NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Neurotheology

Neurotheology, also known as biotheology, is the study of the neural basis of spirituality. Neurotheology deals with the neurological and evolutionary basis for subjective experiences traditionally categorized as spiritual. Neuroethology (from Greek - neuron meaning from nerves, ethos meaning trait or character, and logos meaning words or study) is the scientific study of animal behaviour with its base in neurology. ... The nervous system of an animal coordinates the activity of the muscles, monitors the organs, constructs and processes input from the senses, and initiates actions. ... Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. ... Neurology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the central and peripheral nervous systems. ... This article is about biological evolution. ... The sensory buzz and awareness associated with a conscious mind is often called subjective experience. ...

Terminology

Aldous Huxley used the term neurotheology for the first time in the utopian novel Island. The discipline studies the cognitive neuroscience of religious experience and spirituality. The term is also sometimes used in a less scientific context or a philosophical context. Some of these uses, according to the mainstream scientific community, qualify as pseudoscience. Huxley used it mainly in a philosophical context. Aldous Leonard Huxley (July 26, 1894 â€“ November 22, 1963) was an English writer who emigrated to the United States, living in Los Angeles until his death in 1963. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... Phrenology is regarded today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ...

The use of the term neurotheology in published scientific work is currently uncommon. A search on the citation indexing service provided by Institute for Scientific Information returns five articles. Three of these are published in the journal Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, while two are published in American Behavioral Scientist. Work on the neural basis of spirituality has, however, occurred sporadically throughout the 20th century. Keywords for such work include 'deity', 'neurophysiological bases', 'spirituality' and 'mysticism'. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was founded by Eugene Garfield in 1960. ...

In an attempt to focus and clarify what was a growing interest in this field, in 1994 educator Laurence O. McKinney published the first book on the subject, titled "Neurotheology: Virtual Religion in the 21st Century", written for a popular audience but also promoted in the theological journal Zygon. Neurotheology, properly understood, sources the basis of religious inquiry in relatively recent developmental neurophysiology. Pre-frontal development, in humans, creates an illusion of chronological time as fundamental part of normal adult cognition past the age of three. The inability of the adult brain to retrieve earlier images experienced by an infantile brain creates questions such as "where did I come from" and "where does it all go", which, the author illustrates, probably led to the creation of various religious explanations. The experience of death as a peaceful regression into timelessness as the brain dies won praise from readers as varied as author Arthur C. Clarke, eminient theologian Harvey Cox, and the Dalai Lama and sparked a new interest in the field.

Defining and measuring spirituality

Neurotheology attempts to explain the actual neurological basis for those experiences, often subjective to the extreme,which have been popularly called "spiritual", "out of body" or other terms for forms of abnormal cognition such as:

These subjective experiences are seen as the basis for many religious beliefs and behaviors. A pocket watch, a device used to measure time Two distinct views exist on the meaning of time. ... For other uses, see Fear (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Self-consciousness. ... Look up Supernatural in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Oneness (concept) is related to Enlightenment and is referring to the experience of oneness and nonduality. ... An altered state of consciousness is any state which is significantly different from a normative waking beta wave state. ... . It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Spiritual enlightenment. ... The phrase altered state of consciousness was coined in the 1970s and describes induced changes in ones mental state, almost always temporary. ... Dimethyltryptamine(DMT), also known as Dimitri, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine, not to be confused with 5-MeO-DMT, is a psychedelic tryptamine, similar in structure to the neurotransmitter serotonin. ... Sahasrara is the highest primary chakra according to the Hindu Tantric tradition (Shakta). ... Diagram of pituitary and pineal glands. ... Diagram of pituitary and pineal glands. ... Religionâ€”sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief systemâ€”is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the moral codes, practices, values, and institutions associated with such belief. ...

