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10 February 1998
Mt. Airy, Philadelphia
Presentations
A Neuropsychological Analysis of Religion: Discovering Why God
Won't Go Away
Andrew B. Newberg, M.D.
Abstract
By the end of the eighteenth century, the intellectual elite generally
believed that religion would soon vanish because of the advent of the
scientific method and the application of "higher criticism"
to religious texts. However, two hundred years later, religions have not
gone away, and in many instances, appear to be gaining in strength. Andrew
Newberg will consider the neuropsychological basis of religious and mystical
experiences and offer a proposal as to the foundations of religion. According
to Newberg, religion appears to serve two major functions -- it is a system
of self-maintenance and a system of self-transcendence. Since both of
these functions bear directly on human survival and adaptability, the
neuropsychological mechanisms that underlie religious experience appear
to have become thoroughly ingrained in human development. Newberg will
review these two functions of religion from a neuropsychological perspective
to provide a base for understanding religion and why human beings continue
to experience God. Finally, Newberg will consider the conclusions that
a neuropsychological analysis of religious experience lead to regarding
reality and epistemology.
Andrew B. Newberg is a Fellow of the Division of Nuclear Medicine
at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His research has focused
on neurophysiology and human ritual, religion, and neuroimaging techniques
to study the effects of meditation on the central nervous system. He is
the Associate Director of Neurobiological Studies for the Conference on
Scientific Progress in Spiritual Research and the Director and Co-Founder
of the Institute for the Scientific Study of Meditation. He has published
widely in journals such as American Psychologist, Zygon, Anthropology
of Consciousness, and Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine.
He received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
in 1993.
Neuroscience and the Bible: Whatever Happened to the Soul?
Nancey Murphy, Ph.D., Th.D.
Abstract
Nancey Murphy will consider two perspectives of human nature: the dualist
and physicalist. Through the centuries, many religious thinkers and believers
have held some form of body-soul dualism. Yet current advances in the
neurosciences are making the concept of an independent mind or soul less
and less credible. Although it may appear that science and religion are
heading for conflict, Murphy argues that a non-dualist account of humans
is entirely compatible with Jewish and Christian biblical traditions,
so long as reductionistic accounts of human life (including morality and
religious experience) are avoided.
Nancey Murphy is Associate Professor of Christian Philosophy at
Fuller Theological Seminary. She holds a Th.D. in Theology from Graduate
Theological Union and a Ph.D. in Philosophy (The Philosophy of Science)
from the University of California Berkeley. Her recent books include
Virtues and Practices in The Christian Tradition: Christian Ethics After
MacIntyre (with B. Kallenberg and M. Nation, 1997), Reconciling
Theology and Science: A Radical Reformation Perspective (1997), Anglo
American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on Science, Religion,
and Ethics (1997), and On the Moral Nature of the Universe: Theology,
Cosmology, and Ethics (1996). She has been a member of the Editorial
Advisory Board for Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science since
1988. She is a three-time National Science Foundation Fellow.
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