Anthropology of Religion

by Glazier, Stephen D.

• ISBN13: 9780313283512
• ISBN10: 0313283516
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-04-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

The anthropological study of religion is at a crossroads. While fewer textbooks on the anthropology of religion are published each year and much of what is available is decades old, religion is playing an increasingly prominent role in society. Scholars from many fields are reading anthropological works on religion with great interest, and such works are cited frequently in books and articles in a range of disciplines. Religion has been found in all societies studied by anthropologists and is one of the hallmarks of human creativity. This reference book provides a much-needed overview of the most important topics and trends in the anthropology of religion. Chapters by expert contributors examine the varied manifestations of religion in diverse cultural contexts. Among the topics surveyed are shamanism, snake handling, rituals in particular cultural traditions, religion and altered states of consciousness, and the role of science in religion and anthropology. Chapters contain extensive documentation, and a bibliography concludes the volume.

Author Biography

STEPHEN D. GLAZIER is Professor of Anthropology and Graduate Faculty Fellow at the University of Nebraska.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(18)
Stephen D. Glazier
Part I: Looking at Religion Anthropologically
Reading ``Snake Handling'': Critical Reflections	19	(66)
Jim Birckhead
The Study of Religion in American Society	85	(18)
Melinda Bollar Wagner
Science, Religion, and Anthropology	103	(18)
James Lett
Thinking about Magic	121	(18)
Michael F. Brown
Part II: The Study of Ritual
Ritual and Current Studies of Ritual: Overview	139	(22)
Bobby C. Alexander
African Ritual	161	(30)
Mathias Guenther
Ritual Performances in India	191	(20)
Peter J. Claus
Ritual in East Asia: Japan	211	(18)
Mary Evelyn Tucker
Rituals among Native North Americans	229	(28)
John A. Grim
Ritual in the United States	257	(22)
Madeline Duntley
Part III: Little and Great Traditions
The Anthropology of Islam	279	(26)
Gregory Starrett
Hinduism in Context: Approaching a Religious Tradition through External Sources	305	(14)
Cynthia Keppley Mahmood
Buddhist Communities: Historical Precedents and Ethnographic Paradigms	319	(50)
Todd T. Lewis
The Pilgrimage to Magdalena	369	(24)
Mary I. O'Connor
Part IV: Shamanism and Religious Consciousness
Altered States of Consciousness and Religious Behavior	393	(36)
Michael Winkelman
Shamanism	429	(42)
Joan B. Townsend
The Cycle of Meaning: Some Methodological Implications of Biogenetic Structural Theory	471	(18)
Charles D. Laughlin
The Origin of an Illusion	489	(16)
Stewart Elliott Guthrie
The Sacred Integration of the Cultural Self: An Anthropological Approach to the Study of Religion	505	(12)
Jacob Pandian
Select Topical Bibliography	517	(6)
Index	523	(16)
About the Editor and Contributors	539