Critique of Sociological and Sociobiological Perspectives

Rel. 200: Myth, Symbol, and Ritual

Dr. Jeffrey L. Richey

Critique of Sociological and Sociobiological Perspectives

            Everything must have a beginning. From one’s first breath of life to the introduction of a college essay, everything must have a beginning; so, too, is the fate of religion. Although religions differ from place to place there are similarities and parallels that cross cultural boundaries, providing religious scholars and social scientists alike with questions as to why religions evolve and continue. An examination of two religious groups, Tenrikyo of Japan, founded by Miki Nakayama, and Christian Science founded by Mary Baker Eddy, through means of sociological and sociobiological methods will, hopefully, begin to answer these questions.

Historical Background Information

            Before analyzing the two religions and their founders from the two methods, all historical background information, although it may seem unimportant at this time, is necessary in order to establish and support theories and views of the different methods.

Tenrikyo: Miki Nakayama

            The monotheistic Japanese religion of Tenrikyo was founded in 1838 by Miki Nakayama, a farmer’s wife in Sanmaiden, a village in the Yamato Basin (Clarke 1264). Nakayama, a pious follower of Buddhism early in life, consented to her parents’ desires by marrying Zembei Nakayama in 1810 instead of becoming a nun as she wished (Toyoaki 403). Although assenting to her parent’s beliefs, Miki requested that she be able to continue her religious devotion by visiting temples and shrines even after her marriage (Tenrikyo 4). In 1837 Miki’s eldest son, Shuji, began to experience leg pains which climaxed a year later to a state of unbearable pain that, as was custom, an incantation to cure the ailment by a local priest was necessary to relieve the pain (4). On October 24, 1838, Ichibei, a mountain ascetic who was supervising the healing rite, asked Miki to assist in the ritual as a medium, to which she agreed (4-5). It was during this incantation that “…Tenri-O-no-Mikoto (the God of Heavenly Reason), also known as Oyagami (God the Parent) is believed to have taken possession of Nakayama Miki, also called Oyasama (Worthy Parent), for the purpose of revealing to her his divine plan and her role therein and to bestow upon her the gift of healing” (Clarke 1264). “From that day on, Miki served as the Shrine of God, and in becoming such, Her behavior became totally different from that which was characteristic of Her prior to the revelation” ( Tenrikyo 5-6). The three years following Miki’s revelation, 1838-1841, consisted of indifference to everyone, a continual locking herself away in a storehouse, and ignoring all the house duties that she had once completed with grace and willingness (6). Also, neighbors and family members would often hear Miki talking to someone in the storehouse although she was alone (6).

            Dialogue between Oyasama and God took place during these years, whereby God conveyed the essentials of the teachings and the purpose of God’s manifestation at that particular time, at that particular place, and through that particular person. God the Parent also conveyed to Oyasama how the teachings could be made applicable to daily life. (6)

            From this point onward, Miki lived a life that differed with her previous life. During the spring of 1839, Miki began to give all her and her family’s physical belongings to the poor, even to the extent that she dismantled the Nakayama mansion, which led the people in the village to believe that she was insane (6-7). Miki began to combat such opinions by teaching young girls how to sow in 1848, while Shuji taught children how read and write in the school he opened (7). After her father’s death in 1853, Miki’s youngest daughter Kokan went to Osaka to spread the name of God through chanting the name of God the Parent to the beat of wooden clappers on busy street corners (9). Yet, another way in which Miki attracted people to the “will of God,” was through her Grant of Safe Childbirth (11). “To bestow the Grant, Miki stroked the abdomen area three times, blew softly on it the same number of times, and conveyed the teachings of God” (11). As Miki’s acclamation grew so did her followers and disciples. An important disciple of Miki’s was a carpenter named Izo Iburi, who wholly devoted himself to Miki after she “healed” his wife during a difficult pregnancy (13-4). Before her death, Miki took time to pen two works: Mikagurauta and the Ofudesaki, which taught the movements of the “salvation dance service” that is the essential rite to Tenrikyo and the determinate of the location of the sacred spot and original birthplace of humankind (Toyoaki 403).

