Hierophany

A hierophany is a manifestation of the sacred. The word is a formation of the Greek adjective hieros (Greek: ἱερός; sacred/holy) and the verb phainein (φαίνειν; to reveal / to bring to light).

In Mircea Eliade's writings

The word hierophany recurs frequently in the works of the religious historian Mircea Eliade, which he preferred to the more constrictive word theophany (an appearance of a god).[1]

Eliade argues that religion is based on a sharp distinction between the sacred (God, gods, mythical ancestors, etc.) and the profane.[2] According to Eliade, for traditional man, myths describe "breakthroughs of the sacred (or the 'supernatural') into the World"—that is, hierophanies.[3]

In the hierophanies recorded in myth, the sacred appears in the form of ideal models (the actions and commandments of gods, heroes, etc.). By manifesting itself as an ideal model, the sacred gives the world value, direction, and purpose: "The manifestation of the sacred, ontologically founds the world".[4] According to this view, all things need to imitate or conform to the sacred models established by hierophanies, in order to have true reality: things "acquire their reality, their identity, only to the extent of their participation in a transcendent reality".[5]

gollark: What problems? We mostly don't get mauled by animals and die of tuberculosis and whatnot.
gollark: They still don't actually have any access to medicine.
gollark: They're very different cultures. There are more factors than "has technology" or not.
gollark: So extreme poverty is not obviously bad but suicide *is* somehow obviously bad?
gollark: Wow, great justification!

See also

Notes
  1. Shamanism, p. xiii
  2. Patterns in Comparative Religion, p. 1
  3. Myth and Reality, p. 6
  4. The Sacred and the Profane, p. 21
  5. Cosmos and History, pg. 5

References
  • Mircea Eliade:
    • Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1959.
    • Myth and Reality. Trans. Willard R. Trask. New York: Harper & Row, 1963.
    • Patterns in Comparative Religion. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1958.
    • The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion (trans. Willard R. Trask), Harper Torchbooks, New York, 1961
    • Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972.
  • Francesco Diego Tosto, La letteratura e il sacro, three volumes. (2009-2011), Esi, Naples.


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