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Systems of Religious and Spiritual
Belief
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14.1
Nature worship:
14.2
Animism:
14.3
Totemism:
14.4
Ancestor worship:
14.5
Polytheism:
14.6
Pantheism and panentheism:
14.7
Religious dualism:
14.8
Monotheism:
14.9
Theism:
14.10
Deism:
14.11
Agnosticism:
14.12
Atheism:
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Apart from some older works about
particular forms of nature worship, the most important discussions of this form
of religion and the related nature mythology appear in journals. JAMES G.
FRAZER, The Worship of Nature (1926),
is a classic work mainly concerned with the worship of the heavens, the sun, and
the earth; and The Golden Bough, 3rd
ed. rev., 12 vol. (1907-15; abridged ed., 1922 and 1959), contains an important
discussion of nature gods, especially vegetation gods, and their cults.
Important references to the worship of nature may be found under various
headings in The Mythology of All Races, ed.
by LOUIS H. GRAY, 13 vol. (1916-32); and The
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. by JAMES HASTINGS, 13 vol.
(1908-26, reprinted 1955). |
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The original and classic source is E.B.
TYLOR, Primitive Culture, 2 vol. (1871
and later editions, reprinted 1958). For the "pre-animism" thesis, see
R.R. MARETT, The Threshold of Religion, 4th
ed. (1929). An extended analysis and review of theories may be found in ADOLF E.
JENSEN, Mythos und Kult bei Naturvölkern,
2nd ed. (1960; Eng. trans., Myth and Cult Among Primitive Peoples, 1963); or for a short review,
see E.E. EVANS-PRITCHARD, Theories of
Primitive Religion (1965). Still to be recommended for an overview is ROBERT
H. LOWIE, Primitive Religion, new ed.
(1970). An ample source for the animism of China is the 5th volume of J.J.M. DE
GROOT'S monumental study, The Religious
System of China (1907, reprinted 1969); and for Burma the best introduction
is M.E. SPIRO, Burmese Supernaturalism (1967).
Ethnographic studies of animistic peoples abound; for an annotated bibliography,
see WILLIAM A. LESSA and EVON Z. VOGT, Reader
in Comparative Religion, 2nd ed., pp. 640-645 (1965). A provocative
consideration of the relation of animism to modern world views is presented in
JACQUES MONOD, Le Hasard et la nécessité (1970; Eng. trans., Chance and Necessity, 1971). |
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FRANZ BOAS, "The Origin of
Totemism," Am. Anthrop., 18:319-326
(1916), contains a variety of ideas and objects defined as totemism, and thus
maintains little unity; A.P. ELKIN, "Studies in Australian Totemism: The
Nature of Australian Totemism," Oceania,
4:113-131 (1933-34); E.E. EVANS-PRITCHARD, "Nuer Totemism," Annali
Lateran., 13:225-248 (1949), describes the manifestations of totemism
combined with the conception of the spirit in the "Nilot" tribe; J.V.
FERREIRA, Totemism in India (1965), a critical evaluation of hitherto existing
works on totemism in general and that of India in particular; R. FIRTH,
"Totemism in Polynesia," Oceania,
1:291-321, 377-398 vol. 1 (1930-31), a useful survey article; J.L. FISCHER,
"Totemism on Truk and Ponape," Am.
Anthrop., 59:250-265 (1957), describes and interprets the highly contrasting
forms of totemism found in Micronesia, using not only the unusual
sociological-ideological organization but also containing psychological aspects.
G. FOSTER, "Nagualism in Mexico and Guatemala," Acta
Am., 2:85-103 (1944), deals with important borderline cases of totemism with
particular regard to the problem of personal totemism; J.G. FRAZER, Totemism
and Exogamy, 4 vol. (1910) and Totemica:
A Supplement to Totemism and Exogamy (1937), comprehensive and informative
reference works although the hypotheses are now out of date; A.A. GOLDENWEISER,
"Totemism: An Analytic Study," J.
Am. Folklore, 23:179-293 (1910); "Totemism," Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, vol. 14 (1934); J. HAEKEL,
"Der heutige Stand des Totemismusproblems," Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien, 82:33-49 (1952), attempts to give a
critical examination with concrete examples of the complex question in its
various forms; CLAUDE LÉVI-STRAUSS, Le
Totémisme aujourd'hui (1962; Eng. trans., Totemism, 1963), contains a detailed critical evaluation of existing
hypotheses of Anglo-American and French authors; R. PIDDINGTON, An
Introduction to Social Anthropology 1:200-206 (1950), offers a short but
sufficient characterization of the totemic phenomena, the difficulty in defining
it, its great variability, and some concrete examples. |
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J.T. ADDISON, Chinese Ancestor Worship (1925), descriptive information on
traditional practices in China; E. BENDANN, Death
Customs (1930), reprinted 1969), descriptive material useful in
distinguishing between death cults and ancestor worship; R.F. FORTUNE, Manus
Religion (1935, reprinted 1965), a detailed account, including information
on the role of ancestor worship as a sanction for ethical behaviour; J.G.
