What Is Neurotheology and How Does Andrew Newberg Study It?

Neurotheology is the study of how brain function relates to religious and spiritual experiences. Andrew Newberg, M.D., is a neuroscientist and physician who helped pioneer this field. He serves as Professor and Director of Research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital, and he is board certified in internal medicine and nuclear medicine. His research uses brain scans of people during prayer, meditation, rituals, and trance states to better understand the nature of religious and spiritual practices and attitudes.

The Core Idea Behind Neurotheology

Neurotheology sits at the intersection of neuroscience and spirituality. Rather than treating religious experience as purely philosophical or purely biological, it asks how the two connect. Newberg frames the broader question simply: what is the nature of reality, and how do we understand it?

In practice, that means treating spiritual and religious states as measurable brain events — and asking what those measurements reveal about the experiences themselves.

How Newberg Studies It

His method centers on imaging the brain while people are engaged in spiritual practice. According to his site, his research includes:

• Taking brain scans of people in prayer
• Scanning people during meditation
• Observing participants in rituals
• Studying trance states

The goal is to understand religious and spiritual practices and attitudes through their neurological correlates — not to reduce them to brain activity, but to see how brain function and mental states relate.

Why He's Considered a Pioneer

Newberg is described as a pioneer in the neurological study of religious and spiritual experiences — the field now known as neurotheology. His combination of credentials matters here: as both a physician (internal medicine, nuclear medicine) and a researcher, he brings clinical imaging expertise to questions that were traditionally outside the lab.

Where to Follow the Work

His website organizes his output into several sections, which is useful if you want to go deeper:

The site also links to his curriculum vitae, his Jefferson University Hospitals page, and his Wikipedia profile for further background.

The Takeaway

Neurotheology, as Newberg practices it, is an empirical approach to a deeply human set of experiences. If you want to understand the field, the clearest entry point is his own framing: studying brain function during prayer, meditation, ritual, and trance to understand spiritual practice and belief. His published articles and books are the natural next step for anyone who wants the detailed findings rather than the summary.