The Encyclopedia of World Religions

454 S totemism

sia, sinks to the level of a zoologist who [classifies] whales with fishes, and bats with birds.”

their wanderings in the wilderness. Moses is the central figure of the last four books. The Torah received its name because it con tains instructions on how to live. The most famous instructions are the T EN C OMMANDMENTS , which God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. In all, the RABBIS iden tify 613 mitzvot or commandments in the Torah. These commandments always require inter pretation. For example, when exactly does the Sab bath begin? As a result, rabbinical tradition holds that there is an oral Torah, which was also received by Moses on Mount Sinai. It was codified in books known as the T ALMUD . The Torah that is used in WORSHIP is written by hand on scrolls of parchment. The precious scrolls are kept in the front of the SYNAGOGUE in a chest known as an ark. In more liturgical congregations, the Torah scrolls are removed and paraded through the congregation when they are to be read. totemism A religious complex that many once thought was the earliest form of religion. Late 19th-century anthropologists “identified” totem ism. It was allegedly found among the peoples of Australia, Oceania, and North America. But they could never agree on what totemism was. Com mon characteristics included: a society organized into exogamous groups (people could not marry within the group), the notion that each group descended from a “totem” or animal ancestor, a prohibition on eating or using one’s totem, and a ritual in which the group ate the totem. Two scholars made the idea of totemism pop ular: William Robertson Smith, who saw it as the earliest form of SACRIFICE , and James George F RAZER . The sociologist Émile D URKHEIM and the psycholo gist Sigmund F REUD used the idea in developing their theories of religions. Later, the anthropologist Claude L ÉVI -S TRAUSS transformed totemism as he developed his own ideas about social classification. American anthropologists took the lead in showing that totemism (but not totems) was a fig ment of the scholarly imagination. In 1912 Robert Lowie wrote: “any ethnologist who identifies . . . totemism [in America] with totemism in Melane

Trappists The popular name for the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, a branch of the larger order of Cistercian MONKS AND NUNS in R OMAN C ATHOLICISM . The Cistercians were founded at Citeaux, France, in 1098; the Trap pist wing of the movement derives from reforms instituted by Armand-Jean Le Bouthillier de Rancé, who became abbot of a monastery at La Trappe, France, in 1664, hence the name Trap pist. Cistercians are enclosed contemplatives who live austere lives devoted to ASCETICISM , PRAYER , and MEDITATION . The Trappists have prac ticed this way of life more rigorously than most other orders. Until changes were made in the late 1960s following the second V ATICAN C OUNCIL of the Roman Catholic Church, Trappists ordinarily lived in complete silence, communicating by a system of hand signs when necessary, and fasted strenuously ( see FASTING ), abstaining from meat, fish, and eggs. Now, although their lives are cer tainly simple and disciplined by ordinary stan dards, some speech and other forms of individual expression are allowed. Traditionally, Trappist monasteries have been located in rural areas and have striven to be self sustaining agricultural communities. Many today still specialize in producing and selling agricultural products. At the same time, study and writing have not been neglected. Undoubtedly the most famous modern Trappist was Thomas Merton (1915–68), a convert to Catholicism who entered the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemane in Ken tucky in 1941. His autobiography, The Seven Sto rey Mountain (1948), excited great interest in the Trappist life and caused the numbers of Trappists to grow dramatically in the 1950s. Merton wrote many other books, including The Waters of Siloe (1949), a history and description of the Trappist movement. Trappists continue their life today. Many Trap pist monasteries, noted for their hospitality and spiritual guidance, are popular places for pilgrim