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Ritual Theory & RITES OF PASSAGE

Ritual Theory & RITES OF PASSAGE. 9.22.16. Creation Unit Review. RELIGIOUS TEXTS (PRIMARY SOURCES) Genesis 1-3 Enuma Elish Gospel of Mary; Gospel of Thomas Qur’an Sura 7. Creation Unit Review. THEORISTS (SECONDARY SOURCES) Eliade

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Ritual Theory & RITES OF PASSAGE

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  1. Ritual Theory & RITES OF PASSAGE 9.22.16

  2. Creation Unit Review • RELIGIOUS TEXTS (PRIMARY SOURCES) • Genesis 1-3 • Enuma Elish • Gospel of Mary; Gospel of Thomas • Qur’an Sura 7

  3. Creation Unit Review • THEORISTS (SECONDARY SOURCES) • Eliade • Hierophany, sacred space vs profane space, axis mundi, religious man vs modern man • Lincoln • Minimalist vs maximalists, polythetic definition of religion • Ruether • religious texts reveal values of society • Pagels • censored texts reveal values of society

  4. Functions of Ritual • Orients participants to space and time • Connects participants to the divine • Connects participants to a larger community • Includes the body as an instrument for religion O Brother Where Ar’t Thou Delmar’s Baptism What about Grimes’ “Afro-Caribbean-Polish ‘baptism’”?

  5. Calendar Rituals Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Kinds of Rituals • Life Cycle Rituals • Birth • Coming of age • Marriage • Death • Special Occasion Rituals • Ordination • Exorcism Eucharist

  6. Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) • Rites of passage • “rites which accompany every change of place, state, social position and age” • Three stages of initiation rites (rites of passage) • Separation - the initiate is removed from the rest of the community • Transition (or limen / “threshold”) - the initiate leaves the community until the rites are complete • Re-Aggregation - the initiate rejoins the community

  7. Victor turner (1920 - 1983) • Expands upon van Gennep’s theory, specifically focusing on liminality • also related to Eliade and phenomenology • Focused on the “potential” available in liminal state; especially in relation to deconstructing social systems • where cultural and ritual creativity are incubated • Genuine ritual is transformative; ceremony confirms the status quo

  8. Liminality and communitas • Liminality • Betwixt and Between • No clear social status • unclear status makes liminality dangerous to community and social system • Why? Hazing of fraternity pledges as depicted on Law & Order SVU

  9. Liminality and communitas • Communitas • group of people who are in the same liminal state • “common generic bond” • (Majority) Anti-structure • Social distinctions fall away Selma to Montgomery March, 1965

  10. significance of rites of passage • “Social life is a dialectical process that involved successive experience of high and low” • All cultures have successive moments of highs/lows marked by ritual • Rituals help in process that humans go through anyway

  11. hopi Kachina cult • Hopi — Native American Pueblo Tribe • Kachina • Supernatural Beings - represent aspects of natural world, not gods • Kachina Dancers • Kachina Dolls given to children • Kiva - subterranean ritual / ceremony space • Central theme of Kachina cult: “The presence of life in all objects that fill the universe. Everything has an essence or a life force, and humans must interact with these or fail to survive”

  12. hopi initiation ritual • What: Initiation into Kachina cult • Purpose: Reveal to children nature of the kachinas • Who: 8-10 year olds • What happens: • Children are removed from community • Whipped by Kachinas - “payment” to receive special knowledge; device to ensure secrecy • Kachinas unmasked - members community, possibly relatives • Profound disappointment, disenchantment, discord

  13. Disenchantment • Dual traumatic effects: • disenchantment • altered concepts of Kachinas • profound disappointment and resentment towards elders • modified behavior • excessive indulgence by their elders end • irreversible loss of naive realism

  14. What’s next? • Active members of the Kachina cult • attentive to Kachina stories • participating in religious preparation and activities • Birth of religious perspective • Religious life begins as serious and reflective (adult qualities) • Motivation for seeking religious awareness

  15. characteristics of disenchantment (pg 236) • Encouraging identification of the spiritual with some physical / sensual aspect of the world • Initiatory process • reinforces sense that the fullness of religious reality is invested in these figures and objects • Concluding moments / / Threshold • Illusion dissolved • “Rites demonstrate irreversibly that things are not simply what they appear to be, that one-dimensional literalism is a childish faith that one has to grow beyond” • Choice: • See the world as meaningless • Quest for fuller understanding of the world

  16. Similarities to first members of Christian community? Disenchantment in secular modernity? ExaMPLES OF DISENCHANTMENT

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