derstanding and the relationship between teacher (guru¯) and
higher in countries where faith schools are state-funded:
disciple, is the first of four stages of life. Since the nineteenth
about two-thirds of all students in the Netherlands and near-
century, a number of educational reformers and leaders (in-
ly one-quarter of students in Great Britain attend faith
cluding Rabindranath Tagore, Vivekananda, Mohandas
schools. Church of England and Roman Catholic schools
Gandhi, Aurobindo Ghose, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Vino-
make up the vast majority of funded faith schools in Great
ba Bhave, Jiddu Krishnamurthi, and Sathya Sai Baba) have
Britain, and Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and evangelical schools
attempted to develop forms of education in line with Hindu
are more numerous in the independent sector.
principles. Outside India, Hindus have tended to rely on
temple schools to provide children with more structured reli-
The reasons for founding faith schools vary widely.
gious education. There are also some Hindu faith schools in
Catholic schools were founded because of a perceived Protes-
the West, and Hindu University in America, the first Hindu
tant bias in the public schools. Amish schools, on the other
university in the United States, opened in Orlando, Florida,
hand, seek to reinforce group identity and prepare children
in 2001.
to lead a simple, useful, godly life. Muslim schools are typi-
cally founded as a result of dissatisfaction with the moral
The word Sikh means “learner,” and this points to the
standards in public schools. Jewish schools have been justi-
importance of the balanced development of the individual
fied as the best way to respond to the danger of absorption
throughout life. At the heart of Sikh education is the devel-
into the dominant culture of Western societies. More than
opment of spiritual and moral values, but Guru¯ Na¯nak also
anything else, faith schools are an attempt to address an im-
displayed a surprisingly modern approach to education in his
balance that many believers find in public schooling, in
emphasis on the need for reflection and critical enquiry into
which secular values take priority over religious ones, reli-
traditional ideas. As with Hinduism, the primary responsibil-
gious neutrality silences religious expression in schools, and
ity for the religious education of children traditionally lay
the message is conveyed that religious belief is either false or
with the extended family, but outside the Punjab Sikhs have
unimportant. Faith schools enable parents who are believers
increasingly looked to the gurdwara to provide weekend
to ensure that their children are educated within an appropri-
classes in Gurmukhi and the Sikh scriptures for their chil-
ate spiritual environment and that their distinctive cultural
dren. In Great Britain, several full-time Sikh schools have
and religious beliefs are, as far as possible, preserved. Oppo-
been established as of 2004, including two that are state-
nents of faith schools, on the other hand, are likely to claim
funded.
that they are divisive and may encourage intolerance and ex-
In a sense, the whole of Buddhist teaching is a course
tremism; that the right of parents to choose their own chil-
of spiritual education, with a strong emphasis on meditation,
dren’s education is trumped by the children’s right to an edu-
moral self-discipline, and enlightenment, traditionally passed
cation that does not culturally encapsulate them but liberates
on by teachers in the monasteries. The Buddha himself made
them from restrictive backgrounds and develops their per-
use of many techniques currently favored in contemporary
sonal autonomy; and that parents have no right to expect
Western religious education, including narrative, analogy,
public funding if they choose a religious education for their
the use of visual aids, and teaching by example, and the qual-
children.
ities expected of teachers in their dealings with pupils are set
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN THE GREAT RELIGIOUS TRADI-
out in the Siga¯lova¯da Sutta. The first full Buddhist universi-
TIONS. The nature of the education provided in faith schools
ties were established in India and Thailand in the twentieth
depends to a significant extent on the educational theories
century, and Soka University of America, the first Buddhist
and practices that have been developed in the religion con-
university in the United States, opened in southern Califor-
cerned. Most world faiths have rich traditions of thinking
nia in 2001.
about religious education, often developed over many centu-
ries both by individual scholars and theologians and by the
Islam has long-standing traditions of education, and the
sustained training and research carried out in seminaries and
QurDa¯n itself is full of injunctions to pursue knowledge. Of
universities.
the three Arabic words for education, tarbïya implies person-
al development towards maturity; taDdïb implies moral, so-
Within Hinduism, religious education has traditionally
cial, and cultural refinement; and taElïm refers to the pursuit
been an informal process carried on in the home and local
of knowledge. The Muslim scholar Abu¯ H:a¯mid al-Ghaza¯l¯ı
community. Children pick up an understanding of Hindu
distinguishes two forms of knowledge: the revealed (which
deities and basic beliefs and practices through participation
is divine and absolute) and the discovered (which is human
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
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
7735
and tentative). These should be in harmony and should both
mainly through sermons. After the Reformation, greater em-
lead to God, but the former takes priority.
phasis was placed on the ability to read the Bible for oneself,
and religious education was high on the agenda of Martin
In the golden age of Islam (750–1150 CE) a large net-
Luther and Philipp Melanchthon in Germany, Huldrych
work of educational institutions was established across the
Zwingli in Zurich, John Calvin in Geneva, Johannes Amos
Islamic empire, including the maktab (writing school), the
Comenius in Moravia, and the Anglicans and Puritans or
h:alqa (circle school), the masjid (mosque school), and the
nonconformists in England, the latter including Congrega-
madrasah (school of public instruction), as well as universi-
tionalists, Baptists, Quakers, and, later, Wesleyans. Each de-
ties in Baghdad, Cairo, and Nishapur. There was an upsurge
veloped their own distinctive forms of religious education
of Islamic scholarship in all known disciplines at this time,
and schooling, as well as training colleges for ministers.
but Islamic education later began to stagnate. European colo-
Meanwhile, new approaches to Catholic education were
nizers introduced modern Western systems of education for
being developed by the Jesuits and other groups. With the
the elite, leaving traditional Islamic education unchanged for
transition to a state system of education in Great Britain in
the masses. In the postcolonial period, Islamic states have re-
the nineteenth century, the free churches were generally sat-
solved the inequalities between the two types of education
isfied with the nondenominational religious education pro-
in different ways: some have made Westernized education
vided, which they supplemented with denominational
available to all, others have attempted to Islamize the educa-
teaching in Sunday schools, and so they abandoned denomi-
tional system as thoroughly as possible, and still others have
national schooling altogether. The Church of England, how-
tried to run the two systems side by side as viable alternatives.
ever, retained its separate schools, and the Catholics built up
Muslim immigrants to the West thus arrive with a variety
their own corresponding system of schools. Both systems are
of educational experiences and expectations, though most try
state-funded, but whereas the Church of England schools
to preserve their religious and cultural heritage through sup-
generally see it as their mission to provide an education with
plementary schooling, and a growing number see faith
a Christian ethos and based on Christian values for the needs
schools as the way to combine the teaching of advanced
of the broader community, the Catholic schools cater pri-
Western knowledge, especially in science and technology,
marily to the children of their own faith community.
with a religious ethos that is true to Islamic values and
traditions.
As of 2004, religious education persists as a compulsory
subject in state schools (“community schools”) in England
Education is a formal requirement of Jewish law, and
and Wales, but now with a world religions focus, and some-
a system of universal elementary education for Jewish boys
what anachronistically there is still a requirement for a daily
seems to have been in place for two thousand years. The tra-
act of nondenominational collective worship. In the United
ditional school system—the heder (or cheder) for younger
States, on the other hand, the clear separation of church and
children and the yeshivah for older children and adults—
state that is set out in the First Amendment to the U.S. Con-
taught only the Torah, the Talmud, and other religious writ-
stitution means that all religious schools must be private es-
ings, but by the late eighteenth century the system diversified
tablishments and public schools must maintain a position of
as schools came under pressure to include general and voca-
neutrality between different religions and denominations,
tional studies. At the beginning of the twenty-first century,
and also between religious and nonreligious worldviews. Nu-
there is a clear distinction between Jewish education in Israel
merous court cases have clarified precisely where the bounda-
and Jewish education in the Diaspora. In Israel, except in the
ries lie in terms of the unconstitutional promotion of religion
religious schools, Jewish identity is developed through He-
in schools. Elsewhere, liberation theology has had a major
brew and the study of Jewish history, literature, and culture,
impact on the development of education in South America
rather than through religious instruction and observances. In
and Africa, and the role of the Orthodox Church in the pro-
the Diaspora, Jewish education is primarily religious and
vision of religious education in Russia has increased dramati-
mainly under the control of synagogues, whether Orthodox,
cally since perestroika.
Conservative, Reform, or Reconstructionist; like other reli-
F
gious education, it is found in the home, in supplementary
UTURE PROSPECTS FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. In coun-
schooling for those who attend secular public schools, in full-
tries with adherents from several or all of the above religious
time faith schools (usually called “day schools” by Jews), in
traditions—and in some cases many more, for among the
less formal activities (including youth clubs and youth move-
741 accredited colleges and universities in the United States
ments), and in the yeshivah for higher-level studies.
that have a religious affiliation, over seventy different faiths
and denominations are represented—the decision to base
For many centuries, the history of education in the
policy on the liberal values of impartiality, tolerance, and re-
West was coterminous with the history of Christian educa-
spect for diversity has important consequences for religious
tion. In the Middle Ages, treatises on education were written
education. First, different faith communities should be given
by both Augustine and Thomas Aquinas and systems of
opportunities to learn about each other, so that they are more
schooling were developed by teachers like Alcuin. The well-
likely to live integrated lives and avoid the fear, prejudice,
to-do were educated at monastic and cathedral schools, and
and intolerance that ignorance breeds. Religious education
later at the new universities, while the illiterate were educated
can play an important role in developing interfaith and cross-
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
7736
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
cultural understanding. This is in line with the core values
Schreiner, Peter. Religious Education in Europe. Münster, Germa-
of the Religious Education Association of the United States
ny, 2000.
and Canada (founded in 1903), with the approach adopted
Thiessen, Elmer J. Teaching for Commitment: Liberal Education,
in British religious education syllabuses since about 1975,
Indoctrination, and Christian Nurture. Montreal, 1993.
and with the views of the New Consensus in the United
Tulasiewicz, Witold, and Cho-Yee To. World Religions and Educa-
States, as represented by the writings of Warren Nord,
tional Practice. London, 1993.
Charles Haynes, and others. It seems likely that, over the first
Journals focusing on religious education include Religious Educa-
quarter of the twenty-first century, practice in religious edu-
tion, British Journal of Religious Education, Muslim Education
cation in public schools in different Western pluralist liberal
Quarterly, and Journal of Beliefs and Values: Studies in Reli-
democratic societies will gradually converge. However, this
gion and Education.
may result in individuals increasingly constructing their own
personal religious faith, selecting bits from a smorgasbord of
J. MARK HALSTEAD (2005)
different religions—a phenomenon already being observed
among some students exposed to a world faiths approach to
religious education. It may also dangerously highlight the
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. The term religious ex-
split between liberal and fundamentalist approaches to reli-
perience has been used in three often overlapping senses in
gious education.
the twentieth century: (1) to refer descriptively to the subjec-
Secondly, it is clear that religions and faith groups have
tive aspect of a tradition or religion in general; (2) to describe
the right to nurture their own children in their own faith
the “common core” of religion in general; and (3) to assert
through religious education, though this does not extend to
a claim with respect to the source of religious knowledge or
the right to foreclose children’s free choice with respect to
certainty. In the first instance, it has competed with the
religion as they grow older. This means that both supple-
terms piety, devotion, and spirituality. In the second and
mentary schooling and faith schools will continue to have a
third instances, it has competed with mysticism.
place in liberal pluralist societies so long as children are not
indoctrinated and so long as they are exposed somewhere
These usages have been associated with key preoccupa-
within their schooling to other religious and nonreligious
tions of the modern era. In the first case, where the emphasis
worldviews.
is on the subjective experience of the individual, experience
has been linked with the rise of individualism and the de-
Thirdly, it is not the place of a pluralist liberal society
mocratization of religious authority. In the second usage,
to promote one religious worldview over another, or to pro-
where the emphasis is on the nature of religion, religious ex-
mote religious belief over nonreligious worldviews. This
perience has been bound up with the problems of common-
means that the teaching of an established religion through
ality and difference in the context of globalization, colonial-
religious education in a multifaith society is no longer justifi-
ism, westernization, and the encounter between traditions.
able, and the practice is likely to decline gradually, as is the
In the third usage, where the focus is on how we know (epis-
British requirement of a daily act of collective, nondenomi-
temology), religious experience has been associated with the
national worship in all British state schools. It also raises
question of truth in the context of Enlightenment critiques
questions about the continued funding of faith schools in
of traditional sources of religious knowledge and social scien-
Western states, although there may be justification for partial
tific explanations of the origins of religion.
funding where faith schools provide a general, as well as a
religious, education.
This entry provides a history of the use of the concept
of religious experience rather than a history of religious expe-
SEE ALSO Initiation, overview article; Scholasticism;
rience per se. The use of the term is discussed under the fol-
Yeshivah.
lowing headings: (1) the concept of experience and its ana-
logues within various traditions; (2) religious experience in
BIBLIOGRAPHY
relation to religion in general; and (3) critical approaches to
Fraser, James W. Between Church and State: Religion and Public
religious experience in recent scholarship.
Education in a Multicultural America. New York, 1999.
Grace, Gerald. Catholic Schools: Mission, Markets, and Morality.
While there are traditional terms within most, if not all,
London, 2002.
traditions that have experiential overtones to the modern ear,
Hull, J. M. Studies in Religious Education. Lewes, U.K., 1984.
the way and the extent to which these traditional terms have
Hyde, Kenneth. Religion in Childhood and Adolescence: A Compre-
been brought into modern, comparative discourses has var-
hensive Review of the Research. Birmingham, Ala., 1990.
ied. The first section provides an overview of the way in
Moran, Gabriel. Religious Education as a Second Language. Bir-
which selected traditions have engaged with modern Euro-
mingham, Ala., 1989.
American experience-related discourses. The second section
Nash, Robert J. Faith, Hype, and Clarity: Teaching about Religion
highlights three key figures—William James (1842–1910),
in American Schools and Colleges. New York, 1999.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975), and Joachim Wach
Nord, Warren A., and Charles C. Haynes Taking Religion Serious-
(1889–1955)—each of whom understood religion in general
ly across the Curriculum. Alexandria, Va., 1998.
in terms of religious experience, albeit in very different ways.
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
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
7737
Disparate theoretical assumptions (philosophical, theological
in the concept of experience and a few made the concept
and/or social scientific) led to different understandings of re-
of religious experience central to their thought.
ligious experience—both in terms of what counts as religious
PRE-REFORMATION CHRISTIANITY AND TRADITIONAL
experience and how it could or should be explained. De-
PROTESTANTISM. Within the history of Christianity, church
pending on the author’s underlying theoretical perspective
authorities carefully regulated experientially related forms of
and/or apologetic aims, competing terms, such as enthusi-
belief and practice, beginning with the Montanists. In the
asm, visions, mysticism, spirituality, esotericism, psychical
Summa Theologia (1a 2ae q.112 a.5), Thomas Aquinas dis-
phenomena, and psychopathology, were variously subsumed
cussed the experience (experientia) of grace, which he indi-
under, equated with, or distinguished from religious experi-
cated could be known conjecturally by signs of its presence
ence. These and other critical issues raised by scholars of reli-
in the believer. However, following Aristotle, he claimed that
gion since the 1970s are discussed in the third section.
such knowledge is imperfect, and therefore that the experi-
EXPERIENCE AND ITS ANALOGUES WITHIN VARIOUS TRADI-
ence of grace could not be known with certainty. This theo-
TIONS. Although the use of the Latin term experientia in
logical understanding undercut individual claims to knowl-
Christian contexts dates back at least to Aquinas, and the use
edge based on experience and heightened the authority of the
of experience in Protestant contexts dates back at least to the
church. Mystical and ascetic theology, as subdisciplines with-
seventeenth century, explicit references to religious experi-
in systematic theology, reflected an orthodox Catholic un-
ence became common in English at the beginning of the
derstanding of experience, while non-orthodox understand-
nineteenth century and in French (l’expérience religieuse) and
ings were defined as heretical.
German (religiöse Erlebnis, Erfahrung) toward the end of the
Although Protestant reformers also attempted to regu-
nineteenth century. Prior to the late nineteenth century, the
late experientially related forms of belief and practice, the
use of the term was most common among conversion-
schismatic tendency inherent in Luther’s break with Rome
oriented Anglo-American Protestants. Over the course of the
made this more difficult, as Catholic critics did not hesitate
nineteenth century the English term religious experience was
to point out. Radical (sectarian) Protestants, especially those
abstracted from its indigenous context within evangelical
who advocated the separation of church and state, often
Protestantism, losing many of its specifically evangelical con-
made appeals to experience both in England and the Conti-
notations in the process, and it was recast as a generic term
nent. While Continental Protestants typically made use of
that applied to religion in general. Non-Protestant traditions
related terms, English Puritans made explicit reference to ex-
dealt with this process in various ways. Other terms, such as
perience and occasionally to spiritual experience by the mid-
mysticism and spirituality (indigenous to the Catholic tradi-
seventeenth century, generally in reference to claims of direct
tion), underwent similar changes during this period and also
experiences of inspiration by the Holy Spirit. Proponents of
emerged as comparative terms in the study of religion.
Enlightenment thought, such as John Locke, disputed these
By way of overview, current research suggests the fol-
claims, redescribed such experiences as enthusiasm, and at-
lowing:
tempted to account for them in non-religious terms.
1. Liberal Protestants invested deeply in the concept of ex-
From the beginnings of evangelical Protestantism in the
perience during the nineteenth century and in the new
transatlantic revivals of the 1730s and 1740s until the pres-
generic concept of religious experience formalized at the
ent, claims of direct experience of the Holy Spirit or the im-
turn of the century by William James. Apart from a few
mediate experience of the presence of God have been asserted
modernists, most of whom were condemned, Catholic
by some evangelicals and disputed by others. Jonathan Ed-
theologians dealt with the concepts of experience and
wards and John Wesley both defended the idea of a direct
religious experience warily if at all in the century and
experience of the Holy Spirit. Both argued that authentic
half prior to Vatican II, preferring the indigenous terms
conversion was accompanied by a “new spiritual sense,”
mystical and spiritual instead.
which by analogy with the physical senses (cf. John Locke)
2. Universalistic nineteenth-century new religious move-
allowed the believer to apprehend the Spirit directly. Refer-
ments, such as Transcendentalism, Spiritualism, New
ences to religious experience were common in the titles of
Thought, and Theosophy utilized experientially related
nineteenth century evangelical Protestant memoirs, where
terms (influxes, intuition, revelations, visions, spirits) to
the term generally referred to such experiences as conversion,
understand religion in general, but did not make exten-
sanctification and/or a call to preach. Methodists typically
sive use of the terms experience or religious experience
testified to such experiences in what were known collectively
to refer to these phenomena.
as “experience meetings.”
3. Jewish interest in the experiential side of Judaism (Hasi-
The concept of religious experience underwent a dra-
dism, Kabbalah) was, for the most part, channeled into
matic redefinition within the Anglo-American context over
discussions of mysticism rather than religious experi-
the course of the nineteenth century, largely under the influ-
ence. The same seems to hold true for interest in the ex-
ence of romanticism, the growing interest in other religions,
periential side of Islam (Sufism).
and new universalistic religious movements. Through the
4. Hindu and Buddhist thinkers more commonly invested
early decades of the nineteenth century, Anglo-American
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
7738
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
Protestants continued to contrast religious experience, by
from the recesses of the mind or entered in some other way
definition authentic, with enthusiasm and mysticism, both
from beyond it was the focus of much of the Society’s re-
considered false. By the middle decades of the nineteenth
search.
century, however, enthusiasm had taken on its more benign
LIBERAL PROTESTANT THEOLOGY. Friedrich Schleiermacher
modern meaning, while mysticism acquired positive conno-
(1768–1834), a German Protestant theologian with a Pietist
tations through the writings of the Transcendentalists and
background, is usually credited with initiating the emphasis
widely read Protestant translations of Catholic mystical writ-
on the self or subjectivity and, thus, by extension on experi-
ers, such as Thomas Upham’s Life of Madame Guyon (1846).
ence, associated with modern Protestant theology. Through
U
his influence on Rudolf Otto, Schleiermacher also had a
NIVERSALISTIC NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. Univers-
alistic nineteenth-century new religious movements, such as
major influence on the twentieth-century study of religion.
Transcendentalism, Spiritualism, New Thought, and Theos-
In opposition to Kant’s emphasis on religion as morality,
ophy, drew upon experientially related terms (influxes, vi-
Schleiermacher located the essence of religion in the immedi-
sions, spirits, intuition) to understand religion in general, but
ate, prereflective intuition and feeling of the infinite (On Re-
did not make extensive use of the terms experience or reli-
ligion). Later he referred to this essence as “a feeling of abso-
gious experience to refer to these phenomena. Ralph Waldo
lute dependence” (Christian Faith). As Hans-Georg
Emerson (1803–1882) contrasted experience, which he un-
Gadamer noted in Truth and Method, Schleiermacher him-
derstood as the sense experience of materialism, with intu-
self did not use the term experience, although his key ideas
ition, ecstasy, and influxes of the Divine into the human
were transposed into this idiom by later interpreters, such as
soul, which he associated with idealism. Explicitly relying on
Wilhelm Dilthey, who used the newly coined term Erlebnis
Immanuel Kant to critique Locke, but also drawing support
in his 1870 biography of Schleiermacher (Gadamer,
from Plato, Plotinus, and Emanuel Swedenborg, Emerson
pp. 60–64).
argued for the legitimacy of intuition and granted it authori-
At the turn of the last century, Schleiermacher’s empha-
ty over experience. He viewed enthusiasm and “a tendency
sis on immediate intuition and feeling as the basis of religious
toward insanity” as relatively benign concomitants of such
knowledge—now explicitly framed in terms of experience—
divine influxes. Like many romantics with an interest in the
enjoyed a revival of interest. The revival was coupled, proba-
perennial wisdom tradition, Emerson viewed all religions as
bly not coincidentally, with a widespread shift in the way
pointing to “a fundamental Unity,” which, in his view,
scholars understood religion. This shift from the Enlighten-
reached its highest expression in Hinduism. Reading texts in
ment conception of religion as an archaic “survival” to a con-
translation, he linked the religious writings of the East with
ception of religion as “power,” subjectively understood, im-
the thought of Plato, Plotinus, and others in the West (Em-
plicitly grounded religion in experience. The British
erson, pp. 198–199, 392–393, 638).
anthropologist, R. R. Marett is usually given credit for initi-
Later universalistic movements, such as Spiritualism,
ating this shift with his essay on “Pre-Animistic Religion,”
New Thought, and Theosophy under Helena Blavatsky and
delivered in 1899. But others, such as William James, were
Henry Olcott, utilized terms such as spirit communication
also thinking along similar lines at about the same time.
(Spiritualism) and intuition (New Thought, Theosophy) to
Protestant theologians with an interest in the compara-
describe the means by which individuals might acquire
tive study of religion, such as Nathan Söderblom, Friedrich
higher non-sense based forms of knowledge. As universaliz-
Heiler, and Rudolf Otto, played a major role in this shift.
ing movements, they, like the Transcendentalists, main-
Building on the thought of Schleiermacher, Marett, and Sö-
tained that the means in question informed all religions and,
derblom, Otto argued in The Idea of the Holy that a felt expe-
thus, religion in general. In contrast to the Transcendental-
rience of a numinous presence logically preceded Schleierma-
ists, however, these later movements drew extensively on the
cher’s “feeling of dependence.” The numinous, he said,
popular psychology of animal magnetism, arguing that the
evoked feelings of mysterium (wholly otherness), tre-
mental abilities cultivated by mesmerists, such as trance and
mendum (dread, awe), and fascination. Otto interpreted
clairvoyance, provided the psychological substratum upon
mysticism as a subset of the experience of the numinous. He
which their more developed abilities were based.
considered religion sui generis, that is, something unique
that could not be adequately interpreted or explained in
The Society for Psychical Research, founded in 1882 to
other terms, and located it, following Schleiermacher, in an
assess such claims scientifically, brought together evidence
irreducibly religious domain (Otto, pp. 5-41).
from the Society’s investigations of Spiritualist mediums
with the latest clinical research on hysteria, the doubling of
Ernst Troeltsch, Otto’s colleague on the theological fac-
personality, and hypnosis (the direct descendent of animal
ulty at the University of Marburg, approached the experien-
magnetism). Frederick Myers, the Society’s leading theoreti-
tial dimension of Christianity historically and sociologically
cian, linked these phenomena though his theory of the sub-
under the rubric of mysticism. In Social Teachings of the
conscious, which he and William James understood as the
Christian Churches (1912; English, 1931), he drew an impor-
means by which non-sense based knowledge might come to
tant distinction between mysticism, in the widest sense of the
consciousness. Whether such knowledge simply surfaced
word, which he understood as “the insistence upon a direct
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
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
7739
inward and present religious experience” (Troeltsch, II,
Christian contexts would be distinguished as Gnosticism and
p. 730), and mysticism as understood more narrowly by the
esotericism. With the publication of volumes on Jewish Spiri-
philosophy of religion. His depiction of the latter provides,
tuality (1988, 1989) and Islamic Spirituality (1989, 1991) in
in effect, a sociological description of the emergence of the
the World Spiritualities series, scholars in both traditions
“philosophia perennis.” While mysticism in the broad sense
adopted spirituality as an encompassing a rubric under which
takes on an “immense variety” of forms within the various
to discuss the subjective aspect of the traditions more
traditions, mysticism in the narrower sense may break away
broadly.
from “concrete religion” and “set up a theory of [its] own
which takes the place of the concrete religion and of its my-
Two of the most prominent early twentieth-century
thos or doctrine.” When this happens, “mysticism realizes
scholars of Jewish mysticism—Martin Buber (1878–1965)
that it is an independent religious principle; it sees itself as
and Gershom Scholem (1897–1982)—were both German
the real universal heart of all religion, of which the various
Jews who reacted against the Enlightenment rationalism of
myth-forms are merely the outer garment. It regards itself as
their era and sought, albeit in different ways, to highlight the
the means of restoring an immediate union with God; it feels
non-rational aspects of the Jewish tradition. Buber embraced
independent of all institutional religion” (Troeltsch, II,
an ahistorical Erlebnismystik early in his career, which
p. 734).
Scholem reacted against. Buber’s Ekstatic Confessions
(1909)—a collection of personal accounts from various east-
CATHOLICISM AFTER THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. The idea of
ern and western religious traditions—utilized the German
experience received little development in the Catholic tradi-
distinction between Erfahrung (sense experience) and Erleb-
tion during the post-Reformation period due to its associa-
nis (non-sense based experience) to make a case for ecstasy
tion with Protestantism and movements that were con-
as an undifferentiated experience in which the boundaries
demned within Catholicism, such as Jansenism, Quietism,
between self and other and self and world disappear. This ec-
and Modernism. The First Vatican Council (1870) reacted
static experience, he claimed, was common to the Vedas and
to the nineteenth-century emphasis on experience as a source
Upanis:ads, Midrash and Qabbalah, Plato and Jesus. Al-
of religious authority, condemning the idea that “men and
though Buber grew increasingly uncomfortable with this for-
women ought to be moved to faith only by each one’s inter-
mulation as his thought matured, the Ekstatic Confessions re-
nal experience or private inspiration” (De Fide, Canon 3). In
called the spirit of Schleiermacher and prefigured Rudolf
Pascendi dominici gregis (1907), Pius X alleged that Catholic
Otto’s Idea of the Holy.
modernists wrongly held to the idea that faith and revelation
were rooted in religious sentiment or an intuition of the
In contrast to Buber, who believed that such ecstatic ex-
heart. This reliance on “personal experience,” the encyclical
periences transcended time and thus had no history, Scholem
explained, caused modernists to “fall into the opinion of
devoted his life to the historical study of Jewish mysticism
Protestants and pseudomystics” (para. 14). Moreover, as the
and in particular to the Qabbalah. He understood the Qab-
encyclical duly noted, an emphasis on experience undercut
balah as a suppressed and esoteric tradition that held the key
the Church’s exclusivist claims. Given their logic, the encyc-
to the continuing vitality of the tradition as a whole. In his
lical asked, “[W]ith what right will Modernists deny the
hands, myth, symbol, and mysticism rather than religious ex-
truth of an experience affirmed by a follower of Islam? With
perience, provided the conceptual categories for surfacing an
what right can they claim true experience for Catholics
alternative history of Judaism and, in the process, a different
alone?” (para. 14) Catholic modernists did embrace the
understanding of mysticism. In the late twentieth century,
modern turn to the subject and with it a concomitant em-
Moshe Idel highlighted the ecstatic side of Qabbalistic mysti-
phasis on experience, though not in the monolithic way out-
cism, overlooked by Scholem, and integrated the study of
lined in Pascendi.
Hasidic mysticism, pioneered by Buber, into the broader his-
tory of Jewish mysticism.
In the decades prior to the Second Vatican Council
Some of the most prominent twentieth-century scholars
(1962–65), twentieth-century Catholic theologians debated
of Islamic mysticism—Louis Massignon (1883–1962),
whether Thomism could be reconciled with the modern em-
Henry Corbin (1907–1978), and Annemarie Schimmel
phasis on subjectivity. The wary appreciation evident in
(1922–2003)—were non-Muslims who turned to the study
Catholic historian Ronald Knox’s Enthusiasm (1950) illus-
of Islamic mysticism in the context of colonialism. During
trates Catholic ambivalence toward experience prior to the
the eighteenth century, scholars associated with the British
Second Vatican Council. The concept of experience found
East India Company discovered the “Sooffees” and soon
renewed, though qualified, acceptance at the Second Vatican
thereafter coined the term Sufism. During the nineteenth
Council. Among twentieth-century Catholic theologians,
century, western intellectuals viewed Sufism positively as a
Karl Rahner, S. J., and Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P., are par-
form of mysticism and distinguished it from Islam, which
ticularly known for the emphasis they place on experience.
they viewed negatively. By the late nineteenth century, this
JUDAISM AND ISLAM. Scholars of Judaism and Islam, for the
view had been racialized on the assumption that any mysti-
most part, discussed experientially related phenomena under
cism evident in the Semitic religions was actually of Aryan
the rubric of mysticism, understood to include what in
origin. Massignon, through close philological work on the
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7740
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
writings of a particular S:u¯f¯ı mystic, al-H:alla¯j, challenged this
thus placing himself “in the position of a ‘seer’” (Halbfass,
theory, arguing that S:u¯f¯ı mysticism could be traced directly
p. 223). His reinterpretation of authority was simultaneously
to the Qur’a¯n. As a Catholic reconverted to Catholicism
influenced by Western conceptions of inspiration and intu-
through his engagement with the martyred S:u¯f¯ı Massignon
ition and assertively Hindu. According to Halbfass, Deben-
was studying, the depiction of al-H:alla¯j as a mystic undoubt-
dranath’s
edly seemed obvious. He viewed al-H:alla¯j, who died at the
hands of the community he was trying to save, as recapitulat-
doctrine of intuition and his interpretation of religious
ing the mystical substitution of one life for another that lay
texts as documents of inner experience opened up new
at the heart of Massignon’s Christocentric Catholic devo-
dimensions of universality and of interaction with other
religions, and it paved the way for such exemplary Neo-
tional life. The work of Massignon’s student, Henry Corbin,
Hindu views as that of Radhakrishnan, who saw all
also provided an eclectic bridge between traditions. Through
valid religious documents, both within and without
a reading of Islam that stressed on-going revelation through
Hinduism, as records of ‘experiences,’ and thus under-
S:u¯f¯ı and Sh¯ıEah visionaries—something that he could not
stood ‘intuition’ and ‘experience’ as the basis and the
find in Christianity—Corbin found a means of critiquing
common denominator of all religions (Halbfass,
Christianity. Given his interest, Corbin used a broader range
p. 224).
of terms—prophetic philosophy, esotericism and the vision-
ary tradition—to depict his approach. Annemarie Schimmel,
These ideas were promoted in the West in an embodied way
who taught at Harvard for twenty-five years, emphasized the
through the figure of Ramakrishna—“the most famous rep-
complexity of the origins of S:u¯f¯ı mysticism. In The Mystical
resentative of ‘living Hinduism’ and . . . the very symbol of
Dimension of Islam, she resisted the then still common ten-
the potential of undogmatic religious experience and ecstasy
dency to explain Sufism as the result of contact with other
contained within the Hindu tradition” (Halbfass, p. 227).
mystical traditions and, like Massignon, pointed to S:u¯f¯ı-like
While, according to Halbfass, Ramakrishna himself cannot
tendencies present in the Qur’a¯n.
be counted as a spokesperson for Neo-Hinduism, “he be-
H
came the instrument and leading figure of Neo-Hinduism
INDUISM AND BUDDHISM. The concept of experience
played a prominent role in the mediation of Hinduism and
in its encounter with Europe” through the tireless promo-
Zen Buddhism to the West in the twentieth century. In
tional efforts of his student, Vivekananda (Halbfass,
India and Japan, the heightened emphasis on experience re-
p. 230).
flected a rethinking of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions
D. T. Suzuki’s earliest publications reflect the New
amidst the crosscurrents of colonialism, westernization, and
Buddhist orientation of his teacher, the Rinzai Zen abbot
nationalist self-assertion. Building on the thought of nine-
Shaku So¯en, as well as the influence Paul Carus, the western
teenth-century Neo-Hindu predecessors, such as Rammo-
Buddhist advocate with whom Suzuki studied from 1897–
hun Roy (1772–1833), Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905),
1909, but they place little explicit emphasis on the concept
and Vivekananda (1863–1902), the Indian scholar Sarvepalli
of experience. In his Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism (1907),
Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) explicitly embraced the con-
Suzuki characterized Nirvana in terms of “the suppression of
cept of religious experience as central to his understanding
egoism and the awakening of love.” He described the Bodd-
of religion in general and Hinduism in particular. In Japan,
hisattva ideal as one of “all-embracing love” and, like Carus,
Daisetz Teitaro (D. T.) Suzuki (1870–1966), influenced by
depicted “this gospel of universal love [as] the consummation
the philosophy of Nishida Kitaro¯ and the “New Buddhism”
of all religious emotions whatever their origin” (Suzuki,
of the Meiji period (1868–1912), emphasized the “inner ex-
pp. 55, 366, 369). Suzuki’s turn to experience was apparent-
perience” of enlightenment (satori) in Zen, the Buddhist tra-
ly prompted by the publication of his friend Nishida Kitaro¯’s
dition, and religion and philosophy in general. As with
Zen no kenkyu¯ (An inquiry into the good) in 1911. Kitaro¯’s
Christian modernists of the same era, Hindu and Buddhist
work, which was influenced by William James, was a re-
“modernizers” used the idea of experience to undercut tradi-
thinking of Japanese philosophy in light of the concept of
tional sources of authority and interpret traditional concepts
pure experience (junsui keiken). In “The Zen of Japanese
in new ways.
Nationalism,” Robert Sharf indicates that the two Japanese
Roy, whose translations of Hindu texts were read by the
words used to translate experience—keiken (for the English
American Transcendentalists, opened the question of the au-
experience) and taiken (for the German Erlebnis)—rarely ap-
thority of Hindu scriptures and raised questions regarding
peared in pre-modern Japanese texts. By the 1920s, Suzuki
the relation of Hindu revelation to the revelation claimed by
was interpreting “the doctrine of Enlightenment” as an
other traditions. Tagore pursued these questions much more
“inner experience,” in which “Enlightenment is grasped im-
deeply in an attempt to establish how much of the tradition
mediately without any conceptual medium” (Essays in Reli-
could be accepted as binding. He broke with the Veda¯nta
gion, First Series [1926], p. 73). He used this understanding
philosophy of S´ankara, replacing S´ankara’s commentaries
of enlightenment to argue for the centrality of Zen in the
with his own. According to Wilhelm Halbfass, Deben-
Buddhist tradition and to critique those who tried to “grasp
dranath transferred authority from the texts themselves to
the spirit of Buddhism” through the philosophical study of
“the pure heart, filled with the light of intuitive knowledge,”
Buddhist teachings rather than by entering into “the inner
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RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
7741
essence of Enlightenment [as] experienced by the Buddha”
understanding of experience that a particular (evangelical
(p. 118).
Protestant) tradition deemed normative, but to an aspect of
religion in general.
Enlightenment emerged as Suzuki’s primary experien-
tial category. While he was quite open to comparisons, he
James delivered the Gifford Lectures, soon thereafter
stressed the difference between the Zen experience and medi-
published as Varieties, in Edinburgh in 1901. He defined re-
tation (dhyana) as practiced in India, most theistic forms of
ligion for the purpose of his lectures (that is, heuristically)
Christian mysticism, and “conversion . . . as the term is
as “the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in
generally used by Christian converts” (Suzuki, Essays,
their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand
pp. 262–263, 231). At the same time, he viewed “Zen as the
in relation to whatever they may consider divine” (James,
ultimate fact of all philosophy and religion.” Not only was
p. 34). He stressed that for religious persons “[i]t is as if there
it “the fountain of Buddhist thought and life,” it was “very
were in the human consciousness a sense of reality, a feeling
much alive also in Christianity, Mahommedanism, in Tao-
of objective presence, a perception of what we may call
ism, and even in positivistic Confucianism” (Suzuki,
‘something there,’ more deep and more general than any of
p. 268). With a few exceptions, such as his discussion of Eck-
the special and particularly ‘senses’” (James, p. 55). Utilizing
hart and Zen in Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist (1957),
autobiographies and memoirs as data, James focused on what
Suzuki stayed with the Japanese concept of satori. While he
he referred to as first hand experience, that is, on “the origi-
was willing to translate satori as Enlightenment, interpret it
nal experiences that were the pattern-setters,” rather than in
as the “Zen experience,” and recognize it in other traditions,
the experiences of “ordinary believers.” Under the influence
he rarely subsumed it under other rubrics, in effect promot-
of nineteenth-century romanticism, James was particularly
ing it as a competitor to mysticism and religious experience
interested in “‘geniuses’ in the religious line.” Such persons,
in the market place of ideas.
he recognized, were frequently subject to extremes of experi-
ence; they heard voices, had visions, and fell into trance.
USE IN RELATION TO RELIGION IN GENERAL. William James
James, like Emerson before him, readily conceded that reli-
(1842–1910), Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975), and
gious geniuses were often depicted as psychopathological in
Joachim Wach (1889–1955), each of whom understood reli-
his own day and as “enthusiasts” in earlier times. Nonethe-
gion in general in terms of religious experience, illustrate
less, James, in contrast to many later psychologists of reli-
three different understandings of the concept—empirical
gion, was convinced that, empirically speaking, the more ex-
(James), perennial (Radhakrishnan), and phenomenological
treme cases would shed the greatest light on religious
(Wach)—each with its own intellectual antecedents. James’s
experience as a whole.
Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) marks the transforma-
tion of traditional evangelical Protestant understanding of re-
Although religious experience and mysticism were both
ligious experience in the Anglo-American context under the
viewed positively and much discussed at the turn of the cen-
influence of experimental psychology, including psychical re-
tury, the boundary between them was not clearly demar-
search, and new religious movements such as Transcenden-
cated. While, according to James, “personal religious experi-
talism, Swedenborgianism, Spiritualism, and Theosophy.
ence has its root and centre in mystical states of
Radhakrishnan, in writings that date back to the 1920s,
consciousness,” mysticism was not simply a subset of reli-
highlights the Neo-Hindu transformation of traditional
gious experience. There were, in his view, both religious ex-
Hindu concepts of dar´sana and anubhava in the colonial In-
periences that were not mystical and mystical experiences—
dian context under the influence of the East-West exchange,
such as dreamy states and alcohol and drug induced experi-
Christian missions, and the rise of Hindu nationalism. Wach
ences—that were not religious. At the end of his discussion
represents the explicit codification of the German intellectual
of mysticism, he conceded that “religious mysticism” actually
tradition represented by Schleiermacher and Otto under the
makes up “only one half of mysticism.” The other half, he
rubric of religious experience within the context of the aca-
said, has no traditions other than what “the text-books on
demic study of religion (the History of Religions) beginning
insanity supply” (James, p. 337).
in the 1940s.
Those with a particular interest in mysticism often have
WILLIAM JAMES. William James, a philosopher and psychol-
read James’s chapter on the subject in isolation from the
ogist who taught at Harvard for over thirty years, is usually
work as a whole, either adopting or critiquing his “four
given credit for constituting the term religious experience as
marks” of mysticism—ineffability, noetic quality, transcien-
a technical term in the study of religion. In Varieties, reli-
cy, and passivity—and linking him with the tradition de-
gious experience, abstracted from its traditional Protestant
scended from Schleiermacher. Recent critics of ahistorical
meaning, served as an umbrella term that encompassed tradi-
approaches to mysticism, such as Grace Jantzen, have cri-
tionally Catholic conceptions of sainthood and mysticism as
tiqued James on the basis of this sort of reading. While there
well as the traditionally Protestant idea of conversion. Refer-
are resemblances between Schleiermacher, Otto, and James,
ences to other traditions, while not as numerous, appeared
particularly in terms of their emphasis on emotion, the dif-
throughout the book as well. All were united under the ru-
ferences are significant. Troeltsch noted in 1912 that the key
bric of religious experience, which no longer referred to the
difference between James and the European philosophers of
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7742
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
religion lay in the latter’s commitment to Platonic or Neo-
and political posts, including from 1962–67, the presidency
platonic rationalism and the former’s commitment to an
of India.
anti-Platonic radical empiricism. While the Europeans pre-
Radhakrishnan’s perennialist understanding of religious
supposed an “a priori unity of consciousness” upon which
experience blended a distinctly Neo-Hindu form of Vedanta
they could base a postulated “essence of religion,” James did
with the philosophical idealism of the West. In a lecture on
not. James did not consider religion an a priori category and,
“Religious Experience” given at Oxford in 1926 (and later
while he assumed that it had a distinct function that could
published in A Hindu View of Life [1927]), he located Hin-
be identified by means of comparisons with similar phenom-
duism’s particular strength in its long history of “welding to-
ena, it was not, in his view, sui generis.
gether heterogeneous elements and enabling them to live to-
At most points in Varieties, James as a result made a
gether in peace and order.” In a world “full of racial, cultural,
clear distinction between the subjective experience of believ-
and religious misunderstandings,” he hoped that the Hindu
ers (i.e., their phenomenological claims of immediacy),
approach to “the problem of religious conflicts” might have
which he recognized, and the truth claims they asserted (i.e.,
lessons for all. Hinduism was able to discover unity amidst
their epistemological claims to immediacy), which were, in
diversity because of its grounding in religious experience. Re-
his view, open to question. He recognized, for example, that
flecting his debt to Tagore, he wrote that in Hinduism “in-
“any object that is infinitely important to us and awakens our
tellect is subordinated to intuition, dogma to experience,
devotion feels to us also as if it must be sui generis and
outer expression to inward realization. Religion is not the ac-
unique.” Even a crab, he added tongue in cheek, would un-
ceptance of academic abstractions or the celebration of cere-
doubtedly be filled with “a sense of personal outrage” if it
monies, but a kind of life or experience. It is insight into the
overheard us class it with the crustaceans “and thus dispose
nature of reality (dar´sana), or experience of reality (anub-
of it” (James, p. 17). In contrast to Otto, who made analo-
hava)” (Radhakrishnan, p. 15).
gies—particularly between religious and aesthetic experi-
As McDermott points out, both Vedanta and idealism
ence—in order to evoke the “perfectly sui generis” experi-
share an epistemology (a theory of intuition) and a meta-
ence of the numinous in his readers, James was an inveterate
physics (a theory of the Absolute) in which the case for intu-
comparativist who liked nothing better than to construct a
ition presupposes the reality of the Absolute and case for the
graduated series of examples—religious and non-religious—
Absolute depends on knowledge supplied by intuition (Rad-
so as to more fully grasp the significance of the phenomena
hakrishnan, p. 16). Radhakrishnan equates “religious experi-
in question.
ence” and intuitive knowledge. In An Idealist View of Life,
Also in contrast to Otto, James was interested in mediat-
he described religious experience as “a type of experience
ing between science and religion and did not reject naturalis-
which is not clearly differentiated into a subject-object state,
tic explanations of religious claims out of hand. Where Otto
an integral, undivided consciousness in which not merely
seemed to assume the objective reality of the numinous ob-
this or that side of man’s nature but his whole being seems
ject, James asked whether the seemingly external presence
to find itself.” (Radhakrishnan, 1932, p. 91). He made use
encountered by believers—the “More” as he called it—really
of the idea of the unconscious to explain how the Absolute
existed. James offered the idea of the “subconscious” devel-
could be “directly experienced” without making a claim for
oped by Frederick Myers, his colleague in the Society for Psy-
“pure experience.” Thus, he argued:
chical Research, as a largely naturalistic explanation of such
immediacy does not mean absence of psychological me-
experiences, which nonetheless held open the possibility of
diation but only non-mediation by conscious thought.
influences that originated beyond the self. James himself be-
Ideas which seem to come to us with compelling force,
lieved that such influences were possible, as he indicated in
without any mediate intellectual process of which we
his postscript, and he was closely involved with the Society
are aware, are generally the results of previous training
for Psychical Research’s attempts to obtain evidence of life
in traditions imparted to us in our early years. . . .
after death through their investigations of spiritualist
Something is directly experienced, but it is uncon-
sciously interpreted in the terms of the tradition in
mediums.
which the individual is trained (Radhakrishnan, 1932,
SARVEPELLI RADHAKRISHNAN. Radhakrishnan was born
pp. 98–99).
near Madras, India, and educated in schools run by Christian
Thus, as he summed up in The Hindu View of Life:
missionaries. The missionaries’ criticisms of Hinduism led
him to examine it for himself and ultimately to take up the
religious experience is not the pure unvarnished pre-
Neo-Hindu efforts to modernize the tradition. From 1909
sentment of the real in itself, but is the presentment of
the real already influenced by the ideas and preposses-
to 1931, he taught philosophy and religion at various col-
sions of the perceiving mind. . . . Each religious ge-
leges and universities in India. Beginning in the mid-1920s,
nius spells out the mystery of God according to his own
he gave a series of prestigious lectures in England and the
endowment, personal, racial, and historical. The variety
United States and, from 1936–39, held the Spalding Chair
of the pictures of God is easily intelligible when we real-
in Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford. Upon his return
ize that religious experience is psychologically mediated
to India, he assumed a variety of high-ranking administrative
(Radhakrishnan, pp. 24–25).
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RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
7743
JOACHIM WACH. Wach, a German-born historian of reli-
bols, moral laws, and ideas. Indeed, he stressed that there was
gions, studied with Otto, Heiler, and Troeltsch. He taught
probably not “anything . . . that has not at some time in
at the University of Leipzig until his appointment was termi-
human history been somewhere transformed into a hiero-
nated in 1935 due to his family’s Jewish background. He im-
phany” (Eliade, p. 11). Given his sharp distinction between
migrated to the United States, where he taught at Brown
the sacred and profane, the hierophany represented a “para-
University (1935–45) and the University of Chicago (1946–
doxical coming-together of sacred and profane.” Acknowl-
1955). In his best known work, The Sociology of Religion,
edging the Christian overtones of this formulation, he indi-
Wach synthesized the phenomenological method as pio-
cated that “one might even say that all hierophanies are
neered by Otto, Max Scheler, and Gerardus van der Leeuw
simply prefigurations of the miracle of the Incarnation, that
with the sociological approach of Max Weber and Ernst Tr-
every hierophany is an abortive attempt to reveal the mystery
oeltsch. Relying on Otto, Wach began with religious experi-
of the coming together of God and man” (Eliade, p. 29).
ence, which he defined as the “experience of the holy.” Fol-
While anything could potentially manifest the sacred,
lowing the lead of Weber and Troeltsch, Wach focused on
Eliade also insisted that “a hierophany [nonetheless] implies
the expression of religious experience in the contexts of theo-
a choice, a clear-cut separation of this thing which manifests
ry (myth and doctrine), cultus (worship), and, above all, so-
the sacred from everything else around it” (Eliade, p. 13).
cial groups and social relations. By focusing on the interplay
Sometimes Eliade depicted this act of separation as the result
between religion and society, Wach hoped to illustrate not
of human choice, and at other times, the result of sacred ac-
only “the cultural significance of religion but also to gain new
tion. Thus, Eliade acknowledged that humans as historical
insight into the relations between the various forms of ex-
actors experience, interpret, and revalue the sacred, while, at
pression of religious experience and eventually to understand
the same time, insisting that the sacred as suprahistorical
better the various aspects of religious experience itself”
agent ultimately reveals, displays, and thus imposes “itself on
(Wach, 1944, p. 5).
man from without” (Eliade, p. 369). The conflation of the
In contrast to James who compared religious and non-
two perspectives into one “onto-theological system”—to
religious phenomena and distinguished between such phe-
borrow Jonathan Z. Smith’s phrase—has been both a source
nomena pragmatically, Wach limited his comparisons to reli-
of confusion and the subject of critique in subsequent
gious experiences, which he held to have an “objective char-
decades.
acter” that would “ultimately defy any attempt to describe,
Although Eliade did not use the term religious experi-
analyze, and comprehend its meaning scientifically” (Wach,
ence in a technical sense, he often used it as a synonym for
1944, p. 14). In the wake of the Second World War, perhaps
the experience of the sacred, broadly conceived to include
in reaction to Nazism, Wach provided what were, in effect,
not only hierophanies, but also kratophanies (manifestations
theological criteria for distinguishing between genuine (i.e.,
of power), totemism, ancestor worship, etc. He stressed that
objective) and pseudo-religious experience. While “pseudo
“elementary hierophanies” were always part of a larger reli-
religions,” such as Marxism, ethnic or racialized religions,
gious system made up of “all the religious experiences of the
and nationalism, in his view, were grounded in finite (i.e.,
tribe,” on the one hand, and “a corpus of traditional theories
human and subjective) realities, genuine religious experience
[e.g. myths] which cannot be reduced to elementary
was, he claimed, grounded in “ultimate reality” (Wach,
hierophanies,” on the other (Eliade, p. 30). In so far as it
1951, pp. 32-33). Wach’s stress on the sui generis nature of
functioned as an extension of his concept of the sacred,
religion and the objective character of ultimate reality, which
Eliade’s understanding of religious experience maintained
he shared with Otto and van der Leeuw, remained character-
the sui generis and objective character evident in the lineage
istic features of the history of religions program at the Uni-
from Otto to Wach.
versity of Chicago under Wach’s successor, Mircea Eliade
(1907–1986).
Eliade’s colleagues and heirs at the University of Chica-
go appropriated and critiqued his legacy in various ways.
Eliade, in the eyes of many the dominant figure in the
Eliade’s seemingly casual subsumption of the sacred under
study of religion for the post-war generation, approached the
the heading of religious experience was subsequently rein-
study of religion in light of the distinction between the sacred
forced by Eliade’s colleagues, Charles Long and Joseph Kita-
and the profane rather than religious experience per se. He
gawa, both of whom studied under Joachim Wach and
explicitly linked his understanding of the hierophany, the
maintained Wach’s preference for the term religious experi-
manifestation of the sacred in the profane, to the Christian
ence. Kitagawa, reflecting the influence of Otto on Wach
ideas of incarnation and sacrament. In Patterns of Compara-
and Eliade, used the term as a catchall for the “unique and
tive Religion, he emphasized the idea that “the sacred is al-
irreducible element” of religion (Kitagawa, 1987, p. 28). In
ways manifested through some thing” (Eliade, p. 26). These
essays dating back to the late sixties, Long undercut Eliade’s
things included the natural and built environment (sun,
ontological claims by stressing the role of human imagina-
moon, rocks, water; temples); plants, animals, and humans;
tion in the apprehension of the sacred (Long, 1986,
biological processes (sex and fertility); human activities (agri-
pp. 23–25, 27–53, 65–78). Jonathan Z. Smith explicitly
culture, hunting); and immaterial objects, such as time, sym-
criticized Eliade’s conflation of the morphological and onto-
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7744
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
logical and argued for the importance of separating the two
represented two different forms of religious experience. He
in order to maintain the integrity of the morphological enter-
associated the former, with its emphasis on an encounter
prise in the context of historical analysis (Smith, 2000,
with the “wholly other,” with the monotheistic religions of
p. 346; see also 1978, pp. 88–103, 253–259, 289–310). In
the West and the latter, with its emphasis on union with the
The Symbolism of Evil, philosopher Paul Ricoeur critiqued
one, with the religions of the East. He used this distinction
Eliade’s understanding of symbols, rooting them more deep-
to structure his influential textbook on world religions, The
ly in psychological and cultural experience, by arguing, first,
Religious Experience of Mankind, which was reissued in five
that “to manifest the ‘sacred’ on the ‘cosmos’ and to manifest
editions over the succeeding three decades.
it in the ‘psyche’ are the same thing” and, second, that schol-
T
arly engagement with symbols is shaped both by scholars’
HE CRITICS. Because, to paraphrase William James, the use
of a concept can be better understood in relation to its near
own situatedness and by the situatedness of the questions
neighbors and closest competitors, this section gives some
they ask (Ricoeur, pp. 12–13, 19–20).
consideration to critical debates over the concept of mysti-
MYSTICISM, THE NUMINOUS, AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.
cism alongside debates over the concept of religious experi-
James understood mysticism and religious experience as
ence. Other competitors, especially “enthusiasm,” “the sa-
overlapping but not coextensive. Radhakrishnan used the
cred,” and “spirituality,” could profitably be compared as
term religious experience to refer to what many others would
well. Mysticism, however, was selected for examination be-
call mysticism. Otto, van der Leeuw, Wach, and Eliade sub-
cause of its prominence as an alternative during most of the
sumed mysticism under their rubric of choice (the holy,
period under consideration in this essay. Significant criticism
power, religious experience, or the sacred respectively).
of the underlying assumptions that informed the use of the
Wach, Eliade, Kitagawa, and Long, all of whom were inter-
terms religious experience and mysticism surfaced in the
ested in the study of religion in general, viewed terms such
1970s and gathered momentum over the next two decades.
as religious experience, the sacred, and the holy in relation
The central question with respect to religious experience
to a wide range of material and non-material phenomena
(and by extension religion) was whether or not it was sui
that were not necessarily associated with the term mysticism.
generis. This question was typically debated in relation to the
Presumably, they viewed it as a more adequate basis for the
issue of “reductionism” in the study of religion, that is, the
study of religion in all its concrete manifestations.
question of whether religion (or religious experience) could
be legitimately redescribed in nonreligious terms. The cen-
Scholars of mysticism did not demonstrate the same in-
tral question with respect to mysticism was whether or not
terest in the study of religion in general as did historians of
it had a “common core” that united all the disparate forms
religion. Many were identified primarily as philosophers of
of mystical experience. This question was typically debated
religion and brought epistemological concerns to the study
in relation to questions about the nature of experience, spe-
of mysticism. During the fifties and sixties, their discussions
cifically the relationship between experience and language.
revolved mostly around matters of definition and boundaries
in the study of mysticism. Thus, for example, R. C. Zaehner,
Both debates were, in a sense, about the autonomy of
who assumed the Spalding Chair in Eastern Religion and
the experiences in question. The debate over whether or not
Ethics at Oxford upon Radhakrishnan’s departure, critiqued
mysticism had a common core located the question of auton-
both his predecessor’s perennialism and that of Aldous Hux-
omy in relation to the traditions. Those who argued for a
ley, countering with a more nuanced characterization of
common core, a view typically connected to the philosophia
mysticism that ruled out psychic and physical phenomena,
perennis, were in effect arguing for a common esoteric tradi-
downplayed the value of drug-induced experiences, and
tion that united the various traditions. The debate over
heightened the differences between traditions in a manner
whether or not religious experience was sui generis located
congruent with his own Catholic commitments. In Mysti-
the question of autonomy in relation to the academic disci-
cism and Philosophy, Walter T. Stace reiterated the consensus
plines. Those who argued for the sui generis nature of reli-
view that visions, voices, raptures, trances and “hyperemo-
gious experience resisted the idea that religion could be ade-
tionalism” were not part of the “universal core” of mystical
quately understood in nonreligious (i.e. psychological,
experience and sharply differentiated “mystical experience”
sociological, historical) terms. The underlying issue was
from “religious experience,” arguing that once mystical expe-
whether or not the phenomenological approach to the study
rience is stripped of “all intellectual interpretation” all that
of religion, which made a sharp distinction—loosely follow-
is left is “the undifferentiated unity.” What, he asked, “is
ing Dilthey and other Continental philosophers—between
there that is religious about an undifferentiated unity?”
methods appropriate to the humanities and methods appro-
(Stace, p. 23).
priate to the sciences, was adequate for the study of religion
or just another way of importing religion itself into the
The British historian of religions, Ninian Smart (1927–
academy.
2001), made the most significant attempt to bring discus-
sions of mysticism into the general study of religion during
In its most recent iteration, the debate has turned to the
this period. In Reason and Faiths, he proposed to move be-
relationship between scholars of religion and what they
yond Otto by arguing that the numinous and the mystical
study. Methodological questions surrounding the selection
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
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
7745
of data, the nature of comparison, and the influence of the
tacit explanations of experiences embedded in the descriptive
scholar’s beliefs and life experiences remain central in a con-
accounts of believers (Idinopulos/Yonan, p. 123). Second, as
text where some scholars are calling for methods that more
Ivan Strenski’s discussion made clear, reduction involves the
effectively distinguish between the voices and agendas of
redescription of phenomena. “In its home context in the nat-
scholars and those of their subjects. The underlying issue has
ural sciences and philosophy of science, ‘reduction’ names a
to do with the extent to which scholars construct the object
process by which concepts and theories from one domain
of study and the bearing that role in constructing the object
change by being logically and/or conceptually subsumed
has on the subject.
by—‘reduced to’—those of another. . . . ‘Reductionism’ is
thus the obverse of the view that theories are a priori ‘autono-
DEBATES OVER THE NATURE OF RELIGION. The 1970s and
mous’ and immune to the subsumption by other theories”
early 1980s were a period of rising discontent among scholars
(Idinopulos/Yonan, p. 97). Although “reduction” is a techni-
interested in the study of religion and the study of mysticism.
cal term, it does not refer to a process that is limited to scien-
In both cases discontent focused on critiques of the giants
tists or scholars. As Strenski (Idinopulos/Yonan, p. 102) and
that had dominated these areas of study. In the study of reli-
Merkur (Idinopulos/Yonan, p. 221) both point out, ordinary
gion, criticism focused above all on Mircea Eliade. Robert
believers routinely redescribe the beliefs of those they dis-
Segal’s provocative essay “In Defense of Reductionism” di-
agree with.
rected much of the critical energy. At issue was what Eliade
meant by claiming that the “sacred” was “irreducible.” Did
Several of the essays in The Sacred and Its Scholars wres-
he mean that the sacred was real for believers and, thus,
tled with the question of whether Otto, van der Leeuw,
should not be interpreted in any other terms, or was he
Wach, and Eliade were making descriptive claims about the
claiming that the believers’ perspective was in fact epistemo-
experience of believers or metaphysical claims about religion
logically true? While acknowledging that Eliade’s statements
when they argued that religion is sui generis. Merkur argued
were inconsistent in this regard, Segal concluded that
that Otto was making a descriptive claim, but that van der
Eliade’s “willingness to exceed and even violate believers’
Leeuw, Wach, and Eliade were not. Idinopulos disagreed
particular conscious views of the meaning of religion for
with Merkur, claiming that Otto is hopelessly obscure on
them suggests that he is concerned with more than its truth
precisely this point. In a two-part article commemorating the
for them” (Segal, 101). Segal also made the point, which was
fiftieth anniversary of the first edition of Eliade’s Patterns in
shortly thereafter reiterated and generalized by Wayne
Comparative Religions, Jonathan Z. Smith advanced this dis-
Proudfoot, that there is no necessary conflict between the hu-
cussion by distinguishing between morphological (i.e., syn-
manists’ desire to describe the conscious meaning of religion
chronic) and diachronic approaches to history, on the one
for believers, and the social scientists desire to account for
hand, and ontological claims to transcend history, on the
the believer’s understanding in terms other than the believ-
other. Smith argued that Patterns reflects Eliade’s “persistent
er’s own.
attempt to conjoin [a] morphological understanding of his-
tory with an ontology that rejects the historical” (Smith,
Building on the different conceptions of interpretation
2000, p. 346). As indicated above, Smith argues for the im-
in the hermeneutic and pragmatic traditions, Proudfoot
portance of separating the morphological and ontological in
made an important and widely accepted distinction between
order to uphold the value of synchronic as well as diachronic
descriptive and explanatory reduction in Religious Experi-
analyses in the historical enterprise.
ence. “Descriptive reduction,” according to Proudfoot, “is
the failure to identify an emotion, practice, or experience
DEBATES OVER THE NATURE OF EXPERIENCE. In the study
under the description by which the subject identifies it.” The
of mysticism, the critical assault began with a symposium or-
subject’s self-description, he maintained, is normative for de-
ganized by Steven T. Katz in the mid-1970s. In Mysticism
scribing the experience, but should not prevent scholars from
and Philosophical Analysis, Katz set out to advance the discus-
offering their own explanations of the phenomena in ques-
sion and analysis of mysticism “beyond James and Otto,
tion in terms that “are not those of the subject and that
Stace and Zaehner” (Katz, p. 3). Katz framed his symposia
might not meet with his approval.” This sort of “explanatory
and the volumes that emerged from them in relation to the
reduction,” Proudfoot argued, is “perfectly justifiable and is,
question of experience and interpretation. Katz and most of
in fact, normal procedure” (Proudfoot, pp.194–197).
the contributors to his edited volumes are considered special-
ists in the history of mysticism within particular traditions.
Two volumes edited by Thomas A. Idinopulos and Ed-
Most followed Katz’s lead in arguing that there is no such
ward Yonan, Religion and Reductionism and The Sacred and
thing as a pure unmediated experience and, thus, that the
its Scholars capture much of the flavor of the subsequent de-
idea that all mystical experiences share a “common core” is
bate. Two points are worth emphasizing in relation to the
false. Robert K. C. Forman emerged as Katz’s most promi-
first volume. First, Proudfoot’s distinction between descrip-
nent critic. In The Problem of Pure Consciousness and subse-
tive and explanatory reduction was widely accepted. While
quent works, Forman, building on Stace, narrowed the pro-
accepting Proudfoot’s distinction, both Segal and Donald
posed common core to the “Pure Consciousness Event
Wiebe, another well-known critic of Eliade, emphasized that
(PCE),” which he defined “as a wakeful though contentless”
avoiding descriptive reduction did not mean accepting the
form of consciousness (Forman, pp. 7–8).
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7746
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
Forman also reframed the debate between himself and
More crucially, many of those same texts do not explicitly
Katz, describing Katz as a “constructivist” and himself as a
refer to either “religion” or “experience.” Moreover, when
“perennialist” in their approaches to mysticism. The con-
scholars turn to definitions of religion for assistance, they
structivist model, Forman argued, reflected the desire to
often find that they employ referents (e.g., ultimate reality,
privilege pluralism and difference over the commonalities
the sacred, the numinous) that are so vague that they offer
highlighted by perennialists. Viewed in this way, the debate
little assistance in selecting texts. The problem of data selec-
between Katz and Forman can be understood as a debate
tion, thus, leads directly to the underlying question of how
over the autonomy of mystical experience relative to the tra-
(and to what extent) we as scholars constitute our objects of
ditions. Conversely, it is a debate over the legitimacy of the
study.
perennialist self-understanding, which, as predicted by Tr-
If, as Jonathan Z. Smith has argued, we want to move
oeltsch, has broken increasingly free of the traditions over the
beyond simply paraphrasing the words of those we are study-
course of the twentieth century. While perennialists may in-
ing, whether on the grounds of their uniqueness or inviola-
deed pluck experiences out of their original socio-historical
bility, we must take responsibility for our role in construct-
environment, as the historians of mysticism claimed, they do
ing an object of study. Three options are particularly
so in order to relocate, that is subsume, them within a peren-
pertinent with regard to what has traditionally been con-
nialist framework. They are engaging, in other words, in a
strued as religious experience, each with its own advantages
process of redescription that is not always openly acknowl-
and disadvantages, depending on the scholar’s aims. (1) The
edged.
scholar can limit him or herself to texts that make explicit
Both the Katz-Forman debate and the debate over re-
use of the term “religious experience” and its near neighbors
ductionism in the study of religion focused on the autonomy
and competitors, always taking care to note which terms are
of the experiences in question. The debate between Katz and
actually being employed. This is the strategy adopted by Hal-
Forman located the question of autonomy in relation to the
bfass, Sharf (1995), and this entry. This approach is particu-
traditions. Forman, in arguing for a common core, a view
larly useful for tracing the use of concepts and the history of
that he explicitly linked to perennialism, argued for the aca-
ideas. It does not attempt to get at experiences per se. (2) The
demic legitimacy of a perennialist framework undergirding
scholar can decide in advance what he or she will count (i.e.
and implicitly linking the various traditions. The debate over
define) as “religious experience” by developing a definition
whether or not religious experience (religion) was sui generis,
that is sufficiently specific that it can actually be used to select
in contrast, located the question of autonomy in relation to
appropriate textual sources for consideration. While this ap-
the academic disciplines. The debate over whether Otto, van
proach allows the scholar to get at experiences, it runs the
der Leeuw, Wach, and Eliade were making descriptive claims
risk of saying more about the scholar’s understanding of reli-
about believers or ontological claims about religion in gener-
gion (substantively or heuristically) than that of his or her
al reflects a parallel uncertainty. Were Otto, van der Leeuw,
subjects. Care, therefore, should be taken to distinguish be-
Wach, and Eliade involved in the empirical study of the reli-
tween the scholar’s views and those of his or her sources. (3)
gion of their subjects or in creating a generic understanding
The scholar can identify an aspect of experience that is not
of religion ontologically grounded in an ostensible experi-
necessarily co-extensive with what scholars or their subjects
ence of the holy or sacred and, thus, tacitly protected from
take to be religion (e.g., the subjective sense of encountering
methodological scrutiny? The weight of the scholarship sug-
or being moved by an external power), and analyze the way
gests that while they hoped to accomplish the former, they
in which it is understood by persons who stand inside and,
in fact effected the latter, without effectively differentiating
if desired, outside one or more traditions. This approach al-
between the two aims. Like the perennialists, they too were
lows scholars to analyze what their subjects understand as au-
engaging in an ontologically informed process of redescrip-
thentic experience and to explore the criteria they use for
tion that was not overtly acknowledged.
making these judgments. This approach makes controversies
QUESTIONS OF METHOD. The central methodological ques-
over the meaning of a particular type of experience the focus
tion for the empirical study of religion is data selection.
of scholarly analysis. It recognizes (and takes advantage of)
Douglas Allen clearly articulated the problem when he ob-
the fact that both insiders and outsiders to a tradition regu-
served apropos of Eliade that if the historian of religion’s
larly describe and redescribe experiences as religious or not
“point of departure is the historical data which expresses the
religious, authentic or inauthentic. In so doing, this ap-
religious experiences of mankind[,] . . . how does one know
proach allows scholars to recognize and examine boundary
what documents to collect, which phenomena to describe
issues (e.g. between psychical experience, visions, mysticism,
and interpret?” (Allen, pp. 171-172). Proudfoot identified
religious experience, spirituality and so on) that may be sup-
two options: an experience can be designated as religious by
pressed by scholarly definitions of religion.
the scholar (who must then supply a definition of religion)
NEW DIRECTIONS. Some of the most interesting new re-
or by the subject of the experience. In practice, however,
search reflects the interdisciplinary interests of William
matters are not so simple. Many texts that the scholar might
James and others affiliated with the Society for Psychical Re-
intuitively want to consider were written by followers or ob-
search at the beginning of the twentieth century. Three par-
servers rather than by the ostensible subject of the experience.
tially overlapping areas of research look particularly promis-
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
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
7747
ing: the relationship between religious experience and brain
well defined fashion” (Pyysiäinen, p. 23). In contrast to
function, between religious experience and psychopathology,
scholars who simply stipulate a definition of religion, Pyy-
and between religious experience and various disciplines or
siäian’s definition is offered as a hypothesis, which he has
practices. These investigations locate the study of religious
tested empirically and which is, thus, potentially open to ref-
experience in relation to cognitive science, clinical psycholo-
utation (Pyysiäinen, p. 225). In discussing the neurological
gy, and ritual studies, respectively. Three studies, each of
mechanisms associated with what are commonly understood
which explores this interdisciplinary terrain in different ways,
as “religious experiences,” he stresses that the mechanisms
illustrate three different ways of constructing an object of
themselves are “in no way specifically ‘religious’” (Pyys-
study.
iäinen, p. 142). The experiences, in other words, are not nec-
essarily either religious or non-religious; they become reli-
Etzel Cardeña, Steven Jay Lynn, and Stanley Kripp-
gious when they are associated with counter-intuitive
ner—all associated with the American Psychological Associa-
representations. By carefully distinguishing between religion
tion’s Division 30 (Psychological Hypnosis)—edited Varie-
and experience, Pyysiäian constructs a theory in which both
ties of Anomalous Experience. In addition to alluding to James
aspects—the definition of religion and the correlations be-
in their title, they view themselves as continuing a tradition
tween experiences and brain processes—are open to experi-
of scientific investigation initiated by the Society for Psychi-
mental testing and potential refutation.
cal Research and late nineteenth-century clinical researchers.
Their object of study is “anomalous experiences,” that is, ex-
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Snodgrass, Presenting Japanese Buddhism to the West (Chapel
counter between India and the West” in Halbfass; Sharf
Hill, 2003).
1995; and Taves 1999. Hanegraaff 1995 and 1998b, Jant-
zen, and Kripal provided helpful perspectives on the related
William James. There is a vast literature on William James. With-
histories of Western esotericism and mysticism. Fredericks,
in religion, most of the recent discussion of Varieties has
Murphy (in Rennie), and Penner provided helpful perspec-
taken place among philosophers of religion and scholars of
tives on the history of ideas in the modern era.
mysticism (e.g., Proudfoot, Bagger, Barnard, Jantzen, Lam-
berth). For a good introduction to James in relation to the
Pre-Reformation Christianity and Traditional Protestantism. The
modern study of mysticism, see Furse, pp. 9–28. Jantzen
Dictionnaire de Spiritualité, s.v. “Expérience spirituelle,” pro-
reads James’s chapter on mysticism in relation to Schleierma-
vides a helpful overview of pre-Reformation Christianity.
cher and the Romantic tradition, pp. 304–321, and critiques
Taves 1999, pp. 13–117, discusses traditional Protestant and
philosophers of religion for their ahistorical utilization of
early Enlightenment views of experience. For a more detailed
James’s chapter on mysticism, pp. 330–332. Barnard focuses
discussion of “enthusiasm,” see Klein and LaVopa. For a dis-
his reading on James’s epistemology, utilizing it to support
cussion of Protestant’s changing view of mysticism, see
Forman’s position in the Katz-Forman debate. Long
Schmidt.
(pp. 158–172) provides a helpful critical discussion of James
Universalistic New Religious Movements. Taken together, Taves
and Troeltsch in relation to the study of religion. Taves
1999, pp.166–260; Taves 2003b; and Hanegraaff, New Age
2003b, building on Taves 1999: 253–291, treats James from
Religion (1998), pp. 443–462, provide an overview of these
the perspective of comparison in the study of religion.
movements and entry into the wider literature.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. For biographical details, see Radhakr-
Liberal Protestant Theology. Welch provides a good overview.
ishnan’s autobiography in McDermott. Radhakrishnan’s key
Sharpe (pp. 154–69) provides background on Soderblom,
writings on religious experience can be found in The Hindu
Otto, and Heiler. Kippenberg (pp. 125–135), describes the
View of Life (1927), pp. 11–33, and An Idealist View of Life
shift from religion as survival to religion as power. Crouter
(London, 1932), pp. 84–126. McDermott also provides a
provides a concise overview of the contemporary debate with
helpful philosophically oriented introduction to his thought.
respect to Schleiermacher and experience in his introduction
The Philosophy of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, edited by Paul A.
to On Religion (pp. xxxii–xxxiv). In addition to Merkur and
Schilpp (New York, 1952), includes numerous tributes to
Idinopulos on Otto (in Idinopulos and Yonan 1996), see
Radhakrishnan, including Wach’s somewhat critical contri-
also Raphael (pp. 60–84, 149–174) for a theologically ori-
bution, “Radhakrishnan and the Comparative Study of Reli-
ented reassessment of “numinous experience” in the wake of
gion,” pp. 443–458.
critiques by Smart and Katz. For discussion and critique of
recent efforts by Protestant philosophers of religion to defend
Joachim Wach and the Chicago Tradition. For a biographical
theism using the concept of religious experience, see Jantzen,
sketch, see Kitagawa 1987: 271–74. Wach’s most important
pp. 328–339, and Bagger, pp. 109–134, 197–228.
writings on religious experience are Sociology of Religion
(1944), “Universals in Religion” and “Rudolf Otto and the
Catholicism after Trent. Hill provides an overview from a Catho-
Idea of the Holy” in Wach, 1951: 30–47, 209–227, and
lic perspective. For further discussion of the Vatican I refer-
Wach 1958. For Eliade’s understanding of the sacred in rela-
ences to experience, see Walter. For a discussion of Catholic
tion to religious experience, see especially Eliade (1949/58)
modernism and religious experience, see Dubarle. For an
and J. Z. Smith (2000). For the argument that Eliade might
overview of Catholic theology in relation to the modern turn
be better positioned in relation to French discourses on the
to the subject, Brian J. Shanley, O.P., The Thomist Tradition
sacred (e.g. Durkheim) than in relation to Protestant phe-
(Boston, 2002), pp. 1–20.
nomenologists such as Otto and van der Leeuw, see William
Judaism and Islam. Biale provides an excellent overview of the re-
E. Paden in Rennie (pp. 249–259) and in Idinoupolos &
lationship between Scholem and the early Buber in the con-
Yonan 1994 (pp. 198–210). For a discussion of Otto, Eliade,
text of the study of Judaism in the late nineteenth and twen-
Kitagawa, and Ricoeur as phenomenologists of religion, see
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
7750
RENAN, ERNEST
Twiss & Conser. For histories of the Chicago School under
and confidence in science showed clearly in his work on
Wach and Eliade by insiders, see Kitagawa, “The History of
Middle Eastern languages and religion. Renan’s interest in
Religions at Chicago” in Kitagawa 1987: 133–44, and
the Middle East began during his seminary study in Paris,
Charles H. Long, “A Look at the Chicago Tradition in the
where he worked under Arthur Le Hir and Étienne Marc
History of Religions,” in Kitagawa 1985: 87–104.
Quatremère. In 1848 he won the prestigious Prix Volney for
Mysticism, the numinous, and religious experience. On Zaehner,
his essay on the history of Semitic languages. In 1852 he was
see Kripal 2001.
appointed an assistant to the keeper of Eastern manuscripts
Critics. In addition to Segal (1983), Proudfoot (1985), Idinopulos
at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, where he was in
and Yonan (1994, 1996), see also Long (1986), J. Z. Smith
charge of Syrian, Sabaean, and Ethiopian manuscripts; this
(1978, 2000), McCutcheon 1997 and the essays by Mc-
work, he once said, was the most rewarding he had done.
Cutcheon, Murphy, and Paden in Rennie. For recent critical
discussions of the Katz-Forman debate, see Hollenbeck,
During the same period, he published his doctoral thesis on
1–25; Jantzen, 322–353; Brainard, and Bagger, 90–108. On
the Arab philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroës).
method in the study of experience, see Taves 2003a.
As a result of this work Renan had begun to earn a repu-
New Directions. The essays in Cardeña, Lynn, and Kripner
tation as an Orientalist and so was able to secure a place on
(2000) provide a good point of entry into the literature on
a scientific mission to Syria that was organized under the
religious experience and the clinical disciplines (clinical psy-
protection of the troops of Napoleon III, who were occupy-
chology, transpersonal psychology, and psychiatry). The ed-
ing Beirut. Despite the tragedy of the death of his sister,
ited volumes by Andresen (2001) and Pyysiäinen and Ant-
tonen (2002) provide an overview of the most recent work
Henriette, who had always aided and supported his work and
on cognitive science approaches to religion, including several
who had accompanied him and his wife to Syria, the trip was
authors that focus on religious experience (see, in addition
a milestone for Renan because it cemented his interest in the
to Pyysiäian, the articles by McNamara and Barrett in An-
Middle East and set him to work on what would be the
dresen). The edited volume by Andresen and Forman (2000)
major accomplishment of his professional life, the seven-
draws together a wider range of studies that can be loosely
volume Histoire des origines du christianisme (1863–1881)
grouped under the heading of conscious studies and reli-
and its five-volume supplement, Histoire du peuple d’Israël
gious/spiritual experience. Hollenbeck’s interest in supernor-
(1887–1893).
mal phenomena places him in the tradition of Myers and
James and of more recent works, such as Michael Murphy’s
The first volume of Origines was the controversial and
The Future of the Body (Los Angeles, 1992), but raises ques-
enormously popular Vie de Jésus (Life of Jesus). This little
tions that most scholars of religion have so far avoided.
book, which first appeared in 1863, gave educated French-
ANN TAVES (2005)
men Renan’s idiosyncratic portrait of Jesus. What made the
book remarkable in its time, however, was its effort to draw
the portrait of Jesus only along the lines roughed out by his-
RENAN, ERNEST (1823–1892) was a French Orien-
torical criticism and to project it against the larger back-
talist and essayist. Joseph Ernest Renan is a fragment of a
ground of the Middle Eastern religions. It showed Renan’s
mirror held up to nineteenth-century France. His life and
comparative method at work, and because it failed to make
work reflect especially the appeal of positivist science and its
or support the traditional religious claims about the divinity
conflict with religion, particularly Roman Catholicism.
of Jesus or the uniqueness of Christian religion, it was widely
condemned by the churches.
Born on February 28, 1823, in Tréguier, Brittany,
Renan was raised a Roman Catholic and educated in semi-
Renan returned to the Middle East again in 1864, this
naries until, at the age of twenty-two, he left both the semi-
time to Egypt, Asia Minor, and Greece. It was on this trip
nary and the church. He wrote to his spiritual director that
that Renan composed the Prière sur l’Acropole, which ex-
the church would not allow him the freedom to pursue the
pressed what he called his religious revelation that the perfec-
kind of scientific study that had increasingly fascinated him.
tion promised by Judaism, Islam, and Christianity actually
Three years later, in 1848, he wrote L’avenir de la science
existed in the Greek civilization that created science, art, and
(The Future of Science), a kind of apologia for his conversion
philosophy. Since religion is, in Renan’s view, the way people
to positivist science. In it Renan developed the ideas that
often satisfy their craving for such perfection, he continued
would govern virtually all his later work. First, he thought
to pursue his research into the relationships among Judaism,
that science would eventually supplant religion in developed
Christianity, and Islam. His thesis was that Christianity
societies. “Only science,” he wrote, “can resolve eternal
adapted Judaism to the European temperament and Islam
human problems.” Second, he understood science as an in-
adapted it to the Arab.
quiry that exhibits a comparative, skeptical, and nonjudg-
Renan’s historical sense was not always the best, and he
mental attitude toward its subject, and so distinguishes itself
clearly preferred to draw his conclusions from what he
from doctrinaire religion as well as eighteenth-century ratio-
thought were psychological patterns of the races and reli-
nalism.
gions he studied. He speculated a good deal more freely than
The Future of Science was not published until 1890, two
scholars are accustomed to do today (for example, he de-
years before Renan’s death; nevertheless, his attitude toward
scribed in detail the physical appearance of Paul of Tarsus),
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REN AND YI
7751
and he was ready to base his judgments on aesthetic princi-
Ren was probably cognate with another term, ren*
ples as much as on historical fact. However, his prose style
(human beings, persons, others), and there are two main
was provocative and so effective that he often had an impact
scholarly views regarding the early use of ren. One theory
in excess of the merits of his research. His work earned him
takes it to refer originally to the desirable attributes making
appointment as professor of history of religions at the Col-
one a distinctive member of certain tribes or aristocratic
lège de France in 1862 and again in 1870. In 1878 he was
clans. The other takes it to refer originally to love or the ten-
elected to the Académie Française. He died in Paris on Octo-
der part of human feelings, especially the kindness of a ruler
ber 2, 1892.
toward his subjects. The term is used in the Analects of Con-
Above all, Renan has reserved a place for himself in the
fucius (sixth to fifth century BCE) more often in a broader
religious history of France because he, as much as anyone
sense, but sometimes in a narrower sense. In the broader
else, focused public attention on the potential and the conse-
sense, it refers to an all-encompassing ideal for human beings
quences of a scientific approach to religious questions. Par-
that includes such desirable attributes as wisdom, courage,
ticularly for the group of French Catholic scholars who fol-
filial piety, conscientiousness, trustworthiness, or even cau-
lowed him, he served as a challenge and a warning to their
tion in speech and the ability to endure adverse circum-
effort to modernize the church.
stances. In the narrower sense, it emphasizes the part of the
ethical ideal having to do with affective concern for others,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and on one occasion ren is explained in terms of love for fel-
Renan’s works have been published in many languages. In French,
low human beings. This latter use of ren is highlighted in the
his Œuvres complètes, 10 vols., edited by Henriette Psichari
Mengzi. Mengzi (also known as Mencius, fourth century
(Paris, 1947–1961), is the basic source. Among his works
that have appeared in English editions, translated by various
BCE) characterizes ren in terms of love or concern for others,
hands, are The Future of Science, History of the People of Israel,
a concern that involves gradation—one’s concern for and ob-
The Life of Jesus, and Studies in Religious History. Renan’s two
ligations to those closer to oneself go beyond one’s concern
autobiographical pieces are also available under the English
for and obligations to those more distant from oneself. Ren
title The Memoirs of Ernest Renan (London, 1935).
also involves a reluctance to cause harm and the capacity to
The standard work on Renan in English is Francis Espinasse’s The
be moved by the suffering of others, where the scope of this
Life of Ernest Renan (1895; reprint, Boston, 1980), written
concern includes not only human beings but also animals of
only a few years after Renan’s death. H. W. Wardman’s Er-
certain kinds.
nest Renan (London, 1964) is another English-language
study. A useful bibliography can be found in Jacques Waar-
Yi was probably a near relative of, if not derived from,
denburg’s Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion, vol. 2
wo (I, me, myself), and it was used in early texts in relation
(The Hague, 1974), pp. 228–241.
to distancing oneself from disgrace—someone with yi has a
New Sources
proper regard for himself or herself and would not brook an
Yves Marchasson, “Ernest Renan,” in Supplément au Dictionnaire
insult or accept disgraceful treatment. By the time of Confu-
de la Bible, Vol. 10, Paris, 1985, pp.277–344 provides suc-
cius, yi had come to be used more generally in connection
cinct factual information on Renan’s life, works, ideas and
with proper conduct, where what is proper is measured
legacy. Laudyce Rétat, Religion et imagination religieuse. Leurs
against certain ethical standards that go beyond ordinary so-
formes et leurs rapports dans l’œuvre d’Ernest Renan, Paris,
cial honor or disgrace. Both Mengzi and Xunzi (third centu-
1977, is the most comprehensive monograph in French.
David C. J. Lee, Ernest Renan. In the Shadow of Faith, Lon-
ry BCE) highlight the distinction between what is truly hon-
don, 1996 explores the conflicts surrounding the process of
orable or disgraceful, as measured by certain ethical
secularization in the light of Renan’s biographical experience.
standards, and what is honorable or disgraceful by ordinary
Renan’s commmitment to ideologies spread in academic
social standards. Unlike Mozi (fifth century BCE), who ex-
conetemporary milieux (racism, traditionalism) have been
plains yi in terms of li (profit, benefit), Mengzi often con-
scrutinized recently in various works: after the provoking, if
trasts yi with li, emphasizing the priority of yi over profit.
somewhat biased, Orientalism, by Edward Said (New York,
Mengzi uses yi to refer not just to the propriety of conduct
1978), see Edouard Richard, Ernest Renan, penseur tradition-
but also to a desirable attribute of a person. As such, it in-
aliste? Aix-Marseille, 1996 and Samar Majaes Abdel Nour,
volves one’s regarding as tainting to oneself what falls below
Ernest Renan et l’Orient: ambiguïté d’une relation passionnée,
ethical standards, and one’s insistence on distancing oneself
Lille, 1999.
from such occurrences.
RICHARD J. RESCH (1987)
Revised Bibliography
Mengzi contrasts ren and yi by saying that the former
concerns xin (heart, mind) of human beings and is that in
which one resides, and the latter is the path for human beings
REN AND YI are basic terms in Confucian thought. Ren
and is that which one follows. Also, the former concerns
is often translated as “benevolence” or “humaneness,” and yi
what one cannot bear while the latter concerns what one
as “propriety” or “rightness”; in combination, the expression
would not do. Thus, ren has to do with affective concern for
ren-yi refers to the Confucian way of life and is often translat-
others, while yi has to do with strictness with oneself, a firm
ed as “morality.”
commitment to not falling below certain ethical standards.
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
7752
RENNYO
This contrast between ren and yi is highlighted by the Han
SEE ALSO Confucius; Mengzi.
Confucian thinker Dong Zhongshu (179–104 BCE), who
points to the link of ren to ren* (others) and of yi to wo (one-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
self). According to Dong, ren has to do with love for others
Chan, Wing-tsit, trans. and comp. A Source Book in Chinese Phi-
(rather than oneself) and yi with straightening oneself (rather
losophy. Princeton, 1963.
than others). The Tang Confucian thinker Han Yu (768–
Graham, A. C. Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in An-
824) thinks that loving broadly is what is meant by ren, while
cient China. La Salle, Ill., 1989.
acting in a way that’s appropriate is what is meant by yi.
Graham, A. C. Two Chinese Philosophers: The Metaphysics of the
Brothers Ch’eng. La Salle, Ill., 1992.
The understanding of ren and yi continued to undergo
Nivison, David S. The Ways of Confucianism: Investigations in Chi-
significant evolvement in later Confucian thought. Yi is
nese Philosophy. La Salle, Ill., 1996.
often related to dao (way) and to li* (pattern, principle) in
Shun, Kwong-loi. Mencius and Early Chinese Thought. Stanford,
early texts. The Song Confucian thinker Zhu Xi (1130–
Calif., 1997.
