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Sensing the Other in Worship: Mirror Neurons and the Empathizing Brain

Liturgy claims our bodies as well as our souls. Recent neuroscientific discoveries are shedding new light on the very real conviction that in worship we present our bodies “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1; NRSV). We know, particularly from the Hebrew Scriptures, that being created in the image of God, we are whole beings, not easily divisible into arbitrary categories of mind, body, and soul or spirit.1 It is a truism then that when we worship, we worship with our bodies just as surely as we do with our minds and souls. Here we will attend most particularly to the brain’s central role in the worship of God. Of particular interest will be the ways in which the brain has evolved to relate to other human beings (and as a result, to relate to the Other). We will explore the ways the brain develops in the first months of life, under the conviction that our earliest experiences with our parents profoundly shape the ways we later relate to other human beings and to God.2 Then we will review several neuroscientific studies that shed important light on the ways adults empathize with others. Along the way we will speculate about some important implications for Christian worship.