نوع مقاله : علمی-پژوهشی

نویسندگان

• قربان علمی ¹
• سیده سوزان انجم روز ²

¹ استاد گروه ادیان و عرفان، دانشکده الهیات و معارف اسلامی، دانشگاه تهران، تهران، ایران (نویسنده مسئول).

² استادیار ادیان و عرفان تطبیقی، دانشکده الهیات و معارف اسلامی، دانشگاه تهران

چکیده

این مقاله، به‎روش توصیفی و تحلیلی، به‎بررسی رویکرد دین‎شناختی ویلهلم اشمیت، زبان‎شناس، انسان‎شناس، قوم‎شناس، دین‎شناس تطبیقی و کشیش کاتولیک آلمانی، سده‎های نوزدهم و بیستم، و بنیانگذار مکتب «اشاعه‎گرایی» در مقابل «تطورگرایی» در آلمان می‎پردازد. اشمیت، نظریه «فرهنگ اصیل اولیه»، «دوایر فرهنگی» و بالاخره نظریه «توحید نخستین» را ارائه کرد. او در نظریات خود متأثر از آندریو لانگ بوده و «یگانه‏‎پرستی» را نخستین صورتِ دین ابتدایی در میان اقوام ابتدایی به‎شمار آورد، که در طی زمان، به‎دیگر صورت‎های ابتدایی دین «انحطاط» پیدا کرده است. وی با بهره‎گیری از شواهدِ قوم‌نگاری استخراج‌شده از برخی اقوام ابتدایی، نظریه تطور در مورد منشأ و پیدایش دین را زیر سوال برده و اظهار داشت که در باورهای این مردم، انگاره‌هایی از یک «موجود متعال»، «زندگی پس از مرگ»، «آفرینش» و همچنین مجموعه‎ای از باید و نبایدهای اخلاقی وجود دارد که در موارد زیادی در فرهنگ‎های پیشرفته بعدی نیز مشاهده می‎گردد. وی وحیانی بودن مفهوم موجود متعال را نیز باور دارد و در آثار خود علل افول نگرش توحیدی در اقوام ابتدایی و روی آوردن جوامع نخستین به‎شرک و چندخدایی را بررسی و ارائه می‎کند. نظریه او از سوی برخی از اندیشمندان، به‎این دلیل که متأثر از تفکر کلیسایی وی بوده است، مورد نقد قرار گرفت.

کلیدواژه‌ها

• ویلهلم اشمیت
• منشأ دین
• انسان‌شناسی دین
• توحید نخستین
• اشاعه‎گرایی
• تطورگرایی

عنوان مقاله [English]

Wilhelm Schmidt’s anthropological approach to the study of religion

نویسندگان [English]

• ghorban elmi ¹
• Seyyedeh Suzan Anjomrooz ²

¹ Professor of Religions and Mysticism, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding Author),

² Assistant Professor, Department of Religion and Comparative Mysticism, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

چکیده [English]

Abstract
This article, in a descriptive and analytical way, studies the scientific approach of Wilhelm Schmidt, linguist, anthropologist, ethnologist, comparative theologian and German Catholic priest, in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the founder of the "diffusionism" in Germany, against "evolutionism". Schmitt presented the theory of "Primitive Original Culture", "Cultural Circles" and finally the theory of "Primitive Monotheism". In his ideas, he was influenced by Andrew Lang and considered "monotheism" to be the first form of primitive religion among primitive peoples, which over time has "degenerated" into other primitive forms of religion. Using the ethnographic evidence extracted from some primitive peoples, he questioned the theory of evolution about the origin of religion and stated that in the beliefs of these people, there are ideas of a "Supreme being", "life after death", "creation" as well as a set of moral moral duties, which can be seen in many cases in later advanced cultures. He also believes in the revelation of the Supreme being. In his works, he examines and presents the causes of the decline of the monotheistic attitude in primitive peoples and the turning of early societies to polytheism. His theory was criticized by some thinkers because it was influenced by his church thinking.
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Introduction
Wilhelm Schmidt, a German linguist, anthropologist, ethnologist, and Catholic priest, was born in 1868 in the town of Hörde in Westphalia, a region in present-day northwestern Germany. In 1890, he entered the Societas Verbi Divini school near the Dutch-German border. Schmidt attended the school for nearly nine years, studying scholastic philosophy, linguistics, and especially biblical history. The school had a significant impact on Schmidt's scientific development. In addition to training Catholic missionaries, the school was also intended to provide a place for anthropological research, so that missionaries would "consider the scientific study of mankind as part of their missionary work." Anthropological research at the Societas Verbi Divini focused on linguistics, ethnology, and theology. He then disguised himself as a Catholic priest and began teaching at a missionary school. After a while at the University of Berlin, he studied Semitic languages ​​at the Institute of Oriental Languages. After graduating from the Institute of Oriental Languages, he taught at the St. Gabriel missionary school near Vienna. Schmidt was a prolific, hard-working and tireless writer, with over 600 scientific works to his credit. In recognition of his scientific services, he was made an honorary member of the Royal Anthropological Society and, over the course of his scientific career, was awarded six honorary doctorates from various universities.
Materials and Methods
The main sources used in this study are his two important works, "The Origin of the Idea of ​​God" and "The Origin and Development of Religion: Facts and Theories," which H. G. Rose translated from German into English and, as Schmidt reminds us in his preface, is a condensed version of the first twelve-volume book. Despite the importance of Schmitt's famous theory of "primitive monotheism" (Urmonotheismus), we do not have any Persian-language writings about his views on religion. Among the scientific works published abroad, Henryk Zimon wrote a thesis entitled "Schmitt's Theory of Primitive Monotheism in the Criticism of the Vienna School of Ethnology" (Wilhelma Schmidtta teoriamonoteizmu przywotnego ijej krytyka w wiedenskiejszkole etnologiczn) in Polish and published an excerpt from it in English, in which he examined the "Vienna School of Ethnology" and expressed the elements that distinguish this school from other schools of ethnology. Antonov Mikhaylovič (2018) also examined the reflection of Schmitt's theory among Russian religious scholars in an article titled "Reception of the Thoughts of Father Wilhelm Schmitt in Russia and in the Context of the History of Russian Theology." Therefore, it can be said that despite the importance and position of his views and theories on religion and theology, no systematic and coherent work has been done, especially in Persian. Given Schmitt's prominent position in anthropology and the fundamental and central component of religion in his theory, examining his views on the nature and origin of religion becomes important. His theory is actually a theory in anthropology and the branch of cultural anthropology and ethnology. This research, using the descriptive-analytical method and using library tools to collect relevant data and categorize and extract useful information, examines his approach to religion as an anthropologist and answers the following questions: What is Schmitt's method in studying religion? What answer does he give in explaining why and how religion emerged, and what does he consider the first form of religion to be? In answering these questions, the methodological foundations of his theory will be analyzed. His methodology, which is often referred to in the literature as the "cultural circles" method, plays a central role in his theology, which is deduced from ethnographic data and the subject of primitive religion. This article continues by stating his opposition to evolutionism and its reasons, and then discusses his religious explanation and his perspective, which is in fact his answer to the mystery of the origin of religion based on ethnographic data and molded according to the method of cultural circles.
Discussion and Result
Schmitt's methodology, often known as the "Culture Circle Method," plays a central role in his theory. Schmitt bases this method on findings and facts obtained from ethnographic data, considers its results valid and reliable, and uses it in his critiques of competing theories on the origin of religion and primitive religion. Schmitt's approach to the origin of religion was in fact an anthropological theory and a branch of cultural anthropology, and a reasoned alternative to the prevailing views on the subject, which were often influenced by evolutionary principles. As a member of the Vienna School, which is actually a branch of diffusionism, he criticized evolutionism in line with Ratzel and other fathers of the diffusionist school. Schmitt seriously discussed a very different and non-evolutionary process, in which there was initially a belief in a supreme God and gradually animistic, polytheistic and other religious foundations were superimposed on this initial monotheism. Indeed, if it can be demonstrated that the religious life of the most primitive peoples is indeed complex and cannot be limited to animism, totemism and ancestor worship, but on the contrary, that they believe in transcendent beings endowed with all the attributes of the Creator and Almighty God, the evolutionary hypothesis, according to which primitive peoples are not capable of achieving “higher manifestations of holiness”, loses its validity. Therefore, one of the strengths of Schmitt's theory of religion is his attention to diverse ethnographic data; he collected a vast amount of data on the tribes of Africa, Oceania, and America, which showed that even in the simplest societies, complex and monotheistic beliefs exist.
Schmitt was a serious critic of the theory of evolution because of what was said about the traditional monotheistic basis of religious belief. Schmitt received the support of Lang in challenging the views of Tylor, Spencer, and other evolutionists. For Schmitt, the most primitive human species, wherever found, believed in a supreme being. Therefore, monotheism is not something that appeared later in the history of religious conscience. Rather, it represents the most primitive human conception of divinity. For him, monotheism preceded the emergence of polytheism: polytheism, as is often said, represents monotheism in a degraded form. For Schmitt, monotheism serves as the origin of religion. It is consistent with the origin of ancient religion. In some respects, monotheism is the first form of religion. It is therefore man's testimony to a unified divine power. What has been and is and will be so forever. Also, for Schmitt, the God worshipped by primitive man is the God of modern societies. He is called by many names, but he is one and the same God.
Conclusion
In explaining religion, Schmitt, with an anthropological approach, proposed the theory of "primitive original culture" and "cultural circles" and finally the theory of "primitive monotheism" based on the fact that monotheism and unity of God was the first religious belief of primitive peoples. The concepts of "cultural circle" or "civilization" and "time zone" were among the most important theoretical achievements of this school. The concept of "cultural circle" was explained by Schmitt as meaning a geographical area in which a large group of cultural similarities in the form of objects, institutions, beliefs, techniques, etc. can be observed in such a way that the boundaries of this area can be drawn with the outside. In each circle, the center of diffusion is the point from which chains of cultural phenomena spread in different directions, carrying out the act of diffusion. By defining "culture" as a set of material and immaterial forms that fulfill all of man's material and immaterial needs, the need for "religion" (in its minimal sense) is one of these needs. Therefore, it is concluded that one of the components and constituents of primitive culture is religion. In the field of religion, Schmitt rejected Tylor's evolutionary theory and presented the school of diffusionism. According to Schmitt, a kind of primitive monotheism (primitive monotheism) can be proven through the concept of the "cultural circle", and thus it can be deduced that the forms of polytheism and polytheism are secondary, distorted and branched forms of the primary form (monotheism). He is known for his theory that the history of religion began with a primitive monotheism and morality. To prove this hypothesis, he conducted extensive research on the concepts of God the Father and the God of Heaven found among primitive people, and then, by reconstructing the hypothetical history of this monotheism using the theory of cultural circles, he returned these concepts to a pure and original monotheism. In this way, he explains animism, polytheism, and magic as later imaginary extensions that can impose themselves on the original monotheistic belief and develop according to the "laws" of the circles of culture. As a result, the belief in a supreme God, which is prevalent in remote areas among primitive peoples, is considered to be a remnant of the original belief in a personal supreme God. Apart from numerous articles, Schmitt explained this theory in his historical work "The Origin of the Idea of ​​God", published in twelve volumes in German. Since such peoples reflect the oldest human culture, it can be seen that monotheism is the oldest form of human religiosity. The many similarities among these different monotheistic religions can also indicate that they all had a common root. Also, the concept of a supreme heavenly being is so far beyond the understanding of these primitive peoples that it cannot be accepted that they experienced it themselves. In other words, such an understanding must have come to them from a source other than human knowledge, namely divine "revelation". Schmitt was a Catholic and never tried to hide this fact. However, he repeatedly pointed out that the critics who accused him of this did not realize that their worldview was also coloring their thoughts, and since they did not want to accept this fact, they were more likely to allow their background philosophy and presuppositions to interfere with and distort their knowledge. He asked his opponents to show in which of his writings the interference of religious beliefs with his theories occurred. In his scientific discussions, Schmitt never pretended to be impartial in his worldview, but he did not see religious worldview and scientific objectivity as incompatible, and he saw his theories as a scientifically rigorous interpretation of the existence of the concept of God in ancient and primitive beliefs.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

• Wilhelm Schmidt
• origin of religion
• anthropology of religion
• original monotheism
• diffusionism
• evolutionism