In a very real sense, religious traditions exist to accommodate all the needs faith itself both meets and demands. These are the experiences that connect faith to living, and consequently give greater meaning to the exponential relationship between religion and ordinary life. To begin with, and perhaps most importantly, these traditions affirm and define the believer’s actual relationship with the divine, and usually in terms of God. The tradition of observing Lent and Easter, for example, gives shape to the Catholic understanding of Jesus Christ. As Lent is practiced and the Easter mass is attended, there is a stronger identification between the Catholic and Christ’s actions, which are translated by the traditions into a human understanding of divine experience. The resurrection, unfathomable to mortals, is made real because the traditions place it in mortal terms, and emphasize the need to recognize the event. Put another way, as traditions are human observances, the divine that they celebrate becomes accessible to the human, so the divine is brought closer to mortal experience and comprehension.
This enhanced relationship with the divine cannot occur without the component of sacred time as marked by the traditions. The former is in fact established by the latter; as the time is set apart for the enhanced relationship with the divine, the setting of the time itself honors the core relationship. For the Jewish faith, this is a profoundly important shift from material concerns to the spiritual. The holiday or tradition marks the critical turning of attention to God, as a necessary interruption of mortal concerns (Locke, Littell, 1996, p. 247). This process then inherently encourages the focus on the spiritual, simply because, again, the tradition translates faith-based elements into human terms and human experience. There is the critical aspect of days and hours as set for the observance, and this adds import. It also enhances the experiences of observance themselves: “The events of sacred time…distinguish the sacred from the profane, the real from the chaotic, the meaningful from the meaningless” (Taylor, 2008, p. 302).
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As noted, each element of traditions has an exponential impact on the others, as may be seen in how sacred time, and the believer’s relationship with space, complement one another. Just as the time takes on meaning merely through being assigned for spirituality, so too is space reinforced in this way, just as it also reaffirms the core purpose of the traditions. The church, mosque, or synagogue is sacred because it is held to be sacred; intent, God’s presence within it notwithstanding, brings to it this power. With regard to the natural world, it may be said that this process is reversed; the believer’s observance of sacred time, set to enhance the relationship with the divine, must infuse any natural setting with the aspect of sacred place. This must occur because the nature of the divine is limitless, and any recognition of it through a traditional observance alters the meaning of any place.
These relationships in place, it is nonetheless important that religious study be concerned with what is so often associated with any religious traditions; namely, the force of the observance itself as potentially overshadowing spiritual meaning. Whenever human beings adhere to systems and set procedures, there is always the danger that the guiding motive be lost, as a “herd” mentality dominates and the need to merely participate eclipses the core reason. Linked to this is the element of expectation as perhaps “replacing” faith, or faith-based meaning. As a sacred time and place are set, it is all too easy for believers to manufacture for themselves what they anticipate the experience to provide. As immensely valuable as religious traditions are in preserving, enhancing, and encouraging faith, it remains necessary that theology be aware of, and explore, these potentials.
- Locke, H. G., & Littell, M. S. (1996). Holocaust and Church Struggle: Religion, Power, and the Politics of Resistance. Lanham: University Press of America.
- Taylor, M. C. (2008). Critical Terms for Religious Studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
