69-535: (Redirected from Sacred Fire ) Sacred fire or holy fire may refer to: Religion [ edit ] Any instance of fire worship , or the use of fires in religious ritual Yajna , Hindu rituals and sacrifices performed at a fire Homa (ritual) , general term for South Asian fire rituals Vedi (altar) , altar for fire rituals in Vedic religion The Sacred fire of Vesta in ancient Roman religion Holy Fire ,
138-471: A false god , and it was spread about that anyone who invoked him would be blinded by fire. The purifying power of fire underlies the Albanian folk belief according to which the fire god is the enemy of uncleanliness and the opponent of filth. In Albanian tradition Fire is deeply respected. To spit into it is taboo . Albanian solemn oaths are taken "by fire", and the worst curse formulas are cast for
207-661: A fire god , as a personification of fires in general, and he may be believed to reside in some sense in any particular ritual fire, or the fire may represent worship of another deity. In Indo-European languages , there were two concepts regarding fire: that of an animate type called * h₁n̥gʷnis (cf. Sanskrit agni , Albanian : enji , English ignite from Latin ignis , Polish ogień and Russian ogon ), and an inanimate type * péh₂wr̥ (cf. English fire , Greek pyr , Sanskrit pu ). A similar distinction existed for water . Fire rituals that are commonly found among Indo-European peoples have been firstly attested by
276-545: A 1996 novel by Bruce Sterling Music [ edit ] Sacred Fire , a 2011 album by Jimmy Cliff Sacred Fire: Live in South America , a 1993 album by Santana Holy Fire (album) , an album by Foals released in 2013 The Holy Fire , an American indie rock band The Holy Fire (EP) , an EP by the eponymous band released in 2004 Other uses [ edit ] Various diseases all also referred to as St. Anthony's fire Holy Fire (2018) ,
345-482: A Church, all those who adhere to them". Sacred things are not, however, limited to gods or spirits. On the contrary, a sacred thing can be "a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred". Religious beliefs, myths, dogmas and legends are the representations that express the nature of these sacred things, and the virtues and powers which are attributed to them. Echoes of James' and Durkheim's definitions are to be found in
414-790: A concept in Orthodox Christianity The sacred fire in Solomon's Temple The sacramental Easter Fire Fire personified as a deity in Indo-European religion: Atar in Zoroastrianism Agni in Hinduism Eternal flame modern flames kept permanently alight, on memorials etc. Entertainment [ edit ] Books [ edit ] Sacred Fire (novel) , a 2003 Dragonlance novel by Chris Pierson Holy Fire (novel) ,
483-491: A concrete deity or not" to which the individual feels impelled to respond with solemnity and gravity. Sociologist Émile Durkheim , in his seminal book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life , defined religion as a "unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things". By sacred things he meant things "set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called
552-493: A definition of religion. There are, however, two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical. The concept of religion originated in the modern era in the West . Parallel concepts are not found in many current and past cultures; there is no equivalent term for religion in many languages. Scholars have found it difficult to develop a consistent definition, with some giving up on
621-489: A sacrifice to Vishnu. In modern Hinduism , Yajna is the general terms for the many types of rituals conducted before a fire, with homa the term for relatively small fire pujas conducted in a domestic setting, or as part of a wedding ceremony (a vivaha homa ). The fire is very carefully constructed and tended by a specialist Brahmin pujari , with much reciting of appropriate passages from sacred texts. Archaeologically, evidence for Indo-Iranian fire worship and
690-443: A similar union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power. Though traditions, sacred texts, and practices have existed throughout time, most cultures did not align with Western conceptions of religion since they did not separate everyday life from the sacred. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, and world religions first entered
759-655: A subject of interest to philosophers and theologians. The word myth has several meanings: Ancient polytheistic religions, such as those of Greece, Rome , and Scandinavia , are usually categorized under the heading of mythology . Religions of pre-industrial peoples, or cultures in development, are similarly called myths in the anthropology of religion . The term myth can be used pejoratively by both religious and non-religious people. By defining another person's religious stories and beliefs as mythology, one implies that they are less real or true than one's own religious stories and beliefs. Joseph Campbell remarked, "Mythology
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#1732775376142828-600: A transcendent deity and all else, between the creator and his creation, between God and man. The anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as a: ... system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic. Alluding perhaps to Tylor's "deeper motive", Geertz remarked that: ... we have very little idea of how, in empirical terms, this particular miracle
897-450: A wide variety of academic disciplines, including theology , philosophy of religion , comparative religion , and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer various explanations for its origins and workings, including the ontological foundations of religious being and belief. The term religion comes from both Old French and Anglo-Norman (1200s CE ) and means respect for sense of right, moral obligation, sanctity, what
