Approaches through Materiality

Abstract Within anthropology the notion of religion is often treated as a problem in need of a solution—be it definitional, conceptual, theoretical, methodological, or ethical. But what if the matter with religion is the matter of religion, or, more simply, what if the problem with religion is its materiality? This chapter examines the whys and wherefores of this problem for the anthropology of religion—its ethnographic puzzles and methodological opportunities, as well as its conceptual impasses and theoretical insights. It begins by briefly overviewing the main debates regarding “material culture” and “material religion” as they pertain to phenomenology, semiotics, and mediation. Having considered these, the chapter introduces a fourth element, concerning the persistence of the concept of “belief” within anthropological studies of material religion. The chapter ends by suggesting that materialist approaches might best be undertaken by more fully readmitting the concept of transcendence into anthropological theories of religion.