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Table of ContentsParadigms & Worlds

Paradigms & Worlds - 5 / 5 / 2002
culture
     - the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, & all other
        products of human work & thought characteristic of a community or population
    a tribe / a people
    traditions
        - elements of the culture
        a mode of thought
    practices
        a mode of behavior
world-view [example - Taoist picture: The 3 Vinegar Tasters]
institutions
    religious
    political
    social
    charitable
community [see Community]
    a group having common interests, beliefs, or identity
    accidental community
        geographic
        ethnic
    intentional community
        composed of adults
    elders [see Elders]
        repository of experience
        teaching / training - passing on traditions & practices
            mythology
                thru storytelling
            initiation into new social status [see Rites of Passage]
            ethics & morals
            essential skills
        ritual leaders
            linking to people, past, & place
        healing
identity / identification
ethnocentric
cultural imperialism
hierophanies - sacred revelations / manifestation of the holy
symbolism
    the world tree / axis mundi
 
Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion - William E. Paden  
Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion - ibid

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