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GSU RELS 2001 - Eliade

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Creation StoriesDo creation stories matter today?Mircea Eliade (1907-1986)Five key points regarding cosmogonies (creation myths)Five key points regarding cosmogonies (creation myths)Slide 6Slide 7Slide 8Reviewing Eliade’s termsCreation Stories And EliadeDo creation stories matter today?Relationship between science and religion is settled, right?The stories, although in conflict with one another, still today hold authority for religious individualshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40Q8p3GqPqQMircea Eliade (1907-1986)Brief bio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIEWD-uX3Zc&feature=relatedPerennial – proposes that religions all share something in commonWhat is in common?Argument is that people are instinctually wired to make sense of the world through religion – otherwise we are distressedIn effect, Eliade is arguing that modern people, without myths and rituals, have a real problem – there is no sacred space, no meaning = existential problemReview first pageWhat is his data?Five key points regarding cosmogonies (creation myths)#1. They “orient us”Tell us where our world came from, how it came to be (e.g., “order out of chaos”) Tell us why our world is the way that it isGive us our place in the cosmos What would come to pass if we did not have a cosmogony? Answer: confusion, no “fixed point” of reference to understand who we are.Eliade exampleFive key points regarding cosmogonies (creation myths)#2 A cosmogony distinguishes between sacred space and profane spaceProfane space: ordinary, can be used in any fashion, no special rules that govern our behavior here Sacred space: a hierophany/theophany has occurred; the divine reality has broken into the ordinary mundane world; this break changes, alters space It is now “closer to the divine”; communication with the divine is now possible here; calls for special behavior, attitudes, dress, etc. Eliade exampleFive key points regarding cosmogonies (creation myths)#3. Axis Mundi (“ world center”) A vertical structure that connects the higher divine realm with the lower, ordinary realm It allows for communication between the divine and the human Eliade example Gikuyu example (Mt. Kenya)Adam and Eve exampleOther examples: Catholic Christians, MuslimsFive key points regarding cosmogonies (creation myths)#4 The consecration of sacred space - The creation of sacred space recapitulates the work of the gods and the creation of the cosmos Modern example- Catholic Christianity: “cathedral” Nave, transept, sanctuary: to the East, b/c that is the direction of the rising sun, which symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Vaulted ceilings, engravings, paintings, stained glass windows, re-tell the Biblical story - Vedic India 2,000 BCE – 900BCE (henotheism)Many gods, much sacrificial ritual involving animals and plants and fire Agni, god of fire New territory became “ordered” when an altar to Agni was built and a fire ritual held: base of the temple symbolized the ground, the sides the walls, the top the sky, and the fire made Agni present, who would respond to proper sacrificial ritual with blessingsFive key points regarding cosmogonies (creation myths)#5 Religious man v. modern manReligious man In pre-modern societies, human beings lived in a “sacralized world,” their worldview was utterly steeped in their own specific mythology Generally, people did not grow anxious about whether life had any meaning –mythological systems “oriented” them entirelyHuman beings, for Eliade, cannot really live in an unsacralized worldModern man (modern day, “secular” thinkers) Modern human beings have grown skeptical about the truth of the mythologies handed down to them This has left us “disoriented,” with no sense of who we are, where we came from, why we are here, how we should live and act, where we are headedBut there are still hints of “religious man” within even the most secular, modern day human beings (examples)Reviewing Eliade’s termsreligious man – a person of pre-modern society – hungers after the transcendentnon-religious man – a modern person (but s/he never gets away from religious man and a hunger for the transcendent)axis mundi – a universal center, connects and supports heaven and earth, religious man divides the world according to the axis mundi; non-religious man divides the world arbitrarilycosmogony – beginning of the universe and how everything beginstheophany: appearance or manifestation of the gods / divine.hierophany: appearance of the scared more broadly; all sacred spaces involve theophany and/or hierophanycosmos vs. chaos – this is the city/organization/ordered world that starts at the axis mundi and expands. Chaos is no organization/ no center / no communication with heaven. Eliade says that modern man livs in Chaos which creates crisis and tension for the modern man / non-religious person (to resolve, must find the axis mundi and thus contact with the Divine and with meaning in life).Sacred and profane – the scared orients one’s life, allows for connection with the divine realm; the profane is the ordinary mundane world which holds no important meaning. To make this space sacred, pre-modern man knew instinctively to make myths (stories with meaning) and rituals (i.e., Vedic fire offering). eternal return – every ritual re-enacts the original creation story- the eternal return to the ‘cosmogonic’


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GSU RELS 2001 - Eliade

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