ANTHROPOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION
•
Introductions
• Expectations
• Course Syllabus
• What is Religion?
Info Cards
1. Name
2. Major
3. Interested in Session on Researching Anthropology in Library
4. Concerns about the course/learning difficulties
5. What would you like to see included in the course (e.g. any
particular topic)
6. Expectations
Religion is Notoriously
difficult to define.
But we have no difficulty in
deciding whether something
is Religious or not
Or do we
A Luba (DRC)
diviner and her
client, performing
a divination ritual,
jointly hold a
friction oracle
known as a
kakishi on a
woven mat on the
ground between
them.. (John
Pemberton)
Genesis Ch 3 v6-7
And when the woman saw
that the tree was good for
food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a
tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the
fruit thereof, and did eat,
and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he
did eat.
And the eyes of them both
were opened, and they knew
that they were naked; and
they sewed fig leaves
together, and made
themselves aprons
Albrecht Durer 1504
Young Huli
girls of Papua
New Guinea
dressed for
traditional
dance
What makes these religious?
The Major Features of Religion
• Texts
• Belief in the supernatural
• Symbolic
• Moral code
• Sacred vs. profane
• Emotional Experience
• Group membership/identity
• A means of explanation
• Stress/Anxiety Relief
• Body of myth
• Rituals
• Magic and witchcraft
• System
• supernatural Beings and
powers
• A philosophy
• Specially skilled individuals