Religion & the Brain

Why does religion exist? Where does it come from? It’s pervasive throughout human history, yet individual traditions are surprisingly different. The demise of religion at the hands of science, often predicted since the 1600s, has not occurred. This course explores the emerging field of Cognitive Science of Religion to address these questions. We’ll examine religion on a macro level, focusing not on specific traditions but on religion as a cross-cultural and enduring human phenomenon. Ultimately, we’ll consider the question: Is religion the result of real contact with the supernatural, or a creation of the human brain?