The Encyclopedia of World Religions

354 S primal religion

work of priests over the generations has kept many religions alive.

teaching of the religion and have a role as instructor and pastor. She or he may also have had profound religious experiences that make one a mystic or an ecstatic, impart a charismatic personality, or even that make one a shaman or prophet. But that is not the essence of priestly office. It is understood to be a formal position, built into the formal institu tional structure of a religion and imparted through ordination by an authorized person. In Christian priesthood, like that of R OMAN C ATHOLICISM , E AST ERN O RTHODOX C HRISTIANITY , or A NGLICANISM , ORDINA TION is imparted by a bishop who is believed to be in a lineage of such ordinations going back to the APOSTLES themselves, who were appointed by C HRIST ; this is called “apostolic succession.” Ser vices conducted by priests, whether the Catholic Christian E UCHARIST or mass, or the sacrifices of the temple in ancient Israel, or the offerings of the BRAHMINS of India, are usually performed in a pre determined, ritualistic way, with emphasis more on precise correctness of word and gesture than on feeling. A reverent, devotional mood on the part of the priest is certainly encouraged, yet it is usu ally said that the effectiveness of the rite for other believers does not depend on the feeling or worthi ness of the priest, but simply on the correct doing of the rite by a duly authorized officiant. Priesthood may be vocational or hereditary. In the former, persons enter it because they feel called to the office, and generally undertake formal training in preparation for ordination. In principle, that is the case with the Christian and Buddhist priesthood. In some cases, as with Roman Catho lic priests and many Buddhist monks, priests prac tice CELIBACY , giving up marriage for the sake of the vocation. In others, such as Eastern Orthodox and S HINTO priesthood, and Buddhist priesthood in Japan, the priesthood often appears to be heredi tary in practice though vocational in its ideal. Strictly hereditary priesthood, like that of ancient J UDAISM and of the Brahmin priests in Hin duism, is restricted to certain families or castes as a matter of principle. These priests properly receive training before entering into the sacred office, but their ultimate authorization is transmitted by birth. Sometimes disparaged, the steady, faithful

primal religion The religion of humans living in tribal societies before, or independent of, the invention of writing. This style of religion has been called “primitive religion,” but that term now has the wrong connotations, suggesting it is elemen tary and unsophisticated. Actually, primal religion can be very sophisticated in its myth ( see MYTH AND MYTHOLOGY ) and SYMBOLISM . Primal is intended only to indicate that this form of religion was first and is the basis on which all other religion was built historically. This collection of patterns of religious life was once presumably universal but has gradually given way to subsequent developments: the religions of the ancient empires like E GYPTIAN RELIGION or Chi nese religion ( see C HINA , RELIGIONS OF ); the rise of the major religions founded in historical times, such as B UDDHISM and C HRISTIANITY ; and finally the development of other ways of life in recent times. Now only small and scattered groups of peoples live in truly tribal, primal religion societies. But carryovers from primal religion can be found in all later faiths, and understanding it can illuminate much about human life today. THEMES OF PRIMAL RELIGION Primal religion today includes the traditional faiths as diverse as N ATIVE A MERICAN RELIGIONS , A FRICAN RELIGIONS , A RCTIC RELIGION , P ACIFIC O CEAN RELIGIONS , and the religions of tribal peoples in India. Some are hunters and gatherers; some practice early forms of agriculture. They are far from all the same. Nonetheless certain themes can be found widely, if not universally, throughout societies that practice forms of primal religion. These are themes related to cosmic religion, gods and spirits, INITIA TION , SHAMANISM , hunting religion, and agricultural religion. COSMIC RELIGION The historian of religion Mircea E LIADE used the term cosmic religion to refer to religion centered on