Review: Principles of Neurotheology

One of the most fundamental quandaries in theology and philosophy is the pernicious difficulty of using the mind to examine itself. The trickiness of inverting conscious attention back towards itself has caused countless philosophers (and their students) to throw up their hands in despair, and it hasn’t made life easy for modern-day consciousness researchers, either. But one scientist claims to offer a new hope: in his new book, Principles of Neurotheology (Ashgate, 2010), Andrew Newberg attempts to outline a bold, even revolutionary, strategy for unifying the study of conscious, subjective experience with the objective research of neuroscience.

Yoga may help produce vital brain chemical

Yoga has been prominent in the public eye recently – it seems like everyone from housewives to movie stars is suddenly carting around a yoga mat en route to their favorite studio (sending some Christian pastors into an existential panic while they’re at it). But is yoga just a trend, or does it actually do anything useful for people? As it happens, new research from Boston University suggests that it’s more than just a fad: yoga may help increase levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid in the brain, leading to greater well-being than exercise alone.

Review: The Empirical Stance

Renowned philosopher of science Bas C. van Fraassen (Princeton University) had long remained silent on issues of religion. So by his own admission he was surprised to learn that he had been invited to give the Terry Lectures, a lecture series dedicated to "the building of the truths of science and philosophy into the structure of a broadened and purified religion.” The end result was The Empirical Stance (Yale University Press, 2002), a book that argues for both philosophy (specifically empiricism) and religion as stance.

The future is upon us

There are many ways to peer into the future: tarot cards, crystal balls, magic 8-balls. But scientists tend to frown upon these sorts of paranormal techniques. After all, no one can really see into the future, right? Psychologist Daryl J. Bem (Cornell University) wants to challenge this assumption. He presents evidence that has, believe it or not, passed peer review for the hypothesis that the future can affect the here and now.

Science strikes back against the New Age

The search for meaning is a powerful drive, one that many thinkers have even claimed is universal. Unfortunately, this means that unscrupulous, or maybe just misled, people can sometimes take advantage of others’ need for harmony and purpose by offering spiritual solutions that don’t hold up to scrutiny. Since the countercultural revolutions of the 1960s and ‘70s, this problem has only been compounded as millions have left organized religious life. Still, reason does prevail once in a while. An example? The recent studies challenging the claims of Masuru Emoto, the Japanese author who famously asserted that positive emotions can affect the structure of ice crystals.

Can theological and scientific explanations for religion coexist?

For its practitioners, the scientific study of religion is a thoughtful, hard-edged investigation into one of the most important spheres of human experience. Rather than taking theological claims at face value, the study of religion tries to locate beliefs and practices in a nested hierarchy of biological, evolutionary, and social contexts. But this way of looking at religion brings up a serious problem: it seems to contradict the actual claims of religion, replacing them with scientific explanations. In essence, it makes religion seem, well…wrong. But researcher James Van Slyke argues that this dichotomy is just an illusion, asserting that theological and scientific explanations for religion don't necessarily contradict each other.

Religion affects decisions by shaping how we perceive

How do we make decisions? It may seem to be a question more suited for philosophical treatises or neuroscience journal articles than the study of religion, but there’s no denying that religion plays an important role in many people’s everyday choices (such as, say, in political decision-making…for better or worse). Now, researchers in the Netherlands suggest that religion may play a fundamental role in people’s choices by helping determine how we see our options to begin with.

Evolved to die?

Evolution is synonymous with “survival of the fittest:” only the strongest survive and reproduce more than their competition, ensuring that their traits will be passed on. Yet, being the “strongest” and reproducing the “most” runs into a serious problem if the organism commits suicide. How could evolution produce an instinct that so blatantly runs contrary to its most fundamental principle? Moreover, what are the religious implications of a species adapted for suicide?

Symbols, science and religion

For some, religion is just a collection of symbols. Religious ideas don't really refer to anything real, since they're actually just metaphors that describe the foibles of the human experience. Religion should therefore only be taken seriously to the extent that a poem should be taken seriously. However, theologian F. LeRon Shults (University of Agder, Norway) protests that such a dismissive treatment of symbols is unwarranted. Religion may be about symbols, he argues, but a proper understanding of symbols reveals more room for meaning and depth than we might suspect.

Spirituality and medicine: a controversial combo

The past decade has seen an explosion of scholarly literature on the relationship between spirituality and health. But medical professionals receive little training for dealing with patients’ spiritual needs, and some doctors have spoken out against what they see as an unwelcome blurring of disciplinary lines. However, a new study shows that the vast majority of articles on spirituality and medicine are written by authors with medical, rather than pastoral or theological, credentials. What does this mean? Simple: the push to integrate spirituality and health care may be arising from within the medical field itself.