Development of religion
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The development of religion (religiopoiesis) can refer to the gradual emergence of religious behaviour during human evolution out of pre- or proto-religious ritual (origin of religion), or to the "crafting of religion" as part of the history of religion within a given culture.
It is concerned with a variety of perspectives or models on the ways in which religions come into being and develop. Such models are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Multiple models may be seen to apply simultaneously, or different models may be seen as applying to different religions.[citation needed]
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[edit] Origin of religion
Religion is a cultural universal that is found in all human populations including the most isolated populations.[citation needed] When European sailor first "discovered" Tasmania, they found that the Tasmanians already practiced several forms of religion. The Tasmanians may have been isolated from the rest of the world since settling from Australia 40,000 years ago. Hence scientists use the principal of a cultural homology to explain the ubiquity of cultural universals such as religious behaviour.
The evolution of religion is closely connected with the evolution of the human mind and behavioral modernity.[1]
[edit] Genetics
Some scholars have suggested that religion is hardwired into the human condition. One hypothesis referred to as the God gene hypothesis states that some human beings bear a gene which gives them a predisposition to episodes interpreted by some as religious revelation. One gene identified is VMAT2.
[edit] Language and religion
- See also: origin of language and myth and religion
A number of scholars have suggested that the evolution of language was a necessary prerequisite for the origin of religion. Philip Lieberman states "[h]uman religious thought and moral sense clearly rest on a cognitive-linguistic base," and that the presence of burial and grave artifacts indicate that early humans had distinctive cognitive abilities different from chimpanzees.[2] From this premise science writer Nicholas Wade hypothesizes that "religion must have been present in the ancestral human population before the dispersal from Africa 50,000 years ago."[3][4] However, the recent discovery in South Africa of what is believed to be a 70,000 year old ritual site may indicate the existence of symbolic ritual activity prior to the development of language or conversely a much earlier linguistic origin. [5]
[edit] Evolutionary Psychology
- Further information: Neurotheology
This model holds that religion is the byproduct of the cognitive modules in the human brain that arose in our evolutionary past to deal with problems of survival and reproduction. Initial concepts of supernatural agents may arise in the tendency of humans to "over detect" the presence of other humans or predators (momentarily mistaking a vine for a snake). For instance, a man might report that he felt something sneaking up on him, but it vanished when he looked around.[6]
Stories of these experiences are especially likely to be retold, passed on and embellished due to their descriptions of standard ontological categories (human, artifact, animal, plant, natural object) with counterintuitive properties (humans that are invisible, houses that remember what happened in them, etc.). These stories become even more salient when they are accompanied by activation of non-violated expectations for the ontological category (houses that "remember" activates our intuitive psychology of mind; i.e. we automatically attribute thought processes to them). [7]
One of the attributes of our intuitive psychology of mind is that humans are interested in the affairs of other humans. This may result in the tendency for concepts of supernatural agents to inevitably cross connect with human intuitive moral feelings (evolutionary behavioral guidelines). In addition, the presence of dead bodies creates an uncomfortable cognitive state in which dreams and other mental modules (person identification and behavior prediction) continue to run decoupled from reality producing incompatible intuitions that the dead are somehow still around. When this is coupled with the human predisposition to see misfortune as a social event (as someone's responsibility rather than the outcome of mechanical processes) it may activate the intuitive "willingness to make exchanges" module of the human theory of minds resulting in the tendency of humans to try to interact and bargain with their supernatural agents (ritual). [8]
In a large enough group, some individuals will seem better skilled at these rituals than others and will become specialists. As the societies grow and encounter others, competition will ensue and a "survival of the fittest" effect may cause the practitioners to modify their concepts to provide a more abstract, more widely acceptable version. Eventually the specialist practitioners form a cohesive group or guild with its attendant political goals (religion).[8]
[edit] History of religion
[edit] Paleolithic
Though disputed, evidence suggests that the Neanderthals were the first homonids to intentionally bury the dead. It appears that the corpses were placed into shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. The presence of these grave goods may indicate an emotional connection with the deceased and possibly a belief in the afterlife.[9][10]. Neanderthal burial sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. The earliest known evidence of intentional burial dates to some 300,000 years ago. Sites such as at Atapuerca in Spain, bones of over 32 individuals are found in pit within a cave.[11]. These burials however have been disputed by other scholars who argue that the bodies may have been disposed of for other reasons other than intentional burial[12].
