A Treatise on the Soul

Tertullian

  1. 1. It is Not to the Philosophers that We Resort for Information About the Soul But to God.
  2. 2. The Christian Has Sure and Simple Knowledge Concerning the Subject Before Us
  3. 3. The Soul's Origin Defined Out of the Simple Words of Scripture
  4. 4. In Opposition to Plato, the Soul Was Created and Originated at Birth
  5. 5. Probable View of the Stoics, that the Soul Has a Corporeal Nature
  6. 6. The Arguments of the Platonists for the Soul's Incorporeality, Opposed, Perhaps Frivolously
  7. 7. The Soul's Corporeality Demonstrated Out of the Gospels
  8. 8. Other Platonist Arguments Considered
  9. 9. Particulars of the Alleged Communication to a Montanist Sister
  10. 10. The Simple Nature of the Soul is Asserted with Plato. The Identity of Spirit and Soul
  11. 11. Spirit — A Term Expressive of an Operation of the Soul, Not of Its Nature. To Be Carefully Distinguished from the Spirit of God
  12. 12. Difference Between the Mind and the Soul, and the Relation Between Them
  13. 13. The Soul's Supremacy
  14. 14. The Soul Variously Divided by the Philosophers; This Division is Not a Material Dissection
  15. 15. The Soul's Vitality and Intelligence. Its Character and Seat in Man
  16. 16. The Soul's Parts. Elements of the Rational Soul
  17. 17. The Fidelity of the Senses, Impugned by Plato, Vindicated by Christ Himself
  18. 18. Plato Suggested Certain Errors to the Gnostics. Functions of the Soul
  19. 19. The Intellect Coeval with the Soul in the Human Being. An Example from Aristotle Converted into Evidence Favourable to These Views
  20. 20. The Soul, as to Its Nature Uniform, But Its Faculties Variously Developed. Varieties Only Accidental
  21. 21. As Free-Will Actuates an Individual So May His Character Change
  22. 22. Recapitulation. Definition of the Soul
  23. 23. The Opinions of Sundry Heretics Which Originate Ultimately with Plato
  24. 24. Plato's Inconsistency. He Supposes the Soul Self-Existent, Yet Capable of Forgetting What Passed in a Previous State
  25. 25. Tertullian Refutes, Physiologically, the Notion that the Soul is Introduced After Birth
  26. 26. Scripture Alone Offers Clear Knowledge on the Questions We Have Been Controverting
  27. 27. Soul and Body Conceived, Formed and Perfected in Element Simultaneously
  28. 28. The Pythagorean Doctrine of Transmigration Sketched and Censured
  29. 29. The Pythagorean Doctrine Refuted by Its Own First Principle, that Living Men are Formed from the Dead
  30. 30. Further Refutation of the Pythagorean Theory. The State of Contemporary Civilisation
  31. 31. Further Exposure of Transmigration, Its Inextricable Embarrassment
  32. 32. Empedocles Increased the Absurdity of Pythagoras by Developing the Posthumous Change of Men into Various Animals
  33. 33. The Judicial Retribution of These Migrations Refuted with Raillery
  34. 34. These Vagaries Stimulated Some Profane Corruptions of Christianity. The Profanity of Simon Magus Condemned
  35. 35. The Opinions of Carpocrates, Another Offset from the Pythagorean Dogmas, Stated and Confuted
  36. 36. The Main Points of Our Author's Subject. On the Sexes of the Human Race
  37. 37. On the Formation and State of the Embryo. Its Relation with the Subject of This Treatise
  38. 38. On the Growth of the Soul. Its Maturity Coincident with the Maturity of the Flesh in Man
  39. 39. The Evil Spirit Has Marred the Purity of the Soul from the Very Birth
  40. 40. The Body of Man Only Ancillary to the Soul in the Commission of Evil
  41. 41. Notwithstanding 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 Regeneration
  42. 42. Sleep, the Mirror of Death, as Introductory to the Consideration of Death
  43. 43. Sleep a Natural Function as Shown by Other Considerations, and by the Testimony of Scripture
  44. 44. The Story of Hermotimus, and the Sleeplessness of the Emperor Nero. No Separation of the Soul from the Body Until Death
  45. 45. Dreams, an Incidental Effect of the Soul's Activity. Ecstasy
  46. 46. Diversity of Dreams and Visions. Epicurus Thought Lightly of Them, Though Generally Most Highly Valued. Instances of Dreams
  47. 47. Dreams Variously Classified. Some are God-Sent, as the Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar; Others Simply Products of Nature
  48. 48. Causes and Circumstances of Dreams. What Best Contributes to Efficient Dreaming
  49. 49. No Soul Naturally Exempt from Dreams
  50. 50. The Absurd Opinion of Epicurus and the Profane Conceits of the Heretic Menander on Death, Even Enoch and Elijah Reserved for Death
  51. 51. Death Entirely Separates the Soul from the Body
  52. 52. All Kinds of Death a Violence to Nature, Arising from Sin.— Sin an Intrusion Upon Nature as God Created It
  53. 53. The Entire Soul Being Indivisible Remains to the Last Act of Vitality; Never Partially or Fractionally Withdrawn from the Body
  54. 54. Whither Does the Soul Retire When It Quits the Body? Opinions of Philosophers All More or Less Absurd. The Hades of Plato
  55. 55. The Christian Idea of the Position of Hades; The Blessedness of Paradise Immediately After Death. The Privilege of the Martyrs
  56. 56. Refutation 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 Refuted
  57. 57. Magic and Sorcery Only Apparent in Their Effects. God Alone Can Raise the Dead
  58. 58. Conclusion. Points Postponed. All Souls are Kept in Hades Until the Resurrection, Anticipating Their Ultimate Misery or Bliss

