scholarly journals Sacral rulers in pre-Christian Scandinavia: The possibilities of typological comparisons within the paradigm of cultural evolution

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-35
Author(s):  
Simon Nygaard
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Main Part ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Societal Structure ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

This article offers a new perspective on the century-old discussion of sacral rulers in the history of religions generally, and pre-Christian Scandinavian religions specifically, namely the application of a cultural evolutionary theoretical framework based on the work of Robert N. Bellah. In doing this, the article opens the possibility of wider typological comparisons within this paradigm and suggests a nuancing of Bellah’s typology with the addition of the category of ‘chiefdom religion’. This is utilised in the main part of the article, which features a comparison between the figure of the sacral ruler in pre-Christian Scandinavian and pre-Christian Hawaiian religions through an analysis of: 1) the position of the ruler in society, cult, and ideology; 2) the societal structure in which these religions are found; 3) the idea of a ruler sacrifice; 4) incestuous relationships and their ideological implications; and, finally, 5) the idea of a double rulership. Following this comparison, the perspectives in and the usefulness of cultural evolutionary theories in the history of religions are briefly evaluated.

scholarly journals Archaeology, Evolution and Darwinism

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 81-100
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Palavestra ◽  
Marko Porčić
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Short History ◽  
Social Biology ◽  
Basic Conclusion ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lasting Impression ◽  
New Research ◽  
The 19Th Century

This paper presents a short history of the influence evolutionary thinking has had on anthropology and archaeology. The focus is on four major "schools" in evolutionist thought: the classical evolutionism of the 19th century, Neo-evolutionism, social biology (sociobiology) and Neo-Darwinian archaeology. The basic conclusion of this text is that the idea of socio-cultural evolution, understood in the broadest sense, has left a lasting impression on anthropological and archeological theory, and that it still represents a useful theoretical framework for new research.

scholarly journals Jægerkulturer og fænomenet skyld

1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl W. Luckert
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
Family Tree ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
The Third ◽  
Danish Version ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

This article is a slightly edited Danish version of the opening Fulbright address given at the Department of the History of Religions, Aarhus University. The article introduces definitions of religion, guilt, and religious behaviour, and then introduces a means by which the history of religion can be applied to the evolution of humankind and culture in a timeframe of several thousand years. The theme of guilt in the history of religious humanity is then discussed in three subsections. The first subsection concerns guilt, tools and divine predators, the goal of which is to illuminate the two major forms of guilt-and reconciliation bonding in the course of hominid evolution. This is reconstructed on the basis of recent anthropological theories of cultural evolution and the reshaping of the hominid family tree, from suspected similarities at pre-hominid levels of primate behaviour, as well as from extant Stone Age hunter traditions which, to this day, still contain soteriological solutions to problems of long ago. The second subsection concerns guilt, hunting and healing, the goal of which is to fill the scholastic lacuna concerning primitive hunters’ religious practices especially in relation to the entire primitive hunter-gatherer ethos. The bitter fact of the primitive hunter life, that trickery is a hunter’s actual guilt-producing lifestyle, has never dawned on educated connoisseurs of trickster tales. Primitive folks are portrayed, in spite of what they say or do, as though they face their gods with the same indifference as do their learned visitors. Data which I collected on Navajo hunter traditions substantiate the points in this subsection; while, on the one hand, a healing ceremonial can be understood as a delayed conciliatory hunting rite, it can also be seen, on the other hand, in its restorative function, as a reconciliation ceremony or peace treaty that is performed – on account of human guilt – in accordance with divinely ordained protocol. The third subsection concerns modern versus primitive hunting, the goal of which is to bridge the misunderstanding which academic studies reveal by underlining the extreme pre-suppositional differences between the two forms of hunting.

Interfaith relations in the context of freedom of religion

1996 ◽  
pp. 41-45
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Babiy
Keyword(s):  
Religious Life ◽  
Round Table ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Scientific Conference ◽  
Interfaith Relations ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Round ◽  
International Round Table

This is extremely relevant and very important both in theoretical and practical dimensions, the problem was at the center of the discussions of the international scientific conference, which took place on May 6-7, 1996 in Lviv. The mentioned conference was one of the main events within the framework of the VI International Round Table "History of Religions in Ukraine", at its meetings 3-6, as well as on issues of outstanding dates in the history of the development of religious life in Ukraine on the 8th of May: "400 "the anniversary of the Brest Union", and "400th anniversary of the birth of Peter Mohyla"

The age of symbolic economic policies?

