What is it about?
The authors engage in a dialogue with the 2023 book The Varieties of Spiritual Experience by David Yaden and Andrew Newberg. The article explores how spiritual experiences are triggered, how they can be categorized, and what their lasting effects are on the person. While modern neurotheology often focuses on brain activity and phenomenology, the authors argue that the Thomistic framework (the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas) provides a more comprehensive way to understand these experiences without reducing them to mere chemical reactions in the brain.
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Why is it important?
This research is significant because it overcomes the long-standing "reductionist" trap that often pits science against spirituality, suggesting that we don't have to choose between a biological explanation and a theological one. By integrating the cutting-edge empirical data of neurotheology with the rigorous philosophical depth of Thomism, the article provides a holistic map of the human person. It validates the reality of spiritual experiences by showing that our neurological "wiring" for the divine is not a flaw or an illusion, but a sophisticated natural capacity—a capax Dei—that allows for genuine personal transformation and a deeper connection to the transcendent.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Triggers, clasificación y efectos de las experiencias espirituales extraordinarias, Studium Filosofía y Teología, December 2025, Universidad del Norte Santo Tomas de Aquino,
DOI: 10.53439/stdfyt56.28.2025.333-358.
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