Beyond the Classics? Essays in the Scientific Study of Religion by Charles Y. Glock; Phillip E.

Hammond; Myth and Cult among Primitive Peoples by Adolph E. Jensen; Marianna Tax
Choldin; Wolfgang Weissleder; Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's Philosophy of Evolution by H.
James Birx
Review by: Lina M. Fruzzetti-Ostor
American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Sep., 1976), pp. 652-653
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association
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652 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
(2) cultural morphology, and (3) reflections
on the theory and development of cultural
anthropology.
He begins his section on acculturation
with a general synthesis of problems and
theories. Noting that acculturation has
frequently been synonymous with Western-
ization, Lanternari then presents some
interesting cases of acculturation from the
Third World to the West. On a more specific
level, he also examines socioreligious move-
ments as a part of the acculturation process
and looks at acculturation among the Nzima
of Ghana.
In the section on cultural morphology,
Lanternari centers his interests on "forms
and developments of some phenomena or
cultural complexes (dreams, games, move-
ments of dissent) according to an historic-
comparative line" (p. x). The articles in this
section examine dissent, dreams, games, and
African religion.
The third section of the book contains
articles on Roger Bastide, Evans-Pritchard,
anthropology in Italy, and anthropology and
imperialism.
In contrast to Antropologia Industrial,
Lanternari's work is simply a collection of
papers which are integrated only with the
fact of having been written by the same
author. This does not mean the work is
without merit, but rather that a reader may
find several articles which have little interest
for him. The high points of the book, I feel,
are the first two chapters which deal with
acculturation.
Both books need to be translated into
English so that they can gain a greater
readership among American and English
anthropologists. Of the two, Esteva's is
probably the more important, particularly in
light of recent concerns for the development
and recognition of nonacademic
anthropology.
Beyond the Classics? Essays in the Scientific
Study of Religion. Charles Y. Glock and
Phillip E. Hammond, eds. New York: Harper
and Row, 1973. xvii + 442 pp. n.p. (paper).
Myth and Cult among Primitive Peoples.
Adolph E. Jensen. Marianna Tax Choldin
and Wolfgang Weissleder, trans. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1973. x + 349
pp. $3.45 (paper). [Third ed. Published
1950, Steiner Verlag, Weisbaden, titled
Mythos und Kult bei den Naturv6lkern. Rev.
AA 54:399.]
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's Philosophy of
Evolution. H. James Birx. Inscription by
Ernst Haeckel. American Lecture Series,
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
[78,1976]
852, the Bannerstone Division of American
Lectures in Philosophy, Monograph Series.
Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas,
1972. xxii + 163 pp. n.p. (cloth).
Lina M. Fruzzetti-Ostor
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Harvard University
All three books deal with the problem of
religion: the ways we understand, study, and
relate to it as a system of beliefs and
meanings; the role of religion in society; and
the significance of beliefs and the way men
orient themselves to the sacred in relation to
the nonsacred domain of life within the
context of more general world views. The
literature on "religion" is indeed vast, in-
cluding a purely social interest, the esoteric
nature of rituals, the meaning of religion in
the individual's life cycle, the relationship of
religion in social organization, and the
psychological and scientific significance of
religious phenomena. The above three books
attempt to do a "scientific" study of religion
and yet the methods and results of the
three are diverse enough to warrant the
questions: What is the "scientific" study of
"religion" and can one do such a study?
What is the relationship between "science"
and "religion"? Are we to use the same or
different languages and methods of analysis
and understanding in studying domains of
science and religion and if the former then
how are we to apply scientific methods to
the study of religion?
In the field of social anthropology, the
most significant and meaningful studies of
religion have been those that link beliefs and
rituals to the social organization, social
structure, and social morphology of society,
tying religion as an ideological system to
society in a holistic approach. From this
point of view, religion cannot be divorced
from society as a separate reality nor can it
or need it be comprehended in terms of a
separate method and a unique kind of
understanding.
