Table Of Content

Religion and the Body Numen Book Series Studies in the History of Religions Series Editors Steven Engler (Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada) Richard King (University of Glasgow, Scotland) Kocku von Stuckrad (University of Groningen, The Netherlands) Gerard Wiegers (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) VOLUME 138 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/nus Religion and the Body Modern Science and the Construction of Religious Meaning Edited by David Cave Rebecca Sachs Norris LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 Cover illustration: MRI scan of the human brain/head (Anonymous) This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Religion and the body : modern science and the construction of religious meaning / edited by David Cave, Rebecca Sachs Norris. pages cm. — (Numen book series, ISSN 0169-8834 ; volume 138) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-22111-6 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-22534-3 (e-book) 1. Neurosciences—Religious aspects. 2. Neurobiology. 3. Religion and science. I. Cave, David, editor of compilation. II. Norris, Rebecca Sachs, editor of compilation. BL255.R45 2012 201’.66128—dc23 2011048656 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.nl/brill-typeface. ISSN 0169-8834 ISBN 978 90 04 22111 6 (hardback) ISBN 978 90 04 22534 3 (e-book) Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. To Peggy, Who believes faithfulness and focus reward not just marriage But creative efforts, too. To Harry, For putting up with me for so long, and with patience. And in memory of Tom Idinopulos (1935–2010), friend and scholar. There to in-spire this project at its genesis. In-spirit at its end. CONTENTS Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 SECTION ONE NEUROBIOLOGY AND SOURCES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND AUTHORITY Reading the Body, Reading Scripture: The Implications of Neurobiology on the Study and Interpretation of Scripture ........ 15 David Cave De/Constructing Transcendence: The Emergence of Religious Bodies .......................................................................................... 37 James W. Haag and Whitney A. Bauman Tongues of Men and Angels: Assessing the Neural Correlates of Glossolalia .................................................................................................... 57 John J. McGraw Synchronized Ritual Behavior: Religion, Cognition and the Dynamics of Embodiment ...................................................................... 81 Sebastian Schüler SECTION TWO CULTURE AND THE DE- AND RE-CONSTRUCTION OF THE BODY Religion, Neuroscience and Emotion: Some Implications of Consumerism and Entertainment Culture ........................................ 105 Rebecca Sachs Norris Every Story is a Ghost: Chuck Palahniuk and the Reenchantment of Suffering ................................................................................................... 129 Eric Repphun viii contents Attaining Transcendence: Transhumanism, the Body, and the Abrahamic Religions ................................................................................. 155 Arthur Saniotis SECTION THREE (CROSS) CULTURAL APPROPRIATIONS OF THE BODY Magnetism and Microwaves: Religion as Radiation ............................. 171 Deana L. Weibel Scientific Approaches to the Body in the Spiritual-Physical Marketplace ................................................................................................ 199 Mira Karjalainen Sleep Deprivation: Asceticism, Religious Experience and Neurological Quandaries ......................................................................... 217 Núria M. Farré-i-Barril Sikhism and Mental Illness: Negotiating Competing Cultures .......... 235 Jagbir Jhutti-Johal Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 257 Index ..................................................................................................................... 273 IntroductIon david cave and rebecca Sachs norris It is clear to any observer of contemporary society that there is a wide- spread interest in neurobiology, the study of our brain and of our genetic constitution. Spurred by the biological revolution underway since the nineteen-thirties and the focus on the brain since the nineteen- nineties, this interest constitutes, in the words of Mircea Eliade, a “cultural fashion,”1 touching many dimensions of our daily life, from determining how we vote, choose careers and mates, make ethical decisions, cure disease, treat mental disorders, investigate the nature of happiness, to, at its most ambi- tious, extend human life.2 From the time of darwin to today, we have made enormous strides in refining our ability to study how we are con- stituted as human beings and are connected to nature. the neurological revolution has taken this refinement to a new level, whereby humans are looked at less in the abstract as defined and shaped by society or sacred forces than as extensions of nature, of neurons and synapses and strands of dnA. the conceptualization of the body as electro-chemical processes oper- ating in a bounded locus of matter, the “naturalized body,” is so deeply embedded in the 21st century Western worldview, hidden by our own enculturation, that we are often unaware of how much this conceptualization shapes our discourse on religion and our studies of the body and religion. In this series of essays as case studies, we aim to elucidate some of the underlying perspectives on the naturalized body that are founda- tional to contemporary religious scholarship and practice, and examine their implications on religious meaning. Whether the assumptions and findings of modern science are found useful, as in neuroscientific model- ing, or controversial, as in concepts of transhumanism, or become a nego- tiable part of the fabric of 21st century religion, as seen in Sikh attempts to 1 Eliade, Mircea. “cultural Fashions and the History of religions,” in Symbolism, the Sacred, and the Arts. Ed. diane Apostolos-cappadona. nY: crossroad, 1985, 17. 2 Judson, Horace Freeland. The Eighth Day of Creation: The Makers of the Revolution in Biology. nY: Simon and Schuster, 1979, 10 and the proclamation at the Library of congress website: http://www.loc.gov/loc/brain/proclaim.html for the decade of the brain, 1990– 2000.