"I do believe that religion is, among other things, an intellectual activity -- and to play upon Paul Ricoeur's well-known phrase, it is the perception of incongruity that gives rise to thought."
-- Jonathan Z. Smith (Map, 1978: 293-4)
Jonathan Z. Smith's well-known description of religion, and of the academic study of religion, combines the well-known phrase "perception of incongruity" as developed by the anthropologist of mind, Jerome Bruner, and the similarly well-known phrase from Paul Ricoeur, "the symbol gives rise to thought."
Did Smith mean that the perception of incongruity necessarily led to the invention of religion, or to the examination of religion?
