Papers by Pat Bennett
Issues in Science and Religion: Publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology, 2015
Despite its steady growth as an academic field, certain tensions relating to the nature and ultim... more Despite its steady growth as an academic field, certain tensions relating to the nature and ultimate purpose of science-theology engagement remain, and with them the thorny question of whether and how theology can contribute to scientific thinking. This paper argues that a development of J. Wentzel van Huyssteen’s transversal space dialogical model provides a possible way of addressing this issue. After outlining the model’s philosophical roots and key dynamics, I propose an extension involving the generation of additional “transversal” dialogical outputs. These aim to actively knit together disparate material brought into the transversal space via a trajectory which lies not downwards into but outwards beyond the contributing disciplines. The resulting arguments or models are thus neither scientific nor theological in their formulation and expression but, just as with the dialogue from which they originate, exist and are supported in the shared rational space between the disciplines. Hence they too are answerable not to the domain-specific epistemic standards of the contributing disciplines, but to those which inhere in postfoundational rationality itself. I suggest that this development is both a natural extension of the model’s basic dynamics, and demanded by the imperatives of the epistemic quest which it serves. Moreover it provides one possible way in which theological insights can make an equal contribution to the science-religion dialogue.
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Zygon®
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Theology in Scotland
The biblical scholar Richard Bauckham’s 2010 book Bible and Ecology provides a useful jumping-off... more The biblical scholar Richard Bauckham’s 2010 book Bible and Ecology provides a useful jumping-off point for his conversation with liturgist and writer Pat Bennett on humanity’s relationship to the rest of creation in the context of the current ecological crisis. Their discussion reflects on Bauckham’s view that a correct biblical understanding of this relationship requires us to read beyond Genesis 1:26–28’s mandate of human dominion over other living creatures. They explore how, rather than a relationship of dominance (which has been used by some to justify exploitation of the earth’s resources), the full picture the Bible presents is one where humans are part of a community of creation alongside other creatures.
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Zygon Journal of Religion and Science, 2017
We are living in a time of unprecedented challenges: human activity is now the primary driver sha... more We are living in a time of unprecedented challenges: human activity is now the primary driver shaping the planet and we are perilously close to breaching a variety of critical planetary boundaries-a prelude to the possible extinction of our species. How should we be thinking and acting-as persons, communities, institutions and societies-so as to best understand and respond to these challenges? What contribution can the field of science and religion make to develop the knowledge needed to negotiate the civilizational transition we face? Such questions were addressed through a series of dialogues at the 62nd annual conference of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science in June of 2016-"How Can We Know? Co-Creating Knowledge in Perilous Times." This essay sets the background to these challenges and introduces the set of articles in this themed section.
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Zygon Journal of Religion and Science, 2019
This third of three articles outlining a different approach to science/religion dialogue generall... more This third of three articles outlining a different approach to science/religion dialogue generally and to engagement between theology and the neurosciences specifically, gives a brief account of the model in practice. It begins by introducing the question to be
investigated—whether the experience of relational connection can affect health outcomes by directly moderating immune function. Then, employing the same threefold heuristic of encounter, exchange, and expression used previously, it discusses how the transversal model set out in these articles has been used to investigate this question and
to develop a theoretical physiological model for the proposed link between relationality and health.
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Zygon Journal of Religion and Science, 2019
This second of three articles outlining the development and practice of a different approach to n... more This second of three articles outlining the development and practice of a different approach to neurotheology discusses the construction of a suitable methodology for the project based on the work of J.Wentzel van Huyssteen. It explores the origin and contours of his concept of postfoundational rationality, its potential as a locus for epistemological parity between science and religion and the distinctive and unique transversal space model for interdisciplinary dialogue which he builds on these. It then proposes a further development of the model which has the potential to produce a very different type of additional and original dialogical outcome. While such “transversal”
outputs may initially seem counter and strange they not only flow naturally from the models’ own inherent dynamics but also open up the possibility of a distinctively different form of neurotheology.
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Zygon Journal of Religion and Science, 2019
This article—the first of a linked set of three outlining the development and practice of a diffe... more This article—the first of a linked set of three outlining the development and practice of a different approach to science/religion dialogue—begins with an overview of some persistent tensions in the field. Then, using a threefold heuristic of encounter,
engagement, and expression, it explores the routes taken by James Ashbrook and Andrew Newberg to develop a dialogue between theology and neuroscience, discussing some of the problems associated with these and their implications for attempts to further develop neurotheology. Finally, it proposes a different way of thinking about this
enterprise and points toward a new methodology for supporting this endeavor.
