Neuroscience and Religion

Neuroscience and Religion PDF Author: Volney P. Gay
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739133934
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
This is a unique set of multidisciplinary reflections on how the neurosciences shape our understanding of religious experience and religious institutions. Twelve scholars and scientists assess how advances in the neurosciences affect our traditional sense of mind, self, and soul.

Neuroscience and Religion

Neuroscience and Religion PDF Author: Volney P. Gay
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739133934
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
This is a unique set of multidisciplinary reflections on how the neurosciences shape our understanding of religious experience and religious institutions. Twelve scholars and scientists assess how advances in the neurosciences affect our traditional sense of mind, self, and soul.

Mind, Brain and the Elusive Soul

Mind, Brain and the Elusive Soul PDF Author: Mark Graves
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754662266
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Does science argue against the existence of the human soul? Many scientists and scholars believe the whole is more than the sum of the parts. This book uses information and systems theory to describe the more that does not reduce to the parts. One sees this in the synapses - or apparently empty gaps between the neurons in one's brain-where informative relationships give rise to human mind, culture, and spirituality. Drawing upon the disciplines of cognitive science, computer science, neuroscience, general systems theory, pragmatic philosophy, and Christian theology, Mark Graves reinterprets the traditional doctrine of the soul as form of the body to frame contemporary scientific study of the human soul.

Explorations in Neuroscience, Psychology and Religion

Explorations in Neuroscience, Psychology and Religion PDF Author: Kevin S. Seybold
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317137582
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
In the 1990s great strides were taken in clarifying how the brain is involved in behaviors that, in the past, had seldom been studied by neuroscientists or psychologists. This book explores the progress begun during that momentous decade in understanding why we behave, think and feel the way we do, especially in those areas that interface with religion. What is happening in the brain when we have a religious experience? Is the soul a product of the mind which is, in turn, a product of the brain? If so, what are the implications for the Christian belief in an afterlife? If God created humans for the purpose of having a relationship with him, should we expect to find that our spirituality is a biologically evolved human trait? What effect might a disease such as Alzheimer's have on a person's spirituality and relationship with God? Neuroscience and psychology are providing information relevant to each of these questions, and many Christians are worried that their religious beliefs are being threatened by this research. Kevin Seybold attempts to put their concerns to rest by presenting some of the scientific findings coming from these disciplines in a way that is understandable yet non-threatening to Christian belief.

The Oxford Handbook of the Cognitive Science of Religion

The Oxford Handbook of the Cognitive Science of Religion PDF Author: Justin L. Barrett
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190693355
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
"Over time, more psychologists have become contributors to cognitive science of religion (CSR), but when are they doing CSR and when are they doing psychology of religion? Does it matter? In this chapter, contemporary scientific reflections on notions of death and the afterlife are sketched to illustrate the subtle differences between CSR and psychology of religion. These kindred scientific approaches overlap considerably, but attention to their central differences will assist scholars in finding complementarity, thereby improving both schools of inquiry and their contributions to each other. After developing this thesis, this chapter introduces the organization and flow of the volume as a whole. Beginning with general theoretical and methodological foundations, the volume then considers specific applications of CSR to substantive topics such as beliefs in gods, sacred texts, sacred objects, and ritualized behaviors, before turning to how these domains of cultural expression are sometimes joined (or not) into religious systems. The volume ends with comparisons between CSR and two other neighboring approaches (evolutionary studies of religion and neuroscience of religion) and, finally, implications of CSR for philosophy of religion, religious education, and theology"--

The Neurology of Religion

The Neurology of Religion PDF Author: Alasdair Coles
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107082609
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
Examines what can be learnt about the brain mechanisms underlying religious practice from studying people with neurological disorders.

Religion and the Body

Religion and the Body PDF Author: David Cave
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004221115
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
This book reflects on the implications of neurobiology and the scientific worldview on aspects of religious experience, belief, and practice, focusing especially on the body and the construction of religious meaning.

Psychology and Religion

Psychology and Religion PDF Author: Andrew Reid Fuller
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742560222
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
This book articulates a broad range of theoretical viewpoints, both classical and contemporary, in the field of the psychology of religion. Chapters One through Eight are overviews of such 'classical' theorists as William James, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow, Alan Watts, Erich Fromm, and Viktor Frankl. Chapters Nine through Twelve consider subsequent developments in the field, e.g., the views of object relations theorists on the God-image; empirical research on the scaling of religiousness; and modern consciousness research. Chapters Ten through Twelve are new to this edition and comprise an eclectic overview of the feminist psychology of religion, recent developments in the intersection of neuroscience and religion, and the evolutionary psychology of religion. Both wide-ranging and current, therefore, this book offers illuminating and in-depth coverage of major theorists and approaches. While its breadth makes it an excellent place to begin an exploration of the psychology of religion, its depth and detail provide the opportunity for a serious and rewarding immersion in the field.

Religion Explained?

Religion Explained? PDF Author: Luther H. Martin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350032484
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
With contributions from founders of the field, including Justin Barrett, E. Thomas Lawson, Robert N. McCauley, Paschal Boyer, Armin Geertz and Harvey Whitehouse, as well as from younger scholars from successive stages in the field's development, this is an important survey of the first twenty-five years of the cognitive science of religion. Each chapter provides the author's views on the contributions the cognitive science of religion has made to the academic study of religion, as well as any shortcomings in the field and challenges for the future. Religion Explained? The Cognitive Science of Religion after Twenty-five Years calls attention to the field whilst providing an accessible and diverse survey of approaches from key voices, as well as offering suggestions for further research within the field. This book is essential reading for anyone in religious studies, anthropology, and the scientific study of religion.

Religion Today

Religion Today PDF Author: Ross Aden
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538183390
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
Religion Today introduces students to key concepts in religious studies through a compelling problem-solving framework. Each chapter opens with a contemporary case study that helps students engage in current religious issues, explore possible solutions to difficult religious problems today, and learn key themes and concepts in religious studies. To enhance student learning, a free Student Study Guide is available for download from Rowman & Littlefield. The Study Guide features chapter summaries, definition quizzes for students to test themselves on key terms, and possible learning activities.

Origins of Religion, Cognition and Culture

Origins of Religion, Cognition and Culture PDF Author: Armin W. Geertz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317544552
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
Attempts to understand the origins of humanity have raised fundamental questions about the complex relationship between cognition and culture. Central to the debates on origins is the role of religion, religious ritual and religious experience. What came first: individual religious (ecstatic) experiences, collective observances of transition situations, fear of death, ritual competence, magical coercion; mirror neurons or temporal lobe religiosity? Cognitive scientists are now providing us with important insights on phylogenetic and ontogenetic processes. Together with insights from the humanities and social sciences on the origins, development and maintenance of complex semiotic, social and cultural systems, a general picture of what is particularly human about humans could emerge. Reflections on the preconditions for symbolic and linguistic competence and practice are now within our grasp. Origins of Religion, Cognition and Culture puts culture centre stage in the cognitive science of religion.