Bruce MacLennan:
ABSTRACT
My goal is to outline an evolutionary neuropsychological foundation for spiritual andreligious experiences. Central to this account are concepts from archetypal psychology,which, on the one hand, explain the structure of common religious experiences, but, onthe other, are grounded in ethology and evolutionary biology. From this it follows thatcertain religious phenomena are objective, in that they are empirical, stable, and public.As a consequence, certain theological claims can be objectively confirmed or refuted.However, it would be a mistake to assume that this approach reduces religiousexperiences to the “merely psychological” or considers them inessential epiphenomena ina materialist universe. On the contrary, I will show that it demonstrates the compatibilityand even inevitability of transcendental religious experience—and its crucialimportance—to biological beings such as ourselves. (Along the way I will advance someconcrete hypotheses about the possible role of specific brain systems in religiousexperience.)
I. OVERVIEW
How can we achieve a unified understanding of the universe, which comprehends the physical, psychical, and spiritual dimensions of reality? In this chapter I will argue thatthe archetypes, as described in the psychological theories of Jung and his followers, provide the crucial link between the material and spiritual worlds: on the one hand, theyare grounded in evolutionary neuropsychology; on the other, they are the objectiveconstituents of the spiritual world. This might seem to reduce the spiritual realm to the“merely psychological,” or even to neural epiphenomena, but I will argue that this is amisinterpretation of the theory, and that the gods (or God) are objectively real andcrucially important for meaningful human life.An additional part of my goal is to show that science does not imply atheism, for certain theological propositions are consistent with, and indeed implied by, contemporaryscience. I also hope to show that the religious believer should not feel threatened byevolutionary theory, for it in fact implies the reality of a spiritual realm.
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Jeg forlanger ikke Arne at du skal stikke næsen ned i denne ret svære engelske tekst, men jeg bringer det for at vise hvordan verden buldrer derudad såvidt de religiøse spirituelle spørgsmål. Men jeg tror rent faktisk at du godt som dyrlæge kunne magte teksten og med dine over 5000 indlæg og alle dine wikipedia opslag.
Hvorfor viser jeg dig teksten ovenfor?
For at vise dig at vi dag for dag til stadighed kan sige mere og mere om det religiøse spirituelle, at vi forstår det bedre og bedre, noget som uddyber og styrker vores religiøse spirituelle virkelighed. Og for at vise dig min position såvidt interesse i kristendom, teologi og den paulinske Spirit-Christology.
Jeg skal nok forsat præsenterer jer for kristendommen og da især den urkristne paulinske spiritualitet på et evolutionær neurobiologisk grundlag. Jeg har sagt at 1 Kor 2 der har vi hele arbejdsprogrammet eller udkastet til Jung's psykologi.
Og en lang række andre forhold såvidt den paulinske Spirit-Christology har jeg beskrevet på et neurobiologisk grundlag.
Hvis der er noget jeg ikke er, så er det abstrakt. Jeg er uhyggelig skamløs konkret og eksistentialistisk biologisk orienteret. Selvfølgelig vil jeg kunne virke abstrakt dersom man ikke forstår de naturvidenskabelige begreber jeg benytter mig af når jeg udlægger Paulus Spirit-Christology.
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Det kan ikke være Gud, for han har kaldet jer til frihed i Kristus. Pas på!
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