Self in Society Robert Harsh

Course Unit Guide

Transformation

This course unit will focus on the transformational dynamics of the self–the processes that can effect fundamental changes in beliefs, values, personality, and behavior. These dynamics can be intentional or accidental, but in both cases they often appear to be discontinuous or asymmetrical with the identity previously constructed through the processes of socialization and individuation.

• religion–a formal system of spiritual belief (theology) and practice (faith, ethics, piety)

• spirituality–an awareness, acknowledgment of a transcendent dimension of life experience

• piety–a self-conscious attempt to conform behavior to ethics and belief

• (religious) ethics–a system of spiritual values and norms grounded in religious belief

• via negativa/self-denial        asceticism (West) less-is-more         hierarchy of needs, concerns

                                                                                                        minimalism/essentialism (East)

• mysticism/meditation            union with God, the divine               otherworldly; spiritual depth

                                                                                                        focus within self, mind

• piety/allegorical lives/           works of love, charity                      heilsgeschicte,

hagiography                             witness, baptism, confession,           God in history (Jewish)

                                                 sacraments, worship.                        salvation by faith (Protestant)

                                                 evangelism                                       salvation by works (Catholic)

Church/Sect Typology: Religious Belief in Sociological Perspective

Religion as a System of Belief and Practice

In this course unit on the transformation of the self we will examine religion as an ideology, system of thought, and symbolic domain that interacts with social dynamics in shaping the faith and behavior of believers. The following glossary terms are typical components and vocabulary of a systematic theology.

• asceticism - the search for enlightenment through denial of physical needs, priorities

• belief - a statement about the nature of the deity(ies), human life, creation, nature, history, etc. that is viewed as both true and worthy of commitment

• canon - designation of specific scriptures as authoritative and central to religious belief

• catechism - a prescribed confession and/or affirmation of faith or belief

• church history - study of the development, transformation, and inter-relationships of religious institutions

• clergy - religious leaders or officials who are called, trained, and ordained for religious service

• conversion - self-conscious commitment to a religious faith and practice sometimes accompanied by behavioral "signs"

• cosmology - beliefs about the creation and nature of the universe

• doctrine - a belief sanctioned by religious authority

• ecclesiology - doctrines and beliefs about the nature and mission of the church

• ecumenism - attempts to find common religious beliefs across sectarian divisions

• epistemology - beliefs about the nature of knowing and knowledge

• eschatology - beliefs about the end of life or the world and about life after death; "the last things and the things just before"

• ethics - guidelines for individual, social, and/or political behavior based on religious beliefs; religious norms

• evangelism - the attempt to convert others by proclaiming and convincing them of the truth and power of religious belief

• faith - a self-conscious commitment to center one's life around religious belief and practice; trusting in, relying on the power of the deity(ies)

• hagiography - lives (biographies) of the saints

• hermeneutics - principles, methods of interpreting scripture

• high church/low church - the degree of formality or strictness in a religion's belief and practice; the balance between creed (high church) and experience (low church) in worship and religious life

• homiletics - the study of the content and techniques of preaching from scripture

• laity - unordained religious believers, church members

• liturgy - a specified series or grouping of acts of worship

• mission - attempts to extend the reach of religious belief and practice among non-believers

• myth - a story or scriptural account that claims to reveal basic religious truths; a paradigmatic story

• mysticism - disciplined religious behavior aimed at achieving unity with the deity(ies) or ultimate reality; focusing on the deity(ies) to the exclusion of earthly preoccupations

• ontology - beliefs about the nature, source of being

• ordination - formal designation, appointment of clergy or other church officials

• piety - the self-conscious attempt to conform behavior to ethics and belief

• polity - rules and procedures of church/religious governance and organization

• (religious) practice - the continuing effort to act out religious beliefs in worship, service, and ethical behavior

• religion - a formal system of belief and practice; an organized community of believers with common commitments and beliefs

• revelation - appearance of the deity(ies) or communication of religious truth in human experience (hierophany, theophony)

• sacrament - a worship service or rite that directly connects the believer with the deity(ies) (ex: the Eucharist)

• sacred history (heilsgeschicte) - the history of faith, belief, and the community of believers as described and interpreted in scripture

• salvation - transforming of human existence through faith and belief

• sanctuary - a designated holy place devoted to worship

• scripture - writings that record the words, deeds, and truths of the deity(ies)

• sign - a cultural artifact or event that points to a higher reality

• sin - behavior or thoughts that deviate from religious norms; ignoring or contradicting the will of the deity(ies)

• soteriology - beliefs about salvation and the apprehension of ultimate reality

• symbol - a cultural artifact or event that represents and participates in a higher, religious reality

• teleology - beliefs about the purpose or ends of nature and creation

• theology - a system of beliefs that informs the ethics, worship, and practice of a religion; the "ideology" of a religion or religious belief\

• worship - communication with the deity(ies) either privately through prayer, meditation, confession or publicly in a formal religious service (liturgy)

Cultural Transformation

As societies and cultures develop and change, so too do their paradigms of individual development, personality, and successful living. Therefore, as a culture transforms itself, it likewise transforms the individual self through socialization to a new model of contemporary individuality.

The Theocentric/Allegorical Model

The Self as a Pilgrim Soul

(roughly through the Colonial period - 1607-1783)

Location of Meaning, Identity: This model is explicitly religious and focuses on Christ and God's will as the paradigm and ordering principle of productive individual growth. Individual life is successful to the extent it follow otherworldly ideals; experience in this world is consequently devalued and seen as sinful or "broken." The religious community "counter-defines" itself as a "city on a hill" focused above worldly reality.

Personal Integrity: Faith is the ordering principle in the development of individual personality; "works" (deeds) alone cannot ensure salvation and life after death. Education focuses on discovering the mysteries hidden within earthly life and revealed through scripture and prayer. Allegorical, ideal lives (as in Bunyan's A Pilgrim's Progress) are held up as models of faith and devotion. Individuality apart from God is devalued as "worldliness."

Community, Social Order: Religious communities are seen as distinct from secular social organization and in some cases are formed in reaction to religious persecution. Church life and religious values shape and judge the social order; social roles are traditional and strictly defined in rural, agricultural economies.

The Natural World: Wilderness and primitiveness are viewed as chaotic and hostile, with the Garden of Eden mythology often serving as a paradigm. Civilization pushes back the wilderness and creates order within chaos; colonization viewed as an "errand into the wilderness."

(roughly through the Civil War and Victorian era - 1783-1865)

Location of Meaning, Identity: With the development of a national identity, established religions, voluntary associations, and civic-minded Deism, the focus shifts to this world and to civic virtues. Jefferson uses Classical models to integrate personal faith and civic responsibility. The anti-slavery movement uses religious principles to inform social action. The Transcendentalists pick up Romantic motifs and see God mystically suffused through all of this world's natural and social order.

Personal Integrity: Here the focus shifts from "pilgrim" to "citizen" as the growth of cities creates more accessible opportunities for community service through public office. Emerson's "representative men" share their virtues within a historical context and continuity. Virtue is both attainable and practical as the focus shifts toward thisworldliness and the growth of the nation. The Civil War is seen as a crisis of national disunity while the anti-slavery cause marches forward to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The focus shifts from faith to piety and civic virtue.

Community, Social Order: With the birth of a new nation and the growth of cities, the dichotomy between faith and worldliness diminishes and the possibility of salvation–or at least recognition!–through works reappears. As railroads push back the frontier and violently replace Native American culture with "civilization," Hudson River artists project idyllic landscapes with the primitive well contained within Classical order.

The Natural World: The ideal balance between man and the environment is visualized as Leo Marx's "middle landscape" of nature harmonious and tamed with hard work and with the new steam and locomotive technologies. Western expeditions bring back glowing accounts of beauty and bounty on the frontier, including some of the earliest photographic images from the Yellowstone area. Railroads break through to the Pacific Coast; Yellowstone Park (1872) becomes the first national park to preserve (and contain) primitive wilderness.

The Individualistic/Improvisational Model

The Self as an Improvised Individual

(roughly through the Industrial Revolution to the present - 1865-present)

Location of Meaning, Identity: Cities emerge as wholly self-sufficient and vital apart from nature. Paradigms and resources shift from agriculture to industry; individualism emerges in the industrious, "self-made man" and in heroes who tame the wilderness on the frontier or concentrate power in corporate monopolies. Public education seeks equality and preparation for civic, occupational, and democratic responsibilities. A faster pace of life encourages flexibility, adaptability, and technical competence.

Personal Integrity: Two strands of individualism emerge as described in Habits of the Heart: Expressive individualism idealizes self-confidence, self-esteem, romantic attachment., dedication to work and family, honesty, sincerity, self-fulfillment, and integrity. Instrumental individualism stresses self-sufficiency, ambition, accomplishment, physical comfort, independence, and initiative. Salvation now shifts almost completely to a focus on works; self-realization replaces salvation-by-faith; social mobility substitutes for religious growth; emotional honesty and integrity in relationships supplants traditional religious piety. Civic voluntarism persists as service to others and community while government picks up many of the public welfare services previously provided through religious and civic charities. Rapidly shifting roles and statuses encourage improvisational life skills, the projection of developmental stages through adult life, and a pervasive preoccupation with the quality of both work and leisure time.

Community, Social Order: The Industrial Revolution creates displaced workers, slums, urban crime, and a more visible concentration of social problems in cities. The Social Gospel and political liberalism emerge as a critique of social inequities and the widening division between rich and poor. Environmental sensitivity and activism develop as a reaction to industrial pollution. The institutional and community idealism and activism of the New Deal, Civil Rights Movement, and the Great Society is more recently replaced by a cynicism that sees government as a distant, inefficient bureaucracy. Improvements in communication technologies, particularly the Internet, create global consciousness; older political blocks and alignments shift and disassemble. "Depression" and "alienation" replace "repression" and "anxiety" as typical psychological preoccupations and disease categories. Religious reaction to these modernisms coalesces into the Religious Right in defense of traditional values and family structures. Evangelical churches with a more personalistic focus attract members from the older, established churches and denominations.

The Natural Order: As industrial pollution becomes more systemic and insidious, the environmental movement emerges in the Sixties with dire, global predictions about the future of the planet. Space and other technologies approach previously remote frontiers in medicine, communication, engineering, and computer science; at the same time, global warming, acid rain, and depletion of the ozone layer threaten what one environmentalist calls the "end of nature." Post-industrial civilization appears less and less enmeshed in natural rhythms and necessities even while its by-products threaten to render the earth unlivable. Recycling, "natural" products, and outdoor recreation become increasingly popular and valued while particle physics again glimpses God behind nature.

• The Self in the Natural World •

• reading and class discussion–Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

• paper and guest lecture on Into the Wild by Jeff Cochran

• my papers on nature and the self and the oceans and the self

• The Effects of Televison Culture on Self and Society •

• reading and discussion–Neil Postman, Amusing Outselves to Death

* * * *

We grow accustomed to the Dark-

When Light is put away-

As when the Neighbor hold the Lamp

To witness her Goodbye-

A Moment-We uncertain step

For newness of the night-

Then-fit our Vision to the Dark

And meet the Road-erect-

And so of larger-Darknesses-

Those Evenings of the Brain-

When not a Moon disclose a sign-

Or Star-come out-within-

The Bravest-grope a little-

And sometimes hit a Tree

Directly in the Forehead-

But as they learn to see-

Either the Darkness alters-

Or something in the sight

Adjusts itself to Midnight-

And Life steps almost straight.

                Emily Dickinson c.1862

I could not prove the Years had feet-

Yet confident they run

Am I, from symptoms that are past

And Series that are done-

I find my feet have further Goals-

I smile upon the Aims

That felt so ample-Yesterday-

Today's-have vaster claims-

I do not doubt the self I was

Was competent to me-

But something awkward  in the fit-

Proves that-outgrown-I see-

                Emily Dickinson c.1862

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This page last modified 09/23/2004

Copyright 1999 Robert Harsh
Address e-mail to robert.harsh@plattsburgh.edu.