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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Bearing gods in mind and culture

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Abstract Where do supernatural agents come from and why do they stay around? Within the biocultural study of religion one finds a growing tendency to answer these questions by weaving together two conceptual threads, which I will refer to as anthropomorphic promiscuity and sociographic prudery. Although descriptions of these theogonic (god-bearing) mechanisms can differ significantly, the theoretical pattern can be recognized in authors from a variety of disciplines. I illustrate this pattern using four books published in 2010: David Lewis-Williams's Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion, Pascal Boyer's The Fracture of an Illusion: Science and the Dissolution of Religion, Scott Atran's Talking to the Enemy: Faith, Brotherhood, and the (Un)making of Terrorists, and Matt Rossano's Supernatural Selection: How Religion Evolved. After comparing and contrasting their approaches, I conclude by briefly calling attention to the contemporary psychological, political, and philosophical relev...