Cognitive Approaches to Ancient Religious Experience

Explores the religious rituals and beliefs of ancient Greece and Rome, using modern research into human cognition.

Esther Eidinow (Edited by), Armin W. Geertz (Edited by), John North (Edited by)

9781316515334, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 August 2022

348 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm, 0.59 kg

'… this volume makes important and interesting reading for all who are interested in learning more about ancient religious experience and rituals, and I personally greatly appreciated it …' Anne L. C. Runehov, Reviews in Science, Religion and Theology

For some time interest has been growing in a dialogue between modern scientific research into human cognition and research in the humanities. This ground-breaking volume focuses this dialogue on the religious experience of men and women in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Each chapter examines a particular historical problem arising from an ancient religious activity and the contributions range across a wide variety of both ancient contexts and sources, exploring and integrating literary, epigraphic, visual and archaeological evidence. In order to avoid a simple polarity between physical aspects (ritual) and mental aspects (belief) of religion, the contributors draw on theories of cognition as embodied, emergent, enactive and extended, accepting the complexity, multimodality and multicausality of human life. Through this interdisciplinary approach, the chapters open up new questions around and develop new insights into the physical, emotional, and cognitive aspects of ancient religions.

Introduction Esther Eidinow, Armin W. Geertz, Quinton Deeley, John North
Part I. Ritual: 1. A cognitive approach to ancient Greek animal sacrifice Hugh Bowden
2. To the netherworld and back: cognitive aspects of the descent to Trophonius Yulia Ustinova
Part II. Representation: 3. Ancient Greek smellscapes and divine fragrances: anthropomorphizing the gods in ancient Greek culture Esther Eidinow
4. Belief, make-believe and the religious imagination: the case of the Deus Ex Machina in Greek tragedy Felix Budelmann
5. Chanting and dancing into dissociation: the case of the Salian priests at Rome Maik Patzelt
Part III. Gender: 6. The Bacchants are silent: using cognitive science to explore the experience of the Oreibasia Vivienne McGlashan
7. Who is the Damiatrix? Roman women, the political negotiation of psychotropic experiences, and the cults of Bona Dea Leonardo Ambasciano
Part IV. Materiality: 8. Walls and the ancient Greek ritual experience: the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis Michael Scott
9. Identifying symptoms of religious experience from ancient material culture: the example of cults of the Roman Mithras Luther H. Martin
Part V. Texts: 10. Bridging the gap: from textual representations to the experiential level and back Anders Klostergaard Petersen
11. A relevant mystery: intuitive and reflective thought in Gregory of Nyssa's representations of divine begetting in the Against Eunomius Isabella Sandwell.

Subject Areas: Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR], History of religion [HRAX], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1]