Survivals, debris, and relics: E. b. tylor, the orientalist inheritance, and medieval polemic

Abstract

Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) is widely recognized as the first scholar to formulate an anthropological theory of religion. At the center of his theory was the concept of “survivals,” earlier forms of religiosity (or cultural practice) that persist within later epochs after they have lost their original function. This article argues that Tylor’s idea of “survivals” was more of a secularized reworking of an interreligious barb than a wholly novel idea. The article traces the concept from Tylor back through Orientalist, Enlightenment, and medieval polemical literature in order to demonstrate the medieval legacy in modern academic discourse.