The Psychological Roots of Religious Belief: Searching for Angels and the Parent-God [Hardcover]

M. D. Faber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2004

In this insightful new study, M D Faber, whose previous work on the psychology of religion has won widespread critical acclaim, offers a comprehensive, naturalistic explanation of religious experience from the intertwining perspectives of neuroscience and developmental psychology. Faber here argues that belief in God, the powerful sensation of his presence, and the heartfelt assent to the reality of the supernatural are all produced by the mind/brain's inherent tendency to discover in religious narrative a striking, memorial echo of its own biological development. Although Faber maintains that we are not 'wired' specifically for God (as many contend), our brain is so constructed as to make us profoundly susceptible to religious myths. These myths encourage us to map our early, internalised experience onto a variety of supernatural narratives with the figure of the Parent-God and his angelic assistants at the centre.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a cut above the crowd...a terse introduction to the key ideas emerging in current psychology of religion,..." -- The Ernest Becker Foundation Newsletter, April 2005

"...amazing book...explosive and important." -- Statesman Journal, December 5, 2004

"...intriguing, entertaining, hard-hitting read, a thought-provoking book that will make a fine companion to Freud's work on religion...Essential." -- Choice, March 2005

"...very interesting reading..." -- Bookviews.com, December 2004

From the Inside Flap

Throughout the centuries, many people have conceived of supernatural beings - angels are a common example - as entities that intervene in the believer's time of need, to show that he or she is personally loved and not alone in the universe; this holds true even for those who feel abandoned or forgotten by the human world. Though some influential thinkers have attempted to suppress or banish such notions, belief in the supernatural has always resurfaced and persists to this day, not only in organized religion but also in the thriving literature - and booming industry - of New Age belief systems. Shouldn't the persistence of such a belief throughout the ages serve as a solid anecdotal support for the existence of supernatural beings? Or is there a better, simpler explanation - one that comes from our own memories?

In this insightful new study, M. D. Faber, whose previous work in the psychology of religion has won widespread critical acclaim, offers a comprehensive, naturalistic explanation of religious experience from the intertwining perspectives of neuroscience and developmental psychology. Faber argues that belief in God, the powerful sensation of His presence, and the heartfelt assent of the reality of the supernatural are all produced by the mind-brain's inherent tendency to discover in religious narrative a striking, memorial echo of its own biological development. Although Faber maintains that we are not "wired" specifically for God (as many contend), our brain is so constructed as to make us profoundly susceptible to religious myths. The psychological origins of this susceptibility may be far more earthly and physical than many would suspect.

A key point of Faber's analysis is the connection between the onset of infantile amnesia during childhood's later years and the evocative power of religious mythology. This connection, claims the author, is the unconscious emotional powerhouse that ultimately engenders and sustains religious belief. To support his argument, Faber cites the work of William James, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, and Carl Jung; testimonies of several contemporary witnesses of an angelic presence; and relevant studies from the field of developmental psychology.

In an age of religious turmoil and international terrorism linked to religious zeal, it is more important than ever to gain a rational, scientific understanding of religious motivations. Faber's insights help us realize why religious conflicts often spill over into violence. When a believer's religion is challenged, the challenge resounds at deep, unconscious levels where primal parental attachments reside.

Sure to be controversial, this pioneering, highly original work takes the reader to the neurological-psychological bedrock of religious experience.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 245 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (November 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591022673
• ISBN-13: 978-1591022671
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,002,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Turn Around, What's that Sound, Back from Where You Came", May 26, 2005

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G. Bestick (Dobbs Ferry, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Psychological Roots of Religious Belief: Searching for Angels and the Parent-God (Hardcover)

"Religion doesn't work because it's true," said William James, "but is true because it works." The reason it works, according to MD Faber, is because religious notions tap into our deepest feeling-state, which is the symbiotic relationship we had with our primary caregiver during infancy. As he says in the middle of the book, "we turn to God as a child in distress turns to its mother." While he acknowledges Freud's insights about the connection between infancy and the religious impulse, he advances Freud's basic argument by highlighting the role of the primary caregiver (usually the mother) and by fruitfully linking psychology and neuroscience.

Drawing upon such close observers of infant behavior as DW Winnicott and Margaret Mahler, Faber leads us carefully through the developmental phases of early childhood, with the goal of tying the affective states of this life period to the feelings induced by religious rituals. Infancy is a period when we go through thousands of instances where we want something and someone provides what we need. During the earliest phases of life, we don't distinguish our self from the caregiver; later we see our self and our caregiver as a symbiotic team, working with one purpose and one all powerful will. We may not be "wired for God" as the famous phrase has it, but since "repeated patterns strengthen synaptic connections'" our brains are wired for asking and receiving from a caregiver who appears omnipotent to our childish eyes.

Then, amazingly, we forget this powerful formative experience, a process labeled infantile amnesia. (That we can't recall infant experiences is corroborated by imaging studies that demonstrate that the structures needed to form memories aren't functioning in babies.) Prayer and religious ritual become means of getting back to a preverbal sense of primal dualism - just us and our caregiver, in complete accord. Belief in God allows us to return to the state of bliss we had as infants, when we lived under the hallucinatory impression that an omnipotent caregiver could divine our every need and minister to our every want, just because we wished it to be so.

Once the toddler begins to separate in earnest from the caregiver, joy in his increasing powers is mitigated by feelings that he's losing his tight connection with the caregiver. The anxiety caused by separation from the parent can linger for a lifetime, and Faber posits the inner tussle between separation and connection as a major source of adult stress. Religion pours balm on this stress by allowing us to be ourselves but be under the care of an all-powerful, all-knowing protector. Other psychological aspects of early childhood get tied to religious practices. For example, infants and children are able to evoke imaginary companions to share in their behaviors and discoveries. As Edward Taylor says, animism - belief in unseen forces such as ghosts, souls, fairies and angels - is part of every religion in every culture in the world.

