Ritual and Belief: Reading in the Anthropology of Religion is a collection of thirty-six readings in religion, magic, and witchcraft. The choice of readings is eclectic: no single anthropological approach or theoretical perspective dominates the text. Theoretical significance, the scholarly eminence of the author, and inherent interest provide the principal criteria for inclusion, and each reading complements its companion chapters, which are pedagogically coherent rather than ad hoc assemblages. Included among the theoretical perspectives are structural-functionalism, structuralism. Malinowskian functionalism, cultural materialism, and cultural evolutionism; also included are the synchronic and diachronic approaches. The book offers a mixture of classic readings and more recent contributions, and discusses "world religions" along with religions of traditionally nonliterate cultures. Book jacket.