Download or read book Neurotheology written by Andrew Newberg and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-27 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book NeuroTheology written by Rhawn Joseph and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Principles of Neurotheology written by Assoc Prof Andrew B Newberg and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-06-28 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Neurotheology" has garnered substantial attention in the academic and lay communities in recent years. Several books have been written addressing the relationship between the brain and religious experience and numerous scholarly articles have been published on the topic, some in the popular press. The scientific and religious communities have been very interested in obtaining more information regarding neurotheology, how to approach this topic, and how science and religion can be integrated in some manner that preserves both. If neurotheology is to be considered a viable field going forward, it requires a set of clear principles that can be generally agreed upon and supported by both the theological or religious perspective and the scientific one as well. Principles of Neurotheology sets out the necessary principles of neurotheology which can be used as a foundation for future neurotheological discourse. Laying the groundwork for a new synthesis of scientific and theological dialogue, this book proposes that neurotheology, a term fraught with potential problems, is a highly useful and important voice in the greater study of religious and theological ideas and their intersection with science.
Download or read book What is Neurotheology written by Brian C. Alston and published by Brian Alston. This book was released on 2007 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new discipline Neurotheology is the scientific study of how human physiology (the brain in particular) and mind experience, interpret, generate and mediate beliefs. The discipline engages meaningfully diverse understandings of reality including the physical, mental, and spiritual. Its primary objectives are the following. 1. Establish comprehensive, interdisciplinary approaches to understand beliefs. 2. Explain, interpret and predict the influences of beliefs to thought, feeling, behavior and experience. As a discipline, Neurotheology affords different branches of science like biology, cognitive science, genetics, neuroscience, and psychology opportunity to develop distinct approaches to understand and explain the relationship between brain/mind and beliefs. This essay offers a framework to establish Neurotheology as a valuable discipline while sharing over 250 sources in this new genre. Viewpoints from neuroscience will serve as application for examination.
Download or read book Neurotheology written by Laurence O. McKinney and published by Amer Inst for Mindfulness. This book was released on 1994-07-01 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book How God Changes Your Brain written by Andrew Newberg, M.D. and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2009-03-24 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God is great—for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. Based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies, a wide-reaching survey of people’s religious and spiritual experiences, and the authors’ analyses of adult drawings of God, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and therapist Mark Robert Waldman offer the following breakthrough discoveries: • Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just twelve minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process. • Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety and depression and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love. • Fundamentalism, in and of itself, can be personally beneficial, but the prejudice generated by extreme beliefs can permanently damage your brain. • Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain, altering your values and the way you perceive reality. Both a revelatory work of modern science and a practical guide for readers to enhance their physical and emotional health, How God Changes Your Brain is a first-of-a-kind book about faith that is as credible as it is inspiring.
Download or read book Why God Won t Go Away written by Andrew Newberg, M.D. and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2008-12-10 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why have we humans always longed to connect with something larger than ourselves? Why does consciousness inevitably involve us in a spiritual quest? Why, in short, won't God go away? Theologians, philosophers, and psychologists have debated this question through the ages, arriving at a range of contradictory and ultimately unprovable answers. But in this brilliant, groundbreaking new book, researchers Andrew Newberg and Eugene d'Aquili offer an explanation that is at once profoundly simple and scientifically precise: the religious impulse is rooted in the biology of the brain. Newberg and d'Aquili base this revolutionary conclusion on a long-term investigation of brain function and behavior as well as studies they conducted using high-tech imaging techniques to examine the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer. What they discovered was that intensely focused spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads us to perceive transcendent religious experiences as solid and tangibly real. In other words, the sensation that Buddhists call "oneness with the universe" and the Franciscans attribute to the palpable presence of God is not a delusion or a manifestation of wishful thinking but rather a chain of neurological events that can be objectively observed, recorded, and actually photographed. The inescapable conclusion is that God is hard-wired into the human brain. In Why God Won't Go Away, Newberg and d'Aquili document their pioneering explorations in the field of neurotheology, an emerging discipline dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain. Along the way, they delve into such essential questions as whether humans are biologically compelled to make myths; what is the evolutionary connection between religious ecstasy and sexual orgasm; what do Near Death Experiences reveal about the nature of spiritual phenomena; and how does ritual create its own neurological environment. As their journey unfolds, Newberg and d'Aquili realize that a single, overarching question lies at the heart of their pursuit: Is religion merely a product of biology or has the human brain been mysteriously endowed with the unique capacity to reach and know God? Blending cutting-edge science with illuminating insights into the nature of consciousness and spirituality, Why God Won't Go Away bridges faith and reason, mysticism and empirical data. The neurological basis of how the brain identifies the "real" is nothing short of miraculous. This fascinating, eye-opening book dares to explore both the miracle and the biology of our enduring relationship with God.
Download or read book Neurotheology written by Paul F. Kisak and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-05-10 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neurotheology, also known as spiritual neuroscience, attempts to explain religious experience and behaviour in neuroscientific terms. It is the study of correlations of neural phenomena with subjective experiences of spirituality and hypotheses to explain these phenomena. This contrasts with the Psychology of religion which studies psychological, rather than neural, states. Proponents of neurotheology say there is a neurological and evolutionary basis for subjective experiences traditionally categorized as spiritual or religious. The field has formed the basis of several popular science books, but has received criticism from psychologists. "Neurotheology" describes the scientific study of the neural correlates of religious or spiritual beliefs, experiences and practices. Other researchers prefer to use terms like "spiritual neuroscience" or "neuroscience of religion." Researchers in the field attempt to explain the neurological basis for religious experiences, such as: 1)The Near-death-experience (NDE) 2)Visions & Apparitions 3)Tunnels of Light 4)The perception that time, fear or self- consciousness have dissolved 5)Spiritual awe 6)Oneness with the universe 7)Ecstatic trance 8)Sudden enlightenment 9)Altered states of consciousness This is a relatively new field of neuroscience that seeks to explain the numerous experiences outlines above. It has been shown, through extensive studies (some with the use of the so-called 'God Helmet') and new methods of brain imagery, that these experiences are normal functions of the brain under relatively extreme circumstances such as stress, neurochemical dysfunction, surgery, mental illness and anoxia.
Download or read book The Neuroscience of Religious Experience written by Patrick McNamara and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-06 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Words Can Change Your Brain written by Andrew Newberg and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-06-14 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In our default state, our brains constantly get in the way of effective communication. They are lazy, angry, immature, and distracted. They can make a difficult conversation impossible. But Andrew Newberg, M.D., and Mark Waldman have discovered a powerful strategy called Compassionate Communication that allows two brains to work together as one. Using brainscans as well as data collected from workshops given to MBA students at Loyola Marymount University, and clinical data from both couples in therapy and organizations helping caregivers cope with patient suffering, Newberg and Waldman have seen that Compassionate Communication can reposition a difficult conversation to lead to a satisfying conclusion. Whether you are negotiating with your boss or your spouse, the brain works the same way and responds to the same cues. The truth, though, is that you don't have to understand how Compassionate Communication works. You just have to do it. Some of the simple and effective takeaways in this book include: • Make sure you are relaxed; yawning several times before (not during) the meeting will do the trick • Never speak for more than 20-30 seconds at a time. After that they other person's window of attention closes. • Use positive speech; you will need at least three positives to overcome the effect of every negative used • Speak slowly; pause between words. This is critical, but really hard to do. • Respond to the other person; do not shift the conversation. • Remember that the brain can only hold onto about four ideas at one time Highly effective across a wide range of settings, Compassionate Communication is an excellent tool for conflict resolution but also for simply getting your point across or delivering difficult news.
Download or read book The Neurology of Religion written by Alasdair Coles and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-07 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines what can be learnt about the brain mechanisms underlying religious practice from studying people with neurological disorders.
Download or read book The Soul in the Brain written by Michael R. Trimble and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2007-04-17 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By examining the breakdown of language in several neuropsychiatric disorders, neuroscientists have identified brain circuits that are involved with metaphor, poetry, music, and religious experiences.
Download or read book DMT and the Soul of Prophecy written by Rick Strassman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-09-18 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Naturally occurring DMT may produce prophecy-like states of consciousness and thus represent a bridge between biology and religious experience • Reveals the striking similarities between the visions of the Hebrew prophets and the DMT state described by Strassman’s research volunteers • Explains how prophetic and psychedelic states may share biological mechanisms • Presents a new top-down “theoneurological” model of spiritual experience After completing his groundbreaking research chronicled in DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Rick Strassman was left with one fundamental question: What does it mean that DMT, a simple chemical naturally found in all of our bodies, instantaneously opens us to an interactive spirit world that feels more real than our own world? When his decades of clinical psychiatric research and Buddhist practice were unable to provide answers to this question, Strassman began searching for a more resonant spiritual model. He found that the visions of the Hebrew prophets--such as Ezekiel, Moses, Adam, and Daniel--were strikingly similar to those of the volunteers in his DMT studies. Carefully examining the concept of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, he characterizes a “prophetic state of consciousness” and explains how it may share biological and metaphysical mechanisms with the DMT effect. Examining medieval commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, Strassman reveals how Jewish metaphysics provides a top-down model for both the prophetic and DMT states, a model he calls “theoneurology.” Theoneurology bridges biology and spirituality by proposing that the Divine communicates with us using the brain, and DMT--whether naturally produced or ingested--is a critical factor in such visionary experience. This model provides a counterpoint to “neurotheology,” which proposes that altered brain function simply generates the impression of a Divine-human encounter. Theoneurology addresses issues critical to the full flowering of the psychedelic drug experience. Perhaps even more important, it points the way to a renewal of classical prophetic consciousness, the soul of Hebrew Bible prophecy, as well as unexpected directions for the evolution of contemporary spiritual practice.
Download or read book The Rabbi s Brain written by Andrew Newberg and published by Turner. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The topic of "Neurotheology" has garnered increasing attention in the academic, religious, scientific, and popular worlds. However, there have been no attempts at exploring more specifically how Jewish religious thought and experience may intersect with neurotheology. The Rabbi's Brain engages this groundbreaking area. Topics included relate to a neurotheological approach to the foundational beliefs that arise from the Torah and associated scriptures, Jewish learning, an exploration of the different elements of Judaism (i.e. reform, conservative, and orthodox), an exploration of specifically Jewish practices (i.e. Davening, Sabbath, Kosher), and a review of Jewish mysticism. The Rabbi's Brain engages these topics in an easy to read style and integrates the scientific, religious, philosophical, and theological aspects of the emerging field of neurotheology. By reviewing the concepts in a stepwise, simple, yet thorough discussion, readers regardless of their background, will be able to understand the complexities and breadth of neurotheology from the Jewish perspective. More broadly, issues will include a review of the neurosciences and neuroscientific techniques; religious and spiritual experiences; theological development and analysis; liturgy and ritual; epistemology, philosophy, and ethics; and social implications, all from the Jewish perspective.
Download or read book Fingerprints of God written by Barbara Bradley Hagerty and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Articles about research on spirituality and the brain are usually written from the point of view that religious experience can be understood from a purely scientific perspective. Hagerty's (religion correspondent, NPR) book does not have this naturalistic or materialistic tendency. Rather, as both a reporter and a religious person, she seeks insight on spirituality and science while being open to the possibility that spirituality may still have a transcendent component. The book is interesting to read because the author has interviewed many scientists as well as many people who attest to having mystical or near-death experiences. In a way, the reader feels like a participant in Hagerty's own encounter with the various pieces of information and evidence, struggling with her to make sense of it all. Highly recommended.John Jaeger, Dallas Baptist Univ. Lib. Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Download or read book Minds Brains Souls and Gods written by Malcolm Jeeves and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain written by Andrew Newberg, MD and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling authors of How God Changes Your Brain reveal the neurological underpinnings of enlightenment, offering unique strategies to help readers experience its many benefits. In this original and groundbreaking book, Dr Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman turn their attention to the pinnacle of the human experience: enlightenment. Through his brain-scan studies on Brazilian psychic mediums, Sufi mystics, Buddhist meditators, Franciscan nuns, Pentecostals, and participants in secular spirituality rituals, Newberg has found the specific neurological mechanisms responsible for an enlightenment experience - and how we can activate those circuits in our own brains. In his survey of more than one thousand people who have experienced enlightenment, Newberg has also discovered that in the aftermath they have had profound, positive life changes. Enlightenment offers us the possibility to: · become permanently less stress-prone, · break bad habits, · improve our collaboration and creativity skills, and · lead happier, more satisfying lives. Relaying the story of his own transformational experience as well as including the stories of others who try to describe an event that is truly indescribable, Newberg brings us a new paradigm for deep and lasting change.
