The Missing Cultural Lens in the Cognitive Science of Religion

Abstract

White’s recent book An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion provides a state-of-the-art review of the field, geared toward students and readers interested in learning more about the cognitive underpinnings of religion. This commentary focuses on the missing cultural lens in the Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) in general, as evidenced by White’s summary of relevant theories and methods. I reflect on the grounding of the field in a specific version of evolutionary psychology which tends to downplay the role of culture for human behavior. The concept of functional equivalence from the cultural psychology toolkit may help researchers think through the Tinbergian questions within each cultural context. I then provide a basic bibliometric study of the authors cited within the book. Similar to the larger field of psychology, there is a distinct cultural bias in the contributors to the field. This bias is probably even more detrimental to this subject area because researchers are located mainly within one religious (Christian) tradition. It is important to overcome imposed etic perspectives and more carefully question assumptions, theories, and methods to evaluate whether a Christian interpretation is cast onto religious phenomena more generally. Finally, I provide two scientific and one moral reason why the CSR has much to gain from embracing cultural dynamics in its theorizing and scientific practice.