Tracy Pintchman
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177060
- eISBN:
- 9780199785438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177060.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of Hindu women's participation in religious practice. Some notes on the scholarly and historical context of the study are presented. This is ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of Hindu women's participation in religious practice. Some notes on the scholarly and historical context of the study are presented. This is followed by an overview of the chapters in this volume.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of Hindu women's participation in religious practice. Some notes on the scholarly and historical context of the study are presented. This is followed by an overview of the chapters in this volume.
Rachel Harris
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197262979
- eISBN:
- 9780191734717
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262979.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter examines the ritual practice of the Sibe people in Çabçal before Liberation. It discusses the double layer of social remembering through contemporary story-telling about the performed ...
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This chapter examines the ritual practice of the Sibe people in Çabçal before Liberation. It discusses the double layer of social remembering through contemporary story-telling about the performed practices of the past and highlights the dominance of shamans and rituals in memories of village life. The chapter describes some observations about animated retellings of shaman stories, discussions of the details of ritual practice, and the re-singing of shamanic ritual songs. It suggests that shamanic rituals in the Sibe villages were and are powerful experiences in people's lives, re-lived and constantly embellished in retelling.Less
This chapter examines the ritual practice of the Sibe people in Çabçal before Liberation. It discusses the double layer of social remembering through contemporary story-telling about the performed practices of the past and highlights the dominance of shamans and rituals in memories of village life. The chapter describes some observations about animated retellings of shaman stories, discussions of the details of ritual practice, and the re-singing of shamanic ritual songs. It suggests that shamanic rituals in the Sibe villages were and are powerful experiences in people's lives, re-lived and constantly embellished in retelling.
Sam Gill
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176452
- eISBN:
- 9780199785308
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176452.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter ruminates on the formal lack of interest in both ritual and dancing. The chapter's author takes his thoughts on the university as “a Christian theological project” into a class on ...
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This chapter ruminates on the formal lack of interest in both ritual and dancing. The chapter's author takes his thoughts on the university as “a Christian theological project” into a class on ritual, in which he had his students dance. From a theoretical point of view, the study of dancing and the study of ritual are very closely related. Many rituals are dance-dramas; many dances are done as ritual. Students' experience of dancing as a component to teaching ritual is easily accomplished and broadly accepted. A comparative worldwide study of ritual and ritual dancing provides a magnificent theater for the construction and examination of ritual theory.Less
This chapter ruminates on the formal lack of interest in both ritual and dancing. The chapter's author takes his thoughts on the university as “a Christian theological project” into a class on ritual, in which he had his students dance. From a theoretical point of view, the study of dancing and the study of ritual are very closely related. Many rituals are dance-dramas; many dances are done as ritual. Students' experience of dancing as a component to teaching ritual is easily accomplished and broadly accepted. A comparative worldwide study of ritual and ritual dancing provides a magnificent theater for the construction and examination of ritual theory.
Leslie C. Orr
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177060
- eISBN:
- 9780199785438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177060.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter explores whether a domestic religious orientation, engaged with the personal and the particular, can be observed in the context of precolonial South India. It focuses on the period ...
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This chapter explores whether a domestic religious orientation, engaged with the personal and the particular, can be observed in the context of precolonial South India. It focuses on the period between the 9th to 13th centuries in the part of India known today as Tamilnadu. The chapter draws on the resources provided by the thousands of inscriptions written in the Tamil language and engraved in stone on the walls of Hindu and Jain temples during this period. These inscriptions record actions, particularly the making of gifts to temples by a wide variety of people. It is argued that although men's and women's activities recorded on temple walls had distinctive colorings, the contexts, roles, and motives for these actions were overlapping and often congruent.Less
This chapter explores whether a domestic religious orientation, engaged with the personal and the particular, can be observed in the context of precolonial South India. It focuses on the period between the 9th to 13th centuries in the part of India known today as Tamilnadu. The chapter draws on the resources provided by the thousands of inscriptions written in the Tamil language and engraved in stone on the walls of Hindu and Jain temples during this period. These inscriptions record actions, particularly the making of gifts to temples by a wide variety of people. It is argued that although men's and women's activities recorded on temple walls had distinctive colorings, the contexts, roles, and motives for these actions were overlapping and often congruent.
