List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
I. General Observations
1. Introduction 3
2. The Future of History of Religions
3. Theses on Comparison
II. Recent Attempts at Grand Comparison
4. The Werewolf, the Shaman, and the Historian
5. The Lingering Prehistory of Laurasia and Gondwana
III. A Comparatist’s Laboratory: The Ancient Scythians
6. Reflections on the Herodotean Mirror: Scythians, Greeks, Oaths, and Fire
7. Greeks and Scythians in Conversation
8. Scythian Priests and Siberian Shamans
IV. Weak Comparisons
9. Further on Envy and Greed
10. King Aun and the Witches
11. Contrasting Styles of Apocalyptic Time
12. Sly Grooms, Shady Magpies, and the Mythic Foundations of Hierarchy
13. In Hierarchy’s Wake
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Ivan Strenski, University of California, Riverside
"Gathered here is the fruit of Bruce Lincoln’s decades-long engagement in cross-cultural comparison in what he describes as its preferred “weak” mode. But more than demonstrations of this style of comparison, Lincoln’s efforts are also theoretically suggestive, showing how in many different ways, for him, comparison is an 'indispensable instrument of human thought.' As a polemic, as well, Lincoln’s efforts fly irreverently in the face of much of unthinking, trendoid dismissals of this essential human cognitive act. A much welcomed tonic for the malaise of parochialism afflicting the study of religion today."
Guy G. Stroumsa, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of Oxford
"Lincoln’s brilliant and learned book reflects a rare and convincing effort to renew the classical comparative approach to religious phenomena, by establishing it on a new basis. Side by side with representing a truly novel and sophisticated contribution to the study of ancient religions, it offers us a beautiful stroll through some of the most curious landscapes of modern scholarship."
Carlo Ginzburg, University of California, Los Angeles
"Bruce Lincoln’s argument for weak comparisons, developed with amazing erudition and great methodological subtlety, will be a scholarly point of reference in the years to come. The section on the ancient Scythians is a jewel. An indispensable book."
Marshall Sahlins, University of Chicago
"A persuasive argument for fine-grained historical and cross-cultural comparisons. At the same time, by an erudite scholarly critique of ruling ideologies, Bruce Lincoln gives new meaning to speaking truth to power."
Page duBois, University of California, San Diego
"Combining bracing critique and scrupulously pursued case studies, Apples and Oranges ranges from the history of studies of 'religion,' to the Spanish Civil War, to Beowulf, to Herodotus’ Scythians, and the Lakota Ghost Dance, and urges what Lincoln calls 'weak' comparison, fortified in his case by dazzling erudition and an unfailing ethical commitment. Lincoln includes a critique of 'recursive apocalypticism,' as in the exhortation to make America great 'again.' Inspiring and persuasive, this is the work of a great scholar at the height of his powers."
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