Patterns in Comparative Religion
Published on 21. November 2022
484 pages
978-1-4962-0832-3 (ISBN)
Description
In this era of increased knowledge the essence of religious phenomena eludes the psychologists, sociologists, linguists, and other specialists because they do not study it as religious. According to Mircea Eliade, they miss the one irreducible element in religious phenomena-the element of the sacred. Eliade abundantly demonstrates universal religious experience and shows how humanity's effort to live within a sacred sphere has manifested itself in myriad cultures from ancient to modern times; how certain beliefs, rituals, symbols, and myths have, with interesting variations, persisted.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lincoln
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
File size
1,29 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4962-0832-3 (9781496208323)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Mircea Eliade
Patterns in Comparative Religion
Book
09/1996
Bison Books
€48.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Mircea Eliade's works include the multivolume History of Religious Ideas. John C. Holt is a professor of religion at Bowdoin College and the author of The Religious World of Kirti Sri: Buddhism, Art, and Politics of Late Medieval Sri Lanka.
Content
- Intro
- TITLE PAGE
- COPYRIGHT PAGE
- CONTENTS
- LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
- INTRODUCTION
- AUTHOR'S FOREWORD
- I. APPROXIMATIONS: THE STRUCTURE AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE SACRED
- 1. "Sacred" and "Profane"
- 2. Difficulties of method
- 3. The Variety among Hierophanies
- 4. The Multiplicity of Hierophanies
- 5. The Dialectic of Hierophanies
- 6. The Taboo and the Ambivalence of the Sacred
- 7. Mana
- 8. The Structure of Hierophanies
- 9. The Revaluation of Hierophanies
- 10. The Complexity of "Primitive" Religion
- II. THE SKY AND SKY GODS
- 11. The Sacredness of the Sky
- 12. Australian Sky Gods
- 13. Sky Gods Among the Andaman Islanders, Africans, etc.
- 14. "Deus Otiosus"
- 15. New "Divine Forms" Substituted for the Sky Gods
- 16. Fusion and Substitution
- 17. The Antiquity of Supreme Beings of the Sky
- 18. Sky Gods among the Peoples of the Arctic and Central Asia
- 19. Mesopotamia
- 20. Dyaus, Varuna
- 21. Varuna and Sovereignty
- 22. Iranian Sky Gods
- 23. Ouranos
- 24. Zeus
- 25. Jupiter, Odin, Taranis, etc.
- 26. Storm Gods
- 27. Fecundators
- 28. The Spouse of the Great Mother
- 29. Yahweh
- 30. The Supplanting of Sky Gods by Fecundators
- 31. Sky Symbolism
- 32. Ascension Myths
- 33. Ascension Rites
- 34. Ascension Symbolism
- 35. Conclusions
- III. THE SUN AND SUN-WORSHIP
- 36. Hierophanies of the Sun and "Rationalization"
- 37. The "Solarization" of Supreme Beings
- 38. Africa, Indonesia
- 39. Solarization among the Munda
- 40. Solar Cults
- 41. Descent from the Sun
- 42. The Sun as Hierophant and Psychopomp
- 43. Egyptian Sun Cults
- 44. Solar Cults in the Classical East and the Mediterranean
- 45. India
- the Ambivalence of the Sun
- 46. Sun Heroes, the Dead and the Elect
- IV. THE MOON AND ITS MYSTIQUE
- 47. The Moon and Time
- 48. The Coherence of all Lunar Epiphanies
- 49. The Moon and the Waters
- 50. The Moon and Vegetation
- 51. The Moon and Fertility
- 52. The Moon, Woman and Snakes
- 53. Lunar Symbolism
- 54. The Moon and Death
- 55. The Moon and Initiation
- 56. The Symbolism of Lunar "Becoming"
- 57. Cosmo-Biology and Mystical Physiology
- 58. The Moon and Fate
- 59. Lunar Metaphysics
- V. THE WATERS AND WATER SYMBOLISM
- 60. Water and the Seeds of Things
- 61. Water Cosmogonies
- 62. Water as Universal Mother
- 63. The "Water of Life"
- 64. The Symbolism of Immersion
- 65. Baptism
- 66. The Thirst of the Dead
- 67. Miraculous and Oracular Springs
- 68. Water Epiphanies and Divinities
- 69. Nymphs
- 70. Poseidon, Aegir, etc.
