Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought

by Boyer, Pascal
ISBN: 9780465006960
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Overview

Many of our questions about religion, says renowned anthropologist Pascal Boyer, are no longer mysteries. We are beginning to know how to answer questions such as "Why do people have religion?" Using findings from anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary biology, Religion Explained shows how this aspect of human consciousness is increasingly admissible to coherent, naturalistic explanation. This brilliant and controversial book gives readers the first scientific explanation for what religious feeling is really about, what it consists of, and where it comes from.
  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Boyer, Pascal
  • ISBN: 9780465006960
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.00 x 1.00
  • Number Of Pages: 384
  • Publication Year: 2002

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  • It will change your understanding of religious belief - but not negate it.

    James L. - 1 year 5 months ago

    As the world becomes globalized, we're also seeing a rise of both secularism and religious extremism. Why? There's a school of thought that says religion, as a social construct, is responsible. Lose religion, lose the problems. There is, of course, another side to the argument, that religious faith is our only way out of world problems. Well, they're both wrong. "Religion Explained" is a rare book on the subject that manages to use social science to discover and theorize on the psychological foundations of religious thought, and doesn't totally suck at it. It doesn't put stock in the stories or deities, but it does have a great, compassionate understanding of the origins of religious behavior. It both explains why religion developed on an evolutionary level (group cohesion, rationalizing perceptions of unseen threats, for two), and never says that those who believe in religious things are somehow more irrational than those who don't.

    HPB Staff Review