Neurotheology is an emerging field of study within the spectrum of neuroscience, which can also be termed as "biology of religion." It addresses the relationship between the brain (or, the entire physical organism) as an anatomical (structural) and physiological (functional) entity; and religion, including spiritual experience, and behaviour modulated by belief. Neurotheology demands attention within the province of neuroscience precisely because it insists upon the precise demarcation of a neural substrate for affective phenomena usually termed 'spiritual'.
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Subcategories 1
Related categories 8
Sites 30
Website for Matthew Alper's book which suggests that "humans are innately hard-wired to perceive a spiritual reality".
Is a part of our brains hardwired to generate religious feelings? Program summary for a BBC neurotheology special.
"Principles of Neurotheology" is Andrew Newburg's seminal work that attempts to integrated the varied disciplines that comprise neurotheology. In NeuroQuantology [Dec 2010, vol 8, Issue 4, pages 600-602], the reviewers Persinger and Lavallee recommend this book as essential reading for scholars wishing to pursue this subject with scientific rigour.
[PDF]
Discussion of relationship between drugs, celibacy, fasting and other physical practices and ecstasy. Presented by Kaj Bjorkqvist at Symposium on Religions Ecstasy held at Åbo, Finland, on the 26th-28th of August 1981.
This is a report on a laboratory project for aiding student learning, in the context of Dean Hamers' book 'The God Gene', that proposes variations in the VMAT2 gene as playing a role in one's openness to spiritual experiences.
Carl Zimmer critically reviews Dean Hamer's book "The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-wired Into Our Genes".
Article discussing evolutionary, anthropological (Boyer), and neuroscientific (Ramachandran, Newberg) aspects of religion.
Broad-ranging overview by Iona Miller, touching on archetypes, NDEs, drugs, trances, TMS, and shamanism.
Report by Brazilian researchers who conducted a Partial Replication study of Persinger's God Helmet and obtained results showing that suggestibility does not account for its reported effects.
[PDF]
Article building on work of Persinger and d'Aquili, looking at near-death experiences with neuroimaging.
Articles on spiritual experience and magnetic signal brain stimulation by one of Michael Persinger's students.
A brief but balanced overview of the field.
This blog on neurotheology has a good collection of relevant musings, most of them referencing contemporary articles, that have grown over the years.
Article covering meditation and its relationship to the metabolism, autonomic nervous system, endocrine system, and central nervous system.
This Book, written by Todd Murphy, a member of a University Neurosciences group, was published in November 2013, and elaborates upon the brain's role in religious and mystic experiences. It has Forewords by His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet, and by Dr M.A. Persinger.
An outlook from the Islamic perspective on neurotheology as the neuroscientific study of spiritual experience; especially within the context of Sufism.
Neurotheology is the scientific field that is focused on studying the neurological activity of the brain during spiritual experiences.
In interview format, the author offers a brief perspective on neurotheology relevant to mental health providers.
Article by Drs. Andrew Newberg and Eugene D'Aquili on the biological mechanisms underlying religious and spiritual experience, from the PBS "The Question of God" series.
This article represents an attempt to extract the psychological theory of cognition and consciousness from a prominent ancient Indian thought system: Samkhya-Yoga; that has the potential to modify and complement existing Western mainstream accounts of cognition, especially in meditation research or research on aspects of consciousness.
(March 15, 2016)
A layman-friendly introduction to the empirical approach toward affective spiritual experiences; that consists of the neurotheological study of intersections among our brains, religion, philosophy, and spirituality.
(October 19, 2013)
An attempt to understand the function of the mind and the brain, in relation to spiritual experiences, referred to as the emerging science of neurotheology.
(May 08, 2013)
This peer-reviewed study, an open-access resource, compares religious thinking with ordinary cognition; and finds that while religious and nonreligious thinking differentially engage broad regions of the frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobes, the difference between belief and disbelief appears to be content-independent.
(October 01, 2009)
This webpage provides an introduction to neurotheology for laypersons by expanding on five topics. Among the topics covered are: The God Chemical, The God Spot, and The Biology of Belief.
(July 21, 2009)
University of Chicago alumnus Audrius Pliophys merges neurology and art in his works with the group-title "Neurotheology", so termed because he sees this artistic representaton of the human brain's ability to think philosophically as "spiritual".
(October 05, 2006)
Economist article giving overview of recent research in neurotheology.
(March 04, 2004)
Article in the American Journal of Psychiatry finds that "binding potential" (serotonin levels) correlated inversely with scores for self-transcendence, and concludes that the serotonin system may serve as a biological basis for spiritual experiences.
(November 01, 2003)
Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry article finding that epilepsy patients with high religiosity had smaller right hippocampi.
