and it's - i think i've said that a few times - under great peril, too, because it was at a rather touchy and dangerous time. nevertheless, for all the tension, it was extraordinary to be at the heart of at least three different major traditions right at the mythic spot. in this case, it's mount beatitudes. if you're familiar with the beatitudes, sometimes called jesus's first sermon - well, we were there; we're walking by the sea of galilee, we're standing there. and the roll-in i want to show you, just a short piece, is from a beautiful little chapel called mount beatitudes. now, if you're thinking about this in terms of our six dimensions, we have, first off, identity and relationship. if you know the beatitudes - and i think i come out and read a few of them out of the bible - that's exactly what jesus is talking about, a new way of being, identity, and a new way of relating.

"blessed are the poor in spirit," that kind of thing; "the meek will inherit the earth"; "turn the other cheek," rather than punching somebody out if they get you angry - these are different ways - a different ethical system. and so what we're going to do when we see the roll-in is to try to think, "well, now here is the original setting, the geographic setting where this occurred. then we see the development of biblical text - the bible develops over time - then doctrines develop, then an ethical system based on this. and slowly but surely, we begin to string the pieces of a world view together from a very original event. so if we have it, then let's take a peek at mount beatitudes. >> according to the gospels, jesus's ministry begins by the sea of galilee, and this beautiful if modest body of water is an indispensable prop in the miraculous drama that unfolds. situated atop the mount beatitudes, overlooking the sea of galilee,

the octagonal chapel, the church of the beatitudes, designates the sacred place where jesus delivered his first sermon - the sermon on the mount. "and seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, 'blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." those are the familiar opening lines from the beatitudes, or jesus's first sermon. but we're actually standing on the spot where jesus gave that sermon - an amazing case here. what does this tell us about the religious impulse, the development of key ideas, sacred scripture, and how they work to draw people into a major world religion like christianity? let's just take one point here. one of our key opening points, in terms of the fundamental religious impulse - identity and relationship - think again: identity - who we are; relationship -

what's our relationship to the world around us? let's just take a couple of the beatitudes and listen to them not from a faith community perspective, but from the perspective of that religious impulse and how jesus, as he's drawing together a new group of people, and planting the seeds for a new world religion that will become christianity, this is what he must do to redefine identity and relationship. once again, "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" - a self-emptying, a different kind of feel from the rugged individualism, the eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth idea that came out of the earlier religion judaism. "blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." "blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." what jesus is saying is that there's a whole new way of being, different from an ego-driven or an ego-oriented or angry way towards a neighbor - a completely new identity and completely new relationship. he moves on in the beatitudes, into an interesting balance

between what we thought was the right teaching, and what comes back to being his new way of relating to people, and he balances these out in an interesting way. let's see if we can pick one out here. "ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. but i say unto you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him, and the other also." what we're seeing finally in this element of the beatitudes is jesus is taking the old tradition - the tora, the teaching, the law - speaking to a jewish audienc and saying, "wait a second, there's a whole new way of being, a whole new way of perceiving of reality. you're a new person, and you need to behave in a new way. you need to take the tora, live the law, but transcend, and findew and mo mningl y to relate to each other." again, we're standing on the spot where jesus gave his first sermon, and it's the seed planted

here that becomes the new world religion - christianity. >> do you see how that is? we were talking about leading the church. there's a lot of controversy, but most scholars believe jesus may well have been a rabbi - he was certainly a very well-educated jew. but he had doctrinal disagreements with the teaching of the time, or else he saw a new vision - it's very hard to say exactly what happened. but out of that, as we see here, we see the beginning of a refocusing of the six dimensions of religion, and eventually it forms a new religious movement. what comments you might have on that? does that make sense? sure. >> i wonder if jesus had differences with the doctrine of the jewish religion, or rather than interpretation that was put on some of these laws, and even the development of laws, as he said,

that were placed on people's shoulders as burdens. and i think maybe jesus was talking about a purer kind of religion. >> and that seems to be a new insight though. and you see how that begins with the experiential dimension? we haven't gone - we'll be getting to more formal notes on that, but that thinking about the meaning and purpose and direction in life as part of that religious experience, to seek some new vision, and out of that we get a whole new religious movement developing - the same story that we get with hinduism and buddhism; the buddha was a good hindu, but began to have different interpretations, and thus we see a whole new religious movement development. see, we're getting a nice setup here for our six dimensions, because you can see, as they move, as they structure, as they come together, that's the potential for new religions to development. yeah, larry? >> yeah, especially jesus on the like relational level was suggesting a whole new way

of relating to women and the children. it used to be that you could just cast your wife out, it's not big deal, or if she has adultery, just stone her, it's like, so what. but jesus saying, to the traditional jews, there's better ways to have a society. and he even was, i think, one of the first religious teachers to say, "you know, these children have some value too." >> very inclusive, and you get that... >> but i'm going to your six dimensions that this is a very important thing about relationships that is even more important, i think, than the doctrinal thing. >> yeah, i'm with you there. in the back? >> i was wondering, have you encountered religions that do not have the six dimensions? and thinking of that also about when children are born into a religion, would any of these be absent for them, because they just do what their parents are doing. >> wonderful question, and there is an element to that,

and we are in an academic enterprise here, and i think we always have to reflect on that. but we will look at primal religious societies, and by those, i'm talking about native american spirituality, african spirituality, indonesian spirituality, where even the word religion makes no sense, because it's your way of life - you do it; it's an essence, it's a part of your identity and your relationship. and i think that we will see that. we have to always be aware, with our six dimensions here, that it's just a way - it's a set of tools to analyzing things. and i think you're quite right, though, that there's an element where in certain societies religion is so instinctive - it's like an instinct and you just do it, you embody it. so good point. yeah? >> jesus said that he didn't come to destroy the jewish law but to fulfill it.

and i think this was his way of trying to include the jews and to teach them - he was developing it to a much higher scale. >> yeah. it's a fascinating question, and one well beyond the scope of our class here, but it fascinates me - was jesus starting a new religious movement? did jesus think of himself as a christian? probably not. he probably thought of himself as bringing the - as you say, the fulfillment, as he said, the fulfillment to the jewish interpretation, the jewish - to use our phrase, "set of answers to profound life questions"; but here's a new, fuller interpretation. and so that becomes a fascinating story, if someone like that meant to. sure? >> from the perspective of a sociologist and a historian, has there been any research that discusses or delves into the idea of religion developing out of cultures,

or specific cultures or specific geographies in a certain way? >> this is a miracle - we only need two more and we have sainthood. no. what you just said is a perfect setup - i didn't even slip him five bucks. but the next roll-in we have and the port in acra on the mediterranean sea? well, the point i'm trying to make with this roll-in is exactly that - where do we get the symbols? where do we get these powerful sacred symbols that we use to develop religion? now, the sociologist, the hardcore sociologist is going to say, "well, we draw them from our most human experience." and so i wanted to talk a little bit about that in this class, about the holy and sacred and where do we get them. but that's exactly where we get them is from bread, wine, a rock, a hill, a tree - those are the kinds of things we draw on from the most common, everyday experience. but as we'll talk about, with the interjection

of spiritual energy into it, somehow they become holy, they become sacred, so we want to look at that. fire away, and then we'll do this roll-in. >> in your studies, have you found any impressions about the fact that our country is so into division of church and state, do you think this is the reason why there just seems to be this not so subtle and almost pervasive in our culture division - that church, religion is sunday, in a lot of people's minds and hearts, and the rest of the week is the rest of the week, and that that wouldn't be if there weren't that division? it feels to me like in these other more culturally pervasive religious traditions that our structure goes into the government too. >> you are so right, and it's a very troublesome thing, and it was really brought home when we were in a country like israel, or egypt, for that matter. but it's a two-edged sword, the separation of church and state. we'll talk about that quite a bit when we get to

the social dimension, by the way. part of the problem is that people say, okay, separation of church and state, so religion is taken out of all the other activities in our daily life - the ethical system, we don't look at the ethical system in terms of business. we go to church on sunday, say, and then cheat our neighbor on monday - all these kinds of things, i think it creates a wonderful and fruitful feel for religious pluralism because we have separation of church and state. at the same time - and i really see this in the public schools - it can be a misunderstood message, because it's telling people that somehow religion is over here, it's a private thing. and a religion that isn't lived is worthless, really. i mean, well, it's not worthless, you can drive your vehicle to church and eat the bean supper, and go home. but it's a real problem, and i think that's something that we're going to have to definitely look at when we get to the social dimension.

>> in some of these more intense religions in other countries, how much of that is national? i mean, how much is nationalism molded with the religion, to make it - >> in some places - the ones where i've been, in egypt and israel, you're so right - you can't separate nationalism and the politics of religion and the personal identity; it's all part of the whole tension over there. and that's one reason why the palestinian problem is such a problem this year, because its land, its politics and its religion - all those things have to be together, or a person does not feel empowered. we're moving right along here. to get back to that roll-in i want to do on acre, we want to, in this class - if we get to it; if we don't, we'll do it in another class - but i want to talk a little bit about the holy and the sacred as a kind of jumping off point to our first dimension, the experiential dimension.

and your great question that i owe you $5 for back there is to look at a very common, everyday- well, acre's common and everyday - a little town, seaport on the mediterranean, and get a sense of how we draw these symbols, how culture shapes religion, and yet humans come in, and whether it's the divine or it's human energy, they empower or inject the most simple kinds of symbols in human activities, geological structures, these sorts of things, with sacred power. so, if we could, let's take a peak at the roll-in from acre. >> we're in the port of old town acre, and marketplace also, on the mediterranean in israel, and there's kind of a timeless feel here. and indeed, it is almost timeless - there's been a marketplace and a port here for over 1,000 years.

i would look around and, oh, it's a perfect day - beautiful sunshine, people shopping, people enjoying the view, fishermen tending their nets, people going for cruises - very down to earth, very what you might call the common thing that people like to do to share their humanity. and yet there's something here that's very special from the point of view of beliefs and believers. where do people get the sacred symbols - the language - to express those ineffable special religious feelings? but really, there's a lesson right here - they get it from their common human experience. indeed, the human life includes the satisfaction of our basic biological needs. humans also have a capacity for self-transcendence - a sense that there's something more to life, or that they exist in the threshold, leading to something extraordinary. religious feelings, or what we have called the religious impulse, is part of this quest for self-transcendence - or boundary walking. beyond this boundary, we can only speak symbolically.

and interestingly enough, the symbols come from our most common experiences. let's take just one example drawn directly from the timelesseafaring culture of acre - the fish - and observe how something so commonplace could become such a powerful symbol in a major world religion - christianity - that of course emerged in this region of the world. the famed historian of religion, mircea eliade, noted that humans in all cultures divide the world into sacred and profane modes of being - put simply, what is common and what is special. but he also noted that any common activity or object could in fact become sacred. he referred to the spiritual energizing of the ordinary as a hierophany - literally, something sacred shows itself to us. for the early christians and christians today, the fish is exactly that - a powerful sacred symbol.

fishing in acre couldn't be more commonplace. since the earliest settlement on this spot, fishermen have turned to the ocean for sustenance. however, in jesus's ministry, and as a symbol for early christians, the fish takes on sacred power. walking by the sea of galilee, he tells his first disciples he will make them fishers of men. further up the coast, a pilgrim will find the church of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes - a sacred space commemorating the spot where jesus fed 5,000 followers with just five loaves and two small fishes. again, what is ordinary - bread and fish - becomes extraordinary through a hierophany that is now a foundational part the christian mythos. in fact, the sacred fish - a common symbol in the pagan world - was also pervasive in the earliest christian communities. the simple fish symbol, arranged by taking the letters from the greek word for fish, came to secretly symbolize

the words "jesus christ," "god's son," "savior." as christian doctrine developed, the fish symbol brought together symbolically a number of key christian meanings - baptism, holy communion, resurrection, as well as the messianic banquet in the kingdom of god. do you see how that works? and you've probably gone out to the parking lot and you see even today the fish symbols on christian cars. but that's one of the things that we see as we draw through these. now what i think we should do is let's go through some of the notes on sacred space here, some of the graphics on holy and take any questions you might have, because we're during two - we're tying some strings together, a number of different things, but we're also seeing how the six dimensions pull together and can create religious activity, but from your good questions we're also seeing, well, where is it that people draw the holy symbols from? from common,

everyday experience, and that's sort of our leap into the experiential dimension. once again, as we have on our first graphic here, though, it's a key, key class theme. i told you i'd torment you with this particular equation, and there it is- beliefs, believers equals behavior - and we'll see it time and again. in this context, well, how do people behave? well, if they want to behave in a sacred or holy way, they have to draw the symbols from someplace, and so that definitely is how culture steps in and creates these intense symbols, some of which we see around the room here. just a couple of things on the graphics. of course, sacred time and sacred space are very, very important. mircea eliade talked about - from the university of chicago - talked about sacred and profane as modes of being in the world, two distinct modes. sacred, of course - and when we talk about the experiential dimension, we'll definitely be talking about the sacred - is the nonordinary; the transcendent, the wholly distinct.

and we're going to talk about different kinds of religious experience. anybody been to a sacred space and you walk in and have a sense of something, well, just flat-out different? anybody? sure. some examples. >> well, you were talking about jerusalem, israel before. and i'm jewish, but we went to the church where christ - the nativity, and many of his churches - and it is awe-inspiring. but what i wanted to bring out, too, is that the religions all seem to flourish in jerusalem; the religions don't seem to have problems with each other - it's the nationalities and the people that have the problems. i mean, even their social life is very similar, in many ways, but it seems that we

seem to blame religion in a lot of cases, and it's not religion at all - it's territory, it's land, it's economics. >> but you're so right about that-what we'll call the numinous experience. you can see the picture here of the waling wall. i mean, i've been around a lot of places and i'm pretty jaded, i guess a religious studies professor. but i walked up to the waling wall, and you know why they call it the waling wall if you walk up to it - we have that on tape; we'll get to it at some point - the praying is just so moving, and i was just overwhelmed with the sense of the numinous. i mean, i was struck speechless, which is a rarity for me, as you're probably already figuring out. but yeah, that's the kind of thing that, why is this - it's just a wall, it's stone, it's common. this building's made of stone, but in that context, whoa! and that's what we talk about for the sacred. yeah. >> i remember a history professor of mine

talked about when the romans took over jerusalem in 70 a.d., and the roman general came into the holiest of holies - the inner temple of jerusalem - and he looked in there, and in this flask was supposedly god. and so he stormed in there and he opened it up and there was nothing in there, and yet to him, it was just a box. but to those who believed, and to the jewish people, it was so extremely significant. and i wanted that - i thought that story would tie in kind of with your waling wall and her thing, that really, it's not maybe the physical that we look for but the emotional and the spiritual that we feel. >> you have to be plugged into it, there's no doubt about it, and that's what you feel when you walk over there, because you go from site to site so that the church of the holy sepulcar, and the rock where jesus's body

was washed after it was taken down off the cross, it's there and you see the people come up and they're kissing it, they're getting down and they're kissing it - that kind of reverence and power. and that's exactly what we're talking about and the difference - looking back at the notes again, mircea eliade talked about the sacred, which you know, we're touching on now. the profane, on the other hand, it's simply a word in his language which means the common, ordinary, and utilitarian. but what we're looking at with our notes is the fact that through this hierophany - a word that he had to create in order to describe this - what is ordinary and everyday can be infused with power. >> a contemporary example of that, on this sacred space, that you wouldn't think of it as necessarily sacred, but because of the energy of the people, i think it was

the vietnam veterans memorial in washington, d.c. as i approached that sculpture, i couldn't even speak - i just couldn't; i was just going to cry if i did. i could feel all the energy of all the prayers and all of the emotion that had gone with that. and the sculpture engulfs you - as you walk down, the sculpture gets taller, until it just takes you. >> it's so amazing you used that example, because when i was a graduate student, i was a teaching assistant for an upper division humanities class, "religion and the impact of the vietnam war," and we took students, with the vietnam vets, across the country to that spot and listened to the vets testify. that's what i'm talking about. we have some stone and we have names carved in it, but you get around a sacred space like that and it's overwhelming, and humans do that. it's part of the meaning system, it's part of the only way we can use culture.