Methodology

Early studies in the 1950s and 1960s attempted to use EEGs to study brain wave patterns correlated with "spiritual" states. During the 1980s Dr. Michael Persinger stimulated the temporal lobes of human subjects with a weak magnetic field. His subjects claimed to have a sensation of "an ethereal presence in the room". This work gained publicity at the time, although it was unresolved as to the mechanism that may have elicited this response. 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Electroencephalography is the neurophysiologic measurement of the electrical activity of the brain by recording from electrodes placed on the scalp or, in special cases, subdurally or in the cerebral cortex. ... Dr. Michael Persinger Dr. Michael Persinger (born June 26, 1945) is a cognitive neuroscience researcher employed at Laurentian University, Canada since 1971. ... The temporal lobe is part of the cerebrum. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

Some current studies use neuroimaging to localize brain regions active, or differentially active, during experiences that subjects associate with "spiritual" feelings or images. . David Wulf, a psychologist at Wheaton College, Massachusetts, suggests that current brain imaging studies, along with the consistency of spiritual experiences across cultures, history, and religions, "suggest a common core that is likely a reflection of structures and processes in the human brain", echoing McKinney's primary thesis that feelings associated with religious experience are normal aspects of brain function under extreme circumstances rather than communication from God. Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function, or pharmacology of the brain. ... A psychologist is a scientist and/or clinician who studies psychology, the systematic investigation of the human mind, including behavior and cognition. ... Wheaton College is the name of two colleges in the United States: Wheaton College, Illinois Wheaton College, Massachusetts External Links Wheaton College (Illinois) Wheaton College (Massachusetts) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Criticism

An attempt to marry a materialistic approach like neuroscience to spirituality naturally attracts much criticism. Some of the criticism is philosophical, dealing with the (perceived) irreconcilability between science and spirituality, while some is more methodological, dealing with the issues of studying an experience as subjective as spirituality. In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. ...

Philosophical criticism

Critics of this approach, like philosopher Ken Wilber and religious scholar Huston Smith, see the more materialistic formulations of the approach as examples of reductionism and scientism that are only looking at the empirical aspects of the phenomena, and not including the possible validity of spiritual experience with all of its subjectivity. Ken Wilber Kenneth Earl Wilber Jr. ... Huston Cummings Smith (born May 31, 1919) is among the preeminent religious studies scholars in the United States. ... In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. ... Descartes held that, unlike humans, animals could be reductively explained as automata â€“ De homines 1622) Reductionism in philosophy is a theory that asserts that the nature of complex things can always be reduced to (explained by) simpler or more fundamental things. ... Scientism is an ideology which holds that science has primacy over other interpretations of life (e. ...

Scientific criticism

In 2005, Pehr Granqvist, a psychologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, questioned Dr. Michael Persinger's findings in a paper published in Neuroscience Letters. Granqvist claimed that Persinger's work was not "double blind," in that those conducting Persinger's trials, who were often graduate students, knew what sort of results to expect, with the risk that the knowledge would be transmitted to experimental subjects by unconscious cues. The experimenters also were frequently given an idea of what was happening, according to Granqvist, by being asked to fill in questionnaires designed to test their suggestibility to paranormal experiences before the trials were conducted. Granqvist set about conducting similar experiments double blinded, and published finding implying that the presence or absence of the field had no relationship with any religious or spiritual experience reported by the participants. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A psychologist is a scientist and/or clinician who studies psychology, the systematic investigation of the human mind, including behavior and cognition. ... Uppsala University (Swedish Uppsala universitet) is a public university in Uppsala, Sweden. ... Dr. Michael Persinger Dr. Michael Persinger (born June 26, 1945) is a cognitive neuroscience researcher employed at Laurentian University, Canada since 1971. ... The Double blind method is an important part of the scientific method, used to prevent research outcomes from being influenced by the placebo effect or observer bias. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of reported anomalous phenomena. ...

Persinger stood by his findings, arguing that several of his previous experiments have explicitly used double-blind protocols, and that Granqvist failed to fully replicate Persinger's experimental conditions by, for example, miscalibrating the software, and using a magnetic field exposure time too brief to induce the hypothesized effect.

An example was when a small private press (University Press California)published a collection of faith-based authors, along with excerpts from Nietzsche and William James, titling it "NeuroTheology" to avoid a copyright suit with the basic text, still in print.

Contents

Terminology

Defining and measuring spirituality

Methodology

Criticism

Philosophical criticism

Scientific criticism

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Contents

Terminology GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Defining and measuring spirituality

Methodology

Criticism

Philosophical criticism

Scientific criticism

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Terminology