Why God Won't Go Away

Author: Andrew Newberg, M.D.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307493156
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
Why have we humans always longed to connect with something larger than ourselves? Why does consciousness inevitably involve us in a spiritual quest? Why, in short, won't God go away? Theologians, philosophers, and psychologists have debated this question through the ages, arriving at a range of contradictory and ultimately unprovable answers. But in this brilliant, groundbreaking new book, researchers Andrew Newberg and Eugene d'Aquili offer an explanation that is at once profoundly simple and scientifically precise: the religious impulse is rooted in the biology of the brain. Newberg and d'Aquili base this revolutionary conclusion on a long-term investigation of brain function and behavior as well as studies they conducted using high-tech imaging techniques to examine the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer. What they discovered was that intensely focused spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads us to perceive transcendent religious experiences as solid and tangibly real. In other words, the sensation that Buddhists call "oneness with the universe" and the Franciscans attribute to the palpable presence of God is not a delusion or a manifestation of wishful thinking but rather a chain of neurological events that can be objectively observed, recorded, and actually photographed. The inescapable conclusion is that God is hard-wired into the human brain. In Why God Won't Go Away, Newberg and d'Aquili document their pioneering explorations in the field of neurotheology, an emerging discipline dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain. Along the way, they delve into such essential questions as whether humans are biologically compelled to make myths; what is the evolutionary connection between religious ecstasy and sexual orgasm; what do Near Death Experiences reveal about the nature of spiritual phenomena; and how does ritual create its own neurological environment. As their journey unfolds, Newberg and d'Aquili realize that a single, overarching question lies at the heart of their pursuit: Is religion merely a product of biology or has the human brain been mysteriously endowed with the unique capacity to reach and know God? Blending cutting-edge science with illuminating insights into the nature of consciousness and spirituality, Why God Won't Go Away bridges faith and reason, mysticism and empirical data. The neurological basis of how the brain identifies the "real" is nothing short of miraculous. This fascinating, eye-opening book dares to explore both the miracle and the biology of our enduring relationship with God.

Why God Won't Go Away

Author: Alister Mcgrath
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 9780849946455
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
An accessible discourse written by a trusted expert and scholar critiquing the new atheism on its own merits and claims. The rise of the new atheism, which includes the manifestos of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, has created a public willingness in today's marketplace to talk about God and religion. Yet the debate up to this point has focused largely on rebutting the new atheist critique of Christianity. Why God Won't God Away moves into new territory by challenging the new atheism on its own grounds. Chapters include discussion on: What is the new atheism The problem of religion The problem of human nature Believing only what can be proved Dealing with imagined worlds and myths The new humanism and the new enlightenment Violence and dogmatism This book is written by a theology professor and Christian apologist who not only has a best-selling book rebutting the new atheist critique of Christianity but has debated Richard Dawkins in Oxford, Christopher Hitchens in Washington, and Daniel Dennett in London.

How God Changes Your Brain

Author: Andrew Newberg, M.D.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345512790
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
God is great—for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. Based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies, a wide-reaching survey of people’s religious and spiritual experiences, and the authors’ analyses of adult drawings of God, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and therapist Mark Robert Waldman offer the following breakthrough discoveries: • Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just twelve minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process. • Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety and depression and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love. • Fundamentalism, in and of itself, can be personally beneficial, but the prejudice generated by extreme beliefs can permanently damage your brain. • Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain, altering your values and the way you perceive reality. Both a revelatory work of modern science and a practical guide for readers to enhance their physical and emotional health, How God Changes Your Brain is a first-of-a-kind book about faith that is as credible as it is inspiring.

The Mystical Mind

Author: Andrew B. Newberg, Eugene G. D'Aquili
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 9781451403749
Category : Experience (Religion)
Languages : en
Pages : 244

Book Description
How does the mind experience the sacred? What biological mechanisms are involved in mystical states and trances? Is there a neurological basis for patterns in comparative religions? Does religion have an evolutionary function? This pathbreaking work by two leading medical researchers explores the neurophysiology of religious experience. Building on an explanation of the basic structure of the brain, the authors focus on parts most relevant to human experience, emotion, and cognition. On this basis, they plot how the brain is involved in mystical experiences. Successive chapters apply this scheme to mythmaking, ritual and liturgy, meditation, near-death experiences, and theology itself. Anchored in such research, the authors also sketch the implications of their work for philosophy, science, theology, and the future of religion.

God Has a Name

Author: John Mark Comer
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 1400249570
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
What you believe about God sets the foundation of the person you will become. In God Has a Name, pastor and New York Times bestselling author John Mark Comer invites you to rethink many of the prevalent myths and misconceptions about God and weigh them against what God actually tells us about himself. After all, what you believe about God will ultimately shape the type of person you become. We all live at the mercy of our ideas, and nowhere is this more true than our ideas about God. The problem is many of our ideas about God are wrong. Not all wrong, but wrong enough to form our souls in detrimental and disheartening ways. God Has a Name is a simple yet profound guide to understanding God in a new light--focusing on what God says about himself in the Bible. This one shift has the potential to radically alter how you relate to God, not as a doctrine, but as a relational being who responds to you in an elastic, back-and-forth way. John Mark Comer takes you line by line through Exodus 34:6-8--Yahweh's self-revelation on Mount Sinai, one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. Along the way, Comer addresses some of the most profound questions he came across as he studied these noted lines in Exodus, including: Why do we feel this gap between us and God? Could it be that a lot of what we think about God is wrong? Not all wrong, but wrong enough to mess up how we relate to him? What if our "God" is really a projection of our own identity, ideas, and desires? What if the real God is different, but far better than we could ever imagine? No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, God Has a Name invites you to step into a fresh and biblically rooted vision of who God is that has the potential to alter your life with God and shape who you become.

Always Enough, Never Too Much

Author: Jess Connolly
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310091578
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Discover God’s wild freedom as you find your identity in Jesus with 100 devotions that will help you target and banish lies and insecurities. Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan, bestselling authors of Wild and Free, walk you through the gift of truly knowing who you are in Christ in Always Enough, Never Too Much: 100 Devotions to Quit Comparing, Stop Hiding, and Start Living Wild and Free. We’ve all been there. We know that sneaking, small voice in our heads all too well—you’re too loud. Too quiet. Too young. Too old. Too unimportant. Too ugly. Too silly. Too serious. You’re not as successful as she is—look at her perfect family, look at her high-powered job, look at her great hair and size 4 skinny jeans. Why can’t you be more like her—be more in general? Why do you expect so much from everyone? Why can’t you take up less space? Ask for less? Be less? The lies track well-worn paths in our minds and our hearts, wearing us down and making us question our role in God’s kingdom. Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan, founders of the Influence Network and bestselling authors of Wild and Free,reject those lies, and you can too with Always Enough, Never Too Much: 100 Devotions to Quit Comparing, Stop Hiding, and Start Living Wild and Free. Through the Scripture and the devotions, find the tools you need to claim the fullness of Jesus in your own life and soak in the encouragement of two girls who will never stop cheering you on! With a unique flip-book design, these 100 devotions are topical, so you can choose what you need most every time you open the pages. This book is designed for you, the woman who feels like she can be both too much and not enough—sometimes on the same day. Always Enough, Never Too Much is the daily marching orders after the anthem cry of Wild and Free. Join Jess and Hayley on a journey toward freedom with this beautiful new devotional.

Living in God's Best

Author: Andrew Wommack
Publisher: Destiny Image Publishers
ISBN: 1680311395
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
Divine health and prosperity are better than divine healing and provision. If you live in divine health and prosperity, you wont need a miracle to get healed or to pay your bills. If you cant see the difference between the two, that may be one reason you only visit Gods best instead of truly living in it. Most Christians live in a place where...

When I Don't Desire God

Author: John Piper
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1581346522
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
Explaining how to become a Christian hedonist, a bestselling author offers guidance on how to find spiritual joy to readers who are unsure of where to seek it.