1200) distinguishes between these concepts by saying that
KWONG-LOI SHUN (2005)
dao emphasizes the proper way of life for human beings in
general, while yi emphasizes what is proper in relation to spe-
cific situations and affairs. Li* pertains to things and affairs,
and is that which accounts for the way things operate and
RENNYO (1415–1499), a Japanese Buddhist monk, was
the way they should operate. Yi, by contrast, pertains to the
the eighth head priest of the Honganji temple of Jo¯do
actual dealings with affairs by human beings; a person acts
Shinshu¯ (“True Pure Land sect”). He was the eldest son of
with yi by following li* that pertains to the situation. While
Zonnyo, the sect’s seventh head priest. Since Honganji,
still often contrasting yi with li (profit, benefit), Zhu also en-
which was then located in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto,
dorses another early idea that regards li as arising from yi.
was then affiliated with the Shoren-in belonging to the Ten-
While li* (pattern, principle) is ultimately one, its instantia-
dai sect, it was dominated by Tendai rituals and teachings.
tion in things is differentiated and everything has its own feng
At that time, Honganji was nearly deserted, visited by few
(allotment, proper place). Yi involves following li* in things,
people.
thereby enabling each thing to attain its proper place (feng)
When Rennyo was six years old, his mother left the tem-
without interfering with other things; this is what is truly
ple. At that time, she instructed him to revive the teaching
beneficial (li) to things.
of Shinran (1173–1263), the founder of Jo¯do Shinshu¯. Fol-
lowing his mother’s wish, Rennyo, at the age of sixteen, re-
The early texts Yijing (Book of changes) and Li ji (Re-
solved to work for its revival. At seventeen, Rennyo took the
cord of rites) refer to ren as the xin (heart, mind) of heaven
tonsure at Shoren-in, and then went to Daijo-in, a subtemple
and earth, and the Song Confucian thinker Zhang Zai
of Kofukuji in Nara, where he studied Buddhist teachings.
(1020–1077) also speaks of the ren of heaven and earth. Ac-
Rennyo subsequently returned to Honganji and studied
cording to Zhang Zai, ren should encompass every thing and
Shinran’s writings assiduously.
affair without omission, and the sage is like heaven in being
without regard for himself. Following Zhang Zai, Zhu Xi ex-
With the death of his father in 1457, Rennyo succeeded
plicates ren in terms of forming one body with ten thousand
to the abbacy of Honganji and began to proselytize Shinran’s
things; everything is part of oneself, so there is no longer a
teachings. He first concentrated his efforts in the province
distinction between self (wo) and other things. Following the
of Omi, which bordered Kyoto to the east. His success pro-
brothers Cheng Hao (1032–1085) and Cheng Yi (1033–
voked the anger of the Tendai sect, which sent armed monks
1107), Zhu Xi characterizes ren as the xin of giving life to
to attack Honganji. The temple was destroyed, and Rennyo
and nourishing things, endorsing the Cheng brothers’ com-
barely escaped with his life. This event is called the Kansho¯
parison of ren to the life-giving power of a seed of grain.
no Ho¯nan (persecution of the Kansho period). Rennyo took
Again drawing from the Cheng brothers, Zhu Xi compares
refuge in Kanegamori in Omi, where the villagers succeeded
the use of ren in an ethical context to its use in a medical con-
in routing the pursuing monks in a pitched battle.
text. Everything is part of oneself, just as the four limbs are
No longer able to work in Omi, which was under the
part of one’s body. Just as numbness in a limb is referred to
dominance of the Tendai sect, Rennyo moved his base of op-
as the lack of ren in a medical context, a failure to be sensitive
eration in 1471 to Yoshizaki in Echizen province, a region
to the wellbeing of other things reflects a lack of ren in one-
to the northwest of Kyoto on the Sea of Japan. There he
self. This does not mean that one should treat everything
proselytized widely using pastoral letters, called ofumi or
equally; just as one might sacrifice one’s hand to protect
gobunsho¯, written in colloquial Japanese, and he developed
one’s head, the wellbeing of those closer to oneself can have
lay religious associations called ko to organize his followers.
priority over the wellbeing of others who are more distant.
As a result, the number of his adherents increased dramati-
This is an application of the idea that although li* (pattern,
cally. Rennyo’s success sparked the jealousy of other local
principle) is one, its instantiation in things is differentiated;
Buddhist groups, including those located at Heisenji and
differential treatment of things is an appropriate response to
Toyohara-dera. Local warriors also began to show interest in
the different relations one maintains to different things.
extending their control over Yoshizaki.
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
RENOU, LOUIS
7753
In 1473, two years after Rennyo’s move, rumors started
written in 1457 just after Rennyo became the chief abbot of
that these forces were about to attack Yoshizaki. Fearing a
Honganji, has been the object of much scholarly attention
battle, Rennyo attempted to leave Yoshizaki, but was per-
in modern times. Rennyo frequently presented his followers
suaded by his adherents residing in Yoshizaki to remain and
with autographed copies of the so-called “ten character name
to protect the town using all necessary means. A resolution
of Amida Buddha” (the phrase “kimyo jinjip’po mugeko
adopted at this time states the following: “After mutual dis-
nyorai,” meaning “I take refuge in the Tathagata of Unhin-
cussion, it was decided that (if Yoshizaki is attacked), we
dered Light Illuminating the Ten Quarters”) to be used as
must fight to protect the Buddhist dharma, even if we are
objects of worship. In the commentary to this work he states
to die in battle.” This resolution became the basis of ikko¯
the following: “Amida Tathagata is also called Tathagata of
ikki, which were popular uprisings that sought to protect
Unhindered Light. This is because the saving light of Amida
Buddhist teachings, by force if necessary.
Tathagata cannot be obstructed by human laws” (Shinshu
shogyo zensho, vol.3, p. 387). Human laws here refers to laws
In 1474, followers of the Takada branch of Jo¯do
of the state and ethical rules, which were often employed as
Shinshu¯ in the province of Kaga (next to Echizen), in league
means of oppression. Some people felt liberated by these
with the warrior Togashi Yukichio, tried to suppress Ren-
words and were moved to take part in antiestablishment ac-
nyo’s followers. As a result, the people of Kaga rose up in the
tivities, such as ikko¯ ikki. Perhaps for this reason, Rennyo
so-called Kaga Ikko¯ Ikki. The Jo¯do Shinshu¯ followers of
stopped presenting his followers with the ten character name
Kaga provided Rennyo with his largest source of economic
after he moved to Yoshizaki. Instead he began to present
support. Rennyo justified their action, saying that “they had
them with the six character name, “Namu Amida Butsu.” At
no choice but to begin their rebellion, since Buddhism was
the same time, he also repeatedly admonished his followers
being attacked and nembutsu practitioners were being perse-
in his pastoral letters to respect the authorities and to obey
cuted. Their actions are only natural.” However, Rennyo did
social norms and ethical rules. However, Rennyo’s adherents
not desire more fighting. Feeling that the only way to quell
found it difficult to forget his earlier teachings.
the rebellion was for him to vacate Yoshizaki, he left the town
in 1475. Nevertheless, the Kaga Ikko¯ Ikki continued. In
Rennyo also composed numerous verses in colloquial
1488, Togashi Masachika, the constable of Kaga, was killed
Japanese on Jo¯do Shinshu¯ doctrine. Katata has identified the
and the ikko¯ ikki took over the province.
existence of 316 such verses. Although not works by Rennyo,
collections of his sayings and anecdotes about him, such as
After leaving Yoshizaki, Rennyo attempted to restore
the Kuzen kikigaki and Jitsugo-ki, provide insight into Ren-
the Honganji that had been destroyed earlier by Tendai
nyo’s character and daily life.
monks. He began a construction project in 1478 in the Ya-
mashina district of Kyoto and completed it after five years.
SEE ALSO Jo¯do Shinshu¯; Mappo¯.
Its many marvelous buildings led people to describe it as
being “just like the Buddha’s land.” A temple town was creat-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ed around Honganji as believers flocked to settle in the vicin-
Rennyo’s writings, including his pastoral letters, Shoshinge-chu,
ity of the temple. The town quickly became a thriving center
Shoshinge tai’i, and his verses, as well as the Rennyo shonin
of commerce and industry where, it was said, all the people
goichidai kikigaki, are found in Osamu Katata, ed., Shinshu¯
are rich and live in beautiful houses.
shiryo¯ shu¯sei (Collection of Jodo¯ Shinshu¯ documents), vol. 2:
Rennyo to sono kyodan (Rennyo and his community; Kyoto,
While at Yamashina, Rennyo succeeded in unifying the
1977). See also Shinshu shogyo zensho, 5 vols., Kyoto, 1940-
many Jo¯do Shinshu¯ branches under his leadership, and his
1944. The most recent studies on Rennyo can be found in
organization spread throughout Japan. Even after he retired
Jodoshinshu Kyogaku Kenkyujo, ed., Ko¯za Rennyo (Lectures
and passed on the position of chief abbot to his son, Jitsunyo,
on Rennyo), 6 vols. (Tokyo, 1966–1968), which includes ar-
in 1489, Rennyo remained an active proselytizer, composing
ticles on Rennyo’s life and thought by leading scholars. For
many pastoral letters and constructing a temple in Osaka in
an English study, which includes a translation of Rennyo’s
Settsu province. Rennyo died in 1499 in Yamashina.
pastoral letters, see Minor Rogers and Ann Rogers, Rennyo:
The Second Founder of Shin Buddhism (Berkeley, 1992).
The most important writings by Rennyo are his pastoral
letters (Osamu Katata has verified the existence of 252 such
KENSHI KUSANO (2005)
letters). In them, Rennyo stressed the importance of faith
and argued that the nembutsu (the phrase “Namu Amida
Butsu” or “I take refuge in Amida Buddha’”) should be recit-
RENOU, LOUIS (1896–1966) was a French student
ed as an expression of gratitude to Amida Buddha, the major
of the religions of India and a Sanskrit grammarian. Louis
object of worship in Jo¯do Shinshu¯, who vowed to save even
Renou gave to the Indological world French translations of
the most evil person.
the R:gveda and other studies that have gained central impor-
Besides his well-known pastoral letters, Rennyo com-
tance in the scholarly understanding of Sanskrit texts as au-
posed the Shoshinge-chu, the Shoshinge tai’i, and two com-
tonomous and internally consistent literatures. His Études
mentaries on a hymn written by Shinran. The Shoshinge tai’i,
védiques et paninéennes (1956–1969) and other publications
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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RENOU, LOUIS
on Sanskrit philology are exacting and precise studies that
Prolémée: LEInde (VII 1–4)” (1925), a critical edition and
have elucidated for specialists the often obtuse and difficult,
commentary.
but fundamentally important, literatures of ancient India.
His introductory works on the religions of South Asia have
Renou was professor of Sanskrit and comparative litera-
helped beginners gain confidence in their understanding of
ture at Lyons from 1925 until 1928, when he moved to a
complicated religious systems.
similar positon at the École des Hautes Études in Paris. He
was chosen in 1937 to head the department of Indian lan-
Renou taught himself Sanskrit in his mid-twenties, and
guages and literatures at the Sorbonne, where he succeeded
by the time he took a course in 1922 with Sylvain Lévi he
Alfred Foucher as the director of the Institute de Civilisation
found that he could read Sanskrit texts with ease. He was
Indienne. Renou was elected to the Académie des Inscrip-
frustrated in his initial studies of the language, however, by
tions et Belles Lettres (1946) and to the Académie du Japon
the paucity of critical or analytical tools, and he became de-
(1956) as well as to academic and intellectual societies in
termined to provide such materials for others. He therefore
India, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, and
focused his attention in his earlier works on Sanskrit philolo-
other countries. He also was the vice president of the Société
gy, grammar, and literature. From these concerns he then
Asiatique. Renou gave a series of lectures in India in 1948–
moved into specialized studies and translations of the hymns
1949 and subsequently became active in the Sanskrit Dictio-
of the Vedic Samhita¯s.
nary Project based in Pune (Poona). In 1951 he was invited
to give a series of lectures at the University of Louvain and
Generally taking issue with historical or cultural meth-
then at the University of London’s School of Oriental and
ods in the critical study of Indian religious systems, and par-
African Studies. Renou accepted Franklin Edgerton’s invita-
ticularly of Vedic canonical texts, Renou insisted throughout
tion to teach at Yale University for the academic year 1952–
his career that the literatures and religious ideas of ancient
1953, and from 1954 to 1956 Renou was the director of the
India should not be understood either in comparison to the
Maison Franco-Japonaise in Tokyo, where he developed a
religions of other cultures or in their relationship to later de-
course on the Atharvaveda.
velopments in the religious systems of India itself. He was
particularly assertive in his notion that the verses of the
Despite his concentration on Sanskrit grammar and exe-
R:gveda are intentional poems in their own right and are not
gesis, no aspect of Indian culture remained foreign to Renou,
to be understood as Indian counterparts of Iranian religious
and through his writing he contributed much to Indological
literatures or as veiled records of or literary precursors to the
studies on an international scale.
Brahmanic ritual. For Renou, data relevant to a text’s inter-
pretation lay within the syntax and semantics of the text it-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
self, not in the structures and dynamics of other religious ex-
From the long list of works written and edited by Renou, he is
pressions.
perhaps best known for the following.
Because he maintained that the sacred texts of ancient
La civilisation de l’Inde ancienne, d’après les textes sanskrits. Paris,
India should be analyzed in their own terms, Renou’s lin-
1950. Translated as The Civilization of Ancient India, 2d ed.
guistic studies may be characterized as extended critical expli-
(Calcutta, 1959).
cations du text that eschew sociological, mythological, sacer-
Dictionnaire sanskrit-français. 3 vols. With N. Stchoupak and L.
dotal, developmental, or other contextual concerns. He
Nitti. Paris, 1931–1932.
therefore saw no recourse in commentaries, indigenous or
Grammaire sanscrite. 2 vols. 2d ed. Paris, 1962.
otherwise (even those of the perhaps too widely accepted
fourteenth-century Vedic commentator Sa¯yana), in his pur-
L’hindouisme. 2d ed. Paris, 1958. Translated as The Nature of Hin-
suit of the meaning of primary texts. His interpretive spirit
duism (New York, 1963).
was thus kindred to that of Panini, a Sanskrit linguist who
L’Inde classique. With Jean Filliozat et al. 2 vols. Paris, 1947–
in the eighth century BCE wrote what many modern scholars
1953.
hold to be the oldest grammar in the world and whose works
Les littératures de l’Inde. 2d ed. Paris, 1966. Translated as Indian
Renou studied diligently.
Literature (New York, 1964).
Renou was born in Paris, but through his mother he had
La poésie religieuse de l’Inde antique. Paris, 1942.
a long line of Alsatian ancestors. He was introduced to Indic
Religions of Ancient India (1953). Reprint, New York, 1968.
studies while at the Lycée Janson of Sailly, where he read var-
ious articles by Auguste Barth, a family friend. He obtained
New Sources
the licence ès lettres in 1921, his studies having been interrupt-
Balbir, Nalini, and Georges-Jean Pinault Langue, eds. Langue,
ed by his captivity during World War I. During 1921–1922
style et structure dans le monde indien: centenaire de Louis
he taught at the Lycée Corneille in Rouen and was awarded
Renou: actes du Colloque international (Paris, 25–27 janvier
the docteur ès lettres in 1925, having written a principal thesis
1996). Paris, 1996.
entitled “La valeur du parfait dans les hymns védique”
Pinault, Georges-Jean. Bibliographie des travaux de Louis Renou,
(1925) and a secondary thesis entitled “La géographie de
1896–1966. Paris, 1997.
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REPENTANCE
7755
Renou, Louis. Louis Renou: choix d’études indiennes: réunies par
for their personal and social consequences. Confession can
Nalini Balbir et Georges-Jean Pinault; préface de Colette Cail-
be made privately (to the gods directly as a penitential prayer,
lat; index par Christine Chojnacki. Paris, 1997.
or to a specially credentialed representative of the gods), or
MARIE-SIMONE RENOU (1987)
it can be made publicly. In many cultures the act of confes-
Translated from French by William K. Mahony
sion is inherently cathartic, the sincerity of the penitent
Revised Bibliography
being irrelevant. Confession and accusation are sometimes
closely connected, particularly when witchcraft and sorcery
are involved; in parts of Africa where the onset of witchcraft
RENUNCIATION S
is thought involuntary (in contrast to sorcery, which is re-
EE FASTING; MONASTICISM;
NUNS; RETREAT; SAM
: NYA¯SA; SLEEP; SPIRITUAL
garded as a skill to be learned), confessions of witchcraft dou-
DISCIPLINE
ble as accusations against those who imposed it. Among the
Ashanti of Ghana, women often confessed acts of involun-
tary witchcraft at shrines whose presiding spirits troubled
them. The Bete of the Ivory Coast think that confession of
REPENTANCE. The noun repentance and the verb re-
witchcraft automatically involves absolution. Among the Iro-
pent came into modern English via Middle English and Old
quois of New York State and Ontario who follow the Good
French from the Latin verb paenitere, meaning “to be sorry,
Word religion of Handsome Lake, witchcraft is a serious of-
to grieve, to regret.” As a religious term repentance denotes
fense requiring public or private confession. During the
a change in a person’s attitude, will, and behavior, sometimes
Salem, Massachusetts, witchcraft trials of 1692, many pub-
accompanied by feelings of sorrow and regret for past trans-
licly accused witches acknowledged their culpability and
gressions and perhaps accompanied also by some form of res-
were publicly forgiven and reintegrated into the community.
titution.
Confession may be seen as self-accusation: During the reviv-
MORPHOLOGY OF REPENTANCE. Repentance is a phenome-
alist movement known as the Great Awakening, which began
non found in some, but not all, religious traditions. When
in 1734 in New England, many people publicly accused
present it can range along a continuum from informal but
themselves of various moral offenses (thereby avoiding accu-
socially recognized practices (for example, the repentance
sation by others) and experienced religious conversion.
preceding conversion in modern Protestant revivalism) to
Penitential rites. Repentance may take form as a ritual
very complex formal institutions (for example, the sacrament
presentation, made by the penitent person to observers, of
of penance in Roman Catholicism). Whether formal or in-
outward expressions of remorse and sorrow. Penitential sor-
formal, repentance is a ritual procedure; it exists to repair a
breach in relations between the gods and an individual (or—
row often takes the form of customs associated with mourn-
since ritual and moral pollution are communicable—
ing for the dead: wearing sackcloth and rags, smearing one-
between the gods and a group). The establishment and main-
self with ashes or mud, self-inflicted pain, fasting, and sexual
tenance of good relations with the supernatural order is thus
abstinence. Confession may be formalized both as a rite with
a central preoccupation of religion. The interruption of these
its own efficacy (as among the Indian Shakers of the Pacific
relations, when it occurs, is either inferred from the experi-
Northwest), and as part of a more elaborate expiatory proto-
ence of misfortune (frequently thought the result of con-
col perhaps concluding with a sacrifice (as among the Nuer
scious or unconscious transgressions), or discovered through
or the ancient Israelites). Restitution or compensation is
divination (for example, in the Roman senate, reports of
often an integral feature of penitential rites, particularly in
prodigies could be either accepted or rejected; if accepted,
cases wherein others have been harmed or their property
some form of divination was used to discover the mode of
damaged or taken away. Confession is sometimes regarded
expiation). Repentance belongs to a constellation of restor-
as the necessary prerequisite for formalized types of expia-
ative religious techniques (for example, confession of sins,
tion, such as public sacrifice or public penitential discipline.
restitution, purification, expiatory sacrifice) that lie at the
Guilt. Repentance is an institutionally approved means
frontier leading from impurity to purity, from sin to salva-
of eliminating excessive guilt stemming from the awareness
tion, from the community of the lost to the community of
of having transgressed in thought, word, or deed, and thus
the saved. The primary function of these techniques is to ob-
its public and ritually prescribed protocol exists for the for-
jectify and rectify the cause of the breached relationship.
mal recognition and removal of guilt. In order to understand
Since many important human activities must be undertaken
the ritual removal of guilt, it is useful to bear in mind that
in a state of ritual and perhaps moral purity (warfare, hunting
an anthropological distinction was formerly made between
and fishing, childbirth), taboo violations as well as ritual and
guilt cultures and shame cultures. This distinction was an at-
moral infractions are often confessed and expiated in prepa-
tempt to reify the fact that in some (generally small-scale) so-
ration for such activities.
cieties self-control is based primarily on external sanctions,
Confession of sin and accusation. The confession of
namely, fear of shame, ridicule, and punishment, while in
sin, nearly always a characteristic of repentance, is the verbal-
other societies (often more complex and stratified) self-
ization of wrongs committed and the acceptance of blame
control is determined primarily by internal sanctions, in par-
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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REPENTANCE
ticular the desire to avoid painful feelings; this is known also
ception to this rule; more commonly, guilt looked not in-
as the inner value-structure of the individual conscience, a
ward, but outward in anxious anticipation of the conse-
phenomenon Freud labeled “the censor.”
quences of the deed, that is, physical misfortune. After the
fifth century BCE the term enthumios (“weighing on the
Conversion. The word conversion may be defined as the
mind”) and cognates thereof were often used of religious
voluntary entry into a religious movement having exclusive
scruples or anxiety, but used in the sense of anticipating an
claims that are buttressed by a system of values and norms
evil fate to result from evil deeds. Thus Euripides interpreted
at variance with the outside world; and for conversion repen-
the Erinyes as hypostatized projections of guilt who pursued
tance is often a necessary precondition, for it involves aban-
Orestes in the form of avenging spirits, symbols of his uneasy
doning the old in order to embrace the new. Particularly with
conscience over past transgressions (acknowledged in Orestes
respect to revitalistic or millenarian movements, repentance
396).
is often a necessary step for entry. After the rebellion in 1944
of the Bagasin cult of New Guinea (one of the cargo cults),
For the existence of repentance and confession among
its members were required to confess all past transgres-
the Greeks, as for the existence of inwardly directed guilt,
sions—primarily sorcery and quarrels over women—in order
only limited evidence can be adduced. For example, Lydian
to demonstrate their genuine conversion to the new order.
and Phrygian inscriptions of the second and third centuries
Two rebel leaders, Kaum and Dabus, had confessional ser-
CE may be cited that were dedicated by persons believing
vices each Monday; adherents were told that when God-
themselves punished with illness for specific transgressions
Kilibob was satisfied with their new intentions he would turn
(usually ritual offenses); in their belief, healing was obtained
their skins white and send cargo through the spirits of the
by identifying and confessing the sin. Evidence may be
dead. Another cargo cult, the so-called Vailala Madness of
claimed also in Plutarch’s description of the superstitious
Papua, was characterized by both public accusation and pub-
people who confesses numerous transgressions and subjects
lic confession as preparations for reform. (Transgressions in-
themselves to various ritual expressions of repentance: wear-
cluded stealing and adultery—the established fine for each
ing sackcloth and rags, rolling in mud, and using various
was one pig; positive injunctions included Sunday obser-
magical means of purification (On Superstition 168d). How-
vance and the provision of feasts for ancestors.) The rite of
ever, these repentance rituals appear to be of Asian origin
public confession may in this instance have been adapted
rather than Greek; Plutarch’s example is perhaps borrowed
from Roman Catholicism; whatever its origin, it served to
from the cult of Dea Syria, which he is known to have held
ritualize the embracing of the new morality and abandon-
in general contempt. Again, some might cite the conclusion
ment of the old. Again, emphasis on conversion to a new life
of the first Hermetic treatise (Poimandres 28), a call for re-
characterizes the Good Word (Gaiwiio) religion, whose be-
pentance very similar to Jewish and Christian appeals. But
lief system is based on the revelatory visions received from
the phenomenon perhaps closest to the idea of repentance
1799 forward by the Seneca chief Handsome Lake (Ganio
is found in certain rites of purification practiced in the Greek
EDaí IoE), and whose tenets are still maintained by half the
cults, including Orphism and the Samothracian, Eleusinian,
fifteen thousand Iroquois in New York State and Ontario.
and Dionysian mysteries. It must be stressed that ritual, not
The codification of these visions articulates an ethical and
moral, purity was demanded of initiates; in particular they
cultural program of accommodation between white person
must be free of blood guilt. Entrance to the mysteries there-
and the Indian. Converts to this religion are required to ab-
fore required purification rites, such as smearing oneself with
stain from drinking, gambling, witchcraft, gossip, vanity,
mud lest one wallow in mire in the afterlife. In the mysteries
boasting, and pride; in short they are to abandon many as-
of Samothrace initiates were expected moreover to confess
pects of the past. In place of these the precepts of the code
any significant crimes (Plutarch, Apophthegmata Laconica
are tendered, which require the adoption of the white peo-
217d, 229d), a requirement involving the expiation of ritual
ple’s mode of agriculture (including working in the field),
pollution. The phenomenon of conversion existed not in
the learning of English, and a respect for family life and
cults but in philosophical schools, which were ideologically
children.
exclusivistic and thus made conversion possible. For the idea
CLASSICAL GREEK TRADITIONS. Among the ancient Greeks,
of conversion Plato uses the word epistroph¯e (Republic
the causes of illness, injury, or other misfortunes were vari-
518dff.): Cicero calls it conversio (De natura deorum 1.77).
ously diagnosed as (1) the result of chance, (2) the effect of
Finally, in the Pinax of Cebes (a philosopher of the first cen-
sorcery, (3) divine revenge for affronting a particular divini-
tury CE), wherein the life of vice and virtue are described, re-
ty’s honor, or (4) a punishment for having committed ritual
pentance personified as Metanoia provides deliverance from
or moral transgressions. In the event that guilt was in-
the bad life (chap. 26).
curred—for which the main term was miasma (pollution, de-
NEAR EASTERN TRADITIONS. Repentance is a particularly
filement)—a state of purity might be regained by katharsis
important aspect of many ancient Near Eastern religions in-
(ritual purification). Consciousness of sin, that is, guilt, was
cluding Mesopotamian religions, Judaism, Islam, and Chris-
rarely understood in terms of emotional suffering alone. The
tianity. Among these religions illness and misfortune were
views of the Athenian orator Antiphon (fifth century BCE)
widely attributed to transgression, whether ritual or moral,
expressed in On the Murder of Herodes 5.93 are a striking ex-
deliberate or unconscious. Similarly, Akkadian and Sumeri-
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REPENTANCE
7757
an penitential prayers enumerate ethical as well as ritual
ing, wearing sackcloth or mourning garb, rending one’s
transgressions. Ancient Egyptian religion is an apparent ex-
clothes, strewing earth on one’s head, sitting in ashes (Est.
ception, if one accepts Henri Frankfort’s claim that Egyp-
4:16, 1 Kgs. 21:27, Neh. 9:1, Jon. 3:5–9). These manifesta-
tians had no real consciousness of sin; certainly they had no
tions also include the offering of a sacrifice (Mi. 6:6–8, Is.
conception of original sin. Chapter 125 of the Egyptian Book
1:10–17; occasionally, as in Jl. 2:14, the sacrifice is a gift or
of Going Forth by Day contains a script for recital by the de-
blessing rather than an expiation). For the prophets forgive-
ceased person on entering the hall of judgment, and within
ness of sins is dependent on repentance, by which they mean
this script is the very opposite of a confession of sin, that is,
the shunning of evil (Is. 33:15) and the practice of good (Am.
a declaration of innocence, using a stereotyped list of the
5:14–15, Jer. 26:13).
many kinds of crimes and transgressions not committed.
For sacrificial expiation to take place, there must first
Siegfried Morenz, however, correctly insists that this display
occur confession (hitvaddut), restitution of goods to persons,
of innocence is actually funerary magic in which the deceased
and atonement (asham) for offense to God (Nm. 5:6–8). In
identifies himself with Osiris to evade judgment. The
the case of deliberate sin, moreover, remorse must be verbal-
lengthy protestations of innocence provide indirect evidence
ized (cf. Dn. 9:5–20, Neh. 1:6–37; sacrificial expiation is not
of a consciousness of sin; nevertheless the phenomenon of
possible for the sinner who does not confess or repent (Nm.
repentance is wholly lacking. (Ceremonial avowals of inno-
15:27–31). In the wisdom literature, confession, a prerequi-
cence can be found also in the All Smoking ceremony of the
site for sacrificial expiation, includes admitting having com-
Blackfeet Indians and in the Old Testament (Dt. 26:13–14,
mitted a specific sin and accepting the blame for it (Ps. 32:5,
Ps. 26:4–5, 1 Sm. 12:3).
38:18; Prov. 28:13).
Judaism. In ancient Israel, as in the rest of the Near
During the Second Temple period (516 BCE-70 CE), the
East, fear existed concerning the possibility of committing
notion of repentance or conversion (Heb., teshuvah; Gr., me-
unconscious sin and incurring guilt thereby (Dt. 29:28, 1
tanoia) was of central significance to Judaism. The concep-
Sm. 26:19, Ps. 19:13, Jb. 1:5). But the Bible deals more ex-
tion could involve the prophetic notion of restoration as well
tensively with guilt incurred by conscious and deliberate sin,
as the conversion of pagans. The Jewish philosopher Philo
described several ways. Guilt may be a motion of the heart:
Judaeus of Alexandria (d. 45–50 CE) viewed the Jewish tradi-
1 Samuel 24:5 and 2 Samuel 24:10 use the expression
tion of conversion or repentance through the spectacles of
“David’s heart smote him.” Guilt may be physical suffering:
Greco-Roman philosophy, whereby a proselyte (epelus) un-
In an investigation of the asham (guilt) offering, Jacob Mil-
derwent a conversion (metanoia) from a life of vice to one
grom has shown that the verbal root Eshm denotes the pangs
of virtue (On the Virtues 175–186, On Abraham 17, Ques-
and remorse brought on by guilt and that it should be trans-
tions and Answers on Genesis 1.83.) In every age, the mark of
lated as “feel guilty” (cf. Lv. 5:24–25, Nm. 5:6–7). The He-
the pious Jew is to turn continually to God. Repentance
brew root shav (“turn, turn back”) eventually came to denote
means a permanent break with sin (Eccl. 34:25–26, Sibylline
repentance, that is, a turning back to God. The same root
Oracles 1.167–170; Philo, On the Special Law Books 1.93,
was used to denote sin or apostasy, that is, a turning away
1.240). In rabbinic Judaism repentance (teshuvah) and good
from God (Jos. 22:16). Shav meaning “repent” is emphasized
deeds together describe the ideals of Jewish piety (Avot 4.21–
by the eighth-century classical Israelite prophets (Am.
4.22). In modern Judaism the Days of Awe (RoDsh ha-
4:6–11; Hos. 3:5, 5:4; Is. 1:27, 6:10), and becomes more
Shanah, followed by a week of repentance, culminating in
popular after the sixth century (variant forms occur twenty-
Yom Kippur), is a period of communal contrition and con-
seven times in Jeremiah, twenty-three times in Ezekiel, and
fession of sins. The ritual blowing of the shofar, or ram’s
twenty-eight times in the postexilic books). The earlier
horn, beginning a month before RoDsh ha-Shanah and end-
prophets addressed Israel as a whole and demanded national
ing on the festival day itself, comprises four symbolic sounds:
repentance, but later prophets like Ezekiel emphasized indi-
teqi Eah (the waking call), shevarim (the sobbing of the con-
vidual repentance (Ez. 18:21, 18:27, 33:9, 33:11). The Isra-
trite heart), teru Eah (the weeping of a heart aware of guilt),
elite prophets did not distinguish sharply between ritual and
and teqi Eah (the awakening sound again). On Yom Kippur
moral transgressions, but called Israel back to an earlier, bet-
sins are confessed through statutory prayers recited privately
ter relationship to God as defined by the terms of the cove-
and in unison publicly.
nant. For the Deuteronomist historian repentance or conver-
sion is primarily a turning away from cultic sins such as
Islam. The most important theological conception in
idolatry (1 Sm. 7:3, 1 Kgs. 13:33, 2 Kgs. 17:7–18).
Islam is that God is compassionate and merciful. Repentance
has therefore played a central role throughout the history of
The repentance demanded by the Israelite prophets is
Islam. Throughout history messengers from God have tried
linked to ritual manifestations of repentance, as may be seen
with little success to call people to return to God, that is, to
in Joel 2:12–13: “Return to me [Yahveh] with all your heart,
repent; the Arabic word for repentance, tawbah, literally
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend
means a “returning” to God. Those who reject the message
your hearts and not your garments.” These manifestations
are unbelievers (Arab., kuffa¯r, literally “ungrateful ones”).
accord with traditional Near Eastern rites of repentance: fast-
Nevertheless sinners can always repent, be converted to the
E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F R E L I G I O N , S E C O N D E D I T I O N
7758
REPENTANCE
truth, and do good deeds (QurDa¯n 6:54, 42:25–26). They are
(Rv. 2:5, 2:16, 2:21, 3:3, 3:19); the ritual protocol involved
cleansed from all sins and restored to their original sinless
(if any) is unstated. John uses the same term for the conver-
state. Repentance must be followed by faith and good works
sion of pagans (Rv. 9:20–21, 16:9–11). The ethical rigorism
(QurDa¯n 25:70). Zaka¯t (almsgiving) is a continuing sign of
expressed in the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb. 6:4–6, 10:26–31,
repentance, which must be manifest throughout life (QurDa¯n
12:14–17) reveals a problem with postbaptismal apostasy.
66:5, 9:112).
The ideal of moral purity in the Christian church was
Traditional Islam is not as concerned about repentance
contradicted by reality. During the second and third centu-
as the S:u¯f¯ıs and the MuEtazilah. According to the S:u¯f¯ıs, who
ries Christianity underwent a penitential crisis. By the second
are the mystics of Islam, the first station (maqama¯h) on the
century baptism was thought to confer sinlessness as well as
mystical path begins with repentance. A spiritual guide
the forgiveness of all previous sins. Since baptism or martyr-
(shaykh) enrolls the penitent as a disciple (mur¯ıd) and assigns
dom were the only two means of eradicating postbaptismal
him a regimen of ascetic practices. S:u¯f¯ıs recognize three de-
sin, the practice of adult baptism and deathbed baptism be-
grees of repentance, namely, in ascending order, (1) tawbah
came common. Many reform movements arose. The prophet
(turning to God), which is motivated by fear; (2) ina¯bah (re-
Elkesai (fl. 100 CE) summoned people to repent and submit
turning), motivated by the desire for reward; and (3) awbah
to a second baptism to expiate sin. The Marcionites and the
(returning), motivated by the love of obedience. For the
Montanists (middle of the second century) proclaimed dif-
S:u¯f¯ı, life is a constant struggle against the nafs (“self,” i. e.,
ferent forms of ethical rigorism. In a complex document
lower nature). The MuEtazilah, proponents of a liberal theo-
called the Shepherd of Hermas (compiled c. 100–150 CE), re-
logical view within Islam, emphasized three elements in re-
velatory visions legitimate the possibility of a second and
pentance: (1) restitution, (2) the importance of not repeating
final repentance. Forms of the word metanoia are found
the offense, and (3) continuing remorse. In most forms of
therein nearly a hundred times. The prophetic author urges
Islam, repentance is a relatively informal institution.
Christians to repent the abuses stemming from the posses-
Christianity. The religious reform movements led by
sion of wealth and the conduct of business affairs (Visions
John the Baptist and by Jesus of Nazareth were revitalistic
3.6.5; Commandments 10.1.4; Similitudes 9.20.1). Through-
or millenarian in character. Both emphasized the necessity
out the document there is no explicit connection of the ap-
for repentance or conversion, and took from Judaism the
peal for repentance with a formalized ritual procedure. Ter-
dual means of restoration and proselytism. Even though the
tullian (c. 160–225 CE), before converting to Montanism,
activities of John have been christianized in gospel tradition,
wrote De paenitentia, in which he dealt both with the repen-
it is apparent that John summoned fellow Jews to a repen-
tance required of candidates for baptism (chaps. 4–6) and
tance that he sealed with a ritual bath reminiscent of the
with a single final opportunity for repentance following bap-
washing of Jewish proselytes (Mt. 3:1–12; Lk. 3:1–20; Acts
tism (chap. 7), after which the penitent must never again re-
13:24, 19:4). Those who underwent this baptism were initi-
turn to sin (chap. 5). The ritual behavior of repentance de-
ated into an eschatological community preparing for the im-
scribed by Tertullian includes lying in sackcloth and ashes,
minent visitation of divine judgment. Jesus, too, is presented
severe treatment of the body, restricted food and drink, and
as summoning fellow Jews to repentance (Mk. 1:14–15; Lk.
weeping (chap. 9). The orthodox tradition developed the
13:1–5, 15:7), and the ritual of baptism inherited from John
practice of auricular (“to the ear”) confession to a priest as
was perpetuated as a rite of initiation into the community
a surrogate for God. By the third century a system of public
of the saved. Thus this emphasis on repentance, which was
penance came to be regarded as a second baptism. Excluded
to characterize many strands of Christianity throughout its
from the Eucharist, the penitent went through a regimen of
history, was inherited primarily from Judaism.
fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. The Council of Trent
(1545–1563) reaffirmed that repentance must involve three
There are two Greek words used in early Christian liter-
elements, namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction.
ature that convey the basic notion of repentance, namely,
TRADITIONS OF SMALL-SCALE SOCIETIES. Among the Nuer
metanoia and metameleia. By the time of the Christian era
of the Sudan, certain acts are regarded as bad because God
both words had come to convey a change of attitude or pur-
punishes them. Faults (dueri) are against God and he is the
pose as well as a sorrow for past failings, whereas in non-
one who punishes them. Such faults include incest and adul-
Christian Greek texts the terms are not used in an ethical or
tery as well as offense against certain prohibitions, such as
religious sense until the late Hellenistic period.
eating with those with whom one’s kin have a blood feud and
As in Judaism, in early Christianity forms of the term
milking one’s own cow and drinking the milk. In Nuer belief
metanoia (occurring approximately fifty times in the New
the person who commits dueri places himself in physical dan-
Testament) continued to mean conversion to a new faith and
ger, for moral faults accumulate and predispose the offender
abandonment of the old, or restoration within the new faith
to disaster. Thus faults destroy a person, but they can be
by confession and rejection of sins. Employing the same
“wiped out” (woc) by sacrifice. The Nuer have a custom of
word, the Revelation to John reports a series of visions in
confessing sin at certain sacrifices, wherein the worshiper
which the risen Jesus demands repentance of Christians in
must reveal all the resentments and grievances that he or she
Asia Minor who have made accommodations to paganism
holds against others if his sacrifice is to be efficacious. (In ef-
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
REPENTANCE
7759
fect the worshipper confesses the shortcomings of others.)
notion of repentance, is Raffaele Pettazzoni’s La confessione
The faults and the feelings of aggrievedness are wiped out by
dei peccati, 3 vols. (1929–1936; reprint, Bologna, 1968).
the blood of the sacrificial victim. Such sacrifices are regarded
However, Pettazzoni’s hypothesis proposing an evolutionary
as effective only when accomplished with the will and desire
development of the notion of confession, from the magical
of the sinner.
to the theistic, is unconvincing. A more theoretical discus-
sion of the phenomenon of repentance in Albert Esser’s Das
Among the Indian Shakers of the Pacific Northwest rit-
Phänomen Reue: Versuch einer Erhellung ihres Selbstverständ-
ual confession was practiced early in the sect’s history (late
nisses (Cologne, 1963). For a shorter discussion from a histo-
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries), but was later aban-
ry of religions perspective, see Geo Widengren’s Religions-
doned. The founder, John Slocum, emphasized the necessity
phänomenologie (Berlin, 1969), pp. 258–279). For a critique
of confessing sins and asking for forgiveness in order to attain
of the shame-culture or guilt-culture typology, see Gerhart
salvation. Every Friday Slocum would hear the confession of
Piers and Milton B. Singer’s Shame and Guilt (Springfield,
individual penitents privately—though he rang a bell all the
Ill., 1953).
while so that he would be unable actually to hear them. Early
For an overview of the notions of confession, repentance, and guilt
Shakers believed that the ability to hear confessions was a
in antiquity, see Franz Steinleitner’s Die Beicht im Zusam-
gift. Louis, a Shaker leader possessing this gift, received peni-
menhänge mit der sakralen Rechtspflege in der Antike (Leipzig,
tents who came each carrying a bundle of sticks, a mnemonic
1913). For Greco-Roman religions and philosophical sys-
device representing their sins. As each sin was confessed
tems, see Arthur Darby Nock’s Conversion: The Old and the
New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of
(while Louis rang the handbell), a stick was placed on the
Hippo (Oxford, 1933). An exceptionally complete study of
table, and all were burned at the conclusion of the confes-
Greek pollution and purity with full bibliography is found
sion. For the Shakers confession was a catharsis for immedi-
in Robert A. Parker’s Miasma: Pollution and Purification in
ate personal relief and was not connected with spiritual re-
Early Greek Religion (Oxford, 1983). Still indispensable is
generation.
Kurt Latte’s “Schuld und Sünde in der grieschischen Reli-
The phenomena of confession and repentance are cul-
gion,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 20 (1920–1921): 254–
298. For the Roman world, see Anna-Elizabeth Wilhelm-
ture traits indigenous to American Indian cultures quite
Hooijbergh’s Peccatum: Sin and Guilt in Ancient Rome (Gro-
apart from Christian influences. This conclusion is sup-
ningen, 1954).
ported by the early character of the evidence as well as by the
fact that tribal confessors are native functionaries. Examples
Henri Frankfort outlines the ancient Egyptian concept of sin and
abound. The Aurohuaca Indians of the Columbian Sierra
sinlessness in his Ancient Egyptian Religion (New York,
1948), pp. 73–80. Frankfort’s treatment of the topic has
Nevada regard all illness as a punishment for sin. When a
been corrected by Siegfried Morenz’s Egyptian Religion (Itha-
shaman is summoned for curing, he will not treat patients
ca, N. Y., 1973), pp. 130–133. For the relationship between
until they confess their sins. The Ijca of Columbia abstain
repentance and sacrificial expiation in ancient Israel, see
from salt and alcohol before confession. In the manner of the
Jacob Milgrom’s Cult and Conscience: The Asham and the
Pacific Coast Shakers, when they visit the priest (mama) they
Priestly Doctrine of Repentance (Leiden, 1976). Also impor-
bring mnemonic devices made of corn shucks and knotted
tant is William L. Holladay’s The Root Subh in the Old Testa-
strings to help them remember each sin. Similarly the
ment (Leiden, 1958).
Huichol of southern Mexico confess sexual transgression on
One of the only detailed studies of the Christian concept of repen-
their way north in search of peyote (híkuri). Women knot
tance within the context of Judaism, Greco-Roman sources,
palm-leaf strips for each sin and throw them into the fire
and subsequent patristic evidence is Aloys H. Dirksen’s The
after reciting the name of each lover. Among the Maya of
New Testament Concept of Metanoia (Washington, D. C.,
Yucatan, women in labor summon native shamans to confess
1932). A philologically oriented study of Hebrew and early
their sins, particularly those of a sexual nature. The Inuit (Es-
Christian terms and concepts related to repentance, together
kimo) are anxious lest by conscious or unconscious violation
with a wealth of references to primary sources, is found in
of taboos they offend Sedna, the mistress of animals, who re-
the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, edited by
sides at the bottom of the sea and whose displeasure might
Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids,
Mich., 1967), pp. 975–1008. The most important study of
threaten the food supply. As Weston La Barre has observed,
the second- and third-century penitential crisis is Hans
the wages of sin are starvation. If the guilty party confesses,
Windisch’s Taufe und Sünde im ältesten Christentum bis auf
all is well: Seals and caribou are caught. If not, the shaman
Origenes (Tübingen, 1908). For a selection of important
(angakkoq) must ferret out the offender and secure a
early Christian texts on repentance in Greek and Latin with
confession.
German translations, see Die Busse: Quellen zur Entstehung
des altkirchlichen Busswesens (Zurich, 1969).
SEE ALSO Confession of Sins; Conversion; Merit; Puri-
On the phenomenon of confession and repentance among small-
fication.
scale societies, see Weston La Barre’s well-documented
“Confession as Cathartic Therapy in American Indian
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tribes,” in Magic, Faith, and Healing, edited by Ari Kiev
The most comprehensive study of the phenomenon of confession,
(New York, 1964). Kiev’s book contains many relevant es-
which includes a great deal of information about the related
says. Robert I. Levy’s Tahitians: Mind and Experience in 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
7760
RESHEF
Society Islands (Chicago, 1973) is an important study. Bryan
thetic vowel i- and the consequent changes in vocalization
R. Wilson’s Magic and the Millennium: A Sociological Study
and stress, leading to the form Irsháppa. In Egypt, about fifty
of Movements of Protest among Tribal and Third-World Peo-
stelae and other artifacts have been discovered bearing Re-
ples (New York, 1973) is an important synthetic study of re-
shef’s name or image. In hieroglyphic script, the theonym is
vitalistic or millenarian movements.
usually written Rˇspw, where the -w is a vowel sign added in
New Sources
analogy to several Egyptian divine names ending in -w.
Al-Ghazzali, Muhammad. On Repentance. Chicago, 2003. Trans-
Under Amenhotep II (1453–1419 BCE), the cult of Reshef
lation of Al-Ghazzali’s classic tract on repentance.
obtained an official status in Egypt, and this pharaoh even
Etzioni, Amitai, et alii. Repentance. Lanham, Md., 1997.
bears the title of “Reshef’s beloved” on one of his seals. How-
ever, most stelae date from the thirteenth or twelfth centuries
Hommel, Hildebrecht. “Antike Bussformulare.” In Sebasmata,
BCE and come from Deir el-Medineh, a settlement of Syrian
vol. 1, pp. 351–370. Tübingen, 1983.
crafters, facing Thebes. Among other attestations of Reshef
Nave, Guy D. The Role and Function of Repentance in Luke Acts.
one can mention the rock shrine of Tushka in Nubia, dating
Leiden, 2002.
from the eighteenth dynasty (c. 1500–1300 BCE). A proces-
Ward, Benedicta. Harlots of the Desert. A Study of Repentance in
sion of five offering bearers approaches three seated deities,
Early Monastic Sources. Kalamazoo, Mich., 1987.
identified by hieroglyphic inscriptions as the local Horus,
Zinniel, Klaus. “Busse.” In Handbuch religionwissenschaftlicher
lord of Miam, the deified pharaoh Sesostris III, and Reshef,
Grundbegriffe, edited by H. Cancik, B. Gladigow, and M.
who brandishes a mace-ax above the head and holds a shield.
Laubscher, vol. 2, pp. 188–190. Stuttgart, 1990.
A stele from el-Simbillawein, from the Ramesside period
(c. 1300–1100 BCE), shows Reshef in front of the god Ptah
DAVID E. AUNE (1987)
Revised Bibliography
with a scepter and the figure of the Horus falcon above.
ETYMOLOGY AND LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS. Reshef’s name is
probably a derivative of the same Semitic root as the Akkadi-
an divine epithet raˇsbu, “redoubtable.” In fact, interchanges
RESHEF is a northwest Semitic god, whose cult is best
between labials (b/p) often take place in Semitic languages.
attested in northern Syria. Its history may be followed for
Etymologically Reshef is an epithet or a title, and it is often
3,500 years, from the Ebla tablets of the third millennium
used with a following place name, “Reshef of. . . ,” for
BCE to the Babylonian Talmud and the Aggadic Midrash, Ex-
which many examples can be found at Ebla and Ugarit. It
odus Rabbah, the redaction of which took place, it seems, not
was initially a title used for any tutelary god. Certainly later
earlier than the tenth century CE. By that time, the Reshefs
it became a proper name, but even then it was used for a type
had become birds of prey, after having been viewed as de-
of deity, namely a warlike deity, as confirmed by the use of
mons dwelling on roofs. This development has a background
its plural in various texts and by iconography.
in the Judeo-Hellenistic interpretation of Reshef in the Sep-
Since “inspiring fear” is a notion essential to the nature
tuagint translation of the Bible, which at times assimilates
of the sacred in primitive religion, it is not surprising there-
him to a bird of prey, like a vulture or an eagle. Unfortunate-
fore that the cult of Reshef is recorded already in the third
ly, there are no extant myths in which Reshef plays a signifi-
millennium BCE and that several local numina are called in
cant role, except for allusions to the plague he may cause.
such a way, the plural “Reshefs” being also attested. This is
EXTENSION OF RESHEF’S CULT. An important and diversi-
best illustrated in texts from Ebla, where at least eleven differ-
fied cult of Reshef is attested as early as circa 2300 BCE in
ent deities named Rashap occur with mainly toponymic qual-
cuneiform documents from Ebla, then in various texts from
ifications. The tablets mention the deity in relation to offers
the thirteenth century BCE, found at Ugarit and Ras ibn
that were brought to Reshef’s various sanctuaries, and they
Hani, and also in compound personal names at Ebla, Mari,
specify the number of sheep sacrificed in his honor. There
Ugarit, and Emar, all from Bronze Age Syria. In the seven-
are neither mythological nor ritual and liturgical texts, which
teenth century BCE, at Hana/Ana on the Middle Euphrates,
could reveal the true nature of the god and show him in ac-
Reshef’s heteronym Rushpan is used as an onomastic ele-
tion. Nevertheless, an administrative text lists offers made
ment. It does not witness a simple phonetic or dialectal de-
not only to Reshef of Atanni, an important holy place, but
velopment, but belongs to another nominal pattern, the
also to his emblems, possibly his “quiver,” his set of “javelins”
same as Shulman, a divine name well attested in the area of
or “arrows,” and his “mace-ax.” If this uncertain interpreta-
the Middle Habur. Both names derive from adjectives. Re-
tion of the logograms is correct, these weapons would appear
shef also occurs in the Bible and in many inscriptions from
to be Reshef’s attributes. Bow, arrow, and quiver are offered
the eighth to the first centuries BCE. In the mid-second mil-
also to the Hurrian god Nubadig, identified with Reshef. Re-
lennium BCE worship of Reshef also found its way to Anato-
shef of Gunu, mentioned at Ebla, deserves a special mention,
lia, where he was called Irshappa, and more importantly to
because he is still worshiped one thousand years later at
Egypt.
Ugarit.
His name was introduced in Anatolia by the Hurrians,
Local connections of Reshef’s worship still appear in
whose language does not admit any initial r, hence the pros-
some Phoenician inscriptions from the first millennium BCE,
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
RESHEF
7761
possibly at Karatepe, an elevated stronghold on the Ceyhan
the same martial stance as the hundreds of bronze statuettes
River in eastern Cilicia (c. 750 BCE). Reshef’s name is fol-
of the so-called Smiting God, found in the Levant and else-
lowed there by s:prn or s:prm, usually explained as “(Reshef)
where. Since these statuettes are not inscribed and the divine
of the goats” or “of the birds.” However, his equation with
characters represented wear various types of crowns, there is
the stag god, which appears in the parallel Hieroglyphic Lu-
no certainty that all these bronzes can be related to Reshef.
wian inscription, does not prove that “goats” are meant. In
In particular, no bronze represents the deity with a crown
cuneiform script, the stag god Runt was indicated by the
adorned with the typical bent gazelle horns that characterize
logogram dkal of a protective deity, like Reshef was at Ugarit.
Reshef on a number of Egyptian stelae. However, these im-
Nevertheless, a toponymic connotation was assumed in this
ages express the original connotation “redoubtable” attached
case as well, s:prm/n being possibly a counterpart of Sepphoris
to his name.
in northern Israel, with the ending -în/-îm of place names.
R
On Cyprus, the oldest dedication to Reshef, dating to the
ELATIONSHIP TO OTHER DEITIES. This basic aspect of Re-
shef’s character explains why he could be assimilated to such
seventh century BCE, might refer to “Reshef of Sa[lamis]” (on
differing deities as the Mesopotamian god Nergal, the lord
Cyprus), while later inscriptions from Idalium and Tamassus
of the netherworld; the Hurrian god Nubadig/Nupatik, a tu-
(Cyprus) identify him with particular types of Apollo, either
telary deity known earlier as Lubadaga/Lupatik; the Luwian
Cypriot or originally Laconian (Peloponnesus), and call him
protective god Runt, represented in hieroglyphic Luwian by
“Reshef of Amyclae,” “Reshef of Helos,” and “Reshef of Al-
a stag; the Egyptian war god Montu; the North-Arabian god
ashiya,” the ancient name of Cyprus or part of it.
Rud:a, and a major Cypriot deity called Apollo in Greek in-
There is so far no unequivocal trace of a cult of Reshef
scriptions. Even a direct identification of Reshef with Horus
in Phoenicia proper, except for two royal cylinder seals from
is attested in Egypt in the Saite period (c. 663–526 BCE). Re-
Sidon, dating to around the fourteenth century BCE, and the
shef’s name is engraved in hieroglyphic script on the base of
name of the “Land of Reshefs” given in the fifth century BCE
a bronze statuette representing a deity still wearing the “lock
to a city quarter at Sidon. Nor was Reshef worshiped at Car-
of youth,” characteristic of “Horus the Child.” He wears the
thage or on the island Ibiza. The name Eresh, borne by a
red crown of Lower Egypt and his left hand holds a shield,
West Semitic divine craftsman, was there misread as Reshef,
a bow, and an arrow, while a quiver hangs from his shoulder.
just as the Egyptian god Herishef was confounded by some
These are Reshef’s typical weapons.
authors with Reshef, especially at Byblos. Arsu¯f, a coastal city
of Palestine, preserved the name of Reshef. The place name
The equation of Reshef with Nergal led some writers to
is possibly attested as early as the third millennium
characterize him as a chthonic deity. This equation is already
BCE at
Ebla and is recorded in 1 Chronicles 7:25 as the name of a
attested in a lexical text from Ebla and thus goes back at least
son of Ephraim. Its Arabic name, mentioned by Ya¯qu¯t
to the twenty-fourth century BCE. At that time, Nergal was
(1179–1229
still the bull god of Kutha, a city located some twenty-five
CE) and corrupted by the crusaders into Arsur,
bears witness to the Palestinian and Lebanese shift raˇsp >
kilometers north of Kish, which appears to be the oldest Se-
rˇsa¯f, as in kafr > kfa¯r, to the phonetic changes ˇs > s and a¯
mitic center of power in Babylonia, irradiating as far as Ebla.
> o¯ > u¯, and to the addition of a prosthetic vowel. Excava-
Nergal’s anthropomorphic image in mythology reveals that
tions have provided evidence of an early first-millennium
he was a dying and rising god. Every year, he had to spend
six months in the netherworld with Ereshkigal, the queen of
BCE occupation at Arsu
¯f, but the settlement of the Bronze
Age was probably located at a nearby site. The city was called
the dead. This is stated in a late explanatory text: “on the
Apollonia in Hellenistic and Greco-Roman times, depend-
18th of Tammuz [July] Nergal goes down to the nether-
ing on Reshef’s identification with Apollo. Along with this
world, on the 28th of Kislev [December] he comes up.” In
place name and the biblical references to Reshef, a few Pales-
such a way, he thus appears as a chthonic deity, but essential-
tinian cylinder seals from the late Bronze Age include a rec-
ly he was the “redoubtable” city god, bringing war or peace.
ognizable figure of Reshef.
In the twenty-first century BCE, his full equipment consisted
of a mace, a large bow, arrows, and a dagger, like Reshef’s.
INDEFINITENESS OF ACTION. Sacred potency, because of the
It is likely that the equation of the two gods was made on
very indefiniteness of action, can heal or strike, be beneficent
this level and it does not justify, in consequence, the charac-
or unforgiving. Its presence can guarantee peace and security.
terization of Reshef as a chthonic deity, although he could
This is why one of the city gates at Ebla was called “Gate of
inflict death like Nergal. The equation of the two deities was
Reshef” and why personal names witness the recourse to Re-
so well anchored in the second millennium BCE that logo-
shef’s patronage, as shown by their meaning: “Servant of Re-
grams of Nergal’s name, in particular dmaˇs.maˇs and dkal,
shef,” “Reshef is merciful,” “My father is Reshef,” “My god
were used in Ugarit and most likely on Cyprus for Reshef
is Reshef.” On the other hand, Reshef can spread plague and
or the Cypriot god identified with him.
inflict death through his mace-ax, spear, large bow, and ar-
rows. He is not properly a war god, but the god of death in-
The problem of Reshef’s spouse would need greater clar-
flicted by plague or weapons. It is probable that his arrows,
ification in the sources. The goddess Adamma or Adam ap-
like those of Apollo, killed by spreading the plague. Egyptian
pears sometimes as Reshef’s consort. Since she is mentioned
stelae show him brandishing his mace-ax over his head, in
in a grave inscription from Cyprus in the early ninth century
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
7762
RESH LAQISH
BCE, she could possess chthonic features, but this is only a
most valuable is Izak Cornelius, The Iconography of the Ca-
remote possibility, since the existence of a relation between
naanite Gods Reshef and Ba’al: Late Bronze and Iron Age I Pe-
her name and the Hebrew noun Da˘da¯ma¯h, “earth” or “soil,”
riods (c. 1500–1000 BCE) (Fribourg, Switzerland, and Göt-
is just a guess based on assonance and analogy with the Greek
tingen, Germany, 1994). The bronzes with the “Smiting
goddess Gaia or Ge, “earth,” resident in the earth and gov-
God” have been studied by, among others, Ora Negbi, Ca-
erning it. Egyptian stelae from Deir el-Medineh associate Re-
naanite Gods in Metal: An Archaeological Study of Ancient
Syro-Palestinian Figurines (Tel Aviv, 1996), and Helga See-
shef with Min, an Egyptian god, and with a naked Syrian
den, The Standing Armed Figurines in the Levant (Munich,
goddess named Qudˇsu. However, nothing indicates that she
1980). The motive of the naked goddess was analyzed by
was regarded as his wife. In the year 6 BCE, the priests of the
Silvia Schroer, “Die Göttin auf den Stempelsiegeln aus Paläs-
Babylonian goddess Herta at Palmyra dedicated some prem-
tina/Israel,” in Studien zu den Stempelsiegeln aus Palästina/
ises to Herta, to the goddess Nanaya, and to Reshef. Nothing
Israel, vol. 2, edited by Othmar Keel, Hildi Keel-Lev, and
is known about the relationships between these deities.
Sivia Schroer (Freiburg and Göttingen, Germany, 1989),
pp. 89–207. For the cult of Reshef on Cyprus, see Lipin´ski,
FIGURATIVE CONNOTATIONS. The name of Reshef does not
“Resheph Amyklos,” in Phoenicia and the East Mediterranean
seem to have ever lost the features of a common noun, since
in the First Millennium B.C. (Louvain, Belgium, 1987),
it continued to be used also in the plural. A ritual text from
pp. 87–99. Postbiblical Jewish understanding of Reshef was
Ugarit alludes to a procession, “when the Reshefs enter the
examined by Lipin´ski, “Reˇsa¯f¯ım: From Gods to Birds of
house of the king,” and the historical records of Ramses III
Prey,” in Mythos im Alten Testament und seiner Umwelt: Fest-
at Medinet Habu praise the pharaoh’s chariot warriors for
schrift für Hans-Peter Müller, edited by Armin Lange, Her-
being “as valiant as Reshefs,” while Psalms 76:4 refers to “Re-
mann Lichtenberger, and Diethard Römheld (Berlin and
shefs with bow, shield, and sword,” and a city quarter in
New York, 1999), pp. 255–259.
Sidon is called “Land of the Reshefs,” possibly the garrison.
EDWARD LIPIN´SKI (2005)
Reshef h:s: is more likely a “Reshef with arrows” than a “Re-
shef of the street,” corresponding to Apollo Agieus. In fact,
“the sons of Reshef” in Job 5:7 are his arrows that “fly up-
RESH LAQISH SEE SHIMEON BEN LAQISH
wards” (cf. Psalms 91:5), while the “Reshefs of fire” in the
Song of Songs 8:6 are a synecdoche inspired by inflamed ar-
rows shot at besieged cities to set them ablaze. The same syn-
ecdoche also occurs in the Hebrew text of Ben Sira 43:17,
REST SEE SHABBAT; WORK
where flying snowflakes are compared to arrows shot by an
invisible enemy: “his snow flies like Reshef.”
RESURRECTION. The term resurrection is so intri-
In older biblical texts, such as Deuteronomy 32:23–24,
cately bound up with Christian ideas that it is extremely dif-
Habakkuk 3:5, and Psalms 78:48, Reshef is a harmful power,
ficult to decide when it should be used for similar ideas in
bringing plague, as he does in the Poem of King Keret, pre-
other religions. Obviously, the term should not be used to
served by tablets from Ugarit. In contrast, the Alexandrian
refer to the belief that there is an immortal element in hu-
translators of the Hebrew Bible regard Reshef as a bird of
mans (often called “soul” or “spirit”) that lives on after the
prey, thus in Deuteronomy 32:24, Job 5:7, and Ben Sira
destruction of the body, or to the belief in some kind of con-
43:17. They even attribute to him “wings of fire” in the Song
tinued existence in a shadowy realm of the dead. Also exclud-
of Songs 8:6, as if he were the Phoenix, and he is recorded
ed is the idea of reincarnation, which implies that the soul
in such a way by the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch 6:8. These
is repeatedly reborn into a new body. If resurrection is de-
interpretations probably originated in Egypt, where Reshef
fined as the revival of the body, or rather of the person as
was identified also with Horus, often represented as a falcon.
a whole, after a period of death, one finds phenomena that
The conception of Reshef as a bird seems to have gained
fit this definition only in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Chris-
wider acceptance, since Reshefs appear in Talmudic litera-
tianity, and Islam, with doubtful analogies in Chinese Tao-
ture as “demons dwelling on roofs.” There is so far no evi-
ism and ancient Indian and Egyptian religions. Belief in res-
dence supporting the view that Reshef was a fertility god, a
urrection presupposes either a monistic view of humans,
chthonic deity, or a storm god.
which implies that humanity as a whole disappears in death
S
and is then revived to a new existence; or a dualistic view,
EE ALSO Apollo; Nergal.
according to which the body dies whereas the soul or spirit
lives on and is later united with the body into a renewed
BIBLIOGRAPHY
being. Another phenomenon that should be discussed here
A comprehensive discussion of the evidence and an annotated bib-
is the idea of dying and rising gods, which is found in several
liography can be found in the studies by Edward Lipin´ski,
religions, some with and some without a belief in resur-
Dieux et déesses de l’univers phénicien et punique (Louvain,
rection.
Belgium, 1995), pp. 179–188, and William J. Fulco, The
Canaanite God Reˇsep (New Haven, 1976), the latter requir-
DAOISM. In Chinese Daoism there is frequent mention of
ing some updating. For the Egyptian iconographic material,
prolonging life and strengthening the vital force, but there
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is no uniform doctrine on this subject. The background is
elements, neither corresponding to any modern concept of
the idea that humans, like the universe, consist of several ele-
the soul. The ba, usually translated as “soul,” is often depict-
ments, some light, pure, and heavenly, others heavy, impure,
ed as a bird; it can mean power or external manifestation,
and earthly; they are held together by the vital principle, or
and it represents the ability to “take any form it likes.” When
breath. One early report had it that a certain Bo You man-
a person dies, his or her ba leaves the body but hovers near
aged to strengthen his life to the extent that he actually re-
the corpse. The ka combines the ideas of vital force, nourish-
turned to life after being dead for some time. Most cases,
ment, double, and genius. The British Egyptologist Alan
however, told of various practices—meditation, use of alco-
Gardiner suggests such translations as “personality, soul, in-
holic beverages, magical rites—through which the lower and
dividuality, temperament, fortune, or position.” Ba and ka
mortal elements in humans can be replaced by higher and
cannot exist without a bodily substrate. Therefore the body
immortal ones and the vital principle can be strengthened so
is embalmed to secure their existence. In addition, the funer-
as not to be separated from the body. In this way humans
ary rites transform the deceased into an akh, a “shining” or
can achieve immortality and ascend to the heavenly world.
“transformed” sprit. In this capacity the deceased lives on in
But this is hardly resurrection in the strict sense of the word.
the realm of Osiris, the god of the netherworld, who once
I
died but was revived again as the ruler of the dead.
NDIA. The Vedic religion of ancient India offers a rich vari-
ety of beliefs concerning the dead and the life in the hereaf-
Other beliefs include the judgment in the hall of Osiris
ter. There is the idea of the dead haunting the living as
of the deeds of the deceased; the latter’s taking part in the
ghosts; there is the idea of the heavenly world of Yama, the
journey of the sun god, Re, in his bark; the warding off of
first human, where the ancestors live; and there are hints of
monsters and other dangers in the netherworld by means of
a dark world or a kind of hell. The dead were either buried
magical formulas; the happy life of the deceased in the Field
or burned, the latter practice becoming predominant.
of Rushes; and so on. One common idea seems to be that
of absorption into the great rhythm of the universe. Osiris
The Vedic language possesses several words that have
was, among other things, a symbol of grain; thus, when the
been thought to denote the “soul” as an immortal spiritual
dead join Osiris they participate in the renewal of life in the
substance in humans: manas (“thought, thinking”), asu
growing grain. Similarly, when the dead join the sun god
(“life”), a¯tman (“breath”), tanu (“body, self”). But the equa-
they partake of the life of the sun that is renewed every morn-
tion of any of these words with “soul” is hardly correct. That
ing. It is difficult to decide whether these are beliefs in resur-
which appears as a ghost or exists in heaven or hell is not a
rection or whether they should be given another name.
bodiless spirit but the dead person himself with some kind
of body. Any existence without a body is inconceivable. It
ZOROASTRIANISM. The earliest documents of Zoroastrian re-
might seem that the fire in which the corpse is burned would
ligion do not mention the resurrection of the body but rather
consume it, but in reality the corpse is supposed to be trans-
the soul’s ascent to paradise. But in the later parts of the
formed into a heavenly body. In the R:gveda there are hints
Avesta there is at least one reference to resurrection: “When
that at death the various parts of the body merge with natural
the dead rise, the Living Incorruptible One will come and
phenomena of a similar kind: The flesh goes to the earth, the
life will be transfigured” (Yashts 19.11). The Living One is
blood to the water, the breath to the wind, the eye to the sun,
the savior, Saoshyant (Pahl., So¯shans), who is to come at the
the mind (manas) to the moon, and so on. These natural
end of the present era. Another passage (Yashts 13.11), which
phenomena then give the elements of the body back to the
speaks of joining together bones, hairs, flesh, bowels, feet,
deceased as he ascends to heaven in the burning fire. Thus
and genitals, refers not to resurrection, as has been main-
the individual is recreated in the other world as a kind of
tained, but to birth.
shadow that looks like his former self but that cannot be
In the cosmological treatise the Bundahishn (ninth cen-
touched or embraced. Although this belief differs considera-
tury CE), a doctrine is set forth in detail. Chapter 30 describes
bly from the Christian idea of resurrection, it may perhaps
what happens at the death of a man. His soul remains near
be described by this term.
the head of his body for three nights and is then carried away.
If the man has been righteous the soul meets a fragrant wind,
In the Upanis:ads, the term a¯tman (“breath”) came to
a sleek cow, and a beautiful young girl and is brought across
denote the imperishable spiritual element in humans, identi-
the Chinvat Bridge to Paradise. If he has been evil the soul
cal with the “spirit” of the universe, called brahman. This
meets a foul wind, a gaunt cow, and a hideous girl and is
correlation opened the way to the idea of mystical union be-
thrown from the bridge into Hell. This description should
tween humanity’s spirit and the divine element in the cos-
be read against the background of the ideas set forth in the
mos, and also to the idea that the soul can be reborn into
Avestan fragment Hadho¯kht Nask, which relates that after the
a new body (reincarnation). Thus the idea of resurrection
three nights the soul meets its da¯ena¯, which, according to his
was lost.
works, appears either as a beautiful girl or as an ugly hag. It
EGYPT. The ancient Egyptian ideas of the hereafter are very
becomes apparent that the da¯ena¯ is the heavenly counterpart
complicated, partly beause they contain elements of differing
or double of the soul, whose character is dependent on the
origins and belonging to different stages of development.
person’s deeds in this life. As the two join together, the spri-
The Egyptian view of humanity presupposes two incorporeal
tual part of the person is complete and can enter eternal life.
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Chapter 33 of the Bundahishn describes the course of
from some deadly danger. Illness or calamity is potential
the world as it evolves in subsequent periods toward the end,
death, and it means being in the grip of SheDol; consequently,
when evil is defeated and the world perfected. Chapter 34
rescue from illness or danger is rescue from death. It is inter-
deals with resurrection. At the arrival of the third and last
esting to recall that when a Babylonian god is said to be “a
savior, Saoshyant, the dead will be roused, first the primeval
reviver of the dead,” it clearly means that he cures illness.
man, Gaya-maretan, (Pahl., Gayo¯mard), then the first
Ezekiel 37 reports the prophet’s vision of a heap of dry
human pair, Mashye¯ and Mashya¯ne¯, and finally all human-
bones in a valley that is revived through “the spirit.” At an
kind. Then the great gathering will take place at which every-
early stage of Judaism this text was understood as referring
one’s good and evil deeds are revealed. The sinners will be
to resurrection (e.g., in the paintings of the synagogue at
punished and the righteous will enter the bliss of Paradise.
Dura-Europos), but the context indicates that the bones
A stream of molten metal will spread over the earth, and all
symbolize the Jewish nation, and the message of the vision
people will have to pass through it: The evil will be burned
is that just as it seems impossible for the dead bones to be
(and purified), the righteous will experience it like lukewarm
revived, it also seems impossible for the nation to be restored;
milk. At the end, all will be saved, and creation will be re-
however, the impossible is made possible through a divine
newed.
miracle.
Similar ideas are set forth in chapter 34 of the Selections
Isaiah 26:19 reads, “Your dead shall live, their bodies
of Zatspram (approximately contemporary with the Bundah-
shall rise.” This passage evidently points back to verse 14,
ishn). Here it is asked how creatures who have passed away
“The dead will not live, the shades will not rise,” a reference
can receive their bodies back and rise again. The first answer
to the enemies of Israel. It may be, therefore, that verse 19
is that it is easier to assemble parts already existing than to
should be interpreted along the same lines as Ezekiel 38: Isra-
create from nothing. If Ahura Mazda¯ was able to create
el is in a better position than her enemies, therefore Israel
them, he is also able to assemble the scattered parts again.
shall “live.” The next line, however, reads: “Wake up and re-
There are five “storekeepers” that receive the bodily sub-
joice, you who sleep in the dust.” This may be an early,
stance of those who have died: The earth keeps flesh and
though vague, reference to the resurrection of the dead.
bone; the water, the blood; the plants preserve the head and
But the chapter belongs to the latest part of the Book of Isa-
the hair; the light of the firmament receives the fire; and the
iah, the so-called Isaiah apocalypse, and it probably dates
wind, the spirit. At the time of the rehabilitation
from the third century BCE.
(Frasho¯kereti; Pahl., Frashkart), Ahura Mazda¯ will assemble
all these elements again then create new human beings. This
The only clear reference to resurrection is found in the
account is very close to the belief expressed in the Indian
Book of Daniel (c. 165 BCE). It reads: “Many of those who
R:gveda. Obviously, these later expositions present a combi-
sleep in the dust will awake, some to eternal life, others to
nation of at least two ideas of different origin and character,
eternal shame” (12:2). There can be no doubt: the dead are
the idea of the soul joining its counterpart in the other world
described as sleeping, and they are going to wake up from
and the idea of bodily resurrection. Lack of sources prevents
their sleep; consequently they will live again. It is not explic-
scholars from following the process of amalgamation of these
itly said that all the dead shall rise, although “many”
ideas.
(rabb¯ım) often has that connotation. Yet not only the righ-
teous will be resurrected; others will awaken also, but to eter-
JUDAISM. The Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) as a
nal shame.
whole have no doctrine of resurrection. When it is said, “I
kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal” (Dt. 32:39), or
It has been suggested that the idea of resurrection in Is-
“The Lord kills and brings to life, he brings down to SheDol
rael has its roots in Canaanite religion. There, the dying and
[the realm of death] and raises up” (1 Sm. 2:7), the stress is
rising of the god Baal plays a significant part in symbolizing
on God as the origin and cause of everything rather than on
the annual death and renewal of vegetation. But the conclu-
resurrection. Usually the scriptures assert that “if a man dies,
sion that such a resurrection might apply to humanity in
he will not live again” (Jb. 14:14) or that “he who goes down
general is never drawn, as far as the available evidence goes.
to SheDol does not come up” (7:9). In the Book of Psalms there
It should be noted, however, that Isaiah 26:19 combines the
is the general conviction that Yahveh is stronger than death
revival of the dead with the falling of the dew of light, and
and can rescue from SheDol: “You have delivered my soul
that dew plays an important part in Canaanite mythology.
from death, my eyes from tears. . . . I walk before the Lord
It is also very probable that Hosea 6:2, “He will revive us after
in the land of the living” (116:8–9); “I shall not die, but I
two days, on the third day he will raise us up,” goes back to
shall live . . . he has not given me over to death” (118:17–
a Canaanite formula quoted by repenting people. The
18); “God will ransom my soul from the power of SheDol”
prophet, however, rejects the conversion of the people and
(49:15). It is never stated how this deliverance takes place;
does not accept their hope of revival. Thus, there may be Ca-
it is enough for the psalmist to know that God will not give
naanite ideas in the background, but the final development
him up to death or SheDol. It is probable that for an explana-
of the idea of resurrection probably did not take place with-
tion of the mechanism of deliverance one must look to the
out Zoroastrian influence. The Judaism of the period of the
metaphorical language referring to healing of illness or rescue
Second Temple develops the idea further, without, however,
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reaching any consensus regarding the details. Above all, the
tion of the body, but the context shows that the righteous
testimonies differ as to whether resurrection means a reunion
will then be transformed into an angelic state. The word soul
of body and soul or a renewal of the person as a totality.
here seems to refer, as in the Old Testament, to humanity
as a whole. Finally, the Liber antiquitatum biblicarum, falsely
One of the earliest references to resurrection is found
ascribed to Philo, says that God will “revive the dead and
in the Second Book of the Maccabees (first century BCE). It
raise up from the earth those who sleep” (3:10); after that,
shows that the idea of resurrection is bound up with belief
judgment will be held and everybody will receive according
in just retribution, especially in the case of martyrdom. Seven
to his work.
young brothers are tortured and killed by King Antiochus,
and one young man after another confesses his belief in res-
These texts use more or less the same formulaic lan-
urrection: “The king of the universe will raise us up to an
guage, but their view of humans is not uniform. Some use
everlasting renewal of life” (7:9). “We cherish the hope that
soul to refer to the human being as a whole, others distin-
God gives of being raised again by him, but for you there
guish between body and soul. Resurrection always implies
will be no resurrection to life” (7:14). Finally, their mother
the restoration of the body and usually its transfiguration.
addresses her sons: “God will in his mercy give life and breath
According to Josephus and the New Testament, the Phari-
back to you again” (7:23). The reason for this hope is that
sees accepted the resurrection of the righteous, whereas the
the sons are giving their life “for God’s laws,” and it is repeat-
Sadducees denied it altogether (Acts 23:8, Mt. 22:23).
edly stated, especially in 7:36, that the king will receive just
punishment for his arrogance. No statement is made about
The victory of Pharisaism after the fall of Jerusalem led
the how of the resurrection, but the mother, addressing her
to general acceptance of the belief in resurrection in rabbinic
last son, expresses her hope “to get him back again with his
Judaism. Thus in the Mishnah tractate Sanhedrin, chapter
brothers” (7:29), which seems to imply some kind of family
10 begins with the statement that the one who denies the res-
life in the other world.
urrection of the dead has no part in the world to come, and
the rest of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of who is
According to Josephus Flavius (37/8–c. 100), the Es-
not going to rise (qu¯m).
senes believed in the immortality of the soul (Antiquities
17.18), whereas Hippolytus (Against Heresies 9.27) says that
Liturgical texts, such as the EAmidah, assert that God
they believed in the resurrection of the body. So far no words
“makes the dead alive and keeps faith to those who sleep in
to this effect have been found in the Qumran writings.
the dust” (cf. Dn. 12:2), and that he “kills and makes alive
and causes salvation to sprout forth” (cf. 1 Sm. 2:6). It is in-
The clearest statements about resurrection appear in
teresting that on some occasions a reference to God as giving
documents from the end of the first century CE; they were
wind and rain is inserted into the prayer, which uses the verb
probably inspired by reaction to the fall of Jerusalem in 70
“to sprout forth,” in its literal sense referring to the growing
CE. Though several passages in 1 Enoch (22, 90:33, 91:10,
of plants. This indicates a parallel between the life of nature
92:3) mention the resurrection, it is only in the so-called Si-
and the life of humans. The parallel is also suggested by Tal-
militudes (chapters 37–71, which are absent from the Qum-
mudic comments comparing resurrection with the growing
ran manuscripts and probably of later origin) that the idea
of a grain of wheat (B.T., San. 90b; cf., in the New Testa-
is clearly set forth: “And in those days shall the earth give
ment, 1 Cor. 15:36ff.) and stating that the dead “sprout
back that which has been entrusted to it, and SheDol also shall
forth” from the earth (B.T., Ket. lllb). Does this language
give back that which it has received, and Hell shall give back
contain a reminiscence of ancient roots in the fertility cult?
that which it owes”(1 En. 51:1). It is clear from other pas-
One rabbinic statement explains resurrection as the reunion
sages (46:6, 49:9–10) that the sinners do not take part in this
of body and soul: “Blessed art thou, who bringest the souls
resurrection, which is not the joining of body and soul but
back to the dead bodies” (B.T., Ber. 60b). Other passages de-
the renewal of humanity as a whole to live on a new earth
fend the possibility of resurrection by assuming that a certain
(51:5).
part of man, the lowest vertebra or a spoonful of rotten mass,
Similar statements are found in other documents from
escapes corruption and serves as material for the new body.
approximately the same periods. The passage 4 Ezra 7:32
CHRISTIANITY. In primitive Christianity the resurrection of
reads: “The earth shall give up those who sleep in it, and the
Christ was the fundamental fact; belief in it was even regard-
dust those who rest there in silence, and the storehouses shall
ed as a prerequisite of salvation. The earliest statements,
give back the souls entrusted to them.” The mention of the
which are found in the letters of Paul, are very simple and
souls seems to indicate that death is the separation of body
state the fact in a credal form: “God raised Jesus from the
and soul (cf. 7:78) and that resurrection means they are re-
dead” (Rom. 10:9); “Jesus died and rose again” (1 Thes.
united. Similarly, the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch speaks of
4:14). Sometimes the significance of Jesus’ resurrection is de-
the opening of the treasuries in which souls are preserved
fined: “He was designated the son of God in power by his
(30:2). The dust is told to give back what is not its own and
resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4); “He was put to death
to let everything arise that it has preserved (42:7); it is said
for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (4:25). The
further that the earth shall restore the dead without changing
choice of words and the context indicate (1) that he was
their form (50:2). This last text clearly teaches the resurrec-
dead; (2) that it was God who raised him; and (3) that his
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RESURRECTION
resurrection was not merely a return to normal life on earth
comes out of a seed. Nothing is said here of an immortal
but a transfer into an existence of a higher kind. The ques-
soul. Humanity as a whole is perishable; a human being as
tion of body and soul is not discussed.
a whole is recreated as a “spiritual body.” Other New Testa-
ment passages seem to imply some kind of existence between
Jesus’ death and resurrection are mentioned together
death and resurrection, for example, “to be with Christ”
also in his predictions of suffering in the Gospels (Mk. 8:31,
(Phil. 1:23), “to be in Abraham’s bosom” (Lk. 16:22), and
9:31, 10:34, and parallels), and in the proclamation of the
“to be with Christ in paradise” (23:43). A different approach
apostles in Acts of the Apostles (2:23–24, 10:39–40, 17:3). It
is represented by the Gospel of John. He who believes in
is difficult to tell whether the expression “on the third day”
Christ receives eternal life here and now (3:36, 5:24). How-
derives from an interpretation based on Hosea 6:2 (see above)
ever, other statements in the same gospel, which many exe-
or is based on actual experience.
getes ascribe to a later editor, retain the idea of a resurrection
The Gospels give no detail of the resurrection itself.
at the end of time (5:28).
What they have is the report on the empty tomb (Mk. 16:1ff.
Under Greek influence the early church developed the
and parallels), to which Matthew has given an apologetic
idea of an immortal soul that continues to exist after death
touch by adding the story of the guard being bribed by the
and is reunited with the body at the resurrection. This re-
chief priests to report that the disciples stole the body (Mt.
mained the commonly accepted belief of the Christian
28:11–13). There are, however, several reports of appear-
church into the twentieth century. Modern theology now
ances of Jesus, some taking place in Jerusalem, others in Gali-
often tries to view the human being as a unity that is totally
lee. It is a matter of dispute whether these different geograph-
dissolved in death, whereas resurrection implies a total recre-
ical locations rest on independent traditions and, if not, how
ation of the whole being.
they are related. According to Luke the last appearance is
connected with Jesus’ ascension to heaven; according to Mat-
ISLAM. Islam shares with Christianity the belief in a general
thew it is associated with his sending the apostles to preach
resurrection followed by a judgment. The stress is rather on
to all nations.
the latter. In the QurDa¯n the last day is referred to as “the day
of resurrection” (yawm al-qiya¯mah), but also as “the day of
The New Testament seems to have taken over the gen-
judgment” (yawm ad-d¯ın), “the day of reckoning” (yawm
eral idea of resurrection from contemporary Judaism. Mat-
al-hisa¯b), or “the day of awakening” (yawm al-ba Eth). In the
thew 12:41 mentions it explicitly (“will arise at the last judg-
QurDa¯n there are several very graphic descriptions of the day
ment”), and it is presupposed in many other passages (e.g.,
of resurrection, focusing on the natural phenomena that ac-
Mt. 7:22, 8:11, 11:22, 12:41–42). In his answer to the Sad-
company it and on the outcome of the judgment—the be-
ducees, who deny the resurrection, Jesus adopts the idea of
lievers entering paradise and the unbelievers being thrown
an angelic existence of the resurrected (Mk. 12:18–27 and
into the fire of hell. It is a day “when the trumpet is blown”
parallels).
(cf. Mt. 24:31, 1 Thes. 4:16) and men “shall come in troops,
and heaven is opened and the mountains are set in motion”
The first Christians expected the second coming of
(surah 78:18–20; cf. 18:99), a day “when heaven is rent
Christ (the Parousia) to happen in their lifetime. But as sev-
asunder . . . when earth is stretched out and casts forth what
eral Christians died without having experienced the Parou-
is in it” (84:1–4; cf. 99:1–2). After these events the dead
sia, questions arose as to the reliability of the Christian hope.
“shall come forth from their graves unto their Lord; they
Paul answers such questions in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, as-
shall say: Alas for us! Who roused us from our bed?”
serting that just as Christ died and rose again, the fellowship
(36:51–52).
with him cannot be broken by death: First those who have
died in Christ will rise when “the archangel calls and the
There is no reference in the QurDa¯n to an immortal soul,
trumpet sounds,” then those who are still alive will be taken
nor is resurrection defined as the reunion of body and soul.
away to heaven to Christ. This idea of a two-step process is
Su¯rah 81:7 states that “the souls shall be coupled”; some
taken further in the Book of Revelation, according to which
Muslim commentators take this to mean that the souls are
the righteous will rise at the beginning of the millennium
to be joined to their bodies, whereas others think that they
(“the first resurrection,” 20:6), the rest at its end (20:12–13).
are to be coupled with their equals (good or evil) or that they
The same idea seems to be present in 1 Corinthians 15:22–
will be divided into two groups.
23, where one learns that “all shall be made alive in Christ
When the unbelievers express doubt in the resurrection,
. . . first at his coming those who belong to Christ; then
the QurDa¯n refers to God’s omnipotence as the creator:
comes the end,” when all evil powers are defeated and every-
“Does man think we shall not gather his bones? Indeed, we
thing is laid under his feet. Elsewhere, there is only reference
are able to shape again his fingers” (75:3–4); “Man says:
to resurrection in general as one event, which is clearly pre-
Who shall quicken the bones when they are decayed? Say:
supposed in the parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25.
He shall quicken them who originated them the first time.
The question of how the resurrection is going to take
He knows all creation” (36:78–79; cf. 17:53, 19:68). Again,
place is dealt with by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. The body that
“O men, if you are in doubt as to the uprising, surely we cre-
rises is not the old body but a new one, just as a new plant
ated you of dust, then of a sperm-drop, then of a blood clot
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. . . and we establish in the womb what we wish, till a stated
tation and promote fertility in general. However, there is no
term, then we deliver you as infants. . . . And you see the
trace of any belief in the resurrection of humans based on
earth blackened, then we send down water upon it, it quivers
the god’s return to life.
and swells and puts forth herbs of every joyous kind. This
Another example is the Sumerian god Dumuzi (the Ak-
is because God—he is the Truth—brings the dead to life and
kadian Tammuz). According to the Sumerian myths, Du-
is powerful over everything” (22:5–6). Thus God forms the
muzi, the god of the flocks and the grain, was killed by de-
child in the womb, he renews the life of vegetation, so he is
mons and had to descend into the netherworld. There are
also able to raise the dead. Only on one occasion is there a
no clear texts referring to his resurrection, but there are hints
hint that the resurrected body will be different from the pres-
that it was decided that he spend part of the year in the neth-
ent one: “We have decreed among you death . . . that we
erworld and the other part on earth. This would indicate that
may exchange the likes of you and make you to grow again
his death and return to life represent the seasonal cycle. Here
in a fashion you do not know” (56:60–61). But the wording
too, evidence for a belief in resurrection is lacking.
is not very specific here.
