Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?

Murphy addresses human uniqueness, religious experience, and personal identity before and after bodily resurrection.

Nancey Murphy (Author)

9780521859448, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 January 2006

164 pages
22.2 x 14.1 x 1.6 cm, 0.335 kg

Readers will find the breadth of this work its most useful characteristic. By offering such a survey Murphy alerts her readers to numerous facets and implications of thinking about human nature from within the Christian tradition, while critically drawing from scientific evidence and philosophical argumentation … All in all, this book will serve students and church professionals as an excellent introduction to contemporary issues surrounding theologically understanding human nature as neuroscientific portraits of humanness gain influence.' Scottish Journal of Theology

Are humans composed of a body and a nonmaterial mind or soul, or are we purely physical beings? Opinion is sharply divided over this issue. In this clear and concise book, Nancey Murphy argues for a physicalist account, but one that does not diminish traditional views of humans as rational, moral, and capable of relating to God. This position is motivated not only by developments in science and philosophy, but also by biblical studies and Christian theology. The reader is invited to appreciate the ways in which organisms are more than the sum of their parts. That higher human capacities such as morality, free will, and religious awareness emerge from our neurobiological complexity and develop through our relation to others, to our cultural inheritance, and, most importantly, to God. Murphy addresses the questions of human uniqueness, religious experience, and personal identity before and after bodily resurrection.

1. Do Christians need souls?: theological and biblical perspectives on human nature
2. What does science say about human nature?: physics, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience
3. Did my neurons make me do it?: reductionism, morality, and the problem of free will
4. What are the philosophical challenges?: human distinctives, divine action, and personal identity.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of science [PDA], Physiological & neuro-psychology, biopsychology [JMM], Psychological theory & schools of thought [JMA], Christian theology [HRCM]