The Christian Scientists: Mary Baker Eddy

            Christian Science was the result of a divine revelation and healing of the founder Mary Baker Eddy in 1866 (Gottschalk vol. 5:30). Eddy was born on July 16, 1821, in Bow, New Hampshire, under the Puritan tradition of modest living and strict observation of Protestant principles (Benowitz 97). Despite frequent childhood illnesses, her independent nature was exemplified through her youthful revolts against religious theologies such as Calvinism, a belief that any human suffering was the result of God’s remittance (Gottschalk vol. 5:340). “As an adolescent, she had debates with her father over religion that often were so intense that Mary became ill to the point of having paroxysmal seizures” (Benowitz 97). “In her own words, ‘From my very childhood, I was impelled, by a hunger and thirst after divine things—a desire for something higher and better than matter, and apart from it—to seek diligently for the knowledge of God as the one great and ever-present relief from human woe’” (Gottschalk vol. 3:443). Eddy’s early life, before her divine revelation, consisted of frequent illness along with losses and deaths among her family and friends. On December 10, 1843, she married George Glover, who would die the following June but not before she became pregnant with their son George (98). As a result of constant illness and inability to take care of George, age 7, family and friends forced Eddy to give him away to someone who could take care of him (98). A few years later, in June of 1853, Eddy entered a rocky marriage to Daniel Patterson who, while trying to observe the Battle of Bull Run in 1861, became captured by the Confederate army and imprisoned (98). It is during this imprisonment of her husband that Eddy traveled to Portland, Maine, in 1862 to see Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, a healer who believed that the cause of disease lay in the mind (Gottschalk vol. 5:30). After exhausting Quimby’s healing method of homeopathy, “mind cure”, Eddy turned to the New Testament teachings and healing stories for hope (30). She viewed the gospel anew after being healed following a severe fall on ice in 1866 while reading an account of one of Jesus’ healings in Matthew (30). “She believed she heard the voice of God proclaim, ‘Daughter arise!’ She stood up and walked, full recovered. Mary was certain that it was her absolute faith in Christ that had healed her, and Christian faith became the core of her theology” (Benowitz 98-9). This divine healing spurred a nine-year scriptural study, teaching, and healing instances that climaxed with the publication of Eddy’s first religious work, Science and Health with Keys to the Scriptures in 1875 (Gottschalk vol. 5:30). She wrote to explain the “science” of Jesus’ works and how those works could be repeated (30). Two years after her marriage to Asa Eddy in 1877, Eddy and a small group of supporters established the Church of Christ, Scientist, which took form two years later with Eddy’s move to Boston (30). While in Boston, and in efforts to prevent Christian Science into becoming a form of non-Christian “mind-cure,” she vehemently denied that any Christian Science healing was produced by mental suggestions (30). As Christian Science gained prominence, she reorganized the church in 1892 into its present form as the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston (30). Then, in 1895, Eddy published the Manual of the Mother Church, a body of rules for governing the denomination and rules that were under her constant modification until her death (30). But, before her death in 1910, Eddy recognized the necessity of communicating to the world the news of Christian Science; so, she established the widely respected newspaper The Christian Science Monitor in 1908 as her final major achievement (30).

The Methods

            Taking in all the accounts and facts of each of these extraordinary ladies’ lives, sociological and sociobiological viewpoints of these religions may be of assistance as to why these different yet similar religions continue until today.

