Evolution, Cognition, and the History of Religion: A New Synthesis comprises 41 chapters that push for a new way of conducting the study of religion, thereby, transforming the discipline into a genuine science of religion. The recent resurgence of evolutionary approaches on culture and the increasing acknowledgement in the natural and social sciences of culture's and religion's evolutionary importance calls for a novel epistemological and theoretical framework for studying these two areas. The chapters explore how a new scholarly synthesis, founded on the triadic space constituted by evolution, cognition, cultural and ecological environment, may develop. Different perspectives and themes relating to this overarching topic are taken up with a main focus on either evolution, cognition, and/or the history of religion.

"The anthology is unusually well thought-out, building its case from the rudiments and evolution of language to the evolution of mind and consciousness to the appearance of narrative and religion. The collection also introduces many scholars and theories with whom/which anthropologists may be less familiar but who/which demand our attention and can strongly benefit our work. I have already integrated some lessons from the book into my teaching and will no doubt return to it in my own research and writing. Religious Narrative, Cognition and Culture is a proud statement of where the cognitive theory of religion and narrative stands at present and a manifesto for future research." - Anthropology Review Database Religious Narrative, Cognition and Culture contains contributions dealing with religious narrative and cognitive theory written by some of the worlds leading scholars in the fields of cognitive science, narratology and comparative religion. At the heart of the volume are five papers which serve as sequels to each other. The first paper by the American biologist and semiotician Terrence W. Deacon explores the neurological processes and possible genetic foundations of how language emerged in Homo sapiens. This is followed nicely by the Canadian evolutionary psychologist Merlin Donalds contribution which describes the possible phylogenetic routes in the development of language and culture. His bio-cultural approach is a major theme in the book. The third paper by the British psychologist Chris Sinha brings us to the bridge between neurological and communicative levels. In it he describes the complex interrelations between the ontogenesis and the sociogenesis of cognitive processes and demonstrates how they relate to reason, representation, figuration and imagination. The fourth contribution brings us to the level of narrative. It is by the Indian narratologist Rukmini Bhaya Nair in which she argues for a combination of neurology, narratology and a reworked speech-act approach that focuses on narrative rather than simply sentences. The final keynote is by the Finnish cognitive scientist of religion Ilkka Pyysi?inen. He brings us full round to religious behavior by showing how the psychology of ritual helps make narrative beliefs possible. These five contributions are followed by papers from Danish, Finnish, Icelandic and American scholars of religion covering religious narratives and emotional communication, gossip as religious narrative and area studies of religious narrative and cognition in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Georgian Orthodox Church, Indian Epic literature, Australian Aboriginal mythology and ritual, and modern religious forms such as New Age, Asatro, astrological narrative and virtual rituals in 3D cyberspace.

In all cultures and at all times, humans have been telling stories about who they were, what the world and human life is about. To the insider, myths may contain Truth (with a capital 'T'), revelation and the 'history of ourselves'; whereas to the outsider it may be considered anything from folly and pre-logical mentality, to neurotic, infantile and 'wishful thinking'. Such judgements aside, myths tell us about human creativity, the impact of narrativity on human ways of understanding, on cultural epistemologies and the many ways of 'world making'. These issues also spark considerations concerning the linguistic and philosophical notions of meaning and truth and the peculiarities of religious language. The controversial issue of myth has been studied from many different angles. In this volume the contributions are edited according to their theoretical perspectives: 1. philosophical, 2. psychological, 3. sociological, 4. semiological and 5. cognitivist, all with introduction by the editor. This volume will be an indispensable tool for anyone with a serious interest in this field of study.

In all cultures and at all times, humans have been telling stories about who they were, what the world and human life is about. To the insider, myths may contain Truth (with a capital 'T'), revelation and the 'history of ourselves'; whereas to the outsider it may be considered anything from folly and pre-logical mentality, to neurotic, infantile and 'wishful thinking'. Such judgements aside, myths tell us about human creativity, the impact of narrativity on human ways of understanding, on cultural epistemologies and the many ways of 'world making'. These issues also spark considerations concerning the linguistic and philosophical notions of meaning and truth and the peculiarities of religious language. The controversial issue of myth has been studied from many different angles. In this volume the contributions are edited according to their theoretical perspectives: 1. philosophical, 2. psychological, 3. sociological, 4. semiological and 5. cognitivist, all with introduction by the editor. This volume will be an indispensable tool for anyone with a serious interest in this field of study.

Syncretism - the fusion of different beliefs into one religious system - has long been controversial in scholarship. It is widely held that religion, culture and ethnicity are pure entities that may become mixed in encounter and lead to impure, hybrid forms. 'Syncretism in Religion' presents a selection of essays committed to solving the problems of syncretism. The essays reflect the full breadth of religious traditions that could be called syncretistic. An overview of the historical background of syncretism is given, alongside classical readings from the history of religion, definitions of syncretism in relation to theories of power, and an assessment of the future of the subject. This volume brings together the work of authors who have made significant contributions in the field, some appearing for the first time in English. It will be of interest to any student or scholar of religion, philosophy or anthropology concerned with the dynamics of cultural contact and change.

Does rationality, the intellectual bedrock of all science, apply to the study of religion? Religion, arguably the most subjective area of human behaviour, has particular challenges associated with its study. Attracting crowd-healers, conjurers, the pious and the prophetic alongside comparativists and sceptics, it excites opinions and generalizations whilst seldom explicitly staking out the territory for the discussions in which it partakes. Increasingly, scholars argue that religious study needs to define and critique its own field, and to distinguish itself from theology and other non-objective disciplines. Yet how can rational techniques be applied to beliefs and states of mind regarded by some as beyond the scope of human reason? Can these be made empirically testable, or comparable and replicable within academic communities? Can science explicate religion without reducing it to mere superstition, or redefine its truth in some empirical but meaningful way? Featuring contributions from leading international experts including Donald Wiebe, Roger Trigg and Michael Pye, Rationality and the Study of Religion gets under the surface of the religious studies discipline to expose the ideologies beneath. Reopening debate in a neglected yet philosophically significant field, it questions the role of rationality in religious anthropology, natural history and anti-scientific theologies, with implications not only for supposedly objective disciplines but for our deepest attitudes to personal experience. 'Interesting and important. Religion has long been associated with irrationality, both by its defenders and its critics, and the topic of rationality has been unjustly neglected The book certainly deserves to be widely circulated.' Greg Alles, Western Maryland College

"The anthology is unusually well thought-out, building its case from the rudiments and evolution of language to the evolution of mind and consciousness to the appearance of narrative and religion. The collection also introduces many scholars and theories with whom/which anthropologists may be less familiar but who/which demand our attention and can strongly benefit our work. I have already integrated some lessons from the book into my teaching and will no doubt return to it in my own research and writing. Religious Narrative, Cognition and Culture is a proud statement of where the cognitive theory of religion and narrative stands at present and a manifesto for future research." - Anthropology Review Database Religious Narrative, Cognition and Culture contains contributions dealing with religious narrative and cognitive theory written by some of the worlds leading scholars in the fields of cognitive science, narratology and comparative religion. At the heart of the volume are five papers which serve as sequels to each other. The first paper by the American biologist and semiotician Terrence W. Deacon explores the neurological processes and possible genetic foundations of how language emerged in Homo sapiens. This is followed nicely by the Canadian evolutionary psychologist Merlin Donalds contribution which describes the possible phylogenetic routes in the development of language and culture. His bio-cultural approach is a major theme in the book. The third paper by the British psychologist Chris Sinha brings us to the bridge between neurological and communicative levels. In it he describes the complex interrelations between the ontogenesis and the sociogenesis of cognitive processes and demonstrates how they relate to reason, representation, figuration and imagination. The fourth contribution brings us to the level of narrative. It is by the Indian narratologist Rukmini Bhaya Nair in which she argues for a combination of neurology, narratology and a reworked speech-act approach that focuses on narrative rather than simply sentences. The final keynote is by the Finnish cognitive scientist of religion Ilkka Pyysi?inen. He brings us full round to religious behavior by showing how the psychology of ritual helps make narrative beliefs possible. These five contributions are followed by papers from Danish, Finnish, Icelandic and American scholars of religion covering religious narratives and emotional communication, gossip as religious narrative and area studies of religious narrative and cognition in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Georgian Orthodox Church, Indian Epic literature, Australian Aboriginal mythology and ritual, and modern religious forms such as New Age, Asatro, astrological narrative and virtual rituals in 3D cyberspace.

Author Biography:
Jeppe Sinding Jensen is Associate Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Aarhus, and is co-editor of Religion, Tradition and Renewal (Aarhus, 1991). Luther H. Martin holds a professorship in religion at the University of Vermont, and is the author of Hellenistic Religions (1987) and editor of Technologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michel Foucault (1988). He has published widely on theory and method in the study of religion including the cognitive science of religion, and recently co-edited The Academic Study Of Religion During The Cold War: East And West (2001).