GRE Reading Comprehension

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Source: VW

The societies in which shamanism has flourished have been small, relatively self- sufficient social systems which see themselves as coping directly with their natural worlds. Like all human beings, the members of such groups lived in a world of uncertainty. The presence of a person who could maintain contact with the cosmic forces of the universe directly, who could make sense of both the measured order of ordinary times and the catastrophes of drought earthquake, or flood, was of incalculable value.

More complex social systems tend to have "institutionalized" specialists who transmit information without explicit recourse to the supernatural. Such societies have priests and prophets, not shamans, at the overt level. But the line between shaman and prophet is tenuous. The prophet usually does not enjoy the legitimacy within his society that is granted the shaman. His is a voice crying in the wilderness, not that of the legitimate curer and philosopher. Despite these differences, the prophet can be seen as a kind of shaman, and thus the study of shamanism illuminates some of the obscurities in religious traditions.

Question List: 1 2 3 4 5

Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

The author puts the word institutionalized in quotation marks in order to

  • A support his later statement that such specialists are often not trusted in their societies
  • B emphasize that such specialists can only be a part of more advanced societies
  • C indicate his lack of belief in the legitimacy of such specialists

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