SOME NOTES ON THE SACRED AND THE SPIRITUAL

Introduction

Two concepts closely related to religion are the sacred and the spiritual. Like religion they are not easy to define let alone deeply comprehend and appreciate. Nevertheless, they need to be seriously and systematically considered, it would be unscientific and unscholarly to do otherwise..

Sacred

The sacred is often considered to be the key concept in religion. Indeed, religion is frequently defined as phenomena related to the sacred. [See, for example Emile Durkheim’s classic definition of religion]. But the sacred as a phenomenon is much wider than religion. It is generally considered to have four characteristics: (1) special or unique, (2) it involves the most important values, (3) it is fundamental or primordial in consciousness, and (4) it involves dynamic and ineffable communication (Bailey 1998:443). Often the sacred is contrasted with the profane or secular, especially by scholars like Emile Durkheim and Rudolf Otto.

Some use the terms sacred, holy, and numinous as essentially synonymous while others attempt to draw distinctions. The word sacred derives from the Latin sacer which means consecrated to a divinity.

Some have argued that the sacred is not always distinguished from the profane or secular by the followers of a religion, and that the sacred is not always found in a religion (Hinnells 1995:438).

Spiritual

Spirit, or spirits, is the most general term for any superhuman or supernatural being. These beings are usually considered to be invisible and to have to the power to influence the lives of individuals and society. The belief in the existence of spirits is widespread in most cultures of the past and present (Hinnells 1995:492-493). Indeed, the classical anthropological definition of religion by Edward B. Tylor is a belief in spiritual beings.

William James distinguished between personal experience and inherited tradition; in other words, between spirituality and religion. Thus, many people can claim to be spiritual but not religious. “Spirituality is considered primary, more pure, more directly related to the soul in its relation to the divine, while religion is secondary, dogmatic and stifling, often distorted by oppressive sociopolitical and socioeconomic forces” (Yamane 1998:492).

Conclusions

Spirituality and religion might be envisioned as two circles which are not isomorphic but do intersecting substantially. In turn these two circles might be envisioned as contained by a much larger circle, the sacred. As Vine Deloria, Jr. (2005:1448) observes: “What insights we could gain if we took the phenomena rejected by science and institutional theologians and asked deep and probing questions of it. We would soon learn considerably more about our world.”

References

Bailey, Stephen D., 1998, “Sacred,” Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, William H. Swatos, Jr., Editor, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, pp. 443-445.

Deloria, Vine, Jr., 2005, “The Sacred and the Modern World,” The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Bron Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, New York, NY: Continuum Press, 2:1446-1448.

Durkheim, Emile, 1947, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

Eliade, Mircea, 1957/1987, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, New York, NY: Harcourt Brace and Company.

Faulstich, Paul, 2005, “Sacred Space/Place,” The Dictionary of Religion and Nature, Bron Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, New York, NY: Continuum Press 2:1462-1463.

Hinnells, John R., Editor, 1995, The Penguin Dictionary of Religions, London, UK: Penguin Books.

James, William, 1902/1971, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, London, UK: Fontana.

Otto, Rudolf, 1917/1959, The Idea of the Holy, Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.

Saler, Benson, 1993, Conceptualizing Religion: Immanent Anthropologists, Transcendent Natives, and Unbounded Categories, New York, NY: Berghahn Books.

Tylor, Edward B., 1871, Primitive Culture, London, UK: J. Murray.

Yamane, David, 1998, “Spirituality,” Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, William H. Swatos, Jr., Editor, Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, p. 492.