In Gary Black’s The Theology of Dallas Willard, Black talks about anthropology and the nature of humanity according to Willard.  He includes two quotes from John Wesley and C.S. Lewis.  Wesley’s quote talks about the immortality of the human soul, and how so often we define a person by their body, without even considering the worth of one’s soul.  Wesley notes that the soul is everlasting, and therefore of more worth than any material thing.  The quote from Lewis really interested me.  He eloquently spoke of how each and everyone one of us will someday be living for eternity, either in heaven or hell.  It is not something one speaks of, but the image of viewing each person in their second life after death would be awe inspiring.  Lewis also notes how every action we take in regards to other human beings affects their eternity.  We could be urging them closer to God, or perhaps causing them to stumble and lead them towards sin.  This is a terrifying thought indeed.  I like to think that each person is responsible for themselves; no one else is to blame if a soul does not accept Jesus.  However, Lewis’ ascribes much responsibility to each and every Christian, it is our duty to model Jesus and lead others to Him as much as we can.

            I do find it interesting how there are two very separate schools of thought in this area.  The duality of mind and body insist that the soul and the physical form exist separately.  It seems that this belief gets a lot of flak from Christians, I am not sure why as it seems to make sense.  Maybe there is an underlying negativity in the theory that insists that the body is useless and the soul is the only measure of human worth.  There is also the school of thought that soul and body are intertwined.  I am not certain how connected mind and body are, though I do respect Wesley’s quote in that one cannot deny the importance of the soul.