Eight Theories of Religion

Why do human beings believe in divinities? Why do some seek eternal life,while others seek escape from recurring lives? Why do the beliefs and behaviorswe typically call "religious" so deeply affect the human personality and sosubtly weave their way through human society? Revised and updated in this secondedition, Eight Theories of Religion considers how these fundamental questionshave engaged the most important thinkers of the modern era. Accessible,systematic, and succinct, the text examines the classic interpretations ofreligion advanced by theorists who have left a major imprint on the intellectualculture of the twentieth century. The second edition features a new chapter onMax Weber, a revised introduction, and a revised, expanded conclusion thattraces the paths of further inquiry and interpretation traveled by theorists inthe most recent decades.Eight Theories of Religion, Second Edition, begins with Edward BurnettTylor and James Frazer--two Victorian pioneers in anthropology and thecomparative study of religion. It then considers the great "reductionist"approaches of Sigmund Freud, Emile Durkheim, and Karl Marx, all of whom haveexercised wide influence up to the present day. The discussion goes on toexamine the leading challenges to reductionism as articulated by sociologist MaxWeber (new to this edition) and Romanian-American comparativist Mircea Eliade.Finally, it explores the newer methods and ideas arising from the African fieldstudies of ethnographer E. E. Evans-Pritchard and the interpretive anthropologyof Clifford Geertz. Each chapter offers biographical background, theoreticalexposition, conceptual analysis, and critical assessment. This common formatallows for close comparison and careful evaluation throughout. Ideal for use asa supplementary text in introductory religion courses or as the central text insociology of religion and courses centered on the explanation and interpretationof religion, Eight Theories of Religion, Second Edition, offers an illuminatingtreatment of this controversial and fascinating subject.