Theology after the Birth of God: Atheist Conceptions in Cognition and Culture

250 Pages·2014·1.45 MB·English

by  F. LeRon Shults (auth.)

Theology after the Birth of God
Radical Theologies
Radical Theologies is a call for transformational theologies that break out
of traditional locations and approaches. The rhizomic ethos of radical
theologies enable the series to engage with an ever-expanding radical
expression and critique of theologies that have entered or seek to enter the
public sphere, arising from the continued turn to religion and e specially
radical theology in politics, social sciences, philosophy, theory, cultural,
and literary studies. The post-theistic theology both driving and arising
from these intersections is the focus of this series.
Series Editors
Mike Grimshaw is associate professor of Sociology at Canterbury
University in New Zealand.
Michael Zbaraschuk is lecturer at the University of Washington, Tacoma,
and visiting assistant professor at Pacific Lutheran University.
Joshua Ramey is visiting assistant professor at Haverford College.
Religion, Politics, and the Earth: The New Materialism
By Clayton Crockett and Jeffrey W. Robbins
The Apocalyptic Trinity
By Thomas J. J. Altizer
Foucault/Paul: Subjects of Power
By Sophie Fuggle
A Non-Philosophical Theory of Nature: Ecologies of Thought
By Anthony Paul Smith
On Philosophy as a Spiritual Exercise: A Symposium
By Philip Goodchild
The Counter-Narratives of Radical Theology and Rock ’n’ Roll: Songs of Fear
and Trembling
Edited by Michael Grimshaw
Theology after the Birth of God: Atheist Conceptions in Cognition and
Culture
By F. LeRon Shults
Theology after the Birth of God
Atheist Conceptions in
Cognition and Culture
F. L R S
E ON HULTS
THEOLOGY AFTER THE BIRTH OF GOD
Copyright © F. LeRon Shults, 2014.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-36454-8
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-47336-6 ISBN 978-1-137-35803-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137358035
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shults, F. LeRon.
Theology after the birth of God : Atheist conceptions in
cognition and culture / F. LeRon Shults.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Religion—Philosophy. 2. God. 3. Gods. 4. Theology.
5. Atheism. I. Title.
BL51.S5246 2014
211—dc23 2014002190
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: August 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Wesley J. Wildman
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Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Series Preface xiii
1 The gods Are Born—and We Have Borne Them 1
Why Is Nietzsche’s Madman So Easy to Ignore? 3
Bearing gods in Cognition and Culture 5
Conceiving Religion 8
Atheist Conceptions after the Birth of “God” 10
Having “the Talk” about Religious Reproduction 13
2 Anthropomorphic Promiscuity and Sociographic Prudery 17
Where Do gods Come from—and Why Do We Keep
Them Around? 18
Detecting Supernatural Agents 22
Protecting Supernatural Coalitions 26
Interesting and Interested Parties 30
Affective and Collective Security 32
Consciousness and Social Contracts 35
How god Was Born 37
How god Was Borne 41
Unveiling Theogonic Mechanisms 44
3 The Scientific Discipline of Theology 49
From Interdisciplinary Revolt to Regicide 50
Sacerdotal and Iconoclastic Trajectories in Theology 54
Commodified Parasitic Knowledge of Airy Nothing 58
Half-Baked Representations of Logically
Impossible Worlds 61
Factitious Enigmas of Complaisant Religious Pundits 64
Ockham’s Shaving Foam on Divine
Attachment Figures 67
viii Contents
Management of Ritual Failure through Excess
Conceptual Control 69
Reactionary Immunization of Foundational Sacred Texts 72
What Is Theology “about”? 75
4 Arguing about Axiological Engagement 79
Modes of Inference 81
Existential Conditions 84
The Problem of Good in the Evolutionary Sciences 88
Religious Hypotheses 92
Theological Hypotheses 96
The Problem of Evil in the Monotheistic Religions 99
Justifying a Supranatural Agent 102
Sanctifying a Supranatural Coalition 105
(Phylo)genetic Fallacies 108
5 Religious Family Systems 113
My god Can Beat Up Your god 115
Feeling Religious Difference 118
Emotional Systems 122
Triangulating Anxiety 125
Differentiation of Self 128
Fusion in Religious Families of Origin 130
Domesticating Infinity—the Triangulation of god 134
The Tragedy of Sacerdotal Theologies of Religion 139
Differentiation and Iconoclastic Intensification 143
6 Letting gods Go: Naturalism and Secularism 149
Must gods Be Born(e)? 151
Methodological Naturalism and
Anthropomorphic Prudery 154
Methodological Secularism and
Sociographic Promiscuity 157
Plausibility, Feasibility, and Theolytic Retroduction 161
god and Other Minds 164
Psychology, Therapy, and “Religion” 168
god and Other Groups 171
Politics, Peace, and “Religion” 175
Living Together—on Our Own 179
7 Postpartum Theology 183
Liberating Atheistic Hypotheses 185
Beyond “Natural Theology” 188
Contents ix
Beyond “Secular Theology” 191
Intensity, Infinity, and Intentionality 195
What Can We Learn from the Madman? 199
Notes 203
Bibliography 215
Index 235