Philip Lieberman states "burials with grave goods clearly signify religious practices and concern for the dead that transcends daily life"[2].
The earliest undisputed human burial comes from caves at Skhul and Qafzeh which have been dated to 100,000 years ago. Human skeletons were found stained with Red Ochre. A variety of grave goods were found at the burial site. The mandible of a wild boar was found placed in the arms of one of the skeletons[13].
[edit] Neolithic
The shift in culture following the invention of agriculture during the Neolithic revolution 11,000 years ago brought dramatic social changes to humans around the world. As people abandoned the hunter gatherer lifestyles and adopted agriculture, population densities increased significantly. The first settled societies came into existence that would later develop into the first states. It is during this stage that religion is transformed from traditional forms of ancestor worship and shamanism to the religious institution characteristic of state societies. Writing was invented 4000 years ago, and the first religious texts were written shortly after. [14]
[edit] Bronze to Iron Age
- Further information: Religions of the Ancient Near East, Ancient Egyptian religion, Proto-Indo-European religion, and Historical Vedic religion
The earliest directly attested religions are polytheistic. The Late Bronze Age sees the gradual emergence of henotheism, by the Iron Age giving rise to monotheism. This Iron Age boost of religious thought, which forms the basis of today's world religion, has been called the "Axial Age" by Karl Jaspers.
[edit] Development of new religions
- Further information: Sociology of religion, History of religion, and Comparative religion
The development of new denomination or cults out of earlier ones is somewhat divided from the question of the ultimate origins of religion in human evolution, already because the process can be observed in contemporary society.
Anthony F.C. Wallace proposes four stages in the emergence of an organized religion out of individual religious experience:
- Individualistic: most basic; simplest. Example: vision quest.
- Shamanistic: part-time religious practitioner, uses religion to heal, to divine, usually on the behalf of a client. The Tillamook have four categories of shaman. Examples of shamans: spiritualists, faith healers, palm readers. One who has acquired religious authority through one's own means.
- Communal: elaborate set of beliefs and practices; group of people arranged in clans by lineage, age group, or some religious societies; people take on roles based on knowledge.
- Ecclesiastical: Most complex. Incorporates elements of the previous three.
Rodney Stark & W. S. Bainbridge's in their book "Theory of Religion" and subsequent works present four models: the Psychopathological Model, the Entrepreneurial Model, the Social Model and the Normal Revelations model.
- Psychopathological model: religions are founded during a period of severe stress in the life of the founder. The founder suffers from psychological problems, which they resolve through the founding of the religion. (The development of the religion is for them a form of self-therapy, or self-medication.)
- Entrepreneurial model: founders of religions act like entrepreneurs, developing new products (religions) to sell to consumers (to convert people to). According to this model, most founders of new religions already have experience in several religious groups before they begin their own. They take ideas from the pre-existing religions, and try to improve on them to make them more popular.
- Social model: religions are founded by means of social implosions. Members of the religious group spend less and less time with people outside the group, and more and more time with each other within it. The level of affection and emotional bonding between members of a group increases, and their emotional bonds to members outside the group diminish. According to the social model, when a social implosion occurs, the group will naturally develop a new theology and rituals to accompany it.
- Normal revelations: religions are founded when the founder interprets ordinary natural phenomena as supernatural; for instance, ascribing his or her own creativity in inventing the religion to that of the deity.
[edit] Dogma selection
In the dogma selection model, religion is a set of beliefs which allow humans to encode useful survival tips and social structures. For example, early populations may not have understood microbes (germs), but thinking of illness as being caused by invisible demons that can hop on nearby people and possess them also supplies a mental model that reminds one to stay away from people that are coughing. The demon is an abstraction or approximation of germs and their infectious nature.
