Tobias Tanton's Books

Corporeal Theology

Accommodating Theological Understanding to Embodied Thinkers

By: Tobias Tanton

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Corporeal Theology

Accommodating Theological Understanding to Embodied Thinkers

By: Tobias Tanton

Appropriating insights from empirical findings and theoretical constructs of 'embodied cognition', this study explores how theological understanding is accommodated to the bodily nature of human cognition. The principle of divine accommodation provides a theological framework for considering the human cognitive capacities that are accommodated by theological concepts and ecclesial practices. A rich portrait of the nature of human cognitive capacities is drawn from an emerging paradigm in cognitive science, embodied cognition, which proposes that cognition depends upon bodily sensorimotor systems to ground concepts and to draw upon environmental resources. Embodied cognition's hypothesis that human concepts are grounded in sensorimotor states poses a theological quandary for God-concepts, since identifying God with sensorimotor content risks idolatry. The incarnation resolves this problem in theological epistemology by grounding God-concepts in bodily understanding, while avoiding idolatry. Thus, the incarnation represents an accommodation to human conceptual capacities. Embodied cognition further hypothesises that cognition relies on sensorimotor engagement with the world rather than internal mental representations. Subsequently, in addition to the brain, bodily states and environmental artefacts 'scaffold' cognitive processes. A scaffolded view of cognition highlights the cognitive import of embodied religious practices, which choregraph the body and curate material culture. Tobias Tanton applies dozens of studies identifying mechanisms by which bodily or environmental factors influence cognition to the embodied and material dimensions Christian practices. On account of their inherent cognitive effects, practices are theorised to have intrinsic 'embodied' meanings alongside 'symbolic' ones established by conventions. Consequently, liturgy is seen as a bearer of theological content rather than merely an expression of it; a locus of religious experience; and a crucial determinate of religious and ethical formation. Again, the embodied nature of Christian liturgy is understood in terms of accommodation. Embodied cognition research helpfully illuminates the details of human embodiment to which theological understanding must be accommodated.

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304

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192884603

ISBN 13

9780192884602

Corporeal Theology

The Nature of Theological Understanding in Light of Embodied Cognition

By: Tobias Tanton

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Corporeal Theology

The Nature of Theological Understanding in Light of Embodied Cognition

By: Tobias Tanton

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304

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192884581

ISBN 13

9780192884589

Political Sign

By: Tobias Carroll

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Political Sign

By: Tobias Carroll

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. In an election year, political signs can be impossible to avoid. They're in front yards, on bumper stickers, and in some places you might never have expected. Tobias Carroll chronicles the permutations and secret histories of political signs, venturing into the story of how they came to be and illuminating how the signs around us shape us in ways we often fail to appreciate. In an era of political polarization and heated debate, what can be learned from studying how our personal space becomes the setting for both? Understanding political signs can help us understand our current political moment, and how we might transcend it. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

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Page Count

193

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1501358111

ISBN 13

9781501358111

Book's by Tobias Tanton

Corporeal Theology

Corporeal Theology

Corporeal Theology

Corporeal Theology

Political Sign

Political Sign

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