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Historians bound by their singular stories and archaeologists bound
by their material evidence don t typically seek out broad
comparative theories of religion. But recently Harvey Whitehouse 's
modes of religiosity theory has been attracting many scholars of
past religions. Based upon universal features of human cognition,
Whitehouse 's theory can provide useful comparisons across cultures
and historical periods even when limited cultural data is present.
In this groundbreaking volume, scholars of cultures from
prehistorical hunter-gatherers to 19th century Scandinavian
Lutherans evaluate Whitehouse 's hypothesis that all religions tend
toward either an imagistic or a doctrinal mode depending on how
they are remembered and transmitted. Theorizing Religions Past
provides valuable insights for all historians of religion and
especially for those interested in a new cognitive method for
studying the past.
Roger Beck, a world authority on Mithraism, brings together his
major writings on the Mysteries of Mithras in the context of the
culture and religions of imperial Rome. In these studies he opens
new vistas on myth making, ritual, symbolism, the role of astrology
in the cult, recently discovered Mithraic monuments and artefacts,
and the emergence of Mithraism and Christianity concurrently in the
first century. Beck offers new introductions to his thematically
framed groups of writings and adds six entirely new essays
published here for the first time. These essays link his research
to contemporary studies in cognitive science of religion and
anthropology of religion. This collection will appeal particularly
to scholars exploring contemporary aspects in anthropology of
religion, astronomy and astrology, cults and myths, images and
symbols, as well as traditional scholars of Greco-Roman antiquity
and Christian origins.
Representation of myth in the novel, as a poetic, narrative and
aesthetic device, is one of the most illuminating issues in the
area of ancient religion, for such narratives investigate in
various ways fundamental problems that concern all human beings.
This volume brings together twenty contributions (six of them to a
Roundtable organized by Anton Bierl on myth), originally presented
at the Fourth International Conference on the Ancient novel (ICAN
IV) held in Lisbon in July 2008. Employing an interdisciplinary
approach and putting together different methodological tools
(intertextual, psychological, and anthropological), each offers a
illuminating investigation of mythical discourse as presented in
the text or texts under discussion. The collection as a whole
demonstrates the exemplary and transgressive significance of myth
and its metaphorical meaning in a genre that to some extent can be
considered a modernized and secular form of myth that focuses on
the quintessential question of love.
The Roman Mithras Cult: A Cognitive Approach is the first full
cognitive history of an ancient religion. In this groundbreaking
book on one of the most intriguing and mysterious ancient
religions, Roger Beck and Olympia Panagiotidou show how cognitive
historiography can supplement our historical knowledge and deepen
our understanding of past cultural phenomenon. The cult of the sun
god Mithras, which spread widely across the Greco-Roman world at
the same time as other 'mystery cults' and Christianity, offered to
its devotees certain images and assumptions about reality.
Initiation into the mysteries of Mithras and participation in the
life of the cult significantly affected and transformed the ways in
which the initiated perceived themselves, the world, and their
position within it. The cult's major ideas were conveyed mainly
through its major symbolic complexes. The ancient written
testimonies and other records are not adequate to establish a
definitive reconstruction of Mithraic theologies and the meaning of
its complex symbolic structures. Filling this gap, The Roman
Mithras Cult: A Cognitive Approach identifies the cognitive and
psychological processes which took place in the minds and bodies of
the Mithraists during their initiation and participation in the
mysteries, enabling the perception, apprehension, and integration
of the essential images and assumptions of the cult in its
worldview system.
This book is the first full cognitive history of an ancient
religious practice. In this ground-breaking study on one of the
most intriguing and mysterious cults, Olympia Panagiotidou, with
contributions from Roger Beck, shows how cognitive historiography
can supplement our historical knowledge and deepen our
understanding of past cultural phenomena. The cult of the sun god
Mithras, which spread widely across the Graeco-Roman world at the
same time as other 'mystery cults', offered its devotees certain
images and assumptions about reality. Initiation into the mysteries
of Mithras and participation in the life of the cult significantly
affected and transformed the ways in which the initiated perceived
themselves, the world, and their position within it. The cult's
major ideas were conveyed mainly through its symbolic complexes.
The ancient written testimonies and other records are not adequate
to establish a definitive reconstruction of Mithraic theologies and
the meaning of its complex symbolic structures. The Roman Mithras
Cult identifies the cognitive and psychological processes which
would have taken place in the minds and bodies of the Mithraists
during their initiation and participation in the mysteries,
enabling the perception, apprehension, and integration of the
essential images and assumptions of the cult in its worldview
system.
This volume is a study of the religious system of Mithraism, one of
the "mystery cults" popular in the Roman Empire contemporary with
early Christianity. Roger Beck describes Mithraism from the point
of view of the initiate engaging with the religion and its rich
symbolic system in thought, word, ritual action, and cult life. He
employs the methods of anthropology of religion and the new
cognitive science of religion to explore in detail the semiotics of
the Mysteries' astral symbolism, which has been the principal
subject of his many previous publications on the cult.
This volume is a study of the religious system of Mithraism, one of
the "mystery cults" popular in the Roman Empire contemporary with
early Christianity. Roger Beck describes Mithraism from the point
of view of the initiate engaging with the religion and its rich
symbolic system in thought, word, ritual action, and cult life. He
employs the methods of anthropology of religion and the new
cognitive science of religion to explore in detail the semiotics of
the Mysteries' astral symbolism, which has been the principal
subject of his many previous publications on the cult.
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