INTRODUCTION
In The Wizard of Oz (1939), Dorothy and her friends journey to the Emerald City in seek of Oz – the great and powerful wizard. Upon finally reaching him, Dorothy’s dog opens a curtain to reveal that the Wizard is merely an ordinary man speaking into a microphone while using various knobs and levers to create a smoke-and-mirrors effect. In many ways this story is similar to the creation and interpretation of religion by individuals within society.
In the following pages I will discuss this metaphor, as well as Rudolf Otto and his theories on the creation of religion, Peter L. Berger’s theory of “the sacred canopy,” and finally the intermingling of these two theories in the evolution of religion.
RUDOLF OTTO AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
In The Idea of the Holy, Rudolf Otto begins by explaining the difference between the terms “rational,” and “non-rational.” He states quite simply, “An object that can thus be thought conceptually may be termed rational. The nature of deity described in the attributes above mentioned is, then, a rational nature; and a religion which recognizes and maintains such a view of God is in so far a ‘rational’ religion,” (Otto 1). Otto begins this work by arguing that the non-rational aspect of religion is, in itself, a very important part of religion; however, ideally religion should include both rational and non-rational experiences.
Otto describes non-rational experiences as mysteries, which are a fundamental aspect of all religions. To these mysteries he gives the name “numinous,” and explains that “the nature of the numinous can only be suggested by means of the special way in which it is reflected in the mind in terms of feeling,” (Otto 12). Otto argues that our feelings of the numin...
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...rom the excellent theories of both Otto and Berger: humans create biblical interpretations… they even created the bible. If religion could speak, I believe it would mimic the Wizard of Oz by saying, “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain,” when in truth, without the help of the man behind the curtain, there would simply be no religion at all.
Works Cited
Chance, Bradley J. "A Pedagogy of Dealienation: A Case Study in the Application of Peter Berger's The Sacred Canopy." Teaching Theology & Religion 7.2 (2004): 101-07. Print.
Berger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. New York: Anchor, 1967. Print.
MacKenna, Christopher. "From the Numinous to the Sacred." Journal of Analytical Psychology 54.2 (2009). Print.
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Trans. John W. Harvey. New York: Oxford UP, 1958. Print.
As I have studied Lionel Corbett’s Psychology and the Sacred: Spirituality beyond Religion (2007) throughout the quarter, I have been intrigued by his messages, as well as the language he uses to convey them. It has been quite clear that Corbett’s intentions are good ones, and his words are very inspiring, whether or not I agree with him on all matters. However, as I have examined linguistics throughout the last few months, specifically the ways in which we talk about spirituality and emotion, my focus in reading Corbett has shifted from just his message, to the way he talks about that message as well. As grand as his ideas may be, they are still confined to language we all understand; he is subjected to borrow the tools and context from ideas
Imagine that you’ve been suffering through a time of immense hardship and you are economically disadvantaged. You haven’t eaten in days, you’re home is about to be foreclosed, and you are hopeless about finding employment. You take what little food you have left, scrounge together whatever possessions of yours that have value, and for good measure throw in your first-born son. Taking all of these items, you then light them on fire and utterly destroy them. If this happened today, no doubt would a person be arrested and deemed a risk to himself and others. But for centuries, people carried out these sacrificial rituals, wasting precious resources and time & energy, in hopes that things would get better. Religion is immensely costly both in terms of resources and time. We know that the most evolutionary fit creatures do not waste their energy on pointless tasks and that everything done in life is because the reward is bigger than the risk. So we ask ourselves, what is the reward of following religion given its immense expenditure. How has religion survived for so long and what does it offer to those who follow it? Furthermore, how did religion come to being and what purpose did it serve in the early days of its inception? When human beings first invented agriculture and settled down, the foundations of society began shaping. Tribes grew and became more permanent, people interacted with each other in more sophisticated ways, and civilization formed. Through this communal “puberty”, culture was born and memes (ideas, behaviors, and styles that spread from person to person) came to being. If we look at religion through an inverse perspective, one that says human society and culture developed religion as opposed to religion dictating so...
