- Shopping Bag ( 0 items )
1 The Nature of Religion 1
2 The Moral Instinct 18
3 The Evolution of Religious Behavior 38
4 Music, Dance and Trance 78
5 Ancestral Religion 98
6 The Transformation 124
7 The Tree of Religion 144
8 Morality, Trust and Trade 192
9 The Ecology of Religion 211
10 Religion and Warfare 233
11 Religion and Nation 253
12 The Future of Religion 276
Notes 287
Acknowledgments 299
Index 301
Charles_S
Posted January 9, 2010
I Also Recommend:
Homo sapiens has survived for about 150,000 years so far, but in the post 9/11 world the interface between science and religion has come under intense scrutiny. Our present technical power and population growth demand a commensurate growth in a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place on the planet (a new eco-morality?) if we are to continue to survive and prosper in future milenia. 'The Faith Instinct' contributes to this vitally important task in a broad ranging account of the origin of human religious identity. Surprisingly, prehistoric religion emerges as an essential military tool to unify a tribal society and help bring victory in the incessant pre-historic warfare with neighboring tribes. Tribes without religion to bind them did not survive and hence religion evolved to be an almost universal aspect of the human experience ever since. Chapters discuss the moral instinct, the origins of music dance and trance, ancestral religion, morality trust and trade, and the relation between religion and warfare. It is a thoughtful and highly stimulating book that advances our understanding of our identity as human beings and our response to the threats now posed by radical Islam armed with modern technology.
However some of the conclusions in the book are debatable. The author argues for religion as the essential source of morality but he also cites the decline of organized religion in Europe where for example only 5% of the Swedish public attends church weekly (p. 270). How is it then that Scandanavian countries lead the world in charitable outreach to the less fortunate? Even in the US the 'red - bible-belt' areas of the country record higher rates of divorce and crime than the more secular 'blue' coasts (see http://www.topalli.com/blue/ http://www.topalli.com/blue/). Yes, but even a small percentage of religious people can be enough to provide the essential moral foundation for society, posits the author. This argument reminds one of the tragic story of the African Xhosa cattle also related in the book (p.220). Why does the author not make the obvious connection between the belief that the few remaining cattle were preventing the promised supernatural rewards and his belief that the few remaining churchgoers are the foundation of morality in Scandanivia ? Has the author succumbed to the process he attributes to Haight (p. 21) where an intuitive judgment that religion is essential to society is then rationalized by specious arguments.
The author cites studies by Frans der Waals of the emergence of rudimentary morality in chimpanzees. Surely religion cannot be the source of morality then, rather the codification or amplification of a behavioural trait that evolved in primates and was then co-opted as a political tool by the priest-kings of history.
Religion is also proposed as the source of our liking for dance and music (Ch.4). Very recent work reported on the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#natural_science-8) shows that primates also appreciate music written in their emotional language so musical roots must antedate religion. A fascinating connection between repetitive motion (such found in dance) and brain neurophysiology (seratonin levels) was made by Barry Jacobs in an article in the American Scientist Vol. 82 p. 462.
A minor quibble is the skimpy treatment of non-monotheistic religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Shinto that also must have evolved.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 14, 2009
Wade puts it all together so very well; things we've all noticed, and most of us have known, but not brought to the forefront of our thoughts. I'm only half finished and am buying three more as gifts!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Why a 'must read'? Because there are very few books in English on Philosophical Anthropology, even fewer which are as well written. And, I know of NO other work which covers this topic so well, even Karen Armstrong.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 20, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 2, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 6, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted April 1, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 17, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted February 21, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 1, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted December 31, 2009
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted December 26, 2009
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted June 10, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted February 9, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 24, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted June 1, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 20, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
A New York Times science reporter makes a startling new case that religion has an evolutionary basis.For the last 50,000 years, and probably much longer, people have practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given to the question of whether this universal human behavior might have been implanted in human nature. In this original and thought-provoking work, Nicholas Wade traces how religion grew to be so essential to early societies in their struggle for survival, how an instinct for faith became hardwired into human nature, and how it provided an impetus for law and government. The Faith Instinct offers an objective and nonpolemical ...