PPT-How Ritual Made Us Human

Major Sources Rossano MJ 2013  Mortal rituals What the story of the Andes survivors tells us about human evolution  New York Columbia University Press  Rossano MJ 2010  Supernatural selection How religion evolved . Nacirema. . . Horace Miner. Sociology:. the study of society. Traditional methods of investigation include . emperical. /statistics and observation. Positivism. vs. . anti-positivism. : . Positivism relies on empiricism and the scientific method for research and understanding. Ritual. “any repeated, ordered, patterned and shared behavior” . as “. imaginative and interpretive act[s] through which we express and create meaning”. . --Anderson and Foley. . Ritual. Helps us get through anxiety of transitions. Patterned, recurring sequence of events. Morning, bedtime, workout, TV, Homework rituals.. These ritual activities are . secular. (non-religious). Ritual. Religious Rituals. Involves religious paraphernalia/symbols like prayers, offerings, sacred literature recitations, etc.. Primary mechanism of cooperation. Ritual is widespread in the animal kingdom where cautious communication is required. Deep evolutionary history. Primate social rituals. As highly social creatures primates have a wealth of social rituals. Definition of ritual. A ritual . must fit into four categories. These four categories are that it must be a repetitive social practice, it must be set off from the routines of day to day life, it must follow some sort of ritual schema, and it must be encoded in myth. Ritual often has its roots in myth and religion, tying itself to ancient practices between the divine and humans. However, a ritual does not have to be religious in nature; graduation ceremonies and birthday parties are rituals as well. THE NEED FOR RITUAL of great 'the agency experience in be added is a between the both have statement about the about the place in THE NEED FOR RITUAL differing analyses? we experience? Well on into h Birth. A . detailed series of life-cycle rituals (. samskara. , or refinements) mark major transitions in the life of the individual. . Especially . orthodox Hindu families may invite Brahman priests to their homes to officiate at these rituals, complete with sacred fire and recitations of mantras. Cleansing oneself with water to bring about physical cleanliness is as old as human history. The transition from water as a means to achieve physical cleanliness to water as a means of achieving spiritual cleanliness is not a huge one. In ancient Babylon, water was used as a means of spiritual cleansing by the cult of Enki. In ancient Greece, a bath in the sanctuary of Trophonion was believed to provide immortality to the initiate undergoing the ritual. There are many other examples of water as a method for spiritual cleansing in many ancient religions.  The events that take place in our everyday lives are described as . “rituals”..   . These . rituals that are talked about are made to sound like the culture that partakes in such things is crazy.. JOURNAL: Dimensions of religion: How do you think it happened?. Ancient theories: Herodotus (5. th. C BCE) Cicero (3. rd. C BCE) . Judaism and Christianity: so different?. Explorers and Missionaries. G RT1806_G.qxd 1/28/2004 6:36 PM Page 145 Gender Ritualsritual circumcision, which traditionally occurs eightis to remem-ber and re-enact the covenant made between God andAbraham (Genesis 17:1 Humanity in Four Acts. Act 1: Imagination is Adaptive. Act 2: Supernatural Imagination is Childish. Act 3: Ritual molds childish supernatural imagination into adult religious belief. Act 4: Ritual inherits the earth. Major Sources:. Rossano. , M.J. (2013) . Mortal rituals: What the story of the Andes survivors tells us about human evolution. . New York: Columbia University Press. . Rossano. , M.J. (2010). . Supernatural selection: How religion evolved. . Ritual is widespread in the animal kingdom where cautious communication is required. Deep evolutionary history. Primate social rituals. As highly social creatures primates have a wealth of social rituals.