Harvey Whitehouse is professor of anthropology and director of postgraduate studies in the Faculty of Humanities at Queen's University Belfast. He is co-editor, with Luther H. Martin, of the AltaMira 'Cognitive Science of Religion Series'. His previous books include Inside the Cult: Religious Innovation and Transmission in Papua New Guinea (1995, OUP), Arguments and Icons: Divergent Modes of Religiosity, (2000, OUP), and The Debated Mind: Evolutionary Psychology versus Ethnography (2001 Berg).

Part 1 Preface Part 2 Introduction Chapter 3 What is "Religion"? Chapter 4 What is "Ritual"? Chapter 5 Ritual and Religious Revelation Chapter 6 Outline of the Volume Part 7 PART ONE: COGNITION AND RELIGIOUS TRANSMISSION Part 8 Chapter One: First Principles for Explaining Religion and Ritual Chapter 9 Religious Traditions are Materially Constrained Chapter 10 Religious Phenomena are Selected Chapter 11 The Selection of Religious Phenomena is Context-Dependent Chapter 12 Religious Transmission is Partly Motivated by Explicit Religious Concepts Part 13 Chapter Two: Cognitively Optimal Religion Chapter 14 The Naturalness of Gods Chapter 15 The Naturalness of Ritual Chapter 16 The Naturalness of Myth Part 17 Chapter Three: Cognitively Costly Religion Chapter 18 Cognitively Costly Gods Chapter 19 Cognitively Costly Rituals Chapter 20 Cognitively Costly Narratives Part 21 PART TWO: THE THEORY OF MODES OF RELIGIOSITY Part 22 Chapter Four: The Theory of Modes of Religiosity Chapter 23 Modes of Religiosity and Memory Chapter 24 The Doctrinal Mode of Religiosity Chapter 25 The Imagistic Mode of Religiosity Chapter 26 Modes of Religiosity Contrasted Chapter 27 Modes of Religiosity in the Real World Chapter 28 The Origins of Modes of Religiosity Part 29 Chapter Five: Ritual and Meaning in the Doctrinal Mode Chapter 30 The Distinction Between Implicit and Explicit Memory Chapter 31 The Theory of Representational Redescription Chapter 32 Representational Redescription and Routinized Ritual Chapter 33 Routinized Ritual and Exegesis Chapter 34 Routinization, Relevance, and Revelation Part 35 Chapter Six: Ritual and Meaning in the Imagistic Mode Chapter 36 Emotion and Episodic Memory Chapter 37 Episodic Memory and Ritual Chapter 38 Episodic Memory and Spontaneous Exegetical Reflection Chapter 39 Representational Redescription and the Imagistic Mode Part 40 Chapter Seven: Religious Enthusiasm and Its Limits Chapter 41 Religious Enthusiasm Chapter 42 The Limits of Religious Enthusiasm Part 43 PART THREE: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL CHALLENGES Part 44 Chapter Eight: Theoretical Challenges Chapter 45 The Challenges Chapter 46 Form and Frequency Chapter 47 Selectionism or Mechanistic Causation? Chapter 48 Arousal, Memory, and Motivation Chapter 49 Procedural versus Exegetical Knowledge in the Domain of Ritual Chapter 50 Historical Transformations Part 51 Chapter Nine: Testing the Theory Chapter 52 Predictions Chapter 53 Evidence Needed from Ethnography, Historiography, and Archaeology Chapter 54 Evidence Needed from the Cognitive Sciences Chapter 55 Epilogue: Theory, Description, and the Cognitive Science of Religion Chapter 56 References Chapter 57 Index Chapter 58 About the Author