Religion As a Cultural System

THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES sciencesas these men themselves looked, for analytical ideas. And it occurs to me, also, that these two special(a) characteristics are not unrelated. If the anthropological study of religion is in detail in a state of general stagnation, I uncertainness that it allow for be set going again by producing more minor variations on classical theoretical themes. merely one(a) more meticulous case in item for such(prenominal) well-established propositions as that ancestor worship supports the jural authority of elders, that asylum rites are means for the formation of sexual identity and prominent status, that ritual groupings reflect political oppositions, or that myths provide charters for companionable institutions and rationalizations of affectionate privilege, may well finally change a great many people, both inside the profession and out, that anthropologists are, common theologians, firmly dedicated to proving the indubitable . In art, this solemn reduplication of the achievements of authentic masters is called academicism; and I think this is the proper be for our malady also.

Only if we revoke, in a phrase of queer of beasts Steinbergs, that sweet sensation experience of accomplishment which comes from parading habitual skills and track ourselves to problems sufficiently unclarified as to make discovery possible, can we confide to achieve work which will not just be born that of the great men of the offset quarter of this century, but hold it.1 The way to do this is not to abandon the established traditions of social anthropology in this field, but to widen them. At least cardinal of the contributions of the men who, as I say, dom! inate our fancy to the point of parochializing itDurkheims discussion of the nature of the sacred, Webers Verstehenden methodology, Freuds parallel between personal rituals and corporate ones, and Malinowskis exploration of the distinction between religion and common senseseem to me inevitable starting-points for any useful anthropological...If you want to run low a full essay, order it on our website: OrderEssay.net

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