Hello and welcome. In this article, we'll study the historicity of soul creationism in the first centuries of Christian history. This doctrine relates to the question of the human soul's origin. To get a complete picture and fully grasp this doctrine, the issues surrounding it, and why we affirm it please read this article here first where we provide a comprehensive biblical analysis of the soul's origin.
THE THREE PRIMARY PERSPECTIVES
Regarding views of the soul's origin, there are three primary frameworks/perspectives.
1. Pre-existence of the soul: This view asserts that the human soul exists before physical conception and enters the body at some point before birth. This view is usually coupled with a belief that the soul is eternal in some way.
2. Traducianism of the soul: This view asserts that the human soul is transmitted through procreation and natural generation along with the body. Both the material and immaterial aspects of humans are derived from either one or both of the parents.
3. Creationism of the soul: This view asserts that God creates a soul for each body when it is conceived/generated.
The main competing views today among Christians are Creationism and Traducianism. The Pre-existence view and variants of it are affirmed by Mormonism, the Baha'i faith, and Buddhism. It was condemned as heresy in 553 AD at the Second Council of Constantinople. Before we get into the historicity of soul creationism, it's very important that we lay out the significance of this issue and how it relates to other doctrines.
AUGUSTINE'S STRUGGLE WITH THE SOUL'S ORIGIN
“Teach me, therefore, I beseech you, what I may teach to others; teach me what I ought to hold as my own opinion; and tell me this: if souls are from day to day made for each individual separately at birth, where, in the case of infant children, is sin committed by these souls, so that they require the remission of sin in the sacrament of Christ, because of sinning in Adam from whom the sinful flesh has been derived?” - Augustine of Hippo, Letter 166, Chapter 4.10
“These things, and others which I can advance, I am accustomed to state, as well as I can, against those who attempt to overthrow by such objections the opinion that souls are made for each individual, as the first man's soul was made for him. But when we come to the penal sufferings of infants, I am embarrassed, believe me, by great difficulties, and am wholly at a loss to find an answer by which they are solved; and I speak here not only of those punishments in the life to come, which are involved in that perdition to which they must be drawn down if they depart from the body without the sacrament of Christian grace, but also of the sufferings which are to our sorrow endured by them before our eyes in this present life, and which are so various, that time rather than examples would fail me if I were to attempt to enumerate them.” - Augustine of Hippo, Letter 166, Chapter 6.16
“I therefore ask, what is the ground of this condemnation of unbaptized infants? For if new souls are made for men, individually, at their birth, I do not see, on the one hand, that they could have any sin while yet in infancy, nor do I believe, on the other hand, that God condemns any soul which He sees to have no sin.” - Augustine of Hippo, Letter 166, Chapter 7.21
“These things being so, it is necessary still to investigate and to make known the reason why, if souls are created new for every individual at his birth, those who die in infancy without the sacrament of Christ are doomed to perdition; for that they are doomed to this if they so depart from the body is testified both by Holy Scripture and by the holy Church. Wherefore, as to that opinion of yours concerning the creation of new souls, if it does not contradict this firmly grounded article of faith, let it be mine also; but if it does, let it be no longer yours.” - Augustine of Hippo, Letter 166, Chapter 8.25
In 415 AD, Augustine wrote a letter to his contemporary Jerome (who seemed to never write back) inquiring about the origin of the soul and its relation to original sin and infant damnation. Augustine already affirmed perpetually inherited guilt from Adam as one of the fall's consequences. As a result of this, he also affirmed that the normative fate for deceased infants is eternal damnation because they are guilty from conception. Augustine realizes how this theology of his doesn't seem to be compatible with soul creationism. In chapter 7.21 he asks what the ground is for infant damnation if the infant's soul is made individually by God. Augustine doesn't see how in such a case "they could have any sin while yet in infancy". He repeats the same type of question in chapter 8.25 where he asks why infants are doomed to perdition if their soul is created new by God. Augustine confesses that on this issue "I am embarrassed" and "at a loss to find an answer by which they are solved". You can sense the tension and despair in Augustine's mind as he tries to make sense of this issue.
“Again, if only one soul was made from which are derived the souls of all men who are born, who can say that he himself did not sin when the first man sinned?” - Augustine of Hippo, The Problem of Free Choice, p. 196
We also see Augustine allude to this in his work "The Problem of Free Choice" which is thought to be written sometime between 388 and 395 AD. This question of his seems rhetorical. If all souls are derived from Adam and were therefore "in him" when he sinned, one could conclude that all souls participated with Adam in the sin to some degree.
“In his final, incomplete work to Julian of Eclanum, he insists that every soul (and not only every body) was contained in Adam when he sinned: this is the only way Augustine believes that his doctrine of inherited guilt can be sustained.” - A History of Mind and Body in Late Antiquity, p. 223
“In truth, Augustine was unhappy with Traducianism, because it implied a material conception of the soul, a conception wholly uncongenial to his platonism which, as we know, presents the soul as completely spiritual. Yet, he believed that if Traducianism were rejected, it would be impossible to explain the necessity for infant-Baptism; that is, if God injected the created soul directly into the body, then, the guilt of Adam’s sin could not pass from parent(s) to child. Man, then, would not be totally depraved and grace would be subordinate to his will. The idea of predestination, as Augustine defined it, becomes illogical.” - The Influence of Augustine of Hippo on the Orthodox Church, p. 184
“Creationism made original sin very difficult to explain; traducianism was functional in this respect, but it was a materialist and even biologist theory that ran counter to Augustine’s Platonism…” - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Saint Augustine, 6.1
Scholars and Academics have likewise pointed this out about Augustine. Blosser points out in "A History of Mind and Body in Late Antiquity" that toward the end of Augustine's life he seemed to settle on Traducianism as the only way that inherited guilt of the original sin can stand. The problem with this, of course, is that Traducianism was inconsistent with Augustine's belief in Platonism.
With this in mind, we see that Augustine seems to be the first figure in history who clearly pointed out the doctrinal tension between soul creationism and the transmission of Adamic guilt.
1. Statements that indicate a difference in origin between our body and soul.
2. Statements that say our souls aren't genereated from our human parents.
3. Statements that refer to God as the one who brings our souls into being.
At another time, we will work through the historical development of other views like Traducianism. For now, we are just looking at the historicity of soul creationism in the first centuries of Christian history. While some of the writers we cite do deny it, we are not claiming that someone affirming soul creationism means they deny inherited or imputed Adamic guilt. There is not a direct 1:1 correlation between those two ideas.
Disclaimer: (When it comes to early Christian documents, we have tens of thousands of pages from primary sources that have survived to today. Many documents to this day haven't been translated into English and/or are difficult to access. Very few if any individuals have read and processed each page of the available documents that have come down to us. We by no means have a perfectly clear picture of history and what each and every writer believed. Our goal is to be fair to each writer and err on the side of not overstating our case or being overly dogmatic regarding what certain individuals did or did not believe. This assessment is based on the documents that we have read ourselves. It's important to acknowledge that we are capable of being in error concerning how we've interpreted and understood some sources. We are by no means claiming that early Christians were in universal agreement with us on this issue. We are simply pointing out statements and themes from various early Christians that are in alignment with soul creationism. This article will almost certainly have further updates and additions in the future as we continue reading primary sources.)
