Towards a Post-colonial Reflection on Shaman and Shamanism as Conceptual Tools in Biblical Studies
December 10, 2019 DOI: 10.1163/15743012-02603004 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
Biblical scholarship has largely ignored shamanism due to historical prejudice rooted in colonial ethnocentrism and Christian superiority. A shaman is a practitioner who alters ordinary consciousness to serve a community through specific functions, a pattern found across many cultures. Multidisciplinary research shows shamanism is one of humanity's oldest religious activities. Studying shamanism offers comparative research and analytical models to explain extraordinary biblical phenomena such as prophecy, divination, healing, exorcism, heavenly journeys, and spirit possession.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The absence of shamanism in biblical studies stems from historical prejudice, yet shamanic models can explain anomalous aspects of biblical texts. |
Abstract
The almost complete absence of any reference to the terms shaman and shamanism in Biblical Studies has its roots in the historical prejudice in Western scholarship against them, and originated from colonial ethnocentrism and Christian notions of superiority. However, the shaman, defined as a practitioner who based on the alteration of ordinary consciousness serves a community with particular functions, represents a recognisable pattern in numerous cultural settings while the growth in the multidisciplinary study of shamanism in recent decades shows a growth in one of the oldest patterns of religious activities in human history. The study of shamanism does not only provide a body of comparative research but analytical models for explaining the most extraordinary and anomalous aspects found also in biblical texts, namely, prophesy, divination, healing and exorcism as well as heavenly journeys and spirit possession.