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Explain the role of religious specialists in religious practice, including how they connect to worldview, myths, symbols, rituals, and altered states of consciousness

Sociology

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Explain the role of religious specialists in religious practice, including how they connect to worldview, myths, symbols, rituals, and altered states of consciousness.

Instructions:

In this discussion, you'll be asked to:

• Review the course materials on religious specialists.
• Think about how you can apply what you've learned to analyzing other religious specialists.
• Write about a religious specialist of your choice. (You can choose any religious ritual as long as it wasn't covered in the modules or textbook or already posted by one of your classmates. Although we focused on ritual specialists in the module and book, you can post about any kind of religious specialist. Focus on a religious specialist as a role (i.e., a kind of specialist that is associated with a specific belief system - not a specific individual). If you choose to include an individual as an example, focus on the aspects that define the position, not the person.)
• Reply to at least two of your peers.

INITIAL REPLY

I strongly recommend making an initial post early in the week calling dibs on the specialist you want to do so you don't come back to post and find it is already taken! (Your dibs post won't count towards the three post minimum though.) This also means you need to read other posts carefully.

You need to post:

1. The specific religion they are associated with (you need to focus on just one)
2. What their job description is
3. How they enter into that profession
4. How this relates to at least two previous class topics (e.g., worldview, myth, symbol, rituals, altered states of consciousness) - make sure you label them and explain the connection
5. If it is a ritual specialist, whether you would classify them as shaman or priest and why
6. Cite your sources (Links to an external site.)!

REPLIES TO PEERS

By Sunday, reply to at least two of your peers. In your replies, ask any questions you have about their ritual and their analysis. Be sure to loop back to your own post and answer any questions you have been asked. I will also be posting feedback and questions for you!