SOUL CREATIONISM IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY
“Moreover, we ask that the will of God may be done both in heaven and in earth, each of which things pertains to the fulfilment of our safety and salvation. For since we possess the body from the earth and the spirit from heaven, we ourselves are earth and heaven; and in both—that is, both in body and spirit—we pray that God’s will may be done. For between the flesh and spirit there is a struggle; and there is a daily strife as they disagree one with the other, so that we cannot do those very things that we would, in that the spirit seeks heavenly and divine things, while the flesh lusts after earthly and temporal things; and therefore we ask that, by the help and assistance of God, agreement may be made between these two natures, so that while the will of God is done both in the spirit and in the flesh, the soul which is new-born by Him may be preserved.” - Treatise IV.16
“For people lying on earth there is one salvation, if their souls acknowledge and fly up to the One by whom they were brought into being.” - ACCS Volume IX, Commentary on Ecclesiastes 12:7
“A question also may arise respecting this, whether the soul is produced from the father, or rather from the mother, or indeed from both. But I think that this judgment is to be formed as though in a doubtful matter. For nothing is true of these three opinions, because souls are produced neither from both nor from either. For a body may be produced from a body, since something is contributed from both; but a soul cannot be produced from souls, because nothing can depart from a slight and incomprehensible subject. Therefore the manner of the production of souls belongs entirely to God alone. “In fine, we are all sprung from a heavenly seed, all have that same Father.” as Lucretius says. For nothing but what is mortal can be generated from mortals. Nor ought he to be deemed a father who in no way perceives that he has transmitted or breathed a soul from his own; nor, if he perceives it, comprehends in his mind when or in what manner that effect is produced. From this it is evident that souls are not given by parents, but by one and the same God and Father of all, who alone has the law and method of their birth, since He alone produces them. For the part of the earthly parent is nothing more than with a sense of pleasure to emit the moisture of the body, in which is the material of birth, or to receive it; and to this work man’s power is limited, nor has he any further power. Therefore men wish for the birth of sons, because they do not themselves bring it about. Everything beyond this is the work of God,—namely, the conception itself, and the moulding of the body, and the breathing in of life, and the bringing forth in safety, and whatever afterwards contributes to the preservation of man: it is His gift that we breathe, that we live, and are vigorous.” - On the Workmanship of God, Chapter XIX
Arnobius of Sicca, 255 AD - 330 AD
“Now, because this is true and certain, and because we have been produced by Him who is perfect without flaw, we live unblameably, I suppose, and therefore without blame; are good, just, and upright, in nothing depraved; no passion overpowers, no lust degrades us; we maintain vigorousy the unremitting practice of all the virtues. And because all our souls have one origin, we therefore think exactly alike; we do not differ in manners, we do not differ in beliefs; we all know God; and there are not as many opinions as there are men in the world, nor are these divided in infinite variety.” - Against the Heathen, Book II, Section 15
“For example creationism was propagated by….the older Arnobius,” - Studia Patristica. Vol. XXIX - Historica, Theologica et Philosophica, Critica et Philologica, p. 260
“But as He by His own act assumed a body from the Virgin, so He assumed from Himself a soul; though even in ordinary human birth the soul is never derived from the parents.” - On the Trinity, Book X.22
“But this alone is peculiar to mankind, and this is what is rational in the soul of mankind, by means of which it differs from the brutes, and shews that it is truly distinct from what is to be seen in the body. Often, for example, when the body is lying on the earth, man imagines and contemplates what is in the heavens. Often when the body is quiet, and at rest and asleep, man moves inwardly, and beholds what is outside himself, traveling to other countries, walking about, meeting his acquaintances, and often by these means divining and forecasting the actions of the day. But to what can this be due save to the rational soul, in which man thinks of and perceives things beyond himself?” - Against the Heathen, Part II, S31.5
