Module 2: Origin of Religion - Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach

German Philosopher and Anthropologist

and Belief System
Theories on the Origin of Religion
Animism
“Primitive people believed in souls or anima found in
people (seen in dreams) and in all of nature.”
- Edward Brunett Tylor
English Anthropologist
Mana
“Melanesian people believed in mana, a mysterious
force that inhabited all nature.”
- Robert Henry Codrington
Anglican Priest/ Anthropologist
Nature worship
“Human beings first developed their religions from their
observations of the forces of nature.”
Marxism
“Religions were developed by the few as a means to
control the masses and subvert revolution as the result
of the continuing struggle between classes.”
- Karl Heinrich Marx
Austrian Anthropologist and ethnologist
Oedipus Complex
“Religion originated from the guilt that individuals
supposedly feel in hating their fathers.”
- Sigmund Freud
Austrian Neurologist and Founder of Psychoanalysis
Approaches about the Origins of Religion
Historical
“Religion is universal and can be found in all known
contemporary societies. The existence of humankind for

Original Monotheism so long a time has resulted in the formation of religion

and belief system.”

“In Australia and Africa, basic cultures held a common

belief in a distant high God, that originally there had
been one great God above all others.”
- Wilhelm Schmidt
Austrian Anthropologist and ethnologist
Geographical
“Laws and social norms vary by region and localities this
is why a certain country is predominated by one
religion.”

Magic Cultural
“People had gone three primitive stages of “World religions can be regarded along the lines of their
development concerning the spirit world: (1) primitive exclusivity or non-exclusivity.”
magic; (2) religion; (3) science

- James George Frazer

Scottish Social Anthropologist

Wish Fulfillment
“There were no gods and that belief in gods was simply
wish fulfillment.”