Video: Knowing God: Cognition and the Spirit in Paul’s Thought—Fall 2016 Lund Lecture

Dr. Eastman deepens her exploration of Pauline anthropology by turning to the theme of knowing God—not merely as propositional cognition, but as an embodied and relational dynamic. She critiques the sharp divide often assumed between “mind” and “body,” arguing instead that God-knowledge in Paul is integrally shaped by the embodied life of the believer. Through close reading of Pauline texts, she shows that knowing God for Paul involves being known by God, participating in God’s life, and transforming human cognition so that it is reoriented toward union with Christ.

Eastman situates this reworked notion of knowledge within her broader participatory anthropology: persons are embedded in relational systems, and knowing God transforms not only one’s intellectual understanding but one’s very embodied participation in those systems. She draws on insights from cognitive science, embodiment theory, and Pauline theology to argue that the believer’s body (as with mirror neurons, imitation, etc.) is a key site where divine knowledge is enacted and internalized. The lecture therefore presents knowledge of God as something more akin to a lived entrainment than a detached intellectual grasp—one shaped by embodied interaction with Christ and the community of faith.

Timestamps

• Embodied cognition and Paul’s notion of knowing God 2:10
• Critique of mind-body dualism in theology 8:45
• “Known by God” and participatory knowing 15:30
• Role of imitation, mirror neurons, and relational systems 22:50
• Transformation of cognition through union with Christ 29:15
• The body as locus of knowledge, not barrier 34:40