Medjugorje’s Uniqueness

Abstract

Cognitive sciences like neuroscience have been used to study more common, cultivated, or induced religious experiences like states of meditation or prayer; however, in Medjugorje, it is the first time that spontaneous and extraordinary mystical experiences, such as visionary experiences in the form of Marian apparitions, have been studied by neuroscience as they are transpiring: pointing to Medjugorje’s uniqueness and importance. The chapter systematically considers the prominent interpretations of scholars who have tried to re-diagnose and explain extraordinary religious experiences as cases of epileptic seizures, hysteria, or hallucination, observing the work of Jean-Martin Charcot, Michael P. Carroll, Richard Dawkins, Andrew Newberg, and concluding with an analysis of Sigmund Freud’s interpretation of the “oceanic feeling” (i.e., mystical experience) and of his understanding of religion as a neurosis. The chapter explains how the scientific studies in Medjugorje substantially challenge the universal applicability of such reductionist theories.