• See large image

  Man and the Sacred (Paperback) By (author) Roger Caillois, Translated by Meyer Barash

  

  $21.13 - Save $1.12 (5%) - RRP $22.25 Free delivery worldwide (to United States and
  all these other countries) Usually dispatched within 48 hours Add to basket | Add to wishlist |

  Short Description for Man and the SacredDemonstrates how humanity's ambiguous attitude toward the sacred influences behaviour and culture. Drawing on a diverse array of ethnographic contexts, including the sexual rituals of Ba-Thong of South Africa and evidence drawn from aboriginal Australian, Eskimo, the author analyzes the role of the forbidden in the social cohesion of the group.
  Full description

  • Publisher: University of Illinois Press
  • Published: 01 September 2001
  • Format: Paperback 192 pages
  • See: Full bibliographic data
  • Categories: Religious Groups: Social & Cultural Aspects | Religion: General | Philosophy Of Religion | Comparative Religion
  • ISBN 13: 9780252070341 ISBN 10: 0252070348
  • Sales rank: 197,522

• The Edge of Surrealism

  

  Add to basket $25.66 - Save $1.36 (5%) - RRP $27.02

• The God Delusion

  

  Add to basket $10.40 - Save $3.89 27% off - RRP $14.29

• The Greatest Salesman in the Wor...

  

  Add to basket $6.66 - Save $1.32 (16%) - RRP $7.98

• The God Delusion

  

  Add to basket $13.58 - Save $0.71 (4%) - RRP $14.29

• Boomerang

  

  Add to basket $13.44 - Save $0.85 (5%) - RRP $14.29

Full description for Man and the Sacred

• Throughout the world, people believe that much of what they do is accidental, ordinary, and inconsequential, while other acts can bring on divine retribution or earn eternal grace. In "Man and the Sacred", Caillois demonstrates how humanity's ambiguous attitude toward the sacred influences behaviour and culture. Drawing on a diverse array of ethnographic contexts, including the sexual rituals of the Ba-Thong of South Africa and evidence drawn from aboriginal Australian, Eskimo, and traditional Chinese social systems, Caillois analyzes the role of the forbidden in the social cohesion of the group. He examines the character of the sacred in the light of specific instances of taboos and transgressions, exploring wide differences in attitudes toward diet and sex and extreme behaviours associated with the sacred, such as rapture and paroxysm. He also discusses the festival - an exuberant explosion following a period of strict repression--and compares its functions with those of modern war. A classic study of one of the most fundamental aspects of human social and spiritual life, Man and the Sacred - presented here in Meyer Barash's superb English translation - is a companion volume to Caillois's Man, Play and Games.