Religion , Types and Functions

Anthony F. C. Wallace’s Typology of Religions

Levels of Religion

• Individualistic – individual has direct contact with supernatural

• Shamanistic – Shaman(s) deals with supernatural

• Communal system – a lot of part-time specialists– Ancestor worship– Totem worship

Polytheism

• Belief in several gods and/or goddesses (as contrasted with monotheism–belief in one god or goddess).

• Pantheon– The several gods and

goddesses of a people.• Animism

– A belief in spirit beings thought to animate nature.

Monotheism

• Belief in one God

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Judeo-Christian-Muslim Theology

• The patriarchal nature of Euramerican society is expressed in its Judeo-Christian theology, in which a supreme male deity gives life to the first man, as depicted here on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Only later is the first woman created from the first man.

Anthropological Approach to Religion• Religion is an organized system

of ideas about the spiritual sphere, along with ceremonial practices by which people try to interpret and/or influence aspects of the universe otherwise beyond their control.

• Spirituality is also concerned with the sacred, as distinguished from material matters, but it is often individual rather than collective and does not require a distinctive format or traditional organization.

Tylor’s Theory on Origin

Idea of soul –began with interpreting dreams

• Animism (Anima –souls)• Ancestor Worship • Fetishism • Polytheism • Monotheism

James George Frazer

• Magic• Religion • Science

Durkheim

• Totemism –from the worshipping of totem

• A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, i.e., things set apart and forbidden--beliefs and practices which unite in one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them. (The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life)

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Durkheim

• God did not create humans, rather humans created their own. It is society that instituted it and made of man the god whose servant it is.

Sigmund Freud

• Religion is about projecting our childhood experiences with our parents onto a God or gods

• Religion and neurosis are similar products of the human mind: neurosis, with its compulsive behavior, is "an individual religiosity", and religion, with its repetitive rituals, is a "universal obsessional neurosis

• Oedipus complex

Carl Jung

• Individuation or personal fulfillment

• Symbols particularly important

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Functional theories: What Religions Do

• Malinowski emphasized on purpose arise from universally experienced

emotional stressMagic has straight aimsReligion more on morality

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Functional theories: What Religions Do

• Durkheim emphasized believers’ attitudes toward sacred objects, not the objects themselves– What people believe is less important than

that they have those beliefs in commonDurkheim viewed religion as an integrative

force in human society– Gives meaning and purpose to people’s lives– Offers ultimate values and ends to hold in

common– Serves to bind people together in times of

crisis and confusion

Symbolic theories : Geertz’s Definition

• A religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing those conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.

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Social Change

• Max Weber sought to understand how religion might also contribute to social change– The Weberian Thesis

• Protestant work ethic: disciplined commitment to worldly labor driven by a desire to bring glory to God, shared by followers of Martin Luther and John Calvin

• Argued this provided capitalism with approach toward labor essential to its development

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Social Control

• Marx on Religion– Argued religion inhibited social change– People focus on otherworldly concerns– Religion drugged masses into submission by

offering a consolation for their harsh lives on earth– Religion’s promotion of social stability helps to

perpetuate patterns of social inequality– Hide the actual oppressor

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Social Control

• Gender and Religion– Women have played

fundamental role in religious socialization, but generally take subordinate role in religious leadership

– Most religions are patriarchal, and reinforce men’s dominance in secular and spiritual matters

– Women compose 12.8 percent of U.S. clergy, but account for 51 percent of theology students

Religion and Cultural Ecology

– Ahimsa is Hindu doctrine of nonviolence that forbids the killing of animals

– Western economic development experts often use this principle as example of how religion can stand in the way of development

– Hindus also raise scraggly and thin cows, unlike the bigger cattle of Europe and the U.S.

• Sacred Cattle in India

Religion and Cultural Ecology

• Cattle play important adaptive role in Indian ecosystem that evolved over thousands of years

• Hindus use cattle for transportation, traction, and manure

• Bigger cattle eat more, making them more expensive to keep

• Sacred Cattle in India– Views of experts are ethnocentric and wrong

Social Control

• Religion can be used to mobilize large segments of society through systems of real and perceived rewards and punishments

• The power of religion affects action

Social Control

– Function as leveling mechanisms to reduce differences in wealth and status between society members

– Many religions have formal code of ethics that prohibit/promote certain behaviors

• Religions also maintain social control by stressing the fleeting nature of life

• Witch hunts play important role in limiting social deviancy

Social Control

– Historically migrant tribe– Although Ghana’s biomedical system bears

fundamental likeness to Britain’s, it incorporates traditional etiological beliefs• Due to linguistic disparity, healthcare system is

inefficient• Native treatment ranges from preventative to

curative and revolves around belief in patients’ physical or spiritual unrest

• Ewe Traditional and Biomedical Healing Practices in Ghana’s Volta Region

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The Great Transformation

• In communal societies, religion permeated all aspects of society.

• In contemporary industrial society, the institution of religion has become separated from many social and economic activities

• Max Weber– The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of

Capitalism

Issues for Assignment

Belief /PhilosophyRitual (Rites of passages and rites of

intensification) Other practices (healing, witchcraft

etc.)Religious practitioners and their role in

society Functions of religionCommunity Divisions (sects, cults)