We are exploring healing at our church this Lenten season. Part of the challenge is how to address all the dimensions of the healing experience. I was struck by the reports of all the methods - soups, music, walks, silence, cards, touch, visits, prayer and words of comfort. It reminded me that healing is mediated by our senses - seeing, hearing, touch, smell, taste and our deeper understanding of these senses.
Those senses and reports of healing seem to somehow integrate these sensations into the deeper understanding we label as healing. As communities, we ascribe meaning to our experiences that we celebrate together. This narrative description is finding support in neurobiology in the new field of neurotheology.
For me, the mystery is still present even when we are beginning to understand some of the biologic mechanisms. What is amazing to me is that all of the senses are part of these healing experiences.
Thanks be to God for our healing senses!
Marvin
References
Hagerty, B. B. (2010). Fingerprints of God: What Science Is Learning About the Brain and Spiritual Experience (Reprint ed.). Riverhead Trade
Miller, L. (2021). The Awakened Brain. Random House.
Newberg, A.B. (2023) Neurotheology: Making Sense of the Brain and Religious Experiences
https://biologos.org/articles/neurotheology-making-sense-of-the-brain-and-religious-experiences
Hyperscanning & Human Connection: Synchronization and the Third Brain with Biologist Nicolás Hinrichs (2025)
https://loveandphilosophy.com/beyond-dichotomy-podcast/interbrain-synchrony-and-human-connection#:~:text=Nico specializes in something called,being in conversation with words.
Newberg, A.B. Neurotheology: (2025) Practical Applications with Regard to Integrative Psychiatry. Curr Psychiatry Rep 27, 105–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-024-01584-3
Photo:
DiBiase, R. (2017) The Simplest of Remedies: Rediscovering the Experience of Healing
