The
sciences of cognition and culture are profoundly
transforming our understanding of the origins
and functions of religion. Both experimental
work and evolutionary modeling have shown
convincingly that evolutionarily stabilized
patterns of human cognition and social life lead
naturally both to beliefs in supernatural beings
(gods, bodhisattvas, ancestors, and the like)
and to the formation of supernaturally
reinforced and authorized coalitions (churches,
temples, religious traditions, and the like).
The precise mechanisms of the birth of Gods and
the formation of religious rituals and groups
are still very much under debate (for example,
it is not clear the extent to which the
underlying cognitive mechanisms are selected for
this religious function or whether the function
is a side effect of cognitive characteristics
that emerged for reasons unrelated to religion).
but the direction of travel is quite clear.
At this point, theologians (that is, religious intellectuals in any religious tradition or pursuing secular academic forms of inquiry into religious topics) are scarcely aware of these research results in the scientific study of religion and haven't really begun to reflect on their implications for theological projects. But the question should be faced squarely: How should theologians respond to this new evidence about how human beings create gods and supernatural coalitions? What is theology after the birth of god?
Prof. LeRon Shults from the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway, is addressing this theme in a lecture on Wednesday November 9, 2011, beginning at 4:00pm in room B19 in 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, 02215 (that's the big lecture room in the basement of the School of Theology).