Nvmen Vol 46

INTERNATIONALREVIEWFOR THE
HISTORYOF RELIGIONS
EDITEDON BEHALFOF THE
IN'l RNATIONALASSOCIATIONFOR THE

HISTORYOF RELIGIONS
andE.T.LAWSON
by H.G.KIPPENBERG
VOLUME XLVI
BRILL
LEIDEN BOSTON KOLN
1999
SWETS
BACKSETS SERVICE
Reprintedwithpermissionof BrillAcademic Publishers- Leiden by
SWETS & ZEITLINGERBV

LISSE - THE NETHERLANDS - 2003
www.swets. nl/backsets
CONTENTS
Articles
Matthias KLINGHARDT,
Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation.
Their Use and Function in AncientReligion ....................
Robin RINEHART,
ThePortableBullhe Shah: Biography,Categorization, and Authorshipin the Studyof Punjabi Sufi Poetry .........
Theodore M. VIAL, Opposites Attract: the Body and Cognition in
a Debate over Baptism ......................................
.
RichardKING,Orientalismand the Modem Mythof "Hinduism"...
Jamie HUBBARD,A Tale of TwoTimes: Preaching in the LatterAge
of the Dharma ..............................................
Arie L. MOLENDIJK,
liele on Religion ...........................
IlkkaPYYSIAINEN,
Holy Book-A Treasuryof the Incomprehensible.
TheInventionof Writingand Religious Cognition ...............
Eric J. ZIOLKOWSKI,
Wach, Religion, and "The Emancipationof
Art" . ......................................................
XavierBLAISEL,Fr6dericLAUGRAND
andJarichOOSTEN,Shamans
and Leaders:ParousialMovements Among the Inuit of Northeast
Canada .....................................................
Umar Habila Dadem DANFULANI,Factors Contributingto the Survival of the Bori Cult in NorthernNigeria ......................
1
53
121
146
186
237
269
345
370
412
Reviewarticles
Takeshi KIMURA,Bearing the 'Bare Facts' of Ritual. A Critiqueof
JonathanZ. Smith'sStudyof the Bear CeremonyBased on a Study
of the Ainu Iyomante .........................................
Julia IWERSEN,Phenomenology,Sociology, and History of the New
Age ........................................................
88
211
Panel discussion
Magic in the Ancient Worldby Fritz Graf .........................
291
Book reviews
JanASSMANN,Moses the Egyptian:TheMemoryof Egypt in Western
Monotheism(BernhardLANG)..............................
..
115
116
Gavin FLOOD,An Introductionto Hinduism(Axel MICHAELS)....
A
Handbook
D.
Glazier
(Ed.), Anthropology of Religion:
Stephen
219
(HermanBECK).............................................
Axel Michaels (Ed.), Klassikerder Religionswissenschaft.VonFried220
rich Schleiermacherbis Mircea Eliade (Kocku von STUCKRAD).
Petra Pakkanen, Interpreting Early Hellenistic Religion: A Study
Based on the Mystery Cult of Demeter and the Cult of Isis
221
(RichardE. DEMARIS)......................................
Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi, BarbaraKellner-Heinkeleand Anke OtterBeaujean (Eds.), SyncretisticReligious Communitiesin the Near
222
East (GerdienJONKER)......................................
Frank J. Hoffman and Mahinda Deegalle (Eds.), Pali Buddhism
(Adelheid HERRMANN-PFANDT) ....................
.........
224
JohnR. Hinnells, Zoroastriansin Britain (Michael STAUSBERG)...

225
MatthewDillon, Pilgrimsand Pilgrimage inAncientGreece(Dorothea
326
.............................
BAUDY)....................
Recent Manichaean Studies (Guy G. STROUMSA) ................
Ben H.L. van Gessel, Onomasticonof the Hittite Pantheon(Manfred

HUTTER)................................................
Carl Olson, The Indian Renouncerand PostmodernPoison: A Cross
CulturalEncounter(Axel MICHAELS)........................
Jamie Hubbardand Paul L. Swanson (Eds.), Pruning the Bodhi Tree.
The Stormover CriticalBuddhism(R.J. Zwi WERBLOWSKI)
....
V.Y. Mudimbe, Tales of Faith. Religion as Political Performancein
CentralAfrica (Afe ADOGAME)..............................
Hans Waldenfels,Gottes Wortin der Fremde. TheologischeVersuche
(WolfgangGANTKE)........................................
Fritz Graf (Ed.), Einleitung in die lateinische Philologie (Dorothea
BAUDY)....................................................
Carl-A. Keller, Ramakrishnaet la voie de l'amour (R.J. Zwi WERBLOWSKY) .................................................
AharonR.E. Agus, HermeneuticBiographyin RabbinicMidrash. The

Body of this Death and Life (Giuseppe VELTRI)................
Publicationsreceived ...........................................
327
329
332
335
337
338
448
449
450
118
234
341
452
NUMEN
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46
1999
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NVMEN
Numen appears four times a year. Each volume consists of approx. 458 pages. Numen is edited on behalf of the InternationalAssociation for the History of Religions by Hans G. Kippenbergand
E. ThomasLawson.
Editorial address: Numen, c/o Prof. H.G. Kippenberg,Universitat
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Thisjournal is printedon acid-free paper.
PRAYER FORMULARIES FOR PUBLIC RECITATION.

THEIR USE AND FUNCTION IN ANCIENT RELIGION*
MATTHIASKLINGHARDT
Summary
In order to understandthe religious mentality of ancient prayer, this article investigates the mode of public praying with respect to the use of fixed formularies,
for which the most relevant references from Hellenistic and Roman antiquity are
collected and presented. In spite of the different religious traditions,a surprisingly
homogenous picture emerges: Public prayershad to be recited in accordanceto formularieswhose wording was prescribedand not at will of the praying persons. The
correct recitationof a formulary(and even its properpronunciation)was meant to
guarantee the prayer's appropriatenessand efficacy: an improperly recited prayer
was considered to be either ineffective or even dangerous. This concept accounts
for several closely related aspects which can be identified in all religious traditions:
(1) Usually, the particularwording of a prayer is traced back to some divine origin which afforded its efficacy; knowledge of a prayer is, therefore, the result of
revelation or of divine inspiration.(2) Correspondingly,the recitation of such formulariesrequiressome spiritualquality of the prayingperson (righteousness,purity,
priesthood, spiritual "ability"etc.). (3) Restriction of access to prayer formularies
for certainpeople only is expressed by the prohibitionto divulge the formulary,and
by the exclusion of those consideredunworthy.
This picture encompasses the different religious traditions(accounting even for
the "magic"prayersin the Greek magical papyri): an essential, phenomenological
differencebetween pagan and Jewish-Christianprayingcannot be substantiated.Furthermore,the concept relates to the most differenthymnic genres and, therefore,can
serve as the basis for a culturalcomparisonof ancient hymnody and for reconstructing the religious mentality of prayer.
Reflecting on the Christians' intercession for the emperor, Tertullian describes the modes of Christian prayer: "Looking up there (to
* Part of this article was
presented to the "Prayerin the Greco-Roman World
Group"at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literatureat New
Orleans(LA), Nov 23-36, 1996. - I am gratefulto StephenW. Trobischwho helped
? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden (1999)
NUMEN, Vol. 46
Matthias Klinghardt
heaven) we Christianspray with the hands outstretched,for they are

innocent; with bare head, for we do not flush; and finally without a
prompter,for we pray from the heart."'This apologetic description
evidently contrasts Christian and Roman prayer practices: manibus
expansis, which means "stretchedout crosswise",2is opposed to the
raising of the arms above the head while turning the palms upside;
praying "with bare head" (capite nudato) is opposed to the particularly Roman custom of covering the head with the hem of the toga.
Tertullian'sassertionthat Christiansprayed withoutprompterswas of
particularinterestto interpreters,as the use of promptersis widely attested to in Roman religion as well.3 Since Tertullian'sfirst two arguments for the Christianmode of prayingwith "innocenthands"and
"without flushing"- are clearly symbolical, the praying "from the
heart"was also assumed symbolical. Accordingly,the prayerde pectore would characterizea free prayer,streamingfrom a full and grateful heart,as opposed to the predeterminedand formalRoman practice
of simply repeatinga formularyrecited by a prompter.By contrasting
Roman and Christianmodes of praying,Tertullianclearly implies an
essential opposition between Roman and Christianprayer in general,
and moder interpretershave followed him in this evaluation.4
improve my English translation.Furthermore,I am indebted to Reuven Kimelman
(Brandeis University) who made me aware of recent articles on Jewish prayers.
1 apol. 30,4: "illuc sursum suscipientes Christiani manibus expansis, quia innocuis, capite nudato, quia non erubescimus,denique sine monitore,quia de pectore
oramus."Unless otherwise indicated, all translationsare mine.
2 E.g., Barn 12,2; Justin,dial. 97,2; Tertullian,idol. 12,2; Cyprian,or. domin. 34;
OdSal 21,1; 42,1-3 etc.; cf. A. Hamann,"La priere chr6tienneet la priere paienne,
formes et differences,"ANRWII 23/2, Berlin/New York 1980, 1190-1247: 1215f.
3 A small selection of relevantmaterialhas been
presentedby F.J. Dolger, "Vorbeter und Zeremoniar:Zu monitor und praeire," AuC 2 (1930), 241-251; further
details are mentioned below.
4 With respect to the use of prompters A.G. Hamman concluded not only a
difference, but even a direct contradictionbetween Roman and Christian prayers
(Das Gebet in der Alten Kirche [TradChr7], Bern/Frankfurt/NewYork 1989, xxxvi).
FJ. Dolger (op. cit., 250) considered Tertullian'sprayer sine monitore a particular
Christianideal that,however,eventuallywas overcome by (pagan)culturaltraditions.
Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation
It is, however, questionable whether Tertullianis right in stressing the differences between Christian and Roman modes of prayer
by implying a completely different religious mentality.The outlook
changes, if the use of promptersis regarded a guarantee that the
prayer'swording was not an arbitraryone, but restrictedto a particular, prescribedformulary.Fixed prayer formulariesexisted without
doubt not only in Graeco-Romanreligion, but also in Judaism and
Christianity.The Lord's Prayer in its various occurrences, for instance, is introducedas an obligatoryformularyresisting any kind of
changes: When you pray, thus shall you speak (Mt 6,9; Lk 11,2; Did
8,2)!
In spite of an abundanceof studies on ancient prayers, their contents, genres, literary forms as well as philosophical critiques of
prayers,surprisinglylittle is said about the problemof fixed formularies, theirpurpose,and ramificationsfor understandingancient prayer
in general. This paper attemptsto fill in this gap and to explore the
phenomenon of fixed prayer formulariesfor public recitation in ancient religion. Keeping in mind the apologetic natureof Tertullian's
description, it appears prudent not to separate the Christian references from their Graeco-Romananalogies: I want to contributeto an
understandingof ancient prayers that does not depend on particular
religious concepts, be it pagan,Jewish, or Christian.The methodology
of this approachis, therefore,at the same time religionsgeschichtlich
and formcritical:An identical form - more precisely: an identical
mode - of prayingindicates an analogous religious mentality based
on (and expressed by) this mode. The advantageof this approachis
that it allows us to combine aspects and categories of ancient prayers
that are usually separated;not only in regardto the notoriouslycomplicated question of the differentgenres of hymnody and prayer,but
also in distinguishing individual and public, official and private as
well as pagan and Jewish-Christianprayers.Since this approachrepresents a first step in this direction, I felt the primary task was to
collect and present the relevant material to stimulate furtherstudies
Matthias Klinghardt
ratherthan discuss aspects of the literature.5

I. Promptersand Prayer Formularies
I will startwith the use of promptersfor the recitationof prayersin
Roman religion, for there is abundantproof that public prayerswere
conducted similarly: A prompter(monitor)- usually a priest, most
often the pontifex maximus,but occasionally also the emperoror another official with religious functions - recited the formularywhich
was repeatedby either a single person or a crowd. A famous example
for the former is consul Decius' devotion in a desperatemilitary situation:When he saw the tide of battle turn against the Roman army,
he requested the pontifex maximus to his side in order to recite the
proper words by which he could consecrate himself for the welfare
of the army and the state - a procedurethat was incidentally repeated by his son a generationlater in a similar situation (Livy VIII
9,4; X 28,14). The example of the two Decii became famous and
well known to Roman writers, and the particularformularyof their
dedicatoryprayerwas preserved.6The word used here for prompting
5 The literatureis vast,
althougha comprehensivebibliographyis still a desideratum (the numerous detailed volumes of ANRW on Roman religion do not contain a single article on prayer!). More recent studies on Graeco-Roman prayers
include: J.N. Bremmer, "Greek Hymns," in: H.S. Versnel (ed.), Faith, Hope, and
Worship(SGRR 2), Leiden 1981, 193-215. - W. Burkert,"GriechischeHymnoi,"
in: idem, F. Stolz (eds.), Hymnen der Alten Welt im Kulturvergleich(OBO 131),
Fribourg/G6ttingen1994, 9-17. - G. Freyburger,"La supplicationd'action de grace
sous le Haut-Empire,"ANRW II 16/2, Berlin/New York 1978, 1418-1439. - F.
Graf, "Prayer in Magical and Religious Ritual," in: Chr.A. Faraone, D. Obbink
(eds.), Magika Hiera, New York/Oxford1991, 188-213. - L. Kappel, Paian. Studien zur Geschichteeiner Gattung(UaLG 37), Berlin/New York 1992. - M. Lattke,
Hymnus.Materialien zu einer Geschichteder antikenHymnologie (NTOA 19), Fribourg/G6ttingen 1991, 1-90 (lit.!). - E. von Severus, Art. "Gebet I," RAC VIII,
Stuttgart 1972, 1134-1258 (lit.). - H.S. Versnel, "Religious Mentality in Ancient
Prayer,"in: idem (ed.), Faith, Hope, and Worship(SGRR 2), Leiden 1981, 1-64.
6 Cf. Seneca, ep. 67,9. Cicero, nat. deor. II 10; Pliny, nat. hist. XXVIII 12; Livy
VIII 9,4-9 ("lane, luppiter,Mars pater, Quirine ...").
the formulary(praeire)is technicaland widely attested:Thereexists abundantproof for praeire verba (or carmen, vota, preces etc.).7
Althoughall thoseprayerswere publicand officialin character,the

sameappliedto individualprayersas well.8
Prompterswere also used for the prayersof crowds.Typicalsituationsfor this kindof publicprayersincludeapotropaicceremonies
afterbad omensand supplicationsto avertnaturalor politicaldisaster: the prayer is prompted by either the pontifex maximus, the
emperor,a priestor otherofficials,and it is repeatedby the people

or a sacerdotalcollegium.9Furthertypical situations include military
supplicationsbeforethe battlefor which differentmodes of recitation arereported:Accordingto Thucydides(VI 32), the whole army
recitedthe prayersbeforean expeditionin the PeloponnesianWar;
the prayerswere substitutedby a heroldfor all soldiers,andthe bystandersand civilianson the shorejoined in. Alexanderthe Great
chose a differentform:beforethe battleof Arbela,he let the priest
Aristanderpromptthe prayersandrepeatedthem(Q. CurtiusRufus
IV 13,48).Constantinethe Greatlet his soldierslearnthe entireformularyof the supplicatory
prayerby heartandreciteit in unison,'0
whereasLicinius'officershandedout copieswiththe fomularyto the
soldiers;they readthe prayerthreetimes, promptedby the officers
(Lact.,mort.persec.46,10).In the last two instances,the formularies
clearlyexistedin writtenform,whichallowsfor the inclusionof the
wholeareaof writtenprayers.
7 E.g., Livy IX 46,6; XXXI 9,9; XXXVI 2,3; XXXIX 18,3f; XLII 28,9; Tac.,
hist. IV 53,3; cf. also the acts of the FratresArvales (108, 3-10 Pasoli, no. 5).
8 One
example is reportedby Juvenal(sat. VI 391f) who ridicules a noble Roman
lady as she consulted Janus and Vesta whetherher lover would win a poetic contest,
and thus she "coveredher head and spoke the usual words."
9
Livy IV 21,5 (in a supplicationceremony,the duumviripromptedthe formulary
for the people); XLI 21,11; Plut., Cam. 21 (the priests consecrate themselves with
a vow "following the lead of Fabius, the Pontifex Maximus"); Suetonius, Claud.
22; Tacitus,hist. I 50,3 etc. - A Jewish example is 2Makk 1,23-30: the Highpriest
Jonathanprompts a prayer which is repeated by the priests and by the rest of the
people.
10 Eusebius, vit. Const. 19f (127
Winkelmann).
Matthias Klinghardt
Graeco-RomanReferences
I beginwith the Graeco-Roman

references.A few examplesmake
apparentthatreadingandpromptinga prayerarejust two aspectsof
the same matter:Pliny directlycorrelatesboth aspectswhen saying
that prayerswere "promptedfrom a book"(nat. hist. XXVIII11).
This analogyof promptingandreadingis also impliedwhenCicero
reproachesClodiusfor recitinga prayer"withoutcolleagues(who
andwithouta book"(dom.139).
couldhavefunctionedas prompters)
Marcus
Antoninus
is praisedfor his ability
Furthermore,
emperor
to recite the prayersof the Salii "withouta prompter,becausehe
had learnedall the prayersby heart"which also presupposestheir
existencein writtenform.1 Since we have a numberof references
for the use of prayer-booksin orientalreligions12and in mystery
thatthis phenomenon
was typicalonly
cults,13it has beenmaintained
for religionsfromthe HellenisticEast,butnot for the classicalGreek
andofficialRomanreligionsinto whichbookspresumedlyhadbeen
introduced
lateras foreignelements.14
Thispicturechanges,however,
when accountingfor all the evidenceon the use of books.
11
Script.Hist. Aug. (Iul. Capitolinus),M. AntoninusIV 4 (II 140 Magie): "nemine

praeeunte, quod ipse carmina cuncta didicisset."
12
E.g., Clement of Alexandriaon the Egyptiancult: The hymn-singer"musthave
learned two books of Hermes(-Toth)by heart, one of them containing the hymns to
the gods..." (strom. VI 35,3). - Pausanias(V 27,6) mentions for the Persian cult
that the magician "sings a barbariansong which is in no way understandablefor
Greeks. He sings reading from a book (tcset
6 eXTXey6evg <E; K p3pXiou)".
13In the mysteriesreferredto by Apuleius, prayerswere recited from a book (met.
11,17). - The use of books is attestedfor the mysteries of Eleusis (Paus. VIII 15,1),
of Andania (Paus. IV 26,8; LSCG 65), and in the cult of Mithras (F. Cumont,Die
Mysteriendes Mithra, Darmstadt41963, 136ff). - Manualsand prayer-booksseem
to have played a majorrole particularlyin Orphic tradition,cf. Euripides,Hipp. 954;
Alk. 967; Demosthenes, cor. 259. Plato condemns the Orphic manuals accordingto
which the teletai are performed,obviously because such books enable the masses to
engage in religious rituals without authoritiespresent (resp. 364e).
14 G. Rohde, Die Kultsatzungender Rbmischen Pontifices (RGVV 25), Berlin
1936, 64-70.
Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation
The great number of references on the pontifical books in Roman

religion is certainly a good indication. Although these books certainly
did not contain only prayers, but alsofasti, legal documents and annalistic information, it is beyond any doubt that ritual instructions were
at least part of them - and this includes the formularies of prayers
for sacrifices and other sacral rites.15 Unfortunately, not a single copy
of those books has been preserved, and thus all conclusions remain
uncertain. The rich epigraphic evidence, however, compensates for
these losses. In order to demonstrate that sacrificial regulations with
prayer formularies were neither late nor simply an Eastern import
into Roman religion, it may suffice to refer to the Tabulae Iguvinae:
The fourteen bronze tablets contain (in Umbrian dialect) the sacrificial regulations of the city of Iguvium accompanied by a number of
prayers; as indicated by the introductory formulas, the exact wording
of the prayers was obligatory.16 A more intriguing example of written
prayer formularies is the religious carmen in the cult of the Fratres
Arvales:
The records of the years 218, 219 and 240 CE state for the second day of the
festival that the priests (sacerdotes) alone entered the building: "Locked up in
there and girded, they received the booklets and, reciting the song, they danced
according to these words: 'enos Lases iuvate [...]' After the dance, on a sign of
15
E.g., Valerius Maximus IV 1,10 (libelli).- Dionysius Halic. X 1,4 (ltpai

3pPXol);III 36,3 (cf. Livy I 32,2). - Varro,ling. lat. V 47ff; V 98; Paulus-Festus
(204 Lindsay) s.v. Opimaspolia (quotingVarroaboutthe libripontificum).- Cicero,
nat. deor. I 84 (the libri pontificii contain the names of the gods); dom. 139. Horace, ep. I 1,26 (pontificumlibri). - Sueton, div. Aug. 97,1. - Statius, silv. IV
3,141ff (evoluta charta) etc. Rohde has collected most of the relevant material (op.
cit., 14-50).
16 "Use this formula"(Tab.Iguv. IIb 23). - "Thus speak (during the libation)"
(VIa 22). - "Thus pray during the libation..." (VIb 6.26). - "Praythus..." (VIb
9). - "Recite the identical prayerwith the tri-step (dance)"(VIb 16.36). In VIa 23ff
the formularyof a lengthy prayerfollows which later is to be repeatedseveral times:
"Then speak exactly as at the Porta Trebulana"(VIb 2.4.23.44; VIIa 5). For text,
translationand commentarycf. A. J. Pfiffig, Religio Iguvina (DOAW.PH 84), Wien
1964.
Matthias Klinghardt
them, the servantsre-enteredthe building and took back the booklets."17Clearly,
these libelli contained the formularyof this importantprayer at the summit of
the three-dayfestival; handingout the hymnals had become so importantfor the
FratresArvales that the performanceof this hymn could be renderedas singing
the song (carmen dicentes) or as reading it (carmen legere in the records of
240).
The existence of sacrificialregulations with prayerformulariesin

one of the most traditionalof all Roman cults is, therefore,beyond
question and does not requirefurtherarguments.18And it is obviously
this kind of libelli about which Aulus Gellius stated:"Theprayersto
the immortal gods, as they are prayed in accordanceto Roman rite,
are writtendown in the books of the priests of the Roman people and
in most of the ancient prayer-books"(noct. Att. XIII 23,1).
Approachingthe problem of fixed formulariesfor public prayers
in Greek religion is much easier, because a lot of epigraphic evidence is well-known and has been discussed for some time. Since
the Hellenistic period, hymns, prayers, and paeans were more and
more frequentlyinscribed in stone. Among the most famous,19there
17Acts of 218 (167, I1.31-38 Pasoli, no. 88): "Ibisacerdotes clusi, succincti, libellis acceptis, carmendescindentestripodaueruntin uerba haec: 'enos Lases iuuate.. .'
[follows the text of the carmen;then:]post tripodationemdeinde signo dato publici
introier[unt]et libellos receperunt."The same procedure,althoughwithout the text
of the carmen, is reportedin the Acts of 219 (169, 11.3-4 Pasoli, no. 89), and again
in the Acts of 240 (48, 11.33-35 Pasoli, no. 100). On the text of the CarmenArvale
cf. R.G. Tanner,'The Arval Hymn and Early Latin Verse,"CIQ 11 (1961), 209-238
and E. Norden, Aus altrdmischenPriesterbiichern(ARSHL.L XXIX), Lund 1939.
18 Rohde obviously has been misled by the assumption that the cultic use of
books necessarily implies that they contained a hieros logos, as it may be the case
in some references on mystery cults mentioned above (n. 13). The fact that the libri
pontificumor caeremoniarumwould contain prayer formulariesdoes not even cross
his mind.
19 A small and arbitraryselection includes: IG IV/12, 128-134; IG II2 4473 (cf.
SEG XXIII [1968], 126); FD 1I/2, 137f.190-192; IG II2 4510; SIG3 270; L. Creta
III 2 etc. For general discussion cf. Bremmer and Kippel (both above, n. 5), and,
for the paeans from Epidauros,P. Maas, EpidaurischeHymnen,Halle 1933. Further
informationby M.P. Nilsson, GGR II (HAW V/2,2), Miinchen 31974, 60f; 372ff.
are two intriguing examples. The first is the so-called Erythraean

paean:
The stone20 from the cult of Apollo and Asclepius in Erythraecontains sacrificial instructionswhich regulate the sacrifices before and after the incubation.
Hereafter,the hymnody to go along with the sacrifices is prescribed together
with the first lines of a paean: "Everybodywho sacrifices to Asclepius and to
Apollo after the incubationor everybodywho redeems his vows with a sacrifice,
each of them shall, before he puts the holy parts (of the meat) on the altar,each
of them shall first performthe paean aroundthe altarthree times: le Paion, o ie
Paion ..." (11.30-40). On the backside of the stone are the remnantsof another
paean (1. 41-55) and the complete text of the so-called "Erythraeanpaean" (11.
56-73), followed by another paean to Seleucus (11.74-76), which was added
about 280 BCE.
Thus the stone provides a collection of cultic hymns. The sacral

instructionsin the beginningqualify them as the obligatory formularies for the cultic practice.The later additionof the paean to Seleucus
probablyintends to borrowfrom the authorityof the sacral law and
its obligation to sing all the hymns at the sacrifice after a successful healing. More important,however, is the fact that the Erythraean
paean shows up in later times at different places: In Ptolemais in
Egypt, in Athens, and in Dion in Macedonia.21Obviously, it was the
obligatory authoritythe formularyof this hymn had gained from the
cultic use in Erythraethat was responsible for its re-applicationand
furtherpropagation.
A similar "recycling"of a hymn is attestedfor a paean to Hygieia:
Not only does it exist on two inscriptionsfrom Epidaurosand from
Cassel in Germany,it also shows up in the manuscripttradition of
Athenaeus,and it is furtherattestedto by four differentauthorsof the
second and the third centuriesCE, quoting from and referringto it.22
The importanceof this example can hardly be overestimated.It provides a link between the epigraphicaland literaryevidence for hymns
and prayers,thus widening the perspectivefor the whole Greek lyric
20 .
Bonn 1973, nr. 205, 331-341.
Erythrae II (Engelmann/Merkelbach),
21 For references and literaturecf.
Kippel, op. cit. (n. 5), 193.372ff.
22 For references and literaturesee ibid. 368f.
10
Matthias Klinghardt
poetry:since the remnantsof both,the epigraphicaland the literary

and fortuitous,we do not know in how
traditions,are fragmentary
many cases literaryhymnsfoundtheir way into cultic practiceor,
vice versa,how oftencultichymnswerethe modelfor literaryreception. The fact thateven the highlyliteraryandtextuallydemanding
hymnsof Bacchylides,Simonides,and Pindarhave not been comcalls for caution:it
posedfor a readingpublic,but for performance,
is not possibleto drawa clearline betweenthe purelyliteraryand
the cultichymns.
Athenaeus'receptionof this paeanin his 'Deipnosophists'
is furthermoreinstructive:He understoodthis originallysacrificialhymn
as a sympoticpaeanwhich was to be sung duringthe libationceremonythat followedthe communalmeal and precededthe symposiumproper.Since thereis no particularconnectionto Hygieiaand
her cult, AthenaeusobviouslyconsideredHygieiapartof the classical divinetrias (next to Zeus Soter and Agathodaimon)
to whom
libationswere offered.This correspondsto the numerousvoluntary
associationswhich came into being duringthe earlyHellenisticperiodandcontinuedthroughthe Romanprincipate.Theyall hadsome
religiousintentionwhichusuallywas expressedby the prayerssung
duringthe libationceremonyin the regularmeetings:this sympotic
paeanwas, therefore,crucialfor the religiousidentityof the respective association.23
Those paeansobviouslyhad to be writtendown,
becausea hymnsungin unisoncouldotherwisenot be performed.24
Thetransformation
of this paeanto Hygieiafroma culticinto a symdid
not
invalidateits religiousquality:it was transferred
potic setting
into a formof everydayreligionof an ancientassociation.Thus,it is
not surprisingthathymnswere regardedlike valuableproperty25
or
23 On ancient associations -
religious and other - and on their libation ceremonies cf. M. Klinghardt,Gemeinschaftsmahlund Mahlgemeinschaft(TANZ 13),
Tiibingen 1996, 99-129.
24 On the problem of hymnody in unison cf. A. J. Neubecker, Altgriechische
Musik, Darmstadt1977, 64.
25 The statutes of the association of the Hymnodes of Augustus and Roma in
Pergamum grant a reduction of the entrance fee for new members, if they bring
11
that the poets of acknowledged hymns were often praised.26 The need
of such hymns was increasing, particularly in late Hellenistic and Roman Imperial times: Virtually every public event had some religious
aspects and was to be accompanied by hymns. Besides specific musical associations,27 citizens, especially children, were often required
to participate in this public hymnody.28 The education of those hymnsingers required specially trained teachers (hymnodidaskaloi), about
whom we are well informed.29
Jewish and Christian References
So far, the existence of fixed prayer formularies in Greek and Roman religion has been clearly established. The numerous Jewish and
Christian references should also be examined. Since these texts are
much more familiar, my comments shall be brief. As far as ancient
Judaism is concerned, we do have not only the canonical book of
along their fathers' hymns (I. Pergamon 374, coll. D, II. 17f). Within a sympotic
situationit is clear that each single member of the symposium contributesa skolion
of his own: Plutarch,QuConvI 5 (651b); Artemon (342 FHG fr. 10). For the idea
that hymns are a "possession"cf.: TestJob 14,lff; Philo, vit. cont. 80f; lCor 14,26;
Tertullian,apol. 39,18.
26 E.g., SIG3450; 662; IG XII/5, 812 etc. Most intriguingis a certainNedyllianus
from Laodicea/Lycus with the impressive title: ,,life-long hymn-writer"(IGR IV
1587, 11.14f).
27 The most famous examples are probablythe Milesian molpoi (LSAM50) and
the PergamenianAugustus-Roma-Hymnodes(I. Pergamon 374). Furtherexamples
include: I. Ephesus 900.901; symmolpoi from Tire (Jordanides,MDAIA24 [1899],
nr. 1); IGRII 231 (Dionysiac technitai);I. Smyrna595 (hymnodoi)etc. Many similar
associations existed in Rome, e.g., the famous collegium tibicinium et fidicinium
(CIL VI 2191ff), which performedduring public sacrifices etc. For furthermaterial
cf. Klinghardt(above, n. 23) 122ff.; Bremmer(above, n. 5) 200ff.
28 OGIS 309; LSAM 28; 33; 69 (= I. Stratonikeia 1101); IGR IV 1587; SIG3
624; Polybius IV 20,8 (young boys in Arcadiahad to memorize the ancestralpaeans
as soon as they could speak). For the hymnody of childrencf. also Hippolytus,trad.
ap. 25 (66 Botte): "Andafter dinner,they shall rise for prayer.The boys shall recite
psalms, and the girls likewise."
29 M.P. Nilsson, Die hellenistische Schule, Miinchen 1955.
12
Matthias Klinghardt
Psalmsin its variousrecensionsand expansions,but also a number

of otherhymn-collections
suchas the Psalmsof Solomon,numerous
from
and,of course,the liturgicaltextsfromthe
Qumran30
examples
Rabbinicperiodonward(includingthe statutoryprayersof the Synagogue service),the mystic prayersof the Hekhalotliterature,and
furtherexamples.31
Of particularinterestis the Mishna-tractate
Berakhotwhich containsnot only obligatoryformulariesfor different
kindsof (publicandprivate)prayers,butalso detailedinstructions
on
how to performthem.32
And Christianprayerformularies33
includenot only the Lord's
and
the
eucharistic
from
the Didacheon, but also a
Prayer
prayers
30 A substantial
part of the Dead Sea Scrolls is prayers, hymns and hymn-
collections - many more than the famous Hodayot (1QH, with frgs. 4Q427-430)
and the Benedictions (IQSb) from cave 1; cf. the references in J. Maier, "Zu Kult
und Liturgie in der Qumrangemeinde,"RdQ 14 (1989/90), 543-586, and B. Nitzan,
QumranPrayer and Religious Poetry, Leiden 1994.
31 On Jewish prayerscf. D. C. Allison, "The Silence of Angels: Reflections on
the Songs of the SabbathSacrifice,"RdQ 13 (1988), 189-197. - J.H. Charlesworth,
"JewishHymns, Odes, and Prayers(ca. 167 B.C.E. - 135 C.E.)" in: R. A. Kraft/G.
W. Nickelsburg (eds.), Early Judaism and its Modem Interpreters,Atlanta 1986,
411-436. - D. Flusser, "Hymns and Prayers,"in: Jewish Writings of the Second
TemplePeriod (CRI 2), Assen/Philadelphia1984, 551-577. - E. Grizinger, Musik
und Gesang in der Theologie der friihen jiidischen Literatur (TSAJ 3), Tibingen
1982. - J. Heinemann, Prayer in the Talmud(SJ 9), Berlin/New York 1977. S. Holm-Nielsen, "Religiose Poesie des Spitjudentums,"ANRWII 19/1, Berlin/New
York 1979, 152-186. - M. Lattke,Hymnus(above, n. 5), 97-139 (lit.!).
32 See below notes 55ff.
33 Of
greatest value is K. Berger, Art. "Gebet IV. Neues Testament",TRE 12
(1984), 47-60 (with lit.!). Furtherimportantstudies include: M. Hengel, "Das Christuslied im friihesten Gottesdienst,"in: WeisheitGottes - Weisheit der WeltI, St.
Ottilien 1987, 357-404. - idem, "The Song about Christ in the Earliest Worship,"
in: M.H., Studies in Early Christology,Edinburgh1995, 227-291. - M. Lattke,op.
cit. (n. 5), 227-371 (lit.!). - J. Quasten, Musik und Gesang in den Kulturender
heidnischen Antike und der christlichen Friihzeit (LQF 25), Miinster 1930. - C.
Schneider,"Paulusund das Gebet" Angelos 4 (1932), 11-28. - E. von Severus,op.
cit. (n. 5).
13
greatnumberof othercollectionsof hymnsandprayers,suchas the

Odes of Solomon,the prayersin Hippolytus'ApostolicTradition,
the Euchologiumof Serapionof Thmuis,the prayersin the Apostolic Constitutions,and more (not to mentionthe hymn-collections
of Ephraem,Synesius,Ambrosius,Prudentius,and others).Many
of those formularieshad an obligatorycharacter,statedsometimes
or guaranteedby legal prescriptions;
thus,
along with the prayers34
theLaodiceancanonesrestrictthehymnodyin thechurchto thechoir
andprohibit"toreciteprivatepsalmsand
of canonicalpsalm-singers
to readnon-canonical
textsin the church,butonly thecanonicalones
fromthe Old andNew Testaments."35
Origen'sdemandis, therefore,
quitetypical:"I will seem to speakdaringly:in prayerit is neces- and whoeverfails
saryto respectthe conventionalformulations"
to do so mustbe awareof severesanctionswhichmay includeeven
excommunication.36
In conclusion,viewingprayersin ancientreligionsaffordsa surprisinglyhomogenouspicture:in virtuallyall religioustraditionsand

in the most differentsituations,all kinds of publicprayershad to
be recitedin accordancewith an obligatoryformulary:the praying
personswere not free to choose the wordsandformulationsof their
prayersfor themselves,but instead,they were requiredto use "cer-
34 Beside the mandatorycharacterof the Lord's Prayer cf. also the similar prescriptionsin Did 9,1; 10,1 (10,8 copt.). For the later stages one would like to add
the liturgicalagendas.
35 can. 15 and 58 (74.78 ed. Lauchert).
Similarly can. 23 of the third council of
and
12
of the second council of Mileve (416
can.
Carthago(396 ce; 166 Lauchert)
ce; IV 330 Mansi).
36 Origen, Dial. c. Heracl. (62ff Scherer, SC 67, Paris 1960); the necessity to
agree on the prayer formulariesrefers to the eucharistic "oblation."The following
passage concerningthe sanctions for people using differentformulariesis hopelessly
corrupt(I follow the conjecturesmade by Scherer);it is clear, however,that they are
arrangedin steps: a bishop or a priest will be removed from his office, "a deacon
will not be a deacon anymoreand not even a layman, a layman will not be a layman
anymoreand will not be admittedto the assemblies at all."
14
Matthias Klinghardt
tain words"37which could be provided either by a prompter,or by
readingthe formularyfroma writing,or by both.Therefore,Servius'

judgmenton Romanprayersmustbe appliedto theotherreligioustraditionsin antiquityas well: "Inprayersnothingmaybe ambiguous!"
(Aen.VII 120).
II. Magic Characterand Efficacy of Prayers
The reasonfor the omnipresent

use of formulariesis easily recogof prayersthatrequiresa particular,
nizeable:it is the magiccharacter
fixed wording.The prayercreatesa specialconnectionbetweenthe
worldof the prayingpersonandthe divinesphereandfromthereit
drawspowerand efficacy.The mechanismof prayersis, therefore,
basically the same as in magic spells: they work ex opere operato
and need the particular"magicwords"which,like a key, allow admissionto and connectionwith the divinesphere.This explanation,
althoughbasicallycorrect,remainsneverthelesssterileand pale. To
the religiousmentalityof
get an adequatepictureandto understand
an
of
its
contexts
and
an analysisof its related
prayers, exploration
aspectsand problemsis necessary.For only then will the abstract
explanation"magiccharacter"
gain shape.
False Prayers and ImproperRecitation
Thatprayersmustbe unambiguous,
as Serviusstates,relatesfirst
of all to the problemof efficacy:like a sacrificenot performedacrecitedprayerdoes not havethe
cordingto regulations,an improperly
intendedeffect and mustbe repeated.Livy reportsan incidentat the
Latinaefestivalin Lanuvium(176 BCE) in which the officialshad
failedto includethe formula"Forthe RomanPeopleof the Quirites"
(populoRomanoQuiritium)into a sacrificialprayer.The senateand
the pontificalboarddecidedthe sacrificemust be repeated(at the
37
E.g.: Pliny, nat. hist XXVIII 11; Seneca, ep. 67,9; Cicero, nat. deor. II 10; har.
resp. 23; Macrob.,sat. III 9,3; Ovid, fast. 8,387; Arobius, adv. nat. IV 31; Juvenal,
sat. VI 392; Paulus-Festus(78 Lindsay) s.v. Fanum: certa verbafatur etc.
15
expense of the city of Lanuvium), "quia non recte factae Latinae
situaessent"(Livy XLI 16,1). Plutarchmentionsan extraordinary

tion in which "a single sacrificehas been performedthirtytimes,
becausetime andagainsome failureor offensewas thoughtto have
occurred"
(Coriol.25,3). Evidently,sacrificeswithfalseprayerswere
consideredas ineffectiveas sacrificeswithoutprayersat all,38andit
is not surprisingthatimproperrecitationof publicprayersplayeda
significantrole amongpossiblemistakesat sacrificialceremonies.39
An intriguingandwell-knownexamplefor the inefficiencyof an improperprayeris the lawsuitover Cicero'shouse.
When Cicero was in exile, his political opponent Clodius destroyed Cicero's
house and dedicated a part of his Roman premises on the Palatine hill to the
goddess Libertas. In the following year the senate, alienatedby Clodius' behavior, decided to call Cicero back, to compensatefor his losses, and to returnall his
propertyto him.40Clodius objected against the latter:once something was dedicated to the gods, it was res sacra and could not be taken from them again. The
senate transferredthe whole matter to the collegium pontificum where Clodius
and Cicero were to explain theirpositions. In his speech "de domo sua" addressing this pontifical board, Cicero argued that his premises never really belonged
to the goddess, because the dedication was invalid: even if the procedure had
been legal, nothing validatedthe actions of "an unexperiencedyoung man, who
only recently had been appointedto priesthood,... without colleagues, without
books, without a prompter,withoutthe (ritual)baker,secretly,with clouded spirit
and a halting voice (mente ac lingua titubante)[...] You were told..., how this
one used a distortedformula(praeposterisverbis), and how he - amid inauspicious omens, constantlycorrectinghimself, by fearful and falteringhesitationpronouncedphrases and performedrites entirely different from those contained
in your documents"(dom. 139f).
38
Pliny, nat. hist. XXVIII 11: victimas caedi sine precatione non videtur referre.
39 E.g., Cicero, har resp. 23; Amobius of Sicca, adv. nat. IV 31 etc.
40 In 58 BCE (after Caesar had left for Gallia) the tribune Clodius
passed a
decree banishing everybody who had put a Roman citizen to death without a trial;
this was meant for Cicero having executed Catilina and his co-conspirators. In a
second decree, Clodius mentioned Cicero's name, banishing him 400 miles from
Rome; Cicero left Rome for Thessalonica. The law lifting the ban on Cicero dates
from Aug. 4, 57 BCE.
16
Matthias Klinghardt
Since the whole affair had a deeply political character,one may ask how convincing this particularargumentmay have been. But the collegium pontificum
was consulted for its expert opinion on religious matters, not for a political
statement,and Cicero providedthe necessary argumentsfitting the religious categories. In the end the pontificalboard and subsequentlythe senate gave a ruling
in Cicero's favor.
Cicero'sargumentdoesnotrelyonly on Clodius'use
Interestingly,
of a false or incompleteformulary,
butalso on his poorandunsatisfactory pronunciation-
he stuttered(se ipse revocans), spoke with
a haltingvoice (linguatitubante),andlackedthe necessaryfirmness

of mind, voice, and tongue (neque mens neque vox neque lingua con-
sisteret):a correctrecitationof the formularywouldincludea clear

andfluentpronunciation.
Pliny,for instance,reportsthatthepontifex
Metellus,who hadan enunciationhandicap(he stutteredon behalfof
a "strangledtongue"),torturedhimselffor manymonthspracticing
the properformularyfor the dedicationof the OpsOpiferasanctuary
(nat. hist. XI 174). In Latinthe "clearor solemnvoice"(vox clara,
sollemnisetc.) evenbecamea technicaltermfor the properrecitation
of prayers;thus, Ovid can state:sollemni satis est voce moverepreces
(fast. 6,622).41
A prayer'sefficacywas,therefore,invalidated
not onlyby thefalse
or interrupted42
recitation,but also by the poorandstammering
pronunciation.ThisexplainsPliny'sdescription
of the sophisticated
mannerfor thepublicperformance
of prayerswhichrequireda numberof
assistants.Firstthereis the prompterwho readsthe formularyfrom
a book in orderto avoid skippingor misplacinga word.A second
personmuststandby as a guardto overseethe properprocedure.A
41
E.g., Livy X 18,16; 36,11; XXXIX 15,2; Cicero, dom. 122; pro Murena I 1;
Seneca, ep. 67,9; cons. ad Marc. 13,1; Val. Maximus V 10,1; Statius, silv. IV 3,142;
Apuleius, met. 11,16; Pliny, ep. 35; Script. Hist. Aug. Anton. Heliog. 15 etc.
42 A famous example was pontifex Pulvillus' dedication of the Capitol: During
the ceremony he was told about his son's death;he nevertheless "pretendedthat he
did not even hear the message and finished the solemn words of the pontifical song,
not even with a moan interruptingthe prayer"(Seneca, cons. ad Marc. 13,1; cf. Livy
I 8).
17
thirdpersonhas to makesureeverybodyis quiet,a fourthone must

play the fluteso thatno soundotherthanthe prayermay be heard.
Thefifthpersonis theone whoactuallyprays,repeatingtheprompted
so Plinyconcludes,how oftenmisIt is well to remember,
formulary.
takesin thoseprayershavecausedseveredamage.Thatfalse prayer
can evenbe dangerousis clearfromthe case of kingTullusHostilius
who madea mistakein an invocationto Jupiterandwas struckby a
lightning.43
Thisdescriptionspringsfroma clearconceptionof whatwas truly
requiredin orderfor prayersto be effective:Sinceany soundmayaffectthegods,everybodypresentatpublicceremoniesmustbe silent,44
and even the soundof non-humanoriginmay disturb(andthus invalidate)the prayer- includingthe squeakingof mice! Evenif this
it is
exampleis exceptional,fittingonly the ceremonyof auspices,45
clearthattheeffectof a prayerwasdependenton the wordsthatwere
actuallyspokenratherthanthosetheprayingpersonhadin mind.This
differentiation
is interestingand important.It accounts,by the way,
for the fact that(public)prayerswere usuallyrecitedaudibly:silent
Since their contentscould not be conprayerswere suspicious.46
43 Pliny, nat. hist. XXVIII 11-14. The whole passage (10-29) played a majorrole
in the discussion, cf. A. Biumer, "Die Macht des Wortes in Religion und Magie
(Plin., Nat. Hist. 28,4-29)," Hermes 112 (1984), 84-99; Th. Koves-Zulauf, Reden
und Schweigen:Rimische Religion bei Plinius Maior (STA 12), Miinchen 1972, and
others.
44 Thuc. VI 32;
Aristophanes,Thesm. 295ff; Plutarch, Coriol. 25,2; Ovid, met.
15,677.680 ("Whoeverpresent, watch your mind and tongue... Whoever present,
repeat the words of the priest!")etc.
45
Pliny, nat. hist. VIII 223: "For we have our records full of instances of the
auspices being interruptedby the squeaking of shrews."On the silence during the
prayersparticularlyof the auspices, cf. Livy XLI 16,1; Plut., Coriol. 25,3; PaulusFestus s.v. caduca auspicia (56 Lindsay), and G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultusder
Romer (HAW IV 5), Miinchen21912 = repr. 1971, 530.
46 In Graeco-Romanantiquity praying out aloud was normal, whereas praying
inaudibly was always connected to particularsituations only. P.W. van der Horst,
"Silent Prayer in Antiquity,"Numen 41 (1994), 1-25, collected ample evidence for
these exceptions and demonstratedthatthis picturechanged in Roman Imperialtimes,
18
Matthias Klinghardt
trolled,theyborethe odourof illicit ritual.Thisis the basicrationale

for Plato'scritiqueof privaterituals(above,n. 13) as well as for the
accusationagainstApuleiusin 155 CE:"Youutteredsilentprayersto
the gods in a temple, you are a magus" (apol. 54,5).47The distinction
between(legitimate)audibleand (illicit) silentprayersrequiredthe

prescription:"uti lingua nuncupassit,ita ius esto" (XII Tab. 6,1). The
fact thatthe effect of prayersdependedon whatwas actuallysaid,

not on whatthe prayingpersonhad in mindis demonstrated
by an
incidentreportedby Livy when (in 304 BCE) Cn. Flaviusillegally
dedicatedthe templeof Concordia:"CorneliusBarbatus,thepontifex
maximus,was forcedby unanimousdemandof the peopleto prompt
the formulary,
althoughhe explainedthat,accordingto ancestralcusa
or an imperatorcould dedicatea temple"- the
consul
tom, only
efficacyof the prayer(and, thus, the validityof the dedication)is
independentof Barbatus'intentions:only the wordingcounts.48
These ideas on prayers'effectiveness,however,are not particularto Romanreligion.A correlationbetweenclearpronunciation
and
of
similar
to
the
of
the
conCicero-Clodius
efficacy prayers,
example
in an anecdoteaboutR. Chaninaben Dosa
troversy,is demonstrated
in the Mishna.R. Chaninaknewin advancewhethera prayerfor the
sick was efficientor not, and he could thus say: this one will live,
thisone will die. Whenhe was asked,how he knew,he answered:"If
my prayeris fluentin my mouth,then I knowhe will be accepted.
If it is not fluent,thenhe will not be accepted"(Ber V 5b).49This
anecdoteillustratesthe regulationsaboutthe properrecitationof the
dailyprayers(BerIV.V),in whichwe findclose analogiesto mostof
due to the deep influence of Neoplatonic ideas about the noetic, immaterialcharacter
of the divine sphere (ibid. lOff).
47 For the wider context of this
problem cf. H. G. Kippenberg,"Magic in Roman Civil Discourse: Why Rituals Could Be Illegal," in: P. Schafer, H.G.K. (eds.),
EnvisioningMagic, Leiden 1997, 137-163 (on Apuleius: 143ff).
48 Livy IX 46,6. Bileam's problem in Num 23f is similar:he can only say what
is given to him by God (23,13); had he cursed Israel, the curse would be effective.
49 Cf. Sh.
Naeh, "Createsthe Fruit of Lips: A PhenomenologicalStudy of Prayer
according to Mishnah Berakhot4:3, 5:5," Tarbiz63 (1993/94), 185-218.
19
the aspects already mentioned for Roman religion. The proper formulary (in this case: of the tefillah) must be recited in full (Ber IV 3),
it must be spoken clearly,50 the prayer must not be interrupted even
during severe situations (Ber V 1), the prompter's public prayer must
be flawless (and in case, he makes a mistake, somebody else must
take over his position, Ber V 3b), and erroneous or false recitation
is a dangerous omen.51 These references, proving the importance of
the proper recitation of prayers in Rabbinic Judaism, are not exceptional, but normal, based on the well-known correspondence between
heaven and earth: whatever happens in heaven has an effect on earth,
and vice versa. It is easy to imagine that in Talmudic times certain
prayers were considered to have an immediate and automatic effect
on God.52 Due to the sophisticated angelology (and the angels' inclination for misunderstanding) this is true not only for prayers proper,
but also for unintentional utterances.
A very instructive example for the effectiveness of unintenional utterances is
the midrashicinterpretationof Jacob's words that whoever had Laban's gods in
possession should not live, not knowing thatRachel had takenthem (Gen 31,32).
Since this phrase, althoughmeant as a mere assertion of innocence, is in fact a
self-inflicted curse, the midrashimmade up a connection between this curse and
Rachel's prematuredeath (Gen 35,18f). They explained this connection as an
50 One
example is the discussion on the pronunciationof the Sema' in Ber II 3:
R. Yose considers the recitation"withoutdistinguishingthe letters" as sufficient, R.

Judahdoes not. The discussion between R. Obadiahand Raba in bBer 15b (Bar.) is
concerned with the spaces between the letters which must be pronouncedaudibly,
e.g., in 'I Ibbk"on your heart"(Dtn 6,6): The two "r' must be kept apart(with further
similar examples); cf. also DtnR 2 (199b); pBer 2 (4b) 40; 2 (4d) 44 etc.
51 Ber V 5a; cf. above, n. 43 and
3En(hebr) 40,2ff: Metatron explains to R.
Ishmael that each of the angels reciting the "Holy!" in the correct orderwill receive
three crowns as a reward. When, however, they "do not recite the 'Holy!' in its
(proper)order,a consuming fire is coming forwardfrom the little fingerof the Holy,
praisedbe He! The fire falls into the middle of their numbers... and consumes them
all at once."
52 E.g., Job 22,28 (cf. bKet 103b); bMQ 16b; bShab 63a; bBM 85a. 106a; bTaan
23a; pTaan 3 (67a) 12. For the whole problem cf. J. Z. Lauterbach,'The Belief in
the Power of the Word,"HUCA 14 (1939), 287-302.
20
Matthias Klinghardt
"assumptionthat (the curse) came from the Ruler" (QohR to 10,4; GenR 78,6)
wich implies: the angels misinterpretedthis utterance as a divine order, acted
accordingly,and caused Rachel's death.53Jacob, of course, never intended this
outcome, but his words were heard as a prayer and thus fulfilled.
Intensityof HomophonicPrayer
So far,the interdependence
betweenthe prayers'efficacyandtheir
exactrecitationaccordingto theprescribedformularyhas beenillustrated,andnot only in regardto paganprayers.One moreimportant
aspect,however,needs to be mentioned.Most of the materialpresentedso far refersto public prayersof individuals,but not to the
the importanceof commonprayer,
prayersof groups.To understand
it is useful to pay attentionto the variouspossibilitiesof performing commonprayers.Thereare differentoptions:(1) Homophonic
repetition:The prompterrecites the formularystichus by stichus, the
grouprepeatseach singleline in unison.This was probablythe most

commonmode,it fits the structureof the Greekhymnwith its short,
asyndeticlines.54(2) Homophonicresponseis attestedfor Jewishand
Christianprayersonly: the prompteralone recitesthe entireprayer;
the groupdoes not repeatsingle lines of the formulary,but instead
it by a commonresponsein unison.Mostcommonwas
incorporates
the Amenresponse,buttherearea numberof otherexamples,partic(3) Antiphonicrecitationin syntheticparallelisms:
ularlyin litanies.55
53 Even clearer is this connection in Pirqe de R. Eliezer 36 (84b) or in Midrash
ha-gadol (to Gen 31,32) ed. S. Schechter,Cambridge 1902, 492. Similar references
about unintentionalutterancestaken for prayersinclude:pShab 14 (14d) 4; 16 (15c)
1;pSotah 9 (24c) 16; bMQ 18a; bKet 23a; bBM 68a; QohRto 10,4. For more details
see Lauterbach,op. cit., n. 52, 297f. with n. 46.
54
Dolger (op. cit., n. 3, 244) suggests that the Decii's devotion was recited in
a stichus form. It would fit the prayer in 2Makk 1,23-30 or the prayers ConstApost
VII 36f as well.
55 For the Amen
response cf., e.g., bSota 39b (for the recitationof the tefillah) or
Justin, lapol 67,5 etc. The Amen was usually promptedby a doxology, e.g., in the
prayersof the Didache or in the Lord's Prayer (Mattheanversion). Besides Amen,
the hallelujah is a typical response (for the recitationof the Hallel-psalms 113-118
21
The recitation of the formulary is divided between a prompter and

a choir or between two choirs. This form, which is attested, e.g.,
for the recitation of the sema' in synagogue-worship56 or the angelic
praise in heaven,57 clearly presupposes that the whole group knows
the entire formulary by heart. This is also true for (4) homophonic
recitation: in this case, the group or choir jointly recites the entire
formulary without a prompter, either by heart or by reading from a
book.58 This is what Tertullian had in mind when he distinguished the
Christian prayer de pectore from the Roman prayer monitore (praeeunte), and he is most probably referring to the Lord's Prayer whose
formulary, instituted with a maximum of authority, existed in written
form.
The different possibilities for reciting a given formulary59 create
a problem that has received much attention in Rabbinic Judaism.
Since only the homophonic recitation in unison is, literally speaking,
a common prayer, the interest concentrates on the question whether
a simple response can be considered a valid prayer. The unanimous
answer is that the common response resembles a vital and substantial
participation in the common prayer and, therefore, must be seen as
which were recited duringmost festivals, cf. SukkaIII 10). According to pShab 16,1
(15c) the prompterrecitedthe text of the psalms and the congregationrespondedafter
each half-stichus,all in all 123 times! For Christanuse cf. Hippolytus' regulationson
the lucerarium, trad ap. 25 (66 Botte). Furtherexamples for responses and litanies
are mentioned by Heinemann(n. 31) 144ff.
56 E.g., Tos. Sota VI 3. The modes of recitation of the ?ema' are subject to a
lenghty debate, cf. the materialcollected by H.L. Strack,P. Billerbeck, Kommentar
zum Neuen Testamentaus Talmudund Midrasch IV/1, Munchen 31961, 189-207;
see furtherR. Kimelman, "The Shema' and Its Rhetoric:From CovenantCeremony
to Coronation,"in: David Halivni WeissJubilee Volume(forthcoming,non vidi).
57 Usually in interpretationsof Isa 6,3, cf. in the Sepher Ha-Razim (ed. M.
Margalioth,Jerusalem 1966, 90 11. 179f): "They stand half against half, one half
singing, the other half chantingin antiphone;"cf. also Neh 12,24; 2Chr 5,12f; 7,6.
58 MidrCant8,14 (134a) atteststhis form for the recitationof the gema': 'The Israelites recite the Sema'with one mouth, with one voice, with one pronunciation..."
59 In Tos. Sota VI 2f
they are all mentioned in a discussion of the appropriate
mode for the recitationof the song Ex 15,1-18.
22
Matthias Klinghardt
completely equivalentto the recitationof the prayerby a prompter60

- which incidentallyimplies that errorsmade by the prompterrevert
back to the congregation who hired him (Ber V 5a). Subsequently,
the clear and proper pronunciationof the Amen-response became
an importantissue: the Amen must not be "orphaned"(i.e. it is not
permitted to recite the Amen without having heard the preceding
benediction), it must not be "cut off" (probablyreferring to clearly
pronouncingthe final letter), it must be spoken not too fast, not too
quiet nor too loud, but in exactly the same voice as the benedictionto
which it responds.61The visible efforts to equate antiphonicresponses
with homophonic recitation indicate that this equivalence was not
generally accepted.
Indeed, the unisonous prayerwas considered particularlyvaluable
for a simple reason: it was more effective than the prayer of single
persons. A fragmentby Petronius states bluntly: "We too will strike
the stars with words in unison; the saying is that prayerstravelmore
valiantly when united."62It is, therefore,only wise to recite a prayer
in unison, if it asks for something extraordinary.63
Athanasius used this idea of the increased effect of homophonic prayerin his
apology. He defends himself againstthe charge that he had celebrateda worship
service in a church still under constructionand not yet consecrated:"Shouldwe
60 E.g., DtnR 7,1 (203d): "There is nothing which the Holy One - Blessed
be He! - values more than the 'Amen' with which Israel responds."- bBer 53b
("Greateris he who answers 'Amen' than he who pronouncesthe benediction").
bShab 119b ('The gates of paradiseare open for anyone who responds 'Amen' with
all his might"). - bNaz 66a; bShab 119b; pShebiit 4 (35c) 31.34 etc. Among the
Christianwitnesses is Clement of Alexandria:"We raise our heads, extend our hands
toward heaven, and stand up on tiptoes reciting the final words of the prayer,for
we want to follow our spirit up into the spiritualworld" (strom. VII 40,1: GCS 17,
30,20f).
61
E.g., Tos.Meg IV 27; bBer 47a (Bar.);pBer 8 (12c) 42; pSukka 3 (54a) 11 etc.
62 Petronius,
fr. 92 (96 Baehrens, Poetae Latini minores IV, Leipzig 1882 =
Biichele XLII): "Nos quoque confusis feriemus sidera verbis /fama est coniunctas
fortius ire preces" (transl. by M. Heseltine in the LCL-edition).
63 E.g., Pindar,Pyth. 3,1-4: "Oh, I wish that Chiron, son of Philyra, were still
alive, if we are permittedto pray with our tongue a commonprayer ..."
23
divide the people and tear it apartin a dangerouscrush?Was it not better,since

a room big enough for all was already at hand, to assemble there and to raise
one and the same voice in the symphony of the people? The latter was better,
for it also showed the unanimityof the crowds: thus God hears quickly. For if
according to the Saviour's promise only two unite their voices, everythingthey
ask for will be granted (Mt 18,19f), how much more then, when from so many
gatheredpeople one single voice is raised when they call to God the 'Amen'?"64
In Jewish and Christiancontexts the homophonic prayer is often

combined with the idea of the joint prayer with the angels of the
heavenly court.65In this respect, it is not only understandablethat
a fixed prayer text is required,it is also clear that this joint prayer
affords an increased effect: since the earthlyprayermingles with the
angels' heavenly praise, it is certainly heard. Again, the underlying
concept is the correspondencebetween heaven and earth,in this case
the correspondencebetween earthly and heavenly service.66As it is
64 Athanasius,
Apologia ad imperatoremConstantium16 (105,14ff Szymusiak).
65 Besides the
militarysupplicationof Constantine(above, n. 10: the army prays
"& ?v65acuv0quacroco
6ibo0") cf. by way of example: Isa 52,8; Job 31,8; lEn(eth)
47,2; 61,10f; Asclsa 7,15; 9,28; 1QH III 20ff.; XI 11ff.; XVIII 23; IClem 34,7; Ignatius,Eph 4, f. Examples from the ancient churchinclude:ApcPetr4,19 (fragments
from Akhmim, E. Klostermann,ApocryphaI [KIT 3], Bonn 21908, 10): "They who
lived there had the same glory and with one voice they praised the Lord."- Gregory Nazianzen, Carm. lib. II, sect. I 1, 280 (PG 37, 991); the angelic choirs send
their hymns to God "singing with many mouths, but yet with one united voice."
- Cyprianof Antioch, Confessio 17: "Then we went into the church and saw the
choir, which resembled a choir of heavenly god-men or a choir of angels, praising
God. They added to each single vers a Hebrew word with one voice, so that one
might believe they were not (a multiplicity of) men, but rather one single rational
being sounding wonderfully ..." (quoted by Quasten, op. cit. n. 33, 99f n. 27). On the heavenly cult see E. Peterson, "Der himmlische Kultus in Kapitel 4 und 5
der Geheimen Offenbarung,"BiLe 1 (1934), 297-306, and the commentarieson Rev
4f. Interestingly,the Muses, who typologically and functionallyresemble the angels
in Jewish texts, are said to praise Zeus in unison (Hesiod, theog. 39).
66 On the cultic
community between angels and Israel cf. B. Ego, Im Himmel
wie auf Erden (WUNT II/34), Tibingen 1989, 62-72 (with interesting Rabbinic
references); M. Weinfeld, "The Heavenly Praise in Unison" in: I. Seybold (ed.),
Meqor Hayyim (FS G. Molin), Graz 1983, 427-433.
24
Matthias Klinghardt
well known, this concept was adapted not only in Jewish mystic
literature,but also in the liturgies since antiquity,and to this day is
expressed in most Christianchurches by the introductoryformula of
the Sanctus in the thanksgivingprayerof the eucharisticliturgy.67
Sociological Aspects
It is, of course, not accidentalthat in early Christianitythe eucharistic prayersin particularexisted in fixed formulariesfor homophonic
recitation:The prayerfollowing the communal meal emphasizedthe
religious identityof the respectivecommunityand expressedthe unity
of its members. In early Christianitythe unity-motif of the homophonic prayer68was developed in close analogy to the sacramental
imagery of the one breadreflected upon in respective prayers.69And
in contrast to a widespread assumption it is worth noting that the
fixation of obligatory formularies for those prayers is not a "late"
67ForJewishreferencescf.,
(4Q400-407etc. ed.
e.g., theShirot'olatha-Shabbat
C. Newsom,Songsof theSabbathSacrifice,Atlanta1985)or the Hekhalot-literature
(P. Schafer[ed.],SynopsezurHekalot-Literatur
[TSAJ2], Tiibingen1981),and,in
the
M.
material
collected
Weinfeld
(ibid.,429ff). To be added,e.g.,
particular,
by
PesR20 ?11,4(97a):Theangels"speakwithone singlevoice (bph'hd'mrym)."
Sincethe Trishagion
is at the centerof the Christianeucharisticliturgy,it is present
in all liturgicaltraditions.
68E.g.,Cyprian,or.domin.8 ("Theteacherof peace... objectedto prayingsingly
and separately,
so that,if somebodyprays,he only praysfor himself... Publicand
commonis ourprayer,andwhenwe pray,we praynot for one person,butfor the
wholepeople,for we arethe wholeandone people");Hippolytus,trad.ap. 35 (82
Botte):it is betterto "rushinto the churchwherethe spiritis alive"thanto pray
privatelyat homeetc.
69 Most clearlyin lCor 10,16:the two relativeclauses (the cup of blessing)
"whichwe bless"and(thebread)"whichwe break"referto the prayergesturesover
the cup at the end of the meal and over the breadat its beginning;thoseprayers
create the specific, christologicallyqualified KOlvovia of the congregation.Further
referencesinclude the One-bread-metaphor
of early Christianprayers,e.g., Ign., Eph
Did
of
20,2;
9,4; Serapion Thmuis, Euchol. XIII 13 (II 175 Funk); (Ps)Athanasius,
de virgin. 13 (47 von der Goltz); P. Der-Balizeh I verso 3ff (26 Roberts-Capelle);
Cyprian,ep. 63,13 (m1/2,712 Hartel) etc.
25
development of the third century.70Instead, the prayer formularies

of the Didache prove that this phenomenon is much older and may
even reach back to the Pauline eucharisticprayers:the fact that their
formulariesare not preserveddoes not mean thatthey never existed.71
The eucharisticprayers,the pagan sympotic paeans, and the Jewish grace after meals (the birkatha-maz6n)resemble each other in at
least three aspects. First, there is an identical mode of performance:
all prayers were recited in unison.72Secondly, they were sung for
the same occasions: in pagan symposia the paeans accompaniedthe
libation ceremony as the sacrificialprayerfor the wine offering from
the krater;the Jewish birkatha-maz6nwas recited over a cup of wine
after the meal, and the Christianeucharisticprayerwas recited "likewise, after the meal" (ICor 11,25 etc.). And finally, this prayerafter
the meal secured the religious identity of the group:differentgroups
have different prayers. This motif may not have been as important
in pagan antiquity,but for ancient Judaism and early Christianityit
was often critical: in JosAs, for example, Joseph's Jewish identity
is expressed by his praise of the living God; this is illustrated by
the sympotic blessings over the bread, the wine, and the ointment
70
E.g., W. Geerlings, TraditioApostolica (FChr 1), Freiburg/Basel/Wienetc.

1991, 193: For the time of Hippolytus (around 200 CE) it was natural that the
bishop could recite the eucharisticprayers at his will and ability.
71 Cf. Chr. Burchard,"The Importanceof Joseph and Aseneth for the Study of
the New Testament,"NTS 33 (1987), 102-134: 126: 'The eucharisticblessings (i.e.
of ICor 11,26) must have had some appiopriatewording, but we do not know what
it was, unless Did 9f. permits a guess."
72 Cf. Plutarch, QuConvI 1,5 (615a/b): as opposed to the monodic skolia, they
"first sang the song of the god, all together performingwith one voice the paean."
Philochorus(328 FGrHist fr. 172) points out that duringthe libations in earliertimes
no (dionysiac) dithyrambswere sung; instead "they honored Dionysus by wine and
drunkenness,but Apollo (i.e. Apollo Paean) (by songs) in quiet and good order"the dithyrambswere considered passionate and restless, the paean is sung in well
arrangedmeasures (Plutarch,de El 389a). On the birkatha-mazoncf. L. Finkelstein,
"The Birkat Ha-Mazon" JQR 19 (1928/29), 211-262; Klinghardt(op. cit., n. 23),
418ff.
26
Matthias Klinghardt
(referringto the sympotic anointment).73Since eating, drinking,and

sympotic anointmentis not a Jewish particularity,the implied opposition to Aseneth refers to the specific Jewish blessings recited for
dinner, libation, and symposium. Interestingly,the demarcationbetween Jews and Non-Jews is not definedby circumcision,by Sabbath
observance,or by ritual regulations,but by the particularwording of
the benedictions within the context of a communal meal: What the
community stands for is defined by its sympotic prayers.
This idea is not unique:a numberof Christianreferences74indicate
that the particularwording of the eucharistic prayers distinguishes
between orthodoxy and heterodoxy:
Irenaeusblames a Gnostic heretic for his illegitimate extensions of the invocation's formulary(adv. haer. I 13,2).75 Cyprian attacks a Novatian bishop who
"raises unauthorizedvoices in a rival liturgy (precem alteram illicitis vocibus
facere)" (de unit. eccl. 17). At the same time, bishop Firmiliancomplains about
a Cataphrygianprophetesswho pretended"to sanctify the bread,to celebratethe
Eucharist,and to offer the sacrificeto the Lord withoutthe mysteryof the regular
prayerformulary(sine sacramentosolitae praedicationis offerret)"(Cyprian,ep.
75,10,5). And Basil of Caesarea,arguingagainstthe Pneumatomachians,considers the properrecitationof the doxology in the form "throughthe Son, with the
Spirit"as sufficient proof for orthodoxy,whereas the Pneumatomachianswould
prefer the wording "throughthe Son in the Spirit"(de spirito sancto 3).76 Basil
finds the ultimate argumentin the fathers' agreementon his preferredversion;
one of his witnesses is Dionysius of Alexandria- who, not surprisinglyand
now on his part, relies on the same agreementbetween the wording of his own
prayers and those of the fathers before him in his defense against the charge
of Sabellianism:"We formulate our thanksgivingin unison (6Lo`p6voq;) with
them."77
73 JosAs 8,5, cf. also 8,9; 15,5; 16,16; 19,5; 21,13f.21.
74 Collected by. R.P.C.Hanson, "The Liberty of the Bishop to ImprovisePrayer,"
VigChr 15 (1961), 173-176.
75 Hanson, op. cit., 173, erroneously has I 7,2. The passage is preserved by
Epiphanius,haer. 34,1-3 (GCS 31,5ff).
76 Basile de Cesaree, Sur le Saint-Esprited. B. Pruche (SC 17 bis), Paris 21968,
257.
77 Basil, de
spirito sancto 72 (504 Pruche).The quotationis from Dionysius' lost
Refutatioet Apologia.
27
The Christianuses of obligatoryformulariesin particularillustrate

the well-known dimensions of religious and of social identity which
are indispensable for any group's self-definition. The formulary of
the eucharisticprayerhas an integrating,consolidating function with
regardto internalrelationships:the homophonic recitationrepresents
the congregation'sunity, and its wording usually contains at least a
trace of, if not an explanationof, the original reason for the group's
solidarity.78Moreover, the particularformulariesmark a distinction
which excludes outsiders and highlights those boundarieswhich define the community. Since all the major dogmatic argumentsof the
early church had liturgical implications - leaving such traces in
prayers and doxologies -, I claim that it is possible to establish
a comprehensive heresiology of early Christianityby applying the
phenomenonof obligatoryformularies.79
That the particularwording of importantprayersreaffirmsinternal
relations and excludes all outsiders is, of course, the case not only
for the eucharistic prayers. The Lord's Prayer, for example, is not
only introducedas an obligatory formulary,but also functions as one
of the Christian differentia specifica, distinguishing the Christians'
prayerfrom that of other groups. Thus, the paraenesisconnected to
the Lord'sprayermandates:not like the hypocrites(Mt 6,5; Did 8,2),
not like the paganswho babble and "makemany words"(Mt 6,7), and
not like the disciples of John the Baptist (Lk 11,1) - the Christians
need a prayerof their own!80
78
E.g., the body-metaphorand the one-bread-motifin the texts mentioned above

(n. 69) etc. On the sociological function of homophonic prayercf. also A. Dohmes,
"Die Einstimmigkeitdes Kultgesangsals Symbol der Einheit" Liturgie und Monchtum 1 (1948), 67-72.
79 Cf.
Hippolytus' regulationin trad. ap. IV copt. (6f Till/Leipoldt):any bishop
may pray according to his ability. "He must only pray strictly in the true faith
(6p0986o0o)."
80 For the distinctive function of

hymnody as the borderlinebetween Christians
and pagans cf., e.g., PsClement'sprohibitionfor Christiansto performhymns in the
presence of pagans: "We celebrate the praise of God with utmost discipline... We
do not performthe sacred cult there... we do not sing for gentiles, nor do we read
28
Matthias Klinghardt
by prayermaynothavebeenas crucialfor
Althoughself-definition
thephenomenon
paganantiquityas forJudaismandearlyChristianity,
different
fromthe
are
Saliaria
The
is nonethe less present: Carmina
CarmenArvale;the MilesianMolpoihave songs of theirown as do
the Pergamenian
Hymnodesof AugustusandRoma;the dithyrambs
sung by the manyassociationsof Dionysiactechnitaidifferedfrom
the paeansperformedin the cults of Asclepiusand Apollo, and so
on.81Thateverygroup,cult, or religioustraditionhadtheirown particularprayerformulariesis simplythe inevitableresultof the fact
that a given deity, in everypossible situation,requireda particular
prayer:"Differentare the wordsfor conjuration,differentfor avertand we see the highestmagistrates
ing, differentfor confirmations,
with
prayers"(Pliny,nat. hist. XXVIII11).
begging
particular
Therefore,the use of fixedformulariesis ultimatelybasedon one
for the respectivedeity,for
motifonly:a prayermustbe appropriate
the particularsituation,for the prayingperson,and in its contents.
And only the appropriate
prayerwill producethe intendedeffect.An
recitation witha falseformulary,
misplacedphrases,
inappropriate
even
ineffective
and
is
or inarticulate
dangerous.Of
pronunciation
course,not all the aspectsdiscussedso far applyequallyto Greek,
Roman,JewishandChristianprayers.The generaldescription,however,fits themall andthe religiousmentalityis basicallythe samein
reall traditions.We can say neitherthata formalandpredetermined
for
Roman
religion,
primarily
lationshipto thedeitiesis characteristic
nor thata personalor emotionalinterestis typicalfor the "oriental"
Judeo-Christian
religioustradition:they all share- not exclusively,
but increasingly- since the Hellenisticperiodthe same feeling of
the scripturesfor them, in order not to assimilate ourselves to fluteplayers,singers,
and soothsayers."Therefore,a non licet is inflicted on singing "songs of the Lord in
the foreign country of the gentiles" (PsClem., epist. de virgin. II 6,3 ed. FX. Funk,
Patres Apostolici II, Tiibingen 1901, 20).
81 This phenomenon is so widespreadand naturalthat it is hardly recognized as
a distinct pattern.Some of the relevant materialis mentioned above in n. 25f.
29
personaldependencyon the deitieswho appearto becomemoreand

moreimposingandmajestic.82
III. Authorityand Worthiness
The idea thatonly prayerswith the correctwordinghave the intendedeffect, andthatotherwisethey are ineffectiveand even danquestion:how does one cometo know
gerous,raisesa consequential
or not? People in antiqwhethera particularprayeris appropriate
uity were well awareof the difficultyof choosingthe properwords:
Paul'sstatement"Wedo not knowwhatwe shouldpray"(Rm 8,26)
has a numberof paganparallels.In a Simonideanfragment,for example,Danaeconcludesherprayerto Zeuswiththecautiousremark:
thenfor"If the wordof my prayeris too freshor not appropriate,
=
A
similar
about
uneasiness
13
D.
PMG).
me!"(fr.
543,25ff
give
wordsis expressedin a chorusof Aeschylus'
findingthe appropriate
"O
Zeus,
Zeus, whatam I to say? Wherewithshall I
O
Choephori:
beginmy prayerandappealto the gods?How,in my loyal zeal, can
I succeedin findingwordsto matchthe need?"83
wordsfor a prayeris also
Thedifficultyof findingthe appropriate
Not its parreflectedin the pre-formulated,
formulary.
acknowledged
ticularwordingis in question,but its originand authority:how can
the claimbe substantiated
thata particularformularyis appropriate
andefficient?A passagefromemperorJulian'sso-called"Fragment
to a Priest"can serveas a guideline,for it combinesseveralof the
importantaspectsin question:
"It is necessary to learn the hymns in honour of the gods by heart: many and
beautifulare they, composed by men of old and of our own time. Most of them,
though,have been given to us by the gods themselves, in answerto prayer.A few
82 Cf.
insightful remarksby H.W. Pleket, "Religious History as the History of

Mentality:The 'Believer' as Servantof the Deity in the Greek World,"in: H.S. Versnel, Faith (above, n. 5), 152-192.
83 Choeph. 855ff (tr. H.W. Smyth in LCL). This idea is, understandably,the
exact counterpartto expecting the appropriateprayer (Bta BiKaq: Choeph. 787) to
be granted.
30
Matthias Klinghardt
have been composed by men, it is true, but then by the aid of divine inspiration
and, in honour to the gods, by a soul untouchedby evil" (Julian 301d/302a =
ep. 89bis Bidez; II 297-339 Wright).
A close parallel to this passage is found in Julian's letter to Theodorus,the
Highpriest of Asia Minor: "I avoid innovations(kainotomania)in all things, so
to speak, but more peculiarly in what concerns the gods. For I hold that we
ought to observe the laws that we have inheritedfrom our forefathers,since it is
evident that the gods gave them to us. For they would not be as perfect as they
are if they had been derived from mere men" (453b = ep. 20 II 58f Wright).
We have alreadynotedthatprayingby heartwas consideredapMore

propriateandeven superiorwhenrecitinga prayerformulary.84
of prayers.
interestingis whatJulianhasto say abouttheauthorization
"Composedby men of old...": the Age of Prayers
An initialconsiderationfor this problemlies in the advancedage

of prayers,oftengoingback,as stated,to prehistoric,mythicaltimes.
A long standingtraditionand an unidentifiable
originoften proves
sufficientlegitimacyandauthority.
As for the Greekhymnography,
a referenceto Orpheus,Musaeus,
andEumolpuswill suffice:thefamouscollectionof 87 Orphichymns,
originatingprobablyfrom the RomanImperialperiod,is attributed
to Orpheus, the archegetes of music par excellence, who is said to
have descendedfromApollo himself.This is clearlya statementof

inspiration.85
Similarly,numeroushymnsare attributedto Orpheus'
disciple, Musaeus,to whom the Orphichymns are addressedand
whose identityis closely connectedto the Muses. And Musaeus'
is believedto haveinson, by the name Eumolpus("Well-singer"),
stitutedthe Eleusinianmysteries,includingthe institutionof their
hymns.This hymnodicgenealogydoes not only place the originof
Greekhymnologyto mythictimes,it also providesa directlinkback
84 E.g., Tertullian,apol. 30,4; Eusebius, VitaConst.19f; Clement of Alexandria,
strom. VI 35,3; Script. hist. Aug., M. AntoninusIV 4 etc.
85 Cf.
Pindar,Pyth. 4,313; Hesiod (theog. 94) says the same about singers and
citharoedes. Interestingly, Orph. hym. 1 is somewhat a "model-hymn",containing
the names of most of the deities invoked by the following hymns.
31
to Apollo.Similarly,the AthenianandDelianhymnsaretracedback
to the mythic,pre-Homeric
hymnographers
Pamphosand Olen.86In
Rome, the most famousprayersof ancienttimes are the Carmina
Saliaria. The collegium Saliorum is said to have been founded by
NumaPompilius,87
who is also seen as the poet of theirhymns.88
Andin Judaismthe titlesof thepsalmsareattributed
to the heroesof
ancienttimes, such as KingDavid,the Qorachites,and so on. Subof the psalmsshowclearly
sequentreflectionson David'sauthorship
thattheiradvancedage servedas an argumentfor theirauthorityand
And later,duringthe Rabbinicperiod,manyforappropriateness.89
mularies -
foremost of the statutoryprayers -
were attributedto
the ancestorsof ancienttimesas well.90

"... have been given to us by the gods themselves": Prayer
Revelation
However,the advancedage of religiousinstitutions,often used

was only a subordinateargumentfor the authority
apologetically,91
andappropriateness
of prayerformularies:
as alreadymentionedearlier, it was the divineoriginof the prayerswhich legitimizedtheir
Thefunctionof themythologicalancestorswithinthisconauthority.
text was, therefore,not to createprayers,but ratherto serve as a
link betweenthe gods andlatergenerations.They did not inventthe
prayers,but they receivedthem and handedthem down.92It is, ultimately,the divineoriginof the prayerformularieswhich warrants
86 PausaniasI 38,3; VIII 37,9; IX 27,2; Herodot IV 35,3.
87 Plutarch,Numa 13,1;
Dionysius of Halic. II 70,1; HI 32,4 etc.
88
Livy I 20,4; Varro,ling. lat. VII 3; Cicero, orat. III 197; Ovid, fast. 8,387;
Horace, ep. II 1,86 etc.
89 Cf., e.g., I1QPsa (DavComp) XVII 4ff. (IV 92 DJD).
90 E.g., Moses (pBer 7 [ lc]); the Patriarchs(bBer 26b); elders and prophets
(bMeg 17b; pBer 2 [4d] 4); the "GreatAssembly" (bBer 33a); or bluntly "the early
generations of pious men" (MidrTeh17,4.17) etc. Cf. Heinemann, Prayer (above,
n. 31), 13ff.
91 Cf. P. Pilhofer,
PresbyteronKreitton(WUNT II/39),Tibingen 1990.
92 Cf. H. Roloff, Maiores bei Cicero, Gottingen 1938, 109: "Die Tatigkeit der
maiores ist hier... nicht das Instituieren,sonder das Pflegen und Tradieren.Denn
32
Matthias Klinghardt
theirauthorityand theireffectiveness,a conceptwhichcan be summarizedby the key wordprayer-revelation.

A Greekexamplefor the idea thatthe wordingof a prayeroriginatesof divinerevelationis expressedin an oraclefoundin Didyma:
A certain Damianus, prophet of Apollo Didymeus, asks the Didymaean oracle
for permission to institute a cult for Soteira Kore which essentially means that
he wants to erect an altarfor her.93After Apollo grantedthis permission,Damianus goes on and "asks you to ordain her auspicious and hymnal epithet (TxSq
aotr6v ao vojAo06'rv
e6(p1.IOU Karl6[vlKtK( dE aO6rv xpoaayopeuoacc
Yeva6Oat, 1. 25-28)." The god's reply is given in two hexametric lines: "Let
us with holy cries call Soteira Meilichos to meet always with mother Deo."94
This answer is more than simply Apollo's assent to Damianus' requestto serve
as nomothetes;it also contains the most importantpart of his nomothesia:the
institutionof the hymn. Of course, these two lines do not constitute the entire
hymn. The oracle's answer, instead, prescribesthe critical invocations and the
most importantepithets, thus functioning as a canon or model for the hymn's
composition.95
Inthiscase,thegod exposesmerelya roughdraftor a modelforthe

A completehymn,however,is revealedto Abraham
in
hymnography.
Abrahamintoheaven,
ApcAbr17. The archangelJaoel,who raptured
impartsa hymnto him andcalls uponhim to reciteit whenmeeting
God:"'Onlyworship,Abraham,and recitethe song whichI taught
you' (...) And I recitedthe song which he had taughtme. And he
die Gotter selbst haben die religio geschaffen... Die Formen der Gotterverehrung
sind... den maiores von den Gottern selbst iibergeben worden, die maiores haben
dann die Einzelheitender Kulte festgesetzt."
93 I.
Didyma 504,1-16 (ed. A. Rehm, R. Harder,Didyma II: Die Inschriften,
Berlin 1958); Kore is Apollo's "holiest sister" (I. 5f); the altar is to be erected next
to the one of her mother,Demeter Karpophoros.
94 I.
Didyma 504,29-31; cf. O. Weinreich,"Hymnologica,"ARW 17 (1914), 524531: 524ff; J. Fontenrose,Didyma, Berkeley/Los Angeles/London 1988, 205.
95
Assuming that the institution of a cult usually institutionalizedhymns and
prayers as well, our discussion on prayer revelation may also include the many
references of instituting cults, such as in dreams (Menander,Dysk. 407ff; LSAM
20: Philadelphia/Lydiaetc.) or throughoracles (e.g., the altar of Poseidon: I. Milet
I 6,191 ed. T. Wiegand, Milet: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungenseit dem Jahr 1899,
Berlin 1906 = SEG 1, 427; Apollonius, Arg. I 958-960) etc.
33
said, 'Recite without ceasing!' And I recited and he himself recited

the song with me..." (the text of the hymn follows).96 Jaoel is able
to reveal the hymn to Abraham, because it was first given to him by
God and is part of his "angelic nature"97- God acts through his
mediator.
Although the idea of an angel mediating prayers is present in Christianity too,98 the majority of the references sees Jesus as the one,
critical mediator of prayer. His teaching the Lord's Prayer clearly
falls into the category of revelation, and the same would be true for
the eucharistic prayers. In the eucharistic prayers of the Didache, the
crucial line, "which you have made known to us through Jesus, your
servant",9 most probably refers to this exact prayer revelation. The
prayers reflect on their own origin and "revelation", although it remains unclear when and where this revelation might have happened.
96
ApcAbr 17,4-7 (tr. R. Rubiniewicz in OTP I). The hymn itself begins with
numerousinvocations. One line of the invocations (17,11b: "El, El, El, El, Jaoel")
resembles the magic spells; L. Kropp(AusgewahltekoptischeZaubertexte I, Briissel
1931, 169) has providedthe closest analogies.
97 Cf. 18,9: Jaoel "taughtthem (i.e. the ophantm) the song of peace which was
within him from the Lord" (as in the majorityof manuscripts).It is not surprising
that Jaoel is nearly identified with God (who is addressedin the hymn as "Jaoel"):
The idea of a (partial) identity of God and his archangel goes back to Ex 23,21
("My name is within him!"), cf. the role of Metatronin 3En(hebr)or of Michael in
TestAbr.
98 Examples include emperor Constantine who is called a "teacher of prayer,"
because he taught his soldiers the supplicatoryprayer before the battle (Eusebius,
vit. Const. 19; see above, n. 10) or Licinius to whom an angel appearedrevealing
the precise wording of the prayer(Lact., mort.persec. 46,6; 226 Brandt-Laubmann).
99 Did 9,2f.; 10,2 (and 10,8 copt.): #j
&yv6pLoaaS tllV Bia 'IJaou xoo xat86q
aou. The phrase does not refer to the actual meal (wine, bread), but to the spiritual
gifts: The holy grapevineof David (9,2); life and knowledge (9,3); knowledge, faith,
and immortality (10,2). The "naturalelements" - or, more precisely: the whole
meal - gains its spiritual quality when eaten in the setting of the eucharist, i.e.
when the agenda's prayerswere recited:they had the critical function of warranting
the spiritualeffect. Understandably,prayersof such importancewere traced back to
Jesus (cf. Klinghardt,op. cit. n. 23, 441ff.).
34
Matthias Klinghardt
With respectto this authorization,

it is clear that Julian"avoids
innovations...in whatconcernsthe gods."The prohibitionagainst
changingwhatwas givenby the gods andinheritedby the forefathers
is corroborated
by the role the maioresplayed in Romanreligion
n.
or
(cf. 92) by Quintilian'sjudgmentaboutthe CarminaSaliaria:
by theirownpriests,"religio
althoughtheyarehardlycomprehensible
the
and
sacred
formularies
mustbe used"(inst.
prohibitsanychanges
I 6,40f).
"Composed... by the aid of divine inspiration"
The idea of a directrevelationof prayersby way of dreamsor

oraclesis relativelyrare,however.More often, the divineoriginof
prayersis guaranteedby the conceptof the poet's inspiration.For
the Greekworldit will sufficeto referto the Muses:since Homer,
poetsarefrequentlyinspiredandinitiatedby Musesor by Graces,100
and the conceptof divineinspirationmay very well have accounted
for the numerousdecreeshonoringpoets and hymnographers.
The
Jewishcounterpart
to the inspirationby the Musesis, of course,the
The mostfamousexampleis probablythe gift
pneumaticinspiration.
of the spiritto Job,to his friends,andto his daughtersaccordingto
TestamentumJobi 43ff:
The spirit enables Job's prophecyand inspires his friend Eliphas to sing a hymn
(43,1) to which the others respond.101The inspirationof Job's daughtersmakes
100
E.g., Hesiod, theog. 1-115 (!); Virgil, ecl. 10,54; Propertius,eleg. II 5,20;
Theocritus, id. V 92. A legendary description of Archilochus' initiation by the
Muses is described on the so-called Archilochus-inscription,cf. W. Peek, "Neues
von Archilochos,"Phil. 99 (1955), 4-50 (text of the inscription:6-12). The functional analogy between Muses, Graces, and even nymphs can be seen by frequent
descriptions of the initiation as the poet's integration into their chorus and dance,
e.g., Archilochus (ed. Peek) or Hermas' dance with the virgins in PastHerm,sim. IX
13,1ff, cf. O. Luschnat, "Die Jungfrauenszenein der Arkadienvisiondes Hermas,"
ThViat 12 [1973/74], 53-70; R. Deichgraber, Charis und Chariten - Grazie und
Grazien, Miinchen 1971.
101 TestJob44,1: xntLpovElV.This is technical terminology,cf. 2Makk 1,23-30;
TestJob31,8; Jud 15,14.
35
them "sing songs like the songs of the angels" (48,3), they take over the "voices
of the archai" (49,2), and speak in the "language of the Cherubim"(50,2).102
After their singing the spirit inscribes the hymns on steles, thus making them
available for future(liturgical)use,103which clearly establishes an authorization
of these prayers, although their wording is lost.
Similarly, Philo describes the hymnody of the Therapeutae:Their

song is god-inspired(vit. cont. 84), enthusiastic(87), and the singers
appearto be in a state of "beautifuldrunkenness"(89): in Hellenistic
antiquitythe oxymoron "soberdrunkenness",the sobria ebrietas, is a
common metaphorfor divine inspiration.104
Interestingly,Philo compares the Therapeutae'sinspired hymnody to the song from Ex 15
(vit. cont. 86-88): in Hellenistic and Rabbinic Judaism this was the
locus classicus for the proof of collective inspiration.There are several attempts to extend the pneumaticinspirationfor hymnody from
the prophets(Moses and Miriam)to all people'05which, in one case,
authorizes a new hymn.106
102
Prayingwith voces angelicae also in TestAbr15,7; Asclsa 7,13ff; 8,17; 4Q400,
fr. 2,4; Mas. ShirShabII 23.25; 4Q403 fr. 1, col. I, 11.26.40; bBB 134a; bSukka28a;
bSota 33a etc.
103Inscriptionof hymns on stone is not only attestedin Greek hymnography,but
also in Judaism;the "Steles of Seth"was a familiartopos (Josephus,ant. I 70f.; NHC
VII 118,10f.32ff; 121,18; 124,14ff). Cf. also PGM IV 1115 (otrrXl &xn6Kpupo;; IV
1167 ("Stele, useful for everything,even saves from death");V 96 ("Stele of Ieou,
the writerof hieroglyphs").
104Cf. the classical, yet unexcelled study by H. Lewy, Sobria Ebrietas (BZNW
9), GieBen 1929. A typical example is Cyprian, ad Donat. 16 (III/1, 16 Hartel):
"sonetpsalmos conviviumsobrium."
105MekhRJII (beSallah6 (115 Horovitz-Rabin),combining Ex 14,31 with 15,1:
"By the merit of their faith the spirit rested upon them and they sang the song,
as it is said: 'and they believed...' (Ex 14,31)" (cf. also ibid., HI [Kirah]10, 152
Hor.-Rab.on Moses and Miriam);MekhRShEx 14,31 (70 Epstein-Melamed:He who
fulfills only one of the commands, he is worthy that the holy spirit rests upon him
and he sings a song). This traditionby R. Nehemia has a parallel in Sota V 4 and
pSota 5 (20c) 6: R. Nehemiah obviously suggested that all Israelites were inspired
for hymnody. For a detailed discussion cf. E. Grozinger,Musik (above, n. 31), 99ff.
1064Q364f: Together with a paraphraseof Ex 15 this midrashic fragment contains several lines of a hymn which appear to be an interpretativerelecture of
36
Matthias Klinghardt
It seems,at this point,not necessaryto go into greatdetailabout

NT references107
or specificsaboutearlyChristianglossolalia,'08and
it mightnot even be wise to touch the vast field of early Christian
Theconceptof inspirationhasbecomesufficientlyclear:
hymnody.109
and
thereof)areeffectiveby their
hymns prayers(andtheformularies
divineorigin.A personcannotsay a prayeron his own merit,butcan
only returnto Godwhathadbeen receivedpreviouslyfromGod.Or,
as expressedin a prayerof the CorpusHermeticum:
"Itis yourword,
thatpraisesyou throughme.Acceptthroughmethewhole,reasonable
service in the word" (CH XIII 18).110This idea appearselsewhere in
JewishandearlyChristiansources.Abraham,for example,concludes
his hymn requestingthat God may accepthis prayerand sacrifice
"which you yourself made to yourself through me."111Therefore,in
prayerman"returnsto theLordthericheswhichhe receivedfromthe

Lord"(PastHerm,
sim.II 7). Mostintriguingis Tertullian's
application
of this conceptto the hymnodyof the canonicalpsalms.Since the
who
psalmsarecomposedby David,it is notmerelythe congregation
Miriam's song, cf. G.J. Brooke, "A Long-Lost Song of Miriam,"BAR 20 (1994),
62-65; S.A. White, "4Q364 and 365: A PreliminaryReport,"in: J. Trebolle Barrera,
L. Vegas Montaner(eds.), The Madrid QumranCongress (STDJ 11), Leiden/Madrid
1992, 222-224.
107E.g., ICor 12,18ff., Col 3,12-17, and Eph 5,18-21; next to the commentaries
cf. the two studies by M. Hengel, above n. 33.
108Still valuable:G. Dautzenberg,UrchristlicheProphetie (BWANT 104), Stuttgart 1975, and idem, Art. "Glossolalie,"RAC IX, Stuttgart1976, 225-246.
109 For which a comprehensivestudy is still a desideratum:Since J. Kroll, Die
christliche Hymnodikbis zu Klemens von Alexandreia, 1921/22 (= repr. Darmstadt
21968), no throroughmonographhas been published. It is, however, worthwhileto
refer to Hermas'dance with the virgins (PastHerm,sim. IX 13, above, n. 100), which
obviously adaptsthe concept of the inspirationby the Muses: Hermas identifies the
virgins as "holy spirits" and (divine) "powers"(sim. IX 13,1. 8); and the pleasure
he gains from being with them is caused by his "eating words of the Lord"(11,8).
110Cf. G. Zuntz, "Onthe Hymns in CorpusHermeticumXIII,"Hermes 83 (1955),
68-92.
1ll ApcAbr 17,20; cf. also: Jub 25,14ff; 1QH IX 10f; XI 4f; XVI 11; XVII 17;
4Q504 (DibHama) 1/2 recto V 15f (VII 145 DJD); IIQPsa (DavComp) XVII 4f. 1.
37
recites them, but actually the prophet David. But because David's
authorshipof the psalms is, within the frameworkof a christological
interpretation,seen as the result of his inspiration,their wording is
tracedback to Christhimself. Ultimately, it is Christ as the inspiring
source who sings -
through David (and the congregation) -
to
himself. Obviously, this concept is meant to guaranteethe psalms'

spiritual quality and, therefore, their suitability for the Christians'
spiritualhymnody.
"Asoul, untouchedby evil...": Worthinessand Exclusion
This concept of pneumatic prayer has a numberof consequences
with regardto the prayingperson. It is clear thatprayersderivedfrom
the divine sphereand cyclically returnedto it cannotleave the praying
person unaffected. The matter is quite simple: the inspirationof an
individual prayer, i.e. a free prayer which does not follow a fixed
formulary,is deemed a dignificationof the prayingperson. In Jewish
and Christiancontexts it is usually a concept of election: not everyone
is worthy,for example, to learn a heavenly hymn by an archangel,but
only the chosen few, like Abraham(ApcAbr 14,1); nor can everybody
cry out to God "Abba!",but only the Christians,as the elected sons of
God representedby the spirit (Rm 8,15f.26ff.). And the composition
of prayers in pagan traditionwould require some pre-dispositionas
well. That only "a soul untouched by evil" - as Julian says receives the aid of divine inspirationfor hymnographyhas a parallel
in the classical concept of inspirationby the Muses: the picture of
incorporatingthe initiant or hymnographerinto the choruses of the
Muses or Graces implies moral requirements,too, since these divine
personificationsare often paralleled to the chorus of the Virtues.112
According to Jewish texts, divine inspirationrequires the "merit of
faith"or righteousness (above, n. 105).
At first glance, the situation seems to be different with regard to
pre-formulated,fixed prayers, since a given formularywould allow
112 For the relevantmaterialcf.
Klinghardt,op. cit. (n. 23) 206ff.
38
Matthias Klinghardt
for anybody to join in and participatein its pneumatic quality. A

closer look, however, reveals certain restrictions,although the references are far from being complete. I begin with a couple of Christian references about liberties on improvisingprayers.Although early
Christianchurch ordersprescribethe adherenceto fixed formularies,
exceptions are sometimes grantedunder certain conditions:
Following the obligatory formulariesfor the prayers before and after the communal meal, Did 10,7 concedes: "But give permission to the prophets to give
thanks as much as they want!"In the light of Did 11,7 - the "prophetspeaks
in the spirit"- it is this spiritualquality that allows the prophet's free prayer
and marks the difference from other functionarieswho all must adhere to the
formulary.The agenda still indicates the place where these extensions might
have occurred:in 10,6 the crucial expressions "The grace may come, the world
shall pass" and "Hosiannato the God of David" are most likely not part of a
liturgical dialogue, but possibly a model or canon for the hymnology following the prayerproper (10,1-5), thus resembling the Didymaean oracle response
mentioned earlier.113
Similarly,Hippolytusgives permissionto the bishop to deviate from the preformulatedprayer. After presenting the prayer formulary for the ordinationof
confessors, he writes: "When the bishop recites the thangsgivingprayer,as we
have it said earlier (i.e. within the regulationsfor the eucharistat the occasion
of the bishop's ordination), then there is no necessity (&vdyKT))for him to
recite the very same words which we have written above, as if reciting the
thanksgivingby heart (&7x6aor06o). But everybody shall pray accordingto his
ability.If he can appropriatelypray a solemn prayer,he is good. If he furthermore
prays approptiately,do not hinder him. Only, he must strictly pray in the true
belief (6p065oSog)."l14 The formulary is, again, seen as a mere paradigma,
showing the directionof the prayer.The bishop's ability to formulatea free, yet
appropriateprayer does not imply an intellectualbut a spiritualquality: it is the
bishop's "highpriestlyspirit"that enables him to offer "the scent of sweetness
(odor suavitatis) throughyour servant Jesus Christ"(trad. ap. 3,10,7ff Botte),
which means, of course, that his prayerreaches God.
The only condition under which expansions of (or even deviations from) fixed formularies are granted is, therefore, a spiritual
113I.
Didyma 504,29-31 (above, n. 94). For a thorough discussion of Did 10,6
and a reconstructionof the meal of the Didache see Klinghardt,ibid. 379ff.
114
Hippolytus, trad. ap. 9 (28 Botte).
39
dynamis."5And it may be this kind of spiritualquality to which the

praise of emperor Marcus refers: at first glance, one is tempted to
understandhis ability to recite the Carmina Saliaria by heart at the
age of only eight years as a proof of his outstandingintellect, since
these prayersare notoriouslycomplicated.116There is probablymore
to it: the CarmenArvale, e.g., is by no means too complicated to
be learnedby heart;the formularycontains but five short lines (each
to be repeatedthree times), concluded by a fivefold triumpe!17Although the recitation of this carmen would certainly not exceed a
regular person's intellectual capability, the priests read it from the
libelli. And they read in seclusion, with nobody else present: only
the priests (sacerdotes) are allowed to recite the prayer,for only they
meet the necessary spiritualor ritual qualifications.The fact that the
115 Cf. also
Justin, lapol 67,5: "Likewise shall the presidentsend up prayersand

thanksgivings,as far as he has the power (8uvac.ltg), and the people shall respond,
saying 'Amen'."According to CorpHermXIII 18, it is the divine powers that pray:
"You powers (8uvcYLet;)within me, sing the One and the All! All you powers
(Suv&ilegq)within me, sing togetherwith my will" (cf. R. Reitzenstein,Poimandres,
Leipzig 1904, 55f).
116Script.Hist. Aug. (Iul. Capitolinus),M. AntoninusIV 4 (II 140 Magie; above,
n. 11). That the carmina Saliaria were not comprehensibleeven for their own priests
(Quint., inst. I 6,40f, above) is a widely acceptedjudgment, cf. Symmachus, ep. III
44 or Ter. Scaurus who suggests a taste: "cuine ponas Leucesiae praetexere monti
quot ibet etinei deis cum tonarem"(orthogr.28,11 ed. H. Keil, GrammaticiLatini VI,
Leipzig 1880). Furtherexamples are providedby Varro,ling. lat. VI 26f; R.G. Kent,
the translatorof the LCL-edition,explains in his annotationad locum (vol. I, 298,
note e): "It is hazardousin the extreme to attemptto restoreand interpretthe text of
the Hymn."It is, indeed, if one tries:"cozeulodorieso amnia vero adpatula coemisse
ian cusianes duonus cerus es dunus ianus ueuet pomelios eum recum."The varia
lectio of cod. Florentinusis of no help either: "cozolendorieso. omia uo adpatula
coemisseian cusianes duonus ceruses. dun; ianusie uet pomelios eum recum."
117In the records of 218 CE (167, 11.32-38 Pasoli, no. 88): enos Lases iuuate
- neue lue rue Marmar sins incurrere in pleores - satur fiu, fere Mars, limen
sali, sta berber - Semunis alternei aduocapit conctos - enos Marmor iuuato triumpe. Although modem interpretersunderstandthe Carmen Arvale only with
great difficulty (cf. Tanner;Norden, Priesterbucher,both above, n. 17), it is not too
complicated to learn it by heart.
40
Matthias Klinghardt
formularies
is notopen
recitationevenof approvedandacknowledged
to anybody,butrestrictedto certaingroupsis well illustratedby anincidentreportedby Josephusin 64 CE:AgrippaII. grantedillegitimate
privilegesto the Levites;the upperclass of them(the "singers")was
allowedto wearlinen robes(whichimpliesthey were put on equal
termswiththe priests),andanotherpartof themwas grantedpermission "to learn the hymns by heart (rou;S
6ivouS eiKca0CItv)" (ant. XX
216-18). Josephusconsidersboth permissionsas illegitimatetransgressionsof ancestralcustomswhichmakeliablefor punishment.118
The phenomenonthatprayingaccordingto particularformularies
requirescertainprerequisiteshas two importantimplications.First,
it is clear thateverybodywho does not meet those prerequisitesis
excludedfromparticipating
in the prayer.Althoughreferencesof a
directexclusionof certaingroupsfromprayerare relativelyrare,19
that phenomenonis well-known:the often reportedexclusionfrom
certainsacralrites, festivals,and sacrificesimplies,of course,also
the exclusionfrom the prayersrecited at these occasions.By the
headwordof "exesto!extraeos!",Paulus-Festus
mentionsthe groups
mostcommonlyexcluded:enemies,prisoners,women,andvirgins.120
118 For the division of two classes of Levites cf. Ezr 2,41f.; 7,7;
10,24; Neh
10,28. According to bAr lb, a "singing Levite" who did his colleague's work "at
the gate" incurs the death penalty. Since the hymnodoibelong to the lower class of
Levites, the incident implies that this group wanted their hymnody to be independent from certain situations and access to hymn-books; cf. R. Meyer, "Levitische
in nachexilischerZeit," OrLZ41 (1938), 721-28.
Emanzipationsbestrebungen
119 A famous, though untypical example is reportedby Suetonius: after a bad
omen, Claudius performeda public supplicationceremony where he promptedthe
prayerformularyfor the people (iure maximipontificis pro rostris populo praeiret).
He did so, however, only after he had excluded all "the crowds of craftsmen and
slaves (summotaqueoperariorum servorumqueturba)" (Suet., div. Claud. 22; cf.
Zosimus, hist. II 5,1).
120Paulus-Festuss.v. exesto! extra eos (72 Lindsay). For the exclusion of slaves
and women cf., e.g., Plutarch, QuGraec 40 (301e/f: exclusion of women from the
shrine and grove of Eunostus in Tanagra;of slaves from the cult of Poseidon in
Aegina). - Female slaves: Plutarch,QuRom 16 (267d: shrine of Matuta);Plutarch
(ibid.) reportsabout the sanctuaryof Leucothea in his native town, Chaeroneia,that
41
Interestingly,these exclusions cannot be attributedto one common

religious concept, e.g., a general religious inferiority of one of those
groups.121Instead, the exclusion of certain groups from sacral rites
reflectsthe appropriatenessfor only the selected to engage in religious
activity - with the implication that appropriateprayer is similarly
restricted.122
Arcane Discipline: the Necessity of Secrecy

More importantthanexclusion from (rites and) prayersis, however,
the requirementnot to publish prayer formulariesand to keep them
secret. The so-called arcane discipline is well-known from mystery
cults, relating it to all kinds of rites, initiations, hieroi logoi etc. It
does not surprise that the symbola, the formularies for the prayers
usually recited during the initiation ceremonies, ranked high among
the topics safeguardedby arcane discipline23 - a close analogy to
Christianpractice: since the Didache (9,5; 10,6b) only the baptized
were admittedto the eucharist;this development was first mentioned
the temple-guardian,a whip in his hand, proclaimed: "Let no slave enter, nor any
Aetolian, man or woman!"- Aeschines I 183 (slaves). - Servius, Aen. VIII 179
(in sacris enim Herculis nec servi intererantnec liberti). etc. That women and slaves
in particularwere among the excluded groups is also evident from their explicit
admission, e.g., in the private cult in Philadelphia/Lydia(LSAM 20) etc. On the
other hand, the exclusive participationof free women in the Thesmophoria(e.g.,
Aristophanes,Thesm.294; 330; Isaeus VI 50 etc.) implies the exclusion of men and
slaves of either sex.
121For slaves cf. the extensive remarksby F. Bomer, Untersuchungeniiber die
Religion der Sklaven in Griechenlandund Rom IV, AAWLM.GWiesbaden-Mainz
1964, 856-1144: 937-56 (= 81-100).
122For Judaism,cf. the regulationsabout the responsibility of reciting the daily
benedictions, Ber III 3: women, children, and slaves are free from the obligation to
recite the sema', but not from the tefillah and the grace after dinner.
123For referencescf. O. Perler,Art. "Arkandisziplin,"
RACI, Stuttgart1950, 667676. 0. Casel, De philosophorumGraecorumsilentio mystico (RGVV 16/2), GieBen
1919, 6ff. has collected Greek examples where the sacred rites and formularieswere
illegitimately divulged.
42
Matthias Klinghardt
and laterfoundits formalexpressionin the sepaby Hippolytus124

ration of the missa catechumenorumfrom the missa fidelium. Time
andagain,the basic rationalefor this exclusionwas to safeguardthe

by the unworthy.125
prayerformulariesfromprofanation
Exclusionfrom,andconcealmentof, prayerformularies
was,howbut
to
cults
not
and
Christian
restricted
ever,
congregations,
mystery
appearedcommonlyin the ancientworld.Andthe religiousawe, interestingly,was primarilyrelatedto the name(s)of the gods, since
knowledgeof the divinenamewas the necessaryprerequisiteto address a deity. Thus, the name itself bore a magic qualityand had
to be kept secret.In Judaism,the revelationof the nameof God to
in exactlythesemagic
Moses accordingto Ex 3,14ff was interpreted
categories:bothPhilo(vit.Mos.II 114)andJosephus(ant.II 226) are
reluctantto tell the name,they rathercircumscribe
it. As Artapanus
pointsout,126itis a dangerouspowerand,therefore,it is revealedonly
to very few people and otherwisemustremainsecret.127
Again,the
of the divinename andthe necessityto keep
magicunderstanding
124trad.
ap. 21 (58 Botte) about the eucharistwithin the setting of baptism:"The
unbelievers,however, shall have no knowledge of this, unless they are baptizedfirst."
125Hippolytus, trad. ap. 21 (56 Botte): only after their baptism are the initiants
allowed "to pray together with the whole people. For they may pray together with
the believers only after they have received all this." See also F. J. Dolger, "Das erste
Gebet der Gliubigen in der Gemeinschaftder Briider"AuC 2 (1930), 142-155. The
same idea is true for the Lord's Prayer,though, cf.: Tertullian,bapt. 20; Cyprian,or.
domin. 10; Cyril of Jerusalem,cat. 23,11-18; ConstApostVII 44,45 etc.
126Artapanus,fr. 3 (Eusebius,praep. Ev. IX 27,24ff): Moses whispersGod's name
into Pharaoh'sear (who had made fun of it before), and the king loses consciousness.
An Egyptian priest dies in spasms after he had ridiculed Moses' writing the name
on a tablet. Clement of Alexandriareportsthat Moses killed the Egyptian in Ex 2,14
not by hitting him, but "only by a word" (strom. I 154,1); this traditionalso in ExR
on 2,14 where the "word"is explicitily the name of God. In RabbinicJudaism,there
is a rich traditionabout things to be concealed (cf. G. A. Wewers, Geheimnis und
Geheimhaltungim rabbinischenJudentum,RGVV 35, Berlin/New York 1975); it
does, however, relate to the teaching of the Torahand the "worksof the merkabah"
ratherthan to prayerformularies,althoughthey are an importantpart of the latter.
127Cf. the magic papyri:PGM II 126-128 (Moses speaking: "I am he who met
you, and you gave to me as a gift the knowledge of your greatestname. .."); similarly
43
it concealed - is not peculiar to oriental religions (or to Egyptian

syncretism in particular), it was present in Roman religion as well,
for which the evocation of the tutelary gods and the secret name of
Rome are prominent examples:
Pliny reportsthe Roman belief that a (foreign) city could only be conquered,if
the respectivetutelarygods were called out from it first in a sacralceremony,the
evocatio: "It was customaryfor the Roman priests in besieging a foreign city to
call out the god underwhose guardthe respectivecity was and to promisehim an
even greatercult by the Romans.This sacralrite (sacrum) is preservedin the lore
of the priests (durat in pontificumdisciplina), and it is well known that Rome's
guardianshipwas concealed to preventenemies from acting similarly"(nat. hist.
XXVIII 18). This custom is attested by other authors as well; Macrobiuseven
reveals the wording of the carmen evocationis which was used in besieging
Carthago.128
In a similar way Rome herself had a secret name, the nomen alterum Romae, which was to be kept in secret in order to prevent magical misuse.129A
famous case of disclosure is reportedfor the year 82 BCE when Valerius Soranus, a partisan of Marius, divulged this nomen alterum (or, more precisely,
PGM III 158f ("I am he who you encounteredand to whom you grantedknowledge
of your greatestname of its sacredpronunciation[&Kp(vV)CatL
ltepa!]..."). In PGM
III 444 Moses' name shows up next to Abraxas, Iao, and Sabaoth. Of particular
interestis PGM V 108-118 where the prayingvoice is directly identifiedwith Moses
(according to Ex 3,14ff): "I am Moses, your prophet,to whom you committed your
mysteries which are celebratedby Israel... Listen to me! I am the messenger of
Phapro Osoronnophris.This is your authentic name which was committed to the
prophetsof Israel!"Having knowledge of the name of God enables Moses to force
him to listen. Furthermore,see the title of PGM XIII ("Eighth Book of Moses
concerning the Holy Name;" cf. XIII 731: "Secret Book of Moses concerning the
GreatName"). Cf. R. Reitzenstein,Poimandres(above, n. 115), 293 n. 1; J.G. Gager,
Moses in Greco-RomanPaganism (SBL.MS 16), Nashville 1972, 142ff.
128E.g.: Servius, Aen. II 251. - Plutarch,QuRom61 (278f/279a) mentions the
same and concludes that "the Romans believed that not to mention and not to know
the name of a god was the safest and surest way of shielding it."- Macrobius,sat.
III 9,2f (9,6ff: the formularyused in the Carthaginiansiege). - A closely related
phenomenon is the prohibited evocation of the goddess Tutilina (Pliny, nat. hist.
XVIII 8). On the whole problem see Th. Koves-Zulauf, op. cit. n. 43, 85ff, for the
nomen alterum cf. A. Brelich, Die geheime SchutzgottheitRoms, Ziirich 1948.
129
Pliny, nat. hist. III 65; cf. Servius, Georg. I 498.
Matthias Klinghardt
44
what he consideredthis name to be) and, therefore,was crucified on Pompeius'

instigation.130
to regardthe priestlyevocationas a
It would seem inappropriate
legitimateact of religiondistinctfromthe meremagicaldevotionfor
since
the nomen alterum (or the prohibitedevocation of Tutilina),131
bothinstancesrepresentthe sameconceptof the magicpowerof the

Moreimportantis the
divinenamewhichmustbe keptin secret.132
hintthatthe divinenameswerepartof the disciplinapontificum(as
it is the case for the nomenalterum)or thatthey were pronounced
certo carmine (Macr. sat. HI 9,2f) by priests in arcana caeremonia
(Pliny,nat.hist.nI 65): thisterminologyis typicalforthe libripontif-
the
of prayersand,mostimportantly,
icumcontainingthe formularies
indigitamenta.The debate over whether the indigitamentacontained
completeprayerformulariesor whethertheymerelylistedthe names

of the deities133
is secondaryhere: since manyprayersand hymns
consistedlargelyof invocations(with the deities'propernamesand
epithets),theknowledgeof howto addressthemproperlyis criticall34
130For the historicaland
political backgroundof this case see C. Cichorius,"Zur
Valerius
des
Soranus,"Hermes 41 (1906), 59ff, for the religious
Lebensgeschichte
implications and problems cf. Kives-Zulauf, op. cit. n. 45, 95ff.
131As K6ves-Zulauf,ibid. 102ff. would have it.
132 The
similarity between the devotion of the nomen alterum Romae and the
evocation of tutelarydeities is indicatedby Plutarch(QuRom61) and Servius (Georg.
I 498): they understandSoranus' fault as divulging the name of a goddess Roma (as
opposed to the city's nomen alterum);and, reversely,Macrobiuscombines the nomen
alterumwith the concept of the evocation (sat. III 9,5ff). The ancient authorsdid not
confuse differentconcepts erroneously;instead, the underlyingconcept of the divine
nomen and its power is all the same.
133Cf. H. Usener, Gotternamen,Bonn 1896, 74ff; Wissowa (n. 45), 37 with n. 3;
and Rohde (n. 14), 19 etc.
134Cf. the Didymaeanoracle response (I. Didyma 504, 29ff; above, n. 94). Anyway, the indigitamentawere obviously part of the secret libri pontificum,cf. Cicero,
nat. deor. I 84f; Servius, Georg. I 21 etc.
45
and in many cases restrictedto the priests for sacral rites only.135
However, a contradictionremains: On the one hand, the indigitamenta were part of the libri pontificum,accessible only to the priests
and concealed otherwise. On the other hand, the respective prayers
were usually recited in public, suggesting the possibility of knowing
and divulging them. The acts of the FratresArvales show an extreme
form of this paradox: the fact that the text of the carmen Arvale
was publicly accessible (in the recordsof the year 218 CE),136did in
no way invalidate the sacral restrictionsrelating to its performance:
only by the priests, only in seclusion, and only after the ceremonial
handingover of the text. It is exactly this antagonismbetween public
knowledge and secrecy which made Cicero's speech a tricky enterprise when he spoke before the collegiumpontificumon behalf of his
own house: Cicero's argument- that Clodius has made mistakes in
the dedicatory ceremony, and has mispronouncedthe formularypresupposes his own knowledge of the details of these sacral rites.
Cicero is well awareof the problem and, therefore,cautiously guards
his argument:"I will not withhold that I do not know what I, if I
knew it, would conceal in order not to sound pedantic to others, and
to you even interfering;though it is true that many details of your
lore leak out and thus often come to my attention.I thinkI have heard
it said..." (dom. 121). Although Cicero clearly knows the formulary,
he must rely on hearsay,137
because he cannot divulge his knowledge.
In a similar way, Pliny concludes the long section on prayersand the
magic power of the word: "Only an immense timidity hinders (obstat
ingens verecundia)to tell more..." (nat. hist. XXVIII 29).
135 Cf. the
Byzantine Joh. LaurentiusLydus, mens. IV 73 (125 W.): "r6 8
&Xl Tc6VtepoV
TEXErlK6OV (sc. 6vo,ia) ,U6vo TOL
&pXlrp?CuoaVSCYYEIV
'o
EJLt LJIpatO."
136Cf. above, n. 17 and 117.

137Therefore, Cicero, being an outstandinglawyer and well aware of the argumentativeweakness of hearsay,shifted his argumentfrom religious to legal matters:
"Even were I to confess that everything (i.e. in Clodius' dedicatoryceremony) had
been properlyperformedby the prescribedformularyand the ancient and traditional
observances, I should neverthelessdefend myself by appealing to the rights of the
republic..." (dom. 122).
46
Matthias Klinghardt
IV Conclusions
Oursurveyof fixedprayerformulariesin ancientreligionhas provided a surprisinglyhomogenouspicture.The inherentcategories

andbasic assumptionson how prayerworksandon how prayerformulariesmust be dealtwith are similarin Graeco-Roman
religion,
in Judaism,and in early Christianity:the conceptof efficacy,expressedby the use of formularies,is virtuallyidenticalin, e.g., the
Didymaeanhymnfor SoteiraKoreandthe Erythraean
paean,in the
CarminaSaliariaand the Decii's devotion,in Abraham'sheavenly
hymn and the Hodayotfrom Qumran,as in the eucharisticprayers
of the DidacheandLicinius'militarysupplication.
Thishomogenous
conceptallows for severalconclusions:(1) The formularyof an efficientprayeris of divineoriginand,therefore,mustbe revealedor
taughtto the prayingperson.(2) Recitingsuch a formularymeans
returningit to the divine sphere;this doublemovementestablishes
the prayer'sefficacy.(3) Accessto sucha formulary(andthe permission to reciteit) requirescertainpre-conditions
to be fulfilled,such
as: righteousness,purity,priesthood,spiritual"ability"etc. Consequently,(4) the recitationof a given formularyis not open to the
publicbut restricted.Only those who are worthy(or rewardedwith
the revelation)may legitimatelyreciteit andpray.
This pictureis of courseideal, since not everytext representsall
the details.Moreover,there are differences,e.g., in addressingthe
problemof how to masterthe doublemediationprocess (revealing
the text of a prayerandreturningit). The majorityof the references,
however,indubitablycorrespondto the overallpicture.The interdisciplinaryapproachandthe relativelyhigh uniformityof this concept
with respectto both,the differentreligioustraditionsand the different genresof religiousspeech,allowsfor furtherinsightswhichmay
help overcomea numberof all too familiardivergences.I will only
hint at a few of them.
A firstaspectrelatesto the literaryaspectof hymnicgenreandits
nature.In spite of the abundanceof discerniblegenres,it does not
seemwise to approachthe phenomenonof religiousspeechfromthe
47
angle of the respective designations138or to separateprayers proper

from other forms of hymnody.The basic idea of fixed formulariesfor
prayersand their counterpartsis the same even in the most opposite
genres, such as: in hymns and psalms;in apotropaic,supplicatory,and
thanksgivingprayers;in odes and epodes; in dithyrambsand paeans;
in altar songs (parabomia) and sacrificial prayers; in vows, oaths
and curses, and so on.'39And since a particulargenre is usually connected to a particularSitz im Leben, it follows thattheircorresponding
concepts of religious speech's efficacy encompass also the different
situations in which they were recited. This insight is important,for
it shows that religion did not work differently whenever prayer formularies were used for public recitation:in Imperialor other public
sacral rites, in sacrificialcult, and in the numerousvoluntaryassociations. As numerousamulets containing prayerformulariesindicate,
the same is, to a certain degree, true even for the private household
piety of Roman, Jewish, or Christianreligion. The descriptionof the
modes of recitationand the common phenomenonof praying according to obligatory formulariescan, therefore, serve as the basis for a
cultural comparison of ancient hymnody, for it avoids both, the insufficientassumptionof a developmentalgenealogy'40and the crucial
138An
example is the exhaustive collection of materialabout ancient hymns by
M. Lattke(op. cit., n. 5) which is soleley focused on the occurrencesof derivatesof
6uv-.
139It is not accidentalthat several different"hymnic"genres can be subsumedby
the general category of inspired hymnody,e.g.: Philo, vit. cont. 84 (on the hymnody
of the Therapeutae):differentmetres (jitpov), melodies (QiJX), and genres, such as
7poa68Lov,
araloriov,
OrpocpVq,&VTLOCpocp..-
11QPsa(DavComp) XVII 4-11
(IV 92 DJD): psalms (thllym) and songs (srym) for different cultic situations and
"over frantics".- ICor 14,26ff. - In Col 3,16 and Eph 5,19, the list of hymns,
psalms, and odes is given as an example for the hymnody "ev tr xXapTl'L".
140E.g., F. Heiler, Erscheinungsformenund Wesender Religion, Stuttgart21979,
322ff., who places "hymns"within a range that reaches from "numinoseUrlaute"to
supplicatoryprayers, thus assuming a religious evolution from the undifferentiated
to the unequivocal.
Matthias Klinghardt
48
problemof definingcategoriesfor classification.141

A secondinsightconcernsthe allegeddifferencebetweenRoman
and Christianreligions,as it is expressedin Tertullian'sstatement
I mentionedat the beginning.It is certainlynot originalto referto
the results of the ReligionsgeschichtlicheSchule of the early part of
this centuryand to the greataccomplishments

in the areaknownas
andChristianity".
However,the progressivedistinctionof
"Antiquity
has
scholarlydisciplines goneon and,in someinstances,it inevitably
led to resultsblindedby routine.Therestill is an ambiguouspreoccupationfor a centralaspectof ancientreligion.On the one hand,
the prejudice(not only by scholarsof early Christianity,but also
thatRomanreligion
by those of Romanreligion)seems ineradicable
was distinctly"formal"andthatRomansrecitedtheirprayerswithout emotional,internalparticipation,
as it would have been typical
for Greekor Christianhymnody.Oursurveyhas shownthatreciting
a fixed formularydoes not meanto reel it off. Instead,a high consciousnessof the divineoriginof the formularyand of the honorof
was at the basis of recitation:the accuracywith which
participating
is an indicatorof the awarenessof the
publicprayerswereperformed
divinepowerandpresenceanddoes not standfor emotionaldistance.
On the otherhand,manyscholarsof earlyChristianityhave yet to
acknowledgethat Christianprayeris not essentiallydifferentfrom
its ancientparallels.Onegets the impressionthattheologicallysensitive phenomena(as prayercertainlyis) areparticularly
attractivefor
But
the
claim
of
an
studies.
essential,phenomenological
apologetic
differencebetweenChristianand paganprayercannotbe substantiated.As the Christianmaterialindicates,it is highlyimprobablethat
besides the Corinthianglossolalia -
free, spontaneous praying
withina publicsettingeverexisted,i.e. in the frameworkof the communaleucharisticassemblies.The gift of the spiritwas notexpressed
141
F. Stolz, "VergleichendeHymnenforschung.Ein Nachwort,"in: W. Burkert,

F.S. (eds.), HymnenderAlten Weltim Kulturvergleich(OBO 131), Fribourg/Gittingen
1994, 109-119: 110ff. bringsthe problemto the point:internalcategoriesfor (hymnic)
genre are problematicand are often applied without sufficientmethodologicalreflection. External categories, on the other hand, necessarily evoke modern prejudices.
49
by spontaneous,ecstatic praying, but by the inspirationof hymnography.And although only few examples from the second and third
centuries are preserved, we have a number of hints for this kind of
pneumatichymnography.142
A final aspect is closely relatedto the sociological setting of prayer:
The much belabored issue of religion and magic. One of the most
interestingaspects of our survey is the fact that the wordingof prayer
formulariesmust be precisely recited and appropriatelypronounced.
Thus, the intended effect depends primarilyon the properformulary.
Since the formularyis of divine origin, religious prerequisitesof the
praying person are importantonly inasmuch as they grant access to
the formulary:the prayer works ex opere operato. That the efficacy
and functioning of "religious"prayers is no different from "magical" prayers (e.g., in the magical papyri) is certainly not an original
insight,'43although it may be noted that there is a long traditionof
outstandingscholars holding the opposite view.44 However, most of
the distinctivefeaturesof fixed formulariesfor "religious"prayersare
also true for their "magic"analogies: (1) the spells and prayerscontained,e.g., in the Greek magic papyrihave always existed in written
form:many of the voces magicae show up in precisely the same form
in many different texts. (2) As shown earlier, the magic prayeris of
divine origin: the knowledge of its wording and the powerful name
of the god is understoodas the result of a special revelation.145It is
142Cf. M.
Hengel, "Song about Christ" (above, n. 33), passim. I do not agree
with Hengel, however,in the assumptionthat in early Christianworship spontaneous
song existed significantly;the materialpresentedby him (ibid. 246ff.) only documents
pneumaticallyinspiredhymnography(which is out of question),but not "spontaneous
song".
143 F. Pfister already concluded "daB kein prinzipieller Unterschied zwischen
Zauberspruchund Gebet, so wenig wie zwischen Zauberei und Religion, besteht"
(PRE Suppl. IV, 325); D.E. Aune, "Magic in Early Christianity",in: ANRWII 23/2
(New York/Berlin1980), 1507-1557.
144D.E. Aune (ibid.) lists some of the more prominentnames, such as U.v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff,W. Boussett, M.P. Nilsson, and A.J. Festugiere.
145Besides the references
alreadymentioned(above, n. 127), cf. PGM IV 885-87
(the secret magical name of Osiris has been revealed by Hermes Trismegistos who
50
Matthias Klinghardt
efficient only, if recited exactly in its written form,146and it must be
(3) Similarly,the unintelligiblevoces magicaeare

kept in secret.147
seen as the original,old namesof the deities;therefore,a deitymust
be addressedin prayerby its unalteredname.148
(4) The frequentreand
exact
of
to
recite
the
is, therefore,
prayers149
wording spells
quest
not reallysurprising,andit constitutesa close parallelto "religious"
analogies:"religious"and "magic"prayersshareexactly the same
had inscribedthe names in hieroglyphs).More importantis the concept of initiation:
according to the "Mithrasliturgy"PGM IV 475ff, the magician gains knowledge of
the divine names and mysteries in an ecstatic ceremony which resembles not only
Lucius' initiation (Apuleius, met. 11,22), but is also a close analogy to the inititation
by the Muses (see above, n. 100). Cf. H.D. Betz, "Secrecy in the GreekMagical Papyri,"in: H.G. Kippenberg,G.G. Stroumsa(eds.), Secrecy and Concealment:Studies
in the History of Mediterraneanand Near Eastern Religions, Leiden 1995, 153-175:
169ff.
146 It may suffice to point to the numerous occurrences of the formula "X6yoS
(Xey6iEvoS)" in PGM, introducingthe precise formulary,e.g. PGM IV 286; 857;
1168; 1228; 1275; 1398; 1498 etc.
147For the necessity to keep the formularysecret cf. H. D. Betz, op. cit., 160ff.
An impressive example for the magic knowledge of the divine name is the prayer
to Hermes PGM VIII 1-60: "I know you, Hermes, who you are and whence you
are, and which is your city..." (13f); "I also know your barbariannames:pharatat,
barachel, chtha. These are your barbariannames" (15f); "your true name is written
on the holy stele of Hermoupolis, where you are born. This is your true name:
osergariach nomaphi ..." (41ff).
148Cf. Iamblichus, myst. Aegypt. 7,5: The voces magicae used in theurgicritual
are not meaningless words, but the names (or: designations;6voLocameans both) of
the gods in Egyptianor Assyriandialect, and the gods preferto be addressedas such:
the invariabilityfits the gods' own unchangeableessence; "since the Egyptianswere
the first to receive the gift of being close to the gods, the gods love to be addressed
in the language of this people. It is, at any rate, no deceit of the magicians."The
unintelligibilityof divine 6v6cLatx, their extremely high age, and the prohibitionto
alter them, clearly resembles, e.g., the carmina Saliaria (see above, n. 116).
149E.g., PGM xHI 441.570: EolV S6 qg CKXrT)7L
o(uToq, 6t KeilraL Tvtra
&KpLqPx. Strikingly, the neo-platonic Marinus, at the end of the fifth century the
leader of the Academy, says about magic prayersthat they must be recited in the appropriateorderand pronunciation(vita Procli 28, 49f ed. V. Cousin, Procli philosophi
Platonici opera inedita, Paris 1864 = repr. Frankfurt1962).
51
religious Weltbild,and, from a phenomenological perspective, they

cannot be separated.150
Although magic is despised by all the major
in
Hellenistic
traditions
antiquityl5l (Greek, Roman, Jewreligious
ish, and Christian),it is none the less extant in all of them: magic
(and magical inchantment)is, therefore, simply a designation for a
socially deviantform of religion (and religious prayer),thus marking
a sociological ratherthan an essential distinction.152
The close adherenceto approvedprayerformulariesis neitherparticularlymagic or superstitious,but a characteristicof "true"religion;
since it indicates the bindingpower of religio, this concept is present
150Cf. F. Graf,
op. cit. n. 5.
151For Greece cf. Plato,
resp. 364c; leg. 909b. 933b/c (cf. A. Abt, Die Apologie
des Apuleius von Madaura und die antike Zauberei, RGVV 14/2, GieBen 1908, 42);
Demosthenes 25,80, and, e.g., the law against magic from Teos, the Dirae Teorum
("Whoeverapplies a destructivepharmakonagainst the citizens of Teos in general
or a single person...": D. Lewis (ed.), A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions
to the End of the Fifth Century,Oxford, 21988, nr. 30 A 1) etc. - In Rome, laws
against magic were already part of the XII Tab. (cf. the laws against magic and
mantic collected by E. Massoneau,La magie dans l'antiquite Romaine, Paris 1934,
136-261).
152 This is probably the reason why D.E. Aune, in his otherwise illuminating
study on magic in early Christianity,has so little to say about "MagicalPrayer"(op.
cit. n. 143, 1551-55): since prayerin general is magical, he must concentrateon the
few instances of early Christianblessings and curses, which he regardsas "one of
the most characteristicforms of magical prayer"- but only, "if, within the context
of religious deviance, the act of invoking formulas of benison and maledictionis regardedtantamountto achieving the desired effect" (ibid, 1551). I cannot follow this
sophisticated distinction:on the one hand, the magical papyri do not only contain
blessings and curses, but also outright prayers and hymns (whose genre is not in
question); on the other hand, the desired effect always presupposesan "act of invocation"- at this point, Aune falls back behind the position he alreadymaintained.
The fact that the magical papyri contain pure hymns (collected by E. Heitsch, Die
griechischen Dichterfragmenteder Kaiserzeit, AAWG.PH 3/49, Gottingen 21963)
was confusing for those who believe in an essential difference between magic and
religion. Source criticismis a typical solution: since the originalhymns cannot be attributedto "magicians"(M.P. Nilsson, Opuscula Selecta III, Lund 1960, 131f.), they
have been expanded by "unintelligibleformulas" (R. Reitzenstein, op. cit. n. 115,
14). See also H.G. Kippenberg,op. cit. n. 47.
52
Matthias Klinghardt
in all ancientreligioustraditions.ThusPaul'sconceptof pneumatic

prayerin Rm 8 is fully consonantwith the religiousmentalityexthe
pressedby the doublemediatingprocessof the prayerformulary:
It is importantto see thatthe
spiritplaysthe partof the formulary.153
the
samefunctionas pneumatic
has
Jesus"154
name
of
"in
the
prayer
prayeror as prayingaccordingto a formularyof divineorigin:Jesus
is understoodas a reliablemediatorof the prayerandcan,therefore,
From
promisethatthis prayerwill certainlybe heardandfulfilled.155
here, it is only a shortstep to the correctrecitationof the appropriateformularyin public - for which the prayerformulariesof
the Didacheand the frequentquarrelsaboutthe properformof the
doxologiesrepresentearlytraces.
Institutfur Evangelische Theologie
KLINGHARDT
MATTHIAS
TU Dresden
D-01062Dresden,Germany
153The Christiansreceive the spirit as a gift (8,9), implying a moral prerequisite

(8,5ff) as well as a spiritual ability through which the Christianspray (8,15); this
gift makes the Christiansworthy as the "sons of God" (8,14.21). On the other hand,
they pray "throughthe spirit"(8,15): the spirit carriestheir prayerbefore God (8,26f)
and, thus, warrantsfor its efficacy (8,27ff).
154Mk 11,24; Mt 7,7ff.; Lk 11,9ff; Joh 14,13f.; 15,7; Eph 5,20; Jas 5,13ff. etc.
155Cf. A. Dietzel, Die Griinde der Erhorungsgewifiheitnach den Schriftendes
Neuen Testaments,Diss. theol. Mainz, 1955.
THE PORTABLE BULLHE SHAH: BIOGRAPHY,

CATEGORIZATION, AND AUTHORSHIP IN THE STUDY OF
PUNJABISUFI POETRY1
ROBIN RINEHART
Summary
The Punjabi poet Bullhe Shah (1680-1758) is revered by Muslims, Hindus and
Sikhs. In the extensive body of interpretiveliteraturedevoted to his life and work,
scholars have contested his religious identity, characterizingBullhe Shah in various
ways, e.g. as a Sufi, a VedanticSufi, or a VaisnavaVedanticSufi. This article examines the nature of the debates about Bullhe Shah's identity, and how these debates
have shapedthe varyingportrayalsof Bullhe Shah's life, the corpus of his poetry,and
the characterizationof his religious affiliation. I argue that a series of unexamined
assumptionsabout the nature of biography and its relation to the development
of a worldview, about the categorizationof religious identity, and about the nature
of authorship- have createdthese conflicting portrayalsof the poet and his work,
making Bullhe Shah a kind of "portable"figure who is placed in widely divergent
contexts. I conclude by arguingthatBullhe Shah's portability,or his placementwithin
different contexts (for different purposes), is itself a useful topic for analysis, and
provides the basis for a potentiallymore fruitful study not only of Bullhe Shah's life
and work, but also of his audiences and their responses to him.
There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim,

Let us abandonour pride and sit together like young girls at their spinning
wheels
I am neither Sunni nor Shi'ah. I've chosen the path of the lineage of peace.
Bullhe Shah2
1 Portions of this paper were presented at the 1996 conference of the American
Academy of Religion in New Orleans, LA, and at the 1997 Seventh International
Conference on Early Literaturein New Indo-AryanLanguages in Venice, Italy. The
author would like to thank conference participantsfor their comments, as well as
Tony K. Stewart and PatriciaDonahue, who read earlier drafts of this paper and
made very helpful suggestions.
2 Punjabi verse from Sayyad Nazir Ahmad, Kaldm-e-BullheShah, p. 83. This
and subsequent translationsare the author's. For other versions of this poem, see
NUMEN, Vol. 46
54
Robin Rinehart
In the Indiansubcontinent,
wherecommunalconflictsare a tragic
yet commonplacefeatureof the landscape,it is intriguingand perhapsironicto finda poetclaimedby differentreligiouscommunities.
Thepopularity
of BullheShah'spoetrycrossesboththecontemporary
communalboundariesbetweenthe religioustraditionsof Islam,Hinduism,and Sikhism,and the politicalborderbetweenPakistanand
Indiathatdividesthe Punjabi-speaking
region.Musicians,from the
amateursingerwho performsfor neighborhoodfriendsand family,
to internationally
acclaimedartistssuch as NusratFatehAli Khan,
sing his poems.Linesfromsome of his most celebratedpoemshave
enteredthe Punjabilanguageas everydayidiomaticphrases.There
are countlessprintededitionsof his workin boththe Gurmukhiand
in mostsurveysof PunjabiliterUrduscripts.He figuresprominently
literaturedevoted
ature,andthereis an extensivebodyof interpretive
to analysisof his biography,his intellectualdevelopment,his literary
style, andhis worldview.All those who writeabouthim rhapsodize
aboutthe deceptivelysimpleeleganceof his poetry,the beautyof his
expressionof his longingfor God,andhis skillfuluse of imagesfrom
the everydaylife andfolkloreof the ruralPunjab.
Bullhe Shah'scross-communal
popularityraises manyintriguing
about
and
communal
religious
identityin the Indiansubquestions
continent,and thereis in fact a vast body of interpretiveliterature
concerningBullhe Shah'slife and work. This literature,however,
raisesmanymorequestionsthanit answers.Forthereis no consensus as to who Bullhe Shah was, how he lived his life, where his
religiousallegianceslay, or even how to readthe messageof his poetry.Indeedvirtuallyevery aspect of Bullhe Shah'slife and work
is contested,from the basic outlinesof his life to the importof his
havesoughtto claimhim for one religiouscompoetry.Interpreters
or
In
another.
some studies,Bullhe Shahis presentedas an
munity
Singh, p. 78; Faqir,p. 218; Ramakrishna,p. 65; Rafat, p. 177. The reference to the
spinning wheel is common in Punjabipoetry; it refers to the practice of young girls
getting together to spin cloth as part of their dowry. The young girls are likened to
humans preparingto meet God.
The Portable Bullhe Shah
55
enthusiasticadvocate of the Hindu tradition;in others he is a model

Muslim, and in still others, he is shown to have been deeply influenced by Sikhism. Over a century's worth of study has created
multiple, radically divergentportrayalsof this one poet.
But a closer look at this scholarly literature, with its divergent
views of the poet and his work, makes clear that for all its paeans
to objective historical reconstruction,it is at heart more revealing of
the personal and/or communal biases of the interpretersthemselves.
The central argumentof this essay is that the natureof the study of
Bullhe Shah itself - the questions asked, and the ways in which
those questions have been answered- has led to an interpretiveimpasse that reveals far more about Bullhe Shah's critics than anything
about Bullhe Shah as a historical figure. These conflicting analyses
are produced by three closely related assumptions about (a) the nature of biographicalinformationand its relation to the development
of a worldview,(b) aboutthe natureof religious identity in the Indian
subcontinentin the 18th and 20th centuries, and (c) about the nature
of authorship.They are furthercomplicatedby the limitations of the
manuscriptand other evidence available.My argumentis based upon
a reading of the range of critical work published on Bullhe Shah in
Pakistan,India, and north America and Europe. Ratherthan presenting a detailed reconstructionof the differentinterpretationsof Bullhe
Shah, I will describe the general strategies (presuppositions,use of
evidence, forms of argument)used in varying degrees in virtually all
of these studies, regardless of their final conclusions about Bullhe
Shah.3 Obviously not all the analyses of Bullhe Shah which I cite
use all the strategies that I detail below, but each exhibits some of
the general tendencies that I will describe. The goal of many critical studies of Bullhe Shah and his work is to anchor him firmly
within specific historicaland religious contexts, contexts which serve
to "explain"the poet in some way. Yet the fact that different interpreters have placed Bullhe Shah in such different contexts suggests
3 For a more detailed discussion of the range of interpretationsof Bullhe Shah's
life and work, see Rinehart,"Interpretationsof Bullhe Shah,"InternationalJournal
of Punjab Studies, 3, 1 (1996), pp. 45-63.
56
Robin Rinehart
that he has in fact become a kind of "portable"figure. I conclude by

suggesting than a close analysis of this very "portability"- Bullhe
Shah's location in different contexts - helps us to understandnot
only something about the poet himself, but also about his audiences
and the varying ways in which they respond to his poetry and stories
of his life.
The scholarly analyses of Bullhe Shah fall roughly into two major
groups:one places Bullhe Shah squarelywithin the Islamic tradition,
and the other locates Bullhe Shah's true inspiration in the Hindu
tradition.There are subsets within each group. In the Islamic group,
some portrayBullhe Shah as a Sufi champion of the oppressed (e.g.
Taufiq Rafat, Sayyad Nazir Ahmad), others as a pious follower of
Islamic law.4In the Hindugroup, some style him a Vedantin(the most
prominentexample being Lajwanti Ramakrishna),others a Vaisnava
Vedantin (e.g. Sadhu Ram Sharda), and still others argue that he
was profoundly influenced by the words of the early Sikh gurus as
well (e.g. SurindarSingh Kohli).5 In the discussion that follows, I
will provide representativeexamples from each camp, with further
references in the notes.
Bullhe Shah and Biography
The starting point for most studies of Bullhe Shah seems innocent enough.6When and where was he born?What kind of education
4 See also Ghafran
Sayyad, p. 16; Kuldip Singh, p. 47; Rafat, p. 3.
5 See, for
example, Kala Singh Bedi, "Bullhe Shah de Kaldm dd Gurbdnindl
TulndtmakAdhiain" in Rattan Singh Jaggi, ed., Khoj Patrikd, Sain Bullhe Shah
Ank (Patiala: Publication Bureau, Punjabi University, 1991), pp. 134-150. This is
an especially intriguing argument, for its proponents generally see the influence
of Sikhism in seemingly quasi-Vedanticstatements attributedto Bullhe Shah. The
unstatedassumption,then, is that Sikhism is very much a partof the Hindutradition,
a notion at odds with much of the colonial and postcolonialpolitics of recent Sikhism
(which has sought to distance itself from Hinduism).
6 See, for example, Sharda,p. 149; Atam Singh, p. 2; Ramakrishna,pp. 40-41,
43-46; Kohli, pp. 12-23; Bhatti, pp. 1-4, 12-13; Puri and Shangari,pp. 1-31; Bhasa
Vibhag Punjab, pp. 5-11; Kaur, pp. 1-4; Kuldip Singh, pp. 1-18; Rafat, pp. 1-6;
Ahmad, p. 5.
57
did his family provide for him? What was the social status of his
family? What were the formative influences in his early life? What
was his religious identity? Unfortunatelyfor historians,the information is sketchy. Most agree that Bullhe Shah lived from 1680-1758,
that he was born into a family of Sayyid Muslims (i.e. who traced
their descent from the family of the prophetMuhammad),and that he
received the education typical for a young man of such status. Interestingly, most studies don't actually describe what such an education
would be; it is implied that it would entail instructionin Arabic and
Persian, with study of the Quran,the Islamic legal tradition,and the
Persian literary tradition.The evidence for such claims is the work
attributedto Bullhe Shah, which contains references to the Quran,
the Islamic legal tradition,and Persian Sufi literature.
Whatis the purposeof such questions?Throughprovidinganswers
to them, interpretersestablish Bullhe Shah as a historical figure who
lived in a particulartime and place. Having established the time and
place, they can then identify certain social, political, religious, and
other factors which might have had a bearing on his life. Such general information,along with informationaboutthe type of family into
which he was born, and the education he received, is presumed to
reveal the forces that shaped his worldview.Although there is indeed
consensus on the most basic details of Bullhe Shah's early life, what
follows from these details is less easy to establish. While we can certainly describe the social, religious, and political climate of Bullhe
Shah's time in very general terms, we have no evidence that demonstratesconclusively how this climate affected Bullhe Shah. And even
if we can establish facts about his family and their religious allegiances, this does not necessarily mean that Bullhe Shah had those
same religious allegiances, althoughthis is whatmost interpreterssuggest. For example, in discussions of the role of Bullhe Shah's family
environmentin shapinghis thought,the questionwith which most are
concernedis whetherBullhe Shah's fatherwas a strict follower of Islamic law, or a Sufi who was not overly concerned with following
law to the letter.The conclusion that most interpretersreach is more
a function of their own reading of Bullhe Shah's worldview than a
58
Robin Rinehart
reflectionof any conclusiveevidenceone way or the other.Interpreterswho placeBullheShahin somecategoryrelatedto Hinduism

are particularlykeen to demonstratethat Bullhe Shah transcended
what they considerthe dry legalismof Islam at a young age as he
movedtowardsa higherlevel of spiritualcomprehension(Vaisnava
Vedantaor Vedanta).Sant Singh Sekhonand KartarSingh Duggal,
for example,write of Bullhe Shah's"romanticdefianceof Muslim
sharia."7
The intention(mostoftenunstated)of thesepreliminary
questions
aboutBullheShah'slife andtimesis to establishBullheShahwithin
a nexus of factors(social, religious,political,educational,familyrelated)which will both determineand explain the contentof his
poetry.The threadof the argumentseems to be that once we have
establishedBullhe Shah as havingbeen shapedby these particular
worldview,whichwill be
forces,we canthendeterminehis particular
reflectedin his work.Thusthe initialconjectureaboutBullheShah's
early life is graduallyreifiedinto historical"facts";these facts are
then used to supportfurtherconjecture.Some arguefor a lifelong
consistencyin Bullhe Shah'swork;otherssee evidencefor a series
in a final,mostadvancedworldof developmental
phasesculminating
view. The assumptionis thatthe detailsof Bullhe Shah'sbiography
will thenilluminateeitherposition:eitherhe adoptedandmaintained
a particularworldviewat some point in his life, or he developed
throughseriesof systematicstagesthatproducea meaningful,recoverablepatternto his thought.
The problemwith this methodis thatit createsa circularprocess
of interpretation.
Manyof the detailsthatprovidethe rawmaterialfor
Bullhe Shah'sbiographieshavebeen gleanedfromhis poetry;these
details - now instantiated"facts"- in turnare used to explain other
use BullheShah'slife to exaspectsof his poetry.Thusinterpreters

his
and
his
to
poetry explainhis life. Yet seldomcan
plain poetry,
7 Sekhon and
Duggal, p. 71. For more on Bullhe Shah and Islamic law, see
Sharda,pp. 157-60; Atam Singh, p. 6; Ramakrishna,pp. 47-49; Kohli, p. 41; Kuldip
Singh, p. 47; Rafat, p. 3; Sayyad, p. 16.
59
either strategybe groundedon solid historicalevidence. Ourevidence

aboutBullhe Shah's life, beyond that which may be inferredfrom his
poems, is sketchy as best. To be sure, there are multiple hagiographical accounts which provide a wealth of alleged information about
significantevents in his life, but they are groundedin the aims of hagiography,not critical historiography.The interpretersnever seem to
take into account that the primary source of this allegedly historical
material is Bullhe Shah's poetry - and even that body of work is
problematic.
The Bullhe Shah Corpus
As part of their analysis of Bullhe Shah, most interpretersalso
seek to define a corpus of work clearly authoredby the historical
Bullhe Shah. The earliest survivingmanuscriptsof Bullhe Shah's poetry date to at least one hundredfifty years after his death. The written manuscriptsare transcriptionsof musical performancesof Bullhe
Shah'spoetry;they reflect dialectal variations,apparentinterpolations
and elaborationsfrom the performersthemselves, and in some cases
verses or entire poems that are found in the works of other poets
(often with the signatureline of anotherpoet preservedintact). Subsequent printededitions show that the corpus of poetry attributedto
Bullhe Shah both varies widely, and has expanded substantiallyover
time, a development typical of the work of many medieval Indian
poets. If we begin our analyses of Bullhe Shah by positing him as
a historical figure with an identifiable corpus of work, we are immediately faced with an insurmountableproblem - we can neither
establishthe historicaldetails of Bullhe Shah's life with any certainty,
nor do we have the means to establish which poems among those attributedto him were composed by Bullhe Shah the historical figure.
How then is the corpus defined?
The implicit assumptionof Bullhe Shah's interpretersis that hidden somewhere within the fanciful, conflicting pictures painted in
hagiographies,and somewhere within the overgrown corpus of poems attributedto Bullhe Shah lies a clearly definablehistoricalfigure,
Robin Rinehart
60
whoproduceda doctrinallyandstylisticallyconsistentbodyof poetry,

otherthan
andwho maybe uncovered.Yetwe havelittleinformation
traditionwithwhichto establishdetailsof Bullhe
the hagiographical
to
Shah'slife, and virtuallynothingotherthanthe poetryattributed
Bullhe Shah to definehis philosophyand worldview(if indeedhe
his life). If the information
was philosophically
consistentthroughout
abouthis life is problematic,andthe corpusof his poetryis suspect
eitherto a historicallylocatablefigure),
(at leastinsofaras attributing
then using one to establishthe otheris clearlya difficultmethodto
defend.But thisis theunstatedtacticusedby virtuallyall interpreters
of Bullhe Shah,and it becomesthe foundationfor furtheranalyses
andassertionsaboutBullheShah.
firstof all assumethatBullhe Shah'slife shapedhis
Interpreters
worldview,a notionwhich then becomesthe basis for determining
the authenticityof the variouspoems attributedto him. Once interpretersposit a particularreadingof Bullhe Shah'slife (for example
as a law-follower,or legallylax Sufi)they can thenuse thatreading
as a criterionfor determiningwhichpoems are authentic.If Bullhe
Shahwas a strictfollowerof Islamiclaw, thenany poemswhichare
if BullheShah
criticalof Islamiclaw mustbe spurious.Alternatively,
was lax in his observanceof law, such poemsmustbe genuine.Or,
if one positsa seriesof developmental
phases,thena poemrejecting
Islamiclaw could be attributedeitherto an early or laterphaseof
for thiscircular
development.The resultis satisfyingfor interpreters,
hermeneutic
strategysimultaneously
producesa moresharplyfocused
of
It
and
not
corpus poetry biography.
only eliminatesparticular
poinformationin those
ems, but also any problematic"biographical"
poems.It is on the basis of thesekindsof preliminary
inquiriesinto
the factorsunderstoodto haveshapedhis life - baseduponreading
BullheShah'slife intohis work,andhis workintohis life (andusing
one to defendthe other)- thatinterpreters
buildtheirclaimsabout
BullheShah'scommunalidentityandworldview.8
8
Hawley has identified a similar process at work in the traditions surrounding

the medieval Hindi poet Surdas, whose poems are used to generate hagiographical
61
The Categorizationof Religious Identity

This circular hermeneutic strategy can easily serve the purposes
of an interpreterwho wishes to establish Bullhe Shah as a representativeof a particularcommunity or worldview. When interpreters
try to identify and name Bullhe Shah's worldview, they first of all
presuppose a particularideological framework,with an implicit understandingof the range of possibilities available. What ideological
categories were available to a late seventeenth/earlyeighteenth century poet? For most interpreters,the question at its most basic level
resolves into two fundamentalcategories:Islam and Hinduism.Bullhe
Shah must be placed in either one or the other of these categories.
Yet to make so seemingly simple a classification is not only difficult,
but also politically charged.
As is the case with many other poets of north India (e.g. Kabir,
GuruNanak), the poetry attributedto Bullhe Shah contains elements
that interpretersassociate with both "Islam"and "Hinduism."Bullhe
Shah's vocabularyis the most common startingpoint for interpreters;
they focus on terms that the poet used for expressing overtly religious concepts (e.g. names for god, terminology for states of mystical realization).9Interpretersgenerally assume that the use of words
whose origin is Persian or Arabic indicates a predilection towards
Islam; the use of Sanskrit or Sanskrit-derivedwords Hinduism.'0
SurindarSingh Kohli, who styles Bullhe Shah a Vedantin, lists a
numberof Sanskrit-derivedwords for love from Bullhe Shah's poems as a means of bolstering his assertion that Bullhe Shah was
accounts, which in turn affect the reading of the poems attributedto him. John
StrattonHawley, "Authorand Authority,"p. 280.
9 There is one
interpreterwho challenges this strategy:Trilochan Singh, in his
article "BullheShah dt Tasawwuf'(p. 430) argues that the simple usage of a Hindu
term for God does not necessarily make one a Hindu.
10 Usborne (p. 10) for example, writes that Bullhe Shah's poems "show very
little elaborationof thought or imagination.Some of them have a larger proportion
of Sanskritwords than one might expect in a Muslim writer,but this may be because
there were fewer Arabic and Persian words in Panjabiat the time."
62
Robin Rinehart
influencedby HinduismmorethanIslam.11And SadhuRamSharda,

who considersBullhe Shah a VaisnavaVedantin,arguesthat even
in poemsin whichBullheShahuses Islamicterminology,"thespirit
In contrast,TaufiqRafat,whoporthereinis undoubtedly
Vedanta."12
Bullhe
as
Sufi
Shah
trays
championof theoppressed,arguesthateven
when Bullhe Shah makesreferenceto Hinduideas, he uses Arabic
Inphrasesto makeit clearthathe is firstandforemosta Muslim.13
also weightherelativefrequencyof referencesto the myth,
terpreters
history,and literatureof Islamand Hinduism.Thereare yet further
characterizations
thatareless clearlydefined,yet at theheartof many
namely,the interpreter's
generalimpressionof Bullhe
interpretations:
Shah'sworldview,baseduponthe interpreter's
readingof his poetry.
Perhapsthe best illustrationof this strategyis a chartfoundin
Ahmad'sedition of Bullhe Shah'spoems, which he considersthe
mostvaluablepartof his effort.He askednine Punjabipoetsto read
to BullheShah(poemswhichhadalready
sixty-sixpoemsattributed
been chosen for Ahmad'sedition)and select the ones that seemed
authenticto them. Ahmadnotes that the poems that receivedthe
highestnumberof votesfromthe poetswerealso thosemostbeloved
by thepeople.14ForAhmad,whoseBullheShahis a championof the
oppressed,it is the "people"who can recognizethe genuinearticle.
Similarly,AbdulMajidBhattiestablishesthe "styleand pointof
view"of BullheShahas a criterionfor determining
authenticpoems;
he furthernotesthaton thesegroundshe eliminatedpoemsattributed
to BullheShahwhichwerenot directlyrelatedto theQuranandother
Islamicliterature,
andinsteadcontainedreferencesto theGangesriver
to
(sacred Hindus)andSham("thedarkone";an epithetof Krishna)
as God.15It is those very same poems which provideevidencefor
thosewho wish to style BullheShaha Vaisnava.Ramakrishna
notes
l Kohli, 43.
p.
12
Sharda,p. 150.
13 Rafat, p. 18.
14 See Ahmad's chart at the end of his "Introduction"to Kalam-e-BullheShah.
15 Bhatti, 10.
p.
63
to BullheShah,butthe authentic
thattherearemanypoemsattributed
onesaredistinguished
Shecitespoems
by his "forceandsimplicity."16
which she believesto exemplifya Vedanticspirit(even when they
NeitherBhatti's"style and point of
containIslamicreferences).17
view" nor Ramakrishna's
"forceand simplicity"is explained,but
each was clearlya crucialconceptin these interpretations.
Otherinterpreters
rely upon their sense of Bullhe Shah'suse of
and
establishthisas a criterionof authenticity.
and
Rafat
meter,
rhyme
maintainsthatBullheShahfollowedno particularrulesof rhymeor
meter,whereasAhmadarguesthatmetricalconsistencyis an indication of an authenticBullheShahpoem (in some instanceshe rearto
rangedthe lines of versesfrom othereditionsand performances
createnew metricallyconsistent,and thereforeauthentic,poems).18
It is importantto note here that a particularinterpreter's
sense of
whatactuallyconstitutesthe "real"corpusof Bullhe Shah'spoetry
itself shapesthe interpreter's
readingof the worldviewof thatcorpus;
the interpretive
strategythusfar is basedupon a series of mutually
dependent factors -
life, poetry, worldview -
none of which has
an independentgroundingwith outsideevidenceto supportit. The

degreeof circularityincreases.
ThemostsignificantriftsemergeamongBullheShah'sinterpreters
as theydefinehis religiousidentityby placinghimwithina particular
category.Amongthosewho categorizeBullheShahas firstandforemost a Muslim,his preciseplacementwithinan Islamicframework
varies.While he is virtuallyalwayscast as a Sufi, to some, he was
a Sufiwho adheredfirmlyto the dictatesof Islamiclaw, andto oththe
ers,he was a Sufiwhoseintensemysticalexperiencestranscended
needfora predictably
drylegalism.Forthosewho locateBullheShah
withintheHindutradition,thereareparticular
challenges.Thathe had
some connectionwith Islamcannotbe denied(his very name,after
all, suggeststhathe was Muslim,and not Hindu),and thus Bullhe
16
Ramakrishna,p. 64.
17 Ramakrishna,p. 64.
18 Rafat, 29; Ahmad,
pp. 11, 12.
p.
64
Robin Rinehart
Shahis definedin varyingguises as a VedanticSufi, or sometimes

a VaisnavaVedanticSufi. Interpreters
makingthese categorizations
to
nominal
recognition Islam,andarguethatthe realheart
give only
of BullheShah'sreligiosityis in Vedantaor VaisnavaVedanta.
Bullhe Shah'sinterpreters'
acceptanceof Islamand Hinduismas
the appropriate
basiccategoriesrestsuponthreekey presuppositions:
a. Islam and Hinduism are two distinct religious traditions, each
with clear, definingfeatures, and definable, sometimeshierarchically
rankedsubsets, such as Sufism(as a subset of Islam) and Vedanta/Vaisnava Vedanta(as subsets of Hinduism). Interpretersproceed as if
of whatconstitherewere self-evident,agreeduponunderstandings
tutesIslamandHinduismas distinctcategories.Thusit is self-evident
shouldask into which of the two Bullhe Shahfits;
thatinterpreters
is to inventorythe features
the way to make such a determination
of his poetry,and assignthem to theirrespectivecategories.When
therearefeaturesassociatedwithbothcategoriespresent,interpreters
adoptdifferentstrategies.Some adopta "majorityrules"criterion
by weighingthe featuresagainstone another,with the majorityof
referencesdeterminingthe dominantcategory(more referencesto
"Islamic"elementsthan"Hindu"elementsmeansBullhe Shahwas
andphilosophicalpuMuslim).Othersinvokecriteriaof authenticity
rity: if the interpreteris inclinedto place Bullhe Shah in the category of Islam, then "Hindu"featuresare likely to be considered
accretionsin the BullheShahcorpus(andof coursea
non-authentic
similarstrategyis possiblefor someonewishingto placeBullheShah
withina Hinduframework).
b. Thereare distinct, identifiableboundariesbetweenIslam and Hinduism, and as so conceived, Islam and Hinduism have nothing in
common with one another (thus an idea is either Islamic or Hindu,
but not both).Any formof religiousexpressionwhichcontainselementsfromthese two separatecategoricalconstructsrequiresexplanation,which in some cases involvesthe creationof a "hybrid"or
65
"syncretist"category,such as "VedanticSufi."19The basic categorical

structureis assumed to be valid, and in a case where Bullhe Shah's
expression seems not to fit the existing categories, either a new hybrid sub-categoryis created, or it is assumed that there is a problem
in the poet's corpus itself (i.e. if interpreterscould determine which
of the poems attributedto Bullhe Shah are authentic,those authentic
poems would surely yield a clear philosophical category). That the
categories themselves simply might not be the correct ones to invoke
for Bullhe Shah is not an option that the interpretersconsider; the
categories themselves are not challenged.
c. The categories "Islam"and "Hinduism"and the boundaries now
understoodto separate themhave remainedconstant- i.e. twentiethcenturyconceptionsof what constitute "Islam"and "Hinduism"may
be read back into Bullhe Shah's lifetime. Currentconceptions of Islam and Hinduism are to a large extent the product of colonial and
post-colonial discussions of religious identity, and reflect concerns
which are likely quite differentfrom any we might identify in Bullhe
Shah's time. In the present day, there are multiple understandingsof
"Islam"and "Hinduism."It is thereforeespecially critical that interpreters be clear about what exactly they mean when they use such
labels, whether it be for the present or the past. They must realize
that their own understandingof "Islam"or "Hinduism"- whether
they spell it out or not - may not be the same understandingthat
their readershave. And they must also take into account the fluidity
of such categories over time. If we are treatingBullhe Shah as a historical figure who lived at a specific time, in a specific place, whose
worldview was shaped in part by the social and religious climate of
his time, then we must have a clear idea of what that social and
religious climate was. How did people conceive of Islam and Hinduism in the early eighteenth century? Perhaps the historical figure
19 For a
very useful discussion of the problems of using terms such as "syncretism"and "hybrid",see Tony K. Stewart and Carl Ernst, "Syncretism"in Peter
Claus and MargaretMills, eds., South Asian Folklore: An Encyclopedia (Garland
Press, forthcoming).
66
Robin Rinehart
as
Bullhe Shahdid not thinkin termsof "Islam"and "Hinduism"
definitivecategories,and othercategoriesmay have been of greater
do not ask these questions,
importto him. While most interpreters
that they conthey are centralto a defense of the interpretations
struct.
Despite such fundamentalproblemsin the move to categorize
Bullhe Shah,interpreters
generallyproceedfrom this point by adducingevidencefor the particular
categoricalclassificationthatthey
havechosen.The interpreter
who labelsBullheShaha VedanticSufi
who
presentspoems said to expressVedanticideas20;the interpreter
classesBullheShahas completelyMuslimsetsforthpoemsbrimming
withreferencesto Islamiclore.21
Making Categories Work
Thewide rangeof categorizations

of BullheShah'sworldviewand
from
religiousidentity
law-abidingMuslimto Vedanticmystic
- showsall too clearlythe difficultyin placinghim in anyparticular categorythatall his interpreters
will find acceptable.In part,the
is a functionof the varyinginitialinterprerangeof categorizations
tive moves discussedabove- the mutuallydependentrelationof
his life and poetry.But these multiplecategorizations
do not exist
in isolation;manyof themare presentedexplicitlyas correctivesto
othercategorizations.
BullheShah'sinterpreters
fill manypageswith
defensesof the particularcategoriesthatthey have chosen,andcritiquesof thepositionsof othereditorsandinterpreters.
Manyeditions
with
of
other
editions
of
Bullhe
Shah's
begin
critiques
poems.22Ramakrishna'sportrayalof Bullhe Shah as the quintessentialAdvaita
20 See, for
example, Ramakrishna,pp. 54-61.
21 In some instances, the
very same poem is used to illustrate both positions.
For examples of this, see Rinehart,"Interpretationsof the Poetry of Bullhe Shah,"
pp. 53-57.
22 See, for example, Faqir'sintroduction,especially pp. 12-13; Ahmad,pp. 6-12;
Ramakrishna,pp. 69-71.
67
Vedantinreceives the sharpestcriticism, particularlyin works published in Pakistan.23

The result is that a greatdeal of ink has been spilled defendingvarious assessmentsof Bullhe Shah, with little questioningabout whether
the means of assessment themselves are valid. Bullhe Shah, however
styled by his interpreters,simply does not fit neatly into any of the
basic categories that all his interpretersassume, whether one relies
on a poorly edited printededition, or transcribesthe poems as they
are sung by performers,or uses the best critical editions available,
uses just a few poems, or many. As a result, a substantialportion of
the literatureon Bullhe Shah is devoted not to the poetry itself, but to
making plausible the variouslabels that have been proposed for him.
Those who portrayBullhe Shah as drawinghis inspirationsolely from
the Islamic mystical tradition(and certainly not from Hindu mysticism) must defend this stanceby explainingany poems (if they accept
them as "authentic")which suggest otherwise, and they must also argue againstthose who portrayBullhe Shah in other ways. Those who
arguethat the bulk of Bullhe Shah's inspirationcame from outside Islam must show why they believe this to be so, and must demonstrate
what makes him a "VedanticSufi."It is worth noting that despite the
ubiquitous use of categorizationas a primarymeans of interpreting
Bullhe Shah's work, none of his interpretersever actually delineates
or defines the categories that they employ. Instead, they present the
categories as self-evident, and then constructaccounts of how Bullhe
Shah came to fit into particularcategories.
The most common strategyin these accounts is to contructquasihistorical narrativesabout the developmentof Sufism in the Punjab.
Interpreterswho style Bullhe Shah a Muslim suggest that the antecedents of his thought are to be found only within the Sufi tradition. The most detailed version of this argumentis found in Khan's
AkhidBullhe Shdh. Khan begins with a discussion of the Vedas, Upanishads,and Sankara'sAdvaita Vedanta,and arguesthat while there
23 See, for
example, Trilochan Singh, p. 430; Rafat, pp. 2, 8, 223-224; Khan,
p. 40; Sayyad, p. 40; and for an especially biting critique, Ahmad's introduction.
Kohli, p. 55, quibbles with some of Ramakrishna'sinterpretationsas well.
68
Robin Rinehart
may be superficialsimilaritiesbetweengankara'sideas andthose of

BullheShah's,it wouldsimplybe a mistaketo assumesome direct
connection.BullheShah'sreal inspiration,he argues,is ibn-'Arabi's
theoryof the unityof being,or wahdatal-wujud.Khanpresentsno
specifichistoricalevidenceto substantiatethis claim;his rhetorical
strategy,however,is to make historicallyplausiblethe notionthat
Bullhe Shah'sideas could have logically come only from the Sufi
tradition.24
In contrast,interpreters
placingBullheShahin a Hinduframework
arguethat Sufismitself has its roots in ancientIndianphilosophy,
and/orthatthePunjabiSufisweremoreprofoundlyinfluencedby their
"Indian"
thanthe Sufitraditionitself.Sharda
(i.e. Hindu)environment
presentsthe most detailedversionof this position.He boldlyasserts
that"thedeclarationof self-deification
by Abu Yazid,the discipleof
AbuAli of SindandMansural-Hallajis withouta doubta borrowing
fromIndianVedanta."25
He furtherarguesthatdespiteclaimsthatibn'Arabi'sideas reachedIndiain the thirteenthcentury,any similarly
pantheistic(a termhe uses quiteloosely) ideas foundin the Punjab
throughthe seventeethcenturywere inspiredby VaisnavaVedanta,
the influenceof which was so greatthat convertsto Islam began
Shardaalso draws vague connections
reconvertingto Hinduism.26
betweenSufismand the Buddhistand Nathtraditionsof India.The
gist of the argumentis thatanythingnoteworthyin PunjabiSufismis
due only to its Indian(i.e. non-Islamic)antecedents.
Thecreationof hybridcategoriessuchas Sharda's"Vaisnava
Vedanta"presentsspecialproblemsfor interpreters.
The largercategoriesof
IslamandHinduismaregenerallyrecognizedandacceptedmeansof
Termssuchas "Vedantic
Sufi,"
classification,
despitetheirdrawbacks.
in
common
in
are
not
either
or
however,
usage
scholarly popular
who
works,and requiremoreexplanation.Interestingly,
interpreters
makeuse of even these hybridcategories,whose meaningis by no
24
Khan, pp. 17-53.

25 Sharda,
Sufi Thought,p. 70.
26 Sharda,
Sufi Thought,pp. 77, 181-183.
69
means self-evident, do not define or defend the categoriesthemselves.

Instead,these interpretersagain turn to quasi-historicalexplanations
of how Bullhe Shah came to adopt the stance of the "VedanticSufi."
The assumption is that Bullhe Shah began his life planted firmly
within the category of Islam, and then gradually adopted elements
from the category of Hinduism.The categoriesare taken as primafacie; thus everyone logically begins life situatedwithin one or another.
The implication is that categorical overlapping such as that argued
for in Bullhe Shah's case is unusual and requires explanation;there
is no sense that the categories themselves might be inadequatefor the
interpretivetask (or even that a person might from the very beginning
exhibit "categoricaloverlapping").
Such interpretationsare most frequently explained through the
mechanism of influence - Bullhe Shah was "influenced"by the
Indian outlook, by Vedanta, by Vaisnavism. The concept of influence, however, is highly problematic.First of all, how do we define
influence?27Is someone who is influenced aware of having been influenced?Does influence always have a positive effect? How do we
establish that influence has occurred?In the studies of Bullhe Shah,
the criterion seems to be nothing more than an apparentsimilarity
between a concept in his poetry and in a separatelyconceived tradition, with no need to establish causality.The concept of influence as
employed in these analyses depends upon the presuppositionof the
validity of the categories invoked, for it is these abstractcategories
("Indianoutlook," "Vedanta,"etc.) to which the interpretersassign
27 The
concept of influence has been the subject of much analysis and debate
within literary criticism; the problematic aspects of defining and invoking influence are well-attested. The analyses of Bullhe Shah, however, make no reference
to this vast literature.Two useful introductionsto the use of the concept of "influence" in literary criticism are Jay Clayton and Eric Rothstein, "Figures in the
Corpus:Theories of Influence and Intertextuality"in Clayton and Rothstein, eds.,
Influenceand Intertextualityin LiteraryHistory (Madison:University of Wisconsin
Press, 1991), pp. 3-36, and Louis A. Renza, "Influence"in Frank Lentricchia and
ThomasMcLaughlin, eds., Critical Termsfor LiteraryStudies (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1990), pp. 186-202.
70
Robin Rinehart
the agencyof influence,ratherthanto a moreconcreteentitysuchas

a particularperson,group,text, or even Zeitgeist(which,while still
wouldbe moreplausible,defensibleagentsof influence).
problematic,
The samequestionshold truefor othermechanismspurportedto
be at workin BullheShah'spoetry,suchas borrowingandblending
- the idea thatBullhe ShahborrowedsomethingfromVedanta,or
blendedcertainaspectsof Sufismwithcertainaspectsof Vedanta.Influence,borrowing,andblendingall presupposeat leasttwo separate,
distincttraditions- IslamborrowsfromHinduismor, morerarely,
and "Islam"
vice versa.But how can we establishwhat"Hinduism"
werefor the personallegedlydoingthe borrowing?
We can'tevenbe
surewhat"Hinduism"
and"Islam"(andVedanta,VaisnavaVedanta,
orthodoxIslam, etc.) mean to the authorswho make such claims
aboutBullheShah,sincenone of themtells us how they understand
these terms.Not only are these conceptspresentedwith little or no
Insupportingevidence,buttheirworkingsare apparentlyarbitrary.
fluence,for example,seemsto workonly in one direction.Fromthe
perspectiveof those who defineBullheShahas a Vedantinof some
variety,Islamwas clearlysubjectto influencefromHinduism.Islam,
however,hasnotin anywayinfluencedHinduism;Hinduismis inherently superiorto Islam.Influenceonly "flows"downward;religious
traditionsonly "borrow"
thingswhichthey arelacking.Theseanalyses whichuse conceptssuchas influenceandborrowingaregenerally
madelong afterthe allegedinfluenceor borrowingtook place, and
thosewho assertthemrarelyprovideanyspecificevidenceto support
theirclaims.Instead,suchargumentsbecomethe basis for doctrinal
claims aboutBullhe Shahwhich in fact tell us far more aboutthe
own doctrinalstancesthanBullheShah's.
interpreters'
It is in interpretations
of Bullhe Shahbuilt upon influence,borwe find argumentsfor Bullhe Shahhavand
that
rowing,
blending
ing passedthrougha seriesof developmental
phases,culminatingin
"VedanticSufism"or "Vaisnava
VedanticSufism."The argumentfor
developmentalphasesis a particularlyingenioustactic for dealing
with the Bullhe Shahcorpus,for any seemingphilosophicalincongruitiesmay be explainedas expressionsfrom differentphases of
71
Bullhe Shah's life. The best example of this strategyis LajwantiRamakrishna'spresentationof the three phases of Bullhe Shah's mystic
life. In the first phase, he learned basic Sufi doctrines from Inayat
Shah, and composed verse that was "weak in thought and very commonplace."In the second phase, he "assimilatedmore of the Indian
outlook" which included acceptance of some Vaisnavaideas, and finally reached the third and final phase, in which he became a "firm
believer in Advaita."28A strengthof such an interpretivemove is that
it does not demand complete consistency of Bullhe Shah throughout
his life; its greatest weakness, however, is that there is no evidence
other than the poems themselves for assuming a series of developmental phases. Thus any such constructionis arbitraryon a number
of counts, for the interpretermust assume that there is indeed a single, historical figure, with a relatively fixed body of work, and that
internalcriteriaalone are sufficientfor identifying successive phases.
Yet even if we accept that there is a fixed body of poetry composed
by one Bullhe Shah, and that this poetry may be organizedinto different groups on the basis of the worldview expressed in the poetry,
we have no means of determininghow to place these groups.
Interpreterswho place Bullhe Shah squarely within the category
of Islam (as it is variously conceived) do so in part as a response,
oftentimesvery explicit, to those who see Bullhe Shah as having been
influencedin some way by some form of Hinduism.In such accounts,
LajwantiRamakrishnais singled out for particularcriticism. Her critics' basic strategy is to use the same argumentativestructure,but
throughadducing contrastingevidence. Bullhe Shah may well have
passed throughphases, they argue,but clearly the ultimatephase was
one in which he espoused a "pure"Islam free from extra-categorical
influences. Or, Bullhe Shah may well have been subjectto influences,
but all these influences came from within the Islamic traditionitself,
and not from anywhere else. This strategy involves argumentsfor
influence which are just as problematic as those described above,
except that in these arguments,apparentsimilarities between ideas
28 Ramakrishna, 49-54.
pp.
Robin Rinehart
72
foundin BullheShah'spoems,andideasfoundanywherein the Sufi

tradition,whetherBullheShahcouldplausiblyhavehad any knowledge of themor not,arecitedas the "trueinfluences"on his thinking.
Again,thereare sweepinghistoricalclaims;ratherthanthe influence
invokethe widespreadinfluof Vedanta,however,these interpreters
ence of ibn-'Arabi'stheoryof the unityof being [wahdatal-wujud].
than
Hereonceagainwe learnmoreaboutthestanceof theinterpreter
we do aboutBullheShah;the interpreter's
energyhas beenexpended
classifications
work.
these
largelyuponmaking
categorical
At thispoint,somemightbe temptedto dismissthe multipleinterpretationsof BullheShahas the workof scholarswhosecommunalor
nationalistagendashaveobscuredprinciplesof soundhistoricaland
andsearchfor more"objective"
studies.But it
literaryinterpretation,
is especiallyimportantto notethatthis style of interpretation
permeatesvirtuallyeverythingwrittenaboutBullheShah,evenin studiesby
scholarswho presumablyarenot primarilyconcernedwith a particular communalor nationalistprogram.Firstof all, the primarysource
of Bullhe Shah'spoetryis in the very editionsof his poetrywhich
placehim into differentcategorieson the basisof varyingcommunal
agendas,and it is very hardto ignorethe disparateinterpretations.
But at a deeperlevel, eventhoseinterpreters
who challengethe merit
of these analysesof BullheShahdo not questionthe very natureof
the studyitself - they makethe same kinds of claims aboutcategories,usingconceptssuchas influence,etc. - andpresentanalyses
whicharegroundedin the verysameassumptionsaboutthe relationshipbetweenbiographyandpoetry,religiousidentity,andauthorship,
albeitwith less communalhyperbole.AnnemarieSchimmel,for example,is keenlyawareof the biasesat workin studiesof IndianSufi
poets: "... a number of authors, particularlythe Hindus... believe
thathereIndianadvaitamysticismgaineda completevictoryoverIslamicmonotheism."29
Pointingout the tendencyamongbothHindus
andWesternscholarsof Sufismto see similaritiesbetweenSankara's
AdvaitaVedantaand ibn-'Arabi'swahdatal-wujad,she asserts,"it
29 Schimmel,
Mystical Dimensions of Islam, pp. 386-387.
73
is not correct to equate the two systems."30While maintainingthat

there were indeed "Hindu influences" on the mystical poets of the
Punjaband Sindh, her conclusion is that this literatureis "unmistakably Islamic"because of its venerationof Muhammad.31Thus while
her discussion of the Punjabi Sufis is considerably more nuanced
than that of many interpreters32,
she still situates her analysis within
the basic problematicframeworkof categories and the mechanisms
by which they interact, such as influence. Similarly, MustansirMir,
in a brief study of Bullhe Shah and Sultan Bahu, while noting the
broad-basedappeal of Bullhe Shah, argues that both Bullhe Shah and
Sultan Bahu are "situatedfirmly within the Islamic tradition,and it
is a mistaketo think that they were influencedby the Hindu Vedantic
tradition."33
While virtually anyone can appreciate some aspects of
this poetry, Mir argues, in the end, it is "decidedly Islamic in structure and detail."34Both Schimmel and Mir acknowlege the multiple
interpretationsof Bullhe Shah, dismiss ratherabruptlythe claims for
significant"Hinduinfluence"on his poetry,and conclude by situating
him within Islam, withoutindicatingwhat the criteriafor determining
the Hindu or Islamic content of his poetry were.
We are thus left with varying bodies of work attributedto a man
named Bullhe Shah, and we cannot be certain whether all the poems
credited to him are actually the composition of a single historical
figure. Yet while virtually everyone who writes about Bullhe Shah
notes the difficultiesinherentin the Bullhe Shah corpus,theiranalyses
of his work nonetheless generally proceed on the assumptionthat we
are in fact dealing with one single author. It is here that we need
30 Schimmel, "Reflectionson
PopularMuslim Poetry,"p. 23.
31 Schimmel, "The Influence of Sufism on Indo-Muslim
Poetry,"pp. 197-200.
32 Schimmel's
of
Islamic
in
vernacular
study
mystical poetry
languages provides
a wealth of detail on the types of poetry which may indeed have played a role in
shaping Bullhe Shah the historical figure as a poet; this is informationnot found in
other studies of Bullhe Shah. See especially Chapter4 of Schimmel's As Througha
Veil.
33 Mir, "Teachingsof Two PunjabiSufi Poets," pp. 520-521.
34 Mir, 521.
p.
74
Robin Rinehart
to examinemorecriticallythe conceptionsof authorshipthatare at

workin studiesof BullheShah.
The Implicationsof the Concept of Authorship
The varyinginterpretations
of Bullhe Shah, as I have described
a
above,rely upon seriesof unquestioned
andquespresuppositions
tionableargumentative
At
the
heart
of
each
of
these
stratestrategies.
lies
the
uncritical
gies
assumptionthatthe truesubjectof this analysis is a man namedBullhe Shah.These interpreters
acknowledge
thattherearemultipleinterpretations
of BullheShah'slife andwork,
but seem to assumethattherecan only be one trueone. The key to
findingthe "real"BullheShahamidstthe variouslyconstructedpretendersis to defineBullheShahthe man.If interpreters
can establish
when
he
what
he
and
lived,
exactly
learned,
exactly which poems
he composed,then the true, clearpictureof his life and workwill
emerge.
This strategydependsuponan implicitconceptof authorship,accordingto whichthe authoris a singleindividuallocatedin a specific
time and place. As such, he is subjectto forces such as the social
and historicalconditionsunderstoodto be in operationduringhis
lifetime,andis exposedto a rangeof religiousoptionsconceivedas
being confinedwithinspecificcategories.These factorslead to the
authordevelopinga particular
identityandworldview,whichhe then
haveidentifiedthis identity
expressesin his work.Once interpreters
andworldview,it functionsas a standard
of consistencyby whichthey
canjudge any worksattributed
to the authornamedBullheShah.
Thisimplicitstandard
of authorship
formof
exemplifiesa particular
whatMichelFoucaulttermedthe "author-function,"
a functionfound
in literaryanalysisin which the conceptof authorshipbecomesa
meansof interpretinga set of texts (and may also be a meansof
andthereforelimitation).
authentification,
The authorexplains the presence of certainevents within a text, as well as their
transformations,distortions,and their various modifications(and this throughan
author'sbiographyor by referenceto his particularpoint of view, in the analysis
of his social preferences and his positions within a class...) The author also
75
constitutes a principle of unity in writing where any unevenness of production

is ascribedto changes caused by evolution, maturation,or outside influence.35
Thisconceptionof authorship
clearlydependsupona single,fixed
historicalfigurewhose life andpredilectionsmay be seen as determiningthe contentof his work;this figureis furtherseen as being
eitherconsistent,or subjectto a processof intellectualdevelopment
whichwill be manifestedin thebodyof his work.Foucaultnotedthat
therootsof thisconceptionof authorship
lie in Christianexegesisand
the attemptto authenticate
or rejecttextsattributed
to a singleauthor.
Of particularinterestare the criteriafor authenticityestablishedby
St. Jerome,accordingto whicha body of workcouldbe considered
thatof one authorif it reflected(a) a standardof quality(an author's
workswill be of uniformquality),(b) a fieldof conceptualor theoretical coherence(the authorwill alwaysadhereto the sametheoretical
positions),and (c) stylisticuniformity(therewill be no significant
variationin the author'sstyle). The authorwas thus constructedas
a definitehistoricalfigurein whom a series of events converged.36
A similarprocessis clearlyat workin constructions
of BullheShah
invokecriteriaof authenticas author,andBullheShah'sinterpreters
similarto those set out by St. Jerome.The
ity thatare remarkably
of
varyinginterpretations BullheShahas a definitehistoricalfigure
becomethe basis for multipleclaimsaboutthe true(i.e. doctrinally
correct)natureof his poetry,each rootedin some conceptionof an
ideal,dominantcategory,be it "Islam"or "VedanticSufism."
Thisconceptof authorship
whichBullheShah'sinterpreters
apply
has its rootsin eighteenth-century
of printed
westernunderstandings
matter,whentextscameto be regardedas intellectualproperty,their
authorshavingcertainrightsbut also responsibilities.To applythe
conceptof legal responsibilityto the contentof a text of courserequiresthe conceptof an authoras a clearlyidentifiable,specificindi35 Foucault, Michel, "Whatis an Author?"in HazardAdams and Leroy Searles,
eds., Critical Theorysince 1965 (Tallahassee:Florida State University Press, 1986),
p. 134.
36 Foucault, "WhatIs an Author?"p. 144.
76
Robin Rinehart
of thetextitself as a fixedobject.Yet
vidual,as well an understanding
the natureof the BullheShahcorpusmakesthis notionof authorship
highlyproblematic.
are to applya particularstandardof
For example,if interpreters
how is that standarddetermined?Woulda standardlevel
"quality,"
referto expressionsof particularphilosophicalpositions,or formal
patternsin the poetry?We need only recall the variouscriteriainvokedin differenteditions,such as "forceand simplicity,"
disregard
for meter,or metricalconsistency,to see thedifficultywithdefininga
standard
forBullheShah'spoetry.Further,is it realisticto assumethat
BullheShah'spoemswereall of the samelevel of quality?Couldn't
some of his poemsbe betterthanothers?Evenif we leaveasidethe
questionof developmental
phasesvs. completeuniformityin Bullhe
Shah'sdoctrine,must we assumethatBullhe Shah was completely
withdifferconsistentthroughout
his life, thathe neverexperimented
ent ideas in his poetry,or variedhis formsof expressiondepending
uponhis audience?The assumptionthatthereis a recoverablebody
of poetrycomposedby a consistent,stylisticallyunchanging,doctrinally fixed historicalfigurenamedBullhe Shahis problematic,and
yet it is uponthis assumptionthatconstructionsof BullheShahthe
authordepend.Further,theseconstructions
of BullheShahas author,
made long afterthe fact, are nonethelesspositionedas prior- in
otherwords,the particularconstructionitself becomesa meansof
explanationandinterpretation.
This constructionof BullheShahas historicalauthoris especially
importantfor assigninghim a specificcommunalidentity,whether
it be orthodoxMuslim,rebelliousSufi, or VedanticSufi.In each of
thesecharacterizations,
BullheShahis portrayedas a manshapedby
ThatBullhe
specifichistoricalfactorsin his immediateenvironment.
Shahlivedin thepresenceof religioustraditionsthatarenowlabelled
"Islam"and"Hinduism"
(howeversuchtraditionsmaybe defined)is
a reasonableassumption.But were these meaningfulcategoriesto
BullheShah?How can we establishwhathe knewaboutthem,how
them,whathe thoughtabouteach?Toanswer
peoplethenunderstood
suchquestions,we areled backin a circleto his workitself- work
77
which,as nearlyall concede,cannotbe conclusivelyestablishedas

the productof this one historicalfigure.And yet whatall thosewho
definea particularBullhe Shah do is to extractpassagesfrom his
the "Hinduinfluence"or the predominance
of
poetryto demonstrate
"orthodoxIslam"in the life andworkof this one man.
The strategiesinterpreters
have typicallyused leave us with conBullhe
Shah'slife and work.Yet the very exflictingportrayalsof
istenceof so manyportrayalsmakesclearBullheShah'simportance
in Punjabiliterature.Whyis he claimedby Punjabisof differentreligious communities?Whatis at stakewhen interpreters
place him
withina particularcategory?It is not enoughsimplyto identifythe
problemswith the conceptof authorshipor the conceptionof Hinduismand Islam as separatereligioustraditionsand then move on
with yet anotherinterpretation.
To answersuch questionsrequires
developingnew strategiesfor studyingBullheShah,his poetry,and
his interpreters.
ReinterpretingBullhe Shah and His Interpreters
Whatcan we learnfromthe variousconstructions

of BullheShah
the author?Why does he occupysuchan importantplace in Punjabi
religion?Tobeginto answerthesequestions,we mustbeginourstudy
of the poet andhis interpreters
with a new set of assumptions:
a. Thereare multiple "BullheShahs." There is as yet no widely ac-
cepted,definitiveaccountof BullheShah'slife. Evenif new sources

of informationwere discovered,andit becamepossibleto construct
a reasonablyauthentic,historicallydefensibleaccountof the life of
BullheShahas a historicalfigure,suchan accountwouldlikelyhave
little connectionto, or change,the variouspopularunderstandings
of
his life. While we may fairly safely assumethat therewas indeed
a historicalfigure,his truebiographymay no longerbe recoverable,
andit mayno longerbe the mostimportant
issue.Ratherthancontinuing to interpretBullheShahby relyinguponthe notionof a single
correctreadingof his life, it is moreuseful to look at the multiple
78
Robin Rinehart
biographiesthatalreadyexist. Whatdo they tell us aboutwhatpeople see as being importantaboutBullheShah?In whatways do the
versionsof Bullhe Shahdiffer,and in what ways are they similar?
How do they affectthe variousversionsof the Bullhe Shahcorpus
thatexist?Howdo thesesimilaritiesanddifferencesrelateto contemporarydebatesaboutnationaland communalidentity?If we accept
the conceptthatBullheShah'sreadersandlistenerscreatetheirown
BullheShahs,we candevelopa new conceptionof BullheShahas an
"author"variouslycreatedand recreatedwithin differentdiscursive
spaces (e.g. the variousdiscussionsof national,communal,andrePakistanandIndia).This,in turn,will
gionalidentityin contemporary
allow us to considera crucialquestion:why is BullheShah'sname
so powerful?37
In a recentstudyof Sufi and bhaktipoetry,Thomas
de Bruijnsuggeststhatit is usefulto considermedievalIndianpoets
notjust as historicalfigures,butalso as "rhetorical
In the
personae."
time betweena historicalpoet's creativework, and its subsequent
recordingin manuscriptform, a personadevelopswhich refersnot
only to the rhetoricsof the poetryattributedto the poet, but also
the "saintlyimage of the poet developedin populardevotion."38
De
the
is
a
rhetorical
useful
of
considof
Bruijn'sconcept
way
persona
eringthe functionandimportanceof a poet's nameas the corpusof
to the poet andthe biographical
traditionsaboutthe
poetryattributed
poet expand.
b. Multiple Bullhe Shahs have created multiple bodies of poetry.
UncoveringBullhe Shahthe historicalfigureis not the key to understandingBullhe Shah'srole in Punjabireligion.Bullhe Shahthe
belovedpoet is in a sensea workin progress,andacceptingthisnotion allowsus to furtherdevelopa new way of lookingat the poetry
37 Hawley ("Authorand Authority")argues that in much medieval Indianpoetry,
the poet's name is used not so much as a mark of individual authorship,but as a
means of invoking the authorityassociated with the poet's name. Ali Asani ('The
Isma'ili Gindns")has identifieda similarprocess in Isma'li gindn literature,in which
poems of apparentlyrelativelyrecent origin are attributedto much earlier authors.
38 de
Bruijn, p. 1.
79
attributedto him. The corpus of Bullhe Shah poetry itself is also a

work in progress, always shaped in part by the perspective of those
who presentit (throughediting a text, throughreading a text, through
performingor listening to the performanceof his work). A.K. Ramanujanidentified a similar process at work in different tellings of
the Ramdyana.The basic plot, characters,and other elements in the
tale function as a "pool of signifiers (like a gene pool)." Different
tellings of the story "not only relate to prior texts directly,to borrow
or refute, but they relate to each other throughthis common code or
common pool. Every author,if one may hazarda metaphor,dips into
it and brings out a unique crystallization,a new text with a unique
texture and a fresh context."39Using Ramanujan'sterms, then, both
Bullhe Shah and the poetry attributedto him themselves become a
similarsort of "pool of signifiers."There are common elements within
it, but what different interpreterstake from this pool, and the narrative that they constructto relate those elements, may differ radically.
Nonetheless, each is aware of working from within the same pool
of material. This view of the corpus allows us to ask different, and
potentially more fruitful questions. What kinds of poems are found
in differenteditions of Bullhe Shah's work? Is there a constant core
set of poems that appearsin collections with differentagendas?
c. Definitions of Islam and Hinduism are likewise inconstant and
multiformed,shaped by the perspective (in both time and space) of
those who present them. Ratherthan focusing on placing Bullhe Shah
in a category,we should use the multipleversions of his poetic corpus
as a means of understandinghow such categories are constructedand
used. Would someone hearingor readingthe line "thereis no Hindu,
there is no Muslim" in Bullhe Shah's time have understoodit in the
same way someone might today? What is at stake when interpreters
claim that Bullhe Shah's true inspirationcomes from Hinduism, and
not Islam? Why is Bullhe Shah so often used for this purpose?
39 Ramanujan,"ThreeHundredRdmdyanas"p. 46.
80
Robin Rinehart
The Role of Performance
If we accept the fluidityand multiplicityof understandings

of
BullheShah,his poetry,andhis audience,we can also ask important
questionsabout the performativecontextof his work.Most interpretershave treatedthe performanceof Bullhe Shah'spoetryas a
the
sourceof disruptionof the poetic corpus.Throughperformance,
hypotheticalUr-text,pure,bound,a staticobject,becomesdefiledas
takeversesoutof context,interpolate,changemeters,and
performers
vary syntaxand vocabularyon the basis of theirown dialects.The
writtentext is takenas primaryand definitive;performersbreakits
boundaries,anddeviatefromthe truetext. Yet at the sametime, the
poetic corpusitself is understoodto be first and foremostoral accordingto virtuallyevery versionof Bullhe Shah'slife, he sang
his poems,andthey wereinitiallytransmitted
orally.40
Manyeditors
note the existenceand importanceof many as yet unpublishedor
unknownBullhe Shahpoems, suggestingthat the oral traditionof
transmissionis still vital.If we considerthese factorsfroma purely
practicalperspective,the underlyingassumptionof a single,implicit
Ur-textdoesn'tmakesense.As a usefulanalogy,we mightconsidera
teacher'sdevelopmentof a single lecturefor an introductory
course.
Theteacherpreparesa lecture,anddeliversit to students.Thelecture
mayexistin somewrittenform,suchas notes,butit is designedto be
performedbeforean audience.The nexttimethe teacherteachesthat
course,she will presumablytake into accounta numberof factors
- students'questions,theirapparentlevel of comprehension,
new
informationandnew circumstances,
her
in
own
changes
thinkingand revise the lectureaccordingly.Similarly,even if we acceptthe
idea of BullheShahas a single,historicalfigure,who performedhis
poemsovera periodof time,thenit seemsreasonableto assumethat
Bullhe Shah himself might have revisedindividualpoems (so that
40 There is some debate as to whether the historical figure Bullhe Shah actually
created manuscriptsof his poetry, or if he never wrote them or had them written at
all. According to Ramakrishna(p. 46), there were original manuscripts,but a fire in
the house of Bullhe Shah's descendantsdestroyed them.
81
there could have been alternateversions in circulation even during

his life), that he might have expressed differentideas at differentperiods in his life (thus creatinga body of work that was not doctrinally
consistent), and that he might have geared his poems to differentaudiences (thus some might indeed use "Hindu"names for god, others
include Quranic passages; some might be relatively simple, others
philosophically more sophisticated).
It is also essential to thinkaboutthe role of Bullhe Shah's audience.
To a great extent, the continuedpower and popularityof Bullhe Shah
rests upon performancesof his work. If we return to the analogy
of the teacher's introductorylecture, here we should imagine the
students' lecture notes. What did each student take away from the
lecture? What did they find most important,most interesting?What
did they disregard?How did their prior knowledge affect the way
that they understood(or misunderstood)the teacher's lecture?Every
teacherhas stories of the garbledversions of her words that appearon
exams. And if we imagine looking at notes from differentversions of
that same (although revised) lecture over several years, the possible
variantinterpretationsmultiply. If Bullhe Shah performedhis poems
over a period of years, revising and adding new poems, the corpus of
poetry even during his lifetime would not have fit the image that his
interpretersseem to have of it, if it were indeed possible to recover
those original forms. And if we factor in the further transmission
of his poems through performance,and later through manuscripts,
and printed texts, the corpus of course would become even more
complex - as it indeed is in reality. Its complexity and apparent
inconsistencies, however,do not necessarily mean that entireportions
of it are inauthenticand thereforeto be disregarded.Bullhe Shah the
performer,those who performed his poetry, those who listened to
it and read it, have all had a role in creating the corpus of poetry
that is now attributedto Bullhe Shah. If we are to take Bullhe Shah's
importanceas a poet seriously,and ask why he is beloved by different
religious communities, we should take seriously all the poetry that
goes under his name, even if it is possible to establish that Bullhe
Shah as a single historical figure did not compose all of it.
82
Robin Rinehart
The "Portable"Bullhe Shah
Whatdo listenersandreadersbringto the experienceof hearingor

eachbringshis orherown
readingBullheShah'spoems?Presumably,
and
sensibilities.
Those who find Bullhe
religiousidentity
religious
Shah'spoemspersonallymeaningfulmost likely place thosepoems
- Bullhe
withinthe frameworkof theirown religiousunderstanding
different
are
thus
into
frameworks.
Shah'spoems
If Sikhs
"portable"
findBullheShah'spoemsmoving,perhapsit is becausethey equate
sentimentsexpressedin the poems with sentimentsfrom the Sikh
tradition,as is suggestedby the numberof articlescomparingBullhe
Shah and the wordsof the Sikh gurusin recentpublicationsfrom
the IndianPunjab.4If Vedantinsareinspiredby certainBullheShah
poems,thenperhapsit is becausetheyfindin thosepoemsideasthat
fit theirown understanding
of Vedanta.Muslimswho respondfavorto
Bullhe
Shah's
ably
poemsof coursecan also fit manypoemsinto
a frameworkthatsuits theirown visions of Islam.These responses,
in turn,generatevaryingsensesof the "real"BullheShah,relativeto
the interpretive
framework
the readeror listenerbringsto the poems.
It is no wonderthatthereare so manydifferentinterpretations
of the
poet.Whatis it abouthis poetrythatmakesthis possible?
In themostfamousof thepoemsattributed
to BullheShah,thepoet
straightforwardly
expresseshis longingfor god. Thebasicthemesare
the pain of separationfrom god, dissatisfactionwith worldly,materiallife, andthepretenseof learning.Thesepoems,witha vocabulary
likelyfamiliarto mostspeakersof Punjabi,42
expressconceptswhich
frameworks.
Indeeda great
maybe placedinto differentinterpretive
41
See, for example, Kala Singh Bedi, "Bullhe Shah de Kalam dd Gurbani nal
TulnatmakAdhiain"in RattanSingh Jaggi, ed., Khoj Patrikd,Saln Bullhe Shah Ank
(Patiala:PublicationBureau,PunjabiUniversity, 1991), pp. 134-150, who argues for
the profoundinfluence of Sikh ideas on Bullhe Shah, and the chapter"BullheShah
te Gurban'i (pp. 169-182) in Bhasha Vibhag Punjab'sBullhe Shah: Jivan te Racna,
which points out differences between Bullhe Shah's thought and that of the Sikh
gurus, but still finds them worthy of comparison.
42 In many editions of Bullhe Shah's poems, there are compositionswhich include
a fairly sophisticated Perso-Arabicvocabulary,and references to the Quranas well
83
deal of the appeal of Bullhe Shah's poetry may lie in its very portability - the very fact that it lends itself to so many interpretive
frameworks.Perhaps most popular are the poems in which Bullhe
Shah sings as Hir, the beautiful young woman longing for her true
love, Ranjha.The tragic romance of Hir and Ranjhais a part of the
shared folklore of all Punjabis,and like Bullhe Shah's poetry, it too
exists in many differentversions, and has been interpretedon many
differentlevels, from simple love story to complex mystical allegory
about the soul's journey towardsgod.43
I've cried out "Ranjha,Ranjha!"so many times that now I've become Ranjha
myself.
Just call me Dhido Ranjha- don't bother calling me Hir anymore.44
In these lines, Bullhe Shah imagines himself as Hir, asserting her

complete identity with her beloved Ranjha. Lines such as these are
easily portable into different philosophical frameworks.A Vedantin
might see this passage as reflecting the union of the individual self
[dtman] with the universal reality [brahman];it might evoke for a
Vaisnavathe pain of separationfrom god [viraha] and the joy of a
possible futureunion;a Sufi versed in ibn-'Arabi'swritingsmight find
it a good expressionof wahdatal-wujad, accordingto which the true
self is in fact a manifestationof Allah. In the world of philosophical
texts and treatises,one who studied ibn-'Arabi'stheory of wahdat alwujid and its attendanttechnical, philosophical apparatusmight not
immediately see affinities with the monistic philosophy of Advaita
Vedanta, or the pain of separation from God felt by the Vaisnava
as Persianliterature.But these do not seem to be the most popularof Bullhe Shah's
poems. Indeed a potentially useful field for future study would be to identify the
poems most commonly performedand found in various editions of Bullhe Shah's
poetry, and to confirm whether the most popular poems are in fact those with the
least technical, communally"loaded"vocabulary.
43 For a brief introductionto the Hir/Ranjhatradition,see Rinehart,"Hir/Ranjha"
in Peter Claus and MargaretMills, eds., Bibliographyof SouthAsian Folklore(Garland Press, forthcoming).
44 Punjabifrom Luther,p. 102. For other versions of this poem, see Atam Singh,
pp. 108-9, and Ramakrishna,p. 63.
84
Robin Rinehart
devotee.At thatlevel, eachtraditionhas its own historyandsenseof

andparticularities.
its ownidiosyncrasies
identity,its ownvocabulary,
Yet a readeror listenerfamiliarwith the basic ideas of any of these
traditionscould certainlyfind affinitiesbetweenthem and manyof
thebasicsentimentsexpressedin BullheShah'spoetry.Thusmanyof
the ideasmostcommonlyexpressedin thepoetryattributed
to Bullhe
Shahare in fact "portable"
into differentreligiousandphilosophical
a
vast
frameworks,creating
potentialaudience.As a result,those
who admirehimhavesoughtto claimhis as a championof theirown
particularworldview.In so doing,they continuallyfashionnew and
oftenconflictingBullheShahs.
Conclusions
BullheShahis clearlyan importantfigurein the religiousdevelopmentin the Punjab,both as a poet in his own right, and as an
have soughtto understandthatdevelexampleof how interpreters
of
opment.Despitethe wide-rangingand conflictinginterpretations
his life andwork,nearlyall sharethe sameunderlyingmethodological framework.
This framework,with its unquestionedassumptions
aboutbiography,textualcorpus,religiouscategorization,
andauthorship,has dictatedthe kindsof questionsthatpeoplehaveaskedabout
BullheShah,andthe answersthatthey haveprovided.Yetthe many
answersaboutwho Bullhe Shah was, whathe composed,and how
he livedhis life, leaveus witha seeminglybewilderingarrayof conflictingportrayals.
As an alternative,
we canapproachthepoet'slife andworkwiththe
thatwe will findmultipleBullheShahs,andmultiple
understanding
versionsof his poetic corpus,each constructedwith elementsfrom
the same "pool of signifiers,"but carriedinto differentdiscursive
spaces.Thisprovidesus not only with a way of dealingwithexisting
butalso of askingnew,andpotentiallymore
divergentinterpretations,
meaningfulquestionsabouthis role in Punjabireligions.If thereare
indeedmultipleBullhe Shahs,then we can ask what exactlyeach
is like, andwhichgroupshe represents.If thereare multiplebodies
85
of poetry, we can both describe and compare them. How do they

differ? What do they have in common - what exactly is in the
"pool of signifiers?"We might discover thatthereis a common thread
of expression running through the many editions of Bullhe Shah's
work, and gain new insight into shared aspects of Punjabi religious
experience. To suggest that there are multiple Bullhe Shahs does not
mean that we must reject entirely the concept of a single person,
but ratherthat in order to understandBullhe Shah's importance,we
must reorientour approachto the many ways in which this figure has
been remembered.After all, Bullhe Shah's interpretersassume that
they are all talking about the same person - the disagreementlies in
their interpretationof who that person was, and what kind of poetry
he composed.
The notion of multipleBullhe Shahs could allow our studies to take
on a historicaldimension as well. How have interpretationsof Bullhe
Shah changed over time (e.g. colonial/post-colonial)?What does this
tell us about the ongoing development of the self-understandingof
different religious communities in the Punjab, as well as their relationships with one another?A historicallysensitive critiqueof Bullhe
Shah's interpreterscould also allow us to develop new means of categorizationfor his work and the work of otherpoets. Such categories
would give us new ways of viewing religious belief and practice
in the Punjab. There could be great value in studying how "Bullhe
Shah's" life and work have been constantly reshaped and renewed,
and what these reformulationstell us about those who continue to
create them.
ROBINRINEHART
Department of Religion
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042, USA
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Asani, Ali S. 1996. "The Isma'ili Ginans: Reflections on Authorityand Authorship"

in FarhadDaftary, ed., Medieval Isma'ili History and Thought (Cambridge:
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Bedi, Kala Singh 1987. Bullhe Shdh:AlocndtmakAdhiain. Patiala:PublicationsBureau, PunjabiUniversity.
Bhasha Vibhag Panjab 1970. Bullhe Shah: Jivan te Racna. Patiala:Bhasha Vibhag.
Bhatti, Abdul Majid 1987. Kafidn Bullhe Shah. Islamabad:Lok Virsa Publishing
House.
de Bruijn, Thomas 1997. "Visions of the Unseen, Rhetorical Strategies in Bhakti
and Sufi Poetry."Paperpresented to the Seventh InternationalConferenceon
Early Literaturein New Indo-AryanLanguages, Venice, Italy, August 1997.
Faqir,MuhammadFaqir 1960. Kulliyat-e-BullheShah. Lahore:PunjabiAdab Academy.
Foucault, Michel 1986. "Whatis an Author?"in HazardAdams and Leroy Searle,
eds., Critical Theorysince 1965 (Tallahassee:Florida State UniversityPress),
pp. 137-148.
JohannFlick 1940. "Die Sufische Dichtung in der Landessprachesdes Panjab,"Orientalische Literaturzeitung,43, 1, pp. 1-11.
Hawley, J.S. 1988. "Authorand Authority in the Bhakti Poetry of North India,"
Journal of Asian Studies, 47, 2, pp. 269-290.
Mahindar
1967. Asli te mukammalKaftanBullhe Shah Jivan te Bhumikl samet.
Kaur,
Amritsar:Bhai Mehar Singh and Sons.
Khan, MuhammadAsaf. 1992. Akhti Bullhe Shah. Lahore:PakistanPunjabiAdabi
Board.
Kohli, SurindarSingh 1987. Bullhe Shah. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.
Luther,A. Rauf 1982. "VersifiedTranslationof Kafees" in C.F. Usbore, R.K. Lajwanti, A. Rauf Luther, Bullah Shah: Mystic Poet of Punjab. (Lahore:
Sh. MubarakAli), pp. 69-159.
Matringe,Denis 1988. "Krsnaiteand Nath Elements in the Poetry of the EighteenthcenturyPanjabiSifi Bullhe gah" in R.S. McGregor,ed., Devotional Literature
in SouthAsia: CurrentResearch, 1985-1988. (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press), pp. 190-206.
Mir, Mustansir 1995. 'Teachings of Two Punjabi Sufi Poets" in Donald S. Lopez,
Jr.,ed., Religions of India in Practice. (Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress),
pp. 518-529.
Padam, Piara Singh. 1968. SamnBullhe Shah. Patiala:SardarSahit Bhavan.
Puri, J.R and T.R. Shangari 1986. Bulleh Shah: The Love-IntoxicatedIconoclast.
Amritsar:Radha Soami Satsang Beas.
Rafat, Taufiq 1982. Bulleh Shah: A Selection Renderedinto English Verse.Lahore:
VanguardPublications.
Ramakrishna,Lajwanti 1938. Panjabi Sufi Poets A.D. 1460-1900. London: Oxford
University Press.
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Ramanujan,A.K. 1994. 'Three Hundred Ramdyanas: Five Examples and Three

Thoughts on Translation"in Paula Richman, ed., Many Rdmayanas: The Diversityof a NarrativeTraditionin SouthAsia (Delhi: OxfordUniversityPress),
pp. 22-49.
Rinehart,Robin 1996. "Interpretationsof the Poetry of Bullhe Shah."International
Journal of Punjab Studies, 3, 1, pp. 45-63.
Sayyad, Ghafran 1984. Panjabi dd Nidharak Sha'r Bullhe Shah. Lahore: Punjabi
TahaqiqatiMarkaz.
Schimmel, Annemarie 1971. "The Influence of Sufism on Indo-Muslim Poetry" in
Joseph P. Strelka,ed., Anagogic Qualities of Literature.(Univ. Park,PA: Pennsylvania State University Press), pp. 181-210.
1975. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: Universityof North Carolina
Press.
1982. "Reflections on Popular Muslim Poetry,"in Richard C. Martin, ed.,
Contributionsto Asian Studies: Vol. 17, Islam in Local Contexts.(Leiden: E.J.
Brill), pp. 17-26.
Sekhon, Sant Singh and KartarSingh Duggal 1992. A History of Punjabi Literature.
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Sharda, Sadhu Ram 1974. Sufi Thought: Its Development in Panjab and Its Impact on Panjabi Literaturefrom Baba Farid to 1850 AD. Delhi: Munshiram
Manoharlal.
1976. "Bullhe Shah da Safi Vicardhdra"in Diwan Singh and Bikram Singh
Ghuman, eds., Bullhe Shah da Kdvi Lok: Alocna te Path. (Jalandhar:New
Book Company),pp. 32-53.
1984. "Bullhe Shah, Safi jan Sant," Khoj Patrika, SamnBullhe Shah Ank,
Patiala:PublicationsBureau,PanjabiUniversity,no. 23, pp. 51-59.
Singh, Atam, translator1940. Songs of Bullah, 2nd ed. Lahore:PanjabiAdabi Laihr.
Singh, Kuldip 1969. Bullhe Shah da Sfif Anubhav.Ludhiana:Lahore Book Shop.
Singh, Trilochan 1986. "BullheShah da Tasawwuf,"in Iqbal Salauddin,ed., La'lan
di pand. (Lahore:Arbez Publishers),pp. 430-438.
Sital, Jit Singh 1970. Bullhe Shah: Jivan te Racna. Patiala:PunjabiUniversity.
Stewart, Tony K. and Carl W. Erst forthcoming. "Syncretism"in Peter J. Claus
and MargaretA. Mills, eds., SouthAsian Folklore:An Encyclopedia. (Garland
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Usborne,C.F. 1976. Bullah Shah: Sufi, Mystic and Poet of the Panjab. Lahore:Saadi
PanjabiAcademy. Reprint 1905 ed.
BEARING THE 'BARE FACTS' OF RITUAL. A CRITIQUEOF

JONATHANZ. SMITH'S STUDY OF THE BEAR CEREMONYBASED
ON A STUDY OF THE AINU IYOMANTE
KIMURA
TAKESHI
Review article
Summary
Z. Smith'sstudyof the bear
A few yearsago, BenjaminRay criticizedJonathan
huntingritual.In this article,I furtherexamineanddevelopa criticismof Smith's
theoryof ritual.Sincehe presentsthe Ainubearceremonyas the exemplarcaseand
of it, I reviewandexaminetheavailable
baseshis theoryof ritualon his interpretation
of the Ainubearceremonylyomante.My readingof themcalls into
ethnographies
of thebearceremonyandhis
of the ethnography
questionbothSmith'spresentation
of its meaning.Smith'sfocus on the ritualkilling as the core of the
interpretation
betweenthemythical
Ainubearceremonyas the perfecthuntto resolveincongruity
ideologyand the huntingpracticeis baseduponhis not takinginto consideration
the Ainureligiousworldof meanings.Frommy studyof the Ainubearceremony,I
of the bearandthe ritualdecorationof the
maintainthatthe ritualdismemberment
thereligious
bear'sskullconstitutethecoreof themeaningof theritual.To interpret
meaningof this ritual,I pointout the necessityfor consideringthe Ainu view of
In my interpretation
of this
of the "bear."
andontologicalunderstanding
personhood
corepartof thebearceremony,the materialform,thatis the bear,of the Ainudeity
is rituallytransformed
into its spiritualmode and then sent back to the mountain
whencefromit originallycame.
Recently a newspaperreportedthe amazingdiscovery of some cave drawings in Chauvet, near Marseilles in France, dating from 30,340 to 32,410
years ago. Interestingly,the newspaperarticle also mentioned an astonishing
ritualremainfound in the cave, "a stone slab with the skull of a bear placed
on it, as though it were an altar."1What the bear skull of the Chauvetmeant
to the people who used it is no longer clear to us, but the ritual killing
of bears has attractedthe attention of many anthropologists and scholars
1 New YorkTimes,June8, 1995:A4.
BrillNV, Leiden(1999)
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Bearing the 'Bare Facts' of Ritual
89
of religions since A. Irving Hallowell's classic study.2Among historiansof

religions, JonathanZ. Smith used a Siberian case of ritual killing of a bear
in orderto investigate the paradigmaticsignificance of this ritual action for
the mundanepractice of the hunting.3His theory remains influentialand is
appealed to in a recent article on Aztec human sacrifice.4 However, a few
years ago another historian of religions, Benjamin Ray, criticized Smith's
interpretation.5After critically reviewing these two scholars' studies of the
ritualkilling of a bear,I have found thatthere are serious methodologicaland
interpretiveproblems with them. In this essay, I will challenge these scholars' interpretationsby a close analysis of the Ainu bear ceremony(lyomante)
which both Smith and Ray take to be a typical example.6By focusing on the
lyomante and interpretingits religious meanings in detail, I will show that
Smith and Ray both ignore a fundamentalreligious aspect of the lyomante
which calls their interpretationsinto serious question.
In his article entitled "TheBare Facts of Ritual,"JonathanZ. Smith views
ritual as "a human labor, struggling with matters of incongruity."7He uses
ethnographicreportsof Siberianhunters'ritual huntingand killing of a bear
as his exemplum of ritual. The ritual hunt may be divided into four main
parts.First,the huntersperformthe ritual"preparationfor the hunt"designed
to insurethe success of the hunt, includingmimetic dances "prefiguring"the
hunt, the stabbing of an "effigy" of the animal, invocations to the Master
of the Animals, purificationof the hunters, and learning a ceremonial hunt
2 A.
in the NorthernHemisphere,"
AmerIrvingHallowell,"BearCeremonialism
ican Anthropologist,n.s. 28, no. 1 (1926): 1-175.
3 JonathanZ. Smith,'The BareFactsof Ritual,"in ImaginingReligion:From

Babylonto Jonestown(Chicagoand London:Universityof ChicagoPress, 1982):
53-65.
4 DavidCarrasco,"GiveMe Some Skin:The Charismaof the Aztec Warrior,"
History of Religions 35, no. 1, (1995): 2-3.
Numen
BenjaminRay,"TheKoyukonBearPartyandthe 'BareFacts'of Ritual,"
38, no. 2 (1991): 151-176.
6 Smithrefersto pages106 to 135 of Hallowell'sarticlewhichmainlydescribes
the bearceremoniesof the Gilyakand the Ainu. By referringto Hallowell,Ray
writesthat"Inthe view of Hallowellandothers,this festival[a periodicbearfesthe peopleof this districtfromothertribesof Asia and
tival]'clearlydifferentiates
America'who do not performthisrite."Ibid.,156.
7 Smith, cit., 57.
op.
TakeshiKimura
90
language. Secondly, the huntersperforma transitionalrite as they move from

the human social world into the forest realm of animals and spirits. They
ritually ask permission from the forest to hunt the animals. At this juncture,
Smith points out that "the complex of host/guest/visitor/giftcomprises the
articulatedunderstandingof the hunt,"in which the forest is treated as a
host, the hunters as a guest, and the animals as visitors and gifts.8 Thirdly,
the hunters ritually kill the bear according to strict rules of etiquette. The
animal should be killed in hand-to-hand,face-to-face combat. Fourthly,the
hunters strategically and ritually retreat from the world of the forest and
return to that of the human, bearing the corpse of the slain animal. The
villagers perform a ritual purificationfor the hunterson their arrivalat the
village.
After summarizingthe ritual scenario of this huntingritual, Smith points
out that in practice most huntersdo not fight the bear face to face. Rather,
they use traps, pitfalls, self-triggeringbows, snares, and, recently, shotguns.
Noting the discrepancy between the ritual prescription and the practical
realities of hunting bear, Smith argues that these incongruitieshold the key
to the meaning of the ritual action.
Smith suggests that the hunters perform the bear ceremony as a means
of resolving the incongruitybetween the hunters' ideological statementsof
how they ought to hunt and their actual behavior.In the bear ceremony,the
hunters can "get it right,"as it were, by following the ritual prescription
for killing the bear. Smith summarizesthe generalizedritual scenario of the
bear ceremony as follows:
A young, wild bearcub is takenalive, broughtto a village,and caged.It is
treatedas an honoredguest, with high courtesyand displaysof affection,at
timesbeingadoptedby a humanfamily.Aftertwo or threeyears,the festival
is held. The bearis ropedandtakenon a farewellwalkthroughthe village.It
is madeto dance and play and to walk on its hind legs. Thenit is carefully
tieddownin a givenpositionandceremoniallyaddressed.It is slain,usuallyby
it is strangled.The
beingshotin the heartat close range;sometimes,afterward,
is
eaten
with
then
divided
and
ceremonial
body
etiquette(the samerulesthat
of
Its
is
to
the
soul
pertain
consumption game).
enjoinedto returnto its 'Owner'
andreporthow well it has beentreated.9
8 Ibid., 59.
9 Ibid.,63-64.
91
In short,Smith regardsthe bearceremony as the performativerepresentation

of the perfect hunt, which the hunters do not and cannot realize in normal
practice. Hence, he concludes, "Ritual is a means of performing the way
things ought to be in conscious tension to the way things are in such a way
that this ritualized perfection is recollected in the ordinary,uncontrolled,
course of things."10Smith's general theory of ritual emerges from his interpretationof the bear ceremony.Thus, if his interpretationof the meaning of
the bear ceremony turnsout to be taintedby serious problems,his theory of
ritual will have to be reexaminedcritically.
The Ritual Text of the Iyomante
The Ainu lyomante is a very complex ceremony, consisting of a variety

of rituals, myths and symbols which vary from area to area in history.11For
my presentationof a summaryof the lyomante, while I acknowledgethe recent scholarydebate concerningthe authorityand objectivity of ethnograhic
text,12it is suffientto point out that there are three main chronologicalgroups
of ethnographies:those from the pre-Meiji era,13those from the Meiji era
10 Ibid., 63.
I Before the deteriorationof the Ainu social
structure,the lyomante was carried

out by a local territorialsociety, the Shine itokpa group, which was composed of
severalvillages along the river.The Shine itokpagroupwas a patrilinealkin groupand
sharedthe common design of ikashi itokpa and the common ritualprocedure,kamuy
nomi. They shared a common head of the group, a common territoryof salmon's
spawningarea, the salmon ceremony,and an obligation to cooperatein building new
houses. WatanabeHitoshi, "Ainuno kumamatsurino shakaitekikinou narabinisono
hattennikansuruseitaiteki yoin," MinzokugakuKenkyu29, no. 3 (1964): 208-216.
12 Here I refer to works by JohannesFabian, Timeand Other,How Anthropology
Makes its Object (New York:Columbia University Press, 1983), James Clifford and
George E. Marcus, ed., Writing Culture, The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography
(Berkely:University of CaliforniaPress, 1986), and Talal Asad, Anthropology& the
Colonial Encounter (Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press, 1973). I acknowledge
that to read the ethnographiesof the lyomante critically, it is necessary to discuss
the motivationsof those who traveled to Hokkaido and reportedtheir observations
of the Ainu society, the political and epistemological stances which determinedtheir
perspective on the Ainu life and the Ainu people's socio-historical situation at the
time the ethnographieswere written.
13 Pre-Meiji studies include: Matsumiya Kanzan, "Ezo Danhitsu ki" (1710);
SakakuraGenjiro, "HokkaiZuihitsu"(1739); Matsumae Hironaga, "Matsumaeshi"
92
TakeshiKimura
to the end of WWII,14 and those from the post-war period.15 While I as(1781); Hezutsu Tosaku, "Toyuki" (1784); Sato Genrokuro, "Ezo Shui" (1786);
Mogami Tokunai, "Ezo Zoshi" (1789); "Kai Akakuma no satsuri no koto" (1790);
Hata Awagimaro,"Ezo Kenbunshi"(1790); "Ezo Shima Kikan"(1799);Ouchi Yoan,
"Tokaiyawa"(1861);and Matsumae Tokuhiro, "Ezoshima Kikan Hochu" (1863).
Frazer cites an earliest published account from 1652, but I have been unable to
locate it, see James G. Frazer,The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion,
1 volume, abridged edition, (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1950):
590-93.
14 These include: Scheube, "Der Barencultusund die Barenfeste der Ainu" in
Mittheilungender Deutschen Gesellschaftfir Natur-und VolkerkundeOstasiens 3,
Heft 22 (1880): 44-51; Isabella L. Bird, Unbeaten Tracksin Japan, an Account of
Travelson Horsebackin the Interior including Visitsto the Aboriginesof Yezoand the
Shrines of Nikkoand Ise, 2 v. (New York:G.P.Putnam'sSons, 1880); EdwardGreey,
The Bear-Worshippersof Yezo(Boston: Lee and Shepard,Publishers, 1884); Sawada
Sesshu's drawingsof the lyomante, "Hokkaidodojin kumamatsuri"in Fuzoku Gaho,
23 (1889): 11-13 & 28 (1891): 11; Mitsuoka Shin'ichi, Ainu no Ashiato (Hakuro:
Miyoshi Shoten, 1962), originally publishded earlier; Sasaki Chozaemon, "Ainuno
Kumagarito Kumamatsuri"in Kono Motomichi, ed., Ainushi Shiryoshu 5 (1980),
originally published by Sasaki Hoeido in 1926; John Batchelro,Ainu Life and Lore:
Echoes of a Departing Race (Tokyo: Kyobunkan, 1927); Yoshida Iwao, "Ainu to
kuma,"MinzokugakuKenkyu1, no. 3 (1935): 50-73; InukaiTetsuo's"Ainuno okonau
kuma no kaibo," MinzokugakuKenkyu 1, no.3 (1935): 74-82; Inukai Tetsuo and
Natori Takemitsu,"Iyomanteno bunkatekiigi to sono keishiki (1)" Hoppo Bunka
Kenkyu Hokoku no. 2 (1939): 237-271 and "Iyomante no bunkateki igi to sono
keishiki (2)" Hoppo Bunka KenkyuHokokuno. 3 (1940): 79-135; Natori Takemitsu,
"SarunkuruAinu no Kumaokurini okeru kamigamino yurai to nusa,"Hoppo Bunka
KenkyuHokokuno. 4 (1941): 35-112, and FunkawanAinu no Hogei (Sapporo:Hoppo
Bunka Shuppansha, 1945); and Neil James, Petticoat Vagabondin Ainu Land and
Up and Down Eastern Asia (New York:Charles Scribner'sSons, 1942). A German
scholar of religion, Hans Haas, wrote an article on the Ainu, "Die Ainu und ihre
Religion,"Bilderatlas zur Religionsgeschichte(1925): 1-18.
15 These include: Joseph M. Kitagawa, "AinuBear Festival (Iyomante),"History
of Religions 1, no. 1, (1958): 95-151; Neil GordonMunro,Ainu Creedand Cult (New
York:ColumbiaUniversityPress, 1963); IfukubeMuneo, "SaruAinu no kumamatsuri
(1)" GakuenRonshu8 (1964): 1-32, "SaruAinu no kumamatsuri(2)" GakuenRonshu
9 (1965): 29-56, "SaruAinu no kumamatsuri(3)," GakuenRonshu 10 (1966): 1-21;
Sato Naotaro, "KushiroAinu no Iyomande (kuma okuri) (1)-(23)," Dokushojin 4,
no. 2 to 6, no. 3 (1955-57); Iyomante Jikko Iinkai, ed., lyomante, Kawakamichiho
93
sume that it is crucially importantto interpretthe Iyomantein its historical

context, for the purpose of this paper, I choose to present the general ritual
contexts of the Iyomantehere.16
On the preparationday, the Ainu men get together to create prayersticks
(inau) for the alter (nusa-san),17for the god of fire (ape-fuchi-kamuy),'8
no Kumaokuri
no kiroku(Tokyo:Shogakukan,
Hisakazu,"Ainuno
1985);Fujimura
rei okuri(1)-(18),"Gakuto88, no. 1 to 89, no. 6 (1988-89)andSasakiToshikazu,
ko-Ainushijojutsuno kanoseiwo saguru,"Ototo Eizo to Mojini yoru
"Iyomante
"Taikei"
NihonRekishito Geino14 (1989):145-208.
16 Frommy reviewof the ethnographies
of the lyomante,it is possibleto say
that,even if the ritualstructureof the lyomanteremainedlargelyunchangeddue
to the consciouseffortof some Ainuto retainor restorethe ritual,the "meaning"
of the lyomanteritualperformances
changesover time with the shiftingpolitical,
social
and
circumstances
of the Ainu.Themeaningof the ritual
economic,
religious
is not uniformacrosstime andspacenoris it to be foundby simplyanalyzingthe
structureof the ritualprocess.Rather,one mustanalyzethe performative
contexts
andoccasionsin history.I will takethis issue up on anotheroccasion.
17Accordingto Munro,thefundamental
Ainureligiousconceptsareramat,kamuy
andinau.The nearestEnglishequivalentsof ramat(literally,"heart")
are"soul"or
When
such
as
and
men,animals,trees, plants,die, ramatleaves
"spirit."
livingthings
themandgoes elsewhere,butit doesnotperish.Inauis usuallydescribedas whittled
andshavedwoodensticksandsolidstemsof woodwhichresemblebatonsor wands.
Inau embodyramat,creditedwith power,whetherderivedfromthe ancestorsor
fromthe spiritualpotencyof impressivenaturalphenomena.It is rituallyaddressed
as messengerbetweenhumanbeingsandkamuy,or betweenkamuy.Neil G. Munro,
AinuCreedand Cult(New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1963):7-15.
18 The term
kamuyrefersnot only to the Ainu deities,but also to numerous
independent
spiritsof lesserdegree.Thistermis alsoappliedto anythingremarkable,
or evenexceptionallybeautiful.Kamuyarelooselyclassifiedas
incomprehensibile,
or
bad
good beautiful, or hostile,and mischievousbut not necessarymalevolent.
Accordingto Munroethereare eight classes of kamuy:1) Remotekamuy,called
pase kamuy,arecountedas highgods.Theyinclude,Kando-koro
kamuy(Possessor
of the Sky), KamuFuchi, Oina Kamuyand others.Most of the pase kamuyare
believedto have descendedfromthe sky and will returntherein the fullnessof
time.2) Amongthe accessibleandtrustworthy
kamuy,the nominalchief of themis
Shirambakamuy,Upholderof theWorld,KamuyFuchi,the SupremeAncestressand
also knownas Abe Kamuy,kamuyof fire,Nusa-koroKamuyandothers.3) These
kamuyare invokedafterprayerto KamuyFuchi and Nusa-koroKamuy.They are
Mintara-koro
Kamuy(Possessorof the precincts)andRu-koroKamuy(thekamuyof
94
Takeshi Kimura
the god of the threshold (apa-cha-kamuy),the god of the house (chise-korkamuy)and others, and to make ceremonial arrowswith decorations(eperaii), ceremonial gifts for the bear (eper-shike), and finally to prepareliquor
and other ritual necessities. Then, they offer prayersto the god of fire (apefuchi-kamuy)for the success of the lyomante. In the lyomante, prayer(kamuy
nomi) is offered to the god of fire (ape-fuchi-kamuy)as in other religious
occasions, because ape-fuchi-kamuyis a mediatorbetween humans and the
kamuy in the kamuy world. Men and women perform various dances and
songs and recite sacred stories of the culturalhero (oina), as well as other
sacred and non-sacredstories (yukar).
On the second day, the main ritual is performed.Prayers (kamuynomi)
are offered to various importantkamuyboth within the house and outdoors.
Inside the house, kamuy nomi are offered to ape-fuchi-kamuy(the kamuy
of fire) and chise-kor-kamuy(the kamuy of the house). Outside the house,
a ritual space is constructedand the treasuresare placed beside the altar.19
Sitting in front of the altar (nusa-san), a group of men offer kamuy nomi
to kotan-kor-kamuy(the kamuy of the village), shiranba-kamuy(the kamuy of the earth), nupuri-kamuy(the kamuy of the mountain), and other
importantkamuy. After these prayers are over, the people attach a rope
to the bear's neck and take it out of its cage. Women sing and dance in
a circle around the bear. Some food is given to the bear and a prayer is
themaleprivy).4) All animalshaveramatbutnotall arekamuy.Thosetheriomorphic
kamuyincludesome animalssuchas a bear,a wolf anda fox, some birdssuchas
an eagleowl, a blackwoodpecker,
anda crow,a spider,andsome aquaticcreatures
suchas a fresh-water
crab.5) Spirithelpersandpersonalkamuyincludetheskullsof
certainkamuyin an animalform.Theskullsaresmoked,cleanedandpartlywrapped
in curledshavings(inaukike),whicharestuffedintothe cranialcavity,eye sockets,
andmouth.Amongmanytypes,the skullof a good fox is favored.6) Mischievous
andmaliciouskamuyincludemanymaliciousand malignantspiritsthathauntthe
wilds.Threatening
spiritslurkin thewoods,crags,gullies,marshes,andin thepools
andeddiesof rivers.7) The kamuyof pestilencearealso held to be malignant,
but
one was so overwhelmingly
frightfulthat no Ainu daredto call it an evil spirit.
horror,the most noteworthyis the caterpillar.
8) Amongthe thingsof unutterable
Ibid.,16-27.
19 The treasureat the ritualscene is a key to the Ainu perceptionof space.
MatsumaeHironagaalreadymentionedthe existenceof the treasureat the ritual
in HokumonSosho,ed. Otomo
scenein 1781.MatsumaeHironaga,"Matsumaeshi,"
Kisaku,vol. 2, (Tokyo:KokushoKankokai,1972):116.
95
offered to the bear. They then drag the bear around, exciting him. The
men, women, and children present become excited, too. Then, the men
shoot the decorated arrows at the bear. The ritual master shoots the fatal arrow into the bear. His wife, who has taken care of the bear cub,
weeps, as do other women. The men then strangle the bear to death, using two branches placed around its neck. They next take the dead body
of the bear to the altar, give gifts to the dead bear, and sit next to each
other. The women sit behind the men. Again a prayer is offered to apefuchi-kamuy (the kamuy of fire) and eper-kamuy(the kamuy of the bear
cub). Before they dismemberthe body of the bear, a prayeris again offered.
Then, under the guidance of the elders, the bear's body is dismemberedby
several men. The bear's head (maratt) attached with skin is brought into
the house throughthe east window. Prayers are again offered to ape-fuchikamuy (the kamuyof fire) and the bear (maratt)inside. A feast is held. The
sword and crane dances are performedby the men, singing and recitation
of yukar and oina followes, and women's dances (upopo) are performed.
The bear's flesh is then boiled and shared by the people in a communal
meal.
On the last day of the Iyomante, the main part of the ritual inside the
house is called um-memke(skinning the head and decoratingthe skull with
inau and gifts). Smith and Ray both completely ignore this most important
partof the ritual.Prayeris offeredto ape-fuchi-kamuy(the kamuyof fire) and
the bear's kamuy.The decorated skull is placed facing east on a Y-shaped
tree and a ritualto send the kamuyoff to the mountainis performed.Again,
a communal feast is held. The lyomante is concluded by turning the skull
toward the village, indicating the kamuy has returnedhome to the kamuy
land.
Theoreticaland MethodologicalArguments
Benjamin Ray, in his article entitled "The Koyukon Bear Party and the
'Bare Facts' of Ritual,"severely criticizes JonathanZ. Smith's presentation
of the bear hunting ritual and his interpretationof it.20 Ray makes the following points: (1) Neither Irving Hallowell's comparativestudy of the bear
ceremony nor Lot-Falks' study of Siberianhunters,upon which Smith constructshis interpretationof the bear huntingritual,reveal any contradictions
20
Ray,op. cit., 151-176.
Takeshi Kimura
96
between the words and the deeds of the huntersas Smith suggests are found
there; (2) the bear ritualis not intendedto be a "perfecthunt"as Smith suggests, but is, rather,"a celebrationto which the bear is invited before being
ritually dispatched;"(3) since the bear ceremony is performedonly among
a few East Asiatic people, it can hardly be assumed that the rite influences
the collective mind of the northernhunters;and (4) because Smith's view of
the bear ceremony treatsonly one aspect of the ceremony,the killing of the
bear, and deals with only selected statements about bear hunting, his view
is "intentionallypartial and hypothetical."21
In the second part of his essay, Ray uses RichardNelson's study of the
Koyukon bear hunting ritual and bear party, in order to evaluate the validity and applicability of Smith's theory of ritual.22Ray points out that
Smith's theory cannot be applied to the best ethnographic data on the
Koyukon hunting ritual. Finally, Ray asserts that Smith's theory is based
on an outsider's perspective, which he confuses with the hunter's view of
the world:
21 Ibid., 153.
22 In his treatmentof the
Koyukonbearhuntingritual,Ray does not pay any

attentionto anychangesin thepolitical,economicalandreligiousspheres.A similar
lackof attentionto historicalchangeis alsoevidentin JosephM. Kitagawa's
studyof
theAinubearceremony.TheAinuappearsto be verystaticin Kitagawa'sportrayal.
aboutactualAinu identity,scholarsbelieve that the Ainu
"Despiteuncertainties
inheriteda formof religiousbelief andpracticecommonto prehistoricpeoplesof
the arcticarea.Thushistoriansof religionscanlearnsomethingfromthe Ainuabout
prehistoricarcticreligion,to which we otherwisehave no directaccess."Joseph
M. Kitagawa,The History of Religions: UnderstandingHuman Experience (Atlanta:
ScholarsPress, 1987): xvi. A few archaeologicalchallengeshave been mounted

The archaeologist
UtakawaHiroshi,for
againstsucha naivehistoricaldiffusionism.
evidenceindicatesthatthe
example,goes so far as to arguethatthe archaeological
lyomantewas createdin the mid-eighteenth
century.UtakawaHiroshi,lyomanteno
Hiroshi,for
1989):99-102.Watanabe
kokogaku
(Tokyo:TokyoDaigakuShuppankai,
his part,suggeststhattheprobableoriginof thelyomanteis to be foundin theculture
of the Okhotsk.Watanabe
Hitoshi,"AinuBunkano Genryu,tokuniOhotsukuBunka
tono kankeini tsuite,"KokogakuZasshi60, no. 1 (1974): 72-82. Recently,Sato
Takaoreportedthatarchaeological
evidencewas foundin the OtafukuRockCavein
easternHokkaidoin theperiodof theSatsumonculture(c. 8th-12thcent.C.E.):Sato
Takao, "'Kumaokuri'no keito," KokuritsuRekishi MinzokuHakubutsukanKenkyu
Hokoku48 (1993): 107-126.
97
Theproblemlies in confusingthe two, in givingpriorityto the outsider'sview

of reality,"theway thingsare,"and in assumingthat the nativesmust sharethis
view so thattheirritualsbecomemerelyforced"ideological"
statementsabout
the way "things ought to be."23
While Ray criticizes Smith's analysis of the bear huntingritual, he does not
extend his criticism to Smith's interpretationof the bear ceremony. Therefore, I will develop my critical analysis of Smith's interpretationof the bear
ceremony.
In extending Ray's critique, I find the following problems in Smith's
treatmentof the bear ceremony: (1) his "brief, highly generalized description" of the bear ceremony does not cover the whole bear ceremony; (2)
in constructingthis generalizeddescription,Smith selects one reportedcase
among many and then represents it as the crucial constitutive element in
his generalizeddescriptionof the bear ceremony;(3) Smith's neglect of geographicaland cultural differences, coupled with his profferedgeneralized
description, implies that so-called "primitive"people are the same everywhere; and (4) Smith's generalizeddescriptionis constructedin such a way
that, not surprisingly,the resultantpicture matches his own theory.
Smith uses the bear ceremonies of "a numberof these circumpolarpeoples" in order to argue his general point concerning ritual.24In a note he
refersto pages 106 to 135 of Hallowell's study,in which Hallowell discusses
the bearceremonies of the Gilyak, the Gold, the Oltscha, the Orochi (a people along the Amur river), and the Ainu.25As Ray points out, these are not
all circumpolarpeople. The Japanese anthropologistObayashiTaryo thinks
that the bear ceremony developed only among people living between the littoral zone and Hokkaido,where the ecology is characterizedby a deciduous
broad-leavedforest.26 Facing Smith's mispresentationof the ethnography,
one begins to suspect Smith's "generalizeddescription"of the bear ceremony to be a fabricationwoven out of the earlierethnographicdescriptions.
The first part of Smith's generalized description of the bear ceremony
covers the period from the capture of a bear cub in the mountains to the
23
Ray, op. cit., 172.
24 Smith, cit., 63.

op.
25Ibid.,144. See Hallowell,op. cit., 106-35.
26 Obayashi Taryo, "Kumamatsurino rekishi minzokugakutekikenkyu-gakushi
teki tenbo,"KokuritsuMinzokugakuHakubutsukanKenkyuHokoku 10, no. 2 (1985):
446-447.
98
TakeshiKimura
ceremonial division of its body and its consumption. Smith describes the
hunting aspect of the bear ceremony in detail, yet as Ray points out, this
is only one aspect of the whole bear ceremonial complex. Smith presents
his generalized descriptionof the bear ceremony by assuming that the hunt
and the ritual killing are the most importantelements of the ritual complex.
Thus, he describes the bear ceremony in such a manner that a reader has
the impression that the killing is the essential element.
The second part of Smith's generalizeddescriptionof the bear ceremony
seeks to demonstratethat this ceremony representsthe "perfect hunt."The
perfection of the hunt in the bear ceremony is found, he claims, in the ritual
mannerof killing the bear:
Thebearwastreatedcorrectlyas a guest.It was constrained
to rejoicein its fate,
to walkto its deathratherthanrunaway,to assumethe correctposturefor its
to havetheproperwordsaddressed
to it (regardless
of length)beforeit
slaughter,
is killed,to be slainface-to-face,andto be killedin theproperall-but-bloodless
manner.27
Those who know little or nothing about the bear ceremony might be persuaded by Smith's argument,but a careful reading of this part of his generalized descriptionof the bear ceremonyraises a serious question concerning
his representationof the ethnographicsources. The last portionof the quoted
description,"to be killed in the properall-but-bloodlessmanner,"is intended
to stress the perfectionof the bear ceremony.Yet, in checking Smith's reference to Hallowell, one finds that Hallowell mentions this manner of killing
the bear in a footnote, yet omits it from his own general description of the
bear ceremony.28Significantly,it is omitted by Hallowell precisely because
it does not constitute a general element. Hallowell mentions the single such
case among the Gilyak reported by von Schrenck and another case from
the Tahltanof North America. Thus, this element is exceptional ratherthan
common, let alone, a necessary or crucial element of the bear ceremony.
There is a report concerning the blood-shedding of the Ainu bear ceremony which is directly in conflict with Smith's interpretation.Isabella L.
27 Smith,op. cit., 64.
28
Hallowell,by referringto von Schrenck,writes,"theblood whichis lost is
herethatthe Tahltan,after
immediatelycoveredwith snow.It may be remarkable
killinga bear'gatherthe remainsandthe bloodthatis not requiredandcoverit if
possible.'"Op. cit., 115. See note484.
99
Bird, who traveled through the Yezo islands (present-dayHokkaido) from

1878 to 1879, reportson the Ainu bear ceremony,
Yellsandshoutsareusedto excitethebear,andwhenhe becomesmuchagitated
a chief shootshimwithan arrow,inflictinga slightwoundwhichmaddenshim,
on whichthe barsof the cage areraised,andhe springsforth,veryfurious.At
this stagethe Ainos runuponhim with variousweapons,each one strivingto
inflicta wound,as it bringsgood luckto drawhis blood.29
Clearly,at least among the Ainu, the bear ritual is not bloodless. It seems
clear that the Ainu do not performthe bear ceremony to present "the proper
all-but-bloodlessmanner"in Smith's sense.30Therefore,one cannot rely on
Smith's interpretationof the bear ceremony for its religious meanings. One
has to go back to the original ethnographies.
While I accept Ray's criticism of Smith, his interpretationof the bear
ceremonyrepresentedby the Gilyak and the Ainu also has serious problems.
Ray writes:
Thestatedpurposeof thisrite[a periodicbearceremony]is to conveya request
for continuedprovisionof gameto the spiritualpowersvia the sacrificedbear
'messenger.'
In anotherplace, he repeats almost the same thesis,
thepurposeof this ceremonyis to kill a bearthathas beenheld in captivityso
thatit will act as a spokesman
to the spirits,askingthemfor a continuedsupply
of game.31
Ray makes at least four serious mistakes here, if reviewed based on the
Ainu bear ceremony,which he includes. First, he implies the bear cub is "a
captive."Second, he calls the ritual killing of the bear a "sacrifice."Third,
he calls the bear "a spokesman"or "a messenger" to the spirit. Fourth,he
mistakenly assumes that the spirit of the bear carries gifts given by people
29IsabellaL. Bird,UnbeatenTracksin
Japan,anAccountof TravelsonHorseback
in the InteriorincludingVisitsto the Aboriginesof Yezoand the Shrinesof Nikko
andIse, vol. 2 (New York:G. P. Putnam'sSons, 1880):100.
30 Smith does not pay enough serious attentionto the issue of how a historianof
withintellectualintegrityfromvariousethnographic
religionsgoes aboutgeneralizing
accounts.
data,includingcontradictory
31
Ray, op. cit., 156, 159.
TakeshiKimura
100
and shows them to the gods, and that, as a result, the spirit of the bear
promises to returnto the human world.
From the Ainu point of view, humans do not capture the bear cub, depriving it of its freedom or autonomy.Rather,they take care of the bear cub,
as they are chargedto do by the kamuyof the mountain.What seems crucial
here is a temporarydomesticationof the bear which belongs to the mountain in the habitual space of the human life. When the bear cub is brought
into the village, the bear is welcomed as a guest. Moreover,Ray uncritically
applies the category of sacrifice to the bear ceremony.Yet, among the Ainu,
the bear is not "sacrificed"in the usual sense of the word:
A trulyessentialelement... is thatthe recipientof the gift be a supernatural
being(thatis, one endowedwithsupernatural
power),withwhomthegiverseeks
to enterintoor remainin communion...Ontheotherhand,it is indeedessential
to the conceptthatthehumanoffererremovessomethingfromhis owndisposal
andtransfersit to a supernatural
recipient.32
32 I thinkthatit is
view of sacrifice
to cite Henninger's
summarizing
appropriate
in orderto showthatthe notionof sacrificecannotbe appliedto the Ainulyomante.
TheEncyclopediaof Religion,MirceaEliade,ed. in
JosephHenninger,"Sacrifice,"
York:
vol.
12
Macmillan
chief,
(New
Company,1987):545-546.I cannotdevelop
a whole theoreticalargumentconcerningsacrificehere. EdwardB. Tylor'stheory
of sacrificeas a gift of bribecannotbe used since it is the kamuywho carrieshis
gift (i.e., animalflesh) into the humanworldin the firstplace. (EdwardB. Tylor,
Religionin PrimitiveCulture[New York:Harper& Row,Publishers,1958]:461478.) W. RobertsonSmith'stheoryof sacrificeas a communalmealcan be applied
to the communalmeal of the lyomante,but it does not offer a full interpretation.
Institutions
(W. RobertsonSmith,TheReligionof the Semites,The Fundamental
Henri
Hubert
and
Marcel
York:
Meridian
Mauss's
Books, 1956]:239-240.)
[New
world
and
the
world
as
a
connection
of
the
sacred
of
sacrifice
profane
pretheory
supposesa cleardistinctionbetweenthe sacredand profaneworld.As the kamuy
yukarshows,an animalis a formof a visitingkamuyin the humanworld,so that
a sacrificedanthe sacredand profaneworldare fused and merged.Furthermore,
imal is not a victim in the Ainu Iyomante,as they wouldassume.(HenriHubert
and Marcel Mauss, Sacrifice: Its Nature and Function [Chicago: The University of
and
ChicagoPress,1964]:97.) AdolfE. Jensen'stheoryof sacrificeas a reenactment
time
in
is
cites
Kindaichi's
of
Jensen
useful,yet
mythic
repetition killing primordial
view thatthe ceremonialkillingof a bearhas nothingin commonwith sacrifice.
(Adolf E. Jensen, Myth and Cult among Primitive People [Chicago and London:
The Universityof ChicagoPress,1963]:141.)
101
This notion of sacrificecannotbe appliedto the Ainu bear ceremonybecause

the bearis not regardedas somethingwhich the humanoffererremoves from
his own disposal and transfersto a supernaturalrecipient. The bear is itself
the animal form the kamuyassumes when visiting the human world, i. e., it
is the supernaturalbeing in a temporaryform. As early as 1929, Kindaichi
repudiatedthe interpretationof the killing of the bearas a sacrificeby arguing
that these observers' presumptionsexplained away the religious meaning of
the lyomante.33I will returnto his theory later.
If anything, Ray's theory of gift exchange should be reversed. The bear
flesh representsthe gifts the kamuycarriesfrom the kamuyworld to humans.
The kamuyis sent back to the kamuyworld with the gifts given in the ritual
by the humans. That is, the gift exchange of flesh is the other way around
from the conventionalnotion of gift-exchange adoptedin moder sacrificial
theory.In this regard,it is clear that the bear is not a messenger to a higher
god in the mountain sent from the human world to ask the kamuy for a
renewed supply of game. The bear is the kamuy who is expected to return
to the human world later to be huntedby a morally uprighthunterprecisely
because it had been well treated in the human world and given a lot of
gifts.
Up to this point, my own criticism has centered on the corpse of the
bear following the lines of Ray's criticism of Smith. I will now shift my
attentionfrom the issue of the purporteddiscrepancybetween the ideal and
the real deeds in the ritualbear hunts and the bear ceremony to the issue of
determiningthe fundamentalcore of the ritual complex. First, one must ask
whetherthe killing of the bear constitutesthe fundamentalcore of the ritual
hunts around the world and the lyomante? Clearly Smith thinks it does.
He bases his judgment on two implicit and unexamined assumptions:1) an
animal is an animal everywhere,to adapt GertrudeStein, that "a bear is a
bear is a bear"; and 2) a human action toward an animal means the same
thing everywhereit is found.These assumptionsdependupon a preconceived
notion of the animal-humanor the hunted-hunterrelationship:the human is
the agent who kills the animal, while the animal is the victim to be killed.
However, these assumptions ignore the crucial issue of different cultural
understandingsof personhoodand the ontological status of animals.
33 KindaichiKyosuke,"Kumamatsuri
no hanashi,"in Ainu Bunkashi(Tokyo:
Sanseido,1964):95. The articlewas publishedoriginallyin 1929.
102
Takeshi Kimura
Questions surroundingculturalnotions of person or self have been raised

by Marcel Mauss34and Clifford Geertz,35among others, but their scope of
investigation is limited to human beings. In the study of the bear rituals,
it is essential to go beyond this limit and to take seriously the issue concerning culturalnotions of personhoodwhich is sharedby humans, animals,
and spirits, pointedly raised by A. Irving Hallowell in his "Ojibwa Ontology, Behavior, and World View."36It is absolutely necessary to take into
full consideration the Ainu notions of personhood and agency in order to
understandthe lyomante,ratherthan to impose uncriticallythe conventional
moder Westerncategories of human, animal, plant, and world on the Ainu
materials.37
Recovering the Religious Contextsof the Iyomante
Many scholarly works on the history of the Ainu under Japanese colonialism are available today.38According to the authors of these studies,
tremendouspolitical, economic, social and religious changes have occurred
in Ainu communities. Even if certain structuresand forms of the lyomante
have survived largely intact, it is still necessary to consider the religious
dimensions of the Ainu religious world that have been lost in orderto locate
the religious meanings of the lyomante in the contexts of the Ainu religious
world. For instance, shamanisticpracticesdisappearedfrom public view and
34 MarcelMauss,"A categoryof the humanmind:the notionof person;the
notionof self,"in The Categoryof the Person.Anthropology,
Philosophy,History,
ed. MichaelCarrithers
et al. (Cambridge:
Cambridge
UniversityPress,1985):1-25.
35CliffordGeertz,"Person,Time,andConductin Bali,"in The
Interpretation
of
Cultures(New York:BasicBooks,Inc.,Publishers,1973):360-411.
36 A. IrvingHallowell,"Ojibwa
Ontology,Behavior,andWorldView,"in Culture
in History.Essaysin Honorof PaulRadin,ed. StanleyDiamond(NewYork:Octagon
Books, 1981):19-52.
37
Kitagawaconsidersthe notionof personhoodin his studyand developsthe
notionof correspondence
betweenthehumanworldandthe kamuyworld.However,
he does not pursuethe full significanceof this.
38 To mentiona few: KayanoShigeru,Ainu no sato, Nibutanini ikiru(Sap1977);KikuchiIsao,Bakuhantaiseito Ezochi(Tokyo:
poro:HokkaidoShinbunsha,
Yuzankaku,
1984);OkuyamaRyo, Ainusuiboshi(Sapporo:MiyamaShobo,1966);
ShinyaRyo, Ainu minzokuteikoshi(Tokyo:San'ichiShobo, 1972);and Utakawa
Hiroshi,lomanteno kokogaku(Tokyo:TokyoDaigakuShuppanKai, 1989).
103
went underground,especially after the Meiji era, as Buddhism and Shinto

were introducedinto the lives of the Ainu. Along with them, Christianity
also was introduced.39In additionto the disappearanceof shamanisticpractices, four importantaspects of the traditionalAinu religious life changed
dramaticallyin the wake of culturalcontact with the Japanese: 1) the traditional house or chise disappeared;2) the practice of tattooing the face and
armsof young women was abandoned;3) practicesof burningthe deceased's
house and of avoiding the tomb ceased; and 4) the lyomante was no longer
performedin some areas.
According to Kindaichi, in the pre-contact period, most women functioned as a shamaness (tusu) when people sought a reason for uncommon
happenings.40He suggested that kamuyyukar, mythic narrativesabout the
experience of the kamuy in the human world, originated in shamanistic
possession, because they were usually narratedin the first person singular. Kamuyyukar are characterizedby a special refrain which might imitate the voices or sounds of animals who were believed to be the visible
figures of kamuy in the human world.41 Oina yukar (legends of cultural
heroes, Ainu okkuru) and ainu yukar (legends of the adventures of human heroes) evolved from Kamuy yukar.42Chiri adds that Kamuy yukar
also came from the oracles of kamuy received in dreams, from magical
spells, and from ritual masked dancing at certain ceremonies.43Chiri, the
Ainu linguist, hypothesized that shamans performed a masked dance du39 JohnBatchelor,a missionaryand scholar,went to an Ainu kotan(village)
and convertedseveral people to Christianity.Ainu informantssuch as Chiri Sachie,
who recited many yukar for Kindaichi, were converted Christians. No scholarly
attentionhas been paid to the fact that these Ainu women who recited ainu yukar
for Japanesescholars were convertedChristians.Nor has the significance of the fact
that the Japanese scholars were men while the Ainu informantswere women been
considered.
40 Kindaichi Kyosuke, "Ezo no utaimono ni mieru fujo,"Ainu Bunkashi (Tokyo:
Sanseido, 1964): 245.
41 ChiriMashiho,"Ainuno Shinyo (1)" Collected Worksof ChiriMashiho, vol. 1
(Tokyo:Heibonsha, 1973): 165-69.
42 KindaichiKyosuke, "GenshiBungaku to shiteno yukara-Ainuno minzokuteki
jojishi" Ainu Bunkashi:290. He repeats this point in many places of his writings.
43 Chiri Mashiho, "Majinaishito kawauso,"Collected Worksof Chiri Mashiho,
vol. 2 (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1973): 210.
104
Takeshi Kimura
ring the lyomante in prehistoric times, but there is no firm evidence for
this.44
Shamanismalso seems to have been associated with the vertical cosmology of the Ainu. Sueoka Somio, in his study of Ainu astrology, classified
kamuy in terms of their function on the vertical and horizontal axis.45 At
the intersection of the vertical and horizontal axis, there was ape-kamuy
(kamuy of fire). On the horizontal plane, one found kamuy to whom the
inau were dedicated. These included pase-kamuy (another name for the
kamuy of fire), nusa-koro-kamuy(the kamuy who owns nusa), the deity
who controls crops, sir-ampa-kamuy(the kamuywho owns earth),the deity
who rules four-legged animals and plants on earth, and has-inau-kor-kamuy
(the kamuywho owns branches and inau), and the deity who rules winged
creatures and is the kamuy for hunting. Kim-un-kamuy(the kamuy of the
mountainor the bear) is subject to sir-ampa-kamuywhile kotan-kor-kamuy
(the kamuy who owns the village or the owl) is subject to has-inau-korkamuy.Kim-un-kamuyand kotan-koro-kamuyare two deities for whom the
lyomante was performed.On the vertical axis kamuy were known through
shamanisticforms of communion.They included oina-kami(the kamuywho
practice shamanism), okikurumi(one wearing glittering skin clothes), the
culture hero, and samayekur (the kamuy who brings oracles). These kamuy belong to the category of mosir-kar-kamuy(the kamuywho createdthe
world).46
The importanceof the house as a religious space can be seen from the
fact that in 1984, when an Ainu man named Kawamuratried to restore
the lyomante and to record it on film in 1984, he startedhis preparations
44 ChiriMashiho,"Yukarano hitobitoto sono seikatsu,Hokkaidono senshi
jidaijinno seikatsuni kansurubunkashitekikousatsu,"CollectedWorksof Chiri
Mashiho,vol. 3 (Tokyo:Heibonsha,1973):10-11.
45 SueokaSumio,Ainuno hoshi (Asahikawa:
AsahikawaShinkoKosha,1979):
52-54.
46 On the verticaldimension,there are threedimensions:nis (heaven),ainuThereare six layersin nis:
mosir(humanworld),andpolna-mosir(underworld).
where
kanto-kor-kamui
located
at
land
rikunkantomosir
(high
highplace)
(heavenly
sinisi-kanto
nociw-kanto
(truesky heaven),nisi-kanto
(celestialheaven),
god) rules,
and urar-kanto
(heavenof haze or
(under-heaven),
(heavenof cloud),ranke-kanto
mist).Ibid.,44-46.
105
by building the traditionalhouse,47 even though today most Ainu people

live in Western-stylehouses. Yet, as Kitagawa notes, "the original hut had
descended from the kamuymosir with the kamuyof fire, and no matterhow
humble the hut was, it was regardedas kamuykat tumbu(the room which
the kamuybuilt)."48Ideally, the village, which consisted of a group of the
houses, was built with its back towardthe mountains.The east window was
the most sacred space after the hearth. The inau (whittled wooden wands),
bear, deer, or gifts for kamuy were carried out and in through the east
window.49
As Ohnuki-Tierneyhas pointed out, the Ainu people employed bodily
metaphorsfor symbolizing spatial orientation.50The house and landscape
were conceived as something bodily. Chiri wrote that the roof was called
chise-sapa (the head of the house), the walls were called chise-tumam(the
body of the house), the interior of the house was called chise-upsor (the
bosom of the house), the triangularhole in the pole of the roof was called
etu-pok (under the nose), the cover over the window on the east side was
called puyar-sikrap(the eyelashes of the window), and the inau placed in the
hole abovepuyar-sikrapwas called chise-noyporo(the brainof the house).51
Outside, the river and mountain were regarded as living and were also
named according to the parts of the human body. The source of a river
was called pet-kitay (the head), the middle pet-rantom(the breast), the bend
of a river sittok (an elbow) and the mouth of the river o (the genitals).52
Moreover, the summit of a mountain was called nupuri-kitay(the head),
the mountainsidenupuri-kotor(the chest), the foot of the mountainnupuriohonkes (the abdomen)or nupuri-onto(the rump).53Thus, the Ainu percepchihono kumaokuri
no kiroku,
IyomanteJikkoIinkai,ed.,lyomante:Kawakami
12-13.
1985):
(Tokyo:Shogakukan,
47
48
Kitagawa,op. cit., 86.
49 JohnBatchelor,TheAinuand TheirFolk-Lore(London:The ReligiousTract

Society,1901):123-124.
50EmikoOhnuki-Tierey,"SpatialConceptsof the Ainuof the NorthwestCoast
AmericanAnthropologist
74 (1972):426-457.
of SouthernSakhalin,"
51 Chiri
"Ainu
ni
kansuru
Works
Mashiho,
jukyo
jakkanno kousatsu,"Collected
3
228.
vol.
Chiri
Mashiho,
of
(Tokyo:Heibonsha,1974):
52 ChiriMashiho,"AinugoNyumon,"CollectedWorksof ChiriMashiho,vol. 4
(Tokyo:Heibonsha,1974):256.
53 Ibid.,260.
106
Takeshi Kimura
tion of space was close to what Maurice Leenhardtcalled a cosmomorphic

view.54
As to the constitutiverelationshipbetween the house and the ritual space
of the Iyomante, the Ainu experience of the interior of the house is important. "Treasure"was placed in the ritual space in the east-northcorer of
the house. The people always sat in the house with their backs towardthe
treasure.The space between the human and the treasureis called seremak
which, in a religious sense, meant a guardian spirit.55The treasurerepresented the materialpresence of the guardianspirits. The Ainu's experience
of the humanbody helped to form the sense of front and back in the house,
which was closely related to vision. Visibility/ invisibility, visual illusion,
and visual transformationwere importantmythic motifs in the Ainu kamuyyukar.
Tattooingon the face and arms was practiced only by young women as
a sign of adolescence.56In addition, a kind of chastity belt (upsor-un-kut)
was given to adolescentyoung women. Most often an elder woman tattooed
the young woman.
After the introductionof Buddhism into Ainu life, the funeral rites conducted by Buddhist priests were widely adopted. By 1956 in the village of
Niputani, there were only three elderly people who knew how to perform
the funeral in the traditionalAinu manner.57As the funeral practices were
changed, attitudestowardthe dead also changed. TraditionalAinu were said
to have feared the ghost of a dead person and, as a result, the living never
54 In his studyof Melanesian

wrote,"[AMelanesian]
religiousmode,Leenhardt
does not havean anthropomorphic

view,buton the contrarysubmitshimselfto the
effectsof anundifferentiated
viewthatcauseshimto includethewholeworldin each
of his representations,
withoutdreamingof distinguishing
himselffromthatworld:
it
a
Maurice
we mightcall
view."
Do Kamo:Personand
Leenhardt,
cosmomorphic
Mythin the MelanesianWorld(Chicagoand London:The Universityof Chicago
Press,1979):20.
55 ChiriMashiho,Bunrui
AinugoJiten,Ningen-hen,CollectedWorksof Chiri
Mashiho,Suppl.2 (Tokyo:Heibonsha,1975):627. Yamamoto
Ainu,
Yuko,Karafuto
Jukyoto Mingu(Tokyo:SagamiShobo,1970):52-53.
56 SegawaKiyoko,Ainuno Kon'in(Tokyo:Miraisha,1972):11-16.
57 KayanoShigeru,op, cit., 64.
107
returnedto the cemetery to visit gravesites.However, a recent book contains

a picture of an Ainu woman standingby a gravepost in a cemetery.58
The lyomante itself ceased to be performedregularly a long time ago.
Kashiwagi Bentoji, who was eighty-two or eighty-threeyears old in 1961,
said that she saw the lyomante for the last time when she was sixteen or
seventeenyears old in 1895 or 1896.59Inukaiand Natori wrote that they had
observed the lyomante performedin Nijibetsu village in 1949 where it had
not been performedin the precedingthirteenyears.60Kawamura'sIyomante
in 1985 was the first performancein twenty-eight years.61
MythicNarratives and Symbols of the Ritual Dismemberingof the Bear's
Body and the Decorating of the Bear's Skull
The bear huntingritual in the mountainsand the lyomante had a cyclical
relationship.For example, when a bear cub was caught after its mother bear
was killed, the humans were chargedto take it down to their village and to
take care of it. At the edge of the village, a welcoming ceremonyfor the bear
mother and cub was held. The dead bear and the alive cub were taken into
the house throughthe east window.Thereafterthe cub was domesticatedand
well taken care of by the people.62In a sense, the Iyomanteis a ritual which
reversesthis directionality.It is a ritualto send the kamuyback to the kamuy
world from the human world. In this religious context, the deep religious
meaning of the Iyomante is found in the um-memke(decoratingthe skull),
the ritual dismemberingof the bear and the decorating of its skull. Inukai
and Natori note that the Ainu could not perform the um-memkerite in a
short and abbreviatedmanner even on the mountain.63Before I interpret
the religious significance of these ritual acts, several additional remarks
concerningthe Ainu religious world are necessary. These concern the ritual
manner of sending off spirits from the phenomenal world to the kamuy
58The
pictureshowsthewomanmovingaroundthetombof Dr.Munro.See Sugano Kosuke, Gendai no Ainu-MinzokuIdo no Roman (Tokyo: Genbunsha,
1966):i.
59
HayakawaNoboru,Ainuno minzoku(Tokyo:IwasakiBijutsusha,1970):20.
60 InukaiandNatori, cit., 135.
op.
61
IyomanteJikkoIinkai,op. cit., 2.
62 See Smith, cit., 58-60, and
op.
Kitagawa,op. cit., 82-97.
63 InukaiTetsuoand NatoriTakemistu,"Iomante(Ainu no kumamatsuri)
no
bunkateki
to
sono
keishiki
Bunka
2
Hokoku
241.
igi
(1),"Hoppo
Kenkyu
(1939):
108
Takeshi Kimura
world, the relationship of astronomicaldesigns in the lyomante complex,

and the sexual symbolic configuration.
What is at stake in these fundamentalAinu categories is the relationship
between the visible materialforms of things and creaturesand their invisible
spiritualforms. In order to examine this issue, it is absolutely necessary to
recall that human beings are called "ainu"in this world and that the kamuy
assume human (ainu) form in the kamuy world, while they take on animal
forms when visiting the humanworld.64
If we focus on the Ainu understandingof the ontological status of the
bear in the lyomante, (i.e., if we extend the notion of personhood to this
"animal"),then we will come to recognize the central importance of the
ritual transformationof the bear that the ritual is designed to effect. In most
studies of ritual, the focus has been laid upon the kinds of transformation
undergoneby the human participants,65but in the Ainu lyomante, the ritual
transformationoccurs to the "bear."
In order to make this point clear, it is necessary to introducea linguistic
explanationof the Ainu hunting.The Ainu perceive animals, includingbear,
deer, salmon, and whales, to be the form of the kamuy visiting the human
world (ainu-mosir). The hunting of these animals, thus, requires the Ainu
people to host and entertainsuch a visitor and, then, to send him back to the
kamuyrealm. The Ainu used the terms maratoneand shumau-anto describe
the capture of animals. Maratone means "a kamuy becomes a guest" and
shumau-an means there was shumau or, according to Kindaichi, "kamuy,
64 To borrowa termfromDanielMerkur,ramatcan be translatedas the "indwellers."Merkurdiscussesthe soul dualism,involvingfree soul and breathsoul
amongthe Inuit.He goes on to say thatthereare "persons"of placesandobjects
as well as "persons"of animalsand othernonhumancreatures.The "persons"
of
animalsareenvisagedas havinghumanform,whereasthe free souls takethe form
of theirrespectivespecies.See DanielMerkur,PowersWhichWeDo NotKnow:The
Godsand Spiritsof the Inuit(Moscow:Universityof IdahoPress,1991).
65In tworepresentative
studiesof ritualby ArnoldvanGennepandVictorTurner,
theirfocus uponhumanparticipants
are clear.Arnoldvan Gennep,The Rites of
The
of
Passage(Chicago: University ChicagoPress,1960).VictorTurner,TheRitual Process.StructureandAnti-Structure
(Ithaca:CornellUniversityPress,1969).
Catherine
Bell'srecenttheoretical
workon ritualis alsofocuseduponhumanparticBell, RitualTheory,RitualPractice(NewYork:OxfordUniversity
ipants.Catherine
Press,1992).
109
being helped by human activity, to restore his/her own spiritualbody,""returningto the state of being kamuy" or "becoming kamuy [again]."66The
same event, seen from the perspectiveof kamuy,is referredto as shumau-ne,
or "kamuybecoming shumau"(i.e., assuming the role of a guest or visitor).
I will now turn to the issue of the relationshipbetween ritual action and
mythicnarrativein the lyomante.There are severalkamuyyukar (first-person
mythicnarrativestold by kamuy)collected by Kindaichiand Kuboderawhich
narratethe experienceof kamuyin the form of a bear in the humanworld.67
There is an oina yukar which relates how an Ainu culturehero first learned
the lyomante from kamuy among their collections.
The kamuy yukar recounts in the first person the bear's experience of
being dismemberedand being restoredto his own spiritualbody. When the
kamuyis shot by poisonous arrows,he becomes sleepy and loses consciousness. When he regains consciousness, he finds that his physical body has
been dismemberedand is hanging over a tree. Then he observes that the
people have decoratedhis skull with inau and other gifts.68In the lyomante,
the spirit of the kamuy is said to sit on the bear's head between the two
ears. The kamuy's experience of being dismemberedcannot be narratedin
the kamuyyukar, because the bear was unconscious at that time.
According to the oina yukar, the human ritualist dismembersthe bear's
body just as the culture hero Ainu-rak-kurhad first learned to do from the
Kim-um-kamuy.However,the kamuyyukar and the oina yukar are regarded
by the Ainu as being two differenttypes of mythic narratives.Therefore,in
orderto interpretthe relationshipbetween the ritual action of the lyomante
and these mythic narratives,it is necessary to consider the relationshipbetween the kamuy'sexperienceof being rituallydismemberedin the Iyomante
as this is narratedin the kamuyyukar and the relationshipbetween the ritual
actions in the lyomante and those of the culture hero.
66 KindaichiKyosuke,"Kumamatsuri
AinuBunkashi(Tokyo:Sanno hanashi,"
93.
seido, 1961):
67Kindaichi
no
Kyosuke,"Ainunokamito kumano setsuwa"and"Kumamatsuri
Ainu
Bunkashi
Kubodera
Ainu
75-99.
Itsuhiko,
hanashi,"
(Tokyo:Sanseido,1951):
no kenkyu(Tokyo:IwanamiShoten,1977)See especiallyno.
Jojishi,Shinyo-Seiden
6 to 15:61-119.
68KindaichiKyosuke,"Ainuno kamito kumano setsuwa,"
83. InukaiandNatori,
no
no
bunkateki
to
sono
keishiki(1),"Hoppo
igi
"Iyomante(Ainu kumamatsuri)
BunkaKenkyuHokoku2 (1939):249.
110
Takeshi Kimura
There are three types of ritualmannerperceived among the Ainu in terms

of sending off the kamuy out of the phenomenal and materialworld to the
kamuy world: lyomante, opunire and iwakte. There are regional variations
of usage and meaning of these terms. Generally,though, lyomante is used
for ritually sending off the kamuyof the most importantanimals, such as the
bear and the owl. Opunireis used for the same purpose,but it takes place on
a mountain.Iwakte is used for tools, cups, wooden boxes, and manufactured
items and less importantanimals.69Behind these notions several relatedelements of religious orientationmay be perceived.As Kitagawapoints out, the
humanworld and the kamuyworld are corresponding.70In the kamuyworld,
the kamuy look like humans and live like humans. When the kamuy visit
the human world, however, they wear temporaryclothing called hayokupe,
(i.e., an animal body). Other kamuy of minor rank become plants, human
tools, and other objects in this world. What is importantto note here is the
religious notion that the kamuybecome embodied in some materialor other
in the human world.
The Ainu notion of personhoodplays a role in the formulationof an interesting point of correspondencebetween the lyomante, astronomicalsigns,
and shamanism. According to Munro, "There is some evidence that stars
were associated with kamui;at the great festival when a bear is killed ritually the name of a star or star group connected with the Bear constellation
is given to the spirit of the slain bear- Chinukara-guru(Visible Person)."71
The constellationconnected with the lyomante is marattonokanociw,which
correspondsto the Western Harp constellation. Significantly, however, the
Ainu view this constellation as having the shape of a bear's head.72The
V-form of the Western harp is seen as the bear skull (marrato) on the
forked tree branch. The bear skull is placed on the lowest branch, called
yuk-sapa-oma-ni(a tree holding the head of a bear) or pakkay-ni (the tree
carrying a child). The star Vega correspondsto the bear skull. Despite the
regional diversity in the precise manner in which the skull is decorated at
the ritual, these three stars are uniformly referredto as marratonokanociw
among all Ainu in Hokkaido.In the easternpartof Hokkaido,the two bright
69
ChiriMashiho,BunruiAinugoJiten,Ningenhen, CollectedWorksof Chiri

Mashiho,Suppl.1 (Tokyo:Heibonsha,1975):565.
70
Kitagawa,op. cit., 74.
71 Munro, cit., 14.
op.
72 Sueoka, cit., 187-188.
op.
111
stars at the top of Gemini are called asrupenoka-nociw(stars of the bear's

ears).73Other constellations are also apparentlyrelated to the kamuy, but
unfortunately,these relationshipsare unclear at this time and requirefurther
study.
The last point to be made about the symbolic complex informing the
lyomante has to do with sexual symbolism. All referenceto sex is forbidden
duringthe Iyomante.Moreover,sexual intercourseduringthe four day period
of the Iyomante is also forbidden. If any one violated this rule the night
before the lyomante, the suspected person had to be found and an apology
made to the kamuy.74In addition,those who drankthe blood of the bear in
the Iyomante were forbiddento have sexual intercourseuntil the next new
moon.75Celibacy was also observedby huntersbefore they went on a hunt.
During the ritual dismembermentof the bear, careful attentionwas paid
to the removalof the sexual organs.After the genitals were cut off the body,
they were placed underthe head with skins. Sexual organswere regardedas
powerful. For instance, in order to expel a malignant power, both men and
women would expose their sexual organs to the evil power while reciting a
magical incantation.76It is also reportedthat when a woman came across a
bad temperedbear, she pulled up her dress and exposed her genitals, waved
her dress, and said, "Youcame out to see what you want to see. So, look at
it long and carefully."77It was believed that the bear would leave without
harmingher. The power of genitals to expel evil forces recalls Ainu-rak-kur,
an Ainu culturalhero, who expelled evil spirits from the human realm.
There are five detailed ethnographicdescriptionsof the ritualdismembering of the bear's body. Inukai(1935),78 Inukai and Natori (1939),79 Ifukube
73 Ibid.,84.
74 Chiri,op. cit., 162.
75 Ibid.,250.
76 Ibid.,66.
77 Ibid.,67.
78 InukaiTetsuo,"Ainuno okonaukumano kaibou,"Minzokugaku
Kenkyu1,
no. 3 (1935):74-83.
79 InukaiTetsuoand NatoriTakemitsu,"Iyomante(Ainu no kumamatsuri)
no
and
no
to
so
no
keishiki
bunkateki
(Ainu kumamatsuri)
(1),"237-271,
"Iyomante
igi
no bunkatekiigi to sonokeishiki(2),"HoppoBunkaKenkyuHokoku3 (1940):79135.
112
Takeshi Kimura
Muneo (1964-65),80Sato Naotaro(1955-57),81andFujimuraHisakazu(198889).82 I will not go into any detail concerning the step-by-step ritual dismembermentof the bear.A few points of importancethat emerge from these
ethnographiesdeserve our attention.
According to Sato, in the Kushiro area, the term kamuy-kara-kato("creating the kamuy's figure") is used to designate the ritual process of the
um-memke.83The skull decorated with inau and three leaves of bamboo
grass is called riwak kamuy,meaning the "returningkamuy."84It is stuck on
top of the Y-shapedtree planted in the ground. This is the last stage of the
ritual transformationof the kamuy. The core of the lyomante is the ritual
transformationof the kamuy'smaterialbody into its invisible spiritualbody.
The Ainu believe that they help to release the kamuyfrom its animal body
and send it back up to the kamuyworld.
The Ainu call the ritual dismembermentof the bear hepere ari, "unloading"or "unburdeningthe luggage."By rituallydismemberingthe bear's
body, the Ainu help unload the gifts which the kamuy has brought from
the kamuyworld to the humanworld. While the Ainu accept gifts from the
kamuy, in returnthey offer gifts such as a short sword, a decoratedsword,
decorated arrows, and dried fish to the kamuy to carry back to the kamuy
world. Gift exchange here is not a one-way affair. In light of this, Ray's
80 IfukubeMuneo,"SaruAinu no kumamatsuri
(sono ichi),"GakuenRonshu
8 (1964): 1-32. "SaruAinuno kumamatsuri

(sono ni),"GakuenRonshu9 (1965):
29-56.
81SatoNaotaro,"Kushiro
Ainuno Iyomande(kumaokuri),"
parts1-23.Dokushojin: 4 no. 2 (1955): 10-12;no. 3 (1955):23-24;no. 4 (1955):39-40;no. 5 (1955):
51-52;no. 6 (1955):63-64;no. 7 (1955):87-88;no. 8 (1955):99-100;no. 9 (1956):
111-112;no. 10 (1956):123-124;5, no. 1 (1956): 135-136;no. 2 (1956):11-12;no.
3 (1956):9-10; no. 4 (1956): 13-14;no. 5 (1956):7-8; no. 6 (1956): 15-16;no. 7
(1956): 9-10; no. 8 (1956): 13-14; no. 9 (1956): 7-8; no. 10 (1957): 11-12; no. 11
(1957): 15-16;6, no. 1(1957):11-12;no. 2 (1957): 15-16;no. 3 (1957):11-12.

82 FujimuraHisakazu,"Ainuno reiokuri,"
parts1-18. Gakuto88, no. 1 (1991):
42-49;no. 2 (1991):40-47;no. 3 (1991):44-49;no. 4 (1991):38-43;no. 5 (1991):
36-41;no. 6 (1991):36-41;no. 7 (1991):36-41;no. 8 (1991):42-47;no. 9 (1991):
42-47;no. 10 (1991):36-41;no. 11 (1991):42-47;no. 12 (1991):46-51;89, no. 1
(1992):44-49;no. 2 (1992):38-43;no. 3 (1992):34-39;no. 4 (1992):34-39;no. 5
(1992):34-39;no. 6 (1992):36-41.
83 Fujimura,op. cit., 103.
84 Kindaichi,
op. cit., 94.
113
interpretationof the bear ceremony as a sacrifice and gift offering from man
to the kamuyis misleading and one-sided.
Following this gift exchange, a feast is held. The gifts which the kamuy
has broughtfrom the kamuyworld (the various productsof the bear's body)
are shared by the people. All such gifts from the kamuy have to be eaten
duringthe Iyomante.This ritual consumptionof the bear flesh constitutes a
communionbetween the humanbody and the kamuy.After the kamuy'sanimal form has been rituallydismembered,decoratedwith the inau and other
gifts, the kamuyis believed to take invisible humanform, and is expected to
walk into the mountains,carryingthese gifts on his back just as the humans
do.
For modem man, killing an animal is viewed primarily as an act of
violence. Yet, if one carriesthis understandinginto the lyomante, as Jonathan
Z. Smith does, one misses the very core of the ritual. Only by shifting
one's focus to the ritual dismemberment-as-ritualtransformationand giftexchange, can one recover the religious significance of the lyomante.
Retrospect
Beginning with Hallowell's study, there have been numerous studies of
the bearhunt ritualkilling, which have assumed the bear ritual to be simply
a sub-species of the larger category of hunting rituals. As I have demonstrated, however, it is dangerous to assume, as Smith and Ray do, that a
bear is always a bear and is the same everywhere and at all time. In addition, a review of the relevant ethnographicdata has revealed that what
the Ainu do in the lyomante ritual and what the Koyukon do in their ritual dismembermentof the bear are not the same religious acts. A number of significant differences immediately suggest themselves: 1) In the
Koyukon ritual, unlike the Ainu, there is no idea of sending the spirit off
to the world of the deities; 2) among the Koyukon, there is no idea that
the spirit visits the human world in animal form; 3) the Koyukon have no
belief that the ritual transformsthe bear into an invisible spiritual form;
4) there is no idea of reciprocal exchange of gifts between humans and
the spirit; 5) the Koyukon hunter "slit [the bear's] eyes so that its spirit
will not see if he should violate a taboo. And he may take off its feet
to keep its spirit from moving around."This suggests that the Koyukon
114
Takeshi Kimura
hunter feared the spirit of the hunted bear,85something the Ainu do not
do.
In conclusion, one cannot help but ask what Smith and Ray were comparingwhen they comparedbear rituals.The Ainu and Koyukonbear rituals
belong to two different religious worlds of meaning, worlds that are so
different that they cannot be conflated without doing damage to the very
religious meaning one seeks to understand.A historian of religions cannot
comparereligious phenomenawithout first understandingthem in their own
rights. Only when this has been done, can fruitful comparisonsbe drawn.
Faculty of Humanities
YamaguchiUniversity
1677-1 Yoshida
Yamaguchi-shi
Yamaguchi-ken753-8512, Japan
85Nelson, cit., 180.

op.
TAKESHIKIMURA
BOOK REVIEWS
JAN ASSMANN,Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western

Monotheism - Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversity Press 1997 (X,
276 p.) ISBN 0-674-58738-3 (cloth) ?19.95.
Monotheismis not a quasi naturalfact of religious history,but a relatively
late phenomenonwhose origins and historycan be studiedin writtensources.
Assmann establishes a typology of two monotheisms:a cosmotheistic and a
spiritualtype. The cosmotheistic type, representedby the Amarnaheresy of
ancient Egypt, takes the monotheisticdeity to be part of the cosmos, and it
is by naturalinsight that humansunderstandthis deity. The spiritualvariety,
by contrast, takes the deity to be transcendentand therefore distinct from
the cosmos; as is clear from its ancient Jewish form, it is inaccessible to
human reasoning and must be revealed. According to ancient sources both
forms of monotheism understandthemselves as distinct from the very same
traditionalworld view - that of polytheistic Egypt. Assmann asks how
the ancient Egyptian and the Judaeo-Christiantraditions have dealt with
monotheism, and he argues that both, albeit in different ways, have sought
to abolish the distinction between monotheism and polytheism. The ancient
Egyptians immediately rejected Amara monotheism as a heresy without,
however, simply returningto the old-fashioned polytheistic creed. Instead,
they came to develop a theology which can be characterizedas a pantheistic
"summodeism"in which the high god Amun animates and organizes the
world through mediating powers while staying in the background as the
hiddenprincipleof unity.While this insight into Egyptianreligion dates from
twentieth-centuryEgyptological scholarship,its basic premise had been seen
by Ralph Cudworth in the eighteenth century. The Western, Bible-related
type of monotheism was not immediately rejected by the environmentin
which it originated. Over time, however, attemptswere made to soften and
indeed to abolish the Mosaic distinctionbetween crude polytheistic idolatry
and the true spiritual belief in the one and only deity. Assmann's interest
focusses on how in moder times philosophers,theologians, and adepts of
esotericism dealt with the issue. He demonstratesthat revealed monotheism
BrillNV,Leiden(1999)
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
116
Book reviews
was not modified in the same way as Egyptian monotheism;instead, it was

replaced by cosmotheism. In more or less subtle ways, Deists, Spinozists,
and Masonics all argued that Mosaic monotheism was nothing else than
Egyptian pantheismor ratherthe secret, mystery side of Egyptian religion.
Moses, they contended, was an Egyptian.
Assmann is to be recommendedfor his diligent research and his wideranging interests. Splendidly written and cogently argued,Moses the Egyptian deserves a wide readership.
Universitit Paderbom,Fb. 1
WarburgerStr. 100
D-33098 Paderbor
BERNHARD
LANG
An Introductionto Hinduism- Cambridge:CambridgeUniGAVINFLOOD,

versity Press 1996 (xviii, 341 p., 20 pl., 2 maps, 8 fig.) ISBN 0-52143878-0 (pbk.) ?12.95.
Teachers of Hinduism often feel embarrassedwhen asked by students
of the Science of Religions to recommend a reasonable introductioninto
Hinduism. Most such books are too long, extensive, short or shallow. John
Brockington's The Sacred Thread (lst. ed. Edinburgh 1981) had been an
exception fulfilling Indological standards although it is small and short
(222 pp.) and leaves out the systematic questions so importantfor Religious Studies.
Dr Flood, however,a Lecturerin Religious Studies with a fair Indological
background,providesboth a thematicand historicalintroduction.His book is
a much-neededpresentationof historicaland modem, textual and contextual
material as well as an attemptto answer the question what it all means. I
can only admit to Patrick Olivelle's statement on the back cover: "It is
comprehensive, clear and makes most recent scholarship accessible to an
undergraduate."
Flood begins with discussing the definitional problems of Hinduism and
traces the development of Hinduism from ancient origins; he thereby includes the most recent literatureon the so-called Indo-aryanimmigration
(Erdosy,Witzel etc.), before he describes the socio-religious aspects of the
Dharmagastrasand Grhyasutrasfocussing on purity,kingship and renunciation. Furtherchaptersdeal with various Hindu traditionscentering upon the
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
116
Book reviews
was not modified in the same way as Egyptian monotheism;instead, it was

replaced by cosmotheism. In more or less subtle ways, Deists, Spinozists,
and Masonics all argued that Mosaic monotheism was nothing else than
Egyptian pantheismor ratherthe secret, mystery side of Egyptian religion.
Moses, they contended, was an Egyptian.
Assmann is to be recommendedfor his diligent research and his wideranging interests. Splendidly written and cogently argued,Moses the Egyptian deserves a wide readership.
Universitit Paderbom,Fb. 1
WarburgerStr. 100
D-33098 Paderbor
BERNHARD
LANG
An Introductionto Hinduism- Cambridge:CambridgeUniGAVINFLOOD,

versity Press 1996 (xviii, 341 p., 20 pl., 2 maps, 8 fig.) ISBN 0-52143878-0 (pbk.) ?12.95.
Teachers of Hinduism often feel embarrassedwhen asked by students
of the Science of Religions to recommend a reasonable introductioninto
Hinduism. Most such books are too long, extensive, short or shallow. John
Brockington's The Sacred Thread (lst. ed. Edinburgh 1981) had been an
exception fulfilling Indological standards although it is small and short
(222 pp.) and leaves out the systematic questions so importantfor Religious Studies.
Dr Flood, however,a Lecturerin Religious Studies with a fair Indological
background,providesboth a thematicand historicalintroduction.His book is
a much-neededpresentationof historicaland modem, textual and contextual
material as well as an attemptto answer the question what it all means. I
can only admit to Patrick Olivelle's statement on the back cover: "It is
comprehensive, clear and makes most recent scholarship accessible to an
undergraduate."
Flood begins with discussing the definitional problems of Hinduism and
traces the development of Hinduism from ancient origins; he thereby includes the most recent literatureon the so-called Indo-aryanimmigration
(Erdosy,Witzel etc.), before he describes the socio-religious aspects of the
Dharmagastrasand Grhyasutrasfocussing on purity,kingship and renunciation. Furtherchaptersdeal with various Hindu traditionscentering upon the
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Book reviews
117
majordeities Visnu, giva and the Goddess. Special emphasis is given to the
so-called tantric traditions(the authoradmits that in this field he relied on
the expertise of Alexis Sanderson,Oxford). The following chapteron ritual,
in my opinion the weakest, is a short mixture of summaries on the rites
de passage, Puja, festivals, pilgrimage and sacrifice. Ch. 10 is on Hindu
theology and philosophy while the concluding chapterdiscusses "Hinduism
and the modem world", i.e. Neohinduism and the most recent nationalistic
movements.
Food's Introductionto Hinduismhas a clear design and lay-out, includes
several valuable tables and short summaries at the end of each chapter.
Regretful, however, is the poor quality of the plates both due to the reproduction by the publisherand the author'sselection. I noticed some careless
mistakes or misspellings of Sanskritterms: for tirtha (p. 15 and 212) read
tirtha, for srauta (p. 41) read srauta, for yupa, ahavaniya and udgatr (all
p. 42) read yipa, dihavaniyaresp. udgatr, for Ramacaritmanasa(146) read
Rama-0), for arati (p. 205) read drati or arti, for AgvalayanaGrhya Sutra
(p. 204) read Asvalayana Grhya Sutra, for Vasistha (index) read Vasistha,
for Visnu (back cover) Visnu. The table of contents could have been in more
detail. The bibliographyis fairly up-to-date, it lists indological as well as
anthropologicaltitles. However, full bibliographicaldata are superfluously
also given in the footnotes. The index is detailed and useful ("Candala"is
not in correct alphabeticalorder).
Siidasien-Institut
der Universitit Heidelberg
Abt. Klassische Indologie
Im NeuenheimerFeld 330
D-69120 Heidelberg
AXELMICHAELS
PUBLICATIONSRECEIVED
Periodicals
Acta Comparanda,9 (1998).
MonumentaNipponica, 53 (1998), 2.
OFRELIGIONS,
37 (1998), 4
HISTORY
James A. Benn, Where Text Meets Flesh: Burning the Body as an Apocryphal
Practice in Chinese Buddhism
Reiko Ohnuma,The Gift of the Body and the Gift of Dharma
Richard S. Cohen, Naga, Yaksini, Buddha: Local Deities and Local Buddhism
at Ajanta
Book Reviews
10 (1998), 3
& THEORY
IN THESTUDYOFRELIGION,
METHOD
Steven Sutcliffe, Introduction:Selected Proceedings from the Symposium on
Methodology and the Study of Religions, Bath Spa University College
James L. Cox, Religious Typologies and the Postmoder Critique, with a response by H. Waterhouse
Steven Sutcliffe, Studying Religions Realistically, with a response by M. Bowman
Kim Knott, Issues in the Study of Religions and Locality, with a response by
M. York
Sanda Ionescu, "WhatGender? We Are All Equal Here!" Doing Research in
the JapaneseNew Religions in Germany,with a response by B. Exon
Christiano Grottanelliand Bruce Lincoln, A Brief Note on (Future)Research
in the History of Religions
Books
(Listing in this section does not preclude subsequentreviewing)
Hardacre,Helen, Marketingthe Menacing Fetus in Japan- Berkeley, Los Angeles,
London, University of California Press, 1997, 310 p., ISBN 0-520-20553-7
(cloth), US$ 35.00.
NUMEN, Vol. 46
119
Cabez6n, Josd Ignacio, Scholasticism. Cross-Culturaland ComparativePerspectives.
SUNY Series: Towardsa ComparativePhilosophy of Religions - Albany, NY,
State Universityof New YorkPress, 1998, 264 p., $ 19.95, ISBN 0-7914-3778-7
(pbk.).
Summerell, Orrin F. (Ed.), The Otherness of God - Charlottesvilleand London,
UniversityPress of Virginia, 1998, 303 p., $ 37.50, ISBN 0-8139-1771-9 (hb.).
Derrett, J.D.M., Law and Morality - Northamptonshire,Pilkington Press, 1998,
179 p., ISBN 1-899044-17-5 (pbk.).
Krishan,Yuvraj,The Doctrineof Karma.Its Originand Developmentin Brahmanical,
Buddhist and Jaina Traditions- Delhi, Motilal BanarsidassPublishers, 1997,
650 p., Rs. 595, ISBN 81-208-1233-6 (cloth).
Saindon, Marcelle, Le Pitrikalpa du Harivamsha. Traduction,analyse, interpretation - Sainte-Foy (Quebec), Les Presses de l'Universit6 Laval, 1998, 380 p.,
$ 42.00, ISBN 2-7637-7511-X (pbk.).
McGilvray, Dennis B., Symbolic Heat. Gender, Health and Worship among the
Tamils of South India and Sri Lanka - Ahmedabad, Mapin Publishing, in
association with Universityof Colorado Museum, Boulder, 1998, 72 p., $ 9.95,
ISBN 0-944142-87-7 (pbk.).
Schlette, Heinz Robert (Hg.), Religionskritik in interkulturellerund interreligiiser
Sicht. Dokumentationdes Symposiums des Graduiertenkollegs"Interkulturelle
religiose bzw. religionsgeschichtlicheStudien"vom 20.-23.11.1996 an der Universitat Bonn. Series: Begegnung. Kontextuell-dialogischeStudien zur Theologie der Kulturen und Religionen, ed. by Hans Waldenfels, vol. 7 - Bonn,
Borengasser, 1998, 217 p., DM 56.00, ISBN 3-923946-39-2 (hb.).
Graf, Fritz, Ansichten griechischerRituale. Geburtstags-Symposiumfiir WalterBurkert.Castelenbei Basel, 15.-18. Marz 1996 - Stuttgartund Leipzig, B.G. Teubner, 1998, 500 p., ISBN 3-59-07433-8 (hb.).
Betz, Walter (Hg.), Biographie und Religion - III. InternationalesCallenbergKolloquiumin Halle vom 15.-17.10.1997. Hallesche Beitrige zur OrientwissenInstitut fiir Orientalistik,1997,
schaft, 24 - Halle, Martin-Luther-Universitat,
126 p. (pbk.).
120
Faure, Bernard, The Will to Orthodoxy. A Critical Genealogy of Northern Chan
Buddhism. Translatedby Phyllis Brooks - Stanford,California,StanfordUniversity Press, 1997, 289 p., $ 49.50, ISBN 0-8047-2866-6 (pbk.).
Taylor,Mark.C. (Ed.), CriticalTermsfor Religious Studies - Chicago and London,
The University of Chicago Press, 1998, 423 p., $ 18.00, ISBN 0-226-79157-2
(pbk.).
McGinn, Bernard,Visions of the End. Apocalyptic Traditionsin the Middle Ages.
With a New Preface and ExpandedBibliography- New York, Columbia University Press, 1998, 390 p., US$ 20.50, ISBN 0-231-11257-2 (pbk.).
Barker, Eileen and Margit Warburg(Eds.), New Religions and New Religiosity.
Series: RennerStudies on New Religions, 4 - Aarhus,AarhusUniversityPress,
1998, 309 p., $ 24.95, ISBN 87-7288-522-1(pbk.).
Slote, WalterH. and George A. DeVos (Eds.), Confucianismand the Family. SUNY
Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture - Albany, NY, State University of
New York Press, 1998, 391 p., $ 23.95, ISBN 0-7914-3736-1 (pbk.).
Ames, Roger T. (Ed.), Wanderingat Ease in the Zhuangzi.SUNY Series in Chinese
Philosophy and Culture- Albany, NY, State University of New York Press,
1998, 239 p., $ 24.95, ISBN 0-7914-3922-4 (pbk.).
Eskildsen, Stephen, Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion. SUNY Series in Chinese
Philosophy and Culture- Albany, NY, State University of New York Press,
1998, 229 p., $ 19.95, ISBN 0-7914-3956-1 (pbk.).
Fort,Andrew O., Jivanmuktiin Transformation.EmbodiedLiberationin Advaitaand
Neo-Vedanta- Albany, NY, State University of New YorkPress, 1998, 391 p.,
$ 19.95, ISBN 0-7914-3904-6 (pbk.).
Seufert,Giinter,PolitischerIslam in derTurkei.Islamismusals symbolische Reprasentation einer sich modernisierendenmuslimischen Gesellschaft. Beiruter Texte
und Studien, 67 (Tiirkische Welten, 3) - Istanbul, in Kommission bei Franz
Steiner VerlagStuttgart,1997, 598 p., DM 144.00, ISBN 3-515-07036-2 (pbk.).
Heuser,Manfredand Klimkeit,Hans-Joachim,Studies in ManichaeanLiteratureand
Art. Series: Nag Hammadiand ManichaeanStudies, 46 - Leiden, New York,
Koln, E. J. Brill, 1998, 331 p. + 31 ill., $ 123.75, ISBN 90-04-10716-9 (cloth).
OPPOSITES ATTRACT: THE BODY AND COGNITION IN A

DEBATE OVER BAPTISM
THEODOREM. VIAL
Summary
Analysis of a change in a historicalrite of passage, the baptismceremonyin Zurich
in the 1860s, shows the relative strengths and weaknesses of recent developments
in the field of ritual studies. Those who argue that ritualizedaction is an embodied
negotiation of power relations are helpful in understandingwhy various groups
in society fought either for or against the ritual change. But the weak structural
component of these theories and an inadequatemodel of human action make them
unable to account for speech acts in ritual, or for the change in the Zurich ritual.
Cognitive theoriesof ritualare far more successful in explaining the force of specific
structuralchanges. Far from being incompatible,these differentapproachesto ritual,
if based on an adequatemodel of human agency, are complementaryand necessary
for an adequateaccountof the historicalritualchange examined.
I. Introduction
A recent trajectory in ritual studies focuses on the body as the central
category of analysis. Lawrence Sullivan, for example, writes that "the
body is constructed, dismembered, or repaired in ritual." According
to Theodore Jennings, "ritual knowledge is gained by and through the
body." For Pierre Bourdieu, "[M]ythically or ritually defined objects...
almost all prove to be based on movements or postures of the human
body, such as going up and coming down...." Catherine Bell agrees that
"the implicit and dynamic 'end' of ritualization... can be said to be the
production of a 'ritualized body."'1
1 Lawrence E. Sullivan, "Body Works: Knowledge of the Body in the Study of
Religion,"Historyof Religions 30 (August, 1990), 87. TheodoreJennings,"OnRitual
Knowledge,"TheJournal of Religion 62 (April 1982), 115. PierreBourdieu,Outline
of a Theory of Practice, trans. by RichardNice (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity
NUMEN,Vol.46
122
TheodoreM. Vial
This focus on the body tendstowardsa view thatthe analysisof

ritualis largelythe analysisof socialpowerrelations.ThusSullivan
writes,commentingon the workof L6pezAustin,thatfocus on the
body "can bring to light the coherenceand power of ideological
systemsassociatedwiththebody."ForJenningsritualis "bodilyaction
which altersthe world or the place of the ritualparticipantin the
world."For Bourdieu,masteryof ritualcan "transform
[ ] ritualized
exchangeinto a confrontationof strategies."A "skilledstrategist"
can turnritualizedexchanges"intoan instrumentof power."Bell,
who to dateoffersthe mostfully workedout analysisof ritualusing
the categoriesof body andpower,claimsthat,"[r]itualization
always
the
ultimate
sources
to
linked
a
series
of
one
within
relationship
aligns
is a strategicarenafortheembodiment
of power"(sic)."[R]ituali7.ation
of powerrelations."2
Anotherdevelopmentin ritualstudiesseems, at first glance, to
standin oppositionto this focus on the body.FritsStaal,Dan Sperber,PascalBoyer,E. ThomasLawsonandRobertMcCauley,among
others,focus on the cognitiveaspectof ritual.3They wouldnot be
inclinedto agree with Jennings'sassertionthat ritualis "primarily
While perhapsnone of the theocorporealratherthan cerebral."4
rists mentionedabove would see theirtheoriesas mutuallyexclusive, we are left facing the questionof whetherritualis fundamentally a matterof the body or of the mind,whetherit is best analyzed throughthe conceptof poweror as a cognitiveactivitywhose
Press, 1977), 118-19. Catherine Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (New York:
OxfordUniversityPress, 1992): 98.
2 Sullivan,94; Jennings, 115; Bourdieu, 15; Bell, 141 and 170.
3 See Staal, Rules WithoutMeaning: Ritual, Mantras, and the Human Sciences
(Toronto:Peter Lang, 1989); Sperber,RethinkingSymbolism,trans. Alice L. Morton
(Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1990); Boyer, Tradition as Truthand
Communication:A Cognitive Description of Traditional Discourse (Cambridge:
CambridgeUniversityPress, 1990); andLawson andMcCauley,RethinkingReligion:
ConnectingCognitionand Culture(New York:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1990).
4 Jennings, 115.
TheBody and Cognitionin a Debate OverBaptism
123
structure looks something like the deep grammar of human language.

To see these two developmentsas opposing one another,however,
results from a misclassification.As a way of sorting out apparently
competing claims I offer in this article a taxonomy of the study of
ritual.I then argue,in the context of a case study of a specific debate
over baptism,that the concept of directedaction can move us forward
using the advancesboth developmentshave made.
II. A Taxonomyof Ritual Studies
I begin with the assumptionthat,whateverelse one may wantto say
aboutritual,it is a system of sounds, objects, and physical movements
thatare endowedby humancultureswith significance.In otherwords,
ritualis a symbolic-culturalsystem. As such, it bearsa resemblanceto
language, and as in the analysis of language we would expect to find
in analyzing ritual (1) historical studies; (2) structuralstudies;5and
(3) somethinganalogousto socio-linguistics- what Bourdieuwould
call a "dialectical"approachthat focuses on the strategiesand power
relationsof ritualacts.
If we map currentwork in ritual studies onto this taxonomy, it is
clear that,while any given analysis of ritualmay include all threecategories (and I would assertthatgood theories should include all three),
the cognitivists mentionedabove are primarilyconcernedto advance
our understandingof the structureof ritual,whereastheoristsfocusing
on ritualas embodiedpowernegotiationsare primarilyconcernedwith
what I have ratherunmelodiously called socio-ritual studies. Before
getting too immersedin theory it would be best to turnto a historical
ritualthatwill be particularlyilluminatingin showingthe strengthsand
weaknesses of varioustypes of ritualtheory.
5 Structuralismis one model of what I call the structuralcomponentof ritual,but
othermodels arepossible. Laterin this paperI will try to show some of the advantages
of a cognitive model in analyzingthe structureof ritual.
124
Theodore M. Vial
III. Level 1 (Historical Account): Ritual Change in Nineteenth

Century Zurich
I take as an example a debate over how to baptize infants that
occurred in Zurich in the nineteenth century. Preparations for this
ceremony began with the birth of the child.6 The father of the child
fetched the midwife, who was an employee of the state paid out of
church funds. Along with the birthing stool the midwife brought with
her a baptism dress for the infant. The father, dressed in his "Sunday
best," went to the manse to announce, in a set and memorized formula,
the upcoming baptism to the minister. The father then went door to
door inviting friends and relatives to the celebratory meal to be held at
home following the baptism.
The baptism itself was part of the regular worship service. On the
day of baptism the child was dressed in white, often with a piece of
the mother's wedding veil adorning its face, and placed on a cushion
with a cover to hold the child in place. The midwife brought the child
to the church in a procession through the main streets of the town. The
mother took no part in the baptism, staying in the house until after the
ceremony.7
At the church, following the sermon, the minister and godparents
approached the stone baptismal font which, in those church buildings
in Zurich that predated the Reformation, had been installed during the
course of the Reformation in place of the altar. While the midwife
6 My account of baptism in Zurichrelies on ErikaWelti, Taufbrducheim Kanton
Zurich: Eine Studie iiber ihre Entwicklungbei Angehorigen der Landeskircheseit
der Reformation(Zurich:Gotthelf-Verlag,1967). This monograph,which chronicles
changes over time in the baptism ceremony, the place and time of baptism, clothes
worn by participantsand food served at the celebratorymeal following the baptism
service, who was chosen as godparents,popularnames chosen with which to christen
children,etc., providesthe historicallevel of informationneeded for a full analysisof
baptismin Zurich.
7 There is an obvious opening here for a feminist analysis of this ceremony,
an analysis I would classify as part of the third aspect (socio-ritual studies) in my
taxonomy. Welti also cites pragmatichealth concerns and issues of ritual purity in
explainingthis custom.
125
fetched the baby from the manse, the sexton went for water to pour
into the font. Following the baptismthis water would be dumped on
the groundin frontof the congregation,in an effortto preventmembers
of the churchfrom making 'superstitious'use of it.
The Zurich liturgy for the baptism ceremony was as follows: (1)
The ministermade a brief prayer,statedthat baptismadmitsthe child
to the community of Jesus Christ,and read the biblical texts used to
supportthe practice of infant baptism (Matt. 28:18-20, Mark 10:1416). (2) The congregationrecited the Apostles' Creed, "upon which
the child is baptized and in which it should be instructed."8(3) The
ministerprayed that the child would have faith, and that the baptism
would occur inwardlythroughthe Holy Spirit. (4) The ministerasked
blessings on the child. (5) The ministercharged the godparentswith
their responsibility to ensure the child's Christian upbringing, and
questionedthem on their willingness to do so. (6) The ministerasked
if it was the godparents'intentionthatthis child be baptized,and if so,
to give the child its name.(7) While eitherthe ministeror the godfather
81 believe in one God, the almightyFather,the creatorof heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ,his only begotten son, our Lord.
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born from the virgin Mary.
Who sufferedunderPontiusPilate, was crucified,died and was buried,and
descended into hell.
[Who] on the thirdday rose again from the dead.
[Who] ascendedinto heaven,where he sits on the right hand of God, the
almightyFather.
Fromthence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost.
[I believe] in one holy, universal,Christianchurch,which is the congregationof
saints.
[I believe in] forgivenessof sins.
Resurrectionof the body.
And an eternallife. Amen.
Translatedfrom Liturgiefir die evangelisch-reformirteKirche des Kantons Zirich.
Vonder Synodeangenommenam 28. Oktober1868. Bound togetherwith Gesangbuch
fir die evangelisch-reformirteKirchedes CantonsZirich (Zurich:Ziircherund Furrer,
1853).
126
TheodoreM. Vial
heldthechildface downoverthefont,theministerpouredwaterfrom
thefontoverthebackof its headandsaid,"Ibaptizeyou in thename
of the Father,the Son, andthe Holy Spirit."(8) The ministerblessed
as a whole.
thechild,andthecongregation
The child was thenhandedto the midwife,who returnedwith it
to the housealong the sameroutethatthe processionto the church
had taken.The men oftenmet for a drink,andthenthe godparents,
midwife,family,andfriendsmetat thehousefora festivemeal.
In the latterthirdof the nineteenthcenturythis baptismceremony
founditself at the centerof a heatedpoliticalandreligiousdebate.9
The Zurichlegislature,in 1864, asked the ZurichSynod to revise
the liturgy.The governmenthad a decided political agenda,and
had for severalyearsbeen undertaking
sweepingreforms,including
the
that
had
ruledZurichsincethe 1330s
replacing patricianoligarchy
with a representative
democracy,replacingthe guild systemwith a
freemarketeconomy,andinstitutinga systemof universaleducation
of thechurch.Itwasan"opensecret"thatthegovernment,
independent
in seekinga revision,in factwanteda "freer"liturgy"morein linewith
theneedsandviewsof thepresent."10
The Synod immediatelysplit into two camps over the government'srequest.Thespecificissuethatdividedthemwastheuse of the
Apostles'Creed.A conservativefactionarguedthatthe baptismceremonyoughtnot to be altered,while a liberalfactionarguedthatthe
Creedshouldbe removedfromthe baptismceremony.The conservativesarguedfromhistoricalcontinuity:the Creedhadbeenusedsince
andfromtheology:the Creed,as the correct
Zwingli'sReformation;
of
was the foundationof the churchinto
interpretation Christianity,
9 An excellent accountof this debatecan be found in G. Schmid, "Die Aufhebung
der Verpflichtungauf das Apostolikumin der zurcherischenKirche,"in Festschriftfiir
LudwigK6hlerzu dessen 70. Geburtstag(Bern:Biichler & Co. for the Schweizerische
Theologische Umschau, 1950): 83-92.
10H[einrich]Lang, "Die Herbstsynodein Zurich,"Zeitstimmenaus der reformirten
Kircheder Schweiz 6 (1864), 375.
The Body and Cognitionin a Debate OverBaptism
127
whichthe childwas beingbaptized."I

The liberalsarguedfromconscience:theycouldnot,in goodconscience,use a creedthatcommitted
themto belief in the immaculate
conception,Jesus'descentintohell,
his physicalascentintoheaven,andtheresurrection
of thebody.'2
The debatelastedfour years,and was foughtout in theological
journalsand the popularpress as well as in synod meetings.At
severalpointsthe debatethreatenedto split the churchin two. The
liturgydebatehad far reachingconsequences.Because the Zurich
churchwas a state church,baptismservedas a civic as well as a
religiousrite of initiation.It was requiredfor marriage,the military
usedbaptismrecordsforconscription,
socialservicesweredistributed
throughministersto the citizens listed in each church'sbaptism
records-in short,baptismwas requiredfor full citizenship.It thus
affectedeverycitizenof Zurich,whetheror not theywereconcerned
withpoliticalortheologicalissues.
Afteran abortedattemptto formulatea compromisebaptismceremony,in 1868the Synodadopteda liturgythatincludedtwo baptism
ceremonies,one withtheApostles'Creedandonewithout.Thechoice
of whichceremonyto use was left to eachministerandhis congregation.
IV Level Three(Socio-RitualStudies):Baptismas a StrategicArena
for the Embodimentof PowerRelations
The most fully workedout theoryof ritualas embodiedpower

negotiationis CatherineBell's. Whathelp, then,can she offerus in
1 A correspondentfor the Evangelisches Wochenblatt,the conservative organ,
wrote, "where faith in the personality of God is placed in question, where the
divine essence and dignity of the Son is challenged, his resurrection,his ascension,
his coming again at judgment denied, eternal existence rejected-that is not a
theological orientation,that is unfaith, that is anti-Christianity,there is lacking the
primaryrequisites for a revision of a liturgy of a churchthat still stands on the rock
foundationsof God's word.""Die Revision derziircherischenLiturgie,"Evangelisches
Wochenblatt5 (1864), 149.
12
Lang, "Die Herbstsynodein Zurich,"379.
128
TheodoreM. Vial
analyzingthe changein the baptismceremonyin nineteenthcentury

Zurich?
Bell begins with a critiqueof influentialtheoriesof ritual.She
arguesthatmany theoreticalapproachesto ritualemploya circular
Thatis, they projectan assumed,a prioridichotomy
argumentation.
ontothe objectof theoreticalanalysis.Approaches
of thought/action
as diverseas those thatsee in rituala meansof social control,and
thosethatsee ritualas an expressionof some conceptualschemeor
worldview,all beginwitha dichotomyof thoughtandaction.But,Bell
First,theoristsinevitably
argues,thisdichotomyseemsinappropriate:
windup showinghow ritualreintegrates
the verythoughtandaction
that they themselvessplit apart(e.g., VictorTurner'scommunitas,
or CliffordGeertz's"fusion"of ethosandworldview). Second,this
dichotomymanifestsan unexaminedvaluation(actingis what"they"
do, thinkingandtheorizingis what"we"do).13
Bell arguesthatwe canbreakoutof thisviciouscircleby re-placing
ritualon the gridof all humanactionor practice.Whatis ritualused
for,andhowdoesit accomplishthiswork?Shefocuseson strategiesof
ritualization
thatserveto distinguishritualpracticefromotherkindsof
thatothershave
fixity,andrepetitiveness
practice.The formalization,
seen as the definingessence of ritualBell sees as commonbut not
activitiesfor setting
strictlynecessarystrategiesavailableto ritulalized
themselvesoff frommorequotidianactivities,therebygivingthema
certainprestigeandauthority.
Wecanthenexaminetheuses to which
thisauthorityis put.
Bell maintains,produce(1) apparently
Strategiesof ritualization,
fundamental
cerup/down,within/without),
oppositions(male/female,
tainof whichcome to dominateothers,and(2) ritlalizjedagents.Becausetheoppositionsareconstructed
throughphysicalmovement,the
of
certain
both
privileging
oppositions constructsanenvironment
(spa13In additionto Ritual
Theory,Ritual Practice, see CatherineBell, "Discourseand
Dichotomies: The Structureof Ritual Theory,"Religion 17 (April 1987): 98-118. I
have reviewedRitual Theory,RitualPractice for TheJournalof Religion (April 1993):
289-91.
129
andimpressesthisenvironment
on thebodiesof
tiallyandtemporally)
participants.
Bell takesas an examplethe RomanCatholicMass.14She asserts
thatin the courseof the Masscertainoppositionsareprivileged(the
inner/outer
andingestingthe elements)and
oppositionof distributing
"quietly"come to dominateotheroppositions(the higher/lowerof
raisingthehost,kneeling,etc.).
Bell findssupportin Bourdieufor the view thatbinaryoppositions
arethefundamental
buildingblocksof ritual:
[T]he countless oppositionsobservedin every areaof existence can all be brought
down to a small numberof couples which appearas fundamental....And almost
all proveto be based on movementsor posturesof the humanbody, such as going
up and coming down (or going forwardsand going backwards),going to the left
and going to the right, going in and coming out (or filling and emptying), sitting
and standing(etc.).15
ForBell, then,ritualizedmovementbuiltout of theseoppositions

createsritualizedagents,andconstructsa physicalenvironment
that
comesto be takenfor grantedas thewaythingsare.Ritualizedagents
wieldtheseactionssometimesin accordwith,sometimesin opposition
to, otherritualizedagents,andin so doingnegotiatethe construction
of theirenvironment.
Sucha view is immenselyhelpfulin ourunderstanding
of whatis
at stakein the debateaboutbaptismin Zurich.Why did the Zurich
concernthemselveswithinfantbaptismby instigatingthe
government
ritualchange,andwhy didthe Synodandcitizensof Zurichfightso
overtheproposedchange?
passionately
I havearguedelsewherethata certainview of historylies beneath
the variousreformspushedthroughby the liberalgovernmentin
14This example is fleshed out slightly, but not much, in Bell's article, "Ritual,
Change,and ChangingRituals,"Worship63 (January1989): 31-41.
15Bourdieu, 118-19.
130
TheodoreM. Vial
Zurich.16
In institutinga representative
democracyoveran oligarchy,
in erectinga free marketeconomy in which everyoneis free to
buy and sell goods andlaboron an open marketand dismantlinga
tightlycontrolledguildsystem,andin creatinga systemof universal
educationto giveallcitizensthetoolsto makeuseof theirnewpolitical
andeconomicpower,theZurichgovernment
to locatepower
attempted
morebroadly,less hierarchically.
In otherwords,history'sdynamics
for themwere locatedin individualsqua humanbeings,ratherthan
in "greatmen" or privilegedsocial classes. All individualswere
significanthistoricalagents,and the Zurichgovernmenttook steps
to see that,as such,all individualshad an opportunity
to participate
equallyin thepoliticalandeconomiclife of Zurich.17
If Bell is rightthatritualizedactionconstructsan environment
that
comes to be takenfor grantedas the way thingsare, andimpresses
thisenvironment
on theverybodiesof ritualizedagents,thenthegovernmentwas quitesavvyin instigatinga changein a ritualthatwould
affecteverycitizenof Zurich.Bell arguesthattheritualenvironment
is
a negotiatedone,notunderthecontrolof anyonepowerstructure.
But
if an environment
couldbe rituallyconstructedthatwas in harmony
with the view thathistory'sdynamicswerelocatedin an egalitarian
ratherthanin a hierarchical
controversial
way,thenthe government's
more
to
return
to
agendamightgarnish
support.Thus,
mytaxonomyof
ritualstudies,at the thirdlevel of ritualanalysis,socio-ritualstudies,
Bell has madea significantcontribution
to ourunderstanding
of the
ritualchangein Zurich.
A problem,however,immediatelyarises.Bell's theorycannotaccountfor theritualchangein Zurich.Noneof thechangesin thebaptismceremonyaffectedthe"strategies
of ritualization"
shefocuseson.
16See TheodoreM. Vial, "A.E.Biedermann's
FilialChristologyin Its Political
Context,"ZeitschriftfiirNeuere Theologiegeschichte/Journal
for the History of Modem Theology3 (1996): 203-24.
17Whileit lays beyondthe scopeof this article,it is importantto noteherethe

factthatdespitetheliberaltheorythathumansby naturearerational,womendidnot
receivethefranchisein Zurichuntilthe 1970s.
131
The procession to the church remained the same, the child was still
handedfrom (female) midwife to (male) ministerandback to (female)
midwife, waterwas still pouredover the back of the child's head, etc.
What changed was the words spoken duringthe ceremony.Do we or
do we not utterthe Apostles' Creed as part of the baptismceremony?
One problemstems from Bell's (and Bourdieu's)model of action.The
binaryoppositionsthey rely on to analyze the structureof ritualdo not
takeaccountof speech acts.18Clearlythe change was significantto the
ritualparticipantsin Zurich,but focusing on binaryoppositionsleaves
this change off the map. While I think Bell makes the right move in
re-placingritualizedacts on the grid of all humanaction, we need an
approachthatcan place all ritualizedacts on this grid,includingspeech
acts.
A second problem arises with Bell's use of binary oppositions,
this one related to her example of the Catholic Mass. This is not
a point I would want to push too far, but it does seem that her
analysis of the Mass is driven by a particulartheological view. On
what basis does she claim that it is the inner/outeroppositionsthat in
the end dominatethe up/downoppositions?I suspect thatthis claim is
motivatedby a desire to have the Mass constructan egalitarianrather
than a hierarchicalenvironment.But is there any evidence that this
is, in fact, the negotiatedenvironmentbeing constructed,or that such
an environmenthas been impressed on the corporateand individual
bodies of the Catholicchurchduringthe long historyof the Mass?
The root of these problemsis a flawed concept of humanaction. If
we asked the priest or minister what he is doing, the answer surely
would not be "raising and lowering," or "pouring from higher to
lower."They areof coursealso doing that,buttheiractionis to bless the
18JonathanZ. Smith
argues that "in the case of man, speech and action are given
is
Neither
prior,in fact or in thought."While the influencesof Smithon Bell's
together.
work are clear, in privileging non-verbal acts over speech, ratherthan "perceiving
action and speech... as being coeval modes of human cognition,"Bell's theory may
contributeto the "mischief"done by one-sided theories. See JonathanZ. Smith, "The
Domestication of Sacrifice,"chap. in Violent Origins: Ritual Killing and Cultural
Formation(Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress, 1987): 191-92.
132
TheodoreM. Vial
elementsorto baptizeaninfant.Whatis at stakeis oursenseof whatit

meansto be a humanagent.Thereis a differenceto the performer
of the action betweenkneelingand catchingher or himself from
stumbling,orbetweenreceivingthehostandeatingbread,evenif these
actionslook identicalto an observer.The use of binaryoppositions
separatesthe intentionalaspectof a humanact fromthe "external"
physicalmovements.In a sense,by separatingthe ritualparticipant's
to anobserver,whothen
actfromtheups/downsandins/outsapparent
assertsthatsome of theseoppositionshavecome to dominateothers,
Bell hasironicallylet thethought/action
dichotomyshe so insightfully
criticizedin othertheoriesof ritualin againthroughthebackdoor.
V Ritual as DirectedAction
I have arguedthat Bell makes a significantcontributionto our

of ritualat the level of powerand its negotiationin
understanding
but
society, that,at the level of structureBell's theoryof ritualized
I haveclaimedthatthisis primarily
because
actionsfallsshort.Further,
herrelianceon binaryoppositionsexposesan inadequateconceptof
humanagency.
Whatis it thatdistinguishes
a humanactfromall the othervarious
theagent'sintention
eventsin theworld?Bell,in a sense,hasseparated
in performing
anactfromtheactitself.Butin understanding
ourselves
as agents,and in interactingwith othersin the world,we couldnot
functionwithoutbeing able to distinguishacts fromthingsthatjust
happen.Whatseparatesa ticfroma handsignal,howdo we distinguish
an act
drivingawayin a carfromstealinga car?19Whatdistinguishes
froma mereoccurrence
is theagent'sintention.
19The latter
example is taken from Caroline Humphreyand James Laidlaw, The
Actions
Archetypal
of Ritual:A Theoryof RitualIllustratedby theJain Rite of Worship
Clarendon
Press, 1994), 95. Humphreyand Laidlaw also argue that human
(Oxford:
action is directed.For Humphreyand Laidlaw the relationbetween intentionand act
differs in ritual acts from other every day acts in that a ritual act is stipulatedrather
thanbeing the agent's own creation.Nonetheless, what makes it an act is the agent's
intentionto performthat ritualact.
133
CharlesTayloris perhapsthe foremostrecentadvocateof a model

as somehow"inhabited"
of humanactionthatseesactionas "directed,"
by intention.Taylordistinguishestwo "families"of answersto the
of intentionto action?Bothsets of
question,Whatis therelationship
answersdistinguishhumanactionfromothereventsin the worldby
meansof intention.But eachrelatesintentionto actionin a different
way.20
One set of answers,which Taylorcalls the "Cartesian"

family,
distinguishesactionsfrom other events by the causes of actions.
Actionsarecausedby intentions,andcanbe explainedby intentions.
Thiskindof answerseparatesinnerandoutereventandexplainsthe
latterby meansof the former.One firstintendsto do something,and
thenoneenactsthatintention.
A secondmodelof humanaction,whichTaylorcalls "qualitative"
This
or directed,sees actionandpurposeas ontologicallyinseparable.
modelrejectsthe dualismof the Cartesianmodel, arguingthatthe
embodied.21
Actioncannotbe explained
humansubjectis inescapably
by means of an intentionthat is prior.Action and intentionare
andit makesjustas muchsenseto explainanintentionin
inseparable,
termsof actionas it doesto explainactionin termsof intention.Clearly
whenI actit is sometimes(butnot always)thecasethatI intendto do
something,andthenI do it. Buttheintentionstillinheresin theaction.
Forexample,if I intendto signalsomeoneby meansof a wink,and
thendo it, thatintentionis not separatefromtheactof winking.What
makesthewinka winkinsteadof a tic is my intentionto signal.
20Charles Taylor, "Hegel's Philosophy of Mind," chap. in Human Agency and
Language: Philosophical Papers vol. 1 (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press,
1985), 78.
21 Taylor, 85. This model is called qualitative because it sees human acts as
qualitatively different than other events in the world, rather than seeing them as
equivalent to other events in the world except that their cause is some desire or
intention.
134
TheodoreM. Vial
RobertSchumann,when once askedto explaina difficult6tude,

respondedby playingit a secondtime.22While one can obviously
response
tryto interpreta piece of musicone has heard,Schumann's
seemsto indicatea beliefthatif one separatesthemusician'sintention
of music,if one conceivesof musicas a
fromthe"act"orperformance
then
that
message
getsencoded,onehasalreadyprecludedthechance
of trueunderstanding.
Themodelof humanagencyas directedhasa noblepedigree.Taylor
I thinktheview
arguesthatthisnotionis centralto Hegel'sthought.23
famous
of humanactsas directedis also entailedby Schleiermacher's
secondspeechto religion'scultureddespisersin whichhe arguesthat
in additionto thinkinganddoing,feelingis the thirdhumancapacity
thatgroundstheothertwo andgivesthemunity.24
This directedview of agencyoffers severaladvantagesover the
Cartesianmodel.As Taylorpointsout, the basic intuitiondescribed
it clearly
by thequalitativemodelis not hardto grasp,butarticulating
achieved
this
is
best
is difficult.25
by demonstrating
Perhaps clarity
the benefitsof the qualitativemodelwhenanalyzingritualizedaction.
Thereis somethingodd about analyzinga ritualin terms of ups
themselvesthinkof
and downs,ins and outs, when the participants
themselvesas blessing,receiving,andbaptizing.And thatis because
whattheythinktheyaredoingconstitutespartof theactitself- their
in theact.Bellis rightthatstrategiesof ritualization
intention"inheres"
separateritualactssuchas baptismfromeverydayactssuchas rinsing
22Thisincidentis recountedin GeorgeSteiner,RealPresences(Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress,1989),20.
23
TaylorarguesthatHegel standsin a movementrootedin Leibnizand,most
notably,in Kant'sconceptionof theaestheticobjectin the ThirdCritique,andagainst
dualism,80.
Enlightenment
to this divisionand lost con24"[E]venthoughyou have not quitesurrendered
sciousnessof yourlife as a unity,thereremainsnothingbuttheknowledgethatthey
relationof
fromthefundamental
wereoriginallyone,thattheyissuedsimultaneously
your nature."FriedrichSchleiermacher,OnReligion: Speeches to Its CulturedDespis-
ers,3rd.ed., trans.by JohnOman(NewYork:Harper& Row,1958),44.

25
Taylor,78.
135
a child'shair.Yet by removingintentionfromher analysisof ritual

action,she is unableto say whatthedistinctionsymbolizes.
The first advantageof the qualitativemodel is that it fits our
experienceof our own "agent'sknowledge"betterthandoes Bell's
view of action as binaryoppositions,or the Cartesianview that
separatesintentionandaction.On the Cartesianmodel,I as an agent
am immediately,incorrigiblyawareof my intentor desire. "I am
or immediatelyawareof the contentsof my mind."26
transparently
But our experienceas agentsis different.I can act angrilybefore
I becomeconsciousthatI am, in fact, angry.The qualitativemodel
allowsfor thiscommonexperience."Asagents,we will alreadyhave
some sense,howeverdim, inarticulate,
or subliminalof whatwe are
doing;otherwise,we couldnot speakof directingat all."27It is often
thecase thatI only slowlycometo a full awarenessof my intentions,
thatonlylatercanI articulate
thegoalof my action.Onthequalitative
modelactionis not explainedby some otherpriorphenomenon(my
intentionor desire),ratherthe actionis itself the basicphenomenon,
theimmediatedatum.
Ritualactionis oftenover-determined,
andagentsmaynot be fully
awareof all theirintentions.Theparticipants
in theZurichdebate,for
example,may havebeen awareof theologicalmotivesfor a revised
with certainarticlesin the
baptismceremony:"I am uncomfortable
Apostles'Creed,and so do not wantto utterthemin the contextof
Buttheymayhavebeenonlydimly
baptismforreasonsof conscience."
awareof othermotives:"Ilike the statusquo,""Iwantto gainpower
overmy theologicalopponentsby alteringan important
ceremony,"28
26Taylor,81.
27Taylor,80.
28DavidParkin
arguesthatritualis inherentlya matterof contesting,thatis, that
organizeritualspaceas a way of settingthemselvesoveragainstother
participants
This
groups.
clearlyis an aspectof the Zurichliturgydebate,althoughParkinsees
the use madeof ritualto "position"
oneselfin oppositionto othersfartoo literally.
Thespatialrelationsof a baptismceremonyin Zurichremainedthe same,thoughthe
conservativeand liberalcampsin the Synodundoubtedly
themselves
"positioned"
each
other
or
not
the
See
David
Creed.
Parkin,
by using
Apostles'
against
using
136
TheodoreM. Vial
or "I want a ceremonythatbetterfits my liberalview of history's

Ortheymayhaveonly been awareof a desireto baptize,
dynamics."
andnotbeenfullyconsciousof theimplicationsof baptizingone way
ratherthananother.29
Directedactionalso seemsto capturethe way in whichactshave
meaningbetterthanthe Cartesianmodel.I do not decideto express
anger,and then do so by meansof raisingmy voice, nor does the
churchdecide to baptize,and then agree on the pouringof water
andthe Trinitarian
formulaas a meansto this end.As Taylorwrites,
expressionis not a publicclue to an innerstate in the way that a
barometeris a clue to the weather.To be angryor to baptize is to
raiseone'svoiceor to uttertheproperformulawhilepouringwater.30
thismodelof humanagencywill allowus to incorpoFurthermore,
ratespeechactsintoouranalysis.If intentionis separated
fromphysical movementin actions,andattentionis thenfocusedon thephysical
action,speechactswill dropoff the mapof ouranalysis.Thephysical
movementsinvolvedin speechdo not breakdowneasily intobinary
oppositionsof the kindemployedby Bell. And yet this is counterintuitive,for speechclearlyplays a majorrole in manyrituals.The
ritualchangein Zurichcannotbe analyzedwithouttakingaccountof
speechacts,andthisshouldtipus off to thefactthatthebaptism,both
beforeandafterrevision,cannotbe explainedfully withoutconsidering speechacts.
Methodsfor analyzingspeech acts are readilyat hand,and in
fact they takeaccountof intentionin a mannerstrikinglysimilarto
Taylor'smodel of directedaction.We have learnedto distinguish
the locutionaryaspectof a speechact (the soundsuttered)fromthe
"Ritualas SpatialDirectionandBodilyDivision,"chap.in Understanding
Rituals,
ed. Danielde Coppet(London:Routledge,1992):11-25.
29The level of intentionI am
arguingfor in ritualizedactions,as in all human
of all rituals,regardlessof whethera ritual
actions,is necessaryin theperformance
hasbecomecontentiousora ritualchangeis beinginstituted.
30Taylor,91.
137
forceof a speechact.31Imaginethatwe arewalkingby a

illocutionary
baseballdiamondandyouyell "Duck!"atme.If I wereto askyouwhat
you weredoing,yourresponsewouldnot be thatyou wereutteringa
specificstringof phonemes(thespeechact'slocution),butratherthat
force).I couldnot
youweregivinga warning(youract'sillocutionary
functionas a humanagentwereI unableto distinguishthe intention
thatmakesthis act a warning.In otherwords,just as I can (andmust)
distinguishdrivingawayin a car from stealinga car, or a tic from
a handsignal,basedon the intentionof the actor,so I can andmust
distinguishthe intentionthatmakesyourutterancean act of warning
fromotherintentionsthatcouldmaketheidenticalstringof phonemes
a completelydifferentspeechact (imaginethe same utterance,but
now we arebirdwatching).In speechacts illocutionis centralto the
meaningof the act. Illocutionis closely relatedto the intentionwith
which one uttersspeech.In otherwords,it plays the same role in
analyzingspeechactsas directedactionplaysin analyzingall acts.
Thequalitative
modelof humanactionseemsto be a moreaccurate
modelof ourownexperienceas agents,andit offersseveraladvantages
overthe modelpresumedby Bell's binaryoppositionsin the analysis
of ritual.It moreaccuratelyreflectsthe fact thatritualagentsarenot
necessarilyfully awareof theirown intentions.It capturesthe way
in which humanactionsseem to be endowedwith meaningmore
accurately.And it allows us to place speech acts on our grid of
ritualizedactions.Theseparation
of intentionandactimpliedby a use
of binaryoppositionsrenderssuchoppositionsan inadequatetool of
ritualanalysis.If binaryoppositionsareinadequate,
thenhow arewe
to understand
the structure
of ritual?I believethatthisis preciselythe
of
to ritual.
strongsuit thecognitiveapproach
31 The locus classicus for this distinction is J.L. Austin's How to Do
Things
with Words,edited by J.O. Urmson and Marina Sbisa, 2d ed. (Cambridge,Mass.:
HarvardUniversityPress, 1962). HumphreyandLaidlawpoint out the correspondence
of illocutionaryforce and intentionsinhering in non-verbal acts in The Archetypal
Actions of Ritual, 91-92.
138
TheodoreM. Vial
VI.Level Two(Structure):A "Cognitive"Approachto Baptism
If the "embodiednegotiationof powerrelations"approachto ritual

exemplifiedaboveby the work of CatherineBell offers significant
advancesat thethirdlevelof ritualanalysis("socio-ritual
studies")but
is basedon an inadequatestructural
analysisat the secondlevel, the
converseis trueof the cognitiveapproach.Cognitiviststendto focus
on thestructure
of ritualactsto theexclusionof discussionsaboutthe
usesparticipants
makeof ritualto setthemselvesoff fromone another,
to enhancetheirsocialprestige,to constructritualizedenvironments,
etc.
Thereis generalagreementthatthemostfruitfulapplication
of cognitivetheoryto any of the humanscienceshas beenthe Chomskyan
revolutionin linguistics.Chomsky'sapproach
is calledgengenerative
erativebecausehe describesthe capacityto produceandunderstand
sentencesby meansof a relativelyshortlist of rules.Applicationof
theserulesis saidto "generate"
propersentences.Amongthegrowing
numberof scholarsof religionwho takea cognitivistapproachthere
havebeenonlytwofull-fledgedtheoreticaltreatments
of ritualalonga
model:thatof FritsStaalandthatof E. ThomasLawsonand
generative
RobertMcCauley.WhileStaalworksat the level of the arrangement
of wholeritualsin a largerritualstructure
(thetwelvedayAgnicayana
ritual),LawsonandMcCauleyworkat a finergrain:the structureof
individualritualacts.It is to theirwork,then,thatI turnto see what
a cognitiveapproachto structure
canteachus aboutthebaptismcerein
Zurich.
mony
LawsonandMcCauleypresenttheirtheoryat threelevels. First,
they defendthe generalapproach,called the competenceapproach,
thatthey use. Second,they offera set of rulesthat"generate"
ritual
acts.Finally,theyputforwardseveralhypothesesthatresultfromtheir
andthatareempiricallytestable.
approach
First,the competenceapproach.It is not controversialto assert
thatritualdependson rules.GilbertLewis, for example,arguesthat
for somethingto be a ritualtheremustbe explicitrulesto guidethe
139
ButLawsonandMcCauleywantto describenotexplicitrules
action.32
thatgovernspecificacts,buttheimplicitrulesthatgoverntheserules.
In otherwords,theyfocuson ritualcompetence.
fromthe linguistic
Chomskydistinguishedlanguageperformance
of
that
made
such
possible.Speakcompetence speakers
performance
ers who may not be able to formulatea singleexplicitruleof gramcorrectsenmarcannonethelessproduceandrecognizegrammatically
tences in theirnativedialect.A similardistinctionbetweenperformanceandcompetencecanbe madein ritual.J.L.Austingivesseveral
examplesof whatwe mightclassifyas ritualcompetence.Forinstance,
to utterthe phrase"I do"in the contextof a Christianmarriagenorof a validritualact.Butundercertain
mallycountsas theperformance
circumstances
we mightsay thatthis ritualfails (in Austin'sterms,
thatit is "infelicitous.")
If, for example,the speakerof the phraseis
alreadymarried,witha wife living andundivorced,we wouldreject
in a weddingmay
this as a validweddingritual.33
Manyparticipants
not be ableto stateexplicitlythatjust sucha ruleaboutmarriageexists, andyet anyonefamiliarwith the mostcommonformsof Christianmarriagewouldmakethisjudgment.Theclimaxof JaneEyre,for
example,dependson just sucha notionof ritualcompetence.When
the solicitorMr.Briggsinterrupts
theweddingceremonyof JaneEyre
andMr.Rochesterto announcethatMr.Rochesteralreadyhasa living
wife whomhe neverdivorced,the readeras well as the characters
in
the novelknowinstinctivelythatthe weddingcannotgo off. Thevery
thatritualis sucha rulegovernedactivity
strongsenseof participants
makesritualacts a strongcandidatefor a competenceapproachthat
focuseson suchintuitionsof participants.
32 Gilbert Lewis,
Day of Shining Red: An Essay on UnderstandingRitual (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1980), 11. Humphreyand Laidlaw, 153, point
out thatexplicitness may not be necessary.The "ritualcommitment"requiresnot that
all the participantsin a ritualknow the rules governingtheir acts, but simply thatthey
be convinced that such rules exist, and could somehow be consultedif necessary.
33 Austin, 8-9, 14.
140
TheodoreM. Vial
therangeof datato be explainedto ritualcompetence,

By narrowing
LawsonandMcCauleydelimitanareathatis amenableto explanation
andempiricalverification.
Thisnarrowing
is theirfundamental
move.
It is, however,controversial,
becausethey prescindfrom discussing
any outsidereferencefor ritual.It is preciselythe desireto analyze
ritualas referringto somethingoutsideitself thatLawsonand McCauleycriticizein othertheorists.Theoriesthatsee ritualas a means
of communication,
they argue,overlookthe fact that "theinformation communicated
withinritualsystemsonly incidentallyconcerns
theworld."34
in treatingreligionas roughlyanalogous
Intellectualists,
to scientificattemptsto explaintheworld,"obscuremanyof its importantfeatures,"includingthe "underlying
coherenceof ritualsystems
andthe diversefunctionsof myth."35
Symbolistscannotofferanyexplicitprinciplesfor "decoding"
symbols,for showinghow the system
of symbolsrefersto psychologicalor socialsystemstheysupposedly
LawsonandMcCauleyconcludethatthe only plausible
represent.36
referencefor religioussystemsis self-reference.37
Theirclaimabout
for
that him"symbolsystemssignify... only thehuman
Levi-Strauss,
mindwhichproducesthem,"couldjust as easilybe madeabouttheir
work.38
Second,havingdefendeda competenceapproachto ritualin general,LawsonandMcCauleythendescriberitualcompetenceby means

of a set of generativerules.Theyinvestigatecompetenceas opposed
to performance
by positinganidealizedritualagent.Thisallowsthem
to describethe "robustintuitions"thatallowall ritualparticipants
to
judgethe "felicity"of ritualactsin theirculture.Theythenformulate
34 LawsonandMcCauley,55. Specificallythey criticizeBenjaminRay andEdmund
Leach.
35 Lawson and
McCauley,37. Lawson and McCauley discuss John Skorupskiand
Robin Hortonin particular.
36 Lawson and McCauley,38, 39. Victor Turnerand Dan Sperberare their targets
here.
37 Lawson and McCauley,148.
38 Lawson and
McCauley,147.
141
a set of rules that describesthe way such an idealized agent represents

actionsto her or himself.
Linguistsdescribethe structureof the basic unit of communicationa sentence-by means of "rewriting"rules: sentencescan be rewritten
as Noun and Verb Phrase;Verb Phrase can be rewrittenas Verb and
Noun (Object);etc. The way these componentsare organizedcan be
describedby a relatively small numberof such rules. These rules describe the intuitiveknowledge that makes a native speakercompetent
to produce and recognize correct sentences that she or he has never
before encountered.
The basic unit of humanaction is not a sentencebut an act.39An act
can be brokendown ("rewritten")as an Agent, an Action, and (in many
cases) an Object.So far Lawson and McCauleyhave only managedto
formalizewhat is surely common sense. But their rules bring several
importantissues to the foreground.They claim that religious ritual is
distinguishedfrom other humanactivity because at some point in the
act a superhumanagent will play a role. Thus, the list ("lexicon")of
possible agents and actions that fill the structuralslots in a religious
ritual is larger than the "lexicon" for everyday activity because it
includes special agents, actions, and objects, as well as everydayones.
Further,theirrules give a rigorousway to include additionalinformationabout the componentsof an act. For example, not just anyone
could baptize in the Reformedchurch in Zurich,but only a minister.
When a member of the Reformed church representedto her or himself the act "Ministerbaptizeschild,"includedin this representationis
the fact that the ministerhad a special quality.He was ordained.This
is precisely the kind of informationthat is left out of a ritual analysis
using Bell's binaryoppositions.
In otherwords,Lawsonand McCauley'ssystem of describingritual
structureallows for the embedding of previous rituals. Why could a
ministerbaptize?Because he was ordained.Why was this ordination
valid?Because it in turnhad been performedby an ordainedminister.
39 Let me point out here that,withouta notion of intention,it is impossible to break
down the unbrokenstreamof activitiesthat constitutesour life into individualacts.
142
TheodoreM. Vial
This sets up a regressof embeddedrituals.But the regressis not

in theReformedrepresentation,
infinite.Eventually,
embeddedin each
of baptismis theinstitution
celebration
of thechurchby Jesus.Thisact
a
is
the
act
that
by superhuman
agent
ultimatelymakesthe ministera
legitimatecelebratorof baptism.40
In the end,then,theliturgydebatein Zurichwas aboutchristology.
By virtueof whatqualitywasJesusa legitimateritualagentembedded
in thebaptismceremony?Fortheconservatives,
onlyanimmaculately
conceivedJesuswho descendedintohell, thenascendedinto heaven,
and was bodily resurrectedcould send out his chosen followersto
"makedisciplesof allnations,baptizingthemin thenameof theFather
andof the Son andof the Holy Spirit."41
To posita less supernatural
agentat the base of the chainof ritualsembeddedin baptismwould
be to posit an illegitimateritualagentand thus renderthe baptism
Fortheliberalstheoppositewas thecase.
infelicitous,ungrammatical.
For them such a supernatural
Jesus existed outsideof history,and
thereforecouldnot existat all. Topositan impossibleor non-existent
ritualagentatthebaseof thebaptismceremonywouldrenderit invalid.
It wouldbe equivalentto saying"I do"with the full knowledgethat
one alreadyhas an insanespouselockedup in the attic.We neednot
digressinto the liberals'christologyhere,butsufficeit to say thatfor
themit was Jesus'intenseawarenessthathe, like all humans,was a
finiteconcretemomentin the processof infinitespiritthatso affected
his followersthattheygatheredaroundhim andfoundedthe church.
The liberalsfirmlyplacedJesusin historywith everyoneelse, and
so, one might say, they locatedreligiouspowermore broadly,less
hierarchically.42
40LawsonandMcCauleyarguethatone of the characteristics
thatdistinguishes
ritual
from
other
is
kinds
of
acts
that
our
of otheractscan
religious
representations
havean infiniteregressembeddedin them.The representation
of a religiousritual,
however,will eventuallycome to a firmstoppingplace, whichwill alwaysbe the
actionof a superhuman
agent.
41Matt.28:19,NewRevisedStandard
Version.
42Fora fulldiscussionof theliberalchristology,
see myarticle,"A.E.Biedermann's
FilialChristologyin ItsPoliticalContext,"
note16 above.
143
Thirdandfinally,LawsonandMcCauleyclaimthatdescribingthe
structureof ritualsin this way leads to a set of universalprinciples
thatexplaincertaininterestingfeaturesof ritual.For example,they
claimthatif the superhuman
agentembeddedin a religiousritualis
embeddedin the "agent"slot of a ritualaction,as opposedto the
"action"or "object"slot, thenthe ritualwill not be repeated.This is
trueof baptism.In the end the minister(agent)is a legitimateritual
agentbecauseof the act of Jesusfoundingthe church.Baptismis a
one-timeaffair.Participants
will, however,repeatritualsin whichthe
agentis involvedin the "action"or "object"slot. The
superhuman
Lord'sSupper,for example,involvesthe superhuman
agentin the
"object"slot (the blessedhost). If we representthe Lord'sSupper
receiveselements,"it is becauseChristis somehow
as "Participant
presentin theelements(andjusthowis verycontentiousin thehistory
of Christian
repeat
theology)thatthisis a legitimateritual.Participants
thisritualperiodically.
the
LawsonandMcCauleyclaimthatthemore"removed"
Further,
agentis fromthe ritualin question,the less centralthis
superhuman
ritualwill be for the religion.For example,becauseof the Catholic
in which the superhumanbeing is
doctrineof transubstantiation,
directlypresentin the elements,the Mass is a centralritualfor the
Catholicchurch.The Lord'sSupperwill not be as central(or at least
it will sharethe stage with other activitiessuch as preaching,for
example)for groupswith weakerdoctrinesof the presenceof Christ
in the elements.Zurichoffers empiricalsupportfor this assertion
as well. ZwinglifamouslyarguedthatJesus' statement"Thisis my
body"(Matt.21:21, 1 Cor. 11:24) means that the breadsignifies
Christ'sbody,not thatthebreadbecomesChrist'sbody.Thefactthat
the Reformersin Zurichreplacedthe altarwherethe CatholicMass
that
hadbeenperformedwith the stonebaptismalfont demonstrates
relative
the
LawsonandMcCauley'stheoryhas accuratelypredicted
of theseritualsin thetwo traditions.
importance
144
TheodoreM. Vial
VII.Conclusion
account
Bourdieuhimselfhasarguedthatan adequate"dialectical"
It appearsthat
account.43
of actiondependson an adequatestructural
the cognitiveapproachto ritualstructureis a moreadequateaccount
thanthebinaryoppositionsusedby Bell andBourdieu.It allowsus to
takeintoconsideration
a rangeof important
factorssuchas thespecial
qualitiesof certainagentsandobjectsthataremovingor beingmoved
thecognitiveapproach
takes
upanddownandin andout.Furthermore,
into accountwhatit is thatthe participants
themselvesthinktheyare
this
is
central
to
the
it is
doing.Surely
questionof whatenvironment
thatis being constructedandimpressedon the participants'
bodies.
Withouttakinginto accountthe participants'
own representations
of
theiractions,we leave out one of the most importantfactorsthat
sustainsritualpracticeand makesit meaningfulin the firstplace.
Finally,thecognitiveapproachallowsus to includespeechactson the
gridof humanactionsunderanalysis.
But if the cognitivistsoffer a betteranalysisof ritualstructure,
theysay verylittleaboutthe socialandpoliticaluses of ritual.Thus,
sketchingout the ritual of baptismin Zurichusing Lawsonand
McCauley'srules,we discoverthatat stakein the fightoverbaptism
was a christologicaldebate.For the conservatives,historymadeno
sense withouta divine Christstandingoutsideof history.For the
liberals,sucha figureviolatedall theyknewabouthistory'sdynamics,
andso couldnotbe a realhistoricalperson.ButLawsonandMcCauley
cannotexplainwhythegovernment
requesteda ritualchange,whythe
debatetookplace,or why it was so heated.Thebaptismchangeonly
makessenseif we focuson questionsof politicalnegotiationandpower
posedby Bell.
Finally,I hopeto haveofferedevidencethata view of humanaction
as directedis a moreadequatemodelof humanactionfor the analysis
of ritual.Specifically,it can supportandcombinebothapproaches
to
ritualdiscussedin thisarticle.Directedactionallowsus to placespeech
43 Bourdieu,3.
TheBody and Cognitionin a Debate Over Baptism
145
to our
acts on the samegridas all otherhumanacts. It corresponds
theagents'
andimpressinganenvironment,
sensethat,in constructing
intentions,whichareintegralto the actions,play a crucialrole.This
directedmodelof agencyfits our experiencethatwe are not always
fully awareof ourintentions,butthatin a veryrealsensethereis no
in Zurichmaynothavebeenfully
actwithoutintention.Thedisputants
awareof all the implicationsof the ritualchangethey arguedabout.
Nonetheless,in intendingto baptizeone wayratherthananother,they
positionedthemselvesin thepoliticalandculturalclashesof theirday.
VirginiaWesleyanCollege
Beach,
Norfolk/Virginia
Virginia23502-5599, USA
M. VIAL
THEODORE
ORIENTALISM AND THE MODERN MYTH OF "HINDUISM"

RICHARDKING
Summary
Is therereallya singleancientreligiondesignatedby thecatch-allterm'Hinduism'

of Westernorigin?Thispaper
oris thetermmerelya fairlyrecentsocialconstruction
of Westernnotions
examinestheroleplayedby Orientalist
scholarsin theconstruction
of Indianreligionby an examinationof the originsof the conceptof 'Hinduism'.
It is arguedthatthe notionof 'Hinduism'as a singleworldreligionis a nineteenth
of the
centuryconstruction,
largelydependentuponthe Christianpresuppositions
Western
Orientalists.
exclusive
the
role
of
Western
However,
early
emphasisupon
Orientalists
constitutesa failureto acknowledgethe role playedby key indigenous
informants
of modemnotions
castes)in the construction
(mostlyfromthebrahmana
of 'the Hindureligion'.To ignorethe indigenousdimensionof the inventionof
'Hinduism'
is to erasethecolonialsubjectfromhistoryandperpetuate
themythof the
Oriental.
The
concludes
with
a
discussion
of
the
accuracyandcontinual
passive
paper
usefulnessof theterm'Hinduism'.
[I]twouldappearthatthereis an intrinsicconnectionbetweenthe 'Hinduism'

thatis beingconstructed
in thepoliticalarenaandthe 'Hinduism'of academic
study.1
Today, there are perhaps two powerful images in contemporary

Westerncharacterizationsof Easternreligiosity.One is the continually
enduringnotion of the 'mystical East' - a powerful image precisely
because for some it representswhat is most disturbingand outdated
about Eastern culture, whilst for others it representsthe magic, the
mystery and the sense of the spiritual which they perceive to be
lacking in moder Westernculture.The depravityand backwardness
1FriedhelmHardy(1995), "A RadicalReassessmentof the VedicHeritageThe Acaryahrdayam
and its WiderImplications,"
in VasudhaDalmiaand H. von
Stietencron(1995), RepresentingHinduism:The Constructionof Religious Traditions
andNationalIdentity(SagePublications,
New Delhi/housandOaks/London),
p. 48.
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Orientalismand the Modem Mythof "Hinduism"
147
of the Orientthus appearsto sit side by side with its blossoming

spiritualityand culturalrichness.Both of these motifs have a long
historicalpedigree,derivingfromthehopesandfearsof theEuropean
andits perennialfascinationwiththeEast.
imagination
Thesecondimageof Easternreligion- one indeedthatis increasinglycomingto the forein Westerncircles,is thatof the 'militantfanatic.'Sucha characterization
also has a considerableancestry,being
a contemporary
manifestation
of oldercolonialmythsaboutOriental
of the colonialsubject.The particular
despotismandthe irrationality
natureof thisconstructis of courseheavilyinfluencedby the secularist perspectiveof muchof moder Westernculture.The imageof the
whilstfrequentlyintermilitantfanaticor religious'fundamentalist,'
wovenwith 'themystical'characterization
in theempha(particularly
sis whichWesterncommentators
the
placeupon 'religious'dimension
of conflictssuchas Ayodhyain India),it is rarelyexplicitlyassociated
withthenotionof 'themysticalEast'preciselybecausemoder Westof 'themystical'tendto precludethe possibility
ern understandings
of an authenticmysticalinvolvementin politicalstruggle.The otherworldlyEasternmysticcannotbe involvedin a this-worldlypolitical
strugglewithoutcallingintoquestionthestrongculturaloppositionbetweenthe mysticalandthe publicrealms.The discontinuity
between
these two culturalrepresentations
of the Easthas frequentlycreated
observerswho find it
problemsfor WesternandWestern-influenced
withpolitical(and
difficultto reconcilenotionsof spiritualdetachment
sometimesviolent)socialactivism.2
Thus, in the modernera we find Hinduismbeing represented
both as a globalizedand all-embracingworld-religionand as an
intolerantand virulentform of religious nationalism.Despite the
I will arguein this
apparentincongruityof thesetwo representations,
which
that
feature
both
characterizations
sharein common
one
paper
is the debtthey owe to WesternOrientalism.
My argumentdoes not
is merelythe product
entailthatthe modernconceptof "Hinduism"
2 See Mark
Juergensmeyer(1990), "WhatThe BhikkhuSaid: Reflections On The
Rise Of MilitantReligious Nationalism,"in Religion 20, pp. 53-76.
148
RichardKing
of WesternOrientalism.
Westerninfluencewas a necessarybutnot a
sufficientcausalfactorin theriseof thisparticular
socialconstruction.
To argueotherwisewould be to ignore the crucialrole playedby
indigenousBrahmanical
ideologyin theformationof earlyOrientalist
of Hindureligiosity.
representations
Orientalismand the Questfor a Post-ColonialDiscourse
[A]nthropologistswho would study,say, Muslim beliefs and practices will need
some understandingof how "religion"has come to be formed as concept and
practice in the modem West. For while religion is integral to modern Western
history, there are dangers in employing such a normalizing concept when
translatingIslamic traditions.3
This statementby TalalAsad can be equallywell appliedto the

studyof Asianculturein general.In recentyearsscholarsinvolved
in suchstudyhavebecomeincreasinglyawareof the extentto which
WesterndiscoursesaboutAsiareflectpowerrelationsbetweenWestern
andAsiansocieties.In thepostcolonialera,it hasbecomeimperative,
withcriticalacumen.
therefore,to examinethisrelationship
In 1978EdwardSaidpublishedhis ground-breaking
work, Orientalism. WesternConceptionsof the Orient.4In this book, Said launched
a stingingcritiqueof Westernnotionsof theEastandthewaysinwhich

"Orientalist
discourse"
haslegitimatedthecolonialaggressionandpoliticalsupremacy
of theWesternworld.
Said'swork,however,is notablefora numberof obviousomissions.
His analysisof French,Britishand, to a limiteddegree,American
3 Talal Asad (1993), Genealogies of Religion: Disciplines and Reasons of Power
in Christianityand Islam (JohnHopkins UniversityPress, London),p. 1.
4 Said's work is clearly indebted to earlier works which have focused upon the
Westernconstructionof images of Asian culture and its people. Importantworkshere
areRaymondSchwab(1950), The OrientalRenaissance:Europe'sDiscovery of India
and the East, 1680-1880 (English translation,1984, ColumbiaUniversityPress, New
York) and John M. Steadman (1969), The Myth of Asia (Macmillan, Basingstoke).
However, the first work which appearsto focus upon the way in which Orientalism
functions ideologically as a supportfor colonial hegemony is Anwar Abdel Malek's
(1963), "Orientalismin Crisis,"in Diogenes 44.
149
Orientalismdoes not touch upon the strong traditionof Orientalist

scholarshipin Germany,where it was not accompaniedby a colonial
empire in the East. In fact, Sheldon Pollock has shown how German
Orientalistanalysis of IndianVedic lore, profoundlyaffectedGermany
by furnishinga racially-based,Indo-Europeanmyth of the pure Aryan
race, which could subsequentlybe used to distinguish the Semites
as "non-Aryan."5Thus, not only has Said's work ignored important
currentswithin EuropeanOrientalistdiscourse, it has also tended to
ignore the ways in which such discourses affect the colonizer as well
as the colonized.6Indeed,the examples of GermanOrientalistson the
one hand, and Japanon the other, cast doubt upon Said's thesis that
Orientalistdiscourse is always associated with an imperial agenda,
since Germany had no Eastern empire to manipulate and control,
and Japanwas subjectedto Orientalistdiscourses without ever being
colonized by the West.7
Sheldon Pollock's discussion of GermanOrientalismsuggests that
the authoritativepower of such discourses could equally be applied
at home to create a powerful 'internalnarrative,'in this case instrumental in the constructionof a Germannational consciousness, and
ultimatelyin the hands of the National Socialists in "the colonization
and dominationof Europeitself."JayantLele has arguedthat as well
as its obvious consequencesfor Asia, Orientalismalso functionsto insulate the Occidentfrom the self-analysis which would be involved in
a properengagement with the cultures and perspectives of the nonWesternworld. He furthersuggests that Orientalistdiscoursescensure
attemptsto analyse the Westin a self-criticaland comparativemanner,
5 Sheldon Pollock
(1993), "Deep Orientalism? Notes on Sanskrit and Power

in
Carol
A. Breckenridgeand Peter van der Veer (eds.) (1993),
the
Raj,"
Beyond
Orientalismand the Postcolonial Predicament (University of Pennsylvania Press,
Philadelphia),pp. 76-133.
6 ne should note here that insofar as Said ignores the effect of Orientalist
narrativesupon the colonizer he does not follow Foucault'sanalysiswhich attemptsto
demonstratethe sense in which discoursesconstructboth the subjectand the object.
7 RichardH. Minear (1980), "Orientalismand the Study of Japan,"in Journal of
Asian StudiesXXXIX, No. 3, pp. 507-517.
150
Richard King
by misrepresenting both Asian and Western culture. Thus, "through a

culturally imposed stupefaction of the people" both Western and nonWestern people are manipulated and subjugated through the "same
project of control and exploitation."8 This is a point rarely noticed by
critics of Orientalism, namely, that in representing the Orient as the
essentialized and stereotypical "Other" of the West, the heterogeneity
and complexity of both Oriental and Occidental remain silenced.9
Critics of Said's work have suggested that he places too much emphasis on the passivity of the native,10 and that he does not really discuss, nor even allow for, the ways in which indigenous peoples of the
East have used, manipulated and constructed their own positive responses to colonialism using Orientalist conceptions. Homi Bhabha's
notion of 'hybridity' for instance reflects an awareness that colonial
discourses are deeply ambivalent and not susceptible to the constraints
of a single uni-directional agenda. Thus, Bhabha argues, the master
discourse is appropriated by the native whose cultural resistance is
manifested through the mimicry and parody of colonial authority.11In
8 JayantLele (1993), "Orientalismand the Social Sciences,"in Breckenridgeand
van der Veer(eds.) (1993), ibid., p. 59.
9Ashis Nandy (1983), The Intimate Enemy (Oxford University Press, Delhi),
pp. 71-74. Nandy,by way of a broadlypsychoanalyticaccountof culturalinterchange,
suggests that the Orientalistprojection of the East as the West's inverse double or
"other"is a reflectionof the suppressed'shadow' side of Westernculture.It is in this
sense that we can see how the Enlightenmentsubordinatedthe poetic, the mystical,
and the feminine elements within Europeancultureand projectedsuch qualities onto
the Orient.
10See for instance, Benita
Parry(1992), "OverlappingTerritoriesand Intertwined
Histories:EdwardSaid's PostcolonialCosmopolitanism,"in M. Sprinker(ed.) (1992),
EdwardSaid: A Critical Reader (Blackwell, Oxford), p. 34. See also Peter van der
Veer (1993), "The Foreign Hand. OrientalistDiscourse in Sociology and Communalism,"in Breckenridgeand van der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid., p. 23, and Rosalind
O'Hanlon(1989), "Culturesof Rule, Communitiesof Resistance: Gender,Discourse
andTraditionin Recent South Asian Historiographies,"in Social Analysis 25, p. 109.
11See for instance Homi Bhabha
(1985), "Signs Taken for Wonders:Questions
Under
a Tree Outside Delhi, May 1817," in Critical
of Ambivalence and Authority
Inquiry12, pp. 144-165.
151
similarfashionRichardG. Foxhaspointedto thewaysin whichSikh

reformersin the 1920'sacceptedOrientaliststereotypesof the Sikh,
andyet usedthemto createa massmovementin oppositionto British
canbe seenin theHinduconThesametransformation
colonialism.12
of Inaboutthe "spirituality"
text,whereOrientalistpresuppositions
dia etc. wereusedby reformerssuchas Rammohun
Roy,Dayananda
in thedevelK.
Gandhi
and
Mohandas
Vivekananda
Swami
Saraswati,
opmentof an anti-colonialHindunationalism.Thisno doubtreflects
not only the level of permeationof Orientalistideasamongstthe nativepopulationof India(especiallythecoloniallyeducatedintelligentsia),butalsothefactthatsuchdiscoursesdo notproceedin an orderly
andstraightforward
fashion,beingin factadaptedandappliedin ways
unforeseenby thosewho initiatedthem.Thus,Orientalistdiscourses
wereappropriated
by nativeIndiansin thenineteenthcenturyandappliedin sucha way as to undercutthe colonialistagenda,which,Said
suggests,is implicatedin suchdiscourses.
WehavealreadyseenthatSaid'sown negativeappraisalof Orientalismdoes not appearto leave roomfor indigenousappropriations
of Orientalist
discoursesfor positive,anti-colonialgoals.Equally,his
workplaceslittleemphasisuponwhatCliffordcalls a "sympathetic,
RichardFox refersto this strand
tradition."13
nonreductive
Orientalist
andhasin mindsuchWesternapologists
Orientalism"
as "affirmative
forIndiancultureas theTheosophistAnnieBesant,HinduconvertSisterNivedita,andapostleof non-violence,Tolstoyetc.14Inthiscontext,
one shouldexaminewhatis probablythe most scathingcritiqueof
Saidto date.DavidKopfattacksSaidfor "dropping
names,datesand
andforadoptinga method"whichis profoundlystructural
anecdotes"
12RichardG. Fox
(1992), "Eastof Said,"in Sprinker(ed.) (1992), ibid., p. 146. But
see Peter van der Veer (1994), Religious Nationalism.Hindus and Muslims in India
(Universityof CaliforniaPress, Berkeley/LosAngeles/London),pp. 53-56, where it is
arguedthat Sikh identity was utilized but not constructedby the British.
13Clifford (1988), The Predicamentof Culture:TwentiethCenturyEthnography,
Literatureand Art (Cambridge,CambridgeUniversityPress), p. 261.
14RichardFox (1992), ibid., p. 152.
152
RichardKing
and synchronic"and thus "diametricallyopposed to history."15Whilst
Kopfsees a greatdeal of meritin Said'swork,he decriesthe use of

theterm"Orientalism"
to "represent
a sewercategoryfor all theintellectualrubbishWesterners
haveexercisedin theglobalmarketplace
of
ideas"(p.498). Kopf,in fact,believesthatSaidhasprovidedanoverly
negativeandone-sidedanalysis,whichfails to takeinto accountthe
discourses.He suggeststhatmodpositiveelementswithinOrientalist
em Orientalism
wasbornin Calcuttain 1784withtheestablishment
of
theAsiaticSocietyof Bengalandthat,as such,BritishOrientalism
can
be saidto havegivenbirthto theBengalRenaissancesinceit "helped
Indiansto findan indigenousidentityin the moder world"(p. 501).
"weremenof socialaction,workKopfsuggeststhattheseOrientalists
ing to modernizeHinduculturefromwithin"(p. 502). Theseareto be
contrasted,
Westerizers,as repKopfargues,withtheanti-Orientalist
resentedby the staunchAnglicistThomasB. Macauley,for whom"a
single shelf of a good Europeanlibrarywas worththe whole native
literature
of IndiaandArabia."16
Kopfcomments,"Itis curiousto me
thatSaidcompletelyignoresthisverygroupof proto-imperialists
who
wereanti-Orientalist.
Itis theirideologyandnotthatof theOrientalists
whichSaidreviewsin his work"(p. 503).
If we examineKopf'spositionmorecloselywe shallsee thesource
of disputeand confusionbetweenhim and Said. Kopf praisesthe
effortsof theOrientalists
who,
modernizing
served as avenues linking the regional dlite with the dynamic civilization of
contemporaryEurope.They contributedto the formationof a new Indianmiddle
15David Kopf (1980), "Hermeneuticsversus History,"in Journal of Asian Studies
XXXIX, No. 3, May 1980, p. 499. Rosane Rocher also argues that Said's approach
"does to orientalistscholarshipwhat it accuses orientalistscholarshipof having done
to the countriesEast of Europe;it createsa single discourse,undifferentiatedin space
andtime andacrosspolitical, social andintellectualidentities."Rosane Rocher(1993),
"British Orientalismin the Eighteenth Century: The Dialectic of Knowledge and
Government,"in Breckenridgeand van der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid., p. 215.
16Macauley'sMinuteof Education(1835), quotedin Kopf (1980), ibid., p. 504, but
originally quoted in Kopf (1969), British Orientalismand The Bengal Rennaissance
(Universityof CaliforniaPress, Berkeley/LosAngeles/London),p. 248.
Orientalism and the Modem Myth of "Hinduism"
153
class and assisted in the professionalizationof the Bengali intelligensia. They

started schools, systematized languages, brought printing and publishing to
India, and encouraged the proliferation of books, journals, newspapers, and
other media of communication.Their output was urbanand secular.They built
the first modem scientific laboratoriesin India and taught Europeanmedicine.
They were neither static classicists nor averse to the idea of progress, and they
historicizedthe Indianpast and stimulatedconsciousness of historyin the Indian
intellectual.17
What is striking about this description of the activities of British

Orientalists in India is that Kopf praises them so unequivocally, whilst
critics such as Said (and I would include myself here) find such activities deeply problematic. Kopf's dispute with Said is really a debate
about the extent to which one can differentiate modernization from
westernization. Kopf's view is that the two can be easily differentiated and that the Orientalists were solely in favour of modernization,
whilst Anglicists like Macauley were fervently in favour of both.18
Thus, according to Kopf "nineteenth century Europe was not so much
the source of modernity as it was the setting for modernizing processes
that were themselves transforming Western cultures," and that for the
Orientalist, "the important thing was to set into motion the process
of modernization through which Indians might change themselves according to their own value system."19
However, it seems at best naively simplistic, and at worst downright
false, to suggest that we can drive a firm wedge between westernization and modernization. What usually counts as "modernity" seems to
be bound up with attitudes and social changes that derive from the European Enlightenment. Thus, despite the claimed cultural and political
17David Kopf (1969), ibid., p. 275, quoted by the authorin Kopf (1980), ibid.,
pp. 502-503.
18David
Kopf (1969), ibid., pp. 275-276.
19David
Kopf (1969), ibid., pp. 277-278. For Kopf then it is merely a historical
accidentthat the social process of modernizationbegan in Europe(p. 276). However,
even if this were the case, it is still naive to believe that one can export the results of
this process without also exportingthose features which are peculiarly Europeanin
nature.
154
RichardKing
andtheirdisputewith
neutralityof the languageof "modernization,"
the Anglicists,Kopf's(affirmative)
Orientalistswerestill involvedin
theEuropeani7ation
of theOrient,and,evenwhentheyappearedto be
the
vernacular
andtheindigenous,theirmethods,goalsand
promoting
underlyingvalues presupposedthe supremacyof Europeanculture.
Thatthis is so can be seen evenby an examinationof the quotations
whichKopfelicitsas evidenceof theOrientalists'oppositionto westernization.Thus,he quotesH. H. Wilson,whomhe describesas "one
of thegreatestOrientalists"
as promotingthecultivationof Sanskritso
thatnativedialectsmay "embodyEuropeanlearningand science."20
is quotedas attackingthe westerizer's
Again,W. H. MacNaughten
positionon thegroundsthat"ifwe wishto enlightenthegreatmassof
the peoplein Indiawe mustuse as ourinstruments
the Languagesof
India... our objectis to impartideas,not words...,21 Thus,despite
to the contrary,the Orientalistswere also acting
Kopf'sprotestation
in complicitywithEuropean
evenif theirrhetoric
imperialaspirations
wasless confrontational,
and
Thecomplexaggressive condescending.
the Anglicistsvs. the Orientalists
in the
ity of the issues surrounding
era
in
is
for
refusal
reflected, instance, GayatriSpivak's
postcolonial
to endorsea blanketreturnto "native"
languagesin India.It is perhaps
to
note
has
that
become
in
important
English
increasingly"nativized"
colonialandpostcolonialIndia,andstillrepresentsa muchgreaterpotentialforinternational
interaction
(albeitdueto Britishimperialhegethan
the
'native'
mony)
languages.Nevertheless,Spivaksuggestsan
"inter-literary"
approach,arguingthat"theteachingof Englishliteraturecan becomecriticalonly if it is intimatelyyokedto the teaching
of theliteraryor culturalproduction
in themothertongue."22
The colonialprejudicesof such 'eminentscholars'of the Orient
as WilliamJones and JamesMill (fatherof John StuartMill), is
evidentin theirwork.WilliamJoneshasbeendescribedas theWestern
20 David
Kopf (1980), ibid., p. 505.
21 David
Kopf (1969), ibid., p. 250, quotedagain in Kopf (1980), ibid., p. 504.
22Gayatri ChakravortySpivak (1993), "The Burden of English,"in Breckenridge
and van der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid., p. 151.
155
scholarmost responsiblefor first introducinga "textualized"India to

Europeans.
The most significantnodes of WilliamJones' work are (a) the need for translation
by the European,since the natives are unreliableinterpretersof their own laws
and culture;(b) the desire to be a law-giver, to give the Indianstheir"own"laws;
and (c) the desire to "purify"Indiancultureand speak on its behalf.... In Jones'
constructionof the "Hindus",they appearas a submissive, indolentnationunable
to appreciatethe fruitsof freedom,desirousof being ruledby absolutepower,and
sunk deeply in the mythology of an ancient religion.23
As TejaswiniNiranjanasuggests, "ThisRomanticOrientalistproject
slides almost imperceptiblyinto the Utilitarian,Victorianenterprise
of 'improving'the nativesthroughEnglish education."24JamesMill's
three volumed History of British India (1817) continues to be influential in its monolithic approachto Indian culture, its homogenizing
referencesto "Hinduism,"and its highly questionableperiodizationof
Indianhistory.25
It is naive of Kopf to believe that all Orientalistswere opponentsof
westernization.He fails to see both the polyphonic natureand multiple layers of colonial discourse, nor does he seem to have attempted
to lift the veil of rhetoricalsubterfugeswhich often occlude imperialistic motivations.Consequently,Kopf argues that "Orientalismwas
the polaropposite of Eurocentricimperialismas viewed by the Asians
themselves.... If Orientalismwas merely the equivalentof imperialism, ..." he asks, "... then how do we account for the increasingly
nostalgic view of Orientalistsnurturedby later generationsof Hindu
intelligentsia?"26Our answer to this question has already been put
forwardin the recognition that the 'Hindu intelligentsia' were themselves influencedby the West's stereotypicalportrayalof "theOrient."
23Tejaswini
Niranjana(1990), 'Translation,Colonialism and Rise of English,"in

Economicand Political WeeklyXXV, No. 15, April 14th 1990, p. 774.
24
TejaswiniNiranjana(1990), ibid., p. 775.
25 See Romila
Thapar(1992), InterpretingEarly India (Oxford University Press,
Delhi), pp. 5-6; 89; Petervan der Veer(1993) in Breckenridgeand van der Veer(eds.),
ibid., p. 31.
26 David
Kopf (1980), ibid., p. 505.
156
RichardKing
Theextentto whichtheAnglicistMacauleywas successfulin his aim

betweenus andthemillions
"toforma classwho maybe interpreters
whomwe govern;a class of persons,Indianin bloodandcolour,but
will beEnglishin taste,in opinions,in morals,and in intellect,"27
in the
laterwhenwe considerthe development
comereadilyapparent
eighteenthandnineteenthcenturiesof the notionof a singlereligious
The notionof a Hindureligion,I sugentityknownas "Hinduism."
gest, was initiallyconstructedby WesternOrientalistsbasedupona
of what mightconstitutea religion.
Judaeo-Christian
understanding
Thisconstruct,of course,was subsequently
adoptedby Hindunationin
the
for
home
rule
aliststhemselves
(swaraj)andin response
quest
to Britishimperialhegemony.
Orientalismand Indology
EdwardSaid'sexamplesaremainlytakenfromthe"Middle-Eastern"
context,no doubta reflectionof his ownPalestinian
origins,andit has
of his workfurtherafield.
beenleftto othersto exploretheimplications
In recentyears,withthe publicationof WilhelmHalbfass(1988),India and Europe.An Essay in Understanding,andRonaldInden(1990),
hasbeendiscussedin reImaginingIndia,the Orientalist

problematic
lationto the studyof Indianreligionandphilosophy.28
Inden,for instance,suggeststhatIndologicalanalysisfunctionsto portrayIndian
ordistortionsof norandpracticesas aberrations
thoughts,institutions
mative(i.e., Western)patternsof behaviour.29
Accordingto Inden,Intransforms
into
Indians
discourse
subjugated
objectsof a sudological
27
Macauley (1835), 'Minute on IndianEducation,'quoted in TejaswiniNiranjana

(1990), 'Translation, Colonialism and Rise of English,"in Economic and Political
WeeklyXXV, No. 15, April 14th 1990, p. 778.
28 For a recent collection of works responding to Halbfass' interventionsin the
Orientalist debate see Eli Franco and Karin Preisendanz (eds), (1997), Beyond
Orientalism. The Workof WilhelmHalbfass and its Impact on Indian and CrossCultural Studies (Rodopi, Amsterdam, Poznaii Studies in the Philosophy of the
Sciences and the Humanities),673 pp.
29Ronald Inden (1986), "OrientalistConstructionsof India," in Modem Asian
Studies 20, No. 3, p. 411.
157
perior(i.e. higher-order)
knowledge,whichremainsin thepossession
of the WesternIndologicalexpert.This is becauseIndologicalworks
do not providemerelydescriptiveaccountsof thatwhichthey study,
butalso providecommentaries
whichclaimto representthe thoughts
andactionsof the Indiansubjectin sucha manneras to communicate
theirgeneralnatureor "essence"to the Westernreader.Indenis also
criticalof 'hegemonic'accountswhichprovidereductionist
andcausal
forthe"irrational"
behaviourof Indians(irrational
in the
explanations
sensethatit requiresexplanation
to the rationalWesterner).
Suchreductionistaccountssuggestthat
Indian civilization is, thus, unlike the West, fundamentally a product of its
environment,and a defectiveproductat that.Europeancivilizationis the product
of rationalhumanaction. Especially since the so-called Enlightenmentthe West
has been guided by scientific reason in shaping its institutions and beliefs....
Modem science has acquired privileged knowledge of the natural world. It
has made a 'copy' of that external reality unprecedentedin its accuracy.The
institutionsof the Westhave thereforecome more closely to conform to what is,
in this discourse, 'natural'.Traditionaland non-Westernsocieties have, because
of their inaccurateor false copies of externalreality, made relativelyineffective
adaptationsto their environments.They have not evolved as fast as the modem
West.30
Inden,however,seems to overstatehis case at times. I do not

acceptthatall explanationsof Indianthoughtand behaviourimply
theirrationality
of Indians.Explanations
arenecessarybecauseIndian
cultureis differentfromWesternculturein manyrespects;rejecting
Orientalistprojectionsof an "Other",will not smoothover these
differences.Providingan insightfulaccountof Indianthoughtfor
the Westernreader,whilst it may involve some distortionof the
materialunderconsiderationis necessaryfor this reason and not
becauseEuropeans
aresuperiorormorerationalthanIndians.Equally,
reductionistaccountscan be, and increasinglyare being, appliedto
Westernhistoryand cultureitself. In fact, one mightarguethatthe
currentwaveof postmodern
of Western
anxietyaboutthe foundations
30 Inden (1986), ibid., p. 441, 415.
158
RichardKing
civilizationis partlya consequenceof historicistand reductionist

analysisbeingappliedreflexivelyto theWestitself!
Inden,thusprovidesus witha highlypolemicalandgenerallynegHis analysis,however,is
ativeaccountof Indologicalscholarship.31
occasionsandcontainsa numberof salient
insightfulon innumerable
that
He
Indologicalscholarshipin the pasthas been
points. suggests
dominated
by theprivilegedvoiceof the 'positivist'andthe 'empirical
realist'.32Inden, at times reminiscent of the neo-pragmatistphiloso-
repherRichardRortyandthephilosopherof sciencePaulFeyerband,
jects whathe describesas the 'positivist'claimthatthereis "a single,
determinate
reality"andthatthe tools of Westernsciencehaveprivilegedaccessto thatrealitythroughformsof knowledgewhichdirectly
or 'mirror'it.
correspond
I reject the duality of knower and known presupposedby this episteme. It is my
position that knowledge both participatesin the constructionof reality and is
itself not simply natural(in the sense of necessary and given), but, in large part,
constructed.33
Indenalso suggeststhatthe essentialisminherentin most Orienrefuted.This is the tentalistdiscoursesshouldbe comprehensively

dencywithinmostIndologicalaccountsto claimto haveuncoveredthe
"essence"of the objectunderconsideration,
throughcarefulscholarly
mind-set"
analysis.Thus,workswhichpurportto explainthe"Oriental
is
a
that
there
or the"Indianmentality"
etc., presuppose
homogenous,
whichcanbe directlyintu"essence"or "nature"
andalmost-Platonic
itedby the Indologicalexpert.Indenis correct,in my view,to attack
31 Richard G. Fox criticizes Inden for his condemnation of "all South Asian
scholarship as Orientalist".According to Fox, Inden's work displays just those
stereotypingtendencies in his approachto Orientalistscholarshipas he attacksin the
scholarshipitself, though this may reflect a lack of appreciationon Fox's partof the
extent to which even "affirmativeOrientalism"contributesto Europeanhegemony
over the East. See Richard G. Fox (1992), "East of Said," in M. Sprinker,ibid.,
pp. 144-145.
32 Inden (1986), ibid., 440.
p.
33 Inden (1986), ibid., pp. 111 115. As with EdwardSaid, we can clearly see the
influenceof Foucaulton Inden'swork.
159
beliefin a unisuchessentialism,rootedas it is in theEnlightenment

the heterogeneity
fiedhumannature,notjustbecauseit misrepresents
butalsobecauseof thewayin whichsuchessenof thesubject-matter,
of a culturalstereotypewhichmay
tialismresultsin the construction
thenbe used to subordinate,
classifyand dominatethe non-Western
world.
Inden'swork,however,is alsointerestingforhis criticalanalysisof
Thisstrandof Orientalist
Orientalism."
"affirmative
discourse,labelled
to European
Romanti'romantic'by Indenbecauseof its indebtedness
an
admiration
and
sometimes
motivated
is
for,
cism, generally
by a
by
of Easterncultures.Theromanticimage
firmbeliefin, the superiority
of IndiaportraysIndiancultureas profoundlyspiritual,idealisticand
mystical.Thus,as PeterMarshallpointsout
As Europeanshave always tended to do, they created Hinduism in their own
image. Their study of Hinduism confirmed their beliefs and Hindus emerged
from their work as adhering to something akin to undogmatic Protestantism.
Later generationsof Europeans,interestedthemselves in mysticism, were able
to portraythe Hindusas mystics.34
We would do well to note the reasonwhy Indencriticizesthe

Romanticconceptionof Indiaas the 'LoyalOpposition.'Thisreflects
the fact that 'RomanticOrientalism'agreeswith the prevailingview
of Europe;it continuesto postulate
thatIndiais the mirror-opposite
thesame(orat leastsimilar)
cultural"essences"and,thus,perpetuates
culturalstereotypesaboutthe East. The Romanticistview of the
evenif motivatedattimesby a respect
Orient,then,is stilla distortion,
in theprojectionof stereotypical
fortheOrient.As such,it participates
andcontrolof theEast.
formswhichallowsfora domestication
Whatis interestingaboutthe "mystical"or "spiritual"
emphasis
is
of
India
notjust
in theRomanticist
whichpredominates
conception
Westernimages
thatit hasbecomea prevalentthemein contemporary
of India,butalso thatit hasexerteda greatdealof influenceuponthe
34 Peter Marshall (1970), The British Discovery of Hinduism in the Eighteenth
Century(CambridgeUniversityPress, Cambridge),p. 43-4, quoted in Inden (1986),
ibid., p. 430.
160
RichardKing
self-awareness
of theveryIndianswhichit purportsto describe.Some
as
by Inmightargue, DavidKopfclearlydoes,thatsuchendorsement
diansthemselvessuggeststhe anti-imperial
natureof suchdiscourses,
in
which
British
colonialideology,
one
cannot
the
sense
yet
ignore
educationandinstituthroughthe variousmediaof communication,
tionalcontrolhas madea substantialcontribution
to the construction
of modemidentityandself-awareness
Indians.
amongstcontemporary
Europeantranslationsof Indiantexts preparedfor a Westernaudience provided
to the 'educated' Indian a whole range of Orientalistimages. Even when the
anglicisedIndianspoke a languageotherthanEnglish, 'he' would have preferred,
because of the symbolic power attachedto English, to gain access to his own
past throughthe translationsand historiescirculatingthroughcolonial discourse.
English educationalso familiarisedthe Indianwith ways of seeing, techniquesof
translation,or modes of representationthat came to be accepted as 'natural.'35
Perhapsthe primaryexamplesof this are the figuresof Swami

ViveknandaandMohandasK. Gandhi.36
Vivekananda
(1863-1902)
founderof the Ramakrishna
devotedto the
Mission,an organization
formof AdvaitaVedanta(non-dualism),
promotionof a contemporary
of Indiancultureas a
placedparticular
emphasisuponthe spirituality
curativeto thenihilismandmaterialism
of modemWesternculture.In
Vivekananda's
hands,Orientalistnotionsof Indiaas "otherworldly"
and"mystical"were embracedandpraisedas India'sspecialgift to
humankind.
Thusthe very discoursewhichsucceededin alienating,
and controllingIndiawas used by Vivekananda
as a
subordinating
religiousclarion-callfor the Indianpeopleto uniteunderthe banner
of a universalistic
andall-embracing
Hinduism.
Up India, and conquer the world with your spirituality... Ours is a religion of
which Buddhism,with all its greatnessis a rebel child and of which Christianity
is a very patchyimitation.
35 TejaswiniNiranjana(1990), 'Translation,Colonialism and Rise of English,"in
Economicand Political WeeklyXXV, No. 15, April 14th 1990, p. 778.
36 MohandasGandhi,too, was also influenced Western,Orientalist
by
conceptions
of India, only really discovering the fruits of India's religious traditions through
the Romanticistworks of the Theosophical Society. For a discussion of this and its
relevanceto the Orientalistdebate see Fox (1992), in Sprinker(1992), ibid, pp. 152f.
161
The salvationof Europedependson a rationalisticreligion, and Advaita- nonduality,the Oneness, the idea of the ImpersonalGod, - is the only religion that
can have any hold on any intellectualpeople.37
andused in the
Colonialstereotypestherebybecametransformed
colonialism.
theyremain!Vivekafightagainst
Despitethis,stereotypes
nanda'simportance,
however,faroutweighshis involvementwiththe
Ramakrishna
Mission.He attended(withoutinvitation)theFirstWorld
of Religionsin Chicagoin 1893, deliveringa lectureon
Parliament
Hinduism(oratleaston his ownconceptionof thenatureof Hinduism
withtheother"world-religions").
anditsrelationship
Vivekananda
was
a greatsuccessandinitiateda numberof successfultoursof theUnited
Statesand Europe.In the Westhe was influentialin the reinforcementof theRomanticist
andin India
emphasisuponIndianspirituality,
Vivekananda
becamethe focusof a renascentintellectualmovement,
or "Neowhichmightmoreaccuratelybe labelled"Neo-Hinduism"
ratherthan"Hinduism."
Vedanta"
TheMythof Homogeneityand the Modem Mythof 'Hinduism'
Scepticismaboutthe applicabilityof globalized,highly abstract

andunivocalsystemsof thoughtontothe religiousexperienceof humankind(asmanifestedby the"world-religions"
to thestudy
approach
of religions)has been expressedby scholarslike WilfredCantwell
Smithon thegroundsthatsuchanapproach
providesus withanoverly
Wecansee theimhomogenized
pictureof humanculturaldiversity.38
if
we
of
this
the
more
clearly
question claim,supportedby
plications
andVivekananda,
such figuresas Gandhi,SarvepalliRadhakrishnan
37 Swami Vivekananda,Collected Works.Vol m, p. 275 and II, p. 139.
38With
regard to our current discussion Cantwell Smith states that, "The term
'Hinduism' is, in my judgement, a particularlyfalse conceptualization,one that is
conspicuouslyincompatiblewith any adequateunderstandingof the religious outlook
of Hindus."(W. Cantwell Smith [1964], The Meaning and End of Religion, p. 61).
More recently Friedhelm Hardy (1990) has suggested, 'That the global title of
'Hinduism' has been given to [this variety of religions] must be regardedas an act
of puredespair."(The Religions of Asia, Routledge, London/NewYork,p. 72).
162
RichardKing
thatthereis a singlereligioncalled"Hinduism,"
whichcanbe meanreferred
to
as
the
of
the
Hindu
ingfully
religion
people.
The notionof "Hinduism"
is itself a Western-inspired
abstraction,
whichuntilthenineteenthcenturyborelittleor no resemblance
to the
of
Indian
belief
and
The
term
"Hindu"
is
diversity
religious
practice.
thePersianvariantof the Sanskritsindhu,referringto theIndusriver,
and was used by the Persiansto denotethe peopleof thatregion.39
The Arabic'Al-Hind,'therefore,is a termdenotinga particular
geographicalarea.Althoughindigenoususe of thetermby Hindusthemselvescanbe foundas earlyas thefifteenthandsixteenthcenturies,its
usagewas derivativeof PersianMusliminfluencesanddid notrepresentanythingmorethana distinctionbetween'indigenous'or 'native'
andforeign(mleccha).40
Forinstance,whenBelgianThierryVerhelst
interviewedan IndianintellectualfromTamilNaduhe recordedthe
followinginterchange,
Q: Are you a Hindu?
A: No, I grew critical of it because of casteism... Actually, you should not ask
people if they are Hindu. This does not mean much. If you ask them what their
religion is, they will say, "I belong to this caste.'41
39 H. von Stietencronarguesthatthis usage of the termis attestedto in Old Persian
cuneiform inscriptions from the time of Darius I, who expanded his empire as far
as the Indus in 517 B.C.E. H. von Stietencron(1991), in GiinterD. Sontheimerand
HermannKulke (eds.) (1991), HinduismReconsidered (ManoharPublications,New
Delhi), p. 12.
40Romila Thapar (1989), "Imagined Religious Communities? Ancient History
and the Moder Search for a Hindu Identity,"in Modem Asian Studies 23, No. 2,
p. 224 (reprintedin Thapar [1992]). See also NarendraK. Wagle (1991), "HinduMuslim interactionsin medievalMaharashtra,"
in Sontheimerand Kulke(eds.) (1991),
ibid., pp. 51-66, and Joseph T. O'Connell (1973), "Gaudiya Vaisnava symbolism
of deliverance from evil," in Journal of the American Oriental Society 93, No. 3,
pp. 340-343.
41 ThierryVerhelst(1985), Cultures,Religions and Developmentin India: Interviews Conductedand recordedby ThierryVerhelst,14 to 23-1-1985. A PhD working
groupon Religions and Cultures,Brussels:BroederliykDelen, Mimeo, p. 9 quotedin
Balagangadhara(1994), p. 16.
163
Indeed,it is clearthatthe term"Hindu,"even when used by the

indigenousIndian,didnothavethespecificallyreligiousconnotations
influencesuntilthe
whichit subsequently
developedunderOrientalist
nineteenth
Thus,eighteenthcenturyreferencesto "Hindoo"
century.42
As Romila
Christiansor "Hindoo"Muslimswere not uncommon.43
into
Muslims
of
of
in
her
the
out
discussion
reception
Thaparpoints
India,"Thepeopleof Indiado not seem to haveperceivedthe new
arrivalsas a unifiedbody of Muslims.The name 'Muslim'does not
occurin the recordsof the earlycontacts.The termused was either
ethnic,turuska,referringto the Turks,or geographical,Yavana,or
cultural,mleccha."44One should also note the distinctively negative
natureof the term,the primaryfunctionof which is to providea

whethernegativelycontrasted
catch-alldesignationfor the "Other,"
or withthe
withthe ancientPersians,withtheirMuslimdescendants,
laterEuropeanOrientalistswho eventuallyadoptedthe term.Indeed
of modemIndianlaw.For
the sameis apparentfroman examination
2 (1) definesa 'Hindu'
section
Hindu
the
1955
MarriageAct,
example
as a categoryincludingnotonlyallBuddhists,JainsandSikhsbutalso
a Parseeor a Jew.Thuseven
anyonewhois nota Muslim,a Christian,
'Hindu'
and 'Hinduism'are
the
terms
context
in the contemporary
42 ParthaChatterjee,in fact,
argues that the notion of "Hindu-ness"has no specifically religious connotationto it and that "The idea that 'Indiannationalism'is synonymous with 'Hindu nationalism' is not the vestige of some premoder religious
conception.It is an entirely modem, rationalist,and historicistidea. Like other modem ideologies, it allows for a centralrole of the state in the modernizationof society
and strongly defends the state's unity and sovereignty.Its appeal is not religious but
political. In this sense the frameworkof its reasoningis entirely secular."See Partha
Chatterjee(1992), "Historyand the Nationalizationof Hinduism,"in Social Research
59, No. 1, p. 147.
43 R.E. Frykenberg(1991), "The emergence of modem 'Hinduism' as a concept
andan institution:A reappraisalwith special referenceto South India,"in Sontheimer
and Kulke (eds.) (1991), ibid., p. 31.
44 Romila Thapar(1989), ibid., p. 223 (reprintedin Thapar[1992]).
164
RichardKing
essentiallynegativeappellations,
functioningas an all-inclusiverubric
'Other'.45
forthenon-Judaeo-Christian
in
"Hindu"in fact only cameintoprovenanceamongstWesterners
Christianperspectheeighteenthcentury.Previously,thepredominant
tive amongstthe EuropeansclassifiedIndianreligionunderthe allinclusiverubricof Heathenism.On this view therewere fourmajor
religiousgroups,Jews, Christians,Mahometans(i.e. Muslims),and
Heathens.Membersof thelastcategorywerewidelyconsideredto be
childrenof theDevil,andtheIndianHeathenswerebutone particular
sect alongsidethe Africansand the Americans(who even todayare
referredto as American'Indians'in an attemptto drawa parallelbetweenthe indigenouspopulationsof Indiaandthe pre-colonialpopuusedto referto theIndians
lationof theAmericas).Otherdesignations
were 'Banians,'a termwhichderivesfromthe merchantpopulations
of NorthernIndia,and 'Gentoos',whichfunctionedas an alternative
to 'Heathen.'Nevertheless,as Westernknowledgeandinterestin India
as a
increased,theterm'Hindu'eventuallygainedgreaterprominence
morespecificterm.
culturallyandgeographically
whichof coursederivesfromthe frequency
The term"Hinduism,"
conwith which 'Hindu'cameto be used, is a Westernexplanatory
struct.As suchit reflectsthecolonialandJudaeo-Christian
presuppoDavid
the
term.
sitionsof the WesternOrientalistswho firstcoined
seeminglyunawareof the
Kopfpraisesthis 'gift'fromtheOrientalists
it andtheextentto whichthe superimEurocentric
agendaunderlying
uponIndianreligious
positionof themonolithicentityof "Hinduism"
Indianretransformed
materialhasdistortedandperhapsirretrievably
ligiosityin a westernizeddirection.Thus,he statesthat,
45 This has lead Frits Staal, for instance to arguethat "Hinduismdoes not merely
fail to be a religion; it is not even a meaningfulunit of discourse. There is no way to
abstracta meaningfulunitarynotion of Hinduismfrom the Indianphenomena,unless
it is done by exclusion..." (FritsStaal [1989], Ritual WithoutMeaning, p. 397).
165
The work of integratinga vast collection of myths, beliefs, rituals,and laws into
a coherent religion, and of shaping an amorphousheritage into a rationalfaith
known now as "Hinduism"were endeavorsinitiatedby Orientalists.46
in
The term"Hinduism"
seems firstto have madean appearance
the earlynineteenthcentury,andgraduallygainedprovenancein the
decadesthereafter.
Eighteenthcenturyreferencesto the 'religionof
the Gentoos,'(e.g. NathanielBrasseyHalhead[1776], A Code of
GentooLaws) were graduallysupplantedin the nineteenthcentury
by referencesto 'the religionof the Hindoos,'- a preferencefor
the Persianas opposedto the Portuguesedesignationof the Indian
people. However,it is not until the nineteenthcenturyproperthat
the term 'Hinduism'becameused as a signifierof a unified,allandindependent
religiousentityin bothWesternandIndian
embracing
circles. The OxfordEnglishDictionarytraces "Hindooism"to an
1829referencein the Bengalee,(Vol45), andalso refersto an 1858
usage by the GermanIndologistMax Miiller.47DermotKillingley,
however,citesa referenceto "Hindooism"
by Rammohun
Royin 1816.
was probablythe first Hindu
As Killingleysuggests,"Rammohun
to use the wordHinduism."48
One hardlyneed mentionthe extent
to whichRoy's conceptionof the 'Hindu'religionwas conditioned
MuslimandUnitariantheologicalinfluences.Ironically
by European,
thereis considerablereasonthereforefor the frequencywith which
WesternscholarshavedescribedRoy as "thefatherof moder India."
WesternOrientalistdiscourses,by virtueof theirprivilegedpolitical statuswithin'British'India,havecontributed
greatlyto themoder
construction
of "Hinduism"
as a singleworldreligion.Thiswassome46 David
Kopf (1980), ibid., p. 502.

