John L. Esposito Georgetown University Darrell J. Fasching ety Rt Todd Lewis Coleget the Holy CossWORLD RELIGIONS TODAY SECOND EDITION x ~ OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS i naw york + oxronp 2008(Oxford University Pes, In pblses works that Further Onord Universi’ objoive of exelence in search cholahip and education. (Oxdord New York ‘Auckland Cape Town Dae Slam Hong Kong Karachi aula Limpur Madrid Mlboarne Mexico Cy Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei, Toronto With office in ‘Asgentine Ausra Bail Chile Corch Republic France Geese GGantemals Hungary Taly Japan Poland ocr Singapore South Kora Switsland Thali Turkey Ukrsine Vitara Copyigh © 2006 by Oxford Univesity Pre, Ine Published by Oxford Univesity Pes, Ie 198 Madizon Avenue, New York, New Yor 10016 apo oupconn ‘Oxford ia repered ademas of Oxford Univesity Pras Al igh served. No pr ofthis publication may be epreduced, stored in 2 evel sre, of anemied in any Formor by ay means dleazonc, mechanical photocopying, econ, o omer, idhou the prior pemision of Oxford Univer Fre ISBN-13:978-0-19-517609-5, ISBN 0-19-517609-5, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY UBRARY BRONX, NY ROSE HILL Pricing number: 987654321 Prine in ie United States f America on aci-fe paperGlobalization: World Religions in Everyone's Hometown In the 1950s, if you walked down the streets of almost any city in the United States, you would have expected to find churches, both Catholicand Protestant, and Jewish synagogues. When people thought about religious diversity, it was limited largely 0 Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. I the twenty-first century, ‘a new millennium, the situation is dramatically different. Almost daily the ‘newspapers take note of new religious members of the community—announe- ing a retreat at a Korean Zen center in vhe suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island; the opening of an Islamic mosque in St. Louis, Missouri; or the dedica- tion of a Hindu temple in Tampa, Florida ‘The beliefs and practices of world religions have become part ofthe mosaic ‘of American society. “Karma” has become part of the American vocabulary, ‘Hindu visualization practices are used in sports training, and Buddhist medi- tation techniques have been adopted in programs of stress management. No | matter where we live today, it is more and more likely that our next-door neighbors are ethnically, politically, and yes even religiously diverse—coming from many parts of the globe (see Map 1.1). In an emerging global economy, ost neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools reflect this diversity as well In this book we focus on the diverse ways in which we humans have been religious in the past and are religious today. Indeed, the last decades of the twentieth century brought a global religious resurgence, a development that defies countless theorists who predicted thatthe irresistible secularization of wvilization would lead to the disappearance of religion. Religions, it was ‘though, are tied to ancient premodern worldviews that have been replaced by a modern scientific worldview. Indeed, the clash of traditional religions with modern scientific and secular society is a major concern of this textbook. ‘Awareness of tis is essential if we are to understand the interactions between religions and cultures in the world today. Starting with Chapter Three, then, ‘we will begin each chapter not with a discussion of the origins and early history of religious communities but with examples of the encounter of each religion with the “modern’ world that ithustrate the tension between religion and modern states and societies‘Kopor suosSyes pyoe fo wounguasiq Tt dow unpre pt oon ESS) ne ee | mom Pome BE] woo SS mp ene woreSeer ons INTRODUCTION ‘We describe our present time as one in transition between “modernity” and 2 new, oF “postmodern,” era that seems to be emerging. To understand ‘what is “new” shout our situation, we will have to understand the premodern period of the different religious traditions and how the premodern worldview of each relates 10 and contrasts with the modern period. In particular we will hhave to compase the premodern period in each tradition with the changes brought about by an era that began with the rise of science after 1500 and declined after World War Il. In surveying the great world religions, we shall ‘not be able ta caver everything that could be seid about them. Oar selection will be governed primarily by the following question: What do we need 10 know sbout the past to understand the role of religion in the world we live in today? To begin, we must introduce some core concepts. UNDERSTANDING RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND ITS EXPRESSIONS _ The first thing we need is a working definition of the term “religion.” To help ‘explain how we ase using the rerm, fers suppose we have a time machine and can transport ourselves back to the city of Rome ia the first century. Why are wwe interested in that time and place/ Because the word “religion” has its roots in Latin, the language of the Romans, understanding how the Romans defined the concept should help us understand our topic Imagine yourself now walking dowa a street in Rome in the first century. When you approach a small group of people on a street comer and ask chery: “What religion are yout” they look at you strangely. They understand the individual words you have spoken, but they don’t normally put those ‘words together as you have done, Some give you blank stares, while others just look puzzled. Frustrated, you try rephrasing your question: “Are you religious?” Suddenly their faces light up and they smile and say, “Of course, isn’t everyone?” By its wording, the original question assumes that religion is a noun applied to distinct social bodies in the world, such thar you can be a member of one only if you are not a member of another. So the question seeks to find ‘out the distinct religious group to which you belong, This way of understand ing religion naturally arises artong monotheists, who by definition have cho- sen one god and excluded all others. However, such an exclusiveness was foreign to antiquity, and i also is not appropriate today far studying religious traditions among many African and Asian peoples. In reghrasing the original question as “Are you religious?” you are no longer treating “religion” as a noun, describing something you join. Instead, ‘you ase treating it as an adjective, describing an attitude toward the human condition~a way of seeing, acting, and experiencing al things. In most times and places throughout history, religion and culture were like two sides of the same coin. Therefore people did nor think of theiv practices as “a teligion” With the Space Age, awareness that all humans share fife in {global village has come tothe religions and cultures of the earthm6 oF WORLD RELIGIONS TODAY separate