Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020 Aug 17;375(1805):20190425. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0425. Epub 2020 Jul 29.
Recent work on the evolution of religion has approached religions as adaptive complexes of traits consisting of cognitive, neurological, affective, behavioural and developmental features that are organized into a self-regulating feedback system. Religious systems, it has been argued, derive from ancestral ritual systems and continue to be fuelled by ritual performances. One key prediction that emerges from this systemic approach is that the success of religious beliefs will be related to how well they are connected to rituals and integrated with other elements of the religious system. Here, I examine this prediction by exploring the rich world of Jewish demonology. As a case study, I briefly survey the historical trajectory of demonic beliefs across Jewish communities and focus on one demon, a , that has survived the vicissitudes of Jewish history and maintained its relevance in contemporary Jewish communities. I argue that it has done so because of its linkage with a morning handwashing ritual and its effective integration into the core elements of Jewish religious systems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'.
近年来，关于宗教进化的研究将宗教视为由认知、神经、情感、行为和发展特征组成的适应性综合体，这些特征组织成一个自我调节的反馈系统。有人认为，宗教系统源于祖先的仪式系统，并继续受到仪式表演的推动。这种系统方法的一个关键预测是，宗教信仰的成功将与其与仪式的联系程度以及与宗教系统其他元素的整合程度有关。在这里，我通过探索丰富的犹太教恶魔学世界来检验这一预测。作为一个案例研究，我简要地考察了犹太社区中恶魔信仰的历史轨迹，并集中讨论了一个恶魔，即，它在犹太历史的变迁中幸存下来，并在当代犹太社区中保持着相关性。我认为，这是因为它与早晨洗手的仪式有关，并且有效地融入了犹太宗教系统的核心要素。本文是“仪式复兴：人类行为最深刻的新见解”主题特刊的一部分。
