This book traces the birth and development of two related but distinct disciplines, anthropology and the study of religions. It begins by locating these within the intellectual climate of the nineteenth century, and within this historical framework goes on to discuss the contributions of such significant scholars as James George Frazer, F. Max Muller, and Emile Durkheim. The author argues that both anthropologists and students of religion have abandoned an impersonal, so-called 'objective' approach in favour of personal engagement with their subjects. The book reveals how each discipline has influenced the other, both in terms of methodology and by the provision of data. It also explores the criticism levelled at both disciplines, that they have aided colonial domination of the world.
