The Neuroscience of Wesleyan Soteriology: The Dynamic of Both Instantaneous and Gradual Change

In his work Rewired: Exploring Religious Conversion, dealing with Wesleyan soteriology and neuroscience, Paul Markham claims that when one incorporates biology as an epistemic restriction in theologies of conversion, doctrines of instantaneous conversion are invalidated. He asserts that conversion m...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Weissenbacher, Alan C. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Open Library of Humanities$s2024- [2016]
In: Zygon
Year: 2016, Volume: 51, Issue: 2, Pages: 347-360
Further subjects:B Neuroplasticity
B Paul Markham
B Salvation
B Neuroscience
B John Wesley
B Justification
B nonreductive physicalism
B Conversion
B spiritual transformation
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:In his work Rewired: Exploring Religious Conversion, dealing with Wesleyan soteriology and neuroscience, Paul Markham claims that when one incorporates biology as an epistemic restriction in theologies of conversion, doctrines of instantaneous conversion are invalidated. He asserts that conversion must always be gradual, because the mechanism by which the brain changes in response to experience does not occur instantaneously; rather change is initiated and consolidated over an often lengthy span of time. I argue, however, that doctrines of instantaneous conversion are maintained when taking neuroscience into account. First, for doctrines of conversion that hold to the imputation of Christ's righteousness, neuroscience is irrelevant, because statements of instantaneous change are in terms of a relational status and not biological. Rapid conversion is maintained as a metaphysical position. Second, an embodied and neurologically realized change is expected in theologies of conversion that hold to impartation and, contrary to Markham, immediate change is neurologically possible in a variety of ways.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/zygo.12260