Religion and Anthropology

A sequel and update of the pioneering text Anthropological Studies of Religion, this book provides a readable, comprehensive and critical introduction to the extensive anthropological literature on religion that has been produced over the past forty years. It focuses on well-known, substantive ethnographic studies, specifically those which have embraced the dual heritage of social anthropology in combining the interpretive understanding of religious phenomena, with a social scientific perspective that situates religion within its wider socio-historical context. Breaking away from the usual thematic approach and taking a comparative perspective, this engaging book emphasizes that religion is essentially a social institution, and is ill-understood if seen simply as an ideological or symbolic system.