Anders Klostergaard Petersen

Written by leading theorists and empirical researchers, this book presents new ways of addressing the old question: Why did religion first emerge and then continue to evolve in all human societies? The authors of the book—each with a different background across the social sciences and humanities—assimilate conceptual leads and empirical findings from anthropology, evolutionary biology, evolutionary sociology, neurology, primate behavioral studies, explanations of human interaction and group dynamics, and a wide range of religious scholarship to construct a deeper and more powerful explanation of the origins and subsequent evolutionary development of religions than can currently be found in what is now vast literature. While explaining religion has been a central question in many disciplines for a long time, this book draws upon a much wider array of literature to develop a robust and cross-disciplinary analysis of religion. The book remains true to its subtitle by emphasizing an array of both biological and sociocultural forms of selection dynamics that are fundamental to explaining religion as a universal institution in human societies. In addition to Darwinian selection, which can explain the biology and neurology of religion, the book outlines a set of four additional types of sociocultural natural selection that can fill out the explanation of why religion first emerged as an institutional system in human societies, and why it has continued to evolve over the last 300,000 years of societal evolution. These sociocultural forms of natural selection are labeled by the names of the early sociologists who first emphasized them, and they can be seen as a necessary supplement to the type of natural selection theorized by Charles Darwin. Explanations of religion that remain in the shadow cast by Darwin’s great insights will, it is argued, remain narrow and incomplete when explaining a robust sociocultural phenomenon like religion.

Written by leading theorists and empirical researchers, this book presents new ways of addressing the old question: Why did religion first emerge and then continue to evolve in all human societies? The authors of the book—each with a different background across the social sciences and humanities—assimilate conceptual leads and empirical findings from anthropology, evolutionary biology, evolutionary sociology, neurology, primate behavioral studies, explanations of human interaction and group dynamics, and a wide range of religious scholarship to construct a deeper and more powerful explanation of the origins and subsequent evolutionary development of religions than can currently be found in what is now vast literature. While explaining religion has been a central question in many disciplines for a long time, this book draws upon a much wider array of literature to develop a robust and cross-disciplinary analysis of religion. The book remains true to its subtitle by emphasizing an array of both biological and sociocultural forms of selection dynamics that are fundamental to explaining religion as a universal institution in human societies. In addition to Darwinian selection, which can explain the biology and neurology of religion, the book outlines a set of four additional types of sociocultural natural selection that can fill out the explanation of why religion first emerged as an institutional system in human societies, and why it has continued to evolve over the last 300,000 years of societal evolution. These sociocultural forms of natural selection are labeled by the names of the early sociologists who first emphasized them, and they can be seen as a necessary supplement to the type of natural selection theorized by Charles Darwin. Explanations of religion that remain in the shadow cast by Darwin’s great insights will, it is argued, remain narrow and incomplete when explaining a robust sociocultural phenomenon like religion.

Sig det med blomster, lyder Interfloras motto, men forretningen har ikke patent pa ideen. Vi har givet gaver i millioner af ar for at opbygge, bevare og bryde vores forbindelser til hinanden. Men en bemalet mAelkekarton kan kun born slippe af sted med, og en barebuket til et bryllup falder nAeppe i god jord. Den rette gave krAever fingerspidsfornemmelse. Heldigvis er Anders Klostergaard Petersen, professor ved Aarhus Universitet, i sit gavmilde hjorne: En TAenkepause kan nemlig ogsa vAere en gave. Er du begavet, sa giv en gave, nar du vil abne verden.

Perspektiver på jødisk apologetik er den første samlede fremstilling af problemfeltet jødisk apologetik siden en berømt afhandling af Moriz Friedländer fra 1903. Gennem elleve forskellige artikler undersøges et bredt spektrum af jødiske forfatterskaber og tekster fra perioden det andet århundrede f.v.t. til første århundrede e.v.t. Der er tale om en række forskellige perspektiver, der kaster forskelligt lys over jødedommen i slutningen af Anden Tempelperiode. Fælles for bidragene er interessen for skrifterne som apologetiske. I centrum står spørgsmålene, i hvilket omfang man kan tale om en jødisk apologetisk tradition, og i hvilken udstrækning det er meningsfuldt at forstå bestemte forfatterskaber som apologetiske. Begge spørgsmål er knyttet til en mere grundlæggende kulturteoretisk problemstilling om jødedommens forhold til en overordnet hellenistisk kultur. Var minoritetskulturen bundet til at forsvare sig over for assimilationstrusler og kritik fra majoritetskulturen? Så den sig overhovedet trængt i defensiven? I hvilket omfang var jødedommen selv del af denne kultur? Bogen er således et vægtigt bidrag i den aktuelle internationale debat om emnet. Samtidig gælder det, at flere af de analyserede skrifter og forfatterskaber for første gang får en fyldig præsentation og diskussion i det skandinaviske sprogområde.