Neuroscience and the Person: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action

This collection of twenty-one research papers is the result of the fourth of five international research conferences co-sponsored by the Vatican Observatory in Rome and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. The articles explore the creative interaction among the cognitive neurosciences, philosophy, and theology. The volume begins by pairing ‘snapshots’ of neuroscientific research with biblical and philosophical/theological accounts of human nature to set the poles between which the volume’s dialogue proceeds. Themes include bridges between neuroscience and philosophy; neuroscience and Christian anthropology; and contrasting reflections on the question of whether a theistic account is needed to make sense of human nature.

Contents:

Arbib, Michael A. “Towards a Neuroscience of the Person."

Arbib, Michael A. “Crusoe’s Brain: Of Solitude and Society."

Barbour, Ian. “Neuroscience, Artificial Intelligence, and Human Nature: Theological and Philosophical Reflections."

Brothers, Leslie A. “A Neuroscientific Perspective on Human Sociality."

Clayton, Philip, “Neuroscience, the Person, and God: An Emergentist Account."

Ellis, George F. R. “Intimations of Transcendence: Relations of the Mind to God."

Green, Joel B. “Restoring the Human Person: New Testament Voices for a Wholistic and Social Anthropology."

Hagoort, Peter “The Uniquely Human Capacity for Language Communication: From POPE to [po:p] in Half a Second."

Happel, Stephen “The Soul and Neuroscience: Possibilities for Divine Action."

Jeannerod, Marc. ”The Cognitive Way to Action."

Jeannerod, Marc “Are There Limits to the Naturalization of Mental States?"

Kerr, Fergus. “The Modern Philosophy of Self in Recent Theology."

LeDoux, Joseph E. “Emotions: How I’ve Looked for Them in the Brain."

LeDoux, Joseph E. “Emotions: A View through the Brain."

Meyering, Theo C. “Mind Matters: Physicalism and the Autonomy of the Person."

Murphy, Nancey. “Supervenience and the Downward Efficacy of the Mental: A Nonreductive Physicalist Account of Human Action."

Peacocke, Arthur. “The Sound of Sheer Silence: How Does God Communicate with Humanity?"

Peters, Ted. “Resurrection of the Very Embodied Soul?"

Stoeger, William R., S.J. “The Mind-Brain Problem, the Laws of Nature, and Constitutive Relationships."

Watts, Fraser. “Cognitive Neuroscience and Religious Consciousness.”

Wildman, Wesley J. and Leslie A. Brothers. “A Neuropsychological-Semiotic Model of Religious Experiences."

Chapter Summaries