Essential Readings in the Cognitive Science of Religion (37 books)

Essential Readings in the Cognitive Science of Religion

The cognitive science of religion is fairly new and it is an endlessly fascinating area of research. The mundane questions of religion such as "Does God exist?" (the philosophy of religion) became uninteresting to me years ago. However, that opened up the much more engaging topic, in my view, of "Why do people believe in religion (and the supernatural)?" These book go a long way in answering that and are much more rigorous than the previous (e.g. Freudian, Durkheimian, etc) attempts.

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1	Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer 3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 525 ratings score: 396, and 4 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	The Belief Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life by Jesse Bering (Goodreads Author) 4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 avg rating — 216 ratings score: 281, and 3 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	Christian Controversies: Seeking the Truth by Scott S. Haraburda (Goodreads Author) 3.33 of 5 stars 3.33 avg rating — 9 ratings score: 200, and 2 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion by Scott Atran 3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 83 ratings score: 198, and 2 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition by Stuart A. Vyse (Goodreads Author) 4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 avg rating — 19 ratings score: 174, and 2 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	Conceiving God: The Cognitive Origin and Evolution of Religion by David Lewis-Williams 3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 avg rating — 15 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	Virtue by Gordon Loud (Goodreads Author) 5.0 of 5 stars 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating score: 100, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	You Got To Be Kidding: The Cultural Arsonist's Literal Reading of the Bible by Joe Wenke 3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 avg rating — 54 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	Your Meaning by Marius Croeser (Goodreads Author) 4.5 of 5 stars 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	Minds and Gods: The Cognitive Foundations of Religion by Todd Tremlin 4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 avg rating — 30 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	God Without Religion: Questioning Centuries of Accepted Truths by Sankara Saranam 3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 45 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens 3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 32,586 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	The Evolution of Human Intellect: Discover the Information that Schools and Religions Aren't Yet Teaching by L.N. Smith (Goodreads Author) 3.34 of 5 stars 3.34 avg rating — 95 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	How the Bible Works: An Anthropological Study of Evangelical Biblicism by Brian Malley 3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 avg rating — 10 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	Philosophy of Religion: Thinking about Faith by C. Stephen Evans 3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 avg rating — 48 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	Why Would Anyone Believe in God? by Justin L. Barrett 3.31 of 5 stars 3.31 avg rating — 16 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	Fringe Science: Parallel Universes, White Tulips, and Mad Scientists by Kevin R. Grazier 4.21 of 5 stars 4.21 avg rating — 38 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biology in Early Religions by Walter Burkert 3.46 of 5 stars 3.46 avg rating — 28 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	The Cambridge Companion to Atheism by Michael Martin (Editor) 4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 avg rating — 97 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	Magic, Miracles, and Religion: A Scientist's Perspective by Ilkka Pyysihinen 5.0 of 5 stars 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings score: 93, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	Why Gods Persist: A Scientific Approach to Religion by Robert A. Hinde 4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	Theorizing Religions Past: Archaeology, History, And Cognition by Harvey Whitehouse 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 4 ratings score: 91, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
23	SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable by Bruce M. Hood 3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 avg rating — 335 ratings score: 90, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	Born to Believe: God, Science, and the Origin of Ordinary and Extraordinary Beliefs by Andrew B. Newberg 3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 avg rating — 38 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
25	Descartes' Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human by Paul Bloom 3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 103 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	Supernatural Agents: Why We Believe in Souls, Gods, and Buddhas by Ilkka Pyysiäinen 4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
27	Modes of Religiosity: A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission by Harvey Whitehouse 4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 avg rating — 13 ratings score: 86, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	Caveman Logic: The Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World by Hank Davis 3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 avg rating — 43 ratings score: 85, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
29	When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth by Elizabeth Wayland Barber 4.26 of 5 stars 4.26 avg rating — 100 ratings score: 84, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
30	A Cognitive Theory of Magic by Jesper Sorensen 3.0 of 5 stars 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings score: 83, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
31	Religion and Cognition by D. Jason Slone (Editor) 4.33 of 5 stars 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings score: 82, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
32	Imagining the Impossible: Magical, Scientific, and Religious Thinking in Children by Karl S. Rosengren 5.0 of 5 stars 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings score: 80, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
33	How Religion Works: Towards A New Cognitive Science Of Religion by Ilkka Pyysiäinen 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings score: 79, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
34	Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion by Stewart Elliott Guthrie 3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 avg rating — 15 ratings score: 78, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
35	The Divine Archetype: The Sociobiology And Psychology Of Religion by Brant Wenegrat 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings score: 77, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
36	Theological Incorrectness: Why Religious People Believe What They Shouldn't by D. Jason Slone 4.42 of 5 stars 4.42 avg rating — 12 ratings score: 76, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
37	Why Religion Is Natural and Science Is Not by Robert N. McCauley 3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 avg rating — 9 ratings score: 74, and 1 person voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars