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Lehmann-Moro-Myers Text Supplement
Garrett Stephenson
Ch. 1 The Anthropological Study of Religion
Learning Objectives
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To provide an understanding of the anthropological approach to the study of the
supernatural.
To arrive at an acceptable and accurate definition of religion.
To appreciate the importance of a holistic approach to the study of religion.
To understand the comparative method utilized in the anthropological study of
religion.
To survey some of the Western (particularly American) religious issues which impact
the study of natural and social science.
Section Summary
The anthropological study of religion is based on a holistic approach, utilizing historical,
psychological, sociological, semantic, and evolutionary perspectives. For
anthropologists, the use of the comparative method is essential whenever approaching
religion.
 The study of religion in non-Western societies has been profoundly influenced and
mediated by the beliefs of the anthropologist’s own culture.
 It is suggested that “animism,” or the belief in non-corporeal beings which
permanently or occasionally inhabit the physical world, is the basis for most human
religions.
 To account for non-Western religions by imposing pre-fabricated categories (such as
‘religion’ versus ‘economics’ versus ‘art’) can conceal the worldview of such
religious practices, thus resulting in an inaccurate portrayal of local culture.
 Science and religion occupy two completely separate, though proximal philosophical
areas, which do not conflict one another.
 Science must encourage skepticism and personal discovery – so long as such
skepticism is based on logic and evidence.
 The attitude of anthropologists towards missionaries has often been negative due to a
tendency for anthropologists to view non-Western cultures as existing in “organicunity” and because many anthropologists regard religious beliefs as basically
meaningless.
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Reading 1: Clifford Geertz, “Religion,” 1972.
Geertz argues for the broadened analysis of religion by evaluating the varied approaches
of anthropological religious study. He provides a historical explanation of
anthropological methodology that roughly accounts for the field up to the early 1970s.
 The anthropological study of religion is profoundly influenced by contemporary
issues.
 Studies of indigenous religions allowed anthropologists to indirectly approach
controversial elements of Western religion.
 The use of the comparative method allowed for a kind of scientific approach to
religious study.
 Anthropological inquiry into religious phenomena has developed within distinct and
competitive schools, such as evolutionary, psychological, sociological, and symbolic
anthropology.
 None of these theories has proved to be a definitive methodology for religious study.
 A “mature theory of religion” will integrate all of these varied approaches into a
holistic and rigorous framework that will be better able to account for religious
practices throughout the world.
 Within religion, received beliefs and established norms essentially support one
another.
Discussion Questions:
1. Which methods of religious analysis should be included in a rigorous theoretical
framework? Are there any that would be inappropriate?
2. Should one even attempt to account for religious practices in terms of a predetermined theoretical framework?
3. Formulate and discuss your own definition of religion as it generally applies to all
human cultures.
Reading 2: Marvin Harris, “Why We Became Religious and The Evolution of the
Spirit World,” 1989.
According to Harris, the basis of all religious thought is animism, the universal belief that
we humans share the world with various extracorporeal, mostly invisible beings. He
contends that spiritual beings found in modern religions are also found in the religions of
prestate societies.
 Although the concepts of superstition, luck, charisma, and mana (inherent force or
power) imply a control over the uncontrollable, they are not religious concepts.
 Religion, rather, involves the belief that humans share the world with powerful noncorporeal entities (animism).
 Animism, as Harris conceives of it, is universal.
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For many “prestate” people, creator-gods were “hands-off,” preferring to leave the
affairs of humanity to lesser deities.
In early states and empires, dead ancestors assumed a place of great prominence
alongside the gods.
Discussion Questions:
4. How do monotheistic religions reflect the course of development set out by Harris?
5. Do you agree with Harris’s definition (or adaptation) of the term “animism” to denote
a broad conception of religious practices?
6. How does superstition differ from religion? Do you find Harrison’s argument
convincing in this regard?
Reading 3: Dorothy Lee, “Religious Perspectives in Anthropology,” 1971.
Religion is an embedded part of preliterate peoples’ worldview, economic activities, and
material culture. To suppose a categorical disjunction between people, nature, and the
divine, is to apply a distinctly Western worldview upon cultures which may or may not
share in that worldview.
 Material culture has religious aspects to it that are inseparable; both combine to
constitute the object or activity.
 According to Lee, indigenous societies generally do not conceive of a disjuncture
between humanity and nature, thus their relationship with the natural world is often
harmonious.
 Indigenous societies do not strive for a communion with nature, rather it is implied in
their very existence.
 Such existence is within a holistic system that includes (but does not differentiate)
nature, the cosmos, and omnipresent deities.
 Economic and social provision is achieved by garnering the cooperation of the
spiritual realm; life is the careful mediation of cosmic forces, without which nothing
is possible.
 Art, agriculture, and other vocations are expressions of “religious relatedness to the
universe.”
 Many indigenous/non-Western peoples do not categorize their spiritual practices
under the heading of “religion,” rather such practices are intertwined with everyday
life.
 A reasonable understanding of the religious practices of a non-literate society must
involve an appreciation – or emic perspective – of their worldview in terms that they
have determined.
