STUDENTS’ CHAPLAIN DISCUSSES SOUL

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31383, 31 May 1967, Page 14

STUDENTS’ CHAPLAIN DISCUSSES SOUL

The Rev. D. Wilson, chaplain, to the University of Canterbury, told a combined meeting of the Newman and Catholic Graduates’ Societies on Monday night that he did not believe in the physical resurrection of Christ, or men, and that if the bones of Christ were found in Palestine tomorrow it would cause him no concern. Mr Wilson, a Baptist minister, said that the idea of physical resurrection repulsed him. He said that it was the real self of man which was resurrected, and that this had i no connexion with the physil cal body. Personalities could ; be preserved but without any I physical aspects. ; He believed that those who i saw and recognised Christ i after His Resurrection, saw • and recognised His spiritual • body. This body did not have ’ bones or other physical at- ' tributes. i Asked to explain “the . empty tomb” of Christ, Mr . Wilson said that he believed ; the physical body of Christ I waa quickly disintegrated by

God in order that the empty tomb could serve as a much needed symbol to reinforce faith. He was speaking as a member of a panel on immortality and the human soul. Other speakers were CanonJ.O. Rymer, principal of Christchurch College, and the Rev. Dr. K. O’Reilly, of the Roman Catholic Cathedral staff. Mr Wilson said that It was not difficult to believe in life after death. He believed that every human personality was eternal from the moment of conception. He based this belief on Biblical evidence and faith. Canon Rymer said belief in life after death was accepted as a respectable viewpoint to hold. Dr. O’Reilly said belief in the after-life had existed' through history, and was supported by a great yearning in men for something beyond this life. About 100 attended the discussion of which the Rev. Father F. Burning, &M„ Roman Catholic chaplain to the University of Canterbury, was airman