(Theissen et al., 2016). Another new trend to be mentioned is the use of
computer models that address cognitive theories and hypotheses, such as the
spread of Christianity (Czachesz & Lisdorf, 2013; cf. Czachesz, 2007e), altru-
ism (Roitto, 2016), and the semantic analysis of texts (Czachesz, 2016a). At
Masaryk University in Brno, the “Generative Historiography of Religion
Project”(GEHIR) uses computer models to study the religions of the ancient
Roman world, including the growth of early Christianity (Chalupa, 2015).
I return to this research area in Chapter 9 below.
The plan of the book is as follows. In Chapter 1, entitled“A Cognitive
Turn,”I provide an introduction to thefield of cognitive science and outline
the program of a cognitive turn in New Testament Studies. In this chapter, we
look at the cognitive turn in psychology and other disciplines, as well as
discuss some basic research questions concerning the human mind. We ask
how the human mind manages so many cognitive tasks efficiently, and make
acquaintance with the theories of modularity and different accounts of situ-
ated cognition. Following a brief outline of the Cognitive Science of Religion,
we will ask what the program of a cognitive turn in New Testament Studies
can promise. In Chapter 2, I survey thefield of evolutionary theory as we
move toward a deeper understanding of cognitive approaches to culture and
religion. Particular notions of evolution are at the core of many cognitive
theories of religion. After outlining the general concept of evolution, we review
some recent developments in evolutionary theory, including group selection
and cultural evolution. In the remaining part of the chapter, we ask how
evolutionary processes of various kinds can contribute to religious thought
and behavior and show how these questions are relevant to the study of
biblical traditions. In Chapter 3, we embark on a tour of the human brain.
Although such an introduction might seem a tedious exercise, contemporary
cognitive science as well as cognitive theorizing about religion increasingly
relies on neuroscience research. Basic knowledge of the brain is presupposed
in later chapters. After a survey of philosophical issues, we turn to a quick
overview of the most important facts of brain anatomy and functioning. The
first three chapters together provide an introduction to the contemporary
study of religion in the framework on evolution, culture, and cognition and
lay the foundations for discussing various aspects of the New Testament and
early Christianity in the remaining part of the book.
In Chapter 4, I turn to the problem of memory and transmission. What do
we remember and how is knowledge organized in the brain? What does this
imply for the formation of early Christian traditions in general, and the
origins of the writings of the New Testament, in particular? Insights from
memory studies have been used in New Testament scholarship before, includ-
ing the concept of collective memory, originally constructed by Maurice
Halbwachs (1992) half a century ago. More recently, biblical scholars dis-
cussed so-called“flashbulb memories”in the context of the gospel tradition.
4 Cognitive Science and the New Testament