X. Methodist Perry-No “Disembodied Existence” Beyond Death

At Northwestern University, Methodist professor of history of religions, EDMUND PERRY, ^{5757) EDMUND PERRY (1923-), Methodist, was trained at & University of Georgia and Emory and Northwestern universities. After teaching in the Georgia State College for Women and the Georgia Military College he became chairman of the department of the history of religions. He is a member of several commissions and committees and professional societies. He is author of two books, and is Old Testament editor of Biblical Research.} putting the Biblical view over against the Greek philosophy of survival, contends that at man’s demise the “whole man” dies. He likewise stresses the “organic unity” of man, and challenges any Biblical basis for the popular notion of a “disembodied existence” of an imperishable soul. Death destroys the whole man; and the resurrection of the body is involved in the restoration of man. And with it comes a “new heaven and a new earth.” Here is his statement:CFF2 926.5

“The Biblical writers do not hold the Greek view that man is a union of a perishable mortal body and an immortal soul which survives the body’s death. Biblical writers view man as a created organic unity whose death is the death of the whole man. The body cannot be severed from that unity without destroying the whole man. Hence, the Biblical writers do not conceive of life after death as disembodied existence. They rather speak of a new creation, a new genesis, in which we creatures are wholly recreated, including recreated bodies. ‘Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (i. e., the Risen Christ)’ (1 Corinthians 15:49).CFF2 927.1

“The resurrection of Jesus was a miracle, a mysterious and irreducible work of God, beyond human comprehension. We do not know what his resurrected body was, but we do know he was recognized in it. That suffices, particularly if we already know him through the preaching, sacraments, and community of the Church. And finally, we must observe, that the Christian doctrine of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is consonant with the Messianic prophecies which promised not that the spiritual realm alone, but the whole natural order, including the physical world, would be redeemed and changed.” ^{5858) Edmund Parry, Confessing the Gospel Mark Preached, pp. 121ff. (Italics supplied.)}CFF2 927.2