There is an obvious similarity between behavior that contemporary psychiatrists would regard as psychosis, delusion, etc. and the assertions of those who are regarded by the religious as prophets and receivers of revelation. The principle difference is timing. In the former instance the scene is the present and in the latter instance the scene is historical.

Who has written on this? I suspect that in general terms Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris may have discussed the issue. Has anyone made a serious attempt to examine the most prominent historical instances of revelation through a lens of modern psychiatry and neuroscience?

Interesting question, John. There has been quite a bit of investigation into brain states that lie behind states of religious or spiritual importance. I can’t recall precisely the experiments; I think they involved serotonin. You might want to do a Google search. There’s also a book called The God Gene by Dean Hamer. I haven’t read it, and his conclusions aren’t really well taken by anyone on either side of the religion debate, but I think he goes through some of the brain research.

Credit to self

Francisco Ayala, theistic evolutionist, maintains that believers need God to allay dread and get a meaning. They need counseling. We are our own meanings . Our transient meanings and human love suffice . We do not need ultimate meaning and devine love. There is no future state . We have to make our own purposed for this life. Those who think that God helps those who help themselves, do not see that everyone who helps herself does so without a god.  It is true as someone at Free Inquiry once put it that people want to give God credit for their own efforts .  :!:  :idea: