Thursday, January 24, 2008

Kayela added this:

This was listed as a comment to another post below, but I thought it worth reading and discussing, and thought more would read it here:

Thus religion would not be religion if it did not make some place for the free combinations of thought and activity, for play, for art, for all those things that renew the spirit worn down by the constraints of daily labour; the very causes that called religion into existence make it a necessity. Art is not simply an external ornament donned by the cult to conceal its excessively harsh and austere side; rather the cult has an aesthetic aspect in itself. Due to the well-known relationship between mythology and poetry, people sometimes wanted to place mythology outside religion; the truth is that there is poetry inherent in all religion.

This is another one from elementary forms of religious life.

2 comments:

Kayela said...

Just because I like citing things, that quote came from Emile Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religion. Also, I think probably more people read your blog than comment. Maybe you should ask a very specific question. It's usually easier to respond that way. I always enjoy reading it though.

Trevor said...

Maybe I don't know what you mean by "very specific." I think the worst Sunday School classes are the ones where the questions are so specific that no one has any room to breathe.

But then again, maybe this is closer to one of those priesthood lessons where the teacher doesn't actually have anything to say or share so they make copies of quotes from the manual and number them to have the illusion of class participation. Frightening.

Kayela, I think you would get a kick out of priesthood lessons. I know they are meant to be the same as Relief Society lessons, but they couldn't be.

further tangent: Ashley's Dad just mentioned that what he's been telling the priesthood in his stake is to "stop treating your priesthood quorums like a Sunday School class that does Home Teaching."

Don't we all feel a little ashamed? I know I do.