Anthropology

the study of humans:  human biology and culture, in our past, present, and future, about our similarities and differences.

all parts of society are integrated and interdependent, so the religion must be considered in conjunction with kinship, economics, politics, the environment, etc.  The approach anthropologists use to study human societies as systematic sums of their parts, as integrated wholes; all parts of society are integrated and interdependent, so the religion must be considered in conjunction with kinship, economics, politics, the environment, etc.

by comparing cultures, we can find similarities in religious behavior, practices, and ideas, as well as account for differences

we do not judge cultures (or religions) as better or worse, superior or inferior, but consider them relatively equal, so as not to bias the results of our investigations

Holism, Comparison, Cultural Relativism

An approach that compares human societies throughout the world – contemporary and historical, industrial and tribal

The study of human biology and evolution; anthropologists with a biological orientation discuss the evolutionary origins and the neurobiology of religious experience

The study of people who are known only from their physical and cultural remains; it gives us insight into the lives of now extinct societies

A field devoted to the study of language, which, according to many anthropologists, is a unique feature of humans

Is the study of contemporary human societies and makes up the largest area of anthropological study; the study of religion is a subject within the general field of cultural anthropology

Physical, Archeology, Linguistic, Cultural

A technique of study that usually requires the anthropologist to live within the community and to participate to a degree in the lives of the people under study, while at the same time making objective observations

Relatively small communities, villages, and bands that practice foraging, herding, or technologically simple horticulture

By studying smaller religions, anthropologists can see if there are characteristics that are found in all human societies

The descriptive study of human societies

People who study human societies and write ethnographies about them; they are also called cultural anthropologists

We discuss groups, including those that exist today or have existed in the recent past, in the present tense as they were first described by ethnographers

A geographical area in which societies tend to share many cultural traits

Etic Perspective and Emic Perspective

Outsiders looking in on another culture

One that attempts to see the world through the eyes of the people being studied

The tendency to use our own society as a basis for interpreting and judging other societies

An approach anthropologists use to attempt to describe and understand people’s customs and ideas but not to judge them

Scholars approach an understanding of the world basing their knowledge on the ideals of rationality, objectivity, and reason

Denies the possibility of acquiring, or even the existence of, “true” knowledge about the world

A society’s body of behaviors and beliefs

Shared understandings about the meanings of certain words, attributes, or objects

Is one in which we define our terms so that they are observable and measurable and therefore can be studied

Focus on the way religion manifests itself or is expressed in a culture

Focus on what religion does either socially or psychologically

This definition of religious books looks at what is the essential nature of religion

A term that refers to things that are “above the natural”

A term added to the definition of religion that denotes an attitude wherein the subject is entitled to reverence and respect

A belief in spirit beings

Evolutionary, Marxist, Functional, Interpretive and Psychosocial

A more basic, and more ancient supernatural force, that grew out of human emotional reaction to the power of nature

Refers to things that are not human but have human like characteristics and behave in humanlike ways

Refers to the idea that people know, or think they know, what is going on in another people’s minds

Agnostics say that the nature of the supernatural is unknowable, that it is as impossible to prove the nonexistence of the supernatural as it is to prove its existence

Provides an understanding of how their world works. Forms the template for thought and behavior. Provides a basic understanding of the origin and nature of humankind and their relationship to the world around them

Stories that are meant to entertain and contain supernatural elements and typically a moral

Seen by members of the culture as representing events that have actually taken place, although they are often embellished

Stories that are recounted as having really happened, primarily on the Internet or in tabloids

Sacred stories that tell: Of the origin of the world and humankind.  Of the existence and activities of gods and spirits. Of the creation of order in the universe. Of the nature of illness and death.  How to behave.  How to distinguish good from evil

Example of a written text that has origins in oral narratives

Explains the proper organization of human relationships

Emphasis on ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation as well as on consensus and function as opposed to cultural change

Focuses on the underlying structure of the myth. For religious narratives, focus lies on the structure not the content

This approach to the analysis of myths interprets them as being symbolic and see this symbolism as being rooted in human psychology

inborn elements of the unconscious that are manifested in dreams and myths

The main characters of these dreams and myths are termed archetypes (for example, Oedipus, the Phoenix, and the Hero).

Answer some of the most basic questions that humans have. Origin stories address the most basic questions of identity, both personal and communal

Myths that tell of the catastrophic destruction of the world, an apocalypse

Myths dealing with lesser things such as providing explanations of why things are the way they are or how people should and should not behave

Adventurers, Gluttons, Searchers of sexual pleasures, Lazy and easily bored, Dishonest, Impulsive, yet they are responsible for creating or bringing into the world many elements such as the sun or fire, but this usually occurs inadvertently as a by-product of some other activity

According to Joseph Campbell, while there are countless stories involving heroes throughout the world, they all follow the same basic story line, the monomyth

An example of a symbol that can stand for very complex ideas and can carry great emotional resonance

A term that can refer to any five-sided figure but is generally used to refer to a five-pointed star, also called a pentacle

• The cross is the symbol most clearly associated with Christianity
• Fish symbol: Most important early Christian symbol because the letters of the Greek word for fish, icthus, form an acrostic (a word that is derived from the first letter of a series of words)‏

A pipe made of brick along the side of the staircase leading to his tomb, through which Pakal’s spirit moves from the tomb into the temple sanctuary during ritual

Rituals that are performed according to a temporal cycle

A symbol or emblem of a social unit

including totemic symbols, myths, and a sacred landscape

A patterned, recurring sequence of events

A ritual that involves the manipulation of religious symbols such as prayers, offerings, and readings of sacred literature

Rituals that are required to be performed

Rituals that are performed because of a particular need of an individual or community. Also called crisis rituals

Rituals performed on a regular basis as part of a religious calendar. Also called calendrical rituals

Rituals that are performed for a specific purpose with a situation arises that requires the ritual to be performed

Rituals that attempt to influence or control nature, especially in activities that affect human activities and well-being

Rituals that seek information about the unknown

Rituals that delineate codes of proper behavior and articulate the community’s worldview

The anthropological study of medicinal plants

Rituals that focus on curing

An anti-therapy ritual such as the bone-pointing ritual found among the Australian Aborigines

Social positions held within a society

The relative placement of each position in the society

In this phase, the individual is removed from his or her former status (The Structure of a Rite of Passage)

During this phase, several activities take place that bring about the change in status (The Structure of a Rite of Passage)

The final phase during which an individual reenters normal society, though in a new social relationship (The Structure of a Rite of Passage)

The state of ambiguous marginality during which the metamorphosis takes place

The state of ambiguous marginality during which the metamorphosis takes place

Within this state not only is there a sense of equality, but the mere fact that a group of individuals is moving through the process together brings about a sense of community and camaraderie

A specific status defined by age

Scarification

Scars are created by burns

When the underside of the penis is cut and the urethra slit open

Form of female circumcision when the prepuce of the clitoris or a part of the clitoris itself is removed or when the labia minora is removed with the clitoris

More extreme form of genital mutilation when the entire clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora are removed

A journey to a sacred place

Some objects and people that may be off limits in a society

the Jewish law regarding what foods can and cannot be eaten and how foods must be prepared

mark transition points in the lives of individuals; ideally occurs once during a person’s lifespan

maintain and intensify group equilibrium and solidarity; ideally recurs on a regular cycle.

Technological, Therapy, Ideological, Salvation, and Revitalization