47 See Max Miiller (1880), Chipsfrom a German WorkshopI, xxvii, 304. See
Frykenberg(1991), ibid., p. 43, note 7. Clearly the term is in provenanceby this time
since we find Charles Neumann using the term 'Hindooism' in his 1831 work The
Catechismof the Shamans whilst explaining the sense in which Buddhism is to be
understoodas "a reformof the old Hindoo orthodoxChurch"(p. xxvi).
48 Dermot
Killingley (1993), RammohunRoy in Hindu and Christian Tradition,
The TeapeLectures1990, (Grevattand Grevatt,Newcastle-upon-Tyne),p. 60.
166
RichardKing
and
whatinevitablegivenBritishcontroloverthepolitical,educational
mediainstitutions
of India.If we note,forinstance,theextentto which
theBritishestablishedan educationsystemwhichpromotedthe study
of European
literature,
historyandscience,andthestudyof Indiancultranslations
of the
turethroughthe mediumof Englishor vernacular
if we also acknowledgethe factthatall
workof WesternOrientalists,
wereestablishedby theBritish,andaccordingto
of India'suniversities
Britisheducational
criteria,we cansee theextentto whichMacauley's
hopeof aneliteclassof AnglicizedIndianswasputintopractice.
Christianity,Textualismand the Constructionof "Hinduism"
EuropeancolonialinfluenceuponIndianreligionand culturehas
I would
profoundlyalteredits naturein the moder era.In particular
like to highlighttwo ways in which Westerncolonizationhas con- firstlyby locattributedto themoder construction
of "Hinduism"
ing the coreof Indianreligiosityin certainSanskrittexts(thetextualizationof Indianreligion)andsecondlyby animplicit(andsometimes
explicit)tendencyto defineIndianreligionin termsof a normative
Westernunderstanddefinitionof religionbaseduponcontemporary
These
two
of
the
traditions.
Judaeo-Christian
processesareclearly
ing
interwovenin a highlycomplexfashionandone mighteven wish to
arguethattheyarein factmerelytwo aspectsof a singlephenomenon
- namelythewesternization
of Indianreligion.Nevertheless,
theyrein
which
if
we
are
the
sense
the
modern
attention
to
some
grasp
quire
conceptionof Hinduismis indeeda modemdevelopment!
to a textualization
of Indian
Westernliterarybias has contributed
religion.49Thisis not to denythatIndianculturehas its own literary
ratherit is to emphasizethesensein whichWesternpresuptraditions,
Orienpositionsabouttheroleof sacredtextsin 'religion'predisposed
for
taliststowardsfocusinguponsuchtextsas theessentialfoundation
49In factone couldarguethatin focusingone'scriticalattentionuponOrientalist
whichunderliesthemremainslargelyunchallenged.
See
texts,thetextualistparadigm
andvander Veer(eds.) (1993),p. 5, wherethispointis
for instance,Breckenridge
madein passingbutneverproperlyaddressed.
167
understanding the Hindu people as a whole. Protestant emphasis upon

the text as the locus of religion, therefore, placed a particular emphasis
upon the literary aspects of Indian culture in the work of Orientalists.
Academics and highly educated Western administrators are already inclined towards literary forms of expression because of their training
and so it is not that surprising to find Orientalists (both old and new)
being drawn towards Indian literary materials as key sources for understanding Indian culture. Many of the early European translators of
Indian texts were also Christian missionaries, who, in their translations
and critical editions of Indian works, effectively constructed uniform
texts and a homogenized written canon through the imposition of Western philological standards and presuppositions onto Indian materials.50
Thus, the oral and 'popular' aspects of Indian religious tradition were
either ignored or decried as evidence of the degradation of contemporary Hindu religion into superstitious practices on the grounds that they
bear little or no resemblance to "their own" texts. This attitude was easily assimilated with the puiranically inspired, brahmanical belief in the
current deterioration of civilization in the age of kaliyuga.
The textualist bias of Western Orientalists has had far reaching
consequences in the increasingly literate India of the moder era. As
Rosalind O'Hanlon (1989) writes
the privilegingof scribalcommunitiesand authoritativeinterpretersof 'tradition'
provided,on the one hand, an essential requirementof practicaladministration.
50 Frykenbergeven goes as far as to suggest that Christianmissionaryactivity was
probablythe largest single factor in the developmentof a 'corporate'and 'revivalist'
Hinduismin India. See Frykenberg(1991), ibid., p. 39. See also Vinay Dharwadker
(1993), "Orientalismand the Study of Indian Literatures,"in Breckenridgeand van
der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid., pp. 158-185 for an insightful discussion of the ways in
which the variousforms of "Indianliterature"were studiedaccordingto the European
literary standardsof the time. Dharwadkeralso discusses the nature of nineteenth
centuryEuropeanphilology and its presuppositions(e.g., pp. 175; 181). Dharwadker
also drawsattentionto the Sanskriticbias of the WesternOrientalists.See also Rosane
Rocher (1993), "BritishOrientalismin the EighteenthCentury,"in Breckenridgeand
van der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid., pp. 220-225 (especially p. 221), and Peter van der
Veer (1993), in Breckenridgeand van der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid., p. 40.
Richard King
168
Ontheother,it formeda crucialcomponentin colonialism'slargerprojectitself

of authoritative
bodiesof
for thetextiializtionof cultures,for the construction
knowledgeaboutHinducommunitiesas the meansof securing'freedom'to
followtheirowncustoms.51
William Jones for example, in his role as Supreme Court Judge

in India, initiated a project to translate the Dharmasastras in the
misguidedbelief thatthis representedthe law of the Hindus,in orderto
circumventwhat he saw as the 'culpablebias' of the nativepandits.In
takingthe DharmaSastrasas a binding law-book, Jones manifeststhe
Judaeo-Christianparadigmwithin which he conceived of religion, and
the attemptto apply such a book universallyreflects Jones' 'textual
imperialism.'52The problem with taking the Dhamtnaastrasas panIndian in applicationis that the texts themselves were representative
of a priestly elite (the brahmana castes), and not of Hindus in toto.
Thus, even within these texts, there was no notion of a unified,Hindu
community,but rather an acknowledgementof a plurality of local,
occupationaland caste contexts in which different customs or rules
applied.53It was thus in this mannerthat
texts,in spiteof those
societywas madeto conformto ancientdharmaSastra
texts' insistencethat they were overriddenby local and groupcustom.It
to manipulatetheporousboundary
eventuallyallowedAnglicistadministrators
between religion as defined by texts and customs they wished to ban.54 (my
italics)
There is, of course, a danger that in critically focusing upon Orientalist discourses one might ignore the importanceof native actors
and circumstancesin the constructionof Westernconceptionsof India.
Here perhapswe should note the sense in which certain elitist com51 RosalindO'Hanlon
(1989), ibid., p. 105.
52See
andvanderVeer(eds.)(1993),ibid.,p. 7.
Breckenridge
53See RomilaThapar(1989),ibid.,pp. 220-221(reprinted
in Thapar[1992]).See
also S. N. Balagangadhara(1994), The Heathen in His Blindness: Asia, the Westand
theDynamicofReligion(E.J.Brill,Leiden),pp. 16-17andchapters3 and4 in general.

54RosaneRocher(1993),in Breckenridge
andvander Veer(eds.) (1993),ibid.,
242.
p.
169
munitieswithinIndia(notablythescholarlybrahmanacastes),exerted
a certaindegreeof influenceuponthe WesternOrientalists,thereby
to theconstruction
of themodern,Westernconceptionof
contributing
"Hinduism".
Thehighsocial,economicand,to somedegree,political
statusof thebrahmanacasteshas,no doubt,contributed
to theelision
formsof religionand"Hinduism."
betweenBrahmanical
Thisis most
notableforinstancein thetendencyto emphasizeVedicandBrahmanical texts andbeliefsas centralandfoundational
to the "essence"of
Hindureligiosityin general,andin the moder associationof 'Hindu
doctrine'withthevariousBrahmanical
schoolsof theVedanta(in particularAdvaitaVedanta).Indeed,Neo-Vedantic
rhetoricaboutthe underlyingunityof Indianreligionhastended
to supportthe Westerners'preconceivednotion thatit was one religion they were
dealing with. Since they were used to the Christiantraditionof an absolute claim
for only one truth,of a powerfulchurchdominatingsociety, and consequentlyof
fierce religious and social confrontationwith membersof othercreeds, they were
unable even to conceive of such religious liberality as would give members of
the same society the freedom,by individualchoice, to practice the religion they
liked.
As a result, Westernstudents saw Hinduism as a unity. The Indians had no
reason to contradictthis; to them the religious and culturalunity discovered by
Westernscholars was highly welcome in their search for nationalidentity in the
period of strugglefor nationalunion.55
C.A. Baylynotes,for instance,the extentto whichthe administrative andacademicdemandfor the literaryandritualexpertiseof the
Brahminsplacedthemin a positionof directcontactandinvolvement
withtheirimperialrulers;a factorthatshouldnot go unnoticedin attendedto associateBrahtemptingto explainwhyWesternOrientalists
andideologywithHindureligionin toto.56It is clear
manicalliterature
in
this
that,
regardat least, WesternOrientalists,
workingunderthe
aegisof a Judaeo-Christian
religiousparadigm,lookedfor andfound
55 H. von Stietencron(1991), in Sontheimerand Kulke (eds.) (1991), ibid., pp. 1415.
56C.A. Bayly (1988), Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire
(CambridgeUniversityPress, Cambridge),pp. 155-158.
170
Richard King
an ecclesiastical authority akin to Western models of an ecclesiastical

hierarchy. In the case of the Brahmanical 'priests' and pandits, already
convinced of the degradation of contemporary Indian civilization in the
present era of kaliyuga, these scholars generally found a receptive and
willing religious 6lite, who, for that very reason remained amenable to
the rhetoric of reform.
The Brahmanical religions, of course, had already been active in
their own appropriation of non-Brahmanical forms of Indian religion
long before the Muslim and European invasions. Brahminization, viz.,
the process whereby the Sanskritic, 'high' culture of the brahmins, absorbed non-Brahmanical (sometimes called 'popular,' or even 'tribal')
religious forms, was an effective means of assimilating diverse cultural
strands within one's locality, and of maintaining social and political
authority.57The process works both ways, of course, and many of the
features of Sanskritic religion initially derived from a particular, localized context.58 Nevertheless, in the case of the educated brahmana
castes, the British found a loosely defined cultural 1litethat proved
57 Brahminization,or the general process whereby non-Brahmanicalforms of Indian religion are colonized and transformedby hegemonic Brahmanicaldiscourses,
can be distinguishedfrom the more general process of Sanskritization.The confutation of the two stems from a mistaken association of Sanskriticculture exclusively
with the brahmanacastes. As Milton Singer has suggested Sanskritizationmay follow the ksatriya,vaifya or even the Sidra models (Milton Singer (1964), "TheSocial
Organi7ationof IndianCivilization,"in Diogenes 45, pp. 84-119.) Srinivas,in his later
reflectionsupon Sanskritization,also points to the SanadhBrahminsof WesternUttar
Pradeshas evidence thatthe cultureof the Brahminsis not always highly Sanskriticin
nature.(See Srinivas [1968], Social Change in Modem India [Universityof California Press, Berkeley/LosAngeles/London],p. 20. Whilst Brahminizationin the widest
sense, then, cannot be universallyequatedwith Sanskritization,throughoutthis work
I shall use the term 'Brahminization'as a short-handterm for SanskriticBrahminization, thatis to denote a particularspecies of Sanskritization.
58 The
ideological constructsandcolonial natureof Brahmanicaldiscourses,as representedin distinctionsbetween vaidik(i.e. derivedfrom the Vedas),shastrik(derived
from the Sastras),and laukik(worldly) forms of knowledge clearly demonstratesthe
sense in which the imperialist thrustof Orientalismis not an isolated historical or
even an exclusively Westernphenomenon.For a discussion of this see Sheldon Pol-
171
amenable to an ideology which placed them at the apex of a single

world religious tradition.59 If one asks who would most have benefitted from the modem construction of a unified Hindu community focusing upon the Sanskritic and Brahmanical forms of Indian religion,
the answer would, of course, be those highly educated members of
the higher brahmana castes, for whom modem 'Hinduism' represents
the triumph of universalized, Brahmanical forms of religion over the
'tribal' and the 'local'. Statistically, for example, it would seem that in
post-Independence India the brahmin castes have become the dominant
social group, filling 36 to 63% of all government jobs, despite representing only 3.5% of the Indian population.60 As Frykenberg points
out,
Brahmins have always controlled information. That was their boast. It was
they who had provided information on indigenous institutions [for Western
orientalists]. It was they who provided this on a scale so unprecedentedthat,
lock (1993), in Breckenridgeand van der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid., pp. 78; 96f; 107;
117, note 1.
59 For a discussion of this in relation to the politics of translationsee Richard
Burghart(1991), "Something Lost, Something gained: Translationsof Hinduism,"
in Sontheimerand Kulke (eds.) (1991), ibid., pp. 213-225. See also Peter van der
Veer (1993), in Breckenridge and van der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid., p. 23, 26-27,
40; BernardCohn (1968), "Notes on the History of the Study of Indian Society and
Culture,"in Milton Singer and BernardCohn (eds.) (1968), Structureand Change in
IndianSociety (Aldine, Chicago), pp. 3-28; JonathanParry(1985) 'The Brahmanical
Traditionand the Technologyof the Intellect,"in JoannaOvering(ed.) (1985), Reason
and Morality (Tavistock Publications, London), pp. 200-225. Talal Asad (1993),
provides a cogent discussion of the political implications of linguistic and cultural
translationin the light of inequalitiesof power between the contexts of the translator
and the translated(pp. 189-199). Thus, Asad notes that, "To put it crudely, because
the languages of third world societies, ... are seen as weaker in relation to Western
languages(and today,especially to English), they are more likely to submitto forcible
transformationin the translationprocess thanthe other way around"(p. 190).
60 See KhushwantSingh in Sunday:23-29 December 1990, p. 19, quotedin Gerald
Larson(1993), "DiscourseAbout 'Religion' in Colonialand PostcolonialIndia,"from
Ninian Smart and Shivesh Thakur(eds.) (1993), Ethical and Political Dilemmas of
Modem India (St. Martin'sPress), pp. 189-190.
172
RichardKing
at least at the level of All-Indiaconsciousness, a new religion emergedthe likes
of which Indiahad perhapsneverknown before.61
The Sanskritic"Brahmanization"
of Hindureligion(itself reprein
the
one
textuali.ation
senting
stage
process),was filteredthrough
colonialdiscourses,therebyfurnishinga newholisticandunifiedconceptionof the multiplicityof Indianreligiousphenomenathroughout
remainsprofoundlyanti-historical
in itsposhistory.Suchanapproach
tulationof an ahistorical"essence"to whichall formsof "Hinduism"
are said to relate.As Saidhas suggested,such an abstractand synchronicapproachis one way in which OrientalistdiscoursesfundamentallydistinguishthepassiveandahistoricalOrientfromtheactive
andhistoricallychangingOccident.In this manner,Orientalsare ef(sincedeniedan activerolein theprocessesof
fectivelydehumanized
As
history),andthus,mademoreamenableto colonialmanipulation.
RomilaThaparsuggests,this new Hinduism,furnishedwith a brahmanicalbase, was mergedwith elementsof "uppercaste belief and
ritualwith one eye on the Christianand Islamicmodels,"this was
thoroughlyinfusedwitha politicalandnationalistic
emphasis.Thapar
describesthis contemporary
Hinduism,"
developmentas "Syndicated
andnotesthatit is "beingpushedforwardas the sole claimantof the
of indigenousIndianreligion."62
inheritance
Thisreflectsthe tendency,duringandafterEuropeancolonialism,
for Indianreligionto be conceivedby Westerners
andIndiansthemselves in a mannerconduciveto Judaeo-Christian
conceptionsof the
natureof religion;a processwhich VeenaDas has describedas the
'semitification'
of Hinduismin the moder era.Thus,sincethe nine61
Frykenberg(1991), ibid., p. 34. For discussions of the active part which native
Indians played in the constructionof Orientalistdiscourses see Nicholas B. Dirks
(1993), "Colonial Histories and Native Informants:Biography of an Archive" and
David Lelyveld (1993), "TheFate of Hindustani:Colonial Knowledge andthe Project
of a National Language,"both in Breckenridgeand van der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid.,
pp. 279-313 and 189-214.
62Romila Thapar (1985), "Syndicated Moksha," in Seminar 313 (September),
p. 21.
173
teenthcentury "Hinduism"has developed, and is notable for, a number of new characteristics,which seem to have arisen in response to
Judaeo-Christianpresuppositionsabout the nature of religion. This
new form of organizedor, "SyndicatedHinduism"
seeks historicity for the incarnationsof its deities, encourages the idea of a
centrally sacred book, claims monotheism as significant to the worship of
deity, acknowledges the authorityof the ecclesiastical organizationof certain
sects as prevailingover all and has supportedlarge-scale missionary work and
conversion.These changes allow it to transcendcaste identities and reach out to
largernumbers.63
In the contemporaryera, then, "Hinduism"is characterizedby both

an emerging "universalistic"strandwhich focuses upon proselytization (e.g. Neo-Vedanta,Sathya Sai Baba, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh,
TranscendentalMeditation,etc.) as well as so-called "fundamentalist,"
"revivalist"and "nationalist"strandsthat focus upon the historicityof
humanincarnationsof Visnu, such as Ramaand Krsna,the sacralityof
their purportedbirthplaces,and an antagonisticattitudetowardsnonHindureligions (notablythe IndianMuslims).64One hardlyneed point
to the sense in which these developmentsmimic traitsusually associated in the West with the Judaeo-Christiantraditions.65
Indeed,it would seem thatthe key to the West'sinitialpostulationof
the unity of "Hinduism"derives from the Judaeo-Christianpresuppositions of the Orientalistsand missionaries. Convinced as they were
that distinctive religions could not coexist without frequent antagonism, the doctrinalliberality of Indian religions remaineda mystery
withoutthe postulationof an overarchingreligious frameworkwhich
could unite the Indians under the flag of a single religious tradition.
63 Romila
Thapar(1989), ibid., p. 228.

64 See Daniel Gold (1991), "OrganizedHinduism: From Vedic Truth to Hindu
Nation,"in MartinE. Marty and R. Scott Appleby (eds.) (1991), Fundamentalisms
Observed(Universityof Chicago Press), pp. 531-593, for an outline of contemporary
"fundamentalist"
and "nationalist"trendsin India.
65 See Hans Bakker (1991), "Ayodhya:A Hindu Jerusalem.An Investigationof
'Holy War'as a Religious Idea in the Light of CommunalUnrestin India,"in Numen
XXXVII, No. 1, pp. 80-109.
174
RichardKing
Howelse cantherelativelypeacefulco-existenceof thevariousHindu

movementsbe explainedwithoutsomesenseof religiousunity?Why
else wouldHindusof differingsectarianaffiliationsacceptthe existenceof rivalgodsunlesstheybelongedto thesamereligioustradition?
Failureto transcenda modelof religionpremisedon themonotheistic
exclusivismof WesternChristianity
therebyresultedin the imaginaOf course,
tive constructionof a single religioncalled "Hinduism".
alsomade
rubric
a
Hindus
under
singlereligious
beingableto classify
easier.The fact thatthe semblance
colonialcontrolandmanipulation
of unitywithinIndiaowedconsiderabledebtto imperialrule seems
to have been forgotten.The lack of an orthodoxy,of an ecclesiastical structure,or indeedof any distinctivefeaturewhichmightpoint
to the postulationof a singleHindureligion,was dismissed,andone
consequenceof this wasthetendencyto portray'Hinduism'as a conalong
tradictoryreligion,whichrequiredsome formof organization
eleecclesiasticalanddoctrinallines, anda purgingof 'superstitious'
withthe 'high'cultureof 'Hinduism'.
mentsincompatible
This new episteme66 createda conceptualspace in the form of a ris-
hadbecomea corruptshadowof its

ing perceptionthat"Hinduism"
formerself (whichwasnowlocatedin certainkey sacredtextssuchas
the Vedas,the Upanisadsandthe BhagavadGTta- all takento proaccountof ancientHindureligiosity).Thepervide an unproblematic
to the
'Hinduism'in comparison
of contemporary
ceivedshortcomings
in the text,thuscreatedthebelief(amongst
idealform,as represented
andIndians)thatHindureligionhad stagnatedover
bothWesterners
The gap bethe centuriesandwas thereforein need of reformation.
beliefs and
tween original(ideal) 'Hinduism'andthe contemporary
practicesof Hinduswas soonfilledof courseby theriseof whathave
becomeknownas 'Hindureformmovements'in the nineteenthcentury- groupssuchas theBrahmoSamaj,theAryaSamajandtheRa661 am using episteme here in a broadly Foucaultiansense to denote that which
"definesthe conditions of possibility of all knowledge, whetherexpressed in a theory
or silently investedin practice"(Foucault[1973], TheOrderof Things(Pantheon,New
York),p. 168.
175
makrishna
Mission.Virtuallyalltextbookson Hinduismdescribethese
Thisrepresentation,
as
'reform'
movements.
however,fallsinto
groups
Hindureligion(s)throughcolonialspecthetrapof seeingpre-colonial
When
with
a highly questionableperiodizationof
tacles.
combined
Hindureligioushistory(whichultimatelyderivesfromJamesMill's
A Historyof BritishIndia)the impressionis given(i). thatHinduism
is a single religionwith its originsin the Vedas,(ii). thatfromthe
'medieval'periodonwards(c. 10thcenturyonwards)Hinduismstagnatedandlostits potentialforrenewal,and(iii).thatwiththearrivalof
the West,Hindusbecameinspiredto reformtheirnow decadentreliits formerglory.Thispictureof Indian
gionto somethingapproaching
as
it
is
as
history, problematic
prevalent,reflectsa Victorianandpostfaithin the progressivenatureof history.Thus,HinEnlightenment
duismin thetwentiethcenturyis allowedto entertheprivilegedarena
of the 'worldreligions,'finallycomingof age in a globalcontextand
establishedby Westernscholars
satisfyingthe criteriaof membership
of religion!
To illustratethe arbitrariness
involvedin the homogenizationof
let us brieflyconsider
Indianreligionsundertherubricof "Hinduism,"
of religious
whathappensif one appliesthe samea prioriassumption
von
andIslam.As
Stietencronargues,
unityto Judaism,Christianity
of
if one takesthese three 'religions'to be sects or denominations
a single religionone can pointto a commongeographicaloriginin
the NearEast,a commonancestry(Abrahamic
tradition),a common
monotheism,a commonprophetism,all three accept a linearand
eschatologicalconceptionof history,upholdsimilar(thoughvarying)
religiousethics,workwithina broadlysimilartheologicalframework
with regardto their notionsof a single God, the devil, paradise,
creation,the statusof humankindwithinthe workingsof history,as
well as, of course,reveringthe HebrewBible (to varyingdegrees).
Onthe otherhand,however,thereis no commonfounderof the three
movements,probablyno doctrinewhich is valid for all adherents,
no uniformreligiousritualor ecclesiasticalorganization,and it is
not immediatelyclearthatthe adherentsof these threemovements
176
RichardKing
believein thesameGod.67If we thenconsiderthediversityof religious

movementsusuallysubsumedunderthelabel"Hinduism"
we will find
a similarpicture.Perhapsthe differencelies in thefactthatnineteenth
and twentiethcentury"Hindus"have generallynot objectedto the
postulationof a singlereligioustraditionas a way of understanding
their beliefs and practices,whereasJews, Christiansand Muslims
generallyremainvery protectiveof theirown groupidentities.This
Hinduattitudedoesnotmerelyreflectthecolonizationof theirthoughtprocessesby the Orientalists.Postulationof Hinduunity was to be
encouragedin the developmentof Indianautonomyfrom British
rule. Swaraj(homerule) was seen to be inconceivablewithoutthe
unificationof Indiaalong nationalisticand culturallines. Not only
in generalIndian
that,althoughsectarianclasheshavealwaysoccurred,
to
have
been
able
to
live
religiousgroupsappear
togetherin a manner
in the historyof the Judaeo-Christian
unprecedented
religionsin the
West.
it remainsan anachronism
to projectthe notionof
Consequently,
"Hinduism"
as it is commonlyunderstood
intopre-colonial
IndianhisBefore
the
unification
under
rule
and
consolidated
tory.
begun
imperial
of 1947 it makesno sense to talkof an Indian
by the Independence
whichmightbe taken
'nation,'nor of a religioncalled "Hinduism"
to representthe belief systemof the Hindupeople.Todayof course
the situationdiffersinsofaras one cannow pointto a loosely defined
culturalentitywhichmightbe labelled"Hinduism",
or, as someprefer,"Neo-Hinduism"
(thoughthislattertermimpliesthattherewas a
unifiedculturalentityknownas "Hinduism"
whichcanbe pinpointed
in the pre-colonialera).The presuppositions
of the Orientalistscannotbe underestimated
in theprocesswherebynineteenthandtwentieth
centuryIndianshavecome to perceivetheirown identityandculture
throughcoloniallycraftedlenses.It is clear,then,thatfromthe nineteenthcenturyonwardsIndianself-awareness
has resultedin the de"Hinduism"
whichis
velopmentof an intellectualandtextually-based
67 H. von Stietencron
(1991), ibid., pp. 20-21.
177
then'readback'(if youpardonthe 'textual'pun)intoIndia'sreligious

history.Indeed,
The constructionof a unifiedHindu identityis of utmost importancefor Hindus
who live outside India.They need a Hinduismthat can be explainedto outsiders
as a respectable religion, that can be taught to their children in religious
education,and that can form the basis for collective action.... In an ironic twist
of history,orientalismis now broughtby Indiansto Indiansliving in the West.68
As mentionedearlier,the inventionof "Hinduism"as a single

"world"religionwas also accompaniedby the rise of a nationalist
The modem
consciousnessin Indiasince the nineteenthcentury.69
of course,is a productof Europeansocio-politicaland
nation-state,
fromthe sixteenthcenturyonwards,andthe
economicdevelopments
introduction
of the nationalistmodelinto Asia is a furtherlegacyof
Europeanimperialismin this area.It is somewhatironic,therefore,
to find that the very Hindunationalistswho foughtso vehemently
rule,themselvesacceptedthehomogenizing
againstBritishimperialist
of
'nationhood'
and 'Hinduism,'which ultimatelyderived
concepts
fromtheirimperialrulers.70
It is difficultto see whatalternativethe
68 Petervan der Veer
(1993) in Breckenridgeand van der Veer (eds.) (1993), ibid.,

pp. 42-43.
69 See Partha
Chattejee (1992), "Historyand the Nationalizationof Hinduism,"in
Social Research 59, No.1, pp. 111-149 and Chatterjee(1986), Nationalist Thought
and the Colonial World.A Derivative Discourse (Zed Books Ltd, London); Mark
Juergensmeyer(1993), The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the
Secular State (University of California Press, Berkeley/Los Angeles/London). Of
relevancehere also is the work of David Lelyveld ("TheFate of Hindustani:Colonial
Knowledge and the Project of a National Language,"in Breckenridgeand van der
Veer [eds.] [1993], ibid., pp. 189-214) on the role which Hindustaniand Hindi played
in the failed colonial project of constructinga national language in India. See also
ArjunAppadurai'sdiscussion of the way in which the quantificationprocess initiated
by gatheringof statisticalinformationfor the Census etc., functions as a means of
constructinghomogeneity- ("Numberin the Colonial Imagination,"in Breckenridge
and van der Veer [eds.] [1993], ibid., especially pp. 330-334).
70For a comprehensive discussion of the colonial roots of Indian nationalist
consciousness, see ParthaChatterjee(1986), Nationalist Thoughtand the Colonial
World- A Derivative Discourse? (Zed Books Ltd., London). See also Chatterjee
178
Richard King
anti-colonialistshad, since the nation-stateprovides the paradigmatic

building block of all contemporaryeconomic, political and cultural
interaction.Thus, as David Luddens has suggested, the authorityof
Orientalistdiscoursesinitially derivedfrom colonialism,
... but it was reproducedby anti-imperial,nationalmovementsand reinvigorated
by Partition,in 1947, and the reorgani7ationof Indianstates, in 1956; it thrives
today on conflict expressed in religious and ethnic terms. In its reification of
tradition and of oppositions between East and West, nationalized orientalism
suffuses postcolonial political culture and scholarshipthat claims to speak for
India by defining India's identity in a postcolonial world.... Having helped
to make nations in South Asia what they are, orientalismfuels fires that may
consume them.71
(1992), "Historyand the Nationalizationof Hinduism,"in Social Research 59, No. 1,

pp. 111-149.
71 David Ludden
(1993) "OrientalistEmpiricism: Transformationsof Colonial
Knowledge," in Breckenridge and van der Veer (1993), ibid., p. 274. In relation
to this a number of commentators have suggested that the problems associated
with "communalism"are legacies of British imperial rule. Thus, Aditya Mukherjee
argues that "Indian society was not split since 'time immemorial' into religious
communalcategories. Nor is it so divided today in areas where communal ideology
has not yet penetrated.... However, communalism as it is understood today, ...
is a moder phenomenon, which took root half way through the British colonial
presence in India - in the second half of the nineteenthcentury."See A. Mukherjee
(1990), "Colonialismand Communalism,"in SarvepalliGopal (ed.) (1990), Anatomy
Issue (Penguin, Harmondsof a Confrontation.The Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhumi
worth, Middlesex), p. 165. See also Romila Thapar (1989), ibid., p. 209, and
GyanendraPandey (1990), The Constructionof Communalismin Colonial North
India (Oxford University Press). See also Arjun Appadurai(1993), "Numberin the
Colonial Imagination,"in Breckenridgeand van der Veer(eds.) (1993), ibid., pp. 314340; Ludden (1993), ibid., pp. 266-267; van der Veer (1993), ibid., p. 39; Sheldon
Pollock (1993), ibid., p. 107; 123, note 42. From a Westernsecular perspective 'the
problemof communalism'is understoodas evidence of the existence of old religious
allegiances which are in conflict with the secularperspectiveof moder nationalism.
However,for a critique of the hegemony of the secularnationalistmodel of the West
see MarkJuergensmeyer(1993), ibid.
179
RomilaThaparconsolidatesthispositionby pointingto thepolitical

of a commonHinduidentity.Thus,
consequencesof the construction
she arguesthat,
Since it was easy to recognize other communitieson the basis of religion, such
as Muslims and Christians,an effort was made to consolidate a parallel Hindu
community ... In Gramsci'sterms,the class which wishes to become hegemonic
has to nationalize itself and the 'nationalist'Hinduism comes from the middle
class.72
TheStatusof the Term"Hinduism"
Giventheevidencewhichwe havejustconsideredis it stillpossible

at all? One might wish to arguethat
to use the term "Hinduism"
is a usefulconstructinsofaras it refersto the
the term"Hinduism"
generalfeaturesof "Indianculture"ratherthanto a single religion.
JuliusLipnerhas recentlyarguedthatscholarsshouldretainthe term
mannerto referto
"Hinduism"
insofaras it is usedin a non-essentialist
Hinducultureandnot to theideaof a singlereligion.Lipnersuggests
thattheWesternterm'Hinduism'whenusedin this senseis effective
of Hinduta(Hinduthe 'dynamicpolycentrism'
so longas it represents
ness).73
of 'Hinduism'remains
However,even Lipner'scharacterization
It is difficultto see, even
deeplyindebtedto SanskriticBrahmanism.
on this view, why BuddhismandJainismarenot themselvespartof
Hinduta.DespiteLipner'sexplicitdisavowalof an essentialistor rei72Romila
Thapar(1989), ibid., p. 230. Daniel Gold suggests that "Postcolonial

Hindu fundamentalismcan thus appear as a new colonialism of the victors. In
representingan emergence of Indic groupconsciousness in new forms shapedby the
colonial experience, it can easily lead to a tyrannyof the majority.For it keeps the
Westernidea of religious communityas an ideally homogenous group,but abandons
the ideas of equality among communities and protections for minorities introduced
with secularBritishadministration..."(Gold [1991], ibid., p. 580.)
73Julius J. Lipner (1996), "Ancient Banyan: An Inquiry in to the Meaning of
'Hinduness'in Religious Studies 32, pp. 109-126. Lipner'suse of 'Hinduta' reflects
his explicit avoidance of the term 'Hindutva' which has been appiopriatedin the
political arenaby Hindu nationalists(see pp. 112-113).
180
RichardKing
fled renderingof the term, his descriptionof 'Hinduism' as "macrocosmically one though microcosmicallymany, a polycentricphenomenon imbuedwith the same life-sap, the boundariesand (micro)centres
seeming to merge and overlap in a complexus of oscillating tensions,"74is likely to continue to cause misunderstanding,just as it is
is also likely to be appropriatedby the inclusivism of Neo-Vedanta
(which attemptsto subsume Buddhism [in particular]under the umbrellaof an absolutismof the AdvaitaVedantavariety)and Hindu nationalist groups alike. Although the moder IndianConstitution[article 25 (2)] classifies all Buddhist,Jainsand Sikhs as 'Hindu,'this is unacceptablefor a numberof reasons.Firstly,because it rides roughshod
over religious diversity and established group-affiliations.Secondly,
such an approachignores the non-Brahmanicaland non-Vedic elements of these traditions.Fundamentally,such assimilationeffectively
subvertsthe authorityof membersof these traditionsto speakfor themselves. In the last analysis,Neo-Vedanticinclusivismremainsinappropriatefor the simple reason that Buddhistsand Jains do not generally
see themselvesas followers of sectariandenominationsof "Hinduism."
Lipner'sappeal to 'polycentricism'and perspectivismas characteristic of Hindu thought also fails to salvage a recognizable sense of
Indianreligious unity since it amountsto statingthatthe unity of "Hinduism"(or Hinduta) can be found in a relativisticrecognition of perspectivein a greatdeal of Hindudoctrineand practice.This will hardly
sufffice if one wishes to use the term"Hinduism"in a way which is in
any meaningfulrespectclassifiableas a 'religion' in the modem Western sense of the term. One might wish to postulate "Hinduism"as an
underlyingculturalunitybut this too is likely to proveinadequateonce
one moves beyond generalizedexaminationand appealsto culturalhomogeneity.Yet even if one accepts "Hinduism"as a culturalratherthan
as a specifically religious unity, one would then need to acknowledge
the sense in which it was no longer identifiableas an "ism,"thereby
renderingthe term obsolete or at best downrightmisleading. To continue to talk of "Hinduism"even as a broad culturalphenomenonis
74 J. Lipner(1996), ibid., p. 110.
181
as problematicas the postulationof a unified culturaltraditionknown

as "Westernism."There are general featuresof both Indianand Western culturewhich one can pinpointand analyse to a certaindegree, but
neitherterm shouldbe reified.
Indologist Wilhelm Halbfass has attacked the claim that "Hinduism"is an Orientalistconstructionby appealingto the universality
of the concept of Dharmain pre-moder Hinduthought.
We cannot reduce the meanings of dharma to one general principle; nor is
there one single translationthat would cover all its usages. Nevertheless, there
is coherence in this variety;it reflects the elusive, yet undeniablecoherence of
Hinduismitself, its peculiarunity-in-diversity.75
Accordingto Halbfass,despite specific "sectarian"allegiances (e.g.

to Vaisnavismor Saivism)the theoreticiansandliteraryrepresentatives
of these traditions"relateandreferto one another,juxtapose or coordinate their teachings, and articulatetheir claims of mutualinclusion or
transcendence"in a mannerindicativeof a wider sense of Hinduunity
and identity.76However,the 'elusive' glue which apparentlyholds together the diversityof Indianreligious traditionsis not furtherelaboratedupon by Halbfass,nor is this 'unity-in-diversity'as 'undeniable'
as he suggests. As we have seen, the nineteenthcentury Orientalists
tended to postulate an underlyingunity to Hindu religious traditions
because they tended to view Indian religion from a WesternChristian perspective.Halbfassat least is willing to admitthatthe reality of
"Hinduism"is "elusive"andthatthe use of the term 'religion' to translate the concept of Dharmais problematic.77Nevertheless,in my view
he fails to appreciatethe sense in which the postulation of a single,
underlyingreligious unity called "Hinduism"requiresa highly imaginative act of historicalreconstruction.To appealto the Indianconcept
of Dharma as unifying the diversity of Hindu religious traditionsis
75 Wilhelm Halbfass (1988), India and Europe,p. 333.
76 WilhelmHalbfass,"TheVedaand the
Identityof Hinduism,"in Halbfass(1991),
Traditionand Reflection:Explorationsin Indian Thought (State University of New
YorkPress, Albany,N.Y), p. 15.
77 See Halbfass (1988), India and Europe,ch. 18.
182
RichardKing
moot sinceDharmais not a principlewhichis amenableto a single,

in diversewaysby a
universalinterpretation,
beingin factappropriated
(allof whomtendedto definetheconceptin
varietyof Indiantraditions
andidentity).TheappealtoDharma
termsof theirowngroup-dynamic
in thesamesensethatan appealto the
thereforeis highlyquestionable
notionof the Covenantwouldbe in establishingthatJudaism,ChristianityandIslamwereactuallysectarianoffshootsof a singlereligious
tradition.
Despiteall of theseproblems,onemightarguethattherearea numberof reasonswhy one shouldretaintheterm"Hinduism."
Firstly,the
level.
termremainsusefulon a general,superficialandintroductory
have
movements
nineteenth
the
that
since
it
is
clear
century,
Secondly,
arisenin Indiawhichroughlycorrespondto the termas it has been
understoodby Orientalists.
Indeed,as I have argued,Orientalistaccountshave themselveshad a significantrole to play in the rise of
now existsin a sensein whichit cersuchgroups.Thus,"Hinduism"
nineteenth
the
not
before
did
century!Thirdly,one mightwish
tainly
thatits radito retainthe term,as Lipnerdoes, with the qualification
an
cally polytheticnaturebe understood.Such approachwouldneed
atin approachanddrawparticular
to be thoroughlynon-essentialist
the criss-crossingpatterns
tentionto the rupturesanddiscontinuities,
and 'familyresemblances'whichare usuallysubsumedby unreflecfor instance,has
tive andessentialistusageof the term.Ferro-Luzzi,
understood
to be a
be
suggestedthat the term "Hinduism"should
concept,polytheticbecauseof its radically
'polythetic-prototypical'
in the sense thatthe termis
heterogenousnature,and 'prototypical'
and
Indiansto referto a particuWesterners
both
used
by
frequently
featuresof Hinduismfunctionas
laridealizedconstruct.Prototypical
sucheitherbecauseof theirhighfrequencyamongstHindus(e.g. the
worshipof deitiessuch!iva, KrsnaandGanesa,templeworship,the
practiceofpujaetc.),orbecauseof theirprestigeamongstHindus(e.g.
the so-called'high'cultureof Hindus,i.e., the Brahmanical
concepts
of dharma, samsara, karman, advaita, visistadvaita etc.), which re-
forcontemporary
normativeorprototypical
mainimportant
paradigms
183
Hinduself-identity,althoughonly actuallybelievedin by a minority.

Withregardto thislattercategory,Ferro-Luzzi
suggeststhat,
Even thoughonly a minorityof Hindusbelieve in them or even knows them they
enjoy the greatestprestigebothamongeducatedHindusandWesterners.Besides,
their influence upon Hindus tends to increase now with the spreadof education
[and literacy one might add]. The prototypeof a Hindu might be a person who
worships the above deities, visits temples, goes on a pilgrimage and believes in
the above concepts. Undoubtedly,such personsexist but they are only a minority
amongst Hindus.78
In my view,however,theproblemsderivingfromthe use of "Hinduism"make it inappropriate

as a termdenotingthe heterogeneity
of 'Hindu'religiosityin the pre-colonialera.Nevertheless,whatever
of the term"Hinduism,"
one's view on the appropriateness
the abandonmentof essentialism,ratherthanfacilitatingvaguenessanddisorder,opensup the possibilityof new directionsin the studyof South
Asianreligionandculture.Indeed,a properacknowledgement
of the
of
Indian
as
a
heterogeneity
religiosity, providedby postcolonialcritiqueof homogenizingandhegemonicdiscourses(whetherWesternor
Indian),also allowsfor thepossibilityof subalternresponsesto dominantideologicalconstructsandthe culturalandpoliticalelitismthat
theytendto support.
Conclusions
As scholarssuch as Said and RonaldInden have argued,the

studyof Asianculturesin the Westhas generallybeen characterized
by an essentialismwhichposits the existenceof distinctproperties,
qualitiesor 'natures'which differentiate"Indian"culturefrom the
West. Westernscholarshave also tendedto presupposethat such
of that
analysiswas an accurateand unproblematic
representation
whichit purportedto explain,and thatas educatedWesterners
they
werebetterplacedthanIndiansthemselvesto understand,
classifyand
describeIndianculture.
78 G.
Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi(1991), 'The Polythetic-PrototypeApproachto Hinduism,"in Sontheimerand Kulke (eds.) (1991), ibid., p. 192.
184
RichardKing
Simplisticallyspeaking,we can speakof two formsof Orientalist

discourse,the first,generallyantagonisticandconfidentin European
thesecond,generallyaffirmative,
enthusiasticandsuggessuperiority,
tive of Indiansuperiorityin certainkey areas.Both formsof Orientalism,however,makeessentialistjudgementswhichfosteran overly
simplisticandhomogenousconceptionof Indianculture.Nevertheless,
it is important
to acknowledgethatOrientalistdiscoursesarenotunivocal,norcantheybe simplisticallydismissedas meretools of Europeanimperialistideology.Thus,the 'new' Indianintelligentsia,educatedin coloniallyestablishedinstitutions,andaccordingto European
culturalstandards,
theromanticist
elementsin Orientalist
appropriated
and
the
idea
of
a
dialogues promoted
spirituallyadvancedandancient
which was the religionof the
religioustraditioncalled "Hinduism,"
Indian'nation'.In this manner,Western-inspired
Orientalistandnationalistdiscoursespermeated
andwereapindigenousself-awareness
in
anti-colonial
discourses
Indians
themselves.
However,such
plied
by
indigenousdiscoursesremaindeeplyindebtedto Orientalist
presuppositionsandhavegenerallyfailedto criticizetheessentialiststereotypes
embodiedin suchnarratives.
Thisrejectionof Britishpoliticalhegebut
from
a
which
still acceptsmanyof theEuropean
mony,
standpoint
aboutIndianculture,is whatAshisNandyhas called
presuppositions
'thesecondcolonization'of India.
In this regard,the natureof Indianpostcolonialself-identityprovides some supportfor Gadamer'ssuggestionthatone cannoteasily
escapethe normativeauthorityof tradition,for, in opposingBritish
colonialrule,Hindunationalists
didnot fully transcendthepresuppositionsof theWest,butratherlegitimated
WesternOrientalist
discourse
in
a
manner
did
which
not
by responding
fundamentally
questionthe
Orientalists'
paradigm!
the
of the political,ecoThrough coloniallyestablishedapparatus
nomic and educationalinstitutionsof India, contemporaryIndian
self-awareness
remainsdeeplyinfluencedby Westernpresuppositions
aboutthenatureof Indiaculture.Theprimeexampleof thisbeingthe
developmentsince the nineteenthcenturyof an indigenoussense of
Indiannationalidentityandthe constructionof a single "world"re-
185
This religionis now the cognitivesite of

ligion called"Hinduism."
movements(such
a powerstrugglebetweeninternationally-oriented
Hindu
as ISKCONand the Rxamakrsna
Mission)and contemporary
nationalistmovements(such as the VishwaHinduParishadand the
Sangh).Theprizeon offeris to be ableto deRashtriyaSvayamsevak
finethe 'soul' or 'essence'of Hinduism.My thesishasbeenthatthis
'essence'didnotexist(atleastin thesensein whichWesternOrientalHindumovementshavetendedto representit)
ists andcontemporary
untilit wasinventedin thenineteenthcentury.Insofaras suchconceptionsof Indiancultureandhistoryprevailandthemythof 'Hinduism'
Indianidentitiesremainsubjectto theinfluence
persists,contemporary
of a westernizingandneo-colonial(as opposedto trulypostcolonial)
orientalism.79
of ReligiousStudies
Department
Universityof Stirling
RICHARD KING
Stirling,Scotland,FK9 4LA, United Kingdom
79This paper is part of a larger project examining the interface between postcolonial theory and the study of religion. See RichardKing (1999), Orientalismand
Religion. Post-colonial Theory,India and "theMystic East" (Routledge,London and
New York).
A TALE OF TWO TIMES: PREACHING IN THE LAIrER AGE

OF THE DHARMA1
JAMIEHUBBARD
Summary
Sharinga cyclicalcosmogonywith otherIndianworldviews,Buddhismis orwith specifichistoricalevents,lookinginstead

dinarilythoughtto be unconcerned
of temporalbecomingas the goal of religious
towardsthe individualtranscendence
to
this
One
prevailingattitudeis thetraditionof the declineof
practice. counterpoint
the dharma,premiseduponthe historicaluniquenessor specificityof 5akyamuni's
teachingsandan attendanteschatologicalconsciousnessof temporaldistancefrom
theLotusSutrapresentsbotha
thetimeof theteacherandhis teachings.Interestingly,
of i,kyamuni'slifetime.Nichiren,
andhistoricallyuniqueinterpretation
transcendent
to thehistoricalspecificityof gakyamuniandhis
amongothers,attachedimportance
LotusSutrato demandattentionto thepreaching
and
understood
the
hence
teachings,
or evangelicalspreadof the trueteachings.
I. Introduction
A. Linear and cyclical time
Long held assumptions dictate a fundamental difference between
Western and Eastern notions of time and history: whereas the former
are linear and finite, giving human history a particularistic reality and
even urgency, the latter are cyclical and infinite, rendering human
history, and hence human action - ethical action - within that history inconsequential. The Judaic messianic tradition and its Christian
refiguration as eschatological promise/fulfillment are taken as superb
examples of the linear orientation, premised as they are on one-time
1 This
Conferenceon
paperwas originallypresentedat the ThirdInternational
theLotusSutra(Tokyo,1997)andI amgratefulto GeeneReevesandJanNattierfor
workon the decline
theircomments;portionsare also drawnfrommy forthcoming
in ChineseBuddhism.
of the dharmaanddevelopments
? Koninklijke
NUMEN, Vol. 46
Preaching in the LatterAge of the Dharma
187
events that erupt into human history and change it (or end it) forever, teleologically and inevitably moving to a final perfection. This
eschatological promise of final perfection is contrastedwith a cyclical Indic cosmogony that rendersthe notion of a final end to world
history meaningless, lost to the greater significance of cosmic repetition. In this vision there is no final end to history, no world telos,
and, therefore, ultimately no progress at all. We should note that it
is the fate of humanityqua society that is seen to be at stake here,
with the Western,linear vision of time functioningas a theodicy that,
based upon the belief in a perfected and final future, engenders as
well the specifics of a forward-movingand historicallyspecific soteriology throughwhich it may be or must be effected. More importantly
for our purposes, however, is the ethical importanceattachedto human action in such a "one chance only" view of history,an emphasis
that is lacking in a transcendentor existential view of time. Thomas
Altizer, for example, has been one of the strongest advocates of the
need for a historical reading of Judeo/Christianeschatology, for in
a spiritualizationof the revolutionaryimpulse of that view of time
"Jesusis detachedfrom history and viewed as an 'existential' Word"
and thereby"faithceases to be rebellion and becomes, instead, either
escape or submission"whereas "genuine Christianexistence must be
directed to a rebellious attack upon the 'realities' of profane existence, and it is to just this attackthat Jesus' ethical message calls the
disciple" (Altizer 1961: 102, 110-111).
B. The eternal return
The Indic approach,on the other hand, as Heinrich Zimmer characterizedit decades ago, is exactly individualand transcendentrather
than social and historical,leading to a "fundamentallyskeptical attitude toward social progress."He writes,
This viewpoint [of world history] from on high is not to be sharedby the chorus
of actors, by the gods and demons, engrossed by their roles, but is achieved
throughthe supremealoofness of the ascetic renunciationof giva, and through
his attitudeof spiritualindifference. To reach this perfection of his, is, among
188
Jamie Hubbard
men, a privilege reserved for single, outstanding individuals, saints, ascetics,

and yogin, who transcend the Maya of phenomenal existence by their own
efforts; but the world-process as a whole is not meant for a gradual progress
towardperfection. It is the peculiarglory of Westernidealism, with Christianity
broadening into progressive humanitarianism,to have conceived such a goal,
and to foster an ardentfaith which embarksagain and again, after each setback,
on its quest for collective perfection (Zimmer: 168).
Perhapsthe most well-knownproponentof this contrasthas been

studiesof cosmogonyandeschaMirceaRliade,whose comparative
a primitiveview
tologyled to his elaborationof the "EternalReturn,"
of timeandhistorycharacterized
by cyclicalaccountsof thecountless
To these "countlessbeginnings
time.
world
of
ends
and
beginnings
the
and ends"he contrastsan "innovationof the firstimportance,"
doctrineof a singularbeginning,linearprogression,
Judeo-Christian
and a triumphalendtimewhichrepresentsthe forsakingof "thecircularTimeof the EternalReturn[to]becomea linearandirreversible
Time... [that]also representsthe triumphof a SacredHistory"(Eliade: 64-65).
On firstreadingone is temptedto simplyidentifythe many 19th

and early 20th centuryEuro-centricconstructionsthat informthis
includingan evolutionaryor teleologicalview of hisunderstanding,
with Christianitythe developmentalhighpoint,an
tory/humankind
historicalpositivismor realism,anda somewhatfacile Weber-esque
form of asceticism
view of the "East"as embodyingan otherworldy
and
thatprecludesfindingmeaningor valuein worldlyparticipation
social development.Still, and in spite of the manyalternativeread(e.g., the mythof
ings thathavebeen offeredof this generalization
eternalreturnbreedsequanimityand optimismnot resignationand
a
eschatologicalthinkinghas also "suffered"
despair,Judeo-Christian
Westis likewisefreedfrom
transcendental
inversion,the postmodern
linear
and
historicalpositivism
history,etc.),by andlargethe general
eschatonversusa cyclic
schemeof lineartime and world-historical
ahistorical
cosmos and transcendent,
salvation,with its variousnuances, has been upheld(King: 177, 181; O'Leary:29-30). Altizer,
for example,one of the few Christiantheologiansto give Buddhist
Preaching in the Latter Age of the Dharma
189
eschatological thinking serious and sympathetic consideration, concluded that even the Zen negation of "Buddhisttrancendentalism...
[that] fully parallels the radical Christiannegation of transcendence"
represents"a form of 'apocalypticism'in which nothing actuallyhappens, in which there is neither world- nor self-transformation"(Altizer 1970: 229-230). Similarly,the Buddhologist Roger Corless has
writtenthat,
History is an academic discipline that has developed in the western hemisphere.
The western hemispherehas been strongly influenced by the Abrahamictraditions (Judaism,Christianity,and Islam) and theirconceptionof time as something
createdby God in and throughwhich God manifests himself. On this view, time
is meaningful.It has a beginning and an end, and the end is a goal, so that there
is development, a progressive achievement of the goal... History as a secular
discipline has many of the featuresof the Abrahamictradition'sview of time...
the assumption that time is meaningful and that development is real does not
seem to have been given up by even the most radicalcritics of the philosophy of
history. Buddhism, on the other hand, sees things as changing over time, but it
does not see things as becoming more meaningful as they change. Change, for
Buddhism, is a primarycharacteristicof cyclic existence (samsara),and history
is just a lot of change. All that we can say about history,Buddhistically,is that
as time goes on we get more of it (Corless: xix).
Buddhism is thus likewise seen to be concerned with individual

liberationto a timeless truthin which sequentialtime is overshadowed
by cyclical recurrenceand the historical past by the predicted future
appearanceof the BuddhaMaitreya,whose appearanceis yet so many
billions of aeons in the future as to render it meaningless in terms
of currentevents. Thus Buddhists, following the cyclical model and
lacking a world-historicaleschaton, are seen to define the end of all
things not as a consumationof world history but ratheras individual
liberationfrom it, as with Zimmer'sgiva. WinstonKing, for example,
sums up this attitudein comparisonwith the "world-shatteringevents"
of Westerneschatologies, noting that Buddhism,
points to the individual-existentialsituation as being more truly eschatological,
i.e. as having to do with the trulyultimate [Nibbana]... Nibbanawas essentially
non- or super-historical,available limitedly in even the worst ages... It has
essentially nothing to do with historical events but is human being face to face
190
Jamie Hubbard
withUltimateIneffableBeing,a statethatfullyandfinallytranscends
historical
andcosmicevent,andindividuallife anddeath(King:182).
C. Specifictime in Buddhisthistory
Leavingaside for the momentthe validityof the overallgeneralizationas well as the prescriptiveevaluationof ZimmerandEliade,
we can of coursefind any numberof traditions,persons,andhistoriographieswithinBuddhismthatwouldseem to present,at the very
of concernfor specificand socialhistorileast, minorcounterpoints
cism to the overallthemeof recurrance
andindividualtranscendence
if not a fully world-historical
eschaton.The Kdlacakra("Wheelof
inherentin the"Three
Time"),Jien'sGukansh6,thedispensationalism
of
the
the
and
Wheel," variousBuddhistnationalnarratives,
Turnings
otherexamplesmay be cited in this regard.Anothersuch counterpoint is the Buddhisttraditionof the decline and/ordemise of its
own teaching,a traditionthatis often consideredto parallelJudeoChristianeschatologicalthinking.Indeed,the storiesthatrelatethese
traditions, most of which are patently ex-post facto descriptionsof
actualeventscast in the formof prophecies,evincea strongconcern

for specifichistory,lineartimetables,thelocationof historicalfigures
withinthoselinearchronologies(usuallyas well a meansof locating
oneself within the same chronologies),and, most conspicuously,a
greatconcernfor the temporalrelationshipbetweenthe presenttime
andthe pasttime of the historicalBuddha.
Unlike the cosmic and cyclical schemesof multiple,coexisting
Buddhasthe teachingof the declineof the dharmais concernedneither with recurringeventsnor grandvisions of eternalitybut with
the decliningfortunesof the uniqueteachingsof a singularhistorical
figurebroughtaboutnot by the inevitableandrelentlessprogressof
the cosmosbutby specificand avoidablehumanfailings,and,most
humanfailingsof the Buddhistcommunity.Ratherthan
interestingly,
dwarfed
being
by the greatersignificanceor ultimacyof the cosmic
the
cycle, theindividual'slocationin temporalrelationto gakyamuni,
Buddhaof ourhistoricaltime,thustakeson a specialurgency.Hence
191
too successivelydistantageswereseento requiredifferent"dispensations"of thedharmaso as to accordwiththetimesof the practitioner,

to the PureLandtraditionand one which renan idea fundamental
derstemporalchangeimportantindeed.Concludingher overviewof
the many Buddhisttraditionsof its own decline, for example,Jan
Nattierarguedthat,at leastin thesetraditions,"thequestionof 'what
time it is' has mattered,and at times has matteredvery much,to a
substantialproportionof Buddhistbelievers"(Nattier:141). Indeed,
Nattierhas arguedthatthe overallcontextof the declinetraditionis
analogousto thatwhich inspiredthe prophetsof the Hebrewbible,
whosesharpsocialandreligiouscritiquessurelycompriseone of the
greatsourcesof socio-ethicalthinking.
D. The declineof the dharmain EastAsianBuddhism
In EastAsia, however,a curiouschangeoccurs:on the one hand,
the a-historical,cosmologicaland cyclicaltraditionsof innumerable
Buddhasof the past,present,and futuregive rise to the imperative
forhistoricalchangefoundin themessianicandapocalypticMaitreya
On the otherhand,the morehistoricaltraditionsof demovements.2
cline are refiguredin such a way that the declineis understoodto
be existentialratherthanhistorical,and essentialor constitutiveof
humanexperienceratherthanacquiredandhenceavoidableor alterof thistrend,Shinran
theculmination
able.Thus,perhapsrepresenting
wrotein the thirteenthcenturythatthe declineof the dharmawas a
matterof existentialrealityfor living beings in the age of the true
dharmaas well as the age of decline,and, more recently,the Kyoto School philosopherTanabeHajimediscussedthe declineof the
evil"of humanity;bothrequirethe
dharmain termsof a "constitutive
truth
of
the
dharmakiya,a timelessand transcendent
savingpower
Life. Although
notably,by the Buddhaof Immeasurable
represented,
2 See, for
example, Daniel L. Overmeyer,Folk Buddhist Religion: Dissenting
Sects in Late TraditionalChina (Cambridge:HarvardUniversity Press, 1976) and
Alan Sponbergand Helen Hardacre,eds. Maitreya,The FutureBuddha (Cambridge:
CambridgeUniversity Press, 1988).
192
Jamie Hubbard
this shiftperhapsrepresentsa returnto whatWinstonKingreferred

to as the "moretrulyeschatological"concernfor the transcendence
of the "individual-existential
situation,"a returnto the "true"emBuddhist
tradition
of
the
(similarto Zimmer'stranscendent
phasis
view of the Hindutradition),it can also be seen as analogousto the
inversionthatAltizerhas criticizedin Christianeschatranscendental
tologicalthinking.If thisis indeedthe case,does thisalsovalidatethe
view of Buddhismas, in the end, unconcernedwith lineartime and
to that
world-historical
eschatologies,and,by extension,contributing
oft-notedlackof socialandethicalconsciousnessin the Buddhist,especiallyEastAsian Buddhist,traditions?And wheredoes the Lotus
Sutra,conspicuousin its emphasison the cosmicandinfiniteyet also
givingrise to some of the moresociallyactivistBuddhisttraditions,
fit into this scheme?I believe that the answerto this questionlies
in its equalemphasison the decline of the teachingsof the historical Buddha,an emphasisexpressedas an imperativeto preserveand
spreadthoseteachings,in short,the imperativeto preach,an important but little-studiedaspectof the Buddhisttradition.3In orderto
betterunderstandthese issues, let me brieflyoutlinethe originsof
the declinetraditionbeforeturningto the way in whichthis tradition
was incorporated
into the LotusSutra.
II. The true dharma and its decline
A. Not the transcendent

truththatdisappears
At manypointswithinthe Buddhisttraditionwe finda dynamic
truth(dhartensionbetweentherhetoricof anunbounded,
a-temporal
of that truthas the teachingsof a hismata)and the representation
toricalperson,and it is withinthe latter,thatis, withinBuddh-ism,
the vicissitudesof the teachingsin the world,thatthe traditionof the
3 Some recent articles that deal with this
topic include MahindaDeegalle, "Buddhist preachingand Sinhala Religious Rhetoric:Medieval BuddhistMethodsto Popularize Theravada"in Numen, Vol. 44 (1997); Andrew Olendzki, "Mission and Dialogue: A Paradox?"in Buddhist-ChristianStudies, Vol. 17 (1997).
193
andits declinetakesshape.Thuswe should

truedharma(saddharma)
notefromthe verybeginningthatit was neverthe dharmaconceived
thatwas believed
as the causaluniformityof all things(dhammatd)
to declineor disappear.As is well known,thatwill remainthe same
Part
whetherthe tathagataswereto ariseor not to arise(Woodward,
II: 21). Hui-yuan(523-592),for example,lamentingthe lot of the
Buddhistchurchat the handsof EmperorWu, states,
This is the fate of our time... it is truly lamentable that we are unable to
attend [the Buddha-dharma]at this time, but the truth of the Dharma cannot
be vanquished!I ask that you virtuous ones please understandthis and not be
overly grieved (T #2060, 50.490c).
This is more importantthanhas usuallybeen recognized,for it

directsour attentionto the lived traditionof the teachingsas the
locus of the timeless,ahistoricaltruthsthatmoreoften arethe focus
of doctrinalstudy.Thatis to say,ratherthanthe essentialtruthof the
dharmaper se it highlightsthe importanceof the teachings,andthe
spiritedrivalryover who maintainsthe correctteachingsare at the
core of both the productionof the declinetraditionsas well as their
latersectarianuse.
B. Originsof saddharma
1. Nikdya Buddhism
All religionsthatstem fromthe vision, charisma,and leadership

authorityof a historicalfounderface a turningpointafterhe or she
passesawayandis no longerdirectlyavailableto determinematters
of doctrineandpracticeamongthe followers.Buddhismwas no exin light of the fact that Aikyamuni
ceptionto this rule, particularly
refusedto appointa successor,declaringinsteadthatthe dharmawas
to guide the communityafterhis passing.Thusthe yearsfollowing
iSkyamuni'spassingsaw any numberof occasionson which quesof dharmaarose,quicklyleadingto codified
tions of interpretation
versionsof institutionalrules and teachings,and the traditionalso
preservesstoriesof the variouscouncilsand othermeanswhereby
194
Jamie Hubbard
the communitysoughtto preservethoseauthoritative

teachings.It is
in this contextof the timefollowingthe historicalBuddha,then,that
becomes important,
the questionof preservationand interpretation
and it was quicklyseen that,all otherthingsconsidered,conservative literalismoffereda formidablemeansof accuratepreservation
literalism"I amreof the dharma.By "conservative
andpropagation
the
of
to
a
resistance
to
acceptedcanon,
changeany portion
ferring
including,as we shallsee, the languageandliteraryformsas well as
the content.
one of
In additionto councilsand otherformsof canon-creation,
to secure
themeanswherebytheearlyBuddhistcommunityattempted
this conservativeliteralismwas throughthe rhetoricof the declineor
of the saddhamma(Skt. saddharma),the "true
even disappearance
dhamma"or the "gooddhamma."
Althoughsaddhammacan simply
meana good or auspiciousthing(as, for example,in the "sevensadof consequence,learningthe
dhamma"of faith,shame,appreciation
teachings,vigor,mindfullness,andwisdom),in the contextof thedethe Pali literatureit is used to indicatethe
cline traditionthroughout
andwhichwill be lost withoutdue
teachingsthatmustbe safeguarded
diligence.In otherwords,saddhammais usedto referto the authorito mis-interpretations,
tativeteachings(pariyatti)in contradistinction
false attributions,
mis-quotes,and otherdeviationsfrom the proper
of the teaching,andit was arguedthatlack
andaccuratetransmission
wouldlead
of the saddhamma
of attentionto this propertransmission
to its disappearance.
The Aiguttara-Nikdya,
for example,tells us that we must guard
not only againstthose who wouldfabricatethe wordof the Buddha
fromwholecloth,thatis, thosewho wouldclaim"as
(buddhavacana)
whathe neversaidor uttered,andhe who
utterancesof theTathagata,
but also against
denies whatwas said or utteredby the Tathagata,"
the one "whoproclaimsas alreadyexplaineda discoursewhichneeds
explanation(neyattha),andhe who proclaimsas needingexplanation
a discoursealreadyexplained(nitattha)"(Woodwardvol. 1: 54).4
4 Cf. T #2, 592c-593a. Ron Davidson, in "Standardsof ScripturalAuthenticity"
(Chinese BuddhistApocrypha [Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990], 294-
195
that shows a concern for

Another sutta from the Anguttara-Nikcaya
even literalorthodoxywarnsagainst"thewrongexpressionof the

of the meaningof it,"
letter(of the text) and wronginterpretation
of the true
whichwould lead to the "confusionand disappearance"
dhamma,for "if the letterbe wronglyexpressed,the interpretation
of the meaningis also wrong."On the otherhand,"if the letterbe
of the meaningis also right"
rightlyexpressed,the interpretation
the non-confusion,to the nonwhich leads to the "establishment,
of
true
Dhamma"
(Woodward1951,vol. 1: 53). Here
disappearance
we are clearly(andquite"literally")told thatit is the letterof the
of the meaning")that is of
law and not the spirit("interpretation
of the dhamma.5The section
centralimportancein the preservation
on the confounding of the saddhamma from the Aiguttara-Nikdya
similarlywarnsthata carelessattitudetowardsthehearing,mastering,
contemplating,
analyzing,andpracticingthe dhammawouldlead to
its disappearance(Hare vol. III: 132).6 The order -
hearing and
masteringfirst and practicelast - clearlyindicatesthe priorityof

orthodoxyrelativeto orthopraxy.It is somewhatironic,of course,
theconcernfor accurate
that,as in thewritingsof theNew Testament,
transmissionof the true teachingsactuallyindicatesthe existence
of differinginterpretations,
differingvisions, andno doubtdiffering
there
transmissions.
areothertraditions,doctrinaldeviation
Although
anddissensionwithinthe sanghais by farthemostconspicuousthreat
in the earlytexts;no doubtthe
to thepreservation
of thesaddhamma
97), notes that the complementaryattitudeis that the dharmais more than the literal
wordsof the SakyamuniBuddha,andencompassesall thatis spokenfrom the vantage
point of the truthper se (dharmatd)or that conduces to its realization,including the
teachingof previous Buddhasas well as his enlighteneddisciples. Still, the tendency
has been to try to validateteachingby somehow or anothergiving it the legitimacy of
the more literal meaning of Buddhavacana(RobertA. McDermott,"Scriptureas the
Wordof the Buddha,"Numen, 31 [July 1984] 30-31; see also Davidson, 303-305).
5 The
countervailing attitude is found in the Buddha's well-known injunction
against formalizing the language of the dharma, preferringinstead, for example,
regional dialects (Davidson: 292-293).
6 See also Hare: 180-181, 239-40; Woodward1951, vol. IV: 49-50.
196
Jamie Hubbard
wereamongthosenewteachings
teachingsof theemergingMahayana
andinterpretations
the
rhetoric
of decline.
targetedby
2. Mahayana
Justas the nikdyarhetoricof the declineof the dharmawas really

an exhortationto preservethe dharmaand nevermeantto indicate
thatthe teachingswereactuallygone,theMahayanaappropriation
of
thatrhetoricremainsfundamentally
a rhetoricof doctrinallegitimacy;
it functionsnot, however,by arguingthatthe declinecan be staved
off by hewingto a conservative
orthodoxybutratherby claimingthat
its own doctrinesarenot only superiorin truthvaluebutuniquelyefficaciousin the "latterdays"(pascimakala)afterthe passingof the
Buddha.7The first step to the eventualuse of the declinemotif as
of the dharmawas the Mahayana
legitimizinga new "dispensation"
transformation
the
terms
of
of its deployment.Thatis, whilethe Macontinued
the
hayana
strategyof claiminga literalformof orthodoxy
for theirtraditionsandtexts (for example,the story
(buddhavacana)
of Nagarjuna's
recoveryof the Perfectionof Wisdomtexts),theyalso
re-figuredthe declinemotifin such a way as to changeits meaning
froma time when the dharmawouldbe gone or supplantedby false
dharmato a time when its own superiordharmawouldnot merely
still be available,but, as provenpreciselyby its persistence,tested
andcertifiedin its superiority.
No doubtawarethat the most commonchronologiesof decline
describedthe time of theirown activityandlikely sensitiveas well
to the chargeof creating"new"or "counterfeit"
dharma,we findthat
one of the mostprominentuses of the declinemotifin the Mahayana
is as a "proofmetaphor"
to stylisticallyindicateits own superiortruth
valuein sucha time.Self-consciousin its reactionto theconservative
nikdiyaattemptto preservethe tradition,this strainis both highly
7 It might be more accurate to say that the Mahayana texts, perhaps self-consciously, include a move to argue their legitimacy not only upon their literal claim
to the status of buddhavacanabut also upon their claim to better representtruth
(dharmatd)per se.
197
specific ("this text is the saddharmaand will be uniquelyefficacious

in such troubledtimes") at the same time it claims the high groundof
the universal,hearkeningmore to the truthper se or dharmatathan its
historical encapsulation- like the truth-body(dharmakcya)of the
Buddha himself, the word of the Buddha is ever available to those
who will but listen. The Vajracchediki,for example, in speaking of
the "the future time, in the latter age, in the latter period, in the
latter five hundred years, when the True Dharma is in the process
of decay"8exhibits little concern with such a period as a historical
time of declining capacity: "Even at that time, Subhuti,there will be
bodhisattvaswho are gifted with good conduct, gifted with virtuous
qualities, gifted with wisdom, and who, when these words of the
Sutraare being taught, will understandtheir truth"(Nattier:31, 57).
The Vajracchediktspeaks of the "latterfive-hundredyears, when the
True Dharma is in the process of decay" only as an opportunityto
contrastits own continued efficacy. It thereby co-opted the topoi of
the nikdya rhetoric, asserting its superioritybased not simply on a
claim to represent literal and historical orthodoxy (buddhavacana)
but also on truthvalue and hence relevance even in a time of decay,
a time for which the "Hinayana"had alreadyprophesizedtheir own
lack of efficacy.9
8 See alsoNattier'sdiscussionof the SanskritandChinesevariantsof thisphrase:

33-37,91-94, 106n. 111;othertextsof thePrajnaparamita
corpuswhichuse substanially the same formulainclude The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom(trans.E. Conze,
Press,1975),328 (minusthereferenceto "thelatBerkeley:Universityof California

ter five-hundredyears")and the Suvikrdntavikrdmi-Pariprcchd
Prajnfpdramitd-Satra
(ed. by RyushoHikata,Kyoto:RinsenBook Co., 1983), 124 (Chinesetranslation

565 by Upasunya,T #231, 8.231b).
9 The Pratyutpannabuddhasammukhivasthitasamddhi-satra
even claims that it
TheSamddhiof Direct
will disappear
untilthe latterperiodof decay(PaulHarrison,
Institutefor BuddhistStudies,1990],96 ff)!
Encounter[Tokyo:TheInternational
Jamie Hubbard
198
III. Transcendentand particular time in the Lotus

A. The Immeasurabledurationof the True Dharma
The functionalorigins of the term saddhammawere not lost on the
a text which extols the
redactors of the Saddharmapundarfkasatra,
at the same time that
tradition
most inclusive ideal of the Buddhist
it is passionate in assertingits own status as the "truedharma"(saddharma)and "sole vehicle" (ekaydna).Similarly,the Lotus combines
a distinctly cosmic and cyclical view of the universe with the same
sort of specific and apologetic perspectivefound in the Vajracchedikd.
The former outlook, that is, the perspective of the eternal return,is
found in the many references to twenty minor kalpas of the True
Dharma followed by twenty intermediatekalpas of the Semblance,
or forty kalpas of each, or thirty-two kalpas of each, etc. and, of
course, in the central teaching of the immeasurablelifetime of the
Buddha.10
was
O Mahasthamaprapta,the life-span of the Buddha Bhismagarjitasvararaja
of
sands
of
the
as kalpas equal to forty myriads of kotis of nayutas
Ganges
River. The true Dharma abided for kalpas equal to the number of particles
in Jambudvipa.The derivativeDharma abided for kalpas equal to the number
of particles in the four continents. After having benefited the sentient beings,
the Buddha entered parinirvdna. After the extinction of the true and derivative Dharmas,there appearedin this land anotherBuddha who was also called
Bhismagarjitasvararaja,...In this way there appearedtwo myriads of kotis of
Buddhasone after another,all of whom had the same name (Kubo and Yuyama:
267-268).
Although not in the same place or even in the same context as

its references to the two periods of True and Semblance, like the
Vajracchedikdthe Lotus also speaks of the time "afterthe Tathagata's
final nirvana,in the latterage, the latterperiod, the latterfive-hundred
years, when the True Dharmais in decay."" The Chinese translation
10
E.g., T #262, 9.20c, 21a, 21c, 29c, passim.

11 Skt: tathdgatasya parinirvrtasyapaScime kale pascime samaye pascimdydm
pancadatydm saddhanna-vipralope vartamana, from Saddhannrmapundarika-satra,
edited by U. Wogiharaand C. Tsuchida (Tokyo: Sankib6 Book Store, 1958), 241.
199
evenuses theterm"mofa"or "finaldharma,"

possibly
by Kumarajiva
the first occurrenceof the term.12
Giventheuse of the two periodsof thedharmaandthepresenceof

declinemotif,manyare temptedto see the LotusSutraas a primary
sourcefor the tripartiteschemaof declinethatbecameso influential
in Japan(thatis, the threeperiodsof the TrueDharma,Semblance
Dharma,andFinalDharma).Although,as discussedbelow,I do think
so much
of orthodoxy"
thatit contributed
greatlyto the"hermeneutics
we needto be verycarefulin assessing
a partof thedeclinetraditions,
to the chronologicalorderingsof decline.Thatis, its
its contributions
usageof the two periodsof the dharmaare morelikely drawingon
the cosmologicaltraditionsthanthe toposof decline,whichexplains
why the settingsin which the periodsof the TrueDharmaand the
SemblanceDharmaappearare so exaggerated(myriadsof millions
of kalpas,kalpasequalto the numberof atomsin the continentof
etc.). Thustoo the cyclicalnatureof thesedescriptions,
Jambudvipa,
in which,afterthe two periodsof a Buddha'sdharma,a Buddhaof
the same namewill appear,as many as "twentyhundredthousand
of the samename.13Finally,andmost
myriad'sof kotisof Buddhas,"
telling,none of these cyclicaldescriptionsare of the durationof the
historicalBuddha'sdharma,whereastheinstancesof the declinemotif are typicallyrepresentedas the decline of gakyamuni'sdharma
(Nattier:85-86).
Further,althoughthe Lotuspresentsa cleartwo periodschemein
whichthe SemblanceDharmafollowsandis, at leastchronologically,
distinctfromthe periodof saddharma,whichis also chronologically
distinctfromthe lifetimeof the varioustathagatas(which,interestingly, addsup to "threeperiodsof the dharma"),thereis no sense
hereof a qualitativedifferencebetweenthe periods.The LotusSutra
does not speakof the two periodsin termsof decayor sequentialloss
of capacity,rather,as Nattierhas shown,this use of the Semblance
Dharmaindicatespreciselythatperiodafterthe deathof the Buddha
12 T #262, 9.37c.
13 E.g., T #262, 9.50c.
200
Jamie Hubbard
when his teachingswere available,hence "it refersto the real and

ongoingpresenceof the saddharma"(Nattier:86). But even this is
not the real point of this topos:the two periodsof the dharmaas
describedin the LotusSutraare ratherrelatedto the grandcosmic
dramaof the Buddha'simmeasurable
lifetime,the basicthemeof the
and
not
the
theme
In a mannertypicalof Indian
of
decline.14
sutra,
rhetoricalstyle, the Lotusbolstersthis dramawith incomprehensible
numbers(suchas "immeasurable,
innumerable
thousandsof myriads
of millionsof kalpas").Giventhatthe periodsof TrueDharmaand
SemblanceDharma(saddharmapratiripaka)
arenot usedin the same
partof the text or samecontextwith the "latter500 years"whenthe
TrueDharmais in decay(saddharma-vipralopa)it is not unreasonable
to assumethatwe havetwo entirelydifferentstrandsof the tradition

comingtogetherin the same text. Aside from the textualevidence
that the two representdifferenttopoi, thereis also a ratherglaring
doctrinalinconsistencyin the notionof a periodof the destruction
of
the dharmafollowingthe Buddha'sextinctionor finalnirvana,given
theLotusSutra'sinsistencethathis finalnirvanawas buta fictionand
his lifetimein fact is immeasurable.
We can thus concludethatthe
of
the
two
the
trope
periodsrepresents eternalreturnor the transcendentview, whereasthe declinemotif representsa concernfor linear
anduniquehistory.What,then,is the practicalthrustof thatconcern
for linearandspecifichistory?
B. The destructionof the TrueDharma:Saddharma-vipralopa
Althoughthe Lotusneverbecamea majorsourcein the earlyChinese developmentof the declinetradition,it is filled with reference
to decay,the "latter500 years,"andthe like in the contextof doctrinal persecution,concernfor teachingandconversion,anda polemic
14 Even in China it seems that the
settings and descriptions of the two periods
in the Lotus are much too far beyond a sense of history to inculcate any sense of
historicalor social foreboding,as the Lotus is not mentionedin the standardlists and
encyclopedias of decline texts such as the Fa yuan chu lin, which lists over fifteen
references to the decline but makes no mention of the Lotus (T #2122, 53.1005 ff).
201
assertivenessaboutits own message,and it is in this that I believe

we can see the significanceof its use of the declinemotif.Of course,
the most obviousexampleof this is the co-optingof saddharmafor
the title of the text itself (Hubbard,1995: 124-125).Thatis, much
like the Vajracchedik&,
the Lotususes the themeof the declinenot
in orderto wail and bemoanthe sad fate of the true dharmabut
ratheras an opportunity
to assertthe importanceof the hearkening
in sucha period.Thus,
to truedharma(albeitredefined),particularly
accordingto the text, due to the powerof the sutraitself therewill
still be thosewho will gaininnumerable
meritsandenterintonirvana
if theybutreceive,hold,preserve,andtransmitit.15In this way,and
as with the earliertraditions,the rhetoricof declineis deployedin
the Lotusnot to condemnmoraldecay but ratherto assertits own
importance.Indeed,if we examinethe specific instancesin which
this tropeoccurs,we findthatvirtuallyall referencesthatmakeuse
of the termsof the declinetradition(i.e., the "age of decay,""evil
"latterfive-hundred
age,""fivedefilements,"
years,""latterage after
and the like) are accompaniedby some
Sakyamuni'sparinirvdna,"
sort of declarationof the continuedefficacyof the Lotus,a vow to
spreadandteachit evenin sucha period,the abusethatits defenders
can expectto face in such a period,the meritthatwill accruefrom
teachingit, etc.16Broadlyspeakingthis rhetoricalcontextcan be divided into threetypes, thoughthereis considerableoverlapamong
them:1) the meritof preservingthe LotusSutrain the latterage and
the virtuesof thosewho do so; 2) how to preachthe LotusSutrain
the latterage; and 3) the faultsof those who rejectthe LotusSutra
in the latterage, typicallymixedwith the meritsof acceptingit. It is
also interestingthatthoseportionsof the Lotusgenerallythoughtto
15
E.g., T #262, 9.10b (Chapter2), 31a (Chapter 10), 38c (Chapter 14), etc.
See Jan Nattier, "The Candragarbha-satrain Central and East Asia" (Ph.D. thesis,
HarvardUniversity, 1988), Appendix 2 for a complete list of all references to the
"latterage" in the various versions of the Lotus.
16 Similarly,in the Mahdparivirvdna-sutra
use of a seven-hundredyear timetable
of decay, 'Though certain moral failings (especially on the part of the monks) are
mentioned, issues of doctrine are given greaterattention"(Nattier,p. 39).
202
Jamie Hubbard
be theearliest(i.e., chapters2-9) containno referencesto the decline,

which predominatein the middlelayer,suggestingthatthe decline
tropewas addedduringthe processof expansionas a meansof encouragingthose who had come underfire for preachingthe original
text.17This fits in well with my thesis that the centralmessageof
the declinetropeis the preachingof the dharma,for as ShioriRy6od
notes, the dominantthemeof the middlelayer of the Lotus(where
we find the majorityof referencesto the decline)is to "emphasize
the commandto propagatethe LotusSutrain societyas opposedto
the predictionsgivenin [theearlierchaptersof] the futureattainment
of buddhahood
by the disciples."'8Let us look brieflyat some exof
each
amples
category,and then considerthe effect thatthis had
on Nichiren,perhapsthe most famousdiscipleof the LotusSutra
andone who certainlytook seriouslyits messageof declineandthe
attendantneedto preachits truth.
1. Virtuesof preservingthe saddharmain the latter,evil age19
Know that anyone who preserves the Lotus Sutra
Is an ambassadorof the Buddha
Who feels compassion for sentient beings.
Those who preserve the Lotus Sutra
Were born here in this world,
Withholdingthemselves from the pure land
Out of their compassion for sentient beings.
Know that such people are born
Where and when they will.
They are born in this evil age
17 I am indebted to Jan Nattier for pointing this out to me.
18 Shiori
Ry6od, "The Meaning of the Formation and Structureof the Lotus
Sutra," in George J. Tanabe, Jr. and Willa Jane Tanabe, eds. The Lotus Sutra in
Japanese Culture(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989), 31.
19 For further examples of the virtue of preserving the true dharma see also
T #262, 9.31a (Chapter 10), 34a (Chapter 11), 37a (Chapter 14), 37c-38a (Chapter
14), 38b (Chapter 14), 39c (Chapter 14), 46a (Chapter 17), 51b (Chapter20), 54b
(Chapter23), 61b (Chapter20), and 62a (Chapter18).
203
To extensively expound the highest Dharma.

Such expoundersof the Dharmashould be revered
With offerings of divine flowers, perfumes,
Heavenlyjeweled clothing and exquisite celestial jewels.
Those who preserve the Sutra
In the evil age after my parinirvdna,
Should be paid homage with palms pressed togetherJust as one pays homage to the Bhagavat.
T #262, 9. 31a (Chapter10); Kubo and Yuyama:161-162
Bhagavat!If there are those who preserve this Sutra in the corruptand evil age
of the latter five hundredyears, I will protect them and rid them of their heavy
cares, make them attain happiness and allow no one to strike at them through
their weaknesses.
T #262, 9.61a (Chapter28); Kubo and Yuyama:321
2. Teaching the saddharma in the latter age20

After my passing into parinirvdna, during the latter five-hundredyears, you
must spreadit far and wide on the JambudvipaContinentand not allow it to be
destroyed... you should protect this Sutra with your transcendentpower. Why
is this? Because this Sutra is good medicine for the ills of the people on this
JambudvipaContinent.
T #262, 9.54c (Chapter23); Kubo and Yuyama:289
3. Rejecting the saddharma in the latter age21

If in the latter age there is anyone
Who preserves this Sutra,
I will dispatch him to the world of humans
To carry out the Tathagata'stask.
If throughoutone entire kalpa
20 For further
examples of the exhortationto spreadthe true dharmain the latter
age see also T #262, 9.37b (Chapter14), 37c (Chapter 14), 38b (Chapter 14), 38c
(Chapter14), 39a (Chapter14), and 51b (Chapter20).
21 For furtherexamples of the retributionfor rejection the Lotus in the latter age
see also T #262, 9.10b (Chapter2), 36b (Chapter 13), 36c (Chapter 13), and 62a
(Chapter28).
Jamie Hubbard
204
There is anyone with erring thoughts

Who always disparagesthe Buddha
With an angry complexion, the consequences of
His grave errorswill be incalculable.
If there is anyone who speaks
A hostile word even for an instant
About those who recite and preserve this Lotus Sutra,
His fault will be even greater.
T #262, 9.31a-b (Chapter 10); Kubo and Yuyama:162
In the evil age of the corruptkalpa
There are many fearful things.
People possessed by evil spirits
Will scorn and slanderus.
But we shall wear the armorof patience
Because we trust and revere the Buddha;
And we will persevereunder these difficulties
In order to teach the Sutra.
T #262, 9.36c (Chapter3); Kubo and Yuyama:193
Clearly, then, the primary use of the decline motif in the Lotus
Sutra is to argue for the need to preserve and spread its message,
that is, an exhortation to the preacher of the Lotus. The evil, latter
age is not, of course, the only context in which upholding and teaching the Lotus Sutra is extolled - indeed, this is one of the major
themes of the scripture. As I have earlier argued, "This reminds us
that, together with Christianity and Islam, Buddhism is a missionary
religion, and the role of the preacher as missionary [dharmabhdnaka]
is indeed forcefully argued throughout the Lotus Sutra. Thus, too, we
should remember that... the primary function of upaya is discovered
in the preaching activity of the bodhisattvas," that is to say, offering the gift of the dharma (Hubbard 1995: 127). Given the earlier
use of the decline motif to argue for a more conservative orthodoxy,
its re-deployment to justify the new dispensation of the Lotus must
represent a deliberate strategy of accommodation.
205
IV The evangelist Nichiren
Nichirenwas one who clearlyembracedthe importof the Lotus

Sutra'scombinationof the rhetoricof declinewith the missionand
virtueof preachingthetruedharma.Thatis, althoughtheLotusSutra,
the
as with Mahayanascripturesin general,may have appropriated
order
their
own
the
in
to
assert
traditionof
decline
orthodoxyor
truthvalue in such an age, for those like Nichirenwho came to
believe that they were actuallyliving in the predictedage of the
Chin.mofinaldharma(as the latterage hadcome to be understood,
fa, Jap.mappo),the issue was morepressing,and on this issue the
Lotusis forceful:duringthe periodof the latterdharmathe practical
is noneotherthanthatof thedharmabhdnaka,
thepreacher
imperative
of the dharma,specificallythe preacherof the true dharmaof the
Lotus Sutra. For Nichiren, the logic was easy: the supreme practice
andthe supreme
of theMahayanagenerallyis thatof the bodhisattva,
gift of the bodhisattvais the gift of the teachings,the gift of the
dharma.By Nichiren'stime,however,thereweremanyinterpretations
As JackieStone
of thedharmacontendingfortheplaceof saddharma.
has put it, "Nichiren'ssearchfor a teachingvalidin the mappoera
stemmedfrom a desirefor objectivetruth.Contentionamongrival
Buddhist sects -
exemplifying the Ta-chi-ching'sprediction of an
age when 'quarrelsand disputeswill arise amongthe adherentsto

my teachings'... awokein him a resolveto discoverwhich,among
the so-called'eighty-thousand
teachings,'representedthe Buddha's
trueintentionand couldbenefitpeoplein the last age... Eventually
he concludedthatthe Lotus Sutra,and none other,representedthe
teachings"(Stone,44).
pinnacleof Shakyamuni's
leaderof
himself
to
be
doingtheworkof Visistacarita,
Envisioning
thatspringupfromtheearthto takechargeof "extenthebodhisattvas
sively teaching"the Lotusaftergakyamuni'sfinalnirvana,Nichiren
took personallythe commissionto propagatethe Lotus duringthe
latterdays of the dharma.In view of the historicalspecificityof the
declinetradition,it is also significantthatNichirenunderstoodthatit
fromunderthe earthhadbeenpersonal
was becausethe bodhisattvas
206
Jamie Hubbard
in the pastthathe entrustedthe propagation

disciplesof fakyamuni
of the Lotusto themin the latterage andturneddownthe requestof
the numerousotherbodhisattvas
(Watson:174). So too his stresson
the historicalBuddhaas the refugefor this age ratherthanAmidaor
othercosmic Buddhas.His sense of the importanceof the specific,
lineartimein thedevelopment
of Buddhismis also clearlyseenin the
SenjiSh6, "TheSelectionon Time,"in whichhe narratesthe history
to his own dayin thecontextof thedeof Buddhismfrom fikyamuni
cline of the dharma.As he writesin the openingsentence,"Onewho
wishesto studythe teachingsof Buddhismmustfirstlearnto understandthetime"(Watson:183).His conclusion,of course,is thatin the
latterage of the finaldharmathe propagation
of the LotusSutrawas
the supremepath,albeita difficultpath.Nonetheless,andforNichiren
this was the importantmessage of the Lotus, to give the gift of the
dharmaandestablishsentientbeingsin truthis the ethicalimperative

at thecoreof thetruedharma,evenif it meansabuseandvilification:
I am fully aware that if I do not speak out, I will be lacking in compassion. I
have considered which course to take in the light of the teachings of the Lotus
and Nirvana sutras. If I remain silent, I may escape harm in this lifetime, but
in my next life I will most certainlyfall into the hell of incessant suffering.If I
speak out, I am fully aware that I will have to contend with the three obstacles
and the four devils. But of these two courses, surely the latter is the one to
choose... Persons like myself who are of paltry strength might still be able
to lift Mount Sumeru and toss it about; persons like myself who are lacking in
spiritualpowers might still shouldera load of dry grass and yet remainunburned
in the fire at the end of the kalpa of decline; and persons like myself who are
without wisdom might still read and memorize as many sutras there are sands
in the Ganges. But such acts are not difficult, we are told, when comparedto
the difficulty of embracing even one phrase or verse of the Lotus Sutra in the
Latter Day of the Law. Nevertheless, I vowed to summon up a powerful and
unconquerabledesire for the salvation of all beings, and never to falter in my
efforts. (Watson:79).
ForNichiren,the adventof thelatterage or thefinal dharmameant

none otherthana re-doubledeffortto disseminatethe truedharma,
andhe saw this missionpreciselyas the ethicof the bodhisattva,
the
mandateto save all beings throughthe gift of the truth.In this, I
207
believe,he was accuratelyreflectingthe historicalspecificityof the

declinemotif, both in its originalform as a polemicof orthodoxy
andin the mannerthatit was employedwithinthe LotusSutraas an
injunctionto preachthe truedharma.
V Conclusion
I have discussedthe declineof the dharmain the LotusSutraas

intimatelyrelatedto whatI considerto be one of the mainthemesof
the Lotus,the propagation
of the dharmaandthe missionaryactivity
of the preacherof the dharma,the dharmabhdnika.
I havealso tried
to give a moregeneralcontextfor this discussionby contrastinga
linearsense of time fraughtwith uniquehistoricalmeaningwith a
more cosmic cycle of eternallyrecurringevents,and have touched
brieflyon the ethicalimporttypicallyascribedto each. In this context the declineof the dharmais seen to be an exampleof a linear
in whichgreatconcernis givento the specifichistory
"eschatology"
of gSkyamuni's
teachingsandtheircontinuedexistencein the world.
In neitherthe early use of this traditionnor in its laterMahayana
was it evertaughtthatthe dharmawas reallygone,rather
incarnation
the declinewas alwaysusedto exhortfidelityto a particular
version
of thetruedharma.Thisthemeis well represented
in theLotusSutra,
in whichvirtuallyeveryinstanceof the declinemotifis accompanied
by a referenceto the TrueDharma,the meritsof upholdingandpropagatingit, how to teachit, or the dangersof ignoringor slanderingit.
In theseinstancesthe TrueDharmais not understood
as transcendent
truthbut ratherthe specifictruthof the LotusSutra.22The cosmic,
cyclicalschemeof numerousBuddhasexistingin numerousworlds,
22 The same
specificity of the Lotus is seen its use of updya, in which the Lotus
itself is neverconsideredupdya,butratherthe unsurpassedtruth;this is quite different
from the more thorough-goinguse of updya in, for example, the Vimalakirti-sutra,
in which the doctrine of nonduality renders all utterancesof the Buddhas equally
provisional and equally updya; ultimately,of course, this leads to the "thunderous
silence of Vimalakirti"as the only possible "statement"of nonduality;cf. Hubbard
1995: 124.
208
Jamie Hubbard
appearingin countlessand eternalsuccession,is also foundin the

Lotus,repletewithreferenceto differentperiodsof theirdharma,and
is thusoften seen as relatedto the declineof the dharma,especially
in the formof the threeperiodsof the dharma(true,semblance,and
final).However,the cyclicaltropein whichthe two periodsappearin
the Lotushas been shownto be thematicallyandtextuallyunrelated
to the linearprogressionof the declinemotif.I have also suggested
thatNichirenreadthe declinethemeof the Lotusnot in termsof this
themeof eternalreturn,buttookthepointof therhetoricof thedecline
of thedharmato be specificandhistorical,to be in factan exhortation
of the truedharma,and
andtransmission
to the accuratepreservation
to that end he workedtirelesslythroughouthis life. Nichirenwas,
no doubt,an evangelist:a personwhoseprofoundencounterwiththe
messageof truthin the LotusSutraconvertedhim to a messenger
seekingto bringthe good news to all humanity.This tradition,then,
is one in which a transcendent
approachto time is thoroughlymediatedby a concernfor uniqueand specifichistoryand individuals.
Moregenerallywe couldperhapsalso say thatit is this morelinear
sense of time, closely tied to the decliningfortunesof the teachings
of a particularhumanbeing andthe difficultiesthatawaitthosewho
woulddisseminatehis teachings,thatinspiredNichirento makethe
link betweenthe troublesof the predictedlast times,his evangelical
missionto establishthe trueteachings,and the peace and prosperity of the nation(risshoankoku lFTEiSr). Thatis to say thatfor
in the latterage,the
Nichirenthe ethicalimperativeof thebodhisattva
imperativeto preachthe truedharma,was linkedto socialconcordas
well. The vicissitudesof Nichiren'sattemptsto establisha peaceful
nationarewell known,as is the factthatin the late twentiethcentury
movementsthatlead JapaneseBuddhist
it is mostlyNichiren-based
of
in
sort
social activismand international
peace
organizations any
activities groupssuchas theRissh6Koseikai,NipponzanMyohoji,
andSokaGakkai.23
Finally,then,we couldask if this driveto social
23 For a
betweenthe ideasof peace,individualmoral

studyof the relationship
in
mission
and
national
cultivation,
Japanesenew religiousmovementssee Kisala
1996.
209
activism on the part of contemporaryNichiren-derivedmovements is

in any part due to the fact that Nichiren himself drew his evangelical
inspirationnot from the cosmic and cyclical sense of time in the Lotus
Sutra,the time of "eternalreturn,"but ratherfrom the linear sense of
time and distance from the founderequally found in the Lotus Sutra.
The answer to this question, however, must await yet anothertime.
JAMIEHUBBARD
Smith College
Departmentof Religion
and Biblical Literature
Northampton,Massachusetts01063, USA
SelectedBibliography
Altizer, Thomas
1961 OrientalMysticismand Biblical Eschatology. Philadelphia:The Westminster Press.
1970 "Responseto WinstonL. King's 'Zen and the Death of God,"in The Theology of Altizer: Critique and Response. Philadelphia:The Westminster
Press.
Corless, Roger
1989 The Vision of Buddhism.New York:ParagonHouse.
Ron Davidson
1990 "Standardsof ScripturalAuthenticity' in Robert Buswell, Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha.Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Eliade, Mircea
1963 Myth and Reality. New York:HarperTorchbooks.
Hare, E.M., trans.
1952 The Book of the Gradual Sayings (Aiguttara-Nikaya), vol. II. London:
Luzac & Company.
Hubbard,Jamie
1995 "Buddhist-BuddhistDialogue? The Lotus Sutra and the Polemic of Accommodation,"in Buddhist-ChristianStudies 15.
King, Winston
1986 "Eschatology:Christianand Buddhist,"in Religion 16.
210
Jamie Hubbard
Kisala, Robert
1996 "JapaneseNew Religions and the Concept of Peace," in Research in the
Social Scientific Study of Religion 7.
Kubo and Yiyama, trans.
1991 The Lotus Sutra. Tokyo: The Reiyukai.
Nattier,Jan
1991 Once Upon a Future Time.Berkeley: Asian HumanitiesPress.
O'Leary, Stephen D.
1994 Arguing the Apocalypse:A Theoryof Millenial Rhetoric.Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Stone Jackie
1985 "Seeking Enlightenmentin the Last Age" in The Eastern Buddhist(New
Series), vol. XVIII, no. 2.
Watson, Burton et. al.
1990 Selected Writingsof Nichiren. New York:Columbia University Press.
Woodward,F.L., trans.
1973 The Book of the KindredSayings, 5 vols. London:The Pali Text Society
Reprint
WoodwardF.L., trans.
1951 The Book of the Gradual Sayings (Aiguttara-Nikaya), vol. I. London:
Luzac & Company.
Wogihara,U. and Tsuchida C., eds.
1958 Saddharmapundarlka-sutra.
Tokyo: Sankibo Book Store.
Zimmer, Henry R.
1942 "The Hindu View of World History According to the Purinas," in The
Review of Religion, Vol. VI, No. 3 (March 1942).
PHENOMENOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, AND HISTORY OF THE

NEW AGE
JULIA IWERSEN
Review article
Die soziale KonstruktionokkulterWirklichkeit:eine SoziHORSTSTENGER,
des
"New
ologie
Age". Opladen:Leske and Budrich, 1993, 264 p., ISBN
3-8100-1035-9.
JAMESR. LEWISand J. GORDONMELTON(Eds.), Perspectiveson the New
Age. Albany,NY: StateUniversityof New YorkPress, 1992,369 p., ISBN
0791-4214-8 (pbk.).
CHRISTOPH
BOCHINGER,"New Age" und modere Religion. Gitersloh:
ChristiansVerlag/GiitersloherVerlagshaus, 1994, 695 p., ISBN 3-57900299-6.
MICHAELYORK,The EmergingNetwork:A Sociology of the New Age and
Neo-Pagan Movements. Rowman and Littlefield, 1995, 372 p., ISBN
08476-8000-2 (cloth).
PAULHEELAS,The New Age Movement: the Celebration of the Self and
the Sacralizationof Modernity.Oxford: Blackwell, 1996, 266 p., ISBN
06311-9332-4 (pbk.).
New Age Religion and WesternCulture.EsoteriWOUTERHANEGRAAFF,
cism in the Mirror of Secular Thought.Studies in the History of Religions (NUMEN Book Series), 72. Leiden, New York, Koln: E.J. Brill,
1996, 580 p., ISBN 90-04-10695-2 (cloth).
Between 1993 and 1996, five substantialmonographshave appearedon
the phenomenon of the New Age. These five monographs vary in their
approachand even more so in their attitudetowardNew Age as a religion;
however, a study of them reveals that basically two distinct approaches
emerge: a sociological approachthat examines how the conditions of the
(post-)modernWesternworld both frames and influences the ways in which
New Age thought is itself structuredand organized; and a historical and
culturalapproachthatlocates elements of New Age in even earliertraditions
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
212
Julia Iwersen
andthatseeks to define its historicalorigins as a religion. Each studyprovides

a valuableset of insights reflectiveof the approach.However,what New Age
is becomes most clear when we synchronizethe two approachesand examine
themin the light of each other.The argumentspointedto below will show that
the New Age not only deserves attentionas a new religion but should also be
viewed as a culturalas well as a social expressionof an immensely changing
world. Accordingly,sociological and history of religions analyses areequally
importantand complementaryof each other.
In Die soziale KonstruktionokkulterWirklichkeit,Horst Stengerprovides
a scholarly and thorough inquiry into the study of New Age world views
and forms of social organization. Using a context-orientedsociology of
knowledge model enriched by constructivist theory, Stenger analyzes the
New Age world in terms of the kinds of self-perceptionand worldview it
has engendered.However,because Stenger is a sociologist and not primarily
a scholar of religion, he tends to present the New Age phenomenon in a
series of case studies and thus as an example for how all human beings
aim to create a more or less coherent construction of "reality."Drawing
on personal interviews, Stenger uses typical and key personal experiences
throughouthis book in order to establish New Age as a distinct and antimainstreamway of thinking and living. For Stenger, the main function of
this worldview is to provide sense and meaning for the believers in their
everyday lives. However, Stenger's focus on the individualand biographical
perspective(and even, one might say, on personalneed), means that he does
not focus, in any convincing way, on the broadersociological and/orhistory
of ideas context of the New Age, or on the way that the individual stories
might fit into a larger contextual and definitive understandingof the New
Age phenomenon.For example, while Stengerpresupposesthatthe New Age
worldviewis an occult one, he does not clarify the termnorexamineNew Age
practices in relationto other historical occurrencesof occult belief systems.
Nor does he provide argumentsfor the popularityof New Age religion or
its many diversificationsin actualpractice.But these potential"weaknesses"
of Stenger'sbook give it, at the same time, a special merit. Stenger was the
first scholar to point to the coherency and consistency of what he calls "the
occult belief system" and in this book he looks at the majorcomponentsof
this system relative to each other.He resists the temptationto overvalueany
one componentin orderto use it as an definitionor indicatorof the New Age
phenomenon.
Phenomenology, Sociology and History of the New Age
213
In 1992, a collection of essays edited by James R. Lewis and J. Gordon

