Traducian
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Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
, traducianism is a doctrine about the origin of the
soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
holding that this immaterial aspect is transmitted through natural generation along with the body, the material aspect of human beings. That is, human propagation is of the whole being, both material and immaterial aspects: an individual's soul is derived from the soul of one or both parents. This implies that only the soul of
Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
was created directly by God (with
Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
's substance, material and immaterial, being taken from out of Adam), in contrast with the idea of creationism of the soul, which holds that all souls are created directly by God.


History

All
Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...
agreed that the soul of
Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
was directly created by God; they disagreed about whether humans thereafter were each given souls as a special act of creation, or whether souls were passed on to them the same way their bodies were.
Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...
actively advocated traducianism, the parental generation of souls. After the rise of Pelagianism, some theologians hesitated between traducianism and creationism, believing the former to offer a better, if not the only, explanation of the transmission of
original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...
.Dubray, Charles. "Traducianism." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 7 February 2019
For Augustine, traducianism suggested a simple explanation for original sin, but he could not decide between it and creationism. In his writing to Saint
Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...
, Augustine said, "If that opinion of the creation of new souls is not opposed to this established article of faith let it be also mine; if it is, let it not be thine." Jerome condemned it and said that creationism was the opinion of the Church, but he admitted that most of the Western Christians held traducianism.
Gregory of Nyssa Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen ( grc-gre, Γρηγόριος Νύσσης; c. 335 – c. 395), was Bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 395. He is venerated as a saint in Catholici ...
alone among the Greek Fathers leaned toward traducianism.
Theodore Abu Qurrah Theodore Abū Qurrah ( gr, Θεόδωρος Ἀβουκάρας, Theodoros Aboukaras; ar, تواضروس أبو قرة, Tawadrūs Abū Qurrah; c. 750, – c. 825) was a 9th-century Melkite bishop and theologian who lived in the early Islamic perio ...
,
Macarius Macarius is a Latinized form of the old Greek given name Makários (Μακάριος), meaning "happy, fortunate, blessed"; confer the Latin '' beatus'' and ''felix''. Ancient Greeks applied the epithet ''Makarios'' to the gods. In other languag ...
, Rufinus and
Nemesius Nemesius of Emesa ( grc-gre, Νεμέσιος Ἐμέσης; la, Nemesius Emesenus; fl. c. AD 390) was a Christian philosopher, and the author of a treatise ''Περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου'' or ''De natura hominis'' ("On Human Nature"). ...
also favored that view.
Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria ( grc , Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; – ), was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and ...
laid the foundations for the creationist view. Ambrose of Milan drew a distinction between the creation of Eve's body from Adam's rib and the creation of her soul by citing Genesis 2:22: "the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." He noted that it did not say "soul of my soul", but that can only mean that the souls of the first man and the first woman were both created separately and independently. Creationism always prevailed in the East and became the general opinion of medieval theologians. Amongst the Scholastics, there were no defenders of traducianism. Alexander of Hales characterized creationism as the more probable opinion. All the other scholastics held creationism as certain and differed only in regard to the censure that should be attached to the opposite error. Accordingly, Peter Lombard asserted, "The Catholic Church teaches that souls are created at their infusion into the body." Saint
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
was more emphatic: "It is heretical to say that the intellectual soul is transmitted by process of generation."
Hugh of Saint Victor Hugh of Saint Victor ( 1096 – 11 February 1141), was a Saxon canon regular and a leading theologian and writer on mystical theology. Life As with many medieval figures, little is known about Hugh's early life. He was probably born in the 1090s. ...
and Hilary of Poitiers were creationists.
Anselm of Canterbury Anselm of Canterbury, OSB (; 1033/4–1109), also called ( it, Anselmo d'Aosta, link=no) after his birthplace and (french: Anselme du Bec, link=no) after his monastery, was an Italian Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher and theologian of th ...
was against traducianism. There was a diversity of opinions among the remaining scholastics. Some held that the soul of a child is produced by the soul of the parents just as the body is generated by the parent body. Others maintained that all souls are created apart and are then united with their respective bodies, either by their own volition or by the command and action of God. Still others declared that the soul in the moment of its creation is infused into the body. Although for a time, the several views were upheld, and it was doubtful which came nearest the truth, the Church subsequently condemned the first two and approved the third.
Gregory of Valencia Gregory of Valencia ( es, Gregorio de Valencia) (c. 1550 – 25 April 1603) was a Spanish humanist and scholar who was a professor at the University of Ingolstadt. Life Gregory of Valencia was born in Medina del Campo around 1549–50. He recei ...
spoke of "Generationism" as "certainly erroneous." Although there are no explicit definitions authoritatively put forth by the Catholic Church that would warrant calling Creationism to be ''
de fide ''De fide'' (of the faith) is a "theological note", a "theological qualification" that indicates that some religious doctrine is an essential part of Catholic faith and that denial of it is heresy. The doctrine is ''de fide divina et ecclesias ...
'' doctrine, there can be no doubt as to which view has been favored by ecclesiastical authority. That the soul sinned in its pre-existent state and on that account was incarcerated in the body is regarded by the Catholic Church as a fiction that has been repeatedly condemned. Divested of that fiction, the theory that the soul exists prior to its infusion into the organism, while not explicitly reprobated, is obviously opposed to the doctrine of the Catholic Church according to which souls are multiplied correspondingly with the multiplication of human organisms. However, whether the rational soul is infused into the organism at conception, as the modern opinion holds, or some weeks subsequently, as medieval scholastics supposed, is an open question to some theologians.
Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
, like Augustine, was undecided.
John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...
favoured creationism, as did Robert Baron. The
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
postulates that the souls are created immediately at the moment of the conception.
Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
stated: "That the souls are created by God, it is the Catholic Faith that obliges us to accept."


Supporters

Traducianism was developed initially by
Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...
, who took a semi-materialistic view of the nature of the soul. It has been endorsed by
Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...
such as Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Anastasius Sinaita, and other theological figures in the early centuries of Christianity. Protestant advocates include various Lutheran Churches as well as some modern theologians such as Augustus H. Strong (
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
), and Gordon Clark (
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
), Lewis Sperry Chafer,
Millard Erickson Millard J. Erickson (24 June 1932), born in Isanti County, Minnesota, is an Evangelical Christian theologian, professor of theology, and author. Early life and education He earned a B.A. from the University of Minnesota, a B.D. from Northern Bap ...
, Norman L. Geisler, and
Robert L. Reymond Robert Lewis Reymond (October 30, 1932 – September 20, 2013) was a Christian theologian of the Protestant Reformed tradition and the author of ''New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith'' (1998; 2nd edition, 2002). Reymond held B.A., M.A., ...
.
W. G. T. Shedd William Greenough Thayer Shedd (June 21, 1820November 17, 1894), son of the Reverend Marshall Shedd and Eliza Thayer, was an American Presbyterian theologian born in Acton, Massachusetts. In 1835, Shedd enrolled at the University of Vermont, and ...
says that the soul of any given individual is a part of the original soul given to Adam, and therefore is not originated in the act of procreation.


Arguments in support

Supporters of traducianism present arguments from the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
such as: * Traducianists find support in Romans 5:12, "Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned..." and 1 Corinthians "For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life," * Foundational to the traducian position is the statement in Hebrews 7:10: "When
Melchizedek In the Bible, Melchizedek (, hbo, , malkī-ṣeḏeq, "king of righteousness" or "my king is righteousness"), also transliterated Melchisedech or Malki Tzedek, was the king of Salem and priest of (often translated as "most high God"). He is f ...
met
Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor."Grenz, Stanley J., ''Theology for the Community of God'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000, p. 166
* Since God is indivisible in both quality and nature, the creation of human souls cannot therefore be from some division beyond himself and not of his own substance and quality. It follows then that the creation of the human soul is the product of a merging and reconfiguration within God himself so therefore humanity, being made themselves in God's image and similarly constrained, would likewise generate and issue forth souls but not actually creating anything beyond divine providence. * Also, in the Nicene Creed, the Son was generated, not created, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son.


Arguments in opposition

Reasons for opposing the traducianism of human beings include the metaphysical argument that since humans cannot control their own existence, their existence cannot be caused by themselves; it must rather be caused by a necessary being otherwise known as God. Creation, in other words, includes God's on-going causation of human existence. This causation is through the human soul because, as Saint Thomas Aquinas argues, the human Soul has activities beyond the capacity of matter and the existence of these activities shows that the human soul is both immaterial and immortal---but not independent of God's causality. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that "every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not "produced" by the parents, and also that it is immortal..." Humans have, however, free will and thus control over their own existence, as much as they are responsible for the act of procreation. Traducianism contradicts the concept of the indivisibility of the soul. If the souls are incapable of division, then it is impossible for the soul of the child to be derived from the souls of the parents. But this is a merging and creation by two souls, and God would also have to divide himself in order to create a new one through his own substance. Also, in the
Nicene Creed The original Nicene Creed (; grc-gre, Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας; la, Symbolum Nicaenum) was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople. The amended form is a ...
, the Son was generated, not created, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son. The weakness of traducianism, to many theologians, is that it makes the generation of the soul dependent of the transmission of matter. Presbyterian theologian
Charles Hodge Charles Hodge (December 27, 1797 – June 19, 1878) was a Reformed Presbyterian theologian and principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878. He was a leading exponent of the Princeton Theology, an orthodox Calvinist theol ...
held that since the nature of the soul is immaterial it could not be transmitted by natural generation. Traducianism proceeds on the unproven assumption that God only works in a managerial manner after completing the creation of the world. Louis Berkhof points out that God continues to work immediately both in the performance of miracles and in some parts of the work of redemption.Berkhof, Louis. ''Manual of Christine Doctrine'', Christian Liberty Press, 2007, p. 46


See also

*
Christian anthropology In the context of Christian theology, Christian anthropology is the study of the human (anthropos) as it relates to God. It differs from the social science of anthropology, which primarily deals with the comparative study of the physical and soc ...
*
Christian mortalism Christian mortalism is the Christian belief that the human soul is not naturally immortal and may include the belief that the soul is “sleeping” after death until the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment, a time known as the interm ...
* Dualism (philosophy of mind)


References

* {{EB1911 , wstitle=Creatianism and Traducianism , volume= 7 , last= Nairne , first= Alexander , author-link= Alexander Nairne , page= 388


Sources


Traducianism
by Gordon Clark, from the website of the Trinity Foundation Christian anthropology