Attaching to God: Neuroscience-informed Spiritual Formation

While modern psychiatry has improved many patients’ quality of life, it falls short in addressing their relational and spiritual needs? Can we draw on theological wisdom and scientific evidence to reframe our understanding of mental health care?  Dr. Warren Kinghorn is a psychiatrist and theological ethicist whose work centers on the role of religious communities in caring for persons with mental...

"Freedom appears very nearly the only value about which people still agree unanimously," says Jacques Philippe in his little book, Interior Freedom . But how does freedom connect to happiness , love , and our life with God and others ?   These are the questions this little firecracker of a book examines, and that we talk about in this two-part series.  We look at the difference between &...

Instead of pretending to have it all together or insisting that you’re the problem, do you long to see more Christian leaders be honest about their own faith struggles? What benefit could there be to having a front-row seat to the moments that leaders choose to trust in God, even when it’s hard to believe? Today we have Mandy Smith , pastor and award-winning author and speaker—and also a great fri...

In a world where mental health issues and loneliness are at an all-time high, it’s more important than ever to find ways to cultivate joy, community, and meaning in our lives. But how exactly do you do that? Maybe we need to turn outward rather than inward for answers. That's what we are talking about with Dr. Richard Beck. Dr. Richard Beck is a professor of psychology at Abilene Christian Un...

Like many of us, you carry a weight of buried pain. You feel secretly fractured within. There’s a constant churn of unprocessed feelings of shame, anger, grief, or loneliness. But it doesn’t have to be this way.   Chuck DeGroat is the Professor of Counseling and Christian Spirituality and Executive Director of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Western Theological Seminary Holland MI...

The first Christians were weird. Just how weird is often lost on us today. The first Christians believed unusual things, worshiped God in strange ways, and lived a unique lifestyle. Many in the ancient world saw it as bizarre, even dangerous, but some found this new religion attractive and compelling Today we are interviewing Dr. Nijay K. Gupta. He is the Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testamen...

Everyone is talking about slowing down, slow food, a slow life. I have friends who host the “Slow Theology” podcast. But is going slow the best to understand the SOUL? ( What does that even mean? ) Recently, people like Jim Wilder have been specifically accused to talking too much about the brain, and not even about the soul. So much so that some believe Jim doesn't even believe in the soul....

"Freedom appears very nearly the only value about which people still agree unanimously," says Jacques Philippe in his little book, Interior Freedom . But how does freedom connect to happiness , love , and our life with God and others ?   These are the questions this little firecracker of a book examines, and that we talk about in this two-part series.  We look at the difference between &...

Geoff and Cyd talk about the impact of reading Why I Believe: A Psychologist's Thoughts on Suffering, Miracles, Science, and Faith , by Dr. Henry Cloud, specifically... the place of miracles and healing in mental health concerns,  how encountering God often precedes evidence for God, and, the power of open systems and God at work in the world.  From the book's blurb: "World-renowned...

Why do kids climb trees, run really fast, and spin until they fall over? What is the benefit of risky play? And what does that have to do with attaching to God and our spiritual life? In this episode, we look at the research regarding play and how it connects to attaching to God. Baggage Claim : Don't miss the new segment where we finish by claiming some overproductive tendencies we share.  R...

Emmanuel—God with us. We have heard this promise of God’s presence. But might our attachment wounds skew, distort, or hinder us from embracing this reality? Do we live as slaves to our attachment strategies rather than as beloved children of God? And how can we learn to do something different in our spiritual lives? Summer Joy Gross is an Anglican priest, retreat leader, and spiritual director who...

There is an innate need in all of us to know that there is something more beautiful than the dark places of the world we live in. After two losses within their community just prior to the 2020 pandemic, St. Andrew Methodist Church in Plano, TX discerned that God was asking them to go on the offense against the darkness of mental illness. This is the story of Beacon of Light , a ministry providing...

