The New Sciences of Religion

An original and compelling scientific interpretation of religion and science that will challenge and delight students and scholars alike.

What does it mean to take a scientific approach to the study of religion? Does a scientific study of religion disprove the existence of God, the reality of Nirvana, the possibilities of miracles, and the hopes of a life beyond death?

There is more functional diversity within a great tradition than between great traditions.

Early social theorists on religion all used some version of Marx's base-superstructure model of causation, though they may not have used the exact terms. Some natural or material factor that determines the beliefs and behaviors of individuals.

An excerpt from Chapter 3 of The New Sciences of Religion: Exploring Spirituality from the Outside In and Bottom Up (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) Pages 65 – 67. Our second major question in this chapter is how to apply economic models to understanding religion itself. One of the first to advance such a theory was Karl Marx, who argued that religions