Directory of Neurotheology Resources

Home > Science > Social Sciences > Psychology > Psychology and Religion > Neurotheology

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'.

Subcategories

• People

Resources in This Category

• "Neurotheology": A semantic trap set by pseudo-science for the unwary scientist

  http://antiageing.astronrill.com/neurotheology.html
  Article claiming there is no scientific rationale for the nouveau term "Neurotheology", and that researchers working on topics relating to religion should stick to the conventional behavioural and social neurosciences categories.

• A Mystical Union

  http://www.economist.com/node/2478148
  Economist article giving overview of recent research in neurotheology.

• Alumnus transforms neurological activity of memories into colorful art exhibition - 'Neurotheology'

  http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/061005/neurotheology.shtml
  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".

• Are We Hardwired for God?

  http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/feb/07/londonreviewofbooks
  The Guardian newspaper's review of Pascal Boyer's book "Religion Explained".

• BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon - God on the Brain

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/godonbrain.shtml
  Is a part of our brains hardwired to generate religious feelings? Program summary for a BBC neurotheology special.

• Book Review of Andrew Newburg's 'Principles of Neurotheology'

  http://www.neuroquantology.com/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/371/357
  "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.

• Chrysalis Institute - Neurotheology

  http://www.chrysalisinstitute.org/neurotheology
  The Chrysalis Institute uses contemporary scientific research to investigate the mind, body, brain, and soul connections between spiritual development and human well being.

• Ecstasy from a Physiological Point of View

  http://www.ex-premie.org/papers/religious_ecstasy.htm
  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.

• Experimenting with Spirituality: Analyzing The God Gene in a Nonmajors Laboratory Course

  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2262126/
  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.

• Guardian: Tests of faith

  http://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/feb/24/1
  Article discussing evolutionary, anthropological (Boyer), and neuroscientific (Ramachandran, Newberg) aspects of religion.

• How the Brain Creates God

  http://www.nwbotanicals.org/oak/magick/createsgod.htm
  Broad-ranging overview by Iona Miller, touching on archetypes, NDEs, drugs, trances, TMS, and shamanism.

• Is this your brain on God?

  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997741
  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.

• Journal of Consciousness Exploration and Research - Magnetic Stimulation of the Temporal Cortex: A Partial “God Helmet” Replication Study

  http://jcer.com/index.php/jcj/article/view/361/386
  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.

• Key Scientific Papers

  http://www.rickhanson.net/science/key-papers
  Dr Rick Hanson presents a collection of public domain, fundamental science papers related to neuroscience, contemplative practice, and neurotheology.

• Linking Out-of-Body Experience and Self Processing to Mental Own-Body Imagery at the Temporoparietal Junction

  http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/3/550
  Paper by Olaf Blanke and team on the neurocognitive bases of out-of-body (OBE) experiences, from Journal of Neuroscience.

• Meditation and the Brain

  http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/02/newton0204.asp?p=1
  Report on a conference held by MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research, bringing together Buddhists and neuroscientists.

• Neuro-theology, literature and links - Uppsala University, Sweden

  http://www.neuro.uu.se/research/pharmacology/miscellaneous/neuro-theology-literature-and-links/?languageId=1
  An extensive and useful selection of resources on neurotheology.

• Neurological Correlates of Transformational Experiences

  http://www.meridianinstitute.com/reports/neurocor.html
  Article building on work of Persinger and d'Aquili, looking at near-death experiences with neuroimaging.

• Neurology of Spiritual Experiences

  http://www.innerworlds.50megs.com/
  Articles on spiritual experience and magnetic signal brain stimulation by one of Michael Persinger's students.

• Neurotheological Insurance For Atheism

  http://www.astronrill.com/neurotheological-insurance-for-atheism
  Neurotheology is the atheist’s ultimate weapon to empirically investigate matters termed as ‘spiritual’ without getting entangled in any of the establishments of religion.

• Neurotheology & Shamanism

  http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/winkelman1.htm
  Dr. Michael Winkelman, Anthropology Professor at Arizona State and author of "Shamanism: The Neural Economy of Consciousness", discusses the neurological basis of shamanism, mankind's oldest spiritual practice.

• Neurotheology - With God In Mind

  http://www.clinicallypsyched.com/neurotheologywithgodinmind.htm
  Neurotheology research and its implications are discussed from a psychological perspective.

• Neurotheology on Wikipedia

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotheology
  A brief but balanced overview of the field.

• Neurotheology-Matters of the Mind or Matters that Mind?

