Abstract
This article examines the basic and dialogical models of neurotheology and suggests a third model based on the work of Aldous Huxley. In other words, this proposal is not limited to understanding this discipline as a mere pursuit of neural correlates or as a dialogue between neuroscience and theology. Instead, it is the search for an integrative understanding of religious experiences in which the study of neuronal correlates is only one of the multilevels to be integrated within the framework of a plural and conveniently articulated explanation of such phenomena. This model, which we call integrative neurotheology, hopes to achieve knowledge of religious experiences that includes a comprehensive range of disciplines. In order to update and give argumentative consistency to this model, we will use philosopher Sandra D. Mitchell’s theory of integrative pluralism, which is a more epistemologically refined expression of Huxley’s intuitions. We conclude that a comprehensive model is feasible although we are aware that this article cannot give answers to all the difficulties that this model possesses. Nevertheless, we expect to open up a new pathway in the studies of religious experience.
Highlights
Neurotheology has been conceived, on the one hand, as one of the many subdisciplines that are included within the field of neuroscience and is limited to the study of the neural correlates of religious experiences
In neither of the two cases is the way in which Aldous Huxley conceives neurotheology taken into account, which in our opinion is relevant since Huxley was the creator of the term and his works allow us to sketch a different model from the two already mentioned
Should neurotheology be understood in a Huxleyan key? We would argue that neurotheology is the attempt to articulate, in a shared and consistent discourse, the results of research conducted across the range of disciplines that study religious experiences, and that, cover the main levels, from the neuro level to the theological-mystical one
Summary
This goal refers to the study of the neurophysiological correlates of theological ideas and their potential to improve theology (2010) At this point, Newberg especially refers to two questions: the first regarding the improvement of physical and mental health by means of stress reduction, and the general health of the population through medical interventions; and the second one in reference to a contribution to the problem of terrorism by gaining insight into the terrorist’s mind and evaluating what kind of individuals are more likely blindly to obey certain extremist religious doctrines, in order to offer, at least, methods for an appropriate redirection of their behaviors (2010). In my view such a model could be fruitful for broadening the understanding of religious experiences, even if the religious experiences that can currently be studied by neuroscience are limited”
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