This monograph makes a case for a cognitive turn in New Testament Studies, both surveying relevant developments in the Cognitive Science of Religion and digging into the field of cognitive and behavioral sciences in search of opportunities of gaining new insights about biblical materials. Over the last few decades, our knowledge of how the human mind and brain work increased dramatically. We can now understand religious traditions, rituals, and visionary experiences in novel ways. This has implications for the study of the New Testament and early Christianity. With insights from cognitive scie ... More

This monograph makes a case for a cognitive turn in New Testament Studies, both surveying relevant developments in the Cognitive Science of Religion and digging into the field of cognitive and behavioral sciences in search of opportunities of gaining new insights about biblical materials. Over the last few decades, our knowledge of how the human mind and brain work increased dramatically. We can now understand religious traditions, rituals, and visionary experiences in novel ways. This has implications for the study of the New Testament and early Christianity. With insights from cognitive science, we can better understand how people in the ancient Mediterranean world remembered sayings and stories, what they experienced when participating in rituals, how they thought about magic and miracle, and how they felt and reasoned about moral questions. The first three chapters of the book introduce the contemporary study of religion in the framework of evolution, culture, and cognition. In subsequent chapters, the study of the New Testament and early Christianity is reconsidered in light of the cognitive approach, including the formation of gospel traditions, the origins and function of rituals and sacraments, religious experience, ethics and moral norms, as well as the expansion of the Christian movement. In addition to rethinking old questions from a novel perspective, the book also shows how new research questions emerge from the cognitive approach, such as the connection between magic and miracle, the neurological correlates of visionary experiences, and the interaction between social network dynamics and theological development.