Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural Key Terms

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Chapter 24

• Spirituality, Religion,and the SupernaturalKey
  Terms

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• worldviewThe collective body of ideas that
  members of a culture generally share concerning
  the ultimate shape and substance of their
  reality.
• religionOrganized beliefs in the supernatural
  that rationalize rituals aimed at interpreting
  and controlling aspects of the universe otherwise
  beyond human control.

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• spirituality Concern with the sacred, as
  distinguished from material matters. In contrast
  to religion, spirituality is often individual
  rather than collective and does not require a
  distinctive format or traditional organization.
• polytheismBelief in several gods and/or
  goddesses (as contrasted with monotheismbelief
  in one god or goddess).

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• pantheonThe several gods and goddesses of a
  people. 
• animismA belief in spirit beings thought to
  animate nature.

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• animatismA belief that the world is animated by
  impersonal supernatural powers.
• Priest or PriestessA full-time religious
  specialist.

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• ShamanA part-time religious specialist whose
  special power to contact and manipulate
  supernatural beings.
• rites of passageRituals, often religious in
  nature, marking important stages in the lives of
  individuals, such as birth, marriage, and death.

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• separationIn rites of passage, the ritual
  removal of the individual from society.
• transitionIn rites of passage, isolation of the
  individual following separation and prior to
  incorporation into society.

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• incorporationIn rites of passage,
  reincorporation of the individual into society in
  his or her new status. and forces in an altered
  state of consciousness comes to him or her
  through some personal experience.
• rites of intensificationReligious rituals
  enacted during a groups real or potential
  crisis.

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• imitative magicMagic based on the principle that
  like produces like. Sometimes called sympathetic
  magic.
• contagious magicMagic based on the principle
  that things once in contact can influence one
  another after separation.

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• witchcraftAn explanation of events based on the
  belief that certain individuals possess an innate
  psychic power capable of causing harm, including
  sickness and death. 
• divinationA magical procedure for determining
  the cause of a particular event, such as illness,
  or foretelling the future.

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• revitalization movementsSocial movements, often
  of a religious nature, with the purpose of
  totally reforming a society.
• cargo cults Spiritual movements in Melanesia in
  reaction to disruptive contact with Western
  capitalism promising resurrection of deceased
  relatives, destruction or enslavement of white
  foreigners, and the magical coming of utopian
  riches.