ABSTRACT
This chapter has the goal of showing how computer modeling of cognitive and socio-cognitive processes can contribute to biblical studies. The invention of the computer has been a major factor in the early development of cognitive science, offering new ways to think about the human mind. On the one hand, scholars thought of the mind as some kind of computer; on the other hand, the computer provided opportunities to create simulations of cognitive processes. In recent decades, cognitive science partly abandoned the computer metaphor. New developments in brain studies, the emergence of sophisticated neuro imaging technology, as well as new insights in evolutionary psychology inspired biologically grounded, wet models of the human mind. Computer modeling is now capable of capturing various aspects and levels of cognition, including the dynamic structure of memory, decision making, cooperation in groups, the evolution of successful behavioral strategies, and evolutionary processes in ecological systems.
