J Larson
Biographic Data
| ID | 39125 |
|---|---|
| NAME | J Larson |
| GIVEN NAMES | J |
| FAMILY NAME | Larson |
| SIGNATURE | LARSON J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Kent State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1322-6677 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 89 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Startled Awake
Causal Opacity or Causal Translucence: Magic, Causal Heuristics and the “Ritual Stance”
According to longstanding interpretations in the social and cognitive sciences, rituals are said to be characterized by arbitrary action and the lack of a causal connection between action and desired outcome. The observer who assigns a physical-causal connection has taken the instrumental stance, while one who accepts a group convention is said to take the ritual stance. I argue that in religious rituals at least, including those with magical ele…
Moralizing Supernatural Punishment and Reward: A Response to Critics
In this article we respond to three critiques of our 2019 article ‘Complex Societies Precede Moralizing Gods throughout World History.’ We clarify that our research does not, as our critics suppose, support the claim that moralizing gods played a decisive role in the development of complex societies. Indeed our goal was to test this claim and we found it wanting. Our methods ‘reduce’ neither religion or social complexity in the ways claimed, whil…
Are religious rituals always causally opaque
Disclosure statementThe author is a member of the board of Seshat: Global History Databank
Explaining the rise of moralizing religions: A test of competing hypotheses using the Seshat Databank
The causes, consequences, and timing of the rise of moralizing religions in world history have been the focus of intense debate. Progress has been limited by the availability of quantitative data to test competing theories, by divergent ideas regarding both predictor and outcomes variables, and by differences of opinion over methodology. To address all these problems, we utilize Seshat: Global History Databank, a large storehouse of information d…
Big Gods and big science: Further reflections on theory, data, and analysis
Our target article empirically tested the Big Gods Hypothesis which proposes that beliefs in moralizing supernatural punishment (MSP) contributed to the evolution of socio-political complexity (SPC) in world history. We tested this hypothesis using a suite of measures of MSP, SPC, and other potential evolutionary drivers coded in Seshat: Global History Databank. Our analyses indicate that intensity of warfare and productivity of agriculture were …
Introducing a special issue on the role of moralizing gods in the evolution of socio-political complexity
Testing the Big Gods hypothesis with global historical data: A review and “retake”
This Retake article presents a corrected and extended version of a Letter published in Nature (Whitehouse et al., 2019) which set out to test the Big Gods hypothesis proposing that beliefs in moralizing punitive deities drove the evolution of sociopolitical complexity in world history. The Letter was retracted by the authors in response to a critique by Beheim et al. (2021). Correction of errors in the coding and analysis of missing data to addre…
The Greek Cult of Heracles
Although he is clearly a mortal in the Iliad, both the myth of Heracles’ apotheosis and his earliest divine cults emerged in the seventh century. Geographically, functionally, and in terms of ritual variation, the scope of Heracles’ worship was vast, exceeded only by major Greek deities like Apollo and Artemis. A popular ritual was xenismos, in which hospitality was provided for the god through the spreading of a couch and the offering of food. T…
Fostering critical pluralism with systems theory, methods, and heuristics
An Introduction to Seshat: Global History Databank
This article introduces the Seshat: Global History Databank, its potential, and its methodology. Seshat is a databank containing vast amounts of quantitative data buttressed by qualitative nuance for a large sample of historical and archaeological polities. The sample is global in scope and covers the period from the Neolithic Revolution to the Industrial Revolution. Seshat allows scholars to capture dynamic processes and to test theories about t…
New Era in the Study of Global History Is Born but It Needs to Be Nurtured
This article is a response to Slingerland et al. who criticize the quality of the data from Seshat: Global History Databank utilized in our Nature paper entitled “Complex Societies Precede Moralizing Gods throughout World History”. Their critique centres around the roles played by research assistants and experts in procuring and curating data, periodization structure, and so-called “data pasting” and “data filling”. We show that these criticisms …
Hermes and Heracles
The similarities between the myths of Hermes (especially as presented in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes ) and certain elements of the Heracles myths are substantial enough to indicate a relationship. Specifically, the myth of the struggle for Apollo’s tripod has to do with Heracles’ progress toward acceptance as an Olympian god. The composer of the Homeric Hymn was reacting in some degree to the Heracles myth.
