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Fingerprints of God: What Science Is Learning About the Brain and Spiritual Experience
The New York Times bestseller that explores the startling discoveries that science is making about faith.
Barbara Bradley Hagerty's new book, Life The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife, is out now from Riverhead Books
Is spiritual experience real? Or is it a delusion? When we pray, what happens? Can science explain God? In Fingerprints of God , National Public Radio religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty attempts to answer these and other vexing questions about the science of spiritual experience. Along the way she tells the story of her own intriguing spiritual evolution, delves into the discoveries science is making about how faith affects our brains and explores what near-death experiences reveal about the afterlife. The result is a rich and insightful examination of what science is learning about how and why we believe.
Barbara Bradley Hagerty's new book, Life The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife, is out now from Riverhead Books
Is spiritual experience real? Or is it a delusion? When we pray, what happens? Can science explain God? In Fingerprints of God , National Public Radio religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty attempts to answer these and other vexing questions about the science of spiritual experience. Along the way she tells the story of her own intriguing spiritual evolution, delves into the discoveries science is making about how faith affects our brains and explores what near-death experiences reveal about the afterlife. The result is a rich and insightful examination of what science is learning about how and why we believe.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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July 15, 2025
When I first read this 15+ years ago I was intrigued by what Hagerty discovered as, over the course of a year, she consulted with scientists who were investigating what appear to be inexplicable transcendent experiences. This time around I was struck more by her insistence that science is on the cusp of a paradigm shift leading to acknowledgement that there are things that can’t be explained by empirical research. And, more importantly, that those things are evidence of a god.
It was that last part that irked me. I am more than willing to accept that many of the phenomena she describes defy explanation, and that they represent something beyond our current understanding of brain function. I am not so willing to make the leap from there to religion.
Hagerty was raised a Christian Scientist, walked away from it as adult when she realized that Tylenol did an excellent job of breaking a fever, but has now rejoined the fold. I don’t have a problem with her assertions about the efficacy of directed prayer if that works for her. And I certainly don’t begrudge her commitment to her faith.
But personally, I’m happy to think of those transcendent moments and unexplainable experiences in terms of a multiverse or rips in the fabric of time/space or whatever. Had Hagerty kept more of a distance from her subject this would have been a compelling book. As it is, she seems to be guilty of confirmation bias.
It was that last part that irked me. I am more than willing to accept that many of the phenomena she describes defy explanation, and that they represent something beyond our current understanding of brain function. I am not so willing to make the leap from there to religion.
Hagerty was raised a Christian Scientist, walked away from it as adult when she realized that Tylenol did an excellent job of breaking a fever, but has now rejoined the fold. I don’t have a problem with her assertions about the efficacy of directed prayer if that works for her. And I certainly don’t begrudge her commitment to her faith.
But personally, I’m happy to think of those transcendent moments and unexplainable experiences in terms of a multiverse or rips in the fabric of time/space or whatever. Had Hagerty kept more of a distance from her subject this would have been a compelling book. As it is, she seems to be guilty of confirmation bias.
December 3, 2009
Well, Barbara Bradley Hagerty set out to find the evidence of God, and the Transcendent reality she hoped to find and -- guess what? She found it! She asserts she's a "journalist" and "reporter," but her awards as a "religion correspondent" tell me more that what she is is a believer looking for any evidence -- or lacking that, any justification to lower the bar for what counts as evidence -- for grounding her belief.
She often asserts her feeling that "There has to be more" than this, and her final crowning realization is: "Earth is not our home." The problem with most religionists is right there, in that five-word negation! They look at what they see and, not happy with it because it changes, seek something that is eternal. The imagined reality is, for them, more real and more valuable than 'just this.' There is no lack of awe in the fact that sub-atomic particles, come together to form molecules that assemble to form bacteria, monkeys, you and me!
She leans heavily on WIlliam James and his defense of faith and non-evidential belief basically because it makes her feel good! The ethics of such a 'will to believe' leaves much to be desired, and yet, credulous folk still seek solcace in such pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking!
I had hoped for more from this book based upon the title.
She often asserts her feeling that "There has to be more" than this, and her final crowning realization is: "Earth is not our home." The problem with most religionists is right there, in that five-word negation! They look at what they see and, not happy with it because it changes, seek something that is eternal. The imagined reality is, for them, more real and more valuable than 'just this.' There is no lack of awe in the fact that sub-atomic particles, come together to form molecules that assemble to form bacteria, monkeys, you and me!
She leans heavily on WIlliam James and his defense of faith and non-evidential belief basically because it makes her feel good! The ethics of such a 'will to believe' leaves much to be desired, and yet, credulous folk still seek solcace in such pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking!
I had hoped for more from this book based upon the title.
March 3, 2011
It’s been nearly a week since I finished reading this book by NPR correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty, on “the search for the science of spirituality.”
When I was only about a quarter of the way into the book, I sat down with two fellow writers to talk shop, and mentioned what I was reading. I surprised myself by admitting to these two ladies — whom I like and respect, but whom I don’t know very well — that I had cried my way through roughly half of what I’d already read of Hagerty’s book. In those pages, I found a kinship with Hagerty — a professional reporter on the religion beat — in her deep interest in other people’s spirituality and her personal conflict over possibly allowing her own beliefs to color her work. Hagerty’s willingness to include her own thoughts and experiences in “Fingerprints,” alongside the findings of and her conversations with a plethora of researchers honestly moved me.
While raving about “Fingerprints” on Facebook, I wrote to another writer friend that I’d wished I’d been the one to write this book. I’ve been on a bit of an internal hike of late, reawakening interests that have been ignored or on the back-burner for a few years now. Noetic sciences. Quantum physics. Metaphysical sciences.
You know — the stuff that makes my heart sing and my mind reach, but makes other people look at me funny.
I’ve always been spiritually inclined, and it’s been both a blessing and a challenge these past two years to be in a relationship with a self-proclaimed atheist. (That dynamic will have to be left for another discussion.) I’ll admit that I’m sometimes intimidated by Mike’s rapid-fire questions about my beliefs, with no room between queries for me to attempt much of an answer. For a good while, I stopped engaging him on religious topics, shying away from the subjects that matter to me most.
But now, Mike’s questions and Hagerty’s book have me taking a harder, more intimate and more critical look at what I believe, and I’m asking myself, “Why?” Why do I believe what I do? What are the experiences I’ve had — now somewhat hazy in memory, or lost in the shadows — that have led me to where I am?
