Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion

Rating:
Summary: Masterful overview of religion origins and development
Review: In this masterful work, Hayden, by using ecological (i.e. materialistic) factors, tries to portray (and, as far as I am concerned, he achieves his goal) an engaging approach of how religion originated and developed from prehistoric times to the foundations of early civilizations (but including a final synthesis of religions' situation in our times). To put it in a nutshell, his basic belief is that social competition is the driving force of cultural change, and that also applies to religions. He also emphasizes the relevance of ecstatic experiences practiced all over the world, from shamanic cultures to predatory modern cults. It is to take into account that, although he lets aside book religions, his analysis of Christianity (past and present) is lucid and (because of that, perhaps unintentionally?) depicts an image that probably many will find rather negative, even sour.

Besides, the book is not a difficult reading (content: 5 starts; pleasure of reading: 4 to 3).

My only strong complaint about the book is its outrageous price. One hopes the publisher will issue a reasonably priced paperback edition soon, so that this timely and important work will get the wide circulation which it so clearly merits.

Other books I would recommend to read are the following: "The Phenomenon of Religion", by Moojan Momen; "Ecstasies: Deciphering the witches' Sabbath", by Carlo Ginzburg; "The Magical Universe : Everyday Ritual and Magic in Pre-Modern Europe", by Stephen Wilson; and "Cosmos, Chaos, and the World to Come", by Norman Cohn.

Rating:
Summary: Three Books in One
Review: The previous reviewer complained about the price of Hayden's book yet said it's a `masterful work'. Indeed Hayden has packed his big book with information, both text and graphics. So think of it as `three books in one' and its price won't seem so `outrageous'.

Hayden explores how the adoption of religions was propelled by `politics' not only among the early egalitarian hunter-gatherers but especially the later hierarchical societies right on up to the present time. He's organized his book so the reader can sample as much or as little information as desired, by providing subject captions as well as summaries at the ends of the chapters. His descriptions are well written and personable, and fully referenced.

What I didn't find adequately explained is why we humans are susceptible to belief in gods, which I explore in my book, "Concepts: A ProtoTheist Quest for Science-Minded Skeptics."