More Than a Healer

Author: Costi W. Hinn
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310362873
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Book Description
How does healing fit into God's will, especially when God doesn't heal? Our hearts, our bodies, and our world are desperate for healing. We all experience brokenness, and we rightfully look to Jesus for restoration. But many Christians have been taught the lie that God will heal us if our faith is strong enough, and that he is punishing us when bad things happen. Growing up in one of the world's leading faith-healing dynasties, Costi Hinn witnessed the tragedy of people chasing after healing more than the Healer. In this book he provides biblical clarity to some of the most challenging questions of the Christian faith. Does grace guarantee healing? How do we catch ourselves from slipping into the trap of seeking God for what he can do for us and not for who he really is? Beginning with the vivid memory of the night he discovered his son's cancer diagnosis—Costi unpacks the layered feelings and questions we have about God and his healing power, and he provides practical principles for growing closer to Jesus. With gentle clarity and biblical wisdom, he explains how to: Faithfully pray for healing while trusting in God's sovereignty. Navigate tough conversations about the topics of divine healing, love, and justice. Hold on to faith even in the most painful trials. More than chasing after the Jesus we want, this hopeful and encouraging book will guide you to discovering the Jesus we truly need—and the true power and hope that comes from a genuine relationship with him.

God Can't

Author: Thomas Jay Oord
Publisher: SacraSage Press
ISBN: 1948609134
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Book Description
Hurting people ask heart-felt questions about God and suffering. Some "answers" they receive appeal to mystery: “God’s ways are not our ways”. Some answers say God allows evil for a greater purpose. Some say evil is God's punishment. The usual answers fail. They don't support the truth that God loves everyone all the time. God Can't gives a believable answer to why a good and powerful God doesn't prevent evil. Author Thomas Jay Oord says God’s love is inherently uncontrolling. God loves everyone and everything, so God can't control anyone or anything. This means God cannot prevent evil singlehandedly. God can’t stop evildoers, whether human, animal, organism, or inanimate objects and forces. In God Can't, Oord gives a plausible reason why some are healed, but many others are not. God always works to heal everyone, but sometimes our bodies, organisms, or other creatures do not cooperate with God's healing work. Or the conditions of creation are not right for the healing God wants to do. Some people think God causes or allows suffering to teach us lessons or build our character. God Can't disagrees. Oord says God squeezes good from the evil God didn’t want in the first place. God uses pain and suffering without willing or even allowing it. Most people think God can overcome evil singlehandedly. In God Can't, Oord says God needs cooperation for love to reign now and later. This leads to a better view of the afterlife called “relentless love.” It rejects traditional ideas of heaven, hell, and annihilation. Relentless love holds to the possibility all creatures and all creation will respond to God’s love. God Can't is written in understandable language. As a world-renown theologian, Thomas Jay Oord brings credibility to the book’s radical ideas. He explains these ideas through true stories, illustrations, and scripture. God Can't is for those who want answers to tragedy, abuse, and other evils that make sense! What They're Saying... “If conventional notions of God make less and less sense to you, you’ll find Thomas Jay Oord’s new book a breath of fresh air. Simply put, “God Can’t” presents an understanding of God that thoughtful, ethical people can believe in.” -- Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration "I did not want this book to end. I wish Dr. Oord had written it 100 years ago, or 1000 years ago... To find your understanding of life and your love for God renewed, read this book." -- Dr. Karen Strand Winslow, Ph.D., Biblical and Jewish Studies Professor of Bible, Azusa Pacific University "As a clinical psychologist working with people in trauma, I owe Thomas Jay Oord an enormous debt of gratitude for recasting the so-called problem of evil in terms that are conceptually satisfying, theologically consistent, and pastorally liberating.” -- Dr Roger Bretherton- Principal Lecturer at the University of Lincoln (UK), Chair of the British Association of Christians in Psychology “Victims of trauma sometimes hear theological responses that imply their suffering is somehow “God’s will." A more careful theological reflection on the nature of the power of a God who is love can help. Oord gives us a clear and compelling alternative in this profoundly insightful and admirably concrete and accessible book.” -- Dr. Anna Case-Winters, Professor of Theology at McCormick Theological Seminary “I know of no book that speaks to suffering with the depth of theological sophistication and psychological sensitivity as God Can’t. This book is a rare combination of depth and accessibility, truly written for the wounded. I recommend it to my students, parishioners, and therapy clients.” -- Dr. Brad D. Strawn, Professor of the Integration of Psychology and Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary