Description
Book SynopsisE. Fuller Torrey draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to propose a startling answer to the ultimate question.
Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods locates the origin of gods within the human brain, arguing that religious belief is a by-product of evolution.
Trade ReviewA unique scholarly approach to the subject that is sure to be influential and highly regarded. -- Robert Sapolsky, John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of Biology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, Stanford University
In
Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods, E. Fuller Torrey offers a scholarly and insightful treatise on the neuroscientific relationship between humanity and deities. In his twenty-first book, one senses a profound vision of the hereafter in the arc of this eminent mental health advocate and researcher’s career, from whom we hope there will be more to come. -- Jeffrey Lieberman, Lawrence C. Kolb Professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and psychiatrist-in-chief at New York-Presbyterian Hospital
An excellent text that throws new light on where religious ideas come from. -- Patrick McNamara, director of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Neurobehavior, Boston University
A masterful synthesis that merges the archaeological and anthropological evidence for the evolving elaboration of religious activity with the fossil evidence for the neurobiological evolution of the human brain and the psychological evidence for the evolution of the human mind housed within that evolving brain. -- Michael Rosenberg, professor of anthropology, University of Delaware
Presented in a manner that is accessible to nonscientists....[an] insightful, thought-provoking work. * Publishers Weekly *
This is the book I have been waiting for, which brings together all of the various strands of data and ideas gathering in neuroscience, sociology, psychology, archaeology, anthropology, and brain development, and integrates them into a well-balanced and tightly presented theory of the origins of religion. -- Daniel Liechty * Religion *
Torrey takes readers on a grand tour of what science has learned about early hominins and the development of several early civilizations. One may not agree, but the book is richly rewarding...Highly recommended. * Choice *
A wonderful addition to the current corpus sitting at the intersection of religion and evolution. It will be helpful for the scholar and layperson alike. * Reading Religion *
Table of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Brain, Home of the Gods
Part 1. The Making of the Gods1.
Homo habilis: A Smarter Self
2.
Homo erectus: An Aware Self
3. Archaic
Homo sapiens (Neandertals): An Empathic Self
4. Early
Homo sapiens: An Introspective Self
5. Modern
Homo sapiens: A Temporal Self
Part 2. The Emergence of the Gods6. Ancestors and Agriculture: A Spiritual Self
7. Governments and Gods: A Theistic Self
8. Other Theories of the Origins Of Gods
Appendix A: The Evolution of the Brain
Appendix B: Dreams as Proof of the Existence of a Spirit World and Land of the Dead
Notes
Index