Having discussed with Hermogenes the single point of the origin of the soul, so far as his assumption led me, that the soul consisted rather in an adaptation of matter than of the inspiration of God, I now turn to the other questions incidental to the subject; and (in my treatment of these) I shall evidently have mostly to contend with the philosophers. In the very prison of Socrates they skirmished about the state of the soul. I have my doubts at once whether the time was an opportune one for their (great) master — (to say nothing of the place), although that perhaps does not much matter. For what could the soul of Socrates then contemplate with clearness and serenity? The sacred ship had returned (from Delos), the hemlock draft to which he had been condemned had been drunk, death was now present before him: (his mind) was, as one may suppose, naturally excited at every emotion; or if nature had lost her influence, it must have been deprived of all power of thought. Or let it have been as placid and tranquil so you please, inflexible, in spite of the claims of natural duty, at the tears of her who was so soon to be his widow, and at the sight of his thenceforward orphan children, yet his soul must have been moved even by its very efforts to suppress emotion; and his constancy itself must have been shaken, as he struggled against the disturbance of the excitement around him. Besides, what other thoughts could any man entertain who had been unjustly condemned to die, but such as should solace him for the injury done to him? Especially would this be the case with that glorious creature, the philosopher, to whom injurious treatment would not suggest a craving for consolation, but rather the feeling of resentment and indignation. Accordingly, after his sentence, when his wife came to him with her effeminate cry, O Socrates, you are unjustly condemned! He seemed already to find joy in answering, Would you then wish me justly condemned? It is therefore not to be wondered at, if even in his prison, from a desire to break the foul hands of Anytus and Melitus, he, in the face of death itself, asserts the immortality of the soul by a strong assumption such as was wanted to frustrate the wrong (they had inflicted upon him). So that all the wisdom of Socrates, at that moment, proceeded from the affectation of an assumed composure, rather than the firm conviction of ascertained truth. For by whom has truth ever been discovered without God? By whom has God ever been found without Christ? By whom has Christ ever been explored without the Holy Spirit? By whom has the Holy Spirit ever been attained without the mysterious gift of faith? Socrates, as none can doubt, was actuated by a different spirit. For they say that a demon clave to him from his boyhood — the very worst teacher certainly, notwithstanding the high place assigned to it by poets and philosophers— even next to, (nay, along with) the gods themselves. The teachings of the power of Christ had not yet b