Big History and Religion: the Ties That Bind

Big History and Religion: The ties that bind International Big History Association Conference July 14 – 17, 2016 University of Amsterdam © by Lowell Gustafson Department of Political Science Villanova University Paper Powerpoint How can Big History help us think about religion? How does it influence how we think about it? What can be learned from existing religions that can be incorporated into a Big History narrative? We are here doing what might be called a Little Big History. One of the many strengths of this approach is that that it begins with a current specific entity, such as grass, the Eiffel Tower, Chartres Cathedral, or the city of Jericho, for example – and then investigates the origins of their many components, as well as the process by which they have been combined. Especially in such cases as grass or a city, possible future developments may be explored. Ever since the astrophysicists established that there was a beginning point for the entire universe, it is possible at least in principle to consider the Big History of every item and behavior. We have to focus on what we mean by the word. There is an extraordinary number of definitions of religion, a word that covers a huge range of traditions. I am going to argue here that ideas about the supernatural or gods are important, but emerged long after religion did. The same can be said about awe and wonder. These too are important, but they depend on a level of cognition that comes rather late in the story. The one I am going to concentrate on here is the one that emerges from words meaning to tie or bind together. The emergent complexity of the ties that bind units together in ever more complex relationships over time began with the strong force that holds quarks together in protons and neutrons. With the eventual evolution of the most complex matter in the universe of which we are aware, the human brain, electrical and chemical communication between neurons are able to take multiple routes, permitting an enormous range of cultural ideas that connect ever larger numbers of groups of people. The Big History of emergent complexity that moves through a series of transitions from the Big Bang to the Cultural Era of the Anthropocene transforms the study of religion. While it 2 | Page finds all existing religions instructive, big history changes their calibration of time and the meaning of religio n itself. Big Religio n evolves out of earlier religio ns and incorporates many aspects of them, but also adds its own properties. In this paper, we will consider the Little Big History of religion, how religion originated, how it developed, and where it may be headed. The Impact of Religion Virtually all of the major currently practiced religions – Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism – and even most folk religio ns – have developed within the past few millennia. An anthropology of religion pushes the discussion of religion to much earlier in the history of homo sapiens and perhaps even other hominins. Big History, the scientific study of the entire known past of our universe, begins the study of religion long before the founding of any of the current religions, and develops its meaning as a result. There is much wisdom in all of the world’s religions, and they each deserve study. Each is instructive in its own way, telling us much about the people who developed and practice them. All currently practiced religions decidedly do not all have the same teachings. There is great diversity – and great value – in all of them. Many often claim to have the final and exclusive truth, and that is among their many components that are best left behind. But each also has great wisdom that merits study and incorporation in Big Religion. The great amount of evidence of people’s current attention to religion is itself reason to investigate it. If billions of people talk about religion, practice one (or more), construct religio us buildings, carry out actions in the name of religion, and so on, then this is an important topic. Europe has relatively few active practitioners of Christianity but increasing numbers of Muslims; 3 | Page the percentage of religious practitioners are significant but declining in the US. Religio us affiliation and practice seem to be numerous and growing in Africa and Latin America, and are emblematic of a number of Middle Eastern and South East Asian nations. The Russian Orthodox church has made a comeback since the fall of communis m, and Putin makes use of it from time to time. The influences of religio n on contemporary culture remain significant. In the name of religion, people bomb others, heal others, teach others, pray, study, care for others, and much else. Some people who don’t much care for religio n sometime s denounce it. Religio n motivates many; it bothers many as well. Either way, it has impact and deserves study. Measuring Time One influence of religio n has been on our understanding of time. Religions often date time from an important event it their own histories, or even their understanding of the creation of the universe. For example, a traditional date is the one used by the organizers of this conference: 2016. This date had referred to the number of years since Christ’s birth; it is now sanitized to refer to the beginning of the Common Era, whatever that is. The current year in the Jewish calendar is 5776, with that many years since God said, “let there be light,” as well as the sun, moon, earth, life, and people. Islam calculates 1437 years since the emigration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, known as the Hijra. In the Hindu calendar, it is 5118 years since Śrī Kṛṣṇa returned to his eternal abode. In Buddhist calendars, the Buddha attained parinibbāna on or around 13 May 544 BCE. The ancient Mayan long count began on the date for the most recent creation date, the equivalent of August 11, 3114 BCE in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. These and other dates indicate that these religio us traditions are ancient by traditional standards, but very recent by geologic or astronomical standards. If current science was used, our calendar 4 | Page may not begin with an event of importance in human cultural history, but with the best current date of the Big Bang at 13.8 billion years ago. Admittedly, this is not a convenient way to record time when agreeing on when to get together for a conference. Our study of religions cannot begin with the origins of currently practiced religions; they are all far too recently developed. They cannot even begin with the study of the origins of human religion, using evidence of ritual architecture or burial practices suggesting belief in an afterlife. A Big History of religion needs to begin with the Big Bang. What in the Big Bang and everything after that leaves us evidence that permits us to talk about religion? What is religio n? Defining Religion One value of considering the origins of religion is that it requires as clear thinking as possible about the definition of the topic. What is this religion whose origins we will discuss? How can we find evidence for a scientific analysis of it? Very often, religion is considered to be somehow about God or gods involved in creation. This is the case in the well known Biblical Genesis account as well as in the ancient Maya account of creation, the Popol Vuh. However, it is not central to other religions, such as Buddhism, which is concerned more with what is necessary for human enlightenment than with the creation of the universe. Our discussion here will not focus on whether or not there is a God who was involved with the Big Bang. The idea of God and spirits eventually became an important part of the story of religion, but there is no measurable evidence for or against gods at such an early point and they are not part of our definitio n of religio n. Religion for many will certainly become associated with a belief in and 5 | Page worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. But that is not our beginning point. Nor is our focus here on a particular system of faith and worship. The etymology of the word religion is an instructive place to begin our discussion about the origins of religio n. Cicero wrote that the Latin word religio derived from the verb relegere in its sense of “to re-read or go over a text,” religion being a body of custom and law that demands study and transmission. Some major current religions are called religions of the Book – the Bible, Koran, or other sacred text. This is not our definition here since there have been texts only for the past few millennia, and none in the billions of years before that. There is no Big History of religion if it only began with the writing of texts a few thousand years ago. Others have found that religion comes to us through the Latin word religio, meaning reverence for what is sacred or awesome. There is indeed much for us to be awed by in the universe, but this is a response that many of us have that required millions of years of brain evolution. It may be that baboons too are awed by sunsets. We have pictures of them sitting on a precipice looking at a sunset. But it is hard to see awe in the response of creatures that evolved for the first few billion years of life on Earth.

Load more