Course Notes on Folk Religions | INTR 565, Study notes of World Religions

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INTR 565

Folk Religions

Course Notes

A. Scott Moreau, D.Miss.

Table of Contents

• 1. Tools for Understanding Folk Religions
• 2. Folk and Formal Religions
• 3. World View
• 4. Power(s) in Folk Religions
• 5. The Vulnerable Age
• 6. Myth
• 7. Symbol
• 8. A Missiological Approach to Myth and Symbol
• 9. Ritual
• 10. Lifeways and Script Analysis
• 11. Case Study of Jalari Medium Divination
• 12. Themes
• 13. Parting with the Ancestors
• 14. Means of Guidance in Folk Religions
• 15. People of Power: Shamanism
• 16. Social Security
• 17. Health and Healing
• 18. Possessive States
• 19. Death
• 20. The Conference Speaker
• 21. Selected Bibliography

b. What does it mean to take other religions seriously?

i. Respect: Handling with care the religious beliefs we are working with ii. Humility: A way of doing a reality check; we must approach this whole topic with humility. iii. Sensitivity: we are rarely sensitive enough about the religious commitment of others, and all-too-often over sensitive about our own. iv. Advocacy: Inappropriate at the data collection stage of religious research.

3. Tools of research: What are some of the major reasearch "brushes" that we can use to understand folk religions?

a. Participant observation b. Symbol and ritual analysis c. Script analysis d. We use these tools to help understand the building blocks of folk religions, including: i. World view ii. Powers iii. Myth iv. Symbol v. Ritual

4. A Christian evaluative approach:

a. The general Christian approach is to examine religious doctrines and/or ideas and evaluate them in light of divine revelation. There appear to be two foundational tests of all religious claims:

i. Are they in harmony with God's revealed word? (Deut 13:1-5) ii. Do they work? (Deut 18:20-22)

b. Builds on significant presuppositions, including:

i. The Bible is God's revelation about Himself to all people of the world ii. All cultures have elements which Scripture commends as well as elements which Scripture condemns iii. The Holy Spirit is at work today in the lives of all genuine believers, who have the ability to develop a relevant, Scriptural approach to life in their context iv. All humans are affected by sin; every human endeavor or activity is in some way tainted by its effects. v. God is the author of cultural variation, and all cultures can be subsumed under His authority.

vi. The chief focus of history is not human cultures or religions, but the Kingdom of God. (Matthew 24:9-14; see also Mark 13:10). The proclamation of the kingdom is to go to all nations. In our day of religious pluralism, and with many calling for a cessation of Christian mission under the rubric of all roads lead to heaven, this passage stands as a reminder that we must preach the good news of Jesus to ALL nations, not just to those that already have a Christian influence. Ladd states, "This Gospel of the Kingdom, this Good News of Christ's victory over God's enemies, must be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. This is our mission." (Ladd, Gospel of the Kingdom, p. 130). Further on, he states: " The ultimate meaning of history between the Ascension of our Lord and His return in glory is found in the extension and working of the Gospel in the world.... The divine purpose in the nineteen hundred years since our Lord lived on earth is found in the history of the Gospel of the Kingdom. The thread of meaning is woven into the missionary program of the Church. (Ibid., p. 133; emphasis mine).

5. Excursus: Emic and Etic Perspectives (Pelto and Pelto, Anthropological Research, p. 62

This distinction was developed for anthropology by Ward Goodenough as an application from linguistic theory, named by linguist Kenneth Pike in 1956 (Bernard, Research Methods, p. 226).

Emic Approaches ( Insider's perspective) Etic Approaches ( Outsider's perspective)

1. The primary method is interviewing, in depth, and in the vernacular. 1. Primary method is observation of behavior.
2. The intent is to seek the categories of meanings, as nearly as possible in the ways the people themselves define things. 2. Intent is to seek patterns of behavior, as defined by the observer.
3. The people's definitions of meaning, their idea systems, are seen as the most important 'causes' or explanations of behavior. 3. Impersonal, nonideational factors, especially material conditions, are seen as significant movers of human action.
4. Systems and patterns are identified through ical analysis, especially by a quasi-linguistic analysis of contrast sets. 4. Systems and patterns are identified through quantitative analysis of events and actions.
5. Cross-cultural generalizations must wait for the conversion of culturally specific patterns and meanings into more abstracted, intercultural cat- egories (etic categories!). 5. Cross-cultural generalizations can be made directly, by applying the same methods of observation, with the same outside-derived concepts, to two or more different cultures.
6. The methodological strategy is fundamentally inductive, for research cannot proceed until the "peoples' categories of meaning" have been discovered. 6. The methodological strategy can range from "pure induction" to various mixtures of inductive and deductive research.

ii. Ontological or epistemological analysis: etic in nature, requires holistic understanding of the religious propositions and/or ideas underlying the practices and the development of a biblical response to them.

iii. Missiological analysis: lives in tension between emic and etic. It should be:

(1) Sensitive to the culture/phenomena (2) In conformity to the governing principles of Scripture (3) Focused on facilitating an indigenous response to the issues.

Folk and Formal Religions

1. What is folk religion and where does it fit in?

a. A wide variety of terms has been coined to cover the basic idea (adapted from Schreiter, Constructing Local Theology)

i. Popular religion: Not popular in the sense of what is fashionable, but in the sense of what is of the people. Three contrasts with official religion may be noted:

(1) The non-institutionalized religiosity of the common person: "those patterns of behavior and belief that somehow escape the control of the institutional specialists, existing alongside (and sometimes despite) the efforts at control of these specialists." (Schreiter, Constructing Local Theology, p. 125) (2) The non-elite religiosity of the common person: The more non- literate, nonverbal, and (often) more energetic religious expressions of the non-elite. This is often seen in economic terms, with the lower end of the economic scale belonging to common religion. (3) The less intellectualized religiosity of the common person: Dealing with the quantity and quality of lore, particularly specialized lore.

These three dimensions may by diagramed:

they can be built on an animistic and folk religious core.

2. A general comparison of high and folk religion (Burnett, Unearthly Powers):

High Religion Low Religion

Answers cosmic questions: origin of universe, meaning of life

Answers everyday issues: sickness, drought, war

Written text with fixed system of beliefs No written text. Myths and rituals

Specialist leadership roles Informal, no specialists

Central institutions: church, mosque, temple. Formal training

Few institutions. Apprenticeship type of training

Formalized moral teaching Amoral system, pragmatic

World View

1. World view is often broadly (and circularly) defined as the way in which we understand the world around us (e.g., Geisler and Watkins, 1989, 11; Kraft, 1983, 222).

a. It is essentially pre-theoretical in character; it is the foundation upon which theories and the methods of theorizing are built (Walsh, 1992, 16).

b. As such, it is a belief system (Dodd, 1991, 75; Olthius, 1985, 155) of the basic assumptions we make about reality (Hiebert, 1985, 45).

c. Because it is pre-theoretical, it is generally not found at the conscious level, and the assumptions which comprise it are not necessarily coherently linked to each other--they may even be contradictory. The assumptions world view is generally concerned with include the nature of the world we inhabit (time and space), the nature of us as people (existence and being), the nature of the One we image (powers), and how we know (knowledge and logic):

3. World view and culture are not monolithic; several “layers” may be noted.

a. Human Universals: All cultures build off the basic block of what it means to be “human.” There is a common human core to every culture; and characteristics of all cultures that build on our humanity (includes facts of language, institutions, need for values, social interations, etc.; see below on “The Common Human Core”).

b. National/Cultural Particulars: Each cultural unit (in the diagram below seen as a geo-political nation) has chosen particular ways to adapt to its environment

in light of its historical development. Whether there are truly “national” cultures is debated, but the contemporary constraints of national units (e.g., the need for visas to cross lines; the fact of national level governments, offical country languages and school systems) helps mold and shape culture at a national level.

c. Ethnic/Familial Community Specifics: Within the national or larger cultural milieu, each ethnic group (on down to the family level) chooses its own cultural adaptations. In a certain respect, every family unit (whether extended or nuclear) borrows from the culture and ingrains its members its set of values.

d. Individual Idiosyncracies: Every human being is more than just a product of culture. We all come into the world predisposed genetically to favor certain characteristics (e.g., shyness or sociability). That we are made in God’s image gives us ability to choose to accept or reject values that we see around us.

e. Finally, we should note that every person "belongs" to more than one micro- culture--we are something of a conglomeration of such cultures, each with its distinct rules of operation. While each may be distinguished, there are many common threads interwoven among them (e.g., business, home, school, church, friendships, etc.)

harness electricity) is (see Hiebert, 1982). (2) This knowledge may require training (schooling or apprenticeship) and is usually guarded closely. Accessing these powers may be exacting and dangerous (just like electricity), though they do exist in benign forms (e.g., baseball magic described by Gmelch, 1985).

ii. Personal: Spirits, gods, demons, ghosts, etc. When they seen to be are behind events, skills including knowing how to placate, appease, please, or interest them are of significance to the community

(1) The relational grammar seen among people in the daily life of the culture will apply.

(2) The powers will require the appropriate respect, means of initiation, and methods of supplication and petition. The rules for these will be relationally founded and parallel the rules used for normal human relationships (e.g., respect for elders).

(3) The powers will be expected to respond in light of their interpretation of whether the proper communication methods and channels were used and whether their needs are being appropriately met by the supplicant.

c. Human (psychological and social) powers

i. Bridging the gap between physical and spiritual powers are the types of forces generated and driving human beings. We study these in the domain of the "soft" sciences, namely the social powers.

ii. These range from the individual to the social levels, including physical drives or motivations we have as human beings (see McClelland's massive Human Motivation , 1990) as well as the power social systems (ideologies, bureaucracies, economic systems, etc.) have in determining our existence.

iii. In one sense, these are personal powers in that they do not exist apart from people. In another sense, however, they are impersonal powers because they do not have a separate ontological existence apart from the social structures found in human cultures.

