The formula given in Genesis 2:7 is not man = body + soul; the formula is
soul = dust + breath. According to this verse, God did not make a body and
put a soul into it, like a letter into an envelope. He formed man of dust;
then, by breathing His breath into it, He made the dust live. The dust,
formed as man and made to live, did not embody a soul; it became a soul.
"Soul" here refers to the whole creature. Humanity is thus presented to us,
in Adam, not as a creature of two discrete parts temporarily glued together
but as a single mystery.
Wendell Berry"Christianity and the Survival of
Creation" in Sex,
Economy, Freedom & Community
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