This interview is in preparation for our two-day live seminar on March 16–17 at the Word on Fire Institute: Evangelizing a Fractured Culture: Insights from Neuroscience and Theology with Dr. Sofia Carozza. We offer these live seminars on a regular basis to engage with salient topics for evangelists in the culture. Sign up for a free trial to watch the seminar and bring your questions—the latter half of the seminar includes a live question and answer session!
Nell O’Leary: Dr. Carozza, tell us a little bit about your background. The seminar you’ll be teaching soon is exceptionally interesting, as you bring to it both knowledge of neuroscience and the Catholic vision of the human person—and somehow toss in the mix how to evangelize with all these principles at play as well!
Dr. Sofia Carozza: Thank you for welcoming me! I’m looking forward to exploring with you the integration of neuroscience with our Catholic faith. I’m a neuroscientist by training; I completed my doctorate at the University of Cambridge as a Marshall Scholar, where I focused on the role of early life experiences in child cognitive and brain development. Before that, I had the gift of studying both neuroscience and theology at the University of Notre Dame as an undergraduate. So I’ve spent years trying to understand what these disciplines reveal about the human person and the implications for our daily lives. Far from the godless wasteland that people sometimes imagine academic neuroscience to be, I’ve found a profound harmony with Christian faith. My studies continually bear out the truth that reality is one, and I’m grateful for the chance to invite your community to discover that harmony as well.
Nell: We sometimes hear (erroneously) that faith and reason are incompatible. You’re a Catholic and a scientist. You’re going to instruct us on how modern research actually supports this idea of an integrated human person—biological, social, and spiritual. Does it surprise people when you explain that faith and reason or faith and science are actually complementary and mutually reinforcing?
Dr. Carozza: It does often come as a surprise to others. This is largely because of the prevalence of the false narrative of conflict between science and religion, and because of the popularity of certain voices in our society who (mis)use neuroscience to argue against elements of the Catholic view of the person—such as transcendence, free will, or morality. In addition to dispelling these myths, Christians (not only those of us who are scientists) have a responsibility to share a positive witness of the reasonableness and fruits of living the integration between science and faith.
Our very neurobiology shows both that we are made for and through relationships of love, and that we have inherited a kind of brokenness in relationship.
Nell: Your seminar’s title includes “fractured culture” in it. What does that mean to you? Where are you seeing examples and evidence of our fractured culture? And how do you propose we begin to invite God’s grace to help us heal and restore relationships, even and especially when we are coming from opposing viewpoints on critical matters? Why do relationships matter to us as human persons?
Dr. Carozza: Our culture is marked by a profound need for healing. Wherever one might turn—from political polarization to the epidemic of loneliness—there is a need for something that can generate unity amid division and isolation. This is not new: Our very neurobiology shows both that we are made for and through relationships of love, and that we have inherited a kind of brokenness in relationship.
The tension reflects our nature. We are made in the image of a Trinitarian God who is himself a communion of love, and yet we have inherited the wound of original sin, which begets violence. But this is not the final word. The Father, through the Church, grants us Christ’s healing love and invites us into a new form of relationship with one another. Love begins from the very ordinary interactions of every day; science and faith both point to the profound dignity of the smallest gestures of charity we perform for one another. That’s where we begin to build the kingdom of God.
Nell: It’s such an honor that we’ll have you live in-studio for two days, March 16–17, both to present and then answer questions from our members. What do you hope our members learn or gain from your teaching?
Dr. Carozza: I hope to invite your community to ponder the mystery of our nature as creatures: persons composed of body and soul, made for an eternal destiny of love that begins now. And I hope to help them discover how neuroscience reflects this nature, as this scientific knowledge can be a powerful catalyst for sharing the good news of God’s love for us, which alone can restore unity to our fragmented world.