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Catholic Word of the Day: PRIMITIVE RELIGION, 07-17-09
CatholicReference.net ^ | 07-17-09 | Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary

Posted on 07/17/2009 9:48:27 AM PDT by Salvation

Featured Term (selected at random):

PRIMITIVE RELIGION

The religion of the early peoples. Strictly speaking, there are no genuine primitives anywhere on earth today. More accurately, the religion of the ancients was archaic, and of this there is extensive evidence in the artifacts, paintings, and symbolic writings they have left. Primitive religion, properly so-called, is that of present-day peoples whose relative isolation from the major streams of culture suggests their lineage from the chronological ancestors of the human race. Their religious condition, therefore, is on a par with other phases of conduct and knowledge, ranging from the very undeveloped, or decadent, to a fairly advanced type of civilization. Two levels of primitive religions should be distinguished. The lower type either has been less directly affected by one of the major religions or shows less speculative development. It corresponds to animism or fetishism, that is, more emphasis is given to attributing souls to every object and to believing in magic or sorcery.

Allowing for exceptions, the following are generally held to profess a lower preliterate religion: the Negritos of the Philippine Islands, various tribes of Micronesia and Polynesia, the Papuans of New Guinea, the black Aruntas of Australia, the Andaman Islanders in the Bay of Bengal, the Kols and Pariahs of Central and Southern India, the Pygmies and Bushmen of the Central Congo Basin, the Caribs of the West Indies, and the Yahgans of the extreme south of South America. On a higher plane are the Samoans and Hawaiians, the Mongols in the Soviet Union, the Veddas of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the Bantu of south central and southern Africa, and the Eskimos and Amerinds, or American Indians, in North and South America.

All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; History; Theology
KEYWORDS: catholic; catholiclist
Quite interesting.
1 posted on 07/17/2009 9:48:27 AM PDT by Salvation
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To: JRandomFreeper; Allegra; SuziQ; BlackVeil; Straight Vermonter; Cronos; SumProVita; ...

Catholic Word of the Day – not linked – but you can do a search to find them.

 

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2 posted on 07/17/2009 9:51:11 AM PDT by Salvation (With God all things are possible.)
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To: All
Catholic Word of the Day – Group One
3 posted on 07/17/2009 9:51:49 AM PDT by Salvation (With God all things are possible.)
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To: Salvation

Hard to imagine, that with God being timeless, a religion could be considered archaic.


4 posted on 07/17/2009 9:57:58 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different.)
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To: Salvation
more emphasis is given to attributing souls to every object and to believing in magic or sorcery.

That's an interesting statement. Most people these days who practice these "primitive religions" don't believe in magic from the person, but that what you do enlists the help of the supernatural powers to perform some task for you -- magic. Doing your magic ritual didn't make it rain, but convinced the powers to make it rain for you. This is equivalent to a Christian praying for a miracle from God.

Same with seeking guidance. Deuteronomy basically replaced the methods of divination, in which the supernatural powers arranged the bones, etc., with revelations from the Christian God.

It's all the same concepts, just collated into the personified single deity.

5 posted on 07/17/2009 10:05:54 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: antiRepublicrat
The religion of the early peoples

The religion of the first two, before the Fall was perfect. They walked with God, Blameless and upright till Eve listened to the serpent and they both ate the forbidden fruit.

Religion devolved from there. No religion has not evolved but devolved. The only thing slowing that down is God and His Mighty acts.

It took hundreds of years to explain away the Flood of Noah. It took thousands to explain away the creation as folks do today.

6 posted on 07/17/2009 10:30:14 AM PDT by sr4402
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To: sr4402

That is what your quasi-history book says.

The rest of them, and the evidence, points to many different religious popping up and being supplanted by others, with the later ones often taking on elements of the earlier religions. It’s no coincidence that the Bible and Christianity as practiced incorporate many elements of pre-Christian and other contemporary religions.


7 posted on 07/17/2009 12:00:20 PM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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To: Salvation

Take a deep look at the definition of primitive and then look up on Wikipedia how Primitive Methodists was sparked by The Spirit of The Living God that goes out from the Father . God is the same yesterday today and tomorrow and putting The Spirit of The living God in a box is a dangerous and futile thing to “attempt” . . .


8 posted on 07/17/2009 2:39:01 PM PDT by Jedediah
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To: Salvation

Where do Noah and his sons ,grandsons fit in ?!Take a look at this . . .
http://www.cookancestry.com/Biblical%20Genealogy/02.htm


9 posted on 07/17/2009 2:52:00 PM PDT by Jedediah
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To: stuartcr

It is. I thought of the Aztecs and the religion practiced by them and then how Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to him in Aztec colors and symbols that the Aztecs of that day would understand.


10 posted on 07/17/2009 7:53:11 PM PDT by Salvation (With God all things are possible.)
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To: sr4402

**The religion of the first two, before the Fall was perfect. They walked with God, Blameless and upright till Eve listened to the serpent and they both ate the forbidden fruit.**

The greatest truth in the Old Testament. Not that a lot of other things didn’t take place, such as Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, leading the Israelites out of Egypt, etc.


11 posted on 07/17/2009 7:55:36 PM PDT by Salvation (With God all things are possible.)
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To: Jedediah

You are right on God being timeless. We, however, cannot live in the past or in the future. We can only live today.


12 posted on 07/17/2009 7:57:08 PM PDT by Salvation (With God all things are possible.)
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To: Salvation

Amen Salvation, as overcomers crossing over the jordan over and over until all God’s children enter into their true inheritance and mansion “ Jesus and The Father “ through our finished faith that is “ Trust “ . True worshippers the Father is looking for !
We have come to Mt. .Zion


13 posted on 07/18/2009 6:37:02 AM PDT by Jedediah
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To: antiRepublicrat
That is what your quasi-history book says.

Faith does not call it that.

14 posted on 07/20/2009 5:45:32 AM PDT by sr4402
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To: sr4402
Faith does not call it that.

It's the difference between faith and an objective reading of history. Faith is great, but people should be careful about when they let it override evidence and reason.

15 posted on 07/20/2009 8:51:48 AM PDT by antiRepublicrat
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