Noted science writer Nicholas Wade offers for the first time a convincing case based on a broad range of scientific evidence for the evolutionary basis of religion…. More >>
The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures
Noted science writer Nicholas Wade offers for the first time a convincing case based on a broad range of scientific evidence for the evolutionary basis of religion…. More >>
The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures
I will buy the Kindle version of this book when the price falls to $9.99
Rating: 1 / 5
Mr. Wade offers one “proof” for the biological basis of religion, that being that it is a universal phenomenon. That sociological fact is the sole support of his “bio-evolutionary” premise. To make matters far worse, his anthropology is hopelessly outdated and his history is filled with inaccuracies. This is a very poor piece of scholarship, or the complete lack thereof.
Rating: 1 / 5
I recently purchased this book, The Faith Instinct, with high expectation, but with also reserve, I was a little hesistant mainly because of the book’s subtitle, How Religion Evolved and Why it Endures; I must preface this with the fact, that I am an atheist, however I understand that certain traits must have an evolutionary basis. But Wade’s book just went way off the scientific foundation, into the mirky waters of compassionate darwinism.
This book is so flawed in its scientific presentation of religion, that I urge anyone who is a fan of evolutionary psychology and reputable darwinism, to may be borrow this book from a library.
Rating: 2 / 5
Wade’s useful book lets the faithful of any religion know that they have been mechanized into a group which gives them what John Locke called a “Social Contract”–they give, but they believe they get as much or more than they give-and hence are willing to give.
Good or evil is not subjected to the author’s balance wheel exactly, although he notes that the rise of mystical cults from time to time challenge the large establishment faiths, which have, as in the time of the reformation, itself an authoritarian process, become too riven with bad qualities.
As an atheist I note the 12/24/09 NY Times Book Reviewer, Judith Shulevitz, could not resist calling my tribe “dyspeptic”, which leads me to conclude that if one wants to waste time embracing religion, one should be prepared for its traditional unsatisfactory outcomes. Hatred, war, needless biases, and general disappointment come to mind as but a few, but then if you buy into the eternal life concept, perhaps nothing else matters.
Rating: 3 / 5
A disappointing muddle. It starts out strong, promising to outline exciting new research on the genetic basis of religion and then, over the next two hundred pages, fails to deliver. There are some interesting discussions of the historic roots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (especially provocative on the lack of documentation to prove the existance of Muhammed) but the insights provided are off the topic, a few scattered jewels amidst an otherwise barren field. More than half the books reads like a refurbished dissertation from a distant anthropology PhD. I had high hopes!
Rating: 2 / 5