Todd Tremlin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305340
- eISBN:
- 9780199784721
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305345.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This book provides an introduction to the cognitive science of religion, a new discipline of study that explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas and behavior on the basis of evolved ...
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This book provides an introduction to the cognitive science of religion, a new discipline of study that explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas and behavior on the basis of evolved mental structures and functions of the human brain. Belief in gods and the social formation of religion have their genesis in biology — in powerful, often hidden, processes of cognition that all humans share. Arguing that we cannot understand what we think until we first understand how we think, the book describes ways in which evolution by natural selection molded the modern human mind, resulting in mental modularity, innate intelligences, and species-typical modes of thought. The book details many of the adapted features of the brain — agent detection, theory of mind, social cognition, and others — focusing on how mental endowments inherited from our ancestral past lead people to naturally entertain religious ideas, such as the god concepts that are ubiquitous the world over. In addition to introducing the major themes, theories, and thinkers in the cognitive science of religion, the book also advances the current discussion by moving beyond explanations for individual religious beliefs and behaviors to the operation of culture and religious systems. Drawing on dual-process models of cognition developed in social psychology, the book argues that the same cognitive constraints that shape human thought also work as a selective force on the content and durability of religions.Less
This book provides an introduction to the cognitive science of religion, a new discipline of study that explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas and behavior on the basis of evolved mental structures and functions of the human brain. Belief in gods and the social formation of religion have their genesis in biology — in powerful, often hidden, processes of cognition that all humans share. Arguing that we cannot understand what we think until we first understand how we think, the book describes ways in which evolution by natural selection molded the modern human mind, resulting in mental modularity, innate intelligences, and species-typical modes of thought. The book details many of the adapted features of the brain — agent detection, theory of mind, social cognition, and others — focusing on how mental endowments inherited from our ancestral past lead people to naturally entertain religious ideas, such as the god concepts that are ubiquitous the world over. In addition to introducing the major themes, theories, and thinkers in the cognitive science of religion, the book also advances the current discussion by moving beyond explanations for individual religious beliefs and behaviors to the operation of culture and religious systems. Drawing on dual-process models of cognition developed in social psychology, the book argues that the same cognitive constraints that shape human thought also work as a selective force on the content and durability of religions.
Ilkka Pyysiäinen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195380026
- eISBN:
- 9780199869046
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380026.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This book provides a cognitive scientific perspective to beliefs about supernatural agents. First, human intuitions about agents, agency, and counterintuitive concepts are outlined and explained. ...
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This book provides a cognitive scientific perspective to beliefs about supernatural agents. First, human intuitions about agents, agency, and counterintuitive concepts are outlined and explained. Second, various kinds of folk beliefs and theological doctrines about souls and spirits are analyzed in the light of the human cognitive architecture, using descriptions of spirit possession and shamanism as materials. Third, scholastic discussions of God’s cognitive capacities as well as folk-psychological God beliefs are analyzed. This analysis combines with a discussion of Buddhist ideas of soullesness and of buddhahood in textual traditions and in folk beliefs. Beliefs about God and buddhas are shown to rest on the same cognitive capacities of understanding agency and intentionality that underlie spirit beliefs. The Buddhist doctrine of soullessness was originally a denial of the self as a separate spiritual entity, not a denial of personal agency. God and buddhas differ from ordinary agents in that they are believed to have open access to all minds. Therefore, they can serve as means of representing what persons believe others to believe. Such divine minds are also used as an explanation for the fact that the whole of reality is intuitively experienced as if intentionally directed by a personal will. The book ends with a discussion of the future of religion and atheism.Less
This book provides a cognitive scientific perspective to beliefs about supernatural agents. First, human intuitions about agents, agency, and counterintuitive concepts are outlined and explained. Second, various kinds of folk beliefs and theological doctrines about souls and spirits are analyzed in the light of the human cognitive architecture, using descriptions of spirit possession and shamanism as materials. Third, scholastic discussions of God’s cognitive capacities as well as folk-psychological God beliefs are analyzed. This analysis combines with a discussion of Buddhist ideas of soullesness and of buddhahood in textual traditions and in folk beliefs. Beliefs about God and buddhas are shown to rest on the same cognitive capacities of understanding agency and intentionality that underlie spirit beliefs. The Buddhist doctrine of soullessness was originally a denial of the self as a separate spiritual entity, not a denial of personal agency. God and buddhas differ from ordinary agents in that they are believed to have open access to all minds. Therefore, they can serve as means of representing what persons believe others to believe. Such divine minds are also used as an explanation for the fact that the whole of reality is intuitively experienced as if intentionally directed by a personal will. The book ends with a discussion of the future of religion and atheism.
D. Jason Slone
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195169263
- eISBN:
- 9780199835256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195169263.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The cognitive approach to religion is a “naturalness” thesis because cognitive scientists believe that religion is a by-product of the process of ordinary human cognition. Thus, cognition operates in ...
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The cognitive approach to religion is a “naturalness” thesis because cognitive scientists believe that religion is a by-product of the process of ordinary human cognition. Thus, cognition operates in a manner that religious representations emerge naturally as an aspect of ordinary thinking. Central theories in cognitive science are reviewed to help explain why religion people believe what they shouldn’t.Less
The cognitive approach to religion is a “naturalness” thesis because cognitive scientists believe that religion is a by-product of the process of ordinary human cognition. Thus, cognition operates in a manner that religious representations emerge naturally as an aspect of ordinary thinking. Central theories in cognitive science are reviewed to help explain why religion people believe what they shouldn’t.
Jeffrey Schloss and Michael Murray (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199557028
- eISBN:
- 9780191701719
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557028.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Philosophy of Religion
Over the last two decades, scientific accounts of religion have received a great deal of scholarly and popular attention both because of their intrinsic interest and because they are widely viewed as ...
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Over the last two decades, scientific accounts of religion have received a great deal of scholarly and popular attention both because of their intrinsic interest and because they are widely viewed as constituting a threat to the religion they analyse. This book aims to describe and discuss these scientific accounts as well as to assess their implications. The volume begins with essays by leading scientists in the field, describing these accounts and discussing evidence in their favour. Philosophical and theological reflections on these accounts follow, offered by leading philosophers, theologians, and scientists. This diverse group of scholars address some fascinating underlying questions: Do scientific accounts of religion undermine the justification of religious belief? Do such accounts show religion to be an accidental by-product of our evolutionary development? And, whilst we seem naturally disposed toward religion, would we fare better or worse without it? Bringing together dissenting perspectives, this provocative collection will serve to freshly illuminate on-going debate on these perennial questions.Less
Over the last two decades, scientific accounts of religion have received a great deal of scholarly and popular attention both because of their intrinsic interest and because they are widely viewed as constituting a threat to the religion they analyse. This book aims to describe and discuss these scientific accounts as well as to assess their implications. The volume begins with essays by leading scientists in the field, describing these accounts and discussing evidence in their favour. Philosophical and theological reflections on these accounts follow, offered by leading philosophers, theologians, and scientists. This diverse group of scholars address some fascinating underlying questions: Do scientific accounts of religion undermine the justification of religious belief? Do such accounts show religion to be an accidental by-product of our evolutionary development? And, whilst we seem naturally disposed toward religion, would we fare better or worse without it? Bringing together dissenting perspectives, this provocative collection will serve to freshly illuminate on-going debate on these perennial questions.
Jeffrey Schloss
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199557028
- eISBN:
- 9780191701719
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557028.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Philosophy of Religion
This introductory chapter gives an overview of the purpose of the book: to describe and discuss scientific accounts of religion and to assess their implications on society. It also gives a background ...
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This introductory chapter gives an overview of the purpose of the book: to describe and discuss scientific accounts of religion and to assess their implications on society. It also gives a background on scientific accounts and religion, and how evolution affected these two disciplines. The chapter ends by presenting religious views on Cognitive Science, Darwinian accounts, and Coevolutionary accounts.Less
This introductory chapter gives an overview of the purpose of the book: to describe and discuss scientific accounts of religion and to assess their implications on society. It also gives a background on scientific accounts and religion, and how evolution affected these two disciplines. The chapter ends by presenting religious views on Cognitive Science, Darwinian accounts, and Coevolutionary accounts.
