DH - Krakow 2004

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THE BIOLOGICAL THEORY OF RELIGION

A series of Lectures and Workshops given by Dr David Hay-

Institute for the Study of Religion, Krakow, 26-30 April, 2004

David Hay is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the
Department of Divinity and Religious Studies in Aberdeen
University, Scotland

. He is himself a Scotsman and a zoologist by

profession. During his early career he worked in the Religious Experience
Research Unit set up by the late Sir Alister Hardy, formerly professor of
Zoology at Oxford University. After Hardy’s death in 1985 he became director
of the Unit. Subsequently he was appointed Reader in Spiritual Education at
Nottingham University, a post from which he retired in 2000

The hypothesis that has guided his research over the past thirty years is that
religious awareness is biologically natural to the human species and has been
selected for in the process of organic evolution because it has survival value.
Although naturalistic, this hypothesis is not intended to be reductionist with
regard to religion. Nevertheless it does imply that all people, including those
who have no religious belief, have a spiritual life. Accordingly, Hay’s most
recent investigations have been concerned with the spirituality of people who
have no formal religious connections. He has shown that spiritual experience is
extraordinarily widespread in spite of the secular nature of Western European
society. His findings have important implications for an understanding of the
psychology of religion and for the processes of European cultural history.

MORNING SESSIONS

Monday, 26 April
An explanation of the rationale for the structure of the series of classes, followed by a workshop exercise designed to reflect
directly on the praxis of religious or spiritual experience: Religion and Spiritual Experience - a brainstorming exercise.

Tuesday, 27 April
The core biological argument. What are we talking about when we use the terms ‘spiritual’ or ‘religious’ experience’? A
peak experience exercise. Problems faced in gathering and attempting to classify religious experience.

Wednesday, 28 April
Testing the resilience of the Hardy’s hypothesis. Comparisons with American work. Relation of spirituality with ethics.
Sloan Wilson on Group Selection. The problem of plausibility. Another look at hermeneutics.

Thursday, 29 April
Exploring the contemporary spirituality of children and secularised adults. Recent work on neurophysiology.

Friday, 30 April
The Sources of the European suspicion of religious experience. The role of early 20th Century American psychology as a
precursor of the hermeneutics of suspicion. A deconstruction of European secularism.

AFTERNOON SESSIONS

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Each afternoon there will be workshop sessions on related topics including: qualitative research methodology, use of focus
groups, methods of classifying qualitative data, the use of autobiography, methods of awakening relational consciousness
etc.

Suggested readings (* indicates important readings)

*Alister Hardy (1966) The Divine Flame, London: Collins

* (1979) The Spiritual Nature of Man, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

David Hay (1987) Exploring Inner Space: Scientists and Religious Experience, (2nd Edn.) Oxford: Mowbrays Press

(1990) Religious Experience Today: Studying the Facts, London: Cassell/Mowbrays

*(1994) ‘ “The biology of God”: what is the current status of Hardy’s hypothesis?’ International Journal for the
Psychology of Religion 4(1), 1-23.

*(1999) ‘Psychologists interpreting conversion: two American forerunners of the
hermeneutics of suspicion in the United States’ History of the Human Sciences 12(1), 55-72.

(2001)‘The biological basis of spiritual awareness', in Ursula King (ed.) Spirituality and Society in the New
Millennium , Sussex Academic Press, 124-135

(2001)‘The cultural context of stage models of religious experience', International Journal for the Psychology of
Religion, 11 (4), 2001, 241-246

(2001)‘Spirituality versus individualism: why we should nurture relational consciousness', International Journal
of Children's Spirituality , 5 (1), 2000, 37-48

*(2003) ‘Why is Implicit Religion implicit?’, Implicit Religion 6(1), 17-40

David Hay & Gordon Heald (1987) ‘Religion is good for you’, New Society, 17 April.

*David Hay with Rebecca Nye (1998) The Spirit of the Child, London: HarperCollins

*David Hay and Kate Hunt (2000) ‘Understanding the spirituality of people who don’t go to church’, Nottingham

University Research Report.

David Hay & Ann Morisy (1985) ‘Secular society/religious meanings: a contemporary paradox’, Review of Religious

Research 26(3), 213

David Hay & Rebecca Nye (1996) ‘Investigating children’s spirituality: the need for a fruitful hypothesis’, International

Journal of Children’s Spirituality 1(1): 6-16.

David Hay, Rebecca Nye & Roger Murphy (1996) ‘Thinking about childhood spirituality’. In, Francis, L. & Campbell,W.

& Kay, W.K. (eds.) Research in Religious Education , Leominster: Gracewing Press

*William James (1902) The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (numerous editions e.g. Harvard

University Press, 1985).

Rebecca Nye & David Hay (1996) ‘Identifying Children’s Spirituality: How do you start without a starting point?’ British

Journal of Religious Education 18(3)

*Rudolf Otto (1950) The Idea of the Holy, (tr. John W. Harvey), Oxford University Press.

Edward Robinson (1983) The Original Vision, New York: Seabury Press.

DH - Krakow 2004

David Hay - Krakow 2003

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