Religious Fundamentalism in Eight Muslim‐
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How Ritual Made Us Human Matt J. Rossano Department of Psychology
How ritual made us human Matt J. Rossano Department of Psychology Southeastern Louisiana University Hammond, LA 70402 USA Email: [email protected] ORCID ID: 0000-0002-1484-1105 Abstract This chapter argues that ritual made us human, and it is because of ritual that we (and not some other hominin) are Earth’s dominant species. The argument rests on the following propositions: (1) Humans are unique in their cooperative abilities (more clearly so than our rational abilities). (2) Cooperative communities are constructed using costly rituals. (3) Supernatural belief provided the motivation and the individual fitness advantage necessary for humans to engage in costly rituals, and (4) archaeological evidences indicates that Homo sapiens engaged in higher- cost ritual activity than other hominins (specifically, Neanderthals). It was the communal cooperative advantage, constructed using costly rituals, that gave Homo sapiens the decisive edge over other hominins as they spread across the globe. Keywords: cooperation, costly ritual, group competition, Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, ritualized behavior, supernatural belief, synchronized movement.> Author bio: Matt Rossano is Professor of Psychology at Southeastern Louisiana University where he studies the evolution of ritual, religion, and cooperation. His books include: Supernatural selection: How religion evolved (Oxford) and Mortal rituals (Columbia University Press). 1 Sergio Catalan could be forgiven for being wary. As he checked on some cattle at the foothills of the Andes mountains, he spotted two scraggly-haired, emaciated ‘mountain men’ frantically waving at him from across the Rio Azufre. The rushing current made it impossible to hear them, but their desperation was obvious. Who were these men? Bandits? Drug dealers? Revolutionaries on the run from the Army? As one of them drew nearer to the river bank, his eyes locked with Catalan. -
On the Present-Day Veneration of Sacred Trees in the Holy Land
ON THE PRESENT-DAY VENERATION OF SACRED TREES IN THE HOLY LAND Amots Dafni Abstract: This article surveys the current pervasiveness of the phenomenon of sacred trees in the Holy Land, with special reference to the official attitudes of local religious leaders and the attitudes of Muslims in comparison with the Druze as well as in monotheism vs. polytheism. Field data regarding the rea- sons for the sanctification of trees and the common beliefs and rituals related to them are described, comparing the form which the phenomenon takes among different ethnic groups. In addition, I discuss the temporal and spatial changes in the magnitude of tree worship in Northern Israel, its syncretic aspects, and its future. Key words: Holy land, sacred tree, tree veneration INTRODUCTION Trees have always been regarded as the first temples of the gods, and sacred groves as their first place of worship and both were held in utmost reverence in the past (Pliny 1945: 12.2.3; Quantz 1898: 471; Porteous 1928: 190). Thus, it is not surprising that individual as well as groups of sacred trees have been a characteristic of almost every culture and religion that has existed in places where trees can grow (Philpot 1897: 4; Quantz 1898: 467; Chandran & Hughes 1997: 414). It is not uncommon to find traces of tree worship in the Middle East, as well. However, as William Robertson-Smith (1889: 187) noted, “there is no reason to think that any of the great Semitic cults developed out of tree worship”. It has already been recognized that trees are not worshipped for them- selves but for what is revealed through them, for what they imply and signify (Eliade 1958: 268; Zahan 1979: 28), and, especially, for various powers attrib- uted to them (Millar et al. -
Kant's Theoretical Conception Of
KANT’S THEORETICAL CONCEPTION OF GOD Yaron Noam Hoffer Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, September 2017 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Doctoral Committee _________________________________________ Allen W. Wood, Ph.D. (Chair) _________________________________________ Sandra L. Shapshay, Ph.D. _________________________________________ Timothy O'Connor, Ph.D. _________________________________________ Michel Chaouli, Ph.D 15 September, 2017 ii Copyright © 2017 Yaron Noam Hoffer iii To Mor, who let me make her ends mine and made my ends hers iv Acknowledgments God has never been an important part of my life, growing up in a secular environment. Ironically, only through Kant, the ‘all-destroyer’ of rational theology and champion of enlightenment, I developed an interest in God. I was drawn to Kant’s philosophy since the beginning of my undergraduate studies, thinking that he got something right in many topics, or at least introduced fruitful ways of dealing with them. Early in my Graduate studies I was struck by Kant’s moral argument justifying belief in God’s existence. While I can’t say I was convinced, it somehow resonated with my cautious but inextricable optimism. My appreciation for this argument led me to have a closer look at Kant’s discussion of rational theology and especially his pre-critical writings. From there it was a short step to rediscover early modern metaphysics in general and embark upon the current project. This journey could not have been completed without the intellectual, emotional, and material support I was very fortunate to receive from my teachers, colleagues, friends, and family. -
