priest
Many Christian prayers end with Amen (truly, yes), a Hebrew term con-
nected historically with legal disputes and military command.
Prayer plays a central role in the religion of the Navaho Indians liv-
ing in the North American southwest where the singer of the prayer is
also the master composer in that his performance represents his moment
of composition. The Navaho distinguish among eight types of prayer:
(1) blessing prayer acts, used with ceremonies for blessing a new home,
a girl’s puberty rite, or weddings; (2) lifeway prayer acts, which are
intended to restore someone to health; (3) enemyway prayer acts, whose
purpose is the expulsion of malevolence; (4) uglyway prayer acts that
focus on the expulsion and dispersion of native malevolence; (5) holy-
way prayer acts that call for the removal of the power of Holy People
and its disorder; (6) liberation prayer acts that are recited to recover the
lost means of a healthy life; (7) protection prayer acts, whose purpose
is to procure protection against an attack upon one’s health; and (8)
remaking prayer acts that are intended to remake and restore Holy
People. A holyway prayer is repeated, for instance, several times, and
it includes the names of the Holy People, reference about making and
offering and the preparation of a smoke offering, beseeching the Holy
People to remake the person praying, a passage that describes the
removal and dispersion of the inflicted spell, a statement about the
recovery occurring, and concludes with a description of an accom-
plished state of pleasantness. If the prayer is successful, the sick person
gains a state of hózhqï, a condition of the pristine beauty of creation.
Further reading: Denny (1985); Gill (1981)
PRIEST
The primary function of the priest is the conduct of worship, although he
also serves as the guardian of the traditions of his religion and keeper of
the sacred knowledge. As the guardian of his culture’s religious tradi-
tion, the priest may also be called to assume the roles of advisor, educa-
tor, philosopher, judge, administrator, scholar, or interpreter of the holy
law. The ancient Vedic priest of Indian religion is a good example. Among
the Vedic priestly caste (Brahmin), priests specialize during ritual ser-
vices. The Brahmin insures the success and protects the effectiveness of
the sacrifices by overseeing the entire rite and eliminating errors by recit-
ing sacred mantras (repeated formulas). In order to successfully perform
these various functions, the office of the priest presupposes preparation