Evil: A Critical Primer begins with the claim that evil is a contextually bound concept. This means that we should not expect to find shared or similar notions of evil across cultures. Addressing evil in a way that is both contextually specific and cross-culturally applicable, this primer breaks with moral conceptions of evil by redescribing it within a new framework of dangers and aversions (i.e., things that cause harm and things to avoid). This empirical, usable framework provides a new starting point for the study of religion, de-emphasizing things associated with evil (like the devil, wickedness, or a diabolic will) and focusing instead on attitudes and practices (like rituals of purity and impurity, notions of clean and dirty, or expressions of disgust).

Examining cultural and cognitive aspects of classification, myth, ritual, emotions, and morality, Evil: A Critical Primer untethers colloquial conceptions of evil from an exclusively moral domain.