Melton (Perspectives on the New Age) opened the way for a history of
religions approachto the New Age. In these essays, various authorsexamine
the historicalroots and long-termdevelopmentsof the movement, as well as
providevaluableinformationon its internationalmanifestation.
However, the history of religions discussion of the New Age was most
fully opened by ChristophBochingerin his voluminous monographentitled
"NewAge " und modere Religion (Giitersloh:ChristiansVerlag/Giitersloher
Verlagshaus,1994). Bochingertook New Age researchinto an astonishingly
different direction. After an admirablyexhaustive treatmentof the source
materialavailablein German,Bochinger comes to the surprisingconclusion
that the New Age is an illusion and at the same time an invention of the
media.Bochinger'suse of invertedcommas wheneverhe refersto "NewAge"
and his efforts to connect New Age to contemporaryreligions on the whole
- instead of distinguishingit from them - representthe skepticism that
underlineshis approach.Ratherthan analyze what New Age is and under
what kind of cultural conditions it is flourishing, the book takes up more
than 500 pages in order to show that the phenomenonin question does not
exist. In taking this position, Bochinger exacerbatesthe finding of Hartmut
Zinser,who also wrote in a 1992 article in the ZeitschriftfiirReligions- und
GeistesgeschichtethatNew Age was not a religion (ZRGG44, p. 33-50; see
my response to Zinser in the same journal, ZRGG 49,1 (1997), p. 71-83).
Nevertheless, Bochinger's work contains valuable discussions on the nature
of New Age Chiliasm,the historyof the term"New Age," andits connections
to esoteric thinking in the past. However, despite Bochinger's admirable
research into these specific points, his overall study does not contributeto
an understandingof what New Age religion is, eitherin termsof the religion
as a coherententity or as a set of currentpractices.
In The EmergingNetwork:A Sociology of the New Age, Michael York
presents an overall survey of the social scientific models that have thus far
been used to examine sect-like religious organizations and new religious
movements. In this importantwork, York carefully considers a number of
approaches, ending up with a particularexamination of the "concept of
SPIN" (Segmented PolycentricIntegratedNetwork). This concept was first
proposedby LutherP. Gerlachand VirginiaH. Hine in several articles about
the organizationof religious groups in particularand contemporarychanges
214
Julia Iwersen
of society in general.1 Interestingly,York then compares and relates the

scientific SPIN-model with a concept evolved from within the New Age by
the well-knownneopaganwitch Starhawk.Starhawkhas emphasizedthe nonhierarchicalorganizationalstructuresof New Age and Neopaganismandhas
described them as circular and ever-changingbut nevertheless immanent:
organizationalforming and reforming that constantly happens within the
group, ratherthan is imposed by someone who is the head of and therefore
"outside"of the group'sinterpersonaldynamics.2Believing the SPIN-model
to be "perhapsthe most accurate sociological construct applicable to the
New Age, Neo-pagan and similar non-institutional,boundary-indeterminate
movements"(p. 325), York concludes that SPIN is far more useful for the
interpretationof New Age and kindredmovements than the classic churchsect dichotomy.
The two most recent books on New Age, written by Paul Heelas (Lancaster, 1996) and WouterHanegraaff,both aim at a comprehensiveexamination and descriptionof New Age. In contrastto Bochinger's findings,Heelas
and Hanegraafflook at New Age as a very real and significant contemporaryreligion. They have both found their own ways of dealing with diversity
within the New Age while still understandingand describingit as essentially
one phenomenon.WhereasHanegraaff'sfocus is more historical,Heelas focuses more on the main themes and inner dynamics of New Age as a recent
phenomenon.Heelas finds that there is indeed one fundamentaltopos to the
New Age worldview,which can be identified as the centralityof the human
self. He has thereforecoined the term "self spirituality"as being at the very
heartof New Age and Neopaganreligiosity. Self spiritualitymeans the sanctificationand adorationof an inneressence of the humanbeing thatis distinct
from his or her social personality.The latteris called "Ego,"which functions
basically as an obstacle to spiritualdevelopment.Observingthat self spirituality has appearedbefore in the history of religions (e.g. in the Upanishads),
Heelas tackles the question of why it is so popularin our era. His approach
to this problemis exclusively an anthropologicalone that does not touch on
1Cf. L.P.Gerlach,V.H.Hine, "FiveFactorscrucialto the Growthand
Spread
of a Modem religious Movement,"in: Journalfor the ScientificStudy of Religion 7
(1968), No. 1, 23-40. People, Power,Change:Movementsof Social Transformations,
Bobbs-Merrill
1968.
Indianapolis:
2 Cf. Starhawk,Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex and Politics, Boston: Beacon
Press,1988.
215
recent philosophical concepts, in which the human self is also a prominent

object of thought(e.g. Sartre,Lacan). However, supportedby anthropological models, Heelas finds varioustrendsof modernitythat have finally led to
the self as the only reliable source for decision making.
A second majorpoint in Heelas' work is his distinctionbetween "counterculture spirituality"and "prosperityspirituality,"both of which ground self
spiritualitywithin the New Age. The author'sfundamentalinsights in this regard are certainlyindispensablefor furtherresearch.As the main branchof
New Age, counterculturespiritualityis constantlychanging, however much
it may maintaina criticalattitudeto mainstreamvalues of Westernsociety. In
recentyears this role has been takenup by Neopaganism,the latternot necessarilyregardedas a religion on its own but often as an innovativeshift within
the New Age. In contrastto counterculturespirituality,prosperityspirituality
is more in tune with and receptiveto money and power.Accordingto Heelas,
its adherentsare made up of those who had previouslybeen inclined to counterculturespirituality,but then found a place in and made peace with mainstream society. However, they did not want to lose the spiritualorientation
of their lives. For them, self spiritualityis synonymouswith prosperityspirituality,which providesan opportunityto interpretprofessionaland financial
success as a resultof their spiritualendeavors.Accordingto Heelas, prosperity spiritualityis a new phenomenon,whereasmany aspects of counterculture
spiritualitycan be followed back to EuropeanRomanticismand NorthAmerican Transcendentalism.Unfortunately,the newness and originality of prosperity spiritualityand its place in recent culturalchanges is not given further
consideration.Heelas final chapteris devoted to the actual impact of New
Age. Openly sympathizingwith the movement,Heelas is carefullyoptimistic
aboutthe potentialfor New Age to change fundamentalattitudesof the Western mind. In his view, New Age affects not only the thoughtsand actions of
small religious communities,but also of society as a whole.
Heelas' contributionto a comprehensiveunderstandingof New Age is
valuable,even thoughit lacks the context of largerhistoricalconsiderations,
which are more fully achieved in Wouter Hanegraaff'svoluminous study,
New Age Religion and WesternCulture.As its title implies, the main theme
of Hanegraaff'sbook centers on an inquiry into the historical anchoringof
New Age in a Westernhistory of ideas. The study consists of three main
parts, the first of which is concernedwith the basic phenomenology of the
New Age, the second with religious experiencein the New Age, and the third
216
Julia Iwersen
with an interpretationof the New Age in the light of the history of religions.
Hanegraaff'ssubtitlesuggests an answerto the questionof the origins of New
Age: Esotericismin the Mirrorof Secular Thought.Takingup the designation
"Cultic Milieu" that was first introducedby the British Sociologist Colin
Campbell,Hanegraaffconcludes his treatmentof "majortrends"of the New
Age (in Part One) with definitions of New Age "in sensu stricto" and "in
sensu lato". Such a distinctionis indeed very useful and even necessary,for
the "millenarianvision" that was so prominentin the early Eighties and that
defines "New Age in sensu stricto"has lost its meaning for the movement.
The term "New Age" cannotbe maintainedwithout explanation.However,I
find Heelas' solution to this problemmore satisfiable.It is the very natureof
millenary ideas that they do not last very long. Thus the context in which
they emerge seems far more interesting than the belief in the millennium
itself. With his reluctance to limit New Age, even "in sensu stricto",to its
temporarymanifestationas Chiliasm, Heelas has provided the more fruitful
New Age (= counterculturespirituality)over
basis to classify "revolutionary"
and against"conservative"New Age (prosperityspirituality)and to deal with
the changeabilityof both kinds of spirituality,as well as New Age as a whole.
With part two of his study, Hanegraaffpresents an almost coherentNew
Age worldview. Unlike Heelas, who postulates one element of thought as
centralto the meaning of New Age, Hanegraaffexamines and connects New
Age tenets to fundamentalreligious issues like God, ghosts and angels, the
cosmos and the position of the humanbeing therein,the meaning of history,
good and evil, death and afterlife.
Hanegraaff'sfindingsarefundamentallydifferentfrom those of Bochinger,
who states that nothing like a "nureinigermalen homogene 'Weltanschauung' oder Ideologie" exists in the New Age world (p. 135). However
Bochingerhas been led to his conclusions aboutNew Age, Hanegraaffseems
to definitivelyprove the opposite:beyond prominentNew Age practiceslike
meditation,Yoga, Tarotand crystal healing, there exists an identifiableand
astonishingly coherent outlook on God, the world and the meaning of human life. This kind of perspectiveprovides the means for Hanegraaff,in the
thirdpartof his book, to grounda seemingly areligiouscontemporaryreligion
within a longstandingtraditionof religious practices which the authorcalls
"WesternEsotericism".With the establishmentof this historical line of development,Hanegraaffmakes an importantcontributionto our understanding
of New Age as a moder religion.
217
In his characterizationof New Age as a modem expression of a tradition thathe names "WesternEsotericism",Hanegraaffthus locates New Age
as a third and major world view, one that exists between institutionalized
Christianityand the rationalityof Enlightenment.Like most other religions
in modem times, the esoteric traditionunderwentchanges caused by secularization.The Esotericists took up the emphasis on individualismfrom the
Enlightenmentand combined it with the anti-rationalistimpulse from the
anti-Enlightenment.They were influencedby the systemic study of religion,
throughwhich they were led to build esoteric systems, such as theosophy.
Finally, particularlyunderthe influence of Carl G. Jung's insights, they developed deeply psychologized ideas and thoughtsystems. Inasmuchas Hanegraaff'shistoricalinterpretationof the New Age defines New Age as the continuationof an Esoterictraditionin its most currentmanifestation,his work is
extremelyvaluable. However,I see an importantproblemwith Hanegraaff's
insistance that "Esotericism"is an entirely Westernphenomenon.Research
into "Esotericism"is only in its beginnings, but there is a great deal of evidence for its non-Westerncomponentsand influences. The roots of "Esotericism" are at least as "Oriental",i.e. Jewish and Egyptian,as they are "Western".In the case of Neoplatonism,which certainlybelongs to the esoteric tradition,even Indianinfluencesshouldbe seriouslyconsidered.3More recently,
the deeply spiritualbut simultaneouslyanticlericalattitudesof Leo Tolstoy
had an enormous impact on "Western"anti-mainstreamreligious thinking.
Particularlyin the beginnings of New Age, we cannot deny the prominence
of Neohinduism.Much of the discovery of the "Westernesoterictradition"by
New Agers had its beginningin the importationof contemplativetechniques
of the IndianGurusto the West.
Esotericism on the whole is not a Western concept, but is prominent
in all majorreligions, and its local expressions are astonishingly universal,
both historically and synchronically.This may be the explanation for the
worldwide popularity of "exoteric Esotericism"in our era of accelerated
globalization.Variousscholarly contributionsthat cannot be discussed here
in length have shown that New Age is indeed a global phenomenon;4it is
neither an exclusively Westernconcept, nor does it exist only in the West.
3 Cf. R. Baine Harris (Ed.), Neoplatonism and Indian Thought,Albany: SUNY
Press,1982.
4
E.g. I.J. Hackett,"New Age Trendsin Nigeria:Ancestraland/orAlien Religion,"

in Lewis/Melton, Perspectives on the New Age, 215-231. M.R. Mullins, "Japan's
218
Julia Iwersen
The key to the meaningof the esoteric traditionfor New Age is thereforenot
its Westernismbut its globalism. To clarify these mattersremains a task for
furtherresearch.
The five books discussed above have opend up a large new field of study
within the history of religions. They have sucessfully examined various
important aspects of the New Age. However what remains to be given
extensive considerationis the movement's meaning for contemporaryand
future cultural developments. To me, the New Age seems to be the first
manifestation of a world culture that easily melts traditions taken from
previously separatedparts of the world. The prominenceof religion in this
new world culture that follows a seemingly areligious - but regional and
comparativelyshort- period of Modernityis not surprising.It proves once
more that religion is one of the most ever-presentconditions that shape the
natureof human existence. New Age is but its most currentand emerging
manifestation.
Alte K6nigstr.18
D-22767 Hamburg
JULIAIWERSEN
in ibid. 232-246.
New Age and Neo-NewReligions:SociologicalInterpretations,"
A. Silletta, La Nueve Era en Argentina.Engano o crecimiento espiritual?, Buenos
Aires: Beas Ediciones, 1993. Chr.Steyn, Worldviewsin Transition:an Investigation
into the New Age Movementin South Africa, Pretoria:University of South Africa,
1994.
BOOK REVIEWS
STEPHEND. GLAZIER(Ed.), Anthropologyof Religion: A Handbook
Westport, Connecticut and London: Greenwood Press 1997 (542 p.).
ISBN 0-313-28351-6 (cloth) ?79.95.
The goal of the first volume of this handbook of anthropologyof religion is threefold.It wants (1) to be "a referencebook intendedas a practical
guide for professionalanthropologistsand graduatestudentspreparingto undertakeprimaryresearchin the anthropologyof religion";(2) "to assemble
in one place many of the key findings and methods in the anthropologyof
religion"; and (3) "to build bridges between anthropologistsstudying religion andtheologians,psychologists, psychiatrists,economists, neurophysiologists, philosophers,political scientists, historians,sociologists, and scholars
in the history of religions".
To realize this threefold goal the handbook contains nineteen articles
arrangedin four parts. The first part entitled "Looking at Religion Anthropologically" consists of four articles dealing with theoretical and methodological aspects regardingreligion. Especially, the first two articles of this
part,"Reading'Snakehandling':CriticalReflections"by Jim Birckhead,and
"The Study of Religion in American Society" by Melinda Bollar Wagner,
are very illuminatingto those studentsof religion who are engaged in doing
fieldwork.By reading these articles they will become aware of all kinds of
problemsrelatedto fieldwork,e.g. the questionto what extentthey have to be
committedto the communitythey are studying.
The second part of the handbook deals with "The Study of Ritual".
After an instructivearticle presentingan overview of the state of the art of
ritual studies, five articles are dedicated to the study of ritual in different
communities, viz. Africa, India, Japan, Native North America, and the
United States. In the third part of the handbook four articles deal with the
phenomenonof "Littleand GreatTraditions"in four majorworld religions,
viz. Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity.The authors of the four
articlesfocus on the impacton and interactionwith local religious traditions
of these so-called great traditions.I was impressed by the way Gregory
Starrettin his "The Anthropology of Islam", and Todd T. Lewis in his
"BuddhistCommunities:HistoricalPrecedentsandEthnographicParadigms"
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
220
Book reviews
handled the topic. The fourth part of the handbookis entitled "Shamanism
and Religious Consciousness".Five in-deptharticles discuss shamanismand
varioustypes of religious consciousness.
The handbook certainly meets its threefold goal. I like the modesty of
most of the articles which, at the same time, are very critical, challenging
establishedopinions and understandingswithin the anthropologyof religion.
I can recommendAnthropologyof Religion: A Handbookto all studentsof
religion as compulsoryreading.I am looking forwardto the second volume
which will be publishedlaterthis year.
Theological Faculty Tilburg
P.O.Box9130
NL-5000 HC Tilburg
HERMANBECK
AXELMICHAELS
(Ed.), Klassikerder Religionswissenschaft.VonFriedrich
Schleiermacherbis Mircea Eliade - Miinchen:C.H. Beck 1997 (427 p.)
ISBN 3-406-42813-4 (cloth) DM 48.00.
At the end of the 20th century,after more than 120 years of scholarlyresearch,the academic study of religions is still in searchfor its distinctprofile
within public and scientific discourses. This is due not only to the lack of a
precise definition of its very topic but to the fact that Religionswissenschaft
emerged in connection with various academicdisciplines: philosophy,historiography,Christiantheology, anthropology,sociology, and psychology all of
which laid claim to the investigationof religious phenomena.
Axel Michaels made a virtue of this necessity when he decided which
scholar's work was to be named a "classic" of Religionswissenschaft.He
rightly proposes that "interdisciplinarityis the foundation-stoneof the discipline. [...] Thus, to be a classic of Religionswissenschaftmeans to transgress
the boundariesof the profession"(p. 12). So it comes with no surprisethatwe
find among the classics not only Nathan Soderblom,Rudolf Otto andMircea
Eliade, but also SigmundFreud,Max Weberor Aby Warburg.Presentingthe
life, work and impact of 23 scholarsthe book presents a caleidoscope of the
rich history and complex interdisciplinaryefforts of the research into religions.
The fact that the essays are written by leading scholars of the academic
study of religions guaranteesthe high quality of the book. But of equal
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Book reviews
221
importanceis the picturethe readergains of contemporarydiscourses, since

the authors do not act as mere administratorsof scientific history. They
do not hide their own profession and methodological assumptions, thus
reflecting the variety of academic branches still active under the name
Religionswissenschaft.The book shows thatthis varietyis not to be criticized
but to be consciously carriedon because the ability to work openly and in an
interdisciplinarymannerwill be the demandof the future.
StudiengangReligionswissenschaft,FB9
UniversitatBremen
Postfach330440
D-28209 Bremen
KOCKUVONSTUCKRAD
PETRAPAKKANEN,
InterpretingEarly Hellenistic Religion: A StudyBased
on the MysteryCult of Demeter and the Cult of Isis. Papers and Monographsof the FinnishInstituteat Athens, vol. 3-Helsinki: Foundationof
the FinnishInstituteof Athens 1996 (207 p.) ISBN 951-95295-4-3 (pbk.).
At the heart of this study, a revised University of Helsinki dissertation
defended in 1995, is a careful and detailed inquiryinto two majorAthenian
cults of the thirdand second centuriesBCE (PartIII). Extensive comparison
of the two cults follows in Part IV, for a primarygoal of the authoris to
visit scholarly generalizationsabout Hellenistic religion and to criticize and
refine them. When Pakkanenbringsthe results of her inquiryto bear on such
characterizations,the book reaches significant conclusions. Unfortunately,
she does not do so consistently(PartV).
The subtitle of the book reveals which two cults Pakkanenexamines and
one importantconclusion she draws. Focus falls on the great Eleusinian
mysteries of Demeter (and the Athenian participationin them) and the
cult of Isis in Athens and its maritime satellites, Piraeus and Delos. This
localized focus enables the authorto describe and comparethe two cults with
precision. The contrastingportraitsthat result allow her to distinguish the
cult of Demeter from that of Isis in a significant way: in the period under
considerationthe formerwas a mystery religion but the latter was not. This
conclusion representsa noteworthycorrective to scholarship on Isis which
tends to take Apuleius's Metamorphosesas representativeof Isis devotion
universally.
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
222
Book reviews
Criticismof other generalizationsaboutHellenistic religion-syncretism,

monotheistic trend, individualism, and cosmopolitanism are consideredlacks evenness because Pakkanendoes not always apply the results of her
Demeter and Isis comparison to them. On the one hand, the author uses
informationaboutthe AthenianIsis cult to reassess syncretism.The resulting
critique leads the reader to a more nuanced understandingof that concept.
On the other hand, her comparative inquiry goes relatively untapped in
treating the other three generalizations. For instance, the claim that the
Hellenistic period saw the rise of individual or personal religion escapes
rigorous examination(pp. 112-21), even though the author'searlier inquiry
(pp. 49-58) provides a good basis for reevaluation.
Despite its deficiencies, thereis much to recommendthis study.In addition
to the author'sfine treatmentof mystery religion, the book has thoughtful
introductorychapters (Parts I and II), clear organization,useful tables that
summarizethe text, a good bibliography,and an exhaustivesubjectindex that
includes ancientwritersand texts and Greek and Latinterms.
Departmentof Theology
ValparaisoUniversity
Valparaiso,Indiana46383, USA
RICHARDE. DEMARIS
KRISZTINA
BARBARAKELLNER-HEINKELE
and ANKE
KEHL-BODROGI,
OTTER-BEAUJEAN
in the
Communities
(Eds.), Syncretistic Religious
Near East. Collected Papers of the InternationalSymposium"Alevismin
Turkeyand ComparableSyncretisticReligious Communitiesin the Near
East in the Past and Present", 14-17 April, Berlin 1995. Studies in the
History of Religions (NUMEN Book Series), 76 - Leiden: Brill 1997
(255 p.) ISBN 90 04 10861 0 (cloth) $100.00.
Since the second half of this century the Turkish Alevites have been
through a series of rapid changes. Having experienced a long history of
suppressionto which they reacted with withdrawal,secrecy, endogamy and
religious taboos ensuring a tight social cohesion, Alevites opened up in the
fifties, participatingin Turkishpolitics and supportingKemalism.Duringthe
seventiesthe religiouspast was shed off alltogetherandAlevism reinterpreted
as the true source of communism. However, the nineties saw religious
Alevism reintroducedas an universal religion, accessible to all seekers of
humanand spiritualvalues. This also triggereda processof canonization:oral
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Book reviews
223
traditionsare now standardizedand renderedin writing, religious authorities

centralized.
In this highly informativebook the editorshave broughttogetherscholarly
contributions from a wide interdisciplinaryrange to discuss the Alevite
phenomenon.The readeris amply informed on the topic of history, ritual,
political options and strategies, social cohesion, religious pursuits and the
flux between the oral andthe writtenin differentislamic syncretisticsects. Six
articlesoccupy themselves with the Alevites, seven with similarprocesses in
othersyncretisticcommunitiessuch as the Druzes and the 'Alawi in Lebanon,
the Kakai and the Shabakin North-Iraqand the Ahl-i-haqqin Iran.Besides,
differenttheoreticalframeworkson syncretismare offered.
In the eyes of the orthodox, adherentsof syncretistic beliefs are border
violators as these combine features from different religions in such a way
that the elements remain recognizable. Thus, the syncretistic islamic sects
wedded pre-islamicreligious lore from Msazdairmand Zoroastrismwith the
sunni mystical (sufi) path, to which a fair part of shi'ite millenarism (the
imminentexpectationof a messias) was added.In the 15th.centurythis made
for an explosive mixtureof revolutionarypotential.The book makesclear that
combining differenttraditionsis also an exceedingly dangerousoccupation.
Syncretisticsects were recognizedas 'heretic'and suppressedto the degreeof
invisibility.Why did these religious minoritiesinsist on theirdistinctiveness?
How did they manageto surviveat all?
Due to a combinationof factors, such as urbanizationin the seventies,
resurgentislamism in the eighties and a series of extremepolitical situations
to which the Lebanese civil war, the Iranian revolution and the Turkish
military actions against the Kurdsmay be counted, the former secret sects
have now turned to a more offensive course. Reform of tradition, the
proclamationof an open communityand the making of converts are among
its outcome. It remainsan open questionwhethertheirflexibility andpolitical
adaptability will allow these groups to play a decisive role in Middle
Eastern politics. In the meantime, many adherentsfled to Europe. Is their
religious flexibility also going to be a factor in the readjustmentof migrant
communitiesin Europeancountries?
Centerfor Modem OrientalStudies
Kirchweg33
D-14129 Berlin
GERDIENJONKER
224
Book reviews
FRANK J. HOFFMANand MAHINDA DEEGALLE(Eds.), Pali Buddhism -
Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press 1996 (X, 233 p.) ISBN 0-70070359-4 (hb.) ?40.00.
The presentbook is a collection of 13 papersfrom three differentareasof
researchinto Pali Buddhism, broughttogether with the purpose "to provide
something approachinga comprehensive understandingof Pai Buddhism
from an interdisciplinaryholistic perspective" (p. 5, introduction by the
editors).
The first part called "Philological Foundations" contains papers by
G.D. Bond on the ten silas or aspects of moral conduct, A. Olendzki on the
Buddhistconcept of liberation,C.G. Chappleon practicalimplicationsof abhidhammaas well as an articleby S. Gopalamcomparingthe Dhammapada
with the Tamil work lirukkuralby Tiruvalluvar(datedroughly to the beginning of our era by the author).
The second part with the title "Insiders' Understandings"consists of
papers by four scholars from Sri Lanka: on nirvana by Mahinda Deegalle,
on suicide by Padmasiride Silva, on rebirthby A.D.P. Kalansuriyaand a
ratherunusualpaperby GunapalaDharmasirion contradictionsof theoryand
practicein Theravadatradition("A BuddhistCritiqueof Theravada").
The thirdandlast partcalled "PhilosophicalImplications"tries to combine
Buddhistand Westernphilosophical doctrines and methods. In a rathersurprisingway, A.L. Hermanundertakesto show thattwo fundamentalteachings
of Buddhism,viz. the doctrineof the connectionbetween impermanenceand
pain and the doctrine of nirvana, when being subjectedto rationalcritique,
appearto be false and "logical inconsistentin the sense that if one dogma is
truethen the otherdogma cannotbe true"(p. 159). Retainingthem, he argues,
would mean "to move Buddhism away from empirical truth ...or towards
a non-rationalismand mysticism where truthis abandonedaltogether."But
how can someone exclude that what several people have seen in meditation
(which to a large partis the exercise of attentivenessand mental clearnessin
Buddhism)might also be a form of "empiricaltruth"?In this sense, Herman's
refutationof the Buddhistsummumbonumtends to resemble the attemptsto
proveor to disprovethe existence of God in Westernphilosophy- andmight
turn out to be as useless as they were in terms of religious "truth".To have
raisedthis questionwith philosophicalacutenessis neverthelessa meritof the
author.
NUMEN, Vol. 46
Book reviews
225
The other papers of this part deal with Dependent Origination (RamakrishnaPuligandla),TheravadaBuddhismin the light of Process Philosophy
(one paper by Shanta Ratnayakaand another by Ninian Smart) and with
"orientalism"(as described by Edward W. Said, Orientalism, New York,
1978) in Buddhology,the latterpaperbeing a very useful attemptby Frank
J. Hoffmanto trace"Westernpreunderstandings
in understandingBuddhism"
(p. 207).
As a whole, the book is a very useful and interesting presentationof
contemporaryresearch into Pali Buddhism which offers some new results
as well as challenging basic materialfor the interdisciplinarydiscussion for
which it was also written.
Europabadstr.1
D-35041 Marburg/Lahn
ADELHEIDHERRMANN-PFANDT
JOHNR. HINNELLS,Zoroastriansin Britain. TheRatanbaiKatrakLectures,

Universityof Oxford1985. Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1996 (xv + 336 p.)
ISBN 0-19-826193-4.
Diasporastudies have become fashionable.The bibliographyon diaspora
communitiesis immense. New papersand books are publishedalmost every
week. It is thereforea pity thatit took JohnHinnells, who is currentlyholding
a researchprofessorshipat the University of Derby, more than a decade to
publish a part of his RatanbaiKatrakLectures, given at the University of
Oxfordin 1985.
This extremelywell-researchedbook is divided into seven chapterswhich
are ratherdifferentin shape and in the methodologyemployed. The book has
an index1and a glossary of some 72 key Zoroastrianterms.2
1Pagereferencesaresometimesincomplete.
2 Thisglossaryis quiteuseful.I would,however,atleastliketo pointto twowrong
definitions:'Ervad'is not so much"thetitlefor a functioningpriests"(p. 322)-by
the wayan oddexpression-butfor a manwho "belongsto a priestlyclass andhas
J.J.Modi,TheReligiousCeremonies
gone throughthe firstdegreeof priesthood,"
and Customsof the Parsee,2ndEdition,Bombay:JehangirB. Karani'sSons, 1937,
the 'Parthians'
aredefinitelynot"therulersof Iranfromthe
pp. 360-361.Moreover,
secondcenturyBCEto thethirdcenturyCE"(p. 323).Thesewerethe 'Arsacides.'
NUMEN,Vol.46
226
Book reviews
In the Introduction(pp. 1-49) Hinnells gives a brief overview of Zoroastrianhistory,3the historyof Asians in Britainand a short clarificationof terminology (commentingon terms like "race,""ethnicity,""community"and
"diaspora").
The second and shortestchapter(pp. 50-76) is entitled "ZoroastrianPerspectiveson Contactswith the British."4It discusses the differentexperiences
of differentZoroastriancommunitiesin Asia (Iran,Pakistan,India) and East
Africa in their home countriesprior to their migrationto Britain. This perspective seems importantsince, in Hinnells' words, few, "if any,otherBritish
South Asian communitieshave experiencedsuch a profoundinteractionbetween their own religion and that of the British before their migrationto the
UK" (p. 76).
This chapter moreover contains an interesting section, (inaccurately)
entitled "British-ZoroastrianReligious Interaction"(pp. 67-74) outlining
the backgroundand ideas of the main Zoroastriantheologians (e.g., M.N.
Dhalla,5J.J.Modi, Kh. Mistree)who exercise some influenceon Zoroastrians
in Britain.6Hinnells rightlyobserves "thatthere is a high level of interaction
between western, indeed British, scholarship,the Bombay community,and
the Zoroastriansin Britain"(p. 74; see also pp. 285, 294). Hinnells, however,
omits-and this is in my eyes a very serious defect in Hinnells' reflections
throughoutthe book-his own personalinvolvementin Zoroastriancommunity affairs. Hinnells is indeed a well-known figure among (Parsi) Zoroas3 Thisoverviewis a
slightlymodifiedsummaryof the viewsof his teacherMary

Boyce. Hinnellsdrawsa ratherhomogenouspictureof Zoroastrianism
ignoringor
Quiteoftenit remainsunclearif thereasonsgivenfor
implicitlydenyingits plurality.
certainZoroastrian
ideasoractionsarethoseof theauthoror of Zoroastrians.
4 Thereis no
on contactswithZoroastrians.
chapteron Britishperspectives
5
to
did
Hinnells
"Dhalla
lecture
in Britainon occasions,andtaught
According
someof thecommunityleadersin the 1970s"(p. 70). I wonderhowthiswaspossible
in the whole of his
given the fact thatDasturDhalladied in 1956! Surprisingly,
book,HinnellsdoesnotmentionthatDhallain his autobiography
(listedin Hinnells'
claims
to
have
the
fifst
initiation-rite
bibliography!)
(navjote)in
performed very
Britain,see DasturDhalla. The Saga of a Soul.An Autobiography
of Shams-ulUlamaDasturDr.Maneckji
Dhalla.
Karachi:
Dastur
Dhalla
Memorial
..,
Nusserwanji
368-369.
This
book
contains
also
other
informations
on
Institue,1975,pp.
interesting
theZoroastrians
in BritainthatHinnellsdoesnotuse.
6 Here,Hinnellssurprisingly
makesno referenceto thewritingsof Dr.Ali Jafarey.
Book reviews
227
triansworldwide, exercising some influence,e.g., throughpersonalcontacts,

lecturesand his popularbooks on Zoroastrianism.7Both editions of the Directoryof Zoroastriansof U.K. & Europe (firstedition 1991; second edition
1994) contain letters of felicitation by Hinnells! The book under review is
dedicatedto two Zoroastrianpriests and Hinnells is, at least, in part writing
for a Zoroastrianaudience.8This is of course only legitimate,andthe fact that
Hinnells does not consider Zoroastriansmerely as an 'object' of his studies
shines throughmuch of his writing. Hinnells is working as much with as on
Zoroastrians.The affection Hinnells has for the communitywith which he is
workingshines throughmany of his pages. This is again very legitimate. In
my eyes, however, Hinnells should have made this aspect of his work more
explicit. According to my information,Hinnells was instrumentalin the establishmentof the North West ZoroastrianCommunityfounded in 1987 in
Manchester(where at that time Hinnells was living). In the short passage of
his book dealing with thatparticularassociation(pp. 149-150), however,Hinnells doesn't mentionhis own contributionwith a single word. Is this only a
questionof modesty?
The third chapteris dealing with the first Zoroastrianarrivalsto Britain
(pp. 77-106). Here, Hinnells shortlyrefers to the case of the first Zoroastrian
to touch British soil (Naoroji Rustomji, as early as in 1724!). According
to Hinnells, no "other Zoroastrianis known to have visited Britain until
the nineteenth century" (p. 79),9 when Parsis came to the UK mainly
7 In a footnote(p. 260,note5) Hinnellsremarksratherinnocently:"Iamtoldthat
the 'bestsellers'areBoyce,1984andesp. 1975;Hinnells,1981and1985b,i.e., books
by outsiders."
8 Thebookhasbeenreviewedin Zoroastrian
journals.ThereviewerfortheJournal
too.
of theRoyalAsiaticSocietyis a Zoroastrian,
9 Unfortunately,
HinnellsdoesnotdiscussthefollowingpassagefromH.G.Briggs,
ThePdrsts;or,ModemZerdushtians.
A Sketch.Bombay:AndrewDunlop1852,p. 91:
"thisis only casuallynoticedin an editionof 'EdmundBurke'sLife andWritings.'
a Pirsi,accompanied
a Hindu,appearto have... visitedEngland
Maniar,
by Haniman,
as theagentsof BajfRauthePeshwa.Theylivedduringtheyear1781atBeaconsfield,
the residenceof the illustrousEnglishstatesman...Both Pirsi and Hinduappear
to havesufferedseverelyduringthe winter.Theyreturnedto Indiain the courseof
the followingyear.ThePeshwa'sletterto Mr.Burkehas neverbeentraced,butthe
statemans
in replyfavorablynamesbothhis Indianacquaintances...
communication
ThisManiar,thePirsi,belongedto theMancharji
Shetfamily,of Surat...Thepresent
228
Book reviews
for education, to learn about and purchase technical equipment and for
business. These early arrivalsformed a "prototypeZoroastriancommunity
in Britain" (p. 87) consisting not only of westernized liberals but also
of traditionalistswho kept a certain distance from their environment.The
next section is an interesting analysis of 19th century Parsi travellers'
diaries (pp. 88-97). The Parsis' admirationfor the technical civilization
they encountered did not prevent some of them making critical remarks
directed against Parliamentand Christianity.The last section of the third
chaptergives an accountof the literatureon Zoroastrianismwestern-educated
and westernized Parsis producedfor a British audience (pp. 97-102). This
literaturepresents Zoroastrianismas a value-system in fundamentalaccord
with westerncivilization and Christianity.
The fourth chapteris entitled "A Centuryof ZoroastrianAssociations in
Britain (1860s-1960s)" (pp. 107-154). The first Zoroastrianassociation in
Britain was founded in 1861. According to Hinnells it "was the first Asian
religious association founded in Britain"(p. 107). The interesting chapter
is mainly based on the records of this association and other associations,
institutionsandclubs thathavebeen formedlater(e.g., the ParsiSocial Union,
the London Funeral Ground,the World ZoroastrianAssociation and some
local associations).10A separatesection discusses the London associations'
attempts at easing the conditions for their co-religionists in Iran (pp. 111114).11 Already in the early history of the association Hinnells identifies
membersof the familymerelyrememberhis voyageto Europe."In the following
passageBriggsmentionsa recenttravellerwhois notmentionedby Hinnells,either.
On Maniarsee also D.F. Karaka,Historyof the ParsisIncludingtheirManners,
London:MacmillanandCo., 1884,vol.II,
Customs,Religion,andPresentCondition,
pp.42-43.Duringtheirstayin England,theParsiandtheHinduseemedto havefaced
certainproblemssince theycontinuedto respectcertainritualprescriptions
of their
respectivereligions.
10Hinnellsmentionsin passingthe responsibility
of the LondonAssociationfor
a burialgroundin Berlin(p. 132).HereI miss a referenceto the discussionof that
problemby S.F.Desai,Historyof theBombayParsiPunchayet1860-1960.Bombay:
Trusteesof the ParsiPunchayetFundsandProperties,
n.d., pp. 196-197(describing
from
a
different
things
angle).
11Unfortunately,
Hinnellsomits referenceto a letterby KeikoshrowShahrokh
adressedto Bhownagree,the leadingfigureamongZoroastrians
in Britain,dated
24thOctober,1919.HeretheIranianunequivocally
laments:"Perhaps
youareaware
Book reviews
229
discussions that have become epidemic in later stages of the development

of Zoroastriandiasporas:the problemsof burialpracticesand the attendance
of non-Zoroastriansat Zoroastrianfunerals. The question "who authorizes
what in the Zoroastrianworld" (p. 109) arose at an early date and has
not been solved yet. This problem may even have become more apparent
in recent years due to the internationalizationof the association whose
membershipnowadays consists of Zoroastriansfrom India, Iran, Pakistan
and East Africa whereas it was purely Indian (= Parsi) in the beginning.
As a recurrentpatternof all the British ZoroastrianorganizationsHinnells
identifies"theZoroastriansense of distinctiveness"(p. 153) resultingin very
few contacts with other South Asian groups in Britain and an emphasis
on the Zoroastrians' 'Persian heritage.' Hinnells does not discuss how the
associationsand Zoroastrianismin general are financedin Britain.He rarely
comments on election proceduresand the competence of the associations'
different offices (e.g., of the president). In a certain way-and this brings
me back to the general criticism raised above-Hinnells shares with the
Zoroastrians' own historiographya tendency to emphasize the glory of
the good old days. While discussing the leadership of the early stages of
the association at quite some length, Hinnells contents himself with rather
few and general remarks on the dominant personalities since the 1930s.
These remarks, moreover, clearly show a tendency to harmonize history
by downplaying the awful conflicts waging between different persons and
groups,even resultingin the 'disappearance'of materialsand in legal action.
Hinnells' tendency to cloak these bitter aspects of reality in ambivalent
wordingor outrightsilence is a directconsequenceof his havinga Zoroastrian
audiencein mind, his unwillingness to comment on his own involvementin
Zoroastriancommunityaffairsand finally his concernnot to risk the futureof
his work with and on Zoroastrianism.Again, this is fully understandablebut
in my eyes he should at some point have made this tendency explicit.
The fourth and longest chapter of the book discusses "Zoroastriansin
BritishPolitics" (pp. 155-226). Because of their small numbersZoroastrians,
that in the last threeto four years the Persianshave passed throughmiserable
times... Even the Jews of Americaremitted[monies]for theirco-religionists...
Mohammedans
helpedtheirbrothersandsisters,but... Not a singlepennywas sent
to helpthe poorZoroastrians
by theirco-religionistsoutsidePersia,"TheMemoirs
edited
andtranslated
Keikoshrow
Shahrokh,
of
by ShahrokhShahrokhandRashna
Writer.
The
Edwin
MellenPress,1994,pp. 185-186.
Lewiston,Queenston,
Lampeter:
230
Book reviews
unlike other South Asian groups in Britain,have never constituteda significant electoralgroup.The firstthreeAsians to become Membersof Parliament,
however, were all Parsis (belonging to differentpolitical parties!). It therefore seems appropriatethat Hinnells dedicates a ratherlong chapteron the
political careersand activities of these early Zoroastrianpoliticians:Dadabhoy Naoroji (MP 1892-1895), MuncherjiBhownagree(MP 1895-1905) and
ShapurjiSaklatvala(MP 1922-1923 and 1924-1929). Hinnells is here mostly
working on the records of the parliamentarydebates but he also uses documents from the Zoroastrianassociation.As a result he observes thatprevious
researchhad partlyoversimplifiedassessmentsof these politicians(especially
Bhownagree).Moreover,Hinnells describes the political careerof Zerbanoo
Gifford(*1950) who has not become an MP (yet).12Surprisingly,he does not
commenton the fact thathalf a centuryhas elapsed between Saklatvala'slast
term at Westminsterand the beginnings of Gifford's campaign (mostly for
women's rights and racial equality). Moreover,I wonder why Hinnells fails
to mention the Labourpolitician and social workerTehmtanFramroze,who
is deputy mayor and formermayor of Brighton.
The fifth chapteris entitled "BritishZoroastriansApproachingthe Third
Millennium"(pp. 227-278). Unlike the preceding chapters this part of the
book under review makes use of 'empirical' (quantitativeand qualitative)
methods. It is based on a survey questionnaire (circulated in 1985, i.e.,
more than ten years ago), more than 300 in-depth interviews (conductedin
1986-1987, i.e., more than ten years before the book has been published)13
and many close personalcontacts ('participantobservation').Hinnells gives
a broad demographicpicture (pp. 230-233) and discusses "Religion and a
Sense of Identity" (pp. 233-235) containing some interesting observations
(e.g., thatfor "manyintervieweestheiridentity was not expressedin termsof
being British, or Indian or Parsi, but in ultimatelybeing the true Persianswhichevercontinentthey may have been born in" (p. 235)). Anothersection
is dealing with "Zoroastriansand the British"(pp. 235-238). Here Hinnells
12Hinnellsdoes not mentionthatZ. Giffordhasan Irani-Zoroastrian
background.
Thismakesanimportant
differenceto thethreeMPs.
13Hinnells'researchassistenthadin the meanwhilepublishedherownversionof
things, see R. Writer,ContemporaryZoroastrians.An UnstructuredNation. Lanham,
New York,London:UniversityPressof America,1994. The book has been very

poorlyreviewedby J.Russellin theJournalof theRoyalAsiaticSocietym (6) (1996),
110-111.
Book reviews
231
discusses questions such as experience of racial prejudice-in London 42%

of the Zoroastrianssaid they had faced prejudice (mostly in education)!and friendshipswith whites. Moreover,the authorfound "a consistentpattern
of Zoroastriansconsidering themselves to be the equals of Europeansand
superiorto otherraces, notablyMuslims, Hindus,otherAsians, and the Black
Africancommunity"(p. 238).14Anothersection discusses the question"Does
being ZoroastrianConflict with being British?"(pp. 238-241). Among other
things, Hinnells here observes that the Zoroastrians'sense of self-identity
often is expressedin negatives(e.g., not Indian,not Muslim). The following
sections contain useful distinctions (e.g., between the different countries
of birth and the sense of identity, different generations, gender issues,15
etc.) preventingover-simplifying statements (pp. 241-250). The important
question of intermarriageis dealt with in a different section (pp. 250255) containing an analysis of different groups' attitudes to intermarriage,
different groups of mixed marriagesbut also of the problems arising from
the immense communal pressure on the couples and their parents. Three
sections are concerned with the transmissionof that what Hinnells (in the
footsteps of his teacher,MaryBoyce) likes to call 'the tradition.'Apartfrom
discussing the social aspects of this 'tradition' (food, theatre etc.), he is
dealing with religious educationand publicationson Zoroastrianism.A long
section deals with religious practice (mainly the performanceof rituals and
theirinterpretation).A last section commentson local differencesin different
British associations (e.g., between London and Manchester)and compares
the BritishZoroastrians'religious ideas and practiceswith otherZoroastrian
diasporacommunities (pp. 272-275). In his conclusion to the sixth chapter
Hinnells among other things distinguishes between different factors which
affect "the extent and ways in which people assimilate or preserve the
tradition:"16their country of origin, their date of arrival,their gender and
14Hinnellsis here
Zoroastians
obviouslycaughtin the trapof his informants:
in a historicalsense,however,Muslimsdo
considerMuslimsprimarilyas "Arabs,"
'race'!
constitute
a
hardly
15In this case, however,Hinnellsin my eyes drawsa muchtoo harmonious
and
see
refined
For
a
more
in
Zoroastrianism.
of
picture
positivepicture gender-relations
In:Religionand Women,
K. Gould,"Outsidethe Disciplin,Insidethe Experience."
A. Sharma(ed.).Albany:StateUniversityof New YorkPress,1994,pp. 139-182.
161 find this wordingrevealing:Is this really the one and only alternative?
not
to Boyce'sandHinnells''thetradition')
I wonderif tradition
Moreover,
(contrary
232
Book reviews
status,whom they met, etc. Finally,however, as a true pupil of Mary Boyce,

Hinnells emphasizes "the very strong element of continuity in the lives of
most Zoroastrians"(p. 277).
The seventhchapteris more thanjust a "Conclusion"(pp. 279-310) in that
it, e.g., highlights a certain revival of religious interest among Zoroastrians
in the 1990's (pp. 290-291).17 Hinnells is to be applaudedfor the courage
to discuss what he sees as the "gaps and failings" of his own research
(pp. 308-309). In the "Conclusion"Hinnells tries to position Zoroastrianism
in the recent discussion on diasporareligions. As typical diasporafeatures
he stresses trendstowardsinternationalizationand institutionalizationof the
religion (pp. 292-294). A separate section compares Zoroastriansto other
'South Asian' religions in Britain (pp. 296-302). This reveals similarities
and differences, e.g., a different demographicprofile with smaller families,
more (and more intensely debated)intermarriage,differentgendering,higher
education, practically no unemployment,few manual-workersand quite a
differenttype of leadershipwhich is western-educated,professional, secular
and open to influences from British society. As particularproblems facing
the community Hinnells sees the Zoroastrians'demographiccrisis, limited
resources of funding and 'personal power,' a small market for religious
productsand finally a certainvulnerabilityto journalisticmockery and social
marginality.18A comparison of a different kind is with the Jews (pp. 302304).19Proceedingfromhis researchon Zoroastrians,Hinnells tries to extend
the five factorswhich affect the development(or preservation)of a religion in
migrationsuggested by Kim Knottto a bundle of ten factors: Where people
come from; how the British are perceived priorto migrationto Britain;why
people migrate;what people were before migration;when they migrated;who
in somewayorother?Howis tradition
to be 'preserved'
without
alwaysis assimilating
beingassimilated?Finally,Hinnellshimselfin a differentcontextopts to describe
Zoroastrianism
in Britainas 'syncretistic'
(pp.295-296)!
171cannotbutdisagreewithHinnells'sweepingstatementthat"Zoroastrians
had
had
a
of
sense
always
strong
history"(p. 280).
181amnotquitesureif I canagreewiththeselastarguments.
19This
comparisonhas some interestingaspectsbut also some pointsthatI find
of
highlyproblematic
(e.g., thatHinnellsdrawsa parallelbetweenthe 'persecution'
of
theZoroastrians
in Iranandtheholocaust!).Significantly,
the institutional
aspects
arefadedoutin this
financialorganisation)
religion(priesthood,
temples/synagogues,
comparison.
Book reviews
233
they migratewith; where they migrateto; what they do aftermigration;who

they are (gender,economic activities etc.), and externalfactorslike prejudice
(pp. 305-307). This seems a ratherreasonable scheme. The final section of
the book discusses "The Futurefor British Zoroastrians,"i.e., Zoroastrians
in Britain(pp. 309-310). Ultimately,Hinnells' conclusion is optimistic:"the
indicatorsat the end of the second millennium are that there will continue to
be a living history of Zoroastriansin Britain"(p. 310). Let's hope so.
JohnHinnells' book is a majorcontributionto researchon Zoroastrianism.
It seems equally importantfor diasporastudies. It is to be hoped that it will
not take the author another 10 years to publish the second product of the
Katraklectures, i.e., the book(s) on the global Zoroastriandiaspora.
University of Uppsala
Departmentof Theology
Box 1604
75146 Uppsala, Sweden
MICHAEL STAUSBERG
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
Books
(Listing in this section does not preclude subsequent reviewing)
Berthrong, John H., Concerning Creativity. A Comparison of Chu Hsi,
Whitehead,and Neville - Albany, NY, State University of New York
Press, 1998, 254 p., $21.95, ISBN 0-7914-3944-5 (pbk.).
Tucker,MaryEvelyn andJohnBerthrong(Eds.), Confucianismand Ecology.
The Interrelationof Heaven, Earth, and Humans. HarvardUniversity
Center for the Study of World Religions Publications - Cambridge,
MA/London, Harvard University Press, 1998, 378 p., ?20.50, ISBN
0-945454-15-5 (hc.)., ?15.50, ISBN 0-945454-16-3 (pbk.).
Braham,Randolph L., Romanian Nationalists and the Holocaust. The Political Exploitation- New York, The Rosenthal Institutefor Holocaust
Studies, GraduateSchool of the City Universityof New York,distrib.by
ColumbiaUniversityPress, 1998,289 p., US$ 35.00, ISBN 0-88033-9772 (pbk.).
Cole, Juan R.I., Modernityand the Millennium. The Genesis of the Baha'i
Faith in Nineteenth-CenturyMiddle East - New York, Columbia UniversityPress, 1998,264 p., US$ 47.50, ISBN 0-231-11080-4 (cloth);US$
19.50, ISBN 0-231-11081-2 (pbk.).
Cole, Alan, Mothers and Sons in Chinese Buddhism - Stanford, CA,
StanfordUniversity Press, 1998, 303 p., ?30.00, ISBN 0-8047-3152-7
(cloth).
Kripal,Jeffrey J., Kali's Child. The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and
Teachingsof Ramakrishna.Second Edition. With a Forewordby Wendy
Doniger- Chicago andLondon,The Universityof ChicagoPress, 1998,
386 p., ?15.25, ISBN 0-226-45377-4 (pbk.).
Orzech, Charles D., Politics and TranscendentWisdom: The Scripturefor
HumaneKings in the Creationof Chinese Buddhism- UniversityPark,
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Publications received
235
Pennsylvania,The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998, 351 p.,

$55.00, ISBN 0-271-01715-5 (cloth).
Niehr, Herbert,Religionen in Israels Umwelt. Einfiihrungin die nordwestsemitischenReligionen Syrien-Palastinas.Series:Die Neue EchterBibel,
Altes Testament,Erganzungsband5 - Wiirzburg,Echter Verlag, 1998,
256 p., DM 48.00, ISBN 3-429-01981-8 (pbk.).
Kohl, Karl-Heinz,Der Tod der Reisjungfrau.Mythen,Kulte und Allianzen in
einer ostindonesischenLokalkultur- Stuttgart,Berlin, K1ln, VerlagW.
Kohlhammer,1998, 303 p., DM 79.00, ISBN 3-17-015410-9 (cloth).
Michaels, Axel, Der Hinduismus.Geschichte und Gegenwart- Miinchen,
C.H. Beck Verlag, 1998,458 p., DM 58.00, ISBN 3-406-44103-3 (cloth).
Cox, JamesL., RationalAncestors.ScientificRationalityandAfricanIndigenous Religions. Series: Religions of Africa - Fairwater,Cardiff,Cardiff
Academic Press, 1998,265 p., ?16.95, ISBN 1-899025-08-1 (pbk.).
Fernando,Antony,ChristianPathto MentalMaturity.A Lucid Exposition of
Christianityfor the Multi-religiousClass-room - Eldeniya, Kadawata
(Sri Lanka),Inter-culturalBook Promoters,1998, 262 p., $18.00, ISBN
955-9036-13-0 (pbk.).
Read, Kay Almere, Time and Sacrificein the Aztec Cosmos - Bloomington
& Indianapolis,IndianaUniversityPress, 1998,308 p., US$ 39.95, ISBN
0-253-33400-4 (cloth).
Sirriyeh, Elizabeth, Sufis and Anti-Sufis. The Defence, Rethinking and
Rejection of Sufism in the Moder World- Richmond, Surrey,Curzon
Press, 1998, 188 p., ?14.99, ISBN 0-7007-1060-4 (pbk.).
Mgaloblishvili, Tamila (Ed.), Ancient Christianityin the Caucasus. Iberica
Caucasica, vol. 1 - Richmond, Surrey, Curzon Press, 1998, 272 p.,
?35.00, ISBN 0-7007-0633-X (cloth).
Levinson, BernardM., Deuteronomyand the Hermeneuticsof Legal Innovation - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, 205 p., ISBN 0-19511280-6 (cloth).
Cusack,CaroleM., ConversionAmong the GermanicPeoples - Londonand
New York,Cassell, 1998, 214 p., US$ 75.00 ISBN 0-304-70155-6 (hb.).
236
Schmidt-Leukel,Perry (Ed.), Wer ist Buddha? Eine Gestalt und ihre Bedeutung fiir die Menschheit. Series: Schriftenreiheder Gesellschaft fir
europaisch-aiatischeKulturbeziehungen- Munchen,Eugen Diederichs
Verlag, 1998,278 p., DM 28.00, ISBN 3-424-01418-4 (pbk.).
Troeltsch, Ernst, Die Absolutheit des Christentums und die Religionsgeschichte (1902/1912), mit den Thesen von 1901 und den handschriftlichen Zusaitzen,hg. von TrutzRendtorff. Series: Ernst Troeltsch Kritische Gesamtausgabe,5 - Berlin, New York, Walterde Gruyter.,1998,
XV + 317 p., ISBN 3-11-016114-1 (cloth).
Trigg, Joseph W., Origen. Series: The Early ChurchFathers- London and
New York,Routledge, 1998, 292 p., ?14.99, ISBN 0-415-12836-0 (pbk.).
Beal, Timothy K. and David M. Gunn (Eds.), Reading Bibles, Writing
Bodies. Identity and The Book. Series: Biblical Limits - London and
New York,Routledge, 1996,292 p., ?15.99, ISBN 0-415-12665-7 (pbk.).
Esler, Philip F., Galatians.Series: New TestamentReadings - London and
New York,Routledge, 1998,290 p., ?16.99, ISBN 0-415-11037-8 (pbk.).
TIELE ON RELIGION
ARIE L. MOLENDIJK
Summary
This essay explores C.P. Tiele's concept of religion. After a sketch of his place in
early Dutch science of religion (I), an outline is given of the main theme in Tiele's
discussion of religion - the relationshipbetween outside ("dogma and ritual")and
inside ("innerconviction")(II). The most voluminouspartof the essay (II) elaborates
on this topic by giving a detailed analysis of Tiele's Gifford Lectures. The structure
of this magnumopus is unravelled,which enables one to better discern the different
angels from which Tiele approachedhis subject matter. The metaphor of outside
manifestations,which reveal the inner core, enabled him to locate religion "in the
inmost depths of our souls". He claims that religion is ultimately a psychological
phenomenon;its essence is "piety".We owe this insightto the new science of religion,
which also shows that the religious need is the "mightiest"and most profoundof all
humanneeds.
I. Introduction
Corelis PetrusTiele(1830-1902)is generallyrecognizedas being

one of the main architectsof the science of religionin the second
half of the nineteenthcentury.Fromthe very beginningtherehas
beena discussionaboutthequestionconcerningwhoactuallyfounded
this new discipline.1The most obviouscandidateswere the Oxford
SanskritistFriedrichMaxMiiller(1823-1900),who advocatedin his
thatthenewsciencewould"change
"Chipsfroma GermanWorkshop"
the aspectof the world"2,on the one hand,andthe DutchmanTiele,
who occupiedfrom 1877 onwardsthe firstLeidenchairin History
of Religions,on the other.The foremostearlyhistorianof the field,
1Chantepie de la Saussaye 1887-1889, Part I: 5; Chantepie de la Saussaye
1902: 91; Kristensen 1899; Jordan 1905: 150-156, 521-523; cf. Sharpe 1986: 35;
Waardenburg1973-1974.
2 Miiller 1867: XX.
NUMEN, Vol. 46
238
Arie L. Molendijk
Louis HenryJordan,went to greatlenghtsto refutethe claim that

Miillerwas the fatherof Comparative
Religion,as the disciplineis
often called.3Tiele himself dealt with the controversialissue in a
of Religionsin 1893.4
paperreadat the famousChicagoParliament
He finallydiscardedthequestionby statingthata newbranchof study
can hardlybe said to be founded."Likeothers,this one was called
into beingby a generallyfelt wantin differentcountriesat the same
time and as a matterof course".5The sense of being involvedin a
scientificenterprisethattranscended
nationalboundarieswas indeed
as manifest
character,
strongat the time.Conversely,its international
in "WorldCongresses",
stimulatedan awarenessof the own,national
to thenewfield.
contribution
Withinthe Dutch contextTiele was - or, at least, considered
himself to be - the primus interpares. The patronizingkindnesswith
whichhe reviewedthefamous"Manualof theHistoryof Religion"of

his youngercolleaguePierreDanielChantepiede la Saussaye(1848In the penetrating
1920)is a fineexampleof this self-consciousness.6
necrology,writtenfortheDutchAcademyof Sciences,Chantepiede la
Saussayespokeof thedistancethatexistedbetweenTieleandhimself.
Of course,he mentionedthe international
prestigeTiele enjoyedfrom all over the world it resounded "tu Duca, tu Signore, e tu
Maestro"- but only afterhavingpointedto the fact thatTiele had

no pupilsin the Netherlands.
He alsoreferredto Tiele'ssensitive,not
to say hypersensitive,
nature,and to the high - in Chantepiede la
3 Jordan1905:521-523.I will not
nicetieshere,important
go intoterminological
as they may be; for the sake of convenience, I will use "science of religion" as a
covering term for the new field in all its ramifications.This does not imply that there
existed(or,for thatmatter,exists)a consensusaboutthe nameor thecontentof this

scholarlyendeavour.
Manyotherterms,likescienceof religions,historyof religion,
of
of religion,psychology
history religions,philosophyof religion,phenomenology
of religion,hierology,andhierography,
wereused.Terminology
was not fixed,and
therelationship
betweenthevariousbrancheswasa matterof discussion.
4 Cf. Ziolkowski1993;
Seager1995.
5 Tiele 1893:586.
6 Chantepie
de la Saussaye1887-1889;Tiele1888-1889.
Tiele on Religion
239
andunfounded- expectationsTiele
Saussaye'sview over-optimistic
hadwithrespectto the new field.7Tiele hopedthatthe new science
wouldpavethewayfora newreligiousawakeningthatwoulddo away
withanysortof ecclesiasticaloppression.8
In this view science of religion could have a practicalimpact
and could be used for a new religiouseducation.Hence, it is no
coincidencethatTielepublishedhis firstattemptin thenewfield,titled
"Somethingon pre-Christian
Religions",in the "ChristianPopular
Almanac"which he editedwith his friend,the famousDutchpoet,
P.A.de Genestet.9
Bothwereatthetimeministersin the"Remonstrant
a small,upperclass ProtestantChurch.Tiele was to
Brotherhood",
a largeextentan autodidactin science of religion;he masteredold
languages,suchas PersianandAssyrian,in his Rotterdam
parsonage.
He had startedhis scholarlycareerin the 1850s with two books on
the Gospelof John.He arguedthatit offeredusefulhistoricalinsight
into the life of Jesusand thatas a historicaldocumentit was to be
preferredover againstotherNew Testamentwritings,not so much
becauseit containedmorereliablefacts,butbecausetheFourthGospel
the overallhistoricalpicturebetterthantheothersources.10
portrayed
His firstmajorcontribution
to the emergingscienceof religionwas
his book on "TheReligionof Zarathustra".ll
Fromthe late 1870s
onwardsmanyof his articlesandbooksweretranslated
intothemajor
of
of
His
"Outlines
the
European
languages.
History Religion"(1877),
originallypublishedin Dutchin 1876,wentthroughfive editionstill
revisedandenlargedafterTiele's
1892;and the Germantranslation,
deathby the SwedishscholarNathanSoderblom(1866-1931)12was
up to the SecondWorldWarone of the most influentialhandbooks
7 Chantepiede la Saussaye 1902.
8 Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 261-263.
9 Tiele 1856. Tiele, who published some poetry himself (Tiele 1863), edited the
collected poems of his friend, who died at the early age of 32; cf. De Gdnestet1871.
10Tiele 1853 and 1855.
11Tiele 1864.
12On S6derblom,see
Sharpe 1990.
240
Arie L. Molendijk
countries.The book is explicitlyconstruedas a

in German-speaking
historyof religion(singular),andnot as a historyof religions."The
historyof religionis not contentwith describingspecial religions
or withrelatingtheirvicissitudesandmetamorphoses
(hierography),
(thehistoryof religions);its aim is to showhow religion,considered
powersin
generallyas the relationbetweenmanandthe superhuman
whichhe believes,hasdevelopedin thecourseof agesamongdifferent
nationsand races, and,throughthese, in humanityat large".'3The
of a unityof religionsof all ages andplacesjustified
presupposition
an interrelated
studyof them.
Tiele not only made significantcontributionsto the science of
religion'4,he also was an ardentadvocateof it. His firstbattlecry
was a devastatingcritiqueof the teachingsof JanHendrikScholten
(1811-1885),thegrandLeidenmasterof modemtheology,whowasat
ThisdidnotpreventTielefrom
thetimeat theheightof his prestige.15
and
statements"
"insufficient
of
"unwarranted
concepts"with
speaking
In an ironic
regardto Scholten'soutlineof "Historyof Religion".16
he
even
had
wrote
for
one
moment
Tiele
that
thoughtthat
phrasing,
the bookwas a joke to test how farthe stupidityof the Dutchin the
field of the historyof religionwouldgo.'7 Afterthis reviewit is a
small miraclethat Scholtenwould lateracceptTiele's appointment
at the LeidenTheologicalFaculty.Tiele had startedhis campaign
of theology
in the 1860s and pleadedfor a completetransformation
into scienceof religion,whichin his view wouldbe ableto fulfilthe
majortasks of the old theologyin a scientificway. However,there
was no majorityfor this optionin Parliament.
Yet, aftera long, ten
13Tiele 1877a: lf. (italics in the
original).
14For a list of Tiele's main publications,see Waardenburg1973-1974, Vol. II: 282286; cf. De Ridder 1900b. For biographical information, cf. Kristensen 1899; De
Ridder 1900a; Rdville 1902; Van der Vlugt 1902; Chantepie de la Saussaye 1902;
Cossee 1993.
15On Scholten, see Roessingh 1914: 105-131; Rasker 1981: 115-118.
16Scholten 1859: 1-16. The Frenchtranslationwas by AlbertReville (1826-1906).
On the Dutch-Frenchconnectionin early science of religion, see Cabanel 1994.
17Tiele 1860: 816.
Tiele on Religion
241
year periodof debatea new Act on HigherEducationwas passed

in 1876 which introducedtwo new disciplinesinto the theological
curriculum:
"Historyof Religionsin General"and "Philosophyof
Religion".These were in Tiele'sview the twin branchesof science
of religion.His Leideninaugurallectureof October10, 1877 on
the meaningof Assyriologyfor the comparative
historyof religions
markedthe institutionalbeginningin the historyof the field of the
Dutchuniversitysystem.18
AlthoughTielewas doubtlessa toweringfigurein thenew science,
he wasonly oneof themanyDutchscholarswho exploredthisareain
the secondhalfof thenineteenthcentury.Thepresentarticledoesnot
aimata full discussionof thesedevelopments'9;
rather,it hasthemore
of religion.In
modestpurposeto examineTiele's conceptualization
Whatconceptsandmetaphors
whatwaysdidTieleframe"religion"?
in the inmostdepthsof
"dwells
that
used
to
establish
were
religion
oursouls"?Andlast butnot least:Whatrole was scienceof religion
supposedto playin all this?
II. TheLocation of Religion
"ReliTheaim of his work,accordingto Tielein his contribution

whichwas
Britannica,
gions"to thenintheditionof theEncyclopaedia
of Religion
editedby the OldTestamentScholarandAnthropologist
WilliamRobertsonSmith(1846-1894)20,is not to "satisfya vaincuquotein full:
riosity",but- andI will give thisimportant
to understand
andexplainoneof themightiestmotorsin thehistoryof mankind,
whichformedas well as toreasundernations,unitedas well as dividedempires,
which sanctionedthe most atrociousand barbarousdeeds, the most cruel
and libidinouscustoms,and inspiredthe most admirableacts of heroism,
and devotion,whichoccasionedthe most sanguinarywars,
self-renunciation,
and
as well as broughtaboutthe freedom,happiness,
rebellions, persecutions,
at anotherbreakingits
andpeaceof nations- atone timea partisanof tyranny,
18Tiele1877b.
19Moreinformation
is offeredin Molendijk1998.
20OnRobertsonSmith,see Rogerson1995.
242
Arie L. Molendijk
chains, now calling into existence and fostering a new and brilliantcivilization,
then the deadly foe to progress, science, and art.21
Withrhetoricalskillandevenpleasure,so it seems,Tielesketchedout
the enormousimpactof religionon political,social,andculturallife.
effectsof theexerciseof power,
Especiallythepotentiallydevastating
reinforcedby religion,seemto havefascinatedTiele,althoughhe did
not neglectthe possiblebenefactoryeffectsof religion.This is not a
theso-calledWorldReligions
thingof theremotepast.Onthecontrary,
-
Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam -
appeared rather late in
religioushistory,andtheiraim,in contrastto theoldnationalreligions,

is "to conquerall mankind".Religionand powerare perceivedas
closely connectedwitheach other.'The revolutionbroughtaboutby
religiousuniversalismis the greatestand most completewhich the
historyof the worldcan show;all others,politicalor social, are as
nothing comparedto this".22Undoubtedly,the formulationsbetray a
romanticvisionof powerandheroism,buttheyalsoclearlyshowthat
Tieledidnotoverlooktheeffectsof religionupongeneralhistory.
By usingthemetaphorof a "mightymotor",he framedtherelation
betweenreligion,on the one hand,and culturaland socio-political
history,on the other hand, in terms of inside and outside. This
inneraffairbetweenhumanbeingsandtheirgodscanyield
apparently
enormousoutereffects. Also, Tiele did not deny that politicaland
religioushistoryare to some extentmixedup with each other,as is
showneven by the titles of severalof his books:"TheReligionof
Zarathustra...
Till the Fall of the Old PersianEmpire",and "History
of AncientReligionUp TillAlexandertheGreat".23
His "Babylonianis
even
AssyrianHistory"24
mainlypoliticalhistory,the discussion
of religionplayingonly a secondaryrole in the parton BabylonianAssyrianculture.Butthisis anexceptionin Tiele'swritings,whichon
21 Tiele 1886: 358.
22Tiele 1882a: XXI.
23 Tiele 1864; Tiele 1893-1901.
24Tiele 1886-1888.
Tieleon Religion
243
the whole dealwith specificreligiousphenomena,specificreligions,

and,lastbutnotleast,withreligionas such.
This focus on religionas such or, as Tiele wouldhave preferred
to say, on the essence and origin of religion25,does not imply a
disinterestin the differentmanifestationsof this particularcultural
of religions.26
form.Hespenta lot of timeondevelopingclassifications
This endeavour,however,is complicatedby Tiele's wish to present
scheme.Or,moreaccurately,one
at the sametime a developmental
representsin itself stages of
type of classification(morphological)
classificationgave rise to
at
diachronic
This
development.
attempt
extensiveandconfusingdiscussions,amongothersbetweenTieleand
his UtrechtcolleagueJ.I. Doedes, and the BerlinphilosopherOtto
I will restrictmyself to the crucialproblemat stake
Pfleiderer.27
here.Accordingto the positiondefendedby Tiele, phenomenathat
occur,strictlyspoken,later in the courseof historycan represent,
spoken,earlier phasesof developmentof religion
morphologically
as such.Thispointof view was not acceptableto all his colleagues.
Accordingto somecritics,thiskindof "history"(concerningreligion
as such)had nothingto do with "real"religioushistory.History,as
practisedby Tiele,was saidto be a meansto an end, andnot an end
in itself as it shouldbe.28In spite of this criticism,Tiele remained
convincedthat the historyof religion(in the singular)lies hidden
withinthehistoryof religions(in theplural).
accordedto historicalinvestigation
theimportance
Notwithstanding
- Tiele even said of himself:"I am nothingif not historical"29
andclassification.
scienceof religionstrives,in theend,atcomparison
wrotein his
Tiele
has
to
do
this
one
To
distinguish
adequately,
25 Tiele 1871.
26 On the influentialdistinctionbetween
theanthropicand theocraticreligions (cf.

Tiele 1886, 1897-1899, PartI, Lecture6), see Kippenberg1997: 77-79.
27 Doedes 1874; Pfleiderer1875; Tiele 1874a, 1874b, 1875. In a later
phase Tiele
modifiedhis views on this topic; cf. Tiele 1886: 367.
28 Kern 1877: 372.
29 A variationon AbrahamKuenen'sfamous dictum:"I am
nothingif not critical";
cf. Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 17.
244
Arie L. Molendijk
contribution
on "Religions"to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica- "two
prominentconstitutive elements [of religion], ... religious ideas and
Suchideasmaybe vagueor unsystematic,

but,
religiouspractices".30
for Tiele, thereexists no "livingreligionwithoutsomethinglike a
doctrine".
Yet,a doctrinealonedoesnotmakeup a religion."Scarcely
less thanby its leadingideas a religionis characterized
by its rites
andinstitutions..."
Giventhe greatimportance
Tieleattachedfromthe
outsetto researchon religiousideas insteadof the studyof rituals
andreligiouspractices,it is remarkable
thatin thisstatementpractices
receivenearly("scarcelyless")thesamerankas ideas.Tieleevenwent
so faras to speakof "thehithertomuchneglectedcomparative
study
of religiousworshipandof ethics".Thisfavourableassessmentcould
be relatedto the fact thatRobertsonSmith,who was on his way to
argueforthepriorityof ritualovermyth,hadinvitedTieleto writethis
article.Smith'slettersto Tiele concerningthe Encyclopaedia
article,
however,do not show any discussionof this topic.31Of course,this
doesnotexcludethepossibilitythatTiele,whilepreparing
his article,
hadan audiencein mind,familiarwith
consciouslyor subconsciously
Britishanthropology
of religion.
Havingremindedhis readersof thefactthatthetwo mainelements
of religion hardlyever balanceeach other, so that pre-eminently
doctrinalreligionshaveto be distinguished
frommoreritualisticand
ethicalones,Tiele'sexpositiontooka strikingturn:
Not thatdogma and ritualare religion;they areonly its necessarymanifestations,
the embodimentof what must be consideredas its very life and essence, of that
which as an inner convictionmust be distinguishedfrom a doctrineor creed- a
belief.32
30 Tiele 1886: 358. The
following quotationsare takenfrom the same page.
31 The lettersare
kept in the Tiele Collection of the LeidenUniversityLibrary,under
the signatureBPL 2710. In a letterof October23, 1893, in which Smith expressedhis
thanksfor the "new book" (probablyTiele 1893-1901, volume I) Tiele had sent him,
he touched upon this difference of opinion: "for my own part I am inclined to think
that you give too great prominenceto gods, while you on the other hand will think
thatI give too much prominenceto institutions"(emphasisin the original).
32 Tiele 1886: 358. The
following quotationsare takenfrom the same page.
Tieleon Religion
245
to the inside
The switchhereis fromthe outside("manifestations")
"belief').Apparently,
("innerconviction",
onlyby studyingthemanifestationscan we get to knowthe insidethatbringsaboutthoseouter
phenomena. Without researchingreligious ideas and practices, "we
cannotget a knowledgeof the belief whichlies at the base of a particulardoctrineand whichpromptspeculiarrites and acts".In this
whathe was aimingat since he did
contextit is hardto understand
not specifythe contentof the "belief'.Onlateroccasionshe dropped
as beingat the
the termandspokeinsteadof "religioussentiment"33
heartof religion.It is for certain,however,thatthis basic belief is
not to be confusedwith creeds,doctrines,or religiousconcepts.It
The
concernsthe way the relationshipwith the divineis structured.
essenceof religionwas describedin variousways (perhapsnot all of
his writings.Insteadof a
themconsistentwitheachother)throughout
I will
of Tiele'sdevelopment,
full, "werkgeschichtliche"
investigation
in
of
his
mature
views
as
in
the
an
present the
give
following analysis
GiffordLectures.
III. The GiffordLectures
1. Outside-Inside
After havingbeen obligedto rejectan earlierinvitationto give
the Gifford Lectures34because of his recent appointmentas Rector
of the Universityof Leiden(1892-1893),Tiele was happyto accept

a secondinvitation.He was attracted,he stated,by the prospectof
presentinghis views on scienceof religionbeforea broadpublic.35
The Lectures,deliveredin 1896 and 1898, were attendedby large
audiences.Theywereevena mediaevent:Tiele'svoyageto Scotland
was covereddaily by some of the mainDutchnewspapers,and his
arrivaland activitiesalso attractedlarge attentionfrom Britishand
Scottishdailiesandmagazines.Nonetheless,Tielehadnot been able
to performhis taskto his own entiresatisfaction.The mainproblem
33 Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 35; cf. Tiele 1871: 389!
34 On the GiffordLectures,see Jaki 1986.
35 Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: VII.
246
Arie L. Molendijk
he faced was thathe had to speakbeforea heterogeneousaudience

in a languagehe was not fully acquaintedwith. The translationof
William
the Lecturescausedsome trouble,becauseTiele"emended"
led
The conflictoverthe translation
Hastie'stranslation
considerably.
to a lawsuit startedby Hastie36,and ended, eventually,in a new
TheLectureswerefinally
translation
by Tiele'sfriendJ. Kirkpatrick.
in
under
the title "Elementsof
in
two
volumes,
English
published
andin Dutchandotherlanguagesas an
the Scienceof Religion"37,
to the Scienceof Religion".
"Introduction
Tiele did not burdenthe book with referencesand footnotes;he
consideredit to be a more or less popularintroduction,and not a
handbook.Probablythe originalDutchtitle was not, or could not,
be used for the English edition,because there alreadyexisted an
"Introduction"
withthe samenamewhichwas writtenby his famous
colleagueMaxMiller.Thisbookwas a permanent
pointof reference,
notto saytarget,forTiele.Miiller,accordingto Tiele,necessarilydealt
in 1873,butnow,25 yearslater,scienceof religion
withpreliminaries
wasa moreorless establisheddisciplinethatcouldofferactualresults.
of thenew
Tieleemphasizedthephilosophicalpart,or evencharacter,
science,andreducedtheplaceof historywithinthescienceof religion,
properlyspoken,to a minimum:
Historicalresearchmustprecedeandpavethe way for ourscience;butit does
notbelongto it. If I haveminutelydescribedall thereligionsin existence,their
doctrines,myths,customs,the observancestheyinculcate,andthe organisation
of theiradherents,besidestracingthe differentreligiousforms,theirorigin,
bloom,anddecay,I havemerelycollectedthematerialswithwhichthescience
or
as thisis, it is notenough.Anthropology
of religionworks.And,indispensable
the scienceof man,sociologyor the scienceof oursocialrelations,psychology
or the scienceof man'sinmostbeing,andperhapsothersciencesbesides,must
36Therelevant
is in theTieleCollectionof the LeidenUniversity
correspondence
Library.
37Inthe
(Tiele1897-1899),butI
followingpagesI will makeuseof thistranslation
in thesameyearsand
willcheckit againsttheoriginalDutchversion,whichappeared
is notalways
whichwas re-issuedin a slightlyrevisedformin 1900.Thetranslation
Italicsarealwaystakenfromtheoriginal.
adequate.
Tiele on Religion
247
yield their contributionsin orderto help us to learnthe true natureand origin of

religion, and thus to reachour goal (I: 17).38
andso on,areconceivedas auxiliarydisciplines

History,anthropology,
whilescienceof religion
thatareall moreorless inductivein character,
The
method.
last methodis not to
to
use
the
deductive
properought
be confusedwith the speculativemethodof formertimes. "Onthe
contrary,our deductivereasoningmuststartfromthe resultsyielded
methods.What
by induction,by empirical,historical,andcomparative
and
we
can
ascertain
whence
it
fromreligious
arises,
only
religionis,
phenomena.Our inmostbeing can only be knownby its outward
manifestations"
(I: 18).
Fromtheoutsideto theinsideof religion:thisis themetaphor
which
find
Tiele's
research
We
the
dialectics
between
guides
programme.
inside and outside,betweencore and shell, on differentlevels. For
instance,it is used to arguefor the priorityof intentionsor beliefs
over against(ritual)practices.Tiele statedthatthe innerconviction
guaranteesthat doctrinedoes not become"anemptyphrase,a lipservice,the parrot-like
mumblingof a catechism"(II: 191).Thisalso
ritual:
to
Celebratingthe Holy Communiondependson the
applies
to outwardappearances,
"the
meaningwhichis attachedto it. Contrary
attached
it
and
different
to
widely
significance
by Catholics,Lutherans,
Calvinists,by Zwingli,Luther,andCalvin,rendersit a verydifferent
ceremonyin each case".39Moreover,the inside-outsidedichotomy
rolein thedivisionof the"Elements"
intotwoParts.
playsanimportant
is
with
"the
Thefirst,Morphological
Part concerned
constantchanges
of formresultingfrom an ever-progressing
evolution",whereasthe
elementsin whatis
second,OntologicalPartdealswith"thepermanent
forms"
elementin transientandever-altering
changing,theunalterable
(I: 27). The permanentelementswill be foundon the inside,as will
38Numbersbetween bracketsreferto the
English edition: Tiele 1897-1899. Italics

in the quotationsare always takenfrom the originaltext.
39 Cf. Tiele 1897-1899, Part I: 26. The English edition translatesthe Dutch term
"Gereformeerden"
by "Evangelicals".The translation"Calvinists",however,is more
adequate.For Tiele's views on ritual,see Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 148f.
248
Arie L Molendijk
is perhapsa bit misleadingin

be shownbelow.Theterm"ontological"
thiscontext,becauseTieledoes not wantto enterintoa metaphysical
discussionabouttranscendent
issues, but to researchthe constituent
elementsof religionas such.
2. TheDefinitionof Religion
TheGiffordLecturesstartwithsomepreliminary
questions.Prominentamongthemis the problemof the definitionof religion.To beof
gin research,Tiele wrote,one musthave a generalcharacteristic
religion.Thisfirstdefinitionis not meantto determinetheessenceof
at the end of the wholeinvesreligion,whichcan onlybe ascertained
Tieledoes notbeginby sketching"apreconceived
idealof
tigation.40
what
but
is
understood"
the
term.
In
religion", by stating
by
"generally
a generalsenseit means"theaggregateof all thosephenomena
which
areinvariably
termedreligious,in contradistinction
to ethical,aesthetical, political,andothers"(I: 4). A ratherformaldistinction,I would
to Tiele's(later)work.Moreover,it
say,butone whichis fundamental
is the implicitpresupposition
underlyingscienceof religionas such.
Becausereligionis thoughtto constitutea distinctsphere,the urge
arisesto establisha distinctdisciplinewhichresearchesthisdomain.
Ona moresubstantial
level,religionis specifiedas beingconcerned
with "thosemanifestations
of the humanmindin words,deeds,customs,andinstitutionswhichtestifyto man'sbeliefin thesuperhuman,
andserveto bringhimintorelationwithit"(I:4). Again,thedualityof
or phenomena41,
on the one hand,whichex(external)manifestations
human
the
on
other
belief,
hand,is striking.Compared
press(internal)
to earliercharacterizations
givenby Tielewhichfocusedon the relabetween
man
and
the
theemphasison external
tionship
superhuman42,
expressionsof religionis new.Thiscouldbe adducedas an argument
forthe alleged"phenomenological"
character
of Tiele'sscienceof re40Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 4.
41 The two terms can be used as
synonyms (cf. Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 4f.; Tiele
1901: 4), althoughon otheroccasions they are also contrasted(cf. below).
42Tiele 1877: If.
Tieleon Religion
249
researchis defined
ligion.The commonfeatureof phenomenological
as "thedesireto interrogate
by JacquesWaardenburg
religiousdatafor
theirmeaning,while tryingto avoidimposingpersonalvaluejudgementson suchdata".43
is, as
Althoughthe term"phenomenological"
far as I can see, only to be foundin Tiele'slatestwork,he practised
somesortof epoche(withoutusingthisterm),denyingthatthe superhumanas suchis subjectof research.Thepresupposed
"realityof the
objectsof faithdoesnotconcernus here.Wethereforeleavethequestion open.The objectof ourscienceis not the superhuman
itself,but
on
in
the
These
based
belief
beliefs
canbe
(I:5).
religion
superhuman"
studiedscientifically,
the scientificcharacterof the new fieldbeingof
Tiele.44
No doubt,Tielewantedto giveherea gento
greatimportance
of religion,whichwould,
erallyacceptable,unbiasedcharacterization
a
stable
for
new
science.Strivingat prebasis
the
therefore,provide
insteadof "supersensual",
sincethe
cision,he spokeof "superhuman"
It is thejudgementof
secondtermwouldexclude"visibledeities".45
- andnot thatof the scholarwho studies
the religiouspractitioners
them whichdetermineswhetheror not theirdeitiesare "superhuman".
In contrastto earlierwritings,the GiffordLecturesdid not define
religionin termsof the relationshipbetweenhumanbeingsand superhuman
powers.The conceptof powerwas only introducedin the
secondpartof the book,in the chapteron 'The ConstantElementin
All Conceptions
of God".Inhis definitionTieleavoidstheterm(superhuman)power,buthe speaksfreelyabout"God"or "gods"(as equivalentto "superhuman").
Withoutmuchreasoninghe seemsto takefor
grantedthatthe"superhuman"
sphereis populatedby godsor spirits.46
43Waardenburg1972: 129.
44 Cf. Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 5f.
45Tiele 1877a: 2.
46 Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 290: "The earliest [conceptionof a God, ALM] was not
polytheistic, still less monotheistic,or even what has been termed henotheistic, but
consisted in a vague, indefinite,glimmeringnotion of a supernaturalor spirit world,
to which all the spirits,thousandsupon thousandsof them, belonged".
Arie L. Molendijk
250
AlthoughTielecan do withoutthe notionof power,he does needthe

or gods to characterize
religion.The factthat
conceptof superhuman
is
used
in
the
definitiondoesnot
not
thenotionof (superhuman)
power
poweris still"theone
Superhuman
implythatit is no longerimportant.
constitutesthe idea of a
elementwhichessentiallyandindispensably
god"(I: 80).
In this contextit is necessaryto makea remarkon the use of the
centuryscienceof religion,because
conceptof powerin latenineteenth
in the historiography
this conceptis aboveall connectedto the "preanimistic"theoryof religion,as put forwardby R.R. Marett(18661943).47He is famousforhis critiqueof his teacherE.B. Tylor,whose
definitionof ("primitive")
religionas a beliefin soulsanda beliefin the
was consideredby Marettto be "too
animationof nature("animism")
because
too
intellectualistic".48
Marettdidnot locatereligion
narrow,
in an intellectualneed, but in the experienceof power.49This view
had greatimpacton the subsequentstudyof religion.RudolfOtto's
to
conceptof theHolywasinfluencedby it, andMarettwas important
earlysociologistsof religion,like EmileDurkheimandMax Weber,
too.50
But as theexampleof Tieleshows- andotherexamplescouldbe

- the notionof powerplayedan important
added51
role in the study
of religionbeforeMarettproposedhis theoryon preanimism.
Whatis
thedifferencebetweenthem?Marettargued(againstTylor)that
the attitudeof mind dictatedby awe of the mysterious,which provides religion
with its raw material,may exist apart from animism... Objects towards which
awe is felt may be termedpowers. Of such powers spiritsconstitute but a single
class amongstmany.52
47 Marett 1900.
48 Marett1900: 1.
49 Kippenberg1994: 381.
50 Kippenberg1994: 383-386.
51 Rdville 1881: 104; Troeltsch1895-1896: 381; on Troeltsch,see Molendijk1999.
52 Marett1900: 1
(takenfrom the summarythatMarettwrotefor the second edition;
cf. Marett1914). In a latercontribution(1909) he specifiedhis views in more detail.
251
Tiele on Religion
Religionis fundamentally
perceivedas a sphereof experience,ideas
andconceptsbeingof secondaryimportance."Myown view is that
savagereligionis not so muchthoughtout as dancedout".53Thisis a
in terms
differentworldcompared
to Tiele,whosees religionprimarily
of belief. Speakingaboutpower,Tiele meansthe root idea in every
conceptionof God.54Thenotionof poweris in Tiele'sview basically
a (religious)concept,whereasMarettpointsby the sametermto an
experiential
sphere.
3. Manifestations
andConstituents
of Religion
Beforegoing on with the discussionof Tiele'skey concepts,we
mustdigressslightlyand take the structureof the GiffordLectures
intoaccount.To identifythisstructureit is helpfulto takea glanceat
anotherof Tiele'sbooks,actuallythe last one he publishedhimself,
"MainFeatures[Elements]of the Science of Religion"55,which
appeared1901 in Dutchand coversmuch the same groundas the
GiffordLectures.Comparedto the GiffordLectures,which give a
muchmoreelaborateaccountof approximately
600 pages,thisoutline
is small(125 pagesin largeprint).Nonetheless,it has the advantage
thatit showstheinfrastructure
of Tiele'sscienceof religion.Themain
is
in
the
arrangement captured
followingscheme:
Outline1901
Gifford
Prolegomena
Morphology
Ontology[withtwo subsections:]
PartI: Lecture1
PartI: Lectures9-10
PartII
- phenomenological
- psychological
PartII: Lectures 1-756

PartII: Lectures8-10
53 Marett1914: XXXI.
54 Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 81.
55 Tiele 1901.
56The first, introductory,lecture of the second series explains the relationship
between the phenomenologicaland the psychological partproper.
252
Arie L. Molendijk
TheProlegomena
dealwithpreliminary
questions,suchas theproblem
of the definitionof religionwhichwe discussedin the abovesubsecof religion.Here,
tion.Themorphological
parttreatsthedevelopment
Tielegivesa classification
of religions(themostprominentdichotomy
the
between
nature
andethicalreligions57)andformulates
one
being
laws of religiousdevelopment.
Thesethemesareof greatimportance
to him,but,as said,thispartstill concernsonlythe changesof forms,
andnot the permanentelementin whatis changing.This last topic,
concerning"theoriginand the very natureand essence of religion"
(I: 27), is exploredin the ontologicalpartof the GiffordLectures.It
is calledontologicalbecauseit concerns"'being'- thatwhichis, as
fromthatwhichgrowsor becomes,the ousia as distindistinguished
from
the
(II:188).58No metaphysics
guished
ever-changing
morpha9"
is intended.Tiele assuredhis audiencethathe is only speakingof the
essenceof religionin thepsychologicalsense.59Psychologyis crucial
becausethephenomenadiscussedin theontologicalpartare"psychic
andthereforesteadyphenomena",
whereasthemorphological
research
treats"historicalandthereforetransitory
phenomena".60
Becauseof the sharpcontrastbetweenMorphologyandOntology
andthefocuson the(ontological)researchintotheessenceof religion
whichis of a psychologicalnature,the impressionis veryeasilycreatedin theGiffordLecturesthatthewholesecondseriesis psychological in character.
Thisis notthecase.Severalamendments
in thesecond
Dutcheditionand,especially,the"MainFeatures"
showthesomewhat
hiddenstructure
moreclearly.Thefirstpartof thesecondseriesis concernedwith"manifestations",
thesecondwith"constituents".
By manifestationsTiele meansprimarily"wordsanddeeds";by constituents,
"emotions,conceptions,and sentiments,of which wordsand deeds
are at once the offspringandthe index"(II: 6f.). Only the research
intotheconstituentsis properlycalledpsychological("psychological57Cf. Kippenberg1995: 138-141.
58 Cf. Tiele 1900, PartII: 165 (Dutch edition).
59 Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 188f.
60 Tiele 1901: 61.
Tiele on Religion
253
synthetic"), whereas the investigation into the manifestations is termed

"phenomenological-analytical".61 Chapters 2-7 (on religious doctrine,
praxis, and organization) are phenomenological; chapters 8-10 (on
essence, origin, and the place of religion in spiritual life) are psychological.
From the outside to the inside: this is the alleged ordo cognoscendi.
The manifestations express the underlying constituents. Moreover,
religious words and deeds are only expressions of authentic religion
if they "flow spontaneously from the heart" (II: 7). The underlying
"emotions, conceptions, and sentiments", therefore, have ontological
priority: they guarantee the authenticity of the religious expressions
(manifestations). The ordo essendi is opposite to the ordo cognoscendi.
On the other hand the possibility of a psychological study of the
constituents is stipulated. These constituents are occasionally referred
to as "phenomena"62, and Tiele claims to know that religion always
begins with (which is not the same as originates in)63 an emotion. He
then explaines what is meant by "emotion" or "affection"64: "Strictly
61 Tiele 1901: 61. The second Dutch edition makes
things more complicated by
introducingthe asymmetricalcontrast between "phenomenological-analytical"and
"synthetic-psychological"(Tiele 1900, PartII: 2).
62 Terminologicalrigourand elegance are not Tiele's strongpoint. Religious words
and deeds, which in the contributionto the Encyclopaedia Britannica were still
termed"constitutiveelements"of religion, are in the Gifford Lecturescategorizedas
"manifestations".They express the underlyingreligious "emotions,conceptions, and
sentiments"which are not in the proper sense of the word called "manifestations".
To refer to these constituentsTiele uses the term "phenomena",which is, of course,
close to "manifestations"(which is clear from the fact that they are on other
occasions used by Tiele as near synonyms). Another complication is that the Dutch
term for manifestation("openbaring"= the German "Offenbarung")has a strong
religiousconnotation,meaning"revelation".In this context, however,such a religious
connotationis not implied;the termsimply indicatesthatsomethingis revealed,made
manifest (in the general sense of the word). - For Tiele's view on the concept of
religious revelation,see Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 131f.
63 Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 15. Tiele's view on the origin of religion will be dealt
with below.
64 The Dutch version has "aandoening".
Arie L. Molendijk
254
speaking,an emotionis simplythe resultof somethingthatmovesus

[affectsus, ALM]"(II: 15). However,the wordis used here in the
followingsense:
Andin this senseeveryemotionembracesthreeelements:(1) a predisposition,
in the formof certainlongingsor aspirations,
as yet partlyunconscious,and
certainlatentand vagueconceptions,differingaccordingto the temperament
and inclinationof the individual,whichmaybe describedas a mood;(2) an
uponus fromwithout,ortheaffectionitself;and(3) thefact
impression
produced
of becomingconsciousof suchan affection,or theperceptionof suchaffection
(I: 15).
The first element -
the religious mood -
is of central importance
becauseit determineswhetheror notanimpressionawakensanactual

religiousemotion.If it is missing,one may have, for instance,an
aestheticemotion (experience),but not a religiousone. The third
aspectmentionedimpliesthatthe emotionwhichis perceived,so to
speak,givesriseto a conception.Heretheconnectionbetweenemotion
and conception- the first two elementsof the triad mentioned
above- is established.Thisalmostclosesthecirclebecauseemotion
andconceptiontogethereasily lead to a definite"sentiment",
as the
translation
has it, or,perhapsbetter,to an inclinationor disposition65
whichimpelsto action.The emotive,cognitive,andpracticalaspects
arecloselyknittogether.
The emphasison religionas an ultimatelypsychologicalphenomenoneasily leads to a neglectof the social andpracticaldimensions
of religion.Only two lecturesof the second series are devotedto
thesedimensions.Thesixthlecturedealswithreligiouspraxis("Worandtheseventhwithreligiousorganizaship,Prayers,andOfferings")
tion ("ReligionAs a Social Phenomenon:the Church").66Interestingly
enough,thequestionthatis discussedhereis notwhetherreligiouspersons of the same inclinationswill forma communityor association.

Sucha questionwouldbe in line withTiele'sindividualistic
outlook.
in
"Does
own
a
he
asks:
its
and
with
viewto
Instead,
nature,
religion,
65TheDutchversionhas
cf. Tiele1900,PartII: 16.
"gezindheid";
66Cf. Tiele1901:62f.
Tiele on Religion
255
its perfect evolution, requireso mighty a mechanism, so elaboratean

association as the church ...?" (II: 162). The question concerns societies in which religionconstitutesa separatespherethatis independent
of the state. The question is phrasedin such a hesitant way because,
ultimately,Tiele has a spiritualconception of religion.67The domain
of the churchis definedas the spiritual-religious."[TheChurch]must
never forget that she is a purely spiritualinstitution,which can only
attainits lofty aims by spiritualmeans"(II: 180).
4. The Essence, Origin,andPlace of Religion
(a) The eighth lecture of the second series - the inquiry into the
essence of religion - marksthe turn to the psychological-synthetic
partof Tiele's morphology.As could be expected, the essence is not to
be found in the varyingconceptions,rituals,or institutionsof religion.
It would be equally foolish, Tiele declares,to call the body the essence
of humanbeings.68One has to go from the visible to the invisible, from
religion as an anthropologicalphenomenon to religiosity, in which
the externalmanifestationsoriginate. "Andwhat root can this be but
faith?"(H: 191). Tiele admitsthatthis was the view he indeedformerly
held, and that he still thinks that without faith (the meaning of the
termis not specifiedin this context)religion becomes an emptyphrase
or a senseless praxis. But in the meantime, a counter-questionhas
occurredto Tiele: Does this not apply to the whole of spirituallife?
What is moral life withoutbelief in the reality of goodness? How can
the scientist advance withoutfaith in the unity of nature?And so on.
Consequently,a more precise definitionis needed.
First, a Kantian view that defines religion as the belief in the
moral order of the world, which is guaranteedby a supreme power,
is rejected. Tiele is more inclined to see the kernel of all religion
in the "belief in the Infiniteabove us and the infinite within us" (II:
67 On the
explicit rejectionof such a spiritualistconception by the Durkheimians,

see Strenski1997: 131f.
68 Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 191 (Dutchedition 1900, PartH: 167).
256
Arie L. Molendijk
194).69But this solutionwhichonce satisfiedhim "doesnot appear

entirelyadequate"anylonger.It is too muchof a dogma;actually,it
is a compoundof two dogmas(theInfiniteaboveandwithinus). The
too muchon the level of
proposedsolutionsaretoo intellectualistic,
to
Tiele.
and
convince
concepts ideas,
Instead,theessenceis to be locatedat thelevelof religiosity- the
Tielecapturedthe essencein one word:
subjectiveside of religion.70
piety.71Devotionwouldalso be a properterm"becauseit involves
the idea of self-dedication
andpersonalsacrifice"(II: 197f.),butthis
describesonly one crucialaspect,notthe whole"pureandreverential
dispositionor frameof mind"(II: 198) whichis calledpiety.In the
rest of the eighthlectureTiele seeks to explain,in ways not always
whatpietyreallyis. Afterhavingestablishedpiety
easyto understand,
to be the essenceof religion,he allegesthatthe essenceof pietyand,
religionis adoration.The reasonwhy he does not use
consequently,
the word worshipin this contextprobablyis thatthis termcan be
associatedwith "external"
veneration
acts, whereassolely "internal"
is meant.Adorationinvolvestwo oppositetendencies:"Toadoreis to
give oneself...,[b]utat the sametime adorationincludesa desireto
possesstheadoredobject,to call it entirelyone'sown"(II:198f.).
It is notablethatTiele does not explicitlysupplyan objectof the
adorationmost of the time, but talks aboutit in the abstract.The
endeavourto locatereligionin "theinnerdepthsof the humansoul"
(II:24), in a "frameof mind",makesthereferenton variousoccasions
almostdisappear.However,the cognitivelevel cannotbe passedover
areunitedthose
completely.Ina keypassageTielestates:"Inadoration
twophasesof religionwhicharetermedby the schools'transcendent'
and'immanent'
orwhich,in religiouslanguage,represent
respectively,
69 The inconsistent
spelling of Infinite(with and withoutcapital)is not found in the
Dutch edition;cf. Tiele 1900, PartII: 170.
70 On one occasion Tiele
distinguishedbetween the subjectiveside (religiosity)and
the objective side of religion (religion proper);cf. Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 183. The
distinction,however,is not carriedthroughsystematically.
71 Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 196; cf. the Dutch edition:II: 172.
Tiele on Religion
257
the believeras 'lookingup to Godas the MostHigh',andas 'feeling

himselfakinto Godas his Father"'(II:198).Still,Tielemaintainsthat
the term"adoration"
alonesufficesto characterize
religionbecause,
whenappliedto therelationships
betweenhumanbeings,it is usedin a
metaphorical
way.Butforthesakeof clarityhe is willingto determine
of a superhuman
the essenceof religionas the "adoration
power,on
whichwe feel dependent".72
It is claimedthatthegermof thisessence
canbe foundin primitivereligionsas well.
(b) Afterhavingestablishedtheessenceof religion,Tielediscusses
in the ninth lectureits origin.The questionis not concernedwith
how it arose. He is not interestedin the (historical)beginningof
religionin humanhistory.Instead,the questionruns:"Whencedoes
it spring,not in one instancebut in all, or what is the sourcein
man'sspirituallife?"(II:209). Whatis the psychologicalfoundation
of religion?Severalanswersgiven by philosophersof religionare
discussedandrejected.Accordingto Tiele,we do not receivemuch
sense of dependence"
"unconditional
(II:
helpfromSchleiermacher's
222). He also rejectsthe theory,adoptedby himselfin earliertimes,
that"religionis the resultof a conflictbetweenthe senseof self and
the sense of affliction".73
The originof religioncannotbe explained
fromfeelingsof fearandhelplessnessandthe searchfor a god who
cancontroldanger.Feuerbach
is a fineexampleof thispointof view,
andTielepraiseshimfor his finepsychologicalanalysis,althoughhe
repudiatesthe negativeconclusionthatthe whole processis purely
subjective.
In sum:thereis no denyingthatthe wishesanddesiresFeuerbach
analyzedso wellexist.Thequestiononeoughtto ask,however,is: "But
whencedo theycome?Whyis mandiscontentedwithhis conditions
andsurroundings?"
(II:228).Theansweris simple:"becausehe cannot
it".
help
72 Added in the second Dutch edition;cf. Tiele 1900, PartII: 179.
73 Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 223. The Dutch term "noodgevoel"(Dutch edition: II:
195) is translatedhere as "senseof affliction"insteadof as "sense of necessity",as the
book's text has it.
258
Arie L. Molendijk
becausehe feels
Mereanimal,selfishenjoyment
cannotsatisfyhimpermanently,
that,as a man,he hasan inwardimpulsewhichconstrainshim to overstepthe
of thefiniteandto striveafteraninfiniteperfection,
boundaries
thoughhe knows
it to be unattainable
forhimas anearthlybeing.TheInfinite,theAbsolute,very
Being,as opposedto continualbecomingandperishing- or call it as you will
- thatis theprinciplewhichgiveshimconstantunrest,becauseit dwellswithin
him(II:228).
In a phrasewhich carriesKantianovertones,this precedenceof the

Infiniteis termed"a form of conception"("voorstellingsvorm"):
an
ideathatdominatesmanandthatconstituteshis essence.Tielequotes
Alfredde Musset:"malgremoi l'Infinime tourmente"
(II:230). This
"original,unconscious,innatesenseof infinity"(II:233) is presented
as a psychologicalfact.Theseremarkssoundverymuchlike a theory
of the "religiousapriori"
thatfoundits famousexpressionin thework
of ErnstTroeltsch.74
Toprovethe validityof thisbeliefin the infinite
wouldbe, accordingto Tiele,the taskof metaphysicsandnot of the
scienceof religion.
(c) The last GiffordLecture,"Theplace of religionin spiritual
life", mainlyconcernsthe relationshipof religionto morality,art,
and science.As is clearfrom the whole series of lectures,religion
is, for Tiele, an independentphenomenon.Thus,he opposesviews
that reducereligion to somethingelse. Tiele claims that there is
a majordifferencebetween religion and other culturalactivities.
Althoughscience,art,andmoralityyield a considerablemeasureof
happiness,"theyneverproducethatperfectpeaceof mind,thatentire
reconciliation
withone'sself andone'swordlylot, whicharethefruits
of religion,and have ever characterised
the trulypious of all ages"
(II:246f.). Onlyreligioncan establishharmonyandanswerthe main
existentialquestions:"Whenceand whither?"Religioncan give an
integralworldview.Butwhatis more,it can establishinnerharmony:
all humanfacultiesareequallyinvolved.Theold sayingthat"religion
74 In an earliertext Tiele explicitlyopposedsuch a
theorybecauseit explains
nothing.It is like sayingthata dog barksbecausehe has the capacityto bark;cf.
Tiele1871:401. OnTroeltschandtheapriori,see Apfelbacher
1978:132-139.
Tiele on Religion
259
embracesthe whole of man"may not be strictlyaccurate,but it is

certainlytrue"thatreligion,alongwithall thatis trulygreatin man's
aimsandactions,emanatesdirectlyfromthe distinctivebadgeof his
humanity- the Infinitewithinhim"(II: 248). In this way,religion
receivesa centralplacein Tiele'sthought.Herethe distinctiveness
of
mancomesmosteminentlyto thefore.
autonomousspherescan conflictwitheachother.HisAdmittedly,
tory,indeed,providesexamplesof religiouslymotivatedhostilityto
civilization.However,in Tiele'sview,thisconcernsoutwornformsof
to freedereligionandnotreligionas such,whichis notirreconcilable
in
other
cultural
As
as
it
not
is
claimed
that
velopments
spheres. long
religioncanbe replacedby somethingelse, therecanbe mutualbenefit."Although
certainreligiousviewsmayconflictwithscientificfacts,
religionitselfis notendangered
by anylegitimateresultof scientificresearch,by anyutteranceof trueart,or by anyphilosophicalor ethical
basedon soundprinciples"
(II:259).Theultimate
systemthoughtfully
viewis theconvictionthatthehuman
groundof thisratherharmonious
spiritis one andindivisible,"thoughrevealingitselfin differentways"
(II:244).
In the conclusionof the GiffordLecturesTiele speculatesabouta
of religiouslife. Remarkably,
however,he immediately
reawakening
adds that such a reawakeningmay neverbe at the expenseof the
achievementsof "[o]urbrilliantnineteenthcentury"(II: 261). Tiele
warnsagainstthosewhoarewillingto paythepriceof freedomto gain
religiousrenewal.He pondersoverthe possibilityof a manifestation
of a free formof religiouslife. Scienceof religioncannotcall such
a new formintobeing,butit maypavethe way for it as it showsthe
of thereligiousphenomenon.
"Andthen",as theclosureof
permanency
theGiffordLecturesreads,"withoutpreaching,or specialpleading,or
butsolelyby meansof theactualfactsit reveals,
apologeticargument,
ourbelovedsciencewill helpto bringhometo therestlessspiritsof our
timethetruththatthereis no restforthemunless'theyariseandgo to
theFather"'(II:262f.).Ultimately,scienceof religionwill bringabout
a deepeningof religiouslife. Thisis not knownfor sure,butfor Tiele
at least,it was a deeplyfelt conviction.If thereligiousneedis indeed
260
Arie L. Molendijk
of all"(II:261)
"themightiest,profoundest,
andmostovermastering
- and this is presentedas a resultof the new science - then this need
idea
will manifestitselfin evernewforms.Givenhis liberalProtestant
of religionandteleologicalview on religioushistory,Tiele does not
of a
expecta religiousregression,buthe doeshopefora manifestation
newfreereligiosity,whichharmonizeswithhis mostpreciousscience
of religion.
V Conclusion
By claimingthattheessenceof religionlies in pietyandits originin

theinnatesenseof theInfinite,Tielelocatedreligionin theinwardness
of thehumanindividual.The subjectivesideof religion(religiosity)is
highlightedat theexpenseof its objectiveside (beliefsystems,myths,
rituals,institutions,and so on). Ultimately,the reality of religion
is personalandpsychological.The readingof the GiffordLectures,
especiallythe"ontological"
part,doesnotallowa differentconclusion.
Yet,one has to keepin mindthat,comparedto manyotherof Tiele's
books, these lectureshave a strongphilosophicalorientation.This
mightseem to be an odd remark,since science of religionas such
was characterized
by Tiele as a philosophicalaffair;its explicitgoal
is to discernthe essence (the unchangingconstant)in the varying
formsof religion.In practice,however,Tielepaidmuchattentionto
theformsin whichreligionappears,especiallyin his bookson ancient
religions.InthissensetheGiffordLecturesarenotfullyrepresentative
of his work,whichis verymuchconcernedwithoutermanifestations
of religion,too. Tiele was knownat the time for his mythological
studies.Therefore,we haveto differentiate
betweentheprincipalview
of religionwhich was discussedabove, and other importantparts
of Tiele'swritings.Nonetheless,this does not alterthe fact thatfor
Tieletheanalysisof particular
religionsandreligiousphenomenawas,
strictlyspeaking,only the preambleto science of religionproper.
Most present-dayscientistsof religiontakethe oppositeview.They
see this "preamble"
as the core of their discipline,whereaswhat
Tiele proclaimedas "scienceof religion"is consideredby themto
be a specimenof vain speculation.The perceptionof the task and
Tiele on Religion
261
the domainof scienceof religionhas changeddramatically

since its
beginnings.
Thisarticleexploredthe ways in whichTieleconceptualized
religion:his views on its definition,essence,andorigin.To understand
hispreoccupations
andidealsin moredetail,we shouldleavethisconTiele's
ceptuallevelandlookathis theorieson religiousdevelopment.
schemesalwaysendup withChristianity
as the last stageof religious
aboveBuddhism
developmentso far.The superiorityof Christianity
and Islamis establishedby referringto its "elasticity,whichis the
naturalresultof its spiritualcharacter".75
An indepthstudyof Tiele's
on
would
a rewarding
be
task,butin the
thought religiousdevelopment
contextof thisessaya few remarksmustsuffice.
In historyof religionin generalTiele discernedtwo tendencies:
"theconstantrise of new varieties,or progressby differentiation"
(I:
284), andthe "constantstrivingfor unity"(I: 285). Tiele suggested
thatthesecontrarytendenciesare two sides of the samecoin.76The
only way this view couldbe defended- althoughTiele is not very
specificon thisis to arguethatthe varietyof formsanda tendency
to reducereligiousbelief to a few cardinalpoints(for example,the
Christianprincipleof love) go together.Underthe varietyof outer
religiousformslies hiddenan innerunityof principle,sentiment,and
attitude.The "wealthof forms",however,is also dueto variouslevels
of development,
accordingto Tiele.The followingexplanationof the
lawof differentiation
is revealingin thisrespect:
[W]e observe the marchof developmentattendedby ever-multiplyingvarieties,
ever greaterwealth of forms, destined indeed to supersedethe old, but only with
a section of the devout,while the older forms retaintheirplace, for a time at least,
alongside the new (I: 294).
Althoughnew forms are "destined"to supersedeold ones, this is

not always(or,perhapseven,rarely)the case. The laws of progress,
do not applyto all believersto the samedegree!Different
apparently,
levels of developmentexist at the sametime.Tiele,of course,knew
75Tiele 1886: 369; cf. Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 208f.
76 Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 289.
262
Arie L. Molendijk
how to distinguishbetweenold andnewforms.Somekindof elitism

wasnotunfamiliar
to him.Theprocessof differentiation
coupled"with
effortsfor reconciliationandunity"(II: 295) is not restrictedto the
religioussphere.It appliesto the culturaldomainas a whole: the
differentiation
of culturalspheresis an exampleof the firsttendency.
Thecontrarytendency,however,is notmissing:"Butthisever-growing
independencedoes not preventthatlaw of the unityof mind...from
takingeffect;and effortsare thereforeconstantlymadeto reconcile
religion with the interestsof science and art, of philosophyand
morality,of societyandtheState"(I:298).77
Inthedevelopmental
schemes,all kindsof antithesescanbe framed:
betweennatureand ethicalreligions,religionand magic, external
powerandinternalconviction,andso on.A truehumanreligion,based
on innerconviction- whichis a moreor less obliqueway to referto
- is opposedto the authoritarian
Tiele's own liberalProtestantism
RomanCatholicChurchwhich,allegedly,strivesfor unityat the cost
of truth.78Such dualitiesand developmental
laws have a polemical
functionas well. The law of differentiation
can be used to criticize
MaxMuller'sattemptto derivetheclassification
of religionsfromthat
of languages.Theremaybe sometruthin this thesis,but"thefarther
of both
historyadvancesthe moredoes religionbecomeindependent
and
language nationality".79
We concludethatfor Tiele religionwas groundedin the relationshipbetweenhumanandsuperhuman
beings.Scienceof religionestablishesthe factthatthebeliefthatGodis aboveas well as in human
ThekinshipbetweenmanandGod
beingsis commonto allreligions.80
is crucial.Thenewdisciplinehasuncoveredthepsychologicalnucleus
of religion,whichexpressesitselfin evernewforms.Tielehoped"that
men will at lengthlearnto attachno greatervalue to changingand
transientformsthantheyreallypossess,thesebeingnecessarybutal77 For the law of unity of mind, see Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 232.
78 Cf. Tiele 1897-1899, PartI: 287.
79Tiele 1886: 365.
80 Tiele 1897-1899, PartII: 103.
Tiele on Religion
263
ways imperfectand inadequateexpressions of the infinite within us"

(I: 301).
Faculteitder Godgeleerdheid
P.O.Box 9515
NL-2300 RA Leiden
ARIE L. MOLENDIJK
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1876 Geschiedenisvan den godsdienst, tot aan de heerschappijder Wereldgodsdiensten,Amsterdam,Van Kampen.
1877a Outlines of the History of Religion to the Spread of the Universal
Religions, London,Triibner(the originalDutch edition is from 1876).
Tiele on Religion
267
1877b De vruchtder Assyriologie voor de vergelijkendegeschiedenis der godsdiensten. Redevoeringter inwijding van den leerstoel voor de Geschiedenis
der Godsdienstenin het algemeen aan de Rijks-Universiteitte Leiden, uitgesprokenden 10 october 1877, Amsterdam,Van Kampen.
1882a ComparativeHistoryof the Egyptianand MesopotamianReligions, Vol. I:
History of the Egyptian Religion, translated from the Dutch, with cooperation of the author,by James Ballingal, London, Triibner& Ludgate
Hill (translationof the firstpart,revised in comparisonto Tiele 1869-1872).
1882b Histoire Compareedes Anciennes Religions de l'tgypte et des Peuples
Semitiques,traduitedu hollandaispar G. Collins, Paris, Fischbacher(complete, revised translationof Tiele 1869-1872).
1886 "Religions", in: The EncyclopaediaBritannica (9th edition), Edinburgh:
Adam and CharlesBlack, pp. 358-371.
1886-1888 Babylonisch-AssyrischeGeschichtebis zur EroberungBabels durch
Cyrus(Handbiicherder alten Geschichte, I, 4), 2 Vols, Gotha,Perthes.
1888-1889 Review of Chantepie de la Saussaye 1887-1889 ("Lehrbuchder
Religionsgeschichte"),in: Theologisch Tijdschrift22: 351-363; 23: 618633.
1892 "Eenige woorden ter inleiding van den nieuwen cursus over de Wijsbegeerte van den Godsdienst",in: TheologischTijdschrift26: 1-9.
1893 "On the Study of ComparativeTheology", in: John Henry Barrows(ed.),
The World'sParliamentof Religions, 2 Vols, London, "Reviewof Reviews"
Office, Vol. I, pp. 583-590.
1893-1901 Geschiedenisvan den Godsdienstin de Oudheidtot op Alexanderden
Groote, 2 Vols, Amsterdam,Van Kampen.
1897-1899 Elements of the Science of Religion, Part I: Morphological,Part II:
Blackwood. Dutch edition:
Ontological,Edinburgh/London,
1900 Inleiding tot de godsdienstwetenschap,2 Vols, Amsterdam,Van Kampen,
1897-1899 (21900, revisededition).
1901 Hoofdtrekkender Godsdienstwetenschap,Amsterdam,VanKampen.
Troeltsch,E.
1895-1896 "Die Selbstandigkeitder Religion", in: ZeitschriftfiirTheologie und
Kirche5: 361-436; 6: 71-110, 167-218.
W.
Vlugt, van der
1902 "t C.P. Tiele (1830-1902)", in: De Nieuwe Courant, Monday 13.1.1902,
Nr. 2 ('Avondblad':Evening edition).
Waardenburg,J.
1972 "Religion Between Reality and Idea. A Century of Phenomenology of
Religion in the Netherlands",in: Numen 19: 128-203.
Arie L. Molendijk
268
1973-1974 Classical Approaches to the Study of Religion. Aims, Methods and

Theoriesof Research,2 Vols, Den Haag, Mouton.
Ziolkowski,E.J.(ed.)
1993 A Museumof Faiths.Histories and Legacies of the 1893 World'sParliament
of Religion,Atlanta,Georgia,ScholarsPress.
HOLYBOOK - A TREASURYOF THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

THE INVENTIONOF WRITINGAND RELIGIOUSCOGNITION
ILKKA PYYSIAINEN
Summary
This paperprovidesa theoreticaldiscussion of the role the introductionof writing
plays in the developmentof religious conceptualsystems. It is arguedthat the writing
down of religious traditions makes the transmission of radically counter-intuitive
ideas possible, and that the formationof Canons introducesthe distinction between
a foundationaltext and its philosophical commentary.Defending the foundational
role of the sacred texts by rationalargumentationeither leads to endless regression
of arguments,or to circularreasoningand paradoxes.To accept this as natural,would
deprivesacredtexts of theirspecial statusas the foundation.In religions, this deadlock
is used to illustratethe limits of human reasoning powers and, by the same token,
to prove that there must be an ultimate reality which can only be accessed through
"revelation","enlightenment",and the like.
1. Sacred Textsand Holy Books
Thenotionof a 'sacredtext'is well knownin thescholarlystudyof

Weuse suchdifferingexpressionsas 'SacredText','Holy
religion(s).1
and
to referto the factthatpeopleascribeto some
Book',
'Scripture'
textsa specialstatusas thefoundationof all knowledgeaboutwhatis
ultimatelyreal.Accordingto CarstenColpe,all sacredtextshavenot
beenmadeto forma Canon,andnotall Canonsarereligious.Religious
Canonshave only been formedwithinBuddhismand Judaism,and
otherexistingreligiousCanonsderivefromthese two roots.(Colpe
1987:80-84,88. See also Kippenberg
1992.)
1 See, for
example, the following volumes: WendyDoniger O'Flaherty(ed.): The

CriticalStudyof Sacred Texts(1979), FrederickDenny and Rodney Taylor(ed.): The
Holy Book in ComparativePerspective(1985), and Shlomo Bidennan:Scriptureand
Knowledge(1995). The BuddhologistPaul Griffiths(1994:passim) even translatesthe
Buddhisttechnical term 'satra' as 'sacredtext'.
NUMEN, Vol. 46
270
IlkkaPyysiainen
It may also be, as Geo Widengren(1950) has argued,that the

idea of 'Scripture'ultimatelyderivesfrom the idea of a heavenly
book as a canonisedembodimentof divine wisdom,known from
ancientMesopotamia.If 'Scripture'is thus defined,thenthe notion
of 'Scripture'in the strictsense would only belong to the Judeotradition.
Christian-Islamic
Thissuggeststhatwe are,in principleat least,dealingwitha twofold process:the writingdownof the traditions,andthe formationof
a canonisedcollectionof texts. I have elsewhere(Pyysiaiinen1998:
159) brieflyremarkedthatNietzsche'sstatementthat"as the circle
of sciencegrowslargerit touchesparadoxat moreplaces"appliesto
religionas well in the sensethatas oraltraditionis writtendownand
somekindof a Canonis formed,mythologyis turnedinto theology
whichalwaysinvolvesparadoxes,
contradictions
produced
by accepted
waysof reasoning.
In whatfollows,I shalltryto showthe importance
of the introduction of "sacredtexts"andCanonsin this process.I shallnot aim at
a detailedhistoricalaccountof the developmentof anyreligioustradition,but shallconfinemyself to a theoreticaldiscussionwithbrief
examplesfromChristianandBuddhisttraditionswhichbothinvolve
canonisedtextsmakinguse of rationalargumentation.
My hypothesisis that the emergenceof sacredtexts marksa
changein religionin the sense thatthe specialistsstartto strivefor
a coherentand completedoctrinalsystem(andend up with circular
whichis supposedto be universallyvalid,
reasoningandparadoxes)2
time
and
of
independent
place.The use of writingchangespeople's
attitudetowardreligioustradition,which now becomes an object
21 use the notionsof coherenceand completenessin analogyto the so-called
Godel'sProofssayingthatany systemcomprehensive
enoughto containthe whole
of arithmetic
canonlybe provedto be consistentby employingrulesthatarenotpart
of thesystemto be provedconsistent.But,thenwe haveto provethe consistencyof
theothersystemof rules,andso on ad infinitum.
Mathematics
is alsonota complete
axioms,therewill
systemin the sense thatgivenany consistentset of arithmetical
statements
thatcannotbe derivedfromthe set. (Nagel&
alwaysbe truearithmetical
Newman1964.See Pyysiainen1996b.)
Holy Book - a Treasuryof the Incomprehensible
271
of preservationunlike in non-literate cultures. Sacred texts being

preservedunchanged, all change is attributedto new interpretations
(as if there could be "pure"textual meaning, without interpretation).
Thus, tradition comes to be defined as "what the Scripture says",
while in non-literateculturestraditionis "whatwe have always done"
(which does not presupposethat the elements of traditionreally were
preservedunchanged).(Boyer 1987; 1990.) The idea of preservingthe
supposed original meaning of the sacred texts is accompaniedby a
strivingfor conceptualcoherencein the interpretationof this meaning.
My approachis inspired by Jack Goody's (1986: 3-4) claim that
"alphabetic"religions spread literacy, literacy spreads "alphabetic"
religions, and that, in fact, the whole idea of religion has been thus
spread. This is due to the fact that only within literate religions is
"religion" seen as a distinct category. Only literate religions have
autonomous boundaries, and their adherents are defined by their
attachmentto specific Scripturesand a specific Credo, in addition to
their practice of certain rituals. Literate religions are also religions
of conversion. Membershipin them is determinedby commitment
to certaindoctrines and rituals as well as by having certain kinds of
religious experiences, not by the fact that one is born into a specific
groupin a specific geographicalsetting.3(Goody 1986: 4-7.)
Of course, Christianityas a literatereligion also obtains members
by baptisinginfantswhich, however,are expectedpersonallyto accept
the faith when they reach adolescence. Moreover,membersof literate
religions are in a position to breakaway from the faithinto which they
have been socialised. A group of renegadescan then form a new sect
that separatesitself from the main group, while still claiming to cling
to the same body of sacredwritings. (Goody 1986: 9-10.)
3 This distinctionwas also
part of KarlJaspers' and Lewis Mumford'sidea of an

"AxialAge" in 800-200 BC, when such greatindividualsas Socratesand the Buddha
were active and one's religion no longer was determinedby one's birth. The new,
"axial",religions were all centred aroundspecific inner experiences. (See Mumford
1957.)
272
IlkkaPyysiainen
Thus the territorialboundaries4definingan ethnic religion are

replacedin literatereligionsby the conceptualboundariesprovided
fatherland"
(Criisemann
1987),the Holy Book.5The
by the "portable
HolyWritis a new kindof measuringstick,andwithits introduction
also the conceptof truthacquiresa new meaningas a theoretical
propertyof propositions.
2. Religious Truthand Paradox
In his The Philosophy of Religion, Ninian Smart (1979: 99-104)
notes thatrevealedtexts are acceptedas trueon authority,although

the veryidea of truthis at oddswithuncriticalacceptanceof authorities. Defendingthe truthof a revealedtext by quotingthe text itself
leads to circularreasoning,anddefendingthe text by externalargumentswoulddepriveit of its role as the ultimateauthority.Similarly,
(see
merelyacceptingthatsomethingmustbe acceptedas foundational
Pihlstrom1996:393-394;Saariluoma1997:11-12)woulddeprivethe
HolyBookof its statusas theultimatefoundation.
The observationaboutcircularreasoninghas recentlybeen made
is charby ShlomoBidermanas well. Accordingto him,"Scripture"
acterisedby the fact thatit providesus knowledgethatincludesthe
criteriaof its own truth,whichleadsto circularreasoningof the followingkind(Biderman1995:3-7, 81, 95-103):
1) A giventextX is thewordof god
2) Howdo we knowthis?
3) Becauseit is saidin textX
4) Buthowdo we knowthatit is true?
5) BecauseX is thewordof god
4 On the importance
of territorial
andotherboundaries
in religion,see Anttonen
1996.
1994;
5 Thisis reflected,for
example,in the factthatcomparative
religiononlybecame
fromits traditional
possibleafterthe Bible hadbeen"dethroned
pedestal"andwas
thatcouldbe studiedlikeanyotherformof literature
understood
simplyas literature
(Preus1998:15).
273
and
Thisviciouscircleis producedby themixingof thefoundationalist
to religion.Inotherwords,it is atonce
anti-foundationalist
approaches
that
supposed religiouspeopletry to justifytheirclaimsby rational
and thatin failingto do this theyacceptthe authority
argumentation,
of the Scripturesimplyas given,yet pretendingit to be foundational
(cf. Smart1979: 100).6
PascalBoyer(1994:253-256)has drawnattentionto the suggested

of religiousclaims,notingthatthereis circularityonly in
circularity
so faras the specificjudgementsof individualbelieversareabstracted
intoa "theology".This,however,is not legitimatesincethe differing
judgementsconcerningauthorityare not copresentin any person's
mindat one time.
Wehavegoodreasonsto acceptas correctBoyer'sview of theway
ordinarypeoplereasonaboutreligion.Religiousclaimsin everyday
anddo not necessarilyformany coherent
life arecontext-dependent
a
of
system ideas, world-view,or theory(see Boyer1987;1990;1994;
1996).But then,on the otherhand,some believersdo constructabFor them,circustracttheologiesemployingrationalargumentation.
laritydoes becomea problemthatneeds a solution.This is usually
theexistenceof a specialkindof knowledge
providedby presupposing
as foundational.
Thisinvolvesan
like "revelation"
or "enlightenment"
a
closed
the
world
is
not
that
system,butthat
ontologicalassumption
it lies anotherrealitywhoseexistenceconstitutesanexplana"beyond"
does
tionforthe knownreality.An endlessregressionof explanations
itself
is
unknown
and
thus
cannot
notfollowbecausethe otherreality
be explained(see note2). I give twobriefexamples.7
KarlBarthbuilthis theologicalsystemon a strictdichotomybetweenGodas a foundationandreligionas a vainattemptto go beyond
6 On
(anti)foundationalismin choosing a religious or philosophical outlook, see

Pihlstrbm1996: 389-399.
71 have elsewhere (Pyysiainen 1996a; 1996b;1998) tried to show that religious
conceptual systems contain both a way of categorising reality, and the means of
calling this categorisationin question (e.g. "mysticism")by postulating some kind
of a "not-world"which is consideredmore real than the known reality,yet escaping
all explanation.
274
Ilkka Pyysiiiinen
the humanlimitsto reachthe foundation.God'srevelationcame"diby thehumancapacityfor

rectlyfromabove"andwasnotconstrained
the
This
leads
to
conclusion
thatwe cannotknow
knowing.
naturally
anythingaboutGod,andthisis preciselywhatBarthsaid.Forhim,the
theologiansgreatestanguishwasin thesimultaneous
necessityandimto
of
God.
about
possibility speaking
Compared this,everythingelse
was "merechild'splay".(Barth1980:225-238;AnfangederDialektischenTheologie1974:199.)8
To providea ratherdifferentkind of example,withinMahayana
Buddhismthe Buddhais considereda "meansof valid cognition"
in suchmatterswhichcannotbe decided
i.e. a foundation,
(pramana)9,
or
by perception(pratyaksa) reasoning(anumana).The Buddhais
becausehe is compassionate
andas a perfectlyliberated
trustworthy
onewouldnotbenefitanythingfromlying(vanBijlert1987).Buddhist
receivetheirauthorityfromthefactthattheyarebelievedto
scriptures
whichis the "ultimate
(buddhavacana)
embodythe "Buddha-word"
truth"(paramarthasatya),i.e. a foundation.(See Ray 1985;Lopez
1988;Griffiths1994:12-23,31-51.)
The notionof ultimatetruth,however,leadsto a paradoxas soon
as we claim,liketheBuddhistauthorJinnagarbha,
thatall distinctions
to
the
realm
relative
and
ultimate
of
is ultimateonly in
truth,
belong
contrastto the relative.Therefore,says Jinanagarbha,
ultimatelyalso
the ultimateis relative.Thenalso the claim'ultimatelythe ultimateis
relative'is relative,andthe ultimatethusis only relativelyrelative...
(See Pyysi'iinen1996b.)
8 Barth also wrote: "Whenmen stretch out their hands and touch the link which
binds them to God, when they touch the tree in the midst of the garden, which ought
not to be touched, they are by this presumptuouscontact separatedfrom Him (Barth
1980: 247-248)."
9 Prama refers to
'knowledge', and pramana is whatever causes knowledge to
arise. Vasubandhudeveloped a theory of perceptionand reasoningas pramanain the
5th century.Dignaga (c. 400-485 or 480-540) developed it further,and Dharmakarti
createdan importantsynthesis. (Bijlert 1987; Mohanty 1992: 133-149, 227-268.)

3.
275
Theoreticaland Practical Reasoning
The distinctionbetweentheology(of whateverreligion)and the

way ordinarypeoplereasonaboutreligionseems to runparallelto
the distinctionbetweentheoreticaland practicalreasoningmadeby
GilbertHarman(1986). This means,firstof all, thatthe distinction
betweenpracticaland theoreticaldoes not parallelthe distinction
betweenreligionandscience.Bothscienceandreligioninclude"nonbased,amongotherthings,on
systemsof representation
spontaneous"
the humancapacityto storein memoryhalf-understood
information,
as suchwritersas ScottAtranandDanSperberhavenoted.Religious
commonsense
andscientificknowledgedifferfromthe"spontaneous"
kind
the
that
is
of
the
all
over
world.
same
(Atran1990:
knowledge
263-265.)10
Accordingto Sperber(1996:69-71), bothreligiousand scientific

conceptsare reflectiveand are not basedon mereperceptionor on
specificinnateschemas.Theyarebasedalmostexclusivelyon communication,and their formationtakes a great deal of time. Thus,
they both contrastwith everydayempiricalknowledgethatconsists
of "spontaneous"
basedon perceptionandcommunirepresentations
in
are
stored
and
cation,
"encyclopaedic"
memoryas truedescriptions
of theworld.11
No matterhow we define"religion",and whetherall religionis
or not, it seems fairlyobviousthatat least some
"non-spontaneous"
are expressedin highly technicallanguage
religiousrepresentations
anddefendedby philosophical
arguments(goodor bad).In Harman's
terms,theyinvolvetheoretical
reasoningemployingrulesof argument
thatarenotby themselvesrulesforrevisingone'sview.Inotherwords,
rulesof argument,
theologicalthinkingemploystheoretical
althoughin
10It is herenot
importantto decide whetherscientificthinkingdiffersfromcommon
sense qualitativelyor quantitatively(see Carey 1996: 189-190 and note 12).
11Sperber's (1975) (and Atran's) theory of symbolism as a specific kind of
encyclopedicknowledge aboutknowledge,as distinguishedfrom semanticknowledge
about the world, however, suffers from a one-sided notion of semantics as simply
extensional(see Lawson & McCauley 1990: 137-166; Malley 1996: 112-113).
276
IlkkaPyysiiinen
practicepeoplemayreasonandchangetheirreligiousviewsaccording
to quitedifferentprinciples.(See Harman1986:2-4.)
Theoreticalreasoningis not necessarilyrestrictedonly to religious
Yetwe
specialists,andspecialistsdo not alwaysreasontheoretically.
havereasonto believethattheoreticalreasoningin religiousmatters
is morecommonandmoreelaboratewithinspecialist'sthinking.Our
presentconcernis howdoesthereasoningof specialistswithinliterate
religionsdifferfromthatof thespecialistswithinnon-literate
religions.
Moreprecisely,if the principlesof reasoning(logic)areby andlarge
the same in literateand non-literatecultures(see D'Andrade1995:
of sacredtexts specificallyen193-207),how does the introduction
hancethestrivingtowardcoherenceandcompletenessin religion?My
is in certainrespectssimsuggestionis thattheologicalargumentation
ilarto scientificthinking,andthatit is thewritingdownof sacredtexts
thatgivesrise to suchtheologicalargumentation.
Theintroduction
of
suchthinkingdoesnotmeantheintroduction
of a completelynewtype
of mind(notto mentionhighergeneralintelligence),butonlythatpeocogniple haveavailablea newtoolwhichenhancessuchtask-specific
tiveskillsas theologicalreasoning(seeRubin1997:15, 196,308-318).
If information
cannotbe writtendown,therewill be a heavyloadon
which
has to maintainthe informationwhichit is currently
memory
andalso to performthe intermediate
manipulating
stepsnecessaryin
themanipulation
(Rubin1997:317).
4.
Theologyand Science
Accordingto Lawson& McCauley(1990: 26), explanatoryconrolein everydaylife, thefocus,however,becernsplaya fundamental

ing on explainingparticulareventsthatoccurin everydaylife. Moreof
over,suchexplanationsareusuallyin serviceto the interpretation
thoseevents.Thereis usuallyno concernforidentifyingsystematicrelationshipsamongtheexplanatory
principleswhichoftenseemlargely
Evenif theyweretrue,theirscopeis verylimited.
superficial.
277
Lawson& McCauleysee scientificthinkingnot as completely

differentfromeverydaythinking,but on a continuumwith it.12Yet
only scientificthinkingis able to providesystematicexplanations
of phenomena.Explanationsare "scientificto the extent (1) that
they operateby meansof systematicallyrelated,generalprinciples
thatemployconceptsat levels of abstractionremovedfromthatby
whichthe phenomenato be explainedis currentlycharacterised
and
that
of
from
which
such
(2)
systems principles
explanationsproceed
are empiricallyculpablebeyondtheirinitialdomainof application."
(Lawson& McCauley1990:27.)
Scientificexplanationsissue from systems of relatedprinciples
and thus can liberateus from the isolationthat often characterises
explanationsof commonsense. Unconnectedexplanatoryprinciples
can only summariseavailableknowledge,not extendit. Onlya theory
makinguse of abstractconceptscanreallyextendourknowledge.The
generalityof a theory'sexplanatoryprinciplesand the abstractness
of its conceptsguaranteesthatit is empiricallytractablebeyondthe
domainto whichit was initiallyapplied.(Lawson& McCauley1990:
28.)
If we thinkof constructive'3
Christiantheologyforexample,its ties
to philosophyareveryclose, andit obviouslyemployssystematically
relatedprinciplesthat are generaland conceptsthat are abstract.
12
Although some reject the idea of continuity between scientific and ordinary
cognition because scientific theories are formalised and result from institutionalised,
self-aware cognitive activity, unlike intuitive theories, the continuity hypothesis can
be defended if scientific theories are seen as explanatorystructuresand not as sets
of sentences from which predictions can be logically derived. Both intuitive and
scientific theories are cognitive structurescharacterisingthe causal mechanisms at
work in the world and thus makingexplanationpossible. A theory consists of certain
ontological commitments and modes of explanation for the phenomena involving
entities recognised by the theory.The intuitivetheories of ordinaryfolk are thus part
of the startingpoints for science. (Carey 1996: 189-191, 211. See also Dewey 1910.)
13By constructivetheology I refer to such systematic theology that strives toward
constructingand explicatingdogmas to be believed, in contrastto scientific theology
that only studies how people understandand actuallyrealise Christianity.
IlkkaPyysidinen
278
suchas God'sexistence,
Theologyonlyincludescertainassumptions,
are
and
revelation,etc.,that not empiricallyverifiableor falsifiable14,
are not empiricallyculpablebeyond their own special domainof
of Christiantheology
application.The basic conceptualpostulates15
separatebetweenit andthe sciencesin thesensethattheologyoperates
on a differentdomainof phenomenaand employsa differentcausal
mechanism. The same holds -
mutatis mutandis-
for Buddhism,
forexample.
Thiscan be takenas evidencefor Lawson& McCauley'sview of
commonsenseandscientificthinkingas theendpointson a continuum.
Theologicalthinkingobviouslyis situatedsomewhereon the continuumbetweenthesetwo idealtypes.Whatis important
withregardto
ourpresentconcern,is how theintroduction
of systematically
related,
of
and
a
level
of
abstraction
generalprinciples
higherthan
conceptson
to be explainedchangesreligiousthinking.This
thatof thephenomena
of sacredtexts.
changeis closelytiedto the introduction
5.
Oralityand Literacy
Accordingto Sperber(1996:74-75),in oraltraditionmostlearning

is spontaneous,and all culturalrepresentations
are thereforeeasily
remembered
ones tendto be forgotten
ones, while hard-to-remember
beforetheyreacha culturallevel of distribution.
Withthe appearance
of writing,an "externalmemorystore"comes availableand more
This fits well with WilliamBechtel's
thingscan be communicated.
(1996: 128) idea that verballanguageprovidesus with a powerful
extensionto our cognitive capacities,and writtendocumentsare
with whichwe havelearned
specificallyconstructedrepresentations
to interact(i.e. theyarenotjusttranscripts
of ourmentalprocesses).
Thus,we cantakethe writtentextas a sortof "extendedmemory",
or "cognitiveprosthesis"as Rubin(1997:311) calls it, enablingus to
processmoreefficientlysuchknowledgeSperberandAtrancall "half14On the ideas of verification/falsificationand truthin the philosophy of religion,
see Pyysiiinen 1996a: 57-63.
15On
conceptualpostulates, see Saariluoma1997: 70-73.
279
One who knowsthe specificcode usedby the authorof

understood".
a text can use the text as a materialbasis for mentalrepresentation,
but withouta readera text is completelymute,merepaperandink.
It,however,allowsfornewwaysof processinginformation
efficiently
Rubin
1997).
(see
In Sperber'sview,humancognitionis typifiedby theabilityto store
informationin a meta-representational
in memoryhalf-understood
form.When a little child, for example,hearsthat 'uncle Joe died
it butyet storesthesentencein her
yesterday'she maynotunderstand
mindin the vaguehopethatsomedayit maybecomeunderstandable,
orjustbecauseadultsseemto be veryseriousaboutthesentence'uncle
in theform'it is
Joediedyesterday'.Thesentenceis thenrepresented
a factthatuncleJoediedyesterday,whatever"died"means'.(Sperber
1996:71-72.See Atran1990:263-265.)
Similarly,an adultmayembedsuchsentencesas 'quarksdo exist'
as
and 'Jesushas risenfromthe dead' in such meta-representations
dead"
has
risen
from
the
is
and
is
'"Jesus
exist"
do
true',
'"quarks
the
hunch
the
reasons
for
true'.In these two examples, respective
thatthese statementsmay not only be true but also important,are
different,of course.Yet in bothcases authorityplays a crucialrole.
the statements'quarksdo exist' and
One who does not understand
dead'
but yet is proneto acceptthem as
'Jesushas risen fromthe
true,does so becausehe or she thinksthatsome otherpeople have
verygoodreasonsto putforwardsuchstatementsandholdthemto be
the statementsdoes not think
true.The one who does not understand
with
the
is
thatthere somethingwrong
statements,but thatthereis
In otherwords,
somethingwrongwithhis or herabilityto understand.
on
are
1996:
thestatements accepted authority.
72.)
(Sperber
In Sperber'sview, the culturalsuccessof certainhalf-understood
becauseof
is dueto thefactthattheyaremorememorable
propositions
aresuchthatthey
Themostevocativepropositions
theirevocativeness.
on onehandarecloselyrelatedto the subject'sothermentalrepresenOne
tations,andon the othercanneverbe givena finalinterpretation.
canthenonly be consistentby treatingsuchpropositionsas "mysteries".(Sperber1996:73.) TonyEdwards(1993) is makingessentially
280
IlkkaPyysiiiinen
the samepointin his idea thatbelievers"quarantine"

religiousparadoxesuntilsuchtimetheypossiblycanbe solved,by puttingthemin
quotationmarksin thesamemannerwe havejust seen.
Thus, if someonehas the belief that the Bible is the word of
God, and also cannotunderstandsome statementin the Bible, say,
"whosoeverwill save his life shalllose it" (Mt 16: 25) for example,
he or she quarantines
it by meta-representing
it as '"whosoeverwill
savehis life shalllose it"is truebecauseit is saidin theBible'.
The Bible is, of course,full of such statementsthat an ordinary
believerfindsdifficultto understand
andwhichwe thushavereason
to believeto havebeenforgottenhadtheynotbeenwrittendown.Any
sentencewrittendownis storedunlessthe text is destroyedby some
externalevent, and it is capableof being rereadand reinterpreted,
unlikesentencesin oraltraditionwhichonly live in so far they are
activelyrepeated(Ong 1991: 31-33). They cannotbe put aside and
takenup againaftermanyyears,or evendecadesormillenia.
Thereis now empiricalevidencethatsufficientlycounter-intuitive
ideas are betterrecalledthan intuitiveor extremecounter-intuitive
beliefs (Boyer,forthcominga & b). Thus,for instance,peoplemay
entertaina belief that a wooden statuecan hear their prayers,or
believethatan omniscientGod can heartheirprayersfromafar.But
practicallyno-oneseemsto havethebeliefthata woodenstatuecould
hearpeople'sprayersfromafar.
In the first case, it is counter-intuitive
that an artefactcan hear
non-standard
whereas
the second case is
(a cognitively
situation),
in the sense that we have a person,God, without
counter-intuitive
situation).The idea
biology and physics(a physicallynon-standard
of an artefactthat can hear prayersfrom afar would involve both
transference
of intelligenceto an objectand a violationby denying
normalphysicalrestraints
of hearing,whichmeanstoo muchcounterintuitivenessfor the humancognitivesystem.In otherwords,if an
artefactis to havecognitivecapacities,theytendto be standard.
Nonstandardcognitivecapacitiesare restrictedto normallyintentional
agents.
281
In Holy Books, however,both intuitiveand radicallycounterintuitiveideasbecomestoredandthuscan be takenup for comment

and analysisin differentoccasions.Suchthingsas certainhistorical
details of St. Paul's travels,for example,may be consideredtoo
nocounter-intuitiveness)
to havesurvived
(i.e. containing
uninteresting
in oraltradition,
undistorted
whereasthebeginningof theGospelof St.
Johnmaybe consideredtoo counter-intuitive
to havesurvivedfor us
withoutbeingwrittendown.
In otherwords,writtentext makesit possibleto storeideas that
them.
peoplecanreadaboutevenwhentheydo not (fully)understand
As Socratesrelatesin Plato'sPhaedrus(274-5), writingmakes it
possiblefor humansto "readmanythingswithoutinstructionand...
to knowmanythings,whentheyareforthemostpartignorant...,,16.
This is occasionallyrecognisedin sacredtexts themselves.In the
New Testament,we readaboutan Ethiopianeunuchto whomPhilip
thouwhatthoureadest?"
Theeunuchthenreplies
says:"Understandest
that he naturallycould not, unless someoneguidedhim. (Acts 8:
26-31.) In Buddhisttexts, we find similarstatementsaccordingto
whichtheone whoreadstheSutraswithoutanunderstanding
remains
a
an
for
time
I
In
long
(Majjhimanikaya133).
unhappy
important
fourpieces of adviceare given:takerefuge
Mahayanacommentary,
in Dharma,not in person;take refuge in meaning(artha),not in
letter;takerefugein directseeing(jnana),not in discursivethinking
takerefugeintextswith"explicitmeaning"(nltartha),notin
(vijfunna);
textswith"implicitmeaning"(neyartha)(Mahaprajiaparamitasastra
I,
536-538.Ks.Ray 1985:160-169;Griffiths1994:51-53.)
It is notjust thatwe can remembermorewith the aid of writing,
but that we preserveand rememberdifferentkinds of things.This
also bringsalong the problemof understanding
both in the sense
that more complexideas are preservedand in the sense that their
systematicrelationshipscan be consideredas the variousclaimsare
now copresentin a singletext,book,or collectionof books.Whereas
in oral traditionwordsare events and only live as pronounced,in
16Quotedin Harris1986: 19.
282
IlkkaPyysiiinen
literatetraditionwordsacquirestable"dictionarymeanings"which
makesystematicreflectionpossible(Ong1991:31-33).
It may, however,be objectedthat the Vedas,for example,were
orallytransmittedfor centuriesand for the firsttime writtendown
only in the 12thcenturyCE. Yettheyforma hugebodyof traditions,
preservedunchanged.Thishas madeGoody(1987: 110-122)suspect
thattheVedasmayactuallyhavebeenwrittendownat an earlystage,
althoughthetextwasnotpreserved.
Thereis no evidencefor this whatsoever,but Goody is rightin
thatthe Vedasare literatureandhave probablybeen preservedunchanged.Thishas beenmadepossibleby certaintechniquesin memorisingtraditionas faithfullyas possible.Suchspecificallymemorised
traditionsshouldbe distinguished
fromspontaneously
preservedoral
traditions.17
The similarityof the preservation

of specificallymemorisedtraditionto literatetraditiondoes not,however,necessarilyimplythatthe
productionof the contenthas also takenplacein the samefashionas
withinliteratetraditions,andthatthereforethe contentis of the same
kindas in literatetraditions.The crucialdifferencebetweenspecificallymemorisedoraltraditionandliteratetraditionis thatliteracyintroducesin religiousspecialistsa moreurgentneedfor theoreticalcoherencebecausethewholeof thetraditioncanbe moreeasilyaccessed
in writtenform.18
This then makespossiblethe importantdistinctionbetweenHoly
Booksandtheso-calledcommentarial
literature
as foundin Buddhism
and Christianity,
for example.We do not knowthe exact datewhen
the BuddhistSuitrasandVinayaruleswere for the firsttime written
down,althoughthe Sinhalesetraditiondatesthis to the thirddecade
BCE(see Weller1928:161-164;de Jong1989:242), or whenthefirst
17 See Honko 1996 and Rubin 1997 on variationin the performanceof oral epics.
18The first Indian school within which it was thought hat the ultimate goal
of humans could be an object of rational inquiry and within which a specific
epistemology and logic was developed was Nyaya. Its oldest text is the NyayaSastra
from 200-450 CE (Mohanty 1992: 133-149).
283
Abhidharmatreatises, systematisingthe "doctrine",were composed,

but the two events are temporallyclose. Even the possibility that the
"HInayana"texts, the Abhidharmaincluded, were all oral and that
writing was first used by the Mahayanistscannot be ruled out (see
Lopez 1995).
The roots of the Abhidharmaare in the so-called matrkas(lst centuryBCE), lists summarisingthe teachings of the Sitras, and the first
was then compiledby the Sarvastividinsin the first
Abhidharmapitaka
centuryCE. The Abhidharmarepresentsan attemptto develop a specific "technicallanguageof salvation"(G6mez 1987:447) by which all
entitiescould be analysedto theirultimateconstituents(the "reviewing
ofdharmas").(Winteritz 1972: 11, 165-166;Lancaster1987: 504; Hirakawa1990: 139-143.) This was consideredby the Abhidharmiststhe
means to liberation.The structureof the Abhidharmais not explicitly
one of a sacred text and its "theological"commentary,this structure
firstclearly appearingin the Abhidharmacommentariesfrom the first
centuryCE onwards(see Hirakawa1990: 133-138). Whatis important
is thatthereobviously has been no oral commentaries.
The first genuine Christiantheological writings also appearedonly
after the letters of St. Paul and the Gospels had been written.19
Althoughthe legitimacyof employingphilosophyin the interpretation
of the Scripture has always been a matter of debate in theology,
even the early fathers made extensive use of it (Wolfson 1956). The
Greek word 'theologia' originally was practically synonymous with
'mythologia' and referred to 'talk about the gods', and the early
Christianauthorsthereforerejectedits use. Their God had nothing to
do with Greek mythology or philosophy.20It was only St. Augustine
(354-430) who adopted 'theology' for the Christianvocabularyand
19The final content of the New TestamentCanon was decided by bishop Athanasius' letter of the year 367, as its list of authoritativewritings was confirmedas constitutingthe Canonby the pope in 405. (See Ktimmel 1970: 74-75.)
20 For Aristotle, 'theology' was almost synonymous with 'first philosophy' which
studiedunmovedobjects (the second and thirdphilosophies being ethics and natural
philosophy).
284
IlkkaPyysidinen
definedit as "thoughtor speechexplainingthe divineessence"(De

CivitateDei Vm.I21).
Augustineused neoplatonicphilosophyto explain the relationtraship betweenGod andthe world,and the Augustinian-Platonic
in
of Aristotelianism
ditiondominatedtheologyuntilthebreakthrough
the 12thcentury(see Copleston1950;Jeanrond1991).WithinBuddhism,theearlyAbhidharmists
representthefirstattemptat a conceptual synthesis.Afterthe emergenceof Mahayana,Buddhistdoctrine
was thendevelopedby logicalanalysiswithinthe importantschools
of Madhyamikaand Yogacaraand by theirTibetaninheritors(see
1930-32;Murti1980;Lopez1988;1995;Nagao1992.)
Stcherbatsky
the
Thus, writingdownof religioustraditionseemsto give rise to
in the sense of attemptsat constructinga
theologicalinterpretation
coherentandcompletemetaphysical
system,basedon a foundational
The
its
rational
and
text(s)
commentary. dialecticsbetweena foundationaltext andthe logicalexplicationof its meaningin turnleadsto
in thehope
"hermeneutical"
paradoxesthatcanonlybe "quarantined"
thatthey will be solved and counter-intuitive
might
representations
turnout to be quiteintuitivelytruein a realityrevealedthrough"revetc. Thisentailsthe idea of a hidden"notelation","enlightenment",
fortheknownreality.
world"constitutingtheultimateexplanation
It shouldfinallybe pointedout thatit is not thatthe "religionsof
the Book",or literatereligionsin general,weresomehowmore"developed"thannon-literatereligionsin the sense thatthey contained
some "higher"truth.It is just thatthey employa new device,writInthiswaymorecounterculturalrepresentations.
ing,fortransmitting
anda systematisedmetacanbe transmitted,
intuitiverepresentations
physicsemerges.Thus,theologyis on the samecontinuumwithfolk
belief (see Malley 1997:397). However,the logicalimpossibilitytogetherwith the theologicalnecessityof havingfoundationalknowlcircle"beedge whichyet is itself foundedturnsthe "hermeneutical
21 "Natural
theology, so-called, of course should not be discussed with the man in
the street... Insteadwe must hold a conference aboutit with the philosophers..."
285
tween the interpreterand the interpretedto a "hermeneuticalvortex"22

of endless regressandparadoxes.23
Academyof Finland/Universityof Turku
Fennicum/Comparative
Religion
Fin-20014 Universityof Turku
ILKKAPYYSIAINEN
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Press.
PANEL DISCUSSION: MAGIC IN THE ANCIENT WORLD BY

FRITZ GRAF
INTRODUCTORY
REMARKS
SARAH ILES JOHNSTON
In 1997, to mark the publication of Fritz Graf's Magic in the Ancient

World,a panel discussion of the book was organizedfor the annual meeting
of the AmericanAcademy of Religion and Society for Biblical Literature,under the auspices of the Greco-RomanReligions group.The book, which was
publishedby HarvardUniversityPress the same week thatthe panel was convened, representsan English translationof Graf's La magie dans l'antiquite
greco-romaine(Paris 1994), which had alreadyappearedin Germanand Italian translations.1
Grafattemptstwo things in this book. First,to give his readersa grounding
in the "facts"of ancient magic to the extent that this is possible, given the
lacunose state of our evidence. He endeavorsto tell us what the practitioners
of magic in antiquitydid, and in doing so, tries what no other scholar had
done since Hopfnerpublishedhis two-volume monographon the topic in the
1920s.2 Thus, the choices that Graf makes when he includes some materials
for discussion in his book and excludes others set parametersthat are bound
to affectsubsequenttreatmentsof magic insofaras they implicitly define what
magic is and is not.
Graf goes beyond Hopfner, however, in his second goal: to discuss the
reactions of the ancient populace to those practitionersand their activities,
sketching in some detail the sociological milieux in which magic took
1La Magia nel Mondo Antico (Bari and Rome 1995). Gottesnaheund Schadenzauber:die Magie in der griechisch-romischenAntike(Munich 1996).
2
Griechisch-agyptischerOffenbarungszauber.= Studienzur Palaeographie und
PapyruskundeBd. 21 (Leipzig 1921) and Griechisch-dgyptischerOffenbarungszauber. Seine Methoden. = Studien zur Palaeographie und PapyruskundeBd. 23:1
and 23:2 (Frankfurt1924).The volumeswere reprintedin 1974, 1983 and 1990

(Amsterdam).
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
292
Panel Discussion
place in antiquity. The theoretical questions he asks of his materials are

intended to clarify the roles that magic and the magician played within the
Greek and Roman societies. How, for example, did a magician become a
magician and what does the process signal about his position in society
- was he a dark and marginal figure like the Merlinesque charactersof
fiction or a ritual practitionerof central importanceto many aspects of life,
private and public? And how - to get to the biggest and most pressing
question - is magic to be separated from religion in the first place in
the context of ancient Greek and Roman beliefs and practices, if indeed it
can be separatedat all? In asking such questions, Graf must grapple not
only with his immediate topic of magic but with some basic issues that
underlieour understandingof ancient Greek and Roman religion in general.
Who controlled religious practices? How was religious power understood
to be properly deployed? The models for understandingmagic that Graf
offers in this book, if we accept them, have ramificationsthat extend far
beyond theirimmediateapplications.Nor should we lose sight of the fact that
Greek and Roman definitions of magic - legal, philosophical and literary
- significantly affected subsequentEuropeandefinitions of magic: Graf's
work is likely to affect studies of the phenomenon in those cultures, as
well. Moreover,whether we like it or not, theories about magic developed
by earlier scholars, such as Sir James Frazer, were heavily influenced by
their study of Greek and Roman materials in particular.Reinvestigations
of the premises on which our assumptionsabout Greek and Roman magic
were built are bound to have effects that travel far outside of the field of
classics.
What is offered here are writtenversions of the comments offeredby the
SBL panelists: John Gager, MarthaHimmelfarb,Marvin Meyer and Brian
Schmidt,followed by the responseoffered by Graf.Also includedis a written
version of remarksmade duringthe question period of the panel by David
T.M. Frankfurter,which stimulated significant discussion both during the
panel and afterwards.3
in the
to thanknot only the participants
31 wouldlike to takethis opportunity
fortheircooperation,
butWilliamCassidy,Chairof
panelandProfessorFrankfurter
theGreco-Roman
thepanel.
Religionsgroup,forhelpin organizing
Panel Discussion
Departmentof Greek and Latin
The Ohio State University
414 UniversityHall, 230 N. Oval Mall
Columbus,OH 43210-1319, USA
293
SARAHILESJOHNSTON
BY JOHNG. GAGER
COMMENT
Graf's book is the best general treatmentof 'magic' on the market.It is
wide-rangingand sophisticated.Unlike many earlier scholars, especially his
fellow classicists, Grafhas acquaintedhimself thoroughlywith the largebody
of theoreticalliteratureon magic, rangingfrom Wittgenstein'sreflections on
Frazer'sGolden Bough, throughClaude Levi-Straussand Marcel Mauss, to
StanleyTambiah'sthick essays on magic and metaphor.Beyond this, in his
first chapter,he has chronicled the gradual emergence of magic from the
dark caves where it lived for more than two millennia to the dim light of
academicstudyin the early years of the 20th centuryamong Germanscholars
like Wilamowitz,Dieterich, Usener, Wiinsch and Preisendanz.What I have
called the dirty little secret of the classical world thus came to receive the
attentionthat it obviously deserved,although,as Grafpoints out, it remained
trappedin various evolutionaryperspectives (especially under the influence
of Frazer)thatcontinuedto relegateit to the categoryof the primitiveand the
superstitious.
Running throughoutall of these discussions, and underlyingGraf's first
two chapters,is one fundamentaltheme - the relationshipbetween 'magic'
and 'religion.' Is 'magic' humanity'sfirst attemptto deal with the universe,
an attemptcharacterizedby mechanical manipulation?Is magic eventually
supersededby religion and today by science, which in Frazer'sscheme has
much in common with magic. Or is 'magic' what happensto religion when
it begins to decay and dissolve? What is the relationshipbetween magic and
religion?Or better,how have these terms been used - by whom, of whom,
when and why? If our analysis of these questionstells us that the termmagic
is a hopelessly loaded word, a word whose usage tells us more about those
who use it than about what other people believe and do, then we have no
option but to abandonit in our scholarly discourse. Conversely,if it retains
some analytic value, we can clean it up, sanitize it and re-deploy it in our
books and articles. As Graf puts it, "thereare only two possible attitudes-
294
Panel Discussion
eithera modem definitionof the termsis createdandthe ancientandFrazerian

notions areresolutely cast aside or the termmagic is used in the sense thatthe
ancientsgave it, avoidingnot only the Frazeriannotions, but also all the other
ethnological notions of the term. I shall choose the second way... instead of
creating a rigid and artificialterminology."4This second way, then, means
using the term as the ancientsused it.
But here is the rub. First, as Graf rightly notes, the early use of mageia
among Greek authorsshows two aspects: it is associated with Persia (hardly
a warmassociation for Greeksin the 5th centuryBCE, althoughthis changes
somewhat from the 4th centuryonward)- this is the ethnographicside of
the term, one which it never loses - and could be describedby Xenophon
as "expertise in things concerning the gods".5 But at the same time, and
even more prominently,it carriednegative connotationsnot unlike our terms
'nut' or 'kook' or 'charlatan.'Now the following questions arise: Can a term
fraught with these associations - foreign, outsider, subversive, weird and
even dangerous- be cleaned up enough to be useful in modem academic
discourse?Since the termis so heavily loaded in a particulardirection- not
just negativelybut also socially (in favorof the social elites who producedthe
survivingliterature)and ethnically (in favor of Greeks, and later Romans, as
opposedto foreigners)- can we stripit of these associationsin conversations
among our fellow scholars, let alone in our exchanges with non-academic
audiences?Since the term is so heavily biased towarda literateelite (Graf's
basic view here is that the term is used almost exclusively to designate
phenomena "not belonging to the collective religion of the Greek polis"6),
can we avoid the intrinsicallyelitist cast of the term?
At this point in what is his useful studyof how the term mageia evolves in
Greek authors,Graf introducesthe notion of a paradigmchange, represented
first by philosophical theologians (e.g., Plato and Heraclitus)who began to
criticize the traditionalpracticesand beliefs of the Greeks and to label them
as 'magic;' and also by the medical scientists (he cites here the well-known
treatise On the Sacred Disease) who similarly attacked traditionalhealers
as magoi and charlatans.The result is two-fold: the term magos becomes a
4 P. 18-19.
5 Xen. Cyr.VIII 3,11.
6p. 27.
Panel Discussion
295
polemical term of disparagementand it comes to be associated with a whole

rangeof non-civic religious forms.7
By now the terminological dilemma has begun to shape - and the
dilemma is more than just terminological. But first, how significant, in its
own time, is the paradigmchange? How widely influentialwere Plato and
the authorof the treatise on the sacred disease? If their sphere of influence
was as limited as I suspect, are we not in danger of adopting a thoroughgoing elitist point of view in following their definition of magic? I fear
that Graf's penetratinganalysis of the social location and use of the terms
magos and mageia can only make us deeply suspicious of their value in our
own work. Furthermore,as G.E.R. Lloyd points out8, the understandingof
epilepsy in the treatiseon the Sacred Disease, for all of its polemics against
the absurditiesof the magoi, is no closer to the truth of the matter than
was theirs. Second, if we follow the view that magic was - or better was
attachedas a label to - non-civic practices, are we any better off? Does
this mean that we must, with the polis-based elites, label the worship of the
country-sideas magic? And what are we to make of Plato's observationthat
these "charlatans"peddled their incantationsprecisely among the wealthy
residentsof the Athens?ApparentlyPlato does not speakeven for all of those
connected with what we might call the bearersof civic piety. And how can
we account for the fact that the defixiones (curse tablets) of Athens in the
fifth and fourth centuries BCE name long lists of leading citizens? If, as
I have argued9,we see in these tablets the concrete expression of hostility
within and between Athenian elites, we will have to expand our definition
of civic religion to include, at its core, what some ancients (but only a tiny
minority)chose to call mageia. And in this instance, even the term 'popular'
will not do (Mikalson10),since those who commissionedthe defixiones were
clearly membersof the Athenianelite. This is not to deny the obvious fact,
as Graf, following the work of Richard Gordon, has pointed out that in
later times many of the spells and rituals were formulatedin more or less
7 P.34.
8
Magic,Reason,and Experience.Studiesin the Originand Developement
of
GreekScience (Cambridge1979) 48-59.
9 CurseTabletsandBindingSpellsfromtheAncientWorld(NewYorkandOxford
1992) 119.
10J. D. Mikalson,AthenianPopularReligion(ChapelHill 1983)23.
296
Panel Discussion
conscious opposition to civic rites11,althougheven here it seems likely that

the practitionersof the spells believed in theirefficacy precisely because they
knew (and sharedin) the world of civic piety. In other words, to sum up this
partof the dilemma,civil religion turnsout to be a far morecomplicatedthing
than at first glance. Here we run the risk of committing a serious form of the
elitist fallacy if we adopt a powerfully performativelanguage created by a
socially-biasedminoritywhich has succeeded in imposing its view by virtue
of having out-survivedall of its ancientcontenders.
Here I should make two things clear. First, Graf has forcefully put aside
the vacuous evolutionarytheories of Frazerand his followers. And second,
there is no easy way out of the bind createdby the contaminatedhistory of
the term magic. We cannot resolve the difficulties by putting the word in
quotes. The recent volume of Christianmaterials edited by Marvin Meyer
and RichardSmith createdthe phrase 'ritualpower' in the sub-title of their
book but resorted to 'magic' in the main title.12 In the long run, I am
convinced that we need to abandonthe loaded distinction between 'magic'
and 'religion' altogether, but I seem to be one of the very few to hold
this view. Least satisfactory of all for me is Graf's solution - to use the
term magic as the ancients used it. I have already arguedthat this solution
leads us into substantivedifficulties.But it also producesconfused sentences
that mirror the confused history of the terms. Let me cite just a couple
of examples. In describing the work of HermannUsener, Graf writes the
following: "Usener's interest in magic was derived from his interest in the
origins of religion; magic was part of popularreligion, the religion of the
masses, especially of the ruralpopulations,the one close to the origins of
religion..." 13 Or later, "Magic thus fits into a set of well-known facts about
the religion of the imperial era."14Or again, "Magic does not historically
follow religion, neither is it earlier;religion contains magic, as one specific
religious form."15And in discardingthe traditionaldistinctionbetweenmagic
as coercive and religion as supplicative,he writes that "magic had a well1P.229-232.
12M.
MeyerandR. Smith,eds.,AncientChristianMagic.CopticTextsof Ritual
Power(SanFrancisco1994).
13p. 12.
14 . 117.
15P.211.
Panel Discussion
297
definedtheological and epistemologicalaspect... this theology makes magic

close to the mystery cults... the spiritualityof the magicians is akin to the
spiritualityof the followers of the mysteries, in that both take part in this
quest for the divine that is characteristicof imperial antiquity."16My point
here is thatin each of these passages, the termsmagic and religion seem to be
substantivelyinterchangeable,to mean pretty much the same thing. In other
words, confusion arises because at the level of terminology Graf wants to
hold on to a distinctionthat does not exist, even in his own thinking.
One final comment: The picture is even more confused than I have
presentedhere. For there exists a minor, and startlingtradition,even among
ancientPlatonists,in which the term mageia is used in a thoroughlypositive
way, though always against the backdropof its predominantlynegative and
derogatory usage and, curiously, sometimes with specific reference to it
connections with Persia. The Jewish Platonist Philo, in the Special Laws
(3.100) speaks of the truly magical and scientific vision17 which reveals the
facts of natureand which is taken by ordinarypersons and kings, especially
among the Persians, to be worthy of serious consideration.With this 'true
magic' Philo contraststhe counterfeit version, used by charlatansand the
lowest of the low, which dispenses charms and incantationsof various sorts.
Apuleius, in his Apology, turnsthe charge of magic against his accusers by
describingit as "anart acceptableto the immortalgods, full of knowledge of
worship and prayer,full of piety and wisdom in things divine, full of honor
and glory since the day when Zoroasterand Oromazesestablishedit."18And
Plotinus, in a lengthy discourse on how spells work speaks, like Philo, of
'truemagic' (al^thinemageia), which operates like the power of love. "For
this (i.e., love) is the true wizard (goes) and enchanter,from observing how
men came to use his philtersand spells on each other."19Finally, Origen, in
his reply to the pagan critic Celsus, makes the equally unlikely claim, thus
defending a similarnotion of true magic against its pagan and philosophical
detractors:"so-calledmagic is not, as the followers of Epicurusand Aristotle
16 . 221.
17HI 100 alethen
ousan.
magikbn,
optikenepistrnmn
18Apology26. The passagecontinues,quotingPlato:" a certainZalmoxis,a
Thracianandalso a masterof this art,has writtenthat'magicalcharmsaremerely
beautifulwords'."
19IV.2.40.
Panel Discussion
298
think, utterly incoherent, but, as the experts in these things prove, is a

consistent system which has principlesknown to very few.. ."20
Where does all of this leave us? Can we use the term magic as a neutral
designator?I think not. Can we use it the way the ancient used it? No - in
partbecause, as I have triedto show, they used it in totally contradictoryways,
althoughthe dominantlegacy of the ancient is negative and derogatory.Can
we say, "'Magic' - as Philo, Plotinus and Origen (to name just one each
from among Jews, pagans and Christians)used it." That is obviously much
too clumsy. I wish that I could offer a handy solution.What I do know is that
comfortableold habits are hardto break.We just need to keep looking.
PrincentonUniversity,1879 Hall
Princenton,NJ 08544, USA
JOHNG. GAGER
COMMENTBY MARTHA HIMMELFARB
The English book we are discussing bears a somewhatdifferenttitle from

its Frenchoriginal:Magic in the Ancient Worldvs. Ideologie et pratiquede la
magie dans l'antiquit6gr6co-romaine.On the basis of personalexperience,I
am inclinedto understandtitles as revealingmoreaboutpublishersthanabout
authors.So I approachthis suggestive transformationwithout attributingany
intentionto the author.My comments relate not to the reductionof ideologie
et pratique to magic plain and simple, about which a great deal could surely
be said, but to the end of the title, antiquit6greco-romaine,which in English
has become the ancient world. I hope that attentionto the qualifierabsent
from the English will allow me to point to some directionsfor furtherstudy.
"Greco-Roman"can be used in differentways. The inclusive usage applies
to the long period on either side of the turn of the era of Greek and
Roman domination of the Mediterraneanworld, and it includes the period
of the hellenistic empires, which are in some sense Greek. Here the hyphen
means something like "through."But the term can also be used in a more
limited sense. In this narrower usage "Greco-Roman"means Greek and
Roman, Greek or Roman, and the hellenistic period and its culture occupy
20AgainstCelsusI 24.
Panel Discussion
299
an ambiguousplace. It would appearto be this narrowersense thatis invoked

in the Frenchtitle, for Graf's emphasis in Magic in the Ancient Worldis on
Greekand Romanmagic. Egypt gets ratherlittle attention,and Jewish magic,
with the exception of the EighthBook of Moses, is completely absent, while
the intriguingsuggestionthatthe origin of Greekbinding spells is to be found
in Assyria ratherthan in Persia or Egypt permits Graf to avoid extended
discussion of these usual suspects. These omissions are part of a general
deemphasisof the hellenistic period,in which Egypt and Persia would surely
play a moreimportantrole thanAssyria, in favorof the earlierGreekandlater
Romansituations.
In part these choices are a natural consequence of the nature of the
evidence. One of the many virtues of Graf's book is that it makes clear the
very uneven distributionof the primary texts for magic from the ancient
Mediterranean.The two most importantcorpora of primary texts for the
milleniumintendedby "Greco-Roman"in its broadsense arethe cursetablets
and the magical papyri.The curse tablets are widely distributedin time and
space, but the weight of the evidence is early and Greek.The magical papyri,
on the otherhand,come fromEgypt underthe Romanempire.In otherwords,
the hellenistic period, the period in between, has not left as rich a deposit of
magical texts for scholars.
In the concluding pages of Magic in the Ancient World, Graf offers
some suggestive comments about the history of magic on the basis of the
developments that have taken place from the curse tablets to the magical
papyri. The "competitive, non-hierarchical"ethos of the classical Greek
cities21 explains the importantrole curse tablets play as people struggle to
gain the advantageof their neighbors.The social settings for accusationsof
magic that Graf so elegantly evokes in the second chapter(on the magician
seen from outside), on the other hand, are Roman: one example is drawn
from the Republic, the other from the empire, but both are emblematic of
importantaspects of Roman life in their time. Cresimus was a freedman
whose success as a farmerincurredthe envy of his neighbors in the early
second century BCE, while Apuleius was accused of being a magician by
citizens of the North African town where he had taken up residence in
the late second century CE. Both were outsiders who had disturbed the
social equilibrium,and thus both became targetsfor the accusationof magic,
21p. 173.
300
Panel Discussion
the outsider's craft. Graf views reversals of elements of standardreligious

practice as characteristicof magic: the use of birds as sacrificial animals,
for example, ratherthan the usual pigs, sheep, and cows, or the practice of
stranglingthe sacrificialvictim to preserveits blood. These reversalsprovide
evidence from the magician'spoint of view for the place of magic outside the
establishedorder.
But would the picture look the same in other less Greco-Roman(in the
narrowsense) locations? Apuleius' story,it is true, unfolds in North Africa,
but the local elite is highly Romanized.What if Apuleius had made his way
to Egypt instead?Clearly magic standsin a very differentrelationshipto the
establishedorderin Egypt, where since early times the priestswere expertsin
what some scholarshave recentlypreferredto call "ritualpower."22Of course
the very concept of a "civic cult" outside which magic is said to operateis
tied to Greek and Roman settings. It is very difficult to apply to Egypt with
its multipletemples and lack of stronghierarchyamong them.
The difference between Egypt on the one hand and Rome and the more
Romanizedwest on the other is particularlyinterestingbecause Egypt contributesso much to the internationalmagic of the Romanperiod.The dynamics of this contributionare certainly of interest to students of the hellenistic world as a strikinginstance of culturalinterchange,even if much of the
process took place laterthanthe hellenistic period proper.
One of the most significantdevelopmentsGraf sees from the curse tablets
to the magical papyriis the change in the gods addressed.23While the curse
tablets appeal to demons and gods of the underworld,the magical papyri
often invoke high gods such as Helios who are understoodto have control
over the demons. Graf relates the emergence of a more clearly hierarchical
pantheonto the development of an increasingly hierarchicalsociety in the
Romanempire.Thus magic, which has come to involve contactwith the high
gods of the pantheon, becomes very hard to distinguish from theurgy and
with it philosophy- indeed the differencemay be entirely in the eye of the
beholder.
The closest Hebrew and Aramaic equivalents to the magical papyri are
the hekhalot texts and Sefer HaRazim. The hekhalot texts particuarlyare
22M.
MeyerandR. Smith,eds.,AncientChristianMagic.CopticTextsof Ritual
Power (SanFrancisco1994)esp. 1-5.
23P.232.
Panel Discussion
301
illuminedby Graf's remarksaboutthe place of the high god in later imperial

magic: the deities invokedin the hekhalottexts are the God of Israel and his
myriadsof angelic attendants.They invoke these deities for practicalends,
but they also describe means of ascent to heaven for the purpose of gazing
on the beauty of God himself and of joining in the angelic praise, activities
without any obvious concrete payoff. This combinationof what has usually
been called magic with what has usually been called religion looks a lot like
the piety of the magicalpapyriwith its combinationof more andless practical
approachesto the gods. In the hekhalottexts, however,there is little evidence
of reversalor distance from the establishedcult; after all, these texts take as
theirheroes the greatrabbisof the foundingperiod of rabbinicJudaism.
The similaritybetween the hekhalotliteratureand the magical papyridespite their quite different settings suggests that this type of piety emerged
not only in response to the intensificationof hierarchyin late Roman society,
which would have had ratherlittle effect on the authorsof the hekhalotliterature.The quest for access to the supremegod in both bodies of texts calls
to mind Goodenough'scommentin By Light, Light that "the problemof the
relationof the Unrelated,"of how God could be "broughtinto relation with
the worldin spite of the fact thatHe was essentiallybeyond relation,"was the
religious problem of Philo's world.24From this angle of vision some of the
magicalpapyrias well as the hekhalottexts and some gnostic literaturecan be
read as responses to this problem,a more concretealternativeto laterPlatonism, in which the relationis accomplishedby means of a host of intermediary
deities, but in which the goal remainscontactwith the high God himself.
What I've hoped to suggest is that attention to the missing middle of
"Greco-Roman"raises some interestingquestions about ancient magic that
a focus on Greek and Romanmagic might not.
Seventy-NineHall
PrincentonUniversity
Princenton,NJ 08544, USA
MARTHAHIMMELFARB
24 E.R. Goodenough, By Light, Light. The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism

(New Haven 1935).
302
Panel Discussion
COMMENTBY MARVIN MEYER
It is with considerablepleasurethatI offer a few commentson a book that

I consider to be an engaging, provocative,insightful study of magic in the
Greco-Romanworld. My comments introduceelements of Christianmagic
andof Coptic magical texts into the discussion, and therebyI addressa few of
the significantpoints raisedby FritzGrafin Magic in theAncient World.Most
of my observationsrevolve aroundthe general theme of taxonomy, a muchdiscussedtheme when it comes to the classificationof the texts and traditions
of ancientmagic and ritualpower.I commentbriefly on the following points:
(1) paradigm,(2) marginality,(3) mystery and secrecy, and (4) coercion.
(1) Paradigm.In his second chapter,"Namingthe Sorcerer,"Graf surveys
the Greek and Latin terms employed to name ritual power and the practitioners of ritual power (mageia, magia, magos, magus; goeteia, goes, etc.),
and he proceeds to discuss what he calls paradigmsand paradigmchanges
in the evaluation of magic. At the beginning of the Greek classical period,
Grafobserves,the dichotomieswith which we are familiar- between magic
and religion, magic and science, magic and medicine, magic and miracledid not exist, but aroundthe time of Plato the developmentof philosophical
theology and naturalscience and medicine changed everythingby introducing these dichotomies. Hereafterthe term magic and other similar termsfrequentlywere used in a polemical fashion to distinguishbetween the activities
of oneself or one's own groupover againstan opponentor opponents:we observe religion, engage in science, practice medicine, and performmiracles,
they indulge in magic and sorcery. HereafterRomans accused early Christians of practicingmagic, later Christiansaccused pagan Romans of practicing magic, and ProtestantReformers accused Roman Catholics of practicing magic. As Graf himself intimates,ChristianProtestantpolemics, deeply
rooted in Greco-Romanpolemics, have shaped the scholarly discussion and
evaluationof magic in the ancientworld.This point is a significantone for our
assessmentof the historyof researchon magic and ritualpower,and it should
be placed alongside the similarconclusion of JonathanZ. Smith,in Drudgery
Divine,25that Protestantpolemics also have shaped the scholarly discussion
and evaluationof the Greco-Romanmystery religions and have dictatedthe
termsof comparisonbetween the mysteryreligions and early Christianities.
25
Chicago1990.
Panel Discussion
303
Considering these sorts of issues, then, of taxonomy, description, and

classification,I raise threequestionsfor Graf's reflection.
First, if the texts and traditions of magic may be seen and assessed
variously - from the inside, from the outside, from scholarly perspectives
- what term or terms are best used to describe magic? If, as Graf maintains,
for the Greeks "mageia is always also the art of Persian priests,"26then to
what extent do xenophobic connotations distort the meaning of the word
mageia and its derivatives?Some of us have suggested the less loaded and
less polemical phrase"ritualpower"as a term to describe the phenomenain
a more neutralfashion, but such a term,conversely,ignores the polemics that
have been so importanta partof the discussion of magic.27
Second, how might the relationshipbetween Greco-Romanand Egyptian
traditionsof magic be characterized?While Graf dismisses Robert Ritner's
suggestion that the Papyri Graecae Magicae derive almost exclusively from
Egyptianreligion, he nonethelessadmitsthe importanceof Egyptianreligious
ideas in Greco-Romanreligion andmagic.28ElsewhereRitnerhas arguedthat
in ancientEgypt, as in early Greekhistory,there was no dichotomy between
magic and religion: ritual power was considered to be a gift of the divine,
and the god Heka was the embodimentof divine power that emerged in the
beginningand that energizedthe performanceof public and privaterituals.29
Thirdly, how might the role of Judaism and especially Christianitybe
understood,particularlywith regard to solidifying the dichotomy between
magic and religion, as well as the other dichotomies noted here? Such
Jewish sources as Deuteronomy 18:10-11 list a series of manifestations
of magic and ritual power, all of which are abominable to the God of
Israel, though in reality it appears that the practice of ritual power was
as evident among the Hebrews as any other people in the ancient Middle
East. Likewise, the literature of early Christianity condemns magic and
magicians, and caricaturesa religious teacher like Simon of Samaria as
a mere magus, though in Christianitytoo it is clear that religious folks
26P.29.
27M.
MeyerandR. Smith,eds.,AncientChristianMagic:CopticTextsof Ritual
Power(SanFrancisco1994)1-6.
28pp.5-6.
29"The
of Traditional
Religious,Social,andLegalParameters
EgyptianMagic,"
in M. MeyerandP. Mirecki,eds.,AncientMagicandRitualPower.Religionsin the
World129(Leiden1995)43-60.
Graeco-Roman
304
Panel Discussion
made ample use of ritualpower.In Christiantexts, includingChristian

magicaltexts, wordslike mageiaandmagiaand the Coptic hik areused,
but almost exclusivelyto describethe diabolicalforce to be eradicated
throughthe powerof Christianspells.Classicaldeitiesthemselvesmay be
addressedin Christiantexts,but often they are assigneda demonicplace,
andtheirexorcismmay even takeiconoclasticform.I suggestthatJudeoChristian
withalltheirambivalence
towardmagicandritualpower,
traditions,
inheritthe dichotomieswe havenotedandsubjectthemto a moredualistic
Yet we may also recallambivalentattitudestowardmiracles
interpretation.
and signs, for instancein the Christiangospels of Markand John,whose
authorscelebratemiraclesand signs of Jesus but also divertthe attention
of the reader(throughMark'sMessianicSecretandJohn'saretalogical
selfand
to
other
of
Jesus.
ways understanding
predications mysticaldiscourses)
In his thirdchapter,"Portrait
of theMagician,Seenfrom
(2) Marginality.
the Outside,"Graffiltersthe sociologicalanalysisof MarcelMaussthrough
PlinyandApuleiusin orderto showthata magicianeasilycouldbe seenas a
marginalfigureandthata marginalfigureeasilycouldbe seenas a magician:
"Anyabnormalinterestin the sacredcan leadto the suspicionof magic."30
In otherwords,magiccanbe seen to be religionthatis out of balance,that
is excessivein its concerns,its curiosities,its contactswiththe divine.This
view of magic as seen from the outsideis quite compelling,and it both
helpsto explaincommentsin classicalsourcesand also cohereswell with
the observations,above,aboutpolemicaldescriptionsof magic.I findthis
sense of whatis marginalandwhatis central,andthe perceiveddifference
andevenmovementbetweencenterandperiphery,
to be anintriguingmatter.
I illustratepartof the issue anecdotally.HeidelbergCoptictext 685 is a
codexof ritualpowerwitha varietyof magicalspellsandprayers,
parchment
a
including versionof theprayerof theVirginMarythatis widelyrepresented
in Coptic,Ethiopic,Syriac,andArabicmagicaltexts- it wasalsoidentified
recentlyin a Greekversionon the walls of a cryptin Old Dongolain the
Sudan- and that belongsto a magicaltraditionof prayersof Maryin
"Bartos."
Maryprays,"Letall thingssubmitto me, for I am Mary,I am
Mariham,I am the motherof the life (of) the whole world- I myselfam
NN. Lettherocksplitbeforeme today,let theirondissolvebeforemetoday,
let the demonswithdrawbeforeme today,let the powersof the lightappear
30 P. 88.
Panel Discussion
305
to me, let the angels and the archangels appear to me today, let the doors
thatarebolted and closed <open> for me, at once and quickly."Otherforms
of the prayermake it clear that the liberationin mind here can be specified
as that of Matthias, for whom, according to the historiola, the prison was
opened and the bonds dissolved through the prayer of Mary. This prayer,
so widely representedin Christianmagical traditions,has its counterpartin
the classical and modem iconographicaltraditionsof the Coptic Orthodox
Church.In October1997, GirgisDaoud Girgis and I visited the small Church
of St. Mary who Dissolves the Chains, in Cairo, where there is a modem
painting,in three panels, executed by Yousef Girgis Ayad in 1990, of Mary
the Theotokosfreeing Matthias,who is shown stridingforthfrom prisonwith
chains melting off his body. I was told that the church celebrates a festival
at the end of July, at which festival this story of ritual power is rehearsed.
Above this church is the Convent of St. Mary, with an icon, prominently
placed, showing the same scene. Actually, what is shown is a reproductionof
an icon, the original being at the Hanging Churchof St. Mary,al-Muallaqa,
in Old Cairo, with its several scenes of miracles - or magic - from the
life of the Virgin Mary. In the icon, one might say, the deeds portrayedare
miraculous,in the spells of ritual power, the deeds described are magical.
Close by, at the Convent of St. George, or Mari Girgis, the chains of Mari
Girgis are displayed in a room next to an icon of St. George, whose tortures
at the handsof a Persianking includedthe use of chains - supposedlythese
very chains. Today the pious stop by to put these chains on their necks and
hands and to kiss them, for, the accompanyinglegend assures, touching the
chains can bring miracles and cast out evil spirits, and this is accomplished,
it is added,"by faith."31
Withouta doubta complex of social, political, andreligious factorsdictate
the varied places of these magical, iconographical,and liturgical chains in
Egyptianlife. A complex of factorsdeterminecenterand periphery,andthese
factorshelp to distinguishbetween the magical Mary of texts of ritualpower
over againstthe miraculousMaryof the Coptic Church.
(3) Mysteryand secrecy. Initially in his fourthchapter"How to Become a
Magician: The Rites of Initiation,"Graf discusses the similarities between
31Cf.M.
Meyer,TheMagicalBookof MaryandtheAngels(P.Heid.Inv.Kopt.685)
1996)andmy forthcoming
paperin a conferencevolumeto be editedby
(Heidelberg
myselfandPaulMirecki.
306
Panel Discussion
magic and the mysteries,and he highlightsthreefeatures:they involve

secrecy,they seek directcontactwith the divine,and they includeritual
initiation.Thistopicof magicandthe mysteriesis a fascinatingone, andit
I findit to be of interestforat leasttworeasons,
meritsfurtherconsideration.
onementionedby Grafandonenot.Grafcitestheso-called"Mithras
Liturgy"
as an exampleof initiationin magicandthe mysteries,andin so doinghe
bringsbeforeus a textfromthe PapyriGraecaeMagicaethathasperplexed
andintriguedscholarssincethe timeof AlbrechtDieterich.32
Somesee the
text as clearlyMithraic,some as partiallyor fully magical.The questions
of the Mithraicand magicalcomponentsin the "MithrasLiturgy"remain
unanswered,andnow DavidUlansey'ssuggestionof a kinderand gentler
Mithras,an astronomical/astrological
figurewho promptsthe precessionof
theequinoxesandwhocranksthe skyaroundin the"Mithras
raises
Liturgy,"
the questionin a new way.33Grafdoes not cite Christianity
in comparison
withmagicandthemysteries,buthe mighthave,sinceChristianity
sharesthe
threefeaturesmentionedby Graf.I believethatat least some Christianities
maybe closelylinkedto themysteryreligionsandclassifiedwiththem,and
thatClementof Alexandriais essentiallycorrectin his Protreptikos,
less his
whenhe depictsChristianity
as a mystery,buttheonly
Christianchauvinism,
truemystery:"O trulysacredmysteries!O purelight!In the blazeof the
torchesI havea vision of heavenandof God.I becomeholy by initiation.
The Lordrevealsthe mysteries."34
Now Graf'sdiscussionmay allowthis
and
to
classification
move
further.
comparison
HereI alsomention,in passing,oneof thethreecommonfeaturesof comparison:secrecy.Themagicaltextsin thePapyriGraecaeMagicaeandother
sourcescounselsecrecy,fromtheinjunctionin a GreekspellwithCopticelements,"Keepit secret;it is proven,"to the spell utteredsotto voce in the
"MithrasLiturgy"("Whisperto himthe firstprayer...,andsay the successive thingsas an initiate,overhis head,in a soft voice, so thathe maynot
Some spells are
hear,as you are anointinghis face with the mystery").35
hidden,buried,concealed.Grafappliesthis featureof secrecyto ritualcommunication,andhe concludes,"Themagicrite thus seems to short-circuit
32 Eine
Mithrasliturgie,3rd ed. by O. Weinreich(Leipzig and Berlin 1923 [1903]).

33 The Origins of the MithraicMysteries(New Yorkand Oxford 1989).
34 Clem. Al. Pro. 12.120.
35 PGM IV. 741-46.
Panel Discussion
307
the communication:the senderand the recipientare identical."36The practitioner,he assumes, performsthe ritual alone and in secret. This may well be
right, but I would ask whetherthis is always necessarily so. Could it be that
the injunctionof secrecy is at times a conceit, a contrivedfeature meant to
cast a shadow of mystery and awe over the magical operation?Such would
be perfectlycomprehensiblein the world of antiquityand especially late antiquity,with its preoccupationwith the secret and the hidden- as the Gospel
of Thomas puts it, 'There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed."37
Grafmentionserotic magic in this regard,and he alludes to the way in which
an individual'semotional crisis may be reflected in the descriptionsof the
lovesickness to be inducedby the spells. My hunchis thatGrafis correct;ordinarilyI too have expected thathereinlies the real power of the erotic spells.
But I ask myself, and Graf, whetherit may also be possible that some sort of
magical, ritualcommunicationin fact does take place, and that the contents
of erotic and otherspells may have been disclosed. Could love and sex spells
functionas love letters,crying out to the one desiredfor love and satisfaction,
superchargedwith whatwas perceivedto be supernaturalpassion?Could sexual curses to leave a man impotentfunction as psychosomaticcold showers,
leaving a male with that sinking feeling of mighty cosmic forces defusing
his paltrylibido? Could other curses and other spells, for example, to bind a
person'stongue and hence to renderhim tongue-tied,likewise work through
communicationwith a recipientand the power of suggestion?
(4) Coercion. Near the end of his book, Graf raises the familiar topic,
known already in Plato and emphasized in Christian sources, of coercion
in magic and ritual power, and he stresses the varieties of coercion and
persuasionas well as the relatedissue of the organizationof the cosmos and
the powers of the cosmos. I fully concur with Graf's conclusion: "coercion,
althoughpresent,is not really constitutiveof Greco-Romanmagic, but is only
one of the elements of a much more complex ideology."38Rather,the topic
of coercion is in large partcaughtup in polemical statementsagainstmagic.
I conclude by illustratingthis point from Coptic Christianmagical texts.39
To be sure, the texts are aboutpower, and ritual power comes to expression
36P.210.
37
Gospel of Thomas,5.
38 P. 227.
39 TranslationsfromAncient ChristianMagic, note 27 above.
308
Panel Discussion
in texts that employ the legally binding language of adjuration,and use

Coptic verbs in imperativeand injunctiveand thirdfutureforms to command
supernaturalpower, and punctuateall this with typical statements of ritual
impatience: now, quickly, at once! In a Coptic text from the H.O. Lange
collection, a thunderingdeity called Petbe, "Requiter,"is roused along with
other divine powers, and the practitionerthreatens that a lack of divine
compliance will bring about the summoningof several deities of coercion,
including Greek gods and goddesses: "If you do not obey the things of my
mouth and pursue the things of my hand, I shall call upon Salpiax, Pechiel,
Sasmiasas, Mesemiasim, and the seventy gods, and Artemis the mother of
all the gods, and Apollo and Athena [and] Kronos and Moira, Pal[las and]
Aphrodite,Dawn, Serapis, [Ura]nos."40Such commitmentsto the power of
effective persuasion,however, are not unknownin other examples of prayer
that is not usually considered to be magical. Further,in Christiantexts of
ritual power there also are humble statements of intercession and request:
"So now, my Lord, have mercy upon your likeness and your image. Do not
allow the workof yourhandsto fall into ruin."41A Christianamuletwrittenin
Greekand intendedto protectAriafromfever, shows very nicely the interplay
between power and piety that is possible in magical texts: "Trulyguardand
protect Aria from the one-day chill and from the daily chill and from the
nightly chill and from the mild fever of [the top of the head]. You shall do
these things [graciously] and completely, first on account of your will and
also on accountof her faith, because she is a handmaidof the living God, and
thatyour name may be glorified continually,[power]of Jesus Christ,Father,
Son, Mother,Holy Spirit,Abrasax,A6 AtIOUO."42
In short, Christianpractitionersof ritual power were - and are - quite
capable of expressing deep humility and piety, even as leaders centrally
placed within the orthodox churcheswere - and are - equally capable of
reveling in power and coercion.
Departmentof Religious Studies
ChapmanUniversity
Orange,CA 92866, USA
40FromAncientChristianMagic,note27 above,237-39.
41
Heidelberg
Coptictext686.
42
924.
Oxyrhynchus
MARVIN MEYER
Panel Discussion
309
COMMENTBY BRIAN SCHMIDT
My meanderingsinto the past distinguishthemselves both geographically

andchronologicallyfromthose of FritzGraf;mine targeta worldneighboring
ancient Greece and Rome, but one that more or less ends where his begins.
I investigate magic as it manifested itself in Iron age "Levantine"cultures
(as they are traditionallytagged). My research takes me into the religions
and cultures of ancient Syria, Lebanon, Jordan,Israel-Palestine,and, to a
lesser extent, Cyprus.My datarepresentthe writtenand non-writtenremains
of the various sub-groupsof ancient MediterraneanWest Asia: Ugaritians,
Arameans,Canaanites,Phoenicians, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, and
Israelites to name but a few. My evidence spans the 12th to 6th centuries
BCE, a period in the history of the region that can be bracketed by two
majortransitions:at the front end, the cessation of Hittite hegemony in the
region and at its close, the arrivalof the Persians.Both of these hegemonies
representmoreculturallydistantempiresthanthose of Assyria and Babylonia
thatdominatedthe Levantin the intervening600 years.
Having drawn the obvious boundaries that distinguish our respective
fields, I shall now obfuscate them in orderto justify my contributionto this
Aegean-orienteddebate.As historiansof religion, we all are confrontedwith
manyof the same problemsandissues of investigationsuch as identifyingand
interpretingour respectiveancient sources, locating them in their social and
ideationalcontexts, and accessing the beliefs of extinct peoples exclusively
throughtheir artifactualremains. We also share two parts of what, at one
level or another,has been legitimately considered a larger and wider undifferentiatedculturalorbit:that of the ancient East Mediterranean.Moreover,
when it comes to culturalinfluence and exchange, one can safely conclude
that our worlds have repeatedlycollided. They have indeed met and on more
than one occasion. That interactionand culturalexchange as they pertainto
religiousbeliefs andpracticestranspiredbetween the Greco-Romanand Near
Easternworlds, there is no doubt, and Professor Graf readily acknowledges
and most competentlyexploits that reality.
I found Graf's survey of the modem study of ancient magic to be an
unanticipated,but much needed, reminderof how far the study of magic in
ancientsocieties has progressedand yet how far it still has to go. The various
hindrancesandpocketsof resistancewhich he describeshave amazinglyclose
parallels in the fields of ancient Near Eastern and biblical studies. When
it comes to the investigation of ancient Canaanite and Israelite religions
310
Panel Discussion
for example, one continues to face a recalcitrant philological tradition,

an incessant romanticismin anthropologicaland historical studies, and an
evolutionary oriented frameworkof interpretationthat to this day evokes
Tylorianand Frazeriannotions of primitivism.Add to that a self-fulfilling
propheticstancevis-A-visa theological interpretationof the past thatpervades
my respective field, and one is confrontedwith a seemingly insurmountable
set of obstacles.
Israelite religion, like Greco-Roman religions, is characteristicallydescribedor renderedin termsof evolutionisticprocesses, thatis to say, in terms
of an essentialintellectualadvancein humandevelopment.This appliesin the
case of the varioussupposedadvancesthathave been proposed:from ancestor
and death cults to high religion, from magic to revealedreligion, from popular to official religion, even from legalistic, ritualizedreligion to a religion of
regenerativespirituality.While these models generallycharacterizethe study
of inter-Israelitehistories of religions, matterslag even furtherbehind when
the Bronze to Iron age religion of Israelis comparedto thatof her contemporaryneighbours.A suitable candidatefor illustration,in my reading, are the
much-malignedCanaanites.Although one does hear less these days about
the debaucheryand licentiousness of the Canaanites- their free-wheeling
orgies notwithstanding-, one can still detect resistanceto placing Canaanite polytheism in all its grandeuron equal footing with Israelitehenotheism
and monotheism. But as I have pointed out to my colleagues who work at
such sites as Ras Shamra,Syria, perhapsit has been left to the Frenchto lead
us North Americans out of our puritanicalbondage to arriveat a more reliable study of anotherculturesuch as the ancientCanaanites.I realize thatfor
some people it may be more palatableto blame the Frenchfor the infiltration
of such waywardthinking!I say that tongue-in-cheek,of course.
I have found Graf's approachregardingliteraryreferences to magic and
theirexploitationby the historianof religion as havingsurprisinglydeveloped
along lines similar to my own. Let me offer a general illustration.Among
the sources one typically identifies as pertinentto the history of Levantine
religions is the Hebrew Bible. Nevertheless, it is an unfortunateset of
circumstancesthat the literaryand ideological characterof the biblical texts
has not been adequatelytaken into account in reconstructionsof religion or,
more to the point, magic in early Canaaniteand Israelitesocieties. For many,
the HebrewBible remains the lens throughwhich all other artifactsrelevant
to an investigationof the region's religion or magic are to be seen. One can
Panel Discussion
311
stillreadrecentauthorswho,withoutfurtherqualification,
concludethat"the
Hebrewreligionhad an aversionto divinatoryand magicalpractices..."a
statementnarrowlybasedon nothingmorethanthe biblicaltaboosagainst
certainrites,andone thatunjustifiably
denigratesthe otherreligionsof the
It
without
one
need
region. goes
saying,
onlyasktheobvious:if a biblicallaw
a rite,doesthatnotimplythatsomeonewasobservingit?Withthat
prohibited
questionas one'sstartingpoint,a wholenewworldopensitselfupforfurther
inquiry.Havingso said,I shouldadda disclaimerhere.I amnot advocating
anapproach
thatis aimedatplacingall theregionalreligionsof AncientWest
Asiaon the samelevel.WhatI amproposingis thatoursourcesandmethods
be so placed.Thiswouldprovidegreaterassurance
thatthesimilaritiesas well
as the variabilitiesthatundoubtedly
characterize
the religionsof the Levant
mightevidencethemselvesin theprocessof investigation.Surely,this is to
be preferredto an approachwhereinthe outcomeis, andoftenhas been,a
foregoneconclusion.
Allow me to addressthe questionof who it was thatparticipated
in the
practicesbannedor discouragedin the biblicaltraditions,for this question
bringsme to anothertopicregardingwhichI findGraf'sworkmost informative:the accusationof magicin antiquity.
Graf'sdatahaveled himto the
conclusionthatsuchaccusations
areoftenunfounded
ormisdirected,
andnot
motivatedby xenophobiaor thequestto dominate(twosidesof
infrequently
thesamecoinnodoubt).As Grafmostastutelyillustrates,
thelegalcasesof C.
FuriusCresimusandApuleiusverifythissocialrealityin his ancientworld.43
I daresay thata similarset of constructscanbe structurally
detectedwithin
my ancientworld.TheHebrewBiblemakestherepeatedclaimor accusation
thatthe indigenouspopulationsof Canaanwerethe ones to be blamedfor
illegimatereligiousor,if you will, "magic-like"
practices.
Thisis particularly
insidiousin the so-calleddeuteronomistic
traditions,
butby no meansis it restrictedto those.Thedeuteronomists
makethe case
thatthe variouspracticesthey outlaware those embracedby the local or
whethertheybe Canaanites,
Phoenicians,Arameans
indigenouspopulations
or the like. Uponcloserexaminationhowever,the rhetoricaldimensionsof
theseclaimscanbe, andhavebeen,convincinglyexposed.Contraryto such
claims,suchpracticesareequallyif notdistinctlyIsraelitein origin.In fact,
it is morelikelythecasethatthesewerethepracticesof contemporaries
who
43 Pp. 62-88.
312
Panel Discussion
lived within the author'ssocial orbit or that of his ancestors.They belong to

those other sectors competing for power and dominancein ancient Israelite
society. Other biblical traditions concerning divination and magic would
clearly point in this direction- and here I have in mind so-called legitimate
practices associated with such divinatory and magic-like paraphernaliaas
the teraphim, the urim and thummim, and the ephod and the otherwise
"magic-like" rituals given expression in the Elijah and Elisha narratives
where dynamisticprocesses operate alongside legalistic ones.44 To be sure,
included in that complex of practices is the sorcerer or mekasheph outlawedas he might have been within the social realities of his day, he was
neverthelessan Israelitephenomenon.To whit, the foreign origins traditions
were clearly an attempt at improvisation. The "us-versus-them"polarity
evident in the biblical traditionsdoes not reflect a social reality i.e., Israelites
vs. Canaanites,but instead certain Israelites vs. other Israelites. Underlying
the false accusation of Canaanite magic are the wider social realities of
competingIsraelitereligious traditionsand theirrespectivegroups.
Thereare manyotherobservationsand conclusions thatGrafadeptlyarticulates:the centralplace of individualmemory,prayerand special knowledge
in the magician'sritualand communicativeworlds, the identificationof coercion as only one element of magic's complex ideology, and the emphasison
reversalas a characteristicof magical ritualover againstcivic religion. But a
brief final comment will have to suffice; Graf identifies the emergence of a
two-level cosmological system made up of high gods thatthe magiciancould
addressin orderto influence the other group and the infernal gods as characterizing the single most importantchange in the development of ancient
magic. What was formerlya homogeneous pantheoneventuallymanifestsitself in the imperialperiod as an extremelyhierarchicalpantheon.WhatGraf
observes is that this happenedaboutthe same time as anothertransformation
took place: when the magician changed from his exclusive role as sorcerer
bent on harming adversariesto a magician who sought special knowledge
from the gods. This he suggests coincides with broaderchanges in society
from an agonistic society in need of supportin competition (hence sorcery)
to a society in which competitionbecomes the prerogativeof the elite (and
44Cf. 1 Kings17-19,2 Kings2-4.
Panel Discussion
313
so sorcery as well) while the rest of society is forced to turn to the quest for
spiritualwell-being.45
In ancient Israelite cultural history, the process might very well have
moved in the opposite direction; from a hierarchical pantheon to what
one scholar described as an empty heaven save for the one high god that
remained.Moreover,in the exilic and post-exilic periods of Israelitesociety
- that is, the 6th and 5th centuries BCE - such changes may have
proceeded in the following direction:from a society in which competition
was the prerogativeof the elite (cf. e.g., the book of Amos) with the rest of
society questing for spiritualwell-being to an agonistic society that, in the
aftermathof the Babylonian exile and the Pax Persica, was in dire need of
supportfrom competition(hence sorcery).What this might suggest as to the
transformationsthattook place vis-h-vis the role of the magicianare yet to be
fully explored.In any case, referencesto sorcery definitely increase in texts
from the latter end of the 6th century BCE. How is that for a "reversalof
fortune"?
Departmentof Near EasternStudies
Universityof Michigan
Ann Arbor,MI 48109-1285, USA
BRIAN SCHMIDT
BY DAVIDFRANKFURTER
COMMENT
Studentsof "magic"in the ancient world (and other cultures) constantly
runup againstthe problemof whatthe termshouldbe takento mean.The two
most typical uses of "magic"comprise:(a) a sub-categoryof ritual that (for
some scholars) assumes the operationof certainpowers or laws in nature,a
supernaturalcosmos distinctfrom thatone called "religious,"and/ora private
or esoteric domain of practice; and (b) an ancient pejorative category of
varying scope. The first use is often called "etic" insofar as it functions as
a heuristic category for the description of religious phenomena in general,
the second "emic" insofar as it denotes an indigenous distinction of ritual
spheres. Whereas the developmentand refinementof "etic" terminology is
the proper domain of the history of religions and is in fact the only way
45P. 173.
314
Panel Discussion
that others' religious systems and attitudes can be interpretedcoherently,

historiansof antiquity- particularlythose workingon the religious polemics
and purgesof the Roman and late antiqueeras - are (or should be) sensitive
to ancientpeoples' own tendencyto divide religious behavior(andbelief) into
legitimate/illegitimate,public/covert, affirmative/subversive,elevated/base,
and priestly/extra-priestlydomains. Thus Fritz Graf has opted for a sense of
"magic"that would "follow the terminologicalusage of a given culture."46
Yet both "emic"and"etic"uses of "magic"have criticalflaws. As an "etic"
(second-order,descriptive)term, "magic"really does not describe an observably distinct sphereof ritual cross-culturally.One might attemptgeneral definitions like "the exercise of a preternaturalcontrol over natureby human
beings, with the assistance of forces more powerful than they,"or "any rite
that does not play a part in organizedcult,"47or that sphere of ritual concerned with quotidianmattersand with the direction of supernaturalpower.
However, such distinctionscan never be maintainedin the field, as it were;
and the best contemporarystudies of "ritualpower"in its quotidianor local
domain show little distinctivevalue in the category of "magic."Instead,such
studies demonstratethe overwhelmingcontinuitiesof language, gesture,motivation,leadership,andritualspace across the domainsonce distinguishedas
"magical"and "religious."48"Magic" then, does not exist as a distinct phenomenon in culturesand it cannotbe sustainedas a descriptivecategory.49
But as an "emic"term - an ethnoclassification- "magic"is no better.
Redolentwith the varioussemanticcontributionsof JamesFrazer,HarryHou46p. 17.
47M.Mauss,A GeneralTheoryofMagic(NewYork1972[1902/3])24 andV.Flint,
TheRiseof Magicin EarlyMedievalEurope(Princeton1991)13.
48Flint,op cit., M. MeyerandR. Smith,eds., AncientChristianMagic: Coptic
Textsof RitualPower.(SanFrancisco1994),K.L. Jolly, PopularReligionin Late
SaxonEngland:Elf Charmsin Context(ChapelHill andLondon1996),L.K.Little,
BenedictineMaledictions:LiturgicalCursingin RomanesqueFrance(Ithacaand
London1993),R.K. Ritner,TheMechanicsof AncientEgyptianMagicalPractice.
"RitualExpertisein RomanEgyptand
SAOC54 (Chicago1993),D. Frankfurter,
the Problemof the Category'Magician',"
in P. SchaferandH.G.Kippenberg,
eds.,
Studiesin the Historyof
Envisioning
Magic:A PrincetonSeminarand Symposium.
Religions75 (Leiden1997)115-135.
49Cf. J.Z. Smith,'TradingPlaces,"in M. Meyerand P. Mirecki,eds., Ancient
MagicandRitualPowerRGRW129(Leiden1995)13-27.
Panel Discussion
315
dini, and Aleister Crowley,this English hybridof the Latin magia can hardly
functionin such an isolated sense as an indigenouscategory- any more than
could "religion"or "prayer."Indeed, it is the rarehistorianof "magic"who,
despite all efforts to maintaina rigorously ethno-specific "magic,"does not
lapse into a Frazerianperspective (conjuringa "magic world-view") somewhere along the line, simply by force of the word's history.50Retainingthe
originalwords untranslated- Latin magia, Greekmageia, Egytianhk3, Hebrew kheshephor [the craft of the] hartummim,etc. - is certainly a giant
step towardsaccuracyin capturingsuch indigenous categories in the ancient
world. And yet, one is still dealing only with categoriesof ancientstereotyping - even abuse - and not in any way the self-consciousness of ancient
religious practice.Nobody,thatis, has ever consideredher- or himself a practitionerof "magic"- that'swhat the other persondoes.
In strainingagainst this two-sided trap,then, Graf's Magic in the Ancient
Worldunderlinesthe need for a particulartype of descriptiveword.Manycultures, we find, have vague distinctionsbetween spheres of ritualactivity that
are not prescriptivein any way - indeed, they are invariablyquite changeable over time and space.51 Often, but not always, these distinctions arise
in situations of cultural encounter- urbanization,religious centralization,
Christianization,Islamicization- when people may gather a certain selfconsciousness about ritual activity and legitimacy.52In a thirteenth-century
village in Languedoc,France,for example, one Bdatricede Planissoles "distinguished between her devotion to the Virgin Mary,which she regardedas
specificallyreligious, andthe little purelymagicaldevices, learnedfrom some
witch or baptized Jewess, which she used to help her win her lawsuits, to
make her daughters'love affairsprosperand to cure epilepsy."53
Furthermore,we often findthatindigenousritualexperts- the mistresses
and masters of divination and charms - make use of such indigenous
50D. Frankfurter,
reviewof S. Garrett,"Luke'smageiaand Garrett's'Magic',"
Review47 (1993)81-89.
UnionSeminaryQuarterly
51Cf. V. Turner,"Witchcraft
and Sorcery:TaxonomyversusDynamics,"in The
Ndembu
Ritual(IthacaandLondon1967)124-125,and
Forestof Symbols:Aspectsof
note
49
17-19.
Smith,
above,
52Cf. R. Redfield,TheFolkCultureof Yucatan
(ChicagoandLondon1941)233note48 above.
236, andFrankfurter,
53E. Le Roy Ladurie,Montaillou:ThePromisedLandof Error(NewYork1978
[1975])296.
316
Panel Discussion
distinctionsin orderto establish what they themselves are not doing, or else
to define the type of ritual or ritualist whose powers they themselves are
averting or neutralizing:"By my aid" she might say, "you can resist black
magic,"or "we can find the witch who did this to you."54In more centralized
culturesof antiquity(at least), priests and their institutionsand guilds might
develop the image of an illegitimate or subversiveritual sphere - witches,
sorcerers- in orderto claim ritualauthorityfor themselves.55Cultureswith
any sense of the Alien and Exotic on the margins of their environments
inevitablyascribeto those alien peoples an especially powerfulanddangerous
ritual expertise. As Malinowski's Trobriandersviewed neighboring island
peoples as intrinsicallyprone to witchcraftand highlandfolk in Guatemala
regard coast-dwellers as insidious witches56, so Egyptian amulets might
protect against the sorcery (hk3) of the Syrians, the Nubians, the Libyans,
the Cushites, and the Shasuites.57In the Greco-Romanperiod, so Lucian,
Heliodorus, and other ancient novelists make clear, an Egyptian priest who
moved beyond his indigenous temple environment- to the polis or beyond
- would be regardedas a magos of ambiguous,often fearsome, powers.58
Here, then, is a range of possible uses of the idea of an "other"form of
ritual,differentfrom what "we"do, that extends from the vague terminological distinctionto the utterpolarization.In orderto label this idea as it occurs
cross-culturallywe need a term akin to "magic"but more ironic, for it must
54Cf. K. Thomas,"TheRelevanceof SocialAnthropology
to the HistoricalStudy
of English Witchcraft,"in M. Douglas, ed., WitchcraftConfessionsand Accusations.
ASAMonographs
"WitchDoctors,Soothsay9 (London1971)60-61,W.de Bldcourt,
andTradition,"
Social
ers,andPriests:OnCunningFolkin European
Historiography
Folklore107
History19 (1994) 285-303,J. Simpson,"WitchesandWitchbusters,"
(1996) 5-18.
55Cf.TzviAbusch,"TheDemonicImageof theWitchin Standard

LitBabylonian
erature:
TheReworking
of PopularConceptions
in
Learned
J.
Neusner,
Exorcists,"
by
E.S. Frerichs,and P.V.M.Flesher,eds., Religion, Science, and Magic: In Concertand
In Conflict(NewYork1989)27-58.
56 B. Malinowski,Argonautsof the WesternPacific (New York 1961;
repr.Prospect
HeightsIL 1984)77 and237-244,B. Saler,"Nagual,Witch,andSorcererin a Quichd

andCuring(Austin1967)86-87.
ed.,Magic,Witchcraft,
Village,"in J. Middleton,
57 B.M. 10587r, 70-75, in I.E.S. Edwards,OracularAmuleticDecrees of the Late
NewKingdom.2 vols.HieraticPapyriin theBritishMuseum4 (London1960)1:38.

58Frankfurter,
aboven. 48.
317
Panel Discussion
capturethe incipient polemic against what is being described without suggesting thepossibility thatsuch a sphereof ritual ever existedhistoricallyand
might thereforebe described objectively."Sorcery"has often been used for
of "others'"
this purpose,but it may restrictthe indigenousconceptulali7ation
ritualto hostile spells alone (which are, to be sure, the predominantactivity
of this imaginaryrealm). Perhaps"wizardry"is the best: untemperedby any
semantic traditionbut the Arthurian,it suggests an "other"sphere of ritual
thatis appealinglyesoteric, potentiallysubversive,and solely the perspective
of the indigenousor biased personunderexamination.59
Religious StudiesProgram
Universityof New Hampshire
Durham,NH 03824-3586, USA
DAVIDFRANKFURTER
RESPONSETO COMMENTS
FRITZ GRAF
(1) John Gager

John Gager focusses his attentionon my use of the term magic - and
rightly so. His main objection is to my choice of following (as rigidly as
possible) the ancient ("emic")use of the term. This choice results from my
desperationwith earlier work in the field: there, the authorsnot only used
the term in a way well removed from its ancient notions, they often did so
withoutmuchthinkingon this use. Thus, the value of the termas an analytical
tool has become very problematical;most devastating,to my mind, was the
indiscriminatetransferof the term from ancient (or our own) culture into
non-Europeancultures - it did not only very often obscure the cultural
facts in those cultures, it also had deleterious effects on the understanding
of Graeco-Romancultures. Just to give two examples. One still can read
(and not only in handbooks) that Roman religion was more magical than
religious, since it placed a high value on ritual - but even given that this
were true (I doubtit anyway), a Roman would have been very baffledindeed
59J. MiddletonandE.H.Winter,"Introduction"
in J. MiddletonandE.H.Winter,
eds., Witchcraftand Sorceryin East Africa (New York 1963) 3; Turner,above n. 51,
126.
318
Panel Discussion
about such an assertion, and to us, it obscures the access to understanding

Roman ritualism.60- Among Hellenists, there exists a widespreadbelieve
that Helen used a magical potion to soothe the mood of Menelaus and
Telemachus:in fact, when the two men were more distressed than manners
would have allowed after reminiscing the Trojanwar, she mixed them an
Egyptiandrink- and since to influenceby materialmeans the souls of other
people is magic (and Egypt is the homeland of magic anyway), Helen uses
magic here.61This projectsthe notion of magic into a culturewhere it did not
exist at all (and is done, I suspect sometimes, because of puritanprejudices
againstHelen and her skill at mixing exotic drinks).
But back to the main issue. To startwith, I would discardtwo minorpoints.
(1) In the citation aboutUsener, I use the term as Usener used it: the passage
says nothing about my ordinaryuse. As to the other two citations, I do not
think that magic and religion are interchangeable:both underscorethe fact
that the (descriptive) term religion contains changing fields of normatively
definedbits of magic; if thereis a problemthere,it has to do with the problem
thatmaybe religion cannot be normativelydefinedeither.- (2) I fully agree
with the fact that there existed a positively connotateduse of mageia as well
- and not only in Philo or Apuleius: alreadyin the Aristotelian(or PseudoAristotelian) treatise About the Magoi we find the remark: "The Persian
magoi do not use mageia"- i.e. they are no sorcerers.62But there is a snag
with all (or the overwhelming majority of) such uses: they set themselves
polemically apartfrom the ordinaryuse of mageia in the society - witness
Philo's term "truemageia".63Thus, they are just inversed mirror-imagesof
the termand as thus are still valuableto illustratethe overall "emic"meaning.
The rest is more serious, and I fully agree with Gager that there is no
satisfying way out. My use of the term mageia had the advantage that it
opened the way to understandingthe change of paradigm under way in
the fifth and early fourth centuries, and the changes that followed in later
epochs. By the Hellenistic period, that new notion had left philosophical,
elitist circles; by the time of Augustus, the Roman state took it over in
60As did,to namejustoneauthorof anentiregeneration,
H.J.Rose,AncientRoman
Religion(London1948).
61Homer,OdysseyIV 220-232.
62Aristotle, 36 Rose.
Frg.
63Philo,De specialibusLegibusIl 00 alethemagike.
Panel Discussion
319
orderto exclude unwantedreligious phenomenafrom what the state defined

as religion, and after Constantine,the Christianemperorsundertooka new
definitionof the term to suit their own claim (and the claim of the bishops)
to monopolize knowledge.64All this - major changes of society's way to
look at religion and to define its territory,aroundwhose borderlinethe jungle
of magic begins - would have been ratherinvisible when using a predefined
modem term.The problemsbegin when tryingto use the termin a descriptive
way: in a way, to use a normativeterm in a descriptiveway is always short
of squaring a circle. I tried to do so by carefully extrapolatingfrom the
contemporaryuse and at the same time giving signals of caution.
Take the question of Athenian binding spells, which I include under the
heading of mageia. Here, Plato is my witness: all this, he repeats,is punishable sorcery.This, at first glance, seems to have been Plato's personalview,
given the many tabulaedefixionisfrom Atheniancontexts, many of them with
upperclass names on them. But there are indicationsthat the negative view
was not only Plato's: other Greek poleis at that time had legislation against
it, and there might even be a testimony of an Athenianindictmentfor a love
spell.65In fact, what I do is to take the emic term at a given time and use it
as an etic one - since extrapolatingit to phenomenathat were not generally
agreedto fall underits meaningis an appropriationof a term into one's own
scientific language.This gives me a flexible tool of analysis because the content of the term changes over time. I can see only one alternative.Redefining
the term magic accordingour own needs is certainlyno way out, because in
doing so we overlook the nuances in the actual facts and are liable to confuse our terminologyand theirs.The way out, rather,would be a terminology
at two levels: a rigid applicationof the indigenous normativeterm mageia
where it applies, and a rigid use of an entirely new word for the rest. The
drawbackis a ratherhermetic language: communicationalways suffers under those circumstances,and since I firmlybelieve in communicationand the
need to abstainfrom hermeticlanguage,I chose my way out.
(2) MarthaHimmelfarb
MarthaHimmelfarbevokes two major topics for debate. (1) The first is
the problemof Graeco-Romanversus Ancient World.My book concentrates
64See the sourcescollectedin F.E.Shlosser,"Pagansinto magicians,"Byzantinoslavica 52 (1991) 49-53.
65Graf,p. 35; see alsoDemosthenes

XIX281 andschol.adloc.
320
Panel Discussion
very much on the Greeks and the Romans (or rather on the writers and
speakersof Greekand Latin,which is not the same, at least in laterepochs). It
concentrateson those two culturesnot just because I am a classicist, but (and
here I come back to the problem of terminology) because it was those two
culturesthatdevelopedthe termmagic with many of its modem connotations;
as Himmelfarbjustly remarks,in Egypt the phenomenonwould presentitself
in a very different way, as it would in Ancient Mesopotamia:magic in the
sense the Greeks understoodthe term from the 5th century onward did not
exist, or only very late and under Greek or Roman influence. Therefore,the
Near Easterncultures are treatedas areas from which the Greeks took over
elements of the ritualsand,to a lesser degree, of the ideology. And given this
emphasis on ritual,it is Mesopotamiaand Assyria where one has to look for
phenomenawhich might have influencedthe rites of classical and Hellenistic
Greece. Egyptianrituals,as Ritnerhas shown, became influentialonly in the
stage of "international"magic of the Imperialepoch, as representedin the
magical papyri66,and the evidence for Egypt as the home and craddle of
magic begins not very muchearlierand gains momentumonly in the Imperial
epoch - but as late an authoras Iamblichusstill insists, when talking about
the voces magicae, that they were both Egyptian and Assyrian.67 And
while the role of Egypt has been clear for quite a while (at least after the
first, very Hellenocentric interpretationsof the Greek magical papyri), the
Mesopotamian-Assyrianworld has never really been drawn into the world
of Greek sorcerers- Burkert,who did pioneering work as to the Oriental
connection, confined himself to the Archaic Age, as did Faraone in his
researches on statues.68This explains my bias - and Hellenistic Greeks
would have agreed: where we have evidence as to the origin of powerful
magicians (like in Theocritus' 2nd Idyll), they are called Chaldaeans,that is
Assyrians. As to Persia, the home of the magoi: that was a derivationwhich
functionedon an ideological basis only and had no foundationin actual fact
66R. Ritner, The Mechanicsof AncientEgyptianMagicalPractice (Chicago
inAufstieg
1993),see alsohis '"Egyptian
MagicalPracticeUndertheRomanEmpire,"
undNiedergangderRimischenWeltII 18,5(Berlin1995),3333-3379.
67Iamblichus,
De mysteriisVII4.
68W. Burkert,The Orientalizing
Revolution.Near EasternInfluenceon Greek
Culturein the Early ArchaicAge (Cambridge,Mass. 1992; Germaned. 1984);
and TrojanHorses.GuardianStatuettesin AncientGreek
Ch.A.Faraone,Talismans
MythandRitual(NewYorkandOxford1992).
Panel Discussion
321
(or perhapsonly as far as Assyrians and Chaldaeanswere - politically Persiansas well before the epoch of Alexanderthe Great:when Heraclitusor
the Derveni papyri speak aboutrituals of the magoi69,they just might have
in mind any Orientalfrom the lands of the King of Kings). Another matter
is Jewish magic (as would have been Coptic magic): these phenomena are
indebted to the internationalizationof the PGM-type of magic: the Sepher
ha-Razim,beyond its basic structureof an ascent text, contains many recipes
whose closeness to the PGM is self-evident.70And had I a more thorough
familiarity with the history of late antique and medieval Judaism, nobody
would have stopped me from working on it - but human resources are
restricted.Perhaps one has even to look much furtherthan the Sepher haRazim or the hekhalot texts: I suspect that the Jewish traditionmust have
played an immensely and not yet fully understoodrole in the traditionof
magical texts after antiquityas well. My suspicion is based upon a personal
experience: when working in the University Libraryof Crakow,I chanced
upon an astrologicalmanuscriptwrittenin Prag in 1388; in the empty spaces
betweenthe astrologicalcharts,it containsa series of Latin spells which again
come very close to what I knew about the PGM; and when thinking about
possible connections between these two worlds, Jewish medieval traditions
are at least as reasonablea guess as anything.So here is a field of research
still wide open, and having all the fascinationone might wish for.
I could not agree more with what Himmelfarb says about the aims of
the PGM - without, though, giving in on my political and sociological
explanation.Couched in terms of religious history, it is indeed the quest for
the Divine, for bridgingthe widening gap between humans and gods which
fires much of what is going on at least in many of the magical papyri (and
outside as well): a promiselike the one in PGM I 39 - "you will come face
to face as companionto the god" is typical, as is the claim of the practitioner
to be such and such a high god, or at least Moses, God's intimate. And
since theurgy,the philosophicaltwin of magic, might seem an easy way to
reachthat goal and an individualway besides, the Christianfathersopposed
it fiercely:their own way was less easy (not arrogant,superbus,as Augustine
69Heraclitus,frg. 14; the new Dervenifragmentin A. Laksand G. Most,eds.,
Studiesin the Derveni Papyrus(Oxford 1997) 110-117 (K. Tsantsanoglou).
70ForthetextM. Margalioth,
1966);for a translation
Sepherha-razim(Jerusalem
M.A. Morgan,Sepher ha-razim.TheBook of the Mysteries (Chico, Cal. 1983).
322
Panel Discussion
has it, but submissive, humilis71), and it was not left to individualchoice but the goal, in a way, as the goal of gnosticism, was not thatmuch apart.So
far,therecould not be more agreementbetween us, and I thinkI lean towards
such a readingin my book as well. The questionratheris whetherthis answer
excludes an answerof the type I broughtforward:what conditionsandcauses
such widespreadindividual aims - why this general quest for divinity? If
one does not wish to have recourse to psychology (as E.R. Dodds did two
generations ago), a sociopolitical answer might be as good a shot in the
darkas any; and given the all-pervadingpresence of the late antiquepolitical
system, I wonder whether the hekhalot literaturewould have been entirely
immune against it (even though - or perhapsjust because - as Michael
Swartzcautiously put it, "little is known aboutthe social environmentof the
rabbinicestate in late antiquity"72).
(3) MarvinMeyer
MarvinMeyer's response,again, asks some very importantandnot always
easily answerablequestions.I answerthem in order.
(1) Paradigm: Some points have already been touched upon in the response of Gager and in my answerto him - especially the problemof negative associationsof the term(not necessarilyxenophobic, althoughthatmight
sometimes be part of the parcel) or its contrary,the positive evaluationof
Persia. As to the relationshipbetween Greece and Egypt, I agree with the
outline which Meyer sketched: the very fundamentaldifference is the way
the two culturesdealt with the phenomenonof heka and mageia respectively.
Although this, of course, leads to the obvious question as to what happened
when the two conceptionscame into contact- in Hellenistic and especially
Romantime. One answerto this has been triedin a conferencepaperby David
Frankfurter:he assumes that the practice of Egyptian magic - heka - remainedthe provinceof the temple priestsin late Egypt, andthatthey peddled
theirartto GreeksandRomanswho looked at the thing with a fascinationgeneratedby the irresistiblecombinationof exotic origin and forbiddenfruitwhich those priests exploited. Whateverthe role of the temple-priests:some71See thenewsermon,F. Dolbeau,"Nouveuaxsermonsde saint
Augustinpourla
conversiondes paienset des donatistes(IV),"Recherches
26 (1992)
Augustiniennes
69-141,esp.par.62, line 1503.
72M.D.Swartz,ScholasticMagic.RitualandRevelationin EarlyJewishMysticism
(Princeton1996)4.
Panel Discussion
323
thing like that went on in this contact.This explains both the importancethe
papyrusbooks evidently gained in later antiquityand the official intolerance
againstthem (Augustus,Paul, the emperorConstantiusand the authoritiesof
6th centuryBeirut had them burned).I again agree with what Meyer sees as
the role of Christianity.This role becomes very clear in an influentialchurch
teacherlike Augustine who severaltimes discusses the question73and being
Augustine, he clearly speaks up what he means. Magia and its two sisters
theurgiaand goetia are in some respect very close to what Christianityaims
at - the personalcontactwith the divine;butit does so in an entirelyperverse
fashion, adoringthe Fallen Angels instead of the Trueones, relying on ritual
insteadof faith, and acting out of arroganceinsteadof submission.Marie Th.
Fogen showed how this position of the church went together with the position of the emperorsagainst divinationwhich they understoodas a threatto
theirmonopolisticapproachto divineknowledge:74this lies at the heartof the
late antiqueequation of divinationand magic. Thus, this Christiandiscurse
contributedcentrallyto a more violent rejectionof magic.
(2) Center and periphery is an intriguing matter indeed. In a way, the
Maussianmodel works best in those cases I used it for: to make understandable why a group makes someone into a sorcerer- whetherhe actually did
practicemagic or not is not an issue in this: it is assumedas given. The problems begin as soon as one is concernednot with the magicianbut with magic,
as the neat example of the VirginMaryshows: is the prayermagic, the venerationof her in a churchreligion?The answerhas to come from anotherdifferentiation.J.Z. Smithinsisted thatonly magiciansexist, magic does not75,and
this is the vital insight: magic being a ritualtechnique,it could be used both
by persons at the center and in the periphery.Even more:the rich Athenians
which used the binding spells and voodoo dolls we have were at the center
of the polis, but the seers and priests who sold them their spells clearly were
not. And that introducesanotherdifferentiation.Frankfurter'stemple-priests
are in the centre in their own, Egyptian setting, while they are marginalsfor
those Roman lovers of the exotic who ask for their services and who may
73Esp.in De CivitateDei bk.X andthe new sermonfromtheMainzmanuscript,
aboven. 71.
74 M.Th. Fogen, Die Enteignungder Wahrsager.StudienzumkaiserlichenWissensmonopolin der Spatantike(Frankfurta. M. 1993).
75J.Z.Smith,"Trading
Places,"in M. MeyerandP. Mirecki,eds.,AncientMagic
and RitualPower (Leiden 1995) 18.
324
Panel Discussion
eitheridealizethem(as in Heliodorus'novel)or bur themas wizards.Or,

morebanal:centerandperiphery
arealwaysa matterof perspective,
theyare
notuniversalgivens.
(3) Mysterycults and secrecy: I would preferto leave the MithrasLiturgy
out of the discussionhere- I do not thinkthatthis texthas anythingto do

with the mysteriesof Mithras,andI am verytemptedby the suggestionof
S.Iles Johnstonthatit is a theurgicaltext:76manydetailsfit muchbetter.
As to Christianity,
it certainlyshareda series of traitswith the mystery
cults (as those scholarsat the turnof the centuryperceivedwho wished
to deriveChristianityfrommysterycults and by doing so do away with
the Christianclaimto revelation,in a neatstrategyof historicalrelativity).
But there are importantdifferencesas well: the insistenceon revelation
and the concomitantconvictionof possessingthe truthgave Christianity
a combativenesswhich was lacking in the mysterycults, and the same
exclusivnessled to the creationof social structuresthat were absentin
the mysterygroups:none of the many mysterycults developeda social
forearly
systemanda habitof livingcloselytogetherthatwerecharacteristic
- Moreintriguingis the problemof secrecy.I verymuchlike
Christianity.
the suggestionthatonehadto advertisea cursein orderto makeit effective,
andthereis evidenceto supportit bothin otherculturesandin Greece:Plato
talksaboutthe voodoodolls foundon the gravesof one's parentsor under
one'sdoorstep,whichcreatedfearof beingattackedby a defixio.77Butthis
is anisolatedinstance,andat leastthePGMinsistthatthecursetabletshave
to be hiddenaway lest they be foundand destroyed.And it is something
differentfromthe secrecysurrounding
the actionof the sorcererhimself:he
hasto keepsomepartsof his artsecret,andhe hasto staysecrethimself,even
whenadvertising
his action;secrecyis partof his prestige.
Coercion:
here
I only can thankMeyerfor the splendidexamplesof
(4)
in
Christian
It mightbe worth,though,to underscore
humility
magicians.78
thatcoercionbecomesan issue only in the light of a specifictheologya theologywhichunderstands
the divineas almightyandwell beyondthe
76In
Milieu,"in P.Schifer
"Risingto theOccasion:TheurgicAscentin its Cultural
andHansG. Kippnberg,
eds.,Envisioning
Magic(Leiden1997).181-183withn. 54.
77Plato,LawsXI 933AB.
78See,forcomparable
in MagicalandReligious
examplesin thePGM,my "Prayer
Ritual,"in C.A.FaraoneandD. Obbink,eds.,MagikaHiera(NewYorkandOxford
1991)188-213.
Panel Discussion
325
arrogantattack of humansorcerersor humancoercion. This might be given

in Platonism and in Christianity,but it is, as you know, not at all given in
paganismas such - the hero in Aristophanes'Birds is able to force the gods
to his help by deprivingthem from the nourishingsacrifices, and he is not
blamedfor thatbut praised.
Seminarfur Klassische Philologie
UniversitatBasel
Nadelberg6
CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland
FRITZ GRAF
BOOK REVIEWS
MATTHEW
DILLON,Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in Ancient Greece - London
and New York: Routledge 1997 (308 p.) ISBN 0-415-12775-0 (cloth)
?40.00.
Those who are interested in the phenomenon of pilgrimage in Greek
antiquity will find a large amount of material extensively presented in
Dillon's book. Since his definitionof the subjectis ratherbroad- including
all journeys for religious reasons to sites outside their own residence pilgrimage appears as an essential feature of Greek religion, being linked
to all great festivals of trans-localimportance(and also to some local ones),
to sportivecontests, and to oracles and healing cures. Focussing many cultic
events from this ratherunusual point of view, the author provides us with
many testimonieswho shed a new light on a widespreadreligious practice.
Besides private activities of persons going to partake in a religious
ceremony,the Greek world knew "theoroi",official delegations, in a twofold
sense: herolds, sent out by the polis organizingthe festival, who proclaimed
a sacred truce and invited other towns to the event, and "official pilgrims",
visiting the festivals, bringing sacrifices for the sake of their hometown.
We get solid information about both institutions and the organizational
requirementsaroundthemwhich enables us to ask some furtherquestions,for
example aboutthe importanceof the theoroi for culturaltransfer(concerning
the knowledge about local myths and rituals) and about the integrationof
"officialpilgrimage"in the initiatorysystem.
Of special interest,too, is the presentationof the materialconditionswhich
had to be fulfilled in orderto deal with the needs of pilgrims, both public and
private,andfor genderstudies - a chapteraboutfemale pilgrims.
The authoris less convincing in interpretingthe festivals - goals of the
journey - themselves, often following obsolete paradigms (p. ex. taking
myths about former human sacrifice literally). A student of the science of
religion would miss a discussion of general theories about pilgrimagesuch
as those advanced by anthropologicalstudies following the paradigm of
VictorTurner.But even if Dillon does not transgresshis scientific horizon,he
enablesinterdisciplinaryresearch,makingaccess to his areavery comfortable
for non-classicistreaders,providingthem with translationsandtranscriptions,
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Book reviews
327
so that every student interested in the subject finds a useful guide to the
informationavailableaboutGreekpilgrimage.
Firstenbergstr.49
D-78467 Konstanz
BAUDY
DOROTHEA
IAINGARDNER,TheKephalaiaof the Teacher.The Edited CopticManichaean Textsin Translationwith Commentary(Nag Hammadiand Manichaean Studies, 37) - Leiden:E.J. Brill 1995 (XLVI+ 307 p.) ISBN 90-0410248-5 (cloth) US$ 97.25.
KURTRUDOLPH,Gnosis und spdtantikeReligionsgeschichte.Gesammelte
Aufsatze (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, 42) - Leiden:
E.J. Brill 1996 (xII + 783 p., register) ISBN 90-04-10625-1 (cloth)
US$ 274.25.
PAULMIRECKIand JASONBEDUHN (Eds.), Emergingfrom Darkness.
Studies in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources (Nag Hammadi and
ManichaeanStudies,43) - Leiden:E.J. Brill, 1997 (294 p., illustrations)
ISBN 90-04-10760-6 (cloth) US$ 116.25.
The three volumes reviewed here are very differentin nature:one offers
the translationof a classical but ill-known text, the second represents an
impressive collection of articles by the dean of Gnostic, Mandean, and
Manichaeanstudies, while the third, edited by two young scholars, includes
papers read at a conference devoted to new discoveries of Manichaean
sources. The three volumes, however, published in close sequence in what
is the most importantseries devoted to Gnosticism and Manichaeism,reflect
ratherwell the presentstate of Manichaeanstudies.
This stateis, in a word, surprisinglyhealthy.Scholarlyfashionsdo not treat
Manichaeismwell. Manichaeismhas no lobby. It does not appearto be easily
amenableto feminist or otherpolitically or culturallycorrectinterpretations.
For those interested in titillating heresy, Gnosticism is more immediately
present, and the Nag Hammaditexts also offer possible variantsof Jesus's
ipsissima verba. Last not least, the state of the sources, and the multiplicity
of difficult or dead (or both) languages involved, would seem to make the
study of Manichaeisman exercise in scholarlymasochism (to be sure, not an
unknownphenomenon).
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Book reviews
327
so that every student interested in the subject finds a useful guide to the
informationavailableaboutGreekpilgrimage.
Firstenbergstr.49
D-78467 Konstanz
BAUDY
DOROTHEA
IAINGARDNER,TheKephalaiaof the Teacher.The Edited CopticManichaean Textsin Translationwith Commentary(Nag Hammadiand Manichaean Studies, 37) - Leiden:E.J. Brill 1995 (XLVI+ 307 p.) ISBN 90-0410248-5 (cloth) US$ 97.25.
KURTRUDOLPH,Gnosis und spdtantikeReligionsgeschichte.Gesammelte
Aufsatze (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, 42) - Leiden:
E.J. Brill 1996 (xII + 783 p., register) ISBN 90-04-10625-1 (cloth)
US$ 274.25.
PAULMIRECKIand JASONBEDUHN (Eds.), Emergingfrom Darkness.
Studies in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources (Nag Hammadi and
ManichaeanStudies,43) - Leiden:E.J. Brill, 1997 (294 p., illustrations)
ISBN 90-04-10760-6 (cloth) US$ 116.25.
The three volumes reviewed here are very differentin nature:one offers
the translationof a classical but ill-known text, the second represents an
impressive collection of articles by the dean of Gnostic, Mandean, and
Manichaeanstudies, while the third, edited by two young scholars, includes
papers read at a conference devoted to new discoveries of Manichaean
sources. The three volumes, however, published in close sequence in what
is the most importantseries devoted to Gnosticism and Manichaeism,reflect
ratherwell the presentstate of Manichaeanstudies.
This stateis, in a word, surprisinglyhealthy.Scholarlyfashionsdo not treat
Manichaeismwell. Manichaeismhas no lobby. It does not appearto be easily
amenableto feminist or otherpolitically or culturallycorrectinterpretations.
For those interested in titillating heresy, Gnosticism is more immediately
present, and the Nag Hammaditexts also offer possible variantsof Jesus's
ipsissima verba. Last not least, the state of the sources, and the multiplicity
of difficult or dead (or both) languages involved, would seem to make the
study of Manichaeisman exercise in scholarlymasochism (to be sure, not an
unknownphenomenon).
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
328
Book reviews
Since Isaac de Beausobreandhis Histoirede Manich6eet du Manicheisme

(1734-1739), Berlin has remained the undisputed center of Manichaean
studies. In the present century, this status is due mainly to the treasures
brought back from central Asian expeditions at the turn of the century.
Working for the last generationat the Berlin Academy of Sciences, in the
late D.D.R., Peter Zieme and WernerSundermann,in particular,were lonely
and silently busy on their pioneeringwork, on (respectively)the Turkicand
Iranian texts. In the rest of the world, most scholars seem to have been
content, besides Augustine, with commentingon the Cologne Mani Codex,
afterits two editors, havingmoved from Cologne to America,had edited and
translatedthe Greek text of the smallest codex from Antiquity. All in all,
few scholars seem to have kept any interest in Manichaeism,and a perusal
of dissertationtitles written in the United States in the last generation,for
instance, would easily lead to the conclusion that Manichaeanstudies were
as dead as the religion of light itself.
Obviously, and happily,this state of affairsseems to be changing. For the
historianof religion, indeed, Manichaeismis a phenomenonof no marginal
importance.It is only the distortiondue to the sheer size of New Testament
studies in traditionallyProtestantcountries that made Gnosis be studied,
since the Nag Hammadi discovery, in isolation from both Mandeaism and
Manichaeism.The unique importanceof KurtRudolph'scarreer,much of it
underthe cloak of Orientalistphilology at Karl-MarxUniversitit in Leipzig,
is revealed in the tripartitedivision of his volume of essays (another one,
on more general problems of the history of religions, was published a few
years ago by the same publisher):Gnostica, Mandaica,Manichaeica.True,
one can cut a cake in different ways, and there is a limit to the numberof
source languages a scholar,even gifted, even audacious,can be expected to
muster.But re-readingRudolph'spieces, one cannot but question the value
of much of what is written from the perspectiveof religious history on the
Nag Hammaditexts or on ChristianGnosticism, in the complete ignorance
of the Mandean and the Manichaeantexts. The new interest, perhaps even
the Renaissance, which can be discerned in Manichaeanstudies, however,
seems to have not yet reachedthe almost virgin shores of Mandeanterritory.
Very few scholars seem to devote any kind of interest to Mandean texts.
One wonders why. After all, the sources there are all in a (strange) brand
of Aramaic, a relatively accessible language. I daresay this should be the
Book reviews
329
next stationin the scholarlyReconquistaof the lost marshesof Near Eastern

dualistmovements.
During the last fifteen years, Iain Gardnerhas done much to encourage
Manichaeanstudies among younger scholars.In translatinginto English one
of the most importanttheological texts of early Manichaeism (which had
existed for a long time in Germantranslation),he has accomplished a good
deed, which should activatefresh research.He has added useful summaries
before each Kephalaion.The commentary,however, remains minimal. It is
to be hoped that this publicationwill encourage young scholars to work on
religio-historicalanalyses of this fundamentaltext, which remainsan almost
untappedsource of knowledgefor the early doctrinaldevelopments.
The eigth articles in the volume edited by Mirecki and BeDuhn deal with
the different fronts of Manichaeanresearch today. It includes an essay on
magic, one on the TebessaCodex, a Manichaeantreatiseon biblical exegesis,
a progressreport,by Iain Gardner,on the archeologicaldiscovery,a few years
ago, of Manichaeanremainsat Kellis, in Egypt, and a study by John Reeves
showing how to use Ephrem'swritings as a source on Manichaeism.As he
rightly points out, Ephrem'sSyriac is closer to Mani's own mother tongue
than all the other languages in which Manichaeantexts have reached us. In
theirintroductorychapter,the editorsanalyze the state of Manichaeanstudies
at the end of the century.I thinkthis state abodes well for the next millenium.
The HebrewUniversityof Jerusalem
Dept. of ComparativeReligion
Jerusalem,Israel91905
GUY G. STROUMSA
BEN H.L. VANGESSEL,Onomasticonof the Hittite Pantheon. Two Parts

(Handbook of Oriental Studies. The Near and Middle East, 33) Leiden, E.J. Brill 1998 (XXIII+ 1069 p.) ISBN 90-04-10809-2 (cloth)
US$ 256.00.
In 1947 E. Laroche published his "Recherche sur les noms des dieux
hittites"l covering 600 divine names or attributesfound in the bulk of texts
from the excavations in the Hittite capital HattuSadating roughly from the
16thto 13thcenturyBCE. Fifty years laterand due to ongoing excavationsin
1In:RevueHittite
etAsianiqueVII/46(1947)7-139.
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
330
Book reviews
Hattugaandto tabletsfoundoccasionallyoutsidethe capitalourknowledge

has increased.Ben van Gessel'sbook has to deal with about950 entries
thuscomingclose to the Hittiteself-representation
whichoften speaksof
the 'Thousandgods of the Hittites"(cf. pp. 978-979).About90%of the
namesare writtenin Hittitespellingwhile the rest follows Sumerographic
Eachentryfirstcomprisesall occurencesof
or Akkadographic
orthography.
thenamein thepresentlypublished- andto a minordegreeunpublished
use andthe
Hittitetexts,arranging
the referencesaccordingto grammatical
specificlinguisticcontext.A furthersub-sectionof each entrygives some
additionalinformationabouttemples,priests,cultic places or festivalsof
the god. It is withinthis sectionwherethe readergets a little impression
of a certaingod. Onlya limitednumberof the thousand
of the "character"
gods of the Hittitesare of generalimportance- they cover more than
five pages in the book, e.g.: Ala (p. 9-14), HaSammili(p. 98-103), Hepat
(p. 115-147),IShara(p. 196-202),Kattahha(p. 228-235),GulSa(p. 249255), Kumarbi(p. 256-262),Lilluri(p. 284-289),Mezzulla(p. 302-307),
Sarruma(p. 376-382),gauSga(p. 385-394),Telipinu(p. 466-478),TeSSub
(p. 482-508), L.A. (p. 613-620),I?KUR(p. 643-678),LAMMA(p. 681714),DINGIR.MAH
(p.718-729),U (p.749-835),UTU(p. 844-904),ISTAR
(p. 923-951),ZABABA(p. 961-969).- Othergods appearonly once in
ourtexts,e.g. the followingnine amongthe 37 namesbeginningwith"M"
(pp.294-320):Mammi,Manari,Manuzunna,
Mariya,Miyanna,Mimiyanta,
Minkisuri,MiSini,Muhili.
Afterthis overviewof the contentsof the bookI wantto emphasizeto

the readersof Numenthatvan Gessel'sonomasticonis not a dictionaryof
Hittitegods,theirmyths,cultsorhistorybutanextremelyusefulworkingand
researchtoolforeveryoneconcernedwith"Religionin HittiteAnatolia".2
On
a methodological
leveltwothingsareimportant.
1) Howdoes sucha hugepantheonform?It is on theone handsurelythe
resultof historicaldevelopments
of Hittitepoliticaldominationin Anatolia
andalso the resultof theologicaldevelopments
favoredby the culticstaffat
themaintemples.ButvanGessel'sbookmakesfurtherinvestigations
easier
2 This is the title of
my review of V. Haas, Geschichteder hethitischenReligion,
Leiden 1994 in Numen44 (1997) 74-90. - The study by Haas and van Gessel's book
togetherwill surely serve the next generationof historiansof Anatolian religions to
try to shape the history of these religions.
Book reviews
331
when askingfor the relevant"culticstrata"in Anatoliabecause he brieflycalls

to our attentionwhethera divine name occurs in a Hittite, Hurrian,Hattian,
Luwian or Palaic linguistic or culturalcontext. In recent years some studies
have alreadylaid their focus on the Hurrianor the Hattiancultic sphere3but
e.g. Luwianreligion properhadbeen neglectedto some degree,4thoughthere
are many Luwian sources.B. van Gessel is well awareof these studies partly
incorporatingtheir results in his book thus encouraging the growth of our
knowledge.
2) As mentionedabove the catalogingof many gods covers severalpages;
this facilates a betterreconstructionof the history of these gods in the future.
In the nineties several monographbooks on special gods had already been
published:5on LAMMA and othertutelarydeities; on IShara,a Syriandeity
having gained importancealso in the Hittite empire;on Hepat, the dominant
female western Hurriandeity; on aspects of the male and female Sungods,
written UTU; on a local weathergod,namely I?KUR of KuliwiSna.It may
be hoped that van Gessel's onomasticonwill stimulatefurthermonographic
researchof other majorgods, e.g. of Kumarbior Telipinufocussing also on
the mythological traditionsconnected with each of them or of other gods
like Sarruma,who is often closely connected with Hepat and Tesgub, and
Mezzulla, the daughterof the sungoddess of Arinna. Another importantbut due to the huge bulk of relevantmaterials- also difficult study could
concentrateon all the weathergods(I?KUR, U, Teggub)or on all the sungods
3 J.
Wiesderhattischen
zurRekonstruktion
Kultschicht,
Klinger,Untersuchungen
baden1996, 131-181underthe heading"Pantheonund Mythologieder Hattier";
M. Popko,Religionsof Asia Minor,Warzaw1995, 96-102 underthe heading"Becf. alsoPopko'sremarkson the Hurrianelements
of Anatolia";
liefs of the Hurrians
in "Hittite"
Anatoliain his reviewof Haas'Geschichtederhethitischen
Religion,in:
OLZ90 (1995)469-483,480-482.
4 Cf. alsoPopko,Religions91 note244:"Luwian
religionhasnotbeenstudiedyet
havebeenpublished
in a separatemonograph;
its mostlyquitesuperficial
descriptions
on themarginsof studieson Hittitereligionas a rule."
5 G. McMahon,TheHittiteState Cult of the TutelaryDeities, Chicago1991;
EinBeitragzuraltorientalischen
D. Prechel,Die GottinIThara.
Religionsgeschichte,
Firenze
dHebat.Une divinit6Syro-Anatolienne,
Minster 1996, M.-C. Trdmouille,
bei den Hethitern,
zu den Sonnengottheiten
1997; D. Yoshida,Untersuchungen
Firenze
von Kuliwigna,
Heidelberg1996;J. Glocker,Das Ritualfir den Wettergott
1997.
332
Book reviews
and sungoddessesincludingtheirlocal manifestations.Questionswhich come

to the mind of the historian of religions are the following ones: What do
Hittites think of ISKUR, U and Tessub? In what way can these names (or
casuallybetter:graphicrepresentations)be interchanged?Sometimeswithout
doubtthey can! What is the relationshipof these weathergodsto each other?
Who is the "mightier"one? And for whom? On a general level regardingall
the gods and their cults: How can we work out "theologies"of the Hittitesofficial and local ones?
For the moment we are far from answering such questions. But besides
editing texts and finding new texts as recently at Ortakoy and Ku?akli6
in Turkey which had not been at van Gessel's disposal but which - of
course - also include divine names van Gessel's book is one of the main
auxiliarymaterialsfor furtherresearch.Presently nobody can do without it
when being concerned with Anatolian religions in the second millennium
BCE because - as in a generalistic way during the founding period of
Religionswissenschaft- philological and historical research are still the
basic prerogativesfor studyingAnatolianreligions.
Institutfur Religionswissenschaft
Attemsgasse 8
A-8010 Graz
MANFREDHUTTER
CARL OLSON,They Indian Renouncer and Postmodem Poison: A Cross

CulturalEncounter- New York etc.: Peter Lang 1997 (XVI + 367 p.)
ISBN 3-8204-3022 (cloth) DM 100.00.
If one asks a scholar of Indian history and culture "What do Indian
ascetics and postmodernismhave in common?", she or he would in most
cases answer:"nothing!"or "I don't know".Carl Olson's book is concerned
with exactly this question, and his main point is that the Indian "renouncer
6The editionof texts found at Ku?akhin 1994 and 1995 has been released
with van Gessel's onomasticon:G. Wilhelm,Ku,akli-Sarissa
1/1.
simultaneously
aus GebaudeA, Rahden/Westfalen
1997. The texts fromOrtakoy
Keilschrifttexte
foundsince 1990 are still waitingfor publication;some preliminary
informations
havebeen givenby A. Siiel,"Ortakoy.
EinehethitischeStadtmit hethitischen
und
in: H. Ottenet al. (eds.), Hittiteand Other
hurritischen
Tontafelentdeckungen,"
AnatolianandNearEasternStudiesin Honourof SedatAlp,Ankara1992,487-491.
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Book reviews
333
and the postmodernist share liminality because both are marginal beings
in comparison to individuals in the established social structure"(p. 299).
O. describes the Indian renounceras a figure that transformeshimself and
assumes variousroles in his searchfor liberation.He analyzes the renouncer
from a number of perspectives and thus avoids the reductionism which
simplifies a complex characterso importantfor the history of India.
After the Introduction(ch. 1), which covers the origins of asceticism,
the renouncer'sway of life and the types of renouncers,follow six chapters
on fascinating and importanttopics related to the analysis of renunciation:
"The face of the stranger and society" (ch. 2), "The heroic narrativeof
the renouncer"(ch. 3), "The renouncerand violence" (ch. 4), "Masochism
and self-sacrifice" (ch. 5), "Eroticism,power, and androgyny"(ch. 6), and
"Narcissisticwound" (ch. 7). In a concluding chapter ("The renouncerand
culture"),0. tries to demonstrateagain that the type of the Indianrenouncer
is essential for transformativeprocesses in culture. The book contains an
extensive, but not comprehensive (see below) bibliography as well as an
index.
The comparison of the Indian renouncer with postmodernistsmight or
might not enlighten the reader. Much depends on whether one accepts
that intellectual bias or fashion. (Are we not already in a period of postpostmodernism?)But much depends also on his acceptance of phrases such
as "Likethe Indianrenouncer,some postmodernistsconceive of themselves
following a wanderinglife-style" (p. 18) or "Withits emphasis on interrelatedness, flux, cyclic time, and impermanence,the world of [MarkC.] Taylor shares a numberof featureswith Nikaya Buddhism"(p. 23). Analogies
on the surface do not necessarily correspondwith similarities or identities
on deeper levels. Moreover, O. himself seems to be sceptical about postmodernistapproacheswhen he critizes RonaldInden'sbook ImaginingIndia
(Oxford 1990): "A majorproblemwith Inden's work is that his postmodern
approachand deconstructivemethod are as foreign to Indian culture as the
false portraitof the modem Indologist"(p. 203).
Several empirical short-comingscount more seriously. Thus, O. almost
neglects the type of Indian renouncer that is organized in sects (pantha,
samgha etc.) though the vast majorityhave lived and still do live in such
communities while the ascetic living in solitude is a rare exemption. Since
0. tends to prefer an idealized view of Indian asceticism on the basis of
334
Book reviews
normativeSanskritsources, he neglects empirical field-work and the social

context in which ascetics live.
In some regards,0. did not considermajorpublicationswhich are directly
related to his subject. Thus, concerning the origin of Indian renunciation:
J. Bronkhorst(TheTwoSources of IndianAsceticism. Bern 1993), concerning
theories of narcissism:J.M. Masson (The Oceanic Feeling: The Origins of
Religious Sentimentin Ancient India. Dordrecht,Boston 1980), or S. Kakar
(The Inner World:A Psycho-analytic Study of Childhood and Society in
India. Delhi 1978). Regardingthe otherwise interesting and comparatively
new aspect of "strangerand society", the importantIndianterm for stranger,
mleccha,is not discussed,nor the figureof the tricksteras anothercharacterof
living liminality.Max Weber'sseminalstudy on innerworldyand outerwordly
aceticism is not even mentioned.
The book containsa numberof technicalinsufficiencies.Diacriticalmarks
are not used, and yet is the spelling of Sanskritterms often incorrect:e.g.,
p. 14: agnihorta (for agnihotra) p. 19: kutcakafor (kuticaka),which I could
not verify in the Poona edition of the Mahabharata(13.141.89) given by O.,
p. 85: Anuasana Parvan for Anus'sana Parvan etc. It is - in an age of
computerization- difficult to understandO.'s justification for the absence
of diacritical marks: "Due to the incompatibility of the Sanskrit program
that I used with my computer,I have reluctantlyhad to dispense with proper
transliterationand diacriticalmarks,althoughI have renderedr as ri. I have
also renderedthe Sanskritconsonantss and s as sh" (sic!, p. xvi f.). If this was
the problem,the publishershould have helped the author.Moreover,the form
of abbreviatingand quoting is inconsistent,the listing of full bibliographical
databoth in endnotesand in the bibliographyis redundant.
In short,I again quote O.: "Scholarsin the field of the history of religions
or Indology will not find anythingespecially new in this book because I did
not attempt to break open new and unexplored areas of Indian religion. I
rathertried to take availablematerialand reworkit by asking new questions
about the life of the renouncerand framing the answers in a contemporary
manner"(p. xv).
UniversitAtHeidelberg
Klassische Indologie
Im NeuenheimerFeld 330
D-69120 Heidelberg
AXELMICHAELS
Book reviews
335
JAMIE HUBBARDand PAULL. SWANSON(Eds.), Pruning the Bodhi Tree.

