Attaching to God: Neuroscience-informed Spiritual Formation – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The first Christians were weird. Just how weird is often lost on us today. The first Christians believed unusual things, worshiped God in strange ways, and lived a unique lifestyle. Many in the ancient world saw it as bizarre, even dangerous, but some found this new religion attractive and compelling

Today we are interviewing Dr. Nijay K. Gupta. He is the Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. He is cohost of the Slow Theology podcast, and has written numerous books, including Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church, and recently, Strange Religion How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling.

Chapters: 
00:53 Meet Nijay Gupta: Author and Scholar
01:31 Origins of 'Strange Religion'
05:19 The Concept of Believers
06:56 Roman Society and the Christian Challenge
16:39 Household of Faith: Early Christian Practices
24:35 The Radical Message of God's Love
31:55 Conclusion and Upcoming Works

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

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Everyone is talking about slowing down, slow food, a slow life. I have friends who host the “Slow Theology” podcast.

But is going slow the best to understand the SOUL? (What does that even mean?)

Recently, people like Jim Wilder have been specifically accused to talking too much about the brain, and not even about the soul. So much so that some believe Jim doesn't even believe in the soul.

(And Jim is a speaker at the Attaching to God Summit, talking about "Empathy, Enemy Mode, and Engaging Gen Z"...so register for free).  

We have a long conversation, attempting to set the record straight about an overly philosophical-cognitivist view of the soul (the slow soul), and how that view needs to catch up to all the really fast things God has enabled us to do—brain, body, and soul. 

We also talk about how broad and wide the field of neuroscience is, the streams that we pull from (which aren't nearly as reductionistic as some), and how the Bible uses many terms to discuss the spiritual part of us.

Resources: Check Jim's New Growing a More Human Community (3-book series)

• Growing Me: Becoming a Child
• Growing Us: Becoming an Adult
• Growing We the People

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

Stay Connected:

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Research tells us that when people suffer from a mental health crisis, the first person they turn to for help is not a physician, a psychiatrist, or a social worker, but a pastor, a priest, or a minister. Unfortunately, many church leaders are not trained to recognize mental illness and don’t know when to refer someone to a mental health professional. And how do we know the difference between a mental illness and a spiritual issue?

This is what we are talking about with Dr. Matthew Sanford, author of Grace for the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness, and CEO of the Hope and Healing Center in Houston, TX.

Other books by Dr. Stanford: 

• The Biology of Sin: Grace, Hope and Healing for Those Who Feel Trapped
• Madness and Grace: A Practical Guide for Pastoral Care and Serious Mental Illness

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

Stay Connected:

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

Does God hate? Is God emotional? Emotions feel irrational, impulsive, and problematic for God, especially when we think about hate, jealousy, or sorrow. But the truth is the Bible is full of all sorts of stories that express God expressing emotions. This episode focuses particularly on God and the emotion of hate.

Our guest is Dr. David Lamb. He is the MacRae Professor of Old Testament and in 2017 the Dean of the Faculty at Missio Seminary. He is the author of "God Behaving Badly: Is the God of the Old Testament Angry, Sexist and Racist." And more recently has written "The Emotions of God: Making Sense of a God who hates, weeps, and loves." And Dr. Lamb spent twenty years on staff with InterVaristy. 

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

Stay Connected:

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

For many people, sorrow, despair, anxiety, and mental illness are everyday experiences. And while we have tremendous advancements in therapy and psychiatry, the burden of living often comes down to some mundane choices, like "Should I still bother to get out of bed?"

Dr. Alan Noble joins us to talk about life with mental anguish and his book, On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living. We talk about faith and hope in the goodness of life amid the struggles and pain.

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

Stay Connected:

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

How do we help people get their brains back online? Can the Spirit lead us through a process of healing without triggering re-traumatization? And how can we attach more deeply with God?

Guest Stephanie Rossing (Licenced Marriage and Family Therapist) talks about her own journey as a therapist, discovering and receiving training in trauma treatments (EMDR and Dialectical Behavior Therapy), and how she learned to let the Spirit lead treatment and how Immanuel Prayer helps us attach to God more deeply. 

Also, this Advent, check out our book all about Discovering the God Who Wants to Be With Us.

Stephanie Rossing is a therapist specializing in the healing of trauma. She is also passionate about Immanuel Prayer and using embodied practices to help people strengthen intimacy with God. She longs to help people build emotionally healthy communities that thrive in a secure attachment to self, God and others. 

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

Stay Connected:

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

(This and the previous episode are part of a special Thanksgiving Double Feature Rewind of past episodes that are good to revisit in the ups and downs of a holiday)

What is so important about joy? The great commandment is to love God and others, but is joy even more central than that? Where does joy fit in the landscape of political outrage and cynicism, in the seriousness of life today?

We're talking about it. Looking at why joy and love are so connected.

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

Stay Connected:

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

(This and the next episode are part of a special Thanksgiving Double Feature Rewind of past episodes that are good to revisit in the ups and downs of a holiday)

What if the Psalms aren't just old religious poetry, but guideposts for our everyday struggles and wounds? What if the Psalms are a pathway into the presence of God through the all too human emotions of joy, sadness, and even anger?

Join Geoff and Cyd Holsclaw for a conversation with David Taylor, associate professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, as we explore the relevance of the Psalms and his book, Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life.

Together, we unpack the Psalms of Praise and the counterintuitive nature of joy, as well as how to find solace in the presence of those who are glad to be with us amidst life's challenges. Then, we venture into the world of Psalms of Lament, learning how they teach us to name our pain and grant us permission to be honest with God in our prayers and laments. Then we end by talking about the angry Psalms, the imprecatory Psalm.  

As we delve deeper into the life of faith and the Psalms, we discuss their ability to move us beyond our attachment histories and emotions, fostering a more profound connection with God.

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

Stay Connected:

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

We often think that freedom comes through casting off what controls us, and that we need to find our true selves apart from community.  But what if it is the constraints of the spiritual life that set us free? What if it is focused practices in community that lead to the flourishing of individual lives? 

Today we are talking about finding freedom in constraints. 

Our guest today is Jared Patrick Boyd. He is a Vineyard pastor, spiritual director, and Founding Director of the Order of the Common Life, a missional monastic order. Jared is also the author of Finding Freedom in Constraint: Reimagining Spiritual Disciplines as a Communal Way of Life (IVP 2023). 

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

Stay Connected:

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).

When atheists want spirituality, how should the church respond? In a secular age offering a buffet of spiritualities, all focused on the self and personal transformation, how is the Christian view similar or different than these alternative pathways? When everyone is spiritual, but few are religious, what is distinctive about following Jesus? And can I be a mystic without God?

Dr. Andrew Root joins the podcast to talk about the rise in secular mysticism and what it means for the church in the 21st century.

Dr. Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary. He is the author of more than twenty books. Most recently is his The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms: Why Spiritualities without God Fail to Transform Us.

Join the launch team for Landscapes of the Soul by filling out this form (hit the title to buy the book). We need you to propel this book forward. 

Stay Connected:

• Check out our Attaching to God 6-Week Learning Cohort.
• Join the Embodied Faith community to stay connected and get posts, episodes, & resources.
• Support the podcast with a one-time or regular gift (to keep this ad-free without breaking the Holsclaw's bank).