Whether we are looking at the Middle East, ancient Cliina, or the culture of Aryan peoples who came off the steppes and settled in India, Armstrong insists that religion was "a matter of doing rather...

Whether we are looking at the Middle East, ancient Cliina, or the culture of Aryan peoples who came off the steppes and settled in India, Armstrong insists that religion was "a matter of doing rather than thinking." But what exactly does she mean by "doing"? What kinds of activities m.ight rel.igion have entailed in ancient rimes? Start with the ancient shamans whose activities are hinted at by the frescoes at Chauvet, and then follow the histo,ical thread until you reach Heidegger. Clearly, religious activities are meant to enhance ordinary life, but at the same time they appear to involve fonns of behavior that are quite distinct from everyday existence. How do the mundane and the sacred interact in the history of religious "doing"?