Symbols

Reminders

• Office hours: before class Email: feldmekj@lavc.edu

• First Exam — 4/29 • Web Site:

feldmekj.weebly.com

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Durkheim

• “Religion’s true purpose is not intellectual but social. It serves as the carrier of social sentiments, providing symbols and rituals that enable people to express the deep emotions which anchor them to their community.”

• How do religious symbols “anchor” you to your community?

Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints

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What is This?

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Solidarity

• It is said that early Christians used the fish to distinguish their brethren from others on the road. By drawing one half of the fish in the dirt with their finger or a stick the Christian could test if a stranger was friend or foe. If the party in question knew the "secret handshake" he would finish the other half of the Christian fish to identify himself as a fellow believer

So why a Fish?

• Is the fish a Arbitrary symbol? • no direct connection

to actual meaning of the symbol.

• Scholars debate the actual meaning of the fish

• Usefulness is not debatable

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What is This?

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And what does it have todo with this;

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Easter Bunny & Fertility?

• THE BUNNY

• The rabbit is well known as a sexual symbol of fertility.

• the Easter bunny symbolizes the Mother Goddess.

• Annual Spring time fertility rituals are associated worship of the Mother Goddess

• http://www.history.com/topics/easter-symbols/videos#bet-you-didnt-know-easter-traditions

Study of Symbolism

• Symbols – multivocalic nature: means different thing to different

people – often considered to have mana, force, or power – provide people with an emotional and intellectual

commitment • Durkheim

– stand for revered values, reaffirm cultural value system

Let see how one Symbol can be used for different movements:

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Lets Talk About the Cyrus Cylinder

• Why is the cylinder important?

• Who/What does the cylinder represent, to people in the United States and the Middle East?

• How does politics take over this symbol?

• Why does the Shah of Iran use the cylinder?

• Why does Iran decide to use the cylinder? 16

How are Symbols Multi-vocalic?

• What does the Swastika mean to you?

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It can be a symbol of hate

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It can be seen in Buddhism

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Hinduism

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Navaho

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Power of Symbols

• Symbols can have mana (power or force)

“A religion is a system of symbols”

• Symbols formulate a “basic congruence” between a particular style of life and a specific metaphysic. In other words, symbols are theoretically abstract-able from the referent objects/represented realities.

• Symbols synthesize a people’s ethos – the aesthetic style, tone, and quality of life, their worldview, and their most comprehensive ideas of order.

• Symbols convey ideas in a public form

“A religion is a system of symbols”

• Symbolic structures have an intrinsically double aspect: – a model of “reality” – a model for “reality”

• “they both express the world’s climate and shape it.”

Symbolism ExerciseSymbols  

Wicca,  Protestant  Chris0anity,  Hinduism,  Buddhism,  Catholicism,  Islam,  Judaism,  Any  Na0ve  American  Faith,  &  Zoroastrianism  

Divide  in  to  9  groups  of  4-­‐6    

I  will  assign  each  group  a  faith  

Each  group  will  research  a  symbol    

Answer  the  following  ques=ons  (30  minutes)  

–What  does  the  symbol  represent?  

–Is  the  symbol  represent  a  holiday?  

–What  is  the  history  of  the  symbol?  

–What  is  (was)  the  symbol  used  for?  

–Does  this  symbol  have  any  meanings  for  people  of  different  religions?       25