A Short Bibliographic Introduction on Neurological Studies and Apologetics

By on Jan 12, 2010 in Christian Neurophilosophy

Excerpts from the mailbag:

…And because of the naturalistic worldview of the majority in my country (France, be merciful if my english is not fine…) or through the web, debate about the brain/mind relation arrived quite often. So, several times it crossed my mind that I have to know more about science in that domain.

Since it is when of your research area, do you mind to give me some advices on how developp this knowledge. Keep in mind that I have stopped to read anything serious about science since I was in school (12 years…). So I need to learn the basic vocabulary too. The must would be a small bibliography, with an explanation of why the book is important and the things to look at in it. But I can work, so a simple list would be fine.

Thank you for all that you can do.

-

Thank you so much for your email.

I would begin by reading a few of the introductory books and listening to the lectures (listed below), and then moving on to more focused studies. Keep in mind, there are very few publications addressing the advancements of neuroscience and cognitive psychology from a non-Darwinian, Reformed perspective.

In short, Christian apologetics and theology face a number of new (and old) issues in neurological studies:

1. Identity (Cognitive Psychology): What does it mean to be a “human being”? What is a “person”? What is the “me”? If two people had the same physical brain structure, why and how could there be two persons or two conscious experiences? What is the nature of “first-person” experience? And, how does a human being’s mind relate with imago dei (image of God)? Is there a difference of degree or of quality between animals and image-bearers?

2. Composition (Theological Anthropology): What is the “me”? What is the nature of human beings – immaterial, material, and if so, how do they interact? What view is correct both in and outside Reformed circles: Cartesian substance dualism, Thomistic substance dualism, emergent dualism (mind is product of special organization of matter; like magnet), modified emergent dualism (consciousness but not mind is product of special organization of matter), substantival monism, etc. etc. Moreover, what do the Scriptures teach regarding man’s composition? What is the biblical teaching regarding nephesh, psyche, soma, cardia etc.?

3. Interactionism (Neuroscience and neuropsychology): What is the Scriptural and scientific evidence for interaction between a non-material mind and a material brain? And how do they interact? Do they impact each other, or should we just believe in unilateral parallelism, where one entity is just a mirror image of the other with no actual “interaction”? How is the health of the mind dependent on the health of the brain – and vice versa?

4. Thoughts (Cognition): What are “thoughts” and what is “thinking”? What is responsible for the origin and direction of each, what is the substance of them, and are they material or immaterial? How are “thoughts” really any different than generic “information”? What does the Scripture’s teach regarding thinking and thoughts, and what is held accountable for them? If angels, demons, God, or Satan can affect thoughts and thinking, is there any biological indication of that external/internal (?) influence? What role does language and memory play in cognition? And, (here’s one of my favorites), is there any neurological indication of regeneration? That is, is a spiritual change in the heart of man manifested/associated with a direct biological change in the sinner’s brain?

5. Freewill: What determines the outcome, origin, substance, and function of human thoughts and thinking? Are all thoughts causally determined, or is the “self” or “‘mind” purely volitional – to where we can make “arbitrary” (Moreland, Rae, etc.) decisions? That is, are we (or our minds/soul) a “first-mover”? What does the Scriptures say regarding our responsibility over thoughts – and what does that imply about what is responsible for thoughts? Are all human decisions the product of physical causal chains? Or, is God the only “first-mover,” and only regenerate Christians can make “free” choices?

6. Consciousness: What is “consciousness”? Is it an interface, like a computer driver (software) that allows interactionism? Or is consciousness merely a byproduct of the brain’s composition that is itself the “mind”? Furthermore, how does focused attention within consciousness affect the physical (biological) structure of the brain? What gives rise to first-person experience?

7. Qualia: What is unified “conscious experience”? I can “feel” and “touch” and “taste,” but neuroscience suggests that these are purely subjective (and changeable) experiences in the brain – and yet, cannot be spatially located or identified in the brain. What is it that “smells” and “touches” if neuroscience gives no indication of something tangible?

