The Anthropology of World Religions

4.0 credits

This course is an introduction to the theories anthropologists have used to compare and analyze religions that are based on sacred scriptures that record the teachings of individual prophets, and that spread far beyond the boundaries of the political systems in which they first arose. This category includes Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. It examines the relationship between: 1. The role of alphabetic literacy in the creation of scriptures, 2. The rise and fall of world empires in the spread of religions beyond their original centers. 3. The tension between the conviction that each contains the universal path to salvation and the varied ways they are practiced in particular times and places. 4. The use of religion to legitimate and undermine particular political systems. Readings include works by Max Weber, Gareth Fowden, Marshall Hodgson, Talal Asad, S.J. Tambiah, Fenella Cannell, and Joel Robbins.