ANTHROPOLOGY 200: Introduction to Anthropology

Study Guide #7: Religion

Theoretical Approaches to Religion:

• Malinowski and Skinner (functionalism)
• Durkheim
• Marx and Bakunin

Magic

a human attempt to impose order on an otherwise uncertain situation

Religion (Durkheim's definition)

a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden-beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them

Religion (Spradley and McCurdy's definition)

a system of beliefs involving supernatural forces or beings that provide shape and meaning to the universe

Cosmology

philosophy concerned with the fundamental causes and processes of things in the universe

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