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Rachel CC's avatar

Thank you so very much for thinking and writing about this topic.  There is, clearly, a need for a "Christian anthropology" of the mind-body-gender problem and this is valuable on its own terms.   And whilst I recognise the good sense in defining your boundaries - in this piece the secular and Christian anthropology interface is out of scope - I also urge you to also share your insights on the secular / Christian interface.  As an 'ordinary Christian' I have found vanishingly little Christian input as I have navigated the last 15 years working in the public sector, discharging the 'public sector equality duty' with a mix of passionate commitment, guardedness and soul-searching.   I suspect I'm not alone in feeling that there has been a dearth of theological or pastoral support from the church around the dilemmas many of us navigate in our lives.  Please keep going - I will be listening with interest and attention.

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Chad Warren's avatar

Jason, thank you for a thought-provoking article, which tackles the pressing issue of identity and the body. A very robust integration of biblical, biological, and neuroscientific perspectives. Your historical overview of the mind-body problem, from Plato to Sartre, resonates strongly with Carl Trueman’s analysis in “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.” Trueman argues that the modern self has become “psychological,” where identity is rooted in inner feelings and autonomous self-creation, often detached from material or divine realities. Your critique of the “self-created self” as a substitute for the soul seems to echo Trueman’s concern about the shift from a God-given identity to one shaped by expressive individualism.

Could you elaborate on how Christians might practically navigate and lead culture through the tension between affirming biological givenness and addressing the real psychological distress of those who feel at odds with their bodies. Trueman suggests that the church must recover a theological vision of the self to counter cultural narratives. How might your call to “recover the soul” align with or expand on this, especially in pastoral or communal contexts where neuroscience and psychology intersect with faith?

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