ABSTRACT
Jonathan Z. Smith has inspired many of us to come to terms with the role that imagination plays in our scholarly pursuits in his important book Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown. Some scholars who are now working in the field of the cognitive science of religion have argued that with only minor "tweaking" of our intuitive ontology, a world of gods, spirits, angels, and demons springs naturally to life. And while the cognitive science of religion has received a fine hearing in the halls of the natural sciences it has hardly received a particularly warm reception in disciplines such as Religious Studies. While there are now are many ideas afloat in the cognitive science of religion as well as a burgeoning body of experimental work that examines and supports some of the hypotheses that have been proposed, it is worthwhile paying attention to certain of its key ideas.
