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Orality In Primal Religions Orality Term Paper

An example shows the value of orality as according to this example, literacy "caused the decline of English village culture" (370). If
literacy causes the decline of village culture, then orality encourages it
and helps to maintain traditional values. The Uraon tribe of Africa shows
this as orality was used through poems that were integral to tribal life
(370). Also it is important to note that orality in primal religions added
to people's appreciation of art and nature which were values important to
life. Without literacy, religion in Europe relied on art to express
spiritual beliefs; literacy changes this as the written word because the
source of information. It is less effective in certain areas of
communication then orality.
Prejudices need to be ignored when understanding the place of orality
in primal religions. This is because orality was not a sign...

Literacy in historical religions as we know in the modern world would be ineffective in
transmitting many of the important values of oral religious traditions.
Primal religions were thus different, and perhaps more advanced and exact
than the literate religions that would follow. Literacy was not a part of
primal religions, they were entirely oral, and literacy was even looked
down upon. The result was a pure religion that deeply impacted people's
lives as memory and verbal communication were powerful tools that were used
to reinforce religion. It is also emphasized that orality does not mean
"backwards," but "but different" as orality's place in primal religions was
that it was a treasured value that was integral to primal religions (391).

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Orality helped bring religion to all the people of a tribe, and helped each generation appreciate and understand the importance of the tales and rituals. Many tribes used these methods of delivery, in fact, before writing was invented; they were the only way of preserving these important religious messages. The rituals themselves created spirituality and understanding of the world around the people. This is illustrated by the Native Americans,

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