The Nature of Shamanism: Substance and Function of a Religious Metaphor
Editorial Reviews
Timothy White, Shaman's Drum, No. 36, Fall 1994
Michael Ripinsky-Naxon's The Nature of Shamanism is a masterful reexamination of the roots of shamanism that supplements - and, in some ways, rivals - Mircea Eliade's classic study Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. A comparison to Eliade's work is unavoidable, partly because both books are monumental scholastic treatises on the universal nature of shamanism, and partly because Ripinsky-Naxon's central premise - that psychotropic substances are at the root of shamanic metaphor - directly challenges one of Eliade's principal assumptions - that psychotropic shamanism was a relatively recent, degenerate development...I recommend The Nature of Shamanism both as a valuable counterbalance to Eliade's Shamanism and as one of the best-documented cross-cultural studies of shamanism available anywhere. At the very least, this volume should spark a revolution in the academic study of shamanism - challenging more scholars to open their minds to the world of psychotropic shamanism
Ake Hultkrantz, Journal of Prehistoric Religion, Vol. 8, 1994
The author challenges Mircea Eliade's position as the designer of the manual on shamanism, and introduces another grasp on the subject which goes beyond Eliade's historico-textual approach to the psychological and structural roots of the phenomenon complex...[Ripinsky-Naxon's] book is an important contribution to the shamanic literature at the same time as it will turn out to be, no doubt, controversial.... Here is a fascinating account of shamanism from points of view that we have little heard of. Dr. Ripinsky-Naxon has placed shamanism in focus of religion, demonstrated its close connections with different religious aspects and symbols, and outlined its functions as "a religious metaphor." It is an impressive work...He has given us an interesting theoretical manual for shamanic studies
The Nature of Shamanism: Substance and Function of a Religious Metaphor
The Nature of Shamanism: Substance and Function of a Religious Metaphor,Michael Ripinsky-Naxon,State University of New York Press,0791413861,Comparative Religion,Experience (Religion),Metaphor,Religion,Religion - World Religions,Religious aspects,Shamanism
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