The Evolution of God in Human Imagination
The Evolution of God in Human Imagination

Author: Gersham A. Nelson

Publisher: Archway Publishing

Published: 2018-11-21

Total Pages: 516

ISBN-13: 1480867322

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After empowering Christianity and becoming its titular head during the first quarter of the fourth century, Roman emperor Constantine played a greater role in determining the core belief and practice of this religion than any family member or disciple of the historical Jesus. Implications of this fact are many and should be of interest to all Christians and others with an interest in, or connections to, Western Civilization. The Evolution of God in Human Imagination addresses vital questions that many have asked for centuries, including how God became man and/or man became God. Professor Gersham A. Nelson examines the evolution of God from a Judeo-Christian perspective, first demonstrating how different regional cultures and mythologies seem to have influenced Judaism and Christianity, before showing how Christianity jettisoned the most fundamental concept of God held by Judaism and other ancient religions. Professor Nelson also argues that a close examination of the Church that emerged with the imperial patronage of Rome during the fourth century repudiated not only Judaism but also views attributed to the Jesus of history. Failure to re-examine the foundation of Christianity, including claims made by leaders regarding divine will and prerogative, after the Reformation, ensured that contradictions and confusion continue to plague one generation of Christians after another. Even when conspicuous flaws were identified in the worldview advocated by Christian teachings, adjustments would, at best, be slow and selective. Nevertheless, the growing capacity of human brings to explore, discover, and create new knowledge has continued to inspire new questions and is providing some unanticipated answers.

The Evolution of God
The Evolution of God

Author: Robert Wright

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2009-06-08

Total Pages: 576

ISBN-13: 0316053279

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In this sweeping narrative that takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archaeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright's findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy. He explains why spirituality has a role today, and why science, contrary to conventional wisdom, affirms the validity of the religious quest. And this previously unrecognized evolutionary logic points not toward continued religious extremism, but future harmony. Nearly a decade in the making, The Evolution of God is a breathtaking re-examination of the past, and a visionary look forward.

God and the Cosmos
God and the Cosmos

Author: Harry Lee Poe

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2012-02-16

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0830839542

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Theologian Harry Lee Poe and chemist Jimmy H. Davis argue that God's interaction with our world is a possibility affirmed equally by the Bible and the contemporary scientific record. Rather than confirming that the cosmos is closed to the actions of the divine, advancing scientific knowledge seems to indicate that the nature of the universe is actually open to the unique type of divine activity portrayed in the Bible.

On Evolution of God-Seeking Mind
On Evolution of God-Seeking Mind

Author: Conrad Montell

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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The earliest known products of human imagination appear to express a primordial struggle with thoughts of dying and death. I argue that the structures and processes of imagination evolved in that struggle, in response to debilitating anxieties and fearful states that would accompany an incipient awareness of mortality. Imagination evolved to find that which would make the nascent apprehension of death more bearable, to engage in a search for alternative perceptions of death: a search that was beyond the capability of the external senses. I argue that imagination evolved as flight and fight adaptations in response to debilitating fears that paralleled an emerging foreknowledge of death. Imagination, and symbolic language to express its perceptions, would eventually lead to religious behavior and the development of cultural supports. Although highly speculative, my argument draws on recent brain studies, and on anthropology, psychology, and linguistics.

Evolving God
Evolving God

Author: Barbara J. King

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2017-04-21

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 022636092X

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The author of How Animals Grieve “contends that religion . . . is a consequence of primate evolution” in this “brilliant book” (Booklist, starred review). Religion has been a central part of human experience since at least the dawn of recorded history. The gods change, as do the rituals, but the underlying desire remains—a desire to belong to something larger, greater, most lasting than our mortal, finite selves. But where did that desire come from? Can we explain its emergence through evolution? Yes, says biological anthropologist Barbara J. King—and doing so not only helps us to understand the religious imagination, but also reveals fascinating links to the lives and minds of our primate cousins. Evolving God draws on King’s own fieldwork among primates in Africa and paleoanthropology of our extinct ancestors to offer a new way of thinking about the origins of religion, one that situates it in a deep need for emotional connection with others, a need we share with apes and monkeys. Though her thesis is provocative, and she’s not above thoughtful speculation, King’s argument is strongly rooted in close observation and analysis. She traces an evolutionary path that connects us to other primates, who, like us, display empathy, make meanings through interaction, create social rules, and display imagination—the basic building blocks of the religious imagination. With fresh insights, she responds to recent suggestions that chimpanzees are spiritual—or even religious—beings, and that our ancient humanlike cousins carefully disposed of their dead well before the time of Neandertals. “Her interpretations result in a provocative hypothesis about the evolution of spirituality.” —The Dallas Morning News

