3rd Edition
Ecstatic Religion A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession
By I.M. Lewis
Copyright 2003
212 Pages
by
Routledge
210 Pages
by
Routledge
212 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
First Published in 2004. States of spirit possession, in which believer's feel themselves to be 'possessed' by the deity and raised to a new plane of existence, are found in almost all known religions. From Dionysiac cults to Haitia voodoo, Christian and Sufi mysticism to shamanic ritual, the rapture and frenzy of ecstatic experience forms an iconic expression of faith in all its devastating power... Read more
Preface to the third edition, 1. TOWARDS A SOCIOLOGY OF ECSTASY, 2. TRANCE AND POSSESSION, 3. AFFLICTION AND ITS APOTHEOSIS, 4. STRATEGIES OF MYSTICAL ATTACK: PROTEST AND ITS CONTAINMENT, 5. POSSESSION AND PUBLIC MORALITY — I ANCESTOR CULTS, 6. POSSESSION AND PUBLIC MORALITY — II OTHER COSMOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, 7. POSSESSION AND PSYCHIATRY, Bibliography, Index
Biography
Lewis, I.M.
'Well presented and ingeniously argued...in this excellent book there is much that is lively, sometimes even comic. Not only is Ecstatic Religion well written and lucid, but it states a case with vigour and is quite devoid of jargon.' - Times Literary Supplement on Ecstatic Religion: First Edition.
'This book is a fascinating study of the subkject from a variety of view points ... the author writes with intelligent insight and offers some thought-provoking questions.'
