Religion As Make Believe

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Religion as Make-Believe

Author : Neil Van Leeuwen
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674294920
Total Pages : 311 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (742 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion as Make-Believe by : Neil Van Leeuwen

Download or read book Religion as Make-Believe written by Neil Van Leeuwen and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2023-11-21 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To understand the nature of religious belief, we must look at how our minds process the world of imagination and make-believe. We often assume that religious beliefs are no different in kind from ordinary factual beliefs—that believing in the existence of God or of supernatural entities that hear our prayers is akin to believing that May comes before June. Neil Van Leeuwen shows that, in fact, these two forms of belief are strikingly different. Our brains do not process religious beliefs like they do beliefs concerning mundane reality; instead, empirical findings show that religious beliefs function like the imaginings that guide make-believe play. Van Leeuwen argues that religious belief—which he terms religious “credence”—is best understood as a form of imagination that people use to define the identity of their group and express the values they hold sacred. When a person pretends, they navigate the world by consulting two maps: the first represents mundane reality, and the second superimposes the features of the imagined world atop the first. Drawing on psychological, linguistic, and anthropological evidence, Van Leeuwen posits that religious communities operate in much the same way, consulting a factual-belief map that represents ordinary objects and events and a religious-credence map that accords these objects and events imagined sacred and supernatural significance. It is hardly controversial to suggest that religion has a social function, but Religion as Make-Believe breaks new ground by theorizing the underlying cognitive mechanisms. Once we recognize that our minds process factual and religious beliefs in fundamentally different ways, we can gain deeper understanding of the complex individual and group psychology of religious faith.

Magic, Monsters, and Make-Believe Heroes

Author : Douglas E. Cowan
Publisher : University of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520293991
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis Magic, Monsters, and Make-Believe Heroes by : Douglas E. Cowan

Download or read book Magic, Monsters, and Make-Believe Heroes written by Douglas E. Cowan and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2019-01-29 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Magic, Monsters, and Make-Believe Heroes looks at fantasy film, television, and participative culture as evidence of our ongoing need for a mythic vision—for stories larger than ourselves into which we write ourselves and through which we can become the heroes of our own story. Why do we tell and retell the same stories over and over when we know they can’t possibly be true? Contrary to popular belief, it’s not because pop culture has run out of good ideas. Rather, it is precisely because these stories are so fantastic, some resonating so deeply that we elevate them to the status of religion. Illuminating everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Dungeons and Dragons, and from Drunken Master to Mad Max, Douglas E. Cowan offers a modern manifesto for why and how mythology remains a vital force today.

Born Believers

Author : Justin L. Barrett
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439196540
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Born Believers by : Justin L. Barrett

Download or read book Born Believers written by Justin L. Barrett and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative report on the universal nature of divine beliefs; explains how the roots of religious perception begin in infancy and evolve into complex beliefs that share instinctive commonalities.

Belief in God

Author : T. J. Mawson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199276315
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (992 download)

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Book Synopsis Belief in God by : T. J. Mawson

Download or read book Belief in God written by T. J. Mawson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Belief in God answers two questions: what, if anything, is it that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are agreeing about when they join in claiming that there is a God; and what, if any, prospects are there for rationally defending or attacking this claim?" "In the context of a sustained argument for particular answers to these questions, Tim Mawson tackles many of the most prominent topics in the philosophy of religion. He argues that those who believe that there is a God are best interpreted as believing that there is a being who is essentially personal, transcendent, immanent, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, perfectly free, perfectly good, and necessary; and non-essentially creator of the world and value; revealer of Himself; and offerer of everlasting life. Having explored the meaning and consistency of this conception of God in the first half of the book, Mawson goes on to consider whether or not belief or the absence of belief in such a God might be the sort of thing that does not rationally require argument and, if not, what the criteria for a good argument for or against such a God's existence might be."--BOOK JACKET.

I Don't Know What to Believe

Author : Ben Kamin
Publisher : Central Recovery Press, LLC
ISBN 13 : 1942094051
Total Pages : 109 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis I Don't Know What to Believe by : Ben Kamin

Download or read book I Don't Know What to Believe written by Ben Kamin and published by Central Recovery Press, LLC. This book was released on 2016-02-01 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans—especially young people—are more un-churched and less affiliated with organized religion than at any other time in our history. I Don’t Know What to Believe addresses that decline and presents an insightful examination of authentic spirituality for those who desire answers, guidance, and perspective regarding an important aspect of their lives: their beliefs, and relationship to, a higher power. Rabbi Ben Kamin addresses questions he has received from real people over the thirty years of his ministry, such as: Why does my parents’ religion have to define me? Am I God’s child even if I don’t go to religious services? Does scripture include me in its ideology regardless of how much scripture I know? How do I follow my own spirituality while still respecting my parents’ traditions? Ben Kamin is the award-winning author of ten books and is a scholar on the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He has led congregations in Toronto, New York, Cleveland, and San Diego since his ordination in 1978.

Making Sense of God

Author : Timothy Keller
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0525954155
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (259 download)

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Book Synopsis Making Sense of God by : Timothy Keller

Download or read book Making Sense of God written by Timothy Keller and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion

Author : Claire White
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351010956
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion by : Claire White

Download or read book An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion written by Claire White and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-14 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades, a new scientific approach to understand, explain, and predict many features of religion has emerged. The cognitive science of religion (CSR) has amassed research on the forces that shape the tendency for humans to be religious and on what forms belief takes. It suggests that religion, like language or music, naturally emerges in humans with tractable similarities. This new approach has profound implications for how we understand religion, including why it appears so easily, and why people are willing to fight—and die—for it. Yet it is not without its critics, and some fear that scholars are explaining the ineffable mystery of religion away, or showing that religion is natural proves or disproves the existence of God. An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion offers students and general readers an accessible introduction to the approach, providing an overview of key findings and the debates that shape it. The volume includes a glossary of key terms, and each chapter includes suggestions for further thought and further reading as well as chapter summaries highlighting key points. This book is an indispensable resource for introductory courses on religion and a much-needed option for advanced courses.

God Is Not Great

Author : Christopher Hitchens
Publisher : McClelland & Stewart
ISBN 13 : 1551991764
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (519 download)

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Book Synopsis God Is Not Great by : Christopher Hitchens

Download or read book God Is Not Great written by Christopher Hitchens and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2008-11-19 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christopher Hitchens, described in the London Observer as “one of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time” takes on his biggest subject yet–the increasingly dangerous role of religion in the world. In the tradition of Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris’s recent bestseller, The End Of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope’s awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.

Do You Believe?

Author : Antonio Monda
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307387615
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (73 download)

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Book Synopsis Do You Believe? by : Antonio Monda

Download or read book Do You Believe? written by Antonio Monda and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-10-09 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Informal, revealing, unexpected, this book is a captivating and thought-provoking meditation how faith, in all its facets, remains profoundly relevant for and in our culture. “When the Italian writer Antonio Monda sat down to talk religion with American cultural leaders... he went straight for the big questions.” —O, The Oprah Magazine Some of the most well-known and well-respected cultural figures of our time enter into intimate and illuminating conversation about their personal beliefs, about belief itself, about religion, and about God. Antonio Monda is a disarming, rigorous interviewer, asking the most difficult questions (he often begins an interview point blank: “Do you believe in God?”) that lead to the most wide-ranging conversations. An ardent believer himself, Monda talks both with atheists (asked what she feels when she meets a believer, Grace Paley replies: “I respect his thinking and his beliefs, but at the same time I think he’s deluded”) and other believers, their discussion ranging from personal images of God (Michael Cunningham sees God as a black woman, Derek Walcott as a wise old white man with a beard) to religion’s place in American culture, from the afterlife to the concepts of good and evil, from fundamentalism to the Bible. And almost without fail, the conversations turn to questions of art and literature. Toni Morrison discusses Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner, Richard Ford invokes Wallace Stevens, and David Lynch draws attention to the religious aspects of Bu–uel, Fellini...and Harold Ramis's Groundhog Day.

Belief and Make-Believe

Author : George Albert Wells
Publisher : Open Court
ISBN 13 : 0812698703
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (126 download)

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Book Synopsis Belief and Make-Believe by : George Albert Wells