(June 06, 2003)
The Guardian newspaper's review of Pascal Boyer's book "Religion Explained".
(February 07, 2002)
Wired Magazine interview of Michael Persinger, leading figure in the reductionist school of neurotheology.
(November 01, 1999)
Carl Zimmer critically reviews Dean Hamer's book "The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-wired Into Our Genes".
This is a report on a laboratory project for aiding student learning, in the context of Dean Hamers' book 'The God Gene', that proposes variations in the VMAT2 gene as playing a role in one's openness to spiritual experiences.
Report by Brazilian researchers who conducted a Partial Replication study of Persinger's God Helmet and obtained results showing that suggestibility does not account for its reported effects.
[PDF]
Neurotheology is the scientific field that is focused on studying the neurological activity of the brain during spiritual experiences.
In interview format, the author offers a brief perspective on neurotheology relevant to mental health providers.
An outlook from the Islamic perspective on neurotheology as the neuroscientific study of spiritual experience; especially within the context of Sufism.
"Principles of Neurotheology" is Andrew Newburg's seminal work that attempts to integrated the varied disciplines that comprise neurotheology. In NeuroQuantology [Dec 2010, vol 8, Issue 4, pages 600-602], the reviewers Persinger and Lavallee recommend this book as essential reading for scholars wishing to pursue this subject with scientific rigour.
[PDF]
This Book, written by Todd Murphy, a member of a University Neurosciences group, was published in November 2013, and elaborates upon the brain's role in religious and mystic experiences. It has Forewords by His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet, and by Dr M.A. Persinger.
This blog on neurotheology has a good collection of relevant musings, most of them referencing contemporary articles, that have grown over the years.
Article discussing evolutionary, anthropological (Boyer), and neuroscientific (Ramachandran, Newberg) aspects of religion.
Discussion of relationship between drugs, celibacy, fasting and other physical practices and ecstasy. Presented by Kaj Bjorkqvist at Symposium on Religions Ecstasy held at Åbo, Finland, on the 26th-28th of August 1981.
Is a part of our brains hardwired to generate religious feelings? Program summary for a BBC neurotheology special.
Articles on spiritual experience and magnetic signal brain stimulation by one of Michael Persinger's students.
Article building on work of Persinger and d'Aquili, looking at near-death experiences with neuroimaging.
Article by Drs. Andrew Newberg and Eugene D'Aquili on the biological mechanisms underlying religious and spiritual experience, from the PBS "The Question of God" series.
Website for Matthew Alper's book which suggests that "humans are innately hard-wired to perceive a spiritual reality".
Article covering meditation and its relationship to the metabolism, autonomic nervous system, endocrine system, and central nervous system.
A brief but balanced overview of the field.
Broad-ranging overview by Iona Miller, touching on archetypes, NDEs, drugs, trances, TMS, and shamanism.
This article represents an attempt to extract the psychological theory of cognition and consciousness from a prominent ancient Indian thought system: Samkhya-Yoga; that has the potential to modify and complement existing Western mainstream accounts of cognition, especially in meditation research or research on aspects of consciousness.
(March 15, 2016)
A layman-friendly introduction to the empirical approach toward affective spiritual experiences; that consists of the neurotheological study of intersections among our brains, religion, philosophy, and spirituality.
(October 19, 2013)
An attempt to understand the function of the mind and the brain, in relation to spiritual experiences, referred to as the emerging science of neurotheology.
(May 08, 2013)
This peer-reviewed study, an open-access resource, compares religious thinking with ordinary cognition; and finds that while religious and nonreligious thinking differentially engage broad regions of the frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobes, the difference between belief and disbelief appears to be content-independent.
(October 01, 2009)
This webpage provides an introduction to neurotheology for laypersons by expanding on five topics. Among the topics covered are: The God Chemical, The God Spot, and The Biology of Belief.
(July 21, 2009)
University of Chicago alumnus Audrius Pliophys merges neurology and art in his works with the group-title "Neurotheology", so termed because he sees this artistic representaton of the human brain's ability to think philosophically as "spiritual".
(October 05, 2006)
Economist article giving overview of recent research in neurotheology.
(March 04, 2004)
Article in the American Journal of Psychiatry finds that "binding potential" (serotonin levels) correlated inversely with scores for self-transcendence, and concludes that the serotonin system may serve as a biological basis for spiritual experiences.
(November 01, 2003)
Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry article finding that epilepsy patients with high religiosity had smaller right hippocampi.
(June 06, 2003)
The Guardian newspaper's review of Pascal Boyer's book "Religion Explained".
(February 07, 2002)
Wired Magazine interview of Michael Persinger, leading figure in the reductionist school of neurotheology.
(November 01, 1999)
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