Choice Reviews Online · 2000 · 401 citations · 0 references
ArtsNeurosciencePhilosophyComparative ReligionNeurophysiologyTheologyMystical ExperienceReligious CognitionReligious ExperienceReligious RitualsSpiritual ExperienceSpiritualityEmotional Aspects Of MysticismMystical ConsciousnessMystical EmotionMystical LifeNear-death ExperienceNeurological EtiologyTheology Of Mind
The study investigates the neurophysiological basis of religious experience, exploring how brain structures related to emotion and cognition underlie mystical states, trances, and comparative religious patterns, and considering their evolutionary significance. The authors map brain activity during mystical experiences and extend this framework to mythmaking, ritual, meditation, near‑death experiences, and theology, outlining implications for philosophy, science, and religion.
How does the mind experience the sacred? What biological mechanisms are involved in mystical states and trances? Is there a neurological basis for patterns in comparative religions? Does religion have an evolutionary function? This pathbreaking work by two leading medical researchers explores the neurophysiology of religious experience. Building on an explanation of the basic structure of the brain, the authors focus on parts most relevant to human experience, emotion, and cognition. On this basis, they plot how the brain is involved in mystical experiences. Successive chapters apply this scheme to mythmaking, ritual and liturgy, meditation, near-death experiences, and theology itself. Anchored in such research, the authors also sketch the implications of their work for philosophy, science, theology, and the future of religion.