Books by Robert Ellwood

Myth is a complex but vital component of an understanding of religion, and issues surrounding the modern discipline of mythology are often fraught with difficulty. This book covers the major theories concerning the meaning and interpretation of myth, from structuralist to psychoanalystic.

Offers a fresh approach to the traditional mythology and literature of the afterlife, focusing on tensions and polarities in the afterlife concepts. This title depicts the many rich mythologies of the afterlife from the ancient Mesopotamians, Japanese, Greeks of the Homeric era, to Christian views of heaven or the Buddhist western paradise.

Explores the causes of evil in myth, encompassing themes such as defilement, the figure of the trickster, evil people both within and outside the society, and traumatic initiations. This title also looks at 'cures' for evil: laughter, sacrifice, the flood, the hero's quest, initiation, the saviour, divine wisdom and the end of days.