#68: Can I Explain the Nature of My Soul?
This month’s AoMTalk was given by Dr. Stan Wallace. Stan is the President/CEO of the Global Scholars ministry and an AoM board member. He discussed his new book, Have We Lost Our Minds?, [1] in which he critiques the emergence of Christian “neurotheologians” who are using neuroscience advances to reexamine Biblical and classical Christian thought concerning human nature. [2] Specifically, they suggest that “our brains are ultimately the cause of our thoughts, beliefs, desires, choices, and very identity” [3], not an immaterial soul. These influential members of the Church are essentially redefining the soul and mind in terms of the material workings of the brain.
My intent here is not to discuss Stan’s arguments in detail. I encourage you to read his book and listen to his AoMTalk (60-minute lecture followed by 30-minutes of Q&A).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cao63-doVhc
Instead, I want to highlight what he says in terms of an important story in my own spiritual journey.
Many of you may recall a worldview discussion I had with my son. Driven by my desire to have a good discussion with my non-believing son and the requirements of a seminary assignment, I engaged him and his fiancé. We spoke for over two hours and they shared their beliefs concerning many of the “big life questions.” [4] This engagement had a huge impact on me (and, hopefully, them!) and launched me into a deeper study of apologetics and evangelism.
At one point, my son told me that he is just composed of “chemicals and molecules.” He said, “when I die, I’m dead, I’m gone [disappear as a person], and I’m ok with that.” I then asked him, “Given that you’re just chemicals and molecules, how do you explain your love for one another?” He responded that “love is just an emergent property of chemicals and molecules.”
As you might imagine, his fiancé was not pleased with this response (although it was consistent with her answers up to that point). In her heart she knew that this was not true but had nothing in which to base her intuition given a lack of belief in the God who created us in his own loving image.
I, too, realized that I could not articulate where love resides in our nature and its relationship to the soul and mind. Yes, God is love and love is a communicable attribute that he has imparted to us, but my understanding of the theological and Christian philosophical views of human nature was sorely lacking. Stan’s book, though, greatly clarified my view of our emotional, mental, and other faculties in terms of where they reside and how they interact with one another.
At the risk of exploring a complex subject that requires several chapters of explanation in Stans’ book [5], allow me to summarize his description of our nature and share his graphic of the human soul. Some of you may believe that this is beyond your ability to understand or is simply more than you care to know! I caution you, however. Without some basic understanding of our nature and soul, we are vulnerable to the anti-Christian teachings of these popular “neurotheologians.”
Stan asks, “What are we as humans?” Scripture says we are four things: [6]
1. Body: Our physical reality, our “embodiness,” is a fact. Scripture says, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you . . . [1 Cor 6:19]? The value of the body is affirmed ultimately in the incarnation - that God himself took on a physical body and that we believers will live eternally in a physical body.
2. Soul: Genesis 2:7 speaks of the reality of the soul: the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
3. Body & Soul are deeply united in a functional unity. Wallace uses the philosophical and theological term, holistic dualism, to characterize this relationship.
4. We’re ultimately a Soul with a Body as evidenced by Scripture’s revelation of the intermediate state in which our souls live after we die physically (e.g., Luke 23:42-43) until such time we are resurrected and receive our new bodies.
“Understanding that we have a soul is so important because [it] is what reflects the image of God . . . described in Genesis 1:26.” [7] God is immaterial and the communicable attributes he has given us are not physical. We must have an immaterial nature – a soul – to personify these attributes. Below is the graphic of the human soul that displays our faculties (attributes) and relationships among them. [8]
The Human Soul
Here we see our immaterial image-bearing attributes like love, rationality, beliefs, will, altruism, joy, creativity, etc. as well as our physical senses which interact and stimulate our spiritual faculties.
What is lacking in my son’s naturalistic worldview? It cannot explain the reality of who we really are - that is, the totality of our nature. Love cannot be “an emergent property of chemicals and molecules.” The worldview of Naturalism cannot explain how we are miraculously transformed into conscious, relational beings possessed with love, reason, thoughts, and beliefs. If I asked my son, he (like most physicalists), would likely hand-wave and state that we humans “learned” to do such things over time in order to survive and flourish.
So, getting back to the title of my note, can I explain the nature of my soul? Not completely. I’ll have to wait on Jesus to share that knowledge on the other side of heaven. But I do have a much better understanding of its nature and look forward to the opportunity to continue such discussions with my son and other non-believers like him.
In Christ, Doug
Academic & Military Outreach Director, AoM
“Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect . . .” 1 Peter 3:15
[1] Wallace, Stan W. Have We Lost Our Minds? Neuroscience, Neurotheology, the Soul, and Human Flourishing. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2024.
[2] Wallace focuses on recent neurotheological writings of certain Christian authors: Curt Thompson (Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising Connections Between Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices That Can Transform Your Life and Relationships) and Jim Wilder (Renovated: God, Dallas Willard and the Church that Transforms)
[3] Publisher’s comments on the back cover of Have We Lost Our Minds?
[4] The “big life questions” addressed in this discussion concerned human origin, identity, meaning, morality, and destination.
[5] Wallace quotes Dallas Willard on page 80: “We accept that someone spends years becoming a dentist and even more years training to become a surgeon, but we do not accept that we need to spend years giving serious thought to the nature of the soul.” From Dallas Willard’s Study Guide to his book, The Divine Conspiracy.
[6] This summary is drawn from chapter 2 of Have We Lost Our Minds? and Wallace’s AoMTalk, August 19, 2024.
[7] p. 33, Wallace.
[8] p. 91, Wallace.