The Rabbi’s Brain: Mystics, Moderns, and the Science of Jewish Thinking
About this audiobook
The topic of neurotheology has garnered increasing attention in the academic, religious, scientific, and popular worlds. But there have been no attempts to explore more specifically how Jewish religious thought and experience may intersect with neurotheology. The Rabbi’s Brain engages this groundbreaking area.
Topics included relate to a neurotheological approach to the foundational beliefs that arise from the Torah and associated scriptures, Jewish learning, an exploration of the different elements of Judaism (i.e., reform, conservative, and orthodox), an exploration of specifically Jewish practices (i.e., Davening, Sabbath, Kosher), and a review of Jewish mysticism. The Rabbi’s Brain engages these topics in an easy-to-understand style and integrates the scientific, religious, philosophical, and theological aspects of the emerging field of neurotheology.
By reviewing the concepts in a stepwise, simple yet thorough discussion, listeners, regardless of their background, will be able to understand the complexities and breadth of neurotheology from the Jewish perspective. More broadly, issues will include a review of the neurosciences and neuroscientific techniques; religious and spiritual experiences; theological development and analysis; liturgy and ritual; epistemology, philosophy, and ethics; and social implications, all from the Jewish perspective.
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About the author
Andrew Newberg, MD, is the director of research at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Medical College. He is the author of several books, including Why God Won’t Go Away, and his research has been featured in Time; Newsweek; O, The Oprah Magazine; and on the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the BBC, and NPR.
Dr. David Halpern is a first year resident at the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Prior to attending medical school, he spent two years studying Jewish texts and philosophy at Yeshivat Hakotel in the Old City of Jerusalem. He then returned to New York to earn a BA in Psychology at Yeshiva University, where his graduating thesis focused on the intersection of the philosophy of free will as interpreted by Jewish and Christian Theology. Halpern received rabbinic ordination in 2014 from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, where he created a capstone project exploring the intersection of medical practice with Jewish medical ethics and law. He also completed rabbinic internships at the Puah Institute, where he helped Jewish couples navigate infertility, as well as the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, where he assisted women in obtaining a Jewish writ of divorce and preventing domestic abuse.
Patrick Cullen (a.k.a. John Lescault), a native of Massachusetts, is a graduate of the Catholic University of America. He lives in Washington, DC, where he works in theater.