966-601: A wildfire in California See also [ edit ] Eternal flame (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Sacred fire . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sacred_fire&oldid=1211662739 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
1035-563: A word or even a concept of religion in the original languages and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written. For example, there is no precise equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities. One of its central concepts is halakha , meaning the walk or path sometimes translated as law, which guides religious practice and belief and many aspects of daily life. Even though
1104-400: Is accomplished. We just know that it is done, annually, weekly, daily, for some people almost hourly; and we have an enormous ethnographic literature to demonstrate it. The theologian Antoine Vergote took the term supernatural simply to mean whatever transcends the powers of nature or human agency. He also emphasized the cultural reality of religion, which he defined as: ... the entirety of
1173-468: Is also the product of the dominant Western religious mode, what is called the Judeo-Christian climate or, more accurately, the theistic inheritance from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The theistic form of belief in this tradition, even when downgraded culturally, is formative of the dichotomous Western view of religion. That is, the basic structure of theism is essentially a distinction between
1242-400: Is considered to be an agent of purity and as a symbol of righteousness and truth. In the present day this is explained to be because fire burns ever-upward and cannot itself be polluted. Sadeh and Chaharshanbe Suri are both fire-related festivals celebrated throughout Greater Iran and date back to when Zoroastrianism was still the predominant religion of the region. Zoroastrianism, however,
1311-520: Is derived from religare : re (meaning "again") + ligare ("bind" or "connect"), which was made prominent by St. Augustine following the interpretation given by Lactantius in Divinae institutiones , IV, 28. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders : "we hear of the 'religion' of the Golden Fleece , of a knight 'of
1380-570: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Fire worship Worship or deification of fire (also pyrodulia , pyrolatry or pyrolatria ), or fire rituals , religious rituals centred on a fire, are known from various religions . Fire has been an important part of human culture since the Lower Paleolithic . Religious or animist notions connected to fire are assumed to reach back to such early prehuman times. There may be
1449-559: Is found in texts from the 17th century due to events such as the splitting of Christendom during the Protestant Reformation and globalization in the Age of Exploration , which involved contact with numerous foreign cultures with non-European languages. Some argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply the term religion to non-Western cultures, while some followers of various faiths rebuke using
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#17327753761421518-550: Is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine , sacredness , faith , and a supernatural being or beings. The origin of religious belief is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams. Religions have sacred histories , narratives , and mythologies , preserved in oral traditions, sacred texts , symbols , and holy places , that may attempt to explain
1587-526: Is possible to understand why scientific findings and philosophical criticisms (e.g., those made by Richard Dawkins ) do not necessarily disturb its adherents. The origin of religious belief is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams. Traditionally, faith , in addition to reason , has been considered a source of religious beliefs. The interplay between faith and reason, and their use as perceived support for religious beliefs, have been
1656-471: Is sacred, reverence for the gods. It is ultimately derived from the Latin word religiō . According to Roman philosopher Cicero , religiō comes from relegere : re (meaning "again") + lego (meaning "read"), where lego is in the sense of "go over", "choose", or "consider carefully". Contrarily, some modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell have argued that religiō
1725-427: Is sometimes mischaracterised as a fire-worshipping religion, whereas it is a monotheistic faith with Ahura Mazda as its central figure and a dualistic cosmology of good and evil. Fire simply exemplifies a medium for spiritual wisdom and purity, but is not worshipped. In Slavic paganism , Svarog , meaning "bright and clear", was the spirit of fire. The best known and dramatic among numerous Slavic pagan fire rituals
1794-512: Is the titanic god Prometheus , who stole fire for humans from the gods. Most forms of worship in Graeco-Roman religion involved either cooking or burning completely an animal on a fire made on an altar in front of a temple ( see hecatomb ). In the Vedic tradition of Hinduism , fire is a central element in a yajna ceremony, with Agni , "fire", playing the role as mediator between
1863-861: Is the jumping over the bonfire on the Kupala Night . In the narratives of the Hebrew Bible , Yahweh is associated with fire more than any other element or image, and the Presence of Yahweh is conceptualized as a devouring fire, especially but not exclusively in the Book of Exodus , appearing as fire on top of Mount Sinai, inside the Ark of the Covenant , as the Burning bush and the Pillar of fire that guides
1932-486: The Abrahamic religions Christianity, Islam, and Judaism , while others are arguably less so, in particular folk religions , indigenous religions , and some Eastern religions . A portion of the world's population are members of new religious movements . Scholars have indicated that global religiosity may be increasing due to religious countries having generally higher birth rates. The study of religion comprises
2001-541: The New Testament , Jesus is depicted as the person who will bring fire to the earth. The Holy Spirit is sometimes called the "tongues of flame". Fire continues to be a part of many human religions and cultures. For example, it is used in cremation and bonfires ; candles are used in various religious ceremonies; eternal flames are used to remind of notable occasions; and the Olympic Flame burns for
2070-546: The Vedas , with hymns dedicated to the fire god Agni . In Albanian tradition the fire cult and ritual practices have played a prominent role. Enji ( Albanian: [ɛɲi] ) is the name of the fire god, evidently contained in the week day name that was dedicated to him – e enjte – the Albanian word for Thursday . The Fire – Zjarri – is deified in Albanian tradition as releaser of light and heat with
2139-561: The medieval period . In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations, but up to the mid-1600s translators expressed din as "law". The Sanskrit word dharma , sometimes translated as religion, also means law. Throughout classical South Asia , the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions . Medieval Japan at first had
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2208-574: The origin of life , the universe , and other phenomena. Religious practices may include rituals , sermons , commemoration or veneration (of deities or saints ), sacrifices , festivals , feasts , trances , initiations , matrimonial and funerary services, meditation , prayer , music , art , dance , or public service . There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, though nearly all of them have regionally based, relatively small followings. Four religions— Christianity , Islam , Hinduism , and Buddhism —account for over 77% of
2277-527: The religion of Avys '". In classic antiquity, religiō broadly meant conscientiousness , sense of right , moral obligation , or duty to anything. In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religiō was understood as an individual virtue of worship in mundane contexts; never as doctrine , practice, or actual source of knowledge . In general, religiō referred to broad social obligations towards anything including family, neighbors, rulers, and even towards God . Religiō
2346-492: The 1500s to distinguish the domain of the church and the domain of civil authorities ; the Peace of Augsburg marks such instance, which has been described by Christian Reus-Smit as "the first step on the road toward a European system of sovereign states ." Roman general Julius Caesar used religiō to mean "obligation of an oath" when discussing captured soldiers making an oath to their captors. Roman naturalist Pliny
2415-526: The Albanian pantheon in Roman times by interpreting Jupiter , when week-day names were formed in the Albanian language. The belief in a prominent fire and wind god, who was referred to as I Verbti ("the blind one"), and who was often regarded more powerful than the Christian God , survived in northern Albania until recent times. Under Christianization the god of fire was demonized and considered
2484-528: The Elder used the term religiō to describe the apparent respect given by elephants to the night sky . Cicero used religiō as being related to cultum deorum (worship of the gods). In Ancient Greece , the Greek term threskeia ( θρησκεία ) was loosely translated into Latin as religiō in late antiquity . Threskeia was sparsely used in classical Greece but became more frequently used in
2553-567: The English language. Native Americans were also thought of as not having religions and also had no word for religion in their languages either. No one self-identified as a Hindu or Buddhist or other similar terms before the 1800s. "Hindu" has historically been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people indigenous to the Indian subcontinent . Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of religion since there
2622-619: The Fire, in order to turn the storm away and to avert the harms it can cause to the community. The Holy Fire is referred to as Ugnis szwenta in Lithuanian , and the 'Mother of Fire' is referred to as Uguns māte in Latvian . Fire is very often mentioned by chroniclers, when they were describing Lithuanian rituals . The Lithuanian king Algirdas was even addressed as a "fire worshiper King of Lithuania" (τῷ πυρσολάτρῃ ῥηγὶ τῶν Λιτβῶν) in
2691-882: The Israelites, and in extensive poetic imagery. Offerings to Yahweh in Jewish ritual recorded in the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud are done by fire. The Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has been consecutively documented since 1106 AD. Fire is often used as symbol or sign of God's presence in Christianity and, since it is held to be a creation along with water and other elements. In
2760-448: The Sky") and consider it as the "weapon of the deity". During big storms with torrential rains, lightning and hail, which often cause great damage to agriculture, livestock, and to the rural economy in general, Albanians traditionally bring outdoors Fire as a continuous chain or in a container, as well as ember and fire-related metallic objects, seeking assistance from the supernatural power of
2829-547: The West (or even in the West until after the Peace of Westphalia ). The MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions states: The very attempt to define religion, to find some distinctive or possibly unique essence or set of qualities that distinguish the religious from the remainder of human life, is primarily a Western concern. The attempt is a natural consequence of the Western speculative, intellectualistic, and scientific disposition. It
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2898-422: The belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies. In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience , the psychologist William James defined religion as "the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine". By the term divine James meant "any object that is god like , whether it be
