靈魂的觀念不斷受到現代聖經學者與系統神學研究者的質疑，這些人認為靈魂這一觀念是從希臘植入古近東思想界的。不管怎麼努力修正這個「彎曲的教義」總是遭到阻力。就算現代的神經心理學能提供神學家一個超越靈一體二元論之人學的科學基礎，依然有其顧慮：(1)神學不該受制於簡化的科學及其對靈魂的否認，（2)基督教人學應保持其傳統觀點，強調靈魂不屬物質的重要性。本文將考察最新趨勢的非簡化物理學及現代神學，以便：（1)提供這個論題的背景，（2)說明自然科學不是神學的敵人，以及（3)論述基督教人學主要教義——「上帝的形像」、「罪」，救恩之完成乃經由上帝國所帶來的社會轉化與終末「復活」的盼望——因柏拉圖式之基督教的靈魂觀而遭到誤解。最後以（4)簡要的考察重估靈魂主張的教牧關顧作結。

The concept of the soul has come under increasing suspicion by modern biblical scholars and systematicians who see it reflecting the importation of foreign Greek concepts into the thought world of the Ancient Near East. However, attempts to correct this “doctrinal detour” are facing resistance. While modern neuropsychology can offer theologians a scientific basis for moving beyond a dualistic body-soul anthropology, several concerns remain: (1) that theology should not be bound by the reductionistic sciences and their rejection of the soul, and (2) that the church’s theological anthropology must hold to “traditional” views that stress the role of the disembodied soul. This paper will examine current trends in nonreductive physicalism and modern theology in order (1) to offer background to the discussion, (2) to show that the sciences do not pose a theological threat, and (3) to argue that the classical pillars of Christian anthropology—the imago Dei, sin, and salvation through social transformation in the kingdom of God and hope in eschatological resurrection—are damaged by a Christo-Platonic doctrine of the soul. The paper will close by (4) briefly examining the pastoral concerns that resist this re-evaluation of the soul.