Habits of Theological Reason in Spiritual Formation

Spiritual formation of theological reason can benefit from a gradually increasing understanding of the human person driven in part by scientific advances in investigating the human brain and cognition. As cognitive neuroscientists discover the biological foundations of mental processing, those findings that currently inform psychological categories of perception, problem solving, learning, memory, and language comprehension and generation can begin informing the theological category of reason. As a step toward incorporating contemporary scientific findings into theological, nonreductive models of the human person, the current investigation revisits Thomas Aquinas' concept of habits and the pseudo-Dionysian schema of formation to demonstrate how a scientifically plausible model of graced interpretive habits can inform the development of theological reason within a participatory relationship with Mystery. Given a contemporary understanding of the mind, how does one develop the capacity for theological reason?

Several levels of theories and models are needed to characterize theological reason ranging from the occasionally borderline mystical through language, culture, mental processing, and brain function to their molecular foundations, and each reduction would explain some aspects in greater detail while losing some of that level's holistic ramifications. However, a carefully selected series of theories can increase the knowledge of reason gained while decreasing the information lost during the reductive mappings. To minimize reductionistic loss across multiple disciplines requires a coherent philosophical framework by which one understands each level's theories and models. For the formation of theological reason, the process of developing "habits" (classically, habitus) is an effective and fruitful category upon which to build. Theological reason is characterized as building theological habits of interpretation, and the formation of theological habits coheres with the development of behavioral, cognitive, and other psychological habits. It may also depend upon some of the neurobiological processes underlying habituation, learning, and memory formation.

Reinterpreting habitus within a contemporary scientific understanding of the human person furthers an ecumenical approach to spiritual formation while retaining the valuable contributions of Aristotelian and Neoplatonic thought throughout the history of Western spirituality. Using habits as a foundational construct, one can define theological reason as a spiritual practice where one forms interpretive habits to know theological loci, such as God or Christ. In particular, an Orthodox Christian understanding of Mystery serves as a test case to demonstrate the benefits of modeling religious concepts in terms of tradition-mediated, interpretive habits rather than essences or arbitrary social constructions.

Developing theological constructs that incorporate scientific findings also enables directed empirical study of those constructs. Skills like juggling or driving a London taxicab sufficiently change brain function such that anatomical differences are apparent compared to novices in those areas. Brain scans (fMRI imaging) of Buddhist monks (and others) have found empirical differences compared with novice meditators.¹ Directing scientific studies to examine theologically refined models may yield deeper insights into human dimensions of spiritual formation and theological reason as well as lay a foundation to pursue further empirical theological investigations.

A model of interpretative habits coheres with contemporary findings of cognitive neuroscience that identify the multimodal, plastic, distributed brain processes underlying mental reasoning processes. Although more physicalist or systemic models may better satisfy reductionist or integrative research agendas, respectively, theologians working to incorporate contemporary science into categories typically studied using methods from the humanities are not limited to scientific research categories previously developed without social scientific or philosophic input. Selecting models for theological use must meet most of the requirements for scientific model development, and may substitute broader coherence for reductionist simplicity as well as methodological fruitfulness for experimental potency. Interpretive habits model cognitive processes of theological reason in a way that supports ecumenical investigation of spiritual formation within a broad theological context. This article focuses on how interpretive habits can model the spiritual formation of theological reason with respect to communally defined loci such as Mystery.

Despite significant and often heated debates concerning differing Christian views on justification, sanctification, deification (theosis), humanity's natural moral state, and the role of grace in salvation, spiritual formation across major Christian traditions likely share a core set of developmental processes. As psychologists and neuroscientists develop a deeper understanding of those developmental processes, scholars of...