Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting: John Cooper’s Defense of Holistic Dualism

Part I: Understanding Cooper’s Holistic Dualism

What is Holistic Dualism?

Cooper’s Holistic Dualism represents a careful biblical position that affirms two essential truths about human nature. First, during our earthly life, humans function as unified wholes where body and soul work together so closely that they cannot be separated without death occurring. Second, at death, the soul or spirit can exist apart from the body in conscious fellowship with Christ until the resurrection. This view is called “holistic” because it emphasizes the functional unity of human life, and “dualistic” because it maintains that humans have both material and immaterial aspects that can be separated.

Cooper explains in his introduction that this position emerged from careful study of the entire biblical witness. He writes that “the biblical view of human nature is both holistic – emphasizing the religious, phenomenological, and functional integration of life – and dualistic – asserting that persons are held in existence without fleshly bodies until the resurrection” (Chapter 10: Holistic Dualism, Science, and Philosophy). This balanced approach avoids the errors of both extreme positions.

The Biblical Foundation for Functional Unity

Cooper dedicates significant attention to demonstrating the holistic emphasis of Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament. In Chapter 2 (Old Testament Anthropology: The Holistic Emphasis), he shows how Hebrew anthropological terms resist simple dualistic interpretations. The Hebrew word nephesh (often translated “soul”) can mean the whole person, life, breath, or desire. Similarly, ruach (spirit) can refer to wind, breath, life-force, or the whole person in their relationship to God. The word basar (flesh) doesn’t just mean the physical body but often represents the whole person in their weakness and mortality.

This linguistic evidence demonstrates that the Old Testament presents humans as integrated wholes rather than combinations of separate parts. Cooper notes that when the Bible speaks of the heart, soul, spirit, or flesh, it’s usually referring to the whole person from a particular perspective rather than identifying separate components. A person doesn’t merely “have” a soul – in many contexts, a person “is” a soul. This holistic perspective permeates the Old Testament’s presentation of human life, worship, ethics, and relationships.

The functional unity of human existence is also evident in how the Old Testament treats human activities and experiences. Worship involves the whole person – body, mind, emotions, and will. Sin affects every aspect of human existence, not just the “spiritual” part. Redemption is promised for the whole person, not just for souls. This integrated view of human life stands in stark contrast to Greek philosophical dualism, which often viewed the body as a prison for the soul.

The Biblical Evidence for Dualistic Distinction

While affirming this functional holism, Cooper demonstrates in Chapter 3 (Old Testament Anthropology: The Dualistic Implication) that Scripture also teaches a real distinction between body and soul that becomes evident at death. The Old Testament consistently presents death not as the cessation of existence but as the separation of the person from their body. The dead are called rephaim (shades) who exist in Sheol, the realm of the dead.

Cooper carefully examines the Old Testament teaching about Sheol, showing that it represents more than just the grave. Sheol is portrayed as a place where the dead exist in a shadowy, weakened state. While not the robust conscious existence that the New Testament reveals, the inhabitants of Sheol are still portrayed as having some form of continued existence. They are sometimes described as being gathered to their fathers, suggesting ongoing identity and relationship even in death.

The clearest evidence for this dualistic aspect comes from passages that speak of resurrection. Isaiah 26:19 explicitly states: “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy.” Cooper points out that this verse uses the term rephaim for those who will be raised, clearly indicating that the dead exist in Sheol awaiting resurrection. If humans simply ceased to exist at death, resurrection would be a new creation rather than a restoration.

Part II: The Development Through Intertestamental Judaism

The Flowering of Eschatological Hope

In Chapter 4 (The Anthropology of Intertestamental Eschatology), Cooper traces how Jewish thought developed between the Old and New Testaments. This period saw a flourishing of reflection on the afterlife, with various Jewish groups developing more detailed pictures of what happens when we die. Cooper shows that despite their differences, nearly all Jewish groups maintained both the holistic emphasis on bodily life and the dualistic recognition that something survives bodily death.

The Pharisees, who were the dominant religious party in Jesus’ time, clearly believed in both the resurrection of the body and an intermediate state between death and resurrection. According to Josephus, himself a Pharisee, they taught that souls depart from bodies at death and continue to exist, already experiencing the anticipated consequences of God’s judgment. The righteous souls enjoy blessedness while awaiting resurrection, while the wicked suffer punishment.

Cooper notes that during this period, the concept of paradise emerged as a place of blessing for the righteous dead. Paradise was often conceived as a special region within Sheol or as a heavenly realm where the righteous await the resurrection. The term “Abraham’s bosom” also developed as a way of describing the blessed state of the righteous dead who are comforted by the patriarch while awaiting the resurrection.

Significantly, even those Jews influenced by Greek philosophy, who spoke of the “immortality of the soul,” generally didn’t abandon belief in bodily resurrection. They maintained that while the soul could exist apart from the body, full human flourishing required embodied existence. This shows that even when using Greek philosophical language, Jewish thinkers preserved the holistic emphasis of their Hebrew heritage.