Assuming you're open to a natural as opposed to supernatural explanation of why our brains take so readily to religious ideas, Faber's arguments are cogently presented. There are, however, other paths along this track that beg to be explored. For instance, while he touches on inconsistent parenting (which causes the infant to create a good mother/bad mother paradigm) he doesn't dig in to the effect of erratic or non-existent parenting on religious impulses. Do people who had bad infant experiences yearn more or less for God than normals? Knowing the answer to this would be a good way of deepening Faber's thesis. Also, Faber focuses on the connection between the religious impulse and affective states of dependency and bliss achieved during infancy. But as the Hindus say, there are many paths to God. How do these stonier, thornier paths - self-denial, flagellation, rational thought, physical self-sacrifice, cannibalism, voodoo - tie in to attachment theory? Finally, religion is a social as well as personal practice - a way of separating people you can trust from people you can't, for example, or a way of organizing and motivating people to achieve specific political ends. How does the psychological pull of group dynamics tie back to the primary affective source of religious belief?

The pleasure one can take in Faber's well-reasoned arguments is somewhat marred by the writing style. The main problem is an overuse of quotations, which clogs the narrative flow. Some chapters, such as Prayer and Faith and Angelic Encounters, are so dense with quotes that the sense of an authorial voice nearly disappears altogether. But if you can work through that, you'll find a stimulating and provocative theory: we never stop wanting that state of perfect connection with an all-powerful caregiver we imagined we had as infants; religion is the magic castle we've constructed so we can return again and again to that lost state of symbiotic bliss.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why religious beliefs are so common, March 31, 2005

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Paul Carleton (Pontiac, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Psychological Roots of Religious Belief: Searching for Angels and the Parent-God (Hardcover)

If you've been wondering why, in these scientifically enlightened times, belief in God, angels and saints is so common and so persistent, Faber goes a long way toward answering your question. His explanation is based on the development of the human infant's brain. I'll condense his explanation into my own words.

An infant's neocortex has billions of `seedling' neurons searching for stimuli which shape the way these neurons grow; the way its brain get `wired'. And the way the neurons grow conditions their response to future stimuli. The infant's initial experiences are with its caregivers (usually its mother). Initially the infant doesn't distinguish between itself and its caregiver; to it they're one omnipotent organism. The nurturing, warmth and comforting it receives in response to its whimpers and cries are seemingly self-induced -- the neurons in its neocortex initially get `wired' so that the infant unconsciously believes it induces it own nurturing.

As the infant grows it learns to distinguish itself from its caregivers. But the early `wiring' is still in its brain available to be re-stimulated eventho' new patterns continue to be laid down along with the initial `wiring'. Until the child reaches its third year, it has no conscious memory (infantile amnesia). But the unconscious memories are still there in its brain available to be re-stimulated. As the child separates itself from its caregivers, it may compensate with an imaginary companion (such as a doll or blanket) that it can turn to for comfort.

If at this age the child is taught about supernatural companions -- its putative Father in Heaven, Baby Jesus, Mother Mary and/or Guardian Angel -- these can re-stimulate its brain's initial `wiring' to unconsciously resonate with the child's infantile desires. It can self-induce its own comforting unbeknown to its conscious mind which believes the projected comforting is coming from a supernatural entity Who seems very real. And thru-out its life, the person can induce comforting by praying to its imagined omnipotent `caregiver'. Faber does a much better job of explaining and documenting all this, so if my description stirs your interest, get Faber's new book. He shows the dire consequences of subjecting children to religious stories.

However what Faber doesn't explain is how some of us managed to escape the influence of our brain's early `wiring' so that we're no longer (or never were) religious. We can't all have had bad mothering so that our infant brain never got thus `wired', and many of us were subjected to early religious indoctrination. Faber briefly raised and answers the question on page 34 ("... other neural connections arise as we mature ...") and on pages 43, 103 ("moving on") and 121. But he alludes to what I believe is a better explanation when he says on page 215 "... the unconscious is working to locate for us sources of attachment and security as we undertake our separate, dangerous journeys through the world." I believe there's a rudimentary Urge to Life in us humans (and in all organisms) which propels growth and maturation to "undertake our journeys in the world." We may sometimes grow weary and seek respite, but a healthy person is in touch with their Life Urge and tries to eschew infantile regression. Even so there's still another hazard that the person disown their Life Urge and instead project it out onto an imagined 'god'. If these ideas intrigue you, take a look at Amazon's detail pages on my book "Concepts: A ProtoTheist Quest for Science-Minded Skeptics."

Nonetheless I highly recommend Faber's book. He helped me better understand why religious beliefs are so common and persistent. Be forewarned tho' - I found myself getting impatient with his writing style. As a professor of English apparently he enjoys finding just the right words and using all of them, saying the same thing several ways. Moreover he's not adverse to long sentences and long paragraphs. And he skillfully strings together series of quotes into well constructed sentences. So rather than get impatient, I slowed down and tried to savor his writing.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profoundly important book, April 22, 2005

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Samantha Atkins "a seeker" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Psychological Roots of Religious Belief: Searching for Angels and the Parent-God (Hardcover)

This book finally solved the deeply personal conundrum of why I have been so deeply drawn to religion despite my intellectual many objections. The draw was so strong in me and I had several religious experiences so intense that I was being convinced by experience that there was a level of knowing far deeper than the intellect. Having no explanation that fully satisfied for the intensity and shape of this yearning and these experiences was the last remaining very sturdy thread that religious belief or at least being convinced there was something very real to this stuff hung by.

Now I understand. The missing long sought piece to the puzzle has been found. The fit is perfect. I can't thank the author enough.