?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=The+Sacred+Engagement%3A+Outline+of+a+hypothesis+about+the+origin+of+human+%E2%80%98religious+intelligence%E2%80%99.+&rft.creator=Malafouris%2C+Dr+Lambros&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.subject=Evolutionary+Psychology&rft.subject=Evolution&rft.description=The+question+that+motivates+the+central+hypothesis+advanced+in+this+paper+regarding+the+emergence+of+early+religious+thinking+is+the+following%3A+%E2%80%98why+does+religion+need+material%0D%0Aculture%3F%E2%80%99+What+basic+functional+or+symbolic+need+renders+material+culture+an+indispensable+and+universal+component+of+religion+and+ritual+activity%3F+A+common+temptation%2C+obvious+in+a+number+of+recent+archaeological+and+anthropological+studies%2C+is+to+seek+an+answer+in+the+field+of+memory+(Boyer+1993%3B+1996%3B+1998%3B+2001%3B+McCauley+and%0D%0ALawson+2002%3B+Whitehouse+2000%3B+2004%3B+Mithen+1998a).+This+paper+argues+that+material+culture+does+much+more+than+simply+offer+a+symbolic+channel+for+the+externalization%2C%0D%0Acommunication%2C+and+thus+successful+cultural+transmission%2C+of+religious+ideas.+Although+the+mnemonic+significance+of+the+ritual+object+is+not+denied%2C+it+is+proposed+that+the%0D%0Aargument+from+memory%2C+as+traditionally+premised%2C+fails+to+provide+a+cognitively+adequate+account+of+the+complex+affective+ties+and+multimodal+interactions+that+characterise+the+distinctive+phenomenology+of+religious+experience.+Moreover%2C+and+from+a+long-term%0D%0Aevolutionary+perspective%2C+it+is+argued+that+the+commonly+implied+ontological+priority+of+the+religious+idea%2C+over+its+material+expression%2C+leaves+us+with+no+explanation+about+why%2Cand+how%2C+religious+concepts+emerge+in+the+context+of+human+cognitive+evolution.+Drawing+on+the+theoretical+lines+of+the+Material+Engagement+approach+(Malafouris+2004%3B%0D%0ARenfrew+2004)+I+want+to+advance+a+different+hypothesis+that+places+material+culture+at+the+heart+of+the+human+capacity+for+religious+thinking+(cf.+Day+2004).&rft.publisher=Oxford%3A+Oxbow+Books&rft.contributor=Barrowclough%2C+Dr+David&rft.contributor=Malone%2C+Dr+Caroline&rft.date=2007-05-09&rft.type=Book+Chapter&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F6045%2F1%2FMalafouris.Chapter_26.pdf&rft.identifier=++Malafouris%2C+Dr+Lambros++(2007)+The+Sacred+Engagement%3A+Outline+of+a+hypothesis+about+the+origin+of+human+%E2%80%98religious+intelligence%E2%80%99.++%5BBook+Chapter%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F6045%2F