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The Eternal Deferral

Jonathan Z. Smith

in Hermeneutics, Politics, and the History of Religions: The Contested Legacies of Joachim Wach and Mircea Eliade

This chapter poses the question of whether or not the “companion volume” that Eliade promised in Patterns in Comparative Religions can be identified with “the awkward, multi-volume, unfinished ... More

This chapter poses the question of whether or not the “companion volume” that Eliade promised in Patterns in Comparative Religions can be identified with “the awkward, multi-volume, unfinished production of Eliade’s last years,” A History of Religious Ideas. It argues that Eliade thought it so, or came to think it so. The History functions—and will continue to function—in a way analogous to an encyclopedia, providing a valuable starting point for further inquiries, one that is provocative of both thought and questions. But despite Eliade’s identification of the History with the “companion volume,” it fails to reflect explicitly on the relations between the morphological approach, as exemplified in Patterns, and a historical approach, as illustrated by the History. In part, this is due to the lack of the concluding volume to the History, Eliade’s growing problems with his health, and, finally, his death; but it is also due to the inadequate conceptualization of the historical embodied in the work.Less

The Order of Nature

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

in Religion & The Order of Nature: The 1994 Cadbury Lectures at the University of Birmingham

The Greek word for order, cosmos, is used to refer to the totality of external reality which is perceptible, while naturalistic philosophers identify with reality as such and religions and religious ... More

The Greek word for order, cosmos, is used to refer to the totality of external reality which is perceptible, while naturalistic philosophers identify with reality as such and religions and religious philosophers consider it to be all that is other than the Divine Principle. This chapter examines the meaning of order in nature, and of necessity the order of nature, not according to the modern scientific view but as treated by various religious traditions that have not only created a human society but also a cosmic ambience imbued with religious significance. These religions, including, Christianity, Shamanism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Taoism, present a primordial view of the order of nature and man's rapport with the natural world. In certain religious climates such as those of Abrahamic monotheisms, there arises the question of the contingent nature of the world in contrast to God, and also determinism versus free will in relation to the order of nature and our rapport with it.Less

The ngangkari Healing Power: Conversation with Lance Sullivan, Yalarrnga Healer

Barbara Glowczewski

in Indigenising Anthropology with Guattari and Deleuze

This chapter is based on the transcript of a one hour filmed conversation with an Indigenous healer, a Yalarrnga ritual leader who grew up in the desert community of Boulia and studied archaeology ... More

This chapter is based on the transcript of a one hour filmed conversation with an Indigenous healer, a Yalarrnga ritual leader who grew up in the desert community of Boulia and studied archaeology and anthropology at James Cook University: Lance Sullivan was invited to France in 2017 by the festival of Shamanism and Ancient Traditions that gathered 200 healers from around the world. He then agreed to share publicly his knowledge and experience to explain how he was initiated as a child to heal according to the ngangkari ‘cleverman’ tradition practiced by different desert tribes. His examples of the way he operates to pull out the source of pain from men and women, who suffer physically or spiritually, demonstrate that people’s health is connected with the care of the land. He also comments on different forms of magic love and sorcery.Less

Analogism at Chavín de Huántar

Nicco La Mattina

María Cecilia Lozada and Henry Tantaleán (eds)

in Andean Ontologies: New Archaeological Perspectives

Approaches to understanding the core beliefs and worldviews of ancient peoples are not superficially facilitated by the archaeological record. Sometimes, pre-Columbian people are described by analogy ... More

Approaches to understanding the core beliefs and worldviews of ancient peoples are not superficially facilitated by the archaeological record. Sometimes, pre-Columbian people are described by analogy to presumably similar contemporary people; that is, a theoretical framework applicable to certain modern peoples is applied a priori in the investigation of a site. This chapter argues that at Chavín de Huántar, interpretations centred around animism and shamanism employ these concepts a priori as ways of understanding the material record. Many of the references to shamanism make specific analogies to Amazonian practices and import these ideas to Chavín de Huántar. Furthermore, the chapter authors argue that, if the iconographic and material record at Chavín de Huánta are carefully evaluated, interpretations centred around animism and shamanism will not follow. The authors demonstrate that the analogist ontology formulated by Descola finds a firmer grounding in the iconographic and material record when these are considered together.Less

Possession Play: On Cinema, Reenactment, and Trance in the Cologne Tribes

Anja Dreschke

in Trance Mediums and New Media: Spirit Possession in the Age of Technical Reproduction

The Cologne Tribes are an association of around 80 clubs from Cologne whose members re-enact the lifeworlds of ‘foreign’ cultures and/or ancient epochs as a leisure time activity. The chapter ... More

The Cologne Tribes are an association of around 80 clubs from Cologne whose members re-enact the lifeworlds of ‘foreign’ cultures and/or ancient epochs as a leisure time activity. The chapter approaches the mutual constitution of media and trance in a twofold way. It takes the enthusiasm for Hollywood historical dramas of the members of the Cologne Tribes, as a starting point for investigating forms of the performative appropriation of media, exploring the entanglement and interactions of fascination with films and mimetic practices of alterity that she observed among the Cologne Tribes. Embodiment for them becomes a means to experience otherness, which is described by the locals of Cologne in terms of possession. Dreschke also examines how ecstatic practices associated with the cultures emulated by the Cologne Tribes are appropriated and transformed in reenactments. Through training in these practices, club members learn how to relate to things in a new way and gradually change their perception of the world. However, the sensual experience of estrangement and trance in film perception seems to interact with altered states of (un)consciousness familiar to the members of the Cologne Tribes from the local Carnival traditions.Less

The Religious Life of Ethnic Minority Communities

Philip L. Wickeri and Yik-fai Tam

in Chinese Religious Life

This chapter discusses the wide range of religious beliefs and practices among the minority communities of China. It begins by considering the problematic nature of ethnic categorizations in China ... More

This chapter discusses the wide range of religious beliefs and practices among the minority communities of China. It begins by considering the problematic nature of ethnic categorizations in China and the role of politics and economic changes in shaping ethnic identity and religious revivals. Case studies then present the examples of the indigenous Dongba shamanism of the Naxi, the Buddhism of the Tibetans, Islam among the Uyghur, and the Christianity of the Miao.Less

The First Story: My Creation Myth

David G. Blumenkrantz

in Coming of Age the RITE Way: Youth and Community Development through Rites of Passage

This chapter presents the first of two case studies. It offers a detailed narrative of a vision quest, which is one part of an initiatory process. Set in the one million acres of the Cranberry ... More

This chapter presents the first of two case studies. It offers a detailed narrative of a vision quest, which is one part of an initiatory process. Set in the one million acres of the Cranberry Wilderness Preserve in Hillsboro, West Virginia, the chapter describes the ritual protocols and experience of going forth to find a vision for one’s life, a near-death experience, and returning to share one’s vision for the sake and survival of the village. It discusses Huichol Shamanism and the vital role nature plays in rites of passage.Less

Transition and Transformation: Buddhist Women of Buryatia

Karma Lekshe Tsomo

in Buddhism in Mongolian History, Culture, and Society

The disbanding of the Soviet Union in 1990 opened the door for the revival of Buddhism throughout the Buddhist republics of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva. The attempt to restore a religious tradition ... More

The disbanding of the Soviet Union in 1990 opened the door for the revival of Buddhism throughout the Buddhist republics of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva. The attempt to restore a religious tradition that had been devastated by the loss of teachers, texts, and monasteries was a daunting challenge. The chapter reevaluates the roles of women in Buddhist practices and institutions in the revitalization of Buddhism in Buryatia. With widespread secondary education, many women no longer see themselves as passive devotees but wish to participate fully in Buddhist learning and rituals. Women are also active in restoring and maintaining Buddhist images in their homes. The chapter describes Zuungon Darzhaling, a temple for women established in Ulan Ude in 1993. It explores the motivation and expectations that led a small group of devotees to initiate the first practice-oriented center for women in Buryatia.Less