Professors Egil Asprem and Ann Taves publish "Explanation and the Study of Religion" in Method Today: Redescribing Approaches to the Study of Religion, edited by Brad Stottard (2018; Equinox Press, London; pages 133-157). They follow and update Wayne Proudfoot's vision, presumably to take advantage of the "new" mechanistic studies in the arenas of literary and cultural inquiry, cognitive psychology and evolutionary-based biology.
Similar models are found in "Comments on Wayne Proudfoot's Book (1985) Religious Experience". In addition, modern science is the topic in "Comments on Jacques Maritain's Book (1935) Natural Philosophy". These works complement Asprem and Taves's essay and provide stepping-stones for this examination.