Mind and Religion: Psychological and Cognitive Foundations of Religion

by Harvey Whitehouse, Robert N. McCauley, Pascal Boyer, Robert Hinde Cambridge University, E Thomas Lawson

Overview

Recent cognitive approaches to the study of religion have yielded much understanding by focusing on common psychological processes that all humans share. One leading theory, Harvey Whitehouse's modes of religiosity theory, demonstrates how two distinct modes of organizing and transmitting religious traditions emerge from different ways of activating universal memory systems. In Mind and Religion, top scholars from biology to religious studies question, test, evaluate and challenge Whitehouse's sweeping thesis. The result is an up-to-date snapshot of the cognitive science of religion field for classes in psychology, anthropology, or history of religion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759106185
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	06/02/2005
Series:	Cognitive Science of Religion
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.17(w) x 9.48(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Harvey Whitehouse is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queen's University Belfast. Robert N. McCauley is Professor of Philosophy at Emory University in Atlanta. He is the author, with E. Thomas Lawson, of Rethinking Religion: Connecting Cognition and Culture (1990) and Bringing Ritual to Mind: Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms (2002).

Table of Contents

1 Introduction Part 2 The Theoretical Context 3 A Reductionistic Model of Distinct Modes of Religious Transmission 4 Modes Theory: Some Theoretical Considerations 5 Ritual Form and Ritual Frequency 6 Divergent Religion: A Dual-Process Model of Religious Thought, Behavior, and Structure 7 Rethinking Naturalness: Modes of Religiosity and Religion in the Round Part 8 Testing the Modes Theory 9 In the Empirical Mode: Evidence Needed for the Modes of Religiosity 10 Memory and Analogical Thinking in High-Arousal Rituals Part 11 Wider Applications 12 The Modes Theory Helps Explain Conversion Phenomena 13 Charisma, Tradition and Ritual: A Cognitive Approach to Magical Agency 14 Why Religions Develop Free Will Problems 15 The Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity

Editorial Reviews

This book provides an excellent set of commentaries, and for those interested in cognitive approaches to religion more generally, it offers a good overview.

Journal Of The Royal Anthropological Institute - 2007

This book provides an excellent set of commentaries, and for those interested in cognitive approaches to religion more generally, it offers a good overview. 2007

Journal Of The Royal Anthropological Institute

This book provides an excellent set of commentaries, and for those interested in cognitive approaches to religion more generally, it offers a good overview.

From the Publisher