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Cover of The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life

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Indigenous and Ancient Religions

The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life

by Émile Durkheim · Joseph Ward Swain

Durkheim's classic study uses Aboriginal Australian totemism to argue that religion expresses and renews the collective life of society. It rejects the animist and naturist theories of Tylor and Max Müller and defines religion through the distinction between sacred and profane.

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