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Why “Ritual and Religion”?

Rituals are obviously important to the study of religion.  Indeed, the sociologist Emile Durkheim and the anthropologist Roy Rappaport locate the origins of religion in ritual.  It is, however, a...

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Phylogeny of Religions

Sooner or later any serious student or historian of religion will encounter Jonathan Z. Smith, he of the infamous quip — “there is no data for religion.  Religion is solely the creation of the...

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Husker Religion & The Origins of Ritual

Ritual and religion are, as everyone knows, closely intertwined.  So tightly linked are they that some scholars, such as Emile Durkheim, seem to have mistaken one for the other or at least conflated...

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Mormonism as Evolutionary Exemplar

While teaching this past week, a curious thing happened: without having given it much thought, I found myself using Mormonism to illustrate all kinds of evolutionary theories regarding religion. Call...

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Anthropology’s Ritualist Hour

Over at the Toronto Star, Rick Salutin salutes anthropology for providing keen insights into the human condition: The strength of anthropology at the moment, I’d say, comes when it turns its eye to...

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Language, Lying & Ritual

While scanning the front page of the New York Times today, my attention was arrested by this startling sub-titular claim: “Hinduism’s profusion of gods and sacred texts lacks a single theological...

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