Review of Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict

Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict, presents an empirically grounded rational reconstruction detailing the role that belief in “big gods” (i.e., omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent gods) has played in the formation of society from a cultural-evolutionary perspective. Ara Norenzayan’s primary thesis is neatly summed up in the title of the book: religion has historically served—and perhaps still serves—as a building block and maintenance system in societies around the world.