Hagerty’s approach of speaking with believers and non-believers alike — inside and outside the scientific community — has me wanting to put my own spirituality under the microscope, not so much to be able to answer Mike’s skeptical questions, but to have a better understanding of my own center and perspective.
Hagerty’s conclusion — not surprising, giving the title of the book — is that the “fingerprints of God” are all around us, even within us in our very makeup. I don’t disagree, but I think it’s time I launched my own investigation. I’m a “go see for yourself” kind of gal — which has drawn me over the years to sweat lodges, Reiki attunements, psychic surgery, shamanic soul retrieval, crystal and singing bowl healing ceremonies, interfaith seminary, wiccan rituals, transcendental meditation, burning bowls, metaphysics university and hypnotherapy training, in addition to cathedrals, temples, synagogues, mosques and more.
But I’ve also been a math and science geek, and even began university as an engineering student. The scientific study of spirituality definitely appeals to me.
I’m seeker, but somehow this has gotten stuck on auto-pilot as my life got more caught up with the mundane details of the world. This current push back into myself that I’m feeling may very well be part of the larger “mid-life re-examination” that I can’t seem to escape, in these weeks and months following my 40th birthday, but I do feel that — for me — Hagerty’s “Fingerprints of God” was absolutely the right book at the right time.
When I was only about a quarter of the way into the book, I sat down with two fellow writers to talk shop, and mentioned what I was reading. I surprised myself by admitting to these two ladies — whom I like and respect, but whom I don’t know very well — that I had cried my way through roughly half of what I’d already read of Hagerty’s book. In those pages, I found a kinship with Hagerty — a professional reporter on the religion beat — in her deep interest in other people’s spirituality and her personal conflict over possibly allowing her own beliefs to color her work. Hagerty’s willingness to include her own thoughts and experiences in “Fingerprints,” alongside the findings of and her conversations with a plethora of researchers honestly moved me.
While raving about “Fingerprints” on Facebook, I wrote to another writer friend that I’d wished I’d been the one to write this book. I’ve been on a bit of an internal hike of late, reawakening interests that have been ignored or on the back-burner for a few years now. Noetic sciences. Quantum physics. Metaphysical sciences.
You know — the stuff that makes my heart sing and my mind reach, but makes other people look at me funny.
I’ve always been spiritually inclined, and it’s been both a blessing and a challenge these past two years to be in a relationship with a self-proclaimed atheist. (That dynamic will have to be left for another discussion.) I’ll admit that I’m sometimes intimidated by Mike’s rapid-fire questions about my beliefs, with no room between queries for me to attempt much of an answer. For a good while, I stopped engaging him on religious topics, shying away from the subjects that matter to me most.
But now, Mike’s questions and Hagerty’s book have me taking a harder, more intimate and more critical look at what I believe, and I’m asking myself, “Why?” Why do I believe what I do? What are the experiences I’ve had — now somewhat hazy in memory, or lost in the shadows — that have led me to where I am?
Hagerty’s approach of speaking with believers and non-believers alike — inside and outside the scientific community — has me wanting to put my own spirituality under the microscope, not so much to be able to answer Mike’s skeptical questions, but to have a better understanding of my own center and perspective.
Hagerty’s conclusion — not surprising, giving the title of the book — is that the “fingerprints of God” are all around us, even within us in our very makeup. I don’t disagree, but I think it’s time I launched my own investigation. I’m a “go see for yourself” kind of gal — which has drawn me over the years to sweat lodges, Reiki attunements, psychic surgery, shamanic soul retrieval, crystal and singing bowl healing ceremonies, interfaith seminary, wiccan rituals, transcendental meditation, burning bowls, metaphysics university and hypnotherapy training, in addition to cathedrals, temples, synagogues, mosques and more.
But I’ve also been a math and science geek, and even began university as an engineering student. The scientific study of spirituality definitely appeals to me.
I’m seeker, but somehow this has gotten stuck on auto-pilot as my life got more caught up with the mundane details of the world. This current push back into myself that I’m feeling may very well be part of the larger “mid-life re-examination” that I can’t seem to escape, in these weeks and months following my 40th birthday, but I do feel that — for me — Hagerty’s “Fingerprints of God” was absolutely the right book at the right time.
September 20, 2009
An interesting read, but ultimately disappointing. This would be a good introduction into the interaction of science and spirituality for a non-scientist. As a scientist who has read some on this topic, I found it a little shallow, not in terms of research (obviously extensive and with an honest attempt at balance), but in thinking. In the end, it didn't really tell me anything I didn't know already.
October 21, 2009
How does the brain function when a Buddhist monk is in deep meditation or a charismatic Christian speaks in tongues? What do scientists know about out of body experiences? Can the mind function apart from the brain? These are some of the interesting questions that Hagerty tackles. However, she does so in a way that gives both highly educated mystics and skeptics a fair treatment in voicing their interpretations of such paranormal events.
Hagerty also speaks of a new generation of scientists who are undertaking experiments and research to find if there is any evidence that points beyond a strict materialism.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
Hagerty also speaks of a new generation of scientists who are undertaking experiments and research to find if there is any evidence that points beyond a strict materialism.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
Read
January 31, 20192+ stars. Nice effort. Author visits & interviews interesting people, who often seem as nutty as they are intelligent.
Possibly a good read if you are interested in working of the brain (layman's level), or science/biology vs religious musings. Not a bad read, but at the end I knew about as much on the subject as when I began (I've read a handful of similar books). On the plus side, FINGERPRINTS OF God helped me get to sleep.
For a similar book with a bit more humor: Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (which I give ~2.75 stars)
Possibly a good read if you are interested in working of the brain (layman's level), or science/biology vs religious musings. Not a bad read, but at the end I knew about as much on the subject as when I began (I've read a handful of similar books). On the plus side, FINGERPRINTS OF God helped me get to sleep.
For a similar book with a bit more humor: Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (which I give ~2.75 stars)
November 1, 2012
The questions that this book poses are not so much along the line of, Is there a God?, but exploring whether Science can attest that spiritual experience and experiences are something separate than just brain synapses and physiological changes. I found this book to be quite fascinating, and one that confirmed my own gut feeling (so to speak) that there is Someone Out There Watching Over Us.
The author grew up in a very strong Christian Science tradition and grew up to become a journalist covering religion issues. In this book she probes the research of scientists to see what science has to say about intercessory prayer, about near-death experiences, and about all things spiritual. Along the way she finds plenty of scientists who tell her that anything that cannot be measured or quantified is fantasy, and that all so-called spiritual experiences are only things happening in the brain that can be explained in a purely material manner.
