Soul, Structure, and Transformation

Soul, Structure, and Transformation offers an interdisciplinary analysis of the nature of the human soul and Pauline transformation of the mind. It uniquely engages essential biblical, philosophical, and scientific content bearing on the ontology and structure of the immaterial soul and mind to provide an explanation for change and renewal. The methodology locates transformation as an entailment in human flourishing and fitness grounded in the fundamental structure of reality. Initial chapters explicate a matrix for sanctification, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, a Christological exemplar for human agency, and a model of the image of God founded on agency. The author examines five views of the human person and soul, followed by a detailed engagement with J.P. Moreland’s organicist view of holistic dualism and Richard Swinburne’s mental structure to construct an anatomical model of the soul. Turning to the sciences, the book offers an account of organismic plasticity and neuroplasticity that coheres with the restructuring of both the immaterial and material structures of the soul and body. A synthesis of models from theological psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience coheres with the organicist view of holistic dualism articulated throughout, providing a unified ontology and positive account of Pauline transformation and human flourishing. The book will be of interest to both theologians and philosophers.