Part 3—Chapter 1: On the Soul—§ 1. On the Nature and Origin of the Soul

“And God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his face the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7.)

Humans, this mysterious being, created by the divine Creator, the head of creation so that it might come to know its Creator, receives according to and proportionate to its great destiny both form and life; and is honored through an altogether supernatural and unique formation, and is given life through the divine breath. Whereas all creation springs from nothing into being through the mere externalization of divine will through one word—and one utterance brought forth the entire world—only man is shaped by the hands of the Creator in body, and only he receives a living soul formed by the divine breath and is fashioned according to the image and likeness of his Maker. What a creation indeed! What honor he was deemed worthy of! How great is his destiny! Yes, great is the destiny, great is the honor, and more marvelous the formation of both soul and body; for he was created according to the image and likeness of God and was fashioned to live immortal, and shared the dwelling of the heavenly spirits.

Humans have not forgotten their great destiny and the great nobility that exalts them to the height of the highest estate, though sin has greatly humbled them. The striking phenomena of obliviousness of his destiny and descent are exceptions and results of the deception of a distorted spirit. All humanity informs itself that it was created noble, that it is called by some power distinguishing humans above the rest of creation, and that this power is not homogeneous with the body. Those who have philosophized about this power have brought forth various opinions by which to define its nature. The Chaldeans regarded it as fiery; Euripides as the finest ether; Diogenes, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Archelaus called it airy, from which came the Latin spiritus, and divine. Xenophanes held the soul to be composite, made from earth and water; Parmenides from earth and fire; Critias from blood; Galen from phlegm and bile. Empedocles believed it to be from all the elements; Zeno and Cleanthes from the same mixture of hot and cold, dry and wet. The Stoics, agreeing on one side with Zeno and Posidonius, on the other with Chrysippus and Apollodorus, regarded it as a part of the fiery substance which they held to be dispersed throughout the entire world, and this heat which we breathe. Passing by many, we mention those brought forth by the leading philosophers. Socrates and Plato held that this power is simple and incorporeal, and consequently immortal. Cicero had the most complete opinion among the ancients about it; and Aristotle called it entelechy, that is, continuous and eternal motion. The Greek philosophers called this power according to their various doctrines about it pneuma or soul, while the Latins used the corresponding spiritus and anima; similarly is the Hebrew as well as the Arabic νέφες. Yet although many opinions concerning the soul have been put forth, no definition indicating its nature has been given. Humans understood that they have a soul but did not know its nature, because it is a substance not falling under his senses and a creation of divine breath.

Just as many opinions concerning the nature of the soul have been brought forth, so also concerning its origin and the manner of its coexistence with the body not a few opinions have been expressed. Many believed the soul to be eternal and regarded it as an emanation from God, or as a part of the divine substance enclosed in the body. The Chaldeans and the Egyptians held this doctrine, from which it appears that Pythagoras and from him Plato received it. The idea of metempsychosis, which Pythagoras and Plato held, was based on this principle. The Stoics likewise believed that souls are parts of God, or of that universal substance animating the world, which they called God. Seneca and Epictetus, while not accepting metempsychosis, believed that after death souls are again united with God. The Chinese and the Indians hold the doctrine of metempsychosis of souls. Against these doctrines Cicero wrote in his work On the Nature of the Gods (Book I, Chapter 14), pointing out the irrationality of these doctrines.

The idea of the pre-existence of souls also had many followers; Origen believed that souls were all created simultaneously at the creation of the angels before the creation of the world.

The Dicannites and Priscillians, as Augustine and Jerome say, believed human souls not as parts of God but as a distinct god present in all.

Tertullian and Apollinarius and others believed that souls are transmitted through transmission from parents to children.

Another opinion, which is also the more probable, is that souls are created by the Creator in a manner which the Creator himself knows.

That the soul is neither air nor fire nor ether nor some other thing from common matter, that it is a simple and pure being and altogether different from all matter, this is taught by Holy Scripture, which also teaches concerning the manner of its formation. “And breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul”; these words of Holy Scripture refute all other doctrines that hold that the soul is a part of God or God or anything else; for they clearly and purely teach that which was impossible for humans to comprehend and what was impossible to give by circumlocution the definition of the soul. Therefore, according to Holy Scripture, humans have a living soul, and consequently rational and immortal, neither composed from the matter of the world nor from the substance of God, but having received existence and form from an unknown to us substance from the divine breath. The soul of humans thus transformed, according to another scriptural passage, God made according to His image. “And God said, Let us make man according to Our image and according to Our likeness. And God made man according to the image of God; He made him.” (Gen. 1:26-27); He endowed him, namely, with divine attributes, the intellectual and freedom of choice, and breathed into him the grace of the divine spirit so that through virtue he might achieve assimilation to the divine.