Title: In search of the sacred
Subtitle: anthropology and the study of religions
First published: 1996
Description: This book traces the birth and development of two related but distinct disciplines, anthropology and the study of religions. It begins by locating these within the intellectual climate of the nineteenth century, and within this historical framework goes on to discuss the contributions of such significant scholars as James George Frazer, F. Max Muller, Emile Durkheim, Mary Douglas and Clifford Geertz.

The author argues that both anthropologists and students of religion have abandoned an impersonal, so-called 'objective' approach in favour of personal engagement with their subjects, replacing observation with conversation, monologue with dialogue, and text-based with a people-based approach. The book reveals how each discipline has influenced the other, both in terms of methodology and by the provision of data.

It also explores the criticism levelled at both disciplines, that they have aided colonial domination of the developing world.
Subjects: Study and teaching, Religions, Ethnology, Religion, Religious aspects of Ethnology, Religious aspects, Étude et enseignement, SOCIAL SCIENCE, Aspect religieux, Godsdienstwetenschap, Culturele antropologie, Sacré, Sociology of Religion, Ethnologie, Religion, study and teaching
LC classification: BL256 .B44 1996