Elements from these two myths (of Baal and Dumuzi)
Later Muslim tradition has developed these ideas in sev-
are clearly recognized in what Greek sources report on the
eral directions. A great number of signs foretelling the day
Phoenician-Syrian god Adonis (Phoen., Da¯do¯n, “lord”). He
of resurrection are mentioned; the blast of the trumpet has
was loved by the goddess Aphrodite and by the lady of the
become three blasts: the blast of consternation, the blast of
netherworld, Persephone; Zeus finally decided that Adonis
examination, and the blast of resurrection. There is also the
should stay one half of the year with Aphrodite and the other
idea that at the resurrection the body will be raised and unit-
half with Persephone. (It is also told that Adonis was killed
ed to its soul, and that the lower part of the spine is preserved
by a boar and was bitterly mourned by Aphrodite.) In the
as a basis for the future body (as in the rabbinic idea dis-
case of the Egyptian god Osiris, the facts are somewhat more
cussed above). In addition there are speculations about a
favorable to the theory of belief in resurrection growing out
“punishment in the grave” ( Eadha¯b al-qabr): immediately
of the myth of the dying god. The myth of Osiris was known
after burial the deceased is questioned by the two angels,
in several versions, but their essence is as follows. Osiris was
Munkar and Nakir, and if the deceased is not able to answer
a good king who was killed and dismembered by his brother
the questions concerning God and the Prophet, punishment
Seth. His wife, Isis, mourned him, found the body, reassem-
is inflicted.
bled its parts, and restored it to life through a magical formu-
la. Isis then was made pregnant and bore a son, Horus, who
Several speculations are based on an interpretation of
was recognized as the lawful successor of his father, while
the obscure word barzakh in the QurDa¯n (23:100), taken by
Osiris was made ruler of the netherworld. As a god, Osiris
commentators to denote a bar or obstacle preventing return
had clear connections with the inundation of the Nile and
to the world after death. The word is now defined as the in-
with grain. These connections are manifest in several rites of
terval or space between this world and the next, or between
the Osiris “mysteries,” including the burial of an effigy of
death and resurrection, a kind of intermediary state. Ibn
Osiris made of earth and grain. Growing grain symbolizes
Qayyim al-Jawz¯ıyah (d. 1350), who wrote a book about the
the god’s return to life. Here, for once, is a clear connection
spirit, presents various theories about what happens to the
with beliefs concerning human life in the hereafter. Every
spirit between death and resurrection: The spirits are in or
person who is properly buried becomes an Osiris in the other
near the grave; the spirits of the believers only are in Paradise,
world and shares the life of the god.
or at the gates of Paradise, or in the sacred well Zamzam, or
on the right-hand side of Adam; the unbelievers are in the
Clearly, there are considerable differences between these
fire of Hell, or in the well Barhut.
dying gods, and it is doubtful whether all of them represent
the same specific type of god. Great caution should be exer-
A POSSIBLE PRECURSOR. The belief in dying and reviving
cised in seeking to draw conclusions concerning the role
gods has sometimes been taken as one of the roots of the idea
played by these myths in the development of the belief in res-
of resurrection. The English anthropologist James G. Frazer
urrection.
(1854–1941) devoted one volume of The Golden Bough to
“the dying god,” interpreting the myth as a symbol of the
SEE ALSO Dying and Rising Gods.
death and renewal of vegetation. However, the clearest exam-
ple of a dying god, the Canaanite Aliyan Baal, was not
BIBLIOGRAPHY
known when the book was written, because the Ugaritic texts
There is no monograph on resurrection in general. Volume 5
were only discovered in 1929. Baal is the god of thunder,
(1965) of the journal Kairos has a series of articles on resur-
rain, and fertility. He is killed by his enemy Mot (whose
rection in different religions, supplemented by two articles
name means “death” and who represents the dry season), and
on Jewish ideas in volumes 14 (1972) and 15 (1973).
vegetation withers away. However, Baal’s sister Anat defeats
Discussion of Chinese ideas can be found in Henri Maspero’s Mé-
Mot, and Baal returns to life, which also implies the renewal
langes posthumes sur les religions et l’histoire de la Chine, 3 vols.
of vegetation. The myth probably served as the scenario of
(Paris, 1950) by consulting the index entries under immor-
a ritual drama, whose aim was to secure the new life of vege-
talité. Indian ideas are dealt with by Helmuth von Glasenapp
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7768
RETREAT
in Unsterblichkeit und Erlösung in den indischen Religionen
cient Canaan (Philadelphia, 1978). On Osiris, E. A. Wallis
(Halle, 1938). For Egyptian ideas, see Alan H. Gardiner’s
Budge’s Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, 2 vols. (1911;
The Attitude of the Ancient Egyptians to Death and the Dead
New York, 1973), and J. Gwyn Griffith’s The Origin of Osiris
(Cambridge, 1935); Herman Kees’s Totenglauben und Jen-
and His Cult, 2d ed., rev. & enl. (Leiden, 1980), may be
seitsvorstellungen der alten Ägypter, 2d ed. (Berlin, 1956), a
profitably consulted.
classic but difficult work; and, for certain aspects, Louis V.
New Sources
Zabkar’s A Study of the Ba Concept in Ancient Egyptian Texts
Bynum, Caroline Walker. The Resurrection of the Body in Western
(Chicago, 1968) and Gertie Englund’s Akh: Une notion reli-
Christianity, 200–1336. New York, 1995. A survey of the
gieuse dans l’Egypte pharaonique (Uppsala, 1978). The only
views of the soul’s relationship to the body throughout early
comprehensive study of Iranian conceptions is Nathan Sö-
and medieval Christianity in a novel perspective.
derblom’s La vie future d’après le Mazdéisme (Paris 1901). It
is now somewhat out of date, but is still useful, as is
Casadio, Giovanni. Vie gnostiche all’immortalità. Brescia, Italy,
J. D. C. Pavry’s The Zoroastrian Doctrine of a Future Life
1997. Types of resurrection in Judaism, Zoroastrianism,
(New York, 1926).
New Testament and Gnosticism are discussed with attention
to the relevant bibliography.
Old Testament ideas have been dealt with by Edmund F. Sutcliffe
in The Old Testament and the Future Life (Westminster, Md.,
Hornung, Erik and Schabert, Tilo, eds. Auferstehung und Unster-
1947) and by Robert Martin-Achard in De la mort à la résur-
blichkeit. Munich, 1993. A volume of the new Eranos series,
rection . . . dans . . . l’Ancien Testament (Neuchâtel, 1956).
including cross-cultural studies by historians of religions
For further discussion, see Harris Birkeland’s “The Belief in
(Michael von Brück, Giovanni Casadio, Reinhold Merkel-
the Resurrection of the Dead in the Old Testament,” Studia
bach), philosophers (A. Hilary Armstrong, Rémi Brague),
Theologica 3 (1950): 60–78, and my book Israelite Religion
anthropologists (Jean Servier), and psychologists (James
(Philadelphia, 1975), pp. 239–247. Among studies dealing
Hillman).
with later Jewish and Christian ideas, see R. H. Charles’s A
Mainville, Odette, and Daniel Marguerat, eds. Résurrection.
Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life in Israel, in Ju-
L’après mort dans le monde ancien et le Nouveau Testament.
daism, and in Christianity (1899; reprint, New York, 1979)
Geneva, 2001. Resurrection in New Testament and ancient
and Pierre Grelot’s De la mort à la vie éternelle (Paris, 1971).
world in theological perspective.
For Judaism, see also H. C. C. Cavallin’s Life after Death,
HELMER RINGGREN (1987)
vol. 1, part 1, An Inquiry into the Jewish Background (Lund,
Revised Bibliography
1974), a comprehensive study of all relevant texts, and
George W. E. Nickelsburg’s Resurrection, Immortality, and
Eternal Life in InterTestamental Judaism (Cambridge, Mass.,
1972).
RETREAT may be defined as a limited period of isolation
Of the literature on the New Testament only a few books can be
during which an individual, either alone or as part of a small
mentioned: Murdoch E. Dahl’s The Resurrection of the Body:
group, withdraws from the regular routine of daily life, gen-
A Study of 1 Corinthians 15 (London, 1962); Immortality and
erally for religious reasons. Retreats are one of the commoner
Resurrection, 2d ed., edited by Pierre Benoït and Roland E.
practices in the religious life of nearly all peoples, although
Murphy (New York, 1970); Robert C. Tennenhill’s Dying
and Rising with Christ (Berlin, 1967); and Geerhardus Vos’s
they are often restricted to a determinate type or class of per-
The Pauline Eschatology (Grand Rapids, Mich., 1961).
sons: those preparing for initiation (e.g., into the adult life
Works in German are Oscar Cullman’s Unsterblichkeit der
of a clan, into a religious group, or into some public office
Seele und Auferstehung der Toten (Stuttgart, 1963), Paul
of a religious nature), those undergoing a process of conver-
Hoffmann’s Die Toten in Christus: Ein religionsgeschichtliche
sion, those in search of a religious vocation, or those seeking
und exegetische Untersuchung zur paulinischen Eschatologie
a periodic renewal of their spiritual lives. During this period,
(Münster, 1978), and Günter Kegel’s Auferstehung Jesu,
retreatants interrupt their ordinary routine, break off regular
Auferstehung der Toten (Gütersloh, 1970).
social relationships, and (except for those who already live
On resurrection in Christian theology, see Paul Althaus’s Die letz-
in monasteries or the like) withdraw into a solitary place or
ten Dinge (1922; Gütersloh, 1956), Walter Künneth’s
to a special building set apart for such purposes. This isola-
Theologie der Auferstehung (1934; Giessen, 1982), and Klaus
tion, as well as the interruption of social intercourse and or-
Kienzler’s Logik der Auferstehung (Freiburg im Breisgau,
dinary life, is adopted as a condition that enables individual
1976), a study of the theologians Rudolf Bultmann, Gerhard
retreatants to enter within themselves in silence, in order to
Ebeling, and Wolfhart Pannenberg.
establish contact with the divinity or with the world of the
For a broad discussion of dying and rising gods, see James G. Fra-
spirits. Hence, retreats often involve the use of various asceti-
zer’s The Golden Bough, 3d. ed., rev. & enl., vol. 4, The Dying
cal means, such as fasting, abstinence, prayer, meditation,
God (1912; London, 1955). On Dumuzi, see Thorkild Ja-
and techniques aimed at inducing a revelatory dream, trance,
cobsen’s The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopota-
or ecstasy.
mian Religion (New Haven, 1976), pp. 25–73. On Baal, See
Arvid S. Kapelrud’s Ba Dal in the Ras Shamra Texts (Copenha-
Various forms of retreat may be distinguished, and par-
gen, 1952); Werner H. Schmidt’s “Baals Tod und Auferste-
ticipants may engage in retreats with varying frequency. A
hung,” Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 15
retreat accompanying a radical conversion of life or the dis-
(1963): 1–13; and Michael David Coogan’s Stories from An-
cernment of a vocation may be a rare or even unique event
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RETREAT
7769
in an individual’s life; whereas that aimed at personal spiritu-
the adolescents to see whether the revelatory experience had
al renewal might be repeated periodically. Retreats of initia-
yet occurred. If it had, they brought their offspring back to
tion may follow quite diverse procedures, depending on the
the tribe, where they were regarded as the depositories of a
kind of initiation involved. Thus, one may distinguish re-
sacred force (Walter Krickeberg et al., Die Religionen des
treats of tribal initiation; retreats of search for a revelatory
Alten Amerika, Stuttgart, 1961; see also J. Blumensohn, “The
dream; retreats of shamanistic or monastic initiaion; and re-
Fast among North American Indians,” American Anthropolo-
treats of conversion, discernment, and renewal.
gy 35, 1933, pp. 451–469).
RETREATS OF TRIBAL INITIATION. In generic and somewhat
RETREATS OF SHAMANISTIC INITIATION. Mircea Eliade
abstract terms (since in reality quite different forms of ritual
treats shamanism as a religious limit-experience: a form of
may be involved), initiation into the life of a tribe entails sep-
mysticism originating in a vocation awakened by a crisis that
arating candidates from the social nucleus to which they be-
is found in many religions (Shamanism: Archaic Techniqes of
long as children, especially from their mother, and isolating
Ecstasy, rev. and enl. ed., New York, 1964). Here, shaman-
them in a well-defined zone, protected by rigid taboos. There
ism is taken in its original, strict sense, as a characteristic and
they are placed under the direction of elders chosen by the
primary expression of the religious life of the peoples of north
tribe. The neophytes are then subjected to certain strict disci-
central Asia. The shaman is an individual who has been sud-
plines (fasting, abstinence, and various taboos), are instruct-
denly overcome by a spirit and has, by that very fact, received
ed by the elders in certain traditional truths and beliefs (so-
a distinctive gift. The signs whereby this possession becomes
cial and sexual ethics, myths and rituals, techniques of
known coincide with what the Western mind would call
hunting, fishing, or farming), and are forced to undergo cer-
symptoms of epilepsy or, more generally, a form of nervous
tain more or less painful tests. At the end of this period of
disorder. Whoever receives such a “dangerous” gift must stay
initiation, after passing through certain liberating rites, the
in constant contact with the world of the spirits, and this the
neophytes, having undergone a profound transformation, re-
shaman does by isolating himself. Frequently, the candidate
turn to the tribe as adults. The symbolic meaning of this pe-
is instructed by an old shaman, or the whole tribe may take
riod of isolation seems clear enough. Cultures that practice
part in the shaman’s initiation by contributing to its ritual
this kind of initiation regard it as a mutation or deep trans-
sacrifices. The future shaman learns the necessary formulas
formation of the human being: a sort of death and rebirth.
and offertory rites and then retires to the wild in order to
Henceforth, all that had previously constituted the life of a
learn the techniques of ecstasy by sitting before a fire and re-
child must be suppressed, especially the child’s former de-
peating certain formulas. At the end of the shaman’s retreat,
pendence on its mother. The adolescent through this isola-
the individual is consecrated in a rite celebrated by the an-
tion, enters the world of the sacred, of mythic time, and is
cient shaman who provided instruction. From this retreat the
often locked in struggle with mysterious force, involving
new shaman emerges endowed with special powers, and can
some form of bodily suffering (torture and, above all, cir-
now enter into contact with the world of the spirits, and the
cumcision). In this case the retreat is precisely the vehicle that
new shaman’s mediation thus becomes important for the
allows this breaking away and entry.
tribe.
RETREATS OF SEARCH FOR A REVELATORY DREAM. A num-
RETREATS OF MONASTIC INITIATION. Among the four ex-
ber of peoples, especially pre-Columbian Indians, submitted
emplary stages that Hindu tradition distinguishes in the life
their children and adolescents to a period of isolation aimed
of a person—the third, after those of student and father of
at enabling them to enter into contact with the spirit who
a family, but before that of wandering holy person—is that
was to guide each of them throughout life. This phenome-
of the individual who withdraws in solitude into the forest,
non is especially notable among certain Canadian groups,
where he or she (now called a vanaptrasthin) commits to
such as the Athapascans, who submitted children as young
meditation and to certain practices of asceticism. This retreat
as five years old to the test. The norm commonly followed
portends the person’s coming to spiritual maturity and even-
involved removing these children or adolescents from their
tual irradiation of the surrounding people, by way of the
normal world of relationships, abandoning them in a solitary
vanaptrasthin’s example and teaching. Since a long period of
place, and subjecting them to a strict fast until physical weak-
isolation is involved here, this retreat may well be classified
ness induced a state of hallucination. The first image that
as an experience of the eremitical life. Significantly, in the
presented itself to the child or adolescent was the spirit who
history of Western monasticism, Athanasius, in his Life of
would accompany and protect him until death, a sort of tute-
Antony, describes how his hero, after his conversion, first un-
lary numen whom he would thence-forward invoke. The
derwent a stage of basic initiation under the direction of an
Delaware and Algonquin of the Atlantic coast observed
ascetic, after which he underwent a further stage of isolation
much the same procedure with twelve-year-old girls and
in a necropolis, followed by a third and decisive stage of en-
boys, but introduced the concept of the compassion of the
closure in a ruined castle, where he remained for twenty
spirits, whom the adolescents were required to invoke while
years. At the end of this stage, Athanasius relates in terms
they practiced their total fast. The spirits then put an end to
reminiscent of the mystery cults, that Antony “came forth
the sufferings of the initiates by revealing themselves to them
as from a sanctuary, initiated in the mysteries and filled with
in a dream. After a certain length of time, the parents visited
the divine spirit” (Life of Antony 14). Finally, after receiving
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7770
RETREAT
the gift of spiritual fecundity, Antony accepted some disci-
individual. The retreat in the woods constitutes one of the
ples, although he remained with them in solitude. The paral-
stages of the ideal way of the Hindu. Even masters return pe-
lels to Hindu monasticism are revealing: In both cases there
riodically to the forest solitude, in order to encounter them-
is a retreat into complete solitude, which prepares the indi-
selves more deeply. But it is above all in Islam and Christiani-
viduals for full spiritual maturity and confers on them a cer-
ty that this kind of retreat has been most popular.
tain irradiative power. The Hindu ascetic then embarks
Islam. The custom of devoting a period of time to
upon an itinerant, renunciative life (sam:nyasa), returning to
prayer and fasting (khalwah), while withdrawing from social
society but not forming part of it. The Christian anchorite
contacts and ordinary occupations, is amply documented in
becomes an elder—a religious father or mother—and accepts
the Muslim world much earlier than in Christendom. The
disciples, instructing them in the spiritual life.
source of inspiration for this practice is the fact that, accord-
A similar phenomenon appears in the lives of other
ing to the QurDa¯n, God gave the Law to Moses at the end
Christian saints, who were dedicated not to monastic con-
of a retreat of forty days (su¯rah 7:142). It is also said that
templation but rather to intense activity among people. Igna-
Adam received his life-breath only forty days after he had
tius Loyola spent almost an entire year, from March 1522
been formed from the clay. The Prophet himself left an ex-
to February 1523, in Manresa, where he devoted himself to
ample, by going frequently into retreat. The great Andalu-
prayer (seven hours daily), fasting, and abstinence. He
sian mystic Muh:ammad ibn al-EArab¯ı (d. 1240) tells of the
emerged from this experience transformed and illumined in
revelations he received during a retreat he made as a very
spirit by revelations of various kinds. Three centuries later,
young man in Seville (Al-futu¯h:a¯t al-makk¯ıyah, Cairo, AH
Anthony M. Claret (1807–1870) spent some months at San
1329/1911 CE, vol. 1, p. 186). Ibn al-EArab¯ı also wrote a
Andrés del Pruit (Girona, Spain), dedicated to prayer. He
treatise on the conditions for making a retreat, the Kita¯b al-
went forth from this retreat powerfully consecrated to itiner-
khalwah. A century later, the Indian Sharaf al-D¯ın Mane¯r¯ı
ant preaching. In both cases, the retreat was one of initiation
(d. 1381) devoted one of his Hundred Letters to explaining
into an intense religious experience, accompanied by an out-
the origin and aim of the retreat. An essential element in it
burst of apostolic irradiation. It would be easy to cite numer-
is the remembrance of God, that is, the sense of God’s pres-
ous other examples of this type.
ence and the invocation of his name. By reviving the sense
of the divine presence, the retreat heals and fortifies the soul,
A different sort of retreat of monastic initiation is repre-
and disposes it to continue in that presence when the retrea-
sented by the novitiate, a relatively long period of trial prior
tant returns to ordinary life.
to incorporation into a religious community. During the no-
vitiate, candidates are separated from others—even from
In S:u¯f¯ı orders, the superior of a house is obliged to go
professed members of the community—and placed under
on retreat periodically. The novices, too, must make a re-
the direction of a master, who instructs them and tests their
treat, ordinarily for forty days. This forty days’ experience
vocation. The novitiate appears in the Buddhist tradition,
must be made in a solitary place or, if one is a member of
where it is called upasam:pada¯ (“goal, arrival”). Its aim is to
a community, in a dark cell. Fasting is essential to this kind
prepare the novices for entry upon the way of salvation, and
of retreat: Whoever makes one must reduce their food con-
it ends with an anointing ceremony (abhis:eka), which conse-
sumption considerably throughout, and abstain completely
crates them. In Christian monasticism, an initial period of
from eating during the last three days. The lives of the S:u¯f¯ı
instruction and trial originated among the anchorites of the
mystics contain numerous allusions to this practice (see Javad
fourth century. It was a rather long period, which ended
Nurbakhsh, Masters of the Path, New York, 1980, pp. 115,
when the elder in charge adjudged the novice to have reached
117). Ibn al-EArab¯ı tells of a retreat he made with the master
the required maturity, and invited the novice to withdraw
Abu¯ Zakar¯ıya¯D Yah:ya¯ ibn H:assa¯n (Sufis of Andalusia, Berke-
into chosen solitude. In monastic communities, the novitiate
ley, Calif., 1971, p. 138).
was reduced to a period of a year. At present, it lasts from
Christianity. In Christianity, especially during the last
one to two years, according to custom. Originally, the year
few centuries, this type of retreat, aimed at the spiritual re-
of novitiate began with investiture of the novice in the habit,
newal of the individual through meditation, prayer, and si-
while it later came to be terminated with his commitment
lence, has reached a high level of development. Such a retreat
to the religious life. Besides this investiture, another feature
is often made under the direction of a master, who engages
observed in the past was a change of the novice’s name, to
in periodic dialogue with the individual retreatant, or else de-
indicate that a secular individual had died and a religious one
livers instructions, when the retreat is made by a group.
had come to birth. The medieval Christian theology of the
It is significant that certain popular histories of the re-
religious profession as a second baptism referred to this idea
treat begin with the episode narrated by the evangelist Mark
of a symbolic death and rebirth.
(repeated, with amplifications, in the Matthean and Lukan
RETREATS OF SPIRITUAL RENEWAL. The practice of with-
parallels), concerning Jesus’ withdrawal into the desert of Ju-
drawing for a relatively brief period of time in order to revi-
daea after his baptism and the “descent” of the Holy Spirit
talize oneself spiritually seems to be evidenced in all religions
upon him. The Markan account (Mk. 1:12–13) is not only
that attach great importance to the spiritual experience of the
Christological in content, but also exemplary in intention.
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7771
Jesus, after his baptism and his anointing by the Spirit, ap-
throughout the period of Lent. Thus, the Lenten retreat was
pears as the New Adam, dwelling among the wild beasts and
fundamentally a retreat of spiritual renewal, in which the in-
ministered to by angels. During this time (scholars debate
dividual retreatant relived certain fundamental themes of
whether the passage existed in the tradition prior to Mark),
Christianity, derived primarily from the passion of Christ,
Jesus was tempted by the spirit of evil but, unlike the first
but secondarily from his withdrawal and fast in the desert.
Adam, overcame the temptation (see Vincent Taylor, The
Gospel according to Mark, London, 1955, pp. 162–164). Of
It is fitting at this point to inquire into the rise, in Chris-
itself, the episode did not overtly attribute to Jesus the inten-
tian churches, of the practice of the retreat proper, that is to
tion of devoting himself especially to spiritual exercises of
say, of that prayerful kind of withdrawal practiced by a per-
prayer. The accounts of Matthew (4:1–11) and Luke (4:1–
son, either alone or as part of a small group, for a certain
13) add that Jesus’ stay in the desert lasted forty days, and
short period of time. It was precisely the celebration of Lent
that the temptation came at the end of this period.
that suggested the first tentative steps in this direction.
Around the end of the fourth century and the beginning of
The account of Jesus’ sojourn in the desert added even
the fifth, Euthymius the Great, a monk of Melitene, adopted
richer spiritual implications to the biblical texts on the pas-
the custom of withdrawing during Lent of each year and
sage of the Hebrew people through the desert, before their
going to a mountaintop, where he gave himself over to prayer
entry into Canaan. The desert now became the symbol of a
and fasting. Later, he went with a friend each year into the
new spiritual attitude. Origen, in his commentary on Exodus,
desert of Koutila (see Cyril of Scythopolis, Life of Euthymius,
speaks of the need for retreat: One must leave familiar sur-
edited by E. Schwartz, in Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. 49,
roundings and go to a place free of worldly preoccupations,
no. 2, Lipsia, 1939, pp. 3–85). Jesus’ stay in the Judean de-
a place of silence and interior peace, where one can learn wis-
sert thus became a model that was imitated literally. It is
dom and come to a deep knowledge of the word of God (In
quite possible—indeed, probable—that other monks fol-
Exodum Homiliae, Wilhelm Baehrens, ed., Leipzig, 1920,
lowed the same norm, in an endeavor to practice a stricter
p. 167).
eremitical life during Lent.
Drawing their inspiration from the example of Jesus, the
Yet another historical fact might be considered as a pre-
Christian churches soon established a period of forty days
cursor of the modern retreat. Pilgrimages to shrines, which
dedicated to fasting, abstinence, and greater prayer, in order
were so frequent during certain periods of the Middle Ages,
to prepare the faithful for the celebration of the Pascha. Two
involved a break with the normal situation of the individual,
themes were interwoven in the sermons of the Fathers on
a going forth from one’s city and family, in order to visit
Lent: that of participation in Christ’s struggles and sufferings
some usually distant holy place (“to ferne halwes,” as Chaucer
during his passion as a preparation for the celebration of the
noted in his prologue to the Canterbury Tales, poking fun
Resurrection, and that of a model projection on it, of the fast
at English pilgrims who managed to get no farther than Can-
and temptations of Jesus in the solitude of the Judean desert.
terbury). Palestine, the tombs of the apostles in Rome, and
On this fundamental model, they occasionally superimposed
Compostela were among the most common goals. The deep
the image of the wandering of the Israelites in the desert,
reason behind these journeys was the desire to visit a sacred
with all the trials and temptations to which they were sub-
place where the presence of the supernatural was more per-
jected there (see Leo the Great, “Sermons on Lent,”
ceptible, thanks to the presence either of the relics of a saint
Patrologia Latina, vol. 54). In addresses to the laity, the latter
or of some venerable holy image. Sometimes these pilgrim-
were not asked to go on retreat (although they are asked to
ages became the occasion of a process of conversion and sepa-
prolong their prayer), but were exhorted to conversion, to
ration from the world. It is noteworthy, for example, that the
charity toward the poor, and to reconciliation with enemies.
primitive nucleus of twelfth-century hermitages of Our
Traditionally, it was also recommended that they forgo di-
Lady, at Mount Carmel (the future Carmelite order), were
versions and entertainments.
constituted by people of western Europe who had established
themselves in the Holy Land. In certain cases, the pilgrimage
The anonymous author of the Rule of the Master (central
shrine was served by a community of monks who ran a hos-
Italy, c. 500) introduced three chapters on the observance of
telry for those who wished to spend a limited period of prayer
Lent by monks, prescribing that they multiply their prayers
and silence nearby. This fact is documented in connection
and perform more acts of fast and abstinence (Rule of the
with the shrine and abbey of Einsiedeln, Switzerland, per-
Master, chaps. 51–53). Benedict (480–c. 547) reduced the
haps as early as the twelfth century (Ludwig Raeber, Our
rule for Lent to a single chapter, in which he echoed Leo the
Lady of Hermits, Einsiedeln, 1961), and, somewhat later, at
Great and the Rule of the Master. In it he added a recommen-
the shrine and monastery of Montserrat, Spain (Joan Segarra,
dation that monks recite more numerous individual prayers
Montserrat, Barcelona, 1961).
and restrict their dealings with each other (Rule of Saint Bene-
dict, chap. 49). Lent thus tended to become a sort of forty-
But the retreat as commonly known during the past few
day retreat spent in silence, prayer, fasting, and abstinence.
centuries has its roots, properly speaking, in the spiritual
From the Middle Ages on, the monastic orders began to in-
movement called the Devotio Moderna, initiated by Ger-
terrupt all contact, even by way of letter, with outsiders,
hard Groote (1340–1384) in the Low Countries, of which
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RETREAT
the most widely known representative is Thomas à Kempis
began to be practiced by the laity in great numbers. An out-
(c. 1380–1471). Groote, converted to a fervent life in 1374,
standing figure in the history of retreats was the Argentinian
withdrew for a time to the charterhouse of Munnikhuizen,
María Antonia de San José de la Paz (1730–1799), who orga-
near Arnhem on the Rhine. The Brethren of the Common
nized Ignatian retreats in the course of her life for more than
Life and the authors of the Devotio Moderna popularized
a hundred thousand people. However, the Ignatian retreat
their form of piety among the secular clergy and the laity,
was gradually converted into a retreat of spiritual renewal as
giving it a practical and ascetical interpretation, well suited
it came to be repeated periodically by persons who had al-
to the clearly individualistic horizons of the spirituality of the
ready chosen a type of Christian life (priestly, religious, or
Christian West in their day. Next came the refinement of
secular) and only sought to be spiritually revitalized through
different methods of meditation, and the compilation of var-
a retreat.
ious handbooks of meditations. In the early fourteenth cen-
Priests, religious, and seminarians of the Roman Catho-
tury, the Tuscan Franciscan John de Caulibus published his
lic church commonly make eight days of spiritual exercises
Meditations on the Life of Christ; Gerard of Zutphen
annually. Many members of the Catholic laity follow the
(d. 1398), in his De spiritualibus ascensionibus, propounded
same norm in the present time. Some periodically make even
a precise method of meditations and examens, a procedure
a month’s exercises. Hence one may find retreat houses in
repeated later by the Dutch canon regular, John Mombaer
all countries where the Roman Catholic Church is present.
(d. 1501), the last master of the Devotio Moderna, who used
In 1836, the bishop of Viviers, France, approved the Congre-
it as an instrument of reform in the monasteries of the clerks
gation of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Cenacle, founded
regular in France. In 1500, the reforming abbot of Montser-
by Marie Victoire Thérèse Couderc and by Jean-Pierre
rat, Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, printed his Ejercitatorio
Étienne Terme. Initially called Dames de la Retraite (“retreat
de la vida espiritual, containing a precise method of medita-
ladies”), the Sisters promoted the practice of retreats among
tions, and a plan that structured the various meditations into
laity. They have retreat houses in England (since 1888), and
four successive weeks. The technique developed out of the
even more exist in the United States, where they arrived in
Devotio Moderna could thus be used in a period set aside
1892. A similar end is pursued by the Retreat Sisters of the
especially for prayer and meditation.
Sacred Heart, founded in 1678 in Quimper, France, by Cl-
This technique culminated in the Spiritual Exercises of
aude Thérèse de Kermeno. Other men and women religious
Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. It is a
are dedicated to the same apostolate. In France, toward the
methodical interweaving of meditations, contemplations,
end of the nineteenth century, the Oeuvre des Retraites de
and examens, more or less developed, taking place over four
Perseverance was founded, and soon the movement spread
weeks and accompanied by a series of counsels and rules. He
to Italy. Its aim is to promote yearly retreats and monthly
first sketched out the method during his own retreat at Man-
days of recollection among the laity, as a means of renewing
resa, and perfected it over the years until the definitive ver-
Christian life. Besides the month-long and annual eight-day
sion was approved by Pope Paul III in 1548. Although there
retreat forms, where the dominant influence is Ignatian,
are points of contact between Ignatius and some of his pre-
there are weekend retreats for laity, which follow many dif-
decessors (especially Jiménez de Cisneros, whose method he
ferent methods: scriptural, charismatic, healing, and so forth.
seems to have known), he is quite original in definitively
In the United States, the National Catholic Laymen’s Re-
tying these meditations to a retreat made under the direction
treat Conference was founded in 1928. A retreat league
founded by the Sisters of the Cenacle became, in 1936, the
of a master, with the basic aim of choosing a proper mode
National Laywomen’s Retreat Movement.
of life for the greater service of God—hence, the rules of dis-
cernment that accompany the Exercises. Starting with the
A particular form of retreat, originally among Catholics,
first companions of the founder, the Jesuits have continued
has been propagated by the movement known as Cursillos
to be trained in the Exercises of Ignatius.
de Cristiandad, founded by Bishop Hervás in Majorca in
1949, whence it has spread to several other countries. A
In the sixteenth century, retreat exercises according to
group of Christians, from almost any walk of life, retreat for
the Ignatian method had already become popular, although
a few days dedicated to community reflection, liturgy, dia-
they were practiced only by priests and religious at the time,
logue, and private reflection. They examine and share the
not by the laity. Retreat houses were established in order to
concrete faith-experience of their ordinary life. The Cursillos
facilitate the arrangement of retreats for those who wished
movement, which has existed for some years in the United
to make them. The first such house was opened in a villa in
States, is organized on national and diocesan levels, and has,
Siena, Italy, in 1538. This was followed by the retreat houses
to some extent, been practiced by other Christian groups,
of Alcala, Spain, in 1553, Cologne, Germany, in 1561, and
mainly Lutherans and Episcopalians.
Louvain, Belgium, in 1569. In the seventeenth century this
practice was adopted by the principal representatives of
Finally, some mention should be made of the monthly
French spirituality. Vincent de Paul (d. 1660) is said to have
retreat or recollection day. Practiced mainly by religious and
directed the Exercises of more than twenty thousand persons.
priests in the nineteenth century, it became almost obligatory
The Exercises, in somewhat modified and shortened form,
after Pius X recommended it in his exhortation to the Catho-
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REVELATION
7773
lic clergy in 1908. The Second Vatican Council, in its De-
Revel guided the schools in the spirit of modern Ortho-
cree on Priests, also recommended the practice of retreats to
doxy, attempting to perpetuate the traditional Torah way of
the clergy (Presbyterorum Ordinis, no. 18).
life within the context of American society. Yeshiva College,
in particular, marked the first effort to provide traditional
SEE ALSO Deserts; Eremitism; Initiation; Monasticism;
Talmudic study and liberal arts training under the same aus-
Quests; Shamanism.
pices. Despite the vigorous opposition of some rabbinical
leaders, who feared for the primacy of Torah study in such
BIBLIOGRAPHY
an institution, Revel forged ahead and in 1937 opened a
Very little, if anything, of a general nature has been published on
graduate department in advanced Jewish and cognate
the topic of retreat. References to retreats, seclusion, and the
studies. In 1941 this school was renamed the Bernard Revel
like can be found in any general survey on Hindu, Muslim,
Graduate School in his memory.
and Christian mysticism, as well as in works dealing with
phenomenology of religion.
Revel was a presidium member of the Union of Ortho-
Works dealing with specific traditions can, however, be recom-
dox Rabbis of the United States and Canada from 1924
mended. For a discussion of retreat traditions in tribal socie-
(later honorary president) and vice-president of the Jewish
ties, see Victor Turner’s The Forest of Symbols (Ithaca, N.Y.,
Academy of Arts and Sciences from 1927. He was an asso-
1969). On the role of seclusion in the Buddhist monastic tra-
ciate editor of the Otsar Yisra Del encyclopedia (vol. 9, 1913),
dition, see John C. Holt’s Discipline: The Canonical Bud-
and his doctoral dissertation was published by Dropsie Col-
dhism of the Vinayapataha (Delhi, 1981). On retreat in the
lege (1913). Despite the demands made upon his time by his
Christian tradition, the New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 12
manifold Yeshiva responsibilities, Revel continued his doc-
(New York, 1967), includes a valuable article by Thomas E.
toral research with monographs and studies about deviant
Dubay. Further discussion of the topic is available in Historia
de la practica de los Ejercicios Espirituales de San Ignacio de
halakhah systems. He also produced articles of rabbinic
Loyola, 2 vols. (Bilbao, Spain, 1946–1955), by Ignacio Ipar-
scholarship and wrote halakhic responsa. His writings were
raguirre. For the role of retreat in Eastern Orthodox church-
published mainly in the Jewish Quarterly Review, Yagdil
es, see Catherine de Hueck Doherty’s Sobornost (Notre
Torah, Ha-Pardes, and various Yeshiva student publications.
Dame, Ind., 1977). For discussion of Muslim retreats, see
Muh:ammad ibn al-EArab¯ı’s Kita¯b al-khalwah (Aya Sofia,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1964) and letters 96 and 22 in Sharafuddin Maneri’s The
Hoenig, Sidney B. Rabbinics and Research: The Scholarship of Dr.
Hundred Letters, translated by Paul Jackson (New York,
Bernard Revel. New York, 1968.
1980).
Poupko, Bernard A., ed. Eidenu: Memorial Publication in Honor
JUAN MANUEL LOZANO (1987)
of Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel (in Hebrew). New York, 1942.
Rakeffet-Rothkoff, Aaron. Bernard Revel: Builder of American Jew-
ish Orthodoxy. 2d ed. Jerusalem, 1981.
RETRIBUTION SEE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD;
New Sources
REVENGE AND RETRIBUTION
Gurock, Jeffrey S. “An Orthodox Conspiracy Theory: The Travis
Family, Bernard Revel, and the Jewish Theological Semi-
nary.” Modern Judaism 19 (1999): 241–253.
REVEL, BERNARD (1885–1940), a rabbinic scholar,
AARON RAKEFFET-ROTHKOFF (1987)
Revised Bibliography
was the organizer of American Jewish Orthodoxy. Born in
Pren, a suburb of Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania, where his fa-
ther was the community rabbi, Revel later studied in the Telz
REVELATION.
yeshivah and was ordained in Kaunas at the age of sixteen.
The concept of revelation is a funda-
Immigrating to the United States in 1906, Revel received his
mental one in every religion that in any way traces its origin
master of arts degree from New York University in 1909;
to God or a divinity. Revelation is a divine communication
three years later he completed a Ph.D. at Dropsie College
to human beings. This broad description allows the phenom-
with a thesis entitled “The Karaite Halakhah and Its Relation
enologist of religion to include very different manners and
to Sadducean, Samaritan, and Philonian Halakhah.”
degrees of revelation. In fact, the most diverse experiences,
ranging from an obscure clue given by a supernatural power
Revel first worked in the Oklahoma-based petroleum
to the self-communication of a personal God, are possible
company of his wife’s family, but in 1915 he accepted the
from the standpoints of psychology, religious philosophy,
presidency of New York’s newly merged Yeshivat Etz Chaim
and theology.
and Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. Under its
auspices, Revel then opened the Talmudical Academy, the
In general, religious phenomenologists use five different
first such yeshivah high school in the United States. He also
criteria (characteristics or factors) of revelation:
reorganized the rabbinical school, and in 1928, he continued
(1) Origin or author: God, spirits, ancestors, power (mana),
his expansion program with the opening of Yeshiva College,
forces. In every case the source of revelation is some-
later Yeshiva University (1945).
thing supernatural or numinous.
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7774
REVELATION
(2) Instrument or means: sacred signs in nature (the stars,
personal, here-and-now turning of God to human beings but
animals, sacred places, or sacred times); dreams, visions,
to result rather from the intellectual efforts of the latter. The
ecstasies; finally, words or sacred books.
objection overlooks the fact that religio-philosophical state-
ments about God can never take the form of knowledge
(3) Content or object: the didactic, helping, or punishing
gained by the natural sciences, which turn the object of their
presence, will, being, activity, or commission of the di-
investigations into an object of human experience and
vinity.
human categories of thought. God cannot be fully grasped
(4) Recipients or addressees: medicine men, sorcerers, sacri-
by human thought or defined or adequately described in
ficing priests, shamans, soothsayers, mediators, prophets
concepts derived from experience of the spatiotemporal
with a commission or information intended for individ-
world. This fact is reflected in “negative theology,” which re-
uals or groups, for a people or the entire race.
gards it as possible to say unreservedly of God only what he
(5) Effect and consequence for the recipient: personal in-
is not. Positive statements about him always fall short and
struction or persuasion, divine mission, service as ora-
are compatible with his absolute transcendence, his wholly-
cle—all this through inspiration or, in the supreme case,
otherness (totaliter aliter) and ever-greaterness (semper
through incarnation.
maior), only insofar as they are made with a realization of the
analogous structure of human language. In this context
It is to be noted that the historians of religion derived the
“analogy” does not mean mathematical similarity; it refers
concept of revelation from the Judeo-Christian religion
rather to a fundamental relation of similarity-dissimilarity,
where it received its theological elaboration and then in the
due to which every positive assertion of a formal perfection
course of research into the history of religions was transferred
in God (being, goodness, justice, etc.) must immediately be
in a broad and analogous sense to other religions. The answer
negated. That is, it must be purified of the experienced fi-
to the question whether one may speak of revelation in the
niteness that attaches to these concepts in the spatio-
proper sense in animistic, polytheistic, and polydemonistic
temporal world, and then applied to the trancendent God
religions will depend on the understanding of religion main-
in a nonmaterial sense and in the highest possible degree of
tained by a given Christian scholar. In theologian Karl
perfection. It is clear that in this three-step operation—
Barth’s view Christianity alone possesses a revelation; histori-
assertion, negation, and reassertion in the mode of superemi-
an of religion van der Leeuw, on the other hand, develops
nence—negation plays the decisive role.
a much more inclusive understanding of revelation and
therefore a series of types that culminates in the Christian
To make the point more simply: God is a hidden God
concept of revelation.
(Deus absconditus). Only if he discloses himself and only to
the extent that he makes himself known can he be known
It is certain that revelation must be clearly distinguished
by human beings. This is the basic idea behind the concept
from magic, since magical practices aim at power over and
of “natural revelation,” which is proposed at various points
disposal of the divine, while revelation means in principle a
in the Western tradition of philosophical theology.
free announcement by the divinity. This announcement
even goes beyond hierophanies and epiphanies and involves
The Bible. In his Letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul
the manifestation of something holy or the rendering appre-
vividly states the possibility (not the actuality) of a natural
hensible of a divine depth, inasmuch as it always clearly in-
knowledge of God: “The wrath of God is revealed from
cludes the distinction between revealing subject and revealed
heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who
object, between self-revealing God and mystery made
by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be
known. In any case, this fuller meaning is regularly intended
known about God is plain to them, because God has shown
by the Latin revelatio and the Greek apokalupsis.
it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible
nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly
Whether gnosis and mysticism are to be regarded as
perceived in the things that have been made. So they are
forms of revelation or, on the contrary, as the opposite of rev-
without excuse; for although they knew God they did not
elation depends essentially on the role assigned to divine
honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became
grace (as help from and self-communication of God) in these
futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were dark-
manifestations of religious life. Whenever ultimate knowl-
ened” (Rom. 1:18–22).
edge and the vision of supreme wisdom are regarded not as
the fruit of human effort alone but as a gift from God, then,
The most important statement here is “God has shown
as in the experience of a profound union with God that can-
it to them.” This clearly brings out the revelational character
not be acquired by force or produced by the human being
of the knowledge. The cosmos is not simply phusis or nature
but can only be received as a gift, a self-communication of
in the form of an eternally self-subsisting world, such as the
a personal God comes into play and the concept of revelation
Greeks understood it to be; rather, it is ktisis or creation, that
is correctly applied.
is, God’s handiwork that had a beginning and that as finite
N
nature points to the infinite God as its creator.
ATURAL REVELATIONS. It may therefore seem at first sight
contradictory to speak of “natural revelation,” since the
Ever since the creation of the world, the invisible being
knowledge of God derived from nature seems to involve no
of God has been known by reason. Human beings under-
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REVELATION
7775
stand themselves to be creatures and therefore by reason
Luther for his part interpreted Paul as saying in Romans
know God’s power and deity.
that they are foolish who endeavor to gain a natural knowl-
edge of God from creation as the “work” of God’s power and
The apostle Paul was evidently referring to a passage in
glory. Over and against such a “theology of glory” he set a
the Wisdom of Solomon, which was probably a Jewish compo-
“theology of the cross” that maintains that “insofar as God’s
sition written in Egypt in the first century BCE. Rejecting
being is made visible and is turned to the world, it is repre-
Egyptian polytheism, the author says: “All men who were ig-
sented there in suffering and the cross” (Heidelberg Disputa-
norant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable
tion of 1518). But, valuable though this emphasis on God’s
from the good things that are seen to know him who exists,
revelation in Christ is, in Paul’s view human beings are “fool-
nor did they recognize the craftsman while paying heed to
ish” not because they attempt to learn God’s eternal power
his works; but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift
and divinity from creation but because “by their wickedness
air, or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water, or the
[they] suppress the truth.” In general, evangelical theology
luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world. If
still has a negative attitude toward natural theology.
through delight in the beauty of these things men assumed
them to be gods, let them know how much better than these
Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. In the Constitution on
is their Lord, for the author of beauty created them. And if
Faith of the First Vatican Council (1869–1870), on the
men were amazed at their power and working, let them per-
other hand, the Catholic church insisted on the possibility
ceive from them how much more powerful is he who formed
and point of natural revelation: “God, the beginning and end
them. For from the greatness and beauty of created things
of all things, can be known with certainty from the things
comes a corresponding perception of their creator” (Wis.
that were created through the natural light of human reason,
13:1–5).
for ‘ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature
has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made’
In this passage myths about the origin of the world and
(Rom. 1:20)” (Henricus Denzinger and Adolfus Schön-
philosophical explanations of the world as emerging from
metzer’s “Enchiridion symbolorum, no. 3004,” The Chris-
primal matter (water, air, etc.), such as were offered by the
tian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church,
Ionian natural philosophers, are being rejected in favor of an
36th ed., no. 113, Rome, 1976). The passage goes beyond
understanding in which the beauties of this world are ex-
what is said in Romans and speaks of God as not only the
plained as produced by a first cause.
ground but also the destination of creation. It is clear from
Philosophy of Plato. The very wording of the passage
this, as it is from the expression “the natural light of human
from the Wisdom of Solomon betrays the philosophical influ-
reason,” that the council fathers were here following the
ence of Plato, who speaks in his dialogue the Symposium
teaching of Thomas Aquinas.
(178a–c) of the ascent of the soul, via the various degrees of
In his five “ways” of obtaining knowledge of God
bodily and intellectual beauty, to the primordially beautiful,
(Summa theologiae 1.2.3), Thomas was basing his thought on
that is, the idea of Beauty as such. Here as elsewhere in
Aristotle rather than Plato. The background of this link in
Plato’s elaboration of his doctrine of the Ideas, his thinking
the history of ideas must be briefly sketched. Aristotle had
takes as its point of reference the origin (arche, proton) of
accepted several points made by Plato: the priority of move-
things. Such is the case in the Lysis, where is found the con-
ment proceeding from within over movement initiated by
cept of the Primordially Lovable (philon), and especially in
what is outside (Laws, Phaedrus); the idea that what is first
the Republic (505–511), where Plato describes the function
in the cosmos is an idea, or eidos (“spiritual entity”); and, fi-
of the idea of the Good as such, which is the cause of being
nally, the view that first cause and end are necessarily identi-
and knowledge in everything else that is. In conceiving the
cal. In the framework of his own theory of potency and act,
world as having its ground in the ideas, Plato provides the
Aristotle then elaborated his doctrine of God as the First Un-
philosophical presupposition for understanding everything
moved Mover (to proton kinoun akineton auto), who as self-
finite as conditioned and as sustained in being by the idea
sufficient intellectual reality (actus purus) is not dependent
of God. The world is not intelligible in itself either ontically
on anything outside of himself, while at the same time all
or noetically, either in its being or in its knowableness. Once
other intellectual and corporeal beings have their ground in
this fundamental insight is grasped, it becomes easy to un-
him. God is the origin and source of the world and at the
derstand the viewpoint of Jewish and Christian thinkers who
same time its ultimate end, since all things strive toward him
saw the world as a message conveying God’s greatness, beau-
and he moves them as “that which is loved,” that is, as a su-
ty, power, and goodness, and therefore as a revelation in the
preme value that draws them (Metaphysics A, 6–9).
proper sense.
All these “movements” of which Aristotle speaks are not
It is for this reason that in the passage from Romans Paul
to be interpreted in mechanistic terms but intellectually or
says human beings should have advanced from knowledge
metaphysically: They are a striving for form or fulfillment in
of God to acknowledgment of him and the payment to him
reality or value.
of honor and gratitude. Even natural revelation implies and
calls for existential consequences such as reverence and obe-
Thomas Aquinas reduces these arguments of Plato and
dience.
Aristotle to concise systematic form. The first three ways take
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7776
REVELATION
as their starting point certain facts of experience: that the be-
kind, be known by everyone with facility, with firm certitude
ings of this world are in movement (in potency); that they
and with no admixture of error” because God has in fact
do not have their efficient cause in themselves (they are con-
granted a supernatural revelation (Denzinger-Schönmetzer,
ditioned beings); and that they do not exist necessarily but
no. 3005; Neuner-Dupuis, no. 114). This appraisal of the
are finite, temporal, and contingent. These three ways con-
situation is fully in accord with that of Thomas Aquinas
clude to a First Cause that “moves” everything (in the Aristo-
(Summa theologiae 1.1.1), for in his view the knowledge
telian sense of the word “move”), is the ground of all further
made available by natural revelation is indeed possible for the
causal series, and has the ground of its own being within it-
human race in its present condition, but it is by no means
self, or, in other words, exists necessarily and eternally.
easily gained or accessible to all. One is thus brought to a
consideration of “supernatural revelation,” which will here
The inevitability of this conclusion is underscored by
be called “biblical revelation.”
the consideration that an infinite regress does not offer an
alternative solution and that one must abandon the endless
Kant did not join Thomas in this approach. His criti-
series of causes and conditions (ab alio) and accept a First
cism of the proofs for the existence of God is based on the
that is of a different kind (a se) if anything at all is to be ex-
principle that knowledge is valid only within the realm of
plained. The idea that an infinite regress is impossible bears
sense experience and that there is no correspondence be-
the clear mark of Platonic thinking, according to which
tween thought and the truth as it exists in itself.
something finite and conditioned is explicable only in terms
OLD TESTAMENT AND JUDAISM. Jewish theology regards it
of something infinite and unconditioned (anupotheton). Pla-
as inconceivable that human beings should know God by
tonism thus conceived is indispensable for the philosophy of
their own powers and apart from God making himself
religion.
known, that is, revealing himself, to them. Like the rest of
Thomas’s fourth way is likewise based on the gradations
the Near East, Israel had certain techniques for penetrating
of being and value that is found in the doctrine of the ideas.
the mysteries of God, such as soothsaying, the interpreting
The ground of every goodness is located in the supreme
of omens and dreams, and the casting of lots. The Old Testa-
Good as such (in Platonic terms: in the [divine] idea of the
ment accepted some of these techniques (Dt. 33:8, 1 Sm. 14)
Good), which distributes of its goodness and gives a partici-
and always refused others, for example, astrology. On the
pation in it.
other hand, God’s action toward Israel in the course of its
history is always understood as revelatory in the strict sense.
The fifth way concludes from the order found in the
The people experience the nearness of God through external
world to an orderer who possesses intellectual knowledge and
signs and events such as thunderstorms (Ex. 19:16), pillars
who is all-powerful and so infinitely good that he can bring
of cloud and pillars of fire (Ex. 14:24), and the wind (1 Kgs.
good even out of evil. The Aristotelian idea of God as end
19:12). Descriptions of theophanies in human or angelic
(destination) of the cosmos merges here with the Platonic
form (Gn. 16:7, 18:2, 48:16) are also found in the early stage
idea that evil in all its forms is simply a lack of goodness.
of the patriarchal tradition; the “angel of God” (malakh Yah-
If now is added the assertion that these insights (for
veh), in particular, seems obviously to be a device for main-
these are not empirical proofs as this term is used in the natu-
taining the transcendence of God.
ral sciences) are acquired by “the light of reason,” the place
As the history of salvation advanced it became increas-
of this entire body of considerations in the history of ideas
ingly important to interpret God’s guidance of Israel. The
becomes clear once again. Just as in the material world the
result was revelation through words, taking the form of audi-
sun gives light and makes things knowable, so the idea of the
tions and going beyond visions or else interpreting these.
good gives things being and the power to know (analogy with
God’s spirit filled the prophets; his hand was laid on the
the sun in the Republic 508–509). Augustine therefore says
human beings he chose for this revelation.
that in every act by which one knows the truth one is illu-
mined by the eternal Truth, and Thomas teaches that human
Various verbs were used to express the divine act of reve-
reason participates in “the divine light” (Summa theologiae
lation:
2.1.91.2).
(1) glh (“to uncover, unveil”). Yahveh opens the eyes and
The circle is now closed. Natural revelation means that
ears of human beings so that they are able to see and
it is possible in principle to think about the finitude of the
hear (1 Sm. 9:15, Ps. 119:18); he unveils himself (Gn.
world and one’s own existence and come thereby to know
35:7, Is. 22:14) and his mysteries (Dt. 29:29), his glory
something of God’s wisdom and creative power, because
(Is. 40:15), and his justice (Ps. 98:2).
God himself makes it possible to know him through traces,
(2) yd E (“to proclaim, make oneself known”). The essence
reflections, and images in his creatures.
of revelation according to the Old Testament consists
In regard to the actual fulfillment of this potentiality
precisely in this self-communication of God to his peo-
Vatican I showed itself rather reserved, noting that “such
ple as he makes himself known to them (Ex. 6:2), speaks
truths among things divine as of themselves are not beyond
to them (Ex. 25:22), and, above all, brings them out of
human reason can, even in the present condition of man-
Egypt (Ez. 20:9) and enters into a covenant with them.
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7777
It is for this purpose that he makes known to Israel his
forth and wins recognition of God’s holiness and love. For
name (Is. 64:2) and his ways (Ps. 25:4), that is, his com-
this reason a special importance is attributed to the end time
mandments and his law (the Torah), as well as his wis-
(eschatology) in Jewish apocalyptic. What is to come and the
dom (Ps. 119).
one who is to come (the Messiah) take on central meaning.
(3) nggd (“to report, communicate”). This is the most fre-
The “revelation of mysteries” (a notion that occurs first
quent of all the words for revelation and means to mani-
in Daniel 2:18) becomes a commonplace in the Qumran
fest something that is hidden: God’s name (Gn. 32:30),
documents. The devotees at Qumran believe that they pos-
his plan (Gn. 41:25), his salvation (Is. 42:12), and his
sess a special revelation for the end time, a revelation avail-
hidden wisdom (Jb. 11:6). All these contexts have this
able only to the “wise and initiated.”
in common, that God directs his word to human beings.
By contrast, the Judaism of the scribes (beginning with
For this reason,
Ezra, fourth century BCE) shows a tendency to regard revela-
(4) dvr can frequently be used for this decisive communica-
tion as closed and to see the prophetic movement as now
tion on God’s part. God’s word to Israel is his most pre-
past. The Jewish tradition generally accepted these positions.
cious gift; in it he communicates himself: “I am the
Only Jewish mysticism (Qabbalah, Hasidism) regarded not
Lord” (Gn. 28:13; Ex. 6:2, 6:29) and “there is no other”
only the once-for-all historical act of divine revelation but
(Is. 45:5, Jl. 2:27).
also the repeated mystical experience of God as revelatory;
the function of the latter is to bring out the implications of
The word of God is spoken in a special way to Moses (Ex.
the historical revelation and make it intelligible.
20:18). The people perceive only the thunder and lightning,
the trumpet blast and the smoke, that accompany the word;
NEW TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY. Building on the Old
they see the “glory” of God but receive the commandments
Testament understanding of revelation, the New Testament
only through a mediator who is therefore regarded as the
writers see revelation as the self-communication of God in
greatest of the prophets (Dt. 18:15). In like manner, all the
and through Jesus Christ. This communication is regarded
later prophets are also proclaimers of God’s word. He speaks
as the supreme, final, irrevocable, and unsurpassable self-
through their mouths, his spirit moves them, his word is
disclosure of God in history (Heb. 1:1f.). It is unique be-
given to them; when they speak, “It is I, Yahveh, who speak”
cause, as Christians understand it, in Jesus of Nazareth, agent
(a frequently occurring expression).
of revelation and content of revelation (the person, teaching,
and redemptive work of Jesus) are identical and make up the
The goal and purpose of revelation is the call of Israel
sole object of revelation. The theological elaboration of the
to be a covenanted people. This purpose is served by the rev-
New Testament concept of revelation is to be found especial-
elation of God as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
ly in Paul and John.
and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6), as well as by the announce-
ment of his name, which is at one and the same time a prom-
Paul. To express the idea of revelation, Paul uses above
ise of his presence as helper (“I will be there as the One who
all the words apokaluptein (“uncover, remove from conceal-
will be there”; Ex. 3:12) and a concealment and withdrawal
ment”) and phaneroun (“make apparent, show”). His basic
of God from any control by human beings (“I am who I am”;
theme is the uncovering of the mystery that has previously
Ex. 3:14). The paradigmatic saving action of God becomes
been hidden and is now made manifest (Eph. 1:9, Col. 1:26).
a reality in the deliverance and exodus from Egypt (Ex. 14)
Revelation, therefore, means the uncovering or unveiling of
and, climactically, in the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai
the divine plan by which God reconciles the human race to
(Ex. 19–20). The entire religious practice and tradition and
himself in Christ. Revelation is a divine creative activity, an
the entire liturgical cult of Israel, as well as the attribution
eschatological saving deed, rather than a simple announcing
of all laws to Moses and the constant warnings of the proph-
of messages or items of knowledge. God is the really active
ets, all show the fundamental importance of this encounter
one in the process of revelation. It is he who from eternity
with God. Not only does the individual Jewish believer
decides that in his Son he will turn in love to the human race.
live by the light and power of that encounter; the entire so-
The incarnation of his Son in the womb of a woman (Gal.
cial and political life of the people also takes its direction
4:4), this Son’s expiatory death on the cross, and the recapit-
from it.
ulation or unification of the cosmos under him as head and
firstborn from the dead (Rom. 3:25, Col. 1:18) are the fulfill-
Since history is the reduction of the covenant to practice
ment of this hidden plan. In this plan Christ himself is what
it too acquires a theological significance. Successes and catas-
is revealed. The death and resurrection of Christ, and even
trophes alike are explained as having their basis in God’s plan
the church as his body, are elements of this mystery of sal-
of salvation, which thus subsumes all the destinies of individ-
vation.
uals and all events under a universal saving will that orders
everything to the “day of the Lord” (Am. 5:18, Is. 2:17). That
In a derivative application of the term, the apostles also
day will bring the definitive fulfillment of God’s reign over
“reveal” the salvific justice of God (Rom. 1:17) inasmuch as
all of humankind. Revelation thus has a comprehensive
they proclaim the good news brought by Jesus (2 Cor. 2:14).
meaning; it looks to world history in its entirety, since it sets
In the fullness of time (Gal. 1:16) the gospel is preached to
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REVELATION
all peoples (Rom. 1:16, 16:26), not like an esoteric doctrine
What is revealed is already present. Yet, although revelation
of the Hellenistic mystery religions but as a message meant
is essentially completed with the first coming of Jesus, John,
to profit the entire human race, provided men and women
like Paul, can speak of the “revelation of Jesus” and of the
are ready to accept the scandal of the cross (1 Cor. 1:18–25).
“glory of the children of God” at the return of Christ (1 Jn.
For it is of the very essence of revelation that it must be ac-
2:28, 3:2).
cepted in faith and obedience. It does not supply empirical
Revelation. The Revelation to John is a New Testament
evidence that forces acceptance; on the other hand, neither
book that focuses its attention on the final age and the return
may it be accepted or rejected at whim, for it makes a claim
of Christ. It presupposes the proclamation of salvation as
upon its hearers and may not be rejected without resultant
achieved through the cross and resurrection of Jesus and, in
guilt.
John’s vision on Patmos of the Apocalypse, it interprets the
In short, revelation is still incomplete within historical
persecutions and sufferings endured by the communities in
time. Only in its definitive stage of development at the return
the light of the hope of their coming fulfullment. The book’s
(Parousia) of Christ will it be complete. At that point, too,
images and symbols, taken from Jewish apocalyptic, are in-
the glory promised to the redeemed will be manifested, for
tended to urge the reader to perseverance and fidelity. The
it will be clear beyond doubt that the redeemed are risen and
various hymns of the heavenly liturgy reflect the response of
that they are the children and heirs of God (1 Cor. 1:7; 2
the church to God’s judgments, which have for their ulti-
Thes. 1:7; Rom. 8:18–23).
mate purpose the salvation of his creation; this salvation will
be achieved despite the terrors that are announced.
The synoptics. The revelation accomplished in Jesus is
extremely important to the early community as well. As a re-
ISLAM. Islam’s understanding of revelation comes closest to
sult, the statements made in the synoptic Gospels are in prin-
that of the Bible. Wah:y, or revelation, comes from God, usu-
ciple the same as those in the preaching of Paul.
ally through the agency of the archangel Gabriel. It is con-
cerned with God’s decrees, his mysterious will, the an-
There is no doubt that the Old Testament is a vehicle
nouncement of judgment, and his commandments, the
of revelation; nonetheless the fullness of revelation comes
divine law (shar¯ı Eah). Revelation is given to the prophets
only in Christ (Mt. 5:17–19). Jesus differs from the other
and, in its definitive form, to Muh:ammad (c. 570–632), who
agents of revelation because not only does he claim a com-
receives it in dreams, visions, and auditions. It is set down
plete and direct knowledge of God’s saving will (Mt. 11:27,
in the QurDa¯n, the uncreated archetype of which has been
Lk. 10:22), but his messianic work is also the definitive reve-
taken up to the throne of God in heaven. This uncreated
lation and calls for an unconditional decision (Mt. 4:20,
word is not, however, the source of God’s self-knowledge (as
8:22, 10:37–39; Mk. 1:18; and others).
it is in Christian theology). To this extent, the Muslim con-
John. The concept of revelation emerges most clearly
ception resembles the Jewish, while at the same time it is dis-
in John, even though he almost never uses the term apokalup-
tinguished from the latter by the absence of any promise. In
tein. He prefers the verb phaneroun (“make apparent, show”)
the QurDa¯n the content of revelation is wisdom and guidance
and likes to use pairs of concepts that were popular in the
for living and, above all, warnings and the announcement of
Hellenistic religious movements of his time, especially gnos-
final judgment. Because it is divine in origin revelation may
ticism: light and darkness, truth and falsehood, life and
not be altered.
death. The expression “bear witness to the truth” is typical
ZOROASTRIANISM. Zarathushtra (seventh to sixth century
of Johannine theology.
BCE) was another nonbiblical prophet. He too saw revelation
John regards the revelatory event as the center of his
as having its source in the voluntary action of a unique and
message. Not only is Jesus the redeemer by means of his
personal God. The dualism that is otherwise prevalent in the
“work”; he is also and above all the proclaimer of God’s truth
Iranian world is based on an original revelation to the extent
and the life and light of the world (Jn. 1:4). God is invisible
that this last calls for an unqualified ethical decision. Like
and unknowable; the Son alone knows the Father, and in
Ahura Mazda, the Mazdeans opt for the good and against
him the Father is made visible and understandable (Jn. 1:14,
evil. This tension soon hardens, however, into an ontic dual-
1 Jn. 1:1). He has brought knowledge of God and borne wit-
ism. The world is divided between good and evil and thus
ness to him (Jn. 1:18, 3:11–13); he speaks in plain words of
reflects at all cosmic levels the opposition between the virtues
the Father (Jn. 8:38). Revelation is therefore given together
and their contraries. History becomes the field of a struggle
with the person of the Logos (the Word); it is the manifesta-
that is predetermined by God and will end with judgment
tion of the life and love of God (Jn. 4:7–9). Because Jesus
and transfiguration.
is the only-begotten Son, he reveals the Father in what he
HINDUISM. Even in Hinduism it is possible to speak of reve-
says and does. “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn.
lation as this concept is understood by historians of religion.
14:9).
The Vedas have the status of sacred revelation: ´sruti
In keeping with the realized eschatology of the gospel
(“heard,” i. e., revealed directly by the gods to seers) is clearly
according to John, faith, as response to revelation, can even
distinguished from smr:ti (“remembered,” i. e., composed by
now be described as a “seeing” (Jn. 6:40, 12:45, 14:19).
humans). According to Hindu belief, the Vedic literature has
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REVENGE AND RETRIBUTION
7779
existed from eternity, is supernatural in origin, and has been
1956); Ernest Findlay Scott’s The New Testament Idea of Rev-
transmitted to human beings by unknown seers of the pri-
elation (New York, 1935); and Frederick C. Grant’s Intro-
mordial period.
duction to New Testament Thought (New York, 1950). For
theological discussions of revelation, see Rudolf Bultmann’s
In the R:gveda, forces and elements of nature are viewed
“The Concept of Revelation in the New Testament,” in Exis-
as divinities. Later on the question arises whether behind the
tence and Faith: Shorter Writings of Rudolf Bultmann, edited
multiplicity of divinities there is hidden an ultimate ground
and translated by Schubert M. Ogden (New York, 1960);
of the world. The Upanis:ads are concerned with the question
Romano Guardini’s Die Offenbarung: Ihr Wesen und ihre
of the identity of a¯tman and brahman (the principles of the
Formen (Würzburg, 1940); Karl Barth’s Das christliche Ver-
individual and the cosmos respectively), and with the tran-
ständnis der Offenbarung (Munich, 1948); Paul Tillich’s Sys-
scription of souls and redemption.
tematic Theology, 3 vols. (Chicago, 1951–1963); Karl Rah-
ner’s Hearers of the Word (New York, 1969); and Revelation
Notions of revelation and a consciousness of transcen-
as History (New York, 1968) by Wolfhart Pannenberg and
dence are also discernible in other religions, although often
others.
only in an obscure and confused form, despite the fact that
JOHANNES DENINGER (1987)
an especially clear idea of God is evident in archaic forms of
Translated from German by Matthew J. O’Connell
religion. Because of this last-named fact many scientists of
religion in the past accepted the existence of a primordial rev-
elation in the form of an originally given knowledge of God
REVENGE AND RETRIBUTION. There are ac-
in the early phase of human history; today, however, this
tions by which human beings compensate for something—
view is generally not accepted.
for a loss by a reimbursement, a gain by a reward, a crime
by expiation, an insult by satisfaction, an advantage by a sac-
SEE ALSO Divination; Enthusiasm; Hierophany; Inspiration;
rifice, a defeat by a victory. These are all forms of repayment
Oracles; Prophecy.
based on an essential connection made between agency and
receptivity in action. That connection is tacitly assumed by
BIBLIOGRAPHY
human beings to be the price paid for every deed; it is an ele-
For basic information concerning the topic, entries in several ref-
ment in the performance of every deed and is the means used
erence works can be profitably consulted: “Offenbarung,” in
to ensure a particular behavior. In it lies the origin of private
the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, 2d ed., vol. 7 (Freiburg,
and public law, which allow for a retribution in which indi-
1962); “Offenbarung,” in Die Religion in Geschichte und Ge-
viduals settle scores for themselves, and a retribution in
genwart, 3d ed., vol. 4 (Tübingen, 1960); and “Révélation”
which they become the subject of a settling of scores. They
in the Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, vol. 6 (Paris,
1937). Karl Rahner’s article “Revelation,” in Sacramentum
avenge themselves and are penalized.
Mundi: An Encyclopedia of Theology, vol. 5 (New York,
The instrumental character of retribution finds exem-
1969), is especially valuable.
plary expression in the “law of talion,” in which the penalty
Those aspects of revelation accessible to the phenomenology of re-
matches the crime, and in the Golden Rule (behave toward
ligion are summarized in Gerardus van der Leeuw’s Religion
others as you wish them to behave toward you). Good deeds
in Essence and Manifestation, 2 vols. (1938; reprint, Glouces-
bring their reward, and evil deeds their punishment.
ter, Mass., 1967), and in Th. P. van Baaren’s Voorstellingen
Opinions on revenge differ from science to science. Stu-
van Openbaring, phaenomenologisch beschouwd (Utrecht,
dents of the history of law see it as a primitive form of law.
1951), which includes an English summary. There is also a
From this point of view, it is an unbridled, unreflective, and
very good discussion in Herbert H. Farmer’s Revelation and
arbitrary act of retribution, whereas punishment has a pur-
Religion: Studies in the Theological Interpretation of Religious
Types (New York, 1954). For the history of religions ap-
pose and is administered according to laws and on the basis
proach, see the standard work of Mircea Eliade, A History of
of a judicial sentence. The passage from thinking focused on
Religious Ideas, 3 vols. (Chicago, 1978–1986).
vengeance to penal law thus represents an ethical advance.
On the treatment of the topic within Islam, see A. J. Arberry’s
Some ethnologists and structuralist sociologists reject
Revelation and Reason in Islam (London, 1957). On Hindu-
this view and see revenge as moral behavior within the con-
ism, see K. Satchidananda Murty’s Revelation and Reason in
text of the laws of exogamy. It is an act of self-assertion by
Advaita Veda¯nta (1959; reprint, Livingston, N. J., 1974).
a group against an outside attacker, “an outward-directed act
For discussions of natural revelation, see Fernand van Steenberg-
of solidarity.” Revenge is taken exclusively on outsiders. This
hen’s Dieu caché (Louvain, 1961), translated as Hidden God:
distinguishes it from punishment, which is imposed by a
How Do We Know That God Exists? (Saint Louis, Mo.,
group on members who violate its order; it is an act of exclu-
1966), and Johannes Hirschberger’s Gottesbeweise: Vergängli-
sion, “an internal sanction for a lack of solidarity.” Punish-
ches-Unvergängliches in denkender Glaube (Frankfurt, 1966).
ment is found in primitive legal systems, just as revenge is
The following works treat the biblical concept of revelation: H.
found in more developed systems. Revenge is a problem con-
Wheeler Robinson’s Inspiration and Revelation in the Old
nected with the balance between private and public agencies
Testament, 4th ed. (Oxford, 1956); Erik Voegelin’s Order
in every system of justice; it resists legal positivism but does
and History, vol. 1, Israel and Revelation (Baton Rouge,
not inevitably lead to anarchy.
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REVENGE AND RETRIBUTION
Many historians of religion and theologians lend sup-
An example of such interchangeableness is the Austra-
port to this nuanced approach. Tribal gods avenge them-
lian Aborigines’ custom of obtaining blood vengeance by the
selves and high gods exercise retribution through rewards
wounding, not the killing, of a culprit. Magical rites also pro-
and punishments.
vide an illustration; Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (1927) speaks of a
“mystical compensation.” Another example is the identifica-
The high religions and the world religions set limits on
tion of bride-price and blood-price, because in each case
vengefulness and move beyond it. Guilt is compensated for
there is a question not of purchasing a life but of presenting
by punishment in a process that is cosmic (as in the Hindu
gifts that symbolize life, and, therefore, of an exchange of life.
idea of karman) or historical (as in the Christian idea of judg-
In this sense the blood-price is equivalent to life itself, just
ment). The dead are no longer agents of retribution (aveng-
as the bride-price replaces the bride who is exchanged for it.
ing themselves so that they may have peace of soul) but its
recipients, as seen in the concepts of the transmigration of
This explains why many languages use the same word
souls and the judgment on the dead. Their actions are now
for bride-price and blood-price. Among the Maengue of
significant only for themselves and no longer for their tribe.
New Britain, the word kuru (literally, “head”) means “both
the human life demanded in revenge and treasures given to
Structural differentiation in the ways of making up for
a bride’s family at her marriage” (Verdier, 1980, p. 28). The
guilty acts becomes an existential problem for religion. For
bride herself may be a blood-price. Among the bedouin, the
revenge can be simultaneously a duty and a crime. Punish-
daughter of the nearest relative of a murderer is the price
ment takes different forms in different legal systems; hence
paid. She belongs to the son, brother, or father of the slain
“summum ius, summa iniuria” (“strict justice can be the
man as a substitute for the loss suffered, until she bears a son;
height of injustice”). Greek tragedy presents the myth of un-
she regains her freedom only when this child has grown up
avoidable guilt and the problem of whether or not justice is
and can bear arms. “Among the Mundang of Africa the king
really done through penal retribution.
can compensate the brother of a victim with a woman in-
A question arises: Is there an unbreakable connection
stead of cattle; when she brings a son into the world, the rep-
between receptivity and performance in action as such and,
aration is complete; the husband must then in turn pay a
therefore, in redemption?
price to his parents-in-law” (ibid., p. 29). Revenge may
REVENGE AS THE ARCHAIC FORM OF RETRIBUTION. In a sys-
therefore take a bloodless form and contribute to peace; the
tem based on vengeance, the reciprocity of sin and expiation
person who exercises vengeance now breathes freely and is
is regulated by those directly involved. It entails an exchange
satisfied. His act asserts the right to life and honor: “The
of life at all levels of existence. The individual and the group
righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will
are mutually accountable. Vengeance places authority, pres-
bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked” (Ps. 58:11). To
tige, and material possessions on the same level of value.
avenge a murder is thus to avenge honor and wipe out a dis-
Those who avenge themselves gain prestige; they take part
grace. In many societies this is the decisive motive at work
in the social life of the group and become respected. They
in revenge. “A man reviled is like a weakling. He cannot re-
represent the honor of their clan.
gain his honor without shedding blood” (ibid., p. 19).
Among the Moussey of Cameroon, a man is judged by the
Retribution exercised by individuals is a problem in the
enemies he has killed. When he marries, he must answer his
anthropology and theology of religion.
father-in-law’s ritual question: “Whom have you killed in
Regulation of vengeance in archaic societies. Groups
order to win my daughter’s hand?” Vengeance rests on a
in which revenge is an institution are of a kinship or totemic
complex involving feelings of honor and disgrace.
type. They are made up of families and clans (or subclans).
The reciprocity of individual and collective existence is
In them, personal existence and collective existence are re-
the source of linguistic peculiarities and helps in the under-
garded as interchangeable. The group is the vital sphere for
standing of various legal provisions. The German expression
the individual, and the individual is a quantity in the vital
that means “to pay someone back” is understood as “to take
capital of the group. For individuals to be avenged means,
revenge on him.” Among the Beti of Africa, the equivalent
therefore, that the group stands up for them. The group is
expression can mean “to return evil” or “to recompense
the vehicle of individuals’ right to life. It establishes an iden-
someone” or “to take advantage of him”; among the two
tification between what they are in themselves (their exis-
Maengue groups, “to pay a price” or “to set a price”; among
tence as persons) and what they stand for in the group (their
the Kikuyu, “to remove someone’s guilt”; among the Hausa,
prestige). Murder and homocide are, therefore, offenses to
“to cancel his debt”; among the Kabyle, “to pay the price of
the family, as are rape and theft. A slander can be regarded
a corpse,” which indicates payment for a death. The wiping
as a crime deserving of death, and theft can be regarded as
out of guilt for a crime and the wiping out of debts (in a busi-
murder. Blood vengeance, substitutional vengeance, and
ness matter) are forms of making up for a loss that a possessor
symbolic vengeance each represent a different aspect of the
has suffered in each case.
identification of individual and societal life, namely, the
power of blood, the property of the family, and the honor
These forms of wiping out are ruled by the principle of
of the clan.
harm done, not of culpability; that is, it is the act itself, and
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7781
not the responsibility for it, that evokes revenge. Moreover,
death, which they do by killing the first person that comes
the principle of collective liability, not individual liability, is
along” (ibid., p. 338). In New Zealand it used to be the cus-
operative: The group, and not the culprit, is liable; in addi-
tom “after a murder for friends of the slain person to go out
tion, the rank of the person harmed is taken into account in
sometimes and kill the first person, friend or foe, who came
the compensation. Only those acknowledged by law as per-
along” (ibid., p. 223). The Maori would kill someone at ran-
sons, and not slaves, are capable of revenge.
dom after a murder. Among the inhabitants of Daghstan
someone would be slain at random after a death from un-
The principle of representation also comes into play.
known causes, and custom demanded that the parents of a
The person harmed and his avenger, on the one hand, and
murdered man appear in front of the mosque and declare
the culprit, on the other, are members of different groups.
someone guilty at random. For guilt and expiation are part
Each represents the right and duties of his group and acts in
of life as such, and therefore revenge is taken in the name
its name. The duty of revenge depends on the degree of kin-
of life.
ship with the person harmed, the order being son, brother,
uncle, nephew; there can also, however, be hired representa-
On the one hand, fear of the souls of the dead and spe-
tives. The principle of representation accounts for the phe-
cifically a fear of revenge the dead may take on those
who violate the social order, and, on the other hand, the
nomenon of sequential vengeance, inasmuch as the represen-
hope of protection and support for those who behave
tative, too, is subject to the principle of the collective liability
in an orderly way—or, in short, belief in the retributive
of his kindred. The result is feuds and wars.
role played by the souls of the dead—are the basis of
Revenge is taken on outsiders, not on fellow members
the ancestor worship that was so widespread among
early human beings. (Kelsen, 1941, p. 12)
of the same group. That is, the principle of exogamy comes
into play. As a result, different persons are affected, depend-
This fear and hope are the basis of tradition and one reason
ing on whether the society is matriarchal or patriarchal.
for belief in retribution generally. For one may not “overlook
the fact that the concept of the soul arose out of the concept
The rules governing vengeance also include provisions
of the souls of the dead, and that the original function of the
meant to prevent escalation into cycles of revenge. Among
soul, its first effect as it were, is revenge” (ibid., p. 238).
these provisions are the exclusion of damages that do not jus-
Vengeance is religious in character and can be applied
tify revenge (homicide as distinct from murder), the determi-
to everything that has life or is regarded as living. Thus ani-
nation of places and times to which revenge is limited (the
mals and plants, and also mountains and rocks, the soil, and
criminal caught in the act), an expanded range of compensa-
indeed the earth in its totality can be seats of the living soul
tions and substitutions that can replace vengeance (wergeld),
and can exercise vengeance. The existence of the dead and
and the provision of sanctuaries or places where revenge
the retribution they exercise thus go together. An unexpiated
is utterly forbidden (sanctuary cities, palaces, temples,
death is like a life without honor, life as a mere shadow. Re-
churches).
venge, on the other hand, restores honor, wipes away dis-
The religious basis of vengeance. Guilt binds the
grace, and gives the soul power. “A Bedouin seeks to wipe
guilty party to the debtor by means of the conscience, which
out his disgrace through blood vengeance or even, in the
accuses him, and a curse that pursues him. Guilt thus takes
spirit of the pre-Islamic Arabs, to satisfy thereby the soul of
on an aspect of revenge, for conscience and the curse exercise
the slain person, for after a violent death the soul is trans-
retribution and are nevertheless agencies in the overall order
formed into an owl that seeks unwearyingly to drink the
of life. They are vengeance exercised by the gods. They repre-
blood of its enemy” (Joseph Chelhod, in Verdier, 1980,
sent the vital force of the gods and their power to prevail,
p. 125).
the necessity directing the gods to restore their own honor
Blood is the symbol of the soul, of a family’s life, and
and to fulfill the responsibility they have on earth. Conse-
of honor itself. When blood is shed, dangerous forces are un-
quently, the symbolism associated with vengeance is very
loosed; it cries out for revenge. It has been dishonored, and
closely linked to ancestor worship, the cult of the dead, belief
the lack of peace that afflicts it stains the earth. The spirits
in the soul, the ownership of land, and magical rituals.
of blood call for compensation, for they possess the earth,
and the latter cannot exist apart from the integrity of the soul
In primitive religion, the souls of the dead themselves
that these spirits embody.
commit acts of retribution because they have lost life and
now demand it back. The living fear the vengeance of the
The land is a clan’s living space and, therefore, the root
dead because it can be undirected and therefore strike anyone
of its being. “The ancestral land is ‘therefore’ often regarded
at all. It is told of the Negritos of northern Luzon in the Phil-
as the source and refuge of life and on this score embodies
ippines that “one who has trodden on the grave of a stranger
a spiritual quality. Every attack on the life of a group is conse-
is slain with arrows from safe ambush by the relatives of the
quently an attack on the land” that the group inhabits and
dead person who keep watch at the grave” (S. R. Steinmetz,
on the spirits that possess the land and are its real owners.
1928, vol. 1, p. 337). The Manobos of Mindanao, also in
Every conflict will be avenged on it (ibid., p. 22).
the Philippines, are said to go into the forests at the death
Among the Mundang of Chad, it is therefore customary
of a family member “in order to make reparation for the
to give the land on which someone has been killed to the clan
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REVENGE AND RETRIBUTION
to which the dead man belonged. This exchange reflects the
other’s limb and does not come to an agreement on it, he
view that the land is the possession of the blood and that the
shall suffer the same and equal punishment.” Talio refers to
blood is the soul of a tribe. The tribe accepts possession of
a codified numerical equality in every punishment (for exam-
this land by virtue of the soul that is embodied in its blood.
ple, one eye for one eye, one hand for one hand, and so on).
For among the Mundang the blood is “the root of one of the
For a correct understanding of talio, one should omit the ele-
souls (masen-byane: God of my birth) which constitute the
ment of vengeance implied by the English term retaliation.
person; but it is also the root of a less differentiated power
The provisions are as follows: The case in question is the
which may be described as a life-force and which the Mun-
destruction of a bodily member, and the injured party has
dang call ma-zwe-su (spirit or genius of the body)” (Alfred
a right to retribution, member for member. “If the talion ex-
Adler, in Verdier, p. 83). One who sheds blood and thereby
ceeded the measure provided in the law, the person justified
releases the interior and the exterior soul inflames the land
in taking talion was himself now subject to a new talion. If
and excites the spirits that possess it. One who effects a rec-
the injured party was unable personally to take talion, his
onciliation creates a new existence. This process takes place
nearest male relative was appointed to take it” (Jüngling,
in the offering of gifts. For one who gives something of his
1984, p. 3).
own can take something for himself. By means of the sacri-
Roman law provided for talion-like punishments or
fice one makes a space for himself in the area of another’s
analogous talion: “mirror punishments,” as they were called.
life. In that area he is restored to himself. “A blood-price . . .
Under this heading came the death penalty for homicide and
like a bride-price consists therefore not in a transfer of wealth
murder, “but especially punishments in which the culprit
but in sacrificial blood by means of which the two parties re-
was punished by the instrument used in the commission of
cover their integrity” (ibid., p. 84). The blood is the offering
his crime (death by fire for an arsonist) or was punished in
and acceptance of their common will to be reconciled.
the bodily member used in the crime (by cutting off a thief’s
Chthonic divinities are spirits that wreak vengeance.
hand or cutting out a perjurer’s tongue)” (ibid., p. 4). These
The Greeks and Romans called them Erinyes or Furies re-
punishments were imposed by courts. They were quite dif-
spectively. They were “the embodiment, as it were, of the
ferent from talion in the proper sense, and for this reason
spilt blood, which, because it had turned against itself, result-
some scholars urge that they not be called talion at all.
ed in madness. . . . For there is not yet any such thing as
The legal principle embodied here is found in many
punishment in the modern sense: it is the power of the out-
non-Roman legal systems as well. Among these are cunei-
raged blood itself that reacts against the murderer” (van der
form law, Mosaic law, and Islamic law.
Leeuw, vol. 1, 1933, p. 248). Vengeful gods are demonic in
The Code of Hammurabi (c. 1795–1750 BCE) is charac-
many myths. They are therefore warded off and exorcised by
teristic of this principle: a slave for a slave, an eye for an eye,
magic.
a broken bone for a broken bone, a tooth for a tooth. The
RETRIBUTION AS PUNISHMENT. Guilt is not only avenged
code treats citizens differently from slaves, men differently
but is also punished, for there are on the one hand offenses
from women. The agents who carry out the sentence are
against life itself and on the other hand offenses against the
those affected by the misdeed: the plaintiff and his relatives.
rules that protect life and are instituted to defend life. These
In the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament), the adminis-
latter offenses are made up by punishment, which is directed
tration of talion is, unlike that found in Roman and Babylo-
not against the clan but against the offender. The principles
nian law, still a tribal matter (see Dt. 19:21, Lv. 24:20, Ex.
at work here are not those of representation but of culpability
21:23–25). Talion here is a juridical principle that operates
(the responsible agent is punished); individual liability; per-
in the framework of basic legal responsibility and is not to
sonal responsibility; as well as the principle of endogamous
be defined independently of the principle of just exchange
sanction (that is, the sanction applies only to subjects of the
and its life-enhancing character. It is a formula for giving and
group’s own juridical order, not to subjects of an outside ju-
taking within the sphere of authority over the clan. It is locat-
ridical order). What is reflected here is the passage from par-
ed in a personal framework: “If any harm follows, then you
ticularity to universality in the concept of religion.
shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
The “law of talion.” Retribution through punishment
hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe
is regulated by bodies of law whose sets of rules describe
for stripe” (Ex. 21:23–25).
cases, define responsibilities, and determine the kind and ex-
Islam has two sources for retributive law: blood ven-
tent of payment. The guilty party is looked upon as a mem-
geance and judicial punishments. The clan has the right to
ber of a juridical community and, depending on the harm
kill the murderer of one of its members, provided the mur-
he has done to this community, he suffers harm in turn and
derer acted on his own responsibility and deliberately. But
is thereby excluded from the community.
Muh:ammad limits the application even further: The right
The “law of talion” is one of the oldest forms of pay-
can be exercised only on the legally and morally responsible
ment for crime. The term comes from the Latin lex talionis
individual.
(“law of retaliation”) and is first documented in the law of
Legal punishments are imposed for offenses against reli-
the Twelve Tables (451–450 BCE): “If someone breaks an-
gion and public order. But talion for these offenses is limited
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REVENGE AND RETRIBUTION
7783
to cases in which there can be complete equality, for exam-
course he chooses, he contravenes archaic law. He is trapped
ple, “the loss of a hand, a foot, or a tooth, etc. If the guilty
in the myth of guilt:
party has cut off the same hand of two persons, his punish-
The Erinyes who pursue Orestes because he has killed
ment is to lose that same hand; for the second hand he must
his mother appear here as divinities of an earlier time
pay a blood-price” (Schacht, 1964, p.185).
and representatives of the blood vengeance that is con-
In Christianity the law of talion is inverted. It requires
nected with the kinship group. They are sharply con-
that evil be repaid not with evil but with good, so that the
trasted with the younger gods, Apollo and Pallas
Athene, who represent the higher principle of the law
evil may be turned to good. “You have heard that it was said,
of Zeus and the right of the state to pass judgment and
‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you,
are therefore unwilling to hand Orestes over to the ven-
Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on
geance of the Erinyes. (Kelsen, 1941, p. 220)
the right cheek, turn to him the other also. . . . Give to him
who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would bor-
In Homer and the tragedians, the Erinyes are an agency of
row from you” (Mt. 5:38–42). In this new principle retribu-
justice that belongs to an earlier time. Aeschylus has them
tion continues to be retribution, but it is put on a new level:
say in The Eumenides, “That is the way of the younger gods:
The guilt of the guilty party becomes a means of conversion
they alter things by violence and laugh all justice to scorn”
(see Rom. 12:20).
