Critical and Cultural Studies Commons^™

War Of The Worlds: Music And Cosmological Battles In The Balinese Cremation Procession, Michael B. Bakan

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Abstract

This article explores processional action as a form of cosmological intervention in Hindu-Balinese cremation processions, focusing on the multiple and intersecting functions of a particular type of Balinese instrumental music ensemble: the gamelan beleganjur. It explores the alternately “enlivening and protective aspects” (DeVale 1990, 62) that underlie the use of beleganjur music in the ngaben, or cremation ritual, showing how beleganjur’s sonic power and rhythmic drive serve to combat malevolent spirit beings, strengthen and inspire processional participants in their efforts to meet challenging ritual obligations, and grant courage to the souls of deceased individuals embarking on their …

Mad Men: The Relationship Between Psychology And Religion In Chaim Potok’S The Chosen, Laura Longobardi

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

After watching an episode from the first season of Mad Men, that cleverly juxtaposed the Catholic Sacrament of Confession and a session with a psychologist, I wondered: are religion and psychology really all that different? After reading Chaim Potok’s 1967 novel The Chosen, I began to think that the perceived differences between these two disciplines were superficial. Psychology and religion both provide people with a valuable way of understanding their relationship to the world around them, in spite of the apparent differences between them. By examining Sigmund Freud and William James’ attitudes toward both religion and psychology and applying these …