Anti-dualism 1: Scotch Tape

The problem in discussing corporeality and incorporeality of a human being is that in doing so we mentally dissect a person into constituent parts and create categories for those parts, ie soul and body. The problem with categorizing those parts is that you begin to abstract one part of yourself from the whole. In theology we hear a lot about our dual nature - some argue for three parts, adding mind to soul and body. While this system may make certain discussions more manageable, I think it is more scientific and rational than biblical. I think that it is an analogy pushed too far and that we haven't realised it has broken down and is causing damage to our understanding of who we are in God.

Let's create some new analogies. If you put a long strip of Scotch tape on a piece of paper, what happens? It sticks. You can look at it and say "There's Scotch tape and there's paper; here are the qualities of both." But if you take the tape off the paper - you tend to tear the paper. Now you still have bits of paper and tape, but no pure tape. Describing the differences of the parts only helps you insofar as those parts are actually separate. But when they are not separate, it follows that at least as much study should be made on the points of unity and how to describe the entirety of whatever that new substance is - ie laminate?

Paper is no longer paper. Tape is no longer tape. The adhesive has bonded them together in such a way that the new product must be dealt with as a whole.

Even if it were true that we were dual in nature - body and soul, material and immaterial - it would remain less helpful to theorize about the constituent parts than to examine intersections and convergences. When Jesus asked, "Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or 'Take up your bed and walk.'?" his primary objective was to show his deity and authority over sin. But secondarily he drew out one place where body and soul meet. Both had been affected by sin in the world. By making the man's body whole, he demonstrated his ability to make his soul whole. This was not in order to create a dualistic paradigm, but to show that the two are inextricably interwoven.

Continued tomorrow:)