The Anthropological Study of
Religion, Magic & Supernaturalism
Weeks 1 & 2
Articles:
Geertz- Religion
Harris- Why We Became Religious &
the Evolution of the Spirit World
Lee- Religious Perspectives in
Anthropology
Origins of Religion



100KYA- Neanderthal’s burials- controversy
30KYA- Homo Sapiens Sapiens
10KYA- Neolithic Period




Burials
Agriculture
Medieval Europe
Enlightenment Period




Kant
Rousseau
Darwin
Lett
Religious Categories

19th Century Scholars

World religions- higher vs. lower

Main Three:




Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Primitive religions
Religious Categories

Features of World
Religions:





Based on written
Scriptures
Notion of salvation
Universal
Can subsume or
surplant a primal
Forms a separate
sphere of activity

Features of Primal
Religions:





Oral
This world dimension
orientation
Confined to single
culture/ethnicity
Form basis for
development of world
religions
Religion & social lie are
inseparable &
intertwined
Functions of Religion





Solution to adversity
Psychological- Freud & Malinowsky
Sociology- Durkheim & Radclife
Anthropology- “Include all that is not natural, unexplainable”
Wallace


Positivistic approach- “typology based on cult institutions a set of rituals all
having the same general goal, all explicitly rationalized by a set of similar
or related beliefs, and all supported by the same social group.”
Doomed to die out




Geertz


Shamanic
Communal
Ecclesiastical
Interpretative semiotic approach
Pandian


Mytholiminal rationality
Evolutionary adaptation
Religion, Magic &
Supernaturalism (Pandian)
Concept of “religion”

17th century



Definitions of religion (p.25-26)




Religion= civilized/organized
Magic= inferior/unorganized
Tylor, Durkheim, Wallace, Spiro, Geertz
Norbeck- ideas, attitudes, creeds & acts of
supernaturalism.
Science & religion not mutually exclusive
Origin of word “religion”


religio
religare
Disciplinary Domains in the Study
of Religion

Anthropology of religion- comparative,
cross-cultural, & evolutionary study.





Sociology
Psychology
History
Philosophy
Anthropology
Explanation & Interpretation in
Study of Supernaturalism

Heelas- positivism inadequate







Theoretical stagnation
Neglect of meaning
Neglect of intra-religious explanations
Comte- scientific positivistic stage
Horton- today’s truth will change
Kuhn- science non-linear fashion
Fundamental difference between study of
physical and cultural phenomena


Study of knowledge & meaning
“Understanding of understandings”

Analysis of different levels of cultural reality
Religion
By
Clifford Geertz
3 major Intellectual
Developments





Emergence of History
Radical Split of the Social Sciences
Primitive reasoning vs. civilized thought
Evolutionism & its Enemies
Psychological approaches



Freud’s major work
Bettelheim
Malinowski
Religion by Geertz

Sociological approaches






Durheim
Rise of Functionalism or Structuralism
Radcliffe Brown
Analysis of symbolic forms
Primitive thought
Symbolic systems

Levi-Strauss
Why We Became Religious & the
Evolution of the Spirit World
By
Marvin Harris
Why We Became Religious & the
Evolution of the Spirit World

Religion in non-human species




Pigeon food pellets
Superstitious responses
Mana
The Evolution of the Spirit World

Band & Village people
Religious Perspectives in
Anthropology
Dorothy Lee
Religious Perspectives in
Anthropology


Religious perspectives vary among Western
and “primitive” societies
In Western societies:


Nature was ordained by heaven to be dominated
and exploited to human’s desires and needs.
In “primitive” societies:


“Religion is present in human’s view of his/her place
in the universe”
“Human’s relatedness to the universe, nonhuman
nature, reality & circumstance”

Religion is evident in daily life, agriculture, hunting, health
measures, arts, and crafts.
Religious Perspectives in
Anthropology

Agriculture

Navaho- no word for religion



Maya of Yucatan



Farming- “mirage stone”
Art- Sand painting
Farming = Worshipping
World inhabited by supernatural beings
Hopi- masks, costumes, etc.

Drama- more than mere form of art