Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion

Welcome!

The site Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of religion (ibcsr.org) has moved to Center for Mind and Culture (mindandculture.org) in order to consolidate our distinct projects under one digital roof.

The Center for Mind and Culture (CMAC) is dedicated to developing innovative solutions for complex social issues by integrating insights from diverse fields such as cognitive science, anthropology, psychology, and data science. The aim is to bridge the gap between scientific and humanities research to better understand the interplay between human minds and dynamic cultures.

The Institute for the Bio-cultural Study of Religion conducted non-partisan research in the scientific study of religion, combining:

The computational sciences (e.g. modeling and simulation, semantic network analysis, machine learning, analysis of massive datasets)
The sciences of brains and bodies (e.g. neuroscience, cognitive psychology, evolutionary biology, medicine)
The sciences of culture (e.g. sociology, anthropology, political economy, history)

The interplay of cultures, brains, and biology is a continuous feedback loop, rendering the nature-versus-nurture debate in religion unresolvable. Biology shapes culture but does not dictate it, while culture influences behavior without having the final say. Neither side speaks the last word—both remain in constant dialogue. Through integrated research methodologies, we uncover the answers that truly matter.

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You’ll find the relevant content from Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study here or by navigating to the appropriate categories in the drop-down menu to the right of any blog post.

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Wildman

CMAC’s approach is innovative, it’s risky and ultimately it might not work. But this approach does promise breakthrough change, allowing us to test before we invest in new interventions. We use these techniques routinely when we design cars, bridges and factories. And speaking for myself, a change skeptic, I finally feel I’m telling myself the truth about real-world change. I’ll keep up the rhythm of small-change activities. And I’ll make a very precise, limited and deliberate move on the big-change stage through CMAC.

Wesley Wildman
Executive Director

Teehan

After two (intense) days with the people at CMAC, going through the process of translating my hypothesis about religion and empathy into the language of computer modeling, it all began to make sense … Because of this method, we will actually be able to bring some data into a debate that would otherwise remain largely in speculation … It forced me to formulate my ideas in such precise and concrete terms (so they could be coded for) that I came away with a better understanding of my own theory.

John Teehan, Ph.D.
Hofstra University

Bacon

CMAC is a great environment when you are in a transitional stage of your early career and deciding what type of career path to pursue. There is such a wide variety of projects going on at one time, and even if you are assigned to primarily work on just one, there is frequently the opportunity to contribute to multiple projects. And in doing so, you get to use your skillset in areas outside your area of expertise, and also expand your skillset within your main area with an interdisciplinary team.

Rachel Bacon
Postdoctoral Fellow

Gore

Each member of the team was capable of synthesizing that multi-disciplinary knowledge into a single response to a complex problem statement. The realization was humbling and reshaped my view of what interdisciplinary work can be and how I pursue it.

Ross Gore, Ph.D.
Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center