Body and soul

I am including further statements by Swinburne concerning the differentiation between the human body and soul:

“. . . mere knowledge of what happens to bodies does not tell you what happens to persons. hence there must be more to persons than bodies. i shall therefore be arguing that a man living on earth is a substance which consists of two substances, his body and his soul. the body is a material body, but the soul is not a material object or anything like it. . . . body and soul are connected at present, in that events in the body affect events in the soul, and conversely. but the essential part of the man is his soul; a man consists of his soul together with whatever, if any, body is connected to it. mentAL EVENTS WHICH HAPPEN TO THE HUMAN BEING DO SO IN VIRTUE OF HAPPENING TO HIS SOUL; BODILY EVENTS WHICH HAPPEN TO THE HUMAN BEING DO SO IN VIRTUE OF HAppening to his body. this is duALISM, THE POSITION WHICH I SHALL DEFEND. . . . THE SOUL HAS A NATURAL IMMORTALITY, I.E. THAT THE SOUL HAS A NATURE SUCH THAT IT WILL CONTINUE TO SURVIVE ‘UNDER ITS OWN STEAM’ WHATEVER HAPPENS TO THE BODY.”

IN MY WRITING I HAVE DEFINED THE HUMAN SOUL AS CONSISTING OF MIND, WILL AND EMOTION, AND THE HUMAN CONSCIENCE CAN BE INCLUDED. THE SOUL IS TO BE DISTINGUISHED FROM THE HUMAN SPIRIT WHICH, I HAVE arguED, SERVES AS A “CONDUIT,” or portal, IF YOU WILL, FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT TO COMMUNE WITH THE HUMAN MIND AND TO INFLUENCE AND DIRECT THE WILL. THE HOLY SPIRIT has been sent to indwell repentant humans as a counselor and helper, and we have had an intimate, personal communion restored by the love and grace of god through the sin sacrifice of his son, jesus christ, who in resurrection sent as he promised his disciples his holy spirit RECEIVED FROM THE FATHER. this revelation speaks compellingly for the dual INTERACTIVE relationship between the immATERIAL MIND OF MAN AND OF GOD AND THE MATERIAL SYNAPTIC NETWORKS OF THE HUMAN BRAIN.

Stan Lennard