Andrew Newberg’s Model of Neurotheology: A Critical Overview

Abstract

It is commonly believed that the twentieth century was marked by the advance of science. Established in all its ields, primarily in the ield of natural and technical sciences, the progress was evident in the ield of research of human brain which included the sub disciplines such as: neurology, psychology, cognitive sciences (to mention just a few of the most prominent ones) as well as sub disciplines of each of these. Naturally, the topic of the human brain functioning has always embraced the studies of relations between human brain and one of the speciic forms of human experience and the globally most widespread element of culture – religion. This resulted in having the research of this topic – the relation between the brain, its structure and activities, on one hand, and religion in all its manifestations on the other – becoming a speciic and unique ield of research with the attempts to evolve into an autonomous discipline. For the purpose of uniting two completely different sciences, a key word, a neologism, has been forged to name such a discipline – “neurortheology”.