Ecstatic religion
Subtitle: a study of shamanism and spirit possession
By: I.M. Lewis.
Edition: 2nd ed.
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1989
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 200
Subjects: Ecstasy; Shamanism; Spirit possession; Religion and sociology
Description: States of spiritual possession in which believers feel themselves to be 'possessed' by the deity and raised to a new plan of existence are found in almost all known religions. This book offers a comprehensive sociological approach to this experience, drawing an important distinction between central possession cults, dominated by male ecstatics, which reinforce official morality and established power, and marginal cults, which are often a form of protest on the part of the oppressed -- particularly women. this wide-ranging comparative study looks at the biochemical, psychological, aesthetic, religious and sociocultural aspects of possession in discussing African shamanism, the classical shamanistic religions of Arctic Asia and South America, Haitian voodoo, the cult of Dionysus, Christian mysticism, and other manifestations of spiritual ecstasy. In this new, completely revised and expanded edition of a classic work, the author explores the social and political significance.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 185-194.
Includes index.