Paul Kenny | SOAS University of London (original) (raw)
After a 35-year career in IT development, company transformation projects and within the education sector Paul studied for an MA in The Study of Religions at The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, which was awarded with merit in December 2014. He is at SOAS studying for an MPhil/PhD.
Supervisors: Cosimo Zene, Sian Hawthorne, and Tullio Lobetti
Phone: +44 7850 848102
Address: 32 Lucastes Avenue
Haywards Heath
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Papers by Paul Kenny
A review of new materialist scholarship in the Study of Religions, together with suggested areas ... more A review of new materialist scholarship in the Study of Religions, together with suggested areas for research into the processes that support the ontogeny of the human mind as foundational
New scholarship in the Study of Religions (SOR), illustrated by Manuel Vasquez More Than Belief, integrates humanist and natural science approaches into a non-reductive materialist framework for understanding religion. The approach is promising, but, partly in seeking to correct for biases in past SOR scholarship, Vasquez underestimates the role of language in culture and human cognition. As a result, the importance of development to the ontogeny of the human mind is undervalued in the framework.
The paper identifies two potentially interesting foundations for religious behaviour, attachment in child development and homeostasis in social cognition, that could be fruitful areas of research if, as the paper suggests, ontogeny of mind is given due weight in new SOR scholarship.
A review of new materialist scholarship in the Study of Religions, together with suggested areas ... more A review of new materialist scholarship in the Study of Religions, together with suggested areas for research into the processes that support the ontogeny of the human mind as foundational
New scholarship in the Study of Religions (SOR), illustrated by Manuel Vasquez More Than Belief, integrates humanist and natural science approaches into a non-reductive materialist framework for understanding religion. The approach is promising, but, partly in seeking to correct for biases in past SOR scholarship, Vasquez underestimates the role of language in culture and human cognition. As a result, the importance of development to the ontogeny of the human mind is undervalued in the framework.
The paper identifies two potentially interesting foundations for religious behaviour, attachment in child development and homeostasis in social cognition, that could be fruitful areas of research if, as the paper suggests, ontogeny of mind is given due weight in new SOR scholarship.