Anna Sun
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155579
- eISBN:
- 9781400846085
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155579.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Is Confucianism a religion? If so, why do most Chinese think it isn't? This book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion. The book begins at Oxford, in the late ...
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Is Confucianism a religion? If so, why do most Chinese think it isn't? This book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion. The book begins at Oxford, in the late nineteenth century, when Friedrich Max Müller and James Legge classified Confucianism as a world religion in the new discourse of “world religions” and the emerging discipline of comparative religion. The book shows how that decisive moment continues to influence the understanding of Confucianism in the contemporary world, not only in the West but also in China, where the politics of Confucianism has become important to the present regime in a time of transition. Contested histories of Confucianism are vital signs of social and political change. The book also examines the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China and the social significance of the ritual practice of Confucian temples. While the Chinese government turns to Confucianism to justify its political agenda, Confucian activists have started a movement to turn Confucianism into a religion. Confucianism as a world religion might have begun as a scholarly construction, but are we witnessing its transformation into a social and political reality? With historical analysis, extensive research, and thoughtful reflection, this book will engage all those interested in religion and global politics at the beginning of the Chinese century.Less
Is Confucianism a religion? If so, why do most Chinese think it isn't? This book traces the birth and growth of the idea of Confucianism as a world religion. The book begins at Oxford, in the late nineteenth century, when Friedrich Max Müller and James Legge classified Confucianism as a world religion in the new discourse of “world religions” and the emerging discipline of comparative religion. The book shows how that decisive moment continues to influence the understanding of Confucianism in the contemporary world, not only in the West but also in China, where the politics of Confucianism has become important to the present regime in a time of transition. Contested histories of Confucianism are vital signs of social and political change. The book also examines the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China and the social significance of the ritual practice of Confucian temples. While the Chinese government turns to Confucianism to justify its political agenda, Confucian activists have started a movement to turn Confucianism into a religion. Confucianism as a world religion might have begun as a scholarly construction, but are we witnessing its transformation into a social and political reality? With historical analysis, extensive research, and thoughtful reflection, this book will engage all those interested in religion and global politics at the beginning of the Chinese century.
Yaacob Dweck
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145082
- eISBN:
- 9781400840007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145082.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This introductory chapter provides an overview of Kabbalah. A Hebrew term one can render as “tradition” or “reception.” Kabbalah referred to a mode of reading, a library of texts, a series of ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of Kabbalah. A Hebrew term one can render as “tradition” or “reception.” Kabbalah referred to a mode of reading, a library of texts, a series of concepts, and a range of practices. As a mode of reading, Kabbalah encompassed a set of interpretive assumptions adopted by an initiate in the course of approaching a sacred text. Kabbalists assiduously applied these methods of exegesis to the most sacred of texts, the Bible, and relied on mystical symbolism to uncover its theological content. The term Kabbalah also encompassed a series of ritual practices. For the religious adept, however, Kabbalah also referred to something beyond these rituals of practice, modes of exegesis, bodies of literature, and new theological concepts. Throughout the medieval and early modern periods, the term Kabbalah referred to a putative tradition of esotericism, to secrets that God had revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of Kabbalah. A Hebrew term one can render as “tradition” or “reception.” Kabbalah referred to a mode of reading, a library of texts, a series of concepts, and a range of practices. As a mode of reading, Kabbalah encompassed a set of interpretive assumptions adopted by an initiate in the course of approaching a sacred text. Kabbalists assiduously applied these methods of exegesis to the most sacred of texts, the Bible, and relied on mystical symbolism to uncover its theological content. The term Kabbalah also encompassed a series of ritual practices. For the religious adept, however, Kabbalah also referred to something beyond these rituals of practice, modes of exegesis, bodies of literature, and new theological concepts. Throughout the medieval and early modern periods, the term Kabbalah referred to a putative tradition of esotericism, to secrets that God had revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai.
Susan Guettel Cole
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520235441
- eISBN:
- 9780520929326
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520235441.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
The division of land and the consolidation of territory that created the Greek polis also divided sacred from productive space, sharpened distinctions between purity and pollution, and created a ...
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The division of land and the consolidation of territory that created the Greek polis also divided sacred from productive space, sharpened distinctions between purity and pollution, and created a ritual system premised on gender difference. Regional sanctuaries ameliorated competition between city-states, publicized the results of competitive rituals for males, and encouraged judicial alternatives to violence. Female ritual efforts, focused on the reproduction and the health of the family, are less visible, but, as this study shows, no less significant. Taking a fresh look at the epigraphical evidence for Greek ritual practice in the context of studies of landscape and political organization, the book illuminates the profoundly gendered nature of Greek cult practice and explains the connections between female rituals and the integrity of the community. In an integration of ancient sources and current theory, the book brings together complex evidence for Greek ritual practice. The book discusses relevant medical and philosophical theories about the female body; considers Greek ideas about purity, pollution, and ritual purification; and examines the cult of Artemis in detail. This nuanced study demonstrates the social contribution of women's rituals to the sustenance of the polis and the identity of its people.Less
The division of land and the consolidation of territory that created the Greek polis also divided sacred from productive space, sharpened distinctions between purity and pollution, and created a ritual system premised on gender difference. Regional sanctuaries ameliorated competition between city-states, publicized the results of competitive rituals for males, and encouraged judicial alternatives to violence. Female ritual efforts, focused on the reproduction and the health of the family, are less visible, but, as this study shows, no less significant. Taking a fresh look at the epigraphical evidence for Greek ritual practice in the context of studies of landscape and political organization, the book illuminates the profoundly gendered nature of Greek cult practice and explains the connections between female rituals and the integrity of the community. In an integration of ancient sources and current theory, the book brings together complex evidence for Greek ritual practice. The book discusses relevant medical and philosophical theories about the female body; considers Greek ideas about purity, pollution, and ritual purification; and examines the cult of Artemis in detail. This nuanced study demonstrates the social contribution of women's rituals to the sustenance of the polis and the identity of its people.
Felicitas Becker
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264270
- eISBN:
- 9780191734182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264270.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter describes the significance of the Sufi brotherhoods. It starts by addressing the arrival of the tarika in Southeast Tanzania. The tarika-shehe of the inter-war period, who are most ...
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This chapter describes the significance of the Sufi brotherhoods. It starts by addressing the arrival of the tarika in Southeast Tanzania. The tarika-shehe of the inter-war period, who are most clearly remembered in the coastal towns, were themselves fairly well travelled, well connected, and partly of patrician parentage. Ritual practices constitute a crucial unifying element for the tarika. Two tarika became influential in the late nineteenth century in Southeast Tanzania. The main characters of twentieth-century saints are summarized. The outlines of the shehes' lives and work already give a sense of the tensions they negotiated: between urbanites versed in Arabic script and immigrants to town versed in ngoma, between the ideology of patrician separateness and superiority, and the self-assertion of villagers struggling to make the colonial towns their home. The ritual expertise, colonial domination, and the reformulation of categories of social distinction are discussed. The spread of the tarika and their ritual practices along the Swahili coast illustrates the unity in diversity of this culture area at work.Less
This chapter describes the significance of the Sufi brotherhoods. It starts by addressing the arrival of the tarika in Southeast Tanzania. The tarika-shehe of the inter-war period, who are most clearly remembered in the coastal towns, were themselves fairly well travelled, well connected, and partly of patrician parentage. Ritual practices constitute a crucial unifying element for the tarika. Two tarika became influential in the late nineteenth century in Southeast Tanzania. The main characters of twentieth-century saints are summarized. The outlines of the shehes' lives and work already give a sense of the tensions they negotiated: between urbanites versed in Arabic script and immigrants to town versed in ngoma, between the ideology of patrician separateness and superiority, and the self-assertion of villagers struggling to make the colonial towns their home. The ritual expertise, colonial domination, and the reformulation of categories of social distinction are discussed. The spread of the tarika and their ritual practices along the Swahili coast illustrates the unity in diversity of this culture area at work.
Michael David Kaulana Ing
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199924899
- eISBN:
- 9780199980437
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199924899.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the notion of “dysfunction.” It begins by recounting the study of dysfunctional ritual in ritual studies and then proceeds to build on this account by providing a typology of ...
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This chapter examines the notion of “dysfunction.” It begins by recounting the study of dysfunctional ritual in ritual studies and then proceeds to build on this account by providing a typology of dysfunctions rooted in the Liji. It introduces two kinds of dysfunctions and the ways early Confucians dealt with them. It shows that the authors of the Liji sought to avoid failure by emphasizing a program of ritual practice and by “opening the ritual script” in circumstances where following the ritual script would otherwise lead to failure. This latter move allowed early Confucians to advocate the rituals of the past, while at the same time recognize the need to adapt them to contemporary circumstances. It also served to legitimate their role in the sociopolitical structure of early China—in essence claiming that sensitivity to context required more than a textual tradition; it additionally required the presence of trained Confucians to adapt the tradition to living circumstances. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the persistence of ritual failure. In other words, despite the fact that ritual scripts could be altered to account for various circumstances, the authors of the Liji also believed that there were situations where failure was inevitable.Less
This chapter examines the notion of “dysfunction.” It begins by recounting the study of dysfunctional ritual in ritual studies and then proceeds to build on this account by providing a typology of dysfunctions rooted in the Liji. It introduces two kinds of dysfunctions and the ways early Confucians dealt with them. It shows that the authors of the Liji sought to avoid failure by emphasizing a program of ritual practice and by “opening the ritual script” in circumstances where following the ritual script would otherwise lead to failure. This latter move allowed early Confucians to advocate the rituals of the past, while at the same time recognize the need to adapt them to contemporary circumstances. It also served to legitimate their role in the sociopolitical structure of early China—in essence claiming that sensitivity to context required more than a textual tradition; it additionally required the presence of trained Confucians to adapt the tradition to living circumstances. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the persistence of ritual failure. In other words, despite the fact that ritual scripts could be altered to account for various circumstances, the authors of the Liji also believed that there were situations where failure was inevitable.
Yonas Beyene
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264522
- eISBN:
- 9780191734724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264522.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology
The discovery of three late Middle Pleistocene hominid crania, Homo sapiens idaltu, at Herto in the Middle Awash research area in Ethiopia in 1997 shed considerable light on this little-known period ...
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The discovery of three late Middle Pleistocene hominid crania, Homo sapiens idaltu, at Herto in the Middle Awash research area in Ethiopia in 1997 shed considerable light on this little-known period in Africa. These fossils consist of two adults' and a child's crania. All are morphologically intermediate between geologically earlier African fossils and anatomically modern later Pleistocene humans. The three Herto Homo sapiens idaltu crania show cutmarks indicating defleshing using sharp-edged stone tools. The post-mortem modifications and manipulation of the crania, demonstrated best on the child and broken adult crania, suggest that Homo sapiens idaltu performed ritual mortuary practices of which the dimension, context and meaning might only be revealed by further discoveries.Less
The discovery of three late Middle Pleistocene hominid crania, Homo sapiens idaltu, at Herto in the Middle Awash research area in Ethiopia in 1997 shed considerable light on this little-known period in Africa. These fossils consist of two adults' and a child's crania. All are morphologically intermediate between geologically earlier African fossils and anatomically modern later Pleistocene humans. The three Herto Homo sapiens idaltu crania show cutmarks indicating defleshing using sharp-edged stone tools. The post-mortem modifications and manipulation of the crania, demonstrated best on the child and broken adult crania, suggest that Homo sapiens idaltu performed ritual mortuary practices of which the dimension, context and meaning might only be revealed by further discoveries.
Anna Sun
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155579
- eISBN:
- 9781400846085
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155579.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter focuses on the possible future developments of Confucianism in Chinese society: as a cultural identity, political ideology, ethical outlook, ritual practice, symbolic tool in politics, ...
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This chapter focuses on the possible future developments of Confucianism in Chinese society: as a cultural identity, political ideology, ethical outlook, ritual practice, symbolic tool in politics, and even the foundation for the civil religion of China. The chapter presents three events that can be seen as corresponding to key issues involved in the future development of Confucianism in China. The first one is called the “politics of epistemology”; the second is the “politics of the religion question,” and finally, the “politics of Confucian nationalism.” However, despite the uncertainties in the politics of the future of Confucianism, its nature as a foundation of morality and possible source of civil religion will never go away.Less
This chapter focuses on the possible future developments of Confucianism in Chinese society: as a cultural identity, political ideology, ethical outlook, ritual practice, symbolic tool in politics, and even the foundation for the civil religion of China. The chapter presents three events that can be seen as corresponding to key issues involved in the future development of Confucianism in China. The first one is called the “politics of epistemology”; the second is the “politics of the religion question,” and finally, the “politics of Confucian nationalism.” However, despite the uncertainties in the politics of the future of Confucianism, its nature as a foundation of morality and possible source of civil religion will never go away.
Ronald L. Grimes
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195301441
- eISBN:
- 9780199850952
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195301441.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter tells the story of trying to integrate ritual theory and ritual practice in a university and a course caught up in the wake of 9/11. It began as two separate responses to the events of ...
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This chapter tells the story of trying to integrate ritual theory and ritual practice in a university and a course caught up in the wake of 9/11. It began as two separate responses to the events of September 11, 2001. The first was written to be delivered publicly at a town hall-style meeting of the university community. The second, an account of a post-9/11 meeting of a course called “Rites of Passage”.Less
This chapter tells the story of trying to integrate ritual theory and ritual practice in a university and a course caught up in the wake of 9/11. It began as two separate responses to the events of September 11, 2001. The first was written to be delivered publicly at a town hall-style meeting of the university community. The second, an account of a post-9/11 meeting of a course called “Rites of Passage”.
Stefan Fiol
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041204
- eISBN:
- 9780252099786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041204.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Jagar rituals have long been stigmatized as a type of folk religion because they involve animal sacrifice, corporeal possession, and the participation of low-status divinities and social groups. In ...
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Jagar rituals have long been stigmatized as a type of folk religion because they involve animal sacrifice, corporeal possession, and the participation of low-status divinities and social groups. In recent decades, however, jagar has become a quintessential marker of regional belonging and religious expression in Uttarakhand. The public acceptance of jagar is part of a broader mobilization of vernacular devotional forms across South Asia facilitated by the growing economic clout of urban migrants and vernacular music industries. The hereditary drummer and healer Pritam Bhartwan has been a major catalyst for the resignification of jagar. This chapter highlights the transformations within Pritam Bhartwan’s own public persona as a means of illuminating the shifts in the public perception of jagar and in the concept of folk more broadly.
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Jagar rituals have long been stigmatized as a type of folk religion because they involve animal sacrifice, corporeal possession, and the participation of low-status divinities and social groups. In recent decades, however, jagar has become a quintessential marker of regional belonging and religious expression in Uttarakhand. The public acceptance of jagar is part of a broader mobilization of vernacular devotional forms across South Asia facilitated by the growing economic clout of urban migrants and vernacular music industries. The hereditary drummer and healer Pritam Bhartwan has been a major catalyst for the resignification of jagar. This chapter highlights the transformations within Pritam Bhartwan’s own public persona as a means of illuminating the shifts in the public perception of jagar and in the concept of folk more broadly.
