Book Summary
This book is an ambitious attempt to develop a cognitive approach to religion. Focusing particularly on ritual action, it borrows analytical methods from linguistics and other cognitive sciences. The theory's central feature is a set of universal principles of religious ritual structure. The authors, a philosopher of science and a scholar of comparative religion, provide a lucid critical review of established approaches to religion, and make a strong plea for the combination of interpretation and explanation. Often represented as competitive approaches, they are, rather, complementary, equally vital to the study of symbolic systems. This book develops a cognitive approach to religion. Focusing particularly on ritual action, it borrows analytical methods from linguistics and other cognitive sciences. The authors provide a lucid, critical review of established approaches to the study of religion, and make a strong plea for the combination of interpretation and explanation. Often represented as competitive approaches, they are, rather, complementary and equally vital to the study of symbolic systems. Rethinking Religion deals with the relationship between cognition and culture in a novel manner, and introduces a method of analysis that will have many applications.
Book Details
| Book Name | Rethinking Religion: Connecting Cognition And Culture |
| Author | E. Thomas Lawson, Robert N. Mccauley |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (Jan 1993) |
| ISBN | 9780521438063 |
| Pages | 208 |
| Language | English |
| Price | 2487 |