4. Types of impersonal spiritual powers:

a. Kismet (Turkish term for fate), karma, fate

b. Mana (discussion from Allan R. Tippett, "The Concept of Mana"; class notes

for Introduction to Animism ):

i. Defining mana

(1) Taken from Melanesia, originally defined by R. W. Codrington:

"It is a power or influence, not physical, and in a way supernatural; but it shows itself in physical force, or in any kind of power or excellence which a man possesses. This mana is not fixed in anything, and can be conveyed in almost anything; but spirits, whether disembodied souls or supernatural beings, have it and can impart it, and it essentially belongs to personal beings to originate it, though it may act through the medium of water, a stone or a bone."

"A force altogether distinct from physical power, which acts in all kinds of ways for good and evil, and which is of the greatest advantage to possess or control."

(2) R. R. Marrett (anthropologist) used it in a world-wide framework:

"cases of magico-religious efficacy where the efficacy has been automatic or derived--i.e., proceeding from the nature of a sacred person or thing, or put into a person or thing by a ghost or spirit."

(3) Hiebert: an impersonal transempirical force that acts for good and evil. It affects everything that is beyond the ordinary power of humans, and outside the common processes of nature. To be able to possess and control it is a great advantage, but to handle it without proper knowledge and ritual is dangerous.

(4) Other similar terms from different cultures:

(a) Orenda (Iroquois; "mystic power derived from a chant") (b) Wakan (Sioux; "power that brings things to pass") (c) Maxpe (Crow) (d) Manitou (Algonquin; same as two above) (e) Hasuia (Madagascar; "efficacy") (f) Baraka (Morocco; "Holiness"; Swahili, "Holy") (g) Toh (Indonesia) (h) Magit (New Britian and Western Solomons; "soul stuff; one's personality or spirit force")

ii. Points to note:

evil; strongest wins)

c. Magic:

i. Defining magic: use of this-worldly, supernatural power to achieve one's desired goals. "A system of conceptual laws of cause and effect, operating regularly through spell and ritual, handed down by tradition, and manipulating the impersonal supernatural power of mana" (Grant, "Folk Religion in Islam," 28)

ii. Theories of magic (Grant, "Folk Religion in Islam," 22-33)

(1) E. B. Tylor ( Primitive Culture ): A basic unity with science, in that both assume constant laws of the universe, both employ the association of ideas. However, overall it was a false pseudo- science based on a false philosophical foundation.

(2) James G. Frazer ( Golden Bough ): Agreed with Tylor that is was a type of pre-science.

(a)Magic is founded on two major premises:

(i)Law of Similarity: like produces like (ii)Law of Contagion: Once things have been in contact, they act on each other from a distance.

(b)A magical rite acts on its own; it causes an automatic, immediate result (the magician is powerful only because he/she knows the spell, not because he/she has personal power which makes the magic work).

(3) Bronislaw Malinowski ( Magic, Science, and Religion ): magic is found whenever a people comes to an unbridgable gap and must continue their pursuit. Magic is a means to an end, and belief in magic is simple with a straightforward and definite aim.

(a)There are three typical elements involved:

(i)Phonetic effects (imitation of natural sounds in the spell) (ii)Use of words to command the desired effect (iii)References to mythological illusions (namely ancestral and cultural heroes)

(b)Surrounded by strict conditions

(i)Exact remembrance of the spell (ii)Rite must be performed exactly (iii)You must always be aware of counter-magic

iii. Major types of magic (Dupré, Religion in Primitive Cultures , 144-47):

(1) Substitute magic: Magical power is released by substituting a part of the one against whom the magic is being worked (hair, nails, footprint, etc.).

(2) Contagious magic: Magical power is released by a contagious object which has been empowered (similar to the spread of disease).

(3) Sympathetic magic: Magical power is released by symbolization of the object against which the magic will be used (e.g., drawings or sculptures of an animal to ensure a successful hunt of that animal).

(4) Gnoseological magic: Magical power is released by having and using appropriate knowledge about sequences, timing, words and accents, etc.

iv. Categories of magic:

(1) White magic: used to achieve good goals (bringing rain, victory in battle, success in group ventures)--estimated that 90% of all magic is "white"; can be used privately, but it is not necessary to keep it a secret (socially acceptable)

(2) Black magic: to harm or destroy someone in the society. Used in secret (an anti-social activity!)

d. Evil eye: Power in one's eye(s) that harms those being seen. Particulary susceptible are children, brides, pregnant women, and people in ritual states. Some are born with it, and learn to warn others about it. To avoid the effects of the evil eye, compliments may be withheld (to say a child is pretty is to solicit the looks of people who may have the evil eye). Also, food is susceptible, and so may be eaten in private (to avoid the look of others). Handicrafts cannot be perfect so as to attract attention, so a fault is purposfully made. Similar to this are evil mouth, touch, etc.

e. Omens: objects or events that warn people about the presence of power (or mana) or of the consequences of certain acts; a type of supernatural NORAD.

f. Taboos: prohibitions based on the belief that certain objects and actions have