Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : King, Barbara J. (1956-....)
Titre(s) : Evolving god [Texte imprimé] : a provocative view on the origins of religion / Barbara J. King
Publication : Chicago : The University of Chicago press, 2017
Description matérielle : 1 vol. (viii, 289 pages) : illustrations ; 23 cm
Comprend : Apes to angels ; Imagining apes ; African origins ; Cave stories: neandertals
; More cave stories: homo sapiens ; Transformations in time ; Is God in the genes?
; God and science in twenty-first century America.
Note(s) : Includes bibliographical references and index
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. King
writes with a scientist's appreciation for evidence and argument, leavened with a
deep empathy and admiration for the powerful desire to belong, a desire that not only
brings us together with other humans, but with our closest animal relations as well
Sujet(s) : Origine de l'homme
Homme -- Évolution
Anthropologie théologique
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9780226360898. - ISBN 022636089X. - ISBN 9780226360928 (erroné) (br.)
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb45320215p
Notice n° :
FRBNF45320215
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)