Protestantism and Mysticism from the Perspective of Neuroscience
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.