Definitions: The Manifestation of the Sacred

A Notion of Sacred Reality

• sacredness provides a boundary between what is religious and what is not
• the sacred is other than ordinary

Manifest in Human Experience

• although set apart from ordinary, nevertheless it is experienced, thought about, and acted upon in ordinary life.
• manifest in various ways: ritual, persons, and natural phenomena

What is Sacred?

• sacred is complex and varied
• wide range of phenomena
• value is that sacred is not bound to any particular religious tradition

Sacred and Profane

The Sacred and The Ordinary

• sacred can be thought of as the really real
• provides absolute and objective authority
• a different order than the ordinary life of human beings
• vehicles of sacred can include: stones, trees, the sky, bodies of water, people … all of whom share in the distinctive reality

General Concept of the Sacred

• Sacred reality is present wherever something is real by 4 criteria:

• it is "set apart" from everything else in the world
• it is in some sense beyond human control
• it is in some sense vital for the well-being of humans
• it orders human existence

Manifestation of the Sacred

Hierophany

3 Patterns

hierophany literally means "the appearance of the holy"

3 Patterns of Manifestation

1. prophetic
2. sacramental
3. mystical

4 Media

4 Media of Manifestation

1. Persons
2. Objects
3. Time
4. Place

Persons

• persons from the past: Moses, Jesus, Buddha
• from the present: Jesus, holy men and women

• from the future: the Messiah to come

Things

• Qur’an (people of the Book)
• tea in Zen Buddhism (45)
• Catholic tradition, sacramental bread and wine

Time

• participating in the cosmology when retelling the narrative
• cf. Jewish seder, Christian Eucharist

Space

• Ka’ba
• Shinto shrines
• stupa “burial mound” in Buddhism

4 elements of the sacred

1. “set apart”
2. to some extent beyond the volitional control of human beings
3. prominent with respect to human welface
4. “determinative of various aspects of human existence” (33)

Set apart

• other than ordinary
• appearing in the ordinary
• in both transcendent and immanent religions
• different & similar** to everyday life

Beyond Volitional Control of Humans

• eg. of 2 Sam. 6 ff. the sacred presence functions almost as a magical talisman
• while seemingly under human control, it is essentially the power of God not of Israelites / Philistines
• the sacredness of the ark seems to have a life of its own

Prominent with respect to human welfare

• brings peace in the midst of chaos
• judgment day provides a sense of fairness about the suffering of life

• Navaho sacred guides to living in harmony with all things

Determinative of various aspects of human existence

• one pursues practices that promise peace, Nirvana
• life of prayer brings about Shalom
• in Buddhism the self is the ultimate falsehood