Religious Experience: A Neuro-Theological Perspective

Abstract

The article provides an overview of studies aimed at identifying the correlation of religious experience and brain abnormalities, analyzes the hypothesis of temporal lobe epilepsy, which has dominated experimental studies since the 1970s and has been consistently developed by J. Saver, D. Rabin, S. Schachter, M. Persinger. An alternative hypothesis of frontal lobes formulated by P. McNamara, whose popularity began in the 1990s and continues to this day, is considered. Its development is demonstrated by the example of the works of A. Newberg. On the basis of two models, the theories of identi cation of religious experience and schizophrenic disorders, the connection of religious experience and epilepsy are analyzed separately. Within the framework of the methodology of neurotheological research proposed by A. Newberg, the prospects for the application of religious practices in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease are evaluated. Newberg’s attitude to the practices of studying the effects of psychoactive substances is analyzed, his ideas are correlated with the historical context. The problems of studying near-death experience are considered separately. In conclusion, it is argued that at this stage the conceptual understanding of the problem is still far from satisfactory, the temporal lobe hypothesis is largely ideologized and does not have a suf cient level of veri cation, while studies of the frontal lobes in neurotheology create more questions than give answers.