Cognitive Approaches to Ancient Religious Experience
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Classics
Abstract
The proposed network brings together scholars studying ancient Greek and Roman religions, and those using cognitive approaches, to investigate the nature of individual religious experiences, examining how models and data from one discipline can inform and challenge, test and refine those of the other.
Individual religious experience is generally assumed to be hidden, inaccessible within the minds of its subjects making research on it impossible. This is particularly true of the experiences of those in historical periods. In scholarship on ancient religions, this has meant that the debate has become focused on the roles and activities of social groups and external actions, with little idea of how to access the interior experiences of historical subjects.
The cognitive science of religion (CSR) offers an opportunity to cross this barrier. However, it too has limitations: scholars who work with various cognitive approaches are largely concerned with modern, western individuals. Although this research may help to investigate and clarify aspects of contemporary religion in western societies, and may entail claims about the universal nature of humanity's cognitive proclivities, it is nevertheless often untested by historical data, or, often, data from other cultures. Those projects that do attempt to work with historical data tend to take a quantitative approach, rather than trying to apply experimental methodology to examine qualitative data, which involves a change in how scientists think about their subject.
The network aims to bring together many of the theoretical assumptions, methodologies, and results of CSR. However, it aims to proceed beyond cognition in individualistic and mentalistic terms, and expand the understanding of cognition as consisting of individuals in full interaction with culture.
Through two workshops the network will address:
- The value of adopting a historical perspective in the investigation of the cognitive aspects of religious experience, providing scholars who study cognitive approaches to religion invaluable data and case studies to test and refine their findings.
- The value of introducing new cognitive methodologies into historical research, offering scholars of ancient religions new ways to examine the changing individual experiences of historical subjects.
- How cognitive and historical disciplines can collaborate to develop new approaches to, and understandings of religious experience.
A final conference will present findings from the workshops and also promote interaction with scholars of religion in other historical periods, along with invited guests from relevant business, cultural and policy organisations, with the aim of expanding the network and its impact.
Through this collaborative process scholars of both disciplines will be assisted in moving beyond their usual assumptions, gaining new perspectives, developing new questions and approaches to data, working with new evidence and methodologies. As well as helping to forge a common discourse of research, the network aims to contribute to relevant public and policy conversations concerning, for example, the nature and role of religious experience in modern societies, and the place of individual religious experience in modern culture, through the dissemination of its findings.
Individual religious experience is generally assumed to be hidden, inaccessible within the minds of its subjects making research on it impossible. This is particularly true of the experiences of those in historical periods. In scholarship on ancient religions, this has meant that the debate has become focused on the roles and activities of social groups and external actions, with little idea of how to access the interior experiences of historical subjects.
The cognitive science of religion (CSR) offers an opportunity to cross this barrier. However, it too has limitations: scholars who work with various cognitive approaches are largely concerned with modern, western individuals. Although this research may help to investigate and clarify aspects of contemporary religion in western societies, and may entail claims about the universal nature of humanity's cognitive proclivities, it is nevertheless often untested by historical data, or, often, data from other cultures. Those projects that do attempt to work with historical data tend to take a quantitative approach, rather than trying to apply experimental methodology to examine qualitative data, which involves a change in how scientists think about their subject.
The network aims to bring together many of the theoretical assumptions, methodologies, and results of CSR. However, it aims to proceed beyond cognition in individualistic and mentalistic terms, and expand the understanding of cognition as consisting of individuals in full interaction with culture.
Through two workshops the network will address:
- The value of adopting a historical perspective in the investigation of the cognitive aspects of religious experience, providing scholars who study cognitive approaches to religion invaluable data and case studies to test and refine their findings.
- The value of introducing new cognitive methodologies into historical research, offering scholars of ancient religions new ways to examine the changing individual experiences of historical subjects.
- How cognitive and historical disciplines can collaborate to develop new approaches to, and understandings of religious experience.
A final conference will present findings from the workshops and also promote interaction with scholars of religion in other historical periods, along with invited guests from relevant business, cultural and policy organisations, with the aim of expanding the network and its impact.
Through this collaborative process scholars of both disciplines will be assisted in moving beyond their usual assumptions, gaining new perspectives, developing new questions and approaches to data, working with new evidence and methodologies. As well as helping to forge a common discourse of research, the network aims to contribute to relevant public and policy conversations concerning, for example, the nature and role of religious experience in modern societies, and the place of individual religious experience in modern culture, through the dissemination of its findings.
Planned Impact
In academia the study of religion has developed across different disciplines, but frequently in isolation- from both each other and the wider public. This project seeks not only to bring together the findings from different fields of research, and communicate them more broadly in an academic context; but also to disseminate them to a wider audience, shaping popular debate about the nature of religious experience through a variety of channels.
The initial impacts of the network will be educational. In collaboration with The Historical Association, the project will develop teaching materials, including, for example, podcasts, which can be used for teaching an otherwise abstract and conceptually difficult subject at both HE and school-level. This material will be of key interest to school teachers across a range of disciplines, both UK and internationally, but will also be made available to the wider public, through a number of different channels (see Pathways to Impact), leading to wider conversation about the nature of religion, and engagement with some of the latest research in both sciences and arts and humanities.
In the longer term, the network is likely to have impact across a number of areas. By inviting representatives of the cultural, third, business and policy sectors to the final conference, the project will extend the network into those areas and prepare the ground for potential future collaborations.
1. Cultural impacts: We will invite to the final conference representatives from the cultural sector, including museums and galleries, and creative and performing artists:
- Museums and galleries: the project's cognitive approach to ancient data will reveal innovative perspectives on historical artifacts and visual evidence related to religious practice. Such displays on historical material also play a key role in influencing public discourse about the nature of religious experience currently and more generally. The project is already in discussion with the Garstang Museum, Liverpool about the potential for collaboration on a museum display and related event.
- Creative and performing artists: in examining religious experience, the project will explore the role of theatricality and performance, e.g., in ritual and audience reception. Members of the project team work on cognitive approaches to ancient drama, which creates further links for this discussion.
2. Third-sector, business and policy impacts: Individuals who engage with religion and public policy will be invited to the final conference. Ancient data provides an ideal 'neutral territory' for examining contemporary concerns, allowing controversial questions to be raised, and encouraging the investigation of assumptions about human development.
- Faith groups: Both data and methods from this project can provide a shared language about the nature of religious experience, helping to facilitate discussion within and between different groups. The project's emphasis on the personal significance of religious experience, and its cognitive development, means that it will offer meaningful data to those of different faiths.
- Policy-makers, within international, national, or local government and government agencies or regulators who work in fields or with constituencies where religious experience is an important element: the project provides ways to examine contemporary questions about religious experience within a longer timeframe, and in comparative perspective. Its interdisciplinary approach means its insights can offer a basis for informed debate, without the familiar split between 'science' and 'religion', or between believers and non-believers, and help to develop a discourse between disparate groups.
The initial impacts of the network will be educational. In collaboration with The Historical Association, the project will develop teaching materials, including, for example, podcasts, which can be used for teaching an otherwise abstract and conceptually difficult subject at both HE and school-level. This material will be of key interest to school teachers across a range of disciplines, both UK and internationally, but will also be made available to the wider public, through a number of different channels (see Pathways to Impact), leading to wider conversation about the nature of religion, and engagement with some of the latest research in both sciences and arts and humanities.
In the longer term, the network is likely to have impact across a number of areas. By inviting representatives of the cultural, third, business and policy sectors to the final conference, the project will extend the network into those areas and prepare the ground for potential future collaborations.
1. Cultural impacts: We will invite to the final conference representatives from the cultural sector, including museums and galleries, and creative and performing artists:
- Museums and galleries: the project's cognitive approach to ancient data will reveal innovative perspectives on historical artifacts and visual evidence related to religious practice. Such displays on historical material also play a key role in influencing public discourse about the nature of religious experience currently and more generally. The project is already in discussion with the Garstang Museum, Liverpool about the potential for collaboration on a museum display and related event.
- Creative and performing artists: in examining religious experience, the project will explore the role of theatricality and performance, e.g., in ritual and audience reception. Members of the project team work on cognitive approaches to ancient drama, which creates further links for this discussion.
2. Third-sector, business and policy impacts: Individuals who engage with religion and public policy will be invited to the final conference. Ancient data provides an ideal 'neutral territory' for examining contemporary concerns, allowing controversial questions to be raised, and encouraging the investigation of assumptions about human development.
- Faith groups: Both data and methods from this project can provide a shared language about the nature of religious experience, helping to facilitate discussion within and between different groups. The project's emphasis on the personal significance of religious experience, and its cognitive development, means that it will offer meaningful data to those of different faiths.
- Policy-makers, within international, national, or local government and government agencies or regulators who work in fields or with constituencies where religious experience is an important element: the project provides ways to examine contemporary questions about religious experience within a longer timeframe, and in comparative perspective. Its interdisciplinary approach means its insights can offer a basis for informed debate, without the familiar split between 'science' and 'religion', or between believers and non-believers, and help to develop a discourse between disparate groups.
Organisations
- University of Nottingham (Lead Research Organisation)
- Masaryk University (Collaboration)
- Aarhus University (Collaboration)
- Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (Collaboration)
- University of Calgary (Collaboration)
- Czech Society for the Study of Religion (Collaboration)
- Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion, Toronto (Collaboration)
- Greek Society the Study of Culture and Religion (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Collaboration)
Publications
Andersen M
(2016)
Old problems die hard
in Religion, Brain & Behavior
Deeley Q
(2019)
Witchcraft and Psychosis: Perspectives from Psychopathology and Cultural Neuroscience
in Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft
Dunbar RI
(2016)
Emotional arousal when watching drama increases pain threshold and social bonding.
in Royal Society open science
Eidinow
(2015)
Envy, Poison, and Death: Women on Trial in Classical Athens
Eidinow E
(2022)
The Ancient Greek Pharmakos Rituals A Study in Mistrust
in Numen
Eidinow E
(2022)
Divination and Prophecy in the Ancient Greek World
Eidinow E
(2019)
Social Knowledge and Spiritual Insecurity: Identifying "Witchcraft" in Classical Greek Communities
in Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft
Eidinow E
(2021)
Gift of a Book Studi in memoria di David Jordan
Eidinow E
(2019)
The (Ancient Greek) Subject Supposed to Believe
in Numen
Title | CAARE Workshop 1 Film |
Description | The first workshop of the project was filmed; the film production company Big Yellow Feet made a film showing the highlights of the film and including interviews with participants. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Impact | Impact: this is available to the general public through the websites of Nottingham and Aarhus Universities. Further work will be done to monitor its impact. |
URL | https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/classics/research/projects/caare/workshop-1.aspx |
Title | CAARE Workshop 2 (Aarhus) |
Description | A series of films of the workshop presentations, along with interviews with participants |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Impact | The videos have been posted on youtube, and these are helping the network to reach more scholars, as well as the general public. |
URL | http://cas.au.dk/en/about-the-school/departments/the-study-of-religion/caare/ |
Description | - The project has improved the interdisciplinary research skills of participants, demonstrating ways in which collaboration can develop between academics in science and arts subjects - The project has helped to develop methods for interdisciplinary research, indicating how historical evidence and modern scientific research approaches can be aligned - The project has explored and further opened the question of how individual and society interact to create, maintain and transmit (religious) ideas; in doing so, it has - Further developed scholarship in ancient history in which a more prominent place to be given to the role and experience of individuals; and - It has further signalled the significant role to be played by the incorporation of historical data and historical approaches in the hypotheses and experiments being carried out in current cognitive science |
Exploitation Route | These findings may be further developed within the academic disciplines of ancient history and cognitive science, from which the participants were drawn; in addition, the results may also be significant for other academic disciplines in which there is an interest in questions about the transmission of ideas and the role and nature of 'belief'. For the same reasons, the findings of this project may also contribute to governance and policy conversations, in which questions of belief (not only religious belief) are salient. The PI has successfully submitted a research application to the AHRC to build a Virtual Reality experience of visiting the oracle of Zeus at Dodona, which is intended to examine the experience of divination using immersive technologies. The project has an interdisciplinary team and will also contribute to research in other disciplines on the process of decision making. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Education Healthcare Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Security and Diplomacy |