  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3749673/
  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.

• Neurotheology: Confirming the Existence of a Naturally Mystical Mind

  http://prizedwriting.ucdavis.edu/past/2006-2007/pdf/Rutaganira.pdf
  An article by Florentine Rutaganira, that has made it to the 'Prized Writing' section at ucdavis, covering the recent research into the relationship between brain processes and religious or mystical experiences.

• Numenware, a blog about neurotheology

  http://www.numenware.com/article/category/neurotheology
  This blog on neurotheology has a good collection of relevant musings, most of them referencing contemporary articles, that have grown over the years.

• Physiology of meditation

  http://ejmas.com/pt/ptart_shin_0400.htm
  Article covering meditation and its relationship to the metabolism, autonomic nervous system, endocrine system, and central nervous system.

• PLOS ONE: The Neural Correlates of Religious and Nonreligious Belief

  http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0007272
  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.

• Religiosity is associated with hippocampal but not amygdala volumes in patients with refractory epilepsy

  http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/75/4/640.full
  Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry article finding that epilepsy patients with high religiosity had smaller right hippocampi.

• Researching Meditation

  http://www.researchingmeditation.org/
  Provides results from research into the effects of meditation using a variety of methods including EEG analysis. Areas of research include ADHD, epilepsy, asthma and menopausal hot flushes.

• Sacred Pathways: The Brain’s Role In Religious and Mystic Experiences

  http://www.lulu.com/shop/todd-murphy/sacred-pathways-the-brains-role-in-religious-and-mystic-experiences/paperback/product-21289947.html
  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.

• Sufism and Neurotheology

  http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_301_350/sufism__and__neurotheology.htm
  An outlook from the Islamic perspective on neurotheology as the neuroscientific study of spiritual experience; especially within the context of Sufism.

• The "God" Part Of The Brain

  http://godpart.com/
  Website for Matthew Alper's book which suggests that "humans are innately hard-wired to perceive a spiritual reality".

• The Future of Neurotheology

  http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/2010/12/24/the-future-of-neurotheology/
  Andrew Newburg asks what this field of the neurological study of religious and spiritual experiences will accomplish in the future, in terms of the philosophical, theological, and scientific issues.

• The God Gene

  http://carlzimmer.com/articles/2004.php?subaction=showfull&id=1177190905
  Carl Zimmer critically reviews Dean Hamer's book "The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-wired Into Our Genes".

• The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation

  http://noetic.org/sites/default/files/uploads/files/Meditation_Intro.pdf
  Online Introduction of a book by the same name, reviewing scientific studies on meditation research, discussing behavioral effects, and giving subjective reports.

• The Serotonin System and Spiritual Experiences

  http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1965
  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.

• This Is Your Brain on God

  http://www.wired.com/1999/11/persinger/
  Wired Magazine interview of Michael Persinger, leading figure in the reductionist school of neurotheology.

• What Buddhists Know About Science

  http://archive.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2002/07/53820
  Wired article on relationship between Tibetan meditation and the brain.

• What is Neurotheology?

  http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-neurotheology.htm
  Neurotheology is the scientific field that is focused on studying the neurological activity of the brain during spiritual experiences.

• What is Neurotheology? by Charles Zeiders

  http://wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/799/
  In interview format, the author offers a brief perspective on neurotheology relevant to mental health providers.

• What Really Happens In Our Brains When We Have Spiritual Experiences?

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/19/science-behind-spiritual-experiences_n_4078519.html
  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.

• Wired for the Ultimate Reality: The Neuropsychology of Religious Experience

  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/voices/newberg.html
  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.

• Zen and the Brain

  http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy/zen_and.html
  Summary of "Zen and the Brain", James H. Austin's definitive work tracing the neuroscientific aspects of Zen.

Related Categories

• Home > Health > Medicine > Medical Specialties > Neurology
• Home > Science > Biology > Neurobiology
• Home > Science > Science in Society > Science and Religion
• Home > Science > Social Sciences > Psychology > Neuropsychology
• Home > Science > Social Sciences > Psychology > Psychology and Religion > Religious Experience
• Home > Society > Religion and Spirituality > Buddhism > Science and Buddhism
• Home > Society > Religion and Spirituality > Meditation
• Home > Society > Philosophy > Philosophy of Mind > Consciousness Studies

 

Home > Science > Social Sciences > Psychology > Psychology and Religion > Neurotheology

 

---

 

Thanks to DMOZ, which built a great web directory for nearly two decades and freely shared it with the web. About us