Charles wrote:dust(body) + breath(spirit)= living soul
I like that way of putting it (as a 'summary' way of saying it).
We've discussed this topic on the forum before and, at one time, I had all of the threads in bookmark/files. Then a computer crash <sigh>
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Three Views of Anthroplogy ("the doctrine of man") w/r/t Body, Soul, and Spirit
1)
Trichotomist - People are 'made up' of three separate 'parts' that have specific functions. Watchman Nee's view, and others. This view has been criticized as having roots in Platonic philosophy, (the ideas of Plato), and not being representative of a Jewish (or 'biblical') worldview.
2)
Dichotomist - People have 'two parts'. Soul and spirit are more or less interchangable, or they describe different, yet very similar things.
3)
Holistic - People consist of a 'unity' and do not 'have' a soul or a spirit. They
are souls and/or spirits, 'in' a body.
Like Steve says, this is a pretty complicated topic!
I read Nee's book 'The Spiritual Man' a long time ago. While is has some great 'spiritual insights', I find the Trichotomist view least likely (and largely based in Platonic thought).
My view is Holistic. I 'lean toward it' based on my understanding of a 'Jewish worldview'. In other words, I come to it from more of a biblical, rather than a philosophical approach. 'Problems' remain, however, because Jews in the NT Era were influenced by Hellenistic (Greek) philosophy, or, at least, used its philosophical terms.
This makes things a bit harder to 'pin down' because we have to determine: Are 'Greek terms' being used 'to convey ideas in a contemporary way' (in the NT Era)? Which leads to the next question: Or does the use of 'Greek terms' mean the biblical authors accepted a Greek worldview? I think they went the 'in a contemporary way' route w/r/t Body, Soul, and Spirit.
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This topic also comes up in discussions about Hell. 'I lean (pretty strongly) toward' Conditional Immortality (also called 'Annihilationism' or just 'Conditionalism'). There are still 'problems' with this view too. I'm not sure, but would tend to think that most 'Conditionalists' hold to a Holistic Anthropology. I know (the fairly 'famous') Glenn Peoples does.
Thanks!
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