Archives: Science and Christianity

By Erin I. Smith, Ph.D.

Research.  

Now that I’ve said the r-word, I want to acknowledge that you, my reader, may be having a particular physiological and psychological reaction. (Note that sweaty palms and racing hearts could be signs of anxiety or affection; my point here is just to note that you may be having a reaction.) Whatever your reaction is, I invite you to take some deep breaths and read on.  

Research refers to a wide variety of practices aimed to systematically investigate questions in the pursuit of answers and (hopefully) understanding. These practices represent an important way of knowing in the world, an important tool to bring to addressing some of the most pressing questions in our culture. The idea that research is useful in knowing is not new. Many in church history (e.g., Justin Martyr, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Wesley) highlighted how the Book of Nature can (and should!) be read alongside the Book of Scripture, as both reveal truth originating in God himself. Thus, for the Christian, reading the Book of Nature, as revealed through emerging research, alongside and through the lens of the Book of Scripture is not just an opportunity for a robust understanding of reality (though this is an important consequence), it affords significant opportunity to leverage ancient Biblical wisdom in the language of modern science for the glory of God’s name in our world.  

For me, this is an essential starting point for any conversation about research, especially research at California Baptist University, a distinctly Christian University committed to the Great Commission. Because I believe that the gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection—is world changing, I am committed to using all tools provided to me by God to share this news. As the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, “…I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Cor. 9:22-23). Although research symbols like the beakers found in a modern chemistry lab would not exist for nearly two millennia after Paul’s letter, I think that today Paul might include speaking the language of science and research in his exhortation if opening the Book of Nature would provide a means to engage and share the Book of Scripture.  

Although I could say more about the importance and rationale of engaging science faithfully as Christians (and I have, in small part, in this publication), I want to move from general statements about “Christians engaging research” to specific statements about the culture of research at California Baptist University. 

For faculty who have been around CBU for a while, it will not be surprising that a culture of research is a consistent priority. To this end, in 2019, the University celebrated and dedicated a momentous achievement: the announcement of a new endowed professorship, the Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Research. In October 2021, I had the honor of being appointed into this professorship. However, it’s important to note that what makes this endowed professorship particularly unique is that rather than being a role to support a single person’s research agenda, this role is dedicated to the elevation and support of faculty research across CBU’s many schools and colleges. In other words, I have the distinct privilege of supporting, equipping, and elevating the incredible and diverse research that is ongoing and developing at CBU. This is truly a privilege given what I’ve already said about research: that it can be a God-given tool to address critical issues in our community and world for the glory of God’s name and kingdom.  

I share this with you as a preamble to an invitation for you. In my role, one of my primary goals is to help CBU faculty develop, conduct, and finish research more successfully. This is not just about lines on vitas, nor is this in competition with our steadfast commitment to delivering excellent educational experiences for students. This is about leaning into our God-given calling and unique position at California Baptist University to engage research in a way that enhances our educational mission and speaks God’s truth into complex problems. For me to support you in this journey, I need to hear from you. What kinds of research do you do? What do you feel called to do? What are your barriers to engaging research? What kinds of supports do you need? This is my first invitation to you. I have set up several small group conversations for me to ask these questions so that I might hear from you, the researchers I aim to support, as to how I might best support you. I would love to listen and learn of your experiences, hesitations, victories, and challenges in research, and ideas you might have to help you thrive in this capacity. Please consider signing up here to participate in the spring, 2022 semester. 

A second, but related invitation, is to participate in a faculty learning community I am leading in the spring 2022 semester. Across 6 meetings, we will meet to discuss Robert S. Tyan and Avidan Milevsky’s (2016) text Launching a Successful Research Program at a Teaching University. I am offering this group twice, in hopes that one of the times might work in your schedule. This is a great opportunity for individuals who are looking to get started to wade into the research waters alongside others looking to do the same. This learning community aims to help participants identify common barriers to engaging research at teaching institutions like CBU and equip them with tools and resources to overcome these barriers. I would encourage you to make time for this. You can sign up here.  

If any of this has piqued your interest, I would encourage you to sign up for these opportunities, to follow up with me, and to start a conversation. We are all in different places—and that’s okay! I hope that in the coming months and years, I will have the privilege of meeting you wherever you are to support and extend the research that God has entrusted you with. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Sophia Mun & Russ Bermejo

This is my second year at CBU. The thing that I love most working at CBU is that I am able to do faith integration in classrooms. One day in my first year, I got curious if I could measure the effectiveness of the faith integration I was doing in my classrooms. This led Professor Bermejo and I to start a small research project. In this blog, we would like to briefly share the process of this research and what we have found so far.  

Identify the General Study Idea

The integration of faith and learning is a key feature of Christian higher education. Faculty members in Christian institutions are encouraged to foster integration between students’ understanding of subjects and their faith. At CBU, professors integrate the “Core 4” outcomes in their course instruction so students are (1) academically prepared, (2) Biblically rooted, (3) globally minded, and (4) equipped to serve. Our shared vision of being “unapologetically Christian and academic rigorous” is challenging and inspiring. But how can we assess the effectiveness of faith integration in our classrooms?  

Choose the Research Topic  

First of all, we wanted to see whether our faith integration work in classrooms has an impact on the extent to which students work to integrate their faith with their discipline/class. Second, we also wanted to identify the factors contributing to student faith integration. The purpose of this project was to determine whether and how taking a class in a Christian institution predicts changes in students’ faith integration. Research questions of this project were “Is there any changes in the degree to which students engage in faith integration at the beginning and the end of semester?” And “What factors promote changes?”  

Formulate Plan and Methodology 

Professor Bermejo and I created an online survey to measure basic demographic information and student faith integration. Student faith integration was measured at Time 1 (beginning of semester) and Time 2 (end of semester) using the Psychology and Faith Integration (Psy-FI) Scale (Collison et al., 2019). The scale contains 27 items (e.g., “I often think about how psychology and my faith relate to each other.”) with response options ranging from 1 (Disagree strongly) to 6 (Agree Strongly). Changes in student faith integration were calculated by subtracting student faith integration Time 1 from Time 2. Other variables were also included as possible contributing factors: school year, the course they were taking (BEH or PSY), experience of taking psychology classes, instructor (Professor B. or M.), and spirituality (Instructor & Self).   

Collet Data  

The data was collected in 6 classrooms (PSY & BEH courses) in 2020 fall semester. Longitudinal data was collected from a sample of 161 students (students took the same survey twice at the beginning and the end of semester). The survey was distributed and data was collected via Qualtrics.  

Analyze Data & Present Findings   

We conducted a hierarchical multiple regression analysis to explore contributing factors in changes in student faith integration. Three significant predictors were found: student spirituality, experience of taking psychology classes, and students’ prior faith integration (Time 1, beginning of semester).  Regarding experience of taking psychology classes, we found that students who had not taken a psychology class before showed increases in the degree to which student engage in their faith integration. In addition, students with low faith integration at Time 1 reported increases in faith integration at the end of the semester. Overall, our results demonstrate that faith integration in our classrooms was promoted especially for students with lack of exposure to faith integration in lower-level courses and students with low prior faith integration.  

Summary & Discussion 

Our results show effects of faith integration in classrooms vary depending on students’ experiences and existing levels of faith integration. In summary, we found that faith integration in classrooms may not benefit all students in the degree to which student engage in faith integration. It should be attuned to differences among students in their experience and their prior level of faith integration (e.g., applying different approaches of faith integration to lower level and upper-level classes). 

References 

Collison, B., Eck, B. E., Edwards, J. M., & Allen, E. C. (2019). The Psy-FI Scale: A Measure of Psychology and Faith Integration. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 38(2), 67–80.  

Want to play a game of “never have I ever?” Here goes. Never have I ever been told to study basic brain functions when I want to know how to grow in my spiritual life. Is that shocking to you? Probably not.

And yet, I wholeheartedly (or, whole brain-edly) believe that how we relate to God changes with a basic understanding of how the brain creates neural networks as a function of our experience. Before I get to that specific claim, let me back up a bit.

Your brain is responsible for your engagement with the world. What you see, feel, think, remember, and do is all contingent on your brain processing. Engaging in the world—whether it be zoned out in front of the 1,732^nd TikTok video for the day or reciting Shakespeare in Stamps Courtyard—changes your brain. Your brain is constantly changing in response to huge amounts of incoming information from the external world. Many of these changes are temporary. Consider this example: you read something from a textbook, think you know it, and then fail to remember it come test time. What happened? The temporary brain change from the reading did not result in long-term reorganization/creation of the neural networks for the memory of the thing you read; that’s what happened. What studying does (especially effective studying), is that it takes that temporary brain change and slowly makes it permanent. An analogy I like to use is a comparison to creating a path through a forest. At first, there is no path. But, if you travel the same path every day, cutting away obstructive branches, compacting the ground beneath your feet, eventually a path is born. Think of the creation of neural connections in your brain as doing the same thing¹. With enough practice, the pathway is born and the brain change is more than temporary.

