Stephen K. Sanderson is Research Associate at the Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California, Riverside, USA. He is the author of numerous books, most recently Modern Societies: A Comparative Perspective (2015) and Human Nature and the Evolution of Society (2014).

This is a major contribution to the evolutionary study of religion. Sanderson masterfully engages both the rich historical scholarship on religion and the contemporary theoretical work on the evolution of religion, offering a novel and insightful analysis. The evolutionary study of religion is fortunate to have a scholar of such breadth, proficiency, and dedication wrestle with the most pressing questions in the field.

• Preface and AcknowledgementsList of FiguresList of Tables Prologue1. What Religion Is2. The Evolutionary Forms of the Religious Life3. The Religions of the Axial Age4. Explaining Religion5. Religion as an Evolutionary Adaptation6. The Sociocultural Evolution of Religion, 1: The Overall Pattern7. The Sociocultural Evolution of Religion, 2: The Axial Age8. Religion Past, Present, and FutureAppendix A. Codes for Stage of Religious Evolution in the Standard Cross-cultural SampleAppendix B. Ancient Cities and Estimated City SizesNotesBibliographyIndex

Stephen K. Sanderson is Research Associate at the Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California, Riverside, USA. He is the author of numerous books, most recently Modern Societies: A Comparative Perspective (2015) and Human Nature and the Evolution of Society (2014).

This is a major contribution to the evolutionary study of religion. Sanderson masterfully engages both the rich historical scholarship on religion and the contemporary theoretical work on the evolution of religion, offering a novel and insightful analysis. The evolutionary study of religion is fortunate to have a scholar of such breadth, proficiency, and dedication wrestle with the most pressing questions in the field.

• Preface and AcknowledgementsList of FiguresList of Tables Prologue1. What Religion Is2. The Evolutionary Forms of the Religious Life3. The Religions of the Axial Age4. Explaining Religion5. Religion as an Evolutionary Adaptation6. The Sociocultural Evolution of Religion, 1: The Overall Pattern7. The Sociocultural Evolution of Religion, 2: The Axial Age8. Religion Past, Present, and FutureAppendix A. Codes for Stage of Religious Evolution in the Standard Cross-cultural SampleAppendix B. Ancient Cities and Estimated City SizesNotesBibliographyIndex

Stephen K. Sanderson is Research Associate at the Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California, Riverside, USA. He is the author of numerous books, most recently Modern Societies: A Comparative Perspective (2015) and Human Nature and the Evolution of Society (2014).

This is a major contribution to the evolutionary study of religion. Sanderson masterfully engages both the rich historical scholarship on religion and the contemporary theoretical work on the evolution of religion, offering a novel and insightful analysis. The evolutionary study of religion is fortunate to have a scholar of such breadth, proficiency, and dedication wrestle with the most pressing questions in the field.

• Preface and AcknowledgementsList of FiguresList of Tables Prologue1. What Religion Is2. The Evolutionary Forms of the Religious Life3. The Religions of the Axial Age4. Explaining Religion5. Religion as an Evolutionary Adaptation6. The Sociocultural Evolution of Religion, 1: The Overall Pattern7. The Sociocultural Evolution of Religion, 2: The Axial Age8. Religion Past, Present, and FutureAppendix A. Codes for Stage of Religious Evolution in the Standard Cross-cultural SampleAppendix B. Ancient Cities and Estimated City SizesNotesBibliographyIndex