Introduction to the History of Religions / Crawford Howell Toy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Toy, Crawford Howell, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mythology.

Religion, Religionsphilosophie.

Religion.

Religions.

Rites and ceremonies.

Religions--History.

Local Subjects:

Mythology.

Religions--History.

Rites and ceremonies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (658 p.)

Edition:

4th printing 1948. Reprint 2014

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Excerpt: ...whistling). Or ordinary human actions might be imitated: a stick thrown or pointed toward an enemy, it was 395 believed, would cause a spear to enter his body; 1538 a hostile glance of the eye, indicating desire to inflict injury, might carry ill luck. 1539 In such cases the fundamental conceptions are the sympathy that comes from unity and the activity of the pervasive mana. These conceptions are visible in procedures in which action on a part of the human body, or on an image or picture of it, was supposed to reach the body itself. The possession of a piece of the bone, skin, hair, or nail of a man might enable one who had knowledge of superhuman laws and processes to affect the man with sickness or even to cause his death. Contact of objects naturally suggests their unity, but the sympathy between them was not held to be dependent on contact; a man's bone remained a part of him, however far it might be separated from him. A dead body did not lose its virtues; the qualities of a dead warrior might be acquired by eating his flesh. The mysterious unity of things seems to have resided, in savage thought, in the omnipresent mana, a force independent of human limitations. Not that there was a definite theory on the subject, but something of this sort seems to be assumed in the ideas and usages of many low tribes. 1540 On the other hand, a magical effect may be set aside by magic. A sick man, believing his sickness to be the work of a magician (the usual savage theory of the cause of bodily ills), sends for another magician to counteract the evil work; and a magician, failing to cure his patient, ascribes his failure to the machinations of a powerful rival. In all such cases the theory and the methods are the same; the magic that cures is not different in principle (though it may differ in details) from the magic that kills. 887 . The facts observed by practicers of magic probably contributed to the collections of material that furnished the...

Contents:

Frontmatter

PREFACE

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. NATURE OF RELIGION

CHAPTER II. THE SOUL

CHAPTER III. EARLY RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES

CHAPTER IV. EARLY CULTS

CHAPTER V. TOTEMISM AND TABOO

CHAPTER VI. GODS

CHAPTER VII. MYTHS

CHAPTER VIII. MAGIC AND DIVINATION

CHAPTER IX. THE HIGHER THEISTIC DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER Χ. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION

CHAPTER XI. SCIENTIFIC AND ETHICAL ELEMENTS IN RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS

SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

0-674-60043-6

OCLC:

1013955015