The Storm over Critical Buddhism - Honolulu: University of Hawai'i
Press 1997 (xxvIII + 515) ISBN 0-8248-1908-X (cloth) $45.00; ISBN

0-8248-1949-7 (paper)$22.95.
Plus que Qachangeplus c'est la meme chose. What is "true"Christianity
(or Judaism or Islam etc.)? The Holy Inquisition as well as Martin Luther
held strongviews on this kind of question.St. Thomaswas sure thatAristotle
helped him to define true Christianitymuch as the contemporaryLatin
American"Liberation"theologiansacknowledgetheirindebtednessto Marx.
Later generations of scholars did not use the adjective "true"but sought
das Wesenof the religion they were dealing with or even Das Wesender
Religion as such. Historiansof religion were genuinelyexercisedby the same
problem, though for them it was of a definitional rather than theological
nature.Whilst Lourdes, Fatima and Guadeloupe are evidently Christianin
a sense in which also Lutheransand Methodists presumablyare, does this
also apply to Jehovah'switnesses, Mormonsor the Rev. Moon's Unification
Church?With regard to Buddhism (allowing - pace W. Cantwell Smith
- this kind of noun for the sake of convenience) the question was already
raised by 19th cent. western scholarship in connection with Mahayana v.
Theravada.The legitimacy of the former was denied at the time by what
might be called the Pali Text Society Buddhismwith the same vehemence as
it is today by its Ceylonese "BuddhistPublicationSociety" version. Cf. e.g.,
T.W. Rhys Davids' "corruptBuddhism","sickly imaginations","debasing
belief", and today the Ven. BhikkuBodhi's cutting polemics against all nonduality thought including, of course, Zen. If the latter's writings are not
anthologized or even taken note of in the volume under review, focussed
as it is not on Mahayana in general but more specifically on Japanese
Buddhism,it is because they emanatefrom a Theravadasource. The problem
of autodesignationversus allo-designationand of the criteriathat are (or may
be) invoked is discussed by many authorstoday as if they were innovative
(for otherwise they wouldn't be "post-moder" enough). It may therefore
be apt to quote de la Vallee Poussin (1898): "On regarde d'habitude le
Tantrismeidolatre et superstitieuxcomme n'6tant plus du Bouddhisme;on
oublie que le Bouddhisme n'est pas separable des bouddhistes et [qu'ils]
6taient volontiers idolftres, superstitieuxou m6taphysiciens".The member
groups of the "WorldFederationof Buddhists"have practicallynothing in
common but the venerationof (the word) Buddha.For the scholars who are
NUMEN,Vol.46
336
Book reviews
the subject of the book underreview it is not so much the "Buddha"as the
doctrineof pratityasamutpadaon which "trueBuddhism"depends.
But the context and terms of reference of this kind of debate have shifted
considerablyin the centurysince de la Vallee Poussin. Hence the outstanding
importanceof this volume for western readers also beyond the confines of
Buddhology. The storm over what is called (or rathercalls itself) "Critical
Buddhism"is an internal storm not in a tea-cup but in a Mahayanabasin,
yet it goes far beyond it. In this respect it is also radicallydifferentfrom e.g.
BernardFaure'sCulturalCritiqueof Zen. The main protagonists,Professors
Hakamayaand Matsumoto,are not only top philological textualist scholars
who have few equals but committed Buddhists and (in their view precisely
because of this) also social activists. The debateon hongaku shiso (Original
viz. OriginaryEnlightenment),BuddhaNatureand relatedissues has already
been briefly brought to the attentionof readersof NUMEN (vol. 39, 1992,
p. 129) and been presented at greater length by one of the editors of the
volume underreview in NUMENvol. 40, 1993 (see also R. King in NUMEN
vol. 42, 1995) and need not, therefore,be rehearsedonce more.
In the West it was the fashion to hold the Bible and the dominion
over the earth which it confers on man responsible for all environmental
mayhem. Apologists argued that what actually happens in history may be
a consequence of doctrinal positions (or their misinterpretation),though
not a logical and necessary one. For Hakamaya, Matsumoto and their
Mahayanist fellow critics, the currently accepted doctrinal traditions are
in fact a betrayal of essential Buddhist teaching which demands critical
discriminationboth metaphysical and ethical, and concomitant respect for
language. The doctrine of non-discriminationin fact promoted, under the
guise of inherentenlightenmentandBuddha-nature,social discriminationand
worse. The supremeJapanesevalue of wa is meant to avoid confrontations.
But truthand ethics are confrontational.Some aspects of this social criticism
have already been highlighted by an earlier volume in this series, Rude
Awakening,1995, of which all thatneed be saidhere is thatonly Zen-fanswho
had been fast asleep also had to be awakenedand rudely shocked into seeing
the obvious. After all, the spiritualWahlverwandschaftof the great gurusof
the "Kyoto School" admiredso much in the west on the one hand, and the
Hitlerite Zen-archerHerrigel or the philosopher Heidegger philosophizing
in his brown Nazi uniform is no surpriseto readersof e.g. "the (in)famous
Chuokoron'Round Table"' (B. Faure, The Rhetoric of Immediacy, 1991,
Book reviews
337
p. 21 n. 13). Fortunatelythe Hubbard/Swansonvolume, whilst paying due

attentionto what might be called the Weberianaspect of the discussion i.e.,
the assumptionthat apparentlyabstrusedoctrinalpositions influence social
realities, concentrates on the more strictly buddhological i.e. philological
controversies.Regrettablythe main protagonistsin the debate, like ever so
many others, badly misunderstand,in their enthusiasmfor engagement and
social activism,the meaningof Weber'scall for value-freeobjectivity.
The translationsof the most importanttexts of the main critics would
by themselves justify this anthology. As a donum superadditumwe are
also given the editors' summaries (Hubbard'sintroductionand ch. 4, and
Swanson'sch. 1) as well as samplesof the criticalexaminationof the "critical
Bulddhism"by highly competent western scholars, though some of these
contributionsare even more "sectarian"(JapaneseBuddhistversion) thanthe
positions they addresse.g., Sallie King's declaration,in a very scholarlybut
basically internalsectarianchapter,that the doctrine of BuddhaNature was
"impeccablyBuddhist".A good example of the value of these contributions
is Ruben Habito's analysis of two 13th century texts exemplifying the
complexities of the auxiliary though not uni-causativerole played by the
docrineof hongakushiso in the evolution of Japan's"EthnocentricTurn"or let us simply call it the chauvinismculminatingin the Kokutaino hongi of
1937.
With its 400 pp. of text and 80 pp. of dense notes this is a book not to be
summarizedbut to be highly recommended- and carefullyread.
The HebrewUniversityof Jerusalem
Dept. of ComparativeReligion
Jerusalem,Israel91904
R.J. ZwI WERBLOWSKY
V.Y. MUDIMBE, Talesof Faith. Religion as Political Performancein Central

Africa - London and Atlantic Highlands,N.J.: Athlone Press 1997 (xiv
+ 231 p.) ISBN 0-485-17418-9 (hb.) ?25.95.
MudimbeinvestigatesAfricanreligious praxis and its nexus to their identity. The book, which comprises four chapterswith a preface and epilogue,
demonstrates"how representationsof religious systems bind, fuse or oppose
each other in synthetic discourses which, at a different level, might transmute into metadiscourses".It explores the histories of Christianity(and IsBrillNV,Leiden(1999)
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
338
Book reviews
in a new socioculturalmilieu(Central
lam) andtheirlevels of adaptability
describedas a politicaldramatizais
Africa).Religion phenomenologically
Mudimbeperceivesreligion
theatres.
in
theoretical
and
tion
anthropological
as "aperformance,
namely,as an acting,an abstractor concretepracticeof
somethingthatseemsto go beyondhumancontrol".He supplerepresenting
mentshis discourseon "transcultural
enterprisesof conversion,adaptation
of Christianity"
withLevy-Bruhl's
andinculturation
highlyspatializedrepresentationsof effectsfromeverydaylife.
His criticalanalysislucidlyexposesthe evolutionaryparadigmsunder
and Levyworks (Evans-Pritchard
which many classicalanthropological
Bruhl)were subsumed.He criticizesthe claim which maintainsa radical
tensionandpolarityorthatwhichcreatesa physicalvoidbetween'paganism',
a scienceof
mythicalthoughtandoralityon the one hand,andChristianity,
the abstractandhistoricityon the other.Thereis no existinghumansociety
withouthistoryandhistoricity.
Everyculture,individualandlanguageshould
be spokenof, analyzed,and understoodfromthe rationalityof theirown
norms,internalrules,andwithinthe logic of theirown systems.Notingas
he warnsof
real the existingstrainsbetweencolonialismandChristianity,
of this tensionto the point
the dangerof underestimation
or overestimation
of negatingthe 'isomorphicintention'of bothcolonialismandmissionary
His concludingreflectionis a personalmeditationon thebeing
Christianity.
of a specificmetissagebetweenreligiousformsof experiences.Thisbookis
of Africanandintercultural
a majorresourcein the reconstruction
history.
find this book very usefulin their
Historiansof religionwill particularly
of thereligioushistoryandexperienceof Africans.
understanding
Religionswissenschaft
AFE ADOGAME
Universitat
Bayreuth
3
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz
D-95440Bayreuth
HANS WALDENFELS,
Gottes Wortin der Fremde. Theologische Versuche
II. Series: Begegnung, 5 - Bonn: VerlagNorbertM. Borengasser1997
(525 p.) ISBN 3-923946-30-9 (cloth) DM 65.00.
After having submittedthe first volume of his "theological approaches"
titled "Begegnungder Religionen"in 1990, the theologian and philosopher
NUMEN, Vol. 46
Book reviews
339
of religion, H. Waldenfels from Bonn, presented the follow-up in 1997,

also within the frameworkof "contextual-dialogicalstudies on theology of
cultures and religions" called "Gottes Wort in der Fremde". This second
volume is primarily a collection of articles already published in various
magazines and compilations. Out of 27 articles, eight have not yet been
published.
The chapters of the book have been skilfully assigned to four subjects
underthe subtitles:"Sprachenals Briickenin die Fremde",p. 7-164; "Deruns
fremdeBuddhismus",p. 167-331; "SpirituelleKreuzungen",p. 335-415; and
"China- der Bewihrungsfall",p. 419-508. These are also the main topics
of this book.
The theological discussion of Buddhism- which is not confined to the
chapter on Buddhism but constantly comes up in other contexts - can
be regardedas the centre of the book. Waldenfels argues on a contextualwhich seeks to understandunfamiliar
dialogical "Begegnungshermeneutik"
of
In various contexts, Waldenfels
their
own
view.
from
positions
point
defines his viewpoint as opposed to the "pluralistictheology of religions".
He makes it perfectly clear that his approachto the question of the truthof
religion is derived from a Christianstandpoint.The "word of God" is not
subjectedto contextualizationand qualification.
The theologian from Bonn is certainly aware of the problematiccultural
dependenceof the "imagesof God".Therefore,he raises importantquestions
consideringthe scope of the "kulturbedingtenSchalenbereichs"(p. 107) and
the identity of Christianity.At the same time he pleads not to push the
"contextualization"of the Christiantext and the Christiantruthtoo far.
"Die Beschiftigung mit den Kontexten und den kulturellenUmfelder
verdrangtnicht nur vielfach die Beschaftigung mit dem Text. Der Text
selbst wird vielmehr inzwischen nicht selten derartigkontextualisiertbzw.
in seine eigenen Kontextehineinrelativiertund aufgelost, daBsein Gehaltals
Botschaftvon einer neuen, heilbringendenRealitit unter-und verlorengeht"
(p. 108).
Yet, religious studies with a hermeneuticapproach- pronouncingitself
in accordancewith Waldenfelsagainstthe absorptionof religion into culture
and being faced with today's plurality of images of man and god - will
generallyhave to considerthe possibility of "God'sWord"as an indisputable
starting-point.
340
Book reviews
differenceexistsbetweenthehermeneutics
In my opinion,a fundamental
of theology and of religiousstudies.Religious studies in the sense of
haveto do withouttheologicalguidelinesandhave
"Religionswissenschaft"
to lookatdifferentreligionswithoutprejudicealthoughthereis no suchthing
ascompleteobjectivity.
However,religiousstudiescannotreferto God'sword
notleastbecauseof epistemological
reasons.
Nevertheless,Waldenfels'theologicalapproachesarehighlyinteresting,
evenforreligiousstudiesconcernedwithintercultural
questions.His striking
are
of
the
time
worth
One
examanalysis
especially
mentioning. outstanding
is
the
vor
der
Jahrhundertwende"
Waldenfels
ple
"Zeitansage
(p. 7-21).Here,
the authorErnstJinger,to supportthe
actuallyrefersto a non-theologian,
thesisthatmandoesnothavethelastword.Againstthe
anti-anthropocentric
of Jiinger'sprognosis,alsothe Christianmay"quietly"speakof
background
Godagain.ThisexampleprovesthatWaldenfels'approach
is in keepingwith
the times,seekinga dialoguewith differenttrendsin differentculturesand
is admirableandhis new
disciplines.In this respect,his open-mindedness
bookseemsto me a shiningexampleof religiousstudies(alsoin thesenseof
withits fingeronthepulseof time.
"Religionswissenschaft")
Universitit Bonn
Seminar
Religionswissenschaftliches
Adenauerallee
4-6
D-53113Bonn
WOLFGANG
GANTKE
Periodicals
MonumentaNipponica,53 (1998), 3,4.
HISTORYOFRELIGIONS
38 (1998), 1
ISLAM AND LAW
EbrahimMoosa, Allegory of the Rule (Hukm):Law as Simulacrumin
Islam?
BrinkleyMessick,WrittenIdentities:Legal Subjectsin an Islamic State
John R. Bowen, Qur'an,Justice, Gender:InternalDebates in Indonesian
Islamic Jurisprudence
Book Reviews
HISTORYOFRELIGIONS
38 (1998), 2
Friedland
and
Richard
Hecht, The Bodies of Nations: A ComparRoger
ative Study of Religious Violence in Jerusalemand Ayodhya
Gold, Ann Grodzins,Grainsof Truth:Shifting Hierarchiesof Food and
Gracein ThreeRajasthaniTales
David Gordon White, Transformationsin the Art of Love: Kamakala
Practicesin HinduTantricand KaulaTraditions
Book Reviews
Books
(Listingin this section does not precludesubsequentreviewing)
Hutter, Manfred (Ed.), Die Rolle des Weiblichen in der indischen und
buddhistischenKulturgeschichte.Akten des religionswissenschaftlichen
Symposiums "Frauund G6ttin" in Graz (15.-16. Juni 1997) - Graz,
Leykam, 1998, 222 p., ISBN 3-7011-0020-9 (pbk.).
Ismail Raji al-Faruqi,Islam and Other Faiths, ed. by Ataullah Siddiqui Markfield,Leicestershire,The Islamic Foundationand The International
NUMEN,Vol.46
342
Institute of Islamic Thought, 1998/1419, 370 p., ISBN 0 86037-276-6

(pbk.).
Fishbane, Michael, The Exegetical Imagination. On Jewish Thought and
Theology - Cambridge,MA/ London, HarvardUniversityPress, 1998,
235 p., ?24.95, ISBN 0-674-27461-X (hbk.);?11.95, ISBN 0-674-274628 (pbk.).
Bennett,Clinton,In Searchof Muhammad- London andNew York,Cassell,
1998, 276 p., US $ 69.95, ISBN 0-304-33700-5 (hb.);US $ 19.95 ISBN
0-304-70401-6 (pbk.).
Les juifs pr6sentdsaux chretiens. Textes de Leon de Modnneet de Richard
Simon. ldition, presentationet notes par Jacques Le Brun et Guy G.
Stroumsa- Paris,Les Belles Lettres, 1998, 289 p., F 135, ISBN 2-25133934-5 (pb.).
Frankfurter,David (Ed.), Pilgrimageand Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt.
Series: Religions in the Graeco-RomanWorld, 134 - Leiden, New York,
Koln, E. J. Brill, 1998,516 p., 7 plates, US$ 162.50, ISBN 90-04-11127-1
(cloth).
Whicher, Ian, The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana. A Reconsiderationof
Classical Yoga. SUNY Series in Religious Studies - Albany,NY, State
Universityof New YorkPress, 1998,426 p., $ 27.95, ISBN 0-7914-38163 (pbk.).
Breslauer,Daniel S. (Ed.), The Seductiveness of Jewish Myth. Challenge or
Response? SUNY Series in Judaica- Albany, NY, State University of
New YorkPress, 1997,317 p., ISBN 0-7914-3602-0 (pbk.).
Sharma, Arvind und Katherine K. Young (Eds.), Feminism and World
Religions - Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, 1999,
333 p., $ 24.95, ISBN 0-7914-4024-9 (pbk.).
Leggett, Trevor, The Spirit of Budo. Old Traditions for Present-dayLife
- London and New York, Kegan Paul InternationalLtd, 1999, 123 p.,
?25.00, ISBN 0-7103-0562-1 (cloth).
Blackman, AylwardM., Gods, Priests and Men. Studies in the Religion of
PharaonicEgypt by AylwardM. Blackward.Compiled and edited with
an introductionby Alan B. Lloyd - London and New York,KeganPaul
InternationalLtd, 1998, 451 p., ?85.00, ISBN 0-7103-0412-9 (cloth).
Publicationsreceived
343
Wiebe, Donald, The Politics of Religious Studies. The ContinuingConflict

with Theology in the Academy - New York, St. Martin'sPress, 1999,
332 p., $ 49.95, ISBN 0-312-17696-1 (cloth).
Steenbrink,Karel, Adam Redivivus.Muslim elaborationsof the Adam saga
with special referenceto the Indonesianliterarytraditions- Zoetermeer,
Meinema, 1998,196 p., Euro 19.29, ISBN 90-211-7019-1 (pbk.).
Spear, Thomas and Isaria N. Kimambo (Eds), East African Expressions of
Christianity- Oxford, James CurreyPublishers, 1999, 340 p., ?40.00,
ISBN 0-85255-757-4 (cloth);?14.95, ISBN 0-85255-758-2 (paper).
Bailey, Edward, Implicit Religion: An Introduction- London, Middlesex
UniversityPress, 1998, 113 p., ?9.50, ISBN 1-898253-24-2 (paper).
ter Haar,Gerrie (Ed.), Strangersand Sojourners.Religious Communitiesin
the Diaspora- Leuven,Peeters, 1998,244 p., BEF 1600, ISBN 90-4290663-4 (pbk.).
Sfar,Mondher,Le Coran,la Bible et l'Orient ancien - Paris,MondherSfar,
1998,447 p., FF 129, ISBN 2-9511936-1-0 (pbk.).
Bronkhorst,Johannes, The Two Sources of Indian Asceticism - Delhi,
Motilal BanarsidassPublishers, 1998, 113 p., Rs. 195, ISBN 81-2081551-3 (cloth).
Hooker, Roger Hardham,The Quest of Ajneya. A Christian Theological
Appraisalof the Searchfor Meaningin his ThreeHindi Novels. Foreword
by HarishTrivedi- Delhi, Motilal BanarsidassPublishers,1998,262 p.,
Rs. 350, ISBN 81-208-1570-x (cloth).
Yoshimizu,Kiyotaka,Der 'Organismus'des urheberlosenVeda. Eine Studie
der Niyoga-Lehre Prabhikaras mit ausgewahlten Ubersetzungen der
Brhatl.Publicationsof the De Nobili ResearchLibrary,vol. 25 - Wien,
SammlungDe Nobili, Institutfur Indologie der UniversitaitWien, 1997,
430 p., ISBN 3-900-271-30-5 (paper).
Briick, Michael von, Buddhismus. Grundlagen- Geschichte - Praxis.
Gitersloher Taschenbicher,723 - Gitersloh, GiitersloherVerlagshaus,
1998, 352 p., DM 34.00, ISBN 3-579-00723-8 (paper).
344
Sano,Yoko,TheCatThatLiveda MillionTimes.Translated
by JudithCarol
L.
Huffman.WithanIntroduction
James
Huffman
Honolulu:Uniby
of
Hawai'i
33
ISBN
0-8248-2098-3
Press,1977, p.,
(hardcover).
versity
furTheologieund
Religionin GeschichteundGegenwart.Handworterbuch
neu
bearbeitete
Vierte,v6llig
Religionswissenschaft.
Auflage,herausgegebenvonHansDieterBetz,Don S. Browning,BemdJanowski,EberhardJiingel,Band 1: A-B - Tibingen,MohrSiebeck,1998, 1936p.,
DM 348.00,ISBN3-16-146941-0(cloth).
WACH, RELIGION, AND "THE EMANCIPATION OF ART"

ERIC J. ZIOLKOWSKI
Summary
Despite the abundanceof lore aboutJoachimWach'slifelong passion for literature,
music, and other arts, the pertinenceof his aesthetic reflections to his formationas
historianof religions is often ignored or under-appreciated.Yet his involvementwith
the Kreis surroundingthe poet Stefan George was perhaps one of the chief early
factors that led Wach to liken the study of the history of religions to contemplation
of literatureand the arts. It is even possible that ideas of the literary historian
FriedrichGundolfaboutthe relationshipbetweenthe artistandthe artist'sworkhelped
stimulateWach's early thinking about the relationshipbetween religious experience
and the theoretical,practical,and institutionalexpressionsof thatexperience. Indeed,
throughouthis own scholarlywritingsWachdisplays an irrepressibletendencytoward
combining religionswissenschaflichtheorizing with aesthetic reflection, and toward
encompassingliterary,musical, and otherartisticexamples within the scope of datato
be consideredby scholarsof religion.
This article analyzes the development of that tendency in Wach's scholarship,
paying special attentionfinally to his notion of the moder Western"emancipation
of art"from religious influence.This notion, while reflectinga general optimism that
characterizeshis view of the diversifying, developmentalcourse of numerousother
religious and culturalphenomenaover time, may ultimatelybe too strongor reductive
for describingwhat has actuallyoccurredover the past severalcenturiesin the relation
between artisticand religious phenomena.
Loverof Arts, Person of Paideia

In recounting the life and work of his late mentor, Joseph Kitagawa once alludedto JoachimWach'shaving "mentionedthe thrilling
experience of being taken, when he was eleven years old, to a great
Mendelssohncelebrationin Leipzig. He was seated next to his grandmother, a daughterof Felix Mendelssohn, in a place of honor, and
listened to a performanceof the oratorio,Elijah."Having impressed
upon Wach an awareness of his "noble heritage,... most notably
that of the philosopher,Moses Mendelssohn,and the musician, Felix
NUMEN, Vol. 46
346
E.J. Ziolkowski
Mendelssohn Bartholdy," this occasion illustrates Wach's cultivated

immersion from an early age in music, literature, and art. During his
years as a student at the University of Leipzig majoring in the history of religions and minoring in philosophy of religion and "Oriental"
studies, Wach counted among his friends young poets, dancers, and
musicians, not to mention physicians and scientists.
ManfredHausmann,the poet, read his first play in the home of Wach's parents.
KurtThomas,conductorof the St. ThomasChoirSchool in Leipzig, often played
his compositions in Wach'shouse.... Wachand his talentedfriendsonce played
Hofmannsthal'sDer Torundder Todon the terraceof his parents'Dresdenhome.
On another occasion, when they read Goethe's Tasso, Wach's sister... recalls
that she took the role of Leonore d'Este and Wach that of the Herzog of Ferrera.
CSR,xx)
(Kitagawa,"Introduction,"
After receiving his doctorate at Leipzig in 1922, Wach spent two

years studying at the University of Heidelberg, where he attended
lectures by the distinguished literary historian Friedrich Gundolf, by
whom he was lastingly influenced.
1 JosephM. Kitagawa,Introductionto JoachimWach, Understandingand Believing: Essays by Joachim Wach(New York:Harperand Row, 1968), vii (hereafterUB).
Except where otherwise noted, I have drawn my informationon Wach's life and career mainly from this Introduction,togetherwith a numberof otherportraitsby Kitagawa, including his Gibt es ein Verstehenfremder Religionen? Mit einer Biographie
Joachim Wachsund einer vollstindigen Bibliographie seiner Werke,Joachim-Wach
Vorlesungen,I, der Theologischen Fakultit der Philipps-UniversitatMarburg/Lahn,
ed. Ernst Benz (Leiden: Brill, 1963), 1-5; his "Introduction:Life and Thought of
Joachim Wach,"in Joachim Wach, The ComparativeStudy of Religions, ed. Joseph
M. Kitagawa(New York:ColumbiaUniv. Press, 1958), xiii-xlviii (hereafterCSR);and
his "Wach,Joachim,"in Encyclopedia of Religion, 16 vols., ed. Mircea Eliade (New
York:Macmillan, 1987), 15:311-13;repr.as "JoachimWach"in Kitagawa'sTheHistory of Religions: UnderstandingHuman Experience(Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1987),
271-74 (hereafterHRUHE).I have also drawninformationfrom RainerFlasche, Die
ReligionswissenschaftJoachimWachs(Berlin:Walterde Gruyter,1978); andthe same
author's "JoachimWach (1898-1955)," in Klassiker der Religionswissenschaftvon
Friedrich Schleiermacherbis Mircea Eliade, ed. Axel Michaels (Darmstadt:WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft, 1997), 290-302.
Wach,Religion, and "TheEmancipationof Art"
347
It was during those Heidelberg years that Wach came under the
sway of the charismaticpoet StefanGeorge (1868-1933), who, with his
famous circle of disciples (including Gundolf, one of Wach's closest
links to the group2),aspiredto create a new world and cultureof pure,
beautiful art. The most significant aesthetic commitmentof his life,
Wach'sadherenceto the legacy of the George-Kreisis thoughtto have
largelysuppliedhim with the problemand mission of "understanding"
(Verstehen)and to have stampedhis whole personality- not only his
thinkingand, in the earlyyears, his religiosity,but also his appearance,
demeanor,even his unmarriedstate (which was consistent with the
circle's principles).3
Wach's allegiance to the George-Kreiscan be viewed as highly
ironic given George's later reputationas a prophet of Nazism,4 as
well as the now perceived kinship between the Kreis's "aesthetic
fundamentalism"and other currents in German culture that helped
make possible the ThirdReich.5 In fact, like Wach, Joseph Goebbels
had studied George under Gundolf at Heidelbergin 1920, where the
futureNazi propagandaministerreceived his doctoratethe next year,
a year before Wach arrivedthere. Gundolf, whose actual name was
Gundelfingerand who happened to be Jewish, was repelled by the
young Goebbels; althoughit was from Gundolfthat Goebbels got the
2 See
Flasche, ReligionswissenschaftJoachim Wachs,19 n. 24; Flasche, "Joachim

Wach"290.
3 See Flasche,
ReligionswissenschaftJoachim Wachs,14. Cf. Kitagawa,Introduction to UB, x.
4
See, e.g., J. Gaudefroy-Domombynes,"StefanGeorge, annonciateurdu nouveau
Reich,"Mercurede France 144 (January1934): 31-49; PeterViereck,"StefanGeorge,
Perilous Prophet,"Antioch Review 9 (1949): 111-16; Elisabeth Gundolf, "Stefan
George und der Nationalsozialismus,"in her Stefan George (Amsterdam:Castrum
PeregriniPresse, 1965), 52-76. Of course this reputationof George'sbecameknown to
Wach,who cites the firstof these articlesin his own undated,posthumouslypublished
paper, "Stefan George (1863-1933): Poet and Priest of Modem Paganism,"in UB,
11-29; see 23 n. 22.
5 See Stefan Breuer, Asthetischer Fundamentalismus:
Stefan George und der
deutscheAntimoderismus (Darmstadt:WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft, 1995).
348
E.J. Ziolkowski
the offensehe took at not beingaccepted

subjectfor his dissertation,
intothe eminentprofessor'sinnercircleleft a lastingwound,andmay
have figuredin the growthof his lateranti-semitism.6
Nonetheless,
himself
a
frustrated
remained
such
an ecstatic
Goebbels,
novelist,
fan of Georgethatin 1933,as the newly-appointed
Nazi propaganda
to headthe ThirdReich's
minister,he imploredhim (unsuccessfully)
Dichter-Akademie.7
Onecan only wonderhow this episodewas viewedby Wachback
in Leipzig,wherehe had taughtsince 1924. In April 1935, a year
anda monthbeforethe local NationalSocialistauthoritiesissuedan
orderto destroythe statueof Wach'sancestor,"thehundredpercent
Jew Mendelssohn-Bartholdie
[sic]," which had stood since 1892 in
frontof the LeipzigGewandhaus
butwhichnow allegedly"arouse[d]
Wach'sprofessorialappointment
at Leipzigwas
publicindignation,"8
terminatedby the governmentof SaxonyunderNazi pressure.Like
thatevent,his subsequentcareeris well known:he fledto the United
States,wherehe taughtatBrownUniversityfrom1935to 1945,andat
the Universityof ChicagoDivinitySchoolfrom1945to his deathten
yearslater.
In Kitagawa'sview,Wach'swar-timeseparationfromhis mother,
sister,andbrother,all of whomsufferedterriblyunderNazi persecution,"didsomethingto him,psychically,"
puttingan endto his "intellectualcreativity."9
Yethis love of the artsneverdiminished.During
6 See,e.g.,HelmutHeiber,Goebbels,tr.JohnK.Dickinson(NewYork:Hawthorn,
1972),20, 28, originallypublishedas JosephGoebbels(Berlin:ColloquiumVerlag
OttoH.Hess,1962);HelmutHeiber,Introduction
to hiseditionof TheEarlyGoebbels
Diaries:1925-1926,tr.OliverWatson(New York:FrederickA. Praeger,1963),20.
On Goebbels'relationshipto Gundolfsee also Viereck,"StefanGeorge,Perilous
Dr.Goebbels(NewYork:Simon
112;RogerManvellandHeinrichFraenkel,
Prophet,"
andSchuster,1960),16,298.
7 See Viereck,"Stefan
George,PerilousProphet"116.
8 Quoted WilfridBlunt,On
by
Wingsof Song:A Biographyof FelixMendelssohn
York:
Charles
Scribner's
Sons,1974),274.
(New
9 JosephKitagawa,letterof 21 August1990to EricZiolkowski.In his published
commentsregardingthesewar-timestrainson Wach,Kitagawaneverbroachesthe
Wach, Religion, and "The Emancipation of Art"
349
his tenure at Chicago, he was known to work habitually with recordings of Mendelssohn's compositions playing; not adept at the use of
modem technologies, he would often invite one of his graduate students to come to his apartment in the early evening to stack the records
on his changer and start the stereo system, and then to return late in
the evening to turn the stereo off. But of course Wach preferred live
performances, and in this regard displayed a healthy sense of priorities. He reportedly once excused himself from a faculty meeting, explaining that he was headed downtown to Orchestra Hall to attend a
concert that evening of some Mendelssohn music. It was also said to
be Wach's custom with a particular colleague who was equally steeped
in German literature that whenever they happened to meet on campus,
one of them would extemporaneously choose from memory a passage
from Goethe, Schiller, or some other classic German poet and quote it
aloud to test whether the colleague could on the spot recite the rest of
the passage, likewise from memory.10
Despite the abundant lore about Wach's lifelong, active interest in
the aesthetic realm, the pertinence of his reflections upon literature
and the arts to his formation as historian of religions is an aspect of
his scholarly legacy that is often ignored or under-appreciated. Surely
to Wach would apply what Kitagawa said of Mircea Eliade and the
theologian Paul Tillich, namely, that he had a "passion not only for
knowledge (learning) but also for culture (paideia) in the Greek sense
of the termn."1And if the phenomenologist of religion Gerardus van
der Leeuw, as Eliade observed, anticipated the tendency among midSee, e.g.,
creativity."
questionof howtheymighthaveaffectedWach's"intellectual
in CSR,xxi;"Joachim
Wach"HRUHE,272.
Gibtes... ?,4; "Introduction,"
Kitagawa,
10The anecdote about the records was related to me by Stan Lusby, who studied
with Wach from 1949 to Wach's death. The other anecdotes were related to me by
Kitagawain conversationin the 1980s, and Professor Lusby has confirmed for me
that they were part of the Wach "lore"which he himself heard as a student. If my
memoryserves me correctly,the colleague with whom Wachreportedly"competed"
in quoting Germanverse was actually the University's presidentof the time, Robert
Hutchins.
11Joseph M. Kitagawa,"Eliadeand Tillich,"in HRUHE,330.
350
E.J. Ziolkowski
Westernthinkersto breakdownwallsbetweenacatwentieth-century
Wachpersonifiedthattendencyno less strikingly,
demicdisciplines,12
despitehis unflagginginsistenceon the autonomyof Religionswissenschaftamongthe humanisticsciences.At Chicago,withhis "encyclopedic"eruditionandinquisitivespirit,he was esteemedby some
as a "naturalbridgebetweenthe theologicalfacultyandthe humanistic and social-scientificdisciplines."13
As with van derLeeuw,the
accomplishedpoet andmusician,andEliade,the renownednovelist
andshort-story
writer,Wach'spassionforpaideiameantthathis centraldevotionto studyingandinterpreting
a universalrangeof religious
and
was
inextricable
from,a richvariby,
phenomena complemented
ety of aestheticconcerns.14
How did thoseconcernsbearuponWach'sdevelopingconception
andpracticeof Religionswissenschaft?I shalldevotetheremainder
of
thisessayto answeringthatquestion.
Arts,Aesthetics,and Religionswissenschaft
Presumablythe influenceof the George-Kreis,

especiallythrough
Gundolf,was one of the chief factorsthatled Wachfromthe outset of his careerto conceiveof the investigation
of religionsas being
akinto contemplation
of literature
andthearts.As notedby Kitagawa,
Wachneverchangedhisconceptionof thebasicstructure
of Religionswissenschaft:"its twin tasks(historicalandtheoretical);the centrality of religiousexperienceandits three-foldexpressions(theoretical,
practical,andsociological);andthe crucialimportanceof hermeneu12Mircea Eliade, Preface to Gerardusvan der Leeuw, Sacred and
ProfaneBeauty:
TheHoly in Art, tr.David E. Green(New York:Holt, Rinehartand Winston, 1963), vi.
13
Kitagawa, Gibt es...?, 4. Cf. Joseph M. Kitagawa, "In Memoriam:Joachim
Wach- Teacherand Colleague,"in UB, 198.
14For elaborationon the
points made in this paragraph,together with suggestions
as to how certaincurrentsof thoughtexpressed in the developmentof Religionswissenschaft might inform the study of religion and literature,see Eric J. Ziolkowski,
"Religion and Literatureand the History of Religions: Groundsfor Alliance,"in Literatureand Theology 12:3 (1998): 305-325.
351
tics."15If the George-Kreisinstilled in Wach the preoccupationwith

hermeneutics,16it is possible that Gundolf's ideas about the relationshipbetweenthe artistandthe artist'swork stimulatedWach'sthinking
aboutthe relationshipbetween religious experience and religious expressions.Wach was to opine that the great experiences out of which
all religious traditionsoriginate"exist for others only in the degree to
which they are expressed and where there is genuine religion, it will
necessarilybe expressed"(CSR, 59). Although he attributesthis idea
to the historianof religions C.P. Tiele (CSR, 169 n. 4), it also calls to
mindGundolf'sclaim in his classic biographyof Goethe thatwhile the
artist'sexperience(Erlebnis)mightbe superficiallydistinguishedfrom
the artist'swork, "Theartistexists only insofaras he expresseshimself
[sich ausdrickt] throughthe work of art."17
Wach'stendencyto associatethe study of religion with the study of
the arts first emerges in the chapter on method in his 1924 treatise
Religionswissenschaft.There, in dismissing the common notion of
understandingas sympathy (Nachfiihlen)or empathy (Nacherleben)
and characterizingit ratheras "an entirely spontaneous, productive
act,"he contends that to interpreta religion or a work of art does not
requireconsiderationof its originator's"psychological condition."18
Havingfollowed Dilthey in likening the interpretationof a religion to
thatof an artwork,Wachalso associatesthe study of religion with that
of music by dismissingthe assumptionthathumanbeings who profess
no particularreligious faith or confession are "religiouslyunmusical."
As opposed to Max Weber,whom Wach does not mention here but
who spoke of the "religiously unmusical" as the antithesis of the
religious "virtuoso"(anotherterm adaptedfrom musicology),19Wach
15
Kitagawa,"JoachimWach" in HRUHE,273-74.
16As
suggested by Flasche,Die ReligionswissenschaftJoachim Wachs,14.
17FriedrichGundolf, Goethe (Berlin:
Georg Bondi, 1922), 2, translationmine.
18JoachimWach,Introductionto the Historyof Religions, ed. JosephM. Kitagawa
and Gregory D. Alles, with Karl W. Luckert (New York: Macmillan, 1988), 111
(hereafterIHR).
19See, e.g., Max Weber,"TheSocial Psychology of the WorldReligions,"in From
Max Weber:Essays in Sociology, tr. and ed. H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (New
E.J. Ziolkowski
352
displayshis allegianceto thetheoryof RudolfOttoby contendingthat

"humanity,
by nature,is attunedto religion,"andtherefore:
The studyof musicknowsthatthereis no suchthingas an unmusicalperson;
of an earformusic.
sucha personoftenlacksonlythetraininganddevelopment
It wouldbe good, too, if historiansof religionswouldrealizethata poorly
developedreligioussensenevermeansthatsucha senseis lackingaltogether.
(IHR, 115)
Not only artandmusic,but,mostextensively,poetryis invokedby

Wachto illustratehis theoryof understanding.
To countera common
therelationbetween
of whatDiltheytaughtregarding
misinterpretation
and
(see IHR, 112, 218 n. 32),
experience(Erlebnis) understanding
he contendsthatthe possibilitiesof humanexperienceare not limitedto thetotalityof a person'sexternalexperience(aussereLebenserfahrung):one neednothavebeen in love, wagedbattle,or grownold
a lover,a general,or the aged.The fact thatexternal
to understand
can be anticipated
experiences(Erfahrungen)
by internalexperience
is
known
who
(inneresErleben)
by poets,
"provideus withthe practicalproofof this ability,andeverynow andagaintheyreflectupon
it theoretically"
(112). Thisis not to denythe bearingof externalexof this
perienceuponpoetry.In probingthe theoreticalramifications
(Phantasie),experience(Erlebnis),andpoetry
problemof imagination
Wachis well awareof Dilthey'sobservationthatpoeticcreationineither
variablyoriginatesout of "life-experience
[Lebenserfahrung],
of otherhuman
personalexperience[Erlebnis]or the understanding
as
well
as
and
the
in
which
events
beings,present
past,
theytookpart."
Butjustas Diltheywenton to qualifythat"Onlythosemomentsof [the
poet's]existence[Dasein]thatdiscloseto himoneof life'scharacteristicspossessa deeperrelationship
to hispoetry,"20
so Wachstressesthat
York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1946; repr. 1978), 287; cf. 289. The two terms appear
in otherplacesin thisessay,as well as elsewherein Weber'swritings

intermittently
on thesociologyandeconomicsof religion.
20Wilhelm Dilthey, Das Erlebnis und die Dichtung (1905; 4th ed., Leipzig:
B.G. Teubner,1913), 198; cited in IHR, 112, and quotedon 218 n. 33-219.
353
whatultimatelymattersis whatthepoetmakesof externalexperiences

throughinner,imaginative
power:
It is by imaginationthatexperiencesfirstbear fruit.To an amazingdegree, imaginationmay supplementexperiencesand even substitutefor them. Dilthey... describes the work of the (poetic) imaginationas "creativityborn from the fullness
of internal powers, independentof ordinarylife and its goals, and necessarily
following its own laws."A more recent poet, Thomas Mann,... has revealed to
us what must be regardedas the ultimate motivatingpower of the poetic imagination:longing or yearning(Sehnsucht).(IHR, 113)
Thesereflectionsuponpoetryaregermanein tworespectsto Wach's

conceptionof his scholarlyenterprise.First,the distinctionhe draws
a la Diltheybetween"life-experience"
and what the poet imaginamakes
of
back
to Aristotle'sdistinction
harks
tively
"life-experience"
betweenhistoryas thatwhichconveysparticulartruths(tellingwhat
happened),andpoetryas thatwhichconveysuniversaltruths(telling
whatmighthappen).Muchas Aristotlethereforeviewed poetryas
"something more scientific and serious" (KcaO qtioaoc t)TrpoV KC!t
anrovSatlrTpov) than history,21so is Religionswissenschaftdeemed
thanthe positivist,
by Wachto be morehermeneutically
sophisticated
historicistapproachto religion.Whereasthe historicistobsessesover
"completenessof data,"and whereassomeonetakingthe opposite,
ahistoricalapproacharbitrarily
selectsdata"basedupona traditional
or freelychosenviewpoint,"22
Wachwill urgethatthe studyof reliaim
"to
determine
gions
analyby comparisonandphenomenological
sis if anythinglike a structurecan be discoveredin all these forms
of expression,to whatkindof experiencethis variegatedexpression
can be traced,andfinally,whatkind of realityor realitiesmay corLike Aristotle'spoet, and
respondto the experiencesin question."23
unlikethe historianor historicistin bothAristotle'stime andWach's
21 Aristotle, Poetics, 1451b, in Aristotle, 29 vols., The Loeb Classical
Library,
vol. 23 (Cambridge,Mass.: HarvardUniv. Press, 1927; rev. 1932), 34-35.
22 JoachimWach,Introductionto
Typesof Religious ExperienceChristianand NonChristian(Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1951), xiv (hereafterTRE).
23 JoachimWach, "Universalsin
Religion" (undated),in TRE,30.
354
E.J. Ziolkowski
of religionswillbe satisfiednotwiththe
own,theWachianinvestigator
collection
of
factual
data
butonlywiththe more"scientific"
arbitrary
in religion.
discernment
of whatWachcallsthe "universals"
Whilehe neveracknowledgesthese correlationsbetweenhis theand Aristotle'snotionof poetry,Wach
ory of Religionswissenschaft
does indicatea way his own reflectionsuponpoetryinformhis conceptionof his scholarlyvocation.PonderingMann'sideaof thepoet's
he findsthatnotionto signify"thesoul'sinnerabilityand
"yearning,"
readinessto transcenditself,"a taskthe soul accomplishes"withthe
help of the imagination.For imaginationallowsideas to be grasped,
feelingsto be felt, andrealmsof the soul to be traversedthatactual
couldneverteachthepoet"(IHR,113).Inthis
experience(Erfahrung)
regardthe similaritybetweenthe poet andthe scholarbecomeseviof a great
dent,as thelatter's"interestis stimulatedby theappearance
of significantprocesses,or of a tragicevent"(113).Given
personality,
the same"inneraffinity"as the one betweenthe poet andthe poet's
entersintoa mysterious
object,"thepersonwhowishesto understand
communication
with the objectof studythatallowshim to penetrate
to its core. One side of his being (Wesen)is touched."With an in-
the personthusfeels drawnto seeka

creasinglyarousedimagination,
of the objectof interest,
broader,deeper,morepreciseunderstanding
and"yearnsto developfurtherthosedispositionsof the soulthathave
not yet beenreali7ed.Thus,thelimitsof empiricalpersonalityareexpanded"(113).
At thispointit mightseemthatWach'sreflectionuponthe history
of religionswas informedby poets andpoetryonly in the abstract,
that is, that he was concernednot with specific works by actual
literaryartistsbut with "thepoet,""poets,"and "poetry"purelyas
theoreticalconstructs.However,this perceptionwouldbe inaccurate.
Wachoften does appealto those categoriesabstractly.But in some
casesa particular
work,ora corpusof worksby a specificpoetorother
artist,
literary
provesrevelatoryto him in his capacityas historianof
religions.
Severalbrief exampleswill illustratethis point. In his "religiosociological"essay MeisterundJinger, whichappeareda yearafter
Wach,Religion, and "TheEmancipationofArt"
355
Religionswissenschaft,it is to Holderlin'spoetic depictionof the relationshipbetween Empedoclesand Pausaniasthat Wachrepeatedlyalludes as one of the most poignantexpressions of the master-disciple
bond.24Nine years later, in his 1934 essay on Romano Guardini's
monographicstudy of "religious existence" in the novels of Dostoevsky, Wach praises the GermanCatholic theologian for having revealed in those works "the groundlines of a Christiananthropology
in contrastto any and all 'secular' understandingsof the human being."25Guardini'sorientationremindsWachof the systems of WeltanNo
schauungenandtypes set forthby Dilthey,Jaspers,and Spranger.26
doubtbecause his own comparativemethodinvolves the delineationof
"types"of religious phenomenaand "forms"of religious expression,
he is pleased to find Guardinianalyzing Dostoevsky's charactersas
representativeof differentforms of spirituallife, and arrangingthem
into "a typology of humanpersonalitystructuresand modes of behavior" (200).
However,more so thanHolderlin,Dostoevsky,or any otherliterary
artist,it was Stefan George who seems to have embodied for Wach
the most perfect amalgam of aesthetic and religious concerns. In
MeisterundJiinger,notwithstandingthe essay's primaryappealsto the
paradigmsof Jesus, the Buddha,andthe relationof those two figuresto
theirfollowers, one can hardlyoverlookthe George-Kreisrelationas a
prototypethat constantly,if only implicitly, informs Wach's analysis.
This is clearest in what he says about the "circle"the master forms
24 See JoachimWach, "Masterand
Disciple: Two Religio-Sociological Studies,"in

his Essays in the History of Religions, ed. JosephM. Kitagawaand GregoryD. Alles
(New York:Macmillan, 1988), 15-16, 19, 22 (hereafterEHR).
25JoachimWach,"Religiose Existenz:Zu dem
Dostojewskij-BuchRomano Guardinis," Zeitschriftfir Missionskundeund Religionswissenschaft,40th issue, 7th installment(1934): 193-201; quote on 193. Guardini'sstudy,which originally appeared
under the title Der Mensch und der Glaube: Versucheiiber die religiose Existenz
in Dostojewskijsgrossen Romanen(Leipzig: J. Hegner, 1932), was also republished
as Religiose Gestalten in DostojewskijsWerk(Munich:Hegner Library,Josef Kosel,
1947).
26 See Wach,
"Religiise Existenz,"196.
356
E.J. Ziolkowski
aroundhimself,as opposedto the"school"headedby theteacher(see

in EHR,3). AlthoughGeorgeis nevermentionedin Meister
"Master,"
undJiinger,theessayis practicallyframedbetweena pairof important
extra-textual
allusionsto him. One is the quotationfrom George's
volumeof poemsDer Ster des Bundes(1914)whichheadstheessay:
"Sinceman'snatureis sustainedonly wherethe darksomeoffering
is retained"("Damenschenwesensich nurdorterhalt/ Wo sich das
dunkleopferwiederholt"[EHR,1]).27As Wachrephrasesthis same
pointnearthe essay's end, the master'sfigure"livesin the heartof
the disciples"(29). Eachdisciplethusgrowsthroughthe "dynamic"
of a direct,reciprocalI-thourelationwiththe master,andthroughthe
of focusinghis orherownexperiencethroughthe
ongoingopportunity
master's"image."Butwhathappenswhenthemasterdies?
A closingobservation
in theessayis thatthe imageof thedeceased
masterwill continueto evolve throughthe disciples' "productive
fantasy,"with the consequencethatthe image graduallybecomesa
endnote(notincludedwith
"myth."On this point,in the penultimate
the essay's translationin EHR),Wach makes his second allusion
to George:"TheGeorgecircle taughtus once again to directour
view at the historyof the image of a greathumanfigureor a work
and to understandand interpretit from within itself.... This way
of viewingthingshas manifestedits fruitfulnessin literary,art,and
politicalhistory,"as exemplifiedin George'sown publicationseries
Blatterfiir die Kunst,in Gundolf's study Dichter und Helden (1921),
and in ErnstBertram'sintroductionto his own Nietzsche:Versuch

einerMythologie(1918). The same point,Wachadds,"canalso be
of greatestsignificanceto thehistoryof religion,"as exemplifiedin the
fourthchapterof his own Religionswissenschaft.28
In an undatedpaperhe wroteon Georgesometimeafterthepoet's

death,George'songoingprominenceforWachas an embodiedamal27
Quoted by Joachim Wach, Meister und Jiinger: Zwei religionssoziologische

Betrachtungen (Leipzig: Eduard Pfeiffer, [n.d.]), 5. I have slightly emended the
English renderingof this quotationoffered in EHR.
28 Wach,Meister und
Jiinger,74 n. 52-75, translationmine.
357
gam of religious and aestheticconcerns is reflectedin the focus upon

him as a "poetand priest of modernpaganism,"a poet with a "hymnal
mind"and a "religiousnature,"whose life and work addressmodern
Christiansas "a powerfulreligious paganism."29Among the elements
of this paper that link it to Meister und Jiinger are the opening association of George with Empedocles, and the descriptions of George
as a man "not easily approached"or "a prophet... not easily understood" (11), who pursued"self-imposedisolation" (13). All these elements correlatewith the earlieressay's portrayalof the masteras an
Empedocleantype who inevitably remainsincomprehensibleeven to
his disciples, and who realizes that his essential loneliness cannot be
sharedby anyone,even his disciples. Moreover,in directpertinenceto
Wach's discussion elsewhere of ritual or action as the second of the
three forms throughwhich religious experience finds expression, he
here says of the following passage from Der Ster des Bundes that
"therelationshipbetween experienceand worshiphas seldom been so
precisely expressed"(26):
Werschauendurftebis hinabzum grund
Tragtein gefeiter heim zu aller wohl
Den zauberals Begehung und als Bild.
(Who was allowed to see the depths becomes / Immune, and for the common
good transmits/ The spell as rite and image.)
(quotedand translatedin UB, 26)
Wach'sreadinessto invoke poets to illustratereligious phenomena

was undoubtedlyrelated to his awareness that it is in the spheres
of literatureand pictorial art, as well as those of religion and law,
that hermeneutics has its most deep-seated roots. As he notes in
his introductionto Das Verstehen,the first of whose three volumes
appearedin 1926, the literary,religious, and legal spheres all involve
a concernwith texts or assemblagesof texts passed down from earlier
times. In all three spheres, the ancient world, the "Orient,"and the
29 Wach, "Stefan
George"(n. 4 above), 11, 13. For furtherdiscussion of this paper
and its relationshipto Meister und Jiinger, see Flasche, Die Religionswissenschaft
Joachim Wachs,76-79.
358
E.J. Ziolkowski
modemworldhavedevelopedwhole collectionsof interpretive

rules
which, throughdiscerningand thoughtfulapplication,are aimedat
of theconsideredtext.30
bringingaboutandsecuringanunderstanding
Space will not allow us to identifyin this almost thousand-page
hermeneutics
the manyinstanceswhere
surveyof nineteenth-century
the authoralludesto developmentsin aestheticsand literarytheory.
Sufficeit hereto makeone suggestivepoint.
In both its text and its copiousfootnotes,Das Verstehenyields a
numberof intermittent
allusionsto thephilosopher
AlexanderGottlieb
Baumgarten(1714-62),who was significantfor providingan initial
impetusto themodemphilosophicalstudyof the arts;for namingthis
new science"aesthetics";
andfor demarcating
the boundariesof this
sciencein sucha way as to insureits independence
fromotherdiscias "extraordinarily
learnedandstimplines.31WachexaltsBaumgarten
the spiritof the Enlightenulating,"andfindsthathis work"breathes
ment"(V, 1:17n. 2). In one densefootnoteWachmentionshimwhile
of Schleiermacher's
thensummingup the philosophicalbackground
idea
of
aesthetics
as
the
discussion
of factors
typical
denotingmainly
thatcombineto give artisticpleasure.In alludingto some two dozen
relevantthinkers,WachidentifiesLeibniz,Sulzer,Moritz,andBaumgartenas thefourwhoendowedGermanaestheticswithits tendencyto
searchfor connectionsbetweentheworkof artandthe artisticsubject
(1:149n. 1).
GivenBaumgarten's
role in the establishment
of aestheticsas an
autonomousfield of philosophicalreflection,his treatmentin Das
Verstehen
furnishesa conceptualbondbetweenthatworkandWach's
Sociologyof Religion(1944).In the latterstudy,Wachacknowledges
fromthe outsetthe importof "thestudyof 'religionandart'": "Just
30See Joachim Wach, Das Verstehen: Grundziige einer Geschichte der
hermeneutischenTheorie im 19. Jahrhundert,3 vols. (Tiibingen:J.C.B. Mohr, 192633; repr.Hildesheim:Georg Olms, 1966), 1:5-6 (hereafterV).
31 For discussion and references see Eric J. Ziolkowski, "Kierkegaard'sConcept
of the Aesthetic: A Semantic Leap from Baumgarten,"Literatureand Theology6:1
(1992): 33-46.
359
as the careful study of the history of art gave us a new understanding

and appreciationof the natureof that art which is differentfrom our
own, so the historianof religion today tries to penetratethe mythical
symbolismused in religion andto revealfor us the real meaningwhich
lies swathed in such exotic clothing."32To be sure, adoptingHegel's
distinctionbetween objectiveand absolutemind, he consigns works of
art,togetherwith technicalachievements,economic systems, laws, and
systems of thought,to the category of "objectivesystems of culture,"
which concern the sociologist "only indirectly,"as opposed to societal
"organizations"(15). Yet he also perceives "the growth of artistic
sense" as one among other factors and interests which, over time,
influence the developmentand degenerationof religiously significant
"naturalgroupings"(106-7).
This perceptionhelps explain why Wach'sSociology yields a kind
of summa of Wach's insights into various relationshipsbetween the
aesthetic and the religious. He will conclude that all "genuine"religious expressions "aremeant not to serve external,that is, social, political, economic, aesthetic, or personalaims and purposesbut to formulateand perpetuateman's deepest experience,his communionwith
God" (376, emphasis mine). Yet the book is replete with allusions to
prevalentsymptoms of religious-aestheticinterplay,such as the "aesthetic finish" of Trobriandmagic, commented upon by Malinowski
(225); the creatingandfosteringof "theartsof sacredsong, writing,literature,music, dance, sacredpainting,sculpture,and architecture"by
the priest as a type (365); and the religious associationsof dance - as
exemplifiedin the ecstaticritualsof African,Asiatic, andIndiansecret
societies (117); in Aboriginaltotemic practices(197); in the ritualsassociatedwith a certaintype of prophet(349); and in the fertilityrituals
of the Kiwai Papuansof BritishNew Guineaand variousother sacred
ritualsof peoples aroundthe world (e.g., 74, 100-101, 114, 223).
Among all the references to the arts in Sociology of Religion,
the most provocativeoccur in the heavily-footnotedparagraphwhich
32Joachim Wach,
Sociology of Religion (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1944;
1st Phoenix ed., 1962), 3, 7 (hereafterSR).
360
E.J. Ziolkowski
closes his prefatorydiscussionof "theintegrating

powerof worship"
a thesisalreadywell establishedby others,
(39-44).There,reiterating
Wachdeclaresthat "theartswere fosteredand cultivatedunderthe
of
(43).Withregardto "theinterrelation
aegisof religiousinspiration"
religionandart"(43 n. 45) he citesRobertLowie's1924studyof PrimitiveReligionand RaffaelKarsten'slesser-known1926 investigation
of magicalandreligiouspracticesof SouthAmericanIndians.33
The
choice of Lowie is interesting.In counteringJaneHarrison'stheory
thatancientGreekdramaandartoriginatedoutof "primitive"
ritual,34
Lowie'sassertionthataestheticandreligiousimpulsesareessentially
butconstantlyinteractseemsalso to challengethe opinindependent
ions of Durkheim,who consideredreligionandcultin their"elementaryforms"to be inherentlyaestheticin nature;of Weber,who found
religionsince its beginningsto havebeen "aninexhaustiblefountain
of opportunities
for artisticcreation";
andof OttoandvanderLeeuw,
bothof whomviewedliteratureandthe fineartsphenomenologically
as sublime,diversifiedexpressionsof thenuminousor thesacred.35
33 See R.H. Lowie, Primitive
Religion (New York:Boni and Liveright, 1924); Raffael Karsten,The Civilizationof the SouthAmericanIndians, with Special Reference
to Magic and Religion (London:K. Paul, Trench,Trubner;New York:A.A. Knopf,
1926); both cited in SR, 43 n. 45.
34 See JaneEllen Harrison,AncientArt and Ritual (London:Williams andNorgate,
1913).
35 See Emile Durkheim, The
ElementaryForms of the Religious Life, tr. Karen
E. Fields (New York: Free Press, 1995), 126 n. 150, 375-77, 385-87; Max Weber,
"Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions," in From Max Weber,
esp. 340-43; quote on 341 (cf. Max Weber,"TheTensions Between Ethical Religion
andArt,"in his Economyand Society:An Outlineof InterpretiveSociology, 2 vols., ed.
GuentherRoth and Claus Wittich[New York:BedminsterPress, 1968; repr.Berkeley:
Univ. of CaliforniaPress, 1978], 1:607-610); Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy: An
Inquiry into the nonrationalfactor in the idea of the divine and its relation to the
rational, tr. John W. Harvey (London:Oxford Univ. Press, 1923; 2d ed. 1950), 6571; Gerardusvan der Leeuw, Sacred and Profane Beauty: The Holy in Art, tr. David
E. Green (New York:Holt, Rinehartand Winston, 1963), passim.
Wach, Religion, and "The Emancipation of Art"
361
Although Wach cites none of those other authors on this point, his
position seems closer to theirs than to Lowie's.36 Acknowledging that
there is "an irreducible pleasure in beauty and play," he footnotes
a plethora of sources to support his claim that epic, dramatic, and
lyric literature, as well as painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and
dancing, all had a "cultic origin and significance" (43); and that "So
long as artistic creativity served its original purpose, its integrating
influence on religious groups was immeasurable" (44). As for the
notion of l'art pour l'art, he calls this "a relatively late achievement"
(43). "In the Western world," he declares, "the emancipation of art
from its original setting began only with the Renaissance" (44).
Although his only acknowledged authority on this development is
Horace Kallen, whose study Art and Freedom had appeared two years
earlier,37a more important influence reflected though unacknowledged
here may be Weber's discussion of the "tensions" which develop
between religion and art under increased "pressures of theoretical and
practical rationalism."38
Here, it is worth noting that the very concept of the emancipation of
art from religion is akin to a notion which had gained prominence during the nineteenth century largely under the influence of Romanticism,
namely, that it is only natural for specific new forms of art, literature,
and music to come into being out of their creators' reaction against and
36 This is not to
deny that Otto, like Lowie, recognized the distinctionbetween the

religious and the aesthetic.Six years before he publishedDas Heilige (1917), known
in English as TheIdea of the Holy (n. 35 above), he had written:"Thereare probably
a thousand different ways in which the aesthetic experience of nature modulates
into religious experience, for it is related to religious experience in its very depths.
But aesthetics is not religion, and the origins of religion lie somewhere completely
different"(letter of 1911 to MartinRade [for the magazine Die christliche Welt],in
RudolfOtto,Autobiographicaland Social Essays, tr.anded. GregoryD. Alles [Berlin:
Moutonde Gruyter,1996], 73).
37 See Horace M. Kallen,Art and Freedom:A Historical and Biographical Interpretationof the Relationsbetweenthe Ideas of Beauty, Use and Freedom(New York:
Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1942); cited in SR, 43 n. 46.
38Weber,"ReligiousRejections,"342; cf. his Economyand Society, 1:608-609.
E.J. Ziolkowski
362
observesregardliberation
fromearlierforms.As LesleyChamberlain
from
famous
break
Nietzsche's
ing
Wagner,
perhapsWagner'sdominancetoo would have to have been inventedhad it not existed, for all the arts were freeing themselves in pursuitof a new expressiveness.
Nietzsche, whose Dionysian goals and poor health made him dreamof Mexico
and Spain,made much of the contrastingvisual correlativesof WagnerandBizet.
[Bizet's opera] Carmenbroughton African skies, whereasWotanwas the god of
bad weather,the deity of those rain-soddenclouds or swirling mists which hung
over Bayreuthon Nietzsche's few unhappyvisits. He made it sound amusingly
personal,but we can see with hindsightNietzsche was not alone in his time....
We need look only at the history of painting. The same spring of 1888, when
Nietzsche moved to Turin,Van Gogh arrivedin Provence, having come south
in searchof the colour and light which would transformEuropeanart. Gauguin
joined him a month laterto live in the same aestheticambienceas Nietzsche had
enjoyed in Nice.39
As a legacy in partof this generaltendencyof the arts' "freeing themselves"from their own earlierforms, Wach'sconceptof
art's"emancipation"
fromreligiongives pausefor some concluding
thoughtsregardingthe germanenessof his aestheticreflectionsto his
thinkingas a historianof religions.
The EmancipationFactor
The ideaof emancipation

recursin variousconnectionsthroughout
Wach'swritings.For example,the openingchapterof Religionswisof the Historyof Religions,"
senschaftis entitled"TheEmancipation
referringto what he consideredto be the discipline'sfreedomfrom
"domination
of the otherhumanisticstudies"(IHR,7-18). His essay
"TheIdea of Man in the NearEasternReligions"(1951), a revised
versionof a longer 1926 publication,40
identifies"theemancipation
of the logos fromthe mythos"as the distinguishing
developmentof
in ReancientGreece(TRE,70). Andhis undatedpaper"Universals
39 Lesley Chamberlain,Nietzsche in Turin:An Intimate Biography (New York:
Piccador,1998), 78.
40 JoachimWach,
Typender religiosenAnthropologie(Tiibingen:Mohr [Siebeck],
1926).
363
ligion" describesthe "secularization"of humanactivities as a process

that occurs as "[man]emancipateshimself from the power that sustainshim"(TRE,43), a descriptionechoed in Sociology of Religion not
only in the passage alreadycited but where Wachdiscusses the sacred
performancesthatconstitutethe centralceremonialfeatureof manyreligions: "Even in its emancipatedand 'secularized'form, the 'drama'
exertsa magically integratinginfluenceupon its audience"(SR, 372).
Such recurrentusage of the word "emancipation"brings us back to
Kitagawa'spoint, cited at the opening of our essay, aboutWach'sconsciousness of his eminentancestry.Here I do not have in mind Wach's
love of the music of Felix Mendelssohn,the performanceof whose Elijah he so fondly recalledhaving attendedas a boy. (Incidentally,unlike most of Mendelssohn'sprodigiousoeuvre, which tends to reflect
the transitionfrom the Classicaltraditionto the Romantic,thatlate oratorio on texts from the Hebrew Bible is evocative of a time before
Westernmusic was "emancipated"from religion.) RatherI am thinking of Wach's understandablepride in his descendance from Moses
Mendelssohn, that pivotal exponent of the Aufkldrung.It would be
hard to imagine that the very term Emanzipation,with which Moses
Mendelssohn'slegacy is so crucially bound up, did not bear a special
resonancefor Wach.
It may be fairto concludethatWach'srepeatedevocationsof emancipationreveal a distinguishingcharacteristicof his thinkingand temperament:what might be called his irrepressiblyexpansive, diversifying orientation- that is, his virtual compulsion to seek ever more
data to embrace under his scholarly scope, albeit not arbitrarily,but
for the purpose of arranging,separating,and systematizing them in
accordancewith his categories of "universals"and the "classical."41
(In carryingon the Wachiantraditionlong after Wach's death, Kitagawa would rehearsealmost as a mantrato his own studentsthe gentle imperativeto "thinktypologically.")In his celebrated,boundless
erudition,Wach seems even to have projecteda reflectionof this wis41 See Wach, "Universals,"
passim; and his "The Concept of the 'Classical,'" in
48-57.
TRE,
364
E.J. Ziolkowski
senschaftlich
tendencyof his ontothedatathemselves,findingthehisof
cultural
andreligiousphenomenato developconstantlytoward
tory
witha momentor periodof "emancipaexpansionanddiversification,
tion"beingimpliedby eachsplitting-upof one phenomenon
intotwo
ormorenewones,orwitheachbranching-off
of one newphenomenon
fromanother,olderone.
always bears exclusivelypositive associations.
"Emancipation"
Thereforethe fact that Wachregardscultural,religious,and even
scholarlydevelopmentsas an ongoingseriesof diversifying,progressive emancipations-
e.g., of logos from mythos, of art from reli-
gion, of dramafromritual,of the historyof religionsfromotherdisciplines- bespeaksin him an attitudeof pervasiveoptimismthat

links him no less directlyto the enlightenedexpectanciesof Moses
Mendelssohnconcerningthe issue of religioustolerancethanto the
notoriouspropheticdreamsof StefanGeorgeregardingthe adventof
a neuesReich.Whatis to be concludedfromthis?To the extentthat
this outlookwas encouragedin Wachby his lifelongreflectionupon
music,literature,andthe arts,anduponwhathe saw as theirgradual
fromtheirreligiousorigins,his aestheticconcernsmight
emancipation
be saidto haveplayeda significantrolein theformationof his thinking
as a historianof religions.
Yet this conclusionopens a whole other large question,which
our spacehere will hardlyallow us to explore.Mightnot the term
emancipationbe too strongor reductivefor describingwhat has
occurredoverthepastseveralcenturiesin therelationbetweenartistic
and religiousphenomena?As reflectedin severalof our quotations
is closelytiedto theconceptof
above,Wach'snotionof emancipation
a termwhich,as the sociologistPeterBergerobserved
secularization,
in the mid-1960s,hadby thenhadsuchan "adventurous
history"and
attractedsuchintense"ideologicalfuror"thatsome thoughtthe term
"shouldbe abandonedas confusingif not downrightmeaningless."42
Berger,to be sure,defendedthe term'susefulness,elaborating
upon
42 See Peter
Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of
Religion (1967; GardenCity, New York:Anchor, 1969), 105-71; quote on 106.
365
the essentially Weberiansense of "secularization"as "the process by

which sectors of society and cultureare removedfrom the domination
of religious institutions and symbols."43Nonetheless, the adequacy
of Wach's idea of art's "emancipation"from religion would appear
vulnerableto questioningif for no otherreasonthanthathe conceived
of the idea in connectionwith this other,broaderconcept about whose
usage and legitimacytherehave been such strongdisagreements.
Even moreto the pointis the anthropologistMilton Singer's suggestion in the early 1970s that what is commonly referredto as a process
of "secularization,""Westernization,"
and "rationalization"might, at
least in the context of contemporaryIndiancivilization, be more aptly
describedas "deritualization"
or "ritualneutralization."
Whereassecularizationis assumedto resulteventuallyin "thecomplete elimination
of ritual,religion, and ethics from the sphereof industry,"the termderitualizationimplies "only an enlargmentof the 'rituallyneutral'area"
within the work sphere.44
Considerableportionsof Singer's analysis of the adaptivestrategies
of Sanskritic Hindu culture toward economic, political, and other
forces of modernity focus upon changes in the various arts and in
folk, ritual, popular,devotional,classical, and moder urbancultural
performances.Significantly,despite his having detected in a city like
Madras"a shift in values from those predominantlyconnected with
religious meritto those of mass entertainmentand aesthetics,"Singer
maintains:
It would be inaccurate,however,to apply the Westernconcepts of secular urban
mass culture and of "art for art's sake" in interpretingthese changes. There
are, indeed, secularizingtendencies, but they have not yet cut off urbanculture
from the traditionalmatrix of sacred culture. There is no sharp dividing line
between religion andculture,and the traditionalculturalmedia not only continue
to survive in the city but have also been incorporatedin novel ways into an
emerging popular and classical culture. Much of the urban popular culture is
an extension of the path of devotion (bhaktimarga),more easily accessible to
43 Ibid., 107.
44 Milton
Singer, When a Great TraditionModernizes: An Anthropological Apto
Indian
Civilization(Chicago:Univ. of Chicago Press, 1972), 329.
proach
366
E.J. Ziolkowski
modem man than the paths of strictritualobservance(karmamarga)or the path
of sacredknowledge (jifnamarga). The classical arts,as well, offer a special path
or discipline for those able to cultivateit thatis akin to yogic concentration.(187)
aboutapplyingtheconceptof secObviouslySinger'squalifications
ularizationin a discussionof the changingartsin moder Indiacannot simplybe transferred,
of Wach's
unmodified,to a reconsideration
ideaof "theemancipation
of art"in theWest.Yetwe canhardlyavoid
sensingthattheWesterncasehasbeenfarmorecomplexthanWach's
phrasesuggests,andindeed,that"deritualization"
mightbe a saferor
term
than
"secularization"
or
fordescribingcerapter
"emancipation"
taintransformations
thathaveoccurredoverthepastseveralcenturies
in Westernarts.Let us takefor examplethe observation
of a contemthata distinctiveassumption
in moder Western
poraryanthropologist
civilizationis "thatthediscoursecalledliterature
canfill the rolepreor
the
viouslyperformed
by religioustextuality,"45 expressedbeliefof
one of the foremostAmericanwritersof fictiontoday"thatthe literaryartist,to achievefulleffectiveness,mustassumea religiousstateof
Fromsuchviewsas these,needit necessarilybe assumedthat
mind."46
literature
is merelysubstituting
for,andnotalsoin somecasespartakingin or somehowservingas a creativeexpressionof anexperienceor
dimensionof life thatmightbe consideredreligious?
A mostradicalcounterargument
to the ideaof art's"emancipation"
mightemergefromwhatGeorgeSteinercontendsin Real Presences
(1989) afterhe notes"theplainfact that,mostcertainlyin the West,
the writings,worksof art,musicalcompositionswhichareof central
reference,comportthatwhichis 'graveandconstant'(Joyce'sepithets)
45Talal Asad, Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in
Christianityand Islam (Baltimore:Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1993), 287.
46 John
Updike, "Religionand Literature,"in The Religion Factor:An Introduction
to How Religion Matters, ed. William Scott Green and Jacob Neusner (Louisville:
WestminsterJohn Knox Press, 1996), 239. In quoting this statementby Updike in
conjunctionwith the observationmade by Asad, I do not mean to suggest thatUpdike
would necessarilyagree thatliteraturecan replace religion.
367
in the mysteryof our condition."47Steiner,who does not have Wachin

mind,continues:
I am arguingthatthe 'gravity'andthe 'constancy'are, finally,religious. As is the
category of meaningfulness.They are religious in two main senses. The first is
obvious. The Oresteia, King Lear, Dostoevsky's The Devils no less than the art
of Giotto or the Passions of Bach, inquireinto, dramatize,the relations of man
and woman to the existence of the gods or of God. It is the Hebraicintuitionthat
God is capableof all speech-actsexcept thatof monologue which has generated
our arts of reply, of questioningand counter-creation.After the Book of Job and
Euripides'Bacchae, there had to be, if man was to bear his being, the means of
dialogue with God which are spelt out in our poetics, music, art. (225).
Ultimately,then, the questionof art's"emancipation"in the modem

West would be moot for Steiner.From his argumentit would follow
that no art worthy of the adjectives "graveand constant"could ever
be "emancipated"from canopy of religion because such art already
is, by its very nature,religious. Interestingly,this logic brings us in a
full circle back to Wach's conviction (sharedby Clement C.J. Webb,
RudolfOtto, J. Mouroux,andothers)thatreligious experiencemust be
by definition"a total response of the total being to Ultimate Reality"
(CSR,32, emphasis mine). A person's "totalbeing" would obviously
subsumewhateveraestheticsensibilitieshe or she might possess.
We are certainlyentitled to balk before accepting fully these positions of Steiner and Wach.Indeed,if combined,theirpositions would
threatento precludethe drawingof any practicaldistinctionsbetween
religious and artisticphenomena.Yet, consideredalone, the notion of
"emancipation"itself fortuitouslysuggests a potent, final reason for
rejectingthe idea of "the emancipationof art."For if Steiner is right
to suggest that music, of all the arts, is definitively transcendentbecause it "is plainly uncircumscribedby the world,"48then there may
be no category of humanexperienceor aspirationthat has been more
poignantlyinvolved in the musical expressionof religious sentiments
than"emancipation."
47 George Steiner,Real Presences (Chicago:Univ. of Chicago Press, 1989), 224.
48 Steiner,Real Presences, 218.
368
E.J. Ziolkowski
Here I alludenot only to "themysteryof intuitionsof transcendence"which Steinerfindscelebratedin music "fromthe songs of
to death,to theMissaSolemnis,fromSchuOrpheus,counter-creative
bert'slate pianosonatasto Schoenberg'sMoses undAronandMessiaen's Quatourpour la fin du temps"(218). The "intuitionsof tran-
scendence"elicitedby suchmusicmustipsofactoimplysomeformof
in the sensethatanythingexperiencedas transcendent
emancipation,
mustbe deemedemancipatory.
Butwe mightalso thinkof the spiritualscreatedby AfricanAmericanslavesfromthe"basicmaterial...[of]
nativeAfricanrhythmsandtheKingJamesversionof theBible."49
Socalledslavesongslike "Stealaway,""Swinglow, sweetchariot,"
and
"Gwineterrideup in de chariotsoon-ain de morin' " self-evidently
in themostliteral
conveythefolk yearningforescapeoremancipation
sense.We mightalso thinkof JanKantyPawluskiewicz's
Nieszpory
Ludimierskie,known also as the LudbnierzVespers,a choralwork of
1992 whosewordsandmusicwerecomposedto celebratethe recent

of an entirenationfromtotalitarian
rule,expressingan
emancipation
and
which
in
the
inspiration gratitude
anyattemptby listenerto distinguishbetweenreligiousandsecular(patriotic)motivationswouldbe
futile.50
49 James Weldon Johnson, Preface to his edition of The Second Book of Negro
Spirituals, musical arrangementsby J. Rosamond Johnson (New York: Viking,
1926), 12. For Johnson's full account of the origin and developmentof the spirituals
see his Prefaceto TheBook ofAmericanNegro Spirituals,ed. JamesWeldonJohnson,
musical arrangementsby J. RosamondJohnson(New York:Viking, 1925), 19-25.
50 These Vespersare addressedto a wooden figure of the Virgin Mary on the altar
of a church in the southernPolish village of Ludimierz. According to the Krak6w
poet Leszek Aleksander Moczulski, who composed the words for this work based
upon Psalms of the HebrewBible: "The inspirationcame from Poland's achievement
of independence.Giving thanksfor the gift of freedom was personal, even intimate
motivation";quoted from the programnotes (p. 9) to a performanceof the work at
Igrejada Nossa Senhorade Belem, Mosteirodos Jer6nimos,Lisbon, 2 June 1998. I am
grateful to Agata Marczewskafor providing me with these programnotes, together
with a recordingof a performanceof the piece.
369
In connectionwith AfricanAmericanspirituals,an interestingirony

might be noted in closing. One commentatoron those songs has made
an observationwhich, by chance,aptly supportsour reservationsabout
Wach's idea of "the emancipationof art."During the years leading
up to the EmancipationProclamationof 1863, observes Miles Mark
Fisher,
When the religious part of white society ascetically proscribedthe emotional
expressions of Negroes, which were vehicles of their religion, an artificial
distinction was made between secular and religious music. The rhythmic and
instrumentalparts of it were called "balls"or dances, althoughthe vocal scores
also retainedcharacteristicsof the spirituals.51
The artificialityof trying to divide the spiritualsinto "secularand

religious music" illustrates the broader potential deceptiveness of
generalizingabout art's "emancipation"from religion. Ironically,the
1953 book in which the commentabove occurs was based on Fisher's
doctoral dissertation,which, as is acknowledged in its preface (xii),
had been done some years earlier at Chicago under the guidance of
Sidney E. Mead, Amos N. Wilder,and JoachimWach.
LafayetteCollege
Easton,Pennsylvania18042, USA
ERICJ. ZIOLKOWSKI
51 Miles MarkFisher,
Negro Slave Songs in the UnitedStates (Ithaca,N.Y.:Comell
146.
Univ, Press, 1953),
SHAMANS AND LEADERS: PAROUSIAL MOVEMENTS

AMONG THE INUIT OF NORTHEAST CANADA1
XAVIERBLAISEL, FREDERICLAUGRANDAND JARICHOOSTEN
Summary
Theexistenceof Parousialmovementsin NortheastCanadahasremainedlargely

unnoticedin the literature
on messianicmovements.YetmanyParousialmovements
flourishedamongthe Inuitof NortheastCanadain the firsthalf of this century.
Recently,Inuiteldershaveshownthemselveswillingto discussthesemovementswith
theauthors.
Theirinformation
shedsimportant
lightonthenatureof thesemovements.
On the basisof the existingliterature,archivalsourcesandoralinformation
of the
of thesemovements
eldersa newappraisal
canbe made.ElevenParousial
movements,
some very poorlydocumentedare discussedby the authors.They arguethatthe
Parousialmovementscan be consideredas attemptsto integrateChristianityin
Thesemovementsdeveloped
existingInuitbeliefsandpractices,notablyshamanism.
in areasoutsidedirectmissionarycontrol,and theirdevelopment
informsus about
in
of
and
Inuit
Most
of
these
movements
society.
patterns leadership competition
were short-livedandendedby Inuitthemselves.The negativeassessmentof these
andsecularauthorities
movements
oftenresultedin a distorted
by missionaries
picture
of thesemovementsthatcan be correctedwith the helpof the information
of Inuit
elders.The Parousialmovementsconstitutedan important
chapterin the historyof
the
Inuitreligionandplayedan important
in
as the
part
acceptanceof Christianity
of Christianity
combination
andshamanism
turnedoutto be unsuccessful.
1We wish to thankthe InuiteldersRose Iqallijuq,LucaasiNutaraaluk,
Samuel
and especially
Amakallak,TimothyKadloo,Alain Ijiraqand GeorgesKappianaq,
the late AipilikInnuksuk,HubertAmarualik,
MichelKupaq,Noah Piugaatuqand
MarthaNasook.Thanksto Miss DorothyKealey(GeneralSynodArchivesof the
AnglicanChurchof Canada)for her helpin searchingthe archives.The following
institutions
Fondationde
graciouslyprovidedfinancialsupport:FondsGerard-Dion,
results
were
F.C.A.R.
research
under
the title
Fonds
France,
presented
Preliminary
Maranathain the Arctic: ParousianMeaning in InuitReligious Upheavalsat the 21th
AnnualConferenceof the CanadianAnthropology

Societyin May 1994,andat the
9th InuitConferenceStudiesin June1994.In the presentarticle,elders'quotations
comefromLaugrand
(1995)exceptwhenotherreferencesareindicated.
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Shamansand Leaders
371
Introduction
The debates on messianic movementsin the 1960's and 1970's focused on theirexplanationin terms of oppression,economic exploitation, social tensions, and acculturation2.Such movementsamong the
Inuitwerehardlynoticed,to the point thatin 1974 FokkeSierksma,authorof a comparativestudyon messianic movements(Sierksma1961)
askedone of the authorsof this paperif he could explainwhy the Inuit
did not have any messianicmovementsat all. In fact, some descriptions
can be foundin the ethnographicliterature(e.g. Mathiassen1928: 235236), but they were neverthoroughlystudieduntil recently.Today,the
existence of more and more Parousialmovements in differentArctic
areasin Inuithistoryis coming to light3.As many of these movements
turnedout to be ratherviolent they are often explainedin termsof deviant, erraticor fanaticbehaviorof the main protagonists.We opt for
anotherapproach.We do not regardthese movementsas social or psychological aberrationsbut view them as attemptsto incorporateand
integrateChristianbeliefs and practiceswithin Inuit traditions,resulting in new and original combinationsthat shed light on processes of
religious change initiatedby Inuit themselves. Two themes frequently
recurin these movements:the presenceof Christandthe imminentend
of the world.Thereforewe use the termParousialratherthanmessianic
thatemphasizeson the leaderof the cult.
The first half of the 20th century was a period of great religious
creativityandexperimentsas Inuittriedto come to termswith Western
religion and its forms of organization.Various alleys were explored
that turnedout to be unacceptableto the CanadianGovernmentand
WesternChurches.The Royal CanadianMountedPolice's reportsand
missionaryaccountsemphasizefanaticismanderraticbehavior,clearly
2 See
Voget 1959; Wallace 1956; Lanternari1962, 1965, 1966; Thrupp 1970;

LaBarre 1971 and 1976, Worsley 1968, Burridge 1969, Wilson 1973; Berthoud &
Kilani 1982.
3 See Holland 1979, Saladin d'Anglure 1984, Townsend 1984, Laugrand1997a,
Grant1997, Trott 1997 for the Centraland EasternArctic, Kleivan 1986 for Greenland, andFienup-Riordan1988 for Alaska.
372
X. Blaisel et al
reflectingtheirnegativeattitudetowardsthese Inuitmovementsoutside
theircontrol.TheirattitudeaffectedInuitelders who were not inclined
to discuss the topic with Qallunaat (White people), so some of these
movementsremainedlargely unknown.Only recently the climate has
begun to change. A revalorizationof the past is taking place as Inuit
have begun to take pride in their past again. Elders are now prepared
to talk about these movements and we thank them for sharing their
knowledge with us.
Encounterswith missionaries in BaffinIsland
At the foundationof the first missionary post in Baffin Island in
1894, the Inuit were not completely unpreparedfor Christianity.For
hundredsof years Euro-Americanshad been visiting the Arctic shores
at irregularintervals,tradingand exchangingideas with the Inuit.Inuit
had witnessed religious practices such as prayer, the celebration of
religious feasts such as Christmas,and had become acquaintedwith
the use of the Bible and hymnbooks in religious services. The extent
of Westerninfluence on Inuit beliefs and practices is hard to assess.
In some reports of the middle of the 19th century (Warmow 1859;
Gast6 [1867] in Mary-Rousseliere1960) we already find references
to a creatorof the world that may have been suggestedby Westerners.
At the end of the 19th century,the Qallunaathave been integratedin
the Inuitcreationmyth of the Inuaof the sea thatexplainsthe origin of
sea mammalsas well as the White people andtheirspecific capabilities
(Oosten 1976; Sonne 1990). Apparentlythe Inuit were eager to learn
and to accept what White society had to offer and religion was partof
it.
In 1894, the firstpermanentmission in BaffinIslandwas established
by the reverendE.J. Peck and his assistantthe reverendJ.C. Parkeron
behalf of the ChurchMissionary Society (Anglican) in Cumberland
Sound,at Uumanarjuaq(BlackleadIsland),close to Kikirten,the main
whaling center in Baffin Island at the time. At first, missionaries
were regardedwith indifference by the Inuit, but relations quickly
improved.Inuit providedfor them if necessary, and the missionaries
reciprocatedwhen ships arrivedwith provisions for the missionaries.
Shamans and Leaders
373
At first,the services and catechisms were only attendedto by women

and children. The missionariesdid not only instructthem in reading
and writing,but also providedthem with tea and biscuits. The images
shown by magic lanterns, the singing of hymns and the medicine
providedby the missionarieswill also have attractedpeople. Diverse
sources confirmthat the textbooks preparedby the missionarieswere
widely read with great interestin remote Inuit communities.In 1901,
a Parousial movement already developed in Kinngait outside the
sphere of direct influence of the missionaries (see below Case 1).
The missionaries may have had the impression that the Inuit were
oblivious to religious instructionbut the area was probably stirring
with religious activity and excitement. Inuit were studying the texts
and the words and the behavior of the missionaries, and started to
adopt Christianityon their own terms. Even in distantplaces such as
KimmirutAnglican textbookswere alreadyreadandstudiedbefore the
turnof the century (see Laugrand1998). Nevertheless,it took almost
ten years before the missionaries made the first public conversions.
They mainly involved women and children,but we may assume that
theirhusbandsapprovedof the conversionsof the women. There may
have been some apprehensionconcerningthe effects of the conversion
on the relationshipwith the game. Nowadays, elders state that one
of the main advantagesof the conversion was that women no longer
had to observe all the ritual injunctionsto safeguardthe relationship
between hunters and game. Once the huntershad assessed that their
relationship to the game was not affected by the conversions, the
most importantimpedimentto conversionwas takenaway.Conversion
affected the position of the shamans. In the past, they were able
to maintainand if necessary to restore the relationshipswith spirits
because they had undergonean initiationand acquiredhelping spirits
that assisted them with their tasks (see Blaisel 1993). But any Inuk
could and would have his own experiences with game and spirits.
Nobody would be the judge of that particularexperience. But it
had to be communicatedto other members of the community. If it
were kept a secret it might turn against someone or even against
the community at large. In this respect Christianityintroduced a
374
X. Blaisel et al.
breakwith traditionalways of dealingwith religiousexperiences,

as the missionariespresentedthemselvesas the ultimateauthorities
judgingwhethera religiousexperiencewas acceptableor not. This
point is illustratedby the way missionariesreactedto Angmalik,
who developedhis own formof Christianity
in 1904. It is generally
acknowledgedthat Angmalikwas a highly competenthunterand
a greatshaman.His attemptto come up with his own versionof
was a criticalevent in the brief historyof the mission
Christianity
of Uumanarjuaq.
Angmalikclaimedto have receiveda revelation
fromthe inua of the sea Takaannaaluk.
The missionariesPeck and
in rejectinghisversionof Christianity.
wereadamant
Greenshield
They
awaitedthe resultsof the confrontation
with some apprehension,
and
weregreatlyrelievedwhentheirperspectiveprevailed.Peck'sreport
of theeventsin his diaryillustratesthecase:
A wonderfulday. The Churchwas packed morning and evening. Hardlyany of
the men had gone hunting,and the attentionand reverentbehaviourof the people
was quite remarkable.I naturallyinquiredwhat these things meant. This is the
answer which I received, an answer which gave me great joy... they told me
that having considered the new doctrinepropoundedby Angmalik, and having
also considered the words they heard and read, viz., the words of Jesus, they
had come to the conclusion that His words were in every way preferable,and
thereforethey had determinedto cast away their heathen customs and come to
the place of prayer(Lewis 1908: 319).
The defeatmusthavebeen hardon Angmalik,andit took a long

time before he was finally preparedto accept Christianityon the
termsof the missionaries.This was the reasonthathis wife Ashivak
left Angmalikin a famousincidentin which she publiclyrejected
Inuitbeliefs and practices(Stevensson1997: 89-90). Afterthatthe
authorityof missionarieswas acknowledgedand it was no longer
challenged.In areasoutsidethe directinfluenceof the missionaries
processesof incorporationand integrationof Christianideas and
practicesintothewidercontextof Inuitculturecouldgo on unchecked.
It is particularlyin those areas that a wide range of movements
developedandflourished.Localleadersandshamansplayeda central
thenew ideasandpractices.
partin theseprocessesof incorporating
Shamans and Leaders
375
Case 1: Seekooseelak(Kinngaitarea, 1901)

This case is the first documentedmovement in Baffin Island. The
informationmainly stems from a famous South Baffin campleader,
Peter Pitseolak. The events he describes as "the first religious time"
happenedone year beforehis birth.He probablyrelied on the information providedto him by elders, notablyhis fatherInukjuarjukwho was
closely involved in the events of 1901:
Simigak was out huntingone night, sitting by the seal hole waiting for a seal to
come up. All of a suddenhe saw Jesus coming down to watch him. He thoughtit
was Jesus but he was mistaken;it was Satan.When he returnedhome he told the
people he had seen Jesus. Then Simigak said, "Wemust get together,everybody
mustget together,"and they all went to a place nearCape Dorset called Tooneen.
There they built a giant igloo for a church.It had no roof so they could see the
Heavens.Simigak was the chief in the Etidliajukarea.... But when they gathered
in the big new church,Simigak'scousin, Keegak,was outdoingeveryonewith the
ceremony.In thatchurch,the leadershippassed to Keegak,-'the messenger', that
was the meaningof his name.He became the leaderbecause he stronglybelieved
thatSimigakhad seen Jesus. He thoughtof a Keegakas a personwho was looking
afterall the people like a God. Keegak was the God in the firstreligious time. In
the giant igloo the people gatheredto worship.Keegak was dancingand singing.
He led the dances and he sang:
I am, I am, I am
I am the big God,
God thinks of me
I am
There in Sugluk,
There in Padlee (...)
Once he dancednaked.He was a saintnow andhe no longerhad any sins. He was
dancing wildly. His male organswere swinging all over the place. His belly had
red marksfrom dancing so wildly. He danced and danced.But the igloo had no
roof and finally he began to get cold. Then he said, "I am going to Heaven! I am
going up; I am going up."He told everyone to get out of the igloo. "Everybody
out;everybodyout."People were confused aboutwhat was going on. They began
to get out. Inukjuarjukwas the last personto startto leave but when he was going
Keegak stopped him. "We are both going up,"he said. He said this because he
had borrowedAnnie, Inukjuarjuk'sdaughter.
376
X. Blaisel et al.
But Simigak didn't like the idea thatonly two people should go to Heaven andhe
said, "Youare not the only ones who are going up (...). We are all going up."Of
course nobody got up. Finally Keegak had to go home because he got too cold.
His penis had goose pimples.
After this, whenever Evitah, Keegak's daughter,went to visit people they used
to ask her, "Has you fathergone up yet?" She used to answer,"No. Because the
Eskimo people have too many sins."
Keegak was singing in the igloo all the time. He sang thatthe same things were
happening in other places. He saw that Sugluk people in Arctic Quebec and
Padlukpeople aroundPangnirtunghad the same things going on. People thought
Keegakhad become a shamanbecause he could see what was happeningin other
places.
While the people were like this, they appointed a special person to cut the
women's hair and shave the beards.Too much hair would drag the people back
when they were going up. The women had cold heads! And Martha,Keegak's
wife, would chew on the blubberand put the blubber oil all over the clothing,
especially on the new clothing. She'd say, "You'retoo neat; you're too neat."
Prettysoon Marthaand Keegak were the only people who had good clothing.
This happenedafter Okhamuk- ReverendPeck - had preachedto the people
that they should not be so possessive of their things (...). So the people threw
away all theirgood clothingand anythingthey had - rifles and beads. They kept
their bad clothing and triedto have good hearts.
People threw away their food. Anything Keegak asked for he would get (...).
People said Keegakwasjust like a white man- bossing everybody.All the other
camps would bring him meat and he had even women who were not marriedto
him making him clothes. He was a big boss now and he had white man'sjacket
made out of sealskin.
Marthaand Keegak had never been powerful, but all of a sudden, power was
waiting for them. They grabbedit.
In the first religious time when Keegak became a Christiannobody was killed
in our land although aroundPangnirtungthere was a killing at this time. There
were no killings here, but I think Keegak and Marthamay have been trying to
kill someone. In thatgiantigloo where they used to sing Keegakand Marthabeat
up two people. They were out of theirminds, like white or Eskimo people when
they are drunk.Keegakwas jumping on the frontside of a man who was lying on
the ground.Marthawas doing the same to a woman. The man's son told Keegak
to stop jumping on his fatherso the man didn't die. The man was on the ground
because he wasn't supposedto refuse if Keegaktold him to do something.People
Shamans and Leaders
377
were thinkingthatwhen Jesus was crucifiedhe wasn't fightingback. So this man

didn't fight back. No doubthe was tryingto copy Jesus.
But even then they knew they were makingmistakes.Simigak, Keegak'scousin,
told him thatonly my father,Inukjuarjuk,and Simigakhimself would be going to
heaven because everyone else was making too many mistakesto get up. Keegak
realizedthen he was wrong and said, "We'regoing to go along with you."
So Keegak wasn't a Keegak - the leader - any more. When he realized his
name was wrong he wanted to go back to his old Inuit name, Annoyak. Then
he took his baptized name Jayko. He was really a friendly person. Most of the
people liked him. He wasn't good looking but he had a good personality.He did
some wrong but he was really a good person at the time he died ... always trying
to help with food. He died in 1923 and he is burieddown in Etidliajukin one of
the two big barrelsleft by a ship (Eberand Pitseolak 1984: 40-43).
The religious experienceof Simigakoccurredat an aglu, a breathing

hole of a seal, a privilegedpoint of communicationbetween the world
of men and thatof the game and spiritsin Inuitcosmology (see Oosten
1984, Blaisel & Arnakak1993). The appearanceof spiritsno one had
ever seen before was a recurrentfeatureof Inuitshamanism.The name
of Jesus was probablyknown to the Inuit at Kinngaitat the time, but
we may assume thattherewas not yet an acceptedimage of Jesus. His
appearancein a shamanic vision at a breathingholeprovided a way
to integratehim in Inuit cosmology. We may infer from Pitseolak's
account that the message of Jesus was that the Inuit had to build a
church, a giant igloo without a roof. This conception constitutes a
breakwith traditionalshamanismas a shamanic seance always took
place inside a house in the dark.All lights were extinguishedwhen a
seancewas performed.It is not clear what Simigakexpectedto happen
in this new church.Here, the initiativewas takenover by Keegak 'the
messenger'.Some shamaniccompetitionmay havebeen involvedhere,
and Keegakmay have outdone Simigak in claiming that he was God.
Pitseolaknotes thatat this point Keegaktook over the leadershipfrom
Simigak, suggesting that the adoption and integrationof these new
ideas and visions were closely relatedto the position of the leader.
Keegak claimed he was everywhere, a conception not altogether
strange to the idea that a shaman was able to see and visit all
places in the world. People assumed that Keegak had become a
378
X. Blaisel et al.
shaman(implyingthathe was not consideredto be a shamanbefore).

Nakednesswas often associatedwith shamanism.In some seances
shamansusedto takeoff mostof theirclothes.Theywereboundand
in the courseof the seancetheyfreedthemselvesfromtheirropes.In
this case the shamantookoff all of his clothesanddancedwildlyin
the half-openigloo. Clearlyhe intendedto ascendto the sky (a wellknownshamanicpractice)andhe requiredall peopleto leavetheigloo
whomhe clearlyconsideredas his father-in-law.
exceptInukjuarjuk
His failureto ascendto the sky does not seem to have affectedhis
to the sins of the othermembersof the
positionas it was attributed
community.Pitseolakfinallyrefersto the cuttingof the beardsof
the men and the hairof the womenand the spoilingof the clothes
with blubber.The meaningof these acts are not indicated.Pitseolak
observesironicallythatonly MarthaandKeegakwereleft withclean
clothes.He does not relatethe end of the movement.The accountof
Pitseolakclearlyindicatesthatin this case an attemptwas madeto
in Inuitcultureby usinga shamanicidiom,either
integrateChristianity
by followingshamanicpracticesor invertingthem.Peopleprepared
themselvesto go up in the sky by cuttingtheirhair,spoilingtheir
clothes,discardingtheirpossessionsand even throwingaway their
food. This behaviorimpliesgreatriskin the harshArcticconditions
and exposes people to imminentdeath.It is a recurrentfeatureof
Parousialmovementsin theArctic.Thecomingof theendof theworld
apparentlyrequiredthat people discardedtheir means of survival.
Thusthereonly remainedthe choicebetweentheParousiaanddeath.
Keegakand Marthareceivedall goods they askedfor. Sharingis a
centralvalue in Inuitsociety and in the contextof the cult it may
havebecomea test to assesswhethera personwas preparedfor the
Parousia.In manyrespectsKeegakadoptedthe behaviorof a white
man:he dressedhimselflike a white man,he behavedlike a white
boss. He seemsto haverequiredabsoluteobeisanceof his followers.
The latterfeaturecontradictstraditionalInuitpatternsof leadership
wherethe campleader
(angajuqor isumataq)hadno formalauthority.
The violencein the act of tramplingone of his followersis therefore
Shamansand Leaders
379
remarkable.Absolutecommitmentwas requiredand no hesitationwas

tolerated.
The cult affectedpositions of leadershipwithin the communityand
thatis a recurrentfeatureof otherInuitParousialmovements.Pitseolak
points out that Keegak and Marthagrabbedpower when they had the
opportunity.But Pitseolak considers Keegak a good man. He points
out that he was always preparedto share food. Pitseolak's respect for
the cult leaderreflects the esteem elders usually had for these people.
Even thoughthey made mistakes,they were good people.
Case 2: Iglulik (1920-1923)
In the early 1920s, missionarieshad not yet traveledto Iglulik but
Bibles and Hymnbooksput in circulationby the Anglicanmissionaries
had alreadyarrivedup North(Mathiassen1928: 235; Ross 1984: 141),
along the traditionalInuit paths on the Southeast-Northwestaxis. At
that time, a shamanfrom North Baffin Island named Umik began to
preachtogetherwith his son Nuqallaq,who is knownto have murdered
the tradingofficerRobertJanes(Sakirmia).Justafterthis murdernorth
of Mittimatalikin 1920, the two men left North Baffin for the Iglulik
areaand founded a new cult. During the winter of 1921-22 more than
35 families amongthe Inuitin the camps of Ingnertoq,Pingerqalikand
Iglulik were converted"in a flash"(Mathiassen1928: 235) to Umik's
religious movement.According to Emile Imaruituq"Inuitstartedfollowing him, then his relatives came and then people from the whole
community."The new religionspreadrapidlyandreachedthe Aivilingmiutcamps of AvaandApaq in Itibdjeriang(Mathiassen1928: 236) in
spring 1922. Mathiassen'scompanionFreuchen(1939: 404-405) provides few details on the movementdescribing 'Umiling' as a Christian
preacherwho triedtogetherwith his son to elevate the moralityof sexual relationshipsby denying wife-exchange. Mathiassen(1928: 235)
gives a more detaileddescriptionof the movement:
A movement from the north became more widespread. In 1919 some bibles
came from Pond Inlet, printed in the Peck syllabic language with which the
Eskimos were alreadyfamiliar:they had been sent from CumberlandGulf, where
the missionaryPeck had workedmany years. These bibles were studied by the
380
X. Blaisel et al.
Eskimos and one of them, Uming, acted as a prophetand taughtthe new gospel.
When in 1920 his son had shot a white man at Pond Inlet, they fled togetherto
Iglulik, where he appearedas a greatpreacher.When we came to Ingnertoq,the
most southerlysettlementof the Iglulingmiutin the winter of 1921-22 we saw a
white rag on a pole outside the snow house and, when we arrivedat the place we
were surprisedby the inhabitantsshaking hands with us; even the tiniest child
had to do it. Inside the snowhousethe crucifix (fig 203 in Matthiassen1928) was
hanging (...). We wished to buy it, but they were unwilling as they said it was
a very powerful amulet. We met the same white flag and the same hand-shake
at the more northerlyplaces, Pingerqalikand Iglulik, signs that the inhabitants
belonged to Uming's congregation.At Iglulik we met the prophetUming himself,
an elderly, intelligent man, who ruled there absolutely.Besides the hand-shake
and the flag, his religion included abstention from work on Sundays, gathering
now and then in his snow house and singing hymns which he had taughtthem,
and, what is more, the hunterswere to bring their booty to him and he would
distributeit. His son, the murdererNoqatdlaq,acted as a sort of assistantpriest
and did not lift a finger in huntingeither.When people arrivedat the settlement
or departedfrom it, all the inhabitantsgatheredand sang a hymn, afterwhich the
hand-shakingcommenced; even the dog's paws were taken. Uming was also a
liberalman, permittedpolygamy,offered to "lend"us his wife duringour stay at
Iglulik and continuedto exchange wives for a year at a time with anotherman.
Umikexercisedsomecontrolon the exchangeof goods as well as

of women(Saladind'Anglure1991: 15). CorporalMclnnes(RCMP
AnnualReport1924:36) gives some additionalinformation
obtained
his
of
to
in
1923:
during trip fifty-eightdays Iglulik
The Iglulik tribe of Eskimos consists approximatelyof 35 families. (...) They
are very enthusiasticover religion, which they follow in their own crude style,
singing hymns and readingfrom their Testamentseveral times a day. The most
attractivepastime, however,is trying to count the numberof the pages and the
hymns. They demonstratethe fact that they are christianizedby carryinga flag,
generally white, attachedto the komitik (dog-sled) when traveling,and while at
the village they greet all arrivalsby the grown populationlining up side by side
in the most prominentplace in front of the igloos, when the arrivalis within
hearingdistancethey all join in singing a hymn. The arrivalapproachesthe lineup within a few yards, then stops his komitik and remains standing until the
hymn is finished.The singers then advancein single file and greet him with three
shakes of the hand. (...) The same formalitiesare gone throughon the returnof
a residentof the village if he leaves only for a few hours.
Shamans and Leaders
381
Four testimonies of elders deserve to be quoted here. Hubert Amarualik refers to the shamanic powers of Umik:
I heard about Umik when he was travelinghere by ship. He had to go through
Akaniqjuaqto come hereandhe was supposedto be here for at least a year.But as
there was much ice up-there,the ship couldn't come here, so Umik returnedthe
ship to Pond Inlet by using his spiritsand his shaman'spower (angakulauqtut).
Michel Kupaq also refers to the special capacities of Umik, notably

his ability to change words: "You know these writings from the Bible,
Umik would cover them up and show them to the other people. But
after he had covered them on his body, there would be a different
writing." Samuel Arakallak relates:
Umik was one of the first persons who heard about Christianityin Iglulik. He
originatedfrom the Iglulik area. So when he came back in Iglulik from Pond
Inlet, he started to talk about baptism and about Christianity.He had a son,
Nuqallak.Umik used to talk a lot about Christianity,saying that if you died you
can come back to life. He used to talk aboutthe baptismtoo and say thatthrough
baptism, you could even see the dead people again... even their loved friends
who might have been in graves for a long time, for more than a month. As they
had neverheardbefore thatthey would see them again, I thinkthat'swhy people
were greeting him for a long time. I am not a specialist of that, I just tell you
what I rememberaboutUmik.
Finally, Rose Iqallijuq provides some interesting details, which are

not mentioned in the literature. She relates that Umik saw the relation
between him and his son as that between God and Jesus:
Umik was Qiugaqjjuk'sfather.At that time Umik was part shaman,part Christian, but maybe his mind was a little bit mixed-up.At thattime, we were living in
a very small island, my in-laws, Ittuksarjuat,Uttak and his wife. Imaruituqand
Attarjuakwere the only kids then. We were living in a very small camp. I was
outside the tent with a baby. As we heard something, we knew that somebody
was coming over by dog-team. Later we knew that it was Umik. As they were
coming, Umik used to say "awaa, awa a."I was so scaredthatI startedrunningto
my camp, leaving my kid behind.The little kid was crying but I was still running
to my in-law.As I went in theirtent I said thatsome strangerwas coming. My inlaw asked me then, "whatdo you mean?"and I told him thatI heard"awaa, awa
a." Then my mother in-law told me that it'was Umik. When Umik arrived,he
said, "Gutiuiringa, Qadlunaaqnunamutangijaqaumat"meaning "God's son
382
X. Blaisel et al.
has been taken away by White men to south."On the moment, I didn't understand, but after a while, I realized that his son had been arrested.A year later
Umik came back but his lungs had decayed. He was working too hard,being a
slave too much, and he died early.We didn't know Umik for a long time, because
we used to live in a differentcamp. But I heardabouthim. Umik used to say that
he was a very religious person, being himself a God. "God's son has been taken
down south,"that'swhat he used to say. Umik was a shamanand he was a Christian too. When somebody was coming from very far,he would know andtell you
their names. He was probablyall mixed-up, so his mind was probablynot good.
As Umik drew thativory crucifixand carved it, he startedprayingfor that.Umik
was my ittuliraqtara(...). As Umik told me "praythis and then never change
your religion again,"I said "yes, but I only said yes throughhere" (pointingto
her forehead).I didn'twant to prayto thativory stone, so I only said yes here and
not inside. Umik was like that,he used to pray for this.
Umik's movementrepresentsa versionof Christianitydeveloped

of themissionaries.It may
by theInuitwithoutthedirectinterference
well be that thereis a directrelationshipto the murderof Robert
Janes.Umik and his son may have triedto convincethe Qallunaat
thatthey were good peopleby becomingpreachers.But thereis no
reasonto doubtthesincerityof Umikandhis son.Fromtheinterviews
with eldersit becomesquiteclearthatUmikwas seen as a religious
person.The ethnographic
reportsemphasizethe outwardappearance
of the movementdescribingthe white flags and the handshakes.
MathiassenqualifiesUmik as an "elderly,intelligentman"but only
refersto Nuqallaqas a murderer.
The ethnographers
clearlyfind it
difficultto conciliatethe fact thatNuqallaqis a murdererwith his
role as preacherandthey suspectthathe is exploitingotherInuitto
his own purposes:acquiringcontrolof goods as well as of women.
This type of skepticismis quite commonin White perceptionsof
nativemovements.Fromthe testimoniesof the eldersit is quiteclear
that they did not doubtthe shamanicpowersof Nuqallaqand we
hearno commentson exploitation.The commentsof Rose Iqallijuq
are particularly
insightfulas they give us some informationof the
beliefs held by Umik and his son, which recall case 1: Inuit are
identifiedas God or Jesus.As in the precedingcase we see thatthe
religiousleadersappearto be shamansas well as campleaders.
Clearly
Shamansand Leaders
383
the capacity to integrateWesternand especially Christianideas into

traditionalInuit cultureis highly valued. In the movement traditional
patternsand new symbols were integrated:the crucifix was seen as a
powerful amulet that could not be sold. Traditionalpatternsof wife
exchange were continued.We also see the importanceof literacy in
the movement. Parts of the New Testament were read and hymns
were frequentlysung. We also find references to the absolute power
of the leaders. But Rose Iqallijuqwas not preparedto follow Umik
and she handledthe problemskillfully and did not confronthim. The
distinction between Christiansand others was stressed in the ritual
of handshaking,which included the tiniest child and even the dogs.
The combined use of handshakingand flags seems to express the
creation of a new community.The idea that one should see the dead
again suggests eschatological aspects but we lack the data to assess
their naturemore precisely. Elders continue to speak of Umik with
great respect. Rose Iqallijuqrelates that he was a shamanas well as a
Christian.Apparentlythe movement was an attemptto transcendthe
dilemma of being either a shamanor a Christian.Like Keegak, Umik
was both.
Case 3: Kangiqsuk(PayneBay, 1920)
Saladin d'Anglure (1984: 503) gives a brief description of this
movement:
About1920at PaynesomeInuitbeganto announcethe end of the world;they
killed theirdogs in orderto follow biblicalprescriptions.
Jesus being about
to arrive,everyonegatheredto praywhile awaitinghim. Unmistakable
signs
a littleearlierin the neighboring
wereapparent
Wakeham
area:a down-covered
newbornbabybeganto talkandthendied.
Whereas in cases 1 and 2 we can only suspect the expectation of

the end of the world, it is quite explicit in this case. The end of the
world is announcedby portentssuch as the birth of a child covered
with the down of a bird.The dog had a centralplace in Inuitcosmology
as the ancestorof variouspeoples, and it played an importantpart in
mortuaryrituals.Dogs were essential to winterseal huntingand winter
traveling.In Inuitsociety the killing of dogs was the last step to prevent
384
X. Blaisel et al.
starvation.By killing dogs people virtuallyexposedthemselvesto

extinction.Yet it is a recurrentfeatureof Inuitreligiousmovements
in the firsthalf of this century.Saladind'Anglurestatesthatthe Inuit
we do not know
followeda Biblicalprescriptionbut unfortunately
is relevant.Apparentlywe are dealingwith
whattext or prescription
a patternthatby eliminatingthesheernecessitiesto survivetheendof
theworldis hastened.
Case 4: Home Bay (1921)
ThereligiousmovementatHomeBaywasinstigatedby Neakuteuk.
He was employedby the SabellumTradingCompany,which had a
smalltradingpost at the Bay of Kivituq(White1975: 41). At that
time, Inuitin the areahad been in regularcontactwith Christianity
forseveralyears.VariouspeoplecomingfromCumberland
Soundhad
settledhere,butno missionaryhadyet arrived.Accordingto Peneloo,
the
Neakuteukexperienceddifficultiesin readingandunderstanding
Bible.He requestedthatpeoplewouldhit him on the headwhenever
wouldimprove.The plan
he left the igloo so thathis understanding
workedwell. AlthoughNeakuteuklost a lot of blood, he stated
thatfromnow one he was able to understand
whathe read.During
the ChristmascelebrationsNeakuteukannouncedthathe was Christ
(RCMP1923:35). Accordingto Wallis,he simulatedthe hangingof
Jesusfrom the cross. People clusteredabouthim, knelt,and kissed
the hem of his robe. He appointedtwo disciplesand selectedthree
messengersto whomhe gavebiblicalnamesto carrythedoctrineto all
peoples(Wallis1943:115).
The momentumof the movementincreasedas Neakuteukbegan
to prophesy:"Youare all to love one anotherfor so it is written."
Therewouldbe no morewives and husbands:"thewomenhave to
take off all theirclothes andjump around(...), andthe men musthave
sexualintercoursewiththeirmothers"(Ruskin1972:33). According
to Neakuteuk,the end of the worldwas nearandtheyhadto prepare
for it. He told his peoplethattheyhadto go withoutfood andsleep
and threatenedthem frequentlywith a knife and a gun. He forced
themto kill severalof theirdogs (RCMP1924:37). Returningto his
Shamansand Leaders
385
igloo he fired with his gun at the walls, shot in the air to kill angels
andfinally declaredhe was God creatingthe thunder.Anticipatinghis
approachingdeath,Neakuteukdecidedthathe would baptizethe whole
world with his blood. He inflicted a wound on his head and declared:
"Youarebaptizedin my blood."When a blindman "goes to him asking
to have some wind inside so that he can go up to Jesus,"Neakuteuk
declaredthatit was time to kill Munyeukfor he was now "fullof God's
spiritandlatermightbe bad."Then Kautakand Kedlukkilled the blind
man. After the murder,Neakuteukrequiredthat the two men killed
three of their dogs (Ruskin 1972: 33). Neakuteuk did not stop here
and also requiredthat Lemik be killed because he could not read or
copy the Bible. When Neakuteukwas about to kill Lemik's wife with
a hammer,one of his own cousins, Kidlapik,wounded him mortally
with his gun. In agony Neakuteukcontinuedto state thathe was Jesus
and thereforeimmortal.According to the reports of the RCMP who
questionedthose who witnessed the death of Neakuteuk,his remains
were buriedwith exceptional care. Sgt Joy reportsthat his body was
washed and that the water was sprinkledover the lamps. One of the
lamps startedto sing "to the effect that its flame was everlastingand
could not be extinguished"while at the same momentthe corps of the
deceased began to breatheagain, laughed and placed its hands on its
head.A man namedTakoshagathen sprinkledthreedropsof this water
mixed with blood on the head of all adultsand children(RCMP 1924:
37). Today,those who rememberthese happeningsremindeach other
thaton the tomb of Neakuteukwas written:"Itis not good for man to
takethe place of God."
The descriptionsof the movementof Home Bay evoke well-known
topoi of messianic movements.Neakuteukis depicted as an illiterate
and simple guy who came from bad to worse and finally fell victim to
the consequences of his own misguided actions. But when we read
between the lines it is clear that Neakuteuk was a powerful leader
held in esteem by those who survived him. The reports relate that
people believed that to some extent he came to life again as he had
predicted.During his life, his followers were preparedto obey him
and to performthe executions he demanded.As in the case of Umik,
386
X. Blaisel et al.
not everybodyfollowedhim. Murderwas not takenlightly in Inuit

society,andclearlyKidlapikfelt thatNeakuteukwenttoo farandsaw
no alternative
butto shoothim.Variousfeaturesof themovementrecall
of Neakuteuk
thosewe havediscussedabovesuchas theidentification
withJesus,the killingof the dogs, the conceptof the messenger,the
expectationof the imminentend of the world,the baptismandthe
dancing,or runningaroundnaked.As in the case of Umikwe finda
of traditional
andChristian
elements.
complexandcreativeintegration
Aninteresting
featureis thewoundingof thehead,whichoccurstwice.
Thefirsttimeit providesNeakuteukwitha betterunderstanding
of the
Bible,thesecondtimeit servesto baptizeotherswithblood.Theaspect
of woundingoneselfrecallsshamanicpractices,andthefirstwounding
of a shamanicinitiation.Theimage
maywell havehadtheconnotation
of Neakuteukhangingon the crosslike Christrecallsthe crucifixof
Umik.The image of the crucifiedChristsacrificedfor the salvation
of humankind
seems to haveappealedto the Inuit.It may havealso
evokedthe symbolismof shamanicinitiationwheresymbolicdeath
and revivaloften occur.In choosingmessengersNeakuteukclearly
conformsto a Christianmodel.
The idea of a generalexchangeof men and womenwas a wellknownfeatureof traditionalInuitreligion.Here it acquiresa new
betweenhusbandsandwives
meaning.Not only do the relationships
cease to exist, men shouldeven haveintercoursewiththeirmothers.
A transgressionand inversionof social norms seems requiredto
establisha stateof perfectionanticipatingthe comingof the end of
the world.This need for perfectionseems also to be the motivefor
two imperfectpeople,one whois blindandanotherwhois
murdering
to
supposed be unableto reador copy the Bible.Herethe movement
meetsits endas somepeoplepresentrealizethatthingsaregettingout
of hand.
The ritualproceduresfollowingNeakuteuk'sdeathare of utmost
interest.In traditionalbeliefs there used to be a close association
betweensoul andlamp,anda mothercouldhide the soul of herson
underthe lampto makehim invulnerable.
The relationshipbetween
lamp and soul is evoked when the lamp becomes immortaland
Shamansand Leaders
387
Neakuteuk comes to life again. Moreover, the water that had effected
this miracle was mixed with blood and sprinkled on everyone. We
may infer that in this way everybody benefited from the powers of
immortality associated with the water in which the corps was washed.
Thus, the prophecies of Neakuteuk were validated and his reputation
and memory honored.
Case 5: Cape Dorset area (1925)
Eber (1997: 146) relates that in the autumn of 1925, at a camp two
hundred fifty miles from Cape Dorset:
A young man named Makogliakwent insane, apparentlyfrom religious mania;
he was noticed behaving strangely,and he told one at least of the party that he
hearda voice from the clouds telling him to kill all the people of the camps.
Three days later he shot and killed his father Kovianaktoliak,

his mother Klowa, and Kimipikalook, an elderly widow who had
been one of the wives of Inukjuarjuk, a great south Baffin leader.
Lucaasi Nutaraaluk, whose father was a cousin of Miqualaq, relates
that Miqualaq committed three murders, both his parents and a third
person. He shot them after hallucinating that there was a spirit that
kept telling him something. After a while he started to believe this
spirit. Some portents preceded the affair:
He heardsomethingterribleaboutthe camp. He traveledto his grandparentsand
talkedaboutthis. He said he was shooting at his dog team and they would make
a whisperingsound, but they never died. So what he was doing, was using his
father'sdog-teamto go visit his grandparentsand because of this experiencethat
he went through,this triggeredthis whole thing to wipe the camp out (Lucaasi
Nutaraalukin Laugrand,Oosten and Rasing).
A month after these murders, Miqualaq started to live with the

family of Lucaasi's older brother again, even though some relatives
tried to dissuade Lucaasi's older brother from doing so. Lucaasi related
that Miqualak was getting stronger and people were afraid of him and
tried to make him talk. They put all the weapons away inside an iglu.
When he returned people told him that he could get killed if he did
not change his mind. Even though it was very cold he did not wear a
388
X. Blaisel et al.
parkaor mitts. Miqualaksaid: "Inuitand white people will know of

me." People tried to get him into a more sensible frame of mind. He
said: "I was forced to have no father and no mother."As Miqualaq
was coming into the same state of mind again, Lucaasi'sfatherasked
Lucaasi's elder brotherto kill Miqualaqby throwing him into open
water.He said: "I'm becoming frail and weak and if we let him be he
will become more dominantand eventually take over because of it."
Finally it was decided to kill Miqualaq.According to Lucaasi:
Miqualaqwasthrownintotheopenwaterduringthewinter.First,he wentdown,
thenhe wentbackupagain,rightbackup,floating,bobbing.He wastieduphis
handsbehindhis back,he was tied up, andhe cameup alreadywithoutbeing
tied up again.(...) To everyone'samazement,
he wasjust floatinglike a harp
seal.My fathersaid:"Pleaselet someonehelp us."As soon as he saidthathe
wentdownunder,my fathersaid At the southend of the water,he poppedup
throughthere.Whenhe poppedup throughtherehe wentthroughthecracksof
theice (...). So myfathercheckedoverto see if he wenton topof theice. Andof
courseno wonderhe didn'tsee him.Thecurrenttookhimunder.Thisis between
in Laugrand,
andNatsilikareas(LucaasiNutaraaluk
Oostenand
Uumanarjuaq
Rasing).
The murders were triggered by abnormal events. A voice spoke

from the clouds and dogs whimpered but did not die when they
where shot. The behaviorof the dogs caused Miqualaqto consult his
grandparents.In this case we are not dealing with a killing of dogs,
but with a failureto kill dogs. The position of the dogs is markedas in
many other cases. The notion of immortality,which also played such
an importantrole in the preceding cases recurredin the attemptsat
killing Miqualaq. Finally, human beings proved to be unable to kill
him. Only the currentproved to be able to do that once Nutaraaluk's
father had requested help. The request illustrates the power of the
wordsof the elders. The killing of the parentsindicatesthatwe are not
dealing with an ordinarymurderwhere the victims usually are nonrelatives.It implies a denial of kinship relationshipsjust as the sexual
intercoursebetween mothers and sons in case 3. Miqualaqintended
to wipe the whole camp out, whereas the whole camp proved unable
to kill him without supernaturalhelp. The account of Nutaraaluk
Shamansand Leaders
389
indicatesthatMiqualaqwas killed becausehe was growing in strength.

