Robert A. Segal

Robert Alan Segal (July 1948 – January 2024) was an American scholar of religion noted for comparative approaches to myth theory and the study of myth across traditions.^[1][2] He held academic posts in the United Kingdom, including appointments at Lancaster University (1994–2006) and the University of Aberdeen (2006–2024), where he served as Professor and Sixth Century Chair in Religious Studies.^[3][2] From 2019 until his death, he was also a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Vienna.^[3][2] Segal wrote Myth: A Very Short Introduction and Theorizing about Myth and edited The Myth and Ritual Theory and The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion.^[4][1][5][6] His publications survey and assess major theories of myth within the humanities and social sciences.^[7][1]

Segal received his B.A. in Religious Studies from Wesleyan University in 1970, followed by an M.A. (1974) and Ph.D. (1983) in Religion from Princeton University.^[3][2] His books regularly frame his scholarship within debates about the academic study of religion in North America and the United Kingdom.^[7][1]

Segal taught at Reed College, the University of Toronto, Stanford University, the University of Pittsburgh, Louisiana State University, and Tulane University before relocating to the United Kingdom in 1994.^[3][2] He joined Lancaster University as Professor of Theories of Religion and remained there for twelve years before becoming the Sixth Century Chair in Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen.^[3][6][4] From March 2019 to January 2024 he served as a research fellow in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Vienna.^[3]

Segal delivered keynote lectures at International Conference on Myth Criticism meetings hosted by the Complutense University of Madrid, where he addressed myth and literature and the ethical and scientific challenges to myth.^[3] He served on the advisory board of Amaltea, Journal of Myth Criticism, and helped establish Acad-Myth, an academic email list that linked scholars of myth across institutions.^[3] In addition to writing monographs he edited reference anthologies that gather classic statements of the myth and ritual approach alongside broader resources for the study of religion.^[5][6]

Segal writes on the definition, function, and interpretation of myth. His work surveys theorists including E. B. Tylor, James G. Frazer, Émile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Joseph Campbell, Vladimir Propp, Otto Rank, and Lord Raglan.^[7][1] He argues for a comparative and cross-disciplinary method that treats theories of myth as explanatory models to be tested against a range of traditions rather than as fixed dogmas.^[1] His introductory volume for a general readership outlines debates about mythic origins, meanings, and social roles and weighs the strengths and limits of prominent approaches.^[4]

Segal's books remain influential in university-level teaching on myth and religion, with multiple revised editions and reprints demonstrating the enduring relevance of his theoretical syntheses.^[4][1]

His edited collections serve as gateways to primary Rank-Raglan texts that shaped the myth and ritual debate and to wider resources for the academic study of religion.^[5][6]

• Segal, Robert A. Theorizing about Myth. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999.^[7]
• Segal, Robert A. Theorizing about Myth. 2nd ed. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2007.^[1]
• Segal, Robert A. Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.^[8]
• Segal, Robert A. Myth: A Very Short Introduction. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.^[4]

• Segal, Robert A., ed. The Myth and Ritual Theory: An Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.^[5]
• Segal, Robert A., ed. The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006.^[6]
• Rank, Otto, and Lord Raglan. In Quest of the Hero. Intro. by Robert A. Segal. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.^[9]