Cognitive Science Approaches to the Biblical World

Call For Papers: This year we will host two sessions, one on the experience of disease, and one one comparative approaches to moral infringements. (1) Medical anthropology and Disability Studies have demonstrated the significance of culture in the experience and effects of illness, as well as the (successful) treatment of these conditions. For this session, we invite papers that explore the relationship between the biological (including psychological) features of illness and the cultural responses to it. How do specific cultural instances of diagnosis or treatment (e.g., pharamceuticals, ritual, dream incubation, isolation) interact with underlying cognitive and biological patterns? How are innate heuristics (e.g., of contagion, ingestion, transformation) expressed in specific cases in ancient texts and societies? Please note that presentations will be brief (a tight 10 minutes) and will be circulated among participants two weeks before the meeting. The session is co-sponsored by the Healthcare and Disability unit and the Religious Experience unit. (2) Comparative approaches to moral infringement: we invite papers that take a comparative approach on how different groups and texts address interpersonal moral infringement in thought, practice, and ritual. Thought: how did they think and speak about moral infringement. Practices: how did they resolve moral infringement and crime (revenge, compensation, forgiveness etc.). Ritual: How did they involve the gods and other spiritual entities (curses, oaths, prayers etc.) Presenters are encouraged to use cross-disciplinary insights (e.g. ritual theory, game-theory, cognitive linguistics, anthropology, social psychology) to formulate relevant points of comparison. Both comparisons between different groups and texts in antiquity and comparisons between ancient and contemporary groups are invited. The session is co-sponsored by the Comparative Method in Biblical Studies Unit and the Mind, Society, and Religion Unit.

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