Research Catalog

Ordered universes : approaches to the anthropology of religion

Title
Ordered universes : approaches to the anthropology of religion / Morton Klass.
Author
Klass, Morton, 1927-2001.
Publication
Boulder : Westview Press, ©1995.

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library BL256 .K57 1995Off-site

Details

Description
xiv, 177 pages; 24 cm
Summary
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 in contemporary anthropology. Instead, Klass explores the culturally universal institution of religion, working from operational, non-judgmental definitions that avoid the issue of whether a given belief is "true." Offering examples from the ethnographic literature, he explores values, witchcraft, shamans, ghosts, revitalization, and other topics. In the final chapters, he considers such issues as the emergence of new religious movements and leaders and the continuing ideological conflict between proponents of scientistic, fundamentalist, and post-rationalist systems of thought.
Subject
  • Religion
  • Ethnology > Religious aspects
  • Religions
  • Anthropology
  • Religion
  • Anthropology
  • religion (discipline)
  • anthropology
  • religions (belief systems, cultures)
  • 11.01 systematic religious studies: general
  • 73.55 religion: general (ethnology)
  • Ethnology > Religious aspects
  • Religions
  • Philosophische Anthropologie
  • Religionsphilosophie
  • Godsdienstwetenschap
  • Culturele antropologie
  • Anthropology of religion
  • Religion and sociology
  • Religions > Social aspects
  • Religion and culture
  • Ethnologie > Aspect religieux
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. 163-169) and index.
Contents
1. At Play in the Sacred Grove -- 2. The Noisome Bog -- 3. The Definitional Daisy Chain -- 4. The Problem with Supernatural -- 5. An Operational Definition of Religion -- 6. The Value of Values -- 7. Assumptions, Beliefs, and Facts -- 8. Exploring Explanation: Why Do People Die? -- 9. Clerical Orders -- 10. What Kind of Shaman Would You Want? -- 11. Community and Conflict -- 12. On the Other Side of the Forest -- 13. The Incorporeal Dimension -- 14. Divining the Divine -- 15. Into the Land of Moriah -- 16. A Myth Is As Good -- 17. Wondrous Portals -- 18. When Worldviews Collide -- 19. The Modern Hosts of Heaven.
ISBN
  • 0813312132
  • 9780813312132
  • 0813312140
  • 9780813312149
LCCN
94041434
OCLC
  • ocm31435103
  • 31435103
  • SCSB-2048092
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library