Linda Badham’s rejection of any afterlife

1. Linda Badham’s rejection of any afterlife • Consideration of the possibilities of life after death • 1. Literal bodily resurrection • She takes as the standard Christian position • Critique • Our biological systems constantly change Linda Badham on afterlife - 1

2. Linda Badham’s rejection of any afterlife • 2. Resurrection as the body transformed • One version of this: John Polkinghorne -- what persists is the pattern, not the body • Objections • Cloning • Problem of personal identity: There can be no identity without continuity Linda Badham on afterlife - 2

3. Linda Badham’s rejection of any afterlife • 3. Resurrection linked to soul (combination of resurrection & immortality) • Objections • All dualisms are suspect; our emotions & experience is intimately tied to our bodies. • Which organisms have souls? Linda Badham on afterlife - 3

4. Linda Badham’s rejection of any afterlife • Do near-death experiences provide empirical support for life after death? (Raymond Moody, Life after Life, 1976) • May require non-standard scientific explanations; Badham does not accept non-standard scientific explanations. She accepts only “normal science.” Linda Badham on afterlife - 4

5. Linda Badham’s rejection of any afterlife • Comments & criticisms • 1. Does she exhaust the possibilities on the notions of resurrection? • 2. Her basic presupposition: naturalism. If one adopts a religious viewpoint, what follows? Maurice Lamm • 3. She assumes that science and religions are incompatible Linda Badham on afterlife - 5

6. Linda Badham’s rejection of any afterlife • More on Maurice Lamm’s defense of resurrection (contemporary Jewish theologian) • If we regard life as a gift of a good & loving God, then it is to be expected that such a God would bestow ongoing life (follows from God’s goodness). • What Polkinghorne calls a top-down argument Linda Badham on afterlife - 6