Papers by Constantin Klein
Braunschweiger Naturkundliche Schriften Band 11 Heft 1, 2012
Recent years have seen a sharp rise in research on the assumed origins of religion, in particular... more Recent years have seen a sharp rise in research on the assumed origins of religion, in particular
within the new fields of “Cognitive Science of Religion” and “Evolutionary Psychology”. Although scholars
from CSR and EP have introduced stimulating theories for understanding the origins of religion,
unfortunately they often lack a sound knowledge of paleoanthropological findings and a profound
knowledge of (pre-)historical religious phenomena. CSR- and EP-theories like the so-called “Hyperactive
Agency Detection Device” (searching always for agents who have caused an event) or “Theory of
Mind” (attributing intentions to perceived agents) are well-known psychological mechanisms and precisely
studied among modern humans. But applied to early religion, they presuppose some belief in
supernatural agents like deities or at least powerful ancestors which is unlikely for hunter-gatherers as
comparisons from religious studies and sociology of religion show. The only indicators of a religious
sentiment of Neanderthal man and the contemporaneous Homo sapiens which are paleoanthropologically
observable are burials and manipulations of skeletons of the deceased. Thus, we propose to
understand fear of extinction – a very basal emotion associated with the experience of death – as origin
of reasoning about caring for the deceased and of religious reflection as well.
Götter - Gene - Genesis, 2014
Götter - Gene - Genesis, 2014
Götter - Gene - Genesis, 2014
Götter - Gene - Genesis, 2014
Götter - Gene - Genesis, 2014
Götter - Gene - Genesis, 2014
Götter - Gene - Genesis, 2014
Götter - Gene - Genesis, 2014
Qualitative, Quantitative and Comparative Perspectives, 2009
CHAPTER ELEVEN FAITH OR MORALITY?'THEOLOGICAL SEDIMENTS' DEPENDING ON T... more CHAPTER ELEVEN FAITH OR MORALITY?'THEOLOGICAL SEDIMENTS' DEPENDING ON THE CENTRALITY, CONTENT, AND SOCIAL CONTEXT OF PERSONAL RELIGIOUS CONSTRUCT SYSTEMS Stefan Huber and Constantin Klein Summary The study tried to analyse to ...
International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 2015
Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality, 2015
Religious educators are very often among the first professionals in the schools that are called i... more Religious educators are very often among the first professionals in the schools that are called in situations of escalating violence. Therefore religious educators should be good-enough experts about the role that (different versions of) religion play in promoting resp. preventing prejudice and deviance. Could we base such expertise on empirical evidence? On the basis of 167 students (mean age = 14.5) who between July 2011 and May 2012 participated in a questionnaire study that was administered by researchers associated with the Bielefeld Research Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion, we are able to present results on the students' experience of and inclination to violence, and their readiness for mediation. Results shed light especially on the dimension that is not well investigated in previous studies on adolescents (at least in the research on adolescents in Germany): the differential role of religiosity. The surprise in the results, however, is the very strong role of the violence legitimizing norms of masculinity. Results are contributions to research on German adolescentsthereby attending to the lost dimensions of religion, but also to the impact of other factors, which are related to aggressiveness resp. the readiness for mediation.
• Surprisingly (or not): there are non-theists and atheists who self-identify as "spiritual" or "... more • Surprisingly (or not): there are non-theists and atheists who self-identify as "spiritual" or "more spiritual than religious."
Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality, 2015
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Papers by Constantin Klein
within the new fields of “Cognitive Science of Religion” and “Evolutionary Psychology”. Although scholars
from CSR and EP have introduced stimulating theories for understanding the origins of religion,
unfortunately they often lack a sound knowledge of paleoanthropological findings and a profound
knowledge of (pre-)historical religious phenomena. CSR- and EP-theories like the so-called “Hyperactive
Agency Detection Device” (searching always for agents who have caused an event) or “Theory of
Mind” (attributing intentions to perceived agents) are well-known psychological mechanisms and precisely
studied among modern humans. But applied to early religion, they presuppose some belief in
supernatural agents like deities or at least powerful ancestors which is unlikely for hunter-gatherers as
comparisons from religious studies and sociology of religion show. The only indicators of a religious
sentiment of Neanderthal man and the contemporaneous Homo sapiens which are paleoanthropologically
observable are burials and manipulations of skeletons of the deceased. Thus, we propose to
understand fear of extinction – a very basal emotion associated with the experience of death – as origin
of reasoning about caring for the deceased and of religious reflection as well.
within the new fields of “Cognitive Science of Religion” and “Evolutionary Psychology”. Although scholars
from CSR and EP have introduced stimulating theories for understanding the origins of religion,
unfortunately they often lack a sound knowledge of paleoanthropological findings and a profound
knowledge of (pre-)historical religious phenomena. CSR- and EP-theories like the so-called “Hyperactive
Agency Detection Device” (searching always for agents who have caused an event) or “Theory of
Mind” (attributing intentions to perceived agents) are well-known psychological mechanisms and precisely
studied among modern humans. But applied to early religion, they presuppose some belief in
supernatural agents like deities or at least powerful ancestors which is unlikely for hunter-gatherers as
comparisons from religious studies and sociology of religion show. The only indicators of a religious
sentiment of Neanderthal man and the contemporaneous Homo sapiens which are paleoanthropologically
observable are burials and manipulations of skeletons of the deceased. Thus, we propose to
understand fear of extinction – a very basal emotion associated with the experience of death – as origin
of reasoning about caring for the deceased and of religious reflection as well.
Ralph W. Hood Jr. and Thomas J. Coleman III
This chapter explores the relationship between the self-rating as “spiritual” and mysticism as measured by Hood’s Mysticism Scale. The introduction provides an overview of recent attempts to measure “spirituality” psychometrically, of the theoretical and empirical approaches to mysti- cism and already empirically observed relations between mysticism and “spirituality.” Many scales trying to operationalize “spirituality” lack a solid conceptual background and convincing empirical validity. Citing the work of Stace and James, Hood constructed a scale that provides detailed and measurable descriptions of mystical experiences, the Mysticism Scale. Since the Mysticism Scale measures varieties of personal experiences of unity with some kind of transcendence, it proves to be an excellent measure for what many people today call “spirituality.” This can be shown empirically by utilizing the three factor solution of the M-Scale, identified as introvertive, extrovertive, and interpretive mysticism, in structural equation models exploring the relationships between mysticism and self-rated “spirituality” as well as self-rated “religion.” This chapter concludes by arguing that “spirituality” may be the product of experiences that can be described in terms of mysticism.
Abstract: Based on a sample of 340 German adolescents age 12 to 25, this article presents an analysis of the effects of religion on two instances of inter-religious prejudice: anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice. Reflecting the emergent interest in implementing a perspective of religious maturity and religious development into research on religion and prejudice, the present study has included the Religious Schema Scale (RSS) which, with its three subscales, truth of texts & teachings (ttt), fairness, tolerance & rational choice (ftr) and xenosophia/inter-religious dialog (xenos), differentiates religious styles. Regression analyses indicate the superior explanatory power of the RSS in comparison to other measures of religiosity. The RSS-subscale ttt relates to and predicts anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice, while ftr and xenos relate to and predict disagreement with inter-religious prejudice. Results of an ANOVA using high agreement on ttt, ftr and xenos for group construction indicate a decrease in inter-religious prejudice in relation to religious development.