Religious specialists Types of specialists

Across the societies Prophet Priest Shaman Medicine Men and women Gurus ( God men and women) Saints (other worldly)

Max Weber’s Ideal Types of Authority based on legitimacy Rational – legal ( is based on written rules or laws and is linked to explicit forms of justification like in govt, judiciary, private corporations and Traditional based on passage of time as tradition, heritage Charismatic authority, a divine gift leads to a change, movement or revolution in the field

Saints : charismatic authority Sorcerers, messiahs, Healers, Diviners, Shamans etc (examples) Practical help and moral examples to the community Saints as ascetic and “renouncers” can cause tension. As exemplars and helpers Example: Satya Sai Baba,His Holiness Dalai Lama among others

Prophet Prophet- receiver of “a persona call” revelation & a divine gift Achieve ecstatic state, healing, divination & telepathy. Max Weber (1978): exemplary and ethical prophet The problem of the prophet’s continuity with routinization of the movement “Routinize” authority with firm rules to preserve the change Examples: Buddha, Gandhi, Prophet in Sudan, Mormons Articles by Lehman & Meyer- Ch.3 Religious Specialists The Shaman: a Siberian Spiritualist Dark Side of the Shaman

Priests “..functioning of a regularly organized & permanent enterprise concerned with influencing the gods.” Specialized training Permanently associated with norm, places, & time

Shaman and Priest Shaman Personal communication with supernatural being Get powers by “divine stroke” Present in many foraging, pastoral as well as in agricultural cultures Priests Trained specialist Power from codified rituals Agricultural/industrial societies

Anthropological understanding of Shaman Present across cultures as a form of spiritual practice Shaman & Medium Shaman as a medium between the spirits who CONTROLS the spirits. saman – an Evenk (Tungus) word meaning one who is excited, moved, raised” a Siberian or Mongolian spiritual practitioner

The Shaman: a Siberian Spiritualist Psychological benefits Publicly recognized men and women Duties Most important person of the community, center of religion 3 realms of nature ( underground and the world beyond) Hmong Shamans Shamans as medicine men, healer, diviner, elder

Shamanism: universal science What are the core functions of a shaman? What are they trying to control and why? What are the human needs they are addressing? How are they healing disease? What mediums? Why it is called a science?