Part III: New Testament Confirmation

Jesus’ Teaching on the Afterlife

Cooper’s analysis of the New Testament (Chapters 5-7) demonstrates that Jesus and the apostles clearly taught both the intermediate state and the future resurrection. One of the clearest examples comes from Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross in Luke 23:43: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Cooper argues that this promise makes no sense unless consciousness continues immediately after death. Jesus didn’t say, “Someday, after the resurrection, you will be with me,” but “TODAY you will be with me in paradise.”

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) also assumes conscious existence after death and before the resurrection. While some argue this is “just a parable,” Cooper points out that Jesus’ parables, even when not literal historical accounts, always teach truth using scenarios his audience would recognize as possible. The parable assumes the Pharisaic view that the dead exist consciously in different compartments of Hades/Sheol, experiencing preliminary blessing or punishment while awaiting the final judgment.

Jesus’ argument with the Sadducees about resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33) is particularly significant. Jesus declares that God “is not the God of the dead but of the living,” referring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Cooper notes that this argument only makes sense if the patriarchs still exist in some form. If they had ceased to exist entirely, God could not be their God in any meaningful present sense.

The Transfiguration provides another important piece of evidence. Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus, speaking with him about his coming departure (Luke 9:28-36). Cooper points out that while Elijah had been taken to heaven without dying, Moses had definitely died and been buried. His appearance in recognizable form, able to converse with Jesus, strongly suggests conscious intermediate existence.

Paul’s Clear Affirmation

The Apostle Paul provides the most extensive New Testament teaching on the intermediate state. In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, Paul speaks of three conditions: our present life in the “earthly tent” of our body, being “naked” or “unclothed” (disembodied) after death, and being “clothed” with our resurrection body. Cooper carefully analyzes this passage, showing that Paul clearly envisions a period of disembodied existence between death and resurrection.

Paul states that he would prefer to “be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Cooper argues that this makes no sense if Paul believed in soul sleep or the cessation of existence at death. Paul sees death as gain precisely because it means immediate conscious fellowship with Christ, even though he acknowledges that the disembodied state is not ideal (hence his description of it as being “naked”).

In Philippians 1:21-24, Paul explicitly states his dilemma: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain… I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” Cooper emphasizes that Paul’s struggle only makes sense if death brings immediate conscious communion with Christ. If death meant unconscious sleep or non-existence until the resurrection, Paul would have no reason to desire it.

Perhaps most remarkably, in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, Paul speaks of being “caught up to the third heaven” and being unsure whether this happened “in the body or out of the body.” Cooper points out that Paul’s uncertainty shows he believed conscious experience was possible apart from the body. This personal experience reinforced Paul’s teaching about the intermediate state.

The Book of Revelation’s Testimony

The book of Revelation provides additional evidence for conscious intermediate existence. In Revelation 6:9-11, John sees “under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God.” These souls cry out to God for justice and are given white robes while being told to wait a little longer. Cooper notes that this passage clearly depicts conscious souls existing before the resurrection, aware of their situation and able to communicate with God.

Similarly, Revelation 20 speaks of souls coming to life and reigning with Christ for a thousand years before the general resurrection. While interpretations of this passage vary, Cooper argues that it assumes souls can exist and function apart from their bodies, supporting the broader New Testament teaching about the intermediate state.

Part IV: Comparing Holistic Dualism with Substance Dualism

Understanding Substance Dualism

To properly appreciate Cooper’s Holistic Dualism, we must understand how it differs from traditional Substance Dualism. Substance Dualism, associated with philosophers like Plato, Descartes, and to some extent Augustine, views the soul and body as two distinct substances that can function independently. In this view, the soul is often seen as the “real” person, while the body is merely a temporary vessel or even a prison that limits the soul.

Platonic dualism, which influenced some early Christian thinkers, viewed the material world, including the body, as inferior to the spiritual realm. The soul was seen as naturally immortal and divine, temporarily imprisoned in the body. Death was viewed as liberation, freeing the soul to return to its true spiritual home. This led to a devaluation of bodily existence and physical life.

Cartesian dualism, developed by René Descartes, portrayed the mind (or soul) and body as two completely different kinds of substances that interact at a single point (which Descartes identified as the pineal gland). The mind was seen as thinking substance (res cogitans) while the body was extended substance (res extensa). This view made it difficult to explain how two such different substances could interact and led to seeing the person as essentially their mind, with the body being almost incidental.

Cooper points out in Chapter 1 (Traditional Christian Anthropology and Its Modern Critics) that while these forms of substance dualism affirm the soul’s survival of death, they often fail to do justice to the biblical emphasis on the goodness of bodily existence and the unity of human life. They can lead to an unhealthy spiritualism that neglects or despises the body.

How Holistic Dualism Differs

Cooper’s Holistic Dualism differs from Substance Dualism in several crucial ways:

1. Functional Unity vs. Accidental Union: While Substance Dualism often portrays the union of soul and body as accidental or temporary, Holistic Dualism sees this union as natural and intended by God. Humans are created as embodied souls or ensouled bodies. The unity of body and soul is so profound that under normal circumstances, they function as a single integrated system. Cooper emphasizes that the body-soul unity is not like a pilot in a ship (as Descartes suggested) but more like the union of form and matter that Aristotle described.

2. Interdependence During Life: Holistic Dualism recognizes the deep interdependence of body and soul during earthly life. Our spiritual experiences are influenced by our bodily states (we pray differently when we’re tired or hungry), and our spiritual conditions affect our bodies (guilt can cause physical symptoms). This interconnection is so thorough that Cooper argues we cannot fully understand human psychology, spirituality, or behavior without considering both dimensions.

3. Death as Unnatural Separation: Unlike Platonic dualism, which sees death as liberation, Holistic Dualism views death as an unnatural tearing apart of what God joined together. The intermediate state is not the soul’s happy release from bodily prison but an incomplete, “naked” condition (as Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 5:3) that awaits the resurrection for full restoration. Cooper emphasizes that while the intermediate state involves real blessing for believers (being with Christ), it is not the ideal state.

4. The Body’s Essential Value: Holistic Dualism maintains the essential goodness and importance of the body. The body is not a hindrance to spiritual life but a necessary component of full human existence. This is why the ultimate hope is not eternal disembodiment but resurrection – the restoration of body-soul unity in a glorified, immortal form. Cooper argues that this is why Scripture emphasizes bodily resurrection rather than merely the immortality of the soul.

5. Holistic Function vs. Compartmentalization: While some forms of Substance Dualism assign different functions to body and soul (body handles physical activities, soul handles thinking and willing), Holistic Dualism sees every human activity as involving the whole person. When we think, our brains are active. When we worship, our bodies participate. When we sin, both body and soul are implicated. This holistic functioning means that sanctification involves the whole person, not just the “spiritual” part.

The Thomistic Middle Ground

Cooper notes that Thomas Aquinas developed a position that shares much with Holistic Dualism. Aquinas, following Aristotle, taught that the soul is the “form” of the body – not a separate substance but the organizing principle that makes matter into a living human being. Yet Aquinas also maintained that the rational soul, unlike animal souls, could subsist apart from the body by God’s special provision.

This Thomistic view affirms both the natural unity of body and soul and the possibility of temporary separation. Cooper appreciates this balance, though he notes that some Reformed theologians worry that Aquinas’s view doesn’t adequately account for the robust conscious existence that Scripture attributes to the intermediate state. Nevertheless, the Thomistic tradition provides philosophical resources for articulating Holistic Dualism.

Part V: Biblical Evidence Supporting Holistic Dualism

Cooper’s case for Holistic Dualism rests on extensive biblical evidence. The following table presents key verses that support both the holistic and dualistic aspects of his position:

Biblical Reference	Key Text	Support for Holistic Dualism
Genesis 2:7	“The LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”	Shows both material (dust) and immaterial (breath of life) aspects united to form a living person
Ecclesiastes 12:7	“The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”	Indicates separation of body and spirit at death
Isaiah 26:19	“Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy.”	Dead exist as “dwellers in dust” awaiting bodily resurrection
Daniel 12:2	“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”	Implies continued existence (“sleep”) between death and resurrection
Matthew 10:28	“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”	Clear distinction between body and soul; soul survives bodily death
Matthew 22:32	“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”	Patriarchs still exist though physically dead
Luke 16:22-23	“The beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died… In Hades, where he was in torment…”	Conscious existence immediately after death, before resurrection
Luke 23:43	“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.'”	Immediate conscious fellowship after death
Luke 23:46	“Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.'”	Spirit capable of existing in God’s hands apart from body
John 11:25-26	“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”	Believers “live” even when physically dead
Acts 7:59	“While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'”	Spirit can be received by Jesus at death
Romans 8:10	“But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.”	Body subject to death while spirit has life
1 Corinthians 15:42-44	“The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable… it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”	Continuity of person through bodily transformation
2 Corinthians 4:16	“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”	Distinction between outer (body) and inner (soul/spirit) person
2 Corinthians 5:1-4	“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God… Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling.”	Three states: embodied life, nakedness (disembodied), clothed (resurrection body)
2 Corinthians 5:8	“We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”	Possibility of being with the Lord apart from the body
2 Corinthians 12:2-3	“I know a man in Christ who… was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know.”	Conscious experience possible either in or out of the body
Philippians 1:21-23	“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain… I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.”	Death brings immediate gain through fellowship with Christ
1 Thessalonians 4:14	“For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”	The dead in Christ are “with Jesus” before resurrection
1 Thessalonians 5:23	“May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”	Whole person includes multiple aspects needing sanctification
Hebrews 12:23	“You have come… to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”	Righteous exist as “spirits” in heavenly Jerusalem
James 2:26	“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”	Body and spirit separable; body dead without spirit
1 Peter 3:18-19	“He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits.”	Christ’s spirit active between death and resurrection
Revelation 6:9-10	“I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain… They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord?'”	Souls conscious and communicating before resurrection
Revelation 20:4	“I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded… They came to life and reigned with Christ.”	Souls exist before coming to life in resurrection

Part VI: Addressing Common Objections

Objection 1: “Dualism is Greek Philosophy, Not Biblical Teaching”

Cooper addresses this common objection extensively. He acknowledges that some forms of dualism, particularly Platonic dualism, are indeed Greek in origin and incompatible with biblical teaching. However, he demonstrates that the dualism implied by Scripture arose from Hebrew thought itself, not Greek influence.

