Center for Spirituality and the Mind

This Center will fill a major gap that was specifically identified by University President Amy Gutmann by establishing a University wide interdisciplinary program on a topic with deep relevance to society, health, and academia. This Center, through its primary functions will seek to increase access both academically and publicly of a very relevant topic in the United States and throughout the world. By establishing courses, teaching materials, public and academic lecture programs, and local and internet outreach programs, the dialogue regarding the relationship between the mind and spirituality will be available for all individuals interested in this issue. This Center will have a primary focus of expanding knowledge by creating an interdisciplinary group of faculty throughout all of the schools of the University.

The four primary functions of the Center will be:

  • to establish a multidisciplinary academic dialogue across the Penn campus with the goal of producing theoretical and research manuscripts among the fellows;
  • to develop and implement research studies exploring the relationship between the spirituality and the brain with particular emphasis on obtaining funding for such projects from government and private sources;
  • to provide education and resources for scholars and students in diverse fields, both nationally and internationally, through library, lecture, and course materials that can be accessed on line as well as taught to University of Pennsylvania students;
  • to perform outreach to the general public and particularly the surrounding areas of the University to inform the public of topics related to the intersection of religion and science through lectures, courses, and special programs.

There are four areas of scholarly focus of the Center (click the title to see details):

Neuroscience and Spirituality

This area will focus on the mutual information both perspectives can provide for each other. To this end, there will be an emphasis on finding empiric data regarding the relationship between the brain, the body, and spirituality. There will also be a focus on how spirituality can inform the neurosciences in terms of both philosophical and methodological issues. Related fields include radiology, psychiatry, psychology, neurology, endocrinology, biology, the biological basis of behavior, and anthropology. Research projects in this area will include the use of neuroimaging techniques in association with other physiological measures to explore which brain functions are associated with the experiences associated with religious and spiritual phenomena. In addition, issues related to human performance and the ability to alter the brain's functions through various spiritual practices will be explored.

Social Behavior and Spirituality

This area will focus on the relationship between spirituality and various social and cultural issues. Related fields include social work, anthropology and sociology. This area will focus on specific populations to determine how cultural, socioeconomic, and ethnographic factors interact with spiritual beliefs and vice versa. This area will also focus on how spirituality influences societies, contributing to many of the current socio-political problems throughout the world.

Spirituality and Mental Health

This area will explore the effects of spiritual practices on various psychological conditions. Related fields include psychiatry, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Therefore, this area will explore how religion and spirituality might be associated with disorders including depression, anxiety, heart disease, and cancer.

Philosophical and Religious Implications

This area will consider the philosophical, religious, and ethical aspects of integrating studies on religious and spiritual phenomena with the neurosciences. There will be a specific focus on understanding the local and global effects of such studies. Related fields include philosophy, bioethics, religious studies, history of science, Jewish studies, and anthropology. The overall purpose of this area is to generate a substantial theoretical base from which to explore the other aspects of such phenomena.