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-265
Author(s):  
Peter Galbács
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Mainstream Economics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theoretical Considerations ◽  
Macroeconomic Environment

This paper offers a few remarks on the so-called heterodoxy commentaries of recent times (e.g. Bod 2013, Csaba 2011). In accordance with the growing popularity of unusual economic policy actions, a set of “tools” is emerging that aims to exert its effects breaking with instrumental actions. Outlining a special framework of the history of mainstream economics, it will be argued that economic policy only gradually has become capable of applying this system. In our view, both the emergence of symbolic economic policies mentioned above and the rise of heterodoxy are on the same level, since certain governments can only operate through giving signals. Although it is not the time to formulate ultimate and eternal generalised statements, it may perhaps be stated that symbolic economic policies can make some room for manoeuvring available as a last resort. In other words, the possibility of a certain kind of economic policy “tools” can be derived from theoretical considerations, and this set has become highlighted recently by some constraining changes in the macroeconomic environment. Our theoretical framework will be filled sporadically with some episodes from the last few years of the economic policy of Hungary.

Divination and Human Nature

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter T. Struck
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Observable Fact

This book casts a new perspective on the rich tradition of ancient divination—the reading of divine signs in oracles, omens, and dreams. Popular attitudes during classical antiquity saw these readings as signs from the gods while modern scholars have treated such beliefs as primitive superstitions. The book reveals instead that such phenomena provoked an entirely different accounting from the ancient philosophers. These philosophers produced subtle studies into what was an odd but observable fact—that humans could sometimes have uncanny insights—and their work signifies an early chapter in the cognitive history of intuition. Examining the writings of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Neoplatonists, the book demonstrates that they all observed how, setting aside the charlatans and swindlers, some people had premonitions defying the typical bounds of rationality. Given the wide differences among these ancient thinkers, the book notes that they converged on seeing this surplus insight as an artifact of human nature, projections produced under specific conditions by our physiology. For the philosophers, such unexplained insights invited a speculative search for an alternative and more naturalistic system of cognition. Recovering a lost piece of an ancient tradition, this book illustrates how philosophers of the classical era interpreted the phenomena of divination as a practice closer to intuition and instinct than magic.

Perfection Makes Practice

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 98-100
Author(s):  
Muhamad Ali
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Psychological Dimension ◽  
South Sulawesi ◽  
Complex Dimensions ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of

Studies of Islam in Southeast Asia have sought to better understand its multifacetedand complex dimensions, although one may make a generalizedcategorization of Muslim beliefs and practices based on a fundamental differencein ideologies and strategies, such as cultural and political Islam.Anna M. Gade’s Perfection Makes Practice stresses the cultural aspect ofIndonesian Muslim practices by analyzing the practices of reciting andmemorizing the Qur’an, as well as the annual competition.Muslim engagement with the Qur’an has tended to emphasize the cognitiveover the psychological dimension. Perfection Makes Practice analyzesthe role of emotion in these undertakings through a combination ofapproaches, particularly the history of religions, ethnography, psychology,and anthropology. By investigating Qur’anic practitioners in Makassar,South Sulawesi, during the 1990s, Gade argues that the perfection of theQur’an as a perceived, learned, and performed text has made and remade thepractitioners, as well as other members of the Muslim community, to renewor increase their engagement with the holy text. In this process, she suggests,moods and motivation are crucial to preserving the recited Qur’an and revitalizingthe Muslim community.In chapter 1, Gade begins with a theoretical consideration for her casestudy. Drawing from concepts that emphasize the importance of feeling andemotion in ritual and religious experience, she develops a conceptualizationof this engagement. In chapter 2, Gade explains memorization within thecontext of the self and social relations. She argues that Qur’anic memorizershave a special relationship with its style and structure, as well as with thesocial milieu. Although Qur’anic memorization is a normal practice for mostMuslims, its practitioners have learned how to memorize and recite beautifullysome or all of the Qur’an’s verses, a process that requires emotion ...