reality they had to choose over and against another. Today, in Japan for instance, itis possible to follow Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, land Shintoism at the same time. This seems odd from the monotheistic per- spective of Western religion, where one can be, for instance, either a Muslim ‘ar a Jew but not both at the same time. And yet, paradoxically, Jews and ‘Muslims claim to worship the same God. In first-century Rome, with very few exceptions, people didn't belong to a religion in any exclusive sense. They were, however, religious. Our first- century respondents would probably continue the discussion you had started something like this: “Am I religious? Of course I am. isn't everyone? It’s simply a marter of common sense. I respect all those powers of nature that govern my destiny. Therefore I worship all the gods and goddesses. It would be stupid not to. IF Tam going to war want the god of war on my side. So I perform the correct ritual sacrifices before going into battle. And when I am looking for a mate, I petition the goddess of love to help me. And needicss to say, if] am planting my crops [ will try very hard to enstire-that the goddess of fertility and the gods of the wind and rain are on my side. am not a com- plete idiot. To ignore or antagonize the gods would be stupid.” What does this tell us? For the ancient Romans, and nearly all other human beings in al places and all times vhsoughout history, religion has been about power and meaning in relation to human destiny. Although its exact root is uncertain, the word “teligion” is probably derived from the Latin zeligare, which lxerally means “to tie or bind” and the root ligere which has the connoration of “acting with care.” It expresses our sense of being, “tied and bound” by relations of obligation to whatever powers we believe govern dour destiny—whether these powers be natural or supernatural, personal or impersonal, one or many. Ancient peoples everywhere believed: that the powers governing their destiny were che forces of nature. Why? Because nature was experienced as that awesome collection of powers that surround and, at times, overwhelm huraan beings. On the onte hand, nature provides life and all its necessities (food, clothing, shelter, etc}; but on the other hand, nature may turn on people, destroying them quite capriciously through earth- quakes, storms, floods, and 50 on. Therefore the forces of nature evoke in human beings the ambivalent feclings of fascination and dread. Rudolf Otto, the great twentieth-century pioneer of the study of comparative religions, argued that the presence of these two ambivalent emotions is a sure sign that fone is in the presence of the sacred. They are a defining mark of religious ‘experience across cultures. They are the emotions that are elicited by the uncanny experience of being in the presence of that powier or powers one believes have the ability to determine whether one lives or dies, and beyond that how well one lives and dies. Religion asa form of human experience and behavior, therefore, i not just about purely “spiritual” things. Religion is not jst about gods or God. People’s religiousness is as diverse as the forms of power they believe govern their destiny, whether it be the gods as forces of nature, or wealth, of political ower, or the forces of history. Religious atitudes in the modern world can beday, in ie per. ‘uslim vs and agtoa first tarted e? It’s fe that would + So x 7 oe INTRODUCTION discerned in what many people would consider to be purely secular and very "unspiritual” attitudes and behaviors in relation to power. Hence, whatever powers we believe govern our destiny will elicit a religious response from as and inspire us to wish “to tie or bind” ourselves to these powers in relations of ritual obligation. Thus tied or bound, we will act respectfully and carefully in relation 10 the powers, to ensure that they will be on our side. How do we know what our obligations to these powers are? ‘Throughout history this knowledge has been communicated through myth and ritual. Myth and Ritual (Our word “myth” comes from the Greek mythos, which means “story.” Myth, ‘we could say is a symbolic stary about the origins and destiny of human beings land their world; myth relates human beings to whatever powers they believe ultimately govern their destiny and explains to them what the powers expect of them. Unlike the contemporary English use of “myth” to indicate an untrue story or a misunderstanding based on ignorance, in every religious tradition “myth” conveys the essential truths of life. These truths, in turn, are embed- ded in grand stories of origin and destiny rather than in abstract theoretical and scientific theories. The worlds major religions have preserved their mythic accounts in the most durable material available in each age: first on stone, parchment, and tree hark, later on paper, and today in CD-ROM format. A Shinto priest and | believers purify their bodies in icy water for | the New Year's ceremony at the Teppozu Shrine | in Tokyo im8 tH WORLD RELIGIONS TODAY Passover Myth and Ritual Passover is one of the most important holy days in Judaism. At Passover, Jewish families gather fora ‘meal called sede, at which they hear the story ofthe Exodus, the liberation ofthe Jews from slavery In Egypt As the story is retold, participants eat certain foods as reminders of what was important in the past. The Passover seder is a symbolic occasion, not a literal reenactment of the Exodus. Nevertheless, this symbolic reenactmentis experienced as having the power to make each seder guest {an actual participant in the original event. The distance between past and present is felt to dissolve, and the events of the Exodus are “happening now.” ‘Through participation in the Passover seder, Jews experience who they area chosen people, Called by the God of ll creation to lve justly and be an example to allnations. This celebration reminds Jews that God acts in history and will one day overcome suffering and death. Thus each Jew knows that no ifestrvial, On the contrary each life has cosmic significance, helping to bring about the utfil- ‘ment ofa things. Myth and ritual thus perform a religious function—that i, they “tie orbind” the life (of the individual into a great cosmic drama, serving the highest power, the source ofthe meaning and ‘purpose of life. Tis description ofthe function of Passover myth and ritual in Judaism applies to the myths and rituals of ll eligions. Ritual actions connect the individual and the community to the sacred. Such’ actions often involve the symbolic reenactment of the stories that are passed on from one generation to the next. Myth and ritual are closely tied to the major festivals or holy days of a religious tradition and illuminate the ineaning, of human destiny in relation to sacred powers, By celebrating, a cycle of festivals spread throughout the year, people come to