Religion, Magic, and Cosmology

Bracketing the question of whether a belief is true in order to understand its internal logic and social work.

A system of symbols that establishes powerful, pervasive, long-lasting moods and motivations by formulating a general order of existence clothed in an 'aura of factuality' — notably without mentioning gods.

'Religion' as a universal category is itself a product of European Christian history, so applying it cross-culturally can distort.

In The Golden Bough (1890), humanity supposedly progresses magic → religion → science, with magic as 'bastard science' (mistaken causation). The evolutionism is rejected today.

Like produces like — e.g., pins in a doll shaped like an enemy, yellow flowers to cure jaundice.

Things once in contact remain connected — e.g., sorcery worked on hair clippings, nail parings, or a footprint.

Magic is anxiety management: Trobrianders used no magic for tasks they controlled, but elaborate rites before dangerous open-ocean voyages.

Magic is private, illicit, marginal; religion is public, licit, central — the difference is social authorization, not symbolic content.

Termites explain how the granary fell; witchcraft explains why these people at this moment. Witchcraft accounts for the particularity of misfortune, not the mechanism.

The poison oracle (benge) settles accusations; failures are blamed on taboo breach, bad poison, or counter-witchcraft — never on the oracle itself.