ANT356H1 Study Guide - Melford Spiro, Christian Symbolism, Symbolic Anthropology
Document Summary
The anthropological study of religion is holistic, universalistic, ethnographic, contextual, comparative. Phenomenological approach: reporting facts without judgement or bias. Reporting observed phenomena as sociological fact (do not decide if true or false, right or wrong; just describe phenomena) We"ll look at how anthropologists have looked at religion and elements common in most religions. The process of defining religion has its own history. The very attempt to define religion entails the construction of a distinct category based on eurocentric in- terests/histories. Isolating a social phenomenon and calling it religion. Not every culture makes this distinction or have a word for religion. Defining religion is an exercise in translation. Latin religio from greek threskiae enters the western discourse. Difficult to find a word for religion in many other religions. If we say it"s a universal phenomenon, should we be able to find a word for it in every religion? different approaches anthropologists have adopted: intellectualist, symbolist, functionalist.
