Religion’s role in human evolution 

Religion and science | lecture series

Paul Cassell

Paul Cassell
Leadership and Integrative Studies, Arizona State University

October 20 | 7 p.m.
via Zoom

Why religion? Where did it come from? What purpose does it serve? Explore recent ideas concerning the origin of religion in human prehistory. Mental innovations powered the first steps taken by early pre-humans toward symbolic culture. As these hominins grew in their ability to use symbolic thinking and communication, the divine — conceived to answer the big ‘why’ question of human existence — emerged as a kind of glue, linking together prior social and cultural innovations into a system, a religious ‘package.’ Learn how it gave purpose to early human groups, helping to direct social and cultural innovation.