The French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan is one of the most influential intellectuals of the past century. His work is invoked by philosophers, film critics and feminist theorists, but religious scholar
Rudolf Otto exerted a major formative influence on the study of religions in the first half of the 20th century. His landmark book, Das Heilige (1917), translated into English as The Idea of the Holy
Freud argued that religions originate in the unconscious needs, longings and fantasies of human minds. His work has served to highlight how any analysis of religion must explore mental life, both the
Freud argued that religions originate in the unconscious needs, longings and fantasies of human minds. His work has served to highlight how any analysis of religion must explore mental life, both the
The American anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) has presented a description of religion which has made him one of the most influential key thinkers in the study of religion. His ethnographic w
Ernesto de Martino (1908-1965) is one of the brightest critical thinkers of the 20th century in both the humanities and social sciences. Despite his immense contribution to the study of religion and a
McCance (religion, U. of Manitoba) ushers French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) into the company of key thinkers on religion. Taking his understanding of inheritance as a point of departure,
