REL 1000 Lecture : 8 29 Notes
Document Summary
Believed in the animistic theory which is that natural objects (stones, trees, etc. ) had souls. He held a belief in the presence of spiritual beings in material objects . This eventually led to polytheism (belief in multiple gods) and then eventually to monotheism (one god). He believed that all the world"s religions stemmed from this one theory. He believed the natural world was responsible for today"s beliefs. He believed that religion started in the natural world with the personation of natural forces. He based his theory on hinduism and claimed religion started due to fear of the natural world. He believed religion developed out of prehistoric murder that is passed down genetically. We know people developed from lesser primate and traveled in packs and had one dominant male, their father. He believed that these males would rise uo and kill their father out of jealousy and love and lust for their mothers (they wanted to marry their mothers).
