ABSTRACT

Just as people require territory to live and to develop traditions, spirit beings require human minds that can represent them as real in order to exist and develop distinctive characteristics. Both human beings and spirit beings tend to gather in mutual support groups, bound by cultural compatibilities to secure their needs. Like human societies, culturally different spirit groups can come into conflict over the same resources. In central New Guinea in the 1970s, Telefolmin Baptist missionaries introduced the Christian triune god, angels, and devil to the neighbouring Asabano people. As converts accepted this exogenous group of spirit beings as real, the native sprites, object spirits, witches, dual souls, and culture heroes of the pre-Christian tradition were displaced, distorted, or destroyed. In this case, the competition between established and incoming spirit beings for the same minds produced outcomes for spirit beings that are reminiscent of what happens to human beings in colonialism, when indigenous peoples face powerful settlers who challenge their sovereignty.

摘要

正如人们需要领土来生存和发展传统一样，精神生物也需要能够将其表现为真实的人类思想，才能存在并发展出独特的特征。人类和灵体都倾向于聚集在相互支持的群体中，受文化兼容性的约束以确保他们的需求。与人类社会一样，文化上不同的精神群体可能会因相同的资源而发生冲突。1970 年代在新几内亚中部，Telefolmin Baptist 传教士向邻近的 Asabano 人介绍了基督教三位一体的神、天使和魔鬼。当皈依者接受这群外生的灵体是真实的时，前基督教传统的本土精灵、对象灵体、女巫、双重灵魂和文化英雄被取代、扭曲或摧毁。在这种情况下，