Essential Readings in the Cognitive Science of Religion

by whereami 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  whereami

  http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/17123.Essential_Readings_in_the_Cognitive_Science_of_Religion

  Essential Readings in the Cognitive Science of ReligionThe cognitive science of religion is fairly new and it is an endlessly fascinating area of research. The mundane questions of religion such as "Does God exist?" (the philosophy of religion) became uninteresting to me years ago. However, that opened up the much more engaging topic, in my view, of "Why do people believe in religion (and the supernatural)?" These book go a long way in answering that and are much more rigorous than the previous (e.g. Freudian, Durkheimian, etc) attempts.all votesadd books to this list

  1		The Belief Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life by Jesse Bering score: 181, and 2 people voted	My rating:
  2		Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion by David Lewis-Williams score: 100, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  3		Minds and Gods: The Cognitive Foundations of Religion by Todd Tremlin score: 99, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  4		In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion by Scott Atran score: 98, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  5		Religion Explained by Pascal Boyer score: 97, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  6		How the Bible Works: An Anthropological Study of Evangelical Biblicism by Brian Malley score: 96, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  7		Why Would Anyone Believe in God? by Justin L. Barrett score: 95, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  8		Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions by Walter Burkert score: 94, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  9		Magic, Miracles, and Religion: A Scientist's Perspective by Ilkka PyysiSinen score: 93, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  10		Why Gods Persist: A Scientific Approach to Religion by Robert A. Hinde score: 92, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  11		Theorizing Religions Past: Archaeology, History, And Cognition by Harvey Whitehouse score: 91, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  12		SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable by Bruce M. Hood score: 90, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  13		Born to Believe: God, Science, and the Origin of Ordinary and Extraordinary Beliefs by Andrew Newberg score: 89, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  14		Descartes' Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human by Paul Bloom score: 88, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  15		Supernatural Agents: Why We Believe in Souls, Gods, and Buddhas by Ilkka Pyysiainen score: 87, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  16		Modes of Religiosity: A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission by Harvey Whitehouse score: 86, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  17		Caveman Logic: The Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World by Hank Davis score: 85, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  18		When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth by Elizabeth Wayland Barber score: 84, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  19		A Cognitive Theory of Magic by Jesper Sorensen score: 83, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  20		Religion and Cognition: A Reader by D. Jason Slone score: 82, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  21		Imagining the Impossible: Magical, Scientific, and Religious Thinking in Children by Karl S. Rosengren score: 80, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  22		How Religion Works: Towards A New Cognitive Science Of Religion by Ilkka Pyysiainen score: 79, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  23		Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion by Stewart Elliott Guthrie score: 78, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  24		The Divine Archetype: The Sociobiology And Psychology Of Religion by Brant Wenegrat score: 77, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  25		Theological Incorrectness: Why Religious People Believe What They Shouldn't by D. Jason Slone score: 76, and 1 person voted	My rating:
  26		Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition by Stuart A. Vyse (Goodreads Author) score: 75, and 1 person voted	My rating:
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  Phizzy

  You've done it again Whereami ! given me load more reading to do !

  Thanks for posting, without your recommend I would overlook a lot of this, and boy, do I need educating ! I spent a lifetime in the JW's and that = ignorance on a grand scale.
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  whereami
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  00DAD

  You should have this on your list:

  Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl