Sacred and the Profane: Department Stores and Cathedrals

Abstract

The writings of Emile Durkheim and Mircea Eliade on religion, and the difference between the sacred and the profane are explored. Durkheim argues that the difference between the sacred and profane is the most important differentiation in human thought and Eliade has a book titled The Sacred and the Profane that explores topics such as sacred time, sacred space, and related concerns. A discussion of the similarity between department stores and cathedrals, as exemplars of the profane and the sacred, is offered and a chart showing how department stores offer versions of the sacred found in cathedrals but stripped of any religious significance.

Application Two texts, one sacred, from the Bible, and one profane, from the writings of Charles Darwin, are offered for discourse analysis, with a focus on the language used in each kind of text.