Dr Ralph Anderson

Dr Ralph Anderson

Lecturer

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 2619
Email
rta1@st-andrews.ac.uk
Office
C29
Location
Craigard

 

Research areas

Greek religion, ritual and magic; anthropology of religion.

My research focuses on Greek religion of the fourth and fifth centuries BC, primarily in Athens, although I am also interested in earlier Greek religion and the emergence of the more familiar Classical religious system. The project that I am currently engaged in is to explore ways of conceptualising a religion that does not emphasise belief or faith without recourse to the traditional dichotomy of religions of belief vs. religions of performance. This older framework reflects key debates in the Early Modern period - particularly the impacts of the Reformation and  early Enlightenment study of religion on the concepts of religion and belief - but provides a problematic model for Greek religion. In place of an approach based on belief and ritual, I am attempting to develop an perspective based on recent anthropological work on concepts of perception, skill and experience.

PhD supervision

  • Eleni Giamarellou Bourmpouli
  • Aneirin Pendragon

Selected publications

 

See more publications