On the Soul and its Origin, Book IV

Book IV

• On the Soul and its Origin IV.1 — The Personal Character of This Book. I Must now, in the sequel of my treatise, request you to hear what I desire to say to you concerning myself—as I best can; or rather as He shall enable me in whose hand are both…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.2 — The Points Which Victor Thought Blameworthy in Augustin. And they are these: The first, that I did not venture to make a definite statement touching the origin of those souls which have been given, or are being…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.3 — How Much Do We Know of the Nature of the Body?. Well, now, this extremely lucid and eloquent castigation which you have inflicted on our ignorance lays you so strictly under the necessity of knowing every possible…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.4 — Is the Question of Breath One that Concerns the Soul, or Body, or What?. But to what, in your judgment, does that which we discussed in our former book concerning the breath of man belong?—to the nature of the soul,…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.5 — God Alone Can Teach Whence Souls Come. Now with respect to the question between us, I confess to your loving self I greatly desire to know one of two things if I can,—either concerning the origin of souls, of which I…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.6 — Questions About the Nature of the Body are Sufficiently Mysterious, and Yet Not Higher Than Those of the Soul. Chapter 6 [V.]—Questions About the Nature of the Body are Sufficiently Mysterious, and Yet Not Higher…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.7 — We Often Need More Teaching as to What is Most Intimately Ours Than as to What is Further from Us. Chapter 7 [VI.]—We Often Need More Teaching as to What is Most Intimately Ours Than as to What is Further from Us.…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.8 — We Have No Memory of Our Creation. And whosoever shall have attempted to fathom such knowledge may not improperly have addressed to him the words we have before quoted, “Seek not out the things that are too high for…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.9 — Our Ignorance of Ourselves Illustrated by the Remarkable Memory of One Simplicius. Chapter 9 [VII.]—Our Ignorance of Ourselves Illustrated by the Remarkable Memory of One Simplicius. Observe now, while we are, while…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.10 — The Fidelity of Memory; The Unsearchable Treasure of Memory; The Powers of a Man’s Understanding Sufficiently Understood by None. Chapter 10.—The Fidelity of Memory; The Unsearchable Treasure of Memory; The Powers of…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.11 — The Apostle Peter Told No Lie, When He Said He Was Ready to Lay Down His Life for the Lord, But Only Was Ignorant of His Will. Chapter 11.—The Apostle Peter Told No Lie, When He Said He Was Ready to Lay Down His Life…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.12 — The Apostle Paul Could Know the Third Heaven and Paradise, But Not Whether He Was in the Body or Not. Chapter 12 [VIII.]—The Apostle Paul Could Know the Third Heaven and Paradise, But Not Whether He Was in the Body…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.13 — In What Sense the Holy Ghost is Said to Make Intercession for Us. Chapter 13 [IX.]—In What Sense the Holy Ghost is Said to Make Intercession for Us. Do you perhaps also think me ridiculous and like the irrational…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.14 — Chapter 14 [X.]—It is More Excellent to Know That the Flesh Will Rise Again and Live for Evermore, Than to Learn Whatever Scientific Men Have Been Able to Teach Us Concerning Its Nature. But although the questions…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.15 — We Must Not Be Wise Above What is Written. But then, again, you are mistaken in this matter; for the passages of Scripture which you chose to produce for the solution of this question of yours, do not prove the…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.16 — Ignorance is Better Than Error. Predestination to Eternal Life, and Predestination to Eternal Death. Chapter 16.—Ignorance is Better Than Error. Predestination to Eternal Life, and Predestination to Eternal Death. Do…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.17 — A Twofold Question to Be Treated Concerning the Soul; Is It ‘Body’? and is It ‘Spirit’? What Body is. Chapter 17 [XII.]—A Twofold Question to Be Treated Concerning the Soul; Is It “Body”? and is It “Spirit”? What…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.18 — The First Question, Whether the Soul is Corporeal; Breath and Wind, Nothing Else Than Air in Motion. Chapter 18.—The First Question, Whether the Soul is Corporeal; Breath and Wind, Nothing Else Than Air in Motion.…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.19 — Whether the Soul is a Spirit. But again, why you would have the soul to be a body, and refuse to deem it a spirit, I cannot see. For if it is not a spirit, on the ground that the apostle named it with distinction…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.20 — The Body Does Not Receive God’s Image. But I pass by all this, lest the discussion between us should degenerate into one of names rather than things. Let us, then, see whether the inner man be the soul, or the…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.21 — Recognition and Form Belong to Souls as Well as Bodies. Chapter 21 [XV.]—Recognition and Form Belong to Souls as Well as Bodies. But you say: “If the soul is incorporeal, what was it that the rich man saw in hell? He…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.22 — Names Do Not Imply Corporeity. You also say, that “names cease to be given, when form is not distinguished; and that, where there is no designation of persons, there is no giving of names.” Your aim is to prove that…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.23 — Figurative Speech Must Not Be Taken Literally. “In short,” you say, “members are in this parable ascribed to the soul, as if it were really a body.” You will have it, that “by the eye the whole head is understood,”…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.24 — Abraham’s Bosom—What It Means. As to your supposing that “the Abraham’s bosom referred to is corporeal,” and your further assertion, that “by it is meant his whole body,” I fear that you must be regarded (even in…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.25 — The Disembodied Soul May Think of Itself Under a Bodily Form. You must not, however, suppose that I say all this as if denying it to be possible that the soul of a dead man, like a person asleep, may think either…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.26 — St. Perpetua Seemed to Herself, in Some Dreams, to Have Been Turned into a Man, and Then Have Wrestled with a Certain Egyptian. Chapter 26 [XVIII.]—St. Perpetua Seemed to Herself, in Some Dreams, to Have Been Turned…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.27 — Is the Soul Wounded When the Body is Wounded?. What, then, if some such thing is exhibited among the departed; and souls recognise themselves among them, not, indeed, by bodies, but by the semblances of bodies? Now,…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.28 — Is the Soul Deformed by the Body’s Imperfections?. Now, again, what means it that you say, “The soul acquires form from the body, and grows and extends with the increase of the body,” without keeping in view what a…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.29 — Does the Soul Take the Body’s Clothes Also Away with It?. If, indeed, the soul were body, and the form were also a corporeal figure in which it sees itself in dreams, on the ground that it received its expression…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.30 — Is Corporeity Necessary for Recognition?. But who is able to trace out what capacity of recognition even souls which are not good possess after death when relieved of the corruptible bodies, so as to be able by an…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.31 — Modes of Knowledge in the Soul Distinguished. Forasmuch, then, as there is one function in the soul, by which we perceive real bodies, which we do by the five bodily senses; another, which enables us to discern apart…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.32 — Inconsistency of Giving the Soul All the Parts of Sex and Yet No Sex. For that form of the soul, whether masculine or feminine, which has the distinction of members characteristic of man and woman, being no semblance…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.33 — The Phenix After Death Coming to Life Again. Now, what you say about the phenix has nothing whatever to do with the subject before us. For the phenix symbolizes the resurrection of the body; it does not do away with…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.34 — Prophetic Visions. Chapter 34 [XXI.]—Prophetic Visions. Not every semblance of a body is itself a body. Fall asleep and you will see this; but when you awake again, carefully discern what it is you have seen. For in…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.35 — Do Angels Appear to Men in Real Bodies?. It would, however, require too lengthy a discourse to enter very carefully on a discussion concerning this kind of corporeal semblances; whether angels even, either good ones…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.36 — He Passes on to the Second Question About the Soul, Whether It is Called Spirit. Chapter 36 [XXII.]—He Passes on to the Second Question About the Soul, Whether It is Called Spirit. It now remains for me to show how…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.37 — Wide and Narrow Sense of the Word 'Spirit.'. But now, with a view to our easier elucidation, I beg you to observe that what is the soul is also designated spirit in the scripture which narrates an incident in our…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.38 — Victor’s Chief Errors Again Pointed Out. Wherefore if you take these books, which I have with a sincere and affectionate interest written in answer to your opinions, and read them with a reciprocal love for me; if…vatican.va
• On the Soul and its Origin IV.39 — Concluding Admonition. If, as may possibly be the case, you desire to know whether there are many other points which appear to me to require emendation in your books, it cannot be troublesome for you to come to…vatican.va