1. 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

2. 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

3. Religious Categories 19th Century Scholars
World religions- higher vs. lower
Main Three:
Judaism
Christianity
Islam
Primitive religions

4. 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

5. 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
Shamanic
Communal
Ecclesiastical
Geertz
Interpretative semiotic approach
Pandian
Mytholiminal rationality
Evolutionary adaptation

6. Religion, Magic & Supernaturalism (Pandian)
Concept of “religion”
17th century
Religion= civilized/organized
Magic= inferior/unorganized
Definitions of religion (p.25-26)
Tylor, Durkheim, Wallace, Spiro, Geertz
Norbeck- ideas, attitudes, creeds & acts of supernaturalism.
Science & religion not mutually exclusive
Origin of word “religion”
religio
religare

7. Disciplinary Domains in the Study of Religion
Anthropology of religion- comparative, cross-cultural, & evolutionary study.
Sociology
Psychology
History
Philosophy
Anthropology

8. 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

9. Religion By
Clifford Geertz

10. 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

11. Religion by Geertz Sociological approaches Analysis of symbolic forms
Durheim
Rise of Functionalism or Structuralism
Radcliffe Brown
Analysis of symbolic forms
Primitive thought
Symbolic systems
Levi-Strauss

12. Why We Became Religious & the Evolution of the Spirit WorldBy
Marvin Harris

13. 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

14. Religious Perspectives in Anthropology
Dorothy Lee

15. 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.

16. Religious Perspectives in Anthropology
Agriculture
Navaho- no word for religion
Farming- “mirage stone”
Art- Sand painting
Maya of Yucatan
Farming = Worshipping
World inhabited by supernatural beings
Hopi- masks, costumes, etc.
Drama- more than mere form of art