HOW GOD WORKS

Cherry-picking the world’s religions to find useful practices for living better lives.

DeSteno, a professor of psychology at Northeastern and author of Emotional Success (2018) and other pop-psych works, addresses a largely secular audience with a call not to ignore religion but to make use of it. The author notes that throughout history, humans have used religious rituals to deal with the landmarks and changes of life and that modern society has much to learn from these examples. He advocates “religioprospecting,” a practice through which scientists and others can mine world religions for whatever benefits can be found within them. DeSteno succinctly explains his thesis: “The practice of religion, as opposed to its theological underpinnings, offers an impressive, time-tested array of psychological technologies that augment our biology—to help us solve problems that biological adaptation alone hasn’t. And as the nature of those problems changes through time, so do rituals and even religions themselves.” The author provides a wide overview of practices used by the world’s major religions in order to celebrate birth, prepare youth for adulthood, keep people healthy, take part in marriage, and look ahead to death and the afterlife, and he notes how religions “offer spiritual technologies that boost and repair our bodies and minds.” By divorcing rituals from their theological and institutional roots, the author believes society has a great deal to gain—though devout readers of any one faith will disagree. “What truly matters,” he explains, in relation to finding value in the Jewish grieving ritual of shiva, “isn’t the exact texts of the prayers, but the togetherness, the sensitivity, and the actions inherent in the ritual.” For seekers of general, broad spiritual wisdom, DeSteno’s mining of the world’s religions for the beneficial parts will be appealing, but readers who closely follow a specific faith tradition may be displeased with the author’s excursions.

An intriguing but not convincing melding of psychology and religion.