The Old Testament’s teaching about Sheol and the rephaim predates significant Greek influence on Jewish thought. The belief that something of the person survives death and exists in the underworld is found throughout the ancient Near East, not just in Greece. Moreover, the Hebrew concept differs significantly from Greek ideas. The rephaim in Sheol are not happy, liberated souls but shadowy, weakened beings longing for restoration. Death is not liberation but loss.

Cooper shows that even when later Jewish writers used Greek philosophical terms, they transformed them to fit Hebrew theology. The “immortal soul” of Hellenistic Judaism was not the naturally divine soul of Platonism but a created soul kept in existence by God’s power. The ultimate hope remained bodily resurrection, not eternal disembodiment.

Objection 2: “The Bible Teaches Soul Sleep, Not Conscious Intermediate Existence”

Some argue that the biblical metaphor of “sleep” for death indicates unconscious existence until resurrection. Cooper responds by showing that “sleep” is a metaphor referring to the appearance of the body, not the state of the soul. The dead body appears to be sleeping, but this says nothing about the soul’s consciousness.

More importantly, numerous biblical passages explicitly describe conscious activity of the dead. The souls under the altar in Revelation 6 cry out for justice. The rich man in Hades carries on a conversation. Paul desires to depart and be “with Christ,” which makes no sense if he would be unconscious. Moses appears at the Transfiguration and converses with Jesus. These passages cannot be reconciled with soul sleep.

Cooper notes that even if there were some diminished consciousness in the intermediate state (as the Old Testament’s picture of Sheol might suggest), this would still require a distinction between body and soul that survives death. The soul sleep position still requires dualism; it just adds unconsciousness.

Objection 3: “Science Has Disproven Dualism”

In Chapter 10 (Holistic Dualism, Science, and Philosophy), Cooper addresses the claim that modern neuroscience has shown that the mind is simply brain activity. He acknowledges the intimate connection between brain states and mental states but argues this doesn’t prove materialism.

Cooper points out that correlation is not causation. The fact that mental states correlate with brain states doesn’t prove that mental states are nothing but brain states. It’s equally compatible with the view that the soul works through the brain during embodied life. Just as a musician needs a functioning instrument to produce music, the soul needs a functioning brain to express itself in this life.

Moreover, Cooper discusses near-death experiences and other phenomena that suggest consciousness can continue when brain activity has ceased. While not conclusive proof, these experiences are more easily explained by dualism than materialism. He also notes that the “hard problem of consciousness” – explaining how physical processes could generate subjective experience – remains unsolved by materialism.

Cooper emphasizes that Holistic Dualism actually expects the kind of psychosomatic unity that science discovers. Because humans are created as integrated body-soul unities, we should expect to find intimate correlations between mental and physical states. Science confirms the “holistic” part of Holistic Dualism without disproving the “dualism” part.

Part VII: Theological Implications of Holistic Dualism

Understanding Death Properly

Holistic Dualism provides a biblical framework for understanding death. Death is not the natural transition some philosophies suggest, nor is it the complete cessation of existence that materialism claims. Instead, death is an enemy – the unnatural separation of what God joined together. It entered through sin and represents a tearing of the fabric of human nature.

This understanding helps us grasp why death is both loss and gain for the Christian. It is loss because we are separated from our bodies and cannot function as God originally designed. We enter a “naked” state that, while blessed by Christ’s presence, is incomplete. Yet it is gain because we are freed from the sin and suffering that mark embodied existence in this fallen world, and we enjoy immediate conscious fellowship with Christ.

Cooper emphasizes that this view validates both our natural fear of death and our Christian hope. We need not pretend death is good or natural, but neither need we fear it as ultimate loss. Christ has conquered death, and while we must pass through it, we do so into his presence to await our resurrection.

The Value of the Body

Unlike dualistic systems that devalue the body, Holistic Dualism affirms the body’s essential goodness and importance. The body is not a prison or hindrance but God’s good creation, integral to human identity and destiny. This has several important implications:

First, it means that how we treat our bodies matters spiritually. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and what we do with our bodies affects our whole person. This provides a foundation for Christian ethics regarding sexuality, health, and physical life. We cannot dismiss bodily actions as spiritually irrelevant.