She finds that long-time meditation, such as that practiced by Carmelite nuns and Buddhist monks, causes changes in the brain, so that the brains of the nuns and monks are soft-wired to be more receptive to meditative experience, and that these same changes in the brain are seen in the brains of those who have had near-death experiences and “seen the light”. She finds scientists willing to study intercessory prayer, which seems to have some measurable effect, but notes that it is difficult to account for all variables. She finds scientists who are mystics and scientists who are atheists, and learns about studies of linked people who can minutely affect each other’s physiology at a distance. The author also finds that among those who have “seen the light” may still be Christian or Buddhist or whatever, but that they are less apt to try to fit what they have experienced into a Jesus or Buddha or Jobu category, and more likely to accept what they have seen as all-encompassing love beyond sectarian definitions.
So, can Science prove that God exists? No more than it could before, because Science is not well equipped to deal with the inexplicable and unmeasurable. However, Scientific Method seems to give a very qualified Yes as an answer to the question, is there more out there than is met in our material philosophies, if only because some things can be picked up by the scientific method that do not seem to be self-created by our brains.
The author grew up in a very strong Christian Science tradition and grew up to become a journalist covering religion issues. In this book she probes the research of scientists to see what science has to say about intercessory prayer, about near-death experiences, and about all things spiritual. Along the way she finds plenty of scientists who tell her that anything that cannot be measured or quantified is fantasy, and that all so-called spiritual experiences are only things happening in the brain that can be explained in a purely material manner.
She finds that long-time meditation, such as that practiced by Carmelite nuns and Buddhist monks, causes changes in the brain, so that the brains of the nuns and monks are soft-wired to be more receptive to meditative experience, and that these same changes in the brain are seen in the brains of those who have had near-death experiences and “seen the light”. She finds scientists willing to study intercessory prayer, which seems to have some measurable effect, but notes that it is difficult to account for all variables. She finds scientists who are mystics and scientists who are atheists, and learns about studies of linked people who can minutely affect each other’s physiology at a distance. The author also finds that among those who have “seen the light” may still be Christian or Buddhist or whatever, but that they are less apt to try to fit what they have experienced into a Jesus or Buddha or Jobu category, and more likely to accept what they have seen as all-encompassing love beyond sectarian definitions.
So, can Science prove that God exists? No more than it could before, because Science is not well equipped to deal with the inexplicable and unmeasurable. However, Scientific Method seems to give a very qualified Yes as an answer to the question, is there more out there than is met in our material philosophies, if only because some things can be picked up by the scientific method that do not seem to be self-created by our brains.
February 6, 2010
When I first heard of Fingerprints of God I was filled with anticipation that this might be the book I've been looking for on the search for physical evidence of spirituality in the world.
But, wow, was I disappointed!! Written by a journalist, Barbara Hagerty, this book lets you down on all fronts. Firstly, the book's title is a HUGE disservice to the core topic she was writing about. The book should have been titled 'Religion and the Brain - the Search for Physical Influences on Perceptions of Spirituality'. This book has nothing to do with the Fingerprints of God or the Science of Spirituality. I was actually angry she gave this book that title because it misleads the reader and feels like a marketing ploy.
Next, her writing style is horrible - she spends a significant amount of words describing the look of the scientist - his or her hair, clothing, demeanor, voice inflection - do I really care????? NO.
Finally, the book reveals nothing but common sense regarding brain research on spiritual centers in our gray matter. If I were to ask you what five physical influences could affect the brain's perception of religion, I bet you could have come up with most of these:
1. Genetics
2. External Electromagnetic Fields
3. Drugs
4. Meditation and Prayer
5. Brain Injury
Sorry, but that's the core of the book. Hardly fingerprints. Throughout she continually asks 'what if', 'what if' it really is spiritual and not just the brain? - well, what if you didn't read this? No loss.
I don't want to take away from the hard work that she put into researching this topic - I'm sure it was years of effort. But, sadly, from a reader's perspective, I felt hoodwinked.
But, wow, was I disappointed!! Written by a journalist, Barbara Hagerty, this book lets you down on all fronts. Firstly, the book's title is a HUGE disservice to the core topic she was writing about. The book should have been titled 'Religion and the Brain - the Search for Physical Influences on Perceptions of Spirituality'. This book has nothing to do with the Fingerprints of God or the Science of Spirituality. I was actually angry she gave this book that title because it misleads the reader and feels like a marketing ploy.
Next, her writing style is horrible - she spends a significant amount of words describing the look of the scientist - his or her hair, clothing, demeanor, voice inflection - do I really care????? NO.
Finally, the book reveals nothing but common sense regarding brain research on spiritual centers in our gray matter. If I were to ask you what five physical influences could affect the brain's perception of religion, I bet you could have come up with most of these:
1. Genetics
2. External Electromagnetic Fields
3. Drugs
4. Meditation and Prayer
5. Brain Injury
Sorry, but that's the core of the book. Hardly fingerprints. Throughout she continually asks 'what if', 'what if' it really is spiritual and not just the brain? - well, what if you didn't read this? No loss.
I don't want to take away from the hard work that she put into researching this topic - I'm sure it was years of effort. But, sadly, from a reader's perspective, I felt hoodwinked.
April 3, 2014
Hagerty states at the beginning of her book that science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. I agree with this. She then goes on to try to prove God through science.
She misses the fundamental principle that how much we "know" about and understand God is not a function of our knowledge or intelligence, but how closely our life is in conformance with what we know of God's will and how much we're willing to let that knowledge change us.
I enjoyed learning about the Christian Science religion about one person's perspective on what this world means.
I disagree with one of the main assumptions that all "spiritual experiences", from meditation to prayer to drugs-induced, are equal.
And I certainly don't agree that all religions are simply different roads to the same God. I believe there is good in all religions and that all good comes from God. But that's not the same thing.
Page Turner: 6/10
Honest: 7/10
Intelligent: 6/10
Uplifting: 5/10
Important: 4/10
She misses the fundamental principle that how much we "know" about and understand God is not a function of our knowledge or intelligence, but how closely our life is in conformance with what we know of God's will and how much we're willing to let that knowledge change us.
I enjoyed learning about the Christian Science religion about one person's perspective on what this world means.
I disagree with one of the main assumptions that all "spiritual experiences", from meditation to prayer to drugs-induced, are equal.
And I certainly don't agree that all religions are simply different roads to the same God. I believe there is good in all religions and that all good comes from God. But that's not the same thing.
Page Turner: 6/10
Honest: 7/10
Intelligent: 6/10
Uplifting: 5/10
Important: 4/10
February 3, 2010
This was a beautiful nonfiction book, one of the best I’ve read. I usually like to just read nonfiction one chapter at a time, but Fingerprints of God is so conversational and engaging; it’s easy to get caught up in it like a good novel. Barbara Bradley Hagerty is the religious correspondent for NPR, and she took a year off to research this work. Hagerty is scrupulously honest about how this book is as much about her personal journey (and admits her lack of objectivity to a certain degree) as it is about the research and scientists she meets during her investigation. I can’t hope to exactly capture all the wonderful moments in the book, but I will share two that deeply impressed me:
(1) Hagerty met an AIDS researcher, Gail Ironson, who studied the effect of a person’s spirituality on his/her battle with HIV. Ironson conducted a study controlling for age, education, gender, race, optimism, life stress, depression, coping, and even church attendance, but found that a person’s reliance on and turning to God to cope with HIV appeared to boost his/her immune system and stave off the disease more effectively than any of the other psychological constructs. The effects of such spirituality were over and above the effects of medication, meaning that whether or not the person took medication, spirituality was still related to slower disease progression. (This study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine in 2006.)
(2) Hagerty interviewed several different scientists about the neurological effects of prayer. Richard Davidson scanned the brains of Buddhist monks and noticed that during meditation the left sides of their brains were much more active. Even in a resting state, their brain activity still resided in the left side. (Earlier studies have shown that people with higher brain-wave activity in the left side of the brain report feeling more alert, energized, enthusiastic, and joyous. People with higher brain-wave activity on the right side of the brain reported feeling more worry, anxiety or sadness.) Even more fascinating was a two month study with everyday people participating in meditation for 45 minutes a day and a control group. The meditation groups’ EEGs after the two months showed their brain-wave activity had shifted significantly leftward, to the “happy” part of the brain. (This study was published in Psychosomatic Medicine in 2003.)
Of course we have all heard stories that our attitudes affect our body, but it is deeply moving to read about these specific scientific documented affects of spirituality on our brains and our bodies. And there are many more in this book. It certainly encourages me to try to build a better spiritual practice into my everyday life. One final word about this book. The last chapter is entitled “Paradigm Shifts,” and Hagerty quotes extensively from Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which I just read over Thanksgiving for, yes, my Financial Accounting Seminar. Hagerty’s point is that we are in the midst of a scientific paradigm shift in the arena of materialistic science versus the concept of a spirit, a mind outside the restrictions of flesh. It amazes me to have my personal reading and accounting studies come together in such a direct way and makes me appreciate my doctoral studies in a whole new light.
(1) Hagerty met an AIDS researcher, Gail Ironson, who studied the effect of a person’s spirituality on his/her battle with HIV. Ironson conducted a study controlling for age, education, gender, race, optimism, life stress, depression, coping, and even church attendance, but found that a person’s reliance on and turning to God to cope with HIV appeared to boost his/her immune system and stave off the disease more effectively than any of the other psychological constructs. The effects of such spirituality were over and above the effects of medication, meaning that whether or not the person took medication, spirituality was still related to slower disease progression. (This study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine in 2006.)
(2) Hagerty interviewed several different scientists about the neurological effects of prayer. Richard Davidson scanned the brains of Buddhist monks and noticed that during meditation the left sides of their brains were much more active. Even in a resting state, their brain activity still resided in the left side. (Earlier studies have shown that people with higher brain-wave activity in the left side of the brain report feeling more alert, energized, enthusiastic, and joyous. People with higher brain-wave activity on the right side of the brain reported feeling more worry, anxiety or sadness.) Even more fascinating was a two month study with everyday people participating in meditation for 45 minutes a day and a control group. The meditation groups’ EEGs after the two months showed their brain-wave activity had shifted significantly leftward, to the “happy” part of the brain. (This study was published in Psychosomatic Medicine in 2003.)
Of course we have all heard stories that our attitudes affect our body, but it is deeply moving to read about these specific scientific documented affects of spirituality on our brains and our bodies. And there are many more in this book. It certainly encourages me to try to build a better spiritual practice into my everyday life. One final word about this book. The last chapter is entitled “Paradigm Shifts,” and Hagerty quotes extensively from Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which I just read over Thanksgiving for, yes, my Financial Accounting Seminar. Hagerty’s point is that we are in the midst of a scientific paradigm shift in the arena of materialistic science versus the concept of a spirit, a mind outside the restrictions of flesh. It amazes me to have my personal reading and accounting studies come together in such a direct way and makes me appreciate my doctoral studies in a whole new light.
July 11, 2017
Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality, by Barbara Bradley Hagerty.
Riverhead, © 2009
ISBN 978-1594484629
Paperback, 336 pages. From $14.97
Lifelong Christian Science devotee Barbara Bradley Hagerty, inspired by a spiritual encounter she could not explain, spent years exploring the nature of God. Fingerprints documents her journey through the labyrinth of stories from people who’ve experienced a transcendent connection with something Other that changed them forever, and Hagerty’s quest to learn whether there is hard, documented science to explain these experiences. Through more than a decade of interviews with scientists, medical practitioners, and neurotheologians, she sought answers to questions like “Is spiritual experience real?” and “Is there a reality outside this one?” and “What do people really see during near-death or other out-of-the-body experiences?” From the MRI chamber to the all-night peyote ceremony, Hagerty followed every available lead, chased every clue, with surprising—and sometimes astounding--results. Along the way, she met extraordinary people with remarkable tales that cast credible doubts on the lines between “real” and “imaginary.”
Hagerty starts out as a Christian Scientist. Throughout the book, she compares her new findings to the belief system that has supported her throughout her lifetime. By the end of the book, she admits to having lost some of her long-held assumptions, but overall her research only informs what she believed all along. The big difference is that she no longer believes her own religion is the only right, true faith. She has come to understand that, as she says in the book, faith is like a spoked wheel. God is the hub. All spokes lead to God. It doesn’t matter which one you choose. And—she asserts this clearly—it is a choice. Science can’t prove there is a Divine, any more than they can prove there is not. The choice is up to us how we interpret these experiences, and how we allow them to inform our lives.
