Joshua Brahinsky

Josh Brahinsky is a psychological anthropologist doing research in McGill's Department of Transcultural Psychiatry and Stanford's Religious Studies department, and teaching at UC Santa Cruz. His comparative neurophenomenological approach integrates ethnographic fieldwork, phenomenological interviews, brain imaging, and physiological measures to examine practices like prayer, speaking in tongues, jhana meditation, and breathwork. This work explores how these practices cultivate emotional, cognitive, and bodily forms of surrender, how religious communities shape and transmit them, and how they transform practitioners' perceptions and actions. By combining anthropological attention to cultural meaning with neuroscientific precision, his work illuminates the mechanisms through which tradition, belief, and embodied practice converge to produce profound transformations in consciousness and behavior.

His research can be found in academic journals, podcasts, and in his book Tongues of Fire: How Charismatic Prayer Changes Evangelical Brains and Inspires Spirit-Filled Activism.