New Research Monograph on Origins of Mankind's Early Beliefs

PRLog (Press Release) - Nov 21, 2008 -
Drawing on the work of Levi-Strauss, Malinowski, Dumezil, Van Gennep, Eliade and many others, Dr. Marsland proposes a dual/triune structure to early religion--a structure which appears to be worldwide.

Dr Amy Marsland  discusses the ideas of E.B.Tylor’s PRIMITIVE CULTURE (1872); James Frazer’s GOLDEN BOUGH (1890): the work of the Cambridge Ritualists, such as Jane Harrison’s THEMIS (1912) and F.M.Cornford’s ORIGINS OF ATTIC COMMEDY (1914); and Jessie Weston’s FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE (1920).  Also explored are the epistemological dilemmas of culture-formation and cultural diffusion based on mythic and societal change.  Her book THE ORIGIN OF CULTURE ( Academica Press, 2009 : ISBN9781933146478) is a result of a lifetime of research with her late husband Professor William Marsland.

This synthesis encompasses in a coherent whole gods, goddesses and their functions, festival rituals, the composition of sacred sites, the meaning of animal emblems and symbols in art, along with tribal social patterns.   Taking a post-Lacanian view of the religious origin of culture, Dr.Marsland posits the use and structure of symbol in new and intricate ways.