Where God and Science Meet

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0313054762
Total Pages : 918 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Where God and Science Meet by : Patrick McNamara Ph.D.

Download or read book Where God and Science Meet written by Patrick McNamara Ph.D. and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-09-30 with total page 918 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spiritual practices, or awakenings, have an impact on brain, mind and personality. These changes are being scientifically predicted and proven. For example, studies show Buddhist priests and Franciscan nuns at the peak of religious feelings show a functional change in the lobes of their brain. Similar processes have been found in people with epilepsy, which Hippocrates called the sacred disease. New research is showing that not only does a person's brain activity change in particular areas while that person is experiencing religious epiphany, but such events can be created for some people, even self-professed atheists, by stimulating various parts of the brain. In this far-reaching and novel set, experts from across the nation and around the world present evolutionary, neuroscientific, and psychological approaches to explaining and exploring religion, including the newest findings and evidence that have spurred the fledgling field of neurotheology. It is not the goal of neurotheology to prove or disprove the existence of God, but to understand the biology of spiritual experiences. Such experiences seem to exist outside time and space - caused by the brain for some reason losing its perception of a boundary between physical body and outside world - and could help explain other intangible events, such as altered states of consciousness, possessions, alien visitations, near-death experiences and out-of-body events. Understanding them - as well as how and why these abilities evolved in the brain - could also help us understand how religion contributes to survival of the human race. Eminent contributors to this set help us answer questions including: How does religion better our brain function? What is the difference between a religious person and a terrorist who kills in the name of religion? Is there one site or function in the brain necessary for religious experience?

The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642001289
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior by : Eckart Voland

Download or read book The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior written by Eckart Voland and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-08-12 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a Darwinian world, religious behavior - just like other behaviors - is likely to have undergone a process of natural selection in which it was rewarded in the evolutionary currency of reproductive success. This book aims to provide a better understanding of the social scenarios in which selection pressure led to religious practices becoming an evolved human trait, i.e. an adaptive answer to the conditions of living and surviving that prevailed among our prehistoric ancestors. This aim is pursued by a team of expert authors from a range of disciplines. Their contributions examine the relevant physiological, emotional, cognitive and social processes. The resulting understanding of the functional interplay of these processes gives valuable insights into the biological roots and benefits of religion.

Yoga, Meditation, and Mysticism

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472571703
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (725 download)

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Book Synopsis Yoga, Meditation, and Mysticism by : Kenneth Rose

Download or read book Yoga, Meditation, and Mysticism written by Kenneth Rose and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-08 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemplative experience is central to Hindu yoga traditions, Buddhist meditation practices, and Catholic mystical theology, and, despite doctrinal differences, it expresses itself in suggestively similar meditative landmarks in each of these three meditative systems. In Yoga, Meditation and Mysticism, Kenneth Rose shifts the dominant focus of contemporary religious studies away from tradition-specific studies of individual religious traditions, communities, and practices to examine the 'contemplative universals' that arise globally in meditative experience. Through a comparative exploration of the itineraries detailed in the contemplative manuals of Theravada Buddhism, Patañjalian Yoga, and Catholic mystical theology, Rose identifies in each tradition a moment of sharply focused awareness that marks the threshold between immersion in mundane consciousness and contemplative insight. As concentration deepens, the meditator steps through this threshold onto a globally shared contemplative itinerary, which leads through a series of virtually identical stages to mental stillness and insight. Rose argues that these contemplative universals, familiar to experienced contemplatives in multiple traditions, point to a common spiritual, mental, and biological heritage. Pioneering the exploration of contemplative practice and experience with a comparative perspective that ranges over multiple religious traditions, religious studies, philosophy, neuroscience, and the cognitive science of religion, this book is a landmark contribution to the fields of contemplative practice and religious studies.