Nancey Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199557028
- eISBN:
- 9780191701719
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557028.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter explores how cognitive science accounts for the existence of religion, by focusing on the works of Pascal Boyer (writer of Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious ...
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This chapter explores how cognitive science accounts for the existence of religion, by focusing on the works of Pascal Boyer (writer of Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought). It begins by giving an overview of some of Boyer’s work, then relating theology to cognitive science of religion. It presents theological accounts on the development of religion, and how Boyer’s account on the development of religion can be adopted into it. Lastly, it suggests some of the ways Christianity can benefit from this adoption, both practically and theologically.Less
This chapter explores how cognitive science accounts for the existence of religion, by focusing on the works of Pascal Boyer (writer of Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought). It begins by giving an overview of some of Boyer’s work, then relating theology to cognitive science of religion. It presents theological accounts on the development of religion, and how Boyer’s account on the development of religion can be adopted into it. Lastly, it suggests some of the ways Christianity can benefit from this adoption, both practically and theologically.
Justin Barrett
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199557028
- eISBN:
- 9780191701719
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557028.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter explores why belief in superhuman agents (gods) is historically and culturally common by engaging the natural properties of human thinking to function in ordinary natural and social ...
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This chapter explores why belief in superhuman agents (gods) is historically and culturally common by engaging the natural properties of human thinking to function in ordinary natural and social environments. It starts by explaining what belief is, and its two kinds: reflective (provides fair representations of what someone believes in) and non-reflective (operates without conscious awareness in nature). It discusses why people believe in gods, and how god concepts arise. It also talks about the advantages of having these concepts; how they are connected to fortune, misfortune, and morality; and why people believe in a particular divine.Less
This chapter explores why belief in superhuman agents (gods) is historically and culturally common by engaging the natural properties of human thinking to function in ordinary natural and social environments. It starts by explaining what belief is, and its two kinds: reflective (provides fair representations of what someone believes in) and non-reflective (operates without conscious awareness in nature). It discusses why people believe in gods, and how god concepts arise. It also talks about the advantages of having these concepts; how they are connected to fortune, misfortune, and morality; and why people believe in a particular divine.
Kelly Bulkeley
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199351534
- eISBN:
- 9780199351565
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199351534.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter examines the cross-cultural religious phenomenon of demonic seduction in dreams. The prevalence of these kinds of strangely intense, sexually tinged dreams has elicited fear and ...
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This chapter examines the cross-cultural religious phenomenon of demonic seduction in dreams. The prevalence of these kinds of strangely intense, sexually tinged dreams has elicited fear and condemnation from religious authorities throughout history. This chapter looks at demonic seduction in the context of scientific research on big dreams. The discussion includes a detailed case study (“Sana,” a young Muslim woman in contemporary Jordan, possessed by a jinn), references to other religious traditions around the world, and theories from cognitive science and the psychology of religion. Special attention is given to the psychological notion of the unconscious and its role in dreaming and religious experience. The argument is developed that religious beliefs about demonic seduction in dreams have a basis in real psychological experience and legitimate biological concerns about potential threats to procreation.Less
This chapter examines the cross-cultural religious phenomenon of demonic seduction in dreams. The prevalence of these kinds of strangely intense, sexually tinged dreams has elicited fear and condemnation from religious authorities throughout history. This chapter looks at demonic seduction in the context of scientific research on big dreams. The discussion includes a detailed case study (“Sana,” a young Muslim woman in contemporary Jordan, possessed by a jinn), references to other religious traditions around the world, and theories from cognitive science and the psychology of religion. Special attention is given to the psychological notion of the unconscious and its role in dreaming and religious experience. The argument is developed that religious beliefs about demonic seduction in dreams have a basis in real psychological experience and legitimate biological concerns about potential threats to procreation.
Kelly Bulkeley
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199351534
- eISBN:
- 9780199351565
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199351534.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter examines the cross-cultural religious phenomenon of prophetic visions in dreams. The widespread occurrence of these kinds of visually intense, future-oriented dreams has prompted both ...
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This chapter examines the cross-cultural religious phenomenon of prophetic visions in dreams. The widespread occurrence of these kinds of visually intense, future-oriented dreams has prompted both positive and negative attention from religious authorities throughout history. This chapter looks at prophetic vision in the context of scientific research on big dreams. The discussion includes a detailed case study (Perpetua, a young Christian woman in second-century C.E. Carthage who kept a dream diary while awaiting execution in a Roman coliseum), references to other religious traditions around the world, and theories from cognitive science and the psychology of religion. Special attention is given to the power of visual imagery in certain kinds of religious experience. The chapter argues that religions are naturally drawn to the anticipatory powers of dreaming, in which the human mind’s natural capacities for forethought are boosted by the brain’s innate tendency to generate spontaneous visionary experiences during sleep.Less
This chapter examines the cross-cultural religious phenomenon of prophetic visions in dreams. The widespread occurrence of these kinds of visually intense, future-oriented dreams has prompted both positive and negative attention from religious authorities throughout history. This chapter looks at prophetic vision in the context of scientific research on big dreams. The discussion includes a detailed case study (Perpetua, a young Christian woman in second-century C.E. Carthage who kept a dream diary while awaiting execution in a Roman coliseum), references to other religious traditions around the world, and theories from cognitive science and the psychology of religion. Special attention is given to the power of visual imagery in certain kinds of religious experience. The chapter argues that religions are naturally drawn to the anticipatory powers of dreaming, in which the human mind’s natural capacities for forethought are boosted by the brain’s innate tendency to generate spontaneous visionary experiences during sleep.
Wesley J. Wildman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198815990
- eISBN:
- 9780191853524
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198815990.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
To appreciate the risks and benefits of anthropomorphism, it is important (1) to appreciate the genius and limitations of human cognition, (2) to compare ultimacy models to see what difference ...
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To appreciate the risks and benefits of anthropomorphism, it is important (1) to appreciate the genius and limitations of human cognition, (2) to compare ultimacy models to see what difference anthropomorphic modeling techniques make, and (3) to entertain the possibility of an apophatic approach to ultimate reality that relativizes and relates ultimacy models. An apophatic approach to ultimate reality relativizes ultimacy models but also implies a disintegrating metric that serves to relate ultimacy models to one another. Degree of anthropomorphism is an important component of this disintegrating metric. Comparative analysis helps manifest internal complexity in the idea of anthropomorphism by distinguishing three relatively independent dimensions: Intentionality Attribution, Rational Practicality, and Narrative Comprehensibility. Educational efforts stabilized in cultural traditions can confer on people the desire and ability to resist one or more dimensions of the anthropomorphic default modes of cognition to some degree.Less
To appreciate the risks and benefits of anthropomorphism, it is important (1) to appreciate the genius and limitations of human cognition, (2) to compare ultimacy models to see what difference anthropomorphic modeling techniques make, and (3) to entertain the possibility of an apophatic approach to ultimate reality that relativizes and relates ultimacy models. An apophatic approach to ultimate reality relativizes ultimacy models but also implies a disintegrating metric that serves to relate ultimacy models to one another. Degree of anthropomorphism is an important component of this disintegrating metric. Comparative analysis helps manifest internal complexity in the idea of anthropomorphism by distinguishing three relatively independent dimensions: Intentionality Attribution, Rational Practicality, and Narrative Comprehensibility. Educational efforts stabilized in cultural traditions can confer on people the desire and ability to resist one or more dimensions of the anthropomorphic default modes of cognition to some degree.
Stephen S. Bush
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199387403
- eISBN:
- 9780199387427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199387403.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter develops a social practical account of religious experience that integrates experience and meaning and addresses the criticisms that experience is too subjective and private to serve as ...
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This chapter develops a social practical account of religious experience that integrates experience and meaning and addresses the criticisms that experience is too subjective and private to serve as a fit object for scholarly inquiry. Drawing from the pragmatist philosophy of Robert Brandom, this chapter argues that experiences are social practical affairs, in that they are perceptual events that require that the experiencer be socialized into a linguistic community. This view of experiences should lead to the rejection of the claims of perennialists, that there are universal and/or nonconceptual mystical experiences. Turning to the insider/outsider problem, this chapter argues that insiders do have a distinctive position in relation to their own experiencers, but that the asymmetry between the insider and outsider is not absolute. Furthermore, in many cases, the outsider can have superior knowledge about the experience. This chapter concludes with an assessment of the possible compatibility of neuroscience, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology with a social practical theory of religion.Less
This chapter develops a social practical account of religious experience that integrates experience and meaning and addresses the criticisms that experience is too subjective and private to serve as a fit object for scholarly inquiry. Drawing from the pragmatist philosophy of Robert Brandom, this chapter argues that experiences are social practical affairs, in that they are perceptual events that require that the experiencer be socialized into a linguistic community. This view of experiences should lead to the rejection of the claims of perennialists, that there are universal and/or nonconceptual mystical experiences. Turning to the insider/outsider problem, this chapter argues that insiders do have a distinctive position in relation to their own experiencers, but that the asymmetry between the insider and outsider is not absolute. Furthermore, in many cases, the outsider can have superior knowledge about the experience. This chapter concludes with an assessment of the possible compatibility of neuroscience, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology with a social practical theory of religion.
Wayne Glausser
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190864170
- eISBN:
- 9780190864200
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190864170.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter focuses on an old and a new approach to analyzing the seven deadly sins: Thomas Aquinas’s medieval theology, and contemporary cognitive science. As different as the two perspectives ...
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This chapter focuses on an old and a new approach to analyzing the seven deadly sins: Thomas Aquinas’s medieval theology, and contemporary cognitive science. As different as the two perspectives might seem, they share a common indebtedness to Aristotle, and they entangle more compellingly than one might have expected. Certain themes occupy and key problems vex both theology and science. The chapter first sets out the Aristotle connection, then engages in comparative analyses of Aquinas and science for each of the deadly sins. Although there is no single, definitive text for contemporary cognitive science that has the authority of the Summa Theologica, a recent issue of Scientific American provides a helpful window onto recent work by psychologists and neuroscientists that relates to the deadly sins.Less
This chapter focuses on an old and a new approach to analyzing the seven deadly sins: Thomas Aquinas’s medieval theology, and contemporary cognitive science. As different as the two perspectives might seem, they share a common indebtedness to Aristotle, and they entangle more compellingly than one might have expected. Certain themes occupy and key problems vex both theology and science. The chapter first sets out the Aristotle connection, then engages in comparative analyses of Aquinas and science for each of the deadly sins. Although there is no single, definitive text for contemporary cognitive science that has the authority of the Summa Theologica, a recent issue of Scientific American provides a helpful window onto recent work by psychologists and neuroscientists that relates to the deadly sins.
James W. Jones
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190927387
- eISBN:
- 9780190927417
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190927387.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies, Philosophy of Religion
Taking embodiment seriously impacts the way religion is theorized in the discipline of cognitive psychology and in other religious studies disciplines, including theology. This chapter describes new ...
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Taking embodiment seriously impacts the way religion is theorized in the discipline of cognitive psychology and in other religious studies disciplines, including theology. This chapter describes new avenues of research that follow from adopting an embodied perspective. An embodied perspective also transforms the way we think about traditional topics concerning religious knowledge. The often argued parallel between ordinary perceptual experience and certain religious experiences commonly described as religious perceptions is analyzed and an appreciative critique of William Alston’s 1991 book Perceiving God is offered. Arguments for conceiving of religious experience as a form of perception are strong but the argument as currently framed is seriously flawed psychologically. Reframing the argument in terms of an embodied-relational model strengthens it and supports the argument in this book that reason is on the side of those who choose a religiously lived life.Less
Taking embodiment seriously impacts the way religion is theorized in the discipline of cognitive psychology and in other religious studies disciplines, including theology. This chapter describes new avenues of research that follow from adopting an embodied perspective. An embodied perspective also transforms the way we think about traditional topics concerning religious knowledge. The often argued parallel between ordinary perceptual experience and certain religious experiences commonly described as religious perceptions is analyzed and an appreciative critique of William Alston’s 1991 book Perceiving God is offered. Arguments for conceiving of religious experience as a form of perception are strong but the argument as currently framed is seriously flawed psychologically. Reframing the argument in terms of an embodied-relational model strengthens it and supports the argument in this book that reason is on the side of those who choose a religiously lived life.
Kelly Bulkeley
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199351534
- eISBN:
- 9780199351565
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199351534.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
“Big dreams” are rare but extremely vivid forms of dreaming that make a strong, lasting impact on waking consciousness. Experiences of big dreaming have played prominent roles in religious and ...
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“Big dreams” are rare but extremely vivid forms of dreaming that make a strong, lasting impact on waking consciousness. Experiences of big dreaming have played prominent roles in religious and cultural traditions throughout history. This book provides an original, evidence-based analysis of big dreams drawing on research from cognitive science and the comparative history of religions. The goal is to shed new light on the classic theory of Nietzsche, Tylor, and others that the origins of religion can be found in dreaming. This theory has always appealed to anthropologists and philosophers, but it has never been tested using current scientific research. Big Dreams is the first book to make that attempt. It builds on findings from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and psychology to illuminate the dreaming‒religion connection. The book provides a mapping of four “prototypes” of big dreaming: aggressive, sexual, gravitational, and mystical. Each prototype is associated with a distinct kind of emotional and physiological arousal—a fight/flight response in a chasing nightmare, an actual orgasm in a “wet” dream, a startled sensation of vertigo in a falling dream, a joyous feeling of freedom and power in a flying dream. Scientific research on these big dream prototypes has revealed a naturalistic basis for religious beliefs arising from intensified modes of sleep and dreaming. Big Dreams looks at cross-cultural and historical cases of dreams involved in demonic seduction, prophetic vision, ritual healing, and contemplative practice to argue that Nietzsche and Tylor were essentially right—dreaming is a primal wellspring of religious experience.Less
“Big dreams” are rare but extremely vivid forms of dreaming that make a strong, lasting impact on waking consciousness. Experiences of big dreaming have played prominent roles in religious and cultural traditions throughout history. This book provides an original, evidence-based analysis of big dreams drawing on research from cognitive science and the comparative history of religions. The goal is to shed new light on the classic theory of Nietzsche, Tylor, and others that the origins of religion can be found in dreaming. This theory has always appealed to anthropologists and philosophers, but it has never been tested using current scientific research. Big Dreams is the first book to make that attempt. It builds on findings from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and psychology to illuminate the dreaming‒religion connection. The book provides a mapping of four “prototypes” of big dreaming: aggressive, sexual, gravitational, and mystical. Each prototype is associated with a distinct kind of emotional and physiological arousal—a fight/flight response in a chasing nightmare, an actual orgasm in a “wet” dream, a startled sensation of vertigo in a falling dream, a joyous feeling of freedom and power in a flying dream. Scientific research on these big dream prototypes has revealed a naturalistic basis for religious beliefs arising from intensified modes of sleep and dreaming. Big Dreams looks at cross-cultural and historical cases of dreams involved in demonic seduction, prophetic vision, ritual healing, and contemplative practice to argue that Nietzsche and Tylor were essentially right—dreaming is a primal wellspring of religious experience.
Wayne Glausser
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190864170
- eISBN:
- 9780190864200
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190864170.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This book explores a significant if underappreciated relationship between religious and secular interests. In entanglement, secularity competes with religion, but neither side achieves simple ...
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This book explores a significant if underappreciated relationship between religious and secular interests. In entanglement, secularity competes with religion, but neither side achieves simple dominance by displacing the other. As secular ideas and practices entangle with their religious counterparts, they interact and alter each other in a contentious but oddly intimate relationship. Each chapter focuses on a topic of contemporary relevance that shows entanglement at work. After brief introductory analyses of the “War on Christmas” and controversies surrounding stem cell research, the book turns to debates sparked by new atheism. Chapter 2 analyzes the rhetoric of new atheists, many of them scientists; chapter 3 conversely analyzes the rhetoric of faithful scientists who see no incompatibility between scientific reason and belief in God. The new atheists’ rhetoric reveals their subtle entanglement with religious discourse, even as they aim to supplant it. The faithful scientists present scientific arguments for belief in God, but analysis of their rhetoric turns up difficulties that jeopardize any simple convergence of science and faith. Chapter 4 examines the complicated relationship between canonical Christian works and the reigning secular paradigm in literary studies. In the next chapter, the Pope Francis’s secular-friendly positions mix surprisingly with his attachment to archaic, seemingly superstitious devotions. After analyzing the entanglement of Aquinas’s moral theology with contemporary cognitive science (“The Seven Deadly Sins”), the book concludes with “Psychedelic Last Rites”: recent experiments in psychedelic therapy for the dying share purposes and problems with the Catholic sacrament of extreme unction.Less
This book explores a significant if underappreciated relationship between religious and secular interests. In entanglement, secularity competes with religion, but neither side achieves simple dominance by displacing the other. As secular ideas and practices entangle with their religious counterparts, they interact and alter each other in a contentious but oddly intimate relationship. Each chapter focuses on a topic of contemporary relevance that shows entanglement at work. After brief introductory analyses of the “War on Christmas” and controversies surrounding stem cell research, the book turns to debates sparked by new atheism. Chapter 2 analyzes the rhetoric of new atheists, many of them scientists; chapter 3 conversely analyzes the rhetoric of faithful scientists who see no incompatibility between scientific reason and belief in God. The new atheists’ rhetoric reveals their subtle entanglement with religious discourse, even as they aim to supplant it. The faithful scientists present scientific arguments for belief in God, but analysis of their rhetoric turns up difficulties that jeopardize any simple convergence of science and faith. Chapter 4 examines the complicated relationship between canonical Christian works and the reigning secular paradigm in literary studies. In the next chapter, the Pope Francis’s secular-friendly positions mix surprisingly with his attachment to archaic, seemingly superstitious devotions. After analyzing the entanglement of Aquinas’s moral theology with contemporary cognitive science (“The Seven Deadly Sins”), the book concludes with “Psychedelic Last Rites”: recent experiments in psychedelic therapy for the dying share purposes and problems with the Catholic sacrament of extreme unction.
Kelly Bulkeley
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199351534
- eISBN:
- 9780199351565
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199351534.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The introduction explains that big dreams are the “black swans” of dream research—rare but highly impactful experiences revealing new aspects of brain/mind functioning with important relevance for ...
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The introduction explains that big dreams are the “black swans” of dream research—rare but highly impactful experiences revealing new aspects of brain/mind functioning with important relevance for the study of religion. The basic idea that religions originate in dreaming has a long history, and this book will put the hypothesis to the test by using new scientific information about sleep and dreaming. Much of the evidence presented in the book comes from the Sleep and Dream Database (SDDb), a digital archive and search engine designed to facilitate empirical studies of dreaming. An outline of the book’s four sections is presented: Part I looks at the evolutionary context of human sleep, Part II describes research on the form and content of ordinary dreaming, Part III examines scientific research on the four prototypes (aggressive, sexual, gravitational, mystical) of big dreaming, and Part IV looks at big dreams in religious experiences.Less
The introduction explains that big dreams are the “black swans” of dream research—rare but highly impactful experiences revealing new aspects of brain/mind functioning with important relevance for the study of religion. The basic idea that religions originate in dreaming has a long history, and this book will put the hypothesis to the test by using new scientific information about sleep and dreaming. Much of the evidence presented in the book comes from the Sleep and Dream Database (SDDb), a digital archive and search engine designed to facilitate empirical studies of dreaming. An outline of the book’s four sections is presented: Part I looks at the evolutionary context of human sleep, Part II describes research on the form and content of ordinary dreaming, Part III examines scientific research on the four prototypes (aggressive, sexual, gravitational, mystical) of big dreaming, and Part IV looks at big dreams in religious experiences.
