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Sometimes It Causes Me to Tremble: Fear, Faith, and the Human Brain

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Abstract

This article reviews selected current neuroscientific research on fear and anxiety and sketches three of anxiety’s sources: innate/learned, loss of attachment, and symbolic/narrative construction. The article then explores the role of religious communities and practitioners of pastoral care and counseling in offering both antidotes to destructive anxiety and faithful management of normal or “useful” anxiety.

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Correspondence to David A. Hogue.

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Hogue, D.A. Sometimes It Causes Me to Tremble: Fear, Faith, and the Human Brain. Pastoral Psychol 63, 659–671 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-013-0593-x

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