This chapter has provided an overview of how religion and spirituality can be studied from the perspective of neuroscience. Today, technological advances in neuroimaging and intervention tools are rapidly developing, and interventions that involve religious and spiritual practices, such as meditation, are gaining in popularity. Neuroscience is sure to play an instrumental role as the study of religion and spirituality continues into the future. Three summarizing statements follow.
First, neuroscience research does allow scientists to learn more about religious and spiritual beliefs, practices, and experiences, as well as about human nature more broadly. Specifically, neuroscience research allows scientists to learn about certain predispositions for religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, as well as how their psychological effects are mediated.
Second, although the research is still scattered and includes some contradictory evidence, there are certain fruitful convergences. There is consensus, for example, that religious and spiritual practices affect a complex network of brain structures, with some common components depending on the specific elements of the practice. Additionally, certain psychoactive substances that have known neurochemical effects can induce religious, spiritual, and mystical experiences, even in laboratory settings.
Finally, the neuroscientific study of religion and spirituality is not likely to offer any absolute metaphysical answers. At this point, neuroscience alone cannot tell us whether changes from religious and spiritual practices, rituals, or beliefs are the result of real perceptions or illusory projections. These questions are likely to remain substantially in the domains of philosophy and theology for the foreseeable future. Neurotheology recognizes that answering epistemological questions may ultimately require a multidisciplinary approach that integrates elements of neuroscience, religious and spiritual phenomena, and philosophy and theology, and will perhaps expand to include other fields related to the study of religion and spirituality in human life.