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sented the folk interpretation and expression of religion noting that this definition would not encompass beliefs that were largely unconnected from organised religion such as in witchcraft he therefore altered this definition by including the concept of folk religiosity thereby defining folk religion as the deposit in culture of folk religiosity the full range of folk attitudes to religion 8 his fifth and final definition represented a practical working definition that combined elements from these various other definitions thus he summarized folk religion as the totality of all those views and practices of religion that exist among the people apart from and alongside the strictly theological and liturgical forms of the official religion 9 yoder described folk religion as existing in a complex society in relation to and in tension with the organized religion s of that society its relatively unorganized character differentiates it from organized religion 10 alternately the sociologist of religion matthias zic varul defined folk religion as the relatively un reflected aspect of ordinary practices and beliefs that are oriented towards or productive of something beyond the immediate here and now everyday transcendence 11 folk religion is typically not highly institutionalized 4 84 its practitioners typically do not form religious communities independent of the broader social communities 4 83 in sociology folk religion is often contrasted with elite religion folk religion is defined as the beliefs practices rituals and symbols originating from sources other than the religion s leadership folk religion in many instances is tolerated by the religion s leadership although they may consider it an error 12 a similar concept is lived religion the study of religion as practiced by believers the term folk religion came to be increasingly rejected in the 1990s and 2000s by scholars seeking more precise terminology 13 problems with the term folk religion edit yoder noted that one problem with the use of the term folk religion was that it did not fit into the work of those scholars who used the term religion in reference solely to organized religion 14 he highlighted the example of the prominent sociologist of religion émile durkheim who insisted that religion was organized in order to contrast it with magic 14 yoder noted that scholars adopting these perspectives often preferred the term folk belief over folk religion 14 a second problem with the use of the term folk religion that yoder highlighted was that some scholars particularly those operating in the sociology of religion used the term as a synonym for ethnic religion which is alternately known as national religion or tribal religion meaning a religion closely tied to a particular ethnic or national group and is thus contrasted with a universal religion which cuts across ethnic and national boundaries 15 among the scholars to have adopted this use of terminology are e wilbur bock 16 the folklorist leonard norman primiano argued that the use of the term folk religion as well as related terms like popular religion and unofficial religion by scholars does an extreme disservice to the forms of religiosity that scholars are examining because in his opinion such terms are residualistic and derogatory 17 he argued that using such terminology implies that there is a pure element to religion which is in some way transformed even contaminated by its exposure to human communities 18 as a corrective he suggested that scholars use vernacular religion as an alternative 19 defining this term primiano stated that vernacular religion is by definition religion as it is lived as human beings encounter understand interpret and practice it since religion inherently involves interpretation it is impossible for the religion of an individual not to be vernacular 20 kapaló was critical of this approach deeming it mistaken and arguing that switching from folk religion to vernacular religion results in the scholar picking up a different selection of things from the world 21 he cautioned that both terms carried an ideological and semantic load and warned scholars to pay attention to the associations that each word had 22 many latin american scholars of religion use the concept of popular religiosity though the term applies beyond the region local scholars prefer popular religion over folkloric because in the latin american context folk religion is not confined to a single religious identity it encompasses a wide range of devotions from indigenous spiritualities to popular catholic traditions 23 historical study edit a filipino catholic home altar in morden manitoba in europe the study of folk religion emerged from the study of religiöse volkskunde a german term which was used in reference to the religious dimension of folk culture or the folk cultural dimension of religion 24 this term was first employed by a german lutheran preacher paul drews in a 1901 article that he published which was titled religiöse volkskunde eine aufgabe der praktischen theologie this article was designed to be read by young lutheran preachers leaving the seminary to equip them for the popular variants of lutheranism that they would encounter among their congregations and which would differ from the official doctrinal lutheranism that they had been accustomed to 25 although developing within a religious environment the term came to be adopted by german academics in the field of folkloristics 26 during the 1920s and 1930s theoretical studies of religiöse volkskunde had been produced by the folklorists josef weigert werner boette and max rumpf all of whom had focused on religiosity within german peasant communities 26 over the coming decades georg schreiber established an institut für religiöse volkskund in munich while a similar department was established in salzburg by hanns koren 27 other prominent academics involved in the study of the phenomenon were heinrich schauert and rudolf kriss the latter of whom collected one of the largest collections of folk religious art and material culture in europe later housed in munich s bayerisches nationalmuseum 27 throughout the 20th century many studies were made of folk religion in europe paying particular attention to such subjects as pilgrimage and the use of shrines 26 in the americas the study of folk religion developed among cultural anthropologists studying the syncretistic cultures of the caribbean and latin america 28 the pioneer in this field was robert redfield whose 1930 book tepoztlán a mexican village contrasted and examined the relationship between folk religion and official religion in a peasant community 28 yoder later noted that although the earliest known usage of the term folk religion in the english language was unknown it probably developed as a translation of the german volksreligion 28 one of the earliest prominent usages of the term was in the title of joshua trachtenberg s 1939 work jewish magic and superstition a study in folk religion 28 the term also gained increasing usage within the academic field of comparative religion appearing in the titles of ichiro hori s folk religion in japan martin p nilsson s greek folk religion and charles leslie s reader the anthropology of folk religion 28 courses on the study of folk religion came to be taught at various universities in the united states such as john messenger s at indiana university and don yoder s at the university of pennsylvania 