Антропологический проект исследования религии Тани Лурман: психологическая антропология

Вопросы философии. 2025. № 5. С. 204–213.

Nosachev P.

The study reconstructs the research project of the leading American anthropologist, Tanya Luhrmann. The importance of her work in modern anthropology and religious studies is discussed. It is argued that her research in the 2000s established a new standard for the study of religious experience. The concepts, methods, and terminology developed by Luhrmann are used by scholars in cognitive anthropology, neurotheology, Western esotericism, Buddhist studies, and secularism studies. Based on her work, article aims to systematize her approach and demonstrate that it is based on two key principles: rejecting classical anthropological and sociological theories of religion, and denying the reduction of religion to dogma and philosophical principles. The latter principle implies a positive aspect: the belief that religious practices create and strengthen beliefs. The purpose of Luhrman’s anthropological system is to understand the abilities that give faith its reality and explain how the world makes sense. Her doctoral dissertation on new magic formed the basis for her future study of religious communities. Her research has led to several important achievements, including: entering the role of an insider in closed magical communities; classification of magical groups; systematization of magical beliefs and identification of stages in magician training; identification of imagination-based practices as a fundamental aspect of magic. The latter part of the article focuses on projects to study two specific communities: the Parsi in a post-colonial context and the Ba’Alei Teshuva. Using the example of an anthropological study on psychiatry conducted by Luhrmann in the 1990s, the fundamental principles of her methodology are explored.

Keywords: религиоведение, культурная антропология, психиатрия, психология религии, западный эзотеризм, религиозный опыт, мистический опыт