On his book Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion
Cover Interview of October 22, 2017
Lastly
This book will not tell you whether God, or other gods,
really exist – no book can do so. What I hope this book can do, however, is
help readers think carefully about their theological beliefs. Gods are
important and should not simply be dismissed by ridicule. Many people are troubled
by their unresolved theological beliefs; insofar as this book helps them to
achieve some resolution of belief, it will achieve its most important purpose.
I also hope the book will shed some light on the ongoing god
contests which I find troubling. Wars continue to be fought to determine whose
god is the correct god. Such wars were fought between city-states in ancient
Mesopotamia, and apparently contributed to the demise of the world’s first
civilization. An Old Testament god contest familiar to many is the battle
between the followers of Baal, the Canaanite fertility god, and the followers
of Jehovah, the Israelite protector of God. Elijah, a prophet of Jehovah,
prevailed and then had the 450 followers of Baal put to death.
Finally, the book offers answers to many questions that have
perplexed some people. For example, why don’t chimps speak? Why are they so
similar to Homo sapiens in DNA yet so different cognitively? Why is it
very unlikely that the Neanderthals had gods? And why were they wiped out so
quickly when modern Homo sapiens encountered them? What is the meaning
of the animals that adorn the painted caves? If Homo sapiens had
acquired modern cognition attributes by about 35,000 years ago, why did it take
more than 20,000 years more for the agricultural revolution to begin? The first
gods only had responsibility for issues of food supply (life) and death; why
did they later acquire political responsibilities? Just as the first gods
appeared independently at several places in the world, why were most of the
world’s major religions formalized in the brief period between 2800 and 2200
years ago?
[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.Carolyn J. Dean, Interview of February 01, 2011
The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.Jerome Kagan, Interview of September 17, 2009
Lastly
This book will not tell you whether God, or other gods, really exist – no book can do so. What I hope this book can do, however, is help readers think carefully about their theological beliefs. Gods are important and should not simply be dismissed by ridicule. Many people are troubled by their unresolved theological beliefs; insofar as this book helps them to achieve some resolution of belief, it will achieve its most important purpose.
I also hope the book will shed some light on the ongoing god contests which I find troubling. Wars continue to be fought to determine whose god is the correct god. Such wars were fought between city-states in ancient Mesopotamia, and apparently contributed to the demise of the world’s first civilization. An Old Testament god contest familiar to many is the battle between the followers of Baal, the Canaanite fertility god, and the followers of Jehovah, the Israelite protector of God. Elijah, a prophet of Jehovah, prevailed and then had the 450 followers of Baal put to death.
Finally, the book offers answers to many questions that have perplexed some people. For example, why don’t chimps speak? Why are they so similar to Homo sapiens in DNA yet so different cognitively? Why is it very unlikely that the Neanderthals had gods? And why were they wiped out so quickly when modern Homo sapiens encountered them? What is the meaning of the animals that adorn the painted caves? If Homo sapiens had acquired modern cognition attributes by about 35,000 years ago, why did it take more than 20,000 years more for the agricultural revolution to begin? The first gods only had responsibility for issues of food supply (life) and death; why did they later acquire political responsibilities? Just as the first gods appeared independently at several places in the world, why were most of the world’s major religions formalized in the brief period between 2800 and 2200 years ago?