Biblical Perspectives

The Soul and the Body

•Naturalism, science, and the modern view of the nature of man• Randal Koene

•Historical developments in churches views on the nature of man• Trichotomy vs. dichotomy (up to mid 1800’s)• Immaterial & material vs. material (mid 1800’s-

present)

Review

•Berkouwer• the general judgment [of theologians] is that the bible gives us no scientific teaching about man, no “anthropology” that would or could be in competition with a scientific investigation of man in the various aspects of his existence or with philosophical anthropology.

Biblical Perspectives on the Nature of Man

• Bavinck• [the Bible] does not furnish us with a popular or scientific

psychology, any more than it provides us with a scientific account of history, geography, astronomy, or agriculture….Even if own wished to try it, it would be impossible to draw from the Bible a psychology that would in some way meet our need. For not only would one be unable to give a complete account of all the various data, but the words that the bible uses, such as spirit, soul, heat, and mind, have been borrowed from the popular language of the Jews of those days, ordinarily have a different content than that which we associate with those terms, and are not always used in the same sense. The Scriptures never use abstract philosophical concepts, but always speak the rich language of everyday life.

Biblical Perspectives on the Nature of Man

•Principal #1: Man is a soul…• Dualist implications of nephesh and rūach• New Testament evidence:• Philippians 1:22-23• Luke 23:43• 2 Corinthians 5:6-8• Matthew 10:28• Revelation 6:9• Hebrews 12:22-23

Biblical Perspectives on the Nature of Man

• Principal #2: …but man is also a body• The value of the body

• Murder• Care• Redemption• Resurrection

• Romans 8:22-25 - For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Biblical Perspectives on the Nature of Man

1. What about a trichotomist view of man?-Interchangeable use of ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’-Hebrews 4:12 & 1 Thessalonians 5:23

2. What about medical case studies of altered personalities?

-Based on a Platonic/Cartesian view of man-Union of body and soul results in some mystery-Scientific evidence debatable within Biblical principles regarding the nature of man

Objections

• Neuroscientists are 99.9% percent convinced that the brain is a mechanism. It is something that computes, something that carries out functions. If you can figure out how it works, you can build a replacement for it. The idea that you can take a small piece of the brain and build a replica for it is very mainstream and well understood. Why not do that with the whole brain? And then why not upload that to a computer so that we can process more data and store it better, the way a computer does, organizing thoughts into folders that we can access whenever we choose?

Randal Koene

All of this has something to do with the connectome; the way that neurons connect to other neurons. When you're trying to make a decision, the activity in your brain is being shunted from one place to another. The way these synaptic connections function and the fact that they're made in a specific place will give you a type of memory. The popular conception of what a memory is differs to the engineering or scientific definition, which is "a previous action that affects a future action." That goes much further than having a memory of the face of your grandmother or what you said two minutes ago. It goes into all the details of why a concert pianist plays in a certain way, or why an executive would make a particular business decision. The reason is because they have previous experiences alongside a basic layout that's there from their birth, due to their DNA. That does really affect everything about your personality—all the characteristics that make you, you.

How do you map the essence of who we are? How do you translate identity to a series of codes?

• If you have an exact copy of the entire brain and you aren't leaving out the parts that are involved with emotions, then why wouldn't you have humor, why wouldn't you have empathy? You would have the same sense of humor in your substrate independent mind as you do in reality. Having a sense of humor is just a certain way of processing activity that goes through your brain, just like the concert pianist who plays Beethoven in a certain way.

What about things like humor or empathy?

Science, Media, and the Modern view of man