A New Science of Religion

A New Science of Religion PDF

Author: Greg Dawes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-12-12

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1136200800

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Religious belief, once in the domain of the humanities, has found a new home in the sciences. Promising new developments in the study of religion by cognitive scientists and evolutionary theorists put forward empirical hypotheses regarding the origin, spread, and character of religious beliefs. Different theories deal with different aspects of human religiosity – some focus on religious beliefs, while others focus on religious actions, and still others on the origin of religious ideas. While these theories might share a similar focus, there is plenty of disagreement in the explanations they offer. This volume examines the diversity of new scientific theories of religion, by outlining the logical and causal relationships between these enterprises. Are they truly in competition, as their proponents sometimes suggest, or are they complementary and mutually illuminating accounts of religious belief and practice? Cognitive science has gained much from an interdisciplinary focus on mental function, and this volume explores the benefits that can be gained from a similar approach to the scientific study of religion.

A New Science

A New Science PDF

Author: Guy G. Stroumsa

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2010-06-15

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9780674048607

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Guy Stroumsa offers an innovative and powerful argument that the comparative study of religion finds its origin in early modern Europe. --from publisher description.

How Religion Works

How Religion Works PDF

Author: Ilkka Pyysiäinen

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-10-11

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9004496211

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Recent findings in cognitive science and evolutionary psychology provide important insights to the processes which make religious beliefs and behaviors such efficient attractors in and across various cultural settings. The specific salience of religious ideas is based on the fact that they are 'counter-intuitive': they contradict our intuitive expectations of how entities normally behave. Counter-intuitive ideas are only produced by a mind capable of crossing the boundaries that separate such ontological domains as persons, living things, and solid objects. The evolution of such a mind has only taken place in the human species. How certain kinds of counter-intuitive ideas are selected for a religious use is discussed from varying angles. Cognitive considerations are thus related to the traditions of comparative religion. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

The New Sciences of Religion

The New Sciences of Religion PDF

Author: W. Grassie

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2010-11-22

Total Pages: 594

ISBN-13: 0230114741

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Performing a critical analysis of new scientific research on religious and spiritual phenomena, Grassie takes a two-staged phenomenological approach working from the 'outside in' and the 'bottom up' without privileging at the outset any religious traditions or philosophical assumptions.

Religion Versus Science

Religion Versus Science PDF

Author: Ron Frost

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2010-11

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1846943582

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As commonly presented the great battle between science and religion over evolution is intractable. This book maintains that the approaches both sides take in the debate drive most of the fury in the debate. Although the facts of evolution are beyond doubt, the big mistake that many scientists make is to present these facts using a materialistic premise that is not scientifically defendable. The resulting model for evolution implies that humans arose on this planet merely by chance, that the value of our lives is based only upon the genes that we carry within us, and that our lives are essentially meaningless. Naturally religious people recoil in horror as such a bleak view of human existence. In this book Dr. Frost argues that all the World's Religions advocate for the existence of a transcendent consciousness. Scientific studies can in no way prove or disprove the existence of this consciousness.

Religion and Science

Religion and Science PDF

Author: W. Mark Richardson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-10-12

Total Pages: 474

ISBN-13: 1135251525

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Emphasizing its historical, methodological and constructive dimensions, Religion and Science takes the pulse of pertinent current research as the interdisciplinary study of science and religion gains momentum.

Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion

Turning Images in Philosophy, Science, and Religion PDF

Author: Charles Taliaferro

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2011-11-17

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0199563349

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This engaging collection of essays locates the debate between theism and naturalism in the broader context of reflection on imagination and aesthetics. The eleven original essays will be of interest to anyone who is fascinated by the power of imagination and the role of aesthetics in deciding between worldviews or philosophies of nature.

Religion Vs. Science

Religion Vs. Science PDF

Author: Elaine Howard Ecklund

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0190650621

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At the end of a five-year journey to find out what religious Americans think about science, Ecklund and Scheitle emerge with the real story of the relationship between science and religion in American culture. Based on the most comprehensive survey ever done-representing a range of religious traditions and faith positions-Religion vs. Science is a story that is more nuanced and complex than the media and pundits would lead us to believe. The way religious Americans approach science is shaped by two fundamental questions: What does science mean for the existence and activity of God? What does science mean for the sacredness of humanity? How these questions play out as individual believers think about science both challenges stereotypes and highlights the real tensions between religion and science. Ecklund and Scheitle interrogate the widespread myths that religious people dislike science and scientists and deny scientific theories. Religion vs. Science is a definitive statement on a timely, popular subject. Rather than a highly conceptual approach to historical debates, philosophies, or personal opinions, Ecklund and Scheitle give readers a facts-on-the-ground, empirical look at what religious Americans really understand and think about science.

Science and Religion

Science and Religion PDF

Author: Gary B. Ferngren

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2017-03-01

Total Pages: 499

ISBN-13: 1421421739

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An essential examination of the historical relationship between science and religion. Since its publication in 2002, Science and Religion has proven to be a widely admired survey of the complex relationship of Western religious traditions to science from the beginning of the Christian era to the late twentieth century. In the second edition, eleven new essays expand the scope and enhance the analysis of this enduringly popular book. Tracing the rise of science from its birth in the medieval West through the scientific revolution, the contributors here assess historical changes in scientific understanding brought about by transformations in physics, anthropology, and the neurosciences and major shifts marked by the discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and others. In seeking to appreciate the intersection of scientific discovery and the responses of religious groups, contributors also explore the theological implications of contemporary science and evaluate approaches such as the Bible in science and the modern synthesis in evolution, which are at the center of debates in the historiography, understanding, and application of science. The second edition provides chapters that have been revised to reflect current scholarship along with new chapters that bring fresh perspectives on a diverse range of topics, including new scientific approaches and disciplines and non-Christian traditions such as Judaism, Islam, Asiatic religions, and atheism. This indispensible classroom guide is now more useful than ever before. Contributors: Richard J. Blackwell, Peter J. Bowler, John Hedley Brooke, Glen M. Cooper, Edward B. Davis, Alnoor Dhanani, Diarmid A. Finnegan, Noah Efron, Owen Gingerich, Edward Grant, Steven J. Harris, Matthew S. Hedstrom, John Henry, Peter M. Hess, Edward J. Larsen, Timothy Larson, David C. Lindberg, David N. Livingstone, Craig Martin, Craig Sean McConnell, James Moore, Joshua M. Moritz, Mark A. Noll, Ronald L. Numbers, Richard Olson, Christopher M. Rios, Nicolaas A. Rupke, Michael H. Shank, Stephen David Snobelen, John Stenhouse, Peter J. Susalla, Mariusz Tabaczek, Alan C. Weissenbacher, Stephen P. Weldon, and Tomoko Yoshida