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2. PRE-EXISTENTIANISM.
Some speculative theologians, among whom Origen, Scotus Erigena,
and Julius Mueller are the most important, advocated the theory that the souls of men existed
in a previous state, and that certain occurrences in that former state account for the condition
in which those souls are now found. Origen looks upon man’s present material existence, with
all its inequalities and irregularities, physical and moral, as a punishment for sins committed in a
previous existence. Scotus Erigena also holds that sin made its entrance into the world of
humanity in the pre-temporal state, and that therefore man begins his career on earth as a
sinner. And Julius Mueller has recourse to the theory, in order to reconcile the doctrines of the
universality of sin and of individual guilt. According to him each person must have sinned
willingly in that previous existence.
This theory is open to several objections. (a) It is absolutely devoid of both Scriptural and
philosophical grounds, and is, at least in some of its forms, based on the dualism of matter and
spirit as taught in heathen philosophy, making it a punishment for the soul to be connected
with the body. (b) It really makes the body something accidental. The soul was without the
body at first, and received this later on. Man was complete without the body. This virtually
wipes out the distinction between man and the angels. (c) It destroys the unity of the human
race, for it assumes that all individual souls existed long before they entered the present life.
They do not constitute a race. (d) It finds no support in the consciousness of man. Man has
absolutely no consciousness of such a previous existence; nor does he feel that the body is a
prison or a place of punishment for the soul. In fact, he dreads the separation of body and soul
as something that is unnatural.
3. TRADUCIANISM.
According to Traducianism the souls of men are propagated along with the
bodies by generation, and are therefore transmitted to the children by the parents. In the early
Church Tertullian, Rufinus, Apollinarus, and Gregory of Nvssa were Traducianists. From the days
of Luther Traducianism has been the prevailing view of the Lutheran Church. Among the
Reformed it is favored by H. B. Smith and Shedd. A. H. Strong also prefers it.
a. Arguments in favor of Traducianism.
Several arguments are adduced in favor of this theory.
(1) It is said to be favored by the Scriptural representation (a) that God but once breathed into
man’s nostrils the breath of life, and then left it to man to propagate the species, Gen. 1:28;
2:7; (b) that the creation of Eve’s soul was included in that of Adam, since she is said to be “of
the man” (I Cor. 11:8), and nothing is said about the creation of her soul, Gen. 2:23; (c) that God
ceased from the work of creation after He had made man, Gen. 2:2; and (d) that descendants
are said to be in the loins of their fathers, Gen. 46:26; Heb. 7:9,10. Cf. also such passages as
John 3:6; 1:13; Rom. 1:3; Acts 17:26. (2) It is supported by the analogy of vegetable and animal
life, in which the increase in numbers is secured, not by a continually increasing number of