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CERC Project featured in SSHRC Storytellers Competition

The “Cultural History Database Initiative” refers to a broad project that arose out of a collaboration between the SESHAT: Global History Database team, a project of the Evolution Institute led by Peter Turchin (U Connecticut), Harvey Whitehouse (Oxford), and Pieter Francois (Oxford), which was funded by a £3.2 million ESRC Large Grant awarded to the University of Oxford in 2011, and the Database of Religious History (DRH), led by Edward Slingerland (U British Columbia) and Mark Collard (Simon Fraser), funded as part of a $3 million SSHRC Partnership Grant awarded to the University of British Columbia in 2012, with inspiration drawn from both database projects.

This video was prepared for the "SSHRC Research for a Better Life: The Storytellers Competition," meant to emphasize the impact of SSHRC funding toward building a better future.

One of 25 winners in the 2014 competition, it was subsequently chosen as one of the top 5 contributions and featured on the Canadian government's homepage (canada.ca).

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Prosociality in History and Historiography: PWIAS workshop

Prosociality in History and Historiography: Can Big Gods tip the Balance in World History? An International Research Roundtable awarded to Dr. Edward Slingerland and Dr. Brenton Sullivan, Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC Recent scholarship in the cognitive science of religion, social psychology and anthropology has advanced the hypothesis that the development of […]

Kiss me, I’m an atheist – CERC on Al Jazeera

In Pope Francis’ Christmas address, he extended a surprise olive branch to atheists. But the reach was backhanded. “I invite even nonbelievers to desire peace,” he offered. Even nonbelievers? How magnanimous. Religious tolerance has increased dramatically over the last few decades, at least in the United States. But one group remains behind the pack: atheists. A […]

What Scientific Idea is Ready for Retirement – HECC members on Edge.org

Unlike rock stars, scientific ideas do not usually burn out. They fade away and outlast their usefulness. This is what motivated a new survey of 166 scientists and intellectuals, asking which ideas ought to be “retired” from science, not quite because they are wrong, but because they are old and ineffective, like nature versus nurture, […]

Ara Norenzayan on BBC’s “The Forum”

Ara Norenzayan was recently on BBC’s interview program “The Forum”, talking about religion and his new book, Big Gods. Listen here.

If Big Brother is Not Around, We Invent Him – Norenzayan in WSJ

It’s a beautiful day out, and like every other day, rain or shine, it’s filled with opportunities for random acts of crumminess. Somewhere out there, some jerk has just dinged a parked car and sped off without leaving a note. Someone else has littered, rather than walking to the wastebasket. Someone else, waiting for a […]

Digging into Religion – Edward Slingerland in UBC’s Annual Report

Throughout the world, religion is one of the most central commonalities that humans share. Whether we choose to follow a religion or not, every culture has one if not many religions woven through everyday life. Considering the importance of religion in human social life, we should all have a very clear understanding of why it […]

Big Gods – Ara Norenzayan

How did human societies scale up from small, tight-knit groups of hunter-gatherers to the large, anonymous, cooperative societies of today–even though anonymity is the enemy of cooperation? How did organized religions with “Big Gods”–the great monotheistic and polytheistic faiths–spread to colonize most minds in the world? In Big Gods, Ara Norenzayan makes the surprising and provocative […]

Mental Culture – edited volume by Dimitris Xygalatas and William McCorkle

Description Why is the set of human beliefs and behaviours that we call “religion” such a widespread feature of all known human societies, past and present, and why are there so many forms of religiosity found throughout history and culture? Mental Culture brings together an international range of scholars – from Anthropology, History, Psychology, Philosophy, and Religious […]

The Centre for Human Evolution, Cognition, and Culture

The Cultural Evolution of Religion Research Consortium

Prosociality in History and Historiography: PWIAS workshop

Kiss me, I’m an atheist – CERC on Al Jazeera

What Scientific Idea is Ready for Retirement – HECC members on Edge.org

Ara Norenzayan on BBC’s “The Forum”

If Big Brother is Not Around, We Invent Him – Norenzayan in WSJ

Digging into Religion – Edward Slingerland in UBC’s Annual Report

Big Gods – Ara Norenzayan

Mental Culture – edited volume by Dimitris Xygalatas and William McCorkle

The Database of Religious History

Cultural Evolution - Strungmann Forum Reports

Religion, Brain & Behavior

Prosociality in History and Historiography: Can Big Gods tip the Balance in World History?

Conversion and Religious Transformation Lecture Series

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