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Supernatural Selection: How Religion Evolved
In 2006, scientist Richard Dawkins published a blockbuster bestseller, The God Delusion. This atheist manifesto sparked a furious reaction from believers, who have responded with numerous books of their own. By pitting science against religion, however, this debate overlooks what science can tell us about religion. According to evolutionary psychologist Matt J. Rossano, what science reveals is that religion made us human.
In Supernatural Selection, Rossano presents an evolutionary history of religion. Neither an apologist for religion nor a religion-basher, he draws together evidence from a wide range of disciplines to show the valuable--even essential--adaptive purpose served by systematic belief in the supernatural. The roots of religion stretch as far back as half a million years, when our ancestors developed the motor control to engage in social rituals--that is, to sing and dance together. Then, about 70,000 years ago, a global ecological crisis drove humanity to the edge of extinction. It forced the survivors to create new strategies for survival, and religious rituals were foremost among them. Fundamentally, Rossano writes, religion is a way for humans to relate to each other and the world around them--and, in the grim struggles of prehistory, it offered significant survival and reproductive advantages. It emerged as our ancestors' first health care system, and a critical part of that health care system was social support. Religious groups tended to be far more cohesive, which gave them a competitive advantage over non-religious groups, and enabled them to conquer the globe.
Rather than focusing on one aspect of religion, as many theorists do, Rossano offers an all-encompassing approach that is rich with surprises, insights, and provocative conclusions.
In Supernatural Selection, Rossano presents an evolutionary history of religion. Neither an apologist for religion nor a religion-basher, he draws together evidence from a wide range of disciplines to show the valuable--even essential--adaptive purpose served by systematic belief in the supernatural. The roots of religion stretch as far back as half a million years, when our ancestors developed the motor control to engage in social rituals--that is, to sing and dance together. Then, about 70,000 years ago, a global ecological crisis drove humanity to the edge of extinction. It forced the survivors to create new strategies for survival, and religious rituals were foremost among them. Fundamentally, Rossano writes, religion is a way for humans to relate to each other and the world around them--and, in the grim struggles of prehistory, it offered significant survival and reproductive advantages. It emerged as our ancestors' first health care system, and a critical part of that health care system was social support. Religious groups tended to be far more cohesive, which gave them a competitive advantage over non-religious groups, and enabled them to conquer the globe.
Rather than focusing on one aspect of religion, as many theorists do, Rossano offers an all-encompassing approach that is rich with surprises, insights, and provocative conclusions.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 28, 2010
9 people are currently reading
531 people want to read
About the author
Matt J. Rossano
9 books3 followersCredited in older publications as Matthew J. Rossano.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 25, 2024
I like Rossano’s casual way of discussing how people do or don’t experience something sacred. He looks at it as a matter of relatedness, and views the evolution of religion as a story of how people have related and found meaning in their lives. He examines “agency detection,” by which people see intelligent animation in nature, in animals, in collective associations of people, or in the universe. They experience a sense of relationship, and “you can’t prove to somebody that they don’t have a relationship.” For those who experience relatedness, “experience in the evidence.” It’s an interesting history starting around 70,000 BCE, in which, as Robin Horton put it, religion can “be looked upon as an extension of the field of people’s social relationships beyond the confines of purely human society.”
June 25, 2024
Amazing book on cognitive science of religion, another one more to the list of this wonderful theme. Rossano's thesis central focus and -locus- concerns these two words: relationships and ritual. To him, everything that is related to religion, is all about relationships, not just between individuals and communities, both also between the homo sapiens species and the -supernatural-. The supernatural can be defined as the symbolic elements that our species was able to create and maintain. On the other hand, religion couldn’t be held if we had not had the complex capacity of rituality.
When people hear the word "ritual", people imagine witches dancing around a bonfire in the middle of the night. Turns out, it is not that wrong. Have you ever seen a group of bonobos or chimpanzees doing that? Are you aware of the complex neurological requirements that doing a ritual demand? We need a lot of things: a complex brain, future thoughts, theory of mind, behavioral cues, cohesion, and many more things. To sum up, ritual made us human beings. There is evidence that the "older" Neanderthal brain couldn't held the complex requirements of ritual, thus failing to maintain strong in group cohesion, letting homo sapiens gain territory before extinguishing them.