ECOMYSTICISM: MATERIALISM and MYSTICISM in AMERICAN NATURE WRITING by DAVID TAGNANI a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfill
ECOMYSTICISM: MATERIALISM AND MYSTICISM IN AMERICAN NATURE WRITING By DAVID TAGNANI A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of English MAY 2015 © Copyright by DAVID TAGNANI, 2015 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by DAVID TAGNANI, 2015 All Rights Reserved ii To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of DAVID TAGNANI find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. ___________________________________________ Christopher Arigo, Ph.D., Chair ___________________________________________ Donna Campbell, Ph.D. ___________________________________________ Jon Hegglund, Ph.D. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank my committee members for their hard work guiding and encouraging this project. Chris Arigo’s passion for the subject and familiarity with arcane source material were invaluable in pushing me forward. Donna Campbell’s challenging questions and encyclopedic knowledge helped shore up weak points throughout. Jon Hegglund has my gratitude for agreeing to join this committee at the last minute. Former committee member Augusta Rohrbach also deserves acknowledgement, as her hard work led to significant restructuring and important theoretical insights. Finally, this project would have been impossible without my wife Angela, who worked hard to ensure I had the time and space to complete this project. iv ECOMYSTICISM: MATERIALISM AND MYSTICISM IN AMERICAN NATURE WRITING Abstract by David Tagnani, Ph.D. Washington State University May 2015 Chair: Christopher Arigo This dissertation investigates the ways in which a theory of material mysticism can help us understand and synthesize two important trends in the American nature writing—mysticism and materialism. -
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Nisan / The Levantine Review Volume 4 Number 2 (Winter 2015) Identity and Peoples in History Speculating on Ancient Mediterranean Mysteries Mordechai Nisan* We are familiar with a philo-Semitic disposition characterizing a number of communities, including Phoenicians/Lebanese, Kabyles/Berbers, and Ismailis/Druze, raising the question of a historical foundation binding them all together. The ethnic threads began in the Galilee and Mount Lebanon and later conceivably wound themselves back there in the persona of Al-Muwahiddun [Unitarian] Druze. While DNA testing is a fascinating methodology to verify the similarity or identity of a shared gene pool among ostensibly disparate peoples, we will primarily pursue our inquiry using conventional historical materials, without however—at the end—avoiding the clues offered by modern science. Our thesis seeks to substantiate an intuition, a reading of the contours of tales emanating from the eastern Mediterranean basin, the Levantine area, to Africa and Egypt, and returning to Israel and Lebanon. The story unfolds with ancient biblical tribes of Israel in the north of their country mixing with, or becoming Lebanese Phoenicians, travelling to North Africa—Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya in particular— assimilating among Kabyle Berbers, later fusing with Shi’a Ismailis in the Maghreb, who would then migrate to Egypt, and during the Fatimid period evolve as the Druze. The latter would later flee Egypt and return to Lebanon—the place where their (biological) ancestors had once dwelt. The original core group was composed of Hebrews/Jews, toward whom various communities evince affinity and identity today with the Jewish people and the state of Israel. -
Librarianship and the Philosophy of Information
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal) Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln July 2005 Librarianship and the Philosophy of Information Ken R. Herold Hamilton College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Herold, Ken R., "Librarianship and the Philosophy of Information" (2005). Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 27. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/27 Library Philosophy and Practice Vol. 3, No. 2 (Spring 2001) (www.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/lppv3n2.htm) ISSN 1522-0222 Librarianship and the Philosophy of Information Ken R. Herold Systems Manager Burke Library Hamilton College Clinton, NY 13323 “My purpose is to tell of bodies which have been transformed into shapes of a different kind.” Ovid, Metamorphoses Part I. Library Philosophy Provocation Information seems to be ubiquitous, diaphanous, a-categorical, discrete, a- dimensional, and knowing. · Ubiquitous. Information is ever-present and pervasive in our technology and beyond in our thinking about the world, appearing to be a generic ‘thing’ arising from all of our contacts with each other and our environment, whether thought of in terms of communication or cognition. For librarians information is a universal concept, at its greatest extent total in content and comprehensive in scope, even though we may not agree that all information is library information. · Diaphanous. Due to its virtuality, the manner in which information has the capacity to make an effect, information is freedom. In many aspects it exhibits a transparent quality, a window-like clarity as between source and patron in an ideal interface or a perfect exchange without bias. -
Iran: Ethnic and Religious Minorities
