The Neuroscience of Religious Experience

The Neuroscience of Religious Experience
Author: Patrick McNamara
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2009-11-06
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1139483560

Technical advances in the life and medical sciences have revolutionised our understanding of the brain, while the emerging disciplines of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience continue to reveal the connections of the higher cognitive functions and emotional states associated with religious experience to underlying brain states. At the same time, a host of developing theories in psychology and anthropology posit evolutionary explanations for the ubiquity and persistence of religious beliefs and the reports of religious experiences across human cultures, while gesturing toward physical bases for these behaviours. What is missing from this literature is a strong voice speaking to these behavioural and social scientists - as well as to the intellectually curious in the religious studies community - from the perspective of a brain scientist.

Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion

Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion
Author: Malcolm Jeeves
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2009-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1599473550

Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion is the second title published in the new Templeton Science and Religion Series. In this volume, Malcolm Jeeves and Warren S. Brown provide an overview of the relationship between neuroscience, psychology, and religion that is academically sophisticated, yet accessible to the general reader. The authors introduce key terms; thoroughly chart the histories of both neuroscience and psychology, with a particular focus on how these disciplines have interfaced religion through the ages; and explore contemporary approaches to both fields, reviewing how current science/religion controversies are playing out today. Throughout, they cover issues like consciousness, morality, concepts of the soul, and theories of mind. Their examination of topics like brain imaging research, evolutionary psychology, and primate studies show how recent advances in these areas can blend harmoniously with religious belief, since they offer much to our understanding of humanity's place in the world. Jeeves and Brown conclude their comprehensive and inclusive survey by providing an interdisciplinary model for shaping the ongoing dialogue. Sure to be of interest to both academics and curious intellectuals, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion addresses important age-old questions and demonstrates how modern scientific techniques can provide a much more nuanced range of potential answers to those questions.

The Neurology of Religion

The Neurology of Religion
Author: Alasdair Coles
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2019-11-07
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1107082609

Examines what can be learnt about the brain mechanisms underlying religious practice from studying people with neurological disorders.

Neuroscience and Religion

Neuroscience and Religion
Author: Volney P. Gay
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2009
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780739133927

This is a unique set of multidisciplinary reflections on how the neurosciences shape our understanding of religious experience and religious institutions. Twelve scholars and scientists assess how advances in the neurosciences affect our traditional sense of mind, self, and soul.

Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not

Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not
Author: Robert N. McCauley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2013-11
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0199341540

A comparison of the cognitive foundations of religion and science and an argument that religion is cognitively natural and that science is cognitively unnatural.

Neurotheology

Neurotheology
Author: Andrew Newberg
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2018-03-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0231546777

Religion is often cast in opposition to science. Yet both are deeply rooted in the inner workings of the human brain. With the advent of the modern cognitive neurosciences, the scientific study of religious and spiritual phenomena has become far more sophisticated and wide-ranging. What might brain scans of people in prayer, in meditation, or under the influence of psychoactive substances teach us about religious and spiritual beliefs? Are religion and spirituality reducible to neurological processes, or might there be aspects that, at least for now, transcend scientific claims? In this book, Andrew Newberg explores the latest findings of neurotheology, the multidisciplinary field linking neuroscience with religious and spiritual phenomena. He investigates some of the most controversial—and potentially transformative—implications of a neurotheological approach for the truth claims of religion and our understanding of minds and brains. Newberg leads readers on a tour through key intersections of neuroscience and theology, including the potential evolutionary basis of religion; the psychology of religion, including mental health and brain pathology; the neuroscience of myths, rituals, and mystical experiences; how studies of altered states of consciousness shed new light on the mind-brain relationship; and what neurotheology can tell us about free will. When brain science and religious experience are considered together in an integrated approach, Newberg shows, we might come closer to a fuller understanding of the deepest questions.

Minds, Brains, Souls and Gods

Minds, Brains, Souls and Gods
Author: Malcolm Jeeves
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2013-05-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830895620

In this hypothetical correspondence, Malcolm Jeeves urges Christian students to enter the brave new world of neuroscience ready to have their faith examined and their experiences of God put to the test. When we do this, he argues, being mindful of oversimplifications as we go, the integration of Christianity and psychology becomes possible.

NeuroTheology

NeuroTheology
Author: Rhawn Joseph
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2003
Genre: Brain
ISBN: 9780971644588

All in the Mind?

All in the Mind?
Author: Peter Clarke
Publisher: Lion Books
Total Pages: 129
Release: 2015-05-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0745956769

Much progress has been made to understand the intricacies of the brain's workings. Some have claimed, and many assumed, that these findings have challenged faith in God to the point of destruction. Are we not mere neural machines? Are religious experiences not just 'in the mind', the products of abnormal 'brain events'? Is faith not just a side effect of evolution? Not so, according to neuroscientist Peter Clarke, after a lifetime's study of the brain. In this comprehensive book, the current state of neuroscientific evidence is weighed up alongside ideas of what it means to be human, the idea of the soul, near-death experiences, and questions of free will and responsibility. He engages with the leading thinkers in these areas, including Francis Crick, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Daniel Wegner.

Religion, Neuroscience and the Self

Religion, Neuroscience and the Self
Author: Patrick McNamara
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2019-12-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0429671431

The purpose of this book is to use neuroscience discoveries concerning religious experiences, the Self and personhood to deepen, enhance and interrogate the theological and philosophical set of ideas known as Personalism. McNamara proposes a new eschatological form of personalism that is consistent with current neuroscience models of relevant brain functions concerning the self and personhood and that can meet the catastrophic challenges of the 21st century. Eschatological Personalism, rooted in the philosophical tradition of "Boston Personalism", takes as its starting point the personalist claim that the significance of a self and personality is not fully revealed until it has reached its endpoint, but theologically that end point can only occur within the eschatological realm. That realm is explored in the book along with implications for personalist theory and ethics. Topics covered include the agent intellect, dreams and the imagination, future-orientation and eschatology, phenomenology of Time, social ethics, Love, the challenge of AI, privacy and solitude and the individual ethic of autarchy. This book is an innovative combination of the neuroscientific and theological insights provided by a Personalist viewpoint. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of Cognitive Science, Theology, Religious Studies and the philosophy of the mind.