The Encyclopedia of World Religions

relics S 377

Further reading: Madeleine Gray, The Protestant Reformation: Belief, Practice, and Tradition (Portland, Ore.: Sussex Academic Press, 2003); Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation (New York: Penguin Books, 2005); Lewis W. Spitz and William R. Kenan, eds., The Protestant Reformation: Major Documents (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1997). reincarnation The idea that a person is reborn when he or she dies. Reincarnation goes by many different names. Sometimes it is called “metem psychosis,” from the Greek words for “soul” and “change of place.” Sometimes it is called “trans migration,” because the person is said to wander to a new body. Sometimes people call reincarna tion “rebirth.” Some Hindu texts actually speak of redeath. In discussions of reincarnation, one often encounters the Sanskrit word SAMSARA . One scholar has aptly translated this word for the cycle of births and deaths as the “run around.” Jews, Christians, and Muslims do not usu ally talk about reincarnation. When they talk about what happens after death—and Jews tend to focus on this life—they talk about eter nal life, a RESURRECTION of the dead, and a final judgment ( see JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD ). But many other peoples believe that persons are reborn when they die. Some indigenous peoples in the Americas, Australia, the Pacific Ocean region, and Africa have complex ideas about rebirth. For example, some believe that every child is an ancestor returning to Earth. Many ancient Greek philosophers believed in reincarnation. The most famous example is the “myth of Er” at the end of Plato’s greatest work, The Republic. Many people whose religions began in India—Hindus, Bud dhists, Jains, and Sikhs—simply accept reincar nation as a fact of life. During the late 19th, 20th, and early 21st centuries some North Americans also believed in reincarnation. They included people who subscribed to THEOSOPHY and Asian religions like H INDUISM and B UDDHISM . They also included people in the public eye, such as the movie actress Shirley MacLaine.

Not every religion that teaches reincarnation teaches the same views. The religions that arose in ancient India have very complex ideas about how reincarnation occurs. These religions stress the operation of KARMA : The actions of this life deter mine the conditions of the next one. A good person will have a good rebirth, a bad person a bad rebirth. But each religion and school has a different way of explaining how the process works. For example, many Hindus say that an eternal, unchanging ATMAN or self is reborn. Buddhists teach rebirth, but they deny that there is any eternal, unchanging atman. Some books describe in detail what hap pens between death and rebirth. An ideal example is the Tibetan book of the dead, the B ARDO T HODOL . A Sanskrit scholar of some standing once taught an editor of this encyclopedia how to recognize dreams and imaginings that were memories from a previous life. He had himself identified the place and approximate time of one of his more recent lives. North Americans who believe in reincarna tion often find the idea comforting. They see it as a reprieve from the black, empty night of eternal death. Peoples who believe that children are reborn ancestors basically see reincarnation as positive, too. But religions originating in India often view samsara as being in the end negative. The ultimate goal of religious practice is to escape from an end less series of rebirths or reincarnations. The most common names for this goal are moksha (“libera tion”) and NIRVANA . relics Objects “left over” from a holy person or SAINT . These may be body parts or personal items, such as clothing. Religions that use relics insist that their practitioners do not actually WORSHIP them. They venerate them and use them as aids to reflec tion. They also often expect relics to heal and grant favors. At times Muslims venerate relics. An example is hair from the prophet M UHAMMAD . But relics have been especially important in B UDDHISM and R OMAN C ATHOLICISM . Buddhists have built monumental