Abstract
Using lexicon to understand the problem of religious norms and authority requires us to call upon the semantic field of sacredness. However, this entry point is as inevitable as it is encumbered by the presuppositions of an abundant historiography, the main lines of which are outlined in this lesson, from the work of " Cambridge ritualists " William Robertson Smith and James G. Frazer, to the most recent anthropological and sociological reflections, via the founding work of the " Durkheimians " and the theologically anchored reflections of Rudolf Otto and Mircea Eliade.