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The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) has a long history of delivering conference... more The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) has a long history of delivering conferences addressing topics of interest in the field of science and religion. The following papers from the 2013 summer conference on " The Scientific, Spiritual, and Moral Challenges in Solving the World Food Crisis " are, in keeping with the eclectic nature of these conferences, very different in content and approach. Such differences underline the challenges of synergistically combining scientific and religious insights to increase understanding of global problems and their possible solutions. This in turn reflects deeper questions about the purpose and nature of the science/religion dialogue. These papers suggest various ways in which the two perspectives can be combined in the pursuit of building better understandings of food-related issues, as well as highlighting difficulties and limitations which need to be addressed if the fruits of such dialogue are to make a wider impact. As such they serve as useful pointers for how this type of science/religion interaction might be further developed and deployed.
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In: Evers, D. et al. (eds.) What is Life? (Issues in Science and Theology Vol 8). Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
"Despite its steady growth as an academic field, certain tensions relating to the nature and ulti... more "Despite its steady growth as an academic field, certain tensions relating to the nature and ultimate purpose of science-theology engagement remain, and with them the thorny question of whether and how theology can contribute to scientific thinking. This paper argues that a development of J Wentzel van Huyssteen’s transversal space dialogical model provides a possible way of addressing this issue. After outlining the model’s philosophical roots and key dynamics, I propose an extension involving the generation of additional ‘transversal’ dialogical outputs. These aim to actively knit together disparate material brought into the transversal space via a trajectory which lies not downwards into but outwards beyond the contributing disciplines. The resulting arguments or models are thus neither scientific nor theological in their formulation and expression but, just as with the dialogue from which they originate, exist and are supported in the shared rational space between the disciplines. Hence they too are answerable not to the domain-specific epistemic standards of the contributing disciplines, but to those which inhere in postfoundational rationality itself. I suggest that this development is both a natural extension of the model’s basic dynamics, and demanded by the imperatives of the epistemic quest which it serves. Moreover it provides one possible way in which theological insights can make an equal contribution to the science-religion dialogue.
Key words: Van Huyssteen, postfoundational rationality, transversal space dialogue, transversal outcomes, Haack, crossword analogy."
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in In: Watts, F. N. and Knight, C. C. (eds.) God and the Scientist: Exploring the Work of John Polkinghorne. Farnham: Ashgate, pp.175-196.
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‘Transdisciplinarity in Science and Religion 2009 (5) 297-334.
NB: This reflects a very early stage of my doctoral project. Although my basic thesis remained th... more NB: This reflects a very early stage of my doctoral project. Although my basic thesis remained the same, I subsequently developed a very different way of bringing the data together to explore the issue and build the arguments - and ultimately to derive a theoretical physiological model for a connecting pathway from relational experience to health outcomes via immune signalling systems.
Abstract:
Neurotheology is a new and developing field of multidisciplinary endeavour aiming to integrate cognitive neuroscience with religion and theology. Whilst its primary focus thus far has been on brain activity during meditation, there has also been some interest in whether various spiritual practices might affect the functioning of the immune system. Taking a slightly different approach, this paper focuses on possible connections between immune function and the expression and experience of personal relatedness as a step towards developing a ‘neurotheology of health’.
Following van Huyssteen’s model of postfoundational rationality and its associated notion of developing dialogical ‘transversal spaces’, the concept of personal relatedness is proposed as promising ground for fruitful interdisciplinary engagement between theology, cognitive neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology. Despite their very different preoccupations and language, the topic is a focus of research in each of these disciplines: From a theological perspective, there has been a resurgence of interest in relationality and its anthropological implications; within neuroscience, there is not only an increasing interest in the neural underpinnings of human sociability, but also a growing volume of PNI data linking social interaction with alterations in a variety of endocrine and immunological markers. Based on work in progress for a doctoral thesis, the paper triangulates theological reflection with neuroscientific data in a transdisciplinary exploration of the human capacity for forming personal relationships and its possible effects on immune function and thus health outcomes.
Epidemiological studies indicate a significant link between social relationships and health outcomes, and data from PNI studies raise tantalising questions about the possible effects of the experience of relatedness on the regulation of PNI systems. Beginning from this PNI data, the paper argues that the quality of social relationships has measurable, distinct and significant effects on the functioning of the immune system. Drawing on data from cognitive studies and theological reflection, it suggests that this is not simply due to stress-buffering mechanisms, but that the experience of such relationships may also mediate immune function much more directly, and that this effect is related to the extent to which the capacity for personal relatedness is experienced and expressed.
The thesis proposed is that the capacity for personal relatedness should be considered as an emergent property of the various cognitive processes involved in social signal decoding. The experience of relationality could thus, because of the intrinsic properties of ontologically emergent phenomena, exert causal effects on PNI systems. Theologically, it is contended that such a capacity is an integral and significant component of what it means to be a human person made ‘in the image of God’. Hence the extent to which the capacity for relatedness is realised, and the form that this realisation takes, may determine the nature of these PNI effects: both degradation and enhancement of immune function being potential outcomes.
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Conference Presentations by Pat Bennett
It is taken by many as axiomatic that scientific and religious ways of approaching knowledge are ... more It is taken by many as axiomatic that scientific and religious ways of approaching knowledge are both de jure and de facto irreconcilable. They are seen as having radically different metaphysical commitments, preoccupations, questions and purposes, and as involving completely different and separated domains of cognitive operations: a universal 3rd person shared objective descriptive mode standing over and against Individual 1st person subjectivity with all its local and cultural variations. Yet despite assertions of the strictly rational nature of the scientific enterprise, it is evident that both scientific and religious approaches to constructing knowledge involve emotional, imaginative, and creative elements.
In this paper, I examine the role which emotion and imagination play in religious and scientific frameworks for exploring the world, and propose that both approaches employ a shared cognitive toolset arising from play. Whilst play is widely distributed throughout the animal kingdom, human play is unique in a number of respects - for example in the devising, application and acceptance of formal rule structures; the employment of imaginative and counterfactual pretence and the use of assorted props to support this; and the designation and development of dedicated spaces (the ‘magic circle’) – boards, consoles, pitches, theatres etc – in which to pursue play.
Scientists and theologians both seemingly use the creative potential of play to oppose the ‘as is’ of the indicative with the ‘as if’ of the subjunctive as part of the investigative process. Drawing on the work of Roger Caillois and on material from the rapidly expanding multidisciplinary field of game studies, I explore the extent to which religious and scientific ways of engaging in the quest for knowledge employ ludic strategies or involve the adoption of lusory attitudes, and what role emotion plays in these. As part of this, I also examine the role and ontic status of various props (for example numbers) which they employ, and the extent to which mythology is woven into the metaphysical frameworks of both disciplines.
Van Huyssteen has argued strongly and in detail that science and theology employ identical tools of rationality which have been developed through, and conserved by, evolutionary processes because of their survival value. If both disciplines can also be shown to share a ludic toolset, then this may throw additional light on evolutionary understandings of cognitive development. It also opens up the possibility of developing a new and very different way of approaching the science-religion dialogue to set alongside those arising from van Huyssteen’s work.
The full paper will be available on the 2014 ESSSAT conference website http://tinyurl.com/p3e8ux4 in due course.
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This paper will be published in Evers, D. et al. (eds.) What is Life? (Issues in Science and Theology Vol 7). Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2014
Despite its steady growth as an academic field, certain tensions relating to the nature and ultim... more Despite its steady growth as an academic field, certain tensions relating to the nature and ultimate purpose of science-theology engagement remain, and with them the thorny question of whether and how theology can contribute to scientific thinking.
This paper argues that a development of J Wentzel van Huyssteen’s transversal space dialogical model provides a possible way of addressing this issue. After outlining the model’s philosophical roots and key dynamics, I propose an extension involving the generation of additional ‘transversal’ dialogical outputs. These aim to actively knit together disparate material brought into the transversal space via a trajectory which lies not downwards into but outwards beyond the contributing disciplines. The resulting arguments or models are thus neither scientific nor theological in their formulation and expression but, just as with the dialogue from which they originate, exist and are supported in the shared rational space between the disciplines. Hence they too are answerable not to the domain-specific epistemic standards of the contributing disciplines, but to those which inhere in postfounda¬tional rationality itself. I suggest that this development is both a natural extension of the model’s basic dynamics, and demanded by the imperatives of the epistemic quest which it serves. Moreover it provides one possible way in which theological insights can make an equal contribution to the science-religion dialogue.
Key words: Van Huyssteen, postfoundational rationality, transversal space dialogue, transversal outcomes, Haack, crossword analogy.
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The suggestion of a direct connection between involvement in religious activities and health outc... more The suggestion of a direct connection between involvement in religious activities and health outcomes, whilst by no means novel, has become increasing prominent in the last decade. Based primarily on epidemiological data, such claims have generated a groundswell of interest in the aetiology of any linkage and in its therapeutic possibilities. They have also been widely criticised and strongly resisted, particularly within sections of the medical profession.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is a relatively young but rapidly expanding discipline studying the connections and interactions between brain, endocrine and immune systems. Such systems play a vital role in identifying and responding to internal and external threats and thus in maintaining body homeostasis and health. Amongst the large corpus of data generated by the field, studies are emerging which examine variations in immune and endocrine function in connection with certain religious practices. These suggest that such practices may have distinct and measurable benefits on PNI function.
