Leading through Episodic Memory of the Bible

My latest paper to date. I pray it will be a blessing for church leaders and for those just entering the stories of Scripture for themselves.

Introduction

            Being a leader means taking initiative. Church leaders, who likely possess more biblical knowledge and a deeper appreciation for biblical truth than many under their care, desire that those under their watch comprehend the beauty and truth found in Scripture. A common problem faced by many church leaders today is how to foster a desire to study and appreciate the Bible in people under their care. The problem may be exacerbated by the fact that cultural realities found in the Bible are often perceived as foreign or unrelated to the challenges of life in the world today. While it takes a work of God to open one’s eyes and ears to the gospel, how may church leaders leverage time and energy to spark interest in the Bible for those who find it nearly irrelevant today?

            Despite significant cultural differences between modern people and biblical characters, and a general lack of knowledge of the Bible’s content, people today share a common anthropology with those whose lives and stories are recounted in the Scriptures. One aspect of this shared humanity is the reality and impact of episodic memory—one’s lived experience and its power to shape an individual’s thoughts and choices. Episodic memory has recently been defined as encompassing “rich, vivid details such as when the event occurred and emotions experienced during the event.”[1] The Bible does not provide a play-by-play account of an individual’s life. Instead, Scripture presents specific episodes or stories of people’s lives for the reader to reflect on and glean from. Episodic memory is one’s own capacity to remember details about and the surroundings of an event in one’s life. This type of memory is considered to be more extensively used beyond that of semantic memory (that of general facts and words).[2] The episodic structure of Bible stories invites the reader to enter the story and to participate in it, learning what it means to believe God's words and to walk in obedience to them, or to disobey God’s instruction and face consequences. One’s episodic memory of the past often influences and instructs one’s vision for the future – an idea now being noticed and studied by empirical science. By entering the story of Scripture and understanding the gospel as God’s plan from the beginning, Christians and those interested in the faith today can come to the same trust in God and hope for the future that faithful believers in the Bible demonstrated. Church leaders play an integral part in facilitating the use of episodic memory for encouraging greater study of the Bible through a local church context.

This paper argues that church leaders greatly assist Christians and those interested in Christianity by leveraging the shared power of episodic memory that people today have with biblical characters, encouraging trust in God and hope for the future in Christ. To support this argument, the paper will begin by bringing the reader up to speed on historical Christian reflection and important empirical studies on memory. Next, a biblical anthropology grounded in empirical science and historical thought will be applied to Abraham (though this method could be applied to any biblical character) as a case study, enabling the reader to see biblical characters as real people facing life challenges, rather than mere words and stories on paper. After this, it will be shown how the Bible itself invites the reader to enter the story it tells. Finally, the paper will outline tangible steps for how church leaders can harness the power of episodic memory for sparking interest in studying the Scriptures today.

Memory in Christian Tradition and Empirical Science

This section of the paper will bring the reader up to speed on understanding the power of memory from both a theological and scientific perspective. Understanding how prominent Christian thinkers of the past and recent empirical science view memory clarifies what church leaders cultivate when guiding Christians and those interested in the faith through the events of Scripture. Despite a recent gap in empirical science from a theological standpoint, Christian thinkers of the past have left a good witness for thinking deeply about memory for church leaders today. Saint Augustine of Hippo marveled at the mystery of memory as one of the leading powers of the soul alongside the will and the understanding: “A great field or a spacious palace, a storehouse for countless images of all kinds which are conveyed to it by the senses. I ask it to produce whatever it is that I wish to remember. Some things it produces immediately; some are forthcoming only after a delay.”[3] Though relating memory to a storehouse, Augustine recognized that items held in memory were not physically located within the body: “the memory captures their images with astonishing speed and stores them away in its wonderful system of compartments, ready to produce them again in just as wonderful a way we remember them.”[4] The theologian saw that memory and the body's sensory powers worked closely together, but Augustine was committed to exalting the spirit over the body, compromising an unbiased view of how the body and soul worked together in unity.[5] Further, Augustine was determined to provide a picture of the Trinity through memory, will, and understanding in man: “These three are not three lives, but one life; nor three minds, but one mind; it follows certainly that neither are they three substances, but one substance.”[6] The resulting analogy is an unclear picture of what the soul’s memory power is distinct from the other powers of the soul, leaving the reader to guess what memory is responsible for beyond mere recollection. Regardless, Augustine provides a helpful starting point for considering memory and memory’s power within the human psyche.

While Augustine highlighted the reality of memory and sense perception working together, Thomas Aquinas is credited with further developing the Christian understanding of memory through a clear commitment to Aristotelian philosophy.[7] Aquinas was less inclined to limit the power of memory to mere recollection of information, but was careful to distinguish memory as a habit of the senses, distinct from the imagination, which uses episodic memories as fuel:

If we take memory only for the power of retaining species, we must say that it is in the intellectual part. But if the notion of memory we include its object as something past, then the memory is not in the intellectual [faculty], but only in the sensitive part, which apprehends individual things. For past, as past, since it signifies being under a condition of fixed time, is something individual.[8]

Aquinas divides the imagination [intellect] from memory, where Augustine did not. Why is the distinction between the imagination and sense perception important?[9] For the exact reason Aquinas highlights: events in the past. The experiences of one’s past, fixed in time, cannot be edited to change the event or outcome, whereas other items within the intellect can be altered or manipulated after the fact by the imagination.[10] Whereas the imagination utilizes memory for recollection and reinterpretation, memory is inherently linked to what has been collected through the senses. Aquinas elaborates elsewhere, “Memory is a habit; a certain habitual preservation of a phantasm [thought], not, indeed in itself, but insofar as the phantasm is an image of something previously sensed. It pertains to the first sensitive element, insofar as we know time through it [emphasis mine].”[11] Episodic memory cannot be separated from time, and the facts of an event cannot now be edited outside the use of the will or imagination to do so. Aquinas locates episodes or events in one’s life within the connection between sense perception and memory that Augustine recognized, but provides a further explanation of how mankind revisits memories of the past within the imagination, reinterpreting and evaluating aspects of those memories as time goes on. By disconnecting memory from the imagination, Aquinas agrees with Augustine in understanding memory as the storehouse of facts and events from the past, but advances the discussion by showing how the imagination utilizes memories in the present for diverse purposes.

An important thing for leaders to understand about memory today is the reality of felt emotions during episodes of the past. In forwarding the conversation and providing nuance, Aquinas paves the way for emotions and thoughts present during an event in one’s life to be tangible and concrete. It is the power of the imagination, not the power of memory, to recollect and reinterpret past events. Stated briefly, memory provides the facts of an event, including how one felt or experienced an event, while the imagination enables judgment of its morality or meaning in the present. Aquinas goes further by highlighting how some aspects of memory stir emotions, also called passions, in the imagination without referencing a specific event: “Sometimes one remembers and does not think that he remembers. It is hidden from him simply because the time does not occur to him, but only the thing.”[12] The vast array of emotions that humans may experience can be acknowledged as existing outside of the specific circumstances that give rise to them. Aquinas’ research into memory enables the separation of the facts of an event from the recollection or reinterpretation of the event at a later time. Furthermore, Aquinas acknowledges the power of memory for shaping emotions and lived experiences, extending beyond the impact of revisiting a specific past event. Through Augustine and Aquinas, Christian reflection on the power of memory is crucial for comprehending the human experience of living and revisiting an event. Before even plunging into empirical science, Christian reflection alone offers an important insight into how the Creator has designed humans to live through experiences and then revisit those experiences through the senses.

An important work of secular, empirical science that now highlights the same distinction between memory and reinterpretation is Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score. Despite being a book chiefly concerned with understanding trauma and its effects, van der Kolk also provides important scientific research on how normal memories are processed within the brain. Van der Kolk writes, “Whether we remember a particular event at all, and how accurate our memories of it are, largely depends on how personally meaningful it was and how emotional we felt about it at the time.”[13] Because it is impossible to recall every day of one’s life, an individual’s ability to construct a life timeline or biography of oneself is primarily based on a sequential account of specific events or episodes. The meaningfulness of any particular event may even rise or fall as new events occur in a person’s life. Van der Kolk states, “As soon as a story starts being told, particularly if it is told repeatedly, it changes – the act of telling itself changes the tale. The mind cannot help but make meaning out of what it knows, and the meaning we make of our lives changes how and what we remember.”[14] Van der Kolk, though primarily concerned with researching trauma, continues to make meaningful distinctions between memory and imagination that church leaders should be aware of.

Empirical science, primarily not operating from a Christian worldview, struggles to understand how memories may be suppressed or misremembered from a purely physical standpoint. Van der Kolk, chiefly motivated by researching trauma, argues that trauma memories are processed differently from normal memories. Van der Kolk connects spikes in hormones, particularly adrenaline, with the accuracy of memory recall. However, this view does not account for how individuals lose details and key facts from normal memories that would not be considered traumatic. Another important researcher, Daniel Schacter of Harvard University, has written extensively on false memories from an evolutionary worldview.[15] Schacter summarizes, “[Memories] reflect the operation of adaptive constructive processes, which play a functional role in memory but produce errors and distortions as a consequence of doing their adaptive jobs.”[16] The biblical worldview provides greater reflection. Augustine and Aquinas, believing in the reality of the soul from Scripture, offer great help by connecting the power of memory under the influence of one’s will and intellect, which are understood not to have a corresponding physical part of the body that is used in everyday operations. In short, sin affects the reliability of memories through inhibiting recollection and may even alter them within the imagination to align with what the will desires to be true. Christian reflection is not committed to the same explanations from a purely physical standpoint as many empirical scientists are. Scripture attests to the reality of the soul and the body, providing a more nuanced explanation of how memories are stored and utilized.

Drawing on Christian reflection and empirical research, Matthew Lapine exhorts Christian leaders to recover embodiment as central to spiritual care and development in The Logic of the Body. Memory plays a significant part in understanding the human experience for Lapine. Echoing van der Kolk, the author writes, “Psychological arousal releases hormones like adrenaline to enhance long-term memory.”[17] Lapine has introduced new nuances to the conversation among Christian leaders, stating that implicit and explicit memory work in vastly different ways based on the neurological realities at play.[18] Episodic memory, the subject of the present paper, falls squarely within the realm of explicit memory, where considerable research has already been conducted on how memory can be utilized in leadership practice.[19] However, any future Christian engagement with memory will need to take the distinctions between implicit and explicit memory seriously, despite this being outside of the scope of the present paper.[20]

This section of the paper has sought to bring the reader up to speed on understanding memory through the lens of recent empirical studies and Christian reflection. Augustine distinguished memory from the will and understanding, but Aquinas developed a view of memory that highlighted its sensory nature and its relationship to time before being used by the imagination in the present. Understood correctly, the power of memory is its ability to capture the facts of an event, but also its capacity to recall thoughts and feelings during events as authentic realities. Secular research, primarily based on understanding trauma, continues to demonstrate how the brain processes memories during recollection and reinterpretation, a process Aquinas distinguished from memory itself. Lapine prepares the way for Christian reflection on an embodied experience of spiritual formation, with memory—both implicit and explicit—playing a significant role. Episodic memory, encompassing the facts and emotions associated with an event in the past, is revealed as an essential facet of the human experience shared among people today and throughout history, which church leaders would do well to keep in mind as they seek to demonstrate how the Bible remains relevant and important in today’s world. For church leaders, the insights of historical Christian thought and modern science provide a promising framework for leading Christians and those interested in the faith to engage with the Scriptures on a more human level.

