Abstract

Abstract This chapter presents an overview of cognitive science of religion (CSR) and shows how aspects of CSR can be applied to theology. It surveys some of the main methods and assumptions of CSR, including embedding CSR within ‘dual-system’ accounts of cognition, and employing multi-disciplinary experimental approaches across cultures and life-span. It surveys some of the main findings of CSR, and then explores how cognitive tendencies to attribute purpose to events and develop in-group bonds through ritual have consequences for theological reflection. These consequences are both cautionary (showing how human cognitive processes can be primed for purposes irrelevant to truth), and generative (showing how understanding human cognition can open new areas for theological reflection).

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