What is neurotheology?

neurotheologists is a scientific field that tries to study the neurological activity of the brain during spiritual experiences. The field immediately hit the controversy by assuming that all spiritual experiences are the result of nerve impulses and brain patterns. The field of neurotheology does not accept that spiritual experiences can actually cause nerve impulses, but is the opposite. With this tendency, neurotheology is often attacked by theologians, spiritual leaders and other scientists. Subjects may feel on one with the universe, experience sudden enlightenment, changed states of consciousness, ecstatic trance or spiritual respect. The evaluation of brain wave formulas was the first examination of neurotheology, performed at the end of the 50s.

The latest investigation used the brain to study the people undergoing spiritual experience. However, it was a state in the 80s of Dr. Michael Persinger, who mainly defined neurotheology and caused great criticism. Persinger believed that he could cause a spiritual episode with stimulating timekeelobes. His research got under the recent attack because his study was not blind and those who were tested had some feeling what to expect.

Persinger device used to stimulate time lobes is called a divine helmet that creates a weak magnetic field that causes temporary lobes to react. Those who subjected experience often reported that they felt a presence in the room. Based on Persinger's studies, many of them concluded that spiritual experience was only a brain reaction, which impaired the possibility of spiritual experience truly existing as a real phenomenon.

The 80's study with Divine Helt enraged many theologians, because it significantly cheaper their belief that spiritual experience came directly from God. According to them, it is to deny the reality of spiritual experience to deny the foundation of many world religions. Theologians have relieved that experiments pErsinger in neurotheology was attacked as a bad science.

Modern neurotheology with brain mapping techniques is fascinating in its proposal that all people, regardless of religion, may have a common core that forces us to open the experience of spiritual nature. This congenital spirituality can actually do more to prove that God exists. Those who believe in intelligent design are pointed out as a specific design that one is "made in God's image", and the ability to find a spiritual way of life for all.

However, these recent neurotheology theories may also point to the validity of all religions rather than the only dominant religion. If everyone is capable of spiritual experience and buzzing spiritual experiences from people of different religions remains the same, it raises the question in terms of the validity of one particular religion before another, or one sect of religion over another sect. Instead, this type of work tends to be in SoulaDu with psychological theories Carl Jung and his passionate follower Joseph Campbel, who changed the face of comparative mythology by pointing out his own similarities in all myths and sacred religious texts.

Regardless of the results of further research of neurotheology, some critics are simply not interested in. Some believe that religion and science are necessarily antithetical. Religion works on faith while science is trying to work with quantifiable facts. It is the absence of evidence that defines faith and gives the most believers the most common spiritual experiences. These critics do not want to have anything to do with neurotheology in any form and feel that the marriage of science and religion is unnecessary evil.