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Gustavo Amaral
Professor Erin McLaughlin
Multimedia Writing & Rhetoric
14 November 2014
How the study of Lucid Dreaming changed Christian Rhetoric
Dreams have always mystified mankind. Embedded in our nature, we have constantly
dreamed throughout our existence. We hallucinate the weirdest of things, enigmas so bizarre that
we strive to decode and interpret them. Indeed, dreams have manifested their bizarreness into
many fields: be it in the arts, the sciences, or in the religions, dreams invariably play a major part
in the development of human knowledge.
Even so, in the history of Christianity, biblical rhetoric embraced dreams as a major
source of guidance and inspiration. Saints constantly relayed their enlightening dreams, claiming
to have been shown the righteous path. However, modern theology has shifted rhetoric, refusing
dreams as legitimate source of spiritual knowledge.
Amidst this context, the purpose of this paper is to show that the discovery of lucid
dreaming in modern science caused the paradigm shift on how the Christian church viewed
dreams. This paper will focus on three stages of Christian history: Early, Medieval, and Modern
Christianity. Starting by explaining what lucid dreaming (known as LD) is all about, it will
analyze the spiritual rhetoric before and after the discovery of LD. Ultimately, this paper will
show how science changed our perspective on dreams, and consequently, how it changed the
Christian attitude.

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Lucid Dreaming
Stephen LaBerge asserts that to lucid dream is to think clearly, and to act deliberately
upon reflection, all while experiencing a dream that seems vividly real (LaBerge 109); in other
words, to become conscious and aware of ones state while dreaming.
Lucid dreaming was a highly debated concept in the scientific community. Before the
1970s, people were constantly talking about mysterious experiences where they appeared to be in
control of their dreams. Often discarded by lack of empirical evidence, LD was associated with
mysticism and widely regarded as fictitious. Despite its taboo status, people continued to be
intrigued by the phenomenon. Modern studies shows that the average human experiences at least
one LD in their lifetime, and that one-in-five experiences at least once a month (109).
Nevertheless, Stephen LaBerge, invariably the foremost authority in the field, was credited to be
the first to prove LDs validity in 1981. Earning his Ph.D. in psychophysiology from Stanford,
he developed an experiment where his patients were induced into a LD, and later relayed their
state through an instrument called an Electroencephalography (EEG). Patients actually
communicated with him through their dreams, signaling their consciousness through brain
frequency patterns (110). Such scientific breakthrough had serious implications: it was finally
shown that humans could control their dreams. Additionally, science showed that the surreal
world was far from mystifying, and entirely explainable by the emerging field of
psychophysiology. It certainly begs the question: two millenniums ago, were the dreams
religious experiences, or simply lucid dreams mistaken to be divine?

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Early Christianity and its Acceptance of Dreams

To delve into Christian history and its rhetoric on dreams, we must refer to a renowned
scholar that specializes in the subject. Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D. is a psychologist of religion and a
Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He has a doctorate in Religion
and Psychological Studies from the University of Chicago, a masters of theology from Harvard
Divinity School, and a bachelor from Stanford University. An authoritative scholar in the subject
matter, he was also president of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. As he
explains in his work entitled Dreaming in the Worlds Religions, religion is the primary arena in
which humans have traditionally expressed their dreams (Bulkeley 3).
He explains that dreams are shown to be valued spiritually during the birth of Jesus.
Before David had Mary as his wife in the first pages of the bible, an angel of the Lord appeared
to him in a dream [] (Christopher Baker, Matthew 1:20). In this biblical passage, David is
approached by an angel during his dream, which tells him to take Mary as your wife and call
their baby Jesus. Attributing the cause of the birth of Jesus to a dream, the bibles rhetoric clearly
values dreams as legitimate sources of spiritual guidance. As Bulkeley discusses, the dream had
the paramount importance of establishing Jesus divine identity, prophesizing his future
mission, and revealing the name he should be called (Bulkeley 169).
Invoking yet another specialist, Ryan Hurd is the current board member of the
International Association for the Study of Dreams, and holds a masters in Consciousness Studies
as well as a Certificate of Dream Studies from JFK University. He agrees in his article Lucid
Dreaming and Christianity: Entering the Light that the The Old Testament is chock full of
dreams (Hurd). He explains that Paul was regularly inspired by his dreams. Relaying the
passage from the Book of Acts, A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was

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standing and appealing to him [] (Acts 16:9), which would further inspire Paul to do his
missionary work in Macedonia.
Furthermore, Christian rhetoric seems to be in favor of dreams as a legitimate source of
spiritual guidance even outside of biblical scripture. In the highly influential canonical scripture
of the 2nd century called The Shepherd of Hermas, the author reported experiencing a dream
vision where he claims I saw the heavens open, and I see the lady [] (Bulkeley 172). With
his rhetoric on dreams, Hermas invariably reiterated Christianitys acceptance of dreams, being
inspired himself.
When addressing major biblical passages, as well as proceeding canonical scripture, it
becomes clear that early Christianity rhetoric accepts dreams as a bridge between God and
humans. As Bulkeley eloquently summarizes, In Christianitys earliest texts, [] we find clear
expressions of the belief that dreams are a legitimate means of communion between humans and
God. (Bulkeley 191). Even after the early texts, however, Christianity continued to accept
dreams.
Medieval Christianity and Dreams
St. Thomas Aquinas was born in the beginning of the 13th century, and has been regarded
as the epitome of Christian theology. After declaring his faith and joining the Order of St.
Dominica, his brothers held him captive and tried to talk him out of it by sending beautiful
woman to his room to seduce him and break his oath of celibacy (The Dream Encyclopedia
212). After days resisting temptation, one night angels appeared to him in a nightmarish dream
where he was wrapped up in a cord of fire so terribly painful that he awakened with a cry. This
important experience helps to explain his conclusions on dreams, one where divination through

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dreams was lawful as long as it was divine and lacked artificial influences. Additionally, he
accepted that dreams could have demonic influences (212).
The implications of his conclusions were plentiful: he accepted that dreams were
legitimate avenues between man and the divine. Additionally, he classified them as either
stemming from God or from the Devil, and would later help explain the modern shift of
Christian rhetoric on dreams.

The validity of Lucid Dreaming, and its subsequent denouncement

When LaBerge was finally able to prove lucid dreamings validity in the early 1980s, he
abolished any taboo related to the topic. It was finally scientifically proven that man could
control their hallucinations, invariably paving way to numerous projects aimed at expanding our
knowledge of LD. But no revolution comes without controversy.
In the highly polemic -yet often cited - experiment conducted by the Out-Of-Body
Experience Research Center in UCLA, 15 of 24 dreamers claim they did succeed in recreating
angels and other religious phenomena during their dreams (Golgowski). As another article
dealing with the study ponders, Lucid dreaming makes us all potential prophets (Shiffman).
Amidst this volatile debate, the question arises: those biblical angels who talked to David, who
inspired Paul, and who cleansed Aquinas of sin were they divine intervention, or lucid
hallucinations?

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In his other article entitled Lucid Dreaming and Christianity, Ryan Hurd explains that
today Christian writers rhetoric revolve around the idea that lucid dreaming is dredged in
temptation and sin. He believes theologians are misinformed by the stereotype that lucid
dreaming is a source of unholy pleasure, where people become lucid only to engage in sin. They
quote Martin Luther and claim studying dreams are sinful (Hurd, Lucid Dreaming and
Christianity: Entering the Light), a harsh and direct change in rhetoric from what biblical
scripture and theologians such as Aquinas relayed.
It must be acknowledged that some prominent Christian scholars accept dream
interpretation. As Ryan discussed, scholars such as John Sanford, James Hall [] generally
agree that dreams can be interpreted spiritually and lead to self-knowledge, inspiration, and
greater life enjoyment (Hurd, Christianity and Dreams: From Visions to Temptations).
However, the scope of this paper focuses on the general Christian opinion, and it is undoubtedly
dominated by Luther-influenced Christians who regard lucid dreaming as sinful. Ryan dismissed
such a counterpoint, explaining that their influence is still minor compared to that of Martin
Luther and the general idea that [dreaming] is sinful (Hurd, Christianity and Dreams: From
Visions to Temptations).