2967-430: The beliefs and traditions of Judaism are found in the ancient world, ancient Jews saw Jewish identity as being about an ethnic or national identity and did not entail a compulsory belief system or regulated rituals. In the 1st century CE, Josephus had used the Greek term ioudaismos (Judaism) as an ethnic term and was not linked to modern abstract concepts of religion or a set of beliefs. The very concept of "Judaism"
3036-608: The communication of supernatural beliefs, defining religion as: ... the communicated acceptance by individuals of another individual’s “supernatural” claim, a claim whose accuracy is not verifiable by the senses. Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 18th century defined religion as das schlechthinnige Abhängigkeitsgefühl , commonly translated as "the feeling of absolute dependence". His contemporary Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel disagreed thoroughly, defining religion as "the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of Himself through
3105-569: The cult of the Sun ( Dielli ), the cult of the hearth ( vatër ) and the ancestor , and the cult of fertility in agriculture and animal husbandry . The practices associated with ritual fires among Albanians have been historically fought by the Christian clergy, without success. The fire god Enji was presumably worshiped by the Illyrians in antiquity and he may have been the most prominent god of
3174-515: The documents of a patriarch Nilus of Constantinople . Celtic mythology had Belenus , whose name, "shining one", associated him with fire. Fire worship in Graeco-Roman tradition had two separate forms: fire of the hearth and fire of the forge . Hearth worship was maintained in Rome by the Vestal Virgins , who served the goddess Vesta , protector of the home, who had a sacred flame as
3243-533: The duration of the games . In Japanese mythology , Kagu-tsuchi is the god of destructive fire. Religion Antiquity Medieval Early modern Modern Iran India East-Asia Religion is a range of social - cultural systems , including designated behaviors and practices, morals , beliefs , worldviews , texts , sanctified places , prophecies , ethics , or organizations , that generally relate humanity to supernatural , transcendental , and spiritual elements —although there
3312-458: The extinguishing of the individual's, family's and clan's fire. The lineage is identified with an original fire, and the members of a same tribe/clan are "from the same fire". Zjarri i Vatrës ("the Fire of the Hearth") is regarded as the offspring of the Sun and the sustainer of the continuity between the world of the living and that of the dead and between the generations, ensuring the survival of
3381-450: The finite spirit." Edward Burnett Tylor defined religion in 1871 as "the belief in spiritual beings". He argued that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or idolatry and so on, would exclude many peoples from the category of religious, and thus "has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them". He also argued that
3450-422: The function to give strength to the Sun and to ward off evil according to the old beliefs. Zjarri i Gjallë , Zjarri i Egër , or Zjarri i Keq – traditionally kindled with rudimentary fire making tools and techniques – is the ritual purifying Fire used for the cleansing, protection, healing, and energizing of livestock and humans. Albanian folk beliefs regard the lightning as Zjarri i Qiellit ("the Fire of
3519-410: The house, kinship, or neighborhood) or bonfires in yards (especially on high places) lit before sunrise to celebrate the main traditional Albanian festivities such as Dita e Verës ( spring equinox ), Shëngjergji , the winter festivals ( winter solstice ), or mountain pilgrimages, often accompanied by animal sacrifices , are related to the cult of the Sun, and in particular they are practiced with
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#17327753761423588-547: The lineage ( fis or farë ). The absence of fire in a house is traditionally considered a great curse. Protectors of the hearth are Gjarpri i Vatrës ("the Serpent of the Hearth"), a household benign serpent, and Nëna e Vatrës ("the Mother of the Hearth"). Zjarret e Vitit ("Ritual Calendar Fires") are associated with the cosmic cycle and the rhythms of agricultural and pastoral life. The ritual collective fires (based on
3657-424: The linguistic expressions, emotions and, actions and signs that refer to a supernatural being or supernatural beings. Peter Mandaville and Paul James intended to get away from the modernist dualisms or dichotomous understandings of immanence/transcendence, spirituality/materialism, and sacredness/secularity. They define religion as: ... a relatively-bounded system of beliefs, symbols and practices that addresses
3726-593: The nature of existence, and in which communion with others and Otherness is lived as if it both takes in and spiritually transcends socially-grounded ontologies of time, space, embodiment and knowing. According to the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions , there is an experiential aspect to religion which can be found in almost every culture: ... almost every known culture [has] a depth dimension in cultural experiences ... toward some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for
3795-428: The possibility of a definition. Others argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply it to non-Western cultures. An increasing number of scholars have expressed reservations about ever defining the essence of religion. They observe that the way the concept today is used is a particularly modern construct that would not have been understood through much of history and in many cultures outside
