Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion

by Lehmann, Arthur C.; Myers, James E.; Myers-Moro, Pamela

• ISBN13: 9780073122694
• ISBN10: 0073122696
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-07-15
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

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 10 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

Foreword by James W. Fernandez

Preface

1. The Anthropological Study of Religion

2. Myth, Symbolism, and Taboo

3. Ritual

4. Shamans, Priests, and Prophets

5. The Religious Use of Drugs

6. Ethnomedicine: Religion and Healing

7. Witchcraft, Sorcery, Divination, and Magic

8. Ghosts, Souls, and Ancestors: Power of the Dead

9. Old and New Religions: The Changing Spiritual Landscape

10. Religion as Global Culture: Migration, Media, and Other Transnational Forces

Glossary

Bibliography

Index