Nonreductive physicalism denies that a soul exists in a disembodied form. When it comes to the afterlife, the nonreductive physicalist looks forward to resurrection of the body as an act of God. Our champion for this view is Nancey Murphy at Fuller Seminary. Read more
Emergent dualism relies on the history of evolution to create a new whole -- a whole is greater than the sum of its parts -- and one new whole is the human soul. The nonphysical soul emerges from its physical past. Read more
What do materialists say about the soul? There is no such thing. This is the case for both Eastern Buddhists and Western atheists. Even for some Christian materialists. Read more
To bolster the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that IVF embryos are children warranting legal protection against abortion, we bring in the logic of Vatican bioethics. But even the refined Vatican logic fails to conform to scientific knowledgte about the early embryo. Because of twinning and chimerism, the embryo at conception cannot be declared an individual person with moral protectability. The public theologian must press on toward a scientifically consonant argument to establish personhood for the unborn. Read more
Are frozen embryos really children? The Supreme Court of Alabama forces us to ask this question. Let's turn to the Protestant justification of a "yes" answer by Chief Justice Tom Parker and then examine the "yes" answer posed by Roman Catholic bioethicists. My own answer is negative. Read more
Will the Trump presidential campaign put Christian nationalism on our doorstep? Would a Trump reelection turn Washington into a theocracy? Read more
How do you like trichotomy? Body, soul, and spirit are three dimensions of one whole person. Read more
Is your soul an immaterial substance that, with a soulechtomy, can be extracted from your body? Is the soul made out of an immortal material? Or, is it better to use the word, "soul," to refer to the whole person that includes body, soul, and spirit? Read more
Let's take a tour through options, through alternative theologices of the soul such as Emergent Dualism, Nonreductive Physicalism, Theological Materialism, Atheistic Materialism, and, finally, a Trichotomy of soul with body and spirit. All these are distinctively Christian theological pictures; but along the way we’ll look briefly at Hinduism and Buddhism for comparison. Read more
Two hazards frighten our otherwise optimistic AI techies. First, the possibility of superintelligence -- what our transhumanists have been calling the "Singularity" -- taking over the world and dispensing with the human race. Second, bad actors with malicious intent getting a hold on powerful AI tools and disrupting global communications while letting loose lethal autonomous weapons. Read more
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