How natural is religion? Is it a phenomenon written in our genes or brains, naturally developing with the development of the human race? This book considers the findings of evolutionary psychology from scientific, philosophical and theological perspectives and examines the relation between empirical, epistemological and theological notions.

Part I: Religion - from a natural point of view; 1. The Naturalness of Religion and the Unnaturalness of Theology; 2. Are Religious Experiences Natural? Biological Capacities for Religion; 3. Gene Theology and Folk Biology; 4. Context Sensitivity and the Folk Psychology of Souls: Why Bering et. al. got the Findings they Did; Part II: Religion - naturally? Philosophical reflections; 5. Religion - Naturally. Religion, Theology, and Science; 6. Do We Need to Naturalize Religion?; 7. What's Religion For? A dilemma of the scientific investigation of religion; 8. Why religious experience is considered personal and dubitable - and what if it were not; 9. The Religion of Science; Part III: The nature of religion - theological perspectives; 10. Perspectives on Theomorphism in Islam; 11. What Could Theologians Possibly Learn From the Cognitive Study of Religion?; 12. Natural and Revealed Religion in Early Modern British Thought.

One of the highlights of the volume is the rich bibliography (these were conference talks, after all) and the book can serve as an interesting, if not unconventional, entry point into the field of cognitive study of religion, whatever your perspectival orientation.