In Bellah’s Analysis Of Religious Evolution, He Suggests That The Metamorphoses

Below is a free term papers summary of the paper "In Bellah’s Analysis Of Religious Evolution, He Suggests That The Metamorphoses ." If you sign up, you can be reading the rest of this term papers in under two minutes. Registered users should login to view this term paper.

Term Paper Title	In Bellah’s Analysis Of Religious Evolution, He Suggests That The Metamorphoses
# of Words	838
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.35

In Bellah’s analysis of religious evolution, he suggests that the metamorphoses that occur
over time involving the place of religion in society and the place of religion in one’s personal
life can be linked to the change in religious symbolic reference and meaning. He does this by
empirically defining religion as “a set of symbolic forms and acts that relate man to the
ultimate conditions of his existence.” He traces evolutionary development through the
primitive, archaic, historical, early modern, and modern stages by examining religious
symbol systems, religious action, religious organization, and social implications. In each of
the four topics of examination, he points toward the development of freedom, of
individuality, and of religious separation from society through the five stages.

In what Bellah defines as the primitive stage, the living world is close in being to the
mythical world of forces. Symbols involve “The Dreaming” or the “Everywhen.” All
human action is supposedly predicted in the dreams; moreover, mythical beings and forces
are freely associated. As the forces “become” gods later in the archaic period and religious
salvation becomes an ultimate goal in the Historic and Early Modern periods, it is clear that
freedom of the individual is more alive. In the modern stage, we have a reanalysis of the
nature of symbols, that is, we realize that they are in fact symbols. I agree with Bellah
because by doing this, we reject the notion that we are controlled completely and we have a
have a clearer understanding of our relationship to the “other” world or the transcendent,
thus giving us more freedom and room for individual interpretation. Often, symbols can
serve as a trap for our beliefs or, if clearly interpreted, they can help to understand religion
and its purpose and direction.

In religious action, the world begins with no choice or free will as far as actions and
rituals are concerned. Bellah points out that as the conception of self develops throughout
time, one has more of a free will and responsibility to choose what religious action he or she
will participate in as the concentration of religious participation moves from ritual to social
involvement. However, I would like to add, there are still forms of ritualistic inductions and
ceremonies that people involuntarily participate in such as baptism directly after birth.
Moreover, as one becomes less identified with nature and natural concepts, the more he or
she will be identifie...

This is not the end of the termpaper! Register below to see the complete version of this term paper.

Membership Plans	Credit Card	Check

1 month membership

3 month membership (You Save 50%)

6 month membership (You Save 67%)

Copyright © 2002-2007 Mid Term Papers. All rights reserved. This term papers website is used for research purposes only.
If you have forgotten your username or password, please click here.
If you like to cancel your account, please click here.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22