Generatianism

The traducianism (from Latin generatio , "conception") is a Christian doctrine that even in the era of the Fathers of the Church was represented. It was first presented by Tertullian in a formulation called Traducianism . Based on an image from the plant world, the sprout or sapling (Latin tradux ), Tertullian claimed that not only the body but also the soulwhich he perceived as physical, is conveyed in the process of procreation from the father to the child via the semen. This could explain the inheritance of mental properties. From the point of view of the Church Fathers, who represented this doctrine, even more important than this aspect was that all of humanity thus also descended from Adam in soul terms. This explains the original sin (not yet so designated at the time) , the inheritance of sinfulness from Adam to his descendants.

Opposing positions were the creatianism , which was represented by Laktanz , and the pre-existence theory of Origen . Creatianism teaches that the soul is not passed on through procreation, but is created by God at the time of conception and inserted into the body being formed. Origen said that souls were created long before bodies.

The church father Hieronymus was a creatianist. Augustine, on the other hand, could not choose between generatianism and creatianism, as he understood the creatianists but saw no way to reconcile the doctrine of original sin with creatianism.

The doctrine of pre-existence was condemned in the year 553 at the Second Council of Constantinople , but it was a constant source of ignition until the Middle Ages. Generatianism has also been condemned several times by the Catholic Church . Your binding doctrine is creatianism .

literature

• Heinrich Karpp: Problems of early Christian anthropology , Gütersloh 1950
• Frohschammer, Jakob: About the origin of human souls. Justification of Generatianism. Munich 1854 (indexed 1857) online