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Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion

2010-03-01 Religion
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Release : 2010-03-01
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 433/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion by : David Lewis-Williams

Download or read book Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion written by David Lewis-Williams. This book was released on 2010-03-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A controversial exploration of the origin of religion in the neurology of the human brain. In this book the noted cognitive archaeologist David Lewis-Williams confronts a question that troubles many people in the world today: Is there a supernatural realm that intervenes in the material world of daily life and leads to the evolution of religions? Professor Lewis-Williams first describes how science developed within the cocoon of religion and then shows how the natural functioning of the human brain creates experiences that can lead to belief in a supernatural realm, beings, and interventions. Once people have these experiences, they formulate beliefs about them, and thus creeds are born. Forty thousand years ago, people were leaving traces in the archaeological record of activities that we can label religious, and Lewis-Williams discusses in detail the evidence preserved in the Volp Caves in France. He also shows that mental imagery produced by the functioning of the human brain can be detected in widely separated religious communities such as Hildegard of Bingen’s in medieval Europe or the San hunters of southern Africa.

Conceiving God

2011 Evolution
Download Conceiving God PDF Online Free

Author :
Release : 2011
Genre : Evolution
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 130/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Conceiving God by : David Lewis-Williams

Download or read book Conceiving God written by David Lewis-Williams. This book was released on 2011. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Conceiving God ;with 49 Illustrations

2010 Evolution
Download Conceiving God ;with 49 Illustrations PDF Online Free

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Release : 2010
Genre : Evolution
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 641/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Conceiving God ;with 49 Illustrations by :

Download or read book Conceiving God ;with 49 Illustrations written by . This book was released on 2010. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a controversial exploration of the origin of religion in the neurology of the human brain. The author first describes how science developed within the cocoon of religion and then shows how the natural functioning of the human brain creates experiences that can lead to belief in a supernatural realm, beings, and interventions. Once people have these experiences, they formulate beliefs about them, and thus creeds are born. Forty thousand years ago, people were leaving traces in the archaeological record of activities that we can label religious, and the author discusses in detail the evidence preserved in the Volp Caves in France. He also shows that mental imagery produced by the functioning of the human brain can be detected in widely separated religious communities such as Hildegard of Bingen's in medieval Europe or the San hunters of southern Africa

Why We Believe in God(s)

2014-07-01 Religion
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Release : 2014-07-01
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 239/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Why We Believe in God(s) by : J. Anderson Thomson

Download or read book Why We Believe in God(s) written by J. Anderson Thomson. This book was released on 2014-07-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking volume, J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD, with Clare Aukofer, offers a succinct yet comprehensive study of how and why the human mind generates religious belief. Dr. Thomson, a highly respected practicing psychiatrist with credentials in forensic psychiatry and evolutionary psychology, methodically investigates the components and causes of religious belief in the same way any scientist would investigate the movement of astronomical bodies or the evolution of life over time—that is, as a purely natural phenomenon. Providing compelling evidence from psychology, the cognitive neurosciences, and related fields, he, with Ms. Aukofer, presents an easily accessible and exceptionally convincing case that god(s) were created by man—not vice versa. With this slim volume, Dr. Thomson establishes himself as a must-read thinker and leading voice on the primacy of reason and science over superstition and religion.

Minds and Gods

2006-03-02 Religion
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Release : 2006-03-02
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 551/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Minds and Gods by : Todd Tremlin

Download or read book Minds and Gods written by Todd Tremlin. This book was released on 2006-03-02. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Around the world and throughout history, in cultures as diverse as ancient Mesopotamia and modern America, human beings have been compelled by belief in gods and developed complex religions around them. But why? What makes belief in supernatural beings so widespread? And why are the gods of so many different people so similar in nature? This provocative book explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas by looking through the lens of science at the common structures and functions of human thought. The first general introduction to the "cognitive science of religion," Minds and Gods presents the major themes, theories, and thinkers involved in this revolutionary new approach to human religiosity. Arguing that we cannot understand what we think until we first understand how we think, the book sets out to study the evolutionary forces that modeled the modern human mind and continue to shape our ideas and actions today. Todd Tremlin details many of the adapted features of the brain -- illustrating their operation with examples of everyday human behavior -- and shows how mental endowments inherited from our ancestral past lead many people to naturally entertain religious ideas. In short, belief in gods and the social formation of religion have their genesis in biology, in powerful cognitive processes that all humans share. In the course of illuminating the nature of religion, this book also sheds light on human nature: why we think we do the things we do and how the reasons for these things are so often hidden from view. This discussion ranges broadly across recent scientific findings in areas such as paleoanthropology, primate studies, evolutionary psychology, early brain development, and cultural transmission. While these subjects are complex, the story is told here in a conversational style that is engaging, jargon free, and accessible to all readers. With Minds and Gods , Tremlin offers a roadmap to a fascinating and growing field of study, one that is sure to generate interest and debate and provide readers with a better understanding of themselves and their beliefs.

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