How useful is ‘Religious Belief’ in the Anthropology of Religion?

Abstract

the polysemy of the word’. It can simultaneously refer to an internal psychological state or a social claim about truth. Needham’s [12] Belief, Language and Experience is a cogent critique of the notion of belief through an examination of the lexical and ideational aspects of the term ‘belief’, arguing against the tacit assumption that this psychological category is a universal human capacity. Taking various uses of the term over time and context, he argues for its social and historical construction and notes that it covers a vast spectrum of commitments from doubt to certainty. In contemporary usage religious belief refers to the acceptance of a religious statement, and colours this acceptance with shades of emotion and loyalty which he likens to love and trust between lovers or friends. It cannot be used in cross-cultural analysis of non-western cultures on account of the fact it places the burdens of the term’s history and its emphasis on passion and dedication on their mental lives. He concludes that we should abandon the term and find a new terminology to replace it. Leach debated whether anthropologists can meaningfully comment on the inner psychological states of religious adherents [13]. Bielo [4] underscores the fact that belief reflects the Protestant models of personhood, emphasizing individualism, and demands right belief and seeks to speak it with the utmost sincerity.