There is no shortage of research projects whose aim is to “explain religion” or the “evolution of religion.” In addition to the Evolution of Religion Project which I interrogated in a recent post, anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse leads the “Explaining Religion” project based at Oxford University.
Whitehouse is interested primarily in religious variation and sees religions as [...]
Tags:doctrinal·episodic memory·Explaining Religion Project·Harvey Whitehouse·imagistic·modes of religiosity·Neolithic·Oxford·political economy·religious transmission·religious variation·ritual forms·semantic memory·shamanic
Over at MSNBC Science, a report on a rich temple find in Jordan:
The Jordanian antiquities department announced Wednesday the discovery of a 3,000-year-old Iron Age temple boasting a trove of figurines of ancient deities and circular clay vessels used in religious rituals.
The sanctuary and its artifacts — hewn from limestone and basalt or molded from [...]
Over at ABC News, Ki Mae Heussner reports on a Diane Sawyer interview of the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking with this contentious headline: “Stephen Hawking on Religion: Science Will Win.” This is an unfortunate banner. During the interview, Sawyer asked if religion and science could be reconciled. Hawking’s response was profoundly unhelpful:
“There is a fundamental [...]
Tags:animism·anthropomorphic·anthropomorphism·Babylon·Babylonian high god·city-states·Diane Sawyer·earthly kings·gods·Hebrews·hunter-gatherers·Judaism·Ki Mae Heussner·Levant·Mesopotamia·Neolithic·Neolithic Revolution·religion·Roy Rosenberg·science·spirits·spiritual kings·Stephen Hawking·supernatural thinking·Yahweh·Yahweh Becomes King
