Reductive Materialism<\/em> has it that the human person is a physical (or material) organism, whose emotional, moral, and religious experiences will ultimately and decisively be explained by the natural sciences. People are nothing bu the product of organic chemistry. (p. 30)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nand<\/p>\n
Radical Dualism<\/em> advocates the view that the soul (or mind) is separable from the body, having no necessary relation to the body, with the human person identified with the soul.\u00a0 \u2026 in this view the soul acts apart from bodily processes and the body is nothing more than a temporary and disposable holding tank (or shell) for the soul. (p. 31)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI\u2019ll give some intermediate options after the jump.<\/p>\n
Where would you put your position on the continuum between these two poles? Closer to reductive materialism or radical dualism?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nThere are a number of positions between the extremes of reductive materialism and radical dualism.<\/p>\n
Wholistic dualism<\/em> \u2026 a form of substance dualism, but posits that the human person, though composed of discrete elements, is nonetheless to be identified with the whole which, then, constitutes a functional unity. (p. 31)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nVarious forms of monism<\/em> are also defended from a Christian perspective.<\/p>\n\u2026the monists with whom I am concerned argue that the phenomenological experiences that we label \u201csoul\u201d are neither reducible to brain activity nor evidence of a substantial, ontological entity such as a \u201csoul,\u201d but rather represent essential aspects or capacities of the self. (p. 31)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
These four terms form a basis for the discussion that will come in future posts.\u00a0 There is another important aspect of human existence that we should consider before moving on though.<\/p>\n
Individual vs Community.<\/strong><\/em> The witness of the bible in both the old and new testaments is to an embodied existence of humans, humans always considered as in relationship to God, and humans who are always considered in the context of human community.\u00a0 The cultural blinders like those that impact interpretation of body and soul in scripture also impact interpretation of the communal nature of personhood.<\/p>\nGiven the strength of Cartesian categories and the experience of many since the Enlightenment, it is perhaps not surprising to see the degree to which humanity has come to be understood \u201cone person at a time,\u201d so to speak. This is not biblical faith however. Although biblical faith would naturally resist any suggestion that our humanity can be reduced to our physicality, it also challenges those, past and present, who insist that the human person can ever be understood on individual terms.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Thus a consideration of the nature of humanity in the bible in the context of modern neuroscience must deal with both the embodied nature of humans and the relational nature of humans. This impacts the understanding of eschatology, salvation, and mission. As a people we are much more than a collection of individuals.<\/p>\n
Dr. Green considers poses several questions that highlight the relational nature of humanity and this impact this may have on our understanding of the biblical view of humanity. These questions can help shape the discussion today.<\/p>\n
How should we understand salvation? Does salvation entail a focus on the inner state of individual human souls? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nTo what extent should the mission of the church focus on the soulish needs of persons, on society-at-large, or on the cosmos? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nIf you wish to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net<\/p>\n
If interested you can subscribe to a full text feed of my posts at Musings on Science and Theology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday I began a series on Joel B. Green\u2019s book Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Over the course of the next few months, once or twice a week, I will work through the questions raised by Green on the nature of humanity in the context of scripture, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[480],"tags":[8607,8606],"class_list":["post-16598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-and-faith","tag-body-and-soul","tag-joel-b-green"],"yoast_head":"\n
Being Human 2 (RJS)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On Tuesday I began a series on Joel B. Green's book Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Over the course of the next few\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Being Human 2 (RJS)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Tuesday I began a series on Joel B. Green's book Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Over the course of the next few\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-12T10:35:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-12T01:15:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/files\/2011\/05\/Green-ds.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"RJS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RJS\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/\",\"name\":\"Being Human 2 (RJS)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-12T10:35:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-12T01:15:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0\"},\"description\":\"On Tuesday I began a series on Joel B. Green's book Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Over the course of the next few\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Being Human 2 (RJS)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0\",\"name\":\"RJS\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/rjs1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Being Human 2 (RJS)","description":"On Tuesday I began a series on Joel B. Green's book Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Over the course of the next few","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Being Human 2 (RJS)","og_description":"On Tuesday I began a series on Joel B. Green's book Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Over the course of the next few","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2011-05-12T10:35:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-05-12T01:15:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/files\/2011\/05\/Green-ds.jpg"}],"author":"RJS","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"RJS","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/","name":"Being Human 2 (RJS)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-12T10:35:11+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-12T01:15:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0"},"description":"On Tuesday I began a series on Joel B. Green's book Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible. Over the course of the next few","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/05\/12\/being-human-2-rjs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Being Human 2 (RJS)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/716551d3a3f8c156aabfd47c0bce89a0","name":"RJS","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/rjs1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/community\/sites\/40\/2011\/05\/Green-ds.jpg\" "\\"Green")
<\/a>The view that humans are composed of a physical material body and a separate immaterial soul is the default position for most Christians. This dualist view is increasingly difficult to reconcile with improved understanding of biology, biochemistry, and neuroscience. I\u2019ve posted on some of this before. The posts can be found through the Science and Faith Archive<\/a> on the sidebar \u2013 scroll down to the heading Science, Faith, and Being Human. Dr. Green gives definitions for some of the important concepts and terms at play in the discussion of the nature of humanity. The two extreme positions are:<\/p>\n