Now let me tell you right up front that this is not the first time I’ve read Fingerprints. Still, as a deeply spiritual woman with personal numinous experience, I am always inspired by this book. Hagerty asks hard questions and presents intriguing scientific data from documented experiments. She reminds me of mystical Truths I already knew but had forgotten in the day-to-day business of life. Each time I read it, I find myself reevaluating my own assumptions, adjusting my beliefs to fit new knowledge, and remembering that I am a part of, not apart from, the Whole. For me, it is a refresher course that never seems to disappoint.
Hagerty’s book will suit anyone who ever asked the Big Questions, anyone who ever had a mystical experience, or anyone who seeks connection with something beyond All This. Whether you maintain a particular religious faith, or consider yourself a Seeker, Fingerprints offers deep and satisfying food for thought.
Riverhead, © 2009
ISBN 978-1594484629
Paperback, 336 pages. From $14.97
Lifelong Christian Science devotee Barbara Bradley Hagerty, inspired by a spiritual encounter she could not explain, spent years exploring the nature of God. Fingerprints documents her journey through the labyrinth of stories from people who’ve experienced a transcendent connection with something Other that changed them forever, and Hagerty’s quest to learn whether there is hard, documented science to explain these experiences. Through more than a decade of interviews with scientists, medical practitioners, and neurotheologians, she sought answers to questions like “Is spiritual experience real?” and “Is there a reality outside this one?” and “What do people really see during near-death or other out-of-the-body experiences?” From the MRI chamber to the all-night peyote ceremony, Hagerty followed every available lead, chased every clue, with surprising—and sometimes astounding--results. Along the way, she met extraordinary people with remarkable tales that cast credible doubts on the lines between “real” and “imaginary.”
Hagerty starts out as a Christian Scientist. Throughout the book, she compares her new findings to the belief system that has supported her throughout her lifetime. By the end of the book, she admits to having lost some of her long-held assumptions, but overall her research only informs what she believed all along. The big difference is that she no longer believes her own religion is the only right, true faith. She has come to understand that, as she says in the book, faith is like a spoked wheel. God is the hub. All spokes lead to God. It doesn’t matter which one you choose. And—she asserts this clearly—it is a choice. Science can’t prove there is a Divine, any more than they can prove there is not. The choice is up to us how we interpret these experiences, and how we allow them to inform our lives.
Now let me tell you right up front that this is not the first time I’ve read Fingerprints. Still, as a deeply spiritual woman with personal numinous experience, I am always inspired by this book. Hagerty asks hard questions and presents intriguing scientific data from documented experiments. She reminds me of mystical Truths I already knew but had forgotten in the day-to-day business of life. Each time I read it, I find myself reevaluating my own assumptions, adjusting my beliefs to fit new knowledge, and remembering that I am a part of, not apart from, the Whole. For me, it is a refresher course that never seems to disappoint.
Hagerty’s book will suit anyone who ever asked the Big Questions, anyone who ever had a mystical experience, or anyone who seeks connection with something beyond All This. Whether you maintain a particular religious faith, or consider yourself a Seeker, Fingerprints offers deep and satisfying food for thought.
July 31, 2009
Hagerty sets out to explore the link between science and faith through a series of interviews and self reflection. What she finds is that ultimately you can read the data to support either a theistic or atheistic worldview and that a theistic reading of the data points to a god spoken of by apologists and loved by no one.
What I liked about the book is that Hagerty presents a bunch of scientific (and pseudo-scientific) studies through the eyes of her own personal quest for the truth about god. She mentions the semi recent wave of atheistic writings but maintains her focus on recent avenues of scientific study into religious experience.
She deals with topics fairly. She is honest about her incredulity toward certain avenues of approach to studying religious experience and when others beliefs don't line up with her own.
Her conclusion is sound. You choose to view the world through the lens of belief in God or belief in nothing. But not long after a keen observation, Hagerty Drops the ball.
Tied in with Hagerty's conclusion is a misplaced belief that science will eventually point toward a god. Hagerty briefly outlines this god she has found and it reads like the "unmoved mover" from St. Aquinas. Not a personal god at all, but the culmination of the divine attributes that is no more endearing than the pythagorean theorem.
The spiritual experience becomes independent of any particular faith. God is stripped of God's story and is reduced to purely individual experience devoid of context.
Hagerty's faith starts to sound eerily familiar. God becomes the creator/law giver and Jesus the moral exemplar. Hagerty undoes a hundred years of theological critique to the Enlightenment Project and falls right in line with Liberal Christianity.
She makes these claims based on the evidence given to her during her search and then seeks to recapture her personal belief in Christianity before it slips through her fingers. She is right, nothing she found in her search pointed to a specific faith, so she simply believes in Jesus. My question for her is "Why would a God without a story, be 'the God who loves math [and:] also loves stories?'"
If god's only interaction with humanity is to make us feel better while we die, who cares about tradition?
Whatever clout Hagerty lost with me in her final pages, it isn't enough to detract from the fact that this is a well written and worth while book. The incredulous will hate it, the credulous will eat it up. What is of value is her honest grappling with her faith, her openness to new data and her conclusion that we choose to believe or not.
What I liked about the book is that Hagerty presents a bunch of scientific (and pseudo-scientific) studies through the eyes of her own personal quest for the truth about god. She mentions the semi recent wave of atheistic writings but maintains her focus on recent avenues of scientific study into religious experience.
She deals with topics fairly. She is honest about her incredulity toward certain avenues of approach to studying religious experience and when others beliefs don't line up with her own.
Her conclusion is sound. You choose to view the world through the lens of belief in God or belief in nothing. But not long after a keen observation, Hagerty Drops the ball.
Tied in with Hagerty's conclusion is a misplaced belief that science will eventually point toward a god. Hagerty briefly outlines this god she has found and it reads like the "unmoved mover" from St. Aquinas. Not a personal god at all, but the culmination of the divine attributes that is no more endearing than the pythagorean theorem.
The spiritual experience becomes independent of any particular faith. God is stripped of God's story and is reduced to purely individual experience devoid of context.
Hagerty's faith starts to sound eerily familiar. God becomes the creator/law giver and Jesus the moral exemplar. Hagerty undoes a hundred years of theological critique to the Enlightenment Project and falls right in line with Liberal Christianity.
She makes these claims based on the evidence given to her during her search and then seeks to recapture her personal belief in Christianity before it slips through her fingers. She is right, nothing she found in her search pointed to a specific faith, so she simply believes in Jesus. My question for her is "Why would a God without a story, be 'the God who loves math [and:] also loves stories?'"
If god's only interaction with humanity is to make us feel better while we die, who cares about tradition?
Whatever clout Hagerty lost with me in her final pages, it isn't enough to detract from the fact that this is a well written and worth while book. The incredulous will hate it, the credulous will eat it up. What is of value is her honest grappling with her faith, her openness to new data and her conclusion that we choose to believe or not.
March 9, 2012
I found this book on a Pamida clearance shelf,
and it is one of the best books I've ever read on the subject.
I've read most of Lee Strobel's books,
in which a skeptical journalist investigates Christianity
though a series of interviews.
Hagerty is also a journalist,
but while Strobel has an obvious bias
and is rather selective in his interviewees,
seemingly handpicking those who will support his point of view,
Hagerty's research is much more far ranging,
her discussion much more objective,
and her conclusisons much more open-minded.
She doesn't set out to "prove" the existence of God -
something she readily admits science cannot do
(any more than it can disprove the existence of God),
nor does she set out to prove any particular theological point of view.
While she is very open about her own theological roots
and her place in her spiritual journey,
she ultimately rejects some of her religious presuppositions,
including the nature of God
and the exclusivity of any one tradition.
In the course of her research and her writing,
she explores such things as studies of brainwave activity
in those who have had life-changing spiritual experiences,
including those who are experienced meditators,
those who have had spiritual experiences through hallucinogens,
and those who have had near-death experiences.
In the process, we learn a great deal about the nature of the brain
and how experiences from quite different sources
effect various parts of the brain in similar ways.
At the same time, she rejects the reductionist presuppositions
that everything can necessairly be reduced to the brain
or that consciousness can necessarily be reduced
to the physical gray matter in our heads.
(If, for example, there really is a Creator,
and the Creator wants to communicate with His/Her/It's creatures,
wouldn't it make sense for the brain
to have receptors for that purpose?
Science really can't "prove" it one way or the other.)
And she even ssuggests that
there is an emerging paradigm shift in the scientific community
which is much less reductionist in its point of view.
Her conclusions won't satisfy
full blown materialists on the one hand
or Christian exclsuivists on the other,
and certainly not religious fundamentalists of any stripe.
But anyone who is open-minded enough
to explore modern science
and to consider spirituality
will find this extremely well-written book
fascinating and thought provoking.
One of the few books I give Five Stars!
and it is one of the best books I've ever read on the subject.
I've read most of Lee Strobel's books,
in which a skeptical journalist investigates Christianity
though a series of interviews.
Hagerty is also a journalist,
but while Strobel has an obvious bias
and is rather selective in his interviewees,
seemingly handpicking those who will support his point of view,
Hagerty's research is much more far ranging,
her discussion much more objective,
and her conclusisons much more open-minded.
She doesn't set out to "prove" the existence of God -
something she readily admits science cannot do
(any more than it can disprove the existence of God),
nor does she set out to prove any particular theological point of view.
While she is very open about her own theological roots
and her place in her spiritual journey,
she ultimately rejects some of her religious presuppositions,
including the nature of God
and the exclusivity of any one tradition.
In the course of her research and her writing,
she explores such things as studies of brainwave activity
in those who have had life-changing spiritual experiences,
including those who are experienced meditators,
those who have had spiritual experiences through hallucinogens,
and those who have had near-death experiences.
In the process, we learn a great deal about the nature of the brain
and how experiences from quite different sources
effect various parts of the brain in similar ways.
At the same time, she rejects the reductionist presuppositions
that everything can necessairly be reduced to the brain
or that consciousness can necessarily be reduced
to the physical gray matter in our heads.
(If, for example, there really is a Creator,
and the Creator wants to communicate with His/Her/It's creatures,
wouldn't it make sense for the brain
to have receptors for that purpose?
Science really can't "prove" it one way or the other.)
And she even ssuggests that
there is an emerging paradigm shift in the scientific community
which is much less reductionist in its point of view.
Her conclusions won't satisfy
full blown materialists on the one hand
or Christian exclsuivists on the other,
and certainly not religious fundamentalists of any stripe.
But anyone who is open-minded enough
to explore modern science
and to consider spirituality
will find this extremely well-written book
fascinating and thought provoking.
One of the few books I give Five Stars!
November 14, 2011
A very good "intro" book to the junction of faith and science. I particularly enjoyed the studies on the meditative and psychedelic-tripped brain... which did make me want to try LSD at some later date in life. Also really loved the study on "paired" couples and their ability to effect the other over distance and with no known material connection.
The chapters on near-death experiences I found tedious. While I understand that they are life-changing for many people who have them, I really fail to see them as scientifically meaningful, or as proof of anything.
(RANT FOLLOWS)
So what if a person's heart stops and then starts? Complete brain death takes time-- a longer time than near-death experiences allow for. Near-deathers were not 'really' dead, because they came back to life. My argument is: even if these experiences DID somehow 'prove' that the individual soul continues past death, it would prove ONLY that it continues for a few minutes afterward, wherein you see light and God and loved ones and whatever religious personage you subscribe to. (This last I find a tad suspicious.) ALSO, why do the people who study these things ignore the fact that MANY, perhaps even the majority, of people DO NOT HAVE THEM when they 'die.' They just die, and are unaware of anything.
If you are going to use near-death experiences as 'proof,' you would be obligated to say that only some, randomly blessed, people get to experience life after death. The rest simply cease to exist.
The chapters on near-death experiences I found tedious. While I understand that they are life-changing for many people who have them, I really fail to see them as scientifically meaningful, or as proof of anything.
(RANT FOLLOWS)
So what if a person's heart stops and then starts? Complete brain death takes time-- a longer time than near-death experiences allow for. Near-deathers were not 'really' dead, because they came back to life. My argument is: even if these experiences DID somehow 'prove' that the individual soul continues past death, it would prove ONLY that it continues for a few minutes afterward, wherein you see light and God and loved ones and whatever religious personage you subscribe to. (This last I find a tad suspicious.) ALSO, why do the people who study these things ignore the fact that MANY, perhaps even the majority, of people DO NOT HAVE THEM when they 'die.' They just die, and are unaware of anything.
If you are going to use near-death experiences as 'proof,' you would be obligated to say that only some, randomly blessed, people get to experience life after death. The rest simply cease to exist.
