Soul

====Trichotomy of the soul====
[[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] (354-430), one of Western Christianity's most influential early Christian thinkers, described the soul as "a special substance, endowed with reason, adapted to rule the body". Some Christians 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 |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14153a.htm |title= Soul |publisher= newadvent.org |date= 1 July 1912 |access-date= 13 November 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111128201145/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14153a.htm |archive-date=  28 November 2011| 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> However, the majority of modern Bible scholars point out how the concepts of "spirit" and of "soul" are used interchangeably in many biblical passages, and so hold to dichotomy: the view that each human comprises a body and a soul. Paul said that the "body wars against" the soul, "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" (Heb 4:12 NASB), and that "I buffet my body", to keep it under control.