Is this your brain on God?

On NPR this week, Barbara Bradley Hagerty reported on “the science of spirituality.” In a series of five short pieces, Bradley Hagerty interviewed scientists and religious practitioners about such topics as “The Biology of Belief” and the brain’s so-called “God Spot“:

More than half of adult Americans report they have had a spiritual experience that changed their lives. Now, scientists from universities like Harvard, Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins are using new technologies to analyze the brains of people who claim they have touched the spiritual—from Christians who speak in tongues to Buddhist monks to people who claim to have had near-death experiences. Hear what they have discovered in this controversial field, as the science of spirituality continues to evolve.

Find links to the stories here.

Spirituality & Lived Experience

Daniel Vaca

Daniel Vaca is the Robert Gale Noyes Assistant Professor of Humanities at Brown University, where he teaches in the Department of Religious Studies. A historian of religion and culture in North America, he specializes in the relationship between religious and economic activity in the United States. His first book, Evangelicals Incorporated: Books and the Business of Religion in America (Harvard, 2019) examines how evangelical ideas, identities, and alliances have developed through commercial strategy and corporate initiative. The co-chair of the American Academy of Religion's program unit on Religion and Economy, Daniel serves on the editorial board of The Immanent Frame.

Daniel Vaca

Mobilizing social science for the public good.

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