Sect. 129Reproduction of Human NatureReproduction of Human Nature

I. Immediately after the creation of the first man and woman, God blessed them as before He had blessed the beasts: “Increase (Heb. bear fruit, i.e. generate), and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28). These words imply that the multiplication of mankind was to take place by generation—that is, by the reproduction of human nature by its first possessors. Moreover the blessing points to a special Divine co-operation in the multiplication of mankind, especially as after the creation of the plants neither blessing nor command to multiply is mentioned.

Although the blessing given to man and the blessing given to the beasts are expressed in the same terms, still there is a difference in their import. The blessing on man is followed by the commandment to subdue and rule the earth, a commandment not given to the beasts. Hence the product of human generation possesses, by virtue of the Divine blessing, an excellence, an essential perfection, not granted to the beasts. But if there is an essential difference in the product of the two generations, a similar difference necessarily exists in the two principles. In other words: God’s blessing on the generation of man implies a Divine co-operation, promised neither to the beasts nor to the plants.

This conclusion is confirmed and further illustrated if we consider it in connection (1) with the Divine Idea of man (God’s image and likeness) and (2) with the description given of the origin of the first man.

1. In Gen. 5:1 we read: “God created man, and made him to the likeness of God,” and 5:3: “Adam begot a son to his own image and likeness;” from which it appears that, just as Adam had been made to the image of God, so, by generation, he produced offspring to his own image. In other words, the images of God were multiplied by way of generation, whence the proper object of generation is the production of an image of God. But an image of God cannot be made without a special Divine co-operation. Human generation results in an image of the progenitor and an image of God: the two are inseparable. That, however, which makes the image of the progenitor into an image of God, that whereby the nature of man is like unto the nature of God, viz. his spiritual soul, must be referred to a special, creative co-operation on God’s part.

2. The preceding consideration acquires new force from the manner in which the first man was created. As the creation of Adam was different from that of lower animals, so the reproduction of Adam’s nature is different from that of the beasts. The body alone of the first man was taken from the earth, and made a fit dwelling for his spiritual soul: whereas the soul was breathed into him by the Creator. In like manner, the procreative action of man only prepares a fit dwelling for the soul, which is the immediate work of God.

Holy Scripture teaches the same doctrine: “Adam knew his wife, who conceived and brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God” (Gen. 4:1.) And again: “(Before) the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God Who gave it” (Eccles. 12:7.)

From the close connection of the words “increase” (be fruitful, generate) and “multiply,” it further appears that the multiplication of human nature in its entirety, viz. of material body and spiritual soul, by the command of God, shall take place in connection with the generative act of man. The act of human generation, therefore, is not intended merely to prepare a habitation for a soul already existing, nor does God create the soul independently of the act of generation. He produces it only for and in the body organized by human generation. The manner in which the first man was created throws an additional light on these propositions.

II. The question of the origin of the human soul is of great theological importance, because of its bearing on the dogmas of Original Justice, Original Sin, and Redemption. It must be solved in such a way as not to clash with the propositions just established, viz. (1) that the product of generation is the image and likeness of God, enjoying personal dignity and personal individuality; (2) that generation is a real and true reproduction and communication of the whole nature of the progenitor; and (3) that between parent and offspring there exists a relation of unity and dependence. The difficulty of a solution in harmony with so many other points of doctrine has always been recognized by the Fathers, which may account for their indecision and vagueness when dealing with it. Part of the difficulty, however,, arose from an incorrect statement of the question. What we have really to inquire is the origin of man as a whole, rather than how the soul—that is, a part of the whole—comes into being; and next, how far God concurs in the act of generation. As, however, the origin of the soul is the burning point of the question, and as the errors opposed to the Catholic doctrine are mainly connected with and named after it, we shall deal first with the origin of the soul.

1. False notions concerning the origin of the soul have been due chiefly to the neglect of the Divine idea of man and of the origin of the first man. These errors may be divided into two opposite classes, the truth being the mean between them.

(a) The first class contains the various opinions comprised under the general term of Generationism. This doctrine lays stress upon the fact that human generation is a real and true reproduction of the whole human nature. Starting from this, it goes on to assert that in man, as in all other living beings on earth, the generating principle ought to produce, out of and by means of itself, the spiritual soul, which is consequently as much the product of generation as the bodily organism.

(b) The second class goes by the general name of This system insists on the spiritual independence or self-subsistent character of the soul, and consequently asserts that the origin of the soul must be entirely independent of human generation, and that, like the angels, the soul is created by God alone before the bodily organism is generated by man.

Both these systems are equally injurious to the doctrine of the Church. Generationism destroys the image of God in the soul, supposing, as it does, or at least logically leading to the conclusion, that the soul is not an independent, purely spiritual substance. At any rate, this system deprives the human soul of a privilege essential to the “image of God,” viz. that of dependence on God alone as its Cause. Pre-existentianism, on the other hand, destroys the unity of human nature: first, in the individual, by estranging the two component parts from each other; secondly, in mankind as a whole, by cutting off the individuals from a common stem. In this system, generation is not really the means of propagating mankind; it makes the origin of the image of God something distinct from the origin of man as such.

2. The doctrine opposed to the above-named errors is commonly called Creationism, although “Concreationism” might be a better name for it, since Pre-existentianism likewise implies a kind of creation. Creationism takes as its basis the independent, spiritual substantiality of the soul, from which it argues that the soul can be produced only by creation. Human generation, in as far as it must be distinguished from creation, cannot produce anything simple. The system further affirms that God gives existence to the soul at the very moment when it is to be united to the body produced by generation, because it is primarily designed to form with that body one human nature. Creationism is neither more nor less than an explanation of the contents of two Catholic dogmas: the spirituality of the soul and the unity of nature in man. The fact that Creationism has not always been universally held in the Church, must be ascribed to the difficulty of harmonizing it with other dogmas, e.g. the transmission of sin, and also with certain expressions of Holy Scripture, e.g. that God rested on the seventh day. We find it questioned only in those times and places in which the controversies on Original Sin against the Pelagians were carried on. Doubts began to arise in the West, in the time of St. Augustine; two centuries later, when the struggle with Pelagianism was at an end, we hear of them no more.

III. Creationism solves the question of the origin of the human soul, but not that of the origin of human nature by generation, at least not completely. On the contrary, it introduces a new difficulty, inasmuch as the creation of the soul by God divides the production of man into two acts, and makes it more difficult to see how human generation is a reproduction and communication of the whole nature and especially of life, and how there is a relation of dependence between the souls of children and those of their parents. This difficulty, much insisted upon by the Generationists, can only be removed by maintaining, not indeed the production of one soul by another through emanation or creation, but a certain relation of causality whereby the souls of the parents are, in a certain sense, the principle of the souls of the children. Here, as in the co-existence of grace and free will, we have two principles combined for the production of one effect. In order to understand the combined action of God and of man in the production of the human soul, we must bear in mind that the creation of the soul, although a true creation, is not the creation of a being complete in itself: on the contrary, its tendency is to produce that part of the human nature which is destined to give form and life to the body and to constitute with it one human nature. But as this also applies to the creation of the first soul, which was not the product of generation, we must add this other circumstance—that the soul is created in an organic body because of the action of the human generative principle. So far we have two principles and two activities standing side by side and meeting in one common product, but we have not yet that unity of the principles, whereby not only a part, but even the whole, of the product may be ascribed to each of them. Such a unity is established by the fact that each of the principles, although producing by its own power only part of the product, tends, nevertheless, to produce the whole product as a whole: the generative principle producing the organism solely for the purpose of being animated by the soul; the creative principle creating the soul merely for the purpose of animating the organism.

The following considerations will help to illustrate the unity of the combined Divine and human actions. Each of the two actions requires the co-operation of the other in order to attain its object: they thus complete one another and are intrinsically co-ordained for common action. As man has received his procreative power and its direction from God, and exercises it with the Divine concurrence, in the act of generation he stands to God as a subordinate and dependent instrument; not, however, as a mere tool, because man’s generative power and tendency are natural to him, and are exercised spontaneously. Whence it appears that the common action begins with man, but is supported throughout and completed by God. This Divine co-operation might be called supernatural in as far as it is distinct from and superior to the Divine concurrence granted to all created causes; but, strictly speaking, it is only natural, because it is exercised in accordance with a law of nature. The production of the soul is due not to a miraculous interference with the course of nature, but to the natural Providence of God, carrying out the laws which He Himself has framed for the regular course of nature.

We can now easily understand (1) how human generation is a true generation not only of the flesh but of man as a whole; (2) how a relation of causality exists between the progenitor and the soul of his offspring; (3) how the creation of the soul by God is not a creation in the same absolute sense as the original creation of things; (4) how the natural consequences of generation are safe-guarded.

IV. The Divine co-operation in human generation elevates human paternity to the highest degree of dignity, for the human father is admitted to participate in the Divine paternity; like God, “the Father of spirits” (Heb. 12:9), he gives origin to and has authority over a personal and immortal being, the image of God. Paternal authority thus receives a religious and sacred character, possessed by no other authority on earth except that of the Church, which is founded upon similar principles. Again, the children belong not so much to the parents as to God, Who gives them to the parents as a sacred pledge. Practically, then, as well as theoretically, the Divine origin of the soul is a doctrine of the greatest importance. The gravity of the sins against chastity becomes more apparent when considered in the light of this doctrine: they imply a sacrilegious abuse of members and actions which are destined exclusively to the service of God. See 1 Cor. 6:15, 16.