Abstract
The cognitive science of religion (CSR) indicates that belief in supernatural agents, or “gods”, is underpinned by maturationally natural cognitive biases and systems (Natural Religion). It is unclear, however, whether theism is natural. Does the god concept that our cognitive biases and systems give rise to approximate theism? In other words, is Natural Religion “theism-tracking”? As Christian theologians have different views of what God is like, we argue that the answer depends partly on one’s model of God. We discuss two models: classical theism and open theism. We argue that classical theism is far from being natural. The classical divine attributes are very hard to comprehend. Moreover, people naturally conceptualize God as a special sort of person, but the classical God strongly deviates from our cognitive expectations about persons. Open theism is much more natural. However, recent findings in CSR challenge the suggestion that Natural Religion tracks open theism. The possibility that we are “born idolaters” rather than “born believers” might undermine the Christian doctrine of general revelation and attempts to make CSR compatible with theology.
Highlights
Many scholars working on the cognitive science of religion (CSR) have argued that religion is “natural”
As Adam Green (2013) notes, philosophy and theology are rare cultural achievements in human history. Their products, including classical theism, are not cognitively natural: Philosophy and theology as cultural phenomena are likely dependent on literacy and on sufficient prosperity to allow for the cultivation of expertise in the construction of abstract systems of ideas
Open theism is a model of God that has a better fit with Natural Religion than classical theism
Summary
Many scholars working on the cognitive science of religion (CSR) have argued that religion is “natural” (e.g., Barrett 2012a; Bloom 2007; cf. Launonen 2018). Clark and Barrett (2011) have suggested that God may have guided the evolutionary process in order to give rise to the cognitive biases and systems unearthed by CSR These suggestions point to an idea known as the doctrine of general revelation—the claim that God has made his existence and basic attributes apparent to all people (see Demarest 1982). The problem with such theological interpretations of CSR is that, while belief in human-like finite supernatural agents is natural, it is far from clear whether theism (belief in the “God of the philosophers and theologians”) is natural. Open theists view God as omnipresent, omniscient, and incorporeal/disembodied, but these attributes may not be cognitively natural
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
