Cognitive Science and the New Testament A New Approach to Early Christian Research

5. Ritual As we have seen in previous chapters, rituals constitute one of the most intensely studied topics in the Cognitive Sci ...

perplexing than that of religion. With regard to religion, there are some basic aspects that most theorists tend to include in t ...

wrote, and transmitted them. There are three aspects of textual interpretation that are helpful here. (1) First, some texts simp ...

(Zwangshandlung) (Freud, 1941 [orig. 1907]; English translation: Freud, 1933). To be more precise, Freud reflected on“neurotic c ...

contain more features of OCD than did other activities acrossfifty-two cultures (Fiske & Haslam, 1997, p. 219). According to ...

The hazard-precaution system is used to explain both action ritualization andcollective rituals. (1) First, the system directly ...

in the course of evolution. Boyer and Liénard remain unclear, to my under- standing, on the issue of where“pathological”variants ...

(11:33),“examining oneself”(δοκιμαζεῖνἑαυτόν) before the meal in order to avoid eating“judgment”(κρίμα), uttering the proper seq ...

“avenger”(ἔκδικος) of those who lived an improper life (1 Thess. 4:3–8). Both dangers are thus linked together by the element of ...

for our argument. (A complete prohibition of communal prayers seems rather unlikely, although not entirely impossible under part ...

of many religions and cultural traditions in the Mediterranean world, cross- fertilization between Jewish and non-Jewish practic ...

be the actual cause. One of the important points made in this section is that ritualization does not require explicit goals or e ...

provides mathematical tools to analyze strategic interactions among rational players (Ross, 2006). A classroom example of Game T ...

and conversely, greater difficulties of cooperation will result in more costly religious institutions (Irons, 2001, p. 299). Iro ...

In his recent monograph, Uro (2016, pp. 92–7) analyzed John’sbaptismin the framework of costly signaling theory. Although baptis ...

rationally—irrespective of the absolute claims of some religious leaders on their resources, such as reflected by the positive e ...

minor adjustments, ritual costs could be increased dramatically. Applying such changes to ritual behavior, costs could be adjust ...

modern battlefield would be suicidal? Military common sense dictates that marching is good for discipline and morale—but why is ...

middle”(Acts John94; trans. J. K. Elliott). Later the Lord sings,“Now if you respond to my dancing, see yourself in me who speak ...

5.4 RITUAL AS A TOOL OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION People participating in rituals are not just bonding. A great part of religious tr ...