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.
Recenzijas
World famous authors examine the usefulness of Whitehouse's modes of religiosity theory against the backdrop of prehistorical, Graeco-Roman, and Christian religions. The result is an exhilarating panorama in the dynamics of history, cognition, and ritual. -- Armin W. Geertz, University of Aarhus, Denmark; author of The Invention of Prophecy
| Preface |
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ix | |
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The Wedding of Psychology, Ethnography, and History: Methodological Bigamy or Tripartite Free Love? |
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1 | (6) |
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Toward a Scientific History of Religions |
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7 | (10) |
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Part II: The Archaeological Evidence |
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From Ohalo to Catalhoyuk: The Development of Religiosity during the Early Prehistory of Western Asia, 20,000--7000 BCE |
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17 | (28) |
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Primary Emergence of the Doctrinal Mode of Religiosity in Prehistoric Southwestern Iran |
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45 | (24) |
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Part III: Greco-Roman Antiquity |
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Old and New in Roman Religion: A Cognitive Account |
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69 | (18) |
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Four Men, Two Sticks, and a Whip: Image and Doctrine in a Mithraic Ritual |
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87 | (18) |
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Syncretism and the Interaction of Modes of Religiosity: A Formative Perspective on Gnostic-Christian Movements in Late Antiquity |
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105 | (20) |
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Part IV: Christian Traditions |
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Testing the Two Modes Theory: Christian Practice in the Later Middle Ages |
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125 | (18) |
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Modes of Religiosity and Changes in Popular Religious Practices at the Time of the Reformation |
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143 | (14) |
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Modes of Religiosity and Types of Conversion in Medieval Europe and Modern Africa |
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157 | (16) |
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Corrupt Doctrine and Doctrinal Revival: On the Nature and Limits of the Modes Theory |
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173 | (24) |
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Part V: Critical Discussion |
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Critical Reflections on the Modes of Religiosity Argument |
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197 | (18) |
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Theorizing Religions Past |
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215 | (18) |
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| Index |
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233 | (14) |
| About the Contributors |
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247 | |
Harvey Whitehouse is professor of anthropology and director of postgraduate studies in the Faculty of Humanities at Queen's University Belfast. He is co-director with E. Thomas Lawson of the newly established Centre for Cognition and Culture at Queen's University Belfast. He is currently the recipient of two major British Academy grants. His previous books include Inside the Cult: religious innovation and transmission in Papua New Guinea (1995), Arguments and Icons: divergent modes of religiosity, (2000), The Debated Mind: evolutionary psychology versus ethnography (2001), and Modes of Religiosity: a cognitive theory of religious transmission (AltaMira, 2004). Luther H. Martin, professor of religion at the University of Vermont, is the author of Hellenistic Religions: An Introduction (1987), an editor of Theoretical Frameworks for the Study of Graeco-Roman Religions (2002), and author of numerous articles in this area of the history of religions. In addition, he is the author of numerous articles on theory and method in the study of religion, an editor of several volumes of essays on this topic, as well as an editor of a volume on The Academic Study of Religion During the Cold War (2001). He is currently engaged in research on Graeco-Roman religions from the perspective of cognitive science.