William James, a pioneer of early psychology, wrote that “my experience is what I agree to attend to.” If we think about this from a brain-based perspective, this is true because what we attend is the thing that is ultimately burned into our ever-forming neural circuitry. Attention changes what happens in our brain (something called neuromodulation); it is the gate keeper to neural network activation and creation.

So, when Scriptures tell us to think on what is true, honorable, pure, lovely, and good, to think on what is excellent and worthy of praise in Philippians 4:8, this is not just a platitude to “think happy thoughts.” I think that Paul is pointing us to focus on these things because what we pay attention to changes us. Luke 6:43-45 records Jesus teaching that we are recognized by our fruit, fruit that is the overflow of our hearts. He says that a good man brings good things stored out of his heart whereas an evil man brings forth the evil stored in his heart. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So, what does this have to do with the neuroscience of attention? As I see it: everything.

The objects of our attention cause brain change. These brain changes reflect and represent the objects of our attention in the form of new neural networks. These neural networks, like the well-travelled path through the forest, work to increase the ease of which our brain can assess and make sense of an object of attention. In the forest, the path makes it easier to access the destination of the path within the forest. In our brains, the neural networks make it easier to remember and think about the object of our attention. So, when you look at your best friend’s face, you recognize them because the neural network that is the memory of their face (created from previous attention) is activated (the path is “travelled”).

Yet, when the objects of our attention cause brain change, it’s not just that we now “have a new memory.” It is something significantly more meaningful. That neural network now serves as a foundational network when your brain is trying to make sense of new information. Your brain is making constant calculations about what you will like, what you should say, what you might feel based on your previous experiences recorded in neural networks. Attention in and to these previous experiences is what creates these networks. Thus, every new experience we have is shaped, influenced, and interpreted through the lens of the neural networks created from our previous attention. This serves as the foundation for meaning making; our pre-existing beliefs, knowledge, expectations, desires (etc.) that we use to make sense of what is in front of us is, in part, driven by what we’ve previously attended to. Said directly, the brain we are creating today (out of our attention) is the filter through which we will make sense of all future experiences.

Researchers refer to the influence of what is already present in our heads on the meaning-making process of the moment as a “top-down influence.” This is how two people can look at the exact same stimuli and see different things. Remember the dress? Or Laurel/Yanni? These are all so interesting (and frustrating) because they illustrate the incredible power of top-down influences in how we make sense of the world. What we previously paid attention to shapes our brain to make sense of whatever might come next. This is efficient, but there are important real-world implications. This includes implications for our spiritual life because when we focus our attention on what is less than what we have been commanded to in Scripture, it has long-lasting implications for how we subsequently direct our attention and interpret the objects of that attention.

So, how we spend our time – the focus of our attention – matters beyond the individual moment of attention. We carry in our brains a representation of our previous attention history that serves as a filter for all subsequent interactions in the world. 

This is challenging, to be sure. But, importantly, we also worship a God of abounding grace. Neuroscience bears this out as well in a concept known as neuroplasticity. When we choose to re-direct our attention toward what is good, right, and true we, over time, change our brain’s neural networks, a change that is the direct result of the steadfast re-direction of attention. 

Dallas Willard wrote that “God does not ordinarily compete for our attention.” If attention is the gateway to the harvest of our heart, I think neuroscience research requires that we seriously ask about the objects of our attention. This is not a call to “look to the bright side of things” or to find that silver lining. I don’t believe that Scriptures call us to bury our heads in the sand instead of confronting problems. And yet, when we encounter problems or challenges, how do we comport ourselves in a manner fitting to our calling? What and to whom do we attend; how do we cultivate the daily habits and neural networks that produce that pleasing aroma of a life lived for Christ? 

One reason these questions may be challenging is that they make our small minutes meaningful. The good or the evil in our hearts is not harvested all at once, but rather developed over small, daily habits, habits all starting with our attention. These daily habits might not feel like they are doing much but they are slowly, and powerfully, changing our brains—brains out of which our behaviors flow.  

There is always data coming into and being processed by your incredible brain, even if you are not consciously aware of it. From a brain-based perspective, we are always attending to something. So, here’s the big question for you: what are you paying attention to? 