Seeing Bible Characters as People

            From what has been stated above concerning an individual’s episodic memory, it is now proper to read the Scriptures and those whom the Bible describes as individuals who also possess the same human nature as readers today. Beyond being merely actors on the pages of the Bible, the people of the Bible lived whole lives, of which readers encounter only specific events that the divine Author and human authors considered important to the grand narrative of the gospel. It will be safely assumed that the same power of episodic memory that informs a person’s ability to make meaning and judgment today was at work throughout the lifetimes of biblical characters. This section of the paper will demonstrate how reading the Bible with a character’s personhood in mind empowers the reader to resonate more deeply with the story being told. For the sake of space, this paper will focus upon the life of Abraham as an example or case study for church leaders to consider, as the Apostle Paul will later recount the importance of Abraham’s experience as “the man of faith” for the church to exemplify (Gal. 3:9).[21] However, this method of personifying biblical characters is assumed to be applicable universally within the canon of Scripture, as positive examples to follow or negative examples to avoid. This author hopes that leaders will expand on this method by highlighting how other individuals in the Bible also display episodic memory and personhood throughout the Scriptures, to encourage Christians and those interested in the faith to study the Bible further.

            In turning to the Bible, Kevin Vanhoozer offers a helpful reminder of the events the Bible recounts as divine encounters with human actors, creating the term “theo-drama.”[22] By using this term, Vanhoozer explains, “God and humanity are alternately actor and audience. Better: life is divine-human interactive theater, and theology involves both what God has said and done for the world and what we must say and do in grateful response.”[23] The Bible tells the story of God and humanity interacting, creating events that would have shaped the human actor’s memory of God and His power. In the life of Abraham, Genesis 12 begins the story with God commanding Abraham and his family to leave Haran for another land that the Lord would show them. Abraham obeys the command, but the promise to become “a great nation” would neither be immediate nor smooth on the way to fulfillment (Gen. 12:2). Rather than providing a day-to-day picture of Abraham’s life in response to God’s action, the Scriptures present events and episodes of Abraham’s life to see and evaluate. The Bible offers far fewer pictures of Abraham’s life and experience of faith than the days lived by Abraham after God approached him. Thus, the theo-drama of faith and response to God, and God’s response to Abraham’s obedience and disobedience, mirrors how God has structured the power of memory in creation to construct one’s personal storyline or biography. The people of the Bible are as human as personal experience reveals people living today to be, and the Bible is written in such a way as to facilitate this human connection, allowing for a deeper understanding of what it means to live by faith.

            Events in Abraham’s life on the way to the promised land and in life after arriving there color the chapters of Genesis 12-25. Abraham’s narrative includes events like responding to God in worship (Gen. 12:7), fearing authorities and lying (Gen. 12:13), seeking peace among relatives and workers (Gen. 13:8), fighting in combat (Gen. 14:14-15), questioning why God has not provided (Gen. 15:2-3), seeing an incredible act of God (Gen. 15:12), listening to his wife’s instruction (Gen. 16:2), having a child outside of wedlock (Gen. 16:4), having his name changed (Gen. 17:5), being given the act of circumcision (Gen. 17:10), having a child through Sarah (Gen. 21:5), interceding for others (18:23), hiding his identity and lying to another authority (Gen. 20:2,11), following God to sacrifice his son (Gen. 22), burying his wife (Gen. 23), and seeking a wife for his son (Gen. 24). Further, significant lapses in time occur within the text, such as a thirteen-year gap between the final verse of Genesis 16 and the first verse of chapter 17. Even as Abraham is considered one of the most prominent biblical figures in the entire narrative of Scripture, the reader learns of only a handful of events that shape Abraham’s life, just as life events create the narrative that helps one understand oneself today. As noted above, the scientific connection between adrenaline, long-term memory, and the strength of recollection may drive impactful events, such as interceding for Sodom, obeying the Lord in attempting to sacrifice Isaac, and sending a servant to find a wife for Isaac, receiving greater detail and space than other events. Abraham’s life encompasses numerous events that may account for the entire spectrum of human emotions and experiences individuals encounter today, despite the circumstances of these emotions being disconnected from modern events. Abraham’s life alone provides great segways for church leaders to build a human connection to for contemporary readers.

            Why would some events of Abraham’s life, and those of other biblical characters, receive more detail in the storyline of Scripture than others? Further, how might these stories help church leaders connect the drama of Scripture to an individual’s life, making the Bible more relevant and vital for study today? It must be that these individual stories contain important details that connect to the overarching story of the Bible, which magnifies Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of all God's promises. Could it be, in the wisdom of the Divine and human authors of the Bible, that specific events being remembered from the Bible assisted the Bible character then and the contemporary reader today in capturing the character of God and the fulfillment of His promises in Christ? James Hamilton argues that this is the case: “God means to reveal himself in an astonishing display of his mercy and justice, with the justice highlighting the mercy.”[24] The specific episodes of the lives of Bible characters cannot be thoroughly understood until the connection to Jesus is made. For church leaders, capturing the power of episodic memory effectively means reflecting on how an event was significant for the Bible character at the time and for the reader today in understanding God’s character and mission. Theo-drama is the tale of living in response to God’s words and actions, for the Bible character first and the modern reader now. Such theo-drama extends beyond the pages of Scripture to the Bible’s reader today, which church leaders would do well to demonstrate for Christians and those interested in the faith.

In the case of Abraham’s life, God’s promise of a child clearly rings close to his heart. This is evident through an awareness of Sarah’s barrenness (Gen. 11:30), Abraham’s questioning of God’s deliverance of an heir (Gen. 15:2), Abraham’s inability to believe a child could be born in old age (Gen. 17:17), and the strong love Abraham has for Isaac (Gen. 22:2). It would be correct to acknowledge that when Abraham looks at Isaac, even if the memory is not explicit in nature, God’s continued promises of a future child from Sarah being fulfilled through Isaac, was near and dear to Abraham, and crucially connected to his understanding of God’s faithfulness. The evidence from the text suggests that God providing Isaac to Abraham was one of the most important, if not the most important, pieces to the puzzle for Abraham trusting in God’s goodness and power. It was in the context of having a biological son when Abraham “believed the LORD, and he [the Lord] counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). It would not be stretching the text too far to say that producing a child for Abraham was a significant facet of trusting God for Abraham’s wife, Sarah, either. It was Sarah who first suggested going outside of the marriage to bring Abraham a child (Gen. 16:2). Sarah laughed at the thought of having a child in old age (Gen. 18:12) and marveled at God’s ability to bring a son from her (Gen. 21:6-7). The emotions Abraham and Sarah must have faced when hearing the promise of a child, waiting for that child, receiving that child, and then being commanded to sacrifice that child, are easily understood today, even though the circumstances and cultural realities surrounding these events may be different today.

