Magic, Miracles, and Religion: A Scientist's Perspective

Description

Can scientists study religion? Ilkka Pyysiäinen says that they can. While the study of religion cannot be reduced to other disciplines, it must not ignore what other disciplines have learned about human thought and behavior. In this collection of essays, Pyysiäinen shows how findings from cognitive science can offer new directions to debates in religion. After providing a historical and theoretical overview of the cognitive science of religion, Pyysiäinen demonstrates how knowledge of the mind's workings can help deconstruct such concepts as 'god,' 'ideology,' 'culture,' 'magic,' 'miracles,' and 'religion.' For scholars of religion or for scholars of the mind-brain, Magic, Miracles, and Religion provides a helpful overview to this emerging field. Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction; or, How I Said Goodbye to an Absent-Minded Study of Religion 1 What Is It Like to Be a Believer? 2 A Cognitive-Scientific Perspective in the Study of Religion 3 Breaking Boundaries 4 Take the Buddha, for Example 5 Religion: A Unique World, but in What Sense? 6 Explaining Miracles 7 A New Theory of Magic 8 True Fiction: The Philosophy and Psychology of Religious Belief 9 Rituals: Why Indeed? 10 Singers of Tales 11 Holy Book: The Invention of Writing and Religious Cognition 12 Religion, Science, and Ideology 13 ‘God’ as Ultimate Reality in Religion and in Science 14 Religious Experience across Cultures 15 Do Cultures Exist? Bibliography Index About the Author