No matter how long someone has walked with Jesus, there is always more to discover about who he is and how we relate to him. For Dr. Jeannine Hanger, associate professor in 91’s Talbot School of Theology, this truth comes alive through a fresh approach to Scripture — one that explores the sensory experiences embedded in the Gospels. In her book Engaging Jesus With Our Senses, Hanger invites readers to consider how people’s embodied lives can deepen their connection with Christ. Read more to learn about her inspiration to write a book about the uniqueness of human characteristics and their ability to help people draw nearer to God. 

image shows Jeannine Hanger with her book
Dr. Jeannine Hanger with her book, Engaging Jesus With Our Senses

What inspired or influenced you to research and write about the experience of engaging with Jesus using our senses?

I have had a long-time interest in understanding better our union with Christ. To that end, my doctoral studies focused on the I am sayings in the Gospel of John, exploring their sensory qualities. For example, Jesus says, I am the bread of life, and he says that those who “eat” of this bread will be eternally nourished. Is there anything that we learn from physical hunger and nourishment that we can map over to our understanding of being nourished by Jesus the bread of life? This research was the impetus for writing my book Engaging Jesus With Our Senses, which addresses the four canonical Gospels more broadly, also taking a sensory approach. More specifically, the approach of this book is to take our own sensory, embodied experiences and to use them as a bridge to understanding the sensory world of the Gospels. As we gain a more embodied understanding of these texts, I believe this can help us to make further connections in our own abiding lives with Jesus.

Was there anything you found while researching that was particularly encouraging? Challenging?

In our modern Western context, we are prone to assume that the physical senses are valued in uniform ways, since we often experience them as “natural” to our embodied lives. We therefore assume the senses are pre-cultural and based on biological realities. Very early on, I was surprised to learn that how we experience the physical senses varies quite a bit across cultures, across individuals and across time. Learning this opened up some new vistas when considering how the senses might have been experienced in the ancient world, and even how they are experienced differently from one person to the next in our current context. This can be challenging (in a good way), because it calls us to cultivate greater sensitivity to the diversities of ways that people experience this world. I find this dynamic encouraging, since it invites us to value and appreciate the various ways God has worked and continues to move in and among us throughout this multisensory life we have with Him.

How are you integrating your research into the classes you teach? What about your own life?

This book is one of the texts we read in my New Testament History and Literature class. After reading the first two introductory chapters, students will select several physical senses to study throughout the semester, whether taste, sight, hearing, smell, or touch. After reading the relevant chapter, they practice one of the formational exercises for that physical sense and submit a written reflection about it. I also assign versions of these formational exercises in my Gospel of John class. For me personally, this has brought greater depth to my day-to-day life as I consider the presence of God in even the seemingly mundane moments of a given day. It helps me appreciate tastes, sounds and other sensory-rich moments, as I reflect on the goodness of God.

How do you hope your readers apply what they learn through your book?

My hope is that readers will be inspired to want to keep engaging with the Gospels, and by extension, with Jesus himself. I hope that working through the book will leave readers with the reminder that we can engage with Jesus — and he with us — in every moment: in our day-to-day lives, amid the highs and lows and in all of those in-between “normal” or even “mundane” moments. Really, I just want people to know Jesus, the Word who became flesh and reveals God to the world.

Who should read your book?

This book is really for anyone interested in exploring the Gospels, and it’s for anyone interested in seeking greater depth in their abiding life with Christ. On the one hand, it can appeal to those who are brand new to the Bible and are looking for an engaging approach to the Gospel stories. On the other hand, I believe it will appeal to those who have been reading the Gospels all their lives. For this latter group, I hope they find it to be a refreshed look at familiar texts, adding greater descriptive value to their understanding, and highlighting the goodness of this life we have with God.

Hanger’s book Engaging Jesus With Our Senses is available for purchase on . Courses that dive into faith, theology and the Bible are the heart of Talbot School of Theology. Nearly every undergraduate at Biola receives a minor in Biblical and Theological Studies. and experience the rich, biblically integrated curriculum offered at Biola. 

Interview conducted by Sarah Dougher, media relations specialist. For more information, or if you would like to be included in a Faculty Highlight, email media.relations@biola.edu.