Opening with the provocative query “what might an anthropology of the secular look like?” this book explores the concepts, practices, and political formations of secularism, with emphasis on the major historical shifts that have shaped secular sensibilities and attitudes in the modern West and the Middle East.
Talal Asad proceeds to dismantle commonly held assumptions about the secular and the terrain it allegedly covers. He argues that while anthropologists have oriented themselves to the study of the “strangeness of the non-European world” and to what are seen as non-rational dimensions of social life (things like myth, taboo, and religion),the modern and the secular have not been adequately examined.
The conclusion is that the secular cannot be viewed as a successor to religion, or be seen as on the side of the rational. It is a category with a multi-layered history, related to major premises of modernity, democracy, and the concept of human rights. This book will appeal to anthropologists, historians, religious studies scholars, as well as scholars working on modernity.

Professor Tambiah, one of today's leading anthropologists, is known particularly for his penetrating and scholarly studies of Buddhism. In this accessible and illuminating book he deals with the classical opposition between magic, science and religion. He reviews the great debates in classical Judaism, early Greek science, Renaissance philosophy, the Protestant Reformation, and the scientific revolution, and then reconsiders the three major interpretive approaches to magic in anthropology: the intellectualist and evolutionary theories of Tylor and Frazer, Malinowski's functionalism, and Levy Bruhl's philosophical anthropology, which posited a distinction between mystical and logical mentalities. There follows a wide-ranging and suggestive discussion of rationality and relativism. The book concludes with a discussion of thinking in the history and philosophy of science, which suggests interesting perspectives on the classical opposition between science and magic.

In Geneologies of Religion, Talal Asad explores how religion as a historical category emerged in the West and has come to be applied as a universal concept.
The idea that religion has undergone a radical change since the Christian Reformation―from totalitarian and socially repressive to private and relatively benign―is a familiar part of the story of secularization. It is often invokved to explain and justify the liberal politics and world view of modernity. And it leads to the view that "politicized religions" threaten both reason and liberty. Asad's essays explore and question all these assumptions. He argues that "religion" is a construction of European modernity, a construction that authorizes―for Westerners and non-Westerners alike―particular forms of "history making."

與以往學界對中國基督教活躍於內陸鄉村社會的認識有所不同，本書側重描繪基督教在發達的沿海商業中心溫州迅猛崛起的軌跡，並以溫州為例，剖析宗教實踐、宗教空間和宗教話語在中國城市現代性變遷中所扮演的重要角色，內容涉及政教關係、民營資本主義發展、日常消費、性別關係、道德文化、階層關係、城鄉差異以及農民工的城市融入。作者為寫作本書所做的人類學田野調查和生活史素材的收集歷時近兩年，勾勒出一幅新興城市商業精英所引領的宗教復興之圖景。通過著重記錄商人基督徒群體在日常框架下對現代性與經濟發展的理解以及他們的身份建構，力圖從社會文化層面揭秘改革時期都市基督教的驚人增長。本書強調基督教並非一個內部高度同質的意義體系，而可將其當作一面棱鏡，多角度透視當代中國社會文化變遷的宏觀過程。本書可用作中國人類學／社會學、都市研究、宗教研究以及定性研究方法的大學教材。
「對於對政教關係或對現代中國宗教實踐有興趣的人士來說，這是一本必讀書，作者淺白易懂的文字適合用於本科教材。」──《中國季刊》(The China Quarterly)
「這是第一部關於中國基督新教的民族志專著。曹南來博士成功地粉碎基督教在中國作為洋教的刻板認識，讓讀者窺見一個已高度本地化、去政治化的宗教，而這一宗教又與資本主義經濟行為形成高度互滲。」──《亞洲人類學》(Asian Anthropology)

“基督教中国化”的话题是中国政界、教界和学界都非常关注、而且也颇有争议的论题。基督教与中国的关系从其历史发展沿革来看乃是两种文化体系相遇和对话的关系，当然也是两种强势文化彼此接触和对比的关系。《基督教中国化研究丛书·麦芒上的圣言：一个乡村天主教群体中的信仰和生活》作者吴飞通过民间考察的形式，对基督教在现代中国民间社会的历史与处境做了深入细致的分析与论述。

Throughout its entire history, the discipline of anthropology has been perceived as undermining, or even discrediting, Christian faith. Many of its most prominent theorists have been agnostics who assumed that ethnographic findings and theories had discredited religious beliefs. E. B. Tylor, the founder of the discipline in Britain, lost his faith through studying anthropology. James Frazer saw the material that he presented in his highly influential work, The Golden Bough, as demonstrating that Christian thought was based on the erroneous thought patterns of "savages." On the other hand, some of the most eminent anthropologists have been Christians, including E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Mary Douglas, Victor Turner, and Edith Turner. Moreover, they openly presented articulate reasons for how their religious convictions cohered with their professional work.
Despite being a major site of friction between faith and modern thought, the relationship between anthropology and Christianity has never before been the subject of a book-length study. In this groundbreaking work, Timothy Larsen examines the point where doubt and faith collide with anthropological theory and evidence.

本书分为六个部分，**章“导论”，主要介绍该研究的缘起、目前国内外的相关研究成果以及本书的研究工具和研究方法，第二章“拉拉屯——乌裕尔河右岸”、第三章“无宗族的社会：拉拉屯的亲属制度”主要论述拉拉屯的居民、生计、历史及亲属制度，第四章“上帝、祖先之间”主要阐述拉拉屯的本土信仰与基督教信仰，分析拉拉屯居民面对上帝与祖先的选择，第五章通过对“世上人”的礼仪、“信主的”的礼仪的分析，论述基督教和亲属制度的礼仪之争，*后在结语部分，作者通过反思与回顾提出了自己的独到见解。

《宗教人类学学说史纲要》主要内容是宗教人类学是宗教学的一个组成部分,和人类学特别是文化人类学关系密切，涉及考古学、民族志、民俗学、语言学、心理学等多个学科，从发生学的角度探究宗教这种特殊的精神现象、社会实体和文化形态的起源和意义，宗教在整个人类文化和社会发展中的地位和功能。

宗教学这个学科是19世纪中叶开始在欧洲建立起来的。经过泰勒和弗雷泽、弗洛伊德、马克思、伊利亚德、普里查德、格尔兹等学者的努力，其理论不断完善，方法不断更新，形成了一门系统的科学。

本书为英国著名人类学家、象征仪式学派的代表人物维克多·特纳的代表作，被学界归入二战后最具有开拓性和影响力的民族志经典之列。 全书主要围绕中非恩登布人的仪式和象征意义系统的诸方面进行论述。在特纳看来，仪式是恩登布人调整其基本社会冲突的一种手段，具有多种社会功能。书中有关象征的多义性、通过仪式的阈限阶段，以及仪式在社会悄境中的动态进程等论述，一直是人类学以至社会科学多个领域中被广为引用的重要文献。