Second, it explains why the ultimate Christian hope is not escape from embodiment but resurrection to glorified embodiment. God’s redemptive plan includes the body. The resurrection of Jesus was bodily, and ours will be too. This demonstrates God’s commitment to redeeming the entire created order, not just “spiritual” reality.

Third, it validates care for physical needs as genuine ministry. Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and caring for physical needs are not merely means to spiritual ends but valuable ministries in themselves. Jesus’ earthly ministry included extensive physical healing, demonstrating God’s concern for the whole person.

Personal Identity and Resurrection

Holistic Dualism provides a solution to the problem of personal identity through death and resurrection. If humans were purely physical, it would be difficult to explain how the same person could exist after the body’s dissolution. Would a resurrected body be the same person or merely a copy?

Cooper argues that the soul provides continuity of identity between death and resurrection. The soul, sustained by God, carries the person’s identity, memories, and character through the intermediate state. At the resurrection, this same soul is reunited with a transformed body, ensuring that the resurrected person is genuinely the same individual who died.

This has profound pastoral implications. When we tell grieving families that they will see their loved ones again, we mean they will genuinely be reunited with the same persons, not with replicas or recreations. The relationships begun in this life will continue, transformed and perfected, in the resurrection.

The Intermediate State and Christian Hope

Understanding the intermediate state properly provides great comfort to believers facing death. Cooper emphasizes several aspects of this comfort:

First, there is no gap in consciousness at death. Believers immediately enter Christ’s presence. There is no soul sleep, no purgatorial suffering, no unconscious waiting. “Today you will be with me in paradise” remains Christ’s promise to all who trust in him.

Second, the intermediate state is genuinely blessed for believers. While incomplete compared to resurrection life, it involves conscious fellowship with Christ, freedom from sin and suffering, and rest from earthly labors. Paul could genuinely say that to die is “gain” and “better by far” than earthly life.

Third, the intermediate state is temporary. It is not our final destiny but a waystation on the journey to resurrection. This prevents us from either overemphasizing or undervaluing it. We neither make it everything (as some popular conceptions of “heaven” do) nor nothing (as materialists claim).

Part VIII: Warnings About Alternative Views

The Dangers of Christian Physicalism

Cooper dedicates significant attention to critiquing Christian physicalism or materialism – the view that humans are purely physical beings without immaterial souls. While acknowledging that sincere Christians hold this view, Cooper warns of several serious problems:

Biblical Incompatibility: Cooper argues that physicalism simply cannot account for the biblical teaching about the intermediate state. Physicalists must either deny clear biblical passages, reinterpret them in ways that strain credibility, or adopt speculative theories like “immediate resurrection” that lack biblical support. The consistent witness of Scripture to conscious existence between death and resurrection cannot be reconciled with the claim that humans are purely physical.

Theological Problems: Physicalism creates theological difficulties regarding Christ’s own death and resurrection. If humans are purely physical, what happened to Jesus between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? His promise to the thief about “today” being in paradise makes no sense on physicalist assumptions. The traditional teaching that Christ’s human soul descended to the dead becomes impossible.

Pastoral Concerns: Cooper expresses concern about the pastoral implications of physicalism. What comfort can we offer grieving believers if their loved ones have simply ceased to exist? The traditional Christian comfort that the dead in Christ are “with the Lord” becomes meaningless. The physicalist must either offer false comfort or honestly admit that the dead have no conscious existence.

Philosophical Weaknesses: Cooper points out that physicalism faces serious philosophical problems, particularly the “hard problem of consciousness” – explaining how purely physical processes could generate subjective experience, intentionality, and rational thought. While these problems don’t definitively disprove physicalism, they show it’s not the obviously superior position its advocates sometimes claim.

The Problems with Immediate Resurrection Theory

Some Christians, recognizing that Scripture teaches conscious existence after death but wanting to avoid dualism, propose that believers receive their resurrection bodies immediately at death. Cooper identifies several problems with this view:

Lack of Biblical Support: Nowhere does Scripture teach immediate resurrection at death. The consistent biblical pattern is death, intermediate state, and future resurrection at Christ’s return. Paul explicitly teaches that resurrection occurs at the last trumpet, not at individual deaths.

The Problem of Christ’s Resurrection: If resurrection occurs immediately at death, why did Jesus’ resurrection wait until the third day? His body remained in the tomb while he promised to be in paradise. This creates an inexplicable exception to the supposed rule of immediate resurrection.

Hidden Dualism: Cooper points out that immediate resurrection theory actually assumes dualism. It requires that the person can transfer from one body (the earthly) to another (the resurrection body). This assumes the person is distinct from and separable from the earthly body – which is dualism. The theory fails to avoid what it set out to escape.

Eschatological Confusion: Immediate resurrection undermines the biblical teaching about the future, collective nature of resurrection. Scripture presents resurrection as the great hope of Christ’s return, when all the dead in Christ will be raised together. Individual resurrections at death would evacuate this hope of its corporate and cosmic significance.

The Inadequacy of Soul Sleep

The soul sleep position, while maintaining some form of dualism, creates its own problems that Cooper identifies:

Contradiction of Clear Passages: Soul sleep must explain away passages that clearly describe conscious activity of the dead. The conversations in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the prayers of souls in Revelation, Paul’s desire to depart and be “with Christ” – all must be dismissed or radically reinterpreted.

Meaningless Metaphors: If the dead are unconscious, what does it mean to be “with Christ” or in “paradise” or “Abraham’s bosom”? These become meaningless descriptions of unconscious non-experience. The comfort they’re meant to provide evaporates.

Theological Inconsistency: If souls sleep unconsciously, why did Christ promise the thief he would be in paradise “today”? From the thief’s perspective, if he’s unconscious, there would be no experience of paradise until the resurrection, making the “today” meaningless.

Part IX: Practical Applications of Holistic Dualism

For Christian Living

Understanding ourselves as holistic dualistic beings has profound implications for Christian discipleship:

Whole-Person Sanctification: Spiritual growth involves the entire person – body and soul. We cannot neglect physical disciplines (like fasting, rest, and exercise) as spiritually irrelevant, nor can we focus only on external behavior without addressing the heart. Cooper emphasizes that biblical spirituality engages our entire being.

Understanding Spiritual Warfare: The battle against sin involves both physical and spiritual dimensions. We need both spiritual disciplines (prayer, meditation on Scripture) and physical disciplines (fleeing temptation, controlling our bodies). Cooper notes that many failures in Christian living come from addressing only one dimension of our nature.

Balanced Christian Life: Holistic Dualism helps us avoid both an overly spiritualized Christianity that neglects creation and embodied life, and a materialistic Christianity that reduces faith to social action. We need both spiritual communion with God and practical service in the world.

Dealing with Suffering: Understanding our dual nature helps us comprehend how physical suffering affects our whole person and how spiritual resources can sustain us through physical trials. Cooper emphasizes that neither physical nor spiritual suffering should be minimized – both are real and both require ministry.

For Ministry and Pastoral Care

Cooper’s Holistic Dualism provides crucial guidance for pastoral ministry:

Counseling: Effective counseling must address both spiritual and physical dimensions. Depression, for example, may have physical causes requiring medical treatment and spiritual dimensions requiring pastoral care. Cooper warns against both over-spiritualizing problems (ignoring physical factors) and over-medicalizing them (ignoring spiritual factors).

End-of-Life Ministry: Understanding the intermediate state equips pastors to offer genuine biblical comfort to the dying and grieving. We can confidently assure believers that death brings immediate presence with Christ, while also acknowledging the genuine loss that death represents.

Teaching About Death: Churches should teach clearly about what happens when we die, avoiding both the popular misconceptions about “becoming angels” and the opposite error of saying nothing definite. Cooper emphasizes that biblical teaching about the intermediate state provides real comfort that vague spirituality cannot.

Funeral Services: Holistic Dualism shapes how we conduct funerals. We honor the body as part of the person, not merely a discarded shell. Yet we also celebrate that the person is with Christ, not simply gone. This balance provides both realistic grief and genuine hope.

For Medical Ethics

Cooper’s position has important implications for bioethics:

Beginning of Life: If humans are body-soul unities, questions about when the soul enters the body become important for issues like abortion. While Cooper doesn’t resolve this question definitively, he notes that Holistic Dualism supports protecting human life from conception, when the biological conditions for a human person are present.

End of Life: Understanding death as the separation of soul from body helps in making end-of-life decisions. When the body can no longer sustain integrated life, allowing natural death is not killing but accepting the body’s inability to maintain the soul-body unity.

Medical Treatment: The body’s importance means medical treatment is valuable Christian ministry, not merely fixing biological machines. Yet the soul’s reality means that spiritual care remains essential even when physical healing isn’t possible.

Part X: Responding to Contemporary Challenges

The Challenge from Neuroscience

Modern brain science has revealed remarkable correlations between brain states and mental states. Every thought, emotion, and decision appears to have neural correlates. Some argue this proves the mind is nothing but brain activity. Cooper responds with several important points:

First, correlation doesn’t prove identity. The fact that mental states correlate with brain states is exactly what Holistic Dualism would predict, given the intimate body-soul unity during earthly life. The soul works through the brain, so of course damage to the brain affects mental function. This no more proves the mind is the brain than damage to a radio proving that radio waves are identical to the radio.

Second, neuroscience hasn’t solved the “hard problem” of consciousness – explaining how physical processes could generate subjective experience. The qualitative nature of experience (what philosophers call “qualia”) seems irreducibly different from physical processes. How does the firing of neurons produce the experience of redness or the feeling of joy?

Third, certain phenomena suggest consciousness isn’t reducible to brain activity. Near-death experiences sometimes include accurate perceptions of events occurring while the brain shows no activity. While not conclusive proof, such phenomena are more easily explained if consciousness can exist apart from the brain.

Cooper emphasizes that Christians need not fear legitimate scientific research. Truth cannot contradict truth. If humans are created as Holistic Dualism suggests, scientific research will ultimately confirm the intimate body-soul connection without disproving the soul’s reality.

The Challenge from Biblical Scholarship

Some biblical scholars argue that modern study of Hebrew and Greek terms shows the Bible knows nothing of immaterial souls. Words translated “soul” and “spirit” refer to the whole person or to life and breath, not to an immaterial part of humans. Cooper responds carefully to this challenge:

First, he agrees that biblical terms are often more holistic than traditional translations suggest. Nephesh and psyche often mean “person” or “life” rather than “soul” in the philosophical sense. This actually supports the “holistic” part of Holistic Dualism.

Second, however, these terms sometimes do refer to the person as distinct from the body, especially in death contexts. When Jesus says not to fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul (Matthew 10:28), a distinction is clearly intended. When Revelation speaks of “souls” under the altar, these are persons existing without bodies.

Third, the biblical teaching doesn’t depend on specific anthropological terms but on what Scripture teaches about death and resurrection. Even if “soul” and “spirit” never referred to an immaterial part, the teaching that persons consciously exist between death and resurrection would still require some form of dualism.

Cooper concludes that careful biblical scholarship, rather than undermining Holistic Dualism, actually supports it by demonstrating both the holistic use of anthropological terms and the dualistic implications of biblical eschatology.

Part XI: Contemporary Philosophical Support

Contemporary Philosophers Defending Dualism

Cooper notes that despite materialism’s dominance in academia, several respected philosophers continue defending forms of dualism compatible with his position. He discusses several important thinkers:

Richard Swinburne, an Oxford philosopher, defends substance dualism using rigorous philosophical arguments. He argues that mental properties cannot be reduced to physical properties and that personal identity through time requires an immaterial soul. Swinburne’s work shows that dualism can be defended using the tools of analytic philosophy.

Alvin Plantinga, one of the most influential Christian philosophers of our time, argues that materialism is actually incompatible with rational thought. If our thoughts are merely physical events determined by natural laws, how can they be about anything or track truth? Plantinga’s argument suggests that materialism undermines the very rationality it claims to champion.

J.P. Moreland has developed extensive arguments for substance dualism, drawing on both philosophical analysis and empirical phenomena. He argues that consciousness has features (intentionality, subjectivity, rationality) that cannot emerge from purely physical processes. His work demonstrates that dualism remains a viable option in contemporary philosophy of mind.

Cooper also discusses philosophers in the Thomistic tradition who defend positions similar to his Holistic Dualism. They argue that the soul is the form of the body (ensuring unity) but can subsist apart from the body by God’s power (allowing for the intermediate state). This tradition provides sophisticated philosophical resources for articulating the biblical position.

The Emergent Dualism Alternative

Cooper discusses emergent dualism as a position that shares important features with Holistic Dualism. According to this view, consciousness emerges from complex physical processes but then exists as a distinct reality capable of downward causation on the physical. Some emergent dualists argue that God could sustain the emerged consciousness apart from the body after death.

While Cooper finds this position interesting, he notes several concerns. First, it’s unclear how genuinely immaterial properties could emerge from purely material processes. Second, if consciousness is naturally dependent on the brain, its post-mortem existence would be entirely miraculous rather than a natural capacity of the soul. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that emergent dualism might provide another route to affirming the intermediate state.

Part XII: The Comprehensive Case for Holistic Dualism

Biblical Coherence

Cooper’s strongest argument for Holistic Dualism is its comprehensive biblical coherence. It makes sense of the entire biblical narrative about human nature, death, and redemption:

It explains why Genesis presents humans as both formed from dust and animated by God’s breath. It accounts for the Old Testament’s holistic anthropology while explaining references to existence in Sheol. It makes sense of the intertestamental development of thought about the afterlife. It coherently interprets Jesus’ teachings about death and resurrection. It explains Paul’s complex statements about the intermediate state and resurrection. It illuminates the visions of Revelation about souls existing before the final resurrection.

No other position, Cooper argues, can account for all this biblical data without forced interpretations or special pleading. Physicalism must explain away clear references to disembodied existence. Extreme dualism can’t account for the Bible’s holistic emphasis. Only Holistic Dualism comprehensively fits the biblical evidence.

Theological Necessity

Beyond specific texts, Holistic Dualism is necessary for central Christian doctrines:

The Incarnation: Christ took on human nature – if humans are purely physical, the Word became merely flesh. But orthodox Christology requires that Christ have a human soul as well as a human body. Holistic Dualism provides the anthropology necessary for orthodox Christology.

The Atonement: Christ’s death involved the separation of his soul from his body. Between Good Friday and Easter, Christ’s human soul accomplished the harrowing of hell while his body lay in the tomb. This traditional understanding requires Holistic Dualism.

Redemption: God’s redemptive plan includes the whole person – body and soul. Neither is discarded; both are transformed. This comprehensive redemption makes most sense within a Holistic Dualist framework that values both dimensions of human existence.

