ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the wide range of religious phenomena. It begins by looking at some examples of spirits, gods, and ritual specialists in small-scale societies. The chapter focuses on the primordial religious practitioners, shamans, and the important role they play in hunter-gatherer societies. It examines the nature of religion in advanced horticultural and agrarian societies organized into chiefdoms and states. The chapter discusses that the monotheistic term should be reserved for the world religions that emerged in the second half of the first millennium bce. It draws on the position that the adaptationist line of theorizing is better supported by the evidence than the by-product position. Although by-product theory is currently the more widely adopted approach, some interesting adaptationist theories have been developed. A great deal of research has been carried out on the relationship between religiosity and both physical and mental health. Changing socioecological context produces new challenges, including new religious challenges.
