What About the Soul?

Everyone knows about the rocky relationship between science and theology brought about by the revolutionary proposals of Copernicus and Darwin. Fewer people know about an equally revolutionary scientific innovation that is currently under way among neurobiologists. This revolution in brain research has completely rewritten our understanding of who we are. It poses fundamental challenges to traditional Christian theology. According to the scientific worldview that now dominates, it is no longer necessary to speak of a soul or spirit as distinct from the functions of the brain. Nor is it possible from the scientific point of view to biologically distinguish humans from animals. How then, are we to answer the fundamental theological question? * Who am I? * What am I doing here? * Why do I do what I do? * In more classical theological terms, * what does it mean to be saved? * How am I responsible for my behavior? * What is the meaning of resurrection? * What happens when I die?

Contents

1. Body and Soul? Questions at the Interface of Science and Christian Faith -Joel B. Green
2. Mind Reading and Soul Searching in the Twenty-first Century: The Scientific Evidence -Malcolm Jeeves
3. A Neurobiological Portrait of the Human Person: Finding a Context for Approaching the Brain -Gareth D. Jones
4. The Soul: Possession, Part, or Person? The Genesis of Human Nature in Genesis 2:7 -Lawson G. Stone
5. What Is a Human Being? The Anthropology of Scripture -Patrick D. Miller
6. Soul-Searching Questions about 1 Samuel 28: Samuel's Appearance at Endor and Christian Anthropology -Bill T. Arnold
7. Resurrection of the Body: New Testament Voices Concerning Personal Continuity and the Afterlife -Joel B. Green
8. Emergent Dualism: Challenge to a Materialist Consensus -William Hasker
9. Time, Eternity, and Personal Identity: The Implications of Trinitarian Theology -Charles E. Gutenson
10. What About the Dust? Missiological Musings on Anthropology -Michael Rynkiewich
11. The Neuroscience of Christian Counseling? -Virginia T. Holeman
12. Pastoral Care and Counseling Without the "Soul": A Consideration of Emergent Monism -Stuart L. Palmer
13. Human Nature: An Integrated Picture -Malcolm Jeeves
    Notes
    Index

A ground breaking set of engaging essays on a contemporary debate from the finest of Evangelical Wesleyan Scholarship.
-Publisher.

Publisher Description

Everyone knows about the rocky relationship between science and theology brought about by the revolutionary proposals of Copernicus and Darwin. Fewer people know about an equally revolutionary scientific innovation that is currently under way among neurobiologists. This revolution in brain research has completely rewritten our understanding of who we are. It poses fundamental challenges to traditional Christian theology. According to the scientific worldview that now dominates, it is no longer necessary to speak of a soul or spirit as distinct from the functions of the brain. Nor is it possible from the scientific point of view to biologically distinguish humans from animals. How then, are we to answer the fundamental theological question? Who am I? What am I doing here? Why do I do what I do? In more classical theological terms, what does it mean to be saved? How am I responsible for my behavior? What is the meaning of resurrection? What happens when I die? Contributors: Bill T. Arnold, D. Gareth  Jones, Joel B. Green, Patrick D. Miller, Charles E. Gutenson, Stuart L. Palmer, William Hasker, Michael Rynkiewich, Virginia T. Holeman, Lawson G. Stone, Malcolm Jeeves.