Is Judaism Boring The role of symbols in
Is Judaism Boring? The role of symbols in “imagistic” Jewish movements in the nineteenth century Tamás Biró ACLC, University of Amsterdam Groningen Centre for Religion & Cognition 1/19
Overview l The Mc. Cauley-Lawson model, tedium and Judaism l Jewish movements in the 18 th and 19 th century l Why were these movements successful? A frustrated mental activation model. l The role of “symbols” in this model Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 2/19
Tedium – Mc. Cauley & Lawson l Mc. Cauley-Lawson model: – – – Action representation scheme: agent, patient, instrument (etc. ? ) Ritual if and only if at least one slot is filled by counterintuitive agent (CIA) “Special agent rituals” vs. others Balanced ritual systems need both Tedium if no special agent rituals Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 3/19
Judaism is boring… l Mitzvoth (commandments): religious acts and non-acts l (Almost? ) no rituals according to the definition of Mc. Cauley & Lawson l Hence, no special agent rituals, either l So, Mc. Cauley & Lawson predict: tedium l “Solutions”: mystical movements (Kabbalah), popular magic, messianic movements (e. g. , Shabbatai Tsvi), … Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 4/19
18 -19 th century: 2 x 2 “movements” (NB: the analysis below is meant to complement, and not to replace traditional historical, economic, sociological, etc. explanations. ) l Reaction to traditional rabbinical elitism + counter-reaction: Chassidism vs. Yeshiva movement l Reaction to modernity + counter-reaction: Reform Judaism vs. Orthodoxy l Additionally: each is also reaction to tedium! Four strategies are used (at least). Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 5/19
Strategy 1: Introducing special agents l Chassidism: rebbe = charismatic leader High-arousal special agent rituals, such as tish l Non-orthodox Judaism: the rabbi as a “priest” with special blessing capacities l 20 th century ultra-orthodoxy: even non-chassidic leaders often turn into “rebbes” Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 6/19
Strategy 2: Intellectual emphasis on existing religious acts l l Existing mitzvoth (religious acts and non-acts) performed more consciously Equivalent to “arousal”? Yeshiva movement (et al. ): emphasis on study (to increase consciousness) Musar movement: emphasis on ethics as part of the system of religious acts and non-acts (i. e. , halakha; e. g. lashon ha-ra ‘evil tongue, gossips’) Cf. : L. Naccache: Quatre Exercices de pensée juive pour cerveaux réfléchis : Le Judaïsme à la lumière des neurosciences, 2003. Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 7/19
Strategy 3: Religious dimension to high-arousal phenomena Arts: l Chassidism: music: chassidic niggunim (tunes) l Western-Europe and non-orthodox movements: l – Music: cantorial art à la Romanticism – Synagogual architecture – Artistic sermons, rabbis’ cloths, etc. Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe: strong opposition! Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 8/19
Strategy 4: New acts and new non-acts l Each Chassidic group + followers of the Vilna gaon, etc. : introducing their own minhagim (customs). l Reform: introducing their own practices l Strict orthodoxy (esp. Hungary): strict prohibitions to avoid any similarity with reform and with Christianity (no choir, no rabbinic dress, no towers on the synagogues, …) Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 9/19
WHY THESE STRATEGIES SOLVE TEDIUM? ? ? 1. 2. 3. 4. Introducing special agents Intellectual emphasis on existing religious acts and non-acts. Religious dimension to high-arousal acts. New acts and new non-acts 10/19
Symbols in a network of concepts What fires together, what fires in the opposite condition? (Cf. psychological and linguistic experiments. ) NB: this is not a neural network! + dove black - Tamás BIRÓ + war white flag + - death + white + harmless + - Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 peace 11/19
Network of religious acts and concepts + kosher music + + + liturgy CIA + architecture shabbat + - + + Tamás BIRÓ eating synagogue lighting fire Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 12/19
l NB: Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808 -1888, founder of German neo-orthodoxy): commandments are symbols, for instance: – – – Shabbat, phylacteries, circumcision = covenant Pesach and much more: remembrance Aim of all mitzvoth: to increase the ethical level of those observing them Our interpretation: performing mitzvoth also activate other nodes, such as CIA, history, ethics. Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 13/19
Network of concepts vs. solutions to tedium Hypothesis: Tedium = node CIA not activated. l Introducing special agents: the agent of the special agent ritual directly activates node CIA. l Emphasis on religious acts / non-acts: a. ) stronger activation of nodes w positive connection to CIA; b. ) strengthening connections between nodes. l Religious dimension to high-arousal acts: indirect, though strong activation of node CIA. l New acts / non-acts: more paths to activate CIA. Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 14/19
Mental network reflecting social network Person 1 - Person 2 + + + Orthodoxy + ? Tamás BIRÓ Person 4 + Reform Judaism ? Judaism + MYSELF Person 3 ? - + Christianity ? Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 15/19
Frustrated networks: Network inhibits adding religious dimension to arts + + CIA ? synagogue ? + + + Reform Judaism + Orthodoxy + - Tower on prayer place + - + + Christianity Judaism MYSELF Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 16/19
Frustrated networks Optimisation under contradicting constraints: l Spin-glasses (statistical physics) l Simulated Annealing (e. g. , artificial intelligence) l Linguistics: Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, aka 2004), etc. (especially: Smolensky and Legendre 2006; Bíró 2006) Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 17/19
Summary l l l Application of Mc. Cauley & Lawson’s model to Judaism (more: cf. SBL) New ways to overcome tedium A mental network-theory to explain these ways: – – Connected to social networks Frustrations: related to other cognitive models Tamás BIRÓ Symbolization in Religion, Cognition and Culture Aarhus, June 1, 2007 18/19
Thank you for your attention! Tamás Biró http: //www. birot. hu Download this presentation from the Archive for Religion & Cognition: http: //www. csr-arc. com 19/19
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