Steps Toward a Neurophenomenology of Speaking in Tongues
The Oxford Handbook of Psychedelic, Religious, Spiritual, and Mystical Experiences June 20, 2024 Josh Brahinsky, Michael Lifshitz, Tanya Marie Luhrmann 1 citation
Working back and forth between neuroscientific methods and ethnographic phenomenology can inspire new ways of thinking. A neurophenomenological project investigated the evangelical Christian practice of speaking in tongues. After several years of ethnographic participant observation in tongues-speaking churches and careful interviews with tongues-speakers, the researchers developed a neuroimaging experiment to capture what they heard. Their interdisciplinary approach revealed shifts in the experience of speaking in tongues, which they call "dropping in." Combining ethnographic phenomenology and neuroscience brought a deeper understanding of tongues prayer in unexpected ways.