Description | The project is collaborating with the Historical Association to provide podcasts for use in teaching about ancient Greek religion in Schools. The podcasts have been finished, and are accompanied by a scheme of work, developed by the PI. Since the material was posted in December, by January 25th 2018, it had 1250 views. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | A Calculus of Culture |
Amount | 275,302 kr. (DKK) |
Organisation | Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation |
Sector | Public |
Country | Denmark |
Start |
Description | Aarhus University Research Foundation |
Amount | 60,000 kr. (DKK) |
Organisation | Aarhus University |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Denmark |
Start | 11/2015 |
End | 12/2016 |
Description | Bristol Faculty Research Cluster Fund |
Amount | £500 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2017 |
End | 07/2018 |
Description | Bristol Faculty of Arts Visiting Fellowship |
Amount | £1,500 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2018 |
End | 07/2018 |
Description | Bristol University Arts Faculty Research Cluster Fund for Research Cluster The Embodied Mind |
Amount | £500 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2017 |
End | 07/2018 |
Description | Bristol University Faculty of Arts Research Cluster Funding: for the Cluster 'The Embodied Mind' |
Amount | £500 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2018 |
End | 07/2019 |
Description | Bristol University Faculty of Arts Research Cluster Funding: for the Cluster 'The Embodied Mind' |
Amount | £500 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bristol |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2019 |
End | 07/2020 |
Description | Jens Christian Skou Senior Fellowship |
Amount | 0 kr. (DKK) |
Organisation | Aarhus University |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Denmark |
Start | 02/2017 |
End | 09/2018 |
Description | Junior Fellowship at the University of Erfurt, Germany |
Amount | £34,256 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Erfurt |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Germany |
Start | 08/2015 |
End | 07/2016 |
Description | Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship |
Amount | £178,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 2022-7103 |
Organisation | The Leverhulme Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2023 |
End | 09/2026 |
Description | Semantic Disruption in Public Discourse |
Amount | 100,000 kr. (DKK) |
Organisation | Danish e-Infrastructure Co-operation |
Sector | Public |
Country | Denmark |
Start |
Description | The Virtual Reality Oracle (VRO): An Immersive Experience of the Ancient Greek Oracle at Dodona |
Amount | £812,902 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/T004673/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2020 |
End | 05/2023 |
Description | The Voice of God in Revelation and Illness |
Amount | £88,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | King's College London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2019 |
End | 06/2022 |
Title | Modulation of control and ownership of thought and movement by regional transcranial magnetic stimulation |
Description | Dr Quinton Deeley says: This is an experimental project undertaken in the Cultural and Social Neuroscience Group at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, Kings College London. The study investigates cognitive and brain processes involved in alterations in control and ownership of mental contents and movements which provide insights into culturally valued and pathological alterations in experience. The CAARE project has contributed to ongoing research on creating experimental models of alterations in experience which may occur in cultural settings as part of normative religious experience, or psychopathology. For example, a current MRC PhD student I am co-supervising is using suggestions to create auditory verbal hallucinations in healthy participants whilst measuring brain activity in healthy individuals. This approach will be extended to patients with schizophrenia with chronic auditory hallucinations, but also to religious practitioners without mental illness who hear the voice of God. The aim is understand shared and distinct social, cognitive and brain mechanisms across experiences of auditory verbal hallucinations in pathological and culturally normative settings. |
Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | See above |
Title | an EEG study of brain correlates of experimentally induced auditory verbal hallucinations in healthy participants |
Description | Dr Quinton Deeley says: This is an experimental project undertaken in the Cultural and Social Neuroscience Group at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, Kings College London. The study investigates cognitive and brain processes involved in alterations in control and ownership of mental contents and movements which provide insights into culturally valued and pathological alterations in experience. The CAARE project has contributed to ongoing research on creating experimental models of alterations in experience which may occur in cultural settings as part of normative religious experience, or psychopathology. For example, a current MRC PhD student I am co-supervising is using suggestions to create auditory verbal hallucinations in healthy participants whilst measuring brain activity in healthy individuals. This approach will be extended to patients with schizophrenia with chronic auditory hallucinations, but also to religious practitioners without mental illness who hear the voice of God. The aim is understand shared and distinct social, cognitive and brain mechanisms across experiences of auditory verbal hallucinations in pathological and culturally normative settings. |
