Body and Spirit

March 9, 2011

Nancey Murphy of Fuller Theological Seminary has an interesting and challenging essay in a recent book called “Neuroethics.” She argues that the dominant conception of a soul, a spiritual essence separable from the body, is the result of a mistranslation. The Hebrew word “nephesh,” which was translated into “soul,” was actually just a way of referring to the whole living person, body and mind together. That’s closer, I guess, to what we would call “the self.” (New York Times)