Persons Human and Divine

The nature of persons is a perennial topic of debate in philosophy, currently enjoying something of a revival. In this volume for the first time metaphysical debates about the nature of human persons are brought together with related debates in philosophy of religion and theology. Fifteen specially written essays explore idealist, dualist, and materialist views of persons, discuss specifically Christian conceptions of the value of embodiment, and address four central topics in philosophical theology: incarnation, resurrection, original sin, and the trinity.

Three Introductory Questions. Idealism. 1. Idealism Vindicated. 2. The Self and Time. Dualism. 3. Cartesian Dualism. 4. Materialism and Christian Belief. 5. From Mental/Physical Identity to Substance Dualism. 6. Ghosts Are Chilly. 7. 'Cartesian Psychophysics'. Materialism. 8. A Materialist Ontology of the Human Person. 9. I Am Not An Animal!. Embodiment and the Value of Persons. 10. On the Intrinsic Value of Human Persons. 11. Persons and the Natural Order. Personhood in Christian Doctrine. 12. The Word Made Flesh: Dualism, Physicalism, and the Incarnation. 13. The Tree of Life: Agency and Immortality in a Metaphysics Inspired by Quantum Theory. 14. The Metaphysics of Original Sin. 15. Modes without Modalism.