Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

ody are dependent on the conscious operation of the soul, while others are not. The
operations of the soul are connected with the body as its instrument in the present life;
but from the continued conscious existence and activity of the soul after death it
appears that it can also work without the body. This view is certainly in harmony with
the representations of Scripture on this point. A great deal of present day psychology is
definitely moving in the direction of materialism. Its most extreme form is seen in
Behaviorism with its denial of the soul, of the mind, and even of consciousness. All that
it has left as an object of study is human behavior.
B. THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL IN THE INDIVIDUAL.
1. HISTORICAL VIEWS RESPECTING THE ORIGIN OF THE SOUL. Greek philosophy devoted
considerable attention to the problem of the human soul and did not fail to make its
influence felt in Christian theology. The nature, the origin, and the continued existence
of the soul, were all subjects of discussion. Plato believed in the pre-existence and
transmigration of the soul. In the early Church the doctrine of the pre-existence of the
soul was practically limited to the Alexandrian school. Origen was the chief
representative of this view and combined it with the notion of a pre-temporal fall. Two
other views at once made their appearance and proved to be far more popular in
Christian circles. The theory of creationism holds that God creates a new soul at the
birth of every individual. It was the dominant theory in the Eastern Church, and also
found some advocates in the West. Jerome and Hilary of Pictavium were its most
prominent representatives. In the Western Church the theory of Traducianism gradually
gained ground. According to this view the soul as well as the body of man originates by
propagation. It is usually wedded to the realistic theory that human nature was created
in its entirety by God and is ever-increasingly individualized as the human race
multiplies. Tertullian was the first to state this theory of Traducianism and under his
influence it continued to gain favor in the North African and Western Church. It seemed
to fit in best with the doctrine of the transmission of sin that was current in those circles.
Leo the Great called it the teaching of the catholic faith. In the East it found no favorable
reception. Augustine hesitated to choose between the two views. Some of the earlier
Scholastics were somewhat undecided, though they regarded creationism as the more
probable of the two; but in course of time it became the consensus of opinion among the
Schoolmen that the individual souls were created. Says Peter the Lombard: “The
Church teaches that souls are created at their infusion into the body.” And Thomas
Aquinas went even further by saying: “It is heretical to say that the intellectual soul is
transmitted by way of generation.” This remained the prevailing view in the Roman
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