Anthropology was invented as a subject in the late nineteenth century; it is impossible to consider this disciplinary innovation without taking account of how anthropology is shaped by religion – its response to the discoveries of the myths, rituals and ideological appurtenances of the religions of the world; its response to the religions of the past especially Egypt, Greece and Rome; the response to Christianity from its major practitioners. This colloquium is to discuss these issues.

There are four speakers

Tim Larsen (Professor of Christian Thought, Wheaton, USA):
“Frazer, Anthropology and the Bible”.

Tim Jenkins (Anthropology, Cambridge):
“’Magnetism, animal’ in the 9th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1885)”.

David Gange (Lecturer in British History, Birmingham):
“Reading the Book of the Dead in the 1890s”

Shruti Kapila (Lecturer in History, Cambridge):
“After Orientalism: Evolutionism and Hinduism ”

And four respondents

David Maxwell (Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Cambridge)

Peter Mandler (Professor of History, Cambridge)

Sujit Sivasundaram (Lecturer in World and Imperial History, Cambridge)

Shinjini Das (Post-Doctoral Fellow, Bible and Antiquity Project, CRASSH)

Registration is from 9.30 - 10.00

The last speaker finishes at 17:35

This event is supported by funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ ERC grant agreement no 295463.