The anthropology of religion, magic, and witchcraft / Rebecca L. Stein, Philip L. Stein.

Upper Saddle River, NJ : Pearson/Prentice Hall, [2011], ©2011.

xiv, 270 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

3rd ed.

1. The anthropological study of religion : Anthropological perspective : The holistic approach, The study of human societies, The Fore of New Guinea: an ethnographic example, Two ways of viewing culture, Cultural relativism, Concept of culture ; The study of religion: Attempts at defining religion, Domain of religion, Theoretical approaches to the study of religion, The biological basis of religious behavior -- 2. Mythology : The nature of myths : Worldview, Stories of the supernatural, The nature of oral texts ; Understanding myths: Approaches to analysis of myths, Common themes in myths -- 3. Religious symbols : What is a symbol? : Religious symbols ; Sacred art: The sarcophagus of Lord Pakal, The meaning of color ; Sacred time and sacred space: The meaning of time, Sacred time and space in Australia ; The symbolism of music and dance: The symbolism of music, The symbolism of dance -- 4. Ritual : The basics of ritual performance: Prescriptive and situational rituals, Periodic and occasional rituals, A classification of rituals ; A survey of rituals: Technological rituals, Social rites of intensification, Therapy rituals and healing, Salvation rituals, Revitalization rituals ; Rites of passage: Alterations of the human body ; Pilgrimages: The Huichol pilgrimage ; Religious obligations: Tabu, Jewish food laws -- 5. Altered states of consciousness : The nature of altered states of consciousness: Entering an altered state of consciousness, The biological basis of altered states of consciousness, Drug-induced altered states -- Ethnographic examples of altered states of consciousness: The holiness churches, San healing rituals, The Sun Dance of the Cheyenne ; Religious use of drugs in South America: Rastafarians -- 6. Religious specialists : Shamans: Defining Shamanism, Siberian Shamanism, Korean Shamanism, Pentecostal healers as shamans, Neoshamanism ; Priests: Zuni priests, Okinawan priestesses, Eastern Orthodox priests ; Other specialists: Healers and diviners, Prophets -- 7. Magic and divination : The world of magic: Magic and religion, Magic and science, Rules of magic, The function of magic, Why magic works ; Magic in society: Magic in the Trobriand Islands, Magic among the Azande, Sorcery among the Fore, Wiccan magic ; Divination: Forms of divination, Divination techniques, Fore divination, Oracles of the Azande, Divination in Ancient Greece: the Oracle at Delphi, Astrology -- 8. Souls, ghosts, and death : Souls and ancestors: Variation in the concept of the soul, Souls, death, and the afterlife, Examples of concepts of the soul, Ancestors ; Bodies and souls: Ghosts, The living dead: vampires and zombies ; Death rituals: Funeral rituals, Disposal of the body, U.S. death rituals in the nineteenth century, U.S. funeral rituals today, Days of death -- 9. Gods and spirits : Spirits: The Dani view of the supernatural, Guardian spirits and the Native American Vision Quest, Jinn, Christian angels and demons ; Gods: Types of gods, Gods and society, The gods of the Yoruba, The gods of the Ifugao, Goddesses, Monotheism: conceptions of God in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Atheism -- 10. Witchcraft : The concept of witchcraft in small-scale societies: Witchcraft among the Azande, Witchcraft among the Navaho, Witchcraft reflects human culture, Sorcery, witchcraft, and AIDS ; Euro-American witchcraft beliefs: The connection with pagan religions, The witchcraze in Europe, The witchcraze in England and the United States, Modern-day witch hunts -- 11. The search for new meaning : Adaptation and change: Mechanisms of culture change, Haitian Vodou, Santeria ; Revitalization movements: The origins of revitalization movements, Types of revitalization movements, Cargo cults, The Ghost Dance of 1890, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormonism) ; Neo-paganism and revival: The Wiccan movement ; New religious movements: The "cult" question, Characteristics of high demand religions, Examples of new religious movements, UFO religions ; Fundamentalism: Characteristics of fundamentalist groups.

Includes bibliographical references and index.