Sacred Realms

Description

This comprehensive and engaging introduction to the anthropology of religion brings together a rich and balanced collection of classic and contemporary readings. Ideal for courses in the anthropology of religion or comparative religion, this exceptional anthology not only gives students the tools to analyze and comprehend religion but also enables them to consider religion's major role in contemporary world affairs.
Organized topically, Sacred Realms: Readings in the Anthropology of Religion, Second Edition, covers twelve major areas in faith, religion, and belief. Demonstrating the breadth and variety of human religious experience, the essays are written by authors from diverse ethnic and national backgrounds and include vivid ethnographic examples drawn from field studies around the world. The readings range from classic contributions by Bronislaw Malinowski, Horace Miner, and Anthony F. C. Wallace to more recent selections including one on the Rajneeshee by Charles Lindholm and articles on Sufism, witches, and American raves. The volume concludes with a unique section by the editors that describes the basic facets of five of the world's most influential religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The editors also provide helpful background material throughout; their general introduction encourages students to approach religion as an objective human experience rather than from the perspective of their own upbringings, while overviews to each of the text's six parts place subjects in context and highlight key issues. Essay introductions identify the author's perspective, the article's major points, and the questions the essay raises.
New to the second edition of Sacred Realms is a section on the intersection of religion and politics, which includes a classic article by Raymond Firth as well as recent articles on issues in Korea and the Middle East. This edition also features a world map at the front of the book--referencing locations in each essay, by number--and a glossary of terms at the end of the book. An Instructor's Manual on CD is available to adopters.