Order Code RL34021 Iran: Ethnic and Religious Minorities Updated November 25, 2008 Hussein D. Hassan Information Research Specialist Knowledge Services Group Iran: Ethnic and Religious Minorities Summary Iran is home to approximately 70.5 million people who are ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse. The central authority is dominated by Persians who constitute 51% of Iran’s population. Iranians speak diverse Indo-Iranian, Semitic, Armenian, and Turkic languages. The state religion is Shia, Islam. After installation by Ayatollah Khomeini of an Islamic regime in February 1979, treatment of ethnic and religious minorities grew worse. By summer of 1979, initial violent conflicts erupted between the central authority and members of several tribal, regional, and ethnic minority groups. This initial conflict dashed the hope and expectation of these minorities who were hoping for greater cultural autonomy under the newly created Islamic State. The U.S. State Department’s 2008 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, released September 19, 2008, cited Iran for widespread serious abuses, including unjust executions, politically motivated abductions by security forces, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, and arrests of women’s rights activists. According to the State Department’s 2007 Country Report on Human Rights (released on March 11, 2008), Iran’s poor human rights record worsened, and it continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. The government placed severe restrictions on freedom of religion. The report also cited violence and legal and societal discrimination against women, ethnic and religious minorities. Incitement to anti-Semitism also remained a problem. Members of the country’s non-Muslim religious minorities, particularly Baha’is, reported imprisonment, harassment, and intimidation based on their religious beliefs. -
The Differences Between Sunni and Shia Muslims the Words Sunni and Shia Appear Regularly in Stories About the Muslim World but Few People Know What They Really Mean
Name_____________________________ Period_______ Date___________ The Differences Between Sunni and Shia Muslims The words Sunni and Shia appear regularly in stories about the Muslim world but few people know what they really mean. Religion is important in Muslim countries and understanding Sunni and Shia beliefs is important in understanding the modern Muslim world. The beginnings The division between the Sunnis and the Shia is the largest and oldest in the history of Islam. To under- stand it, it is good to know a little bit about the political legacy of the Prophet Muhammad. When the Prophet died in the early 7th Century he not only left the religion of Islam but also an Islamic State in the Arabian Peninsula with around one hundred thousand Muslim inhabitants. It was the ques- tion of who should succeed the Prophet and lead the new Islamic state that created the divide. One group of Muslims (the larger group) elected Abu Bakr, a close companion of the Prophet as the next caliph (leader) of the Muslims and he was then appointed. However, a smaller group believed that the Prophet's son-in-law, Ali, should become the caliph. Muslims who believe that Abu Bakr should be the next leader have come to be known as Sunni. Muslims who believe Ali should have been the next leader are now known as Shia. The use of the word successor should not be confused to mean that that those that followed the Prophet Muhammad were also prophets - both Shia and Sunni agree that Muhammad was the final prophet. How do Sunni and Shia differ on beliefs? Initially, the difference between Sunni and Shia was merely a difference concerning who should lead the Muslim community. -
Theories of God: Explanatory Coherence in Religious Cognition
RESEARCH ARTICLE Theories of God: Explanatory coherence in religious cognition Andrew ShtulmanID*, Max Rattner Department of Psychology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, United States of America * [email protected] Abstract Representations of God in art, literature, and discourse range from the highly anthropomor- a1111111111 phic to the highly abstract. The present study explored whether people who endorse anthro- a1111111111 pomorphic God concepts hold different religious beliefs and engage in different religious a1111111111 practices than those who endorse abstract concepts. Adults of various religious affiliations a1111111111 (n = 275) completed a questionnaire that probed their beliefs about God, angels, Satan, a1111111111 Heaven, Hell, cosmogenesis, anthropogenesis, human suffering, and human misdeeds, as well as their experiences regarding prayer, worship, and religious development. Responses to the questionnaire were analyzed by how strongly participants anthropomorphized God in a property-attribution task. Overall, the more participants anthropomorphized God, the more OPEN ACCESS concretely they interpreted religious ideas, importing their understanding of human affairs Citation: Shtulman A, Rattner M (2018) Theories into their understanding of divine affairs. These findings suggest not only that individuals of God: Explanatory coherence in religious vary greatly in how they interpret the same religious ideas but also that those interpretations cognition. PLoS ONE 13(12): e0209758. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209758 cohere along a concrete-to-abstract dimension, anchored on the concrete side by our every- day notions of people. Editor: Alex Mesoudi, University of Exeter, UNITED KINGDOM Received: June 21, 2018 Accepted: December 11, 2018 Published: December 26, 2018 Introduction Copyright: © 2018 Shtulman, Rattner. This is an Most people in most cultures believe in the existence of supernatural beings and other super- open access article distributed under the terms of natural concepts [1±2]. -
