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Author: Carol Rausch Albright
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781570717413
Category : Brain
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Walking the fine line between religious belief and recent scientific discoveries, "Where God Lives in the Human Brain" explores the way humans have sought meaning in the world, to humanize their environment and connection with the divine. This book shows how readers can understand this impulse toward divinity by understanding the intricacies of the brain and its capacity to grapple with the complexity of the universe.
Author: Carol Rausch Albright
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781570717413
Category : Brain
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Walking the fine line between religious belief and recent scientific discoveries, "Where God Lives in the Human Brain" explores the way humans have sought meaning in the world, to humanize their environment and connection with the divine. This book shows how readers can understand this impulse toward divinity by understanding the intricacies of the brain and its capacity to grapple with the complexity of the universe.
Author: Timothy R. Jennings
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830892354
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 300
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Book Description
What you believe about God actually changes your brain. Brain research in neuroscience has found that our thoughts and beliefs affect our physical, mental, and spiritual health. Mind and body are interrelated, and we are designed for healthy relationships of love and trust. When we understand God as good and loving, we flourish. Unfortunately, many of us have distorted images of God and mostly think of him in fearful, punitive ways. This leads us into unhealthy patterns of self-defeating behaviors and toxic relationships. But our lives can change when God renews our minds with a truer picture of him. Psychiatrist Tim Jennings unveils how our brains and bodies thrive when we have a healthy understanding of who God is. He dispels common misconceptions about God and shows how different God concepts affect the brain differently. Our brains can adapt, change, and rewire with redeemed thinking that frees us from unnecessary pain and suffering. Discover how neuroscience and Scripture come together to bring healing and transformation to our lives. This expanded edition now includes a study guide for individual reflection or group discussion, with questions for learning from Scripture, science and nature, and experience.
Author: Victor Copan
Publisher: Lutterworth Press
ISBN: 0718845358
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
This book takes you on a journey that unpacks and demystifies what spiritual growth is and how it unfolds. The aim is to set you on your own path toward genuine, personal spiritual transformation. The book provides all the tools you need - biblical, scientific, and practical - so that you can develop your own pathway for spiritual growth. What is unique about Victor Copan's approach to spiritual growth is that he explores recent findings of brain research as well as scientific research on habitformation and brings them into conversation with the process of spiritual formation. Research on the brain and on habit formation has uncovered significant insights about the process and dynamics of human transformation that can be fruitfully incorporated into our own pursuit of spiritual transformation. Tapping into this research allows us to work in concert with how God designed humans to function - body, soul, and spirit.
Author: Andrew Newberg, M.D.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345503422
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 369
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Book Description
God is great—for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. Based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies, a wide-reaching survey of people’s religious and spiritual experiences, and the authors’ analyses of adult drawings of God, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and therapist Mark Robert Waldman offer the following breakthrough discoveries: • Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just twelve minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process. • Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety and depression and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love. • Fundamentalism, in and of itself, can be personally beneficial, but the prejudice generated by extreme beliefs can permanently damage your brain. • Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain, altering your values and the way you perceive reality. Both a revelatory work of modern science and a practical guide for readers to enhance their physical and emotional health, How God Changes Your Brain is a first-of-a-kind book about faith that is as credible as it is inspiring.
Author: Melvin Morse, M.D.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061968145
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 212
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Book Description
Is there proof that "near death" and other spiritual experiences can cure afflictions of the body, mind, and spirit? Are there simple ways to tap into a "universal power source" that spiritual masters call enlightenment? Is there scientific evidence of life after death that is being overlooked by skeptics? Is there scientific proof of a spot in our brains that communicates with God and the universe? Pediatrician Melvin Morse believes the answer to all these questions is yes. Shedding new light on the links between science and mysticism, Where God Lives not only reveals the area of the brain that is our biological link to the universe, but also shows us the secret of tapping into the universal energy to achieve healing, personal peace, and transcendence. Filled with moving case histories, Where God Lives applies the rigor of science to the study of the spiritual to prove once and for all the existence of life after death.
Author: Brad Sickler
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433564467
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 186
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Book Description
The human brain is incredibly complex. Both Christian and secular scholars alike affirm this fact, yet the traditional view of humanity as spiritual beings made in the image of God has come under increased pressure from humanistic and materialistic thinkers who deny that humans are anything more than their physical bodies. Christians have long affirmed that humans are spiritual beings made by God to know and fellowship with him, while the humanist position views humans as merely evolved animals. Bradley Sickler provides a timely theological, scientific, and philosophical assessment of the human brain, highlighting the many ways in which the gospel informs the Christian understanding of cognitive science. Here is a book that provides a much-needed summary of the Bible’s teaching as it sheds light on the brain, with careful interaction with the claims of modern science, arguing that the Christian worldview offers the most compelling vision of the true nature of humanity.
Author: Lionel Tiger
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 163388337X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
Two distinguished authors, renowned anthropologist Lionel Tiger and pioneering neuroscientist Michael McGuire, elucidate the perennial questions about religion: What is its purpose? How did it arise? What is its source? Why does every known culture have some form of it?Their answer is deceptively simple, yet at the same time highly complex: The brain creates religion and its varied concepts of God, and then in turn feeds on its creation to satisfy innate neurological and associated social needs.Brain science reveals that humans and other primates alike are afflicted by unavoidable sources of stress that the authors describe as "brainpain." To cope with this affliction people seek to "brainsoothe." We humans use religion and its social structures to induce brainsoothing as a relief for innate anxiety. How we do this is the subject of this groundbreaking book.In a concise, lively, accessible, and witty style, the authors combine zoom-lens vignettes of religious practices with discussions of the latest research on religion's neurological effects on the brain. Among other topics, they consider religion's role in providing positive socialization, its seeming obsession with regulating sex, the common biological scaffolding between nonhuman primates and humans and how this affects religion, and evidence that the palliative effects of religion on brain chemistry are not matched by nonreligious remedies.This fascinating book provides key insights into the complexities of our brain and the role of religion, perhaps its most remarkable creation.
Author: Matthew Alper
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1402236379
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
A thought-provoking study of science and religion about our human need to believe in a higher power, for spiritual seekers and atheists alike. In The God Part of the Brain, Matthew Alper pioneers a radical theory: the human inclination toward spirituality and belief in a higher power can be attributed to a specific part of our brain. This bold hypothesis takes us on an exciting journey that merges science, philosophy, and spirituality in a unique way. Alper engages readers with compelling arguments based on neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and anthropology, provoking profound thought on the nature of existence and our inherent need for spiritual meaning as a coping mechanism that emerged in humans to help us survive our unique and otherwise debilitating awareness of death. His narrative is accessible yet deeply profound, providing insights that stimulate both intellectual curiosity and spiritual introspection. Key Features: Groundbreaking Hypothesis: Presents a bold new theory about the neuroscientific basis of human spirituality. Interdisciplinary Approach: Combines insights from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and anthropology to explore spiritual experiences. Intellectually Stimulating: Challenges readers to contemplate profound questions about existence, faith, and the human mind. Accessible Narrative: Engages readers with a narrative that is both informative and accessible, regardless of their scientific background. Provocative and Thoughtful: Invites deep introspection about our inherent need for spiritual meaning. Praise for The "God" Part of the Brain "This cult classic in many ways parallels Rene Descartes' search for reliable and certain knowledge...Drawing on such disciplines as philosophy, psychology, and biology, Alper argues that belief in a spiritual realm is an evolutionary coping method that developed to help humankind deal with the fear of death...Highly recommended."— Library Journal "I very much enjoyed the account of your spiritual journey and believe it would make excellent reading for every college student - the resultant residence-hall debates would be the best part of their education. It often occurs to me that if, against all odds, there is a judgmental God and heaven, it will come to pass that when the pearly gates open, those who had the valor to think for themselves will be escorted to the head of the line, garlanded, and given their own personal audience." — Edward O. Wilson, two-time Pulitzer Prize-Winner "This is an essential book for those in search of a scientific understanding of man's spiritual nature. Matthew Alper navigates the reader through a labyrinth of intriguing questions and then offers undoubtedly clear answers that lead to a better understanding of our objective reality." — Elena Rusyn, MD, PhD; Gray Laboratory; Harvard Medical School "What a wonderful book you have written. It was not only brilliant and provocative but also revolutionary in its approach to spirituality as an inherited trait."— Arnold Sadwin, MD, former chief of Neuropsychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania "A lively manifesto...For the discipline's specific application to the matter at hand, I've seen nothing that matches the fury of The 'God' Part of the Brain, which perhaps explains why it's earned something of a cult following." — Salon.com "All 6 billion plus inhabitants of Earth should be in possession of this book. Alper's tome should be placed in the sacred writings' section of libraries, bookstores, and dwellings throughout the world. Matthew Alper is the new Galileo...Immensely important...Defines in a clear and concise manner what each of us already knew but were afraid to admit and exclaim."— John Scoggins, PhD "Vibrant ... vivacious. An entertaining and provocative introduction to speculations concerning the neural basis of spirituality."— Free Inquiry Magazine
Author: E. Fuller Torrey
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231544863
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338
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Book Description
Religions and mythologies from around the world teach that God or gods created humans. Atheist, humanist, and materialist critics, meanwhile, have attempted to turn theology on its head, claiming that religion is a human invention. In this book, E. Fuller Torrey draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to propose a startling answer to the ultimate question. Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods locates the origin of gods within the human brain, arguing that religious belief is a by-product of evolution. Based on an idea originally proposed by Charles Darwin, Torrey marshals evidence that the emergence of gods was an incidental consequence of several evolutionary factors. Using data ranging from ancient skulls and artifacts to brain imaging, primatology, and child development studies, this book traces how new cognitive abilities gave rise to new behaviors. For instance, autobiographical memory, the ability to project ourselves backward and forward in time, gave Homo sapiens a competitive advantage. However, it also led to comprehension of mortality, spurring belief in an alternative to death. Torrey details the neurobiological sequence that explains why the gods appeared when they did, connecting archaeological findings including clothing, art, farming, and urbanization to cognitive developments. This book does not dismiss belief but rather presents religious belief as an inevitable outcome of brain evolution. Providing clear and accessible explanations of evolutionary neuroscience, Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods will shed new light on the mechanics of our deepest mysteries.
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.