Table of Contents

*=New to this edition
Preface
Introduction: What Is Religion?
PART ONE. INTRODUCING RELIGION
1. The Origins of Religion
James McClenon, How Religion Began: Human Evolution and the Origin of Religion (2002)
* John M. Watanabe and Barbara B. Smuts, Explaining Religion Without Explaining It Away: Trust, Truth, and the Evolution of Cooperation in Roy A. Rappaport's "The Obvious Aspects of Ritual" (1999)
Bronislaw Malinowski, Rational Mastery by Man of His Surroundings (1925)
2. Religion and Society
* Charles Lindholm, Culture, Charisma, and Consciousness: The Case of the Rajneeshee (2002)
Aihwa Ong, The Production of Possession: Spirits and the Multinational Corporation in Malaysia (1988)
Hikaru Suzuki, Japanese Death Rituals in Transit: From Household Ancestors to Beloved Antecedents (1998)
3. Religion and the Environment
J. Stephen Lansing, Balinese "Water Temples" and the Management of Irrigation (1987)
* Marvin Harris, The Cultural Ecology of India's Sacred Cattle (1966)
Sandra E. Greene, Sacred Terrain: Religion, Politics, and Place in the History of Anloga (Ghana) (1997)
PART TWO. RITUAL, RELIGION, AND THE SUPERNATURAL
4. Supernatural Beings and Powers
Mahipal Bhuriya, Tribal Religion in India: A Case Study of the Bhils (1986)
Aubrey L. Parke, The Qawa Incident in 1968 and Other Cases of "Spirit Possession": Religious Syncretism in Fiji (1995)
Fernando Cervantes, The Devil and the Saints in the Conquest of Mexico (1994)
* Arthur Saniotis, Tales of Mastery: Spirit Familiar in Sufis' Religious Imagination (2004)
5. Special Roles in Religion: Shamans, Prophets, and Priests
Laurel Kendall, Korean Shamans and the Spirits of Capitalism (1996)
Julie Cruikshank, Claiming Legitimacy: Prophecy Narratives from Northern Aboriginal Women (1994)
* Andrew Apter, The Embodiment of Paradox: Yoruba Kingship and Female Power (1991)
6. Ritual and Ceremony
Victor W. Turner, Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage (1964)
Phillips Stevens, Jr., Play and Liminality in Rites of Passage: From Elder to Ancestor in West Africa (1991)
Lori Leonard, Female Circumcision in Southern Chad: Origins, Meaning, and Current Practice (1996)
George Gmelch, Baseball Magic (2002)
Horace Miner, Body Ritual Among the Nacirema (1956)
PART THREE. JOURNEYS OF THE SOUL
7. Altered States
Wade Davis, Hallucinogenic Plants and Their Use in Traditional Societies (1985)
John R. Baker, The Old Woman and Her Gifts: Pharmacological Bases of the Chumash Use of Datura (1994)
J. D. Lewis-Williams, Cognitive and Optical Illusions in San Rock Art Research (1986)
Scott R. Hutson, The Rave: Spiritual Healing in Modern Western Subcultures (2000)
Elaine J. Lawless, "The Night I Got the Holy Ghost . . .": Holy Ghost Narratives and the Pentecostal Conversion Process (1988)
8. Death and Funerals
Richard T. Gill, Whatever Happened to the American Way of Death? (1996)
Beth A. Conklin, "Thus Are Our Bodies, Thus Was Our Custom": Mortuary Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society (1995)
Audrey Shalinsky and Anthony Glascock, Killing Infants and the Aged in Nonindustrial Societies: Removing the Liminal (1988)
Dong Sull Choi, Origins and Realities of Suttee in Hinduism (2002)
PART FOUR. SICKNESS AND HEALTH
9. Healing
Wolf Roder, Magic, Medicine, and Metaphysics in Nigeria (1991)
Madelyn Krassner, Effective Features of Therapy from the Healer's Perspective: A Study of Curanderismo (1986)
* Jacob R. Hickman, "Is it the Spirit or the Body"?: Syncretism of Health Beliefs Among Hmong Immigrants to Alaska (2007)
Ineke M. Lazar, Culture-Bound Illnesses in a Samoan Migrant Community (1985)
10. Bewitching
Ronald C. Johnson, Parallels between Recollections of Repressed Childhood Sex Abuse, Kidnappings by Space Aliens, and the 1692 Salem Witch Hunts (1994)
Joseph Jay Tobin and Joan Friedman, Spirits, Shamans, and Nightmare Death: Survivor Stress in a Hmong Refugee (1983)
Peter Wogan, Magical Literacy: Encountering a Witch's Book in Ecuador (1988)
PART FIVE. RELIGION IN CONTEMPORARY STATES
11. Religion and Politics
* Raymond Firth, Spiritual Aroma: Religion and Politics (1981)
* Kwang-Ok-Kim, Rituals of Resistance: The Manipulation of Shamanism in Contemporary Korea (1994)
* Mahmood Mamdani, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism (2002)
12. New Religious Movements
Anthony F. C. Wallace, Revitalization Movements (1956)
Allen Scarboro and Philip Andrew Luck, The Goddess and Power: Witchcraft and Religion in America (1997)
Mark Juergensmeyer, Christian Violence in America (1998)
Raymond L. M. Lee, Taipucam in Malaysia: Ecstasy and Identity in a Tamil Hindu Festival (1989)
W. Paul Williamson and Howard R. Pollio, The Phenomenology of Religious Serpent Handling: A Rationale and Thematic Study of Extemporaneous Sermons (1999)
Simon Dein, Lubavitch: A Contemporary Messianic Movement (1997)
PART SIX. WORLD RELIGIONS
13. Hinduism
The Historical Development of Hinduism
The Sacred Literature of Hinduism
Varna: The Caste System
Varieties of Hindu Religious Practice
Veneration of Cattle
Festivals
Hinduism and the Modern World
14. Buddhism
The Life of Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B.C.E.)
Buddha's Teachings
The Development and Spread of Buddhism
Divisions of Buddhism
Relics, Pilgrimages, and Holy Days
Contemporary Buddhism
15. Judaism
Sacred Literature
Historical Background
Kabbalah and Hasidism
The Holocaust
Zionism
Contemporary Judaism: Sacred Practices
Religious Festivals
Dietary and Religious Practices
Divisions within Judaism
Jews in the Modern World
16. Christianity
Historical Background
The Early Christian Movement
Divisions in Early Christianity
Monasticism
Medieval Christianity: Division between Eastern and Western Churches
Reformation and Response
Sacred Literature
Christian Ritual
Christian Holidays
Christianity Today
New Denominations and Christian Fundamentalism in America
17. Islam
The Life of Muhammad
Islamic Expansion
Muslim Beliefs and Practices
Sunnah and the Hadiths
Shiite and Sunni in Islam
Other Variations: Black Muslims
Islam in the Past One Hundred Years
Glossary
Index