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Zusatztext Few scholars are as well-prepared as Benson Saler was to undertake the sweeping inquiries of The Construction of the Supernatural in Euro-American Cultures . Saler conveys his erudition with a light touch, ranging across a dozen disciplines to defend a science of religions rooted in cognitive and evolutionary approaches as the best-suited to manage perennial problems, including properly situating the supernatural. This book glistens with his wisdom and insights. Informationen zum Autor Benson Saler is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Brandeis University, USA. Vorwort Argues that understanding the intellectual history of the supernatural is a foundation of the scientific study of religion Zusammenfassung This book describes aspects of the concept of the supernatural from the intellectual history of Euro-American cultures. These samplings shed light on issues in the study of religions and religion rather than attempting to provide either a lineally coherent or exhaustive account of a somewhat fraught and complicated notion. Observations include uses of the term among the ancient Greeks and medieval Christian theologians and 19th- and 20th-century social scientists. This book highlights more recent academics who draw on the cognitive and evolutionary sciences in attempting to make sense of recurrent features of the representations and meta-representations of different cultures. This includes such counter-intuitive notions as “the mysterious” among the Wayuu of Columbia and Venezuela and “vampires” in Europe and North America. These observations are concluded in a final essay – “Toward a Realistic and Relevant Science of Religion” – which presents considered opinions on how we might draw on the cognitive and evolutionary sciences to establish the foundations for a genuinely scientific study of religions and religion.Benson Saler sadly passed away shortly after writing this book. An appreciation of his work, written by Armin W. Geertz, is included in this volume. Inhaltsverzeichnis Benson Saler - An AppreciationPrefaceAcknowledgments Introduction1. Social Scientists and the Supernatural2. Nature and Transcendence among the Ancient Greeks3. Some Theological Perspectives4. Something Nice about Vampires5. Dracula and Camilla: Monsters and the Mind6. Towards a Realistic and Relevant...Science of ReligionNotes BibliographyIndex...
