Are we wired for spirituality? An investigation into the claims of neurotheology

Abstract

This article is an investigation into the field of neurotheology, a controversial field which has attracted criticism from both the scientific and religious community and which is often quite divided among its own practitioners. Regretfully, but not too unexpectedly, science has gotten entangled with ideology, as we shall see, with proponents on all sides of the spectrum using findings from the laboratory in support of their own philosophical positions. We will begin by exploring some definitions of the field and then move on to examine the claims made by the different scientists working in this area, before examining what conclusions we can draw for spirituality.