“Why and how does engaging the Gospel text with our senses matter to our spiritual formation?” (p. 4). Dr. Jeannine Hanger, Associate Professor of New Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, has written Engaging Jesus with our Senses: An Embodied Approach to the Gospels to bring embodiment into our approach to the Word. Nearly 400 years after Descartes, dualism continues to favor the work of the mind, but Hanger invites mind and body to work together as we experience Christ. She writes with a conviction that “sensory lives reflect the creativity and beauty of God himself” and this leads her reader to a deeper knowing of God’s beauty and goodness (p. 4). Hanger acutely articulates her purpose: to explore the sensory world of the ancient readers and place that experience in conversation with the current reader’s approach to God. Attentiveness to God, and God’s attentiveness to us, is the soil of spiritual formation. 

The book is systematically organized with two introductory chapters on the senses and the gospels, followed by five chapters dedicated to each sense, and a concluding implications chapter. This consistent structure and smooth transitions create a sense of calm authority throughout. This is not a book that wanders or muses. The reader will get what Hanger sets out to provide. The following provides a review of each chapter. 

In chapter one, Hanger addresses the embodiment of knowledge reviewing Cartesian mind-body distinction against modern perspectives and exploring the historical prioritization of senses. She highlights that diverse readings are possible to gain a deeper sense of the goodness of God (p. 20). Following an introduction to both reproductive and productive imagination, supported by the assertion that memories are attached to sensory experiences, Hanger invites readers to engage the Gospels in embodied ways for a fuller knowledge of God.

The Gospels are defined in chapter two as four-part, theologically purposed, harmonized, biographical narratives about Jesus that invite transformation (p. 28-29). Reviewing John independently from the synoptics, the four books form the basis for Hanger’s sensory exploration. She focuses on how the senses would have been operating during the events (p. 34) yet keeps the real reader in mind with consistent invitations to employ embodied efforts to stay near Jesus.

Hanger then begins a discussion on each sense. In chapter three, taste is described in intimate terms (e.g., ingestion, satiation, seeking nourishment, pleasure), an important framework lest the chapter grow more focused on eating than tasting. Placements at a wedding feast, building friendships through dinner invitations, and feeding the multitudes are her chosen Gospel stories that provide deeper discovery of joy, generosity, hospitality, and compassion – intimate markers of the heart of Jesus. Hanger highlights John’s hunger imagery, inviting readers to “taste and see that the Lord is good and that the kingdom is here in the coming of Jesus” (p. 52). “I am the bread of life,” in John 6:35 is described as Christ’s call to evaluate the traditions of following God (e.g., manna in the desert, the Passover feast, the sacrifices). Jesus “is asking them to take their foundational, habitual rhythms and map them into himself” (p. 54). Hanger considers interpretations by the earliest readers and the modern reader, each of whom push against “dependency” on nourishment in the “hope that it is temporary.” It is with this acknowledgement, that Hanger implores her reader to find continual sustenance in Jesus amid need.

In contrast to the immediate intimacy of taste, chapter four notes that sight operates at a distance, indicating a range of approaches that can be taken to experience Jesus. Hanger reviews biblical metaphors connecting sight to knowledge and faith (p. 68). Moving through passages that include “seeing God’s salvation” (Luke 3:6), “the people living in darkness have seen a great light” (Matt.4:16), and Jesus is the “true light” (John 1:9), she notes that Jesus was anointed to recover sight for the blind (Luke 4:18-19), and then does so in transformative ways that provide material, physical, and social outcomes. Noting that the cultural primacy of the sense of sight, Hanger astutely reiterates that “not everyone possesses the same configuration of sensory abilities” (p. 65), and those who teach the Bible can give more care to help learners to cultivate wholeness and generosity without making the physically blind feel excluded from the good promises of Scripture (p. 76).

