Protestantism and Mysticism from the Perspective of Neuroscience
Wolfgang Achtner, Ulrich Ott
Theology and Science August 1, 2013 DOI: 10.1080/14746700.2013.809949 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Keywords | Perspective graphical Protestantism Epistemology Psychoanalysis Religious studies Theology |
| Key points | Argues that neuroscience can help understand mystical experiences, prompting a revised Protestant theological evaluation of mysticism. |
Abstract
AbstractProtestantism has always been suspicious about a mystical encounter with the Divine. Although the early Luther was influenced by mystical writers like Johannes Tauler the subsequent dogmatic evaluation of mystical forms of religiosity remained ambiguous. Nevertheless the real nature of mystical experience is still unclear and therefore the dogmatic judgments about mystical encounters with the Divine are based on unsound arguments like self-salvation. In this article we want to show that modern neuroscience can help to understand the nature of mystical experiences better and based on this we come to a new dogmatic appreciation of mysticism.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |