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Exploring Christianity
Why plants have no soul
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<blockquote data-quote="ViaCrucis" data-source="post: 77146048" data-attributes="member: 293637"><p>That the creation story in Genesis 2 is uniquely focused on man, but the word nephesh is used not only for human beings, but also for the animals on the 4th and 5th days of creation (Genesis 1:21 and Genesis 1:24).</p><p></p><p>While plants aren't described with nephesh, they are alive.</p><p></p><p>Historically the Church philosophized by speaking of "kinds of being", as in the great chain of being of the middle ages in the west, which spoke of the essence of things from lower orders such as minerals, plants, etc and all the way up to man, angels, and God. The concept of the soul is a difficult one. But Christian thought has, historically, conceptualized degrees of existence, from the inanimate to the vegetative to the animate to the rational. Rocks are inanimate, plants are vegetative, animals are animate, and human beings, like angels, are rational creatures. Thus the human soul is called a rational soul. This is why in the Definition of Chalcedon Jesus is said to be fully human of a rational soul and body, "rational soul" means <em>human </em>soul, i.e. Jesus is fully human, not in appearance but in reality (this was necessary to combat the heresy of Apollinaris who denied Christ had a human soul, but only a human body).</p><p></p><p>To speak of vegetative life as having a "soul" is only to speak of plant-<em>life</em>. "Soul" here isn't "spiritual" or metaphysical, but biological--plants are alive. Human beings, uniquely (as far as what has been revealed to us) bear the capacity of spiritual life of communion with God. Making the human soul, insofar as as being human means being created to be in communion with God, bear His Divine Image and Likeness, and with moral responsibility.</p><p></p><p>-CryptoLutheran</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ViaCrucis, post: 77146048, member: 293637"] That the creation story in Genesis 2 is uniquely focused on man, but the word nephesh is used not only for human beings, but also for the animals on the 4th and 5th days of creation (Genesis 1:21 and Genesis 1:24). While plants aren't described with nephesh, they are alive. Historically the Church philosophized by speaking of "kinds of being", as in the great chain of being of the middle ages in the west, which spoke of the essence of things from lower orders such as minerals, plants, etc and all the way up to man, angels, and God. The concept of the soul is a difficult one. But Christian thought has, historically, conceptualized degrees of existence, from the inanimate to the vegetative to the animate to the rational. Rocks are inanimate, plants are vegetative, animals are animate, and human beings, like angels, are rational creatures. Thus the human soul is called a rational soul. This is why in the Definition of Chalcedon Jesus is said to be fully human of a rational soul and body, "rational soul" means [I]human [/I]soul, i.e. Jesus is fully human, not in appearance but in reality (this was necessary to combat the heresy of Apollinaris who denied Christ had a human soul, but only a human body). To speak of vegetative life as having a "soul" is only to speak of plant-[I]life[/I]. "Soul" here isn't "spiritual" or metaphysical, but biological--plants are alive. Human beings, uniquely (as far as what has been revealed to us) bear the capacity of spiritual life of communion with God. Making the human soul, insofar as as being human means being created to be in communion with God, bear His Divine Image and Likeness, and with moral responsibility. -CryptoLutheran [/QUOTE]
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