8. Origin and Death: How is consciousness and the mind dependent upon the health of the brain? Studies (i.e. Parnia) have shown that conscious experience does in fact exist after clinical death – what does this say about the nature of the “soul” or “mind”? Does the Bible teach consciousness after the brain is no longer functional? And, where did consciousness/soul come from? How are curses or spiritual traits passed down from one person to the next (traducianism vs. creationism, etc.)?

9. Neurotheology proper: How does belief in God effect the physical structure of the brain? Is there really a “God-spot” or chemical that generates theism and spiritual beliefs?

10. Quantum Mechanics: Does the brain operate on the level of quantum physics, and if so, how does that radically alter the nature of A) thoughts and cognition, B) consciousness, focused attention, and neuroplasticity, and C) memory and self-identity.

11. Neurolaw and Neuroethics: If certain behaviors (i.e. sexual, physical abuse, etc.) are directly associated with neurological disorders (i.e. brain tumor), how should that affect the decree of justice (e.g. the sentencing of the criminal?) If behavior is directly associated with the unchangeable condition of a person’s brain, how should that effect society (and Christian’s) response towards crime, justice, and discipline?

12. Brain and Music: What is the effect of music on the brain, and how does the brain understand and produce music?

13. Neuroeconomics, the evolution of consciousness, the mind, the brain etc. etc. etc.

I could spend a week compiling resources under each of these questions. But I’ve decided to provide the following selected list (again, I do not endorse the beliefs of any of these books, but merely find them particularly useful).

General Introductions to Main Issues (first-reads)

Minding God by Gregory Peterson (great introduction from Christian scholar, but poor assertions in regards to theistic evolution and Genesis and seriously lacks consistent application of Christian worldview)

The Spiritual Brain by O Leary and Beauregard (rather narrow focus – neurotheology – but good resource for anti-materialism, although leans Buddhist)

The Mind and the Brain by Schwartz and Begley

From Cells to Souls by Malcolm Jeeves (generic Christian perspective)

Matter and Consciousness by Paul Churchland (atheistic reductionist materialism)

What Happens When We Die? by Sam Parnia

The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker (linguistics in cognition)

The Student’s Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience by Jaimie Ward

Short Theological Anthropologies (second-reads)

“The Mind/Body Problem in Biblical Perspective” by Greg Bahnsen (substantival monism)

Minds, Bodies, and Persons by Douglas Groothuis (substance dualism)

The Constituent Elements of Human Nature by Robert Reymond

The Origin, Purpose, and Essence of Man by Herman Bavinck

Creationism or Traducianism by Francis Turretin

The Emergent Self by William Hasker (needs modified theory to distinguish consciousness/mind better, but very provocative insights; unfortunately has many libertarian freewill presuppositions. See triablogue’s review here)

Body and Soul by JP Moreland and Scott Rae (thomistic substance dualism; very poor arguments for neurological libertarian freewill; although does contain a virtually identical systematic-theology argument structure as Bahnsen’s paper for substance dualism in first section)

What Ever Happened to the Soul? and Bodies, Souls, or Spirited Bodies? by Nancey Murphy

Free Lectures (first-listens)

See 3 August 2009: Christian Perspectives on the Soul as well as others relevant.

Lectures from the ground-breaking Mind-Body Symposium (2009, United Nations), which can be downloaded here:

Advanced Introductions (third-reads)

Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: a neurophysical model of mind–brain interaction by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, Henry P. Stapp and Mario Beauregard

The Self and Its Brain by Carl Popper and Sir John Eccles

Inner Presence by Antti Revonsuo

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind

Philosophy of Mind by David Chalmers

The Immaterial Self by John Foster

The Volitional Brain by Freeman, Libet, and Sutherland

Buy any used book on general neuroscience (new ones will be out of date by tomorrow, so don’t bother).

Debates

Blog war between Steven Novella (materialist atheist neurologist and President of New England Skeptic Society) and Michael Egnor (Christian neurosurgeon and blogger for Discovery Institute). This debate is highly recommended, and can be downloaded here (almost a 1/4 million words).

My Daily Blog Reads on Neurological Studies

This should be a helpful introduction. Lord willing, I’ll be writing on this subject from a non-Darwinian, Reformed perspective in the future.

(Don’t forget to donate books to RealApologetics.org from this list on neurological studies; or just look at the list for a longer bibliography!).

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