The Brain and the Spirit

Unlocking the Transformative Potential of the Story of Christ

Gena St. David

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781725275089
  9781725275096
• eBook ISBN:
  9781725275102
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Teología cristiana

The Brain and the Spirit invites readers to embark on a practice of listening to the Christ story through the earpiece of neuroscience. After many years steeped in brain science, the author had an unexpected encounter with a theologian, James Alison, whose trust in God and forgiveness toward others appeared to defy neurobiological explanation. How did his encounter with the Christ story produce in him the Christlike responses that it did? This question launched the author on a thrilling quest to listen to the scriptures and take up questions of creation, humanity, sin, Jesus, salvation, the Spirit, and the body of Christ, to hear what might get amplified by our ever-expanding understanding of the human brain. Readers are invited to eavesdrop on the twists and turns of the author's story and take up their own practice of listening to the Spirit, scripture and theology through the earpiece of neuroscience, and to become curious how the Christ story may spark trust which unlocks our brain's capacity to engage reality with relationality, kindness, creativity, and access to joy.

1

Dirt Roads and Highways

I was running with a mind to see God and so it was that I ascended the mount.

—St. Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 330–90)1

One Saturday morning when I was sixteen, I woke early and borrowed the keys to our mother’s station wagon. A guy on whom I had a crush had invited me to come see him that day; he was staying at a farmhouse about forty-five miles outside the city limits. My mother and siblings were still asleep, so I laced up my tennis shoes and left a note on the kitchen counter. Then I tiptoed into the garage, with butterflies in my belly.

It was still dark outside and the street lamps were lit as I steered through my neighborhood. Once I reached the highway, I increased my speed. Lightning flashed overhead, followed by a thunderclap, and then the sky broke open and it began to rain. I slowed down, but kept driving. I had no cell phone or navigation system, but my crush had drawn a map on a square of red paper. I clutched the map in one hand as I gripped the steering wheel, peering through the storm to find my way.

After some time, I pulled off the interstate at an exit that looked right, and I turned onto a two-lane farm road lined with cotton fields. I drove for what seemed a long distance, squinting through the rain. Finally, I spotted a turn-off that appeared to match my map; it was a long gravel path between two fields. About half a mile down, the thunderstorm intensified; the gravel path disappeared beneath puddles and my tires lost traction with the road. I braked hard and the car swerved. My wheels started spinning, splattering mud across the windshield. I stepped on the accelerator again; no movement. “Oh no,” I thought, throwing the gearshift into reverse, then drive, then reverse . . . I wasn’t going anywhere.

I sat for a while, stuck in the mud with the engine running, and ran plays in my head. I could search the ground for a piece of wood to put under the wheel. Or I could try to scoop up enough gravel to sprinkle around the tires. Rain was falling in sheets. On the horizon, I thought I spotted the farmhouse that was my destination. It crossed my mind that maybe if I just turned off the engine and stayed put, someone would come find me. But I decided that was improbable; more likely, my crush would decide I had changed my mind or that my mother had refused to let me come. Seeing no other alternative, I stepped into the downpour.

Within seconds, I was soaked; my shoes sank into the mud. The house I had spotted stood a half-mile across a cotton field. Other than that, it was farmland in all directions. An old fast food commercial floated up in my mind then; it featured a person walking through a ghost town saying, “Where is everyone?”

I trekked through rows of cotton until I reached a chest-high fence of barbed wire that I had not noticed before. The house lay about a quarter mile further beyond the fence. I looked both directions and saw no way around, so I gingerly pinched the middle wire and lifted it to step through. When I placed my foot down on the other side, it slid in the mud; the downward motion propelled me backward and one of the barbs snagged a ring I wore on one finger.

The ring was silver with a heart charm. My crush had given it to me as a Valentine’s Day gift and it was too big. When the barb snagged the ring, it yanked it off and left a deep slice down the inside of my finger. I caught a glimpse of the shiny ring as it landed in a muddy puddle. I froze then; part of me wanted to kneel down and hunt for the ring. Another part was aware I was now bleeding and needed to find help. I cleared the fence and resumed my mission to reach the farmhouse. To slow the bleeding of my finger, I wrapped the bottom part of my shirt around it. As I walked, I comforted myself with the thought that I might return later to this spot to search for the ring. (That would never happen.)

Finally, I reached the front porch of the farmhouse. My t-shirt was soaked through and blood-stained; my shoes were caked with mud. I felt lightheaded from the injury and embarrassed because my makeup was running. But I was eager to see my crush and explain why I had been delayed. And visions of hot cocoa or maybe apple cider may have been on my mind as well. I climbed the steps to the front door, but to my disappointment it was all boarded up. The windows were broken; the farmhouse was abandoned.

I saw no other option then but to navigate the field and the barbed wire once more, and attempt to r...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Notices
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Dirt Roads and Highways
• Chapter 2: A Trustworthy Compass
• Chapter 3: A Cup of Stress; A Cup of Safety
• Chapter 4: A Borrowed Body
• Chapter 5: A Healing Story
• Chapter 6: Integration
• Chapter 7: Reconnection
• Postscript
• Bibliography