In his landmark synthesis, Joseph LeDoux (1996) articulated a neurobiological account of fear that reshaped affective neuroscience by demonstrating that the amygdala functions as a central hub in fear conditioning, capable of receiving rapid “low road” sensory input directly from the thalamus as well as slower, cortical “high road” input that allows reflective appraisal. These findings were consolidated in his influential book The Emotional Brain and grounded in earlier lesion and conditioning experiments from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Building on behavioural paradigms refined by researchers such as Michael Davis (notably in startle reflex modulation) and interacting conceptually with parallel work on emotion and decision-making by Antonio Damasio, LeDoux demonstrated that fear responses can be triggered independently of conscious awareness, thereby challenging purely cognitive theories of emotion and establishing a circuitry-based model linking sensory processing, the lateral and central nuclei of the amygdala, and downstream autonomic and behavioural outputs. From a Christian and Biblical perspective, this research illuminates the embodied nature of human persons, created as psychosomatic unities (Genesis 2:7), and helps explain why fear can arise before conscious trust is enacted, even though Scripture repeatedly exhorts believers, “Do not fear” (e.g., Isaiah 41:10; 2 Timothy 1:7), suggesting that spiritual formation does not negate biology but works through it, renewing the mind (Romans 12:2) and gradually reshaping conditioned responses through practices of prayer, community, and contemplative trust in God’s providence (cf. Augustine’s account of rightly ordered loves). Thus, LeDoux’s model has profound value for personal wellbeing by normalising involuntary fear responses in anxiety and trauma, supporting therapeutic interventions such as exposure-based treatments that recalibrate amygdala circuits, and for societal health by informing public understanding of stress, violence, and collective panic, encouraging compassionate, evidence-based approaches to mental health that respect both neurobiological vulnerability and the moral-spiritual capacities of persons made in the image of God.