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Influence of religion on culture
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There is a story of three blind men and an elephant. Each man touches a different part of the elephant to learn what an elephant is. One man touches the trunk and defiantly says that the “animal is similar to a snake; it is long and round, and very strong.” Another touches the leg; it “resembles two big trees without any branches” he says. The third man touches the tail of the elephant. This man proclaims that an elephant is “like a straw fan swinging back and forth to give us a breeze.” Finally, the men come together to compare their experiences. Predictably, the men are in disagreement as to what an elephant truly is.
Just as the men in the story are blind, so is humanity. However, rather than touching an elephant, mankind reaches for religion.
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While the relationship between religion and culture are intertwined and “extends well beyond texts,” one could argue that religion is not a holy, divine thing, but a byproduct of culture— a manmade construction. While the connection between culture and religion is more complex and substantial than what the simple study of literature such as the Bible provides, this symbiotic relationship between culture and religion forms a jumping off point into the study of religion and a clue as to what is often described as …show more content…
Christians in East Asia and Christians in Alabama both prescribe to the teachings of Jesus Christ), religious beliefs, rituals, and practices are fairly localized. The localization of religion has occurred since ancient times. Even in Ancient Israel, the line between culture and religion was not clear. In the bible, ancient “Israelites, particularly those associated with the Jerusalem Temple… [appeared to be] strict monotheists.” However, “archaeological evidence (and the Bible, too, if read closely enough) suggests that the monotheism of many Israelites was far from pure.” Often, just as in ancient times, the actual application of religion and its impact on the society and culture, varies from geographical location to geographical location. Understanding this interdependent relationship between culture and religion, where they shape one another, is key to studying and defining both religion, in general, and specific
So far this book was a nice little surprise. Like previously stated, upon picking this book up one would think that the author is crazy for writing about the lifestyles of elephants. But when it is actually explored and read its written style and messages make for this book to be taken in very easily and fluently. This language used is at the perfect level, and the subject level is complex enough that the reader has to make connections themselves or else they will become confused almost guaranteed.
Annemaire de Waal Malefijt, “Religion and Culture An Introduction to Anthropology of Religion” The United States of America 1989
Elephants'." Studies in Short Fiction. 17.1 (Winter 1980): 75-77. Rpt. in Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 75-77. Literature Resource Center. Gale.
This knowledge and empathy combined would anthropomorphize elephants, imagining them as more human-like and would lead to coexistence, aka the trans-species psyche. In Siebert's An Elephant Crackup?, elephants and humans as a whole are in conflict with each other due to not knowing why the other group is aggressive and thus are in constant retaliation to each other (Siebert 322). A trans-species psyche can not be achieved if humans do not imagine elephants are equal beings. This imagination is not simply making up things as if they were lies, imagining elephants as more human teaches humans that they are emotionally and socially on the same level by emphasizing their mind's eye; giving another perspective of elephants than just wild animals ready to be poached. An example of people being blind to imagination is shown in an incident when a herd of elephants killed a man near the village Katwa, but buried him out of respect. The elephants themselves elephantmorphize the human so the human is like them, but the humans that want to retrieve the man's corpse do not anthropomorphize the elephants. The human villagers shoot gunfire on the elephants to drive them away, causing future generations of traumatized and violent elephants (334). Without imagination, people would not be able to understand others(which don't have to be human) causing a lack of empathy, a trait important for creating the trans-species psyche that Siebert
Imagine that three people are all touching a part of an elephant. The first is touching the elephant's leg and says that the elephant is like the truck of a tree. The second is touching the elephant's trunk and disagrees with the first, saying that the elephant is like a large snake. The third person is touching the elephant’s side and says that the elephant is like a great wall.
The Elephant is something to marvel at there is no animal quite like them. Between its shear size (the largest terrestrial mammal alive today), the familiar emotions they share with humans such as mourning for their dead, or their unique features like their large trunks, tusks, and ears, there is nothing that compares. These are some reasons why this large beautiful animal should not be taken for granted in today’s society. Unfortunately they have been between the illegal poaching for ivory, human elephant conflict regarding land usage, and environmental factors; they have become endangered.
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
Oxtoby, Willard G., and Alan F. Segal. A Concise Introduction to World Religions. Oxford, Canada: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Religion is an ever-growing idea that has no set date of origin. Throughout history religion has served as an answer to the questions that man could not resolve. The word religion is derived from the Latin word “religio” meaning restraint in collaboration with the Greek word “relegere” which means to repeat or to read again. Religion is currently defined as an organized system of beliefs and practices revolving around, or leading to, a transcendent spiritual experience. Throughout time, there has yet to be a culture that lacks a religion of some form, whether it is a branch of paganism, a mythological based religion or mono/polytheistic religion. Many religions have been forgotten due to the fact that they were ethnic religions and globalizing religions were fighting to be recognized, annihilating these ancient and ethnic religions. Some of these faiths include: Finnish Paganism, Atenism, Minoan Religion, Mithraism, Manichaeism, Vedism, Zoroastrianism, Asatru, and the Olmec Religion. Religion is an imperative part of our contemporary world but mod...
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).)
I’m not very fond of reading books ever since the beginning. But when I was reading this book caught my attention. My love and interest of elephants made me review the book once more and about their role how they were human like how they were trained in World War II. But as soon as I began to read “Elephant Company,” I realized that not only they were special, but that this book is about far more than just the war, or even elephants. This is the story of friendship, loyalty and breathtaking courage that is mind blowing. It was done of most few of the man.
The denotation of culture, via “Live Science”, is: “Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.” However, the connotation of culture fluctuates from person to person, as does their own individual denotation for culture. Culture contrasts for each individual because it is influenced by a multitude of aspects in one’s life, as displayed in “Two Kinds” and “HAPA”. Perception is one element that is exceedingly influenced by culture; all of one’s values and opinions are shaped by his or her cultural background.
“Christianity, along with all other theistic belief systems, is the fraud of the age. It serves to detach the species from the natural world, likewise, each other. It supports blind submission to authority[control of the masses].”(Zeitgeist 2007) In this essay, we will explore the different roots of religion and the plagiarism that Christianity and a number of different religions have committed.
Anthropologists define the term culture in a variety of ways, but there are certain shared features of the definition that virtually all anthropologists agree on. Culture is a shared, socially transmitted knowledge and behavior. The key features of this definition of culture are as follows. 1) Culture is shared among the members of that particular society or group. Thus, people share a common cultural identity, meaning that they recognize themselves and their culture's traditions as distinct from other people and other traditions. 2) Culture is socially transmitted from others while growing up in a certain environment, group, or society. The transmission of cultural knowledge to the next generation by means of social learning is referred to as enculturation or socialization. 3) Culture profoundly affects the knowledge, actions, and feelings of the people in that particular society or group. This concept is often referred to as cultural knowledge that leads to behavior that is meaningful to others and adaptive to the natural and social environment of that particular culture.
Today, Christianity is the world’s most prevalent religion. Yet how did that come to be? Contrary to popular belief, the rise of Christianity was not an inevitable occurrence. Instead the rise of Christianity was due to the amalgamation of radical ideas and unexpected events. The radical ideas, of religious tolerance, conversion, the philosopher’s freedom to question, and missionaries, created the foundation for a new age of religion to rise.