The Minds of Gods: New Horizons in the Naturalistic Study of Religion

Description

Why are humans obsessed with divine minds? What do gods know and what do they care about? What happens to us and our relationships when gods are involved? Drawing from neuroscience, evolutionary, cultural, and applied anthropology, social psychology, religious studies, philosophy, technology, and cognitive and political sciences, The Minds of Gods probes these questions from a multitude of naturalistic perspectives. Each chapter offers brief intellectual histories of their topics, summarizes current cutting-edge questions in the field, and points to areas in need of attention from future researchers. Through an innovative theoretical framework that combines evolutionary and cognitive approaches to religion, this book brings together otherwise disparate literatures to focus on a topic that has comprised a lasting, central obsession of our species.

Benjamin Grant Purzycki is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Aarhus University, Denmark. Theiss Bendixen is a Doctoral Candidate at Aarhus University, Denmark.

With cutting-edge, accessible contributions by experts in the cognitive science of religion, this book will be important for readers ranging from advanced college students to faculty. A major accomplishment. * Stewart Elliott Guthrie, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Fordham University, USA * The Minds of Gods represents an important contribution to evolutionary and cognitive approaches to religion. Its clear topical focus combined with up-to-date theoretical and empirical insights concerning how the mind works make it valuable reading for anyone interested in state-of-the-art research on human cognition and religion. * Vojtech Kase, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of West Bohemia, Czech Republic *