As a biblically trained counselor, I get excited about the overlap of both science and biblical teachings. Merging the scientific, scholarly world with spiritual beliefs is a foreign idea for some people. Many believe that in order to believe in God, they must dismiss science or to believe in science means they must dismiss God.
False.
My passion and my job both revolve around your health and well-being – mentally, emotionally, and physically. So when I find a book that merges who the God of the Bible says He is with what we know in the psychotherapy world (and seeks to bring healing to your mind and body), I have to share it! Dr. Timothy Jennings does just this in The God-Shaped Brain. Dr. Jennings is a psychiatrist who is also a Christian. He is not a theologist, but his area of expertise is the brain. He’s a “mind” doctor. And in The God-Shaped Brain, Jennings shares with us how what we believe about God impacts our thinking and feeling “minds” and also our physical brain.
For example, in the chapter entitled “The Truth About Sin,” readers learn that brain research supports how fifteen minutes in daily meditation and prayer with the God of love actually results in a quantifiable development in areas of the brain where we feel love, compassion, and empathy. We also learn that as that area of the brain develops, other areas in the brain associated with feelings of fear and anxiety will actually calm down– resulting in less of those emotions which cripple us or impact us negatively. Jennings takes this opportunity to remind us how the Bible points out that “perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).”
I think the reader will appreciate how Jennings doesn’t lose you in uber-technical and scientific terminology, nor does he hunker down into any complex theological dissertations. He speaks to the reader in direct truths but also in illustrative metaphors so that readers can better understand the connections he is trying to make between our beliefs about God and their relation to our fear, anxiety, behavior, and overall well-being. Each chapter begins with a story of someone whom we likely can relate to in some way. Whether he’s recounting a moment with a patient, a friend, or of something Jennings experienced in his own life, you may see yourself in some of these stories.
The God-Shaped Brain can be read individually – and please take your time digesting the revelations you’re sure to experience as you ready through. But, it also includes a study guide portion with thought provoking discussion questions for both individual and small group studies. I appreciate it when we’re given the tools to apply what we’ve read and learned into our daily lives so that it can make more of an impact and have a lasting effect.
I understand that the mind and brain can be quite complex – imagine how brilliant and majestic the God who created it! As we begin to learn more about the way the brain works, my hope is that you and I together will be able to use this information to help you “be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2).”