Table of Contents

Introduction: If Neurotheology Is the Answer, What Is the Question?
1. Neurotheology and the Happy Prison of the Brain
2. What is Neurotheology?
3. Neuroscience and Neurotheology
4. What is Religion from a Neurotheological Perspective?
5. What is Spirituality from a Neurotheological Perspective?
6. Neurotheology and the Evolution of Religion
7. Neurotheology and Psychology
8. Brain Pathology and Religion
9. Religious Myths and the Brain
10. The Ritualizing Brain
11. Religious and Spiritual Practices
12. The Spiritual But Not Religious Brain
13. Free Will and the Brain
14. Escaping the Prison of the Brain: Mysticism
15. The End of Faith and the Beginning of Neurotheology
Notes
Index

About the Author

Andrew Newberg is the director of research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. His books include Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief (2001), Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth (2006), How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist (2009), and Principles of Neurotheology (2010).

Reviews

A tour de force in this emerging field, Neurotheology provides a superb review of the science to date and shows the many directions the field may go in the future. This book raises profound implications for neuroscience, medicine, theology, and philosophy. Fascinating and clearly written and accessible for everyone. Truly mind-blowing.
*Harold Koenig, Duke University Medical Center*

This book offers the promise that ‘neurotheology’ can help move us beyond the conflict between science and religion toward the truth or at least to a more unified and universal perspective on the interface between spirituality and the brain. Neurotheology covers many potential points of contact between science and religion, acknowledges the existence of complexity and the dangers of simple reductionism, and presents clear information on the capabilities and limitations of various forms of neurological assessment.
*John Peteet, Harvard Medical School*

In Neurotheology, Andrew Newberg discusses the possibility of a fruitful dialogue between neuroscience and religion and how this sort of investigation may have a profound impact on how we see spirituality, ourselves, and life. A world expert in the neuroimaging study of spiritual experiences, Newberg proposes a nondogmatic approach to the scientific study of spirituality and successfully advocates for fruitful exchanges between science and religion.
*Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Federal University of Juiz de Fora*

A magnificent work! Newberg is a superb scientist, yet still writes for a curious reader or college student an entirely gripping scholarly account. He addresses some of humanity's all-time epic questions of ultimate meaning with systematic, fine grain research that could only be technically possible in the past decade. A true work of scholarship, with rigor, artful synthesis, and a deep bench of knowledge around spirituality and religion.
*Lisa Miller, Ph.D., Professor and Founder, Spirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University*

This is an excellent introduction to the emerging field of neurotheology as well as a concise assessment of the contributions of neuroscience to our understanding of a broad range of religious and spiritual issues.
*Reading Religion*

This volume serves as both a great introduction to the various empirical approaches available to the study of religious phenomena and a strong argument for the crucial role of neurophysiology in aiding the psychology, cognitive science, and anthropology of religion to better understand the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of religious experience and behavior.
*Quarterly Review of Biology*

This book very usefully highlights complex material related to brain research and neuroscience as applied to areas of human experience broadly categorized as religious.
*Religion*

[A] comprehensive look at the field of neurotheology, or the neurology of religion. . . . Given that the larger relationship between science and religion has been contested for centuries, Newberg’s latest evidential support for a scientific understanding of why humans practice religion will be a welcome overview for interested readers.
*Publishers Weekly*

Newberg's book will be of most value to those who are struggling to reconcile science and spirituality.
*Choice*