The Sociological Perspective: Max Weber’s Ideal Types

            Max Weber was a German sociologist who diverged from his predecessors and viewed religion not as being changed by society alone, but viewed it as changing the society within it is founded as well (Richey). Weber also developed a typology of the organization and development of different religions, and the first step is an individual, “ideal-type” who breaks with the established traditions through prophetic charisma (Richey). According to Weber there are three main “ideal-types”: Magicians, Priests, and Prophets. In his Sociology of Religion, Weber writes, “We shall understand ‘prophet’ a purely individual bearer of charisma, who by one's mission proclaims religious teaching or divine commandment” (Weber C.1). In more specific detail, prophets are characterized by 1) a personal relationship with the deity; 2) charisma, which is a personal gift used to verify the authority which the prophet already feels within him/herself; 3) a personal call; 4) authority which comes from deity; and 5) “the prophet declares meaningful revelations, and his commission is teaching or commandment, not magic” (Weber C.1.a-b.). Taking Nakayama and Eddy’s historical background information, an examination of their divine revelations and actions thereafter will substantiate them as “Prophets,” according to Weber. Recall that Nakayama was indwelled by God the Parent (#1 and #4) and called (#3) to preach the message of salvation through Tenrikyo (#5), while assisting in a healing ritual of her eldest son. It is after this revelation that Nakayama proves her authority through charismatic acts such as The Grant of Safe Childbirth (#2). As a Protestant Christian, Eddy was already familiar with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ (#1), but, while resting after a slip on the ice, she is healed of her ailment (#1). Characteristics #2, #3, and #4, can be seen through the fact that, “She believed she heard the voice of God proclaim, ‘Daughter arise!’ She stood up and walked, full recovered. Mary was certain that it was her absolute faith in Christ that had healed her, and Christian faith became the core of her theology” (Benowitz 98-9). Eddy’s nine-year scriptural study and, eventually, writing of her divinely inspired literature, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, remained at the core of her divine mission (#5). So, from an examination of these religious founders’ backgrounds, Max Weber’s prophetic “ideal-type” can be applied to these founders, and one of the main distinguishing factors of a prophets is a “personal calling,” which will be dealt with momentarily.

The Sociobiological Perspective: Newberg and D’Aquila’s Theory                 

            The fact that that some people experience a personal call from a deity to declare a new form of religion as part of their prophetic definitiveness leaves sociobiologists questioning the validity of the experience, and, if it is valid, why? “Science, it seems, has no shortage of rational explanations for the strange accounts of the mystics, and while these explanations may vary in approach, they all agree on one important point: The mind of a mystic is a mind that has somehow become fundamentally confused” (Newberg and D’Aquila108). In their book, Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief, Newberg and D’Aquila offer an answer as to why people experience god. “The answer, we believe, requires that a careful distinction be drawn between mental delusions and what we’ll call ‘genuine’ mystical states” (109). So, first it will be necessary to examine the previous history and “encounters” of these ladies to decide if their experiences are mystical experiences or if they fall under hallucinations. Then, an examination of the two women and their actions after their experiences can either substantiate or oppose the typology which Newberg and D’Aquila suggest.

            Mysticism or Hallucinations? “Mystical experiences, in other words, is not about magic, or mind-reading, or the conjuring of visions or spirits; it is nothing more or less than an uplifting sense of genuine spiritual union with something larger than the self” (Newberg and D’Aquila 101). Furthermore, the goal of mystical union is to obtain some sense of union with the divine, and the first step requires the quieting of the conscious mind and the freeing of spirit from the ego (103). In the case of Nakayama, an already devout and pious follower of Buddhism, it was during her incantation for the healing of her son, a lack of concentration on the self, that she experienced a union with God the Parent. Newberg and D’Aquila would argue that Nakayama practiced a meditative technique known as “The Passive Approach,” which allowed her to obtain union with the absolute through a “neural bombardment” of the limbic system (118).The bombardment causes a neurological “spillover” which triggers the body to both calm and respond instantaneously, overloading the mind, and causing the sense of self and time and space to become vague or obsolete. “In this state… the mind would perceive a neurological reality consistent with many mystical descriptions…” (118-9). On the other hand, Eddy’s mystical experience came not from a willful intention to obtain union with the deity, nor an attempt to clear the conscious. Instead, it was simply while reading a passage from Matthew when she heard a voice, which she interpreted as god and that he healed her. In no way does Eddy attempt to clear her conscious; in fact, she is concentrating on her situation in life when the mystical experience occurs. It is also worth noting that Eddy’s childhood, riddled with illness, consisted of paroxysmal seizures after lengthy debates with her father about religion. In addition, it is helpful to know that Eddy was recovering from a fall on the ice when she received her divine intervention. In conclusion, after an examination of Newberg and D’Aquila’s definition of “mysticism” and the lives and mystical encounters of Eddy and Nakayama, it is fair to say that, while Nakayama’s encounter resembles that of a “true” mystic encounter, Eddy’s, arguably, could be the result of neural dysfunction.

            Mystic or Psychotic? Having established the nature of each leader’s personal call as being either mystical or hallucinatory, one must now turn to Newberg and D’Aquila’s typology of psychotics and mystics to either substantiate or question their theories. They categorize mystics by having certain characteristics, such as: they describe the event as joyful and the spiritual unity transcendental; “…they are able to share their experiences coherently with others,”; they can “…once again function effectively in society,”; and they usually become less egotistical, “…a quieting of the mind, and an emptying of the self…” (109-110). Likewise, psychotics have the following characteristics: they are frightened and perplexed by their hallucinations, which are often tense and include an angry, stern god; their psychotic states can continue for years “…and… drive… their victims to progressively deeper states of social isolation,”; and, they tend to feel a religious inflation of importance (109-110). Yet interesting enough, when the case studies are applied, there seem to be some discrepancies. It was Nakayama, not Eddy, who went into isolation and social separation. She moved into a shed, not performing normal household functions for the three years following her experience, a psychotic characteristic. Eddy, on the other hand, began a nine-year scriptural study, began to teach, began to heal, and, eventually, she published a book, a more mystical characteristic. Nakayama, unlike Eddy, had several encounters, a more psychotic characteristic. Numerous times neighbors heard her talking with God the Parent in the shed. Eddy’s only “encounter” was her healing after the fall on the ice, a more mystical encounter. Admittedly, some aspects of the theory stand. Eddy was the one who became more inflated about her religious experience, she argued with critics who said her religion was another “mind cure.” Nakayama, on the other hand, views herself as less, not more, and, instead, focuses on spreading the word. So, although Nakayama’s experience is classified as mystical, she can be seen as psychotic, while Eddy’s experience would be deemed a hallucination; her actions and reactions resemble more of mystic, a discrepancy worth noting.

Conclusion

            According to Weber, religion’s first step starts with a prophet breaking with established traditions and establishing authority through charismatic gifts. A key element to a prophet is their sense of having a “personal call” from the deity. Newberg, on the other hand, questions why these leaders experience the personal call. Scientific thought revolves around the idea that mystical encounters are a result of psychosis, but Newberg explore that theory. After establishing certain characteristics of a mystical vs. hallucinatory experience, Nakayama theorizes the person will exhibit certain qualities. Although Nakayama and Eddy fall under Weber’s typology of prophets, their experiences, defined as either mystical or hallucinatory, do not match the typology Newberg gives. Admittedly, the history of Nakayama, whose experience is “mystical” but seems “psychotic,” is not as intense and detailed as Eddy’s. Still, her experience, as recorded, and her actions after the call are inconsistent according to Newberg. What does this mean? The most obvious answer: Newberg was incorrect in his characterization of psychotics and mystics. But, perhaps the implications are that one can not use natural science to explain the supernatural; yet, there is some discomfort even in that statement. The answer may lie within Doniger’s statement that “… the toolbox approach to the study of myth: carry about with you as wide a range of tools as possible, and reach for the right one at the right time…” (Doniger 192). Perhaps the answer is simply that sociobiology is not the correct tool to understand a prophetic calling.

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