Genealogy of Religion

Exploring the Origins, History and Future of Religion

Entries Tagged as 'History'

Misfires of Moral Psychology

February 1st, 2012 · 8 Comments · Evolutionary Adaptation, History, Hunter-Gatherers, Morality

Over the past decade there has been a sea change in the way we assess moral reasoning, judgment, and behavior. The old view, developed and championed largely by introspective philosophers, was that people actually reason about choices before making decisions that have moral or ethical impacts. While some decisions are in fact made this way, [...]

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Structure & Function of Creation Myths

December 30th, 2011 · 7 Comments · History, Hunter-Gatherers

Creation myths do psychological and cultural work. Because all known societies have creation myths, the number and variety is staggering. There are entire encyclopedias of creation myths and even dictionaries for creation myths. Given this seemingly endless variety, it is unsurprising there have been several kinds of efforts to impose order on the mass. Folklorists [...]

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Universal Shamanism: The Japanese Context

December 3rd, 2011 · 3 Comments · History, Hunter-Gatherers, Magic, Shamanism

In religious studies and popular usage, the term “universal” is used to describe religions which are open to all and transcend ethnic, geographic, political, and cultural boundaries. Three religions are usually cited as universal: Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Some newer religions, such as Mormonism and Bahá’í, would also qualify. But if we take a longer [...]

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The Persistence of Religion

November 10th, 2011 · 9 Comments · Axial Age, Evolutionary Adaptation, Evolutionary Byproduct, History, Neolithic

At the conclusion of Elaine Pagels’ lecture on the Book of Revelation, the first question someone asked her was why does religion persist? Pagels answered: “I think because this is about emotion. This isn’t conceptual. People who talk about it as if it matters whether you believe in God or not, have got [...]

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Elaine Pagels on Revelation

November 8th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Axial Age, History

Elaine Pagels is an unlikely celebrity. It is not often that professors of religion write books which so thoroughly and successfully straddle the professional/popular divide. Pagels has written many such books:

The Gnostic Gospels
Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity
The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and [...]

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The China Rule & Cult of Confucius

November 6th, 2011 · 8 Comments · Axial Age, History, Ritual

China is big, old, and fascinating. Its importance in the larger scheme of things is such that there should be what I call “The China Rule.” This rule would apply as follows. If a scholar claims that history unfolds directionally or according to general rules, s/he must specifically test the claim using China as datum. [...]

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“God” Debate Straitjacketed by Myopia

October 24th, 2011 · 5 Comments · History, Philosophy

Over at Salon the MIT physicist and novelist Alan Lightman recently asked whether God exists, a question he poses in the service of reconciling science with religion and lambasting Richard Dawkins. Although he is an atheist, Lightman’s accomodationist query prompted a predictable response from Daniel Dennett, to which Lightman has responded.
It is a thoughtful exchange [...]

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Göbekli Tepe: Series Conclusion

October 21st, 2011 · 1 Comment · Archaeology, Ecology, History, Neolithic

In the Göbekli Tepe series opener, I noted that several claims have been made about this 11,000 year old archaeological site:

It was built by nomadic hunter-gatherers rather than sedentary or village agriculturalists.
It was a religious or ritual pilgrimage center that attracted people from far and wide.
The massive stone pillars or megaliths were “temples” or “shrines.”
Göbekli [...]

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Göbekli Tepe: Houses of the Holy?

October 19th, 2011 · 10 Comments · Archaeology, History, Hunter-Gatherers, Neolithic

In the series introduction, I asked whether Göbekli Tepe was (as the excavator Klaus Schmidt suggests) an archaeological or metaphorical Stairway to Heaven. Continuing the Led Zeppelin riff, a better question for today might be whether Göbekli’s megalithic structures were Houses of the Holy.

E.B. Banning suggests something along these lines in “So Fair a House: [...]

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Göbekli Tepe: Publications & Reports

October 17th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Archaeology, History, Hunter-Gatherers, Neolithic

In 1994 Klaus Schmidt discovered Göbekli Tepe and in 1995 he began the ongoing excavations. In 1998 Schmidt published his first site report. To date, Schmidt has published close to 20 articles or reports (about half of which are in German) and others working with Schmidt have published more. For this Schmidt deserves considerable praise. [...]

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