Magic and Religion

About this book

Why do cultures give so much importance to charms, sacred prohibitions and the stories told about gods? Andrew Lang enters a lively debate over the origins of religion, bringing accounts of magic and myth into conversation with contemporary anthropology.

Lang challenges several confident explanations advanced by other scholars, particularly those that turn complicated traditions into a single scheme of development. His examples range across continents and historical periods. The book preserves a moment when the study of religion was remaking itself, and when its investigators disagreed sharply about what the evidence meant.