1st Edition

Ordered Universes Approaches To The Anthropology Of Religion

By Morton Klass Copyright 1995
192 Pages
by Routledge

192 Pages
by Routledge

191 Pages
by Routledge

This innovative introduction to the anthropological study of religion challenges traditional categories and assumptions, arguing that too many of them reflect ethnocentric perspectives long discarded by contemporary anthropologists. The continued use of such terms as ?supernatural? and ?cult? inescapably communicates that what is under study is not as real or true as the beliefs of the observer.... Read more
Preface -- At Play in the Sacred Grove -- The Noisome Bog -- The Definitional Daisy Chain -- The Problem with Supernatural -- An Operational Definition of Religion -- The Value of Values -- Assumptions, Beliefs, and Facts -- Exploring Explanation: Why Do People Die? -- Clerical Orders -- What Kind of Shaman Would You Want? -- Community and Conflict -- On the Other Side of the Forest -- The Incorporeal Dimension -- Divining the Divine -- Into the Land of Moriah -- A Myth Is As Good -- Wondrous Portals -- When Worldviews Collide -- The Modern Hosts of Heaven

Biography

Morton Klass