cognitive science of religion Archives - International Society for Science & Religion (ISSR)

September 2026 Blog

September 2026 Blog

The Science and Theology of Chanting Fraser Watts Scientific research on spiritual practices is very unevenly distributed. So far there has been most research on yoga and mindfulness, but relatively little on many other spiritual practices. Correcting that was the motivation behind the series of grants given by TWCF for research on the Science of Religious and Spiritual Exercises (SORSE). ISSR received one of those grants, with a particular focus on comparing practices that use human psychological resources in different ways. ISSR has also helped with the administration of another SORSE grant to Miguel Farías, From the Heart: Testing the Efficacy of Heart-Centered Contemplation. Chanting is a widely used spiritual practice, found in almost every faith tradition (e.g. Sheldrake, 2017, chapter 6). Until recently there was

By Fraser Watts|2026-09-14T21:48:17+01:00September 14th, 2026|Categories: Blog|Tags: academic religion, academic science and religion, academic spirituality, academic theology, acoustic neuroscience, acoustics and spirituality, altered states and chanting, ancient chant, ancient Christian chant, ancient Christian music, ancient liturgy, attention and music, attention and religion, attention and spirituality, attention stability, auditory attention, auditory cognition, auditory neuroscience, biomarkers and chanting, biomarkers and spirituality, Buddhist chanting, Buddhist studies chanting, calming music research, cathedral acoustics, chant acoustics, chant and contemplation, chant and eternity, chant and liturgy, chant and religious experience, chant and spiritual experience, chant and transcendence, chant revival, chant rhythm, chant studies, chant therapy, chant traditions, chanting, chanting across religions, chanting and affect, chanting and attention, chanting and autonomic nervous 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August 2026 Blog

August 2026 Blog

Bonding with God: Attachment Science and the Psychology of Faith Victor Counted, PhD Associate Professor of Psychology, Regent University; Faculty Affiliate, Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University For most of its history, the scientific study of religion has measured what people believe. Surveys ask whether respondents affirm the existence of God, how literally they read scripture, how strongly they endorse a set of doctrinal propositions. Belief, rendered as assent to content, became the unit of analysis. And yet anyone who has sat with a grieving widow who still talks to God each morning, or watched a congregation grieve with a member through illness, knows that this measurement misses something central. Faith, as it is actually lived, is far less a matter of what people hold to be true

By Victor Counted|2026-08-14T15:42:38+01:00August 14th, 2026|Categories: Blog|Tags: attachment disruption, attachment science, attachment theory, Bonding with God, cognitive science of religion, faith and relationship, global flourishing study, psychology of belief, psychology of faith, psychology of religion, religious psychology, religious trauma, spiritual attachment, Victor Counted|