ABSTRACT
In his classic essay on the theory of religion E.E. Evans-Pritchard argued that religion is distorted when it is explained in materialist or rationalist terms, and lamented that anthropology, by insisting on these terms, had achieved "very little progress " in understanding religion ( 1 965 : 1 12 ) . As a corrective he commended Pareto and Weber for their insight on "the role of the non-rational in social life " ( 1 965 : 1 1 8 ) , and especially Bergson, for whom religion was "a product of an instinctual urge, a vital impulse which, combined with intelligence, ensures man's survival " ( 1 965 : 1 1 6 ) . This theory that religion provides evolutionary balance for humans, in whom reason would otherwise overwhelm the instinctual faculties that govern other species, seems to have influenced Evans-Pritchard's own conversion to Catholicism. Religion is "a defensive reaction of nature against the dissolvent power of intelligence" (Bergson 1 956 : 1 5 1 [Evans-Pritchard 1 965 : 1 1 6] ) .
