Kind Goddessess: an Evolutionary Perspective on Personal Prayer as a Medium through which Representational Features Resembling the Primary Caregiver Are Spread

KAŠOVÁ, Lenka. Kind Goddessess: an Evolutionary Perspective on Personal Prayer as a Medium through which Representational Features Resembling the Primary Caregiver Are Spread. Pantheon: Religionistický časopis. Pardubice: Univerzita Pardubice, 2015, vol. 10, No 1, p. 47-55. ISSN 1803-2443.

Basic information

• Original name: Kind Goddessess: an Evolutionary Perspective on Personal Prayer as a Medium through which Representational Features Resembling the Primary Caregiver Are Spread
• Authors: KAŠOVÁ, Lenka (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Pantheon: Religionistický časopis, Pardubice, Univerzita Pardubice, 2015, 1803-2443.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 60300 6.3 Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14210/15:00086087
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords in English: Neo-Paganism; Goddess; Personal Prayer; Cognitive Science of Religion; Cultural Selection; Audience Design; Czech Neo-Pagans
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

This article deals with the popularity of female deities among Neo-Pagans. it is argued that the current opinion on this issue is insufficient to explain certain prevalent aspects of female deities widely shared among Neo-Pagans, therefore an additional insight from cognitive science is adopted. It is suggested that the fitness optimal mental representation of maternally loving woman can significantly bias the mental representation of the Goddess or goddesses being female, due to the essentiality of the representation of maternally loving woman in cultural selection. Additionally, it is also suggested that an improvised personal prayer or ritual is the environment that closely resembles attachment to a primary caregiver, therefore the convenient environment in which "kind" female deities are especially preferred. In the end, the results from the case study, testing the hypotheses concerning the preferred deities in personal contact among Czech Neo-Pagans are provided to illustrate the main argument.

Links

• MUNI/A/1148/2014, interní kód MU: Name: Inovativní teoretické a metodologické perspektivy v religionistice (Acronym: ITMEPRE)

Investor: Masaryk University, Category A