How Religion Evolved, And Why it Endures

When did humans develop spiritual thought? What is religion's
evolutionary purpose? And in our increasingly secular world, why has it
endured?
Every society in the history of humanity has lived with religion. In How Religion Evolved,
evolutionary psychologist Professor Robin Dunbar tracks its origins
back to what he terms the 'mystical stance' - the aspect of human
psychology that predisposes us to believe in a transcendent world, and
which makes an encounter with the spiritual possible. As he explores
world religions and their many derivatives, as well as religions of
experience practised by hunter-gatherer societies since time immemorial,
Dunbar argues that this instinct is not a peculiar human quirk, an
aberration on our otherwise efficient evolutionary journey. Rather,
religion confers an advantage: it can benefit our individual health and
wellbeing, but, more importantly, it fosters social bonding at large
scale, helping hold fractious societies together. Dunbar suggests these
dimensions might provide the basis for an overarching theory for why and
how humans are religious, and so help unify the myriad strands that
currently populate this field.
Drawing on path-breaking research,
clinical case studies and fieldwork from around the globe, as well as
stories of charismatic cult leaders, mysterious sects and lost faiths, How Religion Evolved offers a fascinating and far-reaching analysis of this quintessentially human impulse - to believe.