Radcliffe G. Edmonds III
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691156934
- eISBN:
- 9780691186092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691156934.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter focuses on ancient ideas of theurgy. From the uses of the term in the ancient evidence, “theurgy” may be defined as the art or practice of ritually creating a connection between the ...
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This chapter focuses on ancient ideas of theurgy. From the uses of the term in the ancient evidence, “theurgy” may be defined as the art or practice of ritually creating a connection between the mortal, material world that is before one's eyes and the unseen, immortal world of the gods. Such a practice may be a lifelong assimilation of the individual soul to the divine, or it may be a momentary activation of the connection with divine power to achieve some more immediate end on earth. Whereas normative religious action in the Greco-Roman world tends to involve just the human worshipper and the divine god in a sequence of reciprocal responses, theurgy, as it appears in the ancient evidence, attempts to bring the divine and mortal together, uniting the divine power with the human worshipper. This process of unification involves connecting elements of the cosmos at every level of being, from the lowest dregs of inanimate matter through the animal and human living creatures and up to the various kinds of divinities, including the very highest. Ultimately, theurgy appears as magic, labeled as an “extraordinary ritual practice,” whether in a positive or negative sense.Less
This chapter focuses on ancient ideas of theurgy. From the uses of the term in the ancient evidence, “theurgy” may be defined as the art or practice of ritually creating a connection between the mortal, material world that is before one's eyes and the unseen, immortal world of the gods. Such a practice may be a lifelong assimilation of the individual soul to the divine, or it may be a momentary activation of the connection with divine power to achieve some more immediate end on earth. Whereas normative religious action in the Greco-Roman world tends to involve just the human worshipper and the divine god in a sequence of reciprocal responses, theurgy, as it appears in the ancient evidence, attempts to bring the divine and mortal together, uniting the divine power with the human worshipper. This process of unification involves connecting elements of the cosmos at every level of being, from the lowest dregs of inanimate matter through the animal and human living creatures and up to the various kinds of divinities, including the very highest. Ultimately, theurgy appears as magic, labeled as an “extraordinary ritual practice,” whether in a positive or negative sense.
Amanda Regnier
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781683400103
- eISBN:
- 9781683400318
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9781683400103.003.0006
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
Pre-Columbian Caddo culture is frequently viewed as a western extension of the Mississippian world, This chapter examines the timing and nature of the Early Caddo emergence in the Middle Red River ...
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Pre-Columbian Caddo culture is frequently viewed as a western extension of the Mississippian world, This chapter examines the timing and nature of the Early Caddo emergence in the Middle Red River drainage. While the Caddo drew upon the same religious traditions of the Mississippian world, they had their own separate shared ritual practices that set them apart.Less
Pre-Columbian Caddo culture is frequently viewed as a western extension of the Mississippian world, This chapter examines the timing and nature of the Early Caddo emergence in the Middle Red River drainage. While the Caddo drew upon the same religious traditions of the Mississippian world, they had their own separate shared ritual practices that set them apart.
Michael Fishbane
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9780226764153
- eISBN:
- 9780226764290
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226764290.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Fragile Finitude is an original work of contemporary Jewish theology, philosophy, and hermeneutics, achieved through a creative, innovative appropriation of traditional Jewish Bible interpretation at ...
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Fragile Finitude is an original work of contemporary Jewish theology, philosophy, and hermeneutics, achieved through a creative, innovative appropriation of traditional Jewish Bible interpretation at four interconnected levels: plain, historical sense, peshat; legal and theological rabbinic exegesis, derash; philosophical or ethical practices of self-development, remez; and mystical vision or cosmic consciousness, sod. These four dimensions tally with four levels of theological and lived experience, and each is explored with specific texts and interpretations, producing a multidimensional spectrum of theological engagements with life and experience. The natural world is the fundamental ground of this project, but the social events of this world and the reading of texts open new vectors towards transcendence in multiple ways. Reality is experienced theologically as suffused with divine presence, manifest as the diversity of experiences that reveal the mystery of existence. The author uses a poetic religious language that mediates between the expressible and the ineffable, and it takes account of the modern reality of human finitude. The core of the work is to inculcate a spirit of humility before our earthly projects and show how the divinely sponsored events of existence may reorient the individual towards their compelling claims, requiring decision and action. Traditional Jewish thought and ritual are read as compelling cultural exemplars of this universal call to attentiveness and responsibility. The revelation of creation is therefore a primary concern, and undergirds other paradigms of revelation in Jewish life and thought.Less
Fragile Finitude is an original work of contemporary Jewish theology, philosophy, and hermeneutics, achieved through a creative, innovative appropriation of traditional Jewish Bible interpretation at four interconnected levels: plain, historical sense, peshat; legal and theological rabbinic exegesis, derash; philosophical or ethical practices of self-development, remez; and mystical vision or cosmic consciousness, sod. These four dimensions tally with four levels of theological and lived experience, and each is explored with specific texts and interpretations, producing a multidimensional spectrum of theological engagements with life and experience. The natural world is the fundamental ground of this project, but the social events of this world and the reading of texts open new vectors towards transcendence in multiple ways. Reality is experienced theologically as suffused with divine presence, manifest as the diversity of experiences that reveal the mystery of existence. The author uses a poetic religious language that mediates between the expressible and the ineffable, and it takes account of the modern reality of human finitude. The core of the work is to inculcate a spirit of humility before our earthly projects and show how the divinely sponsored events of existence may reorient the individual towards their compelling claims, requiring decision and action. Traditional Jewish thought and ritual are read as compelling cultural exemplars of this universal call to attentiveness and responsibility. The revelation of creation is therefore a primary concern, and undergirds other paradigms of revelation in Jewish life and thought.
Lori Meeks
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824833947
- eISBN:
- 9780824870737
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824833947.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter focuses on the ritual life of the medieval Hokkeji community. The study and performance of ritual served Hokkeji nuns on a number of levels. It was through ritual practice that Hokkeji ...
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This chapter focuses on the ritual life of the medieval Hokkeji community. The study and performance of ritual served Hokkeji nuns on a number of levels. It was through ritual practice that Hokkeji nuns were able to claim a place in the broader Ritsu community, to work toward toward their own salvation and that of their loved ones, and to serve lay communities both near and far. Indeed, the centrality of ritual in the lives of Hokkeji nuns and in their relationships with lay patrons is so striking that it raises the question of whether or not the Hokkeji nuns' order is best described as a female priesthood.Less
This chapter focuses on the ritual life of the medieval Hokkeji community. The study and performance of ritual served Hokkeji nuns on a number of levels. It was through ritual practice that Hokkeji nuns were able to claim a place in the broader Ritsu community, to work toward toward their own salvation and that of their loved ones, and to serve lay communities both near and far. Indeed, the centrality of ritual in the lives of Hokkeji nuns and in their relationships with lay patrons is so striking that it raises the question of whether or not the Hokkeji nuns' order is best described as a female priesthood.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226001999
- eISBN:
- 9780226002019
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226002019.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
This chapter investigates a specific example of how displaced women from the South who settle in predominantly Muslim, Arabized Khartoum thrive by crafting new meanings of self and community, time ...
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This chapter investigates a specific example of how displaced women from the South who settle in predominantly Muslim, Arabized Khartoum thrive by crafting new meanings of self and community, time and place. Closer examination of gendered ritual practices in the context of urban life shows new ideas arising as focal points for reconfiguring a woman's place in the world and her relationship to the Sudanese polity. The virtues requisite for marriageability, especially virginity, modesty, and an unblemished sexual reputation, are an integral aspect of gender ideology among women in Douroshab and other circumcision-practicing societies. The acceptance of female circumcision is not structurally integrated in the shantytown. Displaced women have to elbow their way into a multicultural mosaic that prompts them to compose new concepts of self and community.Less
This chapter investigates a specific example of how displaced women from the South who settle in predominantly Muslim, Arabized Khartoum thrive by crafting new meanings of self and community, time and place. Closer examination of gendered ritual practices in the context of urban life shows new ideas arising as focal points for reconfiguring a woman's place in the world and her relationship to the Sudanese polity. The virtues requisite for marriageability, especially virginity, modesty, and an unblemished sexual reputation, are an integral aspect of gender ideology among women in Douroshab and other circumcision-practicing societies. The acceptance of female circumcision is not structurally integrated in the shantytown. Displaced women have to elbow their way into a multicultural mosaic that prompts them to compose new concepts of self and community.
Michael J. Pettid and Charlotte Horlyck
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824839680
- eISBN:
- 9780824868567
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824839680.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
This chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to draw out the commonalities, disparities, and changes in the ways in which death was dealt with at various moments in Korea's history and how ...
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This chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to draw out the commonalities, disparities, and changes in the ways in which death was dealt with at various moments in Korea's history and how different worldviews have influenced understandings of death and the afterlife. It discusses the basic ideas or beliefs that have influenced or continue to influence how death is perceived, including popular folk practices, funerary rites in Buddhism, and Confucianism. It also details the scope and organization of the present study. The ritual practices connected with death are some of the most complex in Korea, both historically and at present. For that reason one can understand much about life in general by investigating the practices surrounding death.Less
This chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to draw out the commonalities, disparities, and changes in the ways in which death was dealt with at various moments in Korea's history and how different worldviews have influenced understandings of death and the afterlife. It discusses the basic ideas or beliefs that have influenced or continue to influence how death is perceived, including popular folk practices, funerary rites in Buddhism, and Confucianism. It also details the scope and organization of the present study. The ritual practices connected with death are some of the most complex in Korea, both historically and at present. For that reason one can understand much about life in general by investigating the practices surrounding death.
Anna Lora-Wainwright
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824836825
- eISBN:
- 9780824871093
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824836825.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter examines the interplay between the spirit world and perceptions of illness, healing, and mourning by comparing the cases of Gandie and Uncle Wang. More specifically, it considers how ...
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This chapter examines the interplay between the spirit world and perceptions of illness, healing, and mourning by comparing the cases of Gandie and Uncle Wang. More specifically, it considers how different religious allegiances produce different attitudes to healing and mourning, including disagreements. The chapter begins with an overview of spirit mediums and ritual revival in China, along with the historical process of differentiation between superstition, tradition, and religion. It then discusses the role of ritual practices in producing family and social relations as well as contending modes of morality. It argues that cancer treatment is a critical moment for negotiating family relations and that allegiance to the spirit world influences the ways in which these relationships are produced. Finally, it shows how villagers view the parameters of moral behavior in relation to the processes of reproduction of unequal power relations within the family.Less
This chapter examines the interplay between the spirit world and perceptions of illness, healing, and mourning by comparing the cases of Gandie and Uncle Wang. More specifically, it considers how different religious allegiances produce different attitudes to healing and mourning, including disagreements. The chapter begins with an overview of spirit mediums and ritual revival in China, along with the historical process of differentiation between superstition, tradition, and religion. It then discusses the role of ritual practices in producing family and social relations as well as contending modes of morality. It argues that cancer treatment is a critical moment for negotiating family relations and that allegiance to the spirit world influences the ways in which these relationships are produced. Finally, it shows how villagers view the parameters of moral behavior in relation to the processes of reproduction of unequal power relations within the family.