Contemporary theories of religion a critical companion

Includes bibliographical references and index.

There is life in the old dog yet: an introduction to contemporary theories of religion / Michael Stausberg -- Religion as superhuman agency: on E. Thomas Lawson and Robert N. McCauley, Rethinking religion (1990) / Steven Engler and Mark Quentin Gardiner -- Anthropomorphism and animism: on Stewart E. Guthrie, Faces in the clouds (1993) / Benson Saler -- From need to violence: on Walter Burkert, Creation of the sacred (1996) / Gustavo Benavides -- Religion as ritual: Roy Rappaport's changing views from Pigs for the ancestors (1968) to Ritual and religion in the making of humanity (1999) / Robert A. Segal -- Religious economies and rational choice: on Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, Acts of faith (2000) / Gregory D. Alles -- Religion as communication: on Niklas Luhmann, The religion of society (2000) / Peter Beyer -- Exotic experience and ordinary life: on Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili and Vince Rause, Why God won't go away (2001) / Matthew Day -- Religion as the unintended product of brain functions in the 'standard cognitive science of religion model': on Pascal Boyer, Religion explained (2001) and Ilkka Pyysiäinen, How religion works (2003) / Jeppe Sinding Jensen -- Religion as evolutionary cascade: on Scott Atran, In gods we trust (2002) / Joseph Bulbulia -- Religion as superorganism: on David Sloan Wilson, Darwin's cathedral (2002) / Joseph Bulbulia and Marcus Frean -- Roots in the brain: on David Lewis-Williams and David Pierce, Inside the neolithic mind (2005) / Donald Wiebe -- Boundary maintenance: religions as organic-cultural flows on Thomas Tweed, Crossing and dwelling (2006) / Aaron W. Hughes -- Theory of religion as myth: on Loyal Rue, Religion is not about God (2005) / Hubert Seiwert -- New atheistic approaches in the cognitive science of religion: on Daniel Dennett, Breaking the spell (2006), and Richard Dawkins, The God delusion (2006) / Armin W. Geertz -- Interventionist practices and the promises of religion: on Martin Riesebrodt, Cultus und Heilsversprechen (2007) / Michael Stausberg -- Back and forth / Michael Stausberg.