Cris
MY BLOGS
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Genealogy of Religion
http://genealogyreligion.net/
Exploring the Origins, History, and Future of Religion
LATEST ARTICLES ( 560 )
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Powers on Lakota Cosmology
Those interested in Lakota culture and history will be familiar with the work of former Rutgers anthropologist William Powers. Read more
Posted on 30 May 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Establishment Catholic Court
Earlier this month, in Town of Greece v. Galloway, the Catholic Boys Club known as the United States Supreme Court held that local governments may preface publi... Read more
Posted on 29 May 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Sky-Sailing to Byzantium
By the magic of flight, I have just sailed the skies to Byzantium and back. It was a wonder-filled sojourn that has had me away for a few weeks, so there is som... Read more
Posted on 27 May 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
First Mythic Tribe
At some point in prehistory, perhaps 50,000 years ago, a group of humans woke up and asked themselves a question: How did we get here? Read more
Posted on 02 May 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Invisible Orders & Theory
When we think about invisible entities or forces and use them to explain events, we are theorizing. We are postulating, in other words, an underlying or... Read more
Posted on 30 April 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Robin Horton: MIA
Over the past few months, I have been reading everything that Robin Horton wrote over a span of forty years. To say that it has been transformative would be an... Read more
Posted on 25 April 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Janus: Myth & Science
Our modernist disciplinary taxonomies are such that we rarely care to admit that myth and science are related, or that they have anything in common. Read more
Posted on 23 April 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Soul Imprisonment
As the American empire advanced toward and eventually swept over the Great Plains during the mid to late 1800s, attempts were made to persuade the Plains Indian... Read more
Posted on 19 April 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
War & Progressive Faith
Cultural evolutionists are fervent believers in “progress.” There are many hidden assumptions packed into their idea of progress, but the primary ones are that... Read more
Posted on 15 April 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Devils and Douthats
Have you ever had a devil or visitor in your room or bed while dreaming? If this sounds weird, it is. I have a neighbor, whom I really like and is normal in mos... Read more
Posted on 13 April 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Red “Religion”
While I don’t think that Vine Deloria’s God Is Red: A Native View of Religion (1973) does an especially good job of describing animist worldviews, Deloria... Read more
Posted on 08 April 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Procrustes and “Religion”
While researching Robin Horton’s thesis that traditional religious thought is structurally and functionally similar to modern scientific thought, I came across... Read more
Posted on 05 April 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Redeemer of Taxes
Perhaps thrice a year, when I am feeling particularly perverse, I tune into Fox and Bill O’Reilly to see how long I can tolerate the bizarre combination of... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
“Religion” in China
It has been a few years since I proposed “The China Rule” which would require that any general theory or universal claim about religion be subjected to testing... Read more
Posted on 30 March 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Spirits of Orality
As university students today well know, power-point obsessed lecturers have internalized the idea, drawn from evolutionary biology, that the primary mode of... Read more
Posted on 28 March 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Invisibility: Spirits & Science
Those familiar with Robin Horton’s thesis that traditional religious thought is closely related to scientific thought will want to read Philip Ball’s Nautilus... Read more
Posted on 19 March 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Orthodoxy and Atheism
Over at The Atlantic, Emma Green bemoans the “intellectual snobbery” of New Atheists. While evangelical atheists certainly have their issues, including... Read more
Posted on 14 March 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Catholic Magic
According to early evolutionary anthropologists, magical thinking is supposed to be the province of “primitive” or traditional societies. Read more
Posted on 11 March 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Repetition & Ritual
Repeat after me or do as I do, again and again and again. This is mimesis and it depends on repetition. In Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the... Read more
Posted on 07 March 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY -
Aboriginal Dandyism
Traditional Australian Aborigine societies were, from a material and technological standpoint, relatively simple. This relative simplicity has blinded many to... Read more
Posted on 05 March 2014 DEBATE, HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY