Neurotheology

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

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

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

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

Jaynes, Julian - 20th century scientist and thinker, author of 'The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind', who believed that religion is a throwback to pre-conscious bicamerality.

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

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)

Morse, Melvin - Scientific research on near death experiences, especially in children, and their connection to the right temporal lobe of the brain.

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.

Probing Neurotheology's Brain, or Critiquing and Emerging Quasi-Science - Overview of the 'Reductionist' and 'Religionist' schools within the neurotheology field, by Jonathon Scott Feit, University Professors at BU. [PDF]

The Evolution of Wonder: Religious and Neuroscientific Perspect - Paper by Kelly Bulkeley discussing the phenomenon of wonder.

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)

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.

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.

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.

Ghosts in a machine - Overview article from Times Online, dicussing Persinger, Blanke, Newberg. (March 5, 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)

Persinger, Michael - Leading neurotheology theoretician (Laurentian University, Montreal, Canada).

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

Transcendental Meditation Scientific Research - Bibliography of hundreds of scientific studies on the effects of Transcendental Meditation, including improved brain functioning.

The God Gene - Carl Zimmer critically reviews Dean Hamer's book 'The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-wired Into Our Genes'.

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

Zen and the Brain - Summary of 'Zen and the Brain', James H. Austin's definitive work tracing the neuroscientific aspects of Zen.

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)

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

McKinney, Laurence O. - Author of the book 'Neurotheology: Virtual Religion in the 21st Century', and possibly the originator of the term.

Religion and the Brain. - Newsweek article that brought neurotheology widespread popular recognition. (May 7, 2001)

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'.

Albright, Carol Rausch - Relationships among neuroscience, religious experience, theology, and complexity studies.

Rol, Gustavo - Gustavo Rol and his followers conceive of neurotheology as a 'Science capable of showing us that, when man's neuronal system is oriented in a certain direction and manner, it can open the doors to all mysteries'.

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

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

Boyer, Pascal - Anthropologist, professor, author of the book 'Religion Explained', and proponent of the theory that the human mind is predisposed to hold and spread certain types of religious beliefs (Washington University, St. Louis, USA).

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

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)

Hamer, Dean - Geneticist and author of 'The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes'.

Newberg, Andrew - Leading neurotheology researcher who conducted famous neuroimaging studies on monks; collaborator with Dr. Eugene d’Aquili; author of 'Mystical Mind' and 'Why God Won't Go Away'.

Doubt cast on theory that magnetic fields spark religious feelings - Swedish researchers conduct a double-blind study said to debunk Persinger's theories of magnetic stimulation causing religious experiences, as reported in Nature. (December 9, 2004)

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.

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