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Informationen zum Autor Brian McVeigh Klappentext Why did many religious leaders-Moses, Old Testament prophets, Zoroaster-claim they heard divine voices? Why do ancient civilizations exhibit key similarities, e Zusammenfassung Why did many religious leaders—Moses, Old Testament prophets, Zoroaster—claim they heard divine voices? Why do ancient civilizations exhibit key similarities, e Inhaltsverzeichnis Contents Foreword by Marcel Kuijsten Acknowledgments Prologue: Chasing Ghosts in Tokyo Part I: The World According to the Gods 1 The Failure of Science to Explain Religion 2 Why the Gods Began to Speak 3 Divine Voices and Visions as Social Adaptation Part II: When the Gods Spoke and Walked among Us 4 The Living Dead: Explaining Entombment and Ancestor Worship 5 Towns as the Domain of the Gods 6 Temples as Relay Stations: Transmitting Divine Commands 7 Talking Idols: Tools of Divine Control 8 Mortuary Monuments: How the Gods Awed Their Followers 9 Heavenly Ambassadors: God–Kings and Sacred Rulers 10 Ancient Civilizations as God-Governed 11 Mesoamerica: Theocentric Civilizations of the New World 12 Trimming the Theological Tree: Monotheism as Adaptation 13 Angels, Divine Messengers, and Swarms of Demons Part III: When the Gods Fell Silent 14 Prayers, Possessions, and Prophecies: Conjuring Up the Missing Gods 15 The Gods Depart: The Late-Bronze-Period Dark Ages 16 A Change of Mind in the Ancient World 17 The Axial Age: The World Reborn without Gods 18 Imagining the Transcendent: A New Cognitive Ability 19 Introcosm: A New World of Space and Time 20 The Self Replaces the Gods 21 From Revelation to Reasoning 22 When the Gods Still Whisper: Strange Behaviors Explained Epilogue: Science and Politics as Neo-Religion Appendices and Supplementary Charts A How to Chase Ghosts B Explaining Religion versus Explaining Religion Away C Gods on the Brain: Neurotheology D The Problem with "Cultural Evolution" E Six Hypotheses of Jaynesian Psychology F The Limitations of Evolutionary Psychology G Prehistoric and Historic Mentalities in Perspective H Predictable Objections, Rebuttals, and Qualifications I Verification and Applications of Jaynes's Theories J Primitive Psychopolitics and Neurocultural Adaptation K A History of Mentalities L Population Size of Ancient Towns and Cities M Dreams: A Form of Conscious Interiority N Pre-Axial and Axial Ages Compared O Solving the Mystery of Hallucinations P Autoscopy: Seeing One's Double Q What the Gods Can Teach Us: A New Understanding of the Mind Timelines of Mentalities Explanation 1 Three Major Shifts in Human Mentality 2 Prehistoric Mentalities 3 Middle East 4 Africa 5 Europe 6 South Asia 7 East Asia 8 Southeast Asia 9 Oceania 10 North America 11 South America 12 Mesoamerica Glossary References Index ...
