Asceticism

Vocabulary for the Study of Religion Volume 1 A–E Edited by

Robert A. Segal Kocku von Stuckrad

LEIDEN | BOSTON 2015

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Table of Contents Volume 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................ vii List of Contributors  .................................................................................................................................................. viii List of Articles  ............................................................................................................................................................ xvii Articles A–E  ................................................................................................................................................................ 1

Volume 2 Articles F–O  ................................................................................................................................................................

1

Volume 3 Articles P–Z  ................................................................................................................................................................. 1 Index  ............................................................................................................................................................................. 619

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Art

Malraux, A., The Metamorphosis of the Gods, Garden City, 1960. Martland, T.R., Religion as Art, Albany, 1981. Moore, A.C., Iconography of Religions: An Introduction, Philadelphia, 1977. Morgan, D., The Embodied Eye: Religious Visual Culture and the Social Life of Feeling, Berkeley, 2012. Plate, S.B. (ed.), Religion, Art, and Visual Culture: A Cross-Cultural Reader, New York, 2002. Soltes, O., Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source, Cambridge MA, 2005. Summers, D., Real Spaces: World Art History and the Rise of Western Modernism, New York, 2003.

Diane Apostolos-Cappadona

Asceticism As a term and a concept, asceticism has received increasing attention in recent decades. While scholars locate and study asceticism primarily in religious contexts, it also appears in discussions of contemporary cultural phenomena (art, music, literature, holistic health, extreme sports, etc.) and in general theories of culture. The term asceticism derives from the Greek noun áskēsis (“training,” “exercise”), which, in antiquity, referred to the training practice of athletes. In early Christian literature the term was used to denote spiritual exercise and discipline. Eventually it became the technical term for the lifestyle of Christian hermits and monks, and also for the life of renunciation prescribed by pagan philosophers. In Medieval Latin the ascetes or asceticus was the Christian hermit or monk. The English terms ascetic, ascetical, ascetism, and asceticism are fijirst attested in the seventeenth century, and around the same time Latin-based cognates appear in other modern European languages as well. Unlike other terms in European/Christian history, such as “faith” or “atheism,” the term “asceticism” does not seem to carry a strong connotation, either positive or negative, although historically some Catholic scholars have been more sympathetic to it than some Protestant ones. In general, asceticism has rarely

been questioned as a useful term for descriptive, historical analysis. Most historians of religion use the term asceticism in a specifijic sense, as referring to religiously motivated practices of renunciation, discipline, and bodily self-restraint that, in rejecting widelydesired comforts, are more radical than the regular societal restraints of the respective cultural context. Every single ascetic practice is related to particular functions or aspects of the body, or particular senses, and has a potential spectrum of intensity. Examples are practices relating to food (from specifijic food restrictions to fasting to starvation), sexuality (from self-castration and celibacy to engaging in sex as a religious practice), clothing (from going naked and wearing simple robes to wearing elaborate garments), location (from living in a monastic community, on top of a pillar, or in a locked cell to constant wandering), body alteration (from shaving one’s head to severe selfmutilation), pain-infliction (from flagellation and wearing penitential girdles to carrying penis weights), etc., and general transgressive and antinomian behavior (from verbally insulting passers-by to eating feces and human flesh). When scholars speak of asceticism (as an “-ism”), a number of ascetic practices are normally combined into a specifijic arrangement that forms a lifestyle within a certain religious tradition. Like other terms that scholars of religion consider relevant and useful (including the term “religion”), asceticism has been defijined in a variety of ways. The defijinitional spectrum includes both substantive defijinitions, which determine what asceticism is, and functional defijinitions, which say what asceticism does. A substantive defijinition that captures many aspects normally associated with asceticism is Walter Kaelber’s: “[The term asceticism], when used in a religious context, may be defijined as a voluntary, sustained, and at least partially systematic program of self-discipline and self-denial in which immediate, sensual, or profane gratifijications are renounced in order to attain a higher spiritual state or a more thorough absorption in the sacred. Because religious man (homo religiosus) seeks a transcendent state,

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Asceticism

asceticism—in either rudimentary or developed form—is virtually universal in world religion” (1987: 441). Like all substantive defijinitions, it provokes questions about its comprehensiveness and universality. Aside from the Eliadean references to sacred and profane and to the “homo religiosus,” a number of elements in this defijinition may be discussed fruitfully. Can we say that asceticism is “virtually universal in world religion” (presumably meaning, “in the religions of the world”) without providing comprehensive empirical data? Can we generalize the goal of asceticism as the attempt to “attain a higher spiritual state”? Is asceticism always voluntary, or do some persons become ascetics due to social, moral, economic, or political pressures? Do some ascetics perhaps, in fact, receive “immediate, sensual, or profane gratifijications” through their practice or their status, rather than renouncing them? Such questions call the substantive defijinition’s claim for universal applicability into question by demanding more empirical data, but they also point at the diffference between the normative “systematic program” of asceticism, as described in Kaelber’s defijinition, and asceticism in its social context, for which scholars have developed defijinitions that address the functions of asceticism. One such functional defijinition has been suggested by Richard Valantasis: “Asceticism may be defijined as performances within a dominant social environment intended to inaugurate a new subjectivity, diffferent social relations, and an alternative symbolic universe” (1995: 797). Valantasis views asceticism primarily as a performance and emphasizes the ascetic’s transformation into a new subject, the conflict between a dominant order and the new symbolic world into which the ascetic enters, and the constructions of power related to this process. While, unlike Kaelber’s, this defijinition highlights the function of asceticism for the ascetic and the social environment, it sufffers from the innate weakness of functional defijinitions, namely that it is very broad, potentially includes phenomena that are far outside the semantic range of “asceticism” in its ordinary usage, and thus lacks analytical precision.

127 All types of defijinitions have strengths and weaknesses, and there is no need to settle on one if the primary mode of application is heuristic. Considering Valantasis’ defijinition leads to approaches that view asceticism as an important concept in the study of culture and the human mind. An influential book on the topic conceptualizes asceticism as the “operating system of culture,” holding that all ethics are based on the foundation of self-denial (Harpham 1987). Calling this foundational level “root asceticism,” another approach distinguishes two further levels: “cultural asceticism,” which refers to the specifijic tools that each culture develops for its members to practice the self-control demanded of them (for example, initiation rites), and “elite asceticism,” which refers to extraordinary forms of self-control and self-restraint that are practiced only by a small group of religious virtuosi in order to attain specifijic social, religious, and personal goals (Olivelle 2006: 27–41). This model emphasizes the embeddedness of asceticism in its cultural context: an “elite” ascetic practice is identifijied as an extraordinary variant of an existing cultural technique and is therefore ascribed extraordinary value. Asceticism has also been identifijied as an innate human predisposition. According to this approach, a counter-reproductive universal, or “ascetic instinct,” developed in the evolution of humankind just like the assumed “language instinct” (Bronkhorst 2001). Recent cross-cultural, comparative studies of asceticism suggest further avenues of theoretical reflection. One study concludes that asceticism, as “the reversal flow of the body,” is a performance of tradition; it enacts the memory of tradition which thereby becomes encoded in the body (Flood 2004). This approach is linked to theories about religion and the body and the construction of the self, building on Foucault’s work. Another comparative approach argues that because in a particular cultural context ascetics often disagree about what the correct practice or combination of practices is, essentializing asceticism would be historically inaccurate. Rather, by focusing on the contextualized asceticism discourse and by

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128 studying it cross-culturally, scholars can isolate particular patterns of argumentation, classify differing hierarchies of values in the combinations of practices, and thus analyze the contested nature of asceticism (Freiberger 2009, 2010). Ascetic beliefs and practices have been identifijied and studied in various religious contexts and traditions. While “classifying by religion” is generally problematic, it might be excused in this short survey. Due to the availability of academic resources, by far the largest amount of research has been done on asceticism in the history of Christianity. Still in 1995, the milestone volume Asceticism, whose forty-two chapters reflected the current state of the fijield and the increasing scholarly interest in the topic, included only seven essays on non-Christian or non-European traditions (Wimbush/Valantasis 1995). The most studied area within Christianity is Mediterranean late antiquity, followed by Medieval Europe, and in recent times scholars of asceticism have also discussed Christian origins. Pre- and non-Christian asceticism in (late) antiquity is an equally well-studied subject. Another fijield of asceticism studies focuses on Indian religions, especially Brahmanical and Hindu traditions, Jainism, and Buddhism, the latter also in its East Asian forms. Some religious traditions (Judaism, Islam) have often been classifijied as non-ascetic, but an increasing number of scholars are successfully applying the term asceticism and its analytical framework to these traditions too. Some religious traditions (e.g., Daoism) were recently “discovered” by scholars interested in asceticism; others still await critical investigation (African, American, and Australian traditional religions, Confucianism, Shintō, Zoroastrianism, and many more). While some, or most, of these religions may not immediately suggest themselves for the study of asceticism, the ongoing theoretical discussions of the concept might make studying them in this perspective useful and important. Existing historical and empirical studies discuss multiple aspects of asceticism. Of the few major themes that can be mentioned here, the actual

