Reflection: The Making of Humanity and the Origin of Religion

Reflection: The Making of Humanity and the Origin of Religion
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Reflection: The Making of Humanity and the Origin of Religion
In his piece, The Making of Humanity and the Origin of Religion, Brian Hayden purposes to shed some light on the origin of religion in relation to the history of humanity. According to Hayden, religion in the contemporary era has always been of great significance to the human species just as the other aspects of humanity such as culture, hence meriting consideration as a crucial part of the history of humanity. To substantiate his ecological model of explaining the origin of religion, Hayden makes a bold proclamation that the psychological and social models do not satisfactorily explain the origin of religion for several reasons: the time taken to model religious behavior supersedes the social and psychological model, the models cover a narrow scope of religious behaviors that influence humanity, and they do not take into consideration the adaptive behaviors that accompany physical changes of human. The author thus portrays the ecological model as the most appropriate model to expound on religion in relation to the origin of humanity.
Hayden makes some important arguments on the overall concept of religion and the making of humanity that I found quite insightful. As per the author, any knowledge seeking to understand the origin of religion should be willing to take a wholesome approach to the evolution of humanity as opposed to the narrowed approach by some studies. Also, the religion of today can trace its root back to the prehistoric ancestors that were mainly hunters and gatherers. In addition to the physical and technological transformation that has changed every aspect of humanity, emotion, an attribute well to...