Chapter 9: Gods and Spirits
Chapter Summary
Reflective Video Activity
Video Reflective Activity on “My Failed Mission to Find God”
View the TEDWomen Talk by Anjali Kumar (2017), “My Failed Mission to Find God – and what I found instead,” at https://www.ted.com/talks/anjali_kumar_my_failed_mission_to_find_god_and_what_i_found_instead (ca. 16 min.)
- Who is the speaker and what is her religious background?
- What are the core principles of Jainism and how do you think these shaped the speaker’s experiences beyond her traditional faith? How does she identify herself today?
- What are some of the experiences that the speaker had in her search for God?
- When the speaker told her friends and acquaintances about her search and travel to a healer in Brazil, what are the three things that almost everyone asked for? What does this reveal about our humanity?
- What does the speaker believe she gained as a result of her search for God?
Multiple Choice Questions
Case Studies
Case Study of Cultural Appropriation
Cultural appropriation is a form of exploitation in which elements are taken from one culture into another without appropriate understanding, attribution, or respect. Frequently, this includes monetizing other cultural practices.
Read more about cultural appropriation from the anthropological perspective at: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/cultural-appropriation-another-form-extractivism-indigenous-communities
Today, vision quests are being marketed to Western audiences with promises of renewal, creativity, and rejuvenation. Many times the clients who purchase these “spiritual experiences” are well intentioned and genuinely seeking to improve their lives. Some of these companies seem more legitimate than others.
Do an inventory of at least two non-Indigenous vision quest sites (those listed below or some you find on your own) and note what aspects of the vision quest they are promoting and what is involved in participating in one of their visions quests.
Do you believe it is possible for cultural traditions to be learned and reinvented by another culture ethically? Why or why not?
Modern-day monetized vision quests and paraphernalia:
A response to cultural appropriation by a Western marketer:
Study Questions
- How are gods and spirits different from one another? Do they have any similarities? Use cross-cultural examples in your response.
- As we learned in Chapter 1, the functional approach to the study of religion looks at the role that religious practices play in the functioning of a society. Apply this approach to zar possession in the northern Sudan and explain the functional role of these beliefs.
- In this chapter you were introduced to the vision quests of Kiowas and other Indigenous groups. Why do you think rituals such as these are central to their culture? Do you believe there are comparable rituals like the vision quest in your own society?
- Why do you think Catholic exorcisms have been on the rise during the last couple of decades? How might the diverse circumstances of our lives affect the way we experience religion?
- In what ways does the concept of a monotheistic God appear in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? In regards to beliefs about their God, what do these faiths have in common and how are they different?
- What are the differences between agnostics, atheists, and Nones?
Further Reading & Video Links
Suggested Readings
Michael Cuneo, Michael. American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty (New York: Doubleday, 2001). A look at exorcism, largely Christian evangelical, in the United States.
Richard Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion (Boston: Mariner Books, 2008). Dawkins presents his arguments for atheism.
Harvey, Graham, Animism. Respecting the Living World (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006). A scholar of religious studies examines the notion that animals and natural objects have souls.
Harrod, Howard, The Animals Came Dancing. Native American Sacred Ecology and Animal Kinship (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2000). A sociology/religious scholar discusses the spiritual and ecological connections between animals and humans in the Northern Plains.
Irwin, Lee, The Dream Seekers. Native American Visionary Traditions of the Great Plains (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994). A religious studies scholar describes dream-spirits and the visionary epistemè related to the Plains vision quest.
Taylor, Troy, The Devil Came to St. Louis. Uncensored. The True Story of the 1949 Exorcism (Jacksonville, IL: American Hauntings, Ink, 2021). An unbiased analysis of the famed exorcism that influenced the William Peter Blatty book, The Exorcist.
Fiction
Lovecraft, H.P., H.P. Lovecraft. The Fiction. Complete and Unabridged (New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 2008). A collection of stories about the Old Ones, other ancient gods and otherworldly creatures in New England originally submitted to the pulp magazine, Weird Tales.
Suggested Websites
https://www.godchecker.com/ – non-denominational website featuring a cross-cultural database covering the gods and spirits of world religions
https://scandification.com/the-history-of-scandinavian-gnomes/ – a descriptive history of elves, sprites, and “hidden people” in Scandinavian countries
https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/ – detailed list of daily Catholic saints’ days
Suggested Video
https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/11/07/video-we-have-always-been-animists
We Have Always Been Animists. An hour-long video in which distinguished professor of religious studies Graham Harvey discusses animism and how separating human cultures from nature is harmful.
https://www.pbs.org/video/uncovering-the-power-of-hoodoo-an-ancestral-journey-skgy16
Uncovering the power of Hoodoo: An Ancestral Journey. Hostess Tank Ball interviews a professor of African-American history and a conjure woman regarding ancestor worship and the Hoodoo religion.