Prof Dan Pals

Senior Associate Dean College of Arts and Science,
Professor, Department of Religious Studies 
and Department of History
Univ. of Miami

James George Frazer (1854-1941) was a pioneering figure whose wide-ranging researches helped create the modern discipline of anthropology. His fame rests chiefly on The Golden Bough, an extensive study of magic and religion that applied what he called “the comparative method” to beliefs, rites, and everyday practices that he felt were common to classical civilization, European folklore, and surviving primitive cultures around the world. He was also greatly taken with Darwin’s theory of evolution, and introduced into his study a scheme of cultural, or social, evolution that in his view was the natural extension and application of Darwin’s views on animal development to human affairs. Frazer’s wide research and provocative ideas continue to exercise a subtle influence on popular opinion, on academic discussion of such matters as cultural diversity, and on the modern debates over the relationship between science and religion.

Thursday Oct 16
6:30pm - hors d’oeuvre and wine
7:00pm – Lecture (45min – 1hour)
Atlantic Room – Bayside Pavilion
RSVP to Jessica at 305 285 2702