Robert N. McCauley: Religion is Natural & the Cognitive Science of Religion

Homebrewed Christianity

Dr. Tripp Fuller | Theologian, Philosopher, Minister

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.6 • 612 Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2024

⏱️ 125 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

People often ask me, "Tripp, in 17 years of podcasting, what's your favorite interview?" I can never answer the question because there are so many different kinds of interviews. I love episodes with my scholarly friends who repeatedly return to the podcast, but for this nerd, I am thrilled to introduce listeners to scholars who rocked my world. In this episode, I talk with a legend in science and religion, Dr. Robert McCauley. He is a pioneer in the cognitive science of religion, and his work has greatly impacted the academic community. It was an honor to unpack so many themes in his work and I can't wait for y'all to hear it! Robert N. McCauley is William Rand Kenan Jr. University Professor of Philosophy at Emory University and the founding Director of Emory's Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture. He is the author of Why Religion Is Natural and Science Is Not and Philosophical Foundations of the Cognitive Science of Religion. He is also the co-author, with E. Thomas Lawson, of Rethinking Religion and Bringing Ritual to Mind. With George Graham, he co-authored Hearing Voices and Other Matters of the Mind: What Mental Abnormalities Can Teach Us About Religions. He has been elected president of both the Society for Philosophy and Psychology and the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion, and he will serve as a Gifford Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen in 2021. Are you new to the cognitive science of religion? If so, you won't want to miss Bob's regular columns at Psychology Today. In this conversation, we discuss... the origin of the cognitive science of religion implicit cognition and its role in studying religion the anthropological story of religion's birth why religion is natural, and science is not how literacy reshapes human cognition and the shape of religion the changing role of science in the study of religion the power of explanatory pluralism what light on religious practice and experience is gained through the application of an evolutionary lens the different evolutionary theories of religion and how they interact with the developmental psychology how CSR can be a tool for understanding culture Here's the video of Bob's Gifford Lecture with the slides he mentioned in the conversation. JOIN our next class, GOD AFTER DECONSTRUCTION with Thomas Jay Oord Come to THEOLOGY BEER CAMP. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone. This is Tripp, and guess what? Today on Homebrewed Christianity, you're going to get to hear a conversation I had with the William Rand-Keehanon-Juner University Professor of Philosophy, the director for the Center of Mind, Brain, and Culture at
0:22.3	Emory University, Robert McCauley.
0:24.6	And he is a legend, a pioneer in cognitive science of religion.
0:30.2	And this conversation was so, so, so much fun.
0:35.3	In it, we end up talking about a number of different texts that he's, he's written over time,
0:41.8	like hearing voices and other matters of the mind, why religion is natural and science is not,
0:48.3	bringing ritual to mind, rethinking religion, connecting cognition and culture.
0:52.0	It is, it is a complete joy, right?
0:55.4	When you get to talk to a scholar in, uh, in a discipline that has brought together, um,
1:00.7	the kind of different kind of silos of such.
1:03.0	Some conversations are in science and psychology and religious studies and cultural
1:07.6	analysis.
1:08.5	And then what happens when you bring these different disciplines together
1:11.4	and make unique contributions for understanding a deep, rich, complex phenomenon like religion?
1:18.1	Well, he's done it. He's pioneered it. He's shaped the future trajectory of science-engaged
1:24.5	religion at religious studies, cognitive science of religion, and theologians
1:28.8	in different traditions, are including conversations with his work in the field he helped pioneer
1:35.9	today. So we're going to have some fun in this conversation, engaging some of the big ideas.
1:42.6	He lays a host of different concepts out, which if you go to the
1:48.7	blog post for this, we'll include links to some kind of like pictures or charts or things that he
1:55.3	gave to kind of like help give an account of the field. Those could be really helpful. I'll also
2:00.0	put some links to a number of lectures he's given recently, like including
	...

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