“For if even when united and coupled with the body it is not shut in or commensurate with the small dimensions of the body, but often, when the body lies in bed, not moving, but in death-like sleep, the soul keeps awake by virtue of its own power, and transcends the natural power of the body, and as though traveling away from the body while remaining in it, imagines and beholds things above the earth, and often even holds converse with the saints and angels who are above earthly and bodily existence, and approaches them in the confidence of the purity of its intelligence; shall it not all the more, when separated from the body at the time appointed by God Who coupled them together, have its knowledge of immortality more clear? For if even when coupled with the body it lived a life outside the body, much more shall its life continue after the death of the body, and live without ceasing by reason of God Who made it thus by His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. For this is the reason why the soul thinks of and bears in mind things immortal and eternal, namely, because it is itself immortal.” - Against the Heathen, Part II, S33.3-4
“I think it is dishonest if it is said that souls are begotten by bodies, so that the soul is born from the soul, since neither are the souls themselves or if certainly each of the celestial powers was made and from them the others were born, can it be believed that the others were born from one soul of Hades?” - CSEL, Volume 50, p. 49“Thus says the Lord God who made you and formed you in the womb. If, therefore, it is formed in the future, it is given to the body already formed.” - CSEL, Volume 50, p. 50“Ambrosiaster held that one derives only one’s body from the generative act of one’s parents; the soul is given once the body is formed.” - Ambrosiaster’s Commentary on the Pauline Epistles: Romans, p. 137, Theodore S. de Bruyn’s footnote 95
“Just as the body, which was originally formed in us of dust, became subsequently the current of human bodies as has not been cut off from the first-formed root, in one man including others — so also the soul, being inbreathed by God, from that time comes together into the formed composition of man, being born anew, and from the original seed being imparted to many and always preserving a constant form in mortal members … Just as the breath in a musical pipe produces sounds depending upon the width of the pipe, so also the soul, appearing powerless in an infirm body, becomes manifest as the body is strengthened and reveals then all its intelligence” - Homily 7, On the Soul
“In the case of our living bodies, composed as they are from the blending of these atoms, there is no sort of communion, as has been just said, on the score of substance, between the simplicity and invisibility of the soul, and the grossness of those bodies; but, notwithstanding that, there is not a doubt that there is in them the soul's vivifying influence exerted by a law which it is beyond the human understanding to comprehend.” - On the Soul and the Resurrection, para. 30
“The attempts to make Athanasius a traducianist on the basis of Against the Arians 2.48, and Gregory of Nyssa on the basis of On the Making of Man 29–30 fail, simply because neither text requires a traducianist interpretation. The former text simply affirms the solidarity of the human race in Adam (which no creationist denies), the latter speaks only not of the rational soul but of the lower, animal soul, which all creationists admit derives from the body.” - A History of Mind and Body in Late Antiquity, p, 215, footnote 26
“Our soul therefore is made to the image of God In this is man's entire essence because without it man is nothing but earth and into earth he shall return Hence in order to convince you that without the soul the flesh is nothing Scripture says Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul Why then do you presume in the flesh you who lose nothing when you lose the flesh Rather be fearful lest you be deprived of the aid of your soul What will a man give in exchange for his own soul In this is no slight part of him self in fact it is the substantial part of the entire human race This is the means by which men lord it over other living things wild beasts and birds Your soul is made to the image of God whereas your body is related to the beasts In one there is the holy seal of imitation of the divine In the other there is found base association with beasts and wild animals” - Hexameron, Book 6, Chapter 7, Section 43'And God cast Adam into a deep sleep and he slept.' What does the phrase 'deep sleep' signify? Does it not mean that when we contemplate a conjugal union we seem to be turning our eyes gradually in the direction of God's kingdom? Do we not seem, as we enter into a vision of this world, to partake a little of things divine, while we find our repose in the midst of what is secular and mundane? Hence, after the statement, 'He cast Adam into a deep sleep and he slept,' there follows: The rib which God took from Adam he built into a woman.' The word 'built' is well chosen in speaking of the creation of a woman because a household, comprising man and wife, seems to point toward a state of full perfection. One who is without a wife is regarded as being without a home. As man is considered to be more skilful in public duties, so woman is esteemed to be more adaptable to domestic ministrations. Reflect on the fact that He did not take a part from Adam's soul but a rib from his body, that is to say, not soul from a soul, but 'bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh' will this woman be called.” - On Paradise, Chapter 11, Section 50
