Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural

Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural | Pamela Moro, James Myers, ... | good summary of religion

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Magic, Witchcraft,...

	Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural Pamela Moro, James Myers, ... McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2006 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This comparative reader takes an anthropological approach to the study of religious beliefs, both strange and familiar. The engaging articles on all key issues related to the anthropology of religion grab the attention of students, while giving them an excellent foundation in contemporary ideas and approaches in the field. The multiple authors included in each chapter represent a range of interests, geographic foci, and ways of looking at each subject. Divided into ten chapters, this book begins with a broad view of anthropological ways of looking at religion, and moves on to some of the core topics within the subject, such as myth, ritual, and the various types of religious specialists.

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Compilation of very educational articles

I had to read this for an Anthropology class (Magic Witchcraft and Religion) and got so much out of it. Not only did my perspectives on some things change but I got a deeper understanding of the mechanics behind religion's role in society.

Some of the articles were very funny too especially the one on the Simpson's as social commentary.

good summary of religion

This book is used by Butte college as well as Chico State. The book consists of independent articles, or exerpts, that illustrate the topics of each chapter. Some of the articles are difficult to read, but in general it does provide useful information.

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Witchraft

People are still confusing Witchcraft and Wicca. Witchcraft in other cultures is on the negative and as it was put evil side. Not all is New Age Wicca. This book is an acedemic look into cultural Witchcraft in it's many forms. It is not a Llewellyn book.

Here's my problem with it so far...

Here's my problem with the book: It presents an unfavorable view of certain types of magick and religions. True, I have not finished the book yet, but all you hav to do is read the negative definitions for the words "withcraft: An EVIL power inhert in certain individuals that permits them...to do HARM or cause others MISFORTUNE;" "New Age: a loosley used term describing a combination of spirituality and superstition, a FAD and FARCE, that SUPPOSEDLY helps believes gain knowledge of the unknown;" and two of the four definitions involving the word magick end with the words "intended victim." Granted, the book was originally written in 1985 when withcraft, magick and Wicca weren't as accepted, but it was reprinted in 2001, so you'd think some of the definitions could have been changed. It just doesn't seem like an objective view of the supernatural and magick, but rather a negatively jaded one. It's getting 3 stars becasue I haven't finished it, and there's always a chance it could redeem itself at the end. ~Koppur

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Buy it used

I truly believe the book is too expensive for its quality and lenght, and you can find it used at very cheap prices and in extremelly good conditions, the one I bought was really as good as new and I only paid USD12.
I think the description of the book is a little misleading since I was expecting something like MArvin Harris, Diamond or Robert Wright analyzes on the existence of spirituality and it turned out to be a compilation of essays. True, most of them are really interesting and if you are not subscribed to LStore via university it is quite difficult to find these papers by themselves. The selected authors are like the divas of anthropology and I think that the book is nice to have as a consultation tool whenever you feel like wandering into certain topics.

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