Retracted Article: Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history
Explaining the Rise of Moralizing Religions: A test of competing hypotheses using the Seshat Databank
The causes, consequences, and timing of the rise of moralizing religions in world history have been the focus of intense debate. Progress has been limited by the availability of quantitative data to test competing theories, by divergent ideas regarding both predictor and outcomes variables, and by differences of opinion over methodology. To address all these problems, we utilize Seshat: Global History Databank, a large storehouse of information d…
Venison for Artemis? The Problem of Deer Sacrifice
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The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion
Understanding Greek Religion
Understanding Greek Religion is one of the first attempts to fully examine any religion from a cognitivist perspective, applying methods and findings from the cognitive science of religion to the ancient Greek world. In this book, Jennifer Larson shows that many of the fundamentals of Greek religion, such as anthropomorphic gods, divinatory procedures, purity beliefs, reciprocity, and sympathetic magic arise naturally as by-products of normal hum…
Guy MacLean Rogers. The Mysteries of Artemis of Ephesos: Cult, Polis, and Change in the Graeco-Roman World
The cult of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the most renowned in antiquity, is noted for its temple (one of the Seven Wonders of the World), its distinctive statue (with many “breasts”), its socioeconomic impact (it was a major financial institution), and its longevity (approximately 1,000 years). Guy Maclean Rogers's book treats a lesser-known aspect of the cult: the celebration of the goddess's mysteries from the early Hellenistic period through the…
Greece
A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Asklepios, Medicine, and the Politics of Healing in Fifth‐Century Greece: Between Craft and Cult – By Bronwen L. Wickkiser
Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes – By Gunther Martin
Le donateur, l’offrande et la déesse: Systèmes votifs des sanctuaires de déesses dans le monde grec
Faire une offrande à une divinité était une démarche très répandue de la pratique religieuse des Grecs. Le geste était donc banal et la nature du don extrêmement variable, pouvant aller d’une modeste terre cuite à une somptueuse intervention architecturale dans le sanctuaire du dieu ou de la déesse. Si l’offrande était variée, les intentions du donateur ou de la donatrice ne l’étaient pas moins, et s’affirmaient déjà dans le choix d’une divinité …
Renovating Domesticity in Ruth Hall, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl , and Our Nig
Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide
Using archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources; and incorporating current scholarly theories, this volume will serve as an excellent companion to any introduction to Greek mythology, showing a side of the Greek gods to which most students are rarely exposed. Detailed enough to be used as a quick reference tool or text, and providing a readable account focusing on the oldest, most widespread, and most interesting religious practices of the…
Cults, Territory, and the Origins of the Greek City-State
How did the classical Greek city come into being? What role did religion play its formation? Athens, with its ancient citadel and central cult, has traditionally been the model for the emergence of the Greek city-state. But this original and controversial investigation, Francois de Polignac suggests that the Athenian model was probably the exception, not the rule, the development of the polis ancient Greece. Combining archaeological and textual e…
Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide
Using archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources; and incorporating current scholarly theories, this volume will serve as an excellent companion to any introduction to Greek mythology, showing a side of the Greek gods to which most students are rarely exposed. Detailed enough to be used as a quick reference tool or text, and providing a readable account focusing on the oldest, most widespread, and most interesting religious practices of the…
Understanding Greek Religion
Understanding Greek Religion is one of the first attempts to fully examine any religion from a cognitivist perspective, applying methods and findings from the cognitive science of religion to the ancient Greek world. In this book, Jennifer Larson shows that many of the fundamentals of Greek religion, such as anthropomorphic gods, divinatory procedures, purity beliefs, reciprocity, and sympathetic magic arise naturally as by-products of normal hum…
Adolescent Loneliness: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Americans and Asian Indians
Converting Passive Womanhood to Active Sisterhood: Agency, Power, and Subversion in Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Corinna and the Daughters of Asopus
Explaining the Rise of Moralizing Religions: A test of competing hypotheses using the Seshat Databank
The causes, consequences, and timing of the rise of moralizing religions in world history have been the focus of intense debate. Progress has been limited by the availability of quantitative data to test competing theories, by divergent ideas regarding both predictor and outcomes variables, and by differences of opinion over methodology. To address all these problems, we utilize Seshat: Global History Databank, a large storehouse of information d…
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion
Renovating Domesticity in Ruth Hall, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl , and Our Nig
Lugalbanda and Hermes
Adolescent Loneliness: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Americans and Asian Indians
Cults, Territory, and the Origins of the Greek City-State
How did the classical Greek city come into being? What role did religion play its formation? Athens, with its ancient citadel and central cult, has traditionally been the model for the emergence of the Greek city-state. But this original and controversial investigation, Francois de Polignac suggests that the Athenian model was probably the exception, not the rule, the development of the polis ancient Greece. Combining archaeological and textual e…
Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore
Greek Nymphs: Myths, Cult, Lore is the first comprehensive study of the nymph in the ancient Greek world. This well-illustrated book examines nymphs as both religious and mythopoetic figures, tracing their development and significance in Greek culture from Homer through the Hellenistic period. Drawing upon a broad range of literary and archaeological evidence, Jennifer Larson discusses sexually powerful nymphs in ancient and modern Greek folklore…
Corinna and the Daughters of Asopus
Lugalbanda and Hermes
Converting Passive Womanhood to Active Sisterhood: Agency, Power, and Subversion in Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide
Using archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources; and incorporating current scholarly theories, this volume will serve as an excellent companion to any introduction to Greek mythology, showing a side of the Greek gods to which most students are rarely exposed. Detailed enough to be used as a quick reference tool or text, and providing a readable account focusing on the oldest, most widespread, and most interesting religious practices of the…
Le donateur, l’offrande et la déesse: Systèmes votifs des sanctuaires de déesses dans le monde grec
Faire une offrande à une divinité était une démarche très répandue de la pratique religieuse des Grecs. Le geste était donc banal et la nature du don extrêmement variable, pouvant aller d’une modeste terre cuite à une somptueuse intervention architecturale dans le sanctuaire du dieu ou de la déesse. Si l’offrande était variée, les intentions du donateur ou de la donatrice ne l’étaient pas moins, et s’affirmaient déjà dans le choix d’une divinité …
Renovating Domesticity in Ruth Hall, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl , and Our Nig
Asklepios, Medicine, and the Politics of Healing in Fifth‐Century Greece: Between Craft and Cult – By Bronwen L. Wickkiser
Divine Talk: Religious Argumentation in Demosthenes – By Gunther Martin
Greece
A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Guy MacLean Rogers. The Mysteries of Artemis of Ephesos: Cult, Polis, and Change in the Graeco-Roman World
The cult of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the most renowned in antiquity, is noted for its temple (one of the Seven Wonders of the World), its distinctive statue (with many “breasts”), its socioeconomic impact (it was a major financial institution), and its longevity (approximately 1,000 years). Guy Maclean Rogers's book treats a lesser-known aspect of the cult: the celebration of the goddess's mysteries from the early Hellenistic period through the…
Understanding Greek Religion
Understanding Greek Religion is one of the first attempts to fully examine any religion from a cognitivist perspective, applying methods and findings from the cognitive science of religion to the ancient Greek world. In this book, Jennifer Larson shows that many of the fundamentals of Greek religion, such as anthropomorphic gods, divinatory procedures, purity beliefs, reciprocity, and sympathetic magic arise naturally as by-products of normal hum…
Venison for Artemis? The Problem of Deer Sacrifice
A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion
Hermes and Heracles
The similarities between the myths of Hermes (especially as presented in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes ) and certain elements of the Heracles myths are substantial enough to indicate a relationship. Specifically, the myth of the struggle for Apollo’s tripod has to do with Heracles’ progress toward acceptance as an Olympian god. The composer of the Homeric Hymn was reacting in some degree to the Heracles myth.
Retracted Article: Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history
Explaining the Rise of Moralizing Religions: A test of competing hypotheses using the Seshat Databank
The causes, consequences, and timing of the rise of moralizing religions in world history have been the focus of intense debate. Progress has been limited by the availability of quantitative data to test competing theories, by divergent ideas regarding both predictor and outcomes variables, and by differences of opinion over methodology. To address all these problems, we utilize Seshat: Global History Databank, a large storehouse of information d…
An Introduction to Seshat: Global History Databank
This article introduces the Seshat: Global History Databank, its potential, and its methodology. Seshat is a databank containing vast amounts of quantitative data buttressed by qualitative nuance for a large sample of historical and archaeological polities. The sample is global in scope and covers the period from the Neolithic Revolution to the Industrial Revolution. Seshat allows scholars to capture dynamic processes and to test theories about t…
New Era in the Study of Global History Is Born but It Needs to Be Nurtured
This article is a response to Slingerland et al. who criticize the quality of the data from Seshat: Global History Databank utilized in our Nature paper entitled “Complex Societies Precede Moralizing Gods throughout World History”. Their critique centres around the roles played by research assistants and experts in procuring and curating data, periodization structure, and so-called “data pasting” and “data filling”. We show that these criticisms …
The Greek Cult of Heracles
Although he is clearly a mortal in the Iliad, both the myth of Heracles’ apotheosis and his earliest divine cults emerged in the seventh century. Geographically, functionally, and in terms of ritual variation, the scope of Heracles’ worship was vast, exceeded only by major Greek deities like Apollo and Artemis. A popular ritual was xenismos, in which hospitality was provided for the god through the spreading of a couch and the offering of food. T…
Fostering critical pluralism with systems theory, methods, and heuristics
Explaining the rise of moralizing religions: A test of competing hypotheses using the Seshat Databank
The causes, consequences, and timing of the rise of moralizing religions in world history have been the focus of intense debate. Progress has been limited by the availability of quantitative data to test competing theories, by divergent ideas regarding both predictor and outcomes variables, and by differences of opinion over methodology. To address all these problems, we utilize Seshat: Global History Databank, a large storehouse of information d…
Big Gods and big science: Further reflections on theory, data, and analysis
Our target article empirically tested the Big Gods Hypothesis which proposes that beliefs in moralizing supernatural punishment (MSP) contributed to the evolution of socio-political complexity (SPC) in world history. We tested this hypothesis using a suite of measures of MSP, SPC, and other potential evolutionary drivers coded in Seshat: Global History Databank. Our analyses indicate that intensity of warfare and productivity of agriculture were …
History (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Art (8 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation (8 works) · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies (8 works) · Law (8 works)