Type Of Material | Model of mechanisms or symptoms - human |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | See above |
Description | Armin W. Geertz: Evolutionary Perspectives on the Demise of Religions |
Organisation | Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters |
Department | Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) |
Country | Norway |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Armin W. Geertz was co-organisor of a seminar and gave a lecture on 'Evolutionary Perspectives on the Demise of Religions' on Michael Stausberg's project on the Demise of Religions |
Collaborator Contribution | The collaboration took place as part of Michael Stausberg's project on the Demise of Religions |
Impact | A seminar and lecture |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Cultural Evolution of Religion Consortium, UBC, Canada |
Organisation | University of British Columbia |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Team-member Kristoffer Nielbo has created a programme that uses Latent Dirichlet Allocation to build a topic model of a temporally annotated corpus and visualizes the temporal development of any given topic using a line graph or a grid display. Researchers from the Cultural Evolution of Religion Consortium (University of British Columbia) have used it in a recent research project to visualize the interplay of genre and time in a large corpus of Classical Chinese manuscripts. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided historical data for use with programme |
Impact | Publications have been submitted |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Divination Conference, UK + Canada |
Organisation | University of Calgary |
Department | Department of Classics and Religion |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The co-organisation by the P-I, Esther Eidinow, of an international conference on the topic of Negotiating, Communicating, Relating: Emic Approaches to Ancient Divination. The project set out to explore and map out how we might approach divination in new ways, with particular sensitivity to the 'emic' dimension and a desire to move beyond pragmatic and positivist assumptions. Our aim was to re-examine what ancient people thought they were doing through divination, and to see what this can tell us about the religions and cultures in which divination was practiced: the cognitive dimension of the project was relevant in a number of different ways. As well as the organisation of the conference by the P-I, a paper was given by CAARE team-member, Hugh Bowden. |
Collaborator Contribution | The co-organisation of an international conference on the topic of Negotiating, Communicating, Relating: Emic Approaches to Ancient Divination. |
Impact | A conference was held in July 2015, and the collaboration will continue in order to produce a publication; we also aim to seek further funding for a larger project on divination. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Grundtvig Study Centre, Denmark |
Organisation | Aarhus University |
Country | Denmark |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Team-member Kristoffer Nielbo has created a programme that models (changes in) high level text metrics (lexical diversity, Shannon entropy, readability) in a temporally annotated corpus as a function of text-external events. The Grundtvig Study Centre (Aarhus University) is currently using the software to investigate claims about stylistic changes in writing style and possible effects of NFS Grundtvig's bipolar disorder. |
Collaborator Contribution | Testing use of software |
Impact | Not yet: investigation underway; publications submitted. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Network Theory, Cognitive Science,and Historiography Network |
Organisation | Czech Society for the Study of Religion |
Country | Czech Republic |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The following members of the research team are collaborating in in this project. They have given papers at the two workshops that have been held and will give papers at the final workshop; they will contribute publications to the final planned publication: Luther Martin Panayotis Pachis Olympia Panagiotidiou Aleš Chalupa |
Collaborator Contribution | Members of the organisations that are Partners in this collaboration have given papers at the two workshops that have been held and will give papers at the final workshop; they will contribute publications to the final planned publication. These include Donald Wiebe (Toronto); Panayotis Pachis (Greek Society for the Study of Culture and Religion) ; Dalibor Papoušek (Czech Society for the Study of Religion); Aleš Chalupa (Masaryk University) |
