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Barbara J. King
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Barbara J. King is a biological
anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at The College of
William and Mary whose research interests concern the social
communication of the great apes, the closest living relatives
to humans. Her book, Evolving God, represents an exciting breakthrough
in the general study of evolution as it relates to the evolution
of religion. Drawing on her own extensive investigations into
the behavior of our closest primate relatives and the most up-to-date
research in archaeology, anthropology, and biology, Barbara King
offers a comprehensive, holistic view of how and why religion
came to be. Evolving God explores one of the greatest mysteries
in human history-the question of whether humankind is innately
religious-and provides evidence that will have a tremendous impact
on current debates about evolution, creationism, and intelligent
design.
Professor King has studied ape
and monkey behavior in Gabon, Kenya, and at the Language Research
Center at Georgia State University. The recipient of a Guggenheim
Foundation Fellowship, she has published three books on anthropology,
including The Information Continuum: Social Information Transfer
in Monkeys, Apes, and Hominids. At William and Mary, where she
has developed courses such as "Biological Anthropology:
and Evolutionary Perspective" and "Roots of Human Behavior,"
Professor King has won four teaching awards: The William and
Mary Alumni Association Teaching Award, the College's Thomas
Jefferson Teaching Award, the Virginia State Council of Higher
Education's Outstanding Faculty Award, and the designation of
University Professor for Teaching Excellence, 1999-2002. She
received her B.A. in anthropology from Douglass College, Rutgers
University, and earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University
of Oklahoma. |
