The Varieties of Religious Experience

The Varieties of Religious Experience
Author :
Publisher : The Floating Press
Total Pages : 824
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781877527463
ISBN-13 : 1877527467
Rating : 4/5 (63 Downloads)

Synopsis The Varieties of Religious Experience by : William James

Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature explores the nature of religion and, in James' observation, its divorce from science when studied academically. After publication in 1902 it quickly became a canonical text of philosophy and psychology, remaining in print through the entire century. "Scientific theories are organically conditioned just as much as religious emotions are; and if we only knew the facts intimately enough, we should doubtless see 'the liver' determining the dicta of the sturdy atheist as decisively as it does those of the Methodist under conviction anxious about his soul. When it alters in one way the blood that percolates it, we get the Methodist, when in another way, we get the atheist form of mind."

Religious and Spiritual Experiences

Religious and Spiritual Experiences
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 321
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781139495240
ISBN-13 : 1139495240
Rating : 4/5 (40 Downloads)

Synopsis Religious and Spiritual Experiences by : Wesley J. Wildman

What is the value of religious and spiritual experiences within human life? Are we evolutionarily programmed to have such experiences? How will emerging technologies change such experiences in the future? Wesley Wildman addresses these key intellectual questions and more, offering a spiritually evocative naturalist interpretation of the diverse variety of religious and spiritual experiences. He describes these experiences, from the common to the exceptional, and offers innovative classifications for them based on their neurological features and internal qualities. His account avoids reductionistic oversimplifications and instead synthesizes perspectives from many disciplines, including philosophy and natural sciences, into a compelling account of the meaning and value of religious and spiritual experiences in human life. The resulting interpretation does not assume a supernatural worldview but incorporates religious and spiritual experiences into a positive affirmation of this-worldly existence.

The Varieties of Scientific Experience

The Varieties of Scientific Experience
Author :
Publisher : Penguin
Total Pages : 316
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781101201831
ISBN-13 : 1101201835
Rating : 4/5 (31 Downloads)

Synopsis The Varieties of Scientific Experience by : Carl Sagan

“Ann Druyan has unearthed a treasure. It is a treasure of reason, compassion, and scientific awe. It should be the next book you read.” —Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith “A stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss him so.” —Kurt Vonnegut Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spirituality The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as "informed worship." Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century.

An Introduction to Religious and Spiritual Experience

An Introduction to Religious and Spiritual Experience
Author :
Publisher : A&C Black
Total Pages : 303
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780826498212
ISBN-13 : 0826498213
Rating : 4/5 (12 Downloads)

Synopsis An Introduction to Religious and Spiritual Experience by : Marianne Rankin

Spiritual experiences, mystical and near-death incidences are interpreted from scientific, philosophical and religious viewpoints.

The Varieties of Spiritual Experience

The Varieties of Spiritual Experience
Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Total Pages : 441
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780190665678
ISBN-13 : 019066567X
Rating : 4/5 (78 Downloads)

Synopsis The Varieties of Spiritual Experience by : David B. Yaden

"In the midst of life's many ordinary moments, some experiences feel extraordinary. They can mark inflection points in one's life, after which one is never quite the same. Most brief experiences capable of making a long-lasting impact involve obvious changes in one's outward circumstances, like a birth, a death, a marriage, or an illness. Yet some life-changing moments seem to come wholly from another source, appearing as mental states or altered states of consciousness either from deep within a person's mind or, perhaps, from a source beyond the self. These experiences have been called by different names over time: spiritual, religious, mystical, peak, or self-transcendent, and people around the world and throughout history have experienced them, up to and including the present day. The sacred texts of every major religion describe these moments, philosophers since the ancient Greeks have pondered them, and according to recent Gallup polls (2003), well over 30% of contemporary Americans have experienced them"--

Selected Writings

Selected Writings
Author :
Publisher : Everymans Library
Total Pages : 372
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0460875574
ISBN-13 : 9780460875578
Rating : 4/5 (74 Downloads)

Synopsis Selected Writings by : William James

Brother of novelist Henry James, William James held views embodied in the tendency to subordinate logical proof to intuitive conviction. He was a vigorous antagonist of the idealistic school of Kant and Hegel, and an empiricist who made empiricism more radical by treating pure experience as the very substance of the world. Taking writings from The Principles of Psychology, Essays in Radical Empiricism and The Meaning of Truth amongst other publications, this edition offers a comprehensive selection of James's writings.