FRAZER, The Belief in Immortality and Worship of the Dead, 3 vol. (1913-24,
reprinted 1968), a classic work presenting extensive information on its subject
among societies of the world; J.R. GOODY, Death,
Property and the Ancestors (1962), a detailed account of mortuary customs of
the Lodagaa of West Africa; B. MALINOWSKI, "Baloma, the Spirits of the Dead
in the Trobriand Islands," in Magic,
Science and Religion and Other Essays (1948). |
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S.G.F. BRANDON (ed.), A Dictionary of Comparative Religion (1970), contains articles on
the various gods and also on theories, and these have bibliographical sections.
A useful compendium is the Larousse
Encyclopedia of Mythology (1959). One example of the numerous recent
anthropological literature is G.E. SWANSON, The
Birth of the Gods: The Origin of Primitive Beliefs (1960). |
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CHARLES HARTSHORNE and W.L. REESE, Philosophers
Speak of God (1953), offers an extensive historical exploration of
pantheism, panentheism, and Classical Theism. The fundamental basis of
panentheism is discussed not only in the epilogue of the above volume, but in
many other works by CHARLES HARTSHORNE, including The
Divine Relativity (1948) and The Logic
of Perfection (1962). For the relation of mysticism to pantheism, see W.T.
STACE, Mysticism and Philosophy (1960).
For information concerning any of the philosophers mentioned, reference may be
made to their individual entries in The
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 8 vol., ed. by PAUL EDWARDS (1967); the Enciclopedia
filosofica, 6 vol., 2nd ed., ed. by G.C. SANSONI (1967); or the Diccionario
de filosofía, 2 vol., ed. by JOSE FERRATER MORA (1965). |
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UGO BIANCHI, Il dualismo religioso: saggio storico ed etnologico (1958),
discusses the "dualistic area" extending from ancient Greece to Iran,
east European folklore, north and Central Asia, and North America; see also his
"Le dualisme en histoire des religions," Revue de l'histoire des religions, 159:1-46 (1961); and Le
origini dello gnosticismo (1967), a collection of papers (in French, German,
English, and Italian) presented at the Colloquium of Messina, April 1966, many
of which are devoted to dualism in various religions. MIRCEA ELIADE,
"Prolegomenon to Religious Dualism: Dyads and Polarities," The
Quest: History and Meaning in Religion, ch. 8 (1969), is concerned not only
with dualism proper but also with the functions of "duality"; his De
Zalmoxis à Gengis-Khan, ch. 2-3 (1970), is a study of dualism in
folklore and ethnology. SIMONE PETREMENT, Le
Dualisme dans l'histoire de la philosophie et des religions (1946), and Le Dualisme chez Platon, les Gnostiques et les Manichéens (1947),
are two important general surveys but do not sufficiently distinguish the
different meanings of dualism in the philosophical and the religious-historical
terminologies. For an analytic exposition of the Gnostic ideology, with modern
analogies, see HANS JONAS, The Gnostic
Religion, 2nd ed. (1963); for a discussion of the varieties of Iranian
dualism, R.C. ZAEHNER, Zurvan: A
Zoroastrian Dilemma (1955). JACQUES DUCHESNE-GUILLEMIN, The
Western Response to Zoroaster (1958), deals with the history of the problem
of Iranian dualism. Other works include: GEO WIDENGREN, "Der iranische
Hintergrund der Gnosis," in Zeitschrift
fur Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, 4:97-114 (1952), on dualism in the
Indian Upanisads; F.K. NUMAZAWA, Die
Weltanfange in der japanischen Mythologie . .
. (1946), a comparative, ethnological
appreciation of the Yin-Yang opposition; MARCEL GRIAULE and GERMAINE DIETERLEN, Le
Renard Pâle, vol. 1, fasc. 1 (1965), an account of dualism in the
ontology and the mythology of the Dogon of West Sudan; HELMER RINGGREN,
"Dualism," The Faith of Qumran, ch. 2 (1963), a study of Qumranic
dualism; and R.M. GRANT, Gnosticism and
Early Christianity, rev. ed. (1966). |
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General works include: JOSIAH ROYCE,
"Monotheism," in the Encyclopaedia
of Religion and Ethics, vol. 8 (1928); "Monotheismus und
Polytheismus," in Religion in
Geschichte und Gegenwart, vol. 4 (1913); T.P. VAN BAAREN, Doolhof
der goden (1960); G. VAN DER LEEUW, Phänomenologie
der Religion (1933; Eng. trans., Religion
in Essence and Manifestation, 2 vol., 1963); and R. OTTO, Das Heilige (1917; Eng. trans., The
Idea of the Holy, 2nd ed., 1950). For primitive religions, see T.P. VAN
BAAREN, Menschen wie wir (1964); and
P. RADIN, Monotheism Among Primitive
Peoples (1954); on the high gods, see H. ZWICKER, Das Höchste Wesen (1970); and E.O. JAMES, The Concept of Deity (1950), the only general systematic study of
recent date treating the problems of monotheism. H.R. NIEBUHR, Radical
Monotheism and Western Culture (1960), is a modern, incisive Protestant
theological presentation of absolute monotheism. |
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The classic recent statement of God's
transcendence is A.M. FARRER, Finite and
Infinite, 2nd ed. (1959), a difficult but essential book; C.A. CAMPBELL, On
Selfhood and Godhood (1957), is an exceptionally lucid presentation that
allows for the distinctness of finite beings; see also further statements in
WILLIAM TEMPLE, Nature, Man and God (1934); H.H. FARMER, God and Men (1947); and H.D. LEWIS, Philosophy of Religion (1965). A. SETH PRINGLE-PATTISON presents the
more traditional Idealist view in The Idea
of God in the Light of Recent Philosophy (1920). An Idealism stressing the
immediate awareness of other minds and of God is found in W.E. HOCKING, The
Meaning of God in Human Experience (1912); a presentation similarly starting
from Empiricism and science that culminates in a "Cosmic Teleology" is
that of F.R. TENNANT, Philosophical Theology, 2 vol. (1928-30). E.S. BRIGHTMAN, The
Problem of God (1930), treats God as a limited being (finitism). |
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JOHN LELAND, A View of the Principal Deistical Writers . . . , 3rd ed., 3 vol. (1754;
also 1837 ed.), the first historical account; FRITZ MAUTHNER, Der
Atheismus und seine Geschichte im Abendlande, 4 vol. (1921-23), a complete
history; ERNST CASSIRER, Die Philosophie
der Aufklärung (1932; Eng. trans., The
Philosophy of the Enlightenment, 1951), a description of Deism and its
philosophical background; HAROLD G. NICOLSON, The
Age of Reason (1960), on the nature of 18th-century Rationalism and its
connection with Deism; JAMES COLLINS, God
in Modern Philosophy (1959), a full history of Deism, here called
"theism," from Nicolas of Cusa to contemporary theological theories;
JOHN ORR, English Deism: Its Roots and Its
Fruits (1934); GOTTHARD V. LECHLER, Geschichte
des englischen Deismus (1841), the first full history after the end of
Deism; HERBERT OF CHERBURY, De Veritate (1624;
Eng. trans. by MEYRICK H. CARRE, On Truth,
1937), the first English translation of the reputedly "first"
classic expression of Deism; MARIO M. ROSSI, La
vita, le opere, i tempi di Edoardo Herbert di Chirbury, 3 vol. (1947), and Alle
fonti del deismo e del materialismo moderno (1942), two works that describe
Herbert's life and Deistic thought against the background of the history of
Deism and the attitude of the church. DAVID HUME, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 2nd ed. with suppl. (1947),
the beginning of the Deist's self-criticism; THOMAS PAINE, The Age of Reason, 3 pt. (1794-1811), the work most influential on
the Deism of common people; JOHN S. SPINK, French
Free-Thought from Gassendi to Voltaire (1960), on French Deism; HENRY E.
ALLISON, Lessing and the Enlightenment (1966);
IMMANUEL KANT, Die Religion innerhalb der
Grenzen der blossen Vernunft (1793; Eng. trans., Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, 1947), the classic work
of the last stage of German Deism; G.W.F. HEGEL, Early Theological Writings, trans. by THOMAS M. KNOX and RICHARD
KRONER (1948), early writings to show Hegel's indebtedness to Deistic polemics. |
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The fundamental primary sources are T.H.
HUXLEY, "Agnosticism" and "Agnosticism and Christianity" in
his Collected Essays, vol. 5 (1894).
