Weekly Series on the Soul, Part 39 – Where did my soul go

Oh, where, oh, where did my little soul go?
Oh, where, oh, where can it be?
I don’t know how I lost my soul.
Seems someone stole it from me.

+JMJ+ Welcome to part 39 of our weekly series on the soul. I’ve mentioned before the books I’m reading (well, some of them, it’s a pretty long list) and tonight I found a video (see below) by one of the authors: John W. Cooper, author of Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting. He’s not Catholic, he’s Reformed, and Professor of Philosophical Theology, Calvin Theological Seminary. Now, I don’t usually read much about the Bible and/or theology that isn’t Catholic, but he doesn’t think the idea of the human soul is old-fashioned and ready to be consigned to the dung heap, unlike so many in the modern world, and I’m happy to use his book in our series. It’s inexpensive on Kindle and you can get a free sample if you like using the links at the end of this post.

Video – Dr. John W. Cooper: Have Christians Lost Their Souls? The Bible and Human Nature. Transcript.

I’ve learned so much already and I’ve only finished the initial overview and the chapters on traditional Christian anthropology and its modern critics, and Old Testament anthropology (and OT views of the afterlife, which section alone is well worth the price of admission as far as I’m concerned). Then come chapters on the Intertestamental period, the New Testament, and then studies and views in the modern period. It’s been an amazing ride so far and I’m quite looking forward to the rest of the journey.

And I probably want every book in the bibliography. (That’s how I found this one, it was mentioned in the text, and in the bibliography, of A Brief History of the Soul, by Charles Taliaferro and Steward Goetz. Yes, I do read the table of contents, index, appendix, glossary, anything that is included in a book that I’m studying.)

In the video Dr. Cooper does much of what he does in his book, Body, Soul and Life Everlasting: he covers what the Christian church has taught for 2,000 years (except for a few groups), from Scripture down through the Father of the Church, the Great Councils, and down to our day. But, he notes, some people began to question the teachings on the soul a few hundred years ago and now we have Evangelical Christians who doubt or reject even the reality of the soul. How materialist their thinking has become. That is sad. And it has some pretty important consequences, too. But more about that later. We’ll probably explore this book in at least one more post and possibly in more.

Thank you for visiting and reading. Until next time, whoever and wherever you are, please stay safe and well, virtuous and holy. May the Lord bless and keep you, and may His peace be always with you. +JMJ+

Notes and Links

Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting: Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-Dualism Debate, by Dr. John W. Cooper. Paperback. Kindle. (Amazon affiliate links. See Full Disclosure below.)
Video of Dr. Cooper: Have Christians Lost Their Souls? The Bible and Human Nature. Transcript.
A Brief History of the Soul, by Charles Taliaferro and Stewart Goetz. Paperback. Kindle. (Amazon affiliate links. See Full Disclosure below.)

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