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Psychedelics and Religion
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Psychedelics and Religion

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Humanities/Philosophies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 April 2026 | Viewed by 6917

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Hans Van Eyghen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Tilburg University, 5037 AB Tilburg, The Netherlands
Interests: analytical philosophy; philosophy of psychology; philosophy of religion; philosophy of cognitive science; epistemology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Research into psychedelics is booming. An ever-increasing number of studies in psychology and neuroscience are investigating the therapeutic potential of these substances. Most studies tend to conclude that psychedelics are harmless if administered under the right conditions (see: Langlitz and Gearin 2024). [1] More and more research is also being conducted on how psychedelics produce the effects they do (Carhart-Harris 2018).

This “psychedelic renaissance” has also attracted the attention of the humanities. Some scholars have discussed the philosophical ramifications of psychedelic experiences (Hauskeller and Sjöstedt-Hughes 2022), and others have focused more broadly on the cultural importance of psychedelics in our society (Sanchez Petrement 2023).

Apart from some exceptions (Cole-Turner 2022; van der Braak 2023), the psychedelic renaissance has not yet reached theology or philosophy of religion. This is somewhat surprising since the relevance of psychedelics for religion is broadly recognized. Though not all psychedelic experiences have religious relevance, some religious traditions have been making use of psychedelics for religious purposes for centuries (e.g., use of ayahuasca in Santo Daime and use of Peyote in Native American traditions). The relevance of psychedelics for religion and spirituality was also noted in the famous Good Friday experiment where participants were administered LSD before a Good Friday service (Roberts and Jesse 1997).

The aim of this Special Issue is to reflect on the relevance of new insights into psychedelic experience for theology and philosophy of religion. Potential questions to be explored are as follows:

  • Are religious experiences induced by psychedelics reliable or trustworthy means of gaining religious knowledge?
  • Can psychedelically induced religious experiences count as authentic?
  • Is spiritual use of psychedelics deceptive?
  • What dangers are involved in religious or spiritual use of psychedelics?
  • Do psychedelic experiences favor non-traditional forms of religiosity (e.g., pantheism, animism, etc.)?
  • Are there reasons to be distrustful of the religious use of psychedelics?
  • How do psychedelics affect lived religion and what are the implications?
  • Do psychedelics have a form of agency?
  • What is the role of psychedelics in the emergence of religious traditions?
  • Are religious experiences induced by psychedelics unique or are they similar to experiences induced by prayer or meditation?
  • Can psychedelic experience serve as a bridge between religious traditions and foster inter-religious dialog?

Other questions that fall into this Special Issue’s scope can also be the topic of a contribution. Inquiries can be sent to the editor.

We look forward to receiving your contribution.

[1] The ethical issues regarding the legalization and consumption of psychedelics are beyond the scope of this Special Issue.

References

Braak, André van der. 2023. Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity: An Ontological Approach. Rowman & Littlefield.

Carhart-Harris, Robin L. 2018. “The Entropic Brain-Revisited.” Neuropharmacology 142:167–78.

Cole-Turner, Ron. 2022. “Psychedelic Mystical Experience: A New Agenda for Theology.” Religions 13 (5): 385.

Hauskeller, Christine, and Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes. 2022. Philosophy and Psychedelics: Frameworks for Exceptional Experience. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Langlitz, Nicolas, and Alex K Gearin. 2024. “Psychedelic Therapy as Form of Life.” Neuroethics 17 (1): 14.

Roberts, Thomas B, and Robert N Jesse. 1997. “Recollections of the Good Friday Experiment: An Interview with Huston Smith.” The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 29 (2): 99.

Sanchez Petrement, Mateo. 2023. “Historicizing Psychedelics: Counterculture, Renaissance, and the Neoliberal Matrix.” Frontiers in Sociology 8:1114523.

Dr. Hans Van Eyghen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • psychedelics
  • spirituality
  • meditation

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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17 pages, 293 KB  
Article
Psychedelic Mystical Experiences Are Authentic
by Hans Van Eyghen
Religions 2025, 16(10), 1294; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16101294 - 11 Oct 2025
Viewed by 268
Abstract
The paper critically discusses whether mystical experiences induced by psychedelics should be considered inauthentic or counterfeit forms of mystical experiences. It examines three arguments against the authenticity of these experiences: pimes are too easy; pimes do not have lasting spiritual or moral effects; [...] Read more.
The paper critically discusses whether mystical experiences induced by psychedelics should be considered inauthentic or counterfeit forms of mystical experiences. It examines three arguments against the authenticity of these experiences: pimes are too easy; pimes do not have lasting spiritual or moral effects; pimes do not involve divine grace. Positive arguments for the authenticity of pimes discussed are as follows: pimes rely on similar neural mechanisms as other mystical experiences; pimes are phenomenologically similar to other mystical experiences. The paper argues that the positive arguments are more convincing than the negative ones. It thereby presents a case in favor of the authenticity of psychedelically induced mystical experiences. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychedelics and Religion)
15 pages, 225 KB  
Article
Psychedelic Integration and Spiritual Growth in a Christian Context
by Ron Cole-Turner
Religions 2025, 16(9), 1197; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16091197 - 18 Sep 2025
Viewed by 671
Abstract
Psychedelic drugs show promise in treating a wide range of mental health conditions. These drugs are beneficial in part because they disrupt prior ideas and patterns of behavior and because they increase neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. It is important therefore to consider the causal [...] Read more.
Psychedelic drugs show promise in treating a wide range of mental health conditions. These drugs are beneficial in part because they disrupt prior ideas and patterns of behavior and because they increase neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. It is important therefore to consider the causal impact of the social context not just during but also following psychedelic experiences. Modern cultural or social contexts might thwart or discourage spiritual integration, but local integration support groups are shown to be helpful, especially for those seeking to reflect the meaning of spiritual or religious themes. These groups might be offered within Christianity, which can provide (1) a connection to a community or a social context at the local level together with (2) a set of theological beliefs as an interpretive context that supports spiritual growth in general and psychedelic spiritual integration in particular. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychedelics and Religion)
18 pages, 296 KB  
Article
Conceptualizing Psychedelic Pure Consciousness
by Mark Losoncz
Religions 2025, 16(8), 1079; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16081079 - 20 Aug 2025
Viewed by 655
Abstract
Drawing upon a meticulous delineation of pure consciousness’s fundamental and necessary features—including unstructuredness, maximal simplicity, selflessness, awareness as such, zero-perspective, and the absence of specific phenomenal qualities—this article asserts that a full-fledged experience of pure consciousness is attainable within the psychedelic state. Critically, [...] Read more.
Drawing upon a meticulous delineation of pure consciousness’s fundamental and necessary features—including unstructuredness, maximal simplicity, selflessness, awareness as such, zero-perspective, and the absence of specific phenomenal qualities—this article asserts that a full-fledged experience of pure consciousness is attainable within the psychedelic state. Critically, this psychedelic manifestation is argued to be phenomenologically indistinguishable in its core properties from pure consciousness accessed via meditative practices. Consequently, this finding not only problematizes, but actually directly refutes Metzinger’s thesis, which posits meditation as the sole “best and most natural candidate” for achieving pure consciousness. Moreover, this work champions a soft phenomenological perennialism. This perspective navigates a middle ground between rigid perennialism and radical constructivism, underscoring the identical phenomenological core shared by all pure consciousness experiences, including those induced by psychedelics. This exploration further posits that psychedelic pure consciousness experiences can yield significant epistemic insights into the fundamental nature of consciousness, the self, and reality. Beyond this, a systematic phenomenology of pure consciousness is demonstrated to offer profound contributions to our understanding of certain religious–spiritual concepts such as God. Nonetheless, while acknowledging naturalistic critiques, a significant caveat is issued: extreme caution is warranted regarding religious–spiritual interpretations gleaned from such phenomenologies. Ultimately, the paper underscores the burgeoning importance of a spiritual naturalistic interpretation of pure consciousness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychedelics and Religion)
24 pages, 355 KB  
Article
Psychedelics and New Materialism: Challenging the Science–Spirituality Binary and the Onto-Epistemological Order of Modernity
by Mateo Sánchez Petrement
Religions 2025, 16(8), 949; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16080949 - 22 Jul 2025
Viewed by 1707
Abstract
This essay argues for the reciprocal benefits of joining the new theories of matter emerging out of critical posthumanism and the psychedelic drugs currently experiencing a so-called “renaissance” in global north societies. While the former’s twin emphasis on relationality and embodiment is perfectly [...] Read more.
This essay argues for the reciprocal benefits of joining the new theories of matter emerging out of critical posthumanism and the psychedelic drugs currently experiencing a so-called “renaissance” in global north societies. While the former’s twin emphasis on relationality and embodiment is perfectly suited to capture and ground the ontological, epistemological, and ethical implications of psychedelic experiences of interconnectedness and transformation, these substances are in turn powerful companions through which to enact a “posthuman phenomenology” that helps us with the urgent task to “access, amplify, and describe” our deep imbrication with our more-than-human environments. In other words, I argue that while the “new materialism” emerging out of posthumanism can help elaborate a psychedelic rationality, psychedelics can in turn operate as educators in materiality. It is from this materialist perspective that we can best make sense of psychedelics’ often touted potential for social transformation and the enduring suspicion that they are somehow at odds with the “ontoepistemological order” of modernity. From this point of view, I contend that a crucial critical move is to push against the common trope that this opposition is best expressed as a turn from the narrow scientific and “consumerist materialism” of modern Western societies to more expansive “spiritual” worldviews. Pushing against this science-–spirituality binary, which in fact reproduces modern “indivi/dualism” by confining psychedelic experience inside our heads, I argue instead that what is in fact needed to think through and actualize such potentials is an increased attention to our material transcorporeality. In a nutshell, if we want psychedelics to inform social change, we must be more, not less, materialist—albeit by redefining matter in a rather “weird”, non-reductive way and by redefining consciousness as embodied. By the end of the essay, attaching psychedelics to a new materialism will enable us to formulate a “material spirituality” that establishes psychedelics’ political value less in an idealistic or cognitive “politics of consciousness” and more in a “materialization of critique”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychedelics and Religion)
16 pages, 280 KB  
Article
Psychedelic Churches Need Philosophy of Religion
by Eric Steinhart
Religions 2025, 16(5), 641; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050641 - 19 May 2025
Viewed by 1059
Abstract
Many new psychedelic religious organizations have recently emerged in the United States. These psychedelic churches operate in a legal gray area, which provides job opportunities not just for lawyers but also for philosophers of religion. To gain legal permission to use psychedelics, these [...] Read more.
Many new psychedelic religious organizations have recently emerged in the United States. These psychedelic churches operate in a legal gray area, which provides job opportunities not just for lawyers but also for philosophers of religion. To gain legal permission to use psychedelics, these churches need philosophically well-developed doctrines. Philosophers of religion can help develop these psychedelic doctrines. Looking at the law from a philosophical perspective, I derive six criteria which these psychedelic doctrines should satisfy. As an illustration, I show how a modernized Platonism can satisfy these criteria. Just as bioethicists can help in the practice of medicine, so philosophers of religion can help with the legal proceedings of new psychedelic churches. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychedelics and Religion)
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