This paper explores the boundary area between religion and health by examining these studies and whether the cellular-level events they detail could translate into systems-level effects which might influence health outcomes. In so doing, it also explores another 'uncertain boundary' - that between the two very disparate disciplines of study of religions and neuroscience and whether interdisciplinary discourse between them is possible and potentially fruitful.
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Although epidemiological studies have established the existence of a significant connection bet... more Although epidemiological studies have established the existence of a significant connection between social relationships and health outcomes, the underlying mechanisms are far from established. Using the transversal space model developed by J. Wentzel van Huyssteen, this study explores the connection between the two from a transdisciplinary perspective. Drawing on theological, neurocognitive and psychoneuroimmunological (PNI) data, it examines the bases of the human capacity for relationality and proposes that how this capacity is experienced and expressed can affect health through direct modulation of immune and endocrine function.
The contention is that, although the precise mechanisms are unclear, PNI data suggest that the quality of social relationships has distinct, measurable and significant effects on these systems. Drawing on both neurocognitive and theological insights into the capacity for relationality, the argument developed is that this is not simply a result of stress buffering, but reflects a direct neurobiological effect.
From the transdisciplinary standpoint adopted, the thesis proposed is that the capacity for relationship is not only constitutive of humanness, but also bears the hallmarks of an emergent phenomenon. Thus relational experiences can themselves exert direct downward causation on PNI systems. Furthermore, the extent to which relational capacity is realised, and the form that this realisation takes, may determine the nature of these effects with both up- and down-regulation of immune function being potential outcomes.
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A presentation assessing epidemiological evidence for connections between spirituality and mental... more A presentation assessing epidemiological evidence for connections between spirituality and mental health, and exploring possible immunological mechanisms at work in these.
North Yorkshire Core Psychiatry Training Scheme Symposium on Spirituality and Health;
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Neurotheology is a new and developing field of multidisciplinary endeavour aiming to integrate co... more Neurotheology is a new and developing field of multidisciplinary endeavour aiming to integrate cognitive neuroscience with religion and theology. Whilst its primary focus thus far has been on brain activity during meditation, there has also been some interest in whether various spiritual practices might affect the functioning of the immune system. Taking a slightly different approach, this paper focuses on possible connections between immune function and the expression and experience of personal relatedness as a step towards developing a ‘neurotheology of health’.
Following van Huyssteen’s model of postfoundational rationality and its associated notion of developing dialogical ‘transversal spaces’, the concept of personal relatedness is proposed as promising ground for fruitful interdisciplinary engagement between theology, cognitive neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology. Despite their very different preoccupations and language, the topic is a focus of research in each of these disciplines: From a theological perspective, there has been a resurgence of interest in relationality and its anthropological implications; within neuroscience, there is not only an increasing interest in the neural underpinnings of human sociability, but also a growing volume of PNI data linking social interaction with alterations in a variety of endocrine and immunological markers. Based on work in progress for a doctoral thesis, the paper triangulates theological reflection with neuroscientific data in a transdisciplinary exploration of the human capacity for forming personal relationships and its possible effects on immune function and thus health outcomes.
Epidemiological studies indicate a significant link between social relationships and health outcomes, and data from PNI studies raise tantalising questions about the possible effects of the experience of relatedness on the regulation of PNI systems. Beginning from this PNI data, the paper argues that the quality of social relationships has measurable, distinct and significant effects on the functioning of the immune system. Drawing on data from cognitive studies and theological reflection, it suggests that this is not simply due to stress-buffering mechanisms, but that the experience of such relationships may also mediate immune function much more directly, and that this effect is related to the extent to which the capacity for personal relatedness is experienced and expressed.
The thesis proposed is that the capacity for personal relatedness should be considered as an emergent property of the various cognitive processes involved in social signal decoding. The experience of relationality could thus, because of the intrinsic properties of ontologically emergent phenomena, exert causal effects on PNI systems. Theologically, it is contended that such a capacity is an integral and significant component of what it means to be a human person made ‘in the image of God’. Hence the extent to which the capacity for relatedness is realised, and the form that this realisation takes, may determine the nature of these PNI effects: both degradation and enhancement of immune function being potential outcomes.
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Book Reviews by Pat Bennett
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Prizes and awards by Pat Bennett
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My paper 'Supple and Subtle: John Polkinghorne’s Engagement with Reality’ explored and examined t... more My paper 'Supple and Subtle: John Polkinghorne’s Engagement with Reality’ explored and examined the epistemological strategies employed by Polkinhorne in his work at the science/religion interface, and evaluated the extent to which they were succesful. The essay was subsequently published as a chapter in the Birthday Festschrift.
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Papers by Pat Bennett
investigated—whether the experience of relational connection can affect health outcomes by directly moderating immune function. Then, employing the same threefold heuristic of encounter, exchange, and expression used previously, it discusses how the transversal model set out in these articles has been used to investigate this question and
to develop a theoretical physiological model for the proposed link between relationality and health.
outputs may initially seem counter and strange they not only flow naturally from the models’ own inherent dynamics but also open up the possibility of a distinctively different form of neurotheology.
engagement, and expression, it explores the routes taken by James Ashbrook and Andrew Newberg to develop a dialogue between theology and neuroscience, discussing some of the problems associated with these and their implications for attempts to further develop neurotheology. Finally, it proposes a different way of thinking about this
enterprise and points toward a new methodology for supporting this endeavor.
Key words: Van Huyssteen, postfoundational rationality, transversal space dialogue, transversal outcomes, Haack, crossword analogy."
Abstract:
Neurotheology is a new and developing field of multidisciplinary endeavour aiming to integrate cognitive neuroscience with religion and theology. Whilst its primary focus thus far has been on brain activity during meditation, there has also been some interest in whether various spiritual practices might affect the functioning of the immune system. Taking a slightly different approach, this paper focuses on possible connections between immune function and the expression and experience of personal relatedness as a step towards developing a ‘neurotheology of health’.
Following van Huyssteen’s model of postfoundational rationality and its associated notion of developing dialogical ‘transversal spaces’, the concept of personal relatedness is proposed as promising ground for fruitful interdisciplinary engagement between theology, cognitive neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology. Despite their very different preoccupations and language, the topic is a focus of research in each of these disciplines: From a theological perspective, there has been a resurgence of interest in relationality and its anthropological implications; within neuroscience, there is not only an increasing interest in the neural underpinnings of human sociability, but also a growing volume of PNI data linking social interaction with alterations in a variety of endocrine and immunological markers. Based on work in progress for a doctoral thesis, the paper triangulates theological reflection with neuroscientific data in a transdisciplinary exploration of the human capacity for forming personal relationships and its possible effects on immune function and thus health outcomes.
Epidemiological studies indicate a significant link between social relationships and health outcomes, and data from PNI studies raise tantalising questions about the possible effects of the experience of relatedness on the regulation of PNI systems. Beginning from this PNI data, the paper argues that the quality of social relationships has measurable, distinct and significant effects on the functioning of the immune system. Drawing on data from cognitive studies and theological reflection, it suggests that this is not simply due to stress-buffering mechanisms, but that the experience of such relationships may also mediate immune function much more directly, and that this effect is related to the extent to which the capacity for personal relatedness is experienced and expressed.
The thesis proposed is that the capacity for personal relatedness should be considered as an emergent property of the various cognitive processes involved in social signal decoding. The experience of relationality could thus, because of the intrinsic properties of ontologically emergent phenomena, exert causal effects on PNI systems. Theologically, it is contended that such a capacity is an integral and significant component of what it means to be a human person made ‘in the image of God’. Hence the extent to which the capacity for relatedness is realised, and the form that this realisation takes, may determine the nature of these PNI effects: both degradation and enhancement of immune function being potential outcomes.
Conference Presentations by Pat Bennett
In this paper, I examine the role which emotion and imagination play in religious and scientific frameworks for exploring the world, and propose that both approaches employ a shared cognitive toolset arising from play. Whilst play is widely distributed throughout the animal kingdom, human play is unique in a number of respects - for example in the devising, application and acceptance of formal rule structures; the employment of imaginative and counterfactual pretence and the use of assorted props to support this; and the designation and development of dedicated spaces (the ‘magic circle’) – boards, consoles, pitches, theatres etc – in which to pursue play.
Scientists and theologians both seemingly use the creative potential of play to oppose the ‘as is’ of the indicative with the ‘as if’ of the subjunctive as part of the investigative process. Drawing on the work of Roger Caillois and on material from the rapidly expanding multidisciplinary field of game studies, I explore the extent to which religious and scientific ways of engaging in the quest for knowledge employ ludic strategies or involve the adoption of lusory attitudes, and what role emotion plays in these. As part of this, I also examine the role and ontic status of various props (for example numbers) which they employ, and the extent to which mythology is woven into the metaphysical frameworks of both disciplines.