Beyond the Classics? is a collection of
essays with contributions by Birnbaum,
Dittes, Eisenstadt, Eister, Glick, Nelson,
Pruyser, and Parsons, all of which concern
themselves with the above problems. They
attempt to relate the "scientific" study of
religion in the classics (Marx, Weber, Durk-
heim, Malinowski, Freud, James, and
Niebuhr) through the historical development
of the last century to the present status of
the question. The book is to be recom-
mended for reading alongside the original
works of these social theorists, sociologists,
anthropologists, psychologists, and
theologians. Parsons' essay is exceptionally
 GENERAL, APPLIED, AND THEORETICAL
interesting since he reanalyzes an earlier
essay of his based on Durkheim's Ele-
mentary Forms of Religion. Parsons' new
approach places Durkheim's emphasis on the
human condition and the place of religion in
man's actions. But Durkheim's contribution
to the study of religion has influenced,
guided, and served as baseline, a pioneer
work in the field of social anthropology, and
one wonders how far (if at all) we have gone
beyond or departed from the Elementary
Forms. Glick's essay is a historical sketch of
Malinowski's anthropological work on reli-
gion, a concise and analytically useful one.
In brief, the essays are on the whole ex-
cellent and informative-especially Nelson's
and Birnbaum's which deserve special com-
mendation.
Jensen's Myth and Cult deals with a
related theme though methodologically and
analytically it is on a different level. The
book is reminiscent of an older style; it is an
exposition of the quaint myths, rites, and
magic of the world of primitive people (no-
where does Jensen define "primitive" in
contrast to some other kind of society). The
book lacks unity and focus in subject mat-
ter; the analysis of the myths, rites, cults,
and so on cuts across countries and tribes of
"low" and "high" culture. The attempt at
cross-cultural comparison is broad and leads
to further confusion in understanding
"primitive" man. Ethnographically, the
anecdotes are interesting but at the same
time frustrating since the author does not
relate them in any meaningful way to the
social structure of the groups in question,
and does not interpret ideological and
morphological features. Furthermore, the
book is based on historical reconstructions
and "religious" hyphotheses of what some
of the myths, rites, or magic might have
been like, in the past. The author's attempt
to understand the science of religion suc-
ceeds in precisely the reverse aim-it seems
to bring home that meanings and symbols of
actions, objects, and ideas must be related to
specific domains in society, not merely the
artificially constituted contents of "myths"
and "cults."
Birx's book on Chardin's philosophy of
evolution is an excellent account of the
Jesuit priest's life and work, the problems,
encounters, and dogma he faced in the
Catholic Church in relation to his scholarly
work, the concern with the evolution of
man. Birx's approach manages to present
Chardin's philosophy in its development
parallel to the line of the Church, the
inconsistencies in Chardin's attempt to ac-
commodate evolution into Catholic teach-
ings, and Chardin's theology, philosophy,
and science. His interest in the evolutionary
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653
cycle of man and in ". . . man's place in the
universe . . ." leads Chardin to ". . . reconcile
the universe and a personal God with an
evolutionary pantheism." The author con-
trasts Chardin's work with that of other
evolutionists, which highlights the diversity
among evolutionary approaches. Like Durk-
heim, Chardin was also concerned with the
human condition though in a radically dif-
ferent way, moving ". . . from nature to
mysticism and from evolution to God."
Religion and Political Modernization.
Donald Eugene Smith, ed. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1974. x + 340 pp. $15.00
(cloth).
Joseph V. Guillotte, III
University of New Orleans
This volume of sixteen essays analyzing
the relationships between religion and
politics in the Third World grew out of the
first conference sponsored by the Institute
for Religion and Social Change in March of
1971 at Honolulu. Eight political scientists,
three historians, a professor of Indology, a
professor of Islamic thought, and an anthro-
pologist contributed to the book. Their
articles deal with: Hinduism in India and
Nepal; Roman Catholicism in Latin America;
Burmese, Thai and Singhalese Buddhism;
Islam in India and Egypt; and Orthodox
Judaism in Israel.
Although there is a bit of overlapping due
to several scholars treating the same geo-
graphical area, this is a tightly constructed,
logically organized collection of distilled and
informative articles. All of the contributions
are of a high caliber of scholarship and
incisiveness. Each article concerns the devel-
opment of political modernization in a
specific area. Modernization is concerned
with the differentiation of the political and
governmental structures of a society, an
emphasis on the equality of all citizens, and
the increase of the capacity of the govern-
ment to bring about social and economic
change. The roles of religious action, organ-
ization, or belief in advancing or resisting
these modernizing elements is studied inso-
far as they relate to secularization, mass
politicization and the legitimation of change.
I recommend this book to students of
political anthropology and social change as
well as anyone interested in the dynamic
interaction between values and politics.
Scholars with an interest in Latin America,
India, Southeast Asia, and the Near East will
profit from reading this book. No doubt the
cost of this volume will prohibit its use as a
text. I hope a cheaper paperback edition will
follow.