The inaugural episode of season six, and all about "Geoff's Second Half of Life 'Crisis' and why we renamed the podcast" (and note, 'crisis' is in scar quotes). Welcome to Season 6, of what is now called the Attaching to God podcast.  We are going to be doing more episodes of just the two of us talking (Cyd and Geoff). But we will also have interviews with people...

The problem of toxic masculinity is much bigger than contemporary expressions of Christianity. Mistreatment of women and men dehumanizing others is a feature of human culture fraught with sin.  But the church is called to be salt and light, so how can we foster a non-toxic masculinity? Our guest today is Zachary Wagner, a writer, researcher, and minister. He serves as the editorial director for th...

Many children today are growing up amid adversity, whether brought on by family difficulties or larger societal crises. All children need to be able to deal with stress, cope with challenges, and persevere through disappointments. While we cannot protect children from all hardships, we can promote healthy development that fosters resilience. Our guest, Dr. Holly Catterton Allen, recently retired f...

Research tells us that when people suffer from a mental health crisis, the first person they turn to for help is not a physician, a psychiatrist, or a social worker, but a pastor, a priest, or a minister. Unfortunately, many church leaders are not trained to recognize mental illness and don’t know when to refer someone to a mental health professional. And how do we know the difference between a me...

Does God hate? Is God emotional? Emotions feel irrational, impulsive, and problematic for God, especially when we think about hate, jealousy, or sorrow. But the truth is the Bible is full of all sorts of stories that express God expressing emotions. This episode focuses particularly on God and the emotion of hate. Our guest is Dr. David Lamb. He is the MacRae Professor of Old Testament and in 2017...

For many people, sorrow, despair, anxiety, and mental illness are everyday experiences. And while we have tremendous advancements in therapy and psychiatry, the burden of living often comes down to some mundane choices, like "Should I still bother to get out of bed?" Dr. Alan Noble joins us to talk about life with mental anguish and his book, On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of...

How do we help people get their brains back online? Can the Spirit lead us through a process of healing without triggering re-traumatization? And how can we attach more deeply with God? Guest Stephanie Rossing (Licenced Marriage and Family Therapist) talks about her own journey as a therapist, discovering and receiving training in trauma treatments (EMDR and Dialectical Behavior Therapy), and how...

( This and the previous episode are part of a special Thanksgiving Double Feature Rewind of past episodes that are good to revisit in the ups and downs of a holiday) What is so important about joy? The great commandment is to love God and others, but is joy even more central than that? Where does joy fit in the landscape of political outrage and cynicism, in the seriousness of life today? We'...

( This and the next episode are part of a special Thanksgiving Double Feature Rewind of past episodes that are good to revisit in the ups and downs of a holiday) What if the Psalms aren't just old religious poetry, but guideposts for our everyday struggles and wounds? What if the Psalms are a pathway into the presence of God through the all too human emotions of joy, sadness, and even anger?...

We often think that freedom comes through casting off what controls us, and that we need to find our true selves apart from community.  But what if it is the constraints of the spiritual life that set us free? What if it is focused practices in community that lead to the flourishing of individual lives?  Today we are talking about finding freedom in constraints.  Our guest today is Jared Patrick B...

When atheists want spirituality, how should the church respond? In a secular age offering a buffet of spiritualities, all focused on the self and personal transformation, how is the Christian view similar or different than these alternative pathways? When everyone is spiritual, but few are religious, what is distinctive about following Jesus? And can I be a mystic without God? Dr. Andrew Root join...

What is spiritual formation? Is that even a very good term for life with and in Jesus? What are we being formed into anyway? Or, maybe we should ask “when” are we being formed? In this episode, we talked with Dr. Richard Middleton about formative spirituality, agency in the Bible, and being human, and how God is always looking for partners to work with and through. Dr. Middleton is Professor of Bi...

What character formation is required for soul care professionals, people like therapists, pastors, or spiritual directors? And what does this mean for everyone who follows Jesus?  It is humility and hope, says Dr. Chuck DeGroat. It is doing your work , the work on yourself. Today we talk about how so often (like pastors) therapists in training receive little character formation even while they rec...