Setting aside some quibbles about St. Dionysios the Areopagite, and "pseudo-Dionysios" who probably authored the works attributed to him centuries later (in the end, it probably doesn't matter)...
"For the Christians-- at least, the mainstream Christians-- the soul and the body are, essentially, one"
Who's mainstream? I mean, yeah, we held some church councils on this subject. Lossky's pretty clear on it: theosis means salvation of the whole person, body, soul, and probably any other bits and bobs lying around, and *that's* why we reject Nestorianism, monophysitism, etc. because Christ being fully and indivisibly both God and Man, is the only way theosis works-- the Divine entering into matter is how matter gets redeemed.
But the very mainstream protestant churches I grew up in seem to fully endorse the idea that we are a body and a soul, the soul is the permanent part, and the body is the corrupt decaying temporary sin-magnet (and while they don't generally say it, the overall feeling is that sins of the body are icky and contaminating, and sins of the intellect generally ignored or glossed over) part we should look forward to leaving behind-- "my soul, which springs beyond thy sphere, no more demands thy aid..." I'd argue most modern protestants are essentially gnostic in this way. Not sure about Catholics.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2023-12-06 02:33 pm (UTC)"For the Christians-- at least, the mainstream Christians-- the soul and the body are, essentially, one"
Who's mainstream? I mean, yeah, we held some church councils on this subject. Lossky's pretty clear on it: theosis means salvation of the whole person, body, soul, and probably any other bits and bobs lying around, and *that's* why we reject Nestorianism, monophysitism, etc. because Christ being fully and indivisibly both God and Man, is the only way theosis works-- the Divine entering into matter is how matter gets redeemed.
But the very mainstream protestant churches I grew up in seem to fully endorse the idea that we are a body and a soul, the soul is the permanent part, and the body is the corrupt decaying temporary sin-magnet (and while they don't generally say it, the overall feeling is that sins of the body are icky and contaminating, and sins of the intellect generally ignored or glossed over) part we should look forward to leaving behind-- "my soul, which springs beyond thy sphere, no more demands thy aid..." I'd argue most modern protestants are essentially gnostic in this way. Not sure about Catholics.