Imagination, religion and morality: An interdisciplinary approach

Abstract

Every human society and almost all of human life are infused with ethics. How do we best understand human morality and ethics? I want to argue that responsible ethics rests on a credible understanding of what it means to be human. This article proposes that a more comprehensive understanding of the distinctive human imagination, religious awareness and morality – all of which are significant aspects of being human – will facilitate a more responsible understanding and practice of ethics. Such an understanding entails a bottom-up view, which takes seriously the exploration of the fundamental evolutionary realities of human nature, that is, a natural history of morality. The quest for understanding the propensity for imagination, religious awareness and morality can be aided by exploring the core role of the evolutionary transition between becoming and being human. Accordingly, this research combines a niche construction perspective with fossil and archaeological evidence, highlighting the role of complexity in human evolution, which adds to our understanding of a completely human way of being in the world. A distinctively human imagination is part of the explanation for human evolutionary success and accordingly our sense of morality and religious disposition. The methodology this article applies is that of an interdisciplinary approach combining perspectives of some of the most prominent voices in the modern discourses on imagination, religious awareness and morality. What results from this approach is, first, a more comprehensive understanding of the human imagination, the capacity for religious awareness and morality. Ultimately, by creatively integrating the various perspectives evident in this research – by way of a philosophical bridge theory between evolutionary anthropology and theology – this article attempts to determine whether evolutionary thought can be constructively appropriated to interdisciplinary Christian theology and ethics.

Evolving belief and being human: The emergence of religion in science and theology

“…Religious rituals, structures, and institutions are one way in which the imagination and symbol are deployed in humans. To acquire a more profound notion of the origin of religion, it seems vital to identify the kinds of behaviours, cognitive processes, and structures in our archaeological past that may have improved the role that human symbol use and creation, as well as the human imagination, had in the initial appearances of religious experience, ritual, belief, and their associated institutions (Serfontein 2018).…”

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate:

“…Interdisciplinary research has a more synthetic mutual interaction because it bridges and confronts disciplinary approaches, juxtaposing, combining, integrating, and transcending different parts in the disciplines involved (Huutoniemi et al 2009:180). Serfontein (2019) utilises interdisciplinarity as a methodology to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the distinctive human imagination, religious imagination, and morality. She illustrates how interdisciplinarity can function as a bridge theory between evolutionary anthropology, theology, and ethics.…”

Imagining a new ‘abnormal’ amidst COVID-19: Seeking guidance from evolutionary anthropology and theology

“…4.An extensive discussion on niche construction theory and Human evolution can be found in a previous publication of mine, Imagination, religion and morality: An interdisciplinary approach (Serfontein 2019).…”