“For example creationism was propagated by….Ambrose of Milan,” - Studia Patristica. Vol. XXIX - Historica, Theologica et Philosophica, Critica et Philologica, p.260
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“He therefore that made the original bodies out of nothing, and fashioned various forms of them, will also again revive and raise up those that are dead. For He that formed man in the womb out of a little seed, and created in him a soul which was not in being before,—as He Himself somewhere speaks to Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee;” and elsewhere, “I am the Lord who established the heaven, and laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit of man in him,”—will also raise up all men, as being His workmanship;” - Book V, Section I
“Perhaps, however, someone may say: Why is it that, if the soul is more important than the body, the lesser is created first, and then the greater afterwards? Don't you see, dearly beloved, that even in the process of creation this very sequence is followed? That is to say, just as heaven and earth, the sun and moon, and everything else is created, including the brute beasts, and after all these the human per son, the one destined to enjoy control of all of them, in the very same way in the actual creation of the human person the body is produced first and then the soul, greater though its importance is. The procedure is the same with the brute beasts: though they are destined to be useful in the service of human beings, they are created before them so that the ones intended to enjoy the use of these beasts will find them ready for service. So, too, the body is created before the soul, so that when the soul is produced according to God's ineffable wisdom, it will be able to display its own vital forces through the movement of its body.” - Homily on Genesis, Homily 13
“But how much consolation arises for us, when we see that so learned and so illustrious a teacher of the East, which Traducians attacks in us, I have set forth the truth, which certainly the blessed John, as in all his books, so here also keeps it fortified from every side, arms it, sets it on fire, so that it may be seen that he did not so much inform the disciples present as that he prepared for us help against the attack of the true faith.” - Anianus of Celeda (speaking of John Chrysostom), Seven Homilies in Praise of Paul, PG 50.471-472
"Thus it is predictable that no prominent Christian thinker of the fourth century explicitly endorses traducianism. On the contrary, those who show a familiarity with it tend to treat it with scorn....and Chrysostom reject it." - A History of Mind and Body in Late Antiquity, p. 215
“For example creationism was propagated by….John Chrysostom,” - Studia Patristica. Vol. XXIX - Historica, Theologica et Philosophica, Critica et Philologica, p. 260-261
“Further, the qualities of every body are perceptible. But the soul is not perceptible, but intelligible. So the soul is not a quality of a body.” - On the Nature of Man, Section 2“The above arguments are sufficient, among many, to prove that the soul is neither an actuality, nor unmoved, nor brought into existence in the body.” - On the Nature of Man, Section 2
“Knowing, then, the nobility of which we are partakers, and how we are "a planting from heaven," let us do nothing that would put our nature to shame, or publish us as unfit to be the recipients of so great a bounty. Let us not cheat ourselves of all this power, glory, and blessedness by bartering the enjoyment of all eternal things for a brief season of pleasure that cannot last. Let us, rather, safeguard our high standing by doing good and eschewing evil, and by keeping before us a good aim, whereby divine grace is specially wont to be invoked; and, of course, by prayer. So much concerning man's high estate. But the common saying has it that man consists of soul and body. Therefore let us treat first and definitively of man's soul, avoiding over-subtle and dry investigations and all problems too hard for the man in the street to understand.” - On the Nature of Man, Section 10
“Suppose, however, that someone urges that animals in their inward disposition have rational impulses, but that their physical shape does not lend itself to the practice of the arts, the argument being based on the fact that men have but to lose the fingers of their hands and they are no more use for most of the arts. That, however, does not settle the question. For there still remains the absurdity with which we began, of God implanting in a body a soul that is no help to it, a soul superfluous, foolish, ineffectual, a soul that hinders the proper activity of the body at any stage of its life. And to this we must add that the assertion that animals have rational impulses rests on dubious grounds, upon which there is no general agreement. For whence is it proved that animals in their inward disposition have rational impulses ? It is better, therefore, to assume that in each kind of body there is implanted a soul serviceable to it, and that, as regards their inward disposition, animals have nothing more than the natural simplicity that is manifest in their actions.” - On the Nature of Man, Section 19
