Sign, Method and the Sacred: New Directions in Semiotic Methodologies for the Study of Religion PDF
Preview Sign, Method and the Sacred: New Directions in Semiotic Methodologies for the Study of Religion
Sign, Method and the Sacred Religion and Reason Founded by Jacques Waardenburg (†) Edited by Gustavo Benavides, Michael Stausberg, and Ann Taves Volume 64 Semiotics of Religion Edited by Massimo Leone, Fabio Rambelli, and Robert Yelle Volume 5 Sign, Method and the Sacred New Directions in Semiotic Methodologies for the Study of Religion Edited by Jason Cronbach Van Boom and Thomas-Andreas Põder ISBN 978-3-11-069472-7 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-069492-5 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-069494-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2021936761 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Acknowledgements Theinspirationforthisvolumecamefromthe17thAnnualConferenceoftheEuro- peanAssociationfortheStudyofReligions(EASR),heldattheUniversityofTartu 25 through 29 June 2019. The book’s editors organized a multipanel session on semioticsofreligion.Thepapersanddiscussionsprovidedthetemplateandspirit of the book.We are grateful for the help of Remo Gramigna and Taras Boyko in organizingthesession,aswellasthetirelesseffortsofourliaisonwithEASR,Ind- rek Peedu.We owe a strongdebt of gratitude to all of the session’s participants, especially Robert Yelle, AndrewRobinson,VolkhardKrechandÒscarCastro Gar- cia.Thequestionsandcommentsofthosewhoattendedthepanelpresentations, including Gesche Linde and Alexandra Grieser, also contributed to the session’s fruitfulness, aswell asconversationswith Peeter Toropand Kalevi Kull. We thank all the contributors to this book, not only for their chapters but also for their patience and cooperation throughout the editorial process. We also wish to thank the University of Tartu and the Theological Institute of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church for supporting Thomas-Andreas Põder’s research and editorial work related to the present volume during 2020.We also thank the University of Helsinki, its Theological Faculty and especially Risto SaarinenforhostingThomas-AndreasPõder’sresearchstaysasavisitingprofes- sorduringthegloballyturbulentyearof2020.Inaddition,wethanktheHelsinki CollegiumforAdvancedStudies(HCAS)attheUniversityofHelsinki,whereTho- mas-AndreasPõderiscurrentlyaKoneFoundationFellow.Healsothanksallthe international PhD candidates and advanced students who have participated in hisregularsemioticsofreligionseminarattheSchoolofTheologyandReligious StudiesoftheUniversityofTartusince2018.WethankbothIrkutskStateUniver- sityandMichaelandElizabethCronbachfortheirmaterialsupportwhichmade Jason Cronbach Van Boom’s work on this volume possible.We thank Massimo Leone, Fabio Rambelli and Robert A.Yelle,the editors of the Semiotics of Reli- gion series. Finally,weare gratefultoSophie Wagenhofer and Katrin Mittmann at Walter De Gruyter for their invaluable help in shepherding this work. This volume, having its roots in Tartu, is dedicated to Juri Lotman (28 Feb- ruary 1922–28October1993),whomade this small,oldand picturesque univer- sitytownaworldknowncenterofsemioticsandwhosecentennialwillbecele- brated in the coming year. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110694925-001 Jason Cronbach Van Boom Preface We live in a semiotic age. Problems and questions of signification and commu- nicationareunusuallysalient.Ofcourse,semioticprinciplesareoperativeinall periodsandsocieties.However,inourtimesadvancesintechnologyandrelated social changes have made us conscious, at times painfully so, of the processes and problems of representation, interpretation and communication. To give only some technological examples, we have the mass production of images and songs, the ubiquity of advertising, marketing and propaganda, problems ofprivacyandthedevelopmentofinstantcommunicationstechnology,originat- ingwiththeinventionofthetelegrambutnowflourishingwithtoday’splethora ofsophisticatedmessagingdevices.Thereisalsothetremendousincreaseinac- cesstoinformation,tothepointthatpeoplehaveunprecedentedaccesstoevery kindoftextfromhumanhistory,butwithoutanyagreeduponparadigmsforin- terpretation oroverall coherence.We dealwith questions aboutdisinformation, withdistinguishingbetweentherealandthevirtualandaboutthepressuresthat peoplefeeltocreateandrecreatethemselvesvirtually.Atabroaderlevel,weare increasinglyconsciousofidentitiesbeingaccidentalcontingencies.InthisHera- clitean flux of symbolic forms, structures of signification that could have been taken for granted in previous times are now exposed as objects of choice. Religionisnotinanywayexemptfromtheseprocesses.Itcannotbe.Religion, howeverwedefineit,byitsnaturealwaysattemptstoprovideorientationforprac- ticallife.Hence,italsonecessarilytakesonthecharacteristicsofsocialreality.In particular, religious questions of representation assume special importance. Re- gardless of whether they affirm one deity, several or none, they always grapple with transcendence. The transcendent, by definition, eludes or resists ordinary means of perception.To become a principle of orientation for practical life, the transcendent must operate through structures of representation. Doing so, how- ever, evokes the paradoxical character of sign representation. A sign at once both connects and separates what it conveys or signifies. Paradoxes may be im- plicit or latent in ordinary means of signification. Because religion connects us with the transcendent (or attempts to do so), it always heightens these kinds of paradoxes. Now, in particular, in our semiotic age,we have a consciousness of the changes in how we representthe sacred. Consequently,we now have an occasion for two sets of disciplines to com- municate with each other.On the one hand, there is the whole family of disci- plines that study religion. This includes religious studies as a formal field of study, the closely related disciplines of theology and philosophy, and a variety https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110694925-002 VIII JasonCronbachVanBoom of social sciences, such as anthropology, sociology, linguistics,political science and psychology (for the latter, especially cognitive psychology and social psy- chology). All these disciplines that deal with religion must now pay special at- tention to semiotic problems. It seems natural, then, for them to make use of semiotics.Likewise,forsemioticiansthemselves,eveniftheydonothaveanin- trinsic interest in religion, phenomena commonly deemed as religious offer an interestingsetofcasestudyapplications.Adisciplinealwaysadvancesbyapply- ingitstheoriesandmodelstoparticularexamples(sometimes,themoreunusu- al,thebetter).Inthecaseofreligion,preciselybecauseitpushessemioticboun- dariestothelimitsofrepresentation,thepossibilitiesforinterestingandfruitful semiotic explorations is especially pronounced. These considerations provided much of the inspiration for this book, as re- flectedinitstitle.Sign,MethodandtheSacredreferstothethreefundamentalfac- torsordimensionsofourproposeddialoguebetweensemioticsandthemultidis- ciplinary study of religion. We take “sign” metonymically, indicating not only somethingthatbringssomethingelsetomindwhenperceived(orwhicheverdef- initionof “sign”wemayprefer),butalsothearrayofphenomenainwhichsigns playaspecialpart,suchassignsystems,representation,communicationandin- terpretation.“Method”referstothebook’sfocusonpresentingthediversemeth- odologicaloptionsinstudyingreligionfromasemioticperspective.“Thesacred,” like “sign,” also functions metonymically. It refers to a constellation of related meanings,suchas“transcendent,”“holy”(asinGreco-RomanandAbrahamictra- ditions) or “noble” (as in South Asian traditions).The term, as used in the title, doesnotimportanystrongphilosophicalortheologicalclaims,merelyindicating the range of topics treated by our contributors.Of course,the term“sacred” can alsocarrydeepersenses,suchasthoserelatingtothefunctionoftranscendence in social systems. Frequently, religions deal with transcendent principles of life, and so can possess features that their adherents call “sacred” or “holy.” For thisbook,however,Sign,MethodandtheSacredsimplymeansthedifferentmeth- odswecan useto exploretheuseandinterpretationof signsinmattersthatare commonly regarded as religious and experiencedby manyassacred. Aswith all books,there is a storybehind how this one originated. Itbegan with Thomas-Andreas Põder’s seminar “Semiotics of Religion” at the University ofTartu.I attendedthis seminarbecause,frommyownacademic andpersonal connectionswith Christianity,Judaism and Islam, I had becomeconvincedthat comparative studies of these three traditions could benefit greatlyfrom making useofsemiotics.Inhindsight,theseminardiscussionsontheliteratureofsemi- otics of religion planted the seed for this volume.Then, the European Associa- tionofStudyofReligions(EASR)announceditwouldbehavingits17thannual conference at the University of Tartu.We took this as an opportunity to initiate Preface IX thefirst session on semiotics ofreligion at thisgeneralreligiousstudies confer- ence.Sometimeafterward,MassimoLeonesuggestedthatthesessioncouldpro- videanoccasionforabookinthisseries,ReligionandReason.Andinfact,the papers presented at the session, together with the accompanying discussions, provided the template for the present volume. Inspired by these dialogues, we present this book with a threefold hope. First, we encourage scholars of religion from all fields to make use of the array of semiotic tools and methods available to us today, some of which our contributors exhibit in a variety of case studies. Second, we want to engage moresemioticiansinthestudyofreligion.Theintroductionandthefirstchapter, both by Thomas-Andreas Põder, make the case for this.Third,we would like to make the general public more aware of the relevance of semiotics of religion. Sincewedofindourselvesinasemioticage,wherequestionsofcommunication, meaning, representation, identity and interpretation are prominent, the joint work of semioticians and scholars of religion can be highly relevant to society at large.
The list of books you might like
