Theories Of Religion
Sociological and anthropological metatheories of religion generally attempt to answer at least two interrelated questions: what is the origin of religion and what is its function. This article is about metatheories (usually just called "theories") that explain the formation of religious beliefs as studied in the social sciences. These theories, for the most part, attempt to explain certain universal characteristics of religious belief and practice. It does not address theological explanations of religion nor the histories of specific religions or religion generally.
Read more about Theories Of Religion: History, Classification of Theories of Religions, Methodologies, Karl Marx, Edward Burnett Tylor and James George Frazer, Émile Durkheim and Functionalism, Max Weber, Sigmund Freud, Rudolf Otto, Mircea Eliade, E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Clifford Geertz, Rational Choice Theory, Evolutionary Theories, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words theories of, theories and/or religion:
“Our books of science, as they improve in accuracy, are in danger of losing the freshness and vigor and readiness to appreciate the real laws of Nature, which is a marked merit in the ofttimes false theories of the ancients.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Philosophers of science constantly discuss theories and representation of reality, but say almost nothing about experiment, technology, or the use of knowledge to alter the world. This is odd, because ‘experimental method’ used to be just another name for scientific method.... I hope [to] initiate a Back-to-Bacon movement, in which we attend more seriously to experimental science. Experimentation has a life of its own.”
—Ian Hacking (b. 1936)
“A chaplain is the minister of the Prince of Peace serving the host of the God of War—Mars. As such, he is as incongruous as a musket would be on the altar at Christmas. Why, then, is he there? Because he indirectly subserves the purpose attested by the cannon; because too he lends the sanction of the religion of the meek to that which practically is the abrogation of everything but brute Force.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)