In this chapter students will learn:

• reasons for the development of supernatural belief systems
• what the earliest evidence is for supernatural beliefs
• what functions religious belief serves in society
• about the roles of deities, ancestor spirits, and spirits of nature
• the different roles that religious practitioners play in society
• how oppressed peoples resist the imposition of a new set of beliefs
• about the intersections of religious beliefs and other forms of cultural expression

Introduction: Religion as a Symbolic System

Faith and other value-based systems serve many functions in society, both for individuals and for the social group.

Defining Religion

Religious or supernatural belief systems share an interest in the supernatural (beings, forces, states, or places), use ritual, are guided by myths, and are symbolic.

Reasons for Supernatural Belief Systems

The earliest evidence for supernatural beliefs is tied to burial sites, due to their connection to ideas of an afterlife. The five main functions of supernatural belief systems are the following: creating community, instilling values, renewing faith, providing reasons, and solving problems.

Sacred Roles

Supernatural beings exist in many forms in different belief systems. They include deities (gods and goddesses), ancestral spirits, and spirits of nature. Supernatural forces may include magical power, luck, or protection, such as that bestowed by a talisman.

Religious Practitioners

Priests/priestesses and shamans are religious practitioners with different types of roles and duties.

Religious Resistance

Communities who are subject to colonialism or conquest exert their agency in order to resist the loss of their cherished cultural and religious symbols. Religious revitalization movements are created to attempt to resist these kinds of changes.

Supernatural Beliefs and Cultural Expression

Beliefs are embodied in many ways by worshippers, such as physically painful ordeals or sacred tattooing.

1. What does it mean to say that human culture is founded on symbolic systems?

2. What kinds of political systems tend to correlate with the veneration of deities, ancestors, and spirits in nature?

3. What are the functions of religious belief in society, both on an individual and a social level?

4. What are some differences between the roles of priests and shamans?

5. What are the goals of a revitalization movement?

6. How do religion and cultural expression overlap?

1. Use the five functions of religion stated here to describe the functions of your own belief system. If you do not subscribe to a formal religion, then describe your system of morals and values.

2. Do you practice any daily rituals or use charms for protection or luck?

3. What origin myths are you familiar with that account for the creation of the world or of humanity? Do you consider scientific knowledge an origin myth?

ancestor veneration (page 221): worship of one’s ancestors

ancestral spirits (page 220): the essence of one’s family ancestors who have remained in contact with the mortal world

animatism (page 222): the belief that spiritual forces inhabit natural objects

animism (page 222): the belief that spiritual beings inhabit natural objects

cargo cult (page 226): a religious revitalization movement in Melanesia that uses ritual to seek help and material wealth

cultural materialism (page 218): an anthropological theory guided by the idea that the external pressures of the environment dictate cultural practices

deities (page 219): see gods and goddesses

divination (page 219): the art of reading the future

emic (page 213): an insider’s view; the perspective of the subject

etic (page 213): an an outsider’s view; an objective explanation

fetish (page 212): charm; object of devotion thought to have magical powers

Ghost Dance (page 226): a religious revitalization movement started among the Northern Paiute that used a five-day circle dance to seek help from the supernatural realm

gods and goddesses (page 219): distant and powerful supernatural beings

ideology (page 216): a system of beliefs that guides and justifies the actions of an individual or group

initative magic (page 223): a form of magic in which a practitioner creates something to represent real life, then manipulates it in a way that imitates the desired effect; the magical idea that like produces like

Islamophobia (page 216): fear of and prejudice toward people perceived to be of the Islamic faith (Muslims)

magic (page 211): the use of powers to contact and control supernatural forces or beings

mesnse (page 216): menstruation

metaphor (page 213): an application of a word or phrase to something to which it is not generally applicable; a comparison to things without using the words “like” or “as”

monotheism (page 220): a religious belief system worshipping a single god or goddess

myth (page 213): a sacred story that explains the origins of the world or people in it

neurodiverse (page 224): describes people with neurological differences that arguably do not need to be pathologized, such as Asperger’s, autism, ADHD, Tourette’s, and dyslexia

pantheon (page 220): a set of gods and goddesses in a religious belief system

polytheistic (page 220): a religious belief system worshipping multiple gods and goddesses

priest (priestess) (page 223): a full-time religious practitioner

religion (page 213): a set of beliefs and behaviors that pertain to supernatural forces or beings, which transcend the observable world

religious revitalization movement (page 226): a process by which an oppressed group seeks supernatural aid through the creation of new ritual behaviors

rites of passage (page 216): rituals marking life’s important transitions from one social or biological role to another

ritual (page 211): a symbolic practice that is ordered and regularly repeated

shaman (page 224): a part-time religious practitioner

spirits of nature (page 221): unobservable beings and forces that inhabit the natural world

supernatural beings (page 219): personified or embodied beings that exist beyond the observable world, such as deities or spirits

supernatural forces (page 219): disembodied powers that exist beyond the observable world, such as luck

supernaturalism (page 213): belief in aspects of life outside of a scientific understanding that we cannot measure or test; religious belief

syncretism/syncretic (page 219 and 226): a synthesis of two or more religious belief systems

taboo (page 212): prohibition of a practice; forbidding one to engage in that practice

talisman (page 223): an object thought to bring protection or luck to the owner, especially to ward off illness or evil

trance (page 224): an altered state of consciousness in which a person lacks conscious control of their speech or actions

Society for the Anthropology of Religion (SAR)
www.aaanet.org

SAR’s Contemporary Anthropology of Religion Book Series list
www.sar.americananthro.org

Royal Anthropological Institute—Discover Anthropology, Religion Page
www.discoveranthropology.org.uk

Religious Tolerance (broad listing of religious belief systems)
www.religioustolerance.org

Religion and Magic Tutorial by Palomar College Professor Dennis O’Neill
www.anthro.palomar.edu

Cultural Anthropology—Ritual and Religion (open-access wikibook)
www.en.wikibooks.org

Academia.edu—Anthropology of Shamanism
www.academia.edu

Geertz, C. (1973). Religion as a cultural system. In C. Geertz, The interpretation of cultures (pp. 87-125). New York: Basic Books.

Gmelch, G. (1978). Baseball magic. Human Nature, 1(8), 32–40.

Harris, M. (1985). The Riddle of the Sacred Cow. In M. Harris, Good to eat: Riddles of food and culture (pp. 47-66). Long Grove: Waveland Press.

Klass, M. (1995). Ordered universes: Approaches to the anthropology of religion. Boulder: Westview Press

Kopenawa, D., & Albert, B. (2013). The falling sky: Words of a Yanomami shaman. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Warms, R., Garber, J., & McGee, R.J. (2009). Sacred realms: Readings in the anthropology of religion (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Religion-Centered Ethnographies

Brown, K.M. (2001). Mama Lola: A vodou priestess in Brooklyn. Oakland: University of California Press.

Luhrmann, T. (1989). Persuasions of the witch’s craft: Ritual magic in contemporary England. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Luhrmann, T. (2012). When god talks back: Understanding the American evangelical relationship with god. New York: Vintage Books.

Stoller, P., & Oakes, C. (1987). In sorcery’s shadow: A memoir of apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Vitebski, P. (2005). The reindeer people: Living with animals and spirits in Siberia. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

1. What evidence do we have for the earliest religious systems?

Your answer should discuss how people understand and recognize the earliest examples of a religious belief system. This should include the following points:

• The earliest evidence for religion is linked to burial sites
• The idea of a burial is an early marker of culture and community.
• The choice to bury or the preparing of the body of a deceased community member is radically different from simply leaving them and moving away.
• Burials may have represented a belief that what happens to a person’s body after death is important, which signifies a belief in some form of afterlife.

See page 214 of your text.

2. How do religious systems create community?

Your answer should discuss how religious systems create community and provide examples. They should include the following:

• Ceremonies or rituals that are shared or practiced in public can make individuals feel support from the group.
• Rites of passage can be examples of community recognition of the movement from one life stage to another. They simultaneously play a religious and a social role.

See page 216 of your text.

3. How do religious systems renew faith?

Your answer should discuss and give examples of how religious systems renew faith, as well as including the following points:

• The regular repetition of rituals can elevate the mood of participants.
• They may use rhythmic practices such as song, clapping, chanting, or dance.
• Participation in dangerous activities can also be used to renew faith. The survival of dangerous activities can be an example of the acceptance of the participant by a supernatural force or being.

See pages 217-218 of your text.

4. How do religious systems provide reasons for life’s events?

Your answer should discuss and give examples of how religious systems provide explanations for life’s events. This should include the following points:

• Humans desire to understand why we do certain things, and religious traditions provide reasons in sacred teachings.
• These can include taboos (e.g., food restrictions) or specific practices that must be conducted in certain times or places.
• Religious systems often use the concept of predetermination (“everything happens for a reason”) to explain misfortune or negative events.

See page 218 of your text.

5. What are the differences between a supernatural being and a supernatural force?

Your answer should demonstrate an understanding of both concepts and should include examples, as well as the following points:

• Supernatural beings are personified or embodied gods, demons, spirits, or ghosts (i.e., there is a specific being that can be referred to, often with a name and personality).
• Supernatural forces are disembodied powers (such as luck or protection) that exist in the world. They do not have specific bodies or identities, but they can still be manipulated or controlled.

See page 219 of your text.