Finished Body, Soul, and Human Life

We finished Green's Body, Soul, and Human Life in the Monday reading group. Our summary of the book was something like the following: "We can pretty much explain everything the soul used to explain by way of the brain, and the biblical evidence doesn't preclude a monistic perspective."

We did wonder why Green didn't use the worldview argument more, which is what I would use. The Bible presents humanity in the terms of its original audiences and as such it is more important to preserve the points of such passages rather than the particular ancient paradigms in which those points were conveyed.

Green has helped my understanding of 1 Peter develop. I used to hear 1 Peter 3:18 in terms of Jesus' human body and spirit. But I see clearly now that he was put to death in his flesh and that the enlivening in Spirit commenced after his death. Green even identifies spirit here with the stuff of heaven. I still think there is a good chance that 1 Peter might see the human person in dualistic terms, with the spirit inside us being made of the stuff of heaven, but 3:18 isn't talking about it.

P.S. I've started a Lenten series on the seminary Dean's blog.