Ecology, Meaning, and Religion

Rappaport affirms the special and irreducible qualities of cultural forms. More than that, his insightful probes into the broad, semiological significances of sanctity," "holiness," "canon" and other human peculiarities demonstrate an unusually serious interest in how it is that humans are indeed special. While many anthropologists of various epistemological persuasions would perhaps dismiss such topics as the business of priests rather than of scientists, Rappaport correctly perceives that the problem of man's religious consciousness is not only a legitimate object of anthropological study, it might well be the most critical test to which any cultural theory can be put. In Rappaport's essays, we see this test applied with studious logic, empirical relevance, and consistent regard to the naturalistic assumptions of ecological and evolutionary theory."