“Meantime an aged woman, supported out of the funds of the church, gave back her spirit to heaven from which it came.” - Letter I, To Innocent, 13
“I ask whence Cain and Abel, who were the firstborn of our first parents, had their souls? And the whole human race downwards, what, are we to think, was the origin of their souls? Did they come by propagation, like brute beasts? So that, as body springs from body, so soul from soul. Or is it the case that rational creatures, longing for bodily existence, sink by degrees to earth, and at last are tied even to human bodies? Surely (as the Church teaches in accordance with the Saviour’s words, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”; and the passage in Isaiah, That is, “Who maketh the spirit of man in him”; and in the Psalms, “Who fashioneth one by one the hearts of them”) God is daily making souls—He, with whom to will is to do, and who never ceases to be a Creator.” - To Pammachius Against John of Jerusalem, para. 22
“But as for this which disturbed you about the devil, that “he is a liar and his father,” as if it seemed that he and his father were pronounced by the Lord to be liars, it is sufficiently ridiculous to imagine this even cursorily. For as we said a little while ago spirit does not beget spirit just as soul cannot procreate soul, though we do not doubt that the compacting of flesh is formed from man’s seed, as the Apostle clearly distinguishes in the case of both substances; viz., flesh and spirit, what should be ascribed to whom as its author, and says: “Moreover we have had fathers of our flesh for instructors, and we reverenced them: shall we not much more be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” What could show more clearly than this distinction, that he laid down that men were the fathers of our flesh, but always taught that God alone was the Father of souls. Although even in the actual compacting of this body a ministerial office alone must be attributed to men, but the chief part of its formation to God the Creator of all, as David says: “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me:” And the blessed Job: “Hast thou not milked me as milk, and curdled me as cheese? Thou hast put me together with bones and sinews;” and the Lord to Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee.” But Ecclesiastes very clearly and accurately gathers the nature of either substance, and its beginning, by an examination of the rise and commencement, from which each originated, and by a consideration of the end to which each is tending, and decides also of the division of this body and soul, and discourses as follows: “Before the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns unto God who gave it.” But what could be said with greater plainness than that he declares that the matter of the flesh which he styled dust, because it springs from the seed of man, and seems to be sown by his ministration, must, as it was taken from the earth, again return to the earth, while he points out that the spirit which is not begotten by intercourse between the sexes, but belongs to God alone in a special way, returns to its creator? And this also is clearly implied in that breathing by God, through which Adam in the first instance received his life. And so from these passages we clearly infer that no one can be called the Father of spirits but God alone, who makes them out of nothing whenever He pleases, while men can only be termed the fathers of our flesh.” - Conference VIII, Chapter XXV
“Under the tenth head they are reported as asserting that the souls which are placed in men’s bodies have previously been without body and have sinned in their heavenly habitation, and for this reason having fallen from their high estate to a lower one alight upon ruling spirits of divers qualities, and after passing through a succession of powers of the air and stars, some fiercer, some milder, are enclosed in bodies of different sorts and conditions, so that whatever variety and inequality is meted out to us in this life, seems the result of previous causes. This blasphemous fable they have woven for themselves out of many persons’ errors: but all of them the catholic Faith cuts off from union with its body, persistently and truthfully proclaiming that men’s souls did not exist until they were breathed into their bodies, and that they were not there implanted by any other than God, who is the creator both of the souls and of the bodies.” - Letter XV, Section XI
“In saying “according to the flesh” Paul reveals that Abraham handed down his flesh but not his soul.” - Commentary on Romans 4:1
“And God said to him: Hear, Esdras, my beloved. I, who am immortal, endured a cross; I tasted vinegar and gall; I was laid in a tomb, and I raised up my chosen ones; I called Adam up out of Hades, that I might save the race of men. Do not therefore be afraid of death: for that which is from me—that is to say, the soul—goes to heaven; and that which is from the earth—that is to say, the body—goes to the earth, from which it was taken.” - para. 3
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