ABSTRACT
It is convenient to divide types of explanation of religion into psychological and sociological theories and the former again into intellectualist and emotionalist theories. Such a division is utilised by Evans-Pritchard (1965) who points out, however, that it is only a crude classification since some do not fall neatly into a single type, but it will serve to organise the material of this chapter. It also reflects, if very approximately, the historical succession of theoretical approaches. In this chapter we shall examine psychological theories of the intellectualist variety. Psychological theories hold that religion is an affair of the individual and springs from sources within the individual, whereas sociological theories hold that religion is an affair of the group or society and that individual religiosity stems from social sources. Intellectualist psychological theories interpret religion as stemming essentially from human reason while emotionalist theories trace the roots of religion to the emotional side of human nature.
