Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising Connections between Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices That Can Transform Your Life and Relationships

by Curt Thompson

Publisher:

Tyndale Refresh

, 2010

Overview

Do you want to improve your relationships and experience lasting personal change? Join Curt Thompson, M.D., on an amazing journey to discover the surprising pathways for transformation hidden inside your own mind. Integrating new findings in neuroscience and attachment with Christian spirituality, Dr. Thompson reveals how it is possible to rewire your mind, altering your brain patterns and literally making you more like the person God intended you to be. Explaining discoveries about the brain in layman’s terms, he shows how you can be mentally transformed through spiritual practices, interaction with Scripture, and connections with other people. He also provides practical exercises to help you experience healing in areas where you’ve been struggling. Insightful and challenging, Anatomy of the Soul illustrates how learning about one of God’s most miraculous creations—your brain—can enrich your life, your relationships, and your impact on the world around you.

Key Features

• Describes at the level of neurology what the Bible have long testified to: the genuine possibility of renewing our minds
• Shows how spiritual practices can alter our brain patterns---improving our relationships and making us more like the people God intends us to be
• Includes discussion questions

Contents

• Neuroscience: A Window into the Mind
• As We Are Known
• Love the Lord Your God with All Your ... Mind
• Are You Paying Attention?
• Remembering the Future
• Emotion: The Experience of God
• Attachment: The Connections of Life
• Earned Secure Attachment: Pointing to the New Creation
• The Prefrontal Cortex and the Mind of Christ
• Neuroscience: Sin and Redemption
• The Rupture of Sin
• The Repair of Resurrection
• The Mind and Community: The Brain on Love, Mercy, and Justice

Top Highlights

“For our purposes, we will focus on two of the most general classifications of memory—implicit and explicit memory—and discuss their relevance to our lives.” (source)

“In particular, he said that an important part of how people change—not just their experiences, but also their brains—is through the process of telling their stories to an empathic listener. When a person tells her story and is truly heard and understood, both she and the listener undergo actual changes in their brain circuitry. They feel a greater sense of emotional and relational connection, decreased anxiety, and greater awareness of and compassion for others’ suffering. Using the language of neuroscience, Dr. Siegel labeled the change ‘increased integration.’” (source)

“I believe our lives will be abundant, joyful, and peaceful only to the degree that we are engaged, known, and understood by one another. I also believe we cannot separate what we do with our brains and our relationships from what we do with God. God has designed our minds, part of his good creation, to invite us into a deeper, more secure, more courageous relationship with him and with one another.” (source)

“In other words, your relationship with God is a direct reflection of the depth of your relationship with others.” (source)

“You cannot know God if you do not experience being known by him.” (source)

Praise for Anatomy of the Soul

Anatomy of the Soul is a very important book that beautifully in-tegrates knowledge from the field of neuroscience with insight from the worlds of psychology and spirituality. Such integrative work needs to be done in order to have a holistic view of how people grow and transform—which is at the heart of the gospel message. Thompson's contribution is extremely valuable!

Ruth Haley Barton, president, Transforming Center; author of Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation

There are far too many books these days that insult either your intellect or your faith in God ... or both. Anatomy of the Soul does just the opposite. In it, Curt Thompson weaves together the very new insights of brain scientists, the ageless wisdom of the Bible, and his own experiences as a therapist and follower of Jesus into a genuine volume of hope. There aren't many psychiatrists I know well enough to enthusiastically recommend, but Curt is certainly at the top of that list.

Tony Campolo, professor emeritus, Eastern University; author of Red Letter Christians

As a bookseller who reads widely, I can say that it is not every day that a truly great book comes along by an exceptionally proficient psychiatrist who is also a good writer, a fabulous storyteller, and a mature Christian in love with the things of God, who yearns for the wholeness of God's Kingdom. It is also rare when the serious science of brain studies is explained in a way that is both inter-esting and immediately helpful, as well as rooted in a vital bibli-cal perspective. For some of us, reading neurological lingo makes our brains go soft. Trust me on this, though: whether you are a person who wants to improve the stability and joy of your daily living, a follower of Jesus who wants to deepen your experience of spirituality, or a helping professional who wants to integrate contemporary scientific theories with a distinctively Christian worldview, Anatomy of the Soul will be a thrill to read.

Byron Borger, Hearts & Minds Bookstore, Dallastown, Pennsylvania

Product Details

• Title: Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising Connections between Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices That Can Transform Your Life and Relationships
• Author: Curt Thompson
• Publisher: Tyndale Refresh
• Print Publication Date: 2010
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781414348223, 9781799988168, 9781799988175, 1414348223, 1799988163, 1799988171, 9781414334158, 141433415X
• Resource ID: LLS:9781414348223
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-05-20T07:41:48Z

About Curt Thompson

Curt Thompson (MD, Wright State University) is a psychiatrist in private practice in Falls Church, Virginia. He is also the founder of the Center for Being Known, a nonprofit organization that develops resources to educate and train leaders within the fields of mental health, education, business and the the church about the intersection between interpersonal neurobiology and Christian spiritual formation. He is the author of Anatomy of the Soul. Thompson is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and his main focus of clinical and research interest has been the integration of psychiatry, its associated disciplines and Christian spiritual formation. He is actively engaged in learning and teaching as he supervises clinical employees and facilitates ongoing education groups for patients and colleagues. He also speaks frequently on the topic at workshops, conferences and retreats. Serving as an elder at Washington Community Fellowship in Washington, DC, his duties have included preaching, teaching and participation in the fellowship's healing prayer ministry. He and his wife Phyllis, a licensed clinical social worker, are the parents of two children and reside in Arlington, Virginia.