Reli - Glossary Ch.6&7

Front 1

Purity codes

Back 1

ritual rules about “purity” and “pollution” that structure how a particular society or community works by defining not only what a people can eat, but also what they can touch, with whom they can mingle or eat, whom they can marry, how ill, wounded, or dead bodies are to be handled, what constitutes a “polluting” sore or disease, what kind of sexual act is proper, and so on

Front 2

Androgyne

Back 2

a mythical figure, often symbolizing wholeness or completeness, who is both male and female at the same time; not to be confused with hermaphroditism, which is the physiological condition of possessing both male and female genitals

Front 3

Foot-binding

Back 3

practice of the higher social classes in China in which the woman’s foot was essentially broken and bent back to prevent her from performing physical labor; it was considered a sign of high social status or wealth

Front 4

Honor killing

Back 4

the killing of a daughter, sister, or wife for shaming the family after she has been raped, participated in an adulterous affair, or has been otherwise sexually violated

Front 5

Sexuality

Back 5

a biologically driven instinct that, although genetically determined to varying degrees, is nevertheless open to the profound cultural conditioning and influences of the social environment in which it develops and comes to maturation; put the emphasis on biological matters here

Front 6

gender

Back 6

a culturally variable model of masculinity or femininity, that is, the meanings, values, and practices normally associated with being a man or a woman in a particular social system; put the emphasis on social influences here

Front 7

sexual orientation

Back 7

the specific ways a person’s sexual desires are oriented or directed toward a particular kind of sexual object or objects; not to be understood in simple “binary” or either-or terms, as if every person is always either heterosexual or homosexual

Front 8

celibacy

Back 8

a religious state defined by a commitment not to engage in any sexual activity for the sake of some religious end

Front 9

queer criticism

Back 9

a technical term used by scholars to refer to any kind of sexual lifestyle, orientation, institution, text, or symbolic system that is fluid, ambiguous, and constantly morphing with respect to the direction of desire and/or the gender identity of the figures involved

Front 10

third gender

Back 10

an umbrella term for all those mixed genders, alternative sexualities, bisexualities, or transsexualities that do not follow the traditional binary logic of male/female or heterosexual/homosexual but break out into other “queer” modes of sexual being and religious experience

Front 11

Two Spirit

Back 11

a figure of native North American cultures, whose work, sex, and dress habits mix gender roles and whose bodies are believed to house both a masculine and feminine spirit, hence the expression “Two Spirit”

Front 12

patriarchy

Back 12

literally, the “rule” (archos) of the “father” (pater), a modern critical term that refers to the very stable, nearly universal observation that traditional cultural systems and religions are heavily weighted toward male interests, values, authority, power, education, and perspectives

Front 13

moral or cultural relativism

Back 13

the position that it is, in principle, impossible to judge fairly between different cultural value systems on moral matters, since one can only make such judgments from the perspective of one’s own culture or society

Front 14

paternity-patriarchy principle

Back 14

the method for comparing sex, gender, and religion across traditional cultures that works from the two principles that (1) religious purity codes about proper sexual behavior can be explained by the traditional (male) concern over paternity and the passing of wealth and inheritance through the son; and (2) societies tend to structure themselves around male interests, authority, and power

Front 15

circumcision

Back 15

the “cutting around” of the tip of the foreskin of the penis; a marker of religious identity in Judaism and Islam that originated in patriarchal notions of male inheritance and lineage

Front 16

chakras

Back 16

literally, “circles,” a series of conscious energy centers within Tantric forms of yoga located along the central channel of the body, with the lowest centers located in the anal and genital regions and the highest ones in and just above the head

Front 17

the erotic

Back 17

a sexual experience that also functions as a religious experience

Front 18

ananda

Back 18

literally, “bliss,” a characteristic of the ultimate nature of reality in many forms of Hindu philosophy and practice

Front 19

brahman

Back 19

the ultimate nature of reality, the cosmic essence of all there is in Hinduism and certain branches of Indian philosophy

Front 20

atman

Back 20

the inner, immortal, divine “Self” within the human being, the Witness behind all cognitive and sensory experiences, first articulated in the Upanishads and later articulated in Hinduism and Indian philosophy

Front 21

ch'i

Back 21

the “life energy” of Chinese Daoist philosophy and sexual yoga.

Front 22

sublimation

Back 22

the process in psychoanalysis by which sexual energies are routinely displaced or transformed into other forms of emotional, cultural, artistic, and religious experience

Front 23

drive model

Back 23

any psychological model, particularly evident in early forms of psychoanalysis, in which the psyche and body are imagined as a hydraulic system in which various “drives” or “currents” being are constantly being directed, repressed, displaced, and sublimated into different forms of experience

Front 24

libido

Back 24

according to Freud, a kind of material or quasi-material energy that moves through the body in quasi-mechanistic or hydraulic ways and is closely associated, but not the same thing as, sexual desire and sexual energy

Front 25

column of salvation

Back 25

a comparative pattern in the history of religions in which the human spinal channel is imagined as a circuit of energy through which erotic-religious energies can be directed “down” and “out” or “up” and “in,” with the former movement leading to dispersion into the material world of death and decay and the latter movement leading to the soul’s concentration and salvation

Front 26

male:female::_____:____

Back 26

male - spirit
female - nature

male is to female as spirit is to nature; a comparative pattern evident throughout human culture in which the male is associated with spirit and transcendence and the female is associated with nature and immanence; male is “up,” and female is “down”

Front 27

agricultural pattern

Back 27

a basic comparative pattern evident through human culture through which traditional societies understood human sexuality to be analogous to agricultural practices, that is, the male was understood to be the planter of the “seed” in the female “soil”

Front 28

sexual trauma

Back 28

the psychological condition in which the psyche or person has been damaged, cracked open, or otherwise compromised by some sexual violation or negative experience

Front 29

panentheism

Back 29

“all-in-Godism,” that is, a model of God that views God as existing “in everything” or, alternately, that views everything as existing in God

Front 30

charisma

Back 30

a special power or “electricity” attributed to a religious figure who is set apart as holy or sacred within a particular community or culture

Front 31

institutionalization of charisma

Back 31

the social process whereby the special power or “charge” of a religious figure is preserved, maintained, and passed on after his or her death, often in a social form, office, or set of rituals

Front 32

shaman

Back 32

a generic or comparative term, drawn from the indigenous religions of Siberia, for a religious specialist who serves numerous common functions and demonstrates any number of special skills and features around sickness and healing, the fate of the soul after death, and crisis moments in the life of the community (the hunt, war, etc.)

Front 33

prophet

Back 33

a comparative term drawn from Max Weber for a religious individual endowed with special superhuman gifts who speaks for God to a particular community

Front 34

priest

Back 34

a comparative term drawn from Max Weber for a religious individual who channels and mediates the charisma of the tradition through official ritual and formal role or office and whose authority does not rely on any special prophetic or personal charismatic gifts

Front 35

relics

Back 35

the ritual preservation and use or human bodies or body parts that are considered to be holy, as if the sacred power contained in such bodies functions as a kind of contagion, as if it can be transmitted through presence, contiguity, or touch

Front 36

ideal type

Back 36

an abstract description of some social pattern that exists nowhere in the real world in this ideal or pure form, but which can nevertheless be used as an interpretive tool to think about history in rigorous and insightful ways; usually associated with the sociology of Max Weber

Front 37

Church

Back 37

a comparative term drawn from the sociologist Ernst Troeltsch for a religious organization that is closely aligned with the political polity of the land and its elites; that has toned down its otherworldly orientation and recognized the wisdom of a certain practical compromise with the social world; that is privileged economically and socially by virtue of this religious-political alignment; and that instills in its subjects, through public ritual and doctrine, a comprehensive and singular worldview that the people participate in more or less automatically

Front 38

sect

Back 38

a comparative term drawn from the sociologist Ernst Troeltsch for a group of people, usually from the lower economic and uneducated classes, who have become disillusioned with the public Church for its formality and have broken away to form a smaller community in order to intensify the religious life of individuals around some traditional doctrinal point or ritual practice; a sect is still closely aligned with the values and worldview of the Church type

Front 39

denominations

Back 39

a modern sect that no longer takes a hostile or contentious position vis-à-vis the world and other religious communities, but instead has become respectable and gone mainstream in a modern pluralistic society

Front 40

mysticism

Back 40

here a comparative term drawn from the sociologist Ernst Troeltsch for any experience or teaching that expresses some “secret” or “hidden” relationship, unity, or even identity between the human and the divine and that leads to a kind of religious individuality that is independent from the Church and sect types of religious organization; perhaps best framed today as the “I am spiritual, but not religious” type

Front 41

denominations

Back 41

a modern sect that no longer takes a hostile or contentious position vis-à-vis the world and other religious communities, but instead has become respectable and gone mainstream in a modern pluralistic society

Front 42

miracle

Back 42

an anomalous or uncommon event that functions as a “sign” for the truth of a particular religious tradition

Front 43

mysticism

Back 43

here a comparative term drawn from the sociologist Ernst Troeltsch for any experience or teaching that expresses some “secret” or “hidden” relationship, unity, or even identity between the human and the divine and that leads to a kind of religious individuality that is independent from the Church and sect types of religious organization; perhaps best framed today as the “I am spiritual, but not religious” type

Front 44

saint

Back 44

literally, a “holy person,” a comparative category used to describe a person considered to be especially sacred or set apart and representative of the values and worldviews held to be true by a particular religious community

Front 45

miracle

Back 45

an anomalous or uncommon event that functions as a “sign” for the truth of a particular religious tradition

Front 46

saint

Back 46

literally, a “holy person,” a comparative category used to describe a person considered to be especially sacred or set apart and representative of the values and worldviews held to be true by a particular religious community