EIGHT THEORIES OF RELIGION Essays - , Term Papers

EIGHT THEORIES OF RELIGION SECOND EDITION Daniel L. Pals University of Miami New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 2006 -iii- Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that furtherOxford University's objective of excellence in research,scholarship, and education. Oxford New YorkAuckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong KarachiKuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City NairobiNew Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices inArgentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France GreeceGuatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal SingaporeSouth Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright 2006 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016http://www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pals, Daniel L.Eight theories of religion / by Daniel L. Pals. 2nd ed.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN-13: 0-19-530458-9 (hard : alk. paper)ISBN-13: 0-19-516570-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN 0-19-530458-6 (hard : alk. paper)ISBN 0-19-516570-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)1. Religion-Study and teaching-History. I. Pals, Daniel L. Eight theories of religion.II. Title. BL41.P36 2005 200'.7-dc22 2005050238 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper -iv- To the memory of my father, Herbert H. Pals (1916-2004). Filiis caritatem maiorem posset nullus pater habere. -v- CONTENTS Preface ix Introduction 3 1. Animism and Magic 18 E. B. TYLOR AND J. G. FRAZER 2. Religion and Personality 53 SIGMUND FREUD 3. Society as Sacred 85 eMILE DURKHEIM 4. Religion as Alienation 118 KARL MARX 5. A Source of Social Action 149 MAX WEBER 6. The Reality of the Sacred 193 MIRCEA ELIADE 7. Society's "Construct of the Heart" 229 E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD 8. Religion as Cultural System 260 CLIFFORD GEERTZ 9. Conclusion 292 Index 325 -vii- PREFACE Over the years since it was first published, Seven Theories of Religion seems to have found a serviceable niche on the shelf of books that discuss modern efforts to explain and understand religion. Its original purpose was not just to acquaint nonspecialist readers with general patterns of interpretation but to offer a sequence of intellectual portraits centered on theorists at work, reviewing the kinds of evidence they adduce, tracing the forms of argument they advance, and appraising, amid comparison, both the agendas and achievements they promise. The focus fell on certain classic formulationsa sequence of theories that by merit and historical influence have managed to chart the main paths of discussion over the last century and more. Judging by the responses of most readers, that approach has proved helpful, especially to students and their instructors in both college and university classrooms. Accordingly, at the editors' invitation, I agreed to revisit the original and offer certain improvements. Though it (necessarily) carries a new title, this book forms a second edition of Seven Theories , revised and amplified in ways meant to enhance its overall design. While reproducing the main sequence of discussion in the original, the present work seeks to extend its reach by offering 1) a revised introduction, 2) a new chapter on the work of German social theorist Max Weber, 3) associated other revisions that bring Weber into the earlier analyses and comparisons, and 4) a revised and enlarged conclusion that traces patterns of recent inquiry against the background of these classic approaches. In addition, a few minor clarifications suggested by observant critical readers have been included. The addition of Max Weber, now the fifth in the new sequence of eight theorists, merits a brief note of explication. For all his originality and historical importance, Weber was omitted from Seven Theories , mainly because the aim of the book was to present classic theories of a pure, or ideal, type (a rationale Weber himself certainly could have appreciated). Because of their -ix- power to provoke or promote debate, the accent fell on explanations advanced in support of a single overriding thesisas in Freud's finding that all religion reduces to neurosisrather than those that rely on complex multidimensional constructs. The latter, of course, is the kind of approach that Weber preeminently represents; hence he was excluded. Over time, however, more than a few thoughtful readers have come to take a different view of this matter.

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