“Thus, if the immortality of the soul and, hence, dualism are essential to Christian thought, then the church should be bracing for an encounter with science far overshadowing debates about creation and evolution.”
So says Lawson G. Stone, Professor of Old Testament, Asbury Theological Seminary, in What About the Soul? Neuroscience and Christian Anthropology, Joel B. Green, ed. Present day studies and theories in neurobiology and neuropsychology are thinning the boundary between soul and body and locating personhood fully integrated in, not separate from, the physical body. Traditional Christian definitions of personhood and “in the image of God” seem to require a separate, immortal soul. If this is not maintained, then what happens to our concepts of evangelism and missions, spiritual-emotional healing, the state of a person after death, bodily resurrection and eternal life. At lot is at stake. But, the authors in this book argue that Christian orthodoxy and biblical faith do not require a two-part person. Have so many of us been very wrong for so long? Yet, what grand possibilities of understanding and hope emerge from a deeper reading of the biblical narrative (Stone's study of Genesis 2 & 3 will transform your way of reading not only these texts but much of scripture.)
And, the Christian community is being driven to more honest perceptions of its own theology by modern science! Instead of defending viewpoints “because the Bible says so”, we should be looking deeper at what the Bible really says, and how it allows us to continue to develop the understanding of ourselves and our ways of representing God in the world – and maybe move out of the popular opinion of Christians as obscurantists.
Glad to read your comments. I don't often hear the word 'soul' used as a descriptive category in the Episcopal Church. I wonder if it refers to Essence, Self or Spirit? It occurs to me that the integral interconnectedness of all creation is nondualistic and accounts for unity in infinity variety. Or, perhaps I miss the point.
ReplyDeleteIf I understand it correctly Hebrew theology did not treat man as separable. I've long understood us created in God's image as triune beings (body/soul/spirit) just as God Father/Son/Holy Spirit is triune. Therefore we cannot be separated, in the sense of being simply a body inhabited, but not integrated with, by a soul which departs upon death. IMHO, this is one reason why we are promised new and different bodies at resurrection; we are not complete human beings without one.
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