Even though science has provided numerous outlets for couples facing infertility today, the same pain of desiring a child, not having a child, and having a child after asking the Lord to provide is just as real today as it was in Abraham and Sarah’s time. Infertility continues to be a common struggle Christians and nonbelievers face, where church leaders may speak into from the Scriptures. Moreover, church leaders can draw on the recurring presence of infertility in the Scriptures as a sign of God’s faithfulness today. The recurring nature of infertility in the Scriptures does not negate the real emotional battle and days of questioning Abraham and Sarah faced while waiting for God to be faithful to His promise. Dwelling on these realities as an extension of the text does not diminish the gospel message; instead, it empowers the text to connect with human experience today where applicable. Abraham’s humanity and the reader's resonance with Abraham’s experience make the faithfulness of God more accessible for comprehension. Resonating with the emotions a Bible character faces raises the stakes of what it means if God is not faithful; however, this resolve deepens when God is shown to always be faithful to His word.

Episodic memory not only recalls the specific facts of an event outside the body; it also remembers the emotions and internal experiences associated with going through a particular event. Abraham and Sarah, although given significant space within the Book of Genesis, truly faced years (and possibly decades) of wondering when and if God would be faithful to His word to them. A human connection and understanding of those years of waiting are better understood when the characters’ humanity is resonated with. Through episodic memory, the reader connects with Abraham and Sarah, even if the reader has not faced infertility, because the reader, to some degree, understands what waiting feels like, especially when waiting on the Lord to answer prayers in certain cases. Church leaders cannot miss opportunities to harness the power of episodic memory for connecting modern readers with Bible characters in order to increase attraction to the Scriptures.

            Why give a section of this paper to discussing the humanity of Bible characters? It may seem that reiterating the humanity of biblical characters to Christians and others interested in Christianity digresses from the explicit details of the gospel – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners. However, this section of the paper has argued that showing how reading the Bible with a character’s personhood in mind empowers the reader to resonate more deeply with the story being told. Reading the Bible with personhood in mind makes the saving message of the gospel more real for those who are distant from the Word. Specifically, connecting one’s own experience with hardships, emotional battles, and unknown circumstances, as displayed in Abraham’s life, solidifies the power of the story and relevance to the reader’s life, enabling an opportunity for the faithfulness of God to be recognized in Abraham’s life and the life of the reader. Rather than digressing from the gospel message, which must be faithfully preached, stoking the power of episodic memory through shared humanity with Bible characters helps make the story more relatable and impactful when dwelt upon over time, as episodic memory fuels recollection and reinterpretation in the imagination. The memory of Bible stories, consistently gleaned for new information and fresh insight, and as will be seen next – the different circumstances surrounding the reader’s event of reading Bible stories – help to empower a growing knowledge of God’s faithfulness through lived experience.

The Invitation to Enter the Story of the Bible

            Not only do the individual stories within the Bible and the people themselves solidify the power of memory within the human creature, but this section of the paper will argue that Scripture is constructed to induce the use of one’s memory for a growing trust in Christ and an abiding hope in God’s promises for the future. Hamilton writes, “When the biblical authors composed their writings, they intended to signal their audiences the presence of promise-shaped patterns. Thus, even if they did not fully understand the significance of the pattern, [the authors] intended to draw attention to the recurring sequences of events, and they did so with a view to the future.”[25] This section of the paper will again focus on the life of Abraham, for the sake of space, as an example for church leaders. However, the principles applied here should be readily applicable to any biblical character, whether for positive or negative influence towards the reader. Thus, beginning from places in the Bible such as Abraham’s encounter with God to the promises’ final fulfillment in Christ, Scripture displays God’s faithfulness in keeping promises, and presses the reader to imprint this faithfulness upon the memory. If Abraham’s life invites the reader to reimagine their own stories in light of God’s promises, church leaders have an essential role in guiding this process. The faithfulness of God was not merely demonstrated to Bible characters, but is evident to the modern reader today in Christ. Church leaders play a crucial role in demonstrating God’s inviting faithfulness to the reader, creating episodic memories for the reader in the Word today.

            In viewing Scripture, Vanhoozer writes, “Revelation is not merely the communication of truths about God but, more important, God’s self-communication in act and word. Theology would know nothing of God if God had not taken the initiative to ‘unveil’ himself and raise the curtain of theo-drama.”[26] It is imperative to view the Bible not merely as words about God, but also as God’s own act of revealing Himself to the reader. The reader joins the other actors in the story and is invited to participate in the event. The reader is invited to resonate with the humanity of the Bible character, understanding the emotions that fueled words and decisions made in light of God’s words and actions. In the process, the reader creates episodic memories of their own as they resonate with the lives of those recounted in the Bible. Reading the events in Scripture of a Bible character’s life is, in itself, an event for the reader, creating an episodic memory for individuals today.

Peter Leithart explains this concept of reading as an episodic memory so: “God reveals himself in his image, Jesus, but we come to know that image by reading, and that takes time. God wants to transform us into the image of his image, and one of the key ways he does that is by leading us through the text.”[27] Keeping the reality of time in mind when considering the power of memory (as Aquinas made explicit), Leithart’s focus on the passing of time seems prophetic: “The past event is fixed and stable, but the significance of that event, and our description of it, grows richer and richer as passing time brings the event into a more and more complex set of relationships.”[28] Hamilton explains it so: “Those who embrace what the biblical authors teach will also seek to embrace the habits of mind, patterns of thought, and interpretive practices that biblical authors model in their writings.”[29] The Scriptures, then, present a model for recalling memory of the text and of one’s life experience in congruence with the promises of God in Jesus Christ. The Bible trains the reader how to use one’s imagination properly over a long period of exposure to God’s Word. Theo-drama within the Scriptures extends to the reader's life, engaging with God’s actions that reach beyond the text and events of the Bible to the reader's daily life today. The Bible not only shares the stories of days gone by but also instructs the reader on how to think, process, and remember events through the way the stories are told in God’s Word. Recurring events within the Bible inform how readers should approach recurring events today, drawing greater interest from Christians and those interested in the faith to pay closer attention to Scripture. Lord willing, the reader will come to see Jesus as the fulfillment of Scripture and as the fulfillment of their own life as well. Moments in the Word, as encouraged by church leaders drawing on episodic memory, make such awareness a possibility.

