Essay in Search of the Sacred

In the chapter “Common Roots” the authors have traced the study of religions’ origin, and of anthropology that started as we know them currently at about a same time. The authors have discussed the age of discovery and the age of empiricism of anthropology; the age of discovery of anthropology was much more than period of imperial expansion and geographical exploration, it was the age of scientific progress as well. The author in the article quoted a book published in the United States in 1900 in which it was argued by the author, Charles Carroll, that black people are not humans, but beasts. The author wrote is as the Negro is beats created with articulate hands and speech, which may be of his master’s service, the White man. The authors have argued that such quotes sadly promoted stereotype and racism. The distinguishes between various groups have been causing the racial stereotyping such as all Asian are clever but dishonest, the blacks as backward as well as strong, all Europeans are progressive and rational.

The authors discuss the age of discovery in which they describe the origin of anthropology. It was actually the by-product of what has been termed as the age of discovery which concerns the ability of deciphering veils, hidden aspects, and uncovering secrets. Craniology has been discussed in the chapter which is defined as actually the attempt of classifying humans and individuals according to the sizes of their heads. A German physician, Johan Friedrich Blumenbach recognized such divisions as nothing but the constructions which are artificial in the science’s service. However, he identified different but five races American, Malayan, Ethiopian, Mongolian, and Caucasian. In the chapter, the age of empiricism has been elaborated upon after the age of discovery.

The interesting ordeal, however, is that even before the age Lamarck and Darwin, there were many varieties of races and communities seemingly challenging the fact that all had been born from a single woman. They challenged the biblical story and it had become a massive issue in the minds of anthropologist. Some of them best also faced difficulties while facing such diversity. Another issue which revolved in their minds was the event or the events of origination. Many argued that humanity had not started from the same man and the same woman. Hume was indulged in nothing but miracles and believed that the original religion of the whole mankind was not monotheistic but actually polytheistic. In place of a special designer, Science could take the place and describe all the specifications which had been hidden for a long time.

Different communities have different perception and so on has been explored in the chapter along with the prepositions of Muller. Although he had presented his findings, they were rejected by no one other than Andrew Lang, a person who rejected his theories and called them nothing but just myths. Finding the data hidden behind layers upon layers of different beliefs is no doubt rigorous. [1]

 Reference of In Search of the Sacred