Approaches to the Study of Religion | Anthropology Optional for UPSC PDF Download

Evolutionary Approaches to Study of Religion

Anthropology, from its beginnings has chiefly concerned itself with non-literate and technologically primitive cultures and thus has stressed a certain range of techniques, such as the use of participant observation. Because of the anthropologists' interest in tribal and "primitive" societies, it has not been unnatural for them to try to use the data gained in the study of such societies to speculate about the genesis and functions of religion.
An early attempt to combine archaeological evidence of prehistoric people, on the one hand, and anthropological evidence of primitive peoples, on the other, was that of the English anthropologist John Lubbock (1834-1913). His books, the Origin of Civilization and the Primitive condition of man outlined an evolutionary scheme, beginning with atheism (the absence of religious ideas) and continuing with fetishism, nature worship and totemism (a system of belief involving the relationship of specific animals to clans) shamanism ( a system of belief centering on the shaman, a religious personage having curative and psychic powers), anthropomorphism, monotheism (belief in one god), and, finally, ethical monotheism. Unfortunately, much of his information was unreliable, and his schematics was open to question; he foreshadowed, nevertheless, other forms of evolutionism, which were to become, popular both in sociology and anthropology.
The English ethnologist E. B. Tylor (1832-1917), who is commonly considered the father of modern anthropology, expounded, in his book primitive culture the thesis that animism is the earliest and most basic religious, form. Gut of this evolves fetishism belief in demons polytheism and finally monotheism which derives from the exaltation of a great god, such as the sky god, in a polytheistic context. A somewhat similar system was advanced by Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) in his Principles of Sociology, though he stresses rather than animism ancestor worship as the basic consideration.

Robert Ranulf Marrett classifies religion into five forms  Animism, Animatism, Nature worship, Polytheism, and Monotheism. Emile Durkheim says totemism is the most elementary form of religion while Max Muller says that naturalism is the earliest form of religion. Leslie White classifies religion into five forms namely Zoomorphism, Nature worship, Anthropomorphism, Polytheism and Monotheism. Swanson suggests a four fold classification of religious forms such as Animism, Ancestral worship, Polytheism and Monotheism.
On the other hand, Anthony Wallace classifies world religions into four forms viz., Shamanic religion, Communal religion, Polytheism and Monotheism. All the four distinct forms of world religions show four distinct types of organization based on the degree of specialization of Religious personnel. The shamanic religion is organized in terms of individual and shamanic cults. This type of religious organization is characteristic of food gatherers. The communal religion is organized in terms of individual, shamanic and communal cults. This type of religious organization is characteristic of complex societies. The monotheistic religion is organized in terms of the individual, shamanic, communal and ecclesiastic but believes in one Supreme Being. This type of religious organization is characteristic of complex and highly stratified societies.
Sir James Frazer, in his The Golden Bough A History of Myth and Religion, believes that religion is the result of the development of the original magic stage of human culture. Just as the primitive man believed in overwhelming and instrumentalizing the nature or super nature through magic for personal benefits eventual development in his thought led to similar belief that by cajoling the spirits or pleasing them by prayers one can work out his problems and needs. This in essence has come to be called The Magic Theory in anthropology.

The Classifications of Religion
polytheism, henotheism (i.e., the worship of one god as supreme without necessarily excluding the possibility of other groups’ gods), and "monotheism begin from concern with gods and often imply the superiority of monotheism over other forms of belief Naturally, the anthropologists of the 19th century were deeply influenced by the presuppositions of Western society.
Auguste Comte, usually considered the father of modern sociology, in his The Positive Philosophy, has give three stages in the evolution of human thinking. His law of three stages provides a sociological dimension to the development of human thinking.

According to him, the three stages passed by human thinking are
1. Theological or fictitious stage
2. Metaphysical or Abstract stage
3. Scientific or Positive stage
Theological Stage
This is the first or primary stage of human thinking. The level of thinking in this stage is equivalent to that of children. The thinking at this stage lacks any logic or orderliness. Such a level of thinking lacks any scientific outlook. The subject matter of theological thinking is natural events. The unusual and unintelligible natural phenomenon direct man's thinking towards fictitious interpretation of these events.
The primitive man, unable to discover the natural causes for such various happenings, attributes them to imaginary or divine forces. The explanation of natural events in divine imaginary or unnatural conditions, is theological or fictitious thinking. The theological thinking implies belief in another world wherein reside the divine forces which control the events of the world. This belief thus implies belief in divine or extra terrestrial forces. Comte classified theological stage into three more stages.
1. Fetishism The first and primary stage of theological thinking is that of fetishism. It is an undue emotional attachment to some object. This emotional attachment leads to a belief that there is some living spirit in nonliving objects. This thinking believes that the objects are not dead and lifeless but are inhabited by a living spirit.
2. Polytheism A change in the human thinking occurred due to development of mental faculties. This change led to a more evolved and developed form than that of fetishism. This stage is called as polytheism. At this stage, man classified Gods as well as the natural and human forces. Each natural force had a presiding deity. Each deity has some definite, function and His scope and area of action is determined.
3. Monotheism The last and most developed thinking is manifested in monotheism. At this level of thinking a belief in one God replaced the belief in many Gods. This stage symbolizes a victory of human intellect. In this type of thinking, it is believed that one God is supreme and that he is responsible for maintenance of order and system in the world.

Metaphysical or Abstract Stage
This stage marks the second stage in the evolution of human thinking. With gradual improvement in thinking, human problems also became more complex and intricate. The theological thinking was not adequate to tackle these problems. The appearance of conflicting and opposite forces in the world presented problems which could not be successfully tackled by monotheism. It was difficult to believe that the same God was responsible for primordial creation and also annihilation. In order to resolve this intellectual puzzle, the metaphysical thinking was invented. Under this thinking, belief in an abstract transcendental entity would replace the belief in personal concrete God under metaphysical thinking it is believed that an abstract power or force guides and determines the events in the world. Metaphysical thinking discards belief in existence of God.
Scientific or Positive Stage
All of metaphysical knowledge is based on speculation and is at best inferential. There are no means to Confirm the metaphysical knowledge. In , the last analysis, it is a matter of belief or temperament. The modern temperament of man is such that man cannot remain satisfied with mere guess work. The modern thinking craves for scientific enquiry based on facts and these facts are gathered by observation and experience. The observation and classification of the facts are beginning of scientific thinking and Knowledge. The facts help to generalize and draw conclusions and these conclusions are subject to validation and once validated, these facts become established laws. The scientific thinking is thoroughly rational and when rationality exists, there is no place for superstition.