I respond very briefly to Bernie, below.
>>> "Dehler, Bernie" <bernie.dehler@intel.com> 9/24/2009 12:28 PM >>>
Ted said:
"My own view is not fully formed; I don't know exactly what I think, relative to "soul" and the Bible, let alone what I think of consciousness"
You say you don't have your mind made up. Could you be open and honest and share what you are struggling with? What prevents you from taking a position, specifically? Is it just that you haven't thought about it, or do you see problems with no answers?
**
Bernie,
It's mostly that I haven't thought as much about this issue/question as I've thought about some other important questions concerning science & Christian faith. You attended the workshop at the Baylor meeting, and even there Deb and I indicated that we wanted to "pass" on discussing some of the things raised by the third of the Faraday DVD segments (the one on neuroscience), b/c neither of us had as much expertise on that one as some of the workshop participants (at least three of whom work in neuroscience or psychology). Speaking for myself, I have always been much more drawn to the physical sciences than to the social and biological sciences; psychology and neuroscience are not subjects about which I can speak with any confidence at all. I have read some of the philosophical and theological literature related to "soul", but I have read none -- none -- of the relevant scientific literature. There's only so much that one can do in a lifetime, and I doubt I will ever correc!
t that deficiency in my lifetime.
Are there problems without answers? Well, I am in no position to speak about that, given what I just said. On the other hand, if there were no problems without answers -- as yet -- then no one would be writing about this. As far as I can tell from what people do write, at least what the philosophers and theologians write, I would say that two of the biggest problems are these: what is the "soul" (a biblical and theological and philosophical question)? what is consciousness (a scientific and philosophical question that impinges on biblical and theological questions)? Neither of those presently appears to have a clear answer. Most philosophers and neuroscientists are committed to a materialistic answer, but that IMO is an a priori commitment and not a scientific conclusion. We'll have to wait and see what transpires.
Ted
To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Thu Sep 24 13:21:29 2009
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Thu Sep 24 2009 - 13:21:29 EDT