From Earth Spirits to Sky Gods: The Socioecological Origins of Monotheism, Individualism, and Hyper-Abstract Reasoning, From the Stone Age to the Axial Iron Age

by Bruce Lerro

In this thought-provoking new book, Bruce Lerro offers a speculative reconstruction of the sacred beliefs and practices of cultures existing between 30,000 and 500 B.C.E. Lerro describes how material changes in various social formations―including hunting-gathering bands and horticulturalists in villages―were responsible for the shift from magic to realism, from the belief in earth spirits to faith in sky gods. Drawing from such diverse theorists as Marx and Engels, Vygotsky, Piaget, and George Herbert Mead, Lerro critiques and transforms mechanical, humanistic, new age, and countercultural perspectives on the history of sacred traditions. This study of comparative religion and mythology has important applications for the fields of archaeology, evolutionary anthropology, sociology, political science, and comparative psychology.

360 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2000

About the author

Bruce Lerro has taught for over 25 years as an adjunct Professor of Psychology at Golden Gate University, Dominican University and Diablo Valley College in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He has applied a Vygotskian socio-historical perspective to the three books he’s written, found on Amazon. Read more of his articles and get involved at Planning Beyond Capitalism Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. He can be reached at goethe48@pacbell.net

Reviews

[Joe Gangstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upper Paleolithic(cooperation,tools,language)
pre-30,000 BC

Hunter-Gatherers: all space is sacred, mind-body unity(think-act), collective self, egalitarian, tribal, magic, pre-operational thinking, cyclical time, memorization/oral traditions,

Neolithic crisis (pop. pressures/resource depl.)
4000-3000 BC

Horticulturalists: sacred & secular spaces, some mind-body separation, beginning of less collectivization(big-man), some stratification, villages, myths, pre-operational thinking

Bronze Age crisis (pop. pressures/resource depl.) 1200-1000 BC

Agriculturalists: most spaces secular- some sacred(some sky), mind-body separation increasing, some individuals(heroes), division of labor & some slavery, city/states, polytheism, concrete operational thinking

Axial Iron Age occurs- 500 BC

Farming/Commerce: almost all space secular- sky sacred, mind-body separation, individuals, stratified/caste & slavery, empires/democracies, religion/philosophy, proto-formal thinking(alphabets, coined money, science), linear time, writing tablets/papyrus allows for historical records & abstract thought