The Evolution Of Gods

Did gods create mankind, or did mankind create gods? Why, when and how did mankind begin to worship gods? Religious scriptures the world over claim that one or the other god made man, but science has not yet identified any supernatural power that created and governed human beings. Was it man who came up with the idea of gods to help him cope with his own fears? Could it be that ancient people attributed natural phenomena-unfathomable and frightening to them-to the working of invisible gods? What kind of sufferings or bewilderments made people bow before unseen powers or gods as we call them? When were these gods created? Who invented morals and methods of worship? Who wrote the ancient scriptures such as the Bible and the Vedas? Most crucially, have gods and the scriptures shaped our responses to the world around us? The Evolution of Gods seeks to answer these questions, and explains scientifically how, when and why religions and gods came into being. Ajay Kansal marshals anthropological and historical facts about the development of religions in a simple and straightforward manner to assert that it was mankind that created gods, and not the other way around.

For centuries, faithful followers of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have looked to their holy texts for spiritual guidance, social and political mandates, and answers to man's burning questions about the workings of the universe. But what if these believers have been overlooking the most important message in their Scriptures? In THE EVOLUTION OF GOD, bestselling author Robert Wright finds a kind of 'hidden code' in the Bible and the Koran. Read closely, he says, these texts reveal the key to harmony among the Abrahamic faiths, and thus to a peaceful world - nothing less than the salvation of humankind. THE EVOLUTION OF GOD explains why spirituality has a role today, why science affirms the validity of the religious quest, and why the future will hold harmony instead of religious extremism. If there is an author capable of giving us a revolutionary, enlightening re-reading of the Scriptures, it is Robert Wright. He has written acclaimed and influential books on the evolution of our minds and our history. Now he tackles the evolution of God.

This debut book boldly seeks to argue competitively in the same intellectual field as famous atheists such as RICHARD DAWKINS, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, and BERTRAND RUSSELL, and to do so in the spirit and style of such famous Christian apologists as C.S. Lewis and RAVI ZACHARIAS, drawing heavily on basic science, history, physics, psychology, paleontology, anthropology, archeology, neurology, child development and even science fiction. It describes the evolution of the human brain in ancient hominids allowing humans to eventually conceive a non-physical realm (the spirit world), and as the mind evolved intellectually from primitive animism to Christology, God revealed himself gradually as the developing hominid brain became able to comprehend new ideas. For Believers, the author presents a new, intellectually satisfying way to understand and defend the Bible. For both Skeptics and Believers, a worldview is offered that is spiritually meaningful and scientifically sound.

The Evolution of the Idea of God is a study of humans' belief in God from primitive tribal religions to what Allen considered the more advanced Christian view. It was first published in 1897. The main question of this book is, "How did we arrive at our knowledge of God?" Rather than trying to prove or disprove any claims about the divine, Allen's method simply follows the psychological processes that led humans to religious belief, and further, from a belief in polytheism to monotheism.

THANK EVOLUTION FOR GOD Nature and God’s Creations and Designs Biological evolution of living organisms, including man, as described by Darwin’s Theory of natural selection is settled science for most scientists, philosophers and evolutionary biologist allowing them to declare that in the science classroom to Thank Evolution for God. But man’s evolution taught in public schools remains a contentious issue for many Christians today who declare Thank God for Evolution. The question, who to thank for the evolution of man, his morals and gods, God or Nature? is addressed in light of Nature’s theories describing advances in evolutionary biology, neuroscience and neurophilosophy which are compared to God’s Words as interpreted by Christians; Fundamentalist, Liberal and Progressive. The case for Nature is based on the works of leading evolutionary biologists, neuroscientists, physicists and philosophers. God’s case is extracted from the books of five leading Christian authors who have addressed Darwin’s Theory in light of the demands of their religion. The answer to the question of who to thank has evolved from ten years of lectures given by the author and the responses of hundreds of students of many religious persuasions to lectures on the ‘Conflicts of Religion with Science and Democracy’ at the University of California San Diego.

