Introduction to the History of Religions - Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV

Crawford Howell Toy

Description

! "# $ ! % & " " ' ( ( ) ' ' * + , ' + -. /001 2 3/4./15 & ' ' 6 7%. 888 9 ) :7 9 :+ 6 ; :: $ ! ?@ 7 > 7= A $'== " " A !""#$ " $ "%& " % ' ( " $ !& )% * + ," '-. , '" " -.+ % & . ' "% " "% - , %$ &+% $$ !& ' +%" $$" % %, % - , %$ & / .!% ( %, % - , %$ & +% $$ 0123 /" +&% ( *0104 !& /% 5 "% "5 '' "& 666 '' % ( $ % $ %, +% %, % - , %$ & +% $$ / .!% ( *.

Informations

• Publié par: jojud
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 44
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

7= A $'== " " A !""#$ " $ "%& " % ' ( " $ !& )% * + ," '-. , '" " -.+ % & . ' "% " "% - , %$ &+% $$ !& ' +%" $$" % %, % - , %$ & / .!% ( %, % - , %$ & +% $$ 0123 /" +&% ( *0104 !& /% 5 "% "5 '' "& 666 '' % ( $ % $ %, +% %, % - , %$ & +% $$ / .!% ( *." />

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Introduction to the History of Religions, by Crawford Howell Toy

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Introduction to the History of Religions  Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV

Author: Crawford Howell Toy

Editor: Morris Jastrow

Release Date: January 18, 2009 [EBook #27829]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF RELIGIONS ***

Produced by Paul Murray, Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr)

Transcriber's Note: Footnote links in the INDEX shown as n. x are linked to the same footnotes with reindexed footnote numbers.

HANDBOOKS ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS

EDITED BY

MORRIS JASTROW,J R ., P H .D. Late Professor of Semitic Languages in the University of Pennsylvania

V O LUME IV

LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD O XFORD U NIVERSITY P RESS

INTRODUCTION TO THE

HISTORY OF RELIGIONS

BY

CRAWFORD HOWELL TOY L ATE P RO FESSO RIN H ARVARD U NIVERSITY

CAMBRIDGE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1924

CO PYRIG HT, 1913 BY CRAWFO RD HO WELL TO Y ——— ALL RIG HTS RESERVED Third Impression

PRINTED AT THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDG E, MASS., U.S.A.

PREFACE

The object of this volume is to describe the princi pal customs and ideas that underlie all public religion; the details are selec ted from a large mass of material, which is increasing in bulk year by year. References to the higher religions are introduced for the purpose of illustrating lines of progress.

The analytic table of contents and the index are me ant to supplement each other, the one giving the outline of the discussion, the other giving the more important particulars; the two together will facilitate the consultation of the book. In the selected list of works of reference the titl es are arranged, as far as possible, in chronological order, so as to indicate in a general way the progress of investigation in the subjects mentioned.

My thanks are due to the publishers for the care they have taken in the printing of the volume, and to their proofreaders, particularly to the chief proofreader, for not a few helpful suggestions.

vii

C AMBRIDG E , M ASSACHUSETTS

CONTENTS

C. H. T.

(The Arabic figures in the chapter summaries refer to paragraphs)

CHAPTER I. NATURE OF RELIGION Science and religion coeval,1; Man's sense of dependence on mysterious Powers,2; Early man's feeling toward them of a mixed nature,3; mainly selfish,4; Prominence of fear,6Conception of natural law,7; Sense of an extrahuman Something,9; Universality of religion, 10; Its development parallel to that of social organi zation,12; Unitary character of human life,14; External religion,15; Internal religion,16.

CHAPTER II. THE SOUL N ATUREO FTHE  S O UL . Universal belief in an interior something,18; its basis,19; from observation of breath,21; of shadow,22of blood,23Its form a sublimated double of the corporeal man,24; or of an animal,25; The seat of the soul,26; Localization of qualities,27; Consequences of the soul's leaving the body,29The hidden soul,31. O RIG INO FTHE S O UL . Not investigated by savages,32; Creation of man, 33; Theories of birth,34Divine origin of the soul,36; Mysteriousness of death,38. P O LYPSYCHISM . Early views of the number and functions of souls,39 Civilized views,43. F UTUREO FTHE S O UL . Belief in its death,46; This belief transient,51-53; Dwellingplace of the surviving soul in human beings, beasts, plants, or inanimate objects, -59; or near its earthly abode,60-63; or in some remote place in earth, sea, or sky,66-66 or in an underground world, 67-69; Occupations of the dead,70; Retribution in the Underworld,71 Nonmoral distinctions,72-75; Moral retribution, savage,76-78; Civilized,79-80; Local separation of the good from the bad,81Reward and punishment, Hindu,82 Egyptian,83; Greek,84 Jewish and Christian,85,86Purgatory,87Resurrection,88-90. P O WERSO FTHE S EPARATED S O UL . Prayers for the dead,95,96. G ENESISO F S PIRITS . Functions of spirits (souls of nonhuman objects),97- 100.

CHAPTER III. EARLY RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES Predominance of ceremonies in early religious life,101,102They are communal,103; and sacred,104. E MO TIO NALAND  D RAMATIC  C EREMO NIES . Religious dances and plays,106-

PAGE

1

10

48

ix

x

108; Connected with the worship of gods,109; Are means of religious c u l tu re ,110; Processions,111; Circumambulation,112; Magical potency,113. D ECO RATIVEAND C URATIVE C EREMO NIES . Decoration of the body,114-118; of houses,119; of official dress,120; Symbolism in decoration,121. E CO NO MIC C EREMO NIES . Propitiation of hunted animals,122-125; Taboos, 126; Rules about eating,127-128; Magical means of procuring food, 129-131; Use of blood,132; to fertilize soil,133; Sacrifice of first-born animals, including children,134; Raising and housing crops,135; Rain,136; Survivals in civilized times,137. A PO TRO PAIC  C EREMO NIES . Early methods,138-139; Expulsion of spirits, 140-141; Transference of evil,142,143; Expulsion by sacrifice,144; The massing of such observances,145. C EREMO NIESO F P UBERTYAND I NITIATIO N . Training of the young,146; Tests of endurance,147; Seclusion of girls,148; Rearrangement of taboos, 149; Supernatural machinery,150; Mutilation of the body,151,152; Circumcision of males, its wide diffusion,153; not a test of endurance, 154; nor hygienic,155; nor to get rid of magical dangers,156; nor to increase procreative power,157; not religious in origin: not a form of phallic worship,158; nor a sacrifice,159,160; nor a provision for rei ncarnati on,161; Circumcision of females,162; Object of circumcision probably increase of sensual enjoyment,163,164; The symbolical interpretation,165-168; Ceremonies of initiation to secure union with the clan,169; Feigned resurrection of the initiate,170; The lonely vision,171; Instruction of youth,172,173; Initiation into secret societies,174. M ARRIAG E  C EREMO NIES . Simple forms,176-178; The bride hiding,179; Prenuptial defloration,180; Introduction of a supernatural element,181; View that all marriage-ceremonies are essentially religious,182. C EREMO NIESAT  B IRTH . Parental care,184; The couvade,185; Child regarded as a reincarnation,186; Ablutions and naming,187; Child regarded as child of God,188. B URIAL  C EREMO NIES . Natural grief,189; Propitiation of the dead by offerings at grave,190; Ban of silence,191; The dead regarded as powerful,192; Social value of these ceremonies,193. C EREMO NIESO F P URIFICATIO NAND C O NSECRATIO N . Occasions of purification, 194-196; Methods: by water, sand, etc.,197-199; by sacrifice,200; Purification of a whole community,201; Consecration of private and official persons,202,203; Fasting,204; its origin,205-207; its religious effects,208; Result of massing these ceremonies,209. C EREMO NIES C O NNECTED W ITH S EASO NSAND P ERIO DS . Calendars,210,211; Lunar festivals, 212-214; Solar festivals,215; Solstitial and stellar festivals,216; Importance of agricultural festivals,217; Joyous,218; Licentious,219; Offering of first fruits,220; Sadness,221; The eating of sacred food,222; Long periods,223; Social value of these ceremonies, 224.