In chapter five, Hanger notes the vulnerability of hearing. Ears do not come with an easy shut off valve. Thus, hearing “is about receptivity” (p. 100). Akin to sight, it is a primary sense in the oral/aural ancient world, yet scriptures allude to deafness with negative metaphors. Hanger speaks to the comfort of hearing the Lord’s voice (John 10:1-18) and notes that the voice of Jesus also commands attention and authority over demonic powers (i.e., Matt. 9:32-33), nature (i.e., Matt. 8:26) and death (i.e., Luke 7:11-17). She highlights usages of “hear (akouō)” in the Gospel of Mark, and the raising of Lazarus in the Gospel of John, to suggest that healings expanded opportunities to participate in community (p. 102). Hanger’s closing reflections nudge the reader to be someone who deeply hears Jesus’ words and follows his voice (p. 109).

Like sounds, scents are inescapable, and Hanger describes them in chapter six as “covertly sneaking into our awareness” (p. 115). She introduces “olfactive memory,” and the cultural value of fragrance in the ancient world. This chapter requires imaginative wondering through scenes such as Zechariah’s fragrant offering (Luke 1:5-20), Jewish household preparations (Mark 1:31), banquets (Luke 5:29), and burials (Luke 7:11-14). John’s Gospel uniquely mentions smell in the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-44), a costly perfume (John 12:1-8, and seventy-five pounds of myrrh for Jesus’ burial (John 19:39). These prompt contemplation of how the normal scents contributed to formative memory and “the holistic beauty and goodness of God’s big world” (p. 134). This is an engrossing chapter that encourages the exploration of our deep connection between smells and our feelings, memories, and actions. 

In chapter seven, Hanger points out the significance of touch and its connection to both a setting and an emotion. She reflects on its necessity for being, its potency as both “symbolic importance and to effect change in relationships” (p. 141). Hanger notes its significance to the rules of purity rituals and in conveying “dignity and compassion that cannot be communicated using any other sensory capacity” (p. 144). The healing touch of Jesus (e.g., Matthew 8:15) restores people to both health and community and eradicates the forces of death and brings cleansing (e.g., Mark 5:27-34). Hanger curates some of Jesus’ precious scenes with children (Matthew 19:13), during his anointing (Luke 7:36-50), and in the foot washing (John 13:5-14) during which he broke social mores to show compassion. She also pinpoints the physical degradation Jesus experienced in his trials and crucifixion. Jesus’ posture toward touching (e.g., the man born blind) and being touched (Mary’s anointing) paints a picture of receptivity that confers dignity (p. 155). In response, Hanger invites the modern reader, in a time of increasing isolation, to consider what love feels like.

The book’s closing chapter encourages readers to truly sense Jesus, acknowledging that pain can accompany beauty (p. 166). To engage the Gospel sensorily adds color to the biblical text and to our own imagination. It becomes an invitation to draw near, depend on, and flourish in Christ, fostering attentiveness to God’s goodness. Hanger reiterates her goal, “to openly bring our embodiment into our reading of the text,” concluding with insights that encourage investment in an embodied relationship with Christ and his people (p. 170).

The book’s strength lies in its uncluttered, explorative approach, systematically engaging the evangelical imagination. However, two ideas may have offered more nuanced frameworks to bring our embodiment into our approach to the Word. The reader with a more diverse hermeneutical approach or experience in a theological tradition that has historically emphasized the body (e.g., Eastern Orthodox theology’s understanding of the senses in spiritual experience) might find it to be too compact and/or more descriptive than illustrative. However, Hanger knows her audience and effectively caters to them with practical application suggestions at the close of each chapter. Additionally, contemporary disability theology could continue to enrich the discussion beyond a general critique of dualism. To this end, Hanger does introduce voices such as John Hull and Amos Yong, and her acknowledgement of disabled believers’ perspectives adds potency.

Dr. Hanger enhances readability with personal vignettes and application ideas, appealing to both the biblical studies student and the formation-focused practitioner. With accessible language such as “Whoa!” and “y’all,” Hanger has moved her dissertation research away from the ivory tower and closer to the heart of the real reader. The reader can not only analyze the text intellectually, but imagining the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and emotions of the Gospel scenes can enter the story personally and relationally. Ultimately, Hanger effectively hopes, “the reader will have engaged the text in a fresh way and that in doing so . . . will have gained new insights about what it means to abide with Christ” (p.8).

Debra R. Anderson, EdD
Associate Professor, Mentored Formation
Denver Seminary
June 2025