Sometimes, you have thoughts.
These came at the Easter Vigil.
For a while the ‘soul’ translation at communion ‘and my soul shall be healed’ has not sat well with me. (I could say it has not sat well within my soul). I go back to Augustine and the duality of the soul and the body, and Aquinas and the idea of hylomorphism and the duality where the soul is immortal but the two are infinitely connected. I am drawn, however, to the idea that I am soul but I have a body, which furthers this idea of connection. I wonder about the Aristotelian view that formed Aquinas and the sense that the soul cannot exist without the body – but if this is true how then is the soul immortal? If the soul is immortal and the body corruptible then how can the body be immortal like the soul and if it is not – then how can they be so infinitely connected?
Then though, especially at Easter, when we remember the humanity that Jesus had, I wonder about the importance of the body in all this. We talk about the body being a temple but in reality it gets hit with a lot of crap. It is a reminder to be more aware and mindful about what we do, think and say.
In 2019 the Pope and the Grand Imam signed a document on Human Fraternity. It acknowledged the deep connections shared across humanity. So where does that leave the idea of soul? We are connected as humans, are we connected in our humanity with our souls?
The Female Theologian 