The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience

Abstract

Until the late eighteenth century, religions, particularly in the West, were defined by their sacred texts and dogmatic formulations. Friedrich Schleiermacher, in the late eighteenth century, was one of the first scholars that attempted to define “religion” by switching from a doctrinal emphasis to a more cognitive, visceral, or intuitive one. Schleiermacher defined religion as a “feeling of absolute dependence.” Since his day most attempts at a general definition of religion have relied heavily on emphasizing the intuitive, emotional, or visceral elements rather than the doctrinal ones. This shift has important implications for bringing a neuroscientific approach to the study of religion. However, this also results in a neuroscientific approach to both religious and non-religious spirituality and spiritual experiences. In fact, as the definitions have evolved, the distinction between spirituality and religiousness has become much more complicated.