Saffron wrote: First, let me say that I hate this book, even though I think Wright is onto something important in the idea that the concept of god is evolving in response to specific changes in society. For starters, I think Wright has made a grievous error in his approach to looking at early religious practices and beliefs. He acts as if it is possible to separate out "religion" from the rest of a hunter/gatherer or tribal or even chiefdom society as if it were a separate entity distinct from economics, politics, healing arts, art, etc. It makes as much sense to talk about shaman, spirits, and belief in the supernatural as being the starting point from which modern medicine, science, law and politics began as it does religion. What we know as the institutions of society do not really begin to pull themselves apart until a society becomes a chiefdom and even then they are still very interwoven. I think I can show why I think this is a problem using the example of his discussion of the shaman. Wright views the shaman primarily as part of religion, serving a religious function. This is too narrow. In many societies a shaman was as much a healer and an enforcer of morality (not part of religion in h/g societies) as he/she was a religious leader (not really a good word, but I can't think of a more correct term). There are many functions that a shaman serves in a society; he/she is not just a religious figure. So which functions are religious and which are not?