Toward an Embodied Cognitive Science of Religion: A Roundtable Discussion

Despite impressive accomplishments, CSR has been constrained by being wed to cognitivists models of the mind. 4E approaches, especially enactive cognition, bring cognitive science into meaningful partnership with cultural, historical, and phenomenological studies, reintegrating these disciplines with psychology and biology, presenting a path toward a more comprehensive study of religion. This roundtable panel’s starting point is a Religion, Brain, and Behavior symposium on John Teehan’s article, “Toward an Embodied CSR: Enaction, Evolution, Emergence,” that makes a case for integrating 4E approaches into CSR. It brings together two scholars who employ 4E cognition in their work (and who contributed to the RBB symposium), with two scholars who take a more cultural studies approach (but who also address cognitive models of religion) into conversation with the author. The article is a jumping off point for a larger discussion of the potential contributions, and limitations, of integrating 4E cognition into the study of religion.