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Podcast: The Bible as Literature
Episode: Don't Get Comfortable
Description: When Paul talks about being "absent from the body," our Hellenized ears want to believe that he is talking about a dualism with some version of a Platonic soul inhabiting (or exiting) our "earthen vessel." As appealing as this may be to some, it has nothing to do with St. Paul's letter. Paul is not talking about your soul leaving your body. On the contrary, he is admonishing you to embrace discomfort in your body, trusting God's teaching against all hope, especially when it is unpleasant. In the immortal words of Tertullian, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"...