دانلود کتاب فراتر از آسمان و زمین – نظریه شناختی دین

Twenty or so years ago, fresh out of my undergraduate studies at Dartmouth, I had the extraordinary opportunity to spend two summers in a row doing fieldwork on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, thanks to the anthropologist Robert Welsch, who organized the trip. We were studying the impact of a deadly tsunami that had hit the coastal communities there, trying to see how they understood this event and how it affected their religious beliefs and practices. The people were very kind after I severely sprained my ankle trying to look cool playing basketball. There was not much knowledge I had from my four years of undergraduate education that impressed them. However, on one very clear evening while resting my ankle, I told them what I knew about the night sky. As I was speaking, I realized they were completely captivated by my story. They were all ears as I explained what I knew (which was actually quite basic) about astronomy. I remember telling them the very counterintuitive notion that those lights in the sky are actually burning hot fire balls incredibly far away. As I told them, I realized this was an extravagant and strange story. It might as well have been fiction. They seemed to be entertained by the fact that it was so fanciful. Since that time, I have been trying to understand what it was about that information in the night sky that was so important for them. I think it comes down to the fact that all human beings share an interest in this kind of natural information.