Dogma that increases the survival of a group will spread using a kind of Darwinian selection process (see Natural Selection; meme). The most useful dogmas spread because they keep the population that espouses them alive to bear more children. Over time good ideas may "mutate" as new generations or tribal branches alter them and the best variations spread using the selection process described above. Of course sometimes religious doctrine goes awry and ends up in large numbers of deaths, but it is the net benefits that count in the end.
[edit] Role of charismatic figures in the development of religions
Many religions have been deeply influenced by charismatic leaders, such as Jesus, Martin Luther, Saint Francis of Assisi, John Calvin, Joseph Smith, etc. These leaders are either the central teacher and founder of the religion (e.g. Muhammad, Jesus, or Gautama) or reformers or prominent persons. Failed or violent new religions were also founded by charismatic leaders, such as Jim Jones.
There is some similarity to the role played by charismatic figures in politics. See list of charismatic leaders.
[edit] Periodic reforms and schisms
- Further information: Schism (religion), Heresy, Great Awakening, and Generations (book)
Organized religion is subject to permanent tensions between tendencies of traditionalism (priestly ritualism) and personal spirituality, periodically unsettling traditionalist establishment in religious revivals inspired by charismatic leaders. Thus, Buddhism and Vedanta are reform movements of Vedic Brahmanism, Zoroastrianism was (probably) a reform movement of early Iranian religion, Gnosticism, Early Christianity and Mithraism were subverting established Greco-Roman paganism, High Medieval Catharism and related movements and the Early Modern Reformation were subverting Roman Catholicism, and Pentecostalism subverts mainstream Protestantism.
[edit] Arnold J. Toynbee
In A Study of History, Arnold J. Toynbee argues that as civilizations decay, they experience a "schism in the soul," as the creative and spiritual impulse dies. In this environment of spiritual nadir, a few prophets (such as Abraham, Moses, the Prophets, and Christ) are given to extraordinary spiritual insight, born of the spiritual decay in the dying civilization. He describes such prophets as "surveyors of the course of secular civilization who report breaks in the road and breakdowns in the traffic, and plot a new spiritual course which will avoid those pitfalls."
Thus, he argues, the "high points" in secular history coincide with the "low points" in spiritual history, and vice versa. He notes that the call of Abraham followed the defiance of God by the self-confident builders of the Tower of Babel; that the mission of Moses was to rescue God's chosen people from the fleshpots of Egypt; that the prophets of Israel and Judah were inspired to preach repentance from the spiritual backslidings into which Israel lapsed in its 'land flowing with milk and honey' which Yahweh had provided for them; and that the Ministry of Christ, whose passion reflected the anguish of the Hellenic Time of Troubles, was the intervention of God Himself for the purpose of extending to the whole of Mankind the covenant he had made with Israel.
While these new spiritual insights allow for the birth of a new religion and ultimately a new civilization, they are ultimately impermanent. This is due to their tendency to deteriorate after being institutionalized, as men of God degenerate into successful businessmen or men of politics. He describes the worst corruption of all, however, as "idolizing the terrestrial institution in which the Church Militant on Earth is imperfectly though unavoidably embodied. A church is in danger of lapsing into this idolatry insofar as she lapses into believing herself to be, not merely a depository of truth, but the sole depository of the whole truth in a complete and definite revelation."
Of the possibility that a new religion may arise in Western civilization to finally establish a permanent kingdom of heaven, he concludes that it is unlikely or impossible. "The manifest reason is exhibited by the nature of Society and the nature of Man. For Society is nothing but the common ground between the fields of action of personalities, and human personality has an innate capacity for evil as well as for good. The establishment of such a single Church Militant as we have imagined would not purge Man of Original Sin. This World is a province of the Kingdom of God, but it is a rebellious province, and, in the nature of things, it will always remain so."
[edit] Teleological development
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- Further information: revelation, prophecy, eschatology, religious truth, schism, and Teleological argument
From a religious viewpoint, there are several possibilities to account for the historical development of religion. Religions can consider themselves founded, with a founding figure establishing a doctrine based on revelation or enlightenment. Ethnic religions on the other hand are primarily based in and justified by tradition. Further development can be based on theological speculation, or at least partly guided by further revelation (c.f. claims of divine inspiration of the LXX and KJV Bible translations). Development away from the tenets of one's own school (schisms) will be characterized as heresy, failure to abandon more archaic stages of worship as idolatry or paganism.
