1 March 2012

Guest contribution by Tobias R. Schrörs, student of theology at JGU

In January, medical and theology students of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) met for a weekend seminar which focused on an exchange of ideas between neuroscience and fundamental theology. Unsurprisingly, there was a clash of perspectives. But the students definitely benefited from the dialog between the two disciplines.

The bass voice of the speaker is so powerful that it cannot be ignored: "You are nothing but a pack of neurons." This is Professor Dr. Hans Flohr, who subscribes to the doctrine of physicalism. He is quoting his old friend Francis Crick, who discovered the double helix structure of DNA. Flohr is a neurophysiologist at Bremen University and the most prominent speaker at the interdisciplinary weekend seminar "Brain and Soul. Brain research Meets Theology", which is organized by the Department of Fundamental Theology and Religious Studies of the Faculty of Catholic Theology at JGU and the Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology of Mainz University Medical Center.

What Flohr has to say is difficult for the theologians to swallow. In his view, man consists of matter only; there is no such thing as spirit, soul or God. "It is awesome what brain research has achieved - but also perhaps rather frightening," says seminar participant Anna-Katharina, speaking of her initial impressions. She came by train: "There was a bunch of medical students who arrived with me; you could say the seminar already began at the station," explains the theology student.

A seminar in a castle

About 30 students of medicine and of theology at JGU accepted the invitation issued by Professor Dr. Alexander Loichinger of the Department of Fundamental Theology and Religious Studies and Professor Dr. Heiko Luhmann of Mainz University Medical Center, and have come to take part in the weekend seminar held in Diez castle youth hostel near Limburg. What finer venue for a seminar than a castle? There is no doubt that the students, gathered for a cozy get-together in the bistro in the late evening after the last intense debate, feel quite at home here. Incidentally, the bistro is located in what was once the castle chapel - home turf for the theologians.

"As far as I am concerned, what we are doing this weekend represents the ideal kind of university," states Luhmann. The opportunity to simply get down to looking at a topic in peace with no distractions - nowadays, that sounds even more fabulous than the idea of studying in a castle. The fact that both disciplines have come together at all is due not least to the professors responsible. "My colleague Alexander Loichinger and I realized that there was the right kind of chemistry between us relatively quickly," says Luhmann. And this interdisciplinary seminar was the result.

The planning paid off - a view shared by guest speaker Hans Flohr: "I would quite strongly advise students to take greater advantage of the opportunity to attend such interdisciplinary colloquiums - they are a real breath of fresh air in view of the school-like regimentation of study at university." Julia, a student of theology, is also of the opinion that one can learn a lot from others. "It is a real eye-opener, because we are not really aware of what the brain is routinely capable of." However, the theologians are not the only ones learning something new. "If you, as a neurobiologist, come face-to-face with the mind-body problem, you also need to be able to process the vast amounts that theology and philosophy have already expressed on this matter," emphasizes Flohr.

Search for a common language

It is often difficult to convey these concepts. "As a student of medicine, I sometimes felt a bit out of my depth during the weekend seminar," says Rahel. This was something that Luhmann had already considered during the planning of the seminar. "My biggest concern was that medical and theology students would not be able to find a common language." It was a difficult task for both sides to break through the barriers of their own specialist knowledge. Flohr assesses the situation thus: "Of course, there are problems - and they are relatively deep-seated. However, the attempt by both sides to understand each other impressed me a great deal. The whole thing functioned well."

"Functioned" - just the sort of word that a scientist would use. Loichinger, the professor of theology, takes a more dispassionate view: "I am not put off by the technomorphic sort of vocabulary used in the sciences. I am much more interested in finding out what the other side know about human beings - specifically, in this case, what they know about the human brain. Such interdisciplinary projects take as their starting point the insight that reality is much too complex to be understood by a single discipline alone. This is especially true when it comes to what makes us human. It is only when neuroscience and theology interact with each other that we are given the opportunity to recognize who we really are as humans and to define how we should think of ourselves. So we are quite happy to be open to new ways of thinking and speaking."

And for medical student Paul, one thing is clear: "All medical students think that there is nothing that quite gets under the skin in the same way as the gross anatomy class. But I would say this seminar more than matches it in terms of incisiveness!"

Tobias Schrörs is a student at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at JGU and a member of the Dominican Order. He hopes to complete his degree course in four years.