28 although the subject of folk religion fell within the remit of scholars operating in both folkloristics and religious studies by 1974 yoder noted that u s based academics in the latter continued to largely ignore it instead focusing on the study of theology and institutionalised religion he contrasted this with the situation in europe where historians of religion had devoted much time to studying folk religiosity 29 he also lamented that many u s based folklorists also neglected the subject of religion because it did not fit within the standard genre based system for cataloguing folklore 30 chinese folk religion edit main article chinese folk religion this picture was taken at a malaysian chinese home this altar is dedicated to the three pure land sages avalokitesvara and sathya sai baba on the left of the altar is a glass filled with rice joss sticks are stuck into it after the ancestors are invited to partake in the offering of food specially prepared for them on the hungry ghost festival prayers chinese folk religion is one of the labels used to describe the collection of ethnic religious traditions which have historically comprised the predominant belief system in china and among han chinese ethnic groups up to the present day the devotion includes the veneration of the dead ancestor worship and of forces of nature exorcism of demonic forces and a belief in the rational order of nature balance in the universe and reality that can be influenced by human beings and their rulers as well as spirits and gods worship is devoted to a hierarchy of gods and immortals chinese 神 pinyin shén who can be deities of phenomena of human behaviour or progenitors of lineages stories regarding some of these gods are collected into the body of chinese mythology by the 11th century song period these practices had been blended with buddhist ideas of karma one s own doing and rebirth and taoist teachings about hierarchies of deities to form the popular religious system which has lasted in many ways until the present day 31 chinese folk religion is sometimes categorized with taoism since over the centuries institutional taoism has been attempting to assimilate or administer local religions more accurately taoism emerged from and overlaps with folk religion and chinese philosophy chinese folk religion is sometimes seen as a constituent part of chinese traditional religion but more often the two are regarded as synonymous with around 454 million adherents or about 6 6 of the world population 32 chinese folk religion is one of the major religious traditions in the world in the people s republic of china more than 30 of the population follows chinese popular religion or taoism 33 despite being heavily suppressed during the last two centuries from the taiping rebellion to the cultural revolution it is currently experiencing a modern revival in both mainland china and taiwan 34 35 various forms have received support by the government of the people s republic of china such as mazuism in southern china officially about 160 million chinese people are worshippers of mazu 36 huangdi worship 37 38 black dragon worship in shaanxi 39 40 41 and cai shen worship 42 self published source the term shenism was first published by aja elliot in 1955 to describe chinese folk religion in southeast asia 43 folk judaism edit in one of the first major academic works on the subject joshua trachtenberg in jewish magic and superstition a study in folk religion defined jewish folk religion as consisting of ideas and practices that whilst not meeting with the approval of religious leaders enjoyed wide popularity such that they must be included in what he termed the field of religion 44 this included unorthodox beliefs about demons and angels and magical practices later studies have emphasized the significance of the destruction of the temple in jerusalem to the many jewish folk customs linked to mourning and in particular to the belief in hibbut ha qever torture of the grave a belief that the dead are tortured in their grave for three days after burial by demons until they remember their names this idea began with early eschatological aggadot אגדות legends narratives and was further developed by the kabbalists 45 raphael patai is recognized as an early adopter of anthropology in studying jewish folk religion 46 in particular he was drawn to the female divine element 47 which he noted in the goddess asherah the shekhinah the matronit and lilith 48 writer stephen sharot has noted that jewish folk religion similar to other forms of folk religion focuses on apotropaic and thaumaturgical practices intended to protect individuals from sickness and misfortune he highlights the distinction between rabbinic judaism which adheres to orthodox practice life and halakha and the unorthodox magical rituals practitioners employ in everyday life an example mentioned is the relatively professionalized magicians known as the baal shem בַּעַל שֵׁם pl baalei shem in poland beginning in the 16th century and gaining prominence alongside practical kabbalah in the 18th century ba alei shem utilized their knowledge of the names of god and angels along with various practices such as exorcism chiromancy and herbal medicine to assist individuals in achieving success in social areas like marriage and childbirth and to bring harm to adversaries 49 charles liebman has written that the essence of the folk religion of american jews is their social ties to one another illustrated by the finding that religious practices that would prevent social integration such as a strict interpretation of kashrut and shabbat have been abandoned whilst the practices that are followed such as the passover seder social rites of passage like the b nei mitzvah and the high holy days are ones that strengthen jewish family and community integration 50 liebman described the rituals and beliefs of contemporary jewish folk religion in his works the ambivalent american jew 1973 and american jewry identity and affiliation folk christianity edit main articles folk catholicism and folk orthodoxy this section needs expansion you can help by adding missing information august 2024 gauchito gil left and san la muerte right two examples of argentine folk saints folk christianity is defined differently by various scholars christianity as most people live it a term used to overcome the division of beliefs into mainstream and heterodox 51 christianity as impacted by superstition as practiced by certain geographical christian groups 52 and christianity defined in cultural terms without reference to the theologies and histories 53 folk islam edit this section needs expansion you can help by adding missing information april 2025 folk islam is an umbrella term used to collectively describe forms of islam that incorporate native folk beliefs and practices 54 folk islam has been described as the islam of the urban poor country people and tribes 55 in contrast to orthodox or high islam gellner 1992 missing long citation 56 sufi concepts which are found in orthodox islam as well and perennialism and syncretism are often integrated into folk islam 57 58 59 60 61 62 folk hinduism edit june mcdaniel 2007 classifies hinduism into six major kinds and numerous minor kinds in order to understand the expression of emotions among the hindus 63 according to mcdaniel one of the major kinds is folk hinduism based on local ethnic traditions and cults of local deities and is the oldest non literate system of indian r...