The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft

Second Edition

Philip L. Stein

Rebecca Stein

Basic Approach

This concise introductory textbook emphasizes the major concepts of both anthropology and the anthropology of religion.  It is aimed at students encountering anthropology for the first time.

Reviewers describe the text as vivid, rich, user-friendly, accessible, and well-organized. It examines religious expression from a cross-cultural perspective while still incorporating the key theoretical concepts.  In addition to providing a basic overview of anthropology, including definitions of key terms and exposure to ethnographies, the text exposes students to the varying complexity of world religions.

New to This Edition

• Discussion of ethnographic examples has been expanded, while the number of examples has been reduced to provide greater focus.
• Discussion of altered states of consciousness and religious specialists has been split into two chapters and expanded.
• Number of illustrations throughout the text has been increased by fifty percent.
• New and expanded discussions in the this edition include myth analysis, fasting, altered states of consciousness in Upper Paleolithic art, and Islamic fundamentalism, among others.