Although the psychology of religion has yet to receive the institutional support it needs to fulfil its promise, few disciplines are as important today for our self-understanding and collective future. Touching upon topics that range from the perennially fascinating - including prayer and healing, the neuroscience of mystical encounters, dreams, and near-death experiences - to the socially critical - such as fundamentalism, intergroup conflict, and terrorism - this talk will introduce the psychology of religion as a field whose time has come. 

Branden Thornhill-Miller is a lecturer in psychology at Hertford and Harris Manchester Colleges, University of Oxford.