Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality

Written by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Is spiritual experience real or a delusion? Are there realities that we can experience but not easily measure? Does your consciousness depend entirely on your brain, or does it extend beyond? In Fingerprints of God, award-winning journalist Barbara Bradley Hagerty delves into the discoveries science is making about how faith and spirituality affect us physically and emotionally as it attempts to understand whether the ineffable place beyond this world can be rationally-even scientifically-explained.

Hagerty interviews some of the world's top scientists to describe what their groundbreaking research reveals about our human spiritual experience. From analyses of the brain functions of Buddhist monks and Carmelite nuns, to the possibilities of healing the sick through directed prayer, to what near-death experiences illuminate about the afterlife, Hagerty reaches beyond what we think we know to understand what happens to us when we believe in a higher power.

Paralleling the discoveries of science is Hagerty's own account of her spiritual evolution. Raised a Christian Scientist, she was a scrupulous adherent until a small moment as an adult triggered a reevaluation of her beliefs, which in turn led her to a new way of thinking about God and faith.

An insightful examination of what science is learning about how and why we believe, Fingerprints of God is also a moving story of one person's search for a communion with a higher power and what she discovered on that journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 26, 2009
• ISBN: 9781400182107

Reviews for Fingerprints of God

[jovilla_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book! The author who is an NPR journalist explores the intersection of science and religion; is it possible to believe in God while scrutinizing the evidence or lack thereof with science. She addresses topics such as brain chemistry and DNA, near death experiences, the impact of a personal god on lives, the power of prayer, and many others. For the author this is both a personal journal and a more general search. I found this to be a powerful and intelligently written book that provokes much thought.

[co_coyote · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like 60% of Americans, as Barbara Bradley Hagerty informs us, I have had my own mystical and transcendent experience. Mine left me searching in the Religion and New Age section of bookstores for years (places you would normally have to drag me into) trying to figure out exactly what had happened to me. I was obsessed for many years by altered states of reality. I really did think I was going just a little bit crazy. So I was fascinated with this somewhat personal account of Hagerty's own search for meaning in her personal experiences. There is science here to some extent, although mostly of the anecdotal variety. It is hard to force someone to have a spiritual experience in the MRI scanner. But, of course, in the end there is not much you can say. Yes, we have these experiences. Yes, they profoundly affect the way we see ourselves and our lives. Are they the fingerprints of God? Or brain chemistry run amok? Or maybe both? Who knows. The experiences are real enough, and at least for me, convincing enough that I've forever after had a strong connection to and a believe in the Eternal Mystery of the Universe.