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Religion Explained

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Abstract

This chapter reviews the major findings and research programs in the scientific study of religion. Research discussed here spans multiple fields of study from anthropology to sociology to cognitive psychology. The chapter further specifies the four dimensions of human life impacted by religion (belief, behavior, belonging and benefitting), along with the three fundamental components of religion (perceptions of order, purpose and control; frameworks for conduct and punishment; costly beliefs and practices denoting community membership) and the relationships between and among each.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In what follows, Jared Diamond’s (2012) and Arthur Greil’s (2009) reviews of definitions of religion over the last 100 or so years have been instructive.

  2. 2.

    This is the “hard-to-fake” or “costly” signaling of William Irons and others to be discussed shortly.

  3. 3.

    Dennett is a renowned, though frankly somewhat apologetic, atheist. He is a member of the “Four Horsemen” of New Atheism discussed in Chap. 3.

  4. 4.

    Durkheim would have called it a “clan totem.” I think this nomenclature is superficial. The underlying theoretical dynamic is what matters—segments of a whole working instrumentally and independently but in concert and sharing resources. What motivates the functioning of the parts is an energizing, a creation of collective effervescence, that occurred during daily, weekly or monthly ritualized festivals.

  5. 5.

    http://rel.as.ua.edu/faces.html

  6. 6.

    A theory of religion, supervision and self-monitoring that Hecht (2004) attributes to the ancient Greek politician Critias, based on statements made by the Roman philosopher Sextus Empiricus.

  7. 7.

    Attributable, in the New Testament, to Matthew 7:12 or Luke 6:31.

  8. 8.

    I have drawn these examples from Shermer’s (2004) excellent list.

  9. 9.

    This short discussion of cruelty in the Bible has benefitted from review by Smith (2015).

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  1. Sociology Department, Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA

    Kevin McCaffree

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McCaffree, K. (2017). Religion Explained. In: The Secular Landscape. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50262-5_2

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