Varieties of Religion Today

Varieties of Religion Today
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 148
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0674012534
ISBN-13 : 9780674012530
Rating : 4/5 (34 Downloads)

Synopsis Varieties of Religion Today by : Charles Taylor

A hundred years after William James delivered the celebrated lectures that became The Varieties of Religious Experience, one of the foremost thinkers in the English-speaking world returns to the questions posed in James's masterpiece to clarify the circumstances and conditions of religion in our day. An elegant mix of the philosophy and sociology of religion, Charles Taylor's powerful book maintains a clear perspective on James's work in its historical and cultural contexts, while casting a new and revealing light upon the present. Lucid, readable, and dense with ideas that promise to transform current debates about religion and secularism, Varieties of Religion Today is much more than a revisiting of James's classic. Rather, it places James's analysis of religious experience and the dilemmas of doubt and belief in an unfamiliar but illuminating context, namely the social horizon in which questions of religion come to be presented to individuals in the first place. Taylor begins with questions about the way in which James conceives his subject, and shows how these questions arise out of different ways of understanding religion that confronted one another in James's time and continue to do so today. Evaluating James's treatment of the ethics of belief, he goes on to develop an innovative and provocative reading of the public and cultural conditions in which questions of belief or unbelief are perceived to be individual questions. What emerges is a remarkable and penetrating view of the relation between religion and social order and, ultimately, of what "religion" means.

The Neuroscience of Religious Experience

The Neuroscience of Religious Experience
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 319
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781139483568
ISBN-13 : 1139483560
Rating : 4/5 (68 Downloads)

Synopsis The Neuroscience of Religious Experience by : Patrick McNamara

Technical advances in the life and medical sciences have revolutionised our understanding of the brain, while the emerging disciplines of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience continue to reveal the connections of the higher cognitive functions and emotional states associated with religious experience to underlying brain states. At the same time, a host of developing theories in psychology and anthropology posit evolutionary explanations for the ubiquity and persistence of religious beliefs and the reports of religious experiences across human cultures, while gesturing toward physical bases for these behaviours. What is missing from this literature is a strong voice speaking to these behavioural and social scientists - as well as to the intellectually curious in the religious studies community - from the perspective of a brain scientist.

Wired For God?

Wired For God?
Author :
Publisher : Hodder
Total Pages : 282
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781444722055
ISBN-13 : 1444722050
Rating : 4/5 (55 Downloads)

Synopsis Wired For God? by : Charles Foster

Human religious experiences are remarkably uniform; many can be pharmacologically induced. Recent research into the neurology of religious experience has shown that, when worshipping or praying, a certain part of the brain, apparently dormant during other activities, becomes active. What does all this mean for those of faith and those with none? In this fascinating book barrister Charles Foster takes a survey of the evidence - from shamans to medieval mystics, to out-of-body experiences and epilepsy, via Jerusalem and middle-class Christianity - and assesses its significance. Written in short, accessible chapters, this is a fascinating tour of religious and mystical experiences and their relation to human physiology.

Cognitive Models and Spiritual Maps

Cognitive Models and Spiritual Maps
Author :
Publisher : Imprint Academic
Total Pages : 298
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0907845134
ISBN-13 : 9780907845133
Rating : 4/5 (34 Downloads)

Synopsis Cognitive Models and Spiritual Maps by : Jensine Andresen

This book throws down a challenge to religious studies, offering a multidisciplinary approach - including developmental psychology, neuropsychology, philosophy of mind, and anthropology.