The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000638413
Total Pages : 756 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion by : Yair Lior

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion written by Yair Lior and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-11-30 with total page 756 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The past two decades have seen a growing interest in evolutionary and scientific approaches to religion. The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems and debates in this exciting and emerging field. Comprising over thirty chapters by a team of international contributors the handbook pulls together scholarship in the following areas: evolutionary psychology and the cognitive science of religion (CSR) cultural evolution the complementarity of evolutionary psychology, cognitive science and cultural evolution Within these sections central issues, debates and problems are examined, including: Cliodynamics, cultural group selection, costly signaling, dual inheritance theory, literacy, transmitting narratives, prosociality, supernatural punishment, cognition and ritual, meme theory, fusion theory, sexual selection, agency detection, evoked culture, social brain hypothesis, theory of mind, developmental psychology, emergence theory, social learning, cultural cybernetics, cultural epidemiology, evolutionary and cultural psychology, memetics, by-product and adaptationist theories of religion, systems and information theory, and computer modeling. This Handbook is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies and anthropology. It will also be very useful to those in related fields, such as psychology, sociology of religion, cognitive biology, and evolutionary biology.

The Phantom God

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Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 163388807X
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (338 download)

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Book Synopsis The Phantom God by : John C. Wathey

Download or read book The Phantom God written by John C. Wathey and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-10-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does neuroscience have anything to say about religious belief or the existence of God? Some have tried to answer this question, but, in doing so, most have strayed from the scientific method. In The Phantom God, computational biologist and neuroscientist John C. Wathey, Ph.D., tackles this problem head-on, exploring religious feelings not as the direct perception by the brain of some supernatural realm, nor as the pathological misfiring of neurons, but as a natural consequence of how our brains are wired. Unlike other neurobiological studies of religion and spirituality, The Phantom God treats mysticism not as something uniquely human and possibly supernatural in origin, but as a completely natural phenomenon that has behavioral and evolutionary roots that can be traced far back into our vertebrate ancestry. Grounded in evolutionary and behavioral biology, this highly original and compelling book takes the reader on a journey through the neural circuitry of crying, innate knowledge, reinforcement learning, emotional bonding, embodiment, interpersonal perception, and the ineffable feeling of certainty that characterizes faith. Wathey argues that the feeling of God’s presence is spawned by innate neural circuitry, similar to the mechanism that compels an infant to cry out for its mother. In an adult, this circuitry can be activated under conditions that mimic the extreme desperation and helplessness of infancy, generating the compelling illusion of the presence of a loving, powerful, and all-knowing savior. When seen from this perspective, the illusion also appears remarkably like one that has long been familiar to neurologists: the phantom limb of the amputee, spawned by the expectation of the patient’s brain that the missing limb should still be there. Including a primer on the basic concepts and terminology of neuroscience, The Phantom God details the neural mechanisms behind the illusions and emotions of spiritual experience.

Questions in the Psychology of Religion

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Author :
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1498238815
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (982 download)

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Book Synopsis Questions in the Psychology of Religion by : Kevin S. Seybold

Download or read book Questions in the Psychology of Religion written by Kevin S. Seybold and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-03-16 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does it means to be human? What is the origin of religious beliefs? Why are we moral creatures? Are religious experiences different from our everyday experiences? Is my brain involved in my experiencing God? What is a soul and do I have one? Is religion a result of evolutionary processes? How might psychology and religion relate? Religious experiences (behaviors, thoughts, and emotions) are determined, at least in part, by natural physical processes. As a result, the empirical methods used in psychology to try to identify the natural mechanisms that influence why we act, think, and feel the way we do can provide important insights into the fundamental and universal phenomena of religion. Drawing on current research from a variety of disciplines, Questions in the Psychology of Religion is appropriate for college students studying psychology, pastors as they help their congregations understand how religion and science might go together, and anyone who learns about recent discoveries in psychological science and wonders how these findings pertain to religion and religious experiences.

God Attachment

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439186839
Total Pages : 319 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis God Attachment by : Tim Clinton

Download or read book God Attachment written by Tim Clinton and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God. Whether one loves him, hates him, denies or defies him, it is hard to deny the worldwide fascination with God. This book explores why and suggests a personal response to the God Attachment in all of us. Why has the human race, the world over, been so fascinated with . . . some might say obsessed with . . . God? This built-in attachment to God crosses religious, political, ethnic, cultural, and generational barriers. Drs. Clinton and Straub reveal fascinating research about this worldwide phenomenon. From avoidant, anxious, and fearful to secure and personal, the range of responses to our internal attachment to God has a profound influence on the way we do relationships, intimacy, and life choices. With helpful self-assessments, intriguing questions, and surprising revelations, this book moves from worldwide statistics to personal challenge, offering the means to become securely attached to God in a way that can have positive effects on our attitudes, approach to life, and overall life satisfaction.

