Anthropology-Chapter 15-Religion-Study Guide.

What is religious syncretism? Provide an example

Creative synthesis of old religious practices with new ones.

Explain examples of baseball magic in American culture.

Pitchers touch the bill of their cap, wear good-luck charms, or never touch the foul line between home plate and first base when moving between the pitcher's mound and the dugout.

What is contagious magic?

Ritual words or performances that achieve efficacy as certain materials that come into contact with one person carry a magical connection that allows power to be transferred from person to person.

What is Marx's theory about religion?

*Marx warned that religion was like a narcotic: It dulled people's pain so they did not realize how serious the situation was. *Religion, Marx argued, played a key role in keeping the working poor from engaging in the revolutionary social change that he believed was needed to improve their situation. *Marx's statement that religion is "the opiate of the masses" fits within his larger social analysis.

What are the main types of religion?

- Christianity. - Islam. - Hinduism. - Buddhism. -Atheists. - Sikhism. - Judaism. - Baha'i.

Compare the sociological, intellectual/cognitive, psychological, and conflict theories of religion.

- Sociological: Maintains the institutions of society as a whole by instilling common values, creating solidarity, controlling behavior, and so forth - Intellectual/cognitive: Provides meaning for people's lives and explains the unexplainable. - Psychological: A way for people to deal with the uncertainty that they cannot otherwise control; coping mechanism. -Conflict: Religion driven by competition for scarce resources •Allows the elite to control the wealth.

What is a ritual?

An act or series of acts regularly repeated over years or generations that embody the belief of a group of people and create a sense of continuity.

What is said to be the main cause of sorcery in Vanuatu? What sociological functions does sorcery have in Vanuatu?

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What is imitative magic?

A ritual performance that achieves efficacy by imitating the desired magical result.

Explain the difference between a sorcerer and a witch.

A sorcerer is a person who performs rites and spells for the purpose of causing harm to others by supernatural means based on two kinds of principles: imitative and contagious. A witch is a human being believed to possess an innate, non-human ability to perform evil or supernatural acts.

Compare the law of contagion (contagious magic) with the law of similarity (imitative magic).

Imitative magic involves a performance that imitates the desired result, perhaps manipulating a doll or some other representation of the target of magic in the belief that the action will have direct imitative effect. Contagious magic centers on the belief that certain materials- perhaps clothing, hair, fingernails, teeth- that have come into contact with one person carry a magical connection that allows power to be transferred from person to person.

What is magic? Provide as example of "magical thinking".

Magic is the use of spells, incantation, words, and actions in an attempt to compel supernatural forces to act in certain ways, whether for good or for evil. * An example would be how baseball players use charms such as special clothes or jewellery and how they believe that good magic is contagious.

What is an origin myth?

Myths that explain the creation of the world, particular features of the environment, or how the human beings came to be.

What is a religious ritual?

Rituals that involve attempts to influence or gain the sympathy of a particular spiritual force or cosmic being.

What is the "Protestant Ethic," and how is it related to capitalism?

The ascetic values of self-denial and self-discipline that developed in western European Protestantism provided the ethic that was necessary for capitalism to flourish.

What is a rite of passage? What are the stages of a rite of passage? Give an example.

a rite of passage is a category of ritual that enacts a change of status from one life stage to another, either for an individual or for a group. *The stages of a rite of passage are: 1) Segregation. 2) Transitional state/liminal period. 3) Reaggregation. *Example: college sororities.