István Czachesz
Biographic Data
| ID | 1250169 |
|---|---|
| NAME | István Czachesz |
| GIVEN NAMES | István |
| FAMILY NAME | Czachesz |
| SIGNATURE | CZACHESZ I |
| AFFILIATIONS | Institute of Religious Studies |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6663-4925 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Naturalism and Protectionism in the Study of Religions
How should we study religion? Must we be religious ourselves to truly understand it? Do we study religion to advance our knowledge, or should the study of religions help to reintroduce the sacred into our increasingly secularized world?
Armaments and ornaments
This article explores the connection between sexual selection and religion, locating the origins of religious behavior in mate guarding after the transition to terrestrial life in Homo erectus 1.8 million years ago. An important consequence of the transition was the emergence of a polygynous, multiple-family social structure, which gave rise to mate guarding as a successful strategy. Further, as a result of sleeping on the ground, REM (rapid-eye-…
Filled with New Wine? Religious Experience and Social Dynamics in the Corinthian Church
The Grotesque Body in Early Christian Discourse
Early Christian apocryphal and conical documents present us with grotesque images of the human body, often combining the playful and humorous with the repulsive, and fearful. First to third century Christian literature was shaped by the discourse around and imagery of the human body. This study analyses how the iconography of bodily cruelty and visceral morality was produced and refined from the very start of Christian history. The sources range …
We need focused, transparent, and validated models of religion
God in the Fractals
Many religious traditions embrace ideas that include boundless elements (i.e., beings that are omnipresent, omniscient, etc.). The origin of ideas with such boundless qualities has not yet been successfully accounted for in the cognitive science of religion. In this study I suggest that the domain-general use of recursion underlies the mental representation of boundless qualities. I also examine the contribution of recursive patterns to other asp…
Long-Term, Explicit Memory in Rituals
This article reconsiders the problem of memorization in rituals in light of recent empirical work in memory research. Four hypotheses are put forward in particular: (1) Emotionally laden details will enhance the formation of memories about any detail of the ritual; (2) harsh sensory stimuli will function as attention-magnets, resulting in increased memorization of the stimuli at the cost of remembering other elements of the ritual; (3) the self-r…
Metamorphosis and Mind Cognitive Explorations of the Grotesque in Early Christian Literature
Speaking Asses In The Acts Of Thomas
This chapter examines the function of speaking and otherwise intelligent or pious animals in a range of Christian texts, with special attention to asses, and discusses their connection to the Balaam narrative. It surveys the major Apocryphal Acts for speaking animals. The chapter also discusses two speaking asses in the Acts of Thomas . It makes a detour to Jesus' entry to Jerusalem. The chapter deals with the ass in Pseudo- Lucian's and Apuleius…
The Gospel of Peter and the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
The Emergence Of Early Christian Religion
This essay will assess some algorithmic models of social behavior for understanding religiosity and look for ways of applying such models to the emergence of early Christian religion. I will be operating especially within the theoretical framework of distributed, self-organizing, and dynamical systems. Why do we need such an approach in the study of (early Christian) religion? For a long time, historians have been looking in vain for causal laws …
Orality, Literacy, and Colonialism in Antiquity
368 Review of Books / Journal for the Study of Judaism 38 (2007) 342-449 Orality, Literacy, and Colonialism in Antiquity. Edited by Jonathan A. Draper. (Semeia Studies 47). Leiden and Boston, Brill 2004. Pp. viii, 240. Cloth. €79 / $106. ISBN 90-04-130043-8. Th is book is the second of two volumes of essays that contain the proceedings of the “Colloquium on Orality, Literacy and Colonialism,” held in Petermaritzburg, South Africa, 28-30 Augustus …
Commission Narratives
"Commission Narratives is based on the author's doctoral dissertation in Groningen (2002). The monograph offers the first overarching, comparative treatment of commission narratives in the canonical and apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, analysing them in their ancient literary setting. Following a survey of this widespread narrative theme in the cultural environment of early Christianity, Czachesz establishes a threefold social typology of divine …
The transmission of early Christian thought
This article uses current developments in cognitive science to explore the emergence of early Christian religion. In particular, it considers Sperber's epidemiology model, Rubin's serial recall model, ritual form theory and Boyer's theory of religious concepts for understanding the transmission of early Christian thought. Whereas Sperber's approach focusses on ideas (internal representations), Rubin concentrates on the transmission of texts (publ…
The Apocalypse of Peter
The transmission of early Christian thought