Other basic sources are W.K. CLIFFORD, The
Ethics of Belief, and Other Essays (1876, reprinted 1947); and LESLIE
STEPHEN, An Agnostic's Apology, and Other
Essays (1893), which first appeared as an essay in 1876. An important
classical antecedent is DAVID HUME, An
Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748), of which the best modern
edition is that of C.W. HENDEL (1955). For a study of this, which was Hume's
first Enquiry, see ANTONY FLEW, Hume's
Philosophy of Belief (1961), which devotes special attention to its
implications for religion. Religious agnosticism is treated in HENRY MANSEL, The
Limits of Religious Thought Examined in Eight Lectures (1858). Notable
secondary sources include LESLIE STEPHEN, History
of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, 2 vol. (1876), the best
analytical study done at the time of Huxley and one that still deserves this
high rating; R.F. FLINT, Agnosticism (1903);
and R.A. ARMSTRONG, Agnosticism and Theism
in the Nineteenth Century (1905); for a recent sympathetic biography, see
CYRIL BIBBY, T.H. Huxley: Scientist,
Humanist, and Educator (1959). Classic rejections of agnosticism include
BLAISE PASCAL, Pensées (1960),
posthumous fragments given their definitive arrangement by L. LAFUMA; and
WILLIAM JAMES. "The Will to Believe," in The Will to Believe, and Other
Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897). |
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The article "Atheism" in The
Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, vol. 1, pp. 174-189 (1967, reissued 1972), and
the article "Agnoticism" in the Dictionary
of the History of Ideas, vol. 1, pp. 17-27 (1968), give sophisticated
conceptual elucidations of the concept of atheism. See also Encyclopaedia
of Religion and Ethics, vol. 2, pp. 173-190 (1922); Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, vol. 1, cols. 866-870
(1950); Die Religion in Geschichte und
Gegenwart, 3rd ed., vol. 1, cols. 670-678 (1957); GEORGE KLAUS and MANFRED
BUHR (eds.), Philosophisches Wörterbuch,
6th rev. and enl. ed., vol. 1, pp. 125-129 (1969); Enciclopedia filosofica, 2nd ed., vol. 1, col. 557-562 (1968); and
KAI NIELSEN, Introduction to the
Philosophy of Religion (1982). A classic extended history of atheism is
FRITZ MAUTHNER, Der Atheismus und seine
Geschichte im Abendland, 4 vol. (1920-23, reissued 1963). See also JACOB
PRESSER, Das Buch "De tribus
impostoribus" (1926); JOHN MACKINNON ROBERTSON, A Short History of Freethought, Ancient and Modern (1957, reissued
1972); HENRI BUSSON, Le Rationalisme dans
la littérature française de la Renaissance (1533-1601), new
ed., rev. and augmented (1971); and CORNELIO FABRO,
God in Exile: Modern Atheism (1968; orginally published in Italian, 1961).
Modern atheism is treated in CHARLES BRADLAUGH, Champion of Liberty: Charles Bradlaugh (1933); BARON D'HOLBACH, The
System of Nature (1756-96, reissued 1970; originally published in French,
1770), and Common Sense (1795, reissued 1972; originally published in French,
1772); ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, Complete
Essays of Schopenhauer, trans. by T. BAILEY SAUNDERS (1896); LUDWIG
FEUERBACH, The Essence of Christianity (1854,
reissued 1972, trans. of 2nd German ed.; originally published in German, 1841);
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, Thus Spake
Zarathustra (1896; originally issued in German, 1883-92); KARL MARX and
FRIEDRICH ENGELS, On Religion (1955);
THOMAS H. HUXLEY, Collected Essays,
vol. 5 (1894); and LESLIE STEPHEN, An
Agnostic's Apology, and Other Essays (1893), and History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, 3rd ed., 2
vol., (1902, reissued 1963). Powerful contemporary defenses of atheism, together
with some religious responses, are given in NORBERT O. SCHEDLER (ed.), Philosophy
of Religion (1794). |
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Contemporary analytical discussions of
atheism include MICHAEL SCRIVEN, Primary
Philosophy (1966); RICHARD ROBINSON,
An Atheist's Values (1964, reissued 1975); BERTRAND RUSSELL,
Why I Am Not a Christian, and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects (1957);
KAI NIELSEN, Skepticism (1973), and Reason
and Practice (1971); SIDNEY HOOK, The
Quest for Being, and Other Studies in Naturalism and Humanism (1961,
reprinted 1971); and RONALD W. HEPBURN,
Christianity and Paradox (1958, reissued 1968). Two anthologies that give
the core debate between belief and unbelief are MALCOLM L. DIAMOND and THOMAS V.
LITZENBURG, JR. (eds.), The Logic of God (1975);
and ANTONY FLEW and ALASDAIR MacINTYRE and PAUL ROCOEUR, The
Religious Significance of Atheism (1969); and MOSTAFA FAGHFOURY (ed.), Analytical
Philosophy of Religion in Canada (1982). |
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