A New Biology of Religion

A New Biology of Religion PDF Author: Michael Steinberg
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692204238
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book is unique in its focus on bodily experience as an independent source of knowledge and insight, an important aspect of recent discoveries in neurology and psychology. By rethinking what it is to be human and what role self-consciousness plays, it finds striking points of intersection between science and religion and challenges readers to rediscover their spiritual connections to the physical world. Combining scientific rigor with the spiritual quest, "A New Biology of Religion: Spiritual Practice and the Life of the Body" reframes the science-religion debate. This profound work examines how all things are connected-both scientifically and spiritually-and shows how religious practices mirror the biological processes of life.

Biology, Religion, and Philosophy

Biology, Religion, and Philosophy PDF Author: Michael Peterson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107031486
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
A comprehensive and accessible survey of the major issues at the biology-religion interface.

Creation of the Sacred

Creation of the Sacred PDF Author: Walter Burkert
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674175709
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Sacrifice is essential to all religions. Could there be a natural, even biological, reason? Why are sacrifice and numerous other religious rituals and concepts shared by so many different cultures? In this extraordinary book, one of the world’s leading authorities on ancient religions explores the possibility of natural religion.

The Faith of Biology & the Biology of Faith

The Faith of Biology & the Biology of Faith PDF Author: Robert Pollack
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231115063
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
An award-winning biologist presents his moving yet deeply reasoned discussion on the intersection of scientific method and religious faith.

God and the New Biology

God and the New Biology PDF Author: Arthur Robert Peacocke
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description


A New Biology of Religion

A New Biology of Religion PDF Author: Michael Steinberg
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692204238
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book

Book Description
This book is unique in its focus on bodily experience as an independent source of knowledge and insight, an important aspect of recent discoveries in neurology and psychology. By rethinking what it is to be human and what role self-consciousness plays, it finds striking points of intersection between science and religion and challenges readers to rediscover their spiritual connections to the physical world. Combining scientific rigor with the spiritual quest, "A New Biology of Religion: Spiritual Practice and the Life of the Body" reframes the science-religion debate. This profound work examines how all things are connected-both scientifically and spiritually-and shows how religious practices mirror the biological processes of life.

Why God Won't Go Away

Why God Won't Go Away PDF Author: Andrew Newberg, M.D.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307493156
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
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.

Biology Through the Eyes of Faith

Biology Through the Eyes of Faith PDF Author: Richard Wright
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062292188
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Newly Revised The Council of Christian Colleges and Universities Series Stressing the biblical message of stewardship, biologist Richard T. Wright celebrates the study of God's creation and examines the interaction of the life sciences with society in medicine, genetics, and the environment. The author brings a biblical perspective to theories on origins, contrasting creationism, intelligent design, and evolution. Highlighting the unique nature of biology and its interaction with Christian thought, Wright demonstrates that Christian stewardship can be the key to a sustainable future. This comprehensive work, one of a series cosponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, addresses the needs of the Christian student of biology to align science and faith. It demonstrates that the study of biology penetrates to the core of human existence and has much to contribute to the construction of a consistent Christian worldview.

Coming to Peace with Science

Coming to Peace with Science PDF Author: Darrel R. Falk
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830874771
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
Bringing together a biblically based understanding of creation and the most current research in biology, Darrel R. Falk outlines a new paradigm for relating the claims of science to the truths of Christianity.

Biotheology

Biotheology PDF Author: Michael Cavanaugh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biology
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This text synthesises modern biology with traditional religious doctrines. The sections are divided into four parts: biology; theology; biotheology in individual life; and biotheology in group life. It aims to assess the individual and social benefits of such a view

The Emergence and Evolution of Religion

The Emergence and Evolution of Religion PDF Author: Jonathan H. Turner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135162069X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Written by leading theorists and empirical researchers, this book presents new ways of addressing the old question: Why did religion first emerge and then continue to evolve in all human societies? The authors of the book—each with a different background across the social sciences and humanities—assimilate conceptual leads and empirical findings from anthropology, evolutionary biology, evolutionary sociology, neurology, primate behavioral studies, explanations of human interaction and group dynamics, and a wide range of religious scholarship to construct a deeper and more powerful explanation of the origins and subsequent evolutionary development of religions than can currently be found in what is now vast literature. While explaining religion has been a central question in many disciplines for a long time, this book draws upon a much wider array of literature to develop a robust and cross-disciplinary analysis of religion. The book remains true to its subtitle by emphasizing an array of both biological and sociocultural forms of selection dynamics that are fundamental to explaining religion as a universal institution in human societies. In addition to Darwinian selection, which can explain the biology and neurology of religion, the book outlines a set of four additional types of sociocultural natural selection that can fill out the explanation of why religion first emerged as an institutional system in human societies, and why it has continued to evolve over the last 300,000 years of societal evolution. These sociocultural forms of natural selection are labeled by the names of the early sociologists who first emphasized them, and they can be seen as a necessary supplement to the type of natural selection theorized by Charles Darwin. Explanations of religion that remain in the shadow cast by Darwin’s great insights will, it is argued, remain narrow and incomplete when explaining a robust sociocultural phenomenon like religion.