The Evolution Of Gods : The Scientific Origin Of Divinity And Religion
The Evolution Of Gods : The Scientific Origin Of Divinity And Religion

Author: Ajay Kansal

Publisher: Epicurus Books

Published: 2012-04-23

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 9350294389

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Did gods create mankind, or did mankind create gods? Why, when and how did mankind begin to worship gods? Religious scriptures the world over claim that one or the other god made man, but science has not yet identified any supernatural power that created and governed human beings. Was it man who came up with the idea of gods to help him cope with his own fears? Could it be that ancient people attributed natural phenomena-unfathomable and frightening to them-to the working of invisible gods? What kind of sufferings or bewilderments made people bow before unseen powers or gods as we call them? When were these gods created? Who invented morals and methods of worship? Who wrote the ancient scriptures such as the Bible and the Vedas? Most crucially, have gods and the scriptures shaped our responses to the world around us? The Evolution of Gods seeks to answer these questions, and explains scientifically how, when and why religions and gods came into being. Ajay Kansal marshals anthropological and historical facts about the development of religions in a simple and straightforward manner to assert that it was mankind that created gods, and not the other way around.

The Evolution of Imagination
The Evolution of Imagination

Author: Stephen T. Asma

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2017-06-21

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 022622516X

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Consider Miles Davis, horn held high, sculpting a powerful musical statement full of tonal patterns, inside jokes, and thrilling climactic phrases—all on the fly. Or think of a comedy troupe riffing on a couple of cues from the audience until the whole room is erupting with laughter. Or maybe it’s a team of software engineers brainstorming their way to the next Google, or the Einsteins of the world code-cracking the mysteries of nature. Maybe it’s simply a child playing with her toys. What do all of these activities share? With wisdom, humor, and joy, philosopher Stephen T. Asma answers that question in this book: imagination. And from there he takes us on an extraordinary tour of the human creative spirit. Guided by neuroscience, animal behavior, evolution, philosophy, and psychology, Asma burrows deep into the human psyche to look right at the enigmatic but powerful engine that is our improvisational creativity—the source, he argues, of our remarkable imaginational capacity. How is it, he asks, that a story can evoke a whole world inside of us? How are we able to rehearse a skill, a speech, or even an entire scenario simply by thinking about it? How does creativity go beyond experience and help us make something completely new? And how does our moral imagination help us sculpt a better society? As he shows, we live in a world that is only partly happening in reality. Huge swaths of our cognitive experiences are made up by “what-ifs,” “almosts,” and “maybes,” an imagined terrain that churns out one of the most overlooked but necessary resources for our flourishing: possibilities. Considering everything from how imagination works in our physical bodies to the ways we make images, from the mechanics of language and our ability to tell stories to the creative composition of self-consciousness, Asma expands our personal and day-to-day forms of imagination into a grand scale: as one of the decisive evolutionary forces that has guided human development from the Paleolithic era to today. The result is an inspiring look at the rich relationships among improvisation, imagination, and culture, and a privileged glimpse into the unique nature of our evolved minds.

Imagination and the Playfulness of God
Imagination and the Playfulness of God

Author: Robin Stockitt

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2011-05-12

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 1498271162

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The human imagination is a reflection of and a participation in the divine imagination; so mused the romantic poet, philosopher and theologian Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His thinking was intuitive, dense, obscure, brilliant, and deeply influenced by German philosophy. This book explores the development of his philosophical theology with particular reference to the imagination, examining the diverse streams that contributed to the originality of his thought. The second section of this book extrapolates his thinking into areas into which Coleridge did not venture. If God is intrinsically imaginative, then how is this manifested? Can we articulate a theology of the ontology of God that is framed in imaginative and creative terms? Drawing on the groundbreaking work of Huizinga on 'play,' this study seeks to develop a theological understanding of God's playfulness.

Imagining God
Imagining God

Author: Garrett Green

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9780802844842

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Garrett Green examines the point at which divine revelation and human experience meet, where the priority of grace is acknowledged while allowing its dynamics to be described in analytical and comparative terms as a religious phenomenon.