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A Treatise on the Soul

Tertullian · c. 210 AD

2h 4m read
Ante-Nicene

Tertullian's most philosophical work, examining the origin, nature, and destiny of the soul against Platonic, Stoic, and Gnostic theories.

Table of Contents

1It is Not to the Philosophers that We Resort for Information About the Soul But to God2The Christian Has Sure and Simple Knowledge Concerning the Subject Before Us3The Soul's Origin Defined Out of the Simple Words of Scripture4In Opposition to Plato, the Soul Was Created and Originated at Birth5Probable View of the Stoics, that the Soul Has a Corporeal Nature6The Arguments of the Platonists for the Soul's Incorporeality, Opposed, Perhaps Frivolously7The Soul's Corporeality Demonstrated Out of the Gospels8Other Platonist Arguments Considered9Particulars of the Alleged Communication to a Montanist Sister10The Simple Nature of the Soul is Asserted with Plato. The Identity of Spirit and Soul11Spirit--A Term Expressive of an Operation of the Soul, Not of Its Nature. To Be Carefully Distinguished from the Spirit of God12Difference Between the Mind and the Soul, and the Relation Between Them13The Soul's Supremacy14The Soul Variously Divided by the Philosophers; This Division is Not a Material Dissection15The Soul's Vitality and Intelligence. Its Character and Seat in Man16The Soul's Parts. Elements of the Rational Soul17The Fidelity of the Senses, Impugned by Plato, Vindicated by Christ Himself18Plato Suggested Certain Errors to the Gnostics. Functions of the Soul19The Intellect Coeval with the Soul in the Human Being. An Example from Aristotle Converted into Evidence Favourable to These Views20The Soul, as to Its Nature Uniform, But Its Faculties Variously Developed. Varieties Only Accidental21As Free-Will Actuates an Individual So May His Character Change22Recapitulation. Definition of the Soul23The Opinions of Sundry Heretics Which Originate Ultimately with Plato24Plato's Inconsistency. He Supposes the Soul Self-Existent, Yet Capable of Forgetting What Passed in a Previous State25Tertullian Refutes, Physiologically, the Notion that the Soul is Introduced After Birth26Scripture Alone Offers Clear Knowledge on the Questions We Have Been Controverting27Soul and Body Conceived, Formed and Perfected in Element Simultaneously28The Pythagorean Doctrine of Transmigration Sketched and Censured29The Pythagorean Doctrine Refuted by Its Own First Principle, that Living Men are Formed from the Dead30Further Refutation of the Pythagorean Theory. The State of Contemporary Civilisation31Further Exposure of Transmigration, Its Inextricable Embarrassment32Empedocles Increased the Absurdity of Pythagoras by Developing the Posthumous Change of Men into Various Animals33The Judicial Retribution of These Migrations Refuted with Raillery34These Vagaries Stimulated Some Profane Corruptions of Christianity. The Profanity of Simon Magus Condemned35The Opinions of Carpocrates, Another Offset from the Pythagorean Dogmas, Stated and Confuted36The Main Points of Our Author's Subject. On the Sexes of the Human Race37On the Formation and State of the Embryo. Its Relation with the Subject of This Treatise38On the Growth of the Soul. Its Maturity Coincident with the Maturity of the Flesh in Man39The Evil Spirit Has Marred the Purity of the Soul from the Very Birth40The Body of Man Only Ancillary to the Soul in the Commission of Evil41Notwithstanding the Depravity of Man's Soul by Original Sin, There is Yet Left a Basis Whereon Divine Grace Can Work for Its Recovery by Spiritual Regeneration42Sleep, the Mirror of Death, as Introductory to the Consideration of Death43Sleep a Natural Function as Shown by Other Considerations, and by the Testimony of Scripture44The Story of Hermotimus, and the Sleeplessness of the Emperor Nero. No Separation of the Soul from the Body Until Death45Dreams, an Incidental Effect of the Soul's Activity. Ecstasy46Diversity of Dreams and Visions. Epicurus Thought Lightly of Them, Though Generally Most Highly Valued. Instances of Dreams47Dreams Variously Classified. Some are God-Sent, as the Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar; Others Simply Products of Nature48Causes and Circumstances of Dreams. What Best Contributes to Efficient Dreaming49No Soul Naturally Exempt from Dreams50The Absurd Opinion of Epicurus and the Profane Conceits of the Heretic Menander on Death, Even Enoch and Elijah Reserved for Death51Death Entirely Separates the Soul from the Body52All Kinds of Death a Violence to Nature, Arising from Sin.--Sin an Intrusion Upon Nature as God Created It53The Entire Soul Being Indivisible Remains to the Last Act of Vitality; Never Partially or Fractionally Withdrawn from the Body54Whither Does the Soul Retire When It Quits the Body? Opinions of Philosophers All More or Less Absurd. The Hades of Plato55The Christian Idea of the Position of Hades; The Blessedness of Paradise Immediately After Death. The Privilege of the Martyrs56Refutation of the Homeric View of the Soul's Detention from Hades Owing to the Body's Being Unburied. That Souls Prematurely Separated from the Body Had to Wait for Admission into Hades Also Refuted57Magic and Sorcery Only Apparent in Their Effects. God Alone Can Raise the Dead58Conclusion. Points Postponed. All Souls are Kept in Hades Until the Resurrection, Anticipating Their Ultimate Misery or Bliss