The sociology of religion also deals with how religion impacts society regarding the positive and negatives of what happens when religion is mixed with society. In general, peyotist doctrine consists of belief in one supreme God (the Great Spirit), who deals with men through various spirits, which include the traditional waterbird or thunderbird spirits that carry prayers to God. The wakanda, or wakan, of the Sioux is described similarly, but as Wakan-Tanka it may refer to a collective unity of gods with great power (wakan). It is also worth noting that those who find the focus on the individual something of a deficiency in analytical accounts of faith (Eklund 2015) may perceive in James’ account some acknowledgment of the social aspect of faith. Stay tuned for details on the CRC’s growing schedule of programs and follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter) for updates. The manitou of the Algonquin is not, like wakan, merely an impersonal power that is inherent in all things of nature but is also the personification of numerous manitous (powers), with a Great Manitou (Kitchi-Manitou) at the head. Sarah, when Abraham has a great feast celebrating this event, notices that Ishmael (around 16 – 17 years old) is mocking Isaac (Genesis 21:8 – 9). Sarah, angered by what she sees, tells the patriarch to permanently cast out Hagar and her son.

When salvation was first offered to me I was about seventeen years old. If you or your guests are at all superstitious, better make sure the total dinner tally doesn’t add up to exactly 13. As one popular superstition claims, when 13 sit down at a table to dine, the first to rise will be the first to die. Her mother, Demeter, through long days of searching, during which she came to Eleusis, refused to make the grain grow. If you’re observing in a location with minimal light pollution, you might also make out the V-shape pattern of the Hyades star cluster surrounding Aldebaran, further confirming its identification. Hajj is the pilgrimage to the sacred city Makkah during the 1st 10 days of the holy month of Dhu al-Hajj (the last month of the Islamic year). The most important sanctuary of Demeter (Ceres), the goddess of grain, and her daughter Kore (Persephone) was in the city of Eleusis in Attica, between Athens and Megara. The entire story of Demeter and Kore was elaborately reenacted in the Eleusinian ceremony. Satisfied with this, Demeter caused grain to grow again and taught the Eleusinians her rites.

Just as in the myth Kore was carried away to marry Hades and to give birth to Plutus, so was grain thrown into the field and buried in the earth to bring forth new life. The myth, as told in the Homeric hymn to Demeter, tells how Hades (Pluto, or Pluton), god of the netherworld, wanted a wife and how he carried off Kore into the depths of the earth. Finally, Hades was bidden to send Kore back to earth. Their origin, however, goes back to the earlier centuries of Greek history. Known as Mithras in the Roman Empire during the 2nd and 3rd centuries ce, this deity was honoured as the patron of loyalty to the emperor. The mystery religions reached their peak of popularity in the first three centuries ad. Etymologically, the word mystery is derived from the Greek verb myein (“to close”), referring to the lips and the eyes. I wanted to offer just a quick word of caution, though. Famous religious agricultural festivals-known as the Greater and the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries-celebrating the sowing, sprouting, and reaping of the grain, were reenacted in this city. Both Dionysiac and Eleusinian mysteries had a wide range of meaning. Philosophy of religion is the philosophical study of the meaning and nature of religion.

Only the barakah (derived from the pre-Islamic thought world of the Berber and Arabs), the contagious superpower (or holiness) of the saints, and the power Nyama in the western Sudan that works as a force within large wild animals, certain bush spirits, and physically handicapped people-appearing especially as a contagious power of revenge-may be added with a certain justification to that force of nature that is designated by mana. A striking similarity with mana may also be noted in the concepts of heil (good omen), saell (fortunate), and hamingja (luck) of the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples. They originated in tribal ceremonies that were performed by primitive peoples in many parts of the world. It has been shaped by Latin, Greek, French and numerous other languages as it spread around the world. After 1891 it spread rapidly as far north as Canada and is now practiced among more than 50 tribes. The telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell, offered a more direct and personal form of communication. In 2010, Muslim journalists reported that the distinction between Sunni and Shi’a was not particularly important for many local Muslims, and Muslims were much more likely to identify themselves by the local religious leader they follow than as Sunni or Shi’a.