3864-570: The power to ward off darkness and evil , affect cosmic phenomena and give strength to the Sun ( Dielli , who is worshiped as the god of light, sky and weather , giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye), sustain the continuity between life and afterlife and between the generations. The divine power of Fire is used for the hearth and the rituals , including calendar fires, sacrificial offerings , divination , purification , and protection from big storms and other potentially harmful events. Fire worship and rituals are associated with
3933-419: The rest of life. When more or less distinct patterns of behavior are built around this depth dimension in a culture, this structure constitutes religion in its historically recognizable form. Religion is the organization of life around the depth dimensions of experience—varied in form, completeness, and clarity in accordance with the environing culture. Anthropologists Lyle Steadman and Craig T. Palmer emphasized
4002-748: The rite of cremation is found at the transition from the Sintashta-Petrovka to the Andronovo culture around 1500 BC. Fire worship was prevalent in Vedic , with Agni the fire god, and the ancient Iranian religion. Whereas cremation became ubiquitous in Hinduism , it was prohibited in Zoroastrianism . Evidence of fire worship has also been found at the Indus Valley sites of Kalibangan and Lothal . In Zoroastrianism , fire
4071-423: The symbol of her presence in the city ( cf. Sacred fire of Vesta ). The Greek equivalent of the goddess was Hestia , whose worship took place more commonly within the household. The fire of the forge was associated with the Greek god Hephaestus and the Roman equivalent Vulcan . These two seem to have served both as craft-guild patrons and as protectors against accidental fires in cities. Also associated with fire
4140-413: The term superstitio (which meant too much fear or anxiety or shame) to religiō at times. When religiō came into English around the 1200s as religion, it took the meaning of "life bound by monastic vows" or monastic orders. The compartmentalized concept of religion, where religious and worldly things were separated, was not used before the 1500s. The concept of religion was first used in
4209-521: The word to describe their own belief system. The concept of "ancient religion" stems from modern interpretations of a range of practices that conform to a modern concept of religion, influenced by early modern and 19th century Christian discourse. The concept of religion was formed in the 16th and 17th centuries, despite the fact that ancient sacred texts like the Bible , the Quran , and others did not have
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#17327753761424278-502: The world's population, and 92% of the world either follows one of those four religions or identifies as nonreligious , meaning that the remaining 9,000+ faiths account for only 8% of the population combined. The religiously unaffiliated demographic includes those who do not identify with any particular religion, atheists , and agnostics , although many in the demographic still have various religious beliefs. Many world religions are also organized religions , most definitively including
4347-584: The worshipper and the other gods. Related concepts are the Agnihotra ritual, the invocation of the healing properties of fire; the Agnicayana ritual, which is the building of a fire altar to Agni; and Agnistoma , which is one of the seven Somayajnas . In the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism , Agni is considered the tongue of Vishnu , hence rendering all sacrifices offered to any given deity ultimately
4416-400: The writings of Josephus in the 1st century CE. It was used in mundane contexts and could mean multiple things from respectful fear to excessive or harmfully distracting practices of others, to cultic practices. It was often contrasted with the Greek word deisidaimonia , which meant too much fear. Religion is a modern concept. The concept was invented recently in the English language and
4485-439: The writings of, for example, Frederick Ferré who defined religion as "one's way of valuing most comprehensively and intensively". Similarly, for the theologian Paul Tillich , faith is "the state of being ultimately concerned", which "is itself religion. Religion is the substance, the ground, and the depth of man's spiritual life." When religion is seen in terms of sacred, divine, intensive valuing, or ultimate concern, then it
4554-493: Was invented by the Christian Church , and it was in the 19th century that Jews began to see their ancestral culture as a religion analogous to Christianity. The Greek word threskeia , which was used by Greek writers such as Herodotus and Josephus, is found in the New Testament . Threskeia is sometimes translated as "religion" in today's translations, but the term was understood as generic "worship" well into
4623-434: Was most often used by the ancient Romans not in the context of a relation towards gods, but as a range of general emotions which arose from heightened attention in any mundane context such as hesitation , caution, anxiety , or fear , as well as feelings of being bound, restricted, or inhibited. The term was also closely related to other terms like scrupulus (which meant "very precisely"), and some Roman authors related
4692-524: Was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning, but when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this idea. According to the philologist Max Müller in the 19th century, the root of the English word religion, the Latin religiō ,
4761-424: Was originally used to mean only reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety (which Cicero further derived to mean diligence). Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, and India, as having a similar power structure at this point in history. What is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law. Scholars have failed to agree on
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