Short description:

This book sets out some of the latest scientific findings around the evolutionary development of religion and faith and then explores their theological implications.

Long description:

This book sets out some of the latest scientific findings around the evolutionary development of religion and faith and then explores their theological implications. This unique combination of perspectives raises fascinating questions about the characteristics that are considered integral for a flourishing social and religious life and allows us to start to ask where in the evolutionary record they first show up in a distinctly human manner.?

The book builds a case for connecting theology and evolutionary anthropology using both historical and contemporary sources of knowledge to try and understand the origins of wisdom, humility, and grace in ?deep time?. In the section on wisdom, the book examines the origins of complex decision-making in humans through the archaeological record, recent discoveries in evolutionary anthropology, and the philosophical richness of semiotics. The book then moves to an exploration of the origin of characteristics integral to the social life of small-scale communities, which then points in an indirect way to the disposition of humility. Finally, it investigates the theological dimensions of grace and considers how artefacts left behind in the material record by our human ancestors, and the perspective they reflect, might inform contemporary concepts of grace.?

This is a cutting-edge volume that refuses to commit the errors of either too easy a synthesis or too facile a separation between science and religion. As such, it will be of interest to scholars of religious studies and theology ? especially those who interact with scientific fields ? as well as academics working in anthropology of religion.

Table of Contents:

List of Contributors; Introduction: Dialogues in Theology and Evolutionary Anthropology-Celia Deane-Drummond, Agustín Fuentes; Part I: Mapping the Terrain; 1: Setting the Stage: Developing the Human Niche across the Pleistocene-Agustín Fuentes; 2: The Emergence of Complexity and Novelty in the Human Fossil Record-Rebecca Rogers Ackermann, Lauren Schroeder; Part II: Wisdom; Introductory Commentary: Wisdom- Celia Deane-Drummond, Wentzel van Huyssteen; 3: On Homo naledi and its Significance in Evolutionary Anthropology-John Hawks, Lee Berger; 4 Becoming Wise: What Can Anthropologists Say about the Evolution of Human Wisdom?- Marc Kissel; 5 On the Origin of Symbols: Archaeology, Semiotics, and Self-Transcendence-Andrew Robinson; Part III: Humility; Introductory Commentary: Humility-Wendy Black; 6 Archaeological Evidence for Human Social Learning and Sociality in the Middle Stone Age of South Africa-Jayne Wilkins; 7 An Animal in Need of Wisdom: Theological Anthropology and the Origins of Humility and Wisdom-Jan-Olav Henriksen; 8 The Loss of Innocence in the Deep Past: Wisdom, Humility, and Grace within a Developing Understanding of the Emergence of Human Moral Emotions-Penny Spikins; 9 Searching for the Soul of Homo: The Virtue of Humility in Deep Evolutionary Time-Celia Deane-Drummond; Part IV: Grace; Introductory Commentary: Grace-Celia Deane-Drummond, Agustín Fuentes; 10 What Difference Does Grace Make? An Exploration of the Concept of Grace in the Theological Anthropology of Karl Rahner- Karen Kilby, J. Matthew Ashley; 11 Grace in Evolution- Oliver Davies; 12 Continuities and Discontinuities in Human Evolution- Jonathan Marks