R&C03-Primal folk Religions

8/7/2019 R&C03-Primal folk Religions

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Folk Religions


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Formal

Formal, High, Universal Religion:

1. Universal cosmic truth

2. Describe the nature of reality

3. Concern for the purpose and destiny of theuniverse, society and the self

4. Institutionalized

5. Authoritative written texts


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Formal

Formal, High, Universal Religion (cont):

6. Defined theologies, and philosophies

7. Prescribed rites, rules and regulations8. Trained, often professional, specialists

9. A celebrated great tradition

10.May take folk expression


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Folk

Folk Religion:

1. Religion of common people

2. Closed systems versus universal3. Very diverse

4. Particularistic each clan or tribe has its

own gods, spirits, ancestors, practices,

beliefs

5. An animated world of spirits


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Folk

Folk Religion:

1. Concern for the meaning ofthis life and theproblem of death

2. The pursuit of well-being and success, andthe avoidance of misfortunes

3. The pursuit of a knowledge of the unknownto aid ones life in the present

4. Employ a wide variety of manipulativestrategies: shamans, rituals, amulets,charms, offerings, medicines, magic, etc.


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Terms

Other terms:

Primal

Prior to the universal or formal religions

Contains the basic features found in all religions

Assumes an evolutionary account of the origin of

religion

Preliterate

No literary tradition

No suggestion of evolutionary development from

a previous or earlier religion


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A Perspective

Oglala Sioux Indian, John Lame Deer through biographer Richard

Erdoes:What do you see here, my friend? Just an ordinary old cooking pot,

black with soot and full of dents. It is standing on the fire on top of that oldword stove, and the water bubbles and moves the lid as the white steamrises to the ceiling. inside the pot is boiling water, chunks of meat with boneand fat, plenty of potatoes.

It doesn't seem to have a message, that old pot, and I guess you don'tgive it a thought... But I'm an Indian. I think about ordinary, common thingslike this pot. The bubbling water comes from the rain cloud. It representsthe sky. The fire comes from the sun which warms us all - men, animals,trees. The meat stands for the four-legged creatures, our animal brothers,who gave of themselves so that we should live. The steam is living

breath. It was water; now it goes up to the sky, becomes a cloud again.These things are sacred. Looking at that pot full of good soup, I am

thinking how, in this simple manner, Wakan Tanka takes care of me. WeSioux spend a lot of time thinking about everyday things, which in our mindare mixed up with the spiritual... We Indians live in a world of symbols andimages where the spiritual and the commonplace are one... We try to

understand them not with the head but with the heart, and we need no morethan a hint to give us the meaning.


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Folk Religions

What characterizes the religion and

worldview of John Lame Deer?


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Definition

Folk religions are localized spiritual

expressions of a pre-scientific and pre-

technological milieu with a deep link with

nature and oral tradition.

The religion of the common people.


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The Formal and the Folk

Folk Islam

Chinese folk religions

Japanese folk religions Christian folk religions


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Characteristics

Localized

Are smaller in scale and self-contained

Tied to a particular geography Develop in close connection and

dependence with particular land and/or

water. The land shapes the people.


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Characteristics

Holism

Unity of experience lacking the

fragmentation of modern cultures intosecular and sacred. The sacred orspiritual is pervasive.

The whole of existence is sacred.

Interrelationships, cause/effectbetween gods/spirits humans andnature.


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Characteristics

Orality

No literary tradition, yet may have well

developed narrative tradition. Common in pre-scientific and pre-

technological cultures.

Mythological

Stories which attempt to express ultimate divinereality, basic truths, or inner meaning of life forbelievers.

The power of words and sounds


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Characteristics

Ritualistic

Rehearsals or performances of mythssuch as the original creative act.Reenactments.

Prescribed celebrations for greatmoments of life, such as birth, puberty,

marriage, sickness, planting, war, anddeath rites of passage

Fertility rites


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Characteristics

Shamanism

The key spiritual figure is usually the

shaman who is the tribal healer and whohas traveled the "geography" of the

spiritual realm and of death and has

returned to guide the people.


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Characteristics

Timelessness

Time not thought of in terms of linear

distance and inaccessibility.A presentbackdrop in which the gods and

ancestors simply are and are

accessible by people and peopleaccessible to them.


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Characteristics

Animism the natural world is alive withspirits,

Fetishism protection is sought by thepower of special objects,

Taboos prohibitions of certain behaviorsfor fear of dangerous contact with spiritual

powers.

Totemism - a tribal or personal associationwith an animal or plant as a source of identity

and spiritual power.


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What Happens?

What happens to primal religion when they encounteruniversal religions?

1. They die out

2. Affirmed in some modified form

3. Appropriated to the primal religion

[Filipinos] actively appropriated Western Catholicism according totheir cultural-religious way of feeling, thinking andbehaving. What happened here is a local example of the truth ofthe dictum, quidquidrecipitursecundummodum recipientisrecipitur(Whatever is perceived is perceived according to the

mode of perception of the perceiver.). In this way Christianitybecame part, no matter how unsystematically, of Filipino reality.Popular religiosity confirms in its own way the real acceptance ofChristianity by the people. But there is today a continuingdiscussion as to whether Filipinos had been truly Christianized, orwhatever Christianity had simply been Filipinized.

(Jos M. de Mesa, http://eapi.admu.edu.ph/eapr00/Mesa.htm)

God has the characteristics of Bathala, the primal deity.

Saints are spirits that control nature. Priests are regarded as shamans.


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What Happens?

Folk religion and Christian mission

Roman Catholic

High religion and low religionProtestant

Secularization


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Evangelistic Approaches

Establish relational bridge.

Credibility - cultural

Friendship Respect

Establish a conceptual bridge.

Build on existing ideas

Bring the truth across.

Be biblical

Be aware of your own cultural framework for

understanding Christianity.


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Ask questions regarding the Supreme

Being.

What is the supreme God like?

Was there a time when He was close to

humanity?

What caused this separation?

Why does God seem distant now?

How do we offend Him?


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Ask questions regarding the Supreme

Being

What are the consequences of offending

him?

Is there any way we can divert these?


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Worldview Assessment

Contrasting elements

Primal religions have a multiple gods.

Christia

nity

has

only

one God.

Primal religions believe that gods and

humans belong to one cosmic system,

depending on each other.

ChristianitybelievesthatGodisunique andnotdependentupon anything.


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Primal religions believe in efficacy throughsacrifice and ritual.

In Christianity God does not depend on our sacrifices

because He provided for us the once and forall sacrifice of his Son.

He is not moved or manipulated by charms andrituals.

Gods power is not localized in any fetish objectnor does he identify himself or peoples withspecial totemic symbols.


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Primal religions believe in mixing religion andmagic.

Christianityviewsmagicasincompatible with

beliefin the one true God. Primal religions have no revelation through

history.

Christianityishistoricalin thatitpointsto

importanteventsin which Godhasactedinhistory.


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Teach the Bible storylineA sovereign transcendent Personal God exists

and created the heavens and the earth.

Man was created in some ways like God, the

creation centerpiece and therefore having

intrinsic worth.

Man rebelled against God and corruption and

perversion are the result. God has taken the initiative to save humanity

through his Son.

History is nearing Gods appointed conclusion

R&C03-Primal folk Religions

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