IV. The converse case--tectonic quiescence and religious character

IV. The converse case--tectonic quiescence and religious character

Having established that 1) initiation of religions tends to occur along seismically active loci, 2) reform of religion is typically catalyzed by seismic events, and 3) continuing evolution of religion can be strongly shaped by active tectonic environments, religion tending to become more complex and even manipulative in these environments, it’s time to look at converse cases.  The most important such case is the character of religions in tectonically quiescent environments. 

A first glance at the distribution of pre-colonial endemic religions in tectonically quiescent continents suggests that religions there are indeed very different from those along plate-tectonic boundaries.  These are (or were) preferentially the sites of comparatively simple religions in the huge quiescent parts of Africa, Australia, and the Americas.  Perhaps this section should be short.

Of course religious simplicity can be in the eyes of the (pith-helmeted?) observer, and most world religions can be seen as simple in comparison to those with such elaborations as original sin, etc.  The literature on “primitive” religions actually reveals a large number of variables.  Animism for example has been considered primitive, but modern attitudes embrace some forms of animism. 

However, the disparity apparent with distribution of tectonic vs. quiescent religions is too great to be explained by relativistic arguments.  It’s obvious, which is fortunate as I’m not qualified to make subtle distinctions. 

What is the meaning of simple(r) religion?  Stasis is probably part of the answer, and of course stasis of any sort is difficult to maintain along tectonically active loci. Stasis for many simple religions in tectonically quiescent locales can be demonstrated archaeologically, though migration can complicate the picture. In many cases migration may change religious forms without obviously changing complexity.

It is true that many of the simple(r) religions are in simpler cultures, and cultural stasis is known to be associated with cultural simplicity (Force 2015 including chapter 13).  In this regard the exceptions and outliers of my continent-scale observation are interesting, as they reveal divergences between religious and other cultural responses to tectonic activity vs. quiescence.  They can be used to test my stasis hypothesis.

The outliers (not exceptions per se) are tectonically-active loci with simpler religions, some in complex cultures.  Perhaps the most obvious example is Shintoism in Japan, traditionally said to be animistic.  However, one of the roots of Shinto “animism” regards volcanoes; such veneration goes back to the Kofun period (ca. AD 500; Barnes, in press) when ritual offerings to volcanoes are known.  Clearly Shintoism differs from other “simple” religions in reflecting its tectonic environment.  In tectonically active Mesoamerica (Plunkett and Urunuela 2005) and many other tectonically active localities both ancient and modern, complex and “simple” (Balmuth et al. 2005, Grattan and Torrence 2007), volcano veneration is a part of traditional religions.  But the Shinto outlier shows that apparent religious simplicity in a complex culture can be profound in relation to tectonic environment.

Another very different type of outlier is exemplified by California Indians.  I have no explanation either in cultural or religious terms.  Somewhat similar outliers are numerous all over the SW Pacific (e.g. Chester and Duncan 2007).  Remember, however, that my hypothesis does not claim that simple religions are RESTRICTED to quiescent tectonic environments, hence these examples are outliers, however educational.

True exceptions take the form of complex religions in tectonically quiescent locales. Proper documentation would seem to involve original areas of evolution, since the simpler religions tend to be endemic.  Thus an apparent example of such a true exception is ancient Egypt.   I will not claim that Egypt’s religion was simple, but certainly once established it became static.  Only once was its stasis interrupted, and stasis was soon restored. 

The modern world is full of examples of complex religions in tectonically quiescent terranes, but most of these are post-colonial.  When these examples are subtracted, exceptions still remain; possibly the most obvious is northern Europe--Christian but quiescent.  However, Christianity has its roots in tectonically-active SW Asia and spread into Europe via tectonically-active routes, only then spreading into quiescent terrane.  At this point Christianity became theologically static for over a thousand years.  So stasis may result where big religions spread away from tectonically active origins.

Our exploration of converse cases thus far shows few (but revealing) exceptions to the generalization that tectonically quiescent areas tend to have simpler and/or static endemic religions.  Religious stasis seems a sufficient reason that quiescent areas generally lack(ed) complex religions, as stasis has prevented evolution.  As we have seen in previous sections, tectonic activity has not permitted religious stasis.  But religions that originate in tectonically active terrains may become static when they spread beyond those terrains.

Comments to ejforce@aol.com or this site are welcome!

References

Balmuth, M. S. et al., eds. 2005. Cultural Responses to the Volcanic Landscape: the Mediterranean and Beyond.  Boston:Archaeological Institute of America, Colloquia and Conference papers #8.

Barnes, G. L., in press, Ritualized beadstone in Kofun-period society: East Asia Journal, accessed at https://soas.academia.edu/GinaBarnes

Chester, D. K. and Duncan, A. M. 2007. Geomythology, theodicy, and the continuing relevance of religious worldviews in response to volcanic eruptions. In Living Under the Shadow, edited by J. Grattan and R. Torrence, p. 203-224:  Walnut Creek, Left Coast Press.

Force, E. R., 2015, Impact of tectonic activity on ancient civilizations—recurrent shakeups, tenacity, resilience, and change: Lexington

Grattan, J., and Torrence, R., eds., 2007, Living Under the Shadow: Walnut Creek, Left Coast Press.

Plunkett, P. and Urunuela, g. 2005, Cultural responses to risk and disaster: an example from the slopes of Popocatapetl volcano in central Mexico, in Balmuth et al., eds., p. 109-126.