Re: [asa] Physicalism and Incarnation

The precise nature of the resurrection body has been debated for a long
time - Origen got zapped about this by the 5th ecumenical council. Paul's
term "spiritual body " (soma pneumatikon) calls up for us an image of a
ghost, but Pauline usage of "spirit" & "spiritual" indicates more that it's
a body completely in tune with God rather than a statment about what the
body is made of. In the same letter (2:14-15) he distinguishes spiritual
people from unspiritual using the same words as in 15:44, pneumatikos and
psychikos, & certainly does mean to suggest there that spiritual people are
invisible.

& questions about the resurrection of people who are eaten by cannibals have
also been discussed since at least the 2d century, sometimes as a supposed
reduction ad absurdum of the idea of the resurrection of the body. The
quantum mechanical understanding of identical particles makes the issue of
"the same atoms" in the sown & risen body a non-problem. An ancient article
of mine, "Quantum Theory and Resurrection Reality" (CTNS Bulletin 11, 25,
1991), discusses this. I'll be happy to send a copy to anyone who gives me
a snailmaila ddress.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Merv" <mrb22667@kansas.net>
To: "Brent Foster" <bdffoster@charter.net>; <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 6:22 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] Physicalism and Incarnation

> Not to mention martyrs burned at the stake, and people who opt for
> cremation and scattering of ashes... Resurrection for these folks?
>
> --merv
>
> Brent Foster wrote:
>> I'm inclined to agree that Christ's resurrection was to a spiritual body.
>> But if this is the case then why was Thomas able to see the nail scars in
>> Jesus' hands? Will our resurrection bodies also bear scars from past
>> injuries, missing arms or legs? What about beheading victems?
>>
>> Brent
>>
>> ---- George Murphy <gmurphy@raex.com> wrote:
>> =============
>> It is possible to speak in some ways of "bodily resurrection" without
>> "physical resurrection" but if one believes that the tomb was empty (as
>> Wright does) then the physical body of Jesus was involved in whatever the
>> resurrection was. "Resuscitation" would be essentially the return of
>> Jesus' body to its condition before death. OTOH resurrection as Paul
>> speaks of it in I Cor.15 means transformation of the "physical body" into
>> a "spiritual body," not some process which bypasses the physical.
>>
>> Shalom
>> George
>
>
>
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Received on Thu Mar 1 22:36:26 2007