Anthropology of religion is the study of religion
in relation to other social institutions,
and the comparison of religious beliefs and
practices across cultures.
== History ==
In the early 11th century, Abū Rayhān Bīrūnī
(973–1048), wrote detailed comparative studies
on the anthropology of religions and cultures
across the Middle East, Mediterranean and
the Indian subcontinent. He discussed the
peoples, customs, and religions of the Indian
subcontinent.
Anthropology circa 1940 assumed that religion
is in complete continuity with magical thinking,
and that it is a cultural product. The complete
continuity between magic and religion has
been a postulate of modern anthropology at
least since early 1930s. The perspective of
modern anthropology towards religion is the
projection idea, a methodological approach
which assumes that every religion is created
by the human community that worships it, that
"creative activity ascribed to God is projected
from man." In 1841, Ludwig Feuerbach was the
first to employ this concept as the basis
for a systematic critique of religion. A prominent
precursor in the formulation of this projection
principle was Giambattista Vico, and an early
formulation of it is found in ancient Greek
writer Xenophanes, which observed that "the
gods of Ethiopians were inevitably black with
flat noses while those of the Thracians were
blond with blue eyes."In 1912 Émile Durkheim,
building on Feuerbach, considered religion
"a projection of the social values of society,"
"a means of making symbolic statements about
society," "a symbolic language that makes
statements about the social order"; in short,
"religion is society worshiping itself".In
the 19th century, cultural anthropology was
dominated by an interest in cultural evolution;
most anthropologists assumed that there was
a simple distinction between "primitive" and
"modern" religion and tried to provide accounts
of how the former evolved into the latter.
In the 20th century most anthropologists rejected
this approach. Today the anthropology of religion
reflects the influence of, or an engagement
with, such theorists as Karl Marx, Sigmund
Freud, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber. They
are especially concerned with how religious
beliefs and practices may reflect political
or economic forces; or the social functions
of religious beliefs and practices.
== Definition of religion ==
One major problem in the anthropology of religion
is the definition of religion itself. At one
time anthropologists believed that certain
religious practices and beliefs were more
or less universal to all cultures at some
point in their development, such as a belief
in spirits or ghosts, the use of magic as
a means of controlling the supernatural, the
use of divination as a means of discovering
occult knowledge, and the performance of rituals
such as prayer and sacrifice as a means of
influencing the outcome of various events
through a supernatural agency, sometimes taking
the form of shamanism or ancestor worship.
According to Clifford Geertz, religion is
(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2)
establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting
moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating
conceptions of a general order of existence
and (4) clothing these conceptions with such
an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and
motivations seem uniquely realistic."
Today, religious anthropologists debate, and
reject, the cross-cultural validity of these
categories (often viewing them as examples
of European primitivism). Anthropologists
have considered various criteria for defining
religion – such as a belief in the supernatural
or the reliance on ritual – but few claim
that these criteria are universally valid.Anthony
F. C. Wallace proposes four categories of
religion, each subsequent category subsuming
the previous. These are, however, synthetic
categories and do not necessarily encompass
all religions.
Individualistic: most basic; simplest. Example:
vision quest.
Shamanistic: part-time religious practitioner,
uses religion to heal, to divine, usually
on the behalf of a client. The Tillamook have
four categories of shaman. Examples of shamans:
spiritualists, faith healers, palm readers.
Religious authority acquired through one's
own means.
Communal: elaborate set of beliefs and practices;
group of people arranged in clans by lineage,
age group, or some religious societies; people
take on roles based on knowledge, and ancestral
worship.
Ecclesiastical: dominant in agricultural societies
and states; are centrally organized and hierarchical
in structure, paralleling the organization
of states. Typically deprecates competing
individualistic and shamanistic cults.
== Specific religious practices and beliefs
==
== See also ==
== Notes ==
== References ==
=== Footnotes ===
=== Bibliography ===
== External links ==
Homepage of The Society for the Anthropology
of Religion within American Anthropological
Association
Anthropology of Religion Page M.D. Murphy,
University of Alabama
Andrew Lang, Anthropology and Religion, The
Making of Religion, (Chapter II), Longmans,
Green, and C°, London, New York and Bombay,
1900, pp. 39–64.
