Theology in the Flesh: Religious Experience and the Embodied Soul

Theology in the Flesh: Religious Experience and the Embodied Soul James A. Van Slyke March 21, 2004

Hierarchy of the Soul Rational powers Will Understanding Mind Irrational powers Memory Sense-perception Appetites Emotions Desires Body Control Exerted downward

The Inward Turn • Self • Private, Inner • Walks through spacious rooms, palace of sorts • The Confessions refers to ‘spacious palaces of my memory’ • Rationality • Reason is the contemplation of the world of forms • It is an inward turn toward the objects of god’s creation • separated from the created world

Inward Turn • Religious Experience • God is found inside the person and above the soul • Soul is the part of the person most like God, and therefore most able to commune with him • Body • Secondary in all aspects • Body is mutable, lower on the hierarchy and thus more prone to corruption

Consequences of this view • The Inner Self • Directs attention to something that doesn’t exist • Promotes an individualist understanding of religious experience • Disconnected from the body • Body is at best secondary to the soul • Religious experience disconnected from the community

Consequences of this View • More emphasis on individual human experiences rather than communal • Taking care of the poor • Emphasizing the kingdom of god now rather than later • Relationship with God seen as the community of Christ in relationship with god rather than separate individuals

The Embodied Soul • Nonreductive physicalism • Soul is embodied the physicality of the human person • Not an immaterial property • Soul is an aspect of the person rather than a part • Develops through the emergence of personal relatedness with others and God

Importance of the Body • Rationality and Religious experience are developed through embodiment • Our bodies help to inform and give life to our abstract thoughts and conceptions • Examples • “Warmth” as a description of a positive relationship • “Important is big”

Bodily Metaphors • Theory of Conflation • During early development, sensorimotor experiences and subjective judgments are interconnected • “warmth” connected to physical closeness • ‘Important is big’ connected to parental figures • Over time these two domains are differentiated but never completely separated

Primary Metaphors • There are certain metaphors that we use due to our embodiment • Control is Up • Knowing is Seeing • An Augustinian example • The Confessions

Religiosity in the Body • Feminist Theory and the body • Women have historically been connected more with the body • More connected with material existence • Spiritual experiences not as valued • Women’s bodily experiences were seen as inferior

Religiosity in the Body • Sacraments • What women do naturally • Give birth, feed, comfort • Bodily experiences in the physical world • Sacraments spiritualized • Emphasis on the ‘otherworldly’ nature of the sacraments • Taking women’s experiences and spiritualizing them

Body Theology • Theology as embodied religious experiences • The gendered person becomes the subject of theological reflection • Women’s experiences inform theology and are celebrated • Gendered language is accepted as part of the theological discussion

Conclusion – Theology in the Flesh • Change in conceptualization • Dualism to embodied soul • Body informs religious experiences and concepts • Religious Experience • Not an isolated individual experience • Relational experience • Gendered experience

Theology in the Flesh: Religious Experience and the Embodied Soul