Supernatural Selection: How Religion Evolved

305 Pages·2010·2.34 MB·English

by  Matt Rossano

S upernatural Selection
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Supernatural Selection
HOW RELIGION EVOLVED
Matt J. Rossano
2010
Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further
Oxford University’s objective of excellence
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Oxford New York
Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi
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With offi ces in
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Copyright © 2010 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rossano, Matthew J.
Supernatural selection : how religion evolved / Matt J. Rossano.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-538581-6
1. Religion. 2. Human evolution—Religious aspects.
I. Title.
BL430.R67 2010
200.9—dc22 2009029518
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Contents
Acknowledgments v ii
Introduction 1
1. Natural Relationships and Supernatural Relationships 1 6
2. Making a Good Impression 3 7
3. “Every Move You Make”: First Signs of the Supernatural Eye 6 0
4. The African Interregnum, Part I: Good Rituals Make Good
Friends 7 9
5. The African Interregnum, Part II: The Evolution of Supernatural
Imagination 1 03
6. Before and After the Interregnum: The Evolution of the Two
“Modes” of Religion 1 27
7. Religion Is (or Was) an Adaptation 1 51
8. Religion and Morality 1 74
9. Religion’s Past and Future 1 97
Notes 2 11
References 2 37
Index 2 89
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Acknowledgments
As always I am indebted fi rst and foremost to my family for their patience
and support over the course of writing this book. Thanks also to my col-
leagues in the Thursday science and religion lunch group who were unfail-
ingly skeptical, incisive, and insightful as they scoured my every idea for
weakness and imprecision. Similarly, my editor at Oxford, Theo Calderara,
pounced unmercifully upon my frequent lapses into dense jargon and
impenetrable prose. If my writing is clear and my thinking forceful, then
much of it is due to those mentioned above. Of course, the mistakes, misin-
terpretations, and inclinations toward simplemindedness and muddle-
headedness are all mine.
vii
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S upernatural Selection