ABSTRACT
The need to link disciplines is frequently expressed among us. Discussion of this need takes place in an atmosphere, however, that suggests the observation of an African chieftain on a neighbouring tribe: 'They are our enemies. We marry them.' Matchmaking should be a cautious process. The would-be linker of disciplines must be prepared 'to sigh throughout the long delays of courtship': in attempts to link social and religious history, classical and theological studies, I have observed that the unwary, or the precipitate, suitor has often ended up with the elderly, ugly daughter. I can only say that I have tried to keep abreast of a recent literature in social anthropology which, beginning with Professor Evans-Pritchard's Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande of 1937, represents one of the most remarkable attempts to study, with precision and sophistication, an aspect of the role of the irrational in society.
