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)

Reviews:

• [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
• 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 6/1/2007

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

PDF Catalogs:
Psychology Catalog 2008.pdf	Praeger Religion Catalog 2008.pdf