Creation of the Sacred Quotes

“Art means "to make special" certain objects of perception, producing a characteristic tension between the familiar and the admirable and thus creating new aspects of a potentially common world.”
― Walter Burkert, Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions

“The first principal characteristic of religion is negative: that is, religion deals with the nonobvious, the unseen, that "which cannot be verified empirically." Protagoras the sophist spoke of the adelótes, the "unclearness" or "nonevidence" of the gods. Religion is manifest in actions and attitudes that do not fulfill immediate practical functions. What is intended and dealt with can- not be seen, or touched, or worked upon in the usual fashion of everyday life.”
― Walter Burkert, Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions

“Culture has been defined as a "realized signifying system," a social system characterized by standard forms of communication.”
― Walter Burkert, Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions