Study finds sadomasochism evokes spiritual experiences
Religious devotees endure torturous scenarios for the warm embrace of human connection. Some kneel and stand repeatedly to please their priest and fellow congregants. Others […]
ritual
Ominous moods may improve ritual performance
To the uninitiated, religious ritual seems like frivolous play-acting. Priests and acolytes follow obscure rules and manipulate symbolic objects, similar to team sports like soccer, […]
Review: Rethinking Religion
In this groundbreaking book, E. Thomas Lawson and Robert N. McCauley proclaim the birth of the field of cognitive science of religion by presenting a […]
Review: Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity
As one might expect given the title, Roy Rappaport in Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity (Cambridge University Press, 1999) spends a great […]
Review: Religion in Mind
Given its penchant for to publishing findings in obscure journals, one can easily miss the profound discoveries in the field of the cognitive study of […]
IN FOCUS: This is not a pipe
Anyone who has had the pleasure to sit down to a satisfying pipe of flame-cured Virginian tobacco (along with a touch of perique in the […]
Religion is a celebration of excellence: Review of – ‘Born Rich’
One of the major theories of religion advanced in the 19th century, most particularly by Nietzsche, is that it is fueled by envy, fear, and […]
Biocultural models of the evolution of religion need to take onboard – The sacral or divine kingship’
Most accounts of the evolutionary origins of religion refer to the shamanistic complex of behaviors as the first set of behaviors that were recognizably – religious’. […]