            Returning to Abraham as a case study, several events of his life would be replicated in other Bible characters. Isaac, Abraham’s son, receives the same promise from the Lord of land, offspring, and a role of international blessing that Abraham received (Gen. 26:2-5). Isaac would also go on to conceal his identity as his wife’s husband out of fear, as seen in Genesis 26:6-11. Critical to the case study of Abraham, Isaac’s wife Rebekah would also be barren as Sarah was (Gen. 25:21). Though Rebekah’s infertility does not receive the same space and effects upon the story as Sarah’s infertility does, the reader is invited to remember God’s faithfulness in prior fertility. In fact, the text explicitly names God’s role in granting fertility after Isaac intercedes for Sarah: “And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived” (Gen. 25:21). Many other Bible characters, such as Rachel (Gen. 29:31), Hannah (1 Sam. 1), the wife of Manoah (1 Sam. 13:2), the Shunnamite woman of 2 Kings 4:8-17, and Elizabeth (Lk. 1:7). In each of these cases, it took a work of God to bring about conception, just as it took for the Lord to provide a son for Abraham and Sarah. The reader of these stories is intended to be confronted with the reality of infertility, the memory of God’s faithfulness in the past, and, if theologically aware, the continuing need for the Lord to provide “an offspring” (Gen. 3:15) to bruise the head of the serpent. Infertility would have displayed God’s unfaithfulness if it would have persisted for Abraham and Sarah, but the Lord proved faithful, as He does so with many other Bible characters facing infertility. The reader of the text, facing infertility, resonates with the raw emotion, disappointment, and desire for a child that these Bible characters faced as well. Even if not facing infertility, the reader is within arm’s reach of understanding the emotions behind infertility, because feeling emotion is itself an episodic memory. Sarah’s desire for Abraham to have a child even led her to instruct her husband to pursue another woman (Gen. 16:2). Beyond merely stating the facts, Sarah’s humanity – acting on desperation and emotion – is on display for the reader to see and to resonate with.[30] Furthermore, the realities of sin when attempting to go outside of God’s promises for offspring not only afflict Abraham and Sarah, but also continue in Jacob’s wives, who pursue the same ends by offering their servants (Gen. 30:1-13). The events of Bilhah and Zilpah remind the reader of Sarah's offering of Hagar to Abraham, evoking a profound reflection on the emotions, the fear of the unknown, and the need for God to act.

            The reader of these stories, even if not personally affected by infertility, is impacted by the humanity at play in the characters of the story. How could digging into human emotion be considered proper handling of the text? Because the New Testament authors appear to read the stories of the Old Testament in just this way. Commenting on Abraham’s life, the author of Hebrews states, “He was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). It is human to look forward to something, just as the reader to some degree is looking forward to something, even if it is small or disconnected from the eschatological realities Abraham looked forward to. The Bible invites the reader to look forward with Abraham to something far greater than the minute things humans may look forward to today. Church leaders, with a desire to lead people to the Scriptures, will not overlook the human connection made clear here. It takes being human, with a memory of what it means to ‘look forward’ to something, to resonate with the picture that the author of Hebrews is providing. Important for the case study of this paper, the author of Hebrews continues to name Sarah as acting “by faith” in conceiving Isaac (Heb. 11:11). The reader would be reminded of Sarah’s actions – offering Hagar, laughing at God’s promise of a child through her – and would have to wrestle with how to balance these imperfections with what the Bible describes as faithfulness. Through the memory of the original story, the reader is now confronted with what living by faith is described as by a New Testament author: messy and imperfect, yet trusting in God and hoping for the future in Christ.

            Going a step further, the Apostle Paul invites the reader into the story by providing an allegorical interpretation of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah in Galatians 4. In the wisdom of the Divine author and human authors of Scripture, even departures from covenant promises and obedience assist the reader in resonating with the story. To attempt to find salvation through works mirrors the very spirit behind Abraham and Sarah’s plot with Hagar. The son, Ishmael, was born “according to the flesh.” In contrast, Isaac “was born through promise” (Gal. 4:23). Paul is not being careless with the text, but is displaying the human connection of experience through very diverse circumstances, for which the power of memory is necessary for capturing. In short, the reader may not know what it is like to have a child outside of wedlock, but Paul is assuming the reader knows what it is like to try to subvert the system and take power into one’s own hands. Even if the circumstances do not match, Paul expects the reader to connect with some memory of what it means to trust oneself instead of God. By contrast, Paul intends to display how the reader can continue to trust God, just as Abraham and Sarah did, despite previous failings, by leaning into the promises of God in Christ – the very same promises that Abraham believed (Gal. 3:9). In Galatians, the Apostle Paul provides an incredible glimpse into how the faith of Abraham is the faith believers in Christ must display, as the reader actively reflects on the memories of Abraham’s life from the Old Testament.

            This section of the paper has argued that Scripture is constructed to foster the use of one’s memory, thereby cultivating a growing trust in Christ and an abiding hope in God’s promises for the future. This argument was illustrated through Abraham’s life, specifically through Sarah’s infertility, but should be readily applicable to other instances in Abraham’s life and to other Bible characters. Regardless of whether the reader has personally faced infertility, the human emotions and experiences through such trials should be relatable to the reader, given an understanding of emotions such as unmet expectations, waiting, and disappointments that surface in many areas of everyday life. However, the hope is that the reader will experience the same joy and happiness that Bible characters experienced when God fulfilled His promises, and the joy the Holy Spirit brings to those who trust in Christ.[31] By remembering the shared humanity readers today have with Bible characters, the authors of the New Testament invite the reader to enter the story taking place through Christ, seeing God’s promises in Christ as the fulfillment of their own story. The New Testament example empowers church leaders today to extend the same invitation to Christians and those interested in the faith today, creating episodic memories of God’s faithfulness for readers of the Bible today.

