Making God Real
Have you ever heard a voice, seen an image, or felt a presence around you that you couldn’t explain? If you have, you’re not alone.
Episode 2 of the How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality podcast, hosted by PRX, titled "Making God Real" was published on October 30, 2022 and runs 37 minutes.
October 30, 2022 ·37m · How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Summary
Have you ever heard a voice, seen an image, or felt a presence around you that you couldn’t explain? If you have, you’re not alone. More people than you might think report having these kinds of experiences. For some, it can be easy to write these off as tricks of the mind. But for others, especially the religious and spiritually-inclined, these events are often transformative and can profoundly alter the way they feel about their faith. So how is it that gods come to feel real to people? What do these experiences do for those who have them? And why, sometimes, does it feel like the supernatural world is connecting with us out of the blue? Episode guests: Tanya Luhrmann is an anthropologist at Stanford University. Find out more about her book, How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others, on her website, where you'll also find links to her other writing and media appearances. Michael Ferguson is a neuroscientist at Harvard University. Find out more about his research and teaching through his website. Reverend Liz Milner is ordained in the Episcopal Church. She works with prison inmates in northern California.
Episode Description
Have you ever heard a voice, seen an image, or felt a presence around you that you couldn’t explain? If you have, you’re not alone. More people than you might think report having these kinds of experiences. For some, it can be easy to write these off as tricks of the mind. But for others, especially the religious and spiritually-inclined, these events are often transformative and can profoundly alter the way they feel about their faith.
So how is it that gods come to feel real to people? What do these experiences do for those who have them? And why, sometimes, does it feel like the supernatural world is connecting with us out of the blue?
Episode guests:
Tanya Luhrmann is an anthropologist at Stanford University. Find out more about her book, How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others, on her website, where you'll also find links to her other writing and media appearances.
Michael Ferguson is a neuroscientist at Harvard University. Find out more about his research and teaching through his website.
Reverend Liz Milner is ordained in the Episcopal Church. She works with prison inmates in northern California.
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