{"id":3221,"date":"2012-04-21T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-04-21T09:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=3221"},"modified":"2012-08-06T22:45:25","modified_gmt":"2012-08-07T02:45:25","slug":"worthwhile-reads-the-psychology-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/04\/worthwhile-reads-the-psychology-of-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Worthwhile Reads: The Psychology of God"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>Tanya Luhrman, a Stanford anthropology professor <a href=\"http:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/news\/2012\/april\/conversations-with-god-041212.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">is researching how Christians train themselves<\/a> to converse with God through prayer. The entire article is worth a read, but I thought I\u2019d offer an excerpt:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>To understand how this deep prayer changes the mind, Luhrmann created an experiment during which she separated some people into a prayer group or a Bible study group.\u00a0Members of each group were given an iPod. The prayer group\u2019s playlist consisted of Scripture readings, followed by questions about the passages that encouraged participants to use their inner senses to take part in what was happening in the Scripture. The Bible study group\u2019s playlist consisted of lectures about Scripture.<\/p>\n<p>Luhrmann found that after 30 days\u2019 listening to the tracks for 30 minutes a day, the prayer group had more vivid imaginations. \u201cI found that the prayer practice did sharpen people\u2019s mental imagery. They were more likely to say that they experienced God more as a person by the end of the month,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cIt also increased the chance they would report an unusual sensory experience,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of them reported feeling God touch their shoulder or speak with them or interact with them in a way they actually experienced with their senses.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tanya Luhrman, a Stanford anthropology professor is researching how Christians train themselves to converse with God through prayer. The entire article is worth a read, but I thought I\u2019d offer an excerpt: To understand how this deep prayer changes the mind, Luhrmann created an experiment during which she separated some people into a prayer group [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[56],"class_list":["post-3221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-worthwhile-reads","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Worthwhile Reads: The Psychology of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tanya Luhrman, a Stanford anthropology professor is researching how Christians train themselves to converse with God through prayer. The entire article is\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/04\/worthwhile-reads-the-psychology-of-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Worthwhile Reads: The Psychology of God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tanya Luhrman, a Stanford anthropology professor is researching how Christians train themselves to converse with God through prayer. The entire article is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/04\/worthwhile-reads-the-psychology-of-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-21T09:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-07T02:45:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/04\/worthwhile-reads-the-psychology-of-god.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2012\/04\/worthwhile-reads-the-psychology-of-god.html\",\"name\":\"Worthwhile Reads: The Psychology of God\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-21T09:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-07T02:45:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"Tanya Luhrman, a Stanford anthropology professor is researching how Christians train themselves to converse with God through prayer. 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