What Your Body Knows About God: How We Are Designed to Connect, Serve and Thrive, By Rob Moll

What Your Body Knows About God

How We Are Designed to Connect, Serve and Thrive

by Rob Moll
Foreword by Michael Card

What Your Body Knows About God
Paperback
  • Length: 217 pages
  • Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.25 in
  • Published: September 26, 2014
  • Imprint: IVP
  • ISBN: 9780830836772
Other Formats:

Have you ever had an experience where you felt particularly aware of God? If God is real, and we are created in God's image, then it makes sense that our minds and bodies would be designed with the perceptive ability to sense and experience God.

Scientists are now discovering ways that our bodies are designed to connect with God. Brain research shows that our brain systems are wired to enable us to have spiritual experiences. The spiritual circuits that are used in prayer or worship are also involved in developing compassion for others. Our bodies have actually been created to love God and serve our neighbors.

Award-winning journalist Rob Moll chronicles the fascinating ways in which our brains and bodies interact with Godand spiritual realities. He reports on neuroscience findings that show how our brains actually change and adapt when engaged in spiritual practices. We live longer, healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives when we cultivate the biological spiritual capacity that puts us in touch with God. God has created our bodies to fulfill the Great Commandment; we are hardwired to commune with God and to have compassion and community with other people.

Moll explores the neuroscience of prayer, how liturgy helps us worship, why loving God causes us to love others, and how a life of love and service leads to the abundant life for which we were created. Just as our physical bodies require exercise to stay healthy, so too can spiritual exercisesand practices revitalize our awareness of God.

Heighten your spiritual senses and discover how you have been designed for physical and spiritual flourishing.

"We have all seen stories and read about recent research that links developments in brain science to religious practice. Rob Moll goes beyond individual studies, merging scientific analysis, biblical teaching, a host of interviews and anecdotal accounts to pen What Your Body Knows About God. In it, Moll draws on the work of neurologists, anthropologists, philosophers, evolutionary and cognitive psychologists, sociologists, and molecular biologists to affirm the orthodox Christian understanding that we are designed to connect with God and others. In the same vein, he effectively demonstrates the power of classic Christian practices to affect change in practitioners, employing scientific discoveries in the field of neuroplasticity, for example, to explain how spiritual disciplines lead to transformation. Moll?s knack for presenting thought-provoking material in an easy-going conversational style makes What Your Body Knows About God a pleasure to read. Further, although replete with scientific information, discussions such as the 'neurological costs' of worship as performance and the transformative benefits of multisensory liturgy leave little doubt that Moll?s concern is practical, not theoretical. As such, it is a must read for pastors, ministers, small group leaders and anyone else concerned with the transformation of people."Miles S. Mullin II, associate professor of church history, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
"The theologian Henri de Lubac once said that human beings were created with a natural desire for the supernatural. This marvelous, accessible book by Rob Moll picks up on this conviction brilliantly, inviting us to embrace our bodies as the gifts they are. The incarnate God meets us in our bodies and brains. An excellent exposition of the bodily basis of discipleship."James K. A. Smith, professor of philosophy, Calvin College, author of Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works
"Human biology may have lulled me to sleep in college, but What Your Body Knows About God kept me riveted and up way too late as Moll explores the fascinating connections between the physical and spiritual, the material and the mystical. A must read!"Caryn Rivadeneira, author of Broke; co-host and producer, Midday Connection, Moody Radio
"The Great Commandments and the Great Commission are at the core of our spiritual lives. In this book my friend, Rob Moll, tells a fascinating story of how God wired these commands into our very biology. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to dig deeper into their spiritual life."Richard Stearns, president, World Vision/US; author of The Hole in Our Gospel and Unfinished
"What Your Body Knows About God evokes wonder and worship as Moll skillfully guides the reader through the astonishing complexity of bodies and minds and how human beings relate to one another—and to God. A must-read for those curious about spirituality and science, and the relationship between the two."Rachel Marie Stone, author of Eat With Joy: Redeeming God's Gift of Food
"Body or soul? Brain or spirit? In this carefully researched, engaging book, Rob Moll shows how biblical Christianity brings together the parts of the human we too often divide against each other. Thank God, he has made us for glory that extends to the tips of our toes and even to our neural pathways. Read this and let your whole self rejoice."Katelyn Beaty, managing editor, Christianity Today magazine
"It's always exciting a read to a book whose core insight makes such intuitive sense but whose implications have gone underexplored. Rob Moll's work is engrossing and informative, and you can act on it right away. And at the book's heart is a really encouraging message grounded in solid research: when you look at your body closely, you'll find out that you're designed to be who you really want to be."Patton Dodd, editor in chief, OnFaith
"This book goes behind the genetic curtain to show the intricate and exceptional design within our bodies to provide groundbreaking point—we're not only called to worship, but beautifully wired to do so."Brian Orme, editor, Outreach magazine
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CONTENTS

Foreword by Michael Card
Introduction: Created for Communion
Part 1: Spiritual Bodies
1. This is Your Brain on God
2. Born Connectors
3. Monkey See, Monkey Do
4. Life Together
5. Wired forIntimacy
6. A Path Through Suffering
Part 2: Spiritual Growth
7. Practicing the Disciplines
8. Worship: Engaging the Senses
9. Acts of Service
Part 3: It Works!
10. Neuro-transformation
11. The Great Physician
12. Going Public with the Good Life
Acknowledgments
Notes
About the Author

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Rob Moll

Rob Moll (1977-2019) was an award-winning journalist and communications professional. His career included roles as an editor for Christianity Today, communications officer for World Vision, and director of business operations for EventideAsset Management. His writing appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Books and Culture, and Leadership. He was also the author of What Your Body Knows About God.