Glossary - N

neurotheology: term designates the seemingly unlikely pairing of brain science and theology in Andrew Newberg’s neuroimaging studies that correlate brain activity with intense prayer, meditation, or visualization.

New Age: idealized conception of an emerging contemporary period, characterized by a disparate set of beliefs and practices arising from the counter-culture movement of the 1960s; concerned with body, mind, and spirit development and self-realization through an eclectic fusion of ideas and activities drawn from both contemporary and traditional (often Eastern) spiritual teachings.

nirvana: Sanskrit term primarily found in Buddhism (and Jainism) that refers to the extinguishing of sorrow derived from illusions and ignorance.

noetic: relating to mental activity or the intellect.

NOMA: acronym for non-overlapping magisterial, which maintains that there are non-overlapping spheres of expertise separating the domain of scientists from that of theologians.

non-duality: neither dualism nor monism; typical of East Asian religious ideas of complementariness, such as yin and yang, but resists see true opposition or separateness between these or any other pairings (e.g. imminent-transcendent, earth-heaven, ordinary world-enlightenment).

numinous: referring to the divine, spiritual, mysterious, transcendent, sacred power.

nun: female monastic; often living under religious vows with other women.

100. (C)Hillary Rodrigues and John S. Harding 2008; Courtesy Routledge
     

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