Is There a Universal Grammar of Religion?

Is There a Universal Grammar of Religion?

Author: Henry Rosemont

Publisher: Open Court

Published: 2015-11-08

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 0812699300

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In this provocative volume two important scholars of religion, Huston Smith and Henry Rosemont, Jr., put forth their viewpoints and share a probing conversation. Though the two diverge considerably in their accounts of religious faith and practice, they also agree on fundamental points. Huston Smith, author of the important work The World’s Religions, has long argued for the fundamental equality of the world’s religions. Describing a “universal grammar of religion,” he argues that fourteen points of similarity exist among all of the major religious traditions and that these similarities indicate an innate psychological affinity for religion within the human spirit. As Noam Chomsky has argued that humans are hardwired to use language, Smith similarly argues that humans are hardwired for religious experience. In response, Rosemont explicates his humanistic vision of the world, in which the “homoversal” tendency to contemplate the infinite is part of our co-humanity that endures across time, space, language, and culture. Rosemont also elaborates upon Noam Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar and its relevance to Smith’s ideas about the similarities among religions. This insightful exploration of the most essential basis of religion provides a new direction for comparative-religion scholars everywhere.


The Oxford Handbook of Universal Grammar

The Oxford Handbook of Universal Grammar

Author: Ian G. Roberts

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 673

ISBN-13: 0199573778

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This handbook provides a critical guide to the most central proposition in modern linguistics: the notion, generally known as Universal Grammar, that a universal set of structural principles underlies the grammatical diversity of the world's languages. Part I considers the implications of Universal Grammar for philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language, and examines the history of the theory. Part II focuses on linguistic theory, looking at topics such as explanatory adequacy and how phonology and semantics fit into Universal Grammar. Parts III and IV look respectively at the insights derived from UG-inspired research on language acquisition, and at comparative syntax and language typology, while part V considers the evidence for Universal Grammar in phenomena such as creoles, language pathology, and sign language. The book will be a vital reference for linguists, philosophers, and cognitive scientists.


The New Sciences of Religion

The New Sciences of Religion

Author: W. Grassie

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2010-11-22

Total Pages: 594

ISBN-13: 0230114741

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Performing a critical analysis of new scientific research on religious and spiritual phenomena, Grassie takes a two-staged phenomenological approach working from the 'outside in' and the 'bottom up' without privileging at the outset any religious traditions or philosophical assumptions.


Meditative Reason

Meditative Reason

Author: Ashok K. Gangadean

Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13:

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The development of Meditative Reason is an attempt to articulate a more universal and potent paradigm of human understanding that builds on the long-tested insights and methods of the meditative traditions and on the centuries of discoveries and innovations in the evolution of the rational enterprise. These explorations address a range of issues at the forefront of contemporary research: on the nature of rationality and human understanding, on the essence of language and consciousness, on the dynamics of cultural formation and transformations, on the dynamics of communication and dialogue between diverse cultural, religious and philosophical worlds, on the need to explore the common ground between diverse disciplines or fields, and on the perennial quest to decipher the universal code at the heart of eastern and western thought. These disclosures of Meditative Reason call for a radical revisioning of the evolution of thought and cultural life in a global context.


Understanding Greek Religion

Understanding Greek Religion

Author: Jennifer Larson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-10

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 1317296745

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Understanding Greek Religion is one of the first attempts to fully examine any religion from a cognitivist perspective, applying methods and findings from the cognitive science of religion to the ancient Greek world. In this book, Jennifer Larson shows that many of the fundamentals of Greek religion, such as anthropomorphic gods, divinatory procedures, purity beliefs, reciprocity, and sympathetic magic arise naturally as by-products of normal human cognition. Drawing on evidence from across the ancient Greek world, Larson provides detailed coverage of Greek theology and local pantheons, rituals including processions, animal sacrifice and choral dance, and afterlife beliefs as they were expressed through hero worship and mystery cults. Eighteen in-depth essays illustrate the theoretical discussion with primary sources and include case studies of key cult inscriptions from Kyrene, Kos, and Miletos. This volume features maps, tables, and over twenty images to support and expand on the text, and will provide conceptual tools for understanding the actions and beliefs that constitute a religion. Additionally, Larson offers the first detailed discussion of cognition and memory in the transmission of Greek religious beliefs and rituals, as well as a glossary of terms and a bibliographical essay on the cognitive science of religion. Understanding Greek Religion is an essential resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of Greek culture and ancient Mediterranean religions.


Syncretism in Religion

Syncretism in Religion

Author: Anita Maria Leopold

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-01

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 1134967144

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Syncretism - the fusion of different beliefs into one religious system - has long been controversial in scholarship. It is widely held that religion, culture and ethnicity are pure entities that may become mixed in encounter and lead to impure, hybrid forms. 'Syncretism in Religion' presents a selection of essays committed to solving the problems of syncretism. The essays reflect the full breadth of religious traditions that could be called syncretistic. An overview of the historical background of syncretism is given, alongside classical readings from the history of religion, definitions of syncretism in relation to theories of power, and an assessment of the future of the subject. This volume brings together the work of authors who have made significant contributions in the field, some appearing for the first time in English. It will be of interest to any student or scholar of religion, philosophy or anthropology concerned with the dynamics of cultural contact and change.


The Oxford Handbook of the Cognitive Science of Religion

The Oxford Handbook of the Cognitive Science of Religion

Author: Justin L. Barrett

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 0190693355

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"Over time, more psychologists have become contributors to cognitive science of religion (CSR), but when are they doing CSR and when are they doing psychology of religion? Does it matter? In this chapter, contemporary scientific reflections on notions of death and the afterlife are sketched to illustrate the subtle differences between CSR and psychology of religion. These kindred scientific approaches overlap considerably, but attention to their central differences will assist scholars in finding complementarity, thereby improving both schools of inquiry and their contributions to each other. After developing this thesis, this chapter introduces the organization and flow of the volume as a whole. Beginning with general theoretical and methodological foundations, the volume then considers specific applications of CSR to substantive topics such as beliefs in gods, sacred texts, sacred objects, and ritualized behaviors, before turning to how these domains of cultural expression are sometimes joined (or not) into religious systems. The volume ends with comparisons between CSR and two other neighboring approaches (evolutionary studies of religion and neuroscience of religion) and, finally, implications of CSR for philosophy of religion, religious education, and theology"--


Religion, Language, and the Human Mind

Religion, Language, and the Human Mind

Author: Paul Anthony Chilton

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 537

ISBN-13: 0190636645

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Religion is a multi-faceted and complex human phenomenon, combining many different mental and social characteristics. Among these, language plays a crucial though often neglected role. This volume brings together groundbreaking work from linguistics, cognitive science and neuroscience, as well as from religious studies, in order to illuminate the origins and centrality of religion in human life.


Rethinking Religion

Rethinking Religion

Author: E. Thomas Lawson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1993-01-14

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9780521438063

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This book is an ambitious attempt to develop a cognitive approach to religion. Focusing particularly on ritual action, it borrows analytical methods from linguistics and other cognitive sciences. The authors, a philosopher of science and a scholar of comparative religion, provide a lucid critical review of established approaches to religion, and make a strong plea for the combination of interpretation and explanation. Often represented as competitive approaches, they are rather, complementary, equally vital to the study of symbolic systems.