e-rhizome, 2019 (vol. 1), issue 2
The Historian (of Religions) as Detective
Luther H. Martin
e-rhizome 2019, 1(2):113-131 | DOI: 10.5507/rh.2019.006 
Since my graduate school days, I have been interested in the philosophy of history, especially in historiographical methods. And, I have long been intrigued by the proposition that such methods are also represented by those of detectives (e.g., Robin Winks 1969), particularly, the detectives of fiction. However, it was only with my retirement that I began extensively to read detective novels and, given my historical field of Graeco-Roman religions, I was especially interested in those of Lindsey Davis about Marcus Didius Falco, a "private informer," that are set in the first-century Roman Empire. What might be the historiographical value of such novels,...
How to Create a Religion
E. Thomas Lawson
e-rhizome 2019, 1(2):132-137 | DOI: 10.5507/rh.2019.007
The aim of this paper is to suggest that it is worthwhile seeing what the various studies in the cognitive science of religion have taught us by engaging in a thought experiment in which we ask: "What would it take to create a religion on the basis of what we think that we now know about religiosity?" It will be an exercise in applied science by following a set of instructions.
Problems and Hopes of Neurophenomenology and First-Person Neuroscience
Lenka Jedličková, Michal Müller
e-rhizome 2019, 1(2):138-159 | DOI: 10.5507/rh.2019.008
Neuroscience is a dynamically developing discipline which currently influences the emergence of new research programs that combine high-tech neuroscience methodology with social science approaches. This article focuses on neurophenomenology and fields of first-person neuroscience that attempt to bridge the gap between first-person and third-person perspectives of research. The aim of this article is to show what areas of interest and what methodological approaches the current neurophenomenology and first-person neuroscience is taking, especially in the context of a summary of the basic problems associated with this research program. Efforts to link...
Awe as a Social Emotion: An Overview of Insights from Social Neuroscience and Self-categorisation Theory
Anastasia Ejova
e-rhizome 2019, 1(2):160-166 | DOI: 10.5507/rh.2019.009
Awe tends to be defined as an emotion characterised by a perception of vastness that challenges or negates existing concepts of the world, creating a "need for accommodation". Emerging research on linguistic labels for awe-like experiences suggests that, while there is no universal word for disorienting experiences of vastness, there is cross-cultural recognition of encountering forces superior to oneself. Under the theory of constructed emotion in social neuroscience, the experience of encountering a force greater than oneself results in behaviour that serves group interests when those interests are part of the perceiver's concept of the vast...