Page 7, 23rd July 1976

23rd July 1976

Page 7

Page 7, 23rd July 1976 — Journey to the 'seed ground' of religion
Close

Report an error

Noticed an error on this page?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it.

Tags

Locations: Durkheim

Share


Related articles

Praying In A Dry Place

Page 7 from 9th August 2002

Bible Studies —no. 41 The Voice Of The Prophets: Amos

Page 8 from 26th January 1940

The Tyranny Of Certainty

Page 8 from 8th September 2006

The Church Cannot He Popular, Nor Come To Terms With...

Page 4 from 1st June 1962

True Religion

Page 11 from 11th August 1939

Journey to the 'seed ground' of religion

I warn off convent and monastery librarians: religious life in this title does not mean what You think!
Ear from heing-a study of Old Testament prophetic communities. or apostolic communes. or desert fathers and mothers, it is a survey of Australian aborigines and American Indians. an analysis of totemism as a primoo.e expression of man's religious instincts and so. to the :luthor's mind, the seed ground of all religion.
It %%as first published in 1915. One would have thought a contemporary publisher would know enough to do some t hing ;11-1010 the misleading
To [mile Durk heim, the essence of religion is not worship of a
Supreme Spirit so much as the distinction hetween sacred and profane. This makes you wonder MIMI sacred can mean. It seems to he a social :okareness expressed in ritual. leading easily to a conclusion that religion is vital to the preservation of sock: ty -even when Sttprenic Spirits get in to complicate I Ii i ii No doubt a contemporary Durkheim would think his point is heing savagely proved today. Forour parl, we have an explanation of tIi_ problem Of maintaining religion (Ii \ ()reed from :1 related Social expression culture.
I aseinated Fly the details of our n religious practice which clearly relate 10 privitive religious expressions he describes, one wonders how ■s ise +%e have been to dispose or so much. Al least you can see now it wasn't medieval. Durkheim would have judged the exercise perilous. On I he other hand, his perception of Christianity is shallow, and he regards it as a new but not ve st i ng eove
S. G. A. Luff




blog comments powered by Disqus