Sacred
In the study of religion, the sacred is contrasted with the profane. Sacred space, for example, is where the divine dwells in a distinctive way.[1] Whether there is a single, universal "sacred" found in every religion is one of the most debated questions in comparative religion.[2][3]
Sacred space
Sacred space is a place where the divine is thought to dwell in a special way, such as a church, synagogue, mosque or temple. It contrasts with neutral, profane space.[1]
Sacred time
Time can be sacred too. Sacred time is renewed through ritual and festivals.[1] In Zoroastrianism, for example, the calendar includes the New Year at the spring equinox, six seasonal festivals, a fire festival and a season when the souls of the dead are believed to visit.[4]
Eliade and Otto
Two scholars are especially linked with the idea of the sacred: Mircea Eliade and Rudolf Otto.[1] Eliade saw a universal, transcendent "sacred" at work in Homo religiosus, religious humanity.[2]
Criticism and defence
Eliade's approach has been strongly criticised. Postmodern critics regard his idea of a universal sacred, seen across all religious people, as beyond rescue. Kimberley C. Patton and Benjamin C. Ray, editors of A Magic Still Dwells, aim for a kind of comparison between religions that does not depend on grand, generic patterns of the sacred.[2]
Patton nevertheless defends comparison itself. Critics say comparison assumes a shared idea of "the sacred", which postmodern thinkers call socially constructed. Patton replies that this criticism cannot be proved either. She also warns against "unmasking" participants' own religious motives.[3]
Related ideas
Ideas of the sacred overlap with pantheism, which identifies God with nature,[5] and with ideas of the soul and afterlife.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Sacred, The". Philosophy of Religion A-Z. Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. pp. 190–191.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Patton, Kimberley C.; Ray, Benjamin C., eds. (2000). "Introduction". A Magic Still Dwells: Comparative Religion in the Postmodern Age. University of California Press. p. 2.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Patton, Kimberley C.; Ray, Benjamin C., eds. (2000). "Juggling Torches". A Magic Still Dwells: Comparative Religion in the Postmodern Age. University of California Press. p. 168.
- ↑ Rose, Jenny (2014). "Eranshahr: The Sasanian Center of the World". Zoroastrianism: An Introduction. I.B. Tauris.
- ↑ "Pantheism". Philosophy of Religion A-Z. Palgrave Macmillan. 2016. pp. 155–156.