How does God become and remain real for modern evangelicals? How are rational, sensible people of faith able to experience the presence of a powerful yet invisible being and sustain that belief in an environment of overwhelming skepticism? T. M. Luhrmann, an anthropologist trained in psychology and the acclaimed author of Of Two Minds, explores the extraordinary process that leads some believers to a place where God is profoundly real and his voice can be heard amid the clutter of everyday thoughts.
While attending services and various small group meetings at her local branch of the Vineyard, an evangelical church with hundreds of congregations across the country, Luhrmann sought to understand how some members were able to communicate with God, not just through one-sided prayers but with discernable feedback. Some saw visions, while others claimed to hear the voice of God himself. For these congregants and many other Christians, God was intensely alive. After holding a series of honest, personal interviews with Vineyard members who claimed to have had isolated or ongoing supernatural experiences with God, Luhrmann hypothesized that the practice of prayer could train a person to hear God’s voice—to use one’s mind differently and focus on God’s voice until it became clear. A subsequent experiment conducted between people who were and weren’t practiced in prayer further illuminated her conclusion. For those who have trained themselves to concentrate on their inner experiences, God is experienced in the brain as an actual social relationship: his voice was identified, and that identification was trusted and regarded as real and interactive.
Astute, deeply intelligent, and sensitive, When God Talks Back is a remarkable approach to the intersection of religion, psychology, and science, and the effect it has on the daily practices of the faithful.
When God Talks Back
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more. |
Book Description
Best Value
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Evocative, often brilliant." —The Boston Globe
“Tanya Luhrmann is a very sensitive participant-observer and a beautiful writer, with a deep background in her subject, and her exploration of evangelical religion in America is at once empathetic and objective, as all good anthropology must be. When God Talks Back is one of the most provocative and enlightening books I have read this year.” —Oliver Sacks
"When God Talks Back is remarkable for combining creative psychological analysis with a commitment to understanding evangelicals not merely as scholarly specimens, but on their own terms. The result is the most insightful study of evangelical religion in many years." —The New York Times Book Review
"Luhrmann is a well-qualified guide: an anthropologist specializing in esoteric faiths . . . She has addressed a subject that most other people would never touch. We should thank her." —The New Yorker
"A refreshing approach to this polarizing subject . . . [a] scholarly but deeply personal investigation." —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"The basic theme of the book is that one comes to know God in a learning process . . . an insightful, sensitive, and compassionate study." —The New York Journal of Books
"Fascinating . . . On the merits of its sharp analysis alone, When God Talks Back deserves the highest praise . . . This book is here to stay, and every scholar, church leader, and pudit who cares about American evangelical culture is the better for it. It will reshape the study of American spirituality for years to come." —Books & Culture
"It's the William James study of our time." —Religion News
"Every so often, a truly great book comes along . . . When God Talks Back is certainly one of these." —The Huffington Post
"Luhrmann's goal is ambitious, even audacious . . . An industrious undertaking [that] produced fascinating results . . . We can thank Luhrmann for for describing evangelicalism as it has always been: a potent means for awakening a personal sense of the reality, power and mercy of God." —San Francisco Chronicle
"A simultaneously scholarly and deeply personal analysis of evangelical communities in America . . . [When God Talks Back] is an erudite discussion both profoundly sympathetic and richly analytical." —Kirkus (starred review)
"Resistant to the scornful stereotypes of the New Atheists, evangelicals who shared their spiritual lives with [Luhrmann] come across as complex men and women whose faith reflects intense emotional and mental commitment . . . In this sympathetic yet probing analysis, the evangelical spiritual dialogue with the deity emerges as the consequence of a surprisingly self-conscious strategy for finding meaning in a whirlwind of postmodern uncertainty. Much here for curious skeptics to ponder." —Booklist (starred review)
“Yet again T. M. Luhrmann investigates a puzzling phenomenon and illuminates it brilliantly. Whether you are a determined rationalist or a dedicated evangelical, you’ll be enlightened by Luhrmann’s synthesis—a worthy successor to William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience.” —Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University
“T. M. Luhrmann’s gift is the ability to observe and report with the eyes of both an anthropologist and a novelist. This alchemy is so evident as she makes this most extraordinary narrative exploration of faith and its manifestations in everyday American life. A lovely book and a wonderful read.” —Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone
Prayer is not an aberration. As part of the daily life of literally billions of people, it must be regarded as well within the normal repertory of human behaviors. Yet anthropology—ready enough to discourse about religion—has never managed a thick description of prayer. This is the ground that T. M. Luhrmann breaks with a deeply engrossing, first-ever, thick anthropological description of prayer in two American evangelical congregations. A remarkable intellectual venture. —Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography
“What if nonbelievers could understand how people come to experience God? What if believers could come to understand just how difficult the process of coming to experience God is for all of us, here at the end of modernity? When God Talks Back is a chance for our divided nation to stop talking past each other about our national preoccupation: God.” —Ken Wilson, senior pastor of Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor and author of Mystically Wired: Exploring New Realms in Prayer
“Not since Robert Bellah’s Habits of the Heart a quarter century ago has there been so readable, so informing, so scholarly, and yet so winsome a report about any group of American believers as Luhrmann’s When God Talks Back. This is religion writing at its best—a masterful examination that is a candid, humble, clear-eyed, and affirming record of what faith looks like and how it operates.” —Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence and founding editor of Publishers Weekly’s Religion Department
“Rarely have I encountered a book that succeeds so admirably in exploring the interior lives of America's evangelicals. What makes this book so remarkable is not only the author's exhaustive and empathetic fieldwork but that her conclusions emerge from a deep understanding of the history of evangelicalism.” —Randall Balmer, author of The Making of Evangelicalism
“How can one live a life at once wholly modern and fully engaged with the supernatural realm? Many books aim to explain how American evangelicals pull this off, but this is the one that will actually change the way you think about religion going forward. Writing elegantly and sympathetically about evangelical lives while at the same time developing a profound theory of the learning processes by which human beings come to inhabit religious worlds, Lurhmann has produced the book all of us – believers and nonbelievers alike - need to put our debates about religion and contemporary society on a truly productive footing. People will be learning from When God Talks Back for a very long time to come.” —Joel Robbins, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego
"This amazing book provides a compelling account of how evangelical Christians come to experience God as intimately and lovingly present in their lives. Drawing on two years of field work, supplemented by extensive knowledge of evangelical literature and innovative scientific field experiments, Luhrmann's demonstration of the role of both training and individual abilities in the shaping of religious experience breaks important new ground in the cognitive science of religion." —Ann Taves, author of Religious Experience Reconsidered
“Tanya Luhrmann is a very sensitive participant-observer and a beautiful writer, with a deep background in her subject, and her exploration of evangelical religion in America is at once empathetic and objective, as all good anthropology must be. When God Talks Back is one of the most provocative and enlightening books I have read this year.” —Oliver Sacks
"When God Talks Back is remarkable for combining creative psychological analysis with a commitment to understanding evangelicals not merely as scholarly specimens, but on their own terms. The result is the most insightful study of evangelical religion in many years." —The New York Times Book Review
"Luhrmann is a well-qualified guide: an anthropologist specializing in esoteric faiths . . . She has addressed a subject that most other people would never touch. We should thank her." —The New Yorker
"A refreshing approach to this polarizing subject . . . [a] scholarly but deeply personal investigation." —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
"The basic theme of the book is that one comes to know God in a learning process . . . an insightful, sensitive, and compassionate study." —The New York Journal of Books
"Fascinating . . . On the merits of its sharp analysis alone, When God Talks Back deserves the highest praise . . . This book is here to stay, and every scholar, church leader, and pudit who cares about American evangelical culture is the better for it. It will reshape the study of American spirituality for years to come." —Books & Culture
"It's the William James study of our time." —Religion News
"Every so often, a truly great book comes along . . . When God Talks Back is certainly one of these." —The Huffington Post
"Luhrmann's goal is ambitious, even audacious . . . An industrious undertaking [that] produced fascinating results . . . We can thank Luhrmann for for describing evangelicalism as it has always been: a potent means for awakening a personal sense of the reality, power and mercy of God." —San Francisco Chronicle
"A simultaneously scholarly and deeply personal analysis of evangelical communities in America . . . [When God Talks Back] is an erudite discussion both profoundly sympathetic and richly analytical." —Kirkus (starred review)
"Resistant to the scornful stereotypes of the New Atheists, evangelicals who shared their spiritual lives with [Luhrmann] come across as complex men and women whose faith reflects intense emotional and mental commitment . . . In this sympathetic yet probing analysis, the evangelical spiritual dialogue with the deity emerges as the consequence of a surprisingly self-conscious strategy for finding meaning in a whirlwind of postmodern uncertainty. Much here for curious skeptics to ponder." —Booklist (starred review)
“Yet again T. M. Luhrmann investigates a puzzling phenomenon and illuminates it brilliantly. Whether you are a determined rationalist or a dedicated evangelical, you’ll be enlightened by Luhrmann’s synthesis—a worthy successor to William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience.” —Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University
“T. M. Luhrmann’s gift is the ability to observe and report with the eyes of both an anthropologist and a novelist. This alchemy is so evident as she makes this most extraordinary narrative exploration of faith and its manifestations in everyday American life. A lovely book and a wonderful read.” —Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone
Prayer is not an aberration. As part of the daily life of literally billions of people, it must be regarded as well within the normal repertory of human behaviors. Yet anthropology—ready enough to discourse about religion—has never managed a thick description of prayer. This is the ground that T. M. Luhrmann breaks with a deeply engrossing, first-ever, thick anthropological description of prayer in two American evangelical congregations. A remarkable intellectual venture. —Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography
“What if nonbelievers could understand how people come to experience God? What if believers could come to understand just how difficult the process of coming to experience God is for all of us, here at the end of modernity? When God Talks Back is a chance for our divided nation to stop talking past each other about our national preoccupation: God.” —Ken Wilson, senior pastor of Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor and author of Mystically Wired: Exploring New Realms in Prayer
“Not since Robert Bellah’s Habits of the Heart a quarter century ago has there been so readable, so informing, so scholarly, and yet so winsome a report about any group of American believers as Luhrmann’s When God Talks Back. This is religion writing at its best—a masterful examination that is a candid, humble, clear-eyed, and affirming record of what faith looks like and how it operates.” —Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence and founding editor of Publishers Weekly’s Religion Department
“Rarely have I encountered a book that succeeds so admirably in exploring the interior lives of America's evangelicals. What makes this book so remarkable is not only the author's exhaustive and empathetic fieldwork but that her conclusions emerge from a deep understanding of the history of evangelicalism.” —Randall Balmer, author of The Making of Evangelicalism
“How can one live a life at once wholly modern and fully engaged with the supernatural realm? Many books aim to explain how American evangelicals pull this off, but this is the one that will actually change the way you think about religion going forward. Writing elegantly and sympathetically about evangelical lives while at the same time developing a profound theory of the learning processes by which human beings come to inhabit religious worlds, Lurhmann has produced the book all of us – believers and nonbelievers alike - need to put our debates about religion and contemporary society on a truly productive footing. People will be learning from When God Talks Back for a very long time to come.” —Joel Robbins, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego
"This amazing book provides a compelling account of how evangelical Christians come to experience God as intimately and lovingly present in their lives. Drawing on two years of field work, supplemented by extensive knowledge of evangelical literature and innovative scientific field experiments, Luhrmann's demonstration of the role of both training and individual abilities in the shaping of religious experience breaks important new ground in the cognitive science of religion." —Ann Taves, author of Religious Experience Reconsidered
About the Author
TANYA LUHRMANN is a psychological anthropologist and a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University. She received her education from Harvard and Cambridge universities, and was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003. In 2007, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
86 of 88 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am the current Lead Pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of the Peninsula (VCFP), which is one of the two churches Mrs. Luhrmann attended while researching and experiencing what eventually became this book. I am grateful for the perspective of someone coming into our church, who does not identify themselves as a Christian, and sharing with us (VCFP) what they experienced. I think there is a lot for us as a church to discuss, in terms of what those who visit our churches experience and what it says to them both about our church and about God. I also find Mrs. Luhrmann's observations helpful in having a more robust conversation about what experiencing God is like, or can be, in our culture today. While I do not identify with everything she describes, nor would I always define things the same way, I find her observations and insights engaging and enlightening. I would love for every church in the Vineyard movement to discuss this book and how it either does or does not reflect their congregation, but then ask the bigger questions of why or why not. In that process we can all have a more clear understanding of why we do what we do, and possibly - hopefully - even have a better understanding of what those who do not follow Jesus experience when they visit our churches. I think that should matter a lot to us. Finally, I consider Mrs. Luhrmann a friend and enjoy my conversations with her. I appreciate most that she is asking questions and looking to learn and grow. This book displays her sensitivity, compassion and kindness - as well as her intellect - in very clear ways. I recommend this book highly.
95 of 100 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A sympathetic yet rigorous view of how some believers "make God real"
April 2, 2012
By Jon Bialecki
Format:Hardcover
As someone who happens to have a pretty good knowledge of not just the Vineyard, but of Anthropology as well, let me say that this book is a spot on and fascinating portrayal of how it is that an 'invisible other' becomes an 'intimate partner.' In approachable but never condescending prose, Lurhmann manages to capture what the day to day religious devotional life of these middle-class believers are like; at the same time, she shows how this habit of speaking to an invisible other is not a form of psychosis, but rather a learned process of reconfiguring the senses, of the imagination, and of the very idea of what is self and what is other. If you want a sympathetic, and yet in the end objective and psychologically savvy window into an increasingly common American - and even global - form of Pentecostal/Charismatic influenced religion, this book is an excellent place to start.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An excellent, sympathetic, yet well-researched and objective look at how "revivalist evangelicals" train their brains to literally experience God. Luhrmann, an anthropologist, spent years with Vineyard Christians as a participant-observer to explore how they maintained faith in a God that was not directly available to their ordinary senses. Luhrmann also devised a sophisticated experiment that connected various forms of prayer with the psychological tendency to "absorption," that is, becoming totally enveloped in a particular activity. She concludes that prayer in an evangelical sense is not centered on belief - especially not on unwavering belief - but rather on cognitive techniques that allow one to become "absorbed" in reconstructing a world in which God exists. The "kataphatic" tradition, or visualizing oneself in connection with Scripture and God, provided particularly striking results. Luhrmann's style is simultaneously intensely readable and intellectually rigorous. She lays out a way for both believers and nonbelievers to understand Christian practice in a 21st century world. A paradigmatic example of participant observation at its best.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Valiant but Very Flawed Book
I wanted to like this book, involved as I am with the evangelical world. And she has tried to paint a picture of a present-day evangelical community, I suppose as an anthropologist... Read more
Published 18 hours ago by Amazoner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Explication of Evangelical Worship
I found this book fascinating. A psychological anthropologist spends about two years participating in two churches of the Vineyard franchise. Read more
Published 5 days ago by R. Harold
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, a Must Read
Tanya Luhrmann's book is really great, it explores her experiences with an Evangelical group of Christian in a church called the Vineyard and is very enlightening, and a very easy... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Danyelle Mulin
5.0 out of 5 stars
American Evangelicals take heart!
Tanya Marie Luhrmann has written an excellent book, "When God Talks Back", based on her experiences and a study of almost ten years. Read more
Published 15 days ago by Don Sutaria, MS, IE(Prof.)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solving a Puzzle
I have been puzzled for years about evangelicals and their religious practices. I called it "the paradox of religion". Luhrmann resolved this paradox for me. Read more
Published 20 days ago by D. Ellis
5.0 out of 5 stars
objective and balanced view
this book is professional, sympathetic, accessible, readable, without discernable bias. A scholarly work written for the average person, very unusual.
Published 1 month ago by Thoughtful Mom
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some excellent material on here to do with Christians communing as...
The title of this review? Ab-so-lute-ly. The experience of these Christians goes beyond Biblical teaching , and its origins are revealed to have originated with LSD and principally... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Trolly
5.0 out of 5 stars
instant classic
lov this book completely. Luhrmann's forte is that she loves her subject matter and her subjects. we gnostics say that u must love something first and then u will understand... Read more
Published 1 month ago by charles singleton
4.0 out of 5 stars
Both Uplifting and disturbing
The book is an unbelievers experience in a Pentecostal Church that focuses on hearing from God. For an unbelieving author the book is quite balanced and one wonders for a bit if... Read more
Published 2 months ago by William T. Reynolds
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating look at evangelicals
I have explored various religions and spiritual beliefs and found this book very interesting because of its approach by an anthropologist. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Deborah Abrams
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
|
|
