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 This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. More information about the initiative can be found at www .knowledgeunlatched.org. 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 the Authors. Published 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 List of Contributors ......................................................................................... ix 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 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Whitney A. Bauman, Ph.D., (2007) Theology/Religious Studies, Graduate Theological Union, authored Theology, Creation and Environmental Ethics (2009), and co-edited Grounding Religion: A Field Guide to the Study of Religion and Ecology and Inherited Land: The Changing Grounds of Religion and Ecology. David Cave, Ph.D. (1989), Regional Director, University of Michigan, has published widely on the phenomenology and comparative study of reli- gion, including Mircea Eliade’s Vision for a New Humanism (1993) and The Role of the Authoritative in the Comparative Process (2006). Núria M. Farré-i-Barril (Ph.D. in process on evil and penance in Medieval theology/culture) is lecturer of History of Religions at the University of Lleida. She studied history, theology and anthropology at the University of Lleida and at the EHESS in Paris. James W. Haag (Ph.D., Graduate Theological Union) is Lecturer in Philosophy at Suffolk University. He is author of Emergent Freedom (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht 2008) and lead editor of The Routledge Companion to Religion and Science (forthcoming). Jagbir Jhutti-Johal, DPhil (1999), University of Oxford, is Lecturer in Sikh Studies, University of Birmingham. Her search encompasses gender and Sikhism, science and Sikhism and contemporary Sikhism. Publications include: Sikhism Today (2011); “The Role of Women in their Religious Institutions” (2010). Mira Karjalainen, Ph.D. (2007), Comparative Religion, University of Helsinki, University Lecturer at University of Helsinki, is currently Secretary of Finnish Society for Study of Religion. Publications include “In the Shadow of Freedom” (2007) and articles on religion, fieldwork and ethics. John J. McGraw possesses a Ph.D. in Anthropology and Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego. His work focuses on the intersection of cognition and culture with a special emphasis on ritual theory. x list of contributors Rebecca Sachs Norris, Ph.D. (1999) in Religious Studies/Anthropology, Boston University, is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Merrimack College. Her publications include Toying with God: The World of Religious Games and Dolls (2010) and articles on religion, neuroscience and body. Eric Repphun (Ph.D., Otago 2009) is Associate Lecturer in religion at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. He is the co-founder of the journal Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception. Arthur Saniotis, Ph.D. is a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Medical Sciences at The University of Adelaide. His research interests include evo- lutionary medicine, medical anthropology, futures studies and compara- tive religion. Sebastian Schüler (Ph.D., University of Münster 2010) is postdoctoral researcher in “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster, Germany. His research has focused on sociological and cognitive theories of religion, aesthetics of religion and global evangelical Christianity. Deana L. Weibel, Ph.D. (2001) in Anthropology, UC San Diego, is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Grand Valley State University. Her publications include “Malinowski in Orbit: ‘Magical Thinking’ in Human Spaceflight” (2006) and “Of Consciousness Changes and Fortified Faith” (2005). 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