Includes bibliographical references and index.

Anthropology and religion : Words and things ; Is religion a human universal? ; The meaning of religion ; The anthropology of religion ; Types of anthropological studies of religion ; Types of religion ; Religions versus religion -- Religion here and there: Western notions in comparative perspective : Religion is primarily a matter of belief or faith ; Religion and identity: one at a time ; Religion is a separate realm of life ; Religion is associated with a special building ; Religion concerns transcendental rather than practical matters ; Religion is the basis of morality -- Religion, evolution, and prehistory : The bio-evolution of religion ; When did religion develop? ; The origin of religion: how it began ; The nature of early religion ; Has religion evolved? -- Religion, adaptation, and the environment : Ecological functionalism ; Religion as a regulator of ecological processes ; Cultural materialist explanations of seemingly maladaptive ritual practices (or, Solving the riddles of culture) ; Religion and environmentalism ; The problem of reaching conclusions about religion and adaption -- Natural symbols : Are there natural symbols? ; The natural environment as symbolism ; Animals ; Colors ; Lateral symbolism: left- and right-handedness ; Percussion sounds ; The head and its parts ; Natural symbols and natural religion -- Myth and ritual, old and new : What more exactly is myth? ; Theories, approaches, and explanations of myth ; The protagonists of myth ; Myth and gender ; Contemporary urban myths ; Contemporary rumor myths -- Ritual and belief : The nature of ritual ; Some common forms of religious ritual ; Some common types of ritual ; The structure of ritual according to Arnold van Gennep ; Journeys and boundaries ; Rites of passage ; Mortuary rituals ; Bad death ; Funerals as rites of passage -- Witchcraft and sorcery: past and present, far and near : Traditional witchcraft and sorcery in small-scale societies ; Witchcraft in late medieval and early modern Europe ; Modern witchcraft or neo-paganism -- Spirit possession, spirit mediumship, and shamanism : Spirit possession and spirit mediumship ; Shamanism ; Shamanism in the modern world -- Religious movements and the origins of religions : Three Native American movements ; Cargo cults in Melanesia ; A religious movement in Borneo ; Revitalization? -- Anthropology and the world's religions : The world religions from an anthropological perspective ; Anthropological studies of the world religions ; The conversion of indigenous peoples to and within the world religions -- Anthropology and religion on a larger canvas: religious change under socialism and capitalism : Religious change in socialist and postsocialist societies ; Socialism and shamanism in Siberia and Mongolia ; Religion under socialism in China ; Religion, social complexity, and socialism in Cuba ; Vietnam and Laos as socialist states ; The return of the occult.