Bicameral Mentality: Neurotheology

Religion and the Right Hemisphere

Hypothesis Two: Bicameral Mentality – Subtopic: Neurotheology
Julian Jaynes describes an earlier mentality prior to the development of subjective consciousness called the bicameral mind, in which the brain’s hemispheres operated in a less integrated manner than they do today. Jaynes’s bicameral mind theory is perhaps the best explanation for why the right hemisphere is often associated with religious beliefs. Below is a small sample of research supporting this aspect of Jaynes’s theory.

• Sudden Religious Conversions in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
  Dewhurst, Kenneth and A. W. Beard, The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1970, 117, 540, 497-507.
• Dr. A.M. – A Rare Case of a Modern Mystic? Implications for Psychology and Medicine
  Facco, Enrico, Daniela Lucangeli, and Patrizio E. Tressoldi, University of Padova, Italy, March 28, 2016
• The Neurosciences of Religion
  Grassie, William, in William Grassie, The New Sciences of Religion, 2010, 93-110.
• Was Religion a Kinship Surrogate?
  MacIntyre, Ferren, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2004, 72, 3, 653-694.
• Mysterium Tremendum
  Peterson, Gregory R., Zygon, June 2002.
• Religion: Is It All In Your Head?
  Talan, Jamie, Psychology Today, 1998, 31, 2, 9.
• Functional and Dysfunctional Religious/Spiritual Beliefs in Psychotic Disorders
  Unterrainer, Human-Friedrich, in H.F. Angel, L. Oviedo, R. Paloutzian, A. Runehov, and R. Seitz, (eds.), Processes of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions, 2017, 167-180.