The main goal of the workshop is to introduce CSS members to topics that are cutting edge in the cognitive science of religion. The papers draw on a variety of methodologies and disciplines, which is one of the main characteristics of the cognitive science of religion. Even though the focus is on religion, the researchers are involved in broader issues relevant to cognitive science. So the expe...

Heterodox mystics and heretics of any kind can be sometimes dangerous and other times reliable depending upon political situations, as was the case with Bektashis in Ottoman Anatolia or in early independent Albania. The historical anthropology perspective taken in this article appears helpful in revealing that Bektashism is probably the mystical order of Islam that best exemplifies a transforma...

Evolutionary theory has greatly influenced science and technology, but in recent decades contemporary scholarship demonstrated religious influence evolutionary thought. Religious premises do not merely provide insight; they underwrite both by mandating strictly naturalistic origins providing key arguments for evolution. These are common the evolution literature, what theological traditions doct...

ferdowsi's shahnameh is the document of our national and religious identity and analyzing its structural and conceptual dimensions and particularly studying it comparatively with other religious and mythological texts seems to be necessary in order to achieve greater understanding of its mysteries and to attain its moral and spiritual doctrines and messages in any era and for any generatio...

despite the fact that the formation of the fatimid state in maghrip (297/909) was considered as a remarkable victory for the ismā‘īlīs, success in the field of religious matters was not easily achievable there. as such, the religious and political ideals demanded that the fatimids sought from the beginning to disseminate their religious beliefs among the inhabitants of the maghrib territory. ac...