Brain, Body and Culture: A Biocultural Theory of Religion
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Abstract This essay sketches out a biocultural theory of religion which is based on an expanded view of cognition that is anchored in brain and body (embrained and embodied), deeply dependent on culture (enculturated) and extended and distributed beyond the borders of individual brains. Such an approach uniquely accommodates contemporary cultural and neurobiological sciences. Since the challenge that the study of religion faces, in my opinion, is at the interstices of these sciences, I have tried to develop a theory of religion which acknowledges the fact. My hope is that the theory can be of use to scholars of religion and be submitted to further hypotheses and tests by cognitive scientists.
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Religious orientations provide all-embracing world-views with highly prescribed norms and practices.
“At a philosophical level, religious orientations appear to provide all-embracing world-views with highly prescribed norms and practices [26], [63].”
From Faith after an Earthquake: A Longitudinal Study of Religion and Perceived Health before and after the 2011 Christchurch New Zealand Earthquake (2012) · cites this paper as [26]
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Hutchins, E. (1995) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/1881.001.0001 · Cited by 10,801 · see citing works
Functional imaging of ‘theory of mind’
Gallagher, H. L., & Frith, C. D. (2003) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(02)00025-6 · Cited by 2,092 · see citing works
Embodiment in attitudes, social perception, and emotion
Niedenthal, P. M., Barsalou, L. W., Winkielman, P., Krauth-Gruber, S., & Ric, F. (2005) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0903_1 · Cited by 1,484 · see citing works
Petrovic, P., Dietrich, T., Fransson, P., Andersson, J., Carlsson, K., & Ingvar, M. (2005) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2005.05.023 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
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Sibley, C. G., & Bulbulia, J. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049648 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Maij, D. L. R., van Harreveld, F., Gervais, W., Schrag, Y., Mohr, C., & van Elk, M. (2017) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0182764 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
- Authors
- Geertz, A. W.
- Affiliations
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Geertz, Armin W.
- ORCID
- Geertz, Armin W.
- Venue
- Method & Theory in the Study of Religion
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2010
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 304-321
- ISSN
- 0943-3058 (ISSN-L)
- 1570-0682
- OpenAlex
- W2033808258
- Cited by
- 130
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 32.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- pure.au.dk
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Method & Theory in the Study of Religion (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Harvard University
- University of Chicago
- Aarhus Universitet
- University of Cambridge
- University of Oxford
- Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Keywords
- embodied cognition, extended mind, distributed cognition, brain and body, enculturation, neuroscience of religion, cognitive science of religion, interdisciplinarity
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