Tanya Luhrmann’s Anthropological Study of Religion: Psychological Anthropology

Abstract

The study reconstructs the research project of the leading American anthropolo­gist, Tanya Luhrmann. The importance of her work in modern anthropology and religious studies is discussed. It is argued that her research in the 2000s estab­lished a new standard for the study of religious experience. The concepts, me­thods, and terminology developed by Luhrmann are used by scholars in cogni­tive anthropology, neurotheology, Western esotericism, Buddhist studies, and secularism studies. Based on her work, article aims to systematize her approach and demonstrate that it is based on two key principles: rejecting classical anthro­pological and sociological theories of religion, and denying the reduction of reli­gion to dogma and philosophical principles. The latter principle implies a posi­tive aspect: the belief that religious practices create and strengthen beliefs. The purpose of Luhrman’s anthropological system is to understand the abilities that give faith its reality and explain how the world makes sense. Her doctoral dissertation on new magic formed the basis for her future study of religious com­munities. Her research has led to several important achievements, including:
entering the role of an insider in closed magical communities; classification of magical groups; systematization of magical beliefs and identification of stages in magician training; identification of imagination-based practices as a funda­mental aspect of magic. The latter part of the article focuses on projects to study two specific communities: the Parsi in a post-colonial context and the Ba’Alei Teshuva. Using the example of an anthropological study on psychiatry con­ducted by Luhrmann in the 1990s, the fundamental principles of her methodo­logy are explored.