This book is quite unique, because the focus is different, it takes some of Robert A. Rappaport's theory of rituals, and adds evolutionary logic to it, thus giving us this well written religion book. It even makes you feel more human, I don’t even know how to describe this, but human emotions are unique, they are not logical, thus, most of time human relationships are not logical. He, among other examples, uses the "dog" example, by stating that we as human beings love to talk to them, besides petting them, and we expect them to understand just like we were talking to a toddler. At some point, while we talk to our dogs, we might be experiencing a supernatural relationship.
When people hear the word "ritual", people imagine witches dancing around a bonfire in the middle of the night. Turns out, it is not that wrong. Have you ever seen a group of bonobos or chimpanzees doing that? Are you aware of the complex neurological requirements that doing a ritual demand? We need a lot of things: a complex brain, future thoughts, theory of mind, behavioral cues, cohesion, and many more things. To sum up, ritual made us human beings. There is evidence that the "older" Neanderthal brain couldn't held the complex requirements of ritual, thus failing to maintain strong in group cohesion, letting homo sapiens gain territory before extinguishing them.
This book is quite unique, because the focus is different, it takes some of Robert A. Rappaport's theory of rituals, and adds evolutionary logic to it, thus giving us this well written religion book. It even makes you feel more human, I don’t even know how to describe this, but human emotions are unique, they are not logical, thus, most of time human relationships are not logical. He, among other examples, uses the "dog" example, by stating that we as human beings love to talk to them, besides petting them, and we expect them to understand just like we were talking to a toddler. At some point, while we talk to our dogs, we might be experiencing a supernatural relationship.
March 13, 2023
Rossano discusses how religion came to be through an evolutionary lens.
This is surely a surprising turn away from the popular juxtaposition between science and religion, and instead looking at what science has to say about religion.
The main argument is this: groups survive better if they are united on a moral code. Religion is the best "glue" to hold groups together on such a moral code.
As such, religions tend to be more about how you ought to act rather than what precisely you believe.
A good read. I'd love to see what Rossano would say about the evolution of secularism.
This is surely a surprising turn away from the popular juxtaposition between science and religion, and instead looking at what science has to say about religion.
The main argument is this: groups survive better if they are united on a moral code. Religion is the best "glue" to hold groups together on such a moral code.
As such, religions tend to be more about how you ought to act rather than what precisely you believe.
A good read. I'd love to see what Rossano would say about the evolution of secularism.
June 18, 2013
Homo Sapiens was not always the most successful hominin on the planet. Homo Sapiens did not always have speech, art, or religion. Rebuffed by Homo Neanderthalensis in the Levant 100,000 years ago, Homo Sapiens returned to Africa where the entire species was nearly exterminated by the Mount Toba super-eruption. Homo Sapiens left Africa for the second time ~70,000 years ago and promptly colonized the entire planet. What changed? Why do all human societies have speech, dance, art, and religion? A compelling thesis is laid out in careful detail in "Supernatural Selection: How Religion Evolved," by Matt Rossano.
Rossano expands on ideas expressed by James McClenon and others that receptivity to rhythmic vocalizations and simple dances rewarded participants with pleasantly altered states of consciousness and small group cohesion. In time the ability to sing and dance and a predisposition to hypnotic revery and the healing power of placebo was transmitted to future generations. Simple ritual grew into what we now think of as shamanism.
Rossano details the impact this sort of proto-religion had on egalitarian hunter gatherers. He explains why complex hunter gatherers began to exhibit social stratification and ancestor worship. In a world occupied and influenced by the all-seeing spirits of our ancestors - entities who took an interest in our daily activities and our thoughts - social order and group cohesion was enhanced by religion's tendency to reinforce and reward a moral faculty.
The rest is pre-history.
This is a book I wish both William Lane Craig and Richard Dawkins would read. Religion need not be God-breathed or factual in order to have played an important role in human flourishing, evolution, and progress.
