Overview

Neanderthals are the most-researched extinct members of genus Homo. They have been gone for between 28,000 and 40,000 years, far beyond the reach of cultural memories. An expanding number of archaeologists conclude that Neanderthals are, as genetics confirms, co-human with us whose lineage emerged in Africa about 300,000 years ago. Were they the same as us? No. Do archaeological discoveries of tools and behavioral clues indicate what may have been Neanderthal religion? Taking religion as spirituality realized in common, Hughson answers the controversial question with a conjecture assisted by anthropology. Neanderthals were hunter-gatherer animists associated with bears, burials, defleshed bones, and care for invalids. Hughson goes further, exploring a theology of Neanderthal animism. He argues it was an early, non-verbal revelation of the divine. Experiential consciousness of being-alive meshed with all living things in one web of life that exceeded any living individual. Neanderthals encountered the source of being-alive filtered through nature and the cosmos. Far from complete, the encounter may have had an acuity lost to modernity and many Christians. The book concludes by relating Neanderthal religion to special revelation and biblical faith, with attention to the Gospel of John on the divine Logos and Aquinas on divine immanence.

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"""Thomas Hughson has written a thought-provoking book on what it means to be human, based not on biblical or philosophical ideas, but on archaeological evidence. Where is the transition between human and non-human, and where do our ancestral cousins, the Neanderthals, stand? He presents compelling evidence that they meet essential criteria for being human. What this does for our theological consideration of human origins others can explore, but this work provides the foundations on which they can build."" --Neil Ormerod, honorary professor of theology, Alphacrucis University College ""Neanderthal Religion? represents a groundbreaking step forward for research and reflection at the nexus of theology with anthropology and archaeology. Thomas Hughson raises questions that will provide an agenda and template for researchers, theorists, and all who consider evidence of spiritual life or religious experience among those whose capacity for such experience was once dismissed. This work helps us see the Neanderthals and ourselves in a new light."" --Robert Boak Slocum, author of Light in a Burning-Glass ""At first glance, the thesis of Neanderthal Religion? might seem fantastical and wildly speculative, but Thomas Hughson carefully and courageously presents a case that must be taken seriously. Not only does it challenge how we think about humanity created in the image of God, but it also offers an important call to recover a robust concept of revelation through divine immanence rooted in the Catholic theological tradition. This is a must-read for those interested in the dialogue between theology and science."" --Christopher Vena, professor of systematic theology, Toccoa Falls College"

Author Information

Thomas Hughson, SJ, emeritus, Department of Theology, Marquette University served as superior and acting dean, Pontifical Biblical Institute-Jerusalem, 1986-89. Neil Ormerod is Professor of Theology at Australian Catholic University and member of the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry. He has published over fourteen books and eighty articles in refereed journals with articles in Theological Studies, Irish Theological Quarterly, Heythrop Journal, Louvain Studies, and Gregorianum.

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