T. M. Luhrmann embedded herself in two evangelical churches for her new book, When God Talks Back. Joan Acocella ponders the book:
Luhrmann warns us against calling the evangelicals’ visions and voices “hallucinations”; that is a psychiatric and, hence, pathologizing term. In her vocabulary, such events are “sensory overrides”—sensory perceptions that override material evidence. She cites evidence that between ten and fifteen per cent of the general population has had such experiences.
Cris Campbell reviews a recent paper by Luhrmann on non-drug induced hallucinations:
Luhrmann emphasizes that hallucinatory experiences are shaped and constrained by learning and expectation. Hallucination experiences are socially constructed and culturally patterned. Nowhere is this more true than in the realm of the supernatural and religious, where hallucinations are highly valued. Luhrmann calls this “Spiritual Training”
The Dish 