Van Huyssteen has argued strongly and in detail that science and theology employ identical tools of rationality which have been developed through, and conserved by, evolutionary processes because of their survival value. If both disciplines can also be shown to share a ludic toolset, then this may throw additional light on evolutionary understandings of cognitive development. It also opens up the possibility of developing a new and very different way of approaching the science-religion dialogue to set alongside those arising from van Huyssteen’s work.
The full paper will be available on the 2014 ESSSAT conference website http://tinyurl.com/p3e8ux4 in due course.
This paper argues that a development of J Wentzel van Huyssteen’s transversal space dialogical model provides a possible way of addressing this issue. After outlining the model’s philosophical roots and key dynamics, I propose an extension involving the generation of additional ‘transversal’ dialogical outputs. These aim to actively knit together disparate material brought into the transversal space via a trajectory which lies not downwards into but outwards beyond the contributing disciplines. The resulting arguments or models are thus neither scientific nor theological in their formulation and expression but, just as with the dialogue from which they originate, exist and are supported in the shared rational space between the disciplines. Hence they too are answerable not to the domain-specific epistemic standards of the contributing disciplines, but to those which inhere in postfounda¬tional rationality itself. I suggest that this development is both a natural extension of the model’s basic dynamics, and demanded by the imperatives of the epistemic quest which it serves. Moreover it provides one possible way in which theological insights can make an equal contribution to the science-religion dialogue.
Key words: Van Huyssteen, postfoundational rationality, transversal space dialogue, transversal outcomes, Haack, crossword analogy.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is a relatively young but rapidly expanding discipline studying the connections and interactions between brain, endocrine and immune systems. Such systems play a vital role in identifying and responding to internal and external threats and thus in maintaining body homeostasis and health. Amongst the large corpus of data generated by the field, studies are emerging which examine variations in immune and endocrine function in connection with certain religious practices. These suggest that such practices may have distinct and measurable benefits on PNI function.
This paper explores the boundary area between religion and health by examining these studies and whether the cellular-level events they detail could translate into systems-level effects which might influence health outcomes. In so doing, it also explores another 'uncertain boundary' - that between the two very disparate disciplines of study of religions and neuroscience and whether interdisciplinary discourse between them is possible and potentially fruitful.
The contention is that, although the precise mechanisms are unclear, PNI data suggest that the quality of social relationships has distinct, measurable and significant effects on these systems. Drawing on both neurocognitive and theological insights into the capacity for relationality, the argument developed is that this is not simply a result of stress buffering, but reflects a direct neurobiological effect.
From the transdisciplinary standpoint adopted, the thesis proposed is that the capacity for relationship is not only constitutive of humanness, but also bears the hallmarks of an emergent phenomenon. Thus relational experiences can themselves exert direct downward causation on PNI systems. Furthermore, the extent to which relational capacity is realised, and the form that this realisation takes, may determine the nature of these effects with both up- and down-regulation of immune function being potential outcomes.
North Yorkshire Core Psychiatry Training Scheme Symposium on Spirituality and Health;
Following van Huyssteen’s model of postfoundational rationality and its associated notion of developing dialogical ‘transversal spaces’, the concept of personal relatedness is proposed as promising ground for fruitful interdisciplinary engagement between theology, cognitive neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology. Despite their very different preoccupations and language, the topic is a focus of research in each of these disciplines: From a theological perspective, there has been a resurgence of interest in relationality and its anthropological implications; within neuroscience, there is not only an increasing interest in the neural underpinnings of human sociability, but also a growing volume of PNI data linking social interaction with alterations in a variety of endocrine and immunological markers. Based on work in progress for a doctoral thesis, the paper triangulates theological reflection with neuroscientific data in a transdisciplinary exploration of the human capacity for forming personal relationships and its possible effects on immune function and thus health outcomes.
Epidemiological studies indicate a significant link between social relationships and health outcomes, and data from PNI studies raise tantalising questions about the possible effects of the experience of relatedness on the regulation of PNI systems. Beginning from this PNI data, the paper argues that the quality of social relationships has measurable, distinct and significant effects on the functioning of the immune system. Drawing on data from cognitive studies and theological reflection, it suggests that this is not simply due to stress-buffering mechanisms, but that the experience of such relationships may also mediate immune function much more directly, and that this effect is related to the extent to which the capacity for personal relatedness is experienced and expressed.
The thesis proposed is that the capacity for personal relatedness should be considered as an emergent property of the various cognitive processes involved in social signal decoding. The experience of relationality could thus, because of the intrinsic properties of ontologically emergent phenomena, exert causal effects on PNI systems. Theologically, it is contended that such a capacity is an integral and significant component of what it means to be a human person made ‘in the image of God’. Hence the extent to which the capacity for relatedness is realised, and the form that this realisation takes, may determine the nature of these PNI effects: both degradation and enhancement of immune function being potential outcomes.
Book Reviews by Pat Bennett
Prizes and awards by Pat Bennett
investigated—whether the experience of relational connection can affect health outcomes by directly moderating immune function. Then, employing the same threefold heuristic of encounter, exchange, and expression used previously, it discusses how the transversal model set out in these articles has been used to investigate this question and
to develop a theoretical physiological model for the proposed link between relationality and health.
outputs may initially seem counter and strange they not only flow naturally from the models’ own inherent dynamics but also open up the possibility of a distinctively different form of neurotheology.
engagement, and expression, it explores the routes taken by James Ashbrook and Andrew Newberg to develop a dialogue between theology and neuroscience, discussing some of the problems associated with these and their implications for attempts to further develop neurotheology. Finally, it proposes a different way of thinking about this
enterprise and points toward a new methodology for supporting this endeavor.
Key words: Van Huyssteen, postfoundational rationality, transversal space dialogue, transversal outcomes, Haack, crossword analogy."
Abstract:
Neurotheology is a new and developing field of multidisciplinary endeavour aiming to integrate cognitive neuroscience with religion and theology. Whilst its primary focus thus far has been on brain activity during meditation, there has also been some interest in whether various spiritual practices might affect the functioning of the immune system. Taking a slightly different approach, this paper focuses on possible connections between immune function and the expression and experience of personal relatedness as a step towards developing a ‘neurotheology of health’.
Following van Huyssteen’s model of postfoundational rationality and its associated notion of developing dialogical ‘transversal spaces’, the concept of personal relatedness is proposed as promising ground for fruitful interdisciplinary engagement between theology, cognitive neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology. Despite their very different preoccupations and language, the topic is a focus of research in each of these disciplines: From a theological perspective, there has been a resurgence of interest in relationality and its anthropological implications; within neuroscience, there is not only an increasing interest in the neural underpinnings of human sociability, but also a growing volume of PNI data linking social interaction with alterations in a variety of endocrine and immunological markers. Based on work in progress for a doctoral thesis, the paper triangulates theological reflection with neuroscientific data in a transdisciplinary exploration of the human capacity for forming personal relationships and its possible effects on immune function and thus health outcomes.
Epidemiological studies indicate a significant link between social relationships and health outcomes, and data from PNI studies raise tantalising questions about the possible effects of the experience of relatedness on the regulation of PNI systems. Beginning from this PNI data, the paper argues that the quality of social relationships has measurable, distinct and significant effects on the functioning of the immune system. Drawing on data from cognitive studies and theological reflection, it suggests that this is not simply due to stress-buffering mechanisms, but that the experience of such relationships may also mediate immune function much more directly, and that this effect is related to the extent to which the capacity for personal relatedness is experienced and expressed.
The thesis proposed is that the capacity for personal relatedness should be considered as an emergent property of the various cognitive processes involved in social signal decoding. The experience of relationality could thus, because of the intrinsic properties of ontologically emergent phenomena, exert causal effects on PNI systems. Theologically, it is contended that such a capacity is an integral and significant component of what it means to be a human person made ‘in the image of God’. Hence the extent to which the capacity for relatedness is realised, and the form that this realisation takes, may determine the nature of these PNI effects: both degradation and enhancement of immune function being potential outcomes.
In this paper, I examine the role which emotion and imagination play in religious and scientific frameworks for exploring the world, and propose that both approaches employ a shared cognitive toolset arising from play. Whilst play is widely distributed throughout the animal kingdom, human play is unique in a number of respects - for example in the devising, application and acceptance of formal rule structures; the employment of imaginative and counterfactual pretence and the use of assorted props to support this; and the designation and development of dedicated spaces (the ‘magic circle’) – boards, consoles, pitches, theatres etc – in which to pursue play.
Scientists and theologians both seemingly use the creative potential of play to oppose the ‘as is’ of the indicative with the ‘as if’ of the subjunctive as part of the investigative process. Drawing on the work of Roger Caillois and on material from the rapidly expanding multidisciplinary field of game studies, I explore the extent to which religious and scientific ways of engaging in the quest for knowledge employ ludic strategies or involve the adoption of lusory attitudes, and what role emotion plays in these. As part of this, I also examine the role and ontic status of various props (for example numbers) which they employ, and the extent to which mythology is woven into the metaphysical frameworks of both disciplines.
Van Huyssteen has argued strongly and in detail that science and theology employ identical tools of rationality which have been developed through, and conserved by, evolutionary processes because of their survival value. If both disciplines can also be shown to share a ludic toolset, then this may throw additional light on evolutionary understandings of cognitive development. It also opens up the possibility of developing a new and very different way of approaching the science-religion dialogue to set alongside those arising from van Huyssteen’s work.
The full paper will be available on the 2014 ESSSAT conference website http://tinyurl.com/p3e8ux4 in due course.
This paper argues that a development of J Wentzel van Huyssteen’s transversal space dialogical model provides a possible way of addressing this issue. After outlining the model’s philosophical roots and key dynamics, I propose an extension involving the generation of additional ‘transversal’ dialogical outputs. These aim to actively knit together disparate material brought into the transversal space via a trajectory which lies not downwards into but outwards beyond the contributing disciplines. The resulting arguments or models are thus neither scientific nor theological in their formulation and expression but, just as with the dialogue from which they originate, exist and are supported in the shared rational space between the disciplines. Hence they too are answerable not to the domain-specific epistemic standards of the contributing disciplines, but to those which inhere in postfounda¬tional rationality itself. I suggest that this development is both a natural extension of the model’s basic dynamics, and demanded by the imperatives of the epistemic quest which it serves. Moreover it provides one possible way in which theological insights can make an equal contribution to the science-religion dialogue.
Key words: Van Huyssteen, postfoundational rationality, transversal space dialogue, transversal outcomes, Haack, crossword analogy.
Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is a relatively young but rapidly expanding discipline studying the connections and interactions between brain, endocrine and immune systems. Such systems play a vital role in identifying and responding to internal and external threats and thus in maintaining body homeostasis and health. Amongst the large corpus of data generated by the field, studies are emerging which examine variations in immune and endocrine function in connection with certain religious practices. These suggest that such practices may have distinct and measurable benefits on PNI function.
This paper explores the boundary area between religion and health by examining these studies and whether the cellular-level events they detail could translate into systems-level effects which might influence health outcomes. In so doing, it also explores another 'uncertain boundary' - that between the two very disparate disciplines of study of religions and neuroscience and whether interdisciplinary discourse between them is possible and potentially fruitful.
The contention is that, although the precise mechanisms are unclear, PNI data suggest that the quality of social relationships has distinct, measurable and significant effects on these systems. Drawing on both neurocognitive and theological insights into the capacity for relationality, the argument developed is that this is not simply a result of stress buffering, but reflects a direct neurobiological effect.
From the transdisciplinary standpoint adopted, the thesis proposed is that the capacity for relationship is not only constitutive of humanness, but also bears the hallmarks of an emergent phenomenon. Thus relational experiences can themselves exert direct downward causation on PNI systems. Furthermore, the extent to which relational capacity is realised, and the form that this realisation takes, may determine the nature of these effects with both up- and down-regulation of immune function being potential outcomes.
North Yorkshire Core Psychiatry Training Scheme Symposium on Spirituality and Health;
Following van Huyssteen’s model of postfoundational rationality and its associated notion of developing dialogical ‘transversal spaces’, the concept of personal relatedness is proposed as promising ground for fruitful interdisciplinary engagement between theology, cognitive neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology. Despite their very different preoccupations and language, the topic is a focus of research in each of these disciplines: From a theological perspective, there has been a resurgence of interest in relationality and its anthropological implications; within neuroscience, there is not only an increasing interest in the neural underpinnings of human sociability, but also a growing volume of PNI data linking social interaction with alterations in a variety of endocrine and immunological markers. Based on work in progress for a doctoral thesis, the paper triangulates theological reflection with neuroscientific data in a transdisciplinary exploration of the human capacity for forming personal relationships and its possible effects on immune function and thus health outcomes.
Epidemiological studies indicate a significant link between social relationships and health outcomes, and data from PNI studies raise tantalising questions about the possible effects of the experience of relatedness on the regulation of PNI systems. Beginning from this PNI data, the paper argues that the quality of social relationships has measurable, distinct and significant effects on the functioning of the immune system. Drawing on data from cognitive studies and theological reflection, it suggests that this is not simply due to stress-buffering mechanisms, but that the experience of such relationships may also mediate immune function much more directly, and that this effect is related to the extent to which the capacity for personal relatedness is experienced and expressed.
The thesis proposed is that the capacity for personal relatedness should be considered as an emergent property of the various cognitive processes involved in social signal decoding. The experience of relationality could thus, because of the intrinsic properties of ontologically emergent phenomena, exert causal effects on PNI systems. Theologically, it is contended that such a capacity is an integral and significant component of what it means to be a human person made ‘in the image of God’. Hence the extent to which the capacity for relatedness is realised, and the form that this realisation takes, may determine the nature of these PNI effects: both degradation and enhancement of immune function being potential outcomes.