It’s a question with a big answer. Why study Theology if you’re an atheist? Why examine religion if you don’t believe in it?
The answer: It’s the same reason you might read Greek mythology or visit a different culture. To gain an understanding of another way of being and thinking. To deepen our knowledge of the past, and perhaps come to grips with the nature of the human condition.
So, here is my unashamed sales pitch for studying Theology as an atheist.
Why study Theology: A historical perspective
In history, there can only be a complete explanation for the collective actions of man if we describe the contents of their minds. We can talk about wars and empires until we’re blue in the face, but if we don’t consider the beliefs of the soldiers and politicians conducting those things, then we are missing something crucial.
Every regime in history has had an ideological framework that underpins it. Today, we’re used to thinking of that ideology in broad abstract terms like “freedom”, “equality” and “democracy”. But for most of human history, the ideology has been both more concrete and supernatural. It has been religious.
Politico-morphism
The idea that Politics shapes Religion and that Religion shapes Politics. Often Religion is used as propaganda for Politics.
In Ancient Sumeria, for instance, the rulers were seen as intermediaries between the gods and the people – they were priest kings and were given their authority by their connection to the gods.
In Ancient Rome, the line between politics and religion was still blurred to the point of non-existence. Never more evident than in the civil wars that brought an end to the quasi-democratic Republic. Unable to become a king, Julius Caesar claimed descent from the goddess Venus. His adopted son and Emperor, Augustus, deified Julius Caesar and was later deified himself. Deified? Yes – made literally into a god. The message was plain for all Roman citizens – the democratic republic was dead, and you must now worship the emperor as you have the gods.
This explains why Christianity was seen with such contempt by Roman authorities. It was a repudiation of the emperor-gods. It claimed, unlike the polytheistic religions, that there was only one God. But more: That there is only one instance of him in the world – not an emperor, but a peasant called Jesus. When Christianity emerged as a burgeoning cult throughout the Empire, its subversive message was not just religious but political. It threatened the deification, and therefore the legitimacy, of the emperor. Hence, Nero’s candle display.
Why study Theology: The human condition
In his book How Religion Evolved, the Oxford Evolutionary Psychologist Robin Dunbar argues that Religion has always played a social role in human groups. It binds us together within a common belief system and fosters greater co-operation. Shared belief systems allow us to strive harder, push more strongly and rely upon each other more fully. And what better way of promoting faith in ourselves and the future than a religious faith system?
Small religious communities form strong, almost unbreakable bonds. These groups police each other’s behaviour and promote group cohesion. Think of a small cult, a hunter-gatherer’s community, of the local church. All form together in roughly the same way – they are loyal communities with a common aim.
However, Dunbar argues that at some point that collective group dynamic breaks down. This happens when we pass what has become known as the “Dunbar Number”. This is the ideal maximum community size in a primate grouping. The ideal size varies depending upon the size of the neo-cortex. In Homo Sapiens, it is between 140 and 150. After this point, says Dunbar, the group dynamic begins to break down.
In religious communities of, say 140 members, there may be Theological disputes, but these are easily resolved with social pressure. This becomes less tenable as the number increases past 150. Eventually irreparable schisms occur. Cults split. Young hunter-gatherers set out on their own. Church congregations migrate. This is not an odd quirk, but a rule of human behaviour. Religion binds us together, but at a rather precise number, it is the excuse for us to split apart.
As the socio-biologist E.O. Wilson argues in The Social Conquest of Earth, religious belief binds us together, but it also has a darker side. It encourages cohesion within the group, but animosity without. Peace inside the religious collective, and total war between the collectives.
This duality between the in and out groups is essential, thinks Wilson, to the survival of the gene-pool. It allows us to collect our resources and dominate our surroundings. Evolution, he thinks, should not be seen as an individual-level competition, but rather a group one, with each collective fighting against each other. Those that are religious, and have a shared ideology, are more likely to out-compete those who are divided and weakened by a lack of a shared core belief system. This is the evolutionary selective advantage of religious belief.
Why study Theology
As you can see, religious belief has been a fundamental part of human history and behaviour since we emerged onto this planet. Without a solid understanding of the role that religion plays in collective behaviour, we cannot hope to gain a complete understanding of the way we evolved, formed societies or wrote history in the actions of our ancestors.