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine Biomed Central
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine BioMed Central Research Open Access The supernatural characters and powers of sacred trees in the Holy Land Amots Dafni* Address: Institute of Evolution, the University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel Email: Amots Dafni* - [email protected] * Corresponding author Published: 25 February 2007 Received: 29 November 2006 Accepted: 25 February 2007 Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2007, 3:10 doi:10.1186/1746-4269-3-10 This article is available from: http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/3/1/10 © 2007 Dafni; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract This article surveys the beliefs concerning the supernatural characteristics and powers of sacred trees in Israel; it is based on a field study as well as a survey of the literature and includes 118 interviews with Muslims and Druze. Both the Muslims and Druze in this study attribute supernatural dimensions to sacred trees which are directly related to ancient, deep-rooted pagan traditions. The Muslims attribute similar divine powers to sacred trees as they do to the graves of their saints; the graves and the trees are both considered to be the abode of the soul of a saint which is the source of their miraculous powers. Any violation of a sacred tree would be strictly punished while leaving the opportunity for atonement and forgiveness. The Druze, who believe in the transmigration of souls, have similar traditions concerning sacred trees but with a different religious background. -
Process Theology 1 Process Theology
Process theology 1 Process theology Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) and further developed by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000). While there are process theologies that are similar, but unrelated to the work of Whitehead (such as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin) the term is generally applied to the Whiteheadian/Hartshornean school. Process theology is unrelated to the Process Church. History The original ideas of process thought are found in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Various theological and philosophical aspects have been expanded and developed by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000), John B. Cobb, Jr., and David Ray Griffin. A characteristic of process theology each of these thinkers shared was a rejection of metaphysics that privilege "being" over "becoming," particularly those of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Hartshorne was deeply influenced by French philosopher Jules Lequier and by Swiss philosopher Charles Secrétan who were probably the first ones to claim that in God liberty of becoming is above his substantiality. Process theology soon influenced a number of Jewish theologians including Rabbis Max Kadushin, Milton Steinberg and Levi A. Olan, Harry Slominsky and, to a lesser degree, Abraham Joshua Heschel. Today some rabbis who advocate some form of process theology include Bradley Shavit Artson, Lawrence A. Englander, William E. Kaufman, Harold Kushner, Anton Laytner, Michael Lerner, Gilbert S. Rosenthal, Lawrence Troster, Donald B. Rossoff, Burton Mindick, and Nahum Ward. Alan Anderson and Deb Whitehouse have attempted to integrate process theology with the New Thought variant of Christianity. The work of Richard Stadelmann has been to preserve the uniqueness of Jesus in process theology. -
Innovation and the Resilience of Religion1
1 Innovation and the Resilience of Religion Sriya Iyer2 Chander Velu3 Jun Xue4 Tirthankar Chakravarty5 21 December 2010 1 This work has been funded by the Spiritual Capital Research Program, sponsored by the Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science, with the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation. Iyer is also grateful for research grant support to the Isaac Newton Trust, University of Cambridge. We are especially indebted to Indicus Analytics, Laveesh Bhandari, Siddartha Dutta, Shaheen Ansari, Gaurav Munjal, Suryakant Yadav, and the Indicus team who assisted us in helping collect the data for the India religion survey. For excellent research assistance we thank Rachana Shanbhogue, Abdul Mumit, Paul Sweeny and Nitika Khaitan. For helpful discussions we thank Robert Barro, Eli Berman, Partha Dasgupta, Sanjeev Goyal, Larry Iannaccone, Ben Jann, Timur Kuran, Rachel McCleary, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Melvyn Weeks, and the other participants of the Spiritual Capital Research Program. For helpful comments we thank lecture series participants at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. 2 Corresponding author: Faculty of Economics and St. Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DD, United Kingdom. Tel: 44 1223 335257. Email: [email protected] 3 Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. [email protected] 4 [email protected] 5 University of California, San Diego. [email protected] 1 Abstract This paper examines innovations to religious and non-religious service provision by religious organizations in India. We present a stylized Hotelling-style model in which two religious organizations position themselves at opposite locations to differentiate themselves on the religious spectrum in order to compete to attract adherents.