The Role of the Leader

            This section will connect the dots for all that has been written above. Church leaders have been given a blueprint from the Divine and human authors of Scripture for how to engage with the Bible in such a way that it impacts the reader appropriately through a personal connection with the emotions and stories of individual Bible characters – understood through episodic memory. Furthermore, the individual stories encountered in the Bible help shape the reader to expect the fulfillment of the grand story in Jesus Christ, not only within the Bible but also within the reader’s life. This author believes church leaders can accomplish this task effectively through three specific goals. The church leader’s role, then, is to serve as a guide and steward of memory for the congregation into the Bible’s story, to live as an example for the congregation to connect alongside Bible characters, and to combat worldly narratives the congregation may be tempted to embrace with that of the biblical narrative. Subsections have been provided for each of these three ideas, providing an offensive, personal, and defensive strategy for utilizing episodic memory well.

A Guide and Steward of Memory

            The first means of utilizing episodic memory is understood as an offensive rather than a defensive posture (see below for the defensive stance). If Vanhoozer is correct in recognizing the Bible as theo-drama, church leaders play a crucial role in directing the drama that unfolds within the Bible through their interactions with people in the local church, thereby fostering a deeper interest among those who find it irrelevant. More than merely sharing the truths of God, church leaders harness the power of episodic memory by demonstrating that these truths are beautiful and life-fulfilling through ministry in the local church. Pastors orchestrate theo-drama through structuring a liturgy, preaching the gospel, and counseling individuals with a dual mission of showcasing doctrinal clarity and human delight in the truth. In short, the truths of God not only prove to be correct against its opponents, but the truths of God also bring the greatest lasting joy and fulfillment human beings may find. By making the truth clear and beautiful, the one who devotes time and energy to the Scriptures is on the way to encountering the God of the Scriptures. Remembering Augustine’s connection between memory, understanding, and will, the leader guides the individual to appreciate the beauty of God’s truth, evoking and cultivating a memory of beauty itself within the experience. The leader helps the individual cultivate a desire to pursue the beauty of God for oneself. In encountering stories of God’s faithfulness in individuals in the Bible, one can relate to such experiences in their own life, and a desire to experience the same faithfulness grows. Leaders help orchestrate the theo-drama by not leaving words on the pages of the Bible for didactic study, but by making the story come to life in the local church.

            As Aquinas made clear, church leaders can bring the story to life through memory by engaging the senses. The local church presents an incredible opportunity for church leaders to think through how to engage the senses. Visually, an individual needs to see a group of people who identify with the God of the Bible. Speaking on Israel in the Old Testament, Christopher Wright states, “Israel’s whole theology depended on its memory, and Israel’s memory was constitutive of their peoplehood.”[32] The church must not do anything less. Within a local body, individuals must see people who collectively identify as being in the story of the Bible – believing in Christ and hoping in God for the future. Wright continues, “The same identity as the people of God with this storied memory constitutes also for us the authority of our mission.”[33] Audibly, the worship of God’s people should move those in attendance. Reaching deeper than an emotional response, the strength of Christian worship comes as God’s people remember His faithfulness and future promises in Christ. Emotion, far from being neglected or celebrated, flows naturally as God’s people reflect upon the truths of God and rehearse the gospel story. Tactilely, the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper reinforce the truths of God and the submission to Jesus’ instruction. The church leader does well to take a moment during a baptism to ask those in attendance to reflect upon their own baptism or to reference a baptism from the Bible. The church leader connects with episodic memory in corporate worship by engaging the senses. Those in attendance are encouraged to develop an interest in engaging with the Scriptures by connecting what they see with what is in the Word, even if their knowledge of the Word is not extensive. It is the task of church leaders to meet these individuals where they are. Engaging the senses effectively in corporate worship helps connect explicit teachings of the Word, creating episodic memories that individuals associate with Christianity.

            In discipleship, church leaders can encourage repetitive practices as a means of harnessing the power of memory. Journaling is an excellent practice for leaders to promote, as it enables individuals to revisit previous events or circumstances at a later date and reflect on God’s faithfulness within them. Church leaders can highlight how previous memories may be understood through a biblical lens by connecting the events or circumstances to the lived experience of Bible characters. In both discipleship and counseling, one explicit aspect for church leaders to engage episodic memory is to use biblical terms for experiences and emotions that Bible characters address, and to employ biblical language to reflect God’s faithfulness in the life of the Bible character(s) and the reader. Addressing problems with biblical language helps connect the counselee's lived experience with that of Bible characters. As much as possible, the leader should stay within the standard English translation of the Bible that the church is accustomed to, rather than resorting to a particular word from another translation. Using 2 Corinthians 1 as an example, Paul speaks of being “utterly burdened beyond our strength” and of “despairing of life itself” (2 Cor. 1:8). Such passages not only provide a solution to such feelings (“rely not on ourselves but on God” [2 Cor. 1:9]), but also sufficiently describe the feelings of inadequacy, depression, or anxiety in human experience for Christian counseling. The Psalms also supply rich language for a wide range of human emotions and experiences. Remember that the Bible is not only words about God, but God’s Word to man – His effort to reach humanity with Himself. The church leader is tasked with teaching that the Bible is sufficient for spiritual guidance within a fallen world, and the leader does this by standing behind the language the Bible uses as sufficient for today.