Download or read book Belief and Make-Believe written by George Albert Wells and published by Open Court. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do so many people - sometimes even intelligent people - swallow the preposterous claims of religion? G.A. Wells, the leading freethinker of our time, tries to shed light on this puzzle in his entertaining and enormously learned book, Belief and Make-Believe. Professor Wells begins by analyzing the nature of belief. To dispel popular confusions on the relation between words and thoughts, he compares the thinking process of scientists, laymen, and chimpanzees. The power of emotion and instinct to help form people's ideological outlooks is analyzed by preference to "defiance" and "reliance", polar attitudes which arise from the need for dominance and submission in primate groups. Wells shows the influence of defiance and reliance in patriotism and in monotheistic religions, where submission to the will of the omnipotent is a wonderful technique for feeling secure in the face of life's actual and ineradicable dangers. Since the knowledgeable Christians now accept that the Bible is uneven, unreliable, and sometimes morally abhorrent, and that the New Testament account of the origin of Christianity is mostly legend, various attempts have been made to save something from the debris by selective re-interpretation. Wells evaluates several typical examples, showing how the apologists shrink from the clear implications of their arguments, which would demolish the whole edifice of Christian doctrine. Finally, Professor Wells debunks some of the extravagant and mystical claims that have been made for the arts, notably poetry, as quasi-religious vehicles for gaining insights into the human condition.

Minders of Make-believe

Author : Leonard S. Marcus
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 9780395674079
Total Pages : 424 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Minders of Make-believe by : Leonard S. Marcus

Download or read book Minders of Make-believe written by Leonard S. Marcus and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2008 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marcus offers this animated history of the visionaries--editors, illustrators, and others--whose books have transformed American childhood and American culture.

Belief in God

Author : T. J. Mawson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019153479X
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

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Book Synopsis Belief in God by : T. J. Mawson

Download or read book Belief in God written by T. J. Mawson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-08-25 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Belief in God answers two questions: what, if anything, is it that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are agreeing about when they join in claiming that there is a God; and what, if any, prospects are there for rationally defending or attacking this claim? In the context of a sustained argument for particular answers to these questions, Tim Mawson tackles many of the most prominent topics in the philosophy of religion. He argues that those who believe that there is a God are best interpreted as believing that there is a being who is essentially personal, transcendent, immanent, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, perfectly free, perfectly good, and necessary; and non-essentially creator of the world and value; revealer of Himself; and offerer of everlasting life. Having explored the meaning and consistency of this conception of God in the first half of the book, Mawson goes on to consider whether or not belief or the absence of belief in such a God might be the sort of thing that does not rationally require argument and, if not, what the criteria for a good argument for or against such a God's existence might be. Having established some criteria, he uses them to evaluate specific arguments for and against the existence of such a God. He looks at the Argument to Design; the Cosmological Argument; the Ontological Argument; the Argument from Religious Experience; the Argument from Apparent Miracles; the Problem of Evil; and Pascal's Wager. Finally, he explores the relation between faith and reason. In the course of his argument, Mawson makes striking new claims and defends or attacks established positions in new ways. His conversational style, lively wit, and enlightening examples make Belief in God as pleasurable as it is instructive and thought-provoking. It makes an ideal text for beginning undergraduate courses and for anyone thinking about these most important of questions.

Why We Need Religion

Author : Stephen T. Asma
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190469692
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (94 download)

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Book Synopsis Why We Need Religion by : Stephen T. Asma

Download or read book Why We Need Religion written by Stephen T. Asma and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-09 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How we feel is as vital to our survival as how we think. This claim, based on the premise that emotions are largely adaptive, serves as the organizing theme of Why We Need Religion. This book is a novel pathway in a well-trodden field of religious studies and philosophy of religion. Stephen Asma argues that, like art, religion has direct access to our emotional lives in ways that science does not. Yes, science can give us emotional feelings of wonder and the sublime--we can feel the sacred depths of nature--but there are many forms of human suffering and vulnerability that are beyond the reach of help from science. Different emotional stresses require different kinds of rescue. Unlike secular authors who praise religion's ethical and civilizing function, Asma argues that its core value lies in its emotionally therapeutic power. No theorist of religion has failed to notice the importance of emotions in spiritual and ritual life, but truly systematic research has only recently delivered concrete data on the neurology, psychology, and anthropology of the emotional systems. This very recent "affective turn" has begun to map out a powerful territory of embodied cognition. Why We Need Religion incorporates new data from these affective sciences into the philosophy of religion. It goes on to describe the way in which religion manages those systems--rage, play, lust, care, grief, and so on. Finally, it argues that religion is still the best cultural apparatus for doing this adaptive work. In short, the book is a Darwinian defense of religious emotions and the cultural systems that manage them.

