Last month, The Chronicle of Higher Education posted a series of articles discussing “what science can and cannot tell us…
Neuroscience and free will
neuroscience
RFP: New Directions in the Study of Prayer
The Social Science Research Council recently announced the launch of a new project and grants program entitled "New Directions in…
What is evil?
What is evil? The question is asked in very different ways in two recent articles. The first, by Ron Rosenbaum…
Buddhism and science
At 13.7: Cosmos and Culture, a blog sponsored by NPR, astrophysicist Adam Frank takes on the changing relationship between Buddhism and science.…
Spirituality, entangled: An interview with Courtney Bender
Courtney Bender is an associate professor of sociology at Columbia University and co-chair of the SSRC’s Working Group on Spirituality,…
Transcendence in the brain
The current issue of Nature includes a report on a new study in Italy about the connections between certain brain…
Always put one in the brain
Let me assure you. Ongoing neurological studies will not dramatically change religious belief or practice. As Robert Bellah notes in…
Mind sciences and religious change in America
Like others in this discussion, I'm not sure that recent neurological studies will dramatically change contemporary religious belief or practice,…
Is this anything or is this nothing?
The New York Times opinion piece by David Brooks, titled "The Neural Buddhists," drives a wedge between mystical and "revealed"…
Let’s get clear about materialism
David Brooks's op-ed, "The Neural Buddhists," is premised on a variety of conceptual confusions that are worth trying to clear…