Three Christian Views on the Relation of Soul and Body

Of the many soul/body views, three can be considered to be within the pale of Christian orthodoxy, though only one succeeds as an adequate explanation of the biblical data and sound philosophical reasoning.

First, the view of Pre-Established Harmony, promoted by Leibniz, teaches that the mind and body are two different substances that are synchronized by God to work in relation to one another.

Second, Augustine taught the view of Occasionalism, which sees the soul and the body as two different things that are coordinated by God so that ideas arise in the mind on the occasion of sense perception.  

Third, the Hylomorphic view of Aquinas, which best explains the biblical data, teaches that the soul and body are a holistic unity, with the mind animating the body. The first two views say that man is a soul and only has a body and, therefore, have to concoct elaborate explanations for how the soul and body could ever interact. Hylomorphism, however, teaches that the soul is the form of the body and a human person is not complete without one or the other. The soul and body are a unity, however, and not an identity: the soul is to the body as thoughts are to the words on paper. Hylomorphism is consistent with the Traducian view of the origin of the soul and best explains the universal experience that the soul and body intimately affect one another, as in emotional grief and physical pain. Furthermore, only Hylomorphism can adequately explain why the murder of the body is a crime against the image of God in man (Gen. 9:6). Also, the Christian doctrine of the resurrection is inexplicable if man is complete without a body (2 Cor. 5:1-4). Indeed, the word “soul” means “person” and often includes the body (Ps. 16:10).