Superstition: a very short introduction
Vyse, Stuart
Superstition: a very short introduction - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. - xxii, 140 pages ; pb, 18 cm. - Very short introductions .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
This Very Short Introduction explores the nature and surprising history of superstition from antiquity to the present. For two millennia, superstition was a label derisively applied to foreign religions and unacceptable religious practices, and its primary purpose was used to separate groups and assert religious and social authority. After the Enlightenment, the superstition label was still used to define groups, but the new dividing line was between reason and unreason. Today, despite our apparent sophistication and technological advances, superstitious belief and behaviour remain widespread, and highly educated people are not immune. Stuart Vyse takes an exciting look at the varieties of popular superstitious beliefs today and the psychological reasons behind their continued existence, as well as the likely future course of superstition in our increasingly connected world.
9780198819257
Superstition
Antiquity
Religious practice
Social Authority
Human Psychology
001.96 / VYS
Superstition: a very short introduction - Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. - xxii, 140 pages ; pb, 18 cm. - Very short introductions .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
This Very Short Introduction explores the nature and surprising history of superstition from antiquity to the present. For two millennia, superstition was a label derisively applied to foreign religions and unacceptable religious practices, and its primary purpose was used to separate groups and assert religious and social authority. After the Enlightenment, the superstition label was still used to define groups, but the new dividing line was between reason and unreason. Today, despite our apparent sophistication and technological advances, superstitious belief and behaviour remain widespread, and highly educated people are not immune. Stuart Vyse takes an exciting look at the varieties of popular superstitious beliefs today and the psychological reasons behind their continued existence, as well as the likely future course of superstition in our increasingly connected world.
9780198819257
Superstition
Antiquity
Religious practice
Social Authority
Human Psychology
001.96 / VYS