Conclusion
What are the implications of lucid dreaming? If potentially all dreams documented in the
bible were but mere lucid hallucinations entirely explainable through science, where does the
Christian faith stand? How can we choose to accept the bible and its authority when its most

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important passages, including the events leading to birth of Jesus, can be questioned? Only by
considering these questions, can we understand the shift of Christian rhetoric.
Nonetheless, biblical scripture is full of dream interpretations. Instances where significant
figures were shown to their righteous paths is still widely accepted in Christian religion. When
talking about David, Paul, Hermas, St. Aquinas, and other fundamental contributors to the
Christian theology, they all share the same point: dreams are legitimate forms of communication
between the earthly and the divine. As an influential theologian, Aquinas went on to provide
unfathomable insight about the Christian faith and knowledge, extending his teachings from the
scriptures. Nevertheless, he still dreamed.
The issue of lucid dreaming undoubtedly puzzles modern theologians. It truly
revolutionized our understanding of dreams and interpretations, making us question what we
think to be unnatural from the perfectly explainable. With the evidence provided, it is reasonable
to argue that Christian rhetorics rigorous shift from embracing dreams to denouncing them as
demonic was because of the discovery of lucid dreaming. As an entire theology was threatened,
Christian thinkers denounced lucid dreaming to be sinful, preserving its coherence.
What about the previous religious authorities, such as St. Aquinas? He argued that
dreams were only legitimate forms of divine communication when absent from artificial
influences. As such, LD would be considered to be artificial. However, it still begs the question;
how can we distinguish a divine dream from an artificial one?
In essence, science was the reason Christianity retroceded from dreams, and began to
question them entirely. As our ignorance and mysticism of dreams began to fade through the
scientific method, the scientific revolution and the subsequent Age of Enlightenment, we realized

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that through dreams, we could be lucid and hallucinate la carte. Modern theologians refuse the
spirituality of dreams, but science tells us lucid dreaming is natural and atemporal. As such, lucid
dreams did happen in the past, and consequently, makes it impossible to distinguish visions such
as Pauls to be truly divine. Following this point further, by denouncing lucid dreaming as sinful
and tempting, theologians protect the authenticity of the bible and subsequent saints by claiming
that they did not sin, and as such, they did not lucid dream.
Whether they did lucid dream or not remains to question. What is certain, however, is
that science once again pushed religion to update itself, refurbishing its rhetoric to fit itself into
the modern world. Only by understanding why most modern Christians denounce lucid dreaming
as a source of evil and sin can we disregard their claims by simply referring to the bible and the
plethora of evidence that seems to contradict them. The question remains; how can we know if
biblical dreams were not lucid?

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Works Cited
The Bible. Imprinted at London : By Christopher Barker .., 1582. Print.

Bulkeley, Kelly. Dreaming in the World's Religions., 2008.

"The Dream Encyclopedia." Choice Reviews 47.03 (2009): 47,47-1173.

Golgowski, Nina. "Visions of angels in Bible were 'lucid dreams' claims new sleep study after 15
studied 'see angels'

." Dailymail. 24 December 2011 <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2078293/Visions-angels-Bible-lucid-dreams-claims-new-sleep-study-15-studiedangels.html>.

Hurd, Ryan. Christianity and Dreams: From Visions to Temptations., 2008.

---. Lucid Dreaming and Christianity: Entering the Light., 2009.

LaBerge, Stephen. "Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during Rem

Sleep." Sleep and Cognition In R.R. Bootsen, J.F. Kihlstrom, & D.L. Schacter (Eds.)
(1990): 109 - 126.

Schiffman, Richard. "WERE ANGELS JUST LUCID DREAMS?" 8 March 2012

<http://religiondispatches.org/were-angels-just-lucid-dreams/>.