Module 04: Reflection 3 – The Origin of Religion

After watching the video Origin of Religion (Links to an external site.), https://youtu.be/EXE48rSOkRs

Respond to two of the theories presented:

1. which you most disagree with (critique) and
2. which you most agree with and why?

As a summary outline/reminder:

• James Frazer (anthropologist): attempts of early man to control nature through ritual (wrote: The Golden Bough)
• Sigmund Freud (psychology): a projection of childhood dependency, illusion, neurosis (wrote: The Future of an Illusion)
• William James (psychology): Religious experience is valuable for human well-being (wrote: Varieties of Religious Experience)
• Rudolf Otto (theologian): “Prophet” type “founders” of religions, based on their direct “numinous” experiences of the sacred (wrote: The Idea of the Holy)
• Carl Jung (psychology): collective unconscious of humanity, explains universal patterns (archetypes) found in otherwise unrelated religions and mythologies. To study religion is to study ourself!