It was felt that he would succeed in his purpose if people let him
be. In the description of his death we find shamanic motives: he
transformsinto a seal, he goes into the water with his hands tied up
on his back and comes up with his handsfree, and he cannotbe killed
withoutsupernaturalassistance.We do not hearwhetherMiqualaqwas
expecting the end of the world, but we find some of the elements that
were supposedto precedethe end of the world in other cases. Finally,
Miqualaqwas killed by his own kinsmenwho felt things were getting
out of hand,just as in the case of Neakuteuk(case 4). He was killed
by his relatives,not because of the murdershe had alreadycommitted
but to preventmore murders.Close kinsmen had to take action when
someone became a threatto the whole community.
Case 6: Tasiujaq(1931)
Concerning the case of Tasiujaq (Leaf Bay), about 80 km east
of Fort Chimo in New-Quebec, we present a synthesis of various
documents.Christianideas alreadycirculatedfor severaldecennia.The
reverend Stewartof the Colonial ChurchSociety began his work at
Port Burwell in 1899. It led to the establishmentof the firstpermanent
mission post at Fort Chimo in 1903. After Stewart left Fort Chimo
in 1930, missionaries sometimes visited the area. In 1931, 150 Inuit
were living in this area. According to a RCMP report 112 were
Christians.In 1930, a missionaryasked a local leader,Miller (Malla),
to keep an eye on the religious life of the community.A year later,
1931, the wife of Miller announcedthat she had died and come to
life again (Saladind'Anglure 1984: 503). Intensivereligious activities
developed in the area.The HBC DistrictManagerwarnedthe RCMP.
According to the RCMP report,Miller became so enthusiasticin his
reading of the Old Testamentthat after hearing the revelation of his
wife he announced that he had also become a missionary: "It was
decided that the Apostles had taken Inuit forms and, following the
example of the people of Israel, everyone should wear distinctive
symbols on their clothing, such as moons, suns, and Jacob's ladders"
(Saladin d'Anglure 1984: 503). Visitors should also be honored by
390
X. Blaisel et al.
songs and processions around the tent in the direction of Sila. The
whole communityshouldcelebratethe ritualof communionby sharing
the blood of Christ in the form of tea (Saladin d'Anglure 1991: 18).
According to the RCMP report, a whole series of ritual practices
was performed.Inspiredby the chapters 29 and 39 of the Book of
Exodus Malla's followers attached colored ribbons to their clothes,
and Malla designed various ceremonial mats (sun, rainbow, throne,
new stars) (RCMP 1932: 81-82; Grant 1997: 169; 174). Ceremonial
handshaking,circling houses and persons, singing hymns appearas
recurrentfeatures of the movement. Malla marched them about the
settlement singing hymns. "When they approacheda house or an
incoming sled they marchedaroundit, causing some alarmto the white
populationby tappingthe corers with a stick"(RCMP 1931: 81). The
membersof the movementwere beginningto neglect theirhuntingand
daily work (Grant1997: 168). There was a rumorthat two Leaf River
women were to be stoned to deathbecause they were barren(Mclnnes
in Grant 1997: 168). Although the informationon the killings could
not be confirmedandwas even deniedby the inhabitantsof the colony,
it scaredthe authorities.Moreover,two sons had threatenedto beat up
their fatherif he refused to join the movement. On the request of the
HBC districtmanagerthe RCMP sent CorporalMcInnes to intervene.
He took Miller to Fort Chimo for interrogation.He told Miller he
would let him returnhome if he gave his word that on returnto Leaf
Riverhe would "quitall these foolish performance,tell the Leaf River
people thatthey had made a mistake,and await the arrivalof a proper
missionaryto instructthem from the Bible (...). Otherwisehe would
have to come to PortBurwell"(Grant1997: 176). Miller solemnly gave
his word on his handshakeand the movement seems to have ended
here.
Various features of the movement are familiar by now. First of
all it was triggeredby a religious experience of immortality.Miller,
already the leader, immediately used the opportunityto increase his
authorityby claiming to be a missionary.Just as in the cases of Umik
and Neakuteukdistinctive symbols were chosen that markedthe new
communityof believers as a distinctgroup.They testify to the fact that
Shamansand Leaders
391
the Inuit were quite familiarwith Christiansymbols but applied them

in theirown way. The ritualperformedshows manytraditionalpatterns
such as the songs to welcome visitors and the circling of the house
in the direction of Sila, that is the direction of the sun's movement
(see Blaisel 1995, Saladind'Anglure1989). The people also developed
their own form of community.The idea of the messengers is present
in the idea that the apostles had appearedas Inuit. The eliminationof
imperfectpeople is representedby the rumorthat two sterile women
had been killed. References to shamanicrituals and behaviorare not
explicit. It would be interestingto have recordingsof the memories of
elders who had heard aboutthis movement. New featuresmight well
come to light.
Case 7: Iglulik area
Two movementsdevelopedin the winterof 1941.
7a) Kubvuk(1941)
For several months the camp of Ittuksarjuathad been lacking food
for the dogs but surprisinglynobody daredto go the long way to other
camps such as Pilik or Nalinar where several families were living.
The Codex Historicus of Pond Inlet and Iglulik dates the events on
25/01/1941. It does not explain why people were not willing to go.
The Inuit of Kubvuk seemed paralyzedand waiting for something to
happen.The Oblatemissionarywho came to visit the Inuitrelates that
accordingto the Inuit the Anglican ministerhad announcedone year
before that the end of the world was near and that the Lord would
descend on earthon Christmas1940. But nobodyhad seen him (Codex
Historicusof the Mission of PondInlet and Iglulik, 1941: 106).
7b) Orki(1941)
A similar movement occurredat the same time in the neighboring
winter camp of Orki. In the CodexHistoricus of the Mission of Pond
Inlet and Iglulik, the missionarydates these events on 31/01/1941. He
emphasizes the fear that reigned in the camp. According to Inusituarjuk,Issigaituq,Angutitaqand their families, the ReverendMaurice
392
X. Blaisel et al.
Flint had visited the camp last winterand made some prophecies.The
Oblate missionariesnote that some feared that the earth would open
itself to devour them (Codex Historicus of the Mission of Pond Inlet
and Iglulik 1941: 106).
In the first case the lack of food for the dogs is specifically mentioned. The expectationof the end of the world is clear, and we wish
we would have more informationabout the natureof the beliefs and
practices.In this case as well as in the precedingcase the Qallunaatassumed that they had ended movementby their intervention.This may
be slightly naive, but the negative attitudeof Qallunaattowardsthese
events will certainlyhave an effect on those events. In this case furtherresearchamong elders on the decisions which led to the end of the
movementsin the Iglulik areawould be worthwhile.
Case 8: TheBelcher Islands (1941)
The religious movementin the Belcher islands in 1941 is well documented4.Several years before the beginning of the movement Alik
Kiktuviak,a catechistof 46 yearsof age, prophesiedthat"theman-God
Jesus will indeedcome to the Islands,and soon"(Sala in Sullivan1944:
17). At thattime about200 Inuit(155 accordingto the reportof RCMP
1941: 154) lived on the island in small camps (Lechat 1955: 12). They
had all been in close contact with Christianityfor many years. The
winter of 1942 was very harsh,and game was scarce. The people of
the Island intensively studied the New Testamentsdistributedby the
Anglican minister(Lechat 1955: 12). One night, the Inuit witnessed a
rain of falling stars (Lechat 1955: 12) or meteors (RCMP 1941: 154;
Kinmond 1941a, b, c). A young shaman named Charlie Ujaraq,27
years of age, interpretedthese phenomenaas infallible signs. According to St. Matthew"...the starsshall fall from heaven.. .and they shall
see the Son of man coming in the clouds..." (Kinmond 1941a). On
January27 1941, Ujaraq proclaimed that the end of the world was
near and that he was Jesus Christhimself (RCMP 1941: 154; Lechat
4Desgoffe 1955;Holland1979;Townsend1984,Saladind'Anglure1984, 1991
giveaccountsof themainfeaturesof themovement.
Shamans and Leaders
393
1955; 13). Peter Sala, an elderly hunter and leader of the camp, immediatelyjoined Ujaraqand became his disciple proclaimingthat he
himself was God. The movementrapidlyspreadand soon involved the
whole community(RCMP 1941: 154). The two men preachedthat Jesus would come soon and Sala stated that "his spirithas enteredinto
me" (Phillips 1956). They also declaredthat in view of the coming of
the end of the world all materialgoods had become useless. Some people killed theirdogs; anotherone destroyedhis rifle (RCMP 1941: 154;
Lechat 1955: 13). OtherInuitremainedskepticaltowardsthe prophecies. Thus,on January26, SaraApaukuk,a young girl, thirteenyears of
age, declaredat a meeting on the FlahertyIslands that she did not believe in them.Herelderbrotherstruckher with a stick (Alik Apawkok).
Then she was killed with the butt of a rifle by Akivik, a widow, and
Mina, the sisterof Sala (RCMP 1941: 154; Lechat 1955: 13). Upset by
the crime, the catechistAlik Kiktuviakdecided to leave the camp. On
January27, after a quarrelbetween Ujaraqand Sala, the latterstruck
Kiktuviakwith a harpoon,andone of his disciples, Adlaykok,shot him
with a rifle (RCMP 1941: 154; Lechat 1955: 13).
Two weeks later, on February9 1941, in the camp of Tuokaraq
(CampbellIsland),Ali Ipuk,the son-in-lawof PeterQuaraq,statedthat
he believed in God, but did not accept that Ujaraqwas an incarnation
of God. Ujaraqwas infuriatedand accused Ipuk of being a demon.
He asked Quarakto kill his son-in-law by shooting him. Ali Ipuk was
killed by severalbullets on the spot (RCMP 1941: 155; Lechat 1955:
13). On the instructionsof Sala the corps was coveredwith stones, but
the customaryrules were not respected. Thus the stones were thrown
on the corps from a distance and it was only slightly covered (RCMP
1941: 156). Accordingto the reportof the RCMPthe growingtensions
culminatedin a final outburstclose to Tuokaraqon March29:
At the camp Mina's zeal increased. "Jesus is coming," she prophesied to the
women and children, 'Take off your clothes and go out on the sea ice to meet
him."With wild gestures and wilder threats of the evil that would befall those
who didn't obey, she frightenedher listeners into submission. (...) Thirteenin
all, six adults and seven children followed Mina out on the ice. (...) Asserting
that materialthings were no longer necessary,the crazed woman took off pants
394
X. Blaisel et a.
and other clothing of the children. (...) Then she departed, leaving them at
the mercy of the chill arctic air. (...). Four of the adults managed to reach
safety: Mina's husband, Moses, aged 22; Nellie (...); Peter Sala's wife and
Quarack'swife, Sara. With them they broughtPeter Quarack'sother daughter,
Mary, and Moses and Quarack,the two young sons of Peter Sala. The other six
perished. (...): There were two adults, Mina's widowed sister, KumudlukSara,
aged 32, and her mother,Nukarack,aged 55. Four children died: (...) Moses,
(...) Joanasie,Kumudluk,and Sara'snaturalson (RCMP 1941: 156).
The RCMPwas warnedaboutthesehappeningsandarrivedon the

spot on April 1941.Aftera summaryinquirythreeof the murderers
weretakento MooseFactory.SevenInuitappeared
in courton August
19, 1941. Sala and Adlaykokwere each condemnedto one year
of imprisonment,
Ujaraqto two years,but he died May 27, 1942
(ACC/GSA/Fleming
PapersM70-1,Series3-B, file 29 #290).
Thefoundationsof themovementwerelaidby Alik Kiktuviakwho
laterfell victimto it, whenhe announcedthe comingof Christ.By
this prophecyhe preparedthe announcement
of Ujaraqthathe was
in
the
JesusChristhimself.As othercases
movementwas triggered
a
the
as
stars,
by portent, falling
interpreted the sign of the actual
comingof Christat the endof the world.PeterSala,the leaderof the
camp,immediatelyjoinedUjaraqby proclaiminghimselfto be God.
The movementrapidlyspread.The killingof a younggirl professing
thatshe did not believein Ujaraqwas the turningpoint.As we have
seen before,the relativesof a prophetmay decide to turnagainst
him when a killing occurs,becausethey feel thingsare gettingout
of hand.Alik KiktuviakturnedagainstUjaraqwho then requested
Alik's father-in-law
to kill him. Ujaraqprevailedin this contestand
Alik was duly killed.The accusationthatAlik was a demonandthe
descriptionof theburialritualindicatetheseriousnessof thisconflict.
Oncethis murderwas acceptedby the community,the momentumof
themovementseemsto haveincreased,finallyresultingin thedisaster
on the sea ice, whenseveralchildrenandadultswerefrozento death.
The movementfromlandto the sea ice was apparentlymarkingthe
transitionto Christianity.
It recallsthe ritualof conversionpracticed
in NorthBaffinIslandthatconsistedin eatingforbiddenfood,e.g. by
Shamansand Leaders
395
mixing caribou and seal meat, called siqqiqtiq, its original meaning
referring to the movement of caribous from the land to the seaice (Laugrand1997b). In this case nakedness and exposing oneself
directly to Sila (the weather, the outside) were steps taken in the
expectationof the imminentend of the world. The disasteron the ice
must have been a heavy blow to the movement.The end of the world
did not come and many people had died. The presence on the scene
of the RCMP was decisive, but we may suspect that the movement
had already lost its momentum because of the disaster on the ice.
Unfortunatelywe do not know what the reactionsof Inuit themselves
were. Elders might give more information.The fact that Ujaraqwas a
shamanmay have increasedhis authorityin interpretingthe sign of the
fallen stars.Alik was accused of being a demon associatinghim with
the shamaniccomplex. Just like the events in Tasiujaq,the movement
receivedmuchpublicationbecauseof its extremenature.In most of the
cases we discussed before the movements were checked by kinsmen
of the prophetbefore it got completely out of hand. Once people were
killed,kinsmenof the prophettendedto interfere.In this particularcase
the communityprovedunableto hold the momentumof the movement
in check and the resultwas a disaster.Above all, these events illustrate
how closely leadershipand religious innovationwere connectedin the
partnershipof Ujaraqand Sala.
Case 9: Milliit Island (1940's)
Accordingto Saladind'Anglure,the movementat Milliit Islandoccurredapproximatelyin the same period. On the island between Inujuaq (PortHarrisson)andPuvirituq, a clairvoyantwomanprophesied
thatJesus would returnon a beautifulday in June after the disappearance of the ice. She had a big igloo built for prayerand dancing and
invitedsingle personsto marryand rearrangedmarriedcouples.
The timing of the coming of Christ in June contrasts with the
prophecyin the Iglulik case expecting the advent of Christat Christmas. The constructionof the igloo and the marriagearrangements
evoke the traditionalexchanges of wives in the feasthouses in preChristiantimes.
396
X. Blaisel et al.
Case 10: Cape Dorset (1944)

FatherFafarddescribes a tragic episode in the area of Cape Dorset
at the end of the 1940's (Fafard,1944: 10-12). He views these events as
the tragicresultsof the irresponsibledistributionof Bibles (redbooks)
by the Anglican missionaries.
Epidemics of meningitis in the area had affected more than fifty
persons and killed twenty others after three months. An Anglican
named Gisiasi (Josuah),fatherof three childrenand a devoted reader
of the Bible, decided to search the Texts in order to discover which
spirit caused the epidemics. After vainly trying to establish contact
with the spirits of the other world, Gisiasi lost interest in everything
else and even stopped hunting. When he became short of blubber
and food he made his last remaining daughter,four or five years of
age, to participatein the fast. The other hunters became more and
more concernedby the behaviorof Gisiasi and visited him regularly
to hear the "fantasticdreamsof the illuminatedone" to the point that
the movement affected the whole camp (Fafard 1944: 11). Soon all
huntersabstainedfrom hunting and the fox trapswere abandonedas
all days were spent with Gisiasi. When he made a failed attemptat
suicide in the midst of February,the other membersof the camps lost
all confidence in him. All weapons were taken away from him, he
was bound and brought to the nearest trade post. It was more than
35 degreesbelow zero. Gisiasi asked thathis dying daughterbe placed
in a box beside him on the sledge. On his journey to the post together
with his wife and his daughter,Gisiasi continuedto have "diabolical
visions" (Fafard1944: 12). While it was vainly attemptedto revivethe
dying daughter,Gisiasi was enclosed in a snow house waiting for the
RCMP based at Lake Harbourto fetch him. FatherFafardcomments
that the poor fatherdid not shed a tear and even assisted at the funeral
of his daughter.The Police prohibited any lecture of the Bible to
Gisiasi except on Sundays,and two monthslaterGisiasi had recovered
completely (Fafard1944: 12).
The origin of the movement seems to involve a combination of
Christianand shamanicelements. Gisiasi wantedto come into contact
Shamansand Leaders
397
with spirits by studying the Bible in order to discover the origin of

sickness. Once this attemptfailed, he stopped hunting. Although no
reference is made to the end of the world his behavior recalls the
inertiareferredto in the case of the movementat Kubvuk.It suggests
that Gisiasi had come to expect the end of the world. The fact that
other huntersgave up hunting in order to listen to him points in the
same direction.No reason is given for the suicide. Gisiasi may have
given up hope that his expectation of the end of the world would
be fulfilled. His attemptedsuicide was a turningpoint as the hunters
decided to turn him over the RCMP. His daughterbecame the only
victim of this movement. The behavior of the father at the funeral
struckFatherFafardas insensitive.We wonderwhetherthe case should
be consideredas a case of female infanticideand whethera sacrificial
aspectmay have been involved.5
Case 11: MoffetInlet/Siuralik(1946-47)
In 1946, a religious movementdeveloped in the area of Admiralty
Inlet. The ReverendJ.H. Turnerleft Pond Inlet, where he was established since 1929, for Arctic Bay to save his flock as soon as he heard
aboutit. Accordingto a memberof the RCMP (NAC/RG85 vol. 1017
file 18101) who had traveledin the area,therehad been exceptionally
high tides, which had been interpretedin different ways. A woman
namedEekomarelatedthatshe hadgone up to the sky andhad seen Jesus andotherdeceasedpersons.She now possessed the "powerto look
down into the hearts of men to discern which were bad and which,
good." Her husband Ahlooloo became her disciple and announced
thathe had received partof her powers. Othermembersof the family
joined: Evalak and Kepilk adoptedthe role of evangelists. According
the RCMPreport"certainaspects of the old shamanreligion were incorporated,apparently,into the ritual, principallythe practice of one
revealingto the rest all the evil thoughtsand intentionswhich he possessed."At the beginningof the winterof 1947, the movementgained
momentumand spreadto three other camps situatedbetween Arctic
5 See Oosten and Remie 1997 for a discussion of female infanticide.
398
X. Blaisel et al.
Bay and the trade post of Admiralty Inlet. Kongasuretook,Oolayoo

and Ameemeeakjukalso became leaders of the movement.New phenomena were observed: "Spiritswalked on the roof, various utensils
in the igloo moved by themselves."But if "a numberof new followers
were enlisted (...) there was also adverse reaction among the Eskimos."Warnedby two Inuit (Flint 1949: 49), the ReverendTurnersent
letters to the new prophetsand then traveledto the areahimself. Flint
quotes from Turner'sdiary:
Alooloo'swife beganactingstrangelylast fall. She set herselfup as a teacher
andto give authorityto herwords,pretendedto be ableto performridiculous
little miracles. (...) Some visitors from Fury and Hecla Straits (...) became
influenced,so muchthattheyall becameabnormal

(...). Thefalseprophetshad
mixeda little Scripturein with theirteachingwiththe resultthata numberof
the Eskimowerehalfinclinedto believethem.Thewholeaffairwas obviously
the workof evil spirits,and one fellow undertheirinfluenceclaimedto be
God. Whenhe arrived,however,at Christmas,he immediatelyconfessedhis
wickedness.(...) He foundmuchcomfortin Psalm51. Aloolooandhis wife
(...) seemed sorryfor what they had done (Flint 1949: 49-51).
FatherMary-Rousselierewho had shortly arrivedin Mittimattalik

after the events relates that a woman was thought to have died and
came to life again. She had obtaineddisciples and taughtthat the end
of the world was near (Mary-Rousseliere1949: 11). Trott(1988: 40)
gives a brief descriptionof the movement:
One of the womenin this camp claimedto have heardthe voice of Jesus
She attempted
to
givinghera specialmissionto call the peopleto repentance.
establisha rigorousmoralcode, andis said to havedemonstrated
her powers
by havingpeople shoot at her throughthe tent canvas(This was the claim
in ArcticBay). Her messageswerepromulgated
of contemporary
informants
throughoutthe districtby her fatherand brother,and attracteda greatdeal
of attentionfrom the otherInuit.Inquiriesduringthe fieldworkperiodwere
deflectedby a reluctance(...) most informantsclaimedthateverybodywas
involvedexcept for themselves.This wouldsuggestthat the movementwas
indeedwidespreadandthe RCMPand HBCreportsindicatethathuntingand
theareavirtuallystopped.
throughout
trapping
Shamanicelements in this movement were clearly markedas was

noted by the RCMP report:the ascent to the sky, the visit to the dead,
Shamans and Leaders
399
the spirits walking on the roof, the utensils flying through the air, and
the capacity to observe the true intentions of people. The fact that she
had herself shot is also a well-known shamanic feat. The movement
follows a pattern similar to other movements: relatives join in and
claim a share of the power of the prophet. The belief in the imminence
of the end of the world is accompanied by an abstention from hunting
and trapping. One person also claimed to be God. Like some other
more recent movements it was stopped in its tracks by the interference
of the minister and the RCMP.
The perspective of Inuit elders
Looking back, Inuit elders think these movements went too far. In
his autobiography P. Pitseolak states:
At that time, when people were changing, they believed the wrong things. They
were so mixed up they overdidtheirreligion. The first religious time took place
in 1901, the year before I was born. When you tell a story about these people
who were overdoingtheirreligion it sounds as if they were all drunk.They were
blind to what they were doing (Eberand Pitseolak 1984: 40).
Their ideas are seen as outside the right track: Aipilik Innuksuk says
with respect to Umik:
I only heardhow Umik became a religious person. But his religion was besides
RomanCatholicismandbesides Anglicanism.It was somethingelse. Uming and
Qallutiaqstartedthis kind of religion but there was also anotherperson, I forgot
his name. These people used to see a person, very light, shining aroundhis head.
Theirreligion was really overdone.It was overdone.Jesus said in his own words:
"I saw the devil, the Satan"(Satanasi) and he can do anything.For instance, he
can be like God and have certain bright light, he can also do certain parts of
things in thatway. So Jesus said thathe saw that Satanwhich could be like many
angels. It's writtenin our Bible.
Timothy Kadloo concludes with respect to Neakuteuk:

Niaqutsiaq(Neakuteuk)was my father'suncle son. He was workingfor a trading
company but he had anotherjob. He was one of the helpers, like a priest. He
was becoming crazy.He was reallymixed-upso he was really sinning, doing bad
stuff and he got crazy. He was going to be so crazy that someone didn't agree
with him and he was killed. All the otherswere so afraidof him, of what he was
doing, so they killed him.
400
X. Blaisel et al.
Although Timothy Kadloo judges harshly with respect to Neakuteuk, some religious leaderswere still consideredwith respect.Michel
Kupaqstates with respectto Umik: "neithercatholic,nor anglican,but
somethingelse, a religious person (ukpirtuujuviniq),who had his own
beliefs." Noah Piugaatuqadds: "Umik knew many things about religion. That's why he became a religious person."MarthaNasook, wife
of the famousAnglicanMinisterwhose parentsused to live with Umik,
confirmsthathe was neithercatholic nor anglicanbut "he had his own
beliefs." Georges Kappianaqqualifies Umik as "a very religious person" (ukpirtummarialaursimajuq),
but also "a kind of mixed-up."He
had always been "a powerfulman,"but "when he got sick, his power
was gettingaway andhe had no more powerwhen he died."Kappianaq
concludes:"If he didn't have called himself a God, he probablywould
have lived longer,"and evoking Wallis confers aboutNeakuteuk:"It's
not good for man to take the place of God."The elders are well aware
that the attemptto combine Christianityand shamanismturnedout to
be failure. Lucaasie Nutaraalukstates: "Gisiasi was unconscious and
really sick. He was takento Lake Harbour.He was a big hunterbefore
but he got sick. Maybe he got really sick because he put Christianity
and shamanismtogether."
Anglicans, Catholicsand Inuit
The eleven cases presentedabove are by no means exhaustive.We
assume that more cases will come to light, and systematicresearchon
those movementsstill has to be conducted.Moreover,othertrendsalso
existed which we have not discussed here, such as attemptsto turn
away from Christianityor to restore shamanic religion (see Choque
1985: 117-18).
The movements occurred in: South Baffin (Cape Dorset 1901,
1925, 1944) North Baffin (Iglulik 1920-1923, 1941, Home Bay 1921,
Moffet Inlet 1946-7), the Eastern Islands in Hudson Bay (Belcher
Island (1941), Milliit islands (1940)) and UngavaBay (Tasiujaq1931;
Kangirsuk1920).
The Keewatinarea and the Netsilik area are conspicuously absent.
No Parousialmovementsoccurredhere. The movementsall occurred
Shamansand Leaders
401
within the sphereof influenceof the Anglican mission at BlackleadIsland, but outsideits directcontrol.The Anglicanmission cultivatedthe
strategy of spreadingreligious texts notably Bibles and Hymnbooks
among Inuit. Thanks to the translatingand editing work of Peck, the
Gospels were soon available in Inuktitutand syllabic writing to the
Inuit of South Baffin Island:Matthewin 1895, Markin March 1896,
John in 1897 (AN\MG 17 B2\C.M.S.\A. 119; see Laugrand1998:
18). These texts were often studiedwithoutdirectguidanceof the missionariesand stimulatedthe developmentof Inuitformsof Christianity.
The development of such movements close to Blacklead Island was
virtually impossible, as they would immediatelylead to a confrontation with the missionaries as was illustratedby the abortive attempt
of Angmalik at the very beginning of the conversionprocess. In the
case of Angmalikthe communitywas faced with a dilemmaand opted
for the version of Christianityrepresentedby the Anglican missionaries. This choice may have implied more than a decision upon the
truth of the versions of Angmalik and the Anglican missionaries. It
also implied a decision upon leadershipand authorityin religious matters. By accepting the spiritualauthorityof the missionariesthe community seriously limited the options of their own leaders, who had to
accept the authorityof the missionaries.Within that frameworkleaders were encouragedto take responsibilityand become lay preachers.
Well-knownexamplesare PeterToologarjuaqand Luke Qillaapikwho
as lay preachershad great autonomy and replaced the Anglican missionariesaftertheirdeparturein 1914.
The Catholic missionaries attributedthe development of the new
religious movements among the Inuit to the indiscriminatespread of
religious texts by the Anglicans. We may agree that without Biblical
texts less Parousialmovements would probablyhave developed. But
the spread of Christanitywould also have been slower. There are
no reasons to endorse the negative assessment of these movements,
which the Oblates sharedwholeheartedlywith their colleagues. The
Oblate missionaries tried to prevent movements such as in Kubuk
by a strategy, which aimed at control of the informationprovided
to the Inuit. They did not spread Biblical texts and they were only
402
X. Blaisel et al.
whenthey couldkeep an eye on the

preparedto spreadChristianity
resultsby theirpresencein the community.They were not inclined
to delegatereligiousauthorityto Inuitleadersandtriedto visit their
flock as much as possible.In manyrespectsCatholicmissionaries
werecloserto Inuitandmorepreparedto adoptInuitlifestyles.The
correlation
betweenconversionandtheintroduction
of a Westernlifestylewas less obviousto themthanto the Anglicanmissionarieswho
assumedthatChristianity
andcivilizationwereintimatelyconnected.
The Anglicanstrategyaimedat a rapidspreadof its ideas andthis
strategyprovedto be successfulas far as the divulgenceof Christian
ideaswas concerned,butit hadconsequencesthe Anglicanshadnot
reckonedwith.
These differencesin strategyexplainwhy Parousialmovements
developedin areasunderthe influence,but outsidethe directcontrol
of theAnglicanMission,whereassuchmovementsdidnot developin
the KeewatinandNetsilikareas,thatwerepredominantly
the sphere
of influenceof the Catholicmission,but,apartfromthe Igluligaajuk
area,outsideits directcontrol.
Leadersand shamans
The most commontermsfor campleaderwere isumataq(North

whichmeans'theonewhothinks'andangajuqqaq(South
Baffinland)
An isumataqwasideallya goodhunterwithcapablesons
Baffinland).
who used his mindwell andgave good council.In Inuitsocietyrespectfor elders,capablehunters,andmenof knowledgewas at once
sociallyrequiredandpracticallyessential.In mostInuitcommunities
powerfulleaderscouldbe foundwhoseauthoritywas hardto contest
andInukjuarjuk).
The role of the
(famousexamplesareIttuksaarjuat
religiousleaderswascrucialin theParousialmovements.In almostall
movementswe findindividualswho actedas leadersand cameinto
conflictwith rivalsopposingthem.Inuitsociety has often been describedas egalitarian,
flexibleandslightlyanarchic.Mauss(1905)attributeda formof primitivecommunismto Inuitwho weresometimes
supposedto shareeverythingtheyhad:food as well as women.But
on closerscrutinya differentimageemerges.Althoughsharingwas
Shamansand Leaders
403
highly valorizedin Inuit society, it did not imply that everythingwas

equally shared. Poor hunters,widows and orphanswere completely
dependenton the families of good hunters.Explicit status hierarchies
existed in society, the campleadermaking the most importantdecisions while considerableauthoritywas exercised by shamansand elders. Just as shamanshad to prove continuouslytheir control of the
spirits,so campleadershad to demonstratetheircapabilitiesas hunters
and leaders in managing the relationshipbetween huntersand game
each huntingseason. If a campleaderwere a good hunterand effective
as an isumataqmuch would be accepted of him. Shamans and campleadersmight sometimes be real bullies, but what matteredwas their
efficiency.Powerfulcampleadersmight also be shamans.The combination might strengthentheir authority.In the developmentof Parousial movementsleadershipand shamanicvision were expressedin the
claim to be God or Jesus. Once this claim was recognized leadership
was ensured.Alain Ijiraqemphasizedthe authorityof the leaderin his
discussionof Umik:
I heardaboutUmik but I don't know what to say about that. I am talking about
what my parentsand other elders used to tell me. Pilakapsiwas a shamanback
then, Arulaq (Orulu)maybe, but they had their own beliefs at that time. Back
then, people used to have their own beliefs and they used to follow their leader
(isumatariuq).People used to follow one person's rules at that time. People
would then do what they were asked for: do this, do that. That's how it worked
back then.
The religious leadershipthatdevelopedin the Parousialmovements

was not somethingcompletelynew. A case in pointis the extraordinary
migrationfrom Baffin Island to Greenlandleaded by Qitdlarssuaqin
the second half of the nineteenthcentury(Mary-Rousseliere1980) in
which manypeople died in theirquestfor a landof abundantgame. The
power and strengthof his vision must have been enormousto induce
his people to follow him into the unknown.
It is not quite clear how the Inuit perceived these leaders. In preChristiansociety anyonecould have visions of or meetingswith spirits.
Thus the distinctionbetween shamansand ordinarypeople was never
very strict,but differencein competence and prestige were important.
404
X. Blaisel et al.
featureof shamanism.
betweenshamanswas a structural
Competition
Access to the studyof the Bibles and Hymnbooksprovideda new
field of spiritualexperiences.Thosewho had masteredthe syllabics
of the texts enteredinto
and came up with plausibleinterpretations
a competitivearenawhere they posed a challengeto shamansas
well as to campleaders.The integrationof Westernand shamanic
elementswas essentialto the developmentof Parousialmovements.
The new ritualsexhibiteda varietyof combinationsof Christianand
shamanicelementsthatare difficultto separatefromeach otherand
wereessentialto the developmentsof these movementsthattriedto
withinexistingpatternsof Inuitculture.Thusthe
integrateChristianity
churchbuiltby Keegakcombinesfeaturesof a churchwith thatof a
traditional
feasthouseor qaggiq.In severalcases a close cooperation
between
a recognizedshamanandthe campleaderof the
developed
localcommunity.
Theend of the world
Theideaof the imminentendof the worldseemsto haveappealed

to theInuitandwas clearlyone of the notionsmosteasily adoptedin
theParousialmovements.Existingbeliefsin theendof theworldmay
have contributed
to the acceptanceof Christianeschatologicalideas
in Inuitculture.Rasmussen(1929: 252) refersto the destructionof
the worldby Sila (the spiritof the universe).Pere Gastenotesthat
in 1869 the 'savages'fearedthat the earthwould open and vomit
flames.In 1941,theInuitat Iglulikfearedthattheearthwoulddevour
them.It is difficultto assesto whatextenttheseideasdevelopedunder
Christianinfluencebut they provideda fertilegroundfor the belief
in the imminentend of the worldon the basis of Biblicaltexts.In
mostof thesemovementsthe focus was on preparingthe end of the
world.The imminentend of the worldrequireda new morality.The
authorityof the religiousleaderhad to be accepted,materialgoods
and interestswere forsaken,and distinctritualsand symbolswere
developedidentifyingthebelieversas a newcommunity.
Wehearverylittleabouttheconsequencesof the endof theworld.
The coming of the end of the world might imply that all regular
Shamansand Leaders
405
hunting activities stopped or decreased, that dogs were killed, or

huntingimplementsdestroyed.The believers abandonedtheir earthly
possessions and wordly activities in preparationfor the New World.
Goingup to the sky or even deathmighteffect the shift from the present
imperfectworld to the new one. Shamans used to travel to the land
of the dead or up to the spirits.In Parousialmovements the religious
leaders (cf. Keegak) or the whole community were about to enter a
New World.The leaders of the movement often claimed to be Christ
or God and those who contested this claim risked their lives. No one
was permittedto endangerthe Parousia.
The Parousia constituted a break with the past. In this respect it
contrastedwith the traditionalwinter feasts celebrated in the fall.
Then, the community used to renew its relationshipswith the spirits
of the dead and the game. In South Baffin the inua of the sea was
called upon to come up from the sea (see Blaisel & Oosten 1997,
Saladin d'Anglure 1989). She ascended from the bottom of the sea
and was harpoonedby shamans.Sexual intercoursebetween men and
womenrepresentingthe inua of the sea and her fiancee was an integral
part of the celebrations.Mutual agreement between humans, spirits
and game was ritually re-enacted in a context of renewal of sociocosmic relationships.Some features(such as variousforms of general
generalexchange) of the Parousialmovementsrecall the winterfeasts.
But the Parousial movements did not aim for renewal of existing
relationshipsbut for a complete break with the past. They implied
a rejection of customary rituals and beliefs. Previously, the world
used to be conceived of in terms of exchange relationshipswith other
kinds of inhabitantsliving within the same universe.In the Parousial
movements a direct relationshipto God and/or Christ, thought to be
alreadypresenton earthis the crucialissue. In this respectthe Parousial
ideascorrespondedto the preachingof the missionariesthatconversion
impliedan absolutebreakwith the past. Today,eldersrelatethatone of
the mainadvantagesof conversionwas thatwomen did no longerhave
to cope with the many ritualinjunctionsregardingfood and game. The
ritualof siqqitiq as describedby Laugrand(1998) conveys this idea of
conversionas a transitionto an easier way of life, withoutthe dangers
406
X. Blaisel et al.
withthe spiritsof the gameand

involvedin the spiritualrelationships
the dead.The comingof the end of the worldrequiredan absolute
whichall too oftenendedin violenceanddisaster.
commitment,
In the fifty years that these religiousmovementsdevelopedin
differentareas,the attemptat combiningshamanismandChristianity
Fromthe officialaccountsby Qallunaatit
graduallylost momentum.
emergesthattheirpresenceandintervention
stoppedthe movements.
In mostcaseshowever,especiallyin the earlierperiod,Inuitstopped
the movementsthemselves.It appearsthatthe ease with whichthe
last movementswere endedhad much to do with the fact thatthe
establishedchurcheshadacquiredfirmrootsin Inuitcultureandthata
combination
andChristianity
of shamanism
was no longerconsidered
as viableby mostInuit.
D6partementd'histoire
XAVIERBLAISEL
Universit6duQu6beca Montr6al
C.P.8888,Succ.Centre-Ville
Montr6al,Qu6becH3C3P8,Canada
Facult6de th6ologie
FREDtRICLAUGRAND
et de sciencesreligieuses
Universit6Laval,Pav.FAS-732
Quebec,G1K7P4, Canada
ResearchSchool CNWS
Universiteit
Leiden,P.O.Box 9515
NL-2300RA Leiden,Netherlands
1. Archivalsources
GeneralSynodArchivesof Canada(Toronto)
M56-1
ANC/GSA/Peck-Papers,
Papers,M70-1
ANC/GSA/Fleming
JARICHOOSTEN
Shamans and Leaders
407
Archives of the Roman Catholic Mission of Iglulik (Iglulik)

Codex Historicus of the mission of Pond Inlet and Iglulik.
National Archives of Canada (Ottawa)
MG 17 B 2
RG 85 vol. 1017
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FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE SURVIVAL OF THE BORI

CULT IN NORTHERN NIGERIA
UMAR HABILA DADEM DANFULANI*
Summary
The paper examines factors responsible for the survivalof the bori cult as a way
of immortalizingmaguzanci, i.e. Hausa traditionalreligion in NorthernNigeria. The
paper regards bori as a part of maguzanci which survives as an island within the
ocean of Islam.
The paper reconstructsthe origin and history of the bori cult in Hausaland.It
locates this within maguzanci - from its earliest belief in "pagan"spirits (babbaku) to the introductionof "Muslim"spirits (farfaru)when Islam was introducedin
Hausaland.Soldier spirits reflect totem spirits, famous huntersand war lords, while
Fulani spirits mirrorthe advent of Fulani contact with the Hausa. The presence of
Europeanspirits in the bori cult reflects the pre-colonial and colonial epochs, a time
when Europeanswere in contact with Hausaland.The introductionof spirits from
other ethnic groups in Nigeria into the cult merely mirrorthe interactionbetween
Hausa and other ethnic groups in Nigeria. Thus the history of the bori cult reveals
layers and historical epochs of Maguzawa contact with other peoples and cultures
within their environment.
The paper attributesthe survival of the bori cult to a number of factors, among
them the feminine nature of the cult, its control and domination by women and
its provision of freedom for women, unequalled by both Islam and Christianity.
Furthermore,bori provides an avenue for socio-culturalperformance,festivals, and
other types of interaction,and offers traditionalmedical and health care services to
the public, factors that have endearedthe cult to both members and non-members.
The firm belief of the Hausa in the existence of spirits even in contemporarytimes
to aid to the growth of bori. In a nutshell, this paper establishes that the major
* Dr. Umar H. D. Danfulani is a Senior Lecturerin the
Departmentof Religious
since
where
he
has
worked
1984. He wrote this
of
Studies, University Jos, Nigeria,
at
the
Institute
for
a
Fellow
while
he
was
Humboldt
Religionswissenschaft,
paper
University of Bayreuth. He is very grateful to the AvH for granting him a year's
fellowship in Germany, and to Professor Dr. Ulrich Berer, the Chair, Religionswissenschaft, for being such a good host to him in Bayreuth, during the 1996/97
academic year.
NUMEN,Vol.46
The Bori Cult in Northern Nigeria
413
factor for the survivalof the bori cult in a predominanthostile Muslim environment
is its flexible and dexterous nature,particularlyin accomodating Islamic practices
alongside "pagan"ones.
Introduction
It is three thirty p.m. on the 24th of February, 1990, and the Bauchi Radio
Corporationwas playing its programmeon "Peoples and Events"in Hausa. Ikon
Allah Baya Karewa, "Gods wonders and miracles never ends" were the first
words the presenterused. He continued, "A girl of nine in Ungwan Jahun here
in Bauchi town has now become the centre of attraction,for she and her parents
believe that a spirit Iska had appearedto her and had given her medicine for
all sorts of ailments" ...The reporterthen went on to say that while he was
interviewing the girl, about fifty women and twenty men were waiting for the
girl to prescribe medicine for them. The girl claims that she can cure different
types of ailments (Shuaibu 1990:1 ff.).
While discussing Ikon Allah, the "wonders of God," exhibited in

the life of a bori possessed Muslim girl and priestess, Maijidda (see
the citation above), whom she interviewed in Bauchi town Shuaibu
(1990:35)1 mentions a paradox. She locates this paradox in the reporter's speech, where a bori spirit appears to Maijidda, a Muslim
girl, a situation which the radio reporter, though himself a Muslim,
describes as Ikon Allah baya karewa! - "the wonders and miracles
of God never ends!" The Muslim reporter sees no contradiction at
all between the power of iska, a bori spirit, and the power of Allah, God. Such a paradox, where Hausa Muslims react thus to the
sporadic appearance of bori spirits in human society is not surprising at all, especially when viewed from the backdrop of the traditional Hausa world view. The Hausa world view exhibits a strong
belief in the existence of spirits and their interaction with human
beings. It is this strong belief among Hausa people in the influence of spirits on human affairs that forms one of the bedrocks
1 Mrs. Adama Shuaibu interviewed
Maijidda, the spirit possessed girl, together

with her grandfatheron 17/5/1990. A. Shuaibuwrote a MA. Dissertationon the Bori
Cult in Buachi and Jos Towns for the Departmentof Religious Studies, University
of Jos, in 1990.
414
Umar Habila Dadem Danfulani
Musupon which the survivalof the bori cult in a predominantly

lim environmenthinges. The sporadicappearanceof Hausaspirits
whenthey seem to havebeen forgottenandrelegatedinto the backgroundby Islam has contributedto the interestin this topic. This
paradoxreflectsthe Hausabelief in the existenceof spirits.When
spiritsappear,the phenomenonis referredto as IkonAllah! - "God's
Theyarethustacitlyacceptedin an Islamicenvironpower/miracle!"
ment as coming from Allah, God himself.This paradoxserves to
emphasizethe existenceof the institutionof bori as a contempoHausa-Muslimsocietiesof Northern
rarycult in the predominantly
Nigeria.
This paperis aboutbori and the resilienceof its cultic practices
in contemporary
Nigeria.It analysesthe factorsthathave led to its
survivalas an importantaspectof Maguzawa-Hausa
traditionalreliin
a
Muslim
and
culture
domain.
Herethe bori
predominantly
gion
cult exists as an islandof indigenousHausareligionand culturein
the midstof the hostileoceanof Islam,andit is todaythe strongest
traditionalreligionandculture
preservingagentof Maguzawa-Hausa
in NorthernNigeria.Thispaperis dividedinto six sections:The first
sectionbrieflyclarifiesthe conceptsof bori and Maguzawa,while
the secondexaminesthe originof maguzanci(maguzci),the Hausa
indigenousor pre-Islamicreligion.The spiritworldof theMaguzawa
is discussedin the third,andthefourthevaluatestheroleof womenin
the boricult.The fifthdealswith the processof historicaladaptation
withinthe bori cult as a strategyfor its survival.Islamicfactorsfor
the survivalof the cult are analysedin sectionsix. The conclusion
providesa critiqueof thefactorsfor the survivalof theboricultusing
a hermeneutical
approach.
Defining Bori
In his monograph
HausaCustoms,Madauci(1968:77)refersto the
bori cult as devil possession. He asserts that,
In Hausaland,you will find, here and there, groups of people who have faith in
devil possession. If you should ask those "possessed"by the devil, they will tell
The Bori Cult in NorthernNigeria
415
you thatthey do not practicethe ritualfor pleasureor for fun, butto help the
of all kindsandcuresfor all kindsof diseases.
publicwith "protection"
Fromthe pointof view of Madauciit is clearthatbori meansdevil

possession,and he is not alone in this thinking,as it is commonin
kana
Hausasocietyto ask a normalpersonwho behavesabnormally,
this sentencemeans,"areyou mad/insane?",
or
bori ne? Translated,
77
some
"are
Hausa
you possessed?"(Ibid.: ff.). Among
simply,
people, andsome scholars,thewordbori,whichsymbolisesmediumistic
possession,is thereforealso synonymousin ordinaryeverydayusage
withthe term" madness,"or "spiritpossession."It is, however,more
commonlyused to describetemporarymadnessandecstaticpossession.
A numberof versionsof the termbori is foundin some African

countries.Forinstance,Tremearne
(1914:393),tracesthetermborito
the Mendeof SierraLeone,who arebelievedto havea spiritknown
as binniwhich runsaboutduringinitiationceremonies.Amongthe
Mende,male membersof this cult are knownas bori, while their
femalecounterparts
arecalledmabori.The malememberswearcaps
resemblingthoseof kuri(kura),a Hausaspirit/deityof the hyena.In
Liberia,a virgingirlbeforeherinitiationis knownas boni,andshe is
laterreferredto as baroa,while the youthsgo to the beri institution
for a few monthsfor initiation.The termbori is foundamongthe
Maguzawaof KanoandKatsina(Abdu1990:v),whereasit is known
as boli in Sokoto (Shuaibu1990:86).Bori means spirit,which in
Hausais translatedas iskokior aljanu.The bori cult, therefore,denotesa spiritpossessioncult,a cultwheremembersallowthemselves
to be possessedby spiritsin a deliberateritualinvocationdance(see
Danfulani et al., forthcoming).
Bori as a termis usedin this paperas belongingto the Maguzawa

adherentsof Hausatraditional
religion.Thehistoryof the Maguzawa
is intrinsicallylinkedwith and inseparablefrom that of the Hausa,
sincetheonebelongsto theother.In fact,theoriginof theMaguzawa,
who todayinhabitpartsof Kano,Katsina,Daura,ZariaandBauchi,
and are foundall overNorthernNigeriamustbe soughtin the his-
416
tory of the Hausa.2The Maguzawaof Kanowho are knownas the

rulersof Kano.Theyreferto themKutumbawa
werethe pre-Jihadic
andthereforethe autochthonous
selves as the firstinhabitants,
people
which
of Kano.TheMaguzawaof KatsinapreferthetermKatsinawa,
means"theindigenesof Katsina."
GraceAbdudrawsattentionto the
sinister,but friendlyjoking relationshipwhich has existedfor ages
betweentheMaguzawaof Kanoandthoseof Katsina.TheMaguzawa
of Kanoaresaidto describethoseof Katsinaratherderisivelyas "repairersof brokencalabashesandleatherbuckets",citingthe proverb
"gertekarshensana'a,"i.e. repairworkis the last or mostinferiorof
all occupations(Abdu1990:v).
The termMaguzawasupposedlyemanatedfromthe Arabicmajus,
meaning"pagans."Anotherversionstatesthat it emergedfromthe
name of the paganancestorof the Hausaknown as Bama.Bama
is said in a myth to have refusedthe Muslimprayer,sallah, since
wheneverhe was invitedto prayerhe wouldreply,sai gobe, meanHe was called Bama gujen sallah, that is,
ing, "untiltomorrow."
"Bama-runner-away-from
prayer"becausehe alwaysranawayfrom
prayer.Bamaguje,theHausasingularforMaguzawa,reflectsthepossible rejectionof Islamon theirpartsincethe termcouldeasilyhave
been derivedfrommaguji(sing.)andmaguda(pl.) whichbothmean
fugitive(s)or deserter(s).3
"runner(s)-away-from",
Thoughthis myth
on how thenameprobablycameintoexisprovidessomeinformation
it
still
tence, may,however, portraythedisdainandapathywithwhich
HausaMuslimsregardthe Maguzawaadherentsof Hausatraditional
2 The
history of the Hausa in its own turn is linked up to some extend with the
history of other Chadic-speakingethnic groups, including those of the Jos Plateau,

Bauchi, Yobe, Bomo, Adamawaand the FederalRepublic of Chad (cf. Abdu, 1990,
p., v ff., Adamu 1974 and Crowther 1962). This connection, however, has been
grossly neglected by historians,both past and present.
3 The Gwandarahave a similarconnotationassociatedwith their name. Gwandara
is a short form of the sentence, Gwandarawa-da-Sallah,which means "we prefer
dancing to praying,"this being the reason for the peoples' migration from Kano to
the regions of Keffi, Lafiya, and Nasarawa, in present day Nasarawa State, in the
17th century,or even earlier (See Isichei 1982:17).
417
religion. The Maguzawaare still regardedby theirkinsmen, the Hausa

Muslims of Kano, Katsina,Zariaand other cities of NorthernNigeria
as ara, that is "infidels"(Abdu 1990:v).
Origin of Maguzci (Maguzanci)
A cursoryexaminationof the origin of maguzci, the Hausa indigenous religion, is importantbecause religious ritualand bori rites were
closely intertwinedin pre-IslamicHausasociety (Abdalla 1991:40, cf.
1981:120). The Kano Chronicles,said to have been writtenin the 9th
century,4report that the early settlers of Kano had a shrine near the
Dalla Hill and their religion was centred round their deity Tsomburburai and its priest Babushe who resided near it (Shuaibu 1990:25,
cf. Crowther 1978:30). Early settlers of Kano are said to have been
giant animal huntersand blacksmithswho came to the Hill of Kano
in search of iron ore, because it was believed that a village near iron
ore reserves would prosperand grow from trade in iron implements
(Crowther 1978:30). They settled near the hills of Dalla (known as
Gworon Dutse, meaning the bachelor stone), Maguam and Dutsen
Famisu,
since it was believed that certainpowerful protectivespirits (iskoki) lived in the
great granite hills or inselbergs scattered over Hausaland,people might gather
near them for protection.The Dalla hill in Kano is one such example (Ibid.).
These rocks were also thoughtto representthe ancestralfathers of

the Maguzawa (Shuaibu 1990:35).
Iliyasu-Yero (1991)5 states that the first leader of the Maguzawa
was Babushe who lived on top of Dalla Hill (located today in Kano).
Babushewas very powerful and performedmagico-religiousand sacrificial rites associated with the hill. The name of the sacred place
where they worshipped their god Tsomburburaiwas Kukawa. The
term Tsomburburaidenotes spirit beings whose abode was the sacred tree Shamuz, and the priest and keeper of this sacred tree was
4 This author believes that the date for its documentation
may be much later.
5 Mallam A. A.
Iliyasu-Yerowrote a long essay on the bori cult.
418
called mai-tsumburburai,
The
meaning,"ownerof the spirits/gods."
tree Shamuzwas surrounded
a
wall
one
and
no
could
come
near
by
it exceptBabushe,whoeverelse enteredwoulddie. Babushehimself
neverdescendedfromDallaHill to Shamuz,excepton two days of
theirritualcelebrations.
Whenthe daysdrewnear,menandwomencamein fromall directions,withblackdogs,blackfowls andblackhe-goats,6for sacrificial
rituals,meetingon thedayof jajibere,the eve of the ceremony,at the
foot of Dalla hill. At dusk,Babushewoulddescendfromhis house
with his drummers.
Babushe would cry:
The people would answer:
Great fathersof us all,

We have come right to your dwelling,
In supplication,Tsomburburai!
Look on Tsomburburai!
You men of Kano,
Look forwardto Dalla!
ThenBabushewoulddescendand the peoplewith him wouldgo

in to the god(s). They wouldoffer sacrificesusing the animalsthey
broughtto the god(s).Babushewouldenterthe shrinealone.
Babushe would shout:
The people would answer:
I am heir of Dalla,
Like it or not follow me,
You must perforce!
You dwellers on the rock,
Our Lord Amane,
We follow you perforce, Lord!
Laterthey would undressand go roundthe shrine(Ibid.).This

suggestsa formof wild orgyusuallyassociatedwith olden"pagan"
rites.7Babushewouldthen select his best andtrustedheadmenwho
wouldaccompanyhimto thepremiseswherethe sacredtreeShamuz
6 Pre-IslamicHausa
gods and spirits cherished black-featheredbirds, and black-
skinned animal sacrifices.

7 Compare this with the festival which Israel gave before the golden calf, while
Moses was still on Mount Sinai. The phrase "rose up to play" may well include
sexual orgy (see Exodus 32:6).
419
was, bowing down to Tsomburburai.Only Babushe, the primus-interpares would enter the shrine, emerging after some time to announce
to the people what would happenduringthe year and season to come.
Again this suggests some form of divinationwhich procrastinatesthe
future in early Maguzawa religion. Babushe would tell them of a
time to come when strangerswould grow large in Kano and would
wrest power and the governmentof Kano from their hands, and that
a mosque would be built on the site of their sacred tree. John Paden
stressed the sacredness of Dalla Hill when he said:
Dala Hill is of such primordialimportancethat it becomes the only survival of
the first inhabitantsof Kano in the memory of the modem. The power of the
sacredHill is so permanentlyfixed in the Hausa tradition... (Paden 1973:40, cf.
Abdu 1990:12.).
Affirming the importanceof Babushe during this early period in

the history of Kano, Crowther(1978:31) asserts that Bagauda who
is said to be the grandson of the legendary Bayajidda was not the
founder of Kano, as suggested by the legend. Kano was already a
large settlementaroundthe Dalla hill, ruled by powerful priest-kings
who controlled a large area of the surroundingcountry side. The
rulers of Dala were backed by the power of Tsomburburai,of which
they were priests. Thus at first Bagaudasharedpower with the priestkings of Tsomburburai.It was only the ninth ruler of the Baugauda
dynasty who finally destroyed Tsomburburai'sshrine between 1349
and 1385 (Ibid., Adamu 1982).
Krusiusalso emphasizedthe importanceof sacredtrees in maguzanci, the Hausa traditionalreligion, when he asserts: "the first thing to
do before newly founding a house is to plant the jigu8 and to pray for
Kure'sblessing while offering sacrifices"(Krusius 1915:36, cf. Abdu
1990:12). Kure the hyena is a totem animal among the Maguzawa
since it is worshippedas a deity.
8 It is
possible that the roots of this tree possess both medicinal qualities and
strong stimulantsused for making the jiko, a highly intoxicating drink, empowered
by certainherbs soaked in water for some days.
420
Anotherimportantsacredtotemanimalis in the formof a snake.

This is preservedin the Bayajiddamythwherethe legendaryfather
of the Hausawho arrivedfromthe Easthadto kill a snakein Daura
becauseit preventedthe peoplefrom drawingwaterexcept on Fridays (cf. Lange 1996). This exists today,in the form of a serpent
or speciesof a snakewhich is the totemof nearlyeveryMaguzawa
communityin the Kanoregion,in areaslike KanoCity itself, Roni,
Rano, Gwarzo,Karaye,TudunWada,Bichi, DawakinTofa, Wudil
andKiru;andin otherplaces such as Katsina,BauchiandZaria.In
these places,the Maguzawajealouslyguardthe secretof theircult
andtheiryearlySarkinNoma,the Chieffarmer'sfertilityceremonies
or seasonalrites of passage,is closely connectedwith othercultic
worshiprites.
The Spirit Worldof the Maguzawa
Fromthe foregoingit is clearthatbelief in spirits,iskoki,which

formsthe backboneof the religioustraditionof the Maguzawahas
been a partof the religionfor a long time. The Maguzawa,unlike
mostethnicgroupsin WestAfrica,placeemphasison beliefin spirits,
iskoki,whichdominatetheirworldview.Thusthe spiritstakeprideof
placein the dailyaffairsof the Maguzawapeople.The spirits,iskoki,
not the deities,as is the case withethnicgroupssuchas Yoruba,Igbo
and Ashanti,nor the ancestorsas it obtainsamongBantuspeaking
groupsof WestandSouthernAfrica,formthecoreof the MaguzawaHausatraditional
worldview.Thespirits,iskoki,andspiritpossession,
bori, thus dominatetheirworshipand religion.This, however,does
not in anyway obliteratebeliefin God,Ubangiji,the mysticalforces,
deitiesandancestorsin maguzci,the Hausatraditional
religion.What
then is the structureof the Maguzawaworldview? The Maguzawa
worldviewportraysa picturesimilarto thoseof otherAfricanpeople,
viz: belief in the existenceof spirit,humanandmysticalrealms.This
paperdwells only on theirspiritworld.
421
Ubangiji, God
The spirit world of the Maguzawa even though dominatedby the
belief in spirits recognises belief in Ubangiji, God, and belief in
deities and ancestors. However, the last two are usually treatedas a
part of the world of spirits.Even though the creatoris acknowledged
by them as Ubangiji, God, and is referred to in masculine terms,
he is not an object of direct worship having no sacrifices, liturgy,
priests nor shrines. Gorialwalamade the following observationabout
the concept of the Supremebeing among them:
The Maguzawa admit the existence of Allah and they believe that he is the
SupremeBeing who createdthe whole universe and controls it. He is all powerful. But, He is not centralbeing for them as He is for the Muslims. They neither
worship him nor seek His help, nor invoke Him in prayers(1986:49).
The belief in God may have been informed in maguzci by the

powers of naturalphenomena, such as weather, storms, thunderand
lightning, the sky, sun, moon and stars. He is believed to live in
the sky (Ibid. 25). His attributesinclude, among others, Ubangiji
iyayengiji, Lord, father of the Lords (Lord of Lords), Mai iko duka,
the Almighty, Mai Tsarki, the Holy one, and Mai Sama, the owner
of heaven.
Iskoki, Spirits
Bori spirits may be divided into two major groups: iskokin gona
are tame spirits who settle on farms near human beings. With the
introduction of Islam, these were referred to as the farfaru, faircomplexioned spirits,or yan birni, town dwellers. They were said to
have "convertedto Islam", based on the belief that the prophet Mohammed, sallalehu alewa salah, descended into Hades and preached
to the demons, converting some of them to Islam! The second category are the yan dawa (or yan daji), the wild bush dwellers. Also
called bakaku, the dark-complexionedones, it is held that with the
coming of Islam these remainedlargely "pagans."It is generally believed that tame spirits are easy to manipulateand hence potentially
more friendly to human beings than the wild yan daji. The farfaru,
422
the fair-complexioned
ones, who are regardedas mainly"Muslims"
are believedto cause only mild ill-healthto humanbeings,bestowing good fortuneson them.Whereasbakaku,the "pagan"or "nonMuslims"spirits,who dwell in the bush, are regardedas dangerous spirits,believedto afflict humanbeings with seriousillnesses
andmisfortunes(Abdalla1991:43,1981:119,175,Monfouga-Nicolas
1967:133).
The bori cult teachesthatspiritsexistedpriorto Adamu(Adam),
humanbeings,as the creaturesof Allah,God.Bori cult membersare
taughtthatAnnabiSuleimanu(KingSolomon)ruledover bothmen
and spiritsat a time when spiritswere visible to humans,and he
couldconversewithspirits.TheBiblicalQueenof Shebawho visited
KingSolomonduringhis reignis consideredas BilkisuQueenof the
spirits.Afterthe reignof King Solomon,God decidedto makethem
invisibleto humanbeings.However,by worshipping
a memberof the
communityof spiritsa bori membercan keep both him/herselfand
his/herfamilysecure(Shuaibu1990:87).
Like humanbeings, the spiritsare regardedas religiousbeings
who practisetheirown religionwith all seriousness.It is held that
the "Muslimspirits"behave like Muslims,observingall rites and
ritualsobligatoryfor Muslims.They prayfive times a day, observe
the forty days rahmadanfast, give sadaka (alms),pay theirzakat
(tithe),and performall Islamicfeasts observedby Muslimsin the
terrafirma. Some among them, such as Mallam Alhaji, who is said
to be thepatronin chargeof theKoranicschoolin Jangaru,cityof the

thehajj,thepilgrimageto
spirits,arebelievedto haveevenperformed
Mecca."Pagan"spiritsdrinkbeerandanimalblood,smoketobacco,
enjoythe perfumedandincensedairof the dancingfield duringbori
possessionceremoniesand performothertsafi ("pagan")festivities
suchas ritesof passageas "pagans"do (Ottenberg1960).
All borispiritsmovewiththe speedof lightningandlike wind,thus
they are called iskoki,"winds,"or iska, "wind".They need constant
sacrificesbecausethey feed on sacrificialblood, even thoughthey
still preparetheirown food themselvesas humansdo. Theircontact
423
with human beings is mainly through sickness.9 In answer to what

bori is all about, an informant10said, bori ciwo ne, meaning "bori is
a disease." He continued, "I wouldn't have been a bori member had
it not been for the fact that the spirits selected me through sickness,
I would have been doing something better."Nobody resists the call
of bori spirits to cult membershipbecause of the fear of sufferring
continuously from a severe illness. It is believed that one may be
tormentedto the point of permanentmental insanity or death.1
Historical Adaptationand Dexterity of the Bori Cult
From the onset it is clear that the history of the Maguzawa is
situated within that of the Hausa, and the one can not be divorced
or isolated from the other. Bori being a part of Maguzawa religion
and culture today therefore symbolises a part of the process of development and experience of Hausa traditionalreligious history. The
historical process of bori cult spirits started with the emergence of
totems, followed by a progressiveintroductionof a number of spirit
types into the system.12These include among others the entranceof
"pagan"bori spirits/ruraldwellers, enlistmentof soldiery bori spirits,
9 The
exception includes medicinepersonsand powerfulhumanbeings possessing

the knowledge of how to communicate with, trap and manipulate spirits as their
slaves, a belief which strongly survives among the Hausa even to contemporary
times. This belief is used, for example, to explain sudden wealth, thus one is asked
not to question the source of sudden wealth of a pauper, since one may not know
whether s/he met a 'good spirit' which made him/her rich overnight! Spirits also
form the focus of many Hausa legends, stories, folk tales, fairy tales and mythology.
10 Mallam AbubakarMai UngwanBori in Bauchi Town gave this informationto
Adama Shuaibu(1990).
11As is the case with mediumisticdivinationin most of Africa bori cult membership are mostly called throughill-health, except those who inherit their membership
from deceased parents.
12 Gelfand (1959) traces a similar progressive development of the emergence
of possessing spirits among the Shona of Matabeleland, in the form of spirits of
diviners, hunters,alien spirits of soldiers and Europeanswho fought, lived and died
in Masholand;and the appearanceof the dreadedavenging ngozi spirits.
424
the conversionof some bori spiritsto Islamwho thenbecameMuslims, andthe arrivalof Fulanibori spirits,Europeanbori spiritsand
finallyotherethnicNigerianbori spirits,in thatstrictorder.
Hausatotemspiritsbecameborispirits,especially
Manytraditional
the bushlion, the hyena,certainspecies of snakes,the monkey,the
crocodile,and a numberof otheranimalspecieswhich were venerated,respectedandprotectedin variouspartsof Hausaland
priorto the
introduction
of Islam.In suchsocieties,taboosandmanyprohibitions
ensuredthat such totemicanimalswere not deliberatelyharmedor
killed.All Maguzawa,for instance,worshipKure(Kura),the hyena,
as a deity.However,all thesetotemicanimalshaveovertimecometo
be recognisedwithinthe bori cult as bori spirits.Whensuch spirits
so possessedwouldbehavelike
possesspeople,the "horses/mares"13
the animalswhose totemspiritshavepossessedthem.This probably
representsthe firstformof bori cult practice.
The emergenceof the yan dawa as paganbori spiritsor rural
dwellers then follows, symbolisinga historicalprocess, mode of
thoughtand growthof the indigenousreligionof the Hausa.This
categoryof spiritsas alreadyobservedwerelaterreferredto as darkcomplexioned"pagan"bori spiritsby cult membersandotherpeople
in Hausaland,a nomenclature
which evolvedwith time, withinthe
its
Some
of
bori
membersreferto themas Maguzawa
process
history.
spirits,sincethemajorityof theMaguzawalive for centuriesafterthe
introduction
of Islamin ruralareaspractisingmaguzci,theirreligion,
togetherwith theirmainvocation,whichis farming.
The soldier/warrior
bori spiritsreflectanotherprocessin the historicaldevelopmentof the Hausa.Historically,they belongto a period when greatHausasoldiersfoughtbattlesin Hausalandandthe
spiritsof these famousHausasoldierswere immortalisedand deified as free bori spirits(cf. Gelfand1959).Baashenirepresentssuch
a Hausaancestralspirit.Duringthe bori dance,the horse/mareof
13 In bori trance
possession rites, the possessed is consideredto be a horse (doki)

where such a person is male and a mare (godiya) if such a person is female. The
possessing spirit becomes the rider.
425
Baasheni dances and moves about ardentlywith a spear and pretends

to threatenand thrust fiercely and fearlessly at enemies. Auta (Dan
Auta), "the last born", also belongs to this category. Auta is a very
fierce spirit of the war drums. There are many other warriorspirits
in the yan garki (company of bori soldiers), and the spirit warrior
company could have lived historically in time and space. The bori
spirit of the warrioris retainedbecause of the braveryof its ancestral
host when he was on earth. The spirits of famous hunters may also
belong to this category,since hunters(a theme which has a romantic
traditionamong the Hausa and Fulani) also made excellent and disciplined fighting forces. This phenomenamight have emerged, therefore, from hero/warriorveneration,however,instead of being referred
to as deities, for example as Shango and Ogun in Yorubareligion,
they were referredto as spirits, since spirits, not deities, are the point
of focus in both the maguzanci and the bori cult.
The Muslim bori spirits are town dwellers in contrast to "pagan"
bori spirits who are villagers and thereforerural dwellers. This may
well represent the emergence of cities and urban living among the
Hausa c. 1000 to 1400 AD. (in contrast to the earlier rural life of
the Maguzawa), and its association with trade and commerce, and
subsequentlywith Islam (cf. Crowther1978:31). They are thus lightcomplexioned (farfaru), indicating the divine, holy and pure nature
of the light and truth of Islam. Muslim bori spirits are believed to
fast and pray like Muslims, respect and obey Allah and his prophet
Mohammad,Sallalehu Alewa Sallah. They observe all Islamic norms
and obligations, and the Sharia law as practisedby Muslims on the
terra firma. Their chief is the famous Alhaji Mallam, regarded as
chief imam, the head of all mallams in the spirit world. All mallams
are believed to be apportionedduties and functions by him (Shuaibu
1990:173f.).
Fulani bori spirits are said to be plenty because according to some
informants, the Fulani have today largely taken over the bori cult
from the Hausa. Thus the historical process that brought the Hausa
and Fulani together, and the conquest of the one culturally and the
426
other by the force of arms,14has also createda meetingpoint in

the bori cult. Bori cult membersin Hausalandclaim that a Sarauniyar Bori, queen of the spirits,prophesiedmany years back that
morespiritswere comingto Hausaland.This prophecyis saidto be
fulfilledwhen Europeanspiritsjoined the host of spiritsvenerated
by bori members.Theyclaim thatwhenEuropeanscame to Hausaland, they broughtwith them theirown bori spirits,who are EuroIt is interestingthattheseEuropean
peansandthereforeChristians.15
"Christian"
spiritspossess bori memberswho are Muslims!'6Such
"Christian"
spiritsincludeamongothers,Likitathe medicaldoctor,
Mr. Kar,Mr. Sisidam,Kaparam,etc., who are bori spirits.Thesein
theirown turnare believedto controluncountableEuropeanspirits.
Horses/mares
behavelike EuropeansandAsiansundertrancepossession. They may dressneatlyin Europeanclothing,smokecigarettes
and speakEnglish.
Otherethnicbori spiritsrepresentyet anotherfeatureof the bori
cult. The entranceof spiritsof otherethnicgroupsis manifestedin
the boricultpossessiondance.ThusAchindungis a Beromspiritand
the possessedspeaksthe Biromlanguage.Nyamiriis an Igbo spirit,
andspeaksIgbowhenit possessesa victim.lyawo is a femaleYoruba
14
the Fulanipresencein Hausaland,
Historically,
startingfromthe 15thcentury
reacheda climaxin the 19thcenturywith the Fulanijihad of SheikhUsmanDan
Fodio.In this war,the Fulanidefeatedthe Haberulers,took overpoliticalcontrol
of the Hausa,and builta powerfulCaliphate(Sokoto).However,this conquestof
the swordwas to follow a culturalconquestby the Hausa,as theyeasily imposed
theirlanguage,customsandpoliticalstructureon the Fulani.The Fulanihavethus
for centuriesbeenassimilatedby the Hausaway of life, with a greatnumbergiving
up their nomadiclife, to settle in Hausacities and towns, whereintermarriages
followedbetweenthe two.
subsequently
15 All
Europeansare consideredby bori membersto be Christians.This is a
that
fora long
thinking has beena partof the religiousopinionof theirenvironment
time.In fact,mostof the HausaMuslimworldusedto andmaywell still thinkthat
way.
16 All bori members
regardthemselves nowadays as Muslims.
427
bori spirit and behaves like a Yorubawoman duringa bori possession

dance.17
Womenand the Persistence of Bori Cult

There is strongevidence to suggest that, in the Hausajahilenci,18Hausa women
played a much more prominentrole in healing than their descendantspresently
do. FromextantHausaproverbs,songs, stories, or bori liturgy,one concludes that
women bori mediumshad in early times a centralpartin the therapeuticpractices
of theirpeople. The fact thatwomen among the Maguzawaor non-MuslimHausa
are still much more involved in healing than theirMuslim counterpartsreinforces
such a conclusion (Abdalla 1991:40 f., cf. 1981:87, 119, Last 1976:40).
Hausa women enjoyed high status and held political offices and
other important positions in pre-jihadic Hausa city states. For instance, of the forty-sevenchiefs of old Dauralisted by Palmer(1967:
142f.) seventeen were magajiyas, queens. It is probablethat many of
these queens were also medicalpractitioners,for the power to heal and
the authorityto govern were mutually exclusive in Hausaland(Abdalla 1991:41). Women also served as heads of their respective clans
(Smith 1979:32), and indeed the magajiya of Daura in the Bayajida
legend (cf. Lange 1996) and Queen Amina of Zaria (7azzau) exemplify this. Indeed at a time in the past, women were more powerful
than men in magic in Hausaland(Tremearne1914:150).
Women and the Hierarchyof the Bori Cult
Women play importantroles and occupy high ritual and social positions in the bori cult, and most bori adherentsare women (Douglas
and Kaberry1969:290). The bori cult has a role set and role structure
of its functionaries.The highest office which is usually occupied by
a woman is that of magajiya. Her male counterpart,whose office is
17
Among the Berom, Chindungis a female name, while Nyamiri is the Hausa
term for Igbo people and lyawo simply means wife or bride in Yoruba.
18 Jahilenci refers to the
jahiliyya epoch, which denotes the pre-Islamic period
of ignorance.
428
inferiorin statusto hers is the ajingi.These two membersnormally

lead a celibatelife uponthe assumptionof office.The officeof magajiyahas a historicaldevelopmentin Hausaland.In Daura,she used
to be the officialqueenmother,but neverthe actualmotherof the
reigningking(cf. Lange1996).She was normallyeitherwidowed,or
the wife of a leadingmallam.All royalprincessesunderwenta week
ritesin her compoundandunderher care
long marriagepreparatory
(Smith 1979:123).
In the bori cult, however,the selectionof magajiyaandajingi is

throughvotingby members.The resultis thenplacedthroughinvoand
catoryrites beforethe spiritsfor theirapprovalor disapproval,
where a candidateis rejected,anotheris elected throughthe same
process.Thecoronationof theirleader,however,is conductedby the
secularleaderof the town,whilefestivitiescontinueat the boridance
centre.The magajiyaandajingiareinterdependent
in the exerciseof
theirpowers,neithercan do withoutthe other.Theyperformor delegateall ritualfunctions,includingsacrifices.In additionto heroffice,
all visitorsand strangersin the town are referredto the magajiya's
compoundwhereshe makesthemcomfortable.
These are followedby the offices of the sarauniya,queen,and
the sarkin yan bori or andi, king of bori members. These are socio-
politicalportfolios,associatedmainlywith secularfunctions,as opposedto ritualpriestlyfunctions.Theycaterfor the well-beingof all

cult members.Thoughwell versedin the bori rituals,they exercise
only social and politicalroles, performingritualfunctionsonly as
deputies,i.e., in the absenceof the magajiyaand/orajingi.Theymay
also in additionperforminitiationrites for new members.It is thus
clearin the bori cult,thatthe priestlypositionis placedhigherthan
thepoliticalone. It maywell representa periodin history,whenboth
religiousandsecularpowerswereinitiallyvestedin one person,who
workedwith an assistant,such as the office of a sacredchief/king,
who was alwaysassistedby a highpriestor chiefpriest.Sucha practice was widespreadamongotherChadic-speakers,
andamongmost
ethnicgroupsof centralNigeriaduringthe pre-colonialperiod.
429
During the bori dance, a number of other functionariesperform

certain duties (probablyon an ad-hoc basis). A galadima (chairperson) is chosen to take care of any misunderstandingthat may arise
in the course of the dance. Uwar fage, the "mother(owner) of the
dancing field," takes charge of the dancing field. No dance may take
place without the paymentof a fee to her for its usage. She sees to the
cleaning of the bori dance field, scenting the air with sweet smelling
perfumes and incenses. A dan sanda (policeman) is chosen for the
dance. He takes out members who misbehave on the dancing field,
keeping them aside for a judge (alkali) to dispose of their cases.
Some Factors Responsible for the Female Domination of the Bori
Even though the proportionof women to men in the cult has been
exaggerated in some writings, the number of women still outnumber that of men. The reasons for this are not far-fetched.A typical
Hausa girl's life is that of absolute and blind obedience to the will
of her parentsand that of her husband.Marriageis her primarygoal
and station in life. It is her world, and should be the most valued
thing in her life, for from birth she is preparedfor nothing else. She
is marriedoff between the age of nine and fourteen; seventeen and
above is consideredtoo late for marriage(that should not be allowed
to happen!).19Her hand is very often given into marriagethrough
arrangementsby her parents,and sometimes to a man she may consider a total stranger.Her consent in such cases may be of little worth,
since parental choice of spouses for daughters- forced marriages
- are still common. She may be marriedto a man old enough to be
her father, and who may already be marriedto one or more wives.
19 The situation is
improvingnowadays, but a great deal still needs to be done,

since most Muslim female universityundergraduates(taking Jos as an example) are
marriedwomen (and these arefew). Most parentsstill see no need of providinghigher
education for their unmarrieddaughters.In some places, unmarriedundergraduates
are scornfully regardedas prostitutes!Only parents and husbandsof forsight allow
their daughters/wivesto pursue any education beyond high school, that is, if they
were initially allowed to go beyond primaryschool level.
430
Orphangirls in the past sufferedeven a worse fate, since they were

very oftengiven awaywithouta sadaaki(dowry).
A child-wifein a largelypolygynouscommunitymight initially
workcloselywith one of herolderco-wives,who maybe old enough
to havebeenhermother.20
Againstsucha grimbackdrop,anykindof
psychologicalfrustration
may breedandgrow.A youngmarriedgirl
thus
from
run
her
husbandto another,facingone problem
may
away
afterthe other,and in the extremekaruwanci,prostitution,may not
be left out. She may end up in the gidan mata, "houseof women"
or theboricult.Shemaystayin a marriageeventhough
(prostitution),
she no longerloves herhusbandor takethe optionof divorce.Early
marriageis thus one of the factorsgiving rise to the ratherlarge
numbersof bazawara,divorcees,amongthe Hausapeople.Addedto
this aretheburdenof polygyny,whichtendsto supportthe claimthat
the ratioof womento men amongthe Hausais indeedhigh, giving
womena populationthatis muchhigherthanthatof the men,21and
the problemsof masspovertyandmanychildren.
The bori cult, therefore,providesan avenuefor a womanto find
freedomandescapefroma chauvinistic,maledominatedworld.Gains
from andescapeinto the spiritworldaccountsfor whatthe woman
looses andlacksfromthe physical"mandominated"
world.Lackof
love in marriage,maltreatment
the
husband
and
lack
of satisfaction
by
in marriagemayforcea womanto leaveherhusband.Thismaypartly
be responsiblefor thefairlyhighdivorcerateamongHausaMuslims.
Moreover,a man has the absoluteright to saki uku, i.e. a Hausa
20 A numberof women who went
throughsuch an experience do not like thinking

about that period of servitude in their lives, while others recall with gratitudethe
kindness of their much older co-wives.
21 Male dominationof society has always ensuredthat census figures are falsified
in favourof men, because a greatdeal of them fear that if allowed, women politicians
may indeed rise up and seek political office in competitionwith men. It is the opinion
of this writerthat the genderissue in the northcomes only second to that of religion.
The late Muslim Nigerian cleric and orator, Shaikh AbubakarGummi stated once
that two things should not be allowed to happenin Nigeria: having a Christianor a
woman as president;both for him are unislamic.
431
Muslim rite whereby a man has to divorce his wife after verbally
expressing lack of love to her up to three times,22a situation which
gives rise to her becoming a divorcee, a bazawara. This may in turn
precipitateremarriage,a series of marriages and divorces, or in the
extreme,it may give birthto concubinageand karuwanci,prostitution.
Divorce initiates a process of severe stigmatisationof the woman, a
social stain which does not in any way affect her male counterpart.
Such a frustratedwoman may end up being a patient of a bori cult
and being initiated into the cult as a part of effecting a cure to her
ailment. Furthermore,the Islamic religion in Nigeria is totally male
dominated,in family structure,family life, practice of religion such
as public prayer,leadershipin the mosques and public preaching.In
a nutshell, women are not supposed to be seen or heard in public
where political, religious, and social issues are being discussed. They
may only do so at women forums with fellow women.
The bori message with regardto women and their lowly position
in society in general, and the plight of Hausa girls in particularis,
therefore,very clear: The Hausa society should be reorganised.The
implication of the marginalisationof the female is such that Hausa
bori spirits will always find sick, unloved, weary, frustratedgirls,
younger and older women to initiate. Psychologically, this makes a
great deal of sense. A definite way of making a slave out of a girl
is to marry her off without her consent before maturity,before she
biologically develops into a woman. She matures to a level of selfreasoning as a marriedwoman, to discover that she was cheated by
both her parents and husbandwhile she was still too young to think
for herself. That might have been the lot of her mother before her,
and that of a majorityof women in her culture.
Purdah (kulle in Hausa) is anotherlikely factor.Purdah is an institutionin NorthernNigerian Islam which secludes or confines women
22 Saki uku means "I
hereby release you three times". Once a husband tells his
wife on differentoccasions, "I have released you", up to three times, she must leave
his house, even if the couple still loves each other. He may only re-marryher after
she has marriedand divorced anotherman, however short-livedthat marriagemay
have been.
432
indoors.In pre-IslamictraditionalHausasociety,purdahwas a custom wherebythe nobilitymaintaineda haremunderconfinement,

with servantsand chaperonsattendingto the needs of each woman.
A majorityof menwhoenforcekulleon theirwiveserroneously
think
that it is an Islamictradition.It has threeforms:Permanentseclusion, kullen dinga, which is imposed on wives of emirs and mallams;
partialseclusion,kullentsari,in whicha womanmay go out of'purdah with her husband'spermission,but shouldbe chaperoned,and
preferablyby night;and seclusionof the heart(spiritualseclusion),
kullenzuci,a type of purdahpreferredby educatedwomen.The second type is the most commonform amongHausaMuslims,though
the practiceis loosingits significancein a difficulteconomy,where
every handis neededon deck, to keep the family ship afloat.It is
whilein purdahthatboringida,privateborior spiritpossession,may
occur(cf. Danfulaniet al.,forthcoming).
Theboringida, theprivateboriby womenin purdah,seeksfor the
"freedomof expressionfor women".Underpossession,a housewife
maybreakthroughtheethosof maledominanceby freelyexpressing
her feelings and frustrationstowardsand makingdemandson her
husband.She may even ask his forgivenessor rebukehim for illtreatmentand/orcruelty.Undernormalcircumstancesshe may not
approachher husbandin such a way. However,as a mediumunder
possession,it is a spiritthat is speakingto her husband,not the
womanherself.The husbandmustlistento andobey the divinevoice
of the spirit(Ibid.).Hencebori is not only a symbolic,but an actual
male dominance
way for womento breakthroughthe "macho-like"
of HausaMuslimsociety(DouglasandKaberry1969:290).
This trendis not peculiarto bori alone, but it is typical of the
conceptof witchcraftwhich is female in gender,structureand naturein most Africansocieties,unlikesorcerywhich is masculine.23
23 This does not in
any way meanthatonly womenparticipatein witchcraft,
whileonly malespracticesorcery.Thisreferenceis to the natureof the craftsonly.
the
However,in mostsocieties,sorceryis mainlya maleactivity,withmenpreparing
women
be
in
the
involved
sorcerous
poisons,though
accomplicesmay
application
of the poisonoussubstances.
433
Moreover,in new religious movements and Evangelical Pentecostal

Churchesin Africa today, women play prominentroles, and in some
cases are foundersof such movements (for example the late Prophetess AbiodunAkinsonwo of the AladuraChurchmovementin Nigeria,
and GaudenciaAoko, founderof the Maria Legio Churchin Kenya).
One of the ways a woman may find freedom and liberty is active involvement in the spiritualrealm where gender is of no consequence.
The authorhas observed good examples in spiritist Christianmovements in Nigeria and some other "white garment"(sutana) churches.
Influence of Islam on the Bori Cult
The conversion of some bori spirits into Islam and their transformation into Muslims has contributedto its survival in Northern
Nigeria. Moreover,bori members accept iskoki as creaturesof Allah.
This stems from the Koran which categorically states that jinn are
created by Allah. The iskoki belong to the category of spirits which
fall underjinn, aljanu and demons. Furthermore,the grouping of
iskokiintofarfaru, fair-complexionedones, regardedas Muslims and
bakaku, dark-complexionedones, seen as "pagans"exhibits Islamic
influence. This division in the spirit world which initially emanated
from the Maguzawa division of spirits into malevolent and benovelent, reflects the Islamic division of the world into dar-al-harb, the
abode of war (the world of pagans and infidels), and dar-al-Islam,
the abode of Islam (the Muslim Jama'at, community),just as a Jew
may differentiatehimself from gentiles.
Members of the bori cult believe that the spirits are subject to Allah's controland owe theirpower, existence and origin to Him. "Muslim spirits"recognise and acknowledge annabi prophetMohammed,
sallalehu alewa salah, as the seal of the prophets.Even thoughjinn
never die, they will appearbefore the judgement throne of Allah. All
Muslims, jinn, iskoki and human beings, who disobey Allah's laws
and the hadiths of the prophetwill be thrown into hell fire. "Muslim
spirits" also conduct life crisis rituals, such as birth, circumcision,
naming, and marriage,according to Islamic injunctions.
434
Theinfluenceof Islamis also evidencedin the bori initiationceremonies.Thisis exemplified,forexample,in theconstantinvocationof

the nameof Allah throughout
the initiationceremonyof a neophyte,
and in initiationsongs sang by the goge, the local guitarplayers
and singersusuallyinvitedon such occasions.Allah is called upon
to help in healingthe novice. The spiritsare askedin an exorcist
mannerto take away the disease in the name of Allah, if they do
not wish "to stay."24
If on the otherhand they wish to stay, they
are askedfor Allah's sake to heal and bless the horse or mare(cf.
Danfulaniet al., forthcoming).Again,the usage of ninety-ninedifferentherbsduringinitiationto effecthealingis an Islamicinfluence,
whichmaywell representthe ninety-ninebeautifulnames(attributes)
of Allah in Islam.The constantusage of Arabicwordsand phrases
such as Salama'alaikum!,"peace be upon you," and bisimillahi!, "in
the nameof Allah,"duringinitiationand in daily life is a clearevidenceof Arab/Islamicinfluences.Furthermore,

chickens,ramsand
cattle,with variousfeatherand skin colour,respectively,have today
largelyreplacedblackhe-goats,blackrams,blackdogs andthe occasionalhumanbeings (notablyalbinos)as sacrificialitems in the cult
(cf. Frobenius1913:541).The changein sacrificialitemsis necessary
becausedogs, he-goatsand humanbeings for sacrificeare haram,
in Islam,whateverskincolourtheymay
forbidden,andunacceptable
possess.Whereasrams,chickensandcows areacceptableto all Muslims, thoughtheymaybe sacrificedin a fashionsimilarto boriritual
sacrificesor even for the samepurposes.
24Sincean initiation
ceremony,girka(whichmeansto placea pot overthe fire),
is usuallya processof tamingand appeasingthe spiritsinto developingfriendship
witha patient,the numberof spiritsdisturbing
a patientis usuallydrastically
reduced
to a minimalnumber.In the rite of elimination,the initiatingpriestessinvitesthe
spiritsone by one, askingthemwhethertheywish to remainin the patientandbe
invokedduringinitiationceremoniesor not.Thisexplainsthe phrase"if theydo not
wishto stay".
435
Survival of MaguzawaCultureand Practice

Bori is an institutionthat largely serves as a preserverof aspects
of Hausa indigenous culture and religion. An examination of bori
and its cultural symbolism illuminates the operation of Hausa society, thought forms and patterns.In a nutshell, it reflects traditional
Hausaphilosophy and philosophising,theology and theologising, and
the general attitudeto life. The bori cult possesses a complex ritual
structurein which membershave been adequatelyschooled.
The bori cult is partand parcel of maguzanci,the Hausa traditional
religion, because it is born and nurturedwithin it. The belief that the
iskoki spirit beings can enter into union, bond, friendship or "yoke
together"with human beings which forms the crux of bori is a typical traditionalHausa concept. Hausa traditionalreligion, maguzanci,
cared for the iskoki spirits,especially their worship and venerationin
pre-jihadictimes. TraditionalHausa societies possessed taboos associated with iskoki spirits and prohibitions that protected the people
from incurring their anger. In Hausa mythology, there are numerous encounters between human beings and spirits both benevolent
and dangerous. It is believed that a meeting with the former may
make one rich, whereas an encounterwith the latter may bring death
or poverty. This belief in human interactionwith spirits among the
Hausa exists to contemporarytimes, even outside the cycle of bori
membership.Furthermore,it is not limited to bori alone, as different forms of the belief are found among many other Nigerian ethnic
groups, such as the belief in mammy-waterspirits and their human
lovers.
The bori itself is thus a preserverof Hausa traditionalreligion and
culturein an entirely hostile Islamic environment.Not even the jihad
of Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio,25the Toronkowateacher and reformer,
25 Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio launcheda
jihad (holy) war in Hausaland,beginning

in 1804 in Daura, which was to claim most of Hausalandand parts of Centraland
WesternNigeria into the Sokoto Caliphate,the Islamic empire which resulted from
it.
436
whichwas aimedinitiallyat purifyingand purgingIslamin Hausaland of all traditionalelementsand practiceswhichblendedwith it

for centuries,was able to totallyquenchthe fire of maguzanci,the
Hausatraditionalreligion,and the bori cult whichconstitutesa part
of it.
Theboriculthas stronglysurvivedin Hausaland
becauseof its contributionsto the areaof alternativemedicine.Beingmostlymedicine
men andwomen,spiritmediums,and thereforediviners,bori members constitutea reservoirand depositoryof a soundknowledgeof
medicinalherbs,leaves,barks,flowers,and fruits,theirpharmaceutical propertiesandrecipes.This singularcontribution
is perhapsthe
strongestfactorresponsiblefor the popularityand resilienceof the
cultin mostplaces.Theinitialtypicalattitudeof ChristiansandMuslims, unfamiliarwith bori, even traditionalmedicine,is thatof utter
contempt,disdainandapathy.Yetwhenall effortsto solve a crisisor
cure a healthproblemfail, they very oftenresortto consultingthem
and their sometimesunhygienicand unorthodoxhealingmethods,
even if they have to consultthem secretly.Thus some HausaMuslim peasants,noblesandtheirkings offermoneyand some presents
to bori cult membersin orderto obtainlocal medications,protective, productiveand destructivecharms,amuletsand talismans,referredto in Hausaas guruandlaya. Thesecharmswhichstill enjoy
wide patronagein Hausacommunitiescan be tracedback for hundredsof yearsas partof the richculturalheritageof the Maguzawa.
In fact, pre-jihadicHabe rulerslike Sarki Yaji of Kano were accusedof these samecrimesagainstIslam,since it was saidthatthey
were frequentpatronisersof the "pagan"(Maguzawa)kurmimarket of Kano, wherethey partookin "pagan"sacrifices,worshipof
the deitiesand ate sacrificialmeat,whichincludedthose of animals
consideredharam,and thereforeprohibitedby Islam.Today,many
Muslimsandnon-Muslimsopenlypatronisethe cult while the Muslim clerics who preachagainstthemhave madelittle impact,since
neitherthey themselveshave succeededin eradicatingthe cult nor
have theirmembersstoppedpatronisingthem in huge numbersfor
theirmedicines.
437
The similaritybetween the Arab and Hausa world view and culture
is yet anotherfactor that has aided the survival of the bori cult, and
indeed Maguzawa traditionalreligion. The Hausa iska, and the Arab
aljan refer to spirit(s).Both societies before and after the introduction
of Islam believe in the existence of countless numbersof spiritforces.
Therefore, when Islam was introducedin Hausalandand the Hausa
discovered that Islam acceptedthe existence of spirits, i.e. the aljanu,
they quickly dressed their spirits, iskoki, in Arab garb and regalia,
so they could look exactly like Arab spirits. Thus the words aljanu
and iskoki (pl.), aljan and iska (sing.) are used synonymously or
interchangeablyby the Hausaand non-Muslimsto referto jinn/spirits.
The initial tolerance of Islam to the traditionalreligions of Africa
has accounted for the survival of the bori cult and the maguzanci.
Trimingham (1968) in his theory for the causal factors of massconversionof Africansto Islam and Christianityin sub-SaharanAfrica
opined thatIslam gained more from the drift of convertsin the face of
the collapse of the structuresthatproppedup traditionalinstitutionsas
a result of the introductionof rapid forces of change because Islam
tolerated traditionalreligious practices (cf. Ikenga-Metuh 1986:259
ff., Horton 1971:85 and Danfulani 1992:10 ff.). This is what IkengaMetuh (1986, 1987) describes in the works of Triminghamas the
"shatteredmicrocosm"and in the work of Horton as the intellectualist theory.
The British scholar HumphreyFisher lent further support to this
position when he explainedthatIslam takes its membersthroughthree
majorstages of conversion.He explains that the first stage of the conversion of adherentsof traditionalreligion to Islam is the quarantine,
a stage when a lone Muslim missionary or trader settles and starts
preachingin a given area. After the quarantinestage of the introduction of Islam by a lone mallam or a group of faithfuls, the period
of mixing follows. The mixing stage is an incubation period which
allows the convert to blend old traditionalways with the new Islamic
teachings and rites, as s/he gradually acquires more ritualisticpractices of his/her new found faith, Islam. This may continue for a long
time (as it did in Hausalandunderthe Habe rulers, who mixed Islam
438
with"pagan"
Maguzawapractices).Onlya reformistmovement,such
as ajihad, terminatesthe stage,andplungesthe new convertintothe
orbitof his/hernew religion- Islam.This may be led by a sheikh,
imamor madhiwho in hisjihad attemptsto reconcilethe peoplewith
Allah.Withreform,the convertnow terminatesand seversall links
with the old indigenousor "pagan"religion.Thiswe see clearlyfulfilledin the lives andministriesof threeWestAfricanIslamicreformers: SheikhUsmanDan Fodioin Hausaland,SheikhSekouAhmadu
in Masinaand SheikhUmar,the Torkulorleaderof Mali. This is a
of Islamin Africa(Lewis 1969:39-60passim).
typicalcharacteristic
Lewis assertsthatfor as long as traditionalbeliefs can be adjusted
in such a way that they fall into place withinMuslimschemesin
whichthe absolutenessof Allahremainsunquestionable,
Islamdoes
not ask its new adherentsto abandontheiraccustomedconfidencein
all mysticalforces.
Theboricultitself has not remainedstatic.Fromits daysas a part
of maguzanci,Hausatraditionalreligion,it has adaptedto changes.
This dynamicnatureof the religionhas so far contributed
to its imWiththe demiseof a greatchunkof Maguzawarelimortalisation.
the
bori
cult has adapteditself to the situationwithinwhichit
gion,
finds itself. Withthe plantingof Islam in Hausalandthe bori spirits were exposedand introducedto Islamicreligiouspractices.The
iskokiconversionto Islamthus fittedproperlywithinthe contextof
Islam(Ottenberg1960:477-485passim).Withthe conquestof Fulani
jihadistsfrom1804,borispiritsadoptedFulaninames,makingit possiblefor FulaniMuslimspiritsto fit well intothe cult.The cultagain
reflected
adapteditself to the comingof Europeans,a characteristic
in theirinteractionwith otherethnicgroups.
Thisdynamicandflexibleabilityof the boricultto adaptto historical circumstances
contributed
to its survival.In factthis dexterityon
the partof the bori cult has provento be its savingqualityandtrait.
It is a truismthatIslamdoes nottolerateimageworship.It condemns
ancestorworshipand idolatryin all theirramifications,
and has no
at
all
its
in
of
Bori
cult
members
also do
images
places worship.
not have images in their sacredplaces, since the Maguzawa-Hausa
439
indigenous religion curved no images of its deities, ancestors and

spirits, because spirits, the focus of its worship, are said to be invisible, and when visible can adapt any form or shape. This lack of
images in theirplaces of worshipand in the cult as a whole has aided
its survival, since Muslims cannot out-rightly condemn the practice
based on the allegation that it is tsafi, "idol worship".In order to fit
within Islam, and to be accepted as such, bori as a cult discarded
the use of idols, a concept present in its primary form, as seen in
early Babushean Maguzawa religious practice of the Tsomburburai
fame. Thus even though not endorsed, it is tolerated since it has no
images.
Though most Muslims treatbori members with the air of indifference, arrogantcontempt, or even disdainful rejection, all bori members claim to be Muslims themselves, observing as do their spirits
all Islamic obligations and injunctions. They celebrate all Muslims
festivals, perform the daily prayers, observe the rahmadan (days of
fasting), and keep the other pillars of Islam. Muslims, therefore,find
it increasingly difficult to alienate and condemn them, and are thus
forced, even if reluctantly,to tolerate them.
On asking bori members to advance reasons for the persistence
of their cult, besides the medical factor, which nearly all of them
mentioned as a service they render to society, they also mentioned
social factors. The bori cult, accordingto one of them, is very useful
to any town. Most visitors and strangersto the town ask for a bori
centre, because the cult and its members, both humans and spirits
welcome visitors. This is one of the chief functions of the magajiyar bori. Therefore, all emirs support the bori cult, according to
members, because they help their towns to grow.26The majority of
Muslims, however, condemn bori cult as tsafi, "paganism",and see
26 Hannah
Audu, Old bori woman (a memberfor more thanthirtyyears), 70 years

old, interviewedin Dass Town of Bauchi State, 15th/9/1990 by Shuaibu(1990: 201,
footnote 7). This sweeping statementwill definitely not be accepted by a majorityof
Muslims, in NorthernNigeria, however,Hassan and Shuaibu(1962) state that during
the period 1804 to 1944, the bori cult was practicedin the premises of the Emir's
palace in Abuja, being driven out during the reign of Abubakar.The symbol of the
440
it as havingnothingto do with Islam (Sule 1973). In theirbookA

Chroniclerof Abuja(1962) the authors,HassanandShuaibudescribe
bori as nothingbut a cult of beggarsand prostitutes,who use their
and the artof spiritpossessionas an excuse for sexual
performance
orgies,while Madauci(1968), as alreadyobserved,simplyrefersto
it as "devilpossession".
Conclusion:An Analysis of the Factorsfor the Survival of the Bori
Cult
Wehaveseenthatborispiritspossessa flexiblecharacterwhichenabledthemto adaptto religiousandhistoricalchangesin Hausaland.

The bori phenomenathusreflectsthe Hausaattitudetowardsvisitors
and theirinteractionwith them.Traditionally,
the Hausavalue and
in
their
Chiefs
midst.
sometimes
protectstrangers
quarrelamongst
themselvesbecauseeachone wouldlike an importantvisitorto settle
in his town, the powerof a Hausachief being symbolisedby the
numberof people underhim. This is illustratedin the bori cult as
all spirits- Muslimsand Christian,Fulaniand European,Berom,
Ngas, Nyamiriand Yoruba- find accommodationin an initially
purelyHausatraditionalcult. The bori cult thus symbolisesa part
of the historicalprocess,philosophyand growthof the indigenous
religionof the Hausa.It emphasisesthe continuityof the Hausaculturalheritageof hospitality,warmth,friendship,accommodation
and
cheerfulacceptanceof visitorsno matterwherethey come from,in
its totalinnocenceof pureAfricanness.
The "avoidanceculture"adaptedby the spiritsandthe patternsof
theirjokingrelationshipis a carryover frombothHausaandFulani
cultures.The Hausa-Fulaniwomanavoidsher first son becauseof
kunya,shyness.The child is usuallyadoptedby a relation,suchthat
the child is treatedby its parentsas a total strangerand is avoided.
Theparentsmaynevercall thechildby name.Thepoliticalandsocial
institutionsof the Hausaarealso reflectedin thoseof the borispirits.
cult in the palacethen was a stone,two feet long and a foot wide, andpregnant
womenofferedsacrificesto the stonefor safe delivery.
441
Each community of the spirits has its own king. They live in twelve
or fourteen compounds, with a hierarchyof officials. Even the leper
spirit has political authority,since it is said to be the gatekeeper at
Jangaru,the city of the spirits, and no spirit may live in Jangaru
without his permission. This symbolises anothersocial phenomenon
of Hausa culture, where lepers and other handicappedpersons are
seen at city gates begging for alms. At Jangaruit is thus the leper
spirit who opens and closes the gate, as it obtains on earth.27
Each Hausa community has its sets of leaders such as the Sarkin
Maharba, the chief of the hunters, the Sarkin Noma, the chief of
the Farmers, the Sarkin Makidda, the chief of the music makers,
the Sarkin Pawa, the chief of the butchers,etc. Bori spirits are also
said to possess such leaders. The iskoki spirits are reportedto have
the best and wisest judges, thus bori cult members do not go to
secularcourts, unless invited by non-members.A court session of the
spirits is made up of five popularspirit kings: Sulaimanu(Solomon),
Biddareni, Sarkin Fagam, Sarkin Agam Adamu, and Mallam Alhaji,
the sixth being Alkali, a judge or magistrate,would form a quorum.
Bori membersusually accept the verdictof iskokispirits (given under
mediumistic trancepossession) as final.
Thus bori reflects some Hausa traditionalvalues. It provides us
with positional meaning, in that bori is a symbol of the totality of
Hausa culturalelements, beliefs and institutionsin society, from before the introductionof Islam, and by adaptationdown to the contemporaryperiod. Rites have a purpose in human society, thus the
telic structureof the bori rites has affected the people to the extent
that the bori rites have simply refused to die in the face of Islam.
Thus the persistence of the bori cult as "an island" in the "sea" of
Hausa-FulaniMuslims, centuriesafter iskokiworshipand maguzanci,
Hausa traditionalreligion, have supposedly been crushed by Islam,
shows that bori rites have had a purpose for and profoundinfluence
on the lives of the people who profess it.
27
He is the first to arrive and to leave the city gate, morning and evening, in
search of alms as a means of livelihood.
442
CompetitionoverlimitedmedicalresourcesbetweenmallamMusof "erasure"(cf. El-Tom1985,

lim healersthroughadministration
1987)andborispirit-mediums
(cf. Abdalla1991:40)led to the strong
of the bori as an unislamicreversionto thejahiliyyah
condemnation
the
It is howevertoleratedas a partof wasa
mallams.28
periodby
and
andal'ada, i.e., traditionaltheatricalentertainment
performance
festivalplay (Ibid.).
Theestablishment
of Islamin Hausalandafterthe fifteenthcentury
in
initiatedsignificantpolitical,economicandsocial transformations
the society which adverselyaffectedgenderand cross-genderrelaof womenin a society where
tions, particularlythe marginalisation
an
once
almost
they
enjoyed
equalsocial,politicalandreligiousstatus with men, and in some instances,even higher.The success of
the Sokotojihad furtheraccentuatedandconcretisedthe social stratificationof society, both verticallyand horizontally(Ibid.:41, cf.
1981:170),withwomenincreasinglyfindingthemselvestheeconomic
andjuralminorsof theirmalecounterparts.
Arabicandits intrinsicreandpolitics
lationshipwithreligion,socialknowledge,administration
all overnightbecametheprivilegeddomainof mento theexclusionof
women(Ibid.,cf. 1981:132f.). The bori cult couldbe viewedin this
senseas a vehiclefor redressingsocialinjusticein an Islamizedmale
dominatedsociety.Its flexibilityanddexterityenableit to accommodate changesand adaptitself to presentreligiousrealities,both at
ideologicalandpracticallevels. At the ontologicaland supernatural
level subtlechangesoccurin theirworldview, with the all embracing omnipotent,almightyAllah replacingthe old MaguzawaDeity,
Mai Sama, Ubangiji lyayengiji, the owner of heaven and the Lord of
Lords,who was a moreor less remoteGod not directlyinvolvedin

the affairsof humansbeings.
28 This does not mean that the author deems bori as
Islamic, since it is clearly
an extension of Hausa traditionalreligion, however, such a competition and rivalry

hightensthe ambivalentrelationshipbetween the two, rangingfrom extremerejection
by the clergy to open or secret tolerance by those who appreciateHausa tradition
and care for its preservation.
443
The hierarchyof the iskoki,the bori spirits, was injected with new
powerful Muslim spirits such as Alhaji Mallam (the pilgrim), Almajiri (the disciple), Dan Mallam (the son of the teacher), Waziri (the
vizier), etc. A SarkinAljanu, king of the spirits, emerged in Jangaru
(the city of thejinn), just as there is a SarkinMusulmi,king for every
Muslim Jama'at community. In Nigeria, for instance, the Sultan of
Sokoto is the spiritualhead of the Muslims in the area roughly belonging to the Sokoto Caliphate.The SarkinAljanu, king of the jinn,
is believed to conduct court activities, with a waziri (vizier), council
of chiefs, dogarai (police force), court mallams, etc. Impersonating
"Muslim"spirits tends to display circumscribedMuslim characterisation during possession, such as dressing neatly, eating lawful foods,
not smearingtheir faces with faeces, and avoiding acts prohibitedby
Islam. Bori possession ceremonies are as a rule not held during the
period of the rahmadan(the days of fasting) when all spirits according to Muslims are kept in captivity because it is a holy period (Ibid.:
42, cf. Madauci 1968:115).
The bori cult successfully reconciled Hausa indigenousworld view
with Islamic cosmology, giving a prominentplace to Allah, such that
for bori members, as is the case with Muslims, everything depends
on the will of Allah - life and death, wealth and poverty,health and
sickness, all crises, afflictions and critical events in life. All occurrences, good or bad, are accepted as part of human life and Allah's
will and divine/predestinedplan for an individualor community.For
bori members,Allah is the ultimate power, even though He does not
meddle directly in petty human daily affairs. Rather,His agents, the
angels andjinn-iskoki-spiritsregularlycarryout His assignments,for
they cannot act on their own. Thus God-Allah for the Maguzawa
is still somewhat a remote deity whose role in human affairs has
been taken over by iskoki or bori spirits, though He may seem to
be more active than the Ubangiji of the pre-Islamic era (Ibid., cf.
Greenberg1947:64). However, the iskoki spirit forces are by nature
more or less independentof Allah's will and these belligerent spirits, who possess both malevolent and benevolentpowers are regarded
as the cause of all fortunes or misfortunes in the Maguzawa world.
444
These ambivalentspiritforces thereforecannotbe controlledonly

by referenceto the will of Allah as the HausaMuslimswill do, but
also throughmanipulation
of theirpowersto solve the neverending
is bori
problemsof humanity.Oneof thesemediumsof manipulation
trancepossession.Womenexploitthe boringida, the privatebori,to
escapetemporarilyfrommale chauvinism,cruelty,and domination.
The lofty positionof womenin the cult shouldnot be mistakenfor
andloose behaviorduringthe bori danceshouldnot be
prostitution,
ofequatedwith nudedancing,sex orgiesanddauduhomosexuality,
ten associatedwithit. In fact,mostboriwomenareresponsiblehouse
wives, faithfulto theirspouses(Shuaibu1990).Loose living,prostitutionandmorallaxityis characteristic
of the societyin whichthey
find themselves,not neccessarilybecauseof the bori phenomenon,
for this is a featureassociatedwithearlymarriage,high divorcerate
and polygyny.Dauduhomosexualrelationshipsfoundin some sections of Hausasociety is not a particularcharacteristic
of the bori
cult.
Finally,the strongpersistenceof the bori cult in Hausalandand
beyondis a reality,anda numberof people still dependon the bori
cult for medicalaid in a countrywhereonly a semblanceof a biomedicalhealthcare deliverysystemexists in ruralareas,and only
for thosewho can affordtheirexorbitantcost in urbanareas.In summary,therefore,the majorfactorsfor the survivalof the bori cult in
Hausalandarethree:the role of women,traditional
medicineandthe
abilityof the cult to hibernateundertheumbrellaof Islamicpractices
andworldview. Thusfromall indications,the bori cult will flourish
in Hausalandfor a long time,as an islandin the midstof a turbulent
andhostilesea of Islam.
Dept. of Religious Studies
Facultyof Arts
Universityof Jos
PMB2084
Jos, Nigeria
UMARHABILADADEMDANFULANI
445
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Iliyasu-Yero, A.A. 1991. Maguzawa TraditionalReligion: A Case Study of Kano.
BA. Long Essay, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of Jos, Nigeria.
Isichei, E. (ed.). 1982. Studies in the History of Plateau State. London: Macmillan.
Ikenga-Metuh,E. (ed.). 1986 The Gods in Retreat.Continuityand Change in African
Religions. Enugu: FDP.
Ikenga-Metuh,E. 1987. ComparativeStudies of African Religions. Onitsha: Imico
Publication.
Ikenga-Metuh,E. 1987a. 'The ShatteredMicrocosm: A CriticalSurvey of Explanations of Conversionin Africa."In: K.H. Petersen (ed.). Religion, Development
and African Identity.Uppsala: ScandinavianInstituteof African Studies.
Krusius,P. 1915. "Die Maguzawa."Anthropologie42.
Lange, D. 1996. 'The Pre-IslamicDimension of Hausa History."In: Saeculum, 161203.
Last, M. 1976. 'The Presentationof Sickness in a Communityof non-MuslimHausa."
In: J.B. London (ed.), Social Anthropologyand Medicine. London: Academic
Press.
Last, M. 1979. "Some Economic Aspects of Conversionin Hausaland(Nigeria)."In:
N. Levtzion (ed.), Conversionin Islam. NY & London.
Lewis, I.M. (ed.). 1969. Islam in TropicalAfrica. Hutchinson.
Madauci, Y.I. 1968. Hausa Customs. Zaria:NorthernNigerian Pub. Co.
Monfouga-Nicolas, J. 1967. Les juments des dieux: rites de possession et condition
feminine en pays hausa. Niamey: Etudes Nigeriennes Pub. 21.
Ottenberg,S. & P. (ed.). 1960. Cultureand Societies of Africa. New York:Random
House.
Paden, J. 1973. Religion and Political Culturein Kano. California:CUP.
Palmer, R. 1967. Sudanese Memoirs, being mainly Translationsof a Number of
Arabic Manuscriptsrelating to the Centraland WesternSudan. London: Frank
Cass.
Shuaibu, A. 1990. Bori Cult: The Survival of Hausa TraditionalReligion in an
Islamic Environment.MA. Diss., Departmentof Religious Studies, University
of Jos, Nigeria.
447
Shuaibu, A. 1993. 'The Bori Phenomenon:A Spirit Possession Cult in Northern

Nigeria."Bulletin of AfricanReligion and Culture(BARC.), 3 (2) 47-62, April.
Pub. National Association for African TraditionalReligion.
Smith, M.G. 1979. The Affairs of Daura: History and Change in a Hausa State,
1800-1958, Berkeley: Universityof CaliforniaPress.
Sule, Y.M. 1973. Bori a Kasar Hausa. A Paper Presented during a Hausa Week in
Bayero University Kano.
Tremearne,A.J.N. 1914. The Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon Dancing in West
and North Africa (reprint.1927). London: Crantonand Ousely.
Trimingham,J.S. 1968. The Influence of Islam upon Africa. London and Harlow:
Longman and Green.
Zuesse, E.M. 1979. Religion, Spiritualityand Thoughtof TraditionalAfrica. Chicago
and London: University of Chicago Press.
BOOK REVIEWS
FRITZGRAF (Ed.), Einleitung in die lateinische Philologie. Series: Einleitungin die Altertumswissenschaft- StuttgartandLeipzig:B.G. Teubner Verlagsgesellschaft1997 (X + 725 p.) ISBN 3-519-07434-6 (cloth).
In his foreword the editor Fritz Graf outlines the programof the book,
which is to presentthe classics from the perspectiveof culturalscience. This
anthropologicalturn does not only provide for the studentof latin literature,
to whom the book is primarilyaddressed, the necessary informationabout
Roman culture, but also for the student of the history of religions different
helpful introductionsto the domains, where she or he requiresknowledge
abouthow to deal with the sources and how to understandthe culturalcontext
of the subject,such as for example the basics of textualcriticism,epigraphics,
numismatics,and archeology;the history of the latin languageand literature;
Roman history, law, and philosophy. All these - and others not mentioned
- are writtenby well known scholars in a comprehensiveway.
The chapter about Roman religion is divided into three parts: on "Republican Time" (by John Scheid), the "ImperialTime" (by Mary Beard),
and "Christianityfrom the beginnings to Late Antiquity" (by Christoph
Markschies).John Scheid convincingly works out the new approachto Romanritual,seen in its culturaland social context andpolitical framing.Paying
special attentionto the organizationalforms of religious practice,he aims to
show how religion actuallyworks, thus giving a picturewhich takes into account the complexity of a polytheistic system. The reviewerwould like to go
one step furtherby makinguse of the literarytraditionfor arrivingat a better
understandigof Roman myth, thus illuminating the meanings and contents
of religious practice. What she misses in the first part - some indications
to the symbolic values of the festival calendar- should be presupposedto
the second, where MaryBeardrepresentsvery lucidly the developmentof the
emperor'scultic venerationas well as the insertion of dynastic festivals in
the traditionalcalendar,yet omitting all those features of the imperial time
which had already been part of republicanreligion. These two parts being
neverthelesswell integrated,the third part of the chapterabout Roman religion - dealing in an informativeway with the rise of christianity- is rather
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Book reviews
449
monolithic,reflectingas it does the scientific situation:With rareexceptions,

questionsconcerningthis subjectare discussed inside the area of theology.
To summarize:the "Introductionto Latin Philology" provides for us a
large amount of useful informationeasily accessible; at the same time it
mirrorsthe state of affairs in the development of classics. It is our task to
follow the admonitionsof the editor- aiming at an integralview of Roman
culture.
Firstenbergstr.49
D-78467 Konstanz
DOROTHEA
BAUDY
CARL-A. KELLER,Ramakrishnaet la voie de l'amour Editions 1997 (305 p.) ISBN 2-227-32505-4 (paper).
Paris: Bayard
Ramakrishna(abbreviatedin the following as R) was undoubtedlyone of

the most fascinating examples (he was too extraordinaryto be described as
representative,too typically Hindu to be called eccentric) of 19th century
Indian (Bengali) sprituality.He was not a "fool of God" - a phenomenon
well known in western religious history - but, as Keller so well puts
it, the "madmanof God". The literatureon him is immense, but a short,
scholarly and historicallyreliable account has been sadly lacking. This has
at last been provided by Prof. Keller's scrupulouslyobjective and critical
whilst undisguisedly admiring study. Keller evinces a keen eye for, and
understandingof, both the socio-culturalrealities of 19th cent. Bengal (and
Calcutta!) and the individual psychology of his subject. R. hit western
consciousness via Vivekananda(1893), and the literaturegenerated by the
latterreached a first peak with Romain Rolland (1929) but continuedto e.g.
Aldous Huxley (and his conception of mysticism), ChristopherIsherwood
(1965) and Toynbee (in his Forewordto C.A. Stark'sGod of All, 1974, R. is
praised as the greatest and "comprehensive"apostle of the unique message
of religious plurality,a view which Keller corrects and sets right). In fact,
the quest of the "historicalR" behind the Vivekanandascreen is by now a
legitimate subjectof research.
As a Christianand the son of Indiamissionariesthe authorevinces (one is
temptedto say shares)a profoundunderstandingof what mystical spirituality
is about. He also has enough critical sense and Indianist knowledge to
deplore the somewhat westernized viz. "christianized"and to some extent
bowdlerized overtones of the English 1055 pp. version (The Gospel [!] of
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
450
Book reviews
Sri R.) of the original5 vol. Bengalistandardaccountby Mahendranath

Gupta,writingunderthe sign "Ma"andM. (The "western"overtonescan
also be discernedin the Englishversion[1952], withForewordby Aldous
Huxley,of Sri R. The GreatMaster,pp. 944, by Swami Sararadananda,
"a directdisciple",whereR. is describedas "the Messiahof Bengal").
The socio-cultural
backgroundis highlightedby the fact thatmanyof the
and primefacie
founder-members
of the very different,"modernizing",
R.
felt
attracted
to
His
"Mother"
(i.e., Kali)
incompatibleBrahmo-Samaj
mysticismtogetherwith his non-consummated
marriageand preference
of young disciplesare of coursea special golden gift to psychoanalysts.
for
Kellertakesdue notebutsensiblysubstitutesthe term"homoeroticism"
"homosexuality".
R. wasnot,at first,enthusiastically
receivedevenin his ownenvironment
where the Shankaraversionof advaita Hinduismwas much in favour,
saw to it thatR. was seen
especiallyamongintellectuals,andVivekananda
in thatlight.As earlyas 1898,Max Miillerrejectedthis interpretation
and
A
R.
as
bhakta
excellence.
hundred
later
the
years
par
presented
great
andconsiderably
C.A.Kellerdefinitelysubstantiates,
deepens,MaxMiiller's
insight.And this bringsus to the chief meritof the book. It is not only a
studyof R., his background,
personalityand impact,but one of the most
the
contributions
to
study of bhaktias such (hereperhapsthe
important
author'sChristian
background
mayhavehelped).Insteadof criticisma regret
maybe voiced:mostreadersaboutIndianreligionandspirituality
nowadays
readEnglishratherthanFrench.It is a pity thatthis insightfulstudyis not
availableto them.
TheHebrewUniversityof Jerusalem
Dept.of Comparative
Religion
Israel91904
Jerusalem,
R.J. ZwI WERBLOWSKY
AHARONR.E. AGUS, Hermeneutic Biography in Rabbinic Midrash. The

Body of this Death and Life. (Studia Judaica, Forschungen zur Wis-
senschaftdes Judentums,16) - Berlin,New York:Walterde Gruyter

1996(242 p.) ISBN:3-11-015067-0DM 168.00.
Startingfromthenatureof the literarycompositionof Rabbinicliterature,
the authorrefersto its doublecharacteristics:
its unreliabilityas historical
likea knittedgarment.The"logic"
andits natureas connectedness
biography,
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
Book reviews
451
of the (not literary,but hermeneutic)connection is not to be found in the

"parts"of the whole, like an academic work. Rabbinic literature cannot
be selected in topics, themes or historical events, but in the whole per se.
This considerationleads him to an other point of research,the "hermeneutic
biography". His intention is to "try to break out the boundaries of the
individual texts by searching for the ever-large patterns to which, in my
opinion, the texts belongs... The results of my efforts here tends to be a
montage,or a montagemade up of montage"(p. 2).
The book consists of two "prologues"(pp. 4-11: the crisis of will; pp. 1218: the fear of nothingness), two main parts (I, pp. 19-80: R. Eleazar ben
R. Simeon ben Yohai and his Wife or: the Body of this Death; II, pp. 81201: the latterof R. Phinehasben Yairor: the Body of Life) and finally two
"epilogues"(pp. 202-231: the temptationunto nothingness;p. 232: when I
want, you do not want). Indexesof biblical Sources,Rabbinicsources, Sages,
and of subjectsroundoff the work.
Agus' book has little to do with a "classical" research on Rabbinic
hermeneutics,ratherwants to be seen as an attemptto imitate the Rabbinic
characteristicstyle. According to the author,imitation and not (scientific)
observationis the key to understandthe Rabbinic mind behind and within
the text (texture). Understandingis a little achievement if not bound with
contemplation.To sum up the theological and philosophicalaim of the book:
"religiousman's knowledge of God wells up in an ambivalencewhere even
terrorand yearningcannotravel the threadof being and not-being"(p. 3).
Seminarfur Judaistik
Halle Wittenberg
Martin-Luther-Universitit
Reichardtstr.2
D-06114 Halle
GIUSEPPEVELTRI
Periodicals
MonumentaNipponica,54 (1999), 1.
HISTORYOFRELIGIONS,
38 (1999), 3
John Monroe, Making the Seance "Serious": Tables Tourantes and
Second EmpireBourgois Culture,1853-1861
Jonathan S. Walters,Suttas as History: Four Approachesto the Sermon
on the Noble Quest (Ariyapariyesanasutta)
David Pinault, Shia LamentationRituals and Reinterpretationsof the
Doctrine of Intercession:Two Cases from Modem India
Book Reviews
Books
(Listing in this section does not precludesubsequentreviewing)
Wilkinson-Weber,Clare M., EmbroideringLives. Women's Work and Skill
in the LucknowEmbroideryIndustry- Albany,NY, State Universityof
New YorkPress, 1999, 239 p., US$ 22.95, ISBN 0-7914-4088-5 (pbk.).
Li, Chenyang,The Tao Encountersin the West. Explorationsin Comparative
Philosophy - Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, 1999,
234 p., US$ 19.95, ISBN 0-7914-4136-9 (pbk.).
Parker,Josph D., Zen Buddhist LandscapeArts of Early MuromachiJapan
(1336-1573) - Albany, NY, State University of New York Press, 1999,
302 p., US$ 24.95, ISBN 0-7914-3910-0 (pbk.).
Csikszentmihalyi,Mark and Philip J. Ivanhoe (Eds.), Religious and Philosophical Aspects of the Laozi - Albany, NY, State University of New
YorkPress, 1999, 276 p., US$ 23.95, ISBN 0-7914-4112-1 (pbk.).
Merkur,Dan, Mystical Moments and Unitive Thinking- Albany,NY, State
University of New York Press, 1999, 188 p., US$ 21.95, ISBN 0-79144064-8 (pbk.).
Houseman,Michael and Carlo Severi, Naven or the OtherSelf. A Relational
Approachto Ritual Action. Series: Studies in the History of Religions.
NUMEN Book Series, ed. by H.G. Kippenbergand E.T. Lawson, 79 BrillNV,Leiden(1999)
? Koninklijke
NUMEN,Vol.46
453
Leiden, New York, Koln, E. J. Brill, 1998, 325 p., US$ 106.00, ISBN
90-04-11220-0 (cloth).
Molendijk,Arie L. and PeterPels (Eds.), Religion in the Making.The Emergence of the Sciences of Religion. Series: Studies in the History of Religions. NUMENBook Series, ed. by H.G. Kippenbergand E.T. Lawson,
80 - Leiden, New York, Koln, E. J. Brill, 1998, 318 p., US$ 115.00,
ISBN 90-04-11239-1 (cloth).
Idinopulos, Thomas A. and Brian C. Wilson (Eds.), What is Religion?
Origins, Definitions, and Explanations. Series: Studies in the History
of Religions. NUMEN Book Series, ed. by H.G. Kippenbergand E.T.
Lawson, 81 - Leiden, New York, Koln, E. J. Brill, 1998, 180 p., US$
70.75, ISBN 90-04-11022-4 (cloth).
Robbins, Jill, Altered Reading. Levinas and Literature- Chicago and
London, The University of Chicago Press, 1999, 185 p., ? 33.50, ISBN
0-226-72112-4 (cloth); ? 12.75, ISBN 0-226-72113-2 (pbk.).
Doniger, Wendy, Splitting the Difference. Gender and Myth in Ancient
Greece and India - Chicago and London, The University of Chicago
Press, 1999,376 p., ? 43.95, ISBN 0-226-15640-0 (cloth);? 15.95, ISBN
0-226-15641-9 (pbk.).
Hiltebeitel,Alf, RethinkingIndia'sOralandClassicalEpics. Draupadlamong
Rajputs,Muslims, and Dalits - Chicago and London, The University
of Chicago Press, 1999, 560 p., ? 47.95, ISBN 0-226-34050-3 (cloth);
? 23.25, ISBN 0-226-34051-1 (pbk.).
Calame, Claude, The Poetics of Eros in Ancient Greece - Princeton,NJ,
PrincetonUniversity Press, 1999, 213 p., $ 35.00, ISBN 0-691-04341-8
(cloth).
Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (Ed.), Asian Religions in Practice.An IntroductionPrinceton,NJ, PrincetonUniversity Press, 1999, 175 p., $ 19.95, ISBN
0-691-00513-3 (pbk.).
Tanabe,Jr.,George J. (Ed.), Religions of Japanin Practice- Princeton,NJ,
PrincetonUniversityPress, 1999, 564 p., $ 75.00, ISBN 0-691-05788-5
(cloth); $ 19.95, ISBN 0-691-05789-3 (pbk.).
Bovon, Francois/ Ann GrahamBrock/ ChristopherR. Matthews(Eds.), The
ApocryphalActs of the Apostles. HarvardDivinity School Studies -
454
Cambridge,MA and London, HarvardUniversityPress (Distributedfor
the HarvardCenter for World Religions), 1999, 394 p., ? 21.95, ISBN
0-945454-17-1 (cloth); ? 15.50, ISBN 0-945454-18-X (pbk.).
Johnston,SarahIles, Restless Dead. Encountersbetween the Living and the

Dead in Ancient Greece- Berkeley,Los Angeles, London,Universityof
CaliforniaPress, 1999, 329 p., US$ 40.00, ISBN 0-520-21707-1 (cloth).
Thrower,James, Religion. The Classical Theories - Edinburgh,Edinburgh
UniversityPress, 1999, 209 p., ISBN 0-7486-1010-3 (pbk.).
Bousset, Wilhelm,The AntichristLegend. A Chapterin ChristianandJewish
Folklore, transl. by A.H. Keane. Introductionby David Frankfurter.
American Academy of Religion Texts and TranslationsSeries, 24 Atlanta, Georgia, Scholars Press, 1999, 236 p., $ 29.95, ISBN 0-78850541-6 (pbk.).
The Concentrationof Heroic Progress. An Early
Surampgamasamadhisiitra.
Buddhist
Scripturetranslatedand annotatedby ltienne LaMahayana
motte. English Translationby Sara Boin-Webb - Richmond, Surrey,
Curzon Press in association with The Buddhist Press, 1998, 273 p., ?
45.00, ISBN 0-7007-1024-8 (cloth).
Pakkanen,Jari, The Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. A Reconstruction
of the Peristyle Column - Helsinki, Departmentof Art History at the
University of Helsinki and the Foundation of the Finnish Institute at
Athens, 1998, 192 p., ISBN 951-45-8407-4 (pbk.).
Kamrin,Janice, The Cosmos of KhnumhotepII at Beni Hasan - London
and New York,KeganPaul InternationalLtd, 1999,202 p., ? 85.00, ISBN
0-7103-0574-5 (cloth).
King, Richard,OrientalismandReligion. PostcolonialTheory,Indiaand 'The
Mystic East' - Londonand New York,Routledge, 1999, 283 p., ? 14.99,
ISBN 0-415-20258-2 (pbk.).
Benz, Wolfgang, The Holocaust. A GermanHistorianExamines the Genocide. With a Forewordby ArthurHertzberg.Transl.by Jane SydenhamKwiet - New York, Columbia University Press, 1999, 186 p., US$
22.00, ISBN 0-231-11214-9 (cloth).
Schwemer, Daniel, Akkadische Rituale aus Hattusa.Die Sammeltafel Kbo
XXXVI 29 and verwandteFragmente.Series: Texte der Hethiter,23 -
455
Heidelberg,UniversitatsverlagC. Winter, 1998, 193 p. + 6 plates, DM

98.00, ISBN 3-8253-0815-4 (pbk.).
Palmer,Gesine/ ChristianeNasse/ Renate Haffke/ Dorothee C. von Tippelskirch (Eds.), Torah-Nomos-Ius.AbendliindischerAntinomismusund der
Traumvom herrschaftsfreienRaum - Berlin, Verlag Vorwerk8, 1999,
339 p., DM 48.00, ISBN 3-930916-19-3 (pbk.).
Oberlies,Thomas,Die Religion des Rgveda.ErsterTeil:Das religi6se System
des Rgveda. Publicationsof the De Nobili Research Library,vol. 26 Wien, SammlungDe Nobili, Institutfur Indologie der UniversitatWien,
1998, 632 p., ISBN 3-900-271-31-3 (cloth).
Siebert, Anne Viola, Instrumenta Sacra. Untersuchungen zu romischen
Opfer-, Kult- und Priestergeraten.Series: Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten,44 - Berlin, New York, Walter de Gruyter,
1999, 365 p., DM 218.00, ISBN 3-11-016126-5 (cloth).
Hamacher, Elisabeth, Gershom Scholem und die Allgemeine Religionsgeschichte. Series: Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten,
45 - Berlin, New York, Walterde Gruyter,1999, 359 p., DM 198.00,
ISBN 3-11-016356-X (cloth).
Van Liefferinge, Carine, La Theurgie.Des Oracles Chaldaiques a Proclus.
Series: Keros Supplements,9 - Liege, CentreInternationald'itude de
la Religion GrecqueAntique, 1999, 319 p. (paper).
GarciaQuintela,MarcoV., Mitologfay Mitos de la HispaniaPrerromana(III)
Madrid,Ediciones Akal, 1999, 375 p., ISBN 84-460-1015-1 (paper).
Confrontocon Mircea Eliade. Archetipi mitici e identita storica. A cura di
LucianoArcella,PaolaPisi, RobertoScagno - Milano,JacaBook, 1998,
463 p., ISBN 88-16-40482-5 (paper).
Metzler Lexikon Religion. Gegenwart-Alltag-Medien.Herausgegebenvon
Christoph Auffarth, Jutta Bernard, Hubert Mohr, unter Mitarbeit von
Agnes Imhof und Silvia Kurre.Band 1: Abendmahl-Guru.- Stuttgart
and Weimar,Verlag J.B. Metzler, 1999, XVIII + 532 p., DM 168.00,
ISBN 3-476-01551-3 (cloth).
Kohn, Livia, God of the Dao. Lord Lao in History and Myth - Ann Arbor,
MI, Center for Chinese Studies Publications, University of Michigan,
456
1999,390 p., US$ 50.00, ISBN 0-89264-128-2 (cloth); US$ 25.00, ISBN
0-89264-133-9 (paper).

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INTERNATIONALREVIEWFOR THE

IN'l RNATIONALASSOCIATIONFOR THE

Reprintedwithpermissionof BrillAcademic Publishers- Leiden by

SWETS & ZEITLINGERBV

JohnR. Hinnells, Zoroastriansin Britain (Michael STAUSBERG)...

Ben H.L. van Gessel, Onomasticonof the Hittite Pantheon(Manfred

AharonR.E. Agus, HermeneuticBiographyin RabbinicMidrash. The

PRAYER FORMULARIES FOR PUBLIC RECITATION.

heaven) we Christianspray with the hands outstretched,for they are

Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation

ratherthan discuss aspects of the literature.5

Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation

Althoughall thoseprayerswere publicand officialin character,the

emperor,a priestor otherofficials,and it is repeatedby the people

I beginwith the Graeco-Roman

Script.Hist. Aug. (Iul. Capitolinus),M. AntoninusIV 4 (II 140 Magie): "nemine

Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation

The great number of references on the pontifical books in Roman

E.g., Valerius Maximus IV 1,10 (libelli).- Dionysius Halic. X 1,4 (ltpai

The existence of sacrificialregulations with prayerformulariesin

Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation

are two intriguing examples. The first is the so-called Erythraean

Thus the stone provides a collection of cultic hymns. The sacral

poetry:since the remnantsof both,the epigraphicaland the literary

Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation

Psalmsin its variousrecensionsand expansions,but also a number

Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation

greatnumberof othercollectionsof hymnsandprayers,suchas the

In conclusion,viewingprayersin ancientreligionsaffordsa surprisinglyhomogenouspicture:in virtuallyall religioustraditionsand

tain words"37which could be provided either by a prompter,or by

readingthe formularyfroma writing,or by both.Therefore,Servius'

The reasonfor the omnipresent

Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation

expense of the city of Lanuvium), "quia non recte factae Latinae

situaessent"(Livy XLI 16,1). Plutarchmentionsan extraordinary

he stuttered(se ipse revocans), spoke with

a haltingvoice (linguatitubante),andlackedthe necessaryfirmness

sisteret):a correctrecitationof the formularywouldincludea clear

Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation

thirdpersonhas to makesureeverybodyis quiet,a fourthone must

trolled,theyborethe odourof illicit ritual.Thisis the basicrationale

between(legitimate)audibleand (illicit) silentprayersrequiredthe

fact thatthe effect of prayersdependedon whatwas actuallysaid,

Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation

R. Yose considers the recitation"withoutdistinguishingthe letters" as sufficient, R.

grouprepeatseach singleline in unison.This was probablythe most

Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation

The recitation of the formulary is divided between a prompter and

completely equivalentto the recitationof the prayerby a prompter60

Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation

divide the people and tear it apartin a dangerouscrush?Was it not better,since

In Jewish and Christiancontexts the homophonic prayer is often

Prayer Formularies for Public Recitation

development of the third century.70Instead, the prayer formularies

E.g., W. Geerlings, TraditioApostolica (FChr 1), Freiburg/Basel/Wienetc.

(referringto the sympotic anointment).73Since eating, drinking,and

Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation

The Christianuses of obligatoryformulariesin particularillustrate

E.g., the body-metaphorand the one-bread-motifin the texts mentioned above

80 For the distinctive function of

Prayer Formulariesfor Public Recitation

personaldependencyon the deitieswho appearto becomemoreand

insightful remarksby H.W. Pleket, "Religious History as the History of

We have alreadynotedthatprayingby heartwas consideredapMore