October 27, 2009
This book can't answer the Big Question: is God really communicating with people who have spiritual experiences during prayer, in spontaneous healing, or in near-death experiences? What it can do is describe some new science that studies the brains of people who have had life-changing spiritual events. Brain activity, brain chemistry, and in some cases genetics are different for people who have had what they consider encounters with the spiritual than they are from people who haven't. What's more, there is some actual scientific evidence that near-death experiences might be real and that prayer might have measurable effects (and not those debunked hospital studies, either).
Hagerty, an NPR correspondent and former Christian Science Monitor reporter, has the journalistic credentials to tell the story, although even in her case some scientists insisted on anonymity because they didn't want their colleagues thinking they were nuts. That was the most interesting part of the story for me - the idea that scientific studies of spirituality, historically done in scientists' free time with data scavenged from other experiments - might have gathered the critical mass to be taken seriously for the first time.
Hagerty, an NPR correspondent and former Christian Science Monitor reporter, has the journalistic credentials to tell the story, although even in her case some scientists insisted on anonymity because they didn't want their colleagues thinking they were nuts. That was the most interesting part of the story for me - the idea that scientific studies of spirituality, historically done in scientists' free time with data scavenged from other experiments - might have gathered the critical mass to be taken seriously for the first time.
April 12, 2011
I added this book to my wishlist after hearing the story about the book on NPR. Almost two years later, I finally read it. It's very interesting. You get to read about all sorts of spiritual experiences people had, like encounters with God, near death experiences, spiritual conversions... and then an explanation of what's going on from the neurological perspective. There were quite a few interesting stories. The writer shares her own spiritual experience, which wasn't quite as interesting, but relevant. The book comes down to the idea that there's a part of the brain that seems to be involved in pretty much everyone's spiritual experiences, which Hagerty likens to piece audio hardware, and poses the question is it more like a radio, receiving real signals from a real God (some people's radios work better than others) or is it more like a CD player, where everything is just in our heads?
here's a link to the story from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...
here's a link to the story from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...
June 29, 2010
I really wanted to like this book. Books dealing with spirituality and quantum physics - how could you go wrong? I am still fascinated by the idea of quantum physics, and the insights it would seem to provide on life. But - this book just couldn't hold my interest. the author appeared to be trying too hard to quantify spirituality, and I just don't believe it's possible. I DO believe that a lot of people are asking themselves, "Is this it?" "Is this all there is to life?" and the more you delve into that topic, the more difficult it is to "waste" your time on shallow gossipy topics. I've picked this book up three times now, but have not gotten past 100 pages. I expect there is more good stuff farther on, but seeing as I have so many books that I would prefer reading, I will just leave this one unread.
August 26, 2014
This book just wasn't what I was looking for or expected. I'm fascinated by faith and those who have it, people who can believe with such certainty in something they don't see. I think it would be very comforting to believe like that and I want that. I was hoping this book would give me some sort of proof, or at least something that could be proof. The author set out to write this book, not really wanting to objectively examine a question, but to validate her own belief. So the book focused on things that she felt proved her ideas true. It was well researched and interesting, although at times it felt very repetitive, but it had a strong agenda and nothing was going to deviate from that path. Despite this, none of the science or studies actually proved anything- the results just didn't eliminate the possibility of faith or a higher power/being/energy playing a role.
January 30, 2010
A very well- documented account of many near- death experiences. She tries very hard to be objective about the question of proof of God. My conclusion is that with so many people seeing and experiencing the same things at the time of "death", it has meaning to me. They all report an incredible peace and oneness. It did get a bit long and drawn out. Her conclusion was that she found no conclusive proof that there was a God, but certainly no proof that there is not a God. She continues to believe that Jesus' life should be modeled. She does find it impossible to believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible.
November 9, 2025
I didn't come to Fingerprints of God looking for answers. I came looking for leads, threads, insights at the intersection of science and religion. And that's exactly what I found. I'm late enough to the book -- it was published in 2009 -- that many of the researchers interviewed will be retired by now. No matter. The book gave me biological and chemical evidence, data-based, about what happens in my brain when I meditate. The dopamine and serotonin uptake. The quieting of the frontal lobe (a worthy aspiration for practitioners of meditation and mindfulness alike). And indications on how to gather information on more recent studies if I decide to delve deeper.
As AI gains prominence, I think Fingerprints of God becomes increasingly relevant. Bradley Hagerty's approach -- seeking plausible, objective explanation for subjective experience, and probing across a broad spectrum of scientific research -- could inform the approach technology experts takes to defining the difference (if there is one) between intelligence and consciousness.
Something she write in Chapter 9 parallels my own experience: "I realized before I wrote the first word of this book that I would never be able to 'prove' that God exists, or that the soul survives death, or even that the universe is an intelligent, caring place. One arrives at those conclusions through personal experience, through an encounter with a dimension of reality that just does not fit Newtonian physics. But as I delved further into the research, I picked up the scent of a provable story: a case that demonstrates that one's mind can be untethered from the body, and consciousness can fly free of the brain."
There's much room for hope in what Bradley Hagerty brings forward. Transcendence isn't reserved for the spiritually-minded. It can happen to anyone. And for those who want to be a "spiritual virtuoso," the actionable clues are there within the fingerprints.
As AI gains prominence, I think Fingerprints of God becomes increasingly relevant. Bradley Hagerty's approach -- seeking plausible, objective explanation for subjective experience, and probing across a broad spectrum of scientific research -- could inform the approach technology experts takes to defining the difference (if there is one) between intelligence and consciousness.
Something she write in Chapter 9 parallels my own experience: "I realized before I wrote the first word of this book that I would never be able to 'prove' that God exists, or that the soul survives death, or even that the universe is an intelligent, caring place. One arrives at those conclusions through personal experience, through an encounter with a dimension of reality that just does not fit Newtonian physics. But as I delved further into the research, I picked up the scent of a provable story: a case that demonstrates that one's mind can be untethered from the body, and consciousness can fly free of the brain."
There's much room for hope in what Bradley Hagerty brings forward. Transcendence isn't reserved for the spiritually-minded. It can happen to anyone. And for those who want to be a "spiritual virtuoso," the actionable clues are there within the fingerprints.
