Development Of Religion Research Articles

The Emergence and Evolution of Religion: By Means of Natural Selection

The Emergence and Evolution of Religion: By Means of Natural Selection

Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion. By E. FullerTorrey. Pp. xv, 291, NY, Columbia University Press, 2017, $35/£27.

Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion<i>.</i> By E. FullerTorrey. Pp. xv, 291, NY, Columbia University Press, 2017, $35/£27.

Big Dreams: The Science of Dreaming and the Origins of Religion, by Kelly Bulkeley

Big Dreams: The Science of Dreaming and the Origins of Religion, by Kelly Bulkeley. Oxford University Press, 2016. 352 pp., Hb., $31.95. ISBN: 978-0-19-935153-4

The Ecumenical Movement and Development: The Case of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), 1963–2000 (Part 1)

Recent debates and policies on development reflect a growing recognition of the complex role of religion in development and most significantly of its contribution to social capital formation. Through an analysis of the history of the All African Conference of Churches (AACC) as one of the most significant ecumenical structures on the African continent, this contribution will discuss the role and significance of the ecumenical movement for social change (read: development). It underscores the crucial role of the AACC in the formation of social capital through its member churches and through its own international links to other organisations and ecumenical bodies in the period since its inception to the turn of the century. While I argue that the AACC has made a positive contribution in the formation of social capital, I nevertheless contend that not much has been done to draw on local epistemologies for development in its programmatic work.

Robert Aubrey Hinde CBE. 26 October 1923—23 December 2016

Robert Hinde led the study of animal behaviour for much of his long working life, drawing on his expertise in zoology and ethology to build bridges with psychology, psychiatry and the social sciences. He pioneered the application of a quantitative scientific approach to observations of behaviour, making important contributions to understanding underlying mechanisms, behavioural development and the dynamics of relationships between individuals. His influence on the field of animal behaviour was deep and pervasive, he was held in exceptionally high regard by others and his students and their students occupy many key positions in behavioural studies today. He went on to develop a science of personal relationships in humans, ranging from child development to the nature of aggression. Robert's dedication to research was combined with a commitment to promoting peace, including key roles in the Pugwash Conferences in Science and World Affairs. In retirement, he applied his ethological perspective to writing on the origins of religion and morality, the bases of war, and our culture of greed. Throughout his academic life he was a devoted member of St John's College, Cambridge—serving as teaching fellow, tutor and eventually Master.

The changing faces of African Independent Churches as development actors across borders

The religious transnationalism evident in the 21st century has heralded a new paradigm of religion ‘made to travel’ as adherents of religions navigate various cultural frontiers within Africa, Europe and North America. The role of Africa in shaping the global religious landscape, particularly the Christian tradition, designates the continent as one of the major actors of the Christian faith in the 21st century. The inability of European Christianity to address most of the existential realities of Africans and the stigmatisation of African Traditional Religion mainly contributed to the emergence of African Independent Churches in the 19th century in Africa. The emergence and proliferation of African Independent Churches in Africa was Africa’s response to Europeanised Christianity with its imperialistic doctrines and practices that negated expectation of its new context – Africa. Despite the declining fortunes of Christianity in the West, African Christianity, which includes the African Independent Churches and African Pentecostal traditions, is now a major non-commodity export within Africa and North America. Apart from their rituals and peculiarities, African Independent Churches like other faith organisations are development actors. Although notions about the role of religion in development amongst some social scientists are mainly negative, African Independent Churches over the years are actively involved in various human and community transformation initiatives. This study argues that the transnational status of African Independent Churches has led to the emergence of developmental ideals that defy territorialisation. The collaboration with some Western development agencies by some of the African Independent Churches in Diaspora further blurs the concept of diaspora as the members of this Christian movement are active development actors in the receiving nations and their former home countries. This study argues that the role of religion in development in any context cannot be overemphasised. As a result of the globalisation of African Independent Churches, the United Kingdom and Nigeria will serve as our case study using historical survey and descriptive analyses to highlight African Independent Churches as development actors.

