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Divinity
About: Divinity is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2062 publications have been published within this topic receiving 20202 citations.
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01 Jan 1997
813 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: Noble argues that the flourishing of both religion and technology today is nothing new but rather the continuation of a 1,000-year-old Western tradition as discussed by the authors, and he traces the history of these ideas by examining the imaginings of monks, explorers, magi, scientists, Freemasons, and engineers.
Abstract: Are religion and science really at war with one another? Not according to David F. Noble, who argues that the flourishing of both religion and technology today is nothing new but rather the continuation of a 1,000-year-old Western tradition.The Religion of Technology demonstrates that modern man's enchantment with things technological was inspired by and grounded in religious expectations and the quest for transcendence and salvation. The two early impulses behind the urge to advance in science, he claims, are the conviction that apocalypse is imminent, and the belief that increasing human knowledge helps recover what was lost in Eden. Noble traces the history of these ideas by examining the imaginings of monks, explorers, magi, scientists, Freemasons, and engineers, from Sir Isaac Newton to Joseph Priestley to Wernher von Braun. Noble suggests that the relationship between religion and technology has perhaps outlived its usefulness. Whereas it once aimed to promote human well-being, it has ultimately become a threat to our survival. Thus, with The Religion of Technology, Noble aims to redirect our efforts toward more worldly and humane ends.
378 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, Lienhardt examines the complex meanings of divine imagery and relates these to the Dinkas' experience of life and death, from the role of priests to the translation of hymns, prayers, and myths.
Abstract: This study of the religion of Southern Sudan's Dinka people is now considered a minor classic of social anthropology. Lienhardt examines the complex meanings of divine imagery and relates these to the Dinkas' experience of life and death. From the role of priests to the translation of hymns, prayers, and myths, Lienhardt provides an unparalleled analysis and interpretation of this Sudanese religion.
346 citations
TL;DR: The Arawete are one of the few Amazonian peoples who have maintained their cultural integrity in the face of the destructive forces of European imperialism as mentioned in this paper, and this phenomenon is explained in terms of Arawite social cosmology and ritual order.
Abstract: The Arawete are one of the few Amazonian peoples who have maintained their cultural integrity in the face of the destructive forces of European imperialism. In this landmark study, anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro explains this phenomenon in terms of Arawete social cosmology and ritual order. His analysis of the social and religious life of the Arawete --a Tupi-Guarani people of Eastern Amazonia--focuses on their concepts of personhood, death, and divinity.Building upon ethnographic description and interpretation, Viveiros de Castro addresses the central aspect of the Arawete's concept of divinity--consumption--showing how its cannibalistic expression differs radically from traditional representations of other Amazonian societies. He situates the Arawete in contemporary anthropology as a people whose vision of the world is complex, tragic, and dynamic, and whose society commands our attention for its extraordinary openness to exteriority and transformation. For the Arawete the person is always in transition, an outlook expressed in the mythology of their gods, whose cannibalistic ways they imitate. \"From the Enemy's Point of View\" argues that current concepts of society as a discrete, bounded entity which maintains a difference between \"interior\" and \"exterior\" are wholly inappropriate in this and in many other Amazonian societies.
324 citations
TL;DR: Kauffman as discussed by the authors argues for an emergence-based view of the world and "that the qualities of divinity that we hold sacred-creativity, meaning, purposeful action-are in fact properties of the universe that can be investigated scientifically."
Abstract: Reinventing the Sacred . A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion. By Stuart A. Kauffman . Basic Books, New York, 2008. 334 pp. $27, C$28.95. ISBN 9780465003006. The author argues for his emergence-based view of the world and "that the qualities of divinity that we hold sacred-creativity, meaning, purposeful action-are in fact properties of the universe that can be investigated scientifically."
249 citations