Table Of ContentThe Emergence of Religion in
Human Evolution
Religious capacity is a highly elaborate, neurocognitive human trait that
has a solid evolutionary foundation. This book uses a multi-disciplinary
approach to describe millions of years of biological innovations that even-
tually give rise to the modern trait and its varied expression in humanity’s
many religions. The authors present a scientific model and a central the-
sis that the brain organs, networks, and capacities that allowed humans
to survive physically also gave our species the ability to create theologies,
find sustenance in religious practice, and use religion to support the social
group. Yet, the trait of religious capacity remains non-obligatory, like read-
ing and mathematics. The individual can choose not to use it.
The approach relies on research findings in nine disciplines, including the
work of countless neuroscientists, paleoneurologists, archaeologists, cogni-
tive scientists, and psychologists.
This is a cutting-edge examination of the evolutionary origins of hu-
manity’s interaction with the supernatural. It will be of keen interest to
academics working in Religious Studies, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science,
Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, and Psychology.
Margaret Boone Rappaport, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and biologist
who works in human cognitive evolution, and as a futurist, lecturer, and
author in Tucson, Arizona. As President, Policy Research Methods, Incor-
porated, she conducted research for federal agencies for 30 years. She lec-
tured at Georgetown and George Washington Universities. Dr. Rappaport
is also a prize-winning short story and poetry writer, and the Co-Founder
of The Human Sentience Project, LLC.
Christopher J. Corbally, SJ, PhD, is a Jesuit priest and an astronomer with
the Vatican Observatory Research Group, for which he has served as Vice
Director, and liaison to its headquarters at Castel Gandolfo, Italy. He is an
Adjunct Associate Astronomer at the Department of Astronomy, University
of Arizona, and ministers to a wide variety of Catholics, including Native
Americans, in Tucson, Arizona. He is the Co-Founder of The Human Sen-
tience Project, LLC.
Routledge Studies in Neurotheology, Cognitive Science and
Religion
Series editor: Andrew B. Newberg
The Emergence of Religion in Human Evolution
Margaret Boone Rappaport and Christopher J. Corbally
For more information and a full list of titles in the series, please visit: https://
www.routledge.com/religion/series/RSNCSR
The Emergence of Religion in
Human Evolution
Margaret Boone Rappaport and
Christopher J. Corbally
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Margaret Boone Rappaport and Christopher J. Corbally
The right of Margaret Boone Rappaport and Christopher J. Corbally to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
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invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rappaport, Margaret Boone, author. | Corbally, C. J. (Christopher J.), author.
Title: Emergence of religion in human evolution / by Margaret Boone Rappaport and
Christopher J. Corbally.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. |
Series: Routledge studies in neurotheology, cognitive science and religion | Includes
bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2019040042 (print) | LCCN 2019040043 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367245207 (hbk) | ISBN 9780429282973 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Evolution (Biology)—Religious aspects. | Neurosciences—Religious
aspects.
Classification: LCC BL263 .R37 2020 (print) | LCC BL263 (ebook) | DDC 200.9—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019040042
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019040043
ISBN: 978-0-367-24520-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-28297-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
In Memoriam for Marjorie Hall Davis
Contents
List of tables ix
Preface xi
PART I
Introduction to theory 1
1 New sciences, new findings, and a new model 3
2 Shifting evolutionary paradigms and the study of
advanced neurocognitive traits 33
PART II
The model 73
3 The Human Hearth, the Circle of Light, and the
evolution of morality 75
4 Model for the evolution of a trait for religious capacity 122
PART III
The implications 165
5 The neuroplastic species 167
6 Staying alive, becoming religious 192
7 Future artificial species: Will they be moral? Will they
be religious? 229
Index 249
Tables
1.1 Geological and Biological Time Periods 3
1.2 Classification of the Order Primates, Commonly Known Forms 4
3.1 Comparison of Hominins: Home Territory, Group Size,
Grooming, and Language 78
3.2 Comparison of Hominins: Cranial Capacity, Neo-cortex
Ratio, Gait, Posture, Build, and Sexual Dimorphism 88
3.3 Phenotypic Characteristics of Morality in the Genus Homo 107
3.4 A Model for Moral Decision-Making in Homo erectus and
Later, in Homo sapiens 115
4.1 Physical and Cognitive Comparison of Homo erectus and
Homo sapiens 156
6.1 Dual Functioning of the Human Parietal Lobes, Especially
the Precuneus, in Conjunction with the Prefrontal Cortex 201
