The Origins of Religion

ISBN-13: 9781138194755 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 338 str.

Rafael Karsten

Opis

This book, first published in 1935, collects together material on the origins of religion from two very different sources. South America, where the author spent six years studying the religious beliefs and customs of several Indian tribes representing different stages of culture; and the Finno-Ugrian area, where Finnish and Russian ethnologists had brought to light a new body of facts which formed an important addition to our knowledge of religious life at an early stage of cultural development. This book is a key work in the study of comparative religion, and is an essential reference source on the origins of religion.

Spis treści

Part 1. Primitive Religious Beliefs  1. Theories of the Origin of Religion  2. The Psychology of Primitive Man  3. Primitive Conception of the Soul  4. The Soul and Magical ‘Power’  5. The Worship of Animals  6. The Worship of Plants  7. The Worship of Inanimate Nature  8. Totemism  9. Spirits, Demons, Ghosts  10. ‘Supreme Beings’ of Primitive Peoples  Part 2. Religious Cult  11. The Origins of Ritual, Magic and Religion  12. Communion With the Spirit World  13. The Control of Spirits by Magical Means  14. Purification Ceremonies  15. Sacrifice  16. Prayer  17. Funeral and Mourning Customs

O autorze

Rafael Karsten