A Short Paper of nonfiction which briefly describes the Evolution of Humanity and God's Kingdom. It emphasizes the importance and/or necessity of Science. It introduces the Cycles of God to help explain the constant renewal of Life and God's Kingdom. It identifies consequences of not obeying all of God's Laws.

Excerpt from The Evolution of the Idea of God: An Inquiry Into the Origins of Religions How did we arrive at our knowledge of God P It seeks provisionally to answer these profound and important questions by reference to the earliest beliefs of savages, past or present, and to the testimony of historical documents and ancient monuments. It does not concern itself at all with the validity or invalidity of the ideas in themselves it does but endeavour to Show how inevitable they were, and how man's relation with the external universe was certain a priori to beget them as of necessity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IX. THE GODS OF ISRAEL. The only people who ever invented or evolved a pure monotheism at first hand were the Jews. Individual thinkers elsewhere approached or aimed at that ideal goal, like the Egyptian priests and the Greek philosophers: entire races elsewhere borrowed monotheism from the Hebrews, like the Arabs under Mohammad, or, to a less extent, the Romans and the modern European nations, when they adopted Christianity in its trinitarian form: but no other race ever succeeded as a whole in attaining by their own exertions the pure monotheistic platform, however near certain persons among them might have arrived to such attainment in esoteric or mystical philosophising. It is the peculiar glory of Israel to have evolved God. And the evolution of God from the diffuse gods of the earlier Semitic religion is Israel's great contribution to the world's thought. The sacred books of the Jews, as we possess them in garbled forms to-day, assign this peculiar belief to the very earliest ages of their race: they assume that Abraham, the mythical common father of all the Semitic tribes, was already a monotheist; and they even treat monotheism as at a still remoter date the universal religion of the entire world, from which all polytheistic cults were but a corruption and a falling away. Such a belief is nowadays, of course, wholly untenable. So also is the crude notion that monotheism was smitten out at a single blow by the genius of one individual man, Moses, at the THE HEBREWS POLYTHEISTS x8i moment of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt. The bare idea that one particular thinker, just escaped from the midst of ardent polytheists, whose religion embraced an endless pantheon and a low form of animal-worship, could possibly have invented a...

Atran argues that religion is a by-product of human evolution just as the cognitive intervention, cultural selection, and historical survival of religion is an accommodation of certain existential and moral elements in the human condition.

In this sweeping narrative that takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archaeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright's findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy. He explains why spirituality has a role today, and why science, contrary to conventional wisdom, affirms the validity of the religious quest. And this previously unrecognized evolutionary logic points not toward continued religious extremism, but future harmony. Nearly a decade in the making, The Evolution of God is a breathtaking re-examination of the past, and a visionary look forward.

The “Evolution of God” will rock the core of all religions. Dramatic, powerful and questioning, humanity will be forever changed by the message from this revolutionary book. The evolution of God will expand and evolve our awareness of God beyond all borders. Exploring how the power of nature and its ability to destroy lives initiated our concept and experience of a God force, simple questions are posed so that we can comprehend how we fell into a negative and fearful relationship with a God that seemed to demand sacrifice, placation and petition. Our communication with the God Force has evolved into a stylized, ritualistic format governed over by a select few who have become the vehicles of God's messages and demands, wielding fear and punishment as weapons to insure obedience. Chris Griscom suggests that, throughout time, the shaman and priests have set in motion patterns of social and spiritual behavior that have brought about fear and separation from God. We are confronted with the distortion of beautiful teachings that have fallen into the interpretations of negative religious dogma. Ms. Griscom helps us to realize that we can find new ways of experiencing the God Force. From the crucifixion to the crusades, from stoning the religious offenders, to holy wars, from self -righteousness to ecstatic communion, the message of The Evolution of God is that the old cannot help us to know God and Godliness. This book offers new choices to assist us with our own evolution, and through our conscious awareness, allows “The Evolution of God.”