asceticism

bodily practice of ascetics probably constitutes the longest standing scholarly interest. Aside from analyzing the forms and the intensity spectrum of ascetic practices, scholars also discuss the boundaries of asceticism and sometimes separate it, for example, from “monasticism” and “penance.” Some studies challenge its boundaries by noting that in certain historical contexts entire families enter the ascetic life, rather than an ascetic renouncing family ties, or a certain form of “domestic asceticism” is propagated. The discussion about the theoretical benefijits of using the term “asceticism” in all such cases is rewarding. Another fijield of research focuses on asceticism in society. Here scholars analyze the relationships between ascetics and non-ascetics and the ascetic’s social status, which can be low (sometimes intentionally, when ascetics provoke repudiation or pretend to be mad) or high (which sometimes leads to the paradoxical situation that an increase in the severity of renunciation corresponds to an increase in public attention, veneration, and prestige). In some contexts, non-ascetics’ devotion can also be directed at the abstract principle of asceticism (Cort 2002). Providing frameworks of religio-political order, some ascetics act as political consultants, and there are conceptual links between asceticism, heroism, violence, and warfare (Dundas 2006). Furthermore, scholars contextualize asceticism, both historically and theoretically, by analyzing voices that are critical of ascetic concepts and practices (Freiberger 2006). Yet another major fijield is the study of asceticism and gender. An increasing number of scholars study female asceticism, which had been largely neglected previously, to a certain degree due to the dominant male perspective of the sources. In these sources, women appear primarily as temptresses causing destructive sexual desires in the (male) ascetic and as objects of meditations over the transience of beauty and the dangers of attachment. Recent studies reveal important new aspects of female asceticism and, in particular, many facets of meaning associated with male and female bodies in ascetic discourses (Elm 1994; Wilson 1996; DeNapoli 2009).

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Astrology

That the study of asceticism continues to be attractive and rewarding is partly due to the fact that the term refers to both a bodily practice and an ideology. Sometimes prescriptive and theological ascetic texts do not reflect actual practice, and sometimes actual practitioners are more interested in doing than in explaining and reflecting. Ascetic ideology and practice, as well as their relationship to each other, are rich fijields for scholarly inquiry. Asceticism is an appealing object of study also because it polarizes religious adherents, especially in its more extreme forms. Ascetics have been glorifijied, venerated as saints and holy persons, and worshipped as models of an ideal life. But they have also been criticized, even by followers of the same religious tradition, for pursuing and propagating a false, counter-reproductive way of life. Furthermore, insights from the study of asceticism help scholars analyze the relation of religion, culture, and the human body. While the metaphors of “encoding” or “inscribing the body” may not always be sufffijicient for the analysis of concrete historical cases, they reflect the scholarly fascination with ascetic ideology. The counterintuitive idea that a mode of life that demands disciplining one’s own body, up to the point of physical harm and excruciating pain, is associated with the highest virtue and merit reflects deep religious and cultural values, the analysis of which is a prime task for the academic study of religion. Bibliography Benn, J.A., Burning for the Buddha: Self-Immolation in Chinese Buddhism, Honolulu, 2007. Bronkhorst, J., “Asceticism, Religion, and Biological Evolution,” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 13: 374–418, 2001. Brown, P., The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity, New York, 1988. Cort, J.E., “Singing the Glory of Asceticism: Devotion of Asceticism in Jainism,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 70(4): 719–742, 2002. DeNapoli, A., “Beyond Brahmanical Asceticism: Recent and Emerging Models of Female Hindu Asceticisms in South Asia,” Religion Compass 3.5: 857–875, 2009.

Dundas, P., “The Non-Violence of Violence: Jain Perspectives on Warfare, Asceticism and Worship,” in J. Hinnells and R. King (eds.), Religion and Violence in South Asia, 39–58, Hoboken, 2006. Elm, S., ‘Virgins of God’: The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity, Oxford, 1994. Flood, G., The Ascetic Self: Subjectivity, Memory and Tradition, Cambridge UK, 2004. Francis, J.A., Subversive Virtue: Asceticism and Authority in the Second-Century Pagan World, University Park, 1995. Freiberger, O. (ed.), Asceticism and Its Critics: Historical Accounts and Comparative Perspectives, New York, 2006. ———, Der Askesediskurs in der Religionsgeschichte: Eine vergleichende Untersuchung brahmanischer und frühchristlicher Texte, Wiesbaden, 2009. ———, “Locating the Ascetic’s Habitat: Toward a Micro-Comparison of Religious Discourses,” History of Religions 50(2): 162–192, 2010. Goehring, J.E., Ascetics, Society, and the Desert: Studies in Early Egyptian Monasticism, Harrisburg, 1999. Harpham, G.G., The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism, Chicago, 1987. Kaelber, W.O., “Asceticism,” in M. Eliade (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 1, 441–445, New York, 1987. Olivelle, P., Ascetics and Brahmins: Studies in Ideologies and Institutions, Firenze, 2006. Vaage, L.E., and V.L. Wimbush (eds.), Asceticism and the New Testament, New York, 1999. Valantasis, R., “Constructions of Power in Asceticism,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 63: 775– 821, 1995. Wilson, L., Charming Cadavers: Horrifijic Figurations of the Feminine in Indian Buddhist Literature, Chicago, 1996. Wimbush, V.L., and R. Valantasis (eds.), Asceticism, New York, 1995.

Oliver Freiberger

Astrology Speaking very generally, astrology (Gk. “the study of the stars”) asks questions about the connection between heavenly phenomena and events on earth. For more than three thousand years, and far into the eighteenth century, research into such

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