World religions. Рахимбергенова М.Х. - 5 стр.

by Freud. Jung postulated, in addition to the personal unconscious (roughly as          categories chosen, how it is possible for one religious form or manifestation to
in Freud), the collective unconscious, which is the repository of human experi-         develop into another. Few errors have been more damaging to the understand-
ence and which contains “archetypes” (i. e., basic images that are universal in         ing of religion than that of viewing religious systems as static and fixed, as, in
that they recur in independent cultures). The irruption of these images from the        effect, historical. Fifth, a classification must define what exactly is to be classi-
unconscious into the realm of consciousness he viewed as the basis of religious         fied. If the purpose is to develop types of religions as a whole, the questions of
experience and often of artistic creativity. Religion can thus help men, who            what constitutes a religion and what constitutes various individual religions
stand in need of the mysterious and symbolic, in the process of individuation –         must be asked. Since no historical manifestation of religion is known that has
of becoming individual selves.                                                          not exhibited an unvarying process of change, evolution, and development,
     Among other psychoanalytic interpreters of religion, the American scholar          these questions are far from easily solved. With such criteria in mind it should
Erich Fromm (1900–1980) modified Freudian theory and produced a more                    be possible continuously to construct classification schemes that illuminate
complex account of the functions of religion. Part of the modification is view-         man’s religious history.
ing the Oedipus complex as based not so much on sexuality as on a “much
more profound desire” – namely, the childish desire to remain attached to pro-          Task 1. Answer the following questions to check how carefully you have read
tecting figures. The right religion, in Fromm’s estimation, can, in principle, fos-     the text:
ter an individual’s highest potentialities, but religion in practice tends to relapse       1. What is religion?
into being neurotic. Authoritarian religion, according to Freud, is dysfunctional           2. How does religion influence human life?
and alienates man from himself.                                                             3. Why do people believe?
     Summing up the above said it is necessary to note that the classification of           4. What approaches to the study of religion are offered in the text?
religions that will withstand all criticism and serve all the purposes of a general         5. Speak on each classification mentioned. Which one do you favour?
science has not been achieved. Each classification presented above has been at-             6. Why isn’t there a classification, which withstands all criticism?
tacked for its inadequacies or distortions, yet each is useful in bringing to light         7. What criteria should be kept in mind while building a classification?
certain aspects of religion. Even the crudest and most subjective classifications
throw into relief various aspects of religious life and thus contribute to the          Task 2. Match the quotations with their authors:
cause of understanding. The most fruitful approach for a student of religion ap-
pears to be that of employing a number of diverse classifications, each one for              1. The belief in spiritual arises naturally from elements universal in human
the insight it may yield. Though each may have its shortcomings, each also of-          experience and leads to the belief in a spiritual reality capable of existing inde-
fers a positive contribution to the store of knowledge and its systematization.         pendently.
And it must be kept in mind that classification should be viewed as a method                 2. In their view, religion reflects ignorance of natural causes, which are ex-
and a tool only.                                                                        plained animistically.
     Although a perfect classification lies at present beyond scholars’ grasp,               3. A major contribution of his thinking was systematic exploration of dif-
certain criteria, both positive and negative in nature, may be suggested for            ferent cultural traditions from a sociological point of view.
building and judging classifications. First, classifications should not be arbi-             4. He classified religions according to the role they played in the self-
trary, subjective, or provincial but objective to the extent possible. It is not just   realization of Spirit.
to divide religions into lower and higher or primitive and higher religions. Sec-            5. He considered theological thinking to be only the first stage in the evolu-
ond, an acceptable classification must concern itself with the fundamentals of          tion of thought.
religion and with the most typical elements of the units it is seeking to order.             6. He held the spiritual realm to possess a psychological reality that cannot
Third, a proper classification should be capable of presenting both that which is       be explained away.
common to religious forms of a given type and that which is peculiar or unique               7. The belief in God, in particular, the father image, is part of a man’s
to each member of the type. Fourth, it is desirable in a classification that it         growth to maturity, which is to be overcome.
demonstrate the dynamics of religious life both in the recognition that religions            a) Jung       b) Comte           c) Marxists       d) Freud e) Hegel
as living systems are constantly changing and in the effort to show, through the             f) Tylor      g) Weber

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