Supernatural and Natural Selection

by Lyle Steadman, Craig T. Palmer

Spanning many different epochs and varieties of religious experience, this book develops a new approach to religion and its role in human history. The authors look across a range of religious phenomena-from ancestor worship to totemism, shamanism, and worldwide modern religions-to offer a new explanation of the evolutionary success of religious behaviors. Their book is more empirical and verifiable than most previous books on evolution and religion because they develop an approach that removes guesswork about beliefs in the supernatural, focusing instead on the behaviors of individuals. The result is a pioneering look at how and why natural selection has favored religious behaviors throughout history.

266 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2010

Reviews

[Michael Jon Palmquist]

The best book on the evolutionary view of religion is Jesse Bering’s ‘The Belief Instinct.’ This is the second-best book on the subject, and the hypothesis I personally favor, that ancestor worship (broadly defined) is the the adaptation that explains why we are susceptible to modern religions. Well-researched, interesting recaps of field studies and an original reading of the play ‘Oedipus’ are included. My only complaint is that the authors’ understanding of evolutionary theory seems a bit suspect. Well worth reading.

[Amber Cox]

I was lucky enough to read this book in a class taught by one of the authors (Palmer) so I got a lot of interesting back story regarding why the book was written, how they came up with the theories, etc. It is repetitive at times, but the second half of the book - particularly Chapters 10-12 (on sacrifice, witch killings, and prophets and modern religions) - was really fascinating; I even read through these chapters more than once, and used some of the points in my own intro to anthropology lectures on religion. It's easy to ready with interesting examples; they really do some fine scientific anthropology.

[Johnny]

Figure since I'm actually reading a textbook that I might as well be able to count it towards my 2011 Reading Goal :D