Religion in General Meagan Cullins The Category of Religion four general aspects of religion Transcendent discourse prayer meditation communication to a higher power Set of practices rituals ethics Community itself Vatican Institutions 1 An institutional structure hierarchy 2 An institution Globalization growing independence of global political economic social and cultural networks rational creatures Descartes European Enlightenment the realization that humans are inherently there is emphasis on scientific empiricism humans only gain knowledge from experience Bacon there is an Epistemological Shift the way in which humans understand our sources of knowledge human knowledge is rooted in revelation biblical text be evil now they are good there is a shift on human nature before humans were believed to there is a shift on destiny people used to believe God predetermined everything that is now also changed this all elicited a strong sense of progress Industrialization scientific process Scientific discovery Inventions Mass production Rapid economic growth Emergence of the urban center cities as we know them today Colonialism industrialization and the need for resources influenced this Exploitation Europeans would exploit resources in specific areas Scramble for Africa European many countries of Europe the sun will never set on a British Empire want for African resources African Traditions Meagan Cullins The Category of Indigenous Indigenous Traditions and Western Scholarship Missionaries soldiers and government officials see these traditions and write about them in their journals Science becomes an academic subject in the 19th century Origin of Species Charles Darwin pushes evolution and science to become popular 1858 Evolutionary Model of World Religions by end of 19th century 1 Protestantism most evolved 2 Catholicism 3 Judaism 4 Islam 5 Buddhism 6 Hinduism 7 Tribal Religions least evolved represents a window into the past Typical Indigenous African Cosmology supreme deities and lesser deities Nuer Tribe Kwoth Nhial o creator god of the Neur Tribe o had a rope connected from the heavens to the Earth so that he could visit his work ended up severing the rope Yoruba Tribe Olorun responsible for the creation of their community Orishas spirits people that the Olorun replaced his sons with Spirit Possession during ceremonies the people of the tribe dance and a spirit lesser deity my choose to possess someone s body The person will then scream and continue to take on the personality of the spirit possessing them Ritual Performances A person will then put on the mask of the spirit possessing them Birth and Death Rituals done at the time of each one might dedicate their newborn child to a god Rites of Passage coming of age ceremonies where kids teenagers typically were thrown out of the community to fend Sacrifice some spirits may require the shedding of blood to be Witchcraft some people would blame unusual things on this children are victims and are disowned by their parents still around for themselves called down today Colonialism 3 stages Expansion of Islam into Africa Islam was deeply engraved in African indigenous traditions Slave Trade Africans were taken from West Africa to the Caribbean and sold as slaves European Colonization Scramble for Africa Indigenous Responses to Colonialism Xhosa South Africa Cattle Killing Movement a prophetess Nongqawuse said witchcraft in their community was to blame for her people s suffering and the only way to push out the colonial forces was to offer a very valuable sacrifice nothing more valuable then their cattle didn t work the rotting carrcases increased the rate of disease and death and the British stayed African Diaspora Slave Christianity o Official slaves would attend white church services that would reinforce the power a slave owner had o Invisible set of beliefs and practices kept secret from slave owners blending of Protestant Christianity and Indigenous Traditions Vodou o Misconceptions hexes creepy Voodoo dolls o Syncretism blending of French Catholicism and African Traditions o Lwa spirits 3 categories Rada spirits that are mild mannered sometimes tricksters they have intermediate power and they re relatively easy to deal with Papa Legba associated with crossroads such as moving through a doorway or moving from life to death associated with St Lazarus resurrected Gede spirits associated strictly with death and the afterlife Baron Samedi grim reaper of Vodou tells dirty jokes associated with St Gerard patron saint of child bearing Petwo by far the most powerful of the Lwa most volatile as well you need to know what you re doing when you call upon a spirit of this magnitude Elizi Dantor associated with motherhood tough mother she will shank you associated with the Virgin Mary o Haiti Vodou emerged out of the Haitian context with a rudimentary Catholic education during the Haitian revolution Vodou becomes a more concrete religion o Mama Lola Brooklyn NY I am a Catholic who serves the Lwa Marie Laveau New Orleans was able to influence political decisions people in authority feared her Native Americans Meagan Cullins Myth of the Noble Savage a misconception about Native Americans Pochahontus movie Other Challenges when Studying Native Americans There are no written sources mostly oral texts no alphabet Most of precontact people were killed by diseases and sickness uniqueness of tribes lost Native American is an umbrella term loses diversity cannot be forgotten there are unique tribes Four General Characteristics of Native American cultures Holistic Culture Native Americans viewed the sacred holistically the sacred is everywhere even in the physical world o Animism notion that spirits animate things in the physical o Roger Williams a missionary colonist who wrote down the Narragansett people s accounts eventually becomes the world Algonquin Bible A Key into the Language of America Manitoo spiritual force that penetrates one s existence portrays all things Kinship Culture Native Americans believe that their tribal identities are based on relationships and associations that can extend to other tribes Europeans and animals o Noble myth notion that people have supernatural relationship with each other and nature o John Heckwelder minister to Delaware Indians had a connection with a dying bear Indigenous born into Culture the idea that geographical settings are significant to the land play an important role in cosmogonic myths creation stories
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