Divine Presence Workshop
Rutgers University (Oct 4-6, 2025)
At this workshop, each research group presented its work on the second year of the grant and finished planning for the third year of research. The workshop concluded with a rousing round of karaoke wherein some members displayed their virtuosity and others their capacity to induce ear ache. Attendees included Tanya Luhrmann, Dean Zimmerman, Brian Scholl, Philip Corlett, Ann Taves, Eleanor Schille-Hudson, Kara Weisman, Timothy Perrine, Wes Skolits, Dawei Bai, Santiago Castiello de Obeso, Elliot Ihm, Brian McLaughlin, Louise Antony, and Mark Baker.
Divine Presence Workshop
Stanford University (Feb 27–Mar 1, 2025)
At this capstone conference, members of the research group convened to describe recent research and overall conclusions. Several additional scholars were invited to participate to help identify the next steps for continuing to explore experiences of presence. Attendees included Tanya Luhrmann, Dean Zimmerman, Brian Scholl, Philip Corlett, Ann Taves, Eleanor Schille-Hudson, Kara Weisman, Timothy Perrine, Wes Skolits, Dawei Bai, Santiago Castiello de Obeso, Elliot Ihm, Kengo Miyazono, Lari Launonen, Benjamin Alderson-Day, Julie Cassaniti, and Tamar Gendler.
Divine Presence Workshop
New Brunswick, NJ (Apr 21–22, 2023)
Presentations
Achim Stephen (University of Osnabrück). “Scaffolds for a Change in Existential Feelings to Experience God.”
George Graham (Georgia State University, emeritus). Verbal Hallucinations and Clinical Delusions with Religious Content.”
Kengo Miyazono (Hokkaido University). “Presence, Perception, and Delusion.”
Timothy Perirne (Rutgers University) "On the Possibility of Perceiving God: A Reidean Model."
The Psychology and Epistemology of Religious Experience
New Brunswick, NJ (Apr 14-15, 2023)
Keynote Presentation
Godehard Brüntrup, S.J. (Munich School of Philosophy): “Jonah, Alienation, and the Meaning of Life”
Other Presentations
Wes Skolits (Rutgers University) “Schizophrenia, Fake Barns, and Knowledge from Religious Experience”
Ting Fung Ho (Duke University): “The Healing Power of Meditative Experience
Kegan Shaw (Anderson University): “Locating the God Faculty: John Henry Newman Versus The Cognitive Science of Religion”
Brian Ballard (Concordia University Irvine): “God Is an Attachment Figure: Whither Religious Epistemology?”
Timothy Perrine (Rutgers University): “On The Possibility of Perceiving God: A Reidean Model”
Andrew Atkinson (University of Bialystok and University of Agder): “The Places of Agency Detection and Predictive Processing in the Ontogenesis of Religion”
Lari Launonen (University of Helsinki): “Does Cognitive Science Undermine Everyday Experiences of God?”
Eliška Wichterlová (Boston University): “From the Dionysian Celebration to Fanaticism”
Workshop
New Brunswick, NJ (Jan 14-16, 2023)
At this workshop, members of the team got together to establish the conceptual framework for the project, share notes and ideas, and specify their research agendas. The workshop’s main activity consisted of presentations by each attendee in which they outlined their research ideas, plans, and materials. In receiving feedback from the interdisciplinary group, attendees obtained information informed by other disciplines. This not only elevated attendees’ research strategies, but also ensured that they would fit into a coherent overall agenda.
Attendees: Dean Zimmerman (co-PI), Tanya Luhrmann (co-PI), Justin Barrett (Workshop facilitator), Louise Antony, Mark Baker, Philip Corlett, Elliott Ihm, Brian McLaughlin, Joan Ongchoco (postdoc), Tim Perrine (postdoc), Eleanor Schille-Hudson (postdoc), Brian Scholl, Wes Skolits, Ann Taves, James McIntyre (admin)