This week on The Sausage of Science, Chris and Cara talk with Dr. Josh Brahinsky, a researcher in the Transcultural Psychiatry Department at McGill University and the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University, whose work sits at the intersection of anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience. Josh explores how contemplative practices like prayer and meditation shape sensory experience, perception, and emotion, focusing especially on the embodied and affective dimensions of charismatic evangelical worship. With a background that bridges the humanities and sciences, a PhD in the History of Consciousness from UCSC, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Anthropology at Stanford, Josh brings a truly interdisciplinary lens to understanding what happens when people reach for the divine, and how those moments transform the body and mind alike.
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Find the book discussed in this episode: Tongues of Fire: How Charismatic Prayer Changes Evangelical Brains and Mobilizes Spirit-Filled Activism
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/tongues-of-fire-9798881804992/
Find the Article: Brahinsky, J., Mago, J., Miller, M., Catherine, S., & Lifshitz, M. (2024). The Spiral of Attention, Arousal, and Release: A Comparative Phenomenology of Jhāna Meditation and Speaking in Tongues. American Journal of Human Biology, 36(12), e24189. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.24189
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Contact Dr. Brahinsky: jbrahins@gmail.com
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Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association:
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc
Chris Lynn, Host
Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly
Cara Ocobock, Host
Website: sites.nd.edu/cara-ocobock/, Email:cocobock@nd.edu, Twitter:@CaraOcobock
Cristina Gildee, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Fellow
Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu,
