God is great – but not necessary?: on Ara Norenzayan, Big Gods (2013)
Norenzayan provides ample evidence to support the claim that beliefs about moralizing Big Gods correlate with prosocial behavior. Atheists, for their part, are the most mistrusted minority wherever there is a widespread belief in moralizing gods. Projecting these patterns of thought and behavior on...
| Subtitles: | Review Symposium on Ara Norenzayan: "Big Gods: how religion transformed cooperation and conflict" (2013) |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
[2014]
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| In: |
Religion
Year: 2014, Volume: 44, Issue: 4, Pages: 638-644 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Norenzayan, Ara 1970-, Big gods
/ Cultural evolution
/ Moral act
/ Religion
/ Atheism
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion BB Indigenous religions BG World religions |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Norenzayan provides ample evidence to support the claim that beliefs about moralizing Big Gods correlate with prosocial behavior. Atheists, for their part, are the most mistrusted minority wherever there is a widespread belief in moralizing gods. Projecting these patterns of thought and behavior on to our ancestors 10 000 years back is risky, though. It is a plausible hypothesis that prosociality in societies where people meet anonymous others on a regular basis may have coevolved with beliefs about Big Gods, but it remains historically speculative and the direction of causality is impossible to establish. |
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| ISSN: | 0048-721X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2014.937063 |