Soul

====Origin of the soul====
The "origin of the soul" has provided 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 preexistence theory, the soul exists before the moment of conception. 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/or [[personhood]]. Stances in this question might play a role in judgements on the [[Christianity and abortion|morality of abortion]].<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0116.htm |title= "Do Embryos Have Souls?", Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD, Catholic Education Resource Center |publisher= Catholiceducation.org |access-date= 13 November 2011 |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}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author= Matthew Syed |date= 12 May 2008 |url= http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3912708.ece |title= Embryos have souls? What nonsense |work= [[The Times]] |location= UK |access-date= 13 November 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110918113735/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3912708.ece |archive-date= 18 September 2011}}</ref><ref>"The Soul of the Embryo: An Enquiry into the Status of the Human Embryo in the Christian Tradition", by David Albert Jones, Continuum Press, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-8264-6296-1}}</ref>