Sacred-profane dichotomy
Encyclopedia
French
sociologist
Émile Durkheim
considered the dichotomy
between the sacred and the profane to be the central characteristic of religion
: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden." In Durkheim's theory, the sacred represented the interests of the group, especially unity, which were embodied in sacred group symbols, or totems. The profane, on the other hand, involved mundane individual concerns. Durkheim explicitly stated that the dichotomy sacred/profane was not equivalent to good/evil. The sacred could be good or evil, and the profane could be either as well.
s has been criticized by scholars like British anthropologist Jack Goody
. Goody also noted that "many societies have no words that translate as sacred or profane and that ultimately, just like the distinction between natural and supernatural, it was very much a product of European religious thought rather than a universally applicable criterion."
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
sociologist
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
Émile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain...
considered the dichotomy
Dichotomy
A dichotomy is any splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts, meaning it is a procedure in which a whole is divided into two parts...
between the sacred and the profane to be the central characteristic of religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden." In Durkheim's theory, the sacred represented the interests of the group, especially unity, which were embodied in sacred group symbols, or totems. The profane, on the other hand, involved mundane individual concerns. Durkheim explicitly stated that the dichotomy sacred/profane was not equivalent to good/evil. The sacred could be good or evil, and the profane could be either as well.
Criticism
Durkheim's claim of the universality of this dichotomy for all religions/cultCult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
s has been criticized by scholars like British anthropologist Jack Goody
Jack Goody
Sir John Rankine Goody is a British social anthropologist. He has been a prominent teacher at Cambridge University, he was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1976, and he is an associate of the US National Academy of Sciences...
. Goody also noted that "many societies have no words that translate as sacred or profane and that ultimately, just like the distinction between natural and supernatural, it was very much a product of European religious thought rather than a universally applicable criterion."
See also
- CarnivalCarnivalCarnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
and CarnivalesqueCarnivalesqueCarnivalesque is an traces the origins of the carnivalesque to the concept of carnival, itself related to the Feast of Fools, a medieval festival originally of the sub-deacons of the cathedral, held about the time of the Feast of the Circumcision , in which the humbler cathedral officials... - Grotesque bodyGrotesque bodyThe grotesque body is a concept, or literary trope, put forward by Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin in his study of François Rabelais' work. The essential principle of grotesque realism is degradation, the lowering of all that is abstract, spiritual, noble, and ideal to the material level...
- Mircea EliadeMircea EliadeMircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
- ProfanumProfanumProfanum is the Latin word for "profane." Central to the social reality of major western religion is the distinction made by Émile Durkheim between the sacred and the profane....
- RitualRitualA ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
and CeremonyCeremonyA ceremony is an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin.-Ceremonial occasions:A ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a human life, marking the significance of, for example:* birth... - Sacred and Profane (8 medieval lyrics)Sacred and Profane (8 medieval lyrics)Sacred and Profane, Op. 91, is a collection of 'Eight Medieval Lyrics' for unaccompanied voices in five parts composed by Benjamin Britten in 1974-5...
(Choral composition, by Benjamin Britten) - Sacred and Profane LoveSacred and Profane LoveSacred and Profane Love is an oil painting by Titian, painted around 1513–1514. The painting was commissioned by Niccolò Aurelio, a secretary to the Venetian Council of Ten to celebrate his marriage to a young widow, Laura Bagarotto...
(Oil painting, by Titian) - Social controlSocial controlSocial control refers generally to societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Many mechanisms of social control are cross-cultural, if only in the control...
- The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder - a novel by Evelyn WaughEvelyn WaughArthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
- The Sacred and Profane by The Smashing PumpkinsThe Smashing PumpkinsThe Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
|Machina/The Machines of God
Further reading
- Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His WorldRabelais and His WorldDuring World War II Mikhail Bakhtin submitted a dissertation on the French Renaissance writer François Rabelais which was not defended until some years later. The controversial ideas discussed within the work caused much disagreement, and it was consequently decided that Bakhtin be denied his...
[1941]. Trans. Hélène Iswolsky. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. - C. Renate Barber Sacred and Profane: Some Thoughts on the Folk-Urban Continuum of This Dichotomy Man, Vol. 65, Mar. - Apr., 1965 (Mar. - Apr., 1965), pp. 45–46 doi:10.2307/2797525
- S. S. Acquaviva, Patricia Lipscomb The Decline of the Sacred in Industrial Society. review: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4189(198107)61%3A3%3C341%3ATDOTSI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N