Anthropos: Anthropos, 67.1972

Anthropos, 67.1972

Bibliographic Data

Journal

Structure Type:: Journal

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

Persistent identifier:: BV043334262

Title:: Anthropos

Sub Title:: internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- u. Sprachenkunde

Place of Publication:: Fribourg

Publisher:: Ed. St. Paul

Year of Publication:: 1906

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Domain:: Social and cultural anthropology > General overview

Journal Volume

Structure Type:: Journal Volume

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711766

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711766

Persistent identifier:: 1510232343021

Title:: Anthropos, 67.1972

Year of Publication:: 1972

Call Number:: LA 1118

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Journal Issue

Structure Type:: Journal Issue

Title:: Bd. 67, 1972, Heft 1-2

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Journal Article

Structure Type:: Journal Article

Title:: A Tentative Model for Religion

Other person:: Jacobs, Milton

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

A Tentative Model for Religion 197 The purpose of this brief paper is straightforward - to develop a model of re %ion based on logic and selected references to the literature to illustrate the P°ints of my argument. Basically, I intend to demonstrate that religion - at least in its origins - spends upon the interrelationships between the concept or meaning of death 1 , Particularly in terms of a life-death dichotomy 2 , and the dyad-triad structural 0r sociological concomitants of affective human relationships, warmth, and security. It would seem that man has gained or added to his understanding of a th, of the dividing line between life and death, and of the interconnectedness 0 dfe and death through the mechanism of the dream as the play and souls, spirits, and ghosts as the players. ^ My hope is that the contents of this paper will stimulate a new round 0 discussion about religion. Sometimes setting up the target means new and Possibly more fruitful intellectual movement will be forthcoming. 1. Death that It is difficult for me to associate any pleasantness with death 3 .1 speculate ev en the most unsophisticated of peoples shudder at the thought or pros- P ec t of death. Thinking back to early man, I believe that he would have been ^Pressed both with the beginning of life - the birth of a child - and with end - death. I cannot imagine that he would welcome death. The concept 0r an ^lor-life or reincarnation would not, to my mind, make death beautiful acc eptable. The juxtaposition of birth and death has one outcome to me - Ah'l W ° u ^ h ave to be seen as wonderful and would be anticipated joyfully e death would have to be feared and delayed 4 . th Underhill (1965) describes the range of ideas and practices concerning among American Indians. She mentions that the Hopi considered death (Ost Religion is also a natural defense against man’s knowledge that he must die" °Y and Scharfstein 1954: 23). of ^ illustration of the life-death dichotomy or polarity is the Taoist principle ° r (j a °^ ° r t*8ht, the male principle associated with living things, in opposition to am ’ female principle associated with death (Hickey 1964: 65). ^ e ath ^ Reud (1947 : 263) writes that man displays “an unmistakable tendency to shelve ’ 4 to e liminate it from life ... to hush it up ... that our own death is unimaginable!" Ulks of ^ Vl ~^ TRAUSS (1967 : 18) in his short paper about the four Winnebago myths also death °PP os ltions - life and death. He writes that “if one wants a full life, one gets a full trim ’ ^ ° ne renounces life and seeks death, then one increases the full life of his fellow- ues man j half ii ’ an<3 moreover, secures for oneself a state composed of an indefinite series of m 0re hf S an< ^ ^ a lf deaths." It would seem that the person who dies prematurely provides article 6 to those he left behind. - Opposition can also be seen in Wagley’s (1968) to h r ° n Tapirape shaman. The shaman functions as an agent of life in that he is said 5» (6281°^ t0 a woman (responsible for the pregnancy but not in the biological Hainan ° an d aS an a S eirt death, illness, and misfortune through his sorcery (625). s °Urc e f are a ^ SO con nected to the culture heroes of the Tapirape (624). A shaman is both a of good and evil (628).

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