The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

WOF 453: Nature & the Human Body—Recapping Wonder 2024

Sep 2, 2024

The podcast dives into the fascinating relationship between the human body and the soul, addressing the dangers of viewing them as separate. It explores the compatibility of faith and science, emphasizing their mutual support. Attendees of the recent Wonder Conference celebrated the body's resilience, fragility, and inherent wonder. Highlights include challenges to materialism and reflections on near-death experiences, advocating a holistic understanding of identity that embraces the spiritual alongside the empirical.

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Intro

00:00 • 2min

Bridging Science and Faith

02:00 • 4min

The Unity of Body and Soul

05:55 • 10min

Faith, Science, and the Interconnectedness of Life

15:35 • 8min

The Interplay of Science and Philosophy

23:08 • 11min

Reconciliation of Faith and Science: Perspectives on Near-Death Experiences

33:49 • 5min

The nature and purpose of the human body was once considered obvious. But it has come under attack from secular culture in some strange and even disturbing ways in recent years. Now, unfortunately, it is up for grabs. The Word on Fire Institute sought to address this confusion surrounding the body at our recent Wonder Conference, “Nature and the Human Body.” Drawing on rich theological, philosophical, scientific, medical, moral, political, technological, and artistic resources, the conference sought to reclaim an authentic understanding and deep appreciation for the body—its resilience and fragility, its joys and its sufferings, its transcendence and its temporality, and, above all, its wonder.

A listener asks how Catholics should think about near-death experiences and stories.

00:00 | Intro 01:23 | Hosting the Wonder Conference in Bishop Barron’s own diocese 02:25 | Why we needed Wonder 03:50 | Understanding the false dichotomy of faith and science 06:20 | Addressing the question of body/soul unity 12:38 | Inherent dangers in dividing body and soul 15:36 | Can Catholic ministries give platforms to evolutionary biologists? 17:11 | Highlights from Dr. Heather Heying’s Wonder talk 18:45 | Beginning with the logos and intelligibility 20:04 | The human difference 21:04 | Bishop Barron Presents: liturgical artist Jonathan Pageau 23:06 | Materialism as an incoherent philosophy vs. scientific worldview 26:30 | The intelligibility of creation 27:36 | Fr. Robert Spitzer and the transcendent body 33:46 | Hope for reconciling faith and science in the public square 35:16 | Listener question 37:54 | Join the Word on Fire Institute

Links:

Interview with Selmer Bringsjord: https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/selmer-bringsjord-on-life-and-logic/
Interview with Charles Camosy: https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/charles-camosy-sounds-the-alarm/
Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/

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