Editing Soul (section)

===Christianity===
{{See also|Soul in the Bible}} 
[[File:SoulCarriedtoHeaven.jpg|thumb|Depiction of a soul being carried to heaven by two angels by [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]]]]

The [[Bible]] teaches that upon death, souls are immediately welcomed into [[Heaven in Christianity|heaven]], having received forgiveness of sins through accepting Christ as Savior.<ref name=":13" />{{better source needed|date=April 2025}} Believers experience death as a transition where they depart their physical bodies to dwell in God's presence.<ref name=":13" />{{better source needed|date=April 2025}} While the soul is united with God at death, the physical body remains in the grave, awaiting resurrection.<ref name=":13" />{{better source needed|date=April 2025}} At the time of the [[Universal resurrection|resurrection]], the body will be raised, perfected, and reunited with the soul.<ref name=":13" />{{better source needed|date=April 2025}} This fully restored, glorified unity of body and spirit will then exist eternally in the renewed creation described in Revelation 21–22.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |title=What happens after death? |url=https://www.gotquestions.org/what-happens-after-death.html |website=GotQuestions}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2025}}

[[Paul the Apostle]] used ''psychē'' ({{math|ψυχή}}) and ''pneuma'' ({{math|πνεῦμα}}) specifically to distinguish between the Jewish notions of ''nephesh'' (נפש), meaning soul, and ''ruah'' (רוח), meaning spirit<ref>{{cite book |last1=Αρχιμ. Βλάχος |first1=Ιερόθεος |title=Ορθόδοξη Ψυχοθεραπεία |date=30 September 1985 |location=Εδεσσα |publisher=Ιερά Μονή Τιμίου Σταυρού |page=Τι είναι η ψυχή |url=https://www.oodegr.com/oode/dogma/psyxi1.htm |access-date=25 January 2023 |chapter-url=https://eclass.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/THEOL160/%CE%9A%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%B1%20%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%B1%20%CF%80%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%83%CF%89%CF%80%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE%20%CE%B8%CE%B5%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE%20%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%AC%CF%81%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%B7/%CE%9F%CE%A1%CE%98%CE%9F%CE%94%CE%9F%CE%9E%CE%97%20%CE%A8%CE%A5%CE%A7%CE%9F%CE%98%CE%95%CE%A1%CE%91%CE%A0%CE%95%CE%99%CE%91.pdf |language=Greek |chapter=Κεφάλαιο Γ' |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125171147/https://www.oodegr.com/oode/dogma/psyxi1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Request quotation|date=April 2025}} (also in the Septuagint, e.g. Genesis 1:2 רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים = {{math|πνεῦμα θεοῦ}} = ''spiritus Dei'' = 'the Spirit of God').{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} This has led some Christians to espouse a [[trichotomy (philosophy)|trichotomic]] view of humans, which characterizes humans as consisting of a body (''soma''), soul (''psyche''), and spirit (''pneuma'').<ref>{{cite web |date=1 July 1912 |title=Soul |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14153a.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128201145/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14153a.htm |archive-date=28 November 2011 |access-date=13 November 2011 |website=newadvent.org |quote=In St. Paul we find a more technical phraseology employed with great consistency. Psyche is now appropriated to the purely natural life; pneuma to the life of supernatural religion, the principle of which is the Holy Spirit, dwelling and operating in the heart. The opposition of flesh and spirit is accentuated afresh (Romans 1:18, etc.). This Pauline system, presented to a world already prepossessed in favour of a quasi-Platonic Dualism, occasioned one of the earliest widespread forms of error among Christian writers – the doctrine of the Trichotomy. According to this, man, perfect man (teleios) consists of three parts: body, soul and spirit (soma, psyche, pneuma).}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2025}} However, others{{who?|date=April 2025}} believe that "spirit" and "soul" are used interchangeably in many biblical passages and so hold to dichotomy: the view that each human comprises a body and a soul.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Daniel |date=2015 |title=Are We Body-and-Soul or Body-Soul-and-Spirit? |url=https://cornerstoneapex.org/blog/are-we-body-and-soul-or-body-soul-and-spirit |access-date= |website=Cornerstone Fellowship Church of Apex |language=en-US |archive-date=15 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240815175244/https://cornerstoneapex.org/blog/are-we-body-and-soul-or-body-soul-and-spirit |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews|author of Hebrews]] said, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hebrews 4:12 - New American Standard Bible |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%204:12&version=NASB |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=[[BibleGateway]] |language=en}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2025}}

The "origin of the soul" has proved a vexing question in Christianity. The major theories put forward include [[creationism (soul)|soul creationism]], [[traducianism]], and [[pre-existence]]. According to soul creationism, God creates each individual soul directly, either at the moment of conception or at some later time. According to traducianism, the soul comes from the parents by natural generation. According to the pre-existence theory, the soul exists before the moment of conception.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} There have been differing thoughts regarding whether human [[embryo]]s have souls from conception, or whether there is a point between conception and birth where the [[fetus]] [[ensoulment|acquires a soul]], [[consciousness]], and [[personhood]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Pacholczyk |first=Tadeusz, Father, PhD |title=Do embryos have souls? |url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0116.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629203818/http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0116.htm |archive-date=29 June 2011 |access-date=13 November 2011 |website=Catholiceducation.org |department=Catholic Education Resource Center}}</ref>

Corruptionism is the view that following physical death, the human being ceases to exist (until resurrection) but their soul persists in the afterlife. Survivalism holds that both the human being and their soul persist in the afterlife, as distinct entities, with the soul constituting the human.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Oderberg |first=David S. |author-link=David S. Oderberg |date=2012-12-22 |title=Survivalism, Corruptionism, and Mereology |url=https://philosophy-of-religion.eu/index.php/ejpr/article/view/257 |journal=European Journal for Philosophy of Religion |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=1–26 |doi=10.24204/ejpr.v4i4.257 |issn=1689-8311}}</ref> Most [[Thomism|Thomists]] hold to the corruptionist view, arguing that a human person is a composite of matter and soul.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Spencer |first=Mark |date=2014 |title=The personhood of the separated soul |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/47972932/09NV12-3_Spencer_Personhood.pdf |journal=Nova et Vetera |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=863–912}}</ref> Survivalists argue that while a person is not identical to their soul, it is sufficient to constitute a person.<ref name=":12" /> In recent years, a middle view has been put forward: that the separated soul is an incomplete person.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=De Haan |first1=Daniel D. |last2=Dahm |first2=Brandon |date=2019 |title=Thomas Aquinas on Separated Souls as Incomplete Human Persons |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/761040 |journal=The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review |language=en |volume=83 |issue=4 |pages=589–637 |doi=10.1353/tho.2019.0036 |issn=2473-3725 |archive-date=19 July 2024 |access-date=29 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240719140208/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/761040 |url-status=live }}</ref> It argues that the soul meets most of the criteria of a person but that the survivalist view fails to capture the unnaturalness of a person surviving death.<ref name=":2" />