Need some help with a school paper

[Tyrant]

I'm writing a research paper on the relationship between psychology and religion - more specific to the effects of spiritual experiences on the brain. I was curious as to whether or not anyone on Totse had any interesting web resources that could point me in the correct direction.

[Social Junker]

Don't know if Freud interests you at all, but here's a resource I use from time to time.

Freud on Religion

Hope this helps.

[Tyrant]

I took two seconds to look through it, saw that the author claimed that it was the "uniqueness" of Judaism that made others "jealous," and promptly threw up about 3/4 a pint of pork fried rice.

[Social Junker]

quote:Originally posted by Tyrant:

I took two seconds to look through it, saw that the author claimed that it was the "uniqueness" of Judaism that made others "jealous," and promptly threw up about 3/4 a pint of pork fried rice.

Haha, I never said it wasn't biased. It's sometimes hard to find truly objective resources on the internet, but they're there if you look hard enough.

[The Crusader]

Religion is psychological.

[Tyrant]

This I understand, but linguistics isn't going to let me cop out of a paper.

Read everything by Carl Jung.

[Tyrant]

Perhaps I should clarify...

I want to do a paper on the biological effects a religious experience has on the brain.

Any sources?

Sempre Solipsist:

I know of Carl Jung quite well. I have, to date, at least 20 books corresponding to Carl Jung either directly from his writings, or from commentary on his books and theory. He does not, however, go into detail on the effects of religious experience on, say, the cerebral cortex.

Thanks for the tip, though. =)

First suggestion:

Go to your university library's website.

[I'm assuming you're in college. Correct me if I'm wrong.] If you've got some time, research for books and journal articles.

If you're a procrastinator (like me), there should be a link on there to Full Text Resources. You should be able to link to various full-text databases with your student ID. It's much easier to find academic journal articles through a library website then just randomly through search engines like Google.

If you're looking for the title of specific books and articles, let me know. I can tell you probably more than you want to hear.

A more specific suggestion: there is an academic journal of science and religion called Zygon. You can bring up their full-text articles by registering at ingenta.com.

There's TONS of good articles about religious experience and neurophysiology there. I can even tell you which issues to look in if you'd like.

Here you go...

Some articles from Zygon (from 1994-2004) that can be accessed through ingenta.com:

(Sorry I didn't bother to include the authors' last names. Quite a few are by Newberg and D'Aquili, though - leaders in the field of neurotheology...)

*********************************

2004

Vol. 39, #1 -- "Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology"

2003

Vol. 38, #3 -- "Brain Science and the Biology of Belief: A Theological Response"

Vol. 38, #2 -- "on Brain, Soul, Self, and Freedom: An Essay in Bridging Neuroscience and Faith"

2002

Vol. 37, #2 -- "'Miles Within Millimeters' and Other Awe-Inspiring Facts About Our 'Motorboard' Human Cortex"

2001

Vol. 37, #4 -- "Cognitive Neuroscience, Temporal Ordering, and the Human Spirit"

Vol. 36, #3 -- "Understanding Biology in Religious Experience: The Biogenetic Structuralist Approach of Eugene D'Aquili and Andrew Newberg"

Vol. 36, #3 -- "Neuroscience in Pursuit of the Holy: Mysticism, the Brain, and Ultimate Reality"

Vol. 36, #3 -- "Putting the Mystical Mind Together"

Vol. 36, #1 -- "The Limbic System and the Soul: Evolution and the Neuroanatomy of Religious Experience"

2000

Vol. 35, #4 -- "The 'God Molecule' and the Complexifying Brain"

Vol. 35, #3 -- "Neuroscience, the Person, and God: An Emergentist Account"

Vol. 35, #1 -- "The Neuropsychology of Aesthetic, Spiritual, and Mystical States"

1999

Vol. 34, #1 -- "The Image of God of Neurotheology: Reflections of Culturally-Based Religious Commitment or Evolutionary-Based Neuroscientific Theories?"

1998

Vol. 33, #2 -- "The Neuropsychological Basis of Religion, or Why God Won't Go Away"

1997

Vol. 32, #4 -- "Cognitive Science: What One Needs to Know

********************************

Most of these should prove beneficial to you.

You'll also want to look up the work of Michael Persinger. (You can look up his name online.)

I'm not sure if you're looking for books, but if so you should read "Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief" by Andrew Newberg, M.D., Eugene D'Aquili, M.D., Ph.D., and Vince Rause.

Can you tell this is a field that I'm interested in, too?

[Tyrant]

...................

If you would be so kind as to give me a minute to pick up my jaw, which seems to have unhinged itself from my face, crashed through the floor of my room, through the roof of the room below, through the ground floor, and continued to plummet a good three-quarters of the way through the Earth's crust from pure astonishment, I will be able to thank you appropriately.

In the meantime, I'll just have to be content switching back and forth between sending you flowers online and typing meager thanks on this thread.

HAIL LOLITA!

Haha. You're quite welcome.

Like I said, this is something I'm researching as well so it probably wasn't as much trouble as it looks.

I'm writing an annotated bibliography of scholarship on that particular topic in that particular journal over the past decade. (By the way, I didn't include years '94-'96 because I haven't gotten to them yet. The online articles only go back to '97; I'll have to go to the library for the other three years.)

Of course, you might not want to limit your scope to just Zygon (although it is a very good journal). It shouldn't be any trouble at all to find other full-text articles online, but let me know if you need any help.

Good luck!



[This message has been edited by Lolita (edited 10-27-2004).]

quote:Originally posted by Acid Rocker:

i can obselete all of your long-ass posts with one sentence.

religion, like all beliefs, gives people the mental compacity they require to perform in everyday life.

You should submit that to Zygon. That's academic journal material right there!

Seriously, though, while one doesn't need to be a neurologist to write such a paper, one does need to at least partially explain the neurological basis for religious experience. If one wants to write a halfway decent paper, that is.

[Tyrant]

i can obselete all of your long-ass posts with one sentence.

religion, like all beliefs, gives people the mental compacity they require to perform in everyday life.

Thank you. That TOTALLY answered my question, addressed ALL points on the thread, and will DEFINITELY be used as a cited source in my paper.

I'm voting for you.