Christian Principles for the Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy

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Publisher : WestBow Press
ISBN 13 : 151279676X
Total Pages : 528 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (127 download)

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Book Synopsis Christian Principles for the Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy by : Carlos Fayard PhD

Download or read book Christian Principles for the Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy written by Carlos Fayard PhD and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2017-07-24 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All approaches to counseling and psychotherapy rest on assumptions about human nature. Current theories are primarily derived from Buddhist, humanistic, and evolutionary perspectives where there is no God or faith. This book mines the riches of scripture to identify the dimensions of human nature as understood in the Christian faith that can illuminate the work of the practicing clinician. These dimensions of human nature serve as a scaffolding that organize the scientific findings from psychology and neuroscience while remaining attentive to the spirituality of the client. A neuro-psycho-spiritual approach takes a whole-person perspective, delving into the psychological, neurobiological, and spiritual layers of human experience that are relevant to clinical practice. The counselor and psychotherapist will learn how to utilize the dimensions of human nature found in the Bible and apply them to their clinical work through the treatment of Joe, a priest struggling with a sex addiction. Joe will serve as a guide to illustrate how Christian principles can serve as a roadmap to better understand how emotional healing can be facilitated.

The Burning Saints

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317543750
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

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Book Synopsis The Burning Saints by : Dimitris Xygalatas

Download or read book The Burning Saints written by Dimitris Xygalatas and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Anastenaria are Orthodox Christians in Northern Greece who observe a unique annual ritual cycle focused on two festivals, dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. The festivals involve processions, music, dancing, animal sacrifices, and culminate in an electrifying fire-walking ritual. Carrying the sacred icons of the saints, participants dance over hot coals as the saint moves them. 'The Burning Saints' presents an analysis of these rituals and the psychology behind them. Based on long-term fieldwork, 'The Burning Saints' traces the historical development and sociocultural context of the Greek fire-walking rituals. As a cognitive ethnography, the book aims to identify the social, psychological and neurobiological factors which may be involved and to explore the role of emotional and physiological arousal in the performance of such ritual. A study of participation, experience and meaning, 'The Burning Saints' presents a highly original analysis of how mental processes can shape social and religious behaviour.

Neuroscience, Selflessness, and Spiritual Experience

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Publisher : Academic Press
ISBN 13 : 0081022190
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (81 download)

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Book Synopsis Neuroscience, Selflessness, and Spiritual Experience by : Brick Johnstone

Download or read book Neuroscience, Selflessness, and Spiritual Experience written by Brick Johnstone and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2019-06-15 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neuroscience, Selflessness, and Spiritual Transcendence conveys the manner by which selflessness serves as a neuropsychological and religious foundation for spiritually transcendent experiences. The book combines neurological case studies and neuroscience research with religious accounts of transcendence experiences from the perspective of both the neurosciences and the history of religions. Chapters cover the subjective experience of transcendence, an historical summary of different philosophical and religious perspectives, a review of the neuroscience research that describes the manner by which the brain processes and creates a self, and more. The book presents a model that bridges the divide between neuroscience and religion, presenting a resource that will be critical reading for advanced students and researchers in both fields. Creates a common focus on selflessness as a reliable construct for use by all disciplines interested in the basis of spiritual experience Links neuroanatomical data with religious texts from multiple faith traditions to describe the necessity of selflessness for spiritual experience and transformation Highlights disorders in neurological functioning that result in disorders of the self

The Psychology of Religion

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Publisher : Guilford Publications
ISBN 13 : 1462536026
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis The Psychology of Religion by : Ralph W. Hood, Jr.

