Pub. date: 2006 | Online Pub. Date: September 15, 2007 | DOI:
10.4135/9781412952453 | Print ISBN: 9780761930297 | Online ISBN:
9781412952453| Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.About this
encyclopedia Jackie L. Orcholl Neurotheology is the scientific
study of religious or spiritual experiences and feelings. By
using psychology and neuroscience, scientists explore the
biological basis of religious experiences and are beginning to
uncover the capabilities of the human mind. Neurologists have
found evidence in the mechanics of the human brain that
facilitates the capacity for spiritual, religious, or mystical
experience and leads to an intermingling of science and
religion. Neurotheology claims that the hardwiring of the human
brain not only makes religion possible, but also makes it
capable of being passed on through the genes as a physically
distinct mechanism of cultural transmission, allowing religion
to be selected as an adaptive behavior. Religion has contributed
to human evolution and continues to be a univ