Re: the orthopraxy thing

From: Andrew Larsen <aelarsen_at_facstaff.wisc.edu>
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 07:29:39 -0500

> From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
> Subject: Re: the orthopraxy thing
>
> Andrew Larsen:
>

>> I guess I'm not following you here.  What element are you looking at in
>> Orlanthi society and emphasizing orthodoxy?

>
> Note that I didn't say 'clearly orthodoxy-oriented'; I said
> 'don't have an orthopractic religion'. My particular point is
> things like 'virtues', which you seem keen to either marginalise,
> or rationalise _as if_ they were in some way an example of
> orthopraxis.

    I see what you're saying, but I'm not sure that virtue implies belief in the orthodoxy sense. The Romans, I hope we can agree, were an essentially orthopractic culture, and yet they had virtues such as honor, piety, bravery, modesty (for women), and chastity. So virtue isn't necessarily tied to belief in the orthodoxy sense.  

>> To me, concepts like
>> heroquesting and other similar rituals emphasize practice over belief.

>
> Heroquesting is more than simply ritual. If nothing else, it's
> going to bve very hard if your community don't 'believe in' (in that
> slightly different sense) _you_, so you had better not all just
> simply be going through the motions. But the real issue, really,
> is self-identification with the deity.

    I guess I just don't see it that way. What matters is that the community is performing the proper rituals to aid you, and you are performing the proper rituals to achieve the goals that you and the community are pursuing.

Andrew E. Larsen

---