Modes Of Religiosity

Preface

Introduction

What Is “Religion”?

What Is “Ritual”?

Ritual And Religious Revelation

Outline Of The Volume

PART ONE: COGNITION AND RELIGIOUS TRANSMISSION

Chapter One: First Principles For Explaining Religion And Ritual

Religious Traditions Are Materially Constrained

Religious Phenomena Are Selected

The Selection Of Religious Phenomena Is Context-Dependent

Religious Transmission Is Partly Motivated By Explicit Religious Concepts

Chapter Two: Cognitively Optimal Religion

The Naturalness Of Gods

The Naturalness Of Ritual

The Naturalness Of Myth

Chapter Three: Cognitively Costly Religion

Cognitively Costly Gods

Cognitively Costly Rituals

Cognitively Costly Narratives

PART TWO: THE THEORY OF MODES OF RELIGIOSITY

Chapter Four: The Theory Of Modes Of Religiosity

Modes Of Religiosity And Memory

The Doctrinal Mode Of Religiosity

The Imagistic Mode Of Religiosity

Modes Of Religiosity Contrasted

Modes Of Religiosity In The Real World

The Origins Of Modes Of Religiosity

Chapter Five: Ritual And Meaning In The Doctrinal Mode

The Distinction Between Implicit And Explicit Memory

The Theory Of Representational Redescription

Representational Redescription And Routinized Ritual

Routinized Ritual And Exegesis

Routinization, Relevance, And Revelation

Chapter Six: Ritual And Meaning In The Imagistic Mode

Emotion And Episodic Memory

Episodic Memory And Ritual

Episodic Memory And Spontaneous Exegetical Reflection

Representational Redescription And The Imagistic Mode

Chapter Seven: Religious Enthusiasm And Its Limits

Religious Enthusiasm

The Limits Of Religious Enthusiasm

PART THREE: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL CHALLENGES

Chapter Eight: Theoretical Challenges

The Challenges

Form And Frequency

Selectionism Or Mechanistic Causation?

Arousal, Memory, And Motivation

Procedural Versus Exegetical Knowledge In The Domain Of Ritual

Historical Transformations

Chapter Nine: Testing The Theory

Predictions

Evidence Needed From Ethnography, Historiography, And Archaeology

Evidence Needed From The Cognitive Sciences

Epilogue: Theory, Description, And The Cognitive Science Of Religion

References

Index

About The Author

Additional Info
Religions-whatever else they may be-are configurations of cultural information reproduced across space and time. Beginning with this seemingly obvious fact of religious transmission, Harvey Whitehouse goes on to construct a testable theory of how religions are created, passed on, and changed. At the center of his theory are two divergent ‘modes of religiosity:’ the imagistic and the doctrinal. Drawing from recent advances in cognitive science, Whitehouse’s theory shows how religions tend to coalesce around one of these two poles depending on how religious behaviors are remembered. In the ‘imagistic mode,’ rituals have a lasting impact on people’s minds, haunting not only our memories but influencing the way we ruminate on religious topics. These psychological features are linked to the scale and structure of religious communities, fostering small, exclusive, and ideologically heterogeneous ritual groupings or factions. In the ‘doctrinal mode’, on the other hand, religious knowledge is primarily spread through intensive and repetitive teaching; religious communities are contrastingly large, inclusive, and centrally regulated. While these tendencies have long been recognized in the history of the study of religion, the modes of religiosity theory is unique in that it explains why these tendencies exist. More importantly, Whitehouse does not give the final word, but invites us to join a series of collaborative networks among anthropologists, historians, archaeologists, and psychologists, currently trying to falsify, confirm, or refine the theory. Are you tired of the flood of descriptions and interpretations of religions which offer no clear strategy for evaluation, comparison, and testing? Modes of Religiosity can provide you with a new way to think when you think about religion