The Sociology Of Religion

The Sociology of Religion Max Weber (A) ORIGINS OF RELIGION (A.1) Primordial Notions Of Religion (A.1.a) Viewpoint It is not possible to define religion, to say what it "is," at the start of a presentation such as this. Definition can be attempted, if at all, only at the conclusion of the study. The "essence" of religion is not even our concern, as we make it our task to study the conditions and effects of a particular type of social action. The external courses of religious behavior are so diverse that an understanding of this behavior can only be achieved from the viewpoint of the subjective experiences, notion, and purposes of the individuals concerned--in short, from the viewpoint of the religious behavior's "meaning." (A.1.b) This-worldly Orientation The most elementary forms of religiously or magically motivated action are oriented to this world. "That it may go well with you . . . And that you may prolong your days upon the earth" [1] shows the motivation of religiously or magically commanded actions. Even human sacrifices, although uncommon among urban peoples, were performed in the Phoenician maritime cities without any other-worldly expectations whatsoever. Furthermore, religiously or magically motivated action is relatively rational action, especially in its earliest forms. It follows rules of experience, though it is not necessarily action in accordance with means-end rationality. Rubbing will elicit sparks from pieces of wood, and in like fashion the mimetic actions of a "magician" will evoke rain from the heavens. The sparks resulting from twirling the wooden sticks are as much a "magical" effect as the rain evoked by the manipulations of the rainmaker. Thus, religious or magical action or thinking must not be set apart from the range of everyday purposive action, particularly since the elementary ends of the religious and magical actions are predominantly economic. (A.1.c) Magic Only we, judging from the standpoint of our modem views of nature, can distinguish objectively in such behavior those attributions of causality which are "correct" from those which are "incorrect," and then designate the incorrect attributions of causality as irrational, and the corresponding acts as "magic." Quite a different distinction will be made by the person performing the magical act, who will instead distinguish between the greater or lesser ordinariness of the phenomena in question. For example, not every stone can serve as a fetish, a source of magical power. Nor does every person have the capacity to achieve the ecstatic states which are viewed, accordance to rules of experience, as the preconditions for producing certain effects in meteorology, healing, divination, and telepathy. It is primarily, though not exclusively, these extraordinary powers that have been designated by such special terms as "Mana," "Orenda," and the Iranian "Maga" (the term from which our word "magic" is derived). We shall henceforth employ the term "charisma" for such extraordinary powers. (A.1.d) Charisma Charisma may be either of two types. Where this term is fully served, charisma is a gift that inheres in an object or person simply by natural endowment. Such primary charisma cannot be acquired by any means. But charisma of the other type may be produced artificially in an object or person through some extraordinary means. Even then, it is assumed that charismatic capability can be developed only in which the germ already existed but would have remained dormant unless "awakened" by some ascetic or other means. Thus, even at the earliest stage of religious development there were already present all forms of the doctrine of religious grace, from that of absolute grace to grace by good works. The strongly naturalistic notion (lately termed "pre-animistic") o