Decolonising Development? Re-claiming Biko and a Black Theology of Liberation within the context of Faith Based Organisations in South Africa

An upsurge in interest with regard to the role of religion in development has also seen an increase in the study of Faith Based Organisations (FBO’s). These organisations have been less well studied within the South African context, yet both in light of South African Christianity’s colonial and apartheid past – and the practical challenges that arise within a Global South development context such as northern donors, the cultural relevance of programmes and the tension between justice and charity within a South African context (where the face of poverty is still largely black) they should be the subject of academic inquiry. In light of the latter as well a growing trend within Development Studies with regard to decolonial and post-colonial critiques of development, this paper seeks to argue for the relevance of a both Black Consciousness and a Black Theology of Liberation in challenging and re-positioning the identity, role and practical challenges faced by the FBO within the South African context.

Religion as a way of branding in the age of consumerism

Purpose – taking into account, that consumption of spirituality and more precisely brand religion in development of the market has been well acknowledged as well as it has been largely abandoned in secular consumer society. The aim of this paper is to explore the theoretical concept of this phenomenon and search for the answers in regards the symbolic brands and fiddled in religious rhetoric to build a narrative tradition for example the symbolic brand, and establish a community of loyal followers, which sticks strong. How do people adjust their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices in such a society? What are the limits to marketing and branding religious and spiritual goods and practices? Design/methodology/approach– the research implements a qualitative exploratory approach using cases of symbolic brands. It explores the causes of religious consumer society and the most common personal adjustments (quality expectations, syncretism, religious shopping) and organizational answers (marketing and branding strategies the theoretical concept of consumer ambiguity and its influence on affect. Our goal is not to test any theory, nor to apply the scheme to any particular phenomenon. Rather, we show that very different ideas and examples about, as branding of religion, quasi-religions, religious-secular competition could be combined into one conceptual scheme. Finding – the research demonstrates the limitations and difficulties for religious marketing and branding. In fact, religious marketing and branding may not be accepted by the organizations’ members and/or by the public in general. Finally, marketing and branding may stumble upon the difficulty that transcendent claims are increasingly difficult to sustain in modern societies. Research limitations/implications – it is acknowledged that the current research is limited by its exploratory nature, however, it highlights that consumer’s search of religion in brands should not always be viewed as negative and provides important insights into the consumption of spirituality and the pursue of the meaning in the life. Practical implications – First, consumption of spirituality in marketing has been poorly researched in recent times. The current research found that individuals did embrace the market in this area and enjoyed the symbolic meaning in branding inherent in many of the products/services on offer. Second, has been niggardly studied in societies in which brand community flourishes. The current research has contributed to this literature through findings, which reveal that we see that modernization creates rules according to which individuals have the right to choose, gives them the resources be able to make choices, and provides representations and values that legitimate religious consumer behavior or new open space for new believing systems. Originality/Value – the theme and the research are not very popular among marketing and sociology researchers and the dangerous of these specific belonging and loyalty to certain brand as religion- still not discovered what an output it will provide to society. Keywords: branding, religion, society, symbols, believes. JEL classification: Z12 - Religion D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

The Emergence and Evolution of Religion By Means of Natural Selection

The Emergence and Evolution of Religion By Means of Natural Selection

The Trouble with “Evolution of Religion”

The Trouble with “Evolution of Religion”

Antropologijska strujanja u novijoj teologijskoj misli

Apart from the traditional, orthodox comprehension concerning revaled, suprarational religious truth and supernatural, divine religion origin according to which faith is a gift of heaven and of divine grace mediated by divine illumination through God’s sign, anthropological comprehensions appear recently in theological thought concerning the origin of religion (e. g. bishop and theologian J. A. T. Robinson (; according to these comprehensions religion is a product of mankind originating in human nature, from its need to transcend into infinity. This is in fact foundation of theology in anthropology, of theism in humanism. Ideational presence of some contemporary philosophical trends is obvious in contemporary Christian theology, and especially the presence of phenomenology and existentialism interceded with influence of M. Heidegger’s thought. Moreover Marxism is treated by recent theology in a new, more open and more realistic way. Since mentioned theological trends move necessarily towards philosophy (man and his salvation become subject-matter of religious thought), it is easier then to actualize a philosophical dialogue with them, even from a Marxist point of view, too. New tendencies appear especially between the wars due to liberal and dialectical protestant theology, but this article exposes K. Rahner, possibly the most important among respected contemporary catholic theologians, who are also concerned with these new tendencies,

In the Study of the Witch: Women, Shadows, and the Academic Study of Religions

This article examines historically competing categories of magic and religion and their gendered traces in the history of religious studies. On one hand, we have a genealogy that traces the term, “magic”, back to an early modern European Christianity trying to understand itself through contrast with an imagined heresy that comes to be personified with a woman’s face. On the other, we have contemporary political and religious communities that use the identification as Witches to reverse this version of dichotomous Christian gaze and legitimize religious difference, which also comes to be symbolized by a female body. Between these historical moments we have the beginning of the academic study of religion, the theoretical turn in which Christian-dominant scholarship comes to see itself on a continuum with, rather than opposed to, different religions, as first characterized by cultural evolution theories about the origins of religion. Especially given the field’s theological roots, examining the constructed relationships between religion and magic, both of which represent crucial foci for early theorists, through the analytical lens of gender, which does not, provides opportunities to surface implicit assumptions of the current field about what is and is not worth studying.

Scientific methodological laboratory for personal growth: pedagogical assistance and support

The subject of this research is the phenomenon of mystical viewed in context of the history of religion and culture of mankind. Reference to the mystical experience attains special meaning at the current stage of civilizational development &amp;ndash; the search for exiting the spiritual crisis. The &amp;ldquo;mystical&amp;rdquo; is typified as the &amp;ldquo;internal religion&amp;rdquo; opposite to the &amp;ldquo;external religion&amp;rdquo; &amp;ndash; the religious cult and religious organization. Mysticism, being the inner part of religion, is identified with the most sacred knowledge and human feelings aimed at cognizing the Absolute. Mysticism is a conceptual core of the religious experience and the overall goal of any religious practice. Based on the conducted research, the author concludes that the evolution of religions took a path from magical to mystical. The magical (primal) religions are deprived of mystical beginning. The phenomenon of mystical occurs only within the national and world religions that recognize a human as a carrier of the absolute beginning. The peculiarity of current situation consists in the return to pre-mystical religious representations. The author determines the two types of mystical teachings &amp;ndash; the immanent and the transcendent immanent. The importance of mystical religious first and foremost lies in development of the gnoseological abilities of a human, and then in the revolutionary psychological transformations of mind and personality.

Will Religion Survive? A Critical Discussion of the Divergent Answers of two Atheists: Archaeologist David Lewis-Williams and Philosopher of Religion J.L. Schellenberg

Underlying this article are the questions of how to demarcate the phenomena to which the term 'religion' refers, and of how to differentiate between interpreting and explaining such phenomena - a matter to which David Chidester has offered guidance. These questions are approached by considering a different but closely related question: Does religion have a future, as answered in important recent books by two eminent scholars, both of them atheists, working in very different academic disciplines. These are the books of archaeologist, David Lewis-Williams, Conceiving God: The cognitive origins and evolution of religion (Lewis-Williams 2010) and philosopher of religion, J.E. Schellenberg's more recent work, Evolutionary religion (Schellenberg 2013). These works provide divergent answers to whether religion has a future - a divergence arising from different views about what constitutes religion. This article refers to their respective views, then provides a critical discussion of both, and ends by engaging, where relevant, with ideas in the work of David Chidester.

CAN WE STILL TALK ABOUT “TRUTH” AND “PROGRESS” IN INTERDISCIPLINARY THINKING TODAY?

AbstractOn a cultural level, and for Christian theology as part of a long tradition in the evolution of religion, evolutionary epistemology “sets the stage,” as it were, for understanding the deep evolutionary impact of our ancestral history on the evolution of culture, and eventually on the evolution of disciplinary and interdisciplinary reflection. In the process of the evolution of human knowledge, our interpreted experiences and expectations of the world (and of the ultimate questions we humans typically pose to the world) have a central role to play. What evolutionary epistemology also shows us is that we humans can indeed take on cognitive goals and ideals that cannot be explained or justified in terms of survival‐promotion or reproductive advantage only. Therefore, once the capacities for rational knowledge, moral sensibility, aesthetic appreciation of beauty, and the propensity for religious belief have emerged in our biological history, they cannot be explained only in biological/evolutionary terms. Finally, in this way a door is opened for seeing problem solving as a central activity of our research traditions. As philosophers of science have argued, one of the most important shared rational resources between even widely divergent disciplines is problem solving as the most central and defining activity of all research traditions. As will become clear, the very diverse reasoning strategies of theology and the sciences clearly overlap in their shared quests for intelligible problem solving, including problem solving on an empirical, experiential, and conceptual level.

清沢満之の宗教哲学における宗教起源論について(第五部会,研究報告,第七十一回学術大会)

清沢満之の宗教哲学における宗教起源論について(第五部会,研究報告,第七十一回学術大会)

The Origins of Religion in the Paleolithic. By Gregory J.Wightman. Lanham, MD: Rowman &amp; Littlefield, 2015. illustrations, maps. Pp. ix + 292, $89.00.

The Origins of Religion in the Paleolithic. By Gregory J.Wightman. Lanham, MD: Rowman &amp; Littlefield, 2015. illustrations, maps. Pp. ix + 292, $89.00.

DINAMIKA HUBUNGAN ANTAR AGAMA DAN MASYARAKAT

This paper describes the dynamics of the relationship between religion and society in the minds of scientists. Charles Darwin saw religion as a system of symbols which continue to evolve from the simplest stage to forms more complex. The evolution of religion is an attempt to build a new understanding with regard to the context which is also new. Emile Durkheim viewed religion also has a social function is to maintain the unity of the community. Religion was able to build a collective consciousness to raise social solidarity. Max Weber also viewed religion capable of forming a particular social status. He looked specifically Protestantism strongly supports the creation of community capitalism. Only Karl Marx saw religion as pessimistic. He saw religion as the opium of the people. For him religion only gives false answers. Often religion conserving system-the system that oppresses.

The evolution of religion and morality: a synthesis of ethnographic and experimental evidence from eight societies

ABSTRACTUnderstanding the expansion of human sociality and cooperation beyond kith and kin remains an important evolutionary puzzle. There is likely a complex web of processes including institutions, norms, and practices that contributes to this phenomenon. Considerable evidence suggests that one such process involves certain components of religious systems that may have fostered the expansion of human cooperation in a variety of ways, including both certain forms of rituals and commitment to particular types of gods. Using an experimental economic game, our team specifically tested whether or not individually held mental models of moralistic, punishing, and knowledgeable gods curb biases in favor of the self and the local community, and increase impartiality toward geographically distant anonymous co-religionists. Our sample includes 591 participants from eight diverse societies – iTaukei (indigenous) Fijians who practice both Christianity and ancestor worship, the animist Hadza of Tanzania, Hindu Indo-Fijians, Hindu Mauritians, shamanist-Buddhist Tyvans of southern Siberia, traditional Inland and Christian Coastal Vanuatuans from Tanna, and Christian Brazilians from Pesqueiro. In this article, we present cross-cultural evidence that addresses this question and discuss the implications and limitations of our project. This volume also offers detailed, site-specific reports to provide further contextualization at the local level.

A Response to the Readers of Big Dreams

This article responds to the incisive comments made by Professors William B. Parsons, June McDaniel, James W. Jones, and Pamela Cooper-White during a panel convened by the Psychology, Culture, and Religion Group to discuss the book Big Dreams: The Science of Dreaming and the Origins of Religion (2016). The article includes a discussion of questions raised by the panelists about methodology in science and religion, the cultural dynamics of dream experience, and the interplay of personal and collective dimensions of meaning in dreams.