Patrick McNamara Ph.D.'s Books

Spirit Possession and Exorcism

History, Psychology, and Neurobiology [2 volumes]

By: Patrick McNamara Ph.D.

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Spirit Possession and Exorcism

History, Psychology, and Neurobiology [2 volumes]

By: Patrick McNamara Ph.D.

This two-volume text reviews spirit possession throughout history, analyzes case studies from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, and examines rites for exorcism. From the beginning of civilization to the present day, and across all major religions and cultures, there have been documented cases of people seemingly overtaken by an unseen entity. The invading force—whether good or bad—appears to replace the possessor's soul with the spirit's own persona, resulting in mystifying symptoms such as levitation or other supernatural feats, speaking in tongues, and even horrific and inexplicably accelerated physical distortion and deterioration. This is a two-volume chronological history and examination of spirit possession that addresses its phenomenological, psychological, and neurobiological aspects, and its effects on societies. Volume one reviews spirit possession from the upper Paleolithic era to modern times, while Volume two focuses on case studies and rites of exorcism.

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Page Count

413

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0313384339

ISBN 13

9780313384332

Where God and Science Meet

How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter Our Understanding of Religion [3 volumes]

By: Patrick McNamara Ph.D.

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Where God and Science Meet

How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter Our Understanding of Religion [3 volumes]

By: Patrick McNamara Ph.D.

Spiritual practices, or awakenings, have an impact on brain, mind and personality. These changes are being scientifically predicted and proven. For example, studies show Buddhist priests and Franciscan nuns at the peak of religious feelings show a functional change in the lobes of their brain. Similar processes have been found in people with epilepsy, which Hippocrates called the sacred disease. New research is showing that not only does a person's brain activity change in particular areas while that person is experiencing religious epiphany, but such events can be created for some people, even self-professed atheists, by stimulating various parts of the brain. In this far-reaching and novel set, experts from across the nation and around the world present evolutionary, neuroscientific, and psychological approaches to explaining and exploring religion, including the newest findings and evidence that have spurred the fledgling field of neurotheology. It is not the goal of neurotheology to prove or disprove the existence of God, but to understand the biology of spiritual experiences. Such experiences seem to exist outside time and space - caused by the brain for some reason losing its perception of a boundary between physical body and outside world - and could help explain other intangible events, such as altered states of consciousness, possessions, alien visitations, near-death experiences and out-of-body events. Understanding them - as well as how and why these abilities evolved in the brain - could also help us understand how religion contributes to survival of the human race. Eminent contributors to this set help us answer questions including: How does religion better our brain function? What is the difference between a religious person and a terrorist who kills in the name of religion? Is there one site or function in the brain necessary for religious experience?

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Page Count

918

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0313054762

ISBN 13

9780313054761

Dreams and Visions

How Religious Ideas Emerge in Sleep and Dreams

By: Patrick McNamara Ph.D.

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Dreams and Visions

How Religious Ideas Emerge in Sleep and Dreams

By: Patrick McNamara Ph.D.

A standout resource on the emerging field of applying neuropsychology and the latest findings in sleep and dream research to religious experience, this book investigates the proven biological links between REM dreams and religious ideas, covering past and current schools of thought in both the science of dreams and the science of religion. Across time and around the world, billions of people with highly dissimilar backgrounds and cultures have felt spiritual or religious inspiration that shaped their lives and supplemented their mental strength—and in many cases, this inspiration came via a dream. The "how" and "why" of this common phenomenon is one that science has largely failed to explain. In this book, nationally recognized behavioral neuroscientist Patrick McNamara taps the latest science in sleep and dreams as well as neuropsychology to investigate one facet of the answer from the "inside out"—the human brain's role. The first study of its kind in an emerging field, Dreams and Visions: How Religious Ideas Emerge in Sleep and Dreams provides a comprehensive summary of past theory and examines the latest science on dreams, REM sleep, cognitive approaches to religion, and neuroscience approaches to religion. Readers will come away with an in-depth understanding of how and why god beliefs and spiritual convictions so often emerge in our dreams. Dedicated sections address special dream types like visitation dreams, nightmares, precognitive dreams, "big" dreams, lucid dreams, paralysis dreams, twin dreams, and more.

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Page Count

265

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 13

9798216076308

Robert McNamara's Other War

The World Bank and International Development

By: Patrick Allan Sharma

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Robert McNamara's Other War

The World Bank and International Development

By: Patrick Allan Sharma

Robert McNamara is best known for his key role in the escalation of the Vietnam War as U.S. secretary of defense under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. The familiar story begins with the brilliant young executive transforming Ford Motor Company, followed by his rise to political power under Kennedy, and culminating in his downfall after eight years of failed military policies. Many believe McNamara's fall from grace after Vietnam marked the end of his career. They were wrong. In Robert McNamara's Other War, Patrick Allan Sharma reveals the previously untold story of what happened next. As president of the World Bank from 1968 to 1981, McNamara changed the way many people thought about international development by shifting the World Bank's focus to poverty alleviation. Though his efforts to redeem himself after his failures in Vietnam were well-intentioned, Sharma argues, his expansion of the World Bank's agenda contributed to a decline in the quality of its activities. McNamara's policies at the Bank also helped lay the groundwork for the economic crises that have plagued the developing world during the past three decades. Not only has Sharma crafted an engaging chronicle of one of the most enigmatic figures in modern American history; he has also produced one of the first detailed histories of the World Bank. He mines previously unstudied Bank documents that have only recently become available to researchers as well as material from archives on three continents. Sharma's extensive research shows that McNamara's influence extended well beyond Vietnam and that his World Bank years may be his most enduring legacy.

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Page Count

240

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0812293932

ISBN 13

9780812293937

Book's by Patrick McNamara Ph.D.

Spirit Possession and Exorcism

Spirit Possession and Exorcism

Where God and Science Meet

Where God and Science Meet

Dreams and Visions

Dreams and Visions

Robert McNamara's Other War

Robert McNamara's Other War

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