Course Syllabus

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Course Description

This course explores religion, spirituality, and atheism through the lens of contemporary neuroscience and cognitive science. In the beginning of the course, we examine how beliefs are formed, maintained, and transformed by the brain, and how neural networks underlying cognition, emotion, and meaning-making contribute to religious and non-religious worldviews.

Drawing on research from neuroscience, psychology, and religious studies, the course investigates neural correlates of spiritual and religious experiences and analyses  various neuroscientific and evolutionary psychological approaches to understanding the religious brain and the distinctions between religious and non-religious individuals.

During the semester we dive in to various religious practices and rituals, as meditation, yoga and sound healing, exploring how it effects our brain and body by highlighting their impact on mental well-being, social bonding, and stress regulation, followed by discussions on overall health benefits of spiritual practices and rituals, emphasizing their potential integration into everyday life both in religious as well as non-religious settings.

We explore how beliefs both can be transformning and on the contrary be rigid and dogmatic turning to religious fundamentalism. Finally, we examine the concepts of altered states of consciousness, self-transcendence, psychedelic experience and the mystery of placebo, emphasizing how expectation, meaning, and context shape subjective experience and brain function.

By the end of the semester you will have gained insights on integrating empirical findings with critical discussion, and you are encouraged to reflect on religion and atheism not as opposing positions, but as expressions of shared cognitive and neural processes involved in belief, meaning, and identity. We conclude the class with a deep-dive into self chosen topics and academic presentations regarding novel perspectives of Neuroscience of Religion and Atheism. 

Faculty

Mette Bohn Jespersen

Clinical Neuropsychologist; Master of Psychology with a double major in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Copenhagen (2015). Formerly studied Economics and Organizational Psychology at Copenhagen Business School. Ms. Jespersen possesses extensive experience in Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, currently focusing on consultancy and clinical private practice. She has been affiliated with DIS since 2022, where she teaches and researches topics within neuroscience, health, and psychology.

Field Studies

• Church Yoga
  • A visit to a common Church of Denmark, where we will explore different ways of using the church space and engage in spiritual practices.

• Silence & Meditation Workshop
  • This exciting workshop is lead by Salman Ahmad, psychologist and a former monk. We will get hands-on experience with meditation and finding silence within, and we will dive into the difference between knowledge and belief, and consider the possibilities of building a faith based on knowing, and delve into the powerful combination of knowledge and silence in healing and transformation.

Guest Lecturer

• Michael Perlt - Holds B.A. and M.A. in Theology from the University of Copenhagen and Pre-doctoral fellowship in cultural sociology from Yale University. His research focuses on religion & secularism, religious violence, and collective memory. His current research concerns death, cultural trauma and religious meaning making in the context of an armed conflict.
• Salman Ahmad - PhD in Psychology (2005) from Osmania University, India. Worked as faculty and consultant in the areas of psychology, leadership and organizational development across South Asia, the Middle East and Europe. In Denmark since 2010. Chief Consultant at the Living Institute and External Lecturer at Copenhagen Business School. Faculty member with the Department of Psychology at DIS since 2013.
• Ari Brouwer - PhD student in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on the neuroscience of religious and spiritual experiences, with particular interest in how these states influence wellbeing and human transformation. Ari’s work explores how spiritual highs and mental breakdowns may emerge from the same evolved brain systems—systems that confer both vulnerability and the capacity for profound psychological change and growth.

Approach to teaching

Student participation and discussion are key components of this course. You are expected to take ownership of your educational progress, with dialogue and debate serving as foundational elements of an effective learning environment.

Typically, each class begins with a recap of the previous session, accompanied by a brief practical exercise. This is followed by a lecture that introduces key concepts and explains complex theories. Subsequently, students engage in group work and discussions to synthesise and integrate the material from the lecture and assigned readings.

Grading

To be eligible for a passing grade in this class you must complete all the assigned work.

Component	Weight
Dynamic Participation, Engagement & Attendance (individual)	20 %
Canvas Discussion Inspiration (individual)	15 %
Reflections on Spiritual Practices (individual) Reflection paper 10 % Journalling 5 %	15 %
SoMe Communication (group) Sum-up SoMe post / video	15 %
NoRA Theme Rally (group / individual) Poster / slide presentation (group) 20 % Written abstract and outline (individual) 15 %	35 %
Total	100 %

Dynamic Participation, Engagement & Attendance

Active student participation shapes this class, which focuses on exploring ideas through inquiry and discussion. You are expected to contribute questions and share perspectives.

Preparation, attendance, and engagement in classes, field studies, and guest lectures is essential in this course because it shows that you are taking responsibility for your own learning. It also demonstrates that you are keeping up with the readings and understanding the theoretical perspectives and research evidence discussed in class.

Your class participation and engagement grade will count 20% of the final grade and will be calculated based on the following criteria:

• You are engaged throughout our class meeting/field study/guest lecture and demonstrate this by prompting discussion and/or responding to your peers by linking comments and asking relevant questions.
• Your contributions reflect a thoughtful (rather than superficial) understanding of the reading assignments and demonstrate an ability to integrate knowledge across reading assignments.
• You listen attentively and respectfully to others (and you avoid dominating or silencing others). Please note that active participation and engagement also refers to active listening, so there is no need to speak solely to fill the silence.
• You work collaboratively with people to achieve learning goals when you are placed in a small group.