In all of the ways described so far of how episodic memory may be utilized, church leaders stand as stewards. Deuteronomy 6 and Psalm 78 set a precedent for Israel’s leaders, specifically fathers, to instill the acts of God in the minds of the people. Church leaders bear this same weight today. While the leader possesses greater biblical knowledge than many under their care, the leader must exercise wisdom in appropriately using that knowledge for connecting those under their care to the historical church, which finds its identity with the same faith as Abraham. Preaching presents a grand opportunity to connect any passage of the Bible to the gospel message and to the lived experience of those listening. The leader is tasked with presenting the sermon text as both relevant to the gospel and to the listener’s life through the gospel. In making such connections, engaging the episodic memory of the events at Calvary and the events of the listener’s life is key. Asking questions such as, ‘Have you ever felt _____ or gone through _____?’ often bridges the gap being explained here, but could also be accomplished by sharing a recent story of individuals who faced similar pressures to those within the Bible. Sharing stories of other contemporary believers in missional contexts also serves well. Preaching also presents the opportunity to express the sufficiency of biblical language in describing the emotions and feelings of life addressed above, but not to the same personal degree as counseling does. In addition to counseling, preaching offers the most explicit opportunities for church leaders to engage with the episodic memory of their congregation, connecting what is being done in the present to past believers in Scripture and to the future hope found in Christ. Church leaders utilize episodic memory effectively by serving as a guide and steward of memory for their people within the local church, crafting a liturgy, employing biblical language in counseling, and preaching with connections to human experience in mind.

A Living Example of Using Episodic Memory

            What must be present for leaders to engage episodic memory well? What must the leader possess? The leaders’ ability to orchestrate theo-drama is only possible if those leading the church have experienced the beauty and truth of God for themselves. The leader must have an episodic memory of God’s faithfulness through Christ, an acknowledgment of one’s own faults, and a recognition of God’s remedy in the Holy Spirit despite personal shortcomings. Richard Langer and Joanne Jung warn, “Leadership should be approached with caution – not because we might fail in our leadership tasks but because leadership can distort our souls, disorder our affections, and draw us to the praise of men rather than the praise of God.”[34] A church leader may only lead after following Christ and having experience in living the Christian life, and they will be sensitive to understanding the temptations leadership may bring. Leaders should seek self-reflection on whether they can presently capture the truth and beauty of God’s Word as a means of knowing God personally, not just to lead others. Even though every leader faces pitfalls and spiritual decline at times, is the leader able to demonstrate a present trust in God and a hope for the future in Christ, which they desire to see in their people? The truth and beauty of Christ reveal God’s faithfulness in restoring leaders despite human frailty, as seen in Jesus' restoration of Peter in John 21. As Langer and Jung write, “We have waited and found God faithful; we have wondered and found God true; we have wandered but found that he has brought us back.”[35] The leader not only leads from an episodic memory of the Bible from pure academic study, but also from a lived experience of God’s faithfulness in Christ despite a continual struggle against sin and the flesh.

            In this vein, church leaders must be willing to share their own shortcomings, as well as events in which their trust in the Lord grew, and instances where God has been faithful. In short, church leaders today must be ready to be as transparent as Bible characters are in showcasing how God is true, though every man is a liar. Individuals like Peter and Paul, though leading men of the church, had their faults recorded within the New Testament for all to read. Church leaders today should have no room for fear in light of these leading men, seeking to allow their faults and weaknesses to be used by the Lord as a means of showing others the remedy found in Christ alone. Church leaders play a crucial role in utilizing episodic memory within their own lived experience of the Christian life and in drawing on Scripture to encourage others to the same Word of God. A leader who exemplifies what it means to dwell deeply in the Scriptures will lead others to do the same.

Contrasting Worldly Narratives

            Whereas the first application of a leader using episodic memory is understood as an offensive stance, this section may be viewed as taking a defensive stance in using episodic memory. A personal identity with the Christian life, as described and demonstrated within the Bible, and a strong knowledge of the Word that the leader desires to see in others, prepares church leaders to counteract worldly narratives with those of the Bible in real-time as situations and arguments against the faith arise. One of the clearest issues at hand of a contrasting narrative in the Western world today is political influence. Within the United States, the metanarrative of politics has evolved to such an extent that it is increasingly difficult to express an opinion on any issue without associating it with or condemning a specific political party or sub-category. By rejecting the political metanarrative in favor of a biblical one, church leaders are free to address issues biblically without a fear of political backlash. Even if backlash should come, the leader is strengthened by remembering that Jesus said persecution would come (Jn. 15:20). The leader, remembering the gospel story in which they are found through Christ, is free from following the political waves of the day and from speaking against them from a purely political motive. Heaven and earth, and politics, will pass away, but the word of God will not. History has proved that seasons change and shift, but the testimony of Scripture —and of those Scripture tells the story of —is that what remains is a trust in Christ and a hope for the future in Him. Church leaders combat worldly narratives by teaching those under their care to discern what is of the world versus what is of the Lord, experiencing the same faithfulness that Bible characters trusted in or succumbed to through adverse times.

            How can church leaders determine when they are effectively utilizing episodic memory and fostering greater interest in the Bible through it? What is the metric for success? If not handled appropriately, suggesting to church leaders that they keep episodic memory in mind while ministering to Christians or those interested in the faith may appear as yet another ball to juggle mentally. However, the danger in not effectively leading with episodic memory in mind is detaching doing the Lord’s work from knowing the Lord personally. It is to put the reins of ministry within one’s hands instead of leaving it in the Lord’s. Wright states, “God fights for us, not we for him. We are called to witness, to struggle, to resist, to suffer. But the battle is the Lord’s, as is the final victory.”[36] A metric for success in utilizing episodic memory effectively is witnessing Christians or those with an interest in Christianity relate their lived experiences to what they read in the Bible. It is not that the individual is properly connecting their situation to what is taking place in the Bible, but rather, is the attempt being made at all? Such attempts give church leaders more ground to correct, apply, or dig deeper into why the individual feels connected to the story from the Bible. While the church leader may see even more work to do, they may also rejoice in the fact that the subject revolves around the Word, which always presents an opportunity to point to Jesus and to the hope of the gospel.

