Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Winner of Prize for Outstanding Book in Theology and the Natural SciencesAs science crafts increasingly detailed accounts of human nature, what has become of the soul?This collaborative project strives for greater consonance between contemporary science and Christian faith. Outstanding scholars in biology, genetics, neuroscience, cognitive science, philosophy, theology, biblical studies, and ethics join here to offer contemporary accounts of human nature consistent with Christian teaching. Their central theme is a nondualistic account of the human person that does not consider the soul an entity separable from the body; scientific statements about the physical nature of human beings are about exactly the same entity as are theological statements concerning the spiritual nature of human beings.For all those interested in fundamental questions of human identity posed by the present context, this volume will provide a fascinating and authoritative resource.
Table of Contents
Human nature: historical, scientific, and religious issues / Nancey Murphy -- Human nature: one evolutionist's view / Francisco J. Ayala -- A genetic view of human nature / V. Elving Anderson -- Brain, mind, and behavior / Malcolm Jeeves -- Cognitive contributions to soul / Warren S. Brown -- Nonreductive physicalism: philosophical issues / Nancey Murphy -- "Bodies...that is, human lives": a re-examination of human nature in the Bible / Joel B. Green -- On being human: the spiritual saga of a creaturely soul / Ray S. Anderson -- A moral case for nonreductive physicalism / Stephen G. Post -- Reconciling scientific and biblical portraits of human nature / Warren S. Brown.