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The Sacred Neuron: Extraordinary new discoveries linking science & religion

Author:	John Bowker
Published By:	I B Tauris (London)
Pages:	208
Price:	£17.95
ISBN:	1850434816

Reviewed by Richard Cheetham.

I began reading this book with high expectations because it promised a new angle on questions that are absolutely fundamental to human life, and which have become particularly problematic in a post-modern context. These questions are about whether or not there are any objective grounds for ethical, aesthetic and religious judgements. Why do we consider some things good and others bad - is it simply a matter of cultural and social convention? Why do we consider some things beautiful and others ugly - is beauty simply ‘in the eye of the beholder’ and varying from one person to the next in no predictable way? Is there any court of appeal to which we can subject the claims of any given religion?

Bowker’s book emerged from lectures given under the name of Hensley Henson, Bishop of Durham in the early twentieth century. It sits within the tradition of Henson’s basic belief in the importance of providing clear and rational arguments for the validity of religious claims. Its central thesis is that recent developments in neuroscience have led to a reassessment of some older and more pessimistic views about the possibility of making objective judgements in the areas of morality, aesthetics and religion. These older views begin with the philosophy of David Hume in the 18th century, and move through anthropological insights concerning cultural relativity in the 19th century, to the ideas of Derrida on deconstruction in the 20th century. The cumulative effect of such powerful critiques has been a common view that issues of religion, ethics and aesthetics are primarily subjective matters of private opinion and individual preference rather than matters of truth in any objective sense. Bowker argues that new findings in neuroscience have led to a view of human cognition in which rational and emotional responses should be seen as an integrated whole working in a similar way across different cultures because of the way our brains function. Certain situations or objects have what Bowker calls “conducive properties” which lead to recognisably similar responses in many different contexts.

My initial high expectations were not to be fully met for three main reasons. First, there was not enough explanation and background to the neuroscience (including the definition of the key term “conducive property”). Second, Bowker is so widely read that he succumbs to the temptation of including far too many long quotes, some of which are rather oblique to the central thesis and break the flow of his argument. Third, the final chapter on religion seems to wander from the main neuroscientific analysis to a more sociological one which describes a ‘new crisis’ facing religions due to the fact that they are no longer needed in the same way as before for the purpose of transmitting culture. Nevertheless, the book investigates a vital and fascinating area from a creative and new angle and is worth reading just for that. It contains a wealth of insights and ideas with which any thinking person will want to engage