Footnote: 

1. The nerve cells in the brain are called neurons. They are the building blocks of the nervous system and, when they network together (neural networks), they form the foundation of all human functions ranging from the activation required to blink to the experience of love or misery. Your brain, through these neural connections and networks, carries a physical representation of your subjective, lived experience. 

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A version of this blog was translated into Spanish and published at Coalicion por el Evangelio.

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I have been thinking a lot about stillness over these past few months. The louder culture yells, it seems, the more desperately I desire a deep quietude of the soul.

In one version of this blog, I examined this desire for quiet considering Biblical proclamations to be still before the Lord (e.g., Psalm 37:7). I spent time thinking through how Biblical stillness does not mean we do nothing as stillness before God is not the same as “unplugging” in the modern call for self-care. No, I believe that stillness before the Lord is more like Jesus’ explanation of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27), giving space to prepare us to act consistent with the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:36-40). Because I am not a theologian, I was planning to connect this to mindfulness; mindfulness is a connection to the present, a means to give us eyes to see and a willingness to act toward justice.

And yet, that is not what this blog is about. I still think there is something to those ideas but the more I wrote the more I realized those ideas were not the primary thoughts about stillness swirling around in my head. My current desire for stillness is less about mindfulness and more about humility. Humility as the calm amid cultural storms.

As a psychologist, I am interested in thinking about humility from a scientific perspective. This means we need to start with measurement. Measuring humility is a notoriously difficult task. How do you measure whether someone is humble? If you ask participants “How much do you agree with this statement? I am a humble person,” how should you interpret the results? Someone who is legitimately humble should agree, right? But in agreeing, are they somehow less humble? What about the truly arrogant person who is the “most humble of everyone” in their own eyes? It’s a thorny issue, one that has garnered quite a bit of research lately.

One of the more recent psychological definitions of humility comes from Worthington et al. (2017). A humble person is defined as one who is other-oriented, modest (not self-promoting), and someone who accurately represents themselves. So, if I have three gold medals earned in underwater basket-weaving world championships, it would not make me arrogant to accurately portray my expertise in this time-honored tradition. However, the other elements of humility would require that I do so in a way that is not self-aggrandizing and in a way that keeps others as my focal point. (i.e., “Friend, I see that you keep losing your car keys. I have developed some skill in underwater basket weaving. Would it serve you well if I made you a basket to store your keys?”)

In this article, several empirically-supported practices for developing humility are described along with some key reasons why we might want to develop more humility. Humility, it turns out, is a boon to mental well-being. For example, humble people tend to better navigate life’s stresses and challenges. They also tend to exhibit other traits and practices that also have a host of positive benefits—gratitude, generosity, prosocial behavior, among others. If you stop to think about it, some of this might make sense. These kinds of practices are built into the definition of humility. If we are not so focused on ourselves, but wondering how we can serve others, these practices naturally follow. Moreover, humility shows its benefits even in places where we might wonder if a bit of self-promotion might be beneficial. Consider CEOs. As the leaders of their company, we might think that a little bit of “look at me, I’m leading and I’m awesome” might not be so bad. And yet, research shows that humble CEOs are better leaders and more innovative than less humble CEOs.

I think a great deal of the chaos in our culture might be attenuated with a bit more humility. But even this statement needs some additional explanation as Worthington et al. (as well as other researchers) distinguish between general humility (as described above) and more specific instantiations of humility. One of my favorite types of humility is intellectual humility. (Note: favorite doesn’t mean it’s easy or that I’m somehow the most awesome of this kind of humility…)

Individuals who are intellectually humble are willing to admit that they might be wrong and that there are things they don’t know. (Hi, my name is Erin and there is a whole lot of things that I don’t know.) Intellectually humble individuals will change their beliefs when presented with evidence that their beliefs are wrong. (This one is harder for me.) According to this study, intellectually humble people tend to be curious, open to new ideas, and reflective. They are willing (and able) to sit in the “gray zones,” where things are not known with certainty (which, if we were honest, describes most of the things we “know”).

One might look at this list and think, “so, intellectually humble people must not have opinions; they must just appease and agree with whatever group they are in, right?” No. Intellectually humble people hold beliefs with the same kinds of convictions as other people, they just do so with more nuance, recognizing (or at least being open to someone else’s recognition) the limits of what they know. This means that, when there is high quality and robust evidence supporting their beliefs, an intellectually humble person will hold to their belief; their beliefs do not change with the wind. But they will do so in a way that serves others (i.e., listening, engaging, and calling others to the whole scope of the evidence on an issue) and is authentically open to evaluating new evidence that might not be consistent with their beliefs.

One of the great tensions Jesus modeled can be seen in intellectual humility. As Christians, we are to be thoughtful, to have reasons for our beliefs (e.g., 1 Peter 3:15), but these reasons are not to be wielded as weapons to interfere with the greatest commandment, to love God and love others (Matthew 22:36-40). On the flip side, loving others does not mean that “all opinions are equal” or that “everyone can believe what they want,” developing their own truths (or so-called ‘alternative facts’). The intellectually humble hold their beliefs with reason and conviction, with a willingness to re-evaluate with evidence, and with the goal of being a better neighbor (not beating their neighbor with their facts). We are called to something more than this. We are called to speak truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Let me now try to circle back to the peace—the stillness—that my heart craves. As I reflect on the quality and tone of conversations in our culture in this present moment, I am deeply aware of the lack of humility (generally) and intellectual humility (specifically). Nuance does not make good click bait and we are often too hurried for the depth of thinking that marks intellectual humility. I cannot change culture on my own, but I can—with God’s help—search my heart (Psalm 139:23-24). I can commit to a process of holding beliefs with a sense of curiosity and openness, to admitting that I might be wrong. I can confess my arrogance and turn my eyes toward others (Philippians 2:4), accurately, and modestly, portraying and leveraging my strengths for the benefit of my neighbor, always learning, always loving. This is difficult, but this is part of my calling. If you feel this is part of your calling as well, a good starting place is an open and honest acknowledgement that what we believe now is most likely a combination of things that are true and things that are false and that we can—and should—allow our minds to be changed with new evidence (empirical, revelation, tradition, community, experience, etc.).

I desire stillness. More specifically, I desire stillness to produce clarity. May the weight of glory bring humility and foster a stillness in my soul to distill culture’s competing shouts about truth as I steadfastly search the cloudy mirror for Jesus.

UPDATE: After this blog posted, I came across this quote from Andrew Murray in his book, Humility. I thought it worth sharing here, relative to the connection between quietude and humility:

Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.

“The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out,” (Proverbs 18:15).

Welcome to the inaugural post for the Center for the Study of Human Behavior (CSHB) blog! I am thrilled to have you join us in this digital space, where we can come together as a community of individuals interested in acquiring and extending our knowledge with the use of the empirical and theoretical tools of research. It is my hope as the Director of Research for the CSHB that the resources offered by the CSHB can support, extend and enhance your research whether you are just beginning or are a seasoned veteran to the research process.

As a research psychologist, I am deeply committed to the methods of science; I believe they offer valuable tools essential to distinguishing reality from perception. As a Christian, I am deeply committed to the truth of Scripture and the value of the Christian tradition in engaging the teachings of Jesus Christ in the 21^st century. For me, research is not just about knowledge, and the teachings of Jesus Christ are not just about belief; for me, both of these things come together as critical elements in my epistemological toolkit. Science, Scripture and the Christian tradition are three tools that I leverage as I seek to live a life worthy of my calling, to pursue truth and to better understand and engage with our Creator.

Here in this blog you will see snapshots of some of the research conducted through the CSHB. You will also hear stories of researchers bringing their identities as scientists and Christians together in the research process. You will read about innovative research happening across the globe and have an opportunity to engage in conversations about the implications. You may even find that you want to author a blog post to share about your own research, research you have read about, or your personal journey as a researcher. (Look for a future blog post for details on how to become a CSHB blog contributor!)

The CSHB website hosts this blog, and I encourage you to explore and engage with the content on the website. There is a lot of information complied there for you to enhance your skills, wherever you are in your research journey. (And, to be sure, it is a journey!) If you have suggestions for how to improve the website or suggestions for materials, resources or workshops that you would like to see in the future, please don’t hesitate to contact us.We are here to support your work. Let us know how we are doing that well or how we can do that better!

In fact, to encourage that exploration, I want to give you some CSHB-sponsored swag. Leave a comment below and tell us what you think of our new website. Want more entries while also ensuring that you are staying up-to-date on our research happenings? Subscribe to our newsletter here for occasional updates on CSHB happenings. (Don’t worry, we won’t spam your inbox.) All comments and newsletter subscriptions before September 25 will be entered into our raffle; winners will be drawn September 27, 2018! (Raffles only for current CBU students.)

 

Happy Researching,

Erin I. Smith, Ph.D.

Director of Research, Center for the Study of Human Behavior

cshb@calbaptist.edu