Rossano expands on ideas expressed by James McClenon and others that receptivity to rhythmic vocalizations and simple dances rewarded participants with pleasantly altered states of consciousness and small group cohesion. In time the ability to sing and dance and a predisposition to hypnotic revery and the healing power of placebo was transmitted to future generations. Simple ritual grew into what we now think of as shamanism.
Rossano details the impact this sort of proto-religion had on egalitarian hunter gatherers. He explains why complex hunter gatherers began to exhibit social stratification and ancestor worship. In a world occupied and influenced by the all-seeing spirits of our ancestors - entities who took an interest in our daily activities and our thoughts - social order and group cohesion was enhanced by religion's tendency to reinforce and reward a moral faculty.
The rest is pre-history.
This is a book I wish both William Lane Craig and Richard Dawkins would read. Religion need not be God-breathed or factual in order to have played an important role in human flourishing, evolution, and progress.
April 21, 2013
Religion defies easy explantion. Rossano provides an evolutionary approach that makes for some head-scratching and some head-nodding. A clear exposition of a controversial idea. Further remarks at: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
December 28, 2022
3.5 Stars.
5 stars for the ideas and insights, and 2 for the writing and structure.
This book offers a fascinating model of the evolutionary story of religion. Our early ancestors tried venturing out of Africa into the Levant around 100,000 years ago but a combination of competing Neanderthals and rough climatic conditions pushed them back. What followed is a period that the author calls the 'African Interregnum'. Between 90k-70k years ago, this period saw one of the world's worst ecological disasters that shook up the species and were in many ways a turning point that birthed a new trajectory.
The author's thesis is that the disaster-induced scarcity and the problematic conditions of life forced hominin groups to cooperate and work together, which led to the establishment of intricate trade networks. This naturally led to an increase in social complexity that had never been seen before, and to manage this, these people devised elaborate rituals. One of the earliest forms of these rituals was the shamanistic healing ritual. Working with rituals taxed our working memory capacities and gave rise to symbolic thought and other forms of human cognition.
Only much later, after the development of these rituals, the ideas of the supernatural emerged thanks to childhood imagination. (Imagination in kids was itself selected because it provided them an adaptive advantage as they grew into adults!) These ideas were adaptive as they heightened the power of the shamanistic rituals, and further development of these supernatural ideas increased social cohesion and adherence to group norms- you'd adhere to the rules even more if you knew that God was watching all your actions. Religion thus gave these groups a selective advantage over the "secular" ones.
This is a gross summarization of the model Rossano has built. It's intriguing and definitely worth a read if you're okay to tread through a dry, academic read.
5 stars for the ideas and insights, and 2 for the writing and structure.
This book offers a fascinating model of the evolutionary story of religion. Our early ancestors tried venturing out of Africa into the Levant around 100,000 years ago but a combination of competing Neanderthals and rough climatic conditions pushed them back. What followed is a period that the author calls the 'African Interregnum'. Between 90k-70k years ago, this period saw one of the world's worst ecological disasters that shook up the species and were in many ways a turning point that birthed a new trajectory.
The author's thesis is that the disaster-induced scarcity and the problematic conditions of life forced hominin groups to cooperate and work together, which led to the establishment of intricate trade networks. This naturally led to an increase in social complexity that had never been seen before, and to manage this, these people devised elaborate rituals. One of the earliest forms of these rituals was the shamanistic healing ritual. Working with rituals taxed our working memory capacities and gave rise to symbolic thought and other forms of human cognition.
Only much later, after the development of these rituals, the ideas of the supernatural emerged thanks to childhood imagination. (Imagination in kids was itself selected because it provided them an adaptive advantage as they grew into adults!) These ideas were adaptive as they heightened the power of the shamanistic rituals, and further development of these supernatural ideas increased social cohesion and adherence to group norms- you'd adhere to the rules even more if you knew that God was watching all your actions. Religion thus gave these groups a selective advantage over the "secular" ones.
This is a gross summarization of the model Rossano has built. It's intriguing and definitely worth a read if you're okay to tread through a dry, academic read.