This article uses current developments in cognitive science to explore the emergence of early Christian religion. In particular, it considers Sperber's epidemiology model, Rubin's serial recall model, ritual form theory and Boyer's theory of religious concepts for understanding the transmission of early Christian thought. Whereas Sperber's approach focusses on ideas (internal representations), Rubin concentrates on the transmission of texts (publ…
The Apocalypse of Peter
The Gospel of Peter and the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
The Emergence Of Early Christian Religion
This essay will assess some algorithmic models of social behavior for understanding religiosity and look for ways of applying such models to the emergence of early Christian religion. I will be operating especially within the theoretical framework of distributed, self-organizing, and dynamical systems. Why do we need such an approach in the study of (early Christian) religion? For a long time, historians have been looking in vain for causal laws …
Orality, Literacy, and Colonialism in Antiquity
368 Review of Books / Journal for the Study of Judaism 38 (2007) 342-449 Orality, Literacy, and Colonialism in Antiquity. Edited by Jonathan A. Draper. (Semeia Studies 47). Leiden and Boston, Brill 2004. Pp. viii, 240. Cloth. €79 / $106. ISBN 90-04-130043-8. Th is book is the second of two volumes of essays that contain the proceedings of the “Colloquium on Orality, Literacy and Colonialism,” held in Petermaritzburg, South Africa, 28-30 Augustus …
Commission Narratives
"Commission Narratives is based on the author's doctoral dissertation in Groningen (2002). The monograph offers the first overarching, comparative treatment of commission narratives in the canonical and apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, analysing them in their ancient literary setting. Following a survey of this widespread narrative theme in the cultural environment of early Christianity, Czachesz establishes a threefold social typology of divine …
The transmission of early Christian thought
This article uses current developments in cognitive science to explore the emergence of early Christian religion. In particular, it considers Sperber's epidemiology model, Rubin's serial recall model, ritual form theory and Boyer's theory of religious concepts for understanding the transmission of early Christian thought. Whereas Sperber's approach focusses on ideas (internal representations), Rubin concentrates on the transmission of texts (publ…
Speaking Asses In The Acts Of Thomas
This chapter examines the function of speaking and otherwise intelligent or pious animals in a range of Christian texts, with special attention to asses, and discusses their connection to the Balaam narrative. It surveys the major Apocryphal Acts for speaking animals. The chapter also discusses two speaking asses in the Acts of Thomas . It makes a detour to Jesus' entry to Jerusalem. The chapter deals with the ass in Pseudo- Lucian's and Apuleius…
Metamorphosis and Mind Cognitive Explorations of the Grotesque in Early Christian Literature
Long-Term, Explicit Memory in Rituals
This article reconsiders the problem of memorization in rituals in light of recent empirical work in memory research. Four hypotheses are put forward in particular: (1) Emotionally laden details will enhance the formation of memories about any detail of the ritual; (2) harsh sensory stimuli will function as attention-magnets, resulting in increased memorization of the stimuli at the cost of remembering other elements of the ritual; (3) the self-r…
We need focused, transparent, and validated models of religion
God in the Fractals
Many religious traditions embrace ideas that include boundless elements (i.e., beings that are omnipresent, omniscient, etc.). The origin of ideas with such boundless qualities has not yet been successfully accounted for in the cognitive science of religion. In this study I suggest that the domain-general use of recursion underlies the mental representation of boundless qualities. I also examine the contribution of recursive patterns to other asp…
The Grotesque Body in Early Christian Discourse
Early Christian apocryphal and conical documents present us with grotesque images of the human body, often combining the playful and humorous with the repulsive, and fearful. First to third century Christian literature was shaped by the discourse around and imagery of the human body. This study analyses how the iconography of bodily cruelty and visceral morality was produced and refined from the very start of Christian history. The sources range …
Filled with New Wine? Religious Experience and Social Dynamics in the Corinthian Church
Naturalism and Protectionism in the Study of Religions
How should we study religion? Must we be religious ourselves to truly understand it? Do we study religion to advance our knowledge, or should the study of religions help to reintroduce the sacred into our increasingly secularized world?
Armaments and ornaments
This article explores the connection between sexual selection and religion, locating the origins of religious behavior in mate guarding after the transition to terrestrial life in Homo erectus 1.8 million years ago. An important consequence of the transition was the emergence of a polygynous, multiple-family social structure, which gave rise to mate guarding as a successful strategy. Further, as a result of sleeping on the ground, REM (rapid-eye-…
Philosophy (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Art (6 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Cognitive science (5 works) · History (5 works) · Cognition (4 works) · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation (4 works)