Click the link below for excellent resources to better understand and overcome prejudice:
The resources on this page are a means for us to dialogue and learn even amid our differences. If we can accept that which is best from those who are different from us, we can grow, encourage, and inspire one another.
Featured Author
Dr. Andrew Newbergis a neuroscientist who studies the relationship between brain function and various mental states. His research includes taking brain scans of people in prayer, meditation, rituals, and trance states, in an attempt to better understand the nature of religious and spiritual practices and attitudes.
John L. Esposito is University Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown University and Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin-Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. He is the editor of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Modern Islam and The Oxford History of Islam, and author of Unholy War, What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam, and many other acclaimed works. Click here for books by John Esposito
Within Islam, the God Most-High, Allah is known to have 99 names. The 99 names of God shed light into God’s many attributes. Prayer and reflection on the 99 names of God, give Muslims the opportunity to be representatives of these attributes in the world. The 99 names of God include loving, peaceful, compassionate, generous, and patient.
Muslim theologian Bediuzzaman Said Nursi wrote that The Most Beautiful Names of God, help show that: “the true meaning of your life is this: it’s acting as a mirror to the manifestation of Divine oneness and the manifestation of the Eternally Besought One” (Nursi, The Words, 141). Mirroring the divine attributes of love, kindness, and peace have profound neurological effects. For more on Nursi:
Some key Ayat in the Qur’an relating to science: 3:191, 17:44, and 96:15-16.
Christianity
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz is a research psychiatrist at the School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles and a leading expert in neuroplasticity.
Rev. Bryan Spoon is a board certified chaplain and Episcopal priest. His website www.neurotheology.info offers many resources for Christians to learn and grow in love, joy, and peace.
Dr. Caroline Leafis the bestselling author of Switch on Your Brain, Think Learn Succeed, Think and Eat Yourself Smart, and many more. She teaches at academic, medical and neuroscience conferences, churches, and to various audiences around the world.
Psychiatrist Curt Thompson offers practical applications for developing our Christian faith through the lens of neuroscience. Advocating that while Jesus was a carpenter, he often used the language of farming to draw people into the Way of Love. We can use the language of neuroscience to cultivate the Good News within us and to offer it with others.
Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist who also writes from a Christian perspective. A leader on the intersection of Christianity and neuroscience.
Science and Christianity
The organization BioLogos invites the church and the world to see the harmony between science and biblical faith. Despite our differences about faith and science, this organization invites dialogue.
Taoism (also known as Daoism)
Annellen M. Simpkins, PhD and her husband C. Alexander Simpkins combine Eastern and Western principles in their book The Dao of Neuroscience.
World Religions
Traditions in Brief – Short video introductions of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism from the Harvard Divinity School Religious Literacy Project.
The World’s Religions – by Huston Smith is an excellent primer for understanding different faith traditions.
Global Religious Landscape – The Pew Research Center provides extensive demographic studies on faith throughout the world.
