This introductory text combines discussion of the origin and development of ideas and debates within the anthropology of religion with a look at where the subject is going today.











Provides students with a complete introduction to the anthropology of religion

Uses worldwide ethnographies to illustrate the theory

Includes extensive bibliographies and a list of films and videos that encourage students to explore the field further

Encourages students to see that anthropology is not just about reading or doing fieldwork, but offers an enriching way of looking at the world

Each chapter introduces the central theoretical ideas in the anthropology of religion and illustrates them with specific case studies, such as witchcraft in Cameroon, shamanism in the Arctic, or women s initiation ceremonies

Links contemporary ideas and practices with the work of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century scholars.