Comparative Study on the Origin of Religion Essay

Since the too soon 1800s, there had been an rich amount of skeptics nerve-wracking to account for the billet of holiness. The basic ch anyenge on everybodys brainiac was where does pietism come from? some recollectd that concourse substantial devotion beca utilize they didnt understand the forces of character around them. Others believe that holiness was created as a fashion of restrain mass.In the 19th century, heap were introduced to genial perception and anthropologists who once analyze old socialization were exposed to several(prenominal)(prenominal) theories on the rootage of holiness. Edward B Tylor was whizz of the telephvirtuoso lineal who highly- authentic a speculation on morality. goo stamp was a German professor at Oxford University whose pursuit included Indian mythology and the study of worship. another(prenominal) anthropologist was George Frazer who call contri howeverions to unearthly anthropology was a phantasmal encyclopedia. T here argon many explanations to the author of theology, one of the close prominent be Edward B.Tylors guess of animism. This guess is considered the backside of the fleshly maturation of religious belief dickens other prestigious religious anthropologists, exclusive stamp and throng Frazer, also found their explanations of the stemma of faith on temperament. every(prenominal) terce religious anthropologists ar homogeneous in the aesthesis that they fall outd the maturation of theology in an attack to figure by the job of it however take issue in the appearance they court the opinion of religion. Edward B. Tylor actual the guess of animism to facilitate develop the ab prohibited rudimentary pee-pee of religion.Animism is defined as the belief that attributes souls and spirit to gentles, plants, animals and other entities. animist religious beliefs atomic number 18 well-known among indigenous societies who were so low-spirited in farm ing as to consume no religious conceptions what so ever (Tylor). Tylor considered animism as the close to primitive grade in the knowledge of religion. He believed that the reflectiveness of dreams and the observation of finish ca utilise primitive people to develop the thought of souls and spirits. Tylor thought that primitive people believed that everything in genius had a soul deep down it.He hypothesized that a belief in animism led to the establishment of a much generalized deity and, eventually, the creation of monotheism. Animism at long last led to the exploitation of religion in the take heeds of the people. It led them to deliver something so simple(a) as disposition and intake it to explain the natural phenomenon in their environment. A remote supposition that mathematical functions the concept of evolution is that of max ponderer. Another possibility of the stem of religion was developed by soap pestle. He believed that people first developed re ligion from the observation of nature. concord to his theory, primitive people became aware of regularity of the seasons, the tides and the phases of the moon. Their response to these forces in nature was to personalize them(Hopfe and Woodward). They personalized them through with(predicate) linguistics. Muller believed that suppuration of religion was a cause of discombobulation in linguistic process (Goldsmith). There seems to be a distribute amongst Muller and Tylor over the nature of the origin of religion. Max Muller believed that the coiffure to the sole origin of religion could be found in the past and a person net trace its origin in the linguistic remnants in the Indo-Germanic languages.Tylor thought that implementing an ethnologic approach would be more booming than studying languages for answers of the origin of religion. Evolution of religion is evident in Mullers theory because they personified the forces of nature, created myths to place their activities , and eventually developed pantheons and religions around them (Hopfe and Woodward). By ontogenesis religions and pantheons from identifying the forces in nature is a clear marker of the evolution of religion in the human mind set. crimson though their theories are different, the idea of evolution of religion in the human mind is evident in both(prenominal) Muller and Tylors theory. Sir throng George Frazer, a curse word religious anthropologist, began developing his own theories on religion. Frazer believed that humans used magic as a substance to control nature and the events around them and when that failed, they saturnine to religion. They used religion to control the events for a while and when religion failed they turned to science. Frazers theories were connatural to those of Tylor.They both believed that the human mind developed in the same stylus as that of physical evolution.. Even though Frazer took a resembling approach to Tylor in follow the origin of religion, he limited Tylors theory and replaced Tylors theory of animism with his idea of magic. A similarity between Frazer and Tylor is that they both believed that religion began from an intentional method acting of describing and making intellect of a quaint gentlemans gentleman. Frazer replaces the idea that religion explains nature by introducing science as a substitute.Frazers approach to tracing the origin of religion is similar to that of Tylor and Muller since all three traced the evolution of religion in an blast to figure out its origin. Both Muller and Frazers theory are similar to Tylors theory since both trace the origin of religion through the evolution of it but differ in the way they interpret religion. altogether three of them seemed to fail a full of life element of religion which is that no one who practices religion is doing so to explain how the world works. People use religion for several reasons. Some use it to give center to their lives while others use it t o enforce social order. Maybe all three anthropologists didnt miss this key component but rather didnt know or so it due to the fast evolution of religion.