Symbolic Loss: The Ambiguity of Mourning and Memory at Century's End. Peter Homans

2002 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-346
Author(s):  
Jeffrey J. Kripal
Keyword(s):  
Symbolic Loss ◽  
Peter Homans

scholarly journals Symbolic Loss, Memory, and Modernization in the Reception of Gnosticism

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 276-309
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Dillon
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Carl Jung ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
The West ◽  
Symbolic Loss ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Argument Proceeds ◽  
Peter Homans ◽  
Do So

Social scientist of religion Peter Homans has demonstrated that symbolic loss, cultural memory, and modernization are tightly intertwined. As a consequence of modernization, Western culture has lost a shared relationship to the symbols of its Christian past, leading to religious mourning. This article demonstrates that the category gnosticism opened up an imaginative possibility for individuals to reinterpret the cultural memory of the Christian past and achieve rapprochement with the tradition. The argument proceeds through case studies of psychologist Carl Jung, visionary artist Laurence Caruana, and public speaker Jonathan Talat Phillips. Each case exhibits how symbolic loss of the Christian tradition throws the individual into a period of inner turmoil. When each of them read ancient gnostic texts, they do so to reinterpret the symbols of Christianity, specifically Christ, in ways that respond to forces of modernization. The article concludes that popular and religious interpretations of the ancient gnostics should be recognized as attempts by those who lost Christianity in the West to re-envision its cultural memory and reimagine Christianity in the present.

Not by Bread Alone: Symbolic Loss, Trauma, and Recovery in Elephant Communities

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Gay Bradshaw
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Nonhuman Animal ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Trauma Theory ◽  
Human Actions ◽  
Social Breakdown ◽  
Symbolic Loss ◽  
Nonhuman Animals

AbstractLike many humans in the wake of genocide and war, most wildlife today has sustained trauma. High rates of mortality, habitat destruction, and social breakdown precipitated by human actions are unprecedented in history. Elephants are one of many species dramatically affected by violence. Although elephant communities have processes, rituals, and social structures for responding to trauma—grieving, mourning, and socialization—the scale, nature, and magnitude of human violence have disrupted their ability to use these practices. Absent the cultural, carrier groups (murdered elephant matriarchs and elders) who traditionally lead and teach these healing practices, humans must assume the role. Trauma theory has brought attention to victims' severe, sustained psychological damage. Looking through the lens of trauma theory provides a better understanding of how systematic violence has affected individuals and groups and how the pervasive nature of traumatic events affects human-nonhuman animal relationships. The framing of recent trauma theory compels conservationists to create new relationships—neither anthropocentric nor powerbased—with nonhuman animals. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Kenya, shows how humans, taking on the role of interspecies witness, bring orphan elephants back to health and help re-build elephant communities shattered by genocide.

Discussion on Paper by Peter Homans

1985 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-240
Author(s):  
Louis Zinkin
Keyword(s):  
Peter Homans
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