(Religious) Language and the Decentering Process

What is it about?

This article explores the role of language in religious experience, using Patrick McNamara's recent work on the neuroscience of religious experience and the first-century literary treatise, On the Sublime.

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Why is it important?

In the past, particular attention has been given to "special" language in religious experience—in prayer, liturgy, ritual, and so forth. The treatise On the Sublime suggests that other forms of language—in literature and poetry, for example—can have similar effects as those typically associated with religious experience.