A critique of “Neurotheology” and an examination of spatial perception in mystical experience
David T. Bradford
Acta Neuropsychologica March 25, 2012 DOI: 10.5604/17307503.995092 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism Mystical experience |
| Keywords | Perception Aesthetics Cognitive psychology Literature |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key points | Argues that neurotheology is overinclusive in equating all mystical experiences with Absolute Unitary Being (AUB). |
Abstract
The "neurotheology" developed by d'Aquili and Newberg is critiqued, beginning with its modular conception of mental process and its understanding of the contribution of language, deafferentation, and autonomic and limbic arousal in mystical experience.Neurotheology makes claims about ultimate reality and the neuropsychological means of its realization.A spatial perception that conveys the sense of "unified undifferentiated oneness" reveals Absolute Unitary Being (AUB).The neurotheology of AUB is analyzed and compared with texts from the Buddhist and Vedantic traditions, leading to the phenomenological description and neuropsychological interpretation of a distinctly mystical form of spatial perception represented in three religious traditions.The conclusion illustrates neurotheology's overinclusiveness in equating all mystical experiences with AUB.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Vectorial Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences and Religious Conversions | 1993 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The epistemic innocence of psychedelic states. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine | 1982 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 7
- The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience Choice Reviews Online June 1, 2000
- Neural correlates of a mystical experience in Carmelite nuns Neuroscience Letters July 27, 2006
- The neural substrates of religious experience The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences August 1, 1997
- Brain and psyche in early Christian asceticism. Psychological Reports October 2011
- The Neuroscience of Religious Experience November 6, 2009
and 2 more in the library