Souls in Space

Last updated on: November 21, 2014 at 7:49 am by Matthew Tan

Souls in Space 2014-11-21T07:49:00+10:00 Matthew Tan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A previous post on the longing for spaces once traversed elicited a higher-than-usual response from readers. Thinking as to why this is the case has prompted further reflection on one point, namely the relationship between the city and the soul.

As mentioned in that post, thinkers since Plato have looked at the soul as not just immaterial and purely interior entities. Rather, the human soul is something that fans out into space and works itself out in every nook and cranny of the cosmos.

At one level, this should not surprise the Christian, since as human person has long been regarded as a unity of soul and body, and bodies qua material things, work their way through space. However, it should be noted that the intimacy between soul and space is highlighted also in the psalms. Consider, for instance, Psalm 63, in which the soul, pining for God, exclaims that without the latter, the former is a “dry weary land without water”. This biblical theme is explicitly drawn upon and given a cinematic parallel in the reflections of Peter Leithart in his Shining Glory, which serve as a theological reflection on Terence Malick’s film, Tree of Life.

According to Leithart, Malick seems to be acutely aware of this relationship in his portrayal of Jack O’Brien (played by Sean Penn) and the spiritual emptiness that he experiences in the film. O’Brien, according to Leithart, is a person whose material successes belie a soul that is quite dead. But this deadness of soul is not left in the interior confines of Sean Penn’s person. The soul is externalised in the form of a desert.

In a strangely similar vein, the Marxist philosopher, Henri Lefebvre, drew on Martin Heidegger to similarly spatialise the soul. In an essay in his Key Writings, Lefebvre spoke of houses, with its memories and symbols, as a sign of the unity of the soul.

What these two very different perspectives suggest is that, as we work through our urban lives, we cannot ignore the impact that it has on the soul. It is no accident that we often see drab cities as “soul-destroying”, because in a way, they are. The city is in a way a form of soulcraft, and thus no wonder that the products that are peddled within its space, are now increasingly focussing not so much at the material benefits, but on the ability of these products to work on the soul, whether it is cars, crystals, teas or cheese. This link between soul and space, also suggests that, for the Christian, discipleship has real contours. It is not just an attention to an interior spirit, but also, in the words of Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, a task of “comprehend[ing] with all the saints, the breath and the length and the height and the depth” (Eph 3:18).

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post

politics

postsecular

Previous Post

November 14, 2014

Conservative Zombies & Other Readings

Next Post

November 27, 2014 The Rosary & Feminism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category architecture art Augustine Belloc Benedict XVI bible blogs books bourgeois Christianity Campion College Chesterton Christianisation Church and Culture Church Fathers citizen conference conservative consumer culture cybernetics Desert Fathers discipleship distributism drinking ecclesiology economics education environment Evagrius of Pontus formation Foucault George Weigel Girard Graham Ward http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post interfaith Jacques Ellul John Chrysostom Julia Kristeva Latin liturgy mall marriage monasticism Music Narrative news philosophy polis politics pop culture postmodern city postsecular prayer prostestant quote Quotes Radical Orthodoxy resources Rome Rule of St. Benedict saint Saints secular sociology theological anthropology theology transcendance Uncategorized videos William Cavanaugh

Select a Month December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 October 2009 February 2008 December 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Christian tradition developed the doctrine of the Holy Trinity most systematically?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jehovah's Witnesses Pentecostalism Quakerism Nicene Christianity