This spring semester, members of the CSTM community were invited to participate in the Neuroscience Book Club, led by Jessica Black. Jessica is an Educational Neuroscientist and an Associate Professor at the Boston College School of Social Work. Thanks to her interest in theology and spirituality, she also occasionally guest lectures in CSTM courses. For the Book Club, we read The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment and the Developing Social Brain by Louis Cozolino.
This book is founded on the premise that our brains are social organs that develop through our relationships and interactions with other people. For Cozolino, “we must begin…with the understanding that there are no single human brains – brains only exist within networks of other brains” (p. xvi).
Since I have no background in neuroscience, but have spent a lot of time in theology school, I read the book through a theological lens. Amidst the brain diagrams and descriptions of neurons and synapses, I found quite a few themes that I recognize from theological study. Here are some key themes:
Integration
Integration was a recurring theme throughout Cozolino’s book. He speaks of “attempting to bridge the gap between the biological and social sciences” through interpersonal neurobiology and social neuroscience (p. xvii). He pushes back against the tendency to focus on the brain at the expense of the mind, and is adamant that the brain cannot be studied in isolation because “single human brains do not exist in nature” (p. 4). Rather, brains are built in relationship with other brains.
Part of what led me to theology school in the first place was a desire to pursue an integrated, whole-life Christianity. Growing up American taught me to compartmentalize in many ways, like thinking of my spiritual life as a sphere unto itself, separate from academic or professional life. In reality, my spiritual health doesn’t exist apart from my physical health or mental health; they are all integrated and interdependent.
Community
Human brains are built through relationships. Cozolino focuses particularly on how mother-baby relationships shape the brains of both babies and their mothers. Of course infants develop through interactions with their parents, but a mother’s brain is also “reshaped through…pregnancy-related hormones and the intense sensory and emotional experience provided by her newborn.” People in close relationships shape each other’s brains for better and worse, both consciously and unconsciously.
Human beings are created for community. We are created in the image of the Triune God (Gen 1), members of one body (1 Cor 12), branches of one vine (Jn 15). We are called to be disciples, to learn from and teach one another. We worship corporately, serve together, and care for each other. Cozonlino’s book gave me a new appreciation for just how interconnected we are, shaping each other in ways visible and invisible.
Transformation
Plasticity is essential to the ongoing development of the brain. Nature (genetics) and nurture (experience) are inseparable in the structuring and continual restructuring of our brains as we interact with our environments. Cozolino’s work as a therapist involves discovering how his clients’ brains have been shaped through early interactions and the emotional climate of their childhood homes. Forgotten experiences can leave lasting trauma, unconsciously motivating negative patterns of thought and behavior. However, the brain’s plasticity means that therapeutic interventions can help the brain to adapt away from those negative patterns towards health and wholeness.
We don’t talk a lot about “plasticity” in theology, but transformation is certainly a familiar theme. We don’t have to remain captive to our past experiences or mistakes. There is always room for growth and hope for redemption.