September 23, 2025
Amazing book on cognitive science of religion, another one more to the list of this wonderful theme. Rossano's thesis central focus and -locus- concerns these two words: relationships and ritual. To him, everything that is related to religion, is all about relationships, not just between individuals and communities, both also between the homo sapiens species and the -supernatural-. The supernatural can be defined as the symbolic elements that our species was able to create and maintain. On the other hand, religion couldn’t be held if we had not had the complex capacity of rituality.
When people hear the word "ritual", people imagine witches dancing around a bonfire in the middle of the night. Turns out, it is not that wrong. Have you ever seen a group of bonobos or chimpanzees doing that? Are you aware of the complex neurological requirements that doing a ritual demand? We need a lot of things: a complex brain, future thoughts, theory of mind, behavioral cues, cohesion, and many more things. To sum up, ritual made us human beings. There is evidence that the "older" Neanderthal brain couldn't held the complex requirements of ritual, thus failing to maintain strong in group cohesion, letting homo sapiens gain territory before extinguishing them.
This book is quite unique, because the focus is different, it takes some of Robert A. Rappaport's theory of rituals, and adds evolutionary logic to it, thus giving us this well written religion book. It even makes you feel more human, I don’t even know how to describe this, but human emotions are unique, they are not logical, thus, most of time human relationships are not logical. He, among other examples, uses the "dog" example, by stating that we as human beings love to talk to them, besides petting them, and we expect them to understand just like we were talking to a toddler. At some point, while we talk to our dogs, we might be experiencing a supernatural relationship.
When people hear the word "ritual", people imagine witches dancing around a bonfire in the middle of the night. Turns out, it is not that wrong. Have you ever seen a group of bonobos or chimpanzees doing that? Are you aware of the complex neurological requirements that doing a ritual demand? We need a lot of things: a complex brain, future thoughts, theory of mind, behavioral cues, cohesion, and many more things. To sum up, ritual made us human beings. There is evidence that the "older" Neanderthal brain couldn't held the complex requirements of ritual, thus failing to maintain strong in group cohesion, letting homo sapiens gain territory before extinguishing them.
This book is quite unique, because the focus is different, it takes some of Robert A. Rappaport's theory of rituals, and adds evolutionary logic to it, thus giving us this well written religion book. It even makes you feel more human, I don’t even know how to describe this, but human emotions are unique, they are not logical, thus, most of time human relationships are not logical. He, among other examples, uses the "dog" example, by stating that we as human beings love to talk to them, besides petting them, and we expect them to understand just like we were talking to a toddler. At some point, while we talk to our dogs, we might be experiencing a supernatural relationship.
Read
February 18, 2021content-rich, alas ill-structured
April 13, 2021
Fascinating analysis of the evolution of religion. There are some really interesting studies used to back up the hypothesis.
Read
May 2, 2021There is a lot of important,
January 27, 2022
Well informed and interesting view into human evolution
March 24, 2022
Enlighting dive into the social, evolutionary, and cognitive origins of religion and ritual behaviour.
September 23, 2015
Professor Rossano does an excellent job synthesising the latest research in ethnography, anthropology, and even philosophy in his highly erudite exposition through the history of human evolution out of Africa (twice). I was impressed with his deep understanding of philosophy regarding ethics, and the care that he took to make sure every claim he made was backed up in the footnotes by multiple bibliographic resources. However, I thought he dwelled too much on what capacities of religious life could have evolved for humans during the Interregnum. The consequence of the makings on the snake rock at Tsodilo Hills of Botswana is a bit overblown by Rossano, I think. The chapters seven, eight, and nine are absolutely must reads, however, for anyone interested in the religious origin of humans and the human origin of religion.
September 18, 2011
Too academically written for me to wade through at the moment despite my curiosity. Maybe later.
August 5, 2016
Some interesting ideas here.
November 16, 2013
Borrowed this from library, too good not to buy, bought ebook , prob worth five stars, very very good
June 22, 2012
Conferenced with the author. Wicked smart and interesting. Sad he couldn't make it to the seminar.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews