Neurotheology

I’ve written a few times recently about how brain science informs us about issues related to discipleship and compassion. We’re learning how trauma affects the brain at a physiological level, explaining some of the difficulties children who’ve been through trauma have in regulating their behavior (which can be misinterpreted as sinful defiance). We’ve learned that the brain are also altered by repeated lies about one’s worth - flat out lies can damage your brain.

What about on the positive side? So far, we’ve looked at some negative impacts on the brain, but what about good things? Are there ways to positively affect the brain particularly in ways that relate to matters of faith?

The answer is not only “yes,” but “amazingly so!”

There is a branch of brain science called Neurotheology (there are also other names for it). One of the primary researchers is Andrew Newberg. Researchers in this field are not advocating for any particular religion or religious tradition, but examining the impact on the brain of religious practices - even practices that many Christians may object to. In other words, they are not trying to prove anything religious, but to describe the physiological impact of various religious practices.

What research is showing is that the kinds of things God calls us to do actually have a positive impact on the brain. The practices we typically call spiritual disciplines contribute to a healthy brain - practices like prayer, meditation (e.g. meditating on God’s Word, but also non-Christian practices of meditation), simplicity, memorization (e.g. of Scripture), community, and so on.

We often look to the spiritual disciplines as things we do to have some sort of direct impact - I pray to get answers or feel closer to God, I meditate to learn and understand, I practice simplicity to have less stress and more margin, and so on. The trouble is that if I fail to see those direct benefits, I soon fall out of the practice of spiritual disciplines. Why keep doing it if I’m not seeing the results I expect in a timely fashion? I have other things to do.

But perhaps we’ve been completely underestimating the value of the spiritual disciplines! Not to take away one bit from the direct benefits, but it’s completely possible that God encourages us to practice these disciplines because He, the creator of the brain, knows that these practices contribute to healthier brains! Perhaps He wants us to practice the spiritual disciplines for the additional, indirect, physiological benefits that come with the disciplines. He would also know that healthier brains are part of healthier lives, choices, attitudes, and practices.

It’s amazing to me that God directs us to do something that brain science is discovering to be healthy for our lives at a physiological level. Why wouldn’t He? Why wouldn’t the manufacturer give instructions on how to keep the product in good repair? And that’s just the brain - it’s quite possible that there are many other physiological benefits to the habits God teaches us to have.

Communion with God is vital for the spiritual life of a Christian, and the spiritual disciplines are time-tested habits to foster that closeness. But it very well may be that the disciplines are also intended to make our lives better by making our brains better. And inasmuch as non-Christian traditions practice the same disciplines or reasonable facsimiles, it stands to reason that they would also see some of the same physiological benefits. God causes it to rain on those who do not follow Christ just like He causes it to rain on those who do.

If you have fallen out of the habits or have grown stale in them, reconsider what God’s goals may be. It’s not always for a mountaintop experience - changing the oil and rotating the tires rarely is, but it sure makes the drive better and last longer.