Canvas Discussion Inspiration

The canvas discussion inspiration post serve as a primer for good class discussions. The purpose is to give you an opportunity to think critically and ask questions about the readings before we meet for class.

All posts must reflect thoughtful analysis relevant to the readings and each question/observation should be paragraph length. It can be a single idea for further research, a new way of applying one of the articles, a criticism, integration or comparison between two or more articles, or a comparison of the assigned material with material from your other classes. 

Do not summarize; I have read the articles already (although it is helpful that you provide a page number when you comment on a specific point or example).

Personal experience can be included but would not make a good comment if it contained only a personal story or experience.

Reflection on Spiritual Practices

An important part of our class is to reflect on, and experience different components of ritualistic and spiritual practices. As so, both classes and field studies will involve practical exercises and you will be required to complete the exercise as described, and submit both a reflection paper and a journal log on your experience with the course and spiritual practices.

SoMe Communication

During our course we will work with different ways of communicating our findings from class on social media to a mixed audience (i.e., scholars and non-scholars). The overall idea and learning outcome are to work with different ways of disseminating what we learn in class to others in a fun, non-academic and creative way. In groups you will be assigned to make a summarizing post from a specific class including a creative component of how to engage in spiritual and healing practices, and present it in class.

NoRA Theme Rally

At the conclusion of the semester, you will have the opportunity to investigate a topic of their choice related to the designated theme within the field of Neuroscience of Religion & Atheism. Working collaboratively in groups, you are expected to conduct research on their selected subject and deliver an academic presentation to inform the class of your findings. Also, you have to submit at written abstract and outline on your particular part of the presentation.

Readings - find the readings here

READINGS

• Asp & Ramachandran (2012). Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, and the human prefrontal cortex
• Barrett & Griffiths (2018). Classic Hallucinogens and Mystical Experiences: Phenomenology and Neural Correlates.
• Bartel & Mosabbir (2021). Possible Mechanisms for the Effect of Sound Vibration on Human Health.
• Brouwer et al. (2025). From Suffering to Salvation: Making Sense of Religious Experiences.
• Brouwer et al. (2025). A qualitative analysis of the psychedelic mushroom.
• Brouwer & Carhart-Harris (2020). Pivotal Mental States.
• Brouwer, Raison & Shults (2024). The trajectory of psychedelic spiritual and psychotic experiences implications for cognitive scientific perspectives of religion.
• Carhart-Harris & Friston (2019). REBUS and the Anarchic Brain.
• Connors & Halligan (2022). Revealing the Cognitive Neuroscience of Belief.
• Dunbar, Robin (2020). Religion, The Social Brain and The Mystical Stance.
• Glannon, W. (2004). Transcendence & Healing.
• Keltner & Haidt (2003). Approaching Awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion.
• Lindenfors, P. (2019). Divine placebo: Health and the evolution of religion.
• Mohandas, E. (2008). “Neurobiology of Spirituality.” Mens Sana Monographs 6, 1: 63–80.
• Nash et al. (2022). Resting state networks of believers & non-belivers.
• Newberg, Andrew (2018). Neurotheology: How Science Can Enlighten Us About Spirituality. Chapter 3, 6, 10 & 11.
• Newberg, A. B. et al. (2003). “The Neural Basis of the Complex Task of Meditation: Neurotransmitter and Neurochemical Considerations.” Medical Hypotheses 61: 282–291.
• Pollan, Michael (2018). How to Change Your Mind. E-book. Chapter 5 & 6.
• Presti et al. (2025). "Don’t stop believing” - Decoding belief dynamics in the brain- An ALE meta-analysis of neural correlates in belief formation and updating.
• Ritchie, S. L. (2017). Does contemporary neuroscience debunk religious belief? Chapter 7 in Philosophy, Science, Religion for Everyone.
• Saver & Rabin (1997). The Neural Substrates of Religious Experience.
• Schienle et al. (2021). Placebo Effects in the Context of Religious Beliefs and Practices: A Resting-State Functional Connectivity Study.
• Schjødt, Uffe (2009). The Religious Brain: A general introduction to the experimental neuroscience of religion. Method & Theory in the study of religion. 21(3):310-339.
• Tedeschi & Callhoun (2003). Posttraumatic Growth.
• Wager, T. D. & Atlas, L. Y. (2015). The neuroscience of placebo effects: connecting context, learning and health. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 16. 403-418
• Weir, K. (2020). What do you believe? American Psychological Association.
• Yaden, D. B. (2016). Neuroscience and Religion: Surveying the Field. Mental Religion, Chapter 17, pp. 277-299.
• Zuckerman, P. (2009). Why are Danes and Swedes so irreligious? Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 22(I): 55-69

Academic Accommodations

Your learning experience in this class is important to me.  If you have approved academic accommodations with DIS, please make sure I receive your DIS accommodations letter within two weeks from the start of classes. If you can think of other ways I can support your learning, please don't hesitate to talk to me. If you have any further questions about your academic accommodations, contact Academic Support academicsupport@dis.dk