Eschatological Hope: The Christian hope includes both immediate presence with Christ at death and future bodily resurrection. Only Holistic Dualism can affirm both without contradiction or diminishment of either truth.

Practical Fruitfulness

Cooper emphasizes that Holistic Dualism bears good fruit in Christian life and ministry:

It promotes balanced spirituality that neither neglects the body nor reduces faith to physical health and prosperity. It enables effective pastoral care that addresses both physical and spiritual needs. It provides real comfort in the face of death while maintaining hope for resurrection. It grounds Christian ethics in the value of both body and soul. It supports a comprehensive approach to human flourishing that includes both material and spiritual dimensions.

These practical benefits don’t prove Holistic Dualism true, but they confirm its coherence with the broader biblical vision of human life and flourishing.

Philosophical Viability

While Cooper focuses primarily on biblical and theological arguments, he demonstrates that Holistic Dualism remains philosophically viable:

It avoids the interaction problem of Cartesian dualism by affirming intimate body-soul unity during life. It escapes the reductionism of materialism by maintaining genuine mental reality. It provides resources for addressing personal identity through time and change. It offers potential solutions to the mind-body problem that respect both mental and physical reality.

Cooper doesn’t claim to have solved all philosophical problems, but he shows that Holistic Dualism faces no greater difficulties than alternative positions and offers unique resources for addressing perennial philosophical questions.

Conclusion: Why Holistic Dualism Must Be Embraced

After examining Cooper’s comprehensive case, several conclusions become inescapable for Christians who take Scripture seriously:

First, the Bible clearly teaches that humans continue to exist consciously between death and resurrection. This isn’t a marginal doctrine but appears throughout Scripture, from the Old Testament’s teaching about Sheol through Jesus’ promises about paradise to Paul’s desire to depart and be with Christ. Any anthropology that cannot account for this intermediate state must be rejected as unbiblical.

Second, the Bible equally clearly teaches the fundamental unity of human existence during earthly life. We are not souls imprisoned in bodies but integrated beings created for embodied existence. Any anthropology that divides humans into loosely connected parts must be rejected as failing to account for biblical holism.

Third, only Holistic Dualism can affirm both truths without contradiction. It alone provides a framework that makes comprehensive sense of biblical teaching about human nature, death, and resurrection. Alternative positions require forced interpretations, ignore clear passages, or create theological problems that undermine central Christian doctrines.

Fourth, Holistic Dualism provides essential grounding for Christian life and ministry. It enables us to address the whole person in evangelism, discipleship, and pastoral care. It provides real comfort in the face of death while maintaining resurrection hope. It grounds ethics that take both body and soul seriously.

Fifth, contemporary challenges from neuroscience and biblical scholarship, rather than undermining Holistic Dualism, actually confirm its wisdom. The intimate mind-brain correlations that neuroscience discovers are exactly what we would expect given the functional unity of embodied life. The holistic emphasis that biblical scholarship uncovers supports rather than contradicts the position.

Cooper’s work demonstrates that far from being an outdated relic of Greek philosophy, Holistic Dualism represents careful attention to the complete biblical witness about human nature. It emerges not from philosophical speculation but from listening to everything Scripture says about who we are, what happens when we die, and what our ultimate destiny is in Christ.

The church has maintained this position for two millennia not from stubborn traditionalism but from faithful biblical interpretation. Every generation that has carefully examined the scriptural evidence has come to the same conclusion: humans are both unified wholes and possess a distinction between body and soul that allows for temporary separation at death.

In our current context, with materialism dominant in the academy and increasingly influential in the church, Cooper’s defense of Holistic Dualism is more important than ever. Christians must not capitulate to materialist philosophy dressed up in scientific garb. Nor should we retreat into an unbiblical super-spiritualism that despises physical existence. Instead, we must maintain the biblical balance that Cooper so carefully articulates.

The practical implications are profound. When we stand at the bedside of dying saints, we can offer real comfort – they will immediately be with Christ. When we minister to the suffering, we address both physical and spiritual needs. When we proclaim the gospel, we announce redemption for the whole person. When we live the Christian life, we engage both body and soul in service to God.

Holistic Dualism is not merely an academic position but a vital truth for Christian faith and life. It preserves the gospel’s promise that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. It maintains the creation’s goodness while acknowledging sin’s devastating effects. It upholds the comprehensive scope of redemption that includes both soul and body.

As Cooper concludes in his work: “My final conclusion is that holistic dualism is more than merely defensible. All things considered, it is clearly the correct position” (Chapter 10: Final Conclusion: Holistic Dualism Vindicated). The evidence from Scripture, theology, philosophy, and Christian experience converges on this single conclusion. Christians who take the Bible seriously must embrace Holistic Dualism as the true understanding of human nature revealed by God in his Word.

May the church in our generation maintain this biblical truth faithfully, teach it clearly, and live in its light confidently, until that day when our lowly bodies are transformed to be like Christ’s glorious body, and we experience the full redemption of both body and soul in the new heavens and new earth.

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