Book Review: Fingerprints of God

Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality. Riverhead, 2009. 336 pp.

In this book, NPR's religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty sets out to examine the link(s) between religious experience and neurology. Hagerty draws on classic theological and philosophical/psychological works as well as interviews with contemporary researchers into the "science of religion."

It is a personal topic for Hagerty, who opens the book by describing her family's long tradition with Christian Science. Hagerty herself was raised a Christian Scientist, and got her start in journalism with the Christian Science Monitor. Her interest in the mainstream evangelical movement arose from an LA Times article she put together on so-called 'mega-churches,' the background research for which took to her Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in California. It was there that she met a woman who had been "radically transformed" by her encounter what she herself termed the Holy Spirit. This book arose from Hagerty's desire to determine if such a transformation is scientifically possible. To begin, she interviewed many other people with similar experiences, then set out to examine what the scientific community has found.

Unfortunately, the topic itself is so vast and the logic behind it so circular that the journey toward 'proving' or 'disproving' a religious/brain link is doomed from the outset. That "religious" individuals show increased brain activity during meditation and prayer has been demonstrated conclusively. However, the interpretation of the correlation leads to a classic 'chicken or egg' conundrum. Hagerty herself admits as much toward the end of the book, when she discusses whether a propensity toward religious thought makes the brain more susceptible to change, or if genuine change renders the brain more receptive to religious thoughts.

Along the way, however, Hagerty brings to light ground-breaking medical research that's largely unknown outside the professional world. Until very recently, any attempt by a "serious" scientist to examine religion amounted essentially to professional suicide. As the evidence mounts, however, it is becoming more and more obvious that legitimate insights are to be gained by the study of the interaction between these two areas.

In the end, the results are mixed. Hagerty's writing style is every bit as engaging as her reporting on NPR, so fans will certainly not be disappointed. While some sections seem repetitive (especially the interviews with scientists who are replicating one another's findings), the reader still leaves this book with a firm grounding in the most recent literature in a field (call it "neurotheology" for lack of a better term) that's just now beginning to develop. Ultimately, it's a question of faith. And the interviewees whose stories Hagerty set out to prove or disprove already have all the evidence they need.