March 3, 2019
I've enjoyed the actual scientific content of this book, but I don't enjoy the way it's written and the author's personal bits mixed in. The author tends to bring the same stuff up again and again and repeat the same phrases ("dopamine is what causes runner's high" for example) and it got really annoying. For me - how it was written was at too low a level, explanations felt overly simplistic, the metaphors often used felt unnecessary. I was interested in the science more than anything, and would have liked more of that, but got a lot of the author's personal life and opinions instead. I understand the book was written for personal reasons, so it's not fault of the authors, but I didn't like it myself. Having her impose her opinions on the information (like in the chapter about the non-local mind, when she talks about how that "left me a bit cold"), draw every story back to her own anecdotes and experiences, and end every chapter with her personal perspective ruined it for me. It could have made the book interesting, but I didn't really care. I would have preferred a book with an invisible narrator.
September 28, 2019
I really did not enjoy the lack of information presented as well as the way the author wrote. This whole book reads like a series of web articles stitched together, often focusing more on the details of what is going on as opposed to presenting the findings. The findings also result into, "we don't really know," over and over, which I was expecting to a certain degree because of the topic matter at hand. I went into it expecting to understand more about what science has understood about spirituality, but rather it is more of a highlight and informational piece about what science is doing to study spirituality. The results are obviously inconclusive as the tests are relatively new. I was just disappointed at how drawn out some of the chapters felt, needlessly going into detail and personal anecdotes. Had I read each of these chapters online individually as part of a think piece, I don't think I would've minded as much. However, with an ambitious and misguiding subtitle of "What Science Is Learning About The Brain and Spiritual Experience", I was expecting a little bit more than "not that much in all honesty".
August 8, 2021
Very interesting attempt to bring science to spirituality.
Being a spiritual person and also someone driven by a need to have data to show the way, I appreciated Barbara Hagerty's determined attempt to match extreme spiritual experiences with medical proof of their happening. She examines mystics and others who have had intense spiritual experiences--think deep prayer, meditation, near death experiences and even drug-induced religious hallucinations. She does indeed find physical markers of those experiences, not just in changes to the brain but also in how the brain processes thoughts and external stimulation.
I doubt anyone will have their mind changed by this book. If you're an atheist there is plenty to support your view. If you're religious and/or spiritual you'll find it interesting but unlikely to make a change in your beliefs.
Being a spiritual person and also someone driven by a need to have data to show the way, I appreciated Barbara Hagerty's determined attempt to match extreme spiritual experiences with medical proof of their happening. She examines mystics and others who have had intense spiritual experiences--think deep prayer, meditation, near death experiences and even drug-induced religious hallucinations. She does indeed find physical markers of those experiences, not just in changes to the brain but also in how the brain processes thoughts and external stimulation.
I doubt anyone will have their mind changed by this book. If you're an atheist there is plenty to support your view. If you're religious and/or spiritual you'll find it interesting but unlikely to make a change in your beliefs.
August 30, 2020
A sincere attempt to find evidence of God in brains undergoing transcendent experiences. Much muddling of cause and effect and principles of probabilistic evolution vs intelligent design. Goes from a decent exploration for evidence of the spiritual, to a rickety house of speculation, and a search for data supporting a desired outcome (that being that external/divine inputs are received during spiritual experiences, implying that mind is more than brain). From science to pseudoscience. Author does acknowledge that science researchers focus on “how”, rather than grappling with questions of “why”, due to our inability to test unmeasurable phenomena. Pleasant “personal journey” style, but too light to be philosophy, too woo to be science, too unconvincing to be a spiritual guide.
February 28, 2018
An incredible work that will make you think and think some more regarding what is true about the universe, humankind and the Creator. Hagerty investigates the boundary between science and spirituality with her search ultimately offering logical and rational reasons for belief in God. A God who is perhaps outside our complete understanding and yet has wired us for intimate communion. As a scientist, I found the book balanced, analytical and thought provoking. As a believer, I found the book a confirmation (once again) of the hope that I cling to regarding the future. I strongly endorse this one to you. It gets a little technical at times but well worth the effort. Well done Ms. Hagerty!
February 18, 2019
Having a scientific background this book explores the science behind spirituality/God. Yes, they are two different aspects. Being spiritual does not imply Godliness. I am more curious about the Spirit than God or religion. Ultimately the author succumbs to the religion aspect and leaves out the spirit as floating. I highly recommend reading this to digest the vast amount of scientific/medical endeavors to examine the relation between spirit, mind, God, religion etc. Then I am open to discussion about it. But on the whole, the book makes good reading for anyone who is scientifically examining God/religion/spirit.
May 2, 2021
This was an interesting book questioning the existence of God. The author shares that her idea for this book started as a personal interest. As she gathered more sources, she was led to various opportunities and experiences with individuals she may never have known otherwise. There are sprinklings of NDEs in each chapter that share striking similarities like the loss of fear of death, a vision of a white light, and a sense of calm. She concludes that there have been believers of something more than what science can explain for centuries. My favorite sentence is her last. It reads, “We have all about us the fingerprints of God. (p. 285).
December 28, 2025
I heard about this book from Bruce Greyson's excellent book After, about near death experiences (NDEs), and since I was quite profoundly moved by Greyson's book I figured I would track this one down too.
While it was similarly filled with intriguing stories, I was consistently annoyed with Hagerty herself, a journalist who seemed bent on justifying her own beliefs, and in the end, maddeningly concluding that she believes what she does because of faith- making the whole exercise of pursuing answers and evidence seems kind of pointless. And many of the stories and research experiments left a lot of unaddressed questions. Hagerty seemed to favor breadth of topic, at the cost of depth.
While it was similarly filled with intriguing stories, I was consistently annoyed with Hagerty herself, a journalist who seemed bent on justifying her own beliefs, and in the end, maddeningly concluding that she believes what she does because of faith- making the whole exercise of pursuing answers and evidence seems kind of pointless. And many of the stories and research experiments left a lot of unaddressed questions. Hagerty seemed to favor breadth of topic, at the cost of depth.
December 3, 2018
Hagerty investigates and reports on the evidence of mystical or spiritual experiences, ala William James's Varieties of Religious Experience (to which she refers several times). She focuses on changes to the brain that might signal or "prove" that a spiritual realm exists and can be studied or quantified, and she cites a surprisingly large number of sources (for and against the God notion) who offer helpful insights. This won't satisfy everyone with ardent views on the subject, but it will fascinate the seekers.
April 13, 2018
I had a very hard time reading through this book. Not because it wasn't well written, at least I don't think, but because I kept thinking, what's the point for me in this? I honestly skipped several chapters and read the last one and then thought... "EXACTLY! Exactly how I feel." Not sure I'd recommend this to anyone but for the right person on a journey of faith with a lot of questioning going on at the time - it could be useful.
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