Theorizing religions past : archaeology, history, and cognition / edited by Harvey Whitehouse and Luther H. Martin.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Whitehouse, Harvey.

Martin, Luther H., 1937-

Series:

Cognitive science of religion series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Whitehouse, Harvey.

Religion.

Archaeology and religion.

Psychology, Religious.

Religions--History.

Religions.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 249 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Walnut Creek, CA : AltaMira Press, [2004]

Summary:

Historians bound by their singular stories and archaeologists bound by their material evidence don t typically seek out broad comparative theories of religion. But recently Harvey Whitehouse 's modes of religiosity theory has been attracting many scholars of past religions. Based upon universal features of human cognition, Whitehouse 's theory can provide useful comparisons across cultures and historical periods even when limited cultural data is present. In this groundbreaking volume, scholars of cultures from prehistorical hunter-gatherers to 19th century Scandinavian Lutherans evaluate Whitehouse 's hypothesis that all religions tend toward either an imagistic or a doctrinal mode depending on how they are remembered and transmitted. Theorizing Religions Past provides valuable insights for all historians of religion and especially for those interested in a new cognitive method for studying the past.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Wedding of Psychology, Ethnography, and History: Methodological Bigamy or Tripartite Free Love? / E. Thomas Lawson 1

Chapter 2 Toward a Scientific History of Religions / Luther H. Martin 7

Part II The Archaeological Evidence

Chapter 3 From Ohalo to Catalhoyuk: The Development of Religiosity during the Early Prehistory of Western Asia, 20,000-7000 BCE / Steven Mithen 17

Chapter 4 Primary Emergence of the Doctrinal Mode of Religiosity in Prehistoric Southwestern Iran / Karen Johnson 45

Part III Greco-Roman Antiquity

Chapter 5 Old and New in Roman Religion: A Cognitive Account / Douglas L. Gragg 69

Chapter 6 Four Men, Two Sticks, and a Whip: Image and Doctrine in a Mithraic Ritual / Roger Beck 87

Chapter 7 Syncretism and the Interaction of Modes of Religiosity: A Formative Perspective on Gnostic-Christian Movements in Late Antiquity / Anita Maria Leopold 105

Part IV Christian Traditions

Chapter 8 Testing the Two Modes Theory: Christian Practice in the Later Middle Ages / Anne L. Clark 125

Chapter 9 Modes of Religiosity and Changes in Popular Religious Practices at the Time of the Reformation / Ted Vial 143

Chapter 10 Modes of Religiosity and Types of Conversion in Medieval Europe and Modern Africa / Ulrich Berner 157

Chapter 11 Corrupt Doctrine and Doctrinal Revival: On the Nature and Limits of the Modes Theory / Ilkka Pyysiainen 173

Part V Critical Discussion

Chapter 12 Critical Reflections on the Modes of Religiosity Argument / Donald Wiebe 197

Chapter 13 Theorizing Religions Past / Harvey Whitehouse 215.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0759106207

0759106215

OCLC:

54461161