I would not be what I am without his help, support, and always perceptive criticism of my most ambitious speculations. I began the study of religion together with Veikko Anttonen, now the godfather of my daughter Milja. Thanks also to my ﬁrst teacher of comparative religion, Juha Pentikäinen, who showed me the importance of not forgetting one’s own cultural heritage, in my case the long traditions of Finnish scholarship on folk beliefs. I also thank the fellows of the Collegium and my colleagues at its administration: Minna Franck, Hanna Pellinen, Marjut Salokannel, Taina Seiro, Iiris Sinervuo, Maria Soukkio, Tuomas Tammilehto, and Aarno Villa. Its past and present directors, Raimo Väyrynen and Juha Sihvola, have supported my work with keen and muchappreciated interest. I am grateful both to the Academy of Finland that hasįunded my work and to the Collegium that has provided me with a ﬁrst-class academic environment for many years. This work was begun during my term as an Academy Research Fellow ( project 1111683) at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Over the years, I have had numerous enjoyable discussions with István Czachesz, Nicholas Gibson, Jeppe Jensen, Pierre Liénard, Luther Martin, Joel Mort, Tom Ryba, Benson Saler, Jesper Sørensen, and Don Wiebe I am grateful to them for help, advice, and friendship. Thanks also to Barbara de Bruine for kind help in many practical matters, as well as to the staff of the Tylor Library. Bob McCauley helped me and my family move to Oxford. This book would never have been written had I not met in March 1995 with Tom Lawson, whose support, advice, and friendship is much appreciated. I also want to thank all others who have in many ways helped and inspired this project.

The seminars, lectures, and informal discussions we had have been an important source of inspiration. I am also hugely indebted to Justin Barrett, Emma Cohen, Jon Lanman, and Harvey Whitehouse, as well as Pascal Boyer, for help and advice during that summer. It was at Oxford, in the summer of 2007, that the ideas of this book ﬁnally began to take shape and different pieces of the puzzle started gradually to ﬁnd their place. I am very grateful for this unique opportunity. I had been working with the idea of this book for a couple of years when Harvey Whitehouse kindly invited me to work as a visiting researcher at the newly founded Center for Anthropology and Mind at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Oxford University. Includes bibliographical references and index. Supernatural agents: why we believe in souls, gods, and buddhas / Ilkka Pyysiäinen. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pyysiäinen, Ilkka. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.

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