Neurotheology

• Health: Medicine: Medical Specialties: Neurology  (382)
• Science: Biology: Neurobiology  (268)
• Science: Science in Society: Science and Religion  (66)
• Science: Social Sciences: Psychology: Neuropsychology  (22)
• Science: Social Sciences: Psychology: Psychology and Religion: Religious Experience  (35)
• Society: Religion and Spirituality: Buddhism: Science and Buddhism  (4)
• Society: Religion and Spirituality: Meditation  (62)

BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon - God on the Brain - Is a part of our brains hardwired to generate religious feelings? Program summary for a BBC neurotheology special.

Ecstasy from a Physiological Point of View - 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.

Evolutionary Neurotheology and the Varieties of Religious Experience - Article by Bruce McLennan of University of Tennessee, outlining a neuropsychological approach to religious experience based on archetypal psychology. [PDF]

The "God" Part Of The Brain - Website for Matthew Alper's book which suggests that "humans are innately hard-wired to perceive a spiritual reality".

How the Brain Creates God - Broad-ranging overview by Iona Miller, touching on archetypes, NDEs, drugs, trances, TMS, and shamanism.

Meridian Magazine :: Neurotheology - BYU scholars give a brief overview of neurotheology, and ponder the neurological basis of Joseph Smith's revelations.

A Mystical Union - Economist article giving overview of recent research in neurotheology.

Neurological Correlates of Transformational Experiences - Article building on work of Persinger and d'Aquili, looking at near-death experiences with neuroimaging.

Neurology of Spiritual Experiences - Articles on spiritual experience and magnetic signal brain stimulation by one of Michael Persinger's students.

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

Neurotheology on Wikipedia - A brief but balanced overview of the field.

Numenware, a blog about neurotheology - Frequently updated weblog about neurotheology. Also covers some general neuroscience, Dogen, language, and Japan topics.

On the Neuropsychology of Religious Experiences - Review of literature on neuropsychology of religious experiences, including temporal lobe model, D'Aquili's model for meditative states, and substance-induced religious experience.

The Physical and Psychological Effects of Meditation - Online portions of a book by the same name, reviewing scientific studies, discussing behavioral effects, and giving subjective reports. Searchable bibliography on meditation research.

Physiology of meditation - Article covering meditation and its relationship to the metabolism, autonomic nervous system, endocrine system, and central nervous system.

The Serotonin System and Spiritual Experiences - American Journal of Psychiatry research showing that "binding potential" (serotonin levels) correlated inversely with scores for self-transcendence.

Wired for the Ultimate Reality: The Neuropsychology of Religious Experience - 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 - Summary of "Zen and the Brain", James H. Austin's definitive work tracing the neuroscientific aspects of Zen.

The God Fossil - New Times article on Jesse Bering, who has researched children's belief in the afterlife, and the reaction to his work. (March 25, 2006)

Ghosts in a Machine - Overview article from Times Online, discussing Persinger, Blanke, Newberg. (March 5, 2005)

Guardian Unlimited | Life | Tests of faith - Article discussing evolutionary, anthropological (Boyer), and neuroscientific (Ramachandran, Newberg) aspects of religion. (February 4, 2005)

Body and Mind - Materials accompanying a TV special on body and mind, with a brief overview of older theories and notable neurotheology research. (February 1, 2005)

Linking Out-of-Body Experience and Self Processing to Mental Own-Body Imagery at the Temporoparietal Junction - Paper by Olaf Blanke and team on the neurocognitive bases of out-of-body (OBE) experiences, from Journal of Neuroscience. (January 19, 2005)

Study Asks Whether Chemicals and Communion Are One - Article from "Science and Theology News" describing the neuroimaging of praying nuns performed by University of Montreal researcher Mario Beauregard. (October 11, 2004)

Meditation and the Brain - Report on a conference held by MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research, bringing together Buddhists and neuroscientists. (February 1, 2004)

Religiosity is associated with hippocampal but not amygdala volumes in patients with refractory epilepsy -- Wuerfel et al. 75 (4): 640 -- Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry - Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry article finding that epilepsy patients with high religiosity had smaller right hippocampi. (June 6, 2003)

What Buddhists Know About Science - Wired article on relationship between Tibetan meditation and the brain. (July 22, 2002)

Are We Hardwired for God? - The Guardian newspaper's review of Pascal Boyer's book "Religion Explained". (February 7, 2002)

Tracing the Synapses of Our Spirituality - Washington Post article by Shankar Vedantam on researchers examining the relationship between brain and religion. (June 17, 2001)

Neurotheology & Shamanism - 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. (June 5, 2001)

This Is Your Brain on God - Wired Magazine interview of Michael Persinger, leading figure in the reductionist school of neurotheology. (November 1, 1999)