Roy Rappaport argues that religion is central to the continuing evolution of life, although it has been been displaced from its original position of intellectual authority by the rise of modern science. His book, which could be construed as in some degree religious as well as about religion, insists that religion can and must be reconciled with science. Combining adaptive and cognitive approaches to the study of humankind, he mounts a comprehensive analysis of religion's evolutionary significance, seeing it as co-extensive with the invention of language and hence of culture as we know it. At the same time he assembles the fullest study yet of religion's main component, ritual, which constructs the conceptions which we take to be religious and has been central in the making of humanity's adaptation. The text amounts to a manual for effective ritual, illustrated by examples drawn from anthropology, history, philosophy, comparative religion, and elsewhere.

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Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity

The economic approach to religion has confined its application to Christendom in spite of the ambition of the core theorists for its universal applicability. Moreover, the supply-side market theory...

The red, black, and gray markets of religion in china

This article explores the formation of post–Soviet Russian national identity through a study of political struggles over key Soviet–era monuments and memorials in Moscow during the “critical juncture” in Russian history from 1991 through 1999. We draw on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Pierre Nora to explain how competition among political elites for control over the sites guided their transformation from symbols of the Soviet Union into symbols of Russia. By co–opting, contesting, ignoring, or removing certain types of monuments through both physical transformations and “commemorative maintenance,” Russian political elites engaged in a symbolic dialogue with each other and with the public in an attempt to gain prestige, legitimacy, and influence. We make this argument through case studies of four monument sites in Moscow: Victory Park (Park Pobedy), the Lenin Mausoleum, the former Exhibition of the Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh), and the Park of Arts (Park Isskustv). In the article, we firs...

/pdf/unraveling-the-threads-of-history-soviet-era-monuments-and-3qxhokust5.pdf

Unraveling the Threads of History: Soviet–Era Monuments and Post–Soviet National Identity in Moscow

The collection Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World: New Itineraries into the Sacred, is a significant contribution to the interdisciplinary study of pilgrimage. The volume is well-organized and indexed, with chapters divided into sections concerning politics, music, sports, and “life, spirituality and death.” Most chapters feature photographs taken by the authors during their fieldwork, which assist the reader in understanding the various dimensions of each locale. Framed by an introduction and conclusion by editor Peter Jan Margry, the contributions represent American studies, ethnology, folklore, cultural and economic anthropology, religious studies, and theology. Margry, with extensive research experience in the area of pilgrimage, is an ethnologist. While an anthology representing so many disciplines might run the risk of seeming disjointed, the authors draw upon widely-used concepts (e.g., rites of passage, ritual, communitas) in a way that renders each piece accessible to readers working outside any particular disciplinary boundaries. As indicated by the subtitle New Itineraries into the Sacred, each article explores the spiritual or religious elements present in practices that are emerging or have become customary at locations which do not necessarily fit into the same conception of pilgrimage based on long-established routes and sites such as Mecca, Lourdes, or Santiago de Compostela. Thus the authors document and analyze activities at shrines from Oregon, United States, to East Java, Indonesia. The geographic range of shrines, which also includes half a dozen sites in as many European countries, adds to the multi-faceted perspective the collection offers. Another strength of the anthology is the ethnographic approach. Each author is able to offer insight into a particular shrine and/or pilgrimage through their own experiences while at the site(s), as well as the words of those to whom these places are so critical. As Margry notes at the beginning of the anthology, both the academic and popular usage of the terms “shrine” and “pilgrimage” are now quite elastic, so much so that they are in danger of becoming meaningless. In problematizing recent applications of the terms, and especially the usage “secular pilgrimage,” Margry suggests that more, rather than less, specification in the use of such terminology is desirable if researchers are to understand fully the changes in human spirituality and religiosity that are occurring in contemporary society. Although some utilize “secular pilgrimage” to distinguish newer manifestations from long-established pilgrimages associated with institutional religion, Margry asserts that the term is an oxymoron. Therefore, he suggests a return to a spiritually-grounded definition of pilgrimage:

/pdf/shrines-and-pilgrimage-in-the-modern-world-new-itineraries-1ksxzc4zv6.pdf

Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World: New Itineraries into the Sacred

In Modern Times (1936), Charlie Chaplin plays a factory worker at the ElectroSteel Company, tightening nuts on a fast-moving conveyor belt. One scene shows a mechanical contraption designed to feed workers lunch while they remain on the assembly line, but it malfunctions, throwing soup in Charlie’s face. Other scenes depict a capitalist owner who maintains closed-circuit surveillance over the plant and demands increases in the speed of the line. Unable to keep pace, Charlie falls into the giant gears. He has a nervous breakdown, and loses his job. On the street, he’s mistaken for a communist leader and arrested. He accidentally prevents a jailbreak, is pardoned and released, but with his old steel plant idle, Charlie cannot find employment, and begins to long for the shabby security of incarceration. The political message of “Modern Times” would seem unmistakable.

https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/modern_times_the_soviet_union_and_the_interwar_conjuncture_0.pdf

Nina Tumarkin

Papers

Lenin Lives!: The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia