Soul Dialogue: Animated Discussion with An Imaginary Friend

GSC: I like returning to the topic of the soul, albeit on a different continent. Man, we’ve walked a long way, and I feel like I’m with my friends who drink beer together and discuss theology (aka “the Quad”). But how weird it is that all three of you are combined in one person!

Interlocutor: Yes, it is a bit weird. Here we are at beautiful Mt. Hermon in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

GSC: At any rate, I’ll start with Meriam-Webster’s definition: 

The soul is “the immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life.”

And so here’s my thesis: In order to have our souls become fully alive, we need to reconcile the inputs of our hearts and minds. Or as Jesus phrased it, 

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” Jesus, the book of Matthew 

This is being fully alive. This is happiness. This is the essence of Christian spirituality.

Interlocutor: Why do you care?

GSC: I know I’m not always “up,” and that if I rely on my feelings, it’s shaky ground. I’m disappointed with “spirituality” today in the U.S. It strikes me that there’s an overemphasis on feeling and excitement. It’s like we all have to be amped up and happy to be faithful Christians. 

Interlocutor: What makes think this?

 Anonymous? This amazing art?

GSC: First of all, I’ve been working on a book about the history of religion and science in our country. As a people, we have a strong thread of rationality alongside a deep search for spirituality. We’ve done much better when we’ve put those together.

Interlocutor: Didn’t the Harvard scientist and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead say something like this in 1925? 

GSC: In fact he did! He commented that the future of our civilization depended, to some degree, on how effectively we were able to relate science and religion, particularly 

“the force of our religious intuitions, and the force of our impulse to accurate observation and logical deduction.” A. N. Whitehead, scientist and philosopher

How did you know?

Interlocutor: Yes, remembering Whitehead, Kendrick Lamar, and Bugs Bunny references—that’s what makes me a good interlocutor! So, Greg, what about you and me? Have Christian believers forgotten anything?

GSC: In my own pastoral and professorial experience: people too often divide themselves between head and heart. So it’s also what makes sense in the church.

Interlocutor: What do you mean by “it”?

GSC: I mean the way that we bring together all we are—body and soul—under God’s care and in power of the Spirit.

Interlocutor: What about Scripture?

GSC: Let me end there: As you know, every summer, I go back to the book of Philippians. In that book of just 104 verses, I’m always surprised by Paul’s emphasis on the mind or the attitude as in chapter four:

“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think aboutthese things.” Paul in the book of Philippians

Our mindset directs our hearts. That's what makes sense according to the Scripture. And that’s how God made us.