The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz

Think, for example, of meditation in Zen Buddhism that functions to clear the mind from clutter and chaos in pursuit of enlightenment. They provide a representation of the way things are and guide human activity. In other words, symbols are powerful for they not only invoke deep moral sentiments concerning how the world should be but they also shape human behavior and influence how human beings interpret reality. Secondly, sacred symbols establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in people. Such items and phenomena possess symbolic meaning in the form of ideas, attitudes, etc. In Zen Buddhism, symbols would include the Lotus Sutra, a temple, a stone garden, etc. Symbols are typically public, observable, concrete embodiment of ideas, attitudes, judgments, longings, or beliefs. “God,” “reality,” “man”), a holy book (Bible, Torah, Book of Radiance, etc.), a story (a creation story), or a ritual (the Eucharist or meditation). Examples could include a number (such as the number 6), a painting (that conveys meaning), a word (i.e. The symbol functions as a bearer of meaning connected to an object, event, quality, or relation. Geertz first defines a symbol, which he says denotes “any object, act, event, quality, or relation which serves as a vehicle for a conception – the conception is the symbol’s “meaning””.

“ a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic” (3). This requires religion’s elements and workings to be described, which Geertz attempts to do: Within this process of the development of knowledge Geertz attempts to articulate the function of religious symbols, notably how “sacred symbols function within the cultural context.” Religion and religious activity are shaped by culture and it is important to approach the topic of religion as being an integral element to culture itself. Anthropologist Talal Asad suggests Geertz to have provided “the most influential, certainly the most accomplished, anthropological definition of religion to have appeared in the last two decades” (1).įor Geertz, the pathway to religion is culture which he defined as a “historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols” and “a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life” (2).

Anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) is a well-known name within Religion Studies for his understanding of religion being a “cultural system.” This he articulated in his essay Religion as a Cultural System (1966) which examined anthropological approaches to religion.

The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz