The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1970 page)
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Authors: John Bowker
BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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R
shid
n
(first four successors of Prophet Mu
ammad):
shidn(first four successors of Prophet Mu
ammad):
FA (2)
Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh
(Indian political militia):
(Indian political militia):
Raskolniki
(dissenting groups of Russian Orthodox Christians):
(dissenting groups of Russian Orthodox Christians):
Ras Shamra
.
.
Site of the ancient city of Ugarit. Archaeological discoveries at Ras Shamra have added greatly to our knowledge of ancient
Canaanite
customs and beliefs, especially through the Ugaritic texts.
Canaanite
customs and beliefs, especially through the Ugaritic texts.
Rastafarians
.
.
Members of a
messianic
religio-political movement originating among unemployed, landless, young men in Jamaica in the 1930s. It began under the influence of the Jamaican black nationalist, Marcus Garvey, and his ‘Back to Africa’ movement, which identified blacks as the true biblical
Jews
, superior to whites, and surviving either in Ethiopia (see
ETHIOPIANISM
) or in Jamaica, where they had been exiled as a divine punishment. When Crown Prince (Ras) Tafari was crowned Ethiopian emperor in 1930 as Haile Sellasie, this was a sign that the sentence was completed, the
millennium
was at hand, and the return to Africa would begin. In 1955 he gave 500 acres of land for black people wishing to return, but in 1970 there were only twenty people living there. His dethronement in 1974 and death in 1975 had little effect on Rastafarians. Deputations touring Africa in the early 1960s, seeking acceptance, were unsuccessful, and more recent tendencies have been to find ‘Africa’ in Jamaica and replace repatriation by rehabilitation.
The movement first became visible in the 1930s when members formed peaceful communities living on the Kingston garbage dumps, and established distinctive modes of language, music, dress, ‘dreadlock’ hair forms, crafts, and lifestyle. European culture and Christian churches were rejected as ‘Babylon’. They made their own selections from the Bible, eliminating the distortions introduced by its white translators, and adopted ganja (marijuana) as the sacramental herb for healing and meditation experiences. By the 1970s middle-class youth had begun to identify with the Rastafarian ideology and with the reggae music that carried this around the world, especially through singer Bob Marley and his band. Despite its wider influence, it is essentially a Jamaican movement.
messianic
religio-political movement originating among unemployed, landless, young men in Jamaica in the 1930s. It began under the influence of the Jamaican black nationalist, Marcus Garvey, and his ‘Back to Africa’ movement, which identified blacks as the true biblical
Jews
, superior to whites, and surviving either in Ethiopia (see
ETHIOPIANISM
) or in Jamaica, where they had been exiled as a divine punishment. When Crown Prince (Ras) Tafari was crowned Ethiopian emperor in 1930 as Haile Sellasie, this was a sign that the sentence was completed, the
millennium
was at hand, and the return to Africa would begin. In 1955 he gave 500 acres of land for black people wishing to return, but in 1970 there were only twenty people living there. His dethronement in 1974 and death in 1975 had little effect on Rastafarians. Deputations touring Africa in the early 1960s, seeking acceptance, were unsuccessful, and more recent tendencies have been to find ‘Africa’ in Jamaica and replace repatriation by rehabilitation.
The movement first became visible in the 1930s when members formed peaceful communities living on the Kingston garbage dumps, and established distinctive modes of language, music, dress, ‘dreadlock’ hair forms, crafts, and lifestyle. European culture and Christian churches were rejected as ‘Babylon’. They made their own selections from the Bible, eliminating the distortions introduced by its white translators, and adopted ganja (marijuana) as the sacramental herb for healing and meditation experiences. By the 1970s middle-class youth had begun to identify with the Rastafarian ideology and with the reggae music that carried this around the world, especially through singer Bob Marley and his band. Despite its wider influence, it is essentially a Jamaican movement.
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