New Science Book: The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior
Empirical studies on the evolution of religiosity and religions have been thriving these last years. These days, Springer's "Frontiers Collection" set a new standard. The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior (BERMB) is rooted in the international Delmenhorst-conference on "The Biology of Religion" and has been expanded by contributions from other scholars. It is offering a broad picture of studies and models at the forefront of this scientifc field, which is tending toward interdisciplinary consesus on many subjects in surprisingly short time.
The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior
Series: The Frontiers Collection1 Introduction by Wulf Schiefenhövel and Eckart Voland
2 Evaluating the Evolutionary Status of Religiosity and Religiousness by Eckart Voland
3 Gods, Gains, and Genes by Rüdiger Vaas
4 How Some Major Components of Religion Could Have Evolved by Natural Selection? by Jay R. Feierman
5 The Correlated History of Social Organization, Morality, and Religion by David C. Lahti
6 Is There a Particular Role for Ideational Aspects of Religions in Human Behavioral Ecology by Jürgen Kunz
7 Talk and Tradition: Why the Least Interesting Components of Religion May Be the Most Evolutionarily Important by Craig T. Palmer, Ryan M. Ellsworth, and Lyle B. Steadman
8 The Reproductive Benefits of Religious Affiliation by Michael Blume
9 The African Interregnum: The “Where,” “When,” and “Why” of the Evolution of Religion by Matt Rossano
10 Explaining the Inexplicable: Traditional and Syncretistic Religiosity in Melanesia by Wulf Schiefenhövel
11 Authoritarianism, Religiousness, and Conservatism: Is “Obedience to Authority” the Explanation for Their Clustering, Universality and Evolution? by Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr.
12 Cognitive Foundations in the Development of a Religious Mind by Rebekah A. Richert and Erin I. Smith
13 Religious Belief and Neurocognitive Processes of the Self by Shihui Han
14 Neurologic Constraints on Evolutionary Theories of Religion by Erica Harris and Patrick McNamara
15 On Shared Psychological Mechanisms of Religiousness and Delusional Beliefs by Martin Brüne
16 Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity by Ulrich Frey
17 The Religious System as Adaptive: Cognitive Flexibility, Displays, and Acceptance by Benjamin Grant Purzycki and Richard Sosis
18 The Evolution of Evolutionary Theories of Religion by Wolfgang Achtner
19 Evolutionary Perspectives on Religion – What They Can and What They Cannot Explain (Yet) by Detlef Fetchenhauer
Reviews and debates about the empirical findings have already started - see i.e. Tom Rees (EpiphenomenA) with: Why do atheists have fewer kids?
As BERMB is a quality collection in smaller numbers, I'd say that working with it is a way to literally join the "frontiers" of this new and thriving field. Hoping to meet you there!
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I have one evidence that humans and dinosaurs coexisted. At that time humans were also of giant size. Gravitation force has great influence on biological evolution too. The tendency of gravitation force is towards centre. As the Earth is growing older the tendency of gravitation force towards centre is increasing and compressing us all and making our size smaller and smaller. We have the fossil of giant size rodents. But they are not seen now. Their size have become smaller and smaller even smaller than the size of humans. Dinosaurs are also not extinct. They may be still traced , not in giant size of course.
Gravitation force is the main determinant of genetic mutation. All elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen etc. have been formed by the fusion of hydrogen element on account of action of gravitation force during the formation of a star.
Dear Michael Blume
I congratulate you for your excellent blog on New Science Book: The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior. I also thank you for your very encouraging response to my comments.
In fact, normally humanized fossils are difficult to find. Humans are a civilized race and they have developed ceremonies/rituals of various kinds for different occasions. Funeral rite is one of them. In ancient past dead bodies were either cremated or were immersed of in river. This practice still continues in many communities. If the bodies cremated ashes are immersed off in river.
According to Hindu Mythology Lord Rama was born 10 million years ago. Human civilization is still older than this. Lord Rama fought war with Ravana, the king of Lanka (Now Sri Lanka). At that time the height of man is believed to be more than 150 feet. If we want to trace these humanized fossils, we can find them at the bottom of the sea/ocean only and nowhere else.
Well, I want to thank you for the encouragement! During these last years, evolutionary studies i.e. contributed by Buddhist neurologists and primatologists or Jewish biologists helped to enrich the field by their fresh perspectives tremendously. I do hope to have the chance to work one day with Hindu colleagues in the field as well. Please don't hesitate to give notice if a respective scientist or book in the field is emerging - that's what the World Wide Web was made for! :-)
Best wishes from Germany!
Thank you very much dear Michael Blume. I am very much willing to collaborate with you in this area.
According to His Holiness Maharaj Sahab (1861-1907), the 3rd Spiritual Head of Radha Soami Faith, “during satyayuga, ... in consequence of their greater spirituality and of the high purity of their heart, had no difficulty in getting access at times into the astral planes and holding communion with the departed spirits.” (Source: Discourses on Radhasoami Faith). Greater Spirituality as mentioned above is linked to the size of pineal gland. In Satyauga pineal gland was highly developed but in Kaliyuga the pineal gland is a rudimentary (undeveloped) organ. We should ascertain the period taken from highly developed pineal gland to undeveloped pineal gland. This will determine the Age of Human Existence on this Earth Planet. Other arguments, as I think, will not help much.
“A project to reconstitute a 28,000-year-old skull is bound to shock those who like to portray themselves as sophisticates driven by brain rather than brawn. Producing a replica of an early modern human skull, a French team has claimed that our brains are shrinking and that it is 15 to 20% smaller than our ancestor’s.” (Source: The Times of India) these findings support my views on biological evolution.