Synopses & Reviews
This comparative reader takes an anthropological approach to the study of religious beliefs, both strange and familiar. The engaging articles on all key issues related to the anthropology of religion grab the attention of students, while giving them an excellent foundation in contemporary ideas and approaches in the field. The multiple authors included in each chapter represent a range of interests, geographic foci, and ways of looking at each subject. Divided into ten chapters, this book begins with a broad view of anthropological ways of looking at religion, and moves on to some of the core topics within the subject, such as myth, ritual, and the various types of religious specialists.
Table of Contents
Asterisk indicates new or revised articlePrefaceChapter 1. The Anthropological Study of Religion1. Clifford Geertz, Religion2. Marvin Harris, Why We Became Religious and The Evolution of the Spirit3. Dorothy Lee, Religious Perspectives in Anthropology4. Stephen Jay Gould, Non-Overlapping Magisteria5. Robert S. Root-Bernstein, Darwin's Rib6. Claude E. Stipe, Anthropologists versus Missionaries: The Influence of PresuppositionsChapter 2. Myth, Symbolism, and Taboo7. Scott Leonard and Michael McClure, The Study of Mythology8. *John Beattie, Nyoro Myth9. *Claude Levi-Strauss, Harelips and Twins: The Splitting of a Myth10. Raymond Firth, An Anthropologist's Reflections on Symbolic Usage11. Mary Douglas, Taboo12. Mary Lee Daugherty, Serpent-Handling as SacramentChapter 3. Ritual13. Victor W. Turner, Betwixt and Between: the Liminal Period in Rites de Passage14. Daniel Gordon, Female Circumsion in Egypt and Sudan: A Controversial Rite of Passage15. *Barbara G. Myerhoff, Return to Wirikuta: Ritual Reversal and Symbolic Continuity on the Peyote Hunt of the Uichol Indians16. *Roy A. Rappaport, Ritual Regulation of Environmental Relations Among a New Guinea People17. Elizabeth G. Harrison, I Can Only Move My Feet Toward mizuo kuyo: Memorial Services for Dead Children in Japan18. Horace Minor, Body Ritual Among the NaciremaChapter 4. Shamans, Priests, and Prophets19. Victor W. Turner, Religious Specialists20. William Howells, The Shaman21. Michael Fobes Brown, The Dark Side of the Shaman22. *G. Reichel-Dolmatoff, Trining for the Preiesthood Aong the kogi of Colombia23. Michael Barkun, Relfections After Waco: Millennialists and the StateChapter 5. The Religious Use of Drugs24. Mike Miyaani and Thomas J. Csordas, On the Peyote Road25. Peter T. Furst and Michael D. Coe, Ritual Enemas26. Michael Harner, The Sound of Rushing Water27. Robert S. de Ropp, Psychedelic Drugs and Religious ExperienceChapter 6. Ethnomedicine: Religion and Healing28. Arthur C. Lehman, Eyes of the Ngangas: Ethnomedicine and Power in Central African Republic29. Robert Bergman, A School for Medicine Men30. William Wedenoja, Mothering and the Practice of "Balm" in Jamaica31. L.A. Rebhun, Swallowing Frogs: Anger and Illness in Northeast Brazil32. Edward C. Halperin, MD, Should Academic Medical Centers Conduct Clinical Trails of the Efficacy of Intercessory Prayer? Chapter 7. Witchcraft, Sorcery, Divination, and Magic33. James L. Brain, An Anthropological Perpsective on the Witchraze34. Naomi M. McPherson, Sorcery and Concepts of Deviance Among the Kabana, West New Britain35. T.M. Luhrmann, The Goat and the Gazelle: Witchcraft36. E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Consulting the Poison Oracle Among the Azande37. Bronislaw Malinowski, Rational Mastery by Man of His Surroundings38. George Gmelch, Baseball MagicChapter 8. Ghosts, Souls, and Ancestors: Power of the Dead39. William E. Mitchell, A New Weapon Stirs Up Old Ghosts40. Paul Barber, The Real Vampire41. *Karen McCarthy Brown, Voodoo42. Peter A. Metcalf, Death Be Not Strange43. Stanley Brandes, The Cremated Catholic: The Ends of a Deceased Guatemalan44. C. Allen Haney, Christina Leimer, and Juliann Lowery, Spontaneous Memorialization: Violent Death and Emerging Mourning RitualChapter 9. Old and New Religions: The Changing Spiritual Landscape45. Melvyn C. Goldstein, The Revival of Monastic Life in Drepung Monastery46. *James Steel Thayer, Pilgrimage and Its Influence on West African Islam47. Anthony F.C. Wallace, Revitalization Movements48. Alice Beck Kehoe, The Ghost Dance Religion49. Peter M. Worsley, Cargo Cults50. William F. Lewis, Urban Rastas in Kingston, Jamaica51. William Janokowiak and Emilie Allen, Adoring the Father: Religion and Charisma in an American Polygamous Community52. John Whitmore, Religious Dimensions of the UFO Abductee ExperienceChapter 10. Religion as Global Culture: Migration, Media, and Other Transnational Forces53. Homa Hoodfar, The Veil in Their Minds and on Our Heads: Veiling Practices and Muslim Women54. Steve Brouwer, Paul Gifford, and Susan D. Rose, South Korea: Modernization with a Vengeance, Evangelization with the Modern Edge55. Mark Juergensmeyer, The Global Rise of Reigius Nationalism56. Stephen D. O'Leary, Cyberspace as Sacred Space: Communicating Religion on Computer Networks57. Lisle Dalton, Eric Michael Mazur, and Monica Siems, Homer the Heretic and Charlie Church: Parody, Piety, and Pluralism in The Simpsons Glossary Bibliography Index