Required reading
Systematic Theology by Charles Hodge (Vol 2) (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 3 (The origin of the soul).
My summary
Today Hodge examines the theories of the origin of the soul.
Hodge gives a good overview of the various arguments at the beginning of the chapter:
'Three theories have been advanced as to the origin of the soul. First, that of the Preexistence of the soul ; secondly, that of Traduction, or the doctrine that the soul of the child is derived from the soul of the parent ; thirdly, that of immediate Creation, or the doctrine that the soul is not derived as the body is, but owes its existence to the creative power of God'.
Hodge argues against the preexistence of the soul and appears to lean toward creationism.
What grabbed me
I appreciated Hodge's comments at the end of the chapter: 'The object of this discussion is not to arrive at certainty as to what is not clearly revealed in Scripture, nor to explain what is, on all sides, admitted to be inscrutable, but to guard against the adoption of principles which are in opposition to plain and important doctrines of the word of God. If traducianism teaches that the soul admits of abscission or division ; or that the human race are constituted of numerically the same substance ; or that the Son of God assumed into personal union with himself the same numerical substance which sinned and fell in Adam ; then it is to be rejected as both false and dangerous. But if, without pretending to explain everything, it simply asserts that the human race is propagated in accordance with the general law which secures that like begets like ; that the child derives its nature from its parents through the operation of physical laws, attended and controlled by the agency of God, whether directive or creative, as in all other cases of the propagation of living creatures, it may be regarded as an open question, or matter of indifference. Creationism does not necessarily suppose that there is any other exercise of the immediate power of God in the production of the human soul, than such as takes place in the production of life in other cases. It only denies that the soul is capable of division, that all mankind are composed of numerically the same essence and that Christ assumed numerically the same essence that sinned in Adam. '
There is room for some freedom on the issue as long as you don't deny other major doctrines, such as the sinlessness of Christ.
Next week's reading
Read Chapter 4 (Unity of the human race).
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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