Why We Need Religion
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- $229.00
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- $229.00
Descripción editorial
How we feel is as vital to our survival as how we think. This claim, based on the premise that emotions are largely adaptive, serves as the organizing theme of Why We Need Religion. This book is a novel pathway in a well-trodden field of religious studies and philosophy of religion. Stephen Asma argues that, like art, religion has direct access to our emotional lives in ways that science does not. Yes, science can give us emotional feelings of wonder and the sublime--we can feel the sacred depths of nature--but there are many forms of human suffering and vulnerability that are beyond the reach of help from science. Different emotional stresses require different kinds of rescue. Unlike secular authors who praise religion's ethical and civilizing function, Asma argues that its core value lies in its emotionally therapeutic power.
No theorist of religion has failed to notice the importance of emotions in spiritual and ritual life, but truly systematic research has only recently delivered concrete data on the neurology, psychology, and anthropology of the emotional systems. This very recent "affective turn" has begun to map out a powerful territory of embodied cognition. Why We Need Religion incorporates new data from these affective sciences into the philosophy of religion. It goes on to describe the way in which religion manages those systems--rage, play, lust, care, grief, and so on. Finally, it argues that religion is still the best cultural apparatus for doing this adaptive work. In short, the book is a Darwinian defense of religious emotions and the cultural systems that manage them.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Asma (The Evolution of Imagination), professor of philosophy and founding fellow of the Research Group in Mind, Science, and Culture at Columbia College, Chicago, outlines an eloquent argument for the benefits of religion in this short, engrossing work. Asma sidesteps discussions of truth and rational justification, and instead focuses on the impact religion has on the emotional lives of believers. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the book integrates evidence from biology, anthropology, philosophy, and religious studies to show how religions provide frameworks to help believers navigate intense emotions such as fear, sorrow, resilience, and joy. Asma deals fluently in a wide range of cultural references, relating his own personal experiences living in Cambodia and his revealing tour of the Creation Museum, and unpacking diverse texts such as the Bible, the Koran, and even the music of Chance the Rapper. His fluid prose meets a high scholarly standard and holds the reader's attention: "Religion's primary function is not to provide a path to morality or to substitute for a scientific understanding of nature. Its chief virtues are as a coping mechanism' for our troubles, and as social glue for our community." Balanced in its approach and careful in its research, Asma's fine book will appeal equally to religious and non-religious readers, and provides a genuinely fresh perspective on tired old discussions.
