In search of the sacred anthropology and the study of religions - Bennett, Clinton (Cassell, 1996)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-210) and index
Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1 Common Roots; 2 Divergence: Armchair Scholarship versus Going Native; 3 Convergence: Seeing Through Others' Eyes; 4 Interaction: Religions as Multidimensional Phenomena; 5 The Go-between Function; 6 Our Disciplines: Good Practice for Today; References; Index
This text traces the growth and development of two related disciplines, anthropology and the study of religions. Locating these disciplines within the intellectual climate of the 19th century, the study considers the contributions of scholars such as James George Frazer, F. Max Muller, Emile Durkheim, Mary Douglas and Clifford Geertz, within an historical framework. The author argues that both anthropologists and students of religion have abandoned an objective approach in favour of personal engagement with their subjects, replacing observation with conversation, monologue with dialogue, a tex