Towards a Theory of Spiritual and Religious Experiences
How do we define religious experiences? And what would be the relationship with spiritual experiences? The author claims that the cognitive turn in science gives us new opportunities to map the territory of religion and spirituality. In line with other authors (Taves, Wildman), he proposes a buildin...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2015
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In: |
Archive for the psychology of religion
Year: 2015, Volume: 37, Issue: 2, Pages: 141-167 |
Further subjects: | B
theory of religious experiences
spiritual
encultured brain
predictive mind
unexpectedness
anomalous
ultimate
counterintuitive
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Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
Summary: | How do we define religious experiences? And what would be the relationship with spiritual experiences? The author claims that the cognitive turn in science gives us new opportunities to map the territory of religion and spirituality. In line with other authors (Taves, Wildman), he proposes a building block approach of cognitive mechanisms that can deal with questions regarding the specificity, origin, and complexity of religious experiences. Two concepts are presented that bridge the great divide which is presumed to exist between sciences that study the brain and humanities, namely the encultured brain and predictive minds. In section three, six building blocks of the structure of religious experience are formulated. New in his approach is the unexpected possible as distinctive ground between normal experiences and what we consider spiritual and religious experiences. Finally, the author presents a critical reflection on his proposal and challenges for the road ahead. |
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ISSN: | 1573-6121 |
Contains: | In: Archive for the psychology of religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15736121-12341306 |