Theologians generally avoid the word soul, because of an anti-Plato battle that occurred between 1926 and 1958, leaving the word discredited. Searching for a substitute, most evangelical theologians use the word spirit instead, meaning the anthropological spirit. This article proposes that the word soul cannot be omitted from the theological vocabulary without leaving a vacuum. While soul and spirit are synonyms in the Bible, they are not complete synonyms. Soul emphasizes the earthly, carnal, and uniquely individual aspects of the inner person. When that word is omitted, theologians have a semantic blind-spot with regard to human psychology. It provides no theological vocabulary for discussing the relationship between psychology and theology. “Psyche” is the Greek word for soul, and secular psychotherapists routinely treat the soul, but not the spirit. The word ‘soul’ refers to the inner or subjective person in the natural state (whether saved or unsaved).
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