Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 67:1 (Mar 2024)
Article: Multi-Aspect Monism And Resurrection Of The Body
Author: Nancey Murphy

JETS 67:1 (March 2024) p. 135

Multi-Aspect Monism And Resurrection Of The Body

Nancey Murphy*

* Nancey Murphy is Senior Professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Seminary. She may be contacted at [email protected]. This article is a lightly edited version of her plenary address at the ETS annual meeting, November 16, 2023, which she presented as an invited guest. She may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: This essay seeks to show that a phenomenon experienced by a number of people who had been at death’s door and nonetheless recovered, now called near-death experiences (NDE’s), are exceptional in comparison with other phenomena designated as paranormal. Emeritus professor of psychology Bruce Greyson made a presentation at an event at the Chautauqua Institute, New York State, in 2021, which coincided with publication of his book After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond. Having heard numerous accounts from patients of events they could not have experienced, he concluded that human consciousness sometimes extends beyond brain death. Many Christians would not be surprised by this, given the typical dualist anthropology (body and soul), and the eschatological theory prevalent throughout much of Christian history, that at death the soul leaves the body and may be conscious during an intermediate state between death and resurrection. Holding a monist anthropology, it is still possible to see ramifications of these special experiences for eschatology, in that some postulate that at death, resurrection occurs, with a transformed type of body, in some other dimension beyond earthly time and space. The first part of the article focuses on explaining why dualism is not an essential part of Christian teaching. The main thrust of the article is to suggest ways in which NDE’s may give us insights into resurrection life. Here are a few outstanding characteristics of NDE’s: (1) They result in nearly instantaneous moral transformation; (2) memories of them are vivid and correspond to reports made decades earlier; (3) they contain accurate information of events that could not have otherwise been known by the experiencer around the time of (near) death.

Key words: Christian anthropology, eschatology, Bruce Greyson, moral transformation, near-death experiences

I begin with a confession. With regard to both philosophy of mind and theological anthropology, I was long known as a nonreductive physicalist. But while once I was lost, now I am found; was bound, but (nearly) free.

I will get to my “conversion” shortly but first:

JETS 67:1 (March 2024) p. 136

I. The Plausibility Of A Nondualist Anthropology

Here I want to sketc...