An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

D’Aquili (1940–1998) And Newberg (1966–)
In 
The Mystical Mind – Probing the Biology of Religious Experience, 
Eugene D’Aquili and Andrew Newberg approach the subject of spiritual 
experience from a neurophysiological perspective, using brain-imaging 
and modern research methods in neurology, psychology and psychiatry. 
They show that the brain is the medium through which such extraordi-
nary spiritual experiences arise, but they also explain that ‘normal’ reality 
also comes to us through the same process. They stress however, that the 
brain does not necessarily generate religious
 
experiences. They argue that, 
at the present time, the research cannot delineate whether religious expe-
riences arise from an external source (i.e. God) or whether they are gener-
ated from within the brain.
Recently, Andrew Newberg with Mark Waldman published 
Why We 
Believe What We Believe
. This is an exploration of how different kinds of 
beliefs are formed. The authors look at how the neural activities of the 
brain function under different conditions, testing people meditating, pray-
ing and even speaking in tongues. The same neurological activity can lead 
to quite different beliefs.
Recommended Reading
Peter Donovan
As its title 
Interpreting Religious Experience 
would suggest, this is a 
comprehensive consideration of what can and cannot be proved by 

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Interpretation of Experience
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religious experience. Peter Donovan looks at different types of religious 
experiences, their interpretation, what can be argued from them and just 
what we can learn through them. Despite the possibility of a naturalist 
explanation for some experiences, the religious interpretation is often 
preferred as it makes for a more coherent and integrated explanation of 
life as a whole.
Paul Marshall
In 
Mystical Encounters with the Natural World, Experiences and 
Explanations
Paul Marshall looks at a range of extrovertive mystical 
experiences including accounts of unity, knowledge, light and love but