(165). And again: “Novelty is breaking in and overturning
all that is old, if guilt and the horror of matricide are victori-
THE MYTH OF GUILT AND RETRIBUTION THROUGH PUN-
ous at the judgment seat” (466). They plead with Apollo:
ISHMENT. In the transition from archaic retribution through
“You are destroying the power of the ancient divinities”
revenge to official retribution through punishment, retribu-
(697).
tion itself became problematic. A person is obliged to exer-
cise it, yet it is forbidden; it is a right, but it also creates injus-
The chthonic goddesses that embodied a matriarchal
tice; it is both destiny and sacrifice. This contradiction and
order were related in several ways to the Olympian gods. The
the impossibility of avoiding it become a central theme in
shrine of Zeus at Olympia, the sanctuary of Apollo at Del-
both Greek tragedy and the Bible. It is a basic motif in bibli-
phi, and Athens, the city of Athena, were all places where the
cal myth and theology.
chthonic goddesses were originally venerated. Daughters of
Gaia, the supreme agency of justice on earth, these goddesses
In Greek thought, retribution is justice in the form of
included Demeter (one of whose titles was Erinys) and
punishment. It is the context in which Greek thought comes
Themis, goddess of communities and rights of assembly.
to grips with justice as regulative of revenge:
Among them were also many other divinities of later deriva-
The word dik¯e occurs in such phrases as dik¯en didonai,
tion whose myths point to the irreconcilability of earthly jus-
dik¯en tinein, literally to give, to pay, justice, which sig-
tice and heavenly retribution, of divine law and earthly desti-
nify “to be punished.” The word tisis means “payment,”
ny. Nemesis, goddess of retribution, and the Moirai,
“compensation,” but also “revenge,” for justice and re-
goddesses of destiny, were daughters of Night (the goddess
venge are not very different, indeed they coincide when
Nux). They punished hubris and took revenge on those who
vengeance is taken for wrongdoing. A product of this
achieved happiness, for injustice was punished by injustice,
kind of justice is the ius talionis which was usual in early
and happiness unaccompanied by unhappiness aroused the
times and finds pregnant expression in the saying “an
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This is to be
envy of the gods.
traced among the Greeks also; for them, justice is retrib-
The symbols of the court—the wolf, the serpent, and
utive justice. . . . This view was so deep-rooted that
the lightning bolt—are part of the myth of guilt and punish-
it comes out now and then in the older philosophers
ment. They are also symbols of the soul that seeks revenge,
when they are describing the course of nature. Anaxi-
and of the Olympian gods who represent the rights of such
mandros of Miletos said: “The boundless is the origin
of all that is. It is the law of necessity that things should
individuals. Apollo is defender of the rights of blood but also
perish and go back to their origin. For they give satisfac-
god of purification from blood guilt. He contracts this guilt
tion and pay the penalty (didonai dik¯en kai tisin) to one
but also purifies himself from it. He grants oracles concern-
another for their injustice (adikia) according to the or-
ing the future. He establishes norms by subjecting himself
dinance of Time.” (Nilsson, 1948, pp. 35–36)
to them: “The god who forbids and punishes murder, must
himself murder and be punished for it; this identification of
An order of justice that includes both patriarchal and matri-
the addressee of norms with the authority behind the norms,
archal rights is unthinkable in the system ruled by the
of the god who punishes with man who is punished, is a very
Erinyes. Aeschylus tackles this problem in the Oresteia,
ancient motif in the establishment of the efficacious norms”
where the Erinyes do not pursue Clytemnestra, who has
(Kelsen, 1941, p. 364).
murdered her husband, but do pursue Orestes, who has mur-
dered his mother. The regime under which the clan lives has
There is a cycle of guilt, and there is deliverance from
confronted Orestes with an insoluble conflict: The patriar-
guilt, a pattern that constantly repeats itself. The transmigra-
chal code demands that he avenge his father, but the matriar-
tion of souls represents this mystery of life in the Orphic and
chal code prohibits his attacking his mother. Whichever
Eleusinian religions.
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
7784
REVIVAL AND RENEWAL
Retribution nonetheless involves not only vengeance
Leeuw, Gerardus van der. Phänomenologie der Religion. Tübingen,
and punishment but also promise. But those who open
1933. Translated as Religion in Essence and Manifestation
themselves to a new hope must achieve deliverance from old
(1938; 2d ed., 2 vols., New York, 1963).
guilt. This notion is the basis for the discussion of the con-
Lévy-Bruhl, Lucien. L’âme primitive. Paris, 1927. Translated as
cept of retribution in the Bible, and has therefore an archaic
The “Soul” of the Primitive (New York, 1928).
as well as an eschatological meaning. The biblical concept is
Malinowski, Bronislaw. Crime and Custom in Savage Society. Lon-
one of God’s acting as God. Both aspects are fundamental
don, 1926.
for the biblical concept of retribution. He who does some-
Mauss, Marcel. “La religion et les origines du droit pénal d’après
thing undergoes a fate, and he who undergoes a fate has to
un livre récent.” In his Œuvres, vol. 2, pp. 65–698. Paris,
do something as well. Many biblical expressions contain this
1969.
reciprocity: To do evil is identical with suffering misfortune,
Nilsson, Martin P. Grekisk religiositetet. Stockholm, 1946. Trans-
to do good is to incur blessing. The evildoer is he who finds
lated as Greek Piety (Oxford, 1948).
himself in misfortune. To make oneself guilty is like declar-
Onuf, Nicholas G. Reprisals: Rituals, Rules, Rationales. Princeton,
ing someone guilty; fidelity like steadiness; badness like
N.J., 1974.
downfall; reward like work; path of life like way of life. This
reciprocity of action and result is guaranteed by Yahveh him-
Pigliaru, Antonio. Il banditismo in Sardegna. 2d ed. Milan, 1975.
self, the tribal God of Israel. It is he who unfolds this reci-
Schacht, Joseph. An Introduction to Islamic Law. Oxford, 1964.
procity fully.
Steinmetz, Sebald Rudolf. Ethnologische Studien zur ersten Entw-
The Bible is thus able to include God in the framework
icklung der Strafe nebst einer psychologischen Abhandlung über
of retribution, because he himself exercises vengeance. When
Grausamkeit und Rachsucht. 2 vols. Groningen, 1928.
in Genesis 4:10 the voice of spilled blood cries out to him
Thurnwald, Richard. “Blutrache.” In Reallexikon der Vorgesch-
from the ground, he punishes the murderer by expelling him;
ichte, edited by Max Ebert, vol. 2, pp. 30–41. Berlin, 1925.
he avenges himself sevenfold, however, on anyone who then
Thurnwald, Richard. “Vergeltung.” In Reallexikon der Vorgesch-
avenges the murderer. God’s clan is the entire human race,
ichte, edited by Max Ebert, vol. 14, pp. 130–131. Berlin,
and he himself acts on behalf of the race and is its source of
1929.
strength. He punishes those who attack the race and set
Tobien, E. S. Die Blutrache nach altem Russischem Recht, verglichen
themselves against him, and punishes any transgression, tak-
mit der Blutrache der Israeliten und Araber, der Griechen und
ing vengeance on those who avenge the transgression: Thus
Römer und der Germanen. Dorpat, 1840.
he restores his own honor. Retribution, therefore, is not only
Verdier, Raymond, ed. La vengeance: Études d’ethnologie, d’histoire
a response to action but surpasses it.
et de philosophie, vol. 1, Vengeance et pouvoir dans quel-ques
sociétés extra-occidentales. Paris, 1980.
SEE ALSO Ancestors; Blood; Conscience; Judgment of the
Dead; Soul.
Weidkuhn, Peter. Aggressivität, Ritus, Säkularisierung: Biologische
Grundformen religiöser Prozesse. Basel, 1965.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ELMAR KLINGER (1987)
Bowers, Fredson. Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy, 1587–1642.
Translated from German by Matthew J. O’Connell
Princeton, N.J., 1966.
Coppet, Daniel de. “Cycles de meurtes et cycles funéraires: Es-
quisse de deux structures d’échanges.” In Échanges et commu-
nications, edited by Jean Pouillon and Pierre Maranda, vol.
REVIVAL AND RENEWAL. The phenomena of re-
2, pp. 759–781. The Hague, 1970.
vival and renewal have been classified and described by vari-
Girard, René. Violence and the Sacred. Translated by Patrick Greg-
ous terms reflecting a wide range of analytical frameworks
ory. Baltimore, 1977.
based on such criteria as overt purposes, main emphases or
characteristics, historical period, and location. The catalog of
Hermesdorf, Bernardus H. D. Poena talionis. Utrecht and Nijme-
gen, 1965.
relevant terms thus bears examination.
Jüngling, Hans-Winfried. “‘Auge für Auge, Zahn für Zahn’:
The terms accommodative, acculturative, adaptive, adjus-
Bemerkungen zu Sinn und Geltung der altestamentlichen
tive, and syncretic are largely interpretive, indicating that re-
Talionsformeln.” Theologie und Philosophie 59 (1984): 1–38.
vival and renewal activities took place in, and as a response
Kelsen, Hans. Vergeltung und Kausalität: Eine soziologische Unter-
to, a situation in which two or more different sociocultural
suchung. The Hague, 1941. Translated as Society and Nature:
orders were in contact and were more or less in opposition
A Sociological Inquiry (Chicago, 1943).
or conflict, as, for example, in the colonial situation. The
Koch, Klaus, ed. Um das Prinzip der Vergeltung in Religion und
terms denunciatory, militant, and nativistic speak mainly to
Recht des Alten Testaments. Wege der Forschung, no. 125.
what seem to have been the main emphases or characteristics
Darmstadt, 1972.
of revival, as, for instance, the vehement reactions to the
Kohler, Josef. Zur Lehre der Blutrache. Würzburg, 1885.
dominant culture in the colonial process. The terms dynamic,
Kohler, Josef. Shakespeare vor dem Forum der Jurisprudenz. Berlin,
revitalization, and vitalistic interpret revival activities as more
1919.
positively creative rather than merely responsive. Devotional
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
REVIVAL AND RENEWAL
7785
and pious are usually used to describe movements of renewal
sometimes a woman, the prophet, articulates to a given com-
that occur squarely within an established religious tradition.
munity a seemingly imperative program of action. When the
In these cases the objective is a deeper understanding of, and
program falls on deaf ears, the prophet is regarded as more
closer conformity with, the perceived truths of the tradition.
or less insane or deranged. If, on the other hand, members
But since revival and renewal activities may become hetero-
of the community take up and pursue the program, some-
dox and refractory with the discovery of new truths, the
thing significant is beginning to happen even though non-
terms belong in the general lexicon. In activities described
participants may regard the collective action as insane, ill-
as reformative and revivalist new truths, heterodoxy, and crit-
considered, or foolish. Behind the articulation, bizarre and
icisms of the given tradition are explicit.
odd though the program may sometimes seem, has lain a pe-
Utopian, more familiarly descriptive of literary works,
riod of hard thought and imaginative wrestlings, which cul-
proposals, and indirect suggestions for a better world, is often
minate in a vivid and compelling inspirational experience.
used to describe revival and renewal activities because they
This, revelatory in nature, usually occurs in a dream, vision,
appear to have as their purpose an impractical state of perfec-
or trancelike state but also in that more controlled mode in
tion or bliss. The word cargo has been reserved for revival ac-
which a number of apparently intractable problems, mulled
tivities occurring in Oceania, particularly in the islands of
over in the mind, suddenly cohere into a resolution to act.
Melanesia, where the overt purpose is to gain access to Euro-
In any case, the prophet usually disclaims personal authority
pean manufactured goods, called in Pidgin kago (“cargo”).
except insofar as he or she is the agent of some transcendent
source: God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary, the
The terms enthusiastic and enthusiasms refer specifically
Great Spirit, an angel, an ancestor or ancestors, a figure or
to movements within the Christian tradition during the sev-
passage from mythology, a particularly powerful spirit or
enteenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. But because
ghost in human or animal form, or passages from the sacred
the activities were heterodox, antinomian, and anticlerical,
scriptures. There are many such sources. It suffices that the
and because they sought new truths in a direct relation with
program for action has a divine warrant, usually also sanc-
the godhead without the intervention of clergy and envisaged
tioned by threats of imminent disaster—a destructive flood,
a state of comparative bliss, the terms have come into a more
storm, tidal wave, earthquake, volcanic eruption, holocaust,
general usage. Millenarian is gaining ground as a general
or, more simply, eternal damnation. Sometimes the disaster
portmanteau term, but it specifically refers to those activities
is muted into a life of continuing misery and helplessness.
in the European medieval period whose overt purposes and
The point is that while participants will be saved or re-
emphases were grounded in an expectation of the second
deemed or will enjoy happiness, nonparticipants will deserve
coming of Christ. Adventism carries much the same connota-
the fate reserved for them.
tions as millenarian but is usually used to describe more re-
cent Christian movements and sects. Although messianic re-
The general framework of revival and renewal activities
fers particularly to the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is also
may be described in terms of two phases between a prologue
used more widely for any activities hinging on the advent of
and an epilogue, with the caution that during the course of
a leader-redeemer. Hence the term prophet movements is also
the action the parts of one phase may well overlap those of
used. Finally, while charismatic, like so many other words of
the other.
specific Christian reference, is now used more loosely and
The prologue consists of the development of an ambi-
generally, as in “charismatic leader,” within the Christian tra-
ence of general dissatisfaction with the way things are. People
dition it refers more precisely to a form of worship centered
talk and gossip about their present difficulties, hark back to
on the “gift of tongues,” glossalalia, a supposed charism of
the Holy Spirit.
a time when, supposedly, all was well with them, and cast
forward to a misty future when all might be well again, the
The above list of labels is not exhaustive. But since the
heart’s desires capable of being satisfied, the good life possi-
bulk of those remaining are differing forms of, or are derived
ble, and an earthly as well as a heavenly or spiritual redemp-
from, the terms provided, it will suffice. Whether the num-
tion obtainable. The present appears as a kind of limbo, a
ber of terms—so many of which are synonyms of each
transitional time of disappointment and dysphoria sand-
other—indicate significant phenomenological differences or
wiched between two kinds of well-being. In literate societies
are distinctions without a difference is a moot question. Still,
there is recourse to the sacred scriptures. Reinterpretations
for the most part the labels refer to activities that are hetero-
are bandied about, talked over, rethought. In nonliterate so-
dox, refractory, or rebellious in relation to a given tradition
cieties new meanings are pulled out of old myths; the new
and appear to anticipate the discovery of new truths and new
meanings then interact with present circumstances to form,
moralities, looking forward to a more certain redemption
in effect, new myths. In either case the following are the im-
and better or even blissful times. Hence it is perhaps permis-
plicit questions: What is the truth of things? How may the
sible to consider them as millenarian-type activities and their
good and moral life be lived in accordance with the truth?
leaders, charismatic or otherwise, as prophets.
How is redemption to be obtained? In both cases it is
MORPHOLOGY. Briefly and generally, what happens in mille-
thought that somewhere along the way something has gone
narian-type activities is that an individual, usually a man but
wrong and that if it could be put right, a new age—envisaged
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REVIVAL AND RENEWAL
as a new set of moral relationships in which each person will
of love and egalitarianism and by the transcending of status
be able to satisfy his or her desires through others—will
barriers and competing interests, now hierarchy and close
dawn. One or two in the community may already have at-
definitions of status and relative worth begin to seem more
tempted, publicly, to articulate a program to resolve present
important. Although new recruits may be welcomed, they
problems. Others have heard them but have rejected them
are closely examined. Backsliders are denounced and made
as false prophets. Nevertheless, the early speakers have
to atone or are expelled from the community in disgrace.
brought some things together and have created an expecta-
tion that someone sometime will get it right.
The epilogue is by no means always a sad ending to
hopeful beginnings. Many Christian sects and denomina-
The development of the prologue seems essential to the
tions—indeed, Christianity itself—have started in a variety
effectiveness of a prophet. A particular connection—whose
of modulations of the way outlined and have survived. And
constituents are not easily unraveled—between prologue and
there are many other communities which, whether regarded
revelation creates an authenticity in the prophet, sparks the
as part of or distinct from and independent of a larger fold,
revival and renewal activities, makes explicit what has been
have survived in quietist and particularist modes. On the
incipient and implicit in the prologue. The issues are, gener-
other hand, what more often occurs is that government
ally, the creation of new moralities, the construction of a new
forces intervene, either to bring an end to the activities of the
and relevant semantic environment of meaning, the transfor-
first phase, because they appear to disturb the peace and seem
mation of a state of misery and helplessness into one of hap-
contrary to good order, or to extirpate the movement because
piness, control, and the promise of redemption.
the new moralities are seen to have political overtones that
The first phase, assuming the form of a classic rite of
challenge government authority. Alternatively, the activities
transition, consists of a symbolic—and actual—return to
of the prologue and the first phase may never actually cohere
first beginnings. Essentially, participants strip themselves of
into a definable movement and simply evaporate as the col-
extant statuses, roles, and moralities to become, in effect, a
lective will to continue dissipates in uncertainty.
noncommunity of mere selves. This is done most commonly
Whether the prologue develops into a pious movement
by dancing a new dance to exhaustion; by dramatized orgies
of renewal within an established church, the foundation of
of sexual promiscuity; by the use of drugs; by the destruction
a religious order, the formation of an independent sect or de-
of crops, animals, and property; or, in a more modern idiom,
by the organization of encounter groups or mutual confes-
nomination, or into a position wholly independent of its par-
sional sessions. There are other techniques. Glossalalia often
ents, the new community and its moralities cannot be other
occurs, for example. But whatever the mode employed, it is
than syncretic, evoking the first group of terms mentioned
vital that an extant self be at least temporarily deprived of
at the outset of this article. Ideas from a variety of sources
or released from its social and moral supports, that it under-
are brought together and reformulated as the prologue devel-
stand itself and relate to other selves as well as to the divine
ops. The freshness of the new moralities lies not so much in
outside of a sociocultural matrix that has become, by defini-
the rituals (although these may seem peculiar enough to an
tion, intolerable. In short, to paraphrase a Christian idiom,
outsider) as in the wider appreciations and deeper under-
participants are invited to die to themselves in order to put
standings brought to a novel hierarchical arrangement of
on the new person.
what had existed before. What had once seemed intractable
and intolerable is transformed into a semantic environment
The second phase is the reverse or obverse of the first:
of relevance, an environment of meanings that guarantee the
a definition of the new social self both internally among the
truth of things, indicate the good and worthwhile life, and
participants and externally by reference to outsiders. Special
assure members of the community that at the end of a good
badges may be worn; exclusive modes of greeting, address,
life lies redemption.
and apparel may be adopted. Gatherings of the faithful as-
sume a distinctive, ritualized form; set procedures are careful-
The force of the prophet’s revelatory experience lies in
ly followed, especially when directed toward releasing the self
the fact that it seems to make entirely possible the realization
from social constraints. Even in specifically secular move-
of what had been before in large part a kind of wish-dream.
ments, ritualized social observances (brushing or flossing
While the duration of a prologue varies greatly, and while
one’s teeth, practicing drills, performing the daily round of
there must always be a “first time,” it is unusual for an effec-
activities in prescribed ways) strengthen internal solidarities
tive prophet not to have had precursors. This indicates that
and emphasize the distinction between insiders and outsid-
the prologue may take some time to develop. Furthermore,
ers, the elect and the lost, the saved and the damned. The
interventions by governments aside, for a movement to be
use of money—to which prophets often advert in their reve-
viable, the initial revelation perforce has to be developed and
lations—is strictly controlled, and narrow, rigorous morali-
modified. And for this, political skills are required. Some-
ties govern community interrelationships. Finding fault in
times the prophet possesses such skills. More often, however,
others, at first a necessary adjunct to maintaining the new
the survival of the movement depends on the managerial and
ways and moralities, becomes a major concern. Where the
political abilities of participants other than the prophet, who
prologue and first phase had been informed by sentiments
is shunted more usefully into an honorary, advisory position.
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REVIVAL AND RENEWAL
7787
In principle, millenarian-type activities represent a gen-
been increasing, particularly in Japan since the end of World
eral human proclivity realizable in any culture. Instances
War II. Traditionally, however, in spite of historical change,
have occurred within Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Oral
whatever existed in any one lifetime has had to be taken as
traditions suggest that instances also have occurred in nonlit-
given: The good life has had to be managed either within its
erate societies of all types. Indeed, in an evolutionary context
terms; in spite of them, through techniques of gaining an
renewal and revival activities enable groups or communities
inner spiritual peace; or by renunciation.
to survive by creating more meaningful semantic environ-
I
ments, whereas otherwise they might have perished.
NTERPRETIVE THEORIES. Description inevitably involves
interpretation, and with millenarian-type activities there are
However, the incidence of recorded instances of revival
further difficulties. The evidence for what has actually oc-
and renewal shows that the vast bulk have occurred within
curred is rarely obtained firsthand and usually becomes ac-
a Christian ambience. This is not simply a function of colo-
cessible only through the reports of those who were unsym-
nialism or the European passion for recording. The nature
pathetic if not actively hostile. Because it is almost impossible
and history of Christianity reveal it as peculiarly susceptible
for a competent observer to be in the right place at the right
to millenarian-type activities. The history of Christianity in
time, only a fraction of the data that might have been avail-
Europe is replete with instances, and as Europeans and
able ever comes to light. Questions as to whether the prophet
Christian missionaries have moved into other lands, the in-
and participants mean what they say in a literal or a symbolic
stances have multiplied. If it seems odd to think that Chris-
sense and how these senses relate to each other and to the
tianity, variegated though it is in its denominational manifes-
activities are difficult to disentangle and form into a relatively
tations, yet contains within itself such a recreative
unimpeachable statement of what is really happening. Social
evolutionary property, it is at least a possibility not to be
scientists and professional ethnographers began to investigate
lightly dismissed.
millenarian-type movements only in the second decade of
this century, and it was not until the late forties that the ac-
The idea of an alternative sociocultural order or seman-
tivities began to be investigated more or less systematically.
tic environment informed by perfected moralities, as well as
Even then the large bulk of the work has concentrated on
attempts to realize such orders, comprise an integral part of
activities in the colonial situation, virtually ignoring the spe-
Christianity. From first beginnings under the coercive aegis
cifically Christian inheritance and contribution. Finally, al-
of the Roman hegemony, Christianity developed in a variety
though the force of the transcendent is clearly of great signifi-
of differing cultural milieus. Given the Christian affirmation
cance, social scientists, whatever their personal views, must
of the world as well as of things divine, its promise of new
either ignore the transcendent or reduce or translate it into
earths as well as new heavens, two contrasting models of
sociocultural factors.
community became dominant. Although both spoke to the
greater perfection of morality, the first model of community
In such circumstances, accounting for or having a theo-
was egalitarian, characterized by the mutual sharing of prop-
ry about millenarian-type activities presents problems. More-
erty and goods and held together by a set of transcendent be-
over, an adequate theory should consist of a set of integrated
liefs, particularly in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The sec-
statements about a phenomenon that, in accounting for the
ond model, derived from Plato’s ideal society, was
positive instance, also should account for the negative. For
hierarchical with supposedly mathematically harmonious
example, the disaster theory holds that millenarian-type ac-
structures and was grounded, at least initially, in measures
tivities follow upon what is perceived as a disaster, the last
of physical coercion. The permutation and combination of
conceived broadly and including sociocultural as well as
the contraries contained in the two models continually gen-
physical circumstances. In cases where an outsider identifies
erate possible alternative sociocultural orders. And this pro-
such a disaster but where no revival or renewal activities
cess, sociologically speaking, would seem to have been largely
occur, it is likely that the insiders have not perceived the di-
responsible not only for the multiplicity of Christian sects
saster as such. That is, the identification of a disaster is de-
and denominations but also for utopian writings, the forma-
pendent on the activities, and the problem becomes one of
tion of secular movements intent on an ambience of more
specificity about the kinds of disaster involved. At present,
perfect moralities, and the founding of experimental and
such specifics are lacking.
ideal secular as well as religious communities. The history
of Euro-Christian, or Western, civilization teems with
In another example, a significant difference between
examples.
what are thought of as legitimate expectations or aspirations
and social realities has given rise to the “relative deprivation”
This is not to say that an idea of the alternative sociocul-
hypothesis. That is, where social realities hinder legitimate
tural order has been absent from traditional societies and
expectations, revival and renewal activities occur. But since
communities outside or beyond the Christian ambience and
legitimate expectations may be economic (“we ought to have
influence. But manifestations have been only sporadic. On
as much wealth as . . .”) or political (“we ought to deploy
the other hand, as Christian-derived Western ideas have
as much power as . . .”) or religious (“we ought to have the
spread, so have notions of the alternative moral community;
same opportunities for spiritual redemption as . . .”), and
and the incidence of attempts to realize such alternatives has
since there are few groups that do not consider themselves
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REVIVAL AND RENEWAL
“deprived” in one or another sense in relation to another
hemisphere dominance is thought to give rise to logical
group, the negative instances are legion and unexplained.
thought and science, whereas right-hemisphere dominance
While the activities define the cause, the latter fails in its ef-
is typical of the intuitive and nonrational approach of charis-
fects much more often than it succeeds.
matics, it is likely that prophets will be right-hemisphere-
dominant. Suggestive, but waiting on a great deal of further
One of the first professional social scientists to consider
research, biological interpretations raise questions about
the problem, A. C. Haddon, described the parameters neatly
whether they will provide further information about what
enough:
one needs or wants to know or, more pertinently, whether
An awakening of religious activity is a frequent charac-
they will reveal what questions remain to be asked.
teristic of periods of social unrest. The weakening or
disruption of the old social order may stimulate new
Biological and psychological interpretations must tend
and often bizarre ideals, and these may give rise to reli-
toward the identification of a lesion—something wrong or
gious movements that strive to sanction social and po-
abnormal. Moving from the opposite premise, that there
litical aspirations. Communities that feel themselves
may be something reasonable and expectable rather than
oppressed anticipate the emergence of a hero who will
something amiss or lacking in millenarian-type activities,
restore their prosperity and prestige. And when the peo-
many scholars working in sociological or anthropological
ple are imbued with religious fervour the expected hero
modes have attempted explication rather than explanation.
will be regarded as a Messiah. Phenomena of this kind
That is, accepting that some kinds of explanation must be
are well known in history, and are not unknown at the
inherent in an explication, these scholars have not sought
present day among peoples in all stages of civilization.
causes like disaster and deprivation theories but have sought
(Haddon, 1917, p. 455)
to tease out and define the relevances of the phenomenon.
However, with the intervention of World War I, the implica-
Some examples follow.
tions of Haddon’s statement were lost for a generation and
Breaking out of the anthropological functionalism that
more. While Ronald Knox’s (1950) study of “enthusiasims”
often inhibited studies of millenarian-type activities by insist-
did not go wholly unoticed, when social scientists again ad-
ing on equilibrium, synchronic analyses, and virtual denial
dressed the problem, they turned to psychology rather than
of historical relevances, Peter Lawrence’s detailed explication
sociology and history.
of a cargo movement in Papua New Guinea (Lawrence,
Psychological interpretations were, and to a great extent
1964) demonstrates in historical depth, and with particular
still are, centered around the notions of “cognitive disso-
reference to the influence of Christian missionaries, how his-
nance” or “collective flights from reality,” where proper cog-
toric events and political and economic circumstances inter-
nitions and reality were and are taken as givens. Although
acted with traditional mythologies and cohered into a move-
from this point of view, one might suppose forms of schizo-
ment. Lawrence is particularly illuminating on the nature of
phrenia, Norman R. C. Cohn (1970) identified collective
the prophet involved, Yali: not mad or insane or given to
paranoia as the leitmotif of medieval millenarism. Thus arises
wild imaginings but experienced, traveled, and particularly
the question of whether in the light of social unrest, oppres-
affected by the differences in lifestyle, power, and economic
sion, disasters, and relative deprivation, the paranoia reflect-
resources obtaining between black and white peoples. In a
ed reality or represented an avoidance of reality—like the
similar study (Burridge, 1960), I have done much the same
rabbits of Richard Adams’s Watership Down (New York,
as Lawrence in an adjacent area, but, lacking the detailed his-
1972) who escaped the destruction meted out to their fellows
torical data, my study accents traditional and symbolic ele-
through just such a “collective flight from reality” and after
ments in relation to social, political, economic, and cognitive
many adventures eventually realized a comparative state of
features inherent in the colonial process and missionary ac-
earthly bliss.
tivity. In later and more general works I consider a variety
of features, including money and interpretive modes (Bur-
If the participants in millenarian-type activities feel that
ridge, 1969) and the relevances of identity, individuality,
something is wrong with their world that they want to put
Christianity, and contrasting models of community (Bur-
right, psychological interpretations generally move toward
ridge, 1979).
the view that something is wrong with or lacking in the par-
ticipants. (Anthony F. C. Wallace’s 1956 article on revital-
Johannes Fabian’s 1971 study of the Jamaa movement,
ization is the notable exception.) The same is true of biologi-
which started as a pious movement within the Roman Cath-
cal interpretations, which cite brain lesions or the
olic church and whose prophet was a Roman Catholic mis-
complexities of the interconnections and relations between
sionary priest, emphasizes semantic and organizational
the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Thus it has been
changes largely through detailed analyses of what was said
suggested that leaders who are followed despite their appar-
and done. Although the prophet’s maxim was “organization
ently irrational demands are wont to have brain lesions. Yet,
kills the movement,” participants began to feel the necessity
as history informs us, true leaders cannot be other than ex-
to organize once church authorities had removed the proph-
traordinary people. Perhaps such lesions are necessary to
et. Fabian shows how organization was achieved not so much
leadership with a vision of the future. And since left-
purposively and directly as through what was inherent and
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REVIVAL AND RENEWAL
7789
implicit in the discussions and activities of the participants.
access to political control are involved—industrialized soci-
He also shows how the process of becoming organized in it-
ety notwithstanding. Why the problems that arise from these
self began to move the participants into an independent posi-
juxtapositions should cohere in a religious idiom, and why
tion, no longer a pious movement within the church.
this should be thought irrational, are perhaps the main issues.
For even in secular activities it is possible to discern a vital
Peter Worsley’s classic study of Melanesian cargo activi-
and essentially religious element. Too little is known about
ties (Worsley, 1957) is both historical and developmental,
the nature of reality and about the transcendent and its rela-
framed within an analysis of the politico-economic features
tions to forms of redemption. The symbolic resonances of
of the colonial process. Worsley shows how millenarian-type
money—in particular its effects on moral affective and im-
activities are the only way in which a generally nonliterate
personal relationships—require much closer attention. Ex-
and subject people can, lacking other means, signal their ob-
amination of the relevances of literacy—the quantum leap
jections to the way things are. Not only are nonrational
in symbolic and logical competence, the different kinds of
means adopted because no rational means exist, but the peo-
effects wrought by the written and spoken word, the release
ple themselves, in their traditional lives, habitually make use
from thralldom to a learned and literate clergy and secular
of transcendent sources or nonrational means when what is
elite—will surely provide further insights.
called rationality in the European view seems to fail them.
Stephen Fuchs (1965) emphasizes themes of economic dis-
Finally, beyond their intrinsic human interest millenari-
advantage, political disfranchisement, oppression, and conse-
an-type activities remain a crucial challenge to social scien-
quent rebellion. Vittorio Lanternari (1963) does much the
tists. They invite the statement through which particular ac-
same. Bryan R. Wilson (1973) has pursued the problem of
tions and rationalizations, presently confined to specific
the rational and the irrational, concluding that thaumaturgi-
situations, may aspire to a more general ontological validity.
cal desires—command of transcendent or divine forces as
Absurd or irrational though they may seem, millenarian-type
well as of politico-economic and social features—are the
activities reveal human beings in the crisis of deciding how
basis for millenarian-type activities, and are thus inappropri-
to be true to themselves and their future.
ate in or to rational and industrialized society.
SEE ALSO African Religions; Australian Indigenous Reli-
Whether the interpretation be biological, psychological,
gions, article on New Religious Movements; Enthusiasm;
cultural, or sociological, studies of millenarian-type activities
Millenarianism; North American Indian Religions; Reform;
have converged and reached a point at which, traditional
Syncretism; Utopia.
methodologies having been more or less exhausted, a phase
of consolidation and rethinking has started. Over a period
BIBLIOGRAPHY
of fifty years or so, systematic studies have moved from virtu-
A. C. Haddon’s early remarks appear in “Five New Religious
ally dismissing the activities as forms of insanity or madness
Cults in British New Guinea,” by E. W. P. Chinnery and A.
to considerations of different kinds of reality, their construc-
C. Haddon, Hibbert Journal 15 (1917): 448–463. The arti-
tion and interrelations, and the implications of terms such
cle is worth reading in its entirety. There are many excellent
as rational, nonrational, and irrational. Ideologies, symbolic
accounts of revival and renewal based on fieldwork: The Pey-
constructs, and notions of the transcendent are coming to
ote Religion among the Navaho (New York, 1966) by David
F. Aberle; my own work, Mambu: A Melanesian Millennium
be viewed as not simply epiphenomenal, products of the real-
(London, 1960); Jamaa: A Charismatic Movement in Katanga
ities of politico-economic relations and modes of produc-
(Evanston, Ill., 1971) by Johannes Fabian; Rebellious Proph-
tion, but as themselves kinds of reality that react back on
ets (New York, 1965) by Stephen Fuchs; and Road Belong
other arrangements in ways not yet wholly understood.
Cargo: A Study of the Cargo Movement in the Southern Ma-
While the painting on a cave wall depicting a buffalo trans-
dang District, New Guinea (Manchester, 1964) by Peter Law-
fixed by a spear may be thought of as a magical and irrational
rence. Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion, with
way of attaining an end, it is also a means by which the hunt-
Special Reference to the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
er makes explicit to himself and fixes in symbolic terms an
(Oxford, 1950) by Ronald Knox is a brilliant study of enthu-
image of what he desires to accomplish. Similarly, the mak-
siastic movements in socio-theological perspective. Norman
ing of airplanes, radio stations, ships, and storage sheds from
R. C. Cohn’s Pursuit of the Millennium, 3d ed. (New York,
1970), and Anthony F. C. Wallace’s “Revitalization Move-
palm leaves and rattan (as well as many other apparently odd
ments,” American Anthropologist 58 (April 1956): 264–281,
activities so frequently encountered in cargo movements) is
provide the most notable sociopsychological studies. Of the
now appreciated not simply as magical or irrational fantasy
more general works, Michael Barkun presents a good analysis
but as the forming of symbolic constructs of desired ends.
of disaster theory in Disaster and the Millennium (New
Haven, 1974). A short but comprehensive survey can be
Studies of historical depth have made it abundantly
found in my book, New Heaven, New Earth (New York,
clear that millenarian-type activities and their modulations
1969), and a discussion of the implications on a wider level
are likely to occur in situations characterized by contradicto-
is provided in my later work, Someone, No One: An Essay on
ry juxtapositions of affective and impersonal relations, partic-
Individuality (Princeton, N.J., 1979). The Religions of the Op-
ularly where differences of culture or subculture, lifestyle,
pressed: A Study of Modern Messianic Cults (New York, 1963)
modes of production, economic opportunity, and kinds of
by Vittorio Lanternari is an excellent portrait of the political
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
7790
REVIVALISM
and economic aspects of the subject. Bryan R. Wilson relates
fectly well govern men without the aid of religion,” but most
thaumaturgies and religious change in his full yet compendi-
rulers of humankind and the sages counseling them have pre-
ous survey of Magic and the Millennium: A Sociological Study
ferred not to take any chances on the firmness and sway of
of Religious Movements of Protest among Tribal and Third-
political authority. In his Discourses (1517) Machiavelli
World Peoples (New York, 1973). A landmark study of colo-
called religion “the most necessary and assured support of
nial problems and politico-economic relations is provided by
any civil society,” and he exhorted princes and heads of re-
Peter Worsley’s The Trumpet Shall Sound: A Study of “Cargo”
publics “to uphold the foundations of the religion of their
Cults in Melanesia (1957; New York, 1968). In some ways
the fullest and most rounded account, in which the actors are
countries, for then it is easy to keep their people religious,
rabbits, is Watership Down (New York, 1972) by Richard
and consequently well conducted and united.” The duration
Adams.
of empires, argued the French conservative Joseph de Ma-
istre, writing after the French Revolution, “has always been
New Sources
proportionate to the influence that the religious principle has
Cairns, Earle Edwin. An Endless Line of Splendor: Revivals and
Their Leaders from the Great Awakening to the Present. Whea-
acquired in the political system.” The emphasis on the im-
ton, Ill., 1986.
portance to society of a sense of shared values endeared de
Maistre to his fellow countryman, the sociologist Émile
Cox, Harvey. Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostalism Spiritu-
ality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century.
Durkheim, probably the best-known modern spokesman for
Reading, Mass., 1995.
the view that the primary function of religion is the preserva-
tion of social unity.
Duin, Julia. “Catholics on the Pentecostal Trail.” Christianity
Today 36/7 (1992): 24–27.
But religion has often also functioned as an agent of rev-
Freston, Paul. “Pentecostalism in Latin America: Characteristics
olutionary mobilization. Religion involves transcendent
and Controversies.” Social Compass 45/3 (1998): 335–358.
moral standards that define an ideal against which human
Kramer, Martin S. Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival: The Poli-
performance can be measured. Hence those who are dissatis-
tics of Ideas in the Middle East. New Brunswick, N.J., 1996.
fied—politically, economically, socially, or spiritually—may
find in religion strong support for their attack upon the sta-
Misztal, B., and Anson Shupe, eds. Religion and Politics in Com-
tus quo. Religion can be a powerful agent pushing the
paritive Perspective: Revival of Religious Fundamentalism in
East and West. Westport, Conn., 1992.
thoughts of leaders beyond tradition; it may become the spir-
itual dynamic of revolution that Georges Sorel called the “so-
Stark, Rodney. Religious Movements: Genesis, Exodus, and Num-
cial myth.” As the judicious Richard Hooker observed in the
bers. New York, 1985.
sixteenth century, during a period of great religious and so-
Stark, Rodney and William Bainbridge. The Future of Religion:
cial upheaval, when the minds of leaders are once “persuaded
Secularization, Revival and Cult Formation. Berkeley, Calif.
that it is the will of God to have those things done which
1985.
they fancy, their opinions are as thorns in their sides, never
KENELM BURRIDGE (1987)
suffering them to take rest till they have brought their specu-
Revised Bibliography
lations into practice.” Religion can provide individual with
the zeal of true believers who know that they are right and
who act with fortitude since they carry out God’s will and
REVIVALISM S
count on God’s helping hand.
EE EVANGELICAL AND
FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANITY; PENTECOSTAL
While some religious ideas, such as the conception of
AND CHARISMATIC CHRISTIANITY; REFORM;
sacred kingship to be found in many premodern societies,
REVIVAL AND RENEWAL
have reinforced a pattern of political subservience and quiet-
ism, most religious views of rulership have not had such un-
equivocal political consequences. The ancient Chinese doc-
trine of the mandate of Heaven, for example, legitimized the
REVOLUTION. Throughout the course of history, reli-
rule of the emperor, the Son of Heaven, who traced his title
gion has functioned as a source of social solidarity, and this
to deified ancestors upon whom Heaven, the supreme deity,
fact is undoubtedly related to the very essence of religion,
had conferred the right to rule. And yet, the mandate of
which provides a set of basic values for the regulation of
Heaven was not seen as granted in perpetuity or uncondi-
human life on earth and guidance in the search for meaning
tionally. Heaven demanded righteousness and good govern-
and salvation. Since in all traditional societies both nature
ment and deposed rulers who abused their exalted office.
and society were regarded as part of the same cosmic universe
Hence, just as the concept had apparently come into being
controlled by gods or spirits, a religious legitimation of the
to justify the seizure of power by the Zhou dynasty (around
social order developed as a matter of course.
1028 BCE), which claimed a divine mandate for overthrow-
The integrative role of religion has been known for a
ing the Shang, so the mandate of Heaven could later be in-
very long time. The eighteenth-century rationalist Voltaire
voked by new aspirants to the supreme rulership. Indeed, in
assured his noble pupil, Frederick the Great, that a “wise and
Chinese a revolution is called ge ming—“breaking of the
courageous prince, with money, troops, and laws, can per-
mandate.”
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
REVOLUTION
7791
The Christian ideas of divine providence and of the di-
conviction that God is on their side. Thus the early Jewish
vine origin and sanction of rulership also have had diverse
apocalyptic writers counseled complete reliance upon God’s
results: They have helped shore up and sanctify political au-
direct intervention, which would redeem Israel, whereas the
thority, but they also have been used to justify rebellion. In
later Zealots, engaged in eschatological war against Rome,
the deterministic worldview of Augustine of Hippo, nothing
believed that God would usher in the new age of freedom
could exist without divine approval. Divine providence has
and justice only if pious Jewish warriors actively participated
arranged things in such a way that every evil in the world is
in the realization of the divine plan. Here strong faith in the
directed to some good. God appoints rulers according to the
certainty of divine assistance acted to inspire superior exer-
merits of the people, and in view of his omnipotence and jus-
tion and fortitude and gave the struggle against Rome the
tice tyrants must be considered God’s retribution for the per-
character of a holy war. Revolutionary action merged with
versity of the people. Both just kings and cruel tyrants reign
messianic utopianism and led to an utter disregard of Rome’s
by God’s providence; none may be resisted.
overwhelming might, a realistic appraisal of which would
This gospel of submissiveness, a justification for a theo-
have discouraged any hope of success.
logian desirous of obtaining secular support for the suppres-
The fact that most religious doctrines are protean in
sion of heresy or for a Martin Luther in need of assistance
character and are open to different readings does not mean
from the princes of the Holy Roman Empire, was a burden-
that the doctrinal content of a religion is entirely irrelevant
some handicap for Christians eager to fight the pretensions
to politics. Though all religions have both quietistic and rev-
of absolute temporal power. Hence, in the later sixteenth
olutionary potentials, the relative proportions of these differ-
century, in particular, the doctrine of divine providence was
ing political implications vary. Considering the phenomenon
reinterpreted so as to make possible certain political actions.
of revolutionary millenarianism, for example, we see that cer-
Theodore Beza, a disciple of Calvin, conceded that nothing
tain religious traditions are more conducive to expectations
can exist without divine approval and that God uses the evil
of a coming age of bliss than others. The cyclical view of his-
deeds of sinners to punish other sinners. But, he asked, why
tory in Hinduism and Buddhism, providing as it does for
could it not be God’s will that tyrants be punished by the
perpetual flux and endless repetition of the cosmic drama,
people rather than people by tyrants? During the Puritan
appears to discourage millenarian ideas, just as the linear the-
Revolution (English Civil War) the Christian humanist John
ory of history and the expectation of a final salvation of hu-
Milton rejected the suggestion that God had put the English
manity in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam provide inspira-
nation in slavery to Charles Stuart and that only God, there-
tion for the millenarian dream of eternal terrestrial
fore, could be relied upon to release it. If God can be said
redemption.
to give a people into slavery whenever a tyrant prevails over
a people, he asked, why ought God not as well be said to set
The leadership of religious organizations or movements
them free whenever people prevail over a tyrant?
is often of considerable importance in determining that
But this kind of politically useful theological reasoning
group’s political posture. A charismatic leader of a millenari-
did not originate with either Beza or Milton. Around 1110,
an movement is a potent agent of radical change. As the bear-
Hugh of Fleury had taught in his De regia potestate that God
er of chiliastic prophecy, he is not just a champion of felt
punishes bad princes by the insubordination of their people,
needs or a catalyst but also a cause of the movement he is
and the same idea is found in Eastern Christendom. The
heading. The millenarian prophet’s ambitious and challeng-
Kievan chronicler considered a revolt of the citizens against
ing vision of what the world ought to be increases expecta-
their prince an act of God’s will, punishing the prince for his
tions and dissatisfactions, which can lead to a revolutionary
misconduct. More recently a pastoral letter issued in 1967
situation. The limited success of conscientizaça˜o, the attempt-
by “Sixteen Bishops of the Third World” declared that
ed “raising of the consciousness” of the subservient peasant
“Christians and their pastors should know how to recognize
population of South America by various radical groups,
the hand of the Almighty in those events that from time to
shows that this enterprise encounters serious difficulties
time put down the mighty from their thrones and raise up
when entrusted to persons of ordinary and secular cast.
the humble.” Needless to say, the impressment of God for
In sum, religion can be both a prop for the established
the cause of rebellion is today no monopoly of the political
institutions of society and a revolutionary force, since it in-
left. After the military coup of 1964 in Brazil, a group of Bra-
cludes elements for integration as well as for radical change.
zilian archbishops and bishops thanked God for having lis-
Religion can defuse social conflict by devaluing earthly con-
tened to their prayers for deliverance from the communist
cerns and emphasizing happiness in the world beyond, but
peril. Divine providence, they said, had made itself felt in a
its promise of divine intervention in human affairs can also
tangible manner.
strengthen the hope that a better life is possible here on earth.
Other contradictory consequences of the doctrine of di-
Hence many times different groups within one religion will
vine providence must be noted. The acceptance of the om-
line up on opposite sides of the barricades. God’s will, when
nipotent role of the deity can lead to fatalism and inaction,
seen through the lenses of human desires and interests, can
but it can also spur people to mighty effort because of the
be, and in fact usually is, read in several different ways.
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
7792
RICCI, MATTEO
Whether religion discourages or promotes revolution
It continues to inspire killing in Northern Ireland as much
depends on variables such as the relationship of the religious
as on the Indian subcontinent and in the Philippines, dem-
institution to the state or the presence or absence of a forceful
onstrating once again that religious zeal can be a powerful
leader. All religions known to us can assume both roles,
force for love but also an important force for hatred and cru-
though the intellectual and organizational traditions they
elty. The various theologies of revolution make people slight
hold will incline some more in one direction than in the
the cruelties and the hatreds that commonly accompany rev-
other. Situational factors, such as the relative chances for suc-
olutionary upheavals. What the theologizing of revolution
cess of a revolt, will also be important. In all there are four
cannot do is to establish the progressive character of such re-
ways in which religion can assume a revolutionary posture:
volts. That judgment is reserved to future generations, who
will have the opportunity to live with the consequences.
(1) Millenarian revolts occur (a) when situations of distress
or disorientation develop, and the causes are not clearly
perceived or appear insoluble by ordinary and available
BIBLIOGRAPHY
remedies; (b) when a society or group is deeply attached
The classic study of the integrative role of religion remains Émile
Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (New
to religious ways of thinking about the world and when
York, 1915). On the phenomenon of revolutionary millenar-
the religion of that society attaches importance to mille-
ianism, see Magic and the Millennium (New York, 1973) by
narian ideas; and (c) when an individual or group of in-
Bryan R. Wilson and Millennial Dreams in Action, edited by
dividuals obsessed with salvationist fantasies succeeds in
Sylvia L. Thrupp (1962; reprint, New York, 1970), especial-
establishing charismatic leadership over a social move-
ly the essay by Norman Cohn, “Medieval Millenarianism: Its
ment.
Bearing on the Study of Millenarian Movements.” For the
political manifestations of Christianity, consult Ernst
(2) Militant religious nationalism arises among colonized
Troeltsch’s The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches, 2
people in situations of awakening national conscious-
vols. (1911; reprint, London, 1931), and for the important
ness. Religion supplies a sense of national identity; it be-
sixteenth century, see John William Allen’s A History of Polit-
comes a symbol of self-assertion against the colonial re-
ical Thought in the Sixteenth Century, 3d ed. (London, 1951).
gime, which is usually indifferent, if not hostile, to the
For a fuller treatment of the subject of this essay and further
native creed.
bibliography, see my own work, Religion and Revolution (Ox-
ford, 1974).
(3) The leaders of religious bodies with a developed ecclesiasti-
cal organization support a revolutionary upheaval because
New Sources
Elbaum, Max. Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin,
they are sympathetic to the aims of this revolution, or
Mao, and Che. New York, 2002.
because they are protecting the interests of the religious
institution. These interests can be temporal or spiritual
Ellul, Jacques. Anarchy and Christianity. Translated by Geoffrey
or both. They can involve the defense of worldly posses-
Bromiley. Grand Rapids, Mich., 1991.
sions or the protection of the mission of the religious
Holloway, John. Change the World without Taking Power: The
institution as the channel of divine grace to humanity.
Meaning of Revolution Today. London, 2002.
(4) Individual theologians or laymen support a revolutionary
Olsen, Gerald Wayne, ed. Religion and Revolution in Early-
Industrial England: The Halévy Crisis and Its Critics. Lanham,
movement to give a concrete social and political meaning
Md., 1990.
to the transcendent elements of their faith, as in the
Christian “theology of revolution.” Such religious revo-
Vaage, Lief, ed. Subversive Scriptures: Revolutionary Christian
lutionaries often work in concert with secular revolu-
Readings of the Bible in Latin America. Harrisburg, Pa., 1997.
tionary movements and many lose their identity in
GUENTER LEWY (1987)
them.
Revised Bibliography
Just as in earlier times religion was often used to support the
status quo, religion has, in many parts of the world today,
become the handmaiden of revolution. The cross of Chris-
RICCI, MATTEO (1552–1610), Jesuit missionary.
tianity, the crescent of Islam, and even the peaceful prayer
Born at Macerata, in the Papal States, Ricci studied law at
wheel of Buddhism have been enlisted to shore up revolu-
Rome and entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1571. He volun-
tionary movements and regimes, which are often identified
teered for the missions and was sent to Portugal (1577) and
with liberation, modernization, and progress, although, as
then to Goa (1578). He finished his theological studies in
especially in the case of Islamic revolutionary movements,
Goa and in 1580 was ordained at Cochin, on the Malabar
the radical and far-reaching change instigated by revolution
coast. In 1582 he went to Macao to study Chinese language
can entail fighting modernization and restoring the old ways.
and culture. The next year, with unprecedented permission
Whether this new positive relationship of religion and revo-
from Chinese authorities, Ricci and Michele Ruggier (1543–
lution will indeed promote human liberty and happiness is,
1607) traveled to Zhaoqing, China. Beardless, with shaven
of course, a question nobody can as yet answer. Religion has
heads, they assumed garb similar to that worn by Buddhist
its part in this celebration of heroic ruthlessness and violence.
monks. They sought to spread Christian doctrine unobtru-
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
RICHARDSON, CYRIL C.
7793
sively, attracting educated visitors with their world map,
was buried outside the western city-gate of Beijing, in
Western clocks, and prisms. Ricci’s use of the term tianzhu
Zhala’er. His grave, destroyed by the Boxers in 1900, was
(lord of Heaven) to refer to God dates from that period. In
desecrated again in 1966 but was subsequently repaired; it
1588 Ricci, known in Chinese as Li Madou, took charge of
has been open to the public since 1980.
the mission. Ordered by local authorities to leave (1589), the
Ricci’s gentle personality, his expertise in Western sci-
missionaries went to Shaozhou (modern-day Guangdong).
ence and philosophy, and his knowledge of Chinese culture
There they were advised by Qu Rukui, an early convert who
made him one of the great cultural mediators of all time. He
had initially been attracted by rumors of the foreigners’ ex-
was venerated posthumously by Chinese clockmakers as their
pertise in alchemy. It was probably he who counseled the Je-
patron. His method of cultural accommodation in the China
suits to present themselves as scholars rather than as monks.
mission left its legacy of controversy. Whether Chinese con-
At Shaozhou Ricci appears to have completed a Latin transla-
verts to Christianity should still be permitted to participate
tion (now lost) of the Confucian Four Books.
in Chinese rites was a question long debated in China and
After a brief visit to Nanjing (1595), the Jesuits settled
Europe by missionaries and philosophers, Chinese emperors,
in Nanzhang (modern-day Jiangxi), appearing with hair and
and papal legates. Such participation was condemned as in-
beards and wearing Confucian robes. At Nanzhang Ricci
trinsically evil by popes Clement XI (1704) and Benedict
XIV (1742). Even a later papal decision in 1939 to allow a
wrote, in Chinese, Jiaoyou lun (On friendship), dedicated to
measure of “Chinese rites” did not fully rehabilitate Ricci’s
an imperial prince he had met, and also completed his cate-
institutional position. His ideas were ahead of his time, al-
chism (Tianzhu shiyi). In 1598 the Jesuits went to Beijing,
though his exclusive preferences for early Confucian morals
but they stayed only two months, as people feared to asso-
as an ally of Christianity and his opposition to neo-
ciate with them at the time of the Chinese involvement in
Confucian philosophy and to Buddhism is not entirely ac-
Japan’s invasion of Korea. They settled in Nanjing (1599),
ceptable to even more ecumenically minded modern mis-
where the atmosphere had improved; there Ricci met many
sionaries.
scholars, including Li Zhi and Jiao Hong, and published a
revised edition of his world map (1600). That same year the
Jesuits left once more for Beijing, reinforced with presents
BIBLIOGRAPHY
for the emperor, including clocks, clavichords, statues, and
No satisfactory book-length biography of Ricci is available in En-
glish. Vincent Cronin’s The Wise Man from the West (New
crucifixes. At Tianjin a eunuch confiscated some articles and
York, 1955) is a popular work. Wolfgang Franke’s scholarly
held the party for nearly six months.
entry in Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1369–1644, vol. 2
When the Jesuits finally reached Beijing in January
(New York, 1976), is short but full. R. P. Bernard’s Le Père
1601, their gifts so pleased the emperor that he allowed them
Matthieu Ricci et la société chinoise de son temps, 2 vols. (Tian-
jin, 1937), is still useful. Ricci’s diary has been translated into
to stay on and even granted them a monthly stipend. Ricci
English by Louis Gallagher as China in the Sixteenth Century:
associated there with scholar-officials including grand secre-
The Journals of Matteo Ricci, 1583–1610 (New York, 1953).
tary Shen Yiguan, minister of rites Feng Qi, and minister of
Serious scholars must still consult Opere storiche del P. Matteo
personnel Li Dai, with whom Ricci discussed science and re-
Ricci, 2 vols., edited by Pietro Tacchi Venturi (Macerata,
ligion. Feng Yingjing, editor of an encyclopedia, was pre-
1911–1913); Fonti Ricciane, 3 vols., edited by Pasquale
vented from receiving baptism by his untimely death. Anoth-
Maria d’Elia (Rome, 1942–1949); and the Jesuit Archives in
er convert, Li Zhizao, helped Ricci publish his world map,
Rome. There are two chronological biographies available in
his catechism, and his treatise on friendship. By 1604 Ricci
Chinese, by Li’ou and by Fang Hao, collected in Li Madou
had also published a short treatise, Ershiwu yan (Twenty-five
yanjiu lunji, edited by Zhou Kangxie (n.p., 1971).
sayings), and became sole superior of the China mission, now
JULIA CHING (1987)
independent of Macao. In 1608 he also published a work on
ethics, Qiren shipian (Ten dialogues of a nonconformist).
With Xu Guangqi, another collaborator baptized at Nanjing,
who would rise to the position of grand secretary, Ricci
RICHARDSON, CYRIL C. (1909–1976) was an
translated the first six chapters of Euclid’s Elements (1607)
American church historian. Born in London, England, Cyril
and other texts on astronomy, trigonometry, geometry, and
Charles Richardson emigrated to Canada in 1927 and was
arithmetic. He prepared a special copy of the world map for
educated at the University of Saskatchewan (B.A., 1930) and
the emperor, as well as various polemics directed against
Emmanuel College, Saskatoon (Lic. Theol., 1931). He pur-
Buddhism, especially the Bianxue yidu. By this time the Jesu-
sued graduate study at Union Theological Seminary, New
its had bought a compound inside the Xuanwu Gate, later
York City (Th.D., 1934) and, in Europe, at the universities
known as Nantang (South Church). There they met Ai Tian,
of Göttingen, Dijon, and Basel. He was ordained to the
a Chinese Jew from Kaifeng, who told them about the Nes-
priesthood of the Protestant Episcopal church in 1934 and
torian presence in China. By then also, their suspicion that
became a naturalized American citizen in 1940. From 1934
China was identical with the legendary land of Cathay had
until his death he taught at Union Theological Seminary,
been confirmed. Ricci died of illness at age fifty-seven. He
New York, becoming the seminary’s fifth Washburn Profes-
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
7794
RIDDLES
sor of Church History in 1949 and its dean of graduate
the discipline of church history is summarized in his inaugu-
studies in 1954.
ral lecture, “Church History Past and Present,” Union Semi-
nary Quarterly Review 5 (November 1949): 1–11. He dis-
A brilliant lecturer and prolific writer, Richardson spe-
cussed the doctrine of the Trinity in numerous publications
cialized in early Christian literature, patristic theology, and
(besides his controversial book The Doctrine of the Trinity),
the history of Christian worship and spirituality. He also
including “The Enigma of the Trinity,” in A Companion to
wrote extensively on the relationship of Christian faith to
the Study of St. Augustine, edited by Roy W. Battenhouse
mental health, spiritual healing, and parapsychology—
(New York, 1955); “A Preface to Christology,” Religion in
interests engendered by his hospitalization and successful
Life 27 (Autumn 1958): 504–514; and “The Trinity and the
treatment for tuberculosis from 1943 to 1945. His church-
Enhypostasia,” Canadian Journal of Theology 5 (April 1959):
manship, at once practical and innovative, showed itself in
73–78. The journal Religion in Life 29 (Winter 1959–1960)
his lifelong concern for Christian unity and in his advocacy,
featured assays on the Trinity by Richardson and Claude
already in the early 1950s, of the ordination of women to
Welch, followed by a sharp exchange of views between these
two scholars (“The Doctrine of the Trinity,” pp. 7–31). Ri-
the priesthood.
chardon’s liturgical scholarship is best represented by his es-
Richardson viewed church history as a specifically theo-
says, “The Foundations of Christian Symbolism,” in Reli-
logical discipline, whose chief aim is not to study “Christian-
gious Symbolism, edited by F. Ernest Johnson (New York,
ity,” understood as a phenomenon in the general history of
1962); “Worship in New Testament Times, Christian,” in
religions, but to recount the story of the “holy community”
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by George A.
called into being by God’s saving acts. Thus church history
Buttrick, vol. 4 (New York, 1962); and “Word and Sacra-
ment in Protestant Worship,” in Ecumenical Dialogue at
is “the tale of redemption” and “the medium of revelation,”
Harvard: The Roman Catholic-Protestant Colloquium, edited
which requires not only a critical sifting of the historical evi-
by Samuel H. Miller and G. Ernest Wright (Cambridge,
dence but, above all, the use of symbolic language, or what
Mass., 1964).
Richardson referred to as “myth,” to convey the ultimate
meanings of events.
DAVID W. LOTZ (1987)
He is the author of five monographs: The Christianity
of Ignatius of Antioch (1935); The Church through the Centu-
RIDDLES SEE PARADOX AND RIDDLES
ries (1938); The Sacrament of Reunion (1940), a historical ex-
amination of the ministry, apostolic succession, and the Eu-
charist as bases for Christian unity; Zwingli and Cranmer on
RIGHT AND LEFT SEE LEFT AND RIGHT
the Eucharist (1949), showing Archbishop Thomas Cran-
mer’s indebtedness to the sacramental theology of the Swiss
reformer Ulrich Zwingli; and The Doctrine of the Trinity
(1958), wherein he argues that the church’s classical trinitari-
RISSHO
¯ KO¯SEIKAI (Society Establishing Righteous-
an dogma is an “artifical construct” that fails to resolve the
ness and Harmony) is one of the new religions of postwar
profound theological problems it addresses. This pathbreak-
Japan. It was founded in 1938 by Niwano Nikkyo¯ (1906–
ing book, which generated intense controversy in academic
1999), at that time a minor leader of Reiyu¯kai, and his disci-
and church circles, typifies Richardson’s scholarship, com-
ple and assistant Naganuma Myo¯ko¯ (1889–1957), a woman
bining mastery of historical detail with acute philosophical
with shamanic attributes. The school regards the Lotus Sutra
criticism and deep religious faith.
as the ultimate source of their teachings.
He also edited two highly regarded volumes in the Li-
Niwano Nikkyo¯ was born into a farming household in
brary of Christian Classics series: Early Christian Fathers
a mountain village in Niigata Prefecture, went to Tokyo in
(1953) and, with Edward R. Hardy, Christology of the Later
1923, and eventually became a shopkeeper. In his early twen-
Fathers (1954). He collaborated on eleven books, including
ties he studied systems of fortune-telling based on people’s
the second, revised edition of Williston Walker’s widely used
names and on rules governing auspicious and inauspicious
textbook, A History of the Christian Church (1959). He con-
dates (rokuyo¯) and directions (shichishin) derived from an-
tributed over one hundred articles and a like number of book
cient Chinese forms. In 1934, when his daughter became se-
reviews to theological and historical journals.
riously ill, he turned to Arai Sukenobu, a chapter leader in
the Reiyu¯kai organization and a renowned scholar of the
Richardson’s eminent abilities as a director of doctoral
Lotus Sutra, for advice. Convinced that the Lotus Sutra pro-
students and his many publications, remarkable for their
vided answers to the problems of suffering, Niwano became
chronological scope and weight of learning, earned him in-
active in the Reiyu¯kai movement. However, by 1938 his in-
ternational repute as one of the leading church historians of
creasing doubts about Reiyu¯kai, especially its insistence that
the mid-twentieth century.
lectures on the Lotus Sutra were unnecessary, led him to form
a new organization, Rissho¯ Ko¯sekai.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
To date there has been no biographical study of Richardson or
Early in its development, Ko¯seikai taught that adverse
full-scale appraisal of his scholarship. His understanding of
karmic causes and effects caused by bad deeds in a previous
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
RISSHO
¯ KO¯SEIKAI
7795
existence or by the bad deeds of one’s ancestors could be
gious, and governmental organizations to create a better soci-
overcome by means of ancestor veneration in which the Lotus
ety) and an international movement for the attainment of
Sutra was chanted, by religious training for the improvement
world peace through interreligious cooperation. The head-
of one’s personality, and by guiding others to the faith. This
quarters of Ko¯seikai have been located in Wada, Suginami-
teaching, which stemmed primarily from Reiyu¯kai doctrine
ku, Tokyo, since its foundation. Full-time workers at the
and practice, was complemented by Niwano’s use of fortune-
headquarters and its affiliates numbered a little more than
telling techniques in order to attract converts to the move-
five hundred in 1980. No position is hereditary, with the ex-
ment. Niwano also instituted mutual counseling sessions,
ception of the presidency, which is held by lineal descendants
known as ho¯za, designed to improve the mental outlook of
of Niwano.
practitioners.
Ko¯seikai, the second largest new religion in contempo-
In keeping with the doctrinal roots of the movement,
rary Japan, is unique in a number of ways. Although it may
the original iconographic focus of Ko¯seikai devotion was the
be said to stem in part from Nichiren Buddhism, today it
Daimoku (“Hail to the Lotus Sutra”) man:d:ala transmitted
stresses basic bodhisattva practices as well as faith in the Eter-
in the Nichiren tradition. But as Niwano became increasing-
nal Buddha. While Ko¯seikai emphasizes traditional values
ly disillusioned with the Nichiren sect and the possibility of
such as reverence of ancestors, modesty, and harmony, it is
neither nativistic nor nationalistic, as demonstrated by its
carrying on joint missionary work with it, he began his own
peace movement. It is not meditation-oriented; rather it is
study of the Lotus Sutra. In 1958, as a result of his study of
practice- or action-oriented on the basis of inner reflection.
the text, he declared the focus of Ko¯seikai devotion to be the
Its organization is unlike that of other new religions in that
Eternal Buddha of the Lotus, and an image of this Buddha
the municipality-based local branches are linked to the high-
was installed in the movement’s headquarters in 1964. From
ly developed bureaucracy at the headquarters.
around this time a change took place in the composition of
the Ko¯seikai members, as an increasing number of them
SEE ALSO New Religious Movements, article on New Reli-
sought a more meaningful life rather than mere respite from
gious Movements in Japan.
worldly problems. This reflects perhaps the rising standard
of living in the Japan of the 1960s. With the changing con-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
cern of its followers, and also with the emergence of second-
Dale, Kenneth J., and Akahoshi Susumu. Circle of Harmony: A
generation members, the core of the Ko¯seikai doctrine shift-
Case Study in Popular Japanese Buddhism with Implications for
ed from the attainment of happiness by the elimination of
Christian Mission. Tokyo, 1975. A valuable study of ho¯za,
negative karmic effects to the perfection of the personality
the small mutual discussion and counseling group that is the
and the realization of peace on earth.
center of Ko¯seikai’s teaching and training activities.
Kyo¯danshi Hensan Iinkai, ed. Rissho¯ Ko¯sekai shi. 5 vols. Tokyo,
The basic unit of membership in Rissho¯ Ko¯sekai is the
1984. A history of Rissho¯ Ko¯sekai written by nonmember
household rather than the individual. Ko¯seikai claimed a
specialists.
membership of about a thousand households in 1945. Since
Niwano Nikkyo¯. A Buddhist Approach to Peace. Tokyo and Rut-
then, its membership has increased dramatically: 50,000 in
land, Vt., 1977. Translated and compiled by Masuo Nezu.
1950, 399,000 in 1960, 973,000 in 1970, and 1,640,000 in
Based mainly on the author’s Heiwa e no michi (Tokyo,
1980. Members are not requested to end all former religious
1972).
affiliations. While no clergy-laity distinction exists, the for-
Niwano Nikkyo¯. Lifetime Beginner: An Autobiography. Tokyo and
mal status of “teacher” is institutionalized; in 1980, 173,000
Rutland, Vt., 1978. Translated by Richard L. Gage. An auto-
people had this qualification. Originally, new members were
biography of the founder of Rissho¯ Ko¯sekai based on Ni-
installed in the same branch as the senior member who
wano’s two books, Shoshin issho (Tokyo, 1975) and Niwano
brought them to Ko¯seikai (a system called oya-ko, literally,
Nikkyo jiden (Tokyo, 1976).
“parent-child”). There were nine such branches in 1945. In
Rissho¯ Ko¯sekai, ed. Niwano Nikkyo howa senshu. 7 vols. Tokyo,
1959, there was a reform in branch organization, and the
1978–1982. A comprehensive collection of Niwano’s ser-
oya-ko system was replaced by one based on propinquity,
mons, speeches, and essays. Very detailed biographical notes
whereby a branch was made up of members living near one
are appended to volume one.
another irrespective of oya-ko relations; 138 new branches
New Sources
were set up by this system. A further reform instituted in
Guthrie, Stewart. A Japanese New Religion: Rissho Kosei-kai in a
1969 defined the boundaries of a branch as coincident with
Mountain Hamlet. Ann Arbor, 1988.
those of municipalities. In 1982 there were 224 branches in
MORIOKA KIYOMI (1987)
Japan, with additional ones in Korea, Brazil, and the United
Revised Bibliography
States. These reforms promoted local Ko¯seikai activities, in-
cluding campaign work for local and national elections and
dissemination of its teachings to nonmembers. Around
RITES OF PASSAGE
1970, Ko¯seikai launched the Brighter Society Movement (a
This entry consists of the following articles:
public-spirited movement bringing together secular, reli-
AN OVERVIEW [FIRST EDITION]
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7796
RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FIRST EDITION]
AN OVERVIEW [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
G. Stanley Hall established the concept with his book Adoles-
AFRICAN RITES
cence in 1904. Since then, all manner of social agencies, com-
OCEANIC RITES
MESOAMERICAN RITES
mercial enterprises, psychologists, physicians, legislators, and
HINDU RITES
educators have arisen to articulate and serve the needs of
JEWISH RITES
teenagers. And, as Margaret Mead in Coming of Age in Samoa
MUSLIM RITES
(New York, 1928) has pointed out, the menstrual cramps
NEOPAGAN RITES
and discomforts that American women regard as inevitable
were unknown among Samoan adolescent girls, attesting
RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FIRST
that biology is not always destiny and that physiological
EDITION]
symptoms may result from social or cultural conditions. To
Rites of passage are a category of rituals that mark the passage
be sure, it is often quite forgotten how complex and how nu-
of a person through the life cycle, from one stage to another
merous are the cultural templates individuals lay over their
over time, from one role or social position to another, inte-
biological essence.
grating the human and cultural experiences with biological
Celebration of paradox. Rites of passage embody para-
destiny: birth, reproduction, and death. These ceremonies
dox, the inevitable legacy of one’s humanity, vividly calling
make the basic distinctions, observed in all groups, between
attention to, and allowing one to announce and renounce,
young and old, male and female, living and dead. The inter-
the most profound enigma of all: that humans live out their
play of biology and culture is at the heart of all rites of pas-
lives suspended between the borders of nature and culture.
sage, and the struggle between these two spheres asserts the
This is the essential paradox, but other paradoxes are played
essential paradox of humanity’s mortal heritage. Humans
out as well. Because rites of passage mark distinctions in an
dwell in an equivocal world, for they belong to both nature
otherwise continuous life course, they celebrate and facilitate
and culture, as Claude Lévi-Strauss has pointed out. It is
change or disruption of standard social categories, while at
through rites of passage that people are able to contemplate,
the same time they preserve them. A third paradox represent-
to formulate and reformulate, their ambivalent condition of
ed reveals the conflict between one’s aspirations and strivings
animal and human. Biology dictates the fundamentals of
for individual ventures, and yearnings for assurance and sus-
human experience—birth, reproduction, and death—yet the
tenance from one’s social group. In actual physiological fact,
ways in which individuals manipulate and modify these im-
each person is born and dies quite alone, unique and sepa-
peratives through cultural means are endless.
rate, but also does so as members of a group, a group that
TRIBAL SOCIETIES. That certain physiological “facts” are as
seeks to preserve the continuity of its values and understand-
much cultural or social as biological is brought home time
ings, a group that therefore defines birth, aging, and death
and time again if one searches the vast, intricate descriptions
and that reassures one that life is meaningful.
of rites of passage in tribal societies. And the message is clear:
men and women are not simply born, nor do they merely
Hence, during the performance of these life-crisis ritu-
procreate and die; they are made what they are through cere-
als, societies may inscribe their designs both literally and fig-
monies. An act of procreation alone cannot make a bride; a
uratively upon the initiate, and in doing so, life’s paradoxes
wedding must be performed. And brides who can neither
are proclaimed, contemplated, and dramatized. The struggle
copulate nor procreate can be made from infants; many years
between nature and culture is evidenced in Bali, where before
may separate betrothal from puberty. Sometimes, a female
a young man or woman may marry, he or she undergoes a
must be initiated into fertility by her society before she is al-
tooth-filing ceremony, in which the canine tooth, the mark
lowed to mate; a girl’s social definition as “woman” is provid-
of the beast, is smoothed so that the smile is less reminiscent
ed by ceremony, whether she has begun to menstruate or
of an animal’s snarl. The theme of disruption and continuity
not. Similarly, males frequently must satisfy certain social
is enacted in certain African societies, where, as Victor Tur-
conditions before they are allowed to mate; for a boy, a suc-
ner has described, an initiate undergoing male puberty cere-
cessful hunt or the cutting of his foreskin may be required
monies ingests a powder ground from the burned foreskins
for passport into adulthood.
of previous initiates, thereby incorporating into his body the
vitality and power of his forebears. And James Fernandez has
In rites of passage one is reminded, too, that the ages
called attention to the interdependence of the individual and
of a life are not ordained by laws of nature; most of the ages
the collectivity in “Reflections on Looking into Mirrors”
universally acknowledged are socially or culturally created.
(Semiotica, 1980) by describing an initiation ceremony in
As Philippe Ariès has demonstrated in Centuries of Child-
which a neophyte stares into a looking glass until the face of
hood: A Social History of Family Life (New York, 1962),
an ancestor appears and merges with his own.
“childhood” is an invention of post-Renaissance Europe, not
a distinctive, universally recognized condition. Prior to mod-
In the extreme expression of the interdependence be-
ern history, a child was treated, dressed, and regarded as a
tween the individual and his or her social group, the initiate
miniature adult, without special needs or privileges. In like
is construed as a microcosm of society, and what is enacted
manner, adolescence represents a recently invented, rather
by or upon the individual is thought to transform the collec-
than a biologically ineluctable, phase of the human life cycle;
tivity. Rites of transition performed for divine royalty—
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RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FIRST EDITION]
7797
birth, marriage, procreation, and death—are rites performed
enduring category of people who are “betwixt and between.”
for the perpetuity of the kingdom as a whole, and in certain
All manner of those who inhabit and cross the edges of social
cultures a king has been killed annually in order to rejuvenate
boundaries and codes—tricksters, clowns, poets, shamans,
and ensure the fertility of the land. Moreover, certain rites
court jesters, monks, “dharma bums,” and holy mendi-
of passage, such as healing rituals, may serve to resolve social
cants—represent liminal beings. Not only people but also so-
problems and to perpetuate the social order directly as well
cial movements, such as millenarian cults, and social princi-
as indirectly because they treat not only the sick or diseased
ples, such as matrilaterality in patrilineal systems, may be
person but also the entire society.
viewed as liminal. These ideas are developed in The Ritual
Process (Chicago, 1969) and Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors:
For all that societies use rites of passage to instill their
Symbolic Action in Human Society (Ithaca, N.Y., 1974).
values and configurations in the individual, they also take ad-
vantage of these ceremonies to foster the arousal of self-
What do these persons or principles have in common
conscious questioning, for rites of passage are also times of
with neophytes in a liminal phase of ritual transition? The
what Victor Turner terms “reflexivity.” Individuals (as well
point is made in many ways: the symbols used for them are
as the society itself) may be moved to the edge of profound
similar, emphasizing innocence, rebirth, vulnerability, fertili-
self-investigation and exploration: social categories are played
ty, change, emotion, paradox, disorder, anomaly, opposi-
with, inverted, suspended; social borders are liquidated,
tion, and the like. Such people, because they dwell on and
crossed, blurred; identity symbols are stripped away and af-
between the borders of categories, as Mary Douglas affirms
fixed anew. Such play is facilitated through the use of mir-
in Purity and Danger (London, 1966), are designated taboo
rors, masks, costumes, and other kinds of novelty. Free reign
or polluted simply because they are out of place. Like ritual
of reflexive awareness is permitted, even expedited—but only
neophytes they are neither here nor there, and like ritual neo-
within the formal constraints of the ritual itself.
phytes they threaten one’s orderly conceptualizations. Yet,
because they are out of place, they are mysterious and power-
Paradox, then, lies at the heart of rites of passage. The
ful; and liminal beings or phases can also be, as Turner
paradoxes and conflicts in people’s lives as humans may pro-
shows, the sources of renewal, innovation, and creativity.
duce great anxiety because they defy their desire to live in a
logically consistent and comprehensible world. Ritual ex-
The liminal phase also contains another universal and
poses these paradoxes and accentuates them; tension is
critical element. Turner observes that among the neophytes
heightened and resolution is eagerly sought. But precisely be-
living outside the norms and fixed categories of the social sys-
cause these paradoxes are cognitively or logically irresolvable,
tem a feeling of solidarity and unity emerges, and this one-
no actual resolution can be gained. But the familiar bounds
ness, or communitas, also has a structure, although its pur-
and safety that ritual provides allow individuals to experience
pose is antistructural. Equality, undifferentiated humanness,
their truth, and thereby to discover the intractable parame-
androgyny, and humility characterize this condition, and
ters of their fate as humans. In this way, rites of passage not
neophytes are symbolically represented as a kind of tabula
only accentuate anxiety but also alleviate it.
rasa, pure, undetermined possibility—the converse of social
structure, which emphasizes differentiation, hierarchy, and
History of study. The structure of rites of passage was
separation. Even historical periods may be liminal, transi-
clearly articulated early on in the discipline of anthropology
tional times, when the past has lost its grip and the future
by Arnold van Gennep, who in 1907 discerned a fundamen-
has not yet taken definite shape. At those times, the “sub-
tal tripartite form inherent in all rites of passage: separation,
junctive” mood of the culture prevails, and play, imagina-
transition, and incorporation. Van Gennep noted that a per-
tion, and paradox are encouraged, all as part of a self-
son had to be separated from one role or status before he or
conscious quest for the basic truths of the human condition.
she could be incorporated into a new one. He thus identified
not only those phases of separation and incorporation but
Another structuralist interpretation of initiation rites is
a transitional, or liminal, one as well. Consequently, for van
advanced by Mary Douglas in Purity and Danger, in which
Gennep ritual truly represented a process, and he thus stood
she seeks to explain the sex and role reversals so common to
apart from mainstream Victorian anthropology, which em-
these ceremonies. Douglas sees them as a reflection of the
phasized evolutionary phases and the tracking down of the
usual social symmetry. That is, the impersonation of women
origins of customs. In this way, van Gennep laid much of
by boys is a statement of symmetry that echoes a fundamen-
the groundwork for the modern interest in symbolic and rit-
tal social structural principle in societies in which wife ex-
ual studies.
change between two groups must articulate the symmetry
and equality between the two groups.
Building on van Gennep’s work, Victor Turner has gen-
erated exceptionally rich and fruitful theories for the study
Mircea Eliade in Rites and Symbols of Initiation (New
of ritual processes; his works articulating the concept of limi-
York, 1958) contends that the dynamics in rites of passage
nality are especially generative and far-ranging. Through
provide a means through which participants may achieve re-
Turner’s work, liminality has been extended far beyond its
ligious perfection. The concepts of male and female provide
original sense of an intermediate or marginal ritual phase and
a fundamental structural complementarity in the usual social
has taken on new meaning as an autonomous and sometimes
order, but complementarity also fosters envy between men
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7798
RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FIRST EDITION]
and women. Each is fascinated with the special attributes of
special incantations or creeds are taught. All of these do
the other. Because rites of passage abound with sexual sym-
much to transmit the store of esoteric principles to the initi-
bolism, particularly evident in cross-dressing and role-play
ates, and they are often encouraged, if not forced, to reflect
reversal between the sexes, they allow the neophyte the
upon this knowledge.
chance to experience the usually repressed other half. Ac-
Yet certainly this is not the only kind of teaching and
cordingly, the neophyte can then become the incarnation of
learning that transpires during rites of passage. What is to
totality, can then reach perfection, and can then transcend
be made of the masks and images that incorporate grotesque
irreducible quotidian complementarity.
combinations and weird juxtapositions of animal and human
Some scholars hold that rites of passage function to un-
parts; what of the bold body decorations or scarifications;
derscore the social importance of the group or sex that is the
what of the driving, incessant beat of the music that accom-
focus of the celebration. This stance is illustrated by Alice
panies ritual? Symbolic experience—whether in drama, poet-
Schlegel and Herbert Barry in “The Evolutionary Signifi-
ry, myth, the arts, or trance—holds forth its particular kind
cance of Adolescent Initiation Ceremonies” (American Eth-
of information, eluding words but nonetheless significant
nologist, 1980), in which they show that puberty ceremonies
and real. On other deeper, less verbal, less cognitive levels,
for girls predominate in those societies where female partici-
people are moved to understand something of their lives and
pation in food production exceeds or is more important than
their places within the cosmos when they enact ritual. Be-
male contribution. They also add an evolutionary scheme by
cause rites of passage are performed—that is, carried out phys-
contending that as societies grow more complex, gender as
ically and mentally—experience—affective and subjective as
a classificatory principle recedes in importance, and fewer
well as cognitive—may well represent the crux of ritual. Un-
initiation ceremonies are found altogether. A further twist on
fortunately, for the most part, anthropologists have failed to
the evolutionary scheme is put forth by Martha and Morton
deal with the experiences of ritual participants—private, sub-
Fried in Transitions: Four Rituals in Eight Cultures (New
jective, psychological, conscious, and unconscious—in their
York, 1980). The Frieds examine four critical transitions
endeavors to explain ritual, and this represents an enormous
(birth, puberty, marriage, death) and find that they are not
barrier to an understanding of the subject.
crucially linked to the success of social cohesion or of social
There are notable exceptions to this truism, however.
operation. They also conclude that ritual may not be a criti-
There are some who have pioneered an examination of emo-
cal element in the success of social groups, for they note that
tion and learning in ritual. In the classic study Religion: An
ritual seems to have appeared rather late on the human
Anthropological View (New York, 1966), Anthony Wallace
scene. The evidence available for this is the flower-strewn re-
presents the concept of a “ritual learning process,” which es-
mains of Neanderthal humans, which date from only about
sentially works through what he calls the “law of dissocia-
40,000 BCE.
tion.” That is, because the neophyte has been placed in a
Learning and experience through ritual. Whether or
stage in which he or she is radically dissociated from past
not rites of passage, or any ritual activity, is necessary to
knowledge before being presented with much new informa-
human existence is a debatable matter, yet rites of passage do
tion, cognitive and affective restructuring is facilitated. Wal-
provide for and fulfill at least one crucial task: that of incul-
lace outlines the various phases of this kind of learning: pre-
cating a society’s rules and values to those who are to become
learning or anticipation; separation (through sensory depri-
its full-fledged members. Because rites of passage occur at
vation, monotonous stimuli, extreme physical stress, and the
great moments of anxiety (life crises) and because they even
like); suggestion (high suggestibility associated with trance
provoke anxiety by vividly calling attention to irresolvable
or dissociation, sometimes thought of as conversion or pos-
human paradoxes, they provide an atmosphere in which the
session); execution (achievement of a new cognitive struc-
neophyte is rendered most susceptible to learning. Initiates
ture); and maintenance (through repetition or reinforce-
are almost always separated from society; their previous hab-
ment), occasionally involving a resynthesis.
its of acting, thinking, and feeling are stripped away. Thus
Jerome Frank uses a similar paradigm in Persuasion and
cut off from their usual ways of apprehending the world—
Healing: A Comprehensive Study of Psychotherapy (Baltimore,
their routines and their customary ways of communicat-
1961). However, Wallace’s and Frank’s work do not seem
ing—they are placed in a highly suggestible state for learning.
to have been utilized, at least not systematically, in subse-
But how does this learning take place? How does learning
quent studies of ritual, and it is clear that a complete compre-
permeate the various levels of consciousness and uncon-
hension of the manner in which learning takes place in ritual
sciousness so that the person is filled with motivation and de-
calls for psychologically informed theories and hypotheses.
sire to become what he or she must become in addition to
absorbing knowledge?
One that stands out is cognitive dissonance theory.
Leon Festinger asserts in the seminal A Theory of Cognitive
One way the communication of society’s arcane knowl-
Dissonance (Evanston, Ill., 1957) that there is a direct rela-
edge is achieved is through direct instruction. Sometimes se-
tionship between the degree to which persons suffer for an
cret names of deities or ancestors are revealed; sometimes the
experience and the value that they attach to the experience.
mythical history of the society is recounted in full; sometimes
The higher the psychological price paid, the more likely are
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RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FIRST EDITION]
7799
subjects to pronounce it worthwhile. It is noteworthy that
ultimate structural dominance in a matrilineal system. The
rites of passage, especially rites of puberty, may be acutely
central symbol, a “milk” tree, with white sap, is not merely
painful, involving as they often do tattooing, circumcision,
an emblem of womanhood, it also represents the value set
scarification, cicatrization, and other forms of mutilation.
on matriliny as the hub around which the whole society re-
Yet, the application of this theory has not been systematically
volves. The rites oppose women to men as a sex before they
applied to initiation rites.
reunite them with men as joint producers of children. The
great aim of initiation is to convert a girl into a fruitful mar-
Psychologists, for their part, have not availed themselves
ried woman. Other writings on girls’ initiation have empha-
of the opportunity to test learning theories against the vast
sized the bonding between females that occurs at these times;
and rich ethnographic literature on rites of passage. True
however, they describe rites whose main function is to com-
enough, there has been enormous interest generated for pu-
municate female inferiority and the suppression of female
berty rites among psychologists, but this attention has been
sexuality.
limited generally to the use of psychoanalytical theory in ex-
planation. Freudians, particularly, have focused on the dra-
As has been made clear in the foregoing paragraphs, the
matic aspects of puberty rites, seeing in them support for the
literature on rites of passage is profuse and much research at-
ideas that Sigmund Freud advanced in Totem und Tabu
tention has been devoted to the subject. These rituals of tran-
(1913). In his “Oedipus theory” Freud proposed that the be-
sition and initiation have yielded forth many distinct lines
ginning of civilization occurred when an ancestral patriarch
of explanation: structural, functional, religious, symbolic,
was slain by his jealous sons because of his monopolization
and psychoanalytical, each articulating an aspect of what
of the females in the group. The patriarchs in turn punished
these ceremonial activities tell the participants and onlookers.
their sons for their incestuous yearnings toward their moth-
Many of these interpretations have gone a long way toward
ers and for the sons’ desire to overthrow the authority of their
analyzing the multilayered meanings contained in rites of
elders. In this view, puberty rites celebrate this moment in
passage. Unfortunately, however, anthropologists and other
human history by recreating these episodes, especially
scholars have paid disappointingly little heed to what these
through circumcision or other forms of genital mutilation.
rites do to people. It is necessary to know how, in fact, culture
The diverse and plentiful symbols of procreation and
is transmitted—not merely as a codified system of principles
birth in adolescent initiation rites led Bruno Bettelheim to
and messages, but as an intrinsic learning process, embracing
expound another interpretation of these rituals in Symbolic
experience so that, as Victor Turner puts it, one’s duty be-
Wounds (New York, 1954). Noting that circumcision and
comes one’s desire. Anthropology cannot possibly reach an
subincision of the penis cause bleeding and that often puber-
understanding of the transmission of culture, of the mainte-
ty rites stipulate that boys must move through the legs of
nance of values, without expanding its conceptions of
older men (symbolizing rebirth), Bettelheim concludes that
learning theory and symbolic processes, unconscious and
male initiation ceremonies are thus forums for the expression
conscious.
of envy of the procreative powers of women. Circumcision
MODERN, INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY. In persuing the literature
is seen as imitative of menstruation, giving birth to new life,
on rites of passage, one finds, in addition to scholarly inter-
and extreme cases of subincision are viewed as making male
pretations, descriptions (and often photographs) of fantastic,
genitals superficially similar to those of women. Envy and
elaborate masks, costumes, or other body decoration, and
emulation are thus the key messages and purposes of male
while these certainly may be intriguing, Westerners may be
puberty rites.
quite thankful that they do not have to endure tooth filing,
Another psychological view holds that male initiation
circumcision, subincision, cicatrization, tattooing, and the
rites serve to expedite the resolution of Oedipal conflicts and
like. Still, the impression one is frequently left with is that
to establish masculine identity. This perspective, represented
rites of passage are elaborate affairs occurring in small-scale
in Frank Young’s Initiation Ceremonies: A Cross-cultural
societies in which every member of the community takes
Study of Status Dramatization (New York, 1965), further
part. What meaning, if any, do rites of passage hold for the
contends that in societies where the mother-son bond is par-
modern, industrial world? Have people lost sight of their
ticularly strong, elaborate and painful ceremonies are needed
need to move people clearly and safely from one life stage
to vigorously and decisively break a male child’s identifica-
to another? Is the safety and assurance that ritual provides
tion with his mother (and hence with other women) and to
no longer possible, or even applicable for those in complex
install him in the psychological and social company of his
societies?
father’s group.
Early twenty-first century society may be characterized
Most psychological treatments of initiation ceremonies
as fragmented, confusing, complex, and disorderly. People
have investigated those of male puberty; discussions of fe-
put a premium on their individuality; they pay dearly,
male initiation rites are scarce. In The Drums of Affliction
though, for the individuality so cherished. The cost of free-
(London, 1968), Victor Turner describes the girls’ initiation
dom is often adjustment to life’s transitions quite alone, and
rites observed and analyzed by him and Edith Turner while
with private, not public, symbols. Contemporary society is
among the Ndembu of Zambia. The rites express woman’s
so multifarious and diffuse that individuals must entrust
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RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FIRST EDITION]
their lives into the hands of experts and anonymous agencies
lems that result from them. These works, however, have not
or individuals who care for only a small part of their human
considered the relation and importance of ritual to these
needs. People are born, for the most part, in hospitals, and
junctures in individual lives.
usually die there. Birth and death, the irreducible entrance
People in modern Western society indeed experience
and exit, become merely secular affairs, matters of the most
numerous forms of crises and transitions: menopause, sur-
profound emotional significance that are left publicly uncele-
gery, “empty nests,” divorce, retirement. They are traumatic
brated.
and anxiety-provoking, and yet they regularly occur uncele-
There may well be dire consequences for this lack of
brated. People do make attempts to enact rituals at several
public ritual. Long ago, Émile Durkheim made evident in
crossroads in their lives, although they usually do so alone
his classic work Suicide (1897) that the lack of social connec-
and secluded. Burning an unfaithful lover’s photograph, re-
tion, the unacknowledged existence, and the feeling of ano-
turning gifts from one no longer cherished, changing a hair-
mie may be expressed by the individual in the form of sui-
style, and cleaning house are all ways to announce that one
cide. More recently, Solon Kimball remarks in the
phase of life has ended and a new one is beginning.
introduction to a reprint of van Gennep’s Rites of Passage
Dwellers in Western society do not live in the same kind
(Chicago, 1960) that one result of the strain of undergoing
of world as do those in tribal or traditional societies, yet they
individualistic ritual may be mental illness.
surely experience the same anxiety and uncertainty at life’s
Some scholars argue that genuine rites of passage are not
crisis points. And they surely share the same conceptual
possible in modern societies because of the limited, special-
quandaries about life: that they are natural yet cultural be-
ized, or attenuated social relations experienced in them. For
ings; that their lives are marked both by disruption and by
example, Max Gluckman asserts in Essays on the Ritual of So-
continuity; and that humans are individual yet collective.
cial Relations (Manchester, 1962) that rites of passage are “sa-
These are the fundamental paradoxes that everyone every-
cred” and thus can exist only in societies where the social is
where experiences, and that rites of passage announce, in-
also religious, where social relations serve multiple purposes
struct, and help individuals to transcend.
and are charged with moral valuations.
SEE ALSO Birth; Funeral Rites; Initiation; Marriage; Ordina-
But ritual is not synonymous with religion, and it may
tion; Sacrament, overview article.
well be that religion operates more through conscious cogni-
tive faculties than does ritual. The differences are informa-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
tive. One of ritual’s distinguishing features is that it is per-
Eliade, Mircea. Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of
formed. One must engage more than merely cognitive
Birth and Rebirth. New York, 1958. A classic work on initia-
processes in order to carry out ritualistic activity, for ritual
tion in its religious aspect. Eliade deals with the transcen-
absorbs and employs all the senses, and indeed it probably
dence of sexual opposition in initiation.
involves different centers in the brain from those of cogni-
Gennep, Arnold van. Les rites de passage. Paris, 1909. Translated
tion. As Mircea Eliade puts it so well, one may become what
by Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee as The Rites
one performs; hence, critical thinking may not be so essential
of Passage (Chicago, 1960). The essential handbook on rites
an element here as it may be in religious belief. Rituals also
of passage. Van Gennep, the pioneer in this study, laid out
incorporate paradox and conflict; problems of codification
the three stages: separation, the transitional or liminal stage,
and consistency, therefore, may not be so relevant as they are
and reincorporation.
in religious belief. Rituals are indeed “transformative” experi-
Gluckman, Max. “Les Rites de Passage.” In Essays on the Ritual of
ences, as Victor Turner affirms; and as Sherry Ortner ob-
Social Relations, edited by Max Gluckman, pp. 1–52. Man-
serves in Sherpas through Their Rituals (Cambridge, 1978),
chester, 1962. A useful commentary on van Gennep’s Les
rites de passage. Gluckman, a social anthropologist, discusses
individuals approach ritual with a cultural problem, stated
the social roles and processes involved in such rites.
or unstated, and then work various operations upon it, arriv-
ing at “solutions”—reorganizations and reinterpretations of
Mahdi, Louise, Steven Foster, and Meredith Little, eds. Betwixt
the elements that produce a newly meaningful whole.
and Between: Patterns of Masculine and Feminine Initiation.
La Salle, Ill., 1987. Studies of human ritual from childhood
Achieving the appropriate shift in consciousness is the work
to death at the times of threshold, liminality, and change.
of ritual.
Mahdi, Louise, Nancy Christopher, and Michael Meade, eds.
It is important to note that rituals are constructed—
Crossroads: The Quest for Contemporary Rites of Passage. Chi-
fabricated, built, created—for that indicates that individuals
cago, 1996. Studies of the practice of rites of passage for
may then be able to create and provide them for themselves
young people in the modern era.
if they are not already bestowed by society. Studies of crises
Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa. New York, 1928. The
in the adult life cycle in Western society (e.g., Roger Gould’s
controversial study of the life of girls in a Polynesian culture.
Transformation: Growth in Adult Life, Louisville, Ky., 1978,
Turner, Victor. “Mukanda: The Rite of Circumcision.” In his The
and Gail Sheehy’s Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life,
Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual, chap. 7. Ithaca,
New York, 1974) have highlighted the creation of various
N.Y., 1967. A detailed account and anthropological analysis
life phases and the various cultural and psychological prob-
of boys’ initiation among the Ndembu.
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RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
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Turner, Victor. “Nkang’a.” In his The Drums of Affliction: A Study
over, male initiation, as the paradigm for all passage. Van
of Religious Processes among the Ndembu of Zambia, chaps. 7
Gennep’s 1909 text is predominately concerned with initia-
and 8. London, 1968. A detailed account and anthropologi-
tion. The paradigmatic tripartite pattern, derived from eth-
cal analysis of girls’ initiation among the Ndembu.
nographic accounts of rites in indigenous cultures, is that of
Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure.
a group of boys separated from domestic space and their
Chicago, 1969. Turner goes beyond van Gennep in explor-
mothers, taken to a sequestered, liminal zone where they en-
ing the liminal domain found in rites of passage, where that
dure ordeals and trials that generate their transition to adult-
domain exists in a number of different cultures and periods
hood, and then are returned and incorporated into the village
of history.
as full-fledged men. Eliade viewed such initiation rites as the
BARBARA G. MYERHOFF (1987)
fundamental means by which people become human and the
LINDA A. CAMINO (1987)
E
cosmos made sacred, believing initiation to be a “metacultur-
DITH TURNER (1987 AND 2005)
al” and “transhistorical” phenomenon. Turner used van
Gennep’s schema to study the internal dynamics of social
RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FURTHER
change associated with rites that evoke liminality and com-
CONSIDERATIONS]
munitas, and initiation rites (along with pilgrimage and festi-
The publication of Mircea Eliade’s Rites and Symbols of Initi-
val) were the focus of his attention.
ation in 1958, the appearance in 1960 of an English transla-
But whereas the male initiation rites of many cultures
tion of Arnold van Gennep’s Les rites de passage, and Victor
may be said to exhibit a three-phased structure, it is not clear
Turner’s influential and widely read The Ritual Process: Struc-
that all passage rites do; actual descriptions of rites, as Grimes
ture and Anti-Structure, published in 1969, are the three pil-
has shown in Deeply Into the Bone, reveal far more than sim-
lars on which classical rites of passage theory was constructed.
ply three phases—detailed phenomenological descriptions of
The generation of scholars following these three men has
rites reveal the limits of abstract, universalized summaries, or
done the work of developing, adding to, applying, and cri-
models. Bruce Lincoln, in Emerging From the Chrysalis, a
tiquing their contributions. The work of Eliade, van Gen-
study of women’s initiation rites in five cultures, does devel-
nep, and Turner informed a surge of popular interest in
op a three-phased model, but it is not the classic pattern of
North America and Europe—beginning in earnest in the
separation, transition, and incorporation that defines the
1980s—in passage rites. Their thinking on rites of passage
rites he studied, but instead one of enclosure, metamorpho-
has been disseminated to a wide audience through secondary
sis, and emergence. Initiation, not to mention the diverse
texts, programs, institutes, and weekend workshops, and has
practices that are grouped under the phrase “rites of passage,”
helped cultivate an ethos of ritual experimentation around
is a complex phenomenon; van Gennep’s tripartite schema
the “canonical” big four: rites of birth, initiation, weddings,
has been shaped by male initiation rites, overextended in its
and funerals, as well as a host of other events in the life cycles
application to other passage rites, and also bears traces of He-
of men and women in the modern West: divorce, gradua-
gelian dialectics and Trinitarian theology, implicitly drawing
tion, serious illness, abortion, leaving home, mid-life, retire-
on a conceptual paradigm that has long influenced the West-
ment, same-sex marriage, and menopause.
ern intellectual tradition. In theorizing passage rites greater
In the 1980s, as cultural theory, analysis, and criticism
attention needs to be given to birth rites, weddings, and fu-
became dominant in the academy, theorizing rites of passage
nerals and to female passage rites in general.
gave way to the critical analysis of both ritual theory and ritu-
LIMINALITY. Essential to classical rites of passage theory is the
al practice. The new direction was marked by Ronald
notion of transformation. Society is composed of a set of rec-
Grimes’s 1990 work Ritual Criticism, which called for a
ognized status positions, and the work of passage rites is to
hard-nosed examination of the political and normative na-
move individuals through these (often age-related) social po-
ture of rites and ritual theory, but also, following Victor Tur-
sitions by transforming them from one state to another, from
ner, called for awareness of the critical dimensions of ritual—
adolescence to adulthood, from being single to being mar-
ritual itself as a way of doing criticism, encouraging reflexivi-
ried. The emphasis on transformation in theory has meant
ty, and creatively responding to social and individual needs
an emphasis on liminality, since it is the liminal (or transi-
and concerns. One outcome of cultural theory has been to
tional) phase of a rite of passage that does the work of trans-
validate the study of popular culture and spirituality; in two
forming the individual. For Turner, all authentic ritual is
subsequent works, Grimes applied his notion of “ritual criti-
transformative, and therefore requires liminality. In Eliade’s
cism” to the rising phenomenon of ritualizing passage rites
language, in passage rites one ritually “dies” to an old state,
and the appeal to classical rites of passage theorists for justifi-
enters the womb of renewal and transformation, and returns
cation. Criticism of theory and criticism of practice co-
to the world reborn and remade; implicitly, liminality is
alesced, since so much of the creative ritualizing was being
where the sacred is found, and is therefore more important
driven by a dominant theoretical paradigm derived from a
than separation or incorporation. But such claims may be
fusion of van Gennep’s, Eliade’s, and Turner’s work.
universalizing aspects of male initiation rites, male experi-
INITIATION AS PARADIGM. One limitation of classical rites
ence, and the role of ritual in effecting passage into social po-
of passage theory is that it uses rites of initiation, and, more-
sitions traditionally occupied by males.
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RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
In her study of women’s experiences in the late Middle
in ritual experimentation, but weddings, funerals and initia-
Ages, Carolyn Walker Bynum argues that women’s stories
tion are also driven by the forces of market capitalism, adver-
and symbols, though often dramatic, do not entail the
tising, an ethos of spiritual questing and the promise of per-
processual movement found in men’s stories. Transforma-
sonal transformation or healing that has come to be closely
tion requires movement to some social position or state of
associated with rites of passage in the West.
status, and whereas male biographers shaped women’s lives
into a narrative of “situation, rupture, resolution,” women’s
In Western cultures, the call for recovery of rites of pas-
dramas were in actuality, argues Bynum, fragmented and in-
sage has been strongly directed at initiation, and in particular
complete (p. 112). Women’s stories were sources of liminali-
male initiation. In the absence of passage rites it is not un-
ty for men, but do not reflect liminal, transformative, status-
common that major transitions or stages in the life cycle be-
changing processes in women’s lives. Bruce Lincoln offers a
come ritualized; in the case of adolescent males, as Ray Ra-
similar critique of the gender bias inherent in the notion of
phael demonstrated in his 1988 work From Men to Boys,
liminality and the way it can misrepresent the trajectory of
unsupervised, spontaneous, unconscious and often violent
women’s experience. Liminality may, as the authors of the
ritualized initiation practices commonly occur. Classical rites
previous entry write, situate one “betwixt and between” the
of passage theory has been a prominent source for ritualizing
edges of social boundaries and codes, “tricksters, clowns,
coming of age ceremonies for young men and women. The
poets, shamans, court jesters, monks, ‘dharma bums,’ and
ritualized practices and theoretical framework in the popular
holy mendicants” may “represent liminal beings,” but these
and influential Crossroads: The Quest for Contemporary Rites
vocations have been traditionally occupied by males
of Passage, published in 1996, and Betwxit and Between: Pat-
(p. 382).The tendency to implicitly or explicitly equate limi-
terns of Masculine and Feminine Intitiation, published in
nality with the sacred and transformative power is to privi-
1987, both edited by Louis Carus Mahdi, draw heavily on
lege male access to and control of the sacred. The description
classical rites of passage theory, and are representative of the
and classification of rites on the basis of a particular charac-
widespread ritualizing of passage in Eurocentric culture. But
teristic or function can serve to reinforce a particular theoret-
such practices are not without problems.
ical orientation. Some passage rites may involve liminal pro-
As Grimes notes in Deeply into the Bone, much contem-
cesses but making liminality the heart of all passage rites is
porary ritualizing has cobbled together the work of van Gen-
to closely associate them with rites of inversion, leading to
nep, Eliade, and Turner with the archetypal psychology of
a distended typology of rites, and implicitly grants greater
Carl Gustav Jung and Joseph Campbell’s narrative of the
moral and religious worth to rites emphasizing liminality and
hero’s journey with the result that “invented patterns, treated
anti-structure, rather than status system and structure.
as if they were discovered, came to be prescribed as if they were
RITUALIZING. Eliade opened his classic 1958 text on initia-
laws determining how rites should be structured” (1990,
tion by framing the plight of “modern man” as that of living
p. 107). Many self-constructed rites thereby unwittingly in-
in a “desacralized cosmos,” and linked this state to the “dis-
corporate the gender (male) and cultural (Christian and
appearance of meaningful rites of passage” (p. ix). Since
Western) biases that have been shown to exist in this body
Eliade, it is commonly claimed that in industrial, modern,
of theory. When the ritual imagination becomes trapped in
secular society, passage rites have either disappeared entirely
producing rites derived from uncritical acceptance and appli-
or are no longer effective, and a connection is typically made
cation of theory, ritual cannot perform the self-reflexive, crit-
between a (supposed) pervasive spiritual and social anomie
ical and socially constructive work that Victor Turner as-
in Western culture and a lack of rites of passage to serve as
cribes to it.
markers to guide and move individuals through the various
Second, invented initiation rites rely on a good deal of
phases and crises of the life cycle. This assumption has gener-
ritual borrowing. The assumption that the ritual practices of
ated a good deal of ritualizing, a term introduced by Grimes
“traditional” societies are fecund tools for the revitalization
to distinguish formal and traditionally accepted rites from
of modern, industrial society idealizes those practices and
the practice of deliberately cultivating new rites.
creates a hunger for them, encouraging ritual appropriation.
It was van Gennep who first associated rites of passage
Many North Americans of European descent have turned to
with individual life crises, but this needs to be seen as a partly
Native religion for their spiritual goods: sweat lodges, vision
interpretive move; passage rites do not necessarily coincide
quests, sacred pipes, rattles, and spirit catchers make up the
with life crisis events, and to label any life crisis a “rite of pas-
bill of fare of many workshops and retreats. Steven Foster
sage,” as is commonly done, is to so stretch the term that it
and Meredith Little, cofounders of the School of Lost Bor-
threatens to become meaningless. There remains, however,
ders and Rites of Passage Inc., are among those to have devel-
a close conceptual and typological tie between life crisis and
oped initiation practices based on vision questing or Hanble-
passage rites, a fact evidenced by the widespread study of rit-
cheyapi, a traditional coming-of-age rite in Plains culture.
ual and ritualizing of passage rites in pastoral care, family
But for many Native people, non-Native fascination with
therapy and social work, by child and youth care workers,
Native religious, symbolic, and ritual systems represents the
drug addiction counselors, and hospice culture. Anxiety over
ongoing colonization of Native North Americans. The ap-
potentially troublesome life stages and passage drives interest
propriation debate first focused on issues of land claims and
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RITES OF PASSAGE: AN OVERVIEW [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
7803
the return of artifacts and human remains, but has widened
with the deep paradox of having one foot planted in nature
to include ritual practices.
and the other in culture, yet they may fail to unify these two
domains. A rite may be deeply disjunctive, detached from its
A third problem with invented male initiation rites is
physiological roots, out of time with bodily rhythms; when
that they potentially reinforce a heroic, individualistic style
they are, they can place ritual participants in severe double
of masculinity. Ray Raphael argues that the use of the vision
binds. Grimes offers several examples of ritual failure and dis-
quest model for initiation practice in Eurocentric culture is
junction between ritual, biological, and cultural scenarios in
an isolationist model, a “perfect model for a rite of passage
his Deeply into the Bone. Passage rites may aim to weave to-
in an individualistic culture”; it represents “the privatization
gether body and culture, but the result can be far from
of our initiations [and] fails to provide any structural support
seamless.
to help us with our personal struggles, and so it does little
to help ensure success in our difficult time of transition”
SEE ALSO Initiation, overview article and articles on Men’s
(1988, p. 198). The connections in North American culture
Initiation and Women’s Initiation; Liminality; Ritual.
between spiritual questing, heroic individualism, and colo-
nial expansion need further study.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bynum, Caroline Walker. “Women’s Stories, Women’s Symbols:
POWER, PARADOX, AND DOUBLE BINDS. Classical rites of
A Critique of Victor Turner’s Theory of Liminality.” In An-
passage theory draws attention to the interplay of biology
thropology and the Study of Religion, edited by Robert L.
and culture. With the rise of cultural theory, attention
Moore and Frank E. Reynolds, pp. 105–125. Chicago,
turned to the dynamic and often contentious process by
1984. Turner’s theory of liminality has had widespread influ-
which meaning and power are produced, maintained, and
ence. Bynum argues that it is implicitly a male model that
negotiated, and work on passage rites during the 1990s gave
fails to understand or take into account women’s experience.
considerable attention to the intersection of the human body
Combs-Schilling, Elaine. “Etching Patriarchal Rule: Ritual Dye,
and structures of power. Elaine Combs-Schilling, in her
Erotic Potency, and the Moroccan Monarchy.” Journal of the
study of Moroccan marriage rites, and Robbie Davis-Floyd,
History of Sexuality 1, no. 4 (1991): 658–681. A study of how
in her analysis of the ritualization of hospital birth, argue that
wedding rites are implicated in the maintenance of patriar-
chal values and rule in Morocco.
societies use life cycle passages to literally inscribe their most
fundamental values and assumptions into the body. Passage
Davis-Floyd, Robbie. Birth as an American Rite of Passage. Berke-
rites involve more than a struggle between nature and culture
ley, 1992. Davis-Floyd takes critical aim at the interplay of
that proclaims fundamental paradoxes of human being—
biology and culture in her treatment of hospital birth as a rite
of passage.
they may be highly politicized sites through which power is
wielded and maintained. “Culture,” writes Combs-Schilling,
Foster, Steven and Meredith Little. “The Vision Quest: Passing
“can make its elaborations appear true by embedding them
from Childhood to Adulthood.” In Betwixt and Between:
Patterns of Masculine and Feminine Initiation, edited by Lou-
within the body’s most biological truths. The physical
ise Carus Mahdi et al., pp. 79–110. La Salle, Ill., 1987. An
groundings—sexual intercourse, bloodspilling and birth—
account of efforts to create initiation rites based on the model
independently and panhumanly exist, while the cultural
of the vision quest.
elaborations do not (they are culture-specific). Once fused,
Grimes, Ronald L. Ritual Criticism: Case Studies in Its Practice, Es-
they are hard to pull apart” (1991, p. 678). Combs-Schilling
says on Its Theory. Columbia, S.C., 1990. The first and final
suggests that by timing rites of passage with periods in the
chapters develop a theory of ritual criticism that can be readi-
life cycle in which the body is potentially weakened or ex-
ly applied to the study of rites of passage.
posed, those rites can embed social values and power struc-
Grimes, Ronald L. Marrying and Burying: Rites of Passage in a
ture deep into the body. She offers an analysis of the Morro-
Man’s Life. Boulder, Colo., 1995. In this autobiographical
can rite of hinna’ associated with marriage practices and
work, Grimes uses his own experience of life passages and his
conjugal intercourse in terms of its power to “etch” both
work as a scholar of religion and ritual to critically reflect on
male and female bodies with patriarchal values and subservi-
the place and practice of rites of passage in contemporary
ence to monarchical rule. Similarly, Davis-Floyd treats the
North America.
medical procedures of Western hospital birth as ritual, argu-
Grimes, Ronald L. Deeply into the Bone: Reinventing Rites of Pas-
ing that the extreme openness of women during birth is the
sage. Berkeley, Calif., 2000. This work integrates detailed
prime occasion for Western society to imprint fundamental
narrative accounts with critical questioning and theoretical
values on the bodies and minds of its members; these values
reflection on such topics as the invention of passage rites, the
are principally those of technocracy, efficiency, and distrust
practice of ritual borrowing, the marketing and consumption
of instincts and the body.
of rites of passage. Includes a comprehensive bibliography.
Hill, Paul, Jr. The Journey (Adolescent Rites of Passage): Organiza-
Ronald Grimes and Eric Schieffelin have considerably
tional Manual. Cleveland, 1998. This volume, produced by
advanced understanding of ritual action through the notion
the National Rites of Passage Institute, is representative of
of “ritual failure.” Rites may not always work, they may be
the effort in African American communities to use passage
exploitive, and they may not always do what practitioners or
rites with social and urban issues, cultural solidarity and cele-
even ritual theorists say they do. Passage rites may be imbued
bration, and the formation of identity.
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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RITES OF PASSAGE: AFRICAN RITES
Holm, Jean, and John Bowker, eds. Rites of Passage. New York,
African rituals thus can be analyzed helpfully under the
1994. A survey work of the rites of passage in Judaism, Chris-
category “life cycle rituals,” or what have been called “rites
tianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism.
of passage” since the publication of the book of the same title
Jocks, Christopher Ronwaniènte. “Spirituality for Sale.” American
in 1908 by Arnold van Gennep and expanded later by the
Indian Quarterly 20, no. 3 (1996): 415–432. A stinging cri-
British anthropologist Victor Turner. Van Gennep identi-
tique of non-Native use and selling of Native spirituality, in-
fied three phases in such rituals: rites of separation, which
cluding Native ceremonies and rites.
provide a socially accepted way to move away from a prior
Klassen, Pamela. Blessed Events: Religion and Home Birth in Ameri-
status; rites of transition, which safeguard participants during
ca. Princeton, 2001. Utilizing a narrative approach, Klassen
the dangerous liminal, or “in-between,” period; and rites of
explores the religious and ritualized dimensions of home
birth. The book is a welcome compliment to sociological
incorporation, which ensure that the participants have been
based studies.
reinstated properly into society and legitimated by the com-
LaFleur, William. Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan.
munity in their new roles. Turner argued that the entire ritu-
Princeton, 1992. One of LaFleur’s aims is to understand how
al process, from separation through transition to incorpora-
it is that abortion debates in Japan have not reached the same
tion, can be understood as liminal because each phase occurs
level of divisiveness in North America, and he suggests that
in a time between times and in a space that is set apart from
the development of abortion rites serve to contain, meditate
other places.
and resolve personal and social tensions and anxieties around
the act of abortion.
Because Africa consists of vast regions and multiple tra-
Lincoln, Bruce. Emerging from the Chrysalis: Studies in Rituals of
ditional societies, examples of selected groups from different
Women’s Initiation. Cambridge, U.K., 1991. An expanded
parts of the continent illustrate the way various rites of pas-
edition of the original study first published in 1981, dealing
sage are understood and practiced.
with women’s initiation practices in five cultures. The book
NDEBELE BIRTH RITUAL. A typical birth ritual among the
explores the social construction of gender, the role of ritual
Ndebele-speaking people of Zimbabwe begins with the
in society and the politics of ritual.
woman leaving her husband during her ninth month of preg-
Mahdi, Louis Carus, et al. Crossroads: The Quest for Contemporary
nancy to go to her own parents’ home. This constitutes the
Rites of Passage. Chicago, 1996. This collection of essays fo-
separation phase, which involves women preparing the room
cuses on the creation of passage rites to avert what is de-
by polishing the floor with cow dung. After the room is
scribed as a “youth crisis” in contemporary, Western culture.
It is an influential example of the kinds of ritualizing being
cleaned thoroughly, no one is allowed into it until the moth-
done with adolescents, and the theoretical frameworks and
er is nearing the time for the delivery. When the time ap-
assumptions informing the practice.
proaches for the birth, the liminal phase of the ritual begins.
Raphael, Ray. The Men from the Boys: Rites of Passage in Male
The pregnant woman is accompanied into the room by her
America. Lincoln, Neb., 1988. A plethora of books emerged
mother and grandmother and any other women assisting in
in the 1990s dealing with male initiation. Raphael’s work
the childbirth. It is forbidden for any man to enter the room
was one of the first of the genre.
when a woman is giving birth, even her own husband. Before
Stephenson, Barry. “Ritual Criticism of a Contemporary Rite of
touching the pregnant woman, the woman acting as mid-
Passage.” Journal of Ritual Studies 17, no. 1 (2003): 32–41.
wife, usually the grandmother, washes her hands in water
A critique of the “vision quest” initiation rite designed by
that contains herbs prescribed by a traditional healer. When
Steven Foster and Meredith Little.
the baby comes out of the mother’s womb, the midwife is
BARRY STEPHENSON (2005)
the first to touch the baby by cleaning the blood off with the
medicated water. The umbilical cord of the baby is then cut,
but some of it is left hanging to its navel and tied with a
RITES OF PASSAGE: AFRICAN RITES
string. The midwife then washes the baby again in the medi-
Rituals in Africa, just as in other parts of the world, utilize
cated water. While the baby is sleeping, but before the baby
symbols to express and convey meanings, verbally and non-
is allowed to feed from its mother, a fire is prepared in the
verbally. In traditional African societies, a firm stress is
room. Specially selected herbs are put onto the fire, which
placed on the performance of rituals as customary, standard-
is allowed to reduce to burning coals. The baby is then awak-
ized, and symbolic social communication that is repeatable
ened and its head placed in the smoke from the fire contain-
according to fixed patterns. All African societies have differ-
ing the herbs. The baby may be held over the fire for over
ent age-linked rituals, and mark the passage from one to an-
an hour before being allowed to suck from the mother. The
other, but not all have the same rituals, either in number or
next day, the same process of putting the baby in the smoke
in kind. The following are typical: (1) prenatal rituals (e.g.,
from the medicated fire is repeated, and is continued until
rituals to confirm pregnancy, for fetal growth, and for safe
the umbilical cord falls off, which may take up to a week.
delivery); (2) naming rituals; (3) pre-pubertal and pubertal
After the umbilical cord falls off, the liminal phase ends when
initiation rituals for the entrance into adulthood; (4) be-
the baby is recognized as a person and given a name. As a
trothal and marriage; (5) initiation into prestige-bestowing
sign that the mother and baby have been incorporated into
adult associations; (6) rituals elevating individuals to high of-
the community, people outside the room are called in to cele-
fice or to priestly functions; and (7) funeral (Turner, 1985).
brate the birth by bringing gifts; only after this is the father
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RITES OF PASSAGE: AFRICAN RITES
7805
of the baby allowed to see his child. To complete the ritual,
the material conditions on which the alliances have been
the father is given the piece of umbilical cord, which he takes
forged and on which the continuation of the lineage de-
to a place near the homestead and buries, offering thanks to
pends. Within traditional Tswana society in Botswana, for
the ancestors and asking them to protect the new baby. After
example, the separation phase in a marriage ritual is marked
these events, the father, mother, and baby return to the fa-
by an agreement between the families of the boy and the girl
ther’s home, fully reincorporated into society in their new
that a formal kinship alliance will be made. This can occur
status as parents with a child (Cox, 1998).
even when the boy and girl are children, or in some cases,
A
even before they are born. The next stage of separating a
GIKUYU INITIATION RITES. The Agikuyu of Kenya are or-
ganized around the age-set system (marika), and thus male
woman from her own family involves a payment (bogadi—
and female initiation rites (irua) play a central social role.
sometimes translated as “bride price”) from the husband’s
These involve prolonged and intensive puberty rituals that
family to the wife’s family (Amanze, 1998). Although today
culminate with male and female circumcision. Although
compensation is often made in cash, typically the bride price
boys and girls are taken to separate locations for the rituals,
is satisfied by offering cattle to the girl’s family, usually be-
those circumcised at the same time are considered age-mates,
tween four and ten head, with the number decided entirely
and those circumcised during the same season are regarded
by the boy’s family. Once the payment is made, the girl is
as age-sets. The process of separation begins with the slaugh-
regarded as entering into a liminal phase that transfers her
tering of a goat that is eaten while members of the extended
labor and her childbearing properties to her husband’s fami-
family, under the direction of the chief elder, consider if any
ly. In some parts of Tswana society, particularly in sections
of them might have broken any social rules that would result
where longstanding traditional patterns persist, this stage is
in harm coming to the initiates during the rite of passage to
extended by the boy cohabiting with the girl at her parents’
adulthood. If some breach of the social code is discovered,
home for up to a year, during which time the girl might be-
the initiates are not allowed to take part in the ritual until
come pregnant as a sign that she is fertile. If for any reason
a purification ritual is performed for the family. If no rules
she is not able to bear children, the contract between the
have been broken, the next stage of preparation takes place
families can be abrogated. In this sense, the liminal phase be-
with the slaughtering of another goat, which is dedicated to
comes potentially dangerous, because the couple have not yet
the ancestors. Those to be initiated then leave their own fam-
been incorporated into society, which only occurs when the
ilies to go other, “adopted” families for the actual ritual. This
couple returns to set up a household at the boy’s parental
signals that they are separating from their biological families
home. Although this system of marriage is based on strictly
and becoming part of the larger Agikuyu community. The
defined kinship relations that in some senses are quite specif-
initiates sing and dance all night at the homesteads of their
ic to Tswana culture and to subgroups within it, from the
adopted families. The following morning, ceremonial elders
point of view of ritual activity, it conforms to the general pat-
anoint them with a white soil that is considered to be sacred.
tern throughout Africa that marriage never occurs between
Further rituals then occur, including more dancing and sing-
two people, but is based on a contractual agreement between
ing, competitive games between initiates, and additional pu-
two extended families (Schapera, 1950).
rification ceremonies. When the actual circumcisions are
SACRED KINGSHIP AMONGST THE EDO. Although initiation
performed, each initiate receives a sponsor, experienced
into sacred kingship amongst the Edo (Benin) people of Ni-
women for the girls and senior men for the boys, who in the
geria begins with a series of funeral rituals for the deceased
former cases nurse the wounds caused by the cutting of the
king, it is best classified as a rite of passage into a high office.
genitalia. After the circumcisions are completed, both boys
The death rituals for the king of Benin (oba) correspond to
and girls remain in seclusion until their wounds heal, during
the annual cycles of nature because he is believed to represent
which time they are instructed fully by their sponsors in the
in his person a variety of nature spirits that are essential for
social and moral norms of Agikuyu society, including sex ed-
ensuring the well-being of the people. For this reason, he is
ucation. They then return from the period of seclusion to be
regarded as qualitatively different from other humans, and
recognized by members of the community as “emerging”
becomes an object of worship in himself. He is thought not
adults. They are allowed to remain still in a kind liminal
to eat or drink as other humans do. Elaborate measures are
phase for a few weeks, as if on a holiday, with no responsibili-
taken to safeguard him against becoming sick, but if he does
ties. Finally, they are incorporated into the community as
fall ill, no direct references are made to this among the peo-
adults through a ritual called menjo, which involves shaving
ple. Rather, the oba is said to be sleeping, as expressed in the
their heads, symbolizing that they have been transformed
proverb, “the leopard is resting.” Because the oba symbolizes
into different people during the rituals; they were separated
the whole of the Edo people in his person, when he dies, his
from their biological families as children and have returned,
eldest son (the crown prince, or edaiken) acts out on behalf
reborn as it were, as adults (Hinga, 1998).
of the whole nation quasi-historical legends that relate great
MARRIAGE IN TSWANA CULTURE. In most African societies,
deeds performed by the royal ancestors. This dramatization
kinship relations are closely connected to economic security
is reinforced graphically and concretely by effigies of past
that is ensured through childbearing. Because marriage ritu-
obas that have been cast in bronze and placed on ancestral
als solidify alliances between kinship groups, they formalize
altars around the palace compound. After the burial of his
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father, the edaiken begins a year-long process of separating
stood in Africa. Nevertheless, these instances, which follow
from his role as a prince, enters the liminal stage, and finally
closely the transitional stages outlined by van Gennep and
is incorporated into Edo society in his new role as the divine
Turner, demonstrate that for practitioners of African indige-
earthly ruler, the oba of Benin. During the hazardous liminal
nous religions, life crises are overcome successfully by per-
phase, the edaiken’s life cycles are reinacted ritually by re-
forming ritual acts precisely and meticulously. In this way,
counting first his passage from childhood to youth, then his
African societies make sense of major social transitions and,
period as a novice-in-training learning princely responsibili-
at the same time, ensure that traditional authority is main-
ties, and finally his rise to full maturity as the oba. The cere-
tained.
monies are concluded when the crown prince is installed as
the oba, one who in the eyes of the people has been trans-
SEE ALSO Liminality.
formed from being a human to one who is sacred (Kaplan,
2000).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amanze, James N. African Christianity in Botswana. Gweru, Zim-
LIMBA FUNERAL RITUALS. Amongst the Limba of Sierra
babwe, 1998. Focuses on African Independent Churches,
Leone, the belief in the ability of ancestor spirits to affect the
but begins with a helpful description of traditional Tswana
living is demonstrated by the care with which funerary rituals
religion.
are performed. Burial ceremonies are thought to be the first
Cox, James L. Rational Ancestors. Scientific Rationality and African
steps in the transformation of the deceased into an ancestor.
Indigenous Religions. Cardiff, Wales, 1998. Contains numer-
In the separation phase, the corpse must be cleaned,
ous descriptions of Ndebele and Shona calendrical, life-cycle,
wrapped, and prepared ritually for burial, only after which
and crisis rituals.
can the social roles that have been left vacant by the deceased
Hinga, Teresia M. “Christianity and Female Puberty Rites in Afri-
be filled and the property distributed to the next of kin.
ca: The Agikuyu Case.” In Rites of Passage in Contemporary
From the time of the burial until a ritual called aboreh is per-
Africa, edited by James L. Cox, pp. 168–179. Cardiff, U.K.,
formed, a period of between forty days and one year elapses,
1998. Included among several articles analyzing the changing
during which time the spirit of the deceased is in a state of
nature of African rites of passage, particularly under the in-
liminality, neither in the world of the living nor in the com-
fluence of Christianity.
pany of the family ancestors. The aboreh ritual, which lasts
John, Irene. “The Changing Face of Kabudu: An Examination of
for one week, must be conducted to effect a transition that
Community and Community Relationships in Sierra Leone
removes the spirit of the deceased from a condition of roam-
since 1960, with Specific Reference to the Rise of the Evan-
ing about the bush dangerously to one who assumes ancestral
gelical Christian Groups in Freetown.” Unpublished Ph.D.
duties, such as protecting the family from misfortune, illness,
thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1999. Contains recent field-
and witchcraft attacks. If the deceased had been a member
work material from members of the Limba people who fled
to Freetown to escape war in rural areas.
of a secret society (Gbangbani for men; Bondo for women),
during the first few days of the aboreh ritual, members of the
Kaplan, Flora Edouwaye S. “Some Thoughts on Ideology, Beliefs,
secret society perform special rites which nonmembers are
and Sacred Kingship among the Edo (Benin) People of Nige-
ria.” In African Spirituality. Forms, Meanings, and Expressions,
prohibited from attending. When the ritual becomes public
edited by Jacob K. Olupona, pp. 114–153. New York, 2000.
later in the week, the whole community is involved. Of par-
A thorough outline of field-based studies of sacred kingship
ticular importance in the public ritual are singers who praise
within the Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria).
the ancestors of the deceased, rehearse the names and deeds
Schapera, I. “Kinship and Marriage Among the Tswana.” In Afri-
of the ancestors, and appeal for the ancestors to accept the
can Systems of Kinship and Marriage, edited by A.R. Rad-
one who has died as one of them. On the last day of the ritu-
cliffe-Brown and Daryll Forde, pp. 140–165. Oxford, U.K.,
al, at dawn, a white fowl is carried to the grave of the de-
1950. A dated, but detailed anthropological study of kinship
ceased by some of the elders. Rice is placed on the grave while
and marriage among the Tswana as it was practiced during
the chief elder, who holds the fowl in his hand, praises the
the first half of the twentieth century.
ancestors and implores them once again to receive the de-
Turner, Victor W. “Liminality, Kabbalah, and the Media.” Reli-
ceased among them. When the elder completes his speech,
gion 15 (1985): 205–217. One of Turner’s last contributions
the fowl jumps from his hand and eats the rice on the grave
to his theory of liminality.
to indicate that the spirit of the deceased has now been ac-
Van Gennep, Arnold. Rites of Passage. Chicago, 1960 [1909].
cepted as an ancestor. The fowl is then killed and its blood
poured on the grave. After the sacrifice is completed, a stone
JAMES L. COX (2005)
known as betiyeh is taken from the grave of the deceased and
kept in a special container at the homestead, symbolizing
that the deceased has now become an ancestor and can pro-
RITES OF PASSAGE: OCEANIC RITES
tect the family from misfortune (John, 1999).
Arnold van Gennep published the classic French text Rites
CONCLUSION. Additional cases could have been multiplied
de passage in 1908. Basing his study on ethnological reports,
both in types of rituals and from different societies to illus-
including some from Australia and parts of Melanesia and
trate the many ways rites of passage are practiced and under-
Polynesia, he noted how people change their social status
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7807
throughout their lives. The break between these social spaces
In rites such as these, Oceanic cultures acknowledge bi-
is like a pivot upon which one’s life trajectory alters direction.
ological events in social ways, leading to the recognition of
These pivots, or liminal periods, are critical moments, and
personhood and identity, and ultimately to what it means to
ritual is the principal means of safely navigating through to
be human.
the next stage.
TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD. Initiation rites received spe-
One may question whether van Gennep’s theory tends
cial treatment in van Gennep’s Rites de Passage. However,
to impose a threefold pattern of separation, transition and
there has been much discussion in academic circles as to what
incorporation onto complex rites. Nevertheless, Oceanic cul-
constitutes initiation rites, and whether, or in what ways,
tures generally accept that people are “made,” not born; that
they differ from puberty rites. Is the circumcision of a seven-
is, they are formed by social recognition as much as biologi-
year-old boy a late birth rite or an early initiation rite? Is the
cal gestation. Rites of passage, common throughout Oceania,
seclusion of a girl when she experiences her first menstrua-
accompany transitions in people’s lives: childless people into
tion a puberty rite that is essentially different from the group
parents, children into adults, living people into ancestors.
initiation rites of her brothers? With only the gradual appear-
B
ance of male features such as facial hair, becoming a “man”
IRTH AND PARENTHOOD. Most Oceanic cultures have tra-
ditionally provided ways of recognizing parenthood and ac-
can be a long and complex process.
knowledging the presence of new life in the community. In
Biology is not the sole marker of social identity. Culture
Aotearoa, New Zealand, the Maori would perform a tohi rite
intervenes in ritual forms, and often there may be a series of
in which a newborn child was dedicated to a particular god
initiation rites spanning many years, all contributing to the
while immersing it in water or sprinkling it with water from
achievement of full adulthood. In The Voice of the Tambaran,
a branch dipped in a stream or the sea. Severing of the umbil-
Donald Tuzin gives an account of the Arapesh tambaran cult
ical cord at this time was symbolic of separating the child
in Papua New Guinea, describing how the Arapesh male
from the world of darkness and its incorporation into the
goes through five grades of the cult, from the naiveties of
world of light. The umbilical cord was buried with stones
early childhood to the wisdom and authority of old age.
placed on top—one for every night the mother had experi-
enced the trials of childbirth. The rite was usually performed
Initiation rites in Oceania include combinations of vari-
only for male children, though in a few cases a first-born fe-
ous elements: being instructed by mentors; acquiring sacred,
male might be honored in this way.
sexual, or cultural knowledge; displaying subservience; being
acquainted with sacred objects; overcoming pain and fear;
Throughout Oceania, naming ceremonies might occur
observing food, sexual, and other taboos; regressing to child-
months or even years after the birth of the child. In the past,
like states; preparing to assume new responsibilities; dream-
infant mortality was so high that it wasn’t until after a year
ing; receiving a new name; and body marking, such as genital
had passed that the family could be reasonably confident that
operations, extracting a tooth, or receiving tattoos.
the child was out of danger. In Tahiti, the infant was known
as “milk eater” until the time it began to crawl, after which
Female initiation is not practiced as widely as male initi-
it was referred to as a child and addressed by its given name.
ation and where it does occur, it is usually associated with
a girl’s first menstruation. In the Sepik region of Papua New
Birth order can affect ritual. Gilbert Herdt describes
Guinea, after a time of special dietary restrictions and in-
how, for the Sambia people of Papua New Guinea, the birth
struction in the ways of women, a girl is ceremonially bathed,
of a first child is elaborately celebrated. The next birth, how-
as if after birth, and then reintroduced to the community
ever, is observed in a more truncated fashion, and birth cere-
amid much celebration. In some societies, full initiation into
monies are suspended after the fourth child. Rites welcoming
womanhood is complete only after the birth of her first child.
new life also serve to recognize parents in their new status
in the community. Once parenthood is established there is
Tattooing. In much of the Pacific, receiving a tattoo
less need to acknowledge it further.
was once both a spiritual process and a cultural requirement
for those wishing to hold various positions within society.
In modern times in Palau, in Micronesia, particularly
Tattooing does more than alter the appearance of the body:
if a woman is a mother for the first time, she goes into seclu-
it transforms the wearers’ sense of self. For men in Samoa,
sion and spends time in an enclosure to be bathed with hot
the traditional tattoo, called pe’a, runs from just above the
water steeped with aromatic herbs. This procedure, called
waist to just below the knees. In the past, most boys would
omesurech, is meant to cleanse her and to promote healing.
begin the tattoo process between the ages of fourteen and
However it is also a rite of social recognition. The number
eighteen. Completion of the pe’a signaled the boy’s transition
of days of bathing and steaming depends on the social rank
to manhood. Today the pe’a is performed on fewer men as
of the woman. After the proper number of days has elapsed,
they reevaluate the pain, cost, and social worth of wearing
the new mother is decorated and emerges from the steam
one.
chamber. Later, in a more private setting, kin exchange gifts.
These gifts used to be beads and crescent-shaped objects that
The traditional tattoo of Samoan women, called malu,
women wore as neck ornaments; nowadays, U.S. dollars are
was performed on young women somewhere between the
given.
ages of fourteen and twenty-five. The malu is placed primari-
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ly on the thighs and knees, but it can also be found on the
DEATH. People in the Pacific treat death with more solemni-
lower abdomen, wrists, and hands. Malu means “to protect,”
ty than any other event in a person’s existence. Customs vary
and while women’s tattoos may have had protective signifi-
in ways of treating the corpse, mourning, and preservation
cance in the past, in contemporary culture they are discussed
of the remains. Death rites differ according to the status of
in terms of family status and cultural commitment.
the deceased, beliefs about veneration of the ancestors, and
As a display of cultural pride, many Polynesians, both
whether it was a “good” or “bad” death. A transition period
male and female, now wear forms of tattoo that draw upon
is marked primarily by the mourning period around the
both traditional Polynesian and contemporary Western mo-
body of the dead person. However, in most societies there
tifs. Modern-day tattoos may differ from traditional tattoos
are commemorations by the family after certain periods of
in placement and design. One sees tattoos on wrists, arms,
time. The commemoration reminds the living that the de-
and lower legs, and some modern armbands are called Tatau
ceased family member has finally passed into the place of the
Pisikoa (Peace Corps tattoos). Moreover, tattoos may now be
ancestors.
on only one arm or leg, thus breaking with the bilateral body
In New Zealand, particularly among the Maori popula-
symmetry of traditional tatau. One even sees tattooed words,
tion, people may gather to hear the last wishes of the dying
such at Talofa (greeting).
person. At the time of death the tuku karakia is chanted, with
Genital operations. Operations on the penis are widely
the intention of releasing the person’s spirit from the body
practiced in Oceania. Often they involve superincision,
so as to commence the journey to the underworld. Later,
whereby the foreskin is cut at the top but not completely re-
during the funeral (tangi), songs and chants are addressed to
moved. In parts of Papua New Guinea, particularly among
the dead person. A year later there is an unveiling of the
Austronesian speaking groups, superincision is still practiced.
headstone for the grave. This replaces the traditional hahun-
The ritual is documented in the film Napalunga (Katim
ga ceremony, when the bones of the deceased would be disin-
Skin), by Bike Johnstone and Ignatius Talania.
terred and placed in a receptacle for placement in a sacred
location reserved for the bones of the ancestors.
Among the Kabana of the West New Britain district of
Papua New Guinea, a boy is “superincised” while lying on
In Australia, a dead person’s close relatives will sing and
top of his father’s or mother’s younger sister. The woman
invoke the sacred names of the dead person’s water hole and
gets on her hands and knees and the boy lies on her back.
country, with its mythological associations. In Papua New
The man chosen to cut the child inserts a small piece of bam-
Guinea, rites for the dead and dying involve many layers of
boo under the foreskin, says a spell on the razor, spits a fine
meaning. There are fears and concerns over the possible ma-
spray of ginger juice on the boy’s penis to anesthetize it, and
licious intent of the ghost of the deceased, financial obliga-
with a smooth stroke cuts the top of the foreskin. After the
tions, and consequences of accusations of poison or sorcery.
incision the boy’s penis is wrapped in a leaf, and a burning
The family member has been transformed into one of the liv-
ember is placed on the ground between his feet to heat the
ing dead, often leaving the family in a state of anxiety and
wound and facilitate the drying process.
fear.
Circumcision and allied genital operations have been in-
Death is not necessarily an event, but rather a condition
terpreted in various ways: as a mark of subjection, a test of
that may last for years. It is the state between life and afterlife,
endurance, a hygienic precaution, a sanctification of procre-
but may also include the sick and very old. In recent times
ation, a badge of incorporation into the tribal community,
in Papua New Guinea, some elderly people are officiating at
a symbolic castration by a dominating father figure, and an
their own funerals while still alive and relatively healthy.
expression of male envy of women’s menstruation. On
They take the opportunity to say farewell to friends and fam-
Wogeo Island off the north coast of Papua New Guinea peo-
ily, seek to reconcile sour relationships, bequeath their valu-
ple actually refer to penile incision as men’s menstruation.
ables to family and friends, and conduct a feast. This growing
practice demonstrates creativity and initiative by the princi-
Genital operations in themselves are often only part of
pal actor in the transition from elder to ancestor.
a rite of passage. Robert Levy is of the opinion that for the
Tahitians, “supercision” [sic] was part of becoming an adult
PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE. How do individuals cope with
but the operation was never conceived as the point of transi-
rites of passage, particularly initiation experiences in their
tion. Raymond Firth has noted how, on Tikopia in the Solo-
personal lives? Papua New Guinean Celine Yakasere, now a
mon Islands, the “kindling of the ovens” of youth involving
Catholic sister, has written about her initiation experience.
superincision for young males was accompanied by ex-
“I felt that I was isolated from the rest of the village people,
changes of food and other goods. While it was part of a wider
especially my friends. When the hair is shaved off, you feel
ritual process, it did give the boys a new status, allowing
shy to walk in public, or afraid of your school mates who will
them to participate in adult assemblies. Throughout the Pa-
make fun of you. . . . Finally, when a girl has gone through
cific, genital operations are generally limited to young males,
this process she feels proud that she is now a woman and not
though in the past among some aboriginal Australian groups,
a girl anymore” (Yakasere, 1991, p. 4).
female initiation might include ritual defloration or lacera-
Many rites are concerned with defining proper male and
tion of the vulva.
female roles. Marilyn Strathern claims that among certain
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groups in Melanesia, initiations dismantle identities that
Through initiation the novice establishes a relationship with
were originally androgynous in order to create single-sex peo-
the sacred history of the community.
ple capable of reproducing in relationships with each other.
Oceanic rites often involve secret and sacred objects that
Often, concepts of male and female emphasize the differ-
have symbolic significance and mythical associations. People
ences between the sexes, yet they are seen as complementary
continue to learn about sacred ritual and myth throughout
rather than oppositional, and both are viewed as essential to
their lives. Thus, rites of passage open up new possibilities
the continuity of the social whole.
for entering into this metacultural and trans-historical realm.
Some rites of passage divide a person’s life into “before”
and “after.” One is never the same again. Other rites occur
RITES IN THE MODERN WORLD. People in Oceania contin-
in stages and effect a more gradual transition. Some, such as
ue to move from one stage of life to another. Yet with the
the Tikopian superincision rites, confront the young man
demise of many traditional rites of passage, transitions can
with some of his basic social ties, reaffirming them and thus
become ritualized in various ways, such as adolescents initiat-
making him well aware of the time when he will have to
ing adolescents, sometimes violently. Evidence of this is seen
adopt them in earnest.
in an upsurge in membership in occult movements in Papua
New Guinea secondary schools. For example, members of a
SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE. Rites of passage, particularly those as-
“generation name” group or “family” use secret words or
sociated with initiation, nearly always involve a social with-
signs to greet one another when they meet. They are also ex-
drawal, signified by movement away from the group or
pected to monitor each other’s behavior for adherence to the
camp, and a return to that life as an active participant but
generation-name “character.” For example, a certain genera-
with a different status. The change in social status is repre-
tion name may have a promiscuous character, and all stu-
sented by symbolic actions such as ritual bathing, a public
dents bearing that generation name from year to year are ex-
reception, or physical changes like scarring of the body.
pected to display promiscuous sexual behavior in accordance
Scholars differ in their interpretations of the social sig-
with the character of the name. Other generation-name char-
nificance of such actions. Functionalists see sociopolitical
acters include hating teachers, being a fire bug, and satan
solidarity in the support given to participants as they make
worship. Generation names are passed on at initiation cere-
a social transition in their lives. Structuralists tend to focus
monies of an abusive type known as bastardization rituals,
on sex and role reversals during the rites, while those basing
often involving alcohol, drugs and physical assault.
their analysis on psychological theories detect in men an envy
Forms of circumcision and superincision continue to be
and desire to emulate the procreative powers of women. In
practiced today in the Pacific. Uncircumcised males in
the late twentieth century, studies have focused on the cul-
Tonga, Samoa, and among ethnic Fijians would find them-
tural construction of masculinity.
selves the object of jokes and derision. To be called “uncut”
Despite differing theoretical approaches, most will agree
is an insult. In Vanuatu, the Bislama term dip-skin (“deep
that rites of passage are social events. Male initiation tends
skin,” i.e., uncircumcised) is used as a generalized swear
to be more public. The number of people involved in female
word. In some circles, traditional genital operations are re-
initiation is normally more restricted, yet female rites cele-
placed by inserting ball bearings under the skin of the
brate both a woman’s role within the domestic realm and her
penis—a procedure supposed to increase one’s sexual
political and economic role within the public realm. Rites of
prowess.
passage usually have socioeconomic significance as well, with
The initiate of the older generation is being replaced by
gifts and services offered both at the time of the rite and for
the graduate of the younger generation. With most young
the future.
people attending school, leaving little time for or interest in
COSMIC SIGNIFICANCE. Rites of passage are cultural means
traditional initiation rites, they are left to experiment with
of defining birth, maturity, aging, and death, and the means
novel ways to gain prestige and social standing. For some,
of making the transitions between these social spaces. The
reaching drinking age or gaining a driver’s license opens the
elaborate cosmologies typical of Pacific peoples are rich in
door to a new status, as does secondary school or university
their ability to give sacred meaning to these life crises. Death
graduation.
is seen as a transition through which a person passes to an-
In many parts of Oceania, ceremonies are now often
other life not entirely unlike the one he or she has left. The
blessed by church ministers or accompanied by prayer. In
transition is foreshadowed in the symbolic death and rebirth
places like Samoa, weddings, funerals, and the conferring of
that is the central focus of much initiation ritual.
titles involve a mixture of Christian rites and neotraditional
The many Oceanic cultures vary in their ways of ex-
exchanges. The vow ceremonies of indigenous members of
pressing the underlying dynamics of birth and death. Cir-
Catholic religious orders often demonstrate unique combi-
cumcision is not only a ritual killing, but the boy who has
nations of Catholic worship and traditional rites of passage.
lost his foreskin is sometimes said to have emerged from his
In the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea, Sister
mother. Many rituals symbolize regeneration in return to a
Theresia Nakankwien of Yangoru, wearing traditional attire,
primordial event that took place at the beginning of time.
had to bend over to make her way through the tunnel formed
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by the linked arms of her uncles. Having performed this ges-
RITES OF PASSAGE: MESOAMERICAN RITES
ture of humble submission, she stood erect to face the com-
In Mesoamerica, the most human of all religious rituals, rites
munity as a woman to be respected. She then changed from
of passage, mark people’s changing relationships with their
her traditional attire and turned toward the altar to pro-
fellow human and nonhuman beings. Points in the life cycle
nounce her vows as a Sister of Mercy. Ten years after the
most stressed include birth, marriage, and death. Rites, how-
event she says, “I still feel that new identity, both within me
ever, mark many other transitions, including children’s and
and within my community.”
adolescents’ development, the transition from illness to
health, and initiation into new careers. Communities small
BIBLIOGRAPHY
and large also celebrate rites that move human corporate bo-
Allen, Michael R. Male Cults and Secret Initiations in Melanesia.
dies from one status to another. Finally, because both the
Melbourne, 1967.
cosmos itself and those things that inhabit it are also consid-
Berndt, Ronald M., and Catherine H. Berndt. The World of the
ered living beings analogous to humans, even cosmic entities
First Australians: Aboriginal Traditional Life: Past and Present.
such as the sun move through transitory moments celebrated
Canberra, 1988.
as rites of passage.
Best, Elsdon. The Whare Kohanga and Its Lore. 1929; reprint,
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTATION. Mesoamerica’s long history
Wellington, New Zealand, 1975.
dates back to approximately twenty-three thousand years
Eliade, Mircea. Australian Religions: An Introduction. Ithaca, N.Y.,
ago. Fairly secure archaeological dating techniques have been
1973.
able to place humans in the region at that point, although
Firth, Raymond. We, the Tikopia. 2d ed. Boston, 1957.
some suggest an even earlier occupation. After a very long
and slow period of development, four cultures in particular
Herdt, Gilbert H., ed. Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation in
have played formative roles: the Olmec (c. 2250–300 BCE);
Papua New Guinea. Berkeley, 1982.
the Oaxaca (c. 1400 BCE–present); the Mexican highlands
Hezel, Francis Z. The New Shape of Old Island Cultures: A Half
people (c. 1200 BCE–present); and the Maya (c. 400 BCE–
Century of Social Change in Micronesia. Honolulu, 2001.
present). The Spanish Conquest in 1521 produced a cata-
Hogbin, Ian. The Island of Menstruating Men: Religion in Wogeo,
clysmic change in the region, destroying almost all indige-
New Guinea. Scranton, Pa., 1970.
nous pictorial documents and wreaking havoc on architec-
tural, sculptural, and other material remains. The conquerors
Irwin, James. An Introduction to Maori Religion: Its Character Be-
fore European Contact and Its Survival in Contemporary
sought radical cultural and religious change as well, working
Maori. Bedford Park, S. Australia, 1984.
hard to turn indigenous Mesoamericans into Spanish-like
Catholics. However, this venture was not as successful, so the
Johnstone, Bike, and Ignatius Talania. Napalunga (Katim Skin):
cultural and spiritual conquests of New Spain proved less
A Circumcision Ceremony. Video. National Film Institute,
complete than the political and material ones.
Papua New Guinea.
Levy, Robert I. Tahitians: Mind and Experience in the Society Is-
Historical records in the modern sense for anything
lands. Chicago, 1973.
prior to the Spanish Conquest are largely lacking. This does
not mean indigenous history was not recorded. Mesoameri-
Lutkehaus, Nancy C., and Paul B. Roscoe, eds. Gender Rituals: Fe-
cans kept records not in script but in pictorial, partly hiero-
male Initiation in Melanesia. New York, 1995.
glyphic, partly phonetic forms of writing, sometimes in-
McPherson, Naomi. Primogeniture and Primogenitor: Firstborn
scribed on stone stelae (stone slabs), buildings that were used
Child and Mortuary Ceremonies Among the Kabana (Bariai),
ritually, and often in screen-folded books, the last of which
West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Ph.D. diss., Mc-
the Spanish mostly destroyed. Hence, what scholars know
Master University, 1985.
about cultural practices before the Conquest relies almost ex-
Schoeffel, Penelope. “Samoan Exchange and ‘Fine Mats’: An His-
clusively on material remains, and what they know after it
torical Reconsideration.” Journal of the Polynesian Society
relies heavily on documents influenced, collected, or written
108, no. 2 (1999): 117–148.
by the Spanish.
Strathern, Marilyn. Reproducing the Future: Anthropology, Kinship,
Although written records prove both scarce and diffi-
and the New Reproductive Technologies. New York, 1992.
cult, because the cultural and spiritual conquests were never
Te Rangi, Hiroa. “Mangaian Society.” Bishop Museum Bulletin
complete, in the early twenty-first century one often can find
122 (1934).
strong continuity among historical and contemporary ver-
Tuzin, Donald F. The Voice of the Tambaran. Berkeley, 1980.
sions of various indigenous religious traditions, especially in
Van Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage (1908). Translated by
those areas removed from the centers of Conquest. This
Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago, 1960.
means that what scholars now know about Mesoamerican
rites of passage depends on four broad sources of informa-
Yakasere, Celine. “The Initiation of Young Girls in Sassoya.”
tion: material remains from before and after the Conquest,
Grassroots Bulletin 1, no. 2 (1991): 2–4.
accounts commissioned and sometimes written by the Span-
PHILIP GIBBS (2005)
ish conquerors, historical documents and travelers’ accounts
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RITES OF PASSAGE: MESOAMERICAN RITES
7811
produced in the years since the Conquest, and ethnographic
brate the birth and introduce the child to the family; it also
and indigenous reports of living traditions. Thorough inves-
explicitly anticipated future rites tying the child to its com-
tigations of both historical and living traditions rely on all
munity, such as schooling, marriage, parenthood, and death.
four, for none alone can either account for the disruption of
These birth rites recognized one’s whole life and beyond by
the Conquest or present a picture with any depth.
symbolically referencing future rites. Moreover, when their
times came, those future rites referred back to the previous
Besides marking birth, marriage, and death as the key
ones. It becomes difficult to separate one of these moments
points in a person’s life, all rites tend to take a very long view
from the rest, for ultimately all are connected, even if some
of these and other transitions. Rites of passage mark human
major changes like birth, marriage, or death are particularly
life stages, among other events. The Mexica (Aztecs) said that
noted.
life was divided into four broad periods: childhood; puberty;
maturity; and old age, a sequence echoed by many other Me-
An ancient 260-day divinitory calendar, dating back at
soamerican groups. However, Alfredo López Austin (1988)
least to the seventh-century BCE, determined everything from
reports that, within these four, the Mexica used many words
naming a child, determining her or his occupation, and de-
that made much finer distinctions, such as a baby in the uter-
ciding when he or she would marry to deciding the time for
us; a nursing infant; a person under or over six years of age;
installing rulers and for making good trips, successful busi-
a youthful, then nubile male or female; early and advances
ness deals, and victorious wars. All Mesoamerican rites of
middle age; early and advanced old age; and more. Clearly,
passage were, and many still are, set by this calendar, and
one’s particular life stage was noted with precision. More-
most share a similar ongoing, transitory character. Neverthe-
over, the words seem to say that life continuously changes
less, rites can vary considerably in their details regionally and
and is far more complicated than simply getting born, grow-
throughout history.
ing up, becoming old, and dying.
EXAMPLES OF MESOAMERICAN RITES OF PASSAGE. Mexica
Life’s continuous changes are similarly expressed in the
noble birth rituals are among some of the most extensive and
structure of Mesoamerican rites of passage. These rituals say
poignant appearing in the sixteenth-century resources. Their
that change never stops, and moreover, major change takes
sympathetic Spanish reporter, Fray Bernardino de Sahagún,
a particularly long time; in fact, it takes one’s whole life span
took particular interest in the numerous and lengthy formal
and more. Mesoamerican rites reflect the ongoing nature of
speeches made throughout by the family members, the
all transitions in a way that extends considerably the classic
young mother, and the midwife. This series of formal rituals
three-stage model advanced by Arnold van Gennep in 1909.
began with the first knowledge of pregnancy. Gathered for
Van Gennep proposed that life changes are marked by rituals
a meal and speeches, the relatives noted that the Lord of the
that: (1) separate the individual in transition; (2) restructure
Near and Nigh had placed a “precious necklace, a precious
that individual to effect the change; (3) end by reintegrating
feather” within the young woman. They wondered if this im-
him or her back into the community transformed by his or
pending birth worried their dead ancestors, those who had
her new status. One must understand van Gennep, however,
gone to “the water,” “the cave,” “the land of the dead,” those
in the most expansive manner possible when considering
who had departed but nevertheless might yet be present.
Mesoamerican rites. These are not simple discrete rituals that
Since the godly creator couple, Ometecutli and Omecihuatl,
move through just three stages (no matter how complex
had instructed that a child be born, the speakers now must
those stages might be) and end at the third with the reinte-
warn the young woman to not lift heavy objects and advise
gration of the individual into his or her community in his
the young parents about sexual matters. They reminded
or her new status; rites of passage in Mesoamerica never quite
them that they now had become protectors like the “silk cot-
end.
ton wood and cypress trees” that shield people. With preg-
nancy, the couple took from their ancestors the carrying
Each ritual of status change and reintegration is also an
frame, the burden of mother and fatherhood. The new
anticipation of the next transformation and therefore must
mother thanked her parents for all the suffering that she had
be seen as multiple sets of van Gennep’s three ritual steps
put them through, noting that now it was her turn. So began
strung together, each set of three moving to another set of
the long difficult road to bringing forth and fostering a new
three on the ritual’s “string,” none ever quite ending. In this
life.
way, the person moves through and toward his or her life
changes, recognizing life’s innate transitory character. In Me-
In the seventh or eighth month, similar rites were per-
soamerican rites, one may gain a new status, but that status
formed with a midwife who introduced the young woman
is always temporary, to be enhanced or replaced by the next
to the sweat bath. There, the midwife called on various godly
new status. Sixteenth-century Mexica birth rituals, for exam-
powers, including those of healing, motherhood in general,
ple, did not simply mark the new status of a baby in a com-
mothers who had died in childbirth, and the night, and she
munity and then end. They began with early pregnancy;
massaged the young woman vigorously. She also advised her
marked pregnancy’s later stages; structured birth itself, in-
at length on what she should and should not do to assure
cluding the possibility of death; and if successful, named the
a safe birth. During birth—the most dangerous moment in
baby. But even then, the naming ceremony didn’t just cele-
the whole ongoing ritualized event—godly powers that
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RITES OF PASSAGE: MESOAMERICAN RITES
would help the girl were enlisted as well as those that would
later would introduce them to school. The children were
help should death occur. Birth was a battle with the young
symbolically singed or cooked over the fire and stretched so
women warriors in pursuit of their children. The goddess Ci-
that they would grow tall. At the celebration, the new aunts
huacoatl, who assisted the second in command of all the
and uncles carried the children on their backs or, if the chil-
Mexica, also assisted the midwife with her war strategy. Male
dren were old enough, danced with them.
warriors sacrificed in state rituals became gods who captured
the sun from the land of the dead at daybreak, carrying it
Clothes and hair often marked childhood stages. Yuca-
to the sky’s roof; women who died in childbirth’s sacrificial
tec children ran naked until they were about five years old,
battles became goddesses who captured the sun from the
when little boys began wearing a cloth like their fathers and
male warriors at noon, carrying it back to the western house
little girls a skirt like their mothers. A boy received a small
at dusk. But if a birth was successful, the midwife gave war
white bead to wear in his hair, and a girl received a string
whoops to celebrate the victory.
with a red shell, which was tied around her waist. They wore
these until puberty. A little Otomí girl wore her hair very
A baby girl’s umbilical cord was given to Ometecutli
short, then shoulder-length with bangs when older, and
and Omecihuatl and buried in the corner of the house, for
bound it on her head after she herself had become a mother.
she would become the hearth, the cook, the spinner, and the
A little Mexica boy sported a shorn head, but at age ten he
weaver. A baby boy’s was given to the Lord and Lady of the
was allowed to grow a tuft until he had captured his first war-
Healing Night (the sweat bath), the Earth Lord, and the Sun
rior at about age fifteen, when his hair was cut to hang long
and was buried in a battlefield by seasoned warriors, for that
over the right ear. His grandfather warned him to quickly
was his destiny. The family named the child within a week
capture another or else he would continue to wear his hair
or two on a day propitious for its future character, and before
like a girl. Scarification on one breast and hip marked a
it crawled, they promised it to one of the schools for religious
young Mexica girl ready for school, and a lip plug marked
training—which taught boys and girls in separate institu-
a young boy. Each was ceremonially advised on proper be-
tions—or to one that trained boys for warfare. A babe thus
havior and the expectations of their large families before em-
was brought into an extended family, which included living
barking on their formal education. Mexica youths remained
and deceased generations, and dedicated to the community,
guarded in the schools until marriage moved them from
society, and cosmos in which it lived. Its past, present, and
childhood to adulthood. Yucatec youths could not marry
future combined to assist the production of a healthy child
until their childhood adornments were formally removed
and future family member and citizen. In a similar fashion,
from them in a ceremony. These ceremonies, however, were
the child would be sent off to school, into marriage, and
not necessarily performed at puberty but at an older stage of
eventual ancestorhood.
childhood just before puberty. And they were not performed
individually but in a community of children close in age.
Other Mesoamerican groups celebrated and continue to
They married only when their parents deemed it appropriate.
celebrate similar, yet different, birth rites. The sixteenth-
century Maya placed the goddess Ix Chel’s image under
Marriage, not puberty, often officially moved youth
women’s beds to induce pregnancy and, as did the Mexica,
into adulthood and almost always allied the two families.
named their babies on propitious days. Seventeenth-century
After ceremonially informing his schoolmaster, a Mexica
Zapotec families in Oaxaca fortified their newborns by fast-
boy’s family carefully chose his mate, and a matchmaker ritu-
ing for three days and abstaining from sex for twenty. When
ally negotiated the union. On a calendrically propitious day,
forty days had passed, the family took the child, along with
a matron of her own family carried the bride on her back to
its godparents, to be baptized in the church. As the Mexica
her new family home. Surrounding her on this sad, scary trip
baby was dedicated to its future school, so too the Zapotec
of leave-taking were all her female relatives with whom she
child was dedicated to the church in which it would be
had lived. The mothers each dressed their respective new
trained. And in the early twenty-first century in Guatemala,
child-in-law, and then an elderly day keeper (diviner) literally
the Quiché Maya say that the divinatory calendar that has
tied the knot by tying their capes together. After the elderly
determined all rites of passage for centuries marks passage of
matchmakers put the couple in their wedding bed, they
the same amount of time that it takes for the gestation of a
guarded their door through the night, all the while getting
baby.
drunk. Yucatec Maya, however, could betroth their children
when they were young, becoming honorary in-laws until the
Mesoamericans also mark children’s developmental
two actually married. The groom lived with and worked for
stages. In the sixteenth century, Yucatec Maya dedicated
the bride’s family for five to six years.
their children when they were old enough to be carried on
the hip: three months for girls, probably because the hearth
Contemporary Nahua men, ancestors of the ancient
fire had three stones, and four for boys, because a cornfield
Mexica, also use matchmakers to negotiate a marriage. The
had four corners. Godparents were ceremonially introduced
groom must pay for the entire process and so sometimes
to the child, taking up the task of helping with its develop-
must postpone marriage. The marriage alliance is negotiated
ment. Every four years, the Mexica dedicated their very
over much food and alcohol, and a generous gift of more
young children along with honorary aunts and uncles, who
food and drink seals the deal. During the twenty-four-hour
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RITES OF PASSAGE: HINDU RITES
7813
ceremony, they stage mock displays of anger, which are
Bernardino de Sahagún, in his Historia general de las cosas de
smoothed over, indicating the two families’ peaceful union
la Nueva España, translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and
to come. A sacred web of incense woven around the couple
Charles E. Dibble as Florentine Codex: A General History of
and their godparents finalizes the alliance, and the godpar-
the Things of New Spain, 13 vols. (Santa Fe, N.Mex., 1950–
ents dance with dough images of their future children.
1982). Although information pertaining to rites of passage
is spread throughout almost all the volumes, Book 6 contains
The elderly play many key roles in these ceremonies,
particularly extensive material on pregnancy, childbirth, and
and death marks their transition to ancestorhood, beginning
childhood. Representing Aztec Ritual: Performance, Text, and
a continuous flow of sacred powers between the dead and the
Image in the Work of Sahagún, edited by Eloise Quiñones
living. According to David Friedel and Linda Schele, the sar-
Keber (Boulder, Colo., 2002), pp. 143–174, offers a number
cophagus lid of the seventh-century Maya Lord Pacal of Pa-
of useful individual articles on Nahua ritual found in the cor-
lenque, Mexico, shows the dead ruler sliding down the Milky
pus of Sahagún. Alfredo López Austin presents a detailed pic-
Way into the underworld’s skeletal jaws. At each winter sol-
ture of Aztec or Nahua cosmic, religious, and physiological
stice’s sunset, a flash of light illuminated a frieze depicting
ideas, including a complete list of life-stage terms, in The
Human Body and Ideology: Concepts of the Ancient Nahuas,
the deceased Pacal handing on the leadership to his son Chan
translated by Thelma Ortiz de Montellano and Bernard
Balum. After traveling through the underworld, Pacal will
Ortiz de Montellano, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City, Utah, 1988).
emerge at dawn as the new ancestral sun warming the earth.
Kay Read’s Time and Sacrifice in the Aztec Cosmos (Bloom-
Some Mexica dead were sent to the underworld “place where
ington, Ind., 1998) offers a comprehensive discussion of the
no smoke escapes, the place of no chimney” in rites that ex-
transitional nature of Aztec cosmology and a description of
tended over as much as five years. Repeated cremations
the solar rite of passage. Equally useful is Davíd Carrasco’s
moved these dead to beyond the “wide waters” in the Land
retrospective City of Sacrifice: The Aztec Empire and the Role
of the Dead, carried there by a small yellow dog. In the case
of Violence in Civilization (Boston, 1999), which gathers arti-
of a ruler, elaborate rituals reestablished the state’s relations
cles spanning over fifteen years and exploring topics ranging
with both their alliances and enemies. In the 1930s the Pana-
from cosmology to ritual. In 1566 Fray Diego de Landa de-
scribed a number of rites, primarily of the Yucatec Maya, in
jachel Maya dead traveled through the underworld to emerge
his Yucatan before and after the Conquest, translated by Wil-
as stars, and before birth, their babies lived as stars following
liam Gates in 1937 (New York, 1978). One of the few
the sun. The twenty-first-century Maya of Yalcoba say that
sources on religion in Oaxaca, including information on rites
their deserving deceased relatives appear at dawn and dusk
of passage, is José Alcina Franch’s Calendario y religión entre
as pink clouds floating in the still skies.
los Zapotecos (Mexico City, 1993), which explores religion
Both cosmic and human rites marked the transitional
and calendrics among the seventeenth-century Zapotec.
nature of all existence. The Mexica ritual that gave birth to
James Taggart’s Nahuat Myth and Social Structure (Austin, Tex.,
a new sun every 52 solar years—just when 73 rounds of the
1983) presents limited descriptions of contemporary Nahuat
260-day calendar had ended—acted as a cosmic transforma-
marriage ceremonies. Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on
tive rite of passage. The sun was birthed in a series of steps
the Shaman’s Path by David Freidel, Linda Schele, and Joy
that never quite ended, thereby anticipating its continuing
Parker (New York, 1993) offers a comprehensive picture of
life and eventual death. Even suns in the Mexica world were
Maya cosmology with information on death and the afterlife
sprinkled throughout. Barbara Tedlock’s Time and the High-
born, lived, and died according to the ongoing calendrical
land Maya (Albuquerque, N. Mex., 1992) gives ample exam-
patterns governing all transitions. Similarly, Quiché day
ples of initiation rites of Quiché Maya ritual specialists, in-
keepers—those who count the sun’s days—receive their call-
cludes information on some other rites, and explains the
ing and are trained and initiated in an extended series of ritu-
260-day ritual calendar. Rituals of Sacrifice: Walking the Face
als closely following the same calendar. Moreover, the initial
of the Earth on the Sacred Path of the Sun: A Journey through
rite is not necessarily their last. Even as they perform rites
the Tz’utujil Maya World of Santiago Atitlán by Vincent
of passage for others, they can train further, going through
James Stanzione (Albuquerque, N. Mex., 2003) is an excel-
more rites of their own. And so human life continues as the
lent book on the rituals of the Tz’utujil, another contempo-
cosmos continues, transiting from one stage to another and
rary Maya group.
on.
KAY A. READ (2005)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The highly readable Rites of Passage by Arnold van Gennep and
translated by Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle Caffee
RITES OF PASSAGE: HINDU RITES
(London, 1909) is probably the seminal work on the nature
of rites of passage. Expanding on van Gennep’s idea of limi-
India is a land of many ethnic, tribal, and linguistic groups,
nality, Victor Turner explores rites of passage as a social
and of numerous castes and sects, each with its distinctive
drama of Hidalgo men and as examples of communitas in
customs and practices. This article does not presume to be
Mexican and other pilgrimages in Dramas, Fields, and Meta-
an exhaustive survey of the rites of passage practiced by all
phors (Ithaca, N.Y., 1974).
these groups. Its scope is limited to those rites handed down
An extraordinarily rich source of information on the Mexica (Az-
in the mainstream Brahmanic tradition and described in its
tecs) was compiled by a sixteenth-century Franciscan father,
normative texts.
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RITES OF PASSAGE: HINDU RITES
Rites of passage are defined as the rites that accompany
cumambulation he makes her step on a stone, saying:
a change of state, whether it be age or social position. This
“Tread on this stone. Be firm like a stone. Overcome
study will focus on three classifications formulated within
the enemies. Trample down the foes.”
the Hindu tradition that partly overlap and together indicate
4. He makes her take seven steps toward the northeast, say-
what are called rites of passage as well as the states that they
ing: “Take one step for sap, two for juice, three for pros-
initiate: sam:ska¯ra, d¯ıks:a¯, and a¯´srama. This discussion also in-
pering in wealth, four for comfort, five for cattle, six for
cludes rites performed at various junctures of an individual’s
the seasons. Be my friend with your seventh step! May
life even though there is no change of state; the Hindu cate-
you be devoted to me. Let us have many sons. May they
gory of sam:ska¯ra includes these life-cycle rites, as well as strict
reach old age.” Most authorities consider these seven
rites of passage.
steps as the essential rite of matrimony; if the bride-
SAM:SKA¯RA. Hindu theologians define sam:ska¯ra as a rite that
groom dies before this rite is performed, the bride is not
prepares a person or thing for a function by imparting new
considered a widow.
qualities and/or by removing taints. It consecrates and puri-
fies. The term, therefore, covers a broad group of preparatory
Prenatal sam:ska¯ras. There are three principal rites per-
rites, including sacrifices and the consecration of sacrificial
formed before birth to promote conception and to ensure the
utensils. The texts on Hindu domestic rites (Gr:hyasu¯tras)
safety of the mother and the fetus. Garbha¯dha¯na, the con-
and the law books (Dharma´sa¯stras) apply the term more spe-
ception rite, is performed between the fourth and the six-
cifically to rites associated with the human life cycle. “Sacra-
teenth day after the beginning of the wife’s monthly period.
ment,” the customary translation of sam:ska¯ra, captures only
Pum:savana, which literally means “quickening of a male
a part of its significance and is liable to cause misunder-
child,” is performed in the third or fourth month of pregnan-
standing.
cy to ensure a male progeny, and also contains ritual and me-
dicinal safeguards against miscarriage. S¯ımantonnayana, cer-
Sources do not agree on the number or the procedures
emonial parting of the mother’s hair, is performed between
of the sam:ska¯ras. Some list as many as forty, using the term
the fourth and the eighth month of pregnancy to protect the
broadly to cover numerous domestic rites, while others give
fetus from evil spirits.
just twelve. The medieval handbooks enumerate sixteen. The
descriptions of these rites also show marked discrepancies.
It is very likely that the prenatal sam:ska¯ras once formed
The texts themselves acknowledge the existence of local and
a part of the marriage ceremony to promote the fertility of
caste differences and often ask the reader to consult women,
the bride. Their transfer to a later time may have resulted
the custodians of folk customs. Our account, therefore, offers
from the progressive lowering of the marriageable age of girls.
only a partial glimpse of these rites as they were performed
When prepubertal marriage became the custom, rites associ-
at various times and places.
ated with intercourse and conception would have seemed in-
appropriate within the marriage ceremony. Some features of
Marriage. It is customary for modern accounts of
these sam:ska¯ras, moreover, recall their original context. For
sam:ska¯ras to begin with the prenatal rites. The Gr:hyasu¯tras,
example, invocations of many sons and prayers for fertility
however, begin with marriage, and for good reason. It is the
abound. Further, the conception rite, the parting of the hair,
central Hindu institution: only a married man accompanied
and, according to some, even the quickening of a male child
by his wife is the complete persona religiosa entitled to per-
are performed only for the first pregnancy. Accordingly,
form the principal religious acts of sacrifice and procreation.
these rites are viewed by many Hindu theologians as directed
The Vedic texts declare that a man becomes complete after
at the purification of the mother rather than of the fetus.
securing a wife and begetting a son. Other sam:ska¯ras either
lead up to marriage or flow from it.
Childhood sam:ska¯ras. The largest number of
sam:ska¯ras belong to the period between birth and adoles-
Sources contain detailed instructions regarding the se-
cence, the most precarious time of life in premodern socie-
lection of a partner, the marriageable age of a boy and a girl,
ties. Sources differ widely regarding the number, the names,
the auspicious times for marriage, and the like. The betrothal
and the procedures of these rites. The most significant of
takes place some time before the marriage: the father of the
them are: Ja¯takarman (birth rites), one of the oldest of the
groom asks for the bride’s hand and her father formally gives
sam:ska¯ras and performed immediately after birth;
his consent.
Na¯makaran:a (naming ceremony) on the tenth or the twelfth
The rite of marriage, more than any other sam:ska¯ra, is
day after birth; Nis:kraman:a (exit from the birthing room)
subject to local variations. Four rites, however, form the core
between the twelfth day and the fourth month from birth;
of the ceremony:
Annapra¯´sana (first eating of solid food) in the sixth month;
Karn:avedha (ear piercing) performed between the twelfth
1. Several oblations are made into the sacred fire.
day and the fifth year; Cu¯da¯karan:a or Caula (first haircut-
2. The bridegroom takes the bride’s hand, saying: “I take
ting) in the third year.
your hand for happiness.”
Sam:ska¯ras of adolescence. While the childhood
3. He guides her three times around the fire. After each cir-
sam:ska¯ras are aimed at protecting and nurturing the child,
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those of adolescence have a markedly social significance.
The pupil remains for many years at the teacher’s house,
They prepare the youth to assume the social and religious re-
away from his home and family. This is a liminal period. The
sponsibilities of the adult world. They are, therefore, associ-
number of years is not determined; twelve, the number most
ated with education, and the teacher plays a central role in
often given, probably has a symbolic value, signifying com-
them.
pleteness. The pupil is reduced to the level of a servant, with-
out status, rank, or property; he obtains even his food by beg-
The main sam:ska¯ra of adolescence is Vedic initiation
ging from house to house. Humility, obedience, and chastity
(Upanayana). It is regarded as the second birth of the initiate.
are his main virtues.
The teacher who performs the initiation and who imparts the
Veda is said to bear the pupil within him like an embryo and
Sama¯vartana is the sam:ska¯ra that concludes the period
to cause him to be born again in the Veda. Thus the
of studentship. Initiation separates the boy from the social
bra¯hman:as, ks:atriyas, and vai´syas, who form the first three
community, while Sama¯vartana reincorporates the youth
social classes (varn:a), are called “twice-born” because they
into the adult world. The term literally means the return of
undergo initiation, whereas the ´su¯dras, who are not qualified
the scholar to his parents’ home after graduation. The central
for initiation, are said to have only a single birth—the physi-
feature of the ceremony is a ritual bath. The rite, therefore,
cal birth from the parents. Before initiation a child of the
is often termed sna¯na (bath), and the young graduate is called
upper classes is not subject to the norms that minutely regu-
a sna¯taka (the bathed). This feature, present also in the rite
late the lives of adult Hindus, and, therefore, he is likened
that ends the period of seclusion following the consecration
to a ´su¯dra.
(d¯ıks:a¯) for a Vedic sacrifice, indicates that it is the conclud-
ing act of the initiatory ritual, rather than a separate
The standard age for initiation is eight years for
sam:ska¯ra. After the bath the youth discards the student’s at-
bra¯hman:as, eleven for ks:atriyas, and twelve for vai´syas, al-
tire and puts on ornaments and fine clothes; he assumes his
though all are permitted to undergo initiation at a younger
new status in society. The young adult is now ready to get
or an older age. Men of the three upper classes who remain
married and establish a household, and a search for a suitable
uninitiated after the ages of sixteen, twenty-two, and twenty-
bride will soon begin.
four respectively are considered sinners. Social intercourse
Funeral. The funeral is the last sam:ska¯ra. It prepares a
with them is forbidden.
person for existence after death. From the earliest period of
Before the rite the boy takes his final meal in the compa-
Indian history human remains were normally cremated.
ny of his mother. Then his head is shaved and he is bathed.
With the growth of sacrificial speculation in the late Vedic
He is given a girdle, a deerskin, a staff, and a sacred thread.
period, cremation came to be regarded as one’s last sacrifice
The sacred thread consists of three cords, and each cord is
(Antyes:t:i), in which one’s own body is offered in the fire.
made by twisting three strands. It is normally worn over the
From this sacrifice the deceased person is born again into a
left shoulder and hangs under the right arm. Though the sa-
new existence in the company of his or her ancestors. Vedic
cred thread is not mentioned in the earliest sources, it has
texts call it a person’s third birth. The funeral, therefore, is
come to be regarded as the central element of initiation and
a rite of passage from the earthly existence to the world of
as the symbol of a person’s second birth. Today the rite is
the fathers.
often called the “thread ceremony.” At first the thread was
Cremation, however, does not conclude the funeral; it
probably a substitute for the upper garment worn during rit-
is believed that newly deceased people pass through a liminal
ual activities.
period lasting twelve days or one year, during which they live
as ghosts (pretas). The dead are then dangerous, and their
The teacher performs several symbolic acts that establish
relatives are impure. During this time special offerings of
an intimate relationship between him and his new pupil. The
food and water are made for the newly deceased
initiatory rite reaches its climax when the teacher reaches
(Ekoddis:t:a-´sra¯ddha). On the twelfth day, which is the cur-
over the pupil’s right shoulder, places his hand over the
rent practice, or after one year, the newly deceased person
pupil’s heart, and says: “Into my will I take thy heart. Thy
is ritually united with his or her dead ancestors through a rite
mind shall follow my mind. In my word thou shalt rejoice
called Sapin:d:¯ıkaran:a or Sapin:d:a¯n:a. Four rice balls are pre-
with all thy heart. May Br:haspati join thee to me.” The
pared, three for the three preceding generations of ancestors
teacher then imparts the sacred Sa¯vitr¯ı formula: “That excel-
and one for the newly dead person. The latter is cut into
lent glory of Savitr: [Sun], the god, we meditate, that he may
three parts, which are then mixed with the three balls intend-
stimulate our prayers” (R:gveda 3.62.10). The centrality of
ed for the ancestors. The union of rice balls symbolizes the
these rites is pointed out by an ancient Vedic text, the
union of the deceased with his or her ancestors. It is the final
S´atapatha Bra¯hman:a (11.5.4.12): “By laying his right hand
act of the funeral. Henceforth, the dead person will partici-
on the pupil the teacher becomes pregnant with him. In the
pate in all the normal offerings that his or her relatives will
third night he is born a bra¯hman:a with the Sa¯vitri.” The ini-
make to their ancestors.
tiate, who is called a brahmaca¯rin, then puts wood into the
sacred fire. This is his first encounter with the sacrifice, the
The Upanis:ads contain information on a rite performed
central religious act of the Vedic religion.
by a father when he feels that his death is imminent. In it
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7816
RITES OF PASSAGE: HINDU RITES
he transfers his duties and powers—his ritual persona—to
are patterned after the Vedic initiation and are regarded as
his son. This rite of transmission (Sam:pratti or Sam:prada¯na)
constituting a new birth of the initiate. In some sects, such
by which a son succeeds his father was later assimilated into
as the Virasaiva, the voluntary nature of d¯ıks:a¯ is eliminated
the rite of renunciation, which also results in the ritual death
and a child is initiated at birth. Admission to each higher
of the father.
level or rank within a sect also entails special d¯ıks:a¯s.
