Posts Tagged ‘soul’

What Is This Thinking Thing That I Am? Four Questions

images-2In searching for a foundation from which to secure knowledge, the Enlightenment thinker Rene Descartes stumbled onto what he took to be a belief that is undeniable: “I think, therefore I am.” That I exist as the thinking thing I am is as foundational (and obvious) a truth as any. Still, one wonders, what is this thinking thing that I am? In teaching on the nature of man, I’ve found it helpful to keep the following four questions, as Descartes might put it, “clear and distinct.”

The Kissing Argument Against Belief in the Soul

images-2Modern man only believes in things he can see or touch. Unshackled from religion, we are free to embrace the deliverances of science as the whole truth about reality. There are none but physical entities and none but physical causes. The world has been emptied of the divine and the immaterial. In this cultural context, it is unsurprising that many think there are no good reasons to believe in the soul. What is surprising is that a growing number of Christians also deny the reality of the soul.