Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- 2667:5 [2016/02/21 14:46] – [God is real] Ryan Schram (admin)
+++ 2667:5 [2021/06/29 02:27] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 James, William. 1994 [1902]. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. New York: Modern Library.
+Luhrmann, T. M., Howard Nusbaum, and Ronald Thisted. 2010. “The Absorption Hypothesis: Learning to Hear God in Evangelical Christianity.” American Anthropologist 112 (1): 66–78. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2009.01197.x.
+## What do the Twelve Tribes' neighbors think about them?
+What do the neighbors of Peppercorn Farm in Picton think about the Twelve Tribes?
+Hint: They don't think "nothing."
 ## Is there any truth to religion and religious belief? ##
@@ Line 40: / Line 46: @@
 c) We've ducked the issue.
+## A velvet rope
-## What is religion? ##
+{{ :2667:1222487.jpg |Still from "Lost Our Lisa." The Simpsons (1998).}}
-Let's think about how we might define religion. Write your own working
-definition of religion.
+## The limits of social science ##
+Social scientific approaches to religion can only look at concrete, observable, empirical facts about people's behavior.
+This means that social scientific explanations are always on the outside looking in.
+It also means that social scientific explanations assume that, being from an outsider's position, they possess a unique claim to being true. The **observed** has beliefs, rituals, etc. The **observers** don't.
+In other words, we are looking at religion as culture.
 ## William James ##
@@ Line 65: / Line 80: @@
 The beginning of ritual welcoming and honoring a *lwa* named Papa Legba. Pay attention to the man wearing a handkerchief around his head.
+## A sidebar on research questions ##
+Many people including Deren have conducted research on the topic of Vodou possession in rural Haiti and the people who practice Vodou rites of possession.
+What questions do you want to ask about this topic?
+Write some down now.
+## Asking questions ##
+Aristotle had some advice for his students about asking questions:
+> Not every problem, nor every thesis, should be examined, but only one which might puzzle one of those who need argument, not punishment or perception. For people who are puzzled to know whether one ought to honour the gods and love one’s parents or not need punishment, while those who are puzzled to know whether snow is white or not need perception. The subjects should not border too closely upon the sphere of demonstration, nor yet be too far removed from it; for the former cases admit of no doubt, while the latter involve difficulties too great for the art of the trainer. (Aristotle, Topics, Book I, Part 11)
+Take a minute to think about this passage and try to get down the main idea here in your own, more contemporary language.
+## The three types of questions ##
+Aristotle says there are three types of questions. Let's come up with examples of each kind.
+* Type I: Factual questions
+* Type II: Belief questions
+* Type III: Research questions, or *why* questions
+## Do I know what rhetorical means?? Do I know what rhetorical means!?? ##
+A question someone might want to ask is this:
+> How does Vodou possession help people to resist cultural domination?
+Another one could be:
+> How does Vodou help people adapt to the modernization of Haiti?
+Are these questions "research questions"?
 ## There are many varieties of religious experience ##
@@ Line 114: / Line 167: @@
 ## References ##
-Reference
 James, William. 1984. William James, The Essential Writings. Bruce Wilshire, ed. Albany: SUNY Press.
 James, William. 1985 [1902]. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
+Robbins, Joel. 2004. “The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity.” Annual Review of Anthropology 33: 117–43.
+Synan, Vinson. 1997. The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.