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Discussion Questions
7. How would you characterize your own culture’s relationship with the natural and
supernatural worlds? How does this differ with that of the Hopi, if at all?
8. Do you agree with Lee’s complementary appraisal of non-Western cosmology as being
generally “harmonious” with nature? How would you define harmonious in this
instance? What evidence supports this characterization, and what confounds it?
9. How are economics and religion intertwined in Lee’s analysis?
10. How can Western categories of cultural practices inappropriately impose a particular
worldview on another group?
Reading 4: Stephen Jay Gould, “Non-Overlapping Magisteria,” 1998.
Stephen Jay Gould proposes the term magisterium to denote any domain of teaching
authority. He applies the term to the scientific method and to religious doctrine by
suggesting that are both separate and legitimate magisteria, and thus should not be
conceived as in conflict with one another.
 At a basic level, science is concerned with observable facts and plausible theories,
whereas religion is concerned with spiritual, ethical, and moral inquiry.
 When contained within these two definitions, science and religion exist within wholly
different ontologies, which do not contradict one another, simply because they
address different things through different methods.
 Creationism and evolution are particularly contentious because they occupy the
border regions of both disciplines, thus being the epicenter of philosophical debate.
 Religion’s (in particular Christianity’s) acceptance of evolution was tacit at first, only
permitting the debate itself, while the accumulation of evidence throughout the last
century has, for most non-literalist Christians, proven the validity of evolution as an
accepted scientific theory.
 Gould proposes the theory of NOMA (non-overlapping magisteria) as a concept that
explains the inherent differences between science and religion as being noncompetitive.
Discussion Questions
11. In what ways have religion or science sought to address each other’s concerns? Why
do some conceive of evolution as a substitute for religion?
12. Do you agree that religion and science, when conceived of in the strict terms laid out
above, are non-competitive disciplines? If so, why has competition occurred?
13. Can religion and science adequately address each other’s concerns? Example: can
science reasonably account for ethics or can religion reasonably account for biology?
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14. What are some of the implications of the recent adoption of “intelligent design” by
many Protestant fundamentalists for American academic discourse?
15. Do you agree with Gould’s contention that NOMA can exist? If so, to what other
disciplines could this concept apply?
Reading 5: Robert S. Root-Bernstein, “Darwin’s Rib,” 1995.
Students often have difficulty reconciling their religious views with scientific theory and
evidence, particularly with respect to evolution. Root-Bernstein maintains that even in
the face of contradictory religious beliefs, science must encourage skepticism and
personal discovery – so long as such skepticism is “based on logic and evidence.”
 Scientists must be able to admit what they do not or cannot know.
 The notion that males have one less pair of ribs than females is based on the flawed
theory of Lamarckian evolution, which has been disproved.
 Sexual dimorphism of humans is driven by brain size – women’s pelvises are larger
to accommodate the large brains of babies which they may carry.
 Although men do have the same number of ribs as women, anatomical differences are
in fact the best evidence for evolution.
16. How does Root-Bernstein’s story elicit issues of differing worldviews and cultures?
17. Disregarding its scientific infeasibility, what is the religious significance of the young
student’s Biblically-determined anatomical knowledge? Could (or should) such religious
views be reconciled with scientific inquiry?
18. Would you characterize the differences between Root-Bernstein and his student as
being cultural, religious, or based on entirely different worldviews?
19. What are the implications of fundamentalist religious practices in the Western world
for anthropological inquiry, and visa-versa? Are such disciplines in conflict or are they
mutually exclusive and thus easily reconciled?
Reading 6: Claude E. Stipe, “Anthropologists versus Missionaries: The Influence of
Presuppositions,” 1980.
Stipe observes that, in general, the attitude of anthropologists towards missionaries has
been negative, even thought this relationship has developed without systematic
indoctrination. He suggests that such attitudes can be harmful, and should – at least when
broadly applied – be avoided.
 Certain presuppositions influence the way we view situations, and anthropologists’
negativity towards missionaries is based on two such suppositions:
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1. Anthropologists often conceive of preliterate cultures as existing in “organic
unity,” where such peoples are supposed to be in an unchanging and satisfying
cultural equilibrium, where change is always negative.
2. Anthropologists generally have a negative attitude towards religious beliefs (which
suggests that such beliefs are meaningless), especially those of the culture from which
they originated.
Anthropologists often decry cultural changes within the communities they study
while pushing for a cultural change based on objective rationality in their own.
An “organic” view of societies often results from the relatively short time
anthropologists spend in the field.
Many anthropologists claim to have been converted away from their own religions.
Stipe suggests that the basis for such negative attitudes must be addressed to avoid
bias in anthropological research.
20. What are some of the examples Stipe cites for anthropologists’ antipathy towards
missionaries, and do you feel that these are reasonable concerns?
21. Should missionaries be viewed with the same kind of cultural relativism that
anthropologists often attempt to apply to those they are studying? Give reasons for both
positions?
22. Should anthropologists have a “hands-off” role in the societies they are researching,
thus considering the impact of missionaries “objectively”?
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