Where God and Science Meet [Three Volumes] How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter Our Understanding of Religion

Subjects:

• Psychology » Cognitive Psychology
• Religious Studies » Religious Studies (General)
• Science » Science (General)
• Psychology » Psychology (General)

Reviews:

• Scientists and religionists who read these volumes and attempt dialogue may begin to overcome the segregation evident in the field and reflected here. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty/researchers.
  —Choice June 2007
• [P]resents the scholar and informed layperson with a fascinating glimpse into the recent evolutionary, neuroscientific, and psychological findings on religion, paying particular attention to the fledgling field of neurotheology....These volumes are written with the undergraduate clearly in mind; however, this exhaustively documented collection has enough breadth and scope to satisfy even the speacialist. In either case, it will prove a handsome addition to the shelves of any university library.
  —Religious Studies Review March 2008
• Authors are of varying religious persuasions or none and this provides some interesting ways for the perceptive reader to discern how belief systems influence interpretation of scientific or clinical findings....Most PSCF readers would benefit from these essays, especially those pertaining to their own expertise.
  —Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith September 2007
• The meeting is definitely taking place in the house of science, and the emphasis is on biological processes associated with religiousness, though religious processes associated with biologicalness are occasionally addressed for example the health benefits and risks of religiosity. Mostly psychologists, but also other scientists and a few scholars of religion, look at evolution, genes, and the religious brain in volume one. The second volume discusses the neurology of religious experience; and the third the psychology of religious experience. The volumes are paged and indexed separately.
  —Reference & Research Book News February 2007

Table of Contents:

• VOLUME I: Evolution, Genes, and the Religious Brain
• Series Forward by J. Harold Ellens
• Preface by Patrick McNamara
• The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion by Steven Pinker
• Sacred Emotions and Affective Neuroscience: Gratitude, Costly Signaling, and the Brain by Robert A. Emmons and Patrick McNamara
• Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Traditional Moral Values Triad--Authoritarianism, Conservatism, and Religiousness--as Assessed by Quantitative Behavior Genetic Methods by Laura B. Koenig and Thomas J. Bouchard Jr.
• Religious Behaviors, Badges, and Bans: Signaling Theory and the Evolution by Richard Sosis
• Nature's Medicine: Religiosity as an Adaptation for Health and Cooperation by Joseph Bulbulia
• The Cognitive Psychology of Belief in the Supernatural by Jesse M. Bering
• The Ritual Healing Theory: Therapeutic Suggestion and the Origin of Religion by James McClenon
• Religion Is Not an Adaptation by Lee A. Kirkpatrick
• The Cognitive and Evolutionary Roots of Religion by Scott Atran
• Amazing Grace: Religion and the Evolution of the Human Mind by Ilkka Pyysiäinen
• The Significance of the Evolution of Religious Belief and Behavior for Religious Studies and Theology by Wesley J. Wildman
• Index
• VOLUME2: The Neurology of Religious Experience
• Series Foreword by J. Harold Ellens
• Preface by Patrick McNamara
• The Chemistry of Religiosity: Evidence from Patients with Parkinson's Disease by Patrick McNamara, Raymon Durso, Ariel Brown, and Erica Harris
• Religious and Spiritual Practices: A Neurochemical Perspective by Andrew B. Newberg
• Neuroimaging Studies of Religious Experience: A Critical Review by Nina P. Azari
• Religion and the Life Course: Is Adolescence an "Experience Expectant" Period for Religious Transmission? by Candace S. Alcorta
• Neurotheology: A Science of What? by Matthew Ratcliffe
• Religion as a By-Product of Evolved Psychology: The Case of Attachment and Implications for Brain and Religion Research by Pehr Granqvist
• Religious Conversion, Spiritual Transformation, and the Neurocognition of Meaning Making by Raymond F. Paloutzian, Erica L. Swenson, and Patrick McNamara
• Religion and the Brain: Evidence from Temporal Lobe Epilepsy by Steven C. Schachter
• The Frontal Lobes and the Evolution of Cooperation and Religion by Patrick McNamara
• Mind Design and the Capacity for Ritual Performance by Carl Seaquist
• The Brain, Religion, and Baseball: Comments on the Potential for a Neurology of Religion and Religious Experience by Warren S. Brown
• Index
• VOLUME 3: The Psychology of Religious Experience
• Series Foreword by J. Harold Ellens
• Preface by Patrick McNamara
• The Neuropharmacology of Religious Experience: Hallucinogens and the Experience of the Divine by David E. Nichols and Benjamin R. Chemel
• The Relationship between Religion and Health by Andrew B. Newberg and Bruce Y. Lee
• Religion, Meaning, and the Brain by Crystal L. Park and Patrick McNamara
• The Darker Side of Religion: Risk Factors for Poorer Health and Well-Being by Gina Magyar-Russell and Kenneth Pargament
• The Common Core Thesis in the Study of Mysticism by Ralph W. Hood, Jr.
• Cross-Cultural Assessments of Shamanism as a Biogenetic Foundation for Religion by Michael Winkelman
• Schizophrenia, Neurology, and Religion: What can Psychosis Teach Us about the Evolutionary Role of Religion? by Steven A. Rogers and Raymond F. Paloutzian
• Between Yang and Yin and Heaven and Hell: Untangling the Complex Relationship between Religion and Intolerance by Ian Hansen and Ara Norenzayan
• The Origins of Dreaming by Kelly Bulkeley
• Chemical Input, Religious Output--Entheogens: A Pharmatheology Sampler by Thomas B. Roberts
• An Illusion of the Future: Temptations and Possibilities by Keith G. Meador
• Index