CHAPTER IV. EARLY CULTS Savage treatment of superhuman Powers discriminatin g,225-228;

99

xi

Charms and fetish objects,229,230; Life-force (mana),231-233; not an object of worship, but enters into alliance with re ligion,234,235; Nature of sacredness,236,237; Luck,238; The various objects of worship,239,240. A NIMALS . Their social relations with men,241,242; Transformation and transmigration,243; Two attitudes of men toward animals,244-248; What animals are revered,249,250; Regarded as incarnations of gods or of spirits, 251; Those sacred to gods generally represent old beast- cults,252,253; Survivals of reverence for animals,254; Beasts as creators,255,256; Worship rarely offered them,257,258; Coalescence of beast-cults with other religious observances,259; Whether animals ever became anthropomorphic deities,260; Historical significance of beast-cults,261. P LANTS . Their economic rôle,262-264; Held to possess souls,265; Their relations with men friendly and unfriendly,266,267; Sacred trees,268,269; Deification of soma,270; Whether corn-spirits have been deified,271; Sacred trees by shrines,272; Their connection with totem posts,273; Blood-kinship between men and trees,274,275; The cosmic tree,276; Divinatory function of trees,277; Relation of tree- spirits to gods,278-285. S TO NESAND M O UNTAINS . Stones alive and sacred,286-288; have magical powers,289,290; Relation between divine stones and gods,291-295; Magna Mater,291; Massebas,293; Bethels,294; Stones cast on graves, and boundary stones,296; Stones as altars: natural forms,297; artificial forms,298; High pillars by temples,299; Images of gods,300, 301; Folk-stories and myths connected with stones,302; Sacred mountains,303-305. W ATERS . Why waters are regarded as sacred,306-308; Ritual use of water,309; Water-spirits,310,311; Water-gods,312-314; Rain-giving gods,315; Water-myths,316; Gods of ocean,317. F IRE . Its sacredness,318,319; Persian fire-cult,320; Ritual use of fire, 321-323; Its symbolic significance,334; Light as sacred,325. W INDS . Their relation to gods,327. H EAVENLYO B DIES . Anthropomorphized,328; Cosmogonic myths connected with them,329,330; Sex of sun and moon,331; Whether they ever became gods,332,333; Thunder and lightning not worshiped,334. W O RSHIPO F  H UMAN  B EING S . Their worship widespread, with distinction between the living and the dead,335. T HE  C ULTO FTHE  L IVING . Worship to be distinguished from reverence, 336; Worship of the living by savages,337; by civilised peoples,338; in Egypt,339,340; in Babylonia,341; but there probably not Semitic, 342; not by Hebrews and Arabs,343,344; in China,345; in Japan, 346; Whether by Greeks and Romans,347; Not in India and Persia, 348; Cults of the living rarely important,349. T HE C ULTO FTHE D EAD . Of historical persons: noncivilized,351; civilized: in Egypt,352; in Greece and Rome,353; in China,354; of the Calif Ali, 355; Greek and Roman worship of mythical ancestors,356,357; Dedivinization of gods,358; Euhemerism,359; Worship of the dead

xii

ki n ,360,361; Ghosts friendly and unfriendly,362; Savage customs: mourning,363; funeral feasts,364; fear and kindly feeling,365,366; Definite cult of ghosts: savage,367-370; civilised,371-373; Greek and Roman state cults,374; Chinese,375; Divine functions of the venerated dead,376-378; Ethical power of ancestor-worship,379-383. C ULTSO F  G ENERATIVE  P O WERS . Nature's productivity,384-386; Not all customs connected with generation are religious,387; Cult of generative organs,388-406; widespread,388; Nonreligious usages, 389,390; Phallic cults hardly to be found among the lowest peoples, 391,392; Well developed in West Africa,393; in modern India,394; in Japan,395; Most definite in some ancient civilized religions,396; In E gypt,397; Whether in Semitic communities,398; Hierapolis,399; Babylonia and Palestine,400; Extensively practiced in Asia Minor, Ionia, and Greece,401; Priapos,402,403; The Roman Mutunus T u tu n u s ,404; Phalli as amulets,405; The female organ,406; Androgynous deities,407-418; Supposed Semitic figures: Ishtar,408; Ashtart,409; Tanit,410; The Cyprian goddess,411,412; The Phrygian Agdistis,413; Hermaphroditos,415,416; Androgynous deities not religiously important,417; Origin of the conception,418; Animals associated with phallic deities,419; Christian phallic cults,420.

CHAPTER V. TOTEMISM AND TABOO The contrasted rôles of the two,421. T O TEMISM . Social protective clan customs,422; Control of marriage by exogamic organization,423-428; Theories of the origin of exogamy (scarcity of women, primitive promiscuity, absence of sexual attraction between persons brought up together, patriarch's jealousy, horror of incest, migration of young men) and criticism of th em,429-435; Diffusion and function of exogamy,436-440; Definition of totemism, 441; Customs and beliefs associated with it,442: exogamy,443; names and badges,444-448; descent from the totem,449-451; refusal to kill or eat it,452-459; magical ceremonies for increasing supply of food,460,461; Stricter definition of totemism,462-465; Geographical distribution of totemic usages,466-513; Australia,468-473; Torres Straits Islands,474,475; British New Guinea,476; Melanesia,477- 483; Micronesia and Polynesia,484,485; Indonesia,486; India,487; North America,488-506; Africa,507-513; Supposed traces in civilized peoples,514-519; The permanent element in totemism,520,521; Conditions favorable and unfavorable to totemistic organization,522; e c o n o m i c ,523-528; individualistic institutions (secret societie s, guardian spirits),529-537; political,538; religious,539,540; The lines of progress to which totemism succumbs,541. T HEO RIESO FTHE O RIG INO F T O TEMISM ,542-559: I NDIVIDUALISTIC  T HEO RIES . Confusion between names and things,544; Animal or plant held to be the incarnation of a dead man,545; Body of an animal as magical apparatus,546; Animals as places of deposit of souls,547; An object that influences a mother at conception, of which the child may not eat,548; Animals and plants as incarnations of the souls of the dead,549; Criticism,550-552. T HEO RIES  B ASEDO N  C LAN  A CTIO N . A clan chooses an animal or plant as

176

xiii

friend,553,554; The totem a clan badge,555-557; Coöperation of groups to supply particular foods,558; The totem a god incarnate in every member of a clan,559; Summing-up on origin of totemism,560- 562; Social function of totemism,563; Whether it produced the domestication of animals and plants,564-569; Its relation to religion, 570-580; The totem as helper,570-575; Whether a totem is ever worshiped,576; or ever becomes a god,577-580. T ABO O . Its relation to ethics,581-584; It has to do with dangerous objects and acts,585,586; Classes of taboo things,587: those connected with the conception of life (parents and children),588,589; with death,590,591; with women and the relation between the sexes, 592-594; with great personages,595-597; with industrial pursuits,589- 600; with other important social events (expulsion of spirits, sacred seasons, war, etc.),601-604; with the moon: fear of celest phenomena, 605; observation of lunations,606; new moon and full moon,607; Whether the Hebrew sabbath was originally a full-moon day,608,609; The seven-day week,610; Prohibitions connected with lucky and unlucky days,611-613; Punishment of violation of taboo,614,615; Removal of taboos,616,617; Taboo and magic,618,619; Modification of taboo by civil law,620; Despotism of taboo,621; Duration of taboo periods,622; Diffusion of taboo customs,623,624; Traces in ancient civilized communities,625; Indications of former general prevalence, 626,627; Causes of disappearance,628,629; Rôle of taboo in the history of religion,630-634.

CHAPTER VI. GODS How gods differ from other supernatural beings,635,636; Early mythical founders of culture,637-643. C LAN  G O DS  (including divinized men). In lower tribes,644-647; In civilized nations,648-651; One class of Greek "heroes,"652,653; Historical importance of clan gods,654. D EPARTMENTAL  G O DS . In half-civilised communities,658-662; In Maya, Mexican, and Peruvian religions,663-665; Among Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans,666-670; Supposed Semitic instances,671; Tutelary deities of individuals, cities, and nations,672,673; Classes of departmental gods,674: Creators,675-679; Gods of the other world, 680-682: Good and bad Powers,683-694; Conflict and adjustment, 684-688; Ethical dualism,689; Man's attitude toward demons,690-694; Gods of abstractions,695-697: Semitic,698-700; Egyptian,701; Roman and Greek,702; Aryan,703; Absorption of specialized deities by great gods,704-706. N ATURE G O DS . Their characteristics,707,708; Cult of the sun,709-713; of the moon,714; of stars,715-718. T HE  G REAT  G O DS . Their genesis,719,720; Divine dynasties,721-723; The supremacy of a particular god determined by social conditions, 724; Origin of composite figures,725. Illustrations of the growth of gods,725ff.: E G YPTIANS . Horus,726; Ra,727; Osiris,728; Hathor, Neith, Isis,729. H INDU . Varuna,730; Indra,731; Soma,732; Vishnu and Çiva,733;

265

xiv