-2

Latest researches show with an abundance of evidence, that modern religion (including Christianity) are evolved from primordial believes system as a reflection of its social and political structure. Following this concept, one could draw an evolutionary tree (in the attached picture) that would depict Christianity (and other modern religions) as a descendant of shamanism.

In practice, it is argued that religion is a product of human society, evolved over time, and not a product of divine intervention. How would you object to this thesis?

enter image description here

Main reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4958132/

alec_djinn
  • 97
  • 5
  • 1
    Different varieties of beliefs considering themselves Christian will have different perspectives on this question. A Biblical literalist, for example, would probably give a very different response than a Christian Atheist. Whose perspective are you interested in? – Matt Gutting Jan 21 '19 at 12:07
  • Both I guess... – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 12:11
  • Why the downvote? – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 12:12
  • my guess for the dv is because this is such a broad question not aimed at one specific denomination, which is off topic – depperm Jan 21 '19 at 13:38
  • mmm... I don't think it is too broad. Can someone help me out editing the question to make it conform to the expected format? – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 13:44
  • @MattGutting A Christian Atheist? – Sola Gratia Jan 21 '19 at 14:33
  • @SolaGratia I was perplexed as well, but apparently it exist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 14:36
  • @alec_djinn "Christian atheism is a form of cultural Christianity and ethics system drawing its beliefs and practices from Jesus' life and teachings as recorded in the New Testament Gospels and other sources, whilst rejecting supernatural claims of Christianity" Do people believe this is coherent, somewhere? Lol. Where is the Jesus who didn't work miracles or wasn't virgin born? – Sola Gratia Jan 21 '19 at 14:47
  • @SolaGratia It is coherent. One can be a good Samaritan without believing in the supernatural. At least, I can see that. I even have friends so kind and altruistic you would never bet they aren't Christian. And unfortunately the opposite is also true, you may find lots of devote believers who don't follow the righteous way. – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 14:52
  • But as far my question goes, I am interested to hear the opinion of persons of faith. I imagine atheists would not have problems in accepting that view. – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 14:55
  • "I even have friends so kind and altruistic you would never bet they aren't Christian" By coherent I mean a rational basis for being good/not being bad. 'My gut tells me it's wrong/right' is not a rational basis for being moral. No one denies atheists can be morally good or bad without God, it's about whether that's reasonably explained and defended by their worldview. In an atheistics universe, there are no pre-human moral laws to abide by, and so all actions are governed by what the society thinks at the time or given it's emotional proclivities at the time. That's not an objective mor. – Sola Gratia Jan 21 '19 at 15:01
  • @SolaGratia Agree. Apparently, there are atheists that without pre-human moral behave in a way conforming to the teaching of Jesus. – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 15:07
  • Not believing Jesus' teaching on the afterlife or heaven or hell or resurrection or miracles is not 'conforming to the teaching of Jesus' though is the whole point. – Sola Gratia Jan 21 '19 at 15:17
  • Yes, of course, if you must include "all the teching" then you are right. – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 15:21
  • Hmm it's s little spurious to quote someone who thinks Catholicism started in 1054 (or 1052 for that matter). Even Alexa knows when the Catholic Church was founded. – Peter Turner Jan 21 '19 at 22:15
  • At the very bottom of the tree there are statements like "it is speculated that" and "it is possible." With statements like those at the base, it doesn't give me much confidence in the rest of the tree. There are certainly influences and relationships between branches of religion, but there's no reliable scientific way to trace everything back to an "original" religion. Latter-day Saints would argue, for example, that the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached from the beginning, starting with Adam and Eve, and that Christ was revealed to and preached by prophets throughout the course of history. – Samuel Bradshaw Jan 21 '19 at 22:33
  • The tree is just a schematics, please friends go read the linked paper, at least the abstract. Besides, it’s a theory, no math truth, but it has some solid foundations worthing evaluate. – alec_djinn Jan 22 '19 at 06:40

3 Answers3

5

In practice, it is argued that religion is a product of human society, evolved over time, and not a product of divine intervention.

The evolution of religions as shown in the diagram is predicated on the assumption that none of the religions depicted are actually true. In other words, Judaism can only be said to have 'evolved' from Caananite polytheism if there was no actual God who revealed himself to Abraham. Christianity can only be said to have 'evolved' from Judaism if there was no Jesus of Nazareth giving a divine revelation.

Also, drawing a diagram is not an argument. Anyone who presents this diagram as an argument against religion needs to explain its assumptions, what evidence backs it up, and why they think what it depicts is actually the case.

(Incidentally, the diagram is somewhat oversimplified even from a secular comparative religion point of view. Academic studies would show some more complex interactions.)

DJClayworth
  • 31,560
  • 5
  • 61
  • 127
  • I agree with your answer, but I fear it may not be enough to counter the argument. Aside from the diagram, that is a very simplistic one, if you read the linked reference, they put forward quite a lot of pieces of evidence supporting that religious rituals were present all around the earth way before the invention of the writing. Those rituals ended up being codified as proper religion later on, by different cultures, adapting over time. – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 15:17
  • It bothers me, but, even recently, Christianity is changing. Maybe in 1000 years it will be so different that I would not recognize it anymore... – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 15:20
  • If you are concerned about evidence of this kind you are unlikely to get a short answer on a website that satisfies you. Talk to Christians who know about this field in person. – DJClayworth Jan 21 '19 at 15:30
  • @alec if you're under the assumption the Christianity is changing, you probably should ask about that. I've learned quite a few interesting tidbits here that connect modern practices (especially The Sacrifice of the Mass) back to the 1st couple of centuries. – Peter Turner Jan 21 '19 at 22:24
  • At some level the practice of Christianity is definitely changing. To take a trivial example, a thousand years ago owning slaves would be perfectly acceptable. Even the Catholic church today has doctrines that were not doctrines a thousand years ago. – DJClayworth Jan 21 '19 at 22:27
1

I am by no means an academic, but I'll attempt to give my opinion on the matter.

The paper which you referenced in question concludes that, contrary to previously accepted theories, belief in God did not develop from animism or shamanism:

The majority of traits of religion we investigated exhibit a correlated pattern of character change on phylogeny. The results suggest that belief in an afterlife, shamanism, and ancestor worship evolve in concerted fashion as an integrated system of beliefs and practices. However, neither high gods nor active high gods exhibit correlated evolution with the rest of the religious traits, including ancestor worship, despite Spencer’s and Tylor’s suggestions.

The paper does not attempt to explain how belief in God developed, but does note that other papers attempt to link belief in God to various social and political structures. These papers seem to only describe correlations between the two, but it has been well established that correlation does not equal causation. I would argue that academic research on this topic is far from settled and should not be taken as definitive.

But again, I am not an academic, scholar or expert on this topic; this is just my perspective on the matter.

Cerulean Chelonii
  • 660
  • 4
  • 7
-1

The Bible is an extensive record of about two thousand years of religious history, from Abraham to the life of the last Apostle, John, plus highlights of the time going back to Adam. One approach to comprehending all the changes that occurred over that period is called Dispensationalism. Dispensational doctrinal systems attempt to answer the question: If God is unchanging, then why do some ancient laws and customs that He laid down for people (such as the Jews) to follow endure while others have been replaced or modified? According to the various dispensational views, you have this view of the development and change of religion over time:

1) Some changes are due to cultural drift, invasion (by Assyria, Babylon), syncretism with neighboring peoples (like the Canaanites), corrupt kings (most of them!) or the influence of false prophets (like the Baal worshipers that Elijah fought). The Bible shows how these practices were forcefully opposed and ultimately rejected.

2) Some changes are due to additional revelation from God. These changes are remarkably consistent with what was revealed before.

3) Some changes introduce a New Covenant or a dramatic change in the mode of worship, such as with Noah, Moses, David, and Jesus. The important thing here is that such changes are foreshadowed by the prophets. As it says in Amos 3:7, “Truly the Lord GOD will do nothing he has mentioned without revealing his purposes to his servants the prophets." The reliability and great number of fulfilled prophecies is what set Judaism and Christianity apart from other religions.

So I would say that Christianity stands apart from other changeable human religions in that its changes were planned by God and announced in advance, while still preserving much continuity. For example, if I read about the ethics practiced by Job, a man who lived almost 4,000 years ago, I see nothing objectionable or foreign or outdated in his beliefs. Indeed, Job, a Gentile, prophesies the creation of an authoritative book collecting God's oracles to man, he prophesies Jesus walking on water, refers to his savior as the "Son of Man", lists dozens of other historical events later found in the Bible, and even describes the beasts that figure prominently in the Book of Revelation.

Christianity is not like religions of human origin. As it says in 1 Thessalonians:

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

Paul Chernoch
  • 12,022
  • 19
  • 31
  • I really don't see how Dispensationalism is relevant to the question. – DJClayworth Jan 21 '19 at 16:52
  • Dispensational doctrinal systems attempt to answer the question: If God is unchanging, then why do some ancient laws and customs that He laid down for people (such as the Jews) to follow endure while others have been replaced or modified? – Paul Chernoch Jan 21 '19 at 18:26
  • But it has nothing to say about how (or if) Judaism evolved from other religions. – DJClayworth Jan 21 '19 at 18:46
  • Aside that the Bible accounts for way more that 2k years, yes, it doesn't fit the question. – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 18:48
  • "So I would say that Christianity stands apart from other changeable human religions in that its changes were planned by God and announced in advance, while still preserving much continuity." if the pope says to be omosex is ok, it was part of God's plan? – alec_djinn Jan 21 '19 at 18:50
  • The Bible teaches that there will be false prophets and true and how to tell them apart. It also says to study the fruit of each person's teachings. The fruit of the Catholic Church's teachings on some matters are clearly positive, while on others negative. The same is true for other denominations. In addition, the Bible teaches that endorsed changes are accompanied by acts of power to authorize them. Thus Moses and the plagues on Egypt and parting the Red Sea, and Jesus rising from the dead. – Paul Chernoch Jan 21 '19 at 19:13
  • Does the Bible says anything about how Judaism evolved from other religions? Yes. Job, a Gentile, most likely lived in the century or so before Moses. The book bearing his name has a pretty detailed account of his religious practices, and he is praised by God for being the most righteous man alive. You can see the continuity between what he believed and practiced and Judaism, as well as the new rituals and celebrations that the Jews added due to Moses. – Paul Chernoch Jan 21 '19 at 19:24
  • Exactly! Now, how far back can we go? If we look for the ancient roots of Christianity, where do we end up? Is it similar to the diagram, some ancestral ritual from which other religions builder up? Or is something different? – alec_djinn Jan 22 '19 at 06:43