PART 2: UNIVERSAL FORMSOF RELIGIOUS EXPRESSIONThings almost every religion has or does
Symbols, Myth,
Doctrine
The Sacred, the Holy
Rituals
Scripture
2 reactions to Sacred Power Fear & awe (avoidance/prohibition) Attraction (ecstasy & mysticism)
The Sacred, the Holy
“mysterium tremendum & fascinans”
What Rudolf Otto calls in The Idea of the Holy
incomprehensible, awe , fear fascinating (adoring, joy producing praise devotion love
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Sacred Power Death & Killing Birth Healing Planting Sex Natural disasters
Actions with
Sacred Power Amulets Fetishes Totems Icons
Objects with
Sacred Power The very old wise
man/woman Prophet The saint /guru/bohdisaatva The healer kings Shaman Priest
People with
Sacred Power The seasons: a repetition of
creation New Year Solstices Harvest Repentance – atonement
Time withp. 49
Sacred Power Rivers: Ganges, Nile, Jordan
PLACES of
Sacred Power Rivers: Ganges, Nile, Jordan Mountains: Mt Fuji, Mt Zion,
PLACES of
Sacred Power Rivers: Ganges, Nile, Jordan Mountains: Mt Fuji, Mt Zion Ocean Sky
PLACES of
Large vast spaces give a sense that we are surrounded by something greater than us from which we come (creaturehood)
Sacred PowerPLACES of
Natural wonders Battlefield Site of tragedy
Sacred PowerPLACES of
Birthplace Place of first
encounter
When an object takes on new, sacred meaning, its called a hierophany*
Greek: hieros = “sacred” phanein = “to appear”
*term coined by Mircea Eliade
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(1907 – 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day. His theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into sacred and profane space and time, has proved influential. One of his most influential contributions to religious studies was his theory of Eternal Return, which holds that myths and rituals do not simply commemorate hierophanies, but, at least to the minds of the religious, actually participate in them.
Axis Mundi
World axis, an opening to a sacred space, navel of the world, where heaven & earth meet
the Ka’ba (Mecca)
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Mt. Kailash (Tibet)Sacred
toHindus, Buddhists and Jains
Sacred Spaces Stupa (Buddhist)
Borobudor in Java
Cambodia, Royal Palace grounds
Sacred Spaces Pagoda Nepal, China, Japan, Korea,
Vietnam (Taoist , Buddhist)
Wooden five-story pagoda of
Horyu-ji in Japan, built in the 7th century, one of the oldest wooden buildings in the world
Sacred Spaces Mosque
Sultan Ahmad Mosque (Haggia Sophia)
Mezquita, Cordoba, Spain
Sacred Spaces Tabernacle
Model of the tabernacle in Timna Park, Israel
: Hebrew: mishkanA portable dwelling place for the holy . (tent)