I had read something interesting the other day- basically saying that Jesus never did talk about the soul or something spiritual surviving after our body died. This interesting article: http://www.ucg.org/death/what-does-bible-say-about-immortal-soul/ left me thinking that even though Jesus might not have said much about an immortal individual soul, that obviously He had changed what the traditional Hebrew thoughts had been about death. What that article goes on to talk about is the influence of Greek thought- specifically an immortal soul- on early Christian thinking.
Is it possible that we Westerners are looking at the Bible- and have for centuries- from a Greek philosophical perspective? Is anything wrong with that? As one friend of mine said- "maybe that was part of God's plan..." Yes- that's true, but maybe it was part of God's plan that the early Church fathers would get it wrong and we, with the advantage of the Internet, are supposed to ignore traditions that are wrong and figure out what Jesus really meant...
As I responded to my friend, "maybe God's plan was for there not to be a plan..."
But, it is interesting, at least to me, to imagine for a second if the first books of the New Testament had been written in an Eastern language instead of in Greek (or translated first into Greek). If we would have gotten an Eastern slant to Jesus' teachings. Would our understanding of "the soul" have been different? And does it really matter?
I argue that it might matter. That our understanding of an individual soul that leaves its body and lives on as an immortal entity may be based on a pre-Christian notion of Plato's and not based on what Jesus really meant. Is it so uncomfortable to think that Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, and Origen got it wrong- and that our traditions around all-important entities such as "the soul" have led us to an improper and lazy understanding of the afterlife?
What if, instead of an immortal "soul" that inhabits each one of us, there isn't anything at all? What if there is a soul- but it isn't an individual soul, belonging only to us? What does the Bible- and, more interestingly perhaps, the Gospels- Jesus himself- say about the Afterlife, the soul, and immortality? In the next few posts we'll delve into what scripture says, how Greek thought influenced our understanding of scripture, and some possible other ways- and their implications- of thinking about our spiritual existence, place in the universe, and the Afterlife.
Is it possible that we Westerners are looking at the Bible- and have for centuries- from a Greek philosophical perspective? Is anything wrong with that? As one friend of mine said- "maybe that was part of God's plan..." Yes- that's true, but maybe it was part of God's plan that the early Church fathers would get it wrong and we, with the advantage of the Internet, are supposed to ignore traditions that are wrong and figure out what Jesus really meant...
As I responded to my friend, "maybe God's plan was for there not to be a plan..."
But, it is interesting, at least to me, to imagine for a second if the first books of the New Testament had been written in an Eastern language instead of in Greek (or translated first into Greek). If we would have gotten an Eastern slant to Jesus' teachings. Would our understanding of "the soul" have been different? And does it really matter?
I argue that it might matter. That our understanding of an individual soul that leaves its body and lives on as an immortal entity may be based on a pre-Christian notion of Plato's and not based on what Jesus really meant. Is it so uncomfortable to think that Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, and Origen got it wrong- and that our traditions around all-important entities such as "the soul" have led us to an improper and lazy understanding of the afterlife?
What if, instead of an immortal "soul" that inhabits each one of us, there isn't anything at all? What if there is a soul- but it isn't an individual soul, belonging only to us? What does the Bible- and, more interestingly perhaps, the Gospels- Jesus himself- say about the Afterlife, the soul, and immortality? In the next few posts we'll delve into what scripture says, how Greek thought influenced our understanding of scripture, and some possible other ways- and their implications- of thinking about our spiritual existence, place in the universe, and the Afterlife.
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