The Power of Stars – Bryan Penprase – Second Edition, 2017 (Springer)
A comprehensive global survey exploring how celestial observations have shaped human mythology, architecture, and worldviews from antiquity to the modern era.
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The Religion of the Yorubas – Jonathan Olumide Lucas – C.M.S. Bookshop (1948); reprinted by Athelia Henrietta Press (1996).
A pioneering 1948 study by a Yoruba scholar that systematizes the theology of the Orishas and explores potential linguistic and historical links between Yoruba culture and Ancient Egypt.
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The Raw and the Cooked – Claude Lévi-Strauss – 1969 (English Translation, Harper & Row)
A foundational structuralist work that decodes the logic of South American myths, exploring how binary oppositions like ‘the raw’ and ‘the cooked’ symbolize the transition from nature to culture.
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The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire – Roger Beck – Oxford University Press, 2006
Roger Beck provides a sophisticated analysis of Mithraism, utilizing cognitive science and astronomical data to show how the cult’s icons and rituals functioned as a symbolic language of the cosmos.
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The Philosophy of Horror; or, Paradoxes of the Heart – Noel Carroll – Routledge, 1990
An analytical investigation into the aesthetics and narrative logic of horror. Carroll explores the cognitive definition of monsters as ‘categorically impure’ and addresses the paradox of why humans find pleasure in fictional terror.
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The Passion of the Western Mind – Richard Tarnas – 1991 (Harmony Books / Ballantine)
A comprehensive narrative of the Western intellectual tradition, tracing the evolution of thought from ancient Greek philosophy to the postmodern era, focusing on the shifting structures of human perception and belief.
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The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture – Walter Burkert – English translation by Margaret E. Pinder and Walter Burkert, Harvard University Press, 1992
This scholarly work investigates the extensive influence of Near Eastern civilizations on early Greek culture during the 8th century BCE, focusing on the transmission of the alphabet, ritual practices, and mythic narratives.
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The Non-Obviousness of Belief – Lucien Scubla – 2002 (In ‘The Cognitive Science of Religion’, edited by James Pyysiäinen and Veikko Anttonen)
A scholarly inquiry into the cognitive foundations of religion, exploring how the human brain processes and maintains ‘non-obvious’ or counter-intuitive beliefs through symbolic and ritual systems.
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The Open and Closed Mind – Milton Rokeach – 1960, Basic Books
An empirical study of the cognitive structure of belief systems, examining how dogmatism and open-mindedness influence human perception and the processing of information.
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The Open Society and Its Enemies – Karl Popper – 1945 (Original), 1966 (Fifth Edition Revised), Princeton University Press / Routledge
Karl Popper provides a landmark critique of the philosophical roots of totalitarianism, examining the conflict between closed, tribal societies and open, critical ones, while exposing the psychological strain of individual freedom.