Dualism

Although he doesn't call it this, the first chapter of the book brings up an issue that is very important even today.  Dualism can mean different things depending on what you are talking about.  When talking about good and evil, dualism is definitely false.  Good and evil are not equal and opposite forces at work in the universe.  Evil can't actually even exist apart from good, but good can exist without evil.  Evil is like rust on metal.  You can have metal without rust, but you can't have rust without the metal.  Evil is a deterioration or perversion of something good.  Maybe we'll talk about this more when we get to Augustine.

But the dualism this chapter deals with has to do with the soul and personhood.  Many of the ancients believed in the existence of the soul.  Philosophers today still deal with this as 'the mind-body problem'.  My view is that dualism in this sense is true.  Human beings have a dualistic nature to their being.  We are part material (our body and brain) and part immaterial (our soul, mind, spirit, etc).  What do you all think about this?

One of the objections some Christians have about this is that the Bible speaks of "body, soul, and spirit" which is a tripartite view, not the two part view of dualism.  But to say you are a dualist in regard to the mind-body problem is not mutually exclusive to "body, soul, spirit."  The point of dualism is that you are not just a body, not just a material substance.  You are an immaterial substance as well.  In fact, the immaterial substance is probably more important than the material part.  The three aspects the Bible speaks of can be dividing into the two categories: body is material, soul and spirit are immaterial.  Besides, there are several things in the NT that point to dualism.  Romans talks about the flesh vs the spirit.  Jesus talks about fearing the one who can destroy both the body and the soul, not just the body.  Paul talks about "being absent from the body is to be with the Lord."  Paul also talks about being caught up to the third heaven, whether in the body or outside of it he did not know.  But that reflects that he at least thought it was possible he could exist without his body.  

There are some Christians who reject this mind-body dualism on the basis that all we are is a brain and nervous system, and when the body dies, we die.   This view is called physicalism, that is, we are only physical.  They think Christians will be resurrected and be raised to life at the end of time, but when you are dead you are dead, there is no soul.  I think there are a lot of problems with that view, but I'll leave that up for discussion.

So, why does it matter?  Does it matter whether I believe in Jesus with my brain only, or with my brain and soul?  In a sense, no it doesn't matter.  If I believe in Jesus I believe in Jesus.  I don't have to have the proper beliefs about my beliefs.  But it does matter in regard to how we treat a lot of issues important to Christians, such as evolution and abortion.  For instance, one evolutionist has said, "I know people don't have souls, because if evolution is true souls can't exist.  I know evolution is true, therefore souls don't exist."  As a Christian I agree that evolution is not consistent with the existence of souls.  But I can turn that around on him.  "If souls exist, evolution can't be true.  I know souls exist, therefore evolution isn't true."