Impact | The original network held a first meeting, "Network Theory, Cognitive Science, and Historiography," which met in Brno, CZ (Oct. 23-25, 2014); our collaboration with this network began at the Congress on Network Theory, Cognitive Science,and Historiography 01 - 04 September 2015 Kavala, Greece; there will be a final meeting in Budapest in 2016, and then a publication is planned. The meeting is multi-discplinary. The disciplines involved include: History, Classics, Theology, Applied Mathematics, Plasma Physics, Computational Physics, Anthropology |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Network Theory, Cognitive Science,and Historiography Network |
Organisation | Greek Society the Study of Culture and Religion |
Country | Greece |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The following members of the research team are collaborating in in this project. They have given papers at the two workshops that have been held and will give papers at the final workshop; they will contribute publications to the final planned publication: Luther Martin Panayotis Pachis Olympia Panagiotidiou Aleš Chalupa |
Collaborator Contribution | Members of the organisations that are Partners in this collaboration have given papers at the two workshops that have been held and will give papers at the final workshop; they will contribute publications to the final planned publication. These include Donald Wiebe (Toronto); Panayotis Pachis (Greek Society for the Study of Culture and Religion) ; Dalibor Papoušek (Czech Society for the Study of Religion); Aleš Chalupa (Masaryk University) |
Impact | The original network held a first meeting, "Network Theory, Cognitive Science, and Historiography," which met in Brno, CZ (Oct. 23-25, 2014); our collaboration with this network began at the Congress on Network Theory, Cognitive Science,and Historiography 01 - 04 September 2015 Kavala, Greece; there will be a final meeting in Budapest in 2016, and then a publication is planned. The meeting is multi-discplinary. The disciplines involved include: History, Classics, Theology, Applied Mathematics, Plasma Physics, Computational Physics, Anthropology |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Network Theory, Cognitive Science,and Historiography Network |
Organisation | Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion, Toronto |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The following members of the research team are collaborating in in this project. They have given papers at the two workshops that have been held and will give papers at the final workshop; they will contribute publications to the final planned publication: Luther Martin Panayotis Pachis Olympia Panagiotidiou Aleš Chalupa |
Collaborator Contribution | Members of the organisations that are Partners in this collaboration have given papers at the two workshops that have been held and will give papers at the final workshop; they will contribute publications to the final planned publication. These include Donald Wiebe (Toronto); Panayotis Pachis (Greek Society for the Study of Culture and Religion) ; Dalibor Papoušek (Czech Society for the Study of Religion); Aleš Chalupa (Masaryk University) |
Impact | The original network held a first meeting, "Network Theory, Cognitive Science, and Historiography," which met in Brno, CZ (Oct. 23-25, 2014); our collaboration with this network began at the Congress on Network Theory, Cognitive Science,and Historiography 01 - 04 September 2015 Kavala, Greece; there will be a final meeting in Budapest in 2016, and then a publication is planned. The meeting is multi-discplinary. The disciplines involved include: History, Classics, Theology, Applied Mathematics, Plasma Physics, Computational Physics, Anthropology |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Network Theory, Cognitive Science,and Historiography Network |
Organisation | Masaryk University |
Country | Czech Republic |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The following members of the research team are collaborating in in this project. They have given papers at the two workshops that have been held and will give papers at the final workshop; they will contribute publications to the final planned publication: Luther Martin Panayotis Pachis Olympia Panagiotidiou Aleš Chalupa |
Collaborator Contribution | Members of the organisations that are Partners in this collaboration have given papers at the two workshops that have been held and will give papers at the final workshop; they will contribute publications to the final planned publication. These include Donald Wiebe (Toronto); Panayotis Pachis (Greek Society for the Study of Culture and Religion) ; Dalibor Papoušek (Czech Society for the Study of Religion); Aleš Chalupa (Masaryk University) |
Impact | The original network held a first meeting, "Network Theory, Cognitive Science, and Historiography," which met in Brno, CZ (Oct. 23-25, 2014); our collaboration with this network began at the Congress on Network Theory, Cognitive Science,and Historiography 01 - 04 September 2015 Kavala, Greece; there will be a final meeting in Budapest in 2016, and then a publication is planned. The meeting is multi-discplinary. The disciplines involved include: History, Classics, Theology, Applied Mathematics, Plasma Physics, Computational Physics, Anthropology |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Adult Education Classes: 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The following team members gave the following talks in adult education classes: Oct. 22, 2015 - Uffe Schjoedt: How and When Do Extraordinary Experiences Occur? Oct. 29, 2015 - Armin W. Geertz: Mystical Experiences Nov. 5, 2015 - Marc Andersen: Mystical Experiences in the Laboratory Nov. 12, 2015 - Uffe Schjoedt: Miraculous Healing Nov. 19, 2015 - Kristoffer Nielbo: Magical Rituals Nov. 26, 2015 - Jesper Sørensen: Mysticism, Magic and Miracles in an Evolutionary Perspective |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Keynote at Prophets or Profits Conference, UNISA, South Africa |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This key-note lecture, 'Do You Feel Lucky? Explanations of Oracular Failure,' delivered by the P-I, Esther Eidinow, was given at a conference on oracular practice in the ancient world, organised by UNISA, South Africa, stimulated broad discussion. A number of participants continued the discussion with the presenter afterwards, and said they had not thought of the subject in the terms presented. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.unisa.ac.za/chs/news/2015/07/prophets-and-profits-discussed-at-classics-colloquium/ |
Description | Keynote at Trends and Challenges in the Cognitive Science of Religion, Helsinki, Finland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The Co-I on the CAARE project, Armin Geertz, gave a stimulating keynote address at this conference, intended to offer an opportunity to discuss recent developments and challenges in CSR. The paper was well-received, stimulating in-depth discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Narratives and Business workshops, Nottingham, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | This is ongoing work on the use of story-telling in business, training business leaders to use stories more effectively in their work in general workshops with multiple businesses, and more focused client work. It involves a collaboration between the P-I on CAARE, Esther Eidinow, and Katharina Lorenz, University of Nottingham, who is also a member of the CAARE team. I include it here because our approach to these workshops has been shaped by our work on the CAARE project, refining our understanding of the role of story-telling in shaping and sharing understanding. The impact is startling, with workshop attendees and clients stating that their approach to communication in their business has been substantially changed for the better. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
Description | Panel 1 at IAHR 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This panel, Assuming the Supernatural: Cognitive Approaches to Greek Religion and Magic, was organised by Esther Eidinow, P-I on the project: it comprised team members Hugh Bowden, Bella Sandwell and Sarah Hitch. Each member gave a paper on an aspect of ancient religion using cognitive approaches. The discussion afterwards was very lively, and each member of the panel reported that interest had been shown in the subject and the project by members of the audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.iahr2015.org/iahr/2018.html |
Description | Panel 2 at IAHR 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This panel 'Emotion as a Dynamic in Religious Practices in Antiquity', was organised by P-I Esther Eidinow in collaboration with Angela Harkins, Boston College, US. The panel was extremely well attended, and there was extremely lively discussion following the individual paper presentations, which led further interest shown in the CAARE project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.iahr2015.org/iahr/3154.html |
Description | Panel 3 at IAHR 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This panel, 'Axial Age Research from the Perspectives of Indigenous Religions' organised by the Co-I of the project, Armin Geertz, proved both popular and controversial, and attendees had a lively and sometimes heated discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.iahr2015.org/iahr/2010.html |
Description | Panel 4 at IAHR 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Team member Anders Klostergaard Petersen organised this panel 'Empirical Examinations of Asceticism from the Perspective of Cultural Evolution'. He and another team member, Lieke Wijnia, gave papers. Discussion was extremely lively, and the use of cultural evolutionary approaches to chart the cognitive development of this phenomenon proved a point of heated debate. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.iahr2015.org/iahr/2201.html |
Description | Panel 5 at IAHR 2015 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This panel, organised by team member Ander Klostergaard Petersen, Áskesis in the Axial Age from a Cultural Evolutionary Perspective, offered another perspective on the topic of Askesis and cultural evolutionary approaches. With some impressive international speakers, it stirred up some controversy. Attendees were clearly engaged and stimulated. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.iahr2015.org/iahr/1920.html |
Description | Panel at Psychology and the Classics, Leuven, Belgium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Team-member Yulia Ustinova organized the panel 'Alterations of consciousness in ancient Greece,' with E. Cardeña at the conference, Psychology and the Classics. A Dialogue of Disciplines, in Leuven. There was animated discussion afterwards, and it was clear that the audience had found the papers challenging. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Paper at Prophets or Profits Conference, UNISA, South Africa |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This paper, delivered by team-member Ralph Anderson, on 'A story of blood, guts and guesswork: synthetic reasoning in classical Greek divination' was well received and prompted wide-ranging discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.unisa.ac.za/chs/news/2015/07/prophets-and-profits-discussed-at-classics-colloquium/ |
