The Thing about Religion: An Introduction to the Material Study of Religions

265 Pages·2021·24.317 MB·English

by  David Morgan (author)

The
Thing abouT
Religion
• • •
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The
Thing abouT
Religion
• • •
An Introduction to the Material Study of Religions
• • •
DaviD MoRgan
The univeRsiTy of noRTh CaRolina PRess
Chapel Hill
This book was funded in part by the
Warren Roman Catholic and the Dennis and
Rita Meyer Endowments in the
Department of Religious Studies
at Duke University.
© 2021 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Set in Miller by Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
The University of North Carolina Press has been a
member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Cover illustration: (front) John William Waterhouse, The Magic Circle,
1886 © Tate Images; (back) © iStock.com/bushton3.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Morgan, David, 1957– author.
Title: The thing about religion : an introduction to the
material study of religions / David Morgan.
Description: Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lCCn 2020044340 | isbn 9781469662824 (cloth ; alk. paper) |
isbn 9781469662831 (pbk. ; alk. paper) | isbn 9781469662848 (ebook)
Subjects: lCsh: Religion and culture. | Material culture—Religious aspects. |
Space and time—Religious aspects. | Religion—Study and teaching.
Classification: lCC bl65.C8 M65 2021 | DDC 200—dc23
lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044340
[ ConTenTs ]
•••
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction:
How Materiality Matters to the Study of Religion 1
PaRT i. TheoRies anD DefiniTions
Chapter 1. How Some Theories of Religion Dematerialize It 27
Chapter 2. What Is the Material Study of Religion? 54
Chapter 3. How Religions Happen Materially 77
PaRT ii. sTuDying MaTeRial Religion
Chapter 4. The Power of Things: A History of Magic Wands 101
Chapter 5. Notre- Dame de Paris: Religion and Time 129
Chapter 6. Words and Things 155
Conclusion: Things, Networks, and Agents 181
Resources for Classroom Use 187
Primary Texts, Key Terms, and Online Resources 187
Writing Guide 195
Bibliography to Support Student Research 199
Notes 207
Index 233
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[ figuRes ]
•••
1 Amilcare Santini, Head of Michelangelo’s David 1
2 Virgin of Paris, Notre- Dame de Paris 11
3 Shiva Lingam 12
4 The Black Stone of the Kaaba 14
5 Buddhist monks, Rangoon, Burma 16
6 Crest from the Escrain de Charlemagne 17
7 Boudhanath Stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal 21
8 Detail of carved capitals, cloister of the abbey church of
Saint- Pierre, Moissac, France 28
9 Main hall with spirit tablet displayed before the figure of
Confucius, Temple of Confucius, Jiading, China 31
10 G. Mauraud, “Burning the Prayers—Chinese Superstitions” 34
11 Altar of the Three Generations, Burial Chapel of Jan van Arkel,
bishop of Utrecht, Domkerk, Utrecht 39
12 Jan Saenredam, after Cornelius van Haarlem,
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave 41
13 José Ferreira Thedim, Our Lady of Fátima 52
14 Roman altar 55
15 Frontispiece, William Hurd, A New Universal History 63
16 An Orthodox Jewish teacher distributes prayer books among
five- year- old boys at the Temple Mount, Jerusalem 71
17 Prayer at Jumma Mosque, Delhi, India 74
18 Jewish men apply tefillin at the Temple Mount, Jerusalem 80
19 Francisco Rizi, Auto- da- Fé on the Plaza Mayor of Madrid 84
20 Funeral portraits of the children of Aline from Hawara, Egypt 87
21 Romeyn de Hooghe, “Frontispiece of the Old Testament” 90
22 Andrea Pozzo, Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius, ceiling fresco of
the church of Sant’Ignazio, Rome 93
23 A Hindu priest performs yajña, a sacrificial fire, Calcutta, India 96
24 Schoolgirls tie paper fortunes to a trellis for disposal, Sensoji
Temple, Tokyo 98
25 Kylix depicting Priestess Themis as the Delphic Oracle
with King Aegeus before her 102
26 Annibale Caracci, Ulysses and Circe, Farnese Palace, Rome 103
27 Attributed to Tithonos painter, lekythos with image of Hermes 105
28 Moses and the Burning Bush, Exodus 3:2 108
29 Opening of the mouth ceremony, Egyptian Book of the Dead 109
30 Moses Divides the Red Sea, synagogue fresco, Dura Europos,
Syria 111
31 Sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus, Rome 112
32 “The Brazen Serpent,” from The Common Book of Prayer 113
33 Gabriel Ehinger after Johann Jacob von Sandrart, Moses and
Jesus on title page, German Bible 114
34 John William Waterhouse, The Magic Circle 116
35 William Wynn Westcott in ceremonial garment of the
Rosicrucians 119
36 Pamela Colman Smith, “The Magician” 121
37 Émile Bertrand, Cendrillon 124
38 Wandrille de Préville, Notre- Dame de Paris in flames 130
39 Île de la Cité, 1609 133
40 Jean Jouvenet, Mass of the Canon de la Porte 141
41 Charles Nicolas Cochin II, Grand Funeral at Notre-D ame
de Paris for Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine 142
42 “Festival of Reason” 144
43 The Emperor Swears the Oath of the Constitution at
Notre- Dame 146
44 Consecration of Napoleon and Coronation of Josephine
by Pope Pius VII 148
45 Panoramic view of Notre- Dame and the Seine 151
46 Polynesian creator deity, A’a, from Rurutu 158
47 Great marae of Temarre at Papeete, Tahiti 159
48 “The Family Idols of Pomare” 159
49 “Destruction of the Idols at Otaheite” 163
50 Marae of Tane, at Maeva, Tahiti 166
51 Aeolian harp, from Athanasius Kircher, Musurgia Universalis 167
52 Presentation of tapa- wrapped deities to LMS missionaries at
Rarotonga 172
53 Museum of the London Missionary Society 174
54 Interior view of the Cabinet of Curiosities, Boston 176
A section of color plates follows page 116
[ aCknowleDgMenTs ]
•••
My sincere thanks to Elaine Maisner, executive editor at the
University of North Carolina Press, for her support from the genesis of
this project to its completion. And to Birgit Meyer, University of Utrecht,
for assembling a group of students and faculty to workshop much of the
manuscript. My visit to Utrecht and the days meeting with the group
were instrumental in improving the book. Birgit and her colleagues
were not only careful readers of the text but outstanding conversation
partners. Thanks, too, to a number of colleagues who offered helpful
comments: Larissa Carneiro, Joyce Flueckiger, Andreas Gregersen,
Mohsen Kadivar, Hwansoo Kim, Leela Prasad, and Pooyan Tamimi
Arab. I would like to acknowledge the journal Kunst og Kultur, where
a portion of chapter 6 first appeared. And for assistance in publishing
this book, I wish to express my gratitude to the Warren Roman
Catholic and the Dennis & Rita Meyer Endowments in the
Department of Religious Studies at Duke University.
[ ix ]