Dualism

1. Dualism Where is my soul?

2. Introduction Many Christians assume that the Bible is clear about the nature of the human soul (i.e. that we have one and it is separate from the body). Yet a wide range of biblical scholars are questioning whether we have correctly understood what the Bible means when it speaks of the "soul." Dualism is the study of where the body ends and the soul begins.

3. 3 Major Dualism Views Classical (Aristotle & Thomas Aquinas) Coffee Cartesian (Descartes and Augustine) Lemonade Emergent (William Hasker) Wine

4. Cartesian (Traditional) Dualism Body and Soul are two separate �things� The body (or flesh) is an unthinking, material thing The soul (or mind) is a thinking, immaterial thing �I Think, therefore I Am� Humans are immaterial souls capable of disembodied existence I cannot exist without my soul, but I can exist without my body Souls are eternal, and God places a soul into a body at conception It�s like Powdered Lemonade Powdered Lemonade and water are two different entities. You can combine them together and mix them up and appear to have one entity. However, the truth is that there is really lemonade particles suspended in water. Given enough time, you could dehydrate the lemonade to return them to two different entities.Powdered Lemonade and water are two different entities. You can combine them together and mix them up and appear to have one entity. However, the truth is that there is really lemonade particles suspended in water. Given enough time, you could dehydrate the lemonade to return them to two different entities.

5. Classical Dualism Body and soul are compounds Concerning all physical entities there are two dimensions, Matter and Form Matter is not be thought of physically; rather it is something that has the potential to be physical Form, then, is that actualized potential of matter According to Aquinas, �the soul is a substance in the manner of a form that determines or characterizes a particular sort of body.� The result of this union is the existence of the individual person. It�s like Coffee Ground coffee is not coffee, but only has the potential to become coffee. Ground coffee beans are the MATTER of coffee. Only when it is brewed does it become coffee. Brewed coffee is the FORM of coffee. Under Aquinas thought, then, the soul is ground coffee and the physical body is the brewed coffee.Ground coffee is not coffee, but only has the potential to become coffee. Ground coffee beans are the MATTER of coffee. Only when it is brewed does it become coffee. Brewed coffee is the FORM of coffee. Under Aquinas thought, then, the soul is ground coffee and the physical body is the brewed coffee.

6. Emergent Dualism We are immaterial souls; however our souls emerge naturally through the course of ordinary, biological evolution. They are natural, not introduced or added "from the outside", so to speak. The physical brain generates its own consciousness (like a magnet generates a magnetic field) So, the soul emerges out of the physical body It�s like Wine Wine starts out as grape juice, but evolves into something else, wine.Wine starts out as grape juice, but evolves into something else, wine.

7. Scripture and Dualism

8. Luke 10:27 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind There is a distinction (at least in first-century Jewish thought) between these separate entities.

9. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. A distinction between SOUL and SPIRIT, but that distinction is unnoticeable except to God

10. II Corinthians 5:1-5 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. There is somehow a need for the earthly body to be replaced by a heavenly body. There is also some need for the earthly body to be resurrected to be rejoined(?) to the spiritual self. 

11. Luke 16:19-31 Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus Infers a separation of body and soul at death Infers a �waiting� place May not be best place to build theological philosophies since it was a parable (illustration).

12. I Corinthians 15:51-52 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed� in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. Paul tells us that our bodies will be changed when the final trumpet sounds. We will have some sort of material existence�we just don�t know what sort.

13. I John 3:2-3 Dear friend, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. We cannot understand what immortal life will be like, just as a fetus cannot understand what adult life is like, nor a blind person cannot understand color.

14. Matthew 17:1-3 (Transfiguration) After six days Jesus took with him Peter James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Moses and Elijah are recognizable

15. Properties of the Resurrection Body of Jesus Jesus could be recognized as Jesus (John 20:16,18) Jesus could disguise his appearance (Luke 24:16) (also could have been special intervention) Jesus bore the scars of his crucifixion (John 20:19-20, Acts 1:9, Revelation 5:6) He could be touched and he could eat He could appear and disappear He could ascend into heaven (defy gravity)

16. Paul�s teaching on the Resurrection Body (I Corinthians 15) We will be transformed (v. 51) This body will be imperishable, glorious, powerful and spiritual (v. 42-44, 53) But it will be a body, and it will have some continuity with the old body.

17. Dualism: Physical vs. Spiritual God created physical matter, and it is therefore good. God did not make it just to destroy it later He will keep the physical world in a renewed form (new heavens and new earth) Jesus was made flesh for the purpose of redeeming all things (Col. 1:19-20) God is not abandoning the world but rescuing it (Romans 8:21-23) Our own bodies will be redeemed, not discarded

18. Implications of this teaching We must value the physical world that God has placed us in and made us part of We are to care for His creation and for our bodies We are to have environmental concerns and health concerns We are not to abandon the world we live in We are to be concerned about the physical needs of others (homeless, poor, etc�) We are not escapists, merely biding time until time ends, but we are to be involved in this world in a positive way.