Discovering God is a monumental history of the origins of the great religions from the Stone Age to the Modern Age. Sociologist Rodney Stark surveys the birth and growth of religions around the world—from the prehistoric era of primal beliefs; the history of the pyramids found in Iraq, Egypt, Mexico, and Cambodia; and the great "Axial Age" of Plato, Zoroaster, Confucius, and the Buddha, to the modern Christian missions and the global spread of Islam. He argues for a free-market theory of religion and for the controversial thesis that under the best, unimpeded conditions, the true, most authentic religions will survive and thrive. Among his many conclusions: Despite decades of faulty reports that early religions were crude muddles of superstition, it turns out that primitive humans had surprisingly sophisticated notions about God and Creation. The idea of "sin" appeared suddenly in the sixth century BCE and quickly reshaped religious ideas from Europe to China. Some major world religions seem to lack any plausible traces of divine inspiration. Ironically, some famous figures who attempted to found "Godless" religions ended up being worshiped as Gods. Most people believe in the existence of God (or Gods), and this has apparently been so throughout human history. Many modern biologists and psychologists reject these spiritual ideas, especially those about the existence of God, as delusional. They claim that religion is a primitive survival mechanism that should have been discarded as humans evolved beyond the stage where belief in God served any useful purpose—that in modern societies, faith is a misleading crutch and an impediment to reason. In Discovering God, award-winning sociologist Rodney Stark responds to this position, arguing that it is our capacity to understand God that has evolved—that humans now know much more about God than they did in ancient times.

After empowering Christianity and becoming its titular head during the first quarter of the fourth century, Roman emperor Constantine played a greater role in determining the core belief and practice of this religion than any family member or disciple of the historical Jesus. Implications of this fact are many and should be of interest to all Christians and others with an interest in, or connections to, Western Civilization. The Evolution of God in Human Imagination addresses vital questions that many have asked for centuries, including how God became man and/or man became God. Professor Gersham A. Nelson examines the evolution of God from a Judeo-Christian perspective, first demonstrating how different regional cultures and mythologies seem to have influenced Judaism and Christianity, before showing how Christianity jettisoned the most fundamental concept of God held by Judaism and other ancient religions. Professor Nelson also argues that a close examination of the Church that emerged with the imperial patronage of Rome during the fourth century repudiated not only Judaism but also views attributed to the Jesus of history. Failure to re-examine the foundation of Christianity, including claims made by leaders regarding divine will and prerogative, after the Reformation, ensured that contradictions and confusion continue to plague one generation of Christians after another. Even when conspicuous flaws were identified in the worldview advocated by Christian teachings, adjustments would, at best, be slow and selective. Nevertheless, the growing capacity of human brings to explore, discover, and create new knowledge has continued to inspire new questions and is providing some unanticipated answers.

Evolution, Games, and God explores how cooperation and altruism, alongside mutation and natural selection, play a critical role in evolution, from microbes to human societies. Inheriting a tendency to cooperate and self-sacrifice on behalf of others may be as beneficial to a population’s survival as the self-preserving instincts of individuals.

TWO main schools of religious thinking exist in our midst at the present day: the school of humanists and the school of animists. This work is to some extent an attempt to reconcile them. It contains, I believe, the first extended effort that has yet been made to trace the genesis of the belief in a God from its earliest origin in the mind of primitive man up to its fullest development in advanced and etherealised Christian theology. My method is therefore constructive, not destructive. Instead of setting out to argue away or demolish a deep-seated and ancestral element in our complex nature, this book merely posits for itself the psychological question, "By what successive steps did men come to frame for themselves the conception of a deity?"-or, if the reader so prefers it, "How did we arrive at our knowledge of God?" It seeks provisionally to answer these profound and important questions by reference to the earliest beliefs of savages, past or present, and to the testimony of historical documents and ancient monuments