- 71. Water Animals and Emblems
- 72. Deluge Symbolism
- 73. Summing-Up
- VI. SACRED STONES: EPIPHANIES, SIGNS AND FORMS
- 74. Stones as Manifesting Power
- 75. Burial Megaliths
- 76. Fertilizing Stones
- 77. "Sliding"
- 78. Stones with Holes: "Thunder-Stones"
- 79. Meteorites and Bethels
- 80. Stone Epiphanies and Symbolisms
- 81. Sacred Stone, Omphalos, "Centre of the World"
- 82. Signs and Forms
- VII. THE EARTH, WOMAN AND FERTILITY
- 83. The Earth Mother
- 84. The Primeval Pair: Sky and Earth
- 85. The Structure of Chthonian Hierophanies
- 86. Chthonian Maternity
- 87. Man's Descent from the Earth
- 88. Regeneration
- 89. Homo-Humus
- 90. Cosmological Solidarity
- 91. Soil and Woman
- 92. Woman and Agriculture
- 93. Woman and Furrow
- 94. Synthesis
- VIII. VEGETATION: RITES AND SYMBOLS OF RE-GENERATION
- 95. A Preliminary Classification
- 96. The Sacred Tree
- 97. The Tree as Microcosm
- 98. The Divinity Dwelling in Trees
- 99. The Cosmic Tree
- 100. The Inverted Tree
- 101. Yggdrasil
- 102. Plant Epiphanies
- 103. Vegetation and Great Goddesses
- 104. Icono-graphic Symbolism
- 105. Great Goddess-Tree of Life
- 106. The Tree of Knowledge
- 107. The Guardians of the Tree of Life
- 108. Monsters and Gryphons
- 109. The Tree and the Cross
- 110. Rejuvenation and Immortality
- 111. The Archetype of Simples
- 112. The Tree as Axis Mundi
- 113. The Myth of Man's Descent from a Plant Species
- 114. Transformation into Plants
- 115. Relations between Men and Plants
- 116. The Tree that Regenerates
- 117. The Marriage of Trees
- 118. The May Tree
- 119. "King" and "Queen"
- 120. Sexuality and Vegetation
- 121. Figures representing Vegetation
- 122. Ritual Contests
- 123. Cosmic Symbolism
- 124. Summing-Up
- IX. AGRICULTURE AND FERTILITY CULTS
- 125. Agricultural Rites
- 126. Woman, Sexuality and Agriculture
- 127. Agricultural Offerings
- 128. The "Power" of the Harvest
- 129. Mythical Personifications
- 130. Human Sacrifice
- 131. Human Sacrifice among the Aztecs and the Khonds
- 132. Sacrifice and Regeneration
- 133. End-of-the-Harvest Rituals
- 134. Seeds and the Dead
- 135. Agricultural and Funeral Divinities
- 136. Sexual Life and the Fertility of the Fields
- 137. The Ritual Function of the Orgy
- 138. Orgy and Reintegration
- 139. Agricultural Mysticism and Redemption
- X. SACRED PLACES: TEMPLE, PALACE, "CENTRE OF THE WORLD"
- 140. Hierophanies and Repetition
- 141. The Consecration of Space
- 142. The "Construction" of the Sacred Space
- 143. The "Centre of the World"
- 144. Cosmic Patterns and Construction Rites
- 145. The Symbolism of the "Centre"
- 146. "Nostalgia for Paradise"
- XI. SACRED TIME AND THE MYTH OF ETERNAL RENEWAL
- 147. The Heterogeneousness of Time
- 148. The Unity and Contiguity of Hierophanic Time
- 149. Periodic Recurrence-the Eternal Present
- 150. The Restoration of Mythical Time
- 151. Non-Periodic Recurrence
- 152. The Regeneration of Time
- 153. Yearly Repetition of the Creation
- 154. Repetitions of the Creation attached to Particular Occasions
- 155. Total Regeneration
- XII. THE MORPHOLOGY AND FUNCTION OF MYTHS
- 156. Creation Myths-Exemplar Myths
- 157. The Cosmogonic Egg
- 158. What Myths Reveal
- 159. Coincidentia Oppositorum-the Mythical Pattern
- 160. The Myth of Divine Androgyny
- 161. The Myth of Human Androgyny
- 162. Myths of Renewal, Construction, Initiation and so on
- 163. The Make-Up of a Myth
- Varuna and Vrtra
- 164. Myth as "Exemplar History"
- 165. The Corruption of Myths
- XIII. THE STRUCTURE OF SYMBOLS
- 166. Symbolic Stones
- 167. The Degradation of Symbols
- 168. Infantilization
- 169. Symbols and Hierophanies
- 170. The Coherence of Symbols
- 171. The Function of Symbols
- 172. The Logic of Symbols
- CONCLUSIONS
- NAME INDEX
- SUBJECT INDEX
