Overview

Anthropologists of religion study themes central to the understanding of humanity, such as the power of ritual, the authority of language, and the exemplary character of myth. This Handbook brings together leading specialists to explain the historical and intellectual background to how anthropologists approach religion, and to show why its study remains a dynamic means of reflecting on contemporary life around the globe. Each chapter combines overviews of a given topic with original observations, and the Handbook is structured for ease of teaching. Five sections guide the reader on different routes through the field, helping to provoke further questions on historical and intellectual approaches; 'Indigenous' religions; 'World' religions; enduring themes; and emergent themes. The aim is to help students and researchers recognize how and why the field has been organized in certain ways, but also to make them feel confident enough to challenge its assumptions and to consider directions it might go in the future. This Handbook provides an excellent introduction to some of the most important elements of anthropology, including the discipline's emphases on comparison, embodied experience, and scepticism toward taken-for-granted categories. It also shows how religious practices remain entangled with some of the pressing themes and questions of our time, including how we perceive and treat our environment, ways in which we deal with religious and cultural differences, and the religious dimensions of virtual and mediated means of communication.

Full Product Details

Author:   Joel Robbins (Sigrid Rausing Professor of Social Anthropology, Sigrid Rausing Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge) ,  Simon Coleman (Chancellor Jackman Professor, Chancellor Jackman Professor, University of Toronto)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 4.40cm , Length: 25.20cm
Weight:   1.397kg
ISBN:  

9780199676217

ISBN 10:   0199676216
Pages:   736
Publication Date:   19 February 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Simon Coleman and Joel Robbins: Introduction: On the Virtues of 'Reading Across' Section 1: Approaches 1: Alexander Riley: The French Tradition 2: Ivan Strenski: Victorian Anthropologies of Religion: Their Puzzles and Problems 3: Matt Tomlinson: Cultural Analysis 4: Courtney Handman: Linguistic Approaches 5: Peter Stromberg: Narrative Analysis 6: Christopher Stephan and C. Jason Throop: Phenomenological Analysis 7: Joseph Webster: Approaches through Materiality 8: Carles Salazar: Cognitive Approaches 9: Brian M. Howell: Insiders and Outsiders in the Anthropology of Christianity Section 2: The Study of 'Indigenous Religions' 10: Joseph Hellweg and Dianna Bell: Person, Cosmos, and Power in the Anthropology of Religions in Africa: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Theory and Ethnography 11: Aprecida Vilaça: An Unstable 'Religion': Shamanism, Perspectivism, and 'Perpetual Disequilibrium' in Amazonia 12: John Barker and Dan Jorgensen: Melanesia 13: Robert W. Hefner: An Anthropology of Religion and Modernity Across Eastern Asia 14: Carolyn Schwarz: Religions of Aboriginal Australia 15: Meaghan Weatherdon and Pamela E. Klassen: The Study of Indigenous Religions in North America Section 3: 'World Religions' Revisited 16: Jonathan Mair: The Anthropology of Buddhism 17: David N. Gellner: Living with Polytropy and Hierarchy: The Anthropology of Hinduism 18: Anne Vallely: Jainism 19: Magnus Marsden: The Anthropology of Islam 20: Don Seeman and Nehemia A. Stern: Anthropology, Judaism, and Jews 21: Ruy Llera Blanes and Annelin Eriksen: Arguing with Christianity: Pentecostalism as a Challenge for Anthropology Section 4: Enduring Themes 22: Isak Niehaus: Magic and Witchcraft: Changing Anthropological Interpretations 23: Andrew J. Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart: Ritual: Revivals and Excursions 24: Jon P. Mitchell: Belief 25: Sonja Luehrmann: The Secular and the Sacred 26: James S. Bielo: Religion and Science 27: Anna I. Corwin and Jessica Hardin: Religion and Medicine: Productive Contrasts and their Limitations 28: Nicholas H.A. Evans: Morality 29: Susan J. Rasmussen: Spirit Possession and Religion: Excavating the Unexpected in an Uneasy Relationship 30: Morten Axel Pedersen: Shamanism 31: Britt Halvorson: Religion and Economies: Four Cultural Articulations and Their Insights 32: Susan Sared: Gender and Religion 33: Deborah Van Heerken: Myth 34: Pnina Werbner and Richard Werbner: Charisma 35: Jacob R. Hickman and Joseph Webster: Millenarianism Section 5: Emergent Themes 36: Ursula Rao: Religion and the Public Sphere 37: Jon Bialecki: Virtual Religion 38: Knut Rio: Religion, Globalization, and Universalism 39: Tom Boylston: Religion and Media (Human Communication, with a Loop in it) 40: Julia L. Cassaniti: Emotion in the Anthropology of Religion 41: Allen Abramson: Plural Entirety: Anthropology, Cosmology, and the 'Unnatural' Study of Human Worlds

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Author Information

Simon Coleman is Chancellor Jackman Professor at the Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto. Previously, he has worked at the Universities of Cambridge, Durham, and Sussex. He is a specialist in both pilgrimage and Pentecostalism, and has carried out fieldwork in Sweden, Nigeria, and the UK. Simon is a former editor of the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Joel Robbins is Sigrid Rausing Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. He is a specialist in the anthropology of Christianity, the study of ethics, values, and ritual, and anthropological theory. He is former editor of the journal Anthropological Theory and of the book series The Anthropology of Christianity.

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