Conclusion

This paper has argued that church leaders greatly assist Christians and those interested in Christianity by leveraging the shared power of episodic memory that people today have with biblical characters, encouraging trust in God and hope for the future in Christ. To support this argument, the paper began by bringing the reader up to speed on historical Christian reflection and important empirical studies on memory. Next, a biblical anthropology grounded in empirical science and historical thought was applied to Abraham (though this method could be applied to any biblical character) as a case study, enabling the reader to see biblical characters as real people facing life challenges, rather than mere words and stories on paper. After this, it was shown how the Bible itself invites the reader to enter the story it tells. Finally, the paper outlined tangible steps for how church leaders can harness the power of episodic memory to spark interest in studying the Scriptures today. Specifically, church leaders use the power of episodic memory by stewarding memory in the local church, living as an example of God’s faithfulness, and contrasting worldly narratives with God’s truth. Being a leader means taking initiative. By engaging well with the episodic memory of Christians and those interested in the faith, church leaders provide greater assistance for those who see the Bible as foreign or irrelevant to daily life in coming to the Scriptures.

[1] Tiffany K. Hansborough, Fabrice Delice, and Roseanne J. Fonti, “Memory, Language, and Feedback,” in Navigating Leadership: Evidence-Based Strategies for Leadership Development (New York, NY: Routledge, 2025), 122.

[2] Hansborough, 122.

[3] Augustine, Confessions 10.8.

[4] Ibid., 10.9.

[5] Augustine writes, “I know that the soul is the better part of me, because it animates the whole body. It gives it life, and this is something that no body can give to another body.” [Augustine, Confessions 10.6.] This author does not claim one is bound to this view of spirit primacy. Augustine has much to offer in studying memory, but he does present an unhelpful view of dualism at times. It is this author’s view that sin has equally affected the spirit and the body per Jesus’ words in Mark 7:18-23, making the competition for primacy between human spirit and flesh a waste of time. Augustine would have done well to make the Holy Spirit greater than the spirit of man in his writing the greater argument.

[6] Augustine, De Trinitate 10.11.18.

[7] For a larger picture of Aquinas’ view of the soul from an Aristotelian perspective, see Codey Cline, “The State of the Question on Memory and Sexuality,” a paper submitted for DR30020 Doctoral Studies Colloquium, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, May 2023, and Codey Cline, “Aquinas’ Example of Faith and Thinking for Today,” a paper submitted for DR31080 Biblical Spirituality, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, November 2024.

[8] Thomas Aquinas, The Summa Theologica, Part 1, 79.6.

[9] When using the word ‘intellect,’ Aquinas is discussing a power of the soul which does not require a bodily organ. It is not the soul itself. The intellect finds its being from God, but a creature’s intellect varies distinctly from God’s intellect: “It is necessary to say that the intellect is a power of the soul, and not the very essence of the soul. For then alone the essence of that which operates is the immediate principle of operation, when operation itself is its being: for as power is to operation as its act, so is the essence to being. But in God alone His action of understanding is His very Being. Wherefore in God alone is His intellect His essence: while in other intellectual creatures, the intellect is power.” [Aquinas, Summa Part 1, 79.1.]

[10] In keeping with Aquinas’ affinity for Aristotle, remember the distinctions between passive and active intellect. The difference between memory from sense and memory from intellect must deal with how one remembers an absolute reality such as a dog, a color, etc. These absolutes can be edited in the memory given new information, but events fixed in time cannot be changed after time has passed.

[11] Thomas Aquinas, De Memoria et Reminiscentia 3.349.

[12] Aquinas, Reminiscentia 7.396.

[13] Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2015), 177.

[14] Ibid., 193.

[15] For a summary, see Daniel Schacter, The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers, 2^nd ed. (New York, NY: Mariner Books, 2014).

[16] Daniel Schacter, “The seven sins of memory: an update,” Memory 30, no. 1 (2022): 40.

[17] Matthew Lapine, The Logic of the Body: Retrieving Theological Psychology (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), 301.

[18] Ibid., 303.

[19] See Susanne Braun et al., eds. Navigating Leadership: Evidence-Based Strategies for Leadership Development (New York, NY: Routledge, 2025).

[20] This author has previously written concerning implicit memory while discussing the subject of Christian nationalism. See Codey Cline, “The Implicit Memory Behind Christian Nationalism,” a paper submitted for DR37305 Theology and Culture, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, May 2024.

[21] Unless otherwise specific, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version, Updated Version (ESV) (Wheaton: Crossway, 2016).

[22] Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 37.

[23] Vanhoozer, 37-38.

[24] James Hamilton, Jr., God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 40.

[25] James Hamilton, Jr., Typology: Understanding the Bible’s Promise-Shaped Patterns (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2022), 5.

[26] Vanhoozer, 38.

[27] Peter Leithart, Deep Exegesis: The Mystery of Reading Scripture (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2009), 55.

[28] Leithart, 41.

[29] Hamilton, Typology, 27.

[30] Even though polygamy may have been acceptable in biblical times, it seems that female jealousy over men did not care what the culture found acceptable. Women then were not so different from women now. The same could be said of men too! See Gen. 16:4-5; 30:1.

[31] It is very likely that some who have faced infertility may be tempted to find God unfaithful if infertility persists. Church leadership has a responsibility to provide individuals facing infertility with a biblical theology of why infertility was such a big deal in the Scriptures: God promised to provide a seed from the woman to bruise the head of the serpent – to handle sin for good. In short, this could not happen if infertility persisted. Now that Christ, that seed of the woman, has come, it may be that infertility may persist. However, the reality of infertility today does not mean God is unfaithful or that God must provide a child to prove His faithfulness. The Seed of the woman has now come and defeated sin, and individuals plagued by infertility will not be disappointed when they see Him, even if infertility never passes. This is pastoral care for individuals suffering through infertility today.

[32] Christopher Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006), 56-57.

[33] Ibid., 57.

[34] Richard Langer and Joanne Jung, The Call to Follow: Hearing Jesus in a Culture Obsessed with Leadership (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), 25.

[35] Ibid., 139.

[36] Wright, 178.