Jeff Kripal

American professor of Religion at Rice University who has written extensively on the relationship between mysticism, the paranormal, and human sexuality — including Kali's Child (on Ramakrishna), Authors of the Impossible (on paranormal researchers), Mutants and Mystics (on comic books and the paranormal), and The Superhumanities.

Argues that anomalous experiences (mystical states, paranormal phenomena) are evidence that consciousness is not reducible to the brain — and that the humanities' encounter with these experiences should transform both religious studies and our understanding of consciousness — making him the leading academic bridge between mysticism and parapsychology.