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LATEST ARTICLES ( 560 )

• Evolutionary Anthropology & Religion

  

  Since its formation as a distinct discipline in the 1860s, anthropology has been centrally concerned with religion. Despite this fact, the standard origins stor... Read more

  Posted on 07 December 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Ethnofilm: Lakota Dancers

  

  This is a classic and rare 1894 film clip of Lakota dancers performing the Ghost Dance and Buffalo Dance. It was shot (a mere 4 years after the massacre at... Read more

  Posted on 04 December 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Waldorf Spiritualism & Literate Minds

  

  Over at The Atlantic, Emily Chertoff asks whether the Waldorf schools are a “cult.” This kind of question immediately suggests an orthodoxy outside of which... Read more

  Posted on 01 December 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Pyrrhonian Skepticism

  

  Over at 3AM Magazine, Richard Marshall has posted yet another killer interview, this time with Nietzsche scholar Jessica Berry. It’s a nice companion to his... Read more

  Posted on 29 November 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Ethnohistoric Plagiarism (Wrong)

  

  In a recent post I commented on the classic ethnohistory by George Bird Grinnell, The Cheyenne Indians: History and Society (Vol. 1, 1923) and The Cheyenne... Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Animist Theory of Mind (Nietzsche)

  

  As regular readers know, over the past few months I’ve been digging around the early literature on the origins, evolution, and history of what we we today call... Read more

  Posted on 21 November 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Ritual Consumption of Relatives

  

  Over at The Global Mail, Jo Chandler has posted an amazing story about a decades long medical-sleuthing mission in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea. Read more

  Posted on 21 November 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Greatly Mystified Rubio

  

  During an interview with the future of the GOP, Senator Marco Rubio (who is already pandering campaigning in Iowa), GQ dropped this bomb question: “How old do... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2012 DEBATE, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Darwin & The Descent: Animism-Religion

  

  Yesterday was spent with Darwin. It was a good day and something I need to do more often. One of the curious things about Darwin is that he is so well known,... Read more

  Posted on 17 November 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Playing Religion

  

  Those who have read Robert Bellah’s magisterial Religion in Human Evolution know that Bellah is fond of the idea that mammalian “play” played an important role... Read more

  Posted on 15 November 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Comanche (“Lords of the Plains”) Animism

  

  For reasons not entirely clear, I’ve long delayed delving into Comanche ethnohistory. This is unfortunate. For a long time I have mistakenly assumed that the... Read more

  Posted on 13 November 2012 DEBATE, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Voices In Our Heads

  

  I’m not sure who coined this quip but I love it. It came to mind, as my inner-voice ideas often do, while reading this excerpt from Oliver Sacks’ newest book... Read more

  Posted on 08 November 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• The Invention of Religion in Japan

  

  I recently got a note from Jason A. Josephson, professor of religion at Williams College, announcing the publication of his new book, The Invention of Religion... Read more

  Posted on 06 November 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Evolution of Creationism

  

  In GSA Today, geologist David Montgomery has published a splendid article (open pdf) on “The Evolution of Creationism.” It’s a useful primer for those who... Read more

  Posted on 05 November 2012 DEBATE, HISTORY, RELIGION

• Sunday Sundries

  

  Here are some good Sunday reads. I’m one-armed and my newly re-attached bicep tendon is boiling with pain so I’ll keep this short. Read more

  Posted on 04 November 2012 DEBATE, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Mormon History Machinations

  

  Over at Slate, David Haglund has posted a fascinating piece on the life and travails of Mormon historian Michael Quinn. Trained as an academic historian, Quinn... Read more

  Posted on 03 November 2012 HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION

• Alienation and Animism

  

  When I teach my anthropology of religion course, on the first day of class I ask students why they think religion exists or what purpose it serves. Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2012 PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Alp Demons & (Pagan) Folk Beliefs

  

  Before Christianity came to Europe, it was teeming with a dazzling variety of what are usually called “pagan” beliefs and rituals. Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2012 BIOLOGY, CULTURE, DEBATE, HISTORY, RELIGION

• Matter & Energy: Kinetic Animism

  

  When formal western philosophy was in its infancy, pre-Socratic Greek philosophers grappled with what they conceived to be a foundational issue: What is the... Read more

  Posted on 24 October 2012 PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE, SPIRITUALITY

• Reducing Religion

  

  When I began studying religion several years ago, it was a heady time. It seemed that the (ostensibly) new cognitive and evolutionary approaches to religion... Read more

  Posted on 21 October 2012 DEBATE, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY