“Setting Down The Sacred Past” – Laurie F. Maffly – Kipp

As I pondered possible paper topics, I originally intended to compare and contrast the Gospels, with a heavy focus on Matthew (awesome name).  However, with our recent introduction of African American religion, I was inspired to go down a whole new path.  I searched “African American Religion” on OneSeach, narrowed down to books, and out popped 1,749 results.  Woah.  I began scrolling through, with  general idea in my head of what I wanted to focus on: why were African Americans enslaved?

Race is a cultural invention that has evolved over hundreds of years.  Evidence reveals that 15th Century European explorers were indifferent of Blacks.  Christopher Columbus employed African sailors, “whose knowledge of the coasts, the trade winds, and navigation were of immeasurable importance”.  The first signs of race-categorization didn’t appear until the 16th century, when those of Irish descent began to be considered savage, earning the badge wild Irish. 

Thus, African Americans were not immediately targeted, rather selected based upon certain characteristics (immune to disease, for example) that suited the needs of a farmhand in America.  My question then turned to how this transpires to religion.  As I scrolled through the results, I noticed the title,  “Setting Down the Sacred Past”, which caught my eye.  The title can be read in two different ways: setting down, as in putting it behind us, or going back and examining what the past entailed.  I immediately wrote down the call number and began my search.

The book was in between a mix of books on African Americans, from economics to psychology, and its bright green cover stood out amongst the masses.  I pulled it out, and opened it up to the second page.  I read the line “African Americans are forced to see the world through the eyes of their oppressors rather than freely through their own self-understandings”.  This touched me, for a lack of a better phrase, and I continued to skim through, reading quotes by W.E.B. Du Bois, discussions of President Barrack Obama (written in 2010), and various other areas of interest that pertained to my general question.

I plan on using this book as I continue my research and begin my paper.  I am excited to uncover what this book has to offer in regards to African American religion.

a history of modern yoga

After long thought what type of book I should take a photo with, I reflected back upon what stood out to me the most during our study of World Religions thus far.  I thought about broad topics, such as Buddhism or Jainsim, then narrowed down to practices, such as puja and worship.  I narrowed it down to types of worship, such as yoga.  I thought that it was interesting how yoga is so popular today, yet before taking this class I never knew/thought that it is such an ancient practice.  Although adapted to modern times and marketing tactics, yoga has its roots in ancient religion that played a role in connecting and worshiping both the self and deities.

After skimming through the pages, I felt that this book has relevance to what we’ve learned in class thus far.  It discusses the roots of modern yoga, especially the emergence of modern Neo-Hinduism, and the religious foundations of modern yoga.   It goes on to discuss the modern interpretations and alternative medicine — a type of new age healing, and the separation/divide between religious practice and “everyday” practice that is spiritual as opposed to “religious” — which is a fine line to make and describe.  Thus, I will definitely look more into this book and understand how it is used today as both a form of exercise and spiritual practice, and how it is still a foundation for religious practices as well.  I am inspired after skimming through this book to write my first paper on it, so this is just the beginning.