Explaining effervescence
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Chapter addresses the issue of what is involved in a naturalistic study of religion. It distinguishes between descriptive and explanatory research strategies. The first, descriptive approach is that characteristic of traditional ethnography. The anthropologist, on this view, has the task of observing and recording local patterns of human interaction, with a view to explaining their meaning. By way of contrast, an explanatory approach to religion is not only interested in general theories, it also tries to convert such theories into experimentally testable hypotheses. While recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, the authors argue that it is the explanatory approach that is best placed to dispel the mysteries of religious and, more particularly, ritual behaviour. |
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