Download or read book The Psychology of Religion written by Ralph W. Hood, Jr. and published by Guilford Publications. This book was released on 2018-07-23 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keeping up with the rapidly growing research base, the leading graduate-level psychology of religion text is now in a fully updated fifth edition. It takes a balanced, empirically driven approach to understanding the role of religion in individual functioning and social behavior. Integrating research on numerous different faith traditions, the book addresses the quest for meaning; links between religion and biology; religious thought, belief, and behavior across the lifespan; experiential dimensions of religion and spirituality; the social psychology of religious organizations; and connections to coping, adjustment, and mental disorder. Chapter-opening quotations and topical research boxes enhance the readability of this highly instructive text. New to This Edition *New topics: cognitive science of religion; religion and violence; and groups that advocate terrorist tactics. *The latest empirical findings, including hundreds of new references. *Expanded discussion of atheism and varieties of nonbelief. *More research on religions outside the Judeo-Christian tradition, particularly Islam. *State-of-the-art research methods, including techniques for assessing neurological states.

Evolution Science and Ethics in the Third Millennium

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319730908
Total Pages : 538 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (197 download)

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Book Synopsis Evolution Science and Ethics in the Third Millennium by : Robert Cliquet

Download or read book Evolution Science and Ethics in the Third Millennium written by Robert Cliquet and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-01-10 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book aims to revitalise the interdisciplinary debate about evolutionary ethics and substantiate the idea that evolution science can provide a rational and robust framework for understanding morality. It also traces pathways for knowledge-based choices to be made about directions for future long-term biological evolution and cultural development in view of adaptation to the expected, probable and possible future and the ecological sustainability of our planetary environment The authors discuss ethical challenges associated with the major biosocial sources of human variation: individual variation, inter-personal variation, inter-group variation, and inter-generational variation. This book approaches the long-term challenges of the human species in a holistic way. Researchers will find an extensive discussion of the key theoretical scientific aspects of the relationship between evolution and morality. Policy makers will find information that can help them better understand from where we are coming and inspire them to make choices and take actions in a longer-term perspective. The general public will find food for thoughts.

The Evolution of Religion

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Religion by : Joseph Bulbulia

Download or read book The Evolution of Religion written by Joseph Bulbulia and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Evolution of Religion is a unique transdisciplinary volume that gathers the latest research, debates, and programmatic visions of scholars studying religion from an evolutionary perspective. Anyone interested in the relationship of evolutionary science to religion will find insight and inspiration in this striking collection of fifty short essays from a diverse group of renowned international scolars. Here, God meets Darwin, and the conversation that ensues provides fascinating reading for those seeking to make sense of religion's place in nature.

Where God and Science Meet: The neurology of religious experience

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Author :
Publisher : Praeger
ISBN 13 : 9780275987909
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (879 download)

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Book Synopsis Where God and Science Meet: The neurology of religious experience by : Patrick McNamara

Download or read book Where God and Science Meet: The neurology of religious experience written by Patrick McNamara and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experts discuss aspects of the relationship between religion and neuroscience, examining topics such as neuroimaging studies of religious experience, the frontal lobes and religion's evolution, temporal lobe epilepsy, and ritual performance.

Popular Science

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 136 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Popular Science by :

Download or read book Popular Science written by and published by . This book was released on 2005-09 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popular Science gives our readers the information and tools to improve their technology and their world. The core belief that Popular Science and our readers share: The future is going to be better, and science and technology are the driving forces that will help make it better.

The Neuroscience of Religious Experience

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139483560
Total Pages : 319 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (394 download)

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Book Synopsis The Neuroscience of Religious Experience by : Patrick McNamara

Download or read book The Neuroscience of Religious Experience written by Patrick McNamara and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-06 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Technical advances in the life and medical sciences have revolutionised our understanding of the brain, while the emerging disciplines of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience continue to reveal the connections of the higher cognitive functions and emotional states associated with religious experience to underlying brain states. At the same time, a host of developing theories in psychology and anthropology posit evolutionary explanations for the ubiquity and persistence of religious beliefs and the reports of religious experiences across human cultures, while gesturing toward physical bases for these behaviours. What is missing from this literature is a strong voice speaking to these behavioural and social scientists - as well as to the intellectually curious in the religious studies community - from the perspective of a brain scientist.

APA Handbook of Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality: Context, theory, and research

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781433810770
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis APA Handbook of Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality: Context, theory, and research by :

Download or read book APA Handbook of Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality: Context, theory, and research written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: