Gerardus van der Leeuw. Et forstudie til en kognitiv revurdering af mana

Resumé

English abstract: This article has a double focus. First, and in line with the special theme of this issue, it will address and discuss the celebrated, later rebuked and finally almost forgotten ‘hero’ from our discipline’s historical cabinet of curiosity, the Dutch phenomenologist of religion and theologian, Gerardus van der Leeuw (1890-1950). Van der Leeuw’s work had its primary impact in the first part of the 20th century, but came to play a special role in Denmark when his Introduction to the Phenomenology of Religion was published in Danish in 1969 – a book which influenced a whole generation of Danish high school teachers. Second, taking my departure from van der Leeuws emphasis, I reevaluate the concept of mana in order to explore its relevance in the contemporary, academic study of religion. My point of departure is, that we need a concept covering broad notions of force. Further I argue that a rejuvenated notion of mana should build upon results from the cognitive sciences regarding causal representation as well as from the notion of force-dynamic representations argued in cognitive linguistics. Finally, in a more speculative manner, I shall present a number of hypotheses concerning the relation between social organization and mana and argue that this relation can be understood as a driving factor in a general history of religion.

Dansk resume: Denne artikels formål er dobbelt. For det første vil den, i tråd med dette nummers overordnede tema, diskutere en hyldet, udskældt og nu nærmest glemt ’helt’ fra det forskningshistoriske raritetskabinet, den hollandske religionsfænomenolog og teolog, Gerardus van der Leeuw (1890-1950). Van der Leeuw havde sit virke i første halvdel af det 20. århundrede, men fik en særlig i indflydelse i Danmark fra 1969, hvor hans indføring i religionsfænomenologien udkom på dansk under titlen Mennesket og Mysteriet – en bog, som fik stor indflydelse på en hel generation gymnasielærere. For det andet vil den, med afsæt i van der Leeuws brug af mana som central eksplanatorisk kategori, revurdere dette begreb for at undersøge dets relevans for den moderne religionsvidenskab. Udgangspunktet er, at religionsvidenskaben har brug for et begreb, der dække kraftforestillinger bredt forstået, og at nyere kognitive forklaringer på kausale forestillinger samt den kognitive lingvistiks fokus på kraftdynamik i sproget kan fungere som udgangspunkt for et moderne mana-begreb. Afslutningsvis vil artiklen mere spekulativt udkaste en række hypoteser om forholdet mellem social organisering og mana som en central drivkraft i den generelle religionshistorie.