Prologue: \"Welcome to the Future\" xvii
 
A Comment on the Cover Image and the Paintings xxvi
 
List of Illustrations xxvii
 
Acknowledgments ... and Color xxxi
 
Part I Prehistory, Preparation, and Perspective 1
 
Introduction: Beginnings 3
 
1 If Horses Had Hands: Comparative Practices in Global History 9
 
2 From the Bible to the Buddha: Recent History of the Modern Practice 47
 
3 The Magic of Comparison: Reflexivity and Some Related Skills 87
 
Part II Comparative Acts 123
 
4 Telling and Performing the World: The Creative Functions of Myth and Ritual 125
 
5 The Super Natural: Religion, Nature, and Science 161
 
6 Seed and Soil: Sex, Race, and the Bodies of Religion 199
 
7 Transmitting the Power: Charisma, Society, Technology 239
 
8 Angels, Aliens, and Art: The Imagination and the Paranormal 275
 
9 The Human as Two: Soul, Salvation, and the End of All Things 313
 
Part III Putting It All Together Again 349
 
10 Faithful Rereadings: Exclusivism, Inclusivism, Pluralism, and Justice 353
 
11 Rational Rereadings: Masters of Suspicion, Classical and Contemporary 389
 
12 Reflexive Rereadings: Looking at the Looker 427
 
Epilogue: The Moonshot 465
 
Glossary 469
 
Index 483