A remarkable feature of the funeral as well as the other
D¯ıks:a¯ introduces a new state, either temporary like the
sam:ska¯ras is that they do not refer at all to the common Indi-
sacrificer’s or permanent like the ascetic’s. The term, there-
an beliefs of rebirth (sam:sa¯ra) and liberation (moks:a). These
fore, is used as a synonym of vrata (vow) that often indicates
Hindu rituals are founded on a different worldview that cele-
a special mode of life. This meaning of d¯ıks:a¯ is very close to
brates life and fertility, shrinks from pollution and death,
that of a¯´srama.
and, when death comes, ritually transports the dead to the
world of the fathers.
A¯S´RAMA. By the sixth century BCE new religious ideas advo-
D
cating a life of renunciation, celibacy, and poverty were
¯
IKS:A¯. Like sam:ska¯ra, d¯ıks:a¯ is a preparatory rite. It is, how-
sweeping the Ganges River valley. New religions, such as
ever, more closely associated with the assumption of a new
Buddhism and Jainism, broke with the Vedic tradition. Con-
state. While sam:ska¯ras are obligatory for all, most d¯ıks:a¯s are
sidering human beings as bound to an endless cycle of births
undertaken voluntarily. It is, however, impossible to define
and deaths, they questioned the value of central Vedic insti-
either term precisely because they are often used as syno-
tutions such as sacrifice and marriage, and even of society as
nyms, and d¯ıks:a¯ frequently refers to a wide variety of purifi-
such.
catory and other rites.
The most famous d¯ıks:a¯ is the consecration of a man for
There were brahman thinkers at this time who also ad-
a Vedic sacrifice. It prepares the sacrificer for the solemn act
vocated these new ideals but were unwilling to break com-
by purifying him and by transferring him to a new but tem-
pletely with the Vedic tradition. They attempted to find
porary state similar to that of the gods. In d¯ıks:a¯ the sacrificer
theological formulas that would give scriptural legitimacy to
is ritually transformed into an embryo and is born again with
renunciation while maintaining the religious significance of
a new and more perfect body. Many elements of the rite sym-
marriage and other Vedic institutions. One such formula
bolize the birthing process. The consecrated man (d¯ıks:ita) is
was the system of the a¯´sramas. Historically it was the most
surrounded by taboos. He is sacred and dangerous: others are
significant.
not allowed to touch him or to pronounce his name. At the
The term a¯´srama in all probability referred originally to
conclusion of the sacrifice the consecratory period ends with
“places of austerity” or hermitages. Its meaning was then ex-
a ritual bath, after which the sacrificer returns to his normal
tended to include lifestyles devoted to religious exertion. The
state.
term has the latter meaning when used within the context
The royal consecration is also called d¯ıks:a¯. It shares
of the a¯´srama system. Its earliest formulation, which one
many common features with the sacrificial d¯ıks:a¯. Like the
may call the preclassical, is found in the ancient law books,
sacrificer, the new king is ritually reborn at his consecration.
the Dharmasu¯tras, the earliest of which were composed
His period of d¯ıks:a¯ lasts a year, during which time he is de-
around the fourth century BCE. The preclassical system con-
prived of his royal prerogatives.
siders the four a¯´sramas—Vedic student, householder, forest
In the post-Vedic religions of India the most common
hermit, and renouncer—not as temporary stages but as per-
forms of d¯ıks:a¯ are associated with the entry into voluntary
manent vocations. A young adult, after completing the peri-
religious groups. The earliest such d¯ıks:a¯ was probably that
od of study following Vedic initiation, is allowed to choose
of ascetics. Buddhist and Jain sources indicate that at a very
one of these a¯´sramas. It is clear, therefore, that in the preclas-
early period these sects developed rites of entry into their re-
sical system the first a¯´srama was that of a permanent student,
spective monastic orders. Brahmanical sources contain infor-
who remained with the teacher until death. The temporary
mation on the d¯ıks:a¯ of renouncers (sam:nya¯sins) and forest
period of study following initiation, on the other hand, was
hermits. These rites symbolically enact the death of the nov-
not regarded as an a¯´srama but as a period of preparation for
ice and his rebirth into the new ascetic life. Some rites in-
all a¯´sramas.
clude ordeals, such as pulling the hair by the roots and brand-
A¯´srama represents a theological understanding and eval-
ing. At the conclusion of the rite the ascetic assumes a new
uation of several social institutions; it cannot be equated with
name and the insignia of the new state: ascetic garb, tonsure,
the institutions themselves. They existed prior to the inven-
staff, begging bowl, and so forth. Initiatory rites of ascetics
tion of the a¯´srama system, and even afterwards continue to
often assume an educational dimension in imitation of the
exist independently of that system both within and outside
Vedic initiation. The teacher plays an important role in them
the Hindu tradition. Certain forms of Hindu marriage and
and imparts a secret formula (mantra) to the novice. The as-
the renunciation of women and ´su¯dras, for example, fall out-
cetic d¯ıks:a¯ begins a long period of training for the novice.
side the a¯´srama system. The system gives the institutions reli-
Medieval Hindu sects, where admission is not limited
gious legitimacy. The a¯´sramas are proposed as a new fourfold
to ascetics, devised d¯ıks:a¯s for admitting lay members. They
division of dharma, paralleling its older division into the four
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RITES OF PASSAGE: HINDU RITES
7817
social classes (varn:a), and as four alternative paths leading to
the debts is carried out by passing through at least the first
the heavenly world. These institutions are thus made integral
two a¯´sramas.
parts of dharma and, therefore, of the Vedic tradition.
The third a¯´srama (forest hermit) had already become
Although it represented an important theological break-
obsolete by the early centuries of the common era. Passage
through for Brahmanism, the preclassical system had several
through the other three a¯´sramas is today, as it probably was
drawbacks. It allowed choice in a matter of dharma. Choice
even during the time of Manu, an ideal rather than a reality
or option was never encouraged by Brahmanic hermeneutics;
in the lives of most Hindus. Yet the theological understand-
even in minor matters of ritual it was used as a last resort in
ing of these four central socioreligious institutions as hierar-
interpreting conflicting injunctions. Choice with regard to
chical stages of life that one enters and leaves through rites
how one will spend one’s adult life, moreover, gave rise to
of passage became a cornerstone of Hindu doctrine and prac-
debates on the relative superiority of the a¯´sramas and in par-
tice. It is this theology that has given a¯´srama a place along-
ticular eliminated the obligatory nature of marriage. Some
side varn:a as the two pillars of Hinduism and made the com-
used the Vedic theory of the three debts of man—study, pro-
pound term varn:a¯´sramadharma the closest Sanskrit
creation, and sacrifice—as an argument against the a¯´srama
approximation to the foreign term Hinduism.
system: if one does not marry, one is not able to repay the
WOMEN AND RITES OF PASSAGE. Hinduism has always been
debts of procreation and sacrifice. Others even suggested that
a patriarchal religion. Women play a decidedly secondary
the Veda authorized only one a¯´srama, namely that of the
role in it. This is especially so with regard to ritual activity.
householder.
It is generally accepted that the prenatal and childhood
Toward the beginning of the common era a new formu-
sam:ska¯ras, and of course the funeral, are performed also for
lation of the a¯´srama system, which one may call the classical,
women belonging to the twice-born varn:as. The Vedic for-
gained wide acceptance. It is given in the authoritative Laws
mulas normally recited at these rites, however, are omitted,
of Manu, composed around the beginning of the common
since women are forbidden to study the Veda. However,
era. The preclassical system all but disappeared from the later
there is some evidence to suggest that in ancient times girls
Hindu tradition, and even modern scholars are often igno-
were allowed to be initiated and to study the Veda. By the
rant of its very existence.
time of Manu’s lawbook this practice had been discontinued.
Marriage, it was claimed, constituted initiation for women.
The classical system conceived of the a¯´sramas not as
permanent vocations but as temporary stages of life through
The position of women in Hindu sects varies considera-
which an individual passes as he grows old. The a¯´srama sys-
bly. The major sects follow the Brahmanic prohibition
tem thus came to parallel the sam:ska¯ra system, and the two
against female initiation. Many fringe and anti-structural
central sam:ska¯ras—initiation and marriage—became the
sects, such as the V¯ıra´saiva, however, admit women to initia-
rites of entry into the first two a¯´sramas. The first a¯´srama is
tion and full membership.
no longer the permanent studentship but the temporary peri-
Women are also excluded from direct participation in
od of study following initiation. Thus, according to Manu,
the a¯´srama system. In marriage and, according to some, also
a person should undergo initiation and live the first part of
in the hermit’s a¯´srama, a woman participates in the a¯´srama
his life in the student’s a¯´srama. After graduation
of her husband. Female renouncers are found in Buddhism,
(Sama¯vartana) he should marry and enter the householder’s
Jainism, and in many medieval Hindu sects, and even main-
a¯´srama. When he is a grandfather and when, as Manu says,
stream Brahmanism acknowledges their existence. A
he sees his hair turning gray and his skin wrinkled, he should
woman’s life in these institutions, however, is not theologi-
retire to the forest as a hermit. After spending some time
cally interpreted as constituting an a¯´srama.
there, he should enter the fourth a¯´srama, renunciation.
S´U¯DRAS AND RITES OF PASSAGE. S´u¯dras, by which is meant
These, then, are the states that recur in the life of each
all the groups that do not belong to the twice-born varnas,
individual. They are viewed as four rungs in the ladder lead-
are excluded from reciting or even hearing the Veda. Thus
ing up to liberation. The ladder image replaces the path
they cannot be admitted to Vedic initiation. It is quite likely,
image of the preclassical system. The rites of passage from
however, that these groups did possess their own initiatory
one a¯´srama to the next are called sam:ska¯ra and d¯ıks:a¯ indis-
rites, although no information on them has come down to
criminately. The passage, however, takes place only in one
us. Regarding the other sam:ska¯ras, however, there is a con-
direction; one is not permitted to return to an a¯´srama one
flict of opinion. Some hold that no sam:ska¯ra should be per-
has left. A person who does so—for example, a renouncer
formed for a ´su¯dra, while others allow them the prenatal and
who reverts to the household life—is considered an outcaste.
childhood sam:ska¯ras, as well as marriage and funeral rites,
but without Vedic formulas.
The classical system eliminates choice and reaffirms the
centrality of the householder. The ascetic orders are relegated
S´u¯dras are similarly excluded from the a¯´srama system,
to old age and retirement. The Vedic doctrine of three debts,
though some authorities recognize their marriage as an
once used as an argument against the preclassical system, is
a¯´srama. Many medieval sects permit a type of d¯ıks:a¯ for
now seen as a scriptural basis for the a¯´sramas. Payment of
´su¯dras and admit them to membership.
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7818
RITES OF PASSAGE: JEWISH RITES
CONCLUSION. Hinduism has no single dogma or doctrine.
RITES OF PASSAGE: JEWISH RITES
Its cohesion is found in its rites and observances. The central
Jewish rites of passage are diverse in their historical develop-
rites of Hinduism, whether it be mainstream Brahmanism
ment and reflect the dynamic relation between social condi-
or sectarian cults, have traditionally been the rites of passage.
tions, local customs, and the continued reinterpretation of
The situation in modern India, however, is very differ-
classic texts. Only one rite, that of circumcision, derives ex-
ent. The only sam:ska¯ras regularly practiced in the early twen-
plicitly from a commandment, or mitzvah (pl. mitzvot), in
ty-first century are marriage and funeral. Vedic initiation,
the Hebrew Bible, but images from the Bible linked to mar-
where it is still practiced, has become the prerogative of brah-
riage and death have been mobilized in the evolution of wed-
mans to such a degree that the sacred thread has become the
dings and funerals. Bar mitzvah is not mentioned in the
hallmark of a brahman.
Bible, Mishnah, or Talmud, and the Bible has no ritual of
conversion. In some circumstances rites of passages have
The practice has changed, but the theology has re-
been linked to other biblical-based celebrations such as festi-
mained the same: the modern Hindu villager as well as the
vals and pilgrimages. Jews’ involvement in the wider society
modern Hindu theologian will, if asked, define Hinduism
has shaped rites of passage from antiquity through the Mid-
as varn:a¯s:ramadharma.
dle Ages under Christianity and Islam and continuing into
the contemporary world. A modern development is the ex-
SEE ALSO Domestic Observances, article on Hindu Prac-
tices; Sam:nya¯sa; S´a¯stra Literature; Su¯tra Literature.
plicit attention to life-passage rituals for women, and the
greater place of women in ritual life in general. The notion
of “life cycle” was not traditionally an explicit principle orga-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
nizing rabbinic discussions of halakhah, or law concerning
Bhattacharyya, N. N. Indian Puberty Rites. Calcutta, 1968. A
rituals: bar mitzvah appeared in discussions of the daily
comprehensive survey of male and female initiation rites
prayer routine, while weddings appeared in considerations of
using textual and ethnographic data.
laws of marriage and divorce. An awareness of the life cycle
Gonda, Jan. “The S¯ımantonnayana as Described in the
appears in the early modern period in Europe and grew with-
Gr:hyasu¯tras.” East and West 7 (1956): 12–31. A detailed
in both the orthodox and liberal streams of Judaism that
analysis of a prenatal rite with significant methodological im-
plications for the study of other sam:ska¯ras.
evolved in the nineteenth century. With the personalization
of religion that has characterized Western culture, much at-
Gonda, Jan. Change and Continuity in Indian Religion. The
tention is now paid to the different ways life milestones may
Hague, 1965. An extensive and penetrating study of initiato-
be linked to Jewish tradition.
ry rites (pp. 315–462), pupilage (pp. 284–314), and the role
of the teacher (pp. 229–283).
CIRCUMCISION, NAMING, AND REDEMPTION OF THE FIRST-
Kane, P. V. History of Dharma´sa¯stra, vol. 2. 2d ed., rev. & enl.
BORN. The commandment that Israelite males be circum-
Poona, 1974. The most detailed and comprehensive account
cised is presented in Genesis 17 as part of God’s evolving rela-
available of varn:a (pp. 19–187), sam:ska¯ra (pp. 188–415,
tionship with Abraham and his descendants. The set date of
426–636), and a¯´srama (pp. 416–426).
eight days is unusual in the world’s cultures, where ritual op-
Mookerji, Radhakumud. Ancient Indian Education, Brahmanical
erations on male genitals usually takes place closer to puber-
and Buddhist. 2d ed. London, 1951. An extensive survey of
ty. This very low age, coupled with the story of the great age
the educational institutions and practices of ancient India,
of Abraham and Sarah when Isaac was born, emphasizes that
including initiatory rites preceding education.
fertility is not dependent on circumcision but on Divine will.
Olivelle, Patrick. “Renouncer and Renunciation in the
The biblical text builds upon existing cultural associations,
Dharma´sa¯stras.” In Studies in Dharma´sa¯stra, edited by Rich-
mobilizing them for its purposes. It turns circumcision into
ard W. Lariviere, pp. 81–152. Calcutta, 1984. A historical
a sign of a covenant between God and the Abrahamid line.
account of renunciation and of the a¯´srama system.
The notion of covenant (brit) also emerges from the context
Olivelle, Patrick. The A¯´srama System: The History and Hermeneu-
of mundane kin relations and protective alliances, stressing
tics of a Religious Institution. New York, 1993.
that Abraham is ultimately dependent on God rather than
Pandey, Raj Bali. Hindu Sam:ska¯ras: A Socio-Religious Study of the
on human patronage. The narrative assumes that the proce-
Hindu Sacraments. 2d rev. ed. Delhi, 1969. A useful descrip-
dure of circumcision is known and stresses its Israelite
tion of all Hindu sam:ska¯ras without much historical analysis.
meaning.
Sprockhoff, J. F. “Die Alten im alten Indien: Ein Versuch nach
Some neighboring groups in the biblical world may
brahmanischen Quellen.” Saeculum 30 (1979): 374–433. An
have practiced circumcision, while the Philistines were
extensive analysis of customs and institutions relating to old
marked as those who did not. In the Hellenistic period, the
age in ancient India.
ritual came to symbolize Jewish particularity, and this mean-
Stevenson, Margaret S. The Rites of the Twice-Born (1920). Re-
ing was later reinforced by Christianity. Literature from the
print, New Delhi, 1971. A dated but still useful description
Mishnah and Talmudic periods describes the procedure as
of the rites of passage practiced by modern brahmans based
consisting of three stages: (1) milah, the removal of the fore-
on the author’s personal observations.
skin; (2) peri Eah, the tearing off and folding back of the mu-
PATRICK OLIVELLE (1987 AND 2005)
cous membrane to expose the glans; (3) and metsitsah, the
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RITES OF PASSAGE: JEWISH RITES
7819
suction of the blood from the wound. The latter step proba-
Feminism, which rose in the mid-twentieth century,
bly was accepted surgical procedure of the day. A passage
both critiqued the male-oriented connotations of the rituals
from Luke (1:59) indicates that circumcision was also the oc-
and suggested practices whereby baby girls could “enter the
casion of naming a boy.
covenant” and be named publicly. There had been various
The standard form of the circumcision ceremony took
ways of naming girls in the past. In European (Ashkenazi)
shape in the Middle Ages. Tradition views the father as being
tradition, the father would be called to recite the blessings
obligated to circumcise his son, but it allows him to appoint
over the public reading of the Torah on a Sabbath soon after
a specialist, the mohel. In the Middle Ages the synagogue be-
the birth. On that occasion, a prayer for the mother’s conva-
came the preferred site for the occasion, typically at the end
lescence was read and the baby was given a name, even if the
of morning prayer. Both these developments extended com-
mother were not present. An alternative or complementary
munal authority into family celebrations and restricted the
practice, holekreish, took place at home after the mother was
participation of women. Auxiliary roles emerged, such as
strong. The baby was raised in its cradle while surrounded
the sandaq, typically a grandfather to the child, who held the
by people and given a name. Girls often had Yiddish names
baby on his lap during the procedure. Other roles, entailing
rather than Hebrew ones, and the same ceremony might give
both women and men, ceremoniously brought the infant
boys a Yiddish name to complement the Hebrew one from
from his mother and the circle of women into the main ritual
his circumcision. Holekreish appears to stem from a local cus-
arena. A series of texts were made standard, such as the for-
tom warding off a monster that threatened babies. A similar
mula for praying for the health of the mother and naming
tradition may have existed in Spain, where rabbis established
the boy. Some practices lacked ancient authority, such as
a home naming-ceremony for girls, including a liturgical
drinking and reciting the blessing for wine on the occasion.
component in Hebrew called zeved ha-bat, the gift of a
In medieval Europe the blood drawn in circumcision took
daughter. From Spain it has spread to other areas of the
on meanings that competed with understandings of sacra-
Spanish-Jewish (Sephardi) world and now constitutes one
mental blood in Christianity. In general, circumcisions were
model for contemporary girl-naming ceremonies.
occasions in which popular notions coexisted with or
Innovations for naming girls have appeared in all
strained against halakhic norms. During the eighth century
streams of Judaism. Orthodox Jews have introduced changes
an idea appeared—that Elijah the Biblical prophet, viewed
within the framework of halakhah, while a Hebrew neolo-
as the protector of children, is present at every circumcision,
gism, britah, suggesting the feminine of brit, has emerged
and the practice emerged of setting aside an honorary chair
among secular Israelis. The timing of the ceremony has been
for him. Later, there is evidence of an elaborate celebration
derived from different spheres of practice, such as the Sab-
or vigil taking place throughout the night preceding a cir-
bath or the New Moon, which traditionally was important
cumcision, in which the presence of many people guarded
to women. Liturgical content has been taken from such di-
the child. At first these were raucous occasions, but rabbinic
influence subdued them and inserted readings from sacred
verse sources as circumcision or marriage. Some have intro-
texts, like the Zohar. This basic configuration was common
duced a physical gesture in girls’ ceremonies to parallel cir-
both in European communities, where circumcision was a
cumcision: an example is “washing the feet,” based on
mark of being Jewish, and in Middle Eastern settings, where
Abraham and Sarah welcoming harbingers of her giving
Muslims circumcised as well, but at a different age and with
birth (Gn. 18). Innovations regarding girls have influenced
different theological claims.
the way circumcisions are treated. The Reform movement
now trains women to be a mohel, and discussions arise as to
The modern era and emancipation created new percep-
whether modern anesthesia should be used in circumcisions.
tions of circumcision. As Jews became citizens of European
Both contemporary circumcision and baby girl-naming re-
nation-states, they became subject to laws regulating the re-
flect the contemporary diversity of Jewish life.
cording of births and deaths, and to laws regarding health.
New concepts of disease raised the question of whether met-
Another infancy rite, based on Exodus 13:12–13, is the
sitsah, normally carried out by the mohel directly sucking
redemption of the firstborn male. The term redemption,
blood from the wound, had to be maintained as part of the
padoh in Hebrew, refers to an exchange that moves a person
ceremony, but it was defended by the nineteenth-century
or thing from one category to another, and firstborn is here
movement of Orthodoxy. Some spokesmen for Reform,
defined as a male who has “opened the womb” of his mother.
which developed at the same period, claimed that circumci-
This definition highlights the holiness attributed to “first-
sion was no longer required, but the majority of Jews main-
ness” in the Bible, because if a male baby is born after his
tained the custom even as new hygienic procedures for carry-
mother has given birth to a girl, or after she has miscarried,
ing it out became common and new theories as to the health-
the redemption commandment does not apply to him. A fa-
based rationale of the operation became popular. These ideas
ther does not apply to fetuses who are not carried to term
became widespread among Gentiles in the United States, in
but are lost in a miscarriage, highlighting the holiness attri-
comparison to Europe, and in the course of the twentieth
buted to “firstness” in the Biblical view. The father redeems
century it became common for the training of a mohel to in-
his firstborn son by transferring a sum of money, “five she-
clude both ritual and medical preparation.
qalim,” to a person from the priestly Aaronid line (a kohen),
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and in exchange the son is removed from the category of
The age of thirteen appears in some classic sources; for
being holy. Rabbinic Judaism gave shape to the biblical in-
example, males from that age must fast on the Day of Atone-
junction by adding texts and a formal blessing. In the Geonic
ment, while females fast from the age of twelve. In the late
period (c. seventh–eleventh centuries), a blessing for the
Middle Ages in Europe, with the growing sense of the indi-
mother to recite was composed but did not gain wide accep-
vidual and the cultural recognition of stages of life, this was
tance and disappeared from tradition. In some versions of the
systematized into a general rule as to when a young person
rite today, a mother is asked to testify that this baby is the
was obligated to observe the mitsvot. For a male, the salient
first to “escape” her womb. Because it applies only to a frac-
expression of reaching this stage was the donning of phylac-
tion of children, the ceremony continues today, but it has
teries, or tefillin (containing the Deuteronomic passage dis-
attracted less general attention than has circumcision. Some
cussed above, and related verses), during morning prayer and
strictly orthodox Jews seek opportunities of carrying out the
being counted in a prayer quorum. In the late sixteenth cen-
redemption of firstlings of domestic animals.
tury the personal and communal elements now associated
BAR AND BAT MITZVAH AND RITUALS OF EDUCATION. The
with bar mitzvah coalesced into a pattern. The year before
obligation to both obey and love God’s words was expressed
a boy’s thirteenth birthday was devoted to instruction in syn-
in Deuteronomy 6:4–9, where there also is a demand to write
agogue skills, and teachers exhorted him about his new moral
and recite them. The Deuteronomic text may represent a
and religious duties. The obligation to observe all the com-
stage in which involvement with divine instructions and
mandments was made public in his donning tefillin and
teachings, which with time collectively came to be called
being called to recite the blessings over the reading of the
Torah, was being expanded beyond the priesthood and di-
Torah. Families began to celebrate the event, and rabbis con-
rected to all Israelites. The textual world of Torah and its
sidered whether the occasion was appropriate for an official
evolving interpretations became a hallmark of Jewish life,
mitzvah feast like those accompanying a circumcision or
and entrance into that world by male children constituted
wedding. The practice spread throughout Europe and be-
a significant passage. There are hints in the Bible, as in the
yond it.
beginning of 1 Samuel, that weaning was viewed as a signifi-
cant transition that could thrust a youngster into a setting
In many Sephardi regions the practice was accepted, but
of education. There is no clear evidence of rituals accompa-
the details differed. The name given the occasion varied;
nying the entrance into the realm of Torah within Talmudic
often it included the term tefillin. In some settings the cele-
literature, but such rituals are known from France and the
bration had two phases: the first of donning the tefillin on
Rhineland (Ashkenaz) in the Middle Ages. They involved:
a weekday, and the second on the following Sabbath, when
an extensive reading of the Torah and the Prophets in the
1. Carrying the child from his home to the synagogue;
synagogue gave the initiate more opportunity to demonstrate
2. The synagogue teacher’s exposing the child to Hebrew
his skills. In North Africa the idea and the celebration were
letters that he in some form ingests as sweets;
accepted, but into the twentieth century it was common to
3. Engaging in incantations intended to ward off forget-
stage the occasion as soon as a youngster had the ability to
fulness;
go through the ceremony successfully, even if this preceded
his thirteenth birthday. A bar mitzvah ritual never evolved
4. Walking to the river from the synagogue.
among the Jews in Yemen.
A difference between the French and German sources is that
in France the ceremony took place whenever a child reached
A religious majority celebration for girls, now referred
the appropriate age, while in the Rhineland it was prescribed
to by the feminine form bat mitzvah, first arose in the nine-
for the festival of ShavuEot, the date to which tradition as-
teenth century. It is linked to the creation of the confirma-
signed the revelation at Sinai. Both in textual references mo-
tion ceremony first appearing in Central Europe early in that
bilized within the ceremony and in one illuminated manu-
century as a complement to bar mitzvah. This stemmed from
script depicting it, the child’s entrance into the realm of
the critique that boys went through bar mitzvah ceremonies
instruction is portrayed as analogous to the Israelites receiv-
on a rote basis without adequate knowledge or personal com-
ing the Torah at Sinai and then traveling to the next stage
mitment. Confirmation was to reflect further study and took
on the banks of the Jordan River. Some of the illuminated
place later in the teenage years in a public setting. Youths in
material shows the child on the knee of a teacher in a manner
the synagogue were quizzed on their knowledge and beliefs
parallel to the way the infant Jesus sits on Mary’s lap in con-
in a manner parallel to catechism, after which their joining
temporary art, suggesting that there was polemic content to
the adult community was “confirmed.” Classes preparing for
the ceremony as well. In the medieval European setting, the
this event began to include girls as well as boys. Most Ortho-
ritual was important to the whole community, for which it
dox leaders opposed the innovation, which initially was
recapitulated its sacred history and reinforced its identity. As-
shaped on a Christian model, but with time some accepted
pects of the ceremony, such as associating the text of the Pen-
it as it was embellished with traditional symbolism, such as
tateuch with sweetness, survive in customs today, but toward
taking place on the festival of ShavuEot. The inclusion of girls
the end of the Middle Ages this custom declined in centrality
in public rituals also evolved into various and occasional
in comparison to the growing importance of bar mitzvah.
forms of celebrating bat mitzvah, reported in the nineteenth
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7821
century and the early twentieth century both in Europe and
developments behind them. The “patriarchal period” por-
the Middle East. Both confirmation and bat mitzvah became
trayed in Genesis features men in the public sphere, but the
regularized in Reform and Conservative synagogues in North
“matriarchs” are not passive actors, even though institutions
America in the twentieth century. In Conservative syna-
like polygamy are taken for granted.
gogues, bat mitzvah celebrations were different from bar
mitzhah, taking place on Friday nights rather than Saturday
Talmudic literature provided detailed principles regu-
mornings. They featured elements traditionally associated
lating marriage and divorce. These are based on the notion
with women, such as lighting the Sabbath candles, but also
that a man acquires rights with regard to a woman, while she
included reading from the Prophets, as with boys. Feminism
agrees to his acquisition of those rights. Contemporary wed-
influenced all streams of Judaism to expand the education
dings consist of two phases that were separated in time dur-
of women, and bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies were identi-
ing antiquity. The first is called kiddushin, or erusin, and the
cal by the start of the twenty-first century in liberal branches
second is nisu Din. NisuDin is normally translated as “mar-
of Judaism. This trend also led to the training of women can-
riage,” while kiddushin means “engagement” in modern He-
tors and rabbis in non-Orthodox rabbinic seminaries. In
brew. In the context of formal marriage procedures, however,
these matters, religious leadership responded to expectations
kiddushin establishes a ritual and legal relationship between
that had become accepted among contemporary Jews.
a woman and man who perform the act. Related to the He-
brew term kadosh, or holy, the Talmud interprets kiddushin
A development in the late twentieth century was orga-
as a woman being “set aside” for a single sacred purpose; after
nized travel among young people to supplement Jewish edu-
that, no other man may have sexual access to her. Kiddushin
cation. Travel to Israel is a central destination, but the pur-
takes place when a man gives a women an object of defined
pose typically is to reinforce Jewish identity among those in
minimum value (now typically a ring) while he declares his
the Diaspora. Travel to sites of the European Holocaust by
intention to “consecrate” her and she agrees. Once this oc-
Israeli high school students has become a standard practice
curs, a permanent relationship is established, and if there is
in the Jewish state for reinforcing national culture. Identity-
a decision not to continue with the marriage, a get, or bill
bolstering travel also is utilized for people in later stages of
of divorce, must be written. In antiquity, months or more
life.
passed between kiddushin and nisu Din, after which a woman
could permanently co-reside with her husband. In eleventh-
Another ritual connected to study is the convening of
century France it became the practice to combine both
a siyyum, a celebration of conclusion, when an individual or
phases of the ceremony, and this was widely adopted in Eu-
group finishes studying a sacred book, traditionally a tractate
rope and later became common elsewhere. In several Middle
of the Talmud. An ancient theme in Jewish symbolism likens
Eastern communities, the separation of the phases continued
a Torah scroll or a sacred book to a person. Thus, when a
until much more recent times.
sacred book is no longer usable, it is not treated as refuse but
should be buried in a manner parallel to burying human be-
The ketubba, or marriage contract, is also a post-biblical
ings. Different practices evolved in relation to this norm.
institution. It states the economic obligations of a man to a
One was to bury worn-out books on the occasion of the buri-
woman if the marriage relationship terminates. Its contents
al of a sage, and another took place on a set date in the year,
have varied over time and place. It might specify the dowry
linked to one of the festivals. The overall notion links the in-
brought into the marriage by a woman or contain specific
dividual to sacred texts throughout life and even in death.
conditions. For example, within Sephardi tradition, where
MARRIAGE. As in many societies, marriage was the occasion
polygamy remained a theoretical option, it might stipulate
of the most elaborate life-cycle rituals among Jews. The bibli-
that a man may take a second wife only with the permission
cal blessing to humankind to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gn.
of the first. Traditionally a ketubba is written in Aramaic and
1:28) was a value taken for granted, and rabbinic writings
signed by two witnesses. Often, parts of it are read or ex-
assumed that marriage was the normal state for adults. In
plained at wedding ceremonies between the kiddushin and
premodern times, weddings and the accompanying celebra-
nisu Din phases, but this is not required to make it binding.
tions were the first occasion on which a woman was central
At various times, artistic traditions of ketubba illumination
in a public celebration. In various locales, the onset of menar-
developed. Today, in liberal branches of Judaism, opportuni-
che was recognized by traditional gestures within the family,
ties are offered to a couple to formulate their own mutual
but these were never linked to textual traditions. By contrast,
commitments in written form, and they may choose to place
the Bible and especially rabbinic law pay close attention to
an elaborately decorated ketubba on a wall in their new
menstruation with regard to married women and their hus-
home. These practices both hold on to and reinterpret as-
bands’ access to them. In the latter, a strict set of procedures
pects of an ancient halakhic pattern.
evolved in which a woman terminates menstrual impurity
The nisu Din phase in antiquity entailed a woman mov-
after two weeks with immersion in a ritual bath, or miqveh.
ing permanently into her husband’s home. The wedding
The Bible and rabbinic law also portray men as the ac-
canopy, or h:uppa, which became common in the Ashkenazi
tive partner in initiating and terminating marriage. Feminist
Middle Ages, is seen as symbolizing this stage. Another pat-
literature debates how to interpret these texts and the historic
tern, still common in some Sephardi traditions, is for the
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groom to spread his prayer shawl over the head of the bride.
a relationship with another man, she is committing adultery.
Liturgically, nisu Din is marked by the recital of seven blessings
Rabbis have always been concerned with the exactitude of
from Talmudic literature. They may be summarized as
the get procedure, not only with regard to the “morality” of
follows:
women but with reference to potential illegitimate children
1. A blessing over wine;
(mamzerim) issuing from an adulterous union, who them-
selves would be severely restricted as to whom they could
2. Three blessings citing God’s fashioning humankind
marry.
with the power of procreation;
This has given rise to the problem of the aguna, an “an-
3. A blessing over the ingathering of Jews to Jerusalem;
chored” women who is no longer in an active marriage but
4. Two blessings citing the joy of the bride and groom.
has not received a get, making it impossible for her to remarry
This order moves from the most inclusive category of hu-
within a Jewish framework. Classically, this concerns women
manity through Jewish peoplehood and then highlights the
whose husbands have disappeared without proof of death. In
single couple. The fifth and the last blessings mention, re-
modern times this problem has become acute in places where
spectively, Zion and Jerusalem, with the latter expressing the
Jews live under civil law within a nation-state while their
hope that the joy of weddings will soon be heard again in
marital status is also subject to rabbinic law either because
that city. This theme is also associated with the well-known
they are Jewish citizens of Israel or because they choose to
feature of Jewish weddings of breaking a glass, which now
follow halakhah. Cases exist of husbands who effectively have
typically concludes the ceremony. Formally, it is only a cus-
separated from their wives but refuse to give them a get out
tom, but for many it marks the high point of Jewish wed-
of indifference or hostility. This critical life-cycle issue is now
dings. It carries many general meanings, such as breaking the
discussed within organizations and networks that span the
hymen, severance from the natal family, and the irreversibili-
Jewish world, in the attempt to find both halakhic and prac-
ty of passage, which energize the now standard rabbinic gloss
tical solutions for women in the status of aguna.
that it reminds people of the destroyed ancient Temple in
DEATH, MOURNING, AND MEMORY. The Hebrew Bible
Jerusalem. This illustrates how rabbinic rules and interpreta-
contains only a few explicit rules concerning death and
tions interlace with popular practices and understandings
mourning, but many practices and attitudes are reflected
that traditionally featured festivities taking place during the
throughout it that became models for customs and regula-
days preceding and following the wedding itself.
tions that were systematized later. These include repugnance
At the turn of the twenty-first century, a major factor
over delay in burying corpses, the rending of garments by a
embellishing basic marriage ritual is the expectation of equal-
mourner, eulogies, a meal initiating the process of reconcilia-
ity between the partners, and in liberal branches of Judaism
tion with loss, and the expectation that friends visit and con-
rabbis may encourage couples to suggest their own innova-
sole a mourner. Part of the rabbinic liturgy during burial is
tions. Orthodox rabbis open to this trend have also found
a quote from the Book of Job (1:21): “The Lord gave, and
ways to express equality, such as including women friends
the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.”
among the those who hold up the h:uppa or having the bride
Several rules separate the realms of sacrificial sanctity and of
give the groom a ring in addition to the formal kiddushin.
a kohen from death: a priest should not have contact with the
A personally formulated ketubba, viewed either as the essen-
dead except with regard to his immediate family (Lv.
tial marriage contract in liberal ceremonies or as a supple-
21:1–3). A tendency in Pentateuchal law is to encourage or-
mentary document in some Orthodox instances, is another
dinary Israelites to adopt priestlike standards, as in the prohi-
feature that is spreading.
bition against gashing one’s skin when hearing news of death
(Dt. 14:1–2). This practice, violating the prohibition, still
Divorce, while discouraged in Jewish tradition, has al-
took place in the twentieth century among women from
ways been a possibility and is explicitly mentioned in Deuter-
some communities in the Middle East.
onomy 24:1. There is symmetry between divorce and mar-
riage in rabbinic law; they are both actions taken by the man
Rabbinic laws were systematized in an extra-Talmudic
to which a woman acquiesces (or refuses). The necessity of
compilation that acquired the euphemistic name Semah:ot, or
having a woman agree to accept a bill of divorce was institut-
rejoicings. It opens by asserting that a person who is dying
ed by authorities in medieval Ashkenaz. A get is a short docu-
is to be considered alive in every respect: nothing should be
ment, addressed to a woman from her husband, which re-
done to hasten death. It also defines periods of mourning:
leases her from her commitment to him and makes her
the first intense week (shiv Eah), thirty days, and a year. Dur-
“permissible to any man.” In contrast to a ketubba, it cannot
ing shiv Eah, one should stay at home and refrain from wash-
be a standard form in which the names and date are filled
ing, anointing oneself, wearing shoes, and sexual intercourse.
in, but must be prepared expressly for the divorce in ques-
Friends are obligated to visit and console a mourner during
tion. After it is written, a get must be delivered to a woman,
this period. The Bible and early rabbinic writings did not
and it must be clear that she received and accepted it. If there
provide elaborate images of life after death. Some claim that
are mistakes in a get, or a lack of clarity, it may be claimed
such notions grew subsequent to the devastation that fol-
that a woman is not formally divorced. If she then enters into
lowed the second-century CE revolt against Roman power.
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7823
Much later, beginning in the late eleventh century, the suf-
and possible coordination continue to exist over matters such
fering associated with the Crusades in Western Europe were
as “brain death,” organ transplants, and mercy killing. An-
the context for a liturgical development that has become cen-
other example concerns the death of infants under thirty days
tral in Jewish mourning and commemoration: the kaddish
old. Traditional halakhah does not provide for any burial cer-
prayer.
emony, while pregnancies assisted by modern prenatal exam-
inations often imbue an unborn fetus with individual charac-
Communities in Ashkenaz compiled memory books
teristics resulting in a personal sense of loss even in the case
with the names of people murdered during the Crusades, in-
of a prefers miscarriage. In all these areas contemporary rab-
cluding the names of women, and created ritual occasions
bis within both liberal and orthodox streams of Judaism have
(yizkor), upon which these names were read aloud. This cre-
forged a variety of approaches to abandoning some burial
ated a nexus between personal and communal memorializa-
and mourning practices, maintaining and reinterpreting oth-
tion. The notion also developed, based on Talmudic and
ers, and in some cases shaping new ones.
extra-Talmudic sources, that a person could assist the soul
of a deceased parent by bringing the community to declare,
Practices of memorialization have also accommodated
in Aramaic, “May the name of God be blessed forever and
to modern circumstances. The anonymous death of millions
ever” (Dn. 2:20). This is the kernel of the kaddish that exists
in the Nazi Holocaust meant that the date of death of close
in various versions and came to fulfill various liturgical func-
relatives often was not known. Israel’s chief rabbinate select-
tions, but which is saliently associated with memorialization.
ed the tenth of the Hebrew month of Tevet, a fast day mark-
It is recited by a mourner in daily prayer during the first year
ing the siege of Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE, as a date
after death, on the anniversary of death, and on yizkor occa-
appropriate for the recital of kaddish on behalf of these Holo-
sions. Some Sephardi scholars resisted the notion of an im-
caust victims. Individual mourning thus continues to be
pact upon the soul of the deceased, but the idea spread
linked to collective definitions. Within the United States,
throughout the Jewish world. Traditionally, it was associated
suburban synagogues built in the second half of the twenti-
with males only, but in liberal streams of Judaism women
eth century often incorporated within them memorial
also recite kaddish.
boards, carrying the names of deceased individuals, that had
been removed from defunct synagogues in areas where Jews
Late medieval Ashkenaz was also the site of the evolu-
no longer lived. One example concerns Jews in South Africa,
tion of the h:evra kaddisha, the burial society charged with
from which there is continued out-migration. Cremation is
dealing with sick people on their death bed and making fu-
not permitted by halakhah, but some Jews there have re-
neral arrangements. It emerged at a time when traditional
quested to be cremated in order to make their remains trans-
communal authority was weakening and concerned itself
portable, because they realize that there will be no children
with many matters like collecting and distributing charity or
nearby to visit their graves. Here is an example of one tradi-
providing funds for the dowries and weddings of orphans.
tional pattern clashing with another in changed circum-
Its power derived from vivid images of the afterlife of the soul
stances.
that were developing with the diffusion of qabbalistic no-
C
tions through wide social circles, with the h:evra kaddisha be-
ONVERSION. While not an inevitable phase of the life cycle,
coming the gatekeeper for the correct ritual transition from
conversion ritual can be viewed as a rite of passage: the Tal-
this world to the next. At this point, specialized manuals
mud states that a proselyte is like a newborn child. The Bible
dealing with the soul, death, and burial began to appear and
envisions the possibility of foreigners joining the Israelites
may reflect a step in the explicit recognition of “the” life
and participating in rituals but does not provide a single
cycle. Similar developments occurred elsewhere, and a pro-
marker of that process. Exodus (12:48) insists that foreigners
fessional h:evra kaddisha is still the main framework for deal-
among the Israelites be circumcised in order to partake of the
ing with death. In smaller communities in North America
Passover sacrifice, and Deutoronomy (21:10–14) specifies
where there is no h:evra kaddisha, many funeral homes send
how a woman captured in war may become a legitimate wife.
morticians to train someone so that proper last rites are pro-
The Mishnah does not contain a tractate dealing with prose-
vided for local Jews. A late-twentieth-century development
lytes, or gerim, but Talmudic literature includes debates over
in such communities is that “ordinary” Jews have banded to-
which conversion rituals are the most critical ones: circumci-
gether to form a h:evra kaddisha on a voluntary basis.
sion, immersion in amiqveh, or both together. One source
states that a proselyte must be informed about some of the
Modern science and emancipation created some clashes
weightier mitzvot, along with some less central ones, but
between rabbinic norms regarding burial and the nation-
there is little stress on understanding the motivations of the
states of which they became citizens. The traditional expecta-
individual proselyte. None of the sources emphasizes conver-
tion was that a person would be buried as soon after death
sion as a personal religious transformation, but they do stress
as possible. Late in the eighteenth century there was growing
the affiliation with a new collectivity and its norms. The no-
concern over the possibility of “false death”—that a person
tion of examining the motives of a potential convert began
would appear to be dead and mistakenly be buried alive.
to emerge only in the Middle Ages. For much of the medi-
Rabbinic criteria of establishing death had to be coordinated
eval period, the actual likelihood of Christians or Muslims
with prevailing secular concepts and laws. Issues of difference
converting to Judaism was minimal, so the rabbinic legal tra-
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RITES OF PASSAGE: MUSLIM RITES
dition in this area was not tested by the crucible of historical
Weissler, Chava. Voices of the Matriarchs: Listening to the Prayers
experience. With emancipation in Europe, issues of
of Early Modern Jewish Women. Boston, 1998.
intermarriage and potential conversion arose with a new
HARVEY E. GOLDBERG (2005)
poignancy.
As with other ritual issues, diverse approaches developed
toward conversion. Orthodox rabbis have been hesitant to
RITES OF PASSAGE: MUSLIM RITES
accept converts on the grounds that their motives may be ex-
While Muslims throughout the world emphasize the unity
traneous, and do so only when convinced that the proselyte
of Islam, they also recognize the impressive diversity of cul-
will lead an orthodox life. The liberal streams have been
tural and historical contexts in which Islamic civilization has
more open, but Conservative Judaism demands preparatory
been elaborated and expressed. Because of this diversity, rites
study, circumcision, and immersion, while Reform Judaism
of passage in the Islamic world draw equally upon ritual
does not insist upon the ritual requirements. In the wake of
forms and metaphors specific to local cultural contexts and
widespread intermarriage in the United States in the late
upon the more universal elements of the Islamic tradition.
twentieth century, Reform Judaism also decided that a per-
Some of these ritual and expressive forms existed prior to the
son can claim Jewish status through descent either from a fa-
advent of Islam in the seventh century
ther or a mother, while traditional halakhah sees only the
CE and were incorpo-
rated with appropriate shifts in context and meaning into the
mother as determinative. The small Reform movement in Is-
Islamic tradition. Others developed concurrently with the Is-
rael did not encourage this innovation because the situation
lamic tradition.
in that country, where the state privileges Orthodoxy, raises
questions of whether ritual matters that effect personal status
Some transitions marked by rites of passage, including
might create permanent splits within the Jewish population.
birth, naming, circumcision, social puberty, betrothal, mar-
Given the links between Israel and Jews all over the world,
riage, pregnancy, motherhood, fatherhood, death, and
life-cycle events can become global political issues. On the
mourning, are not specific to the Islamic world. These rites
background of growing choice in all cultural realms, ques-
show an especially wide diversity of form and content be-
tions of community and of religious authority at the begin-
cause they incorporate major elements of local belief and
ning of the twenty-first century often appear as aspects of in-
practice. Marriage, for instance, is a secular contract in Islam.
dividual life cycles.
Muslim jurisprudence specifies certain legal requirements
but not the form taken by marriage ceremonies. Provided
SEE ALSO Conservative Judaism; Orthodox Judaism; Recon-
that preexisting rites of passage are not directly contrary to
structionist Judaism; Reform Judaism.
the more universalistic aspects of the Islamic tradition, they
remain a part of accepted local practice. Likewise, socially
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Boyarin, Daniel. Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture.
recognized transitions considered significant in some Islamic
Berkeley, Calif., 1993.
societies may be given much less emphasis in others. Some
transitions, including the completion of QurDanic schooling
Goldberg, Harvey E. Jewish Passages: Cycles of Jewish Life. Berke-
and the pilgrimage (h:a¯jj) to Mecca, are specifically Islamic,
ley, Calif., 2003.
yet how these occasions are ritually marked varies considera-
Goldberg, Sylvie-Anne. Crossing the Jabbok: Illness and Death in
bly with location.
Ashkenazi Judaism in Sixteenth-through-Nineteenth-Century
Prague. Translated by Carol Cosman. Berkeley, Calif., 1996.
Because of this diversity, rites of passage considered to
Hoffman, Lawrence A. Covenant of Blood: Circumcision and Gen-
be inherent components of the Islamic tradition in some
der in Rabbinic Judaism. Chicago, 1996.
parts of the Islamic world or by some social groups are not
always accepted as having anything to do with Islam by Mus-
Horowitz, Elliot. “The Eve of Circumcision: A Chapter in the
History of Jewish Nightlife.” Journal of Social History 23
lims elsewhere. For example, before departing for the pil-
(1989): 45–69.
grimage to Mecca, many North African Muslims first cir-
cumambulate their town or village, visiting its principal
Klein, Isaac. A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice. New York, 1979.
shrines in the company of friends and relatives. Flags or ban-
Lamm, Maurice. The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning. New
ners associated with these shrines are carried in the proces-
York, 1969.
sion. On their return from Mecca, the pilgrims participate
Marcus, Ivan. Rituals of Childhood: Jewish Acculturation in Medi-
in a similar procession and visit local shrines before crossing
eval Europe. New Haven, Conn., 1996.
the thresholds of their homes. Modernist Muslims claim that
Orenstein, Debra, ed. Lifecycles: Jewish Women on Life Passages and
these “local” ceremonies have nothing to do with Islam or
Personal Milestones. Woodstock, Vt., 1994.
the pilgrimage proper, but for many North Africans these
Rubin, Nisan. The Beginning of Life: Rites of Birth, Circumcision
practices remain an integral part of Islam as they practice and
and Redemption of the First-Born in the Talmud and Midrash.
understand their faith. Modernist sentiments are even more
Tel Aviv, Israel, 1995. In Hebrew.
intense against the annual festivals (mu¯sims) of some ethnic
Wasserfall, Rahel R., ed. Women and Water: Menstruation in Jew-
groups in North Africa, especially Morocco, in which ethnic
ish Life and Law. Hanover, N.H., 1999.
collectivities renew their “covenant” ( Eahd) with particular
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
RITES OF PASSAGE: MUSLIM RITES
7825
saints and their living descendants through the offering of
becoming a mother and the naming of her child are locally
a sacrifice. Many such festivals occur annually just before the
regarded as much more significant than marriage itself:
planting season and the moving of herds from summer to
Women claim that they are girls until they have children.
winter pastures. Similarly, the Alevi (Arab., EAlaw¯ı) Muslims
In the interior of Oman, a country in the southeastern
of eastern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq fast only twelve
corner of the Arabian Peninsula, marriages generally occur
days per year, in honor of the twelve imams (leaders of the
within the extended family and often involve a move of no
Islamic community) whom they recognize, instead of for an
more than several hundred feet for the bride, from the house
entire lunar month. Alevis also consider that the true h:a¯jj is
of her father to that of a nearby relative. She continues to
carried out in one’s heart, not in travel to Mecca. Their inter-
spend the better part of the day in the house of her own
pretation of Islamic obligations and practice is not recog-
mother, although elsewhere in the Muslim world it is com-
nized as valid by neighboring Muslims of other sects.
mon to have a period of avoidance between a new wife and
Although some rites of passage resemble one another in
her family of birth. Marriage ceremonies in the Omani inte-
general form throughout the Muslim world, a thorough
rior are such subdued, private occasions that non-family
knowledge of how they are locally elaborated is essential to
members often learn that they have taken place only after the
understanding their contextual meaning. Most of these rites
event. In contrast, once a woman gives birth, the naming cer-
derive in part from formal Islamic doctrine but are equally
emony for her child is elaborate. It occasions visits from every
shaped by, and in turn shape, diverse underlying local con-
household in the community and results in the mother’s
ceptions of society. In Marrakesh, for example, the ceremo-
achieving full social status as a woman. The mother, not the
nies marking birth, circumcision, marriage, and pilgrimage
child, is the center of attention at naming ceremonies.
resemble one another because they share an underlying con-
Since the interpretation of rites of passage is dependent
ception of social boundaries and social space. These concep-
upon local cultural contexts, principal Moroccan practices
tions are not derived from Islamic doctrine, but neither are
are described here to illustrate a complete set of major social
they opposed to it. After a woman gives birth, she and her
transitions. Examples are also provided from elsewhere in the
child are confined for seven days to the room in which the
Islamic world to indicate the range of major variation.
birth took place. Ceremonies involving only close relatives
are then performed, but until the fortieth day after birth, the
BIRTH AND NAMING. In Morocco, if a woman wishes to in-
mother and her child refrain from crossing the threshold of
duce pregnancy or fears a difficult one, she visits the sanctu-
the house. At the end of this period, they visit one of the
aries of marabouts (wal¯ıs) reputed for their efficacy in deal-
principal shrines of Marrakesh. After a child is circumcised,
ing with such difficulties. She will often leave a strip of cloth
he and his mother are likewise confined to one room of the
from her own dress as a promise that, if her childbirth occurs,
house for the first week then to the entire house for another
she will return and sacrifice a sheep or goat, distributing its
interval; finally, all restrictions on movement end after a visit
meat either to descendants of the wal¯ı or to the poor. Once
to one of the major local shrines. For marriage, newly wed
a woman knows she is pregnant, she begins to eat special
couples remain seven days in the nuptial chamber, followed
foods and to receive visits from female neighbors and rela-
by a few days in the house itself and finally a visit to one of
tives, practices that are common elsewhere in the Islamic
the principal shrines. Returning pilgrims, once they have en-
world.
tered their houses, follow a similar progression to regain the
After she has given birth, a woman is confined to her
full use of social space and to reincorporate themselves into
house for a period that varies from a week to forty days. Dur-
ordinary society. Even with the widespread expansion of
ing this period she is regarded as ritually unclean and is un-
mass education in recent years, which has the effect in many
able to pray and fast, an indication of her marginal status.
parts of the world of modifying or eliminating local ritual
At the end of her confinement she is taken by female friends
practices, those of Marrakesh remain largely intact.
and relatives to the public bath, resumes normal activities,
and is able once again to leave her house. The child is kept
In Islamic societies, as in others, the social and cultural
in its swaddling clothes during this period and is constantly
significance accorded to specific rites of passage becomes
guarded for fear that he or she might be exchanged for a ma-
clear only when the rites are considered in their full social
levolent spirit (jinn¯ı). Most women unaffected by modernist
context. In some parts of the Muslim world—in Silwa, a vil-
Islamic belief and practice perform a series of rituals designed
lage in Egypt’s Aswan province, for example—weddings are
to propitiate any such spirits that might be nearby.
an important marker of transition, especially for women.
Upon marriage a woman leaves the residence of her own par-
The most important event in the child’s life is the nam-
ents and becomes part of her husband’s domestic group.
ing ceremony (subu¯ E), which ideally occurs a week after the
However, the significance of marriage elsewhere—as in
birth of a child of either sex. On this day the child is named,
Atjeh, in northern Sumatra, for example—is overshadowed
usually by its father but in agreement with the mother and
by a woman’s first live birth. In Atjeh, when a woman be-
other relatives. The mother is bathed, dressed in new clothes,
comes a mother, she also becomes an adult and takes legal
and painted with henna, often by the midwife who has deliv-
possession of her house. The ceremonies associated with her
ered the child. The child also has henna applied to its face,
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RITES OF PASSAGE: MUSLIM RITES
hands, and feet, both because henna is thought to be pleasing
guests bring small gifts. Many households wait until E¯Id
to the eye and because it is thought to protect the child’s spir-
al-Ad:h:a¯ or a marriage in the family or arrange with other
it from harm. The mother receives visits from female rela-
households to have their children circumcised together. On
tives and neighbors on this occasion.
the day after the circumcision feast, the boy, dressed in fine
clothes and accompanied by musicians, is led around town
There is no fixed set of relatives involved in the naming
on a mule. In the past in some areas, his clothes would have
of a child in Morocco. The choice is primarily a personal one
resembled those of a bride. Elements of the circumcision cer-
and may also involve consultation with patrons or close
emonies are exactly parallel to those of marriage. The boy’s
friends. Likewise, the selection of names reflects a variety of
mother and sisters wear their hair loose, as they would for
influences and personal choices. Some persons prefer dis-
a wedding. Just before the circumcision itself, usually per-
tinctly religious names such as Muh:ammad (Mh:a¯ in Berber-
formed by an itinerant specialist but increasingly by medical
speaking regions) or EAbd Alla¯h (“servant of God”) for men,
personnel, the boy is dressed in a new, white shift, often simi-
and Fa¯t:imah, the name of the Prophet’s daughter, for
lar to that worn by pilgrims to Mecca. The garment is anoth-
women. Other children are named after a religious feast day,
er indication of the purificatory intent of the ritual.
such as Mulu¯d¯ı for a man born on or near the Prophet’s
birthday (colloquially, E¯Id al-Mulu¯d). Other names reflect a
In classical Arabic, circumcision is known as khita¯n, al-
commitment to nationalism, as in using the name EAlla¯l,
though in Morocco and elsewhere in the Arab world it is usu-
after the Moroccan nationalist leader EAlla¯l al-Fa¯s¯ı. The
ally known as t:aha¯rah (“purification”), and in Turkey as sün-
name chosen may honor a recently deceased relative; it is a
net, or the practice of the Prophet. Although not mentioned
bad omen to name a child after a living relative. In non-
in the QurDa¯n, circumcision is attributed to the Prophet and
Arabic-speaking countries, such as Indonesia and Bangla-
recognized as a pre-Islamic Arabian tradition; it appears to
desh, the growing use of Arabic names instead of non-Islamic
have been performed at puberty and as a preliminary to mar-
ones or names in local languages is a direct result of a grow-
riage. There is a modern tendency among educated Moroc-
ing commitment to reform Islam.
cans to have their children circumcised at an earlier age,
For boys in Morocco, the naming ceremony is always
sometimes even at birth, although for most families circum-
accompanied by the sacrifice of a sheep or goat, although a
cision still takes place when a child, toward the age of six or
blood sacrifice is often omitted in the case of girls. This sacri-
seven, prepares to assume the responsibilities of an adult
fice is known as the Eaq¯ıqah ceremony. The male relatives
Muslim, including the daily prayers and the Ramad:a¯n fast.
and friends of the father are invited to a midday feast, the
In Morocco, as elsewhere in the Muslim world, the pos-
child’s hair is cut for the first time, and alms are distributed
session of reason ( Eaql) informed by accepted Islamic practice
to the poor. A separate feast is held for female relatives in the
implies the ability of Muslims to subordinate their “natural”
evening. This rite of passage is so significant that in wealthy
passions or personal inclinations (hawa nafs) to God’s will.
families it is not unusual for hundreds of guests from
The concepts of Eaql and hawa nafs occur in almost all Islam-
throughout the country to attend. In many villages, each part
ic societies. Children are said to be “ignorant” (ja¯hil) because
of the sacrificed animal has a special significance and is desig-
they lack knowledge of the Islamic code of conduct and the
nated for particular persons. The liver is eaten only by mem-
capacity to abide by it. Thus, when circumcision occurs at
bers of the household, and the heart and stomach fat are
the traditionally preferred age of six or seven, it marks the
eaten by the mother alone. Other parts of the animal, usually
beginning of full participation in the Islamic community.
including the skin and entrails, are destined for the midwife.
Memorization of the QurDa¯n, for those children who accom-
Moroccans consider the sacrifice for the naming cere-
plish this feat, also sets a child apart from ordinary society
mony to be an Islamic obligation, although of the four legal
through the mnemonic possession of the word of God. Like
schools of Sunn¯ı Islam only the H:anbali school regards it as
circumcision, the event is marked by a public procession and
compulsory. The other schools merely allow the practice, al-
announcement of the child’s new status.
though Islamic tradition ascribes the sacrifice, which has pre-
MARRIAGE. After discreet private negotiations between the
Islamic antecedents, to the prophet Muh:ammad (d. 632).
families involved, a date for the wedding and the size of the
The sacrifice, like the haircutting, is thought to avert evil
marriage payment (s:ada¯q) are set. This payment, relative to
from the child by offering a substitute sacrifice. At the same
the value placed on the girl and her family, is used to buy
time, with the acquisition of a name, the child becomes a full
domestic furnishings that remain the bride’s property. By Is-
social person.
lamic law, payment must be made in order for the marriage
CIRCUMCISION. Circumcision is the next major rite of pas-
to be valid. The contract is usually signed in the presence of
sage for boys. It usually occurs between the ages of two and
notaries or valid witnesses just after a ceremonial dinner at
seven. There is no equivalent ceremony in Morocco for girls.
the girl’s home at which her father or guardian is formally
The day before the circumcision, the boy is bathed, and his
asked for her hand. Later, an engagement party is held. This
head is shaved. His mother paints henna on his hands and
is primarily a woman’s party, with dancing and singing, the
feet to ward off the evil eye. A sacrifice is made, and a feast
closing of the marriage contract, and payment of the bride-
is prepared for friends, neighbors, and relatives, to which the
wealth.
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RITES OF PASSAGE: MUSLIM RITES
7827
A day or two before the actual wedding, the bride’s fam-
of the same sex who knows the prescribed ritual washing and
ily delivers to the bridegroom’s home the furnishings pur-
preparation of the dead is called in. The women of the family
chased with the s:ada¯q money. These are publicly displayed,
are expected to cry and lose their composure, but men’s ex-
often on the back of a truck, and accompanied by drummers
pressions of grief are expected to be much more restrained.
and musicians. There is often a small celebration at the
The deceased is wrapped in a white seamless cloth similar to
woman’s house before she is taken to that of her future hus-
that worn for the pilgrimage; in the case of those who have
band. In rural areas, the groom’s party may bring an animal
actually made the h:a¯jj, the seamless white garments worn
to be sacrificed at her house. Several days later they return
while in Mecca are used. The QurDa¯n is recited. Burial occurs
to carry the bride away to the groom’s house, where the
quickly, on the same day if death occurs in the morning or
major ceremony is held. As the groom’s party, often accom-
early afternoon; if death occurs late in the day, burial is post-
panied by the blowing of horns and drumming, approaches
poned until the next morning. Friends and relatives accom-
the woman’s house, there is a mock battle between the
pany the procession to the cemetery, where a prayer for the
bride’s family and the groom’s, at the end of which the girl
dead is recited by a religious specialist. On returning from
is allowed to be taken away. She has been prepared by purifi-
the cemetery, participants in the procession are provided
cation with water and henna.
with a meal at the house of the deceased. In some rural areas,
food is also placed over the grave for the first three days after
The day before the wedding, the groom also undergoes
death.
purification. He goes to the bath, accompanied by his
friends, and is treated as if he were a sultan with his court.
Mourning continues for three days, the period thought
He is often painted with henna and entertained by musi-
to be sanctioned by the QurDa¯n, and consolations are re-
cians. In the past in some regions, the groom was himself
ceived by the relatives of the deceased. Since death is or-
dressed like a bride for a brief period, a custom that empha-
dained by God, proper conduct for a Muslim after the initial
sized all the more the imminent transformation of his status.
shock of grief is to accept the will of God. The lack of for-
Afterward, he is washed, shaved, and dressed in new clothes.
bearance and composure ( EazaD) implies a lack of reason, in
this context the capacity to adjust to an expression of God’s
Upon arrival at the groom’s house, the bride is ceremo-
will. A widow remains in seclusion for four months and ten
nially dressed in heavy layers of fine brocades and jewels,
days, a period prescribed by the QurDa¯n and the minimum
often rented for the occasion. After a long evening of music
legal waiting period ( Eiddah) before she is allowed to remar-
and feasting, the groom leaves his guests, enters the bridal
ry. In Morocco, it is not unusual for elaborate stone markers
chamber, lifts the bride’s veil, and ceremonially offers her
or enclosures to be erected around the grave, a sharp contrast
milk and dates. Depending upon the region of Morocco and
with, for example, the custom of the Iba¯d:¯ıyah of Oman, who
the social class, close relatives may visit the couple briefly at
indicate the equality of all Muslims after death by marking
this stage. Wedding gifts are publicly announced and dis-
graves with simple stones, none of which carry inscriptions.
played at this time. Religious specialists are invited to the
MAJOR VARIATIONS. If there are numerous points of resem-
wedding feast, where they recite the QurDa¯n and invoke
blance among rites of passage in the Islamic world, diver-
blessings upon the couple but do not play a central role. Cel-
gences are just as pronounced. In Egyptian villages along the
ebrations continue until proof of the bride’s virginity is
Nile, women visit shrines and cross the river to encourage
brought to the guests, although Moroccans are rapidly aban-
conception; the latter practice is directly related to a wish to
doning this practice. For a week thereafter, the wife remains
induce a change in the woman’s status. In these practices, the
confined to her husband’s house, receiving visits only from
parallels with Morocco are almost exact, yet divergences also
close female friends. So that the bride may become accus-
become clear when overall patterns are considered. In Atjeh,
tomed to new patterns of domestic authority, she is forbid-
for instance, an elaborate series of visits takes place between
den to see her father, brothers, and other male relatives for
the mothers of the wife and the husband, both before and
at least three months. The public nature of parts of the cere-
after births, accompanied by complex food restrictions.
mony, the bride’s change of residence, and the restrictions
Some of these restrictions occur only for odd-numbered
on her conduct formally denote the couple’s change of mari-
pregnancies. In Java, the various rituals associated with birth
tal status.
are timed by the Javanese calendar, in which each month has
DEATH. Deaths and funeral ceremonies show the most con-
thirty-five days. Many of the rituals involve a rich mixture
sistency in essential features throughout the Muslim world.
of Islamic, Hindu-Buddhist, and indigenous spirits, and
More so than the other rites of passage, those for death and
each food and gesture associated with these rituals has a spe-
mourning are largely common to all Muslims. If the death
cific implication. Thus, in the small feast for household
is expected, the QurDa¯n is recited continuously in the pres-
members only, which occurs just before birth, a dish of rice
ence of the ailing person. At the point of death, the eyes and
is served with a peeled banana in the middle, to symbolize
mouth of the person are closed, and the arms are straightened
an easy birth. The precision with which events are timed and
alongside the body. The deceased is placed with his or her
the punctilious concern with ritual detail are alien to other
face turned toward Mecca. For the duration of mourning,
parts of the Islamic world. After childbirth in Atjeh, a
regular social life is suspended for those affected. A person
woman may not leave her house for forty-four days. For
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7828
RITES OF PASSAGE: NEOPAGAN RITES
much of this time, she lies on a platform over hot bricks with
The vitality of the Islamic tradition is indicated in its
her legs extended and her ankles together. The idea behind
capacity for self-renewal and transformation. The rites of
this “roasting” is to become as dry as possible in order to
passage described here for the Islamic world are inseparable
expel the aftereffects of childbirth, again a set of notions
from basic notions of social and cultural identity. As notions
without direct correspondences elsewhere.
of identity shift, so do the forms of many of these rituals,
The obligations incurred by guests at life-crisis ceremo-
even in the face of traditions previously accepted and taken
nies and the comportment appropriate to them also show
for granted in specific contexts. Since the late nineteenth
considerable range. Egyptian villagers keep punctilious writ-
century, modernist and reform movements in Islam have
ten accounts of the gifts they give to other members of the
given impetus to a reappraisal of the links between Islam and
community and the value of those they receive in return. By
personal identity. Likewise, the abandonment or modifica-
contrast, the notion of strict, explicit equality of value is lack-
tion of practices not considered authentically Islamic, even
ing in the Arabian Peninsula and is there considered to be
if locally tolerated, signifies that notions of self and commu-
against the spirit of Islam. In Java, certain foods such as
nity are in a process of change, a process that is ongoing
wafer-thin disks of rice are served at major life-crisis feasts.
throughout the Islamic world.
Sharing them is meant to symbolize that all guests are inter-
nally composed and free from strong emotions such as envy,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
hate, and jealousy, a concern not equally emphasized else-
The relevant entries in the old edition of The Encyclopaedia of
where.
Islam, 4 vols. and supplement (Leiden, 1913–1938), and the
new edition in progress (Leiden, 1960–) are strongest in
Circumcision shows two major patterns of variation
summarizing Islamic legal thought and classical writing on
throughout the Islamic world. Although all males are cir-
rites of passage and include extensive bibliographies for these
cumcised, women are circumcised only in certain areas, nota-
fields. W. Robertson Smith’s Kinship and Marriage in Early
bly in Upper Egypt, the Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, West Af-
Arabia, edited by Stanley A. Cook (1903; new ed., Oosterh-
rica, and Atjeh. Circumcision for women, which occurs
out, Netherlands, 1966), and Lectures on the Religion of the
between the ages of six or seven (Egypt) and twelve (Atjeh),
Semites, 2d ed. (1894; reprint, New York, 1956), remain
occasions a minimum of ceremony. It does not result in any
valuable for comparing early Islamic rites of passage with ear-
significant change of status for a girl, although the operation
lier Semitic practice. Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje’s Mekka
in the Latter Part of the Nineteenth Century (1888–1889),
is considered a necessary prerequisite to marriage. Unlike
translated by J. H. Monahan (1931; reprint, Leiden, 1970),
boys undergoing circumcision, girls are allowed and even en-
provides extensive ethnographic description. For Morocco,
couraged to cry out in pain. The Islamic jurist al–Sha¯fiE¯ı
Edward A. Westermarck’s Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco
(767–820 CE) argues that circumcision is obligatory for both
(1914; reprint, London, 1972) and Ritual and Belief in Mo-
sexes. Other jurists argue that it is merely “honorable” for
rocco, vol. 2 (1926; reprint, New Hyde Park, N. Y., 1968),
women. The more extreme forms of circumcision, including
provides meticulous ethnographic detail useful to contrast
infibulation, have been declared illegal in recent years by
with descriptions contained in studies of more recent
many governments, although enforcement is highly variable.
practice.
The age at which male circumcision occurs varies ac-
Among modern studies, see my Moroccan Islam: Tradition and So-
cording to its significance in a particular cultural context. In
ciety in a Pilgrimage Center (Austin, Tex, 1976). For a psy-
northern Yemen, for example, circumcision until recently
choanalytic perspective on a single ritual, see Vincent Cra-
panzano’s “Rite of Return: Circumcision in Morocco,” in
took place between the ages of twelve and fifteen and, despite
volume 9 of The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, edited by
official government bans, continues in some areas. The
Warner Muensterberger and L. Bryce Boyer (New York,
youth is surrounded by men and women of his village. A
1981), pp. 15–36. Excellent discussions of rites of passage in
knife is held to his foreskin as he recites three times, “There
other countries are included in Hamed Ammar’s Growing Up
is no god but God and Muh:ammad is his Prophet.” The
in an Egyptian Village (1954; reprint, London, 1956); James
foreskin is then cut and thrown into the crowd. The youth
T. Siegel’s The Rope of God (Berkeley, 1969), for Atjeh; Clif-
retrieves it and is carried on his mother’s shoulders while he
ford Geertz’s The Religion of Java (New York, 1964); and
continues to display it proudly, leading a procession of danc-
John R. Bowen’s “Death and the History of Islam in High-
ers and brandishing his dagger. He is humiliated for life if
land Aceh,” Indonesia 38 (October 1984): 21–38. For an ex-
he shows any sign of pain. In this context, circumcision is
cellent study of historical change in naming practices, see
Richard W. Bulliet’s “First Names and Political Change in
more a test of virility and a marker of young adult status than
Modern Turkey,” International Journal of Middle East Studies
a point of entry into participation in the religious communi-
9 (November 1978): 489–495.
ty, which is the case when circumcision occurs at the age of
six or seven, as in Morocco. In Java, it traditionally occurred
DALE F. EICKELMAN (1987)
after a youth had completed religious studies, between the
ages of ten and fourteen; two transitions that are kept sepa-
rate elsewhere in the Islamic world were thus fused. Circum-
RITES OF PASSAGE: NEOPAGAN RITES
cision is also seen as a prelude to marriage, which is not the
Rites of passage, like most forms of Neopagan ritual, take
case when it occurs at a much younger age.
place within a sacred circle. The basic ritual form of the circle
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
RITES OF PASSAGE: NEOPAGAN RITES
7829
casting illustrates the ways in which deity is in the world, not
tane, or May Day, for instance, is a celebration of fertility.
outside it. While different variations on circle casting exist,
Neopagan rituals at this time of year might involve selecting
most circles are oriented with the four cardinal directions,
a May queen and king who would be symbolically married.
and the four directions are typically associated with forces of
Neopagan marriages, called handfastings, might be per-
nature: fire, air, water, and earth. Some Neopagans address
formed on Beltane. Such unions are ritualized in a variety
the “powers” of a particular direction, while others address
of ways for both homosexual and heterosexual lovers. Some
the “winds.” Depending on the ritual, specific gods and god-
are long-term commitments, while others are for “a year and
desses are invoked and invited to be present in the circle or
a day,” to be renewed at a later time if the participants are
embodied by participants. During the ritual, participants are
willing.
often led on an “astral journey” in which they visualize an-
other realm of existence, the spirit world, or astral reality.
Rituals designed for Samhain, the festival of the dead,
The presence of deities, journeys through other worlds, and
might include a ritualized journey through the land of the
shifts of consciousness all contribute to participants’ experi-
dead and remembrances of dead loved ones. Many Samhain
ence of the rite. Because it is designated as a safe and sacred
rituals refer to some version of the “Descent of the Goddess”
space, the circle facilitates initiations, the passing from one
in which the goddess descends to the land of the dead to re-
phase of life to another, and the shifting from one type of
store the god, who has become the lord of death, to a new
consciousness to another.
life. She sleeps with him and creates him anew so that he will
be reborn on the Winter Solstice. In Samhain rites, partici-
Rites of passage include personal initiations within spe-
pants may symbolically undergo this passage from life into
cific Neopagan traditions. Witchcraft covens and Neopagan
the land of death. They may also express their grief for dead
ritual groups include initiation rites to mark the passage of
ones within a collective ritual process. These seasonal rituals
members from one stage of learning and skill to another. For
affirm Neopaganism’s identity as an earth religion and help
instance, Gardnerian Witchcraft, named for Gerald Gardner
people align the changes in their lives with the cycles of the
(1883–1964), includes different degrees that participants can
natural world.
attain through training and study within a coven led by a
R
priest and priestess who offer the initiation when they believe
ITUALS TO MARK LIFE CHANGES. The Wheel of the Year
is also paralleled by the life passages of men and women in
their students are ready. Traditional Witchcraft of this type
the community. Creating new rites of passage is at the heart
and other forms of Neopaganism are mystery religions in
of Neopagan religion, and these rites are a common feature
which secret knowledge is passed through a series of initia-
of Neopagan festivals and other gatherings. Rites of passage
tions, and the individuals who undergo these initiations are
are an important way that Neopagans celebrate embodied
expected to be transformed by them.
life changes and create religious community. The goal of
SEASONAL RITUALS. Wiccans, or Witches, are the largest
these rites is not simply to help a person celebrate significant
Neopagan tradition, and their Wheel of the Year provides
life changes but also to bind the community together.
a model for other Neopagan celebrations of seasonal festivals.
Starhawk, a famous Neopagan writer and activist, discusses
The Wheel is based on the ever-changing relationship of a
rites of passage in her book Truth or Dare (1987), observing
goddess and a god as they move through the cycle of the sea-
that, “Ritual affirms the common patterns, the values, the
sons. The goddess has varied meanings for Wiccans and
shared joys, risks, sorrows, and changes that bind a commu-
among Neopagans in general. She may be seen as a great god-
nity together. . . . A living community develops its own rit-
dess who encompasses all of life or as the partner of a god.
uals to celebrate life passages and ease times of transition, to
She is also sometimes seen as having three aspects: maiden,
connect us with the round of the changing seasons and the
mother, and crone (old woman). The maiden aspect of the
moon’s flux, to anchor us in time” (p. 296). Neopagans have
goddess is celebrated in the spring, the mother in summer,
created new rituals and reinvented old ones to draw in their
and the crone in winter. The god plays different roles in dif-
community members around pregnancy and birth, marriage,
ferent seasons as well. He may be referred to as any of the
puberty, and death.
following: Lord of the Greenwood, Sun King, Corn King,
Lord of Life and Death, or Leader of the Wild Hunt. The
Neopagans design rituals to celebrate life experiences
Wheel that the goddess and god move through includes eight
from birth to death. For instance, some Neopagans borrow
sabbats: Yule or Winter Solstice on December 21, Brigid’s
the Navajo “blessingway” tradition to bless a new baby and
Day or Candlemas on February 2, Eostar or Spring Equinox
welcome him or her into the community. Others call their
on March 21, Beltane on May 1, Litha or Summer Solstice
welcoming rite a wiccaning or saining, which is designed to
on June 21, Lammas or Lughnasad on August 1, Mabon or
initiate a child into the community. This ritual may include
Fall Equinox on September 21, and Samhain or Halloween
introducing the child to the deities, giving the community
on November 1.
a chance to meet the child and to give gifts and offerings to
the child, perhaps even the gift of a personal quality or char-
Rituals for these sabbats are designed to celebrate sea-
acter trait. But most Neopagans do not see this initiation as
sonal changes and at the same time to lead participants
determining their child’s religious identity, and they are ada-
through personal changes appropriate to the seasons. Bel-
mant that the child will eventually make his or her own
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RITES OF PASSAGE: NEOPAGAN RITES
choices. Rituals that mark the end of life and facilitate
Some rituals focus on healing or changing aspects of the self
mourning are similarly diverse and also involve offerings.
that are related to gender and sexuality. Healing from rape
Sometimes Neopagans set up shrines for the dead in their
and unhealthy sexual relationships is a common focus of ritu-
homes or at nature sanctuaries.
al work, as are rituals and guided meditations that explore
gendered aspects of the self (e.g., men exploring their “femi-
Rites of passage among Neopagans are also directed to-
nine side”). Neopagans create theatrical rituals with ancient
ward women’s and men’s specific life changes. The impact
deities and encourage participants to act out sexual abuse or
of the feminist movement, especially in the United States,
try on different gender identities. Men wear skirts and gowns
has shaped a wide range of women’s ritualizing in Witchcraft
for some Neopagan rituals and festivals. All of these rituals
and other forms of Neopaganism. According to some femi-
are intentionally designed to replace outdated rites and to ad-
nist Neopagans, pregnancy, labor, delivery, and breastfeed-
dress the absence of rites of passage and initiatory experiences
ing are ways that women embody the goddess in the biologi-
that Neopagans believe characterizes Western cultures.
cal events of their lives. Some feminist Neopagans label their
rites of passage “women’s mysteries”; the mysteries are seen
Some Neopagans, and especially Neopagan women,
as physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychic rites of passage
have created initiation rites for adolescents. They believe that
that women experience by having been born into a female
negative views of the body and sexuality are taught to young
body. Women’s mysteries celebrate the earth’s seasonal cy-
children, and particularly to adolescents, and that the way
cles of birth, death, and regeneration, as well as women’s cy-
to change this is to celebrate the physical changes that mark
clical nature, and they include birth, menstruation, child-
the onset of adolescence, such as a girl’s first menses. For in-
birth and lactation, menopause, and death. These women
stance, Starhawk tells the story of how her coven created a
imagine that a society made over by goddess-worshipping
ritual to celebrate the first menstruation of a coven member’s
Neopagans would sanctify birth and menses. They seek to
daughter. It involved a ritual symbolizing the daughter’s sep-
transform what they see as destructive and disempowering
aration from her mother and ended with each of the women
images of body and self by identifying women with goddesses
giving the girl a special and personal gift. Starhawk’s descrip-
and ancient myths. In this way, female bodies are made sa-
tion of the first menses ritual provides a model for other
cred, and bodily experience becomes an important aspect of
communities looking for alternative rites of passage for their
moving from one stage of life to another.
adolescents.
One ritual that some Neopagans have reclaimed is the
In Neopaganism, old women, mothers, and adolescent
so-called sacred marriage between a goddess and a god. The
women are each celebrated in unique ways. Many Witches
sacred marriage that takes place among other kinds of fertili-
and other Neopagans believe in the “Triple Goddess” of
ty rites on the Neopagan holiday Beltane (May 1) is both
maiden, mother, and crone that originated with the first
marriage and initiation for the man and woman who take
Neopagans in mid-twentieth-century England. For Neopa-
part in it by becoming goddess and god. The practice of con-
gans, the Goddess is expansive and encompasses all women’s
temporary “sex magic” includes the sacred marriage, or Great
roles. The idea of the Triple Goddess has its origins in the
Rite—ritualized intercourse, often between priest and priest-
studies of classical Greek and Roman mythology by British
ess. The Great Rite can take two forms: actual, involving in-
scholars Jane Ellen Harrison (1850–1928) and Sir James Fra-
tercourse, or symbolic, in which the union of the male and
zer (1854–1941), whose works were consulted by the earliest
female principles is symbolized by putting the athame (ritual
Neopagans. Through the Triple Goddess, women at all
knife) into the chalice to bless the wine on the ritual altar.
stages of life can identify with a sacred feminine ideal. The
The idea behind the Great Rite is that through ritual a
revaluing of women’s bodies at all stages of life and the iden-
woman becomes the goddess and a man becomes the god.
tification of the feminine as divine has made possible many
Journalist Margot Adler explains this process in her study of
of the new rites of passage Neopagans have created. Neopa-
Neopaganism, Drawing Down the Moon (1986): “Two peo-
gans redefine the archetypes of maiden, mother, and crone
ple who have drawn down into themselves these archetypal
(wise old woman), leaving them open to personal interpreta-
forces, or, if you will, have allowed these forces within them
tion by the women who look to them for guidance. Cronings,
to surface—can have a spiritual and physical union that is
for instance, honor women who have become elders in their
truly divine” (p. 110). The actual ritual is sometimes used
communities. During croning rituals, the lifelong achieve-
in traditional Witchcraft initiations and in some handfast-
ments of older women are honored, and they are given gifts
ings. Because sexuality is seen as a source of spiritual power,
to symbolize the new stage of life they have entered.
Neopagans often include it, both actually and symbolically,
M
in their ritual lives.
EN’S RITES. Rites for women are much more common
than rites for men, in part because of the tremendous popu-
Sexual freedom is important to many Neopagans be-
larity of images and stories of goddesses and the dispropor-
cause they believe that sexuality is both natural and sacred,
tionate influence of the feminist movement on Neopagan
but freedom is translated to mean the right to choose a ho-
communities. Many Neopagans share the desire to affirm
mosexual relationship, to have multiple lovers, to be celibate,
and make positive those aspects of gendered behavior that
or to commit to a monogamous heterosexual relationship.
they believe have been repressed or are seen as evil, such 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
RITSCHL, ALBRECHT
7831
homosexual relationships, women celebrating their sexuality
one phase of life to another. Personal initiation, life passages,
outside of marriage, and men choosing more traditionally
and seasonal celebrations share this emphasis. Rites for heal-
feminine roles. But Neopagans also include men’s rituals at
ing the damage done to sexuality and gender identity and
their gatherings.
rites that honor and celebrate love relationships, sexual ex-
pression, life passages, and bodily experience are all ways that
Robert Bly’s discussion of gender roles in Iron John
Neopagans incorporate rituals into their lives.
(1990) and Sam Keen’s men’s movement classic, Fire in the
Belly: On Being a Man (1991), inspired the men’s movement
B
of the 1990s and encouraged Neopagans to explore mascu-
IBLIOGRAPHY
Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, God-
linity and celebrate the variety of male gods that men can
dess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today. New
look to as models. The approaches of Bly and Keen have re-
York, 1979. Rev. ed., Boston, 1986.
sulted in many men’s events and have also influenced Neopa-
Berger, Helen A. A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-
gan gatherings, so that workshops and rituals on men’s issues
Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States. Columbia,
and for men only now coexist with women-centered activi-
S.C., 1999.
ties. Pantheacon, a Neopagan convention held in the San
Francisco Bay Area in 2003, included sessions on “Mystery
Bly, Robert. Iron John: A Book about Men. Reading, Mass., 1990.
and the Masculine: Connecting to the Male Divine” and
Griffin, Wendy, ed. Daughters of the Goddess: Studies of Healing,
“Liturgy for Chiron the Centaur as Sage.” New Age and
Identity, and Empowerment. Walnut Creek, Calif., 2000.
Neopagan men have followed feminist strategies in borrow-
Harvey, Graham. Contemporary Paganism: Listening People, Speak-
ing images of deities from ancient cultures that they believe
ing Earth. New York, 1997.
offer more diverse models for masculinity and allow men to
Keen, Sam. Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man. New York, 1991.
explore their human potential without being subject to rigid
Pike, Sarah M. Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pa-
male ideals such as the emotionless warrior. Feminists and
gans and the Search for Community. Berkeley and Los Ange-
men’s movement leaders both argue that previous patterns
les, 2001.
of socialization have been oppressive and limiting. All men
and women, they say, need to heal old wounds and change
Salomonsen, Jone. Enchanted Feminism: Ritual, Gender and Di-
vinity among the Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco. London
certain ways of doing things before they will be free to ex-
and New York, 2002.
plore their full potential as human beings. It is through ritual
work that these changes take place.
Starhawk. Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and
Mystery. San Francisco, 1987.
Men’s rites have been more slowly accepted than
Starhawk and M. Macha Nightmare. The Pagan Book of Living
women’s rites, and they sometimes receive mixed reactions
and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Medita-
when they occur at large Neopagan festivals. Sometimes
tions on Crossing Over. San Francisco, 1997.
these rites are called “male mysteries” and explore images of
SARAH M. PIKE (2005)
the warrior and hunter. Some Neopagan communities de-
sign initiations and workshops for men that might include,
for example, flint-napping, making coal from plants, fire-
starting, and beer-making. In men-only and women-only
RITSCHL, ALBRECHT (1822–1889) was a German
spaces, Neopagans say they feel free to explore aspects of fem-
Protestant theologian. Born in Berlin, the son of a pastor and
ininity and masculinity that have been shaped by biology and
bishop of the Evangelical church, he was reared in Stettin
culture. The ritual work that Neopagans do with gender and
(present-day Szczecin, Poland), in the Prussian province of
sexuality involves mending and strengthening the spiritual
Pomerania. From 1839 to 1846 he studied at the universities
aspects of relationships.
of Bonn, Halle (Ph. D., 1843), Heidelberg, and Tübingen
(where he learned the church historian’s craft from Ferdi-
CONCLUSION. Neopagans focus on cyclical changes in na-
nand Christian Baur). From 1846 to 1864 he taught at
ture and in the lives of individuals, but they also see spiritual
Bonn, and from 1864 until his death he was professor of
practice itself as a series of initiatory experiences. Neopagan
dogmatics (systematic theology) at Göttingen.
rituals often involve initiatory journeys of self-exploration to
bring about personal growth, healing, and empowerment.
Ritschl’s teaching and writing at first concentrated on
They may facilitate healing by externalizing suffering and
the New Testament and early church history. The views of
loss and helping individuals to process painful aspects of
Baur and his “Tübingen school”—which regarded late sec-
their lives within a supportive group setting. Neopagan festi-
ond-century Christianity (“old Catholicism”) as the outcome
vals often include rituals and workshops geared toward inner
and reconciliation of struggles between Jewish Christians
transformation, such as “Pagan Meditation: The Inner Work
(“Petrinists”) and gentile Christians (“Paulinists”)—
of the Old Ways,” “Guided Shamanic Journey,” and “Meta-
informed Ritschl’s first two books: Das Evangelium Marcions
morphosis: An Approach to Addressing Prenatal Patterns
und das kanonische Evangelium des Lukas (The Gospel of
and Means of Change.” In some sense, almost all Neopagan
Marcion and the Canonical Gospel of Luke; 1846) and Die
rituals are rites of passage in that they involve moving from
Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche (The Rise of the Old
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
7832
RITSCHL, ALBRECHT
Catholic Church; 1851). The second edition of the latter
worldliness” of Pietism, in the rationalism (“natural reli-
book (1857) marked a dramatic personal and academic break
gion”) and eudaemonism (“self-justification”) of Enlighten-
with Baur, whose “conflict model” of early church history
ment theology, and in the flight from the historical Christian
Ritschl now repudiated as too speculative or “Hegelian.” He
revelation in Hegelian speculation. To be sure, Immanuel
insisted, rather, that all the apostles proclaimed a fundamen-
Kant and Friedrich Schleiermacher had given significant im-
tally similar message, interpreting the ministry of Jesus in the
pulses for the reconstruction of Protestant theology on the
light of its Old Testament presuppositions; that the differ-
basis of Reformation religion, but their gains had soon been
ences between Jewish and gentile Christians were relative,
surrendered by their epigones.
not substantive, with only a few groups of Judaistic Chris-
tians opposing Paul; and that early Catholicism, far from
Ritschl took it as his own vocational task, therefore, to
being a Jewish-gentile “synthesis,” was wholly a gentile phe-
effect a true reformation of Protestant theology by recovering
nomenon, the result of a gradual “de-judaization” of Chris-
the reformers’ religious root ideas through critical-historical
tianity.
scholarship and by articulating these ideas, with the aid of
constructs supplied by Kant and Schleiermacher, in a “ho-
During the 1850s Ritschl’s interests turned increasingly
mogeneous” theological system. Thereby, he believed, the
to dogmatic theology. While at Göttingen he published two
unfinished Reformation would be brought to theological
monumental works, each occupying three volumes: Die chr-
completion; classical Protestant Christianity would be vindi-
istliche Lehre von der Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung (The
cated before its cultured despisers and its newly resurgent
Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation;
Roman Catholic foes; and the Reformation’s epoch-making
1870–1874) and Geschichte des Pietismus (History of Pietism;
significance, including its immediate relevance for the mod-
1880–1886). These works, in tandem with numerous essays
ern world, would be displayed, all with the result that a debil-
and several short monographs—notably Unterricht in der
itated Protestantism would at last be purged of “alien
christlichen Religion (Instruction in the Christian Religion;
growths” and so would attain “maturity.”
1875)—established Ritschl’s international reputation as the
foremost Protestant systematic theologian of his time. His
The main themes of Ritschl’s doctrinal system are pres-
disciples occupied the leading chairs in theology at the Ger-
ented in the third volume of Justification and Reconciliation.
man universities well into the twentieth century. The most
God, for the sake of Christ, freely pardons sinful humanity
prominent Ritschlians were Adolf von Harnack, Wilhelm
(“justification”), thereby overcoming the sinner’s fear, mis-
Herrmann, and (at an early stage of his career) Ernst
trust, alienation, and enervating consciousness of guilt, and
Troeltsch.
thus making possible the individual’s entrance into a new,
confident relationship to God as Father (“reconciliation”).
Ritschl’s paramount aim during his Göttingen years was
This relationship is verified, first, in the religious virtues of
to fashion a comprehensive interpretation of the Christian
trust in God’s providential guidance of the world, patience,
religion based on the doctrine of justification and reconcilia-
humility, and prayer (whereby the believer attains “spiritual
tion, as set forth by the New Testament (chiefly the letters
lordship over the world” and the vindication of the unique
of Paul) and by the Protestant reformers (chiefly Martin Lu-
worth of spirit, or the “order of persons,” vis-à-vis nature, or
ther in his writings of 1515–1520). In Ritschl’s judgment,
the “order of things”); and, second, in the moral virtues of
however, the reformers, while recovering essential compo-
fidelity in one’s secular vocation and active love for the
nents of New Testament Christianity and turning them to
neighbor (whereby the kingdom of God, or “moral society
church-reforming effect, had failed to order their religious
of nations,” is ultimately to be realized). Ritschl claimed that
insights in a holistic theological system. They had neglected,
this doctrine was faithful to the biblical-Reformation heri-
not least, to correlate their fundamental teaching on justifica-
tage because it centered entirely on God’s self-revelation as
tion by faith alone with the biblical teaching on the kingdom
loving Father in Jesus Christ (“history”)—a revelation medi-
of God. Thus they left the impression that Christianity is pri-
ated to individuals solely by and within the community of
marily a religion of personal redemption from sin, and not
believers (“church”), and appropriated solely through lively
equally one of corporate ethical activity directed to the moral
personal trust (“faith”). This doctrine, therefore, entailed the
reconstruction of society. Viewed in respect of its formal
explicit repudiation of all “disinterested” knowledge of God,
theological productions, therefore, the Protestant Reforma-
metaphysical speculation, “natural theology,” ahistorical
tion was unfinished.
mysticism, monastic-ascetic piety (“flight from the world”),
ethical quietism, and unchurchly individualism.
Ritschl contended, moreover, that post-Reformation
Protestantism had continued and heightened the “theologi-
From about 1920 to 1960 Ritschl’s theology suffered an
cal atrophy” of the Reformation era, leading to serious “de-
almost total eclipse. The leading representatives of the then-
formations” of authentic biblical-Reformation Christiani-
dominant Protestant neoorthodoxy, Karl Barth and Emil
ty—as evidenced, for example, in the intellectualism
Brunner, charged Ritschl (and Ritschlianism) with egregious
(neoscholasticism) of Protestant orthodoxy, in the emer-
departures from classical Christianity, including religious
gence within the Lutheran and Reformed churches of a
subjectivism, moralism, capitulation to the cultural Zeitgeist,
“half-Catholic” mysticism, in the sectarianism and “other-
and, in sum, a return to the anthropocentrism of Enlighten-
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RITUAL [FIRST EDITION]
7833
ment religion in its “chastened” (antimetaphysical) Kantian
social, or other content (Leach, 1968, p. 524). Thus one
form. Since the 1960s, however, there has been a noteworthy
could presumably discuss the ritual significance of scientific
Ritschl renaissance, which has defended Ritschl before his
experimental procedures, for example. For Leach, such be-
neoorthodox detractors by eschewing “criticism by catch-
havior should be regarded as a form of social communication
words,” by relating his total theological program to its imme-
or a code of information and analyzed in terms of its “gram-
diate historical context, and by taking seriously his claim to
mar.” Ritual is treated as a cognitive category.
have constructed his system on biblical and Reformation
foundations.
Only slightly less vast a definition, but one that covers
a very different set of phenomena, is implied by the common
use of the term ritual to label religion as such, as in “the ritual
BIBLIOGRAPHY
view of life” or “ritual man in Africa,” the title of an article
The only biography of Ritschl is that by his son, Otto, Albrecht
by Robert Horton (reprinted in Lessa and Vogt, 1979).
Ritschls Leben, 2 vols. (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1892–1896).
Many modern theories of religion are in fact primarily theo-
Otto Ritschl also edited his father’s Gesammelte Aufsätze, 2
ries of ritual, and study of the literature on either topic would
vols. (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1893–1896). There are English
provide an introduction to the other.
translations of volumes 1 and 3 of Ritschl’s magnum opus:
A Critical History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification and
Another very broad but commonly encountered usage
Reconciliation, translated from the first edition by John S.
is the one favored by, for example, psychoanalytic theory, in
Black (Edinburgh, 1872), and The Christian Doctrine of Jus-
which notably nonrational or formalized symbolic behavior
tification and Reconciliation: The Positive Development of the
of any kind is distinguished as “ritual,” as distinct from prag-
Doctrine, translated from the third edition by H. R. Mackin-
tosh and A. B. Macaulay (1900; reprint, Clifton, N. J.,
matic, clearly ends-directed behavior that is rationally linked
1966). Ritschl’s “Prolegomena” to The History of Pietism,
to empirical goals. Here “ritual” is often contrasted to “sci-
Theology and Metaphysics, and Instruction in the Christian Re-
ence” and even to common sense. Without much further
ligion have been translated by Philip J. Hefner in Albrecht
ado, religious rituals can even be equated with neurotic com-
Ritschl: Three Essays (Philadelphia, 1972)—the best place to
pulsions, and its symbols to psychological complexes or ge-
begin for the first-time reader of Ritschl. Valuable older
netically linked archetypes. Sociologists and anthropologists
studies are A. E. Garvie’s The Ritschlian Theology, Critical
who favor such a contrast between ritualistic and rational be-
and Constructive, 2d ed. (Edinburgh, 1902), and Gösta
havior are usually interested in ritual’s sociocultural func-
Hök’s Die elliptische Theologie Albrecht Ritschls: Nach Urs-
tions, in which religious values shrink to social affirmations.
prung und innerem Zusammenhang (Uppsala, 1942). The ful-
(Some social anthropologists distinguish between “ritual”—
lest expositions of Ritschl’s relationship to Reformation
stylized repetitious behavior that is explicitly religious—and
thought are my Ritschl and Luther: A Fresh Perspective on Al-
brecht Ritschl’s Theology in the Light of His Luther Study
“ceremony,” which is merely social even in explicit mean-
(Nashville, 1974), which includes a translation of Ritschl’s
ing.) According to these theorists, the manifest religious con-
important “Festival Address on the Four Hundredth Anni-
tent of ritual masks its more basic, “latent” social goals. How-
versary of the Birth of Martin Luther” (1883); and “Albrecht
ever, there are anthropologists, such as Clifford Geertz and
Ritschl and the Unfinished Reformation,” Harvard Theologi-
Victor Turner, who are interested in the explicit religious
cal Review 73 (1980): 337–372. Four pathbreaking studies
meaning of ritual symbolisms and who point out that ritual
of Ritschl’s theological system, offered as “correctives” to
acts do endow culturally important cosmological concep-
neoorthodox criticisms, are Philip J. Hefner’s Faith and the
tions and values with persuasive emotive force, thus unifying
Vitalities of History: A Theological Study Based on the Work of
individual participants into a genuine community. Here rit-
Albrecht Ritschl (New York, 1966), Rolf Schäfer’s Ritschl:
ual is viewed sociologically, to be sure, but in terms of its ex-
Grundlinien eines fast verschollenen dogmatischen Systems (Tü-
bingen, 1968), David L. Mueller’s An Introduction to the
istential import and explicit meanings rather than its purely
Theology of Albrecht Ritschl (Philadelphia, 1969), and James
cognitive grammar, its psychological dynamics, or its merely
Richmond’s Ritschl: A Reappraisal (London, 1978).
social reference.
DAVID W. LOTZ (1987)
Such an approach comes closest to that adopted by most
scholars in the history and phenomenology of religions. Ac-
cording to Rudolf Otto and Mircea Eliade, for example, ritu-
al arises from and celebrates the encounter with the “numi-
RITUAL [FIRST EDITION]. Although it would
nous,” or “sacred,” the mysterious reality that is always
seem to be a simple matter to define ritual, few terms in the
manifested as of a wholly different order from ordinary or
study of religion have been explained and applied in more
“natural” realities. Religious persons seek to live in continual
confusing ways. For example, Edmund Leach, a contempo-
contact with those realities and to flee or to transform the
rary cultural anthropologist, after noting the general dis-
inconsequential banality of ordinary life, thus giving rise to
agreement among anthropological theorists, suggested that
the repetitions and “archetypal nostalgias” of ritual. In this
the term ritual should be applied to all “culturally defined
approach, there is the attempt to define ritual by its actual
sets of behavior,” that is, to the symbolical dimension of
intention or focus. This intentionality molds the formal sym-
human behavior as such, regardless of its explicit religious,
bolisms and repetitions of ritual at their origins, so that when
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the rituals are repeated, the experience of holiness can be
Such experiences have been repeated so often or so intimately
more or less fully reappropriated by new participants.
by the body that they have become primary forms of bodily
awareness. In ritual, they are transformed into symbolic ex-
For the purposes of this article, “ritual” shall be under-
periences of the divine, and even into the form of the cosmic
stood as those conscious and voluntary, repetitious and styl-
drama itself. One may therefore speak of a “prestige of the
ized symbolic bodily actions that are centered on cosmic
body” in ritual. In the bodily gesture, the chant, dance, and
structures and/or sacred presences. (Verbal behavior such as
stride of participants, primordial presences are made actual
chant, song, and prayer are of course included in the category
again, time is renewed, and the universe is regenerated.
of bodily actions.) The conscious and voluntary aspects of
ritual rule out the inclusion of personal habits or neurotic
Ritual is more than merely symbolic action, it is hieratic.
compulsions in this definition, as does the stress on a tran-
Almost all human activity is symbolic, even the most “ratio-
scendent focus (as Freud has shown, neurotic obsessions refer
nally” pragmatic. People would never trouble to fix cars if
back to infantile traumas and represent contorted efforts of
cars had no cultural value; even scientific experiments would
the self to communicate with itself: the focus of neurotic
be meaningless without a tacit reference to a specific kind of
compulsion is the self).
world and society that validates such activities. However, rit-
ual underlines and makes emphatic its symbolic intention.
Even more fundamentally, ritual is intentional bodily
Hence the stylized manner of ritual: the special clothes, the
engagement in the paradigmatic forms and relationships of
altered manner of speech, the distinctive places and times.
reality. As such, ritual brings not only the body but also that
But above all, behavior is repetitive and consciously follows
body’s social and cultural identity to the encounter with the
a model. Repetition, after all, is a natural way for the body
transcendental realm. By conforming to models or para-
to proclaim, enact, and experience the choice of true as op-
digms that refer to the primordial past and that can be shared
posed to false things and ways, and to dwell self-consciously
by many people, ritual also enables each person to transcend
in determinative model realities, in the “holy.”
the individual self, and thus it can link many people together
into enduring and true forms of community. As a result, ritu-
The use of model roles and identities is crucial to ritual.
al draws into itself every aspect of human life, and almost
As Mircea Eliade has shown, ritual is shaped by archetypes,
every discipline of the social sciences and humanities has
by the “first gestures” and dramas from the beginning of
something to say about it. This article shall begin this analy-
time, which must be represented again in the ritual and reex-
sis of ritual, however, with an attempt to articulate its mani-
perienced by the participants. It is easy to stress the imagina-
fest religious orientation and how this gives rise to repetitious
tive and mythic aspect of these dramas, and to ignore their
behaviors. After that it shall turn to other approaches that
significance specifically as bodily enactments. In ritual, peo-
highlight the latent factors in ritual, such as its personal or
ple voluntarily submit to their bodily existence and assume
social value. By its conclusion this article will have reviewed
very specific roles with highly patterned rules—rules and
the major theoretical approaches to ritual
roles that conform the self to all others who have embodied
THE RELIGIOUS MEANING OF RITUAL. Ritual appears in all
these “typical” roles in the past. To contact reality, in short,
religions and societies, even those that are nominally antiri-
the conscious self must sacrifice its individual autonomy, its
tualistic. Although it is common to contrast “ritualism” with
freedom in fantasy to “be” anything.
“deeper spirituality” and mysticism, ritual is especially
The self is not utterly unique and self-generated, and it
stressed in mystical groups (Zen monasteries, S:u¯f¯ı orders,
cannot control life as it wishes. This is no doubt one of the
Jewish mystical communities, Hindu yogic ashrams, etc.); in
deepest reasons for the common resentment of ritual: it lo-
such groups ritual often expands to fill every moment of daily
cates and imprisons individuals in a particular reality whose
life. The body is evidently more important in religious expe-
consequences can no longer be avoided. The power of ritual
rience than is often thought.
is wryly indicated by stories about the bride left abandoned
Ritual centers on the body, and to understand ritual one
at the altar: in the specificity of the wedding ritual and its
shall have to take the body seriously as a vehicle for religious
implications, the singular and immortal youth who exulted
experience. It is evident that without a body one would have
in the eternity of romantic dreams must become merely one
no awareness of a world at all. The infant builds up an under-
of many mortals who have passed this way before. The au-
standing of the world out of sensory-motor experience, and
tonomous and infinitely free self is transformed ritually into
as Jean Piaget and Sigmund Freud, among others, have
“groom” (remorselessly implying the series “father,” “grand-
shown, this understanding underlies and sustains the adult
father,” and dead “ancestor”). The ritual makes him take his
experience of space, time, number, and personal identity.
place in the cycle of the generations. Thus it signifies human
The self is first of all a bodily self. As a result, physical experi-
limitation, and even death. He becomes what he had always
ences and actions engage consciousness more immediately
undeniably been, a bodily, mortal being. Through ritual, the
and irresistibly, and bestow a much stronger sense of reality,
self is discovered as a public, external reality, which can be
than any merely mental philosophy or affirmation of faith.
known only through perspectives mediated by others and es-
Much ritual symbolism draws on the simplest and most in-
pecially by transcendent others: the self is something already
tense sensory experiences, such as eating, sexuality, and pain.
determined and presented, which can be understood above
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7835
all and most truly in the ritual act itself. In these actions and
even be directly healing, inasmuch as many physical ailments
encounters the primal beings provide the model and the
have a significant psychosomatic component, and social cri-
source of life. The ritual participants must submit to those
ses are above all crises in accommodating individuals or
deeper realities. They must will their own bodies into identi-
groups to each other and to cultural norms.
ties and movements that stem from the ancestral past. They
must be humble.
There is a tendency among phenomenologists of reli-
gion concerned with ritual to emphasize the personal en-
This essential preliminary movement of the self may be
counter with divine beings as the focus of ritual experience.
called “recentering”: there is in a kind of standing outside of
Rudolf Otto, in his influential The Idea of the Holy (first pub-
oneself, a taking up of the position of the divine “other” and
lished in 1917), was explicitly guided by Christian (and spe-
acting on its behalf that is expressed explicitly as a personal
cifically Lutheran) assumptions when he described the holy,
submission to it and that is experienced directly as a submer-
or “numinous,” this way. However, there are many religions
sion of the personal will in the divine will. The ritual comes
in which the focus of ritual is mostly or entirely impersonal,
from the ancients and was a gift from the divine; to repeat
or in which there are no prayers or sacrifices made to divine
it means to receive their stamp upon the self and to make
beings. Rather, ritual action consists in repeating the primal
their world one’s own.
deeds of beings not now actively present. It is the deeds, not
the persons, that are important. Most Australian Aboriginal
In a wide-ranging study of native religions, Adolf E. Jen-
ritual fits in this category; a striking parallel can be found in
sen (1963) has defended the thesis that the various epochs
the teachings of the ritual texts of late Vedic Hinduism. The
of human history have been characterized by distinctive vi-
S´atapatha Bra¯hman:a, for example, states repeatedly that the
sions of the universe. Although the details and applications
priests are to perform the sacrifices because this is what
of these visions vary enormously from society to society and
the gods themselves did to create the world; in fact, it is by
era to era, the basic visions themselves are not numerous.
performing these rites that the gods became gods and im-
Early agriculture, for example, was made culturally possible
mortal. Therefore the priests recreate the world when they
by a certain way of seeing the world and understanding life,
repeat certain actions, and all who participate in the sacrifice
death, and humanity, a way that transformed the “burial” of
become gods and immortal as well.
the root or seed, its “rebirth” (or “resurrection”) as a plant,
and its “murderous” harvesting as food into a kind of mys-
In this view, the dynamic of reality is sacrificial; it is re-
tery, a compelling and salvific vision. The first seer to whom
newed only through sacrifice and attained only by those who
the divine revealed itself in this way must have had a shatter-
sacrifice. Through sacrifice one becomes equal to the gods,
ing experience. Here, according to Jensen, is the fundamen-
or even their master, since they too depend on sacrifice. In
tal origin of the rituals of the early agriculturalists: these ritu-
later Hinduism, there developed a philosophy of ritual, the
als arose to induct neophytes into the mystery and to enable
Pu¯rva M¯ıma¯m:sa¯ (also called the Karma M¯ıma¯m:sa¯), which
full initiates to reexperience the shattering revelations of the
in some versions was explicitly atheistic: The process under-
primal reality. The participants remember the creative acts
lying the universe was a ritual process repeated in and sus-
that made them what they are, and thus they are able to dwell
tained by Brahmanic ritual performances alone. However,
in a world that has meaning. Farming itself becomes not only
the enactment of the duties (dharma) appropriate to one’s
possible, but necessary.
caste, sex, and age is also a form of this ritual world mainte-
nance, especially if done with the fully conscious intention
Eliade (1959) terms these primal, constitutive encoun-
of sustaining the impersonal ritual order of the universe. This
ters with the sacred hierophanies (self-disclosures of the holy)
may be called a structural rather than a personal focus to ritu-
and kratophanies (revelations of overwhelming power). It is
al action. The aim of such ritual is to enact and perhaps even
the underlying purpose of rituals to recall and renew such ex-
regenerate the structure of reality, the deep structure that
periences of reality. These powerful visions—which are usu-
consists of a certain pattern of relationships and their dynam-
ally devoted to the mythic origins of the universe or to those
ic regeneration. It can even be argued that this structural
aspects of the creation that hold special consequence for
focus is the real or deeper one in most rituals directed to per-
mankind, but which are preserved within the sacred field of
sonal beings, for commonly those personal beings are ad-
ritual enactment—provide a focus and framework for living
dressed in ritual in order to assure the proper changing of
in the “profane” world of everyday activity. They even sancti-
the seasons, the fertility of the fields, the restoration of
fy this activity, and so rescue it from the terror of inconse-
health, prosperity in business and everyday affairs, or perhaps
quentiality and meaninglessness. However, ordinary life,
more profoundly the general preservation of social tranquilli-
with its egoisms, pressures, and attractions, constantly threat-
ty and universal harmony.
ens to erode a wider sense of reality. Crises arise that make
the challenge acute. The regular enactment of rituals renews
One need not expect to find that ritual emerges first as
the experiential focus on the sacred. In the recentering pro-
the result of a personal experience of encounter with a divini-
cess, the overall meaning of life and the reality of transcen-
ty, although traditional cultures often explain their rituals in
dental powers are again made paramount over merely egois-
this fashion. Rituals are also found to be taking shape in con-
tic or social concerns. The ordering that ritual effects can
formity with a general sense of what is right and fitting to
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RITUAL [FIRST EDITION]
do in the context of a given situation. This structural sense
will be chaotic and destructive, however, unless some harmo-
of what is “right and fitting” may well lack much precision,
nious and stable mode of interaction is discovered. In ritual,
at least on the conscious level, but despite this a preconscious
the bodily self enacts the true and enduring forms of relation-
(or “unconscious”) awareness of the nature of the world and
ships within a cosmic order that has a constructive place for
the way in which it relates to the ritual situation may operate
the self. But this enactment must begin with an acceptance
to determine ritual details with great exactitude. Mono-
of personal limitation. So it is commonly found that ritual
graphs on particular ritual systems often illustrate this
sequences may begin with explicit declarations of personal
vividly.
flaw, shame, or guilt existing in the participants or in their
world that it will be the task of the ritual to assuage or nullify.
As Bruce Kapferer (1983) has shown for exorcism rituals
The “flaw” need not be narrowly moral, of course: it may
in Sri Lanka, the details of cult can only be understood in
terms of the general sense of life, and the overall existential
only be, for example, that a youngster is growing into an
environment, of ritual participants, although they may not
adult without yet knowing or assuming adult responsibilities
be able to explain these details and simply accept them as
and roles. If this willful autonomy were to continue, or to
“traditional.” In fact, participants insensibly adapt rituals to
become common, the sanctified social order would cease;
specific situations, personal experiences, and training. James
therefore, initiation is necessary to rectify the disharmony in-
W. Fernandez (1982) has provided an astonishingly rich
troduced by the child-adult.
analysis of the symbolic coherence of an African religious
Rituals cluster especially around those primary realities
movement that shows how conscious thought and prereflec-
(such as sexuality, death, strife, and failure) that force indi-
tive experience interact to produce ritual behavior. At times,
viduals to face their personal limits and their merely relative
the conscious component may be very high: Stanley J. Tam-
existence. In many Indo-European and Semitic languages
biah’s (1970) description of spirit cults in Thailand necessar-
the very word for “shame” felt before the opposite sex (espe-
ily involves a discussion of Buddhist metaphysics at certain
cially in regard to their sexual organs) is the same as that for
points, but even here most of the structure of the ritual con-
“respect” before the elderly, the rulers, the dead, and the
forms to unspoken but vividly present folk realities.
gods; it is also the word for “ritual awe.” This deeply felt
One of the most telling instances of the influence of a
“shame-awe” provides people with the proper stance and
general sense of the “right and fitting” on ritual behavior,
poise to accept their mere relativity and their limits, and
however, is described in W. Lloyd Warner’s classic study of
thereby to restore harmony to the world. Beginning with a
Memorial Day and other rituals in a New England commu-
shamed sense of flaw and submission, one comes in the
nity, The Living and the Dead: A Study of the Symbolic Life
course of the ritual to perceive the self from the perspective
of Americans (1959). Warner describes how the celebration
of the holy. From this perspective and this transcendental
of the holiday was planned and carried out one spring. Many
center, one wills the ritual actions until the identification of
people were involved; in fact almost all groups in the com-
wills results in making the ritual one’s voluntary, autono-
munity were represented. Many random factors and issues
mous, and bodily enactment of truth. Although ritual com-
intervened, but the result can be regarded as a crystallization
monly begins in duty or submission, it generally ends in vol-
of the American ethos as it existed at that time and place.
untary and even joyful affirmation. In this way, the dread
There is here neither the calculated imposition of ritualized
and the enchantment that R. R. Marett and Rudolf Otto
ideology on underclasses by an authoritarian, hypocritical
found to be two aspects of the experience of the sacred articu-
elite nor solitary ecstatic encounters with sacred beings used
late also the actual structure of most ritual sequences, which
as models for community cult (two current theories of the
begin in disequilibrium and end in harmony after confes-
origin of ritual). Instead, one finds the voluntary community
sion, submission, purification sacrifice, or other ritual
enactment of a felt reality, which in turn makes the common
strategies.
dream an actuality, at least in the festival itself. The felt reali-
Connected with this is what might be called the ritual
ty is also a dream, an ideal, for it consists of those experienced
barter of immortalities. In ritual, one inevitably and implicit-
values that at the deepest level guide members of the commu-
ly wills one’s own death, since one takes on a merely partial
nity, and in terms of which they understand and, on occa-
identity as “man” or “woman,” “elder” or “youth,” the iden-
sion, even criticize each other and themselves.
tity of an actual finite self existing within boundaries and
Shame and death in ritual. This phenomenon of criti-
under obligations, defined through relationships with others
cism, and especially of self-criticism, is an essential part of
and destined to die. It is therefore both as a kind of palliative
ritual. It is part of the “recentering” that has already been
and as a necessary consequence of the search for reality that
mentioned, a self-transformation that is necessary if there is
rituals of initiation, the New Year, and so on place such stress
to be any hope of escaping personal fantasies and encounter-
on immortality and mythic eternity. The consolation for ac-
ing authentic realities outside the self. For reality, which the
cepting one’s death is the awareness that through this one
self longs for as a secure grounding, at the same time must
attains to another kind of eternity, as part of a larger cosmic
include other things and beings, which in turn must condi-
reality. The seeming eternity of one’s immediate desires and
tion and limit the self. Encounters with these other presences
wishes are given up for an eternity mediated through the di-
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vine order, which certainly endures beyond all individuals
ings in them. Left and right symbolisms, for example, are ev-
and embodies the “otherness” that limits us.
erywhere in the world correlated through ritual equivalences
and oppositions between male and female, day and night,
There should be nothing surprising in this intimate
order and disorder, the sun and moon, and other basic ele-
mixture of personal need and ruthless objectivity, for ritual
ments in experience. Robert Hertz, who first noted that ritu-
as such is constituted by the longing to place the self in en-
als worldwide share these left and right symbolisms, suggest-
during contact with absolute or source realities. This neces-
ed that they were rooted in the general human experience of
sarily requires a relationship compounded of both self and
skill and mastery in the right hand and relative weakness and
other, of heteronomy and autonomy. (It would therefore be
clumsiness in the left, which then served to characterize and
incorrect to identify ritual action with heteronomy, as Kant,
give order to a wide range of other experiences and percep-
Friedrich Schleiermacher, and others have done.) W. Brede
Kristensen, the Dutch phenomenologist of religions, refers
tions (see essays in Needham, 1973). Ernst Cassirer (1955,
to this connection of self and other as the fundamental “com-
pp. 83ff.) has shown how specific bodily organizations of ex-
pact,” “agreement,” or “covenant,” “man’s Law of life” that
perience of other sorts, especially of space, time, number, and
underlies all rituals, for in them humanity and the divine
self, are ritually integrated into cosmological enactments.
bind themselves together to sustain a unified and stable order
Certainly ritual definitively breaks up the homogeneity
of the universe.
of space and establishes places in it for humanity. The body
Space and time in ritual. Through ritual, then, the self
itself is a common model for the universe. Puranic descrip-
is inducted into the necessary forms of space and time, and
tions of the universe develop this idea in astonishing detail,
these forms are disclosed as harmonious with the body. The
in schemes that are often reproduced in Hindu temples and
space and time of ritual are organic experiences. Time, for
iconography. The Hindu temple has a waist, trunk, and
example, waxes and wanes; like organisms it can grow and
head. In Nepal, Buddhist stupas often have two eyes painted
decay, and must be regenerated. Time has neither static eter-
on the dome and are topped with a small parasol, just as the
nity nor monotonous regularity but the rhythms of the body,
Buddha himself used to have. Such ritual symbolisms make
even if it embraces the universe. Yearly festivals mark the mo-
such actions as moving through the temple a journey
ments in the “life” of the year, from birth through fertility
through the various heavens and lend shape to meditation
to death. The rites of passage, including birth, initiation,
as well. The yogin may practice visualizing his body as the
marriage, and death, translate the patterns of time into the
temple-universe, finding within it all the gods and heavens.
individual life cycle, giving the chief transitions of every life
It is common even in folk religions to find ritual identifica-
the authentic resonance of the sacred. Even the minor mo-
tion of the cardinal points with the four limbs, and the center
ments of ritual, ignored by participants, render an architec-
of the world identified as an omphalos, or umbilicus, which
ture in time in which the girders are ceremonial gestures, the
may be located at the center of one’s village or enshrined as
rhythms of chant, the turn, and the stride.
the goal of religious pilgrimage. In every example, the reli-
gious motivation is to establish necessary links between the
Space, as well, is drawn into the ritual field of correspon-
body and the world, to make these links “natural” in the very
dences and boundaries and is given a shape that hospitably
fabric of things, to make secure continuities that give the self
welcomes the body. The cosmos is revealed as a house and
access to transcendent and sacred life.
a temple, and, reflexively, the personal and physical house
and temple are disclosed as the cosmos made immanent. The
A major strategy employed by ritual to achieve this goal
mountain is the “throne” of the gods, the heavens their
is simply to reenact with the participants’ own bodies the pri-
“chamber”; the shaman’s drum is his “horse,” by which he
meval or constitutive acts by which the cosmos came into
ecstatically mounts through the “roof” of heaven. The Brah-
being. Mircea Eliade, who has devoted many studies to this
manic altar is shaped in the form of a woman in order to
almost universal trait in ritual, has called it “the myth of the
tempt the gods to approach the sacrificial place. And if the
eternal return.” To exist truly is to remember, and even more
center of the universe is brought symbolically into one’s
to reenact, the foundational events; to forget is to dissolve
midst, so too is the beginning of creation, which can then
the world in chaos. By repeating the primordial deeds of the
ritually be repeated in one’s central shrines. Ritual makes all
gods, human beings become as the gods, posturing out their
of this immediately and bodily present. The universe itself
will and establishing their divine world. Precisely as bodily
may be embodied in the participants, so that the marriage
beings, and through the body, they enter eternity and “be-
of king and queen may at once simulate and stimulate the
come” the transcendent others who control their lives. The
marriage of heaven and earth, and the slaying of slaves may
personal distancing of the self from the self mentioned earlier
accomplish the overthrow of chaos. The elementary sensory-
permits this ritual ecstasy, which perhaps achieves its most
motor experiences of up and down, in and out, and left and
extreme form in trances of possession or mystical union,
right, rudimentary though one may think them, are utilized
when the sense of self is entirely blotted out. However, the
in ritual, often in astonishingly systematic fashion, showing
ritual dialectic of self and other much more usually seeks to
to what degree ritual is a meditation on the final and basic
retain the full consciousness of both in reciprocal harmony.
experiences of the body, an attempt to discover deeper mean-
New Year’s festivals, initiations, funerals, and coronations all
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show this passion for the abiding dynamic process, the eter-
experiences), but also elsewhere, ritual makes use of activities
nal form of the universe.
that are familiar and deeply intimate, that when engaged in
involve the body very strongly, or that have been repeated
When, in the Finnish epic Kalevala, Väinämöinen, the
so often that they take on a habitual, automatic nature. The
shaman hero, wishes to heal himself of a wound caused by
power that ritual has to make these acts conscious and, si-
an iron weapon, he ritually chants the myth of the first cre-
multaneously, to bring them into relationship with central
ation of iron and so is able to reverse and negate the impure
religious realities is a major part of its attraction and fascina-
and wrong unfolding of time (Kalevala, rune 9). The first act
tion. In effect, ritual sacramentalizes the sensory-motor
of Columbus when he set foot on the soil of the New World
sphere by lifting it into the sphere of the ultimate, while the
was to hold a religious service, praying to God and drawing
energy of elemental awareness is reshaped and drawn into the
this new and alien territory into the same universe of dedica-
support of the structures of clear consciousness and ultimate
tion that contained God, sovereign rulers, and Spain. The
concerns. The secular is transformed by the sacred.
terra incognita thus became a domesticated Spanish territory.
The process can be observed in terms of particular ritual
These two instances show the prayerfulness of “magic,”
symbols. Each symbol is multivalent: it refers to many
and the magic of prayer. Väinämöinen’s chant was also
things, which may not be clearly present to consciousness but
prayerful, for it was grounded in submission to foundational
that exist in a kind of preconscious halo around it. Victor
realities and mysteries. The very need for comprehensive ac-
Turner, in a number of richly detailed studies, has empha-
curacy in the wording of the myth recital obviously signifies
sized a bipolar structure to this multivalency of ritual sym-
the necessity of complete obedience to a sacred and powerful
bols: they are often drawn from sensory experience and pas-
reality that is formal in nature. Of course, faith in this chant
sion (the “orectic” pole) and are made to represent social
is also faith in those divinities named in it, who made iron
ideals (the “ideological” pole). So, as he shows, initiation rit-
and who, by transmitting the chant, created it. And, for his
uals among the Ndembu of Zambia are structured around
part, Columbus followed archetypal forms in his petition to
ideologically defined natural symbols (colors, plant species,
the sacred beings who made the entire world and this new
etc.), which in the course of traumatic ordeals work deeply
land as well, and he even transformed the entire service into
into the consciousness of candidates, reshaping their self-
a kind of legal statement of territorial appropriation, so that
conception and view of the world and society. In the same
personal prayer followed the logic of a deeper impersonal and
way, Ndembu “cults of affliction” turn painfully destructive
“magical” transubstantiation of the land. Like Väinämöinen,
impulses and social tension, and even mental and physical
he overcame anomaly through a cosmological recitation.
illness, into affirmative communal experiences. This analysis
Such reflections show the emptiness of distinctions between
can be elaborated further: A single symbol can draw on orec-
religious and magical rituals and, even more importantly,
tic sensual urges; can implicitly relate to a larger cognitive
provides an awareness of the two basic modes of the sacred,
and dispositional structure that organizes all sensory experi-
impersonal archetypal form and personal sacred presence.
ence into a coherent perception of the natural world; can be
Archetypal form consists of cosmological structures that
part of a ritual used by a participant to advance his or her
shape a divine order and may be renewed through ritual re-
own ego-centered utilitarian aims; can embody the social val-
enactments. Sacred beings must be ritually invoked and ac-
ues of the actual group and perhaps even indicate the group
knowledged. As the instances of Väinämöinen and Colum-
identity; can be seen to point to wider sociocultural and ideo-
bus show, the two modes of the sacred often occur together
logical issues; and, finally, can be directed to transcendental
in the same rite and can inspire the same sense of awe and
spiritual beings or cosmological structures. This sixfold layer-
personal submission.
ing of symbolic meaning may be generally characterized as
The symbolic integrations of ritual. Religious ritual
relating to the body’s organic world, the social world, and
is evidently not a simple or infantile manifestation but is
the cosmological or transcendental realm. The ego’s concerns
based on a kind of final summing-up of, acknowledgement
connect the first and second, while ideological and broadly
of, and submission to reality. Ritual engages all levels of expe-
ecological issues connect the second and third, producing
rience and weaves them together. It has often been noted,
five levels of general symbolic significance that are unified in
for example, that ritual symbolisms often center on such ele-
ritual enactments.
mentary acts as eating and sex. From this strong emphasis,
A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO RITUAL. The various
in fact, Freudian psychoanalysis was able to draw evidence
levels of symbolic reference in ritual assist in understanding
for its hypothesis that religion consists of sublimated or pro-
of the applicability of many disciplines and theories to ritual.
jected sexual hungers and symbols. Other theorists (in the
These can be seen as applying to one or another aspect or
modern period, most notably those emphasizing totemism
level of ritual action, although obviously this applicability
and the Myth and Ritual school) deduced from the impor-
also suggests that any one theory or discipline in itself cannot
tance of food and eating in ritual that rituals were economic
claim sole truth and must be supplemented and corrected by
in origin and concerned with magical or proto-scientific con-
other approaches. For example, Freudian theory has helped
trol of the food supply. However, not only in the areas of
researchers to see the relevance of organic processes in the de-
sexuality and eating (two of the most rudimentary of bodily
velopment of personality, from infancy to the organization
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7839
of behavior in adults. Freud was the first to show in detail
a Melanesian culture in which ritual symbols have only loose
just how, through sublimation, repression, projection, and
chains of analogical associations, varying from individual to
other transformations, bodily symbolisms can be expanded
individual and only imperfectly worked together. Since these
in dreams, art, language, and ritual into entire cosmological
metaphors and symbols by their very looseness underlie at
dramas. Freud also showed how each organic symbolism or-
some point or another every participant’s experience, they
ganizes increasingly wider ranges of experience within it.
can be variously meaningful to all and serve to bring them
This expansive tendency of each symbol, which may be
together. More generally, a purely cognitive approach ig-
called its imperialistic tendency to organize all experience
nores the possibility that ritual may be concerned above all
around itself, brings it into competition with other symbols
with the cultivation of a basic stance on life, involving the
and even with conscious thought. However, as Volney Gay
recentering that I have earlier discussed. As Gilbert Lewis has
has shown, Freud’s own restriction of meaningfulness to this
suggested, rituals may even emphasize precisely the illogic
organic level alone, and even solely to sexual complexes, and
and incoherence of symbols in an effort to capture the para-
his general antipathy to religion, led him to suggest that reli-
dox, mystery, and transcendental reality of the sacred. Even
gion and ritual are infantile and to equate the latter with re-
more basically, if possible, the multivalence of symbols nec-
gressive neurotic compulsions.
essarily insures their ultimate formal incoherence, since the
relational meanings often accrete to a symbol by experienced
The operations by which bodily symbols are organized
conjunction, not logic, and the “imperialism” of symbols
into coherent general dispositional structures of perception
makes each incompatible at some points with others. Partic-
have been illuminated by the work of such psychologists as
ular rituals may achieve a unified meaning by making one
Jean Piaget, Heinz Werner and Bernard Kaplan, and C. G.
symbolism dominant, using the rich though submerged asso-
Jung, each in his own way enlarging their understanding.
ciations of subordinate symbols simply to contribute to the
Ernst Cassirer’s philosophically sophisticated analysis of how
sense of depth and authenticity of the rite.
cognition comes to organize space, time, and identity, enact-
The value of ritual to the ego world of rational calcula-
ing paradigms of these in ritual, may almost be taken as a
tion and social manipulation and interaction has been em-
philosophical phenomenology supplementing Mircea
phasized by a number of theorists. Some cultures and reli-
Eliade’s researches and detailed demonstrations. Such studies
gions make such an approach easier than others; for example,
enhance but also correct the often highly speculative ap-
as Emily Ahern has emphasized, in Chinese religions the
proach of Jungian psychology to ritual symbolism. Of great
heavenly spirits and gods are ranked in a bureaucratic hierar-
importance is the work of structuralist anthropology, a field
chy that is a transcendental continuation of earthly Chinese
founded by Claude Lévi-Strauss and dedicated to the analysis
society and government. Prayers, offerings, and modes of ad-
of cognitive organization in cultural creations. According to
dress can therefore be interpreted in an almost wholly social
this theory, rituals, myths, and other aspects of culture are
and manipulative mode, if one is so inclined. Much of the
structured cognitively by processes resembling binary com-
debate about the “rationality” of ritual among anthropolo-
puter operations. These mental operations lie finally outside
gists, referred to earlier, applies to this level of ritual meaning
of all meaning and simply reflect an autonomous cognitive
as well. These discussions have revived the viewpoints of
drive toward order. Lévi-Strauss suggests in some of his
E. B. Tylor, James G. Frazer, and others from the end of the
works that each culture works out a tight and utterly consis-
nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century that ritual
tent logic in its rituals and myths; elsewhere that coherence
was in its origins a pragmatic attempt to control nature, a
can only be found on a regional and even a global scale, par-
rational even if scientifically ill-founded activity. Such theo-
ticular cultures exemplifying only partial and unconscious
rists as Adolf Jensen and Robin Horton go on to make a dis-
cognitive unifications. It must be added that Lévi-Strauss
tinction between “expressive” and “instrumental,” or manip-
(1979) finds ritual far more incoherent than myth, due large-
ulative, aspects of ritual; the former relates to faith and is
ly to ritual’s explicitly religious and emotive focus. However,
authentically religious, while the latter is said to be material-
other structural anthropologists have shown astonishingly
istic, pragmatic, and inauthentic. But such viewpoints not
coherent organizations of symbols in even the slightest de-
only ignore the recentering process underlying even the most
tails of ritual; action becomes a coded text or hidden lan-
utilitarian ritual; they have difficulty accounting for the fact
guage conveying information about the social and cultural
that in many religions it is precisely the pragmatic applica-
universe of the performers. The actual meaning of the ritual
tion of cult that directly expresses the faith that the springs
to the actors may be considered irrelevant.
of reality flow forth in the actualities of human existence and
Critics of this approach have suggested that ritual may
that reality is benevolently concerned with human needs.
not be concerned after all with the cognitive classification of
There is no separation of spirit and flesh in such religions,
things but may instead relate to others of the six levels that
and the aim of religion is to sanctify life. Still, in the multile-
have been distinguished in ritual symbolic reference. Fredr-
veled significance of ritual symbolisms, rational ego-oriented
ick Barth points out that, as the media of social interaction,
calculations have a role.
relatively unsystematic and incoherent symbolic networks
So do social and political calculations, conscious or oth-
may be sufficient or even especially desirable. He describes
erwise, for these act as a necessary check on a population of
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RITUAL [FIRST EDITION]
competing egos and permit a community to exist. The re-
participants, Marxist analysis locates itself at a more compar-
centering that ritual forces on the ego, as in initiations, pro-
ative and materialistic level: the more extreme theorists, for
vides an intersubjective, social confirmation of reality neces-
example, argue in the vein of Enlightenment critics of reli-
sary even for the individual ego, if it is to participate in a
gion that ritual consists of systematic falsehoods designed by
world it cannot wholly control. Inner structures of awareness
ruling circles to justify their exploitation of the underprivi-
are thus shared with others, and a community is created that
leged (e.g., see Bloch, 1977). In any case, ritual is about polit-
has legitimacy to the degree that it is anchored in transcen-
ical power or economic forces.
dental cosmological realities. Thus one finds that in all reli-
gions ritual has enormous social value. Society can enhance
Some studies have extended insight into the integrative
itself by fusing transcendental symbolisms with its own
power of ritual to include a culture’s relationship to its larger
norms, and ritual can be quite functional in overcoming ten-
natural environment. One of the most striking demonstra-
sions and divisions in the community (in this way sublimat-
tions of this ecological function of ritual, in which ritual acts
ing violence).
as a central control on a wide range of forces, is Roy A. Rap-
paport’s description of the pig festival of the Tsembaga of
This was quite powerfully brought out by the French
Papua New Guinea (Rappaport, in Lessa and Vogt, 1979).
sociologist Émile Durkheim in The Elementary Forms of the
Warfare, human fertility rates, land-occupation densities,
Religious Life (1912). Societies image themselves in their ritu-
protein supply during crises, wild pig marauders, and many
al symbols, he maintained; the “sacred” is the essential social
other factors are kept in balance by this festival, truly bring-
idea. Religion is not for Durkheim (as it was for Otto) about
ing the Tsembaga into harmony with the ecological forces
abnormal personal states, but about normal social and natu-
affecting their lives and even their survival. Once again, and
ral life: the rainfall, the crops, good hunting, good health,
from an unexpected perspective, one finds a multiform unity
children, and social continuity. Even relationships to partic-
between self and other, expressive and instrumental elements
ular spiritual beings are cast in terms of this deeper, more
in ritual.
normative, structural and cosmological orientation. In effect,
T
Durkheim brought to the attention of researchers a mode of
HE TYPES OF RITUAL. Two basic approaches to the classifi-
cation of ritual may be found in the literature on the subject,
the sacred they had ignored until then, the structural and
which may be called the functional-enumerative and the
cosmological mode. But he saw it chiefly in terms of social
structural-analytical. The first has the attraction of seeming
groupings and values; even individual spiritual beings sym-
inductive, empirically firm, and precise: one simply notes
bolized the group or its relations with other groups. The
down each kind of ritual behavior as one finds it, defining
community is recreated at times of initiation and festival.
it by its function or explicit use. The result is usually a long
Such ideas were developed into “functionalist” anthro-
and imposing list. Each item on the list is a special case to
pology in the Anglo-Saxon countries under the leadership of
be explained separately. It is usually not noticed that rituals
A. R. Radcliffe-Brown and Bronislaw Malinowski. The or-
of different levels of generality are mixed together. For exam-
ganic interconnections between social values and rituals were
ple, Crawford Howell Toy, in his Introduction to the History
demonstrated by this approach in many striking studies. Ta-
of Religion (1913), in an admittedly “not exhaustive list,”
boos, for example, do not so much arise from individual fears
presents the principal forms of early ceremonies as follows:
or longings as they do from the social purpose of identifying
emotional and dramatic (religious dances and plays, proces-
to participants the proper sentiments to feel in particular sit-
sions, circumambulations); decorative and curative; econom-
uations. Groups are identified by the rites they practice, roles
ic (hunting and farming rites, dietary rules, rainmaking);
within the group are differentiated (a special necessity in
apotropaic (averting or expelling evil spirits or influences);
small-scale societies, in which roles overlap and daily interac-
puberty and initiation; marriage, birth, burial, purification
tion may be filled with personal antipathies and preferences),
and consecration; and periodic and seasonal. In a separate
and tensions resolved by the community feeling engendered
chapter he considers “totemism” (a supposed cult belonging
by the rites. The functionalists taught their contemporaries
to a specific cultural-historical epoch) and taboo (a universal
that even the most bizarre or apparently harmful practices
ritual type), and in a third chapter “magic” (a general way
(e.g., witchcraft and sorcery, painful initiatory ordeals, ritual
of using rites) and divination (a specific kind of ritual). Toy’s
head-hunting) might be socially constructive. But the genu-
approach is often informative, but haphazard.
inely needed tolerance that characterizes their work has re-
cently been criticized as static, ahistorical, a priori, and
More systematic is the functional classification offered
Panglossian.
by Anthony F. C. Wallace (1966). He distinguishes between
technological rituals aimed at the control of nonhuman na-
That ritual symbolisms may correspond to a society’s
ture (divination, “intensification” rites to increase food sup-
economic and political forces and relate to historical changes
ply, protective rites to avert misfortune); therapy and antith-
in these forces as well has been a theme of recent Marxist an-
erapy rituals affecting humans (curing rites and rites with
thropology. Whereas functionalists tended to limit their con-
injurious ends, like witchcraft and sorcery); ideology rituals
cern to the ideological structures elaborated by particular so-
directed to the control of social groups and values (passage
cieties and often more or less consciously recognized by
rites of the life cycle and territorial movement, “social inten-
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7841
sification” rites to renew group solidarity, like Sunday ser-
transformation, must exist in any system if it is to endure in
vices, arbitrary ceremonial obligations, like taboos, and rebel-
a stable fashion, integrating change into itself without alter-
lion rites, which allow catharsis); salvation rituals enabling
ing its basic form. Although both Durkheim and Freud saw
individuals to cope with personal difficulties (possession
structure maintenance in a negative light and in terms of ta-
rites, shamanic rites, mystic rites, and expiation rites); and,
boos, it is evident that positive injunctions are also important
finally, revitalization rituals designed to cure societal difficul-
and, indeed, that negative prohibitions often have a very pos-
ties and identity crises, such as millenarian movements.
itive intention. This article, therefore, shall call rituals of this
kind “confirmatory rituals,” for in them the basic boundaries
This classification system is clearly much more useful.
and internal spaces of the divine order are confirmed without
However, its functional precision is not entirely adequate,
change, while rituals that bridge divisions and regenerate the
since a single ritual may in actual performance belong to sev-
structure shall be called “transformatory rituals.”
eral or even all of these classes: For instance, Easter in a medi-
eval Polish village was a technological ritual (as a spring festi-
Confirmatory rituals. Both confirmatory and transfor-
val and as a protective rite); offered therapy to ill believers
matory rituals act by centering the will in transcendental
and antitherapy to nonparticipants, such as Jews; was an ide-
sources, that is, they anchor the immediate order in a realm
ology ritual that renewed group solidarity and included arbi-
that transcends it. As shall be seen, these orders may nest hi-
trary ceremonial obligations; and was a salvation and, on oc-
erarchically within each other: reverence to clan ancestors
casion, even a revitalization ritual.
helps to establish the clan within the cosmos, but larger
human groupings may need to center themselves in more in-
Such overlap is almost impossible to avoid in classifica-
clusive realities. This suggests that the order that is being af-
tions of ritual, due to the integrative thrust and multileveled
firmed is to a certain degree situational and relative, and that
nature of ritual. The main criterion in distinguishing rituals
it therefore may contain a certain amount of overlap, inco-
should perhaps be the overall intention or emphasis of the
herence, and contradiction. These are existential realities, not
performers: thus one can say that Easter has in a general way
logical postulates, as has been determined, although certain
moved historically from a revitalization ritual to a salvation
religions do indeed work out their inner structures with re-
ritual in the early church, and thereafter to a technological
markable clarity.
and therapy ritual in the Middle Ages, and finally to an ideol-
ogy ritual at the present time. But if that is so, the external
Confirmatory rituals do not include only taboos, al-
forms of the ritual do not necessarily help to classify it, nor
though this is the category that has been most thoroughly
do they always correspond to a specific function. To put the
discussed. Positive injunctions are merely the other side of
matter a little differently, function is at base a structural mat-
taboos, so that in some cases stress on one or the other aspect
ter and depends on context.
is merely a matter of temperament. Greetings of a religious
nature, blessings, prayers of affirmation, and rituals of medi-
Wallace’s classification, then, may be supplemented
tation that stress the sustained perception of transcendental
with a structural one. Two of the founding classics of the
meanings present in ordinary experience are further instances
modern study of religion suggest a starting point. Émile
of confirmatory rituals. For example, observant Jews have
Durkheim, in his study of religion mentioned above, divided
traditionally been accustomed to recite blessings focused on
all rites into positive and negative kinds. By negative rituals
God on every occasion of everyday life, from the time of ris-
he meant taboos, whose purpose, he said, was to separate the
ing in the morning to going to bed at night, on meeting
sacred from the profane, preserving the transcendence of the
strangers, friends, wise persons or individuals remarkable in
former and the everyday normality of the latter. Positive ritu-
any way, witnessing or hearing of strange occurrences, en-
als chiefly included sacrificial rites, in the course of which the
countering good news or bad, seeing a beautiful tree or tast-
sacred and profane realms were brought together and the or-
ing a new fruit, and so forth. As religious Jews come to see
dinary life of performers was infused with the ideal and the
all of life as an opportunity to dwell in God’s presence, so
normative. The cultic life of religion moves continually be-
do Buddhist monks discover the void within all events, ana-
tween these two phases, maintaining and regenerating the
lyzing every perception, thought, and event in terms of yogic
stable universal order.
categories and ´su¯nyata¯. Such practices ritualize conscious-
Sigmund Freud also distinguished similar basic types of
ness, and are especially important for mystical groups of al-
ritual in his Totem and Taboo (1913). By “totem” Freud re-
most all world religions.
ferred to the totemic sacrifice that, according to him, reen-
Such practices express a more general attribute of ritual:
acted the primordial parricide.
it acts as a frame to awareness. Recognizing within the fluid
Generalizing from these two classics, one may say that
continuum of ordinary occurrences a specific way of direct-
all rituals may be divided into those whose purpose is to
ing one’s behavior immediately removes one from a com-
maintain distinctions within a divine order and those whose
plete immersion in mere activity. It creates self-conscious
purpose is to bridge divisions and effect transformations, re-
choice of behavior, so that one chooses this way, not that;
newing that order when it is threatened by internal or exter-
actions referring to a larger meaning or presence, not actions
nal change. These two traits, of structure maintenance and
merely referring to self. As George Albert Coe remarked in
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RITUAL [FIRST EDITION]
The Psychology of Religion (Chicago, 1917), prayer “is a way
and the profane. However, more recent studies lead one to
of getting one’s self together, of mobilizing and concentrat-
question whether there is any really profane sphere bereft of
ing one’s dispersed capacities, of begetting the confidence
sacred quality and significance in most premodern religious
that tends toward victory over difficulties. It produces in a
systems. As Steiner showed, the profane was not to be under-
distracted mind the repose that is power. It freshens a mind
stood as the “secular” in those systems, but simply as the
deadened by routine. It reveals new truth, because the mind
common and everyday, as distinguished from the special
is made more elastic and more capable of sustained atten-
quality of specifically transcendental things. Thus the pro-
tion” (pp. 312–313). This power of confirmatory rituals is
fane could have sacred value. It is striking that the word qa-
shared with transformatory rituals. However, confirmatory
dosh (“holy”) and its derivatives, such as lehitqadesh (“to
rituals tend to be more abbreviated, because their aim is to
make holy, to sanctify”), are used much more often in the
direct the performer into the world in a certain way and not
Pentateuch about activities and things in this world and even
simply to transform the performer. If such rites were drawn
the human sphere than they are about God. The first use of
out and emphasized in themselves, they would have a con-
the root in the Bible is in regard to God making the Sabbath
trary effect: the symbolic references within the rituals them-
day holy (Gn. 2:3). The taboos of biblical Judaism describe
selves would become the subject of concentration, replacing
ways of dwelling with God and not of keeping away from
the focus on the ordinary field of activity. The internal nest-
him: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy”
ing of symbols would displace banal realities, isolate the per-
(Lv. 19:2). In effect, the taboos permit the sacred to be dif-
formers, and reveal a world of transcendental truths outside
fused in a controlled way through the entire world, building
of common experience. This is what transformatory rituals
up a divine order rather than destroying it, as would occur
do. Thus such rituals as taboo and sacrifice are closely related
if the shattering holiness of God were totally unveiled. (This
to each other, varying modes of the experience of liminality.
important meaning of qadosh was entirely overlooked by Ru-
dolf Otto in his The Idea of the Holy, leading to an unfortu-
The framing power of ritual acts to shape consciousness
nate disregard for the cosmological and structural aspect of
itself and in confirmatory rituals sustains that modified con-
the sacred and a considerable distortion of the spirituality of
sciousness as an enduring thing, producing the specific kind
the religions he described.)
of self-consciousness and worldview aimed at by the particu-
lar religion. This power of ritual over consciousness creates
Taboos not only surround sacred persons, places, and
cultural realities and so even from an empirical viewpoint ac-
times, so as to preserve the intensity and specialness of these
tually produces changes in the environment. Godfrey Lien-
against the encroaching banality of ordinary life, but they
hardt (1961) has shown how such processes operate in detail
also delineate the shifting frameworks of holiness that follow
among the Dinka of the southern Sudan: when a tardy
a person through life, at one time defining the sacred path
herdsman, hurrying home before the sun falls, stops to tie
for one to walk as a youth, at another time the path of the
a knot in a tuft of grass, he not only concentrates his mind
newly initiated, the married person, the elder, and so on.
but he actually modifies his reality, and this action as a whole
Different things are “sacred” to a person as he or she passes
has objective results. No Dinka supposes that commonsense
through the stages of life, and different things are “profane.”
efforts are actually replaced by such acts; such efforts are still
Arnold van Gennep (1960) called this the “pivoting of the
needed, but a “slant” or framework of reality has been gener-
sacred” and concluded from it that the sacred is not an abso-
ated that facilitates activity. As Clifford Geertz has put it, rit-
lute quality, but a relative one. Taboos mark out these stages
ual is both a “model of” and a “model for” reality (Geertz,
and confine the individual in them. For example, among the
in Lessa and Vogt, 1979), or, to use Martin Heidegger’s
Aborigines of the northern Flinders Range in southern Aus-
term, ritual defines a “project,” a way of entering into exis-
tralia, women and uninitiated males are not permitted to ap-
tence and bodily seizing it. Sherry Ortner (1978) has shown
proach the areas set aside for men’s initiations. These areas,
how key symbols operate ritually in this way among the Bud-
the author of this article was told, were sacred and therefore
dhist Sherpas of Nepal, sustaining pervasive moods or dispo-
taboo to women and young boys. But as novices the boys are
sitional orientations to life and generating characteristic
led to those grounds, and henceforth they are allowed to go
choices of behavior among the performers.
there: The taboo is lifted.
Striking advances have been made in recent years in the
Taboos also define the enduring gradations in a contin-
understanding of taboos. Decades ago it was common to re-
uum of sacrality. Among the Adnjamathanha people just
gard taboos as superstitious, even infantile fear responses de-
mentioned, for example, anyone could go to the burial
signed to ward off the sacred or perhaps lacking even that
grounds, but certain things had to be done before entering
semirational goal. As recently as 1958, Jean Cazeneuve ar-
them, and the only time that people could visit was in the
gued at length that taboos and purifications are intended to
late afternoon. As was mentioned, the men’s sacred grounds
reject the sacred and to create an autonomous human sphere
were more taboo, with women and uninitiated men forbid-
in which transcendence is an“impurity.” With this view, Ca-
den at all times; however, these grounds were divided into
zeneuve was building on Durkheim’s important insight that
two parts, one near to the ordinary camp (which women
taboos act to distinguish and thus to preserve both the sacred
could approach) and another in a remote part of the bush
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that was tabooed even to initiated men, except at times of
caste system) and physical space (as in the various grounds
special ceremonies. Taboos on food, noise, and even the
and areas of the Adnjamathanha region), (4) distinguish the
things one carried differed according to which place one
various species of the sacred from each other (as in Australian
wished to visit. Taboos therefore can distinguish the more
Aboriginal totemism), and (5) contrast the polar modes of
sacred from the less sacred. A striking account of the social
the sacred (male-female, pure-impure, positive-negative).
impact of such taboos for Hindu society and caste was made
Transformatory rituals. If confirmatory rituals sanctify
by Edward B. Harper (1964): caste hierarchies are preserved
the distinctions and boundaries that structure the cosmos
by strict taboos governing personal relations, eating habits,
(and therefore cluster especially around liminal points to pre-
marriage, and much else. These taboos are phrased in terms
serve and define differences), transformatory rituals serve to
of purity and pollution. A brahman priest, after careful puri-
bridge the various departments and divisions thus estab-
fications, may serve the divinity in the temple, washing the
lished, regenerating the cosmos in whole or in part when it
divine image, changing its clothes, and offering food and
is threatened by change. These rituals arise in response to
flowers. The priest may thus “take the dirt” of the divinity,
anomaly, fault, disequilibrium, and decay, and they have as
eating the offered food, carrying off the “dirty” clothes, and
their aim the restoration of harmony and ideal patterns. Re-
so on. Other castes are renewed by “taking the dirt” of the
centering is their essential dynamic. They all accomplish this
priest, and the process continues down to the outcastes who
in basically the same way, in accordance with a sacrificial
sweep, launder, and do other “impure” tasks for everyone.
logic: (1) the disturbing element is disconnected from its sur-
In this way the divine energy flows through the entire caste
roundings, by literal spatial dislocation, if possible; (2) it is
system, sustaining all of its gradations. The specific taboos
brought directly into contact with the transcendental source
thus have as their basic aim the preservation of the entire di-
or master in the sacred, which dissolves it and reforms it—
vine order, which is tacitly present at each observance. By
this is the time of flux, outside of ordinary structures; and
keeping ten paces from the priest, one sustains the world.
(3) the reshaped element is relocated in the divine order.
Taboos also distinguish different species of the sacred
These rites often separate out from the disturbing element
from each other. Among the Adnjamathanha, as among
or situation those positive potentially integrative factors that
most Australian Aboriginal peoples, the entire society was di-
can be reshaped into a constructive part of the divine order
vided into totemic clans and divisions. Each clan had certain
and the negative disintegrative factors that must be located
taboos to observe in regard to their own totem, which were
in some peripheral and bounded part of the cosmos, where
not obligatory for other totems. For example, a clan would
they belong.
not hunt their own totem even though there was no taboo
One may further loosely distinguish between transition-
on eating it as there was among some other tribes. The entire
al rituals, which place the disturbing element in a new loca-
society was symbolically divided in half, and each moiety had
tion in the divine order (e.g., through initiation, the child
its own totems and its own special taboos. These taboos also
enters the adult sphere; in funerals the living person is ac-
controlled relationships between the two moieties, that is,
knowledged as fully dead, perhaps as an ancestor, etc.), and
they were not only directed to the natural world but struc-
restorative rituals, which return the regenerated element to
tured the social world as well.
its previous place in the whole. Examples of transitional ritu-
Finally, taboos act to distinguish fundamentally differ-
als include “rites of passage” (birth, initiation, marriage, mor-
ent modes of the sacred from each other, such as male sacrali-
tuary rites), calendrical rites (seasonal and other regularly en-
ty and female sacrality, each gender having its own food pro-
acted rites, sometimes called rites of intensification),
hibitions, its own tabooed activities, its special ceremonial
consecration rituals (founding a new village, accepting a
centers tabooed to the other, and so on. The “pure” and the
stranger into the community, sanctifying a house, etc.), and
“impure” is another such pair of opposing modes. The “im-
conversionary rituals (penitential practices, rituals inducing
pure” often has the dangerous quality of being formless or
radical personal change or ecstasy, and conversions as such).
anomalous and therefore threatening to the structures of the
Restorative rituals include purifications, healing rites (which
divine order. Death, for example, is often considered “im-
generally attempt to reintegrate the ailing organ or patient
pure” for this reason, even though it is also a form of the sa-
into a state of harmony with the body or community), divi-
cred, and so will be surrounded by taboos. What may be
nation, and crisis rites. Millenarian or revitalization move-
called positive and negative sacrality (e.g., “good” and “evil”)
ments exhibit both restorative and transitional features in
are also distinguished by taboo. Positive liminality builds up
different proportions in different movements, often combin-
the divine order, while negative liminality destroys it.
ing themes from life cycle, calendrical, and conversionary rit-
uals, and from all forms of restorative rituals as well. This is
To summarize, confirmatory rituals such as taboos serve
not surprising, since in these movements the struggle for a
as framing devices that (1) bring the transcendental and ordi-
divine order becomes all-embracing and desperate. Depend-
nary realms into relationship while preserving each, (2) de-
ing on the emphasis, then, the rites common to these move-
fine and create, through the pivoting of the taboos and other
ments may be put in either the restorative or the transitional
rites, the transitory grades, stages, and roles of life, (3) fix the
categories, as intensified forms of conversionary rites, or as
enduring gradations and divisions of social space (as in the
vaster crisis rites.
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
7844
RITUAL [FIRST EDITION]
In any case, one can only speak of general emphasis
these things were first done in the beginning by the ancestors
rather than sharp distinctions between the two sub-categories
and gods, or it obeys the teachings then given by the divine
of transformative rites. In most religions, for example, when
beings. For all is not formless and utter flux: there is a sacred
New Year or harvest ceremonies are celebrated they both
form that communitas takes, which is that of the pristine dy-
renew the annual cycle and restore the primordial form of
namic that defines and sustains reality. Participants are uni-
things. Theodor H. Gaster (1961) has suggested that the sea-
fied by this common form, even if they each have different
sonal rites of ancient Near Eastern religions sustained a
roles within its hierarchies.
“topocosm,” the world as an organic whole. Reviving the
The triumph of liminality is also demonstrated by dis-
world when it decayed, these renewals reenacted the ideal
tortions of ordinary sensory things. The body image is al-
forms of the creation myths, so that their transitions were es-
tered, for example: decorations cover the body, scarifications
sentially restorative.
are made, distinctive clothes are worn, movement is severely
The liminal phase. Arnold van Gennep (1960), in his
restricted or is contorted, parts of the body are removed, or
classic study of “rites of passage” (even the terms are his), em-
things are stuck into the flesh in painful ordeals. Distinctive
phasized that the crucial phase of these rites is the middle,
treatment of the hair is a common indication of liminal sta-
liminal, or threshold phase, during which one is outside of
tus. Operations are also performed on nonhuman things (an-
ordinary life and exposed more directly to the sacred. The
imals, plants, newly consecrated houses, sacred rocks, etc.)
transcendental and transformative power of the liminal is in-
to indicate the dominance in them of spiritual meaning over
dicated ritually in many characteristic symbolisms. Often
perceptual or physical facticity. The self-sustaining integrity
one finds “rituals of reversal,” in which ordinary behavior is
of merely perceptual experience is shattered, to be trans-
turned upside down: people might don the clothes of the
formed by the authentic realities of the “ideal.” The ability
other sex or indulge obligatorily in orgiastic or “mad” behav-
of the self to define reality on its own terms is thereby shaken,
ior (although ordinary life may be very restrained—thus the
and it is forced to submit to the central and defining force
of the transcendental other. Even the self is defined by the
Carnival in several Mediterranean societies); the powerful
other, sustained by it, and required to acknowledge it. This
may be humiliated and the weak may purge resentments.
is the essential point of sacrifice as such, the enactment of
(The king of the Swazi was ritually slapped and the people
which takes so many forms in transformatory rituals.
acted out rebellious behavior during their harvest festivals;
ordinarily modest and retiring Hindu women douse men
Sacrifice. A great deal has been written about sacrifice,
with ochred water during the riotous Holi festival; children
and often there has been an attempt to explain all forms of
in the guise of monster beings threaten adults and extort
it in terms of one application or use of it (gifts given to a deity
sweets from them during American celebrations of Hallow-
so as to obligate him to the giver, communion, etc.). Long
een). There is a certain sense of communitas, as Victor Turner
lists of types of sacrifice based on their uses have been com-
(1969) puts it: the participants feel joined together in a unity
piled. However, almost every actual instance can be shown
that lies outside of ordinary social structures and that express-
to involve many of these functions. E. E. Evans-Pritchard
es the prior flux and even formlessness out of which those
(1956), in a celebrated analysis of sacrifice among the Nuer
structures have emerged. Yet the exaggerated reversal of roles
of the southern Sudan, was able to list no less than fourteen
and behaviors serves to emphasize the goodness of social
different ideas simultaneously present in those rites: commu-
structures, which are returned to with a sense of refreshment
nion, gift, apotropaic rite, bargain, exchange, ransom, elimi-
after the liminal period; in the liminal rites themselves, as
nation, expulsion, purification, expiation, propitiation, sub-
many anthropological studies have stressed, one may find the
stitution, abnegation, and homage. He asserted, nevertheless,
ideal roles of a society and the ideal patterns of the universe
that the central meaning was substitution: all that is oneself
enacted with particular emphasis and clarity, although these
already belongs to the transcendental presences and powers,
patterns and roles may have become obscured by the person-
which is explicitly acknowledged in the sacrifice by giving
al interactions, forgetfulness, and above all the confusion of
back to the divine some part of what defines the self or sym-
overlapping roles that occur in small-scale communities.
bolizes it. Phenomenological studies of religion agree with
However, in sectarian movements or otherworldly religions
this anthropological analysis or extend it further, stating that
in more complex civilizations, this communitas and its con-
one offers back to the divine what is thus acknowledged as
trast to ordinary life can be understood as access to an anti-
already belonging to it, including the entire world one uses
thetical realm of the spirit denied to those in general society.
and dwells in. All of these views confirm that sacrifice con-
In any case, the liminal period is “betwixt and between” and
sists above all in actively recentering the self and its entire
is appropriately the time for the triumph of monstrous and
world and renouncing personal autonomy. One is experien-
anomalous things, for inverted and extreme behaviors, for ec-
tially and cognitively placed in a divine order, in which the
stasies, paradoxes, and the abnormal. The increased closeness
merely physical or perceptual sensual connections of phe-
to the primordial flux may be represented in masked dances,
nomena are broken and the transcendentally centered mean-
initiative rituals centering on devouring monsters, and the
ing is made to dominate.
entry of transcendental beings and forces into the sacred area.
The French sociologists Henri Hubert and Marcel
The ritual follows the archetypal patterns laid down when
Mauss showed that sacrifice served to bring into a mediated
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
RITUAL [FIRST EDITION]
7845
relationship a human group and the sacred powers that af-
other ways. W. E. H. Stanner (1966) has shown in a detailed
fected it, via manipulation of a victim who through consecra-
structural analysis of the initiation rites of the Murinbata Ab-
tion or general usage symbolically embodied or substituted
origines of northern Australia that the treatment of the nov-
for the group or some aspect of it (e.g., the scapegoat above
ice precisely follows the dynamic of sacrifice—although this
all embodies the sins or flaws of the group, which are then
community, like almost all Australian Aboriginal societies,
expelled with him). By the conclusion of the rites, the victim
has no explicitly sacrificial rituals. Similar parallels to sacri-
might be taken up entirely into the sacred realm, or returned
fice have been noted in the treatment of the death and re-
to the human group and shared among them. The first op-
placement of divine kings in Africa. Some religions do with-
tion, removal of the mediatory victim, desacralizes the com-
out literal sacrifice altogether, having sublimated the notion
munity, expelling a surplus of perhaps baleful sacred power
into the entire ritual system. Thus the rabbis consoled them-
from the group and in any case preserving the separation of
selves after the fall of the Temple in 70 CE that prayer, chari-
sacred and profane, while the second option, return of the
ty, and good deeds would fully replace the sacrifices offered
now-transformed victim to the group, exemplifies the ten-
there; so too Protestant Christianity has generally abandoned
dency to sacralize the community and establishes a mediated
sacrifices.
continuity with the divine. Luc de Heusch has called these
the “conjunctive” and “disjunctive” powers of sacrifice.
In any case, the essential dynamic of sacrifice is symboli-
cal and spiritual. It operates within a world in which every-
However, as Kristensen (1961) has shown, the victim
thing is a metaphor for the divine life. As a result, even reli-
often symbolizes the god who receives it rather than the
gions with a great stress on sacrifice need not make use of
group that offers it. Water was sacrificed to Osiris, who was
bloody immolations (with which sacrifices seem to be associ-
the Nile; wild animals were offered to Artemis, Mistress of
ated in the common mind). The favored offerings in Hindu-
the Wild; dogs were given to Hekate, for both were of the
ism are clarified butter and flowers. The Nuer are quite con-
underworld. And even enemies of the divinity may be sacri-
tent to symbolize cattle with cucumbers in their sacrifices.
ficed to the god, demonstrating his power over everything.
C
Everything is made to center on the sacred pivot of life.
ROSS-CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL VARIATIONS. Religions
can clearly differ significantly in their reliance on ritual, the
J. H. M. Beattie (1980) notes that some theories of sac-
kinds of ritual preferred, and the purposes of ritual in gener-
rifice emphasize the power and divinity of the recipient of
al. The major variations are still being vigorously debated.
sacrificial offerings (as in the gift theory of E. B. Tylor), while
Maurice Bloch (1977), arguing from a Marxist anthropologi-
others emphasize the dynamic interchange of energies in-
cal perspective, claims that the more institutionalized hierar-
volved and even underline impersonal structures (as in the
chies a society has, the more ritual there is, especially of the
approach of James G. Frazer). Beattie classifies all sacrifices
“eternal return” type, which repeats past events. This is be-
into four basic types, derived from the aim or focus of the
cause rituals are highly limited codes of information that can
participants: (1) sacrifice to maintain or gain close contact
be easily manipulated by the holders of power to falsify the
with spiritual beings, (2) sacrifice to separate the sacrificers
sense of reality of the exploited classes; therefore ritual legiti-
from those beings, (3) sacrifice to gain access to or control
mates social inequality and must be greatest in those societies
of dynamic impersonal modes of liminality, and (4) sacrifice
that are the most politically differentiated. However, Ameri-
to separate such forces from the sacrificer or the person for
can society, for example, is highly differentiated politically
whom the sacrifice is enacted. Such a schema can be applied
but tends to be anti-ritualistic and has little ritualism, where-
only very loosely, however: impersonal and personal ele-
as the Australian Aborigines devote a great deal of their time
ments usually coexist, as, for example, in the Roman Catho-
to ritual reenactments of events in the ancestral Dreaming.
lic Mass, where personal prayers are part of the essential sac-
Max Gluckman (1965), on the other hand, has suggested
ramental transformations that are effective regardless of
that rituals are necessary in relatively undifferentiated socie-
personal intentions. Similarly, conjunctive and disjunctive
ties to distinguish roles that tend to blur and overlap in ev-
motifs usually occur together. For example, in Hebrew sacri-
eryday life, while in more complex societies role specializa-
fice certain parts of the victim’s body, including its blood,
tion is so advanced that ritual definitions of social structure
were removed and given to God before the flesh could be
are no longer needed. Ritual is therefore reduced to temple
shared among the communicants and eaten. It would not be
and priestly cult, while the rest of society is increasingly secu-
correct to assume from this that the blood was a form of neg-
larized.
ative liminality, to be expelled from the community in a pur-
gative rite; quite simply, the essence of everything, in this
A more ambitious and detailed historical schema is of-
case the blood or “life,” belongs to God. Kristensen again
fered by Robert Bellah, an American sociologist (see his essay
provides assistance in distinguishing predominantly positive
in Lessa and Vogt, 1972). He distinguishes a “primitive”
sacrificial rites of sanctification from sacrifices with the pre-
stage of religion (erroneously identified with the Australian
dominantly negative aim of causing a misfortune to cease.
Aborigines) in which ritual is the continual reenactment of
ancestral deeds, with all things supposedly so fused that no
Sacrifice is often literally present in transformatory ritu-
external or self-conscious perspective is possible; an “archaic”
als, but it need not be. It may be symbolically enacted in
stage (found among most native cultures) in which worship,
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
7846
RITUAL [FIRST EDITION]
prayer, and sacrifice first appear, the result of a widening gap
The use of ritual in modern cultures varies considerably.
between humanity and divinity; a “historic” stage in which
However, a number of paradoxical assertions can be made.
for the first time the gap between the sacred and profane is
First, antiritualism is quite strong in many circles, due to a
so great and society so complex that rituals stress salvation
number of factors. Ritual is oriented toward equilibrium and
from the world rather than inclusion in it, and in which a
stability, but the modern period is a time of rapid change
religious elite emerges separate from the political elite to ad-
even in religious institutions. Ritual draws upon shared bodi-
minister the otherworldly rites and specialize in or embody
ly experiences, which it uses to delineate a common cosmos;
religious ideals; and finally, “early modern” and “modern”
however, life experiences are highly varied today, and there
stages of religion (identified with Western culture) in which
is little agreement on the larger cosmos either. Religious in-
salvation is democratized and ritual is extended into the
stitutions as such “do” very little in a scientistic, secularized
whole of life, made subjective, and finally dissolved in secu-
world. Subjective and private experience is considered the
larism (cf. Bellah’s article, reprinted in Lessa and Vogt,
realm of the spiritual, but it is often asserted that the sacred
1972). Although instructive, such vast generalizations sug-
has never been so remote from actual human life. Yet the
gest that due caution is required.
search for authentic realities continues, and when these are
found, rituals reassert themselves. Industrialized Western so-
Mary Douglas (1970) has tried to characterize the varia-
cieties spontaneously generate ritual and so do militantly an-
tions that can be found within religions at almost any level
tiritualistic communist societies.
of complexity, without essaying sweeping historical synthe-
ses. Cosmologies vary according to whether they tend to
Much of the current debate about the impact of secular-
stress clear-cut rules and principles underlying the universe
ism on religion is really about the forms, intensity, and pur-
and society or the absence of such rules; they also vary in the
pose of ritual in modern life. The literature on secularism
identification of true being as located in a group or in the
cannot be reviewed here, but it may be said that this litera-
individual person apart from the group. These two polarities
ture has shown that the extent of ritual practice in Western
combine to produce four basic cosmologies. (1) Groups with
and communist societies is much greater and more diverse
a strong sense of rules (“grid”) and of group identity tend to
than statistics on church attendance might suggest. Especial-
be highly ritualized, with fairly elaborate rites to demarcate
ly when one takes into account the structural or cosmological
the various sectors of the cosmology and with rich and dense
focus of much religious ritual, it becomes evident that many
symbolisms that thus define sin and sacramental salvation.
community and national festivities are genuinely religious in
These religions see the material and spiritual worlds as inter-
nature.
fused. (2) Groups with very weak “grid” and weak sense of
W. Lloyd Warner’s study of community ritual in “Yan-
group identity, on the other hand, tend to have quite abstract
kee City,” mentioned earlier, bears this out. In recent dec-
ritual symbols, and indeed little use for ritual as such; here,
ades much has been written about “civil religion” in the
what ritual exists is oriented toward personal states of ecstasy
United States and elsewhere. Robert Bocock, in a study of
or aesthetic display. An instance might be contemporary
ritual in modern England (1973), has suggested that another
counterculture communities. (3) Societies with weak “grid”
form of ritualism in modern life can be termed “aesthetic”
but strong group identity tend to see salvation as obtained
ritual. It is found in dance halls, art galleries, and sports stadi-
by belonging to the group; ritual stresses “we-them” polari-
ums, and its purpose is to orchestrate sensual and aesthetic
ties, which, because not rationalized in any coherent struc-
experience of a personal nature. However, more obviously re-
ture of principles or rules, tend toward strongly emotive fear
ligious are ritual practices derived from new religious move-
of the “them” as evil persons or groups outside of any com-
ments and personal cults, which offer the individual spiritual
prehensible order. Ritual is often used for self-purgation or
enhancement or attunement to the world: meditational prac-
for counter-witchcraft, and within the group ritual is used
tices, theosophical study groups, even many of the personal
to stress ecstatic subjective states of communitas and to reen-
therapy groups that have assumed cultic form.
act the formation of the group. There may be an otherword-
ly, salvation-oriented type of cult, as in early Christianity.
SEE ALSO Archetypes; Ceremony; Ecstasy; Hierophany;
Sectarian movements are not uncommonly of this type. (4)
Rites of Passage; Sacrament; Sacred Space; Sacred Time;
Cultures or individuals with a strong sense of “grid” but
Sacrifice; Seasonal Ceremonies; Secularization; Taboo; Wor-
weak on group identity characteristically produce ritual that
ship and Devotional Life.
services personal goals. In many Melanesian societies of this
sort, ritual is used mainly to increase personal powers and to
BIBLIOGRAPHY
defeat personal enemies, to make one’s own fields prosper,
References
and so on. If the “grid” is understood in a moral sense, one
Ahern, Emily M. Chinese Ritual and Politics. Cambridge, 1981.
may have a stoic outlook—cool, impersonal, and indifferent
Barth, Fredrick. Ritual and Knowledge among the Baktaman of New
to society, but at the same time personally demanding. Varia-
Guinea. New Haven, Conn., 1975.
tions of these four basic types can be found on every level
Beattie, J. H. M. “On Understanding Sacrifice.” In Sacrifice, ed-
of cultural complexity, and this is not a historical scheme as
ited by M. F. C. Bourdillon and Meyer Fortes. New York,
is Bellah’s.
1980.
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RITUAL [FIRST EDITION]
7847
Binns, Christopher A. P. “The Changing Face of Power: Revolu-
Lessa, William A., and Evon Z. Vogt, eds. Reader in Comparative
tion and Accommodation in the Development of the Soviet
Religion. 4 eds. to date. New York, 1958, 1965, 1972, 1979.
Ceremonial System.” Man, n.s. 14 (December 1979):
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. The Savage Mind. London, 1966.
585–606; n.s. 15 (March 1980): 170–187.
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. The Origin of Table Manners. New York,
Bloch, Maurice. “The Past and Present in the Present.” Man,
1979.
n.s. 12 (August 1977): 278–292.
Lewis, Gilbert. Day of Shining Red: An Essay on Understanding Rit-
Bocock, Robert. Ritual in Industrial Society: A Sociological Analysis
ual. Cambridge, 1980.
of Ritualism in Modern England. London, 1973.
Lifton, Robert Jay. Revolutionary Immortality. New York, 1968.
Cassirer, Ernst. The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, vol. 2, Mythical
Needham, Rodney, ed. Right and Left: Essays on Dual Symbolic
Thought. New Haven, Conn., 1955.
Classification. Chicago, 1973.
Cazeneuve, Jean. Les rites et la condition humaine. Paris, 1958.
Ortner, Sherry. Sherpas through Their Rituals. Cambridge, 1978.
Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger. New York, 1966.
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Baltimore, 1959.
Douglas, Mary. Natural Symbols. New York, 1970.
Stanner, W. E. H. On Aboriginal Religion. Sydney, 1964.
Durkheim, Émile. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
Steiner, Franz. Taboo. New York, 1956.
(1915). New York, 1965.
Tambiah, Stanley J. Buddhism and the Spirit Cults in Northeast
Eliade, Mircea. Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Re-
Thailand. Cambridge, 1970.
turn. New York, 1954.
Toy, Crawford Howell. Introduction to the History of Religions.
Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane. New York, 1959.
Boston, 1913.
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. Nuer Religion. Oxford, 1956.
Turner, Victor. The Forest of Symbols. Ithaca, 1967.
Fernandez, James W. Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagi-
Turner, Victor. The Drums of Affliction. London, 1968.
nation in Africa. Princeton, N. J., 1982.
Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process. Ithaca, 1969.
Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo. New York, 1918.
Turner, Victor. Dramas, Fields and Metaphors. Ithaca, 1974.
Gaster, Theodor H. Thespis. New York, 1950.
Wallace, Anthony F. C. Religion: An Anthropological View. New
Gay, Volney Patrick. Freud on Ritual. Missoula, Mont., 1979.
York, 1966.
Gennep, Arnold van. The Rites of Passage. Chicago, 1960.
Warner, W. Lloyd. The Living and the Dead; A Study of the Sym-
Girard, René. Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore, 1977.
bolic Life of Americans. New Haven, Conn., 1959.
Gluckman, Max. “Les rites de passage.” In Essays on the Ritual of
Zuesse, Evan M. “Meditation on Ritual.” Journal of the American
Social Relations, edited by Max Gluckman, pp. 1–52. Man-
Academy of Religion 43 (September 1975): 517–530.
chester, 1962.
Zuesse, Evan M. Ritual Cosmos. Athens, Ohio, 1979.
Gluckman, Max. Politics, Law and Ritual in Tribal Society. Chica-
General Works
go, 1965.
Most good introductions to cultural anthropology have one or
Harper, Edward B. “Ritual Pollution as an Integrator of Caste and
more chapters devoted to ritual and religion. An excellent
Religion.” In Religion in South Asia, edited by Edward B.
one-hundred page overview unusual in that it draws upon
Harper. Seattle, 1964.
both anthropological and religious studies is by W. Richard
Comstock in a volume edited by him, Religion and Man: An
Horton, Robin. “A Definition of Religion, and Its Uses.” Journal
Introduction (New York, 1971). The overview is separately
of the Royal Anthropological Institute 90 (1960): 201–226.
printed as The Study of Religion and Primitive Religions (New
Horton, Robin. “African Traditional Thought and Western Sci-
York, 1972); the bibliography is very useful. The various edi-
ence.” In Rationality, edited by Bryan Wilson. Oxford, 1970.
tions of Reader in Comparative Religion, edited by William
Hubert, Henri, and Marcel Mauss. Sacrifice: Its Nature and Func-
A. Lessa and Evon Z. Vogt (see “References” above) provide
tion. Chicago, 1964.
a continuously updated anthology and survey of anthropo-
logical research on ritual. The bibliographies are especially
Jenson, Adolf E. Myth and Cult among Primitive Peoples. Chicago,
full, and one of them offers an annotated listing of the best
1963.
monographs on the religions of particular native cultures.
Kapferer, Bruce. A Celebration of Demons. Bloomington, Ind.,
Also very useful are the three volumes edited by John Mid-
1983.
dleton anthologizing anthropological articles: Gods and Ritu-
Kristensen, W. Brede. The Meaning of Religion. The Hague, 1960.
als (Garden City, N. Y., 1967), Myth and Cosmos (Garden
Lane, Christel. The Rites of Rulers: Ritual in Industrial Society: The
City, N. Y., 1967), and finally Magic, Witchcraft and Curing
Soviet Case. Cambridge, 1981.
(Garden City, N. Y., 1967).
For a historical survey of theories about religion and ritual since
Leach, Edmund R. “Ritual.” In International Encyclopaedia of the
classical antiquity, especially strong on the nineteenth centu-
Social Sciences, edited by David L. Sills, vol. 13. New York,
ry and European schools, see Jan de Vries’s The Study of Reli-
1968.
gion: A Historical Approach (New York, 1967). Robert
Leeuw, Gerardus van der. Religion in Essence and Manifestation.
Lowie’s The History of Ethnological Theory (New York, 1937)
London, 1938.
and E. E. Evans-Pritchard’s Theories of Primitive Religion
Leinhardt, Godfrey. Divinity and Experience: The Religion of the
(Oxford, 1965) are among the more penetrating anthropo-
Dinka. Oxford, 1961.
logical accounts.
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
7848
RITUAL [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
I have emphasized anthropology thus far. A good instance of how
An overall bibliographic survey of study on ritual is available by
Freudian psychology can treat ritual structures in an illumi-
Ronald L. Grimes, entitled “Sources for the Study of Ritual,”
nating way is Géza Róheim’s The Eternal Ones of the Dream
Religious Studies Review 10 (April 1984): 134–145.
(New York, 1945). The work deals with central Australian
Aboriginal rituals. Erik Erikson’s psychoanalytic Childhood
EVAN M. ZUESSE (1987)
and Society (New York, 1950) shows the connection between
ritual and games. Jean Piaget has reflected on the role and
meaning of games in the psychological development of chil-
dren in numerous books, such as his Plays, Dreams, and Imi-
RITUAL [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS].
tation in Childhood (New York, 1961); many of his observa-
The term ritual remains difficult to define, which is hardly
tions have a bearing on ritual. However, the classic study of
surprising, since central activities and concepts are always the
this fascinating topic is Johann Huizinga’s Homo Ludens
ones probed most restlessly. The difficulties attending the
(London, 1949), written not from a psychological but a hu-
definition of ritual testify to the fundamental role it is given
manistic perspective.
in religion and social life, as well as to its attractiveness as a
A synthetic, multidisciplinary approach to ritual, making use of
focus for current theorizing about religion in general. The
the contributions of specialists in a variety of natural and so-
definitional difficulties may also suggest the variety of input
cial sciences within the context of a single theory of human
into the discussion. For these reasons, ritual has been identi-
development, is The Spectrum of Ritual: A Bio-Genetic Struc-
fied in many unexpected places; rarely does an analysis de-
tural Analysis, edited by Eugene G. d’Aquili (New York,
1979).
cide something is not ritual. Nevertheless, the study of ritual
in numerous settings is driving theory in several disciplines
The study of ritual in terms of its explicitly religious significance
to work through, and past, the symbol-culture model of the
remains the province of scholars in the history and phenome-
nology of religions, for example, Mircea Eliade, Theodor H.
1970s and 1980s—in some cases to engage the contributions
Gaster, W. Brede Kristensen, and Gerardus van der Leeuw
and ramifications of postmodernism, in other cases to forge
(see “References”).
a new science to depict the importance of ritual. The results,
Major contributions to the general understanding of ritual are to
a matter of highly visible differences with more subtle areas
be found in studies from within specific religious traditions,
of consensus, are the context for much of the contemporary
or in works devoted to their classic sources on ritual. As ex-
study of religion.
amples, I should mention from the Jewish tradition Gersion
Many current theories of ritual use the term ritualiza-
Appel’s A Philosophy of Mizvot (New York, 1975) and Max
Kadushin’s The Rabbinic Mind, 2d ed. (New York, 1965);
tion, which goes back at least as far as the work of Max
from the Catholic tradition Louis Bouyer’s Rite and Man
Gluckman (1962) and Julian Huxley (1966), in order to
(Notre Dame, Ind., 1963) and Roger Grainger’s The Lan-
foreground the dynamics by which people actually do rites,
guage of the Rite (London, 1974); and from the Confucian
perform rituals, or act ritually. The term challenges a number
tradition the classic Li Ji (The Book of Rites), translated by
of positions, starting with the assumptions that rites are the
James Legge and edited by Chu Zhai and Winberg Zhai
unchanging elements of a religious tradition, and that they
(New York, 1967)—the James Legge translation first ap-
all have some underlying, universal structure. Even when rit-
peared in “Sacred Books of the East,” vols. 27 and 28 (Lon-
uals proclaim their faithful adherence to ancient models, they
don, 1885)—and the philosophic commentary by Herbert
always involve choices and changes; the degree to which
Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred (New York,
change is denied, minimized, or embraced is important for
1972). Reference has been made in the essay to some classic
any interpretation. The more deeply rooted longing to artic-
works on Hindu ritual; these are available in English transla-
tion. Arthur Berriedale Keith’s Karma-Mimamsa (Calcutta,
ulate a universal structure for ritual—a scheme that does not
1921) gives a general introduction to this school of philoso-
change when other features do (i.e., that which makes a rite
phy, while Raj Bali Pandey’s Hindu Samskaras, 2d ed.
a rite)—has taken on a special significance due either to a
(Delhi, 1969), gives a good insight into the traditional un-
semi-theological concern for absolutes or, more likely, a
derstanding of personal rituals.
pragmatic instinct to ground “religion” itself. In a prosaic but
Ritual provides a way of dealing not only with the positive sides
remedial manner, ritualization also announces that it is the
of the human condition but also its negative sides. One study
activity itself, not texts or doctrines or pantheons, that will
has approached even the cultural phenomenon of the “feud”
be taken as important and as the place to start analysis. Ritu-
in terms of ritual theory: Jacob Black-Michaud’s Cohesive
alization also signals an understanding that any activity can
Force: Feud in the Mediterranean and the Middle East (New
be ritualized; that is, made into a ritual or a ritual-like perfor-
York, 1975). One of the major ways of controlling violence
mance, usually by invoking features such as formality, repeti-
is through the ritualization of it; a penetrating examination
tion, and the use of more traditional models. Naturally, then,
of the implications of this is René Girard’s Violence and the
the term appreciates that there are degrees of ritualization
Sacred, listed in the “References” above. Also see Ernest
Becker’s Escape from Evil (New York, 1975) and Eli Sagan’s
and the example of one rite might not be the best example
Cannibalism: Human Aggression and Cultural Form (New
for all rites. While not all of these points are embraced by
York, 1974), although both of these works tend to generalize
every theorist, there is a consensus that the activities them-
overhastily—for example, some research casts doubt on al-
selves should be the main focus, and theorists seek the best
most every European report of “savage cannibalism.”
theoretical model for doing that.
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7849
Using the terms ritual, ritualization, or performance, at-
creating naturalistic (or scientific) models of explanation. Yet
tention to ritual is frequent in the major disciplines—
even within these two general positions, no two theories are
anthropology, sociology, history, communication, and even
alike. In addition, several popular theories resist categoriza-
philosophy. Collections such as A Reader in the Anthropology
tion even within a sorting this broad; they might be said to
of Religion by Michael Lambek (2002) and Handbook of the
take a more or less psychoanalytic view of the role of ritual
Sociology of Religion by Michele Dillon (2003) feature sec-
in human history—a view that often seems distinctly literary,
tions on ritual that attempt, in their different disciplinary
romantic, and even mythic, even as it alludes to the science
ways, to organize this fast-paced area of research so as to sug-
of the psychoanalytic enterprise.
gest a coherent direction. Within the collection of methods
Ritual theory through the 1980s often took it for grant-
that make up the field of religious studies, these terms are
ed that ritual is primarily a form of communication, al-
also used with a new self-consciousness in biblical studies,
though such communication involves much more than the
church history, psychology of religion, and, naturally, liturgi-
simple conveyance of information. Earlier theories of this
cal studies. The most comprehensive bibliography of ritual
sort emphasized the symbolic nature of ritual action, with
covering all these areas since Ronald Grimes’s Research in Rit-
later ones showing a preference for focusing on the expressive
ual Studies (1985) is the extensively annotated and thematic
or performative aspects of ritual communication. Pushing at
catalog appended to Theorizing Rituals: Classical Topics, The-
the margins of the influence wielded by Victor Turner and
oretical Approaches, Analytical Concepts, Annotated Bibliogra-
Clifford Geertz throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Mary
phy, edited by Jens Kreinath, Jans Snoek, and Michael Staus-
Douglas and Barbara Myerhoff were prominent in portray-
berg (2005).
ing the complexity of ritual’s symbolic communication in
Just as ritual remains hard to define, the ability of ritual
generating meaningful interpretations of the social and cul-
to pull together scholars of different subjects, approaches,
tural order. For these theorists, the encoded symbols and per-
and disciplines—witnessed in the many conference panels
formance sequences understood as ritual are flexible forms
and subsequently published collections—remains remark-
of symbolic activity that reaffirm cultural values and a sense
able. Interdisciplinary projects will often involve the widest
of order—both social and cosmic. In other words, rituals are
mix of cultures and historical periods, and some even go out
frameworks for mobilizing meaning. But resistance to this
of their way to use particularly unconventional notions of rit-
approach has been building widely in anthropology, with
ual, such as the scratching of medieval graffiti on the walls
Talal Asad’s challenge to Geertz’s notion of a symbol often
of a small church in Italy (Rollo-Koster, 2002, p. 127). These
cited as something of a turning point (Asad, 1993).
projects testify to a lingering desire to identify something
COMMUNICATION AND A NEW NATURALISM. During the
common in all the examples identified as ritual, even when
1990s, several projects were launched that explore ritual’s es-
careful historical contextualizing makes each set of activities
sentially communicative functions in ways that differ from
stand out in their uniqueness. Still, these collections vividly
the Geertzian symbol-culture-meaning approach. This new
illustrate something else as well: that attention to so-called
approach foregrounds communication in the doing or per-
ritual activities in multiple contexts can bring into focus
forming of ritual, but stresses the relative unimportance of
forms of behavior relevant to the study of religion and society
any “meaning” for participants, as well as for theorists (con-
that would have fallen under the radar of other analytical
trast Rothbuhler, 1998). This note was first sounded by Frits
terms.
Staal in 1975, and its later rearticulation can be understood
CURRENT THEORIES: A ROUGH GUIDE. There are two theo-
perhaps as reluctance to objectify religion and culture as re-
retical points of departure dominating the study of ritual at
quired by most theories of ritual as communication. In one
the beginning of the twenty-first century, each with distinct
project, the anthropologist Roy Rappaport consolidated thir-
but not mutually exclusive positions on ritualization, reli-
ty years of theories from a number of disciplines into a mas-
gion, and the role of theories about them. While these
sive study entitled Ritual and Religion in the Making of Hu-
“camps” read each other, they do not often refer to each
manity (1999), which expands the insights of his earlier
other clearly. Hence, a guide of sorts may help clarify the
work, notably Ecology, Meaning, and Religion (1979). In an-
main lines of argument. Of course, any general rubric for or-
other echo of Staal, Rappaport declares ritual to be “the so-
ganizing approaches, such as distinguishing those theories
cial act basic to humanity” (1979, p. 198; 1999, p. 31) be-
that emphasize ritual as a form of communication from those
cause ritual involves adaptive features as important to the
that emphasize it as a form of action, can be precise only at
evolution of human beings as language itself. As an essential-
a certain level of generality. In regard to ritual and the whole
ly performative mode of communication, with more empha-
ragtag set of issues that have defined the study of religion in
sis on the communication aspect, ritual does more than
modern times, it sometimes seems that the most telling dis-
merely convey religious ideas. Rather, Rappaport attempts to
tinctions among theories are not found in the introductory
show how ritual creates religious ideas and experiences. In his
assumptions—where one starts, so to speak—but in where
early work he argued that ritual communicates both indexi-
one ends up. As a “rough guide” to the current scene, a first-
cal (self-referential) messages and canonical (pertaining to
order distinction can be made between theories that remain
cultural tradition) information. The later analysis expands
heavily rooted in cultural explanation and those that are re-
this to include how ritual activities generate, ratify, and nor-
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RITUAL [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
malize “the Holy” in a set of “Ultimate Sacred Postulates”
supplying the “effervescence” that enables individuals and
(1979, pp. 210–211; 1999, pp. 263–290). Ritual communi-
society to create social identities (Durkheim) or mechanisti-
cates, Rappaport argues, but it communicates an informa-
cally restoring the fit between the mental orientation of a
tionless and unquestionable order of things in which the per-
worldview and the emotional tendencies of a cultural ethos
former and the performed are indistinguishable from the
(Geertz). Yet he follows the same structural style of argument
certainties expressed and, inevitably, accepted.
basic to the analyses and conclusions of Durkheim and
Geertz; that is, he also casts ritual as the means for reuniting
For Rappaport, ritual performs two explicit and socially
the terms of a previously drawn analytical distinction— an
indispensable communicative functions: in its creation and
essentially circular argument. In his case, ritual creates the
communication of the Ultimate Sacred Postulates, ritual
holy by conjoining the sacred and the numinous, defined in
does not lie and it does not sanction alternatives to itself.
intellectual and emotional language, respectively. This se-
Drawing these terms from Martin Buber’s analysis of the
ductive pattern of theorizing about ritual—to distinguish
stages of evil (1952), the lie and the possibility of choice (and
two properties (thought and action, individual and society,
indecision), Rapport uses them to describe the forces that
spiritual and material, etc.) and then work one’s way toward
constantly threaten to unravel the social fabric. Ritual denies
a definition and analysis in which ritual is the means for re-
the possibility of both by asserting a true and unchallenge-
uniting them—is thoroughly critiqued in Catherine Bell’s
able order of things. It creates (and communicates) a dis-
Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (1992). Still, while evoking
course of sacrality, defined as “the quality of unquestionable-
Geertz’s categories in particular, Rappaport does what Geertz
ness” that participants intellectually attribute to things that
never; he ventures to describe how the sacred and the numi-
cannot be proven (Rappaport, 1999, p. 281). Simultaneous-
nous each come into being and then come together in an ex-
ly, ritual affords participants an affective experience of the
perience of the holy. This is a provocative phenomenological
numinous, which Rappaport defines as an emotional con-
exercise, although Rapport does not see this as phenomenol-
sciousness of transcendence comparable to the discussions of
ogy. It took him many years to determine how best to cast
das heilige (the holy) by Rudolf Otto (1869–1937) and oth-
his arguments, and he chose evolutionary biology; the meta-
ers at the turn of the twentieth century. Indeed, within Rap-
argument of his later book maintains that the mental require-
paport’s rubric, the conjunction of the sacred and the numi-
ments for ritual activity, defined as the construction of the
nous creates the holy. The “meaninglessness” of a rite is an
holy, functioned as the adaptive evolutionary prerequisites
essential quality of the holy, which is generated by the rite.
for a fully human consciousness.
Meaninglessness is the product of both a ritual’s “canonical
invariance,” as Rappaport puts it, and the basic emptiness of
Rappaport is not the first scholar to return to the role
the sacred postulates endorsed by ritual. Not only is meaning
of ritual and religion in evolution. This was a major topic
not needed, it would impede what a ritual is doing. Instead
of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century anthropology, when
of meaning, the critical factor is the social ratification
Giovanni Battista Vico, David Hume, Auguste Comte, and
invoked in and demanded by ritual, not the diffusion of
Edward Burnett Tylor all presented new “sciences” of reli-
meaning in the fashion suggested by Geertz among others
gion that cast religiosity as a stage somewhere between early
(Rappaport, 1979, p. 263). Ritual is the language-like com-
emotional attempts to placate unknown powers and the dis-
munication of what is socially indispensable; it is what sets
passionate pursuit of science seen in the Enlightenment.
the human species apart—but it is not a provider of mean-
After Tylor, Julian Huxley and Konrad Lorenz in the 1930s
ing. Eventually locating his argument more fully in the bio-
also proposed their ethological examinations of ritual prac-
logical language of human evolution, Rappaport contends
tices among animals and humans. With E. O. Wilson’s wide-
that ritual is the indispensable evolutionary adaptation that
ly discussed theories of sociobiology in the 1970s and 1980s,
established social conventions and mandated their accep-
there began to be analyses of the adaptive benefits of altruism
tance (Rappaport, 1999, p. 124). He concludes with the
and other aspects of religion. In the 1980s Eugene d’Aquili
same amused finale that closed his earlier work: ritual is the
and his colleagues were writing about how the cognitive di-
means by which “the unfalsifiable supported by the undeni-
mensions of ritual activity might have been important to, or
able yields the unquestionable which transforms the dubious,
made possible by, the evolution of specific neurological sys-
the arbitrary, and the conventional into the correct, the nec-
tems in the brain (d’Aquili, 1979; 1985). The renowned clas-
essary, and the natural” (1979, p. 217; 1999, p. 405).
sicist Walter Burkert took up the evolution of the broad and
questionable patterns he saw in ritual among both human
Rappaport’s study is subtle, repetitive, and synthetically
beings and animals in Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology
indebted to many. Still, in both its 1979 and 1999 articula-
in Early Religions (1996). In the most general biological-
tions, he contributes one of the most complete descriptions
evolutionary explanations of morality and religion, such as
of how “the religious” may be constituted. The role of ritual
Frans de Waal’s Good Natured: The Origins of Right and
is central in this process, perhaps well beyond what anyone
Wrong in Humans and Other Animals (1996) and David Wil-
but a ritual studies scholar could possibly appreciate. In his
son’s Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature
major step beyond Émile Durkheim (1859–1917) and
of Society (2002), ritual is an important component for ex-
Geertz, Rappaport describes ritual as doing more than simply
plaining the evolutionary or biological significance of reli-
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7851
gion, although in many of these studies ritual is characterized
to empirical testing. In their first book, Lawson and McCau-
primarily by emotionalism, strict repetition, and illiterate
ley specifically looked at the way in which ritual structures
cultural settings. For all of these works, religion is still an
are linked to types of beliefs about the supernatural. They
“other” to be explained with the proven analytical frame-
proposed two universal principles: the principle of superhu-
works of science, or at least something that looks like science.
man agency and the principle of superhuman immediacy. The
first finds that the most central rites are those in which a su-
Rappaport’s concluding, nearly apocalyptic, appeal to
perhuman being is the active agent, compared to those more
the role of ritual in the past and future of humankind is,
peripheral rites in which the god is inactive or passive. The
therefore, part of a fairly constant interplay between cultural
principle of superhuman immediacy argues that the more
explanations and natural/scientific ones. During the 1990s
central rites are less complex, that is, they include fewer “en-
the tendency for a popular shift every few years in the win-
abling” activities and superhuman agents. These two princi-
ning focus found greater substance in the emergence of “cog-
ples, say Lawson and McCauley, will explain the basic com-
nitive” theories of religion—and ritual. Cognitive studies are
petence of people to produce fitting rituals in their cultural
not actually new. A standard textbook on psychology and re-
setting and suggest the adaptive function of religion.
ligion (Wulff, 1997) has three extensive chapters on biologi-
cal, behavioral, and laboratory-based natural theories of be-
Their second book is concerned with the relation be-
lief and ritual going back a full century. Still, a study of ritual
tween ritual form (the structures generated by their first anal-
by E. Thomas Lawson and Robert N. McCauley, Rethinking
ysis) and ritual frequency (how seldom or often a ritual is
Religion: Connecting Cognition and Culture (1990), claimed
performed). Since rituals motivate participants to recall and
to be launching a “science of religion” due to the sense of
re-enact performances, Lawson and McCauley generate a
fresh developments in evolutionary psychology and neuro-
“ritual form hypothesis” to explain the low levels of emotion-
biology. Lawson and McCauley’s argument for the existence
alism attending frequent rites compared to the high levels of
of certain rules in the performance of ritual generated fresh
stimulation found in rites that are less often performed. In
enthusiasm for explanations as empirical hypotheses that
their analyses, the psychological processes that Lawson and
could be tested by others, a scientific process new to religious
McCauley attempt to uncover do not derive from social or
studies. In Bringing Ritual to Mind: Psychological Foundations
cultural contexts but from cognitive structures, forms, or
of Cultural Forms (2002), they were even bolder, using the
abilities within the human brain, with the assumption that
tools of an action-representation system to address another
scholars can imagine precultural forms of cognition. While
specific aspect of ritual, the link between the frequency of a
it is assumed that ritual knowledge confers adaptive social
ritual and the degree to which it is marked by elaborate and
benefits, ritual—as ritual—is not seen as a fundamentally so-
varied modes of expression. Their science of religion has been
cial phenomenon. Among those who turn away from cultur-
accompanied by a provocative line-up of studies espousing
al-symbolic explanations of meaning, the Lawson-McCauley
a wide array of theses (Andresen, 2001; Atran, 2002; Boyer,
theory of cognition attempts to go the furthest in delineating
2001; Pyysiäinen, 2001; and Whitehouse, 2000, 2004,
“very general features of religious ritual form [that] are inde-
among others). While some of these works propose very re-
pendent of both semantic and cultural contents” (2002,
ductive theories of religion (“apparently pointless behaviors,”
p. 10). Their acultural analysis addresses “religious ritual”
and “snares for thought” [Boyer, 2001, pp. 262–263]), oth-
tightly defined as the same universal form everywhere (secu-
ers are more moderate and nuanced. Cognitive approaches
lar rites are never discussed as “ritual”). Whatever cultural
are also attempting to address issues in theology and the psy-
content and context might contribute, what makes a set of
chology of religion by explaining the constraints and the
actions a ritual lies beyond culture: thus, the rules uncovered
formative impulses in how and why people believe what they
among the Baktaman of New Guinea, for example, should
believe, or remember what they remember—still ritual is a
be valid for religious rituals of the eighteenth-century Chi-
common and often central concern.
nese court. In effect, and unlike Rappaport, McCauley and
Lawson are not drawing on the history of the study of ritual;
McCauley and Lawson are careful with the language of
they are operating among the literature and issues defining
reductionism. They are apt to speak of an “intuitive knowl-
the branch of competence theory in the field of neuropsy-
edge” of a system of ritual that is not dependent on socializa-
chology. Their ability to contribute to a broader study of rit-
tion or instruction, suggesting that a type of ritual grammar
ual cannot be discounted, nor can that of the other cognitive
exists in human beings, much like the innate generative
approaches being developed. Yet the primary assumptions,
grammar for language proposed by Noam Chomsky in Syn-
as well as the terminology and style, are difficult for people
tactic Structures (1957). As a grammar, a language, or some
in religious studies and cultural anthropology. While ad-
analogous scheme, a ritual system is seen as a rule-governed
dressed at some length here, these two works are not the best
expression of an evolutionary adaptive basic competence. For
introduction to the cognitive approach. Jensine Andresen’s
McCauley and Lawson, theirs contributes another model of
“Introduction: Towards a Cognitive Science of Religion”
ritual as communication, but one that builds on the work
(2001) and Ilkka Pyysiäinen’s How Religion Works (2001) are
of cognitive psychology, in contrast to the evolutionary an-
clearer in tracing the origins of the cognitive model and its
thropology of Rappaport, where the rules are less amendable
relationship to older models of religion.
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PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE. The other general approach
the enterprise of constructing typologies in order to deal with
to ritual works within the assumptions of a fully cultural per-
those rites that had a “fuzzier” nature; they wrestle with tax-
spective—namely, that the social and cultural life of a com-
onomies to distinguish liturgy from rite from ceremony from
munity is responsible for the emergence and style of ritualiza-
ceremonial, and, naturally, religious ritual from secular and
tion, and the category of “ritual” is a historical one as much
civic ritual. The impulse to see ritual as a very distinct form
as it is an analytical one. From a sociocultural perspective,
of action is, according to Bell (1992), a position that repli-
the origin of ritual has not been much addressed since
cates a fundamental dichotomy between thought and action,
Durkheim led a general abandonment of “origins” argu-
and eventuates in an overly structured discourse that strongly
ments. But a naturalistic explanation of the evolutionary ori-
defines scholars as those who are not ritual actors, the ob-
gins of ritual could be welcomed by those who avow to be
served and the analyzed.
nonscientists—as long as the formidable role of culture is not
left out of any aspect of ritualization, even its evolutionary
Bell’s approach builds on (1) the notion of practice, (2)
roles or neurological rules. Recent cultural theories have
the dynamics of the so-called ritual body, and (3) ultimately,
tended to regard ritualization as a fundamentally performa-
the arrangements of power that make ritualization the cul-
tive action or practice, rejecting the stress on communica-
turally effective thing to do. Drawing in part on Bourdieu
tion, although Rappaport and others considered ritual as per-
(1977), Bell suggests four basic features of cultural practice
formative communication. Among the many discussions of
or activity in general. First, practice is situational, with a con-
performance, the notion of practice exerts great influence.
tingency that eludes any attempt to grasp its objective mean-
Rooted in the work of Pierre Bourdieu, Maurice Bloch, and
ing, thus evoking Edward Said’s description of the “endless
Sherry Ortner, practice approaches to ritual are used in the
deferral of meaning.” Second, practices are strategic (i.e., ex-
work of Jean Comaroff and Talal Asad, with the most devel-
ploitative or expedient), with an instrumental logic that re-
oped theoretical presentation in Bell’s Ritual Theory, Ritual
mains as implicit and improvisational as possible. Third,
Practice. The starting point for Bell is the notion that ritual
practices misrecognize their own dynamics; generally focus-
might be more accurately approached if it is not classified as
ing only on their goal, they do not see how their activity to-
some structurally distinct and primal cultural activity; that
wards it shifts the nature of the goal and the whole landscape
is, unlike all other ways of acting. Rather, ritual activity
of action to attain it. Finally, practices are guided by the need
should be returned to the context of cultural action in gener-
to act as much as possible within an interpretation of domi-
al, as action among actions. Only in the context of many
nation and subordination that provides all involved with a
ways of acting—a functional semiological system—can one
measure of empowerment, however modest or even illusion-
approach the construction, meaning, and efficacy of ritual-
ary—a concept dubbed “redemptive hegemony” (Bell, 1992,
ized practices. The term practice, historically indebted to Karl
pp. 81–85). As cultural practice, ritual activity will be all
Marx’s notion of praxis, simply refers to culturally shaped
these things; it will share these features with other activities,
and shaping activities.
such as cooking a meal, though some features will be more
stressed than others. Ritual is not an intrinsically special way
For many of the great theoreticians of religion, there was
of acting, but it is a distinct orchestration of activities: the
no question that ritual possessed a distinctive identifying
commonality of ritualization with other actions allows a bet-
structure. The dominant models of ritual in the twentieth
ter focus on what is distinctive about the choices involved
century, such as those of Arnold van Gennep, Durkheim,
in it. In terms of this commonality, ritualization should be
Mircea Eliade, Turner, and Geertz, understood ritual as a
analyzed in context of its situational strategies and misre-
fundamentally different sort of social event. Just as
cognitions, which create a form of redemptive hegemony
Durkheim described the distinction between the sacred and
able to exercise some dominance over other activities in the
profane as starkly clear, these models assume that ritual—as
world.
a symbolic (non-instrumental) mode of acting, directed to-
ward what is sacred—by definition must differ completely
According to Bell, the distinctive significance of ritual-
from profane modes of acting. In making this argument the-
ization starts in the type of contrast it generates with other
orists needed to name the something extra or different that
actions. Acting ritually appears to establish, in the very man-
is found in rituals, such as traffic with supernatural beings,
ner in which the activity is performed, a “privileged distinc-
awe of the mysterium tremendum, or a specific structuring of
tion” between it and other implicated actions: “acting ritual-
social symbols and symbolic stages of experience. For exam-
ly is first and foremost a matter of nuanced contrasts and the
ple, Turner saw ritual in terms of a distinctive pattern of
evocation of strategic, value-laden distinctions” (1992,
“structure” and “communitas,” while Geertz saw a character-
p. 90). Bell’s suggestion that ritualization seeks to establish
istic harmonization of the symbolic references that make up
a privileged differentiation means that a Sunday service is not
a social arrangement (ethos) and a sacred cosmology (world-
a ritual by virtue of an intrinsic structure it alone possesses,
view). The many adoptions and adaptations of the Turner
but by virtue of the way its activities stress contrasts with
and Geertz models to interpret an ever elastic set of activities
other activities that make the ritualized acts special (people
have shown how impossible it may be to define ritual as a
dress up for Sunday service, gather in a large room according
clear category. Some theorists have been logically drawn into
to a what is understood as a tradition, sing an order of songs,
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7853
address God in prayer through a minister’s leadership—in
world can lend a peculiar efficacy to action, an efficacy that
contrast to their daily dress-down routines, infrequent gath-
has everything to do with ritual’s own qualities of misre-
erings, individual prayer, and self-determination, etc.).
cognition and its redemptive sense of empowerment. It
Through an action’s creation of this type of privileged dis-
might also lend a particular retreat to a situation by defining
tinction, “ritual is always contingent, provisional, and de-
the problem and solution in terms that leave the dispensation
fined by difference” (1992, p. 91). Therefore, formalism or
of power outside of the community. This practice theory of
repetition or traditionalism are not intrinsic qualities of ritual
ritual has proven to be usefully elastic for a number of fields
practices, but common strategies for producing acts that can
and disciplines, especially the interpretation of so-called sec-
dominate their context in important and useful ways. On
ular rituals and the emergence of new ritualizing, neither ad-
this basis, a universal characterization of ritualization may be
dressed by preceding theories.
impossible; it may be describable only in general terms since
The anthropologists Caroline Humphrey and James
even the most widespread strategies could mean different
Laidlaw propose a different theory of ritual as action. They
things in different cultural contexts. Bell’s “theory” of ritual,
see ritualization as the distinctive way in which any action
therefore, is an experiment in backing away from all the uni-
may be performed, but they suggest that ritualized activities
versal qualities usually assigned to ritual to make it an a priori
will always differ clearly from routine actions for a cultural
event structured similarly in Madras and Manhattan.
community. First, ritualization is “a qualitative departure
Yet the privileged opposition at the base of ritualized
from the normal intentional character” mobilized for any ac-
practices is only part of what goes on in ritualizing. Another
tion (1994, p. 89). Second, ritual actions are always stipulat-
distinct feature for Bell is the way in which ritual strategies
ed in advance, already formed, ready to do, or prescribed.
of action are rooted in the individual, socialized body: “the
Hence, the intentions of the actor make no difference to
interaction of the social body with a symbolically constituted
what the actions are or how they are done. This is, in part,
spatial and temporal environment” is a circular process by
a way of dealing with the ritual tradition as something that
which the body shapes the space that shapes the body. The
is given yet also freshly exercised. These ritual precedents,
socialized body misrecognizes this shaping: it does not see it-
which Humphrey and Laidlaw call “archetypal,” have no in-
self shaping its environment so much as reacting to an order
trinsic meaning for the ritual actors or the participants. Peo-
or pre-existing arrangement of forces. Nonetheless, as bodies
ple are free to assign meanings and argue about the rites in
(with minds and voices, not just limbs and gestures, etc.) ab-
broad or detailed terms, which they certainly do. A third and
sorb the logic of spaces and temporal events, they then proj-
crucial point for Humphrey and Laidlaw is that these rites
ect these structural schemes, reproducing liturgical arrange-
are perceived as external, elemental, or object-like entities. As
ments out of their own “sense” of the fitness of things. This
such they appear to exact a type of fundamental acquiescence
process of embodiment and projection produces, and is in-
to the facticity of one’s social world. In their extended analy-
dicative of a “ritualized body,” a body that can naturally pro-
sis, liturgies or “liturgy-centered rites” can be seen as charac-
duce ritualized schemes. Even outside the ritual arena, the
teristically ritualized, while more performance-centered rites
ritualized body will exercise quiet ways of reinterpreting
are only weakly ritualized, leaving more to the actors to de-
(thereby dominating) social circumstances based on the
termine.
dense, flexible logic of schemes learned in the rite. This theo-
Humphrey and Laidlaw’s theory of ritualizing action is
ry of the “ritual mastery” of the socialized body draws upon
particularly concerned with challenging the assumption in
Marcel Mauss’s analysis of the “technique de la corps” (1935),
anthropology that ritual is a paradigmatic form of cultural
as well as to Bourdieu’s innovative re-description of Mauss’s
communication with discursive meaning for all involved.
notion of “habitus” (Bourdieu, 1977). For Bell, the goal of
Bell rejects any suggestion that ritual is universal, and she is
ritualizing activity is always the production of a ritualized
hesitant even to grant universality to any particular strategy
and ritualizing agent who acts beyond the rite, while the situ-
of ritualization, such as formalism. Similarly, Humphrey and
ation in which this particular set of circular misrecognitions
Laidlaw argue that since cultural attitudes toward ritualiza-
is played out is one in which the participants are seeking a
tion are inseparable from it, ritual can never be the same
particular organization of domination and power, that is as
across cultures, but ritualization as they define it remains a
emanating more or less directly from sources deemed beyond
universally available form of action. This contrasts strongly
the human community but still subject to some channeling
with Bell’s move away from universalism and power of
or control or intercession.
tradition.
The contextualization of ritual as cultural practice opens
Performance theory invokes the emphases on communi-
up new dimensions of analysis. For example, the theorist can
cation and performance that have characterized so much the-
ask why ritual is chosen as the most efficacious way of acting
orizing about ritual, while identifying a spectrum of ritual-
in a situation? What types of power are defined for all in-
ized gestures and acts (Bell, 1998). At one end of a spectrum,
volved? What is the difference for a community between ad
some theorists emphasize the performative aspects of ritual-
hoc ritualizing and a “tradition” of ritual forms controlled
ization, in contrast to theorists in theater studies, for exam-
by whom? The choice to use ritualized practices to act on the
ple, who explore the ritualized dimensions of performance.
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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RITUAL [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
Some analyze performance as communication, while others
and reality of the individuals involved in the act. In the death
approach performance theory as liberation from communi-
and consumption of the animal, human beings experience
cation models. Pushing out from all of these positions, the
a transgression of the bounds of life and death. While Girard
focus on performance has opened up many avenues of inqui-
laments the heavy moral demands of sacrifice, Bataille argues
ry. For example, it highlights ritual as a multisensory experi-
that the cruelty and anguish of sacrificial killing are essential
ence of sights, sounds, flavors, and smells, as well as a physi-
in opening the only route to transcendence.
cal language of gestures and embodiment (Sullivan, 1986;
Bemoaning the failure of religious anthropology to solve
Schechner, 1985). Performance approaches also generate
“the mystery of ritual,” Girard lays out a theory that roots
analysis of the ways in which ritual is a matter of “frames”
all ritual forms in primitive, or primal, sacrifice. Convinced
and what framing accomplishes interactively between actor
that primitive societies are “obsessed” with mimetic rivalry,
and audience (Bateson, 1955; Goffman, 1974; Handelman,
in which one person desires that which another has, Girard
1990). While some scholars point to an underlying notion
casts ritual as a “theatrical reenactment” of the social crisis
of “illusion” in the language of performance, this is chal-
that results from such rivalry, a destructive paroxysm in
lenged by those who articulate both ritual and performance
which the group can purify itself by killing a victim, a scape-
as central to the social construction of reality (Schieffelin,
goat. The purpose of ritual, therefore, is collective reconcilia-
1985). As evidence of its synthetic tendencies, a view of ritual
tion and reordering—a Frazerian process of regeneration
as performance will foreground the limits on, and yet neces-
(Girard, 1996, pp. 10–14)—via the shared act of violence.
sity for, inventive spontaneity suited to the moment, in addi-
It is not so hard to understand why Bataille is regularly cited,
tion to time-honored classical models that provide a larger
although not usually in formal studies of ritual, since his ex-
sense of context and identity (Hughes-Freeland, 1998). A
planation is so close to Christian theology despite his insis-
number of anthropological studies of performance attempt
tence on outsider status. It is more curious that Girard’s
to chart the social and cultural ramifications of transitions
bleak reductionism has been found so provocative to many,
from a local traditional rite to a more tourist-oriented perfor-
although its attractions are undoubtedly a version of the
mance, certainly a very common development in the last cen-
theological as well— if only the atheology of Sigmund Freud
tury. Finally, performance theorists have been particularly
himself, who tried to account for religion by collapsing histo-
alert to the importance of a culture’s own approach to per-
ry into the psyche, with religion as the necessary illusion that
forming, letting cultural specificity dominate theoretical cat-
keeps us more or less content in a civilization constructed on
egories (Laderman and Roseman, 1996). Still, the implied
the sacrificial killing of the father.
question of universal aspects to ritual and performance, even
NEW DIRECTIONS. In the words of one theorist, the interac-
when answered in the negative, often underlies the issues
tion of the concepts of ritual, practice, and performance has
brought to the study of “ritual performance.”
generated a “rapidly changing intellectual geography”
The popular theories of Georges Bataille (1973) and
(Hughes-Freeland, 1998, p. 2); certainly none of the preced-
René Girard (1986) forge distinctive routes through the is-
ing approaches will keep their current shape for long. The
sues of culture, nature, communication, and practice to ex-
study of ritual practices will undoubtedly continue to pursue
press themes that have been consistent threads throughout
several directions of inquiry, perhaps with lopsided influ-
the twentieth-century’s study of religion. Bataille and Girard
ences on each other. Cultural-practice theories are proving
are regularly cited for their distinctive analyses of sacrifice,
amenable to further refinement and wide application. The
with both using approaches that are vaguely psychoanalytic
various arguments of cognitive science may not be unravel-
in a Freudian way and loosely ahistorical in a Eliadian way,
ing that many ritual milieus, but so far they have generated
focusing on primal emotional conflicts that endure, they
suggestive ideas and drawn much attention in a post-
argue, in ritual today. For both theorists, sacrifice is the ori-
postmodern milieu. The assumption that cognitive univer-
gin of religion (and much else) and the preeminent form of
sals underlie the panoply of culture reintroduces an old posi-
ritual in general. For Bataille, ritual is born of desire and de-
tion, of course, but with fresh enthusiasm for scientific forms
struction; for Girard, ritual is mimetic desire (envious imita-
of evidence and the mysteries of adaptive evolution (Pyys-
tion) and violence. Within an encompassing theory of reli-
iäinen, 2001). For decades the study of religion was mapped
gion, Bataille argues that the sacrificial destruction of an
in terms of the poles of eklaren (explanation) and verstehen
animal transforms it from an external object in the world of
(interpretation); and again we hear the cry for a truly scientif-
things into something more intimate and immanent to
ic explanation and a rejection of vague cultural interpreta-
human beings: a part of the divine world. The sacrificer ne-
tion. Yet for students and readers of Eliade, it is hard to read
gates the profane order of reality for the priority of the myth-
the introductory chapters to this new scientific literature
ical or sacred order, yet, paradoxically, each order exists in
without thinking of the grand comparative-religion project
order to neutralize the other (as Bataille acknowledges). Sac-
of the twentieth century. With a sentence that could have
rificial killing is an act of destructive consumption (in con-
come from Eliade’s Patterns in Comparative Religion (1958),
trast to the productivity of profane reality) in which the
one proponent of the new cognitive science writes that “there
transformation of the separate, objective life of the animal
are quite obviously recurrent patterns of religious phenome-
is, mysteriously, the transformation of the separate identity
na across cultures, and it is these patterns that form the ob-
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
RITUAL [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]
7855
ject of the study of religion” (Pyysiäinen,, 2001). Eliade’s
tion or clear doctrines, or more than minimal ad hoc rituals,
morphology of the forms of religious symbolism, with its
cannot continue to be dismissed as New Age-ism; while peo-
semi-scientific intentions of collection and analysis, capped
ple of this persuasion have been active consumers of books
a century of what was understood to be the scientific study
and paraphernalia on how to ritualize the main events of
of religion. Eliade eventually reached out to be more than
their lives, the language of an unaffiliated spirituality is now
scientific, in part because science was having such a hard time
quite pervasive (Grimes, 2000). Together, all of these devel-
actually comprehending religion. As in the anthropological
opments do not predict any greater coherence and unity in
and psychological sciences, interpretation became a rich and
ritual studies than we have seen up to this point. Following
complex method, as well as an object of study itself.
the words of the cognitive theorist Ilkka Pyysiäinen, perhaps
a theory of ritual is unreasonable, but we can have theories
In a summary of recent studies of ritual, the sociologist
about ritual (2001, p. viii). For religious studies in general,
Robert Bellah asserts that ritual is the basic social event and
the mid-century move from Biblical sources about ritual,
“the most fundamental category for the understanding of so-
with their particular focus on sacrifice, to more anthropolog-
cial action” (Bellah, 2003, p. 32). He then traces the evi-
ical ones, makes religious studies a player alongside the other
dence for its emergence in this role and its evolutionary con-
social disciplines. So, within the field of religion, ritual
tributions in the transition from primates to humans, raising
studies inevitably struggles to identify its peculiar contribu-
interesting questions about ritual’s relationship with lan-
tion, which is less likely to be a special position or method
guage and music. Bellah is strongly committed to maintain-
as a stubborn refusal to reduce—in analysis or in signifi-
ing “general terms in the social sciences”—although they
cance—so-called religious phenomenon into fully other (that
warrant a “healthy skepticism” since they are “of recent and
is, non-religious, un-holy) components or conclusions.
Western origin.” Still he argues, there is no need to doubt
that they “refer to real features of the real world” (p. 44). Bel-
SEE ALSO Ritual Studies.
lah is specifically responding to Bell’s suggested doubt that
the category of ritual refers to a real, universally distinct phe-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
nomenon. Thus, even as culturally oriented a sociologist as
Andresen, Jensine, ed. Religion in Mind: Cognitive Perspectives on
Bellah finds it impossible to adopt a perspective that he un-
Religious Belief, Ritual, and Experience. Cambridge, U.K.,
doubtedly sees as the continued nihilism of postmodernism.
2001.
He also turns to various discussions of the evolutionary roots
Asad, Talal. Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power
of ritual with their promises of real evidence.
in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore, 1993.
Atran, Scott. In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Re-
Cognitive approaches to ritual might be most valuable
ligion. Oxford, 2002.
if they were to find a clear, realistic place for cultural analysis.
Practice theories of ritual, for their part, need to continue to
Bataille, Georges. Theory of Religion (1973). Translated by Robert
Hurley. New York, 1989.
demonstrate greater ethnographic utility, not merely in the
broad outlines. Surely the nature versus nurture debate is
Bateson, Gregory. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. 1955; reprint, New
foolishly conceived, and we will inevitably find that these
York, 1978.
two extreme categories refer to realities that are harder to dif-
Bell, Catherine. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. New York and Ox-
ferentiate. In the end it is not surprising that ritual studies
ford, 1992.
is the site of such different approaches; it has always been a
Bell, Catherine. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York
area for cross-disciplinary exchange, and it undoubtedly will
and Oxford, 1997.
continue to be that.
Bell, Catherine. “Performance.” In Critical Terms for Religious
Studies, edited by Charles C. Taylor, pp. 205-224. Chicago,
Future theories of ritual may address some of the evi-
1998.
dence for how people are actually ritualizing today. Around
Bellah, Robert. “The Ritual Roots of Society and Culture.” In
the globe, several major changes in ritual practices are occur-
Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by Michele Dil-
ring. First of all, the loss of undisturbed tribal cultures is cer-
lon. Cambridge, pp. 31-44. U.K., 2003.
tainly complete, so the rites of tribal peoples today must be
Bial, Henry, ed. The Performance Studies Reader. New York, 2004.
understood to represent incredibly complex cultural interac-
Bourdieu, Pierre. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Translated by
tions, dominations, and inversions. Second, the twentieth
Richard Nice. Cambridge, U.K., 1977.
century saw the conversion of many peoples of the world to
Islam and Christianity, both of which invite forms of nation-
Boyer, Pascal. The Naturalness of Religious Ideas: A Cognitive Theo-
ry of Religion. Berkeley, 1994.
alism and transnationalism not possible among earlier cultur-
al differences. Third, the evangelical movement in the Unit-
Boyer, Pascal. Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Reli-
ed States, perhaps another great awakening, may be again
gious Thought. New York, 2001.
emptying the mainstream churches and filling up the so-
Buber, Max. Good and Evil: Two Interpretations. New York, 1952.
called mega-churches with their distinctive style of worship
Burkert, Walter. Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early
and their openness to immigrant populations. Fourth, the
Religions. Cambridge, Mass., 1996.
sense of a personal spirituality that does not require affilia-
Chomsky, Noam. Syntactic Structures. The Hague, 1957.
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Comaroff, Jean. Body of Power, Spirit of Resistance: The Culture
Pyysiäinen, Ilkka. How Religion Works: Towards a New Cognitive
and History of a South African People. Chicago, 1985.
Science of Religion. Leiden, 2001.
d’Aquili, Eugene G., Charles D. Laughlin, and John McManus,
Rappaport, Roy A. Ecology, Meaning, and Religion. Richmond,
eds. The Spectrum of Ritual: A Biogenetic Structural Analysis.
Calif., 1979.
New York, 1979.
Rappaport, Roy A. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity.
de Waal, Frans. Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in
Cambridge, U.K., 1999.
Humans and Other Animals. Cambridge, Mass., 1996.
Rollo-Koster, Joëlle, ed. Medieval and Early Modern Ritual: For-
Dillon, Michele. Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. Cambridge,
malized Behavior in Europe, China, and Japan. Leiden, 2002.
UK, 2003.
Rothenbuhler, Eric W. Ritual Communication: From Everyday
Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion. Translated by
Conversation to Mediated Ceremony. Thousand Oaks, Calif.:
Rosemary Sheed. New York, 1958.
1998.
Girard, René. The Scapegoat. Translated by Yvonne Freccero. Bal-
Schechner, Richard. Between Theater and Anthropology. Philadel-
timore, 1986.
phia, 1985.
Girard, René. The Girard Reader, edited by James G. Williams.
New York, 1996.
Schieffelin, E. L. “Performance and the Cultural Construction of
Reality.” American Ethnologist 12, no. 4 (1985): 707–724.
Gluckman, Max. Essays on the Ritual of Social Relations. Manches-
ter, 1962.
Staal, Fritz. Rules without Meaning: Ritual, Mantras, and the
Human Sciences. New York, 1989.
Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of
Experience. New York, 1974.
Sullivan, Lawrence E. “Sound and Senses: Toward a Hermeneu-
tics of Performance.” History of Religions 26, no. 1 (1986):
Grimes, Ronald A. Research in Ritual Studies: A Programmatic
1–33.
Essay and Bibliography. Chicago and Metuchen, N.J., 1985.
Grimes, Ronald A. Deeply into the Bone: Re-Inventing Rites of Pas-
Whitehouse, Harvey. Arguments and Icons: Divergent Modes of Re-
sage. Berkeley, 2000.
ligiosity. Oxford, 2000.
Handelman, Don. Models and Mirrors: Towards an Anthropology
Whitehouse, Harvey, and James Laidlaw, eds. Ritual and Memory:
of Public Events. Cambridge, U.K., 1990.
Toward a Comparative Anthropology of Religion. Altamira,
2004.
Hughes-Freeland, Felicia, ed. Ritual, Performance, Media. Lon-
don, 1998.
Wilson, David Sloan. Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and
the Nature of Society. Chicago, 2002.
Humphrey, Caroline, and James Laidlaw. The Archetypal Actions
of Ritual: A Theory of Ritual Illustrated by Jain Rite of Worship.
Wilson, Edward O. Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Cambridge,
Oxford, 1994.
Mass., 1975.
Huxley, Julian, ed. A Discussion on Ritualization of Behavior in An-
Wulff, David M. Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary.
imals and Man. London, 1966.
2d ed. New York, 1997.
Kreinath, Jens, Jans Snoek, and Michael Stausberg, eds. Theoriz-
For an overview of theoretical interpretations, the many types of
ing Rituals: Classical Topics, Theoretical Approaches, Analytical
rituals identified, and the roles ritual plays in social life, see
Concepts, Annotated Bibliography. Leiden, 2005.
Bell’s Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. It is usefully sup-
Laderman, Carol, and Marina Roseman, eds. The Performance of
plemented by Humphrey and Laidlaw, The Archetypical Ac-
Healing. London, 1996.
tions of Ritual, which develops an extensive example in Jain
ritual. McCauley and Lawson’s Bringing Ritual to Mind,
Lambek, Michael, ed. A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion.
from two major scholars, is not the easiest introduction to
Maldon, Mass., 2002.
cognitive analysis of ritual per se, but it is the most complete.
Lawson, E. Thomas, and Robert N. McCauley. Rethinking Reli-
One could also start with the articles by McCauley and Law-
gion: Connecting Cognition and Culture. Cambridge, U.K.,
son in Andresen’s Religion in Mind. Rappaport’s Ritual and
1990.
Religion in the Making of Humanity, the other major work
Lorenz, Konrad Z. “Evolution of Ritualization in the Biological
since the mid-1980s, is also not a simple study, but Lambek’s
and Cultural Spheres.” In A Discussion on Ritualization of
Reader in the Anthropology of Religion excerpts a credible se-
Behavior in Animals and Man, edited by Julian Huxley,
lection. Bial’s The Performance Studies Reader assembles a
pp. 273–284. London, 1966.
thorough collection of the major theoretical sources for a
Mauss, Marcel. Techniques of the Body. 1935. Translated by Ben
performance perspective on ritual.
Brewster in Economy and Society 2, no. 1 (February 1973):
CATHERINE M. BELL (2005)
70–88.
McCauley, Robert N., and E. Thomas Lawson. Bringing Ritual
to Mind: Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms. Cam-
bridge, U.K., 2002.
RITUAL STUDIES as a field of inquiry began with a
Myerhoff, Barbara. “A Death in Due Time.” In Rite, Drama, Fes-
research group established in 1977 by the American Acade-
tival, Spectacle: Rehearsals Toward a Theory of Cultural Perfor-
my of Religion (AAR), the international society of religious
mance, edited by John J. McAloon, pp. 149–178. Philadel-
studies scholars. A decade later Ronald L. Grimes and Fred
phia, 1984.
W. Clothey cofounded the Journal of Ritual Studies. 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
RITUAL STUDIES
7857
studies is a distinct academic field that gives special attention
oppositions and the Western philosophical split between
to the performance aspect of the rites themselves (gesture,
thought and action, observer and observed. Because ritual is
aesthetics, space, choreography, praxis, meaning) and not
often viewed as simultaneously representing and fusing these
just to a rite’s social function or cultural context.
polarities, Bell invites a more thorough integration of prac-
tice theory into ritual studies to resolve this seeming paradox.
Although the term ritual studies is often misapplied as
The concerns and sensibilities of ritual studies as a field are
a catchall category for widely divergent research, the field of
best articulated in Grimes’s first monograph for classroom
ritual studies aspires to more than simply cultivating conver-
use, Beginnings in Ritual Studies (1982). Grimes also pro-
sation and exchange among scholars from different disci-
duced the first bibliography of ritual, Research in Ritual
plines. Ritual studies requires a research approach that is
Studies (1985), that covers 1960 to 1983. This resource
truly interdisciplinary. This field of study represents a move-
paired with Madeline Duntley’s updated bibliographic essay
ment away from more traditional text-oriented conceptions
“Ritual in the United States” (1997) organizes the diverse
of ritual, and like anthropology and sociology, ritual studies
range and types of modern writings on ritual available to
endorses participatory fieldwork when possible. Yet ritual
scholars in both the academic and popular press.
studies differs from the social sciences in its interest in both
experiential meaning (phenomenology) and textual interpre-
Since 1977 ritual studies has made significant strides in
tation (hermeneutics) and in its concern with studying ritu-
interdisciplinary research in three key areas: (1) mind-body
al’s relationship to language, narrative, and myth. An excel-
and language; (2) popular culture and ritual; and (3) theoret-
lent example that strikes the ritual studies ideal of balance
ical analysis and construction.
in simultaneously studying text, action, and context is Sam
M
Gill’s Native American Religious Action (1998). Gill com-
IND-BODY AND LANGUAGE. Ritual studies provides a vari-
ety of ways to study ritual in the wider context of human be-
bines fieldwork data from Navajo culture with a careful ex-
havior. One option is performance studies. Richard Schech-
position of the semantic content of prayer texts to show that
ner defines performance as ritualized behavior both
the most culturally responsible way to study Navajo prayer
conditioned and permeated by play. Building upon Victor
is to consider it as a performative, pragmatic, and poetic ritu-
Turner’s pioneering work, From Ritual to Theatre: The
al medium. Gill notes that the referential meaning of the
Human Seriousness of Play (1982), Schechner measures “play
prayer’s words ought not be privileged apart from the
acts” using six templates: structure, process, experience, func-
prayer’s actual performance or cultural context. In Gill’s
tion, ideology, and frame. In The Future of Ritual (1993)
study prayer as a rite is not severed from its proper place in
Schechner claims that players, spectators, and observers each
the history of Navajo oral tradition nor from its current posi-
may be independently analyzed in terms of these six tem-
tion in the larger healing ceremony of which it is part.
plates, which in turn helps to break down the dichotomy of
Because many of the field’s leading scholars work in reli-
observer and observed (Schechner, 1993, pp. 25–26). Perfor-
gious studies departments, ritual studies has adopted the car-
mance studies has ties to kinesics (the study of the communi-
dinal premise of the academic study of religion: that no sin-
cative role of bodily movements and facial expressions). Be-
gle ritual tradition or practice ought to be used as a
cause ritual action often takes the form of carefully framed
normative standard for analysis or classification. Any type of
gestures, methods such as kinesic-style film study and dance-
theoretical interpretation performed in ritual studies is un-
annotation analysis of ritual hold great potential for the
derstood as a comparative judgment, not as a value judg-
study of ritual. But to date the theory of gesture remains
ment. This does not mean that ritual studies eschews theolo-
rooted in conceptual categories of interaction ritual first es-
gy or liturgics. Once only the purview of Christianity,
tablished by Erving Goffman in The Presentation of Self in
liturgics increasingly refers to the study of worship ritual in
Everyday Life (1959).
a variety of religious traditions. Whereas the global study of
religious rites past and present is an expected province of rit-
Biogenetic structuralism is an approach in ritual studies
ual studies, it is not presumed that religious ritual is the high-
exploring the connection between ritual and myth from a
est form or most fully developed type of ritual. Ritual studies
neurological and evolutionary point of view. It tempers the
follows the lead of Sally F. Moore and Barbara Myerhoff’s
humanistic orientation in ritual theory by suggesting that rit-
Secular Ritual (1977) in pursuing the study of secular cere-
ual mediates between genetic codes and ecological adapta-
mony and ritual as well.
tion. In The Mystical Mind (1999) the psychiatrists Eugene
G. d’Aquili and Andrew B. Newberg map responses to ritual
A good reading list of texts on ritual is in Ronald L.
action in various areas of the brain. For example, the site of
Grimes’s anthology, Readings in Ritual Studies (1996).
emotional discharges associated with different types of reli-
Grimes’s succinct introductions to each entry highlight
gious experiences can be located using brain imaging experi-
many of the scholars and debates pertinent to the study of
ments on Tibetan Buddhist meditators. D’Aquili also collab-
ritual. Reading these in conjunction with Catherine Bell’s
orated with Charles Laughlin and John McManus in The
Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (1992) will provide a thorough
Spectrum of Ritual (1979), a collection of essays on the genet-
introduction to the academic discourse on ritual. As Bell
ic foundations of ritual, and in Brain, Symbol, and Experience
notes, many classic theories are marked by the use of binary
(1990).
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Studies of ritual and violence often begin with the find-
interconnection between ritual and language is Ritual and
ings of ethologists such as Julian Huxley in the article “A Dis-
Semiotics (1997), edited by J. Ralph Lindgren and Jay Knaak.
cussion on Ritualized Behavior in Animals and Man”
Of particular interest is Lindgren’s work on magic, where he
(1966). Ethologists see many connections between animal
argues that a semiotic (the study of signs and symbols) inves-
and human ritualized behavior, especially in human imita-
tigation of ritual reveals the process of social beliefs in flux
tion of animal behavior in certain totemic rites in aboriginal
and in turn allows one to see ritual as an open-ended, flexible
societies. Human aggression and gender display, like those
sign system.
of animals, are hedged with stylization, symbolization, and
repetitiveness. This is a topic addressed by Walter Burkert,
Ancient Magic and Ritual Power (1995), edited by Mar-
René Girard, and Jonathan Z. Smith in Violent Origins
vin Meyer and Paul Mirecki, offers several linguistic analyses
(1987). The three authors’ diverging viewpoints on violence
of ritual and magic. Magic presents a taxonomic (categorical)
and ritual are typical of academic debates over the role of vio-
challenge to the study of ritual that these authors resolve in
lence in the origins of religion itself. Whereas this book deals
part by substituting the term ritual power for magic. Magic
with the universal tendency of ritual to take violent form in
is thus liberated from its negative connotations by revision-
sacrifice and scapegoating, other scholars prefer an evolution-
ing it as empowerment by ritual means. Another treatment
ary perspective to locate the origins of ritual as engendering
of ritual and language is Richard K. Fenn’s Liturgies and Tri-
less-negative contributions to human society and communi-
als (1982), a study of performative utterance and the ritual
ty. For instance, Roy A. Rappaport’s Ritual and Religion in
efficacy of language used in court proceedings. Grimes’s Rit-
the Making of Humanity (1999) treats ritual in a positive
ual Criticism (1990) also utilizes J. L. Austin’s speech-act the-
way—as humanity’s “basic social act.” Rappaport combines
ory for use in determining and assessing the many ways a rite
evolutionary biology with ecology, semiotics, philosophy,
can fail. Grimes presents nineteen categories of ritual failure,
and communications theory to argue that ritual both com-
some of which are: gloss (covers up problems), breach (fail-
municates and creates morality, obligation, and convention.
ure to follow through), opacity (act unrecognizable or unin-
Ritual, in short, makes society possible.
telligible), misframe (genre misconstrued), contagion (act
leaps beyond proper boundaries), flop (failure to evoke prop-
Interest in psychology within ritual studies begins with
er mood), and violation (act effective but demeaning).
Volney Patrick Gay’s Freud on Ritual (1979), where Gay
P
challenges the commonly held interpretation of Sigmund
OPULAR CULTURE AND RITUAL. One of ritual studies’ most
important contributions is its ability to bridge academic and
Freud’s negative view of ritual as repressive and as a collective
public interest in ritual. Liberating Rites (1998) by Tom
version of personal neurosis. Ritual studies recognizes the ex-
Driver and Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals (1998) by Her-
istence of nonpathological, private ritualizing and explores
bert Anderson and Edward Foley are books by theologians
the therapeutic uses of ritual. A major part of Religious and
who target both popular and academic audiences. Anderson
Social Ritual (1996), edited by Michael B. Aune and Valerie
and Foley offer guides for creating new rites for nontradi-
DeMarinis, is devoted to the effective use of ritual in clinical
tional life transitions (divorce, retirement, miscarriage), and
settings and of the similarities and differences between ritual
Driver provides theoretical guidelines and maxims for im-
and psychotherapy.
proving existing rituals. Driver also distinguishes between
The collaborative work of Robert N. McCauley and E.
two central types or modes of ritual action: confessional (ef-
Thomas Lawson represents the best examples of the cogni-
fecting revelatory self-disclosure) and ethical (effecting social
tive science of ritual. McCauley and Lawson examine the
change through action). Yet Driver also notes how these two
cognitive machinery essential to a participant’s ritual compe-
modes overlap. First, the two modes serve in tandem to en-
tence. In Bringing Ritual to Mind (2002) McCauley and
hance ritual’s potential to inspire liberation and justice. Sec-
Lawson utilize experimental research in cognitive psycholo-
ond, the ethical and confessional modes work together to im-
gy. They look at ritual transmission and those factors that
pede ritual’s destructive tendencies.
determine the survival of ritual systems and what motivates
participants to perpetuate them over time. McCauley also
Anderson and Foley offer new perspectives on the inter-
presents research on what he calls “sensory pageantry” in
connection between ritual and narrative. Narrative is not
“Ritual, Memory, and Emotion: Comparing Two Cognitive
simply the particular mythic story a rite imparts but is the
Hypotheses” (2001). McCauley explores how ritual meaning
actual storytelling occurring before, during, and after the rite
and experience are contingent upon environment and how
that in part imbues ritual action with meaning. Narrative is
ritual frequency and infrequency contribute to a rite’s mean-
emotionally charged because it augments and frames ritual
ing and efficacy.
action in life transition ceremonies of birth, marriage, and
death. Far from taking the creation or refinement of new rit-
McCauley and Lawson also forge important links be-
uals flippantly, Anderson and Foley are aware of the pro-
tween semantics and ritual in Rethinking Religion (1990).
found danger and risk involved in the task of ritual revitaliza-
Here they argue that linguistic theories offer strategic insights
tion and innovation. Ritual may be used intentionally and
for the study of religious rituals, especially for examining the
unwittingly to embarrass, destroy, or disturb as well as to
internal structure of ritual. Another volume examining the
unify, satisfy, and heal. Their discussion of the categories
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RITUAL STUDIES
7859
“mythic” (a rite that intentionally glosses over contradictions
highlight the latent ethnocentricity in many interpretive
and enacts the ideal) and “parabolic” (a rite that intentionally
strategies concerning life transition rituals. For example, in
addresses and resolves contradictions and problems) is appli-
the Hispanic quinceañera (coming of age or debutante birth-
cable beyond the Christian context and helps interpret secu-
day ball for fifteen-year-old girls) scholars may focus on the
lar and non-Christian rites as well.
event as a secular occasion with sexist conservative gender
and restrictive status implications. Yet the participant herself
Ritual studies research in popular culture helps locate
may see the event as a mystical religious rite of blessing and
new ritual practices and media on the ritual spectrum. Gre-
consecration that directly results in status elevation. Grimes’s
gor Goethals’s The TV Ritual (1981) shows ways in which
Ritual Criticism (1990) introduces an interdisciplinary meth-
television viewing, especially of such sporting events as the
od called ritual criticism to resolve this dilemma of how to
Super Bowl, share many of the dynamics and characteristics
include scholar and participant views in one interpretive
typically associated with ritual. Bobby C. Alexander, in
framework. Ritual criticism is “the interpretation of a rite or
Televangelism Reconsidered (1994), argues that televangelism
ritual system with a view to implicating (involving) its prac-
is itself a ritual practice. Television viewing becomes a ritual
tice” (Grimes, 1990, p. 16). Ritual criticism uses evaluative
site of the celebration of community and legitimacy of con-
judgments only insofar as they are necessary to take into ac-
servative subcultures rather than merely a reflection of such
count the contexts and circumstances in which ritual knowl-
ritual activity occurring elsewhere.
edge is produced.
Studies of life passages experienced by women offer new
Yet another way to discover ritual’s “core” is to use the
critiques of old theoretical paradigms. In Birth as an Ameri-
typologies offered by Bell in Ritual (1997). Ritual attributes
can Rite of Passage (1992) Robbie E. Davis-Floyd presents
of formalism, traditionalism, disciplined invariance, rule-
hospital obstetrical procedures as ritual. For mothers, the so-
governance, sacral symbolism, and performance help inter-
cial convention of in-hospital birth becomes a status quo–
pret and organize a wide range of contemporary examples of
enforcing rite of passage. In this so-called technocratic birth
“ritual-like” activities that often fall outside other interpre-
rite, the mother is made subservient to and accepting of her
tive and classificatory models. Bell also broadens the concept
obligation both to patriarchal institutions and to society’s
of ritual change, which is usually defined as ritual alteration
cultural control over natural processes such as birth and
and innovation, to include ritual immutability by showing
death. Other fieldwork studies of modern women use femi-
how changelessness is an important way ritual is actively re-
nist theory to refocus attention upon the role of the body in
sponsive to rapidly changing social contexts.
rites of passage. Jone Salomonsen’s Enchanted Feminism
(2001) suggests how ritual in a coven is perceived as a recla-
In Deeply into the Bone (2000) Grimes shows the theo-
mation of divine immanence. Thus self-healing and transfor-
retical implications of realizing that rites of passage para-
mation are dependent upon actualizing eco-magico interde-
digms are theoretical hybrids constructed from the work of
pendence through ritual. Nikki Bado-Fralick’s article “A
Arnold van Gennep, Turner, and Mircea Eliade. Grimes
Turning on the Wheel of Life: Wiccan Rites of Death”
demonstrates that the widely accepted tripartite model of
(1998) also uses field research on Wiccans to claim that ritual
separation, transition, and reincorporation so often used as
transformation is more than a spontaneous mental attitude
the template for all rites of passage is far from universal in
or reorientation that results from a ritual event. Instead,
scope. In fact rites of passage theory is rooted in data gleaned
transformation is itself a somatic process that is learned by
specifically from aboriginal male initiation rites. Yet in the
the body over time. This requires a much longer time frame
twentieth century this three-part rites of passage model came
to take effect than implied by theories such as the instanta-
to be used as the theoretical lens for viewing virtually all types
neous participatory unity that Turner calls “communitas.”
of ritual activity, ancient and modern, aboriginal and pos-
Here ritual studies provides gender-specific case studies that
tindustrial. Current research in ritual studies demonstrates
build upon the concept of “ritual knowledge”—the idea that
that theories originally based on aboriginal male initiation
ritual meaning is acquired primarily through somatic or bod-
are less useful in interpreting contemporary life transition
ily performance first articulated by Theodore W. Jennings
rites and women’s rituals. If rites of passage theory is not the
Jr. in “On Ritual Knowledge” (1982).
reflection of universal human ritual experience that it was
once commonly believed to be, then both practitioner and
THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND CONSTRUCTION. Because
scholar must avoid the temptation to conform ritual experi-
scholars of ritual studies recognize the importance of study-
ence and interpretation to fit the expectations and parame-
ing contemporary ritual, many of the field’s most notable
ters supplied by these classic rites of passage templates.
contributions to theory are in the areas of ritual change and
Grimes provides more flexible theoretical guidelines for in-
ritual criticism. Elizabeth H. Pleck’s Celebrating the Family
terpreting contemporary rites of passage; these guidelines re-
(2000) assigns ethnic identity an important role in the alter-
spond to situational variety and offer an alternative to the
ation of family celebrations over time. She also links many
fixed typologies proposed by Bell in Ritual.
drastic changes in holidays and rites of passage directly to
commercialization and emphasizes the often ignored market
Once dominated by North American researchers, ritual
dimension of rituals as a product. Several of Pleck’s examples
studies is gaining international exposure both in research
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groups and in degree-granting programs. Ritualtheorien: En
d’Aquili, Eugene G., Charles Laughlin, and John McManus. The
einführendes Handbuch (1998) is the premier handbook for
Spectrum of Ritual: A Biogenetic Structural Analysis. New
European use. The Institut für Religionswissenschaft at Ger-
York, 1979.
many’s University of Heidelberg hosts the Heidelberger e-
d’Aquili, Eugene G., Charles Laughlin, and John McManus.
Journal für Ritualwissenschaft. This institute’s theoretical
Brain, Symbol, and Experience: Toward a Neuropheno-
contributions include introducing new methods called inter-
menology of Human Consciousness. Boston, 1990.
rituality and ritualistics—the comparative study of complex-
Davis-Floyd, Robbie E. Birth as an American Rite of Passage.
es of structurally interlinked rituals. In the Netherlands,
Berkeley, Calif., 1992.
Thomas Quartier leads a ritual group at the University of
Driver, Tom F. Liberating Rites: Understanding the Transformative
Nijmegen, and the Netherlands School for Advanced Studies
Power of Ritual. Boulder, Colo., 1998. Originally published
in Theology and Religion (NOSTER) sponsors research on
as The Magic of Ritual. San Francisco, 1991.
liturgics, ritual praxis, and community. Helen Phelan of the
Duntley, Madeline. “Ritual in the United States.” In Anthropology
University of Limerick in Ireland directs a master of arts de-
of Religion: A Handbook, edited by Stephen D. Glazier,
gree program in chant and ritual song. One of the insights
pp. 257–275. Westport, Conn., 1997.
of Phelan’s edited collection Anáil Dé, the Breath of God:
Fenn, Richard K. Liturgies and Trials: The Secularization of Reli-
Music, Ritual, and Spirituality (2001) is how the study of rit-
gious Language. New York, 1982.
ual music demonstrates the viability of the practice-
Gay, Volney Patrick. Freud on Ritual: Reconstruction and Critique.
performance model as a research method for ritual studies
Missoula, Mont., 1979.
(Phelan, 2001, p. 56).
Gill, Sam. Native American Religious Action: A Performance Ap-
proach to Religion. Columbia, S.C., 1987.
Europeans are also engaged in developing definitional
and conceptual alternatives to the term ritual. Jan A. M.
Goethals, Gregor. The TV Ritual: Worship at the Video Altar. Bos-
Snoek challenges the North American tendency to use rite
ton, 1981.
and ritual as synonyms, in contrast to non-American schol-
Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden
ars, who use rite to refer to the building blocks of ceremonies.
City, N.Y., 1959.
The international standardization of ritual studies terminol-
Grimes, Ronald L. Beginnings in Ritual Studies. Columbia, S.C.,
ogy remains a challenge for the field, especially regarding key
1982; rev. ed., 1995.
concepts such as ritualization or ritualizing—variously em-
Grimes, Ronald L. Research in Ritual Studies: A Programmatic
ployed as synonyms for ritual action, for emergent rites-in-
Essay and Bibliography. Metuchen, N.J., 1985.
the-making, or in reference to habitual, repetitive gestures
Grimes, Ronald L. Ritual Criticism: Case Studies in Its Practice, Es-
that parallel, but do not qualify as, rites.
says on Its Theory. Columbia, S.C., 1990.
Grimes, Ronald L. Deeply into the Bone: Re-Inventing Rites of Pas-
SEE ALSO Anthropology, Ethnology, and Religion; Ceremo-
sage. Berkeley, Calif., 2000.
ny; Liturgy; Performance and Ritual; Rites of Passage, over-
Grimes, Ronald L., ed. Readings in Ritual Studies. Upper Saddle
view article; Ritual.
River, N.J., 1996.
B
Hamerton-Kelly, Robert G., ed. Violent Origins: Walter Burkert,
IBLIOGRAPHY
René Girard, and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and
Alexander, Bobby C. Televangelism Reconsidered: Ritual in the
Cultural Formation. Stanford, Calif., 1987.
Search for Human Community. Atlanta, 1994.
Anderson, Herbert, and Edward Foley. Mighty Stories, Dangerous
Huxley, Julian. “A Discussion on Ritualized Behavior in Animals
Rituals: Weaving Together the Human and the Divine. San
and Man.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
Francisco, 1998.
London, ser. B, 251, no. 772 (1966): 274–524.
Andresen, Jensine, ed. Religion in Mind: Cognitive Perspective on
Jennings, Theodore W., Jr. “On Ritual Knowledge.” Journal of
Religious Belief, Ritual, and Experience. Cambridge, U.K.,
Religion 62 (1982): 111–127.
2001.
Lindgren, J. Ralph, and Jay Knaak, eds. Ritual and Semiotics. New
Aune, Michael B., and Valerie DeMarinis, eds. Religious and Social
York, 1997.
Ritual: Interdisciplinary Explorations. Albany, N.Y., 1996.
McCauley, Robert N. “Ritual, Memory, and Emotion: Compar-
Bado-Fralick, Nikki. “A Turning on the Wheel of Life: Wiccan
ing Two Cognitive Hypotheses.” In Religion in Mind: Cogni-
Rites of Death.” Folklore Forum 29, no. 1 (1998): 3–22.
tive Perspective on Religious Belief, Ritual, and Experience, ed-
Bell, Catherine. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. Oxford, U.K.,
ited by Jensine Andresen, pp. 115–140. Cambridge, U.K.,
1992.
2001.
Bell, Catherine. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. Oxford, U.K.,
McCauley, Robert N., and E. Thomas Lawson. Rethinking Reli-
1997.
gion: Connecting Cognition and Culture. Cambridge, U.K.,
Bellinger, Andrea, and David J. Krieger, eds. Ritualtheorien: En
1990.
einführendes Handbuch. Opladen and Weisbaden, Germany,
McCauley, Robert N., and E. Thomas Lawson. Bringing Ritual
1998.
to Mind: Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms. Cam-
d’Aquili, Eugene G., and Andrew B. Newberg. The Mystical
bridge, U.K., 2002.
Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience. Minneapo-
Meyer, Marvin, and Paul Mirecki, eds. Ancient Magic and Ritual
lis, 1999.
Power. Leiden, Netherlands, 1995.
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Moore, Sally F., and Barbara G. Myerhoff, eds. Secular Ritual:
with two full breasts, from which the northern and southern
Symbol and Politics in Communal Ideology. Assen, Nether-
branches of the Nile spring; he holds two vases, which repre-
lands, 1977.
sent in another fashion the northern and southern Nile. The
Phelan, Helen, ed. Anáil Dé, the Breath of God: Music, Ritual, and
goddesses Anuket and Isis are both identified with the Nile
Spirituality. Dublin, 2001.
as she inundates the land and fertilizes the fields. Khnemu
Pleck, Elizabeth H. Celebrating the Family: Ethnicity, Consumer
(Khnum), the water deity with four rams’ heads, is seen to
Culture, and Family Rituals. Cambridge, Mass., 2000.
represent the four sources of the Nile. Osiris, the dying and
Rappaport, Roy A. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity.
rising god, is also identified with the Nile as it sinks and rises
Cambridge, U.K., 1999.
again.
Salomonsen, Jone. Enchanted Feminism: Ritual Construction of
Although there is no systematic mythology available
Gender, Agency, and Divinity among the Reclaiming Witches
from the Indus Valley civilization to clarify how the inhabi-
of San Francisco. New York, 2001.
tants regarded the river itself, there is surely evidence in the
Schechner, Richard. The Future of Ritual: Writings on Culture and
large bathing pool of Mohenjo-Daro and in the elaborate
Performance. New York, 1993.
drainage systems of both Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro that
Turner, Victor. From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of
the inhabitants cared greatly for the cleansing properties of
Play. New York, 1982.
running water. Later Indian civilization, preserving this em-
phasis on running water and purification, has developed a
MADELINE DUNTLEY (2005)
full range of mythological and ritual traditions concerning
sacred rivers.
During the Vedic period, sacred rivers are mentioned,
RIVERS. Among the Native American Yurok people, who
often numbering seven: the five rivers of the Punjab, plus the
live along the Yurok River in northern California, orienta-
Indus and the mysterious Sarasvati. Later on, with the move-
tion in the world was not provided by the four cardinal direc-
ment of the center of Aryan civilization into the Ganges Val-
tions, but by the river itself: upstream and downstream. To
ley, the river Ganges (Skt., Gan˙ga¯) becomes preeminent
these salmon fishermen, dependent upon the river for liveli-
among rivers. As a female divinity in the form of a heavenly
hood, the river alone was the primary axis of orientation.
river, Gan˙ga¯ agreed in her mercy to flow upon the earth, fall-
In ancient times too, there were great civilizations whose
ing first upon the head of S´iva, who broke the force of her
life was so oriented toward one major river that they have
cascade from heaven. It is said in the Hindu epics and
come to be called river civilizations: Mesopotamia along the
Pura¯n:as, which tell the tale of Gan˙ga¯’s descent and which
Tigris and Euphrates, Egypt along the Nile, the Indus Valley
contain descriptions of the world’s mythic geography, that
civilization along the Indus. In all these it is not surprising
Gan˙ga¯ actually split into four streams when she fell. From
that the river itself should function as a fundamental means
Mount Meru, the cosmic mountain in the form of a lotus
of world orientation and become associated with yearly inun-
flower at the center of the world, Gan˙ga¯ flowed north, south,
dation, fertility, and with life in its fullest sense.
east, and west—watering the whole world with the waters of
life. The southern branch became the Ganges of India.
Ancient Mesopotamian civilization made a distinction
between Tiamat, the great mother of the salt waters of chaos
The importance of the Ganges as the paradigmatic
and creation, and Apsu, the lord who ruled the “sweet wa-
river—holy, cleansing, and life-giving—is further seen in its
ters” under the earth that fill the rivers and the springs. Ea
widespread duplication in other rivers. Today, India counts
was a descendent of Apsu, and Ea’s offspring included
seven sacred rivers, often called the Seven Gan˙ga¯s, that are
Marduk, who was “born within the holy Apsu,” associated
thought to supply the whole of India with sacred waters. In
with rivers, and called in one hymn the creator of the Tigris
addition to the Ganges, there are the Indus, also called Sind-
and Euphrates. Among his other creative tasks, Marduk “has
hu; the Sarasvat¯ı, said to have disappeared from earth and
opened the fountains [and] has apportioned waters in abun-
to flow underground; the Yamuna, which flows from the Hi-
dance” (Heidel, 1942, p. 56). Tammuz, too, is called a “son
malayas, through North India, past Kr:s:n:a’s birthplace at Ma-
of the deep” and is the corn spirit who comes to life each year
thura, and on to its confluence with the Ganges at Praya¯ga,
with the fertilizing waters of the rivers.
the modern Allahabad; the Narmada¯, which flows west
across central India from its source in Amarakant:aka to the
Ancient Egyptian civilization also saw fresh waters as
Arabian Sea; the Goda¯va¯r¯ı, which flows eastward from its sa-
springing from the abyss beneath the earth. There were said
cred source above the temple of Tryambaka in Maharashtra;
to be two rivers called the Nile, however, one that flowed on
and the Ka¯ver¯ı, which flows eastward across southern India
earth and one that flowed across the sky in heaven. This vi-
from its source at Talai Ka¯ver¯ı in Coorg country.
sion of the heavenly river, identified with the Milky Way,
is also part of the mythology of the river Ganges in India.
The ritual treatment of such rivers in India confirms
In ancient Egypt the Nile was so central that many of the
their sanctity. The Narmada¯, for instance, is circumambu-
great gods and goddesses are associated with the river in some
lated in a long pilgrimage that takes several years to complete.
way. The river itself is often depicted as the male god Hapi,
The confluence of rivers, like that at Praya¯ga where the Gan-
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ges, Yamuna¯, and Sarasvat¯ı are said to meet, is an especially
muz. The Egyptian Nile, with its four sources, has also been
holy place and often becomes the site of special pilgrimage
identified with Osiris and Isis, both of whom are associated
observances like the great Kumbha Mela¯ held every twelve
with the notion of the river as “living waters.”
years. Along the banks of the Ganges, or at the source of the
In one of the prophet Ezekiel’s visions (Ez. 47), he sees
Narmada¯ or Ka¯ver¯ı, one may see the tall multiwicked lamps
a stream of water issuing from beneath the main door of the
of the evening a¯rat¯ı, a ritual prayer performed for the very
Temple in Jerusalem, flowing from the Holy of Holies itself.
waters of the river itself.
At first it is ankle-deep. Gradually it becomes a great river,
RIVER GODS AND DEITIES. For Hindus, the Ganges is not
deep enough to swim in. Its waters are the waters of life; even
only a sacred river but a liquid form of the divine. She is
the salt waters become sweet and living waters once this sa-
called “liquid ´sakti,” or female energy, and is said to be S´akti,
cred river flows into them. Along the banks of the river, on
the female counterpart of the great lord S´iva, in the form of
both sides, are trees of all kinds, bearing fresh fruit and heal-
a river. Gan˙ga¯ as a goddess is depicted as utterly auspicious,
ing leaves.
holding a lotus and a water pot while riding a crocodile. She
This vision is repeated in the Revelation to John in the
is often addressed as Gan˙ga¯ Ma¯ta¯, Mother Ganges; the other
New Testament (Rv. 22). An angel shows John the heavenly
seven rivers are similarly depicted as goddesses and addressed
Jerusalem: There is no temple, but the Christ, the Light, the
as “Mother.”
Lord alone, sits enthroned at the center. From “the throne
Among many African peoples, rivers and streams are
of God and of the Lamb” flows the river of the waters of life.
considered the homes of water spirits. The feminine names
“Bright as crystal,” it flows through the city and produces on
of rivers often signify a direct connection between flowing
either side the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits and
waters, fecundity, and the female. Some rivers are themselves
yielding leaves for “the healing of the nations.”
seen as goddesses. The goddess Yemo:ja of the Yoruba, for
PURIFICATION AND REBIRTH. Living waters are purifying
instance, is said to have turned into the river Ogun and is
waters. The running water of rivers is often used ritually for
symbolized by river-worn stones through which offerings are
purification, or where it is not available, the pouring of water
made to Yemo:ja. Yemo:ja’s son was S:ango, whose many wives
may accomplish the same aim. The Hindu ritual tradition
were rivers. The most important among them was the faith-
makes it clear that water used in purification must not be
ful O:ya, who became the river Niger.
standing water, but flowing, living water. Lustrations with
such water prepare one ritually for worship, or for eating, and
The personification of rivers and their identification
remove the impurity associated with childbirth or with
with spirits was also prominent in ancient Syria, where the
death. Bathing in the Ganges is said to purify not only the
baalim had seats on the banks of streams and springs, as well
sins of this birth but also those of many previous births.
as in ancient Greece, where Homer speaks of altars built
upon river banks and of bulls sacrificed to the river. Native
Such use of running water, which is homologized to
Americans have also identified rivers as spirits. In the South-
river water, is common elsewhere as well. Greek ritual pre-
west, the Colorado River was traditionally thought of as fe-
scribed bathing in a river or spring after an expiatory sacri-
male, and the San Juan River as male. The confluence of the
fice. As recorded by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, the Aztec
two near Navajo Mountain in Utah was traditionally called
prayer over a newborn child asks, “May this water purify and
the “nuptial bed,” where numerous “water children” of
whiten thy heart: may it wash away all that is evil.” Similar
springs, clouds, and rains were born.
rites of baptism, in the Isis tradition as well as in the Chris-
tian tradition, use the symbolic power of living water to wash
LIVING WATERS. It has been noted that Hindu cosmology
away the sins of the past.
views the heavenly river Gan˙ga¯ as flowing in four, or some-
times seven, streams into the four quarters of the earth. The
Rites of healing are a form of rites of purification. The
waters of the Ganges, identified with the milk of mother
rivers of biblical Syria, Abana, and Pharpar were famous for
cows, are truly life-giving waters, and are called “mother” as
healing. So it was with indignation that Naaman, the com-
they are sipped by devout Hindus. The vision of Eden pres-
mander of the army of the king of Syria, received word from
ented briefly in Genesis 2 also evokes a river issuing forth
the prophet Elisha that he should bathe in the river Jordan
from the garden and splitting into four streams. Of the four,
seven times in order to be cleansed of his leprosy (2 Kgs. 5).
the Tigris and Euphrates are named and well known, but
To the present day the Jordan retains its reputation for heal-
concerning the Pishon and the Gihon there is disagreement,
ing, but especially so among Christians. The source of the
although some speculation identified the Pishon with the
Euphrates River was also famous for healing, and a bath there
Indus and the Gihon with the Nile. Josephus Flavius in the
in the springtime was said to keep one free of disease all year
first century CE, Eusebius in the third century, and others
long. The healing properties of the river Ganges are also well
after them identified the Pishon with the sacred Ganges,
known, and pilgrims bring small sealed bottles of Ganges
which by that time had become well known in the ancient
water home for medicinal use. Among the Hindus of Bali,
world. The notion that such divine waters issue forth from
the springs of Tampak Siring are filled with healing waters.
Paradise is also present in the Sumerian myth of the land of
RIVERS OF DEATH. Crossing the river at the time of death,
Dilmun, where the living waters are associated with Tam-
as part of the journey to another world, is a common part
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
RIVERS
7863
of the symbolic passage that people have seen as part of one’s
Eck, Diana. “Gan˙ga¯: The Goddess in Hindu Sacred Geography.”
journey after death. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the hero en-
In The Divine Consort: Ra¯dha¯ and the Goddesses of India, ed-
counters a boatman who ferries him across the waters of
ited by John Stratton Hawley and Donna M. Wulff. Berke-
death as he seeks the secret of immortality. The river Styx
ley, 1982. A study of the mythology, ritual, and theology as-
of Greek mythology is well known as the chief river of
sociated with the river Gan˙ga¯ in the Hindu tradition.
Hades, said to flow nine times around its borders. Styx is
Eliade, Mircea. Patterns in Comparative Religion. New York, 1958.
married to the Titan Pallas and according to Hesiod counts
An investigation of the nature of religion through the classifi-
as her children Rivalry, Victory, Power, and Force. The
cation of hierophanies. See especially chapter 5, “The Waters
power of the Styx is evidenced in the fact that Achilles gained
and Water Symbolism.”
his invulnerability by being dipped in the river as a baby held
Glueck, Nelson. The River Jordan. New York, 1968. An explora-
by his heel, the only part of his body thereafter vulnerable
tion of the geography, the archaeology, and the history of the
to mortal wounds. In addition, the most inviolable oath of
valley of the Jordan.
the gods is sworn with a jug of water from the Styx, poured
Heidel, Alexander. The Babylonian Genesis. Chicago, 1942. A
out while the oath is being uttered.
translation of the published cuneiform tablets of various
Babylonian creation myths.
In Hindu mythology, the river Vaitaran:¯ı marks the
Hopkins, E. Washburn. “The Sacred Rivers of India.” In Studies
boundary between the living and the dead; in the Aztec jour-
in the History of Religions Presented to Crawford Howell Toy,
ney, the river Mictlan must be crossed on the way to the un-
edited by D. G. Lyon and George Foot Moore,
derworld; in Japan, rivers are part of certain landscapes desig-
pp. 213–229. New York, 1912. An overview in short com-
nated as realms of the dead in both the Shinto¯ and Buddhist
pass of India’s sacred rivers.
traditions. The Sanzunokawa, for example, is said to divide
Zahan, Dominique. The Religion, Spirituality, and Thought of Tra-
the realms of the living and the dead. The dry riverbed of
ditional Africa. Translated by Kate Ezra Martin and Law-
Sainokawara is said to be the destination of dead children.
rence M. Martin. Chicago, 1979. See especially the chapter
“The Elementary ‘Cathedrals,’ Worship and Sacrifice,”
The far shore of the river of life and death, or birth and
which discusses natural manifestations of divinity in Africa,
death, thus becomes an important symbol for the destination
including the places associated with water.
of one’s spiritual journey in many religious traditions. In the
Buddhist tradition, nirva¯n:a is referred to as the “far shore.”
New Sources
In the Hindu tradition, holy places are called t¯ırthas
Feldhaus, Anne. Water and Womanhood. New York, 1995.
(“fords”) because they enable one to make that crossing safe-
Fineman, Mark. “A Scheme to Harness India’s Sacred Waters
ly. Riverbank t¯ırthas, such as Banaras and Prayaga, are
Brings Tempers to a Boil.” Smithsonian 21(1990): 118 ff.
thought to be especially good places to die. In the Christian
Lai, Whalen W. “Looking for Mr Ho Po: Unmasking the River
tradition, crossing over the Jordan has come to have a similar
God of Ancient China.” History of Religions 29 (May 1990):
symbolism. On the far shore is not only the promised land,
335–350.
but the spiritual promised land of heaven. Home is on the
Mason, John. Olóòkun: Owner of Rivers and Seas. Brooklyn, N.Y.,
far shore. As the African American spiritual puts it:
1996.
I look’d over Jordan and what did I see?
Sauer, James A. “The River Runs Dry: Creation Story Preserves
Comin’ for to carry me home.
Historical Memory.” Biblical Archaeology Review 22 (July–
August 1996): 52–57, 64.
A band of angels comin’ after me.
Comin’ for to carry me home.
Sinclair, Bryan T. “Merging Streams: The Importance of the
River in the Slaves’ Religious World.” Journal of Religious
S
Thought nos. 53–54 (Winter–Fall 1997): 1–19.
EE ALSO Baptism; Boats; Ganges River; Water.
Wrigley, Christopher. “The River-God and the Historians: Myth
B
in the Shire Valley and Elsewhere.” Journal of African History
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29, no. 3 (1988): 367–383.
Darian, Steven G. The Ganges in Myth and History. Honolulu,
1978. A study of mythology, symbolism, sculpture, and his-
DIANA L. ECK (1987)
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