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Cognitive Neuroscience and Religion

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The Palgrave Handbook of Mimetic Theory and Religion

Abstract

This essay will explore the presupposition human religiousness must necessarily be the product of specific brain functions and thus has been the direct product of biological evolution. The specific question to be engaged in this essay is whether human religiousness is universal due to (1) the evolution of a brain system that is specifically adapted for religious behavior and experience; or (2) a consistently emerging by-product of the misuse of other brain systems; or (3) a necessary accommodation to an inherent problem in human societies.

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Further Reading

  • Antonello, Pierpaolo Ed., How We Became Human: Mimetic Theory and the Science of Evolutionary Origins. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2015.

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  • Brown, W.S., Garrels, S. and Reimer, K. “Mimesis and Compassion in Care for the Disabled.” Journal of Religion, Disability, and Health. 15 (2011): 377–394.

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  • ———. Van Slyke, J., and Garrels, S.R. “Internal or Situated Religiousness: A Girardian Solution.” In How We Became Human: Mimetic Theory and the Science of Evolutionary Origins. Edited by Pierpaolo Antonello. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2015.

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  • Garrels, S., Reimer, K.S., and Brown, W.S. “Redeeming Imitation: Virtue Formation by Mimetic Compassion in Communities” Formation for Life: Just Peacemaking & Twenty-First-Century Discipleship. Edited by G.H. Stassen, R.L. Petersen, and T.A. Norton. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2013.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Travis Research Institute, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Warren S. Brown

Authors
  1. Warren S. Brown
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Scholar, Madrid, Spain

    James Alison

  2. University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Wolfgang Palaver

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© 2017 The Author(s)

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Brown, W.S. (2017). Cognitive Neuroscience and Religion. In: Alison, J., Palaver, W. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Mimetic Theory and Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53825-3_58

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