Emile Durkheim's purpose in his Elemental Forms of Religious Life was to understand the religious nature of man, and to do this, he takes us to the earliest, most primitive tribes of Australia, believing they represented the most rudimentary elements of religion.
In this untouched setting Durkheim hopes to expose the traits common to the religious nature of man. If, as he contends, these traits are universal, then it is expected that they would be present in some form in the common religions of the world. As we consider the basic tenets of Durkheim's thesis, we will also examine Judaism in its early stages, as communicated by the Bible[1], to see if indeed the proposals of Durkheim are present in this ancient system of faith.
The basis of a religious system
Durkheim takes an opposite approach to the study of religion than that pursued by many sociologists. While many study primitive religions to discredit modern expressions of belief, he rejects this hostility as counter productive, and prejudicial to the scientific understanding of religion, and contends, unlike Marx who disbelieved in its effacy, that religion is a reality and fulfilled a real need in the heart and mind of humanity.
He defines a primitive religion as one that is found in society, in which no earlier religion can be used to define it, and is present in the simplest form that can be found. His basic premise is that for religion to exist it must be important to society, because if not, either society would not exist, or they would abandon its use. The existence of religion in a society is then an expression of reality, and while the expressions used may seem strange, none the less, we can go beneath those expressions to discover the reality expressed. He seeks a "concrete reality that historical and ethnographical observation alone can reveal to us."[1] Using primitive religions allow us to isolate the constituent elements of religion.
Durkheim's first problem is to define religion. While the task appears simple, arriving at a definition that does not reflect religious bias on our part is difficult. First, we must understand a basic premise of religious phenomena, which is the realization that these phenomena fall into two categories: beliefs and rites.
Inherent in the concept of beliefs is the distinction between that which is profane and that which is sacred. Sacred things are those objects and beliefs, protected and isolated by prohibitions, while profane things must be kept separate from that which is considered sacred. This division is the foundation of understanding the underlying premise upon which religion is based.
Rites are rules of conduct which dictate how man should conduct himself in dealing with sacred things. These rites, and the conduct that grows up around them, form the basis for the evolution of a belief system. The concept of sacred things and rites can vary and diversify, with different groups valuing some sacred objects above others, even in the same religion. Durkheim refers to this idea as a "system of cults."[2] He cites the beliefs within Christianity as an example of this acceptance of a plurality of sacred things, including the Virgin, angels, the saints, etc.
From these two concepts Durkheim then defines religion as "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden, beliefs and practices which unite into a single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them."[3] Reflective in this definition is Durkheim's belief that the purpose of religion is inherently social.
Totemism and early religious belief
Durkheim believes religion arose from Totemism, a term that first appeared in literature in 1791, as applied to practices by the American Indians. Introduced at first as a curiosity, the idea was expanded to explain all animal and plant worshipping cults observed among ancient tribes. While an overstatement, the idea drew further interest to its historic importance.[4]
Sociologists soon realized totemism's importance in relation to social organization, especially in the division of clans. As early as 1877, studies began to detail its distinctive features, and to document its presence among the Indian tribes of North and Central America. At almost the same time, similar discoveries were made among the primitive tribes of Australia.
The principle ideas of Totemism follow the required components attributed by Durkheim to religion. Both beliefs and rites exist, but are so closely intertwined as to make it difficult to distinguish one from the other. The two parts interpenetrate each other to the point that you can no longer study each separately.
Totemism, then, is a method of organizing and understanding the world around you. As a religion it is an inherent social organization, and it is defined as a species of things that serves to designate a group. A clan's totem is also the totem of each individual member. The symbol becomes the defining characteristic of the people and the individual.
Totemism as reflected in other religions
Consider how this idea expressed itself in early Judaism. The idea of organization of nature is present in the Hebrew Scriptures as early as Genesis 1 as, at the creation, God make separate distinction that each such reproduce after its own kind.[5]
The association of people with a totem or emblem is seen in the dying declaration of Jacob, as he blesses his sons while still in Egypt.[6] Judaism as an organized religion was still in the future, but the idea of the first organizational structure can be traced to this account. For each of the twelve sons, the blessing involved identification with a totem. For instance, Judah was equated with a lion. His totem served to define who Judah was as an individual and as a tribe. They were the lawgivers and rulers. The promised messiah cared the title, "Lion of the Tribe of Judah."[7]
Durkheim talks about the progeny of how the totem was transmitted from parent to children. In many societies, the totem came through the mother, others through the father, and even through a mythological ancestor, mystically impregnating the mother at the time of conception.[8]
This idea is clearly expressed in Judaism and early Christianity in the promised birth and later actual advent of Jesus. Isaiah's writings clearly looked forward to a coming Messiah who would be "born of a virgin."[9] In the New Testament writings, the lineage of Joseph[10], the legal father, and Mary,[11] are recorded. Each lineage transmitted a certain understanding of belonging to a particular group and the ensuing rights that accompanied it. The concept of the virgin birth, in which the Holy Ghost conceived Christ through the Virgin Mary[12] further reflects Durkheim's thinking about this transference.
Durkheim further states the totem became more than a name, but a coat of arms or emblem of identification.[13] This was something worn as proof of identity with a certain family or group. The Old Testament indicates the totem of the twelve tribes was possibly used as a banner or flag around which the members of each tribe rallied, arranged themselves for religious worship, and lived in the wilderness, while traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land.
Much can be said of the designation of sacred objects and rites from Totemism to our consideration of Judaism. The latter part of the Book of Exodus records the Israelites setting up camp in the wilderness, again according to their totems. Each tribe has a prescribed place of honor, with the tribe of Levi set apart as holy to the service of God. The building of the ark of the covenant in which were hidden the most holy objects of the new religion: the original tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron's rod, a golden pot of manna, and the Urim and Thummim. The latter are interesting in that they were stones by which the Israelites could determine the will of God.[14] These are reminiscent of the churingas referred to by Durkheim.[15] In the tabernacle and later the temple, the sacred was separated from the profane by veils, with only the High Priest allowed into the most sacred parts, and women and the uninitiated barred from the immediate worship.
Durkheim further talks about the sacredness of place,[16] and the presence of cities of refuge from others. In early Judaism, the tabernacle placed at the center of the camp, protected by the surrounding tribes, served by the Tribe of Levi, and representing the presence of God, was the most sacred site of the religion. Cities of refuge were determined by the religious system as places where someone fleeing could go to escape capture.[17]
Durkheim's discussion concerning the churinga's virtues, in which religious value is ascribed to the objects, and their ensuing loss, would bring great harm to the group in also indicated in events relating to early Israel. The Ark of the Covenant was that kind of object. As previously stated, it contained the most sacred objects indicative of the miraculous aspects of their religion. The tablet containing the Commandments were written by "the finger of God,"[18] Aaron's walking stick that one day budded, flowered, and bore fruit, [19]a pot containing manna from the wilderness as a reminder of God's miraculous provisions, and the Urim and Thummim were the most sacred objects. The Ark always occupied a central place in the presence and heart of the Israelites. They were usually in sight of the ark, and it represented the presence of God in their midst. Its loss meant disaster to the people. In later history, when the ark was lost to the Philistines, it spelled disaster to the Israelites.[20]
The sacredness of blood is also found in many other religions. Durkheim says "there is no religious ceremony in which the blood does not have some role to play."[21] In both Judaism and Christianity the idea of the sacredness of blood are central to the belief and practice of both religions.
Conclusion
From these early beliefs and practices, it is not difficult to see how religious ideas arose and infused the imaginations of people. Objects became associated with sacred things, and as men dealt with those sacred objects, those same qualities became associated with them. He states that "society never stops creating new sacred things. If society should happen to become infatuated with a man, believing it has found in him its deepest aspirations as well as the means of fulfilling them, then that man will be put in a class by himself and virtually deified."[22] This may well be the means of understanding the Greek and Roman religion, in which their gods were men who controlled nature and exhibited supernatural powers. Other religions, including Christianity, have teachings regarding men who are part God and part man. This infusion of the divine into a human body can be understood as transference from Totemism as religious ideas develop from early stages.
Durkheim believes that all higher ideas came from religious thinking. "Thus it is that the most disparate techniques and practicesthose that ensure the continuity of moral life (law, morals, fine arts) and those that are useful to material life (natural sciences, industrial techniques) sprang from religion, directly or indirectly."[23]
Durkheim's theory about how religion came into human thought should find confirmation and resonance in other religions if his thoughts are valid. As we noticed at length, many of those ideas are present in both Judaism and Christianity. They were used as ways of organizing and understanding the natural world. His conclusion that religion is a reality and makes since, while contradicting other philosophers like Marx and Freud, provide a real framework to understand the religious nature of humanity.
[1] Bible quotations are from the KJV due to its appropriateness of wording to Durkheim's terminology.
[1] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P. 3
[2] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P.39
[3] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P. 44
[4] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P. 85
[5] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Genesis 1:11-27
[6] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Genesis 49: 1-28
[7] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Revelation 5:5
[8] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P. 105
[9] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Isaiah 9:6-7
[10] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Luke 3:23-38
[11] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Matthew 1:1-17
[12] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Matthew 1:18
[13] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P 111
[14] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Exodus 28:30, Leviticus 8:8, Numbers 27:21
[15] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P118
[16] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P119
[17] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Numbers 35:6
[18] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Exodus 31:18
[19] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) Numbers 17:8
[20] (The Scofield Study Bible, JKV 1917) I Samuel 4:11-5:12
[21] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P 136
[22] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P 215
[23] (Durkheim 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields) P 225
Works Cited
Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: The Free Press, 1995, translation by Karen E. Fields.
The Scofield Study Bible, JKV. New York: Oxford University Press, 1917.