Anthropology of Religion Exam 1
Edmund Husserl - Answer-Founder of the phenomenology movement
Phenomenology - Answer-- First method and still the standard "rule of thumb"
- Methodological neutrality or agnosticism
- Beliefs for the researcher should study "sociological fact" rather than "theological fact"
- Idea is that this approach should allow social scientists of any or even no religion to examine the beliefs
and practices of others with out bias
Reflexivity - Answer-- Refers to circular relationships between cause and effect
- Treating the scholar as a "fly on the wall," rather than as a thinking, relating individual who is
implicated in the phenomenon he or she describes
Animitism - Answer-- coined by E.B. Tylor
- The belief that all things in the environment have a soul or living essence, animate or inanimate
James Frazer - Answer-- Wrote 'The Golden Bough' (1890)
, + contains a universalist theory of magic, religion and society
- Thought that magic proceeded religion (more primitive = animism)
+magic as the manipulation of the natural wold through ritual
+ Religion as the belief in and the worship of spiritual beings for comfort and support
- He thought that science would eventually replace religion
Van Dijk - Answer-- The authority of the fieldworker to ask questions and edit the answers is part of the
process of anthropological production.
- The anthropologist as a translator of culture
-The anthropologist becomes a mouthpiece for the views of interlocutors in the field.
- Christian preachers in Malawi
+ wrote article describing the "infilling" of the holy spirit -> preachers took offense b/c it was seen as an
attempt to distance himself from the movement.
Herbert Spencer - Answer-- Social evolution
+ evolution worked from the simple to the complex
+ from homogeneity to heterogeneity
-He did, however, see connections between modern and savage peoples
Bronislaw Malinowski - Answer-- A founder of the functionalist school of anthropology
Edmund Husserl - Answer-Founder of the phenomenology movement
Phenomenology - Answer-- First method and still the standard "rule of thumb"
- Methodological neutrality or agnosticism
- Beliefs for the researcher should study "sociological fact" rather than "theological fact"
- Idea is that this approach should allow social scientists of any or even no religion to examine the beliefs
and practices of others with out bias
Reflexivity - Answer-- Refers to circular relationships between cause and effect
- Treating the scholar as a "fly on the wall," rather than as a thinking, relating individual who is
implicated in the phenomenon he or she describes
Animitism - Answer-- coined by E.B. Tylor
- The belief that all things in the environment have a soul or living essence, animate or inanimate
James Frazer - Answer-- Wrote 'The Golden Bough' (1890)
, + contains a universalist theory of magic, religion and society
- Thought that magic proceeded religion (more primitive = animism)
+magic as the manipulation of the natural wold through ritual
+ Religion as the belief in and the worship of spiritual beings for comfort and support
- He thought that science would eventually replace religion
Van Dijk - Answer-- The authority of the fieldworker to ask questions and edit the answers is part of the
process of anthropological production.
- The anthropologist as a translator of culture
-The anthropologist becomes a mouthpiece for the views of interlocutors in the field.
- Christian preachers in Malawi
+ wrote article describing the "infilling" of the holy spirit -> preachers took offense b/c it was seen as an
attempt to distance himself from the movement.
Herbert Spencer - Answer-- Social evolution
+ evolution worked from the simple to the complex
+ from homogeneity to heterogeneity
-He did, however, see connections between modern and savage peoples
Bronislaw Malinowski - Answer-- A founder of the functionalist school of anthropology
