Neurotheology

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Neurotheology is an approach within the neurosciences to research religious feelings and behavior with the methods of neurobiology.

Medical observations

In 1975 Waxman and Geschwind published that patients with temporal lobe epilepsy developed noticeable changes in self-esteem and behavior, including intense religiosity (hyperreligiosity) . In 1998, VS Ramachandran published behavioral experiments with the same type of patient who had shown an increased physiological response, especially to words with a religious content .

Neurochemical Observations

The psychoactive drug psilocybin , which is found in more than 200 species of mushrooms and has a long cultural history, has been intensively researched in recent years with a view to possible medical applications. The already long known, noticeable accumulation of spiritual and religious experiences after taking the drug has been impressively confirmed in several careful studies and is now generally recognized.

Investigations of the visible effects of psilocybin in the brain by means of imaging methods showed, to the surprise of the researchers, no regions of increased activity, but instead several significant switching centers with reduced activity. The stronger the effect of the drug experienced by the test subjects, the more the activity of these neuronal switching centers was reduced. A possible explanation has been suggested that the (already relatively well known) neurochemical effects of psilocybin disrupt the normal balance of neuronal information flows.

Further - but not reproduced - experiments

Experiments in which extremely weak magnetic fields applied to the outside of the head could allegedly create the feeling of the presence of a “higher reality” in 80 percent of the test persons, made the Canadian neurologist Michael Persinger known. Many of his religious subjects spoke of having been touched by God , while atheists spoke of a felt connection with the universe. In a double-blind study by a group led by Pehr Granqvist with magnetic field stimulation according to Persinger, however, it was found that test subjects whose helmets (with the magnetic coils) were not activated reported spiritual experiences just as often as those whose helmets were active.

Andrew Newberg of the University of Pennsylvania used imaging techniques to approach the meditation experience from a neuroscientific perspective. He incorporated the results into neurobiologically justifiable theories for the formation of myths and rituals . However, independent repeat studies show different results. Mario Beauregard and Vincent Paquette from the Université de Montréal found more brain regions particularly activated during meditation than Newberg had assumed.

In Germany, the brain researcher Detlef Linke took part in debates on the subject, including with popular science books such as Religion as a Risk: Mind, Faith and Brain and with lectures.

Religious interpretations

Occasional attempts at religious interpretations of neurobiological events can be observed, for example in Laurence McKinney's book Neurotheology: Virtual Religion in the 21st Century, which seeks a neurological legitimation of Buddhism.

literature

  • Newberg, Andrew / D'Aquili, Eugene / Rause, Vince: The thought of God , Piper, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-492-24138-7
  • Wolf, Gerald: Science Fiction
  • Linke, Detlef: Identity, Culture and Neuroscience. , in: Gephart W et al: Religion and Identity in the Horizon of Pluralism. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main (1999) 72-80, ISBN 3-518-29011-8
  • Hafner, Urs: God in the head. How science explains faith , in: Stapferhaus Lenzburg (ed.), Glaubenssache. A book for believers and unbelievers, Baden 2006, 54–60, ISBN 3-03919-038-5 .
  • Vaas, Rüdiger: God and Brain , in: Peter R. Sahm u. a. (Ed.): Man in the cosmos. Discorsi Verlag, Hamburg 2005, 181–208, ISBN 3-9807330-8-4 .
  • Karger, Angelika; Karim, Ahmed, 'On the Critique of Neurotheology, Forum Technology, Theology, Natural Sciences, No. 16, 19–36, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-89675-956-6
  • Vaas, Rüdiger / Blume, Michael: Gott, Gene and Brain , Hirzel, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-7776-1634-6
  • Blume, Michael: Neurotheology - brain researchers explore faith , Marburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-8288-9933-9
  • T. Passie, J. Warncke, T. Peschel, U. Ott: Neurotheologie , Der Nervenarzt 84, 2013, pp. 283-293, review article, summary and literature list online

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Waxman SG, Geschwind N. "The interictal behavior syndrome of temporal lobe epilepsy." Arch Gen Psychiatry 32, 1975, pp. 1580-1586
  2. ↑ Vilaynur S. Ramachandran, Sandra Blakeslee, "The blind woman who can see: Enigmatic phenomena of our consciousness" Rowohlt Tb. 3rd edition 2002, ISBN 978-3-499-61381-4 (original title: "Phantoms in the Brain:" Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind "Quill William Morrow, New York 1998, 328 pages)
  3. ↑ Griffiths RR, Richards WA, McCann U, Jesse R. "Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance" Psychopharmacology 187, 2006: 268-283 PMID 16826400
  4. ↑ Griffiths R, Richards W, Johnson M, McCann U, Jesse R. "Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later" Journal of Psychopharmacology 22, 2008: 621-632 PMID 18593735
  5. ^ Griffiths RR, Johnson MW, Richards WA, Richards BD, McCann U, Jesse R. "Psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experiences: immediate and persisting dose-related effects". Psychopharmacology 218, 2011: 649-665 PMID 21674151
  6. ↑ Carhart-Harris RL, Erritzoe D, Williams T, Stone JM, Reed LJ, Colasanti A, Tyacke RJ, Leech R, Malizia AL, Murphy K, Hobden P, Evans J, Feilding A, Wise RG, Nutt DJ. `` Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin. '' Proc Natl Acad Sci US A. 2012, 109: 2138-2143 PMID 22308440
  7. ↑ Pehr Granqvist, Mats Fredrikson, Patrik Unge, Andrea Hagenfeldt, Sven Valind, Dan Larhammar and Marcus Larsson: Sensed presence and mystical experiences are predicted by suggestibility, not by the application of transcranial weak complex magnetic fields. In: Neuroscience Letters 379, 2005: 1-6 PMID 15849873 .
  8. ^ Mario Beauregard, Vincent Paquette: Neural correlates of a mystical experience in Carmelite nuns. In: Neurosci Lett 405, 2006: 186-190 PMID 16872743 .
  9. ↑ Detlef B. Linke : Religion as a Risk: Spirit, Faith and Brain. Reinbek near Hamburg 2003, 319 pp. ISBN 3-499-61488-X .
  10. ^ Laurence O. McKinney: Neurotheology: Virtual Religion in the 21st Century. American Institute for Mindfulness, 1994, ISBN 0-945724-01-2 .