The involvement of language, in particular of writing and
reading, is significant. As already stated, the individual who
could decipher the signs of religious texts was set apart. Thus
reading took on a mystical dimension. The division between the
very few who wrote and read and the vast majority involved in
the religious experience diminished over a very long time. More
than other practical experiences, religion introduced the
unifying power of the written word in a world of diversity and
arbitrariness. Under the influence of Greek philosophy, the Word
was endowed with godlike qualities, implicitly becoming a god.
Seen from a given religious perspective, the rest of the world
fails because it does not accept the word, i.e., the religion.
The irreligious part of the world could be improved by imposing
the implicit pragmatics that the religion carried; it could
submit to the new order and cease to be a threat. At this time,
religion entered the realm of the abstract, divorced from the
experience with nature characteristic of religions originating
in the oral phase of human self-constitution. It is at this time
that religion became dogma.
All over the globe, in the worlds of Hinduism, Taoism,
Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, and later Islam, the
conflict between communities embracing a certain creed and
others, in pre-religious phases or dedicated to a different
religion, is one of opposing pragmatics in the context of
increased differentiation.
Pages:
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599