Joshua R. Farris

In Why Souls? A Mirror to the Universe, author Joshua R. Farris carefully examines some of the best-laid arguments for the soul, ultimately advancing his own, claiming that embracing the concept of the soul allows for a more coherent and satisfying explanation of human consciousness and personal identity. By bringing together philosophical reflection and scientific inquiry to argue that the soul is a vital part of understanding human consciousness, Why Souls??is a balanced exploration of our ensouled nature and what that means for the universe in which we live.

All major religions in history have offered hope of some kind of afterlife to answer the perennial interest in the question of life after death. This volume brings together renowned experts in the philosophy of religion, Graham Oppy, David Apolloni, Shyam Ranganathan, Joshua Farris and Steven B. Cowan, to present four key starting points in the life after death debate.Providing a lively and collaborative dialogue between leaders in the field, each thinker defends a particular view of the afterlife and critically interacts with the alternative perspectives. They focus on the positions of No Life After Death, the Immortality of the Soul, Reincarnation and Resurrection, with each chapter drawing on views from naturalism, antiquity, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism and Yogacara. This engagement moves the current debate forward to consider global perspectives whilst the clear and accessible structure allows for a developed exploration of the central issues at stake.Incorporating views spanning secular and religious spheres in both the east and west, this comprehensive guide will be welcomed by students and scholars of contemporary philosophy of religion and comparative philosophy.

This book provides a critique of naturalistic views of subjects and agency and argues that these are conditioned ways of conceiving of the mind and the cosmos. It draws on the relevant literature on substance dualism, idealism, and theism to draw out the implications for a theistic view of the world.In contemporary analytic philosophy of mind, naturalism is the default position for thinking about the mind in relation to the world. This book argues that we should reconsider naturalistic paradigms in favor of a more holistic and bigger picture of the mind. It defends a form of theistic dualism in light of varying naturalistic trends that, arguably, place limiting pressures on our constructive views of humans as ensouled beings. The book takes seriously the notion of first-person phenomenological perspectives as the starting point for constructing a metaphysical view of the world. The author’s arguments touch on the topics of consciousness, dualism, cosmic purpose, science and religion, and the meaning of life. He proceeds to explore the implications of deconditioning on philosophy of mind, theism, science, and the social sciences.God, Souls, and Consciousness will appeal to scholars and graduate students working in philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, religion and science, and analytic theology.

Situated in broader science-and-religion discussions, The Creation of Self is the first book-length defense of a creationist view of persons as souls. This book therefore serves as both a novel argument for God’s creation of selves and as a critique of contemporary materialist and emergent-self alternatives, critically examining naturalistic views that argue for a regular, law-like process behind the emergence of personhood. Author Joshua Farris argues on the assumption that persons are fundamentally unique individuals that look more like singularities of nature, rather than material products grounded in regularity or predictability from past events. By extending the basic intuition that we are unique and mysterious individuals, Farris develops a sophisticated analytic defense of the soul that requires a sufficient explanation not found in nature but made by a Creator who has intentions and the power to bring about novel entities in the world. The Creation of Self gives philosophers, theologians, and the lay intellectual grounding for thinking about persons as religious beings. It aims to help readers understand why recent scientifically motivated objections to the soul are unsuccessful, and why we must consider a religious conception of persons as souls as a common starting point.

In this thorough introduction to theological anthropology, Joshua Farris offers an evangelical perspective on the topic. Farris walks the reader through some of the most important issues in traditional approaches to anthropology, such as sexuality, posthumanism, and the image of God. He addresses fundamental questions like, Who am I? and Why do I exist? as well as the creaturely and divine nature of humans, the body-soul relationship, and beatific vision.

Recent research in the philosophy of religion, anthropology, and philosophy of mind has prompted the need for a more integrated, comprehensive, and systematic theology of human nature. This project constructively develops a theological accounting of human persons by drawing from a Cartesian (as a term of art) model of anthropology, which is motivated by a long tradition. As was common among patristics, medievals, and Reformed Scholastics, Farris draws from philosophical resources to articulate Christian doctrine as he approaches theological anthropology. Exploring a substance dualism model, the author highlights relevant theological texts and passages of Scripture, arguing that this model accounts for doctrinal essentials concerning theological anthropology. While Farris is not explicitly interested in thorough critique of materialist ontology, he notes some of the significant problems associated with it. Rather, the present project is an attempt to revitalize the resources found in Cartesianism by responding to some common worries associated with it.

Recent research in the philosophy of religion, anthropology, and philosophy of mind has prompted the need for a more integrated, comprehensive, and systematic theology of human nature. This project constructively develops a theological accounting of human persons by drawing from a Cartesian (as a term of art) model of anthropology, which is motivated by a long tradition. As was common among patristics, medievals, and Reformed Scholastics, Farris draws from philosophical resources to articulate Christian doctrine as he approaches theological anthropology. Exploring a substance dualism model, the author highlights relevant theological texts and passages of Scripture, arguing that this model accounts for doctrinal essentials concerning theological anthropology. While Farris is not explicitly interested in thorough critique of materialist ontology, he notes some of the significant problems associated with it. Rather, the present project is an attempt to revitalize the resources found in Cartesianism by responding to some common worries associated with it.