Eliade's Conception Of Religion

Both Eliade and Freud look to the history of religion in order to formulate their theories. However, Freud’s is markedly different in that it does not compare religions as equal across time, it follows a course of progression. His focus of interest, his aim, is the pursuit of a natural explanation for religion. He believes that religion has undergone an evolutionary process originating from animism, through to polytheism, and finally to monotheism (Freud FOAI DATE). In this sense, Freud is proposing a reductionist theory of religion as he is reducing the supernatural to the natural. He proposes that religious belief does not originate with divine revelation, instead, religious belief is a product of the mind (Freud FOAI DATE). The common theme

Freud’s aim is to give a natural account of religion. However, Eliade goes further than providing an account of religion, he attempts to create within the reader a religious impulse. There is a practical component that strives to bring the sacred to the reader. Another way in which the two theories diverge is in their treatment of religious conviction over time. According to Freud, Archaic people desired the world to be a certain way (supernatural) and such was the strength of that conviction that they believed it (Freud DATE Totem and taboo). This desire continues throughout the history of religion in Freud’s theory (Freud FOAI DATE). Eliade, however, does not perceive religion as progressing over time. Each religious system is self-justifying, they stand on their own as they all point to the sacred. Eliade provides a pluralistic account of religion and seeks to unify all via their ability to connect with a sacred reality (Rennie in Strenski DATE). By contrast, Freud’s theory of religion narrowly ends in monotheism as the father figure is projected out into the world in order to protect humanity (Freud FOAI DATE). Here, the issue for Freud is that his theory fails to give a modern account of religions that are not monotheistic. The scope of the word ‘religion’ as Freud used it in the later stage of his theory, to refer to religion in his time, has a Christian-centric