Cognitive Science and Ancient Israelite Religion

Abstract

This book is about minds and religionancient Israelite minds and religion, to be more precise. In the past thirty years or so, a wave of research in the cognitive science of religion (CSR) has yielded deep insights into the cognitive foundations of religious belief and behavior. 1 This body of research suggests that religion is not sui generis, but is instead rooted in ordinary features of human cognitive architecture. That is, religion tends to rely upon evolved cognitive mechanisms and, as a result, emerges as an outgrowth of the way human minds operate in general. 2 In this sense, religion is therefore "natural." 3 This book extends these insights by employing current cognitive approaches in order to explore expressions of religious thought and behavior in ancient Iron Age Israel. Although scholarship on Israelite religion has become increasingly interdisciplinary in recent yearsinsofar as it makes use of both textual and archaeological data, as well as various social science methodologiescognitive tools have

Cognitive and quantitative approaches to Islamic studies: Integrating psychological, socioeconomic, and digital‐cultural statistics

“…However, more recently, humanists have begun to integrate cognitive science insights into nuanced studies of specific religious traditions. These traditions include Judaism (Maiden, 2020;Newman, 2018), Christianity (Czachesz, 2016;Luhrmann, 2012;Malley, 2004;Teehan, 2010), Buddhism (Arnold, 2012;Purzycki & Holland, 2019;Pyysiainen, 2009), Hinduism (Goldberg, 2007), Confucianism (Reber & Slingerland, 2011), and Islam.…”