Scientific Perspectives on the Nature of Religious Experiences: a brief overview of recent academic production

This article takes as a starting point the fruitful scientific debate about the best ways to explain the phenomenon of religious experiences, conducting a literature review on the subject. Considering mostly English-speaking authors, it is possible to verify the existence of two poles in contemporary scientific production, which we can call "reductionist" and "non-reductionist". Both one and the other originated under the influence of the literature of the 20th century, renewing the debate in the 21st century in the light of new empirical evidence that allows not only to launch multiple perspectives on the phenomenon to open new perspectives of analysis on religious experiences, as well as how to seek alternatives to reconcile the two poles. It is concluded that, since the seminal work of William James, a multiplicity of alternatives brought by empirically based sciences has allowed us to advance in understanding the complex phenomenon of religious experiences.