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How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality

How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality

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How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality is a society podcast hosted by PRX. It has 109 episodes, with the latest published March 2026.

While religion and science often seem at odds, there’s one thing they can agree on: people who take part in spiritual practices tend to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. The big question is: Why? In How God Works, professor Dave DeSteno takes us on a journey to find out how spirituality impacts our minds and bodies, as well as the world in which we live.He speaks to leading scientists and philosophers, religious thinkers, and thought leaders to explore what we can learn from the world’s faith traditions to help us meet some of life’s biggest challenges. Along the way, he’ll look at how we can adapt and use spiritual practices in our own lives, whatever our beliefs, including none at all.It’s by working across the boundaries that usually divide us – science versus religion, one faith versus another – that we’ll find new ways to make life better for everyone.

society ·en-us ·109 episodes

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Title
1

What Women Want

2

DIY Spirituality?

3

Season 10 Trailer

4

Uniter or Divider? Explore Religion in Modern America. A How God Works Live Event (From the Archive)

5

The Spiritual (and Political) Crisis in the US (From the Archive)

6

Mattering

7

Rethinking Sin (From the Archive)

8

The End of the World As We Know It

9

Dream Yoga

10

Shamanism

11

Give Us This Day Our Daily Kale

12

Becoming Wise

13

Seeking the Spiritual Life

14

The Friendship Cure

15

Season 9 Trailer

16

Healing Rituals: There's Power in Belief (From the Archive)

17

Midlife: Leaning Into the Change (From the Archive)

18

HGW Presents: How Rituals Help Us Process Grief (The Science of Happiness)

19

HGW Presents: Kelly Corrigan Wonders (with Rainn Wilson)

20

Bonus: Losing Our Religion or Finding What Matters?

21

Speaking in Tongues

22

The Soul and Science of Prayer

23

Of God and Men

24

Adolescence: How to Build an Adult (From the Archive)

25

The Conscious Cosmos

26

Found By Faith

27

Fasting for the Soul

28

Origins of Belief

29

Marriage, Monogamy and the Modern Mind

30

Season 8 Trailer

31

Every Breath You Take (From the Archive)

32

Moving Beyond Us vs Them (From the Archive)

33

Religion and Robots and AI … Oh My! (From the Archive)

34

Why Spirituality is Important in our Increasingly Secular World (Dave on the How to Be a Better Human Podcast)

35

Finding Holiday Happiness

36

Finding Hope in Dark Times (From the Archive)

37

The Bad Place

38

Near Death Experiences

39

So You say You’re a Cynic

40

Succeeding Without Trying

41

Rethinking Regret

42

Rethinking Sin

43

Season 7 Trailer

44

Making God Real (2022)

45

Death (2022)

46

Transcendence (2021)

47

A Holiday From Tech Addiction (2022)

48

How God Works Survey!

49

The Spiritual (and Political) Crisis in the US

50

Live Event: Can Religion & Science Get Along in the 21st Century?

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