Neuroscience of Religion

Saša Horvat is a philosopher and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Health Studies, University of Rijeka, Croatia. His primary research interests include philosophy of religion, neurophilosophy, the cognitive science of religion, autism, and the relationship between science and religion. He is currently the principal investigator of several scientific projects exploring the neuroscience of religion, artificial intelligence/autism/bioethics, and the integration of religion and medicine within holistic approaches to health. Prof. Horvat has led a number of competitive research projects on topics such as evolution and theodicy, religious experience and autism, and the interplay between faith and science. He has published extensively in international scientific journals and is the author or co-author of several books, including „Overcoming Reductionism and Crafting a New Synthesis: Theodicy Confronting Pain and Suffering“ (Roszak & Horvat, Springer, 2024), and „Why Do We Believe in God? Philosophical Foundations of the Cognitive Science of Religion“ (Kršcanska sadašnjost, 2023). He is also the founder and chair of the international interdisciplinary conference “Rijeka Scientific Bridges”  held annually in Rijeka, Croatia.

Piotr Roszak is an ordinary professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland and associated professor at University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, where he obtained his PhD in 2009. He's an ordinary member of Pontifical Academy of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome, the Editor-in-Chief of the journal 'Scientia et Fides' dedicated to science-religion debate. His research interest includes the relationship between science and religion, philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, history of the Spanish-Mozarabic rite, analytic theology and the phenomenon of pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela. Piotr Roszak is also a co-founder and member of the Scientific Council of the “European Journal for the Study of Thomas Aquinas” and a member of the publishing board of “Synderesis” (Spain), “Scrutari Fontes” (Italy). He has obtained several grants from the John Templeton Foundation, the National Science Centre in Poland, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the Ministry of Science in Spain. Piotr Roszak is the author of several monographs and collective works, has published more than 140 articles in scientific journals, and is one of the most cited scholars in the humanities according to the ranking of Elsevier and Stanford University (2% of most cited scholars in the world in 2021 and 2023).