How did religion develop, and what does the evidence from cognitive science, archaeology, history and theology actually show?
A heavily cited synthesis of the evidence on how religion developed, from the cognitive science of belief and Palaeolithic burials through Göbekli Tepe, the first states, the Axial Age, Israelite monotheism, the Big Gods debate, early Christianity and the East–West Schism to 2020s data, read through scientific, historical and Catholic and Orthodox theological lenses, with what replicated and what did not
Abstract
A research synthesis in eight strands, each with its own cited notes: the cognitive and evolutionary science of religion; prehistoric archaeology; religion in the first states; the Axial Age and the emergence of monotheism; the quantitative “Big Gods” debate; early Christianity through the East–West Schism; theological lenses on religion’s origin, Catholic and Orthodox among them; and secularisation with current data. It reports what has replicated and what has not. The headline analytic-thinking and religious-priming effects did not survive preregistered replications, and the 2019 Nature Seshat paper was retracted in 2021. In phylogenetic reconstructions of hunter-gatherer religion, animism is the oldest trait and active high gods are absent. Göbekli Tepe now looks like a settlement with special buildings rather than a “temple first” sanctuary. Pew’s 2025 data show the unaffiliated at 24.2% of the world in 2020. Limits: this is a literature synthesis, not new data analysis; many standard monographs are cited from bibliographic details rather than re-read this session, and each set of notes flags which.