EAN: 9780241431795

PELICAN BOOKS HOW RELIGION EVOLVED - ROBIN DU...

A fascinating analysis of the evolution of religion from the internationally renowned
evolutionary psychologist   When did humans develop spiritual thought? What is religion's
evolutionary purpose? And in our increasingly secular world  why has it endured?  Every society
in the history of humanity has lived with religion. In How Religion Evolved   evolutionary
psychologist Professor Robin Dunbar tracks its origins back to what he terms the 'mystical
stance' - the aspect of human psychology that predisposes us to believe in a transcendent world
and which makes an encounter with the spiritual possible. As he explores world religions and
their many derivatives  as well as religions of experience practised by hunter-gatherer
societies since time immemorial  Dunbar argues that this instinct is not a peculiar human quirk
an aberration on our otherwise efficient evolutionary journey. Rather  religion confers an
advantage: it can benefit our individual health and wellbeing  but  more importantly  it
fosters social bonding at large scale  helping hold fractious societies together. Dunbar
suggests these dimensions might provide the basis for an overarching theory for why and how
humans are religious  and so help unify the myriad strands that currently populate this field.
Drawing on path-breaking research  clinical case studies and fieldwork from around the globe 
as well as stories of charismatic cult leaders  mysterious sects and lost faiths  How Religion
Evolved offers a fascinating and far-reaching analysis of this quintessentially human impulse -
to believe.

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