Create Your Own Religion

Author : Daniele Bolelli
Publisher : Red Wheel Weiser
ISBN 13 : 1938875028
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (388 download)

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Book Synopsis Create Your Own Religion by : Daniele Bolelli

Download or read book Create Your Own Religion written by Daniele Bolelli and published by Red Wheel Weiser. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Create Your Own Religion is a call to arms--an open invitation to question all the values, beliefs, and worldviews that humanity has so far held as sacred in order to find the answers we need to the very practical problems facing us. Writer, philosopher, and professor of comparative religion, Daniele Bolelli, leads the reader through three thousand years of mythology, misogyny, misinformation, and the flat-out lies about "revealed truth" that continue to muddle our ability to live a peaceful life, free of guilt and shame and the ultimate fear of death. "Our worldviews are in desperate need of some housecleaning," says Bolelli. "We enter the 21st century still carrying on our backs the prejudices and ways of thinking of countless past generations. What worked for them may or may not still be of use, so it is our job to make sure to save the tools that can help us and let go of the dead weight."

Make-Believe

Author : David Dickinson
Publisher : Lutterworth Press
ISBN 13 : 0718848004
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (188 download)

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Book Synopsis Make-Believe by : David Dickinson

Download or read book Make-Believe written by David Dickinson and published by Lutterworth Press. This book was released on 2020-01-30 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I will tell you a story that will make you believe in God." No story can guarantee being able to do this. Yet novelists can tell stories that make us think about what we believe about God and why. Despite repeated predictions of the death of the novel, thousands of works of fiction are published and read in Britain each year. Although Western society is less religiously observant than it was, many 21st-century novelists persist in pursuing theological, religious and spiritual themes. Make-Believe seeks to explain why. With chapters offering analyses of novels from several genres - so-called literary fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy and dystopia - David Dickinson discusses a wide spectrum of novelists. Authors who are avowedly atheistic and authors who have a vested interest in perpetuating biblical stories are both featured. Well-known writers such as Rushdie, McEwan, McCarthy and Martell rub shoulders with some you may be meeting for the first time. Appealing to literature students and people who simply enjoy reading, whether Christian or not, this study of God in novels invites us to open our minds and allow aspects of our culture to shape our understanding of God and to change our ways of talking about the divine.

Why Would Anyone Believe in God?

Author : Justin L. Barrett
Publisher : Altamira Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Why Would Anyone Believe in God? by : Justin L. Barrett

Download or read book Why Would Anyone Believe in God? written by Justin L. Barrett and published by Altamira Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Because of the design of our minds. That is Justin Barrett's simple answer to the question of his title. With rich evidence from cognitive science but without technical language, psychologist Barrett shows that belief in God is an almost inevitable consequence of the kind of minds we have. Most of what we believe comes from mental tools working below our conscious awareness. And what we believe consciously is in large part driven by these unconscious beliefs. Barrett demonstrates that beliefs in gods match up well with these automatic assumptions; beliefs in an all-knowing, all-powerful God match up even better. Barrett goes on to explain why beliefs like religious beliefs are so widespread and why it is very difficult for our minds to think without them. Anyone who wants a concise, clear, and scientific explanation of why anyone would believe in God should pick up Barrett's book.

Faith No More

Author : Phil Zuckerman
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019024884X
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis Faith No More by : Phil Zuckerman

Download or read book Faith No More written by Phil Zuckerman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-06 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During his 2009 inaugural speech, President Obama described the United States as a nation of "Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus--and nonbelievers." It was the first time an American president had acknowledged the existence of this rapidly growing segment of the population in such a public forum. And yet the reasons why more and more people are turning away from religion are still poorly understood. In Faith No More, Phil Zuckerman draws on in-depth interviews with people who have left religion to find out what's really behind the process of losing one's faith. According to a 2008 study, so many Americans claim no religion (15%, up from 8% in 1990) that this category now outranks every other religious group except Catholics and Baptists. Exploring the deeper stories within such survey data, Zuckerman shows that leaving one's faith is a highly personal, complex, and drawn-out process. And he finds that, rather than the cliché of the angry, nihilistic atheist, apostates are life-affirming, courageous, highly intelligent and inquisitive, and deeply moral. Zuckerman predicts that this trend toward nonbelief will likely continue and argues that the sooner we recognize that religion is frequently and freely rejected by all sorts of men and women, the sooner our understanding of the human condition will improve. The first book of its kind, Faith No More will appeal to anyone interested in the "New Atheism" and indeed to anyone wishing to more fully understand our changing relationship to religious faith.