Description | Podcasts on Ancient Greek Religion |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | A series of podcasts about Greek religious rituals, assembled by a team drawn from the participants of the CAARE project (Hugh Bowden, Felix Budelmann, Esther Eidinow, Robert Parker, Yulia Ustinova). The podcasts were accompanied by a scheme of work created by the PI of the project, Esther Eidinow. This was produced in collaboration with the Historical Association. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2017,2018 |
URL | https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/module/8658/podcast-series-associated-scheme-of-work-an-int |
Description | Presentation at Lampeter University, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | This talk by CAARE team member Michael Scott was delivered at a research seminar at Lampeter University, so the audience was primarily academic, but included UG, PGs and members of the public. The topic was 'Thinking through walls in Greek sanctuaries' and drew directly from the paper given by Michael at the first CAARE workshop. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Presentation to Executives on ExecEd Programme at SBS, Oxford, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | This talk, given by the P-I to the CAARE project, Esther Eidinow, brought cognitive insights to bear in a presentation on ancient oracle consultation and approaches to risk. It was delivered as part of a session on risk and decision-making in the Executive Education Programme on Scenarios at the Said Business School, at the University of Oxford. A group of around 50 participants from a range of different industry and business sectors attended. The talk was followed by a discussion period, in which the participants explored ideas of risk and decision making, making parallels between ancient and modern practices. They said that it increased their understanding of these activities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Presentation to Godolphin and Latymer Classics Club, London, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This talk, given by the P-I to the CAARE project, Esther Eidinow, brought cognitive insights to bear in a presentation on ancient practices of using binding spells. It was delivered at the Godolphin and Latymer 'Breakfast Club', to around 70 people, mostly retired professionals from the local area, but also including pupils of the school and their parents. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive: the attendees hugely enjoyed learning about this practice, the approach helped them to understand its modern parallels, and many asked the speaker to return to give another talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Publication of Blog on Classics For All's Ad Familiares Blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Blog on the generation of the Virtual Reality Oracle |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://classicsforall.org.uk/reading-room/ad-familiares/visiting-ancient-oracle-zeus-dodona |
Description | ScienceUp Consortium 2030 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Sharing of good practice from the UK with a consortium of 3 Chilean universities to help promote and support innovation, entrepreneurship, industry collaboration and female leadership. As an international advisor to three Chilean universities KC shared her experiences in these areas including the VRO project. International but predominately Chilean, included government ministers |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.noticias.ucn.cl/destacado/consorcio-science-up-realizo-exitoso-encuentro-anual-en-valpar... |
Description | Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Spring Lecture, London, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This talk, given by the P-I, was one of a set of three, giving insights into the practice of 'cursing' in the ancient world. It is now up on utube and has been viewed 209 times. There was lively discussion and a number of individuals continued to ask questions after the event: there was significant interest from members of the general public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQKz5Xt1rAo |
Description | Teaching MA students at Kings College, London, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | These were workshops held as part of an MA module on Greek religion by team-member Hugh Bowden. The module has been taught before but he reports that the workshops on cognition have been revised in light of his involvement in the CAARE project. The workshops prompted great interest, and questions and discussion followed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Teaching UG students and the public at Ben Gurion University, Israel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Cognitive material, drawing on information and insights from the CAARE workshop in July 2015, was integrated into the undergraduate course 'Body and soul in ancient Greece: Philosophers, physicians, poets' taught in Autumn 2015 by team-member Yulia Ustinova. It prompted interest and enthusiasm among her students, who said they found the use of cognitive insights made the material on ancient ritual easier to comprehend. The course also attracted members of the general public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |