Ritual and belief : $b Studies in the history of religionHartland, Edwin Sidney
Religion
Ritual and belief : $b Studies in the history of religion
Hartland, Edwin Sidney
Ethnopsychology; Magic; Religion; Rites and ceremonies
[85.1]
Reference may be made here to Mr Ernest Crawley, who writes like
Professor Jevons from a distinctly theological standpoint. I can find
no formal definition of religion in his book on the subject. He says:
“The vital instinct, the feeling of life, the will to live, the
instinct to preserve it, is the source of, or rather is identical
with, the religious impulse, and is the origin of religion” (_Tree
of Life_, 214). But, as Professor Leuba has rightly observed, “the
love and lust of life is the source of all human conduct and not of
religion alone” (_Psychol. Study_, 48). Elsewhere Mr Crawley
observes that religion is not a department, like law or science,
having a special subject-matter; it is “a tone or spirit.” It
“chiefly concerns itself with elemental interests--life and death,
birth and marriage are typical cases” (_op. cit._, 204 _sq._). Nor
can I find any definition of magic, though he maintains in opposition
to Professor Frazer that “it seems impossible to separate magic and
religion in their early forms.” “Indeed,” he adds, “the
practical meaning of magic, when worked in connection with religion,
is control of the supernatural, which is thus not superior to man”
(186). What is magic when not “worked in connection with
religion”? He identifies _mana_ with the force “which underlies
magical processes generally,” but apparently not religious
processes. A religious process he defines as “that of making a thing
sacred” (231 _sq._). He opposes magic to sacredness. “Sacredness
is a result of the application of religious impulse and of nothing
else” (208 _sq._). Compare Professor Durkheim’s definition of
religion (_supra_, p. 68). Mr Crawley takes insufficient account of
the social aspect of religion.
[87.1]
Southey, _The Curse of Kehama_, preface.
[87.2]
Augustine, _Civ. Dei_, x. 11, citing Porphyry.
[91.1]
Marett, _Threshold_, 44 _sqq._
[92.1]
J. M. M. van der Burgt, 55.
[92.2]
Hewitt, _Am. Anthr._, N.S., iv., 40.
[93.1]
E. H. Man, _J. A. I._, xii. 161, 163, 353, etc.
[95.1]
Codrington, 192.
[98.1]
The primary authority on the Arunta and neighbouring tribes is Messrs
Spencer and Gillen, _C. T._ and _N. T._, and _Rep. Horn Exped._, but
Strehlow’s researches (_Aranda- und Loritja-stämme_) are important.
The results of the latter are divergent to some extent from those of
the former, but in most respects are not irreconcilable. See, _e.g._,
Professor Durkheim’s valuable discussion of the different versions
of reincarnation, _op. cit._, 357 _sqq._ I have stated above in a
summary manner what seems to be the result of the criticism of both
authorities.
[99.1]
Spencer and Gillen, _N. T._, 498; Strehlow, ii. 1. _Cf._ _Rep. Horn
Exped._, iv. 183.
[99.2]
Strehlow, i. 1.
[100.1]
Spencer and Gillen, _N. T._, 227, 232, 238.
[100.2]
_Ibid._, 227.
[100.3]
_Ibid._, 252.
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