Center for Spirituality and the Mind - Lecture Series

Mind, Religion & Ethics in Dialogue

The purpose of this research lecture series is to explore the critical relationship between the mind and spirituality. This relationship includes the study of cognitive neuroscience, behavioral genetics, religious and spiritual experiences and conceptions, issues related to love and compassion, and epistemological problems. Such scholarly pursuits hold critical importance for many fields including cognitive neuroscience, theology, philosophy, anthropology, law, bioethics, and religious studies.

The three major topics - neuropsychology, compassion, and behavioral genetics - will each provide fertile grounds for dialogue and debate. Each has important implications from both a cognitive scientific and religious perspective and each has deep relevance to everyday life and the problems currently facing the human world. Furthermore, each of these topics can stand on its own as well as be highly interrelated to the other topics. These three topics address the most fundamental issues that both cognitive science and religion can address about human beings.