Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality PDF
Preview Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality
WANDERING GOD WANDERING GOD A Study in Nomadic Spirituality Morris Berman State University of New York Press Grateful acknowledgment is extended to the following for pennission to reprint copyrighted material: Excerpt from HLittie Sleep's Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight," from THE BOOK OF NIGHTMARES by Galway Kinnell. Copyright C 1971 by Galway Kinnell. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Co. All rights reserved.. Excerpts from '1"he Last Hiding Places of Snow,H from THREE BOOKS. Copyright C 1993 by Galway Kinnell. Previously published. in Mortal Acts, Morlal Words (1980). Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Co. All rights reserved. "The Opening/ from ONLY TWO CAN PLAY THIS GAME by G. Spencer Brown. Copyright C 1977 by the Julian Press, Inc. Reprinted. by permission of Julian Press, Inc., a division of Crown Publishers, Inc. Published. by State University of New York Press, Albany 0 2000 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording. or otherwise without the prior permiSSion in writing of the publish~. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY, 12246 Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Dana Yanulavich Libr.llly of Cong~55 Cataloging-in-PubIiCl.tion O;ata Berman, Morris, 1944- Wandering God : a study in nomadic spirituality I Morris Berman. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-4441-4 (hardcover: alk. paper). - ISBN 0-7914-4442-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Spiritual life. 2. Consciousness-Religious aspects. 3. Paradox-Religious aspects. 4. Nomads. 5. Hunting and gathering societies. 6. Social evolution. I. Title. BL624.84634 ZOO) 128--dc21 99-'6802 ClP 10987654321 The problem of modem man isn't to escape from one ideology to another, nor to escape from one formulation to find another; our problem is to live in the presence and in the attributes of reality. -Frederick Sommer, The Poetic l..iJgic of Art and Aesthetics Men, incapable of liberty-who cannot stand the terror of the sacred that manifests itself before their open eyes-must tum to mystery. -Carlo Levi, Of Fear and Freedom CONTENTS List of lllustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Note to the Reader xiii Introduction: The Experience of Paradox 1 1. The Writing on the WaD 19 2. Politics and Power 49 3. As the Soul Is Bent: The Psycho-Religious Roots of Social Inequality 85 4. Agriculture, Religion, and the Great Mother 117 5. The Zone of Flux 153 6. Wandering God: The Recovery of Paradox in the Twentieth Century 191 vii viii Contents 7. The Other Voice 213 Notes 247 Selected Bibliography 327 About the Author 333 Index 335
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