REHABILITATION OF THE BIBLICAL MEANING OF THE CONCEPT OF «SOUL» IN THE LIGHT OF THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC VIEW OF MAN

Abstract

The article is devoted to the relevant issue of rethinking the biblical concept of the «soul» in the context of modern scientific discoveries and challenges to traditional theological and philosophical understandings. It demonstrates an attempt to return to the biblical understanding of the «soul» through engagement with contemporary knowledge in the field of consciousness studies.

It is shown that the concept of the «soul» is one of the most controversial at the intersection of the Bible, science, and philosophy. The traditional philosophical-theological meaning originates from ancient philosophy, particularly from Socrates and Plato, who developed the idea of dualism, in which the body is the «prison of the soul». The concept of dualistic anthropology was most clearly expressed in European thought by Descartes, for whom the soul is res cogitans (the thinking substance), while the body is res extensa (subject to the laws of nature). However, such a radical division created more problems (for instance, the question of the interaction between two essentially different modes of being) than it offered solutions.

Modern science – including neuroscience, biology, psychology, and cognitive science, particularly the embodied cognition approach – explains functions previously attributed to the soul (self-awareness, free will, memory) as products of brain activity and the properties of the human psyche, which depend on bodily functionality. Research confirms that a human being acts as an integral entity, and mental processes are closely linked to the functioning of the whole organism. Contemporary science concludes that a person is unified and indivisible, not a «construct» of two opposing parts.

Biblical anthropology is much closer to modern scientific concepts than to traditional philosophical theories. Scripture presents a holistic view of the human being as an integrated whole. The Bible does not divide humans into body and soul but proclaims anthropological monism. A person does not so much have a soul as is a soul. The Hebrew word nép̄eš («soul») in the biblical sense denotes a whole living person, emphasizing that it contains life and is distinct from inanimate objects. Mental functions in the Bible are not separated from the somatic sphere and are associated with bodily parts. From a biblical point of view, a human being is an ensouled body and an embodied spirit.

It is emphasized that Christianity recognizes not a «belief in the soul» but faith in the resurrection of the dead – the resurrection of the whole person in their spiritual-bodily integrity. Modern theologians, returning to biblical anthropology, often move away from the concept of the «soul» in favor of the concept of the «person».

In conclusion, it is established that the findings of modern science, which coincide with the biblical view of the human being as a holistic psychophysical entity, confirm that Divine Revelation is always open to being described through new anthropological models.