Genealogy of Religion

Exploring the Origins, History and Future of Religion

Entries Tagged as 'Cultural Evolution of Religion'

Dolphins, Chimps & Japanese Religions

September 3rd, 2010 · No Comments · Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Magic and Religion

After recently watching “The Cove” and a Mad Men episode titled “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” — a clever allusion to Ruth Benedict’s justly famous cultural study of Japan, I decided it was time to bone up on Japanese religions.  Japan is a multi-faceted nation and getting your head around its history, culture and people [...]

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Phylogeny of Religions

September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct

Sooner or later any serious student or historian of religion will encounter Jonathan Z. Smith, he of the infamous quip — “there is no data for religion.  Religion is solely the creation of the scholar’s study.”  A curious statement indeed coming from one of the most prominent historians of religion, whose entire career and oeuvre [...]

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Literacy & Books: Shaping Religious Experience

August 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions

Over at The Atlantic, Heather Horn interviews Andrew Pettegree, who has just written a history of the book titled The Book in the Renaissance.  After pondering the (bright) future of books, they discuss the profound ways in which vernacular books and a literate public forever changed religious experience:
But one mustn’t ignore that the mainstay of [...]

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Theology of Religions v. History of Religions

August 18th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, Evolution and Selection, Neolithic Religions, Shamans and Shamanism

Over at HuffPo Religion, a well meaning Matthew Anderson suggests that all American junior-senior high school students should be required to take a minimum of two classes on world religions so as to be exposed to something other than their parents’ religion.  He supposes that these courses would foster tolerance and lead to a more [...]

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Hipster Christianity & Imam Idol

August 14th, 2010 · No Comments · Cultural Evolution of Religion, Globalization and Religion, Philosophy of Religion

In a competitive religious marketplace, producers are becoming increasingly savvy and perhaps even post-modern.  Although some old-timey producers bemoan this commercial development, others are embracing it.
Over at Rupert Murdoch’s transformative Wall Street Journal, the 20-something Brett McCracken churlishly warns his cohort about the “Perils of Hipster Christianity,” and discusses some of the uncool ways in [...]

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Genealogy of the “Traditional” Family

August 12th, 2010 · No Comments · Cultural Evolution of Religion, History of Religions, Hunter-Gatherers and Religion, Neolithic Religions

Over at HuffPo Religion, John Whitehead has penned a high-minded piece taking Christians to task for failing to understand they are major contributors — given their high divorce rates — to the perceived breakdown of the “traditional” family.  I have bracketed “traditional” in the same manner that we should bracket “natural” — these are historical [...]

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Death of a Pastoral Salesman

August 10th, 2010 · No Comments · Cultural Evolution of Religion, Economy and Religion, Globalization and Religion, Recent and New Religions, Ritual and Religion

In a curiously titled (“Congregations Gone Wild“) op-ed piece for the New York Times, pastor Jeffrey MacDonald bemoans the pressures that now assail the American clergy.  What are these pressures?  Entertaining the flock.  Selling religion as a commodity for comfortable consumers-parishioners.
Despite the title tease alluding to a sophomoric video series in which college-aged women bare [...]

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Morality without God, Buddhism as Religion, and Christian Empire

August 7th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Hunter-Gatherers and Religion, Morality and Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Power and Religion

Incredibly, there are three articles over at HuffPo Religion that I have recently bookmarked for brief discussion here.  There are of course about ten others which reflect the liberal, progressive, ecumenical, and mystical view of religion adhered to by a tiny minority of people, and which will be of interest mostly to the highly educated [...]

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The Supernatural and Stonehenge

July 25th, 2010 · No Comments · Archaeology and Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, History of Religions, Neolithic Religions, Pagans and Polytheism, Power and Religion, Ritual and Religion

As you can see from Texas A&M’s anthropology aggregating site (which is one of my favorite places on the net), at least a dozen stories have appeared in the past week about new archaeological finds near Stonehenge.  Using ground penetrating radar and other non-invasive technology, archaeologists have discovered another henge — which was wooden, approximately [...]

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Evolution of Altruism, Group Level Selection, and George Price

July 23rd, 2010 · No Comments · Atheism and Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Evolution and Selection, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct

Over at Discover, Razib Khan has reviewed Oren Harman’s new book The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness.  It is fantastic review and I encourage you to read it.  Price was many things, including a theoretical evolutionary biologist with considerable mathematical skills.  As Razib explains:
George Price’s aim was [...]

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