APOLOGIA PRO SCRIPTURA SUA, OR MAYBE WE GOT IT RIGHT AFTER ALL

Eugene G. D'Aquili; Eugene G. D'Aquili

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.1993.tb01030.x

Abstract

Abstract. A summary of the progress of biogenetic structuralism as an approach to the social and behavioral sciences is presented, from the publication of Biogenetic Structuralism in 1974 to the present. The difficulty that many scholars have found integrating neuroan‐thropology and comparative ethology into an understanding of cultural, and particularly of religious, phenomena over the past almost two decades is considered. More specifically, the articles of James Ashbrook and Mary Lynn Dell published in the same June 1993 issue of Zygon as this article are analyzed and responded to. These authors critique Eugene d'Aquili's work of integrating neuropsychology and religious experience primarily by analyzing Brain, Symbol & Experience, which d'Aquili co‐authored with Charles Laughlin, Jr., and John McManus, H. Rodney Holmes's article in the same issue of Zygon analyzes the whole corpus of d'Aquili's religion and science work as it appeared over the years in the pages of Zygon and in other articles and books as well as in Brain, Symbol & Experience. This critique is likewise carefully considered and responded to. Finally a proposed trajectory of d'Aquili's (and Andrew Newberg's) future work in their ongoing project integrating neuropsychology and religious experience is elaborated. This involves, not only expansion of their general theoretical approach, but also empirical testing of hypotheses relating brain function to religious experience using PET scanning and some newer MRI visualization techniques.

Keywords

neuroanthropology, Eugene G. d'Aquili, PET scanning, Brain, Symbol & Experience, MRI visualization technique, religious experience, neuropsychology, Mary Lynn Dell, James Ashbrook, science‐religion integration, H. Rodney Holmes, biogenetic structuralism, comparative ethology

How to Cite

D'Aquili, E., (1993) “ APOLOGIA PRO SCRIPTURA SUA, OR MAYBE WE GOT IT RIGHT AFTER ALL”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 28(2), 251–266. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.1993.tb01030.x

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References

Ashbrook, James B.1993. “From Biogenetic Structuralism to Mature Contemplation to Prophetic Consciousness. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 28 (June): 231–250.

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D'Aquili, E.G.1978. “The Neurobiological Bases of Myth and Concepts of Deity. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 13 (December): 257–75.

D'Aquili, E.G.1983. “The Myth‐Ritual Complex: A Biogenetic Structural Analysis. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 18 (September):247–69.

D'Aquili, Eugene G., Charles D, Laughlin, Jr., and JohnMcManus. 1979. The Spectrum of Ritual. New York : Columbia Univ. Press.

D'Aquili, E.G., and A.Newberg.1993. “Religious and Mystical States: A Neuropsychological Model. Zygon; Journal of Religion and Science 28 (June):177–200.

Dell, Mary Lynn.1993. “Bruin, Symbol, & Experience: A Psychiatric and Theological Dialogue. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 28 (June): 217–30.

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Holmes, H. Rodney.1993. “Thinking about Religion and Experiencing the Brain: Eugene d'Aquili's Biogenetic Structural Theory of Absolute Unitary Being. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 28 (June):201–15.

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