Muslim Contributions to the History of Religions

1991 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-421
Author(s):  
Ghulam-Haider Aasi
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Comparative History ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Muslim Spain ◽  
Muslim Scholars ◽  
The Middle Ages

History of Religions in the WestA universal, comparative history of the study of religions is still far frombeing written. Indeed, such a history is even hr from being conceived, becauseits components among the legacies of non-Western scholars have hardly beendiscovered. One such component, perhaps the most significant one, is thecontributions made by Muslim scholars during the Middle Ages to thisdiscipline. What is generally known and what has been documented in thisfield consists entirely of the contribution of Westdm scholars of religion.Even these Western scholars belong to the post-Enlightenment era of Wsternhistory.There is little work dealing with the history of religions which does notclaim the middle of the nineteenth century CE as the beginning of thisdiscipline. This may not be due only to the zeitgeist of the modem Wstthat entails aversion, downgrading, and undermining of everything stemmingfrom the Middie Ages; its justification may also be found in the intellectualpoverty of the Christian West (Muslim Spain excluded) that spans that historicalperiod.Although most works dealing with this field include some incidentalreferences, paragraphs, pages, or short chapters on the contribution of thepast, according to each author’s estimation, all of these studies are categorizedunder one of the two approaches to religion: philosophical or cubic. All ofthe reflective, speculative, philosophical, psychological, historical, andethnological theories of the Greeks about the nature of the gods and goddessesand their origins, about the nature of humanity’s religion, its mison dsttre,and its function in society are described as philosophical quests for truth.It is maintained that the Greeks’ contribution to the study of religion showedtheir openness of mind and their curiosity about other religions and cultures ...

A França no limiar de novos tempos: Paul Vidal de La Blache e a regionalização

GEOgraphia ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Vic Ozouf-Marignier ◽  
Marie-Claire Robic
Keyword(s):  
Economic Impacts ◽  
Geographic Thought ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Perspective

No âmbito da renovação dos estudos sobre a história do pensamento geográfico, este artigo se opõe as interpretações que consagraram Paul Vidal de la Blache como um intelectual restrito às relações homem-meio e nostálgico da França camponesa. Uma leitura mais atent valiando a dinâmica sócio-econômica e seus impactos espaciais, a contribuição de Vidal de la Blache propunha, como solução para o futuro da França, uma nova regionalização do território nacional. Abstract This article presents a new perspective in the history of geographic thought, by opposing established approaches to Paul Vidal de Ia Blache as an intelectual restrict to relations man-environment and as a nostalgic of peasant France. A deeper reading of his work reveals a progressive passage from an initial "naturalistic" view to a socio-economic and urban-industrial approach. Through these economic impacts, Vidal proposes, as a solution for the future of France, a new regionalization of national temtory.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Ben Prestel
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Urban History ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Urban Change ◽  
History Of Emotions ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Perspective

The introduction shows that the historical parallels between cities in Europe and the Middle East during the nineteenth century are an underresearched topic in history, demonstrating that Eurocentric tendencies have led to a separation between historical studies on cities in these two regions. It shows how a comparison between Berlin and Cairo contributes to the study of potential parallels between cities in Europe and the Middle East. It is in this context that the history of emotions opens up a new perspective. While older comparative studies have focused on the origins of urban change, the introduction argues that a history of emotions shifts the focus towards the study of how contemporaries negotiated urban change. In this way, the history of emotions helps to overcome Eurocentric pitfalls and offers the possibility of a more global urban history, in which the histories of Berlin and Cairo begin to speak to each other.

Verb-initial declaratives in Old High German and in later German

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Petrova
Keyword(s):  
Main Part ◽  
Old High German ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Diachronic Syntax ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
History Of ◽  
Syntactic Properties

This chapter investigates the syntactic properties and the pragmatic behaviour of verb-initial declarative clauses in the history of German. The focus is on OHG because in this period, verb-initial declaratives represent a frequent, well-known alternative to canonical verb-second main clauses. It is argued that verb-initial declaratives are native in origin, and that they are derivable under a special interpretation of the verb-second rule. The main part of the chapter deals with the pragmatic properties of verb-initial declaratives in OHG, summarizing the various attempts at explaining the distribution of these orders and showing that further research is needed to arrive at a more adequate understanding of their function in the discourse. The chapter closes up with the discussion of the later development of verb-initial declaratives in German, sketching the controversial treatments of this question in the literature on German diachronic syntax.

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