Wired for God?: The Biology of Spiritual Experience

A fascinating tour of religious and mystical experiences and their relation to human physiology Hymn singing in the suburbs and ecstatic drumming in the African night, speaking in tongues and UFOs, chariots of fire, and pierced Messiahs—what do these things tell us about faith and what it means to be human? 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. This fascinating book 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.