The Physical Nature of Christian Life: Neuroscience, Psychology, and the Church

by Warren S. Brown, Brad D. Strawn

This book explores the implications of recent insights in modern neuroscience for the church's view of spiritual formation. Science suggests that functions of the brain and body in collaboration with social experience, rather than a disembodied soul, provide physical basis for the mental capacities, interpersonal relations, and religious experiences of human beings. The realization that human beings are wholly physical, but with unique mental, relational, and spiritual capacities, challenges traditional views of Christian life as defined by the care of souls, a view that leads to inwardness and individuality. Psychology and neuroscience suggest the importance of developmental openness, attachment, imitation, and stories as tools in spiritual formation. Accordingly, the idea that care of embodied persons should be fundamentally social and communal sets new priorities for encouraging spiritual growth and building congregations.

Genres: Psychology, Christianity, Theology

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 2012

Reviews

[Natalie Linot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a class and it challenged me in the best of ways! I was a bit skeptical at first, but it really opened my eyes to the importance of our bodies in a way that I’ve never processed before. I’ll be chewing on it for a while. Lots of super rich, challenging thoughts on dualism. I absolutely loved the way the book broke down how our embodiment and unity in the church directly impact each other!!

We actually had the privilege of talking with Dr. Strawn to ask him questions about the book — I think my fav part was when we got to talk about his comparison of group therapy to church small groups. They actually function similarly…how cool! Just really good stuff. Looking forward to re-reading this later to process a bit more

[Kari Schooley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This book changed a lot of my thinking, but I'm still processing. I've never been a dualist, but I hadn't ever considered myself to be a embodied soul either. I started out as a complete skeptic and now see some truth I had never contemplated before.

[Nadia Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

A life changing way of thinking about the transformation of the body through worship. I had a lot of good feelings reading this book and it helped me further my own answers to these questions though my worldview.

[Jared Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very thought-provoking book. I imagine I'll read it again after chewing on some of its claims for a while.

[Jason Kanz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brown and Strawn's short book, The Physical Nature of the Christian Life, is a good little volume. I have had the pleasure of hearing Dr Brown speak on similar issues on the past. First, let me state the positives of this book. Part III of the book, which deals with the embodied Christian life and the church was excellent. The authors did a commendable job of examining church life and our embeddedness within the community. I also appreciated the way in which they tied together themes of attachment theory and neuroscience in their observations. It was reminiscent of Curt Thompson's excellent "Anatom of the Soul" in that regard. I found their commitment to growth in community to be such an important thing that is often missing in the modern church. Additionally, their review of the neuroscience literature was was well-written and accessible, even to a non-neuroscientist.

I did have concerns however. I agree with another reviewer (Green) who mentioned that the authors have trouble arriving at their conclusions by asserting that a monistic viewpoint is the only way to get there. I am probably a rarity, but I am neuropsychologist and a dualist, in part because I find the philosophical and biblical arguments more compelling, and relevant here, do not negate the importance of church life. Many of the suggestions that they make do not require a monistic point of view. Furthermore, they seemed to tie together too closely dualism and gnosticism, a leap that I fear they made too blindly.

As an aside, there seemed to be a hint of social constructivism informing their view of church, such that truth is constructed by the group itself, rather than being an objective entity outside of the group. This leans toward postmodernism and I believe is in error. Perhaps that was not the authorial intent, but it did seem in places to come through.

Finally, I wish they would have acknowledged some of the limitations of their own position and provided responses to them. There are compelling arguments from a philosophical perspective in favor of dualism. They failed to deal with the work of people like JP Moreland or Keith Ward. It seems that too often, when people disagree with some aspect of orthodox theology, they revert to the idea that the church fathers were simply too much influenced by the Greeks, Romans, etc. and then go on to say what the biblical authors really meant. I do not think they can make that leap.

On the whole this is a well written, accessible book, but I am afraid their excellent conclusions do not match their weaker presuppositions.

[Matthew Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brown and Strawn have written some worthwhile details while hanging them on what seems like a fractured frame. The premise begins with the idea that the human person is not primarily located in the mind while having a body as a sort of transport mechanism, but rather the mind is an emergent property of the physical nature of the body. We are not body and soul. We are our bodies, and our minds arise out of the complex dynamics of those bodies. Brown has defended this perspective elsewhere in significant measure and so only uses this as a foundation for a larger focus here. They go on to argue that this physical foundation for the human person has implications for how we ought to live our lives. They argue that being physical beings, we are driven not by that which happens in the soul, but by what happens to the body, particularly in social environments. We are shaped by relationships and social dynamics and also by our capacity for attention and self-reflection.

I really appreciate their treatment of the social and relational dynamics and their explanations of how they affect the human person to bring about both stability and growth. I appreciate their attempts to consider those dynamics not only interpersonally, but also how they play out in churches and small groups. I think they put forth some really valid and significant material on the socially-embedded nature of humanity and growth.

However, I don't think they at all were successful in connecting that social embeddedness to a monistic perspective on human nature. They defended monism fairly well, but it didn't seem to me like there was any reason to do so. It doesn't seem to me that a dualistic perspective on human nature would preclude one from having the exact same social nature.

The last two-thirds of the book has some good material about growth in relationships, but it just seems divorced from the first third. Strawn in particular is focused on the practical implications of monism, but I don't find his train of logic solid. His conclusions are wonderful; I'm just not sure the way he got there was necessary.

[Larissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was very excited about this book, but tremendously disappointed. Attempts to dethrone dualistic anthropology in 3 pages by making straw men arguments out of Plato, Augustine and Descartes. Frequently cites "many scholars" as a way to avoid defending positions without ever noting who and how many agree. The practical analysis was also expected and uninspiring.

[Mathias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this was a "catastrophe" in me as a complex dynamical system. Omvälvande och världsbildsdanande läsning med uppbyggliga tendenser. sjukt klarsynt. ger inte alla svar riktigt, provocerar initialt, men helheten ger en ordentlig bild av individ och kyrka hitintills oöverträffad i mitt tycke