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
Peterson, Michael - Hasker, Reichenbach and Basinger. Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
Hick, John. Disputed Questions in Theology and the Philosophy of Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Print.
Kurtz, Lester R. “Gods in the Global Village: The World’s Religions in Sociological Perspective”. Pine Forge Press, 2010.
Geertz defines religion as ‘(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.’ In this essay, I will focus on the Geertz’s idea, and Asad’s subsequent critique, of symbols. (Geertz, Clifford, and Michael Banton. "Religion as a cultural system." (1966).)
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
It is also worth noting that rational evaluation of religious experiences may not achieve many because it is in a disagreement between believers and philosophers. Whether description of deity or divine experience can be meaningful may not be as important since a significance of numinous experiences seems to be independent of any rational explanation. Furthermore, perhaps considering reasonableness or rationality of numinous experience itself is meaningless because, as I said, it is almost impossible to rationalize significance of one’s transcendental experience. However, it seems unreliable, as numinous experience is private and unverifiable. Also, empirical evidence seems to be too unfaithful because our sense perceptions, especially eyes, can distort our vision and then our memory. Therefore, although its significance may be independent of any evaluation or reason, I would rather conclude that religious experience is not reasonable ground for existence of God, and, therefore, religious experiences cannot be strong evidence of existence of
For many years, the idea of what it means to have a “religious experience” has been greatly debated. Philosophers and great thinkers alike have grappled with many questions, such as what constituted a “religious experience” and the difference between that and a mystical experience. Part of this great debate involves two philosophers from a similar time period, William James and C.D Broad, who each saw these experiences, despite some similarities, as having different epistemic values. Broad offers that these religious experiences can provide strong validation of a higher existence, while James take more of a perennialist view, in which all of the religious traditions of the world have on common belief about the world; therefore, his idea of mystical experiences don’t truly support the idea of a supreme being. I believe that neither James nor Broad are completely correct and rather the epistemic value of religious experiences lies somewhere in between their views.
Barbour, Ian G. Religion in an Age of Science. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990. Print. (BL 240.2 .B368 1990)
'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light…'(Gen 1:1.5) '…then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. '(Gen 2:7) This part from the bible is a typical example of what people used to believe before scientists came and gave logical explanations to the questions of mankind.It is possible, of course, to define a non-supernatural "religious" worldview that is not in conflict with science. But in all of its traditional forms, the supernatural religious worldview makes the assumption that the universe and its inhabitants have been designed and created by "forces" or beings which transcend the material world. The material world is postulated to reflect a mysterious plan originating in these forces or beings, a plan which is knowable by humans only to the extent that it has been revealed to an exclusive few. Criticising or questioning any part of this plan is strongly discouraged, especially where it touches on questions of morals or ethics. Science, on the other hand, assumes that there are no transcendent, immaterial forces and that all forces which do exist within the universe behave in an ultimately objective or random fashion. The nature of these forces, and all other scientific knowledge, is revealed only through human effort in a dynamic process of inquiry. The universe as a whole is assumed to be neutral to human concerns and to be open to any and all questions, even those concerning human ethical relationships. Such a universe does not come to us with easy answers. We must come to it and be prepared to work hard. According to Thomas W. Clark science and religion are in a battle from the day that scientists got in the fields of the theologises
Religious explanation is much different than scientific and philosophical explanation and when misunderstood can have a great conflict. Religious explanation does not originate from observation or logical deduction, but from belief of there being knowledge we don’t know of a higher being(s) who make and sometimes control us humans and the universe which we live. Religious explanation is where some of the first philosophical claims originat...
The worlds have various beliefs and practices that are considered important to them when it comes to religious standpoints. While there are many people that only believe in one God this makes them monotheistic and there are others that in more than one God and this makes them polytheistic. With the history of religion this concept refers to the record of human ideas as well as experiences which vary across the world with various religions. Many religious beliefs have been taught for generations and passed on evolving with time. This definition of religion covers all the aspects generally discussed when religion is evaluated. My paper will discuss the definition of what religion means, the experiences across the world and
Bloesch, Donald G. God the Almighty: Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love (Christian Foundations). Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2010.