According to[specify] a "progression of revelation" is accepted regarding most world religions: The patriarchs and prophets (Nevi'im) in Abrahamic religions, beginning with Abraham[citation needed], the Rishis in Hinduism, and the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Buddhism, the Tirthankars in Jainism, the Saoshyants in Zoroastrianism, etc.
In the Bahá'í view, religion develops through a series of divine interventions from God, in the form of a Manifestation of God, extending that progression indefinitely into the future (see Progressive Revelation).
[edit] See also
- Behavioral modernity
- Bicameralism (psychology)
- Comparative religion
- Myth and ritual
- Opium of the People
- Prehistoric religion
- Theories of religion
[edit] References
- ^ The Religious Mind and the Evolution of Religious Forms 14.. “The interplay of religious evolution and mind reveals that even as religion and society evolve, the basic psychological functions of religion remain intact only expressed in different modes”
- ^ a b (1991) Uniquely Human. ISBN 0674921836.
- ^ *"Wade, Nicholas - Before The Dawn, Discovering the lost history of our ancestors. Penguin Books, London, 2006. p. 8 p. 165" ISBN 1594200793
- ^ Johansson, Sverker (2004). "Origins of language—constraints on hypotheses". Journal of Linguistics 42: 486. doi:. “A related argument is that of Barnes (1997), who postulates language as a requirement for religion, for much the same reasons as for art — religion requires the ability to reason symbolically about abstract categories. M¨uller (1866) proposed instead a more direct role for religion in the origin of language, with religious awe as the root of the need for speech (Gans, 1999c).”
- ^ Apollon: World’s oldest ritual discovered. Worshipped the python 70,000 years ago
- ^ Faces in the Clouds, Stewart Elliot Guthrie, Oxford University Press (1995).
- ^ http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/bec/papers/boyer_religious_concepts.htm, Functional Origins of Religious concepts, Pascal Boyer
- ^ a b Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, Pascal Boyer, Basic Books (2001)
- ^ EARLY HUMAN BURIAL
- ^ Death and Relition
- ^ When Burial Begins
- ^ Evolving in their graves: early burials hold clues to human origins - research of burial rituals of Neanderthals
- ^ Uniquely Human page 163
- ^ The beginning of religion at the beginning of the Neolithic
[edit] Bibliography
- Robert William Fogel; The Fourth Great Awakening & the Future of Egalitarianism; 2000, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-25662-6
- William Strauss and Neil Howe, The Fourth Turning, New York: Broadway Books, 1997.
- Joseph Tracy, The Great Awakening: A History of the Revival of Religion in the Time of Edwards and Whitefield, 1997, Banner of Truth, ISBN 0-85151-712-9. This is a reprint of the original work published in 1842.
- Goodenough, Ursula, Religiopoiesis, Zygon, Volume 35, Number 3, September 2000, pp. 561-566.
- "King, Barbara (2007). Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion. Doubleday Publishing." ISBN 0385521553.
- "Wade, Nicholas - Before The Dawn, Discovering the lost history of our ancestors. Penguin Books, London, 2006. p. 8 p. 165" ISBN 1594200793
- (1996) The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05081-3.
- The Prehistory of the Mind The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science By Steven Mithen Reviewed by Andy Gorman
- Wilhelm Max Wundt, Völkerpsychologie: Eine Untersuchung der Entwicklungsgesetze von Sprache, Mythus und Sitte, Leipzig (1917); 2002 reprint: ISBN 978-0543778383.
[edit] Further reading
- Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology Wentzel Van Huyssteen Published 2006 Eerdmans Books for Young Readers ISBN 0802832466
- Chapter 5 Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology
- John Rhys, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic Heathendom (1886).
[edit] External links
- Is God in our Genes
- Dean H. Hamer, " The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired Into Our Genes" 2005 Anchor Books ISBN 0385720319
- is do unto others written in our genes
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