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'Holiness', or 'sanctity', is the state of being 'holy' or 'sacred', that is, set apart for the
worship or service of
God or
gods. It is often ascribed to people, objects, times, or places.
The Sacred in Comparative Religion
The
French sociologist Emile Durkheim emphasized the social nature of religion, in contrast to other leading thinkers of day such as
William James, who emphasized individual experience. Based on studies of
Indigenous Australians, Durkheim proposed that most central to
religion was not
deity but the
distinction between sacred and profane: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to ''sacred things'', that is to say, things set apart and forbidden.
[1] In Durkheim's theory, the sacred represented the interests of the group, especially unity, which were embodied in sacred group symbols,
totems. The profane, on the other hand, involved mundane individual concerns. Durkheim explicitly stated that the
dichotomy sacred/profane was not equivalent to good/evil: the sacred could be good or evil, and the profane could be either as well.
[2]
The
German theologian
Rudolf Otto, in ''The Idea of the Holy'' (originally in German, ''Das Heilige''), defined the holy as an experience of something "wholly other," most famously ''mysterium tremendum et fascinans,'' a frightening and fascinating mystery.
[3] (He was following the tradition of
Friedrich Schleiermacher, who defined religion as a feeling or experience rather than adherence to doctrine.) Otto claimed that this experience was unlike any other; the subject experienced the spirit (''the numinous,'' in Otto's terminology) as overwhelming, sublime, truly real, while he or she was nothing.
Mircea Eliade, among the most influential twentieth-century scholars of religion, adopted Durkheim's terminology, but Otto's idea. Eliade defined the sacred as "equivalent to a ''power'', and in the last analysis, to ''reality''."
[4] Like Otto, Eliade insisted that this experience was not reducible to any other experience: in other words, that the sacred is not a mere experience, such as a hallucination, but it really exists. Eliade's analysis of religion focused on the sacred, especially sacred time and sacred space, and very many
comparative religion and
religious studies scholars in the twentieth century followed him, though scholars such as
Jonathan Z. Smith and Russell McCutcheon have challenged his theories.
Etymology
Main articles: Hailag
The word "sacred" descends from the
Latin ''sacrum'', which referred to the gods or anything in their power, and to ''sacer'', priest; ''sanctum'', set apart. It was generally conceived spatially, as referring to the area around a
temple.
The origin of the word "holy" comes from the 11th Century Old High German ''hulis'' and
Old English ''holegn'' meaning
Holly as in Holly Tree, considered a sacred plant to both pre-Christian Celtic and Roman worship. The word ''hulis'' originates from an even older proto-Germanic word ''khuli'' a shortened derivation of the ancient Gaelic ''cuilieann'' both meaning Holly. The distinction of the word ''holy'' appeared around the 13th Century with the
Old English word ''
hÄlig'' derived from ''hÄl'' meaning ''health, happiness and wholeness.'' As “wholenessâ€, holiness may be taken to indicate a state of religious completeness or perfection.
In non-specialist contexts, the term "holy" is used in a more general way, to refer to someone or something that is associated with a
divine power, such as water used for
Baptism.
Holiness in Judaism
The
Judaic tradition conceives 'holiness' (from the Hebrew root ''קדש'') in various ways, but most distinctive and central to the
Torah is the priestly system, legislation for which comprises the majority of the
law delivered at
Sinai. It essentially involves the division of time and space into the spheres of the divine and the common. The word used in Leviticus for this separation, ''hivdil'', is that used for the process of
Creation in
Genesis. Creation is a matter of proper ordering, which involves not only land and water,
light and
darkness, but also holy and profane, clean and
unclean. It is the role of the
priesthood, and Israel as God's priestly nation, to maintain this order in accordance with the guidelines set out at Sinai. The safety and stability of each individual, the nation, and ultimately the whole world, depends on it.
The division seems to be understood as a gradual one, with different behaviour appropriate to the merely 'holy' and the 'most holy'. The
Mishnah therefore lists concentric circles of holiness: Holy of Holies; sanctuary; vestibule; court of priests; court of Israelites; court of women; temple mount;
Jerusalem walls; all the walled cities of Israel; and the borders of the holy land. Distinctions are made as to who and what are permitted in each area. Likewise the calendar is divided so that the eve of the Sabbath to the end of the day is holy time, and certain feasts, such as the Day of Atonement, are most holy. Both holy time and holy space are rooted in Creation, with the Sabbath as its culmination, and the Garden traditionally on the site of the temple.
So holiness denotes the sphere of the divine, which is to be set apart, and is manifest in power particularly when its separation is not properly maintained. There are various stories in the
Hebrew Bible of disease and destruction resulting from improper contact with or handling of holy things such as the Ark. This dynamic power is divine, and so the holy is very much associated with the divine Presence. The relationship between holiness and Presence is unclear: holiness seems to be a precondition for the manifestation of the Presence, but is not to be equated with it. In practical terms, holiness can be measured and managed by priestly legislation, while Presence is entirely dependent upon God's action. The priestly conception of holiness expresses the distinctively scriptural perception of God as both transcendent (utterly separate) and powerfully immanent in His relationship with the world.
For a summary essay, see: Philip Jenson, 'Holiness in the Priestly Writings of the Old Testament' pp.93-121 in ''Holiness Past and Present'' ed. S.C. Barton (T&T Clark, 2003)
A person ascribed with holiness in Judaism are known as a
Tzadik.
Holiness in Christianity
Holiness in Catholicism
Catholicism has adopted much of the Jewish vision of the world in terms of holiness, with certain behaviour appropriate to certain places and times. The calendar gives shape to Catholic practice, which tends to focus on the
Eucharist, in which the
Real Presence of
Christ is manifested. Many features of the Jewish temple are imitated in
churches, such as the
altar, bread, lamp,
incense,
font, etc, to emphasise the extreme holiness of the Eucharistic elements, which are reserved in a
tabernacle. In extension of this focus on the Sacrament as holy, many objects in Catholicism are also considered holy. They are called
sacramentals and are usually blessed by a priest. Such items include
rosaries,
crucifixes, medals, and statues of
Jesus,
angels and
saints (
Virgin Mary).
People in a state of sanctifying
grace are also considered holy in Catholicism. A central notion of Catholicism as articulated in contemporary theology is the "[personal] call to holiness," considered as a
vocation shared by every Christian believer. Profound personal holiness has traditionally also been seen as a focus for the kind of contagious holiness primarily associated with the Sacrament. So the cult of
saints in Catholicism is not only the acclamation of their piety or morality, but also reverence for the tangible holiness that flows from their proximity to the divine. Hence the places where saints lived, died, performed miracles, or received visions frequently become sites of
pilgrimage, and notable objects surviving a saint (including the body or parts of it) are considered
relics. The holiness of such places or objects, resulting from contact with a deeply holy person, is often connected with the miraculous long after the death of the saint.
Holiness in Protestantism
The
Protestant Reformation stood in opposition to the beliefs of tangible holiness in the Catholic Church and rejected most of its teachings regarding devotional practice, language and imagery. The early Reformers, who were often scholars of ancient Greek and also borrowed from Jewish scholarship, recognized that holiness is an attribute of
God, and holiness is always part of the
presence of God. Yet they also recognized that 'practical holiness' was the evidence of the presence of God in the converted believer.
Martin Luther, viewed God's grace (and therefore God's holiness), as an invasion of the life. Actions that demonstrated holiness would spring up, not premeditated, as the believer focused more and more on his or her relationship with Christ. This was the life of
faith, according to Luther, a life in which one recognizes that the sin nature never departs, yet grace invades and draws the person after Christ.
Calvin, on the other hand, formulated a practical system of holiness that even tied in with culture and social
justice. All unholy actions, Calvin reasoned, resulted in
suffering. Thus he proved out to the city fathers of
Geneva that dancing and other social vices always ended with the wealthy oppressing the poor. A holy life, in his outlook, was pietistic and simple, a life that shunned extravagance, excess, and vanity. On a personal level, Calvin believed that suffering would be a manifestation of taking on the
Cross of Christ, but suffering was also part of the process of holiness. He expected that all Christians would suffer in this life, not as punishment, but rather as participation in union with Christ, who suffered for them. And yet, socially, Calvin argued that a holy society would end up as a gentle, kindly society (except to criminals), where the poor would be protected from the abuses of the wealthy, the lawyers, and others who normally preyed upon them.
In
Protestantism, especially in
American branches of
Protestantism of the more
Pentecostal variety, 'holiness' has acquired the secondary meaning of the reshaping of a person through spiritual
rebirth. The term owes its origin to
John Wesley's concept of "scriptural holiness" or
Christian perfection.
The
Holiness movement began within
Methodism in the
United States, among those who thought the church had lost the zeal and emphasis on personal holiness of Wesley's day. In the latter part of the 19th century revival meetings were held, attended by thousands. In
Vineland, N.J in
1867 a camp meeting was begun and the ''National Holiness Camp Meeting Association,'' which went on to establish many holiness
camp meetings across the nation. Some adherents to the movement remained within their denominations; others founded new denominations, such as the
Free Methodist Church, the
Church of the Nazarene, and the
Church of God (Anderson). Within a generation another movement, the
Pentecostal movement was born, drawing heavily from the Holiness Movement. Around the middle of the 20th century, the
Conservative Holiness Movement was born - a conservative offshoot of the Holiness movement.
In the contemporary Holiness movement, the idea that holiness is relational is growing. In this thought, the core notion of holiness is
love. Other notions of holiness, such as purity, being set apart, perfection, keeping rules, and total commitment, are seen as contributory notions of holiness. These contributory notions find their ultimate legitimacy one when love is at their core (
Thomas Jay Oord and Michael Lodahl).
Holiness in Buddhism
In
Theravada Buddhism one finds the designation of 'noble person' or ''ariyapuggala'' (
Pali). The Buddha described four grades of such person depending on their level of purity. This purity is measured by which of the ten
fetters (samyojana) have been removed from the personality or psyche of that person, These persons are called (in order of increasing sanctity)
Sotapanna,
Sakadagami,
Anagami and
Arahant. The latter term designates an enlightened human being and is sometimes rendered into English as the Holy One.
Notes
1. Durkheim 1915, p.47
2. Pals 1996, p. 99
3. Pals 1996, p. 164-5
4. Eliade 1957, p. 12
References
Durkheim, Emile (1915) ''The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.'' London: George Allen & Unwin (originally published 1915, English translation 1915).
Eliade, Mircea (1957) ''The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion.'' Translated by Willard R. Trask. (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World).
Thomas Jay Oord and Michael Lodahl (2006) ''Relational Holiness: Responding to the Call of Love.'' Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill.
Pals, Daniel (1996) ''Seven Theories of Religion.'' New York: Oxford University Press. US ISBN 0-19-508725-9 (pbk).
Sharpe, Eric J. (1986) ''Comparative Religion: A History'', 2nd ed., (London: Duckworth, 1986/La Salle: Open Court). US ISBN 0-8126-9041-9.
See also
★
sacred place
★
sacred text
★
weoh, a concept in Germanic paganism similar to "sacred" or "holy."
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